Nine persons, allegedly belonging to the Ravi Pujari gang, were arrested for making phone calls to extort money from prominent city-based builders, police said on Friday.

A Central Crime Branch (CCB) team of the city police had investigated the case, following complaints registered at various police stations, including those in Cubbon Park and Ulsoor.

Police identified the accused persons as Kaviraj (32), Mohan (27), Shiva (33), Ibrahim (37), Mahesh (26), Santosh (31), Pradeep (28), Azad (32) and Udaya Kumara Hegde (45). While Santhosh hailed from Mangalore, Azad was from Uttar Pradesh.

With a total investment of Rs 450 crores, ACT Television has launched its first interactive TV services (IPTV) in Bangalore, Karnataka.

ACT, which has now become the first company to introduce Interactive TV service in the city, also said that it will take its new service to other Indian cities such as Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh by the next 12 to 18 months.

The company said that Interactive TV is a system delivering content services to subscribers using Internet protocol through a broadband link in a closed network infrastructure.

It's being billed as the mother of all rallies and probably another bad day for city traffic. The state higher education department's anti-terror campaign rally at the Palace Grounds on Saturday will see over 1.25 lakh students from Bangalore and adjoining rural areas participating.

The city police, which had a tough time manning traffic during the JD(S) rally in November last year, is not taking any chances. The police have asked people to avoid Bellary and Nandidurga Road on Saturday. The two roads that connect the rest of the city to central Bangalore are the two main entry points for the rally venue.

will first evaluate costs and client willingness to increase onsite work

MphasiS Ltd, the Bangalore-based IT services firm that is now a part of international technology giant Hewlett-Packard, may add more Americans to its workforce to avail the tax breaks announced by US President Barack Obama on February 25.

Speaking to DNA Money, Ganesh Ayyar, chief executive officer, MphasiS Ltd, said, "The option of increasing Americans in our workforce is open to us in view of the recent announcements by US authorities. However, we will have to factor in many other things before that, like onsite cost versus margins. We also have to evaluate client willingness."

The three-year-old looks the best among the seven runners

Dhaka, Feb 27 : Security has been tightened in Dhaka even though the mutiny by the paramilitary over pay and command structures ended overnight.

Search and rescue operations were underway by army personnel at the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) headquarters on Friday morning.

Earlier, police resumed the search for alive or the deceased inside the headquarters.

According to reports, army troops headed by at least three Brigadier Generals have entered the headquarters for conducting rescue operations.