Defending the increase of milk prices and bus fares as a 'painful'

Chennai: Defending the increase of milk prices and bus fares as a 'painful' decision taken by her government, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today slammed opposition parties, including her erstwhile allies, for criticising it out of 'political reasons'

 Jayalalithaa also came down on her archrival and DMK chief M Karunanidhi for flaying the state Cabinet decision, saying he was "shedding crocodile tears" and people were aware of it.

Various political parties including DMK, actor-politican Vijaykant's DMDK and Left parties have criticised the steep increase in the prices of milk sold by state-owned Aavin and bus fare announced by Jayalalithaa.

In a statement here, she said her Cabinet on November 17 took 'the painful decision' to increase the prices to save the PSUs -- Aavin and state transport corporations, left in 'bad health' by the previous DMK Government.

"We were forced to hike prices as we had no other choice. People should realise this and not give into the statements (by opposition leaders)," she said requesting their cooperation.

Jayalalithaa dismissed as a 'bag of lies' Karunanidhi's statement that despite officials' request, he had not allowed hiking the prices of milk and bus fares. "He is only pretending to speak for the people. They are aware of his crocodile tears," she added.

Taking a dig at DMDK and the Left parties, which had contested the April assembly polls in alliance with AIADMK but parted ways ahead of last month's civic polls, Jayalalithaa accused their leaders of adopting 'double standards' saying they had earlier expressed concern over the state of the PSUs.

Prior to the assembly polls, these parties had conveyed to her their concern over DMK's administrative 'mismanagement' and other issues affecting people."They had said only I can fix these issues by virtue of bold, tough measures," she said.

"Let their conscience decide if it is right for them to issue statements condemning the hike now," she said.

Intelligence is a very difficult concept

Intelligence is a very difficult concept to define. Intellect is described as “the power of the mind to think in a logical manner and acquire knowledge” [1]. Even psychology experts have not agreed upon what this actually means [2]. Intelligence can be divided into various subcategories such as reasoning, problem solving, and memory, and so creating a consistent scale by which one can measure intelligence is quite difficult.

Scientists Use Gold Nanorods to Flag Brain Tumors

ScienceDaily (Oct. 12, 2011) — "It's not brain surgery" is a phrase often uttered to dismiss a job's difficulty, but when the task actually is removing a brain tumor, even the slightest mistake could have serious health consequences. To help surgeons in such high-pressure situations, researchers from Prof. Adam Wax's team at Duke University's Fitzpatrick Institute for Photonics and Biomedical Engineering Department have proposed a way to harness the unique optical properties of gold nanoparticles to clearly distinguish a brain tumor from the healthy, and vital, tissue that surrounds it.


Current techniques for outlining brain tumors vary, but all have limitations, such as the inability to perform real-time imaging without big, expensive equipment, or the toxicity and limited lifespan of certain labeling agents. Gold nanoparticles -- which are so small that 500 of them end-to-end could fit across a human hair -- might provide a better way to flag tumorous tissue, since they are non-toxic and relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

The Duke researchers synthesized gold, rod-shaped nanoparticles with varying length-to-width ratios. The different-sized particles displayed different optical properties, so by controlling the nanorods' growth the team could "tune" the particles to scatter a specific frequency of light. The researchers next joined the tuned particles to antibodies that bind to growth factor receptor proteins found in unusually high concentrations on the outside of cancer cells. When the antibodies latched on to cancer cells, the gold nanoparticles marked their presence.

The team tested the method by bathing slices of tumor-containing mouse brain in a solution of gold nanoparticles merged with antibodies. Shining the tuned frequency of light on the sample revealed bright points where the tumors lurked. The tunability of the gold nanoparticles is important, says team member Kevin Seekell, because it allows researchers to choose from a window of light frequencies that are not readily absorbed by biological tissue. It might also allow researchers to attach differently tuned nanoparticles to different antibodies, providing a way to diagnose different types of tumors based the specific surface proteins the cancer cells display. Future work by the team will also focus on developing a surgical probe that can image gold nanoparticles in a living brain, Seekell says

Tamil Nadu Local Body Election Results

 Chennai Corporation ADMK Mayor candidate Saidai Duraisamy Leads

Chennai, Oct 21: Tamil nadu local body elections took place all over tamilnadu on 17th and 19th.. Counting started today.

In Chennai Corporation ADMK mayor candidate Saidai Duraisamy leads by 2060 Votes against DMK candidate M. Subramanian.
Candidate NameVotes

S.SAIDAI DURAISAMY (AIADMK) 68,439
MA.SUBRAMANIAN (DMK) 41383
G.VELMURUGAN (DMDK) 6564
N.MANOHARAN (MDMK) 2348
A.K.MOORTHY (PMK) 2929
SAIDAI RAVI (Congress) 3055
P.G.PARAMESH BABU (BSP) 695

Col Gaddafi killed

Muammar Gaddafi is the latest in a long line of despots, tyrants and global terrorists to be captured or killed.
He died just five months after the most wanted international fugitive of the 21st Century, al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, met his end.
Bin Laden survived on the run for a decade before a group of US Navy Seals burst into his hideaway and shot him dead on May 2, 2011.
Rather than a remote mountain cave, where many assumed him to be, bin laden was discovered living in a large house with members of his family in the garrison town of Abbottabad in Pakistan.
His body was flown to Afghanistan so buried at sea within 24 hours of his death.
Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein lived less well than Osama bin Laden while evading an intense manhunt for eight months following the fall of Baghdad in 2003.
Saddam was found and captured by US forces at a farm house near his former power base in Tikrit in December of that year.
He was dragged from a hole looking dishevelled having grown long straggly hair and a bushy beard.
Saddam was tried in Iraq and found guilty of crimes against humanity before being executed by hanging in December 2006.
Radovan Karadic, the former Bosnian Serb leader, remained on the run for 12 years.
During that time he worked under an alias at a private medical clinic in Belgrade before finally being arrested in 2008.
After years on the run Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb military leader and accused war criminal, was captured in May this year at a house in a village in northern Serbia.
In 1989 Nicolae Ceaucescu, who ruled Romania for more two decades, died at the hands of his own people.
He was captured and put to death by firing squad, along with his wife, after a two hour trial.
In 2006 former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, known as the "Butcher of the Balkans," was found dead from a heart attack in his cell in The Hague.
He had been handed to the UN war crimes tribunal but died mid-trial.

Microring Device Could Aid in Future Optical Technologies

Microring Device

 Researchers at Purdue University and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a device small enough to fit on a computer chip that converts continuous laser light into numerous ultrashort pulses, a technology that might have applications in more advanced sensors, communications systems and laboratory instruments.

"These pulses repeat at very high rates, corresponding to hundreds of billions of pulses per second," said Andrew Weiner, the Scifres Family Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The tiny "microring resonator" is about 80 micrometers, or the width of a human hair, and is fabricated from silicon nitride, which is compatible with silicon material widely used for electronics. Infrared light from a laser enters the chip through a single optical fiber and is directed by a structure called a waveguide into the microring.

The pulses have many segments corresponding to different frequencies, which are called "comb lines" because they resemble teeth on a comb when represented on a graph.

By precisely controlling the frequency combs, researchers hope to create advanced optical sensors that detect and measure hazardous materials or pollutants, ultrasensitive spectroscopy for laboratory research, and optics-based communications systems that transmit greater volumes of information with better quality while increasing bandwidth. The comb technology also has potential for a generation of high-bandwidth electrical signals with possible applications in wireless communications and radar.

The light originates from a continuous-wave laser, also called a single-frequency laser.

"This is a very common type of laser," Weiner said. "The intensity of this type of laser is constant, not pulsed. But in the microring the light is converted into a comb consisting of many frequencies with very nice equal spacing. The microring comb generator may serve as a competing technology to a special type of laser called a mode-locked laser, which generates many frequencies and short pulses. One advantage of the microrings is that they can be very small."

The laser light undergoes "nonlinear interaction" while inside the microring, generating acomb of new frequencies that is emitted out of the device through another optical fiber.

"The nonlinearity is critical to the generation of the comb," said doctoral student Fahmida Ferdous. "With the nonlinearity we obtain a comb of many frequencies, including the original one, and the rest are new ones generated in the microring."

Findings are detailed in a research paper appearing online this month in the journal Nature Photonics. The paper is scheduled for publication in the Dec. 11 issue.

Although other researchers previously have demonstrated the comb-generation technique, the team is the first to process the frequencies using "optical arbitrary waveform technology," pioneered by Purdue researchers led by Weiner. The researchers were able to control the amplitude and phase of each spectral line, learning that there are two types of combs -- "highly coherent" and "partially coherent" -- opening up new avenues to study the physics of the process.

"In future investigations, the ability to extract the phase of individual comb lines may furnish clues into the physics of the comb-generation process," Ferdous said. "Future work will include efforts to create devices that have the proper frequency for commercial applications."

The silicon-nitride device was fabricated by a team led by Houxun Miao, a researcher at NIST's Center for Nanoscale Science and Technology and the Maryland Nanocenter at the University of Maryland. Some of the work was performed at the Birck Nanotechnology Center in Purdue's Discovery Park, and experiments demonstrating short-pulse generation were performed in Purdue's School of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

The effort at Purdue is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the Naval Postgraduate School.

Nano fuel Used to Generate Extreme Ultraviolet Light Pulses

 If you want to avoid spilling when you are pouring liquids in the kitchen you may appreciate a funnel. Funnels are not only useful tools in the kitchen. Light can also be efficiently concentrated with funnels. In this case, the funnels have to be about 10.000-times smaller.

An international team of scientists from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Daejeon (South Korea), the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) in Garching (Germany), and the Georgia State University (GSU) in Atlanta (USA) has now managed to concentrate the energy of infrared light pulses with a nano funnel and use the concentrated energy to generate extreme ultraviolet light flashes. These flashes, which repeated 75 million times per second, lasted only a few femtoseconds. The new technology can help in the future to measure the movement of electrons with the highest spatial and temporal resolution.

Light is convertible. The wavelengths composing the light can change through interactions with matter, where both the type of material and shape of the material are important for the frequency conversion. An international team of scientists from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ), and the Georgia State University (GSU) has now modified light waves with a nano funnel made out of silver. The scientists converted femtosecond laser pulses in the infrared spectral range to femtosecond light flashes in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV). Ultrashort, pulsed EUV light is used in laser physics to explore the inside of atoms and molecules. A femtosecond lasts only a millionth of a billionth of a second.

Light in the infrared (IR) can be converted to the EUV by a process known as high-harmonic generation, whereby the atoms are exposed to a strong electric field from the IR laser pulses. These fields have to be as strong as the fields holding the atom together. With these fields electrons can be extracted from the atoms and accelerated with full force back onto the atoms. Upon impact highly energetic radiation in the EUV is generated.

To reach the necessary strong electric fields for the production of EUV light, the team of scientists has now combined this scheme with a nano funnel in order to concentrate the electric field of the light. With their new technology, they were able to create a powerful EUV light source with wavelengths down to 20 nanometers. The light source exhibits a so far unreached high repetition rate: the few femtoseconds lasting EUV light flashes are repeated 75 million times per second.

The core of the experiment was a small, only a few micrometers long, slightly elliptical funnel made out of silver and filled with xenon gas. The tip of the funnel was only ca. 100 nanometers wide. The infrared light pulses were sent into the funnel entrance where they travel through towards the small exit. The electromagnetic forces of the light result in density fluctuations of the electrons on the inside of the funnel. Here, a small patch of the metal surface was positively charged, the next one negative and so on, resulting in new electromagnetic fields on the inside of the funnel, which are called surface plasmon polaritons. The surface plasmon polaritons travel towards the tip of the funnel, where the conical shape of the funnel results in a concentration of their fields. “The field on the inside of the funnel can become a few hundred times stronger than the field of the incident infrared light. This enhanced field results in the generation of EUV light in the Xe gas.”, explains Prof. Mark Stockman from GSU.

The nano funnel has yet another function. Its small opening at the exit acts as “doorman” for light wavelengths. Not every opening is passable for light. If the opening is smaller than half of a wavelength, the other side remains dark. The 100 nanometer large opening of the funnel did not allow the infrared light at 800 nm to pass. The generated EUV pulses with wavelengths down to 20 nanometers passed, however, without problems. “The funnel acts as an efficient wavelength filter: at the small opening only EUV light comes out.”, explains Prof. Seung-Woo Kim from KAIST, where the experiments were conducted.

“Due to their short wavelength and potentially short pulse duration reaching into the attosecond domain, extreme ultraviolet light pulses are an important tool for the exploration of electron dynamics in atoms, molecules and solids”, explains Seung-Woo Kim. Electrons are extremely fast, moving on attosecond timescales (an attosecond is a billionth of a billionth of a second). In order to capture a moving electron, light flashes are needed, which are shorter than the timescale of the motion. Attosecond light flashes have become a familiar tool in the exploration of electron motion. With the conventional techniques, they can only be repeated a few thousand times per second. This can change with the nano funnel. “We assume that the few femtosecond light flashes consist of trains of attosecond pulses”, argues Matthias Kling, group leader at MPQ. “With such pulse trains, we should be able to conduct experiments with attosecond time resolution at very high repetition rate.”

The repetition rate is important for e.g. the application of EUV pulses in electron spectroscopy on surfaces. Electrons repel each other by Coulomb forces. Therefore, it may be necessary to restrict the experimental conditions such that only a single electron is generated per laser shot. With low repetition rates, long data acquisition times would be required in order to achieve sufficient experimental resolution. “In order to conduct experiments with high spatial and temporal resolution within a sufficiently short time, a high repetition rate EUV source is needed”, explains Kling. The novel combination of laser technology and nanotechnology can help in the future to record movies of ultrafast electron motion on surfaces with so far unreached temporal and spatial resolution in the attosecond-nanometer domain.

Herschel Telescope Detects Oxygen Molecules in Space

PASADENA, Calif. – The Herschel Space Observatory's large telescope and state-of-the-art infrared detectors have provided the first confirmed finding of oxygen molecules in space. The molecules were discovered in the Orion star-forming complex.

Individual atoms of oxygen are common in space, particularly around massive stars. But molecular oxygen, which makes up about 20 percent of the air we breathe, has eluded astronomers until now.

"Oxygen gas was discovered in the 1770s, but it's taken us more than 230 years to finally say with certainty that this very simple molecule exists in space," said Paul Goldsmith, NASA's Herschel project scientist at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Goldsmith is lead author of a recent paper describing the findings in the Astrophysical Journal. Herschel is a European Space Agency-led mission with important NASA contributions.

Astronomers searched for the elusive molecules in space for decades using balloons, as well as ground- and space-based telescopes. The Swedish Odin telescope spotted the molecule in 2007, but the sighting could not be confirmed.

Goldsmith and his colleagues propose that oxygen is locked up in water ice that coats tiny dust grains. They think the oxygen detected by Herschel in the Orion nebula was formed after starlight warmed the icy grains, releasing water, which was converted into oxygen molecules.

"This explains where some of the oxygen might be hiding," said Goldsmith. "But we didn't find large amounts of it, and still don't understand what is so special about the spots where we find it. The universe still holds many secrets."

The researchers plan to continue their hunt for oxygen molecules in other star-forming regions.

"Oxygen is the third most common element in the universe and its molecular form must be abundant in space," said Bill Danchi, Herschel program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Herschel is proving a powerful tool to probe this unsolved mystery. The observatory gives astronomers an innovative tool to look at a whole new set of wavelengths where the tell-tale signature of oxygen may be hiding."

Herschel is a European Space Agency cornerstone mission, with science instruments provided by consortia of European institutes. NASA's Herschel Project Office is based at JPL, which contributed mission-enabling technology for two of Herschel's three science instruments. The NASA Herschel Science Center, part of the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, supports the U.S. astronomical community. Caltech manages JPL for NASA....

Motorola Mobility

Motorola Mobility (NYSE: MMI) on Tuesday announced its latest smartphone, confirming many of the rumors and spec leaks that had already begun to surround the handset.


The Motorola Droid Razr

It's called the "Droid Razr," its body is partially made of Kevlar, it has a 4.3-inch Gorilla Glass display, it's a 4G LTE device and it's headed to the Verizon Wireless Network.

Motorola touts the Droid Razr's ultra-thin, lightweight design, in keeping with the Razr line's penchant for slimline devices. However, slimness alone is becoming less and less of a truly standout attribute among phones.

"You could use adjectives like 'thinner' and 'lighter' for devices from every other vendor out there," Ramon Llamas, a senior research analyst at IDC, told TechNewsWorld.

"The only thing they might have going for them is the Kevlar," said Michael Morgan, a senior analyst at ABI Research.

The back of the device incorporates Kevlar fiber, Motorola Mobility spokesperson Christa Smith told TechNewsWorld.

Slicing Into the Droid Razr's Guts

The Droid Razr measures about 5 inches by 2.7 inches by 0.27 inches and weighs less than 4.5 ounces.

It has a Super AMOLED Advanced touchscreen measuring 4.3 inches and a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor. It offers Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity and can serve as a WiFi hotspot

The device is claimed to be the first smartphone that can stream movies and TV shows through Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX) with HD resolution.

The Droid Razr has an 8 MP 1080p HD camera in the rear and a 1.3 MP front-facing camera. It can capture and play back HD video. Other features include an eGPS and eCompass.

Preloaded applications include Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) Mobile Services and MotoCast, a free app from Motorola that lets users stream or download media from PCs to the phone.

The Droid Razr runs Android 2.3.5 and has a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor. It can double as a 4G LTE mobile hotspot.

The device also has remote wipe, PIN lock and government-grade encryption.

A water-repellent coating protects the device inside and out.

The Droid Razr will be available exclusively from Verizon Wireless in the United States. It will go on sale in November at US$300 with a two-year contract.

The Glory That Was Razr

Motorola appears to be trying to capitalize on the Razr brand -- the Razr was the hottest cellphone on the market when it was introduced in 2004.

However, "The Razr was great, but it came and went," IDC's Llamas said.

Motorola plans to offer the Droid Razr to every possible market.

"Droid Razr meets certain government-grade security features so is suitable for consumers, enterprises or governments concerned about the security of their device," Motorola's Smith said.

Joining the 4G Parade

"Looking at the market, I'd say the Droid Razr is an average WIMAX or LTE 4G smartphone," ABI's Morgan told TechNewsWorld.

"They've all got dual-core processors, WiFi hotspot functionality and a wide display," Morgan added. "Unfortunately, the Droid Razr's looking like another attempt at making an LTE handset."

The Droid Razr could be uncomfortably similar to the ill-fated Droid Bionic, which was unveiled in January, Morgan cautioned.

"I'm trying to see how it differs from the Bionic, which had problems," Morgan said.

Motorola "had to swop out some hardware, and had some delays," Morgan elaborated.

Whether or not the market responds favorably to the Droid Razr remains to be seen, but "this is part of the Droid line, which has been wildly successful at Verizon," IDC's Llamas pointed out.

Motorola also introduced the Motoactv device on Tuesday. This is a wristwatch-like device that tracks the owner's running and cycling activities and features music-player abilities. 

How to improve your memory

Did you know a good night's sleep can improve your test scores without you doing any extra work? And a wrongly timed chocolate bar can slow your thinking right down? Your brain's very sensitive and it constantly needs to repair itself and build new connections between the cells as you learn new things.

To do this, it needs top class nutrition, a steady supply of energy, a steady supply of oxygen, and time asleep to do all its updating.

So here's how to send your brain to the spa:

Diet

Tip 1: For general brain health, you need to eat a balanced diet, containing plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. Every other part of your body will benefit from this too.

Tip 2: Your brain needs a steady supply of energy, but it can only get this from a type of sugar called glucose. This glucose comes from the carbohydrates you eat, but only certain kinds of carbs will do. These include wholemeal bread, pasta, porridge and pulses, which take time for your body to break down, so release their glucose slowly and steadily. Chocolate, biscuits and other sugary snacks are sadly not good for your brain. They release their sugar so quickly that your brain will peak... but then quickly crash afterwards leaving you feeling less energised than before. Not recommended for any brainy work.

Tip 3: Your brain needs to be primed with oxygen. It gets this from exercise (Tip 6 below), but you also need to have a good supply of iron in your bloodstream. This iron comes from foods such as red meat, green leafy vegetables like spinach, dried fruit, fortified cereals, and pulses, including baked beans.

Tip 4: Don't skip breakfast (or lunch) – especially before an exam. Your brain will perform less well if you haven't eaten for hours. Brain scientists have shown that a student's test results are lower when they haven't eaten. But you need to eat the right thing. Again, junk food won't work. The brain needs those slow-releasing carbohydrates. Beans on toast for example has been shown to be particularly beneficial.

Read more here: Everyone needs breakfast – and girls need extra.Water

Tip 5: Don't go thirsty. Dehydration will affect your brain's performance. Don't go mad though – especially if you're about to sit an exam. Trips to the toilet will be a distraction.

Exercise

Tip 6: Your brain needs the rest of you to get moving, and pump the oxygen-rich blood it needs through every capillary. Studies show that exercise improves your memory capacity – and lack of it will make your brain age prematurely. So get on your bike! Your brain will thank you, and it helps you also to do Tip 7.

Sleep

Tip 7: Possibly the quickest and easiest treat for your brain – a great night's sleep. You get to rest, and your brain gets to repair itself and consolidate all the day's new learning. Even an hour less sleep can affect your test scores the next day. And experts say if you want to maximise your revision, you should get some sleep as quickly as possible after you've done it. Catnap, anyone?

Space mission revolution

The 1957 launch of Sputnik 1, the first Earth-orbiting satellite, sparked decades of competition in space between the United States and the Soviet Union.

Whatever the motivation, missions such as Apollo 11, Venera 9, and Cassini-Huygens have helped mankind develop an ever-widening knowledge of the Solar System and beyond.

With the end of the Cold War, competition in space exploration has increasingly given way to international collaboration.

CBI books Maran

Chennai, Oct 10 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday conducted raids on the premises of former Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran after registering a case against him in connection with the controversial Aircel-Maxis deal.

The agency also booked his brother Kalanidhi Maran, Maxis ownerT Ananda Krishnan, senior executive Ralph Marshall and three companies Aspro, Maxis and Sun TV.

It has been alleged by former Aircel Chief C Sivasankaran that Maran as a telecom minister favoured the Maxis-Group in the takeover of his company and in return investments were made by the company through Astro network in Sun TV owned by Maran family.

The CBI, in its recent status report to the Supreme Court, had said that during Maran's tenure there was "deliberate delay" to provide a letter of intent to Sivasankaran.

The CBI, in its 71-page status report about the 2G scam said that during 2004-07, when Maran was telecom minister, a Chennai base telecom promoter (Sivasankaran) was forced to sell the stake in Aircel to a Malaysian firm.

The CBI also said that there did seem to be "an element of coercion" in the manner in which Aircel was sold to Ananda Krishnan's Maxis empire.

The investigating agency said a probe into all irregularities in spectrum allocation during 2001-08 will be completed within three months.

The CBI and the Enforcement Directorate informed the apex court that they have conducted probe in seven destinations in foreign countries and tracking the money trail could take up to 18 more months.

The CBI in its report has also questioned the propriety of corporate affairs ministry as well as others to comment on the status of relationship between Loop Telecom and Essar. (ANI)

Andy Murray will play Rafael Nadal

Andy Murray will play Rafael Nadal in Sunday's final of the Japan Open after a comfortable win over David Ferrer.

The British number one beat the Spaniard 6-2 6-3 to remain on course for a second successive title after winning the Thailand Open last week.

Defending champion Nadal beat American Mardy Fish 7-5 6-1 in the last four.

Murray broke his opponent three times in total as he raced to victory in one hour 21 minutes.

Looking ahead to Sunday's final he added: "I think he's played some very good tennis the last couple of matches. He's always tough. He won here last year, so he likes the conditions."

Nadal faced a tougher task in his semi-final against world number eight Mardy Fish.

"I hope that I can play a fantastic match [tomorrow]," said the top seed.

"My opponent will be very difficult, so I have to play my best match if I want to win the tournament with the title.

"But for me, being in the final here is a very, very good result. I'm very happy about it. I'll just try to do my best and enjoy a difficult match," he added.

  

              Srinagar: A resolution seeking clemency for 2001 parliament attack covict Afzal Guru could not come up for discussion in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly Wednesday as the house was adjourned for the day after a clash between Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators.

              As the present assembly session ends on October 4, the resolution tabled by independent legislator Engineer Rashid will now be taken up in the next session.

              Congress and BJP legislators on Wednesday clashed near the speaker's podium over alleged corruption by some BJP members who had voted against the party whip during the last legislative council elections. The speaker then adjourned the house till Thursday.

              The resolution will now be taken up in the next session. The present session ends on October 4.

Anna Hazare gets invitation

Ralegan Siddhi, Maharashta: A two-member delegation from Pakistan on Wednesday met social activist Anna Hazare at his native village Ralegan Siddhi and extended an invitation to visit the neighbouring country.

The delegation comprised Justice Nasir Aslam Jahid, a former judge of Pakistan's Supreme Court, and Karamat Ali, a well-known peace activist.

Sri Lankan minister cannot be arrested

Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister for Traditional Industries, Douglas Devananda, cannot be arrested during his visit to India, in connection with the criminal charges against him as he enjoys diplomatic immunity, the Centre has informed the Madras High Court.

In his counter affidavit to a writ petition seeking a direction to the Central and Stateauthorities to arrest the Minister and prosecute him, the Under Secretary (Sri Lanka) in the Ministry of External Affairs, Kaghal Matha Praphullachandra Sharma, stated that India did not have an extradition treaty with Sri Lanka. However, under sub-section (1) of Section 3 of theExtradition Act, there was an extradition arrangement between the governments with effect from September 1, 1978. As the incumbent was a Cabinet Minister of Sri Lanka, he cannot be arrested during his visit.

I'm thankful to the BCCI for extending our contract:Srikanth

NEW DELHI: Selection committee chairmanKrishnamachari Srikkanth, whose tenure has been extended by the BCCI,
feels the England tour was a "bad dream" and it is time for Indian cricket to move on. "I'm thankful to the BCCI for extending our contract and placing faith in this committee.

Senior lawyer to defend Kasab

New Delhi: Top advocate Raju Ramachandran has been appointed to defend the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack accused Ajmal Kasab in the Supreme Court. Kasab has filed a petition in the apex court challenging the death penalty.

Yemen unrest

Anti-government activist Ahmed Al-Shawish said the action was ''cruel and aggressive''

A ceasefire has been agreed in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, after government forces shelled a protester camp there, killing seven people, reports say.

It was apparently negotiated by Yemen's vice-president and Western envoys.

Obama to meet Abbas and Netanyahu

US President Barack Obama will urge his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas to drop a bid for UN recognition of statehood later on Wednesday.

Mr Obama will also meet Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu amid frantic diplomacy aimed at averting a crisis.

The US president has vowed to veto the bid, backing Israel's view that direct talks offer the only route to peace.

India to topple Japan as world's 3rd-largest economy

NEW DELHI: India might become the world's third largest economy in 2011 by overtaking Japan in terms of gross domestic product (GDP) measured according to the domestic purchasing power of the rupee, otherwise called purchasing power parity.

India is now the fourth-largest economy behind the US, China and Japan. Numbers from 2010 show that the Japanese economy was worth $4.31 trillion, with India snapping at its heels at $4.06 trillion. But after March's devastating tsunami and earthquakes, Japan's economy is widely expected to contract while India's economy will grow between 7% and 8% this fiscal. "India should overtake Japan in 2011 to become the third-largest economy in the world at purchasing power parity," said Sunil Sinha, head of research and senior economist at Crisil.

Low-fat yoghurt during pregnancy

Pregnant women who eat low-fat yoghurt can increase the risk of their child developing asthma and hay fever, a study says.

At the European Respiratory Society conference, researchers will suggest this could be due to an absence of protective fatty acids in yoghurt.

The diets of more than 70,000 Danish women were analysed and their children followed until the age of seven.

Asthma UK says pregnant women should follow a balanced diet.'No milk link'

Pregnant women who ate low-fat yoghurt with fruit once a day were found to be 1.6 times more likely to have children who developed asthma by age seven, compared with children of women who did not eat low-fat yoghurt.

The study also found that the children of these women were more likely to have allergic rhinitis (hay fever) and current asthma symptoms.

But the results showed that milk intake during pregnancy was not linked to any increased risk of asthma.

In fact, milk was shown to protect against asthma development.

We would recommend that pregnant women discuss any drastic changes to their diet with their GP”Leanne MetcalfAsthma UK

Ekaterina Maslova, lead study author form the Harvard School of Public Health, who worked with the data at the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, said: "It is a puzzling finding. The absence of fatty acids in low-fat yoghurt may be key to the results.

"The results suggest that fatty acids play an important role or it could be that people who ate this kind of yoghurt had similar lifestyle and dietary patterns, but we cannot make any conclusions at this stage.

"We need to replicate these results in other studies first."

Leanne Metcalf, director of research at Asthma UK, said there is plenty of evidence to suggest that the pre-natal environment can influence a child's health.

"However, the impact of a pregnant woman's diet on her child's health continues to be debated, as it is difficult to assess how particular aspects of a woman's diet during pregnancy are linked to the risk of developing asthma and allergies.

"Eating a healthy, balanced diet at any time, but especially during pregnancy is advisable and we would recommend that pregnant women discuss any drastic changes to their diet with their GP first."

Stimulating brain with electricity aids learning speed

Electrically stimulating the brain can help to speed up the process of learning, scientists have shown.

Applying a small current to specific parts of the brain can increase its activity, making learning easier.

Researchers from the University of Oxford have studied the changing structure of the brain in stroke patients and in healthy adults.

Prof Heidi Johansen-Berg presented their findings at the British Science Festival in Bradford.

The team at Oxford has been conducting research into how the structure of the brain changes in adulthood, and in particular what changes occur after a stroke.

They have used functional MRI scanners to monitor activity in the brain as stroke patients re-learn motor skills that were lost as a result of their illness.

One of the major findings is that the brain is very flexible, and can restructure itself, growing new connections and reassigning tasks to different areas, when damage occurs or a specific task is practiced.

As part of this research, they investigated the possibility of using non-invasive electric brain stimulation to improve the recovery of these motor skills; the short term improvement in stroke patients had already been noted.

But an unexpected result was found when the same brain stimulation was applied to healthy adults - their speed of learning was also significantly increased.Increasing activity

To observe this effect, the team has devised an experiment, whereby volunteers must memorise a sequence of buttons to press "like playing a tune on a piano".

While they are doing this, they are fitted with a "trans-cranial current stimulation" device, where two rubber electrodes are places in a specific position on the head.

A very small, one milliamp current is passed between the electrodes in an arc through the brain and, depending on the direction of that current, will either increase or decrease the activity of that part of the brain.

Professor Johansen-Berg explained that "an increase in activity of the brain cells makes them more susceptible to the kinds of changes that occur during learning".

The results of the button-pressing experiments showed the positive effects of just 10 minutes of the brain stimulation on learning, compared to a very similar placebo set up.

"While the stimulation didn't improve the participant's best performance, the speed at which they reached their best was significantly increased", said Professor Johansen-Berg.

Targeting the area of the brain that controls motor skills allows movement tasks to be learned more quickly, and the researchers envisage the technique could be used to help in the training of sportsmen.Educational Improvements

The experiments have explicitly shown that stimulating the motor cortex of the brain can increase the speed of learning motor skills.

It is the hope of the researchers that the same method may be applied to other parts of the brain to improve educational learning, simply by positioning the electrodes in different locations so the current is focussed on the correct area.

The relative simplicity, low price (around £2,000 per unit), and portability of the technology may mean that, following further research, a device could be designed to be automated for use at home.

Looking to the future, Professor Johansen-Berg and her team plan to investigate the potential for increasing the effect, by stimulating daily over a period of weeks to months.

In the treatment of stroke patients, the technique could be used in parallel with current physiotherapy treatments, to improve on their variable success.

Ban on gays in US military ends

A policy banning open homosexuality in the US military has been repealed after nearly two decades.

The dropping of "don't ask, don't tell" means service members can now reveal they are gay without fear of investigation or discharge.

"Repeal Day" parties have been organised across the country to mark the victory for gay rights.

The US Congress voted last year to repeal the law, which was introduced in 1993 under the Clinton administration.

Under the policy, gays were permitted to serve as long as they did not openly acknowledge their sexual orientation, while commanders were not allowed to ask.Displays of affection

Pentagon press secretary George Little told reporters on Monday that the Department of Defense was fully prepared for repeal, and that 97% of military personnel had received training on the new law.

Our nation will close the door on a fundamental unfairness for gays and lesbians”Nancy PelosiHouse of Representatives Minority Speaker

DADT ends, but 'inequity' endures

The armed forces have been accepting applications from openly gay recruits for a number of weeks and will begin processing them now that the new law has taken effect.

The military has also published a revised set of regulations, without references to any ban against homosexual service members.

Pending investigations, discharges and other administrative proceedings have now been dropped under the new law.

Those who have been discharged under the don't ask, don't tell rule are entitled to re-enlist.

But existing standards of personal conduct, such as those pertaining to public displays of affection, will not change.

Nor will there be any change to the eligibility standards for military benefits.

Under current rules, service members are allowed to choose a partner as care-giver under the Wounded Warrior programme, or as a life insurance beneficiary.

"Our nation will finally close the door on a fundamental unfairness for gays and lesbians, and indeed affirm equality for all Americans," said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat and leading advocate of the repeal.

Some in Congress remain opposed to repeal, arguing it could undermine efficiency and discipline in the military.

After the Don't Ask Don't Tell Repeal Act was passed by Congress last December, President Barack Obama, Defence Secretary Leon Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Admiral Mike Mullen certified that allowing openly gay service members would not undermine the military.

Flood: England have woken up

Toby Flood believes England's laboured victory over Georgiav could prove to be a watershed moment in their Rugby World Cup campaign.

England eventually ran in six tries for a 41-10 victory over the Lelos but they made hard work of it, prompting a changing-room tirade from manager Martin Johnson.

Four years ago, England held a summit meeting which turned their World Cup around and Flood hopes that another post-match review session will do something similar.

"I think it might work in our favour, it might be quite a nice kick up the arse," said Flood.

"It might be a scenario of saying 'OK, this is time for the squad to really pull together and say gone are the days of us getting away with this'.

"I think we'll have a pretty open-air review meeting and it will be interesting to really pull out some points. We'll get better and we'll learn from this. It's about time we took some of these shots on the chin.

"It's hopefully going to be a wake-up call for us."

The big difference between now and 2007 is that England remain unbeaten after two matches, whereas at this stage four years ago they had just been humbled 36-0 by South Africa.

But England recognise they got themselves out of jail against both Argentina and Georgia.

The Pumas missed six penalty shots at goal and Georgia five as they failed to punish England's woeful discipline. Scotland's sharp-shooter Chris Paterson is unlikely to be so generous.

Johnson blasted England as "sloppy" and warned they will fail to reach their stated minimum target of the semi-finals without an immediate improvement in standards.

"I'd rather be in the situation we're - two from two - than having lost the first and then chasing our tails," said Flood.

"But, yes, there is massive room for improvement and that was said by countless people (after the game).

"We're disappointed with what's happened. As a squad we've got to drive standards on and off the field and drive standards when we're training to get better.

"We are going to have to raise our game massively to get to where you want to get to in this tournament. We're all fully aware of that."

England conceded 11 penalties in the first half which led to them being unable to escape from their own territory.

By the interval, Johnson's men had graced the Georgian 22 for just 19 seconds compared to nearly nine minutes spent defending their own line.

Georgia's wayward kicking and two Shontayne Hape tries helped England lead 17-10 at the turnaround.

As the game opened up in the second half, England then became too loose and infuriated Johnson and attack coach Brian Smith by forcing off-loads in a bid to make something happen.

Afterwards, James Haskell raged: "People have got to start pointing some fingers. This is not acceptable. We are letting ourselves down."

But as frank as England have been, both Haskell and Flood insisted the corrective process cannot be allowed to affect their confidence.

England tackle Romania in Dunedin next Saturday followed by Scotland in the decisive pool clash on October 1

"You don't want to go out and be frightened to make a mistake," said Haskell.

Flood added: "I wouldn't be here if I didn't think we could win it (the World Cup).

"I don't think anybody would have got on that plane if they didn't think we could win the tournament.

"We realise how difficult it would be to win it. It's a massive, massive test for us and we have a huge group to get out of.

"Romania and Scotland are two massive tests for us, especially Scotland. If they beat Argentina that could be a massive test for us.

"We realise how difficult it's going to be but if there is anybody who thinks that then they might as well join Andrew Sheridan (who is injured) and go home.

"Because that is what we're here for."

Champions league T20 KKR win thriller by two runs

Hyderabad: Kolkata Knight Riders edged out Auckland Aces in a cliffhanger here on Monday when they beat the Kiwi club off the last ball by a mere two runs in match No. 2 of the CLT20 qualifiers.

Auckland Aces Innings

20th over: Brett Lee was entrusted with the job to defend 11 runs in the last over. And the champion rose to the challenge conceding just eight as the Knight Riders won the nailbiter by mere two runs. Important points in the kitty for KKR.

19th over: Just when everyone thought Kallis has brought KKR back with a strike off his first ball, new batsman Andre Adams tonks the South African for a straight six. Match right back in balance: 11 needed off the last six balls.

16th over: The equation is slowly creeping back in favour of Auckland as they have five wickets in hand. 31 needed of 24 balls now.

13th over: Rajat Bhatia strikes off the last ball of his spell, Kallis the catcher. The Knight Riders are clawing their way back. It's 77/5, 45 needed off 42 balls with five wickets in hand.

10th over: Yusuf Pathan brought KKR well and truly back with two wickets in the over. Both caught and bowled: first Jimmy Adams and then Rob Quiney. Auckland struggling at 66/4.

9th over: A splendid bit of fielding by Manoj Tiwary gave KKR the spark they were looking for. It brought about the end of Vincent's innings after he had scored 40 off 37 balls. Auckland 60/2 after nine overs.

6th over: After losing a wicket in the first over, strokes from Lou Vincent's bat took Auckland to 48/1 at the end of six overs of powerplay.

3rd over: Lou Vincent counter-attacks, takes 11 runs off Iqbal Abdulla over, including a six and a four.

1st over: Disastrous start for the Aces as they lost the wicket on the very first ball. Martin Guptill departs courtesy of a suicidal run-out. Auckland were 2/1 at the end of the over.

Kolkata Innings

20th over: The wicket seems to have slowed down a fair bit. Anyhow, it was an outstanding last over by Bates. Just five runs off it. Auckland will be delighted with what they did in the last half of Kolkata innings, giving away just 48 runs and taking six wickets to restrict KKR to a meagre 121/6.

18th over: Another run out. Andre Adams can't be left out of the frame. Hits the bull's eye from mid-on and Shakib Al Hasan (4) is on his way. Kolkata, after being 73 for no loss at one stage, are 107/6 now.

16th over: After Auckland's resurgence with the ball, it's their fielding that causes another casualty for KKR. Ryan ten Doeschate has to walk back after Adams' direct hit turned a cheeky single into a run-out. Kolkata tottering at 101/5.

15th over: Aces seem to be on a roll now. Two more wickets in quick succession. Jacques Kallis (33 off 35), who seemed to have hit a sure-shot four, is splendidly caught at the boundary edge by Rob Quiney. That is followed by Manoj Tiwary (1) who is castled. Kyle Mills brings Auckland back by reducing KKR to 97/4.

14th over: Andre Adams checks Kolkata with Yusuf Pathan's wicket. The all-rounder's struggle comes to an end as he is bowled after scoring just 12 off 17 balls. KKR 93/2.

13th over: Slow bowlers pull Kolkata back as the Knight Riders score just 16 runs from over No. 10 to 13.

10th over: After taking a fair bit of pounding, Auckland finally strike. Bisla hits a full toss straight to mid-off to give the Aces and Michael Bates first wicket. Bisla scored 45 off 32 balls, including seven fours and one six. KKR 73/1 as Yusuf Pathan walks in.

6th over: End of powerplay. KKR still have all wickets intact and openers on fire. Bisla has blazed his way to 29 and Kallis too getting on with it at 15 in a total of 46 for no loss.

2nd over: Manvinder Bisla hits Chris Martin for three fours in an over to gets his team off to a flier.

Earlier, the second match of the double header on the opening day of Champions League Twenty20 qualifying phase began with Kolkata Knight Riders winning the toss and electing to bat first.

Jacques Kallis was asked to lead the side in the absence of regular captain Gautam Gambhir, who is still recovering from the concussion he suffered during the Test series in England.

The Auckland Aces captain Gareth Hopkins believed the track could suit their quick bowlers and hence, didn't mind to chase.

TEAMS:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Jacques Kallis (c), S Goswami (wk), Manvinder Bisla, Manoj Tiwary, Yusuf Pathan, Shakib Al Hasan, Ryan ten Doeschate, Rajat Bhatia, Brett Lee, Iqbal Abdulla, Jaidev Unadkat.

Auckland Aces: Jimmy Adams, Martin Guptill, Lou Vincent, Rob Quiney, Colin Munro, Kyle Mills, Gareth Hopkins (wk/c), Andre Adams, Michael Bates, Ronnie Hira, Chris Martin

CBI may file case against Reliance industries limited

Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is considering filing a case or multiple cases against Reliance Industries over its operations of its gas block in the Krishna Godavari (KG) basin, the Mint reported on Tuesday.

CBI is likely to name officials in the country's upstream regulator and the petroleum ministry in the case, the newspaper said, citing officials at the federal agency who declined to be named.

Earlier this month, Reliance Industries said there was no evidence to suggest that costs in development of the country's key natural gas field in the KG basin were overstated.

A Reliance Industries spokesman in Mumbai and a spokeswoman for the CBI in New Delhi declined to comment on the newspaper report, when reached by Reuters on Tuesday.

"The preliminary inquiry against RIL and others is in final stages and very soon a case will be registered," one of the officials at the investigative agency told the Mint newspaper, referring to Reliance Industries.

The federal auditor has criticised Reliance Industries and the government over development of a key natural gas field in the KG basin and called for revamping profit sharing arrangements from oil and gas blocks.

The offshore KG basin was expected to contribute up to one-quarter the gas supply for India, but lower-than-expected output has left the energy-hungry nation more dependent on expensive, imported LNG to fuel power and fertiliser plants.

78-YEAR-OLD FIRST GRADER STARTS SCHOOL

It's never too late to get a good education.

Just ask 78-year-old Apostol Stoyanov who started off the new school year on Thursday -- in first grade.

Citing the BTA news agency,  an AFP report explains that Stoyanov never had the chance to attend school when he was a child so the Bulgarian man decided it was finally time to learn reading, writing and arithmetic.

His 430 fellow classmates from the village of Popovtsi may be several decades younger, but Stoyanov, who makes little money and lives alone, doesn't plan to attend regular classes. Instead he'll attend as a private student, says the report.

Stoyanov told reporters that he's nervous about tackling math, but he's already making progress and is writing the letters of the alphabet.

8 killed in suicide attack in Karachi

Karachi: A Taliban suicide bomber on Monday rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into the home of a senior police officer in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, killing at least eight persons and injuring several others.

The bomber targeted the residence of Special Superintendent of Police Chaudhry Aslam of the Crime Investigation Department in the posh Defence area at 7.30 am, reducing the house to rubbles.

Eight persons, including a woman, a child and six policemen, were killed in the attack, police officials said. The dead and injured were taken to the nearby Jinnah Hospital.

Aslam, who escaped unhurt, told reporters that several of his police guards were among the dead.

He said he had been receiving threats from the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan and other militant groups. He vowed that he would not be deterred by such cowardly attacks.

The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan claimed responsibility for the attack, Geo News channel reported.

The officer and his family were shifted to an undisclosed location soon after the attack.

Aslam was part of a special unit that conducted operations against militants and criminal gangs and he had captured several persons linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda.

The blast, which was heard from several kilometres away, damaged several nearby houses and cars parked in the area. The explosion caused a 10-foot deep and 25-foot wide crater.

Debris from the officer's home was hurled over a large distance. Footage on television showed the wall and facade of the officer's two-storey building were destroyed by the blast. A plume of smoke was seen rising into the sky.

Several schools and educational institutions are located

near the officer's home and the blast was followed by a traffic snarl as parents rushed to the area to pick up their children.

The woman killed in the blast was a school teacher while the dead child was her 12-year-old son, officials at Jinnah Hospital said.

Karachi has witnessed several high-profile terrorist attacks, including one in May on the Mehran naval airbase that killed 10 security personnel.

Aslam himself was the target of another attack that killed two of his bodyguards.

ELECTRIC ROADS COULD POWER CARS

If you are old enough to remember slot car racing, this might look familiar: an electric car powered by the roadway itself, rather than carrying its power supply along.

Some electric trolleys, subways and trains operate this way, because the vehicle is on a track, and the circuit is completed through a contact overhead. Bumper cars operate similarly, as they are always in contact with a metal floor, which completes the circuit through a pole in the back that touches the ceiling. But road cars can't do this -- you'd need something more akin to a third rail system.

Chennai people rushed out for broadway route buses from tambaram

Mainly chennai people depends thier travelling by Metropolitian Transport Corporation buses. Today morning around 10am peoples who they are travelling from chrompet to adyar, saidapet and broadway. so, people are very frustrated of MTC buses in hot sun by waiting for a while...

People have'nt know the Proper reason and if asked to MTC Information Centre, there is no proper response. MTC doesnt arranged cut services from the places who people waiting on bus stand.

If it happens daily, people will suffer for this reason and it will create hesitation on  government.

Kindly pass the information and we people should do something for this hectic...

SOLAR ACTIVITY SPELLS DOOM FOR NASA SATELLITE

On Friday, NASA has said that their doomed 6-ton Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) will most likely crash to Earth on, or around, Sept. 23.

Earlier, there was some ambiguity as to when the satellite may reenter, but since the recent uptick in solar activity, the UARS demise has been sped up somewhat.

Obama plans taxes and spending cuts to reduce deficit

President Barack Obama is to unveil plans to cut the US deficit by $3 trillion (£1.9tn) over the next decade.

A White House official said his proposals include an overhaul of the tax code that would raise $1.5tn.

The official said the president would not agree to cuts in health care for the elderly if there were no provisions for rich Americans to pay more tax.

Republicans in Congress have already said they will not agree to any plans to increase taxes.

Mr Obama's plans include nearly $250bn in cuts on Medicare spending - the health care programme for the elderly.

"He will veto any bill that takes one dime from the Medicare benefits seniors rely on without asking the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share," Reuters quoted an Obama administration official as saying.

The president is scheduled to announce his long-term deficit reduction plan at the White House at 10:30 (14:30 GMT) on Monday.Closing loopholes

Over the weekend, officials have been providing journalists with a preview of what the president's plan includes.

On Saturday, officials said Mr Obama wanted a "Buffett Rule" that would see Americans who earn more than $1m pay the same rate of tax as those who earn less.

The proposal refers to the billionaire financier Warren Buffett who has complained that he and his wealthy peers pay relatively less tax than the people who work for them.

Many high-income Americans benefit from tax loopholes that see earnings on investment taxed at lower rates than wages.

The US economy has been growing only slowly while the unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, above 9%. Facing an election next year, Mr Obama has had a battle in Congress over how to reduce the ballooning deficit while the economy remains stagnant.

A Congressional "supercommittee" of six Republicans and six Democrats has been charged with finding $1.5trn in deficit cuts by late November, when automatic cuts come into force.

Ratings agency Standard and Poor's cut the US AAA rating in August after the country went to the brink of a default over an extended battle in Congress over raising the government's debt limit.