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Seventeen Indian nationals have been sentenced to death for killing a Pakistani man in a turf dispute between bootleg liquor gangs in Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates, local media reported on Monday. The Pakistani man was beaten to death with metal bars in January 2009, while three others were injured in the attack, The National newspaper reported. It said the dispute was between members of rival gangs vying to sell illegal liquor to laborers in the Al-Sajaa area of Sharjah.

Judge Yousuf Al Hamadi sentenced the 17 men to death after all evidence, including DNA tests, showed they had knifed the Pakistani to death. The victim had died of his wounds after he was stabbed repeatedly on various parts of his body and had also suffered brain damage, police said. The sentences marked the highest number of death penalties handed down at one time in the emirate, The National cited court officials as saying. Local media said that up to 50 people were involved in the attack, but those sentenced to death were found to have been the leaders.

Police had rushed to the area and arrested the 17, who had allegedly led the attack. The others were let off due to lack of evidence. The police had said the suspects had attempted to kill three other compatriots of the victim, but they managed to escape and were rushed to Kuwaiti Hospital for treatment.  The convicted men are aged between 17 and 30 years. During court hearings, all the suspects confessed they had fought with and murdered the victim. Forensics reports and DNA tests also proved their role in the crime. Death sentences are usually commuted to life in prison in Sharjah. Alcohol is banned in Sharjah, which lies north of Dubai, where liquor can be sold by bars and restaurants with special permits. However, Dubai hasl also witnessed bootlegging violence.

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Sydney’s iconic Opera House and Harbor Bridge went dark Saturday at the start of the Earth Hour, followed by cities across Asia in a global switch-off aimed at revitalizing efforts against climate change. Harbor ferry horns blared to signal the energy-saving event, which is supported by 4,000 cities in a record 125 countries and includes 1,200 famous landmarks from the Forbidden City to the pyramids to the Las Vegas Strip. “From Brazil to America, to Canada, all the way down to Australia, Japan and India - it is a really diverse set of countries taking part this year,” Earth Hour executive director Andy Ridley said.

Sydney’s office buildings plunged into gloom at 8:30 pm, setting off a rolling wave of darkness which will sweep the globe in a boost for the environmental movement after December’s disappointing Copenhagen UN talks. The WWF-run event had officially begun nearly three hours earlier when New Zealand’s Chatham Islands switched off their diesel generators, leaving just 12 street lamps burning. It will eventually end in Samoa after nearly 24 hours. On the way, most of the world’s top landmarks, from the Eiffel Tower to the Empire State Building and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, will turn off the lights to show their support for energy conservation.

Beijing’s Forbidden City and Bird’s Nest Stadium were among the participants along with dozens of cities in China, the world’s biggest carbon polluter, where giant panda Mei Lan is an Earth Hour ambassador. Hong Kong’s renowed neon waterfront dimmed as did office buildings in Jakarta, Seoul and Tokyo. In Japan, the city of Hiroshima turned off the lights at 30 sites, including the Hiroshima’s Peace Memorial.

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The world’s most wanted terrorist Osama Bin Laden, is “healthy” and “giving orders” to deputies in Al Qaeda, according to a Pakistani-origin taxi driver arrested by the FBI here on charges of providing funds to the terror outfit. A 35-page complaint affidavit against Raja Lahrasib Khan, arrested Friday for allegedly providing material support to terrorism and funds to Al Qaeda, gives details of conversations recorded between him and an undercover law enforcement agent about his association with Al Qaeda operative Ilyas Kashmiri, also the chief of HuJI.

In conversations taped on February 23 between Khan and the undercover agent, the 56-year-old taxi driver claims that Kashmiri, whom he addresses as “Lala” told him that Bin Laden is “healthy…Perfect”. “I asked the Lala about him (Osama). And he (Kashmiri) says he is (Osama) healthy, he is leading,” according to the affidavit against Khan submitted in a court here. Khan goes on to say that he thought Bin Laden was “sick” or “shaheed (dead)”, but Kashmiri “says no…He is perfect, healthy, and he’s leading and he’s giving the orders…He’s OK, he’s in safe hands. That’s what Lala said to me, you know…”

Later, in a conversation around March 17, the undercover agent met Khan and an “Individual B” at a restaurant here. During this meeting, Khan told the agent that he knew Kashmiri worked for Al Qaeda because he had asked him about “the big Lala, Osama….” Khan asked Kashmiri if Osama was “alive or is he shaheed”? He (Kashmiri) said no, he’s OK. Allahamdullah (praise be to God) he’s healthy and….He is commanding everything,” according to the conversation. Khan also told the undercover agent that  though he had never met Bin Laden “personally”, he wanted to meet him.

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In a development that will allow even physically disabled people become a gamer, British researchers claim to have developed a revolutionary and affordable computer game which could be played with the blink of an eye. ‘Pong’ is an open source adaptation created by the researchers at the Imperial College London where a player can move a bat to hit a ball as it bounces around the screen using their eye. To play the game, the user wears special glasses containing an infrared light a webcam that records the movement of one eye. The webcam is linked to a laptop where a software syncs the player’s eye movements to the game, Journal Science said.

Dr Aldo Faisal, the team’s supervisor from the Department of Computing and the Department of Bioengineering, said, “Remarkably, our team have created this piece of neurotechnology using bits of kit that you can buy in a shop, such as webcams.” The game that they have developed is quite simple, but we think it has enormous potential, particularly because it does not need lots of expensive equipment. The teams said that the prototype game is very simple but the technology behind it could be adapted to create more sophisticated games and applications such as wheelchairs and computer cursors controlled by eye movements.

They said, one of the major benefits of the new technology is that it is inexpensive, using off-the-shelf hardware and costing approximately 25 pound to make, while eye movement systems that are currently used to study the brain and eye motion cost around 27,000 pounds. “We hope to eventually make the technology available online so anyone can have a go at creating new applications and games with it and we are optimistic about where this might lead,” Faisal said.

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A team of scientists has suggested that the Earth might might be on the threshold of entering a new geological epoch, which might include the sixth largest mass extinction in the Earth’s history. The scientists include Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams from the University of Leicester Department of Geology; Will Steffen, Director of the Australian National University’s Climate Change Institute and Paul Crutzen the Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist of Mainz University.

The scientists propose that, in just two centuries, humans have wrought such vast and unprecedented changes to our world that we actually might be ushering in a new geological time interval, and alter the planet for millions of years. Zalasiewicz, Williams, Steffen and Crutzen contend that recent human activity, including stunning population growth, sprawling megacities and increased use of fossil fuels, have changed the planet to such an extent that we are entering what they call the Anthropocene (New Man) Epoch.

First proposed by Crutzen more than a decade ago, the term Anthropocene has provoked controversy. However, as more potential consequences of human activity - such as global climate change and sharp increases in plant and animal extinctions - have emerged, Crutzen’s term has gained support. Currently, the worldwide geological community is formally considering whether the Anthropocene should join the Jurassic, Cambrian and other more familiar units on the Geological Time Scale. The scientists note that getting that formal designation will likely be contentious.

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The US and Russia, countries with the largest nuclear stockpiles, have reached an agreement to considerably reduce their atomic weapons, in a landmark deal that could “reset” relations between the cold war rivals. The agreement has been reached between US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Demetry Medvedev and will be signed by the two leaders in Prague on April 08th, the White House announced on Friday.

“In a phone call this morning, President Obama and President Medvedev agreed to meet in Prague, the Czech republic, on Thursday, April 08th, to sign the treaty between the United States of America and the Russian federation on measures to further reduction and limitation of strategic offensive arms (the ‘new  Start treaty’),” White House said. This landmark agreement advances the security of both nations, and reaffirms American and Russian leadership on behalf of nuclear security and global non-proliferation. “This was the 14th direct meeting or phone call between the presidents addressing new Start, and represents their shared commitment to ‘reset’ US-Russia relations so that we cooperate substantively and effectively on issues of mutual interest along many dimensions,” it said.

The new treaty will contain limits on US and Russian nuclear forces significantly below the levels established by the Start treaty signed in 1991, and the Moscow treaty signed in 2002. The new Start treaty will specify limits of 1,550 deployed warheads, which is about 30 per cent lower than the upper warhead limit of the Moscow treaty; 800 deployed and non-deployed Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launchers, Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) launchers, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear weapons; and 700 for deployed ICBMs, SLBMs, and heavy bombers equipped for nuclear weapons. White House said the treaty’s verification regime will provide the ability to monitor all aspects related to it.

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British Airways said Sunday it was reinstating some flights on the second day of a strike after more cabin crew than expected turned up for work, but the union claimed it held the upper hand. BA said it would operate eight long-haul flights and 18 short-haul flights which it had earlier expected to cancel. But the Unite union said half of BA’s 250 planes had been grounded on the first day of the action. The union said 80 per cent of its 12,000 cabin crew members walked out on the first day Saturday of the three-day strike. It said it had turned BA’s flagship Terminal 5 into a “ghost down”. But BA said 1,157 cabin crew had turned up for work at London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports, accounting for 97 per cent of crew on duty at Gatwick and just over half the scheduled staff at Heathrow. As a result it was reinstating flights on Sunday to destinations such as Los Angeles, Miami, New York and Cape Town.

As well as using non-striking staff, the airline is offering traveler’s seats on planes leased from other carriers, including budget airline Ryanair. In a video massage late Saturday, BA chief executive Willie Walsh said the contingency plans had worked “better than expected”. “We have had a great turnout at Gatwick - incredible, every single cabin crew rostered to fly today has come to work and we have had about 50 per cent of our cabin crew arrive at Heathrow, so they are voting with their feet,” he said. He added: “I really do deeply regret that people’s travel plans have been disrupted, but it is great to see people sticking with BA and people backing BA and with their support we will definitely get through this.”

The union however has dismissed BA’s claims and even accused it of operating empty planes as a face-saving measure. Unite claimed planes were stacking up on the ground on Saturday, turning Heathrow into a giant parking lot of BA aircraft with 85 at a standstill. The union is opposed to the airline’s cost-cutting measures, which would see some of the most lucrative package for cabin crew in the industry substantially downgraded.

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An Indian-born surgeon charged with causing the deaths of three Australian patients and injuring another pleaded not guilty to charges of manslaughter and grievous bodily harm on Monday. Jayant Patel (59) formally denied the charges concerning patients in his care when he was director of surgery at northern Australia’s Bundaberg Base Hospital between 2003 and 2005. Patel was extradited from the US to answer the highly-publicized charges in July 2008, and arrived at the Brisbane city courthouse on Monday with his wife, also a doctor.

Prosecutors Ross Martin told jurors the patients died or were maimed after Mr. Patel performed a series of unnecessary and poorly executed surgeries, including a “useless” operation performed after he misdiagnosed cancer. One of the patients, 75, died after Mr.Patel removed part of his bowel without investigating the cause of his anal bleeding, while a 48-year-old nearing kidney failure never regained consciousness following oesophageal surgery. “Without adequate consultation or consideration of the alternatives, the accused performed an operation called an oesophagectomy,” said Martin, adding: “(The patient) never regained consciousness and died a few days later.”

Mr.Patel botched the same surgery on the third patient, aged 77, and failed to realize he was suffering ultimately fatal internal bleeding. ‘The accused either did not accept it was happening or chose to do nothing about it,” said Martin. Another patient was left with a colostomy bag for life after Mr.Patel removed his bowel on suspicion of cancer, despite a negative biopsy, the court heard. Former patients turned out to watch the beginning of the Supreme Court trial, with a support group spokeswoman saying it had taken “five years of hard, hard yards to get it to this point.” “From here, we will just put our faith in the justice system and see where it takes us from there,” said the spokeswoman, Beryl Crosby. Up to 160 witnesses are expected to be called during the 10-week hearing, which will also be broadcast live to Bundaberg’s courthouse.

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German business software maker SAP says a realignment of its India business unit appears to be working and can potentially accelerate the firm’s growth in the future. India has been reporting to Asia Pacific Japan but since January 1 this year, has been aligned to the company’s largest regional unit, Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). The region accounts for over 50 per cent of SAP’s global revenues and executives said the region is a repository of domain expertise in as many as 25 areas that its India business can benefit from.

“There was nothing wrong with Asia Pacific Japan,” recently appointed India managing director Peter Gartenberg said. But we wanted to accelerate growth further,” he added. That is a message the firm’s global leadership has been trying to spread, cornered after delays in its Business ByDesign software. An ‘acceleration’ strategy, both in terms of innovation, and taking products to market, is being widely circulated. In a briefing at Palo Alto, co-chief executives Bill McDermott and Jim Hagemann Snabe told reporters SAP’s on-demand software group has taken up “agile software development” methods to produce software faster.

Snabe noted SAP has eliminated about a third of the Business ByDesign group after the company realized that fewer employees can come up with better code faster. “The alignments will accelerate transfer of knowledge. It will accelerate business and value delivery. EMEA has great resources, beyond ERP, and we did not want to be limited in resources,” Gartenberg said in Bengaluru, India on Thursday. India is already one of SAP’s fastest growing emerging markets - according to one estimate, it notched up a growth of 41 per cent in fiscal year 2009 to Rs. 3,632 crore. The firm employs 5,300 people in India, which makes it the company’s third largest subsidiary.

SAP had earlier announced it will be investing $1 billion in India between 2006 and 2010. MD Peter Gartenberg, who took over in February, says his strategy will be to make SAP more customer-centric, build “high value, long-term relationships”. There may not be much change in the company’s vertical focus and Gartenberg said that SAP India’s push into emerging industries such as telcos, utilities, and BFSI would continue. Former MD Ranjan Das, who passed away after a cardiac arrest in October last year, had been allocating resources, hiring experts, upgrading people internally, and building teams to ready the delivery engine in these sectors. The new MD, however, hinted the company would like to cash in on the sustainability craze, focusing on energy-intensive industries.

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