Saturday, January 30, 2010

Sania Mirza's engagement called off

Sania Mirza hasn't had the best of starts to the 2010 season - on and off court. A broken service game is one thing,but a broken engagement and a broken heart,is quite another.Earlier in the week, the 23-year-old's father Imran, who coaches Sania and manages her career, called off his daughter's engagement to Mohammed Sohrab Mirza. Sania was formally engaged to the fellow Hyderabadi and longtime friend, now studying business in the United Kingdom, at a luxury hotel near her home last July.
The Indian star categorically refused to get into the why and what of the matter, but confirmed her engagement was off. "We were friends for half a decade, but found ourselves incompatible during our engagement period.

I wish Sohrab the best in life," she said.Even before the two got engaged, questions were doing the rounds about whether Mohammed could cope with the demands of being life-partner to a widely-traveled, hugely-popular athlete. Sania, who has been struggling with the differences for the last couple of months, hasn't taken the break-up well as her results on court show. However, she's doing what she always does at a time of crisis - surround herself with family and friends.As it stands, Sania will have to turn her focus to the courts, and in time might find comfort there. She flies out to Kuala Lumpur late on Friday, where she leads India's challenge in the Fed Cup Asia Oceania Group II competition, starting February 2.

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Pak players should have been picked up for IPL-3: SRK

As a perceived snub to Pakistani players by the Indian Premier League spark a spat between neighbouring countries, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, an IPL franchisee himself, believes they should have been picked."I truly believe they (Pakistan players) should have been chosen," Khan, co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), said.Khan, however, said that since "some issues" were involved the matter could have been handled by the IPL "respectfully".No Pakistani player was bought by the eight Indian clubs during an auction on Tuesday for the third edition of the glitzy IPL despite the Pakistan team being the reigning world champions in the Twenty20 format of the cricket tournament.Rooting for the Pakistani players, Khan said they are the best T20 players in the world. "They are the champions, they are wonderful but somewhere down the line there is an issue and we can't deny it," he told a news channel.

Khan said it was humiliating to him as a KKR owner that no one bid for the Pakistani players despite them being put up for auction."We are known to invite everyone. We should have. If there were any issues, they should have been put on board earlier. Everything can happen respectfully," he said."Everyday we blame Pakistan, everyday Pakistan blames us. It is an issue," Khan, who had five players from Pakistan playing for KKR in IPL's first edition, said.Khan felt that the youth should circumvent all that is said about India and Pakistan by the politicians and say, "It (Pakistan) is a great neighbour to have. We are great neighbours, They are good neighbours. Let us love each other.""Let me be honest. My family is from Pakistan, my father was born there and his family is from there," he said.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Padma Lakshmi beats Aishwarya Rai

Supermodels Padma Lakshmi and Lakshmi Menon have beaten Indian actresses Aishwarya Rai and Freida Pinto in a most desirable women poll conducted by a portal.According to the top 99 women poll by askmen.com, Padma Lakshmi has grabbed the 15th spot while Menon sits at the 45th position leaving behind "Slumdog Millionaire" star Pinto and former Miss World Aishwarya in 50th and 63rd positions respectively. "I am delighted that the readers of this portal have chosen to include me on their list. I am extremely flattered," the website quoted Padma as saying.Beating all of them, however, is Canadian actress Emmanuelle Chriqui, who tops the list. It also features singer Beyonce Knowles at sixth position, Spanish actress Penelope Cruz and "Tranformers" star Megan Fox at seventh and 11th spots respectively.After a six-week long voting period, six million votes decided the ranking of these beautiful women.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

IIT graduates annual salary drops and NIT graduates increased

The average annual salary of graduates of the prestigious Indian Institutes of Technology has dropped by five % while that of the National Institutes of Technology graduates has increased by six %.The average annual salaries of IIT graduates has dropped by 5% to Rs 5.88 lakh in 2009, according to the 5th IDC-Dataquest T-School 2009 Survey of 111 engineering colleges across the country.

Though the drop in the annual salary of IIT graduates has been ascribed to global recession, according to the survey, interestingly the average salary of NIT graduates has improved by 6% to Rs 4.36 lakh."Another reason for the drop in the annual salary of IIT graduates is that many bright students of IITs opted for higher studies instead of entering the job market," the survey pointed out.The highest annual salary received by an engineering graduate was from Netaji Subhas Institute of Technology (NSIT), New Delhi, who received Rs 45 lakh from Schlumberger, the survey said.Due to the global slowdown, the average annual salary of engineering graduates countrywide stagnated at Rs 3.5 lakh.But the average annual salary of engineering graduates in BPO/ IT industry was a shade higher at Rs 3.6 lakh.

Saturday, January 23, 2010

All IPL teams agreed to shun Pak players

What was suspected after Tuesday’s auction of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is now confirmed - there was indeed a consensus among the team franchisees that none of them would bid for the Pakistani players.Underlying this consensus were ambiguous signals from officialdom. Union sports minister MS Gill went on record on Wednesday insisting that neither his ministry nor the government had in any way nudged IPL teams to treat Pakistani players as untouchables. However, sources in the Indian cricket board (BCCI) gave TOI details of what transpired in the run-up to the auction, which suggest a more nuanced reality.

According to the sources, the BCCI initially told the franchisees that they could bid for Pakistani players and treat them just like cricketers from any other part of the world. Around the middle of December, the board also assured the teams that it would chip in with help for visas and other diplomatic clearances from the government.However, when team owners asked the board "what guarantee will the franchisees have?", the board spoke to some government officials in the last week of December and reverted with the message that the government - understandably - couldn’t give "any guarantee". The prospects of possible terror attacks clearly contributed to this message.Hence the IPL teams ignored the Pakistan players in auction as there was "no guarantee" from the government that these players would get visas and other clearances.

Monday, January 18, 2010

Glory for Avatar

Blockbuster sci-fi epic Avatar has been named best film drama at the Golden Globe awards, boosting its chances of further glory at the Oscars in March.Its director James Cameron was also honoured at the event, held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles.Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep won the best actress prizes, with Jeff Bridges and Robert Downey Jr taking home their male equivalents.Ricky Gervais hosted the event, the first of 2010's major Hollywood awards.Presented each year by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the Globes often indicate who and what will go on to receive Academy Awards.

The Canadian film-maker previously won a Golden Globe for directing Titanic, which went on to win 11 Academy Awards in 1998.But he steered clear of the self-aggrandising language of his "king of the world" Oscar acceptance speech, heaping praise upon Bigelow, and addressing his actors in Na'vi, the language created for his blockbuster film.As Cameron accepted his prizes, it was revealed that Avatar had remained top of the US box office for a fifth week.Worldwide takings for the film now stand at $1.6 bn (£979m), setting it on course to top Titanic's $1.8 bn (£1.1bn) haul this week - which would make it the top-grossing film of all time.

Friday, January 15, 2010

JP Morgan Chase reports $3.3bn profits

Wall Street bank JP Morgan Chase has reported profits of $3.3bn (£2bn) for the last three months of 2009.That compares with the $702m profits reported last year, at the height of the financial crisis.Net revenues for the quarter totalled $25.2bn - higher than a year ago but below the previous quarter's.Total profits for the year were $11.7bn, the bank said, up from the $5.6bn it made in 2008, with $6.9bn made from investment banking alone.The bank paid a total of $26.9bn in pay and bonuses over the year, with investment bankers earning a total of $9.3bn.

Thursday, January 14, 2010

Father of Pentium Chip - Vinod Dahm

Its really a high time to know more about the great personality Vinod Dahm who invented the pentium chip,on which today more than 90% of computers run.He is suitably known as the father of the Pentium processor. Vinod was born in Pune, India in 1950. He received his initial education at Pune. Vinod earned his bachelor's degree from the Delhi College of Engineering, in Electrical Engineering in the year 1971. After completing his engineering, Vinod worked briefly in Delhi for Continental Devices- a semiconductor company. To pursue advance studies, Vinod went to the US in the year 1975. There, he joined the University of Cincinnati to pursue a Masters in Electrical Engineering. After his masters, in 1977, Vinod joined the National Cash Register (NCR) at Dayton, Ohio. There, he worked as a team member of the NCR's memory design group. While working at the NCR, Vinod Dahm received many patents.During one of his presentations,Intel was so impressed with their knowledge and offered him to work with them.And what happened after that you people know very well......

Haiti Earthquake

The quake Tuesday flattened much of the capital of 2 million people, wrecking buildings great and small – from shacks in shantytowns to President Rene Preval's gleaming white National Palace, where a dome tilted ominously above the manicured grounds.Hospitals, schools and the main prison collapsed. The capital's Roman Catholic archbishop was killed in his ruined office at the main cathedral. The head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission was missing in the ruins of the organization's multistory headquarters.

Several buildings belonging to the archdiocese collapsed, killing at least 100 priests and seminarians, the Vatican said.At a triage center improvised in a hotel parking lot, people with cuts, broken bones and crushed ribs moaned under tent-like covers fashioned from bloody sheets."This is much worse than a hurricane," said Jimitre Coquillon, a doctors assistant. "There's no water. There's nothing. Thirsty people are going to die."

Haiti's leaders struggled to comprehend the extent of the catastrophe – the worst earthquake to hit the country in 200 years – even as aftershocks reverberated."It's incredible," Preval told CNN. "A lot of houses destroyed, hospitals, schools, personal homes. A lot of people in the street dead. ... I'm still looking to understand the magnitude of the event and how to manage."

Preval said thousands of people were probably killed, but it was "too early to give a number."Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive predicted the death toll could reach 100,000.The international Red Cross said a third of the country's 9 million people may need emergency aid, a burden that would test any nation and a crushing catastrophe for impoverished Haiti.

President Barack Obama promised an all-out rescue and humanitarian effort, and U.S. officials said they were responding with ships, helicopters, transport planes and a 2,000-member Marine unit, as well as civilian emergency teams from across the U.S.
"We have to be there for them in their hour of need," Obama said.

The U.S. Embassy had no confirmed reports of deaths among the estimated 45,000 Americans who live in Haiti, but many were trying to find a way out of the country.
Governments and aid agencies from around the world began marshaling supplies and staffs, but the obstacles proved frustrating just one day after the powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit. Power and phone service were out.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Google Vs China

Google Inc said it may pull out of China because it is no longer willing to accept censorship of search results and after hackers coordinated a sophisticated attack on email accounts of human rights activists using its Gmail service.Google's surprise announcement on Tuesday came shortly after an adviser to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she will announce a technology policy next week to help citizens in other countries to gain access to an uncensored Internet.
More than 20 other companies were also attacked by the China-based hackers, Google said. Google said the hackers had tried to access the Gmail email accounts of Chinese human rights activists but only managed to access two unidentified accounts, and then only headlines and other data such as when the account was created.It did not say what information the hackers tried to access from the other corporations, nor which they were. Google said it was now notifying the other affected corporations, adding that it was working with the US authorities.