Headlines-World

A colorful opening with cultural extravaganza

2010-10-04T19:20:00.000+05:30

The colorful opening of the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi on Sunday surpassed all the expectations!! It is really a glittering ceremony which showcased the diversity and cultural pride of India. The show erased the negative publicity about problems with the preparations, corruption and chaos of the past few weeks.

After the customary athletes parade, Prince Charles read out the message of Queen Elizabeth II and President of India Pratibha Patil officially declared the Games open with the words "Let the Games begin". As the clock struck seven to signal to start the prestigious ceremony, the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium brightens with an aerostat- a white helium-filled balloon which rose 25 metres (80 feet) above ground level. The nine-million-dollar aerostat showcased India's rich culture.

The opening Ceremony attracted the global audience with variety of events .The most awaited Theme song Jiyo Utho Bado Jeeto (meaning Live, Rise, Ascend, Win ) by A. R .Rahhman was the grand finale to the ceremony. With the Namaste dance where dancers formed the shape of two palms pressed together the people of India welcomed the guests in a common Indian greeting style. The song Swagatam by noted singer Hariharan, the seven year old Keshav's performance on the tabla, and the "Great Indian Journey" the performance of more than 6000 artists showcasing 5000 years of Indian culture made the ceremony a historic event.

The marching event forms an important part of the Opening Ceremony of the Commonwealth Games 2010.The host nation of the CWG 2006; Australia led the parade while India stood at last. The participating nations joined the event according to the alphabetical order. The competition starts with the women's 200m freestyle swimming heats on Monday.

World wrestling champion from India

2010-09-13T23:25:00.000+05:30

Sushil Kumar became the first Indian to win a gold medal at the World wrestling championship in Moscow. He defeated Russia's Alan Gogaev 3-1 in the final of the 66kg freestyle category Sunday.

Sushil hails from Baprola village of New Delhi. He got inspiration from his father Mr. Diwan Singh Solanki, a bus driver in MTNL, who was also a wrestler. He started Wrestling at the age of 14 and won State Wrestling Championship amid lack of proper training and insufficient funds for wrestling. In 1998 he displayed his talent by winning the Gold Medal at the World Cadet Championship.

He had won the bronze in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. The 27-year-old already holds the Asian and Commonwealth titles. He was conferred the 'Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award' for his outstanding achievement as a sports person in July 2009. India had won the bronze medal in 1961for Uday Chand , silver in 1967 for Bishambhar Singh and bronze for Alka Tomar in 2006.

Kerala, the most favorite tourist destination in Asia

2010-09-02T12:54:00.000+05:30

The God's Own Country, Kerala is emerged as the best holiday travel destination in Asia ahead of Bali, Phuket and the Maldives. A poll carried out by an online travel magazine, Smart Travel Asia revealed that the serene beaches, luxurious hill stations, exotic wildlife and the ancient Indian system of medicine, Ayurveda made Kerala the best choice in Asia.

Bali and Phuket listed the second and third most favorite destination in Asia. The other Indian destination includes Rajasthan and Goa in the eighth and tenth spot respectively. The poll is based on the actual travel experience and perception of the millions of readers of the travel portal. The poll was carried out across Asia, Europe and North America over three months.

The 2010 BEST IN TRAVEL POLL lists Asia's best business hotels, luxury resorts, spas, destinations, business cities, shopping spots, and the world's best airlines and airports. The Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore figures in the 8th position in the top 10 business destination in Asia. Jet Airways which ranked seven in the last year poll was listed in the fourth position among top 10 airlines worldwide for business class and Cabin services.

Kerala was selected by the National Geographic Traveler as one of the 50 destinations of a lifetime and one of the thirteen paradises in the world. The moderate climate, rich and colorful culture & heritage and of course the exotic cuisine make Kerala a dream holiday destination.

Spot-fixing scandal: Pakistan to send officials to London

2010-08-30T21:02:00.000+05:30

Pakistan has decided to send FIA officials to London to probe the match fixing scandal. Seven Pakistan players have been accused of involving the spot-fixing in the fourth cricket test match against England at Lords.

Mazhar Majeed, a London-based bookie was arrested by Scotland Yard detectives on Saturday night on suspicion of a conspiracy to defraud bookmakers. According to reports, Majeed had bribed a few Pakistan players to bowl no-balls and wides in the series and the fourth and final Test between England and Pakistan at Lords. They questioned the players and took statements from Salman Butt, Mohammad Aamer and Mohammad Asif, and wicketkeeper Kamran Akmal for their alleged role in the match-fixing scandal.

The video released by the tabloid shows the key player of the spot fixing; Majeed is taking cash from a tabloid reporter and putting it in a jacket. He asked the reporter 10,000 pounds in advance to introduce the Pakistani players to him. After receiving the cash Majeed introduced the reporter to two Pakistani players -Umar Amin and Wahab Riaz and gave the jacket to one of the players.

Spot-fixing' has emerged as a disaster for cricket. Fixing the match in favor of one team as decided earlier by match-fixers is generally termed as match fixing. The players act in a predefined manner during the session of a match like which bowler will come on first change, who will win the toss, who will bowl no balls and wides in particular session of a match etc.

No ball Controversy: One match ban for Randiva

2010-08-19T23:58:00.000+05:30

The Sri Lankan Cricket Board suspended Suraj Randiva for one match for denying Virender Sehwag a century with a deliberate no ball. He will miss the match against New Zealand in Dambulla on Thursday. Randiva’s match fee for the match had been forfeited.

The Srilankan Cricket board decided to take disciplinary action against the players and also advised the Caption to ensure to prevent the occurrence of such incidents in future as it affects the spirit of the game. Senior batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan, who prompted Randiva for a no ball, has also been fined 100 percent of his match fee. Also the board was examining the stump microphone to find out whether captain Sangakkara or any of his team mates was involved in the issue.

India won the match comfortably by six wickets. India needs just one run for victory when Randiva bowled a no ball which was hit by Sehwag for a six. Sehwag raised his bat and a moment later he realized that it was a no ball. The six however did not count as the no ball amounted to India's winning run.

The Srilankan off-spinner later, apologized to Sehwag after the match. The Sri Lankan board too offered their apologies, which prompted the Indian team management to declare the episode a "closed chapter" while the BCCI also made it clear that it would not pursue the case any further.

Sehwag told the media that Srilanka has a record of doing such things as they that they had left Sachin Tendulkar stranded at 99 with similar tactics in Cuttack. Sourav Ganguly, former India Captain said that this was not the first time Sri Lanka had done such a thing. He faced the same situation in a Test match at Kandy in 2002 where he was left stranded on 98.

BlackBerry Issue: RIM offers technical solution

2010-08-18T22:05:00.001+05:30

The India government has given RIM and service providers a deadline of
August 31, 2010 to comply with its security requirements over BlackBerry email and messaging services. Authorities sent formal notices to the mobile operators informing that they must have the right equipment to monitor Blackberry services before 1 September 2010. Mobile operators including Tata Teleservices confirmed the receipt of letter from the Department of Telecommunications to ensure proper interception mechanism.

RIM technical team started discussions with India's telecommunications ministry and intelligence agencies to come up with a technical solution to avoid the ban on some of BlackBerry's services. The makers of the BlackBerry smartphone reportedly agreed to provide a monitoring method which would allow emails and chats shared between two BlackBerry devices to be intercepted and read by security agencies. RIM has already assured a manual access to its instant messages by September 1 and automated access by year end.

On behalf of The Mumbai attacks, it became clear that terrorists used high technology for their operations; the security agencies demanded RIM to provide a security system for the service in India. But RIM refused to provide access to its services saying that it has not provided anything unique to the government of any country and cannot accommodate any request for monitoring its services. The messages sent between two BlackBerry devices follows a code format (encrypted form) which prevents intelligence agencies from monitoring the contents transmitted across the networks.

India is one of the fastest growing telecommunication markets, with10 lacks Blackberry subscribers. So RIM will not be able to ignore Indian market. On the other hand Businesspeople and diplomats in India prefer BlackBerry for sending secure e-mails and text messages. RIM faced the same security concerns from other countries and it has lost more than 11 percent of its market capitalization since August, as Saudi Arabia and the UAE said they would also consider a ban on its Services.

US Visa Fee Hike will affect Indian Companies

2010-08-11T21:19:00.000+05:30

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill to steeply hike US visa fees for US-bound professionals by $2,000 per application for next five years. The bill will seriously affect Indian companies in US and would cost an extra$ 200 million a year.

The hike in fees will be applicable only to companies with more than 50 per cent foreign employees. The bill proposes a fee hike for highly skilled professionals from $320 to $2,320and for L visas given to multi-national transferees from $320 to $2,570.

This will adversely affect Indian IT companies especially Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and Mahindra Satyam which have large number of employees in US to handle IT operations for American customers. But professionals on H-1B visas for IT giants such as Microsoft and Google will not be affected as per the clause that limits the fee hike to companies with more than 50 per cent foreign workers.

The fund raised by the law will be utilized for increasing the security of US-Mexican border. The $600 million package is allocated to prevent illegal immigration through the US’s porous border with Mexico. New Delhi raised its concern over the law as it will primarily impact Indian firms even though they account for fewer than 12 percent of the total visas issued. US lawmakers defended it saying that the law would hopefully create some vacancies for Americans in some higher skilled jobs to fill which foreign companies are using these visas.

The Emergency Border Security Supplemental Appropriations Act was passed yesterday by a voice vote in the House of Representatives.

North Korean World Cup coach forced to become a construction worker

2010-08-02T17:47:00.000+05:30

The North Korean coach Kim Jong-Hun has been sacked from the Workers' Party of Korea and degraded as an unpaid construction worker following the poor performance in the FIFA World Cup. It is reported that Kim fears he could soon be executed.

North Korea's football team which lost all three World Cup matches in South Africa, has been suffered a six-hour public inquisition at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang. Under coercion, every player confessed their mistakes and blamed the defeat on the coach.

Further Kim has been accused of betraying Kim Jong-un, the son and heir of the great leader Kim Jong-il. North Korea's succeeded in the in qualifying match for the World Cup for the first time in last 44 years. This made the Party to organize countrywide celebratory lectures in recognition of Kim Jong-un's accomplishment. Only two Japanese-born players avoided the public humiliation as they flew straight to Japan after the tournament.

The live broadcasting of games had been banned in North Korea to avoid national Embarrassment.This is for the first time a foreign football match has ever been broadcasted in North Korea after the brave 2-1 defeat to Brazil. But they stopped broadcasting the second half of the live match against Portugal after the poor performance of 7-0.The match went unreported in the next day's newspapers.

It is reported that the North Korean athletes and coaches who performed badly in the international level were sent to imprisonment earlier. According to the Daily Express, North Korea has executed two top officials recently.

Kohinoor diamond will remain in Britain

2010-07-30T18:51:00.001+05:30

British Prime Minister David Cameron ruled out the return of Kohinoor Diamond to India. India has requested several times for the return of the diamond. The British High Commission rejected the plea last month saying that that the diamond was acquired legitimately and the prospect of its repatriation was therefore non-negotiable.The demand for Kohinoor had been raised by Keith Vaza, British MP of Indian origin just before Cameron began his visit to India.

In an interview, Cameroon made it clear that the return of Kohinoor would disappoint viewers and if such demands were agreed to, it would lead to empty rooms in British Museums. The actual Kohinoor can now be seen in the Maltese Cross, in a crown made for the Queen Mother in 1937, on display at the Tower of London.

Kohinoor which means Mountain of Light, in Urdu, was mined in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It had changed many hands and was finally seized by the East India Company and presented to Queen Victoria. It became part of the British Crown Jewels when Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India in 1877.

It is believed that the gem carries with it a curse and only God or a woman can possess the diamond. The curse will not work on woman. All the men who possessed the diamond followed all its misfortunes. Queen Victoria is the only monarch who has worn the jem.The diamond is passed to the spouse, where the monarch is male.

With the support of UNESCO, The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has joined an international network to regain of the artifacts taken away during British rule, including the Kohinoor diamond and the Sultanganj Buddha.

Diego Maradona is no longer the coach of Argentina

2010-07-28T13:08:00.002+05:30

The Argentine Football Association removed Diego Maradona as coach of Argentina on Tuesday. The AFA unanimously decided not renew his contract as the coach of Argentina’s national team.

The soccer federation had offered him a four-year contract to continue through the 2014 World Cup. Maradona said that he would only accept the offer if his entire staff also remained. But the demand was not acceptable to Argentine Football Association. Also there was a growing difference between Dego Maradona and Julio Grondona, president of the Argentine Football Association. The only way to solve the issue is to remove Maradona from the position.

Maradona became Argentina's coach in November 2008, replacing Alfio Basile. He came from a slum area in Buenos Aires .He made his league debut at the age of 15 and became one of the best football players of the world. He played in four FIFA World Cup tournaments for Argentina. In 1986 World Cup Maradona led Argentina and won the World Cup over Germany. He has gained an iconic status after the victory despite drug abuse allegations. But in 1991 he was suspended from football for 15 months after failing a doping test. He retired from professional soccer in 1997 after failing another doping test and in 2008 bounced back to the football world as the coach of Argentina. Still, Maradona had many supporters including the President Cristina Fernandez and Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo.

Sergio Batista is the interim coach who will lead Argentina in its next match against Ireland. He was the coach of Argentina in 2008 Beijing Olympics where they won the gold medal. Alejandro Sabella of Estudiantes or Miguel Russo of Racing may be possible successors of Maradona.

The First rural BPO venture in India

2010-07-27T17:37:00.000+05:30

A British BPO firm Xchanging Plc will set up the first multinational BPO unit in rural India. Xchanging Plc is decided to expand its back office operations at Shimoga in central Karnataka. The founder of the firm, David Andrews is set to sign a MoU with the Karnataka government in the presence of the British Prime minister who is scheduled to visit India this week.

Xchanging, is looking to expand their operation in India by moving work to rural cities in india which offer lower costs.The company will set up a 2000-seat BPO market in Shimoga, the home of Karnataka’s Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. The unit is considered to be the biggest rural BPO venture to date in the country. It is planned to establish on a six acre property that falls within a SEZ. The London-based firm has been operating at Shimoga since 2008, employing about 300 youngsters from the region.

Xchanging, a London Stock Exchangeis listed company is one of the largest and fastest growing business processors. It has wide range of customers in 42 countries and employing over 8,000 people. The company provides business processing services across a broad range of functions and industries including Human resources (HR), Technology, Procurement, and Customer Administration.

Love Parade stampede : Death toll rises to 19

2010-07-26T23:34:00.000+05:30

A stampede occurred at the ‘Love Parade’ techno music festival in Germany on Saturday killed at least 19 people and injured more than 340. The incident happened in an entrance tunnel to a former rail station in the West German city of Duisburg where the event was held. The Europe's biggest electronic music event drew about 1.4 million people from all over Europe, most in the age group of 18-26.

The festival was cancelled not immediately fearing an abrupt halt could spark a second panic. Organizers’ finally cancelled the event in late evening hours after the deaths.

According to the head of emergency task force, some of the participants tried to enter the area by climbing a fence along a ramp and then felled and the overcrowding increased the death rate.

The Love Parade is a popular electronic dance music festival. It was originated in 1989 in West Berlin, Germany. The event was considered as a political demonstration for peace and international understanding through love and music. Compared to other music concerts, the Love Parade is seen to be louder and more crowded. The variety of the event is that the parade consists of the sound trucks sponsored by techno related field such as clubs, labels or stores.

The motto of Love Parade 2010 is 'The Art of Love'. The Love Parade2009, planned to be held at Bochum, was cancelled last year. The stampede prompted the organizer Rainer Schaller to declare an end to the mega festival. Investigations are going onto find out how the mass panic occurred.

Tendulkar Opus: Sachin denies the use of his Blood in the book

2010-07-24T17:06:00.002+05:30

Sachin Tendulkar has denied the news of using his blood on the book's signature page. He said that there was no truth in the news.

Sachin who was busy with the test against Sri Lanka at Galle said that he was focusing on the match and got the news on Thursday.

It is reported that Karl Fowlerof Kraken Media, the publisher of the book told the UK's Guardian newspaper that 10 copies of the book would be printed using Tendulkar’s blood. The signature page of the special edition of the book will be a mix of Tendulkar’s blood and pulp which is used to create the papers. Later in a statement Fowler said that the book would not carry any blood as mentioned in the several articles and TV reports that have appeared over the last few days.

The Name of the book is Tendulkar Opus. It is a photographic publication which celebrates sachin's career from the early years till date. It has 800-page work with some unpublished pictures of the little master. The book weighing 40kg will be finished in a silk covered clamshell presentation case with unique designs. Kraken is also expected to publish about 1,000 regular copies of the book to be sold for between $2,000 and $3,000.The book will be available at different price in various formats and free copies will be given to libraries all over India.

The Opus Collection is a series of publications ever produced on selected iconic events, organizations and personalities.

Tendulkar is the first cricketer to be given the Opus treatment.The Opus Collections includes Ferrari, Manchester United, Diego Maradona, Michael Jackson and the Burj Khalifa.

Black box inventor David Warren Passes away

2010-07-21T22:38:00.000+05:30

The inventor of flight data recorder (Black Box), David Warren has died at the age of 85 in Australia. He was a research scientist at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne.

He was born in 1925 at a mission station on remote Groote Eylandt in far northern Australia. He worked as the principal research scientist in the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne from 1952 to 1983. He was involved in the investigation team for possible causes of the crash of world’s first commercial jet airliner, the Comet in 1953. The mystery crash made him to come up with an idea of a recording device that could withstand a crash even if there were no survivors and no witnesses.

In 1956 he designed and developed the first flight data recorder, which later known as the Black Box. The device recorded the pilot’s voice and instrument readings for four hours on steel wire. Even though the machine was tested successfully, Australia’s Department of Civil Aviation dismissed the invention. Later he was given the resources to develop the equipment in the UK. In 1958 Dr Warren and his team built new models with crash-proof and fire-proof boxes, which is now compulsory equipment in most airliners.

The information collected from Back Box has been essential to determining the cause of many crashes. It is brightly painted to make them easy to spot at crash sites and name conveys the sense of a magical invention. Dr Warren received the Order of Australia - among the nation's highest civilian honors - for his service to the aviation industry. Dr Warren and his team were awarded the Lawrence Margraves Award for their work in 2001.

Safe shopping with Visa CodeSure: A new credit card to prevent online fraud

2010-07-19T13:12:00.001+05:30

US global payments Technology Company Visa's European team has introduced a new credit card which will help to prevent online frauds. The new card-Visa CodeSure is designed with a keypad and digital number display.

The Visa CodeSure is like any other card, with a 12 button keypad and a digital screen which displays a constantly changing series of unique security passwords needed for internet shopping. It has a battery that will be able to power the security system for 3 years.

The main advantage of the card is that it can be only used by the person who knows the PIN. The user needs to input their PIN on the keyboard, which will then generate a unique password including letters and numbers. Visa CodeSure uses multichannel authentication technology.

CodeSure will allow users to access their online bank accounts with the secure password generated each time thus avoiding same password all the time. With the new technology the need for a separate card reader is eliminated and can avoid the “Verified by Visa” system where users need to input a pre-defined password to provide an extra form of security. Visa hopes to reduce internet crime to a great extent with the new card. Visa with partner Emue Technologies developed and conducted trails with eight banks and their customers in countries including the UK.

iPhone 4 Reception Issue: Apple offers free bumpers

2010-07-17T21:32:00.000+05:30

Apple Inc. will give free protective cases to Apple iPhone 4 users to tackle so-called death grip problem. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced on Friday that free case or bumbers will be given to the iphone users to fix the antenna's design flaw problem. In a press conference at the company's headquarters in Cupertino, Calif, Jobs promised a full refund will be issued to those who already bought the $29 case.

According to Steve jobs all smart phones including the iPhone have weak spots. He emphasized that only 0.55%of all iPhone users have contacted Apple with a reception issue and the iOS4 4.0.1 update fixes the antenna bar and the Exchange bug. Steve Jobs claims it is not unique to iPhone4, even BlackBerry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris, and Samsung Omnia II can be affected by this left handed grip issue and hopes Apple will be the first company to find a solution.

The new iPhone 4 grabbed 3 million customers since its launch on June 24th 2010, and became the Apple's fastest selling product ever. In the first three days, the device got 1.7 million customers and judged as the No. 1 smart phone by many publications. Jobs claimed that it was the “Thinnest Smartphone on the planet.” The new model carries a metal antenna that surrounds the outside of the device which makes the device lighter and thinner.But within three weeks Apple got a number of complaints from users about dropped calls when they grip the lower left hand side of the phone where the antenna is located. The antenna issues are related to a hardware design flaw.

Jobs said that the return rate for the iPhone 4 to AT&T is 1.7%, or less than a third of the return rate for the iPhone 3GS.The iPhone controversy seriously affected the Apple’s shares with $16 billion loss in market value.

Epic : A New Indian Web Browser

2010-07-16T22:02:00.000+05:30

Hidden Reflex, a Bangalore-based software firm launched a new web browser Epic, targeting Indian users.

Epic is the first Indian browser which supports 12 Indian languages such as Hindi, Guajarati, Marathi, Nepali, Bengali, Sanskrit, Punjabi, Urdu, Malayalam, Kanada, Telegu, and Tamil. The browser is built on the open source Mozilla platform.

Epic is claimed to be the first browser with built in antivirus which can prevents users from malicious websites. It protects the users from anti phishing websites. The browser is provided with more than 1500 themes based on India and wallpapers. It provides faster browsing and downloading experience.

The browser offers One-Click Private Data Deletion and One-Click Private Browsing. Apart from this, it includes sidebars with which you can edit text, read news, view videos and pictures. Epic don't store any browsing or search data. More than 50 % of the Indians use internet expolorer 6 which don’t support many of the modern browsing facilities.

A unique Symbol for Indian Rupee

2010-07-16T15:16:00.000+05:30

Indian Rupee has now its own symbol like other major global currencies US dollar, British pound-sterling, Euro and Japanese yen. Rupee is now the fifth currency in the world to have a unique identity. The symbol will reflect the Indian ethos and culture.

The Union Cabinet on Thursday approved the design selected by a team headed by Reserve Bank Deputy Governor. The new Symbol is designed by D Udaya Kumar, a Bombay IIT post-graduate Kumar, who will join the Department of Design at IIT Guwahati today. The Government of India announced a public contest to pick up a sign that will represent the currency of India before one year. From 3,000 designs competing for the currency symbol, Kumar's design is selected. According to him the design is based on the Tricolour, with two lines at the top and white space in between representing the Indian flag. He will be awarded Rs. 2.5 lakh by the Finance Ministry.

The new rupee symbol is a blend of Roman letters 'R', and Devanagari alaphabet 'ra'. With the new symbol,Indian currency will now be distinguished from countries like Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia also use the word "rupee" or "rupiah" to identify their respective currencies. New Symbol would be included in the 'Unicode Standard' that allows text data to be interchanged globally without conflict and can be easily displayed and printed in the electronic and print media.

To integrate the new rupee with the mainstream, Nasscom will approach IT firms to embed the symbol in their software package so that even if it is not embedded on the keyboards it can be used globally. The adoption of Rupee symbol in India is estimated to take about six months and 24 months globally. Microsoft is ready to include the new symbol in the next release once the Unicode consortium gives its nod and vendors get notification of the same.

Infosys to issue Social Media Policies for employees

2010-07-15T15:50:00.000+05:30

Indian Software giant, Infosys plans to introduce a social media policy for its employees who are active in various social networks like Facebook, Twitter and Orkut. Infosys is the first Indian company to introduce the policy which is prevalent outside India.

According to Nandita Gurjar, the senior vice-president and group head, Human Resources, at Infosys, the policy aims at curbing the employees from sharing confidential and sensitive company information on unprotected places like social networking sites. On behalf of some serious confidentiality break from two employees working on same projects who shared project information through Facebook, Infosys plant to protect its company secrets from open forums.

The new policy will enlist a set of dos and don’ts that the employees are expected to follow about revealing projects or client engagements on open forms. The employees are restricted on passing any personal comments about any of its employees. The policy will enable to take legal action against its employees who share the project or any client details on such media, thus breaching the confidentiality of the company.

An ASSOCHAM survey reports that social networking sites kills productivity of corporate employees by 12.5%.The survey carried out in cities like Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Cochin, Mumbai, Pune and Chandigarh shows an average corporate employee spends an hour each day on various social networking sites such as Orkut, Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn etc.

Lawsuit against Facebook: Paul Ceglia claims 84% stake in Facebook

2010-07-14T12:35:00.000+05:30

The world's No.1 social network is battling a lawsuit filed against Facebook and CEO Mark Zuckerberg by Paul Ceglia claims to own 84% stake in the website. The Supreme Court of New York where Ceglia field a civil lawsuit, ordered to freeze company's assets temporarily as the trial proceeds. But the asset freeze will not prevent Face book from operating.

Paul Ceglia from New York claims that he signed a contract with Zuckerberg in 2003 to design and develop a website later became the most popular social networking website 'thefacebook.com' as we know today. According to the copy of the contract, the Seller (Mr.Zuckerberg ) offered the Purchaser (Ceglia )a fee of $1,000 and a 50 percent stake in the product and an additional 1 % interest in the business per day, until the website was completed. As of February 4, 2004, Ceglia claims to have an 84 percent stake in the company.

Facebook dismissed the suit saying that it was completely frivolous. According to Network Solutions online, the domain name for TheFacebook.com was not registered until Jan 2004.Reuters reports that Mark Zuckerberg was dealing with some other projects during that period.

Facebook which is launched in February 2004 has nearly 500 million user and ranks among other popular websites alongside Google Inc, Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp. The site received a $200 million investment from the Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies in 2009 and now it is estimated to be worth $6.5 billion.

A wedding gift for Dhoni: 200 crore deal with Rhiti Sports

2010-07-13T13:33:00.000+05:30

The Indian Cricket captain MS Dhony signed an endorsement deal with Rhiti Sports, a talent management company for three years. The Rs 200 crore deal, is a wedding gift for the most expensive cricketer, who married recently.

Rhiti Sports through a joint venture with Mindscapes One will manage Dhoni’s long list of endorsements as a brand associations, corporate profile, patents and digital rights, images, visibility on social networking sites and merchandise.

Dhoni ended the deal with Gameplan Sports, a sports management firm two years ago. He formally joined Mindscapes Maestros last year. He is associated with 22 brands which include PepsiCo, Reebok, Aircel and Godrej and according to sources he charges Rs 6 crore an endorsement a year. According to Forbes magazine reports Dhoni earned $8 million from endorsements and his campaigns were 45% more expensive than others.

Dhoni overtakes Sachin Tendulkar who got Rs 180-crore for three years in 2006.Apart from Dhoni Rhiti Sports manages cricketers RP Singh and Harbhajan Singh.

FIFA World Cup 2010 Final: Waka Waka Its Time for Spain

2010-07-12T10:50:00.000+05:30

Waka Waka This time for Spain. Spain has created history. European champion Spain has won , 19th fifa world cup of football South Africa.
Spain has defeated the Netherlands by one goal at the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg. Both team played well, but Andres Iniesta who turned the match upside down with a winning goal.

This is the first time Spain has ever reached the WorldCup finals. In the maiden attempt itself, Spain lifts the World cup marking the history. No goal was scored in the usual time even though both played aggressively. The match went into extra time and again either Spain or Holland failed to give a goal at the end of the first extra-time. In the 116th minutes of the match that Spain midfielder Andres Iniesta scored one goal to write Spain's name in World Cup annals.

Spanish fans danced the night away in the streets with joy and excitement .The first ever World Cup dream sparked a nationwide fiesta.The 89,000-capacity stadium erupted in cheers and vuvuzela blowing everywhere. The anti-apartheid icon and Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela, South Africa's first elected president made his long-awaited appearance at the World Cup yesterday. World Cup has been concluded with the Waka Waka Song of Shakira

World Cup Soccer: Paul's prediction favours Germany

2010-07-11T10:03:00.001+05:30

Once again Paul's prediction favours Germany. Germany secured the third-place in the Fifa World Cup 2010.

Sami Khedira's 82nd-minute goal has given Germany a 3-2 victory against Uruguay at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth. It was for the second time Germany finished third. In the last World Cup which was held at Germany, they won the match for third place.

Germany established a dominating role in the first half of the match with Muller's opening goal. Uruguay equalized his goal through Edinson Cavani. A goal from Muller, Jansen and Sami Khedira was enough to end Uruguaya’s dream for bronze medal. Forlan gave Uruguay a 2-1 lead but Jansen compensated it 5 minutes later.

Thomas Muller staked his claim for the Golden Shoe award. It was a re-play of the 1970 World Cup's third-place match, in which Germany beat Uruguay 1-0. Anyway, with their excellent teamwork, and immense courage, Uruguay won many friends in FIFA 2010.

US -Russia Spy Swap: A big Exchange deal since Cold War

2010-07-10T13:29:00.000+05:30

Two aircrafts - a US Jet and Russian Plane landed around the same time in Vienna airport, on Friday to complete the spy swap. The exchange deal will improve the US -Russia relations.

The US plane carried ten people who spied for Moscow in the US which includes Former Cambridge residents Donald H. Heathfield and Tracey L. A. Foley. They arrived at Moscow's Domodedovo International Airport on Friday. This can be considered as a biggest exchange since during the Cold War in 1986. The 10 defendants arrested last month for spy work pleaded guilty in a New York Court failing to register as foreign agents. Charged with money laundering, US Court released them on Friday .They agreed never to return without permission from the attorney general.

Russia also freed four individuals imprisoned for allegedly spying for the United States which includes the former head of the military technology and economics department at the Institute of the United States and Canada of the Russian Academy of Sciences.A Russian nuclear weapons specialist Igor Sutyagin sentenced for 15 years imprisonment in April 2004 for sharing state secrets with U.S. military intelligence was also exchanged as per the deal. After admitting their crimes against the Russia, they revealed their true identity and appealed to the Russian president to free them.

It takes about one and a half hours to complete the deal in Vienna. According to Russian foreign ministry the deal is part of overall improvement of the US-Russian ties and giving them new dynamics.

Solar Impulse: A milestone in the aviation history

2010-07-09T22:47:00.000+05:30

Solar impulse a solar-powered plane made a successful 24 hr test fly on Wednesday July 7, 2010.

The single seated plane developed by Swiss team, proved that the aircraft can collect enough solar energy during the day to stay aloft all night.The team considers it as a mile stone in the aviation history.

They aim at developing a solar-powered plane flying day and night without fuel. The plane is equipped with 12,000 solar cells which could fill up its batteries with enough solar energy can fly through the night. It has a wingspan of 63.4 meters, the same as an Airbus A340 and a length of 21.85 meters, the Solar Impulse craft weighs 1,600 kg. It can fly an average speed of 70 kilometers (43 miles) per hour.

The 57 year old Pilot Andre Borsch berg took off from Switzerland at about 7 a.m. early morning. The aircraft landed on Thursday at 9.01 am (0701 GMT) at Payerne airbase in western Switzerland.