Kohli set up series win

Virat Kohli's dream run in ODIs continued as his brilliant century guided India to a comfortable six-wicket victory in the fourth one-dayer against Sri Lanka, thereby clinching the five-match series 3-1

Kohli's 119-ball 128 and his partnership of 146 runs with another in-form batsman Suresh Raina (58), India reached the 252-run target in 42.2 overs at the R Premadasa stadium.

This is Kohli's 13th century in his 89th ODI appearance, a feat still unattained by any other batsman in ODI history.

Scrore: http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2012/engine/current/match/564784.html

Worst power crisis ever, over 60 crore people in 21 states hit

In the worst ever power crisis, over half of the country's population in 21 states went without electricity for several hours on Tuesday as three major transmission grids failed, bringing northern, eastern and north-eastern regions to a grinding halt.

The massive failure came less than 24 hours after the northern grid collapsed and was revived yesterday.

Today, the worst sufferers were 265 miners who got trapped in coal mines in West Bengal and Jharkhand due to power outage. They were evacuated after hours of agony.

In the national capatal, thousands of Metro commuters had a harrowing time when the trains stopped inside the tunnels as transmission lines tripped at 1pm.

Railway services too were hit, with 300 trains getting disrupted in seven zones in 10 states.

Gagan Narang win with a bronze in the 10m Air Rifle event

Ace rifleman Gagan Narang put India into the medal bracket by shooting a bronze in his pet 10 metre air rifle event.

Narang, 29, participating in his third Games, had a total score of 701.1 (598 qualifying, 103.1 final) to finish third at the Royal Artillery Barracks range, triggering celebrations among the Indian diaspora here and the countrymen back home.

Major grid collapse hits 600 m

Over 600 million people were affected as almost half of India went without power for more than six hours on Tuesday.

Three electricity grids — Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern that transmit 57,297 MW during peak hours — collapsed to cause a blackout in 20 States and two Union Territories. Restoration of power started after three-four hours.

The Eastern grid supplies West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa and Sikkim, while the North-Eastern grid serves Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram. The northern grid powers Chandigarh, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. Those connected to the Northern Grid suffered the second day of outage.

No one knows what led to the ‘world’s biggest blackout’. Or, if they know, prefer to remain non-committal. “Some sectors are overdrawing, we don’t want to name them,” said Mr R. N. Nayak, Chairman and Managing Director, Power Grid Corporation. PowerGrid maintains and operates five national grids.

India beat Sri Lanka to go 2-1 up in series

The fire of Raina and the poise of Irfan Pathan steered them to a thrilling five-wicket victory and a 2-1 lead in the five-match One-Day International series at the R Premadasa Stadium on Saturday.

 India started the match strongly despite Mahendra Singh Dhoni calling wrongly, and reduced Sri Lanka to 20 for three midway through the sixth over on the back of an inspired spell by Zaheer Khan.

Sri Lanka were hauled back on track by the old firm of Kumar Sangakkara, who batted for most his 160-minute stint with a broken left little finger, and Mahela Jayawardene.

 View Scrore: http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2012/engine/current/match/564783.html

Olympics 2012: Indian women's doubles pair lose

Indian women's doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponappa lost their opening group match to the Japanese duo of Mizuki Fujii and Reika Kakiiwa at the London Olympics badminton tournament in London on Saturday.

The Indian pair was thrashed 16-21, 18-21 in 45 minutes in their Group B match being played at the Wembley Arena. Jwala and Ashwini had won the World Championship bronze at the same venue in London last year.

Jwala and Ashwini will need to win their next two group matches to qualify for the knockouts.

Jwala said the first match is always a tough match.

“The first match is always tough. We were prepared for the challenge but couldn't execute our plans properly,” Jwala said.

Android phones facing new threats from hackers

Hacking experts demonstrated ways to attack Android smartphones using methods they said work on virtually all such devices in use today, despite recent efforts by search engine giant Google to boost protection. 

Experts showed off their prowess at the Black Hat hacking conference in Las Vegas, where some 6,500 corporate and government security technology workers gathered to learn about emerging threats to their networks. 

"Google is making progress, but the authors of malicious software are moving forward," said Sean Schulte of Trustwave's SpiderLabs. 

Google resolves chat issue

Google has not yet given any reason for why GTalk was done. It has posted this message on its App Status Dashboard.

The problem with Google Talk should be resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience and continued support. Please rest assured that system reliability is a top priority at Google, and we are making continuous improvements to make our systems better. If you are still experiencing an issue, please contact us via the Google Help Center.

Aditya Chopra gifts an Audi to Rani Mukerji

Rani Mukerji and Aditya Chopra might have tried all possible things to keep their relationship under wraps, bur their efforts have hardly worked. As they say ‘Ishq aur mushq chhipaye nahin chhupti’, Rani and Aditya’s love story is known to one and all.

How many of you can splurge on your ladylove with a luxury car? Well, Aditya Chopra surely can and has reportedly gifted Rani Mukerji an Audi A8 W12 worth Rs. 1.25 crore. "Adi brought the car to Rani's bungalow on Tuesday evening and asked her to step inside the car just to go for a spin.

 

After the ride, he left the car inside the bungalow's premises and left in his own car which was driven in by his driver," an eyewitness told Mumbai Mirror.

The alleged lovebirds are very secretive about their romance and haven't till date taken their relationship public. It's almost impossible to find even a single picture of the couple together.

Apparently, Aditya's family has finally given their nod to the couple's relationship and their wedding is very much on the cards.

Aditya divorced his first wife and childhood sweetheart Payal Khanna in 2009. His parents still share a good equation with Payal despite the divorce.

California-based Swipe Telecom launches first 3D tablet in India

California-based Swipe Telecom has launched a range of tablets here, including the country's "first 3D tablet". 

The tablets are priced in the range of Rs 5,999 to Rs 6,999, while the one with phone facility is priced at Rs 8,999. 

The company claims that these are the fastest and lightest devices in the category. 

Swipe Telecom Founder and Chief executive Shripal Gandhi said the dometic tablet PC market was 0.95 million units or Rs 2,200 crore in value last year, but is expected to touch 2.2 million units this year. 

Amitabh Bachchan to carry Olympic torch in London

Megastar Amitabh Bachchan will carry the London Olympic torch in London on Thursday, a day before the opening ceremony of the Games.

The actor will be part of the relay team which will carry the torch.

Bachchan, 69, tweeted that he would be carrying the Torch in London tomorrow at 10.30 am.

“OK !! HERE IT IS : Have been invited by London Olympic Organizing Committee to carry the torch in the relay tomorrow ...,” Bachchan tweeted.

“Honored to be asked to carry the Olympic Torch in London at Southwark around 10:30 AM !! A proud moment for me and country,” he added.

Bachchan is not the only celebrity to lend the Indian touch to the mega gaming event. Indian music maestro AR Rahman has teamed up with his Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle to compose a track for the inaugural event.

I love India but not its distribution network: Apple CEO

Technology giant Apple has said the multi-layered distribution network in India works against the company's interests and it sees higher potential elsewhere in the "intermediate term".

"I love India, but I believe Apple has some higher potential in the intermediate term in some other countries," Apple CEO Tim Cook has said in an earnings conference call with analysts.

He was responding to queries why Apple is not more successful in India and what was his outlook for the company's growth in the country.

Cook said this does not mean Apple is not putting emphasis in India.

"We have a business there and the business is growing but the multi-layered distribution there really adds to the cost of getting products to market," said Cook, who took over as the CEO of Apple Inc last year after its founder Steve Jobs withdrew himself from running the company on a day-to-day basis due to illness.

The Apple CEO said his company will continue to focus on India "but my own perspective is that in the intermediate term there will be larger opportunities outside of (India)".

Apple, the world's largest company by market value, is best-known for hardware products including the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad.

Mamata invites Pranab to visit Bengal

President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday got an invitation for a visit to West Bengal from Trinamool Congress chief and chief minister Mamata Banerjee.

This was revealed by her confidante and railway minister Mukul Roy in his interaction with reporters in the national capital soon after Mukherjee was sworn-in as the country's 13th president.
"Mamatadi has invited Pranab Mukherjee to visit West Bengal," Roy said.

When reminded that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar had already extended the first invitation to the new president, Roy said: "It is for the President to decide where to go first."

Pranab Mukherjee sworn in 13th President of INDIA

Pranab Mukherjee was on Wednesday sworn in as the country’s 13th President at an impressive ceremony in the packed and historic Central Hall of Parliament.   

Chief Justice of India S H Kapadia administered the oath of office to Mr Mukherjee in the presence of Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Union Ministers, Governors and a host of dignitaries.

Mr Mukherjee took the oath of office in the name of God in English to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law”.

Mr Mukherjee was then given a 21-gun salute after which he signed the oath register amid a thunderous applause and thumping of desks.

“I will strive to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution not just in words but in spirit,” Mr Mukherjee said.

Kareena Kapoor's Heroine poster released

Madhur Bhandarkar on Sunday released the first poster of the much-awaited film Heroine on Twitter showing actress Kareena Kapoor in a glam avatar.

The poster has Kareena dressed in a shimmery tank top and shorts lying down on a bed surrounded by magazines and photos of herself and an empty wine glass.

"Presenting the 1st poster of Heroine to all my well wishers. Hope you like it," Bhandarkar tweeted.

The film, charting the journey of a Bollywood actress, is set to hit theatres on September 14.

Petrol price hike done without consulting UPA allies: Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Monday slammed the latest hike of petrol price "without consulting allies" and demanded its immediate rollback till a long-term policy evolves after consulting all political parties.

"We have learnt from news reports that there has been a fresh hike in petrol prices. We do not support this. We are deeply unhappy. TC will protest it," Banerjee said.

Kulasekara ruled out of ODI series against India

Sri Lankan paceman Nuwan Kulasekara has been ruled out of the ongoing five-match ODI series against India after injuring his groin while attempting a catch during the series-opener on Saturday.

Sri Lankan skipper Mahela Jayawardene said they do not know the extent of his injury.

“Nuwan is out of the series. He has got a groin injury. We cannot get a scan here. Once we get back to Colombo, we will get a scan done and see the extent of the injury and how long he will have to be out,” Jayawardene said.

Jayawardene said the replacement will be discussed soon. “We will talk to the selectors. The A team guys probably would have arrived today in Sri Lanka. There was a selector on that tour, so we will get some advice from him, who was in good form, and try and come up with a replacement,” he said.

'Jism 3' on cards, to be in 3D

Pooja Bhatt's "Jism 2" is yet to hit the screens but the actress-turned-director has started working on the third film in "Jism" franchise, with plans to make it in 3D.

"I had my script ready a long time back. I want to get it out of my system. I will make 'Jism 3' in 3D. It will be interesting to make an erotic film in 3D," Pooja told IANS.

"In fact we had plans to make 'Jism 2' in 3D. But later we felt it would look very ahead of times," she added.

Though Pooja refuses to divulge any details on the cast of "Jism 3", she says it will be bigger and better.

"I don't want to talk about the cast now. We have increased our take with 'Jism 2'. So 'Jism 3' should be bigger and better. It will be a step ahead in every way," she said, adding it will go on floors next year.

Pranab Mukherjee is the new President

Pranab Mukherjee was on Sunday (July 22) elected as the 13th President, marking a new journey for the veteran Congress leader after over four decades of life in active politics. 

Mukherjee, UPA nominee, got 5,64,469 vote value, well beyond the half-way mark of 5,25,140 in an electoral college of over 10.5 lakh when counting of votes polled by the MPs and MLAs of 20 of the 30 states was completed. 

His rival P A Sangma, who was backed by BJP and some other opposition parties like AIADMK and BJD, could manage only 2,57,466 vote value, according to Rajya Sabha Secretary General V K Agnihotri, who is the Returning Officer for the poll. 

Mukherjee, 76-year-old Congress leader, brings to the top Constitutional post a wealth of experience as he has held key positions in the party and government, including holding the portfolios of Finance, Defence and External Affairs. 

He established a clear lead right from the beginning when counting of votes of MPs completed and maintained it across the states, except the BJP-ruled ones. He sprang a surprise in BJP-ruled Karnataka where he got the votes of 117 MLAs against BJP's 103 in the 224-member Assembly. 

Out of 748 MPs, who had voted, he secured 527 votes with a value of 3,73,116 against 206 for Sangma which has a value of 1,45,848. 

Fifteen votes including that of SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav were invalid. Of these, nine were to be in favour of 

Mukherjee while six for Sangma. 

Voting for the Presidential election took place on July 19. The electoral college for the poll comprises MPs and MLAs.

Woman gives birth to girl on Metro train

A 27-year-old woman gave birth to a baby girl on a Delhi Metro train Sunday morning. This was the first such incident on the Delhi Metro, an official said.

Juli Devi, 27, was later taken to hospital by Metro officials, who said both the mother and the baby were doing well.

The Faridabad woman gave birth at 7.28 a.m. as the train was approaching the Central Secretariat station. She was on her way to Safdarjung Hospital.

"Juli Devi, who boarded the train in Badarpur was travelling with her husband Sanjit Singh. She gave birth to a baby girl in the moving train.

1st ODI: India beat Sri Lanka by 21 runs

Chasing 315-run target, Sri Lankan innings ended up at the score of 293 after the end of stipulated 50 overs.

Paceman Umesh Yadav finally got rid of former skipper Kumar Sangakkara when he was cleaned up at the score of 133. Sangakkara slammed 12 boundaries during his fine knock.

Kumar Sangakkara held the one end for Sri Lanka as he scored his 14th ODI century in the process but could not finish off the proceedings in Lanka's favour. Sangakkara scored his century in 125 balls with the help of nine fours.

Irfan Pathan dismissed Thisara Perera, who played a fine cameo of 28-ball 44 that included three fours, towards the closing stages.

Zaheer Khan scalped Angelo Mathews to take his first wicket of the innings that increased Sri Lanka's worry of chasing down the huge target.

Earlier, Pragyan Ojha piled more misery on Sri Lankan chase as he scalped Mahela Jayawardene to reduce the island nation to 132/4 in 28.3 overs. Indian pacer Umesh Yadav struck to dismiss Dinesh Chandimal as Sri Lanka struggled against India.

Sangakkara slammed his 73rd ODI fifty to keep Sri Lanka in hunt. The former skipper hit five boundaries in his knock.

See Full Score Card: http://www.espncricinfo.com/sri-lanka-v-india-2012/engine/current/match/564781.html

Jennifer Lopez quits American Idol to focus on acting career

Jennifer Lopez quit American Idol to focus on her acting. The panelist on the television talent show announced last week that she will not return, but said that she had an "amazing run" on the series.

Now Jennifer has commented that her decision to leave the reality programme - which airs on Fox in the United States and ITV2 in the UK - was spurred by a renewed interest in film work.

She explained, "I do miss doing films. I feel like the last two years with ‘American Idol’, I've really, really focused on, you know, my music.

“It was all kind of very synergistic, it worked really well together."

LG launches Optimus 4X HD in India, priced Rs. 34,990

LG has officially launched its quad-core powered Android smartphone which was first revealed at MWC 2012 earlier this year in February. It is called the LG Optimus 4X HD and has been officially priced at Rs. 34,990 in the Indian market.

The Optimus 4X HD is device which will go up against the HTC One X and the Samsung Galaxy S III, both of which have been available in Indian since quite some time and have reached many pockets. The LG Optimus 4X HD though a late entrant may still grab some attention due to some of its nifty features and price.

The device is powered by a 1.5GHz NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, it sports a 4.7-inch True HD IPS display with 120,720 pixels resolution and a 313 pp1 density. The device also includes an 8 megapixel camera with 1080p video recording and it has a secondary front facing camera for video calling.

The Optimus 4X HD is equipped with a large 2,150 mAh battery which is rated to provide up to 11 hours of talktime. It has 16GB of built-in storage and the device runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich which is skinned with LG’s Optimus UI 3.0.

Finally, LG has included two services with the device which are known as Quick Memo which allows a user make quick notes directly on top of the current screen and the Media Plex which adds some interesting media player features to the device.

Facebook acquires Mac, iOS app developer Acrylic

Facebook is continuing with its acquisitions. The social media giant, which recently bought Spool, Instagram, has now bought, Mac and iOS app developer, Acrylic Software.

In blogpost (http://blog.acrylicapps.com/) today, Acrylic announced that they would joining the design team at Facebook. Acrylic has created projects like Wallet (an app to for securely storing passwords, credit-card numbers, etc) and Pulp, (a personalised newspaper).

You can read parts of Acrylic’s statement here:

Facebook is an invaluable service that we all use daily, and a company I believe is one of the most innovative and important around today. After visiting late last year, I discovered that we shared many of the same core product design goals and principles, and it soon became obvious that it was a natural fit. Simply put, there’s an opportunity at Facebook to have a big impact in many people’s lives. More importantly, Facebook is full of extremely talented people who will be able to help realize its full potential in the years to come.

Our products and services have not been acquired by Facebook, and while there are no plans for further development on them, Wallet and Pulp will continue to remain available for download and purchase in their current form. We’ll certainly be the first to let you know of any updates or changes here in the future.

A special thanks to all of our customers and supporters who have helped us grow and build the best products possible throughout the last four years. We wouldn’t have been able to do it without you.

Why the Rs 9,999 iPhone 3GS is not such a great buy

Aircel announced a price cut and the iPhone 3GS will now be available for 9,999, down by half from the original price of Rs 19,999. Aircel subscribers have to pay an additional Rs 3,000 and will get access to unlimited data usage. 2G/3G access will depend on the circle.

The offer sounds totally cool and is awesome since this is probably the first iPhone to cost so little in India. For all those who always wanted an iPhone this could be a great opportunity to get their hands on one.

However, before you get excited, here are three reasons why you shouldn’t buy the iPhone 3GS, no matter how dirt cheap it sounds.

India becomes Australia s largest source of permanent migrants

Indians have become the largest source of permanent migrants who chose to make Australia their home, comprising over 15 per cent of the intake under the country's migration programme this year.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen, who is also Citizenship minister, released new official data which showed Indians taking the top spot.

Indian migrants comprised a total of 29,018 places or 15.7 per cent of the total migration programme of 185,000 places under the 2011-12 permanent migration programme.

"For some time, India has been a source of increasing numbers of new migrants to our country and it is now our largest source of permanent migrants," Bowen said in an official statement.

"The Indian community has made a valuable contribution to economic, social and cultural life in Australia, and I know this will continue with more Indians choosing to make their home here," he said.

China and the United Kingdom were Australia's second and third largest sources of permanent migrants, with 25,509 and 25,274 places respectively.

Seven of the top 10 source countries in Australia's 2011-12 migration programme are from Asia: India, China, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, the Republic of Korea and Vietnam.

The family stream had a final outcome of 58,604 places, representing 31.7 per cent of the total migration programme.

"The family stream is an essential component of our migration programme, as it allows Australians to unite with their loved ones, particularly with their partners and children," Bowen said.

"I am pleased that the government will help even more families to reunite under this programme next year, as I increased family places from 58,600 to 60,185 in this year's Budget," he said.

Skilled migration accounted for over two-thirds of Australia's total migration programme, with a 2011-12 skill stream outcome of 125 755 places.

The 2011-12 Migration Program report can be found at: www.immi.gov.au/media/statistics/statistical-info/visa-grants/

Reliance Communications launches new 3G tablet for Rs 14,499

Reliance Communication has upgraded its tablets lineup with the New 3G Tablet. The 7-inch device with a 1024 x 600 resolution has a capacitive display with 5-point touch support and is priced at Rs 14,499.

The New 3G Tablet will run on Android v2.3 (Gingerbread) with the three touch keys for home, option and back at the bottom. It features an upgraded 1.4GHz processor which is paired with 512 MB RAM and a 3MP rear camera and a front camera.

The new Reliance tablet also supports Google Services and has Gmail, YouTube, Maps and Search apps on board. Other pre-loaded apps include popular news sites like ET, TOI & NDTV, entertainment services  like BigFlix, Reliance World Online, Reliance TV;  Facebook, Twitter and Orkut and Documents to Go.

Derek O'Brien becomes first Anglo-Indian to vote in Presidential poll

Trinamool Congress MP Derek O' Brien today perhaps became the first Anglo-Indian to vote in the Presidential poll as members of his community are mostly nominated to Parliament and Assemblies and have no right to participate in balloting for the top Constitutional post.

Lok Sabha, the House of 545 members, has two nominated members from Anglo-Indian community. Some state Assemblies also have provisions for nominated members from the community.

Nominated members of Rajya Sabha as well as Lok Sabha are not eligible to vote for electing the President, the electoral college for which comprises MPs, MLAs and MLCs.

Derek O'Brien could vote as he is not a nominated member and has been elected to the Rajya Sabha from West Bengal and cast his ballot in Kolkata along with other Trinamool MPs of the state as they have made a special request to do so instead of in Delhi.

Medeira named as India assistant coach

Savio Medeira has accepted an offer from the All India Football Federation (AIFF) to be assistant to newly-appointed Dutch coach Wim Koevermans. Medeira was assistant to Bob Houghton for three years and then was an under-study to Armando Colaco with the national team. 

He was then handed over the chief position for seven months as on October 29, 2011 as it was announced that he would be the Head Coach of the National Team.

Huawei to launch Ascend Y200, G300 this month

Huawei is reportedly going to launch two new Android-based smartphones in India later this month. There's no word on the exact pricing of the new devices - Huawei Ascend Y200 and Ascend G300, but it's being speculated they are going to be entry-level ones.

To refresh your memory, the Huawei Ascend Y200 runs on Android 2.3 operating system and is powered by an 800 Mhz Qualcomm MSM7225A Snapdragon Cortex-A5 processor. It features has also an Aderno 200 graphics processing unit with 256 MB RAM.

The Ascend Y200 sports a 3.5-inch touchscreen, 3.15 MP camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, micro USB port, upto 32 GB of expandable memory slot and a 1,250 mAh battery.

Rajesh Khanna passes away at the age of 69

Rajesh Khanna, the original superstar of the Hindi film industry, died at his home, Aashirvad, in Mumbai on Wednesday at the age of 69.

The yesteryear actor was ailing since quite a while and had just been discharged from Mumbai's Lilavati Hospital on Tuesday. He had been diagnosed with a kidney problem.

Reports said that Rajesh Khanna was not responding to medicines and had been put on IV and had been grasping for breath since morning.  He had been put on life support.

Mr Khanna's son-in-law, actor Akshay Kumar, addressed the press and asked fans to pray for the late star. 

Mr Khanna had been hospitalised on June 23, when he was taken to Lilavati Hospital to be treated for exhaustion, and spent some days having tests. He was discharged just yesterday.

He married Dimple Kapadia in March 1973, but the couple separated in 1984. He has two daughters – Twinkle (Akshay Kumar’s wife) and Rinkie – from that marriage.

Next Major IT Hub In India: Ahmedabad Or Mysore

The IT revolution changed the face of India over the last two decades and many cities have been cramping themselves to be called as the hub for IT. In that process, two cities are now being considered as the hottest destinations for the IT folks. They are Mysore in Karnataka and Ahmedabad in Gujarat.

Reports say that many companies are now moving towards Mysore. Bangalore has lost the entire sheen. And Hyderabad which was considered India’s number 1 got screwed up thanks to Telangana turmoil. On the other hand, a survey reveals Ahmedabad is very welcoming when compared to any other big city.

This is not just for IT but even other sectors. Usually IT companies go in groups and it is heard that if your approach is right then in three days time the entire procedure will be done and you can start work in your company. This system is not there anywhere in India. It is heard that Gujarat CM Narendra Modi has roped in a team of upright and honest bureaucrats and he is literally bringing US To India. Ahmedabad has no power cut and most importantly, procedures are fast and immediate. In the race are also cities like Pune and Nagpur. Amidst all this, it will be ages before Hyderabad can regain its position.

India-Pakistan to Resume Cricketing Ties After 5 Years

Sub-continental cricketing ties, suspended in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai attack, will resume after five years when Pakistan tours India in December-January for playing playing three One-dayers and two Twenty20 internationals.

The matches will be played in between England's November-January series in India when the tourists return home for 15 days for the Christmas break, according to an agreement between the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Briefing the media after the meeting, BCCI spokesman Rajiv Shukla said New Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai are the venues for the ODIs and Bangalore and Ahmedabad will host the T20 matches.

The series will be played when England go back home for the Christmas break after playing four Tests and two T20 matches in November-December and before they return for the five-match one-day series in January.

The two countries last played in 2007-8 when Pakistan toured India. India were to play in Pakistan in 2009 but the tour was cancelled in the wake of the Mumbai terror attack in 2008.

"It was decided to resume cricketing ties with Pakistan by inviting the Pakistan cricket team for a short series in December 2012-January 2013. The modalities will be worked out shortly," said BCCI secretary Sanjay Jagdale in a statement released after the Board's working committee meeting here Monday.

Reacting to the BCCI's announcement, PCB chief Zaka Ashraf told the Pakistani media that it was a welcome step.

"I am glad this has come through," Ashraf said.

"Negotiations were on for quite sometime and both the boards worked hard to make it happen. It is certainly a good news even from the business point of view."

Ashraf said the first step towards resuming the tie was inviting Pakistan T20 Champions Sialkot Stallions for the Champions League.

"Stallions were invited. That was the first step. Now this is a further development. It is good that two rivals are back playing together," said the PCB chief.

Hyderabad Metro Rail finalises station design

Hyderabad Metro Rail station design and related features have been finalised with heavy security built into the system.

L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Ltd and the Hyderabad Metro Rail authorities have approved the design for 66 stations except three joint stations. All the stations will be cantilever stations resting on pillars in the middle with no side pillars.

“This cantilever elevated station design is for the first time in India and a rare engineering feat by L&T structural engineers,’’ Mr N.V.S. Reddy, Managing Director of Hyderabad Metro Rail, said.

Each metro station will have a length of 140 metres and a width of 20 metres. All the stations have been designed to accommodate six coach trains.

With the entire station resting on only about 10 heavily reinforced central pillars without any pillars on the sides, the road below will be open, spacious and airy.

Foolproof security features will be incorporated in the station design with the approval of various security wings of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

The main security features include access controlled passenger entry with baggage checking arrangements, CCTV cameras and other surveillance equipment, resembling airport security arrangements.

The stations will also be provided with fire protection and fire detection systems.

Sunita Williams takes off for second space mission

Indian-American Sunita Williams, a record-setting astronaut who lived and worked aboard the International Space Station for six months in 2006, today took off on her second space mission in a Russian spacecraft from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

46-year-old Williams along with two flight engineers — Japan’s Akihiko Hoshide and Yury Malenchenko of Russia — departed on a two-day voyage to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft at around O8:10 IST, Russian news agency Ria Novosti reported.

It is impossible to replace Rahul Dravid: Sachin Tendulkar

Rahul Dravid was the man who believed in contributing to the Indian team, than achieving big feat for himself. Despite that, his record chart is the envy of many. 

Recently, his teammate Sachin Tendulkar, had said that it would be difficult to find a replacement for the batting legend. Dravid had been the anchor of Indian batting line-up at number three spot. Bowlers from all round the world found it extremely difficult to penetrate the solid defence wall. 

"Rahul has been an incredible player for India and for world cricket. Nobody is going to be able to replace Rahul in that position," Tendulkar said in a TV interview on Friday. 

Bug in Symantec anti-virus update corrupts some PCs

A bug in an update of Symantec's anti-virus software caused some Windows PCs to crash late this week, making machines inoperable until they were serviced in an embarrassing episode that angered some customers. 

The company disclosed the problem on its website, saying that an update to its widely used Symantec Endpoint Protection 12.1 and Norton anti-virus software for businesses caused some PCs running Microsoft Windows XP software to crash repeatedly, showing what is known as the "blue screen of death." 

The embarrassment comes at a challenging time for Symantec, whose shares have lost about a quarter of their value since it warned of a pending profit decline three months ago. 

"Enterprise security has continued to be an uphill battle for Symantec," said Daniel Ives, an analyst with FBR Capital Markets. "There is increasing competition. The company historically has not been consistent around executing." 

The company knows so far of about 300 corporate customers that have been affected, and about 60 consumer customers. 

Customers reported it took Symantec hours to identify and fix the bug and that they needed to fix computers broken by the tainted update on their own. 

Symantec blamed the glitch on software compatibility issues that arose after an update was released late on Wednesday. PCs could be fixed if customers manually removed the software from each disabled computer, it said in an advisory. 

"Phoning Symantec support this morning was the start of the hell we went through," one customer said in a support forum on Symantec's website. 

"The support is a joke, the quality control is a joke, and the software is not much better." 

Lenovo launches world’s smallest desktop

Electronics major Lenovo on Friday said it has launched the world's smallest enterprise computers , continuing its efforts to strengthen the product portfolio for this segment.

The products ThinkCentre M72e and ThinkCentre M92p Tiny desktop PCs are priced at Rs 23,500 and above (excluding taxes and without operating system).

Being the industry's first enterprise 1L PCs, the M72e and M92p offer superior performance and high reliability, the Chinese company said in a statement.

Trends in the enterprise PC industry suggest that an increasing number of organisations now prefer PCs that occupy less space and consume less energy yet perform at optimal levels, it added.

The first Indian on Playboy cover: Sherlyn Chopra

She is the first Indian girl to feature on the cover page of adult magazine Playboy. During a recent interview she said that she is proud to be the first Indian to grace the cover of Playboy. Last year on her birthday, she posted her nude pictures on Twitter as a return gift for her fans.

In India, she grabbed eyeballs with her racy photoshoots. She also participated in the third season the celebrity reality show 'Bigg Boss'.

Sri Lanka Wins 1st Test Series since 2009

Sri Lanka won its first test series in three years after the final test against Pakistan ended in a draw on Thursday, giving the hosts a 1-0 victory across the three matches.

Looking for a series-levelling victory, Pakistan set Sri Lanka a target of 270 runs in 71 overs on the last day. The hosts finished on 195-4, with Kumar Sangakkara unbeaten on 74 to finish the series with 490 runs.

Sri Lanka won the first test by 209 runs at Galle, while the second test at Colombo ended in a draw.

Dara Singh passes away

Wrestler-turned-actor Dara Singh, who was battling for life since the last five days, passed away early this morning.

84-year-old Singh was taken home from hospital by family members last night so that he could be with them in the last moments of his life.

"He passed away at 7.30 AM peacefully," Dr Ram Narain, COO, Kokilaben Hospital"

 He was admitted to ICU at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital on Saturday, after he suffered a cardiac arrest. On Wednesday night, Singh was shifted back home after the doctors told his family that he had very “less chance of recovery due to significant damage to his brain”.

 Ventilator and other support systems were removed only after his death. Our condolences to the Singh family. 

Karnataka Governor Appoints Jagadish Shettar as CM

Karnataka Governor HR Bhardwaj on Wednesday appointed Jagadish Shettar as Chief Minister and invited him to form the government.

Bhardwaj accepted the resignation of DV Sadananda Gowda as Chief Minister, a Raj Bhavan communique said.

"In exercise of the powers conferred under Article 164 (1) of the Constitution of India, the Governor has accepted the resignation of the Council of Ministers of Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda with immediate effect and appointed Shettar as Chief Minister and invited him to form the government," the communique said.

Gowda shall continue to function as Chief Minister along with his Council of Ministers till alternative arrangements are made, the communique said.