Britney beats obama as most searched celebrity

Pop diva Britney Spears has beaten US President Barack Obama as the most searched for celebrity on the Internet in the last decade. The singer shot of the fame in 1998 with her debut track Baby One More Time,
and during her time in the limelight she has been married twice,given birth to two children and suffered a public meltdown, which saw her hospitalized on an involuntary psychiatric hold in 2008 and her drama filled life has resulted in her being named the most popular celebrity on the web, according to search engine ASK, reports contactmusic.com
US leader Barack Obama, who was elected president last year,came in second, while soccer ace David Beckham was the third most searched star.
Late British royal diana,Princess of wales and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair rounded out the top five

Sachin Tendulkar's 20 year in cricket

Sachin Tendulkar has expressed his disappointment at India not playing enough Tests in the near future. Besides the three Tests in the upcoming home series against Sri Lanka, which begins in Ahmedabad on November 16, India play only two more Tests, in Bangladesh in January, in the 2009-10 season. There are no further Test series planned at least till the end of the 2010.


"We should play more Test cricket for sure. It is obviously not great news that we are only playing five Tests this season," Tendulkar said at a media event on Friday to commemorate his completing 20 years in international cricket.

Test cricket, he said, was the true testing ground for any youngster and the best way to fast track his development. "Ideally for any team to progress you need to play more Test cricket as that is where the real cricket is according to me. Test cricket is cricket of the highest level and since it is played across five days at the end of each day it allows you to regroup, re-think, come up with fresh ideas and plan for the next day. Sometimes in Twenty20 and ODIs even before you realise the match is over."

As a 16-year-old Tendulkar cut his teeth in the 1989 Test series against Pakistan and immediately understood it was not going to be easy. In the final Test of that series, Waqar Younis drew blood after striking Tendulkar on the nose. Ajit Tendulkar, his elder brother, the man whom Sachin counts as his biggest influence as a player, was sitting in the stands. Ajit might have winced but his brother didn't: "When I was hit by Waqar that got me more competitive and I decided not to move from the middle and I would continue to fight," Tendulkar animatedly recounted the incident to a 75-odd media contingent.


Though the event was by invitation only for a select group of journalists, a lot of media personnel - aware of the unique opportunity it presented - gatecrashed the event. Tendulkar remained unruffled and for the next five hours remained seated in the middle of the room, answering hundreds of questions, even if most were repeated. Displaying the same proficiency he has shown against various forms of bowling, Tendulkar moved seamlessly from English to Hindi to Marathi in his responses, paying detailed attention to the questioner's every word.

While his zeal for the game continues to amaze, he is not at all surprised by it. He says it is because he is passionate about what he does and is confident and clear about what he wants to do.

It's not his fans alone who wonder how Tendulkar has been strong in various situations and stayed competitive over the last two decades; MS Dhoni, the India captain, recently said he did not rule out Tendulkar being in contention to play the 2015 World Cup.

Tendulkar, though, said he wanted to live in the moment and plan for the near future instead of dwelling on what could happen five years down the line.

"It would be nice if I can go on that that long (till 2015) but I don't want to think that far and concentrate on the next phase," he said. "My focus is on the near future. I've enjoyed every bit so far and I feel there is cricket left in me and everything is going really well."

About the 3G

With the foray of 3G or third generation in India, Mobile users will be able to watch TV, read mobile magazines, watch video clips, make video calls, browse and download at much higher speeds, all these would be in addition to the already existing services available on mobile devices.


Despite the delay in the introduction of 3G and the controversy surrounding the spectrum-allocation, mobile companies and millions of subscribers are looking forward to the proposed 3G auction, which is expected to be held on Jan 14, 2010. This time the auction will include some international participants wishing to make an entry into the lucrative Indian market.

Inline with the launch, not just Telecos but also Tech giants like HP, Google, Oracle have showed considerable interest in the run-up. HP has launched 4 new products and will sync with telecom providers for 3G services. Google is mulling participation in the auction through an Indian partner, in order to bid for the 3G bandwidth. While companies like Oracle are looking to become technology providers to various operators.

So how does this exercise that involves such high-stakes (expected revenue around Rs 25,000) going to be held? Well, the DoT, or Department of Telecommunications, intends to carry out this exercise in 4 steps - bid invitation, pre-qualification, auction process and final grant of spectrum.

At present the government has earmarked 200 Mhz of band frequencies between 900-1000 Mhz and 1800-1900 Mhz for 2G. For the additional 3G spectrum the government will allocate some of the space presently controlled by the India's defense forces. The additional spectrum of 30MHz to be sold in the auction will lie between 2100-2200 Mhz.

Once the winners are decided, they will have to abide by the regulations, which include -

- Spectrum-allocation winners would be required to pay 0.5% for the first 3 years and 1% thereafter.

- During the first 5 years, winners will not be allowed to trade or sell or even merge with another company

India having already witnessed a monumental growth in the Mobile market and with predictions of huge rise in the broadband penetration, you can expect 3G to not just tap the existing user base but also to make inroads into the 100 million first-time users over the next few years. Until the auction, hold your breadth as 3G gets to unleash its prowess

Rihanna says domestic violence could happen to anyone

Pop singer Rihanna is due to speak for the first time about the night she was beaten by her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, saying in a TV interview that this could happen to anyone.
R&B singer Brown, 20, was sentenced to five years probation and community service in August for attacking Rihanna, 21, on the eve of the Grammy Awards in February. He has since apologized for the assault but has remained largely out of the media spotlight.
In an interview with Diana Sawyer due to be aired on ABC's programme "Good Morning America" on Thursday and Friday this week, the Barbadian singer says Brown was "definitely my first big love."
"This happened to me ... it can happen to anyone," she told Sawyer according to a statement from ABC.
Brown and Rihanna were among the fastest rising R&B artists in the United States before the assault which led to Brown losing several commercial sponsorships and triggered a national debate on violent relationships.
Rihanna released a new single, "Russian Roulette", in October and her fourth studio album "Rated R" is due to be released by label Def Jam Records later this month.

Microsoft Launches Windows 7

Windows 7 is the most-hyped operating system from Microsoft that promises a streamlined interface, support for touch screens, and security features to consumers.

Microsoft Corporation has announced the global launch of its new operating system 'Windows 7'. The company claims that Windows 7 is designed to be more reliable and responsive, delivering a simplified PC experience for consumers. Windows 7 promises a streamlined interface, support for touch screens, and security features for its users. 
Windows 7 is "an easy to connect, easy to browse and simple to use operating system, requiring less waiting, less clicks, less hassle connecting to devices, less power consumption and less complexity for the consumers."

The new OS features Aero Shake, Peek, Snap, Jump Lists and a redesigned Windows Taskbar and is designed to become the control centre for all the media and make it easy to do more with photos, music, movies and videos, according to the company's claim. New features like HomeGroup, Play To, Windows Live Movie Maker and Remote Media Streaming in Windows 7 will help consumers discover new ways to have fun and get new things done with the PC.

Announcing the Windows 7 launch in India, Ravi Venkatesan, chairman, Microsoft India, said, "Proactive engagement and feedback thereof with partners and consumers was fundamental to the development of Windows 7. It has helped deliver what is the highest quality OS in the history of Windows. It enhances the user experience by its sheer simplicity and caters to their connected lives across work and play. We are delighted by the initial reviews from partners and the technology community. Over 90 per cent of testers from around the world have rated it as 'good' or 'extremely good' and consider Windows 7 to be responsive, simple to use and stable."

More than 1000 enterprises are currently deploying Windows 7. These include Infosys, Maruti, Bangalore International Airport, L&T ECC, Wipro, Big Cinemas, Manipal University, Biocon, Malayala Manorama, Greenply Industries, MindTree, GMR Infrastructure Limited and NIIT, among others.

Windows 7 is available in six editions, targeted at specific user groups. The two primary editions are: Windows 7 Home Premium for home consumers and Windows 7 Professional for small and medium sized businesses. Also available in the line-up are Windows 7 Starter, Windows 7 Home Basic (in emerging markets only), Windows 7 Enterprise and Windows 7 Ultimate. The FPP pricing for Windows 7 has reduced in the range of 25-35 per cent over Windows Vista, for most SKUs, said the company.

Windows 7 is available at more than 45,000 retailers around the world and in India, all 16 OEMs will bring in more than 100 different Windows 7 PCs within 30 days from today. Globally, more than 17,000 software and hardware companies are building solutions on Windows 7 and over 50,000 developers are enrolled in the Windows Ecosystem Readiness Program. 

Cricket must be an Olympic sport

Cricket must be an Olympic sport - Gilchrist

Adam Gilchrist has called for a dramatic reduction in the number of Tests in a move he believes will preserve the five-day format in the face of the Twenty20 challenge. While delivering the Cowdrey Lecture at Lord's on Wednesday, Gilchrist said Tests were the "most impractical vehicle to use" when trying to promote the game globally and he continued his push for the expansion of Twenty20, along with a call to include cricket in the Olympics

"To preserve [Test cricket's] future, which we must - less is in fact more - we should go back to the future where there were fewer Test matches, but a lot more important ones," Gilchrist said. "And where the best cricketers of the day played closer to 50 Tests in their career, not 150."

Despite wanting a cull of the five-day itinerary, Gilchrist said Tests should be tampered with "as little as possible". "Its rules, customs and playing conditions - like Major League Baseball - should remain as close to how it has been played for the past 130 years," he said. "Many of cricket's innovations should be applied only in the shorter forms of the game. This not only includes the expanded umpire referral system, but especially the mooted introduction of night Test cricket and a different coloured ball needed to accommodate this."

Gilchrist, who captained Deccan Chargers to the IPL trophy in May, does not believe Twenty20, which he wants in the Olympics, answers all of cricket's problems. "Whilst I now appreciate and enjoy playing and watching T20 cricket - especially after captaining the Deccan Chargers to the 2009 IPL title - I am at heart a traditionalist, who firmly believes that Test cricket is the ultimate test of a player's and team's ability," he said. "This is not to say that T20 isn't a skilful game. It certainly is.

"For all their similarities, T20 still requires many different skill sets from the longer forms of the game. The fact that some very well credentialed Test cricketers have struggled to adapt to the game, whilst others who will probably never come close to playing Test cricket have thrived in T20- is surely proof enough."


Gilchrist spent considerable time in laying out his reasons for cricket's inclusion in the Olympics. "The single best way to spread the game globally," said Gilchrist, "is for the ICC to actively seek its inclusion as an Olympic sport.

"Without doubt, the Olympic movement provides one of the most efficient and cost effective distribution networks for individual sports to spread their wings globally. It would be difficult to see a better, quicker or cheaper way of spreading the game throughout the world.

"The Olympic movement's only remaining dead pocket in the world happens to coincide with cricket's strongest - the subcontinent," said Gilchrist. "This region, which includes India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, represents just over one fifth of the world's population. But with the exception of their great hockey teams of the past, these cricket powerhouses have received barely a handful of Olympic medals in nearly 100 years of competition.

"What better way for the IOC to spread the Olympic brand and ideals into this region, than on the back of T20 cricket? The rewards for both the ICC and IOC getting this right would be enormous."

Blind People Can Read SMS: Courtesy Nokia

Nokia's new Braille Reader application allows blind and visually impaired people to read a discreet SMS using phone vibration. 

Nokia has introduced an interesting piece of software, called Nokia Braille Reader. The new application allows blind people to read a discreet SMS using phone vibration. The Nokia Braille Reader application gives SMS for the blind and visually impaired and captures received SMS messages and brings them to the foreground for reading using Braille and tactile feedback. Developed at Nokia Beta Labs, the application has been developed in a joint project between Nokia, Tampere University and the Finnish Federation of the Visually Impaired.


The Nokia Braille Reader application is an application developed specially for blind people using Nokia mobile phones. The application uses Braille and also a tactile feedback to enable blind people to read SMS messages. Each text message is fed into the application and the characters are converted into braille. Then each character is read out to the user using the vibrating facility of the phone. As braille is a series of raised dots each character can be communicated by changing the vibration to depict raised or not with a whole sequence allowing the user to figure out which character it is, explains Geek.com.

The Nokia Braille Reader application is absolutely free to download and use and is compatible with Nokia devices based on S60 5th Edition, including Nokia N97, 5800 XpressMusic and the newly released N97 mini, 5530, 5230 and X6.

Download the Nokia Braille Reader - http://betalabs.nokia.com/apps/nokia-braille-reader. 

Mobile Users Can Switch Operators From 31 Dec: TRAI

The Mobile Number Portability, which allows subscribers to retain their mobile telephone number while discarding one service provider for another, shall be implemented from 31 December 2009 in metros and category 'A' service areas and by 20 March 2010 in rest of the country.

 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has announced that Mobile Number Portability (MNP), which allows subscribers to retain their mobile telephone number while discarding one service provider for another, shall be implemented from 31 December 2009 in metros and category 'A' service areas and by 20 March 2010 in rest of the country. MNP facility shall be available only within a given licenced service area.

According to the TRAI notification, a subscriber holding a mobile number is eligible to make a porting request only after 90 days of the date of activation of his mobile connection. If a number is already ported once, the number can again be ported only after 90 days from the date of the previous porting. The subscriber who wishes to port his mobile number should approach the Recipient operator (the operator to whom the subscriber wants to port his number). The subscriber may be required to pay porting charges, if any, to the Recipient Operator.

The subscriber making the porting request is required to have cleared all the bills issued prior to the date of porting request. He shall give an undertaking that he has already paid all billed dues to the 'Donor Operator' as on the date of the request for porting and that he shall pay dues to the Donor Operator pertaining to the mobile number till its eventual porting and that he understands and agrees that in event of non-payment of any such dues to the Donor Operator, the ported mobile number shall be liable to be disconnected by the Recipient Operator.

A subscriber may withdraw his porting request within 24 hours of its submission to the Recipient Operator. However, the porting charges shall not be refundable.

The regulation envisage a maximum time period of four days for the completion of porting process in all licenced service areas except in the case of J&K, Assam and North East licenced service areas where the maximum time allowed is 12 days. However, efforts will be made to further reduce the porting period. Access providers are required to implement 'All Call Query' method. The originating operator shall be responsible to route the call to correct terminating network.

Chandrayaan-1 Not A Failure, Finds Water On Moon!

India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 has reportedly found evidence of large quantities of water on the lunar surface, before the project was terminated by ISRO.

 India's first lunar mission Chandrayaan-1 was not a failure indeed. Despite of premature end, Chandrayaan-1 has reportedly found water on the lunar surface -- one of the main mission of the spacecraft. According to The Times newspaper, India's first lunar mission has found evidence of large quantities of water on its surface, before the project was called off.


"It's very satisfying," the newspaper quoted Mylswamy Annadurai, the mission's project director at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru, as saying.

This discovery is credited to the Moon Mineralogy Mapper (developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). NASA's Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3), an imaging spectrometer, was one of the 11 instruments on board Chandrayaan-I. M3 was aimed at providing the first mineral map of the entire lunar surface.

Both ISRO and NASA, as of now, have refused to reveal anything on this. A spokesman for Brown University had also declined to comment, saying there was an embargo. "It will be a major announcement of a major discovery and is something great for Chandrayaan. It will mark a major leap for India's space programme," he told The Times Of India.

Lunar scientists have for decades contended with the possibility of water repositories. They are now increasingly confident that the decades-long debate is over, says a recent report published by Nature News. "The moon, in fact, has water in all sorts of places; not just locked up in minerals, but scattered throughout the broken-up surface, and, potentially, in blocks or sheets of ice at depth." The results from the NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter are also "offering a wide array of watery signals."

The breakthrough is expected to be announced by NASA on 24 September 2009. According to NASA website, "NASA will hold a media briefing at 14:00 p.m EDT on Thursday, September 24, to discuss new science data from the moon collected during national and international space missions."

Chandrayaan-1 was India's first unmanned lunar probe which was launched by ISRO on 22 October 2008. After suffering from several technical issues including failure of the star sensors and poor thermal shielding, Chandrayaan stopped sending radio signals on 29 August 2009 shortly after which, the ISRO officially declared the mission over. Chandrayaan operated for 312 days as opposed to the intended two years but the mission achieved 95 per cent of its planned objectives.

Have a heart: 20-40 age group is at high risk

When it comes to heart diseases, the thirties, it seems, are the new fifties. If the typical heart patient until five years back was in his five years back was in his mid-fifties, doctors say this no longer holds true. Now, the man with blockages in his heart is most probably in the 30-39 age group and with another health complication such as diabetes or hypertension.

The Saffolalife Study 2009, covering 8,469 people, found that 49.1% Indians were at high risk for developing heart diseases. On the eve of World Heart Day, the multi-city survey found that this bunch’s vital heart statistic — the ratio of total cholesterol and good cholesterol (called HDL) — is too high at 4.5 to be termed healthy. The American Heart Association holds the ideal ratio between total cholesterol and HDL is 3.3. The survey also found most men in the 30-39 age group fell in the high risk category.
Men from Mumbai and Chennai were worst off (with a high risk ratio of 49.6% and 53.8% respectively) as compared to men in Kolkata and Delhi (32% and 29.7% respectively). The survey attributed the difference in the risk rates for Mumbai’s men to longer commuting time, long working hours, unhealthy eating habits, lack of physical activity and erratic eating schedules. Others had better lifestyle habits.
According to Dr Shashank Joshi, endocrinologist with Lilavati Hospital in Bandra, who was associated with the survey, “The survey only underlines what we are seeing now — abnormal cholesteral and trigylcerides in the younger age group. In fact, the 20-40 age group is the new vulnerable group as far as heart disease goes.’’ He blames the high levels of stress and disrupted sleep patterns for the development.
Dr N O Bansal, who heads the cardiology department of J J Hospital in Byculla, says, “There is no more denying the fact that as compared to a Caucasian youngster, the Indian youngster is more prone to heart diseases.’’ It is a combination of genetic and lifestyle factors, he says. Stating that the “younger phase’’ of heart diseases was apparent about five years back, he says his department — a referral center for the entire state — gets men under 30 as well.
Cardiologist Dr Manjeet Juneja, who consults at Wockhardt Hospital, Mulund, says heart diseases are happening 15 years too early for most people because of “preventable causes’’. He recalls a 23-year-old brought to the hospital from Nashik. “The boy was tense about admission to an MBA course and smoked a cigarette 30 minutes before collapsing,’’ says Dr Juneja. He was managed with medicines alone.

Stone Cold Steve Austin

          Stone Cold Steve Austin (3:16)

Steve Austin (born Steven Anderson on December 18, 1964, later Steven Williams),better known by his ring name "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, is an American film and television actor and retired professional wrestler. Austin wrestled for several well-known wrestling promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and most famously, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which later became World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in 2002. In the late 1990s, Austin gained significant mainstream popularity in the WWF as "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, a disrespectful, beer-drinking antihero who routinely defied his boss, Vince McMahon. This defiance was often shown by Austin flipping McMahon off and incapacitating him with the Stone Cold Stunner, his finishing move.

Austin had his first starring film role as Jack Conrad in the 2007 thriller The Condemned. He will next star as "Dan Paine" in "The Expendables" for director/star Sylvester Stallone. Austin recently wrapped production on "Damage," a hard-edged, bare-knuckles fight film that focuses on the tough choices people make in times of recession. The film is the first in a multi-picture deal between Austin, Nasser Entertainment, and Caliber Media. Austin also recently signed a television development deal with Original Media and Caliber Media.
Austin has won the WWF Championship six times, the 1996 King of the Ring, and the 1997, 1998 and 2001 Royal Rumbles, and is the only man in WWE history to win the Royal Rumble three times. He is widely regarded as the biggest star in the history of professional wrestling, and has been described as such by prominent industry figures such as Vince McMahon, Paul Heyman and Ric Flair.

ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Match Schedule

ICC Champions Trophy 2009 Match Schedule

Group A                    Group B


1 Australia                 2 South Africa

4 India                       3 New Zealand

5 Pakistan                  6 Sri Lanka

8 West Indies             7 England


Day Date The Wanderers Centurion

1 Tue 22 Sept SA v SL D/N

2 Wed 23 Sep Pakistan v WI D/N

3 Thu 24 Sept SA v NZ D

4 Fri 25 Sept SL v England D/N

5 Sat 26 Sept WI v Australia D India v Pakistan D/N

6 Sun 27 Sept NZ v SL D SA v England D/N

7 Mon 28 Sept Australia v India D/N

8 Tue 29 Sept England v NZ D/N

9 Wed 30 Sept India v WI D/N Australia v Pakistan D

10 Thu 1 Oct

11 Fri 2 Oct A1 V B2 D/N

12 Sat 3 Oct B1 v A2 D/N

13 Sun 4 Oct

14 Mon 5 Oct Final D/N



Day games start at 0930

Day/Night games start at 1430

'Facebook makes you sharper but Twitter makes you thicker'

Twitter and texting affect memory capacity

Sudoku, games and Facebook 'better for memory'
 
FACEBOOK makes you sharper but Twitter makes you thicker, a psychologist has said.

The social networking site boosts a part of intelligence that is vital to success in life, while tweeting away may have the opposite effect.
Keeping up to date with Facebook may have the same effect as playing video war games and solving Sudoku, said Dr Tracy Alloway of Scotland's University of Stirling.
It hones the ability to remember information and to use it, known as "working memory".
At a job interview, a candidate will use working memory to match answers to questions in the best way.
Dr Alloway has studied working memory and believes it to be far more important to success and happiness than IQ.
Video games that involved planning and strategy, such as those from the Total War series, might also train working memory, Dr Alloway told the UK's Daily Telegraph.
"I'm not saying they're good for your socialisation skills, but they do make you use your working memory," she said.
"You're keeping track of past actions and mapping the actions you're going to take."

Sudoku also stretched the working memory, as did keeping up with friends on Facebook, she said.
But text messaging, micro-blogging on Twitter and watching YouTube were likely to weaken "working memory".
"On Twitter you receive an endless stream of information, but it's also very succinct," Dr Alloway said.
"You don't have to process that information. Your attention span is being reduced and you're not engaging your brain and improving nerve connections."
She said there was evidence linking TV viewing with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, while extensive texting was associated with lower IQ scores.

Emma Watson (Harry Potter star) flies into university

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  Harry Potter star in chopper landing
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  Watson in literature and geology classes

DESPITE the Harry Potter actress's pleas to remain "anonymous" as she starts her first term at the prestigious Brown University in Rhode Island, she made a less than low-key entrance.

One student on campus said: "We couldn't believe the Harry Potter girl got a chopper in. I mean, my parents just drove me over from New York state - but I guess she's had to come a long way, anyway. 

"I've not spoken to her yet, but word around campus is she's pretty normal and OK, I haven't seen any of her films, so I don't know too much about her."
Despite her grand entrance, 19-year-old Emma looked much more relaxed over the weekend as she hung out with her fellow freshmen on the campus lawns, dressed in a simple white T-shirt and denim hot pants.
Emma - who has also previously modelled for Vogue magazine and Chanel - has enrolled in an English literature course at the university and attended her "orientation day" on Friday. She is also believed to be taking a geology class for her first semester.Emma has previously said she wants her university experience to be as "normal" as possible, despite starring in some of the biggest grossing films of all time.

She said: "I probably sound like a paranoid nut, but I'm doing this because I want to be normal. I really want anonymity.
"I want to be normal, I want to do college properly, like everyone else. As long as I don't walk in and see, like, Harry Potter posters everywhere, I'll be fine."

Laing(recipes)

Laing

Ingredients


40 taro root leaves (dahon ng gabi), chopped

1/2 lb. pork, chopped

1/2 lb. shrimp, chopped

1 t. ginger, finely chopped

Siling labuyo(whole chili pepper) to taste

2 T bagoong to taste

3 cups coconut milk

1/2 cup water

Preparation

Place taro root leaves on the bottom of cooking pot. Put pork, shrimp, ginger, coconut milk and water on top and let boil until pork is tender.

Add bagoong and siling labuyo. Stir well.

Crush siling labuyo, if desired spicier dish. Let cook for another 5 minutes.

Dhoni is world’s top earning cricketer

BOTH LOOKING FOR FEW MORE SPONSERS

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the richest international cricketer with an annual earning of $10 million, according to Forbes.

The Forbes said that Dhoni earns $8 million in endorsements, from the brands like Reebok, General Electric and Pepsi, and the rest from his cricket salary and fees. Among all Indian athletes and entertainers, Dhoni’s total of 17 corporate sponsors is second only to Bollywood star and co-owner of the Knight Riders, Shah Rukh Khan.

Batting maestro Sachin Tendulkar is in the second place in the list of The World’s Top-Earning Cricketers. Tendulkar, known to fans as Little Master, is considered among the greatest batsman in cricket history.

Now in the twilight of his career, he’s one of five Indian Premier League (IPL) players who have been bestowed “icon” status, meaning he automatically receives a paycheck 15 percent larger than his highest paid teammate. Tendulkar’s $1.1 million salary from the Mumbai Indians helped push his total earnings to $8 million over the last 12 months.

The Kings XI Punjab’s captain and dashing left-handed batsman Yuvraj Singh is the third highest paid cricketer. He has earned just over $1 million from the team and another $4 million from endorsements, primarily from Reebok and Fiat.

Andhra CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy feared dead

Andhra CM YSR Reddy missing: Complete Coverage




The chopper took off at 8.45 am for Chittoor and was scheduled to arrive at 10.45 am. Earlier reports suggested that the chopper had landed in the middle of thick forest, said to be affected by the Maoist activities.

Air Traffic Control (ATC) sources said the chopper went off the radar due to heavy rains. The helicopter lost contact with Air Traffic Controller at the Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad and since then there has not been any contact with the Chief Minister.

There has been no contact with the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, whose helicopter has been missing since 9:30 am after he took off from Hyderabad Wednesday monring, Home Ministry sources said earlier. "There has been no contact established with the helicopter," sources in the ministry said. Helicopters involved in the search had been called back due to bad weather but foot search will continue. 600 CRPF jawans were deployed for the search operation.

Massive search operations were launched with seven Air Force helicopters and 5000 CRPF personnel pressed to find the Chief Minister and others aboard the chopper.

Search operations were aborted because of bad weather in the area, which in any case is a challenge due to dense forest. The area is said to be infested with Naxals and Tigers.

The air-search operations began at 6.00 to 6.30 on Thursday morning and there are reports of YSR's chopper being located. There is no news of survivors yet.

Gadget of the Year 08 - Touch screen Mobiles

Touchscreen Phone of the Year - iPhone 3G




It’s not really something to think about. When you’re discussing touchscreen mobiles the first name to pop into your head is the Apple iPhone. What it lacks in features, it more than makes up in functionality. The truly remarkable feature is its touch screen, from the smooth accelerometer to the multi-touch feature for pinching in and out of pages and images for zooming, to an intuitive ambient light sensor to save battery power, the iPhone is a technological marvel. The large 3.5 inch display sports a 320 x 480 pixel resolution and makes watching videos a real treat. The iPod like audio player is also one of its better features as well as the addition of internal GPS receiver and of course Wi-Fi capabilities that was prevalent in the first gen model too. It’s still has a few bugs that hopefully will be ironed out over time, but this is definitely still our choice for the years best touchscreen mobile handset.

Runner Up - Samsung F480




The F480 TouchWiz is equipped with a 2.8 inch TFT touch screen display sporting a 240 x 320 pixel resolution. The typical Samsung OS is accentuated by the total touchscreen UI so using a stylus would a rare occurrence. Not unlike the iPhone the F480 also makes use of what I like to call ‘flip’ technology for scrolling though the gallery or viewing one image at a time. You need but to swipe your hand across the screen to move from one image to the next. To add to its appeal it also has a 5 megapixel camera with features like anti-shake and face detection. Support for Stereo Bluetooth and microSD cards for external memory are also available.

Value - LG KP500




The KP500 Cookie is one of the cheapest if not the cheapest totally touchscreen handset available on the market. It employs a lot of functionality with good looks, just like the iPhone. With the choice of a decently designed on screen QWERTY keypad for typing or a normal mobile keypad and handwriting recognition tossed in, the Cookie is even more enticing. The 3 megapixel camera is loaded with is non-autofocus but that doesn’t really matter. This handset is designed for multimedia with plenty of editors for video and images. It also uses ‘flip’ technology for browsing through images or even for switching between the two unique desktops. You’ll again hardly ever require the use of the stylus, so this is our choice of the best value totally touchscreen handset. With price tag of just Rs 13,990 you can’t go wrong.

You’re probably wondering why isn’t the Xperia or the new Nokia 5800 or even the HTC touch HD included? The reason is because the 5800 and HD haven’t hit the shelves yet and we haven’t finished reviewing the Xperia hence we can’t really justify it as a years best. But stay tuned for more on the Gadget of the Year – Mobiles when we cover the best all round handset.

Fisichella puts Force India on pole

FORMULA ONE / Toyota's Trulli on P2 as Button (14th) and Hamilton (12th) struggle




SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS: Giancarlo Fisichella gave Force India an astonishing first pole position while Formula One championship leader Jenson Button qualified only 14th for the Belgian Grand Prix on Saturday.
While Force India has yet to score a point in 29 races, the 36-year-old from Rome has been first on the grid thrice before - he last started on pole with Renault in Malaysia in 2006.
Fisichella's teammate Adrian Sutil qualified 11th.
''It's amazing. It's fantastic. I'm so happy about that... I didn't expect that result,'' said the Italian, who side-stepped a suggestion that his car might be fuelled lighter than those behind him.
''This is one of my favourite circuits... But I didn't expect to be on pole. We made a big step forward from the last race,'' he added.
Toyota's Jarno Trulli made it an all-Italian front row, with German Nick Heidfeld third for struggling BMW-Sauber.
Brawn GP's Button failed to make it into the top 10 for the first time this season and will have a fight on his hands to come away with any points on Sunday while teammate and closest title rival Rubens Barrichello, who is 18 points adrift with six races remaining after winning the previous race in Valencia last weekend, qualified fourth.
Red Bull's Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, third and fourth in the standings respectively, filled the ninth and eighth places on the grid.
Ferrari's Badoer last
Italian Luca Badoer's days as stand-in for injured Ferrari driver Felipe Massa looked numbered when the 38-year-old spun into the gravel and qualified last for the second race in a row. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen starts sixth.
Fisichella has already made clear that he would love to take Badoer's place.
''It's a dream for a driver in Formula One to drive for Ferrari, especially for an Italian driver like me... but I'm just concentrating on Force India and the race tomorrow,'' he told a news conference. ''For sure, my result is something incredible. It's a great day, but I want to do the best and just concentrate on the race tomorrow.''
While Force India was the quickest of the Mercedes-powered teams, McLaren endured a nightmare afternoon at a circuit that has favoured it heavily in the past. World champion Lewis Hamilton qualified 12th with Finnish teammate Heikki Kovalainen 15th.
The qualifying results: 1. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) 1 min 46.308 secs, 2. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:46.395, 3. Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber) 1:46.500, 4. Rubens Barrichello (Brawn-Mercedes) 1:46.513, 5. Robert Kubica (BMW-Sauber) 1:46.586, 6. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1:46.633, 7. Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:46.677, 8. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:46.761, 9. Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:46.788, 10. Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) 1:47.362, 11. Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) 1:45.119, 12. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:45.122, 13. Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:45.136, 14. Jenson Button (Brawn-Mercedes) 1:45.251, 15. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren-Mercedes) 1:45.259, 16. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:45.951, 17. Jaime Alguersuari (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:46.032, 18. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams-Toyota) 1:46.307, 19. Romain Grosjean (Renault) 1:46.359, 20. Luca Badoer (Ferrari) 1:46.957.

Nokia May Enter Netbook Market

The world's top mobile phone maker, Nokia is "actively looking at the netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there."

Till now, the market has seen major personal computer makers turning their attention to the mobile phone business in their efforts to diversify their product offering and launch devices that fetch higher margins. Dell recently joined other PC makers including HP, Acer and Asustek Computer to come up with its own hi-end mobile devices. Now we're beginning to see the trend reverse as the world's largest cell phone maker, Nokia is "actively looking at the netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there."
"The PC and the mobile will continue to come closer and merge. A lot of opportunity can be seen in this converged area. We at Nokia are actively looking at this converged market ... We are looking at the netbook market to see what kind of opportunity is there," The Economic Times quoted Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo, global CEO, Nokia as saying.

Nokia chief also sees a lot of opportunity in the Indian market with the roll-out of the third-generation mobile services. "3G will open up a lot of opportunity," he said.

Contrary to the general perception that India is a market for only low-end phones, Kallasvuo said, "Our recently launched two high-end mobile phones -- N-97 and E-75 -- have been doing extremely well, and we are overwhelmed with the response."

Symptoms & Precautions of Swine Flu

Symptoms In children, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

· Fast breathing or trouble breathing
· Bluish or gray skin color
· Not drinking enough fluids
· Severe or persistent vomiting
· Not waking up or not interacting
· Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
· Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough


In adults, emergency warning signs that need urgent medical attention include:

· Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
· Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
· Sudden dizziness
· Confusion
· Severe or persistent vomiting
· Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough



Steps to Lessen the Spread of Flu in the Home

When providing care to a household member who is sick with influenza, the most important ways to protect yourself and others who are not sick are to:

· keep the sick person away from other people as much as possible (see “placement of the sick person”)
· remind the sick person to cover their coughs, and clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub often, especially after coughing and/or sneezing.
· have everyone in the household clean their hands often, using soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub

Placement of the sick person:

· Keep the sick person in a room separate from the common areas of the house. (For example, a spare bedroom with its own bathroom, if that’s possible.) Keep the sickroom door closed.
· Unless necessary for medical care, persons with the flu should not leave the home when they have a fever or during the time that they are most likely to spread their infection to others
· If persons with the flu need to leave the home (for example, for medical care), they should cover their nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing and wear a loose-fitting (surgical) mask if available.
· Have the sick person wear a surgical mask if they need to be in a common area of the house near other persons.
· If possible, sick persons should use a separate bathroom. This bathroom should be cleaned daily with household disinfectant

Protect other persons in the home:

· The sick person should not have visitors other than caregivers. A phone call is safer than a visit.
· If possible, have only one adult in the home take care of the sick person.
· Avoid having pregnant women care for the sick person. (Pregnant women are at increased risk of influenza-related complications and immunity can be suppressed during pregnancy).
· All persons in the household should clean their hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand rub frequently, including after every contact with the sick person or the person’s room or bathroom.
· Use paper towels for drying hands after hand washing or dedicate cloth towels to each person in the household. For example, have different colored towels for each person.
· If possible, consideration should be given to maintaining good ventilation in shared household areas (e.g., keeping windows open in restrooms, kitchen, bathroom, etc.).

If you are the caregiver:

· Avoid being face-to-face with the sick person. · When holding small children who are sick, place their chin on your shoulder so that they will not cough in your face. · Clean your hands with soap and water or use an alcohol-based hand rub after you touch the sick person or handle used tissues, or laundry. · Talk to your Doctor about taking antiviral medication to prevent the caregiver from getting the flu. · Monitor yourself and household members for flu symptoms and the local H1N1 Command Center if the symptoms occur.

Household Cleaning, Laundry, and Waste Disposal:

· Throw away tissues and other disposable items used by the sick person in the trash. Wash your hands after touching used tissues and similar waste. · Keep surfaces (especially bedside tables, surfaces in the bathroom, and toys for children) clean by wiping them down with a household disinfectant according to directions on the product label. · Linens, eating utensils, and dishes belonging to those who are sick do not need to be cleaned separately, but importantly these items should not be shared without washing thoroughly first. · Wash linens (such as bed sheets and towels) by using household laundry soap and tumble dry on a hot setting. Avoid “hugging” laundry prior to washing it to prevent contaminating yourself. Clean your hands with soap and water or alcohol-based hand rub right after handling dirty laundry. · Eating utensils should be washed either in a dishwasher or by hand with water and soap.

The history of ashes

"In affectionate remembrance of English cricket which died at The Oval, 29th August, 1882. Deeply lamented by a large circle of sorrowing friends and acquaintances, RIP. NB The body will be cremated and the Ashes taken to Australia."

Australia's first victory on English soil over the full strength of England, on August 29, 1882, inspired a young London journalist, Reginald Shirley Brooks, to write this mock "obituary''. It appeared in the Sporting Times.

Before England's defeat at The Oval, by seven runs, arrangements had already been made for the Hon. Ivo Bligh, afterwards Lord Darnley, to lead a team to Australia. Three weeks later they set out, now with the popular objective of recovering the Ashes. In the event, Australia won the first Test by nine wickets, but with England winning the next two it became generally accepted that they brought back the Ashes.

It was long believed that the real Ashes - a small urn thought to contain the ashes of a bail used in the third match - were presented to Bligh by a group of Melbourne women. In 1998, Lord Darnley's 82-year-old daughter-in-law said they were the remains of her mother-in-law's veil, not a bail. Other evidence suggests a ball. The certain origin of the Ashes, therefore, is the subject of some dispute.

After Lord Darnley's death in 1927, the urn was given to MCC by Lord Darnley's Australian-born widow, Florence. It can be seen in the cricket museum at Lord's, together with a red and gold velvet bag, made specially for it, and the scorecard of the 1882 match.

Best Websites of 2009

The hottest thing on the Internet is not social networking websites like Facebook and Twitter, but Flickr-the popular photo-sharing portal - and the proof is: it has topped TIME's list of the best 50 websites this year.

One of the noticeable trends in this year's list, which was released this week, was on-demand video services, like YouTube, Vimeo and US services Hulu and Netflix.

However, the top two in the list were related to photographs, with California Coastline following Flickr at the second spot.

Third in the list was bookmark website Delicious, while community weblog Metafilter stood at the fourth place.

Popurls, the mashup of the web's most visited social news sites and portals, grabbed the fifth spot in the list.

Twitter ranked sixth and Facebook came 31st in the list, while YouTube and Hulu came at 12th and 14th place in the list.

TIME's list of 50 Best Websites of 2009 is:

1. Flickr

2. California Coastline

3. Delicious

4. Metafilter

5. popurls

6. Twitter

7. Skype

8. Boing Boing

9. Academic Earth

10. OpenTable

11. Google

12. YouTube

13. Wolfram|Alpha

14. Hulu

15. Vimeo

16. Fora TV

17. Craiglook

18. Shop Goodwill

19. Amazon

20. Kayak

21. Netflix

22. Etsy

23. PropertyShark.com

24. Redfin

25. Wikipedia

26. Internet Archive

27. Kiva

28. ConsumerSearch

29. Metacritic

30. Pollster

31. Facebook

32. Pandora and Last.fm

33. Musicovery

34. Spotify

35. Supercook

36. Yelp

37. Visuwords

38. CouchSurfing

39. BabyNameWizard.com's NameVoyager

40. Mint

41. TripIt

42. Aardvark

43. drop.io

44. Issuu

45. Photosynth

46. OMGPOP

47. WorldWideTelescope

48. Fonolo

49. Get High Now

50. Know Your Meme

Edward Moore Kennedy (1932-2009)

Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy (February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009) was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. In office from November 1962 until his death, Kennedy served nine terms in the Senate. At the time of his death, he was the second most senior member of the Senate, and the third-longest-serving senator in U.S. history. Kennedy crossed party lines to reach legislative goals.Kennedy was respected and admired around the world He was best known as one of the most outspoken and effective Senate proponents of progressive causes and bills. For many years the most prominent living member of the Kennedy family, he was the youngest brother of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, both victims of assassinations, and the father of Congressman Patrick J. Kennedy.

Kennedy was a manager in his brother John's successful 1960 campaign for president. He then worked as an assistant district attorney for Suffolk County, Massachusetts. Kennedy entered the Senate in a 1962 special election to fill the seat once held by his brother John. He was seriously injured in an airplane crash in 1964 and suffered from lifelong back pain as a result. Kennedy was elected to his first six-year term in 1964 and was reelected seven more times.

The 1969 Chappaquiddick incident resulted in the death of passenger Mary Jo Kopechne and impaired his chances of becoming President of the United States; his involvement in the 1980 presidential election ended in a primary campaign loss to incumbent Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Kennedy was known for his oratorical power, his 1968 eulogy for his brother Robert and his 1980 Democratic National Convention rallying cry for American liberalism being among his best-known moments.

He became known as "The Lion of the Senate", through his long tenure and influence. More than 300 bills that Kennedy and his staff wrote were enacted into law. He was known for working with Republicans and finding compromises among Senators with disparate views. Kennedy played a major role in passing many important laws, including laws addressing immigration, cancer research, health insurance, apartheid, disability discrimination, AIDS care, civil rights, mental health benefits, children's health insurance, education and volunteering. In the 2000s, he led several unsuccessful immigration reform efforts. During decades in office, Kennedy's major legislative goal was enactment of universal health care, which he continued to work toward during the Obama administration.

In May 2008, Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor which limited his appearances in the Senate. He survived longer than doctors first predicted. He died on August 25, 2009, at his home in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts

Afghanistan clinch low-scoring thriller in ICC Intercontinental Cup 2009/10

Afghanistan 107 (Mangal 41*) and 209 for 9 (Ali 56, Shenwari 25*, Hassan 1*, Schiferli 5-57) beat Netherlands 181 (de Grooth 54, Hassan 4-45, Nabi 4-52) and 132 (Borren 63, Ashraf 4-24, Zadran 4-28) by one wicket
Scorecard

The rise of Afghanistan's cricketing fortunes continues unabated. Four months after they qualified for ODI status in South Africa, they have won their maiden first-class match as an international country by stunning Netherlands, a side far more experienced, with a remarkably tense one-wicket win at Amstelveen.

The rain-affected match was so dominated by the ball that it was some surprise the match lasted as long as it did, but not even Edgar Schiferli's five-wicket haul was enough to prevent a gripping, successful run-chase by Afghanistan.

Afghanistan are a country still at war, and are continually reliant on benevolence by charities and organisations such as MCC, who have helped provide equipment, training and pitches to schools in rural communities. They remain highly inexperienced, raw and rusty. But as their barnstorming performance in the World Cup Qualifiers earlier this year suggested, they are never to be underestimated.

The day commenced with Afghanistan requiring 168 runs to win, with eight wickets to spare, on a pitch that had troubled all the batsmen, but Ali and Nowroz Mangal set about the task well. They added 23 to the over-night total, before Mangal (19) was caught by Wesley Barresi having a go at a wide delivery from Mark Jonkman. The wicket brought Asghar Stanikzai to the crease, who began to build a further sturdy partnership with Ali, as Afghanistan began to take control.

The pair put on 49 for the fourth wicket, edging within a hundred of the target, before Schiferli - Man-of-the-Series in April's World Cup Qualifiers tournament - managed to find the edge of Ali's bat caught behind for a well earned 56.

Stanikzai soon followed - late onto a delivery from Seelaar which kept low and shot on to hit the base of his middle stump for 26. Mohammed Nabi didn't make much of an impact either, as he miscued a drive off Peter Borren, providing Schiferli with an easy catch, and departing for 9. By lunch, the match was hanging in the balance with Afghanistan needing a further 64 with four wickets remaining, having battled back into contention.

With prospects of an exciting afternoon ahead for the crowd at Amstelveen, the visitors restarted by adding a further 18 runs before they lost Raees Ahmadzai, an agriculturally-effective free-swinging batsman, for 26. He edged to Barresi in the slips, who took an outstanding catch to maintain the pressure on Afghanistan.

Netherlands tight bowling attack pinned down Mirwais Ashraf and Samiullah Shenwari, making runs very hard to come by, but they stuck in there, scoring in ones and twos.

With Afghanistan edging nearer their target, Netherlands found the breakthrough they were after, as Ashraf was finally removed by a diving catch by Mudassar Bukhari off Schiferli for 31. This left Shenwari and Shapoor Zadran with the nerve-racking task of scoring the remaining 10 runs, facing the aggressive bowling of a pumped-up Schiferli.

By this stage, even defensive strokes were being cheered by the Afghanistan contingent from the sidelines. And with only six runs required, Zadran (1) failed to offer a shot as Schiferli wrapped him on his back pad to claim his fifth wicket, leaving the match on a knife-edge.

But Shenwari threw his hands at a Bukhari delivery, the ball slashing over the slips for four as Afghanistan snatched an unlikely victory, their first in the Intercontinental Cup, and another significant achievement for a country so new to the international fold.

Ponting open to Clarke handling ODI, Twenty20 captaincy

Australian captain Ricky Ponting is open to the idea of handing deputy Michael Clarke the leadership responsibilities for the Twenty20 and one-day teams, and preserving himself for Test cricket.

Clarke, 28, has already captained Australia in 11 limited overs and two Twenty20 internationals while Ponting has been rested or injured. He was installed as Test vice-captain after the retirement of Adam Gilchrist, and led all Australian batsmen with 448 runs at 64.00 during the 2009 Ashes series.

Ponting assumed the one-day leadership in 2002 while Steve Waugh was still at the helm of the Test side. The pair shared the captaincy until Waugh's retirement from Test cricket in 2004. Ponting has been the first-choice captain of Australia's Test, ODI and Twenty20 sides ever since.

"If that's the way that I or others outside of what I'm thinking decide (is) the right way to go, there's absolutely no reason why that couldn't happen," Ponting said of splitting the captaincy with Clarke. "It has happened in the past with Australian teams. It is happening with other teams around the world right at the moment.

"Paul Collingwood is captain of the England Twenty20 team and Andrew Strauss is captain of the one-day and Test cricket teams. Those things are things that need to be thought long and hard about, but if it means that I'm going to be better off for Test matches and bigger series when they come around..."

Ponting returned to Sydney on Wednesday after becoming the first Australian captain since Billy Murdoch to twice surrender the Ashes in England. The defeat at Lord's ensured Australia the added ignominy of slipping to fourth place on the ICC Test rankings, having lost three of their past five series.

Australia's transitional issues have led to calls from certain sections of the local media for Ponting's axing as captain, however he has reaffirmed his desire to play on until the 2013 Ashes series.

"Having a pretty bitter and sour taste in my mouth at the end of that Test match, I'd love to be able to go back and give it one more crack," he said. "I've got to worry about the next 12 or 18 months and see if all that hunger or commitment is still there. It's probably higher right now than ever before. Who knows, 2013 might be something achievable."

"I still think I've got a lot to offer the team, as a batsman and as a captain and as a leader. If it ends up getting to the point where I'm not the captain, my hunger and determination to keep playing this game are as good as ever.

"If that's with a 'c' next to my name, all well and good. If it's not, I still think I have a lot to offer, particularly a lot of younger guys who are around our set-up at the moment."

Dravid returns to one-day squad

Rahul Dravid has, as expected, made a return to India's ODI plans with his inclusion in the squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy next month. Dravid replaces Rohit Sharma, who managed 15 runs in three ODI innings in the West Indies and 43 runs in three innings against major opposition in the World Twenty20. The selectors didn't risk taking Virender Sehwag, who is yet to fully recover from his shoulder injury, to the Champions Trophy. He was not expected to make it to the Sri Lanka tri-series anyway.

Dravid last played an ODI for India in October 2007, but his form in the second IPL season in South Africa - where the Champions Trophy will be held - and the vulnerability of India's younger middle-order batsmen in the recent World Twenty20 prompted the selectors to fall back on his experience and technique.

Sachin Tendulkar, who had opted out of the West Indies ODIs, makes a comeback. Suresh Raina, who was out because of a hairline fracture of the thumb, also returns. Amit Mishra breaks into the ODI squad, replacing Pragyan Ojha as the back-up spinner to Harbhajan Singh, on the back of his impressive showings in the IPL and the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia.

Dinesh Karthik, who came in for the West Indies ODIs as replacement for Sehwag, and Abhishek Nayar, who edged out Ravindra Jadeja, have retained their places.

Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of selectors, said it was the "best possible Indian team". "It's a very balanced team and we are confident they would go on to win the Champions Trophy in South Africa," Srikkanth said.

India one-day squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (capt/wk), Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, RP Singh, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik, and Abhishek Nayar

Four new venues announced for IPL's third season

Four new venues have been introduced for the third edition of the IPL, which will run from March 12 to April 25 next year. The 60-game tournament will feature a third-place playoff between the losing semi-finalists as a qualifier for the Champions League and could also see the induction of ICL players. The IPL governing council, which met in Mumbai on Tuesday, has also decided to include two new teams from the fourth edition in 2011.

Nagpur, Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad and Dharamsala are the new venues, hosting some games of the Mumbai Indians, Deccan Chargers, Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, respectively. Hyderabad will stage the opening fixture between defending champions Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders, while both semi-finals will be held in Bangalore. The venue of the final hasn't been fixed but the season will end five days before the World Twenty20 opens in West Indies.

Today's decisions brought good news for the former ICL players, though their participation is subject to the BCCI's formal approval. They will now join the gravy train, though their payout could be considerably less than many of their peers. They will be valued in two categories; Indian domestic players will be paid Rs 8-20 lakh ($18,000-45,000) while foreign players will be made available through auction, depending on their demand.

Key dates

December 15, 2009: Transfer window for IPL 3 opens

January 5, 2010: Transfer window for IPL 3 closes

March 12, 2010: IPL 3's opening fixture between Deccan Chargers and Kolkata Knight Riders in Hyderabad

April 25, 2010: IPL 3 final to be played at a yet-to-be-decided venue

January 2010: Auctions for the two new franchises to be included in the fourth season of the IPL

Summer 2010: Player auctions for IPL 4





The IPL will also make use of the services of the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit (ACSU) for the third season. The BCCI had agreed to draft in ACSU for the upcoming Champions League in October as well, at the ICC board's annual conference in London last month.

Another development for the new season was the reduction in the 'strategic timeout' from seven-and-a-half minutes to five. The timeout - which will be mandatory for both sides - will be split into two breaks of equal length with the bowling team opting for it between overs 6-10, and the batting team allowed to choose between overs 11-16.

At his press conference following the meeting, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi also outlined plans for Season 4 onwards. Two franchises will be added to the league, through an auction to be held next January, and the tournament will expand from 60 games to 94. The player auction for the fourth season, with a new salary cap, will be held in the summer of 2010 to allow squads to integrate. The 'icon player' concept will be done away with but there will be no change in the number of international players - ten in the squad and four on the field.

The second season was held in South Africa in April-May this year after the Indian government declined to provide security because the tournament overlapped with general elections in the country.

NEW CRICKET ACADEMY IN CHENNAI IS SETUP BY CSK

Retired Australian cricketer Matthew Hayden on Saturday entered into an agreement with his Indian Premier League franchise Chennai Super Kings to set up a cricket academy here by the end of this year. All the necessary paper work for starting the academy in the city were completed at a meeting between CSK owner N Srinivasan and Hayden this morning.
Later, Hayden inspected the facilities at the existing India Cements Academy here and watched the ongoing second day''s play between Vijay Cricket Club (one of the many India Cements team in the TNCA First Division league) and Parry team, as part of his talent hunting role for the proposed academy. "The meeting was successful and we have to now locate the land for setting up the academy.
Hayden will be part of the academy with former New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming and Indian captain Rahul Dravid among others," said Kasi Viswanathan of the CSK Managing Committee. "For the next step, we are waiting for our Marketing Chief Rakesh Singh to arrive to firm up the other arrangements.
The academy will be functional before end of the year and all other aspects of the academy have to be structured and we are now to decide on them. we have already started work on the project".
Hayden, who is leaving Chennai for England tomorrow will be back in mid September after watching the Ashes series between Australia and England.

Kevin's short dissmissals from ashes

Kevin Pietersen has been ruled out of the Ashes after undergoing surgery on his long-standing Achilles tendon injury. Pietersen was assessed on Wednesday morning by a leading specialist, and the decision was made to undergo surgery which means he will miss up to six weeks.


The news comes as a massive blow to England's morale and momentum after a week in which they finally ended a 75-year jinx in beating Australia at Lord's, and so went 1-0 up in an Ashes series for the first time since 1997. Pietersen's contribution to the match was muted, with twin scores of 32 and 44, but it nevertheless took his career tally against Australia to a formidable 1116 runs in 12 Tests, at an average of 50.72.

England, however, will now have to make do without that prowess. ECB Chief Medical Officer, Nick Peirce, said: "Following a consultation, involving scans and testing, with the world's leading Achilles specialist, Kevin Pietersen today underwent surgery on his right Achilles tendon.


"The operation involved a small incision and trimming of the blood vessels and nerves around the inflamed tendon and appears, at this early stage, to have been routine. Kevin will look to undertake a comprehensive rehabilitation programme to ensure there is no risk of recurrence. This is expected to be approximately six weeks but will be taken at an appropriate pace following constant review.


"Despite conventional conservative treatments to the tendon with trial periods of rest and rehabilitation, Kevin continued to be in significant discomfort and is currently unable to run or even walk comfortably. He had a strong desire to get through the Ashes series but despite this he has recently been unable to achieve a maximum level of performance.

"A number of short-term measures were considered but having been reviewed by the specialist, who flew into London from Sweden specifically, it was felt that anything else would put the tendon at risk and jeopardise his long-term recovery."


Pietersen said: "As an England cricketer the Ashes are the pinnacle of the game so I'm absolutely devastated to be missing the rest of this series.

"Up until now the Achilles injury has been manageable but it recently reached the point where we needed to look at other options in terms of treatment. I hate missing matches for England and especially during an Ashes summer but now that the decision has been made to undergo surgery I'm confident I can return to the England team injury-free following a course of rehabilitation.


"I was pleased with the previous course of treatment as it allowed me to take part in this Ashes series but unfortunately the injury has recently deteriorated. To leave a winning dressing room at this time is heart breaking but it wouldn't be fair to the team or myself to continue given the severity of the injury. I'll be supporting the team closely and wish them the best of luck as they look to build on the brilliant win at Lord's and reclaim the Ashes."

In Pietersen's absence, England are likely to offer a recall to Ian Bell, who was dropped in February after a run of low scores, but who has been in fine form for Warwickshire this season, with 640 runs at 80.00 before today, when he made 7 against Hampshire at the Rose Bowl.

"I am desperate to play," said Bell. "Having faced the Aussies before I know what to expect from them, and once you have appeared at Test level you want to carry on playing against the best players in the world."

The Australian camp maintained the line of the coach Tim Nielsen, who said on Tuesday he was not concerned by what was happening in England's squad. Shane Watson, the allrounder, said losing a key player like Pietersen "makes it very difficult".

sachin rare pics

All about the Little Master(sachin)

Tendulkar continued his good form in Test cricket in 2001 and 2002, with some pivotal performances with both bat and ball. Tendulkar took three wickets on the final day of the famous Kolkata Test against Australia in 2001.Tendulkar took the key wickets of Matthew Hayden and AdamGilchrist, centurions in the previous test.

Tendulkar made 673 runs in 11 matches in the 2003 Cricket World Cup, helping India reach the final. While Australia retained the trophy that they had won in 1999, Tendulkar was given the Man of the Tournament award. The drawn series as India toured Australia in 2003/04 saw Tendulkar making his mark in the last Test of the series, with 241* in Sydney, putting India in a virtually unbeatable position. He followed up the innings with an unbeaten 50 in the second innings of the test and then an unbeaten 194 against Pakistan at Multan in the following series. The 194 was controversial in that he was stranded prior to reaching his double century as a result of a declaration by Rahul Dravid. In meeting with the press that evening, Tendulkar responded to a question on missing 200 against Pakistan by stating that he was disappointed and that the declaration had taken him by surprise. Many former cricketers commented that Dravid's declaration was in bad taste. The media noted at the time that the decision had apparently been made by Sourav Ganguly, and Ganguly himself later admitted that it had been a mistake. The controversy was put to rest when Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar and coach John Wright spoke to the media after the team's victory and stated that the matter was spoken internally and put to rest.
Although he was in strong form, tennis elbow then took its toll on Tendulkar, leaving him out of the side for most of the year, coming back only for the last two tests when Australia toured India in 2004. He played a part in India's victory in Mumbai in that series, though Australia took the series 2-1.
On December 10, 2005 at Feroz Shah Kotla, Tendulkar scored his record-breaking 35th Test century, against the Sri Lankans. On February 6, 2006, he scored his 39th ODI hundred, in a match against Pakistan. He followed with a run-a-ball 42 in the second one-day international against Pakistan on February 11, 2006, and then a 95 in hostile, seaming conditions on February 13, 2006 in Lahore, which set up an Indian victory.
On March 19, 2006, after scoring an unconvincing 1 off 21 balls against England in the first innings of the third Test in his home ground, Wankhede, Tendulkar was booed off the ground by a section of the crowd.the first time that he had ever faced such flak. Tendulkar was to end the three-Test series without a single half-century to his credit, and news of a shoulder operation raised more questions about his longevity. Tendulkar was operated upon for his injured shoulder. In July 2006, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that Tendulkar had overcome his injury problem following a rehabilitation programme and was available for selection, and he was eventually selected for the next series.