Ranvir Sena chief Brahmeshwar Singh shot dead in bihar

ARA ( BIHAR): A day-long curfew was clamped here on Friday as tension escalated following the gunning down of Brahmeshwar Singh, chief of now-defunct private militia Ranvir Sena.

"We have imposed a day-long curfew on Ara town," Sub-divisional officer Dharmesh Kumar said, adding, that the situation was tense, but under control.


Prohibitory orders under section 144 CrPC were also enforced in the district after the killing of Singh alias Mukhiyaji.


Brahmeshwar Singh was on a morning walk when he was accosted by gunmen who pumped several bullets into him, killing him on the spot at Katira Mohalla under Nawada police station, 71 kms from Patna.

Singh, who was earlier facing life imprisonment in various carnage cases, was acquitted and recently released from jail. 

He was the former mukhiya of Khopira panchayat of the Sandesh block of Bhojpur district and assumed leadership of the then Ranvir Kisan Sangharsh Samiti from the then mukhiya of Belaur block, Sheo Narain Choudhary, in 1994. In fact, 

under Choudhary's leadership, the samiti was not in a position to counter the move of CPI (ML)'s decision to impose economic ban on farmers in several villages of Bhojpur district. Brahmeshwar finally turned the samiti into a militant organisation which finally became Ranvir Sena.

On July 25, 1995, the Ranvir Sena killed six people belonging to Musahar caste in Sarathua village, located near the Belaur village, the Sena headquarters. But Singh came into limelight after the infamous carnage at Bathani Tola under the Sahar block of Bhojpur district on July 10, 1996, in which the victims were mostly children and women.


This was followed by a series of massacres in different villages of Bhojpur district. Four people were killed by Sena at Chandi village in February, three in Patalpura in March and five in Nanaur in April month of the same year. The spreading activities of the Sena finally forced the state government to ban it in August 1995.

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Microsoft launches Windows 8 release preview

Microsoft is nearly done with a much-anticipated overhaul of its Windows operating system.The software maker signaled the makeover is nearly complete with Thursday's release of the final test version of Windows 8.
Windows 8 is considered to be the biggest change in decades to Microsoft's widely used operating system. The software displays applications in a mosaic of tiles and has been designed so it can run desktop, laptop and tablet computers.

PC sales have slowed in the US as consumers delay replacements and instead buy mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. The versatility of Windows 8 is expected to spawn a new generation of computers that are part laptop, part tablet.

The latest test version of Windows 8 is available in 14 languages and includes several improvements from a less-refined version released three months ago. The upgrades include more ways to connect to other Microsoft services, more security controls and more touch-screen features.

Microsoft Corp hasn't announced when Windows 8 will go on sale yet. Most industry analysts expect the software will be available in September or October.

With Windows 8 looming, more prospective computer buyers may delay their purchases until the new operating system is available.

Microsoft is trying to discourage procrastination with a special promotion that begins Saturday in the US, Canada and more than 120 other markets.

The program allows buyers of computer running on Windows 7 to upgrade to Windows 8 Pro, when it's available, for $14.99. Microsoft hasn't announced other prices.

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Google files antitrust complaint against Nokia&Microsoft with EU

Google has filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft and Nokia with European Commission alleging that Nokia and Microsoft are partnering with other companies to enforce their patents related to smartphones and split the resulting revenue.

"Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent trolls that side step promises both companies have made," a Google spokesman said. "They should be held accountable, and we hope our complaint spurs others to look into these practices."

Google, which said it acted preemptively, said that threat poses a risk for its Android partners and could force them to jump ship to Windows Phone instead, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Google alleged that Microsoft and Nokia, which cooperate on smartphone technology and production, transferred 1,200 patents for assertion to a group called MOSAID, which the company called a "patent troll", a term referring to a holder of patents that litigates them aggressively.

It said it sent a copy of its complaint to officials at the Federal Trade Commissionin the U.S. as well.

"Nokia and Microsoft are colluding to raise the costs of mobile devices for consumers, creating patent trolls that side step promises both companies have made," a Google spokesman said. "They should be held accountable, and we hope our complaint spurs others to look into these practices."

Reacting to Google’s complaint Microsoft said, “Google is complaining about patents when it won’t respond to growing concerns by regulators, elected officials and judges about its abuse of standard essential patents, and it is complaining about antitrust in the smartphone industry when it controls more than 95% of mobile search and advertising," the company said in an email statement. "This seems like a desperate tactic on their part."

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Mistakes of magatheera

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Facebook camera app new lancher comes to iPhone

NEW YORK: Facebook's rocky initial public offering hasn't stopped life at the world's biggest online social network. On Thursday, the company unveiled a camera app for the iPhone.

The app can be downloaded from Apple's App Store and works like most other camera applications for smartphones. 

To take a photo, you tap a camera icon in the upper left corner of your screen, aim and shoot. You can then add filters, crop or tilt your photo, and share it on Facebook.

The new app is similar to Instagram, the photo-sharing app Facebook is in the process of buying for $1 billion. The acquisition, however, has not yet been completed, and Instagram's employees did not work on the Facebook app. Facebook has said it expects the Instagram app to close sometime this year.

Facebook didn't give details on when it might release a version of the app for phones that run on Google's Android operating system. In a statement, Facebook said it is "carefully looking at what might make for a good Facebook photos experience across Android devices."

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Petrol price hike to benefit OMCs | petrol price hike

CRISIL Research has come out with its report on petrol price hike. As per the research firm price hike will benefit to OMCs.

The oil marketing companies (OMCs) have increased the retail selling price of petrol by Rs 7.5 per litre with effect from May 23, 2012, taking the per litre price of petrol to Rs 78.6 (Mumbai).

While this price hike will not help reduce subsidy burden or fiscal deficit as petrol is already deregulated (the government does not bear a share of the under-recoveries on petrol), it will benefit the OMCs as they will not incur losses on the sale of petrol.

Since the deregulation of petrol in June 2010, the OMCs have regularly revised the domestic prices to reflect international product price movements. However, the significant increase in international crude prices and the sharp depreciation in the Indian Rupee vis-à-vis the US dollar seen since December 2011 had resulted in a sharp increase in the crude procurement cost of OMCs.

The OMCs had not revised the prices upwards, which led to losses of Rs 49 billion arising from the sale of petrol in 2011-12.

Assuming crude oil prices remain in the range of $107-112 per barrel and the rupee at an average Rs 51 to the dollar during 2012-13, CRISIL Research believes that the OMCs will not incur further losses on the sale of petrol during the year. However, in the event of a reversal in price hike, the OMCs are likely to incur annual losses of Rs 16-17 billion for every Re 1 per litre rolled back.

The current round of price hike has however spared the regulated fuels (diesel, kerosene and LPG).
Ballooning under-recoveries on regulated fuels to impact fiscal deficit adversely….

In 2011-12, the under-recoveries on the sale of regulated fuels increased by 80 per cent over the previous year to Rs 1.38 trillion. Of this, the government has agreed to bear the larger share of Rs 835 billion leaving the balance Rs 550 billion to be borne by the upstream oil companies. Of its share of Rs 835 billion, the government has already provided for Rs 450 billion in 2011-12. The balance Rs 385 billion is proposed to be paid in 2012-13. Although the government had made a provision for Rs 436 billion towards oil subsidies for 2012-13, the provision will be more or less used up for the payment of the 2011-12 subsidies.

Price hike to have a marginally negative impact on car demand; increase dieselisation

In March 2012, CRISIL Research forecasted passenger car demand to grow at 10-13 per cent in 2012-13. This forecast assumed an increase of Rs.4-5 per litre in petrol prices. However, the higher-than-expected price hike of Rs 7.5 per litre will negatively impact consumer sentiments leading to deferment of purchases especially in the small car segment. Consequently, CRISIL Research expects passenger car demand to grow at 10 per cent in 2012-13.

With a further widening in the prices of petrol and diesel, we expect passenger car demand to drift further in favour of diesel vehicles. Based on our estimates of current diesel engine capacities, the proportion of diesel cars sold is expected to increase to 42-43 per cent in 2012-13 from around 39-40 per cent in 2011-12.

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