Egypt: Balloon crashes near Luxor killing 18 tourists

British, French, Hong Kong and Japanese nationals are among at least 18 tourists killed in a hot air balloon crash near the Egyptian city of Luxor.

The balloon was at 1,000 ft (300m) when it caught fire and plunged onto fields west of Luxor, officials said.

At least two people, including the balloon's pilot, survived, reportedly by jumping out of the balloon before it crashed.

Luxor is home to some of Egypt's most famous pharaonic-era ruins.

It lies on the banks of the River Nile in the south of the country, and has long been a popular tourist destination.

British tour operator Thomas Cook confirmed that four of its clients were on board the balloon - two had died and two were in hospital.

"We have a very experienced team in resort with the two guests in the local hospital, and we're providing our full support to the family and friends of the deceased at this difficult time," Peter Fankhauser, CEO of Thomas Cook UK and Europe, said.

The Chinese embassy in Egypt has confirmed that nine Hong Kong tourists died in the balloon crash.

Egyptian police have said the other tourists include four from Japan and two from France. At least one Egyptian also died.

Earlier reports suggested 19 people had been killed.

Oscars 2013: 'Argo' wins best film award, Ang Lee best director

Ben Affleck's Iran hostage drama "Argo" took home the Oscar for best picture, in a unique presentation done by Jack Nicholson in Hollywood and First Lady Michelle Obama by videolink.

"Argo" bested eight rivals for the top prize: "Amour," "Beasts of the Southern Wild," "Django Unchained," "Les Miserables," "Life of Pi," " Lincoln," "Silver Linings Playbook," and "Zero Dark Thirty."

On Nicholson's cue, Obama -- in a glittering silvery gown as stunning as any worn by the stars inside the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood -- opened the envelope at the White House and declared "Argo" the winner.

"I want to thank Canada. I want to thank our friends in Iran, who live under terrible circumstances," said Affleck, a co-producer of the film, speaking at top speed in the very last minutes of the live prime-time Oscar broadcast.

"Argo" recounts how a group of US diplomats who took refuge in the Canadian embassy in Tehran during the Iran hostage crisis were spirited out of the Islamic republic as members of a bogus movie crew.

Putting all speculations to rest, director Ang Lee has won the best director award second time at the 85th Academy Awards. His 'Life of Pi', a fantasy adventure drama widely shot in India, has also won four Oscars, including best cinematography, best visual effects and best original score.

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Bhandara rape case: School headmaster failed to alert family about missing girls, suspended

Bhandara: Eight days after the shocking incident of rape and murder of three minor girls in Bhandara district in Maharashtra, the government finally acted and suspended the headmaster of the school where two of the sisters studied.

The school headmaster was suspended as he failed to alert the family and police when the girls went missing on February 14. The two girls were not present at the time when the mid-day meal was being served, though their bags were in the class.

Three sisters, all minors were allegedly raped and murdered in Bhandara and their bodies were dumped in a well. Preliminary post-mortem report had confirmed that the girls were raped before being murdered.

Enraged villagers demanding a swift probe blocked the National Highway 6 for over four hours on Wednesday, while a bandh was called in the district. Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh and senior police officials have been rushed in to oversee the investigation.

8.2% of Indian Americans live below poverty line, reveals US survey

WASHINGTON: Boasting of having the highest per capita income among all the major ethnic groups, more than eight per cent of the nearly three million Indian Americans are living below the poverty line in the US, a latest Census report revealed on Wednesday.

According to the 2007-2011 American Community Survey, 42.7 million people in the United States had income below the poverty level. The national poverty rate is 14.7 per cent.

With 8.2 per cent of poverty rate, Indian Americans are far less poor than other ethnic groups and the national average, the Census Bureau report said.

The Japanese Americans too have a 8.2 per cent poverty rate. For the Asian population, poverty rates were higher for Vietnamese (14.7 per cent) and Koreans (15.0 per cent), but the Filipinos have the lowest poverty rate of 5.8 per cent.

Poverty rates for Vietnamese and Koreans were not statistically different from each other.

According to the report, for Asians, nine states had poverty rates below 10 per cent (Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Virginia and South Carolina).

Among Hispanics, national poverty rates ranged from a low of 16.2 per cent for Cubans to a high of 26.3 per cent for Dominicans.

In its report the Census Bureau said two race groups had poverty rates more than 10 per centage points higher than the national rate of 14.3 per cent: American Indian and Alaska Native (27.0 per cent) and black or African- American (25.8 per cent).

Rates were above the overall national average for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (17.6 per cent), while poverty rates for people identified as white (11.6 per cent) or Asian (11.7 per cent) were lower than the overall poverty rate.

Poverty rates for whites and Asians were not statistically different from each other.

The Hispanic population had a poverty rate of 23.2 per cent, about nine per centage points higher than the overall US rate.

The US government's definition of poverty is based on total income received. For example, the poverty level for 2012 was set at an annual income of $23,050 (nearly Rs 12 lakh) which for a family of four.

AirAsia joins hands with Tata to start airline in India

New Delhi: Asia’s largest low-cost airline AirAsia Bhd is planning to start an airline in India with the Tata Group Joint venture. 

The airline has filed an application with India’s Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) for proposed joint venture with Tata Sons along with Arun Bhatia of Telestra Tradeplace. Once the FIPB approves the proposal, AirAsia will reportedly make an application for the air operator’s permit before the Indian aviation regulators.

The move comes months after the Indian government eased FDI rules in the aviation sector. Last September the UPA government had allowed 49 percent FDI in aviation sector thereby opening doors for foreign players to invest in India. 

Internet rates may go up

NEW DELHI: Industry body ISPAI said that rates of internet and broadband services may go up under new licenses framework due to high entry fee proposed by Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

DoT has proposed to charge one-time entry of Rs 15 crore for a national level Unified Licence compared to Rs 30 lakh which companies pay for internet services at present.

"DoT has not done anything new as per the proposed format for Unified Licence regime. They are going ahead with option to continue the old licence format along with a new national level Unified Licence (UL) that will cost Rs 15 crore.

"If internet service providers opt for UL, then cost of internet and broadband services will go up," Internet Service Provider Association of India's (ISPAI) President Rajesh Charia told PTI.

In the new licencing regime, DoT should allow internet telephony which would lead to low cost call service that would benefit even rural area the country where illiteracy is very high.

"VoIP is widely accepted application. Foreign companies who are not registered with DoT are providing voice calling service both between Computer to Computer and Computer to landlines.

"They don't even have licences. We pay annual charges to DoT and should be allowed to provide voice services across networks," he said.

A DoT internal committee has recommended to allow ISPs with wireless broadband spectrum (BWA) to provide voice telephony service using these airwaves. In 2010, six private players including Reliance Jio Infocom, formerly Infotel Broadband, Tikona Digital and Augere had won BWA spectrum.

The committee has left it for higher authorities to decide if players who won BWA spectrum in 2010 should be asked to make additional payment of Rs 1,658 crore which was charged from telecom players till 2008 for providing mobile telephony.

The licence issued to mobile telephony operators for Rs 1,658 crore had 4.4 Mhz spectrum bundled with it but government has announced to provide no spectrum with UL. 

Google Android, Apple iOS power over 90% smartphones in Q4: IDC

WASHINGTON: Android-powered smartphones and Apple's rival iPhone have extended their near duopoly with a whopping 91 percent of the global market in the fourth quarter, a survey showed on Thursday.

Google's Android system was used on 70.1 percent of smartphones shipped in the quarter, while Apple held 21 percent, according to research firm IDC.

"The dominance of Android and Apple reached a new watermark in the fourth quarter," said IDC analyst Ramon Llamas.

Over the full year, this gave the two platforms 87.6 percent of the world smartphone market, and underlined the challenge facing smaller players in trying to break their dominance.

Llamas said Android benefitted from "a broad selection of smartphones, and an equally deep list of smartphone vendor partners" while Apple got traction from its new iPhone 5 and lower prices on its older models.

IDC said the global market for smartphones grew 46 percent last year with 722 million units shipped -- some 227 million of them in the fourth quarter alone.

The report highlighted the tough task for other smartphone vendors, including BlackBerry and those using the Microsoft Windows Phone platform.

BlackBerry remained the number three platform but its market share slid to just 3.2 percent in the fourth quarter, and 4.5 percent for the year. That compared with 10.3 percent for 2011.

The Windows Phone platform grew some 150 percent year-over-year in the fourth quarter, helped by the introduction of the Windows Phone 8 platform and new models from Nokia and HTC.

But the platform accounted for just 2.6 percent of the market in the fourth quarter.

"With the recent introductions of two new smartphone platforms we expect some ground to be made by the new entrants over the coming years," said Ryan Reith, another IDC analyst.

"There is no question the road ahead is uphill for both Microsoft and BlackBerry, but history shows us consumers are open to change. Platform diversity is something not only the consumers have asked for, but also the operators."