RSS Feed (xml)Aishwarya Rai skipped the music launch of Robot (Telugu version of her film Enthiran) in Hyderabad today due to high fever. However the actress did send her good wishes and thoughts through a speech.
The music launch was attended by Rajinikanth, Shankar and Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi, who was the chief guest. In her speech, Aishwarya Rai thanked the people of Hyderabad for their support throughout her career. She also said that Enthiran/ Robot is a very special film, and the entire
Galatta.com exclusively presents the latest stills of Rajinikanth's big budget extravagance Enthiran!
Aishwarya Rai skips Robot music launch!
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Fresh downpours hamper Pakistan flood relief
More heavy rain in Pakistan is frustrating efforts to help about 12 million people affected by severe flooding in much of the country.
Helicopter missions in the north-west have been grounded and a red alert has been issued for the south.One dam in Sindh province has been breached and engineers are warning that the huge Tarbela and Mangla dams are close to their maximum levels.
The worst floods in the region for 80 years have killed at least 1,600 people
Pakistan's meteorological office has warned that at least two more days of rain are expected in Sindh, where authorities have declared an "imminent" and "extreme" flood threat.
Further downpours are also forecast in the badly-hit north-western province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.
"Things are getting worse. It's raining again. That's hampering our relief work," said UN World Food Programme spokesman Amjad Jamal.
Many helicopter aid flights in the north-west have been grounded by the bad weather.
The helicopters are essential in the region's rugged terrain because the floods damaged or destroyed most of the bridges, cutting off many survivors from relief.
"The situation is bad, particularly in the Swat valley, and we have advised people in low-lying areas to vacate their homes as river water levels are rising," said Adnan Ahmed, an official with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's government.
Aid appeal The deluge has brought the water levels behind the Tarbela and Mangla dams - two of the world's largest - dangerously close to their maximum, engineers warned.
A dam in northern Sindh's Kashmore district has already been breached, inundating large parts of the surrounding area with floodwater and forcing thousands of residents to take shelter on rooftops or in trees.
One man told the BBC said his entire village had been destroyed and all its livestock washed away.
The floods, brought on by seasonal monsoon rains, began in the north-west, but have now inundated a stretch of Pakistan about 1,000 km (600 miles) long, primarily along the Indus river and its tributaries.
With the flood surge heading south, authorities have evacuated more than half a million people living near the Indus river as hundreds of villages have been inundated by floodwaters.
The BBC's Orla Guerin with Pakistan's military on a rescue operation in Sindh
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's appeal for international aid has been answered, with many countries offering assistance.
The US has diverted helicopters and troops from Afghanistan to deliver aid while Nato has said it will co-ordinate supplies from member countries and partners.
A Nato spokeswoman said it was providing food, mosquito nets, tents, generators and medicines.
The UK's first aid flight arrived in Rawalpindi late on Saturday, with 500 tents to join the 2,000 already distributed.
Why has this year's monsoon been so severe?
He said the priorities were water, sanitation equipment, food and shelter.
The BBC's Aleem Maqbool said much more is needed, with the renewed rains submerging new areas every day.
Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari has rejected criticism that he should return from an extended foreign trip.
In a BBC interview, Mr Zardari said the cabinet was directing relief efforts, and he was being kept up to date about the situation.
"I'm the one who's given all the powers from the presidency to the parliament. The parliament is in session - the Senate is in session. It's the prime minister's responsibility, and he's fulfilling his responsibility."
He said he had secured promises of assistance from the countries he had visited - the UAE, France and the UK.
Accept Kashmir as dispute, unless no negotiations: Geelani to New Delhi
SRINAGAR: As an all party delegation is planning to meet Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on Tuesday, Kashmir hawkish separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani said he will not get involved in any negotiations with New Delhi unless they accept Kashmir as a dispute.
He said they will protect the territorial integrity of J&K as over 40% Muslims can not be left to the mercy of communal forces.
The delegation will comprise all the unionist parties in J&K barring the PDP. The opposition had boycotted the all party meeting that decided sending a delegation to Prime Minister. Geelani rejected the idea of autonomy, self rule and (Parvez) Musharaf’s four point formula as possible options for settling Kashmir.
“There should be a tripartite way out to discuss how the UN resolutions could be implemented,” Geelani said, adding the withdrawal of black laws and the armed forces should precede any kind of negotiation process.
Addressing home minister P Chidambaram as “a Brahmin” Geelani said he is now talking about Kashmir’s “unique accession” that requires “unique solution”. “We have not been demanding Punjab but we have been seeking honouring the commitment that Pandit Nehru made in Srinagar,” he said. However, he was quick to add that New Delhi has been playing “Machiavellian politics” and “Nehruvian doctrine has been showing skies and snatching ground from the feet.”
Geelani thanked God for the peaceful Amarnath yatra. He was very harsh about the conduct of state police saying they are “worse than CRPF” and are randomly detaining people and seeking ransom.
“They (cops) have their families living in this society so they should be cautious of their conduct,” he said. He asserted that while the stone-pelting has gone down the police is still using force to attack unarmed civilians.
“A mother whose minor child is trampled to death can pelt a stone because it is natural,” Geelani said, “But I stood against the tide taking a huge risk because I did not want our movement getting dubbed as violent.” He referred to a number of cases in which unarmed civilians were fired upon.
“The state is suffering from arrogance of power,” he said, adding the “Kashmiri youth can not be vanquished because he is on the right track”. Geelani read out a new protest programme that leaves barely two days for routine life. However, what is significant is that August 15 will be observed as a black day and August 14 will be open for the routine.
He said the strikes are taking a huge toll, especially on economy and education but “for Azaadi this nation will go to any extent.”
Lafangey Parindey most challenging film: Deepika
From falling into a ditch to getting hit by an auto -- Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone faced it all while shooting for her upcoming movie
Lafangey Parindey and she feels that it has been the most challenging film of her life.
"This has physically been the most challenging film for me. I had to learn how to skate, then I had to act blind, I had to hold a pigeon, run behind a chicken, get bitten by a dead fish - don't ask me how," Deepika said.
"I fell a zillion times and even hurt my knee. By the way, my knee still hasn't healed. Oh! I also fell into a ditch with my face-in, got knocked over by an auto and hit a lamppost. I still have the mark where the fish bit," she added.
Director Pradeep Sarkar has teamed up with Deepika, Neil Nitin Mukesh and a bunch of other actors to present the story of a group of youngsters living in the backstreets of Mumbai.
Produced by Adiya Chopra, it is releasing Aug 20, and will see Neil playing a boxer who fights blindfolded while Deepika will be seen as a visually challenged girl who can dance on skates.
For her role of Pinky in the movie, Deepika had to train for almost six months on skates before the actual shooting started.
"At first, I trained in Mumbai with a local trainer. And then, Adi (Aditya Chopra) and dada (Pradeep Sarkar) flew down professional skaters from Italy. They wanted to make sure that whatever I do looks professional, exactly like we see on television," Deepika said.
Deepika, 24, feels that she has been lucky enough to play such a strong character so early in her career.
"I was surprised when Adi offered me such a film so early in my career. He said that I had the potential to pull it off. So it was more like a challenge that was thrown at me," said Deepika.
"The offer came at such a time in my career that I was ready to take that challenge. It was also a very different kind of film. The character was very interesting, so I had to accept it," she added.
This is the first time Deepika and Neil are paired opposite each other and they share an interesting chemistry on screen. Talking about her rapport with Neil, Deepika feels she has found a friend for life in him.
"Honestly, I think Neil is the most giving actor I have worked with. I can definitely say that he is the most supportive. He puts me before himself. There are days when it's an important scene for him too but he would be there to support me and worry about my performance," Deepika said.
"Also, sometimes he wasn't even shooting but he would be there on the sets, helping around and be there to support me. So I can say that both professionally and personally, Neil has been there for me. I think I have a friend for life," she added.
Deepika, daughter of ace Badminton player Prakash Padukone, is hoping this movie sets a sports trend among youngsters.
"I come from a sports family and am very passionate for all types of sports. So if this picks up, it will be cool to see youngsters skating around," said Deepika.
Shilpa, Malaika best item girls: Salman
Bollywood star Salman Khan, who has gyrated to sizzling number Munni Badnaam with his sister-in-law Malaika Arora Khan in Dabangg, says apart from her only actress Shilpa Shetty can be counted among the best item girls in the industry.
"Shilpa Shetty is very good in item
numbers," Salman told reporters on being asked which actress according to him gives competition to Malaika as far as item numbers are concerned.
Shilpa is popular for her sensuous moves in the song UP, Bihar lootne and Chhaiya chhaiya girl Malaika has featured in many item songs like Hoth raseele, Kaal kaal and Mahi ve.
Salman KhanWhile it took a little while for Salman to answer, his younger brother Arbaaz, who is married to Malaika, flattered his wife by saying: "Malaika gives competition to herself."
The actors, along with the cast and crew of Dabangg, were in the capital for the music launch of the film on Friday.
Salman maintained his habit of coming late and appeared with his team two and a half hours later than the scheduled time. However, he infused energy into the event as soon as he took to the stage.
The 44-year-old actor has always been known for his unique dance steps in all his films. In Dabangg too, he has done some very catchy steps which are fast becoming a rage among youngsters.
But Salman gives little credit to his choreographer Farah Khan for his dance. "I have taken my steps from a doctor I once met in London. He had a different style of dancing, so I picked my belt step from him," he said.
"There is another step which I have picked from Arbaaz. It's his all-time favourite step and again there's one which is from my make-up man Raju," he added.
"My steps are a mix from all these people, and yes, there is one step by Farah Khan also. Out of four steps that she gave me, I picked one," Salman quipped.
Dabangg, which is Arbaaz's first movie as a producer, has been directed by debutant Abhinav Kashyap, the younger brother of acclaimed director Anurag Kashyap.
The film is set in a small Uttar Pradesh town and has Salman in the role of a policeman. It is the launch vehicle for Shatrughan Sinha's daughter Sonakshi, and is slated for a September release.
Meteorologists Predict More Heavy Rains for Pakistan
Photo: AP
Pakistan Navy soldiers rescue stranded villagers from flooded areas at Toree Band, in the Kashmor district, near Sukkar, in Pakistan's Sindh province, 06 Aug 2010
Pakistani officials say at least 13 million people have been affected by floodwaters that have ravaged the northwest and now are sweeping southward, forcing thousands more to flee their homes.
National Disaster Management Authority chairman Nadim Ahmed said Friday some 650,000 homes have been destroyed in the northwestern Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and central Punjab provinces.
Authorities have already evacuated more than half a million people in the southern province of Sindh.
The nearly two-week disaster has killed more than 1,600 people. Floodwaters have washed away homes, roads, and bridges, cutting off entire communities
Many Pakistanis are criticizing what they say is a slow government response, as well as President Asif Ali Zardari's decision to travel to Europe during the floods.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani has appealed for international aid as the country deals with the worst floods of its history.
The flooding has destroyed crops and farmland in Punjab province and other areas, heightening fears of a food shortage.
The World Food Program said Friday it was preparing to provide food assistance to some 2.5 million flood victims for three months, after delivering rations to more than 200,000 in the worst hit areas.
Islamic charities, some with ties to extremist groups, are also assisting with relief efforts.
CWG would be held as per schedule, says Pak High Commissioner to India
Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik has expressed hope that the 2010 Commonwealth Games would be held as per schedule.
On the sidelines of an event here on Friday, Malik said: "Well, I hope the Commonwealth Games, you know progresses well, and, we would be looking forward to participating in the Games, as we do in all international events."
He, however, refused to comment on the certain controversies surrounding the preparations for this mega event to be held in October.
"It is not for me to comment on that. I can only say that our athletes, our players, our sportsmen are looking forward to participate," Malik added.
With just over 55 days to go before the opening ceremony, the final preparations for the 2010 Games have been tarnished by construction problems and claims of financial impropriety.
The Central Vigilance Commission has found financial irregularities in several Commonwealth Games related works being carried out by civic and construction agencies.
The 2010 Commonwealth Games in New Delhi is being touted as the biggest international sporting event to be hosted by India since the 1982 Delhi Asian Games.
We have proved ourselves: Dhoni
Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni said his team's five-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in Colombo on Saturday in the series-levelling third cricket Test has vindicated the bowlers, who had come in for much cricticism in the first two Tests. India had fielded a depleted bowling attack in the absence
of spearhead Zaheer Khan in the three-match Test series. An out-of-form Harbhajan Singh only added to their woes, with India losing the first Test by 10 wickets.
The visitors came back strongly to draw the second and the won the third Tests to finish up the series 1-1.
A beaming Dhoni praised the all-round performance of the team.
"It is a great win for us. After the first Test people said our bowling is not good enough, that our batsmen were not stepping up. But we have proved ourselves here," Dhoni said.
"It was a convincing victory for us. The pitch played really well. It had something for batsmen and the bowlers. Our batting plan was to soak up the pressure and (Sachin) Tendulkar and (V.V.S.) Laxman batted really well. When Kookaburra bowl gets old, it becomes difficult for the bowlers."
Sri Lankan captain Kumar Sangakarra felt their batting in the second innings let them down but was said his team can be proud of their performance.
"We put in a good effort through the series. This game we were found wanting with our batting in the second innings. Full credit to the entire team for the effort. It was great Test wicket. It had the bounce for both spinners and the fast bowlers," Sangakarra said.
"It was great to see the guts shown by Ajantha Mendis. He had to face quite a few blows on his body. Lasith Malinga and Suresh Randiv deserve a special mention. They were fantastic with the ball. All five wickets were taken by Randiv in the second innings. Laxman and Sachin also batted fantastically well."
Man of the match Laxman (103 not out) who with Tendulkar (54) rustled up 109 runs for the fifth wicket to chase down 257-victory target also attributed the win to the bowlers. It was Laxman's first Man of the Match award in Tests since the Trinidad Test in 2002 and only the third of his career.
"It was a great victory for us. It pulled us back in the series. Bowlers on the third day got us back in the game. Sachin and I played good. I really feel proud of my effort today. (Coach) Gary (Kirsten) told me that it is an opportunity for me to win the match for the country. I am really happy that I along with Sachin won the game for India," Laxman said.
India lends Bangladesh one billion dollars
DHAKA — India is giving Bangladesh a billion-dollar soft loan, the biggest credit package New Delhi has ever given to any nation, officials said Saturday, highlighting warming ties between the neighbours.
Relations between the South Asian neighbours chilled between 2001 and 2006 when Bangladesh was ruled by an Islamist-allied government and New Delhi regularly accused Dhaka of harbouring Indian insurgents and fostering militancy.
"It's the largest line of credit the government of India has extended to any country," Deepak Mittal, a spokesman for the Indian embassy in Dhaka, told AFP.
The line of credit also marked the single largest loan Bangladesh has received from any nation, development bank or donor agencies, Dhaka's Economic Relations Division secretary Mosharraf Hossain Bhuiyan said.
Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was due to arrive in Dhaka later on Saturday to attend the official signing for the loan.
The money will be used by impoverished Bangladesh to modernise its railway and build other transport and infrastructure.
"The terms of credit are very favourable to Dhaka. The interest rate is just 1.75 percent and will be paid back in 20 years," Bhuiyan said.
Indian officials said Mukherjee's planned presence for the signing of the deal underscored the importance that New Delhi attaches to building better relations with Bangladesh.
The line of credit was announced by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his Bangladeshi counterpart Sheikh Hasina's "pathbreaking" visit to New Delhi in January.
It was Hasina's first visit to India since her secular Awami League party was swept back to power with a massive victory in January 2009.
92 crore deposit refused by RBI in Rajasthan
Jaipur, Aug 7: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rejected to accept the deposit of Rs 92 crore from three national banks as the deposit did not arrive the place at the right time on Friday, Aug 6.
The van, carrying the wads of currency notes, was left stranded in front of RBI office gate and is surrounded by armed policemen.
The huge amount of money piled in 90 boxes, came from State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and Grameen Bank branches in Alwar of Rajasthan.
As as the matter had been referred to the RBI headquarters in Mumbai, RBI GM of Rajasthan said, "I cannot answer media queries now."
"It happened for communication gap between the sender of the cash and RBI," said secretary of RBI association.
For the requirements of heightened security ahead of the Independence Day, the police expressed its inability to provide protection to the van carrying the cash at Gandhi Nagar police station.
According the sources, RBI was asked to allow the van inside the premises and clear the remittance during the night on Aug 6.
However, the van with the currency notes was allowed to park inside the RBI premises."
Power to the people!
The Maruti SuzukiAlto is here with a new, modern heart. The mini-sizzler is out to captivate, with its peppy and fuel efficient K10 engine
One of the key things happening in the Indian car space over the last few years has been the hectic action seen in the hatchback category. New models dominating the senses have made their way into the country from both existing as well as new manufacturers. The entry level hatchback segment, however, didn't see much innovation, or for that matter, any new models . And while the premium larger hatchback segment seemed to grow, the entrylevel category has seemingly stayed put — with one decided leader — India's best-selling car for the last five years in a row, the Maruti Suzuki Alto.
The leader has moved to shape and shake the market in the entry-level segment even when it didn't need to. Referred to as the Alto K10 in reference to the new 998-cc three-cylinder engine, which we first saw in the A-Star, the car may be on its way to defining a whole new segment for itself — one of technologically advanced, premium entry-level cars. The K10 engine ups the power and torque by nearly 50 per cent over the Alto F8D (which is the name for its hugely successful 800-cc cousin) while the overall weight has gone up by just 35 kg making for a literal buzz bomb on wheels!
The fun-to-drive term is a much abused one, but the Alto K10 gives a true meaning to it in its class. While we couldn't run our own tests on the car, Maruti claims that the Alto K10 could sprint from standstill to 100 kmph in 13.3 seconds. Given its free breathing performance and also the superbly matched shift points to make use of the added torque, driveability in all situations is rewarding. What's even more enticing is the running cost that this performance is likely to come at — the ARAI has already certified a 20.2 kmpl fuel economy for the Alto K10.
Getting the Alto to accept this new, slightly wider engine necessitated a few engineering changes. One of the most important of these has seen the Alto's front end being pushed out by about 125 mm to accommodate this engine, which has created a longer and possibly better proportioned car. The Alto K10 also runs on 13-inch wheels as opposed to the 12-inchers that its sibling came with, which in conjunction with the revised suspension make the new car a delight to drive through potholes and twisties alike.
To distinguish the Alto K10 from its F8D cousin, there have been cosmetic revisions at the front and rear ends. An all-new grille treatment is evident as are, in Maruti Suzuki parlance, bold eagle-eye headlamps. Both these combine well with the new extended bonnet plus a new bumper that houses small fog lamps. There is a load of newfound appeal on the front end and the same is carried over, to a certain extent, to the rear, where there is a slightly revised tail gate treatment along with a new tail lamp cluster, which merges classily into the bumper. The Alto gets stylish rubbing strips on its flanks and overall the car sits well on its larger wheels to create a more intune-with-the-times attitude. The style accents are minimal, and the interiors have been revised with more pleasing upholstery including colour coordinated door pads that match the fabric on the seats.
Other details include integrated headrests in the rear seats, a rear parcel shelf and a new three-spoke steering wheel complemented by a stylish new design gear shift knob. The instrument panel encompasses a large speedometer with a new look face, flanked on either side by a rev counter and a digital fuel gauge. At the root of the Alto K10, however, lies the pleasure of driving a convenient, competent and compact car that offers not just an exciting modern world performance but also thrills with its value-formoney prospect. At Rs 3.03 lakh for the LXi variant and Rs 3.16 lakh for the more loaded VXi model, the Alto K10 matches and even undercuts existing entry-level cars like the Chevrolet Spark and the Hyundai Santro, while beating both in terms of performance and offering a properly up-todate and sorted out package. In fact we have a strong feeling that many who long for the slightly upmarket high-profile A2 cars would also consider this package, which makes Maruti Suzuki's Alto K10 effort truly mesmerising.
A single acre for ` 188 crore!
Labels:
Business
Mumbai: India's biggest real estate deal took place on Friday evening, with the National Textile Corporation (NTC) limited selling eight acres of Bharat Mills at Worli, for a whopping ` 1505 crore, meaning a single acre went for 188 crore.
The highest bidder was Indiabulls, who won with a difference of ` 2 crore as Lodha had bid ` 1503 crore. The third highest was Peninsula with ` 1409 crore.
India's biggest real estate deal took place yesterday evening, with the National Textile Corporation (NTC) limited selling eight acres of Bharat Mills at Worli, for a whopping ` 1505 crore, meaning a single acre went for 188 crore.
The highest bidder was Indiabulls, who won with a difference of ` 2 crore as Lodha had bid ` 1503 crore. The third highest was Peninsula with ` 1409 crore.
This was followed by Tata for ` 1263 crore. The bidding list included the Oberoi and Videocon groups. Vipul Bhansal, CEO, Indiabulls said, "We are glad to have emerged as the successful bidder. This will enable us to continue our journey of delivering very best in its class product in Mumbai."
This is the same land that the state government was interested to develop affordable housing on. However, NTC had then declined the offer.
The state government was also ready to pay ` 750 crore for this land. Earlier this week, Indiabulls had won India's costliest deal by paying ` 198 crore for an acre of Podar Mills. The 2.39 acre mills went for ` 474 crore.
Numbers Game
1505 Cr
Price Indiabulls paid for eight acres of Bharati Mills at Worli
474 Cr
Price Indiabulls paid for Podar Mills
276 Cr
Price NTC got for its Jupiter Mills
198 Cr
Price Indiabulls paid for an acre of Podar Mills
180 Cr
Price NTC got for its Apollo Mills
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/cities/a-single-acre-for-rs-188-crore-42727?cp
Sensex closes week up by 276 pts on revival of monsoon
Labels:
Business
The BSE benchmark Sensex rose by 276 points to end the week at 18,143.99 points on revival of monsoon, healthy auto sales and strong manufacturing and services sector data. Across the sector buying triggered by host of positive factors helped the benchmark Sensex to regain 18K-mark. Most of
the indices including consumer durable, IT, small-cap, mid-cap, Realty and Bank ended in green on renewed demand from investors and operators.
Sustained buying by Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs), the main market mover, was the major factor for the Sensex despite continued selling by domestic funds.
Foreign Institutional Investors bought shares worth Rs 2,097.26 crore in the first four trading days of the the current month.
The revival of monsoon rains too further boosted the market sentiment as good rainfall would boost farm output and rural income, and lower food inflation.
Auto stocks firmed up after strong July sales reported by some auto companies. Banking segment continued to attract good buying support.
IT counters were in demand after the Nasdaq-listed firm Cognizant Technology Solutions announced stellar Q2 results, beating its larger peers by a huge margin and also revised its 2010 guidance significantly.
Food inflation declined marginally to 9.53 per cent for the week ended July 24 from 9.67 per cent in the last week.
Swine flu: Death toll rises to 5 in UP
Labels:
Health
With two more persons succumbing to swine flu in Lucknow, the death toll due to the disease rose to five in Uttar Pradesh in less than a month time, officials said on Saturday. Two persons, aged 27 and 40 years, died of H1N1 infection at Chattrapati Shahuji Maharaj Medical University (CSMMU) in
Lucknow on Friday, taking the death toll due to swine flu to five in less than a month time, they said.
Five more persons have been tested swine flue positive after which an alert has been sounded in all the hospitals in the city, the officials said.
Fujifilm released HD Digicam, the JV100 in India with Fujinon Lens and 12 MP
Fujifilm launched FinePix JV100, the stylish, slim and feature rich digital camera in India. Now you can get alluring photos with its powerful HD and high precision Fujinon Lens and 12 megapixels. The camera lets you capture and optimize even more with the detection function as it is equipped with the 6 scene SR AUTO and Face Detection. Fujifilm JV100 offers easy to use shooting modes so that you can capture fascinating wide scale panoramic photos and natural optimized mages according to the scene.
The new Fujifilm JV100 is the camera for everyone that is veiled in an impressive metal finished body delivering a convenient image search function where you can search your pictures by date, face, scene and type of data. The camera boasts of a bright 2.7 inch LCD display which makes it easy to compose great images. Its high-impact 230,000 dot resolution makes sharing images more pleasurable. The camera also has a versatile card slot compatible with SD and high-capacity SDHC memory.
The Fujfilm JV 100 makes it possible to view up to 100 pictures at a time in its 10 x 10 array of thumbnails making playback smooth and comfortable. The camera is capable of automatically detecting framed scenes into appropriate settings such as Portrait, Landscape, Backlit Portrait, Night, Macro and Night Portrait. The other features that are included in JV100 are Face Detection, Red-eye removal, Blink Detection and Smile Detection.
The Fujinon 3 x Zoom lens and 12 MP is regarded highly professional world wide. Fujinon is the high precision optic lens from Fujifilm which has received positive praises all over. It is used by various industries including satellite in outer space, TV/Films, security and compact cameras. The 12 MP makes sure that you do not miss the finest details of the subject and delivers images in vivid colors that are sharp and clear.
The Fujifilm JV100 comes with maximum sensitivity of ISO3200 which ensures that you get images that are natural and true to life even with limited available light. Its Digital Image Stabilizer reduces blurs that cause due to camera shakes using high sensitive and fast shutter speed. With the camera you are able to capture both photos and movies in high definition 16:9 format. It lets you discover the impact of full screen HDTV image.
The price of camera starts from Rs. 7,799 onwards.
Motorola Milestone xt720 hits cincinnati bell at under $200
The Motorola Milestone certainly seemly to be going places. After hitting India just this week, the Motorola Milestone XT720 handset has been released through Cincinnati Bell for a price lower than $200 (approx. Rs. 9,195).
The phone’s 8MP AF camera comes accompanied by Xenon flash as well as 4x digital zooming capabilities. Users can also record videos in 720p resolutions with this gadget. The camera functions include features like red eye reduction, camera shake prevention, face detection and more. Its 3.7” touchscreen displays a resolution of 480 x 854p.
This Android 2.1 powered phone integrates 8GB of storage capacity that is expandable by up to 32GB through its microSD card slot. Not only does the handset expose owners to enhanced web content, but it also provides access to a host of apps through the Android Market. Additionally, the included HDMI cable enables connectivity to the home HDTV.
Apart from offering GPS functionality, the handset lets users personalize up to five different homescreens. Wireless connectivity options span over Bluetooth 2 2.1 + EDR2, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, a 3.5mm headset jack, A2DP and AVRCP. The handset can be purchased through Cincinnati Bell on a two year customer agreement.
The Motorola Milestone XT720 can be picked up for $199.99 (approx. Rs. 9,190) via Cincinnati Bell after the $100 (approx. Rs. 4,600) mail-in rebate and $150 (approx. Rs. 7,000) two-year EA savings.
Leh flash floods: 137 dead, 600 still missing
A day after devastating flash floods hit Leh town and adjoining areas, 137 bodies have been pulled out and nearly 600 people continue to remain missing as rescue workers struggled to reach affected areas that have been completely cut off.
Roads and bridges to far-flung areas have either been washed away or severely damaged. The death toll is expected to rise as bodies are being pulled out of the rubble. The heavy carpet of mud and slush that has settled over buildings were painstakingly being removed during the day. The magnitude of this natural calamity was ominous, authorities said.
[Friends and families of tourists in the area may call up for news on the satellite phone number 00870763613623, the Jammu and Kashmir Government has said.]
Many deaths happened in a labour camp of the Military Engineering Services in Phyang where more than 250 workers stayed. They were on road construction projects in the general area. Scores are still missing at the labour camp and several Army teams are on the spot for rescue work.
The Army is still missing 33 soldiers in the Turtuk area. The jawans went missing after their camp on the riverside was washed away.
The other area badly affected is Sabu village near Leh, directly above which the cloudburst took place. Most houses in the village have been flattened and it has been cut off from the road head. Local authorities fear the death toll will go up drastically as rescue workers are digging through the debris. Chuglomsar, which is downstream from Sabu, has also been badly affected.
Click here Laxman's century helps India level series
VVS Laxman's [ Images ] fluent century guided India [ Images ] to a convincing five-wicket victory to level the three match series 1-1 on Day 5 of the third and final Test, at the P Sara Oval, in Colombo, on Saturday.
India's batsmen negotiated the conditions quite superbly on the final day to cruise to 258 for five in 68.3 overs on a pitch offering a lot of assistance to the spinners.
Laxman, struggling with a back injury, finished unbeaten on a splendid innings of 103 from 149 balls, having hit 12 boundaries. He batted with a runner for most part of his innings, but his batting against the spinners was quite magical as he used his wristy shots to good effect.
Suresh Raina [ Images ] also made an impact as he hit a brisk 41 from 45 balls, ending the match in style with a huge six over long-on. The two batsmen shared an unbroken stand of 87 runs in 102 balls for the sixth wicket to carry their team home.
Sachin Tendulkar [ Images ], who was dropped on 18 at short leg off Randiv, scored a patient 54 before he was caught down the legside off Randiv. The veteran, who hit three boundaries from 122 balls, added 109 runs in 30 overs for the fifth wicket with Laxman to bring India back in the contest.
Off-spinner Suraj Randiv was Sri Lanka's [ Images ] hero with the ball, claiming all the five Indian wickets to fall, for magnificent figures of five for 82 in 29 overs to claim nine wickets in the match.
Half-centuries from Thilan Samaraweera [ Images ] and Ajantha Mendis [ Images ] had helped Sri Lanka to post a fighting 267 in their second innings.
Ajantha Mendis, who hit his maiden fifty in Tests, played a vital knock of 78 from 157 balls before he was caught in the covers off Amit Mishra [ Images ]. Samaraweera, who hit a century in the first innings, again came to the team's rescue. He scored 83 from 138 balls, putting on 118 for the ninth wicket with Mendis to register Sri Lanka's best ninth-wicket partnership in Tests and helping them comeback after they were reeling 87 for seven at one stage.
All the three Indian spinners -- Pragyan Ojha [ Images ], Amit Mishra and Virender Sehwag [ Images ] -- made most of the conditions, claiming three wickets each. Ojha was the pick of the bowlers, taking three for 89 in 89, to follow up on the four for 115 he took in the first innings. Part-timer Sehwag made an important contribution with the ball, claiming three for 51 to go with his quickfire century (109) with the bat, while Mishra took three for 47.
Sri Lanka had won the first Test by 10 wickets, while the second ended in a high-scoring, dull draw.
Morning session: (29 overs, 92 runs, 1 wicket)
As we have witnessed right through the Test, once the ball gets old it becomes easy for batting and the bowlers struggle. Tendulkar came out aware of that and took his time, slowly grinding down the Sri Lankan bowlers, while Laxman looked in top form right using his wrists to good effect right from the start.
If the session started well for Sri Lanka with an early wicket, India ended it well by scoring 92 runs in 29 overs to inch closer to the target.
Suraj Randiv continued his wicket ways as he claimed his fourth wicket, in his 11th over. He dismissed Ishant Sharma [ Images ] in his second over of the day, when he got him caught at short midwicket for four.
The off-spinner would have completed his five-wicket haul but Tillakaratne Dilshan [ Images ] at short leg messed up an easy chance off Tendulkar (18). The master batsman immediately rubbed further salts on Randiv's wounds by charging down the wicket and driving him past mid-off for the first boundary of the day.
VVS Laxman played a confident shot early on, driving Randiv down the ground for his first four. The stylish right-hander then got his second boundary when he pulled a short delivery from Chanaka Welegedara [ Images ] through the midwicket region.
Tendulkar also ensured that the scoreboard kept ticking along as he looked to rotate the strike by hitting the ball in gaps, but Laxman was looking for the boundaries.
As the ball got older, it was proving quite easy to bat for India's two senior pros. Without taking any risks and with the minimum of efforts, Laxman hit two delightful two boundaries against Mendis in his second over of the day, which also brought up the 50-run partnership for the fifth wicket.
Surprisingly, Sri Lanka also went on the defensive which allowed the Indian batsmen to get singles with ease. Even the spinners were operating from round the wicket with no close-in fielders around the bat to put pressure on the two batsmen.
Tendulkar brought up his half-century off 106 balls with a single on the leg side in the final over of the session. The master batsman had adjusted to the situation quite well, looking to bat out the first session with minimum of risks, as his fifty contained 28 singles.
At lunch on the final day, India recovered well to reach 145 for four in 38 overs, still needing another 112 runs for victory.
Tendulkar continued his good recent form as he completed yet another half-century and was unbeaten on 50 from 106 balls. Laxman took the pressure off Tendulkar as he scored 46 from 76 balls with four boundaries during their 83-run stand.
Post lunch session:
Laxman once again thrived under pressure with a brisk half-century. He brought up the landmark off 81 balls with a single on the off-side against Malinga, in the 49th over.
The right-hander, despite suffering from a back problem, kept the boundaries coming. He flicked Malinga fine on the leg side and then pulled a short delivery over square leg for two boundaries and take the total to 171 for four in 51 overs, with 86 needed for victory.
Laxman took a six-minute break to receive treatment for his back spasms and that interval seemed to have broken Tendukar's rhythm. Tendulkar tried to play the fine paddle sweep against Randiv but was caught down the leg side by wicketkeeper Prasanna Jayawardene [ Images ].
The veteran, who made 54 from 122 balls, added 109 runs for the fifth wicket with Laxman to revive India's hopes.
Suresh Raina seemed in a rush right from the start. He was lucky early on as he lashed at a wide delivery from Malinga and the thick outside edge just brushed Jayawardene's fingers at first slip before going into the boundary.
Sehwag came in as Laxman's runner, but the injury was not hampering the Hyderabadi's strokeplay. The right-hander pulled Randiv and Malinga through the leg-side for a boundary each in back to back overs to take the total to 187 for five in 55 overs.
Raina also showed great purpose as he look to collect singles at every opportunity, while Laxman's wristy shots got him singles at will helping the scoreboard move along at a good rate.
Sri Lanka brought in Tillakaratne Dilshan to make a breakthrough but Raina went after him straightaway. The left-hander charged down the wicket and lifted it over midwicket for a boundary and a couple of overs later he cracked Randiv through that region again for another four.
Laxman brought up the 50-run partnership in fine fashion when he once again pulled a short delivery from Mendis through the leg side. In the next over, his golden touch came to the fore when he caressed a full delivery from Randiv through the covers for this tenth four to move into the 90s.
Raina continued his search for boundaries as he charged down the wicket to Mendis and carted him down the ground for yet another boundary.
Laxman brought up his century, his first in Sri Lanka, in some style with back to back boundaries off Mendis. First, he hit a full toss through the covers and the next delivery was played fine on the leg side to complete the three-figure mark off 146 balls.
In the next over, Raina ended the match in commanding fashion when he slammed Welegedara over long-on for a huge six.
India cruised to 258 for five in 68.3 overs to win the match by five wickets and level the series at 1-1.
The Sri Lankan bowlers, except for Randiv, disappointed as they kept pitching it short and gave some easy boundaries. Randiv was superb with the ball as he claimed five for 82 in 29 overs for excellent match figures of nine for 162, but Mendis disappointed as he went wicketless in the second innings.
In the end, the Indian batsmen's experience stood out and they proved why they still deserve to be the number one ranked team in Test cricket.
Building a simple PHP shopping cart
One of the most common requirements any web designer/developer will come across is likely to be that of the small business taking its first steps online; a client with an established widget-selling company now wants to move into the national market and sell their widgets to the world.
What they need to do this (apart from a great-looking, functional, usable and accessible website!) is some sort of shopping-cart system to allow their customers to add, remove and update the products they wish to buy.
This article will walk through the simple steps to achieve this, using the server-side language PHP and a MySQL database.
Setting up the database
Let’s take as our example a bookseller. They are not the best-stocked bookseller in the world, having as they do only three titles in stock, but it is enough for our example. Let’s create the database and add some stock:
1. CREATE TABLE books (
2. id int(6) unsigned NOT NULL auto_increment,
3. title varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
4. author varchar(100) NOT NULL default '',
5. price decimal(3,2) NOT NULL default '0.00',
6. PRIMARY KEY (id)
7. ) TYPE=MyISAM;
8.
9. INSERT INTO books VALUES (1, 'Where God Went Wrong', 'Oolon Colluphid', '24.99');
10. INSERT INTO books VALUES (2, 'Some More of God\'s Greatest Mistakes', 'Oolon Colluphid', '17.99');
11. INSERT INTO books VALUES (3, 'Who Is This God Person Anyway?', 'Oolon Colluphid', '14.99');
Now that step is out of the way, let’s create our shopping cart.
Identify our requirements
The cart we are going to build should be pretty familiar to most internet users. It will provide a means of displaying a message on every page of the site (along the lines of “You have 5 items in your shopping cart”), which when clicked will take the customer to a list of the items in the cart; each item may be removed or have its quantity updated.
As all of our stock details are stored in the database, the only piece of information that we need to store about each customer is the id of each product they have added to their cart. To do this, we are going to use PHP’s built-in session handling capabilities.
Using sessions in PHP
PHP’s session handling is very easy to understand.
To ‘switch it on’, simply add session_start(); at the top of your code; you can then store values (or arrays) in session variables:
$_SESSION['name'] = 'Matthew'; $_SESSION['age'] = 31;
These $_SESSION variables will now be available to any PHP scripts on other pages (as long as you’ve included the session_start(); call first).
A short note on cookies
The default behaviour of PHP sessions is to store the session ID (a long string of numbers and letters that identifies you to the server) as a cookie on your computer; however, even if you have cookies disabled this functionality will still work – PHP will instead append the session ID to each link on the site (in the form ‘mypage.php?PHPSESSID=’) so that it can continue to accurately track visitors from page to page.
Creating the cart
We will store the contents of the shopping cart as a comma-separated list of product ids in a session named (unsurprisingly) ‘cart’ – for example, a cart containing “1,1,3,1,2” has four items; three of product #1, and one each of products #2 and #3.
Firstly, let’s create the code to display the “You have X items…” message on every page:
1. function writeShoppingCart() {
2. $cart = $_SESSION['cart'];
3. if (!$cart) {
4. return '(p)You have no items in your shopping cart(/p)';
5. } else {
6. // Parse the cart session variable
7. $items = explode(',',$cart);
8. $s = (count($items) ) 1) ? 's':'';
9. return '(p)You have (a href="cart.php")'.count($items).' item'.$s.' in your shopping cart(/a)(/p)';
10. }
11. }
12.
This function first gets the value of the ‘cart’ session variable into a local variable, mainly to save on typing. If the cart is empty, we return an appropriate message; if not, we use the explode() function to create an array of all the products in the cart, and then count() them and display the result (the $s variable is there to make plurals display correctly).
Now we can display the correct message anywhere on the site:
echo writeShoppingCart();
I hope that made sense; let’s move on to displaying the contents of the cart itself.
Show me the money
The shopping cart page itself (cart.php) can be arrived at in a couple of ways. The user may have clicked on the link created by the writeShoppingCart() function above; or, they may have clicked an ‘Add to cart’ link on a product page.
If it was the latter, we need to intercept that click and update our cart contents before displaying the new list of products – simple enough, as all we need to do is append the id of the clicked product to the ‘cart’ session variable. Our product links are going to look like this:
(a href="cart.php?action=add&id=1")Add to cart(/a)
Don’t worry about the ‘action=add’ bit, we’ll get to that later. The id can now be extracted from $_GET[‘id’] and added to our cart:
1. $cart = $_SESSION['cart'];
2. if ($cart) {
3. $cart .= ','.$_GET['id'];
4. } else {
5. $cart = $_GET['id'];
6. }
7. $_SESSION['cart'] = $cart;
Now, on to the contents of our cart!
Multiple items, one product
As in our example above, it is entirely possible that a customer might have more than one of a certain product in their cart. As we don’t want to list duplicate items when we display the contents, we need to figure out a way to combine any of the same product into one entry (with a corresponding quantity attached).
1. $cart = $_SESSION['cart'];
2. if ($cart) {
3. $items = explode(',',$cart);
4. $contents = array();
5. foreach ($items as $item) {
6. $contents[$item] = (isset($contents[$item])) ? $contents[$item] + 1 : 1;
7. }
This time, after exploding the list of product ids, we have iterated through them to create a new array named $contents, which consists of key=)value pairs where the key is the product id and the value is the quantity of that product in the shopping cart. So to take our example above, a cart containing “1,1,3,1,2” would become an array where ‘1’=)3, ‘2’=)1, ‘3’=)1.
Now that we have an accurate count of unique products, let’s query the product database for each one and output its details into a table:
1. $total = 0;
2. $output[] = '(table)';
3. foreach ($contents as $id=)$qty) {
4. $sql = 'SELECT * FROM books WHERE id = '.$id;
5. $result = $db-)query($sql);
6. $row = $result-)fetch();
7. extract($row);
8. $output[] = '(tr)';
9. $output[] = '(td)(a href="cart.php?action=delete&id='.$id.'" class="r")Remove(/a)(/td)';
10. $output[] = '(td)'.$title.' by '.$author.'(/td)';
11. $output[] = '(td)£'.$price.'(/td)';
12. $output[] = '(td)(input type="text" name="qty'.$id.'" value="'.$qty.'" size="3" maxlength="3" /)(/td)';
13. $output[] = '(td)£'.($price * $qty).'(/td)';
14. $total += $price * $qty;
15. $output[] = '(/tr)';
16. }
17. $output[] = '(/table)';
18. $output[] = '(p)Grand total: £'.$total.'(/p)';
19.
20. Download this code: /code/php-cart-5.txt
(*Note*: I’m using a PHP class to handle my database connections, so your code may need to be slightly different).
Pretty simple stuff – we iterate through the new $contents array and query the database for each product id. Then we output the relevant details for each product; title, author and price, and at the bottom we show the grand total for the order. For each item, we’ve also included a link to remove the item from the cart, a textbox containing the current quantity of that item, and a total price (obviously this will only differ from the base price if the quantity is not 1).
The reason I’m using $output[] = ... is that I am buffering the output into an array to print to the screen later.
So far so good – now how about removing products from the cart?
Deleting a product
As shown above, the link to delete a product from the cart follows the same format as the ‘add a product’ link:
(a href="cart.php?action=delete&id=1")Remove(/a)
Let’s expand on the code from earlier by adding a switch() statement to handle the different things that might happen to our cart:
1. $cart = $_SESSION['cart'];
2. $action = $_GET['action'];
3. switch ($action) {
4. case 'add':
5. if ($cart) {
6. $cart .= ','.$_GET['id'];
7. } else {
8. $cart = $_GET['id'];
9. }
10. break;
11. case 'delete':
12. if ($cart) {
13. $items = explode(',',$cart);
14. $newcart = '';
15. foreach ($items as $item) {
16. if ($_GET['id'] != $item) {
17. if ($newcart != '') {
18. $newcart .= ','.$item;
19. } else {
20. $newcart = $item;
21. }
22. }
23. }
24. $cart = $newcart;
25. }
26. break;
27. }
28. $_SESSION['cart'] = $cart;
The new ‘delete’ case iterates through the ‘cart’ session, looking for any product ids that AREN’T the one we’re deleting, and adding them to a temporary variable called $newcart. When it’s finished, it puts the revised cart contents back into $cart.
Updating a product
Lastly, we are going to allow customers to update the contents of their shopping cart by manually changing the value in the quantity box for each product.
To make this work, we’ll wrap the shopping cart table in a (form) so that the ‘update cart’ button will submit the form:
1. $output[] = 'form action="cart.php?action=update" method="post" id="cart")';
2. $output[] = '(table)';
3. foreach ($contents as $id=)$qty) {
4. $sql = 'SELECT * FROM books WHERE id = '.$id;
5. $result = $db-)query($sql);
6. $row = $result-)fetch();
7. extract($row);
8. $output[] = '(tr)';
9. $output[] = '(td)(a href="cart.php?action=delete&id='.$id.'" class="r")Remove(/a)(/td)';
10. $output[] = '(td)'.$title.' by '.$author.'(/td)';
11. $output[] = '(td)£'.$price.'(/td)';
12. $output[] = '(td)(input type="text" name="qty'.$id.'" value="'.$qty.'" size="3" maxlength="3" /)(/td)';
13. $output[] = '(td)£'.($price * $qty).'(/td)';
14. $total += $price * $qty;
15. $output[] = '(/tr)';
16. }
17. $output[] = '(/table)';
18. $output[] = '(p)Grand total: £'.$total.'(/p)';
19. $output[] = '(div)(button type="submit")Update cart(/button)(/div)';
20. $output[] = '(/form)';
Note that, even though the form uses the POST method, its action includes a GET variable, “action=update”. Again, we can expand our previous code to process any quantity updates:
1. case 'update':
2. if ($cart) {
3. $newcart = '';
4. foreach ($_POST as $key=)$value) {
5. if (stristr($key,'qty')) {
6. $id = str_replace('qty','',$key);
7. $items = ($newcart != '') ? explode(',',$newcart) : explode(',',$cart);
8. $newcart = '';
9. foreach ($items as $item) {
10. if ($id != $item) {
11. if ($newcart != '') {
12. $newcart .= ','.$item;
13. } else {
14. $newcart = $item;
15. }
16. }
17. }
18. for ($i=1;$i(=$value;$i++) {
19. if ($newcart != '') {
20. $newcart .= ','.$id;
21. } else {
22. $newcart = $id;
23. }
24. }
25. }
26. }
27. }
28. $cart = $newcart;
29. break;
30.
This looks quite complicated, but it’s fairly straightforward; we interrogate the contents of the $_POST array (which holds all our quantity values) and extract the relevant id and value pairs. For each product, we then delete all the existing instances of it, and re-insert the new quantity.
There are a number of ways this could have been done – for example, by counting the existing number of each product present in the cart and figuring out whether we needed to add or remove items – but this seemed the easiest way to process the quantity updates.
Summary
And that’s about it! A functional and easy shopping cart script – here’s the final function to display the contents of the cart:
1. function showCart() {
2. $cart = $_SESSION['cart'];
3. if ($cart) {
4. $items = explode(',',$cart);
5. $contents = array();
6. foreach ($items as $item) {
7. $contents[$item] = (isset($contents[$item])) ? $contents[$item] + 1 : 1;
8. }
9. $output[] = 'form action="cart.php?action=update" method="post" id="cart")';
10. $output[] = '(table)';
11. foreach ($contents as $id=)$qty) {
12. $sql = 'SELECT * FROM books WHERE id = '.$id;
13. $result = $db-)query($sql);
14. $row = $result-)fetch();
15. extract($row);
16. $output[] = '(tr)';
17. $output[] = '(td)(a href="cart.php?action=delete&id='.$id.'" class="r")Remove(/a)(/td)';
18. $output[] = '(td)'.$title.' by '.$author.'(/td)';
19. $output[] = '(td)£'.$price.'(/td)';
20. $output[] = '(td)(input type="text" name="qty'.$id.'" value="'.$qty.'" size="3" maxlength="3" /)(/td)';
21. $output[] = '(td)£'.($price * $qty).'(/td)';
22. $total += $price * $qty;
23. $output[] = '(/tr)';
24. }
25. $output[] = '(/table)';
26. $output[] = '(p)Grand total: £'.$total.'(/p)';
27. $output[] = '(div)(button type="submit")Update cart(/button)(/div)';
28. $output[] = '(/form)';
29. } else {
30. $output[] = '(p)You shopping cart is empty.(/p)';
31. }
32. return join('',$output);
33. }
(a href="http://v3.thewatchmakerproject.com/cart-demo.zip")Cart Demo Download(/a)
Leh flash floods: 115 killed, over 500 injured
Leh: At least 115 people have been killed and over 400 people are missing after flash floods hit Leh in Ladakh. Reports said a number of people were killed and many injured in a massive cloudburst on Thursday night. ( See pictures )
"We were sitting inside when we got to know about the floods. We came outside and saw the entire area flooded," said a resident of Leh.
The flash floods, caused by a cloudburst, have transformed the picturesque landscape of Leh into a virtual disaster zone with buildings, houses and schools completely destroyed.
Communication lines are down and the Leh-Srinagar highway is blocked.
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The cloudburst triggered torrential rains, mudslides and flash floods. A number of homes were completely destroyed and over 500 injured people were taken to Army hospital where floods destroyed entire wards.
The Central relief team is carrying out rescue operations in the area. Four rehabilitation centres have been set up so far. Earlier, the Army and the paramilitary launched a massive operation to rescue people who were missing - among them 25 Army jawans. Slush, gushing water and debris were a big challenge to rescue workers.
"We walked two kilometers and then I climbed a mountain. I had 14 more people with me," said an Army jawan.
Several homes were completely destroyed and the infrastructure badly hit in an area that is remote and normally difficult to reach.
A number of government offices, and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police camp were damaged. To make it worse, communication lines snapped. Telephone towers and highways leading to the region were also affected.
It took the Army and Air Force several hours to clear the Leh airport, where parts of the runway were covered in six inch slush.
Also, a statement released late last night by the Ministry of External Affairs said some foreign nationals too have been affected in the flash floods. However, their identities or nationalities were still to be established. There are several foreign nationals among those rescued.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also flew to Leh after a meeting in Srinagar. ( Watch: Omar visits hospital, meets victims )
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressed grief over the loss of life and property in the flash floods in Leh and announced an ex-gratia relief of one lakh each to the kin of the deceased and 50,000 each to the seriously injured.
"The Prime Minister is grieved to learn about the loss of life and property in the flash floods which hit Leh after a cloud burst" last night, a PMO statement said.
Control rooms have been set up to monitor the flow of information.
Control Room Numbers:
9906990613, 9906990833, 9906990807, 9906983544, 9906990748, 9906990835, 990699078
Satellite Phone Number:
00870 7636 13623
As efforts continue to pull out people trapped under the debris, there are fears that casualties may rise.
Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/leh-flash-floods-115-killed-over-500-injured-42357?cp
Motorola Milestone XT720 arrives in USA through Cincinnati Bell
Cincinnati Bell has become the first US based mobile service provider to offer Motorola Milestone XT720 to their customers.
This smartphone model comes powered with a 720MHz TI OMAP3440 processor and features a 3.7-inch FWVGA touchscreen capable of 854 x 480 resolution.
It is being sold with Google Android 2.1 platform. Other features include an 8 megapixel camera with xenon flash.
It is being offered for USD 200 with a two year long contract. Customers can buy it for USD 450 without a contract.
Asus launches Bamboo laptop in India
NEW DELHI: Asus has launched a new Bamboo Collection notebook -- U43Jc. The laptop is a follow-up to the first Bamboo Series launched in 2008.
Asus calims that the new U Series Bamboo Collection carries the message: protecting nature is a joint effort that unites us all, but it does not have to exclude innovative design, memorable style and powerful computing potential.
Asus U43Jc sports smoky brown bamboo exteriors boasting of organic looks, properties and tactility. The natural bamboo exteriors are juxtaposed with brushed aluminum interior.
U43Jc notebook has Super Hybrid Engine (SHE), which monitors processing loads and delivers just the right level of power, works alongside NVIDIA Optimus technology to conserve energy and extend battery life. Optimus technology switches between high end discrete graphics and normal integrated visuals, depending on system usage.
It also features Syncables technology that enables syncing with a plethora of devices, including desktop PCs, other notebooks, smartphones and digital cameras.
USB 3.0 is another new addition to the range. The standard is claimed to be ten times faster than USB 2.0.
Read more: Asus launches Bamboo laptop in India - Gadgets Special - Personal Tech - Tech - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/personal-tech/gadgets-special/Asus-launches-Bamboo-laptop-in-India/articleshow/6266214.cms#ixzz0vu0uSDg9
MHA in talks with RIM to resolve BlackBerry issue: Raja
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is holding discussions with Canada-based maker of BlackBerry, Research in Motion, in its bid to resolve the stand-off over access of data by security agencies. "The issue is being discussed by the Home Ministry with the stakeholder. I do hope it will be resolved
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in the near future," Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology A Raja said on Friday.
He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the closing ceremony of E-India 2010, a three-day event of IT and ICT, in Hyderabad.
The minister, however, refused to reveal the company's stand on the issue.
"Certain things cannot be revealed now. After the discussions, if necessary, the matter will be referred to the Government of India," he said.
BlackBerry services came under scanner following concerns expressed by security agencies in the country, which feel that the handset's services in the present format posed a serious security threat.
While the security agencies are able to lawfully intercept the short messaging services, voice data and multi-media messaging services, they are not able to make any headway on emails and messenger services, inbuilt functions of BlackBerry handsets which require a "master key" from the manufacturer for interception.
The MHA had conveyed to Department of Telecom earlier that BlackBerry will have to address its security concern by offering monitoring facility, else the popular smartphones maker will have to shut its shop in the country.
The new Ms Kerala!
KOCHI: It was more of a contest of confidence and attitude than beauty. Given the way the 22 finalists of the pageant walked, talked and conducted themselves on stage, it was impossible to believe that they were just any other Malayali girls till yesterday.
The HairOmax Miss Kerala 2010 which began sharp at 7 PM at the Le Meridien, Maradu, had anchors Sangeeta and Kishore Satya trying to get the crowd to liven up.
The girls introduced themselves with little speeches about their dreams and aspirations, often confessing to their limitations and weaknesses. These ranged from ‘This is the first time I’m speaking on stage’ and ‘I know that I don’t look the tall, fair concept of a beauty queen’ to ‘I’d rather be the best cobbler than a mediocre lawyer’ and ‘I want to reach for the moon and get there'.
The one who said the last got the crown at the end, incidentally. There was also the usual issue of mother tongue and place one grew up, with many girls asserting that they were true Malayalis though born and brought up elsewhere, while others pointed out that there was nothing ‘foreign about them’ in chaste Malayalam.
All of this was received with much applause, but when the love of the mother tongue was carried to an extreme by a contestant, it was thumbed down.
The entertainment programmes in between the rounds were quite spectacular this time; the performance by singer Abbey Fizardo deserves special mention, though even he found it impossible to get the staid Kerala audience to get up and dance.
The casuals round was a real visual treat, with all the 22 grooving to the peppy ‘Suddenly I See’ in fitted check tops accessorised with scarves and belts. The outfits by the official designers of the pageant-Adit and Semu - did wonders to the confidence levels of the girls and the change was visible.
Eleven were short-listed from the 22, on the basis of the first two rounds. The question-answer round, which narrowed down the final five, had some interesting sessions with questions like ‘Would you rather be a book or a song? (by Anitha Nair) and ‘Ask a question to your fellow participant’ (by judge Anoop Menon).
Winner Indu Thampy was asked to name seven ingredients of the Kerala sadya, which she promptly did. There was no looking back for Indu from then on, and by the time the final question answer round got over, it was pretty sure who the winner was going to be.
There were nearly a dozen other titles too like Miss Beautiful Hair, Eyes, Skin, Smile, Miss Photogenic, Miss Congeniality and even Miss Voice, by Club FM, which went to Renu Kuriachen.
By the time the show organised by Impresario ended at 12 AM, the audience had had oodles of fashion, beauty, talent, entertainment and a winner, while quite a few dreams were launched on stage.
Who’s that girl?
Young actor Sonakshi Sinha, who is set to make her big Bollywood debut opposite Salman Khan in a gritty action drama, is quite baffled that she is being compared to her father Shatrughan Sinha in terms of her dialogue delivery despite her being a girl.
“I’m certain that when the child of a superstar makes his or her Bollywood debut they are definitely compared to their father or mother, but it’s quite strange when a daughter is compared to her father. I have heard that my dialogue delivery is being compared to his. I don’t know how,” she tells DNA in an interview.
Sonakshi, however, admits that being a girl has naturally taken quite a load off her head as she can’t directly be compared to her father who with his typical mannerisms managed to carve a niche in B-Town.
The 23-year-old says the acting genes will be useful though. “My father is the best actor that I have seen and I’m thankful to God that I’m the daughter of Shatrughan Sinha. The genes will definitely come in handy. I like the camera and I’m very confident of facing it. That is something I have definitely inherited from him,” she says.
Her confidence is evident when she does not shy away from answering personal questions about herself. Good news for boys is that Sonakshi is single and she is dishing out her recipe on the kind of man she would love to be with. “He has to have a great personality and has to be handsome too. I want my man to be tall, humourous and when we meet or talk, we should have a sparkling chemistry. I hope I’m not asking for too much,” she laughs.
About her sex appeal, Sonakshi shoots, “I have been told that I am a mix of old world charm and modernity at the same time. I do like to blend equally into both categories with comfort and ease.”
She says that acting for Salman in Dabangg has been her best training ground. “I have learnt to be patient, to be perseverant, to be disciplined to my craft and how to only focus on work and not worry about things that are being written or spoken about me. I know that I will continue to learn from him in the years to come,” she ends.
Sonakshi Sinha’s wish-list!
“I have just begun. So, I would love to work with all the good actors of our industry. Aamir Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Imran Khan, Hrithik Roshan, Akshay Kumar, Abhay Deol are fantastic performers and I’m looking forward to the opportunities to work with them.”
Deepika dating Siddharth Mallya?
If rumors are to be believed, then the gorgeous actress Deepika Padukone and business tycoon Vijay Mallya’s son, Siddharth are dating each other.
Though no official confirmations have been made by either of them, the duo was spotted together in Salman Khan's sister Arpita’s birthday bash.
According to a little birdie, “Deepika and Siddhartha came in and left together. They didn’t leave each others’ company even for a minute.
"While Siddhartha enjoyed the party and was in high spirits, Deepika kept herself away from alcohol and socialised with others instead. Both of them left early.”
Earlier also the duo was spotted at the Lakhme Fashion Week.
Deepika-Siddharth’s budding relationship?
It all started during the Indian Premiere League (IPL), when the actress was seen cheering the Bangalore Royal Challengers.
Their so-called “professional relationship” and “good friendship” went well both on and off the stadium. Their pairing at various other events and parties also proved that something is going on.
When asked about her new date, Siddharth, the actress rubbished the rumors and said that they were together due to professional relationship between them.
It is even believed that Siddharth was busy in trimming his weight just for his new date.
“People lose weight for themselves and not for others. He has to stay fit, which is good for him," Deepika said.
Deepika found her love?
After being dumped by Ranbir Kapoor, the 24-year-old actress seems to have recovered and found her new date.
Few days ago, her ex-beau Ranbir was also making headlines for dating Katrina Kaif, ex-beau of Salman Khan.
Besides the break-ups and link-ups, the ‘Om Shanti Om’ girl has managed to make a flourishing career in the B-town. The actress is lined up with many projects ahead and is even looking forward to her forthcoming flick ‘Lafangey Parindey’ opposite Neil Nitin Mukesh.
It’s Soman all the way
Here is good news for Sonam Kapoor fans, who think that she had run out of luck in Saawariya and Delhi-6 in spite of her good performance. She did proved them right with her last release I Hate Luv Storys turning a hit. Her fans will have good time again watching her on the big screen, as Aisha has been released.
Critics are all praise for the budding actress. As expected, Aisha, produced by Rhea Kapoor and directed by Rajshree Ojha, is a taylor-made film for the actress with its story revolving around her. She has an author-backed role, as we all know that it is a modern adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Emma, which was published almost 200 years ago.
“Film Aisha is sure to open eyes to the talent of its leading lady Sonam Kapoor, who gives face, form and expression to Aisha. She displays the essential characteristic of an actress who has the ability to shift quickly and effectively from one emotion to another. She can cry, look wistful and deliver a biting line with equal believability,” wrote well known film critic Taran Adarsh in his review.
Well, it looks like Sonam’s popularity will shoot to a new height with Aisha. Way to go girl!
US, UN blacklist Ilyas Kashmiri, HuJI
The US in conjunction with the United Nations has designated al-Qaeda-linked HuJI as a foreign terrorist organisation and slapped sanctions on its commander Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, who was close to 26/11 plotter David Headley, for carrying out terror activities in India and Pakistan.
Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami (HuJI) and Kashmiri have been involved in a series of terrorist activities in India, including the attack on the Hyderabad mosque in 2007 that killed 16 people and the March 2007 Varanasi terrorist strike that left at least 25 people dead and another 100 injured.
Kashmiri's name also cropped in 26/11 and he was in close contact with Headley, who has confessed to his involvement in the Mumbai terror attacks that killed 166 people, including six Americans.
While Secretary of State Hillary Clinton designated HuJI as a foreign terrorist organisation, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner slapped sanctions on Kashmiri.
Simultaneously, the UN also announced a similar sanction against HuJI and Kashmiri at its headquarters in New York.
"The joint State and Treasury Department actions taken on Saturday, in conjunction with the United Nation's listing, illustrates the international community's resolve to counter the threat posed by HuJI and its leader Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri," Daniel Benjamin, State Department's Coordinator for Counter-terrorism, said last evening.
"Linkages between HuJI and al-Qaeda are clear, and today's designations convey the operational relationship between these organisations," Benjamin said.
These actions were taken in consultation with the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Justice.
"Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri is at the core of HuJI's efforts to plan and carry out attacks against US forces and our allies. He is responsible for creating a cadre of militants to act on behalf of HuJI and al-Qaeda," said Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey.
Enola Gay navigator has 'no regrets'
As the Japanese city of Hiroshima marks the 65th anniversary of the world's first atomic bomb attack, a member of the US crew that dropped the weapon talks to the BBC's Kristin Wilson about his memories of that day.
To his family and friends, the elderly man in a little retirement community in Georgia is just "Dutch".
But 65 years ago on Friday, Lt Theodore Van Kirk was flight navigator for the Enola Gay on its mission to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
On the morning of 6 August, 1945 he, two of the closest friends and nine other Americans took off for the flight that launched the world into the nuclear age.
"I looked out the window and saw the just-rising sun and thought about what a beautiful morning it was over the Pacific," he recalls, sitting in his home office surrounded by pictures, books, model planes, awards and mementos marking the mission.
"We didn't know at first what we were going to do. Just that maybe it would shorten the war."
The bomb killed an estimated 100,000 Japanese, but it ended the war and precluded an invasion of Japan, and Mr Van Kirk says he has no regrets. None of them did.
"Look, we did what we had to do," he says. "They were never going to give up. But I just could not see how they could continue the war and subject their people to that."
He remained friends with bombardier Tom Ferebee and pilot Paul Tibbets until their deaths in 2000 and 2007 respectively. They flew 35 missions together.
'Nine miles away'
In spring 1945, the war in Europe drew to a close while the battle in the Pacific raged on and an allied invasion of Japan seemed imminent.
The crew learned about their mission from the atomic scientists who had come to their base on the island of Tinian. But not even the scientists had all the answers.
"One said, 'We think that you'll be OK if you're nine miles away when the bomb explodes,'" he recalls. "And that kind of got our attention. And we said, 'you think?' They said, 'We just don't know. Probably best to be at least nine miles away.'"
The next order was to go get some sleep.
Mr Van Kirk laughs at the recollection.
The crew of the Enola Gay
Mr Van Kirk, third from left, says he never let the flight define him
"Sleep? After that? There was no way we were going to sleep," he says. "So, we played poker. Tom won. Tom always won at poker."
The morning of the mission arrived. For the flight, Tibbets renamed the plane in honour of his mother. The Enola Gay flew only one mission. As they neared the target the mission remained secret, even for the crew.
"They kept telling us we were going to do something and destroy an entire city," he says, shaking a knowing finger.
"But if you don't know by then what was going on, you were stupid. And if you talked about it, you were even more stupid."
As flight navigator in the days before sat-nav, Mr Van Kirk's job was to guide the plane to Hiroshima by following rivers, towns and landmarks.
The cabin was quiet the whole way there. Unusually for friends so accustomed to jokes and pranks, there was no extraneous talk, no frivolity, only talk that involved the task at hand.
"Then Tom said, 'I have it. I can't make it any better than that. I've got it down the line.'" he recalls.
And the 9,400-lb bomb, named Little Boy, dropped from the plane.
The plane turned hard to the right to escape the blast they weren't sure would even come. But Little Boy detonated 1,800ft above Hiroshima at 8.15am.
"For 43 seconds, nothing happened," he pauses.
Shock wave
"And then there was an orange light so bright from the back of the plane that I think you didn't have on goggles, you'd probably be blind."
Mushroom cloud after Hiroshima bombing
Van Kirk no longer answers the phone on 6 August
The concussion rocked the plane like anti-aircraft fire. A second shock wave followed.
"It's like when a rock hits a still pool of water," he says. "That's the best way I can describe it."
After the shock waves subsided, Tibbets turned the plane around to survey. Contrary to reports, Mr Van Kirk flatly denies they circled the target. They just took a look before heading back, because everyone wanted a report, he says.
"General Rose wanted to know, the scientists wanted to know," he says.
"Hell, Truman wanted to know."
Radio operator Dick Nelson, the youngest of the crew at 19, sent word back to command: "Results Excellent."
Bob Lewis, the co-pilot, kept a log of the flight, and is remembered for saying the infamous words, "My God, what have we done?"
Mr Van Kirk chuckles.
Yes, Bob did keep a log, he remembers.
Sea of rubble
"But I'm not going to tell you what Bob's first thing was." He pauses. "Let's just say it was - more descriptive."
Even as he sits surrounded by mementos, Mr Van Kirk says neither he nor his friends let that day define their lives.
"We never talked about it," he says.
"We'd talk about playing golf or kids or just go visit each other."
Every year around this time the calls start coming in, he says - requests to speak at high schools, events, public appearances.
"My life now is hectic," he says. "And on the 6th it'll get even crazier. But I won't answer the calls that day. Not that day."
For him, it's a day to remember his friends. Tibbets, whom he visited on his deathbed. Ferebee, whom Mr Van Kirk called every day after he fell sick. A sad smile passes over his face.
Ferebee "told me he was going to die and asked me 'will you say nice things about me?'" he recalls with a chuckle. "I said, 'well, I will if I can think of anything.' We were just friends for life."
A picture in the book stops him.
"This was always the most poignant to me," he says, looking at a photo of a solitary man standing amidst a sea of rubble.
"After the war, we went to Nagasaki before the occupation forces arrived," he says.
"And this Japanese is returning through his home, which no longer exists. Can you imagine? Coming back to your home and finding this?"
His hands spread open over the page. Then he slowly taps the photograph.
"Coming home to nothing."
Pakistan president willing to talk to Taliban
Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan's president, has indicated he is willing to consider reopening negotiations with the Taliban in his country.
Mr Zardari, who was speaking following talks with David Cameron at Chequers, said the Pakistani government "never closed the dialogue".
"We had an agreement, which they broke. (Talks will resume) whenever they feel we're strong enough and they realize they can't win, because they won't win. It will be a painful difficult task, but defeat is not an option," he said.
Last year, the Pakistani government struck a deal with the Taliban in the Swat Valley that gave them effective control over the region. The militants violated the agreement and moved into another region, prompting an all out offensive by the Pakistani army.
Mr Zardari and Mr Cameron used the opportunity to dismiss the "storm" created by the prime minister's comments that Pakistan was exporting terrorism, arguing that it would not change the unbreakable friendship that exists between the two nations.
The meeting came a week after Mr Cameron caused anger in Pakistan when he used a trip to India to attack Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism.
The two leaders were keen to defuse the tensions caused by the remarks.
Mr Zardari said: "This is a friendship that will never break, no matter what happens. Storms will come and storms will go, and Pakistan and Britain will stand together and face all the difficulties with dignity and we will make sure that the world is a better place for our coming generations."
The President had vowed to "educate" Mr Cameron after his comments about elements of the Pakistan.
However, he was given a warn welcome at the Prime Minister's country retreat. The two men planted an olive tree in the grounds in memory of Benazir Bhutto, the president's wife and the former Pakistan prime minister who was assassinated.
After the talks Mr Cameron said: "The president and I have been talking about what we see as an unbreakable relationship between Britain and Pakistan based on our mutual interests.
"Above all what we've been talking about is our strategic partnership and how we can deepen and enhance that partnership to make sure we deal with all the issues where we want to see progress – whether that is in trade, whether it is in education and also in the absolutely vital area of combating terrorism, where we want to work together to combat terrorism."
In an interview with The Guardian last night Mr Zardari said he had convinced Mr Cameron Pakistan was doing all it could to stop extremists “exporting terror”.
Mr Zardari said he had won British support for a “Marshall plan” to rebuild Afghanistan and Pakistan, claiming Britain agreed to lobby the EU for greater trade access.
The Prime Minister also made it clear that he recognised that Pakistan had suffered at the hands of terrorists – not least the security forces. Last week he had questioned the intelligence services commitment to the cause.
Mr Zardari welcomed Mr Cameron's words and said he was grateful for the Prime Minister's understanding of "the grievances and the problems we face in Pakistan"
However, Mr Cameron has steadfastly refused to back away from his comments about some elements in Pakistan facing "both ways" and pointing out that they should not be allowed to "promote the export of terror whether to India, whether to Afghanistan or to anywhere else in the world".
It was agreed that annual summits would be held between the UK Prime Minister and Pakistan President, and ministers would meet to enhance links within their briefs.
There will also be direct contacts between top civilian and military officials, with the Prime Minister's National Security Adviser and the Chief of the Defence Staff among those expected to work closely with their opposite numbers.
Mr Zardari has come under criticism that he was using his meeting with Mr Cameron as a smokescreen for an attempt to shore up his political dynasty by attending a rally in Birmingham to launch his son's campaign to succeed him.
He was also criticised for failing to return to Pakistan at a time when the country has been hit by its worst flooding in 80 years, affecting 12 million people and killing nearly 2,000.
Yesterday Mr Zardari's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, announced he would no longer be speaking at the event and would instead by collecting money in London to help Pakistan's flood victims.
Govt ensuring food security for rats, says CPM's Karat
Vijayawada: CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat on Saturday attacked the UPA II government on its poor food management policies during the party's brainstorming session in Vijayawada.
He said that the Left has been demanding food security for poor since long but the government is relentless.
"What they are ensuring is food safety for rats," said a visibly angry Prakash Karat.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the Nuclear Liability Bill, Karat said that the PM is following American agenda.
The CPM General Secretary, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar, and Politburo members Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat, B V Raghavulu and a host of other leaders are attending the three-day meeting being held at Vijayawada. ( Read: Red camp in Vijayawada to fight Bengal battle )
The Extended Central Committee (ECC) meetings primary concern is to devise a strategy for the upcoming Assembly elections in West Bengal. (With PTI inputs)
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