Indian teacher stunned by $10bln bank balance

NEW DELHI: An Indian high school teacher, with a monthly salary of around $700, was astounded when a routine online check of his bank account showed a balance of almost $10 billion.

Parijat Saha, from the town of Balurghat in West Bengal state, said he had checked his State Bank of India account online last Sunday to confirm reception of a 10,000 rupee ($200) interest payment.

“Instead I saw this astronomical amount,” he told AFP by telephone.

The account showed a balance of 496 billion rupees.

After recovering from the initial shock at becoming an overnight billionaire — at least on paper — Saha, 42, said he immediately called a friend he knew at the bank to point out what was obviously a major accounting error.

The State Bank of India said it was not immediately clear how the amount came to be registered in Saha’s account.

“We are trying to ascertain what went wrong,” said local branch manager Subhashish Karmakar. “We have informed our regional headquarters in Kolkata and national headquarters in Mumbai,” he said.

US hikers will not be released: Iran

Press TV on Wednesday said two Americans arrested two years ago while hiking in Iran will not be released. Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were sentenced in Iran last month to eight years in prison.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told U.S. media on Tuesday (September 13) that they would be freed “in a couple of days,” in what he called a humanitarian gesture shortly before he travels to the United Nations. The judiciary on Wednesday said Bauer and Fattal s release on bail was under review.

The lawyer for the two Americans said on Tuesday they would be released on 500,000 U.S. Dollars (USD) bail each.

The pair were arrested in July 2009 near Iran s border with Iraq, where they say they were hiking in the mountains as tourists, along with a third American, Sarah Shourd.

Washington has denied they were spies. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was encouraged by Ahmadinejad s remarks.

India anti-graft activist to end fast after government agrees demands

NEW DELHI: A self-styled Gandhian activist whose campaign against corruption sparked some of India’s biggest anti government protests in decades will end a 13-day hunger strike on Sunday after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh caved in to his demands.

The 74-year-old Anna Hazare has tapped a groundswell of public anger against endemic corruption, uniting the country’s bulging middle-class against a hapless political class and underlining voter anger at Singh and the ruling Congress party.

India’s parliament on Saturday backed landmark anti-corruption legislation, meeting Hazare’s key demands. Tens of thousands of mostly urban and wired voters across India will claim victory in an unprecedented movement that may usher in a new force in Indian politics and hit the ruling Congress party hard in crucial state elections next year.

“I feel this is the country’s victory … Tomorrow at 10 am I want to publicly break my fast,” Hazare told over tens of thousands of cheering supporters on Saturday evening at a protest site in New Delhi that has become the epicentre of a nationwide crusade.

“Only half of the battle has been won, there is still some of it left,” a weak-looking Hazare told the crowd.

Hazare and his team of social activist aides led a rousing rendition of the Indian national anthem as supporters waved national flags and celebrated almost a fortnight of protest.

The veteran activist, whose health had seriously deteriorated as his weight fell, made the announcement after a specially-convened session of parliament ended with lawmakers backing a resolution by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to push for a law to create an independent ombudsman with wide-ranging power to investigate lawmakers, the judiciary and bureaucrats.

Undermined by graft scandals and seen as out-of-touch with voters battling high inflation, Congress’ failure to deal with Hazare’s campaign before it became a national issue spells danger for the ruling party in state polls next year ahead of the 2014 general election.

While protests in India are not uncommon, the sight of many well-off young professionals using Twitter and Facebook taking to the streets of Asia’ third-largest economy suggest an awakening of a previously politically-ambivalent middle class.

PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION

Mukherjee on Saturday said parliament agreed to demands from Hazare to bring civil servants under the proposed agency’s authority alongside parliament and the judiciary, ensure similar agencies at a state level and create a citizen’s charter.

“We are at a crossroads, let us try to find a solution within the constitutional framework without violating the supremacy of Parliament,” Mukherjee told the lower house.

Support for Mukherjee’s resolution came after a grueling day of fractious debate in both chambers that highlighted just how much Hazare’s campaign and the public support for it had rocked India’s political establishment.

Hazare’s trademark white cap has been sported by thousands of protesters across the country, and the slogan “I am Anna” has become a rallying cry for a generation of young people disillusioned by their graft-stained politicians.

Hazare is not some out-of-the-blue phenomenon, however. Deep-seated change has been underway for years in India as its once-statist economy globalises, bolstered by a widely used freedom of information act, aggressive private media and the election of state politicians who have rejected traditional caste-support bases to win on governance issues.

After a botched arrest as part of a hardline approach to Hazare, a government U-turn saw ministers praise the activist, suggesting a leadership deficit in Congress without party head Sonia Gandhi, who is recovering after surgery for an undisclosed condition.

Congress pledged a slew of economic reforms after winning re-election in 2009 that would have made foreign investment easier and tax collection more effective. But graft and anger over inflation has stymied attempts to debate the legislation.

Transparency International rates India in 87th place on the most corrupt countries, according to a 2010 survey.

Several scandals linked to the government, including a bribery scam involving the granting of telecom licences that led to the arrest of a telecoms minister and may have cost the state up to $39 billion in lost revenues, led to Hazare’s latest protest.

Congress has staked a large amount of political capital on victory in next year’s state election in Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, where a disappointing result would ring serious alarm bells for the federal ballot in 2014.

Hazare became the unlikely thorn in the side of the government when he went on hunger strike in April. He called off that fast after the government promised to introduce a bill creating an anti-corruption ombudsman.

The so-called Lokpal legislation was presented in early August, but activists slammed the draft version as toothless because the prime minister and judges were exempt from probes. AGENCIES

World’s largest stove destroyed by fire

The giant Michigan Stove, a historic landmark, sits in cinders after a fire apparently burned it to its frame on the locked grounds of the State Fair in Detroit.

A fire has destroyed the world s largest stove Saturday, a Michigan landmark standing at the Michigan state fairgrounds. Fire investigators believe lightning sparked the fire Saturday night. The stove was a total loss.

Built by the Michigan Stove Company, it was first displayed at the World s Fair in Chicago in 1893. The oak stove weighed 15 tons and stood 25 feet high. In 1998, the dismantled stove was pulled out of storage and reassembled at the fairgrounds along Woodward, near 8 mile. Before the automotive boom, Detroit was home to five major stove-making companies, and was called the Stove Capital of the World.

Pak Foreign exchange reserves stand at $17.47b

According to the State Bank of Pakistan, the reserves showed a decreased of $52.5 million as compared to the last week. Reserves held by the SBP fell to $14.02 billion from $14.11 billion a week ago, while those held by commercial banks rose to $3.45 billion from $3.41 billion.

Pakistan foreign reserves have surged by $4.51 during the fiscal year 2011.

U.S. issues travel alert after bin Laden killing

WASHINGTON: The U.S. State Department on Sunday warned Americans worldwide of “enhanced potential for anti-American violence” following the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

“Given the uncertainty and volatility of the current situation, U.S. citizens in areas where events could cause anti-American violence are strongly urged to limit their travel outside of their homes and hotels and avoid mass gatherings and demonstrations,” the State Department said in a statement.

Obamas birth certificate made public

The President of the United States Barrack Obama left the opposition speechless after he produced his birth certificate. The republicans had accused Obama of being born in Indonesia or Kenya rather than America, hence making him ineligible for presidency.

Earlier, Donald Trump a potential republican candidate for president challenged Obama to produce his birth certificate. According to reports, Trump is now investigating the legality of the certificate.

According to the birth certificate, President Obama was born on August 4, 1961 in Hawaii. His name in the record is listed Barrack Hussein Obama II. The birth records are also accessible by the public at the State Department of Health in Honolulu.

Sharif birthday ceremony ends up in mess

MULTAN: A ceremony held here to celebrate 61st anniversary of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) chief Mian Nawaz Sharif, ended up in fiasco on Saturday.

As soon as cake was cut in connection with the birthday celebrations, N-League workers dived on the cake and several people scooped it with both of their hands, creating the state of commotion.

Seeing all this happen, PML-N leaders were left licking their fingers. TrendPK

Lindsay Lohan and Family Spending Christmas together: This Time it’s for Sure

We’ve all heard of Lindsay Lohan’s failed appeal to be with her family last Thanksgiving. This coming Christmas, the Lohan family is making sure that they will spend the holidays together whether Lindsay is permitted to go out or not. How? By visiting spending Christmas in the state where her rehab is.

After spending Thanksgiving in New York, Dina Lohan said that her family will be celebrating Christmas in California. She also said that they will welcome the New Year in the same state where Lindsay is staying.

As for Lindsay, she hasn’t been granted by the judge to leave the state of California in exchange of letting her stay at the Betty Ford Center-supervised facility rather than being sent to jail last October. Sources say that the starlet is behaving quite well in the facility. She was even given a free pass a few weeks before Thanksgiving to run about and complete some photo shoots.

Moreover, even though she wasn’t given a chance to spend Thanksgiving with her family in New York, she was permitted to visit her place in West Hollywood and spend Turkey Day with a group of friends instead.

Whether or not she will be given the same freedom this Christmas is still the question.

Washington: Richard Holbrooke hospitalised

US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was hospitalised in Washington after collapsing during a meeting at the State Department, officials said.
Holbrooke, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, collapsed in Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s office and was rushed to George Washington University Hospital, where he was being treated for a blood clot. Sources told that Holbrooke was able to walk out of Clinton’s office under his own power and he was doing OK.

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