IndianTag-News cast

iPad free Applications

2011-04-23T21:40:00.001+05:30

iPad is awesome and the most I love about iPad is it’s applications which can be downloaded freely from apple store. Of course great applications are paid, available for a small fee. You will need latest version of iTunes software running on your PC to access below applications where you can directly download from apple store. You will need to register a new apple account before downloading free applications.
Here are some of the best free iPad applications i have seen, which you can’t afford to miss.

Facebook Friendly

Facebook friendly application for iPad. It has best viewable interface and it is FREE to download.

Twitter for iPad

Post your tweets with Twitter application for iPad. It is FREE for download.

Find My iPhone

Locate your iphone, touch or ipad with this application wherever you go. If you lose your device, you can locate it on the map, then lock it remotely and wipe all your personal data, just to safeguard your personal information. It is FREE.

Skype

Make free phone calls from this application with ipad. Although this application is only meant for iphone, it runs perfectly on ipad in a small screen but very useful to make calls using wifi.

CNN News

Free CNN news application for your iPad.

Calculator

Free standard and scientific calculator for your iPad. It is a very essential business application for calculations.

BBC News

Instant BBC News on your Ipad. It has best navigation and the superior readability with photos and videos.

WordPress

Handy wordpress ipad application for bloggers. It has very easy to use interface and typing is much of a fun with ipad. You can also add pictures and attachments to your posts. It is FREE application for iPad.

Compass

Free application acts as magnetic needle in your ipad. It points North and South direction including magetic north. For the application to work well, you will need to take your ipad away from magnetic sources.

Wifi Finder

Locate all wifi hotspots wherever you want with this wifi finder application. It is FREE to download from itunes store.

Adobe Express for iPad

Edit, resize, alter and crop photos with this Adobe express application for ipad. It is FREE.

eBay for iPad

Go shopping in ebay with this ebay application specifically for iPad users. It has simple and intuitive interface ideal for shopping. It is FREE!

Documents 2 Free

One stop mobile office suite FREE for iPad. You can view many file types including doc, pdf, xls, jpg, ppt and edit spreadsheet, textedit and much more. It also supports FTP and google docs upload.

Flickr

Flickr application for your ipad to share your favorite photos.

iBooks

iBooks is FREE book reader for ipad. You can directly buy and download books from the store to your ipad and read your favorite books.

Wifi Photo Transfer

Access your photos from any computer on same wifi network by just typing a ip address on your browser. It works on any browser connected to same wifi network. It is FREE and pretty useful to share photos between a PC and apple devices.

Free Translator

Free Translator is a handy automatic language translator based on google API for ipad. It supports many different languages and it is FREE to download from itunes store.

I really liked these applications in my new ipad and hope sharing this will come handy for those who are searching for useful ipad applications.

Terror strikes again in India

2008-09-14T20:09:00.000+05:30

Terror strikes again in India. After Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad serial blasts now, it is Delhi city became target of terrorists on Saturday evening leaving 39 innocents dead and many injured.

Total five bombs exploded in less then half and hour in Delhi’s market places like Connaught place, Greater Kailash and in Karol Bagh.

Eleven-year old boy Rohit who was selling balloons near Gopaldas Building on Saturday when he saw two men dressed in black got down from autorickshaw and droped plastic bag in a dustbin. The boy was shocked when 15 minutes later, the dustbin blew up and he became eyewitness. The boy was brave enough to inform police about what he saw and now he is at police station with his family members helping police to draw a rough sketch of two terrorists.

The Indian Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the bomb blasts through an email which says “ Indian Mujahideen strikes again….do whatever you can…Stop us if you can” . Bombs used in Delhi blasts were similar to the bombs used in Jaipur, Bangalore and Ahmedabad blasts. So it is a same terrorists group that is targeting different cities of India.

Made Of Honor (2008)

2008-06-29T08:44:00.000+05:30

Original title:	Made of Honor
Category	2008
Year:	2008
Country:	USA
Production:	Columbia Pictures
Distribution:	Columbia Pictures
Director:	Paul Weiland
Cast:	Patrick Dempsey, Michelle Monaghan, Kevinb McKidd, Kadeem Hardison, Chris Messina
MPAA	Rated PG-13 for sexual content and language. (edited; originally Rated R for some sex-related material.)


Plot: Comedy \| Romance Made of Honor revolves around Tom and Hannah, who have been platonic friends for 10 years. He's a serial dater, while she wants marriage but hasn't found Mr. Right. Just as Tom is starting to think that he is relationship material after all, Hannah gets engaged. When she asks Tom to be her "maid" of honor, he reluctantly agrees just so he can attempt to stop the wedding and woo her. ZSHARE Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4

Baby Mama (2008)

2008-06-29T08:37:00.001+05:30

Original title:	Baby Mama
Category	2008
Year:	2008


Plot: Comedy \| Romance Successful and single businesswoman Kate Holbrook has long put her career ahead of a personal life. Now 37, she's finally determined to have a kid on her own. But her plan is thrown a curve ball after she discovers she has only a million-to-one chance of getting pregnant. Undaunted, the driven Kate allows South Philly working girl Angie Ostrowiski to become her unlikely surrogate. Simple enough ... After learning from the steely head of their surrogacy center that Angie is pregnant, Kate goes into precision nesting mode: reading childcare books, baby-proofing the apartment and researching top pre-schools. But the executive's well-organized strategy is turned upside down when her Baby Mama shows up at her doorstep with no place to live. An unstoppable force meets an immovable object as structured Kate tries to turn vibrant Angie into the perfect expectant mom. In a battle of wills, they will struggle their way through preparation for the baby's arrival. And in the middle of this tug-of-war, they'll discover two kinds of family: the one you're born to and the one you make ZSHARE Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4 \| Part 5

Meet the Browns (2008)

2008-06-27T15:28:00.002+05:30

Original title:	Meet the Browns
Category	2008 Releases
Year:	2008
MPAA	Rated PG-13 for drug content, language including sexual references, thematic elements and brief violence.
Notes	ZSHARE Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4 DivX Full Movie

The Punisher (2008)

2008-06-27T15:19:00.002+05:30

Frank Castle ia a man who has seen too much death in his life,first as a Delta Force Op and later as an FBI special agent. He has managed to beat considerable odds, and is finally moving out of the field and into a normal life with him wife, Maria, and young son, Will. However, on his final assignment, the operation spins out of control
VeohTv
Full Movie
Youku
Part 1 | Part 2

Impact Point (2008)

2008-06-26T11:43:00.003+05:30

Original title:	Impact Point
Category	2008
Year:	2008
Country:	USA
Time:	90 minutes
Production:	Breaking Point Productions
Distribution:	Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Director:	Hayley Cloake
Cast:	Brian Austin Green, Linden Ashby, Melissa Keller, Joe Manganiello, Eddie Alfano
MPAA	Rated R for violence, language, some sexuality and nudity.


Plot: Thriller Pro Beach Volleyball star, Kelly Reyes, faces challenges everyday, fierce competitors, the press, but nothing could prepare her for him. ZSHARE Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4

A Simple Promise (2008) Watch Online

2008-06-26T10:39:00.002+05:30

Original title:	A Simple Promise
Category	2008
Year:	2008
Country:	USA
Time:	95 minutes
Production:	Marlo Productions
Distribution:	Inica Pictures
Director:	Earnest Harris
Cast:	Layla Kayleigh, Wallace Demarria, Ella Joyce, Bobby Reed, Alana Ethridge
Certification	USA:PG-13
Plot: Drama \| Romance A struggling young artist meets a talented, and undiscovered songstress. Desperately seeking success, they both must face hard truths and contend with sacrifice on their individual paths to fame and along the way they find a love that teaches them what success is really all about. ZSHARE Part 1 \| Part 2 \| Part 3 \| Part 4 \| Part 5

ICE Free North Pole for the 1st time.

2008-06-22T23:32:00.001+05:30

Global warming is a dangerous factor to the world, presently. Now, Arctic warming has become so dramatic that the North Pole may melt this summer, report scientists studying the effects of climate change in the field. They are projecting this year that the North Pole may be free of ice for the first time in history.

Firsthand observations and satellite images show that the immediate area around the geographic North Pole is now mostly annual, or first-year, ice-thin new ice that forms each year during the winter freeze. Such ice is much more prone to melting during the summer months than perennial, or multiyear, ice, which is thick and dense ice that has lasted through multiple cycles of thawing and refreezing.

Recent models suggest that the Arctic won’t see its first completely ice-free summer until somewhere between 2013 and 2030. But this summer’s forecast-and unusual early melting events all around the Arctic-serve as a dire warning of how quickly the polar regions are being affected by climate change.

Scientists are particularly interested in the North and South Poles because they are expected to show the most dramatic effects of global warming. The temperature increases roughly three times as quickly as the rest of the globe because of an effect known as ice albedo feedback, which occurs when highly reflective ice gives way to dark water. The water absorbs much more of the sun’s energy, increasing temperatures and causing further ice melting.

Forecasts for this summer’s ice suggest the damage has already been done. An unusually cold winter had raised hopes for a recovery, but much of the ice that formed froze later than usual, ending up so thin that it has already started to break up.

But given the rapid changes now evident in the Arctic, the ultimate fate of the North Pole-in fact, all permanent ice in the Arctic-may be all but assured. Almost all models have the Arctic completely ice free in the summer by 2100.

Watch De Taali (2008) Online For Free

2008-06-22T19:57:00.001+05:30

Amu is a girl amongst the two guys, though Paglu & Abhi dont treat her like one. Paglu is the one who makes her realize about her feelings and helps her get her love. And Abhi is the rich, kind and classy guy who falls in love every time he meets a weird girl. Life however takes a serious fun turn when one of them falls in love with the other. And the one is sadly in love with some one else all together.

WATCH ONLINE:
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 1
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 2
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 3
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 4
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 5
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 6
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 7
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 8
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 9
CLICK HERE TO WATCH PART 10

Watch Haal-e-Dil Online For Free

2008-06-22T19:43:00.001+05:30

See and Enjoy Haal-e-Dil Online For Free
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http://livemaza4u.org/videogallery.php?videoid=105
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Watch Get Smart (2008) Online For Free

2008-06-21T17:06:00.002+05:30

Below is the only quality I have been able to found via Fliqz. It did not work for me, but I am sitting on a crapy computer right now, so I would say you should consider trying it.

Part 1: http://www.zezmo.com/fliqz.php?id=536
Part 2: http://www.zezmo.com/fliqz.php?id=537

Yahoo losing key execs

2008-06-20T18:04:00.000+05:30

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo Inc's management ranks are rapidly thinning as the Internet pioneer fends off a shareholder mutiny threatening to culminate in the firing of Chief Executive Jerry Yang.

Three more executives have decided to jump ship, according to reports published Thursday by two blogs --AllThingsD and Techcrunch -- and The New York Times. The reports were based on unnamed people with knowledge of the departures.

The latest defectors reportedly are: Qi Lu, an executive vice president in charge of Yahoo's search and advertising technology; Brad Garlinghouse, a senior vice president who oversees communications tools like mail and Vish Makhijani, a senior vice president involved in search.

Garlinghouse is the best known of the trio. In 2006, he wrote a scathing memo arguing that Yahoo had gone awry and needed a major housecleaning. The so-called "manifesto" caused a stir when it was leaked to The Wall Street Journal.

The management turmoil appears related to a major reorganization that Yahoo President Susan Decker wants to complete as early as next week, according to a Wall Street Journal story that cited unnamed people familiar with the matter.

Hilary Schneider, a Yahoo executive vice president who is one of Decker's most trusted subordinates, could wind up with expanded responsibility in a streamlining aimed at improving communication between the company's product groups and overseas sales division, the Journal reported.

Yahoo declined to confirm the departures Thursday but issued a statement expressing its confidence in "a deep and talented management team."

"Yahoo continues to be a leader in our industry and remains a unique, exciting, and important place to work even as we experience the attrition that's to be expected in the Internet industry," the company said.

The Sunnyvale-based company already lost four prominent leaders in the past week: two executive vice presidents, Jeff Weiner and Usama Fayyad; and the creators of Yahoo's Flickr photo sharing service, Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake.

The exodus could worsen Yahoo's instability as Yang and his remaining lieutenants scramble to regain their bearings after spending five months grappling with an unwelcome takeover bid from Microsoft Corp.

Mozilla has released Firefox 3

2008-06-19T21:59:00.001+05:30

Mozilla has released Firefox 3, a major Mozilla browser release since the launch of Firefox 2 in October 2006. Available today in approximately 50 languages, Firefox 3 is two to three times faster than its predecessor and offers more than 15,000 improvements, including the smart location bar, malware protection and extensive under the hood work to improve the speed and performance of the browser.
“We’re really proud of Firefox 3, and it just shows what a committed, energised global community can do when they work together,” said John Lilly, CEO, Mozilla.

What’s new in Firefox 3: The new Firefox 3 smart location bar, also known as the Awesome Bar learns as people use it, adapting to user preferences and offering better fitting matches over time. The Firefox 3 Library archives browsing history, bookmarks and tags, where they can be easily searched and organised. One-click bookmarking and tagging make it easy to remember, search and organise websites. The new full-page zoom displays any part of a Web page, up close and readable, in seconds.

Firefox 3 is built on top of the new Gecko 1.9 platform, resulting in a safer, easier to use and more personal product. Firefox 3 now uses less memory while it’s running, and its redesigned page rendering and layout engine means users see Web pages two to three times faster than Firefox 2.

Firefox 3 also raises the bar for security. The new malware and phishing protection helps protect from viruses, worms, trojans and spyware to keep people safe on the Web. Firefox 3’s one-click site ID information allows users to verify that a site is what it claims to be. Mozilla’s open source process leverages the experience of thousands of security experts around the globe.

Everyone uses the Web differently, and Firefox 3 lets users customise participating in online auctions, uploading digital photos, seeing the weather forecasts and listening to music, all from the convenience of the browser. The new Add-ons Manager helps users to find and install add-ons directly from the browser.

The Mozilla servers have been experiencing problems due to high demand for Firefox 3. This actually delayed the full release of Firefox 3 by more than an hour. According to a Mozilla Developer News weblog post, Firefox 3 is being downloaded more than 14,000 times a minute. With the launch of Firefox 3, Mozilla is hoping to set a Guinness World Record for the most downloads in 24 hours.

Mozilla Firefox 3 is available now for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems.

ICC looks for options to preserve Tests from T20

2008-06-19T21:21:00.001+05:30

LAHORE: Cricketer,s governing body said on Thursday it will be exploring options to preserve interest in five-day Tests in the face of the growing popularity of Twenty20 matches.

The options, including proposals to a hold Test championship, will be discussed by the International Cricket Council (ICC) when its board meets in Dubai June 29, its acting chief executive Dave Richardson said.

Experts say the fast-rising Twenty20 format, with just 40 overs per match and a huge crowd-puller, is putting the future of Tests and 50-over One-Day Internationals in danger.

Besides two Twenty20 leagues in India -- one backed by the Board of Control for Cricket in Indian and the other by a private group -- Texan billionaire Allen Stanford recently launched his own league pitting an all-star West Indian team against England.

Other countries like Pakistan and Australia are also keen to launch their own T20 leagues.

"I am certainly in favour of looking at options to make sure that we provide a really good quality context for Test cricket to take place so that it can be preserved as the pinnacle of the game," said Richardson.

He and other ICC officials, including president Ray Mali, were here for Wednesday's official launch of the championship, which Pakistan will host in September.

"The ICC will be considering a number of options in the upcoming board meetings, one of which is to introduce a Test championship or league. There are so many ways this could be done, a league over one year, two years or four years, the details have yet to be worked out."

Richardson, a former South African wicketkeeper-batsman, admitted Twenty20 is the most popular brand of the game these days.

"There is no doubt that domestic Twenty20 leagues, such as those held in India and other competitions like in south africa, England and Pakistan have been a fantastic success, they have attracted new audience to the game.

"The ICC's policy has always been to encourage such popular formats but. if you ask any player around the world he would say that he likes to play Test cricket for his country," he said.

Richardson rubbished claims that the ICC is not endeavouring to preserve Test cricket, saying: "The ICC always gives importance to, and is serious to make sure that a special place is maintained for, Test cricket in the calendar."

He refused to admit that 50-over cricket will die after the introduction of Twenty20.

"I think 50-over cricket will benefit from Twenty20, already we have seen that the approach to batting, fielding and bowling(is) going to have to be improved if you want success in Twenty20," he said.

"For me, 50-over cricket will be a perfect balance between Tests and T20," he added.

Jet Airways eyes code sharing in China

2008-06-17T16:09:00.000+05:30

SHANGHAI: Jet Airways is working on plans to ambit in China by entering into code sharing deals with local airlines to connect Mumbai with more cities including Beijing. It is in talks with three major Chinese airlines on deals for exchanging seats and connectivity to different cities in India and China.

“We can offer the whole of India to Chinese carriers. Similarly, we expect them to offer us access to different cities in China,” Sudheer Raghavan, Chief Commercial Officer of Jet Airways said after a function to mark the launch of Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco service making Jet the first Indian carrier to connect the three commercial hubs across the world. Talks with Chinese carriers- Air China, China Eastern and Shanghai Airlines-are in different stages of progress and a final decision is awaited, he said.

Jet Airways will also invest as much as $15 million in setting up its own air-cargo unit. The carrier expects to begin flying freighters by the middle of next year.

Jet wants to join state-owned Air India in flying freighters as surging fuel prices and cutthroat competition squeeze margins on passenger flights. The airline’s cargo unit will be equipped with at least three leased Boeing Co 737 passenger planes converted into freighters, Raghavan said. The planes will be taken from JetLite, the carrier’s low-fare unit.

The carrier also plans to find new sources of revenue, possibly including selling advertising on boarding passes and its Web site, Raghavan said. Charging for check-in luggage may be considered as well, he added.

Cricket's latest revolution

2008-06-17T16:04:00.002+05:30

NEW DELHI, TNN: BCCI announced on Monday that India's upcoming three-Test series against Sri Lanka, beginning in Colombo on July 23, will be used as a trial for cricket's latest revolution, the proposed umpire review system.

The idea was originally scheduled to be trialled during the upcoming England-South Africa series but both boards failed to reach an agreement. The ICC will now have to approve its cricket's committee's recommendations before the Sri Lanka-India series begins.

Rani Mukherjee act as a cricketer

2008-06-17T14:03:00.003+05:30

Rani, whose last few films haven’t fared well at the box-office, is now taking on only those roles that challenge her as an actress. One such role will be in an untitled YRF’s production in which she plays a cricketer. The actress has been preparing for her role for the last two months and has been getting on-field training in the game by experts.

Today, Rani claims she has understood the basics and the nitty-gritty of the game well, even though she is far from playing at par with the levels of professionals.“I’ve been learning cricket regularly on the field for the past two months. I can most certainly play the game convincingly now, though not as good as professionals yet,” Rani is quoted.The movie, to be directed by newcomer Anurag Singh, has Rani pairing with Shahid Kapoor . It also has hottie Sherlyn Chopra in a small but important role.

Even as Rani prepares herself for this film, she is awaiting to see the audience response to Kunal Kohli’s film Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic in which she plays an angel.In doing this role, Rani had to do several difficult stunts (like flying in the air) with the use of cablework techniques.“It required a lot of physical strength to assume the correct ’flying’ posture on the harness,” the actress told the agency. ‘Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic’ is set to release on June 27.

Compare Best Credit Cards In UK and India

2008-06-17T13:22:00.005+05:30

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In India Credit Card Comparators Data as on: December 20, 2007

Click here to Watch Credit Card Comparators In India:

Here is an easy credit card comparator. The table enumerates all the important parameters of all the basic credit cards offered by the major banks. This table will help you compare disparate features such as interest rate on revolving credit, over-limit charges, cash withdrawal fee, and so on.You can also apply for the credit card by filling up the form on the right.

Watch The Happening (2008) Online For Free

2008-06-17T13:09:00.000+05:30

Premiere: June 17, 2008. The Happening is a 2008 American film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It stars Mark Wahlberg and Zooey Deschanel. Production began in August 2007 in Philadelphia.The Happening will be released on Friday, June 13, 2008, deliberately planned to fall on Friday the 13th. Mark Wahlberg will play a man who takes his family on the run when the world turns upside and a cataclysmic natural crisis threatens to end the world
Watch the Movie on Zshare [In Parts]
PART 1 | PART 2 | PART 3 | PART 4 | PART 5

Watch This Movie on Imeem [Full Movie]

Full Movie

Watch This Movie on Tudou [In Parts]

16-year-old ruled cyber fraud gang from Mumbai

2008-06-15T21:37:00.001+05:30

AHMEDABAD: Ajay is 16 and studies in Class X. But let him loose in cyberspace and he's a millionnaire, leaving hundreds of credit card holders broke across the globe.

Ajay was picked up from Mumbai on Thursday and detained by the Gujarat police in a hacking case that left them baffled with its global spread.

This St Ann's student from Mulund has mastered the ability to hack online shopping websites channel the money paid by cyber buyers into his own account.

The racket surfaced when Ahmedabad crime branch sleuths were investigating a case of hacking of a popular online shopping site and arrested three boys in the city. They turned out to be part of Ajay’s gang.

Probe has revealed that his network spreads across Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Ahmedabad. His mentors live in the US, Vietnam and other countries.

Ajay, the son of an employee of a textile firm, would give instructions to Wahid Khan, a resident of Kalupur, and Shahid Khan and Haadi Ghoghai of Juhapura, both in Ahmedabad, until they were arrested on Thursday. Ajay had taught them to create fake accounts and crack into others’credict account to make big bucks.

His prowess in hacking high-security and government websites let Ajay into a hacking community, which gave him access to a huge database of credit card Customer Verification Value (CVV) numbers of prominent banks across the globe.

Ajay’s tools included his laptop, a communicator and a cellphone. But, police say, Ajay’s PC has no data and he has covered his tracks.

All the evidence available is from Shahid Khan’s laptop which has folders and files that hide cracked passwords and the IP addresses of internet domains that were hacked into for fraudulent financial transactions.

Ajay got in touch with online fraudsters during gaming and was hooked fast. He has told the police that after connecting with international hackers in the US, Vietnam, and other countries, he spent over 15 hours a day on the computer trying to figure out how it worked.

“He has a database of over 4,000 international credit cardholders, their CVV numbers and expiry dates,’ said a senior crime branch official.

He fooled the cyber police by using prox settings for illegal transactions. “After making money illegally at the online shopping giant’s expense for over four months, he got in touch with Shahid Khan and Wahid Khan in Ahmedabad and let them into some secrets of the fraud,’’ said the official.

(Some names have been changed to protect identities.)

Two militants killed in shootout with police in J&K

2008-06-15T21:36:00.000+05:30

SRINAGAR: Two hardcore Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed and two policemen, including an officer, injured in a fierce gunbattle in Jammu and Kashmir, where a seven-year-old boy was critically injured in an explosion on Sunday.

The militants - Ajaz Ahmad Shah alias Janbaz and Bajeer Hussain - were killed in a gunbattle at Narpora village in Shopian district after a night-long gunbattle, a police spokesman said.

He said the encounter started on Saturday evening when police raided a house in the village, 70 kms from here, following specific information about presence of two dreaded Hizbul Mujahideen militants involved in the recent killing of two CRPF personnel in the district.

As the search party zeroed in on the house, militants opened fire injuring an Assistant Sub-inspector, the spokesman said, adding the police team fired back and tightened the cordon along the house.

Both the militants were shot dead on Sunday morning, he said. He said another policeman and a civilian were injured in the gunfight and shifted to hospital.

An AK assault rifle, two magazines and a hand grenade were recovered from the possession of the slain militants, the spokesman said.

In another incident, the spokesman said a boy Murtaza Nazir was critically injured in an explosion outside his house at Manzgam in Kulgam district.

The boy was playing near his house when he found some explosive device and started fiddling with it, causing it to burst, he said. The injured boy was shifted to hospital.

Nuke deal: BJP hits out at CPI, refrains from endorsing deal

2008-06-15T21:31:00.002+05:30

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday criticised the Communist Party of India for remarking that the India-US civilian nuclear deal would make India a US outpost against china, but refrained from endorsing the deal in its present form.

"The BJP expresses concern over the remarks made by CPI general secretary A.B. Bardhan that the India-US nuclear deal is an attempt to make India a US outpost against China. The CPI seems to have forgotten that it is not a Chinese but an Indian political party," BJP president Rajnath Singh said in a press communique.

Bardhan had made these remarks on Saturday at a function to commemorate the 80th birth anniversary of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara.

"Ever since the idea of the nuclear deal has been mooted, the Left parties have consistently indicated that they are more concerned about protecting China's interests than our own national and strategic interests," Singh said.

The BJP is opposed to the deal in its present form arguing that India can not give away its right to conduct tests as envisaged in the deal.

Taking on the united Alliance (UPA) government, Rajnath Singh said it is engaging in "regular bouts of verbal boxing through the media and in the public domain".

"Such statements and public posturing could actually jeopardize our long term and strategic relations with both the United States and China," Singh said.

"The Left parties are trying to politicise the issue in an attempt to regain their waning political relevance and mass support, exposing their true colours in the process," he said.

Singh said the UPA government was held hostage by the Left and, as a result, was unable to make any progress on important issues.

NRI to make thriller on maritime industry

2008-06-15T21:24:00.001+05:30

DUBAI: Most Hollywood films show maritime activities as dangerous or tragic, but an Indian resident of Dubai is set to make an emotional thriller that will focus on the positive side of seafaring.

Sohan Roy, a resident of the Middle Eastern metropolis for 16 years, will debut as a movie director with "Dam", whose shooting will begin in February next year. It will feature actors from both Bollywood and Hollywood.

"The main concept behind making this movie is to bring to light many (good) things about the maritime industry that the public is not aware of," Roy, who hails from Kerala, told.

"We will have actors from Bollywood and Hollywood. Also, we will have actors from the maritime industry who will play important technical roles in the film," he added.

Asked about the actors who would feature in the film, he said the process of selection was on.

"The process of selecting the actors is currently underway. Malayalam actor Thilakan has been approached for the movie," he said.

Well-known for his excellence in character roles, Thilakan was chosen for a special prize by the jury of India's National Awards that were announced Tuesday. The prize, which he got for the film Ekantham , is his second National Award.

Roy said it would be released in end- 2009 and it would be set in Dubai, Kerala and offshore locales.

"We may shoot in Singapore too," he said.

He said: "All the Hollywood movies portray maritime activities as dangerous or tragic. The film Titanic is an example. Dam will focus on showing the good side of maritime activities."

He said Dam would be made in a classic style highlighting the concept of navarasas , the nine forms of expressions in acting the nine characters of this movie".

"The rasa is an emotion inspired in an audience by the performer, originally conceived by the ancient Indian author Bharata Muni in 300 BC," he said.

Outlining the movies storyline, he said it would revolve around a 100-year-old dam built by the British in India and feature nine main characters.

The movie will be an in-house project of Marine BizTV , a 24-hour free to air global maritime channel operated by Aries Marine, a leading Dubai-based ship design and consultancy firm in the Middle East.

Yahoo boosts for Google

2008-06-15T21:23:00.002+05:30

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft Corp.'s abandoned takeover bid for Yahoo Inc appears to have culminated with a disheartening thud for those two companies but amounted to yet another coup for online search leader Google Inc.
What began in January as Microsoft's most audacious attack yet on Google instead paved the way for the Internet's most powerful company to gain even more clout through a deal that gives Google access to a large chunk of Yahoo's advertising space.

By submitting to a partnership that endorses Google's search advertising technology as a better choice than its own, Yahoo is giving online marketers even more incentive to spend most of their money with its biggest rival, according to industry analysts.

It looks like such a sweet deal for Google that the U.S. Justice Department and lawmakers are expected to take a hard look at the arrangement to make sure it doesn't give Google too much control over the Internet's search advertising market.

Google currently has about 75 per cent of the U.S. search advertising market followed by Yahoo at nine percent, according to the research firm eMarketer Inc.

Although they contend their alliance won't lessen competition, Google and Yahoo have agreed to wait until late september to begin working together so the U.S. government has more time to assess the potential impact.

Even more importantly to Google, the Yahoo partnership keeps a potentially valuable weapon out of Microsoft's control.

Without Yahoo's renowned franchise, Microsoft once again is scrambling to find a way to fix its unprofitable online operations and narrow Google's commanding lead in the Internet's rapidly growing ad market.

Google shares gained $18.56 to close Friday at $571.51 while Microsoft shares added 83 cents to close at $29.07 - an indication that some investors were relieved the world's largest software maker concluded it would be too expensive and troublesome to buy Yahoo.

On the other side of the fence, Yahoo shareholders had been clinging to the possibility that Microsoft would revive its last offer of $47.5 billion, or $33 per share, to buy the Internet pioneer. But those hopes evaporated late Thursday after Yahoo disclosed Microsoft had "unequivocally" rebuffed an attempt to renew the negotiations.

In a sign of investors' frustration, Yahoo shares dropped as much as $1.77, or 7.5 percent, Friday before rallying late in the session to finish at $23.47, down five cents. The downturn marked Yahoo's lowest stock price since it closed at $19.18 at the end of January, just before Microsoft launched its takeover attempt.

'India's steel production to be surplus by 2012'

2008-06-15T21:17:00.000+05:30

NEW DELHI: India,s steel production is likely to surpass the domestic requirement by 2011-12, easing pressure on prices of the alloy, which has been adding to the spiralling inflation.

"We shall achieve 124 million tons of steel capacity by 2011-12, well exceeding the requirement that would be to the tune of about 110 million tons at that point of time," Steel Minister Paswan said.

Steel prices shot up by over 50 per cent since January, adding to the woes of the UPA government, which is battling a seven-year high inflation of 8.75 per cent in its last year.

The annual demand for steel in India has been rising by about 13 per cent, but production is growing by over 6 per cent, according to official sources.

Last fiscal, the country's crude steel production stood at 53.9 million tons, of which about 5 million tons were exported. To bridge the demand-supply mismatch, India had to import nearly 7 million tons of steel.

Steel Secretary R S Pandey while endorsing India becoming a net steel importer from being a net exporter till a few years ago, said the trend is likely to continue for sometime as increase in capacity takes at least three to four years.

As per official figures, country's finished steel import went up by over 300 per cent from 1.6 million tons in 2002-03 to nearly 7 million tons in 2007-08 (provisional).

Verdict on Asif case in 10-12 days: Sources

2008-06-15T21:00:00.004+05:30

KARACHI: TheAttorney General in Dubai took up the Mohammad Asif detention case on Sunday but Pakistan embassy officials did not see a verdict coming before another 10 to 12 days.

An official in the Pakistan embassy in dubai said the Attorney General went through the medical reports of Asif and the report of the public prosecutor on the case on Sunday.

"He (the Attorney General) will first see the evidence and reports and question the prosecution. After which Asif would be called for questioning as would other defendents," the official said requesting anonymity.

"I don't think the Attorney General is going to decide before 10 days whether he will charge Asif or release and deport him. That is the procedure in Dubai and that is how long it takes for a case to be processed," he said.

Asif has been in detention since June 1 when he was caught with contraband drugs at Dubai airport on his way back home from india after playing in the Indian Premier League.

The Pakistan Cricket Board has said it would hold its own internal inquiry once Asif returns home but refused to comment any further on the issue insisting they still didn't know all the facts of the incident.

"But our lawyers in Dubai are in constant touch with the prosecutor's office and keeping tab of everything. It is not as if we have abandoned Asif in Dubai," one PCB official said.

The embassy official said the consulate was also keeping a watch on the proceedings and an official had also met with Asif in detention.

"Asif was a bit down when I last spoke to him but we have cheered him up and told him this will be over soon," one Board official said.

Yahoo, Google announce online ad alliance

2008-06-13T18:03:00.001+05:30

SAN FRANCISCO: Fresh from a failed courtship with microsoft, Yahoo on Thursday rushed into Google's arms in the hope an alliance will improve its sagging fortunes and quell a rebellion by stockholders.

Yahoo and Google announced a deal to put the Internet search king's expertise to work pumping money from advertising posted next to Yahoo internet search results.

Google and Yahoo began discussing an alliance in early February, shortly after Microsoft offered to buy Yahoo, said Google chief executive Eric Schmidt.

"The most entertaining conversations were those that took place in buildings that Yahoo owns in unknown and unfindable locations," Schmidt said during a conference call with analysts and reporters.

Google co-founder Larry Page and other executives arrived on bicycles for clandestine meetings in covert locations, Schmidt added.

Schmidt said it was during the past few weeks that he and Yahoo chief executive Jerry Yang had "serious conversations" and teams spent sleepless nights pulling together a deal inked on Thursday.

Google co-founder Serge Brin said it is "very exciting" to be working with Yahoo and its founders David Filo and Yang, whose time as students at Stanford University overlapped that of Brin and Page.

"We share quite a history and culture," Brin said. "It was David Filo and Jerry Yang that encouraged us to start a company that, in turn, became Google."

Brin said a priority is ensuring that Yahoo remains "a strong independent company."

Yahoo hopes the alliance will appease stockholders angry that board members rejected Microsoft's bid, which offered an attractive premium on the market value.

Billionaire corporate raider Carl Icahn has been amassing Yahoo shares in a campaign to overthrow the Yahoo board for rejecting a Microsoft takeover.

"This agreement provides a source of funds to both deliver financial value to stockholders from search monetization and to invest in our broader strategy," said Yahoo president Sue Decker said.

The deal gives Yahoo "the opportunity to deliver more relevant ads to users and provide advertisers and publishers with better advertising technolog to help them succeed," Schmidt said.

"This agreement will preserve the competitive and dynamic online advertising space."

The deal also breaks down the wall between free instant messaging services offered by Yahoo and Google, meaning users of either service will be able to chat online with each other in a way not possible before.

Asif spends detention days chatting with 'new friends in jail'

2008-06-13T16:56:00.002+05:30

ISLAMABAD : Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Asif, detained at the Dubai Airport detention centre since June 1 for allegedly possessing hashish, has reportedly said that he spends most of his time chatting with his new Pakistani and Indian friends and offering prayers to be freed soon.

In an interview with the Pakistani daily Dawn through a 'pay phone system', Asif reportedly sounded relaxed and in high spirits. He said he couldn't watch India-Pakistan match in Bangladesh because there was no TV set inside the detention centre.

Answering a question in a lighter vein about his future with Pakistan cricket, Asif jokingly said that he would take up football in case he is banned by the PCB.

"I have made a few friends here. We chat most of the time. There is a prayer room and we offer prayers at various times during the day. My conscience is clear and Insha Allah, I hope to be free soon," the paper quoted him as saying.

He said he was facing language problems in interacting with the Dubai. "Due to language problems, it has become very cumbersome to deal with the authorities. They speak Arabic and don't understand a word of Urdu or even English," he said.

He, however, clearly shied away from answering questions about the hakeem whose 'medicine' landed him in a soup.

Quoting Pakistan embassy officials there, the paper said the Dubai Attorney General, who is currently hearing the case, is likely to take up Asif's case on Sunday, and may perhaps even deliver a verdict on the same day.

Dismissing media reports that Asif might be deported on Friday, a senior embassy official said, "I think if any decision was taken to deport him, we would know about it." He said the embassy had designated a consular to follow the case and assist Asif. "There has been no development on the Asif front as yet and we are expecting the Attorney-General to handle the case on Sunday after going through the prosecutor's report," the official said and added: "Maybe he might even take a decision the same day on whether to charge Asif or release or deport him."

HP's touchy-feely PCs

2008-06-11T12:37:00.001+05:30

BERLIN: Hewlett-Packard, the world's biggest computer maker, launched a new generation of PCs on Tuesday that respond to users tapping or stroking the screen, potentially bringing user-friendly computing to the masses.
The TouchSmart All-in-One is designed around music, photos and video but has a full set of PC functions, and is the most persuasive product yet in HP's turnaround of a PC business that was once defined by run-of-the-mill products and low margins.

The starting price of $1,299 for the TouchSmart, which will go on sale in 17 countries in July, is comparable with that of other premium models that are less distinctive and easy to use.
The way icons or documents on the screen can be enlarged, diminished or scrolled through by a fingertip brush of the screen is reminiscent of Apple's iPhone, although HP has been developing touch technology for a quarter of a century.

"No new product has been more significant as this new TouchSmart PC we just showed you," said David Roman, head of marketing communications for HP's Personal Systems Group, at HP's main annual product launch held this year in Berlin.

Todd Bradley, the group's executive vice president, told Reuters: "We don't think about this as a niche. We think about it as a global product that will inspire demand and drive desirability," he said, but declined to speculate on what size the market for such PCs might reach.
Crawford Del Prete, executive vice president of global research at IDC, said: "I think the price point is getting compelling for a premium PC. I think it would be even more attractive if they could get it under a thousand."

He pointed out, however, the risks HP was taking by making large investments in an unproven market.
"It requires a set of marketing expertise and it requires a significant amount of investment," he added. "An Apple or someone else could do this but it's not for the faint of heart, it's not for people who don't want to invest in the product."

HP's touch-screen technology works on top of Microsoft's Vista operating system, and product managers said there were no current plans to develop versions for other operating systems, such as open-source Linux.

Tata assures British MPs on jobs in Jaguar-Land Rover

2008-06-11T12:33:00.000+05:30

LONDON: Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata has assured British MPs that there were no plans to farm out work in Jaguar-Land Rover to India or to retrench employees at the research bases in the West Midlands.

Speaking to MPs from the West Midlands in the House of Commons during his recent visit, Tata said jobs at the research centres at Whitley and Gaydon were secure at least until 2012. A fresh business plan is expected to be drawn up for the company in 2012.

Coventry South MP Jim Cunningham told reporters after the meeting that Tata indicated the possibility of employing more workers at the two centres. Cunningham asked Tata if the firm had any plans to uproot the company to India or to scale down the workforce.

Tata confirmed that there were not plans to move any of the UK plants and that no redundancies were planned. Instead, they will be increasing the workforce in the research areas.

“What they may be doing - and I don't want to exaggerate this, because they still haven't produced a business plan - is in certain areas, because they are impressed by skills, they will, for limited projects, employ more people. That means they will keep work in the Midlands rather than farming it out to India," Cunningham said.

2nd ODI: India rout Pakistan by 140 runs

2008-06-11T12:27:00.001+05:30

DHAKA, PTI: India snapped Pakistan's winning streak by inflicting on them a crushing 140-run defeat in the second match of the One-day tri-series at Sher-e-Bangla stadium on Tuesday.

An all round performance ensured an Indian victory as their batsmen and bowlers fired in unison to stop Pakistan's march towards 13th consecutive win.

Indians, having elected to bat, piled up massive 330 for eight, thanks to a stupendous batting by the top-order.

Openers Virender Sehwag (89) and Gautam Gambhir (62) hit sparkling half-centuries and shared an amazing 155-run partnership to lay a strong foundation for the big total.

North-East airline to take off next year

2008-06-10T12:19:00.000+05:30

SHILLONG: Come 2009, the seven sister states in the Northeast will come closer with greater air connectivity.

The North Eastern Council has set in motion a process to run a commercial airline between the landlocked states of the region. A global tender for the proposed airline, floated in May, will close on June 30.

NEC adviser (T&C) M S Sodhi said the North-Eastern Council would give subsidy to make the commercial air service economically viable.

At least a dozen more airports would be constructed in the region during the 11th Five-Year Plan in addition to the existing 11 airports, the official said.

Also detailed project reports to revive the non- functional airports like Rupsi, Kamalpur, Passighat and Tezu were being prepared by the Airports Authority of India.

"Though the tender process needs time and has to be approved by several ministries at the Centre, NEC intends to launch the air line service by January 1 next year," Sodhi said.

The basic objective of the airline would be to provide air connectivity to all the state capitals in the Northeast as well as other airports in the region including Bagdogra in north Bengal.

Further, it has plans to provide a schedule with a minimum frequency which allows for travel from one destination to another as well as to utilize the existing airline schedules to provide connectivity on trunk routes.

Looking to continue the winning streak

2008-06-10T12:15:00.001+05:30

With the IPL euphoria settled, MS Dhoni and his team will have to quickly get back into ODI mode to snap Pakistan’s 12-match winning streak when the traditional rivals face off in the tri-series on Monday.

Pakistan routed Bangladesh by 70 runs in the tri-series opener last night to extend their unbeaten streak to 12 matches and it could be a tough task for Dhoni’s young Indian side to halt the arch-rivals

Man killed in suspected drunken driving crash

2008-06-09T17:50:00.001+05:30

A Yahtahey man has been charged with vehicular homicide in the death of his passenger.
The Gallup Herald reports that 27-year-old Sherman Chee was being held May 31 without bond at the McKinley County Detention Center.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Tom Mumford says Chee had been speeding on the frontage road of Interstate 40 when he missed a curve and drove into a fence.
Mumford says the crash sent a pole through the vehicle’s windshield and into the chest of an American Indian man in his 20s. Authorities, who haven’t identified the man, say he died a short time later.

Sheriff’s deputies say a 30-pack of beer was found in the truck Chee was driving, along with 15 empty cans.
Authorities say Chee had an outstanding arrest warrant for driving on a suspended or revoked license.

Elephant corridor in the making in Chittoor?

2008-06-09T17:39:00.002+05:30

TIRUPATI: Is there an elephant corridor in the making in Chittoor district? The not-so-sporadic incidents of tusker attacks on mango orchards and sugarcane fields leads one to the conclusion that it may be so.

A close study of the pattern of elephant movement from one forest stretch to the other, which does not happen so frequently, indicates that the formation of an elephant corridor is almost complete. Though the movement has perplexed both forest officials and nature enthusiasts alike, both acknowledge having seen such a change in the movement of herds.

Movement of herds

The Seshachalam hill range, spread over 1 lakh hectares of thick forest in parts of Chittoor and Kadapa districts, has Tirumala, Talakona and Yerragonda reserve forests. Movement of elephants is mostly restricted to this zone. Another herd in the Kuppam-Palamaner belt strays into and out of the contiguous Tamil Nadu area, but rarely does either herd venture into the other territory.

In 1995, elephants created unrest by making a sudden appearance in places which were never their traditional habitats. With the increase in pachyderm population in Palamaner, a herd transgressed its “natural territorial limits” twice in a gap of two months. A herd from the Koundinya reserve forests was found wandering in the arid Punganur, Vayalpad and Thamballapalle belt (which never had any elephants) and further into Pulivendula and Idupulapaya areas of Kadapa district via Papaghni river.

Tourists scared

In the same year, an elephant calf from Kuppam was sighted near Mypadu in coastal Nellore, spreading fear among tourists at the famous beach. It was later captured, christened as ‘Venkanna’ and housed in the Tirupati zoo. Two more tuskers were sighted in Avacharikona valley off Tirumala.
Though the series of incidents happened in 1995-96, forest trackers have not identified the unusual movement of elephants in these tracts later.
However, there indeed is a possibility of elephants tracing this route. “Elephants excrete a smelly chemical called pheromone, which helps another herd to retrace the route even several decades later,” a senior IFS official told The Hindu.

Idupulapaya disturbed?

This means, elephants from the Palamaner belt can smell the trail and reach Idupulapaya even today. Thanks to the contiguity of this dense forest to the Chamala-Talakona-Tirumala stretch, the herd can almost reach Tirumala with ease. After the “incursion” in 1995, the Vempalle range remained quiet for ten years, but with a spate of developmental activities taking place in Idupulapaya such as setting up of IIIT campus, west campus of Yogi Vemana University, eco-tourism project, etc., elephants are likely to face inconvenience, which can further trigger an exodus, possibly towards the greener Tirumala forests.
The sudden appearance of mango orchards in place of shrub jungle (unreserved forest) abutting the reserve forests is also believed to have propelled “tusker attacks”. The formation of a corridor will enable free and unrestrained movement of elephants across the two districts and beyond, especially in turbulent times.

Indian American wins 2008 National Geographic Bee

2008-06-09T17:30:00.001+05:30

Akshay Rajagopal, an 11-year-old sixth-grader from Lincon, Nebraska, won the 2008 National Geographic Bee held in Washington, DC. By winning this prestigious competition, he gets a $25,000 college scholarship and a lifetime membership in the National Geographic Society.

The final question to which Akshay gave the correct answer was: The urban area of Cochabamba has been in the news in recent years due to protests over the privatisation of the municipal water supply and regional autonomy issues. Cochabamba is the third largest conurbation in what country? Answer: Bolivia.

Other questions that Akshay correctly answered included the westernmost Asian national capital (Ankara in Turkey), the country where Makossa is a popular type of music (Cameroon), and the location of Tillya Tepe (it's in Afghanistan).

Akshay attends the Lux Middle School in Lincoln. He got all his answers correct in both the preliminary rounds and in the final round. In the finals the top 10 contestants who were all boys competed against each other. The competition which is in its 20th year was moderated by the 'Jeopardy!' host Alex Trebek.

Microsoft India to expand SMS services

2008-06-09T17:28:00.001+05:30

HYDERABAD: Microsoft India is planning to expand its short messaging service (SMS) search services in India. The company is in talks with various mobile service operators including CDMA player Reliance Communications for possible tie-ups.
This will help the company reach out to the large mobile subscriber base in the country. It will soon add advertisements as a new option on its mobile SMS search.

“Currently, we have partnered with Vodafone to offer SMS search services in the country. It is available to 45 million Vodafone users. Our aim is to expand this. Soon, the service is expected to be available to users of the other four major operators in the country,’’ said Microsoft India Development Centre (MSIDC) general manager (windows live platform & services) Gurpreet S Pall.

Developed at MSIDC, Hyderabad, SMS search services help users type a query on their mobile and send it to a number. In turn, the users will receive search results just like that of Internet-enabled mobiles.

“This is part of our Live Search platform based on WAP-enabled mobiles. However, unlike WAP-based platform, SMS services will help reach out to a large number of mobile users who do not have high-end handsets,” said Pall.

Microsoft had launched Live Search services on mobile in India early last year. WAP technology enables access to the Internet from a mobile phone.
With the SMS search, users can search content related to ring tones, wallpapers, images or local information on restaurants and shops. Microsoft has also tied up with yellow page providers- Infomedia and Indiacom for local data and content.

“We use our technology to covert that content into search data so that users can access it on their mobile. Currently, content for search is available in 21 cities in India including Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Chennai and Kolkata,” he said.
With Microsoft planning to add advertisement options to SMS search, users will soon be able to access more information on mobile like on the Internet.

Microsoft India will have a revenue sharing arrangement with service providers for the technology. However, the company was not ready to reveal the financial details of the agreement.
There are an estimated 280 million mobile subscribers in the country and 5 million will be added every month. The new service will help Microsoft tap the huge potential market. Currently, Vodafone users pay 30 paise per sms and Vodafone receives about 50,000 queries a day from users. Similarly, Microsoft’s rival Google has partnered with Airtel to offer search services on mobile.

“Unlike developed countries, computer penetration in India is very small. For people in developing countries, mobile is a critical tool to communicate and access information. So, MSIDC’s business group for developing technologies for emerging markets is focusing on mobile related applications,” said Pall.
The group is also on the course to contribute to a couple of patents on the related technology. MSIDC has contributed to 180 patents that Microsoft has filed in the last three years.

BSNL slashes STD rates of cellular services up to 50%

2008-06-09T17:26:00.001+05:30

NEW DELHI: State-run telecom major BSNL on Monday announced a 40-50 per cent reduction in STD charges of cellular services under various plans.

It also announced to slash the call charges of landline services by 50 per cent.

Under the landline services, STD rates have been reduced from Rs 2.40 to 1.20 paise per minute to all networks in general and 'sulabh' plan.

"The intra-circle call charges, to BSNL network and inter circle (STD) call charges to all the networks, has also been reduced by 50 per cent," BSNL CMD Kuldeep Goyal said.
Roaming charges under prepaid and postpaid services have also been revised.
Earlier this year, private telecom operators like Airtel and Vodafone had reduced their STD and roaming charges.

Sehwag doubtful for ODI against Pakistan

2008-06-09T17:12:00.003+05:30

DHAKA: With the euphoria of Indian Premier League all but settled, Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his team will have to quickly get back into the One-day mode to snap Pakistan's 12-match winning streak when the traditional rivals face off in the tri-series here on Tuesday.

Pakistan routed Bangladesh by 70 runs in the tri-series opener on Sunday night to extend their unbeaten streak to 12 matches and it would be a tough task for Dhoni's young Indian side to halt the archrivals.

Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has already sounded the war bugle when he said that his wards would look to thump india a bigger margin to make it 13 wins in a row.

India, severely under-strength because of pre-tournament injury woes, would be in for further trouble as opener Virender Sehwag is a doubtful starter due to high fever.
Besides, the team is still awaiting the arrival of pacer S Sreesanth's replacement Manpreet Singh Gony.

With seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, recovering from a groin injury, and Harbhajan Singh, serving a ban for slapping Sreesanth during the IPL, not in the ranks, it would be anything but easy for Dhoni's young brigade against Pakistan.
The team had a feel of the ground and the conditions on Sunday and put in three hours at the indoor nets after rain prevented any outdoor practice session.

The short tri-series, being seen as a warm-up for the Asia Cup later this month in Pakistan, is crucial for the Indians as it provides an opportunity for players like all-rounder Yusuf Pathan, spinner Piyush Chawla and Gony to show their worth in absence of the seniors.
With the pitch at the Sher-e-Bangla Stadium likely to assist the batsmen, India's new-look bowling attack, to be spearheaded by Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma, will be severely tested.

No doubt, the Indian team has the batting strength to score heavily on a strip like this but it remains to be seen how their bowlers contain hard hitters like Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Muhammad Yousuf.
The much-anticipated contest meanwhile faces a major threat from the weather gods. The opener itself was truncated because of intermittent drizzle and this match too could see rain interruptions.

As for the Pakistani attack, medium pacers, particularly young talent Wahab Riaz, were impressive in last night's win over Bangladesh. But with Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif missing from the attack, it remains to be seen how Sohail Tanvir and his bowling colleagues fare against India's star-studded line-up.
In the batting department, though Butt, Yousuf and Misbah looked in good nick, Pakistan's line-up still sports a vulnerable look and even Bangladesh, with their limited options in the bowling department, shot them out in 39.3 overs.

Squads:
India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R P Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha and MS Gony.

Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (C), Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Yonus Khan, Muhammad Yousaf, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Umer Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Nasir Jamshed, Sohail Khan, Rao Iftikar, Bazid Khan and Naumanullah.

Hours of Play: 1500 hrs to 1830hrs and 1915 hours to 2245 hours.

Education Times completes 10 years: The journey and beyond

2008-06-07T22:42:00.000+05:30

When Education was launched 10 years ago, India was riding a high, fast and furious wave of socio-economic change. With the economy growing rapidly, the education sector held out its own. It formed the foundation of all the action.

In this exciting backdrop, we at Education Times fulfilled a critical role of mapping and capturing the changes in the rapidly-expanding sector. By providing invaluable information as per the need of students, we strove to be a friend they could trust. We had only one goal in mind: to empower an individual, which is the ultimate goal of education itself. Our vision was simple, to provide a solution and to keep students empowered at every stage in their learning cycle. And though the vision has broadened since those early years, it has never deviated from the original mandate of being a 'philosopher, guide and friend' to its readers.

Today, as India is poised to become a superpower, the focus is on building a knowledge society of tomorrow, and hence education assumes a more vital role. The last 10 years have witnessed major developments such as privatisation of education, changes in policy including accreditation of universities and reforms in distance learning, quotas in higher learning institutes and foreign collaborations, among others. The decade has also seen the largest ever allocation for education sector, 19.4% of the total Union budget.

The 11th Five Year Plan has chalked out the ambitious roadmap of expansion in higher education, accessibility to 15% by 2012, and inclusive education. For us at Education Times, these developments have made the future even more challenging.

We endeavour to deliver the latest news and updates in higher education as well as trends in careers, besides, of course, addressing readers' concerns.

We are enjoying this challenge. As we take things forward, expect to be updated with the changing cult of education, of being a part of it in all its completeness. Nothing can be as fulfilling as being part of this great journey together. We hope to help you make all your dreams come true.

Gayle and Chattergoon back in West Indies squad

2008-06-07T22:39:00.001+05:30

BRIDGETOWN (Barbados): Opening batsmen Chris Gayle and Sewnarine Chattergoon return to the West Indies squad for the third and final Test against Australia at the Kensington Oval next week.

Australia lead 1-0 after the drawn second Test in Antigua.
Gayle, who has missed nearly two months action because of a groin strain, has been named as captain but will have his fitness checked throughout the preparation ahead of Thursday's first day.

Left-handed Guyanese Chattergoon has also missed both the Tests, with a shoulder injury, after making an impressive introduction to the team during the previous series against Srilanka
Chattergoon replaces Devon Smith whose disappointing performances in Antigua cost him his place but Jamaican batsman Xavier Marshall, who scored a half century at North Sound, keeps his place.

The 14-man squad also includes the Barbados pairing of left-armer Sulieman Benn and seamer Kemar Roach.
Benn has been in the squad throughout the series without adding to his debut cap against Sri Lanka while Roach, a product of the West Indies under-19 team, has yet to appear in the full regional side and has only played four first class matches.

Luke Ronchi, the Western Australia wicketkeeper has been called up as cover for Australia wicketkeeper Brad Haddin, who is recovering from a broken finger.

West Indies squad:
Chris Gayle (captain),Ramnaresh Sarwan (vice captain), Sulieman Benn, Dwayne Bravo, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Sewnarine Chattergoon, Fidel Edwards, Xavier Marshall, Runako Morton, Daren Powell, Denesh Ramdin, Kemar Roach, Darren Sammy, Jerome Taylor.

No roll back on fuel price hike: Deora

2008-06-07T22:37:00.000+05:30

New Delhi: The government on Saturday said it would not roll back the hike in petrol, diesel and cooking gas prices that came into effect on June 5.

"Decision on the hike in prices of petrol, diesel and LPG is final and there will not be any change to it," Petroleum Minister Murli Deora said in an interview.
Many states have already slashed sales tax on petrol and diesel and VAT on cooking gas to cushion the impact of the hike on consumers.

The Centre announced an increase of Rs 5 per litre in petrol, Rs 3 per litre in diesel prices and that of LPG by Rs 50 per cylinder earlier this week.
Deora explained that the price hike had become necessary to curb the losses of oil marketing companies.
States ruled by Left parties observed a shutdown, including two days in West Bengal, to protest the price increase.

Had it not been for the increase, the three-state run oil firms BPCL, HPCL and IOC would have lost over Rs 225,000 crore in revenues this fiscal and would have run out of cash to import crude.
Although many states, including Delhi, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Bihar, have come forward to forego a part of their tax revenues from petroleum products, Deora appealed to other states to reduce sales tax on these fuels to give relief to consumers.

Nokia launches N78 in India

2008-06-07T22:35:00.001+05:30

NEW Delhi: Finnish cell phone maker, Nokia has launched Nokia N78 in the Indian market.

With 2.4 inch screen, the phone comes with 3.2 mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics, 70 MB onboard storage capacity, FM radio, MP3 player and GPS system with pre-loaded maps of eight cities.

Other features include, high-speed connectivity via WLAN, HSPDA 3.5G, support for microSD cards up to 8GB, internal speakers and 3.5mm headphones.

Also, the phone packs a feature called 'Location Tagger' application, which automatically tags location data to the picture, allowing users to save pictures by date and by geographical coordinates.

At the launch Vineet Taneja, Head-GTM, Nokia India said, "We are looking at the next generation of Internet that has evolved towards social networking or Web 2.0 where people can participate and share their experiences through communities such as Facebook and Flickr."

He added, "N78 features location-tagging, which merges camera functionality and A-GPS to not only share pictures but also the places where they were taken."

With black surface, the phone is available in two colours, cocoa brown and lagoon blue.

The phone is expected to retail for approximately Rs 19,999.

Indian pleads guilty in fake currency case

2008-06-07T22:33:00.000+05:30

DUBAI: An unemployed Indian has pleaded guilty of exchanging 25 fake 1,000-rupee notes of Indian currency

The accused appeared before the Dubai Criminal Court of First Instance on Friday and according to prosecution, he approached a money exchange outlet on February 18 last year and presented the fake currency notes.

Prosecution witness, identified only as F Q, an executive in the exchange shop, said the defendant handed over the money the employee for remitting it to India.

The exchange staff duly carried out the transaction and transferred the equivalent amount to his beneficiary in India, the Khaleej Times reported.

"Two days later when the director of the Karama branch came and saw the currency he discovered that it was fake," it quoted the witness as saying.

Melbourne: Indian student attacked, robbed

2008-06-06T20:24:00.000+05:30

SYDNEY: A 22-year-old Indian student was Friday attacked, drugged and robbed while waiting for a bus in Melbourne.

Melbourne police are appealing for witnesses after the Indian student, identified only as Sam, was attacked, anaesthetised and robbed, while waiting for a bus at the corner of St Kilda Road and Barkley Street in the suburb of St Kilda at about 6.30 a.m.

Sam, who has lived in Melbourne for the past 18 months, was on his way to an exam at La Trobe University, where he is doing a masters degree in finance

Detective Senior Constable Mark Sontag said it is believed that someone approached Sam from behind and put something over his head that led to him losing his consciousness.

"It's extremely unusual, I've never seen this method used before in the execution of an armed robbery," Sontag said.

The next thing Sam remembers is waking up and finding his mobile phone and wallet missing. The wallet had cash and cards.

Sam told reporters that he remembered smelling something and being very scared. "I gave up and thought maybe I'm going to die. I was really shocked and scared ... and unthinkable because I have to go to university early in the morning and late at night so I'm really scared now."

CBI looks for weapon used in Aarushi's murder

2008-06-06T20:17:00.001+05:30

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Friday searched the Noida residence of dentist Rajesh Talwar, who has been arrested for the alleged murder of his daughter Aarushi and domestic help Hemraj, to look for the murder weapon.A day after the Ghaziabad court sent Talwar to 14-days judicial custody, a team of CBI sleuths on Friday conducted searches in an around the apartment in Jal Vayu Vihar, where Aarushi was found dead.

“Searches have been conducted in and around the house. The drains near the house were also searched for the weapon of the murder,” a CBI official said.
The CBI subjected Talwar to a lie detector test June 4, on the suspicion that he knows about the weapon and the mobile phones of Aarushi and Hemraj.

During the lie detector test, also known as polygraph test, Talwar was composed.
“The lie-detector test was aimed at locating the weapon and to establish the sequence of events. Talwar was composed while answering most of the questions. We have sent for examination the physiological data collected during the test,” the official said.

The sleuths found differences in the statements of Talwar and his relatives about the incident.

Aarushi, 14, was found dead in her Noida apartment with her throat slit May 16. The police initially named domestic help Hemraj the main accused, but backtracked after his body was found on the terrace of the apartment a day later.

Police arrested Talwar May 23, accusing him of killing his daughter in a fit of rage as he objected to her closeness to Hemraj. The police had said at that time that he first killed Hemraj and then his daughter.

Across India, on a cycle, for a billion trees

2008-06-06T20:15:00.001+05:30

Chennai: On June 5, 2008, World Environment Day, Shrenik Rao, creator of the TreeCycle project, CEO of a media company and an avid cyclist, will start an arduous and exciting bicycle journey from Kanyakumari, the southern tip of India, to Kashmir to spread awareness about planting trees. This endeavour will conclude on India%u2019s Independence Day %u2013 August 15, 2008.

Shrenik will be covering by bicycle, 4000 kms, 116 towns in 80 days (7 states and 2 union territories). For this effort, individuals from all walks of life, from all over the globe, can pledge to plant trees in support of the United Nations Environmental Programme%u2019s (UNEP) %u201CPlant a Billion Trees%u201D campaign. In partnering up with the UNEP, the aim of the TreeCycle campaign is to raise awareness about global warming and to raise a pledge of 10 million trees for the calories Rao will expend during the cycle ride.

Along the way Shrenik will cycle with, interact and discuss issues relating to the environment and global warming with individuals from all walks of life %u2013 from Bollywood stars to businessmen, from cricketers to cab drivers, from doctors to diplomats, from environmental activists to engineers, from farmers to footballers, from intellectuals to industrialists, from politicians to pilots, from students to snake charmers. TreeCycle will reflect on a variety of opinions while educating and enchanting its viewers with a kaleidoscopic visual milieu. TreeCycle is thus an ambitious adventure to inspire and encourage all to pledge to plant trees.

Shrenik Rao is also an acclaimed documentary filmmaker, an amateur cross-country cyclist, Fitness Expert Lecturer, Napier University, Edinburgh, UK. He has a Masters in Political Communication from the London School of Economics, UK and a Masters in Political Anthropology from the University of Hyderabad (Gold Medallist).

Voluntary code for internet speed

2008-06-05T16:27:00.002+05:30

The way broadband speeds are advertised is to be regulated under a voluntary code published by Ofcom.

It wants companies to publish accurate estimates of the maximum connection speeds people can expect before they buy broadband packages.

Some 32 internet providers, covering more than 90% of UK broadband customers, have agreed to the code.

The media regulator also says customer internet satisfaction has fallen in the past year.

Ofcom is also undertaking what it says is the UK's "most authoritative and comprehensive broadband speed survey" to identify broadband performance across the country and its relationship to advertised speeds.

Code requirements

There are several steps that fixed-line internet service providers (ISPs) - ones that use cables - are required to take under the voluntary code.

These include

providing customers with an accurate estimate of the maximum speed that the line can support, whether in a shop, over the internet or on the phone
resolving technical issues to improve speed
offering customers the choice to move onto a lower speed package when estimates given are inaccurate
providing consumers with information on usage limits
alerting customers when they have breached usage limits

Ofcom's chief executive Ed Richards said: "Broadband is a thriving market in the UK. We want to encourage real clarity for consumers about the actual broadband speeds they can receive.

"This voluntary code is a significant step in this direction."

Anna Bradley, chair of Ofcom's Consumer Panel described the creation of the code as a "welcome move".

"It addresses the concerns that we raised with Ofcom last year about the mismatch between the speeds that people think they are buying and what they actually get," she said in a statement.

Ms Bradley added that Ofcom must be "strict" in monitoring the code and said repeated breaches of it by net suppliers might signal the need for a mandatory Code of Practice.

The Internet Service Providers' Association (ISPA) said it supported the principle of the code and had helped to draw it up.

ISPA added that it would like the code to be extended to include mobile operators who offer wireless services to reduce confusion among consumers.

Ofcom has also previously reported that the geographical digital divide had been closed across the country, after its research found that homes in rural areas were more likely to have broadband than those in towns.

But a survey for BBC News suggested rural areas generally fared worse than towns, with telephone-line lengths and lack of access to cable being blamed

Blind students now record lectures

2008-06-05T16:26:00.000+05:30

Visually impaired applicants aspiring to get into Delhi University are a tech-savvy lot. Gone are the days when they preferred to get into colleges that provided tape recorders and cassettes. Today, they prefer to record college lectures on their iPods and keep in touch with friends and family through mobile phones modeled after their needs. While some of them surf the Internet to find out about courses and colleges, while many have active e-mail ids.

“I have a desktop and am going to buy an iPod to record lectures,” said Yogesh Kumar, who wants to study History (H) in Hindu, Ramjas or Hansraj college. “Those who do not have a computer have to manage with a tape recorder. But I have a scholarship from the Delhi Government, which will enable me to buy an iPod,” said Kumar, who passed out from JPM Senior Secondary School for the Blind.

Kumar has done his homework. “An iPod can record up to 24 hours of lectures and comes for Rs 2,500 to Rs 3,000. You can use it either with a computer or CD player,” says the son of a farmer from Uttar Pradesh.

Devender Singh, another aspirant with 80 per cent disability, never steps out of home without his cellphone that has been equipped with speech software called TALKS. “This software enables me to access all features of my cellphone. It gives audio feedback from button presses and can send and receive text messages. It also speaks out the name or number of incoming callers,” Singh explained.

For Sunil Mina, who is preparing for the civil services, surfing the net is a must. “I use JAWS to read online newspapers and also keep tab of how visually impaired people are doing by subscribing to a particular website,” said Mina. “Just as people see, I hear whatever is displayed on the screen and work accordingly. It also helps me send mails to my friends,” said the student from St Stephen’s.

Naked photos, e-mail get teens in trouble

2008-06-05T16:22:00.003+05:30

Passing notes in study hall or getting your best friend to ask a boy if he likes you or, you know, LIKES you, is so last century. Nowadays, teenagers are snapping naked pictures of themselves on their cell phones and sending them to their boyfriends and girlfriends.

Many of these pictures are falling into the wrong hands -- or worse, everyone's hands, via the Internet -- and leading to criminal charges.

Some parents are aghast.

"I just don't understand why kids would do a stupid thing like that," said Rochelle Hoins of Castle Rock, Colorado, where 18 students in her twin sons' middle school sent around nude pictures of themselves last year. "We did dumb things when we were kids, but not like that," said Hoins, whose sons were not involved.

Similar cases have been reported in New Jersey, New York, Alabama, Utah, Pennsylvania, Texas and Connecticut.
"It used to be that kids would make mistakes, and it was local and singular and everyone knew it was part of growing up," said Catherine Davis, a PTA co-president in Westport, Connecticut, who had a frank talk with her two sons after several students' nude self-portraits recently spread through the wealthy New York City bedroom community.

"Now a stupid adolescent mistake can take on major implications and go on their record for the rest of their lives," she added.
School administrators in Santa Fe, Texas, confiscated dozens of cell phones from students in May after nude photos of two junior high girls began circulating. The girls had sent the photos to their boyfriends, who forwarded them to others, officials said.

In La Crosse, Wisconsin, a 17-year-old boy recently was charged with child pornography, sexual exploitation of a child and defamation for allegedly posting nude photos of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend on his MySpace page. The girl had taken the pictures with her cell phone at her mother's home and emailed them to the boyfriend, authorities said.

"They were pretty graphic," said sheriff's Sgt. Mark Yehle. "I think they just do it to impress their boyfriends. When he breaks up, he `vents,' in his words, by posting them. He apparently didn't think there was anything wrong with it. He didn't know it was illegal."
Psychologists said the phenomenon reflects typical teenage hormones and lack of judgment, with technology multiplying the potential for mischief. It also may reflect a teenage penchant for exhibitionism, as demonstrated on MySpace and countless other Web sites and blogs.

Brianna Moran, 15, who attends the same school as the girl in the La Crosse case, said she is not surprised by such behavior. "They probably think they're hot or something. If you look at people's MySpace, all the pictures are slutty," she said.
In suburban Syracuse, New York, several teenage girls sent naked pictures on their phones to their boyfriends, only to learn that another boy had collected them from the Web and was trying to sell a DVD of them.

Some boys are photographing themselves, too. In Utah, a 16-year-old boy was charged with a felony for sending nude photos of himself over a cell phone to several girls. Four middle school students -- two boys and two girls -- in Daphne, Alabama, took photos of themselves on their cell phones and traded the images back and forth, authorities said.

Some nude photos have even turned up in parents' e-mail inboxes.
The images are complicating the work of investigators whose job is to find exploited children. Authorities trying to identify youngsters in naked photos are increasingly discovering that the teens themselves took the shots, said John Shehan, a director at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Connecticut police Sgt. Jim Smith, who investigates cybercrime and online child pornography, conducts seminars in which he warns parents about the use of cell phones to send nude pictures."It's often so spur of the moment that they're not thinking about where those images might end up," Smith said. "They might think it's just fun and games at the time they do it, but these images can really spread like wildfire

Army fences village roads in Gujjar stir-hit areas

2008-06-05T16:04:00.000+05:30

KARWADI (RAJ): With the Gujjar stir for ST status showing no sign of abating, the Army erected barbed wire fencings on village roads leading to the agitation hotbed here as the security top brass met to find fresh ways to break the fortnight-long deadlock.

The fencings has been put up in around 20 villages in the Karwadi-Pilupura area to block unscrupulous elements from moving into the agitation spot through dirt roads, a senior Rajasthan government official said. Fresh deployments of Army and paramilitary forces were positioned early on Thursday morning along with women personnel of the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAF) as the number of Gujjar women joining the protest was increasing, he said.

Gujjar men and women protesters were still blocking a key bridge on Banganga river in Bandikui area in violence-hit Dausa district and stalled traffic on the highway linking Sawai Modhopur in Rajasthan with Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh by staging a sit in, police reports said on Thursday.
Newly appointed Rajasthan police chief K S Bains undertook a survey of agitation spots in Bharatpur and Dausa areas on Wednesday and later reviewed the situation with senior administration and security force officers in a bid find ways to break the deadlock.

Karunanidhi's birthday wish -- implementation of Sethu project

2008-06-04T22:17:00.004+05:30

Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi has only one wish on his 85th birthday on Tuesday -- to see the implementation of the Sethusamudram project. The Dravidian stalwart, who turned 85 on Tuesday, said he has no "personal wishes" and his only dream was to see the Rs 2,287 crore project, which is locked in a legal battle, coming true.
"My only wish is to see the implementation of the Sethusamudaram project," Karunanidhi said.

When asked about his personal wish on the day, the Chief Minister told NDTV "I have no personal wishes."
Karunanidhi had on Sunday said that the project augured well for the prosperity of the state and requested those against it to not to "stall in the name of Lord Ram."

"The project will lead to booming commercial activities in Tamil Nadu. It is a historical compulsion (for the state's development)..I, therefore, place a request (before those opposed to it).. Please don't stall the project in the name of Lord Ram," he said in a poem in DMK's mouthpiece Murasoli.

Supreme Court allows US citizen to meet daughter in Kolkata

2008-06-04T22:04:00.002+05:30

The Supreme Court Wednesday allowed a US citizen of Indian origin to meet his seven-year-old daughter in kolkatta where she is staying with his estranged wife.
A vacation bench of Justice C.K. Thakkar and Justice L.S. Panta issued the order after meeting the child and her mother Nandini Choudhuri separately in their private chamber.

Though they did not record the child's wishes in their order, they recorded the stand of the mother, who was opposed to flying the child to the US to meet her father Rana Roy as per a New Jersey court order.
Choudhuri, however, did not object to Roy flying down to Kolkata and meeting his daughter.

While passing order on lawsuits on the question of custody of a child to one of the two parents, judges generally take the wishes of the child as well into account.
The bench said Roy could fly down to Kolkata and meet his daughter at a mutually acceptable and convenient place in the city.

It also allowed him to talk to his daughter on phone between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. (India Time).
It said the father and daughter could also utilise webcam to see each other while talking over telephone.
Choudhuri, who has dual citizenship of India and the US, had moved the apex court challenging a New Jersey court's order that asked her to allow her ex-husband to meet their daughter.

The US court's order had also been endorsed by the Calcutta High Court, which asked Choudhuri to fly down to the US along with her daughter at her former husband's expense and let him meet his daughter there.
Choudhuri and Roy were married a decade back while staying in the US and their daughter was born over seven years ago.

But eventually the marriage went sour and the couple got divorced as per a New Jersey court's order, which granted the child's custody to the mother. It, however, vested Roy the right to visit his daughter.
Meanwhile, Choudhuri left New Jersey and came back to Kolkata to meet her ailing father last year. She got the child admitted to a school in that city and continues to live there.

This prompted her ex-husband Roy to move the New Jersey court seeking enforcement of his right to visit his daughter. The court, then, heard Choudhuri as well on the issue and eventually ordered her to fly their daughter to New Jersey at Roy's cost and let him meet her.
But Choudhuri again came back to India and challenged the New Jersey court's order in the Calcutta High Court.

AMD launches new chips for laptops

2008-06-04T21:58:00.002+05:30

Advanced Micro Devices Inc rolled out a new package of chips for laptops on Wednesday, a major overhaul of its mobile lineup the chip maker hopes will help it climb out of a deep financial trough.
The Sunnyvale-based company, saddled with debt and hurt by product delays, is betting consumers will gravitate toward its new Turion brand processor and related chipset -- part of a package that chip makers call a "platform" and sell together -- because of their focus on high-definition video playback.

This new generation of Turion laptop chips will appear at launch in twice as many different computers -- from Hewlett-Packard Co, Acer Inc, Toshiba Corp and others -- as the previous generation, released two years ago, AMD said.
Chip makers AMD, Intel Corp and Nvidia Corp are battling harder over high-end graphics as more people watch movies and television programs on their home computers and as operating systems and Web applications require better visuals.

To that end, AMD's new chips, which were unveiled at the Computex computer show in Taiwan, rely heavily on parts from ATI Technologies, a graphics chip supplier that AMD acquired for $5.6 billion in 2006 to help it challenge Nvidia and much larger Intel.
Intel is the world's No. 1 maker of microprocessors, the brains of personal computers. AMD is a distant No 2, and with the acquisition of ATI now makes standalone graphics chips. Nvidia is the market leader in standalone graphics chips.

AMD hopes that by infusing its general-purpose chips with more advanced graphics capabilities it can boost their appeal and help the company increase its market share.
AMD has racked up more than $4 billion in losses over the last six quarters as Intel snatched away market share with newer parts and AMD struggled to digest the pricey ATI acquisition.

AMD's new Turion X2 Ultra Dual-Core mobile processors, which come in clock speeds up to 2.4 gigahertz, are accompanied by powerful new chipsets, a separate set of chips that do most of the graphics work -- absent a standalone graphics chip -- and control how the processor communicates with the rest of the computer.

AMD says its chipsets deliver three times better 3-D performance and five times better high-definition image quality than competing models because of the strength of its integrated graphics. AMD also says its chips transmit high-definition videos and photos faster over wireless networks.
The company says demand for its new lineup of laptop chips has been strong.

Air operators asked to appoint ombudsman by Aug 1

2008-06-04T21:52:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, June 4 (IANS) The civil aviation ministry Wednesday asked air operators to appoint an ombudsman by August 1 - the deadline set by the government earlier - which will provide a forum for the passengers to air their grievances.

Civil Aviation Secretary Ashok Chawla told reporters after meeting airline operators here that the airlines have been asked to appoint ombudsman so that the complaints and grievances would be addressed by an independent agency.

'The deadline is Aug 1 for the air operators to appoint the ombudsman,' said Chawla. Ombudsman is an authority which will look into complaints and act as an arbitrator for settlements between the consumers and airlines.

Chawla added that the performance navigation system would come into force at Mumbai and Delhi airports by Aug 1. These airports witness delays due to heavy air traffic.

The system is being put in place so that time taken for an aircraft to land even in heavy traffic would be reduced by at least half-an-hour or more, he said.

BJP legislators take oath, Shettar to be speaker

2008-06-04T21:25:00.004+05:30

Bangalore, June 4 (IANS) The Karnataka assembly Wednesday began its first session with members taking oath in the name of god, farmers and, in the case of some, their leaders.

Pro-tem speaker K.G. Bopaiah overruled objections from the Congress to members taking the oath in the name of their leaders.
B.S. Yeddyurappa, the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) first chief minister in the country's south, was the first to take oath -- in the name of god and farmers.

Following him was Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress. Kharge is the leader of the opposition. The Congress won 80 seats in the 225-member house.
The BJP will get its first speaker in Karnataka Thursday when Jagadish Shettar, a senior leader from north Karnataka, will be formally declared elected to the post.

Shettar Wednesday filed his nomination papers. The Congress and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), which has 28 members in the house, have not fielded any candidate, making Shettar's election inevitable.

Shettar, a four-time legislator from Dharwad, had refused to accept the speaker's post because he was keen on a ministerial berth. His supporters had staged protests and burnt a bus in his hometown over his exclusion from the Yeddyurappa ministry sworn in May 30.
He was persuaded by the party's central leadership to take up the post.

Ahead of the session, Yeddyurappa met JD-S president and former prime minister H.D. Deve Gowda and his son and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and sought their cooperation for the smooth running of the government.
The new chief minister had met Kharge Tuesday.

The BJP won 110 seats in last month's polls but secured a majority to form the government with the help of six independents, five of who are now cabinet ministers.
Governor Rameshwar Thakur will address the joint sitting of the two houses of the legislature Friday after which Yeddyurappa will seek the trust vote in the assembly.
Yeddyurappa is likely to assign the ministries after Friday's trust vote.

Decision on Asif's return on Thursday

2008-06-04T21:18:00.004+05:30

Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Asif, held in Dubai on drug possession charges on his way home after playing in the Indian Premier League, will get to know whether he can leave for Pakistan only after the results of the laboratory tests on the substance found on him come in.

"We are awaiting the results of the laboratory tests on the substance found on him," Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates Ahsan Ullah Khan said.

"We hope there is a positive outcome so that he can be released at the earliest and leave for Pakistan," he said.
The ambassador added that a lawyer has been appointed by the Pakistan mission to aid the cricketer.

He also dismissed media reports that charges against the cricketer have been dropped.
An official in the Pakistan consulate in Dubai said, "There is no question of charges against Mohammad Asif being dropped (by UAE authorities) when no charge has been filed against him as yet."

The Pakistani fast bowler was detained by customs authorities at the Dubai International Airport on Sunday for allegedly possessing drugs.
He was on his way back to Lahore via Dubai from Mumbai where he had played the Indian Premier League semi-final for the Delhi Daredevils against Rajasthan Royals last Friday.

Dubai airport customs authorities handed him over to the drugs unit of Dubai Police early on Tuesday.
His blood and urine samples as well as the drugs found on him were sent for laboratory tests on Tuesday.
The Pakistan Cricket Board on Tuesday backed the player, saying he was innocent till formally charged by UAE authorities.

The PCB said that Asif was apparently carrying only some "medicines" and not banned drugs.
"We are hopeful that the matter would be resolved soon and the whole affair would prove to be a big mistake," PCB chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi told a press conference in Lahore.
He said that PCB considered him innocent until UAE authorities file a charge sheet against him.

Asif was banned for a year and his teammate Shoaib Akhtar for two years after they tested positive for the steroid Nandrolone in October 2006. The ban was removed on appeal two months later.
Naghmi earlier said Asif, if found guilty this time, could face a life ban.

According to World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) rules, an athlete faces a life ban if he or she is found positive a second time. Asif was acquitted the first time.
IPL sources said Asif might be banned from future editions of the tournament if he was found guilty.

Various players were tested at random for dope during the IPL tournament that ended on Sunday. IPL officials were reportedly planning to submit Asif's recent samples for re-analysis.
International Cricket Council (ICC) officials in Dubai refused to comment on the issue.
"This is purely an internal matter of the PCB and is not related to any ICC event. The ICC cannot comment on this," an official said.

Oil price hike unavoidable: Prime Minister

2008-06-04T02:02:00.002+05:30

NEW DELHI: The government is likely to announce the hike in fuel prices on Wednesday to bail out state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) that are suffering massive financial losses due to skyrocketing international crude prices.

A decision to this effect will be first taken at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) scheduled for the morning and later ratified by the Union Cabinet.

According to government sources, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to address the nation explaining the rationale behind the increase in fuel prices. The address is still at the proposal stage and it will depend on his health as he has recently undergone a cataract operation, they added.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who also heads the Group of Ministers (GoM) on fuel prices, said the matter was still being discussed. “We are still discussing the issue,” he told reporters at an Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) meeting here. He did not say whether fuel price hike was on the agenda of Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting.
The sources said the CCPA would try to reach a consensus on the quantum of hike needed on the prices of petrol, diesel and even cooking gas. Dr. Singh on Monday indicated the possibility of increasing fuel prices, saying consumers could not be fully insulated from the impact of rising global oil prices.

However, the government has been in a fix on the issue and failed to take any decision fearing opposition from the public as well as the Left parties who are offering outside support to the Congress-led government. The Left parties have expressed total opposition to any move to raise the prices of fuel. They have instead argued in favour of restructuring the tax on petrol and diesel and warned of a nationwide protest.

Oil and Natural Gas Minister Murli Deora has been asking for a Rs.10 a litre hike on petrol, Rs.5 a litre on diesel and Rs. 50 for an LPG cylinder. The sources said this would be a “moderate” hike despite a highly volatile global market.
The State-owned OMCs have so far reported losses of over Rs. 2.25-lakh crore due to the high crude prices and no revision in the domestic retail prices. They have said they will run out of cash to import crude oil if the government failed to bail them out.
These OMCs are incurring a loss of Rs. 21.43 on sale of every litre since June 1. Similarly, the loss on diesel is Rs. 31.58 and kerosene Rs. 35.98. Losses on LPG have swelled to Rs. 352.90 a cylinder.

Terrorists now swear by 'qattal'

2008-06-04T01:48:00.002+05:30

NEW DELHI: After decades of bloodbath in the name of jihad or holy war, terrorists are changing gear and indulging in qattal , an act by which they kill even their own people, a top Pakistan leader said.

"Terrorists are now replacing the term jihad with the Islamic term qattal for their acts," Hasham Baber, additional secretary general of Pakistan's Awami National Party said.

Hardline religious leaders in Pakistan are now using the new term because moderate Muslims have started denouncing the use of jihad by terrorists who indulge in violence in the name of Islam, said Baber.

Explaining the term 'jihad', Baber, who was in India to attend an anti-terrorism conference, said: "It is not about fighting a war or battle or even killing people but a struggle for peace. It means a collective decision to struggle.”

" Qattal , on the other hand, means I am allowed to kill a Hindu, Christian at will or even a Shia."

Stressing that Islam does not permit killing of innocents, he said "Terrorism is being given a religious colour by fundamentalists out to achieve their skewed agenda."

Baber, whose party is part of the newly-elected PPP-led coalition, said: "The religious education in Pakistan as whole has degenerated into bloodshed."

The senior leader said what is now happening in the name of terrorism is nothing but proxy war.

"Today two countries don't fight with each other. Terrorists are trained and are being sent out by establishments to wage proxy war with each other," he claimed.

Baber, whose party has been at the forefront of fighting religious fundamentalists in Pakistan, said Kashmir is still a "burning issue" for many and violence in the subcontinent can be curbed only by a European Union set-up here.

"The borders should be opened up. We should all try and bring in a EU kind of set-up in the Indian sub-continent where people from both Pakistan and India can enter each other's territory without any issue," Baber said.

"Kashmir issue would then be solved there and then automatically."

Baber said "even if we claim that Kashmir is a part of Pakistan because there is a Muslim majority in the state, we should sit across the table and discuss."

Attacking Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf, Baber said no democracy exists in the country and people have no rights.

"What is happening to Muslims in Pakistan, we have no democracy or rights. Our Constitution has been trampled. Our leadership should first put their own house in order and then we can say yes, Pakistan is a better place for Muslims than India," he said.

Attacking the West for arming Mujahideens in Afghanistan in late 1970s, Baber said the onus of rectifying the mistake lies with the West.

"It was the rich West which armed the Mujahideens to fight the so called holy war and now they should arm the peace loving people with education and strength.

International donors and especially those countries who have been "awakened" by the 9/11 bombing should come forward to help the cause, he said, adding "it needs to be understood that terrorism existed even before the twin towers bombing"

Race row: Sikh cop gets 70,000 pounds compensation in UK

2008-06-04T01:39:00.001+05:30

LONDON: A Sikh policeman has been awarded 70,000 pounds in compensation in Britain for being denied a promotion after he took legal action against the police force accusing it of racial discrimination.

An Employment Tribunal ruled in October Det Sgt Gurpal Virdi was victimised when he was turned down for promotion to detective inspector in 2005 by the Metropolitan Police.

It found his application was treated "less favourably" as he had taken previous legal action against the Metropolitan Police. In 2000, Virdi received 240,000 pounds in compensation after a separate tribunal declared the Metropolitan Police had racially discriminated against him.

He had been sacked after being wrongly accused of sending racist hate mail fellow police officers at Hanwell police station.

The tribunal has this time awarded Virdi 8,779 pounds for injury to feelings, and 61,620 pounds for loss of earnings and pensions.

The Metropolitan Police has appealed against the ruling

CBI arrests Assam Education Minister on bribery charge

2008-06-04T01:33:00.004+05:30

NEW DELHI: Assam's Education Minister Ripun Borah, a suspect in murder of his political rival in 2000, was on Tuesday arrested by the CBI for allegedly offering a bribe of Rs 10 lakh to an agency official to hush up the case.
The CBI official, probing the murder of student leader Daniel Toppo, filed a complaint on Tuesday evening that the Minister had allegedly offered him a bribe.

A case was filed in the designated court against the minister and his associate Mukul Pathak after which a trap was laid to arrest Borah.

Borah was arrested from Mathura Road in south Delhi when he was allegedly offering the bribe to the official.

Toppo, district president of All Assam Tea Tribe Students Union, was Borah's rival candidate during the 1996 assembly polls.

The CBI was handed over the investigation into the case in 2001 after the Assam police could not make any breakthrough into the murder that took place on September 27, 2000.

Immediately after Borah's arrest, Pathak, who was travelling from Delhi to Guwahati, was taken into custody at the Delhi airport itself.

Borah, who had a long innings as Assam Pradesh Congress Committee spokesman, is a suspect in the murder case and had been questioned several times by the CBI.

The minister is claimed to have approached the CBI officer through the middleman for negotiating the outcome of the investigation into the murder case.

The CBI registered a case under section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

BSNL unions oppose ‘disinvestment move’

2008-06-04T00:54:00.002+05:30

NEW DELHI: Accusing the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) management and senior Department of Telecommunications (DoT) officials of “mischievous propaganda” regarding the state-owned telecom firm, trade union leaders on Monday threatened to go on a nationwide strike to thwart the Centre’s ‘plans for its disinvestment or privatisation.’

“In last week’s meeting with Union Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja, we clearly told him that employees and executives were opposed to the listing of BSNL. Even Mr. Raja reportedly conveyed our views to senior BSNL and DoT officials. Surprisingly, BSNL and DoT officials are now falsely propagating our support for listing of the state-owned telecom firm,” said BSNL Employees Union general secretary V.A.N. Namboodiri at a press conference here.

The United Forum of BSNL Unions and the Joint Forum of BSNL Unions were opposed to the move. Mr. Namboodiri said the Centre was giving “frivolous reasons” for BSNL’s disinvestment.

“Like Hindustan Aeronautics Limited, BSNL can also be given ‘navratna’ status without getting listed. Similarly, there is no dearth of liquidity to fund BSNL’s expansion plans as over Rs. 30,000 crore is already lying unused.

The government just wants to sell BSNL off like the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited that was given away to the Tata Group,” he added.

Mr. Namboodiri said the unions would also not let the government impose the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) on the central telegraphic office employees. The BSNL management had given a written assurance that VRS would not be forced on them, but now it was ‘claiming’ that the unions had agreed to the move, he alleged.

Chidambaram’s argument has no basis, says Swamy

2008-06-04T00:24:00.000+05:30

CHENNAI: “Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram is clueless on containing inflation,” said Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy here on Monday.

Addressing journalists, Dr. Swamy said Mr. Chidambaram’s argument that the increase in international crude oil price was responsible for inflation had no basis.

Various taxes and excise duty on petroleum products had led to the increase in oil prices. There was no need for the government to increase the oil price if it withdrew the taxes and the excise duty. To compensate the loss in revenue, it should reduce its expenditure by outsourcing its operations and privatise loss-making public sector undertakings. He said that petrol could be sold at Rs.25 a litre if taxes and excise duty were withdrawn.

Dr. Swamy said he had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to recognise the Supreme Court order on the Sethusamudram project and conduct an archaeological investigation to determine if Ramar Sethu could be declared an ancient monument.

Dr. Swamy said he would soon move the Madras High Court against the plea made by Nalini Murugan, a life convict in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, for early release.

BJP leaders working on a compromise formula for Bihar

2008-06-03T23:57:00.001+05:30

NEW DELHI: The BJP central leadership is working on a compromise formula to resolve the problem within its Bihar unit, where senior dissident leaders from the state have been demanding removal of deputy chief minister Sushil Modi ever since a cabinet reshuffle was effected a little over a month ago.

The party's top leaders, including BJP chief Rajnath Singh and leader of opposition L K Advani met for two rounds of detailed discussion on the issue, first an informal meeting at Advani's residence followed by the party's parliamentary board meeting at the party headquarters, on Tuesday.

The party brass seemed inclined to retain Modi, but balance it with concessions to dissidents. Rajnath Singh will be meeting the senior dissident leaders from Bihar as well as Modi in a couple of days, after which a committee of senior central leaders will sit with both sides and work out a formula to resolve the stalemate.
The committee set up on Tuesday includes senior party leaders Arun Jaitley, M Venkaiah Naidu, Sushma Swaraj, among others.

Google lets cos customise search

2008-06-03T23:47:00.004+05:30

Internet search leader Google Inc is expanding an existing service to let businesses customise the search results that visitors see when they search for information within their own sites.

Instead of offering visitors to a particular website the same slice of search results they find by searching Google.com, the new Google Site Search Service lets website owners show previously untracked pages deep inside their sites.

The new Google service is hosted on Google's network of computers instead of requiring customers to install and maintain search equipment of their own.
Google aims to improve the search quality of sites with rich content but cluttered ways of finding information lodged within the sites.

Site Search is the new name for Custom Search Business Edition, which Google introduced in late 2006.
It adds business integration features through a machine-readable computer programming interface, the option to turn off advertisements, a more tailored look-and-feel for searching the site and technical support via email or phone.

"Google Site Search is targeted more for businesses and government sites that want search but don't want to display ads," Nitin Mangtani, a product manager in Google's Enterprise division, said in a phone interview.
Hundreds of thousands of website publishers rely on Google's AdSense programme to offer classic Google Web search. They make money running advertisements from Google's network of online advertisers.

Site Search is an alternative to the Google Search Appliance, which Google offers to sites wishing to maintain their own search services inside their own data centers.
Google counts more than 10,000 active Search Appliance customers.

Google is the only mainstream Web search provider to offer businesses a hosted service. By contrast, rivals like Autonomy Corp Plc and FAST, which was recently acquired by Microsoft Corp, require customers to install and manage their search software in-house, Mangtani said.

Other features allow site administrators to add their own customised synonym dictionary, allowing website visitors to use site-specific terminology geared to a particular industry or culture. Google Sites also offers users a spell checker.
Webmasters have the option of fully customising Google Site Search to the look and feel of the website, or they can rely on Google's simplified Web page style and make clear the ties to Google's services.

They can also weight search results to favour more recent documents or specific pages such as product catalogs. While the service encourages sites to customise site search results, the service does not affect the ranking of searches done via Google.com, which promises to keep search results impartial.

Market recovers from partial losses

2008-06-03T23:43:00.000+05:30

MUMBAI: The market recouped partial losses on the back of gains in the oil & gas space. However, there was no respite for power, capital goods and IT stocks. A positive opening for European markets helped lift sentiment.

At 1:30 pm, Bombay Stock Exchange's Sensex was down 0.75 per cent or 120 points to 15,942 easing from a low of 15,709.51 in trade so far.

National Stock Exchange's Nifty was down 0.76 per cent or 36 points to 4703.60 from a low of 4634.

The BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 2.11 per cent and 2.54 per cent respectively.
Gains in ACC (up 3.79%), Reliance Industries (2.72%), DLF (2.71%), Tata Motors (1.25%), Wipro (0.88%) and Ranbaxy Laboratories (0.87%) helped the 30-share index come off lows.
Bharti Airtel (down 4.07%), Satyam Computer (3.92%), HDFC Bank (3.33%), Reliance Infrastructure (3.28%), BHEL (3.06%), Jaiprakash Associates (2.97%) and HDFC (2.91%) were still under pressure.

Market breadth on BSE improved with 1967 declines against 568 advances.
Meanwhile, the FTSE 100 was up 0.33 per cent, CAC 40 rose 0.09 per cent while DAX 30 fell 0.42 per cent.

IPL mania: Cricket merchandise doing brisk sales

2008-06-03T23:18:00.004+05:30

NEW DELHI: After IPL, it’s time for Indian promotions league. The event may be over, but the hangover is being felt across sports stores, with cricket merchandise doing brisk sales.

Twenty20 has emerged as a superior marketing format, with the sale of cricket gear and merchandise surging by about 40%.

The big players like Reebok, Adidas, BDM and Kookaburra are all in the game. "Never before have replica jerseys been so popular with the cricket crazy nation until SRK stood tall in his 12th-man jersey," says Reebok India MD Subhender Singh Prem.
The 40-50% average increase in cricket merchandise is the outcome of growing demand for IPL memorabilia, mainly jerseys. So in Kolkata and Mumbai, exclusive showrooms for cricket apparel and gear were opened by Reebok to cater to the new-found affection.