Friday, December 7, 2012

India is great : 56 year old woman fights off a wolf.

India is great : 56 year old woman fights off a wolf.: A 56 year old Russian woman has fought off a wolf with an axe… Aishat Maksudova, was alone repairing a fence when a lone wolf attacked...

Tweets land man in jail

Photo © Photokore.com
The war between the Indian government and candid youngsters continue. In the process, freedom of expression is put behind bars. First a cartoonist lands in jail for his views of government corruption. Now a businessman from Tamil Nadu, Ravi, is arrested. His crime? Posting tweets questioning Karti Chidambaram’s wealth. Son of India’s well known finance minister, Chidambaram, the junior Karti Chidambaram, found the tweets “offensive” and had him handcuffed. The tweeter was later released on bail.
India is currently the fastest growing Internet market in the world with over 125 million users. The government has often attempted to clamp down on social media and websites for “defaming content against government officials” by urging search engines to screen information causing furor and disapproval among many.
However, Ravi found several supporters one of who tweeted wryly that he never knew that speaking the truth in India is now a crime.

Racist job ad says ‘No Indians or Asians allowed’

Photo © Photokore.com
An online outrage ballooned after a supermarket chain in Australia posted a job opening with an outright racist tag.
‘No Indians or Asians please. Must speak English,’ is read on the online job ad of one of Australia’s biggest supermarket chain, Coles. The spokesperson of the said supermarket says that the job ad was done by a contractor and has already been removed. He reiterated that Coles is a company of equal opportunity and does not discriminate any race in employee hiring.Gumtree.com, the online job posting site where the ad was published might be subject to legal implications as it is strictly unlawful to isolate particular races in looking for job candidates.

(Materials based on Ndtv.com)

Family heirlooms changing fortunes in India

Photo © 123rf.com
Gold hidden away in lockers for generations are now fetching rural people fortunes. Selling heavy bangles, necklaces and earrings are helping farmers tide by in these tough times.
Others are relying on the recycling trade to polish up their heirlooms in an effort to make some money from them. The potential for recycling gold in India is phenomenal. 1.2 billion people are estimated to have stored about 20,000 tonnes of gold in the form of jewellery, coins and bars, according to the World Gold Council. That makes it three times the holdings of the U.S. Federeal Reserve.
It is estimated that the supply of recycled gold in India will hit 300 tonnes in 2012. This is five times more than 2011 and the highest in a decade. As people bring out their heirlooms, the refining and polishing industry also records an all time high.

(Based on Zdnet.com)

Thursday, December 6, 2012

India grinds to a halt

Photo © Photokore.com
India witnessed a nationwide strike yesterday. Stores pulled down their shutters. Railway lines and national highways are blocked leaving thousands of passengers stranded. Shopkeepers, traders, laborers are all united in protest with the opposition parties against the Prime Minister’s latest retail reforms on two prime issues- to allow foreign superstore chains such as Wal-Mart and Tesco to set up base in India and the sharp price hike on diesel.
The ruling party has argued that the effort is to revive the sluggish economy to herald a consumer revolution. This move, they said, promised to create new jobs and offer a choice for local consumers.
However, the decision was met with universal protests from both the opposition parties and trade unions who called for the strike. Policemen in the thousands have been deployed in Kolkata to prevent violence. The worst is yet to come as large rallies are planned later in the day in New Delhi and other cities. Private schools have also been shut down although government schools and offices remain open. It is estimated that at least 50 million people will participate in the rally against the retail reforms which are feared to topple over several smaller local businesses, neighborhood stores and lead to drastic job losses. Only Mumbai remains largely unaffected as the government did not support the strike

. (Based on Khaleejtimes.com

56 year old woman fights off a wolf.

A 56 year old Russian woman has fought off a wolf with an axe…

Aishat Maksudova, was alone repairing a fence when a lone wolf attacked her. Maksudova shouted out for help but no villagers were withing earshot. After a struggle with the wolf who attacked her leg and arm, she managed to grab an axe lying on the floor and fight off the wolf, hitting it repeatedly over the head with the axe. The wolf eventually collapsed and later died. She sustained injuries to her arm and leg and is recuperating in hospital, meanwhile she has become somewhat of a local hero in her province and now the news of her courage and strength is spreading worldwide, leaving all of us amazed!

(Based on Huffington Post))

Court disallows top actor to sell his ‘hit-and-run’ car

Photo ©salmancruiser-andrymanwanto.com
The Bandra Metropolitan court rejected an application sent by Salman Khan to sell his Toyota Land Cruiser car that was involved in a hit-and-run accident on September 28, 2002 killed a 70 year old woman and injured four others. The reason cited was that the case and trial is still not over and the car serves as evidence.
The car had rammed into a bakery in the suburbs of Bandra at night. The victims were sleeping on the pavement at the time. The court framed charges against Khan for culpable homicide not amounting to murder since it was an unintentional accident. The car belonged to his brother Sohail Khan who was not with him at the time. His driver was said to be behind the wheel then. The victim was sleeping on the roadside, covered in a black rag that the driver mistook to be a black polythene bag in the dim night light and ran over her and a few others, injuring them seriously.The victim’s family at first harassed the actor for compensation which he declined after he learnt that the old lady was disowned by the family.
The trial started in 2005 and still continues.