Musharraf power theft scandal case: Low level workers punished

Islamabad, Sep 17 (ANI): The Islamabad Electric Supply Company (Iesco) has only punished 64 junior officers for their involvement in the power theft scandal involving former President Pervez Musharraf, Shaukat Aziz and others in the luxurious Chak Shahzad farmhouses.

The big guns in the electricity department have not even been touched, according to well-placed sources.

The list of punished employees includes 35-meter readers, 14 line superintendents and 15 sub-divisional officers, The News reports.

Sources said these personnel were those who had to implement the orders of the higher-ups and no high-ranking official has been touched in the order passed by Iesco on 10-9-2009.

The official spokesman for Iesco, Ameer Hussain Chaman, when asked about the punishment, said he was not aware of any such punishments.

“I have not been conveyed any such details, therefore, I cannot offer any comment over the issue,” he added.

Sources said Colonel Umer Hayat was conducting the inquiry and on 9-9-2009 his tenure was completed and on 10-09-2009 these personnel were punished.

They say that in this power-theft scandal the higher-ups passed all the orders and the junior officers had no option, but to obey the orders.

It is worth mentioning here that Musharraf had constructed a modern house on the farm obtained for breeding poultry and vegetables, but the ex-general has been enjoying the cheapest power tariff, D-2(1) connection, which is meant for agriculture tube wells and lift irrigation pumps. (ANI)

Ship used in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ stolen

London, September 14 (ANI): The ship used in the film Pirates of the Caribbean has been stolen.

The vessel was legged from Customhouse Quay in Greenock Renfrewshire.

The raiders also took some cash, an 8x12ft American flag, a survival suit and a life ring.

But the US flag, an immersion suit and a life belt were all later recovered.

The ship, which was built for Marlon Brando’s 1962 movie Mutiny on the Bounty, has apparently sailed the world as a major tourist attraction.

“It is unbelievable. This ship has sailed all around the world and has never been robbed. But as soon as it gets into Greenock it gets turned over,” the Sun quoted a source as saying.

The theft took place on Saturday morning, only few hours after arriving to give Scottish fans a rare glimpse on board.

Captain Robin Walbridge – who has skippered it since 1995 – said: “We don’t hold this against the people of Greenock.”

A Strathclyde Police spokesman said: “Inquiries are on-going.”

The replica vessel had featured in Pirates of the Caribbean- Dead Man’s Chest. (ANI)

Karnataka Government orders CoD probe into church attack

Bangalore, Sep 11 (ANI): The Karnataka Government on Friday, announced that it will hand over the investigation of an attack on a church to the state’s Cops of Detective (CoD).

Addressing the State Assembly Chief Minister, B.S.Yeddyurappa said: “We will refer the probe to the Corps of Detectives (CoD),”

A detailed statement on the issue would be placed before the house as the earliest, he added.

Unidentified miscreants vandalised the St Francis De Sales Church in Hebbagodi. Two statues of Jesus and Mary placed in a grotto were desecrated, windowpanes were damaged on Thursday.

The opposition Congress Party has demanded a CoD probe into the attack.

Meanwhile, Bangalore Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari has issued for shoot at sight orders against those found to be trespassing in churches, mosques and temples or found to be committing theft or indulging in any mischief. (ANI)

Police agree to book Lollywood star Meera for theft

Islamabad, September 4 (ANI): Lollywood actress Meera and her family may be booked for theft, for police are said to have agreed to register a case against them at the insistence of Attiqur Rehman, the man who claims to be the film star’s husband.

According to Dunya News, Attiq had written to the local police in Lahore seeking help in recovering the money he spent on the actress and her film career.

He even accused Meera, her mother and brother of “theft”, reports the Daily Times.

Talking to the channel, Rehman said that he bought Meera a house in DHA Lahore, and also gifted her antique furniture for the house.

He also told the channel that he funded many of her films and TV projects. (ANI)

Three policemen suspended, probe ordered into custodial death in J-K

Srinagar, Aug 31(ANI): Three policemen were suspended and a magisterial probe was ordered on Monday, following the death of a 17-year-old boy in police custody in Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.

According to reports, Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Adhkunwari police post Suram Chand, Munshi Deepak Ram and Selection Grade Constable Bishan Dass were suspended.

Sub Divisional Magistrate Katra Rashpal Singh has been directed to conduct a magisterial inquiry into the death and submit the report to the government.

Earlier, protests were held in the region after death of Billoo, a native of Ludhiana in Punjab, who police claimed had committed suicide by hanging himself in the lock-up.

Billoo was picked in connection with a theft and pick-pocketing case and was taken to Adhkuwari police station for questioning. (ANI)

Seven rare Brazilian simians stolen from Kolkata zoo recovered from Durg

Durg (Chhattisgarh), Aug 30(ANI): Seven of the eight Brazilian Common Marmosets, stolen from the Alipore Zoological Garden in Kolkata were recovered from Chhattisgarh’s Durg district on Saturday.

Acting on a tip-off, Chhattisgarh Police nabbed a person, Raju Singh Soikia, here and rescued seven marmosets, it is believed that one of the stolen eight died.

“We trapped Raju by disguising ourselves as monkey buyers and told him to meet us. We then arrested him from the meeting point. After interrogation he told us that he and his friend in collaboration have committed this crime,” said Dipanshu Kabra, Superintendent of Police of Durg.

Kabra further said that these were rare species, which were used for genetic research as they are genetically close to human beings.

He also informed that the accused Raju and his friend Bobbai were planning to take the marmosets to Pune or Mumbai, where they could sell them at a good price.

However, the accused Raju denied all the allegations and said that he was innocent, and his friend Bobbai had committed the crime.

“I have not committed this crime. My dealer told me to keep the monkeys in my house for few days. He told me that he would collect them later. But, when the theft news was in the newspapers I contacted him. He told me not to worry as he had a license for this business. He deals in the birds which made me think that he is saying the truth,” Raju said.

Kabra also said that Bobbai, the key figure in the racket, is still absconding and Kolkata police are on the lookout for him. (ANI)

Star-cast of ‘Mohandas’ visits Rajghat

New Delhi, Aug. 28 (ANI): The star cast of the upcoming Bollywood film ‘Mohandas’ visited Rajghat, the memorial of Father of Nation Mahatma Gandhi here on Friday.

The movie is the directorial debut of cinematographer Mazhar Kamran who has been part of the creative teams of famous Bollywood films such as ‘Satya’ and ‘Jhankar Beats’.

The film is about identity theft, and the simpler escapades of a man who shares the Mahatama’s name ‘Mohandas’, and has to deal with this unusual situation.

Bollywood actor Nakul Vaid plays the protagonist.

“The film is about theft of identity. There are many layers in the film…we talk about the system, about ideologies and many related issues, but the main story is on identity,” said Nakul.

Although the movie is not a biographical saga of Mahatma Gandhi, it only derives inspiration from his thoughts.

“It is not directly about Gandhi, but his ideologies and thinking reflect in the movie in various ways. Gandhi is not physically present in the movie, it is not biographical,” noted Kamran.

The film talks about various contemporary issues, existential and otherwise.

“It is about identity crisis, it is about the corruption, not in our country but generally amongst human beings, it is about identity crisis…it is about how confused we are to be ourselves,” opined actor Sonali Kulkarni, playing the role of a journalist, Meghna, in the film.

‘Mohandas’ also features talented actors like Sushant Singh, Sharbani Mukherjee, Sameer Dharmadhikari and Govind Namdeo

There have been both Hollywood and Bollywood movies made earlier, based either on the life of Mahatama Gandhi or inspired by his philosophy of Ahimsa and non-violence.

The most famous amongst these was Richard Attenborough’s ‘Gandhi’ and Rajkumar Hirani’s ‘Munnabhai MBBS’ and ‘Lage Raho Munnabhai’. (ANI)

Duo who stole Prince William, Middleton’s holiday pics branded ‘Dumb and Dumber’

London, August 21 (ANI): Two Londoners were branded “Dumb and Dumber” by a lawyer on Thursday, after they stole a digital camera memory card storing holiday snaps of Prince William and his girlfriend Kate Middleton.

Kingston Crown Court, Surrey, later ordered Market trader Charlie Ewins, 26, and electrician Leon Sesay, 25, to do 100 hours unpaid work, and pay 125-pound costs after admitting theft.

The two friends had tried to sell the card for 50,000 pounds, after it was taken from the car of Kate’s sister Pippa, 24.

According to the Daily Express, the pictures showed William wearing a woman’s hat, and Kate doing yoga in a bikini, while on a Caribbean holiday. (ANI)

Recession triggering boom in cybercrime

London, Aug 19 (ANI): The economic slowdown is adding to a boom in cybercrime because computer-literate criminals in developing countries are increasingly trying their hands at electronic scams, according to British researchers.

The study by The University of Brighton team also found that the growth of social networking websites were offering cybercriminals with fresh areas to exploit as well as new areas for recruitment.

Led by Professor Howard Rush, the researchers said that detection and prevention had been boosted, but continuous data breaches, mainly due to human error, were exposing personal information on a large scale.

They also said that the UK needed urgent action to crack down on cybercrime to avert what they said was the potential for “international embarrassment” ahead of the London 2012 Olympics.

Rush said that the growth in credit card fraud and identity theft was due to communications technology reaching parts of the world, where many unemployed people with IT skills lived.

“Criminals there can take advantage of cybercrime opportunities, and the current global recession will likely increase this trend still further,” the Telegraph quoted Rush as saying.

And they warned that the capabilities of cybercriminals, especially without a global counter-strategy, will likely increase in the future.

The report stated: “Law enforcement agencies are struggling to respond, especially in places where legislative frameworks are weak or non-existent.”

“The growth of cybercrime in Russia, India, China and Brazil is of particular concern.

“As cyberspace develops further, so new opportunities will open up for organised crime groups. Crimes such as electronic theft and fraud will occur more rapidly, reducing the likelihood of offenders being caught in the act.

“Information about how to compromise a system will be available more quickly and to more people, which means that opportunistic criminals linked into networks of organised criminals will come to dominate and define the world of cybercrime.

“The ability of criminals to use new technology will also have a major impact on the sort of crime we see. In cyberspace, we can expect this to be further magnified,” it added.

However, the researchers urged a plan of action, saying: “Given that so many cybercrime operations take place in developing countries, aid agencies need to be persuaded to build on their policy reform work to help address cybercrime.” (ANI)

PHF to take legal action against Mansoor for defaming federation

Lahore, July 14 (ANI): The Pakistan Hockey Federation (PHF) will take legal action against former Olympian Mansoor Ahmad for defaming the national federation.

“We are serving him a legal notice to pay Rs 100 million for defaming the PHF and its officials through his defamatory statements,” a spokesman for the PHF said on Monday.

He said Mansoor had a ‘notorious past’ and was convicted in a fraud and theft case.

“For this very reason he was dismissed from Pakistan Customs,” the spokesman added.

The PHF official said Mansoor was the only Olympian in the entire hockey fraternity who had a ‘dark’ past.

He said Mansoor, in his recent outburst, had levelled baseless allegations against PHF general secretary Muhammad Asif Bajwa and on the working of the PHF, which was violation of the code of conduct.

“The PHF will take disciplinary and legal action.”

He alleged that Mansoor was appointed as coordinator of the PHF hockey academies and his services were terminated recently for his ‘illegal activities’ to obtain USA visas for himself and few other persons.

“Such activities cannot be tolerated and we will be providing sufficient evidence to the concerned authorities to take him to the task,” he concluded. (ANI)

Lohan twitters “no formula was stolen” to create tanning line

Washington, Jul 9 (ANI): After being accused of stealing someone else’s formula for her tanning line, ‘Mean Girls’ star Lindsay Lohan has taken to her Twitter page to deny it.

Scientist Jennifer Sunday had filed a federal lawsuit against Lohan and her business partner Lorit Simon for breach of contract, theft of trade secrets, civil conspiracy, intentional interference with contractual relations and deceptive and unfair trade practices.

But Lohan, who takes credit for co-creating the spray tan mist, named after her lucky numbers, and sold for 35 dollars at Sephora, with Simon, a Las Vegas-based businesswoman, denies the theft.

“No formula was stolen for Sevin Nyne!” Us magazine quoted the actress, who just turned 23-years-old, as having written.

“It’s a woman looking for a payday. That’s it!” she added. (ANI)

Govt. initiative to establish Power Exchanges benefited country: Shinde

New Delhi, July 8 (ANI): Union Minister for Power Sushilkumar Shinde on Wednesday said that the Government’s initiative to establish Power Exchanges in India has benefitted the country.

The minister said it happened by ensuring payment security, promoting competition among stakeholders, reduction in transaction costs by providing a common platform for trading, empowering demand side response to price signals and bringing about efficiency.

“Power is a high priority sector for the Government and policy initiatives will continue to promote competition, efficiency, restructuring and investment,” said Shinde while delivering the inaugural address at a seminar on “Journey to Competitive Markets” in the national capital.

Shinde said that a number of other initiatives have also been taken for empowerment of the State Load Despatch Centers, thereby, facilitating further growth of the Power Market.

These include setting up of committees by the Ministry of Power to look into various aspects to improve the infrastructure and other facilities in the State Load Despatch Centers and their ring fencing.

Organised by Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), the seminar was meant to mark its first anniversary and attended by several luminaries of power sector.

Shinde, on this occasion, said that during the year the total number of members and clients of IEX has crossed 130 and over 3,600 million units of power worth Rs. 3,000 crore has been traded through the Power Exchange.

The Electricity Act, 2003 has been brought about to facilitate private sector participation and to help cash strapped SEBs to meet electricity demand. It envisages competition in electricity market, protection of consumer’s interests and provision of power for all.

The Act provides for National Electricity Policy, rural electrification, open access in transmission, phased open access in distribution, mandatory SERCs, license free generation and distribution, power trading, mandatory metering, and stringent penalties for theft of electricity.

The minister said considering the present inter-State power trading scenario and the need to promote power trading in a free power market, Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) approved the setting up of IEX as the first power exchange in India. (ANI)

A thirst for blood sparks toxic algal blooms

Washington, July 1 (ANI): Scientists at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden have suggested that toxic algal blooms are created when aggressive algae kill and injure their competitors in order to absorb the nutrients they contain.

“The behaviour of the algae can be compared to that of blood-sucking insects,” said Per Jonsson of the Department of Marine Ecology.

The blooming of toxic algae in the oceans and lakes is a familiar health risk and causes problems every summer, leading to increased costs for water cleaning, water consumption and the tourist industry.

Scientists still do not know why algal blooms arise, and what it is that causes certain species of microalgae to multiply and form dense blooms.

Scientists within the research platform MARICE (Marine Chemical Ecology) at the Faculty of Science, the University of Gothenburg, present a new possible explanation of why algal blooms arise in a study.

Current theory postulates that the algae produce toxins not only in order to inhibit the growth of competing species, but also to protect themselves from predators.

The strategy of inhibiting competitors, however, is difficult to explain from an evolutionary perspective.

The turbulent ocean surface means, quite simply, that it is difficult for one algal species to obtain exclusive rights on the effect of a toxin that inhibits competitors.

The production of the toxin must be explained by other factors.

Marine ecologist Per Jonsson and his colleagues suggest that the inhibition of competitors that previous research had found is only a side-effect of a considerably more aggressive behaviour: toxic algae injure or kill competing algae in order to gain access to the nutrients in their cells.

“The way the algae absorb food is similar to that of blood-sucking insects, such as mosquitoes. Our study shows that this theft of nutrients may be an important mechanism in the formation of blooms of toxic plankton,” said Per Jonsson.

“The results will lead to several further experimental studies, and we hope that these will eventually contribute to solving the mystery of how algal blooms arise,” he added. (ANI)

Car theft syndicates employing sexy girls to steal amorous men’s cars

Kuala Lumpur, Jun 24 (ANI): Sexy women are helping car theft syndicates steal amorous businessmen’s luxury vehicles, says a report.

According to the Harian Metro, during the past six months, about 10 businessmen have lost their cars after being seduced by these women.

The women persuade their victims to lend them their expensive cars, and then deliver the vehicles to the syndicates.

The crime would usually go unreported by the victim, who fears for his image or family life.

But the ploy came to light when one of the victims, businessman Ramli Che Mat, 36, reported his car stolen after he lent it to a friend.

Ramli said that he had lent his Toyota Caldina to his friend in January with the intention of selling it to him.

“Without telling me, he let his ‘girlfriend’ use it,” the Star Online quoted him as saying.

Ramli was alerted when the bank called to inform him about missing the hire-purchase payment for two months, and he immediately asked his friend about the car.

Both of them then visited the woman at her Setapak home, but she claimed the bank had repossessed the car.

However, a call to the bank revealed that there was no order for the vehicle to be repossessed, said Ramli.

He and his friend then went to confront the woman again, but found that she had disappeared. She did not answer her mobile phone either.

“However, she did send an SMS that sounded like a challenge to us to lodge a police report,” he said.

Subang Jaya police chief ACP Zainal Rashid Abu Bakar confirmed that a report had been lodged on the matter. (ANI)

Campaign against cyber crime in Kolkata

Kolkata, May 22 (ANI): In order to tackle cyber crime, the Kolkata police joined hands with the Public Relations Society of India, Kolkata Chapter and Calcutta Telephones and organised a workshop here to spread awareness about cyber security.

Cyber crime still remains a vague phenomenon for most Internet users, as they are not aware as to what actually constitutes cyber crime and what laws are against it.

Most cases of cyber crime also go unreported because of the strong inhibitions amongst Internet users especially children and teenagers.

“We have been planning to launch a city-wise movement from the next month where we will involve the professors, It specialists and everybody to fight the evil of cyber crime. A lot of campaigns do not reach us. Young children do not report crime relating to cyber. So we are going to start a huge awareness campaign,” said Gautam Mohan Chakravorty, Commissioner of Police, Kolkata.

There are incidents of tampering with pictures on the Internet, and other such incidents.

“This cyber crime whatever it is, hacking or pornography, it is because parents don’t give time to their children. The children do not know what is good or right,” said Deblina Choudhury, student.

Cyber crime is understood as a crime wherein a computer or network is used as a tool, target or source of crime. It consists of fraud, theft, blackmail, forgery, hacking, infringement of copyright, child pornography and so on.

There are hardly any statistics available on the increase in cyber crimes and the records are not reliable because net users, mostly teenagers and children, fail to report cyber crime.

As per reports three in four children online are willing to share personal information about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. And one in five children are argeted by a predator each year. (ANI)

Hackers can’t hack top-secret data of military: Internet scientist

Beijing, May 21 (ANI): An acclaimed Internet scientist has said that there is no way hackers could access top-secret data by penetrating the firewalls of military on government networks.

Former National Computer Network Emergency response team’s Director Professor Fang Binxing said there is no scientific basis to blame either China’s military or the government for hacking other nations’ networks because most of them are “out of reach”.

Binxing’s statement came after the foreign media blamed the Chinese authorities of infiltrating military networks and government computers in more than 100 countries.

A specialist on Internet security said that Networks containing sensitive intelligence are impenetrable, because the militaries isolate their networks completely from the public domain to prevent hacking.

“If there have been cases of key intelligence being stolen, I believe there would have been undercover agents within the organizations facilitating the theft you cannot simply do it with computer technology,” he added.

Fang Xingdong, a Beijing-based Internet technology expert, said China has become a staging post for hackers worldwide, who use the country’s network security vulnerability to launch attacks on other countries.

“Hackers often use computers based in China as their ‘springboard’. That makes it confusing even for the US military,” he added.

According to an Internet security report released on April 15 by Symantec, the California-based anti-virus software maker, about 71 percent of the computers hacked in the Asia-Pacific region are based in China, which has a cyber population of 300 million.

At the same time, 38 percent of hacking attempts worldwide originate in the US, compared with 13 percent in China, the report said.

“The US military is picking on China because it wants to make its claims appear more plausible,” Fang Binxing said.

Canadian-based researchers have also claimed that a cyber spy network based mainly in China hacked into classified documents from government and private organizations in 103 countries, including the computers of the Dalai Lama and Tibetan exiles.

The researchers also dubbed the alleged infiltration “GhostNet” but “whether it’s called ‘GhostNet’ or something else, it’s just an expression, not a technical term in any sense,” Fang said.

The academician also rebutted reports by foreign newspapers claiming that China’s indigenously-built security operating system “Kylin” has links to military use. (ANI)

Disk drive with Clinton White House data disappears

Washington, May 20 (ANI): A disk drive containing one terabyte of data from President Bill Clinton’s administration is being investigated as a possible theft.

The hard drive went missing from a National Archives facility in Maryland between October 2008 and March of this year, a ranking member of the House Government Oversight and Government Reform committee, said in a statement.

“Data on the drive includes more than 100,000 social security numbers (including Al Gore’s daughter), contact information (including addresses) for various Clinton administration officials, Secret Service and White House operating procedures, event logs, social gathering logs, political records and other highly-sensitive information,” Politico quoted Issa, as saying.

Issa said he learned of the drive’s disappearance in a briefing Tuesday from the National Archives’ Inspector General.

“The hard drive was moved from a ‘secure’ storage area to a workspace while it was in use as part of a process to convert [data from] the Clinton Administration,” Issa said.

The Secret Service and the Department of Justice are assisting in the investigation, the statement said. (ANI)

Kanye West pleads not guilty in paparazzi scuffle case

Washington, May 19 (ANI): American rapper Kanye West has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor vandalism, battery and grand theft charges in the paparazzi scuffle case that took place at Los Angeles International Airport on September 11.

West, 31, was not present in court on May 15, and was represented by his lawyer, Blair Berk, reports People magazine.

West’s road manager, Don Crawley, 33, who was charged with two counts of each of the above crimes, also pleaded not guilty through his attorney, Shawn Chapman Holley.

The two had been arrested eight months ago for the altercation while attempting to catch a flight to Honolulu, and a video showed both of them wrestling a camera away from a photographer, with each smashing parts of it into the ground.

West and Crawley’s next hearing is scheduled for July 15. (ANI)