10 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
London: Sex offender Peter Chapman was today sentenced to life imprisonment after he admitted kidnapping, raping and murdering a teenage student he had ensnared using a fake Facebook profile. Chapman, 33, of no fixed address, changed his plea as he was due to face trial at Teesside crown court for the killing of Ashleigh Hall, a 17-year-old student.
He was told by Judge Peter Fox QC that he must serve a minimum of 35 years before he could be considered for release.
Ashleigh’s body was found dumped in a field near Sedgefield, County Durham, in October. The teenager, from Darlington, had been strangled.
Chapman also pleaded guilty to failing to notify police of a change of address, as required by the sex offenders register.
Graham Reeds QC, prosecuting, said Chapman had used the fake identity of a teenage boy to entice Ashleigh into meeting him.
He created the fake profile on Facebook and used pictures of a boy in his late teens, the court heard.
“The photograph is not of him. It is of a bare-chested and good-looking boy who is apparently in his late teens,” Reeds said. “The defendant is a somewhat plainer looking man who could pass for being rather older than his 33 years.
“The prosecution case is that the defendant used this handsome alter ego to entice 17-year-old Ashleigh Hall into meeting him. When she met him, on 25 October last year, he kidnapped, raped and murdered her.”
The prosecutor said the teenager suffered from low-esteem and boys were uninterested in her.
“According to her friends, Ashleigh was interested in boys but they, generally, were not interested in her,” he said, adding that her friends thought that, if a male did show her attention, “she would likely be flattered by it”.
The night before her body was found, she told her mother she was going to stay with a friend but had instead made the decision to meet Chapman.
Chapman, who was brought up by his grandparents in Stockton-on-Tees, has a history of sexual offending, it has since emerged. He was the subject of several sexual assault investigations, beginning when he was 15. In 1996, then 19, he was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for raping two prostitutes at knifepoint. He was released in 2001.
The unemployed defendant, who used to live in Kirkby, Liverpool, and has links to Teesside, was arrested by traffic police on suspicion of minor motoring offences soon after he had dumped Ashleigh’s fully-clothed body.
He was held for questioning in Middlesbrough, where he asked to speak to detectives and what had been a routine inquiry took a more sinister turn. He led police to the spot, near a lovers’ lane, where Ashleigh’s body was found almost 24 hours after she had left the family home.
In the days after the killing, Ashleigh’s 39-year-old mother, Andrea, called for the return of the death penalty for killers. Before Chapman’s conviction, she said: “Whoever did this is going to go prison and sleep in a comfortable bed, but one day they will be out. They will be living and breathing as normal. But my daughter’s life had been ended at 17 – and my life has ended because she is not here.”
Ashleigh studied childcare at college in Darlington and helped her mother bring up the family’s other children.
“I could understand it if Ashleigh had died because of illness,” the victim’s mother said. “But to actually have someone take someone’s life is just unbearable. Ashleigh was my rock.”
Her daughter loved chatting to friends online and spent much of her spare cash on her mobile phone so she could also text them. Her mother said: “Ashleigh wasn’t a bad kid. She wasn’t naughty. She made one mistake and has paid for it with her life.”
Durham police led the inquiry, which involved contacting 2,500 people who knew Chapman through internet sites.
10 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
New Delhi: The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) on Monday said that terrorists may attack airports during peak hours to cause maximum damage.
“There is a view that chances of hijack by terrorists are very few. So they can attack the airports from the city side during peak hours to cause maximum damage,” CISF Additional Director General MS Bali told reporters in New Delhi.
“We have taken preventive measures. We have deployed personnel at the city side at the Delhi and Mumbai airports,” he said. Similar measures could be taken in other airports too.
The central paramilitary force guards 57 airports, Delhi Metro and other vital installations. It has more than 120,000 personnel.
10 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
New Delhi: Samajwadi Party and Rashtriya Janata Dal members today withdrew support from the UPA government, after strongly opposing the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha. However, the government is determined to get the bill passed in Parliament.
Congress is holding a high-level strategy meeting at 10 Janpath.
So far, 27 SP and RJD MPs have pulled out. However, the withdrawal is not going to make any impact on the government as they are not part of it.
Protesting the bill outside the Parliament, the two leaders declared their decision to pull out.
We take back support to the UPA government over women’s bill, Lalu Prasad Yadav said to the mediapersons.
RJD and SP together have 16 members in Rajya Sabha.
Earlier, SP, BSP and RJD members today strongly opposed the Women’s Reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha, with one of them even trying to climb the Speaker’s podium, leading to adjournment of the House till lunch.
The Bill, slated to be introduced in the Rajya Sabha, created storm in the Lok Sabha soon after Speaker Meira Kumar welcomed a Croatian delegation and read out a reference on International Women’s Day.
The moment Kumar called for Question Hour, SP, BSP and RJD members trooped into the Well demanding quotas for OBC, Dalit and Muslim women within the proposed law to reserve 33 per cent seats in Parliament and State assemblies for the fair sex.
The Speaker refused to adjourn the House and carried on with the Question Hour. SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav gestured his party members to move forward and himself marched to the Well from the side of the treasury benches. Dara Singh Chauhan (BSP) and Lalu Prasad and Umashanker Singh (both RJD) followed Yadav.
At this moment, Mithilesh Kumar (SP) tried to climb the table placed in front of the Speaker prompting Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee to request Yadav to control his members.
On the SP chief’s directive, the members retreated a bit but stayed put in the Well and continued to raise slogans.
The Speaker then adjourned the House till 12:00 noon. (With PTI inputs)
9 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
Mumbai Police Monday cracked the Rs.8 million robbery from the house of Bollywood actress and politician Hema Malini and nabbed five people in this regard, an official said.
The suspects were caught from a residential complex, Nensey Colony in Borivli East, barely 10 km north of Hema Malini’s residence in Goregaon East.
Police have recovered around Rs.one million worth of jewellery from the home of one of the accused and Rs.93,000 cash from the others, said Joint Police Commissioner (Crime) Rakesh Maria.
According to Maria, police had got a tip-off that a gang of robbers was likely to commit a robbery in the area and the sleuths lay in wait for them Monday morning.
Around 10.30 a.m., the gang arrived at a building near the ST Bus Depot and walked into the police trap, he said.
A search of the accused led to the recovery of some weapons.
The gang members have been identified as: Vinod Padamsingh Sahi, 24, Manoj Padamsingh Sahi, 20 – both residents of Pune, Birbahadur alias Bicchi Karnbahadur Batala, 55, from Goregaon East, Tapendra Birbahadur Sahi, 20, and Manbahadur alias Rambahadur Sahi, 55, – both living in Dombivli suburb of Thane.
They had committed burglary at Hema Malini’s house and looted cash, jewellery and valuables worth Rs.8 million.
8 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
New Delhi: More women are likely to join the corporate workforce in the country this year, with overall hiring prospects picking up and companies increasingly believing in maintaining a healthy male-female ratio, recruitment experts said.
“Most organisations that stressed on being equal opportunity providers ensured that the male-female ratio was maintained. Now, with opening of markets and opportunities, there will be a resurgence of female job applicants,” staffing firm TeamLease Services General Manager Surabhi Mathur Gandhi said.
IT services firm ITC Infotech’s HR Head Anand Talwar said, “Yes, more women are expected to join this year into the country’s workforce. As they make up about one-fourth of the workforce and with hiring prospects picking up significantly, the female employee strength is also expected to rise.”
Some other specialists said that certain sectors such as retail, telecom, hospitality, banking and outsourcing are likely to attract most of the female talent.
“The sectors which are a lot more open to women include telecom, retail, BPOs, KPOs and pharma research firms,” Korn/Ferry International practice head, leadership and talent consulting Nina Chatrath said.
8 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
Los Angeles: Some walked away with the Oscar Statuette but nobody lose from the competition at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards. The who and who of Hollywood thronged the award function, and it was a splendid show indeed. Some brought the house down with their witty one-liners while others brought tears to the eyes of the people with their emotional speeches.
The much acclaimed film The Hurt Locker has been adjusted the Best Picture film. Actor Jeff Bridges and actress Sandra Bullock won the Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actress in a Leading Role respectively.
Here is the list of the Oscar award winners:
Best Picture
The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow, Mark Boal, Nicolas Chartier and Greg Shapiro
Actor in a Leading Role
Jeff Bridges
Crazy Heart
Actor in a Supporting Role
Christoph Waltz
Inglourious Basterds
Actress in a Leading Role
Sandra Bullock
The Blind Side
Actress in a Supporting Role
Mo’Nique
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Animated Feature Film
Up
Pete Docter
Art Direction
AvatarRick Carter and Robert Stromberg (Art Direction); Kim Sinclair (Set Decoration)
Cinematography
Avatar
Mauro Fiore
Costume Design
The Young Victoria
Sandy Powell
Directing
The Hurt Locker
Kathryn Bigelow
Documentary Feature
The Cove
Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens
Documentary Short
Music by Prudence
Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett
Film Editing
The Hurt Locker
Bob Murawski and Chris Innis
Foreign Language Film
The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)
Directed by Juan José Campanella
Argentina
Makeup
Star Trek
Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow
Music (Original Score)
Up
Michael Giacchino
Music (Original Song)
Crazy Heart
“The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)”
Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett
Short Film (Animated)
Logorama
Nicolas Schmerkin
Short Film (Live Action)
The New Tenants
Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson
Sound Editing
The Hurt Locker
Paul N.J. Ottosson
Sound Mixing
The Hurt Locker
Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett
Visual Effects
Avatar
Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire
Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher
Writing (Original Screenplay)
The Hurt Locker
Written by Mark Boal
8 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
Los Angeles: Bullock’s Oscar victory marks the high point in a career that has spanned more than 20 years, during which she became an American sweetheart blessed with a natural comic touch that propelled commercially successful films beginning with “Speed” through to last year’s box office hit, “The Proposal.”
“Did I really earn this or did I just wear you down?” Bullock, 45, exclaimed as she took the stage to accept her Oscar, before saluting each of her four contenders.
The Washington, D.C.-area native became the queen of romantic comedies with her girl-next-door appeal before a deliberate shift in her career with a small role in the 2005 racial drama “Crash,” which she credits as the turning point when she began to take her film career more seriously.
She was an early longshot for an Oscar for “The Blind Side,” in which she plays a wealthy, strong-willed Christian woman who takes a black high school player into her family.
But her performance as the blond Memphis mother brought her a slew of awards, including a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award that greatly increased her Oscar chances and won over fans with her heartfelt confessions that she had not thought of herself as a good actress.
The Oscar she won for “Blind Side” was not the only first for Bullock, as the movie also became the first film with only a female lead ever to surpass $200 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales.
Bullock’s role in the sports drama is based on a real Tennessee woman, yet the Arlington, Virginia-born actress initially balked at portraying Leigh Anne Tuohy. She only changed her mind after meeting the woman who would eventually help bring her the movie industry’s highest honor.
It was a long road to critical acclaim for Bullock, the daughter of a German opera singer and voice coach. She spent some of her early childhood in Germany.
She took some time away from acting a few years ago after the success of “Miss Congeniality,” but during that break she met motorcycle maker Jesse James, whom she married in 2005, and started saying “no” to mediocre roles.
Then came “Crash,” the drama about bigotry and race in Los Angeles that won the best picture Oscar in 2006 and showed off Bullock’s serious side.
Last year was mostly a critical and commercial success for Bullock, although “All About Steve” earned her a Razzie win for the worst actress of 2009.
6 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
Shillong: United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Friday inaugurated the first postgraduate medical institute in northeast India here and stressed on the need for an urban health programme like the government’s flagship rural health scheme.
The North Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute for Health and Medical Sciences (NEIGRIHMS) in the Meghalaya capital has been designed in line with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh.
“With the inauguration of the medical institute, an important aspect of late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s vision has been fulfilled,” Sonia Gandhi said at the inauguration.
“The institute was conceived as a centre of excellence in healthcare which will have the best of health services facilities in eastern India.”
“Besides treatment and providing numerous health services, the institute would play an important role in research and development,” the Congress president said.
“The UPA government has given special attention to all-round development of northeast India.”
The NEIGRIHMS, an autonomous institute established by union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has a sophisticated cardiology department, well-equipped neurology and urology departments and a 30-bed intensive care unit (ICU).
The institute, conceived by Rajiv Gandhi 23 years ago, has been functioning since 2002 first as an interim facility and later built a sprawling campus on the outskirts of Shillong at a cost of Rs.423 crore. It also plans to begin its telemedicine project soon.
Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had declared NEIGRIMS a national institute on Jan 22, 2000, when he visited Shillong.
Sonia Gandhi also underscored the importance of initiating an urban healthcare programme on the lines of the government’s flagship National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), particularly with cases of tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and cancer on the rise.
“I strongly feel the need to launch a health programme in the urban areas which will be similar to the NRHM,” she said.
Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) B.K. Handique, Meghalaya Chief Minister D.D. Lapang and Minister of State for Water Resources Vincent H. Pala were also present on the occasion.
Sonia Gandhi is also to lay the foundation stone for the Rajiv Gandhi Congress Bhavan here.
On Saturday, she will visit Mizoram capital Aizawl where she will lay the foundation stone of the Rajiv Gandhi sports stadium.
Central Public Works Department (CPWD) is constructing the 20,000-seat stadium, the first such facility in the mountain state. The 12th finance commission had granted Rs.250 million for the Rs.1.32 billion project.
5 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
Pratabgarh: At least 65 people were killed and many others injured in a stampede on Thursday at the Ram Janki temple in district Pratapgarh of Uttar Pradesh.
Brij Lal, Additional Director General of Police (Law ans Order), said: “Sixty bodies had been recovered and more could have been killed in the tragedy in Mangarh area of Pratapgarh district’s Kunda town, about 180 km from here.”
The main reason for the stampede was the collapse of the main gate of the temple.
The crowd was in very huge number to attend a ‘bhandara’ (luncheon) of Swami Kripaluji Maharaj at the temple.
Immediately the administrative officials and police reached the temple site after the stampede and are engaged in rescue and relief work.
According to SSP, the crowd was of 1000 people at the time of stampede.
IBN 7 reports about 30,000 people gathered in the temple to attend religious function.
5 March 2010 | Marc Nongmaithem
Bollywood legends Guru Dutt, Nargis, Meena Kumari, Amitabh Bachchan and Pran have been named the list of CNN’s top 25 Asian actors of all time.
The list has been prepared ahead of the Oscar night on March 7 and has actors from India, China, Japan, Cambodia, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Korea. With five actors listed, India has highest number of entries.
“In the history of the Academy Awards only two Asians have ever taken home Best Actor or Actress statue (we don’t count Ben Kingsley as true Asian). Yet Asia has produced incredibly talented thespians that have changed the course of their nations cinematic history,” CNN said.
Comparing Guru Dutt to Orson Welles (Citizen Kane), the website said the actor-filmmaker ushered in the golden era in Hindi cinema with movies like Pyaasa and Kaagaz Ke Phool. He has been named in the list “because of his soulful acting”. His role of a struggling poet 1957 movie Pyaasa has been named his best performance.
Bachchan, 67, has been picked up for his role of brooding inspector Khanna in Zanjeer, which cemented the actor’s image as the ‘angry young man’ of Indian cinema.
Pran, who starred in close to 300 Indian films has been described as the pre-eminent villain of Hindi cinema.
Nargis has been described as one of the greatest actresses in the history of cinema with her “versatility and natural expression”.
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