Mamata Banerjee to present Rail Budget today

Railway minister Mamata Banerjee will present the Rail Budget 2011-12 in the Parliament on Friday. Banerjee had on Thursday said that the Rail Budget will be a "passenger-friendly" dedicated to the common man of the country. Speculations are rife that the budget may see some marginal increase in upp
er class AC fare with sleeper class fare remaining untouched. Keeping the passengers' complaints in mind, the budget is likely to propose a slew of passenger-friendly measures like setting up of more Janahaar outlets at stations to provide quality food at reasonable rates.
The budget could also find mention of mega base kitchens in the metros preparing 50,000 to 1 lakh meals per day for train passengers. This would be managed by railway itself as per the new catering policy, sources said.
The budget could also announce launching off a new SMS-based service to lodge complaints against rail service by passengers.
In order to provide clean linens to passengers, Railways are likley to announce setting up of mechanised laundry service at zonal levels.
The Rail Budget is likley to announce introduction of about 100 new trains including a dozen super fast Durontos.
The Budget comes at a time when the Railways are facing financial crunch with its operating ratio inching close
to 100 level mark. "So there will be a few measures for generation of more internal resources," sources said.
Mamata, facing Assembly elections in West Bengal in two months, could also announce a slew of projects for her state, including a rail link connecting the busy Howrah and Sealdah stations running through the densely populated central
districts of Kolkata.
In order to promote cultural activities, Railways are also planning to construct auditorium in Kharagpur, Jalpaiguri
and Jabalpur.
Catering to the student community, she could also announce running of student special trains keeping in mind the
travel requirement during examinations and trains with only bookings under Tatkal scheme.

SA ease to victory against Windies

New Delhi, Feb 24: After a couple of early hiccups, it was smooth sailing for South Africa in the 7th match of the World Cup 2011, at Delhi, as they went on to claim victory against the West Indies by 7 wickets with 7.1 overs to spare.

A B de Villiers steered his side home with a masterful 107 not out and was ably supported by Graeme Smith,who made 45,and J P Duminy,who scored an unbeaten 42. Earlier in the day, South African bowlers Imran Tahir and Dale Steyn triggered a latter order collapse of the Windies taking 4/41 and 3/24 respectively to limit their opponents to 222 in 47.2 overs, when at one stage it looked like they would cross 250.

The South African innings appeared to have been given a forceful start, before keeper Devon Thomas took a spectacular catch to dismiss Hashim Amla for 14 off 14. South Africa were 15/1 when Jacques Kallis came to the crease. But no sooner had the batsman settled in than he was unsettled by a ripper from off-spinner Suleiman Benn who had him caught at slip for 4. It appeared for an instant that the Windies had wrested back control of the match at 20/2 in 5 overs.

But the next batsman A B de Villiers, wasn't going to back down. He flayed Kemar Roach for three fours in the 8th over to take South Africa to 40/2. In the 10th over, Graeme Smith took a single off Windies' captain Darren Sammy to bring up his side's 50 and together with de Villiers, pressed ahead swiftly. The runs were coming fairly smoothly, though the boundaries appeared to have parched up. However, in the 22nd over, de Villiers lofted off-spinner Chris Gayle for a huge six to take his side past 100.

Then there was more aggressive play from de Villiers in the 28th over, when he carted Benn for a four and six off successive balls as the Proteas climbed to 138/2. But in the very next over, against the run of play, Pollard got the breakthrough when his medium pace pegged back the stumps of Smith for 45 off 78 balls. South Africa were 140/3 in 28.3 overs. Their position in the context of the match however, was still strong and with J P Duminy, the next man to sign in, the Windies chances to forcing an upset were looking bleaker by the ball.

This situation was only accentuated when Duminy smacked Pollard for a four to bring up his side's 150 in the 31st over. Only a brief spell of rain came to the Windies' aid, but once the dampness subsided, the Proteas' onslaught continued. De Villiers took a single of Benn in the 39th over as the score now read a healthy 200/3. Just running a few more ones and twos got South Africa home by a mile. The Proteas had reached 223/3 in 42.5 overs.

Ban on pre-paid mobile phone services regressive:Omar

Srinagar, Feb 21 (TSN) Terming the possibility of blanket ban on prepaid mobile services in Jammu and Kashmir as regressive, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today blamed the service providers for dragging their feet on verification.
"It''s the mobile service providers who are dragging their heels regarding verification and creating a problem for everyone else," Omar said on the micro-blogging site twitter.
Omar said imposing a blanket ban would be a regressive and counter-productive measure and ways have to be found to avoid it.
"I agree, a blanket ban is regressive and counter-productive. How to avoid it is to be worked out," he said.
Department of Telecommunication in a notification to mobile operations extended the permission for prepaid mobile connections in Jammu and Kashmir till March 31, 2011, giving rise to apprehensions that the service might be banned.
The notification was issued after discrepancies and shortcomings came to surface with regard to the verification of subscriber credentials in many cases.
Prepaid connections in the state were banned in 2009 as many SIM cards were recovered from the possession of militants and their sympathisers. However, the ban was lifted in January 2010 but strict guidelines for re-verification were notified to the telecom companies. PTI MIJ

Nokia launches X3-02, C3-01 models

Chennai, Feb 23 (TSN) Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia today announced its debut in the ''Touch and Type'' segment, with the launch of X3-02 and C3-01 handsets.
"The latest offering to consumers was best of both the worlds, with the phones having both touchscreen facility as well as the keypad," Nokia General Manager (South) T S Sridhar.
Priced at Rs 8,839 and Rs 9,389, X3-02 and C3-01 boast of a variety of features, including 3G and Wi-fi facilities, he said.
"The two new Touch and Type devices by Nokia are designed for those who like to stay connected and share experience with their social group," he said.
Nokia X3-02 is 3G enabled among others and has dedicated music and messaging keys, with just 9.6-mm width, making it one of the "slimmest Nokia phones ever", he said.

Tihar Jail launches Facebook page

New Delhi, Feb 15 (TSN) The country''s biggest jail -- Tihar Prisons -- today joined the IT bandwagon by logging in to social networking site Facebook.
"We have launched our Facebook page today. Our page ID on this website is Central Jail Tihar. Since we wanted to improve our performance and also update the masses about our day-to-day activities, we opted for Facebook as there could be no better medium to interact with the masses then this. It was the idea of DG Prisons, Neeraj Kumar to join Facebook," Sunil Gupta, spokesperson and law officer, Tihar Jail, said.
He said Tihar is the most famous prison in the whole of south-east Asian region.
"It is a role model for prisons in other countries. Through Facebook, we will inform the public about our new plans, initiatives and also make the users aware about the existing activities being undertaken inside the prison premises. We will invite suggestions, reactions and views from people all over the country," he said.
Along with other issues, the problem of over-population inside the prison premises has been brought to the notice of the masses in their Facebook page.
"In Delhi there are nine Central Jails at the Tihar campus and one District Jail at Rohini (North Delhi). These ten jails have a sanctioned capacity to keep 6,250 inmates. However, against this, there remain, on an average, 10500 prisoners lodged at any given time," the Central Jail Tihar page read.
Amongst the government agencies to have joined these social networking sites are the Delhi Traffic Police and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi.
Gupta said they will also tweet. He said details on its factory products like namkeen and biscuits which are now very popular among the people in Delhi will also find a mention in this page.
Meanwhile, former cricketer Madan Lal today visited the Tihar Jail prisoners to motivate and cheer them for the inter-jail cricket championship held here.
Gupta said, "A cricket match was held between inmates of Jail two and three. Jail 3 inmates won by three runs. When Madan Lal gave away the trophy to the winner, he insisted that we inculcate the habit of playing cricket amongst our inmates. This information will also be updated soon on the website." PTI SWT

Historian disputes modern-day yoga's Hindu identity claims

Yoga, as it is practiced now, is a mix of several techniques, including some Western ones, a historian has said.
Meera Nanda, visiting professor of history of science at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali, says for most Indians, yoga is a living symbol of their way of life, like apple pie is to Americans. But, she adds, they are unaware that the yoga of today can't claim Vedic antiquity.
In an article in Open magazine, she writes: "Lately, Hindus in America have started flying the saffron flag over American-style yoga, which consists largely of yogic asanas and stretches. The leading Indo-American lobby, Hindu American Foundation (HAF), has recently started a vocal campaign to remind Americans that yoga was made in India by Hindus… The purist Hindu position, articulated by the HAF, is that all yoga, including its physical or hatha yoga component, is rooted in the Hindu religion/way of life that goes all the way back to the Vedic sages and yogis."
In Nanda's words: "There is only one problem with this purist history of yoga: it is false. Yogic asanas were never ‘Vedic’ to begin with. Far from being considered the crown jewel of Hinduism, yogic asanas were in fact looked down upon by Hindu intellectuals and reformers—including the great Swami Vivekananda—as fit only for sorcerers, fakirs and jogis."
She says Western gymnastics and body-building techniques show up in the world-renowned Iyengar and Ashtanga Vinyasa schools of yoga.
"Far from honestly acknowledging the Western contributions to modern yoga, we Indians simply brand all yoga as ‘Vedic,’ a smug claim that has no intellectual integrity," she writes.      
She disputes the 'Take Back Yoga' movement, and says "Yoga is to North America what McDonald’s is to India: both are foreign implants gone native."
Nanda says, "By and large, the US yoga industry does not hide the origins of what it teaches. On the contrary, in a country that is so young and so constantly in flux, yoga’s presumed antiquity (‘the 5,000-year-old exercise system’, etcetera.) and its connections with Eastern spirituality have become part of the sales pitch."
Following articles and blog posts appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post, HAF’s Shukla and New Age guru Deepak Chopra got into a spat. Shukla complained the yoga industry wasn't giving credit to Hinduism, and called Chopra a "philosophical profiteer", while Chopra argued that yoga existed in "consciousness and consciousness alone" much before Hinduism.
Nanda describes both views as "equally fundamentalist". She explains: "The reality is that postural yoga, as we know it in the 21st century, is neither eternal nor synonymous with the Vedas or Yoga Sutras. On the contrary, modern yoga was born in the late 19th/early 20th centuries. It is a child of the Hindu Renaissance and Indian nationalism, in which Western ideas about science, evolution eugenics, health and physical fitness played as crucial a role as the ‘mother tradition’."

By her reckoning, "the physical aspects of yoga were hybridised with drills, gymnastics and body-building techniques borrowed from Sweden, Denmark, England, the United States and other Western countries."
Nanda writes: "Contrary to the widespread impression, the vast majority of asanas taught by modern yoga gurus are not described anywhere in ancient sacred Hindu texts. Anyone who goes looking for references to popular yoga techniques like pranayam, neti, kapalbhati or suryanamaskar in classical Vedic literature will be sorely disappointed…. The four Vedas have no mention of yoga….The Upanishads and The Bhagvad Gita do, but primarily as a spiritual technique to purify the atman."
Nanda says BKS Iyengar’s Light on Yoga alone teaches 200 asanas, while the 14th century Hatha Yoga Pradipika lists only 15 asanas, as do the 17th century Gheranda Samhita and Shiva Samhita.
She also credits the Mysore palace under Krishnaraja Wodiyar IV (1884-1940) for the popular revival of yoga in India. She recalls: "The Maharaja, who ruled the state and the city of Mysore from 1902 till his death, was well known as a great promoter of Indian culture and religion. But he was also a great cultural innovator, who welcomed positive innovations from the West, incorporating them into his social programmes. Promoting physical education was one of his passions, and under his reign, Mysore became the hub of a physical culture revival in the country."
She concludes: "The HAF’s shrill claims about Westerners stealing yoga completely gloss over the tremendous amount of cross-breeding and hybridisation that has given birth to yoga as we know it. Indeed, contemporary yoga is a unique example of a truly global innovation, in which Eastern and Western practices merged to produce something that is valued and cherished around the world… Hinduism, whether ancient, medieval or modern, has no special claims on 21st century postural yoga. To assert otherwise is churlish and simply untrue."

Two heroin manufacturing units in NCR smashed; four arrestedNew Delhi,

 Feb 24 (TSN) Delhi Police today claimed to have unearthed two heroin manufacturing units in the National Capital Region being operated by a man presently lodged in Tihar Jail for the past 15 years and arrested four persons.  The gang, led by one Chandra Mohan Makkar who is presently lodged in Tihar Jail, used to sell heroin in England, France, USA, Canada and South Africa, Arun Kampani, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Special Cell), said.  The units in Haryana''s Sonepat and Uttar Pradesh''s Shahibabad were unearthed during investigations between February 14 and 23. The arrested have been identified as Hari Prasad Verma, Anil, Om Prakash and Nand Kishore Tiwari.  Investigators recovered 2.05 kg heroine, 60 litre of acetic anhydride used in preparing in heroine), 5.350 kg of phebarbital and two kg power used to enhance the quantity were recovered from them.  The first arrest was made on February 14 when Verma and Anil were apprehended from Ashok Vihar with 500 gm of heroin. Verma had gone to deliver the consignment to Anil.  Their interrogation led to the unearthing of the manufacturing units in the "high profile" area of Omax City in Sonepat and Shahibabad.  "The unit in Omax City was being run by Verma and his associate Parkash who is an expert in manufacturing of heroin. A raid there led to the arrest of Prakash. 500 gm of heroin was recovered from him besides other chemicals," Kampani said.  Searches were also conducted at Shahibabad yesterday from where Tiwari was arrested while he was allegedly preparing heroin. 300 gm of heroin was recovered from him.  "Tiwari was running this unit after the arrest of Makkar. After Makkar''s arrest, Tiwari fled and shifted the unit to another house. Tiwari and Makkar were running the unit for the last 15 years at the different places," Kampani said.  According to a senior police official, Anil was arrested in 2002, along with a Nigerian National Anne for possessing 5 kg of heroin for which both were convicted with six years of imprisonment in 2008.  "After coming out of jail,  Anil got in touch with Makkar and Verma and they all reactivated their drug network to deliver the drugs to the other countries through persons of Nigerian origin who further use to supply the consignments to England, France, USA, Canada and South Africa," Kampani said.  Verma was originally a dhaba owner but subsequently switched over to drugs smuggling after he met Makkar.  "It was at the flat of Verma where Prakash was engaged in processing of heroine. Verma purchased the flat in the name of his second wife. Makkar used to supply him raw materials," Kampani said. Makkar was arrested on January 10 this year.  Kampani said Verma was "very shrewd" and in order to evade police, he used to change his mobile and SIM numbers very frequently.  He also used to communicate with a person with a particular mobile number and he used to take care not to use same mobile number to communicate with other persons so that enforcement agencies could not track his network.

Shahid, Genelia team up against SRK

New Delhi, February 25 (TSN): It seems that apart from filmmaking and television, brand endorsements are also becoming the most happening thing in B-town, lately. Buzz has it that 'Chance Pe Dance' couple, Shahid and Genelia will now be seen teaming up for the commercial of Colgate toothpaste. By signing the deal, the duo has taken up a tough challenge, as Colgate is a strong competitor of Pepsodent, which is endorsed by the Baadshah of Bollywood, Shahrukh Khan.

Libyans overcome fear to spread word of violence

LONDON (Reuters) - Libyans say they risk arrest or even death for talking to the foreign media because the authorities are desperate to stop information about their violent crackdown reaching the outside world.
A nationwide wave of protests against the 41-year rule of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has been met with a fierce response from security forces which, according to some European governments, has killed several thousand people.
The crackdown has also targeted anyone trying to send information out of the country which deviates from the government's own version of events.
A person outside Libya who has been helping pass witness accounts of what is happening to foreign media said it was getting harder and more dangerous.
"The situation now is that phones are tapped and the regime has been directly targeting people who have spoken to the press," she said.

UK court agrees Assange extradition to Sweden

LONDON (TSN) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, who rocked the U.S. government by publishing thousands of secret diplomatic memos, must be extradited to Sweden to face sex crimes allegations, a British judge ruled on Thursday.
Assange's lawyers said immediately they planned to appeal against the decision to London's High Court and it could still be months before the legal process in Britain reaches an end.
The 39-year-old Australian computer expert remains in Britain on bail in the meantime.
Swedish prosecutors want to question Assange about allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies, made by two WikiLeaks volunteers during his time in Sweden last August.
Judge Howard Riddle dismissed Assange's arguments that he could not get a fair trial in Sweden and said extradition to Sweden would not violate his human rights.
"I must order Mr Assange be extradited to Sweden," he told London's top-security Belmarsh Magistrates' Court in a case covered by scores of reporters from around the world.
Assange, smartly dressed in dark suit and tie, showed no emotion as Riddle gave his verdict.
About a dozen Assange supporters, wearing masks and costumes or Guantanamo Bay-style orange boiler suits, chanted at the front of the court.

Orissa collector released by Maoists

Bhubaneswar, Feb 24 (TSN) Maoist rebels in Orissa Thursday released Malkangiri District Collector R. Vineel Krishna after keeping him in captivity for eight days. Thousands of people gathered to greet the official as he reached his home in the night, a pointer to the development work he has done among the poor and tribals.
'He is released. We spoke to him,' state Panchayati Raj Secretary S.N. Tripathy, who was one of the officials involved in the negotiations, told IANS.
Home Secretary U.N. Behera said: 'We all are happy.' He also said whatever commitments the government has made to the mediators will be kept. 'Whatever agreements have been made, we will put forth them before the government and try to implement them. We will implement them,' he said.
The rebels handed over Krishna to some select mediapersons near a village in Chitrakonda area, about 700 km from Bhubaneswar, from where he and a junior engineer were abducted Feb 16, a source said. The junior engineer was released Wednesday.
As soon as news of Krishna's release reached the district headquarters town of Malkangiri, 618 km from here, people and relatives distributed sweets among those gathered near his official residence.
Thousands of people were seen outside his home when he reached his official residence at around 9.30 p.m. People were shouting slogans and greeting him waving their hands.
After his release, the collector told a local television channel over phone that he is thankful to the people for extending their solidarity. 'I am thankful to all of you. I am thankful at the way you extended support.'
Asked if he was tortured physically or mentally or if he faced any difficulty during his days in captivity, Krishna said no. 'There was no difficulty'. He said he will remain grateful to the people for their support to him.
However, he said during the captivity the thought crossed his mind that from now on officials will be afraid to come to work in a district like Malkangiri. He also said he will continue to do the good work if he stays in Malkangiri as collector.
Krishna's father Ram Babu was happy at the release. 'I came to know about his release from television. It was a great relief for all of us,' he told reporters.
The development came as a big relief for the state authorities who were baffled after the rebels put forward a fresh set of demands Wednesday for the release.
Agreeing to one of their demands, the Orissa government Thursday rushed two mediators to the region for further negotiations with the Maoists. G. Haragopal and Dandapani Mohanty were flown in a state helicopter to Koraput, bordering Malkangiri.
The Maoists were demanding release of several of their jailed colleagues, one was rebel ideologue Ganti Prasadam. Prasadam was released on bail Wednesday. Another top Maoists has been granted bail in one case, but will have to stay in prison as he has more cases against him. More than a dozen jailed Maoists have moved for bail.
The state government is likely to facilitate their bail and the government lawyers will not object, officials said.
Krishna and Majhi were abducted by the Maoists Feb 16. The Maoists, in a letter to the government, listed 14 demands for the safe release of the two hostages.
These included halting anti-Maoist operations by security forces, release of all political prisoners, scrapping of accords with MNCs for land transfer and projects, and compensation for the families of Maoist sympathisers killed in police custody.
The government agreed to all the demands after holding negotiations for several days in state capital with the three mediators Dandapani Mohanty and academicians G. Haragopal and R. Someswar Rao, chosen by the Maoists.

Tanu weds Manu review

Tanu Weds Manu, is a film where you spend a decade in the movie hall (or so it feels) before the event mentioned in the title actually occurs. This feeling is largely dictated by Tanu (Kangna Ranaut) whose screechy speech uttered from her surgically plumped-up lips gets quite insufferable.

But for what it's worth, the movie also has Manu or Dr Manoj Sharma (R Madhavan), a London-returned doctor who is bride hunting across small towns in India. His first arranged marriage prospect happens to be Kanpur-based Tanu, a motor mouth (not a pun on her lips), rebel without a cause who doesn't pause between switching boyfriends or her hairstyle. Predictably, the marriage is called off, leaving Manu nursing a grumpy frown for the rest of the movie, while Tanu rolls up another joint. Yes, Tanu is a pothead and an alcoholic too (because she graduated from Delhi?).

The long and dying road

by TSN
Javier Bardem carries the weight of Biutiful upon his shoulders as if it's a crucifix — and with its excessive length and the multitude of burdens placed upon his character, it's a heavy cross to bear indeed.

The Last Troops to Withdraw

Casualties of War (1989) came out toward the end of the trend of Vietnam War movies in the 1980s after the likes of Oliver Stone, Stanley Kubrick and others had tried their hand at it. By the time Brian De Palma’s film came out the public had grown tired of this sub-genre and, despite glowing reviews from critics, Casualties did not perform as well as hoped at the box office.

Virgin Mary Sighted

NOTE: I know it's not Entertainment, but this is a story I wrote that was picked up by NBC and The Weather Channel.

Amid the ice and snow of winter, Pequabuck residents found a sign that has warmed their hearts.
What started as an ice flow has slowly formed into what residents are seeing as the Virgin Mary.

Randy Blanchette, the man who spotted Mother Mary, brought it to the attention of his kids and neighbors.

“At first it just looked like a waterfall. As the days went on it started to melt and form the Virgin Mary,” Blanchette said.
The ice formation sits between two windows on Blanchette’s neighbor’s roof, and due to the warmer weather has been getting smaller each day.
“It’s so awesome. It changes minute by minute,” Blanchette said, later adding, “I think it’s a natural phenomenon.”
Blanchette pointed out the veil he sees covering Mary, and how it resembles the statue they put into bathtubs.
“It looks like Virgin Mary, plain and simple,” he said.
Jayde and Zacherie Blanchette, Randy’s daughter and son, said they also see the Virgin Mary.
“It’s Mother Mary,” said Jayde.
Jayde is an altar girl at the Immaculate Conception Church in Terryville, and Zacherie will soon be receiving his first communion.
“We are religious,” said Blanchette, who asked that the street featuring the Virgin Mary not be identified.
Be sure to take a look at the video at Bristolpress.com to decide if there’s a resemblance.

Twitter’s European expansion begins, hiring first UK sales staff

We’ve followed Twitter’s plans to expand its staff into Europe for some time. Back in November the company told us that it planned to have “A small number of people on the ground in 2011″. Now it’s starting to make those hires.
As TechCrunch Europe reports today, Twitter is hiring in the UK. However, the company’s starting small, with just Account Executives and Account Managers. These are both sales roles that appear aimed at improving Twitter’s links with British brands and the European advertising industry, which is centred around London.
Account Executives must be “Enthusiastic Twitter user(s) with relevant sales experience, a strong track record, and solid customer relationships”, while Account Managers need “Proactive attitudes, strong backgrounds in user support and account management, excellent communication, and of course, an unflagging enthusiasm for Twitter.”
While the job descriptions say that the staff will be working out of a new London office for the company, this isn’t necessarily a “European HQ” for Twitter. A  tweet from the firm’s Katie Jacobs Stanton says “Location of our Euro HQ is still TBD”. She then goes on to  joke that successful applicants may have to work from a favourite pub or from a cafe restaurant.
Whether it ends up becoming the official European HQ or not, Twitter has reportedly been considering locations in the West End and “Silicon Roundabout” in the East End of London.

Social iPad magazine NewsMix beats rival Flipboard in leaping to the Web

NewsMix is an elegant ‘Social magazine’ app for the iPad that, very much in the vein of Flipboard, pulls in links shared by your Twitter and Facebook friends, displaying them in a magazine format. Now developer Sobees is expanding the service by pushing users’ personalised magazines onto the Web.

Google rolls out Gingerbread update to Nexus S and Nexus One devices

Google has confirmed that it has started rolling out a new Android Gingerbread update for Nexus S and Nexus One devices, bringing with it new features, bugfixes and extended support for NFC.
Google took to its  Google Nexus Twitter account to warn users that a full roll out could take a number of weeks to complete, asking them to be patient as it pushes its OTA update to Nexus S and Nexus One devices:

Apple updates Mac OS X Lion preview page, lists new features

Apple’s new Macbooks have arrived. Earlier today, the store went down whilst Apple employees furiously set about readying its store to feature the new Thunderbolt-enabled Macbook notebooks. It came back up a couple of hours later, much to the joy of Apple fanboys.
One thing that people might have missed is the preview page for Apple’s upcoming operating system refresh; Mac OS X Lion. That page received an update too, featuring new screenshots of mail.app, Auto Save, Versions, Resume and the new Air Drop.

• A new version of Mail, with an elegant, widescreen layout inspired by the iPad; Conversations, which automatically groups related messages into one easy to read timeline; more powerful search; and support for Microsoft Exchange 2010;
• AirDrop, a remarkably simple way to copy files wirelessly from one Mac to another with no setup;
• Versions, which automatically saves successive versions of your document as you create it, and gives you an easy way to browse, edit and even revert to previous versions;
• Resume, which conveniently brings your apps back exactly how you left them when you restart your Mac or quit and relaunch an app;
• Auto Save, which automatically saves your documents as you work;
• The all new FileVault, that provides high performance full disk encryption for local and external drives, and the ability to wipe data from your Mac instantaneously; and
• Mac OS X Lion Server, which makes setting up a server easier than ever and adds support for managing Mac OS X Lion, iPhone®, iPad and iPod touch® devices.

Google and Facebook guilty of not encrypting mobile app traffic

Google and Facebook are not encrypting the mobile traffic sent to and from their services, inviting wannabe attackers to impersonate them or post bogus status updates as a result.
Dan Wallach, a university professor at Rice University in Houston, Texas set up a smartphone security experiment as part of his undergraduate security class to sniff traffic on a network whilst he performed several web requests from his Android handset, detailing his findings in a blog post.
The results from the experiment were telling, noting security lapses on both Google’s and Facebook’s part. Google was found to properly encrypt mobile traffic to its Gmail and Google Voice services but not on its Calendar service, highlighting a small security risk that wouldn’t necessarily expose sensitive information but grant an attacker access to calendar transactions, possibly allowing them to impersonate the mobile user.
Worryingly, Facebook was found to be dismissing secure connections altogether, even if a user had specified that full-time HTTPS (SSL) should be used on their Facebook profile. Wallach found that the encryption request “apparently isn’t honored or supported by Facebook’s Android app”, opening the possibility for an attacker to inject status updates as a result.
Twitter was found to send all communication in the clear also, but because tweets are mostly public by nature, there isn’t much of a security concern. Because the microblogging service utilizes, OAuth, it would be difficult for an attacker to create bogus messages.
The experiment shows that even when popular Internet services do employ secure authentication, it might not be facilitated both ways by the company’s official app. Google is especially at fault, considering the experiment was conducted using an Android smartphone, it’s something that might have been overlooked as the company secured its more data-sensitive services.

Tumblr down again? Tumblr2WP makes migrating to WordPress simple

Premium WordPress theme designers WooThemes has released Tumblr2WP, a new tool to help users port their content from the increasingly unreliable Tumblr platform, importing it into a self-hosted WordPress blog.
Tumblr has experienced huge growth over the past year, but it has also been plagued with scaling issues. It’s increasing downtime frequency even led to the Tumblr team creating it’s own version of Twitter’s Fail Whale; the Tumbeasts.

The premium WordPress theme company waited for the release of WordPress 3.1 to release its tool because the new self-hosted blogging software supports post formats, which were not present in prior releases.
Creating 8 tumblog themes for WordPress, WooThemes is hoping that existing Tumblr users will want to have more control over their content and its uptime, releasing a free WooTumblog plugin that replicates the Tumblr publishing interface on any WordPress installation.
If you’re on Tumblr and want to have more control over your blog and the features if can offer, have a look at WooThemes’ Tumblr2WP Exporter and see if a WordPress blog could be for you.

Playing IPL in India will help in WC: Bravo

New Delhi: West Indies are determined to prove themselves on the big stage and much will rest on the shoulders of vice-captain Dwayne Bravo, who believes the experience of playing in the Indian Premier League will come in handy for the Calypso charmers during the World Cup.

The hard-hitting batsman said the IPL has helped members in his current World Cup squad get accustomed to the sub-continental conditions, especially the slow and bouncy nature of pitches.

"We have got 5-6 players in our current World Cup squad, who took part in the Indian Premier League and are still associated with it. They know the sub-continent conditions, so that exposure will come into play here in India. That has helped them to know how to play in the sub-continent," Bravo told reporters after his side's first practice session at the Ferozeshah Kotla stadium here.

"The South Africans have also got players like captain Graeme Smith and JP Duminy, who have featured in IPL. So they also know about it (conditions). But in the end, it will all depend on how we execute things and prepare ourselves better for that particular day," Bravo said ahead of their Group B opener against the formidable Proteas on Thursday here.

Dwayne Bravo suffers knee injury

New Delhi: West Indies was dealt a blow when it lost all-rounder Dwayne Bravo to injury in its World Cup Group B match against South Africa on Thursday.

Bravo was helped from the field early in South Africa's run-chase after twisting his knee badly trying to field a ball off his own bowling.

It was not clear how serious Bravo's injury was after his left leg bent awkwardly under his weight at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium in New Delhi.

However, a West Indies spokesman said Bravo would definitely play no further part in Thursday's match and would have a scan on his left knee on Friday to discover the extent of any damage.

South Africa were 66-2 when Graeme Smith pushed the first ball of the 14th over back toward Bravo, who tried to move to his left to field it when his left leg twisted under him and he fell.

Bravo was grimacing and looked in some pain as he lay on the pitch waiting for the West Indies trainers and was helped off by captain Darren Sammy and members of the team's backup staff.

Kieron Pollard finished Bravo's over, with West Indies left without one of its key bowling options for the remainder of the match.

The West Indies have already lost wicketkeeper Carlton Baugh and batsman Adrian Barath to injury ahead of the World Cup.

Catherine Zeta-Jones to receive her CBE at Buckingham Palace

London (ANI): Oscar-winning actress Catherine Zeta Jones will formally receive her CBE at Buckingham Palace. She is expected to be accompanied by her husband Michael Douglas. The award was announced last year in the Queens Birthday Honours list, but the Welsh actress was unable to collect it until now because of her husband’s cancer battle, reports Sky News.

The Welsh beauty has been honoured as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for her services to film, industry and charity. At the time of the honours announcement last year she said: "I am absolutely thrilled with this honour. "As a British subject, I feel incredibly proud.

"At the same time, it is overwhelming and humbling. And my mum and dad are delighted beyond belief," she added.

Sonu Nigam to judge X Factor India

Mumbai, (PTI) Playback singer Sonu Nigam will judge the Indian version of the music reality show 'X Factor'. The singing talent show has been adapted from the successful international show 'The X Factor'. The auditions for the show, which will be aired on Sony Entertainment channel, are going on in several parts of the country.

"My consent to be a judge of 'X Factor' is proof enough of my faith in the format, the teams involved and the Channel. Music in India has gone beyond the boundaries of film music. So for all those singers, bands and musicians who are trying to give music a new expression the show will give them a platform to showcase their talent, attitude, passion and commitment," Nigam said.

According to reports, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and music composer Salim Merchant are the other two judges for the show, to be hosted by singer-anchor Aditya Narayan.

"'X Factor' is the greatest platform for singers and performers coming from any and every background. Divided in three categories, candidates - ranging from individuals to groups to couples, will be judged for singing talent, attitude and star quality," Sony Entertainment Television Head of Programming Ajay Bhalwankar said.

The channel has partnered with international company Fremantle Media, the license holders to the format, for the programme. "We are very excited about launching X Factor in India and expect the show to be the biggest and the best yet," Fremantle Media India Managing Director S K Raj Barua said.

World Cup affects on 7 Khoon Maaf

Is it the World Cup effect? Or should the disappointing theatrical business of 7 Khoon Maaf be attributed to its erratic writing? In my opinion, it's a mix of both. Thoda cricket mania, thoda demerits. There was tremendous curiosity to watch 7 Khoon Maaf prior to its release. Plus, the credibility that Vishal Bhardwaj has built over the years ensured that a good chunk of movie-going audience would make a beeline to theatres to watch his latest creation on celluloid. A catchy title, a quirky plotline, novel promotional strategies that caught one's attention and of course, the popularity of 'Darling'… 7 Khoon Maaf had several factors going in its favor. But box-office is most unpredictable, isn't it?

If Patiala House sent shock waves last Friday thanks to its low occupancy, the sad opening numbers of 7 Khoon Maaf, another biggie helmed by a reputed director, brought grief to the industry. The initial reactions ranged from shock to disbelief, since the occupancy was at par, at places even lower, than last week's Patiala House. It seemed like the audience had already made up its mind to skip the film, even before the word of mouth was out. A leading North India distributor had, in fact, told me before its release that the film will enjoy limited patronage in his circuit because the mindset is still traditional and the womenfolk wouldn't really fancy a theme that depicted a woman marrying multiple times… and killing the husbands as well.

Deepika's reform item number in DMD

While, last year it was Munni (Malaika Arora Khan) and Sheila (Katrina Kaif) who broke all the records of the item numbers and took to the crowd by storms, this year it is Deepika Padukone, who is all set to revolutionize the entire theory of sensuous item numbers.

Here we have Bollywood's leggy lass who is all set to take us on a musical ride with her hot item number in Rohan Sippy's film Dum Maaro Dum, starring Abhishek Bachchan, Prateik Babbar and Bipasha Basu. Roshan Sippy promises to bring to the audience an entirely new concept of item songs very different from Munni Badnam and Sheila Ki Jawani.

This will be the first time that people will see Deepika will be showing off her image as an item girl in a film. Reportedly, the song has turned out to be an iconic one with Deepika in a total transformed avatar. There was a lot of planning before giving Deepika the 'Dum Maaro Dum' look for the item number.

The maker of the film, Rohan Sippy, is very happy with the final result of the song. He said that Deepika Padukone has broken all her hesitations, fears and taboos and has gotten into the mood of the song Dum Maaro Dum, which suggests attitude and breaking free.

Looks like the girl has discovered a new avatar in her with the film Dum Maaro Dum, which will hit the screens on April 22. The film is being presented by Fox Star Studios.

World Cup will not affect Tanu Weds Manu; Maddy

He is known to get into the skin of the characters he portrays so effectively that you still remember all his characters crystal-clear. Be it Farhan Qureshi of 3 Idiots, Shyam Saxena of Guru, Flight Lt. Ajay Rathod of Rang De Basanti or his most loved name Maddy of Rehna Hai Tere Dil Mein, R.Madhavan has excelled with flying marks in each of his roles. Maddy, as he is fondly known as, is now gearing up for the release of his next big flick Tanu Weds Manu where he is paired opposite the vivacious Kangana Ranaut. In a candid interview with our correspondent, Madhavan shares his experience working with the team of Tanu Weds Manu, clears a few controversies surrounding the film and of course displays his impeccable sense of humour more than once. Read on…

Deepika Padukone to do item number in Teen Maar

Gorgeous Deepika Padukone is coming back to Tollywood again She is all set to shake her legs in an sizzling item number with Pawan Kalyan in Teen Maar.

Director Jayant C Paranji has decided to have a special song in Teen Maar. He has reportedly requested Deepika to dance in a hot song. It may be recalled that she has done an item song in Jayanth's earlier film Love 4 Ever. It is interesting to note that she played the female lead in Love Aaj Kal, the original version of Teen Maar.

The movie stars Pawan Kalyan, Trisha Krishnan and Kriti Kharbanda in the key roles. Trivikram Srinivas has penned the story and the movie is expected to hit the screens in April 2011.

After Madhuri Dixit, Rajinikanth turns to Rekha

After Madhuri Dixit opted out of Rajinikanth's trilingual movie Rana, the makers of the film have approached actress Rekha to cast her in superstar Rajinikanth starrer film. But the actress is yet to give the green signal to act in the film.

According to reports, Rekha has been offered to play the role of Rajinikanth's sister in the film. The makers of the film thinks that the actress will be a right choice, as she is fluent in Tamil and Hindi. It may be recalled that Rekha-Rajini worked in Phool Bane Angaarey in 1991 and Bulandi in 2000.

The historical Tamil movie Rana is directed by KS Ravi Kumar, which stars Rajinikanth, Deepika Padukone and Sonu Sood in the key roles. The movie is jointly produced by Eros International and Soundarya Rajinikanth's Ocher Studios Private Limited. The movie will hit the floors in April.

Katrina's shift from Salman's family to Ranbir's

| First it was the Salman Khan family that was the only support to actress Katrina Kaif in India. But looks like the actress has been going around making friends in one more B-Town family. Yes ladies and gentlemen it is none other than the hidden beau, Ranbir Kapoor's family.

Reportedly, Katrina has become a favourite acquaintance in the Kapoor Family. Recently she has been spending a lot of time in the Krishna-Raj bungalow with Ranbir's parents, Rishi Kapoor and Neetu Singh. The relationship between the Kapoor family and Katrina has grown so much so that Ranbir took Katrina to meet his grandmother, Krishna Raj Kapoor, who is the first lady of Bollywood.

Krishna Raj Kapoor leaves in their ancestral bungalow in Deonar and Katrina with Ranbir visited her. Reportedly, Krishna has seen a few of Kat's films and is aware of Katrina and Ranbir's friendship. She was very happy to see Katrina Kaif and welcomed her with open heart.

Well, Ranbir is it a new strategy to make Katrina a part of the Kapoor Family?

Tanu Weds Manu Review: a feel good entertainer

I have often observed on my visits to the West that people living overseas are far more seeped in Indian ethnic values, customs, festivities and rituals, when compared to a lot many Indians living in Hindustan. Those who live there believe that by observing and practicing the Indian traditions, they would continue to remain Indian at heart. Most of them also wish to wed an Indian because they consider that their respective spouse would bring along with them time-honored Indian values.

For some strange reason, Hindi cinema has often projected an NRI youngster as a cool and hep dude, pretending to speak Hindi with an English accent. But that, in my opinion, is merely a façade. It's far from real. Sure, there could be exceptions, but every NRI who arrives in India isn't wearing an Armani or Versace. Neither is he a die-hard romantic like Raj or Rahul. In fact, a lot of NRIs I know are amused to note that while they held on to the traditions, the ones in India are more inclined towards the West.

Is Rihanna secretly dating Ryan Phillippe?

 

London, (TSN): Singer Rihanna and actor Ryan Phillippe have secretly met up on numerous occasions over the course of the last few months, it has emerged. According to a U.S. magazine, the pair met up after Rihanna's relationship hit the rocks with baseballer Matt Kemp, and whilst Phillippe was casually dating actress Amanda Seyfried.

“They initially hooked up when things were strained with Matt Kemp,” the Daily Mail quoted a source as telling America's Us Weekly. According to the report, the couple has been top secret about their relationship by pretending they aren't even interested in each other.

At that recent pre-Grammy event in Los Angeles, onlookers claimed 36-year-old Cruel Intentions star approached the 23-year-old only to be rejected. While Barbados-born singer apparently spurned his advances, it has been claimed they actually spent the night together that evening.

The pair has since been spotted at two more separate events. The both attended Bing's Two Kings Charity Event last weekend and he also attended Rihanna's 23rd birthday the following night. “They hung out a bit, but were discreet. It is still very casual. Clearly they are keeping it on the downlow,” the source added.

Tahir, Steyn keep Windies to 222

After the West Indies batsman dominated through to half of their innings in the 7th match of the World Cup 2011, at Delhi's Ferozshah Kotla, the South African bowlers staged a remarkable come-back led by debutant leg-spinner Imran Tahir.

Guided by a 73 off 82 balls from Darren Bravo, the Windies were seemingly cruising at 113 in 23 overs, before Botha struck to remove Bravo and then Tahir held sway, finishing with figures of 4/41 while he was ably supported by Dale Steyn who picked uip 3/24. OnlyDwayne Bravo and Shivanrein Cahnderpaul were able to stem the rot for a while, but the latter order caved in like a house of cards

Being put into bat, the West Indies didn't get off to a good start. They lost Chris Gayle for 2 in the first when he was caught at slip off off-spinner Johan Botha. The Windies wree 2/1 in 0.3 overs when Darren Bravo walked out to the middle.

He immediately began counter-attacking, striking pace bowler Dale Steyn for two boundaries in the 2nd over. Surviving opener Devon Smith and Bravo took a four each in the 5th and 6th overs as the West Indies moved to 28/1 in 6 overs. In the 8th over, Bravo went after Jacques Kallis, clobbering him for a couple more boundaries.

Then Bravo took a single of Kallis in the 11th over to bring up his side's 50 and two balls later celebrated with another four. Bravo then knocked a bounday each of Morne Morkel in the 14th and 16th overs and when leg-spinner Imran Tahir came onto bowl in the 17th over, Bravo smashed him for a huge six.

Bravo and Smith then took 5 runs of the 20th over as the scoreboard ticked past 100. But soon afterward Johan Botha broke the 100-plus stand when he trapped Bravo in front for 73 off 82 balls. In the very next over, Imran Tahir added to the Windies woes, when he caught and bowled Smith for 36 off 57 and the Windies were suddenly 117/3 in 24.4 overs.

But Tahir was hungry for more destruction and returned in his next over to get Ramnaresh Sarwan out lbw for 2 off 10 balls. The Windies had slid to 120/4 in 26.1 overs. Just thre balls later there ws more drama, when Tahir dropped a return catch from Dwayne Bravo.In the 33rd over, Bravo who had settled in by tehn, carted Botha for a six and then ran a single to bring up the West Indies' 150.

Bravo was playing a bit of a swashbuckling innings, lofting Peterson for a six and then edging Morkel for a third man boundary. At the end of the 37th over, the Windies had moved to 175/4. In the next over, Bravo and Chanderpaul had a moment of madness running between the wickets which cost Bravo his wicket. He was on his way for 40 off 37 balls with Devon Thomas the new man at the crease. The Windies were 178/5 at that point.

The Windies crossed 200 in the 42nd over, but there was trouble soon after as Tahir sent back Chanderpaul for 31 off 51 balls. Then Steyn trapped Pollard in front for a duck before Tahir had Thomas caught by Duminy at extra-cover and Steynn returned to get Sammy out lbw for 0. The Windies were looking at the bottom of the barrel at 213/9 in 45.1 overs. Then Steyn wrapped up the Windies innings for 222, when he got rid off Suleimann Benn in the 48th over.

Sponsor Post: The Cost of Slow Sites: Visitors, Revenue & Google Rankings

Editor's note: We offer our long-term sponsors the opportunity to write posts and tell their story. These posts are clearly marked as written by sponsors, but we also want them to be useful and interesting to our readers. We hope you like the posts and we encourage you to support our sponsors by trying out their products.
In 2009, Akamai and Forrester found that visitors expected Web pages to load in under two seconds. As the penetration and speed of broadband connections have increased, visitors in 2011 want a Web page to load in under one second; millisecond increases in load time significantly reduce page views, revenue and even detrimentally affect the site's Google ranking.

User experience expert, Jakob Nielsen says that a Web page that loads within one second gives viewers the feeling of an instantaneous response. Rather than thinking about the computer, the user feels that they have control of the experience. They remain engaged with the content and feel that they can navigate freely.
In stark contrast, visitors who experience slow Web pages feel they have lost control of the interaction. Research corroborates that slow Web pages cause visitors to loose their train of thought as they start to think about the wait. When the Web page does load they don't click as readily, conscious that requesting further content might cause additional delays. What is surprising is just how tiny the delays need to be to detrimentally impact a website's conversion rates:

• For Google an increase in Web page load time from 0.4 seconds to 0.9 seconds decreased traffic and ad revenues by 20%
• Bing and Google found that a delay as small as 0.4 seconds reduced people's usage of those sites - on that visit and in future visits
• A 0.5 second delay reduced Bing's revenue by a staggering 4.3%
• A 1.0 second increase in Web page load time decreased Firefox's conversions by 2.7%
• A 0.1 second increase in load time decreased Amazon's sales by 1%

Since 2010, Google has included website speed as part of its search-ranking algorithm. So, fast sites also attract a higher search engine ranking.
For these reasons, it is imperative that organizations that are serious about their websites, need to verify and optimize the performance of their online content.
Simone Maier is the Product Marketing Manager of WatchMouse, a company that monitors websites and services 24x7 from over 50 locations worldwide and delivers detailed insight about their performance, uptime, and functionality. Inspired by the dashboards of Amazon and Google, WatchMouse introduced Public Status Pages (PSP) in early 2010. Companies like Twitter, Mozilla, WordPress, and many more use this product to be even more transparent to their customers, users and developers.
Sources:
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/timeframes.html
http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/07/velocity-making-your-site-fast.html
http://www.slideshare.net/Strangeloopnet/velocity-2010-performance-impact-part-two-more-findings-from-the-front-lines-of-web-acceleration-4597037
http://www.slideshare.net/mbharath/consumer-reaction-to-a-poor-online-shopping-portal
http://www.masternewmedia.org/why-website-speed-and-page-load-times-are-so- important-to-your-online-readers

World's first robot marathon sets off in Japan

Racing robot Robovie-PC takes the lead during the world's first full marathon for robots in Osaka, Japan.

As a sporting spectacle, this is one event that is unlikely to set pulses racing. Which is just as well, because none of the runners lining up for the marathon in the western Japanese city of Osaka this morning even has a pulse.
The event is the world's first robot marathon, which began in the western Japanese city on Thursday.
The five battery-charged runners, each between 30cm and 44cm in height, will compete on arguably the least picturesque marathon course in the world: a room in Osaka's Asia-Pacific trade centre.
Organisers of the Robo Mara Full say the race will test the robots' durability and manoeuvrability to the limit as they attempt to complete 422 laps of the 100-metre track to make up the 26.2-mile marathon distance.
The event is being organised by Vstone, a Japanese robot maker, and funded by the municipal government of Osaka, a city that once depended on heavy industry but is now trying to position itself as a centre of robot innovation.
While the bipedal robots won't have to worry about pulling a muscle or hitting the "wall" in the final stages, they still performed knee-bends and other warm-up exercises before lining up.
Vstone's entry is broadcasting the entire race on Ustream via a video camera installed in its head.
Japan has an impressive record of marrying cutting-edge robot technology and athletic achievement. It hosted the first robot football World Cup in Nagoya in 1997, and again in 2005, in Osaka. Last year's tournament in Singapore drew 500 teams from 40 countries.
The universities and companies taking part in the Osaka marathon are permitted to change their robots' batteries and carry out running repairs, but the machines must run unassisted.
The winner is expected to complete the course on Sunday, four days after the race began. Sammy Wanjiru, the reigning men's Olympic marathon champion, is unlikely to lose any sleep.

Problem contracts cost consumers £3bn, OFT says

Cable guide: the OFT wants telecoms and other firms to review their contracts. Photograph: Yoav Levy/Alamy

Misleading and problem contracts led to consumers losing £3bn over the past 12 months, according to a study by the Office of Fair Trading (OFT). The highest instance of problems occured with telecoms and internet access packages, with 10.3% of consumers surveyed affected.
Announcing the results of an investigation into consumer contracts, which comprise 70% of the organisation's workload, the OFT warned businesses to review the small print used in contracts or face enforcement action.
It hopes its findings, when conveyed to business and trade assocations, will reduce the number of consumer problems – it estimates a fifth of the 26m-27m problems experienced by British consumers a year are directly related to goods and services sold via contracts.
The OFT study of 4,000 people who entered into a contract in the past 12 months found that only 23% of consumers read their contracts in full – and those that do experience fewer problems. The over-50s had marginally fewer problems than the under-30s, suggesting more experienced consumers read contracts in more detail than younger people.
Telecoms and internet access aside, of the 32 sectors investigated by the OFT problem areas included home entertainment, home deliveries, home improvement, travel, mobile phones and in-home services and repair.
Common problems included a lower quality of service than expected, firms interpreting contracts to their own advantage, problems accessing a service, and poor customer service.
But the OFT admitted that because enforcement cases involve individual firms and can take a year or more before they can be discussed publicly, there is little preventative work it can do beyond outlining when, how and why contracts cause difficulties for people; as well as identifying which practices and contract terms have the potential to do harm.
"This is a tricky and complicated area," said Heather Clayton, senior director of the OFT's consumer group. "Being transparent about our general enforcement plans across the economy helps businesses because they know what they need to do to comply.
"We hope this study will help them understand the problems that trip up customers, and we are putting together a pack that we will send to firms and trade bodies. But we can't tell businesses that their contracts should read a certain way or that there should be no small print in contracts."
The OFT is urging businesses to consider whether customer contracts contain detrimental terms, such as football season tickets that do not guarantee seats; extended warranties offering limited cover; contracts with deferred charges; or onerous cancellation terms such as those used by some gyms.
The OFT's study also found that consumers are less likely to read a contract in detail if the paper is thin, the contract is too long, or it is packed with jargon. Consumers tend to rely on the reputation of a business for fair treatment.

Canada bars entry to1984 IA hijacker

Toronto: Canada has refused to re-admit the mastermind of the 1984 Indian Airline hijacking who was deported to India last year.

Parminder Singh Saini, 47, who was the leader of five Sikh militants who hijacked the Srinagar-Delhi flight to Lahore July 6, 1984, had filed a plea in a federal court on February 3 to seek re-entry into Canada.

However, in its ruling February 9, the court dismissed Saini's plea, deeming him a threat to public security, according to a report.

Saini, who took refuge in Canada in 1995, was put on the plane back to India in January last year.

He led the five militants in hijacking the Indian Airlines flight to Lahore, with 255 passengers.

The hijack drama ended after a 17-hour stand-off, with the hijackers surrendering to the Pakistani authorities.

After a trial in Pakistan, Saini was sentenced to death by a Lahore court. But the death sentence was commuted to life term. He was released after 10 years and asked to leave Pakistan.

In 1995, Saini entered Canada illegally under the name of Balbir Singh with a fake Afghan passport arranged by the Pakistanis. He maintained that he lied about his identity for fear of being deported to India.

After his arrival here, he earned a BA degree and a law degree even as he fought his deportation order.

Later, Saini applied to the Law Society of Upper Canada to be allowed to practice. But his application was turned down on grounds of his criminal background even as he regretted his past and said he deserves a shot at life in this country.

Referring to the 1984 hijacking, he had said, "I had no legitimate right to do that. It's not legal."

Based on his terrorist past and lying about his identify, the Law Society ruled that Saini has failed to prove that he is a man of good character and thus doesn't deserve to practice in Canada.

Before his deportation, Saini was attached to his brother's immigration consultancy firm Singh and Associates based in Mississauga on the outskirts of Toronto.

Zardari visits UAE to find answer to Pak''s economic problems

Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Feb 24 (TSN) President Asif Ali Zardari made an unannounced trip to the UAE to find an answer to Pakistan''s pressing economic problems against the backdrop of threats by US lawmakers to cut off aid over the detention of an American national who shot and killed two men last month.
Zardari visited Dubai for a couple of hours a few days ago to seek the intervention of the UAE''s leadership for the payment of USD 800 million that telecom major Etisalat owes to Pakistan for the country''s largest privatisation transaction on the Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited, the Dawn newspaper reported today.
Etisalat has held back the payment of about USD 800 million out of the USD 2.8 billion proceeds from PTCL''s privatisation for about four years because of a dispute with the Pakistan government over legal transfer of land and property titles. The government sold about 26 per cent stake and management control of PTCL in July 2005.
"The entire amount is expected within a few days," an unnamed official was quoted as saying.
The dispute between the government and Etisalat over the delay in transfer of some land titles to PTCL in Sindh province has been resolved, the official said.
The government is hopeful that this breakthrough, along with two other steps � a plan to raise another USD 1 billion from the sale of assets and about Rs 46 billion from new tax measures in the current fiscal � will strengthen Pakistan''s case before the International Monetary Fund.
Pakistan put on hold its talks with the IMF, which were tentatively scheduled for this week in Dubai, to finalise these three measures before seeking the revival of the IMF''s programme.
Apart from the money it is hoping Etisalat will pay, the government plans to raise about one billion dollars through a combination of international and domestic divestment of government shares in state-owned entities like Oil and Gas Development Company Limited, Islamabad Electric Supply Company and Habib Bank Limited.
The third step, which might be the most controversial politically, is additional taxation. (More) PTI RHL

JPC set up to go into 2G spectrum issue

New Delhi, Feb 24 (TSN) A Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe the 2G spectrum allocation issue, being dubbed by the opposition as the biggest scam in independent India, was set up today amid charges and countercharges between the Government and the Opposition.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee moved the motion for appointment of the 30-member Committee to look into the telecom policy pursued from 1998 to 2009 including the allocation and pricing of telecom licences and spectrum.
The Committee will also examine "irregularities and aberrations, if any" and the consequences thereof in the implementation of government decisions and policy prescriptions.
The Committee, which will give its report by the end of the Monsoon session of Parliament, will make recommendations to ensure formulation of appropriate procedures for implementation of laid down policy in the allocation and pricing of telecom licences.
Constitution of the JPC, with 20 members from the Lok Sabha and 10 from the Rajya Sabha, formally ends the deadlock over the issue which had washed out the entire Winter session of Parliament.
The debate on the setting up of the JPC led to a clash between the government and the opposition with the Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj making a frontal attack on the Congress-led coalition for conceding the demand after a long time.
Moving the motion, Mukherjee said that lessons needed to be drawn by all concerned from the deadlock, suggesting that it was dangerous for democracy that Parliament cannot function till you concede to a particular demand.
"Parliament cannot be mortgaged to the conceding of a demand," he said warning if "hatred and disrespect for parliamentary institutions was generated, it would lead to the rise of extra-constitutional authorities" as had happened in a neighbouring country way back in 1958 when Martial Law was imposed.
At the outset, Mukherjee admitted his responsibility as Leader of the House for failing to carry the opposition with him on the issue.
He, however, said the NDA refused a JPC on Tehelka expose and the then Minister Arun Jaitley had said that a group of MPs sitting in a JPC cannot substitute discussion and debate on the floor of the House.
While Swaraj was critical of Mukherjee for dubbing opposition as "Maoists", the Leader of the House said the Left radicals dub Parliament as an "abode of pigs" and therefore wanted all concerned to act responsibly.
"Was our demand (for JPC) violent or unconstitutional," Swaraj sought to know from Mukherjee, referring to him at the same time as a very nice person who fails to distinguish between proper and improper when he gets angry. .

Kareena named Bollywood's sexiest woman

New Delhi, Feb 24 (TSN) Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor has been named the sexiest woman by Stardust magazine.
Kareena beats actresses like Katrina Kaif, Deepika Padukone and Priyanka Chopra to win the title. The decision has been made on the basis of an extensive research and readers responses.
The latest issue of Stardust magazine features the list of top 10 sexiest women.
Last year, it was Katrina who topped the list of sexiest women in Bollywood.

Israel bombs Gaza targets, after missile hits Israeli city

Gaza City/Tel Aviv, Feb 24 (DPA) Israeli jets bombed targets across the Gaza Strip overnight, after a missile struck the southern Israeli city of Beersheba for the first time in two years.
A military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv did not specify the number of sorties that began around midnight and ended at 5 a.m. (0300 GMT) Thursday.
But she confirmed it was the most extensive bombing of targets since the three-week Gaza war in 2008-09.
A Palestinian witness said the targets included two training grounds of the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamist Hamas movement running Gaza, on the southern outskirts of Gaza City.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, but severe damage was reported.
On Wednesday, a Russian-style Grad rocket struck Beersheba, known as the capital of the Negev desert and home to some 200,000 people.
The missile hit the yard of a house. The occupants of the house escaped injury by hiding in a safe-room, after a warning siren had wailed in the city, sending people to shelters.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attack.
Many of Gaza's population of 1.8 million were kept awake overnight by the noise of F-16 planes and Apache helicopter gunships flying overhead.
The Beersheba missile attack came after a day of several violent incidents in Gaza, including a clash east of Gaza City between an Israeli ground force and a group of Islamic Jihad militants along the border in which one militant was killed and 11 people injured.

China plans 45 new airports as travel booms

China's airline regulator says the government plans to build at least 45 new airports in the next five years to serve booming travel.
Li Jiaxiang said at a news conference Thursday that Beijing plans to spend 1.5 trillion yuan ($230 billion) on expanding air travel.
Li said most of China's 175 existing airports lost money last year but the government will support them because it believes air travel supports local economic growth.
Li said the government plans to increase the number of airports to at least 220 over the next five years. He gave no indication where they would be, but Beijing is spending heavily to develop poorer areas and link them to booming eastern cities.
China's fast-growing air travel market is expected to pass North America as the world's biggest in coming decades.

UN: 57 Somalis drowned in Gulf of Aden

The U.N. refugee agency says 57 Somalis have drowned in the Gulf of Aden.
The agency said Thursday that 54 Somali refugees and three smugglers drowned when their boat capsized Sunday.
The sole survivor was a 42-year-old father of three who swam 23 hours to the Yemeni coast near the port town of Bir Ali.
He said the boat was struck by strong waves and overturned.
U.N. officials say 23 bodies had been recovered as of late Wednesday.
The U.N. calls it the largest loss of life in the seas between Somalia and Yemen in a single incident since January 2008, when 114 people drowned in another smuggling mishap.

Michelle Obama's personal assistant is her new stylist

New York, Feb 24 (TSN): US First Lady Michelle Obama has reportedly chosen a new stylist - her personal assistant Meredith Koop.
Just days ago, the First Lady's rep confirmed that she was still working with Chicago boutique owner Ikram Goldman.
But the White House has revealed that the role is now being played by 29-year-old Koop, according to the Washington Post.
"Ms. Koop's responsibilities include advising the First Lady on her wardrobe and acting on her behalf in arranging for purchases, including considering the best offered price and buying on discount if discounts are available," The New York Daily News quoted Kristina Schake, a spokeswoman for Obama, as saying.
Koop used to work for Goldman - she was sent to Washington to work closely with the First Lady to see to her day-to-day wardrobe needs.
Now it seems that Koop has replace Goldman's post.
Koop is still a mystery to much of the White House, according to the Post.
She's taken down her Facebook page and has declined interviews.
Koop has been making deals with designers all over the map, from American designer Rachel Roy to Indian-American ballroom gown designer Bibhu Mohapatra.
However, the designers refuse to comment on whom they work with or how the deals are done.
"I think that, out of privacy for the First Lady and the family, I would prefer not to say who I deal with," Rachel Roy told the Post, adding only that she works closely with the White House. (ANI)