Information & World news

International news :-
·Brazilian plane crash rescue work suspended due to heavy rain 02-09·S Korean president: Seoul ready for dialogue with DPRK 02-09·108 dead as fires continue to ravage Victoria 02-09·U.S. 'new tone' in foreign policy dominates Munich conference 02-09·At least 24 killed in Brazilian plane crash 02-09·Geithner postpones unveiling financial bailout plan to Tuesday 02-09·Iran urges U.S. for change of strategy 02-09·Mumbai attacks planned outside Pakistan: TV 02-09·Iran constructing four more satellites: report 02-09·Bomb explosion kills 4 including 2 U.S. advisors in S Afghanistan 02-08·Ten people die as boat capsizes in Bangladesh 02-08·New Zealand former PM Clark seeks top UN job 02-08·Pakistan to respond to India's dossier on Mumbai attack 02-08·Israeli leaders discuss Egyptian draft of ceasefire 02-08·At least 76 people killed in bushfires in Australia 02-08·Biden says U.S. willing to talk to Iran conditionally 02-08·Gul says consensus gov't is a priority for Palestinians 02-08·Solana urges EU, U.S. to take seriously Medvedev proposals on European security 02-08·14 dead as fires ravage in south Australia 02-07·7 Pakistani policemen killed in ambush 02-07·Over 30 shot dead by presidential commandos in Madagascar 02-07·Obama names leading economists to advisory panel 02-07·UN chief, Maliki discuss lifting Iraq sanctions 02-07·Medvedev, Barroso hold talks on energy, Russia-EU ties 02-07·Lavrov: Russia to allow transit of U.S. supplies to Afghanistan 02-06·U.S. Army suicides rise sharply in January 02-06·Pentagon drops charges against Guantanamo prisoner 02-06·White House defends another cabinet nominee in tax controversy 02-06·Israel deports Lebanese aid ship crew 02-06·Heavy snow causes traffic chaos in Britain 02-06·UN chief in Baghdad on surprise visit 02-06·Thorny global, regional security issues top Munich conference 02-06·115 Somali would-be immigrants rescued by AFM 02-06·Nanjing Massacre witness wins libel suit 02-06·Pentagon drops charges against Guantanamo prisoner 02-06·UN Secretary, Indian FM discuss Mumbai attack 02-06·UN: Rebel group withdraws from Sudan's southen Darfur 02-06·Clinton to visit East Asia's troika, Indonesia 02-06·US Moves to Avoid Closure of Kyrgyz Air Base 02-06·Intelligence service: Somali pirates free Ukrainian ship 02-06·25 killed in E Pakistan bomb blast 02-06·Venezuelan Chavez attends military parade 02-06·Maliki's coalition wins vote in Iraq's Shiite provinces 02-06·Ukraine Parliament fails to pass non-confidence bill against cabinet 02-06·Israeli parties gear up for general election 02-06·British Council suspends operations in Iran 02-06·Olmert approves transfer of $43 mln into Gaza 02-06·Obama warns of catastrophe if Congress not to act 02-06·Maliki's coalition wins vote in Iraq's Shiite provinces 02-06·India to discuss Mumbai terror with UN chief

What is THIS female doing at the White House??

The perks of being a President
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Ali Campoverdi stripped off for Maxim in 2004 - and told the men's magazine that she was looking for a man who was 'passionate' about something. She is now an aide to a White House deputy chief of staff.
She has previously appeared American reality shows, including the dating show For Love or Money, where she was a 'million-dollar girl'.
The California native also appeared as a vampire hunted by Keanu Reeves in Constantine and was a finalist for the American version of The Apprentice with Donald Trump. And who is she dating? Obama speechwriter Jon Favreau! Aged just 27, he is the youngest chief speechwriter on record at the White House.
Mr Favreau has attracted a big following but his reputation took a blow when a photo emerged last December showing him drunkenly groping a cardboard cutout of Hillary Clinton at a Thanksgiving party and he was forced to apologise.
Mr. Favreau said that when he is writing, he stays up until 3 am and gets up as early as 5. He hasn’t slept for more than six hours in as long as he can remember, he told the New York Times.
Whether the feisty Ms Campoverdi will be happy with his workaholic habits remains to be seen.
Regarding her run at The Apprentice, she told Maxim: 'Yeah - I would’ve kicked ass on that show! Go ahead and call me, Trump!' She also told the magazine that 'Anyone who says they don’t have a dark side is lying or just not interesting

Pak says Mumbai Attacks were planned in Europe

Pakistan has completed its investigation into the Mumbai terror attacks and according to Pakistani media the report claims that the 26/11 conspiracy was hatched not in Pakistan but in Europe.
Local media reports also claim that Pakistan is likely to request India for consular access to the lone terrorist captured alive during the Mumbai terror attacks, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab.
According to Geo Television, the report says the planning of 26/11 was done neither in Pakistan nor in India but in an European country. Islamabad reportedly wants to file all cases against Kasab and other accused in the attcaks in Pakistan itself.
Pakistan has prepared its report in reply to the Indian dossier on the Mumbai attacks.India had handed over a dossier to Pakistan which included evidence which showed Pakistani elements were involved in planning and executing the Mumbai terror attacks.
The dossier included evidence of every nature - physical, forensic, electronic and human - put together in what is know as Mumbai terror dossier. Pakistani terrorists organisation Lashkar-e-Toiba's commanders Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, Zarar Shah, Hafiz Saeed are the main suspects in the attacks.

World's First 3D Video Game Arrives!

Data Design Interactive, a successful videogames publisher and developer, have unveiled a land mark event, the first “REAL 3D” console game, by using stereoscopic glasses on the Nintendo Wii.
The first title to be released in 3D will be forthcoming game Battle Rage: The Robot Wars. So, get out your 3D glasses and visualize the future, watch the trailer which showcases the companies venture into 3D gaming.
The media has been salivating about how the future of entertainment will be in 3D, and with fourteen planned 3D film releases, this year 2009 is the year of 3D. DDI will lead the videogames industry with 3D support planned in all its future titles. While some companies are looking at expensive 3D technology requiring specialized and expensive TV’s and headsets. Data Design Interactive has continued with its accessible family friendly pricing, and found solutions through proven technology and software rather than hardware.
Stewart Green CEO of Data Design said “This is an exciting development which will really enhance the players experience. You can now feel you are inside the gameworld, by seeing real depth, objects float in front of you or appear to jump out of the screen. Players are now part of the game world, rather than sat outside watching the screen. Implementing this code has been a natural progression for our internal development system ‘GODS’, which has already proven to be the fastest and most reliable development system on Wii. We are now enhancing the technical ability of our GODS engine and stereoscopic 3D is just one of many new innovative enhancements we will be making to improve the players’ enjoyment.”
Battle Rage: The Robot Wars is a Third-Person Shooter that allows a player to control giant robots. It will offer standard visual mode or visually stunning 3D graphics mode. Battles between the robots take place on carefully selected battlegrounds (so called “arenas”) and they are short, quick, brutal skirmishes. The player can fight alone (versus one, two or even three opponents) or in a team against a common foe. Every robot has its own weapons (for melee and distance combat), additional enhanced weapon types can be collected on the arena.
The player can customize their robot’s parameters in the single-player and multiplayer modes to create their own unique fighting style. Also many new, powerful robotic upgrades will be waiting for the player to unlock in the story mode. The Tournament has begun.

SL elude Whitewash, India win Series 4-1

A slice of history could not be claimed by MS Dhoni’s men in the final ODI at Colombo as Sri Lanka averted a home-series whitewash with a 68 runs win. India still went on to lift the winner’s trophy as the series result read 4-1 in their favour.
Bundled out for 252, the Men in Blue could not win it all but also gave an insight that the squad was human too and that wins or losses are a part and parcel of the game.
Ravindra Jadeja was the man with the blade along with the skipper as he hit a fifty on his ODI debut, another positive to be taken home for India. Dhoni’s ploy to test the bench strength paid some good dividends for the future of Indian cricket.
A clinical approach by the Lankan pacers saw the Indian batsmen look out of their rhythm. The top order fell like a pack of cards and even the fabled middle order that boasts of going in till deep also didn’t really shine.
All in all, it was a fine grace saving performance by Sri Lanka who proved that despite a hard series, they could churn good cricket in the face of world class competition from India.
Dhoni turned out to be a fighter to the core as the captain hit a gritty fifty before being claimed by Sanath Jayasuriya’s golden arm.
The ‘Murali’ magic finally came alive for the hosts as India’s swashbuckling southpaw Yuvraj Singh became his first victim of the day that was followed by the scalp of Yusuf Pathan.
Sri Lanka had posted a solid 315 for India to chase in the final ODI of the 5 match series in order to complete the whitewash. A small but dynamic cameo from Maharoof in the death overs bolstered the total and blew any hopes of an easy win.
The first proceedings of the morning belonged Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene as he won the toss against India and elected to bat first, a great omen indeed as India got a major shock early on in the chase as Sehwag mistimed a shot into the hands of Muralitharan off Thushara’s bowling.
India had tried a comeback towards the slog overs as Sri Lanka lost four wickets in no time at all, but it went in vain soon.
Dilshan was the star with the willow for the Lankans and Rohit Sharma ran him out at 97 runs just before Kapugedera was caught behind the stumps.
Mahela Jayawardene went after scoring just a run as Yuvraj started his over with a bang. His run of form, that was the talk of the town before the series, came in the shadows yet again.
Ishant Sharma clean bowled Thilina Kandamby, a promising start that did not materialise up to the liking of the visitors.
Kumar Sangakkara hit a fine knock before he too succumbed to the guile of Rohit Sharma as Yuvraj Singh caught him at 84 to give India a breather.
The half-centurions Tillakaratne Dilshan and Sangakkara had come to Sri Lanka’s rescue and built on an effective alliance to avoid a middle order hiccup.
The ‘Motera Mauler’ did give a glimpse of his ominous stature in the ODI arena as he pulled and drove the cherry beyond the boundary ropes, sending the Indian pace battery into a recharge mode.
Debutant Ravindra Jadeja has started off his international cricket campaign on an inauspicious note by dropping Jayasuriya on 19, an area he’d be more careful assuming that his show with the bat might have please those in the high offices of the board to give him another shot at immortality.
It was series of cordial cricket, best symbolised by the apologetic handshake that was swiftly offered by Ishant Sharma when he accidentally bowled a beamer in the death overs. The act showed that the sport was played with no malice whatsoever and offered a treat to the cricketing audiences worldwide

IPL: India Inc splurges over Rs 37 cr on 17 players

It’s back. Bigger and even more bountiful. The heady cocktail of cricket, big money and glamour that made the Indian Premier League such a huge hit in its inaugural season resumed on Friday with an auction that relegated last year’s eye-popping figures to instant history.

The general economic outlook may be none too bright, but IPL pay packages are still surging like a team’s score during a frenzied powerplay.

The big question when the action kicked off was whether M S Dhoni’s record fee of $1.5 million would survive the day. It didn’t last even a few hours.

England’s Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff both clocked $1.55 million, surpassing Dhoni to be the costliest players of the tournament.

Pietersen had a reserve price of $1.35 million and Team Bangalore had made no bones about their determination to get him.

For a while, Vijay Mallya encountered competition from Team Mumbai and Team Mohali. But they soon backed out. Mallya later said he would have bid even more if required, not surprising when one considers that his team last year was mocked for having an excellent batting line-up—for Tests.

Flintoff, with a base price of $950,000, too proved to be hot property with teams desperate for his all-round skills. Mumbai , Mohali and Chennai fought a pitched battle for him, with bids often increasing by $25,000 at one go. Chennai finally bagged him for $1.55 million.

Team Mumbai made the third most expensive acquisition of the day, forking out $950,000 for 24-year-old Jean Paul Duminy, who made such a huge impact during South Africa’s recent triumphs over Australia.

Duminy began with a base price of $300,000 but with Team Mohali, Team Kolkata and Team Jaipur all pitching for him, he finally cost Team Mumbai almost thrice that figure.

Mumbai also picked up Bangladesh skipper Mohd Ashraful for $75,000 after he initially failed to find any takers.

Others weren’t so lucky, with many of the players listed for auction remaining unsold. Clearly, while the franchisees didn’t mind spending top dollar for players crucial to their plans, they were very choosy about whom they spent their money on. Still, there were quite a few surprises.

NEWS & INFORMATION- INTERNATIONAL

International

·Biden says U.S. willing to talk to Iran conditionally 02-08
·Gul says consensus gov't is a priority for Palestinians 02-08
·Solana urges EU, U.S. to take seriously Medvedev proposals on European security 02-08
·14 dead as fires ravage in south Australia 02-07
·7 Pakistani policemen killed in ambush 02-07
·Over 30 shot dead by presidential commandos in Madagascar 02-07
·Obama names leading economists to advisory panel 02-07
·UN chief, Maliki discuss lifting Iraq sanctions 02-07
·Medvedev, Barroso hold talks on energy, Russia-EU ties 02-07
·Lavrov: Russia to allow transit of U.S. supplies to Afghanistan 02-06
·U.S. Army suicides rise sharply in January 02-06
·Pentagon drops charges against Guantanamo prisoner 02-06
·White House defends another cabinet nominee in tax controversy 02-06
·Israel deports Lebanese aid ship crew 02-06
·Heavy snow causes traffic chaos in Britain 02-06
·UN chief in Baghdad on surprise visit 02-06
·Thorny global, regional security issues top Munich conference 02-06
·115 Somali would-be immigrants rescued by AFM 02-06
·Nanjing Massacre witness wins libel suit 02-06
·Pentagon drops charges against Guantanamo prisoner 02-06
·UN Secretary, Indian FM discuss Mumbai attack 02-06
·UN: Rebel group withdraws from Sudan's southen Darfur 02-06
·Clinton to visit East Asia's troika, Indonesia 02-06
·US Moves to Avoid Closure of Kyrgyz Air Base 02-06
·Intelligence service: Somali pirates free Ukrainian ship 02-06
·25 killed in E Pakistan bomb blast 02-06
·Venezuelan Chavez attends military parade 02-06
·Maliki's coalition wins vote in Iraq's Shiite provinces 02-06
·Ukraine Parliament fails to pass non-confidence bill against cabinet 02-06
·Israeli parties gear up for general election 02-06
·British Council suspends operations in Iran 02-06
·Olmert approves transfer of $43 mln into Gaza 02-06
·Obama warns of catastrophe if Congress not to act 02-06
·Maliki's coalition wins vote in Iraq's Shiite provinces 02-06
·India to discuss Mumbai terror with UN chief 02-05
·Afghan official: 60% Taliban militants foreigners 02-05
·Israeli army confirms seizure of Lebanese aid boat 02-05
·Somali pirates release weapons-laden Ukrainian ship 02-05
·Iran reiterates scientific purpose of satellite launch 02-05
·Somali pirates holding Ukrainian ship receive ransom 02-05
·New Zealand PM assaulted at Waitangi celebrations 02-05
·DPRK top leader visits farm 02-05
·Slum children in Mumbai 02-05
·Thai PM: Japan bans Thaksin from entering country 02-05
·DPRK top leader calls for modernizing industry 02-05
·Sri Lanka celebrates Independence Day 02-05
·Obama signs bill for kids health care program 02-05
·Fayad: PNA to aid Gaza with $67 mln 02-05
·Israel intercepts Gaza aid ship sailing from Lebanon 02-05
·Obama urges quick passage of stimulus plan as Democrats likely to compromise 02-05