United States moves ahead with military sales to Bahrain

WASHINGTON,Jan31,2012: The United States is selling some military equipment to Bahrain as it walks a fine line between pushing the Sunni monarchy to open talks with the opposition while proceeding cautiously with a strategic ally to counter Iran. The sale of an undisclosed amount of spare parts and equipment has drawn opposition from some in Congress who argue that it sends the wrong signal about the US commitment to human rights. The State Department said late on Friday that the equipment is for Bahrain's external defense and support for the US Navy's 5th Fleet, which is based in the country. "This isn't a new sale nor are we using a legal loophole," the department said. "The items that we briefed to Congress were notified and cleared by the Hill previously or are not large enough to require congressional notification." The administration said it is maintaining its "pause on most security assistance for Bahrain pending further progress on reform." It was almost a year ago that Bahrain's Shiite majority demanded greater rights from the 200-year-old ruling Sunni dynasty. More than 35 people have died in the unrest that Bahrain leaders claim Iran has encouraged. The United States sees its allies in the Gulf region as even more crucial as Iran recently warned it might use military force to close the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf in response to international economic sanctions. Sen. Ron Wyden and Rep. Jim McGovern, both Democrats, collected signatures from lawmakers on a letter they plan to send to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton later this week expressing their opposition to the administration's moves. They argue that Bahrain is still violating human rights and using excessive force to crack down on protests.
"Small steps deserve small rewards," the two wrote. "In the case of Bahrain, any military equipment is a big reward and will be viewed as such by other governments and the people of Bahrain. The incentives are simply wrong."

Romney all set to sweep Florida: Polls

MIAMI(USA),Jan31,2012: White House hopeful Mitt Romney has opened up a commanding double-digit lead in Florida against main rival Newt Gingrich in their Republican nomination battle , the latest two polls showed on Sunday. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor, considered the party establishment's favored candidate,was routing former House speaker Gingrich by 15 points, 42% to 27%, just two days before the crucial Florida primary, according to an NBC/Marist poll. The Miami Herald in its poll published on Sunday shows Romney ahead by 11 points. Both surveys showed former senator Rick Santorum a distant third and libertarianleaning congressman Ron Paul fourth. Gingrich insisted on Fox News today that the race for the large southeastern state would be "close" , but the poll figures showed otherwise.

Romney lead over Gingrich up in Florida: Poll

WASHINGTON,Jan31,2012: Republican White House hopeful Mitt Romney's lead over rival Newt Gingrich edged up to 12 percentage points in Florida, according to Reuters/Ipsos online poll results on Sunday, as Romney's front-runner status stabilized and Gingrich continued to slip. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor and private equity executive, was supported by 42 percent of likely Florida voters surveyed in the online three-day tracking poll, just down from 43 percent in the same poll on Saturday. Romney was at 41 percent on Friday. But with just two days before the state's primary on Tuesday, Gingrich's support was at 30 percent, down from 32 percent in Saturday's results and 33 percent on Friday. The gap between the two was 11 percent when poll respondents were asked about a hypothetical head-to-head race between the rivals in the race for the Republican presidential nomination to oppose President Barack Obama in the general election in November. If the race were between Romney and Gingrich only, Romney would be at 55 percent to Gingrich's 44 percent, according to the Sunday's results. On Saturday the gap between the two was eight percentage points and on Friday it was just two, when respondents were asked the same question.
"Newt Gingrich's position in the primary race is really starting to lose support," said Chris Jackson, research director for Ipsos Public Affairs. The poll results, similar to those of several other surveys, illustrated Romney's remarkable turnaround since South Carolina's primary on January 21, which Gingrich won in a surprise upset. "Gingrich got a big boost out of South Carolina, but he's losing that," said Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak. "It's clear that Romney's run a much more focused and effective campaign in Florida than Newt," he said. "Newt's playing defense every single day in every way and doesn't seem to be able to make Romney play defense." Romney had two strong debate performances this week and has jumped to a solid lead over Gingrich, whom he had trailed in earlier opinion polls in Florida. He has taken steady aim at Gingrich on the debate stage and in attack ads as a politician who left government under an ethics cloud and has remained a Washington insider ever since.
Gingrich faces tough February
Romney has a solid advantage in money and organization over Gingrich in Florida, and the month ahead does not look much better for the former speaker as the state-by-state race for the Republican nomination continues. Four states with February contests - Nevada, Maine, Colorado and Minnesota - use caucus systems, which can require greater organization to rally voter turnout. That could help Romney take advantage of his superior financial and staff resources. On February 28, Michigan and Arizona hold primaries. Romney was raised in Michigan, where his father was a governor and car executive. "February does not look like a good month for Newt," Mackowiak said. But his failure to gain more support among likely voters in Florida's primary, which is limited only to registered Republicans, shows that Romney is still not electrifying the party faithful. "He's not the guy that everyone loves and rallies behind," Jackson said. "He's not getting that huge rally of support." Former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum trailed well behind with 16 percent support, the same as Saturday's level. Santorum seemed to be gaining momentum as an "alternate" to Romney. Thirty-eight percent of likely voters said he would be their second choice if their first choice left the race, up from 33 percent on Saturday and 30 percent on Friday. But it is probably too close to the January 31 vote to make a difference, Jackson said. Texas Congressman Ron Paul, who is not campaigning in Florida, was at 6 percent. Statistical margins of error are not applicable to online surveys, but this poll of 726 likely voters in the Florida primary has a credibility interval of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points for registered voters. Sunday's Reuters/Ipsos survey is the third of four daily tracking polls being released ahead of Tuesday's Florida primary.

World lacks enough food, fuel as population soars: UN

LONDON,Jan31,2012: The world is running out of time to make sure there is enough food, water and energy to meet the needs of a rapidly growing population and to avoid sending up to 3 billion people into poverty, a UN report warned on Monday. As the world's population looks set to grow to nearly 9 billion by 2040 from 7 billion now, and the number of middle-class consumers increases by 3 billion over the next 20 years, the demand for resources will rise exponentially. Even by 2030, the world will need at least 50 percent more food, 45 percent more energy and 30 percent more water, according to UN estimates, at a time when a changing environment is creating new limits to supply. And if the world fails to tackle these problems, it risks condemning up to 3 billion people into poverty, the report said. Efforts towards sustainable development are neither fast enough nor deep enough, as well as suffering from a lack of political will, the United Nations' high-level panel on global sustainability said. "The current global development model is unsustainable. To achieve sustainability, a transformation of the global economy is required," the report said. "Tinkering on the margins will not do the job. The current global economic crisis ... offers an opportunity for significant reforms." Although the number of people living in absolute poverty has been reduced to 27 percent of world population from 46 percent in 1990 and the global economy has grown 75 percent since 1992, improved lifestyles and changing consumer habits have put natural resources under increasing strain. There are 20 million more undernourished people now than in 2000; 5.2 million hectares of forest are lost per year - an area the size of Costa Rica; 85 percent of all fish stocks are over-exploited or depleted; and carbon dioxide emissions have risen 38 percent between 1990 and 2009, which heightens the risk of sea level rise and more extreme weather. The panel, which made 56 recommendations for sustainable development to be included in economic policy as quickly as possible, said a "new political economy" was needed. "Let's use the upcoming Rio+20 summit to kick off this global transition towards a sustainable growth model for the 21st century that the world so badly needs," EU Climate Commissioner Connie Hedegaard said in response to the report, referring to a UN sustainable development summit this June in Brazil.
Action
Among the panel's recommendations, it urged governments to agree on a set of sustainable development goals which would complement the eight Millennium Development Goals to 2015 and create a framework for action after 2015. They should work with international organizations to create an "evergreen revolution," which would at least double productivity while reducing resource use and avoiding further biodiversity losses, the report said. Water and marine ecosystems should be managed more efficiently and there should be universal access to affordable sustainable energy by 2030. To make the economy more sustainable, carbon and natural resource pricing should be established through taxation, regulation or emissions trading schemes by 2020 and fossil fuel subsidies should also be phased out by that time.
National fiscal and credit systems should be reformed to provide long-term incentives for sustainable practices as well as disincentives for unsustainable ones. Sovereign wealth and public pension funds, as well as development banks and export credit agencies should apply sustainable development criteria to their investment decisions, and governments or stock market watchdogs should revise regulations to encourage their use. Governments and scientists should also strengthen the relationship between policy and science by regularly examining the science behind environmental thresholds or "tipping points" and the United Nations should consider naming a chief scientific adviser or board to advise the organization, the report said.

Florida highway pileup kills at least 10 people

GAINESVILLE(Florida-USA),Jan31,2011: A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were instantly blinded. At least 10 people were killed. When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile (two kilometers), police said. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainesville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time before the accidents because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames. Steven R. Camps of Gainesville said he and some friends were driving home several hours before dawn when they were drawn into the pileup. "You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy," he said. "If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of world." Photographs of the scene taken hours later revealed an aftermath that resembled a Hollywood disaster movie. Twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage. Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks. Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.
Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and warned Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area just south of Gainesville. A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes. Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to them when another vehicle hit the man's car. The man's vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road. All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned. Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities and a "tour bus-like" vehicle also was involved in the pileup. At least 18 people were taken to a hospital. All six lanes of the interstate - which runs virtually the entire length of Florida - were closed most of Sunday afternoon as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames. It was not clear when the highway would fully reopen because part of the road melted, police said.

Indian selected as first international teacher for US space programme

WASHINGTON,Jan31,2012: A middle school teacher from Maharashtra has been selected as the first international teacher for a prestigious space programme in the United States. Vandana Suryawanshi, an educator with the Vidya Valley School, who has been teaching biology, earth science and general science for 20 years, would join the 19 other new Teacher Liaisons who were selected for their active promotion of space and science education by the Space Foundation. This is for the first time that an international teacher has been selected for this prestigious fellowship of the Space Foundation, which is now 10 years old. The new flight of Teacher Liaisons will serve as advocates for space-themed education across the curriculum and will use Space Foundation-provided training and resources to further integrate space principles into the classroom, a media release said. The highly regarded Space Foundation Teacher Liaison programme has more than 270 active participants, including the 2012 flight. The teachers are selected by a panel comprising representatives from the space industry and military, it said. The 2012 Teacher Liaisons will be publicly recognised at the Space Foundation's 28th National Space Symposium, scheduled for April 16 to 19 in Colorado. In addition to the recognition activities, the 2012 Teacher Liaisons will participate in workshops and education programmes at the 28th National Space Symposium. Following the Symposium, Teacher Liaisons can take advantage of specialised training and instruction at Space Foundation and NASA workshops with optional graduate-level credit; exclusive science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) professional development experiences with optional continuing education credit; and special space-oriented student programs created just for Teacher Liaisons, the press statement said.

Army goes slow on govt’s order to reconcile Gen VK Singh’s birth date

NEW DELHI,Jan31,2012: The Army's adjutant general (AG) branch seems to be dragging its feet on reconciling its records, as directed by the defence ministry, to show General V K Singh's date of birth (DoB) as 'May 10, 1950'.With just four days left for the age controversy to be heard by the Supreme Court, some quarters in South Block have begun to point at "a clear conflict of interest" since the two crucial Army wings involved in the DoB row, the AG and military secretary (MS) branches, function directly under the Army chief.Gen Singh, the first serving military chief to petition the Supreme Court, wants May 10, 1951 to be recognized as his DoB to restore his "personal integrity and honour". If his DoB is settled at 1951, Gen Singh would serve till March 2013, instead of retiring on May 31 this year as the government wants, changing the entire line of succession in the 1.13-million strong force. But MoD's latest directive on January 23 to the AG and MS branches as well as the Comptroller General of Defence Accounts has reiterated that Gen Singh's "officially recognized" DoB will "continue to remain" as 'May 10, 1950' and all records should be reconciled to that effect, as reported by TOI on Monday. Government sources said "such a direction" had even been issued in July 2011, when an attempt by the AG branch to amend Gen Singh's year of birth to 1951 from 1950 was held to be "null, void and non est (non-existent)".In August, however, the AG branch raised "certain issues" to seek "further advice" on the matter, and Gen Singh himself filed a statutory complaint to get his age "corrected" to May 10, 1951. "Since Gen Singh's statutory complaint was pending before the government for consideration, the advice sought by AG branch was not communicated at that time. But after the statutory complaint was disposed of (without any relief) in December-end, the advice sought was conveyed on January 23," said a source. The MoD letter, incidentally, directed the AG branch to ensure "strict compliance without any further loss of time" in correcting its records to show May 10, 1950 as Gen Singh's DoB. "A compliance report be sent to this ministry at the earliest," it added.The AG branch, however, is yet to respond to this letter. "An interim kind of response may be sent before the Supreme Court hearing on February 3," said an Army source.

Non-resident ire

Who's been complaining about Jeremy Clarkson's car with a commode ? Not the millions at home who might consider portable toilets a luxury. The Indians who are really angry are the kind that Karan Johar likes to insert national symbols in his movies for - the NRIs. Clarkson and Jay Leno are only among a slew of instances that have roused desi outrage. Last year, journalist Joel Stein had to apologize for his piece in Time magazine on the Indian influx in New Jersey. Designer Manish Arora's decision to use Shiva images on leggings and harem pants attracted NRI ire too. So did the PlayStation 2 game 'Hanuman: Boy Warrior' , which offended Hindus in New Zealand, one of whom was quoted as saying, "It makes me angry when I see my friends play a game where they can control the god's every movement with a joystick."
What makes NRIs so touchy about issues concerning their homeland? "They are stuck in a time warp," says Lavrenti Lopes, an Indian actor-model in Hollywood. "When they moved to their new countries they found the value system alien. So they lived in isolation, holding on to the values they came with, values that no longer exist even in India."
A lot of NRIs are stuck in an India that does not exist anymore, agrees Vidur Kapur, an Indian-American stand-up comedian. Kapur, who moved to the US 12 years ago, says NRIs even have a tough time reacting to his India jokes. A reference to bride burning, where his grandmother says, "I'll find you Indian girl. What's the harm? If you don't like her, I'll set her on fire!" does very well in India, whereas a lot of NRIs get offended because they don't want to see the country criticized in any way or to acknowledge that such things still happen. "I think the fact that they live away from the homeland makes it more important for them to prove that they have an identity in the homeland," he says.
Also, the fact that most desis, including USbased author Arnab Ray, have had to face questions such as "Do you people really burn widows ?", "Do you guys sacrifice humans?" and "Do you have modern plumbing in India?" does not help. "While some of this stems from genuine ignorance, many times they are expressions of barely concealed cultural and racial superiority passed off as humour," says Ray.
As a result, they end up spending a lot of time correcting negative stereotypes about India created by foreign media. "Many such misconceptions also result in NRIs being mistreated by host communities. So the issue isn't just about being offended. There's a social issue: it widens the cultural gap between the host and immigrant communities," says V Gangan, managing editor of The Global Indian magazine.
This explains why immigrant children are especially sensitive about movies like Slumdog Millionaire, which Ray says are filled with formulaic bits of "exotica" and "so-happy-amidstthe-squalor images". "In school, some of these kids are subjected to merciless ribbing about their 'unclean origins'. Many end up developing a hatred for India and their parents."
The diaspora's furore over hate crimes and racial profiling is understandable, says Indian-American Ash Chandler. But the stand-up comic dismisses the hullabaloo over Clarkson's show as unnecessary. Chandler feels Indians should stop clinging to "national symbols that are no longer relevant" and spending time and money on lawyers. Instead, he recommends a cheaper solution. "Switch the TV off." (courtecy:TOI-Sharmila Ganesan Ram)

Premji to train UK engg grads in Bangalore

LONDON,Jan31,2012: Azim Premji, chairman of one of India's largest IT services firms, Wipro, has offered to train British students in IT, engineering and software development in Bangalore. Premji would take third-year students from British universities to Wipro's headquarters in Bangalore for three months' intensive study and nine months on-the-job training with a view to returning them fit for work in their own country. Premji, India's third richest man, said his carefully designed training programme in India would better equip students than the courses offered in the UK. "We have sophisticated courses, a mixture of classroom and practical training, which will make them employable anywhere in the world," The Telegraph quoted Premji, as saying. According to the paper, the British Government would pay around 25 to 30 per cent of the training costs and the rest would be met by Wipro. Premji employs around 3,500 people in the UK, of which around a quarter are British. The business tycoon said that, "this can be improved with the training."

IT hiring: Not just for techies

NEW YORK,Jan31,2012: Among US technology companies with a market value of more than $100 million, almost 50 increased employment by more than half in the most recently reported two-year period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Some small and mid-size businesses boosted payrolls by almost fivefold, underscoring the resilient demand for Internet services, software and electronics.
Rohit Dhingra is one face behind the statistics. He went to Columbia Business School in New York so he could land a consulting job. Instead, he got hired by a company making computer gear in Silicon Valley.
"A few years back, it just would have been a slam dunk that you want to do investment banking," Dhingra said. "The future of financial services does not seem as bright." Dhingra is joining thousands of workers who have switched to technology careers during the economic slump, lured by an industry that kept hiring while other businesses cut jobs or forced current employees to take heavier burdens. While the broader unemployment rate dropped to 8.5 per cent in December, reaching a three-year low, few companies outside of technology have as voracious an appetite for workers. In the software and services industry, 74 companies with more than $100 million in market value expanded their workforce by at least 10 percent. That was more than any other industry group measured by Bloomberg.
Apple, Google
Apple Inc, Google Inc, Amazon.com Inc were among the companies that increased their workforce by at least 50 per cent in the past two years, Bloomberg's data showed. The growth has prompted Silicon Valley companies to consider more people from nontechnical backgrounds and ramp up recruitment everywhere from Wall Street to Seattle.
Workers who would have shied away from the volatility of 1990s-era startups are seeing the technology industry as a haven of stability. Web.com Group Inc, a Jacksonville, Florida-based provider of website services to small businesses, grew the most on the list in percentage terms. It has 1,148 employees, according to its most recent annual report, a 380 percent gain from two years earlier.
Silicon Graphics International Inc ranked second, increasing its employment 372 per cent to 1,500, followed by Kit Digital Inc at 319 per cent and Riverbed Technology Inc at 208 per cent. Apple, which started with a larger employee base, grew 76 percent. That amounted to 26,100 new jobs.
'Tough battlefield'
At Riverbed, an in-house recruiting team of 20 people scours the country for new hires.
"We operate it like a search firm," said Mike Guerchon, senior vice president of employee services at the San Francisco-based network-equipment company. "It's a tough battlefield for talent all the time."
The appetite for employees isn't showing signs of waning. Amazon and Facebook Inc each plan to add thousands of jobs in 2012, many in new satellite offices. EBay Inc and Tibco Software Inc also are stepping up their recruiting.
"We are hiring quite rapidly now, all in sales and service," Tibco Chief Executive Officer Vivek Ranadive said last week at the World Economic Forum's annual conference in Davos, Switzerland. "It's a good time to hire."
Some employers are concerned that the hiring spree resembles the go-go days of the dot-com bubble. When technology stocks crashed in 2000, thousands of jobs vanished. Silicon Valley lost more than 85,000 positions between 2001 and 2008, and the other technology hotbeds suffered similar losses.
Bubble 2.0?
"After some real dark days, there's a lot of excitement and innovation happening again, but as a guy who has been through Bubble 1.0, I can't help but see a lot of similarities," said Stuart MacDonald, chief marketing and revenue officer at Freshbooks.com, a maker of online business software in Toronto.
"I can't help but think I've seen this movie before." For many graduates, technology still seems less risky than Wall Street. East Coast MBAs, who might have opted for financial jobs in the past, are more willing to go to the West Coast. Google and Amazon are two of the top employers for graduates of Columbia, according to Associate Dean Regina Resnick.
In 2011, more than 9 per cent of the school's graduates went to work for technology and media companies, up from 6 per cent in 2009, according to university employment reports.
"You're always reading good news about tech, despite what's happening in the economy," Dhingra said.
New locations
Job candidates who have engineering and technology-related skills are in higher demand than before, said Jesse Harriott, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at Monster Worldwide Inc., the world's largest online recruiter.
Silicon Valley companies also are bolstering offices outside the San Francisco Bay area. Facebook is opening an engineering office in New York and plans to hire thousands of workers in total this year.
eay, which runs the largest Internet marketplace, is expanding its operation in Redmond, Washington, the home of Microsoft Corp. It plans to about double the number of employees there to 150 by the end of 2012, according to Johnna Hoff, a spokeswoman for EBay. The San Jose, California-based company also is staffing up at its New York office.
Intel Corp, the world's largest chipmaker, increased its employment by almost 18,000 people in 2011, driven by acquisitions and hiring in research and manufacturing. Amazon, meanwhile, plans to open fulfillment centers throughout Tennessee and Virginia in 2012, creating more than 4,500 jobs.
Matthew Kambic spent three years handling investments at Nationwide Insurance. Now he's getting an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management to ease his move into technology.
"There's a fusion of young talent in the tech space," said the 26-year-old resident of Evanston, Illinois. "There's not a whole lot of innovation in insurance."

Dollar sharply dearer against rupee

MUMBAI,jan31,2012: The US dollar was sharply dearer against the rupee at Rs 49.79/80 per dollar and the Pound Sterling also finished higher at Rs 78.10/12 per pound at the close of the Interbank Foreign Exchange market (Forex) here on Monday. The Following are the Interbank Forex and RBI rates: (In Rs Per Unit) Unit Interbank RBI Reference US Dollar 49.79/80 US Dollar Rs 49.5030 Pound Sterling 78.10/12 Euro Rs 65.1882 Euro 65.35/37 Japanese Yen (100) 65.00/02.

10 top H-1B visa users in US

Newyork,Jan31,2012: In November last year, US Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) announced that it has received a sufficient number of H-1B petitions to reach the statutory cap of 65,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2012.

Wondering who are the top earners of H-1B visas during FY11-12. A recent report in ComputerWorld lists the top 10 users of H-1B visas in the US as per USCIS data.

Every year, US issues 85,000 H-1B visas. Of these, 20,000 are reserved for advanced degree graduates of US universities.
Here's over to the top 10 H-1B visa users in the US.

Cognizant
Approvals for new H-1B visas: 4222
H-1B visa approvals by company: 5715

Infosys
Approvals for new H-1B visas: 3962
H-1B visa approvals by company: 4042 

Wipro Approvals for new H-1B visas: 2736
H-1B visa approvals by company: 2817

Tata
Approvals for new H-1B visas: 1740
H-1B visa approvals by company: 1758 

Accenture
Approvals for new H-1B visas: 1347
H-1B visa approvals by company: 1370 


Larsen & Toubro
Approvals for new H-1B visas: 1204
H-1B visa approvals by company: 1608 


HCL AmericaApprovals for new H-1B visas: 1033
H-1B visa approvals by company: 1128


Microsoft
Approvals for new H-1B visas: 947
H-1B visa approvals by company: 1586

IBM
Approvals for new H-1B visas: 853
H-1B visa approvals by company: 1063 

GoogleApprovals for new H-1B visas: 383
H-1B visa approvals by company: 615

Assembly polls: High turnout in Punjab, Uttarakhand fuels suspense

NEW DELHI,Jan31,2012: A record voter turnout of 77% in Punjab and high 70% polling in Uttarakhand threw political parties into a tizzy as the current round of assembly polls reaches the half-way mark with a major four-cornered contest looming in UP besides a smaller, but no less hard fought showdown in Goa. Punjab's massive turnout, which shattered the previous record of 75%, has given rise to speculation about a "wave". The voting can also mean both Congress and the Akali-BJP combine have mobilized their bases well. Frustratingly, results will remain shrouded in suspense till March 4 when votes will be counted.
Previously, high voter turnouts were often associated with anti-incumbency sentiment but with state governments in Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Orissa and Haryana managing to return to power in recent years, conventional wisdom has been revised. The clash in Punjab is between Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal and Congress's Amarinder Singh while in Uttarakhand, chief minister B C Khanduri hopes to pull off an upset win over Congress which has not projected a leader. The long lines at polling booths also seem to indicate that despite anti-politician movements like Team Anna's Lokpal stir that seeks to run down the authority of elected legislatures, grassroots democracy is alive and kicking. Lokpal and corruption are poll issues, but there is no cynicism about the political process. Good weather belied fears of low voter turnout in Uttarakhand and in both states polling was largely incident free. With elections to Manipur concluded on January 28, polling will end in UP on February 28 while Goa will have a one-day poll on March 3. Votes to all five elections will be counted on March 4. Monday's enthusiastic polling did not provide many clues to voter behaviour. Congress hoped incumbency factors combined with local graft and nepotism would help it trounce the Akali-BJP combine in Punjab and BJP in Uttarakhand. BJP has sought to dodge the barbs by dragging scams dogging the UPA at the Centre into the poll discourse. BJP hopes a negative mood against Congress as indicated by opinion polls will help its cause. Congress is seen to have an edge in Punjab while the odds seem evenly balanced in Uttarakhand where BJP is banking on Khanduri, a former general, to marshal its fortunes after projecting the leader as "Mr Clean". Both parties have a rebel problem and many observers feel the elections are too close to call. The big battle, billed as the clash of titans, is in UP where campaigning is gathering momentum with the first of a seven-phase election getting underway on February 4. The stakes are high for Congress, BJP, BSP and SP as the polls could not only decide who rules UP, but can impact the Centre too. Congress is hoping that a decent result will lead to an alliance with SP at the state and Centre, providing much-needed insurance in Lok Sabha against demanding and mercurial allies like the Trinamool Congress. If Congress does not do well, it may well look even more vulnerable than it has in the past year. All three members of the Gandhi family - Sonia, Rahul and Priyanka - are expected to be in UP over the next week. Sonia is to address rallies in Gonda and Deoria while Priyanka is expected to camp at Amethi-Rae Bareli from February 2 to 9 as Rahul continues to criss-cross the state. If Congress's first family is taking no chances in an election seen as a test of Rahul Gandhi's leadership skills, BJP is doing all it can to check its rival by aggressively canvassing upper caste-OBC support - a strategy that hinges on attacking Congress's promise for a minority sub-quota within 27% backward caste reservation. BJP and Congress are seen to be competing for the "third slot" and the intensity of the fight can only indicate how fierce the rivalry between main contenders BSP and SP is. Chief minister Mayawati and SP boss Mulayam Singh Yadav have promised all manner of sops for all sections even as they woo minorities in particular apart from their respective vote banks. The poll winds are blowing hard and the electoral cauldron is churning, but it is not easy to discern who could be the winner apart from SP being seen to be in the lead. While projections for SP vary between 140 to 170 seats in a House of 403, the party will be well short of majority. BJP optimists feel the party can give BSP a run for the second slot while Congress strategists are hoping the 22 Lok Sabha seats the party won in 2009 is no flash in the pan. There is also the possibility that the elections may yield no viable combination in case Congress and SP don't make up the numbers and BJP refuses to ally with BSP. In such a situation, UP will be headed for president's rule - a deadlock that in the past has been broken by mass defections.
Goa is a small state, but elections are being fought hard with no quarters given with Congress's Digambar Kamat looking to hold on to power. Congress is hopeful of a victory with its main challenger BJP weakened by infighting. BJP leader and former chief minister Manohar Parrikar has lost some sheen after it was felt that he let off the Kamat government over illegal mining scams in the state.

Sachin Tendulkar should have retired after World Cup: Imran Khan

KOLKATA,Jan31,2012: Former Pakistan captain Imran Khan feels that iconic batsman Sachin Tendulkar should have retired after the "ultimate high" of India wining the World Cup last year. "We all want to go with a big bang but you always don't get it right. For Sachin the ultimate time to go was after that World Cup win. He had such a great World Cup. He is a great player and there is not replacement for him," Imran said. "He has to decide for himself and he must time it right. You don't want to go having lost to Australia 4-0. If he had gone after that World Cup that would have been the ultimate high," Imran told a TV channel.
Imran said Indian players has the right to decide when they want to retire and the management should first get the replacement for them. "It's a very difficult question for a sportsman to know when to leave...It's a very difficult decision and many great players have not got it right," he said. "For Indian cricket it's not one player now but three or four would have to take decision. But the big question is whether you have got their replacement. If the gap between the young and old player is too much then you have to stay with the old players." Asked about Tendulkar's impending 100th international ton, Imran said it doesn't matter whether he gets that elusive hundred or not as statistic doesn't matter for a great player. "Records must be broken within the team winning. You should not be playing to break records. Records should be part of the win. Sachin is a great player. Would I think of Sachin whether he is of 99 hundreds or 100 hundreds! No," Imran said. "Greatest player I've played is Viv Richards. I don't need to look at his records. He is great because he loves challenges. Records are after all statistics and statistics did not matter to great players," he said. The former fast bowler said that he would have hung up his boots if his team had suffered a similar consecutive overseas whitewash like Team India. "I would have retired from cricket. I think if I was in a team that lost eight matches in a row I would have given up cricket. It's not the West Indies of 80s. But see who India has lost to - Australia and England. This Australia team hardly has won any series. You can't blame the fans for feeling upset," he said. Imran said if India gives too much emphasis on Twenty20 cricket and IPL then it might be reduced to a "walkover team in Test cricket". "India needs to think seriously... have they put too much emphasis on IPL, T20 cricket. It's great entertainment but how to compare T20 with Test cricket. Test cricket is the ultimate test of the skills of a player," he said. "If India doesn't get the balance right, they are going to be just a walkover team in Test cricket." On resuming Indo-Pak Cricket series, Imran said it is time to put the past behind and establish new relations between the two neighbouring cricketing nations. "We have deprived the sub-continent of the pleasure of an Indo-Pak cricket series. The highlight of the World Cup was the semifinal between Pakistan and India. Let's put our past behind and move on. It's time for new relationship and new era," he said. "We must go beyond Mumbai 26/11. Everybody in Pakistan condemned the person and the Mumbai incident. Even in Pakistan thousand people have died in terrorist attacks. It's time for new relationships and to resume Indo-Pak cricket series.

Shah Rukh Khan's scuffle with Farah Khan's husband

Mumbai,Jan31,2012: It was a fight that had a long history to it. On Sunday night-Monday Morning at the Aurus restaurant in the suburbs of Mumbai,Sanjay Dutt hosted a party to celebrate the success of his Agneepath role and film. Guests were having a ball when at around 4.30 am Shah Rukh Khan entered the venue straight after the Filmfare awards with three bodyguards. According to eyewitnesses he was apparently in an inebriated condition. Soon, he headed towards filmmaker Shirish Kunder and roughed him up. Says an eyewitness, "We didn't know what was happening. We saw SRK enter. Then we saw him head towards Shirish from behind the director. SRK pulled Shirish down to the ground by his long hair. We were all shocked. We had never seen SRK behave this way before. Before anyone could react Baba Dewan the owner of Aurus ran in and intervened. SRK told Dewan to keep out . Dewan said the place belonged to him and he must intervene. The fight would've been prolonged had Sanjay Dutt not pulled SRK away from the ugly scene." The shell-shocked Kunder apparently left immediately. We tried to probe the cause for Shah Rukh's provocation. Says a source close to Kunder, "Shah Rukh was smarting since Kunder made a sarcastic comment on SRK's Ra.1 when it released.But the immediate provocation was apparently a comment that Kunder made about SRK and Priyanka Chopra at the party that SRK overheard.But that is hogwash. Kunder didn't say anything about Priyanka. Why would he? Everyone was there to celebrate a success, not to create ugliness. " Kunder and Shah Rukh have a history , of course. Kunder's wife Farah Khan was one of Shah Rukh's closest friends. They fell out a year back. Kunder, we believe, faced the brunt of SRK's pent-up wrath at Dutt's party. Farah who was shooting all night for Bela Sehgal's Shirin Farhah Ki Nikal Padi got to know of the fight only when she returned home in the morning. Shocked and hurt Farah says, "Shah Rukh has always told me that physical abuse is the worst way to sort out a problem,and that it means the person who's hitting has either a personal or professional crisis going on.It saddens me to see him doing the same." A theory doing the rounds is that Sanjay Dutt too joined Shah Rukh to bash up Shirish Kunder. Rubbishing this rumour Dutt told me, "I didn't join in the fight. I sorted out the fight between Shah Rukh and Kunder."

Steve Jobs died with Bill Gates' letter by his bedside

LONDON,Jan31,2012: Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates wrote Steve Jobs a letter as he was dying, which ended up meaning so much to the Apple's visionary co-founder that he kept it next to his bed, it has emerged.Gates and Jobs had reportedly locked horns throughout their careers as Microsoft picked up the pace, with Apple initially lagging behind.In a biography published after his death in October, Jobs branded Gates an 'unimaginative' person who 'ripped off' other people's ideas'.But in a recent interview, former Microsoft CEO shot down these claims, and praised the creator of the iPhone and iPad, The Telegraph reports."Steve was an incredible genius who contributed immensely to the field I was in. We had periods, like the early Macintosh, when we had more people working on it than they did. And then we were competitors," the paper quoted Gates, as saying."The personal computers I worked on had a vastly higher [market] share than Apple until really the last five or six years, where Steve's very good work on the Mac and on iPhones and iPads did extremely well. It's quite an achievement, and we enjoyed each [other's work]," he said."He spent a lot of his time competing with me. There are lots of times when Steve said [critical] things about me. If you took the more harsh examples, you could get quite a litany," he added.
A few months before Jobs passed away, Gates visited him at his home, where they spoke for hours about the past and the future.He later wrote Jobs a letter telling, "how he should feel great about what he had done and the company he had built. "I wrote about his kids, whom I had got to know," Gates said.
After Jobs's death, Gates received a phone call from his wife, Laurene saying Jobs appreciated his letter.
"Look, this biography really doesn't paint a picture of the mutual respect you had.' And she said he'd appreciated my letter and kept it by his bed," Laurene told Gates.

India’s ruling party eyes gains in northern state polls

BANUR( India),Jan30 , 2012(Reuters):  Millions of Indians went to the polls on Monday in two northern states where the country’s ruling Congress party hopes to regain momentum after a year when its reputation was battered by corruption scandals and a slowing economy.Congress is aiming to wrest back control of Punjab and Uttarakhand states, which are ruled by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies, as part of a series of elections in five states that end in early March. A good showing in all five would be a huge boost for Rahul Gandhi, the scion of India’s most powerful political dynasty, who has campaigned actively for Congress. The son, grandson and great-grandson of former prime ministers, Gandhi is considered likely to take over from the current prime minister, Manmohan Singh, but the timing is not clear. A positive result may also provide breathing space for Singh’s government in New Delhi after a year in which Congress saw policies derailed by opposition protests and its own allies, including a reform to allow majority foreign ownership of supermarkets. Punjab, especially, is seen as Congress’s for the taking. Ruled by an alliance of the local Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) party and the BJP, the state has not returned an incumbent administration to power for decades. Punjab’s economic growth has lagged and industrial development has stuttered. “Congress expects to do well, and it probably will,” said political analyst Amulya Ganguli. “And that will give it a big boost at a time when it is very down and out, with the economy slowing down, the government being accused of policy paralysis.” “Nothing succeeds like success,” he said. In both Punjab and Uttarakhand, the Congress party has attacked its opponents on economic performance and on state corruption scandals — issues that have sapped the ruling party’s support at the national level. India’s largest state, Uttar Pradesh, goes to the polls from next week and while Congress’s chances there are not clear, it is expected to make gains from the last state election.
Free bikes and booze
In Punjab, people were wapped in shawls and scarves to ward off the January chill as they voted after weeks of campaigning where parties promised to continue subsidy schemes that have plunged the state into deep debt. Punjabis were also offered cash and free liquor on the campaign trail, according to several media reports. “With the state facing a ($16 billion) deficit, it is surprising how the political parties are announcing bonanzas, to every section of the people, from bicycles to girl students to sports kits for gyms,” the Pioneer newspaper said in a recent editorial.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Punjab was a rare Indian success story. A star of the country’s Green Revolution - an extensive farm reform programme credited with ending famine in the country - Punjab drove growth at a time when India was throttled by the “Licence Raj”, an all-pervading system of permits and quotas.
But after reforms in 1991 unleashed a boom in Asia’s third-largest economy, Punjab was unable to capitalise, its industry hobbled by power shortages and soaring land prices.
“Congress should be able to form the next government as the people are fed up with the Akali-BJP government,” said Naseeb Singh, 70, a farmer who voted in Banur, a small town about 25 km (15 miles) from the state capital, Chandigarh.
A spokesman for the Shiromani Akali Dal party told Reuters last week that Punjab would become India’s most investor-friendly state once major power projects bore fruit.
In Uttarakhand, a Himalayan state bordering China and Nepal, Congress sought to capitalise on corruption allegations levelled against the former chief minister, whom the BJP hastily replaced ahead of the election. His successor is B.C. Khanduri.
“The clean image of Khanduri is a positive factor for the BJP ... though the Congress has a slight edge,” said A.K. Chandel, a restaurant owner in the state capital, Dehradun.

Florida highway pileup kills at least 10 people

  GAINESVILLE,Jan30, 2012(AP): A long line of cars and trucks collided one after another early Sunday on a dark Florida highway so shrouded in haze and smoke that drivers were instantly blinded. At least 10 people were killed.When rescuers first arrived, they could only listen for screams and moans because the poor visibility made it difficult to find victims in wreckage that was strewn for nearly a mile (two kilometers), police said. Authorities were still trying to determine what caused the pileup south of Gainesville on Interstate 75, which had been closed for a time before the accidents because of the mixture of fog and heavy smoke from a brush fire that may have been intentionally set. At least a dozen cars and six tractor-trailers were involved, and some burst into flames. Steven R. Camps of Gainesville said he and some friends were driving home several hours before dawn when they were drawn into the pileup.
“You could hear cars hitting each other. People were crying. People were screaming. It was crazy,” he said. “If I could give you an idea of what it looked like, I would say it looked like the end of world.” Photographs of the scene taken hours later revealed an aftermath that resembled a Hollywood disaster movie. Twisted, burned-out vehicles were scattered across the pavement, with smoke still rising from the wreckage. Cars appeared to have smashed into the big rigs and, in one case, a motor home. Some cars were crushed beneath the heavier trucks. Reporters who were allowed to view the site saw bodies still inside a burned-out Grand Prix. One tractor-trailer was burned down to its skeleton, charred pages of books and magazines in its cargo area. And the tires of every vehicle had burned away, leaving only steel belts.
Before Camps hit the fog bank, a friend who was driving ahead of him in a separate vehicle called to warn of the road conditions. The friend said he had just seen an accident and warned Camps to be careful as he approached the Paynes Prairie area just south of Gainesville. A short time later, Camps said, traffic stopped along the northbound lanes. Camps said he began talking about the road conditions to a man in the car stopped next to them when another vehicle hit the man’s car. The man’s vehicle was crushed under a semi-truck stopped in front of them. Camps said his car was hit twice, but he and another friend were able to jump out. They took cover in the grass on the shoulder of the road. All around them, cars and trucks were on fire, and they could hear explosions as the vehicles burned. Authorities had not released the names of victims Sunday evening, but said one passenger car had four fatalities and a “tour bus-like” vehicle also was involved in the pileup. At least 18 people were taken to a hospital. All six lanes of the interstate — which runs virtually the entire length of Florida — were closed most of Sunday afternoon as investigators surveyed the site and firefighters put out the last of the flames. It was not clear when the highway would fully reopen because part of the road melted, police said.

NKorea’s young leader gets rock star treatment

 SEOUL(South Korea), Jan30, 2012(AP):  North Korea’s young new leader gets rock star treatment when he visits his troops — just as his father did. But while the late Kim Jong Il mostly stayed aloof in dark shades, his son holds hands and hugs his soldiers.Kim Jong Un seems to want to bond with his country’s people. The style harkens back to Kim Il Sung, his grandfather and revered founder of the country and ruling dynasty, and may reflect an attempt to turn a corner on the periods of hardship and famine under Kim Jong Il, analysts say. Kim Il Sung’s image as a daring young general fighting Japanese colonial troops is powerfully engraved in the minds of North Koreans. Cheers, applause and calls of “Hurrah!” greet Kim Jong Un as he examines the heating systems of soldiers’ quarters, the pressure of their water faucets, the books stacked in their libraries — even the taste of their food. The North Korean state media reports and video footage of such “guidance visits” provide rare windows into the personalities of North Korea’s leaders for outsiders and for the country’s people alike. Few North Koreans, for instance, even knew what the elder Kim’s voice sounded like, analysts say, despite his ruling for 17 years until his death Dec. 17. In visits made so far by Kim Jong Un, believed to be in his late 20s, North Korea specialists have detected more warmth in his approach than the dour tours made in recent years by Kim Jong Il. The younger Kim may be trying to emulate Kim Il Sung and move away from his father, who ruled during a famine in the mid- to late-1990s that killed hundreds of thousands, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University. North Korea also has faced international condemnation and sanctions for its pursuit of nuclear weapons. “He’ll try to look comfortable among the masses. He’ll try to form an intimacy with the people, perhaps more than his father did,” Koh said. Imitating Kim Il Sung is a “positive for Kim Jong Un, because memories of his father Kim Jong Il aren’t very good among ordinary people,” Koh said. “People fondly remember the days of Kim Il Sung.” Kim Il Sung often was pictured surrounded by children, and Kim Jong Un resurrected that image during a recent visit to the Mangyongdae Revolutionary School. As children in military uniforms cheered and clapped, a documentary on state TV showed Kim embracing one child’s face with his hands. During lunch, Kim patted students in encouragement and watched with a grin as two women ladled out soup for students; he poured a drop of sauce on his thumb so he could taste it. His main emphasis, however, has been on military posts — with a half dozen such visits since the New Year. They seek to show citizens that their new leader is firmly in command of the country’s most important institution, its 1.2 million-strong military, and that he is loved and respected by young troops and elderly generals alike. While Kim Jong Il had two decades to prepare for leadership, Kim Jong Un was only publicly unveiled as heir in 2010, and outside observers have raised doubts about Kim Jong Un’s ability to lead a country locked in a nuclear standoff with its neighbors and Washington and with a history of attacking South Korea. Animosity is still high between the Koreas. Six decades after the Korean War, the peninsula remains in a state of war because the 1950-53 conflict ended with an armistice, not a peace treaty. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea to deter potential North Korean aggression.
Bloodshed spiked in 2010 when a South Korean warship exploded in disputed waters, killing 46. South Korea said the North torpedoed the warship; the North denied the allegation. North Korea also attacked a front-line South Korean island, killing four. Kim Jong Un clearly has made attempts to appear active and engaged with his soldiers, and this “helps raise troops’ morale and his profile,” said Kim Yeon-su, a North Korea expert at Korea National Defense University. “North Korea is telling its people that Kim Jong Un is capable of doing all these military activities himself.” Kim Jong Un’s first reported military visit after his father’s death came on New Year’s Day. He appeared at ease, laughing and clapping, pulling officers close to give them words of advice, inspecting bunks and testing water faucets. State television has also played a documentary on Kim Jong Un meant to highlight his military experience, showing him in the cockpit of a tank, galloping by on horseback and poring over documents at night. Despite his youth, Kim Jong Un often plays the part of a solicitous father during his meticulously documented military tours. Wearing a dark overcoat similar to one Kim Il Sung favored as a young man or a light-colored parka like the one Kim Jong Il wore, he exchanges handshakes with cheering soldiers and takes group photos, often holding hands with the officers on either side of him. He asks about the soldiers’ warmth, their eating and sleeping arrangements, listens with apparent enjoyment to their musical performances, observes their “militant spirit of training,” offers guidance to officers and takes “care of the soldiers’ living as their real father would do,” according to state media. He even tastes their bean paste.

China boosts police presence in restless Xinjiang

BEIJING, Jan30, 2012(AP):  Thousands of additional police officers are being dispatched to combat religious extremism and other security concerns in China’s volatile, heavily Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang, state media reported Monday.Officials plan to recruit 8,000 officers to ensure every village in Xinjiang has at least one on patrol, the Xinhua News Agency said. Their primary tasks will be “security patrols, management of the migrant population and cracking down on illegal religious activities,” it said. The officers will be joined in their tasks by security guards and local militia, who are typically unarmed, Xinhua said. The beefing up of the police force is a sign of Beijing’s concern over unrest in Xinjiang, where long-simmering resentment against Chinese rule boiled over in 2009, when nearly 200 people were killed in fighting between native Uighurs and Han Chinese in the regional capital, Urumqi, according to the government. Dozens have been killed or wounded in recent months, and authorities have increasingly relied on overwhelming force and heavy-handed policing to control the situation. China has blamed overseas activists for what it described as organized terrorist attacks, specifically Pakistan-based militants affiliated with al-Qaida. Violence has also worsened in Tibetan areas to the south, following the self-immolations of Buddhist monks, nuns and former clergy. Police have fired into crowds of protesters, killing and wounding dozens, while barring outsiders from traveling to the area. Xinjiang regional spokeswoman Hou Hanmin confirmed to The Associated Press that the 8,000 officers were being recruited under a “one village, one officer” campaign. She said their main job would be to improve public services. The deployment also appears aimed at avoiding a Xinjiang crisis during a year that will see the start of a generational leadership transition in Beijing. Leading Xinjiang security official Xiong Xuanguo pledged earlier this month to strictly guard against “violent terrorism” and create a “harmonious social environment” ahead of the ruling Communist Party’s national congress due this fall, an event held once every five years. “Local authorities must further improve their capabilities for maintaining social stability and amplify the crackdown on religious extremist activities,” Xiong said. As with Tibetans, Xinjiang’s Uighurs have been angered by restrictions on cultural and religious life, as well as an influx of Han migrants they feel has left them economically marginalized in their own homelands.

Filmfare Awards: Rocking evening, great moments

In an evening of glitz and good cheer, the 57th Idea Filmfare Awards 2011 were presented at the newly set up Reliance MediaWorks Studio in the sylvan environs of Film City. The nominations encompassed several films that had attempted to tread a fairly unbeaten path-Rockstar, The Dirty Picture, No One Killed Jessica, Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Delhi Belly. As it turned out, Zindagi... cleared the course by winning seven trophies, followed by Rockstar with five and Delhi Belly with four. The Dirty Picture picked up three. Ranbir Kapoor's and Vidya Balan's bold attempt to break the mould they had been cast in all along and essay roles that had darker shades-he a troubled rock star and she an unapologetic sex bomb-paid off in the form of the Best Actor and Best Actress award for Rockstar and The Dirty Picture. Ranbir's turn got him a rare double whammy with the Critics' Award for Best Actor as well. Expectedly, Rockstar swept up three music awards too-Best Lyrics, Best Singer (Male) and Best Composer for A R Rahman.

The evening began with a musical tribute to Dev Anand, with Javed Ali of Coke Studio doing a version of Dil ka bhanwar, Aise na mujhe tum dekho and Khoya khoya chand. A ponytailed Shaan, accompanied by Leslie Lewis in a ponytail, stepped up with an ode to Shammi Kapoor with Baar baar dekho, Dil deke dekho and Badan pe sitare.

This year, the hosts were a mixed doubles pair of sorts. There was Shah Rukh minus his regular partner Saif, and Ranbir sans co-anchor Imran. Still, each new permutation and combination worked just as brightly. SRK and Ranbir dropped from an aerial harness and collided mid-air as sparks flew literally. SRK ribbed Ranbir, accusing him of overacting and saying that sons of great actors seldom matched up. Ably supported by Karan Johar , Ali Zafar and former Miss India Ankita Shorey, the duo made the audience crack up with their antics.

As always, the event drew an A-list of performers whose flamboyant acts lent glamour to the soiree. Apart from Shah Rukh Khan, there was Priyanka Chopra, Kareena Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, who each enacted a medley of their hit numbers. Having brought their long relationship out of wraps recently, Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia, who are to get married on February 3, shortly also put up a spirited pre-nuptial tango that included a song from their forthcoming film Tere Naal Love Ho Gaya.

The hall resounded with applause when the Lifetime Achievement award was given to veteran actress Aruna Irani. Back in 1961, few would have thought that the toothy child star of Ganga Jumna, who so enthusiastically sang Insaaf ki dagar pe, would acquire pride of place in Hindi cinema as a talented actor and dancer. "I have spent 56 years in the industry and I am so happy to know that my work is respected and appreciated," she told TOI. "The charm of this award is very different from that which one gets for one role. It's rather like putting your marks in individual roles aside for the total marks of your career."

Circa 2011, a veritable annus horribilis as far as the arts and media world was concerned, saw the demise of an unusually high number of performers in the film world, from Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi, Jagjit Singh, Bhupen Hazarika and many others. They were remembered through an AV.

The sponsors for the event were: Title sponsor IDEA, associate sponsor PC Jeweller, telecast partner Sony Entertainment Television, partner Coca Cola, partner Maya Lifestyle, partner Club X, lifestyle partner Monarch Universal Lifescapes, outdoor partner Bright Outdoor Media, beverage partner Black Dog, multiplex partner Orienta Cine Advertising , trophy partner The Award Gallery, food partner BJN Banquets , water partner Bisleri, radio partner Radio Mirchi, English news channel partner Times Now, scripting and show direction Moranis & Soormas of Cineyug, venue partner Reliance Mediaworks Studios, partner T-Series , event consultants Oxygen Entertainment and event management Percept Dmark.

(The 57th Idea Filmfare Awards 2011 will be telecast at 8.00 pm on Sunday, February 19 on Sony Entertainment Television)

Roll of HONOUR

BEST COSTUMES

NIHARIKA KHAN | The Dirty Picture

BEST SOUND DESIGN

NAKUL KAMTE | Don-2

BEST PRODUCTION/ART DIRECTION

SHASHANK TERE | Delhi Belly

BEST EDITING

HUZEFA LOKHANDWALA | Delhi Belly

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

CARLOS CATALON | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

BEST ACTION

ACTION CONCEPTS | Don-2

BEST BACKGROUND SCORE

RANJIT BAROT | Shaitan

BEST SFX

RED CHILLIES VFX | RA.One

BEST CHOREOGRAPHER

BOSCO-CAESAR | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

BEST DEBUTANT FEMALE

PARINEETI CHOPRA | Ladies V/s Ricky Bahl

BEST DEBUTANT MALE

VIDYUT JAMWAL | Force

BEST DEBUTANT DIRECTOR

ABHINAY DEO | Delhi Belly

RD BURMAN award for Upcoming talent in field of music

KRSNA | Tanu Weds Manu

PLAYBACK SINGER FEMALE

REKHA BHARADWAJ & USHA UTHUP | Darling (7 Khoon Maaf)

PLAYBACK SINGER MALE

MOHIT CHAUHAN | Jo Bhi Mein Kehna Chahoon-Rockstar

BEST LYRICS

IRSHAD KAMIL-NADAAN PARINDEY | Rockstar

BEST MUSIC

A R RAHMAN | Rockstar

IDEA SONY SCENE OF THE YEAR

The Dirty Picture

LIFE-TIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

ARUNA IRANI

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE(FEMALE)

RANI MUKERJI | No one killed Jessica

BEST ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE(MALE)

FARHAN AKHTAR | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

BEST STORY

SANJAY CHOUHAN | I am Kalam

BEST SCREENPLAY

AKSHAT VERMA | Delhi Belly

BEST DIALOGUE

FARHAN AKHTAR | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

CRITICS' AWARD FOR BEST FILM

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

CRITICS' AWARD FOR BEST ACTRESS

PRIYANKA CHOPRA | 7 Khoon Maaf

CRITICS' AWARD FOR BEST ACTOR

RANBIR KAPOOR | Rockstar

SPECIAL JURY CERTIFICATE FOR OUTSTANDING TALENT

PARTHO GUPTE | Stanley Ka Dabba

BEST DIRECTOR

ZOYA AKHTAR | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

BEST FILM

RITESH SIDHWANI, FARHAN AKHTAR | Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE(FEMALE)

VIDYA BALAN | The Dirty Picture

BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE(MALE)

RANBIR KAPOOR | Rockstar

12,000 birds spotted in Pobitora wildlife sanctuary

Morigaon (Assam-India),Jan30,2012: More than 12 thousand birds of 26 species have been spotted in Assam's Pobitora Wildlife Sanctuary during a week-long census, Forest officials said today.The Assam Forest Department and prominent environmental organisation, 'Aarayank' conducted a week-long census which concluded today, Sanctuary's Ranger Mukul Tamuly said.The birds include about 5,000 migratory while the remaining 7,000 belonged to local species. The migratory birds include more than hundred Siberian cranes.The census was conducted by 40 people belonging to both the forest department and Aaranyak. The sanctuary is famed for the highest density of one-horned rhino per square kilometre.

Lift ban on 4 scientists: Nair to PMO

BANGALORE,Jan30,2012: Former Isro chairman Madhavan Nair late on Sunday said he has forwarded a representation to the PMO seeking revocation of the order banning four scientists from working for the Union government. The representation follows government's suggestion for the same as an attempt to soothe frayed nerves after it had penalized four Isro scientists for the Antrix-Devas contract.Madhavan Nair told TOI, "I've made a representation. I have stated in the representation the procedure of issuing such an order is not according to the procedures and norms of the government and hence it may be revoked." Earlier, the minister of state in the PMO, V Narayanswamy, who has come in for criticizm for his statement that the action against Isro scientists is a warning to the scientific community, struck a conciliatory note, "We are ready to consider representation from the scientists."Narayanswamy had said, "Mr Nair and other scientists have helped develop the country. They have been instrumental in not only launching satellites, but taking us to the moon through Chandrayaan-1. It's because of them that we reached the sixth place in space in the world. We do not want to create a situation where scientists are demoralized." Nair, responding to Narayanswamy's remarks, said, "If what the minister has said about us is true, that we are highly reputed scientists and that we have contributed to the nation's space development and taken India to the moon, then I welcome it and appreciate the same."I urge that the PMO immediately call for the corresponding file and issue a directive revoking the ban order. Just as the government had stated in its order that it has asked a competent authority to issue orders to ban us from government work, I and my scientist colleagues urge the same government issue another directive asking the authority to withdraw the ban order immediately," he said.

North Korea to punish mobile phone users as 'war criminals'

LONDON,Jan30,2012: North Korea has warned its citizens against use of cell phones inside the country, saying anyone caught talking on mobiles would be branded as " war criminals" and punished accordingly, a media report said.North Korea has long relied on a total restriction of information to maintain control over its isolated citizenry, and in this crucial time of transition between late Kim Jong Il and his successor, Kim Jong Un, the state is clamping down on anyone using mobile phones, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported. This is apparently because of fears of possible discontent among people if they come to know about conditions outside North Korea from any report sent into the country by mobile phones, the report said.
There are also concerns in North Korea that reports about the popular uprisings in the Middle East last year which toppled long-ruling dictators in countries like Tunisia, Libya and Egypt could trigger unrest in the isolated nation.Moreover, the North Korean regime fears that any outside communication could assist anybody attempting to flee the country to reach South Korea, where an estimated 23,000 defectors have now settled, the report said.Meanwhile there are reports from within the isolated state that food supplies are again dwindling and that there has been an increase in the number of people attempting to cross the border into China.The North recently accepted private food aid from the South Korean "Korea Peace Foundation" even as they maintain military exercises and standing threats against their neighbour.

Sari cancer poses threat to women: Doctors

CHENNAI,Jan30,2012: The next time you drape a sari, you might want to re-tie that petticoat knot. According to an article in the November issue of the Journal of the Indian Medical Association, doctors at Grant Medical College in Mumbai have reported cases of what they are referring to as sari cancer. "We have treated three women for waist or sari cancer in the last couple of years," says author of the article Dr G D Bakhshi, who is an associate professor of surgery at Grant. He authored the piece with colleagues Dr Ashok D Borisa and Dr Mukund B Tayade. While two of the patients diagnosed a couple of years ago are mentioned in the article, the third was detected just three months ago. All the women were above the age of 40."The sari petticoat, if tied in the same place day after day, can cause chronic irritation along the waistline," says the report. "The constant irritation can result in scaling or pigmentation. But most sari-wearers don't notice it until it gets chronic," says Dr Bakhshi.He adds that women need to be cautious because waist dermatoses can turn malignant as it did in the case of the three women treated at GMC.Dr Bakhshi advises sariwearers to tie their petticoats looser or switch from the usual rope-like belt to broader ones that reduce pressure on the area. He also suggests that they keep changing the level at which they tie saris. "This kind of cancer does not really affect those wearing pants or belts because the pressure is spread over a larger area, unlike in the case of a petticoat nada or string," he says.Treatment depends on the stage at which the cancer has been diagnosed. "If detected early, it can be treated with reconstructive surgery. But if the cancer has spread to the lymph nodes then we need to remove the malignancy," says Dr Bakhshi. He adds that if detected early the cancer is curable.Chennai-based dermatologist Dr Maya Vedamurthy says that around 3% of sari-wearers who come to her have waist dermatoses but she has not seen any cases where it has turned malignant. "The moment I notice it, I tell the patient to start wearing the nada a little looser or switch to a broader string," she says.Like sari cancer, there are several lifestyle-related cancers that are increasingly being seen in India, such as breast, ovarian and tobacco-related cancers. "There are many types of tobacco-related cancers from lung and stomach to bladder and pancreatic. The cancer is also lifestyle-related, caused by smoking as well as increased levels of pollution in the environment," says Dr T Rajkumar, professor and head of molecular oncology, Cancer Institute, Adyar.He says breast and ovarian cancer have similar lifestylerelated causes such as late childbirth, lack of exercise, and breastfeeding on the decline. "Working women tend to postpone the age at which they have their first child and going beyond 30 is risky. With ovarian cancer, risk factors include early menarche and late menopause," he says. Dr Rajkumar adds that colonic cancer, which is related to a low-fibre diet, is also on the rise world over.