Sanjay Dutt Cant Contest in Elections

The Supreme Court on Tuesday disallowed actor Sanjay Dutt to contest elections from the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat and refused to suspend his conviction in a criminal case.

"We are not inclined to suspend his conviction," said a Bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan. "It is not a fit case to grant stay of conviction," said the Bench, which also comprised Justices P Sathasivam and R M Lodha.

The court said that the power of the court to suspend the conviction of a person to enable him to contest the elections has to be exercised rarely.

The court refused to stay Dutt's conviction, saying his case does not have parity with that of cricketer-turned-parliamentarian Navjot Singh Sidhu, who had resigned his seat after his conviction in a case of unintentional killing.

Dutt has been sentenced to six years in jail by a Mumbai anti-terror court hearing the 1993 serial bomb blasts in the city.

As per electoral laws, a person convicted for a criminal offence and sentenced to jail for more than two years is barred from running for elections.

The court said that Dutt had been convicted of "serious offence" under the Arms Act and was disqualified from contesting the elections under the Section 8 (3) of the Representation of People Act, which debars a person sentenced to two or more years of imprisonment, from standing for polls.

The Samajwadi Party wants to field Dutt, who was convicted for illegal possession of arms, from the Lucknow constituency, and he had already started campaigning there.

Farhana Shah, the lawyer who represented Dutt in the Mumbai blasts case, said her client won’t be disappointed with the court order. “It is not so disappointing for Sanjay, as he will have better luck next time. He never loses courage," said Shah.

Shah claimed the court order on Monday would not affect the actor’s plea to overturn his conviction. "The Supreme Court order will not affect the final verdict," she told CNN-IBN.

Special public prosecutor Ujjwal Nikam, the lawyer who successfully prosecuted Sanjay, said that the court order had sent a larger message against the criminalisation of politics.

Kolkata Knight Riders - Controversy

The first game of the Indian Premier League is less than three weeks away but the Kolkata Knight Riders camp is buzzing with controversy and confusion more than cricket. The IPL team is still unsure about who will be their captain for the tournament.

Sourav Ganguly was in Mumbai on Tuesday for a meeting with team owner Shah Rukh Khan and coach John Buchanan. The meeting was held at Shah Rukh Khan's home.

Last week, Buchanan threw the cat among the pigeons when he announced an ambitious plan to experiment with multiple captains during the course of a game.




There was further confusion brewing in the Kolkata camp after Shah Rukh Khan tried to play down the controversy over the captaincy issue.

Shah Rukh walked the ramp in the Lakme Fashion Week in Mumbai and told the media that it was a matter of miscommunication that had caused the captaincy issue to spiral up into a matter of greater proportions.



"I think there is a lot of over-reaction and rumors about he's been removed from captaincy.But that is completely untrue," said Khan.

Clearly a lot can happen when you get India's biggest movie star, India's most celebrated captain and a maverick coach together!

Varun Gandhi - A Hot Politician Now

It is one speech that has made Varun Gandhi India's hottest politician - at least on the web.

A Google graph tracks his soaring popularity - after a peak on the eighteenth of March, searches in his name are climbing back up again. Interestingly, people from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi and Tamil Nadu searched for him the most.

A graph plots Varun against Lal Krishna Advani - searches for Advani, have trailed far behind Varun all of this month.

A quick search on the web gives faces and words to dry statistics. Facebook has adulatory groups dedicated to the man. Orkut has fifty nine communities, some with more than eight hundred members each. Varun's speech posted on Youtube has been watched more than 16,000 views. But TV news reports posted on the same site have clocked eighty three thousand hits.

Meanwhile, bloggers brawl online over Varun's speech. While some poke fun at what he said, other's say arresting him makes him a political martyr, stoking tensions further.

There's even an online poll on Varun's chances of victory at the polls. The best take is from Shoba De. Varun is the Pamela Anderson of Indian politics, she says. What the babe's got in her boobs, Varun's got in his head.

ATM Free of Cost

Now, Due to the regulations imposed by Reserver Bank of India RBI, any ATM or Debit card can have a free transaction with any Bank ATM center free of cost. This new regulation will be implied from April 1 of 2009 onwards.So every one can enjoy seam less ATM access across the country.

IPL Final Schedule

Defending champions Rajasthan Royals will take on Royal Challengers in the first match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Newlands, Cape Town April 18.

A glittering opening ceremony will be held at Newlands before the match.

The first semifinal of the 37-day tournament will be played in Centurion, Pretoria May 22.

Wanderers, Johannesburg will host the second semifinal May 23 and also the final and the closing ceremony May 24.

Following is this year's IPL schedule:

April 18: Opening ceremony followed by Rajasthan Royals v Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians v Chennai Super Kings (Newlands, Cape Town)

April 19: Kolkata Knight Riders v Deccan Chargers (Newlands, Cape Town); Delhi Daredevils vs Kings XI Punjab (Newlands, Cape Town)

April 20: Royal Challengers v Chennai Super Kings (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

April 21: Rajasthan Royals v Mumbai Indians (Kingsmead, Durban); Kolkata Knight Riders v Kings XI Punjab (Kingsmead, Durban)

April 22: Delhi Daredevils v Chennai Super Kings (Kingsmead, Durban); Royal Challengers v Deccan Chargers (Newlands, Cape Town)

April 23: Kolkata Knight Riders v Rajasthan Royals (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

April 24: Kings XI Punjab v Royal Challengers (Wanderers, Johannesburg)

April 25: Kolkata Knight Riders v Chennai Super Kings (Newlands, Cape Town); Deccan Chargers v Mumbai Indians (Kingsmead, Durban)

April 26: Rajasthan Royals v Kings XI Punjab (Newlands, Cape Town); Royal Challengers v Delhi Daredevils (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

April 27: Kolkata Knight Riders v Mumbai Indians (Newlands, Cape Town); Chennai Super Kings v Deccan Chargers (Kingsmead, Durban)

April 28: Delhi Daredevils v Rajasthan Royals (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

April 29: Mumbai Indians v Kings XI Punjab (Kingsmead, Durban); Kolkata Knight Riders v Royal Challengers (Kingsmead, Durban)

April 30: Delhi Daredevils v Deccan Chargers (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Rajasthan Royals v Chennai Super Kings (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

May 1: Royal Challengers v Kings XI Punjab (Buffalo Park, East London); Mumbai Indians v Kolkata Knight Riders (Kingsmead, Durban)

May 2: Rajasthan Royals v Deccan Chargers (Wanderers, Johannesburg); Chennai Super Kings v Delhi Daredevils (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

May 3: Mumbai Indians v Royal Challengers (Kingsmead, Durban); Kings XI Punjab v Kolkata Knight Riders (Buffalo Park, East London)

May 4: Deccan Chargers v Chennai Super Kings (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

May 5: Delhi Daredevils v Kolkata Knight Riders (Kingsmead, Durban); Kings XI Punjab v Rajasthan Royals (Kingsmead, Durban)

May 6: Mumbai Indians v Deccan Chargers (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

May 7: Kings XI Punjab v Chennai Super Kings (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Royal Challengers v Rajasthan Royals (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

May 8: Delhi Daredevils v Mumbai Indians (Buffalo Park, East London)

May 9: Deccan Chargers v Kings XI Punjab (Outsurance Park, Bloemfontein); Chennai Super Kings v Rajasthan Royals (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

May 10: Kolkata Knight Riders v Delhi Daredevils (Buffalo Park, East London); Royal Challengers v Mumbai Indians (Wanderers, Johannesburg)

May 11: Deccan Chargers vs Rajasthan Royals (Outsurance Park, Bloemfontein)

May 12: Royal Challengers vs Kolkata Knight Riders (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Kings XI Punjab v Mumbai Indians (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

May 13: Deccan Chargers v Delhi Daredevils (Kingsmead, Durban)

May 14: Mumbai Indians v Rajasthan Royals (Kingsmead, Durban); Chennai Super Kings v Royal Challengers (Kingsmead, Durban)

May 15: Kings XI Punjab v Delhi Daredevils (De Beers Diamond, Oval, Kimberley)

May 16: Chennai Super Kings v Mumbai Indians (Wanderers, Johannesburg); Deccan Chargers v Kolkata Knight Riders (St. George's Park, Port Elizabeth)

May 17: Rajasthan Royals v Delhi Daredevils (De Beers Diamond Oval, Kimberley); Kings XI Punjab v Deccan Chargers (Wanderers, Johannesburg)

May 18: Chennai Super Kings v Kolkata Knight Riders (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

May 19: Delhi Daredevils v Royal Challengers (Wanderers, Johannesburg)

May 20: Chennai Super Kings v Kings XI Punjab (Kingsmead, Durban); Rajasthan Royals v Kolkata Knight Riders (Kingsmead, Durban)

May 21: Deccan Chargers v Royal Challengers (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria); Mumbai Indians v Delhi Daredevils (Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria)

May 22: Semifinal 1 at Supersport Park, Centurion, Pretoria

May 23: Semifinal 2 at Wanderers, Johannesburg

May 24: Closing ceremony followed by final (Wanderers, Johannesburg).

Memory at his Fingers...

A Finnish computer engineer who lost one of his fingers in a motorcycle accident has come up with a novel use for his prosthetic finger--as a USB memory stick.

Jerry Jalava, 24, lost most of his finger after his motorbike collided with a deer on his way home from work last May. Half of his left ring finger had to be amputated.

Doctors thought he might have problems working with half his finger removed but while waiting for his new prosthetic, Jalava found it was easier to use the keyboard without the prosthetic so started joking with his friends about uses for half a finger.

"We started planning a lot of things with it. Then I found a tiny USB and after that I knew exactly that is the thing I want on my finger," Jalava told Reuters Television.

"First when people saw it they got really horrified, they just couldn't take it as a joke, so usually they needed a little time before laughing and understanding that this is a really funny solution."

Jalava accesses the memory stick by peeling back the nail on the prosthetic finger and uses it to store photos and various computer programmes.

The finger is not permanently attached to his hand, which means that it can be left plugged into the USB slot on his computer--and that has happened to him. "The concept of leaving your finger at work is just not everyday," he laughed.

Nano Hits the Road

Tata Motors has commercially launched its people's car, Nano, promising to stick to the Rs 1,00,000 price tag for the base model.

Nano hits the road. For more pics log on to www.zigwheels.com
More Pictures


"From today onwards, the product will be available in the showrooms... There will be three versions - the base version, which is the one we promised to the people of India and two upper tier versions...," Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata told a news conference.

The higher-end versions will have air-conditioning, power brakes and power windows, among others.

"We hope this day we will usher in a new form of transport," Tata said, adding that the endeavour was never to build the cheapest car but to provide an affordable form of transportation. He, however, hastened to add that "we made a promise and that we've kept the promise."

The booking of the Nano will begin on April 9 and remain open till April 25.

The delivery of the first lot of Nano cars will begin in early July, he said, adding that applications for booking of the car will be available in 30,000 locations in 1,000 cities across India.

State Bank of India will be the qualified banker for collection of bookings in 850 cities, he said.

The car can be booked by just paying Rs 2,999 upfront while the rest can be secured by way of loan, he said.

There will be 15 preferred financiers for the booking whose names will be disclosed in three days.

As the Nano made its commercial debut, automotive industry experts opined that the Rs 1-lakh wonder from the Tata stable can give an additional 14 million Indian families access to an affordable car, thus creating a niche segment.



"It definitely is a major milestone in the mobility paradigm for India and perhaps the world," Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) director general Dilip Chenoy said, adding it has the potential to create a new segment of customers in the existing market.

According to market research firm Crisil, Nano's price reduces the cost of ownership of an entry-level car by 30 per cent and to below three times the cost of owning a motorcycle.

"This will make the car affordable to an additional 14 million families, including a section of 58 million two- wheeler owners," Crisil said.

IIT Kharagpur Mishap..Shame on Institue Administration

KOLKATA: Angry students at IIT-Kharagpur on Sunday forced the institute’s director to resign after a third-year student of electrical engineering
died of medical neglect.

Rohit Kumar was left unattended for three hours at the premier institute’s BC Roy Hospital after he sustained head injuries from a fall during a basketball game, the students claimed. A profusely bleeding Rohit was finally referred to SSKM Hospital in Kolkata - a three-hour drive away - but he died on the way.

The institute director, Damodar Acharya, resigned after angry students ransacked his house and refused to lift the siege till he took responsibility for the death.

“We tried to make them understand that there would be a proper inquiry to ascertain the cause of death and if there is any negligence on anyone’s part, action would be taken. I also told them that I would try to improve the infrastructure at BC Roy Hospital. But they insisted on my resignation. So, I resigned,” Acharya . He has reportedly sent his resignation to the board of governors.

Rohit suddenly fell unconscious while playing basketball with his friends in the morning. His head hit the ground as he fell. Friends rushed him to the hospital on campus but the doctor on emergency duty was absent. “When the doctor was finally located, he recommended a CT scan and special attention by a neurosurgeon. Unfortunately, such facilities are not available here,” said a student.

The hospital advised Rohit’s friends to take him to Kolkata and an ambulance was arranged though no doctor or nurse was available to accompany him. Two friends volunteered, but on the way, when Rohit started vomiting blood, they took him to Midnapore Medical College and Hospital, where he was declared dead.

As the news of Rohit’s death spread, at least 2,000 students gheraoed the director’s residence and ransacked it. They refused to lift the siege till the director accepted responsibility.

“Despite our repeated pleas, no measures have been taken to ensure that doctors and equipment are made available at the hospital. On weekends the situation is worse as doctors do not report for duty. Even the one on emergency duty has to be called in if a patient is brought to the hospital,” the students complained.
They also alleged that the hospital lacked even basic medical facilities. “If you check the stocks of medicine, you’ll find that most are past their expiry dates!” they added.

Rohit’s classmates and friends at the Lala Lajpat Rai hostel claimed he had never had such fits in the past.
When contacted, Rohit’s father, R P Sahni, was on his way to Kharagpur from Darbhanga, where the family lives. He said he had received news of his son’s death at 2 pm, but didn’t know the details. Rohit was the younger of his two sons.

An extremely jovial person with a large number of friends, Rohit was also one of the brightest in his class.

IPL Tested !! Get Set Go...

Looks like the Indian Premier League is all set to unfold. The letters of clearance that were required for the Season 2 of the popular Twenty20 cricket series to kick off are out.

The letters that show most states giving their go ahead to the series, even offering state security for the matches – an issue of contention between IPL and Government given the General Elections schedule.


The only exception is Maharashtra which has given the series a conditional go-ahead.

Mumbai police commissioner Hasan Gafoor says the city police are ready to provide security as long as matches do not coincide with polling days.

He has also requested the cricketers stay at the Cricket Club of India instead of five-star hotels .

However, the state seems divided on the issue with Director-General of Police (Elections) Suprakash Chakravarty saying that the IPL should be held only after elections are over.

Chakravarty said the security forces would be severely constrained in view of the Lok Sabha elections during the period the IPL is proposed to be held.

The DGP has sought postponement of the IPL to sometime in May, or after the three-phased elections in the state are completed.

Justifying the proposal to postpone the league, Chakravarty said even if there were no elections in cities of Maharashtra where IPL matches are scheduled, the security forces would be on protection duties, which is very strenuous.

Inflation to 0.44... Not a good sign either!!

"The newspapers say inflation is falling, but I don’t see prices coming down anywhere," says a concerned voice in the suburban train in Mumbai. It’s a common misconception that falling inflation means falling prices. That's not however how things work.

DK Joshi, Principal economist at CRISIL explains, "Falling inflation rates doesn’t mean falling of prices, it only implies the rate at which the prices of goods are growing is low."

Inflation rate has fallen to 0.44 per cent this week, a historic low, after breaching the 12 per cent mark in August ‘08. That means, at present, the prices of goods are higher by 0.44 per cent than last year.

An example will make it clearer. Let’s say, the price of an item is Rs 100. It increases to Rs 106 when inflation is 6 per cent. Now, if inflation has slipped to 0.44 per cent, the price of the same good will move to Rs 106.47 from Rs 106, that is, 0.44 per cent higher than Rs 106.

So simply put, inflation is a general rise in the prices of goods and services. When inflation rises, the prices of the goods rises. When inflation reaches zero, the prices on goods will become stagnant. And when inflation turns negative, you will see the actual fall in prices.

By when is it likely to happen?

"We can expect to see inflation close to zero by March-end and it could turn negative by May-June this year. It is when we will see actual fall in prices of goods,"

Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 Releasing Finally!!

After two beta tests and a soft release, Microsoft Corp. is all set to officially launch its latest Internet browser on Thursday night.

The company will launch Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) at 2130 hrs IST, an official statement said.

Microsoft, whose share in the browser market took a beating with the emergence of rivals like Mozilla's Firefox, Google's Chrome and Apple's Safari, is aiming to regain its lost ground with the new browser.

Microsoft's market share dropped to about 67 percent last month as compared to over 90 percent three years ago.

IE8 can be freely downloaded in 25 languages from Microsoft's website, the company said.

The browser will include features like "accelerators," which allow users to highlight text on a website and choose from a variety of functions, including search engines, language translation or map displays and ‘InPrivate View’ wherein users will be able to browse without leaving any traces like history or cookies behind.

IE, being bundled as the default browser of the Windows Operating system, has helped the company achieve the strong market share it now enjoys. However, Microsoft has been in the dock for the same.



European regulators said in January that Microsoft was in breach of anti-trust rules by bundling IE with its Windows operating system.

Meanwhile, rumours have also surfaced in the blogs that this might be the last version of IE Microsoft will release before pulling the plug on its browser business.



Microsoft has not made any plans public about its browser development beyond IE8, but maintains that it is committed to the browser business.

Posani Krishna Murali -- Praja Rajyam

Posani is a man of Guts and Wits. Look what damage he is causing to other parties in front of public. He is the most aggressive supporter ever for Praja Rajyam and Chiranjeevi. Let us see if Praja Rajyam can make a good use of this man to steal enough votes to flag their party in the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh.

Forbes World's Richest list

Two dozen Indians made it to the Forbes list of "World's Richest" with four of them among the top 10, as Warren Buffett dethroned Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who held the top slot for 13 straight years.

Steel czar Lakshmi Mittal, heading the world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal, is in the fourth place with a personal fortune of $45 billion. A long-time resident of London, he is also Europe's richest resident, notes the US business magazine.

Next comes Mukesh Ambani, "Asia's richest resident, who heads petrochemicals giant Reliance Industries, India's most valuable company by market cap" with $43 billion.

The year's biggest gainer, Anil Ambani, is in the sixth place with a fortune of $42 billion. He is up $23.8 billion in the past year, and is closing the gap with his estranged brother Mukesh.

KP Singh, now the world's richest real estate baron after listing his real estate development company DLF in 2007, takes the eighth place in the list with $30 billion.

Declaring Buffett as the richest man on the planet, Forbes said - "Riding the surging price of Berkshire Hathaway stock, America's most beloved investor has seen his fortune swell to an estimated $62 billion, up $10 billion from a year ago."

That massive pile of scratch puts him ahead of Gates, who is now worth $58 billion and is ranked third in the world after Mexican telecom tycoon Carlos Slim Hel with an estimated net worth of $60 billion.

The other 20 Indians in the billionaires list are Shashi and Ravi Ruia (43), Azim Premji (60), Sunil Mittal and family (64), Kumar Birla (76), Ramesh Chandra (86), Gautam Adani (91), Savitri Jindal and family (110), Anil Agarwal (164), Adi Godrej and family (178), G.M. Rao (198), Indu Jain (236), Dilip Shanghvi (260), Jaiprakash Gaur (277), Shiv Nadar (277), Uday Kotak (288), Cyrus Poonawalla (307), Anand Jain (327), Chandru Raheja (368), Tulsi Tanti (368) and Rakesh Wadhawan and family (428).

The Forbes list also mentions two Indians, Gautam Adani ($9.3 billion) and Sameer Gehlaut ($1.2 billion), as "notable billionaires".

"Adani is a college dropout who spurned his father's textile trading business to seek his own fortune... Today he is Asia's richest newcomer thanks to two big public holdings, Adani Enterprises, and Mundra Port, one of India's first private-sector ports," it says.

"India's youngest self-made billionaire, Gehlaut" is an engineer from the elite Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. He started online brokerage Indiabulls with two college friends in 1999. He still heads the company and is its largest shareholder.

A few young tycoons were able to make money this past year in the face of financial turmoil, Forbes said. Among them Indian pharmaceutical kings Malvinder and Shivinder Singh added $100 million to their combined net worth.

Praja Rajyam In NewZealand

IPL 2009 Schedule

Indian Premier League (IPL) chief Lalit Modi cleared any doubts about the holding of the tournament, saying the governing body of IPL was working on a revised schedule.

"We want to assure all our fans and sponsors that the IPL is on. There are lot of speculations. There is no question of IPL moving to any other country," IPL Chairman and Commissioner Modi told reporters at the Wankhede Stadium.

Modi, who is also the Vice-President of the Indian Cricket Board, said that the IPL is working on a revised fixture and it will be decided soon. He also said that the IPL will also come up with a security plan next week.

"We are rescheduling the fixture and we are touch with all the state associations. It is a cumbersome process and can't be done overnight. We will shortly have a new schedule out," he said.

Modi, however, made it clear that there won't be any matches on the day of the counting - May 16.

"There won't be a match in a city also on election day. We are working on it and we have also 14 cities available and we have to shortlist eight from them," he said.

After the meeting of the IPL Governing Council Modi said, "We are extremely grateful and thankful to the Home Minister (P Chidambaram) who has assured us that security will be provided for IPL matches. We will shortly have a new schedule out. The IPL is on."





Chidambaram had told reporters in Hyderabad that India was safe enough to host cricket tournaments and that the Government will provide security provided the tournament's schedule is re-worked to ensure that they do not overlap with the election dates.

State governments have expressed their inability in providing security for the IPL, which coincides with the Lok Sabha elections.

However, Chidambaram clarified his stand saying, "I did not say IPL should be postponed. IPL and election schedules are overlapping. I don't blame the IPL management at all. They finalised their dates earlier. But once the Election Commission announced the election dates on Monday, I saw that the election and IPL schedules were completely overlapping."

Last Years Schedule : IPL 2008



PROBABLE IPL VENUES:

Mumbai

Delhi

Jaipur

Kolkatta

Bangalore

Hyderabad

Chennai

Mohali

Ahmedabad

Indore

Rajkot

Baroda

Vizag

Cuttack

India buys Gandhi items

Vijay Mallya buys Gandhi items for $1.8 million

Mahatma Gandhi’s memorabilia went under the hammer in New York early on Friday morning (India time) after hours of high drama.

Liquor baron Vijay Mallya bought Gandhi’s items for $1.8 million. The collection had a reserve price of between $20,000 and $30,000. Bidding began at $20,000 and rose to the final price within seven minutes.

However, the US justice department has asked the Antiquorum Auctioneers to hold the lot for two weeks pending a resolution between the new owner, the US and Indian Government.

Mallya is then expected to return the items to the Government of India.

Bapu's round wire-rim eyeglasses, a 1910 Zenith sterling silver pocket watch, a bowl and plate and a pair of leather sandals were auctioned.

The last time a piece of Indian heritage went under the hammer, Mallya coughed up Rs 4 crore for the Sword of Tipu Sultan and got it back to India.

The auction went off despite the owner of Gandhi's prized memorabilia, James Otis, saying he had decided not to sell the items in the light of the controversy.

Speaking to reporters, Otis had said, "In the last few hours, I have decided, in the light of the controversy, not to sell Gandhi's personal items."

Otis' move came after intense negotiations between him and Indian diplomats at the Indian Consulate in New York.

Otis earlier in the day set new conditions including that India shift priorities from military spending to health care especially for the poor if he has to call off the auction.

A spokesperson of the Indian consulate in New York said the Indian Government itself did not participate in the auction as that would have been a violation of the Delhi High Court order.

BSNL Launches 3G Services in 11 Cities

India's No. 4 mobile operator, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), said on Friday it had launched third-generation (3G) services in 11 cities and planned to expand services to other areas in the country.

BSNL said in a statement it had invested 27 billion rupees ($530 million) on rolling out 3G infrastructure and would cover all district headquarters and important commercial towns.

India will hold an auction of 3G spectrum later this year, but state-run firms have already been given one slot in each service area, and will have to match the highest bid from private operators. Third-generation services give users a chance to enjoy fast Internet access, games and a host of multimedia content from maps to music on their cellphones. BSNL provides telecoms services across the country except in the major cities of New Delhi and Mumbai, which are covered by another state-run firm, MTNL.

Microsoft's KUMO

Microsoft Corp is internally testing a new version of its online search service under the name of Kumo.com, a spokesman for the software company said on Monday.

The service is not yet available outside the company, but may eventually form part of Microsoft's attempt to catch up with Internet search leaders Google Inc and Yahoo Inc.

The new search service was unveiled in an internal memo sent by the head of research at the company's online services division on Monday, but it did not go into details about features on the new service.

Plot of Attack on Sri Lanka

Unidentified gunmen, believed to be 12 in number and armed with Kalashkinov rifles and rocket launchers, opened fire on the bus carrying the cricketers to Gaddafi stadium in the city, Dawn news channel reported.

Initial reports said the attackers came in a white car and reportedly surrounded the bus at Liberty Chowk in the heart of the city and first fired rockets at the bus. They then resorted to indiscriminate firing with automatic firearms.

The attackers then started firing at a police van which was providing security to the Lankan team.

City police chief Haji Habibur Rehman said five policemen died in the attack.

A Pakistani Cricket Board official said six players were injured and admitted to a hospital.

The players reported injured are Thilan Samaraweera, Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Mahela Jayawardene, Tharanga Paranavithana and Chaminda Vaas. Vaas was reportedly carried off on a stretcher while Samaraweera was reportedly shot at.

Six policemen are reported dead. The van carrying the umpires was also attacked. Assistant coach Paul Farbrace has also been reportedly injured.

The Sri Lankan tour has been officially called off.

The preceding events which were postponed from the scheduled date were:

1. Indian cricket team was scheduled to play three Tests, five One-Dayers and a Twenty20 match from January 4 to February 28 in Pakistan.

2. Australia pulled out of their scheduled visit, while the International Cricket Council (ICC) postponed the Champions Trophy one-day tournament in September.

In the Wake of terrorist attacks in the Indian Subcontinent and Pakistan, it is rather doubtful that the coming ICC World cup 2009 will be held in the sub-continent.
The hosting teams were really desperate that there would be no change in the schedule and host of World Cup 2009 after the MUMBAI Blasts and it lasted as they hoped. But after this attack, it is indeed made sure that it is very difficult to host the game in Asia for security concerns. Even visitors and Cricket fans have to be looked after for security.

So it will be very difficult and a very huge process to setup even if ICC doesn't change its opinion on changing the host. Lots of money will be needed to be spent on this issue which could be spent in other ways to help the nation grow.

Sri Lankan Cricketers Attacked by Terrorists

At least six Sri Lankan cricketers were wounded in Pakistan's Lahore city on Tuesday when gunmen attacked the team travelling to the Gaddafi stadium for the ongoing Test, Sports Minister Lokuge Gamini said. Sri Lanka has cancelled the Test series.

"Six of our players were wounded during the shooting incident targeting the Test team travelling to the match venue at Lahore. We are very concerned about the incident," Lokuge said.

The minister said the players, other than Thilan Samaraweera and the team's assistant coach, had been discharged from the hospital after being treated for their injuries.

Father of the outgoing team skipper Mahela Jayawardene said his son had just called his wife from Lahore to say that he too had suffered minor injuries in his leg during the attack that had shocked the nation.

Five policemen escorting the team bus were killed in the attack that took place as the team was travelling to the Lahore venue to resume the third day's play of the second and last Test match.

CEO of Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) Duleep Mendis told IANS that double-centurion Samaraweera and Tharanga Paranawitharana were among the wounded in the Lahore shootout on Tuesday morning when they were entering the match venue.

"The latest reports say that three other players have also sustained injuries," Mendis said, adding that the second Test with Pakistan had been abandoned.