Airtel may raise mobile call rates up to 20 percent

Telecom major Bharti Airtel may increase mobile call rates by 10 to 20 percent, equity research firm Nomura said in a report.

"On our call with Bharti management today, it stated voice prices are still trending up and there is potential for a 10-20 percent increase from current levels," it said.

When contacted, an Airtel spokesperson said: "At the moment, we have no plans to raise headline tariffs anywhere in India. The current focus of the company is on reduction of discount schemes and promotional offers to improve realisations."

In September, the company increased tariff rate for postpaid customers, raising call rates by up to 50 percent.

Local and STD rates of 50 paise per minute to Airtel mobiles were increased to 60 paise, while calls to landlines went up to 90 paise per minute from 60 paise.

Nomura said that Bharti's management sees its recent agreement with Mukesh Ambani led Reliance Jio Infocomm reduces the risk of any "gorilla attack" fears and there is room for "peaceful co-existence" for all.

"It (Bharti) again stated that creating a "collaborate supply chain" will see genuine cost savings," the report said.

The research firm said that Bharti may consider exit from Africa it it fails to succeed in its strategy reach one of the top positions in each of the markets by either organic or inorganic growth measure as it could prove to be a suboptimal operation.

Nomura said that it expects Bharti Airtel to exit from Sri Lanka if its current position of number 5th in terms of market share doesn't improve.

The research firm said that Bharti sees era of SMS to fade away as the revenue its generates from mobile internet service over 6 times more than SMS.

Airtel saw increase revenue from mobile Internet services which now accounts for 10 percent of its total business, Nomura said.

"Currently, sale of data packs brings in Rs. 100 per user, versus SMS ARPUs of about Rs. 15 which is at risk from cannibalisation," the Nomura report said.

Airtel did not comment on upcoming spectrum auction but the research firm expects company to bid for airwaves in process which starts from January 23 next year.

"It is likely that Bharti could participate in the upcoming auctions in January 2014, we think," Nomura said.

Apollo theatre collapse: 'one of the actors said'

Emergency services say more than 80 people were injured in a packed London theatre when part of the ceiling collapsed during a performance. The audience was showered with masonry and debris following the incident at the Apollo theatre, where about 720 people, including many families, were watching the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Indian protesters demand US apology over diplomat arrest

Leftwing Indian protesters gather at the US embassy in Delhi following the arrest and alleged mistreatment of Indian diplomat Devyani Khobragade. She has been released on bail after the US accused her of lying on her visa application about how much she is paying her Indian nanny working in New York. The Marshals Service has confirmed Khobragade was strip searched by officers.

Devyani Khobragade arrest: No special treatment to US diplomats at airports from Thursday night

US diplomats and their families in India will not be able to avail special treatment at airports from tonight when the deadline expires for surrendering their special passes, as part of the government's retaliatory action against the treatment meted out to diplomat Devyani Khobragade in New York.

India on Tuesday had taken a slew of retaliatory steps to strip US diplomats and their families of privileges, including withdrawing all airport passes and stopping import clearances for the US embassy, strongly denouncing the arrest and strip searching of Ms Khobragade, India's Deputy Consul General in New York.

The government had asked the US Consular diplomats and their families to surrender airports passes by tonight.

The Government had also asked the US Embassy to provide a list of all Indian nationals working with its Consulates, including domestic servants, by December 23.

The government has also sought copies of their contracts, bank accounts, salaries and PAN numbers.

It has also stopped all import clearances, including liquor for the US embassy. The traffic barricades near the US embassy on Nyaya Marg in New Delhi were also removed.

39-year-old Khobragade, a 1999-batch IFS officer posted as Deputy Consul General in New York, was taken into custody last week on visa fraud charges as she was dropping her daughter to school before being released on a USD 250,000 bond after pleading not guilty in court.

Ms Khobragade was put through both strip and cavity searches, procedures normally used for criminals, evoking a sharp reaction from India.

China lands rover on surface of the moon

China successfully lands Chang'e-3, a craft carrying a robotic rover, on the surface of the moon on Saturday. The touchdown marks the first lunar landing in almost 40 years. The six-wheeled Jade Rabbit moon rover, which weighs around 140 kg and can travel at a speed of 200 meters per hour, will patrol the surface for at least three months

Real Train Crash

Colorado school shooting suspect dead; 2 students hurt

A teenager who may have had a grudge against a teacher opened fire with a shotgun at a Colorado high school Friday, wounding two students before killing himself.

Quick-thinking students at Arapahoe High School alerted the targeted teacher, who quickly left the building. The scene unfolded on the eve of the Newtown massacre anniversary, a somber reminder of the ever-present potential for violence in the nation's schools.

One of the wounded students, a girl, was hospitalized in serious condition. The other student suffered minor gunshot-related injuries and was released from the hospital hours later, authorities said.
A third person was being treated for unspecified injuries but had not been shot, a hospital spokeswoman said.
Arapahoe County Sheriff Grayson Robinson initially reported that the most seriously hurt student was wounded after confronting the gunman, but he later said that did not appear to be the case.
Robinson identified the shooter Friday night as Karl Halverson Pierson
The shooter entered the school armed with a shotgun and looking for a teacher he identified by name, said Robinson. The teacher immediately left the school when he learned the student was looking for him, Robinson said.
"He knew he was the target and he left that school in an effort to try to encourage the shooter to also leave the school," the sheriff said. "That was a very wise tactical decision."
Two suspected Molotov cocktails were also found inside the school, the sheriff said. One detonated, though no one was injured.
Within 20 minutes of the first report of a gunman, officers found the suspect's body inside the school, Robinson said.
Students were seen walking toward the school's running track with their hands in the air, and television footage showed students being patted down. Robinson said deputies wanted to make sure there were no other conspirators. Authorities later concluded that the gunman had acted alone.
Nearby neighborhoods were jammed with cars as parents sought out their children. Some parents stood in long lines at a church. One young girl who was barefoot embraced her parents, and the family began to cry.
Several other Denver-area school districts went into lockdown as reports of the shooting spread. Police as far away as Fort Collins, about a two-hour drive north, stepped up school security.
The practice of sending law enforcement directly into an active shooting was developed in response to another Colorado school shooting that shook the nation: In 1999, two teenage shooters killed 12 classmates and a teacher at Columbine High School before killing themselves.
Arapahoe High School is just 8 miles (13 kilometers) from Columbine.
More recently, a shooter killed 12 people at a movie theater in Aurora, another Denver suburb, in the summer of 2012.
Earlier this year, Colorado's Democratic Legislature and governor approved a slate of gun control measures, including ammunition magazine limits and expanded background checks.
Two state lawmakers were ousted in recall elections after voting for the measures, and a third resigned to avoid a recall. The backlash was a reflection of the divide in a state known for its hunting and where gun ownership is a treasured right.
At Arapahoe High, students were seen walking toward the school's running track with their hands in the air, and television footage showed students being patted down. Robinson said deputies wanted to make sure there were no other conspirators but now believe the gunman acted alone.
The shooting came a day before the anniversary of the Newtown, Connecticut, attack in which a gunman killed 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
For one mother who rushed to Arapahoe High, it was her second experience with a school shooting.
Tracy Monroe, who had step-siblings who attended Columbine, was standing outside the school on Friday looking at her phone, reading text messages from her 15-year-old daughter inside.
Monroe said she got the first text from her daughter, second-year student Jade Stanton, at 12:41 p.m. The text read, "There's sirens. It's real. I love you."
A few minutes later, Jade texted "shots were fired in our school." Monroe rushed to the school and was relieved when Jade texted that a police officer entered her classroom and she was safe.
Monroe was family friends with a teacher killed in the Columbine shooting, Dave Sanders.
"We didn't think it could happen in Colorado then, either," Monroe said.

Iran sends second monkey into space

Iran state TV showed the rocket, Pajohesh, or Research in Farsi, blasting off and then showed the monkey, Fargam or Auspicious, staring at people clapping to celebrate its safe return.

Iran said on Saturday it has successfully sent a monkey into space for a second time, part of an ambitious program aimed at manned space flight.

Iran’s state TV said that the launch of the rocket dubbed Pajohesh, or Research in Farsi, was Iran’s first use of liquid fuel and reached a height of 120 km. It said the monkey, named Fargam or Auspicious, was returned to earth safely.

The TV showed the rocket blasting off and then showed the monkey, strapped snugly into a seat, staring at people clapping to celebrate its safe return. The report said Fargam’s capsule parachuted safely to earth after detaching from the rocket in a mission that lasted 15 minutes.

Iran frequently claims technological breakthroughs that are impossible to independently verify. The Islamic Republic has said it seeks to send an astronaut into space as part of an ambitious aerospace programme.

“The launch of Pajohesh is another long step getting the Islamic Republic of Iran closer to sending a man into space,” the official IRNA news agency said.

State TV said scientists were able to monitor and measure signals coming from the rocket, including Fargam’s vital signs, during the flight.

Iran said that it sent its first monkey into space in January, reaching the same height of 120 km.

For Iran, its aerospace programme is a source of national pride. It’s also one of the pillars of Iran’s aspirations to be seen as the technological hub for Islamic and developing countries.

In the January mission, one of two official packages of photos of the simian space traveller depicted the wrong monkey, causing some international observers to wonder whether the monkey had died in space or that the launch didn’t go well.

But Iranian officials later said one set of pictures showed an archive photo of one of the alternate monkeys. They said three to five monkeys are simultaneously tested for such a flight and two or three are chosen for the launch. Finally, the one that is best suited for the mission and isn’t stressed is chosen for the voyage.

The Islamic Republic has not revealed where the rocket launch took place, but it has a major satellite launch complex near Semnan, about 200 km east of Tehran.

Iran says it wants to put its own satellites into orbit to monitor natural disasters in the earthquake-prone nation, improve telecommunications and expand military surveillance of the region.

The beginning of an end to war on drugs?

Deep from the dense forests of Colombia, the leftist rebels have sent a message to the government: stop killing and start talking. In its decades-old war with the Colombian state, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has declared ceasefire many times, but the latest offer may bring lasting peace to the country as it comes after a one-year long talks between the government and rebels in Cuba and Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos’s recent meeting with President Barack Obama in which they discussed the U.S.-led “war on drugs”. 

In a communiqué issued on Tuesday, the Secretariat of the Central High Command of the FARC announced the ceasefire that will become effective from December 15. “We unilaterally proceed to order all our guerrilla and militia units a ceasefire and end hostilities for 30 days,” said the statement, asking the government to reciprocate as “public opinion was confused by this strange cocktail of death and dialogue”.

Considered Latin America’s longest-running insurgency, the conflict has left 220,000 dead and displaced 4.5 million people.

Though Christmas time ceasefires are not new in Colombia, the current truce — even though unilateral — is important as the peace talks between the Santos government and the rebels have made good progress on a five-point agenda: rural development and land distribution; political reform and participation of FARC; narco-trafficking, reparation and recognition of the victims of the conflict; and finally, conflict termination. The first two points already have been agreed upon and talks on drugs cultivation and trafficking are in a crucial stage.

The FARC, Colombia’s largest rebel group with 8,000 heavily-armed fighters, had unilaterally declared a ceasefire for two months at the start of the Cuba negotiations in November 2012, but lifted it after the government refused to reciprocate. Arguing that a ceasefire would give the FARC a strategic advantage, Mr. Santos had ordered his forces to step up their offensive.

This time too, the government has not yet responded to the ceasefire but there are indications that there is a change in the thinking in Bogota. Last week, Colombian Finance Minister Mauricio Cardenas said the current defence budget of 26 trillion pesos (US$10 billion) will come down if the government and the rebels sign a peace accord.

Various citizen groups in Colombia too have called on the FARC to maintain the truce  till the presidential polls in May. Such a long ceasefire may be unlikely, but the government is trying to extract more peace gestures from the rebels in order to win public support for a deal.

The current ceasefire may also help the rebels and government to agree on the most important part of their negotiations: drug trafficking. In his December 3 meeting with Mr. Obama, Mr. Santos managed to get his support for a peace deal with FARC. The role of U.S., which has spent more than $8 billion, through a legislation known as Plan Colombia, to help Colombia combat drugs and fight the FARC insurgency, is crucial to the peace process.

With the US-led “war on drugs” being seen as a failed strategy by most countries in the region, the FARC has proposed 10-point plan to de-criminalise the drug usage and focus on the socioeconomic and cultural aspects of the drug trade.

Only last week, Uruguay became the first country to legalise marijuana use, a move likely to be replicated in several other South American nations.

“A new mood is evolving in Latin America where more leaders are calling for de-criminalisation and legalisation of drug usage as the most effective alternative to a failed and very costly strategy. President Santos is listening carefully to what his regional counterparts are voicing,” said Nazih Richani, the director of Latin American studies at Kean University, in a column.

Why Barack Obama is not allowed to have an iPhone

US President Barack Obama admitted Wednesday he was not allowed to have an iPhone owing to security fears explaining why he is sometimes seen with a bulky super secure Blackberry.

"I'm not allowed for security reasons to have an iPhone," Obama told a group of young people at the White House for an event promoting his health care law.

He added that his daughters Sasha and Malia spend a lot of time on their iPhones.

Blackberry is renowned for its strong security encryption one reason why it is still popular in official Washington, even as the device loses market share to other smart phones including those manufactured by Apple.

The security measures on Obama's specially adapted Blackberry came under new scrutiny this year following claims that US spies had eavesdropped on the mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Within days of being inaugurated president, Obama won his battle with the Secret Service to hang on to his Blackberry, despite fears that it was vulnerable to being hacked, would give away his whereabouts and amid worries that anything he writes could eventually be grist for congressional investigations.

He has been seen scrolling down his messages in his limousine as he travels around.

The president often privately talks of how frustrated he is about the White House "bubble" which makes it very difficult to communicate with normal people or to get information from the outside world that is not filtered for him by aides or the press. Aides say his Blackberry is a way to escape that confinement.

The White House says the president's personal email address was strictly limited to a small list of senior officials and personal friends, but will not detail the encryption devices that are used to secure his communications.

4 digital ways to interact with Santa Claus

Christmas is more than two weeks away, but thanks to several apps and websites, people can interact with Santa Claus whenever they want.

Here are four ways to use your laptop or smartphone to connect with St. Nick this holiday season.

If you've ever wanted to video chat with Santa Claus, you can now do so using Hello Santa, a website and iPhone app.

Users must schedule a chat time with Mr. Claus (he's a busy man), but once the call begins, they can talk as long as they want. Each chat is recorded so users can relive their conversations with Santa.

Each call costs money. Users are charged $14.99 to chat with Santa, but they can apply the code "JOLLY" to get $5 off.

ReindeerCam

People who want to see Santa's reindeer can head over to ReindeerCam, which  has a constant live stream of Santa's furry friends.

Santa comes out to feed his reindeer several times a day. Users can tune in Monday through Friday at 8 a.m., 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. Pacific time to see him feed the reindeer. St. Nick also comes out at 3 p.m. Pacific on the weekends. 

Track Santa using NORAD or Google

Users can track Santa's journey around the globe as he delivers gifts this year using the North American Aerospace Defense Command's Santa tracker tool or one offered by Google. 

Each tracker will have Santa's whereabouts once he starts delivering gifts. Before then, users can visit each site to play Christmas-related mini games.

A NORAD tracking app will be available for Apple iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices. Google says it will roll out a tracking app for Android devices later this month.

Navigation apps

If you don't want to download any new apps or pay to talk to Santa, just use your favorite navigation app -- Google Maps, Apple Maps, Waze, etc. -- and pull up directions to your nearest shopping mall, where Santa is surely hanging out and taking pictures with children.

U.S. bombers fly through China’s new defence zone

Two days after China announced the establishment of an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) to bolster its claims over parts of the disputed East China Sea, the United States dispatched two B-52 bombers to fly through the contested area, according to a report on Tuesday.

Chinese authorities did not make contact with the two B-52 bombers, which flew out of the Anderson Air Force Base in Guam as part of an earlier planned exercise and crossed over into the zone, flying above the disputed East China Sea islands that are at the heart of a territorial dispute between China and Japan.

U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that the planes departed from Guam at around 5.30 am IST on Tuesday morning. The Chinese government announced that starting Saturday morning, it would track and monitor all aircraft that enter the ADIZ. Aircraft that failed to notify Chinese authorities of their flight plans could face interception from air defence forces.

China’s move to set up an ADIZ, which extends beyond its territorial airspace over parts of the East China Sea, including the disputed Senkaku or Diaoyu islands, and up to 130 km of Japan’s territorial airspace, brought angry responses from Japan, which has blasted the move as a provocation.

U.S. officials have also expressed deep concern over the move, suggesting it would fuel tensions between China and Japan. U.S. aircraft, they have stressed, will not adhere to China's newly announced demands.

On Monday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry hit out at the U.S. for making “irresponsible accusations”. Chinese officials have defended the move, saying that other countries, including the U.S. and Japan, have already established similar zones beyond their territorial airspace to track aircraft for security purposes.

China’s ADIZ overlaps with the air defence zone that Japan has already set up in the East China Sea, which also extends over the disputed islands and up to 130 km of Chinese airspace.

The timing of Beijing’s move, analysts said, may raise the likelihood of confrontations between the two countries, which have, in recent months, stepped up efforts to enforce their claims both on water and in the air.

Naval vessels from both countries have had run-ins near the islands, while Japan has threatened to shoot down Chinese unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) that have been deployed in the region and has scrambled fighter-jets in response, to enforce its claims.

UK teen becomes youngest donor of stem cells to non-relative

 A 17-year-old girl in the UK has become the youngest person in the world to donate stem cells to a non-relative. 

Victoria Rathmill, from Macclesfield in England, decided to donate after a family friend was found to have leukaemia. 

"It's been extremely overwhelming - I'm just a girl from Macclesfield, so this has all been quite a lot of attention, which I'm not used to. Loads of people at school have been asking me about it," she said. 

In October 2012, Britain became the first country to lower the age limit at which people can donate stem cells from 18 to 16, 'The Times' reported. 

After volunteers from Anthony Nolan, a UK charity, gave a talk at Victoria's school she decided to sign up for their register. 

Anthony Nolan maintains a stem cell register that enables leukaemia patients who need a stem cell, bone marrow or cord blood transplant to find a match. 

Usually, it takes an average of six years between someone joining the bone marrow register and a match being found. 

But in Victoria's case it was just six months before a match was found and she received the call shortly after turning 17. 

Victoria has donated twice because the patient was larger than she is and required more cells. 

Victoria will not be told the identity of the recipient of her donation for two years but is keen that they should eventually meet.

Man kills wife to marry another woman

A man was arrested for killing his first wife to marry another woman, police said Sunday.

Rahul, 24, was nabbed from his residence in Ghaziabad's Loni Saturday night following the murder of his first wife Khushbu, 22, whose headless and decomposed body was recovered from a rented house in east Delhi's Karawal Nagar Saturday.

The accused, an employee with a private company in Gurgaon, told police he killed Khushbu Nov 19 night and went to his village where he married a woman, Pinki, Nov 20.

"He also revealed that he married the victim in April against the wishes of his family members," said a police officer.

"Following pressure from his family members, he agreed to remarry but did not tell Khushbu about it," said the officer.

Khushbu's body was recovered after foul smell emanated from the rented house and neighbours informed police.

Neighbours also said Rahul left home Nov 20 morning telling them his wife had gone to her parents' home and he was going there to give her some clothes.

Kidnapped official rescued, four abductors killed - India

A senior Meghalaya official, abducted by tribal Rabha rebels, was rescued Sunday while security forces killed four of his abductors in Assam's Goalpara district.

Dilip Dutta Medhi, sericulture development officer of Resubelpara in Meghalaya, was rescued in the Buglamary area from Rabha National Liberation Front (RNLF) kidnappers, Goalpara district police chief Nitul Gogoi told IANS by phone.

Security forces gunned down four kidnappers in the ensuing gun battle. Police recovered one carbine, one pistol and two hand grenades from the dead men.

"We will send the Meghalaya official to his relatives," the police official said.

Medhi along with his peon was kidnapped by the RNLF rebel group Nov 14 from Chotomatia area, bordering Assam's Goalpara district and Meghalaya's North Garo Hills district, when he was going to Guwahati to meet his family.

The rebels had released the peon.

The RNLF rebel group operates largely in the Rabha tribe-inhabited areas of Assam's Goalpara district, and certain areas of Meghalaya's North Garo Hills districts.

Earlier, Medhi's family appealed to the kidnappers for his release.

"We are on the way to Dudhnoi police station to bring him back," Rajesh Talukdar, brother-in-law of Medhi, said.