Britain released hundreds of previously secret “UFO files” including a letter revealing that Winston Churchill, the late British PM, had ordered a 50 year cover-up of a wartime encounter between a UFO and military pilot.

The files were published by the National Archives and include scores of sketches, witness accounts and classified briefing notes documenting mysterious sightings across Britain.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

The MoD subsequently investigated the case but found no written record of the incident, the files say.

“… the MoD does not have any expertise or role in respect of ‘UFO/flying saucer‘ matters or to the question of the existence or otherwise of extraterrestrial lifeforms, about which it remains totally open-minded,” it said in a 1999 note.

Britain has been slowly releasing long-classified files related to sightings of mysterious craft in the skies above its cities, compiled and investigated by the MoD over past decades.

Some cases subsequently received rational explanations, such as meteors burning up in the atmosphere, but many are unsolved.

One memo, dated 1997, contains reports of “sonic booms” and a mysterious plane crash in northern England. No wreckage was found in an ensuing search by the police and rescue teams.

Another incident refers to sightings of a “black triangular UFO” over the home of the shadow home secretary in Kent in the late 1990s. An investigation showed no breach of security.

It was also disclosed by the X-Files that the last of such scrambles was in September 1991, at the time of collapse of the Soviet Union.

Tags: breach of security, extraterrestrial lifeforms, flying saucer, UFO, UFO files, Winston Churchill, X-Files

Sahara India Pariwar, the diversified business house, is in talks to buy Hollywood-based film production and distribution major Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) Inc.

Media reports suggest that Sahara India has made a bid of about USD 2 billion to buy the debt of the Hollywood studio.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

When contacted, a Sahara spokesperson told PTI that talks are on, but it is too early to comment on the issue. “On mutual interest, discussions are on, but it is too early to comment on the issue,” Sahara India Pariwar Head of Corporate Communications Abhijit Sarkar said.

MGM, however, could not be reached for the comment. Sahara India Pariwar has a presence in the finance, infrastructure and housing, media and entertainment, consumer products, manufacturing, services and trading businesses.

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc is an independent, privately-held motion picture, television, home video and theatrical production and distribution company. MGM is owned by an investor consortium comprised of Providence Equity Partners, TPG, Sony Corporation of America, Comcast Corporation, DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group.

MGM has about USD 4 billion in debt. The company owns the world’’s largest library of modern films, comprising approximately 4,000 titles, and over 10,400 episodes of television programming, as per details available on its website.

Its film library has received 205 Academy Awards, one of the largest award winning collections in the world, and includes numerous successful film franchises, including James Bond, The Pink Panther and Rocky. The studio is facing possible bankruptcy and several companies have shown an interest in acquiring it.

Reports have previously suggested that the Anil Ambani Group is interested in acquiring the debt-ridden Hollywood studio and other interested parties include Spyglass Entertainment, Time Warner Inc, and Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

Tags: Comcast Corporation, distribution company, DLJ Merchant Banking Partners, Hollywood studio, MGM, Providence Equity Partners, Quadrangle Group, Sahara India, Sahara India Pariwar, Sony Corporation of America, TPG

Women are much better than men at multitasking, according to a research by psychologists.

The Telegraph reported Keith Laws, professor and psychologist at the University of Hertfordshire, who led the research as saying that women significantly outperformed the men when it comes to multitasking.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

Laws gave 50 male and 50 female students eight minutes to perform three tasks at the same time: carrying out simple maths problems, finding restaurants on a map and sketching a strategy for how they would search for a lost key in an imaginary field.

As they performed the tasks, the volunteers also received a phone call that they could either chose to answer or not.

If they did answer, they were given an additional general knowledge test while they continued to carry out their other activities.

While women were able to perform well in all four activities at once, men performed, on average, worse when it came to planning to search for the key.

Laws said: ‘Men are supposed to have better spatial awareness than women, so they should have outperformed the women on the map task and the key task.

‘But of all the tasks we gave, the key searching task also required planning and some kind of strategy,’ he said.

It was found by the research team that women better at being able to stand back while they are juggling other things.

Tags: general knowledge, multitasking, planning, spatial awareness

A Florida pastor who threatened to burn around two hundred copies of Quran in order to protest against Islamic extremism said that he might reconsider his decision to call off the event.

The Reverend Terry Jones told NBC News that ‘we are a little back to square one’ after what he claimed was a deal for relocating a controversial mosque in proximity to the former WTC site in New York appeared not to have materialized.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

Jones said earlier Thursday that he was dropping the plans in exchange for relocating the mosque. But mosque officials in New York denied there was an agreement to move the construction site.

‘Given what we are now hearing, we are forced to rethink our decision,’ Jones told NBC after the mosque officials denied a deal was in the works. ‘So as of right now, we are not cancelling the event, but we are suspending it.’

In an earlier press conference, Jones said he would cancel the event, adding that he accomplished his goal. ‘The American people don’t want the mosque there and of course Muslims do not want us to burn their Quran’.

Jones said he planned to fly to New York Saturday to meet with the mosque’s leader Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, but he later clarified he would not burn the Qurans regardless of what happens with the mosque. Late in the evening, he then appeared to waffle on that promise after the mosque’s denial.

Jones earlier spoke to reporters in Gainesville, Florida, the site of the his Dove World Outreach Centre, which has a congregation of about 50 people. He had declared Saturday ‘International Burn a Koran Day’, drawing fierce criticism from religious leaders of all faiths and top US officials, including President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Jones had planned to burn copies of the Holy Quran, Saturday on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Tags: Barack Obama, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Holy Quran, Islamic extremism, Koran Day, Quran, WTC site

Ronnie Screwvala’s production company is now heading towards reality shows rather than films. They have now come up with this great idea for a program which features today’s youth as players in the race to become a best entrepreneur. The show gives off price money of rupees 50 million to the winner and given a blow to the market as well.

From hindustantimes.com:

Reality TV is shifting gears from entertainment to business. Ronnie Screwvala-led Bloomberg UTV said on Tuesday that has lined up four reality shows aimed at business audiences and unveiled its first show, The Pitch, which offers a R50 million — that’s a little over a million US dollars — as prize money in a show that will turn real for entrepreneurs.

To be hosted by Bollywood actor Boman Irani, the show, presented in association with Hindustan Times, expects 50,000 entrepreneur applications, said Screwvala, chief executive, UTV Group.

The show called as “the Pitch” , will be hosted by actor Boman Irani and  will also involve great business personalities such as Kishore Biyani, Rahul Bajaj and Naina Lal Kidwai. UTV will showcase this soon in October as a ten episode package as a part of programming strategy.

Tags: business personalities, entrepreneur, market, programming strategy, Youth

A parliamentary panel on the new Companies Bill has suggested that salaries of chief executives should be capped and the decision on amounts of managerial remunerations is best decided by shareholders.

The panel asked the Corporate Affairs Ministry to formulate a “rational formula” for managerial remunerations.

From in.news.yahoo.com:

“The committee are of the view that an overall outer ceiling on managerial remuneration may be prescribed,” said the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, which last week presented its report on Companies Bill 2009 in the Lok Sabha. “The Ministry may evolve a rational formula for this purpose.

The remuneration payable within this overall ceiling may be decided by the remuneration committee of board or shareholders as already proposed in the Bill,” it added. Currently, according to section 198 of the Companies Act 1956, total remuneration paid to managerial personnel cannot be more than 11 per cent of net profit, while an individual manager’s compensation is capped at 5 per cent of net profit.

If a company wishes to break the ceiling, it requires a go ahead from the Corporate Affairs Ministry. Besides, in case a company fails to garner profit or the profit is not adequate, it requires the Central Government’s approval to dole out salaries.

The panel has further suggested that in the event of established fraud or fudging of profits by the company, remuneration paid to the key managerial personnel may be recovered. The Committee’s report has came after almost eight months of deliberation.

The revised Companies Bill is expected to be tabled in Parliament in the winter session, or latest by the Budget session and is likely to be enacted by the end of this fiscal.

Tags: Budget session, Companies Bill, managerial personnel, managerial remunerations