A record made for centuries, Sachin scores his hundredth ton

Sachin Tendulkar on Friday became the first batsman in history to score 100 international centuries, adding another milestone in his record-breaking career. Tendulkar, who turns 39 next month, achieved the feat when he recorded his 49th one-day century in the Asia cup match against Bangladesh at the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Dhaka. He has 51 Test hundreds. The Mumbai batsman, who has compiled more Test and one-day runs than anyone in history, reached the record with a single, marking the moment with a modest glance to the sky while pointing to the Indian flag on his helmet. Tendulkar is the most capped player in the history of the game with 188 Test and 462 one-day appearances since making...

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Rail Budget today: Safety cess on higher class fares likely

"Rail Budget is going to be like whatever it should be," railway minister Dinesh Trivedi said in New Delhi while giving finishing touches to the documents of budget 2012-13. Trivedi will present his maiden Rail Budget in the Lok Sabha after the Question Hour on Wednesday. Asked about the possibility of fare hike, which has not been touched since 2003, he declined to comment saying, "no preview." There are speculations about the possibility of safety cess being imposed on train fares to mop up Rs 5,000 crore as recommended by Kakodkar Committee. Parliamentary committees, Planning Commission and railway unions have suggested fare hike in all classes to raise funds for the national transporter. Given...

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Just 8% Indians have Internet

Though known for its computer whizkids world over, the penetration of computers/ laptops in India is only 9.4% or less than one out of 10 households with only 3% having internet facility. The penetration of internet is 8% in urban as compared to less than 1% in rural area. The 2011 housing census figures released on Tuesday by the Registrar General of India threw up some interesting facts bringing out stark realities in India that is trying to carve a place among the top advanced nations. While the use of TV sets in Indian households saw an increase of 16 points from 31.6 to 47.2% in last one decade and penetration of mobile phones touched 59%, the country failed to match this progress...

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Nobel scientist who warned of thinning ozone dies

F. Sherwood Rowland, the Nobel prize-winning chemist who sounded the alarm on the thinning of the Earth’s ozone layer, has died. He was 84. Rowland died Saturday at his home of complications from Parkinson’s disease, the dean of the University of California, Irvine’s physical sciences department said Sunday. “We have lost our finest friend and mentor,” Kenneth C. Janda said in a statement. “He saved the world from a major catastrophe - never wavering in his commitment to science, truth and humanity and did so with integrity and grace.” Rowland was among three scientists awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for chemistry for explaining how the ozone layer is formed and decomposed through chemical...

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Pay me a rupee more than SRK, says Salman: Report

While a lot has been said and written about the rivalry between Salman Khan and Shah Rukh Khan, the story looks like it's getting more interesting by the day. The recent buzz is that Salman wants to be paid a rupee more for his film with a big production house than what they are paying SRK for his upcoming movie with Katrina Kaif. Surprisingly, this information has come out at a time when SRK has already started shooting for the Yash Chopra film, while Salman has almost finished filming the Kabir Khan directed venture. Race to the top "Before Salman committed to the movie, he asked Aditya Chopra to pay him a rupee more than what SRK was being paid for Yashji's film," says our source,...

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‘25 lakh gays in India, 7 pc are HIV-positive’

The Centre on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that there were around 25 lakh homosexuals in the country of which 1.75 lakh — seven per cent — were HIV-infected. An affidavit filed in the court by Sayan Chatterjee, Secretary, Department of AIDS Control, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, says, “The population of men who have sex with men (MSM) was estimated to be 25 lakh in India.” The affidavit cites the figures of the National Aids Control programme. He said the government was working on bringing four lakh high-risk MSM under the AIDS control programme, of which two lakh are already covered. The incidence of HIV among female sex workers is 4.60-4.94 per cent and among MSM it...

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What Sachin did not get, Gambhir and Kohli got

They weren’t expected to score a ‘Perfect 10’ on the compatibility front, but they actually did. Only a few days back, one was stripped of the vice-captaincy in favour of the other. However, if their 205-run partnership against familiar foes Sri Lanka on Tuesday was anything to go by, all seems well between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli. The duo joined hands after Sachin Tendulkar failed to score even 10 — and you were expecting a ton! — on a pitch which resembled a grass bank, but had no pace whatsoever. The ball never rose beyond their knees and the Sri Lankans, perhaps, forgot that bouncers were legal. Evidently, the Delhi duo made merry and, in the process, notched up their 10th...

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Strykers edge out Lions

Pune Strykers edged out Karnataka Lions 3-2 in their World Series Hockey match at Major Dhyanchand Stadium in Pimpri on Monday. Pune opened their account early, when Damandeep Singh tried to shoot from the dreaded spot, but goalie Devesh Chauhan, in an attempt to avert the danger, stepped out of the goalpost and deflected the ball. Taking advantage of the situation, Roshan Minz, who was standing diagonally right to the goalpost, struck a hard one in to put his team ahead. After a series of attacks, Karnataka finally got a penalty corner in the 23rd minute. The strike was taken by Karnataka’s penalty specialist, Len Aiyappa, but his hit was blocked by Pune’s Vikram Yadav’s shoulder. This...

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Govt to ensure universal access to free generic medicines in time-bound manner: President

The UPA government has announced that it would ensure universal access to free generic essential medicines in public health institutions in a phased and time-bound manner. Addressing the Parliament on the opening day of the Budget session on Monday, President Pratibha Patil said the government was aiming to hike the both plan and non-plan expenditure in the Centre and the States together to 2.5 per cent of the GDP by the end of the 12th Plan. “People need to be healthy if they have to learn, earn and lead a productive and fulfilling life. Our National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) has started making a difference as reflected in the health indicators. The Infant Mortality Rate has ...

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Steroid drops may cause glaucoma

PUNE: Prolonged and unsupervised use of steroid eye drops can result in steroid-induced glaucoma. In a review of 1,000 newly diagnosed glaucoma patients seen between January 2008 and February 2012, twenty three patients were detected with secondary glaucoma caused by long-term use of steroid medications. Glaucoma is a sight-threatening condition often diagnosed late as it produces minimal or no symptoms in its early stages. The World Glaucoma Association has declared March 11-17, 2012 as awareness week. "Steroid drops are commonly used for treating eye inflammation and eye allergy. Although these medications may be necessary in the treatment of the disease, their indiscriminate and...

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If your last name is Chutia, your FB a/c might be blocked!

The All Assam Chutia Students’ Union (Aacsu) has accused Facebook of blocking the accounts of thousands of people with the name Chutia saying that the social network has confused it with Hindi slang, reports the Times of India. Chutia, pronounced Sutiya, is the name of a community in Assam. But chutia, or chutiya, is also a mildly derogatory term in Hindi: Urban Dictionary translates its most common slang usage as ‘fool’. Said Jyotiprasad Chutia, Aacsu general secretary: “Facebook has blocked the accounts of all the subscribers belonging to the Chutia community of Assam thinking the names are false and fabricated. For Chutia being an abusive word in the Hindi language, Facebook authorities...

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Mitsubishi readying small car

Mitsubishi Motors, Japanese vehicle maker, launched its new sports utility vehicle (SUV), Pajero Sport, on Monday with an aim to sell about 5,000 units in the first year and double that figure in a couple of years. The company is also looking at a small-car launch in India. The vehicle will be initially imported as a fully built unit from Mitsubishi’s Thailand unit and will be assembled from the completely knocked down form at Hindustan Motors’ Tiruvallur plant near Chennai from September. The company will tie up with equipment manufacturers prior to assembling the SUV. Once the cost comes down, the prices are expected to come down from its ex-showroom price of Rs23.53 lakh, Delhi,...

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Yahoo! accuses Facebook of patent infringement

San Francisco: Yahoo! filed a lawsuit against Facebook accusing the social networking giant of patent infringement. Yahoo!, in the suit filed in US District Court yesterday for the Northern District of California, accused Facebook of infringing on 10 of its patents. "For much of the technology upon which Facebook is based Yahoo! got there first and was therefore granted patents by the United States Patent Office to protect those innovations," Yahoo! said in the suit, a copy of which was posted online by the website All Things Digital.  "Yahoo!'s patents relate to cutting edge innovations in online products, including in messaging, news feed generation, social commenting, advertising...

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Twitter buys Tumblr competitor Posterous

The nanocontent company Twitter is buying the microblog site Posterous, according to posts on both services (Twitter | Posterous). Terms of the deal are not yet public. Posterous is a blog platform with a focus on simplicity. Like competitor Tumblr, it's designed so users can quickly create short posts. Items can be posted from the Web, the Posterous mobile app, or from e-mail. The announcement posts say that the Posterous service Spaces will stay up and running "without disruption," but that users who wish to move off the system will get instructions for doing that shortly. The posts also say that the team is hiring. Founder and CEO Sachin Agarwal said on his personal Posterous...

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Notice to 7 telecos using ‘excess’ spectrum for free

The Supreme Court has issued notices to the Centre and seven telecom firms on a plea by ‘Telecom Watchdog’, seeking cancellation of 2G spectrum beyond 2x4.5 MHz for metros and 2x4.4 MHz for other circles, allocated to the firms without charging additional fees. The court asked the companies to file their replies within a month. The petitioner’s counsel Prashant Bhushan also argued for cancellation of additional spectrum allocated to these firms. The companies which have been issued the notices are Bharati Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Telecom, Idea Cellular, Loop Mobile (India), Spice Communications and Aircel Cellular. The court had in January last, sought replies of the Centre and telecom...

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A Hot Dog a Day Raises Risk of Dying, Harvard Study Finds

A daily meal of hot dogs, bacon or hamburgers raises the risk of dying from heart disease or cancer by as much as 21 percent, according to the largest assessment of the health effects from consuming red meat. The study released today by the Archives of Internal Medicine adds to evidence of health risks associated with eating large amounts of red meat, which has been linked to diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancers, said An Pan, the lead study author and a research fellow at the Harvard University School of Public Health in Boston. Still, red meat can be part of a healthy diet, said Dean Ornish, who wrote an accompanying editorial. “It’s not all or nothing,” said Ornish, clinical professor...

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F. Sherwood Rowland, Cited Aerosols’ Danger, Is Dead at 8

SAN FRANCISCO — F. Sherwood Rowland, whose discovery in 1974 of the danger that aerosols posed to the ozone layer was initially met with disdain but who was ultimately vindicated with the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, died on Saturday at his home in Corona del Mar, Calif. He was 84. The cause was complications of Parkinson’s disease, according to the University of California, Irvine, where he was the Donald Bren research professor of chemistry in earth system science. Industry representatives at first disputed Dr. Rowland’s findings, and many skeptical colleagues in the field avoided him. But his findings, achieved in laboratory experiments, were supported 11 years later when...

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New Debris-Tracking 'Space Fence' Passes Key Test

A prototype "space fence" designed to track Earth's burgeoning orbital debris population passed a key test recently, locking onto objects in a demonstration run. The radar system, which is being developed by aerospace firm Lockheed Martin for the United States Air Force, has successfully detected orbiting space junk, company officials announced March 8. The Air Force also approved Lockheed's preliminary design for the system on Feb. 29, they added. The Air Force is looking to replace the aging Air Force Space Surveillance System (AFSSS), which it has used since 1961 to track satellites and pieces of space junk — called "resident...

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Budget 2012: Why budget estimates are almost always off the mark

On March 16, when the finance minister presents the budget, expect him to announce a much bigger deficit for the year than he promised last February. The hike in the deficit figure could be as much as Rs 1,26,034 crore, or 6% of GDP (up from 4.6% of GDP announced in the budget). More spending and lower revenues than expected are to blame. The slowdown in 2011 led to lower than expected tax collections and earnings from disinvestment. Moreover, the government cut taxes on petroleum products to cushion consumers from the impact of petrol price hikes. this too has led to a fall in tax revenue. As of January, 70% of the government revenues budgeted for the year had actually flowed...

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Cotton export ban decision likely on Monday

The government may lift ban on export of cotton imposed by commerce ministry on March 5 with farmer protests against the decision starting in Vidarbha region of Congress ruled Maharashtra. State chief minister Prithviraj Chavan met Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday even as BJP workers and farmer groups disrupted traffic in Viradbha to protest against the ban and sought immediate lifting of it.  Chavan, who had a scheduled meeting with Congress president, is said to have discussed political implications of the ban on export of cotton. He was apparently of the view that the state government was not consulted before imposing the ban. The Maharashtra CM had also met agriculture...

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RBI delivers, can lame duck govt?

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday surprised the markets by slashing the cash reserve ratio (CRR) — or the portion of deposits that banks have to compulsorily keep with the banking regulator as a safety measure — by 75 basis points to 4.75% from 5.5%. (A 100 basis points make a percentage point, or, in layman terms, 1%) The RBI preferred t o call it a liquidity measure, essentially to facilitate the more than Rs20,000 crore of advance tax that companies will have to pay by March 15, taking it out of their bank accounts. The CRR cut releases Rs48,000 crore back to banks. But since the cut too is effective after March15, underscoring the RBI’s ...

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Kingfisher may have to weather pilot storm next

MUMBAI: Kingfisher Airlines may face a critical test in keeping its schedule going from Monday with its pilots refusing to operate flights if their pending salaries and dues are not cleared in the next 48 hours. If a majority of pilots stick to the decision for long, the airline will find it hard to follow even its skeletal flight schedule. "About 80% of pilots will not be reporting for work from Monday," a pilot said, referring to a letter sent by them to Kingfisher Airlines chairman Vijay Mallya and other top officials on March 6. Kingfisher has about 500 pilots on its rolls and since they do not have a union, the decision will be left to each individual. On...

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‘Netaji' yields place to Akhilesh

At 38, he will be youngest Chief Minister of the most politically sensitive State Mulayam Singh, whose Samajwadi Party won a thumping victory in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections, has handed over the reins to his son Akhilesh Yadav, who was unanimously elected leader of the party's legislature wing on Saturday. U.P.'s new yuvraj (PDF) At 38, Mr. Akhilesh Yadav will become the youngest Chief Minister of the country's most politically sensitive State, thumping the record for the youngest Chief Minister held by the outgoing Chief Minister, Mayawati, who first assumed office when she was 39 in 1995. He will take the oath of office and secrecy at a function to be held between 11 a.m....

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Mamata summons ‘anti-pay cut’ Bratya

School and Higher Secondary Minister Bratya Basu — who is learnt to be opposed to the government’s decision to cut a day’s salary of school teachers who were absent on February 28, the day of the strike — was on Saturday summoned by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to Writers’ Buildings. Yesterday, the state government had issued a a circular declaring that teachers of government schools and colleges, including those working in government-aided institutions, who didn’t make it to their workplace on February 28 have to suffer a pay cut if they did not furnish a “proper reason” for their absence. The school education department on Friday forwarded the copy of the show-cause notice to...

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Writing on the wall

If Rahul Dravid did not exist, it would have been necessary to invent him. A mythical figure who loved the game so much he was willing to bat, keep wickets, make unpopular declarations , and probably arrange the sandwiches during the tea break, cut the grass, operate the gates at the stadium, anything. "I can't believe I am being paid to do what I love," he once said in wonder. Clearly, Dravid was - the past tense seems so unnatural - 'Mr Cricket' . He restored the meanings and metaphors associated with 'cricket' as only one who embodied it can. Meanings that had been eroded, thanks to the modern player's restricted sense of what the word stood for. Dravid was aware of the dual...

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Fishermen’s killing: EU steps in to resolve issue

The standoff with Italy over the killing of two fishermen off the Kerala coast seems to be snowballing with the European Union now wading into the troubled waters. “On Italy’s request, we are undertaking contacts aimed at contributing to finding a satisfactory solutionas soon as possible,” said Maja Kocijancic, spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, in Brussels. However, India — which has arrested two Italian marines for the February 15 firing deaths — is adamant the law will take its course. “India has made its stand clear. There is no compromise,” minister for overseas Indian affairs Vayalar Ravi said. Italy has hardened its posture, saying its nationals can be tried...

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Massive preparations on for swearing-in ceremony

CHANDIGARH: Five helipads, 1,500-odd VVIPs and VIPs and food packets for 20,000 public gathering -- These are part of the massive preparations for the oath-taking ceremony of SAD-BJP alliance ministry for the second consecutive term, at Baba Banda Singh Bahadur war memorial at Chappar Chiri village in Mohali, about 20 km from here. Bikram Majithia, president of Youth Akali Dal and brother-in-law of SAD president Sukhbir Badal, has taken on the responsibility of turning the event into a successful gala show where at least seven-eight CMs of non-Congress ruled states, at least one Union minister and the NDA leadership are likely to put in their presence. Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal...

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Consensus eludes Congress in Uttarakhand

Consensus could not be reached on who should head the Congress Legislature Party in Uttarakhand and central observer Ghulam Nabi Azad and party in-charge of the State, Ch. Birendra Singh returned to New Delhi for consultations with the high command on Saturday. The Congress has 32 MLAs of its own and enjoys the support of three independents — all Congress rebels who won — and the lone Uttarakhand Kranti Dal ( Pawar) MLA — taking the total to the magic figure of 36 in a House of 70 having 31 Bharatiya Janata Party and three Bahujan Samaj Party members. Mr. Azad will give his report to party president Sonia Gandhi who after consultations with the core group will announce the name of...

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‘International pressure led to Kazmi's arrest'

Civil society representatives came together under the aegis of ANHAD (Act Now for Harmony And Democracy) here on Saturday to condemn the arrest of freelance journalist Syed Mohammed Ahmad Kazmi by the Delhi Police for alleged involvement in the Israeli diplomat assassination attempt this past month. Alleging that the arrest was made under pressure from Israel and the United States to name and implicate Iran in the case, Manisha Sethi, president of the Jamia Teachers' Solidarity Association, said strange stories were being planted in the media and demanded Mr. Kazmi's immediate release on bail. Ms. Sethi expressed shock over the reports that Israeli intelligence officials were coming...

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