Tech Updates

Slapathon turned into a hug-fest at SRK's Mannat, as the dramatis personnae of the big fight became one big 'happy family' again. The inside story of how the soap-style finale was worked out A day after the infamous 'Kha.One' Farah Khan and sheepish husband Shirish Kunder went around Bollywood on a peace mission. The day began with Farah driving to Sanjay Dutt's house to apologise on her husband's behalf and to present their side of the story and it ended with Farah en famille driving again to Shah Rukh Khan's Bandra home. That meeting lasted for over three hours and according to sources, produced a storyline that a Karan Johar or Sooraj Barjatya would be proud to produce. "Some incidents in our life when resolved makes relationships stronger than they were ever before," tweeted Shrish Kunder. It's the kind of philosophising children do after they have been whacked by their mothers. This newspaper has learnt that an urgent confabula...

Business Line Mr Stefan Pierer, CEO, KTM with Mr Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto Ltd at the launch of KTM Duke 200 motorcycle in the Capital on Tuesday. - Photo: Ramesh Sharma Duke 200 launched at Rs 1.17 lakh NEW DELHI, JAN 24:  With the launch of KTM, an Austrian brand in India, Bajaj Auto is replacing its ‘Probiking' sports bike outlets. The 34 new KTM stores will also retail the Kawasaki Ninja 250R and 650R (which Bajaj distributes in the country), though the top-end Pulsar 220 and 200 bikes will now be sold through Bajaj's outlets. The Indian firm bought a stake in KTM five years ago, which now stands at around 40 per cent. “We will continue to distribute the Ninjas. When we first invested in Probiking in 2003, we knew that one day we would need exclusive distribution for the premium market,” Mr Rajiv Bajaj, Bajaj Auto's Managing Director said. He added, “At that time, we had no idea what that brand would be. What Pulsar was 10 years back, KTM is today.” ST...

  Islamabad : Pakistan's ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha held a secret meeting with former military ruler Pervez Musharraf in Dubai and advised him not to return to the country, according to a media report on Monday.  "Gen Pasha, who has remained very close to the former President, held a meeting with (Musharraf) in Dubai and advised him not to return to the country as the situation is not conducive for his return," a source was quoted as saying by Dawn News channel.  The channel quoted its sources as saying that Pasha "strictly advised" Musharraf not to return to Pakistan from self-exile.  The report said it was not clear whether the meeting was held on the directions of the Pakistan People's Party-led government or if it was a private meeting.  The report said Musharraf, after meeting Pasha, convened a meeting of his All Pakistan Muslim League party on January 25 for reviewing his decision to return to Pakistan. The media report coincided with ...

Srinagar:A BSF officer was killed while six other security personnel went missing after being hit by an avalanche near the LoC in Kupwara district on Tuesday. Sub-Inspector Narendra Kumar died while five armymen and a BSF constable were missing after the avalanche struck this morning, a BSF spokesman said. "A snow avalanche struck Furkian top in Kupwara at 7.20 AM. Five armymen and two BSF jawans were hit by the avalanche and are yet to be traced," Defence Spokesman Lt Colonel J S Brar said. He said the joint team of Army and BSF were clearing snow between their camp and an outpost when the avalanche occurred. "Rescue teams from local camp and Gulmarg have been rushed to the spot to trace the missing soldiers," he said. Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) has declared higher reaches of Kashmir Valley, especially areas falling close to the Line of Control, as avalanche prone in view of the heavy snowfall in the first fortnight of this month.

Jaipur: Uncertainity looms large over author Salman Rushdie's video conference as members of Muslim Organisation staged protests outside the Jaipur Literature Festival. According to reports hardliners attempted to disrupt the event after organisers gave a go-ahead to Rushdie's video conference. Some reports also reveal that announcements at the Jaipur Literature Festival say that Rushdie's address has been potponed. Organisers of the Jaipur Literature Festival had claimed that the video session with the controversial author Salman Rushdie will take place as planned after Rajasthan government gave the go ahead. "We have received information that there was no requirement of any permission," Festival producer Sanjoy Roy told reporters. The five-day festival ends today. The Rushdie session is planned for 3.45 pm where the India-born author will discuss his childhood, his work, problems faced in the past years and the adaptation of his novel Midnight's Children...

MAMALLAPURAM/THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Union home minister P Chidambaram and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Monday rejected reports that they were locked in a turf war over the ambitious UIDAI project to give every Indian resident a unique ID number Aadhar. Chidambaram also said the government was mulling incorporating Aadhar numbers in the future resident identity cards of the National Population Register(NPR), which falls under the home ministry. Ahluwalia said it would not matter if there is a "small overlap" between UIDAI's Aadhar project and NPR. UIDAI, headed by Nandan Nilekani, is under Planning Commission's ambit. "There were some media reports about conflict between the home ministry and the UIDAI, but they are not true," Chidambaram said launching the distribution of smart cards under NPR for coastal villages in Tamil Nadu at Pattipulum village, near Mamallapuram, about 80 km from Chennai. Chidambaram said Aadhar was a ...

Thorsten Heins poses for a portrait at Research in Motion's headquarters in Waterloo, Ontario, January 22, 2012.  Photo: Reuters/Geoff Robins New team may not mean drastic, needed changes, say analysts. The new CEO at Research In Motion has dismissed talk of drastic change at the BlackBerry maker, a declaration seized on by impatient investors who say Thorsten Heins has only 12 to 18 months to turn RIM around. Takeover talk, swirling around RIM for months, picked up steam as Heins took the helm along with new  chairman Barbara Stymiest  at a once-dominant smartphone company that now struggles to compete. But RIM's shares tumbled more than 8 per cent as investors wondered whether Heins could reverse RIM's decline. "I don't think that there is some drastic change needed. We are evolving ... but this is not a seismic change," said Heins, who joined RIM in 2007 and previously served as a chief operating officer. Advertisement: Story continues below Timeline... ...