Asia / All Themes
News & Gossip : Abhishek Bachchan Turns Editor
02.09.2008 14:16
bollyvista.com
With not so good of a run at the box-office, it seems Abhishek Bachchan has pinned all his hopes on his ...
India
Show Business
News & Gossip : Unforgettable Tour for Aishwarya and Preity
02.09.2008 14:16
bollyvista.com
The Bachchans Unforgettable Tour seems to have done well for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Preity Zinta, both ...
India
Show Business
News & Gossip : Govinda in Kya Fool Hai Hum
02.09.2008 14:16
bollyvista.com
The plan to make sequel of Kya Kool Hai Hum has been on and off for some time now by its producer, but its ...
India
Show Business
News & Gossip : RAHUL BOSE
02.09.2008 14:16
bollyvista.com
Rahul Bose is a man with a mission. The actor, who is passionate about cinema, is equally passionate about ...
India
Show Business
News & Gossip : Phoonk To Go International
02.09.2008 14:16
bollyvista.com
Phoonk has helped Ram Gopal Varma get his lost reputation back. The surprise packet of this year took off to a ...
India
Show Business
Music Reviews : Karzzz
02.09.2008 12:16
bollyvista.com
Indias only true rockstar, composer, singer and now a successful actor, Himesh Reshammiya rocked the box-office with ...
India
Show Business
Harman International and Wipro form engineering partnership in India
02.09.2008 08:37
b4uindia.com
Harman International Industries Inc. (NYSE:HAR) and Wipro Technologies, the global IT services business of Wipro Limited (NYSE:WIT), on Tuesday announced the launch of a joint embedded engineering center in India. The new Harman India Development Center will operate from Wipro''s existing Bangalore and Chennai facilities, complementing an earlier agreement which outsourced Harman''s global IT infrastructure services to Wipro. Beginning with about 250 employee resources through this engagement, Harman plans to grow its resource footprint in India to more than 1000 person-years by 2011, significantly strengthening its global engineering capabilities. The India development center will broaden and optimize Harman''s engineering footprint for developing audio and infotainment solutions across the automotive, consumer, and professional markets. Wipro is the world''s largest independent provider of Research and Development services and will bring a wide range of capabilities to Harman''s solutions. Services delivered from the center will include both software development and related hardware engineering for Harman''s portfolio. Harman will retain ownership of all intellectual property developed in the center. "This new venture in India is an important milestone for enriching our portfolio of cutting-edge engineering solutions," said Dinesh C. Paliwal, Harman''s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "Wipro''s proven development and project management expertise will complement our company''s core audio and infotainment skills to deliver innovative customer solutions and make us more competitive. This expanded capability and capacity will also position Harman to better serve large emerging market opportunities in Asia," Paliwal said. "Wipro''s advances in IT and embedded engineering have enabled us to provide high-end solutions to our customers and we are pleased to support Harman''s global leadership in premium audio and infotainment," said Suresh Vaswani, Joint CEO, IT Business and Executive Director, Wipro Limited. The Harman India Development Center was formally commissioned in Bangalore on September 2 in ceremonies joined by Paliwal and Vaswani from Harman and Wipro respectively. Commenting on the occasion, Azim H. Premji, Chairman - Wipro Limited, said: "Wipro''s commitment to its innovation agenda will enable us to collaborate with Harman to localize, improve speed to market, create new avenues for business and help our partner maintain a competitive edge." (ANI)
India
Economics & Finance
IOC to meet Euro-IV deadline, investing over Rs 12,000 crore
02.09.2008 08:37
b4uindia.com
In order to meet the deadline of producing Euro-III and Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel from April 2010, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), the country’s largest refiner, is investing over Rs 12,000 crore to upgrade its seven refineries. IOC Director (Refineries) B. N. Bankapur said, "All our refineries are on schedule to meet the Euro-III and Euro-IV deadline." Petrol and diesel meeting the stringent Euro-IV specifications is to be supplied in seven metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad from April 1, 2010 and for the rest of the country Euro-III grade fuel is to be supplied from that date. Doubts had been expressed about meeting the April 1, 2010 deadline after an industry representation by IOC, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) sought postponement of the schedule to 2015 for cleaner fuel. However, the Petroleum Ministry was reluctant to extend the deadline to 2015 and directed the refiners to expedite the upgradation of their units. (ANI)
India
Economics & Finance
TripAdvisor arrives in India, empowering people to plan perfect trip
02.09.2008 08:37
b4uindia.com
TripAdvisor®, the world''s largest travel community that enables people around the world to plan and have the perfect trip, on Tuesday announced the launch of its local Indian site (www.tripadvisor.in). TripAdvisor India offers localised features, reviews and recommendations, providing comprehensive travel information to Indian travellers. "We are very excited to launch TripAdvisor in India, knowing the increasing enthusiasm and participation of Indian travellers," said Marc Charron, Managing Director, TripAdvisor Europe and South Asia. “India''s diversity and natural beauty has enthralled the world for millennia. TripAdvisor India will not only offer Indian travellers relevant information, but also provide a platform to share their travel experiences, both in India and beyond, with the rest of the world,” Charron added. TripAdvisor is the largest travel community in the world, with more than 24 million unique monthly visitors, more than six million registered members and 15 million+ unbiased reviews and opinions. The backbone of TripAdvisor is the ability to enable its users to plan the perfect trip by providing real advice from real people. "The passion and zeal of our members has made TripAdvisor a trustworthy and comprehensive source of travel information for millions across the globe," said Sharat Dhall, Managing Director, TripAdvisor India. "We are focused on expanding our Indian community and building a platform that will empower Indian travellers to plan their perfect trip," Dhall further said. With valuable traveller advice on over 33,000 cities, 230,000 hotels and 76,000 attractions - Indian users can now make informed choices about their holiday plans. Features like photos, videos, maps and traveller articles make it easier for travellers to be a part of this community and share their recommendations with the rest of the world. In addition to these features, TripAdvisor India sports relevant information for India including top 10 lists of hotels, destinations, raves & rants and much more. TripAdvisor also provides easy access to leading travel suppliers, such as online travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, and airlines. In India, TripAdvisor has forged partnerships with leading online travel agencies such as Makemytrip, Yatra and Cleartrip. TripAdvisor has recently entered into a content syndication partnership with Cleartrip, wherein Cleartrip will display TripAdvisor ratings and reviews for hotels in India and 140 countries. TripAdvisor.in will offer prospective partners effective cost-per-click and graphical ad marketing platforms for reaching a highly targeted and valuable audience. (ANI)
India
Economics & Finance
Ganguly calls for support to TATA’s Nano project
02.09.2008 08:37
b4uindia.com
Former Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly said if the Nano project at Singur went elsewhere, West Bengal would become a dark spot and called for support to the cause of the TATAs and industry to create a future for the people of the State. “The starting of the Nano project will be a beginning of an era in West Bengal which will completely revolutionalise the prospect of the state and the future of the youth of our state,” Ganguly said. Stating that the brand TATAs would turn Singur into another Jamshedpur, he said that as a citizen of West Bengal and a part of the Tata Group since 1994, “I feel industry is the future of the state.” “So let us support the cause of TATAs and the industry to create the future of us. If this project goes elsewhere, the state will become a dark spot,” Ganguly said. However, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee slammed Sourav Ganguly for his comments on the Nano project. Mamata said: “Does Souvav Ganguly know where Singur is? Does he know how many farmers were killed there? Also does he know how many women were raped in Singur?” (ANI)
India
Social Life
Election Commission calls all party meet over J-K issue on Sep. 8
02.09.2008 08:36
b4uindia.com
The Election Commission today decided to convene a meeting of political parties in New Delhi on September 8 to assess the situation in Jammu and Kashmir over the possibility of holding assembly polls in the wake of the recent violence in the State. A decision to call leaders of seven national parties and three state parties was taken by the EC in view of the fact that Governor’s rule in the state ends on January 10 and the need to hold elections on time in case the government is keen on the conduct of the democratic exercise. The meeting would assess the situation in the state where the assembly was dissolved on July 10 and Governor''s rule imposed following political crisis in the wake of the Amarnath land row, EC sources said. The land row triggered violence in Jammu region and the Kashmir valley resulting in imposition of curfew in both parts for prolonged periods. A sense of normalcy has returned to Jammu following the agreement with the Shri Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti but the valley continues to be tense with separatists raking up issues beyond the land controversy. In the normal course the tenure of the assembly was to expire on November 20. However, in view of the Governor''s rule imposed on July 10, the EC has time to hold elections by January 10. But the difficulty for the Commission is that if elections are to be held then it has to be done by November because of weather conditions in the valley which are not conducive after the onset of winter. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Nitish Kumar asks for more relief from Centre
02.09.2008 08:36
b4uindia.com
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on today asked for more central assistance for providing relief and rescue operations to the victims of devastating flood in the state. Kumar, who met Union Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrashekhar and his team, said the state government has formed a high level team under Development Commissioner to undertake rehabilitation of people, displaced by ravaging Koshi river which breached embankment at Kushaha in Nepal on August 18. The Chief Minister sought more central assistance for flood-affected people and told the members that "protection" work on the breached side of Kosi embankment, which remained cut off since August 18 would be completed by September 6. However, the plugging of the breached area and bringing the river back to its original course would take sometime as it is a long term project, Kumar told the visiting team. Besides the Cabinet Secretary, Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Home Secretary (border management) Janrail Singh, Water Resources Development Secretary U N Panjiyar, National Disaster Management Authority Secretary, H S Brahma, Secretary-Security (Cabinet Secretariat) K C Verma, Joint Secretary (Home) Vimal Juneka and other officials were present at the meeting. The team members discussed how the Centre could help the state in overcoming the national calamity. Kumar told the Cabinet Secretary that Centre should prepare a detailed list of relief materials for which the state government would pay so that no controversy could crop up pertaining to payment during audit. He asked the Cabinet Secretary to avoid delay in releasing food grains from FCI go-downs and added that state might require more than 1.25 metric tonnes of food grains to cater to the flood victims. Kumar demanded 50 mobile ambulances and life saving drugs as relief centres opened by the state would work for next four to six months. He said the Centre should provide ten portable bailey bridges to connect several roads that have been snapped with National Highways. The Cabinet Secretary told the Chief Minister that he would consider the state government''s demands seriously and reply within a fortnight after meeting secretaries of concerned departments. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi condole death of Sharada Prasad
02.09.2008 08:36
b4uindia.com
Sonia Gandhi, President of the Congress Party and Rahul Gandhi, General Secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) today paid their last respect to Holenarsipur Yoganarasimha Sharada Prasad, aka H.Y. Sharada Prasad, the legendary Mysorean who served as media advisor to three Prime Ministers of India. They were among a host of dignitaries who paid tribute. “Shourie“, as Sharada Prasad was known to relatives and close friends passed away today. He was 84 and is survived by his wife Kamalamma, and two sons. Sharada Prasad was born in Bangalore, educated at the University of Mysore and jailed during the Quit India movement. He joined the Indian Express group in Bombay in 1945, and was a Neiman fellow in journalism at Harvard University in 1955-56. He edited Yojana, the journal of the Planning Commission, after which followed his stints at the prime minister’s office between 1966-78 and 1980-88, under Indira Gandhi and later Rajiv Gandhi. During the Janata government, he worked with Morarji Desai for a few months before being posted as director of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC). The ultimate exemplar of the “Mysore School of Writing”—not too light, not too heavy—that R.K. Narayan, R.K. Laxman, T.S. Satyan among others exemplify, Sharada Prasad wrote books on Karnataka (Exploring Karnataka with Satyan), on the Rashtrapati Bhavan (The Story of the President’s House), and on Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Selected Works). For someone who shied away from the limelight, Sharada Prasad’s last book was aptly titled The Book I Won’t Be Writing, a collection of columns he wrote for The Asian Age. Although physically unwell in recent years, Sharada Prasad never missed a deadline, somehow managing to get to a computer and send off an artfully composed book review. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Chinese Foreign Minister to visit India
02.09.2008 08:36
b4uindia.com
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi will undertake a three-day official visit to India at the invitation of External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee from September 7-9, 2008. Foreign Minister Yang will be visiting Kolkata and New Delhi. In Kolkata, he is scheduled to formally inaugurate the Consulate General of People''''s Republic of China. In New Delhi, he will hold delegation level talks with the External Affairs Minister and will call on the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. Foreign Yang''''s visit to India follows a similar visit to Beijing undertaken by Mukherjee in June 2008. The four-day visit saw the world''''s most populous nations talking the language of partnership. The ministerial exchanges follow Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh''''s visit to China in January this year. Trade ties, the border dispute, the situation in Tibet and other issues of bilateral, regional and global importance to the two countries are likely to figure in the discussions next week. (ANI)
India
Social Life
Researchers discover cradle of anger in the brain
02.09.2008 08:36
b4uindia.com
Researchers at the University of New South Wales have identified different parts of the brain that light up when a person feels insulted. Lead researcher Dr. Thomas Denson says that this research may help discern why some people fly off the handle, while others will let their anger stew. "The classic person who is provoked like that will respond immediately and just let you have it. That''s general aggression," the Couriermail quoted Denson as saying. "But then there are those people who don''t respond right away, but will tend to ruminate and end up harming others later on - they''re often the road ragers. "We don''t know what causes people to develop into these different personalities," he added. During the study, Denson placed the participants insides a brain scanner, and told them that they were taking part in an experiment to test their "cognitive ability and mental imagery". The subjects were given clear instructions to state their answers to anagrams, or say "no answer", and were interrupted by a researcher to ask them to speak louder. On the fourth interruption, the researcher says rudely: "Look, this is the third time I have had to say this! Can''t you follow directions?" Denson says: "Provocation is subjective - but it is really when someone has a sense of being unjustly wronged in some way." Analysing the findings from other similar blind tests, Denson came to the conclusion that anger was linked to a part of the brain called the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex. The researcher further said that slowly mulling over an insult took place in the medial prefrontal cortex. While Denson says that little is known about which brain regions are responsible for emotions and why people react differently, Dr Alan Keen of the University of Central Queensland believes that Australians are getting angrier. "Anger is a sign of depression - so why are people in large cities more angry? There are some suggestions that it''s our modern lifestyle," he says. Keen thinks that reductions in leisure time, stressful commutes, and demanding jobs affect the chemical make-up of the brain. "The chemistry of the brain changes with the environment. If I''m living in a big city with a busy job and I''m multi-tasking and I''m a busy parent then in the brain, all that translates into chemical changes," he says. (ANI)
India
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