10 Dollars computer to be out soon

With an aim to take knowledge to every household and help students get feed on every subject while sitting at home, the government is set to make available low-cost computers at US $10 within six months.

Technology for these small devices is being developed by IISC, Bengaluru and IIT Madras. “But lot of testing has to be done to ensure that the technology works properly. Once the testing is over, the computers will be made available commercially. The target is to make it available in six months,” the higher education secretary, ministry of HRD, Mr R.P. Agrawal said.

The computer will be a small equipment with expandable memory, LAN and Wi-Fi facilities. The government will also produce e-content on every subject which will be made available free of cost.

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Petrol cut by Rs 5, diesel Rs 2

The Centre late on Wednesday night slashed the prices of petroleum products, including petrol, diesel and cooking gas, by Rs 5, Rs 2 and Rs 25 respectively.

Oil dealers were working out the new rates for for Hyderabad.

It is not clear how the AP government will deal with the cut in LPG price. It had absorbed the hike of Rs 50 the last time.

Announcing the decision of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs headed by the external affairs minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, the petroleum minister, Mr Murli Deora, said, “The government has decided to reduce petrol, diesel and LPG prices to pass on the benefit of softening international oil prices to consumers.”

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Ex-President R Venkataraman passes away

Former president R. Venkataraman died on Tuesday following multiple organ failure. He was 98.

Venkataraman, whose tenure saw three Prime Ministers in two years when coalition politics made its advent in the late eighties, died at the Army Hospital here.

The former President was admitted to the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) on January 12 with complaints of urosepsis (a toxic condition).

“The former President passed away at around 2.30 pm. His wife and son-in-law were beside him when he breathed his last,” the hospital’s administrative head, Brig. A.K. Sharma, stated. Venkataraman is survived by his wife Janaki and three daughters.

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Obama: United States is best for India

The US President, Mr Barack Obama, said Indians “should know that they have no better friend and partner than the people of the US”.

“Our nations have built broad and vibrant partnerships in every field of human endeavor,” he said, sending “the warmest greetings of the American people to the people of India” on the occasion of India’s Republic Day.

“It is our shared values that form the bedrock of a robust relationship across peoples and governments,” Mr Obama said.

“Those values and ideals provide the strength that enables us to meet any challenge, particularly from those who use violence to try to undermine our free and open societies.” He also wished the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, a quick recovery after the heart surgery.

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Lanka discounts top Tiger’s flight

A top Sri Lankan Army officer here has discounted reports that the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran could have flown to either south India or a southeast Asian destination, arguing it would be impossible for any plane to land and take off from the present war zone in Vavuniya without detection.

“There is a possibility that Prabhakaran might have escaped, but certainly not by air. We don’t believe it is possible for any aircraft to land and take off in that difficult terrain without being seen and challenged by us,” Brig. Udaya Nanayakara said on Thursday.

“But the sea route cannot be ruled out,” said the senior military spokesperson, pointing out that the Sea Tigers could move their leader by fast small craft dodging through the naval cordon in the sea east of Vavuniya. Considering that the LTTE for long enjoyed substantial clout among the international freight liners — the Tigers were said to own five to seven large-size freighters at one time — it would be possible for the outfit to get him into international water on a speedboat and thereafter shift him to a floating platform; in other words, a larger vessel on a regular freight operation. “Sea is one region where you cannot have complete blockade,” he said.

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Blocks in Prime Minister heart reported

Heavy security at the prestigious AIIMS created some flutter on Wednesday as the VVIP inmate — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh — underwent a series of heart-related tests but he made sure that patients and their attendants were not inconvenienced in any manner.

Dr Singh had visited AIIMS on Tuesday evening for an “overall medical checkup” and had later gone back to his residence.

He returned on Wednesday to the Centre for Cardiothoracic and Vascular Sciences at AIIMS where the VVIP room was kept ready for him. Doctors conducted medical tests throughout the morning.

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Prez Obama ushers hope over fear

Barack Hussein Obama became the 44th President of the United States on Tuesday, and called on Americans to join him in confronting what he described as an economic crisis caused by greed but also “our collective failure to make hard choices.”

“Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real,” Mr Obama said in his inaugural address after he took the oath of office on the same Bible used by Abraham Lincoln in 1861. “They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America — they will be met.” He said the nation must choose “hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord” to overcome the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

Mr Obama, the first African American to serve as President, spoke to a sea of cheering people, hundreds of thousands of Americans packed on the National Mall from the Capitol to beyond the Washington monument.

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Bush calls up world leaders

On the eve of leaving office, US President George W. Bush on Monday spoke to leaders of Denmark, Georgia, Italy, Russia, and South Korea to say he enjoyed working with them, the White House said.

Mr Bush “expressed his gratitude for the kind hospitality all these leaders showed him and Mrs Bush over the years and told them how much he enjoyed working with them during his two terms,” said spokesman Gordon Johndroe.

Mr Bush spoke to Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Georgia President Mikheil Saakashvili, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, and South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak, Johndroe said in a statement.

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Axis asks Emergency Management Research Institute for Rs 43 crore guarantee

The Emergency Management Research Institute (EMRI), which is already embroiled in several controversies after the Satyam fallout, was pushed to a fresh crisis with the Axis Bank asking it to find a new guarantor for the Rs 43-crore loan it had disbursed.

The bank had advanced Rs 43 crore to EMRI, floated by former Satyam chairman Mr Ramalinga Raju, for meeting its operational expenses.

The bank has shot a letter asking the EMRI to provide fresh guarantees to the loan taken in 2006-07. Mr Raju had provided personal surety for the loan.

“The bank has asked us to provide a new guarantor for the loan. We have sought time till April and the bank has agreed to our request,” said Mr Venkat Changavalli, the chief executive officer of EMRI.

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Andhra Pradesh student killed in United States

A 26-year-old employee of Satyam Computers in the United States was shot dead by unknown assailants on Tuesday.

Akshay Vishal, who worked as a mechanical engineer at the design centre of Falcon Jet Airways, a Satyam client, was killed when he was on his way back from office at 2 am.

Reports said that he was accosted by a gang who asked him for money. Vishal refused to give them money and there was a scuffle which ended with the youngster getting shot. The gang then fled.

“He was hurt in his left thigh and leg and was shifted to the Methodist Hospital in the next 45 minutes,” said his father, Mr Laxmana Murty, who works as deputy general manager at BSNL here.

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Priyanka may enter poll fray

The Congress, in an attempt to reach out to the 55 per cent of India’s population which is under 25, on Tuesday described both AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi and his sister Priyanka as the country’s “youth icons”.

The AICC media department head, Mr M. Veerappa Moily, told reporters: “Both Rahul and Priyanka are youth icons. Young people in the country want to see young leaders.”

While senior party leaders, including the external affairs minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, and the AICC general secretary, Mr Digvijay Singh, have openly endorsed the Amethi MP’s name as a potential Prime Minister, the Congress brought up the name of his sister Priyanka Gandhi Vadra with just a few months to go before the next general elections.

Mr Moily said there was a “spontaneous” demand from people and party units across the country to bring Ms Priyanka Vadra into active politics,

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World Bank bars Wipro, Megasoft

The World Bank announced that it had barred two major tech firms, Wipro, the country’s third largest software services exporter, and the consultancy arm of the Hyderabad based IT firm Megasoft for four years.

Coming less than a month after Satyam Computers was barred for eight years, the World Bank action will besmirch the image of India Inc. Tech firms led the fall on the BSE, with Infosys, TCS and Wipro itself losing about 9 per cent each.

Wipro was barred from competing for direct con tracts for having provided “improper benefits to Bank staff”. The disqualification, till 2011, was in place since June 2007. It emerged on Monday after the World Bank decided to make public the names of firms that have been debarred from receiving contracts under its corporate procurement programme.

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Telugu Desam wants Rajus to get bail

In a sudden about-turn, the Telugu Desam on Sunday asked the government to secure bail for Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, disgraced chairman of Satyam Computers.

The TD spokesperson, Ms Nannapaneni Rajakumari, also demanded that if Mr Raju continues to be in jail, he should be given better medical facilities.

“It is learnt that Mr Raju is frequently complaining of chest pain. But the jail authorities are not providing him proper medical care,” Ms Rajakumari said. “Mr Raju’s life is in danger now,” she said.

Ms Rajakumari saw no fault of the Rajus. She said they had been jailed and not allowed to speak because the government was afraid that they would spill the beans.

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Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam , Army battle goes on

Sri Lankan troops overran a Tamil Tiger-held town and the Air Force destroyed rebel boats in an intensifying battle for the separatists’ last redoubt on the strategic Jaffna Peninsula, the military said on Thursday.

In the second major attack on the media this week, a gunman on a motorcycle shot the editor of a newspaper critical of the government. The editor, who was in his car at the time, was in a critical condition with head injuries.

Troops are sandwiching the Tigers from the north and south on the 6-km wide neck of the northern peninsula that connects it to the rest of the Indian Ocean island. They have pounded the rebels from both directions since Tuesday.

“Troops captured Pallai on Thursday, going forward from Wednesday’s positions, and are getting closer to Elephant Pass,” military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said. “

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Raju admits giant fraud

Satyam Computers’ chief, B. Ramalinga Raju, ambushed investors and Corporate India on Wednesday, admitting to long-running fraud of about Rs 8,000 crores in accounting and said the company did not have the money that it had claimed it had.

He resigned later, saying his last-ditch efforts to fill the “fictitious assets with real ones” through the attempt to acquire Maytas failed. Mr Raju, who faces arrest, added that no other board member was aware of the financial irregularities.

His brother and managing director, Mr B. Rama Raju, stepped down as well, days ahead of its January 10 board meeting. Mr Raju will still be the chairman of Satyam Computers till the board is expanded.

The news sent Satyam shares and the equity markets into a tailspin. The stock lost 90 per cent wiping off more than Rs 10,000 crore market capitalisation.

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‘Andhra Pradesh ready for any threat’

Expressing concern over the infiltration by Bangladeshis and Maoist activities along the Andhra Pradesh coastline, the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, demanded 14 more marine police stations with speedboats, deep sea equipment, weaponry and other gadgets as a part of coastal security network.

“It is seen over a period of time that a sizeable number of Bangladeshis have settled along the coastline and even Maoists are concentrating on recruiting fishermen to extend their activities, the Chief Minister said.

He was speaking at the Chief Ministers conclave on internal security in New Delhi on Tuesday.

Dr Reddy said the marine police stations would not be a replacement for the Coast Guards but will supplement them by providing intelligence from coastal villages and vulnerable sections in those places.

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400 theatres in state shut down due to lack of films

Around 400 cinema theatres in the state have closed down in the last three years because of huge losses.

With top stars such as Mahesh Babu, Nagarjuna, Balakrishna, Venkatesh and Prabbhas doing only one film a year, the theatres are not able to pull in crowds like before.

In earlier days, big stars such as NTR, ANR and Krishna used to act in as many as 14 films a year at the peak of their career.

Mr Vijayendar Reddy, secretary of the AP Film Chamber of Commerce, said that the reluctance of stars to act in more films was the prime reason for the closure of about 400 theatres in the state.

“Big stars should act in at least three movies a year,” he said. “Otherwise theatres in rural areas will soon go extinct.” Adding to the woes of theatres, some TV channels are telecasting latest movies.

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Now, retirement on Mars

Imagine retiring to Mars. Well, your imagination could someday turn into reality, for rocket scientists are planning the next generation of space vehicles which they claim will put life on the Red Planet.

“The goal is to make it affordable enough and reliable enough to move life from Earth to other planets,” according to Mr Elon Musk, of rocket company SpaceX that’s mulling a supersonic spacecraft to ferry people to Mars.

Mr Musk, who prefers to distance himself from tycoon Sir Richard Branson’s space tourism venture, Virgin Galactic, has his own plans for humanity’s future beyond the atmosphere.

Mr Musk’s scientists are now working hard to make his “utopian road map” to space a success.

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Tiger capital falls to Lankan Army

The LTTE suffered a severe blow when Kilinochchi, its de-facto capital, fell to the Sri Lankan Army. The Tamil Tigers had won the town from the Lankan Army a decade ago.

The Lankan President, Mr Mahinda Rajapakse, claimed “unparallelled” victory for the nation. There was no reaction from the LTTE.

Kilinochchi is not considered a big target strategically but has symbolic value as the de-facto centre of Tigers in the Wanni jungles. There was no word on the whereabouts of LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Across Colombo people burst fire crackers and danced with Lankan flags. The Army hoisted its flag atop vital installations.

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5 killed in Guwahati blasts

The Union home minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, was saved by a few minutes when suspected Ulfa militants triggered a powerful bomb blast close to the road through which he was supposed to travel to Raj Bhavan from Guwahati airport on Thursday.

At least five people were killed and more than 50 wounded in three serial bomb blasts, believed to have been set off by the Ulfa.

The blasts occurred despite the heavy security put in place for Mr Chidambaram’s visit. The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, is scheduled to visit the city on Friday.

The first bomb was planted in a roadside dustbin at Birubari, and injured three persons. The police said the improvised explosive device (IED) kept in the dustbin went off at around 3.30 pm near a TB hospital.

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