Bangkok, January 27
Karl Slym, managing director of India's Tata Motors Ltd, died after falling from a hotel room in Bangkok in what police said on Monday could be possible suicide.

Slym, 51, had attended a board meeting of Tata's Thailand unit in the Thai capital and was staying with his wife in a room on the 22nd floor of the Shangri-La hotel. Hotel staff found his body on Sunday on the fourth floor, which juts out above lower floors.

"We didn't find any sign of a struggle," Police Lieutenant Somyot Boonyakaew, who is heading the investigation, told Reuters. "We found a window open. The window was very small so it was not possible that he would have slipped. He would have had to climb through the window to fall out because he was a big man. From my initial investigation we believe he jumped."

The police found a three-page note, written in English, which they were translating into Thai. A spokeswoman for Tata Motors, India's biggest automaker, declined to comment on the possible cause of Slym's death. A company statement on Sunday said Slym had provided leadership in a challenging market environment.

Bangkok, January 27
Thailand's beleaguered government today issued an ultimatum to opposition activists to halt their siege of ministries within 72 hours or face arrest, but defiant protesters said they would keep up their campaign to oust premier Yingluck Shinawatra.

The Director of the Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CPMO), Chalerm Yoobamrung, said he would deploy assault units to arrest protesters for violating an emergency decree and for illegal intrusion into government offices.

"The siege of government installations must end. In 72 hours from now, units of raiders will be dispatched to round up the protesters. This is not a threat, but a warning 72 hours in advance," said Chalerm, also the caretaker Labour Minister.

"If they are still defiant, I will exercise my power under the emergency decree to arrest them," he said, referring to the 60-day emergency imposed by the government last week in Bangkok and some surrounding areas.

Chalerm said the CMPO would not seek help from the army to launch the crackdowns.

Unfazed by the warnings, protesters said they will press ahead with their shutdown of Bangkok as they blockaded seven major intersections in the capital and forced many ministries and other government buildings like the central bank to shut down. — PTI

Cairo, January 27
Egypt's powerful army chief Gen Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi, today looked set to run for presidency after being promoted to the rank of Field Marshal and top military commanders discussing his bid to the top post.

Interim president Adly Mansour issued a presidential decree promoting 59-year-old Sisi to the rank of Field Marshal, the highest in the military. Egypt's army rarely promotes senior officers to the rank of a field marshal.

Sisi's popularity soared after July last year, when he announced the ouster of Morsi amid nationwide mass protests against the Islamist president's troubled one-year rule.

As a result, a number of campaigns have sprung up to pressure Sisi to run for the presidency in the upcoming elections due by the end of April.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces met "to discuss developments on the security front ... (and) the peoples' demand for the defence minister (Sisi) to run for the presidency," state-run MENA news agency reported. While he had initially announced he would not seek power, Sisi has more recently said the possibility is open.

If Sisi runs and wins in the presidential polls it would mark the return of an army man to the helm of power, three years after Egyptians revolted against president Hosni Mubarak who was an ex-air force chief.

Mansour yesterday announced that presidential elections will be held before parliamentary polls, an amendment to the transitional roadmap which was agreed upon by various political forces after Morsi's ouster. — PTI 

Los Angeles, January 27
French electronic music duo Daft Punk dominated the 56th annual Grammy awards with “Random Access Memories” winning album of the year, while their hit track “Get Lucky”, featuring Pharrell Williams, walked away with the best record of the year.

“I suppose, the robots would like to thank... I bet France is really proud of these guys right now,” Williams said about his helmet-clad collaborators.

Late Pandit Ravi Shankar, who received a posthumous nomination for his album “The Living Room Sessions Part 2” in the World Music section, missed the opportunity this year. He had won the award in the same category for the first part of the album.

Daft Punk, whose real names are Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter, also won best pop duo/group performance and best dance/electronica album and best engineered album, non-classical category for Random Access Memories.

The best new artist winners Macklemore and Ryan Lewis also won best rap album for “The Heist”, best rap song and best rap performance for “Thrift Shop”. Songstress Lorde, 17, won two grammy awards: song of the year and best pop solo performance, both for “Royals”. Jay Z, who was nominated in nine categories, won best rap-sung collaboration with Justin Timberlake for “Holy Grail”.

Rihanna won the best urban contemporary album for “Unapologetic”. Kacey Musgraves won best country album for “Same Trailer Different Park”. Bruno Mars won in pop vocal album for “Unorthodox Jukebox”. Best song written for visual media went to Adele for “Skyfall”. The best metal performance went to Black Sabbath.— PTI

SHINING STARS

Album of the year: Random Access Memories by Daft Punk

Best new artist: Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Best pop vocal album: Unorthodox Jukebox by Bruno Mars

Best rap album: The Heist by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis

Song of the year: Royals by Songstress Lorde

Best rap-sung collaboration: Holy Grail by Jay Z and Justin Timberlake

Best song for visual media: Skyfall by Adele

Best metal performance: God is Dead? by Black Sabbath

Best urban contemporary album: Unapologetic by Rihanna

Beijing, January 27
China's first moon rover 'Yutu' has experienced a "mechanical control abnormity" and scientists are organising an overhaul, authorities said.

The abnormity occurred due to "the complicated lunar surface environment," the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) said, without giving further details.

The abnormity emerged before the rover went into its second dormancy at dawn today as the lunar night fell again, the state-run Xinhua news agency said, citing SASTIND.

Scientists were "organising an overhaul", it said, without giving further details. The Jade Rabbit, or 'Yutu' in Chinese, was deployed on the moon's surface on December 15, several hours after the Chang'e-3 probe landed.

On January 18 rover 'Yutu' collected a large amount space observation and moon exploration data.

The lunar probe mission, comprising the lander Chang'e-3 and rover Yutu, was launched in December as part of the second phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Programme.

The mission, which made the first soft-landing on the Moon since 1976, makes China the third country to successfully send a lunar rover to the moon, after the US and the former Soviet Union. — PTI 

Lahore, January 27
As Bollywood films continue to provide a lease of life to cinema owners and the entertainment-starved people of Pakistan, some domestic producers have stepped up efforts to impose restrictions on their import.

Sixteen Bollywood movies were widely screened in Pakistan last year, marking a high after a four-decade ban on Indian films. "Dhoom 3" starring Aamir Khan has done roaring business and is still pulling people in droves to cinemas across the country.

"It is because of Indian movies that new cinemas are being built in Lahore," Ramzan Shiekh, the owner of two state-of-the-art theatres, told PTI.

"I am going to build another one in the city. Both my existing halls were booked for four daily shows of 'Dhoom 3' and still people kept coming to watch the movie."

The box office receipts for "Dhoom 3" from 56 screens on its opening day was around Rs 20 million, almost double the record set by the Pakistani film "Waar" with grosses of Rs 11.4 million. "Ram-Leela", "Aashiqui 2" and "Chennai Express" too did good business at the Pakistani box-office.

However, critics of Indian movies have opposed their exhibition and moved courts for a ban.

Film producer Syed Noor, who has for long campaigned against Bollywood products, claimed: "Some people with vested interests don't want our industry to flourish. In the presence of multi-billion budget Indian flicks, ours can't compete.

"I am not anti-Indian films. But being a patriotic Pakistani, I am trying to save the national cinema." Noor said an MoU signed between Pakistani producers and exhibitors promises "50 per cent adjustment", meaning theatres have to screen a fixed quota of Pakistani films.

Indian films were banned in Pakistan in 1965, following the war between the two countries. However, Bollywood films were widely screened on cable networks and pirated videotapes and DVDs were available across the country. — PTI

Washington, Jan uary 27
Pakistan today said it is committed to normalising ties with India but contended that its concerns were not being taken up by the US administration with the "same intensity" as India's concerns.

"There's a strong perception in Pakistan that while a lot of pressure is exerted on Pakistan on issues of concern to India, our legitimate concerns are not conveyed to India with the same intensity," said Sartaj Aziz, Advisor to the premier on National Security and Foreign Affairs.

He reiterated the Pakistan government's commitment to normalise relations with India and said the settlement of the Kashmir issue would help achieve this objective.

"The overwhelming majority of the people in Pakistan support the normalisation of our relations with India and believe that the resolution of the Kashmir dispute would result in achieving this goal," Aziz said in his opening statement as the US and Pakistan held a ministerial-level Strategic Dialogue here after a gap of three years.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's "bold vision of normalising relations with India is being pursued with full commitment", he said.

Aziz is leading a high-power delegation to the US for the dialogue. The team includes Defence Minister Khawaja Asif, Chief of General Staff Lt Gen Ishfaq Nadeem Ahmad and Pakistani Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani.

The American side, led by Secretary of State John Kerry, includes Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan James Dobbins and US Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson. — PTI

Nigeria, January 27
Suspected insurgents armed with guns and explosives killed at least 62 people in northeast Nigeria, including at a church service, in a region where Islamist sect Boko Haram is resisting a military crackdown, witnesses said on Monday. They killed 22 people by setting off bombs and firing into the congregation in the Catholic church in Waga Chakawa village in Adamawa state on Sunday, before burning houses and taking residents hostage during a four-hour siege, witnesses said.

On Monday, a separate assault by suspected members of the shady sect killed at least 40 people in Kawuri village, in remote northeastern Borno state, security officials said. No one immediately claimed responsibility for either attack. — Reuters