AATA JUNIORS BANNED-S.H.R.C

 

 

Anchor Omkar’s "AATA" reality show which is telecasted in Zee telugu was banned by the State Human Rights Commission (SHRC).Commissioner said to the media that the ban will be imposed with immediate effect.
 

In fact, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) on Saturday directed the city police commissioner to ban the telecast of the Aata reality show, on the grounds of violating child rights. Further, the commission called for a public hearing on July 3 to debate and fix the norms pertaining to entertainment programmes.
 

One month back HRC received a complaint that in Aata show small chidren are made to dance like Item girls in movies and also the costumes used in the show are appropriate.
 
Commission investigated on the issue and has imposed ban on the show today.The commissioner said that in future if realty shows like this are telecasted or made again there will be serious action taken on them.

Little is Left after Mamata .stunning victory in WEST BENGAL muncipal elections.

Trinamool Congress sweeps West Bengal civic elections; leaves the Left trounced in its bastions and the Congress red-faced in the aftermath civic bodies, including th CONGRESS HUMBLED Reacting, Pranab Mukherjee said, "I will like to congratulate Mamata Banerjee for her excellent performance both in Kolkata and also in the districts. I accept the failure of the Congress." LEFT ADMITS DEFEAT Senior state CPM leader Md Salim said that the CPM has admitted defeat. The Left Front fared badly in many municipalities considered Red Bastions ­ North 24 Parganas, Bankura and Purulia
THE Trinamool Congress has wrested control of the prestigious Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). The party also bagged the adjoining Salt Lake (Bidhannaar) Municipality and some other municipalities across the state from the Left Front and Congress. The results of the 81 municipalities and municipal corporations were declared on Wednesday. Elections to the civic bodies, held on May 30, was crucial and considered the semifinals before next year's Assembly elections.
The poll results are a huge blow to the Left Front, which had been in control of 54 of the 81 civic bodies, including the KMC. e KMC.
Trinamool Congress won 95 seats, a gain of 53 seats from the previous election, while the Left Front won 33 seats, a loss of 42 seats. The Congress won 10 seats, which was 5 less than the last time. Others captured three.
Apart from KMC, in 80 other municipalities and municipal corporations, Trinamool Congress got absolute majority in 26 civic bodies, Left Front in 18 and Cong ress got absolute majority in 7.
The results of the rest of the civic bod ies are hung and the Trinamool Congress cannot form the board without the support of the Congress.
Reacting to the results of the civic polls, Mamata Banerjee said, "It is a historic victory of the ma-mati-manush (mother, land and the people). They have given a verdict in favour of political change in the state. I salute the people."
Mamata Banerjee also demanded that Assembly elections should be held sooner than scheduled. "This results shows that the Left Front Government has lost the right to be in power as the verdict goes against them," she said.
This is the first major election in the state where Trinamool Congress fought it alone after their seat understanding with the Congress failed. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, "I accept the verdict of the people with all humility." Mamata Banerjee's runaway victory in the Kolkata municipal elections has shown that her hunch that the Trinamool Congress is now the number one party in West Bengal was right. This assessment has also been confirmed by her party's success in a larger number of municipalities than the Left in the rest of the state. The fact that the communists are not too far behind the Trinamool outside Kolkata also indicates that they retain a modicum of support.
However, if, in her hubris, Mamata Banerjee hadn't snapped her ties with the Congress and fought the elections jointly, the communists would undoubtedly have been in deep trouble.
The results suggest that if the Congress and the Trinamool Congress rebuild their alliance, the Left will suffer huge reverses in next year's Assembly elections. But given the railway minister's whimsical ways, no one can say for certain whether the alliance can be revived. Since the Congress has been relegated to the third position in the state, it has hardly any bargaining power left. Considering that its demands for a greater number of seats were rejected by Mamata Banerjee before the latest polls, the Congress can expect similar treatment when the time comes for seat adjustments before the Assembly polls -if at all the ties are restored.
What is more, now that she is the unchallenged numero uno in her state, the Trinamool leader may begin to act even more casually with regard to attending Cabinet meetings and her office in Delhi. Such behaviour may have affected her image in New Delhi, but the West Bengal electorate is apparently too intent on needling the comrades to bother about what is happening in distant Delhi. The Congress at the Centre, therefore, may have to quietly swallow her tantrums because her present position is stronger than the DMK's because the latter has to run a government in alliance with the Congress in Chennai.
In contrast, the Congress in West Bengal will be happy even if it is grudgingly accepted as very much a junior partner by Mamata Banerjee before the Assembly elections.
The beleaguered and besieged Left, to quote Prakash Karat's reported comments to Eric Hobsbawm, is evidently staring defeat in the face unless a miracle happens with Mamata Banerjee committing an egregious blunder. Its downslide, which began with the 2008 panchayat polls and continued through last year's parliamentary elections, shows no signs of stopping.

picture of the day.

Rome wasn’t built in a day .

The Colosseum:
This structure certainly speaks for itself! Colosseum can be found at the bottom of the Palatine Hills and the purpose of the Colosseum was to host large shows of gladiators for entertainment of the crowds. After this period, the Colosseum ceased to be used but evolved as a tourist site.
Spanish Steps: One of the most fashionable areas of Rome, the Spanish Steps are located in a beautiful Piazza leading up to the famous
church ‘Trinità dei Monti’. In the actual square at the bottom of the staircase, there are boutiques and shops where people indulge in some exclusive designer wear and dine at speciality restaurants.
Basilica of St John:
On the top of the Basilica, there are 15 statues of saints about 7 metres high. The imposing face of the Basilica tends to protrude over the Piazza di Porta San Giovanni. The inside of the Basilica has a beautiful gold ceiling and holds many great artefacts including the remaining fragments of fresco of Giotto.
Piazza Navona: Ah! The beautiful square of Piazza Navona is located near the Pantheon and just across the street from Campo dei Fiori. Outdoor eating is popular in this square. Located in the centre of the Piazza, tourists often get their instant portraits drawn by artists.
Via Del Corso: This lengthy street is perfect for shopping. Particularly bustling on Saturdays, it’s a shoppers delight.

GURGLING: A gigantic fountain

TOURIST HUB: A bustling street near Piazza Navona

picture of the day.

Govt looks at direct role for army against Naxals .

FIGHTING BACK: Villagers at a rally in Jharkhand vowing to resist Maoists.

Antony Sounds Out Chiefs, CCS Set To Decide On Thursday.

New Delhi: The government is considering expanding the role of the armed forces in the ongoing anti-Naxal operations, with a hard look even being taken at whether they should be “directly deployed’’ in the fight against the Maoists.
While an enhancement of their present surveillance, logistical and training mandate is a certainty, the cabinet committee on security (CCS) meeting, likely on Thursday, will take the final call on whether to enlist the armed forces in a more direct combat role.
The decision will be influenced as much by political considerations as by security imperatives. Yet, the possibility of armed forces being asked to take on the Left-wing extremists is no longer being summarily dismissed like before.
Defence minister A K Antony on Tuesday sounded out the three Service chiefs on the sensitive issue, with the 90-minute meeting with Air Chief Marshal P V Naik, Admiral Nirmal Verma and General V K Singh discussing “all dimensions’’ of the security situation. Independent of whether the government decides to push ahead with the idea or not, the very fact that direct engagement of armed forces is being looked as a serious option is significant.
It marks a critical shift on the part of the government, which had so far shied away from deploying soldiers in the Naxal battle. But a big cause for concern is the increasingly savage and audacious Maoist attacks, which have inflicted heavy casualties on paramilitary forces as well as non-combatants.
In May alone, as many as 172 civilians and 29 security personnel were killed by the Naxals, if the derailing of the passenger train in West Midnapore on May 28 is also taken into account.
Though the meeting chaired by Antony examined the “pros and cons of different options’’, it’s for the CCS to decide on the exact mandate. “But one thing is certain. Even if the armed forces are deployed in a more direct role, it will be a limited mandate for a limited period,’’ a source said.
One possible option could be to divert a few of the 63 battalions of Rashtriya Rifles, the army’s specialised counter-insurgency force operating in Jammu and Kashmir, “for selective missions’’ in states worst affected by Maoist depredations, sources said.
Jharkhand may be Maoist flashpoint
President’s rule in Jharkhand might help home minister P Chidambaram launch an all-out offensive against the Maoists in the state, something he was unable to do as Shibu Soren dragged his feet on the issue. The Naxals also may turn up the heat in the state to protest the UPA sanctioning an operation against them by paramilitary forces.
Singh speaks tough on dealing with Maoists
New Delhi: Successive governments have been averse to enlisting the army in the fight against Maoists because of the concern that it might lead to a perception about the Indian State not being in control of vast swathes in its heartland. There is also the issue of suitability of the armed forces, which are trained to kill with heavy force, operating against an adversary who blends into the civilian population and is adept at using them as shields.
The top military brass have their own reservations, extending from lack of familiarity with the terrain to the armed forces being already overstretched in counter-insurgency operations in J&K and the North-East, and along the unresolved borders with Pakistan and China.
But underlining the government’s resolve to take the battle to Maoists, PM Manmohan Singh said, “In dealing with the challenge of Naxalism, we’ll pursue a policy that seeks to address developmental concerns at the grassroots, while firmly enforcing the writ of the State.’’
But the dice could still fall either way in the cabinet committee meeting on security, with the home ministry keen to bolster the fight against the Maoists with “some more help’’ from the armed forces but the defence establishment remaining largely reluctant about getting sucked into “yet another internal security duty’’.

20 years later, molester DGP gets 1.5-yr jail .

JUSTICE DELAYED BUT NOT DENIED

 Ruchika Kin Want Him Punished For Abetment Of Suicide Too 

Chandigarh: Former Haryana DGP S P S Rathore was thrown behind bars on Tuesday, 20 years after he molested 14-year-old Ruchika Girhotra, driving her to shame and suicide, and artfully dodged the judicial system using his office and khaki intimidation. The Chandigarh district court dismissed his appeal against his conviction and enhanced his sentence from six months to one-and-a-half years.
    Amid high drama, Rathore was whisked away by CBI officers to the Burail Model jail after the verdict, where he was frisked like an ordinary convict. Jail officials said he was strip-searched for concealed weapons and his necktie, wristwatch, sunglasses and wallet were handed over to his wife, Abha, who was his counsel during the hearing.
    Rathore, who retired in 2002, seven years after the young tennis player took her life, was put in barrack number 10, meant for undertrials and convicted police officers, to segregate them from other criminals. A doctor was called for and an ECG machine brought in after he complained of chest pain, something that’s become commonplace for powerful criminals to try and slip away to the comfort of a hospital bed.
    Gone was the grin on his face, plastered on TV and newspaper front-pages after his conviction last December, drawing the nation’s wrath. However, Rathore told TOI while coming out of the court, “The smile is on my face and it will remain.’’
    Ruchika’s family, for whom the trauma of losing their daughter was compounded by police harassment orchestrated by Rathore, is now looking forward to the verdict in the abetment of suicide case. “It doesn’t matter that the sentence awarded is one-and-ahalf years or two years because justice has been delivered. The court has taken the side of righteous people. But the battle will continue for justice in the abetment of suicide case,’’ Ruchika’s father Subhash Girhotra said outside the courtroom.

PAST CATCHES UP: S P S Rathore taken to Burail jail in Chandigarh on Tuesday

    As police officer,
    his role was to protect the public. As president of the Haryana Lawn Tennis Association, his role was to train budding players for India. But he failed in both duties by molesting a minor girl. People are afraid to send minor girls to playgrounds due to the presence of such persons
—Judge Gurbir Singh 

WHAT NEXT IN IPL PROBE?

PM PROMISES EFFECTIVE ACTION IF ANY WRONGDOING IS FOUND
Prime Minister Manmohan Sing on Monday promised effective action in the IPL issue if any wrongdoings were found during investigations. "There was a discussion on this issue in Parliament and the Finance Minister also gave a reply . He said that the Finance Ministry is investigating the issue and if anything comes out of it, then we will take effective action," Singh said when asked to comment on alleged black money involved in the T20 league. After a public spat between former minister Shashi Tharoor and suspended IPL Chief Lalit Modi, the issue was discussed in Parliament during the second half of the Budget session.
There were allegations that black money was also invested in the IPL teams. The IPL bid for two new teams from 2011 season opened a can of worms, leading to the then Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor losing his job, while IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi was suspended for alleged financial irregularities and bid-rigging. Tharoor found himself in the eye of a storm after it was revealed that his friend Sunanda Pushkar had a `sweat equity' in Rendezvous Sports World which had coughed up Rs 1533 cr to win the Kochi franchisee. Modi, meanwhile, was accused of trying to rig RSW's bid to get another franchise on board.

KILLER INSTINCT BUT NOW!! VISWANATHAN ANAND THE WORLD CHESS CHAMPION.

During the match and some months before it, I was much disciplined in not going to any chess website or reading anything that was non-essential. I just stayed in a bubble -- VISWANATHAN ANAND People used to accuse me of not having.
 NO wonder Viswanathan Anand endured the 40-hour long bus journey to Sofia. He is used to similar road hopping whenever he visits Chennai. So as soon as he landed in Chennai at 11.55 pm on Sunday, the cycle began all over again. He couldn't get into car until it was 12.15 am before spending another 10 minutes autographing and receiving bouquets.
Thankfully , his landing time was innocuous to keep the print journalists in hunt. But the visual media was in no mood to spare him, and some even trailed him to his apartment's elevator. With little fuss he obliged.
It is this magnanimity that deprives his parents--K Viswanathan and Susheela--of spending quality time their World Champion son. "The moment he lands, the visitors come flocking and the telephone never stops ringing. And he obliges, goes for every felicitation," said Viswanathan.
So after hitting the bed, Anand is up at seven. And at exactly 12.30 is at the Chola Sheraton--fresh and fuming. And he spends not less two and a half hours, speaking sane and not going through the motions of a routine press conference.
A brief lunch--he has to wait for a kingsize homemade meal--and he heads home, but not expecting a siesta. Then you can't turn the door at your old schoolmate, relative or colleague, who in all his fervor gives his rib cage a serious endurance test.
It's already 4.30, maybe a few gulps of coffee when the lone chess club in your neighbourhood invites him to a felicitation the next day before a government officer informs him of the chief minister's plans to congratulate him. He stays put at home, plugging his earphones and listening to U2 or Bob Dylan. And if he ever tries to rewind the faces he had bumped into that day , he wouldn't be able to recollect anything but a blur. The break of dusk and beyond, he gets a breather.
And the Viswanathan couple finally gets to see an eyeful of their son.

ALL ROADS LEAD TO CHINA

China set to chart its own GPS course

Beijing: Challenging US monopoly on global positioning systems (GPS), China is set to establish its own satellite navigation system by 2012, covering the Asia-Pacific region. China will become the third country, after US and Russia (it’s system is under restoration), to have its own ‘sat nav’, a Chinese scientist has announced.
    Sun Jiadong, chief designer of the Beidou Navigation System, indicated that China was ready to spend tens of billions of yuan, which would translate into several billion dollars, to put up a network of 30 new satellites in the sky. The local government was looking for markets to sell navigational services in order to finance the project, he said.
    The NAVSTAR GPS allows US to provide commercial navigational services for transportation, telecommunications and other needs. It also allows the US defence to locate and hit terrorists and military targets with missiles in remote areas in Pakistan and Afghanistan. But Chinese scientists have suggested that the focus of their system, called Beidou, will be on storm and earthquake forecasting and disaster rescue operations among other applications.
    “A navigational satellite provides information on distance and time. Using basic triangulation principals, it can compute the distance at which a device, vehicle or person is located. Yes, it has helped the Americans find targets for missile and air strikes,’’ a scientist with the Indian Satellite Research Organization (Isro) told TOI. India does not have a navigational satellite; China has three at present.
    The ‘PLA Daily’, a newspaper run by the People’s Liberation Army, quoted Qi Faren, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, as saying that China was following a threestep strategy, with plans to complete the second stage by 2012. Its plans include putting up five geostationary satellites and 30 non-geostationary satellites by 2020 to ensure global coverage, it said. This will mean more than an 11-fold increase in the number of such satellites from the present level of three.
    The Isro scientist, however, questioned China’s ability to put up several navigational satellites in a short period without preparing the ground for utilizing the new facilities.
    The Beidou System, also know as the Compass Navigation Satellite System, will have the Asia Pacific market open and available to exploit, besides reaping military advantage in a region with four nuclear powers without counting North Korea and Iran.

pragyan ojha and his wife at their wedding reception.

CAUGHT & BOWLED: Pragyan Ojha and Karabee Baral look resplendent at their wedding reception on Sunday.

World's Greatest photographs

Afghan Girl [1984]
And of course the afghan girl, picture shot by National Geographic photographer Steve McCurry. Sharbat Gula was one of the students in an informal school within the refugee camp; McCurry, rarely given the opportunity to photograph Afghan women, seized the opportunity and captured her image. She was approximately 12 years old at the time. She made it on the cover of National Geographic next year, and her identity was discovered in 1992.

Photographer: Steve McCurry
Source: nationalgeographic.com

The last Jew in Vinnitsa [1941]

Picture from an Einsatzgruppen soldier’s personal album, labelled on the back as “Last Jew of Vinnitsa, it shows a member of Einsatzgruppe D is just about to shoot a Jewish man kneeling before a filled mass grave in Vinnitsa, Ukraine, in 1941. All 28,000 Jews from Vinnitsa and its surrounding areas were massacred at the time.

Photographer: Unknown
Source: USHMM

Palestinian martyr [2000]

Today we break a little the site’s pattern showing you not a photo but an image captured from a film showing the Palestinian father, Jamil ad-Durra, trying to protect his son from israeli gunfire moments before the boy was shot dead, the father wounded and a Palestinian ambulance driver who came to rescue them, also killed.

Reporters watched helplessly as the boy and his father became trapped against a wall with nothing but a small concrete block for cover as bullets rained around them on a road near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip. Mohammed crouched weeping behind his father, who tried in vain to shield him with his arms and body. At one point, the father raised his head and wagged his finger, as if to scold. Some time later, both were shot and Mohammed slumped into his father’s lap.

Mohammed died, while his father survived badly wounded. An ambulance driver, who braved the fierce shooting to try to rescue them, also killed.

Image from: BBC

Fire on Marlborough Street [1975]

On July 22, 1975, photograph Stanley J. Forman working for the Boston Herald American newspaper when a police scanner picked up an emergency: “Fire on Marlborough Street!”

Climbed on a the fire truck, Forman shot the picture of a young woman, Diana Bryant, and a very young girl, Tiare Jones when they fell helplessly. Diana Bryant was pronounced dead at the scene. The young girl lived. Despite a heroic effort, the fireman who tried to grab them had been just seconds away from saving the lives of both.
Photo coverage from the tragic event garnered Stanley Forman a Pulitzer Prize. But more important, his work paved the way for Boston and other states to mandate tougher fire safety codes.

Photographer: Stanley J. Forman
Source: bbc.co.uk

Burning Monk - The Self-Immolation [1963]


June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion.

While burning Thich Quang Duc never moved a muscle.

Photographer: Malcolm Browne
Source: wikipedia.org

The Power of One [2007]


This picture won the Pulitzer Breaking News Photography 2007 award. Photo’s citation reads, “Awarded to Oded Balilty of The Associated Press for his powerful photograph of a lone Jewish woman defying Israeli security forces as they remove illegal settlers in the West Bank.�?

Photographer:Oded Balilty (Associated Press)

Stopping Time [1964]

Harold Edgerton’s famous high speed picture of a bullet going through an apple. Taken in 1964, it became a

very famous image , not least because it was such an unusual photo based on a great achievement in high speed photography. Edgerton, professor at MIT, is also inventor of the strobe flash and a pioneer of stop-action photography. He collaborated with Jacques-Yves Cousteau to experiment photographing some of the deepest seabeds in the world.

Photographer: Harold Edgerton
Source: stanford.edu

pictures of the day.

‘I was a woman within’ India’s first transsexual celebrity rose.

India’s first transsexual celebrity talk show host tells  about her journey from Ramesh to Rose.

When I turned
feminine…
    I was born and raised as a boy named Ramesh Venkatesan. This March, I became Rose Venkatesan. I’m curvaceous, with wild curls flowing down my delicate back and love dressing up like a girl. I became aware of my femininity when I was around five; I felt uncomfortable being a boy. It was traumatic for me when I couldn’t dress up like a girl. Painting my lips and nails crimson red was okay till I was a child. I would spend hours with my sister’s dolls and mom’s make-up. In a conservative Tamil household, I was considered weird but cute in my girlie get up. But all hell broke lose when I reached puberty and still didn’t give up my feminine traits. I used to dislike cricket and other ‘boy’ sports. I was more interested in p a i n t i n g and cooking. I was s e e t h i n g with frustration for not being able to express my f e m i n i n e side. I walked that extra mile to look like a boy, talking in a husky voice and letting that stubble grow. But s o m e h ow bullies in s c h o o l wo u l d smell my secret, that I was a woman from within…
The big
confession… I vividly remember the day I decided to call up my parents from the US and told them that I wasn’t a man but a woman. My heart broke into pieces when I heard my mom sobbing over the phone. Dad’s silence killed me…. I was close to my brothers but they never interested me. I knew they were more worried of the immediate repercussions. Ours is a middle class family, the society would ostracise us. I could understand the pain I caused them, but certain things have to be done, that’s the way of the world. I decided against staying back in the US, where I was pursuing my masters degree in biomedical engineering at Louisiana Tech University. American society can be violent when it comes to transvestites.
The return of the prodigal…
    When I returned home, I was aware of the backlash, sniggers and hurtful remarks. My family was ashamed of me. Yet, I returned, because I didn’t want to run away from the life I knew. I was ambitious and wanted to make a name for myself in the media or by starting up a business. I’m lucky to be in Tamil Nadu, because here, unlike in the north, religion doesn’t have a sway over politics. In Kerala, I would have been stoned to death!
The man of my dreams…
    I don’t talk to my relatives and stay away from social gatherings. I don’t keep in touch with my old friends, I know their mentality. They are sick men who might end up harassing me sexually! People ask me if I’m hundred per cent woman after the sex change operation. I ask them, “What’s a hundred per cent woman like?” Yes, I’ve female genitalia now, people say I’m pretty and I love saris. Besides this, what matters is who I really am. I have a boyfriend who loves me and he has stuck to me through bad days, but he’s also dating another girl. I don’t think this relationship will last, although I want it to. I’d like to marry a man who’s well-educated and settled in life. I want him to be sensitive, caring and bold enough to take me to his mother. I’d like to adopt children, as I’m very fond of them. My guy has to have the nerve to marry me in a media-crazy ceremony, which would be covered live on TV!
There’s light at the end of
the tunnel…
    I’m a skeptic. I don’t believe in God. But I always knew that when you want something badly, a higher power helps you. The best moment of my life was when I stood in front of the mirror in a Bangkok hospital after I became a woman in the true sense of the term. I looked so beautiful, it was like living a dream… My advice to people like me would be, embolden your spirit, educate yourself and have a roadmap in life. Knowledge helps open doors; prove to the world that not all transvestites are dirty, evil prostitutes. Only you can break the stigma of being ‘different’!

THE GREAT TELUGU CINEMA LYRICIST VETURI SUNDARARAMA MURTHY PASSED AWAY.

Famous tollywood lyricist Veturi Sundarrammurthi died at around 9.30PM today (22 may 2010) with a cardiac arrest.
He worked for many notable and memorable songs and his last cinema is 'Varudu'.
May his soul rest in peace. 

Air India Plane Crash: Read the Detailed Latest Description over the Accident .

Mangalore: A survivor of the Mangalore plane crash said that the tragedy happened when the plane reached the runway.

"Within two seconds this happened," said Ismail Abdul Puttur, one of the few persons to survive the crash that took place in Mangalore on Saturday morning.

"When I saw the left side (of the aircraft) open, I jumped outside. I pulled two persons from there," said Puttur.

Officials involved in the rescue and relief operations say that only eight people out of the 166 on board survived the crash.

Kasturba Medical College and Hospital Medical Superintendent Dr Mahesh said that Puttur injured his knees as he jumped off from the plane.

"The survivor told me there were five survivors. One of the survivors rescued two others," Dr Mahesh told CNN-IBN.

He added that one of the survivors had badly injured his spine.

The Mangalore bound Air India Express flight coming in from Dubai with 166 people on board crashed early on Saturday killing 158 people. The Air India Express IX-812, operated by a Boeing 737-800, had 160 passengers and six crew members on board overshot the touchdown point on the Mangalore airport runway by 2000 feet on Saturday at 6:30 AM while attempting to land.

Mangalore Helpline Numbers: 0824-2220422, 0824-2220424

Delhi Helpline Numbers: 011-25656196, 011-25603101

Air India Express Dubai Airport Telephone Numbers: 00971-4-2165828/00971-4-2165829

The list of survivors: Moin Kutty, Krishnan, Ummar Farooq, Ismail Abdul Puttur, Dr Sabrina Haq, Pardeep.

BCCI allegations 35 pages, Modi's response 15,000 pages .

Suspended IPL chief dismisses all charges, accuses BCCI president, secretary of misusing office
LALIT Modi responded to the showcause notice served to him by the BCCI with a voluminous reply -bulked up by 15,000 pages of sup porting documents -car ried into the cricket board's headquarters via six large cartons transported by four cars on Saturday. BCCI chief administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty received the papers, reportedly spanning all e-mail correspondence between Modi and the BCCI, bid documents, franchisee agreements, media rights, licensee and sponsorship deals. In his reply, the suspended IPL chairman is believed to have not only denied all the charges levelled against him by the BCCI, but also accused BCCI
president Sashank Manohar and secretary N Srinivasan of misusing their positions of power. “The reply addresses all allegations,” said Modi’s lawyer Mehmood Abdi. “The BCCI notice was 35 pages, our reply is 160 pages.” Modi, added Abdi, wants the BCCI to “revoke its showcause notice and reinstate him as IPL commissioner.” The primary IPL-related charges against Modi are to do
with the initial bids of Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab, the broadcasting deal, bid-rigging of the two new franchises, Internet rights, and his behavioural pattern. A three-member BCCI disciplinary committee — comprising Manohar, Arun Jaitley and Chirayu Amin — will examine Modi’s response and take a decision on the issue after a meeting expected to be held in mid-June.
Heavyweight response "The reply is, by my last count, around 15,000 pages, the team may have added more. When anyone is falsely accused, it is there duty to respond." -LALIT MODI ON TWITTER Next: 45,000 pages "We reserve the right to produce another voluminous set of papers which may run into 37,000-45,000 pages. It will have the trail of e-mail of the institutions and authorities who matter, if required."
-MEHMOOD ABDI, LALIT MODI'S LAWYER                                                  

Hush...it's a honey trap!

Dangerous liaisons: (Left, top & right) Madhuri Gupta, Ekaterina Gerasimova and Roxana Saberi.

From Mata Hari to Madhuri Gupta, history has been witness to women using sex as a bait. Did you know that men have been great honey traps too?

 EVEN though ex-diplomat Madhuri Gupta’s name will go down in history as India’s deadliest female spy, the plump, middleaged, bespectacled single lady demolishes all romantic notions of a spy — a sexy woman in black, crimson lips, kohl-rimmed eyes, holding a cigarette in her bejewelled fingers. Madhuri Gupta also shatters the belief that it’s mostly men who fall for the ‘honey trap’. Investigations have revealed that Madhuri had an amorous affair with her Pakistani handler, with whom she shared information. That makes her a lady who’s been honey trapped, a rare case. “In the spy world, exploiting the amorous arts to dig up secret information is usually a woman’s domain,” says a senior IPS officer, who requests anonymity. “The trade name for this exercise is ‘honey trap’, a tactic which has seen the downfall of many mighty men who make the mistake of falling into the mesh of warm desires stirred by lady spies.” 

    From Mata Hari to Madhuri Gupta, it’s strongly believed that woman spies are used in honey traps because they are better than their male counterparts at gaining access to secret information. Not to forget that they are also masters in the game of passion and seduction. A senior doctor at the Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Narayan National Institute of Criminology and Forensic Science, New Delhi, under condition of anonymity, says, “Women make better spies than men, because they are naturally gifted with strong intuitive powers. The world has seen several women spies. Delicate cases which require cunning, skill and tact are usually entrusted to women.”
    “Women’s powers of assessing a situation swiftly are better developed than a man’s,” says clinical psychologist Aruna Broota. “Women are also more honest, dedicated and obedient, hence a higher success rate.”
    The oldest case of honey trapping in India is an interesting one. When Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister, an Indian diplomat was enticed by a Russian girl in Moscow. When the Russian secret agency KGB exposed pictures of the diplomat with the girl, Nehru just laughed it off, warning the young diplomat to be more careful in future!
    There are many examples of Indian men falling for the charms of foreign honey traps. In May 2008, Manmohan Sharma, a senior RAW officer, posted in Beijing was called back to New Delhi for falling to the charms of a Chinese honey trap. It was alleged that Sharma was having an affair with his Chinese language teacher, whom Indian authorities suspected to be an informant of the Chinese government. In October 2007, another RAW officer Ravi Nair was called back from Hong Kong for his ‘friendship’ with a girl believed to be working for a Chinese spy agency. However, the most prominent case was that of K V Unnikrishnan, a RAW officer, who fell in love with an air hostess suspected to be an agent.
    Yevgeny Ivanov, a Soviet attaché in London in the early 1960s, took up a mistress named Christine Keeler, a ’60s “good-time girl”, who was also the lover of the married British MP and Secretary of State for War John Profumo, who was then working on plans with the United States to station cruise missiles in Germany. When the scandal blew up, Ivanov was recalled to Moscow. Secrets are revealed not just during pillow talk. Sometimes an affair could lead to blackmail after incriminating evidence has been collected. Nothing is simple in the spying racket. Often those helping dole out secrets are used by their own countries to counter spy. They tread extremely dangerous territory and stand the chance of being let down and betrayed by either or even both sides!
    More recently, Miss USA top 10 finalist Roxana Saberi, an American journalist of Iranian origin, was accused of spying in Iran for the US. In Russia, it was a blue-eyed model “Katya” who lured satirist Victor Shenderovich into her den. It came as a shock to Mr Shenderovich and the rest of the world when it was revealed that Katya was actually Ekaterina Gerasimova, who lured highprofile officials to spill important secrets during the act of sex!
    It’s a world of lies and deceit… of crumpled beds, heartbroken spouses, explicit letters, and ruined lives. So, what entices a woman, where cases could lead to dangerous situations? Is it the thrill of the chase or is it the satisfaction of matching skill for skill with their male counterparts? According to Ashum Gupta, department of
psychology,
Delhi University,
“Even brilliant
men are known to
have lost their rational thinking powers with the promise of sex. Surging hormones take over and by the time the cobwebs are cleared, the damage is done! Maybe, society is more accepting of a man succumbing to the lure of seduction. But not so in the case of a woman.”
Then there are men who target vulnerable women officers. The East German secret police had a hugely successful department of ‘Romeo spies’ to seduce unsuspecting targets with access to secrets. A recurring problem, however, was that they tended to fall in love with their targets! The best traps are the vulnerable or those with a glad eye and a voracious sexual appetite. What are the prerequisites to succeed in the oldest trick in the book? Ashum Gupta of DU, says, “A sharp mind and keen eye. And sincerity, of course, because people trust you with their secrets.” 

"IRON MAN 2" 1ST WEEK WORLDWIDE COLLECTIONS.

'Iron Man 2' earns USD 327.6 million worldwide

'Iron Man 2' has grabbed the top spot at the US box office with an estimated collection of USD 327.6 million worldwide in the first week.

Named as one of the most highly anticipated movies for this summer, 'Iron Man' sequel has performed better than the first film which collected USD 96 million when it was debuted in May 2008, by earning USD 133.6 million in the first week in US, Aceshowbiz online reported. The comic book sequel, starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Scarlett Johansson and Mickey Rourke took in an additional USD 57.2 million in overseas markets boosting its worldwide collection to USD 327.6 million. However, 'Iron Man 2' does not manage to break the record set by 'The Dark Knight' in May 2008 with USD 158.4 million tally and is only named fifth biggest bow ever. On the second position of this week's box office is last week's champion 'A Nightmare on Elm Street'. Experiencing a great decrease (72.1 per cent), this horror flick gains an approximately USD 9.2 million on its second weekend. Following the Warner Bros Pictures' movie is 'How to Train Your Dragon' which also drops one place to the third. The former winner raked in an estimated USD 6.8 million this weekend, making a total of USD 201.1 million so far. Meanwhile, two romantic comedy movies, 'Date Night' and 'The Back-Up Plan', sit on the fourth and fifth spots respectively. The movie which sees the collaboration of Steve Carell and Tina Fey collects an estimated USD 5.3 million, while the Jennifer Lopez-starring film obtains an approximately USD 4.3 million revenue.

GISELE BUNDCHEN IS WORLD'S HIGHEST PAID MODEL

Gisele Bundchen has been named world's highest paid model for the second consecutive year by Forbes magazine. The 29-year-old Brazilian supermodel beats the likes of Heidi Klum and Kate Moss, with the total earning of $25 million last year. Klum, 36 and mother of four and host of the television show Project Runway, came in second with $16 million in earnings, followed by style icon Moss, who made $9 million, through her modelling campaigns, clothing range for Topshop and perfume.
Steve Bertoni of Forbes said that the dominance of Bundchen, Klum and Moss is largely due to a risk-averse fashion industry that was not looking for new faces in the unstable economic climate.
"These contracts were written during the doldrums of the recession," said Bertoni. "So when companies decided on the faces of their campaigns, they wanted to play it safe," he added.