India PM defends himself over $40 bln telecom scam

NEWDEHLI: India’s premier on Saturday denied accusations of “inaction” in a 40-billion-dollar telecoms scandal and promised that any wrongdoers in the case would be punished.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is accused of failing to act on allegations that that his telecoms minister sold second-generation (2G) mobile phone licences for a fraction of their value in 2008.

The scandal has engulfed Singh, whose ruling Congress party’s popularity partly rests on his “Mr Clean” image, and it is being seen by Indian commentators as his government’s most serious crisis in its six years in power.

“There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that if any wrong thing has been done by anybody he or she or will be brought to book,” Singh said in his first public statement on the accusations.

“We need to deal effectively with the threats of corruption,” he told a

India’s ‘Biggest Corporate Fraud’ trial to Open

The trial is set to open Tuesday of the former head of leading Indian outsourcing firm Satyam who is accused of staging the nation’s biggest corporate fraud in a case dubbed “India’s Enron”.

The declaration by Satyam founder and former chairman B. Ramalinga Raju in January 2009 that he had falsified profits plunged the Indian business world into turmoil.

“The court will likely issue summons to a list of witnesses to be heard,” Raju’s lawyer Bharat Kumar told AFP ahead of the opening of the trial in the southern city of Hyderabad.

Raju, who faces charges including conspiracy, cheating and forgery, declared in a letter of confession that he had overstated profits for years and inflated the company’s balance sheet by more than one billion dollars.

He later backed down from the confession, but police maintain the letter was a “voluntary disclosure of fraud”.

Raju was expected to be in court on Tuesday, his lawyer said.

The scandal at the Hyderabad-based firm is known as “India’s Enron” after the US energy giant that collapsed in 2001 in the wake of massive false-accounting revelations.

The Satyam trial opens after India’s Supreme Court last week revoked bail granted to Raju on health grounds in August, saying the gravity of the accusations meant the bail order “cannot be sustained”.

Raju has been undergoing treatment for hepatitis at a hospital in Hyderabad.

India’s federal investigating agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), argued Raju’s bail should be cancelled because he might influence witnesses and tamper with evidence.

The Supreme Court also ordered the lower court to complete its trial of Raju by July 31 next year.

Satyam, ranked as India’s fourth-largest outsourcer by revenue before the scandal, acts as a back office for some of the world’s biggest companies including Nestle, General Electric and General Motors.

Satyam was taken over in April by mid-sized software outsourcer Tech Mahindra, a unit of the tractors-to-holidays conglomerate Mahindra and Mahindra, which paid nearly 600 million dollars for a majority share.

The company, rebranded Mahindra Satyam, in September announced a loss of 27.6 million dollars for the fiscal year to March as it reported its first results since the scandal.

“The patient has been revived and is convalescing. But it could be a year or two before the company will be healthy and running again,” Mahindra Satyam chairman Vineet Nayyar said at the time.

Analysts have been divided about Satyam’s future, with some saying the worst is over while others argue it could take a few quarters or even years of uphill struggle to fully emerge from the scandal.

Satyam’s stock plunged more than 90 percent when the scandal broke but recovered when a government-appointed board took charge and later chose Tech Mahindra as the new owners through a bidding process.

Malik rubbishes allegations about telecom company

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik on Wednesday while refuting the allegations leveled against him called for constituting a committee to investigate the matter adding, “I will resign if these allegations are proved against me”.

Speaking on a point of personal explanation in the National Assembly, he said that he had resigned from chairmanship of a company operative abroad after coming into politics and the company did not exist anymore. “I can produce documentary proof that I have resigned from the company,” he remarked.

Rehman Malik said that he had served Rs. 5 billion defamation notice on Dawn newspaper besides producing documentary documents.

He claimed, “I did my best to create a culture of consensus in the country. I played a role to bring back Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto Shaheed and Mian Nawaz Shraif to the country in order to end the culture of victimization from the homeland.”

Rehman Malik said when he assumed the portfolio interior minister, he had resigned from the business.

“I challenge in the House if the allegation leveled against me are proved, I will tender my resignation,” he added.

He clarified that he had to leave the country due to threat to his life and his family.

China declares national day of mourning for quake victims

XINING: China declared a national day of mourning for victims of last week”s earthquake as rescuers battled altitude sickness and bad weather conditions in the Tibetan disaster zone Tuesday.

The government said the nation would be in mourning on Wednesday with flags around the country and at embassies and consulates worldwide flown at half-mast a week after the 6.9-magnitude quake hit a remote corner of Qinghai province.

The death toll from the earthquake in northwestern China stands at 2,064 people, with 175 others missing, according to state media. Another 12,000 people have been injured and tens of thousands left homeless.

A television charity show broadcast nationwide Tuesday evening raised 2.175 billion yuan (320 million dollars) to help quake victims, state media reported.

The government however refused to comment on a request by the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, to be allowed to visit the quake zone in the province where he was born.

The Dalai Lama had appealed to Beijing on Saturday to allow him into China for the first time in 51 years to visit the quake-hit area to “fulfil the wishes of many of the people there”.

However, foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu declined to answer when asked twice at a briefing whether the wish would be granted.

Many Tibetans in the area had expressed hope he would be allowed in, but the request looks unlikely to be granted by China, which tightly controls its restive Tibetan regions and considers the Dalai Lama a “separatist”.

Rescuers continued to sift through rubble in the town of Jiegu, the disaster zone”s main population centre, as snow fell in some parts of the region, slowing traffic and delivery of relief, press reports said.

Hezbollah probably has Scud missiles: US senator

WASHINGTON: The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has most likely acquired Scud missiles and improved its rocket-firing technology to the point of real danger for Israel, a top US senator warned Tuesday.

“I believe there is a likelihood that there are Scuds that Hezbollah has in Lebanon. A high likelihood,” Senate Intelligence Committee chair Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat from California, told media.

“The rockets and missiles in Lebanon are substantially increased and better technologically than they were and this is a real point of danger for Israel,” Feinstein added.

“There”s only one thing that”s going to solve it, and that”s a two-state solution,” she said, referring to stalled international efforts to create an independent, viable Palestinian state living at peace with Israel.

Israeli President Shimon Peres on April 13 accused Syria of providing Hezbollah with Scud ballistic missiles, prompting Washington to warn that the trade “potentially puts Lebanon at significant risk.”

Syria has strongly denied the accusations.

The US State Department says it is yet to determine the veracity of the claims but summoned a senior Syrian diplomat Monday to demand an “immediate” end to arms transfers to Hezbollah.

Feinstein spoke after Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri likened Israel”s charges to false weapons of mass destruction claims that fed the US case for invading Iraq in 2003.

President Zardari Directs PPP to Support Punjab LG Bill

Pakistan News: President Asif Ali Zardari has directed to support Local Government Amendment Bill amid reservations of PPP Punjab Assembly member Taveer Ashraf Kaira. Governor Punjab Salman Taseer, Senior Provincial Minister Raja Riaz Ahmed and Punjab Minister for Finance Tanveer Ashraf Kaira met with President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday in the Presidency. They briefed the President on the new local government system to be introduced in Punjab and informed him about the reservations and decision of the Parliamentary Party meeting in Punjab Assembly which has rejected Provincial Election Authority. However, after long discussions the President directed that local government bill would be approved from the Punjab Assembly to continue the reconciliation process. Senior Provincial Minister Raja Riaz Ahmed will inform CM Punjab about the decision taken by the President.

---

President Zardari Directs PPP to Support Punjab LG Bill was first posted on February 3, 2010 at 8:58 pm.

Gen Kayani Rejects Double Game Accusations

Pakistan News: Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Ashfaq Kayani strongly rejected all the accusations over Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency about playing double game in war against terrorism. Pak Army has given more sacrifices than allied forces.
Talking to senior journalists in Kakol, General Kayani said that more than 2,000 officers and jawans have been martyred and 6,000 soldiers have been injured in war against terrorism. Two three star and two star Generals and five brigadiers are also among the martyred. He said that 73 intelligence officials were martyred in Pakistan while 11 were martyred in Afghanistan. COAS said that large amount of arms and ammunition recovered from Swat during last 2 and half months.

---

Gen Kayani Rejects Double Game Accusations was first posted on February 3, 2010 at 10:44 pm.

Stephen Jackson Wished Woods The Best,Tiger Woods Decision Personal

TrendPK.com Stephen Jackson Wished Woods The Best,Tiger Woods Decision Personal:John Daly has dealt with his own marital problems and personal issues over the years, so he reached out to Tiger Woods as the accusations of infidelity piled up. “He just didn’t want to talk to anybody,” Daly said. These are tumultuous times for

TrendPK.com Stephen Jackson Wished Woods The Best,Tiger Woods Decision Personal:John Daly has dealt with his own marital problems and personal issues over the years, so he reached out to Tiger Woods as the accusations of infidelity piled up.
“He just didn’t want to talk to anybody,” Daly said.
These are tumultuous times for [...]

Holly Sampson Tiger Woods

Holly Sampson Tiger Woods latest updates :- Porn Star Holly Sampson May Be Tiger Woods 7th Mistress.

Sampson brings the total to seven woman who have come forward, although she is the first Adult film star to reveal herself.

The New York Daily News has revealed that Holly Sampson has hired an attorney and at this time she will not  confirm or deny the accusations.

Full list of Tiger Mistresses:

01.) Rachel Uchitel – Manhattan nightclub hostess
02.) Jaimee Grubbs – Former VH1 Tool Academy contestant
03.) Kalika Moquin – Las Vegas nightclub executive
04.) Jamie Jungers – Las Vegas cocktail waitress
05.) Mindy Lawton – Orlando cocktail
06.) Cori Rist – NYC-based model
07.) Holly Sampson – LA-based adult film star

---

Holly Sampson Tiger Woods was first posted on December 7, 2009 at 10:31 pm.

New Guidline Meant Issued By Obama For Detainees At Afghan Base: NYT

NEW YORK: The Obama administration plans to issue new guidelines meant to provide prisoners at a US detention centre in Afghanistan greater latitude in challenging their detention, The New York Times reported in its Sunday edition.

Citing Pentagon officials and advocates for detainees at the US-run prison at Bagram Air Base, the newspaper said each of the approximately 600 detainees would be assigned a US military official who would have the authority to look for evidence, including witnesses and classified material, for any detainee challenging his detention.

The challenges would be heard by a military-appointed review board, the Times said.

The new policies are expected to be announced as early as this week, after congressional review, the paper reported, but it was unclear how quickly they could be implemented.

The detainees, some of whom have been held for more than five years, have no access to lawyers, the Times said, nor do they have the right to hear the accusations against them. Only cursory review of their “enemy combatant” status is in place.

“We don’t want to hold anyone we don’t have to hold,” a Defense Department official requesting anonymity told the newspaper. “It’s just about doing the right thing.”

More than 600 prisoners are held at Bagram’s makeshift prison, where human rights activists say prisoners have been protesting allegedly inhumane conditions in recent months.

---

New Guidline Meant Issued By Obama For Detainees At Afghan Base: NYT was first posted on September 13, 2009 at 11:12 am.
©2009 “News Trends“.

Next Page »