WORLD OF CRISIS

7.3 quake hits Indonesia again, but this time residents are better prepared

2012-01-11T23:09:00.001+05:30

7.3 quake struck Indonesia early Wednesday morning, six years and one month after a devastating earthquake rocked Banda Aceh and South East Asia, causing tsunami warnings, but residents had escape routes planned.

JAKARTA, INDONESIA
Just hours after a 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of western Indonesia early Wednesday morning, stirring panic and a tsunami alert but leaving no visible damage, life had returned to normal.

It was a forceful reminder for residents of Banda Aceh, the city closest to the devastating 2004 earthquake and Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 230,00 across South East Asia.

But despite lingering fears of the Dec. 26, 2004 monster wave that killed roughly 170,000 people in Aceh alone and altered the social fabric of the region, Rahmadi, who owns a small perfume shop in Banda Aceh says people are more prepared than they were a little over six years ago because of government programs.

“My parents put all our important things to a bag, and they know which road to use to escape,” says Rahmadi.

The US Geological Survey reported that the quake struck after midnight 261 miles southwest of the provincial capital of Aceh. On the nearby island of Simeulue, where the quake registered a 7.6 magnitude, according to Indonesia’s meteorology and geophysics agency, a hospital evacuated patients as a precaution.

Rahmadi says the earthquake was longer than smaller ones that routinely hit the area.

“The ground just kept shaking and shaking,” says the man, who goes by one name. “Everybody was outside. People’s faces were panicked.”

Warning sirens blaring from neighborhood mosques stirred most residents from their slumber. Many merely gathered nervously in the streets, but some hopped in cars and on motorbikes and drove away from the sea.

Rahmadi said some of his neighbors stayed outside for more than an hour after the quake, mostly because they feared a tsunami. “They were worried to go to back to sleep.”

Nervous, but better informed

Despite their nervousness, much of resident's better understanding of earthquake and tsunamis come from efforts by the National Agency for Disaster Management (BNPD), the United Nations Development Program and international aid agencies to distribute information to residents about how to respond to natural disasters.

The UNDP frequently publishes information in local newspapers and hands out leaflets about disaster mitigation, says 20-something Rahmadi, who like many of his generation are less fearful of potential tsunamis than their elders. “Older people still don’t understand,” he says.

The disaster management agency has an annual budget of $550 million for preparedness activities, disaster risk reduction, response, rehabilitation, and reconstruction, says its chief Sutopo Purwo Nugroho.

That money has gone toward the formation of local-level disaster management agencies, trained volunteer disaster responders and helped create a disaster management plan and map demarcating high-risk areas. BNPD has also provided reconstruction equipment and logistical assistance to the province.

Mr. Nugroho says the reason yesterday's quake did not cause widespread damage is because its epicenter was far away from the mainland, and residents immediately responded by leaving their homes and heading to safer locations.

One witness told local reporters that about 100 people had gathered on a bridge in the city to check if there was any change to the surface height of the river, an indicator of a possible tsunami. In 2004 the sea off the coast of Aceh rapidly retreated after the magnitude 9.1 quake, and a wall of water swept over the city.

Still hurdles

Not all efforts at disaster mitigation have met with success, however.

In October 2010, a magnitude 7.0 earthquake and tsunami near the Mentawai Islands, west of Aceh, stirred criticism of the government’s attempts to install a widespread warning system after an expensive alert that comprised ocean buoys failed. Indonesian officials later said fishermen had tampered with the technology inside the buoys.

The recovery effort following the 2004 disaster also took considerable time in Aceh, a fairly remote province, and the site of a 30-year conflict between Acehnese separatists and the Indonesian military at the time of the tsunami.

But by 2010 the UN Development Program issued a report praising the rebuilding effort, calling progress there “remarkable.”

The meteorologic agency, which routinely issues tsunami warnings for earthquakes above magnitude 7, lifted its tsunami alert two hours after the quake. Local officials say there have been no major reports of damage or injuries.

Eat your way to a more beautiful beard

2012-01-10T21:08:00.001+05:30

There's not too much you can do about a receding hairline, other than curse your gene pool.

But facial hair is a different story. "The condition of your facial hair directly corresponds to the health of your body," says Jim White, registered dietitian and American Dietetic Association spokesman. Specifically, he continues, "The same nutrients that have a positive effect on our heart and other major organs also benefit our skin and hair."

In other words, you can literally eat yourself to a shinier, smoother, more healthy-looking beard. We asked White to tell us which vitamins are an essential part of a healthy facial hair diet, what they do, and how to get them into our diet. Results of our conversation below.

Vitamin A amd Beta A Carotene

How they better your beard: "Vitamin A maintains and repairs skin tissue," says White. "And keeping your skin healthy allows for better hair growth." Beta carotene is a nutrient that your body converts to vitamin A. Since it's found in foods that are lower in saturated fats than those that are rich in vitamin A, you're better off eating foods that are high in beta carotene.

Where to find them: Vitamin A is present in milk, cheese, butter and egg yolks. Beta carotene is found in yellow and orange produce (e.g., carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and papayas) and leafy green veggies (e.g., spinach and kale).

Vitamins C and E

How they better your beard: Vitamins C and E promote the production of sebum, a natural oil that is produced by our bodies and lubricates and moisturizes hair, making it look thicker and more lush. Additionally, vitamin C assists in the growth of bodily tissues, including those that comprise our skin and hair follicles.

Where to find them: Citrus fruits, green peppers and broccoli are good sources of vitamin C. Wheat germ oil, almonds, sunflower seeds, safflower oil, peanut butter, corn oil, spinach, broccoli, mangoes and spinach all contain high amounts of vitamin E.

Protein

How it betters your beard: Our skin and hair are composed primarily of keratin, a structural protein made up of amino acids. We don't produce amino acids on our own; instead, we need to eat protein, which the body then converts to amino acids.

Where to find it: Fill up on fish, lean meats, poultry, eggs, rice, beans and milk.

Vitamins B6, B12 and Biotin

How they better your beard: B vitamins help your body synthesize the protein you eat so it can be used to build new skin cells and hair. Getting enough B vitamins, says White, also helps reduce stress and prevent hair loss.

Where to find them: Fish, poultry, leans meats, eggs, nuts, and whole grains such as brown rice and oatmeal are chock-full of B vitamins. Foods that are rich in B12 include beef, milk, cheese and wheat germ.

Omega-3 fatty acids

How they better your beard: Essential fatty acids are just that: essential to normal growth, including that of facial hair. They also protect cell membranes, helping to prevent your whiskers from getting dry and brittle.

Where to find them: Make sure flax seed oil, walnuts and fatty fish (e.g., salmon) find their way into your diet.

Want to make your beard even more beautiful? Of course you do! Supplementing the above foods with a multivitamin, or with any of the individual nutrients listed above, might do the trick.

Just don't overdo it: Your body will excrete any extra water-soluble vitamins (e.g., vitamin C or B12), but it'll hold on to extra fat-soluble vitamins (e.g., vitamin A). Excessive doses of vitamin A could actually lead to hair loss. Ask your doctor to recommend a proper dosage, and you'll soon be on your way to winning whiskers.

Content courtesy: Men's Life Today, Global

Kalam awards Infosys prizes to six noted scientist

2012-01-09T23:15:00.000+05:30

Bangalore: Former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Monday awarded six distinguished scientists with the Infosys Prize 2011, instituted by the Infosys Science Foundation, a not-for-profit trust set up by India's IT bellwether.

The winners are Kanpur Genetic Algorithms Laboratory director Kalyanmoy Deb in engineering and computer science, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology scientist Imran Siddiqi in life sciences, Stanford University professor Kannan Soundararajan in mathematical sciences and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) physics professor Sriram Ramaswamy in physical sciences.

University of Chicago professor Raghuram G. Rajan and Centre for Policy Research chief executive Pratap Bhanu Mehta were awarded in Social Sciences (Economics and Political Science and International Relations respectively).

In recognition of their outstanding achievements and contributions in scientific field and social arena, Kalam honoured each of the winners with a prize money of Rs.50 lakh ($100,000), a 22-karat gold medallion and a citation expounding the Infosys laureate's work.

The noted scientists were selected by the Foundation trustees and the eminent jury panels comprising Nobel laureate Amartya Sen for Social Sciences, Shrinivas Kulkarni (physical sciences), Pradeep K. Khosla (engineering and computer science), S.R. Varadhan (mathematical sciences) and Inder Verma (life sciences).

The Foundation is funded by a corpus of Rs.100 crore (Rs.10 billion), contributed by the trustees and an annual grant from the global software major.

The Infosys Prize is amongst the highest in terms of money given for any award in India.

Trust president and the company's former director T.V. Mohandas Pai also announced on the occasion that the Foundation would introduce a prize for Humanities from this year (2012) covering philosophy, history, archaeology, linguistics and literary studies.

Congratulating the winners, Kalam said the awards celebrate the success of researchers, their research work and their teachers from school to university.

"We live in a knowledge-based era and a nation's strength is truly judged by the quality of collective knowledge. It is important to recognise and encourage productive academic pursuits. Initiatives like Infosys Prize will boost the confidence of researchers in physical, biological and social sciences and related fields," he said after presenting the awards.

Lauding the winners for world-class contributions in their respective areas of specialisation, Infosys chairman emeritus N.R. Narayana Murthy said the prestigious prize for the third year was a commitment to encourage the distinguished scientists at a time when it could make a greater difference to their career and attract young minds to research.

"The winners' effort and dedication to science, discovery and development will inspire educationists and researchers in India and the world over to strive harder to excel in science and technology and attain global recognition," he said on the occasion.

In his address on the occasion, Pai said scientific research was the bedrock of social and technological progress of any economy and the awards were not only intended to recognise outstanding scientists, but also to motivate the research community and persuade bright young people to adopt careers in research.

"There is a significant depth of scientific talent in the country and the objective of the Infosys Prize is to identify and encourage such outstanding talent," Pai added.

Samsung launches Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus in India

2012-01-09T23:01:00.000+05:30

Korean giant Samsung has quietly refreshed its tablet line-up in India with the launch of a 7-inch Android Honeycomb tablet, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus aka GT-P6200.

Measuring 193.65 x 122.37 x 9.96mm, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus weighs 345 grams. Powered by 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, the tablet features a 7-inch capacitive touchscreen (1024x600 pixels resolution), 3 megapixel camera with 720p video recording, 2 megapixel front facing camera, 1GB RAM and 16GB built-in storage expandable up to 32GB via microSD card.

For connectivity, the tablet supports Wi-Fi, EDGE, accelerometer, gyroscopic sensor, GPS and 3G. The Galaxy Tab 7.0 also features Samsung's TouchWiz UI (user interface) and comes with Samsung apps like Social Hub, Music Hub and Readers Hub. The tablet's battery promises up to 20 hours of talktime and 41 hours of standby time.

Mumbai-based retailer Mahesh Telecom and online shopping site flipkart.com are selling the tablet for Rs 26,499.

Last year in November, Samsung launched Galaxy Note in India, a hybrid between a smartphone and a tablet. With Galaxy Note, Samsung aims to target users who want both a smartphone and a tablet but do not want to invest in both.

Samsung Galaxy Note runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, sports a 5.3-inch Super AMOLED screen and comes with a capacitive stylus called S Pen. It is powered by a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor. There's an 8 megapixel rear and 2 megapixel front camera. The smartphone comprises 16GB internal memory, expandable upto 32 GB with a microSD card slot.

Tanker carrying supplies for stranded Alaskan village gets stuck in thick ice flows as it crosses the frigid Bering Sea

2012-01-08T00:04:00.000+05:30

The 370-foot Russian tanker Renda is escorted by a specially-designed Coast Guard ice breaker, the USCGC Healy, but progress is just five to six miles a day. The two ships have 300 more miles of sea ice to crush before than reach Nome, Alaska, which could run out of fuel if the delivery doesn't make it.

Fuel 2050: Bye, Bye petrol

2011-12-23T02:40:00.001+05:30

Conventional fuels are only bound to get more expensive, and that's where Dr Greg Offer comes into the picture. "In the short term, over the next decade, it will be hard for any new fuel sources to challenge our dependence on oil, except biofuels, but they have limits. However, in the long term, within 50 years, it appears to me that it is inevitable that electricity will take over. We don't have a choice, " he says. Buying that Rewa seems like a sound investment now.

Offer, who teaches at the Imperial College of London, states that the rise in oil prices is a straight offshoot of the developing world aspiring for the same level of mobility that the developed world enjoys. "In the long term, beyond 2020, we must shift to alternative fuels such as electricity (whether via batteries or hydrogen doesn't matter), or face declining living standards in richer countries and limits to development elsewhere.

Fire Destroys "Temple of Knowledge" in Egypt

2011-12-23T01:27:00.002+05:30

"It's a huge shock. It's burning Institut d’Égypte in Cairo on Saturday, December 17. gorgeous building and there are some really important ancient manuscripts and printed materials contained there,"

Pharaonic faces stare out from charred pages in Cairo’s Egyptian Scientific Complex on Monday. The documents are among thousands of precious historic works damaged or destroyed by a fire that consumed the structure over the weekend.

Car Donations-Car Donation To Charity $500 Tax Deduction PLUS $1,000 GIFT CARD

2011-11-30T14:10:00.001+05:30

http://1carcharity.com For Car Donations CALL US FOR QUESTIONS 1-888-558-4525 Now you make a car donation to a car donation charity of choice and because your contributing to a positive cause by helping others We Will Throw In A Free Towing And A 1,000 Gift Voucher For Groceries Or Resturants. Call Us Today And One Of Live Assistants Will Answer Your Questions And Help You Get Setup With Ease! 1-888-558-4525

Who is afraid of FDI in retail?

2011-11-30T13:42:00.001+05:30

Given the debate that's raging over opening the retail sector to foreign direct investment, we bring you the government's view, the opposition's objections and TOI's take on the issue.

Government argument

* Huge investments in the retail sector will see gainful employment opportunities in agro-processing, sorting, marketing, logistics management and front-end retail.

* At least 10 million jobs will be created in the next three years in the retail sector.

* FDI in retail will help farmers secure remunerative prices by eliminating exploitative middlemen.

* Foreign retail majors will ensure supply chain efficiencies.

* Policy mandates a minimum investment of $100 million with at least half the amount to be invested in back-end infrastructure, including cold chains, refrigeration, transportation, packing, sorting and processing. This is expected to considerably reduce post-harvest losses.

*This will have a salutary impact on food inflation from efficiencies in supply chain. This is also because food, which perishes due to inadequate infrastructure, will not be wasted.

* Sourcing of a minimum of 30% from Indian micro and small industry is mandatory. This will provide the scales to encourage domestic value addition and manufacturing, thereby creating a multiplier effect for employment, technology upgradation and income generation.

* A strong legal framework in the form of the Competition Commission is available to deal with any anti-competitive practices, including predatory pricing.

* There has been impressive growth in retail and wholesale trade after China approved 100% FDI in retail. Thailand has experienced tremendous growth in the agro-processing industry.

* In Indonesia, even after several years of emergence of supermarkets, 90% of fresh food and 70% of all food is still controlled by traditional retailers.

* In any case, organized retail through Indian corporates is permissible. Experience of the last decade shows small retailers have flourished in harmony with large outlets.

Opposition's argument

* Move will lead to large-scale job losses. International experience shows supermarkets invariably displace small retailers. Small retail has virtually been wiped out in developed countries like the US and in Europe. South East Asian countries had to impose stringent zoning and licensing regulations to restrict growth of supermarkets after small retailers were getting displaced. India has the highest shopping density in the world with 11 shops per 1,000 people. It has 1.2 crore shops employing over 4 crore people; 95% of these are small shops run by self-employed people

* Global retail giants will resort to predatory pricing to create monopoly/oligopoly. This can result in essentials, including food supplies, being controlled by foreign organizations.

* Fragmented markets give larger options to consumers. Consolidated markets make the consumer captive. Allowing foreign players with deep pockets leads to consolidation. International retail does not create additional markets, it merely displaces existing markets.

* Jobs in the manufacturing sector will be lost because structured international retail makes purchases internationally and not from domestic sources. This has been the experience of most countries which have allowed FDI in retail.

* Argument that only foreign players can create the supply chain for farm produce is bogus. International retail players have no role in building roads or generating power. They are only required to create storage facilities and cold chains. This could be done by governments in India.

* Comparison between India and China is misplaced. China is predominantly a manufacturing economy. It's the largest supplier to Wal-Mart and other international majors. It obviously cannot say no to these chains opening stores in China when it is a global supplier to them. India in contrast will lose both manufacturing and services jobs.

Google Pays Me $173 An Hour

2011-10-08T00:22:00.000+05:30

Work At Home Mum Makes $7,487/Month Part-Time

Have You Ever Considered Working Online?

Kelly Richards from Brooklyn, NY never thought that she would, until curiosity got the best of her and she filled out a simple online form. Before she knew it, she discovered her secret to beating the recession, and being able to provide for her family while at home with her three children.

I read Kelly's blog last month and decided to feature her story in our local job report. In our phone interview she told me her amazing story. "I basically make about $6,000-$8,000 a month online. It's enough to comfortably replace my old jobs income, especially considering I only work about 10-13 hours a week from home.

Working online has been a financial windfall for Kelly, who struggled for months to find a decent job but kept hitting dead ends. "I lost my job shortly after the recession hit, I needed reliable income, I was not interested in the "get rich quick" scams you see all over the internet. Those are all pyramid scams or stuff where you have to sell to your friends and family. I just needed a legitimate way to earn a living for me and my family. The best part of working online is that I am always home with the kids, I save a lot of money."

"I basically make $6,000-$8,000 a month online."
- Kelly Richards

I asked her about how she started her remarkable journey. "It was pretty easy, I filled out a short form and got immediate access to the Online Income Solution. I got the Kit and within a month I was making over $4,000 a month. Its really simple, I am not a computer whiz, but I can use the internet. I fill forms and surf sites, I don't even have to sell anything and nobody has to buy anything."

Online giant Google, worth over 100 billion dollars is the most used search engine and internet market place. Google is the #1 internet site in the world, over 50 percent of all internet traffic flows through them everyday. Using Google and the other search engines to make money online has been a eye-opener for Kelly. There are plenty of scams on the internet claiming you can make $50,000 a month, but that is exactly what they are scams. From my conversation with Kelly, "I am making a good salary from home, which is amazing, under a year ago I was jobless in a horrible economy. I thank God every day that I filled out that form."

Quickly, Kelly Richards was able to use the simple Online Income Solution to make it out of the recession.

Kelly had never shared her story before, and with her permission, we are putting it public

Step 1
Go to this link, fill out a basic online form and hit submit at Online Income Solution

Step 2
Follow the instructions at Online Income Solution and set up your account.

Step 3
You should receive your first cheque within a week or so. Or you can start to have them wire directly into your bank account. (Your first cheques will be about $500 to $1,500 a week. Then it goes up from there. Depends on how much time you spent on it.)
Source

India launches world's cheapest tablet computer

2011-10-07T23:40:00.002+05:30

The wait for the world's cheapest tablet is finally over. The $35 tablet nicknamed 'Aakash' has been launched and will be available at retail stores.The wait for the world's cheapest tablet is finally over! The tablet nicknamed Aakash is launched and will be available at retail stores at a price of Rs 1,750, said its maker Datawind. The tablet has a 256 MB of RAM, a 32 GB expandable memory slot and two USB ports.

Food crisis deepens in Somalia

2011-10-01T02:34:00.000+05:30

750,000 Somalis are at risk of starving within the next few months

CNN's Nima Elbagir visits a camp in Somalia where food and aid is distributed to people who are in need.

Google launches real-time analytics tool

2011-10-01T01:10:00.000+05:30

How many people are on your site at this very second? Google has launched a new tool that will make that easy to figure out on the fly.

Google has launched a real-time analytics tool for the Web, the company announced in a Thursday blog post. The new tool will make it easy for Web site owners to see what content their audience is clicking on and use the data accordingly.

Web site administrators have been clamoring for the company to add in this functionality; Google’s old toolset delivered traffic results with a few hours’ delay. Now, for example, they’ll be able to see how their traffic behaves when they promote content on social networking sites such as Twitter or Facebook immediately, and adjust their Web strategies accordingly.

The company has also launched a new, premium tier of its analytics toolkit for those who want more power and more data. The company did not reveal what the price of the new service is, but said it will be available for users in the U.S., Canada and Britain.

Good domain For Businesses

2011-09-30T18:20:00.001+05:30

Why is a good domain name important?

A good domain name helps you in numerous ways.For BusinessesAdd your domain name to your business card, email signature, and other advertisements. Build credibility: Show your customers that you have an established business.

Improve your marketing: Provide customers an easy way to remember and contact you. Protect your brand: Secure the domain name that best represents your business name — and keep it out of the hands of your competitors.

For ConsumersDescribe your site as best you can with your domain name. For example, a pair of amateur magicians might use their stage names, some combination of words including magic, or the name of their most famous trick.smallbusiness yahoo.com

Caught on camera Three-car-crash in fast lane

2011-09-28T16:55:00.001+05:30

One of the cars hurtled down the highway with a man on its hood. All this in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Particles Moved Faster Than Speed of Light?

2011-09-26T21:40:00.000+05:30

"Crazy" neutrino find has many physicists skeptical, still backing Einstein.

Neutrinos—ghostly subatomic particles—may have been observed traveling faster than the speed of light, scientists announced this week.

If confirmed, the astonishing claim would upend a cardinal rule of physics established by Albert Einstein nearly a century ago.

"Most theorists believe that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. So if this is true, it would rock the foundations of physics," said Stephen Parke, head of the theoretical physics department at the U.S. government-run Fermilab near Chicago, Illinois.

The existence of faster-than-light particles would also wreak havoc on scientific theories of cause and effect.

"If things travel faster than the speed of light, A can cause B, [but] B can also cause A," Parke said.

"If that happens, the concept of causality becomes ambiguous, and that would cause a great deal of trouble."

Don't Bet on Breaking Light Speed

Members of the Oscillation Project with Emulsion-tRacking Apparatus, or OPERA, at the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) described the unusual neutrino detection in a paper published this week on the research website arXiv.org.

The team shot neutrinos out of a particle accelerator near Geneva, Switzerland, and measured how long it took the particles to travel to a neutrino detector in Gran Sasso, Italy, 450 miles (724 kilometers) away.

Neutrinos are subatomic particles that have almost no mass and can zip through entire planets as if they are not there.

Being nearly massless, neutrinos should travel at nearly the speed of light, which is approximately 186,000 miles (299,338 kilometers) a second.

To the astonishment of the OPERA team, the particles appear to have reached their destination about 60 nanoseconds faster than expected.

A nanosecond may not sound like much, but "the effect is quite large," said Fermilab's Parke, who was not part of the CERN team.

The extra speed would mean that, over a distance of 621 miles (1,000 kilometers), neutrinos travel about 66 feet (20 meters) farther than light travels in the same amount of time.

The results would be "revolutionary" if true, Parke said, but he added that he highly doubts the findings will hold up under closer scrutiny.

"If I was a betting man, I would bet against it," he said. "Your first response is it can't possibly be true, that they must have made a mistake."

Neutrino Speed an Instrument Error?

Parke is not alone in his skepticism. Many physicists have speculated that the OPERA results are due to a measurement or instrument error.

It would not be the first time such an error occurred, said Louis Strigari, an astrophysicist at Stanford University also not on the CERN team.

"There have been several instances where, through no fault of the experimenters, the equipment was not understood as well as it needed to be," Strigari said.

"It just so happens that you learn more as you get more data and you understand the machinery a little better."

Even the OPERA team is cautious about its results and is welcoming other researchers to repeat the neutrino experiment.

"We want just to be helped by the community in understanding our crazy result—because it is crazy," Antonio Ereditato, coordinator of the OPERA collaboration, told the BBC.

Supernova Neutrinos Not So Speedy

Dave Goldberg, an astrophysicist at Philadelphia's Drexel University, said that if faster-than-light neutrinos did exist, they would likely have been observed in nature before now.

For example, in 1987 detectors on Earth identified neutrinos and photons—light particles—from an exploding star. Both types of particles reached our planet at almost exactly the same instance.

According to Goldberg's calculations, if neutrinos travel faster than light by the amount the OPERA team claims, then neutrinos from that supernova should have been detected in 1984—three years before the photons.

"It's possible, but unlikely," Goldberg said, that detectors active on Earth at the time would have missed such an obvious spike in cosmic neutrinos.

Goldberg concedes that supernova neutrinos are less energetic—and would thus be traveling slower—than the neutrinos from CERN's particle accelerator.

However, "assuming Einstein was correct, both types [of neutrinos] would be moving at something like 99.999999999 percent the speed of light," Goldberg said in an email.

"In other words, from a measurement point of view, they'd be going at essentially identical speeds."

Even if the OPERA results are confirmed by other scientists, they wouldn't totally invalidate Einstein's theories of general and special relativity, Stanford University's Strigari stressed. Those theories still explain a remarkable range of observed phenomena in the universe.

"I think it's long been understood that the theories we have today aren't the full answers," Strigari said.

"If this observation holds up, then it's probably a good piece of evidence that the theories we currently have need to be reworked."

Drexel University's Goldberg agreed that physicists won't be discarding Einstein's theories anytime soon.

"Even if relativity turned out to be wrong," he said, "it's clearly very, very close to being right."

Explained: How to stop pesky calls and SMSs

2011-09-26T20:44:00.000+05:30

New Delhi: Don't want to be annoyed by unwanted commercial calls and SMSs? Here's all that you should know about Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) new regulations to give your mobile phone a little rest.

The new guidelines set by TRAI was supposed to be effective on February 1, 2011. After numerous delays the consumer facing regulations of The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations will finally roll into effect on September 27, 2011.

A new set of guidelines became necessary due to the limited success of TRAI's earlier initiatives. The National Do Not Call Registry was somewhat effective in reducing the number of unsolicited calls but indirectly led to an increase in the number of unsolicited SMSs landing in consumers' inboxes.

Under the new guidelines consumers can choose their preference to receive or not to receive commercial communication from seven pre-defined categories. Commercial communications, other than transactional messages can only be sent to a consumer between 9 AM and 9 PM. Users also have the option to either block all commercial calls and SMSs or to block only commercial calls while receiving SMSs of their choice.

Consumers have two choices, they can register in one of the two categories:

1. Fully blocked category: Consumers will not receive any commercial communication on their phones either as voice calls or SMSs.

2. Partially blocked category: Consumer will not receive any voice calls, but can choose to receive SMSs on any or some or all from seven pre-defined subjects:

a. Banking/insurance/financial products/credit cards

b. Real estate

c. Education

d. Health

e. Consumer goods and automobiles

f. Communication/broadcasting/entertainment/IT

g. Tourism and leisure

For users already registered with the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNC) do not have to re-register, their registration will automatically continue under the 'fully blocked' category.

The request for registration on the National Customer Preference Register (NCPR) will effective in seven days from the date of request for registration.

There are no charges involved in the registration, re-registration or change in registration process.

How to register

There are four ways to activate your choice:

1. Via SMS sent to 1909

2. Dial 1909 and register through IVRS (Interactive Voice Response System)

3. Dial 1909 and register with the help of a customer care executive

4. Through the websites of mobile service providers

Registration via SMS

To opt for the fully blocked category, send SMS "START 0" to 1909.

To opt for the partially blocked category, send SMS "Start [option]" to 1909. The options are explained:

- "START 1" for receiving SMS relating to banking/insurance/financial products/credit cards

- "START 2" for receiving SMS relating to real estate

- "START 3" for receiving SMS relating to education

- "START 4" for receiving SMS relating to health

- "START 5" for receiving SMS relating to consumer goods and automobiles

- "START 6" for receiving SMS relating to communication/broadcasting/entertainment/IT

- "START 7" for receiving SMS relating to tourism and leisure

To opt for multiple preferences from the categories send SMS "Start [option1, option2, option3,...]" to 1909. For example, for receiving commercial SMSs from banking/insurance/financial products/credit cards and real estate, send the SMS as "START 1, 2".

In case a preference "0" is mentioned in the SMS, it will override other preferences and will be treated as 'fully blocked.' For example, "START 0,1,7", will be considered as a fully blocked option.

On sending the SMS, users will receive a confirmation SMS and need to reply to the message to ensure the options chosen are implemented.

On receiving the confirmation SMS from the subscriber, the service provider will send another SMS indicating the user's preferences along with a unique registration number. It is advisable to save the unique registration number as this will serve as a reference for the subscriber's registration of preference.

Registration via IVRS

Consumers can call the toll-free number 1909 and then follow the instructions to indicate their choice of blocked voice calls and SMSs. On successful competition of the IVRS process the consumer will receive a confirmation SMS that also mentions the consumer's unique registration number.

Registration through customer care executive

Consumers can call the toll-free number 1909 and speak to a customer care executive to indicate their preferences. The consumer will receive a confirmation SMS along with their unique registration number.

Registration via service provider websites

Users can also log in to their respective access providers' websites to register their preferences.

List of mobile service providers' websites:

Aircel: http://www.aircel.com

Bharti Airtel: http://www.airtel.in/

BSNL: http://www.bsnl.co.in

HFCL: http://www.hfclconnect.com

IDEA: http://www.ideacellular.com

Loop Mobile: http://www.bplmobile.com

MTNL Delhi: http://www.mtnldelhi.in

MTNL Mumbai: http://mumbai.mtnl.net.in

Reliance Communication: http://www.rcom.co.in

Reliance Telecom: http://www.reliancemobile.com

Shyam: http://www.hellorainbow.com

Spice Punjab: http://spiceindia.com

Spice Karnatka: http://spicetele.com

Tata: http://tataindicom.com

Unitech: http://www.uninor.in

Videocon: http://www.videocon.com

Vodafone: http://www.vodafone.in

How to change preferences

Consumers can change their preferences after seven days of the date of registration or seven days after the last change of request. This can be done through any of the four methods described above, i.e., SMS, IVRS, customer care executive or online.

For changing preferences through SMS consumers will have to SMS "START [option]" to 1909 to receive communication on a certain category or "STOP [option]" to stop receiving messages from the indicated category. In case a consumers want to fully block all categories they can SMS "START 0" to 1909.

Users can alternately change their preferences via IVRS or speaking to a customer care executive by dialling 1909 or by visiting the mobile service providers' websites. On successful completion a confirmation SMS will be sent.

How to de-register

Consumers can opt out of the service through SMS by sending "STOP" to 1909. They can also call 1909 to de-register through IVRS or by speaking to the customer care executive.

How to register a complaint

If a consumers receives unsolicited commercial communication even after seven days of registering with the NCPR they can file a complaint either by SMS or dialling the toll-free number 1909.

To register a complaint via SMS a message in the format "COMP TEL NO XXXXXXXXXX, dd/mm/yy, Time hh:mm" to 1909, where "XXXXXXXXXX" is the telephone number or the ID from which the SMS was sent from and also mentioning the date and time when the unsolicited communication was received.

On submission of the complaint the user will be sent a unique complaint number through SMS and will be informed of the action taken on the complaint within seven days of the complaint booking.

The 100 SMS limit

TRAI has set a limit of 100 SMSs per SIM per day and not more than 3000 SMSs per post-paid number. But TRAI has said that it will exempt certain categories of SMSs from the limit, that could include festivals and other celebratory occasions. Telecom operators' lobby COAI asked the regulator to reconsider its recommendation to limit the number of SMSs per SIM to 100 per day, saying that such a regulation may pose a potential challenge to the "fundamental rights" of an ordinary subscriber. But TRAI says there is no plan to do away the restriction.

How to identify the source and type of a commercial text message

For sending the promotional messages, the telemarketers shall use alphanumeric identifier in the format XY-RZZZZZ where X stands for code allotted to Access provider, Y stands for service area, as specified by TRAI from time to time and R being any digit from 0 to 7, where 0 indicates that the SMS is commercial communication but does not belong to any preference specified, 1-7 indicates the preference specified by TRAI (1. Banking/Insurance/Financial products/credit cards, 2. Real Estate, 3. Education, 4. Health, 5. Consumer goods and automobiles, 6. Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT and 7. Tourism and leisure) and ZZZZZ indicates five digit unique identification code allotted to telemarketer by the access provider.

Also messages from a telemarketer shall be from the number series '140'.

PRECIOUS METALS: Gold, Silver Struggle As Europe Worries Weigh

2011-09-26T20:19:00.000+05:30

--Comex Dec gold down $23.00, or 1.4%, at $1,616.80/troy oz

--Hopes of coordinated action by EU lift metals off session lows

--Preference for cash over hard assets weighs on gold, silver

--Silver prices down 6.6% as investors remain apprehensive of the volatile metal

--Gold ETF holdings steady, proving resilient despite market rout

NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Gold and silver pared overnight losses on hopes that European officials would outline a plan of action for dealing with the region's debt problems, but concerns about losses in other markets saw some investors sell precious metals in favor of cash.

The most actively traded gold contract, for December delivery, was recently down $23.00, or 1.4%, at $1,616.80 a troy ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The September-delivery gold was down $23.10, or 1.4%, at $1,614.40 a troy ounce.

European officials are discussing ways to boost the region's rescue fund and contain the sovereign-debt crisis. Investors hope for more coordinated action from the 17-member currency union after European Central Bank executive board member Lorenzo Bini Smaghi on Sunday expressed support for shaping Europe's bailout fund to mimic the U.S. efforts to stem the 2008 financial crisis.

Gold bounced from session lows but kept in negative territory as traders continue to favor cash above all other assets. December gold touched a two-month low of $1,535.00 a troy ounce over night, almost $400 off its all-time record set earlier this month.

Some investors are girding against margin calls on equities or other assets, while for others are moving out of precious metals on hopes that broad declines will bring buying opportunities.

"Markets are thirsting for liquidity ... precious metals should struggle to rally in this environment," said Walter de Wet, head of commodity research at Standard Bank.

Silver prices proved less resilient than gold as investors continued to stream out of the market. Silver slumped more than 17% on Friday as mounting losses triggered margin calls for some investors, while others bet against a recovery in silver.

Silver for December delivery was recently down $1.971, or 6.6%, at $28.130 a troy ounce. The contract touched a low of $26.150 overnight, trading at nearly half its April record of $49.845 a troy ounce.

"Silver is taking an even harder battering than gold at present and has temporarily fallen to its lowest level since November 2010 this morning... This shows that silver is not suited as a store of value and is behaving more like an industrial metal," said analysts at Commerzbank.

However, one area of the precious metals market is proving more sturdy than the rest. Gold held by exchange-traded funds has been steady throughout last week's market rout, with the world's largest ETF, SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) holding firm at 1,252.21 metric tons.

"As gold ETFs are hardly registering any outflows at the moment, the strong price correction should essentially be due to profit-taking of speculative financial investors," said analysts at Commerzbank.

The World's Highest-Paid Athletes

2011-09-25T22:27:00.000+05:30

The business of Tiger Woods has been taking on water the past two years. Sponsors like Accenture, AT&T, Gillette and PepsiCo have jumped ship since his November 2009 car crash and the resulting scandal. His golf course design business has been hammered by the economic downturn. His winless streak on the course is at 20 months and counting, and the former No. 1 golfer in the world is now ranked 13th. Woods’ annual earnings have plummeted $50 million over the past two years.

Yet Tiger Woods is still the highest-paid athlete in the world–and it isn’t even a close call. Woods earned $75 million over the past 12 months, easily outdistancing second-ranked Kobe Bryant, who made $53 million.

Woods can thank two long-term sponsors for his hefty income. Nike signed Woods to a five-year, $40 million deal when he turned pro in 1998. Electronic Arts released its first “Tiger Woods PGA Tour” videogame in 1998.

The two companies have built significant businesses on Woods’ back, and his paychecks from both have grown. Nike launched its golf division with Woods essentially holding up the brand; last year it reported sales of $638 million. EA released its 14th Woods videogame in March, and the game racked up record first-week sales of 225,000 units; that topped the old sales record, set in 2007, by 17%. EA and Nike combined are responsible for more than half of Woods’ $75 million in earnings.

Bryant leads 15 basketball players that made the list, more than any other sport. Bryant added Turkish Airlines and Mercedes-Benz’s Smart Car to his endorsement portfolio this year. His $24.8 million salary with the Los Angeles Lakers is $4 million more than any other NBA player. No. 3 on the list is Miami Heat forward LeBron James, who earned $48 million over the past year (see “LeBron James Looks To Conquer The World”).

Our earnings figures are derived from salaries, bonuses, prize money, appearance fees, licensing and endorsement income in the 12 months ending May 1. We do not deduct taxes or agents’ fees.

This year’s 50 highest-paid athletes earned $1.4 billion combined, or $28 million on average. That’s down 11% from a year ago, thanks in large part to the drop in Woods’ earnings and the inactivity of Floyd Mayweather, who hasn’t fought in 13 months after appearing at No. 2 on last year’s list with earnings of $65 million. The minimum to make the list was $18.8 million, compared to $21 million in 2010.

Another big factor in the drop in athlete earnings is the NFL lockout. The owners locked out players in March, and very few contracts were signed beforehand, including no blockbusters with big signing bonuses in the short offseason.

Last year’s NFL draft class also failed to land a player on the list. The top two picks, Sam Bradford and Ndamukong Suh, signed rich contracts with guarantees of $50 million and $40 million, respectively, but most of that money has not yet been paid out. Last year nine NFL players made our list, but this year only three made the cut, led by No. 13 Tom Brady at $31 million.0

Once again women are under-represented among the top-earning athletes. Tennis player Maria Sharapova is the only woman who cracked the top 50 for the second straight year. She ranks 29th with earnings of $24.2 million, largely from her lucrative Nike deal, which pays her royalties on her lines of tennis apparel and Cole Haan shoes.

Facebook weaving in movies, music and news

2011-09-23T14:47:00.000+05:30

Facebook is packing movies, music, news and digital books into overhauled profile pages crafted to serve as online homes for members of the world's largest social network.

Major changes being rolled out in coming weeks will let members discover and share media content in real time while also artfully chronicling their lives.

Facebook on Thursday introduced a new class of "open graph" applications that let people discover and share music, movies, books and news as well as seemingly lightweight experiences like bicycle rides.

The applications will be integrated into overhauled "Timeline" profile pages that let people digitally map everything they've ever done.

"The heart of your Facebook experience, completely rethought from the ground up," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said while announcing the overhaul at Facebook's annual f8 developers conference.

"Timeline is the story of your life."

The new applications will let members automatically allow chosen friends to see their news feeds without needing to click "Like" or "Share."

Digital music service Spotify will let Facebook users see what friends are listening to at any moment in "Ticker" real-time feeds and then click to listen along. The same principle will apply to computer or mobile gadget applications and the feature will extend to digital books, news, and films.

"Now, you don't just have to 'Like' a book, you can read it," Spotify chief content officer Ken Parks told AFP. "You can connect to anything you want; it's simple but it is really powerful."

Zuckerberg demonstrated the Timeline by showing how his new profile page brought together everything from baby photos to pictures from his meeting with US President Barack Obama in April.

"The biggest challenge was to tell the story of your life in a single page," Zuckerberg said.

"What Timeline does is show all the recent activity and then, as you go back in time, it starts summarizing the things you've done in your life."

Facebook has no plans for an "app store" along the lines of the one run by Apple at its online iTunes shop. Instead, it will leave it to members to spread media sharing applications.

People will need to install third party applications to share snippets in Timeline profile pages, which will feature privacy controls. Applications will also require people to set data sharing "permissions" before they are used.

Partners ready with "open graph" applications include online streaming video services Netflix and Hulu.

Facebook board member and Netflix chief executive Reed Hasting said Facebook approached his company about a year ago with the idea of a tighter integration.

"We are super excited about all these great applications and all the social aspects of Netflix," Hasting said. "If Netflix does huge success in pioneering social TV, then many other firms will also become social."

Applications were also available to deliver and share news stories from sources including Yahoo!, the Washington Post and The Daily.

"I think it has the potential to not only rethink the way we read news, but rethink the way the whole news industry works," Zuckerberg said.

News Corp is releasing the Web app version of The Daily only in Facebook because it believes in the power of people reading stories recommended by friends, he added.

"Facebook is positioning itself as not just your social graph online, but your life online," said Forrester analyst Sean Corcoran.

"These changes not only help trump rival Google, but will open up new opportunities for marketers with new kinds of customer experiences, long-term engagement, advertising, and customer intelligence."

Facebook said it has worked with privacy groups while developing Timeline and that it has made it simple and clear to control what information gets shared with whom.

Facebook users this week had complained about a barrage of recent updates intended to make it easier to manage the torrents of updates from friends.

Palo Alto, California-based Facebook hit a new milestone this month with a half-billion people using the social network in a single day, according to Zuckerberg.

Obama to propose "Buffett tax" on millionaires

2011-09-19T13:45:00.002+05:30

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama, in a populist gesture designed to appeal to voters, will propose a "Buffett Tax" on people making more than $1 million a year as part of his deficit recommendations to Congress on Monday.

Such a proposal, among suggestions to a congressional Super Committee expected to seek up to $3 trillion in deficit savings over 10 years, would appeal to his Democratic base ahead of the 2012 election but likely not raise much in revenues.

White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in a tweet on Saturday the tax would act as "a kind of AMT" (Alternative Minimum Tax) aimed at ensuring millionaires pay at least as much tax as middle-class families.

The "Buffett Tax" refers to billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who wrote earlier this year that rich people like him often pay less in tax than those who work for them due to loopholes in the taxcode, and can afford to pay more.

Obama will lay out his recommendations in White House Rose Garden remarks at 10.30 am on Monday and is expected to urge steps to raise tax revenue as well as cuts in spending.

But Congress is at liberty to ignore his suggestions and

Republicans, who control the House of Representatives, have said that they will not agree to tax hikes.

The super committee of six Democrat and six Republican lawmakers must find at least $1.2 trillion in deficit savings before the end of the year to avoid painful automatic cuts, and is mandated to seek savings of up to $1.5 trillion.

These savings are on top of $917 billion in deficit reduction agreed in an August deal to raise the debt limit and Obama wants it to go further.

He has separately urged it to consider $450 billion in tax increases on top of this goal to pay for a jobs bill that he unveiled earlier this month.

The Buffett Tax could help energize Obama's base by highlighting a feature of the tax code that allows the super rich to pay lower rates of tax less wealthy Americans

because the bulk of their income is capital gains, dividends and the 'carried interest' earnings of hedge fund managers.

This is taxed at 15 percent, compared to rates of 10 to 35 percent on straightforward income.

Driver was talking on phone before Train Accident

2011-09-19T10:32:00.000+05:30

Talking on cellphone can drive you to disaster

The driver of the Mainline Electrical Multiple Unit (MEMU) that met with an accident near Arakkonam in Vellore district on Tuesday night was speaking on his mobile phone just before the collision. The Chennai Beach-Vellore Cantonment MEMU rammed the rear of the Arakkonam-Katpadi passenger train, resulting in the death of ten passengers and injuries to several others.

Police investigation has revealed that driver A. Rajkumar was speaking on his mobile phone (8056017713) with a friend between 9.17 p.m. and 9.21 p.m. After the call got disconnected, his friend called back and they spoke between 9.21 p.m. and 9.23 p.m. The time of collision has been recorded as 9.27 p.m. though the time on the mobile phone and railway records may vary, police sources said.

“When we examined Rajkumar at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Thursday, he denied having used his mobile phone and said that he always kept the instrument in silent mode while at work. The call details record speak otherwise…it is possible that he missed the signals by oversight or distraction,” Deputy Superintendent of Police (Railways) V. Ponran told The Hindu on Friday.

He said when Rajkumar's friend called a little after 9.30 p.m. an unidentified person who attended the call told him that he was injured. Thereafter, the mobile phone was not in the possession of the driver. “It appears that someone took the phone from the mishap scene...we are trying to locate it,” he said.

On the instructions of the Inspector-General of Police (Railways) Sunil Kumar, a special team visited the accident spot between Melpakkam and Chitheri railway stations and studied the signalling system there. Rajkumar claimed that he saw the signal turn green from yellow and increased the speed of the MEMU to 75-80 kmph.

The Commissioner of Railway Safety (Southern Circle) S.K. Mittal, who inspected the accident scene, commenced his enquiry. He examined the driver of the Arakkonam-Katpadi passenger train and the guard of the MEMU. He also interacted with Rajkumar and enquired into the circumstances that led to the accident, railway sources said.

TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington to buy back own blog? ..Video

2011-09-08T23:40:00.000+05:30

Blogger Michael Arrington has a reputation as a Silicon Valley kingmaker.He sold his TechCrunch blog to AOL for $25 million. Arrington started CrunchFund, a venture fund for tech companies.Big name investors lined up, hoping to catch some "deal flow". He was called out by journalists for investing in companies TechCrunch writes about.They cried 'conflict of interest'.AOL's Tim Armstrong initially defended Arrington, but Arianna Huffington said he is definitely out.Despite already being fired, Arrington has given AOL an ultimatum ...stop messing with TechCrunch, or he'll leave.

Facebook snatches NIT Warangal student for Rs 45L salary

2011-09-01T21:33:00.000+05:30

HYDERABAD: It's raining lucrative jobs at NIT Warangal which has had the best placement season so far. The 51-year-old institute started its recruitment drive on August 15 and already has a 21-year-old fourth year BTech computer science student securing the highest ever pay package of Rs 45 lakh per annum. The offer, made by Facebook, has created a record of sorts here. The institute confirmed that the student will be joining the technical wing of the social networking giant, as soon as he completes his course in March next year.

This has set a new benchmark at NIT Warangal in that the highest salary any student from the institute had bagged so far was Rs 20 lakh per annum. From the 2010-11 batch as many as three students had got jobs that paid them Rs 20 lakh per annum, sources at NIT said. It is not just the 21-year-old whizkid who has bagged a hefty package this year. According to sources, the salaries offered to students so far range anywhere between Rs 5 to Rs 12 lakh per annum. The recruitment process for this year that started on August 15 is expected to last till March 2012. Sources said that most of the recruiters so far are IT companies.

About 30 students from computer science stream of the institute have already been recruited. Eight companies have come in for recruitment in the first round so far. According to NIT officials, this year other than the usual brand of companies several new ones have expressed interest in hiring. "Companies have now shed the recession blues completely and are looking for fresh candidates to recruit. Many of them like Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle and Google could recruit more number of freshers than they did last year," said a senior professor from the institute. Last year, 92% students from the B Tech batch of the institute and 50 % students from M Tech batch were recruited by companies. The average pay package offered by companies last year was between Rs 6 and Rs 7 lakh per annum. The institute officials are expecting a considerable increase in the pay packages this year. NIT professors said that this year, several companies have been vying for the first interview slots with students.

"Most of the IT companies are willing to pay really well to bright students who get absorbed in the first or second interview. The companies who come for interviews later could offer bigger packages to students. We'll have to wait and watch what the salary trend this year is," said an official from NIT.

very dangerous Train stunt in india ..Video

2011-08-29T15:41:00.001+05:30

this stunt are done by the poor guys . they do all these for some money only ................. this my request all who watch this video please do not attempt these stunts....

Tech tips: Wait for the iPhone 5

2011-08-29T01:37:00.001+05:30

Question: My old cellphone is dying. I really want an iPhone. Should I wait for the iPhone 5 or get an iPhone 4? Is the iPhone 5 coming out soon?

Answer: You're not alone. Many people are waiting anxiously for the iPhone 5. Rumor suggests that the next iPhone will be faster, sport a better camera and have a bigger screen. It is expected to launch in October. Now, even if you decide not to get the iPhone 5, the short wait is worth it. The price of the iPhone 4 will drop when the iPhone 5 hits the street.

Q: I'm taking a road trip soon across the country. I want to use cellular broadband on my laptop for Internet access. Which cellular provider has the best coverage?

A: To cover the United States, providers have put up countless cell towers. Providers tend to place cell towers around heavily populated areas and main roads. Areas with little or no population may not have any service. If coverage is most important, plan your trip route first. Then, compare the route you selected against published cellular coverage maps. Be sure to check both voice and data versions of the maps. Data coverage may be much different than voice coverage.

Q: I just finished writing an important document on my Mac. I saved it, but now I can't find it! Please help me get it back.

A: You don't have to panic. It's likely you just saved the file to the wrong folder. Fortunately, OS X has a powerful search feature. Start by going to Spotlight. This is in the upper-right corner of your screen. Click the magnifying glass to open the search bar. Start typing the name of the file. I hope you remember what you called it. A list of possible matches will appear automatically. The file should be on that list; just click to open it. If you don't remember the file name, don't despair. Go to File>>Find for a more comprehensive search method. Search for document files created in the last day or so. Your file should turn up quickly.

Q: I'm always getting lost while driving. So I'm thinking of getting a GPS unit. What model do you recommend?

A: GPS is a blessing for the navigationally challenged. It used to require a dedicated unit, but no longer. My GPS unit, for example, is my iPhone. Almost any smartphone can be used for navigation with the right high-quality app. These apps can provide turn-by-turn directions, text-to-speech, points-of-interest and much more. A smartphone costs about the same as a standalone GPS unit. Plus, smartphones offer much more versatility.

Q: I've heard you say on that Internet Explorer isn't a secure browser. What alternatives are there?

A: Internet Explorer has had its share of security problems in the past. The latest version, IE 9, however, is much better than previous versions. You can use it safely. Just be sure to regularly install Windows updates. The most secure alternative to IE is Google Chrome. It regularly stumps hackers in hacking competitions. Plus, it is one of the fastest browsers around. Mozilla's Firefox is another good browser. Its security is strong and being improved steadily. Historically, Mozilla patches any serious security flaws quickly.

source:usatoday.com

Hurricane Irene targets New York City - video

2011-08-28T17:12:00.000+05:30

A weakening but still dangerous Hurricane Irene continued its deliberate, drenching march up the East Coast on Sunday, pounding the region with torrential rains and fierce winds blamed for nine deaths and power outages involving 3 million homes and businesses.Irene, with sustained winds of about 75 mph, made its second landfall in as many days shortly before dawn Sunday near New Jersey's Little Egg Inlet. As the storm approached New York, the National Weather Service issued a tornado watch for the city and some surrounding counties until 11 a.m.Landfall in the city was forecast for later in the morning. New England and Canada were next on Irene's hit list, although if her winds diminish any more she will arrive there downgraded to a tropical storm.

The storm spawned tornadoes Saturday in parts of Virginia, New Jersey and Delaware, where a twister destroyed 15 buildings in the histroric shore town of Lewes.Parts of Virginia reported up to 16 inches of rain, according to the National Weather Service. Areas of North Carolina reported up to 14 inches.For many in the region, the storm meant retreating to emergency shelters.Joseph Cunningham, 74, confined to a wheelchair, spent the day playing cards and socializing in an elementary school-turned-shelter just outside evacuated Atlantic City.

"The services they provide here best fit my needs, and I feel very lucky to be here," Cunningham said.Storm-related deaths, including two children, were reported in North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey and Virginia. In Goldsboro, N.C., a 4-year-old died when the car she was in crashed at an intersection where Irene had knocked out power to traffic lights. And an 11-year-old boy was killed when a tree crashed through his Newport News, Va., apartment shortly after noon Saturday.A 5 a.m., the National Hurricane Center said the storm had picked up speed — a positive sign — and was moving north at about 18 mph.More than 2 million people along the East Coast have been warned, or ordered, to flee the storm's path.New York City's massive subway and bus systems has been shut down since Saturday. In Boston, the transit authority said public transportation would be shut down Sunday.Air traffic promised to be snarled for days in the New York and Washington, D.C. areas, with more than 9,000 weekend flights cancelled.

The New York City area's five major airports were closed.Irene could cost billions in storm surge flooding. CoreLogic, an analytics firm, estimates that Virginia Beach, Atlantic City, Philadelphia, Washington Boston, Providence, New York City and Long Island face $56.7 billion in combined residential storm surge damage if Irene arrives as a Category 1 hurricane. Those estimates do not include rainfall and wind damage.So far, wind and rain have knocked out power to 3 million customers in North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.New York's biggest utility, Consolidated Edison, said it could cut power to the city's most vulnerable areas if the storm causes serious flooding.In Lusby, Md., Constellation Energy Nuclear Group said one of two nuclear reactors at Calvert Cliffs went off-line automatically because of winds from Hurricane Irene.Constellation spokesman Mark Sullivan aid the plant was safe and stable.In Lacey, N.J., the Oyster Creek Nuclear power plant was taken off line as a precautionary measure because of its proximity to Barnegat Bay near the Atlantic Ocean.Defense Secretary Leon Panetta had instructed 6,500 active duty troops to be ready in case there's an order for them to help with Hurricane Irene relief work.

Spokesman George Little says Panetta has issued a prepare-to-deploy order for the troops from all branches of the military if support relief efforts if required.President Obama visited the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency Saturday to check on preparations and response activity. Obama listened as reports came in from as far as Vermont, where rivers are expected to flood and Canadian utility crews have been called in to help."It's going to be a long 72 hours and obviously a lot of families are going to be affected," he said.In Virginia Beach on Saturday, winds ripped hotel signs clean out of their frames and loosened chunks of stucco from one older building and pulled at least one street sign off its sidewalk foundation.Virginia Beach Fire Department Battalion Chief Tim Riley said about 450 people were in shelters. The city also opened its public parking decks for citizens looking for higher ground as Irene threatened to flood low-lying areas.Irene made its first landfall early Saturday at Cape Lookout, N.C. At least two piers on North Carolina's Outer Banks have been wiped out, the roof of a car dealership was ripped away, and a hospital in Morehead City was running on generators."Our plan is executed now, our shelters are open, our search and rescue teams are all over the state," North Carolina Gov. Beverly Perdue said.About 8,000 people already have checked in to 81 shelters. Thirty emergency teams are stationed around the state along with 285 members of the National Guard.Flash flooding already was a problem, and some areas have gotten up to 8 inches of rain the governor said. In a plea to residents, Perdue said bluntly: "Please stay inside."Perdue said there were still some people who opted to stay behind, but "the good news is our tourists evacuated very quickly."Local Red Cross chapters have put volunteers on alert to be ready to travel to the Carolinas or other East Coast locations to help deal with the aftermath of the hurricane."I have been sending out alerts to our volunteers in the entire region, putting them on standby that Irene is heading this way.

History has showed us that our effect has always been flooding," said Sharon Aswad, chief program and response officer for the American Red Cross South Central New York region.Many governors have ordered mandatory evacuations, making it clear that those who stay behind will have to fend for themselves.At Brentwood High School in Suffolk County, N.Y., on Long Island, a shelter that can accommodate more than 200 people has 80 people registered so far. Most have left and will come back later when the wind begins to pick up, local officials said. Countywide, only 250 people are at shelters now, County Supervisor Steve Levy said."We get the impression people are not taking this as seriously as they should,'' said Islip Town Supervisor Phil Nolan. "People are saying they're going to keep watching the storm ….

This storm is going to kick into gear in the middle of the night,'' he said, so waiting to flee until things get bad "is not a smart strategy.''American Red Cross volunteer Craig Cooper called evacuation from flood areas "a 50-50 situation." On a drive through Long Beach, he said, he saw many people packing cars to leave, but "up on the boardwalk, there's almost a party atmosphere."Myisha Carpenter, an unemployed teachers assistant, and Colleen Bernard, 76, evacuated Saturday morning from mobile homes in Amityville after receiving flyers and automated phone calls telling them to evacuate.Bernard, who uses a wheelchair, said she did not consider trying to ride out the storm at home."I live in a mobile home and I can't run," she said. "Although we have a belief in a higher power, he says 'Don't be stupid.'" If her house is destroyed? "That's the least of my problems," she said.

Obama declares emergency for New York in anticipation of Irene

2011-08-27T16:08:00.000+05:30

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has declared an emergency for New York state in anticipation of Hurricane Irene, which has New York City in its sights as it storms up the Eastern Seaboard.

The declaration means that the Homeland Security Department and the Federal Emergency Management Agency can coordinate disaster relief efforts. It also means the state can receive federal aid to supplement state and local emergency and cleanup assistance.

The declaration is specifically intended to alleviate the threat of a catastrophe in the counties of Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, Richmond, Nassau and Suffolk.

The brunt of the storm is expected to hit the New York City area and Long Island on Sunday.

The hurricane threatens up to 65 million people along a path from North Carolina to New England.

France introduces new tax on high incomes

2011-08-24T23:43:00.001+05:30

The French government is to impose an extra tax of 3% on annual income above 500,000 euros (£440,000; $721,000).

It is part of a package of measures to try to cut the country's deficit by 12bn euros over two years.

The tax increase came after some of France's wealthiest people had called on the government to tackle its deficit by raising taxes on the rich.

Paris has also reduced its economic growth forecast for 2012 to 1.75% from a previous 2.25%.
'Rigorous'

And it has cut its 2011 growth forecast from 2% to 1.75%, Prime Minister Francois Fillon has said.

He said the new tax would remain in place until France reduces its budget deficit back under the EU's intended limit of 3% of GDP, which should occur in 2013.

France plans to trim its public deficit to 5.7 % this year, 4.6 % next year and 3% in 2013.

"This is a rigorous policy that will allow France to remain relaxed," Mr Fillon said. "Our country must stick to its [deficit] commitments. It's in the interest of all French people."

Sixteen executives, including Europe's richest woman, the L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, had offered in an open letter to pay a "special contribution" in a spirit of "solidarity".

It appeared on the website of the French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur.

It was signed by some of France's most high-profile chief executives, including Christophe de Margerie of oil firm Total, Frederic Oudea of bank Societe Generale, and Air France's Jean-Cyril Spinetta.

They said: "We, the presidents and leaders of industry, businessmen and women, bankers and wealthy citizens would like the richest people to have to pay a 'special contribution'."

They said they had benefited from the French system and that: "When the public finances deficit and the prospects of a worsening state debt threaten the future of France and Europe and when the government is asking everybody for solidarity, it seems necessary for us to contribute."

They warned, however, that the contribution should not be so severe that it would provoke an exodus of the rich or increased tax avoidance.

Pictures: Huge Dust Storm Swallows Phoenix

2011-08-24T23:36:00.000+05:30

PHOENIX -- Metropolitan Phoenix was shaking itself off Friday after a giant wall of dust smacked the city for the third time in the last six weeks, turning the skies brown and coating anything left outside.A 1,000-foot-high wall of dust traveled at least 50 miles into metro Phoenix and neighboring Pinal County on Thursday evening before dissipating. It reduced visibility, created dangerous driving conditions and caused some flight delays.National Weather Service meteorologist Ken Waters said the size and power of three of the storms set this season apart. Thunderstorms moving through southern Arizona brought winds of up to 60 m.p.h. that stirred up fine dust in the agricultural fields, Waters said.This season's most powerful dust storm came July 5, when a mile-high wall of dust halted flights and knocked out power to 10,000 people. Another dust storm hit July 18, reaching heights of 3,000-4,000 feet, delaying flights and cutting power to more than 2,000 people.

Weather experts said such massive dust storms -- known by the Arabic word "haboob" -- happen in only Arizona, Africa's Sahara desert and parts of the Middle East. They cause pollution levels to skyrocket and can create health issues.Dennis Dickerson, a compliance manager at the Maricopa County Air Quality Department, said the normal level of dust in the air is 20-70 micrograms per cubic meter. Thursday's 24-hour average for Phoenix reached nearly 160 -- slightly above what federal standards deem healthy.Dr. Art Mollen of Scottsdale, Ariz., said there were twice as many patients as usual in his waiting room at the start of work Friday.People came in with asthma flare-ups, sinus inflammation, ophthalmological migraines and other problems.

No deal, Govt acts tough with Team Anna

2011-08-24T23:13:00.000+05:30

Day 9: Ramdev sings, politicos huddle, Anna fasts on

New Delhi: The meeting between Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Anna Hazare's associates - Arvind Kejriwal, Kiran Bedi and Prashant Bhushan - remained inconclusive on Wednesday with the two sides agreeing to resume talks again on Thursday. The Centre seemed to have hardened its stand during the third round of talks with Mukherjee saying that due consideration would be given to Anna Hazare's Jan Lokpal Bill, echoing the resolution passed by an all-party meeting on Wednesday evening. While Law Minister Salman Khurshid said the talks went on in a positive manner at the North Block, Team Anna had an entirely different take on how the talks went on and said that they were disappointed with the outcome. Mukherjee said that parliamentary process have be followed and requested Anna Hazare to end his fast. "We apprised them of the outcome of the all-party meet. We requested them that there is a parliamentary process to complete," said Mukherjee. "We hope that the parliamentary process will be allowed. We recommended that Anna Hazare ends his fast and that due consideration would be given to Jan Lokpal bill so that an effective Lokpal Bill will be formulated,

" he added. "Talks are going in a positive manner. Talks will continue tomorrow. Both parties are trying to understand each other. Anna's health is a priority. There is need for a broad national consensus suggested by all-party meeting and we are working towards that. We cannot undermine the official Lokpal Bill that was passed by the Cabinet," said Khurshid. But Bhushan said that the Government told them that parliamentary procedures cannot be short-circuited. "We are disappointed from the meeting. Unfortunately, we are back to square one. Yesterday there seemed to be some progress. But today after the meeting we are back to square one," said Prashant Bushan. "Today we are being told that the parliamentary procedure cannot be short-circuited but some timelines can be adhered to," he said. "They told us that the Jan Lokpal Bill will not be presented," said Arvind Kejriwal. Bedi added that Government’s tone had changed overnight. She claimed that the difference between Government's attitude on Tuesday and Wednesday was marked like "day and night". "Today their (Government team’s) attitude was very tough. Instead of talking as they did yesterday they were literally shouting at us and putting us down. When we asked will they use police force to pickup Anna tonight they got angry,” she said. At the all-party meeting held at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's 7 Race Course Road residence, the Government offered to make changes in the Lokpal Bill it has tabled in Parliament. But the entire Opposition wants the Government to withdraw its bill. However, the Government says that there is no need for the withdrawal of the bill.

The Government has agreed that an amended Lokpal Bill will be tabled in Parliament but has refused to give any timeline for the final bill. The final bill will contain amendments suggested by Team Anna or any other group and the Prime Minister will be brought under the Lokpal's ambit. The Lokpal will replace the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as the investigation agency for corruption cases and a citizens' charter will be included for redressal But two main sticking points remain: Lokayuktas for all states and inclusion of lower bureaucracy under the Lokpal.

Rare Earthquake Hits Virginia, Rattles U.S. East Coast

2011-08-24T16:14:00.000+05:30

An unusually strong magnitude 5.8 earthquake struck central Virginia Tuesday afternoon and sent tremors along the East Coast, which prompted office buildings from Washington D.C. to New York to be evacuated.There were no immediate reports of injury or serious structural damage.The earthquake struck near Mineral, Va., more than three miles below sea level, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Mineral is town 83 miles from D.C. and has been known for its seismic activity, but seldom produces a substantial earthquake.Most of downtown D.C. was evacuated, including the U.S. Capitol, the Pentagon and other office buildings. Pictures on the wall in the Capitol building reportedly fell and panicked workers ran to the exits, apparently fearing a 9/11-style attack. Workers were initially told not to re-enter the buildings, but were later allowed to enter the Capitol building.Marine helicopters were seen hovering above the D.C, and there were reports that the Washington Monument may be tilting.The National Park Service later completed a secondary inspection of the Washington Monument and found some cracking in the stones at the top of the Monument, according to a press release. The NPS will have structural engineers evaluate the cracks on Wednesday to determine the best way to repair the Monument before reopening it to the public, said the statement.

The press corp with President Obama in Martha's Vineyard said they felt slight shaking. Obama told reporters that he did not feel the tremor. Attorney General Eric Holder has been evacuated from the Department of Justice.Obama and many of the nation's leaders were out of town on August vacation when the quake struck at 1:51 p.m. local time."People pouring out of buildings and onto the sidewalks and Into Farragut Park in downtown DC...," GOP strategist Kevin Madden tweeted, MyFoxDC.com reported.At Reagan National Airport outside Washington, ceiling tiles fell during a few seconds of shaking. Authorities put all flights on hold.A spokesman for Washington National Cathedral said at least three of the four pinnacles on the central tower have fallen off and the central tower appears to be leaning.New York also felt tremors from the earthquake.Buildings in New York City shook briefly and the FBI building was evacuated. Flights resumed at John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Airport, where control towers were previously evacuated. Evacuations were demanded as north as Canada.Federal officials say two nuclear reactors were taken offline near quake site in Virginia; there was no damage reported. Indian Point, a power plant in New York, said on Twitter that there are no issues at the facility.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said in a statement that it is monitoring the situation and in "close contact" with federal and state partners.The East Coast gets earthquakes, but usually smaller ones and is less prepared than California or Alaska for shaking. The Washington area has had small, infrequent earthquakes over the years, including a 2.5-magnitude quake in 1997 that was within 25 to 30 miles of Friday's quake and a 2.3-magnitude quake in 1996 that was within 15 milesPhone companies said they are being overwhelmed with phone calls, but said none of their infrastructure have been damaged.FEMA requested that the public use e-mail or text messages in non-emergency cases so emergency officials can continue to receive and respond to urgent calls.U.S. weather service says no tsunami expected after East Coast. Subways in New York have not been affected, but the Metro in D.C. had been temporarily cancelled. Amtrak said its trains along the Northeast Corridor between Baltimore and Washington were operating at reduced speeds and crews were inspecting stations and railroad infrastructure before returning to normal, crews have since finished the inspection and operations have reportedly returned to normal.

UN chief urges global amity on International Friendship Day

2011-07-31T15:22:00.001+05:30

UNITED NATIONS, July 31 (APP): On the first International Day of Friendship, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Sunday urged the global community to work together to build a peaceful, more prosperous world, where old friendships flourish and new ones are made.“Friendship harmony tolerance mutual respect and mutual concern, these concepts are part of the Organization’s [United Nations] very fibre” said Ban. “They inform our activities, from peacekeeping and defending human rights to our collective efforts to achieve the anti-poverty Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
“And they are now the focus of the International Day of Friendship, a new observance established by the General Assembly in a resolution that highlights the potential of friendship to ‘build bridges’ and ‘ inspire peace efforts’,” he said.
Ban recalled that the UN Charter proclaims that one of the purposes of the UN is to develop friendly relations among nations, words that also appear in the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The constitution of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), he added, also stressed the need for peace based not only on the political and economic arrangements of Governments, but on the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.
The Secretary-General said individual friendships brought humans face
to face with diversity and different points of view, as well as joy and support,notwithstanding the tests that can encumber even the best of relationships.
“The same pillars that support sturdy personal friendships trust, respect, mutually beneficial decision-making also have an important place in the community of nations,” he said.
He quoted the late Woodrow Wilson, a former President of the United States, who once said: “Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.

Aid workers rush to help East Africa's hungry

2011-07-29T17:29:00.001+05:30

A family sit on a bed at a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee, IRC, in the town of Dadaab, Kenya, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned from more than two years ago _ a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." The foray into the famine zone is a desperate attempt to reach at least 175,000 of the 2.2 million Somalis whom aid workers have not yet been able to help. Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps.

Husein Momin, a 3-years-old malnourished child from southern Somalia sit on bed at Banadir hospital, Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday, July 26, 2011, after fleeing from southern Somalia. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago _ a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." The foray into the famine zone is a desperate attempt to reach at least 175,000 of the 2.2 million Somalis whom aid workers have not yet been able to help. Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps.

Muse Nesir, a 12-year-old malnourished child from southern Somalia lies on bed at Banadir hospital, Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday, July 26, 2011, after fleeing from southern Somalia. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago _ a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." The foray into the famine zone is a desperate attempt to reach at least 175,000 of the 2.2 million Somalis whom aid workers have not yet been able to help. Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps.

Somalis displaced by famine wait to receive rations at a displaced camp in Mogadishu, Somalia, Monday, July 25, 2011. Some thousands of people have arrived in Mogadishu seeking aid and The World Food Program executive director Josette Sheeran said Saturday they can't reach the estimated 2.2 million Somalis in desperate need of aid who are in militant-controlled areas of Somalia

A unidentified child awaits treatment at a field hospital of Doctors Without Borders, MSF, in the town of Dadaab, Kenya, Monday, July 25, 2011. A U.N. agency is hosting an emergency meeting in Rome on Monday July 25, to mobilize action to fight famine in Somalia, Kenya and other drought-hit nations in East Africa, estimating that more than 11-million people need help in the drought-hit region.

Daud Karama 5-year-old malnourished child from southern Somalia lies on bed at Banadir hospital, Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday, July 26, 2011, after fleeing from southern Somalia. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." The foray into the famine zone is a desperate attempt to reach at least 175,000 of the 2.2 million Somalis whom aid workers have not yet been able to help.Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps.

A unidentified child reacts as he is weighed at a field hospital of Doctors Without Borders, MSF, in the town of Dadaab, Kenya, Monday, July 25, 2011. Somalia's famine will be five times worse by Christmas unless the international community increases its food aid, Australia's foreign minister said during a visit to Somalia, even as the international Red Cross distributed 400 tons of food into hard-to-reach areas of southern Somalia

A child with feeding tubes in a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee, IRC, in the town of Dadaab, Kenya, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned from more than two years ago _ a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." The foray into the famine zone is a desperate attempt to reach at least 175,000 of the 2.2 million Somalis whom aid workers have not yet been able to help. Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps.

Asiah Dagane holds Mihag Gedi Farah, her 7-month-old child with a weight of 7 pounds, 8 ounces (3.4 kilograms), at a field hospital of the International Rescue Committee, IRC, in the town of Dadaab, Kenya, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. Mihag Gedi Farah is 7 months old, and weighs as little as a newborn with the weathered skin of an old man. His mother managed to get him to a field hospital in a Kenyan refugee camp after a weeklong odyssey, but the baby's anguished eyes, hollow cheeks and fragile limbs show just how severe Somalia's famine is becoming.

A malnourished child wait outside a makeshift shelter, Tuesday, July 26, 2011, at a refugee camp for internally displaced people in Mogadishu, Somalia. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago _ a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." The foray into the famine zone is a desperate attempt to reach at least 175,000 of the 2.2 million Somalis whom aid workers have not yet been able to help. Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps

Somalis from southern Somalia receive food at a feeding center in Mogadishu, Somalia, Tuesday, July 26, 2011. The U.N. will airlift emergency rations this week to parts of drought-ravaged Somalia that militants banned it from more than two years ago _ a crisis intervention to keep hungry refugees from dying along what an official calls the "roads of death." The foray into the famine zone is a desperate attempt to reach at least 175,000 of the 2.2 million Somalis whom aid workers have not yet been able to help. Tens of thousands already have trekked to neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia, hoping to get aid in refugee camps

The EdgeWalk at Toronto's CN Tower

2011-07-28T20:53:00.001+05:30

The EdgeWalk at Toronto's CN Tower is an adrenaline filled excursion around an open-mesh metal walkway almost a quarter of a mile above the ground. There's no guard rail and no hand holds, just an uninterrupted view of the Toronto skyline and a through-the-mesh view of the ground, 1,168 feet beneath your feet I was among the first in North America to experience the Edge Walk - a hands-free walk on top of the CN Tower, 356 meters high.

Sandra Bullock's ex-husband calls off next wedding

2011-07-27T19:06:00.000+05:30

The ex-husband of actress Sandra Bullock has called off his wedding to new girlfriend, tattoo artist and reality TV star Kat Von D.

Jesse James, 42, announced his engagement less than a year after being divorced by Bullock, who discovered days after winning her first Oscar in 2010 that her husband had been cheating on her.

James told People magazine on Tuesday that he and Von D, 29, had called off their engagement and split up because of the difficulties in maintaining a long-distance relationship between Texas and Los Angeles.

"The distance between us was just too much," James said.

Von D, who appears in the TV series "LA Ink", said in a Twitter message. "I am no longer w Jesse and out of respect for him, his family and myself, that's all the info I'd like to share."

America singer Dan Peek dies aged 60

2011-07-27T17:25:00.002+05:30

Folk rock musician Dan Peek, who sang lead vocals with the band America, has died at his home in Missouri aged 60.

Peek was a member of the Grammy winning group for seven years and co-wrote numerous hits including chart topper A Horse With No Name.

America's Dewey Bunnell said that Peek's music will "live on in the great songs he shared with us all."

"We created lasting music together and experienced a life we could never have imagined," he added.

After leaving the group, Peek went onto launch a solo career and became a pioneer in contemporary Christian music.

He was nominated for a Grammy Award for his 1979 solo album All Things Are Possible.

In a statment, Neil Portnow from the Recording Academy said: "Our deepest sympathies extend to his family, friends, and fans as we remember a dynamic individual and great talent."

Singham' earns gross Rs 47.50 crore

2011-07-27T16:58:00.002+05:30

New Delhi: After an impressive opening, Ajay Devgn starrer action thriller "Singham" generated good business during the weekend as well and grossed Rs.44.2 crore in domestic market and Rs.3.50 crore overseas.

Directed by Rohit Shetty and produced by Reliance Entertainment the film is a remake of Tamil blockbuster "Singham".

The movie also entered the list of top domestic weekends of all time and is at the 10th spot with Rs.30.93 crore as net collections.

"'Singham' is off to a wonderful start worldwide. The film received an overwhelming response from the audience over the weekend and we hope will continue its successful run all over the world in the weeks to overseas," said Sanjeev Lamba, CEO, Reliance Entertainment.

The film was released in 38 countries internationally on Friday and will be released in another 21 countries in its second phase.

Breivik's father: 'I wish my son was dead'

2011-07-27T00:15:00.000+05:30

Lawyer: Norway suspect took drugs to be 'efficient'

The lawyer for the suspect in the Norway twin attacks says his client is a "very cold" person who took drugs before the rampage to be "strong, efficient, awake."

The lawyer, Geir Lippestad, spoke to reporters today about his client, Anders Behring Breivik, who is accused for killing more than 70 people in a bombing on government buildings in Oslo and a shooting spree at a youth camp last week, the Associated Press reports.

Breivik, 32, faces terror-related charges that could carry a maximum 21-year sentence. Prosecutor Christian Hatlo tells the newspaper Aftenposten that he might also be charged with crimes against humanity, which could carry a longer sentence.

Lippestad describes Breivik as a "very cold" person and says the whole case suggests he is insane.

Breivik's father: 'I wish my son was dead'
The father of Anders Behring Breivik has broken his silence and told reporters that he wishes his son was dead.

The lawyer told the AP that Breivik views himself as a "savior."

According to the lawyer, the suspect believes that his "operation," aimed at publicizing his anti-Muslim, anti-immigration manifesto, is going according to plan but is not aware of the death toll or the public reaction to it.

Breivik did express surprise, the lawyer said, that he wasn't stopped earlier. He reportedly indicated that he had expected to be killed en route to court Monday.

Brievik was arraigned Monday on charges of engaging in acts of terrorism. He has pleaded not guilty, claiming no criminal responsibility for the acts. He claims that he acted to save Norway and Europe from Muslim colonization.
.

Breivik says at least two other cells of his extremist group continue to operate. Norwegian authorities are investigating that possibility.

Lippsetad says he will not take instructions from his client and insists that someone has to do the job of defending.

Breivik is held in strict isolation without visitors or the right to send letters. Authorities say this is aimed at preventing him from signaling instructions to other terror cells, if they exist.

The lawyer says no family member has asked to visit Breivik.

Breivik's father, Jens Breivik, a retired Norwegian diplomat living in France, told Norway's TV2 that he has not seen his son for about 15 years and is shocked by the killings.

"I will never have more contact with him," he said. "In my darkest moments, I think that rather than killing all those people, he should have taken his own life."

The BBC says torchlight parades to remember the victims were held throughout the country Monday. More than 250,000 took to the streets, many carrying flowers, in memory of the victims

Anderson Silva Tribute

2011-07-26T22:53:00.001+05:30

This is a fan video for Anderson silva. Tribute/Highlight

New York state celebrates first same-sex marriages

2011-07-25T08:47:00.001+05:30

Couples wed on 1st day gay marriage is legal in N.Y

.
NEW YORK — Pronounced married by a judge, Jameese Cox and Shaun Burse hugged tightly, kissed and exchanged a high five, one of the first same-sex couples to get married, beaming and teary-eyed, in New York state

"Awesome,'' said Burse, who wore a white summer dress and a flower in her hair.

"It is awesome,'' said Cox, who wore jeans and a turquoise polo shirt. "It is so awesome.''

Cox and Burse, both 31, flew from Cleveland, Tenn., to get married on the first day same-sex marriage became legal in the state. They joined a long line of more than 800 couples who were to be married Sunday in the city, which made special arrangements to accommodate the large number of couples who wanted to wed on the first day possible

New York became the sixth and largest state to recognize same-sex marriage in June. For many of the couples getting married the ceremonies represented "the culmination of decades of love and struggle and support," as Douglas Robinson, 60, said after he married Michael Elsasser, 56, in the presence of their two adopted sons.

Sari Kessler, a psychologist and jazz singer, and Erika Karp, an investment banker, were among the first to get a marriage license, having arrived at the city clerk's office at 4:30 a.m.. They were to be married outside the clerk's office by their rabbi, who married them in their Manhattan synagogue 12 years ago.

"Every day, people need to know we're just like everybody else,'' Kessler said.

"Our families are just as valued and important and special as any other family in the world,'' Karp added.

The couple's three daughters, ages 9, 6 and 3, were to join them for the ceremony. "Their main interests are being flower girls and the wedding cake,'' Kessler said.

Alan Miles was in Boston, Mass, on the day seven years ago that the state began allowing gay couples to marry. "It was very powerful to me. I realized this was really something I wanted for myself.'' He promptly proposed to his longtime love, Drew Glick, but learned he would have to wait. Glick wanted to be married in N ew York, his hometown, and nowhere else.

In June, the law in New York changed. "We just looked at each other and said, let's do it.'' Glick immediately updated his Facebook status to "engaged.''

On Sunday the two were married by Judge George Silver, whom they had met by chance at their barbershop Thursday when they were getting pre-wedding haircuts. Silver was among 60 judges who volunteered Sunday to grant judicial waivers of the required 24-hour waiting period and to perform ceremonies.

Same-sex weddings began shortly after midnight across the state, but the busiest marriage bureau was in New York City, where officials held a lottery and gave the go-ahead to 823 couples, the most they could accommodate in one day. When the Manhattan office of the city clerk opened at 8:30 a.m., the line of couples, with family, friends and children, stretched around the block. Some couples wore matching outfits, some wore T shirts and shorts. The first couple to marry, Phyllis Siegel and Connie Kopelov, were 76 and 84 years old respectively and had been together for 23 years. Antonio Lopez, 25, and Alvin Woods, 27, have known each other six months. They waited in line with bandages covering their freshly-tattooed-on wedding rings, to be revealed at the ceremony.

"When we met, we knew it was meant to be,'' said Lopez, an actor.

Across the street from the clerk's office, a small group of protesters yelled slogans and sang songs, though their view of the line was blocked by a large city truck parked in front of the protest area. A "Rainbow Protection Line'' of volunteers with bright umbrellas shielded couples waiting in line from seeing the protest group.

Several couples waiting to be married said they believed the New York law could help lead to federal recognition of same-sex marriage through repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, a 1996 law defining marriage as between a man and a woman.

"DOMA needs to be overturned,'' said Michael Jones, 45, a lawyer waiting to marry his partner of 16 years, Jonathan Parris, a financial assistant at the National Academy of Design. "Marriage is and has always been a state issue.''

Parris and Jones met in Atlanta 16 years ago when Michael ran a personal ad, in the pre-Internet dating world.

"He said he was a lover of ideas old and new and looking for a pair of arms to hold him in the close of the day,'' Parris said.

"I can't believe he remembers that,'' Jones said.

Bullet train collision in China claims 35 lives

2011-07-24T16:09:00.001+05:30

A high-speed bullet train collision in eastern China's Zhejiang province left 35 people dead and 210 injured, state-run news agency Xinhua reported Sunday.

Witnesses told China National Radio that a bullet train stopped on the tracks Saturday because of a power outage from a lightning strike.

Another bullet train traveling in the same direction rammed into the first train from behind and caused four of its cars to fall from an elevated bridge, the radio report said.

A rescue operation was under way. Some passengers told the radio network they had to smash windows and crawl out of the cars. Officials said some cars were severely twisted and it was hard to know how many people were still trapped inside.

The struck train was carrying 1,300 to 1,400 passengers, officials said.

Glowing Skin Tips

2011-07-24T16:02:00.001+05:30

Foods for Glowing Skin

Healthy glowing skin leaves good impression on every person we meet so it is desired by everyone. Without glowing skin, every effort to look good will not attain the desired result though you wear the perfect dress or makeup. It helps to boost your self-confidence level. Americans spend billions of dollars on different types of moisturizer, brightening creams and glitter to get glowing skin but the best the way to treat and prevent unhealthy skin is by making changes in your diet. Junk foods, sugar, processed foods, fried foods, and caffeine not only results in weight gain but also makes the skin unhealthy. Everything you consume is reflected on your skin so you should eat healthy food to get healthy look. There are many foods which provide skin health benefits. Here are provided some foods that give glowing skin and be sure you include them in your diet.

Bareilly baby boy with 34 fingers and toes sets new Guinness record

2011-07-21T17:29:00.000+05:30

Bareilly (Uttar Pradesh), July 20 (ANI): Akshat, a baby boy over the age of one, registered his name in the Guinness world records for having a total of 34 fingers and toes.

He has set the record for having the highest number of fingers and toes and hails from the Bareilly district in Uttar Pradesh.

Amrita Saxena, the mother of the child, said it was difficult for her to believe that her son broke the world record, until a family friend convinced her.

"He (family friend) read on the internet about the baby born in China with 31 fingers. Then he said that my boy has broken the record of having 34 fingers. At first, I was not convinced at all. It was hard to believe that my son has broken the record. But later, he along with my husband and my younger sister registered the data in the Internet. Then I was asked to submit certain documents after which his name was in the Guinness World Records," added Saxena.

Doctors attending to the child informed the mediapersons that it was a rare phenomenon and diagnosed it as polydactyly.

"The person who is diagnosed with it is polydactylic. It is due to certain defects in the bone development of the uterus. The reason behind this defect can be either developmental congenital formation or chromosomal anomalies, which is due to maternal infection or drugs," said Dr. Parul Gupta, a gynaecologist.

Gupta further explained that this congenital physical anomaly could be easily cured by performing a surgery.

"Yes, it is absolutely curable. Mostly people go for plastic surgery. And sometimes when polydactyly is minimal, it can be cured normally, without an operation. And if there is a major problem, then people prefer to go for a plastic surgery," added Gupta.

Meanwhile Saxena was a little worried for her son's future. She aspires for her son to lead a 'normal' life and wants him to undergo proper treatment for it.

It is quite interesting to know that Polydactyly or polydactylism is also known as hyperdactyly. It is a congenital physical anomaly in humans, dogs, and cats having supernumerary fingers or toes.

Sathya Sai Baba's Yajur Mandir inventory prepared

2011-07-20T16:45:00.001+05:30

Puttaparthi: Officials have finished preparing the inventory of the wealth at Sathya Sai Baba's Yajur Mandir in Puttaparthi and will submit it to the government. Officials said treasure worth billions seems to be donations from the late spiritual leader's followers.

Almost 340 kg of silver, gold worth Rs 5.8 crore and close to Rs 2 crore in cash were found in the Baba's personal chambers at Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh during the stock taking.

"It seems they are all gifts. All the items such as cash are not kept in one suitcase. They are kept in packets, small suitcases and are neatly packed. The year of the donation is also mentioned, but the donors' name is not written on it," said V Durga Das, Collector and District Magistrate of Anantapur.

Meanwhile, the Sathya Sai Baba Trust along with Bangalore Urban District Deputy Commissioner on Wednesday conducted an inventory of the wealth and assets of the Sathya Sai Baba at his ashram near Whitefield, on the outskirts of the city.

The team took stock of the wealth at the Whitefield complex of the trust, known as the Sai Baba Brindavan ashram, located about 24 kms from Bangalore.

The entire inventory was conducted under heavy police presence, police said. The ashram, inaugurated by Sai Baba on June 25, 1960, served as the residence of Baba during his stay in the city.

This is the fourth time that an inventory of precious metals and cash in Sai Baba's personal chambers is being conducted at the instance of the government after the spiritual guru passed away on April 24.

Clinton Set to Stress U.S.-India Economic Ties

2011-07-20T16:27:00.001+05:30

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is visiting India's southeastern city of Chennai Wednesday, where she is set to deliver a speech on the importance of U.S.-Indian economic ties.

Clinton is also scheduled to meet with representatives of U.S. companies as she closes a two-day trip to India.

On Tuesday, Clinton and her Indian counterpart, S.M. Krishna, urged Pakistan to do more to eliminate “terrorist sanctuaries” on its territory, both for the sake of its own interests and those of the region.

Clinton said the U.S. and India are united in fighting terrorism, and that Pakistan is a key ally in that fight.

She said the importance of confronting extremists became even more clear after last week's triple bombings in India's financial hub, Mumbai, which killed 20 people and wounded more than 130 others.

The top U.S. diplomat said Washington welcomed recent efforts by India and Pakistan to renew talks that had stalled after the 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai by Pakistani-based militants that killed 166 people. Clinton added that the dialogue is the “most promising” approach for building confidence between the two nations.

Following the talks, India's foreign minister called for caution in the U.S. troop drawdown from Afghanistan. He said an abrupt withdrawal could undermine India's relationship with Afghanistan and lead to a return to power of the anti-Indian Taliban at the expense of Afghan groups with close ties to India.

Clinton also stressed the need for stronger Indian financial ties with the United States, calling for more open markets and increased sales of U.S. arms to India.

She said Washington remains fully committed to expanding cooperation with India under the 2008 civil nuclear cooperation deal. But she added the two sides need to resolve all outstanding issues related to the accord, which could open up business opportunities for U.S. nuclear energy companies in India.

Clinton will continue her multi-nation diplomatic tour with stops in Indonesia and Hong Kong.

Godman Nithyananda sex scandal case

2011-07-18T14:39:00.002+05:30

Self styled Godman Nithyananda just got more egg on his face. The godman, who is out on bail in a sex scandal case, today claimed he could fight the law of gravity and make anyone levitate. One person from the media covering the event challenged his claim - Find out who won!

Facebook removes Google+ ad

2011-07-18T12:49:00.001+05:30

Web developer Michael Lee Johnson decided he wanted to quickly grow his number of Google+ friends. The best place to find people willing to friend you is of course Facebook, so Johnson ran a Facebook ad asking people to add him to their Circles on Google+. Facebook was not amused.

The ad was headlined “Add Michael to Google+.” It was short and to the point: “If you’re lucky enough to have a Google+ account, add Michael Lee Johnson, Internet Geek, App Developer, Technological Virtuoso.”

Facebook removed his ad, and banned him from running ads on the social network altogether. Johnson posted the following via his Google+ account (via TechCrunch):

LOL: I recently ran a Google+ advertisement on Facebook that got all of my campaigns suspended. - Great.

Facebook sent him the following message explaining why the ad was removed:

Your account has been disabled. All of your adverts have been stopped and should not be run again on the site under any circumstances. Generally, we disable an account if too many of its adverts violate our Terms of Use or Advertising guidelines. Unfortunately we cannot provide you with the specific violations that have been deemed abusive. Please review our Terms of Use and Advertising guidelines if you have any further questions.

Since Facebook doesn’t say, it’s not clear which rule – actually it could have been more than one – Johnson broke. It is worth noting, however, that the company has a Refusal of Ads clause in the Facebook Advertising Guidelines:

We may refuse ads at any time for any reason, including our determination that they promote competing products or services or negatively affect our business or relationship with our users.

There’s nothing wrong with a company having guidelines that are as beneficial to it as possible. Still, I don’t think Facebook should have killed all of Johnson’s ad campaigns.

What to expect as you get older

2011-07-12T20:41:00.000+05:30

Aging: What to expect as you get older

Looked in the mirror lately only to find a few more wrinkles and gray hairs? Those are just a few of the changes you're likely to notice as you get older. But what exactly is going on with your body? Here's what you can expect as you age.

Natural changes with age

Regardless of how long you live, time takes a toll on the organs and systems in your body. How and when this occurs is unique to you. Some typical changes to expect as you age include:

Cardiovascular system

Over time, your heart muscle becomes a less efficient pump, working harder to pump the same amount of blood through your body. Also, your blood vessels become less elastic. Hardened fatty deposits may form on the walls of your arteries (atherosclerosis), narrowing the passageway through the vessels. The natural loss of elasticity, in combination with atherosclerosis, makes your arteries stiffer, causing your heart to work even harder to pump blood through them. This can lead to high blood pressure (hypertension).

Bones, muscles and joints

Your bones reach their maximum mass between ages 25 and 35. As you age, your bones shrink in size and density. One consequence is that you might become shorter. Gradual loss of density weakens your bones and makes them more susceptible to fracture. Muscles, tendons and joints generally lose some strength and flexibility as you age.

Digestive system

Swallowing and the motions that automatically move digested food through your intestines slow down as you get older. The amount of surface area within your intestines diminishes slightly. The flow of secretions from your stomach, liver, pancreas and small intestine may decrease. These changes generally don't disrupt your digestive process, so you may never notice them. But you might notice more constipation.

Kidneys, bladder and urinary tract

With age, your kidneys become less efficient in removing waste from your bloodstream. Chronic conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and some medications can damage your kidneys further.

About 30 percent of people age 65 and older experience a loss of bladder control (urinary incontinence). Incontinence can be caused by a number of health problems, such as obesity, frequent constipation and chronic cough.

Women are more likely than men to have incontinence. Women who've been through menopause might experience stress incontinence as the muscles around the opening of the bladder (the sphincter muscles) lose strength and bladder reflexes change. As estrogen levels decline, the tissue lining the tube through which urine passes (urethra) becomes thinner. Pelvic muscles become weaker, reducing bladder support.

In older men, incontinence is sometimes caused by an enlarged prostate, which can block the urethra. This makes it difficult to empty your bladder and can cause small amounts of urine to leak.

Brain and nervous system

The number of cells (neurons) in your brain decreases with age, and your memory becomes less efficient. However, in some areas of your brain, the number of connections between the cells increases, perhaps helping to compensate for the aging neurons and maintain brain function. Your reflexes tend to become slower. You also tend to become less coordinated.

Eyes

With age, your eyes are less able to produce tears, your retinas thin, and your lenses gradually turn yellow and become less clear. In your 40s, focusing on objects that are close up may become more difficult. Later, the colored portions of your eyes (irises) stiffen, making your pupils less responsive. This can make it more difficult to adapt to different levels of light. Other changes to your lenses can make you sensitive to glare, which presents a problem when driving at night. Cataracts, glaucoma and macular degeneration are the most common problems of aging eyes.

Ears

Hearing loss is one of the most common conditions affecting adults who are middle-aged and older. One in three people older than 60 and half of all people older than 85 have significant hearing loss. Over the years, sounds and noise can damage the hair cells of your inner ears.

Also, the walls of your auditory canals thin, and your eardrums thicken. You may have difficulty hearing high frequencies. Some people find it difficult to follow a conversation in a crowded room. Changes in the inner ear or in the nerves attached to it, earwax buildup and various diseases can all affect your hearing.

Teeth

How your teeth and gums respond to age depends on how well you've cared for them over the years. But even if you're meticulous about brushing and flossing, you may notice that your mouth feels drier and your gums have pulled back (receded). Your teeth may darken slightly and become more brittle and easier to break.

Most adults can keep their natural teeth all of their lives. But with less saliva to wash away bacteria, your teeth and gums become slightly more vulnerable to decay and infection. If you've lost most or all of your natural teeth, you might use dentures or dental implants as a replacement.

Some older adults experience dry mouth (xerostomia), which can lead to tooth decay and infection. Dry mouth can also make speaking, swallowing and tasting difficult. Oral cancer is more common among older adults. Your dentist checks for oral cancer when you go for regular cleanings and checkups.

Skin, nails and hair

With age, your skin thins and becomes less elastic and more fragile. You'll likely notice that you bruise more easily. Decreased production of natural oils may make your skin drier and more wrinkled. Age spots can occur, and skin tags are more common. Your nails grow at about half the pace they once did. Your hair may gray and thin. In addition, you likely perspire less — making it harder to stay cool in high temperatures and putting you at increased risk of heat exhaustion and heat stroke.

How fast your skin ages depends on many factors. The most significant factor is sun exposure over the years. The more sun your skin has been exposed to, the more damage you may attain. Smoking adds to skin damage, such as wrinkles. Skin cancer also is a concern as you age. You have a 40 percent to 50 percent chance of getting skin cancer at least once by the time you reach 65.

Sleep

Sleep needs change little throughout adulthood. If you need six hours of sleep nightly, chances are you'll always need six hours — give or take 30 minutes. However, as you age, you'll likely find that you sleep less soundly, meaning you'll need to spend more time in bed to get the same amount of sleep. By age 75, some people find that they're waking up several times each night.

Weight

As you age, maintaining a healthy weight — or losing weight if you're overweight — may be more difficult. Your metabolism generally slows, meaning that your body burns fewer calories. Calories that were once used to meet your daily energy needs instead are stored as fat. Your level of activity may decrease, resulting in unwanted weight gain.

Sexuality

With age, sexual needs, patterns and performance may change. Women's vaginas tend to shrink and narrow, and the walls become less elastic. Vaginal dryness is a problem. All of this can make sex painful.

Impotence becomes more common in men as they age. By the time they're 65, up to one in four men have difficulty getting or keeping an erection about one in every four times they have sex. In others, it may take longer to get an erection, and it may not be as firm as it used to be.

How long can you live?

The longest documented human life span is 122 years. Though a life span that long is rare, improvements in medicine, science and technology during the last century have helped more people live longer, healthier lives. If you were born in the early 1900s in the United States, your life expectancy was only about 50 years. Today it's around 77.

And if you're sure you've already done too much damage to yourself to hope for a long life, think again. Researchers say it's never too late to adopt a healthy lifestyle. For example, if you quit smoking now, your risk of heart disease begins to fall almost immediately. Living a healthy lifestyle can improve how you age. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables and getting out for a daily walk are ways you can begin preparing now for your later years.
source

A temple with history, legends and treasures

2011-07-12T20:16:00.000+05:30

The idol of Lord Vishnu, presiding deity at Kerala’s Padmanabhaswami temple, where mind-boggling treasures have been discovered, is itself made of 12,000 ’salagramams’ or sacred stones.

The stones, brought from Gandaki river in Nepal, are bound together by a mixture of herbs and resins, a sticking subtance.

A book on the Travancore royal family which maintains the temple reveals that the 18-foot Vishnu idol bears the images of a whopping 33 crore celestials in conceptualised form, besides those of goddess Lakshmi and Bhoomi Devi as well as sages.

These details form part of a book on the Travancore royal family. The book, “Travancore: The Footprints of Destiny” has been published by Konark.

The temple hit the headlines after a Supreme Court ordered scrutiny of five of its six chambers uncovered a rich treasure trove including ancient gold coins, gems, antiques and cash.

The temple has in its archives the largest collection of cadjan records. It figures in four Puranas.

Thiruvananthapuram derives its name from Tiru Anantha Puram- meaning the city of Anantha, the serpant god on whom Lord Vishnu reclines.

With a history dating back to the 8th century, the temple was destroyed by fire in 1686. It was rebuilt in 1729.

Legend has it that god Balarama visited the temple and bathed in the holy pond and donated 10,000 cows with horns adorned in gold to the Brahmins.

The Krishna shrine in the seven-acre temple complex is older than the main shrine. Subsidiary shrines are devoted to Ganapathy, Ram, Narasimha, Ayyappa, Vedavyasa, Garuda and Hanuman.

The seven-storied tower, or Gopuram, pieces the skyline, looking like a boat.

The “Kulasekhara Mandapam” in the complex carries a wealth of intricate granite sculptures, says the book.

The “Ottakkal Mandapam”, facing the main idol, is a single slab of granite, which is 2.5 feet thick and 20 feet square in area.

For the temple festival, the cord for hoisting the two flags is still made by the inmates of the Central Jail in Poojapura.

Unique to the temple is an elaborate bi-annual ritual of sanctity called “Bhadra deepam”, literally the worship of the lamps.

It is the only temple in India to observe “Bhadra deepam”.

The 12th Bhadra deepam is celebrated as Laksha deepam, when the Travancore Maharajah offers gold, cash and a length of silk, a tradition that continues even today.

On the wide avenue leading to the eastern entrance of the temple, giant figures of the Pandavas are installed.

The images, carved in wood, are more than 25 feet in height and are elaborately painted and decorated, the book says.

Besides priests and their assistants, the temple has other employees such as light carriers, guards, musicians, cooks and vessel cleaners.

Riteish, Genelia to have two weddings

2011-07-09T13:10:00.001+05:30

Actors Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia D'Souza are officially a couple now

...

Well, they haven't announced anything yet, but their action spoke louder than words as the two walked hand-in-hand at a recent awards function, even in the presence of Mom D'Souza, who only looked too happy with the couple's close camaraderie.

Riteish and Genelia have been 'good friends' for a long time now. If sources are to be believed the two would've settled down together a long time ago had Riteish's family agreed to the wedding of their son to a Catholic girl. Apparently, the Deshmukh family wanted Riteish to settle down with a girl from their community.

However, it looks like after all these years the family has given in, or so we are told by friends of the actor's. And if a wedding does happen in 2012, there are going to be two shaadis - one will be a Maharashtrian wedding, while the other will be a Church wedding for Riteish and Genelia!

Facebook launches video calls, group chat features

2011-07-07T12:52:00.000+05:30

Quick on the heels of Google’s launch of its latest social-networking venture, Facebook said Wednesday that its 750 million users will now be able to make video calls on the site.

The feature will be powered by the Internet phone service Skype. Facebook also redesigned its chat feature, so that the people a user messages the most often show up first.

To make video calls, Facebook users with webcam-equipped computers have to select the friends they want to chat with. In the chat window that pops up, clicking on a small blue video icon brings up the video chat feature. Currently there is no option to video chat more than one person. That feature is available on Google Plus, a social service that Google began testing last week with a small number of invited users.

Facebook is also adding a group chat option. This works much the same way as the group chat on Google Plus. Once you are chatting with one friend, you can click an icon to add more people to the conversation.

Facebook’s new products come after a relatively quiet period for the world’s largest online social network. Mr. Zuckerberg, 27, said the company is embarking on “launching season 2011.” Users can expect “a lot of stuff coming out” from Facebook in the next couple of weeks and months, he said at an event at the company’s Palo Alto, California, headquarters.

Facebook updated its user count -- to 750 million users worldwide -- for the first time since last summer, when it reached half a billion people. Mr. Zuckerberg said that’s because “we don’t think it’s a metric to watch anymore.”

Rather, Facebook is paying more attention to how much its users are sharing with one another. That number is growing at a much faster rate than its monthly user base. Currently, people share 4 billion items, such as photos, status updates and links, every day using Facebook.

Without mentioning Google by name, Mr. Zuckerberg said that “independent entrepreneurs and companies focused on one particular thing will always do better than companies that try to do everything.”

For Facebook, that one thing has been creating an online social infrastructure that other companies, such as Skype, can then add their own products to.

Skype has agreed to be bought by Microsoft Corp. for $8.5 billion in a deal expected to close by the end of the year. Microsoft owns a small stake in Facebook.

33 killed as train rams into bus

2011-07-07T12:43:00.000+05:30

At least 33 people were killed and 35 others injured when a train rammed into a bus at annear Kanshiram Nagar in Uttar Pradesh in the wee hours on Thursday. The accident occurred at around 2.20 am when the train on its way from Mathura to Chapra in Bihar rammed into the

bus carrying a marriage party from Adupura village at the crossing in Dariyawganj area in this district.

Additional Superintendent of Police Daddan Prasad said the bus was carrying around 68 passengers. "33 people have been killed and 35 others injured in the mishap," he said.

Shailaja Kumari, District Magistrate, Etah, said the injured have been admitted to various hospitals in Etah and
Farukkhabad districts.

"The injured have been taken care of and they are now in various hospitals. Everybody is out of danger," she said.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed extreme grief at the loss of life and announced ex-gratia relief of Rs 2 lakh for the kin of each person killed, Rs 50,000 each for seriously injured and Rs 10,000 each for those with simple injuries.Singh, who holds the Railway portfolio, also ordered a high-level inquiry by the Commissioner of Rail Safety into the mishap.

A Railways spokesman said the inquiry will go into the causes of the accident. Minister of State for Railways K H Muniyappa and Railway Board Chairman Vinay Mittal have rushed to the mishap site to oversee the rescue operations.

3 men rape girl in moving car for 6 hrs

2011-07-05T17:17:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI: In yet another incident of rape in a moving car, three young men allegedly assaulted a 16-year-old girl for about six hours in north Delhi, after abducting her from a crowded place, recently.

The victim has alleged that she was burnt with cigarette butts every time she tried to seek help and was even filmed while the crime was being committed. The accused finally dumped her near Peeragarhi late at night, threatening to release an MMS if she reported the matter to the police. One person, who is said to work in a shop in the Sabzi Mandi area, was arrested late on Monday night while two are still absconding.

"The girl alleged that she was raped when returning home on the evening of June 27. We have registered a case under IPC sections 363 (kidnapping), 376 (rape) and 323 (voluntarily causing hurt). We have arrested one of the accused, a resident of Punjabi Basti at Sabzi Mandi. So far, we have not found any MMS clip in the mobile phone of the detained person but we will question all the three accused. The police was approached last Sunday night after which we immediately launched a probe," said DCP (North) I B Rani. Sources at the police headquarters said a medical test showed "signs" of rape but could not prove it "conclusively".

According to the police, the victim is a student of Class 11 in a government school and lives in the Malkaganj area with her parents, two elder sisters and a brother. Her father is employed in a lower-rung job in a BPO. "She was returning from the Kamla Market area after tution and had reached the Ghanta Ghar area near Sabzi Mandi, usually a very crowded place, when the incident took place," said the investigating officer. He added that the girl alleged she was abducted around 5pm and it was not until 11pm that she was thrown out of the car. "The girl has not been able to tell us about the route taken by the accused to reach Peeragarhi, several kilometers from the spot," added the officer.

The victim told reporters she was walking down the road when a white Maruti pulled up beside her. "One of the youths in the car was the brother of one of my classmates whom I have known for the past two years. One of them was driving the car while the other two were sitting in the rear. One of them tried to pull me inside the car all of a sudden. I tried to pull away, but they tugged at my bag and pushed me inside the car. Every time I tried to roll down the window, they burnt me with cigarettes. I was thrown out of the car late in the night after they threatened to release an MMS if I complained," the victim alleged.

The victim's father said the family was "shocked" when their youngest child refused to talk to them after returning home late that night. "She was just crying, refusing to go to school. Her sister found out about the burns on her body and coaxed her to come out with the truth. It was then that we approached the police," he said.

The Delhi Police commissioner had on Saturday claimed that the city had one of the lowest counts of rape per lakh of population across the world while trying to dispel fears about Delhi being an unsafe city. Delhi has a rate of 3.09 rapes compared to 211 in Manchester, 165 in Johannesburg and 24.7 in California, claimed the top cop. There has been a total of 258 rapes till June 30 this year compared to 289 cases in the same period last year, a drop of 10.73%.

Sun Pictures COO arrested for cheating

2011-07-04T10:44:00.000+05:30

Chennai: A senior executive of Sun Pictures, who was arrested on charges of cheating and intimidation, has been remanded in judicial custody, police said.

Hansraj Saxena, the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Sun Pictures which is owned by Kalanidhi Maran, media magnate and grand-nephew of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, was arrested based on a complaint by a Salem-based distributor, a statement said last night.

Hansraj Saxena's arrest had a direct affect on Sun TV shares as it fell 4 per cent in early morning trade on Monday.

T S Selvaraj, the complainant, had said that Saxena, whose Sun Pictures had produced the Tamil film, 'Theerada Vilayattu Pillai' starring Vishal, had sold him the film's Salem distribution rights for a sum of Rs. 1.25 crore. The film was released last year.

However, Saxena had directly released the film with the help of local theatres, the release said, quoting the complaint.

When Sevaraj demanded a sum of Rs. 82.53 lakh from Saxena, he allegedly delayed repaying the sum and on January 5, 2011 threatened Selvaraj when he asked for his money, the release said.

Selvaraj later filed a complaint on July 1 with KK Nagar police in Chennai, following which Saxena was arrested.

Lisa wants to be a mom

2011-07-04T10:32:00.002+05:30

Canadian-Indian actor Lisa Ray is perhaps most acclaimed for her brave battle with bone marrow cancer two years ago. She fought through the hardship of chemotherapy-induced menopause, but wants to be a mother now. “I’m looking at other options and talking to my partner about it. I would like to
have one child, boy or girl,” says Ray.

She was invited for the recently held IIFA awards in her hometown — Toronto, and feels honoured. “I think the awards are doing something really positive. It is getting people to talk about Bollywood films,” she says. Working for IIFA, she also got to see behind the scenes action. “Like, when a fan lunged on Shah Rukh Khan’s feet on stage, it went unnoticed as everyone thought it was part of the skit,” she says. Another favourite moment for her was: walking on the green-carpet, where she chose to lend support to Canadian designers by wearing their creations.

Ray, who has starred in films like Water, I Can’t Think Straight and Bollywood/Hollywood, was in the Capital to promote her new TV series, Oh My Gold!, to be aired on the channel, TLC. In the show, Ray travels through India, “snooping” around to uncover different cities’ inherent jewellery styles.

Her most prized possession? “A ruby and diamonds ring that was passed down by my mother to me,” she Ray.

I’d like to have one child. I’m looking at options — adoption or some technique, it is not definitive

It was convenient to wear designers from Canada, instead of calling in garments from India (for IIFA)

India is the only place in the world, where gold and jewellery is literally a part of the national make up

Goa water unsafe for bathing and fishing

2011-07-01T17:33:00.000+05:30

Panaji: Here's a note of caution for all those tourists who head to Goa annually for a bit of sun and a splash in the sea - marine scientists have said the waters off the state's coast contain alarmingly high levels of coliform bacteria caused by the release of untreated sewage.

Scientists of the Goa-based marine research organisation, National Institute of Oceanography (NIO), have said that the waters off Goa's coast are "unsafe for recreational bathing and fishing".

"Seawaters along the Indian coasts are classified by the Central Pollution Control Board of India (CPCB) as fit for commercial fishing, contact recreation and bathing activities when the faecal coliform (FC) count is 100 CFU/100 ml. But we found FC levels as high as 190 CFU/100 ml in certain locations of Goa waters," NIO's marine scientist Dr N Ramaiah said.

A colony forming unit or CFU is the actual number of bacteria viewed under a microscope in a sample of water.

Ramaiah headed a marine research team, which conducted this study over a period of six years.

"For assessing the water quality of the neretic regions off Goa and Ratnagiri along the central west coast of India, FC concentrations from the present study were compared with both Indian and USEPA (United States Environment Protection Agency) standards," he said.

"In both Mandovi and Zuari estuaries (both primary rivers in Goa), where fishing and tourist-related activities are sizable and long-term data collection was regular, we observed high counts of TC, FC, VC, SH and SA (forms of bacteria) in particular during monsoon due to increased land runoff. Further, the abundance has increased significantly over the years in the water column to much above either USEPA or India permissible limits," he said.

"When you enter the water, it forms a film of water around your body. At such concentrations of coliform bacteria, at any given point you are in contact with about 1,200 cells of seriously harmful bacteria. It is fortunate that external contamination is rare. But if you have a cut on your skin or a wound it could be serious," he said.

"Besides, it is fortunate that during the monsoons, when concentrations are high, it is off season for tourists," he said.

The main, if not only, cause for this is the release of completely untreated sewage into the water and the practice of defecation along the popular beaches and rivers.

"Almost all the sewage released in the rivers is untreated. Even one gram of stools contains millions and millions of coliform bacteria. So when it is present in water naturally the count goes up," Ramaiah said.

He has also raised concern over ships anchored off the coast.

"Pathogenic bacteria were detected even 20 km and 25 km offshore mainly due to dumping of raw or improperly treated sewage effluents either from land, fishing trawlers and/or ships in the anchorage," he said.

Wikileaks gets CD containing accounts details of 'rich and famous'

2011-01-18T00:02:00.000+05:30

London: A former Swiss bank executive said on Monday that he had given the WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, details of more than 2,000 prominent individuals and companies that he contends engaged in tax evasion and other possible criminal activity.

Rudolf M. Elmer, the former head of the Cayman Islands office of the prominent Swiss bank Julius Baer, refused to identify any of the individuals or companies, but told reporters at a press conference that about 40 politicians and "pillars of society" worldwide are among them.

He told The Observer newspaper over the weekend that those named in the documents come from "the U.S., Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia -- from all over," and include "business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates -- from both sides of the Atlantic."

Mr. Assange said that WikiLeaks would verify and release the information, including the names, in as little as two weeks. He suggested possible partnerships with financial news organizations and said he would consider turning the information over to Britain's Serious Fraud Office, a government agency that investigates financial corruption.

Mr. Elmer said he had turned to WikiLeaks to educate society about what he considers an unfair system designed to serve the rich and aid money launderers after his offers to provide the data to universities and governments were spurned and, in his opinion, the Swiss media failed to cover the substance of his allegations. "The man in the street needs to know how this system works," he said, referring to the offshore trusts that many "high net worth individuals" across the world use to evade taxes.

His former employers released a statement on Friday denying all wrongdoing and suggesting that Mr. Elmer's aim was to "discredit Julius Baer as well as clients in the eyes of the public." It accused him of using falsified documents and spreading "baseless accusations" and passing on "unlawfully acquired, respectively retained, documents to the media, and later also to WikiLeaks."

On Monday, Mr. Elmer declined say how he had obtained the documents, which were on two CDs. He faces trial in Switzerland on Wednesday on charges of stealing the information from the bank. He was held for 30 days in 2005 over allegations that he violated Swiss banking secrecy laws, falsified documents and sent threatening messages to two people at the bank.

WikiLeaks and Bank Julius Baer previously clashed in early 2008 when the anti-secrecy organization published hundreds of documents pertaining to its offshore activities. On that occasion, it did not identify the 15 individuals concerned. But the bank succeeded, briefly, in gaining a court order to shut down the WikiLeaks.org Web site anyway. The injunction was subsequently overturned and the case was dropped.

The offshore banking industry has come under increasing pressure from whistle-blowers like Mr. Elmer over the last two years. In 2009, Bradley Birkenfeld, a former private banker for UBS, was sentenced to more than three years in prison after refusing to admit his own role in the Swiss bank's efforts to help American clients evade taxes.

Prosecutors did, however, credit Mr. Birkenfeld for helping to disclose some illegal tactics in the industry. As a result of Mr. Birkenfeld's disclosures, UBS agreed to turn over details of several thousand client accounts to the Internal Revenue Service as part of a legal settlement. UBS agreed to pay a $780 million fine and admitted criminal wrongdoing.

In London on Monday, Mr. Assange said that financial institutions "operate outside the rule of law" because of their economic power. WikiLeaks itself had, he said, been "economically censored" by companies like Visa and MasterCard, which stopped processing donations to it late last year in response to its release of hundreds of thousands of classified United States documents on the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and thousands of State Department cables.

WikiLeaks has also said it would release information from an American bank, thought to be the contents of a Bank of America executive's hard drive, early this year. But, Mr. Assange said, the site is not fully "open for public business" owing to the weight of the existing leaks it is struggling to process.

He would not comment on continuing proceedings to extradite him from Britain to Sweden to face allegations of sexual wrongdoing brought by two women in Stockholm last summer. He will next appear in a London court on Feb. 7 and 8.

The United States is also widely thought to be conducting an investigation into Mr. Assange and WikiLeaks, in connection with the release of the classified United States government and military information.

Teen kills younger girl he met on Facebook

2011-01-17T23:50:00.000+05:30

Vilnius, Lithuania: Lithuanian police say a 14-year-old boy has admitted killing a 13-year-old girl he met through Facebook.

Police spokeswoman Dalia Petrauskiene says the girl from the town Alytus was murdered after arranging on the popular social networking site to meet the boy, who lives in the capital, Vilnius. Her half-naked body was found at a bus stop outside Vilnius on Sunday.

The spokeswoman said today that the boy confessed to the killing. If found guilty of murder he faces a maximum 10-year sentence.

Lithuania is one of Facebook's fastest growing markets, with some 710,000 users in the country of 3.4 million.

How cops caught the runaway bride

2011-01-15T18:29:00.000+05:30

Delhi police personnel nabbed the woman, who had been evading them for nine years after being accused of cheating a bank, from outside her wedding venue

Shalu Thukral, her brother, father and sister-in-law had been named in a case lodged by Oriental Bank of Commerce, OBC, Naraina branch. "In 2006, they had floated a company and had taken an amount of Rs 16 lakh overdraft, but they allegedly didn't pay it back," the police officer stated.

Another senior EOW police officer, on condition of anonymity, confirmed the incident and said: "We had been searching for her and her brother for the past several years as they had escaped with government money and there was a debt of about Rs five lakh on her. Therefore, we couldn't have let them go this time."

Their case was being investigated by the Criminal Breach of Trust (CBT) branch of Delhi police's Economic Offences Wing, with its office in Malviya Nagar. "We had laid a trap as a contingency measure since we expected that she may attempt to run away from her wedding.

And that's exactly what happened and we caught her when she was trying to escape from outside the Gurdwara," one of the investigating officers said. The officer said that she was produced before a court where a settlement was sought as they paid the money to the bank.

"They could have done that earlier too but they didn't and we had to drop by at her wedding," cops said. Initially the case was handed to the local cops at Naraina police station, the area where the bank was located and the matter was later transferred to the EOW.

Easy come, easy go

Following a court order, Delhi police Economic Offences Wing (EOW) have started investigating a multi-crore-investment scam by a Delhi-based company, which allegedly duped several small-time investors through purchase of shares in their up-coming project. According to court sources, till date, the police have not filed any status report in the matter and no arrest has been made in the case.
The court in its order noted that initially police had denied registering a criminal case in the matter. Vikas Promoters Private Limited, its directors Nand Kishore Garg, Pankaj Arora, Asha Garg and Mohan Kumar Garg are being probed in the connection after Metropolitan Magistrate Jitender Mishra ordered registration of an FIR against them on August 20. The order was passed on a compliant filed by an investor, Atul Mahajan, who claimed that he had lost Rs 1.12 crore, as the company defrauded by forging the balance sheet and annual returns shown to him

Drinking tea can check weight gain

2010-12-23T19:45:00.000+05:30

Taking tea may prevent weight gain caused by junk food, according to a new study.

Researchers found regular consumption of tea also suppressed damaging changes in the blood linked to fatty foods that can lead to type-2 diabetes, reports Dailymail.

They said the research on mice could signal another set of health benefits from tea if they are confirmed in trials on humans.

In the study some mice were given a high fat diet and others a normal diet. Each of these two groups was then split into smaller groups and given water, black tea or green tea for 14 weeks.

Both types of tea suppressed body weight gain and the build-up of belly fat linked to a fatty diet.

But black tea, which is used in most ordinary cuppas, also counteracted the harmful effects on the blood normally associated with a high-fat diet.

These included increases in cholesterol, high blood glucose and insulin resistance - a precursor to type-2 diabetes where the body does not efficiently use the insulin it produces.

Rising obesity levels in Western countries have resulted in many more people having insulin resistance.

Taking tea has already been linked to lowering the risk of heart disease, cancer and Parkinson's disease. Other research shows drinking tea on a regular basis for ten or more years may improve bone density.

China's media launches search engine to rival Google

2010-12-21T18:57:00.000+05:30

After taming Google into submission, China has launched a new search engine of its own to make foray into its 420 million strong net users' market, a move believed to be aimed at taking firm control of the web media.

Known as 'Goso.cn', China's very own search engine has been launched by the country's largest newspaper the People's Daily, which is the official daily of the ruling Communist Party of China.

The state-run media already holds sway over the country where the flow of information is tightly controlled, and the move to introduce its own search engine signifies its aim to take control of the web media as well.

The move came as blog news is catching up fast posing a direct challenge to the hold of official media in the country.

Google was involved in a face-off with the Chinese government in March this year after it shut down its Chinese search engine and re-routed mainland users to its uncensored site in Hong Kong, protesting cyber attacks.

Google, which resisted attempts of censorship for many months later gave in and got its license to operate in China renewed only after it agreed to abide by all restrictions.

Months later, the country's largest newspaper has launched a news search engine which came after six months of trial operations, state-run English dailies the China Daily and Global Times reported.

The launch of the People Search Engine is part of authorities' efforts to enhance the CPC international communication capacity, Zhang Yannong, president of People's Daily, said.

Given the fact that most of the rules and regulations of the information industry were set by foreign companies, and that several countries view development of the Internet as part of their national strategies, China must develop a search engine with independent technology, thus creating a good Internet environment for 420 million, China Daily quoted a 'netizen' Zhang as saying.

"The search engine is an Internet tool that obviously has ideological characteristics," he said.

Deng Yaping, general manager of Goso Network Limited, said Goso.cn is a vertical search engine product that integrates news, news forums, pictures, blogs, videos and micro blogs.

Since its renewal, Google operated on a low profile in China and Google Earth Maps did not even take part in the bidding, leaving the floor open to mostly local competitors.

China has already launched its own version of earth maps which showed Arunachal Pradesh as part of southern Tibet [ Images ].

Goso.cn is expected to go after local search engine Baidu.com, which expanded it operations taking full advantage of Google's problems.

WikiLeaks' Assange complains he's victim of leaks

2010-12-21T18:47:00.000+05:30

LONDON – It has come to this: Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is complaining that someone leaked a Swedish police report on his alleged sexual offenses.

In an interview with the British newspaper The Times, Assange complained about reporting in the rival newspaper The Guardian, which is one of several publications that has been helping WikiLeaks edit its trove of secret U.S. diplomatic files in exchange for an early look at them.

The Guardian published details Saturday of the Swedish police report in which two women accuse Assange of rape, based on what it described as "unauthorized access" to prosecutors' files. Assange claimed the newspaper was "selectively publishing" parts of it, and questioned the timing of the leak, saying it was given to the paper a day before his bail hearing last week.

"The leak of the police report to The Guardian was clearly designed to undermine my bail application. It was timed to come up on the desk of the judge that morning," Assange was quoted as saying in Tuesday's paper. "Someone in authority clearly intended to keep Julian in prison, and shopped (the report) around to other newspapers as well."

Assange, who is contesting a Swedish extradition bid, was freed on bail last week under strict conditions including that he stay at the home of a supporter in southern England, wear an electronic tag, observe a curfew and post a bond of 200,000 pounds ($310,000). He faces his next court hearing Jan. 11.

Swedish officials want to question Assange about allegations stemming from separate encounters with two women in Sweden over the summer. The women have accused Assange of sexual crimes including rape, molestation and unlawful coercion. Assange denies the allegations, which his lawyers say stem from a dispute over "consensual but unprotected sex." He has not been charged.

The Times quoted Assange as saying there is "very suggestive evidence" that the two women were motivated by revenge, money and police pressure.

In an editorial, The Guardian defended its coverage, saying it "is unusual for a sex-offense case to be presented outside of the judicial process in such a manner, but then it is unheard of for a defendant, his legal team and supporters to so vehemently and publicly attack women at the heart of a rape case."

In a BBC interview aired Tuesday, Assange said he believed the women behind the allegations "found out that they were mutual lovers of mine and they had unprotected sex and they got into a tizzy about whether there was a possibility of sexually transmitted diseases."

The women's lawyer, Claes Borgstrom, has said they went through similar experiences with Assange and decided to go to the police together to seek advice on what to do. A policewoman who heard their accounts decided that Assange had probably committed a sex crime of some kind and passed the case to a prosecutor.

Borgstrom has criticized Assange for suggesting that the allegations are part of a smear campaign against him and WikiLeaks, which has begun to release what it says are more than a quarter-million leaked U.S. embassy cables, infuriating the United States and governments around the world. Borgstrom says the case has nothing to do with Assange's website or any wider conspiracy against it.

Asked by the Times whether he is promiscuous, Assange replied: "I am not promiscuous. I just really like women."

He said WikiLeaks had received "tremendous" public support, even when he was in jail.

"I was handed a card by one of my black prison guards. It said, 'I only have two heroes in the world: Dr. (Martin Luther) King, and you,'" he told the newspaper. "That is representative of 50 percent of people."

Assange didn't immediately return calls Tuesday seeking comment.

Anti-baldness drug affects men's sexual health

2010-12-21T18:36:00.000+05:30

Some doctors have claimed that young men could be jeopardizing their sexual health by taking the world's best selling anti-baldness drug.

According to researchers, finasteride - sold in UK as Propecia - can cause serious side effects and that the drug's labelling is inadequate.

The prescription pill is extremely effective at stopping hair loss and in clinical trials nine out of 10 men didn't lose any more hair over a five year period.

Drugs' company Merck, which manufactures Propecia, claims on its website that less than 2pc of men could suffer sexual side effects, reports the BBC .

It mentions things like difficulty achieving an erection, but says the problems will go away for men who stop taking the drug.

There are doctors in Ireland and the US who claim that the drug's labelling is inadequate.

Merck said they continually monitor its safety and have recently changed the labelling after reports of sexual side effects continuing after people had stopped taking the drug.

They also claim those cases are extremely rare and could be caused by something other than Propecia itself.

Lured with promise of marriage, she was raped for a fortnight

2010-12-21T18:29:00.000+05:30

CHANDIGARH: A 14-year-old lured with the promise of marriage by a youth was raped by him and his three friends for a fortnight at various places in Haryana.

The girl, who was lured away by the youth on December 5, was found near a residential colony in Panipat on Saturday. While one of the accused youths is on the run, police have arrested four persons, including the woman who helped one of the youths to rape the victim, at her home. Besides Panipat resident Sona Devi, others who have been arrested in the rape case registered at Safidon, include Moti, a youth living in the neighbourhood of victim in Gangoli village, Kashmira and Virbhan, residents of Pilukhera in Jind district.

600,000 sign WikiLeaks petition as Assange braces for court

2010-12-14T00:35:00.000+05:30

LONDON: Almost 600,000 people had signed an online petition in support of WikiLeaks Monday, ahead of a second appearance in court in London by the whistle-blowing website's founder, Julian Assange.

The petition on campaigning website Avaaz calls on the US and other nations to "stop the crackdown on WikiLeaks and its partners immediately" and to respect "the laws of freedom of expression and freedom of the press".

WikiLeaks has been releasing thousands of confidential US diplomatic cables, causing huge embarrassment in Washington.

US President Barack Obama has denounced the leak as "deplorable" and various countries have tried to close down the site, sending it jumping from server to server in a bid to stay online.

At 1600 GMT Monday, more than 594,000 people worldwide had signed the Avaaz petition.

Although the petition does not mention Assange, many supporters link the campaign against WikiLeaks to the allegations of sexual assault and rape made against the site's founder in Sweden.

The 39-year-old Australian will appear in court in London for a second time Tuesday where his lawyers will make a second application for bail.

He was arrested in London on December 7 on an extradition warrant from Sweden, where prosecutors want to quiz him on the sexual assault claims.

He denies the allegations and his lawyers have said they are politically motivated.

Supporters are expected to gather outside City of Westminster Magistrates Court ahead of Assange's expected appearance on Tuesday afternoon to protest his continued detention.

Last week, the judge denied him bail because he was a flight risk, but said he would like to see more evidence of the allegations.

The Stop The War Coalition, which is organising the protest, claims the US government and its allies have built up a campaign against Assange which culminated in his detention "on dubious charges".

"We demand his immediate release, the dropping of all charges and an end to the censorship of WikiLeaks," it says.

About 15 people protested outside the Swedish embassy in central London on Monday.

Organised by the Justice for Assange Campaign, they wore masks bearing Assange's face and held up banners claiming he was a "political prisoner" and was being gagged.

Last week, Assange's legal team said he had been moved into a segregation unit of Wandsworth prison in south London "for his own safety".

Assange will be represented in court by high-profile human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson.

YouTube rich list: Top 10 earners among independent acts

2010-12-13T21:12:00.000+05:30

At least 10 independent acts on YouTube are earning over $100,000 (£65,000) a year in advertising revenue from the video-sharing site, it has been claimed.

Although YouTube traffic is largely driven by demand for professional music acts, the site receives 60,000 video clips a week of varying quality.

The site, owned by Google, allows creators of original content to generate advertising revenues from their work in the same way as mainstream entertain firms.

Nine of those that appeared in TubeMogul's top 10 are comics, and almost all are in the United States.

However, Greg Benson of Mediocre Films, which came in at number seven in the survey, dismissed the figures, telling the newspaper: “I would be thrilled if I actually had any business being on that list or if I actually made that much money or had that many viewers that they say I have.”

TubeMogul's top 10 independent YouTube acts

(estimated earnings and number of views in past 12 months)

1. Shane Dawson ($315,000/£200,000) 431,787,450 views

Clean-living, wholesome 22-year-old Californian comic actor producing home-made sketches.

2. The Annoying Orange ($288,000/£185,504) 349,753,047 views

Animated fruit created by Dane Boedigheimer that could soon appear on television.

3. Philip DeFranco ($181,000/£117,000) 248,735,032 views

Video blogger (vlogger) who began uploading clips while at university.

4. Ryan Higa ($151,000/£97,200) 206,979,909 views

Also known as Nigahiga, the Hawaiian-born Japanese-American evolved from lip-synching to original comedy and has had more than 150 million hits. Videos How to be Gangster and How to be Ninja went viral for him and his Yabo Crew.

5. Fred Figglehorn ($146,000/£94,000) 200,656,150 views

Lucas Cruikshank, 16, whose videos aimed at children are soon to appear on Nickelodeon.

6. Shay Carl ($140,000/£90,000) 192,309,247 views

An Idaho radio DJ and comic

7. Mediocre Films ($116,000/£74,600) 159,030,703 views

Comedy clips created by Greg Benson.

8. Smosh ($113,000/£72,700) 154,936,876 views

Comedy duo Anthony Padilla & Ian Hecox

9. The Young Turks ($112,000/£72,000) 153,807,362 views

Current affairs discussions and satire

10. Natalie Tran ($101,000/£65,000) 138,871,829 views

24-year-old Vietnamese-Australian comic with popular vlogs. is the No 1 Down Under.

Ram Charan returns his ‘Orange’ remuneration back?

2010-12-12T17:19:00.000+05:30

Mega Power Star Ram Charan’s latest release ‘Orange’ has hit the silver screens with huge expectations. Though the film has received mixed response initially, it has later turned out as a disaster at the Box-Office. The major reason behind the film’s disaster is due to its poor content though the film is visually rich in its technical and other aspects.

Naga Babu, producer of ‘Orange’ has incurred a heavy loss of more than 10 crores and Naga Babu has outburst upon the new directors at the ‘Mirapakay’ audio release. If sources are to be believed, Ram Charan is said to have returned back his remuneration 4 crores to Naga Babu in order to reduce little burden to his uncle.
Chiranjeevi & Ramcharn Teja Reallife Photos

Get rid of your belly fat!

2010-12-10T23:56:00.000+05:30

Whether you have a major paunch or a tiny roundness and want to slim down, we have just the answers for you .

Looking for the simplest way to get rid of fat around your tummy? Go for this creative 20-minute fat-blasting workout and you'll begin to see a toned tummy in just three weeks. Do them four times a week, with a day of rest in between.

Work out
Your legs are your scissors: Lie on your back with arms by your sides, legs raised, and toes pointing toward the sky. Flatten your lower back, engaging lower tummy muscles.

Inhale while lowering your right leg, so your toes are in line with your nose. Exhale, switching your legs scissor-like, so your right leg lifts back up and your left comes down. (Don't touch the ground with your foot.) Do 3 sets of 8–10 reps.

Lie flat in front: Get on your knees and forearms with your elbows directly under your shoulders, fingers interlaced. Stretch your legs long, and come up on your toes into plank position. Exhale while twisting slightly to the left from your waist only. Inhale, returning to the starting position, then repeat on the opposite side. Do three sets of 10-12 reps.

A ball-game: Look up at the ceiling, lie down on a stability ball, and drape your abs and hips over it. Place your hands on the ground in front of you, and walk them out until the ball rolls beneath your shins; contract your lower abs and lift your hips slightly, then slowly lower them down. Do three sets of 10-12 reps.

Sleeping Buddha-pose: Lie on your left side with your legs straight and stacked on top of one another and your feet flexed. Rest your head on your straight left arm. Inhale while lifting both legs off the ground, then exhale while slowly lowering them until they're about 1 inch off the ground. Do 10-12 reps, then switch sides and repeat to complete 1 set; do three sets.

Major paunch: Do 3 sets of 15 bicycle crunches 2-3 times a week, plus 30-45 minutes' worth of run-walk intervals (2 minutes each) 4-5 times a week. You'll notice the result in 4 weeks.

Tiny roundness: Do 3 sets of 12-15 crunches on a stability ball 2-3 times a week to sculpt your tummy in 3 weeks.

Eat this
Major paunch: Cut or burn 500 calories and drink 2 cups of green tea daily, as green tea alone helped exercisers drop ab fat in 12 weeks.

Tiny roundness: Eat snacks with belly-busting monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) daily: 23 almonds, 6 olives, or 2 squares dark chocolate. MUFAs can reduce ab fat in a month.

Fake it
Major paunch: Dress in a way that your belly fat is kept hidden. Go for lacy camisoles to pull in and shape your middle, plus give your chest a lift.

Tiny roundness: Get a belt that's at least 3 inches wide and made of a stiff material or leather. A belt that won't bend like a corset helps to hide your tummy.

Dhoni signs Rs 29-crore endorsement deal with Maxx Mobile

2010-12-09T12:15:00.002+05:30

Riding on his popularity, Indian cricket team captain Mahindra Singh Dhoni has signed a Rs 29-crore endorsement deal with Maxx Mobile for a period of seven years.

"Maxx believes in Dhoni's potential and the performance that he has delivered over the years is a testimony to his talent. The seven-year deal reaffirms our belief in him and is undoubtedly a big reinforcement for the Maxx brand," Maxx Group CMD Ajjay Agarwal said.

The deal comes within days of Dhoni signing Rs 26-crore deal with the world's second largest spirits firm, UB Group.

Maxx Mobile, one of the recent entrants in India's mobile phone market, has emerged as a force to reckon with after having sold millions of handsets in less than two years. It has already captured over four per cent market share and has set an ambitious target of having 10 per cent market share by March 2012.

Asked about the long periodicity of the deal (seven years), Agarwal said "this has been decided keeping in mind Dhoni's age and potential he has. He is 29 years old and the deal reflects his potential for the Indian cricket."

Dhoni's existing one-year contract with Maxx comes to an end on December 31, 2010. The record-breaking seven-year extension deal takes brand endorsement with cricket stars to a new high and provides Maxx Mobile, one of India's fastest growing brands the right connect with customers across the country.

As part of the deal, Dhoni will be associated with multiple marketing initiatives planned by Maxx Mobile to promote the brand. The deal includes print and television advertising, outdoor campaigns, promotional events and mass engagement programmes across India.

Dhoni is the face of 23 brands and charges over Rs 6 crore per endorsement. The pack of brands endorsed by Dhoni includes Reebok, Aircel, Godrej and TVS Motor.

Agarwal said number 7 is a lucky number for Dhoni and incidentally the deal was signed for 7 years and December 7. Dhoni's birthday also falls on 7th.

Maxx Mobile offers more than 45 models for customers to choose from. Maxx Mobile has a pan-India presence and operates through its strong distribution network and a vast network of over 500 service centres, Agarwal said.

Will Fenolip affect my sex life?

2010-12-08T21:18:00.000+05:30

Q. I am a 50 years old male weighing 65 kg. My triglycerides level is 285, HDL - 40, LDL - 121 and VLDL - 34. Around six months back, my triglycerides level was 227. My doctor has prescribed me Fenolip 145 two months back. I am also suffering from asthma. I am taking an inhaler for my breathing problem for the last 11 months. I exercise and do brisk walks regularly. But only in winters I tend to avoid walking. Now after using Fenolip, I am feeling better and do not use an inhaler. Will Fenolip affect my sex life? I am noticing that my penis becomes soft in winter and gets hard in summers.

A. There is no direct relation with asthma and Fenolip or even erection difficulties. You should get your fasting sugar HbA1c to rule out diabetes. Erection difficulties could be due to several reasons and if you do have diabetes you should get your TSH, free testosterone (8 to 9 am) and Prolactin done and meet an endocrinologist. Abnormal lipids level can lead to erection difficulties and this can lead to what we call vascular disease. Erection requires your vessels to be filled with blood.

Julian Assange Biography

2010-12-06T17:55:00.000+05:30

Julian Assange Biography (Profile)

Julian Assange

Assange in 2010
Born 3 July 1971 (1971-07-03) (age 39)
Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Nationality Australian
Occupation Editor-in-chief and spokesperson for WikiLeaks
Children : Daniel Assange
Awards Economist Index on Censorship Award (2008)
Amnesty International UK Media Award (2009)
Sam Adams Award (2010)

Julian Paul Assange is an Australian journalist, publisher and Internet activist. He is best known as the spokesperson and editor in chief for WikiLeaks, a whistleblower website. Before working with the website, he was a physics and mathematics student as well as a computer programmer. He has lived in several countries and has told reporters he is constantly on the move. He makes irregular public appearances to speak about freedom of the press, censorship, and investigative reporting; he has also won three journalism awards for his work with WikiLeaks.

Assange founded the controversial WikiLeaks website in 2006 and serves on its advisory board. In this capacity, he has been involved in the publication of material documenting extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report of toxic waste dumping on the African coast, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, and material involving large banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer among other documents. He has recently received widespread public attention for the publication of classified material from WikiLeaks documenting details about the involvement of the United States in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks and its five media partners began publishing the United States diplomatic cables leak. According to The Guardian, this has placed Assange "at the centre of intense media speculation and a hate campaign against him in America".

On 30 November 2010, Interpol placed Assange on its red notice list of wanted persons; concomitantly, a European Arrest Warrant was issued for him. He is wanted for questioning on suspicion of "sex crimes"; it is reported that while having consensual sex his condom broke and he either did not disclose the breakage to his partner or continued after his partner asked him to stop. He has not been formally charged with any crime.

Early life

Assange was born in Townsville, Queensland, and spent much of his youth living on Magnetic Island. Assange's parents ran a touring theatre company. In 1979, his mother, Christine, remarried; her new husband was a musician who belonged to a controversial New Age group led by Anne Hamilton-Byrne. The couple had a son, but broke up in 1982 and engaged in a custody struggle for Assange's half-brother. His mother then took both children into hiding for the next five years. Assange moved several dozen times during his childhood, attending many schools, sometimes being home schooled, and later attending several universities at various times in Australia.

Daniel Assange

Daniel Assange (16) : I never thought WikiLeaks would succeed

Hacking

In 1987, after turning 16, Assange began hacking under the name "Mendax" (derived from a phrase of Horace: "splendide mendax," or "nobly untruthful"). He and two other hackers joined to form a group which they named the International Subversives. Assange wrote down the early rules of the subculture: "Don’t damage computer systems you break into (including crashing them); don’t change the information in those systems (except for altering logs to cover your tracks); and share information".

In response to the hacking, the Australian Federal Police raided his Melbourne home in 1991. He was reported to have accessed computers belonging to an Australian university, the Canadian telecommunications company Nortel, and other organisations, via modem. In 1992, he pleaded guilty to 24 charges of hacking and was released on bond for good conduct after being fined AU$2100. The prosecutor said "there is just no evidence that there was anything other than sort of intelligent inquisitiveness and the pleasure of being able to—what's the expression—surf through these various computers".

Assange later commented, "It's a bit annoying, actually. Because I cowrote a book about [being a hacker], there are documentaries about that, people talk about that a lot. They can cut and paste. But that was 20 years ago. It's very annoying to see modern day articles calling me a computer hacker. I'm not ashamed of it, I'm quite proud of it. But I understand the reason they suggest I'm a computer hacker now. There's a very specific reason."

Child custody issues

In 1989, Assange started living with his girlfriend and soon they had a son. She separated from him after the 1991 police raid and took their so They engaged in a lengthy custody struggle, and did not agree on a custody arrangement until 1999. The entire process prompted Assange and his mother to form Parent Inquiry Into Child Protection, an activist group centered on creating a "central databank" for otherwise inaccessible legal records related to child custody issues in Australia.
Computer programming and university studies

In 1993, Assange was involved in starting one of the first public internet service providers in Australia, Suburbia Public Access Network. Starting in 1994, Assange lived in Melbourne as a programmer and a developer of free software. In 1995, Assange wrote Strobe, the first free and open source port scanner.He contributed several patches to the PostgreSQL project in 1996. He helped to write the book Underground: Tales of Hacking, Madness and Obsession on the Electronic Frontier (1997), which credits him as a researcher and reports his history with International Subversives. Starting around 1997, he co-invented the Rubberhose deniable encryption system, a cryptographic concept made into a software package for Linux designed to provide plausible deniability against rubber-hose cryptanalysis; he originally intended the system to be used "as a tool for human rights workers who needed to protect sensitive data in the field." Other free software that he has authored or co-authored includes the Usenet caching software NNTPCache and Surfraw, a command-line interface for web-based search engines. In 1999, Assange registered the domain leaks.org; "But", he says, "then I didn't do anything with it."

Assange has reportedly attended six universities. From 2003 to 2006, he studied physics and mathematics at the University of Melbourne. On his personal web page, he described having represented his university at the Australian National Physics Competition around 2005. He has also studied philosophy and neuroscience.

WikiLeaks

WikiLeaks was founded in 2006. That year, Assange wrote two essays setting out the philosophy behind WikiLeaks: "To radically shift regime behavior we must think clearly and boldly for if we have learned anything, it is that regimes do not want to be changed. We must think beyond those who have gone before us and discover technological changes that embolden us with ways to act in which our forebears could not. In his blog he wrote, "the more secretive or unjust an organisation is, the more leaks induce fear and paranoia in its leadership and planning coterie. ... Since unjust systems, by their nature induce opponents, and in many places barely have the upper hand, mass leaking leaves them exquisitely vulnerable to those who seek to replace them with more open forms of governance."

Assange sits on Wikileaks's nine-member advisory board, and is a prominent media spokesman on its behalf. While newspapers have described him as a "director" or "founder" of Wikileaks, Assange has said, "I don't call myself a founder"; he does describe himself as the editor in chief of WikiLeaks, and has stated that he has the final decision in the process of vetting documents submitted to the site. Like all others working for the site, Assange is an unpaid volunteer. Assange says that Wikileaks has released more classified documents than the rest of the world press combined: "That's not something I say as a way of saying how successful we are – rather, that shows you the parlous state of the rest of the media. How is it that a team of five people has managed to release to the public more suppressed information, at that level, than the rest of the world press combined? It's disgraceful." Assange advocates a "transparent" and "scientific" approach to journalism, saying that "you can't publish a paper on physics without the full experimental data and results; that should be the standard in journalism." In 2006, CounterPunch called him "Australia's most infamous former computer hacker." The Age has called him "one of the most intriguing people in the world" and "internet's freedom fighter." Assange has called himself "extremely cynical". The Personal Democracy Forum said that as a teenager he was "Australia's most famous ethical computer hacker." He has been described as being largely self-taught and widely read on science and mathematics, and as thriving on intellectual battle.

WikiLeaks has been involved in the publication of material documenting extrajudicial killings in Kenya, a report of toxic waste dumping on the African coast, Church of Scientology manuals, Guantanamo Bay procedures, the July 12, 2007 Baghdad airstrike video, and material involving large banks such as Kaupthing and Julius Baer among other documents.

Public appearances

Assange in Copenhagen, 2009

In addition to exercising great authority and editorial control within WikiLeaks, Assange acts as its public face. He has appeared at media conferences such as New Media Days '09 in Copenhagen, the 2010 Logan Symposium in Investigative Reporting at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and at hacker conferences, notably the 25th and 26th Chaos Communication Congress. In the first half of 2010, he appeared on Al Jazeera English, MSNBC, Democracy Now!, RT, and The Colbert Report to discuss the release of the Baghdad airstrike video by Wikileaks. On 3 June he appeared via videoconferencing at the Personal Democracy Forum conference with Daniel Ellsberg. Ellsberg told MSNBC "the explanation he [Assange] used" for not appearing in person in the USA was that "it was not safe for him to come to this country." On 11 June he was to appear on a Showcase Panel at the Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Las Vegas, but there are reports that he cancelled several days prior. On 10 June 2010, it was reported that Pentagon officials are trying to determine his whereabouts. Based on this, there have been reports that U.S. officials want to apprehend Assange. Ellsberg said that the arrest of Bradley Manning and subsequent speculation by U.S. officials about what Assange may be about to publish "puts his well-being, his physical life, in some danger now." In The Atlantic, Marc Ambinder called Ellsberg's concerns "ridiculous", and said that "Assange's tendency to believe that he is one step away from being thrown into a black hole hinders, and to some extent discredits, his work." In Salon.com, Glenn Greenwald questioned "screeching media reports" that there was a "manhunt" on Assange underway, arguing that they were only based on comments by "anonymous government officials" and might even serve a campaign by the U.S. government, by intimidating possible whistleblowers.

On 21 June 2010, Assange took part at a hearing in Brussels, Belgium, appearing in public for the first time in nearly a month. He was a member on a panel that discussed Internet censorship and expressed his worries over the recent filtering in countries such as Australia. He also talked about secret gag orders preventing newspapers from publishing information about specific subjects and even divulging the fact that they are being gagged. Using an example involving The Guardian, he also explained how newspapers are altering their online archives sometimes by removing entire articles. He told The Guardian that he does not fear for his safety but is on permanent alert and will avoid travel to America, saying "[U.S.] public statements have all been reasonable. But some statements made in private are a bit more questionable." He said "politically it would be a great error for them to act. I feel perfectly safe but I have been advised by my lawyers not to travel to the U.S. during this period."

On 17 July, Jacob Appelbaum spoke on behalf of WikiLeaks at the 2010 Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference in New York City, replacing Assange due to the presence of federal agents at the conference. He announced that the WikiLeaks submission system was again up and running, after it had been temporarily suspended. Assange was a surprise speaker at a TED conference on 19 July 2010 in Oxford, and confirmed that WikiLeaks was now accepting submissions again. On 26 July, after the release of the Afghan War Diary, Assange appeared at the Frontline Club for a press conference.

Release of American diplomatic cables

United States diplomatic cables leak

On 28 November 2010, WikiLeaks began releasing more than 251,000 American diplomatic cables, mostly unclassified but including many labelled "classified" or "secret". The following day, the Attorney-General of Australia, Robert McClelland, told the press that Australia would inquire into Assange's activities and WikiLeaks. He said that "from Australia's point of view, we think there are potentially a number of criminal laws that could have been breached by the release of this information. The Australian Federal Police are looking at that". McClelland would not rule out the possibility that Australian authorities will cancel Assange's passport, and warned him that he might face charges should he return to Australia. McClelland also vowed to fully support any U.S. legal action against Wikileaks and Assange. Greg Barns, director of the Australian Lawyers Alliance, wrote "Mr. McClelland’s decision amounts to little more than posturing. This is because Mr. Assange would appear to have committed no crime under Australia’s suite of laws on disclosure of sensitive state information".

The United States launched a criminal investigation related to the leak of US government information by Assange and WikiLeaks on 29 November. US prosecutors are reportedly preparing charges against Assange under the Espionage Act.

In a Time interview conducted after the release of the cables, Richard Stengel asked Assange whether Hillary Clinton should resign; he responded by stating, "She should resign if it can be shown that she was responsible for ordering U.S. diplomatic figures to engage in espionage in the United Nations, in violation of the international covenants to which the U.S. has signed up".

Reactions to leaking

Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg said that Assange "is serving our [American] democracy and serving our rule of law precisely by challenging the secrecy regulations, which are not laws in most cases, in this country." On the issue of national security considerations for the U.S. regarding Wikileaks's publication of American diplomatic cables, Ellsberg added that "He’s obviously a very competent guy in many ways. I think his instincts are that most of this material deserves to be out. We are arguing over a very small fragment that doesn’t. He has not yet put out anything that hurt anybody’s national security".

On the other hand, Daniel Yates, a former British military intelligence officer, wrote "Assange has seriously endangered the lives of Afghan civilians ... The logs contain detailed personal information regarding Afghan civilians who have approached NATO soldiers with information. It is inevitable that the Taliban will now seek violent retribution on those who have co-operated with NATO. Their families and tribes will also be in danger." Responding to the criticism, Assange said in August 2010 that 15,000 documents are still being reviewed "line by line", and that the names of "innocent parties who are under reasonable threat" will be removed. This was in response to a letter from a White House spokesman. Assange replied to the request through Eric Schmitt, a New York Times editor. This reply was Assange's offer to the White House to vet any harmful documents; Schmitt responded that "I certainly didn't consider this a serious and realistic offer to the White House to vet any of the documents before they were to be posted, and I think it's ridiculous that Assange is portraying it that way now."

Glenn Greenwald and others have criticized the media's profiles of Assange. Greenwald calls one New York Times article (written by John F. Burns) on Assange a "sleazy hit piece". Burns defended his article, saying it was an "absolutely standard journalistic endeavour"; Greenwald disputed this, saying "What Burns did to Julian Assange is most certainly not a ‘standard journalistic endeavor’ for The New York Times ... please show me any article that paper has published which trashed the mental health, psyche and personality of a high-ranking American political or military official—a Senator or a General or a President or a cabinet secretary or even a prominent lobbyist—based on quotes from disgruntled associates of theirs. That is not done, and it never would be. This kind of character smear ... is reserved for ... people without power or standing in Washington and, especially, those whom American Government authorities scorn. ... the Pentagon hates Assange and wants him destroyed, and therefore the ‘reporters’ who rely on, admire and identify with Pentagon officials immediately adopt that perspective—and that's why he was the target of this type of attack".

An editorial in the Washington Times by Jeffrey T. Kuhner said Assange should be treated "the same way as other high-value terrorist targets" and be assassinated. Former Nixon aide and talk radio host G. Gordon Liddy has reportedly suggested that Assange's name be added to the "kill list" of terrorists who can be assassinated without a trial. U.S. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has called Assange "a high-tech terrorist". Former U.S. House speaker Newt Gingrich has been quoted as saying, "Information terrorism, which leads to people getting killed, is terrorism, and Julian Assange is engaged in terrorism. He should be treated as an enemy combatant." Fox News' National Security Analyst and host Kathleen Troia "K.T." McFarland has called Assange a terrorist, Wikileaks "a terrorist organization" and has called for Bradley Manning's execution if he is found guilty of making the leaks. Incoming Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King, has requested the Obama administration to declare Wikileaks a "Foreign Terrorist Organization". Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen, said, "Mr. Assange can say whatever he likes about the greater good he thinks he and his source are doing, but the truth is, they might already have on their hands the blood of some young soldier or that of an Afghan family." Assange denies this has happened, and responded by saying, "...it’s really quite fantastic that Gates and Mullen...who have ordered assassinations every day, are trying to bring people on board to look at a speculative understanding of whether we might have blood on our hands. These two men arguably are wading in the blood from those wars."

Anonymous, the online community of hackers and activists, announced its support for Wikileaks by "declaring war" against enemies of Assange, calling on supporters to attack sites and companies that do not support WikiLeaks and to spread the leaked diplomatic cables online.

Dispute about status as a journalist

Assange received the 2009 Media award from Amnesty International, which are intended to "recognise excellence in human rights journalism" and he has been recognized as a journalist by the Centre for investigative journalism. In December 2010 however, US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley declared that Assange is not a journalist, and also stated that the US State Department does not regard WikiLeaks as a legitimate media organization. Alex Massie wrote an article in The Spectator called "Yes, Julian Assange is a journalist", but acknowledged that "newsman" might be a better description of Assange. Assange himself points out he has been publishing factual material since age 25, and that it is not necessary to debate whether or not he is a journalist. He has stated that his role is "primarily that of a publisher and editor-in-chief who organises and directs other journalists".
Swedish arrest warrant for alleged sex offenses

On 20 August 2010, an investigation was opened against Assange in Sweden in connection with an allegation that he had raped a woman in Enköping on the weekend of 14 August after a seminar, and two days later had sexually harassed a second woman he had been staying with in Stockholm. Shortly after the investigation opened, however, chief prosecutor Eva Finné overruled the prosecutor on call the night the report was filed, withdrawing the warrant to arrest Assange and saying "I don't think there is reason to suspect that he has committed rape." He was still being investigated for harassment, which covers reckless conduct or inappropriate physical contact. The second woman was a member of the Swedish Association of Christian Social Democrats, a Christian affiliate of the Swedish Social Democratic Party, who organized a seminar and news conference in Sweden for Assange. She was acting as Assange's spokeswoman and hosting him as a guest in her home during his stay in Sweden. Assange said "the charges are without basis and their issue at this moment is deeply disturbing"; his supporters say he is the victim of a smear campaign. Assange denies any wrongdoing but admits to having had unprotected but consensual encounters with two women during a visit to Sweden in August. He was questioned by police for an hour on 31 August, and on 1 September a senior Swedish prosecutor re-opened the investigation saying new information had come in. The women's lawyer, Claes Borgström, a Swedish politician, had earlier appealed against the decision not to proceed. Assange has said that the accusation against him is a "set-up" arranged by the enemies of WikiLeaks.

In late October, Sweden denied Assange's application for a Swedish residency and work permit. Subsequently, on 4 November, Assange said that he is considering a formal request for political asylum in Switzerland as "a real possibility." He would also move the WikiLeaks servers to Switzerland in order to "operate in safety." However, according to the Swiss Refugee Council (Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe), his chances of obtaining asylum there are small. Assange would first need to claim protection from his native Australia, and then make a credible argument that Australia could not protect him. This would be extremely difficult, according to the organisation.

On 18 November, Stockholm District Court approved a request to detain Assange for questioning on suspicion of rape, sexual molestation, and unlawful coercion. Director of Public Prosecutions Marianne Ny, who had reopened the investigation in September, said she had requested the warrant because, "so far, we have not been able to meet with him to accomplish the interrogation." Assange's British legal counsel, Mark Stephens, disputed this, saying "we were willing to meet at the Swedish embassy or Scotland Yard or via video link" and that "all of these offers have been flatly refused by a prosecutor who is abusing her powers by insisting that he return to Sweden at his own expense to be subjected to another media circus that she will orchestrate." On 20 November, Sweden's National Criminal Police force issued an international arrest warrant for Assange via Interpol; an EU arrest warrant was issued through the Schengen Information System. "We made sure that all the police forces in the world would see it", a spokesman for the National Criminal Police said.

Stephens dismissed the charges, issuing a statement in which he called the allegations "false and without basis" and said "even the substance of the allegations, as revealed to the press through unauthorized disclosures do not constitute what any advanced legal system considers to be rape."

On 18 November, Assange's Swedish lawyer, Björn Hurtig, stated that the evidence against Assange was "very meager. It's not enough to get him convicted for crime."

On 24 November 2010, Assange lost an appeal against his detention, and thus remains under arrest in absentia and under an arrest warrant. The Svea Court of Appeal rejected his appeal and upheld the decision to remand him by the Stockholm district court. In late November, Assange escalated the process by appealing to the Supreme Court of Sweden, but the Court refused to hear the appeal.
Wikinews has related news: Interpol orders arrest of Wikileaks founder to face rape charges

On 30 November 2010, Interpol issued a red notice against Assange on behalf of Sweden for questioning on allegations of "sex crimes." Interpol's spokesman clarified, "if it wasn't for a request from Sweden, we would not have changed the status of his warrant." Initially the notice was marked "restricted" but made public only after Sweden said they should. British police rejected the arrest warrant. A spokeswoman for the Swedish National Police Board told the BBC that Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency had requested a new order as the original one had listed only the maximum penalty for the most serious crime alleged, rather than for all of the crimes. Swedish prosecutor Marianne Ny admitted the procedural fault and immediately filed a new detention order.

Ny filed charges of rape, sexual molestation and unlawful coercion. Assange denies the charges, which his lawyer, Mark Stephens, described as stemming from a "dispute over consensual but unprotected sex", which may constitute rape under the Swedish law. The coincidence of the Interpol notice and European Arrest Warrant on Assange with the United States diplomatic cables leak was subject of commentary by the media. Mark Stephens, a British legal representative of Assange, said "It is highly irregular and unusual for the Swedish authorities to issue a red notice in the teeth of the undisputed fact that Mr Assange has agreed to meet voluntarily to answer the prosecutor's questions" outside of Sweden. On 5 December 2010, Mark Stephens told The Andrew Marr Show on the BBC, that Assange would fight attempts to take him to Sweden over the allegations due to the possibility that it could lead to the Swedish handing him over to the US, where politicians have called for him to be executed.

Awards

Assange was the winner of the 2009 Amnesty International Media Award (New Media), awarded for exposing extrajudicial assassinations in Kenya with the investigation The Cry of Blood – Extra Judicial Killings and Disappearances. In accepting the award, he said: "It is a reflection of the courage and strength of Kenyan civil society that this injustice was documented. Through the tremendous work of organisations such as the Oscar foundation, the KNHCR, Mars Group Kenya and others we had the primary support we needed to expose these murders to the world." He also won the 2008 Economist Index on Censorship Award.

Assange was awarded the 2010 Sam Adams Award by the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence. In September 2010, Assange was voted as number 23 among the "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010" by the British magazine New Statesman. In their November/December issue, Utne Reader magazine named Assange as one of the "25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World".

On 12 November he was leading in the poll for Time magazine's "Person of the Year, 2010".

Residency

While an Australian citizen, Assange does not plan to return to Australia based on the stances that officials there have taken about his WikiLeaks activities. He has often been profiled as not having a permanent address. Assange has said he is constantly on the move. He has lived for periods in Australia, Kenya and Tanzania, and began renting a house in Iceland on 30 March 2010, from which he and other activists, including Birgitta Jónsdóttir, worked on the 'Collateral Murder' video.

For much of 2010, he was visiting the UK, also visiting Iceland, Sweden and other European countries. On 4 November 2010, Assange told Swiss public television TSR that he is seriously considering seeking political asylum in neutral Switzerland and setting up a WikiLeaks foundation in the country to move the operation there. According to Assange, Switzerland and Iceland are the only countries where WikiLeaks would feel safe to operate.

In late November 2010, Deputy Foreign Minister Kintto Lucas of Ecuador appeared to be offering Assange residency with "no conditions ... so he can freely present the information he possesses and all the documentation, not just over the Internet but in a variety of public forums". Lucas believed that Ecuador may benefit from initiating a dialogue with Assange. Foreign Minister Ricardo Patino stated on 30 November that the residency application would "have to be studied from the legal and diplomatic perspective". A few hours later, President Rafael Correa stated that WikiLeaks "committed an error by breaking the laws of the United States and leaking this type of information ... no official offer was [ever] made." Correa noted that Lucas was speaking "on his own behalf"; additionally, he will launch an investigation into possible ramifications Ecuador would suffer from the release of the cables.
source:Wikipedia

Wikileaks: LeT plotted to assassinate Narendra Modi

2010-12-05T19:23:00.000+05:30

Terrorist organisation Lashkar- e-Taiba was plotting to assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi and discussions to carry out the attack took place between Pakistani handlers and Indian members in June last year, intelligence reports released by whistle blower website wikileaks have revealed.

The terror organisation was planning three major tasks in India just six months after the Mumbai attack, including the assassination plot and setting up of terror camps in South India, US intelligence inputs that are part of a leaked diplomatic cable, reveal. The third task pertained to some work involving a car but details were not shared in the leaked cable.

“ LeT member Shafiq Khafa possibly preparing for operations. Hussein, an India-based LeT member, continued operational planning on three tasks in early June. The tasks were associated with a possible operation against Gujarat Chief Minister Narendar Modi, the establishment of a training camp, and unspecified work involving a car,” the cable reads. It goes on to say that Hussein would coordinate his activities with an India-based colleague identified as Sameer.

Lara Dutta Fitness Tips

2010-12-04T20:07:00.002+05:30

Learn to shape up with Lara Dutta

Actress Lara Dutta, who is launching her fitness DVD called ?Heal With Lara? gives you some valuable fitness tips.

New Delhi denies visa to Musharraf

2010-12-02T00:28:00.002+05:30

India has denied visa to former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf who wanted to attend a seminar here this weekend.

The decision to reject General Musharraf’s visa application was taken as the Home Ministry had serious reservations over allowing him to visit the Capital in view of his recent anti-India statements, sources in the Home Ministry said on Wednesday. The government also did not want to be seen encouraging a gathering and activities here of those elements who were opposed to the present regime in Pakistan.

The sources disclosed that some supporters of the former military ruler of Pakistan had also applied to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad simultaneously for a visa for him to visit India. His visa applications in London as well as in Islamabad were rejected by the Indian High Commissions there.

General Musharraf had been invited to be a speaker at a seminar, hosted by the Young Presidents Organisation, an international outfit involving influential business leaders. The conference was scheduled to be held in the Capital over the weekend.

Considered to be the key architect of the Kargil conflict, the former Pakistan president, currently living in self-imposed exile in Britain, had recently, in his statements to the media, blamed India for creating unrest in Pakistan's south-western Baluchistan province. He had claimed that the involvement of India and Afghanistan in Baluchistan was creating unrest in the province.

‘Unfortunate'

PTI reports from Islamabad:

India's refusal to grant visa to General Musharraf is an unfortunate move, a close aide of the former President said.

“It is unfortunate that the Indian government feels so upset or under-confident that they have denied him a visa,” said Rasheed Qureshi, spokesman of General Musharraf's All Pakistan Muslim League party.

Switch provider, not cellphone number

2010-11-25T23:29:00.000+05:30

Haryana takes the first step and the facility will become a reality in the rest of the country soon. Expect freedom to choose service provider and better customer services in the future

The much-awaited number portability has finally become a reality. The service was inaugurated on Thursday at Rohtak in Haryana for the entire state circle and will be extended to the rest of the country in a phased manner.

What is number portability?

The department of telecommunications (DoT) defines mobile number portability (MNP) as a facility that will allow a subscriber to retain his cellphone number when he moves from one access or service provider to another, irrespective of the mobile technology, or from one cellular mobile technology to another of the same service provider. That means if you change your service provider due to an unsatisfactory experience, or switch from GSM to CDMA, you don’t have to worry about circulating your new phone number among your friends and other contacts. You will get the option of retaining your original number through MNP.

What can be ported?

Apart from regular SIM cards, MNP would also be available on SIM cards purchased to be used as Internet data cards. However, numbers can be ported only within the same service areas as licences are issued to operators for specific circles.

If you are a prepaid subscriber, any balance amount left on your card will not be carried forward when the number is transferred to the new service provider.

How to port?

You need to initiate the process yourself by sending an SMS. Type out PORT your mobile number and send it to 1900. You will then receive an auto-revert message from 1901 giving an eight-digit alpha-numeric unique porting code (UPC). Along with the code, you will also get an expiry date.

Once you have the UPC, go to the new service provider you choose. You will have to do all your know your customer formalities, such as submission of identity and address proof documents. You will then have to fill out the prescribed application form of the new service provider, wherein you mention the UPC sent to you and your phone number. You need to finish this process before the expiry date mentioned along with the code.

At this stage, the process shifts to the operators. The new operator goes to the mobile portability clearing house with the UPC and the phone number. The clearing house will forward the number to your original service provider to check if it can be ported (see graph). Once cleared, the number comes back to the clearing house, which fixes a date and time for the number to be ported and informs both service providers. The clearing house sends a deactivation request to the original provider and an activation request to the new one.

No service period: After this process is completed, the new operator will SMS you a date and time when the no service period will start.

The no service period is the time taken between deactivation by the original provider and activation by the new one.

The no service period will last for about 2 hours and during this time you will not be able to avail any services from either of the two operators. In other words, your number will be inactive during this period. Typically, this period will be between midnight and 5 am to cause you the least inconvenience.

DoT has prescribed seven days for the operators to complete the entire porting process.

Costs: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has fixed a ceiling of Rs. 19 as porting charges that the new service provider may collect from the subscriber. The money will go to the clearing house for facilitating the service.

Possible roadblocks

Though industry sources say that the launch is scheduled for some time in December, it is likely to be pushed further. Since the holiday season will start just then, operators may not be able to handle the volumes along with the change.

Also, the turnaround time for each activation and deactivation is a little unrealistic. Romal Shetty, executive director and head telecom practice at audit and consulting firm KPMG India, cites an example, “In Malaysia, the regulator could not ensure the portability in the stipulated time. So it was not very successful. Instead of waiting infinitely for the number to be ported, people would prefer to buy a new number.”

Besides, the pan-India launch will cover almost 22 circles with around 10 providers in each circle. Nowhere in the world has the system been launched on a scale involving so many companies. Most countries have just one circle with five to six providers. “Managing the volumes and the scale on which the system will have to go live will not be simple. China is one of the few countries to have implemented it across circles, but then they have just two operators,” says Shetty.

What it means for you?

To the consumer, MNP definitely means freedom and choice.

Freedom: Says Shetty, “In India, we see that a lot of people are attached to their cellphone numbers, especially if they have used it for six-seven years and hence are reluctant to opt for a new operator despite unsatisfactory services. The fact that they will have to inform every one of a number change is probably too much.”

This is evident from the fact that India is the only country in the world where dual SIM cellphones are sold like hot cakes. Says Kumar Ramanathan, chief marketing officer, Vodafone Essar, a telephone service provider, “Market penetration for the telecom sector is about 55%. All those who can and want to have a cellphone have one. So the market today is for the second and third SIM card. India is the only country in the world where dual SIM phones sell.”

Better services: Soon you may find improved customer services in terms of handling requests, better network connectivity leading to better coverage, less congestion, few call drops and more innovative value-added services to attract users. Shetty says, “Now operators will focus on factors such as customer service, retention and loyalty.”

Kumar adds, “We will seek to improve the customer experience by focusing on improving the network, customer service and branding.”

Don’t expect lower tariffs: MNP is unlikely to trigger a tariff war. “The choice that MNP will offer consumers will cause the operators to start competing with each other to increase the level of satisfaction of the consumers. However, this is unlikely to trigger a tariff war,” says Kamlesh Bhatia, principal research analyst, Gartner Inc., a research and consulting firm.

source.harshada.k@livemint.com

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young resigned

2010-11-25T23:08:00.002+05:30

South Korean defense minister steps down

Resignation comes amid criticism over response to North Korean artillery attack

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Tae-young resigned Thursday in the wake of North Korea’s artillery attack on an island at the centre of a dispute between the two countries. Critics have lambasted the South Korean administration for not being prepared for the attack and for responding too slowly. Meanwhile, South Korea is sending in more troops to the island. North Korea’s attack was the first on civilian-inhabited land, and has led some to fear that war is imminent between the two neighbours.

LG Optimus Selling for Rs. 13,500 in India

2010-11-22T18:55:00.001+05:30

Runs Android 2.2; tops the list of Google Android laden phones available in India

Finally, Android Froyo laden LG Optimus One has been launched in India - Officially. Priced at Rs. 13,500, the new Optimus One will compete with current Android models in the Indian market. Last week, we reported that over one million Optimus One handsets were sold worldwide in about 40 days. Obviously, Indians would like to get their hands on a Google Android phone running Froyo 2.2 update in mid-range price segment. LG also promises to bring Optimus 7 that runs Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system.

LG Optimus One has a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen supporting 320x480 pixel resolution. Under the hood, Optimus One has 600MHz microprocessor and 419MB RAM which are good enough to run Android Froyo 2.2 update on them. For the social network frenzy youths, the phone offers Social Network integration along with other useful applications like Google Maps and Digital Compass since it has GPS with A-GPS support.

Expect mediocre quality photos with the 3.15 megapixel camera that can record VGA video at 18 frames per second. Users can browse faster web using Wi-Fi, thanks to the 802.11 b/g standards supporting chip and enjoy the Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP. For storage, Optimus One comes with 2GB microSD card for storage since 170MB internal memory is too meager. If you want, you can add up to 32GB microSD card to it.
Optimus One will join the current Google Android based handsets offerings that fall in the price range of Rs. 10,000 - Rs. 15,000. Take a look at the current Android phones available in India and do note that all the prices mentioned below are approximate and collated from different online e-tailers.

Android 2.1:

    * Motorola FlipOut: squarish-QWERTY phone for Rs. 15,200
    * HTC Wildfire: Full touchscreen handset for Rs. 14,800
    * Motorola Charm MB502: QWERTY phone for Rs. 13,500
    * Samsung Galaxy 3 GT-i580: Full touchscreen phone for Rs. 12,000
    * Motorola Quench XT3L: Full touchscreen handset for Rs. 12, 500
    * Dell XCD28: Full touchscreen phone for Rs. 10,600

Android 1.6 or lower:

    * Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini Pro: Small Slide-out QWERTY phone for Rs. 15,800
    * Sony Ericsson Xperia X8: Full touchscreen phone running Android 1.6 for Rs. 13,900
    * HTC Tattoo A3232: Full touchscreen phone running Android 1.6 for Rs. 13,000
    * Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Mini: Small touchscreen phone running Android 1.6 for Rs. 12, 900
    * Videocon Zeus Evolve V7500: Full touchscreen handset with Android 1.6 for Rs. 11,000
    * LG Optimus GT540: Full touchscreen handset running Android 1.6 for Rs. 10,750
    * LG GW620: Slide-out QWERTY phone running Android 1.5 for Rs. 14,600

Amongst all these phones, LG Optimus One is the only one that comes with Froyo 2.2 update in the box, i.e; pre-installed. This phone is 3G ready so users can enjoy a faster mobile web browsing experience when 3G Services are made available all over India.

Waterlogged in Colombia ..Photos, Video

2010-11-20T23:45:00.000+05:30

Heavy rain continued to fall over much of waterlogged Colombia on Friday forcing the government to declare a national disaster.

Man rapes 52-yr-old maid for 2 days

2010-11-20T23:06:00.000+05:30

MARGAO: Police investigations have revealed that a 52-year- old woman was raped by a 32-year-old Dilip Goswami at Dicarpale, Davorlim.

The woman had responded to an advertisement for a maid servant put by the accused in a local newspaper. Following her "recruitment", Goswami raped the "maid" for two consecutive days after confining her in a room.

On the third day, the victim managed to escape and soon lodged a complaint with the police.

Police interrogations have also revealed that the accused Goswami had many aliases to his name and the police are investigating if he was involved in any similar cases earlier.

Maina Curtorim police are conducting further investigations.

Delhi building collapse: Death toll rises to 65 .. Video

2010-11-16T16:23:00.002+05:30

New Delhi, Nov 16: The death toll in Delhi building collapse, which happened on Monday, Nov 15 night at Laxmi Nagar, reached to 65.

Police officials reported that the death toll may rise as still many people were trapped under the debris.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheikla Dikshit said that builder of the collapsed building was responsible for the tragic incident. Delhi government declared a compensation of Rs 2 lakhs to the kin of those dead.

Rescue operations were still going on. The conjusted geograrhic speciality of Laxmi Nagar posed a hinder for rescue operations.

The building collapsed at around 8.15 pm in Lalita Park area of Laxmi Nagar.

Coffee Intake - Too Much Dangerous

2010-11-15T17:04:00.001+05:30

Reduce your coffee intake - too much caffeine can kill your nervous system. To keep you awake, try drinking hot water or juice. If caffeine is absolutely necessary as a wake-upper, try sipping slowly to lessen your consumption.

Men's Top Sex Secrets!

2010-11-15T16:58:00.002+05:30

If you thought men's sexual response is quite simple and their needs can be met easily, then you certainly need to revise your knowledge of the "birds and bees," for men aren't as simple as they are made out to be.

According to Fox News, here are 10 things that you didn't know about men and sex:

1. Trapped Sperm
Not all sperm go racing for the egg at once. Once sperm has been deposited into the vaginal canal, some of them are temporarily trapped in a semen coagulate or clot. Eventually, they are decoagulated by enzymes, which set them free to swim about a female''s reproductive system. This clotting, according to scientists, is meant to pace the release of sperm into the uterus, increasing the chance that one of these sperms will reach the egg and fertilise it.

2. Oxytocin affects males too
It is believed that oxytocin affects females during sex (and breast-feeding). But this cuddle hormone, released by both sexes during intimacy, is also found to influence males. Research from Switzerland found that oxytocin is associated with increased feelings of trust in males.

3. High testosterone = Less sex
While higher testosterone levels is typically considered a good thing for men when it comes to their sex drive, still researchers continually found that males with higher testosterone levels marry less often, are more abusive in their marriages and divorce more regularly. In fact, married men see more action than single men.

4. Death during sex has a prototype
While examining the incidence of death during sex, a 1975 study discovered a unique pattern in males: the "deceased is usually married; he is not with a spouse and in unfamiliar surroundings," and death usually occurs after "a big meal with alcohol." Another study in 1989 found further evidence supporting the extramarital sex bit. Fourteen of the 20 cases of "la mort d''amour," or coital death, happened during an affair.

Comparing Android Touch Phones Under Rs. 20K

2010-11-11T22:58:00.000+05:30

Phones with Google's Android are being baked and sent to the market one after the other. This open-source mobile operating system has been more than a blessing to many phone makers, who had the expertise in making the hardware, but didn't really have a polished OS with enhanced functionality to run them on. The best part about Android is that it's free for any manufacturer to take and slap on their devices. Also, there isn't a stringent hardware checklist to follow, unlike Microsoft's Windows Phone 7.

This enables companies to roll out cost-effective smartphones that are within the reach of many. Not to say that they have to compromise on certain features to get that price down, and the degradation in the performance of these when compared to the flagship Android phones is noticeable. But considering the lackluster interface, laggy performance and fragmented availability of apps on phones that were sold before Android was born, things definitely have gotten better.

Today, I am honestly not skeptical about touchscreen phones as I was, maybe, two years before. The interfaces are intuitive, the touch response is accurate, which makes me not miss hardware buttons anymore. Thus, we're taking a look at touchscreen only phones that have cropped up aplenty between the Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 20,000 price range. By comparing the specs, you'll see that they are quite similar. There are only a few minute differences that differ from model to model. Let's take a quick peek at what those differences are. Now, I don't want to go on rambling about the same things over and over again, so I'll just list out features that are common to all in this segment:

a) All are 3.5G ready (i.e. HSDPA compatible). This is good since we're witnessing private operators roll out 3G services one by one. Other forms of connectivity i.e. Wi-fi, Bluetooth and data cable are present as well. Lastly, all have a GPS chip that is necessary for extremely nifty apps like Google Maps.

b) All have capacitive screens that are optimized to be used with fingers.

c) All have accelerometers for automatic rotation of the content on the screen according to the way you hold it.

d) All have FM Radio; a feature that may be of prime importance to some.

Now that we've gotten this out of the way, let's take a closer look at what each phone has to offer.

Where is the money in solar?

2010-11-11T22:05:00.002+05:30

Indian policymakers have created a grand plan for solar power in the country, and the rubber is about to hit the road. In the first phase of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (NSM), about 650 MW will be distributed to the 40 most aggressive bidders from over 350 aspirants. Of this, 150 MW is solar photovoltaic (PV), which will go to the winning 30 participants from 300+ aspirants. Bids are due on November 16.

The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has set a price of Rs 17.91 per unit of PV power. In the NSM process, bidders have to indicate how much of a discount off this price would they be willing to accept for their projects. Those who are willing to take the biggest discounts will win.

The word on the street is that the bidding is going to be aggressive. With some bone-chilling numbers being bandied around informally in solar circles, the solar gold rush many had anticipated is fading fast like a desert mirage. Many cross-sectoral hopefuls, with little prior exposure to anything remotely connected to energy generation, had jumped onto the solar bandwagon, convinced that solar offered disproportionately high and stable 30-year returns. Now that they are faced with the reality of tariff bidding, most are wondering, where is the money in solar?

Let’s take a quick look at what drives PV economics. Since solar is considerably more expensive than conventional power, it requires a subsidy to drive demand and capacity. Once a subsidy mechanism is established (as it is with the NSM), allocations are awarded to developers, who in turn contract with manufacturers and EPC contractors to build the solar power plants. Once built, these plants need to be operated and maintained for 25-30 years. The economics of solar projects is driven by some select parameters: how good is solar radiation, how much does the power plant cost, what is the efficiency of the power plant, what is the cost of the financing and, of course, what is the tariff that supports all of these costs and leaves enough for a decent return?

Now let’s turn our attention to the varying objectives of the companies in the fray. Some companies very clearly want to be one of the five largest solar players in India over the long haul and have the financial capital to get there. Others are looking to build a decent-sized business that they could sell as consolidation becomes inevitable in a maturing industry. Still others can be designated as developers (akin to real estate developers); their objective is to build and sell repeatedly, so that their own capital is not locked in these projects for an extended period. These players typically absorb the initial construction and performance risk, and once the projects are built and relatively de-risked, they sell them to insurance companies or pension funds as long-term stable investments. Then there are those manufacturers who have put substantial capital into expansion of manufacturing capacity, which they want to secure by procuring generation capacity. It’s much easier to place your product in projects you own than to compete with others in a buyer-led marketplace. And lastly, there are the opportunists and speculators who are looking to make a quick buck by flipping their projects to the more serious guys at the earliest opportunity.

This is where game theory really starts to kick in. In addition to pulling all the levers under one’s control, one has to face the unpleasant question: How irrational should I expect others to be, and in order to counter them, how irrational can I myself afford to be? In other words, how much of a compromise am I willing to accept in order to be a winning bidder? The playing field here, unfortunately, is not level. The willingness and ability of some to compromise far exceeds the willingness and ability of others. What seems inevitable, however, is that the winning bids will not leave room for decent returns.

So who are the likely winners?

No matter who wins in the bidding, the technology that is likely to do quite well is thin film PV. This is because thin film costs less than crystalline and cost, as we know, is going to be a critical factor. Financially justifying crystalline PV will be near-impossible, unless suppliers are willing to take it on the chin in order to build some presence in the programme.

Integrated players such as those who are in manufacturing and generation are better positioned to go deeper on the discounts. After all, they can choose to make their returns from the sale of PV modules or from energy generation.

Recently capitalised solar companies are likely to be aggressive bidders. They need to show traction to their investors, and it’s hard to show traction if you fail to get an “allocation” or a chunk of MWs allotted to you by the government.

Lastly, the bulge bracket Indian conglomerate with a large and/or growing power generation business will be there in the winners’ circle. For this type of player, absorbing a loss on a leader project is relatively easy, but not having a seat at the solar table will appear costly.

And who will lose?

There will be two types of losers. Those who, in spite of best efforts and scaled-back return expectations, are not able to get to the irrational (from their perspective) levels required to win. This includes professional foreign companies that have built solar projects elsewhere in the world, and that we hope would bring their experience and skills to India, but are unlikely to win because their knowledge of costs and hurdle rates will put them out of the race. And there are those who, without fully doing their homework and in a moment of impulsive boldness, actually do submit a winning tariff. For the latter group, pursuit of the solar mission is likely to turn out to be a rather costly endeavour.

Our policymakers should also keep in mind that introducing competition into a nascent programme is a risky strategy. While some safeguards have been built into the system to discourage “adventurous” bids (it is telescopically more expensive to bid a higher discount), this has only put irrational bidding beyond the reach of some, rather than eliminate it entirely. If the entire PV capacity in this round is awarded to bidders who are ready to sacrifice returns in order to acquire an allocation, does this create a strong enough foundation on which gigawatts of capacity can be built? We know that the early gold rush was created by the expectation of substantial profits. If there is no money in solar, will private sector capital still flow as freely?
source

Miranda Kerr Goes Nude for W Magazine

2010-11-11T18:50:00.000+05:30

Miranda Kerr Goes Nude for W Magazine In Pregnency Period

Moving along in her pregnancy, Miranda Kerr stripped down for the December 2010 issue of W magazine.

The Victoria's Secret beauty stripped down in the buff as she proudly showed off her baby belly for the mag's latest installment.

And while she's still a youthful 27-year-old, Miranda hinted that she may soon close out her modeling career.

She previously told Page Six, "My ideal situation would be to live on a farm in a solar-powered house with a hammock and a vegetable patch. When this is all over, that's where I'll be. I've always wanted kids, so someday, eventually, yes, it will happen."

Buy Dell XCD28 online in India for Rs. 10599

2010-11-11T16:31:00.000+05:30

DELL has recently announced its first high-value smartphones for Indian market ‘XCD28 and XCD35’ based on Android OS. Both the handsets are 3G enabled, XCD28 is priced at Rs. 10,990 and XCD35 is priced at Rs. 16,990. While XCD28 will be immediately available in the market, XCD35 will be available by December 2010.

Dell XCD28 Mobile Specifications: & Features:

    * Powered by Android 2.1 OS
    * 2.8-inch LCD touch screen display
    * 3.2 megapixel digital camera with Autofocus
    * Processor: ARM 600 MHz
    * Memory: 256 MB RAM, 512 MB Flash
    * Connectivity options: 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth
    * Size: 102 x 55 x 14.5 mm
    * Weight: 100 g
    * Full internet browsing with native browser
    * Media player supporting multiple formats for videos, music and photos and features such as location awareness.
    * FM Radio
    * Access to Microsoft Email Exchange through Activesync
    * 200MB of internal memory, expandable up to 16GB via MicroSD memory card

The Dell XCD28 is a complete entertainment mobile gadget at an affordable pricing. Users can access multiple applications available on the Android Market that makes life more exciting while on-the-go.

Dell XCD28 and Dell XCD35 are equipped with one year Advanced Exchange Warranty that assures users with an immediate replacement option if faced with any hardware issue with their Dell smartphone. Available at Dell Stores and leading mobile outlets.

>> Buy Dell XCD28 Online in India @ Flipkart for Rs. 10599 only (Discount: Rs. 391)

How can I increase my height?

2010-11-11T15:30:00.002+05:30

Question : MAY I KNOW TILL WHAT AGE DOES THE HEIGHT GROW?AND BY PERFORMING YOGA WILL THE HEIGHT INCREASE?PLS SUGGEST ME SOME HOME REMEDY ONLY...

Answer : Height grows till the age of 28 - 32 years. Practicing Tad Asan and Surya Namaskar is beneficial.

In pics: 9 Microsoft Windows smartphones0 comments

2010-11-09T18:49:00.000+05:30

After a series of failed attempts to take on the popularity of Apple iPhone and Google Android, Microsoft has finally unveiled nine new phones that run on its brand new Windows Phone 7 operating system.

Last year, the company had launched Kin phones targeted at teens. However, it scrapped these models because of lack of demand.

The current line-up, seen as a make-or-break product launch for Microsoft, made by HTC, Dell, Samsung and LG is high on looks and packs a host of multimedia features. The Windows Phone software features a new design and organizes activities into tiles that update all key information right on the Start screen.

The software also includes Microsoft’s Zune music subscription service and mobile versions of the Office applications. Here is a closer look at the Microsoft Windows Phone 7-powered smartphones.
HTC 7 Mozart

HTC 7 Mozart
The Windows 7-powered HTC 7 Mozart features a 3.7-inch display with 800 x 480 pixel resolution. Sporting aluminum finish, the phone packs a 8 megapixel auto-focus camera with Xenon flash. The camera offers 720p HD video recording.

The phone runs on 1GHz processor and will come with 8GB internal storage. Other key features include 3.5mm jack for audio, surround sound, Bluetooth 2.1, A-GPS and Wi-Fi (802.11n),

The phone will let users customize with live tiles which dynamically update all key information right on the Start screen.

Samsung Focus

Featuring a large 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display, Samsung Focus is the next Windows Phone 7 smartphone. At 9.9mm thickness, Microsoft claims Samsung Focus is the thinnest smartphone available.

Running on 1GHz processor, the phone will come with 8GB internal memory and 256MB RAM. The phone has a microSD card slot for upto 32GB memory expansion.

Samsung Focus has a 5 megapixel camera with flash. The phone offers 720p video recording. The phone also features Xbox LIVE and Zune.

LG Quantum‘

Featuring a horizontal QWERTY keyboard, LG Quantum sports a 3.5-inch display. Running on 1 GHz Snapdragon processor, the phone comes with 16GB on-board memory.

It has a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and can shoot video in 720p.

The phone also features DLNA technology through a preloaded application called Play To. This allows users to wirelessly stream videos, music, and pictures from the phone to a DLNA-enabled TV, stereo, Windows 7 PC and devices.

LG Optimus 7

The next Windows Phone 7 from the Korean electronic maker is LG Optimus 7. Optimus 7 sports a 3.8-inch capacitive touchscreen with 800×480 pixel resolution and is just 11.5mm thick.

The phone features a 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording and playback. It is powered by 1GHz processor and comes with 16GB internal memory.

Like Quantum, the smartphone also supports Play To application that will allow users to wirelessly stream videos, music, and pictures from the phone to a DLNA-enabled TV, stereo, Windows 7 PC and devices.

HTC 7 Pro

Sporting a 3.6-inch display, HTC 7 Pro offers 480 x 800 WVGA resolution. The touchscreen phone has a Slideout keyboard and weighs 185 grams.

Running on 1GHz processor, HTC 7 Pro comes with 8GB internal storage. The phone has a 5 megapixel colour camera with auto focus and flash. The camera offers 720p HD video recording. Connectivity options include 3G, GPRS, EDGE, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi.

The phone also packs 3.5 mm stereo audio jack and Standard micro-USB 2.0.

HTC 7 Trophy

Next Windows Phone 7 is HTC 7 Trophy. Featuring a 3.8-inch touchscreen display with 480 x 800 WVGA resolution, the phone weighs 140 grams.

The phone packs a 5 megapixel camera with auto focus and flash. It will allow users to record 720p HD video. As for memory, the smartphone will come with 8GB internal storage, 512MB ROM and 576MB RAM. Connectivity options include 3G, GPRS, EDGE, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi.

HTC HD7

Sporting a large 4.3-inch display with 480 x 800 WVGA resolution, HTC HD7 will come with a kickstand.

Running on 1GHz processor, the phone will come with 8GB internal storage for Europe and 16GB for Asia.

HTC HD7 packs a 5 megapixel camera with auto focus and dual LED flash. It will offers 720p HD video recording. The phone will come with 3.5 mm stereo audio jack and standard micro-USB 2.0.
HTC 7 Surround

HTC 7 Surround

HTC 7 Surround is the fifth Windows 7 phone from HTC’s stable. With 3.8-inch touchscreen display, the phone has a 480 x 800 WVGA resolution.

Like HTC 7 Trophy and HTC 7 Pro, this one too packs a 5 megapixel camera with auto focus and flash. Connectivity options include 3G, GPRS, EDGE, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1 and WiFi.

The phone has a slideout surround speakers and kickstand.

Dell Venue Pro

PC maker Dell too has joined the Windows Phone 7 launch party with its smartphone Dell Venue Pro.

Featuring a 4.1-inch AMOLED display, the phone has a full slider QWERTY keyboard. Dell has used Gorilla Glass surface which makes the phone scratch resistant.

The phone runs on 1GHz Qualcomm’s Snapdragon QSD8250 microprocessor and has 1GB ROM and 512MB DDR SDRAM. It has a 5 megapixel autofocus camera. For connectivity the phone has Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS.

Obama endorses India's bid for Security Council

2010-11-08T18:17:00.002+05:30

In another major sign of growing ties between the two nations, President Barack Obama on Monday used a speech before India's parliament to endorse India's bid for permanent membership on the United Nations Security Council.

Obama, who is on a 10-day tour of Asia, praised "the father of your nation" Mahatma Gandhi and noted his influence on Martin Luther King and the non-violent resistance that typified the American civil rights movement.

"I am mindful that I might not be standing before you today, as president of the United States, had it not been for Gandhi and the message he shared and inspired with America and the world," the president said.

Carrier bags turned to diesel

2010-11-08T16:44:00.000+05:30

Sita to turn plastic into diesel to power vehicles

Old carrier bags, yoghurt pots and TV dinner packaging will soon be making enough fuel to power 5,000 British white vans – in Europe's first plastic-to-diesel plant.

Sita will unveil plans to build up to 10 plants that turn plastic into diesel for vehicles such as vans Photo: Getty Images

Sita, the waste company owned by the €7bn (£6bn) French utility Suez Environnement, will on Monday unveil plans to build up to 10 plants, creating 120 jobs and costing an estimated £50m.

The first, likely to be located in the London area, will convert so-called "end of life" plastics back into oil-based fuel. This is the dregs of plastic waste contaminated by food stuffs, which ordinarily ends up at landfill because it cannot be recycled.

Sita's plants will deal with 60,000 tonnes of mixed waste plastic waste per year – around 17pc of the total – leaving the potential for many more UK plants to be built in future.

Pioneering technology provided by Irish company Cynar has led to the development of the first commercially-viable plastic-to-diesel model.

David Palmer-Jones, chief executive of Sita, said pilots had already been tested successfully and Sita's first full-scale plants are expected to be profitable within five years of operation.

"There's a market need, it's environmentally-friendly, there's a saving on carbon emissions and it's cost comparable with regular diesel," the waste boss said.

It would be ideal to see waste trucks powered by the plastics they bring for conversion into fuel, he added.

It is unlikely that the fuel would find its way to the pump, but Sita aims to strike deals with local authorities and companies with commercial vehicle fleets such as hauliers and taxi firms.

The waste company aims to build the plants at the rate of two to three per year, depending on how long it takes to get planning consents.

Sita now has the Europe-wide licence for Cynar's technology and therefore the potential to roll out more plants across the continent if they prove successful.

"We believe in the growing demand for diesel due to the year-on-year increase in the proportion of diesel-powered cars," Mr Palmer-Jones said.

"This affirms the importance of waste management in both resourcing materials and partnering in the sustainable alternative energy industry."

* Meanwhile, only a "handful" of UK listed companies come "within striking distance" of complying with current government guidelines on how to report their corporate carbon footprint, according to a report by Deloitte.

Under-construction flyover collapses in Mumbai

2010-11-02T21:32:00.002+05:30

Mumbai flyover collapses, one hurt

MUMBAI: A biker was injured after a portion of the under-construction Lalabug flyover in central Mumbai collapsed on Tuesday evening, fire officials said.

"A small portion of the under-construction Lalbaug flyover opposite Bharat Mata cinema in Parel collapsed at 6.30 pm," they said.

Prakash Podar (31), who was on a bike, injured his right leg. "Prakash got a minor injury on his right leg and has been admitted to KEM hospital," the officials said.

Four cars were also damaged due to the collapse, the officials added.

Two fire engines and two ambulances were rushed to the spot, they said.

Video : Child Birth – Genesis & Development of Baby

2010-10-30T18:55:00.002+05:30

Evilcat production presents GENESIS

Here is a interesting and useful Video for people who are often confused on how a baby is born. In this video you will learn the way science teaches you. Check out how the genes move and then finally the baby is born after many weeks of waiting. Thanks to Pregnancy Tips Blog for sharing this video.

Top 5 Women's Health Problems

2010-10-25T23:55:00.002+05:30

Top 5 women's health concerns

Blame it on changing lifestyle or lesser body resistance; women's growing health issues are catching everyone's eyes. And while there's li'l that's being done to avoid them, we look at five of the most common health problems that women today are dealing with:

Top 5 women's health concerns

1. Breast Cancer: One of the most growing problems among women, which is responsible for 1 per cent of deaths worldwide, is breast cancer.

Says Dr Ashok Vaid, senior oncologist, Medanta Medicity, " Breast cancer is definitely one of the most common problems with women today. While there's no one cause that can be ascertained as to why it hits one, science does understand some issues related with it. The main reason is the paradigm shift in lifestyle. Things like late marriage, delay in having the first child, less breast feeding, problems of over-weight and genetic factors, all make for a variety of reasons that heighten the risk of breast cancer in women."

"So while timely regular check-ups could help one detect it fast, to avoid it completely, a change in lifestyle is recommended. Like breast feeding should be promoted, regular exercise to keep weight under control, eat fruits that produce antioxidants – basically have a healthy lifestyle to avoid any health problem."

2. Stroke: Women today are affected with strokes.

Dr YK Jalote, physician and cardiologist, explains, "Diabetes and hypertension are the two most common causes of stroke. Also junk food, lack of exercise, excessive work pressure and no-diet control are the other reasons. As to why women are getting affected with it, is because in households where women are not working, their health is usually ignored till an emergency comes up. While working women get so busy juggling home and careers that they give but li'l attention to their health leading to problems like hypertension."

As for the cure, Dr Jalote, says, "While there's nothing that one can do to avoid acquiring the problem of hypertension, proper medication, diet control and exercise definitely help one in controlling it. Also, regular check-ups can avoid any untoward health issue."

3. Polycistic Ovarian Disease: Polycystic ovary disease is yet another issue that has come up to be one of the most common female endocrine disorders affecting about 5 to 10 per cent of women of reproductive age, which is anything between 12-45 years. It is a condition in which there are many small cysts in the ovaries, which can affect a woman's ability to conceive.

Says Dr Sushma Dhawan, gynaecologist, "I have so many women right from adolescents to women in their 40s coming with this problem. The foremost symptom of one acquiring this problem is irregular, light or no periods. Others could be acne, excess growth of hair on the body, hair loss, infertility, weight gain or obesity and high insulin. Timely check-ups can prevent this from increasing. Right medical treatment can treat this disease and women can conceive."

4. Female Sexual Arousal Disorder (FSAD): Sex

Explains Dr Rajan Bhonsle, Hon Prof and HOD of Sexual Medicines at KEM Hospital and GS Medical College, Mumbai, "It's a common problem but reasons could lie in any of the four stages of sex
The four stages broadly are:
- desire at the brain level,

- erection or arousal at the body level,

- penetration

- and lastly, the orgasm.

Problem at any of these stages may lead to what we call FSAD.

In the first stage , the problem could be woman suffering with very low or very high sexual desire, or perverted desire which could lead to a mismatch between the levels desired by the man and woman and hence the problem in arousal.

In the second stage , one could face the problem of body not responding to the sexual desire. There's no lubrication, perhaps because the glands are infected or damaged. Or may be the man is not giving a proper foreplay to his woman. Direct penetration will never allow any lubrication. Also, painful penetration prevents lubrication too.

In the penetration stage , the probable issue is that of an intact hymen, very narrow vaginal canal, inborn penetration phobia, vagina going into high spasms as soon as penetration happens.

Lastly, in the orgasm stage , there are cases where all the above three stages are being fulfilled and yet the woman is unable to reach an orgasm. Here too, the problem lies all in the art of making out. More than often, the woman is not totally involved or she believes that the man is the active partner who will make her reach the orgasm stage, while she's the passive. But that's a myth. Sexis like a buffet and it's meant for both the partners to take part in it equally. Besides this, other common reasons could be her man using shabby ways to make out, man's body not being attractive, he perspires a lot, she dislikes him, or she believes sex is dirty. Not just these, any issue bothering a woman which could even be related to her work place or relatives, would mean a disturbed mind and hence lack of involvement in the act of sex All of this amounts to no orgasm.

5. Weight gain: A woman is always fat by her standards. Leaving that aside, the tendency of most Indian women to put on weight easily, especially after marriage is something that needs a low down.

"Lack of exercise and heavy binging is all that one needs to check to stay in shape," says Dr Rajan Bhonsle, on this. "Married or unmarried, a proper diet and exercise is the only key to good body. As for the most cited reason for women putting on weight after marriage – that is sex

it's a complete myth. The reasons lie in the complacency that sets in women. Marriage is a new feeling, they are in a happy state, husband gives them too much attention and all this excitement leads to women secreting the 'feel good' hormones that lead to weight gain. It's easier for working women to stay fit and shapely due to the running about that they need to do. Housewives, who're mostly relaxing and enjoying at home, are bound to be complaining of the weight gain problem."

Priyanka Chopra has the Perfect Skin and Hair

2010-09-26T09:33:00.000+05:30

Priyanka Chopra has the perfect skin and hair: Blossom Kochhar Interview

Blossom Kochhar is a pioneer in the field of aromatherapy for long. The lady has been a stalwart in promoting healthy lifestyle with her indigenous products, the beneficiaries of which include top-class national and international clientele. Mrs Kocchar turned her belief in the therapeutic properties of essential oils and natural fragrances into a lifestyle concept and industry with great success.
The beauty expert had a chit chat with Bikas Bhagat of Spicezee.com and gave some valuable information on the benefits of aromatherapy and tips to enhance beauty. Following are the excerpts:

Q: What inspires you to create natural products?

Blossom: Your skin inspires me to create natural products. Your skin is breathing…living and is a part of you. What you eat should have the property that it can be put on your face and whatever you put on your face should be edible. My products go through many-many years of testing before they are introduced.

Q: How does aromatherapy help in enhancing beauty?

Blossom: Aromatherapy is excellent for the body, mind and soul. You can use essential oils for massage, for instance, you can use them in your bathwater, after shower, and for any stress related ailments like body ache, hormonal problems, sinus, headache and migraine. Or you can try lavender for stress and ache. Then there is ‘ylang ylang’ to pep you up and Jasmine to lift you from depression. Sandal wood is also excellent oil.

Q: With monsoons coming what are the special things that one should keep in mind for perfectly healthy hair and skin?
Blossom: During the monsoons, cleanse your skin regularly with a good face wash. Don’t use any heavy moisturizer or creams; exfoliate twice a week with a good scrub. Cleaning hair is very important. Shampoo often as hair tends to get dirty, and dry your hair before braiding to avoid fungal infections.

Q: How would you define beauty?

Blossom: Beauty is holistic, it has to deal with your body, mind and soul and when everything is in harmony the person is beautiful.

Q. What’s your take on cosmetic surgery and Botox treatment? Are there any side effects?

Blossom: Well, they are basically beauty enhancement treatments and in most cases, they are adopted only if there is dire need for it. I mean if you are in a line of work which demands you to look glamorous, say like in showbiz, then there is no harm. However, these operations should only be done after a certain age and youngsters should refrain from such procedures instead they should rejuvenate themselves with aromatherapy.

Q: What can people do to reduce stress? Please suggest.

Blossom: We would recommend you to go for aromatherapy. Get yourself a diffuser, add a little water on the top of the diffuser, light a candle and add a few drops of Peach or Lavender oil. The oils can also be used in bath water, on the pillow and you can also use it in a potpourri.

Q: Can you tell us something about yourself? What all do you do - only aromatherapy or regular beauty treatment and makeup also?

Blossom: I also do make up, beauty and hair as well as skin care and spa therapy. I teach Reiki and play golf.

Q: Which celebrity do you think has the perfect skin tone and hair?

Blossom: Priyanka Chopra and…yes this pretty girl Katrina Kaif.

Q: We have heard that there are some international stars visiting your store for beauty and essential oils…

Blossom: It was only some time back that at our Qutub Colonnade store, we had a surprise visitor one day - Richard Gere. He walked into the store once and picked up ‘Dreams` (an essential oil). Ever since, whenever he’s in Delhi on his way to Dharamshala, he drops by at the store.

Dhaka - Bangladesh - EuroNews - No Comment

2010-09-26T08:58:00.000+05:30

Residents of Bangladesh prepares to celebrate the first day of Eid al-Adha.

Floating Boat Bridge In Dhaka

2010-09-26T08:43:00.000+05:30

Bangladeshi commuters cross the Buriganga River on a floating boat bridge in Dhaka, Bangladesh.