UFO Over China Sets Another Mystery

UFOs have always been a fascination for millions of people all over the world and now, it appears to be a ‘boom time’ for UFOs in China. In the eight such incident since June this year, yet another UFO was spotted over the Baotou airport in China’s Inner Mongolia province, forcing the authorities to shut down operations for more than one hour.

According to Shanxi News Net, it was near midnight on Sept. 22 as Gu and his friend were taking photos of the beautiful moonlight view of the ancient Pingyao City in north China’s Shanxi Province, when Gu noticed a bright spot in his photo. He first thought it was a star, but could not find a star in that position when he carefully looked back up into the sky. Enlarging the photo, Gu found the bright spot was a flat object with two flashlight-like beams behind it.

The UFO over China was also previously seen at these same airports. However, the government of China attributes the UFO over China to military

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Posted in China , Mystery , UFO

After Thackeray warning, Sainiks beat up Big Boss guards

Armed with their party's self-proclaimed badge of moral police keepers, a group of 30 Shiv Sainiks descended on the Bigg Boss bungalow in Lonavala today and beat up security guards stationed there.

Party chief Bal Thackeray had made his intentions perfectly clear in a statement issued in Mumbai. "Come what may, we will not allow the show. Don't issue law and order (disruption) threats to us. Shiv Sena will disrupt the TV show."

The party wants the two Pakistanis among the 14 participants on the show to be expelled immediately. The fourth season of the show, based on the international Big Brother, is hosted by Salman Khan. Guests from across the border are Begum Nawazish Ali, a transvestite talk show host from Karachi, and actor Veena Malik, who is Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif's ex-girlfriend.

"To bring people from Pakistan just to titillate audiences is terrible. Till our relations with Pakistan improve, these people should not be brought here to entertain us,'' says Uddhav Thackeray, Executive President of the Sena.

The government says it will not allow the Shiv Sena to wreck the show or harm participants or those associated with it.

"Police will take adequate action against whosoever has done anything there," said Chief Minister, Ashok Chavan.

This protest comes within days of Mumbai University dropping Rohinton Mistry's novel, Such A Long Journey, from its curriculum - a direct result of Shiv Sena pressure. The campaign was led by Bal Thackeray's grandson, Aditya, a History student, he felt the book made objectionable references to the Sena.

Leading the protest was 19-year-old Aditya Thackeray, grandson of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray and a history student.

"The Vice-Chancellor is succumbing to pressure of the fascist forces. So they will command and we will obey? Is this the standard of academic norms?'' asks Dr J V Naik, who retired as Head of Department of History, Mumbai University.

Cultural censorship has always been a part of the Shiv Sena's identity - a strategy it's now using more frequently - as it fights with estranged cousin Raj Thackeray's party for political space. The aggression against Bigg Boss is perceived by many Mumbaikars as an attempt to prove that the Shiv Sena is still a practitioner of power. "Why should they bother to protest? Indians will vote out the Pakistani participants anyway," said one Bigg Boss viewer.

Superstar Rajinikanth visited Bal Thackeray at his home today. Icons and filmstars regularly pay their respects to the Sena, often modifying their films to meet the diktats of the party. The Sena, therefore, has little reason to drop its own Big Brother act.

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Posted in Bal Thackeray , Begum Nawazish Ali , Bigg Boss , Bigg Boss Pak contestants , Shiv Sena , Veena Malik

Saudi Prince accused of sexually assaulting, killing aide

Security camera footage captured a Saudi prince savagely beating his servant in a luxury hotel elevator only weeks before the aide was slain, a British prosecutor said Tuesday.

Prince Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud is accused of murdering Bandar Abdullah Abdulaziz in a frenzied sex attack at London's Landmark Hotel on Feb. 15. Abdulaziz was found beaten and strangled to death in the room the two shared at London's Landmark Hotel.

Prosecutor Jonathan Laidlaw told London's Central Criminal Court that there was evidence of a sexual assault, including bite marks on the victim's cheeks.

Laidlaw also said there was evidence that the 34-year-old royal, whose grandfather is a brother of the current Saudi king, had abused his aide in the past, showing jurors video shot in the Landmark's elevator which appears to show the shaven-headed prince, dressed in white, throwing his 32-year-old servant around and battering him.

Abdulaziz, dressed in black, occasionally tries to protect his head but otherwise meekly absorbs the punches.

"It is a nasty assault with the victim suffering a whole series of blows being struck with both fists and elbows," Laidlaw said. "What is also evident from the victim's behaviour is that he had become by this point almost entirely submissive.

"He either could not or did not at any stage offer any sort of resistance to the assault, attempt to fight back or even raise his hand to the defendant."

Al Saud originally told police that he and Abdulaziz had been drinking into the early hours of the morning, and that when he awoke at 3 p.m. he could not rouse him.

But Laidlaw said Al Saud has admitted manslaughter but denied charges of murder and causing grievous bodily harm.

The defence has yet to present its case.

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Posted in Assaulting , killing , Prince , Saudi , Sexually

Racial slur against Indian-origin official in New Zealand

A television channel show host was suspended on Tuesday for an on-air racial slur on the country's Indian-origin Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand.

During a TVNZ programme on Monday, Breakfast show host Paul Henry asked Prime Minister John Key whether Anand was a New Zealander or not. When Key told him that Anand was a New Zealander, Henry asked if he was going to pick someone who looked more like a New Zealander next time.

In a statement on Tuesday, TVNZ chief executive officer Rick Ellis said Henry's remarks were inappropriate for anyone in the company to make, New Zealand Herald reported Tuesday.

"I have met with Paul and told him that while his apologies were the right thing to do, I still consider his remarks unacceptable for any employee of TVNZ to make," Ellis said.

Henry on Monday apologised for his remarks. He said, "I sincerely apologise to the Governor General, Sir Anand Satyanand, for any offence I may have caused." Henry has been suspended effective immediately without pay until October 18, the report said.

"We give Paul a lot of freedom with the Breakfast programme and he does a magnificent job. But as we have said before, with that freedom comes responsibility," Ellis said. "When Sir Anand returns from the Commonwealth Games I will be personally apologising to him," he added.

Sir Anand was an honoured guest at the colourful opening ceremony of the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Sunday evening. Anand is New Zealand's first Governor-General of Indian and Pacific ancestry. He had a lengthy career as a lawyer, judge and ombudsman before being appointed to the job in August 2006.

He was born and raised in Auckland. His parents were born in Fiji and migrated to New Zealand while his grandparents were born in India and had migrated to Fiji.

Earlier, TVNZ spokeswoman Andi Brotherston had put out a statement defending Henry's remarks. "The audience tell us over and over again that one of the things they love about Paul Henry is that he's prepared to say the things we quietly think but are scared to say out loud," said the statement.

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Posted in New Zealand , World

Cheers as Delhi lets ladies behind the bar

Twenty-year-old scotch whisky, vintage champagne. You can find almost anything in the sparkling high-end bars of India's capital, except a female bartender.

Soon you'll find that, too, after Delhi this week changed a century-old law that banned women from serving alcohol.

For activists and alcohol industry insiders, it was long overdue.

"In an emerging, modern democracy like India, if you can fly an aircraft ... if you can be President of India, you should be able to work in a bar," social activist Nafisa Ali said, referring to previous barriers to woman that have already fallen here. "Women should have the power to decide for themselves where they want to work, and not be governed by rules thinking women are not capable of handling themselves."

It took the capital three years to follow a Supreme Court directive to fix the 1914 law, even as women began pouring pints in other parts of India.

Part of the capital's reluctance may come down to the high-profile killing of model Jessica Lall, who had been serving drinks at a party in 1999 when she was shot by a politician's son. Until then, India had happily flouted the colonial-era ban against women bartenders, but many say the ban was restored as a means of protecting women.

"There have been some unfortunate incidents," Ali said. "The government always tries to put laws in place for women's protection ... But it's not their business, it's the business of the woman."

The issue is not just about giving women a choice, or a chance to cash in on one of India's new promising and lucrative careers. Some say the $10 billion alcohol industry -- growing at least 10 percent a year -- still sorely needs a female touch.

"Having women behind the bars will definitely be an asset. They would soften things up," said Vikram Achanta, co-founder and CEO of bartending school "Tulleeho" -- a name that combines the Hindi word for getting high and the British term Tally Ho!

But Achanta doesn't expect women to be lining up for his bartending courses tomorrow. There are still social norms to contend with, and most girls would need parental approval and support, he said.

India's alcohol taboos have helped keep the legal drinking age at 25, and the prices high -- a single bottle of beer can cost more than dinner.
The stigma is softening, though, as the country's economy booms, with a growing middle class and liberated youth now wanting to dine out in fine restaurants or party a night away at clubs or bars.

At such places, a bartender can make up to $500 a month -- that's almost twice the salary of a schoolteacher.

"Why shouldn't women be allowed to join? Bar owners definitely feel the lack," Achanta said. "I doubt the women will end up in seedy places, anyway. There are so few women bartenders out there now they can pick where they want to work."

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Posted in Cheers , Delhi , Ladies

BJP rushes Venkaiah to handle Karnataka crisis

When the going gets tough, the tough get going.

So as his government in Karnataka skids towards a minority, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa is touring temples; senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu has been flown by his party to Bangalore to handle the crisis; rebel BJP MLAs who're causing the crisis are in Mumbai (via Chennai and Kochi); and worried about its own men switching sides, the Congress has led 50 of its MLAs to a secret location.

First, the BJP. 14 of its MLAs have told the Governor they no longer support the BJP government because it is riddled with corruption. Yesterday, along with 5 independent MLAs, they said -from the safe distance of a hotel in Chennai -that they were opting out. The thinly-disguised motive is a recent cabinet reshuffle, in which some of them lost their posts.

In the absence of these 19 MLAs, Yeddyurappa's numbers in the Legislative Assembly fall well below the half-way mark of 113. The Governor has told him to prove his majority before October 12. Expressing his confidence at surviving this crisis, the Chief Minister said he plans to ask for a trust vote on October 11.
Naidu said in Bangalore that the Congress is determined to destabilize the BJP government.

But the puppeteer pulling the strings is believed to be former chief minister and opposition leader HD Kumaraswamy. When asked about whether he had nudged the BJP revolt, he said the dissidence was entirely of Yeddyurappa's making. But in the last few weeks, Kumaraswamy, who heads the JD(S), has publicly charged Yeddyurappa with using his office to help his sons buy prized property at throwaway rates. Privately, many say, he has been colluding with BJP MLAs and independent MLAs to quit the government.

The corollary to the BJP's nightmare is whether the Congress and the JD(s) will be able to combine forces to form a government, if they can topple Yeddyurappa's.

Amid reports that some of the BJP MLAs who've promised to withdraw support are reconsidering, they arrived in Mumbai and were driven to an undisclosed location. Reports suggest they resurfaced later at the Mumbai airport. There is speculation about whether they might be flown out of the country till the vote of confidence on Monday.

Karnataka: How the numbers add up

224-member assembly; majority mark is 113. If 19 MLAs withdraw support, the government will be in a minority.

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Posted in BJP , Karnataka , Nation , Politics

Bangalore man stole laptops for kebabs, beer

Sold them for a mere Rs. 4,000, without even knowing what they are used for or the actual value of the goods

His own greed proved costly for 23-year-old V Santosh, who used to steal laptops and sell them at less than one-tenth of their original price -- to buy chicken kebabs and beer. He had been involved in the crime for the last two months, without even knowing what laptops do.

He simply sold them to a local for Rs. 4,000 apiece. All this stopped when the Bangalore police arrested him on Monday.

Santosh had come to Bangalore as a lorry cleaner last year from Tamil Nadu. After working for a while, he tried his hand as a lorry driver, but could not get a job, so he started working as a security person at a building construction site at the HSR Layout. But he was not happy with his meager income.

Santosh, a beer and chicken lover, lived alone and used to visit a local hotel for food. But since he was always short of money, he could not have these items to his heart's content. For this, he even took loans from many people.

Two months ago, he saw an engineer carrying a laptop. Since Santosh had never seen anything like that, he asked his friend Nandeesh, who apparently knew something about them. Nandeesh made him an offer -- he would buy any laptop Santosh could steal for Rs. 4,000.

Santosh agreed, and Nandeesh told him how and who to steal from. Since HSR Layout has the maximum number of techies as residents, there was no dearth of laptops. Another reason they were targetted was because most of them work in odd shifts, and would leave their doors open so as not to disturb their roommates.

Santosh went on a spree, and stole 16 laptops, LCD TV and four cameras.Following over 15 complaints, the cops started asking around, and found out that Santosh was seen at many scenes of crime. So they laid a trap, and started tapping his phone, and finally arrested him on Monday.

In his confession, he told the police, "I love chicken kebabs, and for the last two months, I had started drinking beer regularly. But all this cost money, and I never had enough. So my friend told me to steal these items. I don't even know what these devices do."

LY Rajesh, Police Inspector, HSR Layout said, "He stole laptops only for beer and kebabs. He doesn't know how much they cost. We also investigating his friend and soon we get all attempts of both. The police have recovered all laptops, and have sent Santosh to judicial custody."

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Posted in Bangalore , Crime News , Laptop