CBI charges Ramadoss in a corruption case

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New Delhi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against former union health minister Anbumani Ramadoss and nine others in a Delhi court in a corruption case.

Ramadoss allegedly misused his position to give clearance to a medical college in Indore in 2008. According to the chargesheet, Ramadoss, two doctors of the Safdarjung hospital in Delhi, and owner of Index Medical College, Indore are the main accused in the case.

Ramadoss on Sept 28, 2008 gave permission to the college for admissions overruling the Medical Council of India (MCI) that said the college was deficient in infrastructure.

The Health Ministry on same day had told the Supreme Court that permission can't be given because of deficiencies. But on the same evening, Ramadoss overturned his own ministry's stand and gave the permission.

Should you buy the New iPad?

I have grown fond of my iPad 2 during the past nine months. So, I was curious if I would like my tablet computer any less once I saw Apple's new and improved iPad.

The verdict: I won't be abandoning my iPad 2 for its sexier successor anytime soon.

Although Apple Inc.'s latest temptress may turn some heads, the new iPad isn't radically different from last year's model.

If you don't already own a tablet computer, and want one, then the new iPad will be tough to resist - if you can afford it. The new iPad's alluring screen quality provides the main attraction. A higher-resolution screen called "Retina Display" makes everything - from vacation pictures to the text on a website - look crisper. By Apple's calculations, the new iPad offers four times the resolution of its predecessor.

For that reason, you're more likely to buy the new iPad if you are a shutterbug, a video game fanatic or someone who enjoys watching movies on a smaller but luscious screen.

Empty stores, sunbathing bulls welcome Apple's New iPad in India

New Delhi: India is a market with a mind of its own. Unlike the serpentine queues on the opening day in other countries where Apple's New iPad tablet went on sale, the store we went to was deserted.

There was no signs of excitement about a new product launch at iMagine, an Apple Premium Reseller in Nodia's commercial hub Sector 18. Apple does not yet have any company owned company operated stores in India. Apple's products in India are retailed from the 35 Apple Premium Resellers or from multi-brand stores.

When we went to the Noida Apple store at about half past nine in the morning, the only sign of life was a bull basking in the sun outside. We tweeted the image from@IBNLiveTech and it went viral on Twitter.

Ankit Tuteja/IBNLive.com

When the store finally opened at about 11 AM and we stepped in, the New iPad wasn't even on display. Freshly unloaded boxes with iPads inside were lying in a corner.

About half-an-hour later the first customer Dheeraj Singh, stepped in. He wanted a 64GB model for his wife and was disappointed to know that it wasn't in stock and being the Apple loyalist that he says he is, chose a 32GB Wi-Fi model instead.

Galaxy phones power Samsung to record $5.2 billion profit

Seoul: Samsung Electronics posted a record $5.2 billion quarterly profit as it shifted over 20,000 Galaxy smartphones an hour in January-March, outselling Apple's iPhone in a duel for the lucrative high end of the mobile industry.

Chairman Lee Kun-hee's South Korean group, whose $190 billion market value is 11 times that of Japanese rival Sony Corp, sold 93.5 million handsets in the first quarter - more than one in every four sold around the world - according to Strategy Analytics. That included 44.5 million smartphones, giving it a 30.6 percent share of the high-end market. Apple's sales of 35.1 million iPhones gave it a 24.1 per cent share.

"Samsung and Apple are out-competing most major rivals and the smartphone market is at risk of becoming a two-horse race," said Neil Mawston, an analyst at Strategy Analytics.

The near duopoly in high-end smartphones is not expected to change much this year or next, according to Bernstein analysts, and Samsung will look to keep that momentum going next week with the launch in London of a third generation of the flagship Galaxy S, hoping to boost sales ahead of the summer Olympics, where the group is among the leading sponsors.

"The Galaxy S 3's specifications are expected to be sensational and it's already drawing strong interest from the market and consumers," said Brian Park, an analyst at Tong Yang Securities.

Joseph Anton: Rushdie's memoir of hiding days

New Delhi: Salman Rushdie has written a memoir based on the time he spent hiding while under a fatwa that sentenced him to death in 1989.

"For the first time he heard the word fatwa. His crime? To have written a novel called The Satanic Verses, which was accused of being 'against Islam, the Prophet and the Quran'," says his website.

His novel 'The Satanic Verses' was accused by the Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini as insulting the prophet Mohammed. The author then spent more than nine years in hiding. The alias he adopted, Joseph Anton, was based on the first names of two writers he loved: Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov.

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The book talks about various facets of Rushdie's life, like, how do a writer and his family live with the threat of murder for over nine years? How does he go on working? How does he fall in and out of love? How does despair shape his thoughts and actions, how and why does he stumble, how does he learn to fight back?

Nadal, Murray reach Barcelona quarter-finals

Barcelona: Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray cruised into the Barcelona Open quarter-finals with straight-set victories on Thursday.

Nadal broke Robert Farah of Colombia in the first game on his way to a 6-2, 6-3 victory for his 31st straight win at the tournament. The six-time champion set up a last-eight match with fifth-seeded Janko Tipsarevic after the Serbian beat Frederico Gil 6-2, 6-2.

"It may sound stupid but against players like him you have to go for victory, if you look for a fight you've already lost," Tipsarevic said. "Rafa is playing like he always does on clay, the best, but I'll go out there looking to win and see what happens."

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Nadal beat Tipsarevic 6-1, 6-0, 6-2 in their last meeting, in the Davis Cup three years ago.

Murray made quick work of another Colombian in a 6-1, 6-2 win over Santiago Giraldo, the fourth-ranked Briton serving up nine aces.

Murray will play Milos Raonic next after the Canadian eased past Nicolas Almagro 6-3, 6-3.

Also, third-seeded David Ferrer broke Albert Montanes five times to brush aside the fellow Spaniard 6-0, 6-2, while 2010 winner Fernando Verdasco defeated Kevin Anderson of South Africa 6-4, 6-4.

Japan's Kei Nishikori beat Spain's Albert Ramos 7-6 (2), 6-3 and Feliciano Lopez also reached the last-eight with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Jarkko Nieminen.

Man arrested after 3-hour siege in central London

London: Police say they've arrested the suspect at the centre of a three-hour siege which shut down part a busy part of central London. The capital's Metropolitan Police say the 49-year-old man is now in police custody and that searches of the building are ongoing.

One eyewitness claimed on Friday that the man burst into the office of a training company saying he was ready to blow himself up.

Earlier, heavily armed, masked police surrounded a site in central London on Friday after a woman reported that a mentally unstable man had walked into her office threatening to blow himself up.

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Scotland Yard said in a statement that police were called to Tottenham Court Road, a busy central London avenue, just before noon and have sent a negotiator to the site. Office supplies, including computer monitors, were being thrown from the building's fifth-floor window.

The area was cordoned off, nearby buildings were evacuated and a police sniper was stationed on a rooftop near the building.

Hostage-like situation reported in central London

London: A hostage-like situation has been reported in central London's Tottenham Court area. Eyewitnesses claimed to have seen a man with gas canisters strapped to him enter a building. Four people were reporteldy being held hostage.

The police have cordoned off the area and explosive experts have been summoned. UK daily 'The Telegraph' reported that the man, named Michael Green, had walked into the offices of a logistics company Advantage. The Telegraph reported that the man had failed an LGV training course conducted by the company three times and wanted his money back.

Scotland Yard said in a statement that police were called to Tottenham Court Road, a busy central London avenue, just before noon and had sent a negotiator to the site.

AP Photo

The Huffington Post, whose offices are just off Tottenham Court Road, said that its building had been evacuated and quoted an eyewitness as saying that a man had walked into her office "strapped up in gasoline cylinders."

"Basically he threatened to blow up the office," 27-year-old Abby Baafi told the news website. "He said he doesn't care about his life, he doesn't care about anything, he's going to blow up everybody."

Baafi, whom The Huffington Post identified as an employee of training company Advantage, said she recognized the man as a former customer.

"He's not quite stable, not mentally stable," she said.

(With additional information from AP)

Osama planned major attacks in Pak before being killed: Report

Islamabad: Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden had planned to mount indiscriminate attacks on the Pakistani soil before his killing in a covert US raid in Abbottabad, the documents seized by the Americans from the slain terrorist's compound in the Pakistani garrison city have suggested.

The CIA shared intelligence about possible al Qaeda attacks inside Pakistan when officials of the two countries met to explore the way forward in resetting bilateral ties, the Dawn newspaper reported quoting its sources.

The information was "based on documents seized by US Navy SEALs during the raid on Osama bin Laden's compound" in the garrison town of Abbottabad in May last year.

Some details of the intelligence "revealed that before being killed in the May 2 raid, bin Laden, along with Ayman Al-Zawahiri... and other senior leaders of the terror outfit had planned to mount indiscriminate attacks on Pakistani soil," the daily reported.

The report further said there were "conflicting reports about the shared intelligence."

'Breakout Nations' a brilliant analysis of new markets

These days, our shores are awash with books on emerging economies. At least one new book hits the stands every month. These are mostly written by Americans. Of late, some Indians who have made it big in the United States have also jumped into the book-writing business. Morgan Stanley's top executive Ruchir Sharma's book 'Breakout Nations' stands out in this clutter of books. It is one of the most fascinating books on the world's new economies.

Like most authors writing on new markets, Ruchir Sharma gives importance to China and India, dubbed as the twin engines of future growth. He gives a country-by-country account, and knows how to tell his story lucidly. He avoids dry statistics and economic theories and gives an interesting personal account.

Sharma does not give sermons from a distant America or Davos. He spends one week every month in an emerging market to gain first hand, grassroots experience.

The book starts out with a trip to China. Sharma analyses China's growth story, which some call a miracle. He is not overawed by that country's sudden emergence as an economic leader. He is fair both in praise and criticism of the methods adopted by China to achieve its goal.

Sharma's analysis of the Indian market is fascinating. His Indian background gives him insights that a Western writer would never be able to glean. Even though he appreciates our urge to emerge stronger, he warns that we should not take our growth story for granted. India has just a 50 per cent chance of becoming a breakout nation (exceeding expectations of 7 per cent GDP growth) in the coming years, he says. His India-China comparison looks objective.