April 05, 2009, (Seoul):Defying US warnings and threats of international sanctions, North Korea has gone ahead with its plan of launching a long-range rocket, which the international community fears might be a disguised test for a long-range ballistic missile.
North Korea claims it has launched the long-range rocket to install a communications satellite. The rocket was launched around 8 o'clock on Sunday morning and passed over Japan. It appears that wreckage from the rocket fell in the Pacific Ocean.
The United States, South Korea and Japan say the launch is actually the test of a ballistic missile, which is designed to carry a warhead as far as Alaska so if indeed it's a missile test, then it poses a serious threat to the United States.
The US government has called it a provocative act implying the possibility of international sanctions against North Korea.
After a stern warning by President Obama couple of days back, the US state department reacting to the launch has said, "We look on this as a provocative act."
This comes amidst fears that such a test could be a first step toward putting a nuclear warhead on a missile capable of reaching Alaska and beyond.
Source From: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090089742&ch=452009120300PM
Suicide bomb blast in Pak again; 35 killed, 20 injured
Islamabad: A suicide bomber on Sunday struck a religious gathering of the Shia community killing at least 30 people and injuring over 200 others in Chakwal area of Pakistan's Punjab province, a day after Terror attacks in the country claimed over two dozen lives.
The suicide attacker entered an Imambargah or prayer hall at Chakwal, located about 90 km from Islamabad, where about 2,000 worshippers had gathered for a religious function, and blew himself up.
Witnesses and reporters at the site said 30 people were killed and close to 200 people were injured. No group has claimed the responsibility for the attack.
A massive rescue operation was launched with dozens of ambulances being used to ferry the injured to hospitals in nearby cities like Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
Officials in a hospital in Chakwal said about 10 of the injured were in a serious condition.
The terrorist assault came a day after a suicide bomber struck a paramilitary camp in the heart of Islamabad, killing eight security personnel and injuring five others.
Another suicide attack yesterday in the restive North Waziristan tribal agency left 17 civilians dead.
Militants have targeted Imambargahs and the minority Shia community in Sindh province in past and the North West Frontier Province in the past few months but today's attack was significant as it occurred in the Punjab province.
Source From:http://www.indianexpress.com/news/suicide-bomb-blast-in-pak-again-35-killed-20-injured/443340/
Top-paid CEO is US gets 10 times more than his Indian counterpart
April 05, 2009, (New York):The US has entered 17th straight month of recession, but the pay package of its highest-paid CEO exceeds $100 million (over Rs 500 crore) -- a figure more than 10 times that of his counterpart in the country of his birth, where economy is still growing at a decent rate.
America's top earning business head, mobile phone maker Motorola's co-CEO Sanjay Jha, who got a package of $104 million in 2008, happens to be an India-born person.
In comparison, India's top-paid business chief, Mukesh Ambani of Reliance Industries, got a total remuneration of Rs 44.02 crore in 2007-08, the last fiscal year for which the salary data is available.
Ambani's package is just about one-fifth of the same for even Vikram Pandit, also and India-born person and CEO of banking behemoth Citigroup, which had to seek the US government's support to keep running.
Pandit is fourth highest-paid CEO in the US with $38.2 million (about Rs 200 crore) pay packet, while another Indian-born CEO at a US company, PepsiCo's Indra Nooyi, is at the 36th slot with a pay package of $13.98 million (about Rs 70 crore).
Pandit is also the highest paid CEO for bailed out banks in the US.
The US economy shrank in the fourth quarter of 2008 by over six per cent maximum fall in 26 years and the economy is on a downward slope for 17 months now.
In comparison, India is still maintaining a growth rate of about 7 per cent. While the growth rate projections for India has also declined from 9-10 per cent previously, the most pessimistic view also estimates a growth rate of 4-5 per cent to be maintained in the country.
However, trends in the size of economy do not seem to be reflecting in the executive pay packages in the two countries.
As per a survey conducted by Wall Street Journal, the overall CEO compensation at American firms has declined, but Motorola's Jha still got a hefty package of $104 million in 2008, making him the top paid CEO in the country.
In India, none of the business executives get paid even $10 million (Rs 50 crore), while there are just about two dozen people getting more than Rs 10 crore.
These include RIL's Mukesh Ambani, Sun TV Network's Kalanithi Maran and Kavery Maran, Madras Cement's P R Ramasubrahmanya Rajha, Reliance Communications' Anil Ambani, Ranbaxy Labs' Malvinder Mohan Singh, Bharti Airtel's Sunil Mittal, Jindal Steel's Naveen Jindal, JSW Steel's Sajjan Jindal and Grasim Industries' Kumar Mangalam Birla.
Jha is the only CEO in the US to get a compensation package exceeding $100 million, as per the WSJ CEO Compensation Study, which was conducted by management consulting firm Hay Group and is based on an analysis of CEO pay of the first 200 US companies with fiscal year 2008 revenue of at least $5 billion that filed their proxy statements between October 2008 and March 2009. The study would be updated as companies file new proxies.
The survey showed that overall, the median chief executive salary and bonus paid last year by 200 big American companies declined 8.5 per cent to $2.24 million, as profits and stock prices were hit by recession.
Including the awarded value of stock, stock options and other long-term incentives, total direct compensation for chiefs slipped 3.4 per cent to a median of $7.6 million.
In the wake of the financial meltdown, huge executive compensations at American companies had come in for severe criticism from different quarters.
The payouts for chief executives dropped sharply at banks and brokerages.
The survey noted that median annual cash compensation for CEOs in the financial industry fell 43 per cent, to $9,76,000. Total direct compensation fell 14.2 per cent, to a median $7.6 million.
Source From: http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20090089758
Another shootout in US, 3 police officers killed
NEW YORK: A day after a Vietnamese-American shot dead 13 people before claiming his own life in Binghamton in US, another gunman killed three
police officers responding to a call of domestic disturbance and turned a quiet Pittsburgh street into a battlefield for over four hours.
Though the incidents occurred in towns more than 400 kilometres apart, there were similarities as both gunmen had lost their jobs in the economic recession and were feeling frustrated, media reports suggested.
The shootings led to fresh calls for toughening the laws for gun possession as analysts expressed fears that such incidents could increase if the economic difficulties continue.
Both assailants were wearing bullet proof vests which showed that they were prepared to fight the police.
The gunman in Pittsburgh, identified as 23-year old Richard Poplawski, was apparently lying in wait for the police after his mother sought help.
He killed two police officers at the door and then third who came to help of his colleagues yesterday. Two other police officers were injured.
Then followed a four-hour standoff during which the police officers fired more than 100 rounds but Poplawski was not seriously hurt apparently because of the bullet proof vest. He was shot in the leg and has been charged with three counts of homicide and aggravated assault.
In both cases, officials have not been able to establish the motive but Poplawski's friends were quoted as saying that he was upset over losing his job recently and also feared that the Obama administration might ban guns.
Police have also not been able to establish a clear motive in the case of Binghamton killer Jiverly Wong as his computer hard drives gave no help. But he was said to be upset over people making fun of his poor English and was a loner. He too had lost his job and was unable to get another.
Law enforcement officials said that he apparently came to fight the police but killed himself when he heard sirens of police cars.
Source From: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Another-shootout-in-US-3-police-officers-killed/articleshow/4361537.cms
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