Top Ten Websites In The World

List Of Top 10 Websites In the World

1google.com$29,474,299,422

2yahoo.com$18,551,630,085

3amazon.com$11,501,285,068

4myspace.com$7,122,577,773

5ebay.com$5,622,551,932

6facebook.com$4,013,132,251

7msn.com$3,590,841,842

8aol.com$2,801,871,716

9youtube.com$2,743,146,950

10cnn.com$1,057,698,410                                       

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Free as in Freedom

India has decided against prosecuting award-winning author and activist Arundhati Roy for sedition after she spoke out about the disputed region of Kashmir, an official said on Friday.
Roy, winner of the prestigious Booker award for her novel The God of Small Things in 1997, is a fierce critic of India's tactics in Kashmir, where protests against New Delhi have claimed more than 100 lives since June.
She shared a stage with hardline Kashmiri separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani last week and backed the idea of "azadi" or freedom for Kashmir, leading New Delhi police to look into charging her with sedition.

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But the police have been instructed to "avoid pursuing the issue and consider it as a closed chapter", said a senior official in the Indian interior ministry, who asked not to be named.
"No criminal case has been registered against her. Therefore, there is no question of slapping sedition charges," the official said.
The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party objected to Roy's remarks, calling them "seditious" and demanding legal action against her.

Kashmir has been beset by anti-India violence, curfews and strikes since early June, when a 17-year-old student was killed by a police tear-gas shell. Since then, a total of 111 protesters and bystanders have died.
A poll published last month showed that a majority in Muslim-majority Indian Kashmir favoured independence for their region.

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Short Film 'The Commuter' With Nokia N8 smart phone

Nokia's highly anticipated short film, 'The Commuter' staring Dev Patel, Pamela Anderson, Charles Dance, Ed Westwick and shot entirely in mobile HD on the Nokia N8 smartphone.

The film is directed by McHenry Brothers, was shot in 4 days with the Nokia N8 using no back up cameras, with the streets of London and St Albans providing the backdrop to Nokia's story about one commuter's eventful journey to work.

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Sachin,AR,Amitabh in Asian Awards Winners List

The Lebara People’s Choice Award is a part of the Asian Awards which is given for excellence and achievement amongst the south Asian community.

The Asian Awards was presented on 26th October 2010 at The Grosvenor House Hotel in London.

The winners of the Asian Awards are

Outstanding Achievement in Art and Design
Abu Jani & Mr. Sandeep Khosla

Outstanding Achievement in Television
George Alagiah OBE

Outstanding Achievement in Cinema
Yash Chopra

Outstanding Achievement in Music
AR Rahman

Philanthropist of the Year
Sunil Mittal

Outstanding Achievement in Sport
Sachin Tendulkar

Public Servant of the Year
Zarin Patel

Lifetime Achievement
Amitabh Bachchan

Business Leader of the Year
Ratan Tata

Social Entrepreneur of the Year
Professor Muhammad Yunus

Entrepreneur of the Year
Dr Vijay Mallya

People Choice Award
Sachin Tendulkar

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Tamil Journalist & Writer says "Robo is copied from my artice Jugiba"

A Tamil journalist and writer has filed a complaint against the makers of the recently released Rajinikanth movie 'Enthiran' alleging that the story of the movie has been stolen from his work.

The writer Amutha Tamil Nadan (Aarur Tamil Nadan) has filed a complaint with Chennai police to take action against the producer director of the movie, Kalanidhi Maran and Shankar respectively for 'stealing' the story idea.

According to Tamil Nadan, the idea of the story resembles an article titled 'Jugiba' written by him 

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Nannies Prepare For Historic Job Protections

Newyork News
Historic job protections begin next month for domestic workers in New York. Overtime, paid leave and anti-discrimination provisions are part of a package that could start setting new standards for what some call the most vulnerable job market in every part of the world.
 

Two years after leaving her job caring for a little girl who lived in an expensive apartment here, Patricia Francois, a 51-year-old Trinidadian, struggles to pay her bills with what she earns from odd jobs.
But she finds time for volunteer work dear to her heart. Every day she leaves her apartment with her bag stuffed with pamphlets and newsletters in case she runs into women who look like they could be nannies.

I could be at the laundry or on the train," she said. "I need them to know they don't need to have fear in their heart."
On a recent afternoon around the time children get out from school, Francois was looking for nannies in a Central Park playground. Her mission: to tell them about a historic law that will provide basic employment protections to domestic workers in New York.
On Nov. 29 New York will be the first state in the United States to extend to domestic workers basic rights such as overtime pay, paid leave and protection from workplace discrimination.
All of the state's roughly 200,000 such workers, regardless of their immigration status, will be protected under the new law.

California--with twice as many domestic workers--is widely expected to be the next state to follow suit. While domestic workers are difficult to count, there could be as many as 2.5 million in the United States, according to estimates from the International Labor Organization, a U.N. agency that sets international standards on labor.

'No Longer Alone'

Francois credits a newsletter by Domestic Workers United, a New York based group, for changing the course of her life.
"I do not feel alone anymore," she said. After finding the publication on a park bench, she attended a meeting with the group and was immediately hooked.
A couple years ago, Francois could have been among those she was looking for in the playground. In those days she was watching over a little girl she had cared for since she was 18 months old.
But in December 2008, she quit her job after what she claims was a physical altercation with the girl's father, her employer of six years.
While she says her previous employer was only physically abusive once, that was enough. She was afraid to speak up against the father, who she says was often rude and emotionally abusive not only to her but also to the little girl who she had grown to love.
"We get caught up in dysfunctional families and sometimes we (domestic workers) have to bear the brunt of that," she said.
On top of that, no matter how many hours she worked, which typically averaged more than 50 hours a week, she received the same weekly pay of $500.
Francois' story is retold around the world in versions occasionally so horrifying they capture global interest.

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Sachin One And Only Cricketer From India in ESPNcricinfo Test World XI List

ESPNcricinfo has released the list of all-time Test World XI.

The list consist of eleven players who is regarded as best in their skills in the history of cricket.

The world XI consist of Four Australian players, three West Indian players, two England players one Indian and one Pakistani player.

Sachin Tendulkar is the only current player to be featured in the list.

Don Bradman, Garry Sobers and Shane Warne, got the maximum points followed by Sachin Tendulkar. Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton is the openers and Adam Gilchrist is the wicket keeper.

The list is as follows:

The World XI: 
Jack Hobbs, Len Hutton, Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Viv Richards, Garry Sobers, Adam Gilchrist, Malcolm Marshall, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Dennis Lillee

The Second XI:
 Sunil Gavaskar, Barry Richards, George Headley, Brian Lara, Wally Hammond, Imran Khan, Alan Knott, Bill O'Reilly, Fred Trueman, Muttiah Muralitharan, SF Barnes

Readers' XI: 
Sunil Gavaskar, Virender Sehwag, Don Bradman, Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara, Garry Sobers, Adam Gilchrist, Shane Warne, Wasim Akram, Muttiah Muralitharan, Glenn McGrath

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High Court reliefs Women booked for giving Dowry

The Delhi High Court on Thursday ruled that a husband cannot lodge an FIR against his wife and her family for giving dowry, solely on the basis of her statement, in a complaint of dowry harassment. The court said that before initiating proceedings against a woman and her kin under the Dowry Prohibition
Act, it should be checked if they were “victims of circumstance”.
This significant ruling spells relief for a large number of women facing similar proceedings.
In most instances, the case against the wife is lodged as a counter-case by her husband booked for dowry harassment.
Quashing an FIR against one Pooja Saxena and her family, justice Ajit Bharihoke said if the dowry was given when confronted with a threatening situation (created by the bridegroom’s family), such proceedings cannot be initiated against the wife.
Saxena informed the court that she told the police (while lodging a dowry harassment case against her husband) that her parents gave sufficient dowry to her husband at the time of marriage and even during their engagement. However, the latter and his family wanted more.
She challenged the FIR against her under the Dowry Prohibition Act by order of a Magistrate, on the basis of a complaint by her husband.

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Virat Kohli's Lead India a 5 Wicket Victory Against Aussies At Vishakapatnam

Virat Kohli

Vishakhapatnam: Living up to the expectations of the Indian fans, Team India overcame the Australian resistance to register a 5-wicket win to lead the series 1-0.  Chasing a target of 290 runs, India reached the target in 48.5 overs with the loss of 5 wickets. Young Virat Kohli played a wonderful knock of 118 runs which propelled India's victory, and was chosen man of the match.

Yuvraj Singh made his comeback in style by scoring 58 runs and weaved the Indian innings with Kohli after India lost both the openers quite early. Later on, Suresh Raina scored 71 runs and put Australian challenge at bay.

Earlier, Australia batting first reached 289 runs for the loss of 3 wickets with the stand-in captain Michael Clarke scoring a masterful innings of 111 runs before Cameron White stole the show late on with an unbeaten 89 from 49 balls. Aussie innings started off shakily with Ashish Nehra bagging the wickets of openers quite cheaply.

Clarke and Mike Hussey (69) built a steady partnership of 144-run stand in the middle overs that set the platform for late outburst that set a challenging target of 290 runs for India.
However, in the end India reaached the target with ease and took a 1-0 lead in the series.  Next ODI is scheduled to be played in Goa.

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MS Dhoni Joins With 2 Skippers after winning his 50th Match as Captain

India Vs Australia:India won by 5 Wickets at Vizag.
Ind won with 292/5 in 48.5 overs in 2nd innings.
Tremendous innings by virat kohli{118} with a magnificient century,made india to win a most special victory against Australia at Vizag.Hatsoff to Suresh Raina{71},Yuvraj singh{58}for contributing their best.Indians had complete control on the game and that made a victorious win.
India go one-up in the series which means they cannot loose it from here on.A fantastic 5 wicket win here at vizag with 7 balls to spare while chasing a target of 290.This is also Ms Dhonis 50th 0di win as captain.He is a third indian skipper after Mohammad azharuddin and sourav ganguly.

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MS Dhoni back with New Faces in ODI series against Aussies

India captain MS Dhoni has backed the decision to rest key players for the one-day series against Australia, saying it gives a chance to blood younger players and add to the depth of the squad.

There are just 12 more ODIs before the World Cup, hosted jointly by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, gets underway in February next year, and Dhoni wants to make sure his first-choice players aren't hampered by fatigue or injury.

"In last few series, we have not played with our strongest side and rested most players. Maybe injuries were a bit more concern, we are a bit cautious," said Dhoni. "We don't want our big players to get injured before a tournament especially when it's happening in India. Hopeful everyone will get fit and for World Cup."

In the absence of Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir, Shikhar Dhawan is set to make his debut at the top of the order. Dhoni played alongside Dhawan in the Challenger Trophy in 2005 and, having seen his game develop, is keen that he gets a chance at international level.

"Both of us scored in the Challengers in Mumbai. I got a chance to establish myself in the national team," Dhoni said. "There has been ups and downs in his [Shikhar] career but he has been quite consitent. As an opener it's quite tough, as you have Virender Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir all at the same level. It's good that he got a chance finally. Hope he scores and the bench will become stronger."

Coming off a resounding success in the Test series Dhoni knows his younger ODI side has a difficult to task maintain the high standards.

"It will be a big learning curve for all youngsters. It's very important to live in the present. Small and basic things that needs to be done correctly to make a mark at the big level. I won't put extra pressure on them. Take one game at a time and give it your best shot."

While Dhoni can easily call for calm, his opposite-number Michael Clarke has a few worries after scoring just 35 runs from four innings in the 2-0 defeat in the Test series.

Clarke admitted that he was below-par but denied feeling any extra pressure ahead of the final three games of the ODI series. "My performance in the Test series wasn't good enough so I deserved that criticism and I am very disappointed about that," he said. "I am not at all under pressure. Everybody is entitled to voice their opinion. I can't change that. I'm training very hard as possibly as I can. I'm really excited about these two one-day games. My main priority is to win the two ODIs. We are really excited about the bright weather, hope it continues tomorrow."

The washed-out opening match at Kochi meant Doug Bollinger had a longer period to rest before the series got underway. Bollinger picked up an abdominal injury in the narrow defeat in the first Test and Clarke revealed that despite Bollinger's good progress, no decision had been made on whether he'll play.

"He is going well, though he has not done enough bowling. It's an important day for him today, he will have to bowl at the nets. Physio is happy with his improvement. But we need to make sure he bowls 10 overs for us tomorrow, otherwise I don't think it's worth a risk."

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Sports Woman Of India

India has managed to win a big medals tally in Commonwealth Games 2010 due to a spectacular show by the Sportswomen of the country. These Sportswomen have out shown and out performed their male counterparts. This women coming from diverse backgrounds (One gold medalist is not yet an adult and is daughter of a auto driver from a small town. The other history creator Krishna Punia is mother of a 9 yr old) have come up trumps against all odds. And not just in Tennis or Badminton, they have stormed the erstwhile male bastions like wrestling and Weightlifting too. This is not to berate the performance of the Men athletes and frankly Sports achievement for the country should have no gender bias.   While playing for the country no one’s achievement can be lesser or more than other. But the heart warming show by the Indian women in the games does require a special mention and a round of cheers from one and all. And in doing so they have aimed at, threw out, shot down , punched, laughed at all the negativism, stereotyping, discrimination at one go. They are a feminist’s delight, these girls. They are hard as it comes, tough as nails women. Some question the absence of top stars and level of competition in the field, but now the future belongs to theses ladies.    Krishna Poonia                              Krishna Poonia   The stellar performances by the Indian Superwomen. Krishna Poonia ’s Gold in Discus throw to end a 52 year drought in Track and Field events was not enough. Poonia ended India's 52-year wait for an athletics gold medal at the Commonwealth Games when she led the home nation to a clean sweep in the women's discus on October 11, 2010. Poonia, who has a nine-year old son and is coached by her husband Virender, burst into tears as she described the sacrifices she had to make in her bid for glory. "I had not seen my son for six months. Both I and my husband were away for training. It's very difficult to stay away from your kid as you all know," a sobbing Poonia said.

The Golden Girls   A day later the 4X400 Women relay team threw the nation into a frenzy when "Manjit Kaur, Sini Jose, Ashwini and Mandeep Kaur" ran a dream run egged on by a passionate crowd. Incidentally Indian men’s team finished last after qualifying for the finals of the same event. . Harwant Kaur and Seema Antil’s silver and bronze were like icing to the cake  The power girls  Geeta Kumari, Alka Tomar and Anita won gold in their respective weight categories in a show case of women power literally. Wrestling generated lot of buzz and was an instant hit with the fans. These women left everybody in their awe. No messing with the power girls here.   In *weightlifting* Indian women has been world beater for long. CWG games were not a very happy outing for the wrestling contingent. They could get only 3 Gold but the good news was that there was no reported dope offence, something that has threatened the very root of the sport. *Renu Bala Chanu, Soniya Chanu , Sandhya Rani*  have taken on from where Kunjurani devi and Karnam Malleswari left. It is one discipline where medals are expected in Asian Games as well as Olympics.   Archery girls             Deepika Kumar   In  Archery, the way young  Deepika Kumar  blew her competitors away, in Women’s Recurve individual was mesmerizing. This 17 year girl of humble background is lovingly called Baby Archer. She later combined with her idol the veteran *Dola Banerjee* and *Bombayala Devi* to win the team event of Women’s Recurve event..   Shooting girls   Narang and Manvajit Sandhu were supposed to rule the roost, which they did to a large extent. But the real surprise has been the medals won by the women contingent. *Anisa Sayeed and Rahi Sarnobat* started with a Gold in 25m Pistol(Pairs) followed by Tejaswini Sawant and Lajjakumari’s Silver in 50m Rifle 3 Positions( Pairs) on the very first day of shooting event. Anisa and Rahi then did a 1-2 in 25m Pistol the next day.*Heena and Annu Singh*  clinched another gold in 10m Air Pistol(Pairs). These girls sure know to hit the target.       Tejaswini Sawant

Strong Woman    *Saina Nehwal* has lived up to her billing and is all set to play for the Gold in Women’s Badminton Singles. Saina Nehwal created history by becoming the first Indian woman to win the singles gold in badminton at the Commonwealth Games as she saved a match point to beat Malaysian Mew Choo Wong 19-21, 23-21, 21-13 in an edge-of-the-seat thriller         Saina Nehwal

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Saina Nehwal's Gold Medal Victory Made India To Stand in 2nd Place Of CWG 2010

The much-hyped and thrilling Commonwealth Games have concluded with the winning of 101 medals by India. With the amazing win of Saina NehwalSaina Nehwal on the last day of the Commonwealth Games, the host country got successful in grabbing the second position, leaving behind England.
With the golden glory of Saina Nehwal, India took the overall medal count to 101 including 38 golds, 27 silvers and 36 bronze. As the curtains came down on the Commonwealth Games, India had beaten England, who was looking forward for the second spot behind Australia with 37 golds, 58 silver and 45 bronze.
When the spectacular Commonwealth Games were reaching towards its end, India and England were neck and neck for the second place with equal count of 37 gold medals. Along with Saina, the second position of India is also because of the tremendous performance of Jwala and Ashwini in badminton women's doubles.
Commonwealth Games that started with opening ceremony on October 3 will officially end on Thursday with a laser show.

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Aussies struggling back after Master's Double Ton

The willow of Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar just wouldn’t stop. The batting maestro bettered his Bradmanisque record in 2010 by notching up his second double century of the year and sixth in all. It was mainly due to Tendulkar’s sublime knock of 214 runs that India managed to get a slender first-innings lead of 17 runs. After the batting virtuoso departed, the remaining wickets toppled and the hosts were dismissed for 495 at lunch.

Sachin Tendulkar

Resuming on 191, Tendulkar began day-four of second Test of the India-Australia Test series with a glorious cover-drive off Hilfenhaus. A couple overs later, he tapped one to the point with soft hands and charged for a single that brought up his 200. The batting legend celebrated his second double hundred against Australia with a beautiful straight drive off the next delivery.

Tendulkar, who played a chanceless knock, made his first mistake at 214 and had to head back to the pavilion. Peter George went on cloud nine when the master played one on to his stumps to give the debutant pacer his maiden Test wicket. Tendulkar’s knock that lasted for 363 balls and 433 minutes, was garnished with 22 sublime boundaries and two authoritative hits over the long-on fence.
Getting Tendulkar out brought a spring in the youngster’s stride and he produced a couple of beauties to make the batsmen jump and hop. He got the ball to seam away from Dhoni and troubled him with slow bouncer. In his next over, he dismissed Zaheer after Shane Watson had gotten rid of Harbhajan Singh. Australia pegged back with three wickets in as many overs.

Peter George was on cloud-nine after making Sachin Tendulkar his first Test victim.

MS Dhoni (30) hung in there at one end for a while. He started off on an attacking mode, smashing Michael Clarke and Nathan Hauritz for boundaries with a heave over mid-wicket and a slash over point. But after losing Tendulkar, the Indian captain dropped anchor and concentrated on not losing another wicket.

Pragyan Ojha never looked comfortable against the varying bounce of the wicket and the movement generated by George. Dhoni shielded him from the strike as much as he could and hence the runs became hard to come by. The Australians bowled four run-less overs before Hauritz got his first wicket of the innings after bowling 38 expensive overs, in form of Dhoni and wrapped up the Indian innings by dismissing Sreesanth. Hence, after Tendulkar departed with the score on 486, India lost the remaining wickets nine runs.

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Ra.1 first-ever interactive gaming flick.

Shah Rukh Khans forthcoming movie Ra. One will be the first movie in world to offer interactive climax.

Ra. One is an upcoming Hindi sci-fi superhero film directed by Anubhav Sinha and starring Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role. The movie has been completed 80 per cent of its shooting.

However the release of the latest trilingual movie by Superstar Rajinikanth - The Robot and the buzz created by it has made SRK to rethink and make Ra. One (which is also a science fiction movie) something different. According to reports and urgent meeting held at Shahrukh Khan's residence involving the actor, director and sound engineer Resul Pookkutty (who handled the Enthiras (Robots) sound department.


As per reports they have decided to make Ra.1 first-ever interactive gaming flick.

The climax of the movie is expected to allow the viewers to involve and interact with the super hero which will be something not heard of in Indian cinema.

The movie will also feature Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Chinese-American actor Tom Wu, singer Akon etc.

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V.V.S.Laxman "A Very Very Special" Mark Against Aussies...!!

india captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Tuesday heaped praise on senior batsman V V S Laxman for single-handedly guiding the country to a memorable one-wicket win over Australia in the first Test in Mohali. "VVS was really remarkable in this match. He helped the team overcome a batting collapse.

Laxman remained on crease,hit boundaries, rotated strike and kept the scoreboard moving all the time," Dhoni said after the match. "For me, it was a very special innings by Laxman," he added.
Laxman battled severe back-pain to play a gritty unbeaten 73 off 79 balls and produced an 81-run partnership with Ishant Sharma to script the win, which sent the hosts one-up in the two-match series.
Dhoni also made a special mention of Ishant, who contributed 31 crucial runs.
"Ishant showed good character when the batting collapse took place. It was no doubt a big task. Only two-three batsmen remained and Laxman was on the other end. But they supported Laxman well and that worked for us," he said.
"Our heart rate went up. Nobody could imagine such an ending in four-and-a-half days when the match started," he added.
Dhoni also praised his bowlers, saying, "Bowlers also played their roles and brought us back into the game."
Australian captain Ricky Ponting admitted that Laxman made the difference.
"Laxman's unbeaten innings was outstanding. But our performance was also satisfying, boys played well. We failed to take a couple of wickets quickly," he said.
"Now we will prepare for the next match. We will take rest tomorrow and then start the preparation," he added.
Man-of-the-Match, paceman Zaheer Khan who scalped eight wickets in the match and also completed 250 Test wickets, was yet to recover from the hangover.
"Everyone was trying to keep their calm during those close moments, trying to remain composed. Everybody in the dressing room was nervous and was behaving in their won ways," Zaheer said.
Asked about his personal achievement, the left-arm pacer said, "It is the result of a lot of hardworks. Few days back I was struggling with shoulder problems. I am happy that the struggles have paid off."

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Robo Shanker's Next Project is ?

Director Shankar’s next project will be the remake of the Hindi blockbuster 3 Idiots. The three heroes who will play the all-important roles in this film are said to be Vijay, Jiiva and Siddharth. In the Telugu version Vijay will be replaced by Mahesh Babu, sources report.

Shankar has had a hectic schedule over the past couple of years with Endhiran in the making and now that the film has been released and declared a smash hit, he is ready to pack his bags to travel to some foreign country along with family.

3 Idiots will commence soon after Shankar returns from his vacation.

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Aish To Pair Up WIth Chiru's 150th Movie ?

Talk of the film nagar is all about Mega Star Chiranjeevi’s 150th film. As the film marks Chiru’s foray once again into the Glitter World, lots of prominence engulfed every news of it. Rumors were spread already that Indian Cinema’s most successful commercial director ‘S. Shankar’ is going to direct the movie. Now, there is some news regarding the heroine of the film.

Sources close to Mega Star revealed that after watching ‘Robo’ the top hero got fascinated for its lead lady. Aishwarya Rai Bachan’s oomph factor played a key role in the success of the ‘Robo’ and our Mega wants to cash in on the same sex appeal in Tollywood. A PRO of Chiru is already in Mumbai for talks with Aish, to convince the married aunty to act opposite Chiru in his 150th film. 

Stay tuned to http://newsindia24.blogspot.com

more news on this...

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Who Will Take The Nobel Peace Prize 2010?

After last year's controversial choice of President Barack Obama for the Nobel peace prize, speculation over this year's Nobel recipients has run wild.


There are 237 nominees this year, including six Chinese dissidents, the radio group Democratic Voice of Burma and the Internet.

For the peace prize, Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo is topping the list of front runners at the PaddyPower betting site with odds at 3:1. China, however, has urged the Nobel Prize committee to not give him the top prize.


The head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, which assists the Nobel Committee in making its decisions, told reporters Monday that a senior Chinese official had warned him that awarding the peace prize to Liu would hurt relations between Norway and China.

The committee has angered China before, most notably with the 1989 peace prize going to the Dalai Lama. However, some insiders say this year's choice will not be a more conservative choice following the controversy over Obama.

Other highly rated choices are the Russian human rights activist Svetlana Gannushkina and Sima Samar, an Afghan women's rights activist who leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

A few long shots include Bono with 50:1 odds at Paddy Power and Tony Blair, with 80:1 odds.

The Nobel Prize for Literature also has betting sites counting up the odds. Ngugi wa Thiong'o, a Kenyan novelist, and Cormac McCarthy are running a tight race. The U.K. bookies say his odds of winning are 2.75:1, just edging out McCarthy at 3:1.

Rounding out the top three authors is the Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

Many Nobel Prize dissenters claim the award does not really matter. The Post's Anne Applebaum wrote last year, "Nevertheless, year in, year out, the Nobel laureate turns out to be an obscure writer, usually European, whose works are hardly known outside of a few German-speaking and Germano-centric countries."

Newsweek wrote last year, after the award went to the semi-obscure Herta Müller, "There are all the authors whose greatness actually diminishes the value of the Nobel. How, we have to ask, could the jurors have erred so badly as to neglect James Joyce, Eugene Ionesco, Eudora Welty, and Vladimir Nabokov?"

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Rajini's ROBO Movie 1st Ticket auctioned for Rs 3000/- Only

The Endhiran hype has achieved its summit and to mark the occasion, a theatre owner in Ariyalur planned something which is yet another first for a movie released in India. When tickets are usually priced between Rs. 100 and Rs. 200, maybe a little more for a Rajini movie, the first ticket for the first show in Endhiran has cost the proud owner of the ticket Rs. 3000. Yes! Rupees three thousand only.

The theatre owner, Mr. Karthik, said that he planned to do something similar to the IPL auction and hence decided to auction the ticket. Emerging victorious from among numerous bids, the winner had to shell out Rs. 3000. This can only happen with Rajinikanth movies!

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Robo Collections So far is 100 Crores

As for filmnagar estimates, Robot collected a staggering Rs. 100 crore so far worldwide. The sci-fi flick was made on a budget of Rs. 160 crore, a big-budget film by Indian cinema standards. Box-office experts say the film exceeded everyone's expectations and will go down in history as one of the best coming from Rajinikanth! Robot is doing roaring business everywhere and one finds serpentine queues formed in front of most theatres where the film is being screened. The mania has caught on in Hyderabad too and one has to wait for hours in queues to get the tickets.

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Common Wealth Games 2010 Opening Ceremony Exclusive Video

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Australia Media Described CWG Opening ceremony as'An ancient land opens its heart to the world,'

'An ancient land opens its heart to the world,' the Sydney Morning Herald said and described the beginning of the event a display of 'rich and exciting pageant befitting a country as vast and populous as India'.

The new 'Incredible India' of diversity and cultural pride showed its face, the Australian media unanimously said after watching Sunday's gala opening of the 19th Commonwealth Games in New Delhi.

A 300 metre-long series of tableau shashayed the 'riot of life that exists within and around an Indian train'.

Rickshaws and chai (tea) carts rollicked along with classical dancers as the mega sporting event of the 71 participating nations and territories was officially opened Sunday evening by Indian President Pratibha Patil and Britain's Prince Charles who read out the message of Queen Elizabeth II, his mother.

According to the Herald, Like a great curry, the Delhi Games has had a spicy start. Now the city hopes for the diffusion of the full range of flavours for the next 11 days before leaving the athletes, and television audiences around the world, with an after-taste that is richly exotic rather than sour.

After weeks dominated by reports of corruption and chaos, the new 'Incredible India' of diversity and cultural pride showed its face,' wrote another daily, The Australian.

And if the crowd of over 50,000 at 'Delhi's impressive new Jawarhalal Nehru Stadium were any indication', whether 'it would erase the national shame of the past few weeks, the answer is an emphatic, and ecstatic, yes', the newspaper said.

The ceremony began with a dramatic flourish as percussionists beat giant drums and red pyrotechnic flames shot into the air from the brand-new Australian constructed stadium roof. Children dressed in the tri-colour Indian flag waved more than 6,000 athletes in to the arena -- the largest ever Commonwealth Games contingent.

The former host nation, Australia, led the athletes' parade with netballer Sharelle McMahon carrying the flag ahead of a team. But no one could upstage the sumptuous elegance of the Indian team in stunning brocade saris and maroon and gold knee-length silk sherwani jackets, it wrote.

'Commonwealth Games make spectacular start,' read the headline in the Herald Sun.

'The ceremony, a kaleidoscope of music, movement and colour, was watched by proud and ecstatic locals, plus millions of television viewers across the Commonwealth,' it said.

A 'Namaste' dance -- the Hindi word means 'welcome' -- where dancers formed the shape of two palms pressed together in a common Indian greeting, was also a crowd favourite.

And, there were fireworks, with more than 2,700 provided by Victorian company Howard and Sons launched from 88 spots around the stadium roof.

The newspaper also hailed the Games song by Bollywood music composer. Oscar winner A.R. Rahmann as 'a foot-tapping, hand-clapping, jaw-dropping performance'.

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