Seasoned Smriti takes two-shot lead in second leg of Hero-WGAI Tour

Bangalore, August 28: Smriti Mehra turned in a birdie-birdie finish enroute to a one-under 69 that put her two shots ahead of Saaniya Sharma and three others, Sharmila Nicollet, Neha Tripathi and Meghna Bal, all of whom shot 71 each Hero-WGAI Women’s Pro Tour at Clover Greens in Bangalore.

Smriti would have had a much better finish but for a hat-rick of bogeys from 13^th to 15^th. Overall she had six birdies and five bogeys in the 69.

Saaniya Sharma finished with a bogey, but for which she might have been sole second for the first round. She started the day with a birdie and then had three more on the back nine. She also bogeyed the third and sixth and double bogeyed the fifth.

Sharmila Nicollet, like Smriti and Saaniya, started with a birdie, but failed to get another birdie. She bogeyed ninth and 15^th to go one-over. Nalini Singh Siwach carded two-over 72 and was sixth.

Vani Kapoor, who lost the first leg, Hero-KGA tournament, last week, struggled to a 76. She birdied the third and fifth but then had a four-over back nine as she ended the day at 76.

The event carries a purse of Rs. 5 lakhs and is the second in the schedule of the Tour which has 12 events.

Tee times: Round 2

9:00 AM:   Trisha Sunil (A) (80)/ Ankita Tiwana (78)

9:10 AM: Preetinder Kaur (78)/ Mita Gowande (77)

9:20 AM:   Vani Kapoor (76)/ Pallavi Jain (76)/ Nalini Singh (76)

9:30 AM: Ankita Kedlaya (A)(75)/ Nikki Ponappa (75)/ Priya Puri (75)

9:40 AM: Suchitra Ramesh (75)/ Rani Sonti (75)/ Shraddhanjali Singh (74)

9:50 AM: Nalini Singh Siwach (72)/ Meghna Bal (71)/ Neha Tripathi (71)

10:00 AM: Sharmila Nicollet (71)/ Saaniya Sharma (71)/ Smriti Mehra (69)

Prithvi -II successfully test-fired from ITR .










India's nuclear-capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile with a strike range of 350 km was on Saturday successfully test-fired from the Integrated Test Range near Balasore as part of user trial by the army.



"The flight test of the surface-to-surface missile was conducted around 1100 hrs from a mobile launcher from ITR's launch complex-III at Chandipur," defence sources said. Describing the trial of the indigenously developed strategic missile as "fully successful", ITR Director MVKV Prasad said, "It was a perfect launch. All the mission objectives were accomplished during the trial."



Prithvi is the first ballistic missile developed under the country's prestigious Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme and has the capability to carry 500 kg of both nuclear and conventional warheads with a strike range of 350 km. The missile uses advanced inertial guidance system with manoeuvring trajectory. The test-fire of the sophisticated short-range ballistic missile, which has already been inducted into the armed forces, was a user's trial by the army and monitored by scientists of Defence Research and Development Organisation. The sleek missile is handled by the strategic force command (SFC), they said, adding the trial was conducted to gauge the effectiveness of the weapon in a real time situation.



"The whole exercise was aimed at studying the control and guidance system of the missile besides providing training to the Army, which happens to be the user," said an official. The state-of-the-art missile is 9 metre-long and is one metre in diameter with liquid propulsion twin engine.



A defence scientist associated with the trial said radars and electro optical systems located along the coast tracked and monitored all the parameters of the missile throughout the flight path.



Prithvi-II has been successfully flight tested several times as part of the training exercise and todays launch again proved its reliability and accuracy, he said. A twin user trial of Prithvi-II missiles planned on December 21, 2011 from ITR had to be deferred due to a technical snag, sources said.



Its trial was, however, a complete success on September 26, 2011 as the missile reached the predefined target in Bay of Bengal with a very high accuracy of better than 10 meters, they said.

Protest against Coalgate scam


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August 25, 2012

For protesting against the massive Coalgate scam that took place with collusion of Congress and BJP, India Against Corruption wouldgherao the houses of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP President Nitin Gadkari on August 26, 2012 (Sunday). A peaceful protest would take place at Jantar Mantar from 10am onwards followed by the gherao to demand immediate cancellation of coal block allocation and setting up of an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT).



Both the major parties – BJP and Congress – have been closely involved in this Rs 1.86 lakh coal scam, considered to one of the major scams till date. Along with BJP and Congress, CPM and BJD has also played a major role in the plunder of this natural resource.



While it is known that the Central Government allocated coal blocks to private players in an arbitrary manner even to underwear, cassette and gutka manufacturing companies, the role of various state governments in the allotment process is also highly questionable. On one hand, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who was also the Coal Minster during 2006-2009, gave away coal block at throw away prices to private companies without following a transparent competitive bidding process on the pretext that it would lead to cheaper electricity. On the other hand, heads of various state governments including former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje Scindia (BJP), Chattisgarh CM Raman Singh (BJP), Orissa CM Naveen Patnaik (BJD) and former West Bengal CM Budhadeb Bhattacharya (CPM) had written to Central Government advising against the bidding process.



Speaking on the issue Arvind Kejriwal said, “Not only centre but many state government comprising the Left, Right and Centre have colluded to plunder this country. If the total loss in this scam is estimated to be approximately 2 lakh crores, considering that there are 6 lakh villages in India, 30 lakhs were looted from each village.”



Now when the scam has come to light, Congress and BJP have colluded to stall the proceedings of the both the houses. Day before yesterday, what happened in Rajya Sabha is highly condemnable with Rajiv Shukla walking upto the Deputy Chairperson PJ Kurien and whispering to adjourn the house. Ironically, within minutes the house got adjourned. Today, for the third day both the houses were adjourned without much debate on the root cause of the issue.



While the BJP kept on demanding the resignation of PM knowing the fact that UPA was never going to let that happen. If the opposition was really worried about the scam it would have asked for an open debate in the Parliament instead of focusing on resignation of Prime Minister. The resignation of Prime Minister in no way would lead to unearthing the depth of the coalgate scam but an independent investigation certainly would. On the other hand, if the UPA was serious about getting to the bottom of the issue Rajiv Shukla instead of asking the deputy speaker to adjourn the house would have asked for a debate by ignoring the ruckus created by the opposition. Unfortunately, none of the parties raised their voice for this. Sharing his views, Kumar Vishwas said, “BJP is not interested in a debate because of its involvement in the scam. If a debate ensues, names of many BJP chief ministers who were involved in this plunder would also come out.”



Speaking on the issue Sanjay Singh said, “All parties are united on the issues of corruption. If Congress is looting the country’s resources at the Central level, states where BJP is in power is also not far behind.”



The Coalgate scam has overtaken the 2G spectrum scam which was being considered the biggest scam so far. If the Supreme Court had recently cancelled licenses of private players in 2G spectrum scam, why can’t the licenses of coal blocks be cancelled? To demand for setting up of SIT as well as cancellation of the license IAC would organise a massive protest at Jantar Mantar on August 26, 2012 from 10 am onwards, followed by the gherao of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP President Nitin Gadkari house simultaneously.

Turkey, US officials in first operational meeting on Syria

August 24, 2012

Turkish and US officials on Thursday began their first “operational planning” meeting aimed at bringing about the end of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s embattled regime. 

The meeting is expected to coordinate military, intelligence and political responses to the crisis in Syria where a deadly crackdown on peaceful protests that began in March 2011 has according to activists claimed more than 23,000 lives.

The officials are also due to discuss contingency plans in the case of potential threats including a chemical attack by the regime in Damascus which Washington has called a “red line”.

Turkish foreign ministry deputy under-secretary Halit Cevik and US ambassador Elisabeth Jones are leading the delegations made up of intelligence agents, military officials and diplomats at the meeting in Ankara, a foreign ministry source told the news agency. 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Turkey’s Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had announced their plans for such a mechanism to hasten the end of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime on August 11.

Today’s meeting come just days after US President Barack Obama warned Syria that any movement or usage of its chemical weapons would be a “red line” that would change his perspective on how to respond to the conflict.

A chemical attack would also trigger a refugee influx to neighbouring countries including Turkey which is already hosting more than 70,000 Syrians.

On Monday, Davutoglu said Turkey can handle no more than 100,000 Syrian refugees and has proposed setting up a UN buffer zone inside Syria to shelter them.

The exodus of refugees to Turkey has intensified recently as a result of a Syrian army offensive and fighting in the northern city of Aleppo between regime forces and rebels.

The growing flow of refugees has raised fears of a repeat of the 1991 Gulf War, when half a million Iraqi Kurds massed along the common border.

The threat of armed groups including the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Al-Qaeda which could exploit a power vacuum in Syria is also expected to figure high on the agenda of the Ankara meeting.

In Istanbul, Clinton had said she shared “Turkey’s determination that Syria must not become a haven for PKK terorrists whether now or after the departure of the Assad regime.”

Tembin sweeps across Taiwan

August 24, 2012

TAITUNG: Typhoon Tembin swept across southern Taiwan Friday, toppling trees and ripping off rooftops after thousands of people were evacuated to avoid a repeat of a deadly storm three years ago.
Tembin, characterised as a “severe” typhoon by the Hong Kong Observatory, hit before dawn and ground its way across Taiwan’s southern tip before moving out to sea again, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau said.
Fallen tree trunks covered roads in the south, rocks loosened by torrential rain fell from mountainsides, and in the coastal village of Tawu a number of rooftops were reportedly blown off by strong winds.
In towns along the rugged east coast, nearly 6,500 people were evacuated and schools and businesses shut down as communities braced for the typhoon to hit, Tembin made landfall further south than expected.
There were no reports of casualties, but report said their livelihoods had been badly affected by the powerful weather system.
The weather bureau said the typhoon appeared to have lost strength as it passed over Taiwan’s mountainous southern terrain, and was now moving out to sea on a looping path.But Central Weather Bureau forecaster Lo Ya-yin said the typhoon, currently in the narrow strait between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland, could still circle back.
“Today and tomorrow will be a crucial time. It may come back. It’s determined by a multitude of factors,” she told.
As the storm bore down, police set up roadblocks in several locations leading to areas considered in danger of landslides, only letting through those on urgent business.
“It could have been worse if we hadn’t closed parts of the highway last night,” said an official with the highway administration, who gave his name as Wang.
The evacuations were ordered in risk areas along Taiwan’s coastline as authorities attempt to prevent a repeat of an enormously destructive typhoon which hit three years ago.
Typhoon Morakot killed about 600 people in August 2009, most of them buried in huge landslides in the south.
A senior military official told AFP Thursday that authorities had learned lessons from Morakot, when they “had not done enough evacuations beforehand.”
Taiwan’s military had ordered 50,000 soldiers to be on standby, ready to move out and assist in disaster prevention efforts.Military  deployed amphibious armored vehicles in the south for rescue efforts in case of flooding.
More than 1,800 Chinese fishermen recruited to work on Taiwan fishing boats were asked to seek safety in ports along the coast, with 800 of them placed in on-shore shelters, the Council of Agriculture said.
Tembin was preceded by heavy downpours, with Pingtung receiving 251 millimetres (10 inches) of rain in the 30 hours prior to dawn on Friday, the weather bureau said.Media agencies

Panasonic India Introduces High-Definition 3D Video Conferencing solutions

Panasonic India betting big on B2B business this fiscal:Introduces High-Definition 3D Video Conferencing solutions for the first time in India
23 August 2012, New Delhi: Panasonic, the global leader in innovation and technology today unveiled its next generation High-Definition Video Conferencing (HDVC) for enterprises as a step towards strengthening its focus on the B2B business in India. With this launch and aggressive focus on this segment, Panasonic reiterates its commitment towards its customers by understanding and catering to their specific needs through innovation in technology.

Over the years Panasonic has shown excellence in terms of offering best products in the market and the company is banking big on their B2B segment- Panasonic System Sales Division (SSD) which plays a vital role in contributing to the overall growth of the brand in India. With a huge product portfolio including commercial Displays , Projectors, Telephones, Fax machines, EPABX,  Surveillance and Security Cameras, Printers, Panaboards & interactive boards, Scanners, Toughbooks, Point of sale solutions and Broadcast products, SSD will be contributing to 10% of the company’s total revenue. With an increase in demand of this business in India not only is the company expanding its range of products but also launching new products in market this fiscal and this HDVC launch is a step in the same direction.

Gracing the occasion Mr. Toru Hasegawa, MD- System Sales Division, Panasonic India said “At Panasonic we are committed to provide best product portfolio to our customers with innovative and finest technology. With a wide product portfolio the year-on-year average growth rate for Panasonic’s System Sales Division has been 40%. We are expecting this growth to cross 100% by this fiscal end and close with a turnover of Rs. 655 crores.”

Further speaking at the occasion Mr. Rizhkant Zha, Director- System Sales Division, Panasonic India said “For the first time in India 3D technology has been infused with HDVC to provide best Video Conferencing solution for our customers. The end to end technology solution by Panasonic from Cameras lens to the display makes it possible to display facial expressions and gestures in clear, full-HD images as part of the visual communication experience. We are largely targeting IT/ITES, Hi-tech Enterprise, Manufacturing and Healthcare industries and will focus on bundling specific solutions to fulfil the requirements of various industries to make it most suitable product for them.”

Panasonic Corporate Vision
Panasonic has a vision to become the No. 1 Green Innovation Company in the electronics industry by 2018 (fiscal 2019), when Panasonic will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Panasonic aspires for global excellence as a Green Innovation Company and encompasses two goals: Green Life Innovation to realize green lifestyles to enrich people’s lives and Green Business Innovation to bring forth innovation in our business styles.
The Panasonic ‘eco ideas’ annual report at (http://panasonic.net/eco/) shares data on the group’s initiatives in this direction.
                                 
About Panasonic Corporation

Panasonic Corporation is a worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of electronic products for three business fields, consumer, components & devices, and solutions. Based in Osaka, Japan, the company recorded consolidated net sales of 7.85 trillion yen for the year ended March 31, 2012. It aims to become the No. 1 Green Innovation Company in the Electronics Industry by the 100th year of its founding in 2018.The company’s shares are listed on the Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and New York (NYSE:PC) stock exchanges. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand, visit the company’s website at http://panasonic.net/

About Panasonic India
Panasonic makes available in India its wide range of consumer electronics and home appliances like LCD & Plasma TVs, DVD players, home theatre systems, cameras, camcorders, car audio systems, air conditioners, washing machines, refrigerators, microwave ovens, automatic cookers, vacuum cleaners and the like. The Company has a workforce of about 12,650 in India and estimated to do a turnover of Rs 10,000 crore in FY 2012. For more information on the company and the Panasonic brand in India, please visit http://panasonic.co.in.

 
Issued by Panasonic India. For media queries, please contact:
Panasonic India | Richa Sethi | +91 9560498765 | richa.sethi@in.panasonic.com
Genesis Burson Marsteller | Malvika Sinha | +91 987338255 | malvika.sinha@bm.com

Bombing in Aleppo, kills at least 35

August 23, 2012

 Syrian government is hitting back at rebel forces with intensive attacks in several parts of the country.
Tanks stormed a district off Damascus on Wednesday where Free Syrian Army soldiers are hiding, triggering fierce fighting.Air raids have intensified in the northern city of Aleppo. Rebels say government forces dropped bombs on a makeshift hospital treating rebel troops. At least 35 people were killed, including civilians receiving treatment.
Fighter planes appear to be raining fresh bombs on the city’s residential district. Smoke blankets the entire area.
The fierce offensive follows the withdrawal of UN truce observers on Sunday.In Aleppo, government troops appear to be preparing for a massive attack as rebels gather local men in defense.Media agencies