T-Mobile's myTouch Family Grows With Next-Generation T-Mobile myTouch and T-Mobile myTouch Q

T-Mobile USA, Inc. today announced the Aug. 8 availability of two new additions to its exclusive lineup of T-Mobile myTouch smartphones, the new T-Mobile^® myTouch^® and T-Mobile^® myTouch^® Q. Featuring an all-new version of the Genius Button^®, an easy-to-use Setup Wizard and how-to tutorials, the myTouch and myTouch Q are designed for easy out-of the-box use, making both devices ideal for customers who are looking for a straightforward, seamless smartphone experience.

The new T-Mobile myTouch devices offer hardware options that fit consumers’ individual preferences. The T-Mobile myTouch offers a 4.0” WVGA touch display and virtual keyboard with Swype^®, while the T-Mobile myTouch Q features the same great touch display with an accompanying full slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

“T-Mobile is committed to delivering a strong and diverse portfolio of 4G handsets that runs on our fast and dependable 4G network, including smartphones that enable people to get amazing 4G experiences at a great value,” said Brad Duea, senior vice president of product management, T-Mobile USA. “The value and ease of use that the myTouch devices deliver, paired with our worry-free rate plans, means it is easier than ever for customers to get everything they want in a smartphone without the expense for features they won’t use

Modhumoti Model Town is illegal

The Supreme Court yesterday upheld a High Court verdict that had declared Modhumoti Model Town illegal.

Metro Makers Ltd developed the controversial housing project filling up a 550-acre wetland identified as a flood flow zone in the Dhaka City Master Plan.
The SC Appellate Division delivered the verdict after around six months of concluding the hearing on five separate appeals filed in 2009 challenging separate portions of the HC verdict.
Of the appeals, Metro Makers filed two while Bangladesh Environmentalist Lawyers' Association (Bela), plot purchasers and Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (Rajuk) filed one each.
Following the apex court verdict, Bela lawyer Iqbal Kabir Lytton told The Daily Star the Modhumoti Model Town authorities and those who had purchased plots could not construct any structure in the project area.
From now on, the project area will remain as a free flood flow zone and the capital will also be freed of waterlogging.
Lytton said the fate of the plot purchasers would be known after the full text of the SC verdict had been obtained.
Earlier on June 8 last year, the HC declared 77 unauthorised housing projects in and around Dhaka illegal and directed the government to remove or demolish them within 60 days.
But the directives were not implemented since the full text of the HC verdict had not been released yet, he said.
The Daily Star earlier carried out several reports on illegal housing projects, including Modhumoti Model Town, and stopped running their advertisements on ethical grounds even before the HC ruling.
Yesterday, a six-member Appellate Division bench headed by Chief Justice Md Muzammel Hossain delivered the verdict, after around six months of concluding hearings on the appeals.
Details of the SC verdict are yet to be released.
The HC on July 27, 2005, declared Modhumoti Model Town project at Bilamalia and Baliarpur near Aminbazar of Savar unauthorised, illegal and against public interest, but directed that the interest of the purchasers be protected.
In August 2004, Bela filed a writ petition as public interest litigation with the HC, challenging the legality of the project, which was violating the Environment Conservation Act, Town Improvement Act and Rajuk rules.
In its petition, Bela said if the project continued, the character of the area would be destroyed and the environment polluted.
Bela also appealed to the apex court to pass necessary orders so that the city remained free of waterlogging.
Bela, Metro Makers Ltd, plot purchasers and Rajuk filed five separate leave-to-appeal petitions in 2006 with the SC against separate portions of the HC verdict.
Metro Makers and plot purchasers appealed to protect their interest, saying they had invested a lot of money for the project and its plots, and Rajuk appealed for declaring the project illegal.
The SC on March 19, 2009 upheld the HC verdict, but allowed Metro Makers, plot purchasers and Rajuk to move regular appeals before it against the HC verdict.
In the verdict, the SC yesterday allowed an appeal of Bela, dismissed the appeals of Metro Makers and plot purchasers and disposed of the appeal of Rajuk.
The Appellate Division on February 15 this year concluded hearings on the apparels and kept the appeals waiting for verdict any day.
Mahmudul Islam and Syeda Rizwana Hasan appeared for Bela, Rafique-ul Huq, Rokanuddin Mahmud, Ajmalul Hossain, Abdur Razzaq and ABM Siddiqur Rahman Khan for Metro Makers and plot purchases while AFM Mesbahuddin stood for Rajuk.

Algeria's Makhloufi wins men's 1500m gold

Algeria's Taoufik Makhloufi left the rest of the field trailing to win the first global title of his career.
Makhloufi, 24, finished in a time of three minutes 34.08 seconds, racing away from American Leonel Manzano who took silver in 3:47.79, with Moroccan Abdalaati Iguider in bronze.
Makhloufi was reinstated in the games on Monday, having been disqualified for not trying in his 800m heat.
Defending champion Asbel Kiprop was last, apparently hampered by injury.
Makhloufi, a semi-finalist at last year's World Championships in Daegu, set off quickly and led alongside Iguider after the first lap, before falling back to sixth after the second lap.
He was battling hard with Kenya's Kiprop, but as the Beijing champion's challenge faded, the Algerian positioned himself well to attack the frontrunners in the closing stages.
He took the lead in the back straight and, with around 200m to go, accelerated easily away from his nearest rivals to race unchallenged towards the finishing line.
Makhloufi, who won his 1500m semi-final impressively on Sunday, had been forced to race in the 800m after Algeria failed to withdraw him before the deadline.
He jogged through about 200m of his heat before quitting, and was then excluded from the Games for "not providing a bona fide effort".
However, after inspecting medical evidence, the International Association of Athletics Federations decided Makhloufi could race in the 1500m final.

Standard Chartered sparks scrutiny of India offshoring

Offshoring of back-office work to India, a trend among banks and accounting firms, came under new scrutiny with allegations that Standard Chartered Plc moved compliance oversight work dealing with Iranian banking transactions to India to avoid US regulators.
Cost savings, not escaping regulatory oversight, are generally assumed to be the primary goal of sending back-office work to India, where employees are paid far less than in the United States and much of Europe.
New York State's bank regulator accused Standard Chartered on Monday of setting up an offshore regulatory compliance system dealing with Iranian banking transactions that was "a sham" meant to escape US Treasury Department oversight.
Regulator Benjamin Lawsky, head of the New York Department of Financial Services, issued an order accusing Standard Chartered of hiding 60,000 transactions tied to Iran worth $250 billion over a decade, resulting in substantial fees.
Standard Chartered Plc has said it "does not believe the order issued by the Department of Financial Services presents a full and accurate picture of the facts."
US and European companies will move 750,000 jobs in information technology, finance and other business services to India and other low-cost nations by 2016, according to the Hackett Group Inc, a US consultancy.
India, because of its English-speaking population and low wages, is an especially attractive offshoring destination, receiving 58 percent of global outsourcing contracts last year, according to industry estimates.
Offshoring to India has been a political issue in the United States, with the focus usually being on the jobs it takes away from Americans, suffering from a stubbornly high unemployment rate.
The issue will give more ammunition to groups that oppose outsourcing because of fears of job losses, said Sudin Apte, chief executive of independent advisory and research firm Offshore Insights. But he did not see a long-term effect.
"Some more rigor in compliance, some more rigor in scrutiny and process adherence ... but I think I would welcome that because that makes the system perfect or near perfect," he said.
IRAN TRANSACTIONS EYED
Global banks and financial services companies are among the biggest outsourcers to Indian companies, including Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, which provide services ranging from payroll management to maintaining IT networks.
Indian outsourcing firms such as Wipro and Tata already are marketing compliance services for the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform act, which will require US banks to provide massive amounts of data on their risk exposure.
Many banks, including HSBC Plc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc, also have their own facilities in low-cost India with thousands of employees.
The Big Four accounting and consulting firms, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG and PwC, also are offshoring some audit work for US companies to India, where salaries for accountants are a fraction of those in the United States.
In the case of Standard Chartered, compliance work was being done in India on financial transactions, including those tied to Iran. The United States imposed economic sanctions on Iran in 1979.
Lawsky has alleged that Standard Chartered's staff in India was not trained to determine whether the transactions were valid under US rules on Iranian trade.
Those rules are overseen by Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the state regulator said.
The New York regulator said the bank's failures included "outsourcing of the entire OFAC compliance process for the New York branch to Chennai, India, with no evidence of any oversight or communication between the Chennai and the New York offices."
Scope International, Standard Chartered's wholly owned back office outsourcing centre, is based in the south Indian city of Chennai and employs more than 8,500 people.
A spokeswoman for the bank in Mumbai declined to comment.
The bank has put the value of Iran-related transactions that did not comply with regulations at less than $14 million, much less than Lawsky's multibillion-dollar estimate.

Amnesty plea for Syrian civilians

New satellite images show an increased use of heavy weapons in and around Syria's city of Aleppo, raising urgent concerns over the welfare of residents, Amnesty International has said.
The rights group says the photos reveal more than 600 craters, which were probably caused by artillery shells.
Both government troops and rebels may be held criminally responsible for failing to protect civilians, it warns.
Meanwhile, Iran has reiterated support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
During talks in Damascus, Iran's security chief Saeed Jalili said Syria was part of a vital regional alliance that Tehran would not allow to be broken.
Jalili said Damascus was an essential part of an "axis of resistance".
Correspondents say "axis of resistance" refers to Iran, Syria, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza.
Jalili's comments came a day after Syrian Prime Minister Riad Hijab defected to the opposition.
'Clear message'
In a statement, Amnesty says the new images in and around Aleppo "show an increased use of heavy weaponry, including near residential areas".
Some of the pictures, the group says, reveal "more than 600 probable artillery impact craters" from heavy fighting between government troops and rebel forces in the nearby town of Anadan.
In one case, Amnesty adds, a crater is seen next to what appears to be residential housing complex in the town.
"Amnesty International is sending a clear message to both sides in the fighting: any attacks against civilians will be clearly documented so that those responsible can be held accountable," said the group's US emergency response manager, Christoph Koettl.
"Turning Syria's most populous city into a battlefield will have devastating consequences for civilians. The atrocities in Syria are mounting already," he added.
Neither the government in Damascus, nor the rebels have publicly commented on Amnesty's claims.
However, independent experts the BBC has talked to agree with the group's interpretation of the images, the BBC's Mike Wooldridge reports.
'Intense attacks'
On the ground, new clashes were reported in Aleppo earlier this week and the army is said to have stepped up its bombardment of the northern city.
Government forces are trying to dislodge rebel fighters who say they control up to half of Aleppo.
Opposition activists report intense attacks on rebel-held areas on the north-east and south-west sides of the city.
State media said troops had clashed with "terrorists" in several places inflicting heavy losses.
British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 61 civilians died in Aleppo province on Monday.
Further deaths were reported in Damascus on Tuesday. State news agency Sana said a "terrorist hideout" had been stormed by security forces.
Activists estimate more than 20,000 people have died since the uprising against President Assad began in March last year.
Reports of casualties often cannot be independently verified.

Allow NGOs to Rohingyas: UNHCR

UNHCR appealed on Tuesday to the government of Bangladesh to ensure that NGO assistance continues to be provided to unregistered people from Myanmar's Rakhine state.
Last Thursday, three non-governmental organizations -- Médecins Sans Frontières, Action Contre La Faim and Muslim Aid UK -- were ordered by the Bangladeshi authorities to stop activities in and around unofficial camps near Cox's Bazar in the southeast of the country, UNHCR, the UN Refugee agency, reports on Tuesday.
"If the order is implemented, it will have a serious humanitarian impact on some 40,000 unregistered people who had fled Myanmar in recent years and settled in the Leda and Kutupalong makeshift sites," UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards told reporters.
"Local villagers nearby will also be affected as they, too, have been benefiting from basic services provided by the NGOs," Edwards told a news briefing.
UNHCR is urging the government of Bangladesh to reconsider its decision in line with its long tradition of hospitality towards people who have fled Myanmar over the years. In addition to the unregistered population, there are some 30,000 registered ones living in two official camps in Cox's Bazar.
Meanwhile in northern Rakhine state, UNHCR is watching developments closely following reports of renewed violence over the weekend. The UN refugee agency has received unverified accounts of some villages being burnt in the Kyauk Taw township north of the state capital, Sittwe. Many of the young men have reportedly fled, leaving mainly women and children behind.
The UN and its humanitarian partners have drawn up a response plan to assist some 80,000 people who have been displaced or are otherwise affected in Rakhine state since inter-communal clashes broke out in early June.
UNHCR has so far distributed emergency aid to more than 40,000 people: plastic sheets, blankets, sleeping mats, mosquito nets and kitchen utensils.

Suicide bomber kills 25 in Yemen

A suicide bomber struck at a funeral in a village in Yemen's southern province of Abyan overnight, killing at least 25 tribal fighters and wounding dozens more, officials and medics said on Sunday.
The bomber targeted tribesmen who fought alongside the Yemeni army during an offensive against al Qaeda-linked militants in Abyan that the government hailed as a major victory in June.
"We have many people with critical injuries and we don't have the means to treat them," said a doctor at al-Razi hospital, which was filling up with the wounded.
The attack highlighted the enduring threat of Islamist militancy in Yemen and may alarm the United States and Saudi Arabia, which increasingly view the impoverished state as a front line in their war on al Qaeda and its affiliates.
East of Abyan, a US drone fired on a vehicle carrying suspected militants in the province of Hadramout, killing its three passengers, a local official said.
"The charred bodies of three men from (the militant group) Ansar al-Sharia were found and the car they were in was destroyed," said the official.
Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law) seized several towns in Abyan last year, establishing a foothold there while then-President Ali Abdullah Saleh was grappling with mass protests that eventually toppled him.
The United States supported the military campaign that drove the Islamist fighters from their strongholds in June, but residents and analysts say the militants are simply lying low and waiting for a chance to regroup.
Just last week, militants attacked a police station in the southern city of Jaar, killing four policemen and wounding a fifth.
In late July, militants launched an assault on the village of Batias, north of Jaar, which was also the site of Saturday's suicide bomb.

2 NZ soldiers killed in Afghanistan

Two New Zealand soldiers were killed and six others were injured in Afghanistan's Bamyan province on Saturday when they came under fire assisting local security forces that were fighting suspected insurgents, the New Zealand Defence Force said.
"The NZDF was responding to local security forces coming under attack and it developed into a serious incident," Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman said in a statement on Sunday.
The New Zealand troops arrived to assist the local security forces who encountered suspected insurgents near a village south of Do Abe, in the North East of Bamyan Province, the NZDF said.
It added that a further six personnel were wounded during the incident, and they were evacuated to a military hospital.
Two local security personnel were also killed, it said.
New Zealand, which has a 140-strong reconstruction team operating in the province, will formally end its mission at the end of the year and be brought home in 2013. The country has had troops in Afghanistan since 2001.
Five New Zealand soldiers have been killed earlier while serving in Afghanistan.

China calls in US diplomat over South China Sea

China's Foreign Ministry has called in a senior US diplomat to protest remarks by the US State Department raising concerns over tensions in the disputed South China Sea, in the latest political spat between the two countries.
In a statement released late on Saturday, China's Foreign Ministry said Assistant Foreign Minister Zhang Kunsheng summoned the US Embassy's Deputy Chief of Mission Robert Wang to make "serious representations" about the issue.
The State Department on Friday said it was monitoring the situation in the seas closely, adding that China's establishing of a military garrison for the area runs "counter to collaborative diplomatic efforts to resolve differences and risk further escalating tensions in the region".
The South China Sea has become Asia's biggest potential military flashpoint as Beijing's sovereignty claim over the huge area has set it against Vietnam and the Philippines as the three countries race to tap possibly huge oil reserves.
Beijing and Washington are already at odds over numerous issues, including the value of China's currency, Tibet and Taiwan.
Zhang said the US statement "disregarded the facts, confused right with wrong, sent a seriously wrong signal and did not help with efforts by relevant parties to maintain peace and stability in the South China Sea or the Asia Pacific.
"China expresses its strong dissatisfaction and resolute opposition, urges the US side to immediately to mend the error of its ways, earnestly respect China's sovereignty and territorial integrity and do more to genuinely benefit stability and prosperity in the Asia Pacific," he added.
A separate statement by ministry spokesman Qin Gang repeated that China had absolute sovereignty over the sea and its myriad islands and had every right to formally set up a city to administer the region, which it did last month.
"Why does the US turn a blind eye to the facts that certain countries opened a number of oil and gas blocks, and issued domestic laws illegally appropriating Chinese islands and waters?" Qin said.
"Why does the US avoid talking about the threats of military vessels to Chinese fishermen by certain countries and their unjustified claims of sovereignty rights over Chinese islands?" he added.
In all, six parties have rival claims to the waters, which were a central issue at an acrimonious Asean regional summit last month that ended with its members failing to agree on a concluding statement for the first time in 45 years.
The stakes have risen in the area as the US military shifts its attention and resources back to Asia, emboldening its long-time ally the Philippines and former foe Vietnam to take a bolder stance against Beijing.
The United States has stressed it is neutral in the long-running maritime dispute, despite offering to help boost the Philippines' decrepit military forces. It says freedom of navigation is its main concern about a waterway that carries $5 trillion in trade -- half the world's shipping tonnage.

London Olympic 2012 Oscar Pistorius runs into history

The press at the mixed zones was getting antsy. There were some whispers about deadlines. From time to time, murmurs went up around the hundred or so who had packed into the limited space for the chance to grab a single quote from the South African.
Then someone said, “He is late because he is putting his legs on.” Suddenly, the reality of Pistorius' achievement dawned on everyone. There were no more complaints. Everyone waited and although the rumour turned out to be just that, a rumour, (Pistorius was indulging the broadcast press) the stark reality of what the maverick South African had managed cannot be stressed enough.
The fact that he had just made Olympic history by being the first double-amputee to compete in the Games, is just the tip of the iceberg. Pistorius also finished a respectable second and qualified for the semifinals of his pet event, the 400-meters.
“My goal here was to qualify for the semifinal, and I am glad I have managed it,” said Pistorius later. The South African clocked a time of 45.44 seconds, which while still being quite far off his personal best, was enough to propel him to his desired semifinal target.
“I started a bit slowly,” said Pistorius.
Indeed he had, as the weight of the watching thousands seemed to put a little bit of pressure on him. “I slipped slightly, but I am not really the best of starters,” said the South African. But with the crowd egging on their favourite Blade Runner, Pistorius regained ground towards the end of the race and managed to streak through into second spot, just behind the 18-year old Dominican Lugelin Santos.
The youngster was later asked about Pistorius.
“Bueno, si, Bueno,” he said. “He is a good man, always talking to everyone,” said Santos, despite the obvious language barrier. Every single athlete who walked through the mixed zone before Pistorius echoed Santos. Pistorius 'had a big heart', said one and all were united in the belief that his prosthetic legs gave him no advantage.
“I don't know whether to laugh or cry,” said Pistorius. “It is incredibly difficult to separate the occasion from the event,” he admitted. The Olympics after all is the pinnacle of track and field sport and for Pistorius it perhaps provided extra inspiration.
Not that he was short of muses.
“My mother always told me that the loser is not one who competes and finishes last, but one who does not compete at all,” said Pistorius.
Those are certainly words to live by.
The South African is not expected to make the 400-meter final, but his mother's words will doubtless drive him on to greater achievements, if not now, then in the future.