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US woman held in Iran ’with spy equipment in teeth’

TEHRAN - Iranian officials have arrested an American woman on spying charges after she tried to enter the country from Armenia "with spying equipment in her teeth," Fars news agency reported on Thursday.

Tata Motors launches Venture at Rs 4.05 lakh

Tata Motors on Thursday launched its new multi-purpose diesel vehicle ’Venture’ in Rajathan. "We are launching the product first in Rajathan and later it will be launched in other states. The vehicle is with the footprint and manoeuvrability of a hatchback car, but the interior space of a utility vehicle," the company’s Head Marketing and Sales S Saxena said.

Jumbo ride

Children greet an elephant being transported on a truck in the eastern city of Siliguri yesterday. The animal was taken from Balurghat village of South Dinajpur to Siliguri. Forest officials said the elephant will be released at the Garumara National Park. The wild elephant was captured after it caused havoc in a village. Man-elephant conflicts are on the rise in India as villagers and farmers encroach on the natural habitats of pachyderms.

Passengers overpower hijacker on Norway-Turkey flight

ISTANBUL - Passengers aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Oslo overpowered a would-be hijacker as the plane landed at Istanbul airport on Wednesday, fellow passengers told Turkish media. Police said the man was a Turk who had demanded that the plane return to Norway. His motive was unclear. According to the Turkish Dogan news agency, he tried to force his way into the cockpit of the plane saying: "I have a bomb."

Pilot spills coffee, triggers hijack alert

A Transport Canada report said United Flight 940 was diverted to Toronto late Monday and landed safely at Pearson International Airport. In a twist reminiscent of the plot of the 1964 Glenn Ford movie ’Fate Is the Hunter’, the coffee spill caused distress signals to go out, including code 7500, which means hijacking or unlawful interference. The report says Canada’s defense department was notified, but that with the help of United dispatch staff the flight crew confirmed it to be a communication issue and not a hijacking.

’Munni’, ’Sheila’ are a public nuisance: PIL

New Delhi: A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court by a social activist from Lucknow, Dr Nutan Thakur, for banning two songs - ’Munni badnaam hui’ and ’Sheila ki jawaani’. The PIL claims that the two songs have become a nuisance for young girls and women, who have names similar to the characters in ’Munni badnaam hui’ and ’Sheila ki jawaani’.

Mystery bird deaths spreading in US, Sweden

New York, Stockholm: The mysterious incident of birds falling from the sky has gone beyond United States now. Dozens of jackdaws were found dead in Sweden after several cases in Kentucky and Louisiana.

RSS Ideology and Scandalous Statementsby Ram Puniyani

Obituary: Gilbert Lasrado, Teacher of St. Germain’s High School, Bangalore. Expired on 5th January 2011.

Eight children injured as buses collide

Abu Dhabi: A school bus carrying 25 pupils, including children in kindergarten collided with two other buses yesterday morning injuring eight of them. Ahmad Al Zaidi, head of the serious accidents investigation division of Abu Dhabi Police, Traffic and Patrol Department, attributed the accident to a driver losing control.

Marriage cancelled after bride’s father makes salary demand

Saudi couple’s marriage cancelled after the bride’s father insisted on getting half her salary for life Manama: A Saudi groom cancelled his wedding ceremony at the last minute after the bride’s father insisted on getting half of his daughter’s salary as long as he lived and on writing a clause to the effect in the marriage contract.

Karnataka to bear training expense of London Olympics-bound athletes

Karnataka government today honoured top international sportspersons from the state with cash incentives and said it is ready to foot the training expense bills of those, who would qualify for the London Olympics in 2012. The announcement was made by chief minister B S Yeddyurappa at a funcion where the sportspersons, who won medals at the recent Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and Commonwealth Youth Games were felicitated. Gold, silver and bronze medal winners at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games from the state walked away with Rs 10 lakh, Rs seven lakh and Rs five lakh, respectively.

Air India ups fuel surcharge by up to Rs 200

In line with an up to Rs 200 hike in fuel surcharge on domestic travel by two private carriers, state-run Air India today increased the same across its domestic sectors by a similar amount. Air India has raised fuel surcharge by Rs 100 for travel up to 750 km and Rs 200 for flights over 750 km, an Air India spokesperson told PTI here."The hike was necessitated following the steep spike in aviation fuel prices in the past few months," the spokesperson pointed out.

Coke ropes in Sachin, strikes 3 year deal for nearly Rs 20 crore

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is understood to have finalised a three year endorsement deal estimated around Rs 20 crore with beverage major Coca Cola, after rival PepsiCo dropped him about two-and-half years back. According to industry sources, Coke has struck a three year deal estimated to be worth around Rs 6 crore per year with the ace batsman.PepsiCo had dropped Tendulkar as part of its strategy to phase-out aging brand ambassadors, which included ex-India captains Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid and Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan.

PO loses passport, blames applicant

What made matters worse for him was that the postman refused to accept responsibility and tried to put the blame on the resident himself. Subhash K (name changed), 24, had applied for a passport at the Passport Seva Kendra. When the passport was despatched to him, he received an SMS informing him on its arrival, along with the tracking number of the post.

Murli Deora signals no hike in diesel prices

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will not increase in diesel prices for now, the oil minister signalled on Wednesday, as the government walks a tightrope between reducing the burden of subsidies and tackling public anger over inflation. Last week, India deferred a ministerial panel meeting to discuss a possible increase in diesel and cooking gas prices. While oil companies in India can set petrol prices, diesel and cooking fuel are fixed by the state.

Two Britons detained in Philippines over job scam.

MANILA - Two British men have been detained in the Philippines and could face long jail sentences for allegedly running a scam offering Filipinos non-existent jobs abroad, legal officials said Wednesday. The two took 1.75 million pesos (40,000 dollars) in fees from 12 Filipinos in exchange for getting them work in Britain but failed to deliver, said Kenneth Dasal, legal officer of the Manila suburb where they are being charged. "They were caught by a police investigator posing as a job-seeker in a ’sting’ operation," Dasal told AFP.

MIT to raise the bar for engg: Cherukara

MANIPAL: The three-day conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering-2011 began at the Manipal Institute of Technology here on Monday. The conference coincides with the 50th anniversary of the department of mechanical and manufacturing engineering, which is organizing the event. An alumnus of the 1985 batch, Thomas J Cherukara, director,

Reliance executive killed by girlfriend’s brother

NEW DELHI: A young Reliance executive paid with his life on New Year day here for his relationship with a woman when her brother, who was against the affair, and his four friends allegedly burnt him to death, according to police. All the five, aged between 19 and 24 years, were arrested recently for the murder of Vaibhav Mishra (28), Territorial Manager with Reliance Communications, within 30 minutes into the New Year.

Israeli ’spy’ vulture caught in Saudi Arabia

Manama: Saudi nationals have seized a vulture wearing a Tel Aviv University tag and a transmitter, prompting speculations that it was used by Mossad, the Israeli spying agency, to gather intelligence on the area. Reports this week said that a vulture was seized near Hail in the northern part of the country and that it was wounded.