India-born CEO beats girlfriend 117 times, but ducks jail
Washington, April 25
Gurbaksh Chahal, India-born CEO of RadiumOne, a Silicon Valley company focusing on real-time advertising across web, mobile and Facebook, has dodged jail time even after beating his girlfriend 117 times.

US Secretary of State John F Kerry on Thursday accused Russia of “distraction, deception and destabilisation” in eastern Ukraine and warned that it will face crippling sanctions if it does not stop fomenting unrest.

Kerry’s warning came hours after Russia conducted military exercises near Ukraine’s border and a week after the US, Russia, European Union and Ukraine agreed in Geneva to take steps to de-escalate the crisis.

“If Russia continues in this direction, it will not just be a grave mistake, it will be an expensive mistake,” Kerry said at the State Department on Thursday evening.

“The window to change course is closing. (Russian) President (Vladimir) Putin and Russia face a choice. If Russia chooses the path of de-escalation, the international community, all of us, will welcome it. If Russia does not, the world will make sure that the costs for Russia will only grow,” he added.

The US and Europe have already imposed economic sanctions on Russian officials and entities after Moscow annexed the Crimean Peninsula last month following a referendum that backed joining Russia. The US and Ukraine said referendum was illegal.

While the US has threatened Russia with tougher sanctions on key sectors of its economy - energy, banking and mining - many European nations that depend on Russia for their energy needs have been less willing to go along.

Kerry noted the toll sanctions have taken on Russia’s economy so far and warned that this “is really just a snapshot, and is also, regrettably, a preview of how the free world will respond if Russia continues to escalate what they had promised to de-escalate.”

Earlier, Russia called on the US to urge Ukraine’s interim leaders to stop raids on pro-Moscow separatists.

The US and Ukraine say Russia is behind the unrest in eastern Ukraine. Kerry said he had been informed by the US intelligence community that Russia’s intelligence, military intelligence services and special operators are playing an active role in destabilising eastern Ukraine with personnel, weapons, money, operational planning and coordinator.

Russia, “in plain sight,” is funding, coordinating and fueling a heavily-armed separatist movement in Ukraine’s eastern city of Donetsk, said Kerry.

Russian claims that the uniformed and heavily armed men occupying buildings in Ukraine are “local activists” are “absurd,” he said.

The images from Ukraine broadcast on social media, in newspapers and on TV prove that “no amount of propaganda is capable of hiding such actions,” he added.

Earlier this week, Valentyn Nalyvaichenko, the head of Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU), said Russia’s military intelligence service (GRU) officers and agents are the “main provocateurs and main organisers” behind the unrest. Three GRU officers have been arrested and are currently detained in the Ukrainian capital Kiev, he said in a web briefing organised by the Atlantic Council in Washington.

Kerry drew a sharp contrast between the actions of Ukraine’s interim government and Moscow in the week following the Geneva agreement.

In Geneva, all sides agreed to de-escalate the situation and that illegal groups in Ukraine would lay down their arms and leave buildings that they have occupied, in exchange for amnesty.

“One week later, it is clear that only one side, one country, is keeping its word,” said Kerry. “Every day since we left Geneva ... the world has witnessed a tale of two countries, two countries with vastly different understandings of what it means to uphold an international agreement.”

“The simple reality is you can't resolve a crisis when only one side is willing to do what is necessary to avoid a confrontation,” he added.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk chairs a meeting in Kiev on Friday. Reuters

Kiev: Kiev accused Moscow today of seeking to trigger a "third world war" as military tensions soared in east Ukraine. Ukraine said Russian troops conducting exercises had approached to within 1 km of its border and would treat any incursion as an invasion. Ukrainian special forces launched a second phase of their operation in the east of the country on Friday by mounting a full blockade of the rebel-held city of Slaviansk, an official on the presidential staff said. One of its military helicopters was hit by rocket fire and exploded while on the ground at an airport near the city.

ICC to open initial probe on Ukraine

The Hague: The International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor has opened a initial probe into crimes committed before and during the fall of Ukraine's ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, the court said on Friday. "The prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, has decided to open a preliminary investigation into the situation in the Ukraine to establish whether... the criteria for opening a (full) investigation are met," The Hague-based court said.

Russia credit rating cut amid crisis

Moscow: Russia felt the impact of the Ukrainian crisis on its economy on Friday, when ratings agency Standard & Poor's cut its credit grade for the first time in five years and the central bank raised interest rates to keep the sliding currency from fuelling inflation. S&P said in a statement it dropped Russia's rating to one level above "junk status" because the tense situation over Ukraine was causing investors to pull money out of the country. — Agencies

Ansan, April 25
A floral tribute to the children who drowned in a sinking South Korean ferry displays photographs of the victims in their school uniforms, while lines of empty spaces wait to be filled with photos once those still missing are confirmed dead. The pictures, flowers and spaces are banked up the entire wall of a gymnasium near Danwon High School in Ansan, on the outskirts of Seoul.

"There are too many pictures, way more than I thought," said crying university student Jung Sun-a, 24. "And they are too young in these pictures. I really hope they can fulfil their dream in the next life. And I hope the missing kids will also come back to their parents as soon as possible." One wailing old woman shouted out for her granddaughter, Lee Bomi.

"Bomi is still in darkness. She hasn't come home yet. What are we going to do? I came here to ask you. She is still in dark waters. What am I supposed to do?" The Sewol ferry, weighing almost 7,000 tons, sank on a routine trip from the port of Incheon, near Seoul, to the southern holiday island of Jeju. Investigations are focused on human error and mechanical failure.

More than 300 people, most of them students and teachers from Danwon High School have died or are missing and presumed dead after the April 16 disaster. The confirmed death toll on Friday was 185.

Visiting US President Barack Obama gave President Park Geun-hye an American flag that flew over the White House on April 16, the day of the disaster. "I just want to express on behalf of the American people our deepest sympathy for the tragic loss," Obama told her. "We join in mourning the loss of the missing, especially so many young people." — Reuters

Washington, April 25
Gurbaksh Chahal, India-born CEO of RadiumOne, a Silicon Valley company focusing on real-time advertising across web, mobile and Facebook, has dodged jail time even after beating his girlfriend 117 times.

Chahal, 31, pleaded guilty to misdemeanour, domestic violence and battery charges last week, dodging 45 felony counts for the videotaped 30-minute beating of his girlfriend, The Huffington Post reported.

But the tech millionaire, who was arrested last August after police responded to a 911 domestic violence call at his San Francisco penthouse apartment, was sentenced to only three years' probation, 52 weeks in a domestic violence training programme and 25 hours of community service.

His girlfriend told arriving officers that she was unable to breathe and that Chahal had told her four times, "I'm going to kill you", San Francisco officer Anh Nguyen was quoted as telling the San Francisco Business Times in March. "She stated she was in fear for her life."

According to the Post, home security footage reportedly showed Chahal beating and kicking his girlfriend 117 times during the 30-minute attack.

Prosecutors said Chahal lashed out at his girlfriend upon learning that she had cheated on him with another man during a trip to Las Vegas, according to court documents.

Soon after Chahal posted his $1-million bail and hired former federal prosecutor James Lassart as his attorney, his girlfriend stopped cooperating with the investigation and refused to testify against him, the Post said.

During a preliminary hearing, Lassart did not deny that Chahal repeatedly struck his girlfriend, but insisted the physical damage was overblown.

In a crippling blow to the prosecution, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Brendan Conroy ruled that the surveillance video could not be used as evidence because police seized it illegally from Chahal's apartment, the Post said.

The prosecution argued it likely would have been erased if police had waited for a warrant. — IANS

Washington, April 25
A former boyfriend of Indian-American billionaire investor Vinod Khosla’s daughter has been charged with threatening to publish her naked photos as part of an extortion plot.

FBI agents last week arrested Douglas Tarlow, 27, a Stanford University graduate, who dated Khosla’s daughter Nina for about two years, in connection with the alleged extortion plot, according to The Smoking Gun, an investigative news site. Tarlow was subsequently released from custody and is scheduled for a US District Court preliminary hearing on Friday.

Khosla, the 59-year-old venture capitalist who co-founded Sun Microsystems, is worth $1.5 billion, according to a recent Forbes magazine estimate.

According to the Smoking Gun, Tarlow allegedly threatened to distribute the naked images online.

In a text message to Nina Khosla's mother Neeru, who was sent the nude photos, Tarlow stated, “it seems you're going to be the mother of the next Paris Hilton,” investigators allege. While the FBI affidavit does not name Tarlow's alleged targets, The Smoking Gun said it has confirmed that the Khoslas are the victims referred to in the document. — IANS