Amar Singh has proved that he is the most unflinching friend of Anil Ambani. When the whole of India was standing with Anna Hazare in his crusade against corruption and when the politicians were wary to face the media, he came out floating against the current and framed some very serious charges against Shanti and Prashant Bhushan. This was to deter the court probing the 2 G scam so as to save Anil Ambani from being arrested. And this is what happened also. Anil Ambani is indebted to Amar Singh for life.
The most interesting aspect of the Amar Singh story is that nobody could ever fathom his intent while he was busy exposing the Bhushans alluding to the Media CD that supposedly contained a conversation in which Shanti Bhushan was heard saying that his son manages things well and that they can use their clout with Justice Singhvi. Amar Singh was aiming somewhere else while looking the opposite way. People saw some kind of a sinister plan of Singh to get into Congress and this was what the backdrop of his attack on the Bhushans prima facie even proved. But his was a different plan, something that was most hidden in plain sight. Actually Amar Singh is not such a common persona; had he been so simplistic he would not have acquired the "stature" that he currently enjoys.
Amar Singh was repeatedly targeting Justice Singhvi in his press conferences. But why? Actually, the 2G spectrum case is lying with Justice Singhvi. He was trying to pressurize the judge to spare Anil Ambani. Also Amar has old scores to settle with Justice Singhvi. On the 9th of February an extraordinary incident occurred in the Supreme Court. Amar Singh was pulled up by the Court. Amar Singh wanted to renege on the charges that he had made on Sonia Gandhi in the 2006 illegal phone tapping case. He said in the court that though the ruling party is using its clout illegitimately, he wants to take the charges back. His case was being fought by Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi. The argument that Singhvi gave was that Amar had filed the charges on his own knowledge of facts but now that things have turned out to be spurious he wanted to rescind on the charges. This case was being argued in the bench of Justices Mr. G S Singhvi and A K Ganguly. Justice Singhvi contested this argument saying that personal knowledge is then knowledge of facts that one knows personally and that is why it cannot change over time. The Court maintained that personal knowledge cannot be falsified by ones ownself. The court said that his personal knowledge was spurious and that he had wasted the Court's precious time. Thus Amar was castigated left, right and centre by the court. Perhaps he could not come to terms with this and when the opportunity arose he targeted Justice Singhvi and also saved his friend Anil Ambani from being arrested.
Amar Singh started making charges against the Bhushans just when the CBI was getting ready to file its second chargesheet in the 2G spectrum case. The attitude of Chief Jsutice Kapadia ahad conveyed a sense among the public that howeverso mighty the people who have perpetrated cases of fraud and embezzlement were, they would be brought to the book. Thus it was expected that the CBI might name such big names as Reliance, TATA and Kanimozhi who could also be sent to jail as Raja.
But why is it so that when all the company heads related to the 2 G case are in jail, Anil Ambani is roaming scot free. Why has TATA not been arrested while he has been accessory to the crime as the Radia tapes show? When the sinister conspiracy behind making Raja the Telecom Minister has been unearthed it is a real shocker. Raja was made the Telecom minister by all the lobbying by the corporate honchos using Radia because they already were very clear as to what they wanted from this ministry and something that had been guaranteed earlier by Dayanidhi Maran the ex- Telecom Minister. The Telcos wanted a minister who would be pliable enough not to scuttle their plans. It is a matter of speculation that none of the UPA partners were aware of this scheming.
The Reliance and TATA case has become all the more tortuous. Actually, Ratan Tata is close to the PM and the deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh. Anil Ambani on the other hand is close to Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee. Now Mukesh Ambani too has joined the fray in defense of his brother. But given the zero tolerance attitude of Justice Kapadia in cases of corruption, none can guarantee that they will not be arrested or tried. An example of this is that the apex court appointed Uday U Lalit as the government lawyer even after vehement protestations by the government. This too was done by the bench comprising of Justice Singhvi. Now the only way the Ambani hotshot could be saved was to pressurize the court. This is precisely what Amar Singh tried to do by targeting the Bhushans and through them Justice Singhvi. And it can surely not be a benign coincidence that the second chargesheet filed by the CBI does not contain Anil Ambani's name not Ratan Tata's. And Amar Singh has been successful in his plans.
Actually the main beneficiariy of the 2G scam has been Anil Ambani. Shahid Balwa promoted Swan Telecom is only the front company of Reliance which was technically not entitled to get a share of the spectrum. Reliance created a number of fake companies which had cross holdings in each other so that the name of the real owner could be hidden in the shrubbery. Tata has been the chief financier of the NGO owned by Kanimozhi but he too has not been named while Kanimozhi has been nailed by the CBI.
What is interesting is that the case of not naming of Ambani and Tata in the CBI charge sheet has now reached the Supreme Court. It has been contended that while the main beneficiary of the scam has been Anil Ambani because he is the Chairman of the company that actually holds majority share in Swan Telecom, why has he been spared. And infact, this case is lying with the bench comprising Justices Mr. Ganguly and Mr. Singhvi. The case has become all the more interesting as an ICICI Bank employee has revealed that any cheque amounting to more than 10 Crores can by rule be signed only by Anil or his wife Tina Ambani. This revelation is sensational against the backdrop of the fact that Reliance, in 2006-07, had transferred 107 crores to Swan Telecom and that 104 Crores had been transferred via a single Bank. Consequently, Anil or Tina would have signed the amount. The 2G case is yet to spring many surprises. The show is not yet over. It is matter of time as to how the Supreme Court responds.
As investors we often behave like sheep. We do not challenge the consensus as often as we should and, as a result, we sometimes draw incorrect conclusions. This month's Absolute Return Letter takes a look at five of the most widely accepted investment doctrines today, and we challenge each and every of them. For example, and contrary to common belief, we suggest that Fed's programme of quantitative easing is not akin to printing money.
Enjoy the read!
FIFA and Nigeria's soccer federation are investigating Argentina's 4-1 loss in Nigeria on Wednesday after betting patterns suggested it was targeted by match fixers.
It is the highest profile match yet in a wave of suspicious recent international exhibitions, often with goals scored from penalty kicks.
The match "was one that we had an active interest in, and forms part of a wider ongoing FIFA investigation," soccer's world governing body said Saturday.
FIFA was "working closely" with its betting monitoring agency, Early Warning System, which tracks wagers placed with more than 400 operators worldwide.
A second-string Argentina team was outplayed by Nigeria, which earned its first victory over the South Americans in a one-sided match.
The Nigeria Football Federation, which organized the match, said it would help FIFA's investigation and also set up its own inquiry, but denied any knowledge of match fixing, stressing it was "unaware of any suspicious motives in this game."
"We will put all these measures [the inquiry] in place in the spirit of fair play and transparency," NFF General Secretary Musa Amadu said in a statement. "But we would still insist that, until it is proven beyond doubt, we believe that we won this match fair and square ... There remains, to the best of our knowledge, no untoward motives to this game than to play it fairly and win it fairly."
Argentina coach Sergio Batista, talking Saturday at a press conference in Warsaw ahead of his team's exhibition against Poland on Sunday, said he "did not notice anything alarming" during the Nigeria match.
Hours before kick-off at the National Stadium in Abuja on Wednesday, FIFA President Sepp Blatter launched his "Zero Tolerance" campaign to stop corruption in soccer.
FIFA's 208 member nations in Zurich also passed new rules to control the organization of international matches, including the power to veto referee appointments.
Referee Ibrahim Chaibou of Niger awarded two penalties — one to each side — in Wednesday's game between two teams who played each other at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
Nigeria took a 2-0 lead with a 26th minute spot-kick after Chaibou awarded a foul against Argentina defender Federico Fazio.
Five minutes of stoppage time were announced at the end of the match, with play continuing until the 98th minute, when Argentina scored with a penalty kick from Mauro Boselli.
Argentina's spot kick was awarded by Chaibou for a debatable handball after the ball appeared to strike a Nigerian defender on the shin and then bounce up and hit a teammate on the thigh.
Argentina fielded a below-strength lineup without star forwards such as Lionel Messi, Gonzalo Higuain and Angel di Maria.
However, there was no suggestion that players from either team were involved in manipulating the match.
Chaibou is one of the most experienced FIFA-approved referees with 15 years' service on the international list. He was born in 1966 and must step down this year on reaching FIFA's referee age limit of 45.
As match-fixing investigations develop across the world, FIFA announced last month it would pay Interpol US$29 million over the next 10 years to educate referees, players, coaches and officials in how to resist corruption.
"FIFA is currently receiving lots of information and co-operation across Europe, Asia, Africa and South and Central America, and as an organization we are committed to tackling this problem in the most vigorous way possible," the governing body said.
( Source: The Associated Press )
In a latest news video from TV9, It was found that Suresh Raina ( Indian Cricket Team Captain for current India V WI series, in the absence of Mahendra Singh Dhoni ) went to pray God at Shirdi and a Bookie ( Match Fixer ) was found standing next to him. Video shows a clearly that bookie was standing next to Suresh Raina. It was really concerned for Indian Cricket Team that Raina might be involved in match fixing. This serious matter will be probed by Cricket Council of India. Raina denied any linkage with match fixing or with bookie.
Earlier, Raina was also suspected as he was found with a strange unknown girl before Asia Cup final in Srilanka. ICC had started probing the matter but BCCI ( Board of Council for Cricket in India ) had intervened the matter and remove him without any charges.
Below is the News Video from Tv9 news channel.
After Five Months of intensive probe over the bowling action, West Indies off spin bowler Shane Shillingford finally allowed to resume his international cricket career.
Shillingford's action was reported to the International Cricket Council last November following the Windies' Test with Sri Lanka in Galle.
He subsequently underwent lengthy remedial work in Barbados and Dominica before a biomechanical bowling analysis on May 25 at the University of Western Australia confirmed his action had been modified successfully.
"I am extremely happy that I have been cleared to continue playing international cricket. It has been what I always wanted to do and having to overcome this hurdle has made me stronger and more determined to succeed," Shillingford said.
"I put in a lot of hard work over the past few months and I must thank the West Indies Cricket Board for the support and particularly the Sagicor High Performance Centre (HPC) where the majority of the work was done."
Saturday, Department of Pharmaceuticals of India has announced of a guidelines to be implemented under the name of "Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices". Under these guidelines, Pharmaceutical Companies have to follow certain marketing policies in which they can't promote their products by providing gifts and travel trips to doctors. They can't convince doctors to prescribe their own brands by providing any mean of compensation or gifts.
The guidelines will be reviewed after six months in terms of its effectiveness in Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices. If they will not be implemented properly, government will make it a law and force it to follow.
As of now Pharmaceuticals companies are providing pricy gifts and sponsoring foreign trips to promote their products through Doctors. Foreign trips are sponsored by means of Training and Education Purposes. As per new guidelines, such kind of trips should be in within India and company can only sponsor Staying expenses, Meal expenses and Trip expenses. It will not include amenities and leisure activities. Companies have to upload these uniform code of pharmaceutical marketing guidelines on their websites.
Government will announce a committee to solve complains against these guidelines and companies names will be exposed if they don't follow the rules.
If these practices will be implemented, it might help small scale start up companies to promote their quality products also, creates a value for pharmacist in retail stores. ( As retail pharmacist is not getting value in the society read story here. ) Let's hope that, government will succeed in its intentions to provide free competitive environment and create transparent pharmaceutical marketing practices.
Copyright Stockinvestips
Saturday, Sony was caught again in a latest attempt of hacking of its online data as a hacker claims to have stolen names and passwords belonging to 120 users of Sony Europe's website and published them to the Internet.
It's the latest in a series of attacks which have hammered the electronics multinational. Security researchers have counted about a dozen breaches since the beginning of this year, including two particularly serious ones which exposed 100 millions users' personal details.
The latest attack was claimed by "Idahc," who self-identifies as a Lebanese hacker. The Associated Press has been able to verify several of the exposed names.
The website allegedly hacked into was down for "scheduled maintenance" Saturday.
( Source: AP )
Farming in India is a brutal business. mKrishi makes it a little easier, by giving farmers predictive data about how to save their farms--and their lives.
A farmer commits suicide every 30 minutes in India. In 2009, 17,638 farmers took their own life. Low yields, extremely reduced profits, and mounting debt make leading an agricultural life incredibly difficult.
When a disaster--like an infestation or drought--strikes, it can be the last straw. But a new technology platform that connects farmers to agricultural experts hopes to give farmers enough information to keep surviving.
Arun Pande of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) Innovation Labs and his team are designing a system called mKrishi to make farming easier and less draining. By offering timely customized information--on everything from diseases that might endanger their crops to advice on when to spray pesticides and where to sell their crops--farmers’ lives can get a little easier.
The mKrishi works by giving farmers access to experts, and experts access to information about the farms. The experts are pulled from various agriculture related universities and companies that have partnered with mKrishi. The farmers are given mobile phones with built-in cameras and specialized software to send photos of their crops and queries to experts. Sensor networks and a weather station in the village provide relevant data that’s sent to a database. Experts can access farmer’s queries through a web application, factoring in the weather and sensor data and send replies through the expert console software, which the farmer receives as either a text or voice message.
The system also employs innovative predictive crop disease forecasting. Data from the sensors powers disease prediction models; if the risk index exceeds a certain threshold, it triggers the farmer’s phone automatically, warning them to take preventative measures. It’s an approach that won the team the MIT Technology Review Grand Challenge award this year.
Because of the huge number of variables involved, disease forecasting is not an exact science. But the team hopes that the mKrishi platform will lead to more accurate predictions, helping farmers save around 40% to 60% of their crops. “We expect preventive measures will reduce the cost of expensive pesticide once the disease is set in,” Pande tells Fast Company.
Currently, mKrishi has been installed in four villages in the western state of Maharashtra to help cotton, grape, potato, and soybean farmers. The initial results seem promising. “Farmers were able to practice precision farming,” says Pande. “Income increased due to increase in yield and reduction of pesticide usage.”
Satish Deshmukh, a farmer in Ganori village, in Maharashtra says that mKrishi’s pesticide advice helped him save approximately $150 on pesticide and labor charges. Manoj Chadurkar, a farmer in the Waifad village, says “Prices of soybean, cotton, cotton seed oil, cotton seed cake at nearby [markets] which were displayed on the cell phone helped me get good returns for my produce.”
The system’s success has spurred interest from the Grape Growers Association to extend the service to around 40,000 grape farmers in Maharashtra. Fertilizer manufacturers have expressed interest in connecting directly with farmers to reduce overall distribution costs and create brand awareness. Talks are on to conduct pilots for partners like NGOs, sugar companies, grape exporters, and cotton research agencies.
mKrishi is currently working on creating a robust wireless sensor node so that every farmer can afford to install one per acre of land, and Pande and his team hope their efforts will help make farming more efficient and appealing. “Today’s rural youth is aware of the prosperity in cities through print and television media," and they're moving away from the family farms, which are being sold off, Pande says. "This is creating a vicious cycle of reduction of farm land, fewer farmers to till the land, lower income from farms, migration of rural families to cities." mKrishi's goals are nothing short of creating a revolution in the rural market that ultimately encourages the next generation of farmers that their livelihood is not an impossible fight against nature.
( Source: Fast Company )
Emboldened by the Arab Spring and social media, Syrian protesters are taking to the streets over smuggled YouTube videos that appear to show a 13-year-old boy who was physically and sexually tortured while in government custody.
The original YouTube-disseminated video clip of al-Khatib's corpse is shown below. Please note that it is EXTREMELY GRAPHIC, not safe for work, not appropriate for viewing by children, and shows extensive physical torture in minute detail.
Below is our original report...
A graphic video of the corpse of a 13-year-old boy who appears to have been sexually and physically tortured by Syrian security officials has sparked international condemnation and riots across the country. The video (see still pic above) shows Hamza Ali al-Khatib, a resident of the southern village of Jiza, and appears to have been filmed by his family after they retrieved his corpse.
The torture that the prepubescent al-Khatib appears to have been subjected to is unimaginable. His penis was severed, body is covered in bullet holes and cigarette burns, chest is covered in a massive burn mark, neck broken, kneecaps shattered, and face covered in bruises from repeated punches. Al-Khatib was taken into custody while attending an anti-government protest.
Al-Khatib's death appears to have galvanized Syrians. The death and horrific torture of a 13-year-old child, spread via social media, has spawned protests by shocked ordinary citizens. While the sadistic interrogation and punishment methods used by state security and military services have been an open secret for quite some time, the Arab Spring has bought discontent against the al-Assad government into the open.
The video clip is playing out almost like a funeral of Emmett Till for the age of social media. In the Emmett Till case, an open casket funeral was used to demonstrate the brutalities of Southern racism. In this case, al-Khatib's family appears to be using their son's death to demonstrate the brutality of Syrian security services to a worldwide audience. While it is unlikely that al-Khatib would have been out in the streets protesting if not for the ongoing chaos of the Arab Spring, the torture methods that appear to have been used on him have been a routine part of the Syrian security arsenal for decades. The message, amplified by social media, appears to be resonating with Syrians.
In the city of Amouda, a mass rally of children shouting “We Are All Hamza!” marched through the streets on Tuesday, May 31 while also chanting slogans against the government of Bashar al-Assad.
Syria's government has already began damage control for the al-Khatib video. The official Syrian Arab News Agency released a long English-language feature claiming that al-Khatib's father absolved Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of all crimes, called him “gentle and kind” and then claimed the boy's injuries were the result of being shot by anti-government protesters. As for the rest of al-Khatib's extensive injuries that weren't bullet wounds? According to the official Syrian party line, the burn marks, severed penis, broken kneecaps, and snapped neck simply didn't exist.
Al-Khatib's injuries are consistent with a Human Rights Watch report on torture methods by Syrian security and intelligence services that was issued in April 2011.
