Friday, 25 September 2015

Indian princess's grandchildren win legal battle to inherit assets

Row over Gayatri Devi’s estate after her death in 2009 ends with supreme court awarding assets of around £200m to Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari
Gayatri Devi, the widow of the maharajah of Jaipur, died in 2009.
 Gayatri Devi, the widow of the maharajah of Jaipur, died in 2009. Her grandchildren have won a legal battle to inherit her assets. Photograph: Christophe Archambault/AFP/Getty Images
Agence France-Presse in New Delhi

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The grandchildren of a glamorous Indian aristocrat who personified a lost era of wealth and privilege have won a lengthy legal battle to inherit her assets, following her death in 2009.
Gayatri Devi was one of the most celebrated beauties of the last century, mixing traditional palace life in the royal city of Jaipur with private planes, cocktail parties and shopping trips to London.
Her death triggered an acrimonious showdown over a fortune that Indian media estimated at between $200m and $400m (£131m-£262m), including two spectacular Jaipur palaces that now operate as luxury hotels.
She was the third of the maharajah of Jaipur’s three concurrent wives and when he died on the polo field, the title passed to the son of his first wife.
Gayatri Devi’s only son, Jagat Singh, died in 1997 and her own death 12 years later triggered a showdown between her grandchildren, Devraj Singh and Lalitya Kumari, and other descendants of the former maharajah.
Gayatri Devi at a polo game with Jackie Kennedy in 1962.
 Gayatri Devi, left, at a polo game with Jackie Kennedy, right, in 1962. Photograph: Art Rickerby/Time Life Pictures/Getty Images
On Wednesday, the supreme court upheld an earlier judgment by a lower court in favour of the pair, saying they had been deprived of their rightful share in the Jai Mahal and Rambagh palaces and other companies.
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“All these years my sister and I have only been asking for our father’s shares in the family company and nothing beyond that,” said Singh in a statement after the ruling.
“Finally, I am one step further to be able to do my various duties towards my ancestral land.”
Different branches of the family still exert control over the Jaipur estate, which remained partially intact long after the system of “princely states” was dismantled following independence from Britain in 1947.
Devi, the matriarch of the clan, was once named as one of the most beautiful women on earth by fashion magazine Vogue. She was accorded a royal funeral in Jaipur following her death at the age of 90.
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Dotcom partners feared legal trouble, court told

Updated 34 minutes ago
Kate Newton, in Auckland -@katenewtonnz
A court has heard Kim Dotcom's business partners privately expressed fears he would take the money and flee if their business ended up in legal trouble.
Kim Dotcom arrives at court for his extradition hearing
Kim Dotcom arrives at the court in Auckland for a preliminary hearing on Monday.
Photo: RNZ/Kim Baker Wilson
The United States is attempting to extradite Mr Dotcom, Mathias Ortmann, Bram van der Kolk and Finn Batato on copyright violation and money-laundering charges related to their file-sharing website, Megaupload.
Listen to a Q&A with Kate Newton on Checkpoint ( 2 min 17 sec )
In court today, Crown lawyer Christine Gordon read out conversations Mr Ortmann and Mr van der Kolk had online, worrying that the website was vulnerable to legal action.
In 2007, they discussed their concerns about what Mr Dotcom would do if that happened.
"What if the s*** really hits the fan," Mr van der Kolk asked Mr Ortmann in a Skype message. "Would he grab the last little bit of money and take off?"
The pair also repeatedly referred to themselves as "modern-day pirates" in online conversations, Ms Gordon said.
In another conversation, they speculated the reason Megaupload had not been able to find a buyer was because the business was not completely legitimate.
"If we were a 100 percent clean site with that growth and profit, we would have sold for a nine-figure sum already," Mr Ortmann wrote to Mr van der Kolk.
In reply, Mr van der Kolk said: "We have to think of a work-around for that, otherwise we'll never cash in and we'll just end up with legal problems in a few years ... This cannot last forever, I think."

Messages to Megauploaders 'enough for extradition'

The Crown argued communication between Megaupload and its users was enough evidence to make Mr Dotcom and his co-accused eligible for extradition.
Ms Gordon told the hearing Mr Dotcom, Mr Ortmann and Mr van der Kolk personally communicated with some users of the site, who repeatedly uploaded infringing material, and paid them rewards.
She said those communications alone were enough evidence to show there was a case against the men that would meet the threshold for extradition.
The way the men interacted with some of their users showed they knew their business was largely based on infringing files, Ms Gordon said.
Megaupload paid rewards to uploaders whose files proved popular among other users - which tended to be movie, television and other copyrighted content.
That was the "big flaw" in the rewards system, Mr van der Kolk told Mr Ortmann in an email. "We are making profit off more than 90 percent infringing files."
Despite that, Megaupload continued to routinely pay uploaders who were repeat infringers, Ms Gordon said.
Judge Nevin Dawson hears a submission from Christine Gordon, who is acting for the Crown on behalf of the United States (24 September 2015, Auckland).
Judge Nevin Dawson hears a submission from Christine Gordon, who is acting for the Crown on behalf of the US.
Photo: RNZ / Kim Baker Wilson
Ms Gordon also said Megaupload defrauded copyright holders.
It allowed them to either directly delete any links they came across that led to copyright-infringing files or notify the website of infringing material, she said.
The website then sent the copyright holders a notification informing them the infringing material had been removed.
However, Megaupload only deleted the individual link, not the underlying file nor any other links that led to the same file, Ms Gordon said.
In some cases, there were dozens of links that led to the same file, leaving the illegal file intact and still easily accessible.
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Wednesday, 23 September 2015

Awwww! Klint Da Drunk & Wife Celebrate 8th Year Wedding Anniversary


Comedian Klint da Drunk and his lovely wife Lilien are celebrated their 8th
wedding anniversary September 20, 2015.
The duo took to Instagram to celebrate their day with sweet words.
Klint wrote “
#togethersince2007 @prettylilien, I thank
God for a lovely, humble, beautiful and wonderful wife given to me on a platter
of gold! You gave me the two most wonderful boys, Tobi (Denzel) and Afam
(Andre). I’m most grateful. God bless you dear. You brought light into my dark
and lonely life. I bless God for giving me you! I
bless the day I found you. I love you! #anniversary #togethersince2007
#timedondeygo #ilovemyfamily
#justthetwoofus”
Lilien wrote
“Life is better with your best friend….. So I
married mine Thank you Lord for another blissful year. #TogetherForever.”
Klint tied the knot with Lilien in 2007 and they are blessed with two kids.
Congrats To Them!
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Tuesday, 22 September 2015


Nigeria Senate President Corruption Scandal: Abubakar Bukola Saraki Appears In Court Over False Declaration Of Assets Charges

By @MorganWinsorIBTon 
Abubakar Bukola Saraki
A photo taken on May 29, 2015, shows Nigeria's Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki. Saraki, a former governor of Kwara state, appeared before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on Sept. 22, 2015, over criminal charges of corruption and false declaration of assets. Pius Utomi Ekpei/Getty Images
Nigeria’s Senate President Abubakar Bukola Saraki appeared in court Tuesday morning in Abuja on criminal charges of corruption and false declaration of assets after he failed to attend trial last week. Saraki, who arrived at the Code of Conduct Tribunal with “about 50 senators and some members of the House of Representatives,” is facing a 13-count corruption charge, according to Nigerian newspaper Premium Times.
The tribunal ordered Saraki to appear before the court at 10 a.m. local time Tuesday after the embattled senate president did not show up for trial Friday, claiming his attorneys had filed an appeal against the warrant of arrest. But the tribunal argued that filing an appeal could not constitute a stay of execution of the initial order.
“While the Senate President Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki had stated and maintained that he is ready to submit himself to due process of the law on any issue concerning him, he also believes that he has an inalienable right to resort to the same judiciary for protection when he feels his fundamental rights are about to be infringed upon,” read a statement posted on the senate president’s official Facebook page Monday. “The Senate president is a law abiding citizen, and his absence from tribunal was based on legal advice he received from his counsel that it is not necessary for him to appear before the tribunal at this stage since the jurisdiction of the tribunal and the process of initiating the matter are being challenged before the federal High Court [of] Abuja. ”

The 13 charges against Saraki brought by Nigeria’s Code of Conduct Bureau mostly relate to his ownership of land. Other charges refer to his transfer of $3.4 million to a bank account outside Nigeria while he was governor of Kwara state and sending 1.5 million pounds to a European account to pay for a mortgage on a London property. Saraki’s press team has fiercely dismissed the allegations of corruption and false declaration of assets as “false, incorrect and untrue.” They also said the senator did not hold any foreign bank accounts while he was governor, Reuters reported.
Nigeria’s senate president holds the third most powerful position in the West African country. Saraki, a former member of the once-ruling People's Democratic Party, easily secured the nomination in June with support from the opposition. Saraki, 52, and several other People's Democratic Party members defected to the All Progressives Congress last November as support for the then-opposition party was growing.
Former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and his People's Democratic Party lost re-election to opposition candidate Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress by a couple million votes. It was the first time an incumbent lost the presidential poll in Nigeria, Africa’s richest and most populous nation. The People's Democratic Party has lost popularity in recent years largely because of corruption allegations and the Boko Haram insurgency.
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Monday, 21 September 2015

Japan arrests former Israeli ambassador’s grandson over arson attacks

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Mon Sep 21, 2015 7:24AM
Izaya Noda (seen), the grandson of a former Israeli ambassador to Japan. Noda has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in recent arson attacks along Tokyo train routes. (Photo by Japan Times)
Izaya Noda (seen), the grandson of a former Israeli ambassador to Japan. Noda has been arrested on suspicion of involvement in recent arson attacks along Tokyo train routes. (Photo by Japan Times)
A grandson of a former Israeli ambassador to Japan has been arrested in the Asian country over involvement in a series of recent arson attacks along Tokyo train routes.
Police in Tokyo recently detained Izaya Noda, the grandson of Moshe Barter, Israel’s ambassador to Japan between 1966 and 1972, the Israeli news website Ynet reported on Sunday.
Noda, 42, has only admitted to setting an East Japan Railway Company electricity substation on fire on August 23, police said, adding, however, that he denied involvement in the other six incidents, which occurred during August and September, and disrupted train services and caused damage.
Security cameras at the electricity substation in Shinagawa ward showed a man throwing a burning object into the facility on August 23, and then leaving the scene by bicycle.
Tokyo police said they searched Noda’s home and found a bicycle similar to the one seen on the video. They also found a plastic bottle containing a flammable liquid.
Investigators quoted Noda as saying that he “could not tolerate Japan railways for consuming massive amounts of electricity.” They said he was likely involved in other arson attacks, which took place at a wide range of locations, including in Shibuya, Nakano and Meguro wards as well as the city of Kokubunji.
A photo of Noda’s Israeli ID card has been published by Japanese media outlets, indicating that he has an Israeli mother named Dorit, and a Japanese father named Tatsuya.
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Bomb detonates near Somalia presidential palace, 5 killed

Mon Sep 21, 2015 3:46PM

Bystanders look at the wreckage of a car bomb attack in the Somali capital city of Mogadishu on April 21, 2015. (Photo by AFP)


Five people have been killed after a car bomb exploded close to the presidential palace in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, police say.
"So far, we know five soldiers died and over a dozen were wounded," Ali Hussein, a police officer, said on Monday.
The blast took place just after the end of a conference on the country’s upcoming general elections in 2016.
It is not yet clear whether the blast has killed any of the conference attendees.
Witnesses said security forces surrounded the site of the incident and ambulances transferred the injured of the terrorist attack to the hospital.
"Now we see huge smoke coming from the scene. Soldiers surrounded the area and we can only see ambulances rushing in and out," Ahmed Aden, a resident of the area, said.
No individual or group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Somali government blames such incidents on the al-Shabab Takfiri terrorist group.
Somalia has been the scene of deadly clashes between government forces and al-Shabab militants since 2006.
The Takfiri terrorists have been pushed out of Mogadishu and other major cities by government forces and the African Union Mission to Somalia (AMISOM), which is largely made up of troops from Ethiopia, Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti, Sierra Leone and Kenya.
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