RIM acquires mobile app tool developer tinyHippos

CHICAGO - Blackberry maker Research In Motion says it has bought Ontario-based startup tinyHippos Inc, creator of Ripple, a cross-platform mobile application development and testing tool.
The company was acquired for its "extensive experience in web and mobile widget/web development," Tyler Lessard, RIM's vice president of global alliances and developer relations, said on the developer's blog on Friday.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition comes as RIM prepares to launch its Playbook tablet computer next month, entering an increasingly crowded market dominated by Apple's iPad and various devices running on Google's Android platform.
RIM has said it would offer support for Android apps on its tablet, potentially enabling it to carry more than 200,000 of the third-party software additions available on the platform.
RIM reported a higher-than-forecast fourth-quarter profit on Thursday but warned that its earnings would slip as it pumped money into the launch of the Playbook.

Video game's 'babe-slapping' mode upsets women's rights-groups

Washington, Mar 27 : A new videogame, set for release this spring, has received harsh criticism for its depiction of women.
'Duke Nukem Forever' that requires gamers to abduct women and give them a 'reassuring slap' if they freak out has caused uproar within the feminist community.
The game's 1996 precursor Duke Nukem 3D - which sold 3.5 million copies, made millions for its developers and transformed the entire world of video games - depicted women as strippers and prostitutes.
The new iteration of the game takes sexism to a new level - starting with Duke receiving implied oral sex from twins in school uniforms.
"It was offensive then and it's even more offensive now," Jamia Wilson, vice president of the Women's Media Center, told FoxNews.com.
"These depictions of women are extremely harmful, especially to young women," she added.
Duke Ferris, editor-in-chief at gamehelper.com, said sexism is an intentional part of Duke Nukem Forever.
"The game is meant to objectify women-that's the point," he said.
Gearbox Studios bought the rights to the game last year, following 15 years of delays and disappointments that made the Duke a running joke among gamers.
They described an especially controversial multiplayer mode called 'Capture the Babe' in an interview with the Official Xbox Magazine.
The magazine described it as 'more goofy than offensive'.
"The 'Babe' will sometimes freak out while you're carrying her (somewhat understandably we'd say), at which point you have to hit a button to gently give her a reassuring slap," wrote the magazine.
Meanwhile, Gearbox announced Thursday yet another delay to the overdue game's release.
'Duke Nukem Forever', which had been slated for release May 3, is now scheduled for June 14.

Social media 'can help stressed-out, overworked mothers'

Washington, March 27 : Social media can help stressed-out and overworked mothers, says an expert.
Today's moms know that time is their most precious commodity. School, homework, activities, dinner and bedtime make for a grueling schedule that most moms have to face on a daily basis.
One solution to help with the burden - and to help moms not pull out their hair - is to become more organized and use technology to make life easier, said Jennifer Regina, an adjunct professor of marketing in the Rohrer College of Business at Rowan University (Glassboro, N.J.) and founder and CEO of The Marketing of Everything (Washington Township, N.J.).
According to The NPD Group, 79 percent of moms with children younger than 18 actively use social media, said Regina.
They rely heavily on blogs and Facebook to decide what to buy and what brands to promote through their word-of-mouth channels.
Additionally, 55 percent of moms have purchased a product because of a blog, and 40 bought a product because they saw it on Facebook.
"Word of mouth is critical for moms making purchases. The first place moms will go to are other moms in order to come up with the brands or products they should be considering in their product choices," she said.
Social media, she said, have provided the platform that has allowed those word-of-mouth referral to flourish.
For example, Regina said, CafeMom is one of the largest resources for moms with any questions on a multitude of topics.
For the mom who has a very mobile lifestyle, social cell phone applications have been developed to make even life's milestones easier.
Pregnant women can use Mom 2 Be, which is a pregnancy app that tracks the baby's progress through statistics and even allows the mother-to-be to share tri-semester information with friends and family.
Every mother needs help in the kitchen, Regina said. The Mom's Shopping List cell phone application allows anyone to quickly create a shopping list.
Some fun mobile applications are available. The first is the Ask Mom app. This will not only entertain kids but also provide great conversation starters. It covers cute questions that kids would ask their mom.
"Even if a child can't read, the application allows him or her to tap on words, and the question is read out loud," Regina said.
Another favorite app is Sit or Squat, which provides a very important service: help for moms to find the nearest bathroom for their toddler who is participating in toilet boot camp.

SNAPSHOT - Japan's nuclear crisis

TOKYO, March 27  - Following are main developments after a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan and crippled a nuclear power station, raising the risk of uncontrolled radiation.
- The Tokyo Electric Company (TEPCO), which operates the quake-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, says radiation levels in water accumulating in the No. 2 reactor soared to 10 million times the usual level.
Workers had been trying to pump radioactive water out of the station. They were evacuated to prevent further exposure to radiation. Three staff were taken to hospital on Thursday owing to excessive radiation levels.
- The Japanese nuclear safety agency says tests reveal levels of radioactivity up to 1,850 times the usual level in seawater offshore the crippled Fukushima Daiichi plant -- compared to 1,250 measured on Saturday.
- Senior agency official says high levels of radiation in water accumulated in turbine buildings are probably caused by leakage from reactor vessels. Engineers proceed with efforts to pump radioactive water from the plant 240 km (150 miles) north Tokyo two weeks after it was hit by an earthquake and tsunami.
- Yukiya Amano, head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), tells the New York Times the emergency "is a very serious accident by all standards" and could go on for weeks. The IAEA sends new teams to Japan to monitor radiation and assess contamination of food.
- Officials on Saturday said iodine 131 levels in seawater 30 km (18 miles) from the coastal complex were within acceptable limits established by regulations and the contamination posed little risk to aquatic life.
- The situation at the plant is not worsening but vigilance is needed, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Saturday.
- Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency says storage of contaminated water must be handled carefully. It also said there was no evidence to suggest the reactor itself had been damaged.
- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says it is time to reassess the emergency response framework of the international nuclear power industry. Leaders agreed at a European Union summit to submit reactors to "stress tests".
- Prime Minister Naoto Kan says the situation at the nuclear power plant was not getting worse, but is still nowhere near resolution.
* Kan's approval ratings have edged higher, according to the first opinion poll taken since the quake and tsunami, with nearly two-thirds of respondents favouring a tax hike for reconstruction, a survey published by Kyodo news agency shows.
But more than half disapprove of how the crisis involving the stricken nuclear plant has been handled.
- Japan chief cabinet secretary says 130,000 people living in an outer circle around Fukushima should consider leaving.
- Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda says the government wants an extra post-quake budget by the end of April. Economics Minister Kaoru Yosano says the government may have to reconsider a plan to cut corporate tax rates.
- Estimated cost of damage from the earthquake and tsunami to top $300 billion, making it the world's costliest natural disaster. The 1995 Kobe quake cost $100 billion while Hurricane Katrina caused $81 billion in damage.
* Official death toll from earthquake and tsunami exceeds 10,489, according to national police. Total number of missing stands at 16,621. Nearly a quarter of a million people are living in shelters.

Libyan rebels push west as strikes hit Gaddafi forces

ROAD TO BREGA, Libya  - Libyan rebels reached the oil terminal town of Brega on Sunday after routing government forces from a strategic eastern town, as Muammar Gaddafi's troops pounded the main rebel stronghold in the west.
Rebel fighters moved unchallenged into Brega and Al Jazeera television said they then pushed further west to the edge of Uqayla, the only town between them and major oil port Ras Lanuf.
The speed of the rebel advance suggests a rapid retreat by Gaddafi's forces after they lost Ajdabiyah, an important gateway for the better-armed force to the rebel-held east.
Rebels took Ajdabiyah after Western warplanes bombed the Gaddadi forces in what has become by far the most violent popular revolt in two months of bloody Arab world unrest.
The rebels' advance follows two weeks of losses and indicates that Western air strikes are shifting the battlefield dynamics in their favour.
As the front-line moved in the east, Gaddafi forces in the west pounded Misrata with tank, mortar and artillery fire on Saturday, although the shelling halted after coalition aircraft appeared overhead, rebels said.
"He pulled his forces out of Ajdabiyah and Brega so that he puts all his weight into attacking Misrata and winning so he can control the whole west versus losing the whole east," a rebel, called Saadoun, told Reuters by telephone on Sunday.
France said its warplanes destroyed five Libyan aircraft and two helicopters at an air base outside Misrata on Saturday.
Libyan government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told reporters in the capital Tripoli that Gaddafi was directing his forces but appeared to suggest the leader might be moving around the country so as to keep his whereabouts a mystery.
"He is leading the battle. He is leading the nation forward from anywhere in the country," said Ibrahim.
"He has many offices, many places around Libya. I assure you he is leading the nation at this very moment and he is in continuous communication with everyone around the country."
Asked if Gaddafi was constantly on the move, Ibrahim said: "It's a time of war. In a time of war you act differently."
MORALE BOOST
Capturing Ajdabiyah, a gateway from western Libya to the rebel stronghold of Benghazi and the oil town of Tobruk, was a big morale boost for the rebels a week after coalition air strikes began to enforce a U.N.-mandated no-fly zone.
In Ajdabiyah, rebel fighters danced on tanks, waved flags and fired in the air near buildings riddled with bullet holes. Half a dozen wrecked tanks lay near the eastern entrance to the town and the ground was strewn with empty shell casings.
Rebels said fighting had lasted through Friday night into Saturday. By the town's western gate there were bodies of more than a dozen of Gaddafi's fighters. An abandoned truckload of ammunition suggested his forces had beaten a hasty retreat.
"Thank you Britain, thank you France, thank you America," said one rebel, praising Western air strikes.
The French armed forces said around 20 French aircraft supported by an AWACS surveillance plane struck targets in Misrata during the day on Saturday, including five Galeb fighter jets and two MI-35 helicopters on the ground outside Misrata.
CIVILIANS
Last week Libyan officials said nearly 100 civilians had been killed in the coalition strikes.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates dismissed the assertion on Saturday, saying: "The truth of the matter is we have trouble coming up with proof of any civilian casualties that we have been responsible for."
"We do have a lot of intelligence reporting about Gaddafi taking the bodies of the people he's killed and putting them at the sites where we've attacked," Gates told CBS News' "Face the Nation with Bob Schieffer".
U.S. President Barack Obama, criticised by U.S. politicians across the spectrum for failing to communicate the goals of the air campaign, told Americans that the military mission in Libya was clear, focused and limited.
He said it had already saved countless civilian lives.
Obama said Libya's air defences had been disabled, Gaddafi's forces were no longer advancing and, in places such as Benghazi, his forces had been pushed back.
"So make no mistake, because we acted quickly, a humanitarian catastrophe has been avoided and the lives of countless civilians -- innocent men, women and children -- have been saved," Obama said in a weekly radio address.
Obama, due to speak to Americans about Libya again on Monday evening, had also been faulted by fellow politicians for taking on a third military mission in a Muslim country with the United States embroiled already in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
NATO has agreed to take over the role of enforcing the no-fly zone and arms embargo against Libya, but final details have not yet been worked out for the alliance to take over.

Burials in quake-hit towns deepen Japan's tragedy

The funeral for Chieko Mori's daughter and granddaughter was an affront to Japanese sacred customs — the two were placed in simple wooden coffins that soldiers lowered into a ditch in a vegetable patch as a backhoe poured in earth, burying them alongside scores of other bodies.
Such an unceremonious disposal of the dead would be unthinkable in Japan in normal times. But the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami have left a huge backlog of thousands of bodies in makeshift morgues, leaving local governments no choice but to bury them in hastily dug mass graves.
In small-town Japan, the funeral is an elaborate and highly formalized Buddhist ritual, in which the body is washed, dressed and cremated, the ashes interred at the family tomb.
So this — mass graves, heavy machinery, improvised rites — is almost unbearable, a tragedy that robs both survivors and the dead of closure.
Since the tragedy, Mori has been in a deep shock and doesn't always respond when spoken to. Her husband, son-in-law, and another granddaughter are also dead, and they will be buried in mass graves in upcoming days. Her sister, Tomiko Sato, came from a nearby town to attend the funeral on Saturday, to relieve Mori of the burden.
"We were told at town hall that they didn't have the resources, and if we wanted proper cremations we could drive the bodies to Yamagata ourselves," Sato said, referring to a neighboring prefecture about 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the west — too far to travel with gasoline so scarce.
"But this is a temporary grave, and the government said they would cremate the bodies within two years, so we can move them to the family grave."
Saturday's mass burial was the first in Yamamoto, a town of 16,700 with about 1,000 dead or missing. Eleven uniform plywood caskets were buried, with 400 more planned in the coming days. A Buddhist priest apologized for the conditions before chanting traditional hymns, and relatives pried off the lids to caress the dead, placing garbage bags full of their belongings inside and later sobbing as white-gloved troops hoisted the coffins away.
For Sato, just finding the bodies was an achievement — she borrowed gas for her car and circled local evacuee centers for two weeks to track down the whole family, who grew strawberries in a coastal area where many houses are completely destroyed. The last to be found was Honoka, a granddaughter in junior high school, whose body was damaged beyond recognition.
"She wasn't wearing her school uniform, but her teacher contacted her boyfriend, who told us about a necklace and a bracelet he had given her. She was wearing both," she said.
The last time the whole family got together was in early December, for take-out sushi at the Mori family's now destroyed home.
The setting at Yamamoto was in stark contrast to a burial earlier in the day at Higashimatsushima, a town about 40 miles (70 kilometers) north up the coast. Soldiers there had dug pits in a muddy field at a recycling center, and a morning ceremony took place in freezing rain, against a backdrop of cubes of crushed plastic bottles and stacks of fluorescent light tubes.
Many relatives were bused in from evacuee centers and arrived in sweat pants and tennis shoes. Soldiers lowered coffins into the long ditches, and an official with a bullhorn called out the names of the dead, apologizing when he mispronounced one. Mourners in white masks sobbed from beneath their umbrellas.
"We lost my wife's father in the tsunami. He wasn't my grandfather, but we were very close, and I called him 'gramps.' He was a very kind man — he didn't like to drink but would always buy me a nice bottle of sake," said Koji Ushigome.
His father-in-law, Yuichi Takahashi, died in the tsunami at age 81, and was lowered into the ground in a white wooden coffin, with the number '670' written on the side in black magic marker. Officials were carefully noting the location of the coffins so the remains can one day be exhumed and receive a proper burial.
Officials stressed the temporary nature of the burials, and said they had little choice given the vast number of bodies. The official death toll from the quake and tsunami has passed 10,100, with more than 17,000 listed as missing
"The bodies are fairly decomposed now. These are not funerals, just short-term interments," said town official Toshiaki Aizawa.
Behind him, three cars full of mourners pulled up in the parking lot for the next set of bodies.

Hottest Cricketing Females

Cricket fervour is reaching its peak with the setting in of the World Cup quarter-finals. While the cricketing men are being glorified as mini-Gods, there are some who lurk in the shadows of their success.
They are the women cricketers who never get their due despite putting up amazing performances on the field and looking hot each time they do so. We take at look at some of the female cricketers who are the hottest of the lot.

Isa Guha

Isa Guha is a World Cup winning pace bowler who plays for England. Originally of Indian origin, Guha made her Test debut against India in the year 2002. To top it all, Guha even had a dinner date with Prince Charles last month at Windsor Castle during the annual dinner of the British Asian Trust. What could be cooler than that?

Lisa Carprini Sthalekar

Need we say anything more than state the fact that she was Australia’s International Woman Player of the Year in 2007 and 2008 respectively. In case we do, then we should mention the fact that she was born in Pune after which her father decided to move to Kenya and, later, Australia where she found the success that she most definitely deserved.

Aimee Mason

Mason is a batswoman from New Zealand. She was the vice-captain of the team during the 2009 World Cup. Considered one of the leading all-rounders in ODI cricket, she idolises Adam Gilchrist and is a big hitter just like him.

Ellyse Perry

Perhaps one of the most talented sportsperson Australia has seen, Perry made her debut in cricket along with football at the tender age of 16. She is the youngest person, both male and female, to represent Australia in cricket. She is a key bowler on field for the Australian team and is equally hot off it.

Rosalie Birch

Currently a member of the English Cricket team, Birch is a lower middle order batswoman. She won the 'Player of the Match' Award in her very first ODI match and has gone ahead to build a remarkable career since her debut. We should also mention that she is a stunner in the looks department as suggested from the picture.

Cecelia Joyce

This lady belongs to the Irish team and is has been playing in the national team since they were 14. In fact, she comes from a cricketing family with her twin sister Isobel, brothers Ed, Dominick and Gus having played for the Irish team. Along with the rest of the family, she continues to steer Ireland's cricket to the power and glory they deserve.

Sara McGlashan

She is the wicketkeeper for New Zealand and is considered to be an immensely versatile player. She excels with the bat and also with the ball as the wicketkeeper. Her brother Peter McGlashan also played for New Zealand in two T20 and four ODI matches. So cricket apparently runs in their blood going by the brother-sister pair representing the nation.

Laura Marsh

This cute looking England spinner started playing cricket at the age of 11. She made her test debut against India in 2006 and played a crucial role in retaining the Ashes in 2008 and 2009 respectively. She continues to play for the team along side being a regular in county cricket.

Australian jailed for defacing kids' Facebooks

An Australian man was jailed for a year for defacing online tributes to two dead children with child pornography and offensive comments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SYDNEY: An Australian man was jailed for a year for defacing online tributes to two dead children with child pornography and offensive comments.

Bradley Paul Hampson vandalised the Facebook pages dedicated to two Queensland children who died in February 2010 -- a 12-year-old boy who was stabbed in the schoolyard and an eight-year-old girl found dead in a drain.

More than 9,000 people had joined the Facebook pages, mostly to express shock and offer their condolences, on which Hampson posted digitally altered images of the children and offensive messages, reports said.

Prosecutors said that among Hampson's posts were photographs of the dead girl and the message "Had It Coming".

The Courier Mail said he pleaded guilty on Friday to distributing child exploitation material and possessing child exploitation material, and using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence.

Judge Kerry O'Brien sentenced Hampson to three years, but ordered he be released after serving 12 months, the paper said.

Hampson was arrested after police searched his Brisbane home last June, seizing computer equipment containing altered images of the dead children.

Brisbane District Court was told Hampson said he defaced the websites because he had been previously harassed online.

Airstrikes clear way for Libyan rebels' first major advance

Ajdabiya, Libya —:  Col. Muammar el-Gaddafi's forces retreated from this strategic city on Saturday, running for dozens of miles back along the coast with Libyan rebels in pursuit in their first major victory since American and European airstrikes began a week ago.

The rebels' advance was the first sign that the allied attacks, directed not only against Colonel Gaddafi's aircraft and defenses but also against his ground troops, were changing the dynamics of the battle for control of the country. As night fell, rebel forces had recaptured Ajdabiya, a crucial hub city in eastern Libya, and had also driven almost uncontested to the town of Brega, erasing weeks of losses as the airstrikes opened the way.

At the same time, however, Western leaders are debating the ability of the military operation to achieve notably differing goals: to protect Libyan civilians and remove Colonel Gaddafi from power.

President Obama, in his weekly radio address, tried to reassure Americans that the mission was both important and effective. "Today I can report that thanks to our brave men and women in uniform we've made important progress," he said, adding, "We are succeeding in our mission."

Now, a one-hour operation to change heart valve

London:  An Indian-origin surgeon-led team in Britain has come up with a one-hour keyhole operation to replace heart valve, a breakthrough which offers hope to cardiac patients too sick to undergo an open-heart surgery.

Vinayak Bapat of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital and his team have developed the procedure, called transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), which treats heart-valve failure under local anaesthetic without the need for a bypass surgery.

"For seriously ill patients who do not have the option of heart surgery, TAVI is their one chance of life. It has the potential to save thousands of lives and is ultimately cheaper than prescribing years of medication," Dr Bapat was quoted by the 'Daily Mail' as saying.

Aortic stenosis is the most common type of valve disease which can be caused by birth defects though in older patients it is usually the result of calcium building up in heart's main valve, the aortic valve, hindering blood flow.

The best solution is valve-replacement surgery via open-heart surgery, which involves opening up the patient's chest, putting their heart on a bypass machine and replacing the aortic valve.

But, the TAVI requires only a small incision made in the thigh or chest to insert a stainless steel mesh tube with heart tissue from a cow lining the inside of it, say surgeons.

The tissue is derived from the tough sac surrounding cow's heart or pericardium. It's recovered during commercial meat processing after which the membrane is slightly stiffened with a tanning solution.

During the operation a hollow tube, or catheter, is inserted into the body. On the end of the catheter is a deflated balloon as well as the collapsible artificial valve.

When the catheter reaches the faulty valve, the balloon is inflated which, in turn, expands the mesh valve, crushing the broken human valve against the wall of the aorta, say the British surgeons.

TAVI requires just six days in hospital compared with ten for open-heart surgery, and some patients have been discharged after four days.

Former businessman John Cronin, 54, was one of the first in Europe to undergo the new surgery.

"My quality of life was really poor. I couldn't even do simple things such as walking up the stairs without getting out of breath," said John, who had the operation at Papworth Hospital, Cambridge.

"Now I can even enjoy a cycle ride. TAVI has saved my life -- it's as simple as that," he added.

US: 100-yr-old man marries 93-yr-old girlfriend

London:  A 100-year-old man and a 93-year-old woman in the US are said to have become the world's oldest couple to tie the knot following a 28-year courtship.

Forrest Lunsway and Rose Pollard of California wed at the Dana Point Community Centre on March 19 at a combined age of 193 -- making them the world's oldest couple to marry on record, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

The loved-up couple, who are both keen dancers, met on the dance floor of a community centre in 1983. They became dance partners and now 30 years after meeting they have tied the knot finally - on Forrest's 100th birthday.

Rose said she initially told him she'd never marry him but she finally succumbed when he had popped the question last year.

She said: "I told him up front I had no intention of getting married. But then one day he asked me 'how come we never got married?' and I said 'because you never asked me'.

"So he got down on one knee and said 'Well I'm asking you now, just set the date'. I told him 'I'll marry you on your 100th birthday'. And I did."

Forrest added: "She never thought I'd ask her and I never thought she'd say yes, but here we are. We've got many happy years left as I intend to stick around until I'm at least 110. You've got to use it or lose it."

The wedding took place in front of the friends and family of the couple who have both been married before.

They have now beaten the previous record for oldest newlyweds held by Harry Corton and Edna Holford from Barnsley, England, who wed with a combined age of 183.

Radiation levels in seawater off Japan 1,850 times above normal

Tokyo:  Levels of radioactive material detected in the sea near a stricken nuclear power station in northeastern Japan rose to 1,850 times above normal, the government said Sunday.

That level of radioactive iodine-131 concentration was measured in seawater sample taken Saturday off the coast of the Fukushima 1 power plant that was damaged by the March 11 earthquake and resulting tsunami, the government's nuclear safety commission said.

Levels of radioactive iodine-131 had reached 1,250 times above normal in a sample taken Friday.

After the level had stayed around 100 times over the legal limit, it climbed to its highest since the survey began this week, Kyodo News reported.

But the commission said Saturday that it would not have a significant impact on fishery products as fishing is not conducted within 20 km of the plant.

Radioactive materials "will significantly dilute" by the time they would be consumed by marine species, the commission said.

Radiation-contaminated water was found near four of the six reactors at the plant, possibly having seeped from damaged reactor cores or spent-fuel pools.

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co vowed to clear the water as quickly as possible to allow workers access to the overheating reactors as they attempt to restore key cooling systems.

On Thursday, three engineers working on the cable system at reactor No.3 were exposed to radiation levels in water that were 10,000 times above normal. Two were hospitalised with burns to their legs.

The toll from the 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami stood at 10,489 Sunday, while 16,621 people were listed as missing, the National Police Agency said.

'French spiderman' takes on world's tallest tower

Dubai:  After scaling the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Sydney Opera House, the "French Spiderman" now has his sights set on the world's tallest tower, Burj Khalifa in the cosmopolitan Gulf emirate of Dubai.

Alain Robert, 48, is due Monday to climb the exterior of the skyscraper which stands 828-metres, as part of an "Education Without Borders" conference for which it is being used as a venue, organisers said.

The climber, whose nickname comes from wearing the outfit of the fictional superhero while scaling the tallest of the tall around the globe, usually works without a safety harness, relying on bare hands and sturdy footing.

In Dubai, however, he will resort to a rope and harness, organisers said.

"The problem in Dubai is the hot weather (of) up to 40 degrees (Celsius, 104 Fahrenheit)," he said back in January 2010 when he announced his ambition to step up to the challenge.

"My biggest fear is to waste my time on earth. For me, climbing is as important as eating and breathing. Climbing skyscrapers is my lifetime love and passion," he said.

Robert has climbed more than 100 of the world's tallest buildings, including the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Sears Tower in the US city of Chicago and the 88-storey Jin Mao Building in Shanghai, China.

A Malaysian court fined Robert after he scrambled up the Petronas Twin Towers, which also has 88 floors, in September 2009 with his bare hands in less than two hours.

Seek Interpol's help for arrest warrant on Musharraf: Pak court

Islamabad:  A Pakistani anti-terrorism court today directed prosecutors to contact Interpol to help serve an arrest warrant issued for former President Pervez Musharraf in connection with a case related to the assassination of ex-premier Benazir Bhutto.

Judge Rana Nisar Ahmed of the Rawalpindi-based court issued the order after prosecutors informed him that they had been unable to serve the warrant issued by the court.

The judge asked the prosecutors to present Musharraf in court at the next hearing on April 2.

Pakistani authorities will ask Interpol to circulate a global arrest warrant for Musharraf, prosecutor Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali told reporters after the hearing.

The authorities had asked the British Home Department to help execute the arrest warrant but had not yet received any response so far, he said.

The court had earlier declared Musharraf, who lives in self-exile in London, an "absconder".

His aides have said he will not return to Pakistan to take part in the hearings.

Bhutto was killed after addressing an election rally in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.

At the time of Bhutto's death, Musharraf had blamed the assassination on Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, who was subsequently killed in a US drone attack.

A UN commission that investigated the assassination said in its reports that Musharraf's regime had failed to provide Bhutto adequate security.

Google delays open access to Android 3.0

San Francisco: Google Inc is delaying widespread access to the new version of its Android software, saying it has more work to do before the product is ready for certain types of devices.

Google unveiled Android 3.0, known as Honeycomb, earlier this year, billing it as the first version of its Android operating system designed from the ground up for use in tablet PCs. Honeycomb software is already available on the Motorola Mobility Inc Xoom tablet, which went on sale in February.

The software represents Google's first dedicated effort to challenge the dominance of Apple Inc's iPad in the nascent tablet PC market.

But Google said it will not immediately make its Honeycomb software available as open source code, the company's traditional practice with Android whereby any developers are free to modify the software as they see fit. The reason for the delay, Google said, was because Honeycomb was not ready to be customized for use on smartphones.

"While we're excited to offer these new features to Android tablets, we have more work to do before we can deliver them to other device types including phones," a Google spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

"We're committed to providing Android as an open platform across many device types and will publish the source as soon as it's ready," the statement said.

The spokeswoman said there was no timeline at the moment for when Honeycomb would be available as open source software.

News of the delay was first reported by Bloomberg Businessweek on Thursday.

Previous versions of Google's two-year-old Android software have primarily been used in smartphones. Google became the No. 1 smartphone operating system in the world in the fourth quarter of 2010, according to research firm Canalys.

Six dead in port city as Syrian crisis grows

Deraa: Syrian security forces have killed six people in two days of anti-government protests in the key port city of Latakia, reformist activists living abroad told Reuters on Saturday.

President Bashar al-Assad, facing his deepest crisis in 11 years in power after security forces fired on protesters on Friday in the southern town of Deraa, freed 260 prisoners in an apparent bid to placate a swelling protest movement.

But the reports from Latakia, a security hub in the northwest, suggested unrest was still spreading.

There were reports of more than 20 deaths in protests on Friday, mainly in the south, and medical officials say dozens have now been killed over the past week around Deraa alone.

Such demonstrations would have been unthinkable a couple of months ago in this most tightly controlled of Arab countries.

Bouthaina Shaaban, a senior adviser to Assad, told the official news agency that Syria was "the target of a project to sow sectarian strife to compromise Syria and (its) unique coexistence model".

Syrian rights activist Ammar Qurabi told Reuters in Cairo: "There have been at least two killed (in Latakia) today after security forces opened fire on protesters trying to torch the Baath party building."

"I have been in touch with people in Syria since last night, using three cell phones and constantly sitting online. Events are moving at an extremely fast pace."

Exiled dissident Maamoun al-Homsi told Reuters by telephone from Canada: "I have the name of four martyrs who have fallen in Latakia yesterday."

The state news agency quoted a government source as saying security forces had not fired at protesters but that an armed group had taken over rooftops and fired on citizens and security forces, killing five people since Friday.

In Damascus and other cities, thousands of Assad's supporters marched or and drove around, waving flags, to proclaim their allegiance to the Baath party.

The unrest in Syria came to a head after police detained more than a dozen schoolchildren for scrawling graffiti inspired by pro-democracy protests across the Arab world.

President Assad made a public pledge on Thursday to look into granting greater freedom and lifting emergency laws dating back to 1963, but failed to dampen the protests.

On Saturday a human rights lawyer said 260 prisoners, mostly Islamists, had been freed after serving at least three-quarters of their sentences.