Ratan Tata to retire after 1 lakh car launch

NDTV CorrespondentSunday, December 30, 2007 (New Delhi):India has been waiting since long for Tata’s dream Rs one-lakh car launch. But the proposed launch on January 10 at auto expo show in New Delhi is going to be special for some other reason also. The Head of the Tata Group, Ratan Tata would like to retire from active business life after his dream project gets a successful launch. Tata told a newspaper recently that the launch of the small car would be a best time for him to exit from the business world.Tata Motors, the giant automobile group of more than Rs three trillion market value, is scheduled to unveil the vehicle, which is popularly called as the "People's Car".The Cornell-trained architect Ratan Tata helped in designing the car and aimed to attract the middle class to get off their motorbikes and turn into cars.Marketing the car as the world’s cheapest mass-produced car, Tata recently said that the car would not pollute more than a motorcycle.However, the rival carmakers are not really persuaded about the safety and emission standards of the car, at that price.

Bilawal Bhutto named chairman of PPP

Barkha Dutt, Munizae Jehangir
Sunday, December 30, 2007 (Larkana)
Reports suggest that former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's son Bilawal Bhutto has been named the chairman of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).Bhutto's husband Asif Zardari, Abdul Makhdoom Fahim, deputy leader of PPP and Shah Mehmood Qureshi have reportedly been named co-chairmen of the party.Fahim was widely known as Benazir's right hand man. He led the party in Benazir's absence, from 1999 to October 2007. A Benazir loyalist, Fahim is the quintessential party man, who never wavered in his loyalties towards his leader in all these years. He was in the same vehicle as the now departed leader, at the time she was assassinated.Meanwhile, earlier in the day, Bhutto's close aide Sherry Rehman had told NDTV that PPP cannot thrust party leadership on Bilawal.Rehman had said that Bilawal was keen to complete his studies but that does not rule him out. Even if he is chosen, there might be someone who will take over for some time. A special memorial service, called the soyem, took place for the slain former Pakistan premier in her ancestral village in Larkana in Sind, on the fourth day after her death.Family politicsWhile all eyes are on Bilawal Bhutto, his estranged cousins Fatima and Zulfikar Bhutto junior are slowly building up their political profiles.The children of Benazir's brother Murtaza have often been publicly critical of Benazir's politics.However, speaking exclusively to NDTV's Managing Editor Barkha Dutt in Larkana in Pakistan, Fatima Bhutto says she mourned her aunt as a family member but would express her political differences through her writing instead of party politics

Sholay maker G P Sippy cremated

MUMBAI: Sholay fame veteran producer-director G P Sippy, who passed away on Tuesday night, was cremated in Mumbai on Wednesday, family sources said. He was cremated at 11.45 am on Tuesday at the electric crematorium in Chandanwadi, Marine Lines. His family members and close relatives were present for the funeral. 93-year-old Sippy, who was suffering from age-related ailments for past few months, breathed his last at around 10 pm on Tuesday

Teji Bachchan passes away

MUMBAI: Mother of Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, Teji, on Friday died in a hospital in suburban Mumbai after prolonged illness. She was 93. Wife of Hindi literary great Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Teji was in the Lilavati Hospital for almost the whole of this year and was shifted to the ICU last month after her condition became worse. Details of the cause of her demise were not immediately available. Earlier, members of the Bachchan family, including sons Amitabh and Ajitabh, grandson Abhishek and his wife Aishwarya, arrived at the hospital after learning that her condition deteriorated. Family friends including Samajwadi party leader Amar Singh and Anil Ambani also visited the hospital. The body is likely to be taken to the Bachchan residence in Juhu before the last rites are performed. The second wife of Harivansh Rai Bachchan, Teji was an amatuer actor as well as a singer. Harivansh Rai, himself a renowned Hindi poet, died in 2003 at the age of 96. Born as Teji Suri to Punjabi parents, she married Bachchan in 1941 after the death of his first wife. She was also close to the Nehru-Gandhi family while the Bachchan family was living in Delhi in the late 1950s. Teji's illness had resulted in the Bachchan family curtailing celebrations at their Juhu residence for the past few years on occasions like Holi and Diwali. Abhishek Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai had visited her in the hospital prior to their wedding earlier this year to seek her blessings. All major family events were usually conducted after seeking her blessings.

Google repairs `Orkut' worm

The search giant Google has reportedly repaired a prolific spam worm launched on its social networking site Orkut.
Earlier this week, a Trend Micro engineer Robert McArdle published a blog entry warning that a worm was replicating itself across Orkut using a Flash object that invokes malicious JavaScipt code. "The attack works due to Orkut allowing users to embed Flash content in their scrap posts (although it does filter for normal XSS techniques)," said McArdle in the blog post. "The author appears to have created a SWFObject that calls the malicious JavaScript and was able to use this to bypass Orkut's filters." The attack began as an e-mail message alerting Orkut users that they have a new Scrapbook (guestbook) entry. On receiving the scraps, the members' browsers then downloaded and executed the embedded virus. After adding its victims to a community called "Infectados Pelo Virus Orkut" or "Those Infected by the Orkut Virus," the worm then started to send messages to members of the affected user's friends list. In an email statement Google representative said that Google takes the security of its users very seriously. "We worked quickly to implement a fix for the issue recently reported in Orkut. We also took steps to help prevent similar problems in the future. Service to Orkut was not disrupted during this time." Orkut, Google's first pass at social networking, was launched in January 2004 and named after its creator and Google employee, Orkut Buyukkokten. The site is reported to have in excess of 67 million registered users overall. By comparison, MySpace boasts 110 million users.

Spending Diwali in jail was sad: Dutt

NEW DELHI: Out on bail, actor Sanjay Dutt feels that there is a need to bring about a change in the rules and regulations of Indian prisons which are still following British manuals and he managed to "pull it off" due to his experience of living alone in hostels. "It is not an easy thing. I don't understand the jail rules and regulation. There is no communication, you can't meet your family," he said in a TV interview. "I questioned myself. We got independence 60 years ago and yet we are living in the British times. We follow the same British manuals which have been left behind," the actor said. On whether he would favour a change in the system, he said, ".... I mean I wish I could change the system but I cannot do anything about it. If we can change the system people could be much better". On whether he had wanted to meet his family more often, he said, "It is a very necessary thing to meet them and be connected to them and you can't meet them always. You can meet your family only once a month". "Spending Diwali in jail was a very sad part. I couldn't be with my family," he added. On how he feels after being out of jail, he said, "I think one should not live in the past and move on and carry on with your daily activities and carry on with your work and not be left behind".

LTTE chief Prabhakaran hurt in air raid: report

December 16, 2007 19:39 IST
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief V Prabhakaran sustained injuries during an air raid by Sri Lankan air force jets on November 28, a media report said on Sunday. 'Although the nature of the injuries is minor, he had been treated in an underground facility in a secret location in the Wanni by the LTTE's Thileepan Medical Unit, the official emergency care unit of the LTTE,' the Nation newspaper reported quoting sources.
Prabhakaran was wounded in an underground bunker in the northern district of Kilinochchi, the report said, adding that the government appears to be unaware of the incident.
'A section of the bunker had crumbled and some falling debris had struck the LTTE leader,' the newspaper said.
Earlier last month, the Tamil rebels' political head S P Thamilselvan was killed in an air force raid.
'The November 28 attack by the Air Force near Jeyanthy Nagar in Kilinochchi hit the underground bunker in which Prabhakaran was staying between 12 noon and 1 pm,' the report said.
The LTTE is keeping the incident under wraps because of the demoralising effect it may have on cadres and supporters, the report said. There were no immediate reactions to the story either from the LTTE or the military.