If you live in India and are eagerly awaiting the Hollywood remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you may be waiting a while. Censors in the country have called for the removal of “explicit” scenes from the film, which stars Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig.

One Indian censor official has asserted that certain scenes in the film “should be blurred” before the David Fincher-directed film is released there. JP Singh, an official at India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), harrumphed:

“Bare bottom and bare-breast scenes are not allowed in India. We objected to several scenes in The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and wanted them to be blurred.”

Sony Pictures is not playing ball, however – the Indian arm of the studio has said it won’t compromise on the film’s content.

The flick is based on Stieg Larsson’s best-selling thriller, and has so far raked in $185 million worldwide. Its banning in India, where Hollywood still plays a distant second to Bollywood, is unlikely to dent its box office performance too much. That could explain why Sony is happy to stand firm.

A statement from the movie powerhouse said the decision of the censors would be respected, but did not allude to the film being altered:

“[Censors have] adjudged the film unsuitable for public viewing in its unaltered form. While we are committed to maintaining and protecting the vision of the director, we will, as always, respect the guidelines set by the board.”

Unless one side backs down – a highly unlikely situation, it would seem – the film will remain unreleased in the world’s second most populated country.

‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’ Blocked by Indian Film Censors is a post from: The Inquisitr

Starbucks will open its first store in India this August, more than five years after it announced plans to move into the world’s second most populous country. Between September and December this year, the coffee giant expects to open around 50 stores in Mumbai and New Delhi.

It was never meant to be this late, however. Back in 2007, the company said it wanted to reach 40,000 worldwide stores by the end of 2012. However, the recession and overly aggressive expansion put paid to that. Currently, there are ‘only’ 17,250 stores worldwide. According to John Culver, president of Starbucks’ Asian Pacific region:

“We’re going to be very disciplined in how we grow. The rate at which India is growing, the size of the emerging middle class and the growth of disposable income lead us to believe it’s going to be a very large market for Starbucks over time.”

Perhaps the biggest question mark hovering over the move to India concerns local tastes. India is a nation of tea-drinkers, and the world’s biggest tea exporter. It has coffee farms in the south of the country, but an overwhelming majority of Indians prefer tea. However, Culver claims coffee is becoming more popular, especially with young people and a rapidly emerging middle-class.

Also, Starbucks has already performed well in another vast, tea-drinking nation. In October 2011, Starbucks opened its 500th store in mainland China, and the brand has enjoyed massive success. The appeal of Starbucks in such places is down to it being – and here’s a term to make one’s stomach turn like month-old latte – an aspirational brand. Sharon Zackfia, analyst at William Blair & Co, explains:

“It’s probably less what you’re selling than what the brand represents, which is a certain level of status. It’s the first luxury item most people can afford.”

We’ll find out just how aspirational Indians are a few months from now.

First Starbucks in India Opening in August is a post from: The Inquisitr

NEW DELHI – Tata Coffee LTD. is looking to finalize a deal with Starbucks Corp. by the end of January, allowing the now-international coffee chain to finally enter into India, with the first store opening in 2012.

The deal has been in the works for over a year now, with Starbucks signing an initial agreement with Tata Coffee in January last year to source premium coffee beans from the Indian company. During these arrangements, both companies expressed interest in the possibility of opening Starbucks stores in India.

Hameed Huq, managing director of Tata Coffee told reporters Thursday that “Final formalities are being completed and we are on the verge of signing the agreement,” without elaborating any further on specific contract details.

Though traditionally drinkers of tea, there has been a recent surging interest in coffee among Indians, and the middle-class of the country is beginning to adapt to Western tastes. As the popularity of coffee shops in India increases, so does the demand for Starbucks’ belated entry into one of the company’s largest un-tapped markets.

The core deal is between Starbucks and Tata Coffee, but the new partnership would also utilize the strengths of other Tata companies. Starbucks outlets would offer their own coffees and foods, and could potentially be located in retail stores and hotels owned by or associated with Tata.

Tata Coffee plans to increase output of instant coffee in India to around 8,500 tons from about 6,600 tons by the end of this year.

Is it just me, or is Starbucks taking over the world?

Starbucks Coffee Moves to India, Closes Deal with Tata Coffee is a post from: The Inquisitr

A recently leaked memo reveals that American and Canadian based company’s Apple, Research in Motion and Nokia may have helped the government of India spy on U.S. agencies in order to receive larger shares of the overall Indian cell phone market.

Originally reported by Indian blogger Manan Kakkar for ZDNet the report says officials in the country were given backdoor access to mobile device data. While the company’s have not reacted to the claim it was also confirmed by cybersecurity researcher Christopher Soghoian.

While the leaked information was likely used for a variety of reasons one such example surfaced in which the Indian government allegedly used those backdoors to steal emails from the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a group who’s main focus is the monitoring and investigating of national security implications within the US-China economic relationship.

According to reports Indian governmental officials were most interested in Chinese cybersecurity threats. Kakkar believes that information obtained through backdoor programs may have in fact given them the information they needed for an earlier hack of Symantec by Indian hacker collective the Lords of Dharamraja.

ComputerWorld goes on to reveal even more inform about the potential hacks and reasoning behind Apple, RIM and Nokia’s decision to move forward with backdoor device access.

Here’s a partial screen grab of the leaked document:

In the meantime representatives from all three tech company’s have denied their involvement in any type of backdoor access program for their mobile devices.

Do you think it is wrong for North American company’s to give backdoor access for mobile data to other countries in exchange for a larger market share in those regions?

Apple, RIM and Nokia Allegedly Helping India Spy On United States is a post from: The Inquisitr

Two farmers in central India were arrested in the last week when it was discovered that the men brutally killed a 7-year-old girl in the hopes of appeasing their gods.

According to reports the men cut out the little girls liver in a ritual sacrifice that they believed would ensure a prosperous harvest.

Lalita Tati had disappeared from her hometown on October 21, 2011 and her dismembered remains were found one week later (Oct. 27) according to Bijapur district senior police officer Rajendra Narayan Das.

The two men were arrested last week and quickly confirmed the story of a religious sacrifice. The poor farmers say they grabbed Tati when she was walking home after watching TV at a neighbor’s home.

The murderers then confessed to cutting her stomach open and removing her liver which they offered up to their gods.

Das police say besides their confessions they have gathered enough evidence to convict both men of murder.

If found guilty both men will face sentences up to life in prison or possibly even the death sentence.

Do you believe both men should face the death penalty or should their strong religious fanaticism land them behind bars for the rest of their natural lives?

Farmers Arrested For Child Sacrifice To Appease The Gods is a post from: The Inquisitr

Superintendent of Police Kime Aya said the casulties occurred when villagers, who had set out to hunt teri (an insect which is a delicacy for the locals), were crossing the bridge at around 5:30pm.

Although police and paramilitary forces were able to pull out around 28 villagers from the water, the swift current of the river and darkness were creating impediments for the search and rescue teams , the Press Trust of India quoted police as saying.

The bridge crosses the Kameng River in Arunachal Pradesh state. The region is nearly 370 miles (500 kilometers) north of Gauhati, the capital of Assam state.

It was the second bridge collapse in India within a week.

Last week, some 32 people died and 132 were injured after a wooden bridge collapsed at a political event in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal state.

via Washington Post
Image:Flickr

Foot Bridge Collapses in India; 30 Feared Drowned is a post from: The Inquisitr

General Electric (GE) announced on Monday that they plan to build a $200 million multi-product plant in Pune, India, part of the company’s strategy to localize production while expanding in the Indian market space by 20-30 percent over the next year.

GE chairman Jeffrey R. Immelt  announced on Monday:

“Our new integrated manufacturing facility is coming up near Pune on a 68-acre plot for making a wide portfolio of products for the Indian market.”

The company says 2,000 jobs will be created and the facility will begin with 450,000 square feet that can be expanded up to 1 million square feet if needed.

Speaking about economic worries in the region and globally Immelt told the Business-Standard:

“At a time of global volatility, we still see robust demand for our infrastructure products and still feel quite good about the prospects on a global basis for the industry we are in, like infrastructure and financial services. The growth of infrastructure sector would continue to be robust. Aviation, energy and transportation are quite healthy in the US market.”

GE believes that the emerging markets of the world are their key to success and continued expansion, according to company reports they expect to bring in $35 billion in 2011 from emerging countries.  The same approach has worked for the likes of Siemens and United Technologies so perhaps they are onto something.

Do you think GE’s increased expansion into emerging markets will help them grow their core businesses during talk of a double dip recession?

GE Announces $200 Million Multi-Product Plant For Pune India is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested $258 million to help prevent AIDS in India and now a recent study has shown that nearly 100,000 people in the region have avoiding the virus because of the organizations educational efforts.

The study concluded that prevention programs targeting high-risk populations were effective in helping reduce HIV and AIDS.

Dubbed the Avahan initiative the program has focused on prevention techniques such as needle-exchange programs, safe-sex counseling and condom distribution, standard practices in many parts of the world that had been overlooked in India.

The current study examined date from 2003 trhough 2008 and found that higher spending from the Avahan initiative correlated to lower AIDS cases in the country.

Critics say sthe methodology used in the study is flawed because it included pregnant women from antenatal clinics and because the study was funded directly through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

One critic says the findings are positive but “hard to quantify.”

Do you believe prevention programs created by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are making a 100,000 person difference in India?

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Reduced India Aids Cases By 100,000 [Study] is a post from: The Inquisitr

When the tech world first got word of the $35 tablet, no one really believed it could possibly be real.

The $35 tablet- which was first announced in a world of $500+ iPads- was met with derision and disbelief, and after several delays, people were even less likely to believe the cheap device could ever hit market with current component prices. Conceived as a tool for impoverished kids in India, the tablet was said back in the summer to boast “Google Android, 2GB RAM, a front-facing camera, 32GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, USB ports and various apps” and has not specifically been announced as lacking any of those features.

500 Students in India have been given the Aakash tablets (Aakash means sky) and DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli, head of the company that brought the tablets to market, said:

“Our goal was to break the price barrier for computing and internet access… We’ve created a product that will finally bring affordable computing and internet access to the masses.”

A commercial version of the tablet called UbiSlate will be introduced later this year, retailing at about $60. At the $35 tablet launch in the Indian capital of Delhi on October 5th, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said the government planned to purchase 100,000 of the tablets. In coming years, there is a goal of distributing 10 million tablets to students in India.

Sibal said:

“The rich have access to the digital world, the poor and ordinary have been excluded. Aakash will end that digital divide.”

Naysayers say that cheap tablets are “painfully slow.”

$35 Tablet Finally Unveiled in India is a post from: The Inquisitr

Customers in India who have been waiting to get their hands of the rumored $35 tablet will be waiting even longer. Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal announced on Wednesday that the tablets are now delayed until October. The announcement has led some analysts to claim that the project.

Sibal says of the project:

 ”This is not just a dream, it is a reality.”

The $35 tablet was first announced in July 2010 with country officials saying it would mostly be geared towards educational use. Among the tablets features are Google Android, 2GB RAM, a front-facing camera, 32GB hard drive, Wi-Fi, USB ports and various apps to be utilized by students.

Country officials announced in June 2011 that the device would arrive by the end of the month with various delays named after that date, officials now say the tablets will begin shipping on October 5 with the originally promised $35 price tag.

Would you buy a low-end $35 tablet for casual use?

$35 Tablet in India Delayed Once Again is a post from: The Inquisitr

An earthquake registering a magnitude of 6.9 hit India on Saturday night, killing at least nine people while injuring others and damaging buildings in and around the Nepal capital of Kathmandu.

According to reports the earthquake which was felt by people across India sent people running into the streets. The earthquake later triggered aftershocks of magnitude 6.1 and 5.3.

More aftershocks are likely in the hours and days to come and the full extent of damage in the area is not yet known since many people lie in sparsely populated areas that have been cut off because of mudslides that were set off by the earthquake.

In the Sikkim state capital of Gangtok local TV stations are reporting that several buildings have collapsed, while sidewalks cracked under the pressure caused by the quake.

Two buildings have also reportedly collapsed in Gangtok and search teams were attempting to find survivors throughout the night, Gangtok has a population of 50,000.

According to reports the quake was felt all the way to New Dehli.

India Earthquake Leaves Nine Dead, Damages Buildings in Capital is a post from: The Inquisitr

Another day, another country on the verge of financial collapse. Investors on the New York Stock Exchange will be paying close attention to Italy this week as the European Central Bank holds an emergency telephone conference call on Sunday to fend off the financial collapse of Italy.

Speaking to the Associated Press European officials said the call was to discuss possible purchases of Italian government bonds, a move that could drive down bond interest yields which are threatening the indebted countries finances.

The fear is that the country will end up in an interest-rate death spiral, the same scenario that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to request bailout loans from international parties.

Officials also took some time on Sunday to voice their concern that the downgrading of the U.S. investment rating could rattle the crisis further.

In response to market pressure Italian Prime Minister Silvia Berlusconi has promised that his country is hard at work creating a budget for 2013 that will bring balance to the countries financial sheets, including an amendment to the country’s constitution which will require the government to balance the budget.

The announcement to balance the budget comes after Italy saw their bond yields go from 2 percent in 2010 to 6 percent as of Friday. Those bond yields along with a debt equivalent of 120 percent of economic input has put Italy just behind Greece as the regions worst financial crisis of the moment.

Markets around the world saw horrible decreases last week and now all eyes will be on various markets around the world, including the New York Stock Exchange as investors and world leaders attempt to come up with solutions and investments that make sense during an unstable week in finance.

New York Stock Exchange Watches At European Central Bank Tries To Save Italy from Financial Collapse is a post from: The Inquisitr

The BSE rose by 184.40 points, approximately 1% of the markets value, taking the countries index to 18596.02. The announcement comes after the countries market lost 3.5% of it’s value during the prior three days of trading.

The higher stock pricing occurred when 26 of 30 Sensex constituents traded at higher values than the previous 3 days and is in line with other Asian markets which also saw gains.

While overall numbers fell on the BSEO to 25.65 billion rupees ($577.8 million) from Tuesday’s trading of 28.32 billion rupees, the number of advancers (1,859) outnumbers decliners (1,0120) while 139 company’s saw no change in their current stock valuations.

Most markets were down as Europe’s debt crisis continues to raise concerns however Asian markets helped prop up other exchanges with the announcement that their GDP and industrial output were stronger than expected.

According to the Wall Street Journal:

Analysts say investors will be watching out for June inflation data out on Thursday for clues on the Indian central bank’s possible actions when it reviews monetary policy on July 26. Inflation as measured by the wholesale price index likely rose 9.7% in June from a year earlier, speeding up from May’s 9.1% rise, according to economists polled by Dow Jones Newswires.

Areas with high one day gains include auto companies which added 1.9% and Oil & Natural Gas which is state run and saw a 2% stock price increase after a follow-on share sale was postponed.

Bombay Stock Exchange: Shares Up After Three Consecutive Days Of Losses is a post from: The Inquisitr

Rescuers in India are searching the wreckage of a derailed train for survivors while the death toll has already reached 31 with more than 100 passengers receiving help for injuries.

The Kalka Mail train was heading to Kalka through the foothills of the Himalayas when 12 coaches and the engine jumped off the tracks near the town of Fatehpur in Uttar Pradesh.

According to officials the exact cause of the derailment is not known, however the trains engineer appeared to have applied the trains emergency brakes before the derailment occurred.

According to Newser:

The accident site was a pile of twisted metal. At least one coach flew above the roof of another ahead of it and was dangling precariously, television footage showed. Another coach was thrown away from the rest of the train.

Officials expect the death toll to rise as they employ gas cutters to cut through a mess of metal. Rescuers are currently attempting to reach trapped passengers who have become stuck inside the train because of twisted sections of metal.

India Train Crash Leaves 31 Dead, At Least 100 Others Injured is a post from: The Inquisitr

Last month officials in the country of India began a job search for their next “hangman” but despite 1.2 billion people living in the country they have not been fully successful in filling this position which requires executing murderers and people who commit “honor killings.”

The country is not known for many executions, in fact prison workers have been known to help guilty parties draft appeals which can slow or all out stop the execution process. Since 1947 only approximately 50 people have been hanged with the last occurring in 2004.

The job opening only went public when a prisoner awaiting his execution recently ran out of appeals.

The son of a former hangman has offered to take over the job but bureaucratic red tape has delayed the process in a country where everything from the length of a hangman’s rope and the platform he stands on is regulated.

In the meantime the man who was ordered to be hanged has filed a motion in which he claims that the “waiting” is a form of cruel and unusual punishment.

India’s Search For A Hangman Is Coming Up Empty is a post from: The Inquisitr

India’s $35 Sakshat tablet is finally getting ready to ship at a slightly higher price of $49. The oft-delayed Android table is set to ship 10,000 seven-inch units to IIT-Rajasthan by the end of June, while an additional 90,000 units may ship soon after with the goverment covering half the cost, dropping them to just $25.

Features on the device are comparable to other Android tablets including 2GB RAM, front-facing camera and a 32GB hard drive, however the unit also features a relatively cheap construction which pushes down the cost.

The Sakshat has been in development for several years and was originally scrapped when India’s government decided the units were not up to par with computing standards which means the new gadgets are of better quality with only a slightly higher price point.

[via]

India’s $35 Sakshat Tablet Finally Arrives, Offered for $49 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Police in Delhi have found a new way to outsource traffic ticket revenue- by getting locals to join a Facebook group and tag offenders in pictures.

I don’t know if this is worse or more humiliating than being tagged in a pic where you look fat and awful- people can upload pictures of your sucky driving to a Facebook account and you could get a real life ticket for it, not even just some lame Mafia Wars citation. More than 17,000 Indians have joined the group, 3,000+ minor crimes in progress have been posted, and over 600 tickets have been issued using Facebook.

Delhi’s joint commissioner of traffic, Satyendra Garg, says that the Facebook police manage to cover the shortfall when real actual policemen aren’t there to witness the incidents- although he acknowledged it’s not a flawless system:

“Traffic police can’t be present everywhere, but rules are always being broken,” Mr. Garg said. “If people want to report it, we welcome it. A violation is a violation.” Mr. Garg acknowledged that it was possible photos could be manipulated to incriminate someone who was not actually breaking the law. But, he said, drivers can contest the tickets if they think they were wrongly issued.

However, critics say the group’s nature is “Orwellian,” and that it reflects an ugly part of the human psyche- though he stopped short of adding that snitches get stitches:

“When you start using the Internet as way for the government to keep tabs on its citizens, I start getting really worried, because you don’t know where it will end,” he said. The popularity of the page shows that the ability to publicly humiliate wrongdoers “taps into a very basic primal part of who we are as human beings,” Mr. Mishra said, and it is not a pleasant one.

The city now has 4 officers working “around the clock” to follow up on Facebook sourced traffic violations in progress. It’s not all good for the police though- 50 of the citations issued were to their officers. What do you think? Should Facebook ever be used as a law enforcement tool, or is a citizen’s arrest via social networking a scary, scary thing?

Delhi police using Facebook to ticket your ass is a post from: The Inquisitr

I get that religious icons are not something that some people might not like to joke about but this call by a Pakistani lawyer for Mark Zuckerberg to be investigated for the recent contest hosted on Facebook called Draw Muhammad is mind-boggling. The problem is that the end result of this criminal investigation carries the death penalty if the ones being investigated are found guilty.

The report in The Register says that the Pakistani Deputy Attorney General at the request of a Pakistani high court judge is claiming that the owners of Facebook have committed a heinous and serious crime under the country’s Section 295-C of the Pakistani Penal Code.

Section 295-C of the penal code reads: “Use of derogatory remark etc, in respect of the Holy Prophet, whoever by words, either spoken or written, or by visible representation, or by any imputation, innuendo, or insinuation, directly or indirectly, defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) shall be punished with death, or imprisonment for life, and shall also be liable for fine.”

Apparently the original petitioner to the Pakistani high court and the person who got this all started in the first place, Muhammad Azhar Sidiqque, is waiting for the police to contact Interpol and arrange for the arrest of Zuckerberg and the rest of the blasphemous crew.

Pakistani lawyer wants Zuckerberg dead – carries the no sense of ha-ha too far is a post from: The Inquisitr

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the Hindustan Times this week that Dell may be getting ready to pull out of China, taking their $25 billion business with them.

“This morning I met the chairman of Dell Corporation. He informed me that they are buying equipment and parts worth $25 billion from China. They would like to shift to safer environment with climate conducive to enterprise with security of legal system.”

India would be a good guess as to where the company would move, they already have one plant in the country and Dell CEO Michael Dell has been traveling around that country meeting with local officials.

The move is being seen as a possible way for Dell to play off China and India to gain the most favorable manufacturing deal, however given the awful legal system in China and less than satisfactory working conditions, it could be seen as a good PR move.

Dell isn’t the first company to shift or consider shifting their manufacturing away from China, a country that has become increasingly hard to do business with due to governmental regulation and interference, the once powerful manufacturing hub of the world has seen many of their manufacturing plants close down or cut staff drastically in the last several years.

Dell May Be Pulling A Google, Exiting China For “Safer Conditions” is a post from: The Inquisitr

One of the funnier things about the whole late night wars that have finally, and thankfully, stopped was t he idea that Conan would head to the web for his next gig. Seriously – get a grip cause that isn’t gonna happen anytime soon.

However I wouldn’t suggest that the television executives get too comfortable on their collective asses as YouTube has just shot a huge warning shot across their over-valued bows. They have just signed a two year exclusive deal to broadcast the Indian Premier League live on the Internet.

Ya, I can hear the Americans going *YAWN* who cares?

Well since you won’t be getting it in the US it probably doesn’t matter you can keep watching your kitty videos but for the rest of the world this is a huge thing. The deal is a little convoluted as according to the report in the Guardian Online

The two-year deal gives the Google-owned YouTube the exclusive rights to stream IPL matches online, with the two companies splitting revenue from sponsorship and advertising.

In the UK broadcast rights were held by Setanta, which closed last year, and have yet to be sold on. A spokesman for the IPL said that a TV rights deal for the UK would go ahead. “The dedicated loyal fanbase will still want to watch on TV,” he said.

The value of YouTube’s deal was not disclosed. However, the IPL originally sold its internet rights to the Dubai-based company netlinkblue for $50m over 10 years. At the time the IPL made it clear that online streaming deals excluded markets – such as cricket playing nations including such as South Africa and New Zealand – where television broadcast deals were in place. In August 2009, netlinkblue’s parent company, Live Current Media, sold its IPL contract to Global Cricket Ventures for $1.75m, which worked with the IPL on the latest deal.

Willow TV holds the North America internet rights.

Under the IPL deal, YouTube will broadcast 60 matches over 45 days live in the 2010 IPL season through a dedicated channel at youtube.com/ipl. YouTube claims that this is the first major sporting event to be streamed across the globe.

Below is the video of Shailesh Rao, Managing Director, Google India making the announcement

YouTube strikes a little fear into television execs is a post from: The Inquisitr