Friday, September 24, 2010

Mid Day International News

Mid Day International News

The biggest taxt scam?

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A Manhattan court has charged 59 cabbies of cheating some 77,000 riders in the most "widespread con operation" in the industry's history.

According to The New York Post, District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. hit 45 of them with the felony charge of scheming to defraud by charging the double-rate suburban fare for rides within the city from November 2008 to June 2010, which is punishable by up to four years in prison.

In addition, 14 other drivers were charged with more than 5,000 counts of petit larceny. They either cheated fewer passengers or scammed them for lesser amounts, officials said.

Vance's spokeswoman said the cabbies were charged with duping passengers off more than 235,000 dollars over the last 20 months.

The suspects' taxi licenses were reportedly suspended. Meanwhile, victims of the scandal rejoiced at the news. "I'm proud New York City took issue with this and did something about it," the paper quoted a resident, as saying.

Vance said the victims were mostly travelling to and from airports, Grand Central Terminal and Times Square and added that more drivers could be busted because the DA's office arrested only drivers who pulled the scam using one of three types of taxi meters, called a "CMT." The investigation is ongoing.

According to the paper, the drivers were lured into appearing at TLC headquarters but when they appeared, they were authorities ushered them into a room, told them to stand against the wall, and arrested them.

"It's not fair. It was tricky. I would expect this from a Third World country, but not from a civilized country like this," said Hassan Chowdhury, who allegedly stole nearly 6,000 dollars by hitting the Rate 4 button 3,126 times.

Drivers have maintained that the overcharges were innocent mistakes, and they accidentally hit the button that engaged Rate 4.

TLC Commissioner David Yassky, however, said the scam likely had a humble beginning, with one driver discovering the quick moneymaking scheme, and then spreading the word.

Fountain of youth pill 'to hit shelves by 2012'

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Its just a matter of two years that we would be able to add decades to our lives after a visit to the chemist shop - researchers have discovered the holy grail - an anti-ageing pill, which will hit the shelves by 2012.

Its creator Professor Vladimir Skulachev from Moscow State University said the drug works by halting the damaging effects of oxygen on the body's cells.

This would stave off dangerous age-related illnesses thereby adding years to our lives.

Skulachev's findings have been backed up by the international community including Nobel prize winner Dr Gunter Blobel.

"It has been shown that oxidative damage is huge. But we do not have an anti-oxidant of the type that Professor Skulachev has developed," the Daily Mail quoted Blobel from Rockefeller University as saying.

"He is clearly the world's best bio-chemist and bio-energetic scientist," he added.

The cells in our bodies need oxygen during the energy exchange process, however oxygen can also destroy cells if it takes on active and poisonous forms.

Natural anti-oxidants have been found to help slow this fatal process but are not strong enough to have a lasting impact.

Skulachev said: "90 per cent of the time oxygen turns into harmless water, but there's that one per cent that turns into a super-oxide that later turns into very poisonous elements. So the task was to find an anti-oxidant that stops that process."

He added that he has created innovative anti-oxidants nicknamed 'Skulachev's ions' after 40 years of hard work.

They neutralise the dangerous form of oxygen inside the cells and have been designed to travel to within a few nanometers of the position where they will have most impact.

He said the most difficult part of the process has been trying to prevent any side effects.

He claims the treatment will need two more years of clinical testing, which has already started, and thousands of people have registered to take part.

"Finally, we hope that we will manage to convince people that a single pill treats many threats of ageing. So, it must be doing something with the ageing itself," said biologist Maksim Skulachev, son of Professor Vladimir Skulachev.

"Then, if authorities will accept this logic, maybe we could somehow market it as anti-ageing drug," he added.

Jessica Alba goes nude for latest flick

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Jessica Alba, who once vowed that she'd never bare all in front of the cameras, has gone nude for her latest film.

In an art house action film based on Mexican B-movies called 'Machete', Alba is seen revealing her birthday suit, reports the Daily Mail.

The Latino star told Scarlet magazine in February that she would never bare all for the cameras, saying: ''No, I'll never do a nude scene. I can act sexy and wear sexy clothes but I can't go naked.''

The Sin City star continued: "I think I was always very uncomfortable about the way my body developed, and I remember my grandmother would freak out and throw a towel over me if she saw me wearing just a bra and panties.

"I come from a very Catholic family so it wasn't seen as a good thing to flaunt yourself like that. I can handle being sexy with clothes on but not with them off."

The 29-year-old, however, has had no qualms appearing in her birthday suit in the new Robert Rodriquez movie.

Obama to Bill Clinton: Your wife is 'all-around more impressive'

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US President Barack Obama praised the intelligence and talents of his top diplomat, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, while ribbing her husband and his White House predecessor Bill Clinton at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.

According to Politico, Obama turned to Bill Clinton and asked: "What it's like to be married to someone who is smarter, better-looking and all-around more impressive than you are."

A bit more good-natured teasing ensued at Clinton's annual global shindig at the New York Sheraton.

In an interview on Wednesday, former President Clinton said he is deeply sympathetic to Obama's and the Democrats's current political difficulties, but said the president should try to better connect, embrace people's frustration, and also offer hope.

"He's being criticised for being too disengaged, for not caring. So, he needs to turn into it. So, I just tell him to sort of try to get the country up again without being - looking - naive or la-la, but be optimistic about our future," the former president said.

"Embrace people's anger, including their disappointment at you. And just ask 'em to not let the anger cloud their judgment. Let it concentrate their judgment. And then, make your case," he added.

Iranian President Ahmadinejad says US behind 9/11 attack

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In a remark that sparked outrage in the US, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said that some segments within the US government orchestrated the 9/11 attack to reverse the declining American economy.

The Iranian President told a UN meeting that most people believe the US government staged the 9/11 attacks. There was a theory that "some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East, in order also to save the Zionist regime," Ahmadinejad said, sparking a US delegation led Western walkout in the UN General Assembly.

"The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view," he added. Ahmadinejad then urged the UN to carry out an investigation that would determine what happened on 9/11.

"It is proposed that the United Nations set up an independent fact-finding group for the event of September 11 so that in the future expressing views about it is not forbidden," he said yesterday. He also accused the US for using 9/11 to start wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as bullying Iran about its nuclear programme while maintaining it own nuclear weapons.

The Iranian President, however, indicated that Tehran would be ready for talks on its nuclear programme if they were premised on "justice and respect." He also touched on the recent controversy involving a Florida pastor who wanted to burn the Quran on the ninth anniversary of 9/11 but eventually didn't carry out the plan.

"Very recently the world witnessed the ugly and inhumane act of burning the holy Quran," Ahmadinejad said. Holding the Quran and Bible in his hands, he said, "On behalf of the Iranian nation I pay respect to all Divine books and their followers." "This is the Quran and this is the Bible. I pay respect to both of them," he said.

In a statement, US Mission spokesman Mark Kornblau said, "Rather than representing the aspirations and goodwill of the Iranian people Mr Ahmadinejad has yet again chosen to spout vile conspiracy theories and anti-Semitic slurs that are as abhorrent and delusional as they are predictable."

Camera phone helps create world's smallest movie

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Just 9 mm tall, Dot, the world's tiniest doll, is the hero of an action-packed adventure in a new stop-motion film created with a camera phone and a microscope.

The film, simply called Dot, was produced by Aardmann, the creators of Wallace and Gromit. It was commissioned as a 'viral' for Nokia and was made using the firm's Nokia N8 smartphone.

Wallace and Gromit are the main characters in a series comprising four British animated short films and a feature-length film by Nick Park of Aardman Animations.

Dot is to enter the Guinness Book of Records as the world's smallest film.

Dot finds herself in a magnified world and hears a noise coming from off-screen to her left. Suddenly she sees that the material on which she is standing is unstitching itself at an alarming rate, reports the Daily Mail.

Dot runs for her life, climbing flowers and even riding a bumble bee as she scampers to safety.

Animators used a 3D printer to make 50 different versions of Dot, because she is too tiny to manipulate or bend like they would other stop-motion animation characters - such as Wallace and Gromit.

The creators say that it was not possible to make her smaller or they would have found it hard to make separate limbs and a head.

Each one was hand-painted by artists and attached to an extremely thin wire. The animators used precision engineering to move the backdrop behind the tiny Dot models.

The animation was filmed through a CellScope - microscope for mobile phones - which was attached to the N8 and its 12MP camera.

CellScope was developed by Daniel Fletcher, a bioengineer at the University of California-Berkeley, in US, as an attachment for camera phones.

It is used in Africa to take photos of skin and blood cells and transmit the images to experts for diagnosis. It could soon be used by cancer patients in the US to take white-blood-cell counts at home.

Tolls abound as roads go to pot

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Three agencies maintain NH 17, or the Mumbai-Goa highway; while none can ensure a decent road, they eagerly demand tolls for a rickety ride

Beginning its final leg of the highway series, MiD DAY started out on the Mumbai-Goa highway, also known as NH 17, and reached as far as the Vashi toll naka in comfort, where the bone-grinding ride began.


ROCKY RIDE: A pothole-ridden Goa highway before Vadkhal naka en
route Alibaug. PIC/SURESH KK

The four-lane road between Vashi and Kharpada toll naka was riddled with craters and is known for mishaps.

Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC) oversees the Vashi toll naka and charges Rs 30 as toll tax. The IRB Infrastructure firm collects Rs 10 as toll at Kharpada.

Both parties are prompt to counter any talk of the roads being riddled with potholes. "We have maintained the roads that fall under our jurisdiction. We collect toll across the Patalganga river which covers an area of 1.7 km," claimed Virendra Mhaiskar, CMD, IRB Infrastructure. The MSRDC, on its part, also claims it has maintained roads in sterling condition, but photographs tell a different story altogether.

As MiD DAY progressed further towards Cheetah village and the Balawali fruit market, the navigable part of the road seemed to become narrower with every 100 metres with potholes forcing the traffic to scrunch up and move in single file. "We see a lot of accidents on this road daily. The pliable area of the road gets so narrow that vehicles frequently run into our fruit stalls," said Navjivan, a fruit vendor.

The bridge on the Bhagwati River, after the village, has rusted and its edges are crumbling. Further down is a village called Pen, from where two kilometres of 'road' is merely a patchwork of potholes.

There's more
The worst begins with the next naka of Vadkhal, which is supposed to be a major transit junction connecting Alibaug and Goa. A klick of ditches away from Vadkhal comes the Dharamtar Creek toll naka, charging Rs 13 for a round trip to Alibaug from Mumbai. But the roads have neither been repaired nor maintained.

"Everytime we undertake reparation, the road gets damaged due to water logging," said an employee at the Dharamtar Creek toll naka, maintained by Patwardhan Infrastructure.

Incidentally, this naka is situated a stone's throw from Ispat Industries. But, the road on which it stands is itself running to seed.

Finally, there comes the turn of the Alibaug Nagar Parishad to extort what is supposed to be an environmental fee (Paryavaran Niyantran Swachchta Shulk) of "Rs 10 only, Sir!" The fee is ostensibly charged to ensure that Alibaug remains environmentally safe and clean. But tourists beg to differ.

"We don't understand why the Parishad extorts this so-called environmental fee. Their roads are in disrepair, so vehicles give off more smoke. In fact, vehicular fumes are all one can smell here. Of course, the less said about the cleanliness, the better," said Dharam Sahoo, a tourist passing through the road.

Agencies collecting toll

Vashi toll naka: MSRDC
Patalganga Bridge: IRB Infrastructure
Dharamtar toll naka: Patwardhan Infrastructure

NH 17
National Highway 17 is a busy road that runs roughly north-south along the west coast of India, parallel to the Western Ghats. It connects Mumbai to Kochi (Ernakulam), passing through the states of Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, and Kerala. NH 17 is also known as Mumbai-Goa Highway in Maharashtra. At 1,296 km, it is the seventh-longest highway in India.


Voices

After MiD DAY started its series on the legitimacy of toll collection for bad highways, commuters have begun sending in their experiences. Here are a few:

Khozem Godhrawala, Navi Mumbai
Let me thank you for taking up the matter of toll collection on all poorly maintained highways. I am a regular commuter on NH 8 we do not pay toll at Virar-Vaitarna toll plaza and end up bickering with the collection department there. M/s IRB, the contractor, always blames the MMRDA, which built the road seven years back.

Kapil Jain, Mira Road
Commuters pay toll tax at Dahisar check naka just because it is an entry point to Mumbai. This is unfair to the residents of Mira-Bhayander Road because the roads have potholes that damage car suspension. There are frequent traffic jams that cause a waste of fuel and time. Auto rickshaws and trucks have made life miserable and are a major cause of accidents.

Shriniwas Dukhande, Vasant Vihar
On the Ghodbandar Road, from the Fountain hotel to Gaimukh, there are streetlights which have not been working since the time they were installed. It is a nightmare to drive vehicles in the night. I tried to contact the authorities but in vain.


Parking ticket? Try yoga bends

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Cops are handing out parking tickets with pictures of yoga positions on them in a bid to calm down angry recipients.

Parking control officers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, have been issued with 40,000 of the placatory citations. They are the brainchild of one Daniel Peltz, an "artist in residence" with the Cambridge Traffic and Parking Department.

The tickets have an image of a yoga position on the front of the envelope, with instructions on the reverse on how to implement various moves.

Susan Clippinger, the city's transportation chief, said the purpose of the tickets is to "debunk the idea that all parking tickets are a hostile action. We're not writing tickets to get somebody. We're writing tickets to help make the city function." However, the move has not met with universal approval. One woman said, "I think it's a waste of an envelopment because if I got this as a ticket I am not looking at the poses to relax, believe me."

Cambridge resident Hyunho Noh said that it was not working as he showed up to pay a $25 (Rs 1,135) ticket. "I don't like it. There's no way to like it."


Madonna's fanatic won't give up

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Robert Linhart, the overzealous Madonna fan who was arrested outside her New York City apartment, reportedly promised cops that he will head straight back to the Material Girl's pad after he is released. "I won't stop until I actually meet Madonna," Linhart, a retired FDNY firefighter, said to cops, according to court documents.

"I'm going to go right back there [Madonna's apartment] and do it again."

The 59-year-old was arrested Tuesday while spray-painting messages on the sidewalk that declared his adoration to the pop queen and asking to meet her, police said.

He was later charged with graffiti, resisting arrest and criminal possession of a 7-inch ice pick which was recovered from his car.

Prosecutors said they found a sign attached to the top of Linhart's SUV that read, "Madonna, I need you. Tell me yes or no."

Another sign read, "If it's yes, my dream will come true. If it's no, I will go. XXX."

Linhart was arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court where a judge set his bail at $20,000 (Rs 10 lakh).

Defense attorney Cheryl Bader said that there was "no threatening conduct" and argued its "not a crime to adore Madonna."


Michelle Obama to pull off TV plug

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First Lady Michelle Obama will symbolically pull the switch turning Nickelodeon and its sister networks off for three hours Saturday, part of its annual effort to encourage children to go out and play.

In a taped message, Michelle tells Nick viewers to "get ready to shut down your computers, put down your cell phones and turn off your TVs."

The tape will air at noon (Eastern time) Saturday and all of Nick channels will go dark.

Nick has contributed time for public service announcements for Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign to
combat childhood obesity, and is donating $50,000 (Rs 23 crore) to schools and community programs.


Six UK men arrested after YouTube Quran burning

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Video shows group of masked men shouting "September 11, International Burn a Quran Day" and "This is for the boys in Afghanistan" before setting fire to the Muslim holy book

A gang of men have been arrested after filming themselves burning a copy of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11 -- and posting it on YouTube.

Six suspects were seized after allegedly setting fire to the Muslim holy book in the backyard of a pub. The men, who hid their faces, then posted the video of the burning on the popular website.

In the film the gang are seen gathered round a copy of the Quran in the backyard of The Bugle pub in Leam Lane, Felling, Gateshead.

Masked faces
Appearing with what seems to be tea towels wrapped around their heads, the men show the holy book to the
camera before dousing it with fuel from a red can and lighting it.

One man in a grey Adidas tracksuit and white trainers, who has a blue cloth wrapped around his head makes a series of obscene gestures towards the book as it burns.

Laughing, the track-suited gang shouts, "This is for the boys in Afghanistan. September 11, international burn a Quran day, for all the people of 9/11. "This is how we do it in Gateshead, right."

One man then attempts to add more fuel, but instead sets the plastic petrol can on fire.

He then kicks the book across the yard, leaving a trail of flames which he is forced to hastily stamp out.

Police visited The Bugle last Wednesday after the video was posted online.

Two men were arrested on suspicion of stirring racial hatred, and have since been released on bail.

On Wednesday, four more Gateshead men were arrested and bailed. None were charged.

In a joint statement, Northumbria Police and Gateshead Council condemned the book burning.

"The kind of behaviour displayed in this video is not at all representative of our community as a whole," said the spokesman.

Police confirmed the arrests were in relation to burning the book, not for making, distributing or watching the video.

"On Wednesday, September 22, four men from Gateshead were arrested on suspicion of stirring racial hatred," a spokesman said.

What sparked off this incident?

In the video, which the men posted on YouTube, they hid their faces behind towels and swore and danced after setting the Quran on fire. The whole 'hate incident' stems from the news of a mosque being built at the 9/11 site, which many saw as an utter sign of disregard to the victims of the terror attacks.


Burning fiasco

Reverend Terry Jones, a Florida pastor had threatened to burn 200 copies of the Quran on the ninth anniversary of the attacks. He was warned by President Barack Obama that the plan could be used to recruit extremists. He only agreed to cancel the event on one condition that the controversial plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York were axed.


'Blogfather' faces Execution in Iran

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A Canadian-Iranian blogger credited with starting the blogging movement in Iran faces the death penalty over his writings, two watchdog groups said yesterday.

Hossein Derakhshan (35), was arrested after returning to Iran in November 2008 and charged with "collaborating with enemy states, creating propaganda against the Islamic regime, insulting religious sanctity, and creating propaganda for anti-revolutionary groups," said Canadian Journalists for Free Expression (CJFE) and PEN Canada.

According to the two organisations, prosecutors are now calling for Derakhshan to face the death penalty after he was convicted by Tehran's revolutionary court earlier this year.

"The proposed sentence is a travesty," said CJFE president Arnold Amber, calling on the Canadian government to intervene.

"Action must be taken right away because in Iran there is no necessity for lengthy periods before executions can be carried out. We are very concerned," he added.

Catherine Loubier, spokeswoman for Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon, said that Ottawa was "preoccupied" by reports Derakhshan may be executed and was seeking verification of the facts.

The Canadian government has also sought consular access to him. However any further help Canada may provide in this case is "limited," Loubier said, as Tehran does not recognise dual citizenship.

Derakhshan is the third Canadian journalist to be arrested in Iran in recent years.

Aus PM expresses concern but her officials happy with CWG security

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Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard Thursday said the government has issued a travel advisory for its citizens visiting New Delhi for the Commonwealth Games, citing "high risk of terrorism" in the Indian capital.

Her concerns came even as Australian Commonwealth Games Association (ACGA) chief Perry Crosswhite, who is in New Delhi as part of the advance teams from member countries, wrote a letter to the 400-strong Australian team reassuring them that the security at the Village and the other venues "were extensive and well organised".

In Canberra, Gillard told reporters that more Australian officials will be travelling to New Delhi ahead of the Games that begin Oct 3. She stated there was widespread concern about the Games, which have been beset by health and security problems.

"As the government we seek to provide people with the best possible travel advice.

"Our travel advice has made clear that there is a high risk of terrorism in New Delhi. Since 2000 there have been at least 14 major terrorist attacks in New Delhi."

"The government provides publicly the best advice we can. We don't seek to hide anything. This comes down to a decision for individuals," Gillard said.

She said that though security at the Games was the Indian government's responsibility, Australian officials would be present there.

"We have also boosted the number of officials we have in New Delhi and we have others on standby," she said.

The prime minister made it clear that whether Australian athletes compete in New Delhi was a matter for each individual.

Earlier in the day Crosswhite said: "Overall, the impression gained by myself and our team headquarters members is that Games security is extensive and well organised at the Games village," Crosswhite said in a statement.

"From all reports this is the same situation at the Games venues and the airport and along the transport routes."

"Our position regarding Games security remains unchanged and we believe the security risk position for our team is at an acceptable level."

On the issue of cleanliness at the Games' Village, Crosswhite wrote he is confident the athletes' accommodation will be acceptable by the time athletes start arriving Monday.

"Essentially the newly constructed apartment blocks did not have the level of finishing which was expected, and many of the rooms and bathrooms had not been cleaned adequately," Crosswhite said in his letter to all Australian team members.

"Also, because of the current monsoon conditions, water had entered the building in a number of places."

"We are having all apartments professionally cleaned and we are confident that these will be in acceptable condition."

Some 7,000 participants and officials from 71 countries and territories are expected to attend the Oct 3-14 Commonwealth Games, India's biggest sporting event after the 1982 Asian Games it hosted in New Delhi.
Posted by Harshad at 7:25 AM

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