Death for Pandher, Koli in Nithari case

The Special CBI court pronounced death sentence to Nithari killings' convicts Surinder Koli and Moninder Singh Pandher on Friday afternoon, calling the gruesome episode ‘rarest of the rare’ case.

The CBI counsel had earlier asked for death penalty for Surinder Koli but refused to ask for a similar punishment for Pandher.

At least one chapter of the Nithari serial rapes and killings, which had shaken the country's conscience and disgraced the Noida police, has ended on a positive note.

More than two years after the body parts of 19 children and young women, who had been sexually abused and mutilated, were found in a drain behind D-5 house in Noida's Sector 31, the owner, Moninder Singh Pandher, was on Thursday evening convicted for kidnapping, raping and murdering 15-year-old Rimpa Haldar, besides chopping up and hiding her body in the drain.

His servant, Surinder Koli was convicted on the same counts but for attempted rape instead of rape. During interrogation earlier, it had been reported that he was suffering from necrophilia which makes a person sexually attracted to corpses.

The two were also convicted for having criminally conspired to rape and murder Rimpa and hide her body to conceal evidence of the crime.

Special judge Rama Jain delivered the verdict and both accused now face charges which could fetch the death sentence.

When the judge was reading out her order, Pandher and Koli — an odd couple with Pandher from an affluent and elite background whom no one ever suspected of having a darker side — were standing next to each other. Looking anxious and tense, they didn't speak. Pandher was, however, heard telling his son, who was biting his nails, that "Everything is destined, son." Pandher's son, Karan, and his wife rushed out of the court immediately after the verdict and disappeared.

This is the first verdict in Nithari's horror story —the CBI has so far filed chargesheets in 16 cases while three more are awaited. Significantly, the CBI had cleared Pandher of all charges that the Noida police had earlier booked him for except for buying sex and trying to protect Koli. It was on the court's order that Pandher was booked for rape and murder and eventually convicted.

"This case," said a beaming Anil Haldar, father of the victim, "has taken so many twists and turns since the chargesheet was filed on May 7, 2007, that we thought things will not work out. I did not trust the CBI. So I got my own lawyer, Khalid Khan."

Rimpa Haldar had gone missing on June 15, 2005. Anil Haldar had reported this to Noida's Sector 20 police station but the cops registered a kidnapping case only on July 7. They were quite used to telling Nithari villagers complaining about their missing children, mostly girls, that they must have eloped.

After the Nithari killings were unearthed on December 29, 2006, with the discovery of the gunny bags in the drain which contained the gory, tell-tale evidence — the skulls stuffed in 57 gunny bags contained almost 700 pieces of bones — things started moving.

But with the Nithari victims' families not having any faith in the city police, the case was transferred to the CBI. It took charge of the case on January 11, 2007. Finally, the trial in the case of Rimpa began on July 4, 2007.

On February 2 last year, counsel for Anil Haldar Khalid Khan produced documents in which Pandher had been accused of paying bribes to police officers to hush up the case against him. Area police post chief Simranjit Kaur had even been arrested for accepting bribes from Pandher; she remains in jail. Also, Anil Haldar deposed in court to say that Pandher had led to the recovery of a saw used in the murders, in his presence.

So, on February 27 last year the court ordered that Pandher, too, should be booked for the rape and murders of six girls, including Rimpa.

On January 23 this year, the court summoned former Noida deputy superintendent of police Dinesh Yadav after Haldar told the court about some documents allegedly fabricated in the case to get Pandher off the hook.

Then, on January 27, sub-inspector RR Dixit, who had signed the recovery memo of the skulls and a saw, told Jain that both Pandher and Koli had led to the recoveries.

When it was denied that any such entry had been made in the case diary, Khalid Khan produced a copy of the application the Noida police made before a Noida judge, on December 30, 2005 to seek the remand of "both Pandher and Koli" to recover the weapons and any more body parts.

After this, things had become rather difficult for the CBI. The judge ordered the statements of RR Dixit and Dinesh Yadav to be recorded on January 30. Then, she fixed Thursday for delivering the verdict.


source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Indian woman gives birth at age of 70

Rajo Devi, who married 50 years ago, gave birth to a baby girl on November 28, and is now thought to be the world's oldest new mother.

Dr Anurag Bishnoi, a doctor at the Hisar fertility centre in Haryana state, said: "Rajo Devi and (her husband) Bala Ram approached the centre for treatment and the embryo transfer was done on April 19.

"Both the mother and child are in good health."

A 67-year-old Spanish woman who had twins in 2006 was thought to have been the previous oldest mother.

Devi's husband, aged 72, had also wed his wife's sister after 10 years of his first marriage did not result in children. His second wife also failed to become pregnant.

It was not clear whose egg and sperm were used in the successful treatment.

Dr Bishnoi, who helped the couple realise their dream, said both the mother and child were in good health.

"IVF has revolutionised the way we look at infertility," said Mr Bishnoi. "Infertility is no longer a social taboo or a divine curse. It can be treated scientifically."

"Adriana Iliescu, a retired university lecturer in Romania, was the oldest woman to have given birth. She delivered at the age of 66 in 2006. Maria Del, a Spanish woman, gave birth by the IVF treatment at the age of 67. And now, Rajo Devi has become the oldest woman to have given birth and the first woman in her seventies to do so," claimed Dr Bishnoi.

"Another woman of her age is reported to have delivered a child at Muzzafarnagar, but she was previously fertile," he added.

New mother Rajo Devi, "We longed for a child all these years and now we are very happy to have one in the twilight years of our life."

Husband Ram said he wasn't worrying over who would look after the child if they died.

"The upbringing of the child is not a problem. We have a joint family as is common in rural Haryana," he said.

The couple said they were facing social stigma for being childless for the last 55 years.

"We used the usual intra cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) technique in her case. The ICSI method enables even poor quality sperms being used creating embryos," said Dr Bishnoi.

He said his parents and wife, all doctors, performed the procedure together. "The major concern for us was that in case the woman conceived twins, she may not be able to carry them through the full term of pregnancy. In that case, all over efforts would have failed and the woman's life would have been in danger," Bishnoi said.

To avoid multiple pregnancies, the doctors used blastocyst culture, where a single potential embryo is transferred to the uterus instead of the normal two to three embryos. "This embryo is transferred after five days in this technique, while in normal cases it is done in two-three days," he added.

"Rajo is the eldest of four siblings. She is elder to me by about 16 years. We all prayed she would get a child and even married our other sister to Bala Ram in this hope. Now the whole family is very happy that she has a child," said Chand Ram, Rajo Devi's brother who is a sub inspector in Haryana Police at Panchkula.

source:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

TERROR STRIKES MUMBAI AGAIN, 101 KILLED

Fresh gunshots rang out Thursday morning at the Hotel Taj where security forces battled terrorists holding hostages after a night of horror that left 101 people dead and over 250 injured in India's most audacious terror attack.

As soldiers, police and elite commandos fanned out across the country's commercial capital to rescue hostages and kill terrorists who stormed the city at night and struck at seven sites in the business hub of south Mumbai, one of the terrorists claimed that the attack was to avenge the "persecution" of Muslims in India.

The otherwise bustling city -- home to Bollywood -- was still on edge, more than 12 hours after a large but unknown number of terrorists armed with automatic rifles and grenades sneaked into Mumbai by the sea, a clear indication that they must be foreigners.

Desperate to cope with a situation they had never encountered before, the authorities declared a holiday in Mumbai Thursday. The Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange were ordered closed for the day.

source :
http://www.zeenews.com/

Kerala’ longest snake boat in Guinness book

A steel-made snake boat has entered the Guinness Book of World Records here for recently carrying 141 persons and being the longest ever made boat of its kind. The previous record was of 118 people on board.

A first of its kind in Kerala, the steel boat is 143.25 feet long and 5.74 feet wide. It weighs eight tonnes and has been christened as ''Aries Chundan''.

On May 1, the boat carried a crew of 141 rowers, including five helmsmen, in Punnamada Lake in Alapuzha district.

"We called all our boat rovers in Kainagiri and made an attempt with 141 people on it. This time we have been successful to have so many people on board. Last time, our attempt with 118 persons went in vain," said Sohan Roy S.K, Chief Executive Officer for ARIES Group.

The boat was already registered in the Limca Book of World Records as the longest steel made snake board.

The special boat has been designed scientifically, as it is based on the latest scientific methods of Naval architecture. The shape and stability has been designed using the world famous ''Autoship'' software.

The strength has been analyzed by finite element method. An overhanging test was also conducted to analyze the longitudinal strength practically and a sinking tests to prove its un-sinkability.

"For this design we had to spend about six months because the stability, strength were very critical for us. We had done a practical test on it called ‘the over hanging test’ which was successful. Next was the immersing test where the boat was put in water," said Sohan Roy S.K, Chief Executive Officer, ARIES Group.

The boats of Kerala are older than 400 years. They were the traditional battle vessels meant for logistics during war between erstwhile kings.

The boats are categorized and named according to shapes, sizes and purposes. The Chundanvallam is so called because of its pointed prow.

The term snake boat indicates the shape of the stern, which resembles the raised hood of a snake. The front end of this type of boat will be tapering in shape. The rear end will be highly elevated from the water-level.

The annual snake boat race in Alapuzha is a major tourist attraction.


source :
http://www.zeenews.com/

Spicy girls of West Bengal

They are just five and seven years old, but it's not chocolates and chips that Joshna and Shanti are after. Both the sisters in this seaside village love to eat three kilos of green chillies each every day!

Shanti and Joshna, the daughters of fisherman Jatin Sadhu, are considered "miracle children" in their village, about 200 km from Kolkata.

"Shanti started having chillies when she was two years old and Joshna had her first chilli at the age of four. They never complain that the chillies are hot, nor do they ever develop a sore mouth. Every day they need 2-3 kg of chillies each," Jatin said.

"They chew on chillies as if they are having toffees and juicy fruits."

There's never a dearth of chillies, as Jatin's brother-in-law Arun Mondal is a chilli farmer.

"Often Arun takes my daughters to his chilli farm. One day he saw Shanti plucking chillies one after another and eating them. He thought the child would soon scream but no such thing happened. After that Shanti got addicted to chillies. Joshna too joined her sister soon," Jatin said.

Neighbours say the sisters are "blessed" and that is why they do not find the chillies hot.

"The Sadhu sisters are blessed. Else how can they do such a miracle every day!" wondered neighbour Laxmi Sadhukhan.

Jatin took the girls to a local doctor for a thorough checkup.

"But the doctor, Swapan Samadder, found them fit," Jatin said.

Samadder said the taste buds of the girls were apparently unable to distinguish anything hot.

"Their taste buds seem not to detect the taste of anything hot. But it's surprising that even their livers and other internal organs are not affected after eating so many chillies every day. It's a very rare case in medical science.

"Nevertheless, I have requested the father to keep his daughters away from chillies because I am sure in the long run it will affect their health," Samadder said.

Jatin said he did try to keep his daughters away from chillies.

"As a result my daughters stopped eating and started vomiting. Only after I gave them chillies did they become normal!"


source :
http://www.zeenews.com/

Might keep Gurez open to tourists longer: JK Gov

Efforts will be made to keep the scenic Gurez valley, known for its Habakhatoon hill, open to tourist traffic for longer duration, Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra said here today.

Located on the Line of Control and usually remaining cut off for most part of the year owing to heavy snowfall, Gurez was brought in the tourist map early this year.

The Gurez-Tulail road would be kept open for longer duration to ensure speedy development of this border sub division, Vohra said while interacting with locals and officials.

He said the issue would be raised with the Border Roads Organisation, which maintains the vital highways and roads in the valley.

In view of the tourism potential of the area, he said an amount of Rs three crore has already been sanctioned for infrastructure development.

Vohra indicated a special recruitment drive by the police could be carried out after Eid-ul-Fitr and directed that winter stocking of rations and diesel be completed by October five.

He announced the release of Rs 70 lakh for the procurement and stocking of diesel, as the area is entirely dependent on generators for power. An amount of Rs 50 lakh has already been earmarked for this purpose.

Reviewing the pace of progress on various projects at a meeting with district and senior level officers, the governor sanctioned Rs one crore for the new 'Dak' Bungalow, Rs 65 lakh for construction of the Wanpora bridge and an additional Rs 30 lakh for the hospital complex currently under execution.


source : http://www.zeenews.com/

Indian unity defies terror

Indian Capital Delhi once again thrilled up when five serial bomb blasts were made by the terrorists at three most important places in the capital. More than two dozen peoples lost their lives in these blasts and more than one hundred & fifty peoples were injured in this tragedy.

Ignoring the terrorist's inhuman activities, the festival season is in full swing now in India, as India is well known for its festivals of the different castes & communities. The Indian Hindu community recently organized its religious festival Ganesh Pooja with full devotion, whereas the Muslims were busy in its pious month of Ramzan. In the next few days there are preparations to celebrate the famous festivals of Dushehra, the DurgaPooja and the Ied-Ul-fiter.

This country presents an example of unity among diversities and the festivals of all the communities are associated with the religious importance. At the same time these festivals present a rare example of communal harmony and equality for all the religions. Perhaps no country in the world can show such a thing. Surprisingly, these examples are seen in India even at the time when the terrorists and communal powers are doing their best efforts day and night, to break the communal harmony Let us see, such events, associated with Indian communal harmony.

In Barara, a town in Haryana, there is its fame for making the highest effigy of Ravana on the Dushehra day during last years. Even this year they are trying to set a record for the Asia's highest effigy of Ravana on the Dushehra festival eve. The president and founder of the Ram leela club Rana tejinder singh chauhan, with the help of his hundreds of companions, has been doing his best to get the highest effigy of Ravana prepared for last four months.

To help him in this project, a Muslim family of Mohammad Usman has come from famous Taj city, Agra. After covering a distance of 500 km. from his hometown, Mohamand Usman and his family members are staying at Barara as special guests for the last four months, with Tejinder Singh Chauhan.

Muhammad Usman has a deep desire from the care of heart to help Tejinder Singh Chauhan in establishing the record in the country and after that now in the world. During the preparation of this huge effigy of Ravana the holy month of Ramzan also passed. Mohammad Usman and his family keep Roza 'fast' in a regular way.

Tajinder Singh Chauhan makes complete arrangement with full devotion for his Roza's. Not only this, when his wife felt a need for the Quraan sharif (A holly Islamic Book) in the beginning of Ramzan, Chauhan himself took the trouble to go to book stall that kept the religious books and get it for the wife of Mohd. Usman. He fulfilled other religious necessities for completing the religious ceremonies. Usman himself accepts the fact that he gets the highest regards and religious freedom while doing his work at the directed structure of Ravana here at Barara.

Perhaps that regard and freedom he may not get among his own community members. That is why he happily accepts the invitation from Chauhan every year and comes to Barara with his skilled workers and his family. In this regard Tejinder Singh states that he feels happy to do his duty to fulfill the religious necessities of Mohammad Usman and his relatives. He feels in this work as doing Indian custom of 'the guests are the gods' Chauhan says that he is attempting to get the world record of making the huge effigy to be entered in the guinnies book of world records. The effigy is being prepared by Mohammad Usman under his directions. If it is so, the Ravana effigy for this year in the town Barara will not only set a record for its height and giant ness but it will also set a rare example of Indian communal harmony.

Similarly the festival of Ganesh pooja, like other years, is presenting an example of communal harmony, this year too. Where the great hero of Indian film industry, Salman khan was seen celebrating Ganesh pooja with full devotion at the same time, in many parts of India, the Ganesh pooja festival was organized by the Muslim community. Not only this, in many Ganesh pooja organizations the Ganesh statue was setup by the Muslims in their houses and these were properly worshipped. In the festival Ganesh pooja Visarjan many persons from the Muslim community took part in it, in large number. Another famous film actor, shahrukh khan too celebrate all the Hindus and the Muslims festival with great zeal in his house, by celebrating all the festivals such as the Holi, the Diwali, the Id, and the baqrid, with his near and dear ones, he shows an examples of a real Indian.

These functions of all religious and communal harmony are celebrated not only by the rich and wealthy or famous persons but the poor and helpless people in India; too have the strong feeling of celebrating these festivals with great zeal. For example, 19 districts of Bihar state in India are badly affected because of severe floods that were caused by the Kosi river dam breakage. The victims without any religious discrimination took part in religious festivals of one another and provided shelters to the victims. The collective functions and prayers were organized at many places to get rid of the disaster. These prayers from both the communities were done under one roof at many places. At the time of flood in the month of Ramzan, the Hindus helped the Muslims and at some places these are news that the Hindus too observed the Roza .

As there is news that the Muslims are involve in most of the events of terrorism in India. For this there are news of bad attempts for polarization of votes by the Hindutvawadi powers in Gujrat and at the same time the examples of communal harmony easily makes one to understand that on this holy land of Ramanand, Kabir, Nanak, Chishti, Khusroo, Baba Farid and bulleshah the attempts to spoil the communal harmony cannot succeed. No terrorist organization can uproot the plants of communal harmony in this country of saints and hermits.

source :
http://www.westender.com.au/

Surat is India's youngest city: Study

Here is one more proof that youth of the nation are drivers of its economic growth. Surat, the city with fastest GDP growth and richest households nationally, is also the city with the maximum youth in the country.

Even as the world celebrates International Youth Day on Tuesday, a study by National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and Roopa Purshothaman of Future Capital Research says that 73.8 per cent of Surat's population is below 35 years.

Effectively, nearly 33 lakh of the 45 lakh people living in Surat are youngsters, pushing up Surat's growth. Ahmedabad, the only other city from Gujarat in the study of 20 cities, has finished 14th.

Experts say migrants have injected the energy of youth into the city.

As Akash Acharya, 33, of Centre for Social Studies in Surat, puts it: "Only people in the working age migrate in large numbers and take advantage of the city's industrial growth."

He adds that the city will continue to be the youngest for some time. "Once migrants grow older, they go back home and more migrants come in. This factor will help the city keep growing."

Interestingly, it is not just industrial labourers migrating here. Among the few young Turks to make Surat their home is Vardan Kabra, 34, an IIM-A graduate who has started a school in the city. "When I came here five years ago, I saw that the city was growing very fast and it had good infrastructure. I chose to stay back."

Kabra adds he chose Surat for its proximity to both Mumbai and Ahmedabad. Like Kabra, IIT-Mumbai graduate Amit Saraf also came to city to start a beauty saloon. "I was drawn to Surat by its economic environment. It's affordable to start a new business here."

source : http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Himachal traces Pandavas` footprint

In a bid to bring the rich historical root of Himachal Pradesh out of oblivion and to promote tourism, the state government is conducting a survey to find evidence of places linked with visit of the Pandavas.

"Survey is underway to find evidence for these historical references of visit of the Pandavas to the state during their 14 years of banishment to forest and on other occasions," said Prem Sharma, Director, Department of Language and Culture.

The objective behind the exercise is to trace the rich historical root of Himachal Pradesh popularly called "Dev bhoomi" (land of lords) and promote tourism by developing these sites, Sharma said.

"Historical texts say that during their banishment the Pandavas had stayed at Hatkoti which falls in the modern day's Shimla district," he said adding that there is a temple of Hidimba, wife of mighty Bhima, at Kullu.

There is also reference of Arjuna travelling to 'Kinner' country which is considered to be the modern day Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, the director said.

To corroborate all these historical references with evidence, researchers of the state Language and Culture department are conducting the detailed survey expected to be completed in a year, Sharma said.

He said memorials would be built at the places where evidences are found about the links with Pandavas.

According to the epic Mahabharta, Pandavas -- a group of five brothers namely Yudhisthir, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakul and Sehdev -- were forced to live in jungle for 14 years.

source : http://www.zeenews.com/

Delhi Metro to introduce 131 new trains

Delhi Metro will add 131 more trains, some of them with six coaches, to its fleet to cater to the additional traffic caused due to the increasing number of passengers.

"The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation has ordered 131 more trains to cater to the additional traffic," DMRC spokesman Anuj Dayal said.

He said some of the these trains sets would have six coaches on those stretches which are very crowded.

The number of passengers using Delhi Metro services crossed eight lakhs mark on Monday and yesterday for the first time, Dayal said, adding that ridership on Monday was 8.05 lakh and yesterday it was 8.14 lakh.

The new trains are currently being manufactured and will be pressed into service as soon as they are ready, he said.

The earning of the Delhi Metro from passengers revenue was around Rs 90 lakh per day on Monday and yesterday consequently, Dayal said.

The average daily ridership on Delhi Metro has been 7.26 lakh this month.


source :
http://www.zeenews.com/

India goes on alert as further city bombings feared

MAJOR INDIAN cities were on alert yesterday, anticipating further attacks after two successive days of serial bombings that ripped through a communally-sensitive western city and an information technology hub in the south, killing 51 people.

"The entire nation has been asked to step up security at vital installations", a federal home ministry spokesman said following bomb attacks at Ahemdabad in Gujarat state on Saturday evening and in the country's software capital, Bangalore, 24 hours earlier.

Police said 16 bombs exploded within one hour in the evening in Ahemdabad's teeming bazaars, congested neighbourhoods and hospitals tending to the injured in the affluent and Muslim-dominated city, killing 49 people, including women and children and wounding over 160 others.

Containing ammonium nitrate, gelatine sticks and ball-bearings, the bombs were strapped to bicycles and motorcycles, secreted inside lunch boxes and under seats in crowded public buses and detonated with timers at staggered intervals.

Ahemdabad police commissioner OP Mathur said an unexploded bomb had been found in the city and two others in the nearby diamond-cutting centre of Surat, and defused. Around 30 people, he said, had been detained for questioning but declined to elaborate.

The plan behind the meticulously planned bombings. federal home minister Shivraj Patil said. was to trigger communal strife between the majority Hindus and Muslims in the normally turbulent city. He appealed for calm.

The little-known "Indian Mujahideen" or Islamic warriors group claimed responsibility for the Ahmedabad attack in a lengthy e-mail to television news channels minutes before the first bomb exploded at about 6.30pm on Saturday. It declared the bombings were to avenge the month-long pogrom in 2002 in Gujarat in which over 2,500 people, mostly Muslims, were killed by rampaging Hindu mobs.

Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), one of India's most controversial politicians, was accused by human rights activists and MPs of connivance in the riots, for which the US has refused to issue him a visa.

The BJP was also in power in Bangalore, capital of Karnataka province, where eight bombs exploded in under an hour on Friday, killing two people and paralysing the hi-tech city that caters to multinational software companies and western financial institutions.

Earlier, "Indian Mujahideen" claimed responsibility for the serial bombings that killed 63 people in the western tourist city of Jaipur - also ruled by the BJP - in May and in northern Uttar Pradesh state last November in which 10 others died.

In a similar document sent minutes before the Jaipur bombings to TV channels, the "Indian Mujahideen" stated the attack was in retaliation to India supporting the US and Britain on "international issues" and warned that if this alliance continued, more strikes would follow.

Indian and western security officials, however, claimed the "Indian Mujahideen" was a "smokescreen" for Muslim militant groups based in neighbouring Bangladesh and Pakistan with the aim of fomenting sectarian tension in India. They said these groups had long been fighting India's control over the disputed Kashmir province, its recent regional and global economic status and its strategic and defence co-operation with the West, especially the US.

Federal Intelligence Bureau sources said the attacks demonstrated the capability of the foreign insurgent groups to strike "anywhere" and at "anytime" across India by using disaffected Muslims as "carriers". Some 13 per cent of India's population of more than 1.2 billion is Muslim.

In excess of 550 people have died in 11 well-co-ordinated terrorist attacks across India since October 2005. None of them had been solved so far and no arrests made.

The first round of Ahemdabad's bombings took place near busy markets, followed by explosions some 25 minutes later in and around two hospitals where the injured were being rushed.

A doctor, his three-month pregnant wife and another doctor were killed in explosions at two adjoining hospitals within a two-mile radius. "Never before have we seen such ruthless bombings of hospitals. The terrorists' objective was to strike the defenceless and deepen the fear," a senior security official said.

"I came with my two children to cheer up my mother admitted to hospital," said Pankaj Patel, whose son Rohan and daughter Pratha were killed at Ahmedadad hospital. They were laughing when the blast occurred.

Army troops patrolled Ahemdabad, and police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across the city to prevent the outbreak of any sectarian violence.

source : http://www.irishtimes.com/

Mumbai is the costliest Indian city

Strengthening rupee and growing aspirational demand has made four Indian cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai — increasingly expensive for expatriates to live in, a latest global survey says.

Moscow has emerged as the most expensive city for the third consecutive year, according to the survey conducted by global consulting firm Mercer. It is followed by Tokyo, London, Oslo and Seoul, the top five cities in the 'Worlwide Cost of Living 2008' survey.

All cities in India rose in the cost of living ranking due to strengthening of the rupee against the US dollar, with Mumbai moving to the 48th place in the March survey this year, compared to the 52nd position in the same period last year, while the national capital New Delhi climbed to the 55th place from 68th a year ago.

Chennai and Bangalore also improved their positions to 117 and 118 ranks, respectively in the survey, which comprised 143 cities globally.

Last year, Chennai had been ranked at the 133rd position, while Bangalore was at the 134th place, the survey revealed.

"Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai are racing up the ladder from a cost of living perspective, having moved up over 12 ranks from Mercer's last survey conducted six months ago," said Gangapriya Chakraverti, Mercer business leader for information product solutions, India.

"A strengthening rupee and growing but unfulfilled demand for expatriate-style housing are factors that have contributed significantly to the changes in the ranking of Indian cities," Chakraverti added.

Mercer's survey covers 143 cities across six continents and measures the comparative cost of over 200 items in each location, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment.

It is a comprehensive cost of living survey and is used to help multinational companies and governments determine cost of living allowances for their expatriate employees.

Although the traditionally expensive cities of Western Europe and Asia still feature in the top 20, cities in Eastern Europe, Brazil and India are creeping up the list, while some locations such as Stockholm and New York now appear less costly by comparison, the survey revealed.

In Asia, Tokyo has emerged as the costliest city (2nd rank) followed by Seoul (5th) and Hong Kong at 6th rank. However, Karachi continues to be the least expensive city in this region holding the 141st place in the global ranking.

"Increase in rankings for cities such as Singapore and Philippines can be attributed to their highly valued quality of living and increasing attractiveness of Philippines as an alternative investment location to China and India," Mercer's Asia-Pacific Head of Information Product Solutions Neo Siew Khim said.


source :
http://www.zeenews.com/

Indian Mujahideen claims responsibility for Jaipur blasts

A mysterious e-mail by an outfit known as "Indian Mujahideen" has claimed responsibility for Tuesday's blasts in Jaipur. The central security agencies and Rajasthan Police are now trying to work out the source of the mail which has warned about more such attacks in the country.

The police have detained a cyber cafe owner in Ghaziabad from where the e-mail claiming responsibility for Jaipur serial blasts was reportedly sent.

Shyam Bir, owner of a cyber cafe in Sahibabad area of Ghaziabad, is being interrogated by police officials to find out the details of the persons who may have sent the e-mail.

The e-mail, which was sent last night to various television channels, has given the frame number (129489) of the bicycle which was planted at Choti Chaupad near Kotwali in the Pink City.

The frame number of a bicycle recovered by the Rajasthan Police from the spot is same, informed sources said, adding the e-mail was written yesterday from a cyber cafe in Sahibabad in the outskirts of the capital.

The e-mail ID used was-guru_alhindi_jaipur@yahoo.co.uk, the sources said, noting that the account was created yesterday itself using the UK domain of the Yahoo.

The e-mail warned India should stop supporting the US in the international arena, "and if you do continue then get ready to face more attacks at other important tourist places".


Source : http://www.saharasamay.com/

60 killed, 150 injured as terror strikes Pink City

Terror struck the Pink City (Jaipur) for the first time on Tuesday evening as serial blasts killed at least 60 people and injured more than 150. Starting around 7.30 p.m. there were nine or 10 blasts within 15 minutes at six crowded places, including in the vicinity of two Hanuman temples, in the Walled City area.

Rajasthan Home Minister Gulab Chand Kataria confirmed 60 dead and 150 injured though unofficial sources said the casualties could be higher.

Eyewitnesses said they could count 60 bodies in the overflowing mortuary of the City’s leading hospital, Sawai Man Singh. Some bodies were reportedly kept in the satellite hospital, Kanwatia, and a private hospital, Santokbha Durlabhji Memorial.

The blasts caused panic in the entire city while the authorities sealed off the Walled City. No traffic was allowed through its historic gates. The communication system also was jammed with mobiles not giving out signals.

The former Rajasthan Chief Minister, Ashok Gehlot, who spoke to Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, said the Centre had assured the State authorities all possible help to handle the situation. Union Minister of State for Home Jaiswal is reaching here on Wednesday.

Director-General Police A.S. Gill told this correspondent that forensic experts were still verifying the nature of the explosives. He did not confirm the use of RDX but said high intensity explosives were used in the bombs.

The blasts outside the temples targeted the devotees who gather in large numbers on Tuesdays. One temple is at Sanganeri Gate, while the other is at Chandpole.

The Chandpole blast was said to be of less intensity while the explosion on Maniharon ka Rasta near the victory tower, Sargasuli at Tripolia, was the most powerful.

Source :

http://www.hindu.com/