tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-67984919543082225352024-03-05T23:32:35.509-08:00Online News SharingIncident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.comBlogger745125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-22844985417083346092013-04-03T04:21:00.000-07:002013-04-03T04:56:05.538-07:00Lokayukta: Gujarat Bill ending role of Governor, CJ passed <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Amid protests and a walkout by Opposition MLAs in the Assembly, the
ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday pushed through a new Gujarat
Lokayukta Aayog Bill, 2013 that seeks to end the role of the Governor
and the Chief Justice of the High Court in appointing the ombudsman. </div>
<div class="body">
The Bill proposes a seven-member selection panel headed by the Chief
Minister, which will recommend a candidate for the Lokayukta’s post, and
the Governor’s role would only be to ratify the candidate. The other
members will be a minister hand-picked by the Chief Minister, the
Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, a High Court judge nominated by
the Chief Justice and the State Vigilance Commissioner. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55pU4ZGqYUskCXMxhjpfD8P9hIIj6CFKV29F8W9nJ7_7FYQZtj1XcCcXpnWHNC5rxuEo4eQ2obakds22wlz2pBC9aEL5_Ht4oBPCdhghE9-ZL295NDVz39C4bE3xQX4J8c9FyxFKyvRA/s1600/modi1_1310067f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="192" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj55pU4ZGqYUskCXMxhjpfD8P9hIIj6CFKV29F8W9nJ7_7FYQZtj1XcCcXpnWHNC5rxuEo4eQ2obakds22wlz2pBC9aEL5_Ht4oBPCdhghE9-ZL295NDVz39C4bE3xQX4J8c9FyxFKyvRA/s200/modi1_1310067f.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<iframe frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&bc1=000000&IS2=1&bg1=FFFFFF&fc1=000000&lc1=0000FF&t=adsclic-20&o=1&p=8&l=as4&m=amazon&f=ifr&ref=ss_til&asins=B003XIBC1C" style="height: 250px; width: 150px;"></iframe>
The existing Gujarat Lokayukta Act, 1986, empowers the Governor to
appoint the ombudsman in consultation with the Chief Justice and the
Leader of Opposition. This has now been done away with. </div>
<div class="body">
The proposed law comes in the wake of a veritable slugfest between
Governor Kamla Beniwal and Chief Minister Narendra Modi after Raj Bhavan
appointed retired judge R.A. Mehta in August 2011 in consultation with
the Chief Justice and the Leader of the Opposition, ignoring the Council
of Ministers. </div>
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The government lost this battle in the Supreme Court and after its
review petition was also rejected, it moved a curative petition
challenging Justice Mehta’s appointment. </div>
<div class="body">
Defending the government in the Assembly, Finance Minister Nitin Patel
refuted the charge that the Bill sought to curtail the Governor's powers
and that its sole purpose was to prevent Justice Mehta from taking
charge. The BJP in an explanatory note, later, also stated that the Bill
protects the right of Justice Mehta to take charge though he has passed
the age of 72 years as prescribed by the new legislation.
</div>
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Interestingly, the BJP’s central leadership has defended Gujarat, saying
the Bill in fact diluted the powers of the Council of Ministers. </div>
<div class="body">
In a note distributed to the media, the BJP said the Supreme Court had
said the Governor is supposed to act as head of state “on the aid and
advice of Council of Ministers while deciding on appointment of
Lokayukta.” The party pointed out that instead of the Council of
Ministers, a panel would now recommend the name of the Lokayukta. </div>
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<div class="body">
The legislation proposes to bring the entire government machinery, as
well as councillors and elected representatives of all local bodies,
within its purview. The new Lokayukta Commission will have four
up-lokayuktas, two of whom are judicial members and two administrative. </div>
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( <a href="http://incident2day.blogspot.com/">Online news </a>updated by incident2day ) </div>
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Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-70033863173618836212013-04-03T04:15:00.002-07:002013-04-03T04:15:29.198-07:00 iPhone maker Apple to release updated phone this summer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The Wall Street Journal says Apple is set for a possible summer
launch of the next iPhone, rather than a fall launch like the last two
models.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinTlek3YmfVx2G6OhA0m8saRLfB0yv8PmgHv72KLyjpoiDWqW9cO50IxAaSwBoD5UmHMPRpdj0S9TeyVisM_nSrbKjEA67_sJjXrjBtPo7lVDFw_E93UJ2cEfJ5Ph5bXtZbBOPKWCcZU0/s1600/iphone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinTlek3YmfVx2G6OhA0m8saRLfB0yv8PmgHv72KLyjpoiDWqW9cO50IxAaSwBoD5UmHMPRpdj0S9TeyVisM_nSrbKjEA67_sJjXrjBtPo7lVDFw_E93UJ2cEfJ5Ph5bXtZbBOPKWCcZU0/s200/iphone.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Apple is also working on a cheaper iPhone model that could win it
some market share in developing countries, the paper says. It cited
unnamed people "familiar with the device's production.''
<br />
The report is in line with the expectations of company watchers
and Wall Street analysts. The iPhone 5 costs around $600, and while
Apple maintains older iPhones in production, even those aren't cheap
enough to compete effectively against low-end smartphones running Google
Inc.'s Android software.
<br />
Apple doesn't comment on future products before its launch events.<br />
( <a href="http://incident2day.blogspot.com/">Online News</a> updated by Incident2day ) </div>
Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-66095630555024380492013-04-03T04:10:00.002-07:002013-04-03T04:10:32.260-07:00IPL 2013: Sourav Ganguly puts his smart money on Mumbai Indi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Sourav Ganguly has said that the presence of a great coaching staff
and experienced veterans will make Mumbai Indians the favourites for
this edition. "They have a new but highly experienced coach in John
Wright, the well-respected Anil Kumble as their mentor and senior pro
Ricky Ponting as captain. Along with Sachin Tendulkar and Harbhajan
Singh's experience, you have exciting youngsters in Maxwell, Rohit and
Rayudu. They will be strong contenders for the title," Ganguly said.<br />
<br />
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Speaking about the defending champions, he said: "KKR's
confidence will be really high being the champions. But they also have
injury problem. I think it's an even-field." The former India captain
had also said that domestic players will be key to IPL success. "The
difference between good teams and the rest
<br />
is the quality of Indian players because overseas players cancel each other out."<br />
<br />
( <a href="http://incident2day.blogspot.com/">Online News </a>Updated by Incident2day Group )</div>
Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-86826015936569295232013-04-02T19:24:00.000-07:002013-04-02T19:24:30.093-07:00Rajinikanth, Kamal join fast to support Sri Lankan Tamils<div class="first">
Chennai, April 2 (IANS) Stalwarts like Rajinikanth,
Ajith Kumar, Kamal Haasan and many more Tuesday joined the members of
the South Indian Film Artistes Association (SIFAA) in a day-long fast
here to protest alleged "war crimes" against Tamils in Sri Lanka.</div>
Spearheaded by SIFAA, commonly known as 'Nadigar
Sangam', the film fraternity is observing a silent protest and there was
a huge turnout with most of the big names Vikram, Sarath Kumar, Prakash
Raj Bhagyaraj, Radha Ravi, Sathyaraj, Sivakumar, Suriya, Karthi,
Bharat, Udhayanidhi Stalin, Dhansika, Monica, Vishal Krishna and
Chandrasekhar, among others, joining the fast at Nadigar Sangam premises
at T. Nagar here.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8rG7QJ2mG6GeYDTnEbBBy2ukQSZIjrQo6z-EBSuYYsxHxQMP9awelmnq1zvzBRU-mzoSrMF4cnOO3S5Z-4qTRVbSVUPDJC6Xn7U-DSFj13RMGU8U5dE2KpzZ8t7mWYATzQ-UHRXaDNY/s1600/M_Id_371991_rajini-kamal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ8rG7QJ2mG6GeYDTnEbBBy2ukQSZIjrQo6z-EBSuYYsxHxQMP9awelmnq1zvzBRU-mzoSrMF4cnOO3S5Z-4qTRVbSVUPDJC6Xn7U-DSFj13RMGU8U5dE2KpzZ8t7mWYATzQ-UHRXaDNY/s1600/M_Id_371991_rajini-kamal.jpg" /></a></div>
"One of the reasons we are not using microphone is that we don't want
tempers to flare. If given an opportunity, people will vent and
unnecessarily create tension," a member of SIFAA told IANS.<br />
Kamal, Rajinikanth, Ajith Kumar, Suriya, and Karthi are among those who couldn't join the March 19 fast. <br />
All activities with regard to the Tamil film industry have come to a
standstill. Ajith Kumar was supposed to start shooting for his new Tamil
film Tuesday, but he postponed the same to participate in the fast.<br />
All theatres in the city will remain shut during the course of the hunger strike.<br />
The fast will conclude at 6 p.m. Tuesday.<br />
<br />
(<a href="http://incident2day.blogspot.in/">Online News</a> By Incident2day Group ) Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-81706463101510390052013-04-02T19:17:00.000-07:002013-04-02T19:17:06.064-07:00Ambani brothers move past feud as Reliance JioNEW DELHI/MUMBAI (Reuters) - Billionaire Ambani brothers will share a
fibre optic network for their rival telecoms companies, their first
business tie-up since ending a long-running feud three years ago.<br />
Reliance Industries (RELI.NS), controlled by Mukesh
Ambani, India's richest person, will pay 12 billion rupees to younger
brother Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications (RLCM.NS) for use of its
fibre optic network.<br />
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The companies said on Tuesday they could co-operate further in future and the announcement bolstered their share prices.<br />
Reliance Industries, whose main business is
petrochemicals, made a dramatic return to telecoms in 2010 by becoming
the only company to gain nationwide 4G airwaves. While it has yet to
start services, it is widely expected to begin operations in parts of
India later this year.<br />
Debt-laden Reliance Communications, India's
third-largest cellular carrier by users, was hived off from the combined
Reliance empire after the brothers split up the family businesses in
2005 in a deal brokered by their mother.<br />
Under the terms of Tuesday's fibre optic deal, Reliance
Industries will pay "one time indefeasible right to use (IRU) fees for
sharing RCOM's nationwide inter-city fibre optic network
infrastructure," the companies said.<br />
Reliance Communications shares jumped as much as 17
percent after the news before closing 11 percent higher. Other Anil
Ambani group stocks also gained. Reliance Industries' stock closed up 2
percent.<br />
MORE CO-OPERATION<br />
Further details on the tie-up were not immediately
available, but the companies indicated more cooperation was possible.
Media reports have long speculated that Reliance Industries would lease
space on Reliance Communications' tower network or buy an equity stake
in the tower business.<br />
"This agreement is the first in an intended
comprehensive framework of business co-operation ... for optimal
utilisation of the existing and future infrastructure of both companies
on reciprocal basis, including inter alia, inter-city fibre, intra-city
fibre, towers and related assets," the companies said.<br />
Reliance Communications is the most leveraged among
Indian cellular carriers with net debt of nearly $7 billion, or more
than five times its annualised operating profit. The company has been
looking to sell assets to cut its debt load but has fallen short in
several attempts.<br />
"It is definitely a relief for Reliance Communications,
and a relief coming to the group after a long, long time even though
not sufficiently large," said Jagannadham Thunuguntla, strategist at SMC
Global Securities in New Delhi.<br />
Tuesday's deal will help Reliance Jio Infocomm "reach
the market faster," said Deven Choksey, managing director of K.R.
Choksey Securities in Mumbai.<br />
According to Forbes, Mukesh Ambani is worth $21.5 billion, while Anil Ambani is worth $5.2 billion.<br />
Dhirubhai Ambani's death in 2002 led to a power
struggle between his two sons that split the Reliance empire. Mukesh
ended up with the core energy business, and Anil ended up with the
telecoms, financial services and power businesses.<br />
(<a href="http://incident2day.blogspot.in/">Online News</a> Please Follow up FB : <a href="http://www.facebook.com/easyknowledgesharing">Knowledge Sharing</a>) Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-34249708388802857212011-12-22T18:30:00.000-08:002011-12-22T18:30:02.725-08:00Mullaperiyar row:Trade and business are freezed in Madurai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Trade and business came to standstill in Madurai four other districts on Thursday as commercial establishments downed their shutters throughout the day, as part of the protests against the Kerala government's move to build a new dam as an alternative to the controversial Mullaperiyar dam.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">There was a complete shut down of shops and commercial establishments in the district. The strike call was given by as many as 50 outfits, including trade bodies like the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries ( and Madurai District Tiny and Small Scale Industries Association (MADITSSIA) in five districts under Periyar - Vaigai Command area.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"The estimated business loss due to the strike could be anywhere from Rs 150 to Rs 200 crores," said S Rethinavelu, senior president of TNCCI. Cinema theatre owners too, joined the strike and cancelled two shows of film screenings.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Members of trade bodies and various outfits also undertook mass hunger strike in many parts of the city. In the mass hunger strike organised at MADITSSIA, 50 various associations like Tamil Nadu Food Grains Merchants' Association Limited, Jewellers and Bullion Merchants' Association, Uranganpatti Industrial Association, Sourashtra Chamber of Commerce, Tamil Nadu Readymade Garments Manufacturer's Association, Rubber Park Madurai Limited, Tamil Nadu Jaggery Merchants Association and others participated. Periyar Pasana Vivasayigal Sangam consisting of farmers from the areas irrigated by Periyar Water and Advocates Association extended their support for the hunger strike.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7oNhHGtdISim031t2_DLbigqS8b2EyujhnczXA0z5LZdv4Ror5S-JGJdVoQP4-mfJW-O-OsCqZztLIlNfhgK44ifH_7vXNYKJoa2LSmmrtPtV6IMGNPteqeZ5_oDVYSEwJ39X-E-qwBU/s1600/mullaiperiyar-dam_Incident2day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7oNhHGtdISim031t2_DLbigqS8b2EyujhnczXA0z5LZdv4Ror5S-JGJdVoQP4-mfJW-O-OsCqZztLIlNfhgK44ifH_7vXNYKJoa2LSmmrtPtV6IMGNPteqeZ5_oDVYSEwJ39X-E-qwBU/s320/mullaiperiyar-dam_Incident2day.jpg" width="320" /></a>In another major hunger strike organised by the Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industries, 80 trade and industrial associations like Madurai Notebook Manufacturers Association, Gold Silver and Diamond Merchants Association, Hotel Owners Association affiliated to chamber participated. Along with the <a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Mullaperiyar-row" style="color: #336797; text-decoration: none;">Mullaperiyar row</a>, the chamber insisted upon the Centre to commission the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant (KKNPP) immediately.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"Two issues like water and power are haunting our state and we addressed both of them during the hunger strike," senior president of the chamber, S Rethinavelu said. There was a good response for the strike with most of the shops closed in the city, as well as the five districts directly benefitting from Mullaperiyar water, he added.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">As the two important trade associations called for the strike and with every commercial establishment affiliated to them, the response was high in Madurai city, as 90 percentage of the shops downed their shutters. The fish market at Karimedu also was closed for two days - Thursday and Friday, with the vendors expressing solidarity with the merchants and farmers' associations.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">According to police sources, the hunger strike was held at nine places in the city limits and demonstrations were held in six places commercial areas. Drivers and call taxi owners and auto rickshaw drivers in large numbers participated in the strike. A human chain was formed at Nethaji Road by the merchants. Political parties like the BJP and Puthia Tamilagam also staged demonstrations in the city.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">The strike also drew partial response in adjacent districts like Sivaganga, Ramanathapuram and Dindigul and lot of shops and commercial establishments remained shut down during the day</div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-86630867579535844682011-12-17T19:22:00.000-08:002011-12-17T19:22:29.339-08:00Rumor of a Mini iPad from Apple to compete Fire<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;">In November last year, Steve Jobs had quashed all rumors on Apple making iPads lesser than its 10-inch diagonal as anything below that would not allow to create great apps for the tablet. Jobs further had said that 7-inch screens had only 45% space compared to the larger iPad, which was not sufficient enough for the tablet apps.</div><br />
<a href="http://www.ipad3-release.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/apple-mini-ipad-300x201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="alignleft size-medium wp-image-1414" height="201" src="http://www.ipad3-release.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/apple-mini-ipad-300x201.jpg" width="300" /></a>The decree of Steve Jobs of not making any tablet below the 10-inch mark might be ignored in future by Apple. <br />
According to Digitimes, Apple is planning to launch an iPad of 7.85-inch, within final quarter 2012, for coping with market competition from the Kindle Fire.<br />
The report further mentions that AU Optronics and are going to provide the displays for this device.<br />
Even the DisplaySearch analyst, Richard Shim speaks on similar lines of planning the 7.85-inch iPad late in 2012.<br />
The statement had however been made before the arrival of Nook Tablet and Kindle Fire. In fact, a recent statement from Amazon has said that the Kindle Fire was the hottest selling tablet these days, having already registered sales of millions of units. The demand of the Kindle Fire has also been continuously increasing, as per Amazon.</div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-50087085810105826222011-12-17T05:46:00.000-08:002011-12-17T05:46:09.032-08:00Mullaperiyar dam is safe<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="body"> Tamil Nadu on Friday refuted Kerala's allegation before the Empowered Committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India, A.S. Anand, that the Mullaperiyar dam was not safe if the water level was maintained at 136 ft. and that it should be reduced to 120 ft.</div><div class="body">In its response to Kerala's affidavit filed before the committee on Thursday, the State reiterated that the dam was safe and that it had been permitted by the Supreme Court to raise the water level up to 142 ft. and further raise it to 152 ft. after completing the remaining strengthening measures. </div><div class="body">Tamil Nadu made it clear that the question of considering a new dam would arise only after the Supreme Court rendered its decision. It denied Kerala's assertion that 22 earthquakes/tremors occurred in the region between July 26 and November 26 and said according to the information obtained from the India Meteorological Department, there had been only four occurrences of earthquake in the Kottayam-Idukki region during this period. </div><div class="art-horizantal-colored"><div id="hcenter" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img alt="In its response to Kerala's affidavit filed before the committee on Thursday, Tamil Nadu said the Mullaperiyar dam was safe and that it had been permitted by the Supreme Court to raise the water level up to 142 ft. File photo" class="main-image" height="217" src="http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/dynamic/00859/Mullaperiyar_dam_859317f.jpg" title="In its response to Kerala's affidavit filed before the committee on Thursday, Tamil Nadu said the Mullaperiyar dam was safe and that it had been permitted by the Supreme Court to raise the water level up to 142 ft. File photo" width="320" /></div></div><h3>“False propaganda”</h3><div class="body">Tamil Nadu said: “The false propaganda of 22 tremors in the last 4 months resulting in the dam being unsafe is being made without any basis. In fact, there have been only four tremors in the current year and in fact such tremors have been occurring over many years. But, none of them have had any impact on Mullaperiyar dam as their magnitudes were far below 4.9 and classified as ‘slight' by the IMD. However, the Mullaperiyar Dam is designed to withstand earthquakes that could possibly occur in the Zone III as per earthquake zonal map.” </div><div class="body">On the outflow of water from the dam, Tamil Nadu said it was strange to contend that even for an outflow of 15,032 cusecs, there was panic among the people. The outflow had been much more than 15,000 cusecs on many occasions in the past and this was very negligible when compared to the design flood of 2.12. lakh cusecs (Probable Maximum Flood level) as per the Central Water Commission. Indeed, the actual flow of 15,032 cusecs was only a miniscule 7 per cent of the design flood of 2.12 lakh cusecs.</div><div class="body">Tamil Nadu said: “The reported panic among the public and the bandhs and hartals, etc. are all creations of the Kerala government. There is no need for any panic as the dam has been strengthened sufficiently.” It sought rejection of Kerala's application.</div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-37396794639226974182011-12-15T07:53:00.000-08:002011-12-15T07:53:10.054-08:00Mullaperiyar: TN rejects SC's appeal offer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Prime Minister was the "most suitable authority" to hammer out a solution to vexed water disputes like Mullaperiyar dam row and wanted to appeal for his intervention but refrained from doing so after Tamil Nadu objected to it. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dXaN-alRSbNNGsRk3l1aDpcEwhegViB2ehtR9fzbF3PSuMkeV-2hh6WEL8Z8Ka8DeCfvCvJhl0C1CXpJk1gb0pOcbs7WuMNXEgwgu1EODj1iO0Kdm_EDd7kAz0RXFd5bjAxzVeo_Wa0/s1600/Mullaperiyar-dam_Incident2day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="221" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8dXaN-alRSbNNGsRk3l1aDpcEwhegViB2ehtR9fzbF3PSuMkeV-2hh6WEL8Z8Ka8DeCfvCvJhl0C1CXpJk1gb0pOcbs7WuMNXEgwgu1EODj1iO0Kdm_EDd7kAz0RXFd5bjAxzVeo_Wa0/s320/Mullaperiyar-dam_Incident2day.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>A five-judge Constitution Bench wanted to make the appeal on the suggestion of Kerala's counsel Harish Salve but Tamil Nadu's lawyer Raju Ramachandran put up a stubborn opposition to the Prime Minister's intervention as the apex court-empowered committee was already seized of the issue. <br />
At the fag end of the hearing held to decide on Tamil Nadu's plea for deployment of CISF at the dam site, Salve suggested the apex court make an appeal to the Prime Minister for convening a meeting of the two states' Chief Ministers to resolve the issue as tribunals, far from solving the problems, have only "increased the temperature."<br />
<br />
"Without prejudice to the proceeding before the committee, this court can appeal to the Prime Minister to convene a meeting of the Chief Ministers to solve the problem," he said. <br />
But the suggestion was opposed by Ramachandran saying it was "too premature" as the committee was seized of the matter. <br />
"It would not be appropriate at this stage when the empowered committee is meeting. It is already seized of the matter," he said.<br />
</div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-76949776153160158782011-12-15T07:48:00.000-08:002011-12-15T07:48:58.070-08:00TN Assembly passes resolution on Mullaperiyar Dam, blames Kerala<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Tamil Nadu has raised the pitch on the Mullaperiyar Dam row with the state Assembly on Thursday passing a resolution unanimously demanding that Kerala should take immediate steps to increase water levels in the dam to 142 feet as per Supreme Court orders. <br />
Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa moved the resolution which was supported by all the MLAs including those belonging to the DMK and DMDK. <br />
The J Jayalalithaa government accused the Centre of remaining a mute spectator to requests to deploy Central Industrial Security Force personnel at the dam site and rejected Kerala government's claim that an earthquake will damage the 116-year-old structure. The resolution demanded that CISF should be deployed immediately at the dam site. <br />
<a href="http://static.ibnlive.in.com/ibnlive/pix/sitepix/04_2011/jayalalitha_aiadmk_271x181.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="212" src="http://static.ibnlive.in.com/ibnlive/pix/sitepix/04_2011/jayalalitha_aiadmk_271x181.jpg" title="" width="320" /></a>The resolution also asked Kerala not to disrupt the dam maintenance work being carried out by Tamil Nadu and asserts that Tamil Nadu will not under any circumstance give up on its rights. <br />
During the discussion Jayalalithaa alleged that Kerala government's propaganda on the dam was politically motivated <br />
The resolution also expresses disappointment over Kerala's resolution passed on December 6 asking water level to be reduced to 120 feet. <br />
Meanwhile, the Kerala government assured the Supreme Court that all measures would be taken to protect the dam and said that adequate security measures have been put in place for the dam, installations and properties of Tamil Nadu in the state. <br />
The Central Government told the apex court that if requested from either of the state, deployment of paramilitary forces could be considered. The Kerala government also suggested to the court that it should request Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to call a meeting of the chief ministers of both the states and resolve the issue. <br />
However, the Tamil Nadu Government did not agree to Kerala's proposal and the apex curt said that unless both the governments agreed it can not make such a request. </div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-63237103974811003152011-12-12T06:21:00.000-08:002011-12-12T06:21:26.775-08:0061 turns Rajini: His 10 quotes Interesting Coverage Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Rajinikanth aka Shivaji Rao Gaikwad has not only been a phenomenon on the screen but off the screen too. His dialogues and one liners have always given the people a chance to flaunt their attitude. The era of social networking sites has changed the way people communicate but basic emotions are still the same. <br />
On the eve of superstar's birthday, we have compiled 10 best Rajinikanth dialogues that you can post as your Facebook status.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidHBD1w5P73FupKRpAW4Z6TJx-4qkoQPs00ndBTqprp6t20pj5fcE0sfK2LJmDx0u77Nf2WOzHSj9H3_hdnLRM1UdNJZuqAwBjJCaIgoQ4HS6NwLcY3BRKHHachFQt6F-nPclcBGYO1pc/s1600/rajini-birthday+2011_Incident2day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidHBD1w5P73FupKRpAW4Z6TJx-4qkoQPs00ndBTqprp6t20pj5fcE0sfK2LJmDx0u77Nf2WOzHSj9H3_hdnLRM1UdNJZuqAwBjJCaIgoQ4HS6NwLcY3BRKHHachFQt6F-nPclcBGYO1pc/s320/rajini-birthday+2011_Incident2day.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Aaj Sunday hai. Din mein daru peene ka din hai." (Today is Sunday. This day is meant for drinking.) <br />
<b>2. Moondru Mugam (1982)</b> <br />
Ekambaram: "Ekambaramnu sonna vayithula irukura kozhandhai kooda vaaya moodum." (Say the name 'Ekambaram' and even an unborn child will shut its mouth and hush up.) <br />
Alex Pandian: "Adhe kozhandhai kitta Alex Pandiyannu sonna, innoru kaiyale avanga amma vaayayum moodum!" (Well, if you say the name 'Alex Pandian' to that same unborn child, it will even close its mother's mouth with its other hand!) <br />
<b>3. Annamalai (1992)</b> <br />
"Naan solrathaiyum seiven, sollathathiyum seiven." (I will do what I <br />
say, I will also do what I don't say.) <br />
<b>4. Basha (1995)</b> <br />
"Naan oru dhadavai sonna nooru dhadavai sonna madhiri." (If I say it once, <br />
I've said it a hundred times.) <br />
<b>5. Muthu (1995)</b> <br />
"Naan eppa varuven, eppadi varuvennu yarukkum theriyadhu, aana varavendiya neratthil correct-aga varuven." (When I will arrive, or how I will arrive, nobody will know, but I will arrive when I ought to.) <br />
<b>6. Arunachalam(1997)</b> <br />
"Andavan solran. Arunachalam seiran." (God tells, Arunachalam does.) <br />
<b>7. Padayappa (1999)</b> <br />
"En vazhi ? thani vazhi." (My way is a unique way.) <br />
<b>8. Baba (2002)</b> <br />
"Khatham, gatham." (The past is past.) <br />
<b>9. Chandramukhi (2005)</b> <br />
"Laka..laka..laka." (Laka..laka..laka.) <br />
<b>10. Enthiran (2010</b>) <br />
I am a Robot. Speed one tera hertz, memory one zettabyte. <br />
</div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-86010871902909119122011-12-10T19:23:00.000-08:002011-12-10T19:23:55.204-08:00Mulla Periyar Dam issue Full Coverage.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>1. On 29-10-1886 a lease indenture for 999 years was made between Maharaja of Travancore and Secretary of State for India for Periyar irrigation works by another agreement in 1970, Tamil Nadu was permitted to generate power also. </span></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">2.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Mullaperiyar Dam was constructed during 1887-1895 across Periyar River in the then Travancore state (now Kerala) territory after said indenture. The Periyar Dam with full reservoir level of 152 ft. provides for diversion of water from the reservoir through a tunnel to Vaigai basin in Tamil Nadu for irrigation benefits in 68558 ha.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">3<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In 1979, reports appeared in Kerala Press about the safety of Mulla Periyar Dam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On 25<sup>th</sup> November, 1979 Chairman, CWC held discussions at Thirvananthapuram regarding strengthening Periyar dam with officers of Irrigation and Electricity, Deptt. of Kerala and PWD of Tamil Nadu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meeting, emergency measures to be completed before next monsoon (1980), medium term measures and long-term measures for strengthening of Periyar Dam were decided.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of the emergency measures was to keep the shutters of spillway raised fully to lower the reservoir level to 136 ft.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kiARalYHtvHvQi6lSQ6nsYa_O06A52vqI8ZGlo5-M0OV5IGqkzzVJN1FqTXauPFclgEH6NwfVpW0r4PVgRes0bcbJo_9VV5PVTRIwQ6Ytg8tp2kKNGNaf-_Vw8rcBQmEM7ktTfHjXK4/s1600/Mullaiperiyar1_Incident2day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kiARalYHtvHvQi6lSQ6nsYa_O06A52vqI8ZGlo5-M0OV5IGqkzzVJN1FqTXauPFclgEH6NwfVpW0r4PVgRes0bcbJo_9VV5PVTRIwQ6Ytg8tp2kKNGNaf-_Vw8rcBQmEM7ktTfHjXK4/s320/Mullaiperiyar1_Incident2day.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">4.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>A second meeting under the Chairmanship of Chairman, CWC was held on 29<sup>th</sup> April 1980 at New Delhi and it was opined that after the completion of emergency and medium term measures in the form of cable anchoring, the water level in the reservoir can be restored up to 145 ft. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">5.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>As per the Memorandum on the Rehabilitation of Mulla Periyar Dam prepared by CWC and forwarded to Tamil Nadu on 25<sup>th</sup> March, 1986, emergency measures were implemented.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the aforesaid Memo, CWC gave its recommendation about peak flood and size of additional vents to be added in the spillway for implementing remaining emergency measure of providing additional spilling capacity.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also gave its recommendation about the design details of concrete backing on the downstream face of the dam.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Besides this, CWC suggested The Government of Tamil Nadu to examine the possibility of raising the top of RCC parapet by another two feet apart from few other suggestions.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>It was opined in the forwarding note that after completion of the proposed strengthening measures, provision of other additional vents and implementation of other suggestions, Periyar dam would be competent to hold water upto FRL of 152 ft.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">6.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The matter became subjudice with several petitions in the Kerala and Tamil Nadu High Courts. All these cases were transferred to the Supreme Court which heard the matter and desired in its order dated 28.4.2000 that Hon’ble Minister (WR) may convene a meeting of the Chief Ministers of both the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to amicably resolve the issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">7.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hon’ble Minister (WR) convened the Inter-State meeting on 19.5.2000 and as decided in the meeting, an Expert Committee under Member (D&R), CWC with representatives from both States was constituted in June 2000 to study the safety of the dam with respect to strengthening of dam carried out by The Government of Tamil Nadu on the advice of Central Water Commission and advise regarding raising of water level in the reservoir beyond 136 ft as a result of strengthening of dam. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">8.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Committee in its report of March, 2001 opined that with the strengthening measures implemented, the water level can be raised from 136 ft. to 142 ft. without endangering safety of the dam. Further raising of water level to 152 ft. will be considered after balance strengthening measures are implemented. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: 0in list .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">9.<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In the case of Transfer Petition (Civil) No. 779-783/1998 Dr. Subramanian Swamy Vs Tamil Nadu, the Report of the Expert Committee was filed in the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 31.8.2001 and also sent to the State Governments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">10<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In writ Petition ( C) No. 386 of 2001 (Mulla Periyar Environmental Protection Forum Vs Union of India and Ors) the Supreme Court in its Judgement dated 27.2.2006, permitted the Government of Tamil Nadu to raise the water level of Mulla Periyar dam from 136 ft. to 142 ft. and take up<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the remaining strengthening measures.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">11.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Consequent to the aforesaid orders of the Supreme Court of India, the Kerala Government passed the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act 2006 which received the assent of the Governor<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>on 18<sup>th</sup> March 2006 which prohibited the raising of water level beyond 136 ft. in the Mulla Periyar Dam as Mullaperiyar Dam was placed under the Schedule of ‘Endangered Dams’.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 37.4pt 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">12.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Government of Tamil Nadu filed a suit No. 3 of 2006 - State of Tamil Nadu v/s State of Kerala and Union of India in the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 31.3.2006 praying for - </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 6pt 1in; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -34.6pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(i)<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Declaration of Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act 2006 passed by Kerala Legislature as unconstitutional in its application to and effect on Mulla Periyar Dam.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZKDpIonfZAYI8gz4YCqimkXyt8JEICUi5Sb6K6ObVhpaTkVHKlkVWmQxKRV2EcsX0tzP3dBjXUPabfSNjbXEgsO52DmWLW2DbytLLEtlKonBFgqMN0SEknUzI7leLHRvQKcoHAptBTc/s1600/Mullaiperiyar2_Incident2day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDZKDpIonfZAYI8gz4YCqimkXyt8JEICUi5Sb6K6ObVhpaTkVHKlkVWmQxKRV2EcsX0tzP3dBjXUPabfSNjbXEgsO52DmWLW2DbytLLEtlKonBFgqMN0SEknUzI7leLHRvQKcoHAptBTc/s320/Mullaiperiyar2_Incident2day.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 1in; mso-list: l1 level2 lfo2; tab-stops: list 1.0in; text-align: justify; text-indent: -34.6pt;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">(ii)<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Pass a decree of permanent injunction restraining Kerala from application and enforcing impunged legislation enforcing with or obstructing Tamil Nadu from increasing the water level to 142 feet and from carrying out the repair works as per judgment of Supreme Court dated 27<sup>th</sup> February 2006.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 37.4pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 1.15pt 0pt 0in; tab-stops: 402.05pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">13.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Review Petition filed by the State of Kerala on 3.4.2006 was dismissed by the Supreme Court on 27.7.2006.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">14.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the matter referred to in para 13 above, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has passed an order on 25.9.2006 stating “the two State Governments independently or with the intervention of the Union of India may try to sort out the dispute, if possible.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">15.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Hon’ble Union Minister (WR) convened an inter-State meeting of the Chief Ministers of States of Tamil Nadu & Kerala on Mulla periyar dam issue on 29.11.2006 at New Delhi.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hon’ble Union Minister (WR) further discussed matter with the Minister (WR/PW) from the States of Tamil Nadu & Kerala on18.12.2006.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The States of Tamil Nadu and Kerala reiterated their respective stand in the meetings and no consensus could be reached regarding a solution acceptable to both States. The matter is now subjudice.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-list: l2 level1 lfo3; tab-stops: list 0in .5in; text-align: justify; text-indent: 0in;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">16.<span style="font: 7pt 'Times New Roman';"> </span></span></span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Subsequently, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu met Hon’ble Prime Minister on 18.12.2007 and Hon’ble Prime Minister suggested him to have a meeting with Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala on Mulla Periyar issue.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu met Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala on 19.12.2007 in presence of Hon’ble Union Minister of Water Resources.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further a letter dated 20.12.2007<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>was<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>received from the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mentioning that in the above meeting, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu suggested to oversee the seepage measurement of the dam by engineers not belonging to either of the two States through CWC and Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>agreed to consider them.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">17.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Later, the Govt. of Tamil Nadu forwarded a letter dt 22/1/08 of Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala addressed to Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu wherein it is mentioned that in the meeting dt 19/12/2007 he suggested a joint mechanism to monitor the seepage. The Govt. of Tamil Nadu also enclosed a letter dated 4/2/2008 from Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu addressed to Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala wherein it is mentioned that joint monitoring was not discussed in the meeting.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">18.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>CWC was requested to suggest a suitable mechanism for monitoring the seepage and possible structure of the Committee to monitor it. They suggested a </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">nine- member Committee headed by a Chief Engineer, Central Water Commission having representatives from both States </span><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">for Monitoring the seepage of Mulla Periyar Dam</span><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The composition of the Committee along with terms of reference was sent to Chief Secretary,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Government of Tamil Nadu and Kerala vide letter dated 28.4.2008 for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>their concurrence / suggestions. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">19.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Government of Tamil Nadu vide its letter dated 17.6.2008 has sent its comments on the proposed Monitoring Committee stating that the present proposal of the Government of India to constitute a Committee comprising officers from CWC, Tamil Nadu Government and Kerala Government to measure the seepage in Mulla Periyar Dam is not in conformity with the discussion held in the meeting dated 19.12.2007 and proposal will lead to more and more complications and thus not acceptable to Govt. of Tamil Nadu. The Govt. of Kerala vide letter dt 24.2.2009 informed that the stand taken by the Govt. of Tamil Nadu for<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>neutral agency of experts excluding those form Kerala and Tamil Nadu is not acceptable to them. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">20.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the meanwhile, Govt. of Kerala has got done hydrological review studies from a professor of IIT, Delhi and has since filed the said hydrological studies report in the Hon’ble Supreme Court on 15.07.08 in connection with Suit No.3 of 2006 filed by the Government of Tamil Nadu. It has been concluded in the report that the Mulla Periyar dam is hydrologic ally unsafe for passing the estimated Probable Maximum Flood (2, 91,275 cusec / 8,248 cusec) with the existing spillway capacity. Comments of Hydrological Studies Organisation, CWC on the report were forwarded to the Govt. Advocate as per instructions of MoWR vide CWC letter dated 13.10.08. CWC has commented that the difference in the adopted values of Design Rainfall (Storm) depth, Time distribution of rainfall, Unit hydrograph & Infiltration rate have resulted in estimation of higher flood peak (PMF) and the said studies by the IIT Professor<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>does<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>not appear to be well founded.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">21.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Meanwhile the Government of Kerala constituted a Committee in May 2009 which submitted its report in June, 2009. The Committee suggested mapping of the underwater area, installation of highly sensitive computer operated Seismograph and construction of a new Dam downstream of existing dam. The Committee has also opined that the dam has reached such a deteriorated condition that no amount of rectification work could salvage it to a safe and healthy condition.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Keeping in view this report, Minister (WR) advised Chairman, CWC in July, 2009 to constitute a team of officers to visit the dam and assess the present condition of the Mulla Periyar dam and look into the issues raised in the report of the above Expert Committee. The team had proposed a visit to the dam from 22-25 July, 2009 and the conveniences of the Government of Kerala and Tamil Nadu for the visit were sought. The Government of Tamil Nadu agreed to the proposed visit but the Government of Kerala requested for postponement of the proposed visit because of torrential rains. Thereafter, the visit could not materialize.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGU_e8v2lZQax7_CbBdicWDQN-q56c7ieBBXMZROMs6fdoUwYDnOS_C0Ckij7UcBcPSrOsHf21i4NOlV9knCTjsQSO_vehSLE1H_TvNgFpR8ATZd8x7Yepfu0sauaVkfB2pu1ddvqi2Oo/s1600/Mullaiperiyar_Incident2day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGU_e8v2lZQax7_CbBdicWDQN-q56c7ieBBXMZROMs6fdoUwYDnOS_C0Ckij7UcBcPSrOsHf21i4NOlV9knCTjsQSO_vehSLE1H_TvNgFpR8ATZd8x7Yepfu0sauaVkfB2pu1ddvqi2Oo/s320/Mullaiperiyar_Incident2day.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">22.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thereafter, Secretary (WR) convened a meeting on the Mulla Periyar Dam on 31.7.2009. The meeting was attended among others by Principal Secretary, PWD, Tamil Nadu and Additional Chief Secretary, WRD, Kerala. In the meeting the representative of Kerala informed that the Kerala Govt. visualizes construction of new dam as the only feasible solution and they have started survey and investigation for a new dam at an alternate site downstream of the existing dam and they may also consider the construction of a new dam at their own cost. Representative of Kerala stated in the meeting that the Govt. of Kerala also recognizes the established uses of water from the dam by Tamil Nadu as per the existing agreement between the two States and will continue the same after the construction of a new dam. In the said meeting the representative of Govt. of Tamil Nadu informed that the Govt. of Tamil Nadu would examine the proposal of the Govt. of Kerala for new Dam after the same is formally received from them. In view of this, Hon’ble Minister (WR) vide DO dated 26.08.2009<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>requested Hon’ble Chief Minister, Kerala to send the proposal in this regard to the Govt. of Tamil Nadu for their consideration. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">23.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Later, Govt. of Tamil Nadu vide letter dated 14.9.09 mentioned that as regards the decision that has emerged in the meeting, to examine the proposal of the Kerala Government for the construction of a new dam by Tamil Nadu Government, the Government of Tamil Nadu had already communicated to the Government of India as well as to the Government of Kerala that there is no need for construction of a new dam by the Kerala Government, as the existing dam after it is strengthened, functions like a new dam. They also<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>mentioned that Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu in his letter dated 13.07.09 to<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Hon’ble Chief Minister of Kerala had mentioned that Kerala Govt. may not raise the issue of new dam any more. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">24.<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>The Govt. of Kerala vide letter dated 26.9.2009 sent comments on the minutes of the meeting dated 31.7.2009 mentioning that the statement “The Govt. of Kerala also recognizes the established use of water from the dam by the Tamil Nadu as per the existing agreement between the two States and continue the same after the construction of new dam” is not acceptable.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What was mentioned in the meeting was that Kerala is willing to give water to Tamil Nadu.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 268.1pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 201.0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">25.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, Hon’ble Supreme Court heard the issues related to Mulla Periyar Dam on 10.11.2009 and passed the order that, </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">“As the case involves the resolution of said questions, the suit may be placed before the Hon’ble Chief Justice of India for necessary directions for placing it before a constitution Bench.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 172.5pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt 0.5in; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The contesting parties shall maintain status quo in respect of Mulla Periyar Dam as existing today.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, order of status quo will not be an impediment for the plaintiff (State of Tamil Nadu) to carry out maintenance and repairs for proper upkeep of the said Dam.”</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; tab-stops: 201.0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">26. <span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The case was heard by five judges on 18.2.2010 and the Court directed Central Govt. to constitute an empowered Committee in this regard which would hear the parties to the suit on all issues that will be<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>raised before them, and furnish a report, as far as possible, with in six months from their constitution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">27<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>Following the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 29.02.2010, Centre (MoWR) has constituted an Empowered Committee vide Notification dated the 30<sup>th</sup> April, 2010.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Committee started its functioning and was to submit its report within six months period.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Further, Supreme Court vide its order dated 20<sup>th</sup> September, 2010 has extended the term of Committee by a further period of six months.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Therefore, implementing the said directions of the Supreme Court, the Central Government extends, the terms of Empowered Committee for a further period of six months w.e.f. 30<sup>th</sup> October, 2010 vide Notification dated the 28<sup>th</sup> October, 2010.</span></div></span></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-4997155217763543982011-12-09T04:47:00.000-08:002011-12-09T04:47:32.621-08:00200 Indian fans hired at Rs 300 to welcome Tom Cruise<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/11017183.cms" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" height="212" src="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/photo/11017183.cms" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; height: 186.66666666667px; margin-top: 0px; opacity: 0.5; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 280px;" title="" width="320" /></a></div><div id="area-article-first-block" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><div class="mod-timesofindiaarticletext mod-articletext" id="mod-a-body-first-para" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 280px; margin-top: 4px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;"><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Cheering squad paid to greet the hollywood star at airport's vip exit. Some of them did not even know who </em><em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">the actor was, 'but 300 for an hour is easy money'.</em></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: justify;">By the time Tom Cruise landed in Mumbai on Saturday evening, a couple of 100 eager fans had managed to line the pavement across the airport's VIP exit, even though the time of his arrival had not been made public. As the Hollywood star emerged from the gate, in a blue shirt and aviator sunglasses, the air was buzzing with screeches and elated, in coherent howls. There was bannerwaving, and much cheering and chanting. Cruise, who's been travelling around the world to promote his new film, "Mission Impossible : Ghost Protocol", is used to such a reception wherever he goes. This time, however, there was an Indian twist to the tale.</div></div></div><div class="float" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><img alt="" height="1" src="http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/images/pixel.gif" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="1" /></div><div class="mod-adcpc" id="mod-ctr-lt-in-top" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3f3f3f; float: none !important; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px !important; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px !important; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></div><div class="mod-timesofindiaarticletextwithadcpc mod-timesofindiaarticletext mod-articletext" id="mod-a-body-after-first-para" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: Georgia; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The crowd gathered at the airport had been paid to be there by the organizers of his trip, with the price ranging from 200 to 400, depending on how 'experienced' each member of the cheering squad was.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">A few of the 'fans' were not even sure who they were welcoming, despite chart-paper placards reading, "we love Tom Cruise", "Tom - chak de India", and "Tom Cruises". Three girls from Mankhurd, among the most vocal members of the crowd, for example, did not exactly know what Tom Cruise did. "We're not certain," one of them told us, "but 300 for an hour outside the airport is not bad."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">More enquiries revealed that the trip's organizers had hired an agency that specialized in arranging for crowds for celebrity events. An official from that agency, who was present at the airport, said that each person was paid an average of 300 to be a part of the crowd and cheer for Tom for 15 mins. "We asked them to reach here by 4 pm as we were told that he would arrive at 5:15," the official told this newspaper on condition of anonymity.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">As far as the police were concerned, however, the paid crowd had its advantages. "Mobs that randomly gather to see celebrities can be extremely unruly and tough to control. A hired crowd is better. It behaves itself and listens to us," said a security officer outside the terminal.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">When contacted, a top official from Wizcraft, the company organizing Tom Cruise's India trip, denied any knowledge of a 'paid' arrangement. "We are not aware of this. Your information is incorrect," <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #336797;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; margin-bottom: 10px;">Sabah</span></span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #336797;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; margin-bottom: 10px;">Joseph</span></span>, one of the directors of the company, said.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Cruise was at the airport for no more than 10 minutes. He waved at the crowd, posed for photographs, and was whisked away to the Taj Mahal hotel in Colaba, where a rooftop party was held with a guest list including <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #336797;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; margin-bottom: 10px;">Aamir Khan</span></span>, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #336797;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-color: initial; border-style: initial; margin-bottom: 10px;">Salman Khan</span></span> and Katrina Kaif.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 15px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Tom Cruise had landed earlier on Sunday in New Delhi, from where he went to Agra to see the Taj Mahal, accompanied by his "MI4" co-star Anil Kapoor.</div></div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-74985244546196377742011-12-09T04:44:00.000-08:002011-12-09T04:44:46.494-08:00An eye-opening fossil<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><img alt="" height="265" src="http://www.nature.com/polopoly_fs/7.1720.1323279373!/image/Anomalocaris_reconstruction%20REDUCED.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_630/Anomalocaris_reconstruction%20REDUCED.jpg" style="background-color: #ececec; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; display: block; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; height: auto; line-height: 18px; max-width: 100%; text-align: -webkit-auto; width: 630px;" width="320" /><br />
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<br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Armed with barbed grasping claws and a mouth full of tooth-like serrations, anomalocaridids are thought to have been the top predators in the Cambrian oceans about 500 million years ago. A cache of spectacular fossils now suggests that the ancient hunter <i>Anomalocaris </i>had compound eyes that gave it keener vision than many of the modern arthropods related to it.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;">Previous fossils have raised the possibility that it had compound eyes, but none of them has had enough surface detail to confirm this. Palaeontologist John Paterson at the University of New England in Australia, and his colleagues have now done so by studying fossils discovered in the Emu Bay Shale in South Australia. They found that thousands of tiny hardened lenses definitely made up each eye, much as they make up the eyes of modern insects and crustaceans. The fossil is described today in<i>Nature</i><sup style="font-size: 11px; line-height: 0; margin-left: 0.15em;"><a class="ref-link" href="http://www.nature.com/news/an-eye-opening-fossil-1.9586#b1" id="ref-link-1" style="border-bottom-color: initial; border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; color: #9d0303; text-decoration: none;" title="Paterson, J. R. et al. Nature 480, 237–240 (2011).">1</a></sup>.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“The extraordinary detail preserved in this specimen is just fantastic,” says Robert Gaines, palaeobiologist at Pomona College in Claremont, California, who was not involved in the study.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“It has been unbelievably frustrating being able to see eyes like these at fossil sites like the Burgess Shale [in the Canadian Rocky Mountains], but not have any details. It is really refreshing to have our ideas about these animals confirmed at last,” comments Simon Conway Morris, a palaeontologist at the University of Cambridge, UK.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Moreover, it seems that the eyes of ancient anomalocaridids had even more lenses than those of most modern arthropods. Paterson and his team counted about 16,000 lenses on each eye. “This is a lot,” says Paterson. “The common housefly has only 3,200 and most ants have fewer than 1,000.” Dragonflies have up to 28,000 lenses in each eye — and extraordinary eyesight — but they are “the freaks of the arthropods”, he says.</div><h2 style="color: #111111; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Shooting daggers</h2><div style="margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Such lens-rich compound eyes suggest <i>Anomalocaris</i> was a highly visual hunter. Its prey didn’t stand a chance,” says Paterson. Conway Morris says that it is reasonable to speculate that the creatures had a high degree of visual acuity, and a well-developed brain to process that information.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">It is possible that the eyes of <i>Anomalocaris</i> had even more than 16,000 lenses — the fossils are detailed, but they are not perfect. In fossil form, the stalked eyes are flattened, like pancakes. But Paterson speculates that the eyes of a living anomalocaridid would have been bulbous, and that if non-flattened eyes were to be found, many more lenses would be discovered on the other side.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Yet the research raises questions about more than just how well <i>Anomalocaris</i> could see. Because compound eyes are so commonly found in animals with exoskeletons, it has been assumed that the two traits evolved together. Yet anomalocaridids were soft-bodied, which Paterson suggests could mean that compound eyes evolved first.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 1.538em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">“Since these compound eyes themselves are biomineralized, it is not clear to me whether the ancestors of<i>Anomalocaris</i> had a mineralized exoskeleton and lost it early on or if they simply hadn’t evolved them yet. This could stir up debate,” says Gaines.</div><br />
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</div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-47484100781537634042011-12-09T04:39:00.000-08:002011-12-09T04:39:40.111-08:00Watch the total lunar eclipse, wherever you may be<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">The calendar may say there's a full moon, but millions of people will be watching for the moon to go dark on Saturday, during the last total lunar eclipse until 2014. And even if you can't see the eclipse in the sky, you can still bring it up on your computer.</div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">The best views will be available in Asia and the Pacific, but the western U.S. and Canada will get in on at least some of the action. In fact, there's a chance that Westerners could see an "impossible" eclipse, with the dark moon and the rising sun in the sky simultaneously.</div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">Lunar eclipses occur when Earth is positioned in its orbit just right to cast a huge shadow on the moon. Unlike a total solar eclipse, which can be seen only along a narrow track of Earth's surface, a lunar eclipse can be seen by half the world. You do have to be in the right half, however.</div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">The show begins with a faint penumbral dimming of the lunar surface at 6:33 a.m. ET Saturday, and reaches its climax at 9:06 a.m. ET with the start of totality. By then, of course, the sun will be up on the East Coast, but folks on the West Coast should be able to see the dark moon over the western horizon. This map from Sky & Telescope can tell you what to expect:</div><div class="inlinePhoto photo_landscape photo_align_block " data-contentid="9313659" id="vine-inlinePhoto__9313659" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 1.6em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 500px;"><a href="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/111208-coslog-moonmap-730p.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #336699; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img alt="" height="265" id="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/i/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/111208-coslog-moonmap2-730p.jpg" src="http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/111208-coslog-moonmap2-730p.photoblog500.jpg" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1px; border-right-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 10px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 10px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="320" /></a><div class="photo_credit" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: right; vertical-align: baseline;">Sky & Telescope</div><div class="photo_credit_container" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #828282; font-size: 11px; font-weight: bold; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: left; vertical-align: baseline;">This map shows you how much of the lunar eclipse is visible from which locations in North America. The penumbral eclipse, starting at 3:33 a.m. Pacific Standard Time, is the faintest phase. The umbral, or partial, eclipse starts at 4:45 a.m. PT. Totality begins at 6:06 a.m. PT and ends at 6:57 a.m. PT. The partial eclipse ends at 8:17 a.m. PT, and penumbral phase ends at 9:30 a.m. PT. Click on the image for a world map showing the eclipse zone.</div></div></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">If you're getting up early to see the show, there's no need to get up <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">too </em>early. But you will want to keep an eye on the moon during the 10 or 15 minutes before the onset of totality. That's when you'll see the perceptible darkening of the lunar disk as Earth's shadow creeps across.</div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">The moon doesn't go <em style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">totally</em> dark during totality. Some sunlight is still refracted by Earth's atmosphere, giving the face of the moon a sunset glow. The precise shade (reddish? brownish? orangish?) depends on the character of the dust and the clouds in the atmosphere. For example, total eclipses tend to be very dark after big volcanic eruptions, as explained in this guidefrom eclipse expert Fred Espenak.</div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">Over at the NASA Science website, Tony Phillips points out that Saturday's eclipsed moon may look unusually huge to the North Americans who can see it, due to the "moon illusion." It's not that the moon gets bigger when it's near the horizon; it's just that our brain is programmed to perceive sky phenomena differently depending on whether they're overhead or lower down in the sky. This archived article from 2008 explains how it works.</div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">The total phase of Saturday's eclipse is due to last 51 minutes. For North Americans, sunrise and moonset could come before that time, depending on where you live. On the other side of the world, some folks in Europe, Africa and the Middle East will see only part of the show after sunset. In between, most Asia-Pacific observers will be able to watch the whole thing, while South America is out of luck.</div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://slooh.com/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: left; color: #336699; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank"><img border="0" height="251" src="http://slooh.com/include/events/le_111210.php?type=rect" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" width="320" /></a>But then there's the Internet: Even if you're totally out of the eclipse zone, or facing total cloud cover, you can still experience totality on your computer screen. A remote-astronomy service called <a href="http://events.slooh.com/" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(170, 170, 170); border-bottom-style: dotted; border-bottom-width: 1px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #336699; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Slooh</a> is offering a live eclipse feedfrom Hawaii, Asia and Australia starting at 8 a.m. ET (5 a.m. PT), with audio narration by astronomer Bob Berman. He'll be joined by several guests and will also take call-in questions. There's a Slooh video app for Android mobile phones, and you could even watch the feed through this window:</div><div class="inlineCode photo_align_block" data-contentid="9312971" id="vine-inlineCode__9312971" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; clear: both; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 15px; text-align: center; vertical-align: baseline; width: 550px !important;"></div><ul style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: initial; list-style-type: none; margin-bottom: 25px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-style: initial; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; list-style-image: none; list-style-position: outside; list-style-type: disc; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 5px; padding-left: 10px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br />
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</ul><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">If you snap a picture or capture a video of the eclipse, will you please share it with us? Feel free to use our FirstPerson upload tool, or post it to Facebook, Flickr or YouTube and let me know about it via the Cosmic Log Facebook page. We'll put together a smorgasbord of eclipse pics on Saturday.</div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #333333; font-family: georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 25px; outline-color: initial; outline-style: initial; outline-width: 0px; padding-bottom: 0.8em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0.8em; text-align: -webkit-auto; vertical-align: baseline;">It'll be a while before we see such a sight again. Only partial or penumbral lunar eclipses are expected during 2012 and 2013. Our next date with lunar totality comes on April 15, 2014. Don't worry, the world won't end: It'll just seem like it on Tax Day.</div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-10787440783709410452011-12-08T23:10:00.000-08:002011-12-08T23:10:29.477-08:00Microsoft to fix Duqu virus<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; clear: left; float: left; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Microsoft to fix Duqu virus" border="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" pg="" src="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/software-services/microsoft-to-fix-duqu-virus/Virus1-jpg/thumb/11042523/Virus1-jpg.jpg?width=300&resizemode=4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 4px; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; border-right-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 4px; border-top-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; display: block; margin-right: 5px;" title="Microsoft to fix Duqu virus" vspace="0" width="300" /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #336797; font-family: georgia;"></span><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Microsoft Corp said it will release a security update to protect personal computers from getting attacked by Duqu, a mysterious virus that researchers suspect was built by the same group behind Stuxnet.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Stuxnet is the piece of malicious software, or<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #336797;">malware</span>, that security experts say was used last year to launch a successful attack on a uranium enrichment facility in Iran, setting back that nation's effort to build a nuclear bomb.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">After researchers in Hungary discovered Duqu in October, many security experts concluded that it was created by the group behind Stuxnet because of similarities in the code between the two viruses.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">While Stuxnet was aimed at crippling systems that control industrial processes such as uranium enrichment, Duqu was designed to steal data from computers</div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-69278093416740522502011-12-08T23:08:00.001-08:002011-12-08T23:08:57.185-08:00Facebook IPO sparks dreams of riches, adventure<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Travelling to space or embarking on an expedition to excavate lost Mayan ruins are normally the stuff of adventure novels.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But for employees of Facebook, these and other lavish dreams are moving closer to reality as the world's No 1 online social network prepares for a blockbuster initial public offering that could create at least a thousand millionaires.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The most anticipated stock market debut of 2012 is expected to value Facebook at as much as $100 billion, which would top just about any of Silicon Valley's most celebrated coming-out parties, from Netscape to Google Inc.</span></div><div class="hm-pic" style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; position: relative; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img alt="Facebook IPO sparks dreams of riches, adventure" src="http://static.ibnlive.in.com/ibnlive/pix/sitepix/06_2010/facebook_0706_630.jpg" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-decoration: none;" title="Facebook IPO sparks dreams of riches, adventure" width="545px" /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; color: #535353; font: normal normal normal 11px/normal Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-align: right; text-decoration: none;"></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">While weak financial markets could postpone or downsize any IPO, even the most conservative market-watchers say Facebook seems destined to set a new benchmark in a region famous for minting fortunes, with even the rank-and-file employees reaping millions of dollars.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Facebook employees past and present are already hatching plans on how to spend their anticipated new wealth, even as securities regulations typically prevent employee stock options from being cashed in until after a six-month lock-up period.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"There's been discussions of sort of bucket list ideas that people are putting together of things they always wanted to do and now we'll be able to do it," said one former employee who had joined Facebook in 2005, shortly after it was founded.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">He is looking into booking a trip to space that would cost $200,000 or more with Virgin Galactic or one of the other companies working on future space tourism. That's chump change when he expects his shares in Facebook to be worth some $50 million.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"If that IPO bell happens, then I will definitely put money down," said the person, who declined to be identified because he did not want to draw attention to his financial status, given the antiglitz ethos of many people in Silicon Valley. "It's been a childhood dream," he said of space travel.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Others are thinking less science fiction and more "Indiana Jones." A group of current and former Facebook workers has begun laying the groundwork for an expedition to Mexico that sounds more suited to characters from the Steven Spielberg film "Raiders of the Lost Ark" than to the computer geeks famously portrayed in the movie about Facebook, "The Social Network."</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Initially, the group wanted to organise its own jungle expedition to excavate a relatively untouched site of Mayan ruins, according to people familiar with the matter who also did not want to court notoriety by being identified in this story. After some debate earlier this year, they are now looking at partnering with an existing archeological program.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><b style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Big packages</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Founded in a Harvard dorm room in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and his friends, Facebook has grown into the world's biggest social network with over 800 million members and revenue of $1.6 billion in the first half of 2011.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Information about its ownership structure or employee compensation packages is hard to come by, since the still-private company discloses very little. Facebook declined to comment for this story.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is clear that Facebook's earliest employees, who were given ownership stakes, and early venture capital investors – such as Accel Partners, Greylock Partners and Paypal co-founder Peter Thiel – will see the biggest paydays. Zuckerberg, 27, is estimated to own a little over a fifth of the company, according to "The Facebook Effect" author David Kirkpatrick.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But the wealth will trickle down to engineers, salespeople and other staffers who later joined the company, since most employees receive salary plus some kind of equity-based compensation, such as restricted stock units or stock options.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Facebook's headcount has swelled from 700 employees in late 2008 to more than 3,000 today. Given its generous use of equity-based compensation in past years, people familiar with Facebook say that even by conservative estimates there are likely to be well over a thousand people looking at million-dollar-plus paydays after the company goes public.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"There will be thousands of millionaires," said a former in-house recruiter at Facebook, who did not want to be identified because of confidentiality agreements.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Lou Kerner, the head of private trading at Liquidnet, estimates that Facebook now has roughly 2.5 billion shares outstanding, which would translate to a per-share price of $40 at a $100 billion valuation.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Engineers are the most richly rewarded among the rank and file. The former Facebook recruiter said as recently as 2009, the company gave an engineer with 15 years experience options to buy about 65,000 shares at around $6 per share.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After a 5-for-1 stock split in October 2010, the engineer would now have the right to buy around 325,000 shares. Assuming a $40 share price, that would yield a profit of more than $12 million.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">According to another former Facebook employee, it was not unusual for the company to offer some executive-level hires up to 100,000 restricted shares as recently as three years ago.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The company has since cut back on equity compensation for new hires. Managers hired one year ago received 2,000 to 30,000 restricted shares depending on the job function, according to another recruiter who had also worked for Facebook.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The company has also been stingier in handing out equity to noncore employees -- so there may not be as many of the dazzling rags-to-riches stories that were commonplace at the time of the Google IPO, when in-house chefs and at least one masseuse struck gold with options.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Facebook has its share of chefs – including head chef Josef Desimone who was lured away from Google – and other support staff, but it's not clear how many of them were awarded share options.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">These days, "Google and Facebook are notorious for hiring contract employees they don't have to give equity to," said the second former Facebook recruiter.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><b style="border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Haves and have-nots</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Facebook's IPO has been long anticipated, but veterans of other startups that have gone public say the period after could be fraught with new challenges.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some employees could grow jealous over colleagues with more stock, while others might look down on peers who are too quick to sell, questioning their loyalty to the company.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And there is always the risk that talented staff would leave with their newfound wealth to make their own mark in the technology world by becoming entrepreneurs or investing in other promising startups.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Some Facebook employees have already left the company to do that, selling their shares ahead of the IPO on private exchanges such as those run by SecondMarket or SharesPost.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">One such person is engineer Karel Baloun, who joined the social network in 2005 and left just over a year later to start his own online network for commodities-futures traders, funded by a tidy package of stock options. It failed and Baloun laments that he could have made a lot more money if he had stayed at acebook.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">But he is philosophical, saying that the equity windfall gave him the cushion to do new things.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"It's really wonderful being able to choose your work based on the meaning of it, not the size of your salary," said Baloun, now chief technology officer at mobile-commerce company Leap Commerce. "I have two kids, and I couldn't do it if I didn't have some savings from this IPO."</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border-bottom-style: none; border-color: initial; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none; border-width: initial; font: normal normal normal 14px/20px Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 10px; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-decoration: none;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Baloun said he has sold about half his Facebook shares and is holding on to the rest until after the IPO. "I will buy a house," he said.</span></div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-46746561376032583572011-12-07T01:41:00.000-08:002011-12-07T01:43:00.631-08:00Dhanush much more than 'Kolaveri' song: Abhishek<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<img alt="Dhanush much more than 'Kolaveri' song: Abhishek" border="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" pg="" src="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/entertainment/bollywood/news-interviews/dhanush-much-more-than-kolaveri-song-abhishek/Dhanush-with-Abhishek-Bachchan/thumb/11007152/Dhanush-with-Abhishek-Bachchan.jpg?width=300&resizemode=4" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 4px; border-left-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 4px; border-right-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 4px; border-top-color: rgb(225, 225, 225); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 4px; display: block; margin-right: 5px;" title="Dhanush much more than 'Kolaveri' song: Abhishek" vspace="0" width="300" /><br />
<div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><em>Hindi film actor Abhishek Bachchan feels that it is unfair that people associate Tamil star Dhanush, who has an impressive body of work, just with the " Kolaveri di" song.</em></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"He is a very dear friend of mine, Dhanush. Very famous and very prominent actor from Chennai. Off late, unfortunately they only seem to know him because of 'Kolavari Di' but, he has done great work down there. He is a wonderful actor," said the 35-year-old actor.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"Kolaveri Di" has received over 17 million hits onYoutube till now and Abhishek terms it as one of the greatest hits of the year.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"I think it's outstanding and I think it's wonderful because it has been made by two very dear friends of mine, Dhanush and his wife Aishwarya. I think it's a fantastic song. He is a very talented guy and Anirudh, the music director has done a great job. I wish them all the best. It's one of the greatest songs of the year," said Abhishek who is awaiting his next release "Players" by director duo Abbas-Mustan.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">"Players", which is releasing Jan 6, also stars <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #336797;">Bobby Deol</span>, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #336797;">Bipasha Basu</span>, Neil Nitin Mukesh andSonam Kapoor.</div><div style="background-color: white; color: #3f3f3f; font-family: georgia; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Abhishek is also working on Rohit Shetty directed "Bol Bachchan" and "Dhoom 3".</div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-33711423979269284302011-11-10T09:27:00.000-08:002011-11-10T09:27:03.660-08:00facts 7 global sex ..<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><h3>Sex tax, Germany</h3>We’ve all heard the snappy, hard-hitting phrase “sex sells”. It would seem that the officials in the German city of Bonn have taken this phrase to a whole new level. They have installed a meter in the city to tax their 200 prostitutes. The fee is six Euros and is expected to earn 200,000 Euros per year. You even get a receipt.<br />
<h3>The land of the fertile, Russia</h3><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6_Ucyw_w3O3qH3d6T2ckqDGyxwveR69q9iwpHdqOUGVvhKP1DuvWifG56rwq0g-3iZuavw-xDopKEmtns0L3sn2Iv8acmYeSxEeII4-869XRn54AVAlZH1_-9oPSIx7D1eKRFg9rGqWg/s1600/man-woman-kiss.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6_Ucyw_w3O3qH3d6T2ckqDGyxwveR69q9iwpHdqOUGVvhKP1DuvWifG56rwq0g-3iZuavw-xDopKEmtns0L3sn2Iv8acmYeSxEeII4-869XRn54AVAlZH1_-9oPSIx7D1eKRFg9rGqWg/s1600/man-woman-kiss.jpg" /></a>Although in a recent survey the Russians were reported as being the least happy with their sex lives (along with the Fins), one woman in Russia holds the world record for having birthed the most children. This fertile lady gave birth 69 times, having 16 pairs of twins, seven sets of triplets, and four sets of quadruplets. Where did she find the time?<br />
<h3>Sex toys banned, America</h3>In a global survey Jennifer Lopez won the crown of being the world’s sexiest woman. Halle Berry and Britney Spears were joint third. Despite producing three of the most beautiful women in the world, parts of America seems decidedly prudish. For example, the state of Alabama has banned the sale of any items that are intended to give sexual stimulation.<br />
<h3>Body sushi, Japan</h3>If your two favourite things are eating and sex, then body sushi is for you. This Japanese tradition uses the naked body as a serving plate. The models are typically female. They are trained to lie still for hours, whilst food is eaten from their bodies. Sometimes the women will be painted or decorated too. The idea is based around the belief that sushi should delight.<br />
<h3>Who has the most sex, global </h3>According to a recent survey, Americans appear to have the most sex at 132 times a year. The Russian’s come a close second, with the average Russian having sex 122 times a year. In third place is the French at 121 and in fourth position is the Greeks at 115. However, the three countries with the lowest sexual frequency were Japan, Malaysia and China.<br />
<h3>Sexual energy, China</h3>Taoism is an ancient tradition that is steeped in Chinese customs and beliefs. Taoist’s believe sexual energy is life-enhancing and so they try to retain it. For males, one way to retain sexual energy is to prevent ejaculation. Some Taoist’s also encourage men to have many sexual partners; in order to access the beneficial energy released by women during sex.<br />
<h3>Biggest orgy, Japan</h3>On the 15th of March an annual fertility festival is held in Japan, where the penis is celebrated and revered. With the Japanese being such public fans of the penis, it is no shock that it is they who hold the world record for having the biggest orgy ever. 250 Japanese men and 250 Japanese women had sex in a warehouse at the same time. They’ve even released a DVD. </div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-48464151300019491072011-11-03T10:25:00.000-07:002011-11-03T10:25:11.534-07:00I have no time: Trisha<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Trisha has come out with an explanation as to why she is not acting in Malayalam and Kannada films. A top star in Tamil and Telugu, she stepped into Bollywood last year. But there was no Mollywood or Sandalwood movie from the actress. <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqmSqk9ax5G6iU5fZzIs5nSUrI4XvUqYsxbslWZ2Eyiilib9s4sVzlMisDYR5GPFwC70BopG-OAAI5M6o-f4I7raiwOc2BB0cOS-etYAcnqOoGPw5AAYAqKmmc6o5T3g4n_HwjwJnQdWQ/s1600/Trisha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqmSqk9ax5G6iU5fZzIs5nSUrI4XvUqYsxbslWZ2Eyiilib9s4sVzlMisDYR5GPFwC70BopG-OAAI5M6o-f4I7raiwOc2BB0cOS-etYAcnqOoGPw5AAYAqKmmc6o5T3g4n_HwjwJnQdWQ/s1600/Trisha.jpg" /></a>“I really don’t find time to act in Malayalam and Kannada films. I am already shuttling between Chennai and Hyderabad thanks to my commitments in Kollywood and Tollywood. I don’t want to confuse things by committing so many projects at a time,” she says.<br />
At present, Trisha is doing ‘Samaran’ opposite Vishal in Tamil and ‘Dammu’ with NTR Junior in Telugu. “I play interesting roles in both. I am happy to share the screen space with Vishal and junior NTR with whom I was supposed to act from long.”<br />
In the meantime, Trisha’s other Telugu movie ‘Bodyguard’ (remake of ‘Kaavalan’ which by itself is a remake) is getting ready to hit the screens early next month. For the third time (after ‘Aadavari Maataluku Ardhalu Veruley’ and ‘Namo Venkatesa’), she is paired with Venkatesh in this film.</div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-85861668613097105272011-10-14T18:33:00.000-07:002011-10-14T18:33:54.013-07:00BJP bribed press for Advani roadshow, claims Congress<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvScltl6ke2ifoa5luCSqOxPsXOETS8Fr0Qk1XxQmG6MLlk_cY1ngqTiKiaBOAC4n0fNtrDJyatri97FbUPUwE4JUbzNiKilLUxLU8z7BN0CuCH4bAurjL3iCvxVoF2X_tE-OgPQyqbo/s1600/advani-rath-yatra%25281%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijvScltl6ke2ifoa5luCSqOxPsXOETS8Fr0Qk1XxQmG6MLlk_cY1ngqTiKiaBOAC4n0fNtrDJyatri97FbUPUwE4JUbzNiKilLUxLU8z7BN0CuCH4bAurjL3iCvxVoF2X_tE-OgPQyqbo/s320/advani-rath-yatra%25281%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: Georgia, Times, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 22px;"></span><br />
<div id="yui_3_3_0_1_1318642336813552" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bhopal/New Delhi, Oct 14 (IANS) Senior <span class="" id="lw_1318614696_1">Bharatiya Janata Party</span> (BJP) leader <span class="" id="lw_1318614696_8">L.K. Advani</span>'s anti-graft roadshow, the <span class="" id="lw_1318614696_0">Jan Chetna Yatra</span>, has run smack into charges of cash inducements after it reached<span class="" id="lw_1318614696_2">Madhya Pradesh</span>, ruled by the party's government, Thursday.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_1_1318642336813549" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The <span class="" id="lw_1318614696_7">state Congress</span> unit accused the ruling BJP of giving cash to journalists ahead of the yatra, at a briefing called by the <span class="" id="lw_1318614696_5">Satna district</span> unit of the party.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_1_1318642336813546" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">'The party which is making hue and cry over black money is itself using black money for Advani's yatra,' state Congress president <span class="" id="lw_1318614696_3">Kantilal Bhuria</span> told IANS.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_1_1318642336813539" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The <span class="" id="lw_1318614696_4">All India Congress Committee</span> (AICC) also condemned the alleged attempt to bribe journalists and said it only proved its assertion that the yatra was not against corruption.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_1_1318642336813557" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">'The attempt to bribe journalists in Satna is very unfortunate, condemnable and troubling. We have always maintained that the yatra was not against corruption. Whenever Advani has taken out a yatra, there has been a hidden agenda,' party spokesman Raashid Alvi said in Delhi.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">At least two dozens Congress workers, comprising both women and men, were arrested Friday by the local police when they sought to show black flags to Advani's yatra in Satna.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_1_1318642336813560" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">'There is no meaning to such a yatra in Madhya Pradesh when several ministers of the <span class="" id="lw_1318614696_6">Shivraj Singh Chouhan</span> cabinet are embroiled in corruption charges,' Madhya Pradesh's Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh alleged.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_1_1318642336813563" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Satna MP Ganesh Singh of the BJP, who along with PWD Minister Nagendra Singh was present at the media briefing, denied that cash was distributed to newsmen by the party.</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">'Neither has it been a policy of the party nor was (cash) distributed by us,' Singh said. 'But we will sure inquire.'</div><div style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Advani told reporters that the president of his party unit in Madhya Pradesh, Prabhat Jha, will investigate whether bribes were offered in exchange for coverage in Satna.</div><div id="yui_3_3_0_1_1318642336813566" style="margin-top: 11px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Advani's yatra reached Madhya Pradesh late Thursday evening and will remain in the state till Oct 16. During these four days, his yatra will cover 45 assembly constituencies and travel approximately 1,100 km.</div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-2604842820993333022011-10-14T18:30:00.000-07:002011-10-14T18:30:31.245-07:00Shahrukh Khan RA.One<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEgJHQqYTtvOdOTAsdXMw-vdEw19l8PcS-1PBuZM7OexcaMxYv72KlRMFM_y6WAdw7dUz7nKe7edTnz2QStADVBpJDK9d7RHZb81C8FMeNRIf7N3RK0xApk3__-uXTjppoWwXBAWdIcM/s1600/shahrukh-khan-in-ra-one_0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="154" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmEgJHQqYTtvOdOTAsdXMw-vdEw19l8PcS-1PBuZM7OexcaMxYv72KlRMFM_y6WAdw7dUz7nKe7edTnz2QStADVBpJDK9d7RHZb81C8FMeNRIf7N3RK0xApk3__-uXTjppoWwXBAWdIcM/s200/shahrukh-khan-in-ra-one_0.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #404040; font-family: georgia; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">Born and brought up in Delhi, Shah Rukh Khan began his career with TV serial called ‘ Fauji’. He started his film carrer with the commercially successful Deewana .Since then, he has been part of numerous hit films like Darr, ‘ Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge’, ‘Dil To Pagal Hai’ , and ‘Kuch Kuch Hota Hai’, 'Chak De India' and ‘My Name is Khan’. Shah Rukh Khan has won several awards which includes the Padma Shri for his outstanding performance in several films. Globally, Shahrukh is considered to be one of the biggest movie stars with a huge fan following and was also named in the list of 50 most powerful people in the world by newsweek. Shahrukh Khan turned producer in the year 1999 when he started a production company called Dreamz Unlimited with Juhi Chawla and director Aziz Mirza. Shahrukh’s life-size wax statue was installed at Madame Tussauds wax museum in the year 2007.</span><a href="http://movies.ndtv.com/movie_story.aspx?Section=Movies&ID=ENTEN20110186062&subcatg=MOVIESINDIA&keyword=bollywood&nid=141282&cp" style="text-decoration: none;" target="_blank_"></a></div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-90976809658088508312011-10-14T18:26:00.000-07:002011-10-14T18:26:27.199-07:00Trisha speaks about her career<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;">'I am into cinema for about a decade and I have a value and respect' says Trisha.</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGjDf8SO_3DkEDBdCLB_xgnUhOV-8wlJ7eUQyPbU8dYFk-Gy91AQkBHthVydLYOJsvzbh6f_fnh1z91s1bIMaaXcjlKiVTemgeXDp7jJcRYdebpq9x3qivZGqnyG8ceMf_qNuWWvGmlFY/s1600/trisha.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGjDf8SO_3DkEDBdCLB_xgnUhOV-8wlJ7eUQyPbU8dYFk-Gy91AQkBHthVydLYOJsvzbh6f_fnh1z91s1bIMaaXcjlKiVTemgeXDp7jJcRYdebpq9x3qivZGqnyG8ceMf_qNuWWvGmlFY/s200/trisha.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div style="margin-bottom: 12px; margin-top: 12px;">Trisha is now acting with Vishal in a movie that is being simultanously made in Tamil and Telugu.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 12px; margin-top: 12px;">Trisha was discussing about her acting career. Why replying to a question related to the new commers as competitors to her, she replied 'I have never been over looked by any new commers. I am here (acting) for about 10 years. People give me respect and value me for my skills'</div><div style="margin-bottom: 12px; margin-top: 12px;">She continued 'I came here with the faith in my talents. I get same kind of response even now as when in the time of entry into this field'</div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-51335326029960289422011-10-02T10:59:00.000-07:002011-10-02T11:01:19.943-07:00Bipasha rubbishes wedding reports<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8kksnLVyYKxntjEjdxOyk5dNhc0yrdJXBocXLyKle5a1l7Iv1S2sW5LWZIpltX-FZn7bEThxX2eblsf5PuxYI5z6khWeFy7GDLXQbCd9z6XHmR1Ti_zNCHnQnAVLXLR1MaN5Lir2vpN0/s1600/bipasha-basu-350_093011103531.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="128" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8kksnLVyYKxntjEjdxOyk5dNhc0yrdJXBocXLyKle5a1l7Iv1S2sW5LWZIpltX-FZn7bEThxX2eblsf5PuxYI5z6khWeFy7GDLXQbCd9z6XHmR1Ti_zNCHnQnAVLXLR1MaN5Lir2vpN0/s200/bipasha-basu-350_093011103531.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Actress Bipasha Basu has rubbished reports that she is planning to tie the knot with actor Rana Daggubati soon. <br />
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"Reading reports of my supposed wedding plans, there is absolutely no truth in them," Bipasha, who parted ways with actor John Abraham, wrote on micro-blogging site Twitter.<br />
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Rumours were rife that Bipasha and her <i>Dum Maaro Dum</i> co-star Rana were dating and that they were planning to get married. <br />
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<a href="http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/bipasha-basu-rana-daggubati-wedding-supposed-wedding-plans/1/153146.html" target="_blank_"></a></div></div></div>Incident 2dayhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04044806687687029460noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6798491954308222535.post-32601360146658414292011-10-02T10:57:00.000-07:002011-10-02T10:57:29.974-07:00I saw Sachin’s legs shivering while facing Akhtar: Afridi<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="1"><tbody>
<tr><td><div align="justify"><span class="style24"><div align="justify"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Wm0g44q_8amu72gkK4vKEXSogIKNTRzD9A8IRt8amOJL6hkRkmxKyx4KMvKOAGO7uvzVcJrwodZufyY6xUkcXXEsbdL_4MY5dMPq0ArABxzcc3Q5sVIE6RzRu0mUJkrjCKGIMZu2RmQ/s1600/shahid-afridi.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Wm0g44q_8amu72gkK4vKEXSogIKNTRzD9A8IRt8amOJL6hkRkmxKyx4KMvKOAGO7uvzVcJrwodZufyY6xUkcXXEsbdL_4MY5dMPq0ArABxzcc3Q5sVIE6RzRu0mUJkrjCKGIMZu2RmQ/s1600/shahid-afridi.gif" /></a></div>Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has supported retired fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar’s claims that Indian batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar was scared of his pace, saying that he was a witness of Tendulkar’s legs shivering in front of the Rawalpindi Express.<br />
In his book, Controversially Yours, Akhtar wrote that Tendulkar was scared of his bowling, a comment that has caused furore across the border, forcing publishers to cancel all launch-related and publicity events.</div></span></div></td> </tr>
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<tr> <td><div align="justify"><span class="style24"><div align="justify">When asked about Akhtar’s claims in his book, Afridi showed no hesitation in backing the controversial bowler.<br />
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'Shoaib is telling the truth. Tendulkar was afraid of him, and while fielding, I saw Tendulkar’s legs shivering while facing his bowling,' The Express Tribune quoted Afridi, as saying. <br />
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However, the all-rounder added that it was not an unusual feature of a batsman.<br />
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“There are times when every batsman feels the pressure, it happens against [Pakistani off-spinner] Saeed Ajmal even,” said Afridi.<br />
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The former captain, however, was critical of Akhtar’s comments blaming Afridi for his omission from the 2011 ICC World Cup semi-final squad against India.<br />
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“Shoaib should remember that I apologised to the chairman and manager on his behalf and got him back into the national squad. While he hasn’t lied about other things, he won’t be able to look at me in the eyes after he’s said all that,” Afridi said.</div></span></div></td></tr>
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