Sadhvi Pragya brought to Nashik court, 3 more arrested

The Maharashtra ATS brought the prime accused Sadhvi Pragya Thakur to the Nashik court today, along with her co-accused Sahu , and Shivnarayan.


Meanwhile, the three accused were allowed to meet their siblings and the meetings happened with the lawyers in the court room.


Shiv Sena activists protested outside the court, to demonstrate their anger at the arrest and trial of the sadhvi.


Three other people too have been arrested in the Malegaon blasts case, that the ATF has arrested the sadhvi under.


She has already undergone several brain mapping tests in Mumbai. Reports say that a large number of activists from the Shiv Sena may gather outside the court as a show of support to the sadhvi.


On Sunday, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) joined the Shiv Sena and the BJP in saying that they would provide all legal help to the sadhvi.


They claim that the ATS had absolutely no evidence against her and that her arrest was just a larger part of a political ploy of the UPA government to tarnish the saffron outfits.


The editor of the party mouthpiece Saamana, Sanjay Raut had told CNN-IBN that the Sena is ready to provide legal aide to the accused, including sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur.


"If Dawood Ibrahim's brother was represented by eminent lawyers like Majeed Memon, shouldn't sadhvi Pragya, Ramesh Upadhyay and Sameer Kulkarni be represented by somebody?" said a previous editorial in Saamna.


"The government does not save Hindus from terrorists, and if Hindus defend themselves, they are maligned," it had said.


The Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has arrested Pragya Singh Thakur in the September 29 Malegaon bomb blast case in which five people were killed.

Shah Rukh to play his age in Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi

Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan sheds his casanova image for a new film, basing his character on a middle-aged man he met while hosting a popular game show on Indian television.


Shah Rukh, who turned 43 on Sunday, has mostly played the young romantic lead in a career spanning nearly two decades and 60 films. But for filmmaker Aditya Chopra's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi, Shah Rukh casts off his designer suits and jeans to play a bespectacled government employee in ill-fitting trousers.


"I want to play the exact opposite of Raj and Rahul, the romantic hero that I have played all these days. I want to show that it is special to be ordinary, which is why I am doing this film," Khan said at a press conference on Sunday.



SRK, Bollywood's most bankable star, said the character was inspired by a "sweet, unassuming" contestant he met last year on the sets of Kaun Banega Crorepati, the Indian version of the worldwide hit TV show, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.


"I want everyone who watches the film to realise that the person they love is the best romantic hero there could be," he added.


Not much is known about the storyline of Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi except that the film is a love story and it also features SRK in a younger role which is again inspired by a contestant in another TV show hosted by the actor.


SRK did not elaborate but said this second character was based on another contestant he met this year on Kya Aap Paanchvi Pass Se Tez Hain?, the Indian version of another American game show Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?. Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi opens in cinemas in December.

North Indian youths attack Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi

The Maharashtrian-North Indian standoff in Mumbai has spilled on to the streets of Delhi.


A group of 20 youths, reportedly from Bihar, attacked Maharashtra Sadan in the capital on Monday.


The Rashtrawadi Sena has claimed responsibility for the attack.


The youths were protesting attacks on North Indians in Maharashtra. The mob ransacked the reception of the building and raised slogans against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.


Deputy Commissioner of Police Anand Mohan said that the situation was brought under control soon. However, no one has been arrested.


A journalist, Balasaheb Ambekar working a regional language paper in Maharashtra, Jivhala, said that the guards couldn't stop the attackers.


"The security guards tried to stop them but couldn't. They all looked like bouncers and they went on a rampage," Ambekar said.

Student mistaken for a criminal, shot dead by cops

Haryana Police gunned a student in Bhiwani late on Sunday night in a case of mistaken identity.


The 20-year-old student, Kuldeep Singh, was shot dead while he was returning back home after a party with his friends. The police were allegedly on the lookout for a criminal, Dara Singh, when the tragic incident occurred.


An FIR has been registered in the case and one policeman has been arrested. The main accused constable Karmbir Singh was arrested after the registration of a case against eight cops following the killing of Kuldeep, a student of a local Vaish College.


"There were four men in a jeep and two of them got out. The one in plain clothes shot my brother on the forehead. When they realised he had been shot the policemen ran away," the victim's brother said.


Bhiwani District Commissioner Satya Prakash clarified that the act was unintentional and a FIR has been registered.


"In a case of bank robbery the police had nabbed two people and there was search going on for the other two involved. They belonged to a village in Bhiwani. There was some information that the people would be coming to the same place. The police were waiting and at 0115 hrs IST and they saw three people coming and after repeated requests they did not stop," Prakash said.


"It was an unintentional act. An FIR has been filed. The victim was taken to hospital at 0415 hrs IST. We are investigating the policeman who fired. They went to the thana (police station) and confession was made," he added.


Prakash also said that the Sub Divisional Magistrate, Bhiwani Shiv Prasad Sharma has been asked to investigate the incident.


The SDM would complete his probe at the earliest and submit a report to the District Administration after which further action would be taken against the guilty.



Meanwhile, students went on a rampage in Bhiwani after the tragic incident.


Haryana Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda said that the guilty will not be spared.


"The police are at fault. It is an unfortunate incident and a case has been registered. The guilty will be punished and we have given Rs 5 lakh to the victim's family," Hooda said.


However, Kuldeep's father said that he won't accept the compensation offered by the Chief Minister.


Meanwhile, former chief minister Bhajan Lal visited Kuldeep's home and demanded strict action against the guilty.


Abhay Chautala, the son of another former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala, accused the state police of orchestrating fake encounters.


"The Chief Minister and his government claim that they have chased away anti-social elements from the state. In reality the police are killing innocent people in fake encounters," Chautala said

Big Bang: First protons fired, world still safe

Scientists at the world's largest particle collider have fired the first protons into a 17-mile-long tunnel in science's next great step to understand the makeup of the universe.

Project leader Lyn Evans gave the go-ahead to send the protons into the accelerator below the Swiss-French border early Wednesday.

The $3.8 billion Large Hadron Collider was under construction since 2003. Scientists hope it will provide the necessary power to smash the components of atoms so that they can see how they are made.

The startup has been eagerly awaited by 9,000 physicists around the world who will conduct experiments here.

Some skeptics have said they fear the collisions of protons could eventually imperil Earth.
'It's nonsense,'' said James Gillies, chief spokesman for CERN, the host European Organization for Nuclear Research.

CERN is backed by leading scientists like Britain's Stephen Hawking in dismissing the fears and declaring the experiments to be absolutely safe.

Gillies told the AP that the most dangerous thing that could happen would be if a beam at full power were to go out of control, and that would only damage the accelerator itself and burrow into the rock around the tunnel deep below the Swiss-French border.

And full power is probably a year away.

''On Wednesday we start small,'' said Gillies. ''What we're putting in to start with is one single low intensity bunch at low energy and we thread that around. We get experience with low energy things and then we ramp up as we get to know the machine better.''

He said a good result for Wednesday would be to have one beam going all the way around the tunnel in a counterclockwise direction. If that works, the scientists will then try to send a beam in the other direction.

''A really good result would be to have the other beam going around, too, because once you've got a beam around once in both directions you know that there is no show stopper,'' Gillies said. ''It's going to work.''

However, if there is some blockage in the machine, experts will have to go in and fix the problem, and that could take time.

The LHC, as the collider is known, will take scientists to within a split second of a laboratory recreation of the big bang, which they theorize was the massive explosion that created the universe.

The project organized by the 20 European member nations of CERN has attracted researchers of 80 nationalities. Some 1,200 are from the United States, an observer country which contributed $531 million. Japan, another observer, also is a major contributor.

The collider is designed to push the proton beam close to the speed of light, whizzing 11,000 times a second around the tunnel.

Smaller colliders have been used for decades to study the makeup of the atom. Less than 100 years ago scientists thought protons and neutrons were the smallest components of an atom's nucleus, but in stages since then experiments have shown they were made of still smaller quarks and gluons and that there were other forces and particles.

The CERN experiments could reveal more about ''dark matter,'' antimatter and possibly hidden dimensions of space and time. It could also find evidence of the hypothetical particle _ the Higgs boson _ believed to give mass to all other particles, and thus to matter that makes up the universe.

Some scientists have been waiting for 20 years to use the LHC. But even their younger colleagues are excited that startup has finally arrived.

''I think it's a very important project,'' said Katie McAlpine, 23, a Michigan State University graduate who made a rap video about the project.

''It's mostly out of scientific curiosity, what is the universe made of? How does it work? What are the rules? That's very exciting and it's important to advance our knowledge,'' she told Associated Press Television News.

She said she was surprised by the success of the video, which has had more than a million views on YouTube and which has received approval from CERN for its scientific accuracy, especially in its success with young people.

''I was really hoping that this would get taken into classrooms,'' McAlpine said. ''I don't imagine that elementary school and most middle school children will understand it very well, but a lot of parents have e-mailed me, saying I have a 9-year-old or a 7-year-old and showed them your rap and they really love it.

''If elementary kids can get excited about it, too, that's just great.''

India's condom ring tone a huge global hit

Guess which Indian ring tone is being downloaded the most all over the world? No, it is not the latest Bollywood chartbuster, but a public health message that goes 'condom, condom'.

Its makers are amazed by the popularity of the ring tone that was launched last month and aims to promote safe sex, the use of condom and to thus tackle the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in the country where about 2.5 million people are estimated to be living with it.

'It is a hit internationally. Nowhere in the world are we aware of a ring tone for a product,' said Yvonne MacPherson, country director of the BBC World Service Trust, the international charity of the BBC.

'The 'condom a cappella' ringtone is really innovative. What is amazing is that India has started the trend of a ring tone which carries a social health message. People are excited about this ring tone internationally and are looking to India for this,' MacPherson told IANS.

What has perhaps caught the imagination of the people is the fresh voice, sound and music, which are totally Indian.

'I think the ring tone has international appeal. It has quirky music and sound,' said MacPherson.

In the three weeks since its launch, the makers have already received 257,744 SMS requests for download and over two million hits on the website.

The ring tone can be downloaded by SMSing 'CONDOM' to 56887 (download charges apply) or free from anywhere worldwide on the website www.condomcondom.org. The ring tone has been composed by Rupert Fernandes and sung by Vijay Prakash, who is a professional singer, and has chanted the word condom more than 50 times.

'As it became international news, there has been demand for it from all corners of the globe,' said an excited MacPherson, who got calls from radio stations from across the US and Britain.

The ring tone marks the latest phase in the three-year intense mass media campaign to make condom use more socially acceptable. It was partially launched in Aug 8 but was nationally seen on television, cinema, radio and in print in Aug 22.

The campaign uses a multitude of youth friendly platforms such as website downloads, online games, mobile advertising and downloads, along with the TV and radio advertisements, MacPherson said, adding that the campaign is funded by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) is also using the ad to support its condom promotion efforts.

The objective is to connect with all age groups and across the socio-economic strata, MacPherson added.

In the advertisement, a wedding is shown where a mobile rings with the sound of 'condom, condom'. An embarrassed man holds the phone and looks for others' reactions. Then he finds the reactions smart and responsible. The tagline is 'jo samjha wohi sikander' ('the one who understands is a winner').

MacPherson said the ring tone has also scored big time as many have sent messages to them.

One of the messages they have received on their website is from Denmark and it reads: 'I have just read an article about this latest ring tone from you, i have heard it and i love IT!! you are tearing down the walls around this taboo.'

Another one from the US said: 'I found this and my sons overwhelmed and they love it. ...opened up a new dialogue regarding sexual health. Thank you for such a fun way to open up with my kids about HIV and AIDS.'

It is getting accolades from Indians too. 'Awesome, from today onwards this will be my mobile ring tone, it's a good effort to spread awareness...' a message from a man in Karnataka said.

MacPherson said: 'The objective was to make condom socially acceptable and to remove the taboo around it. Condoms are a health product and a life saving device to protect a person from HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases.

'People feel embarrassed when it comes to protection so we have to first take care of this. This is how we would be able to check the epidemic nature of the disease. The shock value coupled with bringing the subject out in the open will also help in dispelling the myths,' MacPherson added.

According to Radharani Mitra, the creative director of the trust which is producing the advertisements, 'ring tones have become such personal statements that a specially created condom ring tone seemed just the right way of combining a health message in a fun way'.

How to live till 100

Want to live till 100 years of age? Well, do regular exercises, be married, wash hands and brush your teeth everyday.

That's what a new book, 'The Long Life Equation', by Dr Trisha Macnair suggests.

In the book, the author has listed activities that add years to your life.

Macnair said washing your hands adds two years, and good dental hygiene can add six more years in your life.

But smoking, fast food, no exercise and a stressful life can strip away 20 years.

"There's no doubt younger people take life and health for granted - more than any generation before, they idle time away watching TV or playing computer games, ignoring the activities that keep them healthy or develop meaning in their lives," Courier Mail quoted Macnair, as saying.

"As we get older and start to feel the years slipping away, we suddenly realise how precious it is.

"But by then we may have already established habits (smoking, drinking, obesity, lack of exercise, stressful occupations) which take their toll and are difficult to reverse.

"Still, it's never too late to change. Also, our attitudes to older age are changing so there is more freedom now to do things later in life if we are healthy and able," she added.

A 2006 study from University of California in Los Angeles showed that men and women live healthier, wealthier, happier and longer lives when they are in a stable partnership

The study confirmed that married couples were more likely to live to an old age than their divorced, widowed or unmarried counterparts.

A stable partnership can actually add on seven years to life.

Regular exercise also adds as much as two or more years to your life.

A Harvard Alumni Study, which took into account more than 71,000 men who had graduated from Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania between 1916 and 1954, found that those men who regularly burned 8400kJ a week while exercising lived, on average, two years longer than sedentary types.

But cigarette smoking can actually reduce 8 years from your life

Tobacco smoke contains more than 4000 chemicals, many of which are highly toxic.

A divorce can also strip away 3 years from your life, as it takes longer-lasting, emotional and physical toll on former spouses than virtually any other life stress.

ecent studies indicate that divorced adults have higher rates of emotional disturbance, accidental death and death from heart disease.

The divorced also have higher rates of admission to psychiatric facilities and make more visits to doctors than people who are married, single or widowed. (ANI)

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Doom-mongers worry: end of world on Big Bang test day

If critics are to be believed, the end of the universe will begin coming Wednesday when a Welsh miner's son launches the world's biggest scientific experiment to know how the universe was born.


The well-known Welshman physicist, Lyn Evans, dubbed Evans the Atom, will this week switch on a giant particle accelerator designed to unlock the secrets of the Big Bang.


On Wednesday, Evans will fire up the Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile-long doughnut-shaped tunnel that will smash sub-atomic particles together at nearly the speed of light.


Built by the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN), the collider lies beneath the French-Swiss border, near the institution's headquarters in Geneva, at depths ranging from 170 feet to 600 feet.


The aim of the 4.4 billion-pound (over $7.7 billion) experiment is to recreate the conditions that existed a fraction of a second after the Big Bang — the birth of the universe — and provide vital clues to the building blocks of life.

It will track the spray of particles thrown out by collisions in a search for the elusive Higgs Boson, a theoretical entity that supposedly lends weight, or mass, to the elementary particles. So important is this mysterious substance that it has been called the "God Particle".


Scientists also hope to shed some light on the invisible material that exists between particles - dubbed "dark matter" as no one knows what it really is - which make up most of the universe.


But a handful of scientists believe that the experiment could create a shower of unstable black holes that could "eat" the planet from within, and they are launching last-ditch efforts to halt it in the courts.


One of them, Otto Rossler, a retired German chemist, said he feared the experiment may create a devastating quasar - a mass of energy fuelled by black holes - inside the earth. Jets emanating from it would grow and catastrophes such as earthquakes and tsunamis would occur at the points they emerged from the earth.


"The weather will change completely, wiping out life, and very soon the whole planet will be eaten in a magnificent scenario - if you could watch it from the moon. A Biblical Armageddon. Even cloud and fire will form, as it says in the Bible."


He said that attempts were still being made in the European Court of Human Rights to halt the experiment on the grounds that it violated the right to life. The court has, however, already rejected calls for a temporary delay in the project.


Walter Wagner, an American scientist who has been warning about the dangers of particle accelerators for 20 years, is awaiting a ruling on a lawsuit he filed a fortnight ago in his home state of Hawaii.


Evans, however, is dismissive of the "doom-mongers".


"There are thousands of scientists around the world who have been preparing this machine and they know what they are talking about, unlike these guys," he is quoted as saying in the British daily Daily Mail.

Secrets of successful flirting revealed

Want to be a successful flirt? Well, then all you need to do is simply to let your prospective partner know that you find them attractive, according to a new research.

The University of Aberdeen study shows that telling the person "I really like you" is likely to push the chosen target to reciprocate the feelings. It also revealed that if a person shows someone their feelings, through eye contact, smiling - or simply telling them - they are more likely to return the sentiment.

The new study found that ‘social cues’ - someone's efforts to show how much they like a person - are of great importance in the blossoming of mutual attraction.

"Our latest research highlights how social cues, which signal the extent to which others are attracted to you, also play a crucial role in attraction," The Telegraph quoted psychologist Dr Ben Jones, co-authors of the study, as saying.

A total of 230 men and women took part in the study at the university's Face Research Laboratory. The researchers showed volunteers four flash cards, picturing a face with different expressions.
The face is shown making eye contact and not smiling; not making eye contact and not smiling; making eye contact and not smiling: and making eye contact and smiling.

"What we found was that the preference for the attractive face was much stronger when people were judging those faces that were looking at them and smiling," Jones said.

According to the study, attractiveness was how someone combined natural beauty and these ‘social cues’. The study, Integrating Facial Attractiveness And Cues Of Social Attractiveness, was published in the journal Psychological Science.

Nano to say tata to Singur, no truce likely | Shutters down at Tata plant

It could be the end of the road for Tata Motor’s Nano project in West Bengal. Government sources told CNN-IBN that there is unlikely to be a solution to the Singur deadlock.

According to sources in the state government, the committee on land review was not likely to find a solution as the mother plant and ancillary units cannot be separated.

An accord was reached between the state government and the Opposition parties on Sunday night after a series of meetings mediated by Governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi.

However, in a strongly worded press statement, Tata Motors on Monday said it would not resume work in its small-car plant in Singur, claiming that the outcome of talks between the government and opposition parties to end protests against the project lacked clarity.

At the end of talks mediated by Gandhi, an official statement said that the government would respond to the demands of those farmers who have not received compensation and asked vendors of Tata Motors not to go ahead with construction of their respective facilities in the meantime.

The company said that it would review its stated position only if it was satisfied that the viability of the project was not being impinged.

Tata Motors' statement came a day after Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee suspended her indefinite dharna on Sunday night following an agreement with the state government.

Meanwhile, movement of traffic resumed on both lanes of the Durgapur Expressway on Monday morning with the Trinamool chief suspending her two-week long dharna near the Tata Motors' small car plant.

As per the agreement, the state government will form a committee to look into the demands of the affected farmers, and submit its report in seven days.

Till then, construction the ancillary units will be on hold.

Raj Thackeray 'bans' Bachchans, cops ban him

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has “banned” films of superstar Amitabh Bachchan and his family for a short remark his wife made two days ago.

“All Bachchan family movies and advertisements in Mumbai and Maharashtra are banned from today (Monday),” said MNS chief Raj Thackeray at a press conference.

He was angry with actress and Rajya Sabha MP Jaya Bachchan for a statement which the MNS perceives to be insulting to Maharashtrians. “We are from Uttar Pradesh and we will speak in Hindi—Maharashtrians will forgive us,” Jaya had said at an event in Mumbai to launch her son Abhishek’s movie Drona.

“This is an affront to the Marathi Manoos (Marathi-speaking people). All parties should unite and condemn what she said,” said Thackeray.

“Jaya Bachchan has to apologise or else no film of any member of the Bachchan family will be allowed to release in Mumbai and Maharshtra.” The party’s diktat applies to films starring Amitabh, Jaya, their son Abhishek and his wife Aishwarya.


“Jaya Bachchan’s comment is a direct affront to Maharshtra. Unless she apologises, no film by the Bachchan family will be allowed. If you are from Uttar Pradesh, go and release your movies there.”

Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, a friend of the Bachchan family, criticised Thackeray’s statement and said the country had a legal system and “jungle raj” would not be permitted.

Immediately after Thackeray’s statement, police banned from him making public appearance and making speeches. MNS workers tore up Amitabh’s posters and hoardings in Dadar, Mumbai.

On Sunday, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut had said: "people of Maharashtra will not tolerate such language. The Bachchans have been living here for so many years and saying that they do not know the local language is an insult to Marathi people."

The Congress condemned the MNS for 'politicising' the issue. "Leaders whose children study in elite English schools like Bombay Scottish have no business targeting others," said Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam.

Thackeray in February 2008 had accused Amitabh Bachchan of not doing enough for Maharashtra and favouring his home state of Uttar Pradesh.

The party has targeted North Indians in Maharashtra, accusing them of disrespecting the state’s culture and putting a strain on its resources.

'Britney started drinking at 13, lost virginity at 14'

Britney Spears began drinking at the age of 13, lost virginity at 14 and then started drugs at the age of 15, according to the tell-all book by mum Lynne Spears.

Lynne has made some sensational revelations in her book due to release on September 16.

In her book Through the Storm, Lynne revealed that the 26-year-old singer began drinking at the age of 13, lost her virginity at 14, and then started taking drugs at 15.

The Toxic singer allegedly had her first drink after joining Disney’s squeaky-clean Mickey Mouse Club.

Lynne also claims that the 14-year-old Britney then had sex with an 18-year-old high school senior in her home town of Kentwood, Louisiana soon after she quit the TV show.
She said that she regrets handing over control of Britney’s career to managers and allowing her daughter to be promoted as a sex object in raunchy videos at such a young age.

As Britney pursued her career, Lynne let her 16-year-old daughter sleep with Justin Timberlake, despite claiming she was a virgin.

"Lynne thought Britney was in love and Justin was good for her,” the Sun quoted a source, as saying.

Britney was once caught with cocaine and cannabis on a private jet, when she was 16.

The book is set to deepen the rift between Britney and Lynne

Pankaj Advani wins World Billiards Championship

Asserting his supremacy, Pankaj Advani on Friday annexed the ONGC IBSF World Billiards Championship (point format) with a comprehensive six games to one victory over Geet Sethi.

The 23-year-old Bangalorean delighted the home crowd at Karnataka State Billiards Association Hall with a superlative display, winning 150-90, 151-0, 150-24, 150-0, 86-150, 150-72, 150-12.

After a below-par semi-final outing on Thursday, Advani played with far more focus and swept the first four games in the morning session to gain a position of strength.

Though the veteran Sethi, with eight world billiards titles under his belt, won the first game in the next session, he could not get the momentum going, with his younger opponent dominating proceedings.

Advani said the "bad" semi-final had spurred him to come out with improved performance and it paid off.
"In sport, every day is a new day", he said after the match which promised to be an "epic" encounter before the start but turned out to be one-sided in the end.

He said every day throws up new challenges and it's different from the previous day.

Sethi said inclusion of billiards in the Asian Games inspired him to continue playing the game and expressed hope that it would figure in the Olympics as well. "I am still going strong, I still enjoy the game", he added.

Meanwhile, the time format of the ONGC IBSF World Billiards Championship gets underway in Bangalore from Saturday , with the final slated on September 10.

Paes-Black win US Open Mixed Doubles

Tendulkar ignored medical advice

Sachin Tendulkar would have missed the Champions Trophy had it been held in Pakistan on time.

Indian doctor Amod Harip, who first examined the master batsman for his latest elbow injury in Colombo's Apollo Hospital, said: "Sachin was brought to me after getting injured while fielding during the third Test between Sri Lanka and India. He has hemarthrosis of elbow (right hand)."

"Hemarthrosis is a bleeding into joint spaces. I wanted to insert a needle and remove the haematoma but team physio (Nitin Patel) didn't want this treatment to be performed over here," the Pune-born doctor, now settled in Sri Lanka, further said exclusively to Cricketnext.

A haematoma, is a collection of blood outside the blood vessels, generally the result of internal bleeding.

Sachin was also advised to take rest and not take the field later in the Test match but he still played the next day.

According to this orthopaedic surgeon, Sachin's surgery in 2005 (by England's Andrew Wallace) was not a 'tennis elbow' as it is widely believed. But it was a 'golfer's elbow'.

"I saw the scars on Sachin's elbow and it was not a surgery for tennis elbow but golfer's elbow."

The primary difference between the two is the location of the pain and the activity that leads to injury.

"Sachin may be able to play the series against Australia," Dr. Harip hoped.

India's master batsman Sachin Tendulkar is most likely to have had his recent elbow injury examined by an orthopaedic surgeon in Germany.

Obama's bombshell: Pak plotting war on India

Accusing Pakistan of misusing the massive American aid to fight the war on terror, Democratic nominee for the US Presidential election Barack Obama, in a sensational comment, has said Islamabad was using these funds for "preparing for a war against India".

Senator Obama vowed to hold Islamabad accountable for the massive military aid it has received from Washington if he is elected to the White House. He said his administration will increase pressure on the Pakistan to come to terms with terrorist safe havens along its northern border with Afghanistan.

"What we can do is stay focused on Afghanistan and put more pressure on the Pakistanis," Senator Obama said in an interview with Fox News.

He noted that the US was providing Pakistan military aid "without having enough strings attached".

"So they're (Pakistan) using the military aid...Pakistan...they're preparing for a war against India," Senator Obama said.
Maintaining that he will follow the al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to the "gates of hell", the Democratic nominee said that this could be accomplished without resorting to sending ground troops to Pakistan.

However, he said his future administration is not going to pullout from the war on terror and allow the fundamentalists to take over Pakistan.

"What we say is, look, we're going to provide them with additional military support, targeted at terrorists, and we're going to help build their democracy. We've wasted USD 10 billion with Musharraf without holding them accountable for knocking out those safe havens," Senator Obama said.

He stressed that "nobody talked about some full-blown invasion of Pakistan", but "we've got to put more pressure on Pakistan to do what they need to do".

On Teacher Day, Modi turns preacher on anti-terrorism

In a Teacher's Day address made mandatory viewing in schools and colleges across Gujarat on Friday, Chief Minister Narendra Modi spoke out against terrorism and rooted for an anti-terror law in the state.

In a first, Modi’s 90-minute address was beamed live on national network Doordarshan and had the CM talking development with a clear focus on terrorism.

Modi also took questions from the students – who were gathered in Gandhinagar Town Hall to listen to him – one of whom asked him about his fight against terrorism.

“Keep a strict vigil on what is happening around us. Terrorists carry out their acts by being within the society. If we are vigilant, it would be difficult for them to carry their nefarious acts", he said.

Modi also said he wanted the Centre to clear Gujarat Control of Organised Crime Act (GUJCOCA), an anti-terror law that has been passed by the Gujarat Assembly and awaiting President’s approval.
“If there is a stringent law against terrorism, young boys from good families will not jump into terror activities”, he said.

"The pledge that they take need not be a big one. But, your small pledge will also help in development of the state," Modi said.

"If you take a pledge that you will not waste electricity or water or litter garbage on roads it will help the state a lot," he said.

Modi spoke in detail about various schemes that the state government has introduced for the welfare of children's and also improvement of education system in the country.

He told students about his "Kanya Kelavani Abhiyan", which aims at enrollment of all the girl students to the state for formal education.

Modi also said that his government aims to bring down the dropout rate to zero by the year 2010.

He stressed on the health of students and advised them to remain healthy and take part in government students' medical checkup scheme.

In fact, a circular issued by the state education department directed all the schools to make arrangements to show Modi's speech.

"All the students from class one to ten of our schools had gathered in the compound where television sets, with speakers were arranged by us," a principal of a school in Junagadh district said.

"Usually Teachers Day is celebrated with students conducting classes every year. But this tradition was suspended this year as the Chief Minister decided to address students of the state," he added.

Watch Ganesh visarjan in Salman Style Video

Film body issues letter to Ram Gopal Varma

Following a complaint filed by Bollywood producer Bharat Shah against filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma for alleged breach of contract by him, Indian Motion Pictures Producer's Association (IMPPA) has sent a letter to Varma to explain his stand on the matter.

"We have sent a letter Friday to Varma to explain his stand on the complaint file by Shah," said Sushmaa Shiromani, Vice President IMPPA.

Shah, who had filed a complaint against Varma on August 29, had urged for an immediate action by the association to settle his claim on the matter.

In his complaint, Shah stated that he had invested Rs.250 million in Varma's production company, Varma Corporation Limited. Varma had promise that he would give Shah shares worth Rs.100 million of his company when it is listed.

Shah alleged that Varma has not kept his promise and continued making false promises without any intention to fulfill them.
"We are investigating the papers filed by Shah and waiting for a reply from Varma after which we would be able to comment. IMPPA will take some time to come to any conclusion because first we will have to investigate the case thoroughly," Shiromani said in Mumbai on Friday.

Shah had financed Varma for films like "Satya", "Mast" and "Jungle".

Ranbir and Deepika scared of signing films together

After Bachna Ae Haseeno, three big directors are trying to cast real-life couple Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone together, but the pair is reluctant.

"We decided to be open about our relationship and lived to regret it because the more open we were, the more our honesty was misconstrued. Our right to privacy was completely disregarded. So we've decided to be less public about our relationship. And we don't need to do films together to prove anything," Deepika said.

Ranbir debuted with Saawariya and Deepika forayed into films with Om Shanti Om last year. Bachna Ae Haseeno was the second film for both.

The directors who have offered them films together include Anees Bazmi, who is taking a break from Akshay Kumar and Katrina Kaif after Welcome and Singh Is Kinng, David Dhawan and Rajkumar Santoshi.

Santoshi is already doing a film with Ranbir. It is titled Ajab Prem Ki Gazab Kahani and Katrina is playing the female lead.
But Ranbir and Deepika are not showing any interest in doing films together after seeing what happened to Kareena Kapoor and Shahid Kapur in all their films until their break-up.

The two were seen together in films like Fida and 36 China Town before their break-up, but both the films bombed.

However their Jab We Met, which came after the two separated, was a huge success.

Recently Kareena featured with her current boyfriend Saif Ali Khan in Tashan and that bombed too.

"They've definitely been offered films by Bazmi, Dhawan and Santoshi and are considering taking up at least one of these. But Ranbir-Deepika are in no hurry to sign films together. Not after seeing what happened to Kareena and Shahid in all their films until their break-up and recently to Kareena and Saif Ali Khan in 'Tashan'," said a source.

"Ranbir-Deepika know the public gets satiated reading about real-life couples and seeing them constantly at events on television. The novelty factor is over. Deepika would rather be seen with Saif in Imtiaz Ali's film and Ranbir with Katrina and Konkona SenSharma in his forthcoming films rather than come together on screen repeatedly to entertain each other and bore the audience," added the source.

At the moment all the three major offers for Ranbir-Deepika are on hold.

"They might finally take up one of the offers. As for the much talked-about film by Ranbir's childhood friend Vicky Singh, that has three leading ladies in it and Deepika might or might not be one of them. And that project won't be shot until 2010. In fact, Ranbir hasn't even signed it as yet," a source said.

Nano impasse kindles new hope for used cars market

The cloud of uncertainty over the Tata Nano roll-out from West Bengal is raising new hope far away in Uttar Pradesh for the used small car market.

The sale of second-hand small cars, which faced a slump this year, suddenly picked up last month.

Industry experts say the small car segment in the used car market has registered a sharp rise of 30 percent during the last 30 days. They expect the figure to touch 50 percent by October.

"With the present deadlock and confusion over the production and supply of Nano, we believe it will take another eight to 12 months for the car to hit the road," says a Lucknow based automobile consultant, Nazir Kazmi.

Car dealers here are excited with the current market trend. “The second hand car market, particularly small cars, was in a lull for the past six months but it has suddenly seen a rise," says, manager of the Maruti Suzuki true-value chain of second hand cars, Ajit Singh. "The most preferred second hand cars include Maruti 800, Maruti Alto, while there are a few buyers for Hyundai Santro also," he added.
While the sale of used Maruti 800 has doubled from an average 12 to 23 per month since August in Lucknow, other models have also seen a similar rise. Alto sales have risen from 12 to 25 and Santro from 13 to 17.

These are average figures of five leading used car dealers in Lucknow, out of the total 30 registered second hand car sellers. They estimate that there are as many as 120 unregistered sellers of second hand cars in the city.

According to the prevailing market rates, second hand small cars go for Rs.60, 000 to Rs.1, 60, 000.

Nano is to be priced at Rs.1, 00,000, but dealers say this does not include the registration fees and other post-production costs. The total price may touch Rs.1, 30, 000.

"Besides affordable prices, these used cars also have good exchange benefits and the buyer can upgrade to a higher model anytime by simply paying the difference," says Sanjiv Sahani of Rama Car Bazar .

Besides good resale value of second hand cars, a majority of the second hand car dealers are facilitating easy loans for the buyers, he added.

Meanwhile, the new small car segment in the state has also shown a marginal improvement in the past one month.

"Lower end models of Maruti 800 and Alto are available in a price range up to Rs.2,00, 000 and the difference with the expected price of Nano is only between Rs.60,000 and Rs.80,000," a senior executive of a Maruti Suzuki showroom TS Motors, explained, preferring anonymity.

"This is hardly a big amount and seeing the Nano delay, people are opting for other small cars," he added.

As against the 30 percent spurt in used car sales, the new small car market has witnessed a growth of nearly 15 percent in the past one month, he said.

Dealers of other car brands also shared a similar view.

"Nano has made no difference to the sale of big and premium cars but sales of small cars were affected. Now it has started picking up and we expect the trend to continue until Tata Motors announces the formal date of Nano launch," a senior manager of BEEAAR Motors, dealing in Hyundai cars, said.

New IITs are a disaster, says PM's scientific adviser

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's initiative to establish eight new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) has drawn flak from his own scientific adviser C.N.R. Rao, who said on Friday that the opening of so many new IITs is a “disaster”.

“Opening so may IITs in one year is a disaster. I had no idea that so many IITs have already come up in our country,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an event at the Federation of Indian Cambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

Six new IITs - in Orissa, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh - have started operations from the current academic session. India now has 13 IITs.

“This is not a play. To open IITs, you need proper planning. There are makeshift campuses and some are even attending classes in old IITs,” said the renowned scientist.

“I came to know about this development after the institutes admitted students. This is sad and I have told the prime minister and even the human resource development minister (Arjun Singh) about this. I am dissatisfied with the developments,” said Rao, a visiting professor at Cambridge University.
ITs are premier engineering colleges of the country. Manmohan Singh has already announced that India will have eight new IITs, including the six opened this year, to boost engineering and technology education.

HAPPY VINAYAKA CHATHURTHY

Symonds told to seek psychological help

Embattled Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has been urged to seek a psychologist's help as he deals with the uncertainty surrounding his international cricket career and a bitter fallout with teammates.

A disillusioned Symonds, whose commitment to the side was questioned after he missed a mandatory team meeting to go fishing, is certain to sit out of the upcoming tour of India in October.

The flamboyant all-rounder has also reportedly fallen out with his senior teammates, including one-time close pal Michael Clarke, who spoke out publicly against him.

"It is understood the strife-torn cricketer has been asked to go on a rehabilitation program, overseen by Cricket Australia medical staff, in which he would see counsellors about his state of mind," The 'Daily Telegraph' reported on Tuesday.

His teammates are reportedly feeling letdown by his actions after standing by him during the controversies that ranged from drunken brawls to frequent showdowns with opposition players.

"There is no time limit on these things," a source said.

"With an issue like this, it's important to ensure that duty of care and responsibility is used. Nobody wants to go any further unless they are comfortable things are where they need to be," he added.

All-rounder Cameron White said no one from the team has spoken to Symonds.

"I don't think the team really knows. Obviously no one's really spoken to Andrew over the last couple of days so only Andrew will know what his mental state is and he'll take the time and work it out for himself, I guess," White said.

SIMI core group chief held in Rajasthan

Four people, including the chief of the core group of hardline SIMI, have been arrested by a Special Operation Group (SOG) from Kota in Rajasthan, police said on Tuesday.

Munwar Hussain, the chief of the core group of banned outfit, and three others were arrested by SOG yesterday, Additional Director General of Police (DGP), Crime Branch, A K Jain said.

He said Hussain has a tailoring shop in Kota.

The other three arrested were identified as Atiq alias Ath-ur-Rehman, Nadeem Akhtar, both from Kota, and Mohammed Illiyas of Baran district, Jain said.

All the arrested were produced in court, which remanded them to eleven days police custody, he said.

He said the four were not arrested in connection with the Jaipur blast but because of their association with SIMI activist Sajjid Mansuri, accused of playing a key role in the July 26 Ahmedabad blasts.

Trisha

Review: Phoonk

The lesson to be learned from Phoonk is: be very careful about whom you hire and be even more careful about firing them because you never know which disgruntled employee might turn out to be a black magic queen.

Phoonk is about Rajeev, an affluent, educated man who doesn't believe in God or superstitions. But after he fires two employees for cheating him, his life gets ferociously creepy.

For one, his young daughter starts to talk like a man and at one point, she even levitates off the bed. Eventually, Rajeev sees the error of his non-believing ways and goes to a blind baba, who armed with three prongs and a fierce silver ring, literally sniffs out the culprits and helps Rajeev to defeat them.

Director Ram Gopal Varma has effectively tackled horror before in Bhoot. In that film, he imbued everyday things like elevators and Mumbai high rises with a sense of dread so even the normal seemed scary.

Phoonk is the exact opposite. Varma strains to create dread by placing his camera at weird angles, repeatedly trying to make stuffed toys look ominous and he even goes for the horror film cliché of an evil crow as sentinel. It's cheap, B-grade horror, basically Ramsay with a bigger budget.

Varma doesn't use his lead actress very efficiently either. Children can be superbly scary because that's precisely what we least expect them to be.

In films like The Exorcist, The Omen and more recently, The Orphanage, little kids have successfully made us scream. But poor Ehsaas Channa, who plays the possessed kid here, is saddled with an infantile script.

Of course Varma propagates black magic and blind superstition in Phoonk but in my book, his worse offense is that he doesn't either scare or entertain us.

At the end of the film, the blind baba declares: Har cheez ka jawab nahin hota.

Indeed. So with every Ram Gopal Varma film, we are doomed to keep asking, what happened to the director who gave us Rangeela, Satya and Company.

Phoonk is tedious mumbo-jumbo. If you want a good fright, rent The Exorcist instead.

Review: Rock On

Anupama Chopra, Consulting Editor, Films

The best thing about Rock On is that it's not about the music. So even if you've never ever been to a concert or harbored fantasies of being a rock star, you are immediately swept into this story of four friends and their rock band called Magic.

Rock On is about their relationships, their unfulfilled dreams and their gnawing grief that life has passed them by. The music is a metaphor.

Follow your bliss, writer-director Abhishek Kapoor tells us in a film that is sometimes derivative and often predictable but also so engaging and exhilarating that by the climactic concert you are blinking back tears and pumping your fist in the air.

What connects here are the details. Abhishek sets up his characters with a few deft strokes. So, Farhan Akhtar is Adi, former lead singer and current investment banker who mouths lines like: Your wealth is in safe hands, Jai Shri Krishna.

Arjun Rampal is Jo, former lead guitarist, now mostly unemployed and so haunted by his past that he seems hollow.

Purab Kholi is KD, once a kick-ass drummer and now sober Gujarati boy in pinstripes, selling jewelry. And Luke Kenny is Rob, the keyboard player, who now grits his teeth and creates music with Anu Mallik. Each one seethes with a quiet frustration, desperately aware that he has compromised with life.

Adi's wife, hoping to bring some cheer into her husband's mechanical existence, brings the friends together again.

Rock On suffers from a Dil Chahta Hai hangover - here too friends are driven apart and then reunited.

At times the pacing is slow. But these are minor quibbles. The film works because the performances enhance the fine writing.

Farhan Akhtar who has sung four songs, fills out his role nicely. As do Kholi and Kenny. But the real surprise is Arjun Rampal who is bent over with sadness and longing.

Shankar Ehsan and Loy's music is skillfully interwoven so it doesn't impede the narrative but advances it.

The high-octane concert sequences are especially infectious. Rock On is feel-good in the best sense of the word. I enjoyed it immensely and I strongly recommend that you see it too.