Mammootty chief guest at IFFI closing ceremony

Mammootty would be the chief guest at the concluding session of the prestigious International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa.

It is another feather on Mammooka’s cap, as normally only Bollywood stars are given the honor by the organisers to be present at the valedictory function.
It also shows the growing influence of Malayalam films at the national level.
Mammootty is on a roll as two of his finest movies are getting screened at IFFI starting on November 23.
His Kutty Sranku will be premièred for the first time in India at the Indian Panorama section and the stars critically acclaimed box-office hit Pazhassi Raja will only be screened at the festival.

Dravid joins 11,000 Test run club

Senior batsman Rahul Dravid on Monday added another feather to his cap by becoming the second Indian, fifth overall, to score 11,000 runs in Test cricket.




Dravid went into the three-match series against Sri Lanka needing 177 runs to reach the milestone and he achieved it in
the opening day itself with an unbeaten 177.

It was an elegant innings that not only earned him an individual record but also came at a time when the team needed
it most.



Dravid's moment of glory came in the 89th over when he cut pacer Chanaka Welegedara for a single at deep point and he
raised his bat in acknowledgment of the cheers at the Sardar Patel Stadium.

The Karnataka batsman now joins the elite list which has compatriot Sachin Tendulkar at the top with 12,777 runs in
Test cricket.



West Indies batting great Brain Lara is second in the list with 11,953 runs from 131 matches, followed by the
Australian duo of Ricky Ponting (11,345 runs from 136 Tests) and Alan Border (11,174 runs in 156 matches).

Nicknamed as 'The wall', Dravid has an awe-inspiring Test career where he scored 27 hundreds and 57 half-centuries
at an average of 53.39 in 135 Tests.

The 36-year-old batsman also has a whopping 10,765 runs from 339 ODIs at a average of 39.43 where he scored 12 hundreds and 82 fifties.

Meanwhile, Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni crossed 2,000 runs in Tests cricket in company of Dravid. Dhoni reached the mark during the course of his second Test century.

Gambhir and Dhoni win ICC top awards

Indian opener Gautam Gambhir was named the ICC Test Cricketer of the Year at a pleasant ceremony here on Thursday.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Ponting's three-word recipe for Trophy success

CENTURION, South Africa — Skipper Ricky Ponting needed only three words to explain why Australia crushed England by nine wickets and qualified for the Champions Trophy final here Monday.

"Respect every ball," was the message the 34-year-old leader drilled into his team-mates at SuperSport Park Friday before the eighth ODI clash between the countries in the last two months.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Fossilised eggs found in Tamil Nadu belonged to large dinosaur species

Indian geologists have found a cluster of dinosaur eggs, said to be about 65 million years old, in a village in Ariyalur in Tamil Nadu, media reports said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Death Toll Rising from South Pacific Tsunami

Authorities say the death toll has risen to more than 110 after a powerful undersea earthquake triggered a tsunami that hit South Pacific islands.

The majority of the fatalities occurred in Samoa, where rescue workers say at least 84 people have been killed.  

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Reliance, Airtel, Infosys, TCS in Forbes Asia's 50 Best

Washington, Sep 24 (IANS) Reliance Industries (RIL), Bharti Airtel, Infosys Technologies and Tata Consultancy Services are among the 13 Indian companies that have made it to the list of Forbes' 50 Best companies in the Asia-Pacific region.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

U.S : : Children under 10 need 2 doses of A/H1N1 vaccine

WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- Children under age 10 would need two doses of the A/H1N1 vaccine while children ages 10 and older would need just one shot, a U.S. health official said Monday.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Chinese are working to an India centric plan

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.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Microsoft to business users: deploy Windows 7 now!

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.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Tendulkar's record-breaking run continues

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.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Vintage Tendulkar | hits ton against Srilanka

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.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Gambhir ruled out of tri-series with groin injury

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.

Ash more dangerous than Katrina!

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.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

HTC Hero Launched in India

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.

Rahul reaches out to connect in | TN

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.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >

Week later, mystery of YSR chopper crash | unsolved

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.

YSR death kills 142

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 | Chopper Found

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.

A torch extinguished - YSR Reddy (1949-2009)

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.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE > >