Indian Citibank 'fraudster' arrested

BBC

30 December 2010 Last updated at 03:26 ET

 

The alleged $20m fraud came to light earlier this month

Police in India have arrested a Citibank employee accused of defrauding clients out of millions of dollars.

Shivraj Puri, 32, who is expected to appear in court later, told an Indian newspaper he was innocent.
The alleged fraud was discovered earlier this month in a branch of the global bank in Gurgaon, a wealthy suburb of Delhi.
The bank has said duped investors were promised quick, high returns from a bogus financial scheme.
It is alleged that Mr Puri funnelled the money into accounts controlled by three relatives.
'Truth will out' Mr Puri reportedly handed himself in on Thursday, a day after police said he was wanted for questioning.
The accused told the Times of India newspaper after his arrest: "I have already given full details to the police. I have full faith in the judiciary. Truth will come out."
The alleged fraud came to light earlier this month when a client mentioned the scheme to a senior bank manager.
Citibank has not publicly put a figure on the sums involved, but investigators have said at least $20m (£13m) was stolen.
According to a police complaint filed by Citibank, and seen by the BBC, funds were transferred suspiciously at the bank's branch in the Delhi suburb from October 2009.

Top 10 New Foods at the 2010 State Fairs

thx endlesssimmer

With all due respect to George Washington Carver, America’s greatest food inventions have all originated in one place — the state fair. From cotton candy to corn dogs to deep-fried Coke, the enterprising folks at America’s state and county fairs top themselves year after year. Some observers thought state fair cooks had hit their peak last year, when the Texas State Fair debuted Deep Fried Butter. But in 2010, they outdid themselves once again, proving that if it’s edible, it’s even better battered and fried. From coast to coast (but mostly in the middle) here are our top ten favorite finds:

10. Hash Brown Hot Dog  – San Diego County Fair

Hot dogs with french fries is a pretty fantastic lunch, but boy it takes a lot of effort to transport all those individual fries from the plate to your mouth. If only we could get the hot dog and the potato to be one cohesive unit, preferably arranged on a stick. Thank you, San Diego. Thank you. (Photo: It’s Holly)

9. Deep-Fried Cheddar-Bacon Mashed Potatoes…On a Stick  – Minnesota State Fair

Sorry, San Diego — did you really think you could best the Midwest at spuds-on-a-stick? Here, Minnesota achieves the state fair trifecta — potatoes, pork and cheese — all deep fried, all on a stick. For more of Minnestoa’s many, many state fair foods, check out Baking Junkie’s heart-stopping food crawl through the MN State Fair. (Photo: Baking Junkie)

8. Garbage Burger – Indiana State Fair

It’s the great state fair dilemma. Should pork be the basis of your dish — or a topping? In Indiana, this is not a problem. Behold the garbage burger — a deep-fried pork patty topped with a healthy serving of pulled pork. Why settle for one pig when you can have two? See more at The Hot Cookie. (Photo: Sarah Richcreek)

7.  Deep-Fried Frito Pie – Texas State Fair

No other state takes this season as seriously as Texas, the good people who started the deep-fried everything movement with their corn dog in 1942 and haven’t looked back since. Earlier this week, ES told you about frito pies — those delicious piles of chili-topped corn chips. One guess what Texas has gone and done to ‘em. (Photo: Texas Fried Frito Pie)

6. Deep Fried Klondike Bar – San Diego State Fair

California continues its surprisingly strong showing by having the cojones to throw a chocolate-covered ice cream bar in the deep fryer. This one’s more concept than execution, because not so surprisingly, it’s a total disaster to eat. My Burning Kitchen has more. (Photo: My Burning Kitchen)

5.  Chocolate Tornado Potato – Minnesota State Fair

Minnesota strikes again on the potato front. Fair-goers thought they’d never see an improvement on last year’s Tornado Potato — a whole potato, spiral-cut, placed on a stick and deep fried. But this year they’ve dipped the whole thing in chocolate. Amazing. The Heavy Table has even more on Minnesota-fried goodness. (Photo: Kate NG Sommers / Heavy Table)

4. Deep-Fried Cheesesteak on a Stick – Wisconsin State Fair

Sorry, Pennsylvania. Your iconic sandwich is great and all, but it took a state like Wisconsin to bring it to a whole ‘nother level. By now you should know that level is what happens when you place something on a stick, batter it and fry it. (Photo: Cousins)

3. Sweet Potato Dog – San Diego County Fair

Because there’s got to be at least one foodie at the fair who says, “don’t you have another option besides just plain potatoes?” Why yes, we also batter that bad boy with sweet potatoes, thank you very much. This one doesn’t look like it holds up in the oil quite as well as the hash brown dog, but they get points for trying. (Photo: It’s Holly)

2. Corn Dog Pizza – Minnesota State Fair

I don’t believe anything needs to be said about this item. (Photo: Northfielder)

1. Fried Beer – Texas State Fair

Yes, it’s true. America has finally taken our two greatest loves and made them one. A ravioli-like pocket of pretzel-y dough is filled with good old fashioned beer. We don’t know how it works, or whether it kills you immediately or just in the long term, but boy are we glad it exists. Try it this week at the official close of the fair season – the State Fair of Texas in Dallas. (Photo: Fried Beer)

Indian Simmer: Thalis are the New Tapas

thx endlesssimmer

Wow. I have eaten so much Indian food. This might sound like the most obvious observation in history but — they eat Indian food ALL the time here. Like, every day, three meals a day. That is a lot of Indian food!
OK sorry, I just had to say that. Moving on to more high-minded revelations, let’s talk about thalis. I’d heard of these fleetingly in the states, but haven’t actually been served them at any Indian-American restaurants, which is odd, because they’ve been on the menu at almost every restaurant I’ve been to so far in India.

The concept is pretty simple, but utterly amazing. Actually, it’s what I secretly have wanted to happen at every restaurant I’ve ever been to. Basically, you get to eat every item on the menu. For real.
Instead of one dish, you’re served one giant platter loaded with ten tiny little dishes, each bowl filled with a different food — curry, dahl, yogurt, vegetables, chickpeas, maybe meat, even dessert! In the center is some kind of bread — in this case mini versions of the baturas I mentioned earlier, and you rip off pieces of that to eat each mini-course utensil-free.
Is this the American dream, or what? You literally get to order everything on the menu and you only have to say one word! My official vote for the next worldwide food trend:  chefs of all cuisines need to get off the tapas bandwagon and start serving every meals thali-style.  Who wants to share three small plates with everyone at the table, when instead you could have ten tiny plates all to yourself?
I’m drooling just imagining every kind of food served thali-style. The hours-long browsing over Chinese menus will be over, because you can just say “Thali” aka “I’ll have two bites of everything on the menu.” At Mexican restaurants you’ll get a tiny little burrito, a mini enchilada, two bites of nachos, etc…At Italian you get ten tiny bites of every kind of pasta. OK, I could go on but I’ll stop. Seriously though, chefs — think about this!

Porsche approves 918 Spyder for production

thx Autoblog

Porsche 918 Spyder concept – Click above for high-res image gallery
As expected, the Porsche supervisory board has approved the development of the 918 Spyder concept into a series production model. The 918 debuted as a concept at this year's Geneva Motor Show with a plug-in hybrid powertrain claimed to provide 78 miles per gallon.

The concept used a 500-horsepower V8 along with a pair of electric motors with 109 hp each and a lithium ion battery that can provide 16 miles of emissions-free driving from grid energy. The powertrain is not expected to be changed much for production and Porsche has not announced when 918 will be available. There has been speculation that the production model could cost up to €500,000 (about $650,000 USD), although if it comes to the States, it should be eligible for a federal tax credit. Even with up to $7,500 it still makes the Chevrolet Volt look downright cheap.

Before you start looking in your couch cushions for a down payment, check out the official press release after the jump and our high-res gallery below.

Gallery: Porsche 918 Spyder concept

HTC Evo Shift 4G breaks cover again, with a Jan 9 sale date

thx AndroidCentral

We already knew the Evo Shift 4G was coming, and it was priced at $150 (on contract).  We also had it on good authority that it was coming on Jan 9, but now we're sure -- thanks to the Shack.  In an upcoming sale ad, we see that the Evo Shift 4G will indeed be $149.99 after a two-year agreement and this price is good, starting Jan 9.  Not much else is left to the imagination, so we just have to play the waiting game -- which you can do with the rest of us in the Evo Shift 4G forums.  Hit the break for the full page ad.  Thanks anon!