BMW launches Mini Cooper in India

A new 'Mini Cooper S' sits on display in a showroom at its launch in Mumbai on April 5, 2012. Five variants of Mini Cooper series are being launched in India priced between $50,000 and $70,392. (AFP) Text: AFP MUMBAI: German carmaker BMW on Thursday launched its iconic Mini Cooper in India, the latest luxury auto maker to expand in one of the world's fastest-growing car markets. A new 'Mini Cooper S' sits on display in a showroom at its launch in Mumbai on April 5, 2012. Five variants of Mini Cooper series are being launched in India priced between $50,000 and $70,392. (AFP) BMW established a presence in the country in 2006 and has since seen steady growth in sales in India where growing affluence is producing a new upper class with expensive tastes. Andreas Schaaf, President of BMW Group India, poses during the launch of India's first exclusive MINI outlet in Mumbai on Thursday. (PTI) "With the launch of the Mini, we have brought the world's most exciting premium small car brand to India," said BMW India president Andreas Schaaf. Some 100 Mini Coopers have already been ordered in India with deliveries to start in May, Schaaf said. Andreas Schaaf, President of BMW Group India, poses during the launch of India's first exclusive MINI outlet in Mumbai on Thursday. (PTI) The ex-showroom price per vehicle is between 2.5 million and 3.6 million rupees ($50,000 to $71,000). Despite the country's slowing economy and badly potholed roads, India's luxury car market is booming, analysts say. President of BMW India group Andreas Schaaf poses with a new 'Mini Cooper S' at its launch in Mumbai on April 5, 2012. Five variants of Mini Cooper series are being launched in India priced between $50,000 and $70,392. (AFP) Luxury carmakers including Aston Martin, Lamborghini, Bentley, Jaguar-Land Rover and Porsche have all set up dealerships in India and report sales are doing well despite massive import duties. A new 'Mini Cooper S' sits on display in a showroom at its launch in Mumbai on April 5, 2012. Five variants of Mini Cooper series are being launched in India priced between $50,000 and $70,392. (AFP) The Indian market overall is largely dominated by much cheaper small cars, led by Japanese-controlled Maruti Suzuki. Other foreign firms such as General Motors, Ford, Toyota and Hyundai have also established strong footholds in the country of 1.2 billion people.

HCL Launches Two Tablets

 HCL Infosystems has launched two tablets, HCL ME U1 and the HCL MyEdu Tab. The latter has two versions, one for the K-12 students and another for higher education.

U1 is powered by Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich). It is packed with 17 local ready to use applications, sports a 7 inch 800x480 pixel capacitive screen and has a 1 Ghz processor with high performance and low power CPU. The tablet comes with a front camera and 512 MB RAM, with an internal memory of 4 GB expandable to 32 GB.

HCL ME U1 also has a full USB, mini USB and a Micro SD card slot and an option of 3G data connectivity through USB Modem. The U1 also provides for Wi-Fi connectivity. It comes with free goodies worth Rs 3,000 and bundled offers, which include free unlimited downloads for three months on Hungama, discounts on air tickets from Cleartrip.com.

Gautam Advani, EVP and Head, Mobility, HCL Infosystems said, “We are extremely proud to support the next wave of tablet growth by introducing the U1. This is an absolute value for money product and we expect it be a hit with our consumers. Its aesthetics will definitely enhance the style quotient of our consumers”

The MyEduTab K-12 version comes with K12 curriculum mapped digital content, educational applications and games, videos and ebooks. MyEduTab higher education version provides multimedia content on technical and professional skills, assessments and Apps.

The MyEduTab will be available on specifications similar to U1. 

Anand Ekambaram, Senior Vice President, HCL Infosystems and Head, HCL Learning said, “This is an innovative device for the 21st century learner. It will change the way we learn, definitely make learning an interesting proposition and will make the student more engaged even as the cloud ecosystem will enable a learner to imbibe knowledge at his/her own pace.”

The MyEduTab K-12 version will have the following content: NCERT K12 mapped content which will have rich animations and text in 2D and 3D, solved examples, chapter quizzes, key revision points and free NCERT text books. Educational applications available in the tablet will include parental control, online quiz engine, My Studio to search and explore free educational content online etc.

While the price of the U1 is Rs7,999, the MyEduTab K-12 version and the MyEduTab higher education version is priced at Rs 9,999 and Rs 11,499, respectively.

Rahul Gandhi hints at face-off with Akhilesh Yadav soon

Rahul Gandhi on Thursday directed Congress workers to watch Akhilesh Yadav government on implementation of poll promises, hinting that the battle of political heir-apparents in Uttar Pradesh may resume again soon after the resounding success of theSamajwadi Party scion in recent assembly polls. 

Rahul's exhortation came after partymen from UP told him that the Samajwadi regime would show up in six months because they would not be able to fulfill the promises that propelled them to power but would also take a heavy toll on cash-strapped UP exchequer if implemented. 

The directive came amid speculation of Congress exploring an understanding with SP for Presidential polls as also who gets to be the vice-president and deputy chairperson of Rajya Sabha, and appeared aimed at reviving organizational spirits before 2014 Lok Sabhapolls. 

The optimism about Congress getting an early opening against SP provided the only silver lining in the gloom that dominated Thursday's post-mortem of UP debacle under Rahul. The AICC general secretary was hit by an avalanche of complaints ranging from organizational weakness to internal sabotage to faulty selection of candidates. One former MP even complained against "angrezi" system and sought more accessibility, desi-style. There were suggestions that party groom "caste leaders" which is the trend in UP post-Mandal. 

Though Rahul repeatedly asserted in the campaign trail that he would return to UP, his early hint of party's future strategy could put him in confrontation with Akhilesh sooner than later. 

Observers see an interesting role-reversal for the young leaders, with Rahul playing the underdog after staying on top since engineering the defeat of Akhilesh's wife in Ferozabad by-polls. 

The simmering battle became a personalized face-off in the high-pitched campaign. Rahul questioned Mulayam Singh Yadav's duplicity in opposing English and computer education, saying Akhilesh knew both. The young Samajwadi taunted that Rahul's show of anger like rolling up sleeves and tearing SP manifesto on the dais resulted from his frustration that Congress appeared a non-starter. The poll results settled the debate and paused the confrontation, with Rahul complimenting Akhilesh on his success and the latter too calling Rahul "a good human being". 

With the scenario of Samajwadi failure only option, if optimistic, for Congress now, the debacle review brought Rahul face to face with organizational glitches that pulled the rug from under its feet in the hyped campaign promising party revival in UP. Rahul reviewed the debacle with candidates, who scored over 20,000 votes. 

The comments of senior ministers-leaders on 'Muslim quota', Batla House and the Centre imposing President's rule after elections, came in for criticism. Leaders also complained about ministers being contemptuous of workers. Rahul cut short speakers in the post-lunch meeting when they rose to speak about the negative impact of ministers' utterances, saying he was aware of it. The candidates lamented that 4.5% Muslim quota was announced too close to elections to help the party. 

Crucially, Rahul defended the candidate selection, saying it was the organizational weakness that did Congress in. 

Congress concerns are riveted on 2014 polls and aims to keep the bruised organization running by pitching it the upcoming local body polls.

Can’t question loyalty of Army, Gen V K Singh, says BJP

In the backdrop of the debate over whether a trust deficit persisted between the Army and the government, the BJP on Thursday came out in support of the Army and its chief General V K Singh, saying his loyalty should not be questioned.

“There cannot be any room for speculation on our armed forces. There cannot be any occassion to question the Army and the Army Chief’s loyalty. We cannot have reports questioning their loyalty,” BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Debate on the issue has come to the fore following a report in The Indian Express on how the government got spooked by movement of two military units to Delhi on the night of January 16. “There should not be any aspersions cast on the armed forces regarding loyalty. The armed forces have made India proud in the last six decades. We should not create any situation where doubts are expressed about the armed forces” she added. “The civilian leadership should respect the army and also bring back the confidence.”

The BJP backing to the armed forces came even as it demanded that the government remove the trust deficit with the Army and improve defence preparedness. “BJP wishes to state in this context that steps should be taken to bring greater transparency and keeping this process above board. We cannot afford middlemen working on these deals,” she said.

Adding that there cannot be any compromise on the preparedness of the armed forces due to the “prevalent policy paralysis” in the government, the BJP maintained that the morale of the Army should not be allowed to sag.

“The morale of the Army should be kept high. As for their resources, they should be adequately endowed. The government should show due statesmanship and keep preparedness at its best,” she said.

YSR Vs YS Jagan: Who Is The Best Articulator?

Comparisons between members of same family if they hail from a powerful background are common. This time, the focus has been on the late YSR and his son YS Jagan. Recently, Jagan gave an interview to a National News channel and this has led to few analysts work on the pros and cons.

YSR gave excellent answers when Karan Thapar tried to corner him in ‘Devil’s Advocate’. It is not a small thing to face Karan. Now, Jagan gave his interview for NDTV and he spoke various subjects like Emaar, Sakshi etc. The answers he gave, his articulation, his command was almost similar to YSR.

But during ‘Devil’s Advocate’ YSR was in power so his confidence was different. But Jagan is in struggling mode currently so his sense of humour will not work. It looked more like he was trying to defend himself. That calmness was seen in YSR. Maybe if Jagan comes to power it will be the same.

The dramatic way of expression for YSR is strong and it has intensity but Jagan gives blank and upfront replies. In Intelligence levels both are equal and public get convinced that they are not at fault.

Taller women more prone to cancer

Increasing height and increased body mass index are risk factors for developing ovarian cancer, a new study has suggested. 

These findings are important as in high income countries, the average height and average body mass index of women have increased by about 1 cm and 1 kg/m2 respectively per decade. 

These findings suggest that if all other factors that affect ovarian cancer risk had remained constant, the increases in height and weight among women would have resulted in ovarian cancer incidence increasing by 3per cent per decade. 

The Collaborative Group on Epidemiological Studies of Ovarian Cancer, based in the University of Oxford and involving over 100 researchers internationally, reached these conclusions by analysing individual-patient data from 47 epidemiological studies from 14 countries which comprised a total of 25,157 women with ovarian cancer and 81,311 women without ovarian cancer - virtually all the relevant data on the topic worldwide. 

The researchers found a significant increase in the risk of developing ovarian cancer for every 5cm increase in height which did not vary when other factors such as age, menopausal status,smoking, alcohol consumption, having first degree relatives with ovarian or breast cancer, use of oral contraceptives, or use of menopausal hormone therapy, were taken into account. 

However, for body mass index, the risks depended on whether women had ever taken menopausal hormone therapy but not on 11 other factors examined. 

"This collaboration has brought together and re-analysed individual data from 47 studies on ovarian cancer risk associated with adult height, weight, and body mass index, that is, most of the available epidemiological information worldwide. Collectively, the findings show a highly significant increase in the risk of ovarian cancer with increasing values for each of the anthropometric variables examined," the collaborators said. 

"The increase in ovarian cancer risk with increasing height and with increasing body mass index did not vary materially by women's age, year of birth, ethnicity, education, age at menarche, parity, family history of ovarian or breast cancer, use of oral contraceptives, menopausal status, hysterectomy, or consumption of alcohol and tobacco. 

"However use of hormone therapy for the menopause attenuated the relationship with body mass index, since an increase in ovarian cancer risk with increasing adiposity was found only in never-users of such therapy. 

"An advantage of seeking to review all epidemiological studies of ovarian cancer with relevant information on body size, published and unpublished, is that this helps avoid unduly selective emphasis on published results or just on some studies," they added. 

The results appeared in this week's PLoS Medicine.

Get ready to use FB in Hindi on your mobile

They say the future lies in smartphones and apps. And Facebook is one company that has made sure that it doesn’t lag behind in the mobile web revolution. Now the social networking site has upgraded it’s mobile app to ensure that Indian users can access the site in eight Indian languages from mobile phones. According to a PTI report, this will be rolled out in phases over the next few weeks, it said.

“With over 50 million people in India on Facebook, we want to make sure that everyone has a great Facebook mobile experience regardless of the device that they choose to use,” Facebook’s Country Growth Manager Kevin D’Souza said in a statement to PTI.

Soon Facebook users will be able to access the site by using ‘Facebook for Every Phone mobile application’ in — Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali and Marathi.

Get ready to use FB in Hindi, Gujarti. Reuters

According to TheNextWebstates that move was probably part of Facebook’s larger strategy of increasing user base in India beyond English language. Since the new policy will allow Indian users who are not fluent in English to access Facebook via mobile, it could give Facebook the edge over rivals like Google Plus which is yet to gain large numbers in India.

India has nearly 43.5 million Facebook users, which makes it the second largest user base outside of the US.

Who is Jagan Mohan Reddy?

Thirty nine-year-old Yeduguri Sandinti Jagan Mohan Reddy has been in the limelight ever since his father and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YSR Reddy died in a chopper crash. The Congress did not appoint Jagan Mohan as his successor which fuelled trouble for both the faction-ridden state Congress unit and the party high command with his defiant attitude.

From a businessman to a Lok Sabha MP from his family pocketborough of Kadapa, his rise has been meteoric - thanks to his father's legacy and his popularity in Andhra Pradesh. His father's supporters forced Jagan to take a plunge into active politics.

But the year 2012 is not proving to be a good year for Jagan as the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed a chargesheet against him for allegedly building up a vast fortune by misusing the office of his father when he was the chief minister. Jagan has not yet been arrested. He is currently touring the West Godavari district ahead of assembly by-elections. A second chargesheet against him is also expected.

Since the time Jagan left the Congress and formed his own party - the YSR Congress, named after his famous father - troubles have been brewing for him. Reports surfaced of his business empire having alleged links with another wealthy politician Janardhana Reddy, who was arrested in connection with the illegal mining case. He was also questioned by the CBI on his links with Mr Reddy last year. Jagan has so far remained defiant, saying that the allegations are politically motivated.

Called 'Jagan Anna' by his followers, he drew crowds and used his powerful media - a 24-hour news channel and a mass circulation newspaper - to propagate his views and attack the then Rosaiah government that took charge after YSR's death in September 2009.

A successful businessman who built a media empire in just five years, Jagan wanted instant results. He waited in silence until October 2009, when Sonia Gandhi said that she will decide the next chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. Soon after this, he started embarrassing the high command whenever he got a chance.

After getting ample hints that the Congress high command is in no mood to appoint him as YSR's successor, Jagan undertook the controversial 'Odarpu Yatra' to console the families of those who died or allegedly committed suicide after hearing the news of the death of his father.

When he decided to tour the sensitive Telangana region, the high command asked him not to do so fearing backlash. But Jagan went ahead with the yatra and reached Mahabubnagar. When violence erupted there, he was forced to return to Hyderabad.

From then, Jagan was defiant and just met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi once after that. He defied her directives, went ahead with Odarpu Yatra in July 2010 and has been avoiding visiting Delhi since then.

In November 2010, his Sakshi channel launched an attack against Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress. The party had expressed strong disapproval of the TV programme but no action was taken against him.

In November 2010, Mr Rosaiah resigned as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh citing health reasons, and the Congress named Kiran Kumar Reddy as his successor.

As matters deteriorated between him and the Congress party high command, Jagan turned in his resignation on November 29, 2010. In February, 2011, he founded his own party, the YSR Congress. Sixteen of Jagan's supporters even voted against the Andhra Pradesh government in December 2011 during a no-confidence vote over the issue of farmer suicide. The government, however, survived.

Jagan has had his fair share of controversies, even before entering politics. The allotment of 487 acres of land in March 2007 to Raghuram Cements, which had Jagan as one of its directors, was criticised by the Opposition parties.

Jagan topped a list of taxpayer politicians in 2009-10 and his assets last year totalled Rs. 365 crores.

The wealth amassed by the Reddys did not slip past the authorities and in July 2011, the Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered a preliminary inquiry by the CBI into the alleged amassing of wealth by Jagan.

CBI Lakshminarayana's Call Records Stolen?

Central Bureau of Investigation joint director V V Lakshminarayana, who has been creating sleepless nights to several persons involved in various cases being probed by him, has become the most wanted person not only for the media but also from his “enemies” who are apparently watching his every move.

On Monday, there was talk in the media circles that “an unknown couple” managed to obtain the mobile call records of Lakshminarayana for the last one month.

The couple, who put up innocent faces, approached a sub-inspector in the city and told him that they were getting threatening calls from a particular number. They sought his help to obtain the call records of that mobile number unofficially, for which they had paid a bribe of Rs 20,000 to that SI. Within a few hours, the SI managed to get the required details and handed over the same to the couple. They disappeared immediately without lodging any formal complaint.

The SI who made a casual inquiry later came to know that the particular number was that of CBI joint director Lakshminarayana. He tried to trace the couple but in vain.

The call records contain all the details of the CBI official as to whom he had talked to in the last one month. The SI is now said to be worried whether it would turn out to be a noose around his neck. Since there was no formal complaint and no FIR, the media could not carry the story, sources say.

charges against me began after i left congress :jagan to ndtv

Firing on people agitating against 28 augest, 2000

Rest can undo damage to heart cells

The damage to cardiac cells after a heart failure can be undone by allowing the heart to rest, according to new study. 

Findings from an Imperial College London study in rats show that the condition's effects on heart muscle cells are not permanent, as has generally been thought. The discovery could open the door to new treatment strategies. 

Heart failure means the heart muscle is too weak or stiff to pump blood as effectively as it needs to, and it is commonly the result of a heart attack. Around 750,000 people in the UK alone are living with heart failure. 

Severe heart failure carries a risk of death within one year which is worse than most cancers, and new heart failure treatments are badly needed, the European Journal of Heart Failure reported. 

Patients with advanced heart failure are sometimes fitted with a left ventricle assist device (LVAD). The LVAD is a small pump that boosts the function of the heart and reduces strain on the left ventricle, the biggest chamber of the heart, which pumps blood around the body's main circulation. 

In 2006, researchers at Imperial led by professor Magdi Yacoub, showed that resting the heart using an LVAD fitted for a limited time can help the heart muscle recover, according to a university statement. 

The Imperial researchers studied the changes that occur in heart muscle cells during heart failure in rats, and whether "unloading" the heart can reverse these changes. 

"If you injure a muscle in your leg, you rest it and this allows it to recover," said Cesare Terracciano, from the National Heart and Lung Institute (NHLI) at Imperial, who supervised the study. 

"The heart can't afford to rest - it has to keep beating continuously. LVADs reduce the load on the heart while maintaining the supply of blood to the body, and this seems to help the heart recover," said Terracciano.

Facebook getting a hate button: TechCrunch

Has TechCrunch pulled off the ultimate April Fool’s day joke? We think so, but we’re hoping it’s not a prank. In a report, the tech website has said Facebook is planning to get the “Hate” button as well.

The TechCrunch story says,

According to Facebook’s S-1 filing, users are now generating 2.7 billion Likes and Comments per day. With the Hate button, Facebook expects to at least double that. The S-1 noted “popular Pages on Facebook include Lady Gaga, Disney, and Manchester United, each of which has move than 20 million Likes.” Many inside the company think the Hates could easily top that.

The Like button is overrated. Getty Images

Why do we think it’s a joke? Well they also say,

The company has also experimented with the “Fax” button, as TechCrunch was also the first to notice.

Ah, that happened to be a prank that Facebook played on them two years back. More on that prank here.

According to TechCrunch the other buttons that could turn up “Meh”, “Love”, “Who Cares”, and “+11″.

Check our April Fool’s day post on Gmail Tap here.