Latest News

Shilpa Shetty to meet cancer-stricken Jade Goody

2009-03-16T19:05:00.001+05:30

Mumbai, March 16 (IANS): Setting aside all her work, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty has left for London to meet her “Bigg Brother” housemate and cancer-stricken reality TV star Jade Goody.
Jade Goody is feared to be just hours away from her end as her condition has deteriorated rapidly. Doctors have given her only a few hours before the inevitable death.

Shilpa, who had a series of racially-charged run-ins with Jade during 2007’s “Celebrity Bigg Brother”, flew to London Sunday night as she doesn’t want to miss this last opportunity of meeting Jade.

“Whatever happened between Shilpa and Jade was in the past. Shilpa can’t believe how fast Jade’s life has been devastated. It has made her realise the futility of fights, rivalries and mundane bickering,” a friend of the Bollywood star said.

“Yes, she’s been very keen to meet Jade for a while. But was unable to make it because of her various commitments. But now there seems to be little choice. Either Shilpa rushes to meet Jade now or it’s too late.”

Rushing to finish off her last-minute chores before flying to London Shilpa said, “I really don’t want to say anything on this. It’s too personal. But what has happened with Jade is really sad.”

Source: ians.in

Tags: Shilpa Shetty, Jade Goody, Cancer, Dying, London, Actress, TV Show, BIG Boss

Direct GATE 2009 Results Page Links IIT Websites

2009-03-15T14:30:00.001+05:30

GATE 2009 results have been announced on March 15, 2009 at 10:00 hrs. at GATE offices and in the websites of IISc (Indian Institute of science)and IITs (Indian Institute of Technology).

But due to heavy traffic GATE 2009 Results may not open in the iit websites. Here I have given the direct links to the results page which is having a low traffic. Click any of them:

http://gate.iitm.ac.in/gate2009/result1.php

http://www.gate.iitb.ac.in/gate2k9/result1.php

For more information Visit:

http://www.gate.iitb.ac.in/gate2k9/Gate%20Result.htm

http://www.iitd.ac.in/gate/Gate%20Result.htm

http://gate.iitm.ac.in/gate2009/Gate%20Result.htm

http://gateonline.iisc.ernet.in/Gate%20Result.htm

Note: GATE 2009 score is valid for ONE YEAR ONLY from the date of announcement of the GATE 2009 results.

Home Pages:

Tags: gate 2009 results, gate 2009, iit roorkee, gate, gate result, IIsc, IIT madras

GATE 2009 RESULTS Declared at IIT and IISc Websites on 15 March Sunday

2009-03-15T05:00:00.001+05:30

GATE 2009 results will be announced on March 15, 2009 at 10:00 hrs. at GATE offices and on the following websites of IISc (Indian Institute of science)and IITs (Indian Institute of Technology).

http://www.gate.iitb.ac.in/gate2k9/Gate%20Result.htm

http://www.iitd.ac.in/gate/Gate%20Result.htm

http://gate.iitm.ac.in/gate2009/Gate%20Result.htm

http://gateonline.iisc.ernet.in/Gate%20Result.htm

Note: GATE 2009 score is valid for ONE YEAR ONLY from the date of announcement of the GATE 2009 results.

Visit the following home pages for more information:

Tags: gate 2009 results, gate 2009, iit roorkee, gate, gate result, IIsc, IIT madras

'American Idol': What should the top 13 sing for Michael Jackson night?

2009-03-11T09:47:00.001+05:30

Okay, I'm bracing myself for the inevitable spoilers to hit the net about what songs American Idol's top 13 finalists will be signing on tonight's Michael Jackson-themed performance episode, and rushing to post with my own request list before they do. I immediately eliminated "Man in the Mirror," "Rock With You," and "Who's Lovin' You" from consideration, seeing how Kris Allen, Stephen Fowler, and Matt Giraud respectively tackled those numbers during the semifinals. (Which doesn't mean some ill-informed contestants won't go there anyway. Ugh.) And I eliminated "Ben" and "Billie Jean," thanks to Nikki McKibbin slaughtering the former, and David Cook offering the definitive Idol rendition of the latter, in previous seasons. With that in mind, here are my picks. Do post your own, or at least mock my selections, in the comments section below.

Allison Iraheta: "Scream" (Am I the only one who loves this song?) (Yes.)
Adam Lambert: "State of Shock"
Jasmine Murray: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
Kris Allen: "The Way You Make Me Feel"
Matt Giraud: "I Want You Back"
Alexis Grace: "It's Your Thing"
Lil Rounds: "Human Nature"
Scott MacIntyre: "Butterflies"
Anoop Desai: "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)"
Megan Corkrey: "Off the Wall" (dance, girl, dance!)
Michael Sarver: "Another Part of Me"
Jorge Nuñez: "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" (could be a-mah-zing or could be disastrous, I know)
Danny Gokey: "Say Say Say"

Tags: michael jackson song list, michael jackson discography, michael jackson greatest hits, michael jackson albums, list of michael jackson songs

Source: ew.com

Michael Jackson's Final Performances With New Songs

2009-03-11T09:40:00.001+05:30

The Michael Jackson: This Will Be the Final Curtain Call

Date: July 8, 2009

Michael Jackson's Final Performances

The King of Pop still remains king, at least for the hundreds of screaming fans that flocked to the O2 Arena. Jackson announced these words, "These will be my final show performances London, this will be it, when I say this is it, it will really be it. This is the final curtain call."

The final performances will be at least a series of 10 concerts starting July 8. Tickets go on sale Friday, March 13 at 7AM. Ticket prices are £75 / £65 / £50 + booking fees.
Jackson was on-stage for fewer than four minutes and he spoke less than 100 words. He spun in circles a few times, chuckled, repeated "I love you, I love you all" and threw an ending air punch. Jackson being there was enough for the hundreds of loyal fans many wearing only one white glove reflecting Jackson's costumes. Fans ranged from the young to middle-aged adult males. Will this be the final curtain call for the King of Pop?
It has been more than 10 years since The King of Pop launched a major tour. Jackson's media coverage has been widely about his financial, mental and physical conditions. Jackson has been a tabloid superhero in the past after accusations of being a pedophile which landed him in court. During the special announcement in London at the O2 Jackson looked cheerful for a performer who has vanished for over 10 years from the stage.
We can expect Jackson will be playing many of his past hits and there are rumors of new songs as well. Jackson announced "I am coming to London to play the songs my fans want to hear."
Originally released in the US 25 years ago on November 30, 1982 by Epic Records "Thriller" was one of the world's top-selling albums of all-time. "Michael Jackson's Thriller is still widely searched for on the internet with an estimated 30,000 searches each month in the USA alone. Michael Jackson was named "Most Successful Entertainer of All-Time" by the Guinness World Records. Jackson has also been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice.

Tags: Michael Jackson Songs, michael jackson discography, michael jackson hits, michael jackson song list, michael jackson greatest hits, michael jackson albums

Source: www.associatedconent.com

M/S Nautica Attacked in hijack attempt by Somali Pirates

2008-12-02T21:35:00.001+05:30

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) : Pirates chased and shot at a U.S. cruise liner with more than 1,000 people on board but failed to hijack the vessel as it sailed along a corridor patrolled by international warships, a maritime official said Tuesday.

The liner, carrying 656 international passengers and 399 crew members, was sailing through the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden on Sunday when it encountered six bandits in two speedboats, said Noel Choong who heads the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Malaysia.
The pirates fired at the passenger liner but the larger boat was faster than the pirates' vessels, Choong said.

"It is very fortunate that the liner managed to escape," he said, urging all ships to remain vigilant in the area.

The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, based in Bahrain, said it was aware of the failed hijacking but did not have further details.

Ship owner Oceania Cruises Inc. identified the vessel as the M/S Nautica.
In a statement on its Web site, the company said pirates fired eight rifle shots at the liner, but that the ship's captain increased speed and managed to outrun the skiffs.
All passengers and crew are safe and there was no damage to the vessel, it said.
The Nautica was on a 32-day cruise from Rome to Singapore, with stops at ports in Italy, Egypt, Oman, Dubai, India, Malaysia and Thailand, the Web site said. Based on that schedule, the liner was headed from Egypt to Oman when it was attacked.

The liner arrived in the southern Oman port city of Salalah on Monday morning, and the passengers toured the city before leaving for the capital, Muscat, Monday evening, an official of the Oman Tourism Ministry said Tuesday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The head of a shipping agency branch in Salalah had contact with the liner there.
"They talked about pirates opening fire at their ship off the Somalian shores," Khalil Shaker told The Associated Press by telephone. He said he had no details of the attack.
It is not the first time a cruise liner has been attacked. In 2005, pirates opened fire on the Seabourn Spirit about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the Somali coast. The faster cruise ship managed to escape, and used a long-range acoustic device — which blasts a painful wave of sound — to distract the pirates.

International warships patrol the area and have created a security corridor in the region under a U.S.-led initiative, but the attacks have not abated.

In about 100 attacks on ships off the Somali coast this year, 40 vessels have been hijacked, Choong said. Fourteen remain in the hands of pirates along with more than 250 crew members.
In two if the most daring attacks, pirates seized a Ukrainian freighter loaded with 33 battle tanks in September, and on Nov. 15, a Saudi oil tanker carrying $100 million worth of crude oil.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry spokesman Vasyl Kyrylych said Monday that negotiations with Somali pirates holding the cargo ship MV Faina are nearly completed, the Interfax news agency reported.

A spokesman for the Faina's owner said Sunday that the Somali pirates had agreed on a ransom for the ship and it could be released within days.
Somalia has not had a functioning government since 1991, and pirates have taken advantage of the country's lawlessness to launch attacks on foreign shipping from the Somali coast. Around 100 ships have been attacked so far this year.

Somali prime minister Nur Hassan Hussein said Tuesday that his country has been torn apart by 18 years of civil war and cannot stop piracy alone.

"This needs a tremendous effort," Hussein told The Associated Press. He has appealed for international troops, as his government's Ethiopian allies have said they would pull out their forces by the end of the year.

Ethiopia, the region's military powerhouse, has been integral in boosting the government. But Islamic insurgents have now seized control of all of southern Somalia except for the capital and the parliamentary seat of Baidoa.

Oprah Took Millions From Harold Simmons

2008-12-02T20:48:00.002+05:30

With Oprah Winfrey, the intersection of politics and education is making for strange bedfellows. Federal tax returns and other reports confirm that she’s accepted at least $5 million for her self-named South African girls’ school from perhaps Barack Obama’s single greatest political enemy Harold Simmons.

Oprah is probably the most well-known celebrity to back Senator Barack Obama’s bid for the presidency. She threw him a lavish launch party, endorsed him on her show, stumped for him in the early primaries, and cried — as captured by photographers — in a Chicago park when he won the election. Her loyalty seemed fierce.

But it turns out that Winfrey is very close friends with Dallas billionaire named Harold Simmons, a leading Republican donor and supporter of John McCain.

This past August it was revealed that Simmons was the single donor to a 527 committee called American Issues Project. Its only issue: to run ads linking Obama to William Ayers, the political activist who was once part of the Weather Underground. Simmons paid $2.9 million to try and make Ayers the Obama campaign’s “Swift Boat,” an issue that might have sidelined permanently the Illinois senator’s chances and advance John McCain — Simmons’s candidate — to the White House.

Nevertheless, Winfrey has cultivated her friendship with Simmons on many social fronts since 2001, resulting in his being second only to her in donating funds to her Leadership Academy in Johannesburg, South Africa.

According to the 2006 federal tax filing for the Oprah Winfrey Operating Fund, Winfrey accepted a $1 million donation to the school from Simmons. That amount, The Dallas Morning News reported in 2007, was only part of a $5 million pledge to the Academy. Simmons is considered Dallas’s leading philanthropist to worthy causes. In this case, though, it might have been unnecessary, since Winfrey herself has donated over $60 million to the school.

It’s not like Simmons is a new Republican donor. He gave over $100,000 in the 2007-2008 election cycle to Republican candidates, separate from his Ayers campaign. He has always been an active Republican. In 2004 he was a major donor to the Swift Boat Veterans, the group credited with destroying the campaign of John Kerry for president.

Winfrey has long been close friends with Simmons and his wife Annette. She’s their neighbor in Montecito, California, having bought the estate next to them in 2001. As recently as two weeks ago, Oprah mentioned the couple on her show during a telephone discussion of the Montecito fires with another neighbor, actor Rob Lowe.

(Winfrey was not available for comment, according to her representative. Simmons, who doesn’t have a press representative, did not return our call.)

The Dallas Morning News—thanks to the dogged byline of Alan Peppard — is full of stories over the years documenting Oprah’s friendship with the Simmonses. They are often at each others’ homes and parties. When Oprah’s significant other, Steadman Graham, spoke to a group in Dallas, it was noted that he dined with the Simmonses. In April, 2006 — two years after the Swift Boat scandal was revealed — Oprah sent a camera crew to a Dallas luncheon hosted by Annette Simmons showcasing the thousands of tulip bulbs surrounding the lake on her property.

It’s unlikely though that the Simmonses were at Oprah’s house next door on September 9, 2007. That’s when she hosted an all-star fundraiser for Obama with Stevie Wonder and guests like Halle Berry, Will Smith, and other A-list Hollywood names. One can only imagine what Simmons thought as the sound of “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” blared over the loudspeaker system.

Interestingly, that was the last time either Oprah or Graham, for that matter, contributed any money either to the Obama campaign or to the Democratic Party. While they could have each made donations to Obama’s presidential bid, they gave just for the primary. And neither of them showed any interest in the Party itself, which funneled money to Obama.

Simmons, on the other hand, is a regular and constant Republican donor. And it’s not like the Obama campaign hasn’t taken notice of him. On August 21st and 25th, Robert Bauer, general counsel for Obama for America, wrote letters to John C. Keeney, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, concerning the American Issues Project.

On the 25th Bauer wrote: “New facts have come to light that underscore the patently illegal nature of AIP’s formation and operation, and also demonstrate a knowing and willful violation of law on the part of its contributor, Howard Simmons [sic].” Bauer then attaches the Federal Election Committee filing by AIP that states its sole purpose: to defeat Barack Obama. Contran Corporation, owned by Simmons, is listed as AIP’s owner.

Bauer finishes his letter demanding Simmons’s prosecution: “We reiterate our request that the Department of Justice fulfill its commitment to take prompt action to investigate and to prosecute the American Issues Project, and we further request that the Department of Justice investigate and prosecute Howard [sic] Simmons for a knowing and willful violation of the individual aggregate contribution limits.”

Simmons, Bauer complained, had exceeded his personal donation limit because he’d given $2.88 million — roughly $2.7 million more than was allowed by FEC guidelines that state only $42,700 may be given to organizations other than candidate committees or party committees.

It wasn’t the first time Simmons had had trouble with political donations. In 1993, the FEC fined him just under $20,000 for exceeding limits in donations from 1988 and 1989. According to the New York Times, Simmons’s Swift Boat group was fined almost $300,000 for illegally spending $20 million to influence the election. Another Simmons-backed anti-Kerry group, Progress for America, was fined $750,000. They’d spent $31 million.

Simmons’ contentiousness is not limited to the backing of the Swift Boat Vets and the Ayers campaign to smear Obama. In December 1997, according to reports in the New York Times and elsewhere, Simmons was sued by two of his four daughters for abusing his powers in controlling millions of dollars he placed in trust funds for them. A jury agreed that he’d breached his financial duty as guardian of their inheritance, but were undecided on other issues. The case ended in a mistrial. Unusually, the case had been catalyzed when Simmons served her legal papers on one of the daughters by dropping them in her baby’s crib. The child had been born premature and was susceptible to infection, according to the New York Times and other reports.

Tom, Katie, Erica Kane Do Tina

Say this about the magnificent Tina Turner at age 69: she has no vertigo. Her 50th anniversary show pulled into Madison Square Garden last night for one show, and it was quite the show stopper. Or rather, she was the show stopper, with those hot legs and a body most 39 year olds would die for. And vertigo? No sign of it as she climbed a mammoth cherry picker that swung out over the first section of the floor audience. She dangled over it, danced up and down its armature, in stiletto heels no less. Tina Turner is the one of the world's greatest wonders.

There were plenty of celebs in the audience including Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes, whom Turner spotted and gave shout outs to. Susan Lucci — the famed Erica Kane from "All My Children" — was picked up in a video sweep. Anne Hathaway, with her dad, was tucked away just above us. Al Roker and Deborah Roberts Roker slipped into the crowd. And so on. Tina Turner coming to New York is an event.

The show is just under three hours long including a lengthy intermission. There's also some instersitial stuff with breakdancers, acrobats, and powerful backup singer Lisa Fischer. But make no mistake, it's Tina's show. She sings the whole thing, without any help, from beginning to end. Madonna would be embarrassed and run away if she saw this performance. Turner is, yes, 20 years older, and dances up a storm while singing "What's Love Got to Do with It," "Better Be Good to Me," "Acid Queen," "Simply the Best," and all her hits with gusto and verve, and a rock contralto voice that has lost none of its dynamic power.

Some things don't work. Resurrecting the set from "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" so Tina can sing her hit theme song is a mistake. At least Tina drop the wig. It's like King Tut meets Colin Farrell from "Alexander." Yikes.

Everything simple and easy worked so well. When Act II opens, Turner is sitting on a stool, surrounded by musicians, dressed in shiny black spandex. With aplomb she delivers her covers of "Help!" and "Let's Stay Together" that revived her career in 1984. It's soul music at its finest. When later she's rocking out to a Rolling Stones medley, or her old signature hit, "Proud Mary," she's the whole Rock and Roll Hall of Fame from A to Z.

Nice touches, too. With the ghastly but musically innovative Ike Turner safely dead, Turner shows a video montage of their days togehter with her own hit, "I Don't Want to Fight No More," playing in the background. At the very end of the show, when the audience has stopped chanting her name, Turner runs a video with credits of all the crew. She's got legs, and she's a mensch. What else do you need?

Tina, come back to the Garden soon. You could have played five shows with no trouble!

State Bank of India Recruitment and Results: www.sbi.co.in

2008-12-02T16:03:00.003+05:30

State Bank Of India (SBI)
Recruitment and Results 2008-2009

The State Bank of India is conducting recruitment of Officers and Clerical Staff for SBI and Its associates. These recruitment includes Clerical Staff, Customer Relationship Executives, etc. The complete list is given below and to apply click the links. Results for some of the recruitments that are completed are given below.

RECRUITMENT OF CLERICAL STAFF IN ASSOCIATE BANKS OF STATE BANK OF INDIA (Apply Online)

RECRUITMENT OF TECHNICAL OFFICER FARM SECTOR 2008-09 IN SBI ON CONTRACT BASIS - FINAL RESULT

RECRUITMENT OF OFFICER- MARKETING & RECOVERY (RURAL)-2008-09 ON CONTRACT BASIS - FINAL RESULT

Recruitment of Customer Relationship Executives (PB) (Apply Online)

Recruitment of POs in Associate Banks of SBI - Result of WT held on 07-09-2008 (Main - Tier-II)

RECRUITMENT OF STATISTICIANS IN SBI (CONTRACT BASIS) - FINAL RESULT

RECRUITMENT OF 3500 PROBATIONARY OFFICERS IN STATE BANK OF INDIA Result of the Preliminary Written Examination (Tier-I) held on 12.10.2008 ROLL NUMBERS OF SUCCESSFUL CANDIDATES

Home: www.sbi.co.in

NIOS National Institute of Open Schooling Results 2008: www.nos.org

2008-12-02T15:51:00.003+05:30

National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)
Results 2008

The results for the Examination held on September 2008 has been declared. You can get the results in their website or you can visit the link below which will take you directly to the results page.

Result for Examination held in September 2008:

Secondary

Sr. Secondary

Home: www.nos.org or www.nios.ac.in

Three killed, 30 Injuredin Assam train bombing

2008-12-02T14:44:00.000+05:30

Guwahati, Dec 2 (IANS): Violence erupted in Assam Tuesday with three people killed and more than 30 wounded in a powerful explosion inside a passenger train even as tribal militants gunned down two Hindi speaking migrants, officials said.A police spokesman said the blast went off inside a carriage of an passenger train at the Diphu railway station, about 300 km east of Assam’s main city of Guwahati.

The train was bound for Tinsukia in eastern Assam from Guwahati.

“The train was parked at the Diphu railway station when a powerful explosion went off inside one of the crowded coaches,” a railway official said by telephone requesting not to be named.

One person died on the spot and two succumbed to their injuries at a local hospital, the police official said.

“There are a large number of women and children among the casualties. The conditions of at least six of them are stated to be critical,” the police official said.

“The explosion ripped apart the carriage with people tossed in the air after the blast,” Vishal Kumar, a witness who was at the railway station waiting to board another train to Guwahati, said by telephone.

No militant group has claimed responsibility for the explosion.

“We are yet to ascertain who could be behind the explosion,” the police official said.

In another incident in the same district of Karbi Anglong, suspected militants belonging to the outlawed Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) shot dead two Hindi-speaking people Tuesday.

A police official said heavily armed KLNLF militants entered village Dolamora, about 290 km from Guwahati, and fired indiscriminately on a group of Hindi-speaking people.

“Two persons were killed in the attack and we understand both of them were petty traders,” the official said.

The KLNLF is a rebel group fighting for an independent homeland for the majority Karbi tribe in the area. The KLNLF Tuesday launched an economic blockade in the region to pressurise the government to hold peace talks.

“We are looking into the KLNLF’s role for the train attack,” the police official said.

Assam witnessed a deadly wave of bombings Oct 30 in which about 95 people were killed and 300 injured.

No military action against Pakistan: India

2008-12-02T14:29:00.001+05:30

NEW DELHI: India said on Tuesday it was not considering military action in response to terrorist attacks in Mumbai that killed at least 183 people.

"Nobody is talking of military action," foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters when asked about options on what action could be taken.

Investigators have said the attacks were carried out by terrorists from the Lashkar-e-Toiba, a group based in Pakistan.

Pakistan has proposed a joint investigating mechanism to probe Mumbai terror attacks, foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said.

Current situation does not allow blame-game or finger-pointing. Pakistan wants to continue constructive bilateral engagement, he added.

India has said it was awaiting Pakistan's response to a demarche issued in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes, asking Islamabad to handover Indian fugitives who have taken shelter in the neighbouring country.

"We will await the response from Pakistan" to the demarche (protest note), External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters here.

Mukherjee has stated that "some elements" based in Pakistan were suspected to be behind the Mumbai attacks.

Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik was summoned by top officials in the Ministry of External Affairs and handed down the demarche seeking strong action against those responsible for the Mumbai carnage.

"Now, we have in our demarche asked for the arrests and handing over of those persons who are settled in Pakistan and who are fugitives under the Indian law," Mukherjee said on the sidelines of a function to inaugurate the India-Arab Forum.

India had already handed over to Pakistan a list of 20 terrorists, including Lashkar-e-Taiba chief Hafiz Mohammad and Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Masood Azhar besides underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who are based in that country and are suspected to be behind terror attacks in India.

"...there are lists (containing the names) of about 20 persons. (These) lists are sometimes altered and this exercise is going on and we have reviewed it in our demarche," Mukherjee said.

"What will be done, time will show and you will come to know," he said in response to a query on US president-elect Barack Obama's remarks that his country will help India in "protecting" itself from such terror attacks.

"We appreciate the responses (from major global powers) which we have received from all over the world, including Obama," Mukherjee said.

Madras University CLIS Results 2008: chennaionline.com

2008-12-02T14:20:00.001+05:30

Madras University
CLIS Results 2008

The Madras University has declared the CLIS results today. The results have been published in the website chennaionline.com . But due to network congestion the website may take sometime to open. Here I have given the Direct Link to the page where the CLIS Results have been published.

To get the results Visit:

http://chennaionline.com/results/madrasuniversity/2008/viewresult.aspx?sub=CLIS08

Madras University MBA Results 2008: chennaionline.com

2008-12-02T14:08:00.003+05:30

Key: mba results, madras university, madras university results

Madras University
MBA Results 2008

The Madras University has declared the MBA results today. The results have been published in the website chennaionline.com . But due to network congestion the website may take sometime to open. Here I have given the Direct Link to the page where the MBA Results have been published.

To get the results Visit:

http://chennaionline.com/results/madrasuniversity/2008/viewresult.aspx?sub=MBA08

Haryana Board Result 2008: www.hbse.nic.in

2008-12-02T13:43:00.005+05:30

Board Of School Education Haryana, Bhiwani

The Haryana Board Results for middle and secondary school have been declared. The result is available in their official website.

But while visiting the results page from the Haryana Board website there is an advertisement page which you have to wait for 8 seconds. Here I have given the direct links to the results to avoid all the difficulties.

Middle And Secondary Sept. 2008:

Middle I Semester Sep 08 Result

Middle II Semester Sep 08 Result

Secondary I Semester Sep 08 Result

Secondary II Semester Sep 08 Result

Secondary Old Syllabus (Additional Result) 2008

Middle And Secondary I & II Semester:

Middle School Examination 1st Semester, 2008

Secondary School Examination 1st Semester, 2008

Middle School Examination 2nd Semester, 2008

Secondary School Examination 2nd Semester, 2008

Home: www.hbse.nic.in

Shivraj Patil resigns, Deshmukh may go next

2008-11-30T14:26:00.002+05:30

New Delhi: Union Home Shivraj Patil, facing fierce criticism over spate of terror attacks in the country since 2007, accepted 'moral responsibility' and sent his resignation to Prime Minister of Manmohan Singh on Sunday.

Party sources have confirmed that his resignation has been accepted and added that Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh could be next to be asked to step down.There have been several terror attacks in the past, but due to the nature of Mumbai attacks and the fact that it is an election season, someone needed to take responsibility, party sources said.

There is speculation that Finance Minister P Chidambaram and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee are the top contenders for Patil’s post.

Patil offered to quit after Congress Working Committee (CWC) members expressed their dissatisfaction with the Home Ministry in the wake of Mumbai terror strikes, at a meeting held late on Saturday.

Patil told the meeting that as the Home minister he "takes the responsibility and whatever the CWC decides, I am ready to do", party sources said.

Patil's remarks suggested that he was ready to step down came in the wake of criticism by several leaders including union ministers over the way the internal security situation was being handled at the Central level, the sources added.

Sources say that CWC members came down heavily on Patil and Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for their failure.

UPA chief Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are believed to have pulled up Patil for the monumental intelligence failure in Mumbai terror strike case.

It is said that Patil's ministry failed to take cognisance of a serious input from intelligence about the impending attack long before terrorists struck Mumbai on Wednesday night, November 26.

HEADS WILL ROLL

Besides Patil, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, who was also present at the meeting, came under attack on the terror strikes issue, CWC sources said.

The leaders who voiced criticism on the issue included union ministers P Chidambaram, Kamal Nath, Kapil Sibal and H R Bhardwaj, they said.

The refrain of these leaders at the meeting was that strong action is needed in the wake of the Mumbai terror strikes and accountability has to be ensured at the higher as well as lower levels.

This prompted Pranab Mukherjee to remark that since it was collective responsibility of the Cabinet, he would also like to take responsibility as the External Affairs Minister.

Maharashtra Chief Minister, however, chose to ignore the criticism and instead apprised the meeting of the steps taken by his government in the wake of terror strikes, they said.

The Home Minister as also National Security Adviser M K Narayanan came under attack at the CWC meeting called hours after the security operations against the terrorists was indication enough that the leadership was planning some strong steps.

Sorry Bhai Movie Review: Masand's Verdict CNN IBN

2008-11-29T18:06:00.001+05:30

Cast: Shabana Azmi, Boman Irani, Sanjay Suri, Chitrangada Singh, Sharman Joshi

Direction: Onir

Taking the decidedly uncomfortable premise of a man hooking up with his brother’s girl, Sorry Bhai is a brave little film that puts a fresh spin on the tale. Bumbling younger brother Sharman Joshi arrives in Mauritius with his parents Shabana Azmi and Boman Irani to attend elder brother Sanjay Suri’s wedding, and ends up falling in love with his brother’s fiancée Chitrangada Singh.

The triangle that ensues involves Sharman, Chitrangada and – no, not Sanjay who seems to wisely move on – but the boys’ overbearing mother Shabana who gets herself irreparably entangled in this awkward mess.

At the very core of Sorry Bhai’s drama is the magnificent Shabana Azmi who takes her role and immediately sinks her teeth into it, constructing a character that is all flesh-and-blood. From the little moments – like the one in which she follows Sharman and Chitrangada into the woods, only to hurt her foot before she can confirm her suspicions – to the significant ones (which include her clashes with her daughter-in-law to be), Shabana is always on the ball, and makes her character omnipresent in the movie, even when she’s not physically around in every frame.

A word of praise also for the immensely gifted Boman Irani who has a tougher job at hand – making a solid believable person out of what was probably a three-line character sketch on paper. Boman adds the right comic touch and just the perfect hint of melancholy to create an affectionate lug of a father who speaks less but delivers gems every time he does.

The plot of Sorry Bhai may be simplistic, but the film is not so much about the plot as it is about the characters, and director Onir does a fine job of writing complex, flawed characters who don’t come with any easy answers. Chitrangada’s character, for one, is a tough nut to crack – why does she appear almost unaffected when Sanjay puts off their wedding to attend to a pressing business commitment; why does she suddenly decide to pursue Sharman with such dogged determination; does she really feel no responsibility to Sanjay for what’s just happened? These are important questions all, but the answers are hard to find. Much like life, if you think about it.

Of the three leads, Sharman Joshi plays his part with such sincerity, you’re willing to look at his flawed character with renewed sympathy. The radiant Chitrangada Singh is awkward in places, but puts up a good show nevertheless, especially in her scenes with Shabana. Sanjay Suri, despite the weak characterisation, does the best he can with his role, in particular nailing the film’s one defining scene in which Sharman makes the big confession, to which he responds with shock, anger, and even a little affection.

Sorry Bhai is not devoid of faults – the film occasionally gets too talkie, and in some places a little silly too – but the film’s real charm lies in those memorable moments the director creates between his two favorite players – Shabana and Chitrangada. That’s the reason to watch this film.

I’m going with three out of five for director Onir’s Sorry Bhai. It’s a strong character-driven drama about imperfect people trying to find their own happiness in the world. Don’t miss it.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)

IGNOU Hall Tickets Available Online: ignou.ac.in

2008-11-29T17:59:00.002+05:30

Indira Gandhi National Open University
IGNOU Hall Tickets
Hall Ticket Saturday, November 29, 2008 5:42:25 PM

The IGNOU Exam Hall Tickets Are available online from today. In order to get the hall tickets please visit the site below:

Hall tickets:
http://stusupport.ignou.ac.in/halldec06.asp

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Dawood Ibrahim behind Mumbai attacks: ATS

2008-11-29T17:56:00.001+05:30

Mumbai: Underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, who is hiding in Pakistan, may be involved in organising the attack on Mumbai, claimed Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad sources.

The sources said that the terrorists, who attacked and took hostages at three places in Mumbai, included two UK-born Pakistanis while one of them was a Yemeni national.

They also added that the terrorists were heavily drugged and were using Blackberry to communicate.

The information was gathered by the investigating agencies following the interrogation of 21-year-old terrorist Ajmal Amir Kamal, a resident of Faridkot, Multan in Pakistan.

Kamal who was captured on Wednesday revealed that the group numbering 12 travelled from Rawalpindi to Karachi and them from Karachi to Mumbai.

The port from which they had boarded is controlled by Dawood. Sources said that all the terrorists trained and brainwashed in Pakistan.

Kamal's blood and urine test showed that he was under the influence of drugs, which reportedly helped the terrorists sustain themselves during the attacks by the security forces.

All the terrorists had also been instructed to kill till their death.

One group of terrorists had also done a recce of the targets that they planned to attack about four months ago.

All the terrorists were trained at Mangla Dam near Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir. They also underwent marine training.

All terrorists were shown and given digital maps of Mumbai.

The sources also added that the terrorists travelled in two groups. While one group got off their boat at Sassoon Docks, another group landed at Badhwar Park near Gateway of India.

'We had plan to blow up Taj' : Azam Amir Kasav

2008-11-29T17:49:00.001+05:30

NEW DELHI: Times Now reports suggest that terrorist Azam Amir Kasav who was caught alive had confessed to investigating agencies that they had a plan to blow up the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai. The terrorists had enough explosives to blow up the Taj hotel.

Sources have told the TV channel that they wanted to reduce the life-size building of Taj hotel to rubble. They also believed to have told about their plan to replicate a ‘JW Marriot’, happened at Islamabad, to the Mumbai hotel.

In a sense to destroy the symbol of financial strength of the country and send shock-waves all across the globe, the terrorists wanted to do a 9/11 in India.

The above revelation came from the 21 year old Azam Amir Kasav, who hails from tehsil Gipalpura in Pakistan's Faridkot.

On Wednesday-Thursday night Azam and his colleague opened fire at CST before creating havoc at Metro and then moving on to Girgaum Chowpatty in a stolen Skoda, and where they were intercepted by a team from the Gamdevi police station. Azam shot dead assistant police inspector Tukaram Umbale.

But in that encounter Azam's colleague was killed and he himself was injured in the hand. He pretended to be dead giving rise to the news that two terrorists had been killed. However as the 'bodies' were being taken to Nair Hospital, the accompanying cops figured that one of the men was breathing.

According to sources, the casualty ward of Nair hospital was evacuated and the Anti-Terror Squad moved in to interrogate him. Azam who was

tight-lipped initially, cracked upon seeing the mutilated body of his colleague and pleaded with the medical staff at Nair to save his life. "I do not want to die," he reportedly said. "Please put me on saline."

According to sources the young terrorist has given the investigators vital leads including how the chief planner of the Mumbai terror plot had come to the city a month ago, took picture and filmed strategic locations and trained their group and instructed them to "kill till the last breath." Every man was given six to seven magazines with fifty bullets each, eight hand grenades per terrorist with one AK-57, an automatic loading revolver and a supply of dry fruits.

Azam reportedly disclosed that the group left Karachi in one boat and upon reaching Gujarat they hoisted a white flag on their boat and were intercepted by two officers of the coast guard near Porbandar and while they were being questioned one of the terrorists grappled with one of the officers slit his throat and threw the body in the boat. The other officer was told to help the group reach Mumbai. When they were four nautical miles away from Mumbai there were three speedboats waiting for them where the other coastguard officer was killed. All the ammo was then shifted into these three spedboats they reached Colaba jetty on Wednesday night and the ten men broke up into groups of two each. Four of these men went to the Taj Mahal hotel, two of them to the Trident hotel, two towards Nariman House at Colaba and two of which Azam was one moved to CST.

Azam, who was at Nair hospital for nearly four hours, was taken away by the intelligence agencies in the early hours of Thursday to an unknown location after the hospital authorities had removed the bullet from his hand and declared that his condition stable. But it seems the police grilling was so intense that before he left the hospital for an undisclosed location he pleaded with the police and the medical staff to kill him. "Now, I don't want to live," he said.

JEECUP Results -2008: www.jeecup.org

2008-11-09T15:05:00.000+05:30

JEECUP Results -2008

Uttar Pradesh Joint Entrance exam 2008 results:

Get your results: Click here

Home: www.jeecup.org

School collapses in Haiti, 50 killed 500 trapped

2008-11-08T15:20:00.002+05:30

Petionville, Haiti: The death toll from the collapse of a hillside school where roughly 500 students usually crowded into several floors has risen to 50.

Haitian police spokesman Garry Desrosier said on Friday that at least 39 bodies have been brought to the morgue at Port-au-Prince's General Hospital.

Francois Servranckx, a spokesman for the aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres, says another eight people died in a trauma center run by the group.

More than 80 others are being treated for injuries by aid group, Doctors without Borders.

Jimmy Germain, a French teacher at the school, says neighbors suspected the building was poorly rebuilt after it partially collapsed eight years ago.

He says people who lived just downhill abandoned their land out of fear that the building would tumble

Diana Hayden out of Bigg Boss Season 2

2008-11-08T15:07:00.002+05:30

Mumbai: Diana Hayden has been evicted out of Bigg Boss Season 2. Hayden grabbed eyeballs with her closeness with another contestant in the house, Aushutosh Kaushik which added colour and drama to the reality show.

The former Miss World Daina Hayden was one of the late celebrity contestants to join the reality show.

She had won the Miss World contest held at Seychelles in 1997.

The last eviction took place before Diwali when singer Singer Debojit Saha was shown the door.

Quantum Of Solace CNN IBN Masand's Movie Review

2008-11-08T14:46:00.001+05:30

Daniel Craig, Olga Kurylenko, Mathieu Amalric

Director: Marc Forster

Casino Royale may have given the James Bond series a shot in the arm, setting new standards of realism, but watchingQuantum of Solace, the new film in the series, how you wish they hadn't drained out all the sexiness and the humour that is so vital to Bond's appeal.

No longer is James Bond a glamorous British spy who devours gorgeous women for breakfast, lunch and dinner; no longer is he the sharp-witted fellow who's got a smart repartee for every occasion.

No, James Bond -- played once again by Daniel Craig -- is a disillusioned killing machine who lost the woman he loved and still has a bunch of important questions left unanswered. He's an emotionally damaged Bond, and while that certainly makes him more real, it also makes him so much less fun. In fact, to put it fairly, that's what's missing from this Bond adventure -- the film's grim tone seems to have taken a lot of the fun out of it.

However, let me not alarm you, when it comes to action and stunts, there's still no one who does it better than Bond. There are hand-to-hand fights in Quantum of Solace that make your eyes water, and old-school stunts involving motorbikes, speedboats, jet planes and expensive cars that will make your jaw drop.

In fact, the film hits the ground running, opening with a frantic car chase along a dusty mountain road, your pulse racing with all the screeching and swerving around oncoming trucks and tractors.

Now the film's plot picks up shortly after the end of Casino Royale when Bond confronted the mysterious Mr White. Quantum of Solace immediately throws him into a round-the-globe hunt; he's trying to track down the murky organization he holds responsible for the death of Vesper, the woman he loved and who died at the end of the last movie.

That hunt leads him to corrupt businessman Dominic Greene (played by Mathieu Amalric) who bids to control the water supply of the entire continent of South America and is successfully trying to persuade the powers-that-be that his motive is purely ecological.

By way of Bond girls, there's Ukranian actress Olga Kurylenko who stars as the hard-as-nails vendetta-seeking Camille, a refreshingly different kind of female companion for Bond, even if she comes with a rather limp back-story. The more traditional Bond girl role is filled by British actress Gemma Arterton who plays Agent Fields, and is the recipient of Bond's famous romantic attention in a swanky hotel suite.

But the real tough chick in this film is M, Bond's boss, played impeccably by Judi Dench. Watch her in that scene in which she's preparing her bath as she gives orders to agents around the world to curb Bond's movements -- it's one of those scenes that instantly establishes her unflappable character.

At a running time of 105 minutes, Quantum of Solace is the shortest Bond film yet; and stripped of "Casino Royale's" humor and elegance and old-school stylishness, there's very little left except its plot -- which, let's face it -- is quite silly to say the least.

There are two reasons and two reasons alone this film still makes for an engaging watch. One, that relentless string of high-adrenalin action scenes -- influenced no doubt by the Bourne films -- which keeps you glued to your seat. The other, of course, is Daniel Craig who carries the film with his angry, icily unsentimental performance as Bond. Craig succeeds in making the character his own, even though this film barely gives him any breathing room between those dangerous stunts.

Directed by Marc Forster, Quantum of Solace is a thrilling film, no question about it, but the clever classiness of Casino Royale is clearly missing. Still I'm going with three out of five for Quantum of Solace -- what it does have above all is energy. You won't be bored for a minute.

Rating: 3 / 5 (Good) may have given the James Bond series a shot in the arm, setting new standards of realism, but watching Quantum of Solace, the new film in the series, how you wish they hadn't drained out all the sexiness and the humor that is so vital to Bond's appeal.

No longer is James Bond a glamorous British spy who devours gorgeous women for breakfast, lunch and dinner; no longer is he the sharp-witted fellow who's got a smart repartee for every occasion.

No, James Bond -- played once again by Daniel Craig -- is a disillusioned killing machine who lost the woman he loved and still has a bunch of important questions left unanswered. He's an emotionally damaged Bond, and while that certainly makes him more real, it also makes him so much less fun. In fact, to put it fairly, that's what's missing from this Bond adventure -- the film's grim tone seems to have taken a lot of the fun out of it.

However, let me not alarm you, when it comes to action and stunts, there's still no one who does it better than Bond. There are hand-to-hand fights in Quantum of Solace that make your eyes water, and old-school stunts involving motorbikes, speedboats, jet planes and expensive cars that will make your jaw drop.

In fact, the film hits the ground running, opening with a frantic car chase along a dusty mountain road, your pulse racing with all the screeching and swerving around oncoming trucks and tractors.

Now the film's plot picks up shortly after the end of Casino Royale when Bond confronted the mysterious Mr White. Quantum of Solace immediately throws him into a round-the-globe hunt; he's trying to track down the murky organization he holds responsible for the death of Vesper, the woman he loved and who died at the end of the last movie.

That hunt leads him to corrupt businessman Dominic Greene (played by Mathieu Amalric) who bids to control the water supply of the entire continent of South America and is successfully trying to persuade the powers-that-be that his motive is purely ecological.

By way of Bond girls, there's Ukranian actress Olga Kurylenko who stars as the hard-as-nails vendetta-seeking Camille, a refreshingly different kind of female companion for Bond, even if she comes with a rather limp back-story. The more traditional Bond girl role is filled by British actress Gemma Arterton who plays Agent Fields, and is the recipient of Bond's famous romantic attention in a swanky hotel suite.

But the real tough chick in this film is M, Bond's boss, played impeccably by Judi Dench. Watch her in that scene in which she's preparing her bath as she gives orders to agents around the world to curb Bond's movements -- it's one of those scenes that instantly establishes her unflappable character.

At a running time of 105 minutes, Quantum of Solace is the shortest Bond film yet; and stripped of Casino Royale's humour and elegance and old-school stylishness, there's very little left except its plot -- which, let's face it -- is quite silly to say the least.

There are two reasons and two reasons alone this film still makes for an engaging watch. One, that relentless string of high-adrenalin action scenes -- influenced no doubt by the Bourne films -- which keeps you glued to your seat. The other, of course, is Daniel Craig who carries the film with his angry, icily unsentimental performance as Bond. Craig succeeds in making the character his own, even though this film barely gives him any breathing room between those dangerous stunts.

Directed by Marc Forster, Quantum of Solace is a thrilling film, no question about it, but the clever classiness of Casino Royale is clearly missing. Still I'm going with three out of five for Quantum of Solace -- what it does have above all is energy. You won't be bored for a minute.
Rating: 3 / 5 (Good)

Getting hypoallergenic dog isn't easy: Obama

2008-11-08T04:15:00.001+05:30

CHICAGO (AP): President-elect Obama says getting a dog for his two daughters when the family moves into the White House in January is "a major issue."

Obama told reporters Friday that his mention on election night of getting a puppy for Sasha and Malia had "generated more interest" on his Web site than any other topic.

He said, "We have two criteria that have to be reconciled. One is that Malia is allergic so it has to be hypoallergenic."

Obama also said there were a number of breeds that were hypoallergenic, but that the family's preference is to adopt a dog from a shelter.

Obama added: "But obviously, a lot of shelter dogs are mutts like me. So whether we're going to be able to balance those two things, I think, is a pressing issue on the Obama household."

Will Smith voted America’s most popular personality star

2008-11-08T02:43:00.002+05:30

London, Nov 7 (IANS): Hollywood actor Will Smith has been voted the most popular personality in the US by a magazine poll. The survey was carried out by Parade magazine and Entertainment Tonight to see which celebrities raise people’s spirits during hard times, reports dailymail.co.uk.

“I think a large part of why I’ve been successful is that I have, essentially, a white-collar career with a blue-collar mentality. I can never really relax. I’m always waiting to see what’s next,” Smith said.

Joining him in the league were Tom Hanks and Reese Witherspoon who were the runners up.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt occupied the fourth and sixth places while Meryl Streep and Julia Roberts, ranked fifth and seventh.

Johnny Depp, Jennifer Aniston and “Grey’s Anatomy” star Patrick Dempsey round out the top 10.

Obama going to confront ongoing economic crisis

2008-11-08T02:40:00.002+05:30

Washington, Nov 8: US president-elect has vowed to ease credit crisis, help American families and restore growth and prosperity as the country faces the “greatest economic challenge of our lifetime”.”We are facing the greatest economic challenge of our lifetime and we are going to have to act swiftly to solve it,” Obama said at his first news conference since his election Friday in Chicago.

Before the press conference, Obama and Vice-president elect Joe Biden met with a 17-member council of economic advisers. Biden and the entire team of advisers stood behind him at the press conference.

Among the panellists were former Treasury Secretaries Lawrence Summers and Robert Rubin, former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker, billionaire businessman Warren Buffett and other leaders in business and politics.

Pointing to Friday’s release of unemployment figures showing 240,000 jobs lost in October and bad news from auto industry as the reason that his administration will have to move quickly on the economic crisis.

However, Obama pointed out “the United States has only one government and one president at a time. And until January 20th of next year, that government is the current administration headed by President George W. Bush.”

“I’ve spoken to President Bush. I appreciate his commitment to ensuring that his economic policy team keeps us fully informed as developments unfold. And I’m also thankful for his invitation to the White House,” he said.

“Immediately after I become president, I’m going to confront this economic crisis head on by taking all necessary steps to ease the credit crisis, help hardworking families, and restore growth and prosperity,” Obama said.

Anil Kumble to retire after Kotla Test

2008-11-02T15:34:00.000+05:30

New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS): India Test skipper Anil Kumble Sunday took the cricketing fraternity by surprise, announcing his retirement from international cricket midway through the series against Australia. The ongoing third Test at Feroz Shah Kotla Stadium here will be Kumble’s last outing and he would not play in the fourth and final Test at Nagpur.

The giant screens at the stadium flashed a one-liner saying: “Anil Kumble has decided to retire after this match and will not travel to Nagpur for the final Test”.

Kumble, who has been going through a form slump missed the second Test at Mohali due to a shoulder injury, bowled Saturday with his injured left-hand heavily bandaged.

The leg-spinner is the highest wicket-taker for India with 619 wickets in 132 Tests.

Focuss not on India but on the militants to Solve Kashmir dispute : Obama

2008-11-02T14:21:00.005+05:30

New York, Nov 2 (IANS): A separatist Kashmiri leader in the US has welcomed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s remarks emphasising the need to resolve the Kashmir dispute between India and Pakistan.In an interview with Rachel Meadow on MSNBC news channel Friday, Obama said: “We should probably try to facilitate a better understanding between Pakistan and India and try to resolve the Kashmir crisis so that they can stay focused not on India, but on the situation with those militants.”

Obama said that once the Kashmir dispute was resolved, Pakistan could then focus more on tackling the militants within its own territory.

Ghulam Nabi Fai, executive director of the Kashmir American Council (KAC), said these are courageous words of Senator Barack Obama.

Based in Washington, KAC espouses the cause of self-determination in the Valley.

In his statement, Fai referred to another statement on Kashmir made by Obama more than a month ago.

In an interview to Journal Arms Control Today Sep 25, Obama said: “I will continue support of the ongoing Indian-Pakistani efforts to resolve the Kashmir problem in order to address the political roots of the arms race between India and Pakistan.”

Fai claimed Obama’s statements are in “full conformity” with the previous statements made by officials of the US administration.

Assam Bombings : Violence against innocent people not Justified- US

2008-11-01T04:09:00.003+05:30

Washington, Oct 31 (Xinhua): The US has strongly condemned the series of bomb blasts that killed more than 70 people and injured about 300 in India’s northeastern state of Assam Thursday. “There is absolutely no justification for the use of violence against innocent people,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said at the daily press briefing here Friday.

“We convey our condolences to those who lost loved ones and friends in this attack and certainly wish a speedy recovery to those who were injured,” McCormack said.

As manay as nine carefully coordinated bombs went off in less than an hour in district of Western Assam and the capital Guwahati.

An unknown terror group calling itself ‘The Islamic Security Force (Indian Mujahideen)’ Friday claimed responsibility for the bombings.

The police have confirmed the existence of a terror outfit by this name. They said such a group was floated in 2000 in western Assam and was basically aimed at fighting Bodo militants.

Sony batteries Recalled due to fire hazard

2008-11-01T04:05:00.000+05:30

The U.S. government on Thursday (October 30, 2008) issued a recall of 35,000 Sony Corp notebook computer batteries, calling them a fire hazard to consumers.

The recall affects Sony lithium-ion batteries that were used mainly in computers from Hewlett-Packard Co, with a smaller number in notebooks from Dell and Incand Toshiba Corp ....continued>>

Gallup poll shows Obama a landslide win for Danish voters

2008-11-01T04:02:00.000+05:30

Copenhagen, Oct 31 (DPA) Were it up to Danish voters, US presidential candidate Barack Obama would win a landslide victory, a Danish newspaper reported Friday. The Gallup poll commissioned by the Berlingske Tidende newspaper indicated that Democrat Barack Obama was supported by 80 percent of Danish voters, while Republican John McCain was backed by 5.8 percent. Almost seven percent said it did not matter who wins or not, while the rest were undecided.

In all 1,108 Danish voters were surveyed by Gallup Oct 28-29. A majority, 79 percent, said they believed Obama would be better in restoring the reputation of the US.

Obama was better for cooperation with Europe, according to 73 percent of those polled while 58 percent said they viewed that Obama was the best candidate to clear the financial crisis.

Concerning who was the best candidate to take on the fight against terror, Obama scored 47 percent while Vietnam War veteran McCain was supported by some 16 percent. The remainder were undecided.

Obama was supported by all age groups, men and women, and over the political divides in Denmark.

Airfare hike from Saturday November 1

2008-11-01T02:57:00.001+05:30

Airlines Hike Fare

New Delhi: Yet another airfare hike is in the offing from Saturday with airlines and travel agents mutually deciding to add a new component, transaction fee.

The transaction fee would be a minimum of Rs.350 for domestic and a maximum of Rs.10,000 for international passengers.

The zero-percent commission regime will be replaced by the transaction fee, which will be levied along with the airfare, said an official of an airline here, adding that this will be denoted as "other charges" on the ticket.

When asked, an Air India spokesperson in New Delhi confirmed that the new transaction fee will come in place from Nov 1.

Airlines in India have raised airfares at least six times this year.

According to the airline official, the transaction fee, besides regular fares, will be at least Rs.350 on domestic air tickets for the economy class and Rs.500 for business class.

The extra fee on international air tickets will be Rs.1,200-Rs.2,400 (economy), Rs.2,000-Rs.5,000 (business) and Rs.5,000-Rs.10,000 (for first class tickets).

These charges will be uniform across airlines, including low-cost carriers such as SpiceJet.

Presently, air travellers are not charged any transaction or booking fee. Airlines pay 5 percent of the base fare as commission to travel agents.

But with airlines incurring losses since the first quarter this year, many international and domestic carriers have decided to write off commissions for travel agents, which is being resisted.

Agents are demanding postponement of the decision to scrap commissions till next March, but airlines have refused to oblige.

About 85 percent of airline bookings in India are done through travel agents, including online agencies.

According to O.P. Bahadur, a senior official of the Travel Services International (TSI) - a city-based travel and ticket agency and one of the eight big travel companies across the country that make up the Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) - airlines will pay travel agents the transaction fee on air tickets booked by them.

"Air tickets booked through airline websites or their offices too would attract transaction fee too but that fee will be earned by the airline," Bahadur added.

The new fee structure will ensure agents get better returns than before on the gross ticket value. The airlines have also agreed to print the transaction fee amount on tickets till December next year.

Demand, measured by passengers flown, had shrunk 3.8 percent from June 2007, said an airline official expressing apprehensions about further slowdown after another fare hike through the transaction fee route.

Padma Lakshmi invites Jessica Simpson to Top Chef

2008-11-01T02:55:00.000+05:30

Could Jessica Simpson be about to add gourmet cooking to her seemingly never-ending list of talents?

The singer recently admitted that she'd love to go on TV cooking competition Top Chef — and now host Padma Lakshmi tells OK! that Jess is welcome any time.

"She has an open invitation," said Padma at the launch of the Chanel mobile art exhibition in New York.

But will Jess's self-confessed signature dish of "chicken 'n' dumplings" make the grade?

"Yes," according to Padma, "it's not what you make its how you make it."

Well Jess — the meatball's in your court!'

Related Topic:

Padma Lakshmi in Top Chef with her famous 7-inch scar

Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahideen (ISF-IM) responsible behind Assam blasts

2008-11-01T02:50:00.000+05:30

Guwahati: An unknown group called the Islamic Security Force-Indian Mujahideen (ISF-IM) on Friday claimed responsibility for the serial blasts that killed over 70 people in Assam on Thursday.

"We, ISF-IM, take the responsibility of yesterday’s blast. We warn all of Assam and India for situation like this in future. We thank all our holy members and partners. Ameen," said an SMS message sent to the News Live television channel in Guwahati.

The SMS was received on the mobile of the channel's input desk from a Reliance connection. The cell phone was subsequently switched off and security forces traced the message to Moirabari in Central Assam's Nagaon district registered in the name of one Nazir Ahmed. Police officials are investigating the matter.

PTI reports the ISF-IM was formed in 2000 in Lower Assam's Bodo-dominated areas "to counter" the Bodo Liberation Tigers (BLT) and NDFB militants, police sources said.

IANS reports the police have confirmed the existence of a terror outfit by this name. They said such a group was floated in 2000 in western Assam and was basically aimed at fighting Bodo militants.

In 2000, Bodo tribal militants had launched a violent campaign targeting Muslims.

The death toll in the serial bombings in Assam rose to 77 with 13 more people succumbing to their injuries, even as a dozen suspects were picked up for interrogation from various parts of the state, officials said on Friday.

"The death toll as of now is 77 with several of the injured succumbing at various hospitals across Assam," Assam Home Commissioner Subhas Das said.

Police, meanwhile, picked up about a dozen suspects for interrogation.

Stop Raj Thakeray PM tells Maharashtra CM

2008-10-31T04:13:00.000+05:30

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has reacted strongly to attacks on non-Maharashtrians and the resultant tensions in Maharashtra.

According to sources, Manmohan Singh - in a strongly-worded letter to state Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh – is believed to have said that firm action needs to be taken against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and demanded he be booked under the National Security Act.

With his ministerial colleagues - especially from Bihar - venting their anger, Manmohan Singh chaired a Cabinet meeting late on Thursday night where he spoke about the letter.

He is also believed to have said Home Ministry had been asked to convey Central Government’s strong sentiments to the state government.

Sources say even some Congress ministers supported the allies in calling for a judicial probe into the encounter killing of Rahul Raj, the youth from Bihar who hijacked a bus in Mumbai.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Law Minister H R Bhardwaj and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal – all lawyers – were understood to have favoured a judicial inquiry into the killing on the ground that a civilian probe would not suffice.

Bhardwaj is understood to have pointed out that since allegations had been levelled against police in the case of killing of a youth from Bihar, a judicial or a magisterial inquiry would be appropriate.

Sibal and Reddy voiced concern over the violence against north Indians in Maharashtra, saying the developments did not send the right signals.

Interestingly, NCP leaders Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad were not present in the meeting.

Fertilizer Minister Ram Vilas Paswan led the charge against Thakceray's campaign and wondered what the Centre was doing when national unity and integrity was being challenged.

Pressing for Thackeray's arrest under NSA, Paswan said the MNS chief was getting out on bail in whatever cases had been filed against him.

He cited the case of MDMK chief Vaiko's arrest for his alleged statements in favour of LTTE and said why similar action should not be taken against Thackeray, the sources said.

Home Minister Shivraj Patil told the meeting that his Ministry had issued three advisories to Maharashtra government over the violence against North Indians and 56 cases were registered against Thackeray in connection with these incidents, the sources said.

Assam blasts: 61 killed 300 injured as 11 bombs blasted | Pics

2008-10-31T04:09:00.000+05:30

Guwahati: At least 61 people have been killed and 300 others injured in 11 bomb blasts which rocked Guwahati and some other cities of Assam on Thursday morning.

In Guwahati the blasts took place on Dispur Road, Pan Bazaar, Ganeshguri and Fancy Bazaar.

More bombs exploded in Barpeta, Kokrajhar and Bongaigoan districts. The bomb at Ganeshguri was planted in a car and took place about 100 meters from Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi's official residence.

In Guwahati the death toll stood at 31 while 109 people were injured while in Kokrajhar 19 people have been killed and 60 injured. In Barpeta 11 people have been killed and 40 others have been injured, while in Bongaigaon, 10 people have been injured in the blasts.

All the blasts took place almost simultaneously at about 1130 hrs IST at crowded marketplaces.

Intelligence sources have told CNN-IBN that the 'Bravo Company' of the 28th battalion of United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) could be behind the blasts. Two companies of the 28th battalion of ULFA - Alfa and Charlie - have already signed a ceasefire agreement with the government of Assam. ULFA therefore finds itself decimated completely.

However, other officials suspect All Tripura Tiger Force, who trained along with the ULFA.

Police personnel pull a damaged vehicle near a blast site.

These two groups are the only ones which have the capability of organising such coordinated blasts.

Gogoi has called for an emergency meeting in Guwahati.

In June this year, a powerful blast injured at least 10 people, two of them critically, in the eastern Assam town of Naogaon. The blast had taken place near a railway station in Naogaon, 130 km from Guwahati.

A seriously wounded man is removed from near a blast site

The police had then blamed the outlawed ULFA for the blast.

In March this year, one person was killed and over 20 injured, including policemen, in a powerful bomb blast in upper Assam's Dhemaji district. The ULFA was blamed again.

Police cover the dead bodies near a blast site

Official sources said the bomb exploded in an open field where a local festival Ali-Aie-Lrigang was being celebrated near the telephone exchange at Jonai.

Chandrayaan - 1 orbit to be raised to 267000 km

2008-10-29T02:38:00.003+05:30

Keywords: Chandrayaan, Chandrayan, Chandrayaan1, moon, india, isro
Chennai, Oct 28 (IANS): The earth orbit of India’s first lunar spacecraft will be raised to 267,000 km Wednesday, an official here said. “The Chandrayaan spacecraft, orbiting at a distance of around 165,000 km apogee (farthest point from earth) will be raised Wednesday to around 267,000 km. As of now, everything is normal and as per our expectations,” Chandrayaan-1 project director M. Annadurai told IANS.

The third orbit-raising was done Oct 26 and the spacecraft was raised up to 164,600 km, instead of 199,277 km apogee as originally announced by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

“The important date for us is Nov 3 when the final orbit manoeuvre will happen. Between Oct 22 and Nov 3 we have the leeway to carry out the orbit raising activity,” he said.

On Nov 3, the ISRO will take the spacecraft to 384,000 km apogee.

The subsequent firing of spacecraft motors will take it near the lunar orbit and it is expected to get into lunar orbit Nov 8.

During the lunar orbit, the spacecraft’s motors will be fired five times - called lunar burn - to take it to 100 km of the moon’s radius.

“We expect that to happen November 14 or November 15,” Annadurai said.

According to him the spacecraft has sufficient fuel on board.

“Going up, the spacecraft spends less fuel to travel the same distance,” he added.

On Oct 23, the spacecraft’s motors were fired for 18 minutes to take it to 37,900 km apogee.

Subsequently, the spacecraft motors were fired for 16 minutes and 9.5 minutes Oct 25 and Oct 26 respectively to take it to 74,715 km and 164,600 km respectively.

“On Wednesday we will fire the spacecraft motors for 190 seconds (3.17 minutes) to take it to 267,000 km. On Nov 3, the motor firing will be for around 150 seconds (2.5 minutes) to take the spacecraft to 384,000 km,” Annadurai said.

Till date, the spacecraft has expended around 340 kg of fuel of the lift off capacity of 819 kg.

The spacecraft’s motor firing Wednesday and Nov 3 would consume around 40-50 kg of fuel.

“Another 100 kg fuel might be expended to put Chandrayaan into its intended orbit near the moon, leaving sufficient quantities of fuel for the spacecraft to orbit for two years,” he added.

Palm Z22 PDA Handheld Released

2008-10-28T02:24:00.003+05:30

Keywords: price, specification palm pda z22 handheld

The Z22 is one of the first of Palm, Inc.'s handhelds to be released under the new "Palm" brand, and the first to be released without the "Zire" moniker. Released on October 12, 2005, it replaces the monochrome Zire 21, and is priced at $99 USD. The Palm Z22 features Palm OS Garnet 5.4 and a 200 MHz processor. The Z22 runs on a standard li-ion battery that has a life of about 8 hours depending on its function.

To know more about the specification and the price click:

Palm Z22 PDA Handheld Price And Specification

Heroes Movie Review IBN Masand's Verdict 2/5

2008-10-25T00:52:00.003+05:30

Keywords: ibn review, cnn ibn review heroes, masand review heroes, cnnibn

Director: Samir Karnik

Cast: Mithun Chakraborty, Sunny Deol, Salman Khan, Preity Zinta, Sohail Khan, Bobby Deol, Dino Morea, Vatsal Seth

There's a scene in Heroes in which Sunny Deol on a wheelchair, playing an Air Force pilot who's lost both his legs in war, makes mincemeat out of a group of goondas at a nightclub. Using his fists to punch them, pound them and pummel them into putty, he then proceeds to crawl around the room on his fists, smashing the tiles and the bones of anyone who dares attack him. The message is clear: you may have lost your limbs, but if you've fought for your country, you'll never lose your spirit.

Heroes is a film that has its heart in the right place, but I'm still trying to locate its brain.

Sohail Khan and Vatsal Seth play two aimless drifters who must take a road-trip across North India to deliver a letter each to the families of three dead soldiers as part of their graduating project for film school. Expecting to hear bitter sermons against the Army from fathers, brothers and wives who've lost their loved ones to war, our protagonists discover instead the pride so many families feel for sacrificing their men to the country. It's a sort of wake-up call for the two boys who learn there's more to life than dancing around in their boxers with their girlfriends.

Director Samir Karnik borrows his basic plot idea from the acclaimed film The Motorcycle Diaries based on an early memoir of famous South American revolutionary Che Guevera. But where that film was an excellent coming-of-age story, a study in human awakening, Heroes fails to successfully illustrate how this journey affects the lives of the protagonists. After spending some two hours and twenty minutes making a case for the life-altering impact this journey is likely to have on the boys, Karnik rushes through the most crucial bit - we never really understand if any transformation has indeed taken place, except for knowing that they go on to twice fail the army exams, and somehow manage to open a school that they run together.

Subtlety and understating are tools that director Samir Karnik has no use for. Once you've come to terms with that, perhaps you won't flinch during the half-dozen emotionally manipulative scenes that are thrown in with the sole intention of giving you that lump in your throat. Whether it's the scene in which a young boy holds up his dead father's Army uniform and declares that he'll grow up to be a soldier too; or then the scene in which a mother plays out a tape with her son's last message to her - the film taps all the predictable emotions in the most predictable manner.

It's true - everything about Heroes is loud, overblown and in-your-face. It's a film that shamelessly woos its audience. And yet, there's something inherently noble about the film. Much of its appeal lies in the performances. Preity Zinta does a terrific job as the Punjabi widow who assumes the place of the man of the house following her husband's death at war. Mithun Chakraborty melts your heart as the angry father who still hasn't forgiven his son for never returning from war. And that ridiculous action scene aside, Sunny Deol sincerely sinks into the part of the older brother who's determined not to feel anything but pride over his younger sibling's sacrifice. In much smaller roles, even Bobby Deol, Dino Morea and particularly Salman Khan deliver honest heart-felt performances.

It's the two main leads however, Sohail Khan and Vatsal Seth, who never succeed in convincing you that their experiences have changed them. Both limited actors - to say the least - they never make that transition from goofballs to grown-ups, and it's they who prove to be this film's weakest link.

In the end, Heroes is a far-from-perfect film, held together by a script full of holes, too long and packed with too many songs. Yet it's got its moments. I'm going with two out of five for director Samir Karnik's Heroes, it's not entirely a waste of time.

Rating: 2 / 5 (Average)

Source: ibnlive.com

Bumetanide users McAllister, Smith among players reportedly testing positive

2008-10-25T00:31:00.002+05:30

Keywords: bumex, water pills, water pills and weight loss, gnc store locator, gnc.com

A number of NFL players including Deuce McAllister and Will Smith of the New Orleans Saints have tested positive under the NFL's steroid policy as a result of taking water pills to lose weight, according to a report from Fox 31-Denver reporter Josina Anderson.

Anderson's report cited "a rash of positive tests." The number is more than 10 and may exceed 15, two sources have told ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen. Attorney David Cornwell told Mortensen he has been retained by "a number of players" to represent them in the NFL appeals process, but Cornwell wouldn't say who those players were or the exact number who have retained his legal services. Smith's listed agent, Joel Segal, was not immediately available to comment, according to Fox 31-Denver. A representative for McAllister's agent, Jim Steiner, said the agent would call that station back. Under the NFL's steroid policy, a player's first positive test results in a four-game suspension. According to Anderson's report, McAllister and Smith are part of a group that tested positive for a diuretic known as Bumetanide. Others tested positive for a different substance. "Most of them tested positive for Bumetanide," said the league source, according to Fox 31-Denver. "The last few tested positive for another substance that works similarly." A source told Fox 31-Denver that Bumetanide "can also mask the use of other drugs or steroids." Bumetanide is a drug belonging to a group of medicines called loop diuretics or "water pills." Its uses include the treatment of fluid retention and swelling caused by medical conditions such as congestive heart failure, liver disease, and kidney disease, Fox 31-Denver reported.

APGENCO Results : apgenco 21.09.2008 results declared

2008-10-24T23:51:00.004+05:30

Keywords: apgenco, gate online application, gate online, gat, bsnl

Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Limited (APGENCO)

Results of AE's examination for the post of Electrical , Mechanical and Civil held on 21.09.2008 and the list of candidates called for the interview.

>> Click here for marks list of AE /Electrical <<

>> Click here for marks list of AE /Mechanical <<

>> Click here for marks list of AE /Civil <<

>> Click here for list of candidates called for interview:AE /Electrical <<

>> Click here for list of candidates called for interview:AE / Mechanical <<

>> Click here for list of candidates called for interview:AE / Civil <<

BSNL JTO results: All india merit list of JTO 2007 Results Out | Download PDF

2008-10-24T22:58:00.006+05:30

Keywords: jto 2007 results, jto, bsnl, bsnl jto results, jto result

BSNL Junior Telecom Officer (JTO) Results

All India Merit List of JTO 2007 Results

The result of the Graduate Engineer JTOs Examination 2007 held by BSNL on 15th June 2008 has been declared

To Download the list in PDF Click:
http://www.bsnl.in/company/jtoresult2007/result.pdf

New York Times endorses Barack Obama

2008-10-24T14:25:00.003+05:30

Keywords: obama, new york times, nyt obama
Washington, Oct 24 (IANS): The influential New York Times Friday became the fourth mainstream American daily to endorse Barack Obama, saying he “has proved that he is the right choice to be the 44th president of the United States.”"The nation’s problems are simply too grave to be reduced to slashing ‘robo-calls’ and negative ads,” it said in an editorial Friday. “This country needs sensible leadership, compassionate leadership, honest leadership and strong leadership. Barack Obama has shown that he has all of those qualities.”

The New York Times endorsement of Obama comes just a week after three other leading newspapers-the Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times-backed the Democratic nominee over his Republican rival John McCain.

The largest daily in Obama’s hometown, the Tribune had not backed a Democrat in its 161-year history, while the Los Angeles Times had not endorsed a presidential candidate since 1972, when it backed President Richard M. Nixon’s re-election.

So far 39 other regional newspapers with 3.5 million readers have backed Obama. McCain, who is lagging in the polls behind Obama, has received endorsements from 15 newspapers with 1.5 million readership, according to the industry magazine Editor and Publisher.

The New York Times said the US is battered and drifting after eight years of President George Bush’s failed leadership.

But “as tough as the times are, the selection of a new president is easy,” it said suggesting “Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change.

“He has shown a cool head and sound judgment.” The Times said it believed Obama “has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.”

On the other hand, McCain “has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism.” It said.

“His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress,” the Times said.

“McCain’s long interest in foreign policy and the many dangers this country now faces make his choice of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin more irresponsible,” it said.

“Obama would have a learning curve on foreign affairs, but he has already showed sounder judgment than his opponent on these critical issues,” the influential daily said. “His choice of Senator Joseph Biden - who has deep foreign-policy expertise - as his running mate is another sign of that sound judgment.”

Both presidential candidates talk about strengthening alliances in Europe and Asia, including NATO, strongly support Israel and talk about repairing America’s image in the world, it said. “But it seems clear to us that Obama is far more likely to do that - and not just because the first black president would present a new American face to the world,” the Times said.

Both candidates talk tough on terrorism, and neither has ruled out military action to end Iran’s nuclear weapons programme, it said.

“But Obama has called for a serious effort to try to wean Tehran from its nuclear ambitions with more credible diplomatic overtures and tougher sanctions,” the Times said suggesting “McCain’s willingness to joke about bombing Iran was frightening.”

BSE Sensex: Markets crash on failed expectations

2008-10-24T14:21:00.003+05:30

Keywords: BSE, Sensex, Bankrupt, bank rbi crash
Mumbai, Oct 24 (IANS): Indian equities markets opened weak Friday and then crashed around noon with a key equities index dipping even below the 9,000 mark immediately after India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India, announced that it had left all key rates unchanged in its mid-term review of the annual policy for 2008-09.“By announcing a slew of measures a few days before its scheduled mid-term review, the RBI had created expectations of some more measures and when they were not met Friday, the markets crashed,” said portfolio strategist Manoj Krishnan of Delhi-based financial services firm Price Investment Management & Research Services.

The benchmark 30-share sensitive index (Sensex) of the Bombay Stock Exchange opened more than 200 points down and then hit a low of 8,940.48 immediately after the RBI announced its mid-term review leaving all key rates unchanged.

It then recovered somewhat and at 12.45 p.m. it was ruling at 9,106.16, down 665.54 points or 6.81 percent from its previous close Thursday at 9,771.70 points.

The broader 50-share S&P CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) also opened weak, nearly 100 points down and then hit a bottom of around 2,675 at noon before recovering somewhat.

At 12.45 p.m., it was ruling 2723.40, down 219.75 points or 7.47 percent from its previous close Thursday at 2943.15.

The BSE midcap index was ruling at 3,198.58, down 180.14 points or 5.33 percent from its previous close Thursday at 3,378.72 points.

The BSE smallcap index was ruling at 3,765.48, down 200.22 points or 5.05 percent from its previous close Thursday at 3,965.70 points.

Murder case filed against Raj Thackeray in Bihar

2008-10-24T14:16:00.002+05:30

Keywords: raj thakre, thakrey, raj murder, thakery

Patna, Oct 24 (IANS) Raj Thackeray may now face a murder charge after the father of Pawan Kumar, the youth who was allegedly killed by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists in Mumbai, filed a case against the party chief in a Bihar court Friday.Pawan’s father Jagdish Prasad filed a murder case against Thackeray under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) in the court of chief judicial magistrate in Biharsharif, the district headquarters of Nalanda, about 100 km from here, court sources said.

Prasad has accused Thackeray and MNS activists of killing his son in Mumbai last Sunday.

Prasad has requested the court to charge Thackeray with the murder of his son.

Pawan, a resident of Bara-Khurd village in Nalanda, was one of the hundreds of students from Bihar appearing for a railway recruitment exam in Maharashtra Sunday when MNS activists attacked them.

The son of a poor farmer, Pawan had hoped to improve his family’s standard of living by getting a government job. However, his dead body was brought back to Bihar Tuesday to be cremated at his village.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has announced a compensation of Rs.150,000 to Pawan’s family.

Pittsburgh News: McCain Volunteer Attacked, Mutilated in Pittsburgh

2008-10-24T03:55:00.002+05:30

Keywords: pittsburgh newspaper, mccain volunteer attacked, pittsburgh, pittsburgh mccain, pittsburgh tv

Here's what went down with the McCain/Palin supporter who was allegedly attacked in Pennsylvania last night.

According to Pittsburgh cops, around 9:30 PM last night, a female was robbed after she went to the ATM. The victim says during the robbery, the assailant saw the McCain/Palin sticker on her car and became "enraged." He struck her and knocked her down, and allegedly carved a "B" on her cheek.

The assailant is still at large. Police tell us all they have is a description -- a man, 6'4", with dark skin and dark clothes.

A McCain spokesman confirmed to TMZ the victim volunteered in McCain's Pennsylvania office.

Trains Cancelled: List of cancelled, rescheduled trains through Bihar

2008-10-22T17:14:00.003+05:30

Keywords: railways cancellation, trains cancelled in bihar, fire train

OFF TRACK: Railways have cancelled several trains to and passing through Bihar.

New Delhi: The Government Railway Police on Wednesday sought custody of MNS chief Raj Thackeray in a case related to destruction of property.

The Railways also cancelled several trains to and passing through Bihar due to deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

The trains cancelled are as follows:

2398 New Delhi-Gaya Mahabodhi Express

2368 New Delhi-Bhagalpur Viakramshila Express

3040 Delhi-Howrah Janata Express

2382 New Delhi-Howrah Poorva Express

2314 New Delhi-Sealdah Rajdhani Express

2354 Hazrat Nizamuddin-Rajender Nagar (Patna) Garibrath Express

2302 New Delhi-Howrah Rajdhani Express

2310 New Delhi-Rajender Nagar Rajdhani Express

2444 New Delhi-Bhubaneshwar Rajdhani Express

2394 New Delhi Rajender Nagar (Patna) Sampooran Kranti Express

3134 Varanasi-Sealdah Express

8612 Varanasi-Ranchi Express.

Train rescheduled

The train no. 2388 Delhi Sarai Rohilla-Rajender Nagar Patna Jan Sadharan Express has been rescheduled to depart at 1930 hrs (IST) on Wednesday.

Train diverted

2424-New Delhi-Guwahati Rajdhani Express train has been diverted to run via Kanpur, Luciknow, Varanasi,Chhapra for Wednesday.

Raj Thackeray to spend night in police lock-up, violence rocks Kalyan

2008-10-21T23:10:00.000+05:30

Kalyan (Maharashtra), Oct 21 (IANS): There were incidents of rioting, arson, stone pelting and clashes with police in this Thane district town Tuesday evening, as Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray prepared to spend a night in the police lock-up here.Agitated MNS activists went on a rampage, damaging or torching at least a dozen private vehicles, and 10 shops in different parts of the town.

At several places bonfires were made of goods that were looted from shops while one group attacked the Kalyan railway station. Policemen baton-charged a group of miscreants that damaged the railway station.

The activists’ ire was fuelled when it became clear that since no night magistrates were available in Kalyan or nearby Dombivili town, Thackeray would be compelled to spend a night in the police lock-up.

Thackeray, arrested early morning from Ratnagiri, is due to be presented before the magistrate here Wednesday morning.

According to tentative indications from MNS leaders, he expects to secure bail and be handed over to the Chhattisgarh Police for a court hearing in Jamshedpur.

Earlier in the day, the police in the twin cities of Kalyan and Dombivli had made preventive detentions of at least 25 MNS leaders in anticipation of Thackeray’s arrival for a hearing in the Kalyan court.

Thackeray was brought here earlier in the evening after the Kalyan police secured his custody for a case regarding attacks on north Indian candidates who were due to appear for a railway recruitment examination here last Sunday.

Earlier, Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate G.R. Wankhede had ordered 14 days judicial custody to Thackeray under various charges under sections 423, 427, 535, 107, 106(II), 506(II) of the Indian Penal Code, all pertaining to rioting, assault, damage to private and public properties, and IPC Sec 153(A), for provoking hatred among different communities.

Kalyan-Dombivli, with a population of around 800,000 middle and lower middle class inhabitants, is a semi-industrial belt from where thousands of people daily commute to workplaces in Mumbai.

Manipur Blast: 17 killed, 30 injured in bomb blast in Imphal

2008-10-21T23:03:00.003+05:30

Keywords: manipur blase, imphal blast, pictures, images

ON THE TERROR RADAR: The blast took place at around 1915 hrs IST on Tuesday.

Imphal, 21 October: At least 17 people have been killed and more than 30 injured in a bomb blast near Khuman Lapak Sports Stadium in Imphal (Manipur) on Tuesday evening. The blast took place at around 1915 hrs IST.

Initial reports say the blast was triggered by an an improvised explosive device (IED), which was placed in a Luna moped.

All the injured have been taken to Regional Institute of Medical Sciences, Imphal where the condition of six people is stated to be serious.

Director General of Police, Manipur, Y Joykumar Singh confirmed to CNN-IBN that at least 17 people have been killed in the blast.

Raj Thackeray Arrest: Mumbai held to ranson

2008-10-21T21:33:00.002+05:30

Keywords: ndtv, times of india, raj thackeray arrest, aaj tak, smita thackeray

MAYHEM IN MUMBAI: With the news of Raj's arrest MNS activists were on the streets venting their anger.

Mumbai: At 0300 hrs IST on Tuesday, the Maharashtra government finally acted after days of dithering. Maharashtra Police arrested Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief, Raj Thackeray from Ratanagiri, 380 km from Mumbai.

Raj Thackeray was arrested for provoking hatred among communities as his supporters vented their anger by indulging in mindless violence and torching public transport to hold India's financial capital to ransom.

The news of his arrest reached the metropolis before he did and even that early in the day, MNS activists were on the streets, venting their anger on private and government property.

As the day progressed, so did the violence on Mumbai's streets. Public transport was targetted, taxis and scooters stayed off the roads, shops and schools shut down in several areas to avoid any trouble. The office of the state Congress spokesperson Sanjay Nirupam was also vandalised.

Broken glass pieces on the road were evidence enough of the conflict between security agencies and unruly MNS supporters. The incident may be Raj Thackeray's opportunity to gain political mileage and show political strength to his opponents, but for an average Mumbaikar this is nothing but hooliganism, an identity the MNS seems to be proud of.

There was no curfew but office goers were told to return home and many commercial establishments, especially those run or managed by non-Maharashtrians, chose not to open at all. All schools and colleges closed and most Mumbai streets were deserted as scared residents hid in their houses to avoid the wrath of the MNS.

The toll by mid-afternoon - 38 public buses set on fire, at least 40 private vehicles damaged in stone throwing, 350 taxis and 60 autorickshaws damaged or burnt, nearly 90 percent of the total 105,000 autorickshaws and 66,000 taxis off the roads. And the result, massive inconvenience to Mumbaikars caught in the crossfire as police were forced to fire teargas shells and wield the stick to control the mobs.

Describing the arrest as a cowardly act, MNS' Nagpur unit chief Hemant Gadkari told agencies that about 100 young party workers grouped in four motorcycle squads fanned out to different parts of the city to register their protest.

There was violence in other parts of Maharashtra too. In Satara town, for instance, MNS workers set fire to a bus depot, while in Nagpur several state transport buses were attacked. The police made about 2,000 preventive arrests.

RIPPLES IN BIHAR

The ripples were felt in Bihar too as candidates returned home after the assault. The fact that Pawan Mahto from Nalanda district, one of the hundreds of students from Bihar hoping for a job in railways, died after the attack fuelled the fires.

Pawan's father Jagdish Mahto, who had come here to receive his son's body, said: "The Mumbai police called and said he was killed in a stampede after MNS workers attacked north Indian students at the exam centre."

Imphal Blast: 14 killed, 16 injured in Imphal blast

2008-10-21T21:25:00.002+05:30

Keywords: manipur blast, imphal blast, terror in imphal

ON THE TERROR RADAR: The blast took place at around 1915 hrs IST on Tuesday.

Imphal, Oct 21 (IANS): At least 14 people were killed and 16 injured in a massive bomb explosion in this Manipur capital Tuesday evening, two days after a blast near the chief minister’s official residence here, the police said.”A bomb kept on a moped went off around 8 p.m.,” Imphal superintendent of Police Radheshyam told IANS.

While 11 people were killed on the spot, three people succumbed to injuries in hospital, he said.

The blast took place close to a Manipur Police commando complex, which is a residential area.

“We are not yet sure if any of the police commandos are among those killed or injured,” Radheshyam said.

The injured have been rushed to various hospitals in the city.

This is by far the biggest bomb attack in Manipur’s capital, a heavily guarded city that has seen frequent bomb or grenade attacks.

On Sunday, a bomb exploded close to Chief Minister Ibobi Singh’s heavily fortified residence but there were no casualties.

A caller claiming to be a member of the People’s Revolutionary Party of Kamgleipak (PREPAK), a separatist group, said the outfit was behind Sunday’s blast.

No one has claimed responsibility yet for Tuesday’s deadly attack that has set off panic in the city.

Chandrayaan - 1 Detailed Information

2008-10-20T23:37:00.005+05:30

Keywords: isro, chandrayan, sriharikota, chandrayaan 1, chandrayan 1

Chandrayaan I (Lunar Craft), is an unmanned lunar exploration mission by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). The mission includes a lunar orbiter as well as an impactor. The spacecraft will be launched by a modified version of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.

The remote sensing satellite will weigh 1304 kg (590 kg initial orbit mass and 504 kg dry mass) and carry high resolution remote sensing equipment for visible, near infrared, soft and hard X-ray frequencies. Over a two-year period, it is intended to survey the lunar surface to produce a complete map of its chemical characteristics and 3-dimensional topography. The polar regions are of special interest, as they might contain water ice.

The ISRO has identified Mylswamy Annadurai as Project Chief.

The spacecraft is scheduled for launch on October 22 with a window fixed between October 19 and October 28.

They estimate the cost to be INR 3.8 billion (US$ 83 million).

The mission includes five ISRO payloads and six payloads from other international space agencies such as NASA and ESA, and the Bulgarian Aerospace Agency .

Mission Objectives

* To launch and orbit a spacecraft in lunar polar orbit and conduct scientific studies.
* To carry out high resolution mapping of topographic features in 3D, distribution of various minerals and elemental chemical species including radioactive nuclides covering the entire lunar surface using a set of remote sensing payloads. The new set of data would help in unraveling mysteries about the origin and evolution of solar system in general and that of the moon in particular or on its composition and mineralogy.
* Realize the mission goal of harnessing the science payloads, lunar craft and the launch vehicle with suitable ground support system including DSN station, integration and testing, launching and achieving lunar orbit of ~100 km, in-orbit operation of experiments, communication/telecommand, telemetry data reception, quick look data and archival for scientific utilization by identified group of scientists.

Specific Areas of Study
* High resolution mineralogical and chemical imaging of permanently shadowed north and south polar regions
* Search for surface or sub-surface water-ice on the moon, specially at lunar pole
* Identification of chemical end members of lunar high land rocks
* Chemical stratigraphy of lunar crust by remote sensing of central upland of large lunar craters, South Pole Aitken Region (SPAR) etc., where interior material may be expected
* To map the height variation of the lunar surface features along the satellite track
* Observation of X-ray spectrum greater than 10 keV and stereographic coverage of most of the moon's surface with 5m resolution, to provide new insights in understanding the moon's origin and evolution

The scientific payload has a total mass of 90 kg and contains six Indian instruments and six foreign instruments.

* The Terrain Mapping Camera (TMC) has 5 m resolution and a 40 km swath in the panchromatic band and will be used to produce a high-resolution map of the Moon.

* The Hyper Spectral Imager (HySI) will perform mineralogical mapping in the 400-900 nm band with a spectral resolution of 15 nm and a spatial resolution of 80 m.

* The Lunar Laser Ranging Instrument (LLRI) will determine the surface topography.

* An X-ray fluorescence spectrometer C1XS covering 1- 10 keV with a ground resolution of 25 km and a Solar X-ray Monitor (XSM) to detect solar flux in the 1–10 keV range. C1XS will be used to map the abundance of Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, and Fe at the surface, and will monitor the solar flux. This payload is a collaboration between Rutherford Appleton laboratory, U.K, ESA and ISRO.

* A High Energy X-ray/gamma ray spectrometer (HEX) for 30- 200 keV measurements with ground resolution of 40 km, the HEX will measure U, Th, 210Pb, 222Rn degassing, and other radioactive elements
* Moon Impact probe(MIP) developed by ISRO is in turn a small satellite that will be carried by Chandrayaan-1 and will be ejected once it reaches 100 km orbit around moon, to impact on the moon. MIP carries three more instruments namely, a high resolution mass spectrometer, an S-Band altimeter and a video camera.

* Among foreign payloads, The Sub-keV Atom Reflecting Analyzer (SARA) from ESA will map composition using low energy neutral atoms sputtered from the surface.

* The Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) from Brown University and JPL (funded by NASA) is an imaging spectrometer designed to map the surface mineral composition.

* A near infrared spectrometer (SIR-2) from ESA, built at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Polish Academy of Science and University of Bergen, will also map the mineral composition using an infrared grating spectrometer. The instrument will be similar to that of the Smart-1 SIR.

* S-band miniSAR from the APL at the Johns Hopkins University (funded by NASA) is the active SAR system to map lunar polar ice. The instrument will transmit right polarized radiation with a frequency of 2.5 GHz and will monitor the scattered left and right polarized radiation. The Fresnel reflectivity and the cicular polarization ratio (CPR) are the key parameters deduced from this measurments. Ice shows the Coherent Backscatter Opposition Effect which results in an enhancement of refelections and CPR. With the data the water content of the moon polar region can estimated.

* Radiation Dose Monitor (RADOM-7) from Bulgaria is to map the radiation environment around the moon.

Chandrayaan - 1: India's First Mission to Moon

2008-10-20T23:32:00.004+05:30

Keywords: isro, chandrayan, sriharikota, chandrayaan 1, chandrayan 1 Bangalore, Oct 20 (PTI): During the various phases of its flight, Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft will send detailed information about its health to the earth through its transmitter, according to Indian Space Research Organisation.

At the same time, the spacecraft will be ready to receive radio commands sent from Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft control centre instructing it to perform various tasks.

Besides, the spacecraft receives, modifies and retransmits radio waves sent by ground antennas in a precise way. This plays a crucial role in knowing its position and orbit at a particular instant of time. All these happen at 'S-band' frequencies in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Additionally, as it orbits the Moon, the spacecraft sends valuable imagery and other scientific information to earth through X-band (at a higher frequency compared to S-band), which also lies in the microwave region.

But, such information is transmitted through radio at a very low power of a few Watts. Thus, radio signals carrying that precious information become extremely feeble by the time they travel 400,000 km from the moon and reach the earth.

The ground segment of Chandrayaan-1 performs the crucial task of receiving the radio signals sent by the spacecraft. It also transmits the radio commands to be sent to the spacecraft during different phases of its mission. Besides, it processes and safe keeps the scientific information sent by the spacecraft. PTI

Related Topic:
Chandrayaan - 1 Detailed Information

atsindia.suth.com : Sutherland Global Services Recruitment in India

2008-10-19T14:58:00.004+05:30

Keywords: Sutherland Global Services, Sutherland india, Sutherland india recruitment

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Sutherland Global Services is world’s leading provider of business process outsourcing (BPO) services since 20 years and operates in multiple delivery centers across United States, India, Philippines, and Canada. The company is an IT enabled and BPO company specializing in customer management and back-office services.

Founded in 1986, the company has domain knowledge, global delivery options, and follow quality processes. Through their outstanding customer management services they have played a significant role in helping their clients achieve their goals by improving sales, marketing and customer support results. Their clients can thus focus on their core competence and improve customer facing operations with the help of their expert services, knowledge and tools. Clients can implement the company's contact center and back-office outsourcing services in their existing set-up or can give the company the responsibility to handle everything for them.

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The Online Employment Application system will allow you to apply for opportunities in any of Sutherland’s locations in India. The locations in India where you can apply are:

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4. Hyderabad
5. Chennai
6. Malad
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Visit Global Site: www.suth.com

Frank Wilber Spig Wead

2008-10-19T04:54:00.003+05:30

Keywords: spig wead, frank spig wead, wings of eagles, maureen o hara, the wings of eagles
Frank Wilber "Spig" Wead (October 24, 1895 in Illinois – November 15, 1947) U.S. Navy aviator turned screenwriter who helped promote United States Naval aviation from its inception through World War II.

A 1917 graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Frank "Spig" Wead began to promote Naval Aviation after World War I through air racing and speed competitions. This competition, mainly against the United States Army (and its leader Jimmy Doolittle), helped push U.S. military aviation forward. These competitions would give military aviation a much-needed spotlight in the public eye. The public attention that it generated helped push Congress to fund the advancement of military aviation. During World War I, he served on a mine layer in the North Sea.[1] After World War I he was a test pilot for the Navy.

In September of 1923 Wead was a member of the United States Navy team that traveled to Cowes England to compete in the Schneider Cup Race (Jacques Schneider Maritime Seaplane Trophy). The Schneider Cup (or Schneider Trophy), which was named for the French aviation enthusiast, started in Monaco in 1913. This most prestigious seaplane racing cup resided in Europe until 1923 when Lieutenant David Rittenhouse won the race and brought the cup home to the United States for the Navy team.

On the 22nd and 23rd of June 1924 in Anacostia, D.C., as a lieutenant, Wead along with Lieutenant John Dale Price, using a Curtiss CS-2 with a Wright T-3 Tornado engine, would set new Class C seaplane records for distance (963.123 miles), duration (13 hours-23 minutes-15 seconds), and three speed records (73.41 mph for 500 kilometers, 74.27 mph for 1000 km, and 74.17 mph for 1500 km). Lieutenants Wead and Price would strike again on the 11th and 12th of July 1924, with new Class C seaplane records for distance (994.19 miles) and duration (14 hours-53 minutes-44 seconds) using a CS-2 with a Wright Tornado engine. In order to set these records, Wead and Price had to exchange positions at the controls, as the aircraft had only one set of controls. One of the pair would leave the navigator/spotter position, climb out of the plane and slide along the hull on a small rail. The two would both occupy the pilots seat as one slid into place and the other slide out, then exited the aircraft and moved to the navigator's position.

Wead would have no doubt continued to be an excellent naval aviator, as a squadron commander, had it not been for a tragic accident. In April 1926 he was resting upstairs and heard one of his daughters scream, he then rushed downstairs and tripped breaking his neck. The fall resulted in paralysis. While convalescing, at the encouragement of his Navy friends, Wead began writing.

Writing would turn into a second, and even more important, career for him. It would be the promotion of naval aviation through the pen and screen. This second, unforeseen, career would be his true position of importance in promoting Naval aviation, far more important than his endeavors as a pilot. Wead's writings would lead him to Hollywood and the eventual friendship and collaboration with director John Ford. Wead would receive two Academy Award nominations in 1938, one for Best Original Story for Test Pilot and a second for Best Screenplay for The Citadel.

Wead also wrote for leading magazines (The Saturday Evening Post and The American Magazine), and he was published writer of at least two books, including: "Ceiling Zero" (1936), and "Gales, Ice and Men" (1937). He later adapted Ceiling Zero into both a Broadway play and a feature film. He befriended writer Jack Woodford when they were both under contract at M.G.M. in Hollywood.

Wead returned to the Navy during World War II and helped integrate the use of escort carriers to support the main battle line and beach landings. Frank Wead died in 1947.

John Ford would eventually be persuaded to make a movie about Wead, The Wings of Eagles (1957), and would cast John Wayne to play the part of Commander Frank "Spig" Wead. John Dale Price was played by Ken Curtis. Ward Bond would play director Ford in the character of John Dodge. Mrs. Minnie "Min" (Bryant) Wead (Frank's wife) was played by Maureen O'Hara.

Frank A. Andrews book Dirigible (New York: A. L. Burt Co. 1931), is based on the Columbia Picture screenplay by Lieut. Commander Frank Wilber Wead.

Eleven-year-old Girl Set on fire for wearing lipstick

2008-10-19T03:05:00.000+05:30

Jaipur: Eleven-year-old Nazmeen can barely speak. She suffered 99 per cent burn injuries after her neighbour set her on fire - all because she dared to wear lipstick.

Nazmeen was attacked by the man she called nana (grandfather). On Friday, Saleem told the little girl not to wear lipstick. When she defied him, in a fit of rage he allegedly molested her before pouring kerosene on her and setting her on fire.

"He was beating me and when I said that I would complain to my father, he started abusing him. Please punish him," says Nazmeen.

Police have arrested 55-year-old Saleem, who runs a shop in the Ghatgate area.

Investigating officer on the case, NS Nagora said, "We are looking into the molestation charges as well. Investigations are on and a police team has just been sent to the hospital again."

Nazmeen is now admitted in a hospital, but doctors say her condition continues to be critical.

Superintendent of Police, Mohan Singh said the girl's Saleem has been charged with molestation and attempt to murder.

"The accused has been charged under section 307 - attempt to murder - and section 354 - molestation. We interrogated neighbours and the family and they have confirmed what happened," Mohan Singh said.

Meanwhile, Woman and Child Development Minister, Renuka Chaudhary said, "Lawmakers should such people a lesson. There is no law in the country that states that a girl cannot wear something unless it is absolutely indecent. It is very shocking, backward and illiterate.

Chris Mims found dead in his apartment

2008-10-16T03:16:00.004+05:30

Keywords: chris mimms, formulary, cims, boston.com, colin powell endorsement, chris mims

October 15, 2008: Former San Diego Chargers defensive lineman Chris Mims was found dead in his apartment on Wednesday, according to Los Angeles police.

Police said there didn't appear to be any evidence of foul play in the death of Mims, 38.

Mims recorded 42 sacks in 104 career games, spending seven seasons with San Diego and one with the Washington Redskins. He was a member of San Diego's only Super Bowl team, with the Chargers losing to San Francisco in the 1995 championship.

The six-foot-five, 290-pound lineman retired after failing to catch on with a team in 2000.

He is the second former Charger to die in just over three months. Former safety Terrence Kiel, 27, died in a single car accident in July.

Seven including four kids injured in Kanpur Blast

2008-10-14T21:37:00.004+05:30

Keywords: kanpur blast, kanpur bomb blast, blast in kanpur

FIRST REPORT: Police are currently saying that the "blast" was not a terrorist attack in the city.

New Delhi: As many as six people were injured when a "crude bomb kept on a bicycle" in Kanpur exploded on Tuesday evening.

The incident occurred in Colonelganj, a crowded and communally sensitive area. All the six injured in the low intensity blast are children.

Police have been deployed in the place, which is tense after the explosion.

Hari Prasad Verma, the Senior Superintendent of Police of Kanpur, told CNN-IBN as yet the blast was not being considered as a terrorist attack.

The DG of Kanpur, Vikram Singh said that the crude bomb was probably one which goes off on impact and that is just what happened in Colonelganj.

He refused to speculate on whether the bomb went off accidentally or was set off on purpose to create panic.

One of the reasons why the police is unsure whether it is a bomb blast or not is that there are many fire cracker factories located near the "blast" site and police feel it could be a minor incident in one of the factories.

However, eyewitnesses insist it was a crude bomb kept on a bicycle.

A special committee is being formed to look into the incident.

Agra University B.Ed. 2008 Entrance Information Slip

2008-10-13T13:23:00.004+05:30

Dr B R Ambedkar University, Agra
(Formerly Agra University)

The B.Ed. Entrance Exam Information Slip
Can Be Obtained Here:

http://www.dbrau.ac.in/bedadmit/admitform.asp

Note:
Candidate may Collect Their Admit Card From District Administration Office of Respective Nodal Center City on 16,17, 18 October 2008 by producing this Information Slip.

Sonu still traped: Army team to reach trapped Sonu

2008-10-13T10:44:00.001+05:30

Agra: After a four-day ordeal, two-year old Sonu, who had fallen into an open borewell, is finally being brought out by the Army.

The Army team is now digging the last two feet of the horizontal shaft and is expected to reach the child any minute now.

A team of doctors is on standby and as soon as Sonu is brought out, he will be taken to a hospital for a check-up.

However, there is no news yet about his condition but doctors say Sonu's chances of survival are very low.

The rescue operation is the largest of its kind undertaken anywhere in the country. Riot control units are on standby to maintain law and order, in case there is a backlash from the locals, if Sonu is brought out dead.

Sonu fell into a 150-foot-deep borewell at around 0945 hrs IST on Thursday while playing outside his house in Lehrakapura village near Shamsabad town, 26 km from Agra.

The borewell was dug up some two-three months ago but was abandoned.

McCain and Obama answering kids' questions in www.nick.com/kpp

2008-10-13T10:17:00.002+05:30

Keywords: nick.com/kpp, minijueguos, ingresso certo, simply red tour, peter kay live, www.nick.com/kpp
NEW YORK - Nick News Special Kicks Off "Kids' Vote," Bellwether Poll Where Kids Nationwide Pick Their Choice for President

2008 "Kids' Vote" Results to be Announced Monday, Oct. 20, at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT) on Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon provides kids with the rare opportunity to see the 2008 U.S. Presidential candidates, Senators John McCain and Barack Obama, answer their questions in Nick News with Linda Ellerbee: Kids Pick the President, airing Sunday, Oct. 12, from 9:00-9:30 p.m. (ET/PT). Hosted by award-winning Journalist Linda Ellerbee, Nick News' Kids Pick the President will feature exclusive interviews with McCain and Obama answering kids' questions on a wide range of hot political topics, including: the economy; the war in Iraq; global warming; health insurance; and immigration. Following the show, kids will be able to cast their votes by going to www.nick.com/kpp. Nickelodeon will announce the results on Monday, Oct. 20, at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Both the special and the "Kids' Vote" are the culmination of Nickelodeon's year-long Kids Pick the President initiative to build young citizens' awareness of the 2008 election process, its candidates and issues.

"Democracy works only if you participate in it, and this year we've all seen that kids are more interested than ever in participating," said Ellerbee. "We like to encourage this. The candidates, by answering kids' questions directly, are showing respect for kids, as have the presidential candidates in previous elections. And, considering that in four of the last five presidential elections, kids have picked the same president the grownups have -- but a couple of weeks before the general election -- the media shows respect for how kids vote, too."

Nick News has been traveling around the country, asking kids what they would want to ask the candidates if they had a chance, then videotaping the questions. In interviews conducted exclusively for Nick News, McCain and Obama were interviewed separately -- McCain in Columbus, Ohio, and Obama in Daytona, Florida -- without the opportunity to hear each other's responses. Each candidate answers 10 questions from kids (ages 10-15). The resulting interviews offer kids a fresh and direct way to learn about what McCain and Obama think about some of the pressing issues facing the country today.

Kids can log on to www.nick.com/kpp from October 12 to 20 to cast their votes online for Nickelodeon's "Kids' Vote", as well as to get more information about each candidate and his position on the issues. Linda Ellerbee will announce the "Kids' Vote" winner on-air on Monday, Oct. 20, at 8:00 p.m. (ET/PT). Earlier this year, Nickelodeon held its first-ever Kids' Primary, where kids correctly forecasted the candidates.

Nickelodeon's Kids Pick the President campaign includes four television specials created and produced by the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning Nick News with Linda Ellerbee, a special online election website nick.com/kpp/ , and a series of educational and humorous spots surrounding the Republican and Democratic conventions -- featuring the Kids Pick the President Election Connection Team of Pick Boy, Lil' JJ and Lily Collins -- which air on Nick and appear online. Nick News' Kids Pick the President will also air on Cable in the Classroom (schedule will be announced), which airs Wednesday and Friday mornings at 6:00 a.m. (ET/PT). Cable in the Classroom provides schools with commercial-free educational television programming. To complement the Kids Pick the President campaign, supplementary materials are available as resources for teachers at teachers.nick.com.

Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is now in its 18th year, and is the longest-running kids' news show in television history. It has built its reputation on the respectful and direct way it speaks to kids about the important issues of the day. Over the years, Nick News has received more than 20 Emmy nominations and numerous Emmy wins, including this year, when "The Untouchable Kids of India" won the 2008 Prime Time Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program. Last year, "Private Worlds: Kids and Autism" won the 2007 Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 1994, the entire series, Nick News, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 1998, "What Are You Staring At?" a program about kids with physical disabilities, won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 2002, "Faces of Hope: The Kids of Afghanistan," won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming. In 2004, two Nick News Specials, "The Courage to Live: Kids, South Africa and AIDS" and "There's No Place Like Home," a special about homeless kids in America, were both nominated for the Outstanding Children's Programming Emmy. In 2005, it won the Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programming for its show, "From the Holocaust to the Sudan." Nick News, produced by Lucky Duck Productions, is also the recipient of three Peabody Awards, including a personal award given to Ellerbee for her coverage for kids of the President Clinton investigation. The series has also received two Columbia duPont Awards and more than a dozen Parents' Choice Awards.

Nickelodeon, now in its 29th year, is the number-one entertainment brand for kids. It has built a diverse, global business by putting kids first in everything it does. The company includes television programming and production in the United States and around the world, plus consumer products, online, recreation, books, magazines and feature films. Nickelodeon's U.S. television network is seen in more than 96 million households and has been the number-one-rated basic cable network for 14 consecutive years. Nickelodeon and all related titles, characters and logos are trademarks of Viacom Inc.

Daisy of Love : Rock Of Love 2 runner-up Daisy De La Hoy

2008-10-13T10:12:00.001+05:30

Starting this week, VH1 gives viewers the chance to submit themselves for consideration in the first period Daisy of Love. Online users can log in to VH1's New daisy Love From daisyoflovecasting.com offer on the site. The site will act as the last place for fans to appear.

Viewers can upload your profile and select consideration for their favorite candidate. Casting package should include a profile by uploading video, photos and blog entries. Deadline for first round submissions is Nov. 14.

The last resonated with viewers of all broadband, mobile platforms and also in length. Close to 1.2 million video streams recorded during the first 24 hours after the final, opening a record for 1-day video streams for a franchise.

Last season's VH1 Rock Of Love 2 symptoms 5 million total viewers, the most in demand sweet episode of the season. The series ended the second-highest value each time from the VH1 series ever.

Official Press Release from Daisy of Love.

Millions tuned in to see Rock Of Love 2 runner-up Daisy De La Hoya get her all-access pass to Bret Michaels’ heart denied. Now after being jilted by her supposed Rock of Love, Daisy, is determined to find her one man who will rock her world. Daisy is on a quest for true love and this time she is giving her fans the chance to vie for her love and vote to help determine which contestant makes the cut for VH1’s Daisy of Love Premiering Spring 2009.

Beginning this week, VH1 is giving viewers an opportunity to submit themselves for consideration for the first season of Daisy Of Love. Online users can log on to VH1’s new Daisy Of Love dedicated site at daisyoflovecasting.com. The site will serve as the ultimate spot for fans of the show. Viewers can upload profiles for consideration and vote for their favorite potential candidates. Casting submissions must include an uploaded profile with videos, photos and blog entries. Deadlines for first round submissions are November 14. For more information visit daisyoflovecasting.com.

The finale resonated with viewers across broadband, mobile and linear platforms as well. Close to 1.2 million video streams were logged during the first 24 hours following the finale, breaking the record for 1-day video streams for a single franchise. The season finale of VH1’s Rock Of Love 2 drew 5 million total viewers, making it the most watched episode of the season. The series ended up as the second highest-rated season of any VH1 series ever.

VH1’s Daisy Of Love is created and executive produced by Mark Cronin and Cris Abrego for 51 Minds Entertainment, LLC. an Endemol Company, who also produce the record-breaking series Rock of Love, Flavor of Love, Charm School, I Love New York, The Surreal Life and My Fair Brady. The production teams’ programming launched VH1 into their highest ratings ever. Ben Samek also executive produces for the series and the company.

Los Angeles wild Fire burns 2,000 acres 1200 Evacuated

2008-10-13T10:02:00.002+05:30

LOS ANGELES (AP): Fire officials prepared late Sunday for rapid growth of a wildfire blazing 20 miles north of downtown with the expected arrival of strong, dry wind gusts overnight.

"There's been no open flames for hours. It's just smoldering," Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Ron Haralson said Sunday night. "We want that to continue but the winds are going to grow and we risk a flare-up."

The fire, which broke out about 2 a.m. Sunday, burned through 2,066 acres of rugged terrain in the Angeles National Forest, razing a house, a garage, several sheds and three mobile homes. More than 1,200 people were evacuated and advised not to return to their homes overnight.

The fire was 20 percent contained Sunday night and no serious injuries were reported.

But Haralson warned the situation could easily deteriorate as powerful Santa Ana winds of up to 60 mph were forecast to arrive from inland areas. Gusts could spread embers and ignite parched brush and chaparral as far as a mile away.

A "fire weather watch" was declared Sunday afternoon for all of Southern California except the deserts through Tuesday.

Some 1,000 people were deployed to fight the fire along with water-dumping helicopters and planes.

The blaze threatened neighborhoods around Kagel and Lopez canyons, forcing the evacuation of about 450 homes. Many displaced residents sought refuge at a shelter set up at nearby San Fernando High School. Horses and farm animals were evacuated to Hansen Dam.

"It burned right down to a couple of neighborhoods," said U.S. Forest Service spokesman Stanton Florea.

The fire was burning south of the Wildlife Waystation, an animal sanctuary and rehabilitation facility set on 160 acres. The nonprofit agency houses more than 400 animals, including lions, bears and deer. Officials loaded up the animals ready for evacuation in case the fire switched direction.

"They are packing them up in case they have to go," said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Dee Dechert.

The cause of the fire was under investigation.

Christian Pregnant women of Orissa Bear the burnt of violence

2008-10-13T09:23:00.003+05:30

Keywords: kandhamal violence, Christian killings in orissa, communal violence
BHUBANESWAR: The relentless persecution of Christians in Kandhmal, forcing them to remain in relief camps scattered across Orissa, is now presenting a new problem — unsafe deliveries by women. Stranded without access to doctors, hospitals or medical kits, most women are delivering in relief camps with the help of fellow refugees and — if they are fortunate — some anganwadi workers.

But not all have been lucky to be able to give birth. "There have been 10 miscarriages in the past week," said Jyotirmoy Naik in Cuttack. "Nirmala Digal, Mita Digal, Ranju Naik, Padmini Naik, Mithila Naik — all miscarried because there's no help for expecting women at the camps."

Jacob Pradhan, a Christian priest, said: "In the last week, three women in Baliguda delivered babies, but all away from hospitals. They gave birth in unhygienic conditions and got the help of anganwadi workers. It's a huge struggle."

Rev Prakash Naik, who's active in the Raikia camps, said even if women do manage to give birth, the conditions in the relief shelters are so bad that mortality is a big fear. "Just look around Vijaya school camp and you'll see what I mean. Survival is a huge factor. Water has gathered in dirty, mosquito-infested puddles and people are defecating in the open."

Many other miscarriages took place as Christians fled to the jungles and stayed there for days with attacks against them showing no signs of abating.

"Pregnant women suffered as they hid in the forests. While lack of food hindered healthy deliveries for the emaciated, others slipped and fell while running for their lives," said Krishna Kanta Naik, a social worker in Baliguda.

"Nine women have delivered at the camps in the past week, but the children are very unhealthy."

Caught in such testing times, the names of the babies, before their formal christening, reflect the travails of the mothers. While one infant is called Danga (riot), another is Sangram (rebellion). "Of course, the formal names will be given after 21 days, as is our ritual, but elders are calling them by these names," said Nalin Naik.

"Because these are the only words that are there in the minds of people here right now."

But what is also upsetting many in the camps, apart from risk-laden deliveries, is the inability to observe 'ekusia', the 21-day ritual marked by women when someone among them has a baby.

Amitabh Bachchan Condition Stable

2008-10-12T23:57:00.003+05:30

Keywords: amitabh results normal, Amitabh Bachchan condition normal, hospital
Mumbai, Oct 12 (IANS): Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan's test-results are normal and he will be released soon, says doctor.

Mr. Amitabh Bachchan had a restful night at Lilavati Hospital. The doctors attending on him are pleased with his recovery. The tests do not suggest any abnormality under the circumstances, medicines have worked. Within few days he will go home, doctor Narendra Trivedi, VP, Lilavati Hospital, said in a statement here Sunday.

Bachchan, who was in the midst of his 66th birthday celebrations at his bungalow Pratiksha in Juhu, was rushed to the Nanavati Hospital early Saturday afternoon after complaining of abdominal pain and breathlessness.

He was then shifted to the Lilavati Hospital where he continued to be under observation. Bachchan was being treated in suite number 1101 on the 11th floor of the hospital.

The megastar had undergone blood investigation and CT of the abdomen.

His wife Jaya, daughter Shweta Nanda, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya were attending on the senior Bachchan in the hospital.

Other than close family friends Reliance ADAG head Anil Ambani and Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh, Priya Dutt and Tinu Anand were among the large number of people who visited the hospital to enquire after Bachchan's health.

If Obama wins, Sarah Palin to run for president in 2012

2008-10-12T23:43:00.004+05:30

Keywords: palin president 2012, obama wins president, sarah palin to run president 2021
With his electoral prospects fading by the day, Senator John McCain has fallen out with his vice-presidential running mate about the direction of his White House campaign.

McCain has become alarmed about the fury unleashed by Sarah Palin, the moose-hunting “pitbull in lipstick”, against Senator Barack Obama. Cries of “terrorist” and “kill him” have accompanied the tirades by the governor of Alaska against the Democratic nominee at Republican rallies.

Palin, 44, has led the character attacks on Obama in the belief that McCain may be throwing away the election and her chance of becoming vice-president. Her supporters think that if the Republican ticket loses on November 4, she should run for president in 2012.

A leading Republican consultant said: “A lot of conservatives are grumbling about what a poor job McCain is doing. They are rolling their eyes and saying, ‘Yes, a miracle could happen, but at this rate it is all over’.

“Sarah Palin is no fool. She sees the same thing and wants to salvage what she can. She is positioning herself for the future. Her best days could be in front of her. She wants to look as though she was the fighter, the person with the spunk who was out there taking it to the Democrats.”

Palin Booed at Flyers-Rangers Game | Youtube Video

2008-10-12T23:29:00.003+05:30

Keywords: Palin Video, Palin Booed Video, Philadelphia game video

Philadelphia: Vice-presidential candidate and perhaps the world's most famous hockey mom Sarah Palin dropped the puck at the Philadelphia Flyers' Wachovia Center for the team's season opener against the NY Rangers. And she got resoundingly booed.

Fans from the city of Brotherly Love have reportedly booed Santa Claus at a Philadelphia Eagles game, so Palin shouldn't feel too bad. But one woman protesting outside a fund-raiser told the Daily News, "I have two daughters who are Ivy-League educated. When we're given an opportunity to have a woman run for vice president of the United States, the woman we get is Sarah Palin. I came to protest because of my own sense of outrage. This is such a shame for other smart women who aspire to have political careers."

Watch Video:

N. Korea to resume nuclear plant dismantling, US takes it off terrorism list

2008-10-12T23:21:00.004+05:30

Keywords: north korea, nuclear weapons, nuclear plant, US terrorism list

SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) — North Korea said Sunday it welcomed the United States’ decision to take it off a list of states that sponsor terrorism, and said it will resume disabling its nuclear facilities.

“We welcomed Washington’s moves to follow through on their responsibilities according to the agreement reached … as well as ending the application of the trade law for enemy countries,” a spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement carried by the (North) Korea Central News Agency.

In a version of the statement that South Korean news agency Yonhap carried, North Korea also said it will now resume disabling its nuclear plants.

“With the move by the United States we will also fulfill our ‘action for action’ principle and resume the disabling of the (Yongbyon) nuclear facilities and allow inspectors from the United States and the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) to resume their responsibilities,” the statement said.

North Korea halted the dismantling of the plutonium-producing plants in August after a stalemate over verification measures.

Palin report a sting for John McCain

2008-10-12T22:57:00.004+05:30

WASHINGTON: It wasn't technically an October surprise because it should not have been, by any definition, a surprise to the GOP presidential ticket but an Alaska investigator's declaration that Gov. Sarah Palin abused the power of her office was still ill-timed for Sen. John McCain.

For the second time in as many months, McCain's choice of running mate risks undermining his attacks on Democratic rival Barack Obama.

"It's just an awful end to an awful week for McCain," said John Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College in California.

The Republican presidential and vice presidential nominees spent last week pummeling Obama on questions of character and judgment. They called the Illinois senator "blinded by ambition" and "too risky for America." Then came Friday's report from investigator Stephen Branchflower which threatened to throw those questions right back at Palin and McCain.

Branchflower said that Palin was within her rights as governor to fire her public safety commissioner, but that she "knowingly permitted a situation to continue where impermissible pressure was placed on several subordinates in order to advance a personal agenda" — namely, the termination of Palin's former brother-in-law, state Trooper Mike Wooten. Palin also improperly allowed her husband, Todd, to use state resources in his efforts to get Wooten fired, the report stated.

A lawyer for the Palins released a rebuttal which contends that Palin could not have violated the ethics law because she derived no financial benefit from her actions. Asked Saturday if she abused her power, Palin told reporters, "No, and if you read the report you will see that there was nothing unlawful or unethical about replacing a Cabinet member."

McCain knew about the investigation when he made Alaska's first-term governor his VP pick in August — just as he knew her lack of political experience could complicate his claim that Obama, a first-term U.S. senator, was "dangerously unqualified" for the presidency. He accepted those possibilities, it appeared, because of Palin's potential to energize the GOP base and reinforce his "maverick" image in a year when voters are demanding change in Washington.

Palin's selection gave McCain a brief polling bounce and continues to thrill religious conservatives. But his attacks on Obama's experience lost steam, and in recent weeks, McCain has lost ground in national and battleground-state polls as the American economy spiraled downward.

He tried to climb back last week by criticizing Obama for his association with William Ayers, a former member of the 1960s radical anti-war group Weather Underground who served on an educational foundation board with Obama. Despite repeated attacks on the stump and in television ads, polls by Friday showed no significant movement to McCain, even before a bipartisan Alaskan legislative council voted to release Branchflower's report.

"The charge of abuse of power" in the report, said Jon Delano, a political science professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania, "undermines the claim that you're going to Washington to clean it up."

The report detailed how an ugly divorce and custody dispute spilled into the statehouse, with the Palins launching a campaign to get Wooten fired. It is at least the third time a mingling of Palin's personal life with her duties as governor has stirred controversy.

Palin used at least two personal e-mail accounts outside of the state of Alaska's official e-mail system to conduct state business, according to reports. Since becoming governor in December 2006, Palin has collected nearly $17,000 in state per diem payments for more than 300 days she stayed in her own home in Wasilla, 600 miles from the capital, Juneau. The per diem usually applies to state employees lodging away from their homes while on official business.

Republicans have defended Palin in each instance, saying she used the outside accounts to scrupulously separate personal and state business and noting she cut gubernatorial costs in other ways. The McCain campaign has for weeks portrayed the "Troopergate" investigation as a partisan witch-hunt, though Palin initially said she welcomed it.

Obama's campaign e-mailed reporters a story about the Branchflower report on Friday, but the candidate never mentioned it on the trail Saturday. If Obama lets the story drop, Delano and Pitney agree, it might not impact swing voters much—especially with the economy dominating headlines.

"McCain can take some grim satisfaction," Pitney said, "in the fact that, in this case, bad news was overwhelmed by worse news."

Meghna Subhedar returns from dead after 6 months

2008-10-12T22:47:00.003+05:30

Keywords: meghna subedar, meghna subhedar not dead, meghna subedar returns

THEN AND NOW: A montage shows photos of Meghna Subhedar six months ago (L) and now.

New Delhi: A 28-year-old woman who went missing six months ago and was later declared dead mysteriously resurfaced on Friday when she called her parents from Pune and asked them to rescue her.

“Meghna called us up at 4 pm and said, ‘Daddy, I’m in Pune. Please come and take me back home. I’m in trouble.’ When we asked her where she was, she said she was calling from a local phone booth in Pune,” Meghna’s mother, Anjali Subhedar, said.

Meghna’s doctor parents asked her to go to a relative’s house in Pune while her father made arrangements to go to the city and bring her.

But the Meghna that reached her relative’s house was unrecognisable.

“She came here round 5 pm and asked me if I recognised her. She was in a really bad state. He clothes were shabby and her condition was like that of a beggar,” Vinayak Ramkrishna Karker, Meghna’s uncle, who lives in Pune, said.

Meghna, a Bangalore-based software professional, went missing on April 11. She had reportedly called her parents in Korba in Chhatisgarh and informed them that she would be boarding the Gitanjali Express for her hometown the same day.

However, when she did not reach home, her parents filed a missing persons complaint with the Government Railway Police station.

Two months later, her father registered a murder case after a decomposed body of a woman was found on Goa’s Candolim beach on June 25, but subsequent DNA tests revealed that the body was that of another individual.

Nobody knows what happened to Meghna in the last six months. The police tried to record her statement, but she’s won’t speak.

Her family is just happy that the daughter they thought they had lost has returned home.

Sonia's dream rail factory at stake: UP govt withdraws land

2008-10-12T22:40:00.002+05:30

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Sonia Gandhi was to perform a `Bhoomi Poojan' at the site October 14, Tuesday.

Lucknow, Oct 12: In a major development ahead of Congress president Sonia Gandhi's visit to her constituency of Rae Bareli, the Uttar Pradesh government has reportedly withdrawn the land it sanctioned for an ambitious rail coach factory project of the party-led United Progressive Alliance central government.

The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) state government has withdrawn 400 acres land it had given. The factory was slated to come up on 1,200 acres.

In February last year, Gandhi, along with union Railways Minister Lalu Prasad, laid the foundation stone of the factory. She is to perform a `Bhoomi Poojan' at the site October 14, Tuesday.

"We are surprised by the government's decision and want to know the reason behind it," state Congress spokesperson, Akhilesh Pratap Singh, told IANS on phone.

The district administration of Rae Bareli claims that the railways had not been successful in procuring the rest of the land (of the 1,200 acres required) as yet.

Santosh Kumar, district magistrate of Rae Bareli said, "Besides the 400 acres of land given by the state government, the railways till date has not been successful in getting the remaining land (over 800 acres). There is visible unrest amongst the local farmers who have even threatened to commit suicide if their land is not returned."

He claimed that since the railways had failed to acquire the remaining land, the locals fear the factory is a far fetched dream.

According to sources, the local administration received the government order cancelling the allotment on Sunday morning.

The government is yet to make the announcement public. Sources in Chief Minister Mayawati's office said the decision was taken late on Saturday.

According to sources, the decision will be formally released to the media on Sunday evening, said the source.

Though the Congress has officially announced only Sonia Gandhi's visit, party sources say Railways Minister Lalu Prasad and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi could accompany her.

Besides performing the Bhoomi Poojan, Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to address a public meeting in the Lalganj locality of the district.

Six burnt to death Andhra Pradesh

2008-10-12T22:33:00.002+05:30

Hyderabad, Oct 12: Six persons of a family, including three children, died when a mob set fire to a house in Watli village during fresh communal violence in Adilabad district of Andhra Pradesh.

Police failed to prevent the attack on early Sunday morning though they had been warned that there could be communal violence in the village. No senior officers were in the village at the time of the attack.

District Collector Ahmed Nadeem told PTI three of the dead couldn’t be recognised and all the bodies had been sent for autopsy.

Nadeem, who has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident, said five of the dead were from Hyderabad and were visiting their parents' home in the village for Dussehra festival.

Andhra Pradesh Home Minister K Jana Reddy held a meeting with senior officials in Hyderabad and would visit Bhainsa.

Taking a serious note of the incident, Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy asked district police to be on high alert and prevent the spread of violence.

Adilabad district is tense after four people were killed and 15 injured in communal violence and police firing in Bhainsa town of the district on Friday.

The clashes between members of two communities broke out during the immersion procession of Durga idols. An indefinite curfew imposed in the town on Friday night continued on Sunday.

Tension also prevailed in Nirmal and Adilabad towns, where police have imposed restrictions on assembly of people.

Sister Alphonsa Declared Saint at ceremony in Vatican

2008-10-12T15:28:00.004+05:30

A BLESSED CEREMONY

Vatican, Oct 12: Kerala nun Sister Alphonsa was declared a saint at ceremony in Vatican on Sunday.

Pope Benedict XVI canonised her at a ceremony in St Peter's Square, making Alphonsa the first Indian woman saint. The canonisation took place after 1400 hrs IST.

Pope Benedict had cleared Sister Alphonsa's name for canonisation on June 1, 2007, a process that was started 55 years ago. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 1986 in Kottayam, 40 years after her death.

Sister Alphonsa is credited with curing illness and disease after her death in 1946, with the Vatican approving the reported miracle cure of Genil Joseph, a congenitally deformed child, in 1999.

Alphonsa was born in Kudamaloor, a village near Kottayam, to Joseph and Mary Aug 19, 1910, and after facing several health problems she died July 28, 1946, in Bharnanganam. She was the second saint from India to be canonised.

Alphonsa, who deliberately disfigured herself at a young age to ward off suitors and enter the convent, died at the age of 36. Her tomb became a pilgrimage site and she was credited with several miracles, particularly curing illness and disease.

In the 19th century, Saint Gonsalo Garcia, born in Vasai near Mumbai to an Indian mother and Portuguese father in 1556, was declared a saint.

What Is a Sooner?

2008-10-12T02:22:00.003+05:30

In the 1800s before Oklahoma was a state, it was officially designated Indian Territory and was settled by the Cherokee, Choctaw, Creek, Chickasaw, and Seminole tribes who had been forced to give up their lands and move west. Giving in to pressure from eager expansionists, the U.S. government opened up 2 million acres of the land to homesteaders in 1889.

To claim a lot of land, prospective settlers had to participate in a land run. They lined up and waited for the blast of a shotgun to signal the beginning of the run, at which point they would race eagerly to claim a homestead. A "Sooner" was someone who snuck past the territory markers ahead of the gunshot to get an early start.

Today Oklahoma is known as the Sooner State, and the various athletic teams of the University of Oklahoma are called the Sooners. The official mascot of the University of Oklahoma is the Sooner Schooner, a covered wagon drawn by two horses named Sooner and Boomer, and the school fight song is "Boomer Sooner."

Obama in Economic Terrorism against Media to silence Andy Martin

2008-10-11T21:52:00.005+05:30

Andy Martin
Martin says Obama has passed from dirty politics to criminal behavior, 'but who ever said Chicago was clean? Obama has been involved with criminals and criminal activity all of his life. Read my book, Obama: The Man behind The Mask."

Obama campaign begins terrorizing media to silence Andy Martin

Obama threatens broadcast organizations that interview Martin

'Don't say you weren't warned,' says Andy

'The Obama campaign has become unhinged. We wounded them with the truth,' Martin believes

ANDY MARTIN
Executive Editor
ContrarianCommentary.com

'Factually Correct, Not
Politically Correct'

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

OBAMA CAMPAIGN BEGINS USING ADVERTISERS TO THREATEN BROADCASTERS

ANDY MARTIN PLANS RACKETEERING LAWSUIT AGAINST OBAMA CAMPAIGN FOR INTERSTATE
EXTORTION.

'OBAMA AND HIS THUGS HAVE PASSED FROM HARDBALL POLITICS TO CRIMINAL ACTIVITY' SAYS ANDY

CHICAGO TRIBUNE PASSES ON HANNITY AND MARTIN, UNLEASHES LOS ANGELES TIMES 'FRONT'

COUNTDOWN TO HONOLULU: 'OPERATION ALOHA OBAMA' BEGINS IN 6 DAYS

NEW YORK (October 8, 2008) 'We learned today that the Obama campaign is threatening economic retaliation against news organizations that communicate with me,' Andy Martin stated. 'This is an extension of the terrorist tactics that were directed at WGN-AM in Chicago for featuring critics. We are only a few steps away from a brown-shirted Hitler-style bully boy operation. America: the warning lights are on.'

Here is the first threatening e-mail:

First Name:Gary
Last Name:Riggin
Address:
Address (cont):
City:
State:
Zip Code:
Telephone:410-719-9340
Email:tiznit@verizon.net
Fax:
Enter Comments:Mr. Freedman, I am writing to ask you to end your
association with WCBM radio. This morning Sean and Frank's guest was the
vicious anti-Semitic Andy Martin. Martin once called a judge "a crooked
slimy Jew". I will be happy to spread the word to my friends and family.
Sincerely, Gary Riggin

'Obama, of course, is testing the media,' Martin continues. 'I am the guinea pig. He feels if he successfully uses economic terrorism against me, he can go onto bigger targets and climb the media food chain. If I were Stanley Kurtz I would be worried. Likewise Jerome Corsi. Likewise Sean Hannity.

'Using 25 year-old accusations which have been debunked to terrorize businesses has a name: McCarthyism. After today, no one can pretend they do not know what is in store for the United States if Barack Obama is elected. A Mugabe-style gang will be running the federal government.

'Earlier today I announced I would be sending defamation notices to Barack Obama, Bob Gibbs, NBC News and Keith Olbermann. Those notices were in the process of being drafted when Obama unleashed his economic terrorists. I had originally planned a simple defamation lawsuit against Obama. I will be expanding my accusations to include civil racketeering, or ‘civil RICO.' Threatening people with economic harm if they speak to other people is defined in the federal criminal code as Extortion.

'I wrote the book on RICO, se www.AndyMartin.com. I repeat what I said earlier today: I am unpopular in the judicial system not because I am corrupt but because I am too honest. I am unpopular because I have successfully exposed corruption, which in Chicago also includes media toadies to crooked politicians such as the Tribune's Rick Pearson.

'By threatening media, Obama has morphed from nasty smears and McCarthyism to criminal activity. Threatening media with economic retaliation for interviewing me is a crime. Where did this type of terrorism start? Why in Bill Ayers' Venezuela, of course. Hugo, we hardly knew ye (but then Obama has never known anyone; they just write him $100 million checks).

'The circumstances in Connecticut, where I was falsely accused of anti-Semitism, were similar. I exposed a cooked judge, Jose Cabranes, and a cabal he was using to loot a bankruptcy estate. Cabranes retaliated by unleashing his own criminal activity. Cabranes also sucked Judge Jon O Newman into the cesspool. Both men were rejected for the Supreme Court by President Clinton because of their involvement with this criminal activity. And Obama wants to make me the bad guy? (In an earlier column I gave the name of a Connecticut attorney who can comment on these claims.)

'I will also be contacting Sam Zell in a few minutes to warn him his minions at the Tribune are now trying to use a reporter in Los Angeles to smear me because the Tribune is a defendant in pending lawsuits and faces additional litigation. Deception and deceptive activity is always probative of intent. Sam Zell's ‘front' won't succeed. Let Rick Pearson shovel his own crap at the Tribune.

'I was interviewed by someone from the L. A. Times today who said Fox News should have told viewers that I was involved in a controversy a quarter of a century ago-even though I was innocent. That is a classic definition of McCarthyism, smearing people with irrelevant accusations.

'But the larger question is why has the L. A. Times, as a proxy for the Chicago Tribune, focused on me and Sean Hannity? Why has Obama's ‘communications' man Gibbs attacked Hannity and attacked me? Did I bomb buildings? No. Ayers did. But Obama/Gibbs suggests I am toxic and Ayers is not. Is Obama is trying to suggest that bombing the Capitol or Pentagon is equivalent to being a litigant in a controversial lawsuit, or being a corruption fighter and unpopular consumer champion in Chicago? Hello? You begin to see how desperate Ms. Gibbs is to discredit me. He can't even come up with a logical explanation for his hysteria.

'The big picture begins to evolve. We have a city, Chicago, led by a crook whose family has looted the municipality for over half a century. Richie Daley says a mad bomber is a respected citizen, and a sleazy pol from Chicago should be president. Chicago: the upside-down city. Barack Obama has been a lifelong participant in the Daley Machine. He wants to bring the Daley Machine to Washington, the same way he moved the Democratic Party from Washington to the Daley machine in Chicago.

'David Axelrod has known of me for over thirty years. This is with they are scared. Especially with me headed for Honolulu with a fat notebook of sources and issues. They know I have wounded them, and sent them reeling, and like wounded bulls they are now reduced to economic terrorism against broadcasting stations that interview me.

'I have only one question for the mainstream media: who's next?'

--
Readers of Obama: The Man Behind The Mask, say the book is still the only gold standard and practical handbook on Barack Obama's unfitness for the presidency. Buy it.
Book orders: OrangeStatePress.com. Immediate shipment from Amazon.com or the publisher now available.
-
FULL DISCLOSURE: I recently decided to oppose Barack Obama's election and became Executive Director of The Stop Obama Coalition, StopObamaCoalition.com. By default, I became the national leader of the anti-Obama movement. I am not acting as either a Democrat or Republican. I have had no contact whatsoever with the McCain Campaign. I am not a member of any political organization. The views expressed are entirely independent. I am acting as an American citizen who sincerely believes Obama is not the man we need in the Oval Office. We are going to run a very dynamic and aggressive campaign against Obama. I will continue to write my news and opinion columns for ContrarianCommentary.com. /s/ Andy Martin
--
URGENT APPEAL: The Committee of One Million to Defeat Barack Obama is raising money to fight Barack Obama. CommitteeofOneMilliontoDefeatBarackObama.com. Please give generously up to the maximum of $100. Our ability to fight and defeat Barack Obama is directly dependent on the generosity of every American."
The Committee of One Million to Defeat Barack Obama limits itself to $100 maximum contributions; there are no bundlers, fat cats or illegal contributions. Obama is opposed to everything America stands for," says Executive Director Andy Martin. "But while Obama has raised more than a third of a BILLION dollars, his opponents have raised virtually nothing. We can't just sit back and expect John McCain to do the job all alone. Americans can either contribute now, or pay later. If we do not succeed, Obama will."
E-mail: contact@CommitteeofOneMilliontoDefeatBarackObama.com
-
Andy Martin is a legendary Chicago muckraker, author, Internet columnist, radio talk show host, broadcaster and media critic. He is currently based in New York selling his new book, Obama: The Man Behind The Mask. Andy is the Executive Editor and publisher of www.ContrarianCommentary.com. © Copyright by Andy Martin 2008. Martin comments on regional, national and world events with over forty years of experience. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Illinois College of Law.

Source: www.pr-inside.com

Individual Development Accounts Achieve the American Dream: idanetwork.org

2008-10-11T20:56:00.003+05:30

Keywords: idanetwork.org
Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) are matched savings accounts that enable low-income American families to save, build assets, and enter the financial mainstream. IDAs reward the monthly savings of working-poor families who are building towards purchasing an asset - most commonly buying their first home, paying for post-secondary education, or starting a small business. IDAs make it possible for low-income families to build the financial assets they need to achieve the American Dream.

The match incentive - similar to an employer match for 401(k) contributions - is provided through a variety of government and private sector sources. Organizations that operate IDA programs often couple the match incentive with financial literacy education, training to purchase their asset, and case management.

This site exists to provide basic information on

starting and operating an IDA program,
resources and support services available to IDA practitioners,
federal policy that will take IDAs to scale,
new research on IDAs and asset building, and
events for the entire field.

As an IDA practitioner, you can use these resources to exchange information and ideas about how to best structure IDA initiatives and policies that enable low-income families and individuals to save, build wealth, and contribute to the nation's continued economic growth.

While this site is targeted to the immediate needs of IDA practitioners, it can also be a useful resource for other community economic development professionals, accountholders, financial institution representatives, federal and state policy makers, legislative staff, social policy researchers, press members, and others who share a commitment to expanding opportunities for low-income families to build financial and human capital.

How can I open an IDA account for myself?

Basic questions about IDAs are answered in this 4-page Fact Sheet. [PDF]

Amitabh Bachchan Suffering From Incisional Hernia

2008-10-11T20:05:00.002+05:30


Amitabh is assisted by his daughter Shweta Nanda on his way inside the hospital.

incisional hernia, amitabh incisional hernia, Amitabh Bachchan

In very simple terms incisional hernia, which Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan has been detected with, is a result of an incompletely healed surgical wound. It appears as a bulge or protrusion at or near the area of the earlier incision.

However, 80 per cent patients in his condition can be treated without surgery. Doctors are hoping to treat him with medication. They say that they will also insert a tube through his nose and try and suck out the blockage in his intestines.

If it doesn't work for 48 hours, doctors may then consider a surgery.

In fact, virtually any earlier abdominal operation can develop incisional hernia and the Big B did undergo a surgery of the small intestine in 2005. It is also among the most frustrating and difficult hernias to treat.

Problem last time

In November 2005 also Amitabh Bachchan was in Lilavati Hospital for 22 days to undergo surgery for inflammation of the small intestine, Diverticulitis. It is a common digestive disease, which is develops from formation of pouches in the small intestine.

During the period and that following his recovery, most of his projects were put on hold, including the television show he was in the process of hosting. Amitabh returned to work in March 2006.

Minor Girl Raped in UP Police Station

2008-10-11T16:50:00.004+05:30

Head Constable Shyampal

Ghaziabad, Oct 11: A 15-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a police head constable at the Sahibabad police station, a senior police officer said on Saturday.

Head constable Shyampal, who is related to the victim, picked her up from Bhajanpura on the pretext of recording her statement in a police case.

He then took her to the Sahibabad police station and allegedly raped her

A medical examination conducted confirms rape.

Shyampal has been suspended and a case has been registered at Sahibabad police station last night, he said.

SSP L Ravikumar has also issued an arrest warrant against accused Shyampal.

Birthday: Amitabh Bachchan Shifted to Another Hospital

2008-10-11T16:38:00.002+05:30

Mumbai, Oct 11 (IANS): Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan, who tunred 66 Saturday, was rushed to the Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai’s Vile Parle West suburb following abdominal pain and then shifted to the Lilavati Hospital in Bandra after a preliminary medical check up.The Big B was celebrating his birthday at his residence Pratiksha when he suddenly experienced severe pain, a family source said.

He was rushed to Nanavati Hospital, barely a kilometre from his house in Juhu, around 12.30 pm. Less than an hour later, he was taken to Lilavati Hospital, located around five kilometres away at Bandra Reclamation.

When contacted by IANS, hospital authorities refused to comment on the exact nature of illness for which Bachchan underwent a check-up.

The Bachchans are regularly treated at Lilavati Hospital. Many Bollywood stars undergo treatment there and last month Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama was also admitted there.

Amitabh’s daughter Shweta, son Abhishek and daughter-in-law Aishwarya accompanied him to the hospital, while Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh who was here to take part in the birthday celebrations later visited him at the hospital.

Air India Flight Returned After Smoke In Cockpit

2008-10-11T16:30:00.004+05:30

NEW DELHI, October 11: A major accident was averted today when a pilot of a London-bound Air India aircraft with 130 people on board detected smoke in the cockpit soon after take off from here and returned to ground.

All the 115 passengers and 15 crew members of flight AI-111 were safe. They departed by another aircraft for London, an Air India spokesperson said after the Boeing 777-300 (Extended Range) aircraft landed under emergency conditions.

"This is certainly not a maintenance issue as the aircraft was a new one," Air India Executive Director Jitender Bhargava said from Mumbai, adding the matter will be raised "strongly" with Boeing company.

This is the second time in three days that full emergency was declared at Delhi airport. On Thursday, emergency was declared when a Go Air flight from Mumbai landed here with a damaged nosewheel.

The smoke alarm alerted the pilot of the aircraft about 20 minutes after it took off from the IGI Airport at 6:50 AM today.

The Air Traffic Control was immediately sounded by the pilot, which in turn declared full emergency at the airport.

Fire brigades, ambulances, ladders and other emergency equipment were deployed close to the runway to avert a possible mishap as the plane landed safely.

The emergency was declared at the airport at 7:50 AM and it was withdrawn at 8:25 AM, airport sources said.

"We are taking up the matter strongly with the Boeing company as it is a very serious issue. We cannot expect a brand new aircraft to have this kind of a problem," Bhargava said.

The Boeing 777-300 (ER) was delivered a few months ago and is among the 15 such aircraft ordered by the national carrier.

Amitabh Bachchan hospitalised on 66th birthday

2008-10-11T15:47:00.005+05:30

ILL ON BIG DAY: Bachchan's office maintained it was a "regular check-up".

Mumbai, Oct 11: Actor Amitabh Bachchan was taken to Mumbai's Nanavati Hospital on Saturday afternoon following complaints of stomach pain.

The actor was celebrating his 66th birthday at his residence Pratiksha when he suddenly experienced severe pain, a family source said.

He was rushed to Nanavati Hospital - barely a kilometre away from his residence - in an ambulance and was kept under observation.

Less than an hour later, he was referred to Lilavati Hospital, located five km from there. He will stay in Lilavati for the day, sources say.

Hello Review IBN Masand's Verdict

2008-10-11T15:35:00.008+05:30

Keywords: Hello review, hello hindi review, movie review, hello ibn review

Cast: Sharman Joshi, Sohail Khan, Eesha Koppikar, Gul Panag, Amrita Arora and Sharat Saxena

Director: Atul Agnihotri

There's a scene in Hello in which the six protagonists of the film are trapped in a car that's dangling precariously off the edge of a construction site. Death is imminent.

Until they are saved by a phone-call from God.

This one time — just this one time — you wish God had been busy attending to something more important, so the characters in this film had indeed plummeted down to a gruesome end. For one, it would have made this film at least fifteen minutes shorter. And two, it would have been a very fitting revenge for the agony these characters put you through just watching them go about their scenes in this terrible film.

Adapted from Chetan Bhagat's bestselling novel One Night at the Call Centre, Hello is an embarrassingly amateurish movie. Remember the kind of class plays one put up in the school quadrangle when one was 12?

This film is only a marginally more professional effort than that. The screenplay, written by Bhagat himself and the film's director Atul Agnihotri, is slipshod and contrived, and in fact it's so silly you can't help laughing even when you're not meant to.

The plot's focused on a group of six call-centre employees in Mumbai who're grappling with serious personal issues, and the life-altering experience they go through on this particular night-shift.

Starring Sharman Joshi as a call-centre team-leader in the making, and Sohail Khan, Eesha Koppikar, Gul Panag, Amrita Arora and Sharat Saxena as the members of his team, Hello makes it abundantly clear that attention-to-detail isn't top on its list of priorities.

Call-centre employees everywhere will no doubt be horrified at the careless manner in which their jobs and they themselves have been represented in this film.

Starting with the call-centre in Hello, which looks more like the lobby of a three-star hotel, to its executives who always seem to be on a break or using official lines to make personal calls, the filmmakers seem unaware of and indifferent towards even basic details about the world they've set their story in.

The very backdrop of a call-centre could have made for an interesting film; if nothing else a slice-of-life drama about the youngsters who're employed at such places. But the makers of Hello never really dig deep. What you get are feeble attempts at comedy, a generous dose of America-bashing, and even a serving of some pop-patriotism.

The characters in this film are dull and uninspired, and the actors playing these characters are just as bored.

Sharman Joshi and Sohail Khan lend a few moments of silly humour, but the others appear to be sleepwalking through their scenes.

Some characters — like the call-centre head-honcho and the systems maintenance guy — are exaggerated to such a degree that they come off looking like idiots. Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, who bookend the film with short appearances before and after the main drama, have evidently been roped in to lend some star support, but they can't do a thing to make Hello any less boring.

When you occasionally find yourself laughing in your seat, you realise you're laughing AT the film, not WITH it. In the end, Hello is not just a dull film, it's an extremely stupid one. It's one of those films that has virtually nothing good in it.

I'm going with one out of five and a thumbs-down for director Atul Agnihotri's Hello. Go for a long walk in the park instead of suffering through this awful film.

Rating: 1 / 5 (Poor)

Source: ibnlive.com

More: Hello Movie Review (2008) 2.5/5

Ind-Aus Test Match 2008 Live Score

2008-10-11T15:24:00.007+05:30

Keywords: www.cricinfo.com, ,india australia match, netthandelen, www.cricinfo, www.espnstar.com, icc cricket ,

Refresh scorecard

Batsmen

Runs

This bowler

Last 10 ovs

*Harbhajan Singh (rhb)

54.34

4 (9b)

14 (28b)

Z Khan (rhb)

0.00

0 (7b)

0 (13b)

Bowlers

Econ

Current spell

*MG Johnson (lfm)

16.0

2.87

(0nb, 0w)

3-0-4-1

CL White (lbg)

11.0

3.36

(0nb, 0w)

10-2-30-0

MapMaker Detail Showcase in India: Google

2008-10-11T15:16:00.004+05:30

London (ANI): Within weeks of Google’s Map Maker launch, tens of thousands of Indians have marked details of their cities, towns and villages, many of them previously blank spaces in even the most up-to-date atlases.

Map Maker, created by an Indian, Lalitesh Katragadda, is a tool that would allow users annotate and amend satellite images to produce useful maps.

Now, the technology is being extended to other “information-deficient” regions, such as Africa, and is viewed as the future of map-making. The tool may in fact turn out to be worth billions for Google in advertising revenues.

“We’ve seen a fantastic emotional interplay emerge. People want to map their favourite restaurants, their old school classrooms. This is going to fill in a big piece of the geo-web puzzle,” Times Online quoted Katragadda, as saying.

Google has claimed that it is specifically focussing on “hyper-growth countries” such as India, where maps are changing daily.

Already, there exist a number of websites that let users to amend online maps.
Some bloggers have accused Google of apeing non-profit projects such as OpenStreetMap. org, which places fewer restrictions on how collected information can be used.
However, Google claims that its enormous online reach gives it an edge over others of hitting critical mass.

Katragadda said that its map service has already achieved what his team calls “the genesis effect”, the point at which the wealth of data captured attracts a rush of users to the map site, who in turn plug in more information. (ANI)

Patna University BEET 2008 Results

2008-10-11T13:59:00.006+05:30

Keywords: Patna University, Bed Results, BEET Results, PG Admission, puonline.bih.nic.in, patuniversity.ac.in

PATNA UNIVERSITY

B.Ed. Entrance Test 2008 Click:

Marks of All Candidates

Provisionally Selected Male Candidates Click:
Patna University Other University

Provisionally Selected Female Candidates Click:

Patna University Other University

Note : For Admission details contact concern colleges.

Magic Johnson Accused of faking AIDS

2008-10-11T03:10:00.002+05:30

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) : Magic Johnson says he's outraged that a pair of Minneapolis talk radio hosts accused him of faking AIDS.

KTLK's Chris Baker and Langdon Perry made the remarks during Baker's conservative talk show on Wednesday.

The context for the remarks wasn't clear. According to a partial transcript and audio clip posted on a media watchdog site, mediamatters.org, the remarks came after a caller complained about demands on workers. Perry responded by asking about treatable diseases that a person can live with for a long time "if you just get some basic drugs."

Baker responded, "Like Magic Johnson?"

Perry replied, "Like Magic with his faked AIDS. Magic faked AIDS."

Baker said, "You think Magic faked AIDS for sympathy?"

Perry replied, "I'm convinced that Magic faked AIDS."

"Me too," Baker said.

Johnson issued a statement Thursday saying he was "outraged that Chris Baker and Langdon Perry would minimize such a serious and deadly issue."

"Millions are dying from HIV/AIDS, and the fact that they would make jokes about my status is unbelievable," Johnson said. "Chris, Langdon and KTLK should use their power in a more positive light by encouraging people to get tested for this disease instead of making up such ridiculous lies."

Johnson was diagnosed with HIV in 1991 and retired from the NBA at 32.

A KTLK program director didn't immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) falls to lowest level in five years

2008-10-11T02:49:00.003+05:30

New York, Oct 10 (PTI): The US benchmark index Dow Jones Industrial Average has plunged to its lowest level in five years, amid negative market sentiments in the world economy and some analysts predicting that recovery could take a long time.
In the last ninety minutes of trading, the Dow index dropped to 8,579.19, the lowest level in five years, down as much as 679 points.

In percentage terms the Dow saw its 11th largest since the index came into effect, with a fall of 7.3 per cent yesterday.

The fall was witnessed even as foreign ministers of major powers are to meet today in Washington to chalk out steps to restore confidence in the light of failure of measures taken so far, including cut in interest rate, to stem the blood bath.

Analysts said after the seventh straight day of losses, stocks have lost around USD 2.3 billion in a week as investors saw their wealth plummeting by USD 8.4 trillion dollars after year-long decline.

The New York Times reported that no corner of the market was left untouched as investors dumped stocks en masse with 1,754 stock falling and just 87 rising.

In the last six trading days, the Dow has plummeted a staggering 2,251.8 points losing 20.8 per cent.

Besides, 'The Times' quoted analysts as saying that at current prices, the market is suggesting that investors fear the country could face a severe and long recession that has not been seen since at least the early 1970s.

The global stocks have continued to suffer despite the approval of USD 700 billion bailout package, Dutch government readiness to pump 20 billion euros in the market to shore up banks and other European nations considering similar injection of capital to unfreeze credit markets. PTI

Related Topics:
Dow Jones Industrial Average On October10

DJIA : Dow Jones Industrial Average On October10

2008-10-11T02:44:00.003+05:30

Dow Jones Industrial Average

8,451.19

-128.00 / -1.49%

Oct 10 4:09pm ET †

Open:	8,568.67
High (day):	8,901.28
Low (day):	7,882.51
YTD%Change:	-36.29%
Volume:	674,917,756.00
Prev. Close:	8,579.19
52-Week Range (Low - High):	8,579.19 - 14,198.10

	Oct 10 5:00pm ET †	Change	%Change	Level

	Dow	-128.00	-1.49%	8,451.19
	NASDAQ	+4.39	+0.27%	1,649.51
	S&P	-10.70	-1.18%	899.22

	DJ Wilshire 5000	-67.16	-0.73%	9,120.78
	Russell 2000	+23.28	+4.66%	522.48
	Philadelphia Semiconductor	-2.32	-0.93%	246.11
	Dow Transports	+75.26	+2.05%	3,744.74
	Dow Utilities	-19.74	-5.73%	324.57
	NYSE Composite	-105.85	-1.82%	5,704.13
	AMEX Composite	-80.04	-5.84%	1,290.78
	Morningstar Index	-18.99	-0.86%	2,196.95

Open Market Closed *as of previous close

Troopergate Report : Embarrassing Ethics report For Palin

2008-10-11T02:18:00.004+05:30

The Troopergate saga took an unfavorable turn for Gov. Palin as the Alaska Supreme Court refused to shut down an ethics investigation, Thursday. Yesterday’s decision cleared the way for lawmakers to release a potentially embarrassing report on their investigation today.

The probe into whether Palin abused her powers as governor, by firing her public safety commissioner, began before Sen. John McCain selected her as his running mate. Walter Monegan says he was fired in July after resisting pressure by Palin’s husband, Todd, and other top aides, to fire Palin’s former brother-in-law.

GOP lawmakers unsuccessfully sued to block the investigation saying that it had become politicized.

Palin’s husband and top aides signed affidavits Wednesday saying the governor had no knowledge of her husbands repeated requests to state officials to help get his former brother-in-law kicked off the force. The governor has long claimed that the commissioner was fired over a budget dispute.

“I have heard criticism that I am too involved in my wife’s administration,” Todd Palin wrote in his affidavit furnished by the Associated Press. “My wife and I are very close. We are each other’s best friend. I have helped her in her career the best I can, and she has helped me.”

According to the documents, Todd Palin had personal contact with many of his wife’s top staffers, often telling stories of his former brother-in-law threatening and abusing his family. The New York Times reports that the fired official was contacted three dozen times in 19 months by the governor and her staff.

The McCain campaign tried to hedge any damaging affects or distractions the report may cause by releasing its own report, today, clearing her of any wrongdoing. “The following document will prove Walt Monegan’s dismissal was a result of his insubordination and budgetary clashed with Governor Palin and her administration,” the campaign wrote. “Trooper Wooten is a separate issue.”

The to-be-released 300-page ethics report could recommend that the case be closed, that another committee continue to investigate, or that the matter be referred to criminal investigators.

Charlie Manuel Mother dies before Game 2

2008-10-11T02:04:00.004+05:30

PHILADELPHIA (AP) : A grieving Charlie Manuel plans to be in the Philadelphia Phillies' dugout Friday afternoon for Game 2 of the NLCS, just hours after his mother died.

The Phillies said that June Manuel died Friday morning at Roanoke (Va.) Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. She was 87. The Phillies had no information about the cause of death.

Manuel found out Friday morning after a meeting with his staff before the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Manuel watched batting practice from his customary spot behind the cage, but did not talk to the media and his usual pregame press conference was canceled.

Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez, whom Manuel managed in Cleveland, was among the players and coaches who stopped to offer condolences. Dodgers manager Joe Torre put a hand on Manuel's shoulder as the two chatted, and former Phillies closer Mitch Williams also dropped by behind the cage.

Manuel shook some hands as he walked into the dugout after batting practice, but did not take questions. The Phillies beat the Dodgers 3-2 in Game 1 on Thursday night.

June Manuel lived in still lived in Buena Vista, Va., where the Phillies manager was raised. She is survived by 10 children. Funeral arrangements were pending.

Palin Report: Secret Meeting on Palin ethics report

2008-10-11T01:52:00.005+05:30

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) : Alaska lawmakers met behind closed doors Friday to discuss a politically charged ethics report into Gov. Sarah Palin's firing of her state public safety commissioner.

The Republican vice presidential nominee has been accused of firing a state commissioner to settle a family dispute. But the report, to be released Friday afternoon, is also expected to touch on whether Palin's husband meddled in state affairs and whether her administration inappropriately accessed employee medical records.

Sensitive to accusations of political bias, lawmakers ordered the report be held under the utmost secrecy. Members of a legislative committee were forced to sign a confidentiality agreement before reading it, and each page contained a special watermark and a unique number to trace it if it was leaked.

The inquiry, approved by a bipartisan vote, began before Republican presidential nominee John McCain named Palin his running mate.

Since then, however, the case has been dogged by accusations of political influence, particularly after the Democrat overseeing the case, Sen. Hollis French, predicted an "October surprise" for the McCain campaign.

As lawmakers filed into a meeting room in downtown Anchorage, they were greeted by Palin supporters wearing red clown noses and carrying balloons, cheering that the circus was in town.

Some Republicans have questioned why the committee has insisted on finishing the investigation Friday, which they said was an arbitrary date meant to damage the McCain-Palin campaign with less than a month to go before Election Day.

Before lawmakers broke for their closed session, Republican state Rep. Peggy Wilson questioned whether the committee was rushing to a conclusion without time to read the estimated 300-page report and 1,000 pages of supporting documents.

"This is a pretty serious thing and I don't feel comfortable even talking about it until I've got it all read," Wilson said. "I don't know if anyone else, maybe they're speed readers, but I spent hours on it yesterday and I didn't have time to read it all."

But the committee chairman, Democratic Sen. Kim Elton, offered no delay.

"I could have spent four days, but I do believe that within the first two to three hours, I had a good understanding of what the investigator's findings were," he said.

The legislative panel's investigation — one of two that are ongoing — focuses on Palin's firing in July of Public Safety Commissioner Walter Monegan. Monegan says Palin and her husband pressured him to fire Mike Wooten, a state trooper involved in a nasty divorce and custody dispute with the governor's sister. When Monegan resisted, he says, he was fired.

Palin's critics say that shows she used her office to settle family affairs.

"When you're the governor, you leave your household hat at home and you become governor," said state Senate President Lyda Green, a Republican who has frequently clashed with Palin.

The report is also expected to focus on Palin's husband, Todd, who had extraordinary access to the governor's office and her top aides. Todd Palin acknowledges calling and meeting over the course of many months with numerous senior government officials about Wooten, whom he described as a dangerous and unstable man who had threatened his family.

Steve Branchflower, a retired prosecutor hired by the Legislature, also investigated whether anyone in the Palin administration pressured auditors to deny Wooten's disability claim. He had claimed he hurt his back moving a body bag, but Todd Palin later said he documented and took photos of Wooten riding a snowmobile that cast suspicion on his injury.

The McCain campaign sought to pre-empt the potentially embarrassing report this week by releasing its own analysis, attributing Monegan's firing to a legitimate dispute over budget priorities and control over the department. They contend that Monegan repeatedly tried to circumvent the governor and her top aides.

"It's not a legal matter as much as a political issue, a management issue, management of her staff," said Thomas Van Flein, an attorney hired by Palin to represent her in the matter.

Hello Movie Review (2008)

2008-10-10T19:00:00.004+05:30

One Night @ Call Centre by Chetan Bhagat is an interesting read with every character well defined by the author. It begins with the author meeting a co-passenger in his train compartment, builds up with the six main characters in the call centre and dwells well on Bakshi, the man in charge of Connexions, the Call Centre the six are working in. It then moves on to the all-important call from God and His conversation with them especially regarding Bakshi, which makes them sit up and take notice and turn things around in their favour.

It's extremely difficult for someone who has read a book and then to see a movie made on it to relate to it. Every time, as a viewer, you will be trying to picture in your mind's eye what you interpreted of the novel. In that respect, it's not always going to be 'up there'. However, where justice can be made, it has to. Like for instance, the character of Bakshi is half baked. This when you have a tight script in your hand is not acceptable. I mean, when you read the novel you want to wring Bakshi's neck with your bare hands. That's the same feeling that goes through Shyam and Vroom's mind in the book. But Bakshi's shortcoming, coupled with his 'diplomatic' bullying tactics, especially towards Shyam, who is never able to say no, is missing. The whole concept of showing Shyam as a 'soft man' never able to stand up to his bad boss is lost.

Also, the way they are all placed at the Call Centre with their desks is debatable. And there are many instances when the scene just takes off. Like when Radhika says she misses her husband, Vroom dials her husband's mobile number. Wherein, in the book, it's brilliantly built up where Vroom asks Radhika if she wants to play "Radio Jockey". In the book, Vroom explains what he means: "I call Anuj and pretend I am calling from a radio show. Then I tell him he has won a prize, a large bouquet of roses and a box of Swiss chocolates that he can send to anyone he loves, anywhere in India, with a loving message. So then, we all get to hear what romantic lines he says to you." A chance of a good scene is washed out here. As a reader, you are kicked in the gut when Anuj says he wants to send the flowers to his girlfriend Payal!

Also, there could have been some more fire in the lovemaking scene between Priyanka and Shyam. It comes off rather tame. The passion is missing. Then there is this scene when their car is hanging precariously on rods at a construction site and the call from God comes. There is this whole conversation that dwells on Bakshi, which explains their actions when they come back. But not in the movie. A viewer who has not read the book will wonder why they are getting even with Bakshi. Finally, there is this trick in MS Word with which they spread panic among the Americans to increase their call volumes. They tell the Americans that there is a virus in the computer and they need to spread the word around and keep calling at the Call Centre. According to Vroom (in the book) all you have to do is open a word file and type =rand (200,99) and press enter. As soon as that is done, you have hundred pages of text, which reads like this... The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog...

Director Atul Agnihotri has taken a few cinematic liberties, which is acceptable, but overall he falls short of rekindling the same sort of emotion that one goes through while reading the book.

To come back to the story, it's about one night in a Call Centre and what happens to the six friends who work there. There's Shyam (Sharman Joshi), Priyanka (Gul Panag), Vroom (Sohail Khan), Esha (Isha Koppikar), Radhika (Amrita Arora) and Milatary Uncle (Sharat Saxena). Then there's the big bad boss Bakshi (Dalip Tahil).

There's also Salman Khan to whom the story is being told to by Katrina Kaif.

All six actors do justice to their characters but it is only Gul who actually speaks in an Americanised accent that a Call Centre employee is supposed to speak in.

Katrina Kaif looks tired, sleepy and bored. Salman in the first part looks every bit the rock star he is portrayed.

I would say a decent attempt but could have been better considering the director had at his disposal a very good story and the services of the author himself.

Rating: 2.5/5

Read More:
Hello Preview And Trailers

Hello Review IBN Masand's Verdict

Hello 2008

2008-10-10T14:35:00.004+05:30

Hello (2008) movie is based on the author Chetan Bhagat's book "One Night at call-centre".
Producer : Atul Agnihotri
Director : Atul Agnihotri
Writer : Chetan Bhagat
Lyricist : Jalees Sherwani
Music : Sajid Wajid
Editor : Umesh Gupta
Sound : Jitendra Chaudhary
Singers : Wajid, Suzy Q, Ishq Bector, Merlin D'Souza, onu Nigam, Zubin, Sunidhi Chauhan
Screenplay : Atul Agnihotri, Chetan Bhagat
Cinematography: Sanjay F Gupta
Release Date : October 10, 2008
Genre :
Studios : Filmcity, Mehboob Studio
Cassettes and CD's : Tips Music Films

HELLO (2008) Wallpapers collection

Star Cast : Katrina Kaif, Salman Khan, Sharman Joshi, Amrita Arora, Isha Koppikar, Sohail Khan, Dilip Tahil, Gul Panag, Arbaaz Khan. Sharat Saxena, Suresh Menon

Hello Movie Story And Synopsis :-

Hello is the story of the events taking place one night in a call centre. For through the views of the main character, Shyam, it is the story for almost a lost love, thwarted the goal, there is no family support, the pressure, the patriarchal set up, and the work environment, globalization of the office. Shyam lose his girlfriend, because of his professional career goes nowhere, as he trudges his way, the call center. His girlfriend, Priyanka, it is also an agent, as he is a call centre which is being snatched NRI is a technogeek. It is also the idea of a model, Esha, who is hoping the break that seems to have always been eluding him and a man around the town, Adobe, which is part of a very relevant. The housewife, Radhika, who has continued to host the end of his mother-in-law and persecuted grandfather, the Military uncle, who has been banned in interacting with his grandson account for the remaining call to writers who see the world crumbling around them the right decisions sizing have been transported, Bakshi, boss. It is night, when the dream finally crumbling. Vai or not? There is a call that God. Fortælles than the story of one than the story of a beautiful woman meets the auteur, and the narrator promises that her story on condition that he has to tell it to, Hello, based on Chetan Bhagat's one night @ the call center, is one of the story noted Tales from the thousand and one of the globalizing, cities, Indian Nights.

Infosys Results: Infosys Second Quarter Results | PDF

2008-10-10T14:23:00.004+05:30

Infosys Technologies (NASDAQ: INFY) Announces Results for the Quarter ended September 30, 2008

Q2 revenues grew by 19% year on year; constant currency 19.5%
Q2 revenues grew sequentially by 5.3%; constant currency 7.1%
Bangalore, India – October 10, 2008

Highlights:

Consolidated results for the quarter ended September 30, 2008

Second quarter revenues at $ 1,216 million, up 19% from the corresponding quarter last fiscal; in constant currency 19.5%

Earnings per American Depositary Share (ADS) increased to $ 0.56 from $ 0.48 in the corresponding quarter last fiscal; YoY growth was 16.7%

40 new clients were added during the quarter by Infosys and its subsidiaries

Gross addition of 10,117 employees (net 5,927) for the quarter by Infosys and its subsidiaries

100,306 employees as on September 30, 2008 for Infosys and its subsidiaries

“We have revised our US dollar revenue guidance to reflect the current economic situation and the drastic depreciation of major global currencies against the US dollar,” said S. Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Managing Director. “The challenging environment provides interesting opportunities for transformational service providers like us.”

PDF Downloads:

Infosys announces Q2 results
Click: IFRS | Indian GAAP

CRR cut to 7.5 pct :Reserve Bank of India

2008-10-10T14:17:00.004+05:30

www.rbi.org.in
MUMBAI, Oct 10 (Reuters): The following is the full text of the statement issued by the Reserve Bank of India on Friday, Oct. 10, on the cut in the cash reserve ratio to 7.5 percent.

On October 6, 2008 the Reserve Bank of India announced a reduction of the cash reserve ratio (CRR) for scheduled banks by 50 basis points to 8.5 per cent of net demand and time liabilities (NDTL) with effect from the fortnight beginning October 11, 2008.

This measure was undertaken with a view to injecting liquidity into domestic financial markets so as to alleviate the pressures brought on by the deterioration in the global financial environment. In the ensuing days, the global situation has worsened further. International stock markets and money markets had been adversely affected in a significant manner. Central banks across the world have responded to these extraordinary developments by synchronised policy actions including measures for liquidity infusion.

In the context of the abrupt changes in the international financial environment, it is important to note that the macroeconomic fundamentals of the Indian economy are strong and resilient and that India's financial system is sound, well-capitalised and well-regulated. Money and forex markets in India have been operating in a relatively orderly manner. The current domestic market conditions are essentially a reflection of the adverse developments and extreme uncertainty in international financial markets.

Market participants are assured that the Reserve Bank stands ready to respond swiftly to meet any liquidity requirements that may arise in the context of the highly volatile external situation.

Accordingly, on a review of the evolving liquidity situation in the context of global and domestic developments, it has been decided to reduce the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) by 150 basis points to 7.50 per cent of NDTL with effect from the fortnight beginning October 11, 2008 instead of the 50 basis points reduction announced on October 6, 2008. As a result of this reduction in the CRR, an amount of about Rs 60,000 crore would be released into the system (instead of the injection of Rs 20, 000 crore announced earlier).

The Reserve Bank is monitoring developments closely and continuously and would respond swiftly and even preemptively to any adverse external developments impinging on domestic financial stability, price stability and inflation expectations and the continuation of the growth momentum of the Indian economy. The Reserve Bank is committed to maintaining financial stability and active and flexible liquidity management using all policy instruments is an integral part of this objective.

The statement is also available on the central bank's website www.rbi.org.in. ------------------------------------------------------------

PFG: Principal Financial Group all-time low Thursday

2008-10-10T02:44:00.001+05:30

NEW YORK (AP) : Shares of Principal Financial Group Inc. hit an all-time low Thursday, joining other insurance stocks in a downward slide as investors worried about the impact of broader economic problems on the sector.

The concerns reflect another move to help American International Group Inc., which received a loan of nearly $38 billion from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York late Wednesday, and troubles for Hartford Financial Services Group Inc. and MetLife Inc., both of which have said the market's recent downturn has hurt their investments.

Goldman Sachs Group analysts Thomas V. Cholnoky and Christopher M. Neczypor, in a note to investors Thursday, said the insurance sector has traditionally been considered a safe haven in difficult markets, but this slump is different. The stalled credit markets, deteriorating mortgages and other issues pulling down the markets appear to be hurting insurers too, they said, naming Principal Financial as one of the companies that has been hard hit.

The analysts cut their third-quarter profit forecast for the Des Moines-based retirement, insurance and financial company to 87 cents per share from 98 cents per share. That's well below the average 95 cents per share projected by analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

The cut reflected lower fee and investment income, Cholnoky and Neczypor said. They also cut their full-year 2008 estimate to $3.60 per share from $3.80, compared with the consensus estimate of $3.79, and shaved their forecasts for 2009 and 2010.

Shares of Principal Financial fell $6.44, or 29.6 percent, to $15.30 in late afternoon trading, their lowest point since the stock debuted on the New York Stock Exchange seven years ago.

PFG : October 9

2008-10-10T02:37:00.003+05:30

PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL GROUP (PFG)
(NYSE: PFG)

After Hours: 17.78 1.99 (12.58%)4:38PM ET

Last Trade:	15.79
Trade Time:	4:02PM ET
Change:	5.95 (27.37%)
Prev Close:	21.74
Open:	22.21
Bid:	N/A
Ask:	N/A
1y Target Est:	49.00

Day's Range:	14.04 - 23.04
52wk Range:	20.60 - 70.85
Volume:	7,059,911
Avg Vol (3m):	2,915,950
Market Cap:	4.09B
P/E (ttm):	6.83
EPS (ttm):	2.312
Div & Yield:	0.90 (3.30%)

MTSU Identifies "Credible Threat" | Classes Cancelled

2008-10-10T01:45:00.004+05:30

MTSU has canceled classes until after the fall break as a result of threats made against the University.

Dr. Sidney McPhee released an alert that stated a credible threat had been identified and as a result classes were canceled for the rest of the week.

The alert said that classes would not resume until Wednesday October 15th which is the first scheduled day back following fall break.

The message said a series of e-mail threats and suspicious fires has been received and that campus police along with other law enforcement agencies have been actively invloved in an investigation.

With the concerns, security will be increased on the campus but offices will remain open during normal business hours.

McPhee urged all of the campus employees that will be reporting to work to mindful of the threat and report any suspicious or unusual activity.

The university will be updating the situation as information is made available.

MTSU is in Murfreesboro and has seen the enrollment rise in the last few years.

W Magazine: Angelina To Breastfeed In W Magazine | Photo

2008-10-10T01:36:00.003+05:30

Life & Style has confirmed that pictures of Angelina Jolie breastfeeding twins Knox and Vivienne will appear in the November issue of W Magazine.

Is that really necessary? What’s next? Snapshots of Brad Pitt on the toilet? Sources who've seen the photos report, "Angelina posed for Brad in one of the photos while breastfeeding. It's really beautiful and tastefully done."

If this is some sort of attempt to prove that they’re “just like us,” we’re not buying it. Every other pic we see of the Brangelina bunch is of them hopping on a different private jet to a different city in the world.

We know she’ll look gorgeous as usual, but it’ll definitely make some new mommies annoyed with how good she looks right after having twins, while everyone else is starving themselves just to get back into their old

'Rednecks for Obama' : Rednecks4obama.com

2008-10-10T01:10:00.004+05:30

SAINT LOUIS, Missouri (AFP) — When Barack Obama's campaign bus made a swing through Missouri in July, the unlikeliest of supporters were waiting for him -- or rather two of them, holding the banner: "Rednecks for Obama."

In backing the first African-American nominee of a major party for the US presidency, the pair are on a grassroots mission to bridge a cultural gap in the United States and help usher their preferred candidate into the White House.

Tony Viessman, 74, and Les Spencer, 60, got politically active last year when it occurred to them there must be other lower income, rural, beer-drinking, gun-loving, NASCAR race enthusiasts fed up with business as usual in Washington.

Viessman had a red, white and blue "Rednecks for Obama" banner made, and began causing a stir in Missouri, which has emerged as a key battleground in the run-up to the November 4 presidential election.

"I didn't expect it would get as much steam and attention as it's gotten," Spencer told AFP on the campus of Washington University in Saint Louis, the state's biggest city and site of last week's vice-presidential debate.

"We believe in him. He's the best person for the job," Viessman, a former state trooper from Rolla, said of Obama, who met the pair briefly on that July day in Union, Missouri.

The candidate bounded off his bus and jogged back towards a roadside crowd to shake hands with the men holding the banner.

"He said 'This is incredible'," Spencer recalled.

It's been an unexpectedly gratifying run, Viessman said.

Rednecks4obama.com claims more than 800,000 online visits. In Denver, Colorado, Viessman and Spencer drew crowds at the Democratic convention, and at Washington University last Thursday they were two of the most popular senior citizens on campus.

"I'm shocked, actually, but excited" that such a demographic would be organizing support for Obama, said student Naia Ferguson, 18, said after hamming it up for pictures behind the banner.

"When most people think 'redneck,' they think conservatives, anti-change, even anti-integration," she said. "But America's changing, breaking stereotypes."

A southern comedian, Jeff Foxworthy, defines the stereotype as a "glorious lack of sophistication".

Philistines or not, he said, most rural southerners are no longer proponents of the Old South's most abhorrent ideology -- racism -- and that workaday issues such as the economy are dominating this year's election.

"We need to build the economy from the bottom up, none of this trickle down business," Spencer said. "Just because you're white and southern don't mean you have to vote Republican."

To an important degree, however, race is still the elephant in the polling booth, experts say, and according to a recent Stanford University poll, Obama could lose six points on election day due to his color.

Racism "has softened up some, but it's still there," Viessman acknowledged from Belmont University, site of Tuesday's McCain-Obama debate in Nashville, Tennessee.

Despite representing the heartland state of Illinois, and having a more working-class upbringing than his Republican rival John McCain, Obama has struggled to shoot down the impression that he is an arugula-eating elitist.

Surely he alienated many rural voters earlier this year when the Harvard-educated senator told a fundraiser that some blue-collar voters "cling to guns or religion".

But Viessman, who says he owns a dozen guns, said Obama "ain't gonna take your guns away."

The South traditionally votes Republican -- victories for southerners Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter were exceptions -- but with less than a month to election day, four states in or bordering the South are considered toss-ups: Florida, Missouri, North Carolina and Virginia.

Viessman says he'd like to think his grassroots movement could sway enough people in small-town America to make a difference.

"There's lots of other rednecks for Obama too," he said. "And the ones that's not, we're trying our best to convince them."