Air tickets to get cheaper from Mumbai, but not Delhi

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the airport development fee ranging between Rs 100 to Rs 1,300 levied per passenger per trip at Mumbai, Delhi and other airports was illegal since it was not authorized by the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA). 

While this verdict will lead to lower fares in Mumbai, fliers from Delhi will continue to cough up the tax since the operator obtained AERA's permission to collect the sum in 2010. 

The order by a bench comprising Justices R V Raveendran and A K Patnaik will be welcomed by millions of flyers who have resented the levy as an unjustified burden particularly when airfares and prices in general have soared. They, however, will not get refunds, with the apex court ordering the airport development fee to be deposited withAirport Authority of India (AAI) for upgrading airports and passenger amenities. 

The bench held that the GMR-led Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL) and GVK-managedMumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL) started collecting development fee from passengers transiting through the two airports from March and April 2009 merely on the strength of an authorization from the ministry of civil aviation, and without the requisite sanction from AERA.DIAL got the sanction from the airport regulator in 2010, while MIAL has not been permitted till date. 

Justices Raveendran and Patnaik prohibited MIAL from collecting airport development fee of Rs 100 per domestic trip and Rs 600 per international trip. The airport developer was permitted by the ministry to levy the fee till 2013. 

Though DIAL was permitted to collect Rs 200 per domestic trip and Rs 1,300 per international trip from passengers for three years since March 1, 2009, the court said it could have legitimately done so only from April 23, 2010, when it got AERA nod. 

The bench said it was still open for the petitioners to challenge the April 23, 2010 order of AERA allowing DIAL to collect the fee without determination of the rate. 

However, the court said both MIAL and DIAL cannot keep the money collected from passengers by them and would now have to account for the entire sum they got as development fee since 2009 to AAI. Delhi airport had handled 25 million passengers in the year 2009-10, while Mumbai airport in 2010 had seen a passenger traffic of 28.1 million. 

The airport developer in Delhi was allowed to collect the tax to cover a deficit of Rs 1,827 crore when the project cost was estimated to be about Rs 9,800 crore. But now with the project complete and the cost escalating to Rs 12,718 crore due to, among other reasons addition of the new domestic terminal 1D, the funding gap has gone up to Rs 3,481 crore. To cover the additional gap of about Rs 1,700 crore, DIAL has accordingly asked the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority (AERA) to be allowed the charge the ADF of Rs 200 and Rs 1,300 for four years and eight months from March 1, 2010, an extension of two years and eight months. 

Writing the judgment for the bench and partly allowing a petition filed by NGO "Consumer Online Foundation', Justice Patnaik said: "We declare that with effect from January 1, 2009, no development fee could be levied or collected from the embarking passengers at major airports under Section 22A of AAI Act, 1994, unless the Airport Economic Regulatory Authority determines the rate of such development fee." 

"We direct that MIAL will henceforth not levy and collect any development fee at the major airport at Mumbai until an appropriate order is passed by the AERA under Section 22A of the 1994 Act as amended by the 2008 Act," the Bench said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/business/india-business/Air-tickets-to-get-cheaper-from-Mumbai-but-not-Delhi/articleshow/8095224.cms

Threat to life of Sai Baba's caregiver & personal doctor

HYDERABAD: With intelligence reports hinting that there was threat to the life of Sathya Sai Baba's caregiver Satyajit and personal doctor Dr Aiyar, the state government on Monday advised both of them to make fewer public appearance for some time. 

As the report also cautioned that certain elements were trying to eliminate some persons who were close to the Baba, the government beefed up security for all the trust members. Satyajit is a front runner for the top post in the Sathya Sai Central Trust with majority of its members openly expressing their preference for him. 

Dr Aiyar was criticised by many devotees for not maintaining any medical records of Sai Baba, some of them, even made threat calls to him while Baba was in hospital. This was revealed by Prasanthi Nilayam sources.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Threat-to-life-of-Sai-Babas-caregiver-personal-doctor/articleshow/8085008.cms

'Successor of Sai Baba unlikely soon, trust will take work forward'

HYDERABAD: Sathya Sai Baba's death has left a huge question mark on the future of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, which is said to control assets whose worth could range anywhere from Rs 40,000 crore to over Rs 1 lakh crore. The cause of the anxiety is the dispute among some trust members, evident from anonymous letters sent to cops in recent weeks. 

Sai Baba was the chairman of the central trust and the only person with cheque signing authority. The central trust is expected to lead, but what if its members do not resolve their disputes? 

Unlike other godmen, Sai Baba had maintained close links with his kin and they are now seeking a role. Baba's nephew R J Ratnakar, a cable operator and gas agency owner, is a member of the trust and is seeking a bigger role. 

Sathya Sai Baba's nephew R J Ratnakar, a member of the Sri Sathya Sai Central Trust, is seeking a bigger role for himself. Ratnakar earned a trust seat after his father R Janakaramaiah, Sai Baba's younger brother, died. 

Trust functionaries like secretary K Chakravarthy would rather have the organization run by professionals. 

Indications are that other trust members like former chief justice of India P N Bhagwati and former central vigilance commissioner S V Giri are aligned with Chakravarthy's thinking. Chakravarthy quit the IAS to devote himself to the work of Sai Baba. 

Evidence of dispute among trustees surfaced in the form of benami letters received by the district police last fortnight, alleging wrongdoing by some trust members. Pamphlets distributed in the pilgrim town last week also sought to target a key functionary of the trust. Compounding the problems are some politicians who have jumped into the fray. 

To add to the problem, the central trust deed registered on September 2, 1972, with the assistant commissioner (endowments) office in Ananthapur, is silent about who should succeed the founder trustee, Sathya Sai Baba. The Central Trust deed clearly states that any change of trustees will happen with the approval of the founder trustee and the founder trustee would have all the powers to appoint or remove any trustee. But there is no word about alternative arrangements in the absence of the founder trustee. 

The central trust is one of the many trusts carrying on the work of Sai Baba. But in the deeds relating to these trusts there is clarity about the trustees, their appointment and tenure. 

The Andhra Pradesh government at present is not seeking to meddle in the affairs of the Sai Central Trust. This was stated by the chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy in Puttaparthi hours after Sai Baba passed away. 

Sources close to the central trust said that there will be no successor to Sai Baba soon and the trust will continue to take forward work entrusted by the Baba. ''May be the money used will come from the subsidiary trusts since nobody else has cheque signing authority in the Central Trust,'' an analyst said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Successor-of-Sai-Baba-unlikely-soon-trust-will-take-work-forward/articleshow/8076119.cms

Left Front has failed to govern West Bengal: PM

KOLKATA: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday said that the Left Front (LF) government had failed to govern the West Bengal and now it was time for the new alliance of Trinamool and Congress to run the government. 

The prime minister is campaigning at Katwa in favour of Congress candidate Rabindranath Chatterjee. Singh appealed to the voters to vote in favour of the Trinamool and Congress candidates. 

Singh while addressing a rally at Katwa said that if the Congress and Trinamool Congress combine came to power then the priority would be to give justice to the people, as law and order had collapsed in West Bengal. He said that in education sector too Bengal was lagging behind small states. 

He said that the UPA government would help in all possible manner the new Trinamool and Congress government. "Congress and Trinamool combine can only give good governance to the people of Bengal," he said. 

He said that the industrial base needed to be revamped in Bengal as small industries were closed and even tea industry was suffering in the state. 

Bengali youth go out of the state in search of jobs and minorities have been ignored too. The central funds were misused and not properly utilized, he said. "Several central schemes were not been implemented properly in Bengal by the LF government." 

The state government has failed to implement National Rural Health Mission scheme along with NREGA scheme and the funds provided by the UPA government had not been used by the LF government. 

"It is clear that for this failure, the LF government must go. Bengal needs change," the Prime Minister said. He said that Bengal's CPM had failed to deliver peace and development to the people. 

"For that Sonia Gandhi and I urge you to vote for change, so that necessary change can take place in your life and development can take place in Bengal." Singh urged.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/assembly-elections-2011/west-bengal/Left-Front-has-failed-to-govern-West-Bengal-PM/articleshow/8064827.cms

Nokia gives good news finally!

HELSINKI: Nokia Corp has reported better than expected first quarter profits despite confirming that its market share around the world dropped below 30 percent for the first time in over a decade, as the world's top cellphone maker continued to lose ground to its rivals. 

Though the Finnish company said its net profit for the quarter fell €5 million to €344 million ($499 million) a year earlier, the markets were impressed by the news that operating profit only fell 14 percent during the period instead of the anticipated 40 percent decline. 

Nokia shares were up 3 percent at €6.11 ($8.87) in afternoon trading in Helsinki. 

Elsewhere in its statement, Nokia revealed that its revenues grew by 9 percent to €10.40 billion from €9.52 billion in the same period in 2010, while smartphone sales were up 6 percent at €7 billion. 

Despite the increase in smartphone sales, Nokia confirmed that its overall global market share plunged to 29 percent, from 33 percent a year earlier and 31 percent in the previous quarter. 

CEO Stephen Elop said Nokia has now signed a "definitive" deal with Microsoft Corp to develop software for smartphones "and that product design and engineering work was well under way." 

But he cautioned that the company faced "a more challenging second quarter.'' 

Nokia said the tsunami and earthquake in Japan had disrupted the supply of some components linked to Japanese suppliers and would impact its results in the second quarter. 

Nokia is the world's top cellphone maker but faces stiff competition in top-end smartphones from Apple Inc's iPhone, Android-based handsets and Research in Motion's Blackberry. 

However, Nokia said it sold 24 million smartphones, 13 percent more than in 2010. 

Total handset sales were only slightly up at 108.5 million, Nokia said.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/telecom/Nokia-gives-good-news-finally/articleshow/8047232.cms

'Rani's item number for Housefull 2'

For the first time in her career, Rani Mukerji will do a hot disco number 

Rani Mukerji is certainly having fun. On the one hand, she has delivered a hard-hitting performance in her last film and on the other, she is gearing up for some matkas and jhatkas in the Housefull sequel. 

Yes, for the first time in her career, the actress will be seen in an item song. Even though she is a fantastic dancer, for some reason, she has stayed away from item songs so far in her career. However, she isn't ready to talk about it. A trained Odissi dancer, Rani says, "As of now, this is hearsay and I'd like to leave it at that. I have really not done an item number in my career, but I'm open to it. 

Doing it totally depends on how the song is being presented and if it excites me. I love dancing and I think such special songs have a lot of energy. It's fun to see and shoot." So will this number be choreographed by Vaibhavi Merchant, who is a close friend of Rani and has directed her dance moves in Bunty Aur Babli and Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic? We'll keep you posted. 

Now Dadasaheb Phalke award for the actress 

After collecting every other award in the country for her performance in No One Killed Jessica, Rani will soon add the Dada Saheb Phalke Academy Award to her collection. She confirms, "I'm happy that people have loved my film and my work. I have always let my work do the talking and I guess I have proved to my critics that I'm not over. It's a great feeling to be back winning awards.

The past three years had been challenging because I didn't have box office success behind me. People forget the body of work, and the amount of blood and sweat that you put in for years and write you off, so I'm very happy to get this prestigious award."

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/Ranis-item-number-for-Housefull-2/articleshow/8025606.cms

Iran may ban dogs from public places

TEHRAN: Iranian MPs have submitted a bill in parliament that asks for barring of dogs from public places because the animals are "unclean" and keeping pets was an "un-Islamic" custom. 

Besides being "unclean", keeping dogs as pets goes against Iranian values, as it is a practice that indicates the influence of Western culture, according the 39 MPs who tabled the bill. 

Under the clauses of the bill, dog owners will be banned from taking their pets to public spaces and in vehicles, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA. 

First-time offenders will be fined five million riyals ($4,800) and will be given 10 days to dispose off their dog. 

If the dog owner fails to comply with the rules, health authorities will be called in to remove the dog from its owner. 

It was, however, not clear what would be done to the dog. 

Dog ownership has been on the rise in recent years in Iran, especially among citizens in the affluent neighbourhoods of the capital city of Tehran. 

In June 2010, Iran's Grand Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi issued a fatwa (or religious edict) against keeping dogs as pets, and police fined dog owners and confiscated pets from streets and parks. 

An exception has been made for working canines such as guard dogs and sheep dogs.

Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Iran-may-ban-dogs-from-public-places/articleshow/7978616.cms

Sensex moves northward on fresh buying

Mumbai: The BSE benchmark Sensex shrugged off initial losses and was up by 165 points in early trade Wednesday on the back of renewed buying in banking, FMCG, healthcare and metal stocks.

The Sensex, which shed 16.26 points at the onset of trade, bounced back to trade higher by 172.75 points, or 0.96 percent, at 18,161.05 at 1000 hrs.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty rose by 57.75 points, or 1.06 percent, to 5,471.60.

Brokers said a recovery in financial, healthcare and metal sector stocks helped the Sensex trade notably higher.

The BSE banking index rose by 1.40 per cent to 12,407.95, with the country's largest lender State Bank of India gaining 0.43 percent to Rs 2,632.10, while private lender ICICI Bank rose by 2.26 percent to Rs 1,026.

Shares of health care companies were also in better form after the government decided to roll back 5 percent service tax imposed on private hospitals with 25-bed or more capacity.

The healthcare index was up by 1.08 percent at 5,922.35 at 1000 hours, with stocks of Fortis Healthcare rising by 0.13 percent to Rs 151.50 and Piramal Healthcare up by 1.55 percent at Rs 478.80.

Sugar sector stocks also evoked good buying support after the government allowed sugar export of up to 5 lakh tonnes.

Among the Sensex pack, 16 stocks advanced, while the rest declined. Hero Honda Motors (up 1.11 percent) and Jindal Steel and Power (up 1.03 per cent) gained in the early trade.

In contrast, Mahindra & Mahindra (down 1.46 percent), and TCS (down 0.66 percent) were among the prominent losers.

Meanwhile, Japanese shares dropped in early trade Wednesday, surrendering a portion of Tuesday's large gains, with the aftermath of the March 11 earthquake still weighing on some shares.

The Nikkei 225 average was down 1.21 per cent, though most other Asian shares rose. Key benchmark indices in Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and China rose between 0.12 percent and 0.78 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng, however, fell by 0.21 percent.

Source: http://biz.zeenews.com/news/news_content.aspx?newscatid=2&newsid=22399

Buoyant Bangladesh eye WC quarter-finals

Bangladesh take on the Netherlands on Monday hoping to build on a memorable World Cup win over England that has thrown open the door to the quarter-finals. 

An unbeaten ninth-wicket stand of 58 between Mohammad Mahmudullah and Shafiul Islam helped the Tigers snatch an improbable win over England on Friday and resurrect their faltering campaign. 

Bangladesh had plunged to 169-8 chasing England's modest 225 when the gutsy lower-order duo turned the tables in the day-night match at the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury stadium in Chittagong. 

Bangladesh, co-hosting the World Cup for the first time with India and Sri Lanka, suddenly find themselves back in the reckoning for the second round from the unpredictable Group B. 

With four points from as many matches, the Tigers must still beat both the Dutch and powerful South Africa in their remaining league matches to cement a place in the quarter-finals. 

But a victory over the Dutch can also help Bangladesh advance if England, who have five points, lose their last match to the West Indies in Chennai on Thursday. 

Bangladesh captain Shakib Al Hasan urged his team-mates not to let the opportunity slip. 

"Beating England has opened the way for us and we must take advantage of that," Shakib said. 

"We now have a very good chance to make the quarter-finals. We must focus on our two games. We don't want to go out of the tournament early." 

Shakib admitted he sensed defeat looming when Bangladesh lost their eighth wicket, but praised both Mahmudullah and Shafiul for their fight back. 

"Frankly, it is hard to believe that we won," he said. "This was not a normal game by any means. No one gave us a chance but those two were really brilliant." 

Bangladesh bounced back to stun England in a must-win just a week after being shot out for their lowest one-day total of 58 by the West Indies in Dhaka. 

Shakib praised his team's determination to come back after heavy criticism from the local media and former players over the embarrassing loss to the West Indies. 

"I always believe in my team," he said. "We have really good guys who are honest about their work, they can work really hard, day in and day out. 

"If you have a bunch of guys like we have, we will always have the belief we can come back from any situation." 

The game on Monday against the Dutch will be played during the day, unlike the one against England where skipper Andrew Strauss complained of excessive dew under lights which hampered his bowlers. 

The Netherlands, a non-Test nation, have lost all their four matches so far and will have to lift their game to beat the Tigers in their own den. 

The Dutch extended England in their opening game, but then lost to the West Indies by 215 runs and were thrashed by South Africa by 231 runs, before bowing to India by five wickets. 

Dutch captain Peter Borren admitted his team had been inconsistent in the tournament, but looked forward to gaining their first win against either Bangladesh or Ireland. 

"We've been inconsistent," he said. "It's never easy. We don't get to play at this level very often. But we still want to get a win or two on the board."

Source: http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/38126/buoyant-bangladesh-eye-wc-quarter-finals/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+CricbuzzFeed+%28Cricbuzz%3A+Cricket+Scores+and+News%29

Veena Malik not to seek asylum in India over Taliban threat

slamabad: Pakistani artiste Veena Malik, who has reportedly been threatened by the Taliban, has said she will not seek asylum in India.

Malik, who is currently in India appearing on television shows for the ICC World Cup 2011, said she had received a letter from the Taliban a few days back via a media house in Pakistan.

She had spoken to representatives of the media house, who confirmed its legitimacy, she added.

Malik said the letter has been sent from a Ahmed Masood of the Taliban, a daily reports.

The letter threatened to give Malik ‘exemplary punishment for her work in India’, and also threatened her family, said the Pakistani actress, adding that she would hold the government responsible if anything happened to them.

Malik, who became a household name in India following her stint on reality TV show Bigg Boss, said she will not seek asylum in India.

She will return to Pakistan as running away is not an option, she added.

Malik also said that Indian authorities had provided her with security, and that she was getting in touch with Pakistani authorities to inform them of the situation. 

ANI

Source: http://spicezee.zeenews.com/articles/story83598.htm

10 Fascinating YouTube Facts That May Surprise You

1. PayPal’s Role in YouTube’s Creation

YouTube was created by Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim in 2005. The three founders knew each other from working together at another Internet start up, PayPal. In fact, Hurley designed the PayPal logo after reading a Wired article about the online payment company and e-mailing the startup in search of a job. YouTube was initially funded by bonuses received following the eBay buy-out of PayPal. You could argue that if there was no PayPal, there would be no YouTube.

2. YouTube’s Origins as a Dating Site

The founding trio didn’t come up with the YouTube concept straight away. Legend has it that YouTube began life as a video dating site dubbed “Tune In Hook Up,” said to be influenced by HotorNot. The three ultimately decided not to go that route. The inspiration for YouTube as we know it today is credited to two different events. The first was Karim’s inability to find footage online of Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction,” and the second when Hurley and Chen were unable to share video footage of a dinner party due to e-mail attachment limitations.

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3. YouTube Caused Problems For Utube

The domain name YouTube.com was registered on Valentine’s Day in 2005. This, however, caused a huge misunderstanding for Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment based in Perrysburg, Ohio. Its company domain, “utube.com,” was overwhelmed with traffic from people that tried to spell the video site’s name phonetically. The manufacturing company sued YouTube claiming its business was damaged by the video site, but the claims were dismissed. Nowadays, it seems Universal Tube & Rollform Equipment has bowed to the inevitable — its business site has been moved to utubeonline.com and the original utube.com is a video-themed landing page for bad spellers.

4. The First Ever YouTube Video

The first video to ever be uploaded to YouTube isn’t a classic by any means. Shot by Yakov Lapitsky at the San Diego Zoo it shows co-founder Jawed Karim in front of the elephant enclosure going on about long trunks. It has, nonetheless, racked up a very healthy 4,282,497 views since its online debut on April 23, 2005.

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5. The First Rickroll

The first instance of a “Rickroll” appeared on YouTube way back in 2007. Apparently, it is the evolution of a 4chan prank that originally “duckrolled” users via links that led to a duck on wheels. Now a classic in its own right, the Rickroll has become what must be the most common online practical joke. Back in 2008, at the height of the phenomenon, a SurveyUSA poll suggested over 18 million U.S. adults had been Rickrolled — perhaps more, given that Rick Astley himself participated in a mass-Rickrolling in that year’s Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Although Rickrolling has perhaps now had its day, we imagine that figure has easily doubled.

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6. YouTube’s Annual April Fools Pranks

For the last three years YouTube has pranked its millions of users every April Fools Day. The first was a classic — every video on the site’s homepage was actually a Rickroll. In 2009 YouTube turned the site upside down and in 2010 an attempt to reduce bandwidth costs saw a “TEXTp” mode introduced, which translated colors in the videos into text. We can’t wait to see what YouTube has in store for 2011.

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7. Some Jaw-Dropping YouTube Statistics

As of February 2011, YouTube has 490 million unique users worldwide per month, who rack up an estimated 92 billion page views each month. We spend around 2.9 billion hours on YouTube in a month — over 325,000 years. And those stats are just for the main YouTube website — they don’t incorporate embedded videos or video watched on mobile devices.

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8. YouTube’s Social Stats

Social media-related YouTube stats are just as impressive. YouTube says that on average there are more than 400 tweets per minute containing a YouTube link. Meanwhile, over on Facebook over 150 years worth of YouTube videos are watched every single day.

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9. The Most Viewed, Liked and Favorited Video

Not counting music videos (which due to licensing restrictions are often shown only in the U.S. on YouTube), the most viewed video of all time is the classic “Charlie bit my finger,” with an astounding 282,151,886 (at the time of writing). When you include music videos from the U.S.-only VEVO site, then the crown goes to Justin Beiber, whose “Baby” video has over 466 million views and counting.

Did you know you can view the “YouTube Charts” at any time to see continually updated info about what’s popular?

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10. The YouTube “Snake” Easter Egg Game

YouTube has a fun Easter egg that will let you play a Snake-esque game within the video window. The clip above will give you a demo, but it’s simple to execute if you’re keen to try it out. Head over to YouTube, click on a recent video from any category, pause it and then hit the left and up arrow keys at the same time. Enjoy!

Source:-http://mashable.com/2011/02/19/youtube-facts/