Authorities say the death toll has risen to more than 110 after a powerful undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit South Pacific islands.
A day after India downplayed the China threat, calling it a media creation, CNN-IBN has access to a confidential intelligence note that suggests that Beijing is acting on a definite military plan on the border.
Microsoft has once again started pushing for business users to deploy Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. The company also unveiled that Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP) 2009 R2 is coming in late October.
Statistical highlights of the ODI tri-series final between India and Sri Lanka in Colombo.
# Sachin Tendulkar's 133-ball 138 is his highest against Sri Lanka. The hundred is also his highest in a final and his 44th overall.
Colombo: Cometh the hour, cometh Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar. On a glorious sunny after noon at Colombo when entire world questioned India’s one night stand at the top, Tendulkar scripted a fairy tale century to give a foundation from where Team India looked like creating a history in emerald islands.
Gautam Gambhir will miss the Compaq Cup after straining a groin muscle, the Indian board announced on Thursday. He has been advised 10 days' rest, and is returning from Sri Lanka ahead of the tri-series.
The selectors will announce his replacement later in the day, the BCCI statement said, and he will join the squad on Friday, the day India play their first game of the tournament.
Two of the possible contenders for Gambhir's slot, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, are at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore, undergoing rehabilitation for shoulder injuries. M Vijay is another possible replacement. Gambhir is expected to report at the NCA for assessment and rehabilitation.
Gambhir's injury means India will be without two of their three established openers in Sri Lanka: Virender Sehwag is already out with shoulder injury and will miss the Champions Trophy too. Gambhir's replacement notwithstanding, Dinesh Karthik, who opened in the ODIs in the West Indies in the absence of Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar, is in the squad and likely to make the starting XI.
India will desperately want Gambhir back in time for the Champions Trophy, where they play their first match on September 26, against Pakistan in Centurion. They would ideally want at least a week's acclimatisation in South Africa, which means there will be a degree of risk involved should India take Gambhir to the Champions Trophy. It will be a tricky decision to make, because one such choice recently went wrong. Sehwag, who was injured but hoping to recover in time when the squad for World Twenty20 was announced, was taken along to England, but is yet to recover from his shoulder injury.
Bollywood beauty Aishwarya Rai beats Katrina Kaif as the most dangerous Indian celebrity to search in cyberspace, according to Internet security company McAfee, Inc.
The top 10 celebrities include:
Yuvraj Singh - His super sixes and his very controversial relationship status makes Yuvi an easy target for spammers and hackers.
Aishwarya Rai - Her marriage has not affected her popularity at all. Inputting 'Aishwariya Rai screensavers' or 'Aishwarya Rai wallpapers' into a search engine yielded a dangerous Web site linking to a distributor of adware and spyware.
MS Dhoni - The cricket heartthrob should be searched with caution. 'Dhoni wallpapers' and 'Dhoni videos' led to websites containing spyware which could make changes to a PC's browser settings.
HTC has launched its second Android OS-based smartphone, the HTC Hero, in India. This handset will come loaded with intuitive HTC Sense user interface. The phone was first launched in June at an HTC event in London. Airtel customers are offered 100MB free data transfer for six months and pack of Airtel apps like Portfolio Manager, Hello Tune Manager, Weather Channel, Mobshare, In-Mobile search and City Search.
Most importantly, HTC Hero will have Android Market preinstalled. It comes with the support for Google apps like Gmail as well as Google Maps which isn't offered in Airtel exclusive HTC Magic handset. HTC will offer Hero for Rs. 31,990 in India but for Rs. 34,600 in Maharashtra; blame it on the 12.5 percent VAT rates in the city.
HTC Hero has 3.2-inch HVGA (320x280) TFT-LCD touchscreen that will add to HTC's new intuitive mobile interface dubbed HTC Sense. Well, as we noted earlier, HTC sense is the same Android UI that was dubbed as Donut/Rosie when it leaked. Hero packs Qualcomm 528MHz MSM7200A processor with 512MB ROM and 228MB RAM, all together promising a zippier UI navigating experience. Hero supports Adobe Flash which will aid the users for easy mobile web browsing and enjoy Flash-based multimedia content.
The best part is that HTC will integrate HTC Sense UI to the portfolio of its phones and hence, HTC Magic customers can expect new Sense update for their handsets too. HTC will also push firmware updates for Hero since many users had reported lagging and speed issues.
HTC Sense UI boasts of three major features - gesture control, widgets support and integration of different apps in single view. Gesture control offers features like the phone can be turned over to put into silence mode. Slew of widgets for social networks and productivity can be set to the homescreen - like Nokia and Samsung smartphones now allow. Single view of contact specific interaction is enabled by integrating the history of calls, SMS, and mails with the respective contact photos and Twitter/Facebook updates.
Boasting a 5 megapixel camera, Hero also has a built-in internal GPS antenna which can be used in future for geo-tagging the pictures clicked. HTC has added digital compass and accelerometer in Hero just like Apple had digital compass along with Accelerometer in iPhone 3GS.
Unlike in HTC Magic, music fanatics can hook up any headphones with 3.5mm audio jack in Hero and store more music on media card in microSD memory expansion slot. HTC assures a battery life of 7.8 hours with a 1350mAh lithium-ion battery.
Technical Specifications of HTC Hero:
Processor: 528 MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A -
Memory ROM: 512 MB
RAM: 288 MB
Operating System: Android
Display: 3.2-inch TFT-LCD touch-sensitive screen with 320x480 HVGA resolution
Network HSPA/WCDMA: 900/2100 MHz - Up to 2 Mbps up-link and 7.2 Mbps down-link speeds
Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
Device Control: Trackball with Enter button
GPS: Internal GPS antenna
Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate and A2DP for wireless stereo headsets
Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11 b/g
Data connection interface: HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
Camera: 5.0 megapixel color camera with auto focus
Audio slot: 3.5 mm audio port
Expansion Slot: microSD memory card (SD 2.0 compatible)
Special Features: G-sensor, Digital Compass,
Audio supported formats: MP3, AAC (AAC, AAC+, AAC-LC), AMR-NB, WAV, MIDI and Windows Media" Audio 9
Video supported formats: MPEG-4, H.263, H.264 and Windows Media Video 9
Dimensions (LxWxT): 112 x 56.2 x 14.35 mm (4.41 x 2.21 x 0.57 inches)
Weight: 135 grams (4.76 ounces) with battery
Battery: Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery
Capacity: 1350 mAh
Talk time:
Up to 420 minutes for WCDMA
Up to 470 minutes for GSM
Standby time:
Up to 750 hours for WCDMA
Up to 440 hours for GSM
HTC has smartly priced Hero lower than the iPhone 3G model and offers a number of features that puts the phone head-to-head with it.
In an effort to repeat in the south the rejuvenation of the Congress he has achieved in Uttar Pradesh, AICC general
secretary Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday embarked on a mass-contact exercise in the southern districts of Tamil Nadu. In a move reminiscent of his father, Rahul steered clear of party paraphernalia and rallies, preferring to interact with people on the roadside by making unscheduled stops in between meetings with groups of students, farm labourers and fisherfolk.
A week after the helicopter crash that killed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and four others, there is still no light on the circumstances that led to the accident.
It is still not clear if it was a human error or a technical failure that led to the crash of the Bell 430 on a hillock in the dense Nallamalla forests, 40 nautical miles from Kurnool, last week on Wednesday.
The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and state police's Crime Investigation Department (CID), which were the first to launch the probe, are still struggling to find answers to key questions.
The state government Monday announced two more parallel probes by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and a two-member expert committee.
Officials engaged in the four parallel inquiries are looking into all angles, including sabotage. There are many questions that need an answer -- was the weather warning issued, was the chopper properly checked before it took off, was it carrying an Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT) and whether there were any lapses on the part of pilots or Air Traffic Control staff in responding to the requests by the crew to help them.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) or black box recovered from the wreckage is yet to be decoded. "If necessary the CVR would be sent to the United States for decoding," said state Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy.
Hoping to find the answers, the probe panel of the DGCA was in Kurnool on Wednesday along with Chief Secretary P. Ramakant Reddy and Director General of Police S.S.P. Yadav to visit the crash site.
The panel headed by RK Tiyagi, chairperson and managing director of Pawan Hans, will be divided into two groups. While one team will make an aerial survey, the other will make a ground inspection of the crash site to understand the circumstances that could have led to the crash.
The DGCA officials will also meet local police and civic officials and forensic experts who conducted autopsy on the five bodies in Kurnool.
YSR, as the chief minister was popularly known, his special secretary, chief security officer and two pilots were killed on Sep 2, an hour after he took off from Hyderabad for Chittoor district to launch a mass contact programme.
The helicopter crashed in bad weather minutes after it lost contact with Air Traffic Control at 9.12 am. The charred bodies of the victims with the wreckage were found 24 hours later after one of the biggest searches in India's aviation history involving Indian Air Force helicopters, fighter jets and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
The ground search operation involved army, paramilitary forces, police and even tribals living in the forest.
As many as 142 people across Andhra Pradesh reportedly have died of shock or committed suicide after the death of their chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, claimed Telegu television channels yesterday.
"I appeal to all of you to be brave in this hour of tragedy. He (YSR) wanted to see a smile on the faces of all and this will hurt him," his son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy appealed to the people.
"He used to smile even in difficult times and I am sure he is still smiling. I request you to follow his principle and not to commit suicide," added Jaganmohan.
The charred bodies of YSR and four others were found on Thursday in the Nallamala forest in Kurnool district, almost 24 hours after their helicopter went missing.
YSR Crash Photos.. YSR Deadbody Photos.. YS Jaganmohan Reddy the son of Late Andhra CM Ys Reddy is an industrialist. He runs ‘Sakshi’ a news daily and a television channel.With the death of Andhra CM YS Reddy a vacuum has been created in the political landscape of Andhra Pradesh Congress, many MPs and MLAs from the state are to support YSR’s son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy as the next Chief Minister of the state. At least 30 MPs and over 50 MLAs have launched separate campaigns to garner support in favour of Jaganmohan Reddy.
As Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh are expected to visit Hyderabad tomorrow to attend YSR’s funeral, the MPs and MLAs are planning to take up their demand to the Congress High Command.Jaganmohan was elected from Kadapa Lok Sabha constituency during the 2009 general elections.
The tragic death of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and Congress leader YSR Reddy, who devoted his entire life to the people of his state and the country, has come as a major shock to the entire nation.
The nation has for sure lost a great leader who was known for his administrative skills, his ability to feel the nerves of the masse and his strong conviction to transform Andhra Pradesh into a developed and progressive state.
Five people have been killed in ethnic unrest in China's western city of Urumqi this week, officials say.
It was unclear how the deaths happened, but thousands of Han Chinese have been protesting over an unexplained spate of stabbings with syringes.
Many of the protesters blame ethnic Uighur Muslims for the stabbings.
Riot police used tear gas to disperse angry crowds earlier, and China's top security official has arrived in Urumqi to try to restore order.
In July about 200 people - mostly Han Chinese - were killed in ethnic riots in the city, the capital of Xinjiang region.
Beijing blamed exiled Uighur separatist groups for July's violence.
Xinjiang's population is evenly split between Uighurs and Han Chinese - the country's majority ethnic group. But Hans make up three-quarters of Urumqi's population.
'Undermining unity'
Zhang Hong, vice-mayor of Urumqi, confirmed to reporters that there had been casualties in the latest unrest.
"On Thursday, 14 people were injured and sent to hospital and five people were killed in the incidents including two innocent people," he said.
Hundreds of police fanned out across Urumqi on Friday
Mr Zhang gave no further explanation of how the people were killed.
Meanwhile, Beijing has sent its top security official, Meng Jianzhu, to Urumqi.
On his arrival he was quoted by state-run news agency Xinhua as saying the syringe attacks were a continuation of the July unrest.
He said the attacks were instigated by ethnic separatist forces seeking to undermine ethnic unity and urged local officials "to restore social order as soon as possible".
But analysts say Mr Meng's visit reflects Beijing's desire to take control of the situation - and suggests the central government no longer trusts local officials.
'All marches banned'
The BBC's Michael Bristow, in Urumqi, says hundreds of police fanned out across the city on Friday, breaking up angry crowds gathering at road junctions.
Tear gas was fired to disperse one group of protesters and there were scuffles at a crossroads as police moved in to arrest several demonstrators.
Xinhua reported that the authorities had banned "all gatherings, marches or protests on roads or other public venues".
The crowds demanded more protection amid media reports saying more than 500 people, almost all Han, have sought treatment for stabbings in the past few weeks.
There is also anger over what many perceive as official slowness in punishing suspects charged over July's riots.
Tension between Xinjiang's Uighur and Han communities has been simmering for many years, but July's ethnic unrest was the worst in China for decades.
It began when crowds of Uighurs took the streets to protest about mistreatment - but their rally spiralled out of control and days of violent clashes followed.
