UN investigators leave Syria as Obama plans strike over chemical weapons

 UN experts investigating a suspected chemical weapons attack have left Syria, opening a window into a possible US strike after Washington concluded the Damascus regime unleashed poison gas on civilians.

The 13 inspectors, led by Ake Sellstrom, left their Damascus hotel before dawn and crossed early morning into Lebanon at the town of Chtaura in a convoy of vehicles.

They are due to report back immediately to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, who has appealed to the West to allow time for their findings to be assessed.

Their departure heightened expectations of a US-led military strike on the Syrian regime, after Barack Obama gave his clearest indication yet that an attack was imminent.

"We cannot accept a world where women and children and innocent civilians are gassed on a terrible scale," Obama said at the White House.

"We are looking at the possibility of a limited, narrow act."

As CEO, Are You Putting Your Best Face Forward?

Spanx Founder and Owner Sara Blakely

 Your product or service isn’t the only thing you need to be promoting. As a CEO, one of the most powerful exposure and revenue-building tools your company has is, in fact, you.

CEO branding is the new corporate branding. People want an emotional connection to the brands they are invested in, so it’s important for those brands to have a face — and that’s where CEO branding comes in.

CEO branding is the process of aligning your face with your corporate brand. This process includes public relation activities, media interviews, philanthropy, articles, books, speaking engagements and employee treatment. It requires integrating the CEO’s brand DNA into how the company is viewed publicly. In a competitive marketplace, it is a differentiating factor. Though it happens naturally, CEOs need to be forward-looking in strategizing their brand — or reactive in managing it.

Consider these survey results compiled by Burson-Marsteller, one of the world’s largest PR firms. that illustrate the importance of a CEO’s reputation to the success of the company. The results indicated that, based on a CEO’s reputation:


Read More Article : http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2012/08/08/as-ceo-are-you-putting-your-best-face-forward/

Top Lashkar terrorist Abdul Karim Tunda arrested by Delhi Police

New Delhi: One of India's 20 most wanted terrorists, Abdul Karim Tunda, was arrested by the Special Cell of Delhi Police from the Indo-Nepal border last night. The Delhi Police has been given a three-day custody of the wanted Lashkar-e-Taiba man, arrested with a Pakistani passport issued in January this year.

Tunda, around 70 years old and wanted in 21 cases, is accused of masterminding over 40 bomb blasts in New Delhi, Panipat, Sonepat, Ludhiana, Kanpur and Varanasi between December 1996 and January 1998 that left 21 dead and over 400 injured. He is also accused of involvement in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case.

In the dossier handed over to Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks, Tunda ranks number 15 among the men wanted by India. The dossier claims he is close to Jamat-ud-Dawa chief Hafiz Saeed, the alleged mastermind of the Mumbai terror attacks. Delhi Police also hinted at his association with Mumbai underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's gang.

According to sources, Tunda was allegedly indoctrinated into terrorist activities by Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence or ISI in the eighties, which also trained him in making improvised explosive devices.

After the serial blasts, Tunda allegedly fled to Bangladesh where he came under direct command of Lashkar chief Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi. He soon became LeT's top bomb maker.

The hunt for Tunda died down in 2000 when Indian intelligence agencies believed a news item that he has been killed. He returned to the surveillance radar in August 2005 when Abdul Razzak Masood, an alleged LeT chief coordinator in Dubai arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi police, disclosed that Tunda was alive and had met him in Lahore in December 2003.

Tunda's name surfaced again in July 2006 when Kenyan police claimed to arrest him. But it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity with the arrested person being a UK national.

Sources said Tunda had been guiding the banned Students Islamic Movement of India, which later turned into Indian Mujahideen. He is also accused of motivating the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar to perpetrate attacks against the Buddhists there.

Is Durga Shakti Nagpal really wanted in Punjab?

 She opted for a change from her parent IAS cadre Punjab and shifted to Uttar Pradesh. Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Durga Shakti Nagpal, who recently hit the national headlines after the Uttar Pradesh government unceremoniously suspended her for taking on the sand mafia, can perhaps draw solace from the Punjab government going on record to say she will be welcome if she opted to return.

But is she, or officers like her, really wanted in Punjab or any other state?

Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has said that Durga Shakti would be "welcome to come back if she wished to".

The young IAS officer, who served out her probationary period in Mohali, adjoining Chandigarh, from June 2011 to August 2012, had opted for a cadre change after getting married to Uttar Pradesh cadre IAS officer Abhishek Singh.

But the question being asked in political and other circles in Punjab is whether the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal bosses would really like to have an officer who showed courage to go after the politically well-connected and moneyed sand mafia in Uttar Pradesh. If Durga Shakti comes back to Punjab and starts doing the same things that she was doing as "part of duty" in Uttar Pradesh, it could spell trouble for many influential people in Punjab.

Illegal sand mining in Punjab is rampant and the Punjab and Haryana High Court is seized of the matter. Leaders of the opposition Congress have been shouting from the rooftops that the Parkash Singh Badal government and some of its ministers are openly running or supporting the sand mafia. Just how effective will be the ban imposed by the National Green Tribunal remains to be seen.

In Punjab, by conservative estimates, the illegal mining and monopolisation of sand is worth several crore rupees on a daily basis. The money is being allegedly pocketed by influential people, especially from the ruling elite. A public suit before the high court has pointed out that illegal mining in Punjab is worth Rs.10,000 crore annually.

Britain's oldest pet dies as tortoise that survived two world wars passes away aged 130 after being bitten on the leg by a rat

Thomas, born in 1882, bitten on leg by rat and wound became infected

Tortoise outlived five monarchs and survived both World Wars

Survived Blitz attack and was pulled from rubble of bomb-hit house in Essex

He survived the Blitz, five monarchs and both World Wars.

But Thomas, who was Britain's oldest resident, has died aged 130 - after being bitten by a rat.

He was born in 1882 and was pulled out of the rubble of a bomb-hit house in Essex in 1945.

The reptile had to be put down by owner June Le Gallez after being attacked by a rat in the back garden of her home in Guernsey.

Moscow holds talks with US ambassador over spy scandal

The US ambassador to Russia met foreign ministry officials in Moscow to discuss the case of a US diplomat accused of trying to recruit a Russian agent.

Michael McFaul was summoned after Russia said on Tuesday it had detained Ryan Fogle for "provocative actions".

Mr Fogle was declared "persona non grata" and told to leave the country.

The incident did not contribute to "strengthening mutual trust between Russia and the US", a spokesman for President Vladimir Putin said.

However, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he did not bring the matter up with US Secretary of State John Kerry, when they met at a conference in Sweden on Tuesday.

"I decided that talking about it would be superfluous, since it is already made public and everyone already understands everything," he said in comments published on the foreign ministry's website.

Mumbai: How an MBA and his friend kidnapped, burnt cousin to death

Mumbai: The Mumbai Police has revealed shocking details of how an MBA hatched a plot to kidnap his 13-year-old cousin after losing money in an IPL bet and then got him hacked and burned to death by his friend when the police got to know of the case. "The 13-year-old was attacked on his head. He was taken in a car, which the police have recovered," Mumbai Police Additional Commissioner Krishna Prakash said.

Thirteen-year-old Aditya Ranka from South Mumbai was allegedly kidnapped by his cousin Himanshu and then brutally murdered by his friend. The cousin had reportedly lost Rs 10 lakh over betting on IPL matches.

He and a friend, Vijay Singhavi, then allegedly hatched the plot to kidnap the young boy and made a Rs 30 lakh ransom call. But when Aditya's family discovered Himanshu's hand in the kidnapping, the 13-year-old boy's wrist was slashed and he was later set ablaze in a secluded area in Panvel. 

"Since Friday, when Himanshu was in Rajasthan, the planning was on. They had Rs 10 lakh pending over the betting. They had decided that they would kidnap someone and seek ransom to pay for the betting loss. When the accused came to know that his uncle was expecting Rs 30 lakh, he decided to kidnap the 13-year-old," Prakash said.

"When he realised that the police was in action and the case is being taken up by crime branch, local police, they got nervous and then brought weapons and match box to kill Aditya," Prakash added.

Aditya's father came to know of Himanshu's involvement after he saw Aditya's slippers in his car, the police said. "The complainant was called in at the police station when we did not get any update on the boy. The complainant came in the same car that was used in the crime. One of the slippers of the boy was found in the car," Prakash said.

Both the accused were arrested by the police and have confessed to the crime. "The accused later revealed the details of the crime based on which Himanshu and his friend were arrested. Himanshu took the child out of the house. The calls at home were made by Vijay, the friend, and later on carried the crime. The two MBA graduates gave shape to the crime," Prakash added.