Dhoni`s six perfect end to match: Hrithik Roshan

Mumbai: Actor Hrithik Roshan was bowled over by the magnificent performance of Team India in the World Cup final against Sri Lanka and says skipper M.S. Dhoni`s winning six was the perfect end to the match. "Last (Saturday) night, Indian team proved themselves to be the biggest heroes. They were up against one of the best teams. It`s the madness that carried them through. And the final winning six of Dhoni... I am a cinema guy so in my way I would say it was a perfect screenplay," Hrithik told reporters at the launch of Provogue`s new Spring Summer Catalogue at Novotel Hotel here Sunday. India defeated Sri Lanka at the ICC World Cup final by...

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Lohan`s mother fumes over CCTV footage sale

London: Lindsay Lohan`s mother Dina has lashed out at a California jewellery store for selling surveillance footage of the actress trying on a necklace she later allegedly stole from the shop. Clips of the video have also emerged online at Necklacevideo, with fans being asked to pay $2.99 to view more of the recording, reports femalefirst.co.uk. Lohan`s mother Dina is fuming about the release of the footage and she has branded the "pay-as-you-watch" scheme "ridiculous". "It`s clear what this is about. It`s gotten to such a ridiculous point. They need to leave Lindsay alone," Dina told reporters. Lindsay is also infuriated with the bosses...

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Magic Johnson is Abhishek Bachchan`s fan!

Mumbai: If Abhishek Bachchan has one idol besides his dad Amitabh Bachchan, it`s the basketball legend Magic Johnson. Imagine his surprise when he got to know that Johnson too shared the sentiment, and was Abhishek`s fan! Not too many people know this, but Abhishek`s most prized possessions are two jerseys signed personally by Johnson. Such is Junior Bachchan`s undying affinity to Magic Johnson`s magic, that the joke at the Bachchan residence Jalsa is that give Abhishek an Amitabh Bachchan classic and a recording of a Magic Johnson game, and you`ve lost him for the whole day. Abhishek, when he got to know about Johnson being on micro-blogging site Twitter, was persuaded by those close to him to tweet to his childhood idol. Says a source close to Abhishek: "At first, Abhishek was hesitant....

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42 dead, over 100 injured in Pakistan triple blasts

Islamabad: At least 42 people were killed and over a hundred injured on Sunday when three powerful blasts ripped through a crowded shrine in Pakistan's Punjab province. Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has strongly condemned the attack. Hundreds of Sufi Muslims from different parts of the country had gathered at the shrine, called Sakhi Sarvar, near the Deraghazi Khan city for a three-day festival. The first blast, which has been confirmed as a suicide attack, occurred around 5.40 pm in the front side of the shrine, followed by a second blast at the rear end. The shrine is located on a mountain some 40 km from the city. The third blast occurred...

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Two workers die at Fukushima plant

The Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco) and the IAEA on Sunday announced the death of two workers at the site of the quake-and-tsunami-hit Fukushima Daiichi atomic energy plant. Neither side spelt out the exact cause of the deaths. In a regular update on the Fukushima situation, the IAEA said, without comment, Japan's “Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency reported that the two employees were found dead” in the turbine building of Unit 4 on March 30. The plant was devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. Tepco chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata said in a statement: “We lost two young employees who were working to protect the safety of the...

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2G Spectrum Charge Sheet Has Left Out Core Issues: Jaitley

Thiruvananthapuram : BJP today said the CBI charge sheet in the 2G spectrum case had left out "core issues" without significantly dealing with loss to the exchequer and alleged that the timetable of investigation was influenced by the April 13 Tamil Nadu Assembly polls. Arun Jaitley, who is Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said, "The charge sheet has left out the core issues.  The issue of loss to the exchequer on account of allotting spectrum at 2001 price in 2008 has not been significantly dealt with." Saying that there were serious allegations of favour shown to DMK, a UPA partner, he told a meet-the-press programme here...

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No Constitutional Bar On Introducing Vidhan Parishad : Pranab

Kolkata :  Union Finance Minister and senior Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee has said there was no constiutional bar on introducing Vidhan Parishad (Upper House) as suggested by Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee in the event of Congress-TC alliance coming to power in West Bengal. “The proposal first needs to be passed and sent to the Centre thereafter. Subsequently a bill is introduced in both houses of Parliament and passed with simple majority,” Mukherjee said to a question after releasing the party manifesto. “No two-third majority is required for passing the bill so far as my knowledge about the Constitution goes,” the veteran...

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Gaddafi Envoy In Europe To Seek End To Crisis

Benghazi  :  An envoy of Muammar Gaddafi told Greece’s prime minister Sunday that the Libyan leader was seeking a way out of his country’s crisis two weeks after his government’s attacks to put down a rebellion drew international airstrikes, Greek officials said. Abdul-Ati al-Obeidi, a former Libyan prime minister who has served as a Gaddafi envoy during the crisis, will travel next to Turkey and Malta in a sign that Gaddafi’s regime may be softening its hard line in the face of the sustained attacks. “From the Libyan envoy’s comments it appears that the regime is seeking a solution,” Greek Foreign Minister Dimitris Droutsas said...

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Polling Begins on Brisk Note in Assam

Guwahati  :  Polling began on a brisk note in 62 constituencies in the first of the two-phase Assam Assembly elections at 7 AM today.Large queues were witnessed in front of many booths. An 85,09,011-strong electorate will decide the fate of 485 candidates in 62 of the 126 Assembly  constituencies. Among prominent contestants are Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and several senior ministers, including Pradyut Bordoloi and Bharat Chandra Narah. The second phase of elections will be held on April 11 in the remaining 64 constituenc...

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IMF denies pressing Greece to restructure debt

"As we have said consistently, the IMF supports the Greek government's position of no debt restructuring and its determination to fully service its debt obligations. Any reports claiming otherwise are wrong," an IMF spokeswoman told Reuters. Without citing any sources, Der Spiegel reported that the IMF had reversed its previous opposition to the idea of a Greek restructuring and now believed one was necessary soon. It wrote that senior IMF officials were recommending this to European governments because Greece's debt mountain was now roughly one-and-a-half times its annual economic output. Early in March, IMF European Director Antonio Borges...

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Q+A - What is the 2G spectrum scandal all about?

WHAT IS THE ISSUE ALL ABOUT? The CBI say that in 2007-08, when the government issued 122 new telecoms licences, several rules were violated and bribes were paid to favour certain firms. Several licences were issued to firms with no prior experience in the telecoms sector or were ineligible or had suppressed relevant facts, an auditor said in its report. The violations cost the exchequer $39 billion in lost revenue, the auditor said, equivalent to the country's defence budget. The telecoms ministry's process of issuing licences "lacked transparency and was undertaken in an arbitrary, unfair and inequitable manner," the auditor said. Police...

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Heart disease screens don't change treatment

"It is shocking how little evidence there is," Dr. Patrick O'Malley of the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland, who wrote an editorial in the Archives of Internal Medicine, where the new report was published. Looking at earlier studies, the authors found screening people with such tests didn't seem to change what drugs doctors prescribed, nor the patients' diet and exercise habits or whether they smoked. These are all factors that could influence a person's risk of heart disease, which accounts for more than one out of every three deaths in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association. The hope is that taking a piercing...

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Yoga halves irregular-heartbeat episodes: study

Yoga, already proven to lower high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, can cut in half the risk of a common and potentially dangerous irregular heartbeat, according to a U.S. study released on Saturday. The small study was the first to examine the benefits of yoga on atrial fibrillation -- a problem that is a leading cause of stroke and is most common in the elderly. In addition to halving the episodes of atrial fibrillation, the study found that yoga also reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression related to the condition. "These findings are important because many of the current conventional treatment strategies for atrial fibrillation...

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10 Things That Simply Need To Be In iOS 5

WWDC. It’s like Christmas for OS X and iOS developers. Each year, they flock to San Francisco’s Moscone Center, anxiously awaiting the pair of gifts that Apple annually bestows: the new iPhone, and a bundle of new features upon which they’ll build their next big thing. If whispers and hearsay hold true, this year’s WWDC will only feature the latter; the iPhone 5, says the rumor mill, won’t be showing its face until Fall. Instead, this show is purportedly going to be all about iOS and OS X. While Apple doesn’t come right out and say it, it’s pretty safe to assume that by “iOS” they mean “iOS 5″. Given that we’re writing about iOS on a regular...

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State Department Builds A Panic Button App

Imagine you are a pro-democracy protester on the streets of a repressive government. You’ve got your cellphone and you are messaging your friends. In the crowd near you, the police start making arrests. Fearing the government will confiscate your phone and investigate your contacts, you push a “panic button” on your phone. It deletes the contacts in your address book and sends out an alert. Such an app wasn’t readily available so the U.S. State Department, acting as a venture capitalist, decided to build one. The State Department tells TechCrunch government funded work is underway to build an Android version of this “panic button” app. No release...

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Motorola Milestone 2 up for grabs through LetsBuy.com

For elegance admirers who’ve been tracking down a sophisticatedly formed mobile device embedding all essential features, here’s something routed to answer their entertainment and multimedia needs. LetsBuy.com recently announced the availability of Motorola’s feature-rich Milestone 2 mobile phone that not only harmonizes with the style factor, but also caters to almost every need. Along with this, the company has introduced the ‘Cash on delivery’ option through which LetsBuy.com’s customers can pay only after receiving the product. Powered by Android 2.2 with Adobe Flash Player 10 and 1GHz processor, the Milestone 2 enables an immersive, rich...

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First 'journey to the centre of the Earth'

In a real-life replay of the classic sci-fi movie 'Journey To The Centre Of The Earth', British scientists claim to be planning to drill through five miles of solid rock to the Earth's mantle for the first time, and bring back samples. A team led by Dr Damon Teagle of the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton says that the incredible feat would involve tunnelling through five miles of solid rock on the sea bed in temperatures as high as 298 degree Celsius. Once there, the pressure on the equipment would be a staggering four million pounds per square inch - 285,000 times that of normal gravity, the scientists say. They hope to take samples...

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Fossils of Chinese dinosaur related to T Rex found

Scientists have discovered what they say are the remains of a long-lost Chinese cousin of Tyrannosaurus Rex, one of the largest carnivores of all times which roamed the Earth some 65 million years ago. The remains of this huge predator were found in a fossil quarry, which together with nearby sites in eastern China hold one of the largest concentrations of dinosaur bones in the world. "We named the new species Zhuchengtyrannus Magnus, which means the 'Great Tyrant from Zhucheng,' because the bones were found in the city of Zhucheng, in eastern China's Shandong province," researcher David Hone, a paleontologist at the University College Dublin...

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'Engineered protein prevents AIDS virus from entering cells'

In a possible breakthrough in the fight against AIDS, scientists claim to have engineered a new protein that prevents the virus from entering cells. The scientists say this protein is based on a naturally occurring protein in the body, called RANTES, which is part of the body's immune system and protects cells from viruses. RANTES naturally defends the body against HIV/AIDS, but cannot be used as a drug or drug candidate because it has several other biological effects which could cause harmful inflammation. After examining the precise molecular structure of the RANTES protein, the scientists discovered that only a small fragment of the RANTES...

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Is it Gautham and Vikram?

Gautham Menon is busy with the Hindi remake of Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya and Vikram is on the verge of completing Deiva Thirumagan and it is said that he will move on to director Suseendiran’s project. But the latest buzz is that Gautham and Vikram are planning to work together soon after their respective projects are over. Apparently Gautham had narrated a one-liner to Vikram and the star is eager to join Gautham’s camp. Meanwhile, there is another rumor doing the rounds in Kollywood that Vikram is keen on donning the greasepaint for Karikalan, a film that is to be directed Kannan. It is still unclear which of these films will take off fir...

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Anu goes on a signing spree

Anu is a happy woman as she has just been signed on for three plum projects. She will play the lead in a period film based on the life of the famous Malayalam poet, Kunjiraman Nair. Directed by debutant P. Balachandran, an acclaimed script writer who has penned many hit movies and with Prakash playing the male lead, expectations are good. Anu will play the part of Thankamani, a folk singer who was a major influence in the poet’s life. The talented actress will also portray Ragini in Akam, which is drawn from a Malayalam novel of the same name. Akam takes a look at the power dynamics between a man and a woman. Lastly, she is to do an entirely...

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Poonam Suggests Paris For Her Dare-Bare Show

Mumbai :  Mumbai model Poonam Pandey, who had offered to bare all for the Indian cricket team if it wins the World Cup, switched off her cellphone on Saturday  after the historic Wankhede win, reports Times of India.  Sources say the 20-year-old model was being inundated with calls from people either begging her to strip for them or threatening her with dire consequences should she dare go against Indian culture. A defiant Pandey, however, had told TOI on Thursday that if   BCCI gives her the permission to strip, she would go ahead with her plans.  "Threats don't bother me," she had said. But the model may be...

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Pak PM Congratulates India Over World Cup Win

Islamabad  ;  Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday congratulated Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Indian cricket team's victory in the cricket World Cup and expressed the hope that sports links between the two countries will be "fully restored in the near future". In a message sent to Singh, Gilani said the World Cup has been "successful in bringing the cricketing fraternity even closer and making this sport more popular around the world".  ...

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At Least 7 Killed As Thousands Defy Assad In Syria

Damascus, :  Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters today north of Damascus and in the south of the country, killing at least seven people, a witness and a human rights activist told AFP. The shootings came as thousands of Syrians staged demonstrations after Friday prayers.At least six protesters fell in Douma, 15 kilometres north of the capital when police opened fire after protesters emerging from a mosque pelted them with stones, the witness told AFP by telephone. The death toll could be more than 10, said the witness, but he only provided AFP four full names for those killed: Ibrahim Mubayed, Ahmad Rajab, Fuad Ballah and...

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Mamata Asks Govt To Declare National Holiday For World Cup Win

New delhi  : President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh  on Saturday night led the nation in hailing the Indian cricket team's World Cup triumph saying it is a testimony to the hard work of the players and the astute leadership of M S Dhoni.In a message to Dhoni, Patil said "the road to success has been long and hard. You and your team were tested at every stage." "Dedication to the cause, the strength of character to stay the course and astute leadership have finally converted the potential of a talented group of youngsters, the experience of veterans and the hard work of the coach and his staff, into the reality of...

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The World in a Cup

He rushed out of the dressing room with tears in his eyes, before laughing hysterically on being engulfed by his team-mates. Draped in the Indian flag, Sachin Tendulkar rode high on Yusuf Pathan’s shoulders, his exhausted face displaying every single emotion on the happy side of the spectrum, shining with the flash lights of a thousand clicking cameras. He may have achieved almost everything in the world of cricket, but on Saturday, Tendulkar threw the word ‘almost’ out of his vocabulary, drowning himself in a sea of unprecedented celebrations. As he took a lap of honour around his home ground, 33,000 fans screamed in pure ecstasy, congratulating...

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Pawar granted many favours to Balwa: Uddhav

Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray alleged that tainted D B Realty managing director Shahid Balwa was granted many favours by Union Agriculture Minister and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. "The relations between Vinod Goenka and Pawar are world known. Balwa's capacity to run the aviation services is due to Pawar. Balwa got his land deals, hotels and redevelopment project of Bandra government colony because of Pawar," he said. "It is not a question of who travelled by Balwa's flight (Eon Aviation air services, a subsidiary of D B Realty) but the question is who travelled with Balwa," he said. Pawar has consistently denied having any links...

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