Source: www.independent.co.uk
Beware of love at first site - Asian Age
Divorcees and widows beware! With his fake profiles posted on popular matrimonial sites, 26-year-old Aamir Khan targeted divorcees and widows and was able to cheat many of them in the last two years.
The latest victim was a Chennai-based BPO worker who complained to the city cyber crime officials that Khan cheated her and stole her money as well.
According to the police, Khan, a divorcee himself, used to introduce himself as a senior professional in an IT firm or employee of a reputed corporate house with a hefty monthly package.
A senior cyber crime official told Deccan Chronicle, “We are collecting more details from Khan on the number of women he cheated.
Every year, we receive at least five complaints about cheating through matrimonial sites. All details posted on the site might not be true. The applicants should check the authenticity of the profiles.”
The officer said that Chakravarthy from Villupuram was recently arrested for cheating 16 women via matrimonial sites.
The cyber crime department has decided to conduct awareness camps in city colleges in the coming months. “We organised a series of awareness events in trade fairs, exhibitions and many public places last year.
We will arrange sessions in city colleges now about fake profiles on matrimonial sites. It’s high time net users were aware of the possible dangers in the virtual world,” said the official.
Mr S.N. Ravichandran of Cyber Society of India Forum said, “There was a recent incident in Erode where a miscreant read through the profile of a groom on a matrimonial site and checked out his likes and dislikes on his facebook page.
He then approached the youth’s parents, claiming to be a priest, with ‘supernatural knowledge’ about their son.
He convinced them that they should immediately perform a pooja for their son’s well-being. When the parents were engaged in the pooja, the fake priest stole all the valuables from the house and fled.”
“Matrimonial site users should first cross-check the address, the firm where the person is employed and ensure that the details are genuine by contacting his/her family,” he cautioned.
Rules of engagement by bharathmatrimony
Jumping the gun while surfing for potential life partners on matrimonial websites, is bound to land you in a sticky situation.
As with any other contact made through a chatroom or social networking website, a netizen should exercise caution before getting personal with strangers they come across on matrimonial sites.
“We have nearly three lakh people registering on our website every month. While our staff can only make the basic enquiries and verify the details posted by users over telephone, we cannot keep track of every profile,” says Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO and founder of Bharathmatrimony.com. He lays down three golden rules for women registered on any matrimonial website.
Rule #1 Cut the Cash
“There should be absolutely no exchange of money before marriage,” says Mr Murugavel. “The person may sound very nice, he may have even promised to marry you..
But the minute he asks you for money, or a loan, it is a clear sign that he is a conman,” stresses Mr Murugavel, urging women not to fall for common excuses such as “I am coming from the US and I lost my wallet at the airport, please send me some money,” or “My mother is hospitalized, I need some cash urgently”
Rule#2—No hanky-panky
“A man and woman who get acquainted through a matrimonial site should not indulge in a physical relationship before marriage,” says Mr Murugavel, pointing out that sticking to traditional values of abstinence until your wedding night, may save a lot of pain.
“No matter how decent or genuine the prospective groom may be, there is no need to start getting physical. If the man runs away or breaks off the wedding, the woman will be left in the lurch, feeling violated and cheated,” he warns.
Rule# 3—Meet the parents
“Get the family involved, keep your parents informed about your every move,” Mr Murugavel says.
In many of the cases reported, the victims have gone ahead and met the ‘bridegrooms’ by themselves, started affairs with them or given them money, without their parents’ knowledge or approval.
“While a matrimonial service or website is just the first touchpoint, it is best if the families continue the process of ‘fixing’ the wedding, traditionally. Like in the old days, the parents could meet first and talk it over, before taking the next step. The family is the best security against con artists,” he advises.
Getting married the arranged way is safer
The traditional practice of arranging marriages, in which elders in the family play a major role, is time tested in cementing the bondage.
But for the draconian greed for dowry, arranged marriage is far too safe and does not fix the onus on any individual but makes it a collective responsibility at crisis time, say those into arranged marriage for decades.
“The age-old practice of enquiring about the background of the prosperous bride or groom to be, by visiting their offices or houses, enables one to ascertain the character of the suitable boy or girl and also their parents,” says Mohan, who has recently married off his teacher son to a teacher bride.
But then there is a scientific element to arranged marriages. The horoscopes of the bride or groom help to ascertain the matrimonial compatibility and this is verified by the parents of both the sides, he says.
“Well, so long as the horoscopes are not tampered before tallying, relationships will not turn sour in post-married life,” he adds.
“Finding a suitable ‘match’ for the ‘girl’ or ‘boy’ is not an easy task. Though astrological compatibility is also a must, enquiries and conversation during the official ‘seeing’ of the ‘girl’ in her parents’ presence, helps to understand the persons far better,” says J. Subrahmanyam and adds that arranged marriages continue to thrive even today.
“Though I am physically handicapped, my mumbling that the girl whom I have ‘seen’ had some patches on her face, was overheard by her father. Just about a fortnight before my marriage, he had ensured his daughter undergo plastic surgery, much to my surprise,” says N. Ravi, president of Tamil Nadu Differently Abled Welfare Association.
Despite the changing lifestyles, arranged marriages continue to hold good, he says and adds that “arranged marriage is an institution surviving on love and trust”.
Love marriages that last longer hinge upon the patronage from the parents.
Source: www.asianage.com
US watchdog hits at ‘risky’ London - Financial Times
Last updated: June 19, 2012 11:16 pm
Source: www.ft.com
Dimbleby's pop the question time - Daily Mail
By Richard Kay
|
The Dimbleby presence may have been sorely missed during the BBC’s coverage of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, but the family are meanwhile planning a celebration of their own.
Sculptor Nick Dimbleby - younger brother of broadcasters David and Jonathan - tells me his daughter Maisie is to marry Old Etonian actor Will Adamsdale, whom she met on the London Underground.
But while Will, 38, made his film debut in Richard Curtis’s The Boat That Rocked and is appearing in Detroit at the National Theatre, 32-year-old Maisie’s bright start in acting did not blossom into a career.
Plans: Maisie Dimbleby is to marry Old Etonian actor Will Adamsdale
After starring in an ITV adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion, she gave up acting to teach in Hackney, East London.
The couple will marry in a Quaker service this summer near Maisie’s parent’s home in Clyst Hydon, Devon.
‘She is the first of our four children to get married so it’s lovely news,’ says proud father Nick. ‘We like Will very much.’
A former Tory MP caught up in the expenses scandal has made it on to the shortlist to become police commissioner for Surrey. Humfrey Malins, 66, who stood down as MP for Woking at the last election after claiming more than 20,000 in taxpayer-funded expenses for a flat in which his children lived rent-free, is one of three candidates who will be interviewed for the post. He says: ‘I have got some definite ideas about policing . . . and have, I hope, plenty to contribute.’
Shergar star Swinburn and wife split
Just a few months short of his tenth wedding anniversary, jockey-turned-trainer Walter Swinburn has come unsaddled in the matrimonial stakes.
Former hellraiser Swinburn, who rode Shergar to glorious victory in the 1981 Derby, is no longer living with his wife Alison, the mother of his two young daughters, at the marital home in Hertfordshire.
Instead Walter, 50, who was nicknamed the ‘choirboy’ for his deceptively angelic looks, has moved to London and is now renting a pied-a-terre in Mayfair, while Alison remains with the children at their Georgian mansion, Stocks, formerly the home of Playboy chief Victor Lownes and his bunny girl wife Marilyn Cole.
Swinburn, who will be at Royal Ascot this week, tells me: ‘I don’t want to go into the reasons — it’s personal. We chose to live apart and our priority now is our children. The simple truth is we ran out of petrol.’
Fresh start: Jockey-turned-trainer Walter Swinburn has come unsaddled in the matrimonial stakes
However, racing folk say their marriage was under considerable strain, not least because of his previously close racing connections with Alison’s wealthy father, Peter Harris, the Bourne Leisure tycoon worth around 360 million who also owns racehorses and used to train at Church Farm Stables, near Tring in Herts.
Three-times Derby-winner Swinburn took over as trainer from his father-in-law, once known as the ‘king of syndicate trainers’, in 2004. But Harris remained a significant figure at the yard, owning the majority of the 80 horses in training.
He wanted to divest himself of his racing empire and has gradually sold all his horses. Walter then decided it was no longer commercially viable for him to continue to run the yard. But he tells me he is not giving up racing, adding: ‘I am still heavily involved in a breeding operation.’
The parting from Alison is sad but amicable. No one else is involved, he says. Meanwhile Swinburn has taken his daughters riding in Hyde Park near his new home, where he booked a ride without disclosing his experience.
‘They put me on the biggest, fattest horse, resembling Nellie the Elephant, and even produced some steps for me to climb on to it,’ he tells me. ‘At one point the girl instructor told me off for holding the reins all wrong, but I swallowed my pride and said nothing. Even when my younger daughter told her, “Daddy won the Derby,” they didn’t catch on.’
Some welcome news for would-be BBC Director-General Helen Boaden. I gather her brother, Michael, a councillor in Carlisle, has just failed in his bid to become Labour’s candidate for the new 70,000-a-year post of Cumbria police commissioner.
With Ms Boaden having been shortlisted, the thinking is that political links, however peripheral, could be unhelpful as the Corporation seeks to avoid accusations of bias in its new D-G, who is expected to be paid in the region of 500,000 per year. It means Boaden, currently a popular head of news at the BBC, can breathe a sigh of relief as she waits to hear if she has made it through to the final round of interviews.
Model Lisa shows off her new man
Seven months after her divorce from Baron Steven Bentinck was finalised, striking model Lisa Hogan is enjoying a fresh chapter in her life.
My picture shows her out on the town for the first time with the new man in her life, Canadian Craig Cohon.
Once much admired by John Cleese, mother-of-three Lisa, 41, began dating Cirque du Soleil investor Cohon, 48, this year.
'Extremely tactile': Lisa and Craig at the party
They joined friends at a photo exhibition party thrown by Mary McCartney at Louise Blouin MacBain’s Notting Hill gallery.
‘They were extremely tactile with each other,’ says another at the party, where guests included Simon Mann, Jasmine Guinness and Lisa Butcher.
Since Lisa met divorced father-of-two Cohon in Moscow — where he is famous for introducing Coca-Cola and McDonald’s — their relationship appears to have gone from strength to strength.
‘Lisa was excitedly taking Craig around introducing him as her boyfriend to all her friends. She seemed very happy,’ says a pal.
She and Bentinck, nephew of the late Swiss steel tycoon Heini Thyssen, parted acrimoniously seven years ago. ‘It was like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders,’ adds the friend.
She may be the third wife of one of Britain’s richest men, but to Georgina Shipsey, Countess Cadogan is her much loved aunt. Dorothy Cadogan’s husband Charles is the owner of 93 Chelsea acres worth an estimated 3.4 billion.
But, says marketing consultant Georgina: ‘To me she is just my aunt — and a very kindly one too. Unlike her I’ve never found the right man so I’m on my own at 40. My parents passed away and Dorothy has stepped in. She’s like a second mother to me.’
As for marriage, Georgina tells me at a drinks party at Chelsea’s Royal Hospital: ‘I don’t mind who I marry. He certainly doesn’t have to be an aristocrat — just someone loving and kind.’
PS Royal Ascot is one of the Queen’s happiest weeks of year, where she loves the racing and the company of racing people. On Saturday she will be joined in the carriage procession by Toby Balding. Toby, one of the few men to have trained the winner of the National, Cheltenham Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle, is the brother of former trainer Ian Balding and uncle to the BBC’s Clare. He is thrilled to have been invited and was told HM had personally asked for him. It will be an especially poignant journey for Toby, 75, who suffered a stroke last year.
Source: www.dailymail.co.uk
Investing in the legacy of the London 2012 Games - The Independent
Since day one, Cisco has anticipated with pleasure, the mammoth task of providing the network infrastructure for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Not least because the legacy of this investment will benefit London and the UK for many years to come.
Part of this legacy is already under way in the form of the Cisco Networking Academies. This is a global, online education programme that teaches students how to design, build, troubleshoot and secure computer networks, giving them access to career and economic opportunities they would never otherwise have had. Between now and 2013 Cisco aims to open 30 new Cisco Networking Academies in East and South-east London, capable of improving the prospects of more than 4,000 students in the next five years.
Cisco will equip selected Networking Academy schools and colleges with technology, ITE and Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) online training and lab equipment. However, the academies are not restricted to traditional schools, colleges and universities. Cisco has run successful academies in places as diverse as community centres, football clubs, prisons, military bases and even homeless shelters.
To demonstrate the potential of the programme, Cisco is staging the Inspiration Roadshow. Roger Black, winner of Olympic silver and World Championship gold, will inspire young people to consider careers in networking, and encourage schools to become Networking Academies. With him will be Sean Kelly who, with the help of the Networking Academy, turned his prison sentence into a lifechanging career opportunity. Kelly is a perfect example of how Cisco’s Networking Academies can change the lives of young people in London.
In years to come, the 30th Olympic and Paralympic Games will be remembered not only for breathtaking feats of athleticism, but also for the event that launched a new era in education. Students in East London and across the UK will be able to create their own life changing experiences, through Cisco’s Networking Academies.
To find out how Cisco could help prepare your students for the future, visit: www.ciscolondon2012.co.uk/learn/cisco-academy
In association with Cisco, Official Network Infrastructure Supporter for London 2012
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Interest from local community is key to enduring legacy of Olympics Many organisations involved in the Games are already looking ahead to the legacy they'll leave behind.
Read more...
Source: www.independent.co.uk
Man with locked-in syndrome calls for change to murder law - The Guardian
A a 58-year-old victim of locked-in syndrome has told the high court that a decision not to allow him to be helped to die would condemn him "to a 'life' of increasing misery".
Tony Nicklinson was a very active and outgoing man until a stroke in 2005 left him paralysed from the neck down and unable to speak. He communicates by blinking or limited head movement.
His wife, Jane, said as she arrived at the High Court in London that there can be "no happy endings" to the case, but there can be "a good" outcome – if the judges give legal protection to the doctor who agrees to end her husband's life.
If the court rejects Nicklinson's plea to die, he says, all he will have to look forward to is the hope that he will "acquire a life-threatening illness such as cancer".
"I need help in almost every aspect of my life," he explained in a letter read out by his lawyer. "I have no privacy or dignity left. I am fed up with my life and don't want to spend the next 20 years or so like this. I'm not depressed so do not need counselling. I have had over six years to think about my future and it does not look good. I … can expect no cure or improvement in my condition as my muscles and joints seize up through lack of use.
"Indeed, I can expect to dribble my way into old age. If I am lucky I will acquire a life-threatening illness such as cancer so that I can refuse treatment and say 'no' to those who would keep me alive against my will.
"By all means protect the vulnerable," he added. "By 'vulnerable' I mean those who cannot make decisions for themselves. Just don't include me. I am not vulnerable. I don't need help or protection from death or those who would help me. If the legal consequences were not so huge – ie life imprisonment – perhaps I could get someone to help me. As things stand, I can't get help."
During a four-day hearing Lord Justice Toulson, sitting with Mr Justice Royce and Mrs Justice Macur, will also hear arguments in a second landmark judicial review action brought by a man who suffered a stroke three years ago at the age of 43. The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is referred to as Martin or AM. He is unable to move, can communicate only by moving his eyes, requires constant care and is dependent on others for every aspect of his life.
Nicklinson's case is not the start of a "slippery slope, only the striking of a balance in law that better suits the values of modern Britain," argued his lawyer, Paul Bowen QC.
But in the absence of statutory regulation, Nicklinson is fighting for a common law of defence of necessity to be granted to doctors who help people to die after an order has been sought by the courts. At present, voluntary active euthanasia constitutes murder, and the sentence is life imprisonment.
The legal changes Nicklinson is asking for, would sit alongside the existing laws. They would only be sanctioned if a judge had agreed beforehand and was satisfied that the person is suffering from a medical condition that causes "unbearable suffering".
The judge would also need to be convinced that the patient had given a "a voluntary, clear, settled and informed wish to end his own life". Also that there are no alternative means available by which their suffering may be relieved.
"The law is anomalous and discriminatory. It fails to protect the very people it is intended to protect," argued Bowen, "It has not stopped the widespread practice of euthanasia but has forced it underground, where it is unregulated."
Nicklinson sent an email to his solicitor, asking if it was possible for the lawyer to "tell/remind the judges a few things".
His QC, Paul Bowen, read it out to the hearing, after saying that "in the final analysis, this is about one man and his right to choose".
The email said: "All this current activity making documentaries and writing articles has reminded me of how much I want my life to end. I know you said this hearing is all about the legal arguments but is it possible for you to tell/remind the judges a few things?
"I have wanted my life to end since 2007 so it is not a passing whim. I know consent makes no difference but the doctor has it anyway. Legal arguments are fine but they should not forget that a life is affected by the decision they come to; a decision going against me condemns me to a 'life' of increasing misery. I have no doubt that the judges have heard it all before but I simply wanted to get it off my chest."
In written arguments before the court David Perry QC, for the Ministry of Justice, opposed the attempt to change the current law, citing a 1993 case in which voluntary active ehthanasia was described by Lord Goff of Chieveley as an "act [that crosses] the Rubicon which runs between on the one hand the care of the living patient and on the other hand euthanasia – actively causing his death to avoid or to end his suffering. Euthanasia is not lawful at common law."
Perry said Nicklinson's "tragic and very distressing circumstances evoke the deepest sympathy", but that, "notwithstanding the distressing facts of his situation, the defendant submits that the claim for declarations is untenable. The law is well established". He said there was "no defence of necessity to a charge of murder or assisted suicide if a doctor were to terminate, or assist in the termination of, the claimant's life".
The case continues.
Source: www.guardian.co.uk
'Singles spend more time on matrimonial sites than social networking sites' - Times of India
KOLKATA: Singles in search for a match tend to spend more time on matrimonial sites than social networking sites, a survey conducted by a leading India-based matrimonial portal stated on Tuesday.
Two in every three singles were found to be spending more time to find a partner on a dedicated marriage portal than try their luck in social networking sites.
The survey was conducted to gauge the growing popularity of the social networking sites and its impact on the matrimonial sector. The findings of the survey showcase that even though the social networking sites are gaining momentum, when it comes to searching for a partner, matrimonial sites are considered reliable and trustworthy by singles, and hence, they tend to visit these sites more often through the day.
The survey also highlights the importance singles give to social networking sites during partner search. The survey findings reveal that 31% singles agreed to be searching for the profile of their potential partner immediately after they receive expression of interest. While, 27% have denied checking the potential/short-listed partner's profile till they finalizes someone. One in every four singles add each other on social networking sites post their chat on the marriage portal's messenger and the rest 17% do so after their first meeting.
This trend of visiting the potential partner's profile on social networking sites like Facebook is mostly noticed amongst the male respondents (74%) than women respondents (63%). Women respondents have said they mostly feel the social networking sites are meant for friends, and hence, they refrain from adding potential partners to their social network.
But members who initially meet through matrimonial websites tend to check potential partners profile on social networking sites to know common interests, friends and hobbies they might have but do not look for a match through these sites.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
London loses second key legacy figure - Reuters UK
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) - A second senior figure in charge of regenerating London's Olympic Park once next month's Games are over is set to step down.
American Andrew Altman, chief executive of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), will leave on August 15, hot on the heels of former chairman Margaret Ford who left this month.
The softly-spoken Altman worked on transforming the seven billion pounds publicly funded park in a previously run-down part of east London.
Over the past three years Altman and Ford helped secure tenants for most of the Olympic venues on the 500-acre site including the aquatics centre and handball arena.
But they faced criticism when the deal to award the main stadium to West Ham United Football Club collapsed amid legal wrangling.
The LLDC, previously known as the Olympic Park Legacy Company, is also looking for a tenant for the media centre.
Dennis Hone, chief executive of the Olympic Delivery Authority which has been responsible for constructing the Games venues, will work as interim LLDC chief executive on a part-time basis.
"I am proud to have been able to set the table with a clear vision, resources and commercial investment," Altman said in a statement.
"It is now the perfect time to transition the project to one focused on construction so there will no disruption after the Games in implementing the legacy vision we have crafted."
The Park, which will be known as the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park once the Games are over, will have five new neighbourhoods including 7,000 homes.
(Reporting by Avril Ormsby; editing by Tony Jimenez)
Source: uk.reuters.com
He was amazing in Campus, I can't believe they didn't make another series
- Emma, London, 19/6/2012 22:56
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