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Showing posts from October, 2009

Could `Michael Jackson's This Is It' win an Oscar?

LOS ANGELES – "Michael Jackson's This Is It" comes too late in the year to be considered for a documentary Oscar, but the film about the late King of Pop's preparations for a series of comeback concerts could qualify for other Hollywood honors, including the Academy Award for best picture. The film, which opened around the globe Tuesday and Wednesday has already earned rousing praise from fans and critics, who say it restores Jackson's reputation as a world-class entertainer. Director Kenny Ortega, a longtime Jackson collaborator who was overseeing his London concert comeback, crafted the nearly two-hour film from more than 100 hours of footage recorded during rehearsals for the London shows, which were to have begun in July. Jackson died June 25 at age 50. "What we did here was focus on telling a good story and creating a film for the fans really enabling them to understand what Michael Jackson had dreamed for them," Ortega said Wednesday. He added it w

Anger at Zimbabwe UN envoy snub

Manfred Nowak: "It is totally unacceptable treatment" The UN's torture investigator has made an angry return to South Africa after being refused entry to Zimbabwe. Manfred Nowak was detained by officials in Harare who said he had no clearance to visit, despite his insistence he had an invite from the prime minister. "I have never in any other country been treated in such a manner," Mr Nowak, who had planned a week-long fact-finding mission, told the BBC. He blamed his treatment on the divisions within the unity government. "This is a major incident because you can't on the one hand invite a special rapporteur to meet the prime minister and on the other hand somebody gives an order to the immigration police not to let me in," he told the BBC's World Today programme. His said his treatment showed there were clearly parts of the government who did not want him to assess "the current conditions of torture", and promised t

Denmark in climate deal warning

Denmark's prime minister says he does not think a legally binding deal on climate change will be agreed upon at a December summit in Copenhagen. Lars Loekke Rasmussen spoke ahead of an EU summit at which climate change will be one of the main topics. EU leaders must also decide how to secure the Czech Republic's ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. The treaty would create a full-time EU president, and leaders are expected to discuss who could fill the role. December's eagerly anticipated United Nations' Copenhagen Climate Summit will attempt to hammer out a new global climate treaty to replace the UN Kyoto Protocol. But Mr Rasmussen said he did not believe a final deal on reducing greenhouse emissions could be reached at the meeting. "We do not think it will be possible to decide all the finer details for a legally binding regime," he said. However, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that even if no treaty is signed in Copenhagen, he was confident a political

'Hijacked' pair's yacht is found

The yacht belonging to a British couple feared kidnapped by Somali pirates has been found, according to naval authorities. Paul and Rachel Chandler, aged 59 and 55, of Kent, sent a distress signal on Friday from the Indian Ocean. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the yacht was discovered during counter-piracy operations on Wednesday night - but the couple were not on board. The MoD stressed there is no reason to suspect the pair have come to harm. The yacht, the Lynn Rival, was found in international waters and has been secured by the Royal Navy. 'Peaceful solution' Mr and Mrs Chandler had been sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania. Relatives of the Chandlers met the Somali premier Omar Sharmarke in London on Wednesday who told them he would do anything to "see a peaceful solution". Mrs Chandler's brother, Stephen Collett, 58, of Ixworth, Suffolk, said: "He (Mr Sharmarke) told us they (pirates) do look after hostages well as they see them as trade goods an

Taliban denies Peshawar blast role

The Taliban and al-Qaeda have distanced themselves from Wednesday's deadly market blast in Peshawar that claimed 105 lives, saying "their main target are the security forces, and not innocent civilians". The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), in a statement sent to the media on Thursday, condemned the car bomb attack that tore through a crowded market and denied any involvement in the explosion. However, Pakistani government officials have said the attack was in revenge for the army's offensive against Taliban fighters in South Waziristan, and that the military campaign would go on. The attack on the busy Mina Bazaar, which also injured more than 200 people, was the deadliest to hit Pakistan this year. Many of those killed were women and children and on Thursday, residents of the troubled city began burying the dead. 'Rogue elements' Lieutenant-General Asad Durrani, the former head of Pakistan's Inter Service Intelligence (ISI), told Al Jazeera the current

I-League: Mohun Bagan Come Back To Beat Shillong Lajong

The 30, 000 home supporters were left disappointed as their side went down, though they gave a good account of themselves... Mohun Bagan came back to beat Shillong Lajong 2-1 to win their third match on a trot in the fifth round I-League match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Shillong. In-form Chidi Edeh cancelled Aibor Khongee’s spot-kick with Marcos Pereira winning it for the Green and Maroons with a gem of a free-kick. It was a game between two sides that had the same number of points from as many games but while one was a seasoned campaigner, the other was a newcomer. For the home side, Gumpe Rime was suspended which saw Markus Basumatary between the sticks while Deepak Mandal returned after serving out a two game suspension. Mohun Bagan will consider themselves lucky as referee P.K.Bose failed to spot a tackle from behind by Mandal on Tuboi as early as in the fourth minute. The Mariners took time to settle as the pitch didn’t look an I-League material as the bounce was invariable

CWG countdown begins as Delhi receives Queen’s Baton

Tags: Commonwealth Games , CWG , Queens Baton Relay Zeenews Bureau London : Buckingham Palace resounded with Sanskrit chants of Rig Veda as children of all races introduced the theme of peace and harmony, starting the countdown of the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi. The Queen of England launched the Baton Relay and thus kick-start the official countdown to the mega event. The organizers had promised the longest and the most inclusive relay ever, and they lived up to their word. Some of the prominent sports personalities featuring in the list of torch bearers included shooter Abhinav Bindra, boxing sensation Vijender Singh, wrestler Sushil Kumar, Milkha Singh, Kapil Dev, Dilip Tirkey and Karnam Malleswari. Sania Mirza was ecstatic and said, “Its always great to come here and it’s a great honour, I’m happy that I was one of the few who were chosen.” The Baton relay ceremony had the first performance by a South Asian classical

Triple murder case solved; driver, two others arrested

Bangalore, Oct 29 (PTI) The sensational triple murder case of a family here has been solved with the arrest of three persons including the driver of the victim and recovery of gold ornaments and other valuables from their possession, police said today. City Police Commissioner Shankar Bidari told reporters the main accused Lokesh (24) and his two accomplices, Murali (20) and Bhaskar alias Raja (35) were nabbed yesterday and gold ornaments worth Rs 2.5 lakh, cash Rs 11,000 and four mobile phones recovered from them. The gang had allegedly murdered interior decorator Rahul Das (45), his wife Pushpa Latha (40) and daughter Agneesha (9) on Oct 20. Bidari said Lokesh, who had worked as a driver cum office boy with Das six months ago, had hatched the murder plan and on the fateful day the trio gained entry into the house when Das was alone.

Dhoni first Indian captain to score ODI ton vs Australia

Tags: Australia, India, ODI, Vidarbha Cricket Association, Mohammad Azharuddin Nagpur's Vidarbha Cricket Association stadium became the 40th Indian ground to host a one-day international, when it staged the second India - Australia ODI in the seven-match series on Wednesday. It also became 174th ground in the world to host an ODI. The VCA stadium is only the second ground in India to host a day-night match as debut ODI. Delhi's [ Images ] Jawaharlal Nehru [ Images ] stadium is the other stadium to have the honour. India's total of 354-7 is their highest total against Australia [ Images ], surpassing the previous best of 315 at Bangalore in 2001. It is also the fifth occasion when India scored 300 or more against Australia. India's 354-7 is the highest total ever recorded against Australia by any team batting first. In fact, it is the second highest total recorded by an opponent against Australia, next only to South Africa's [ Images ] 438-9 at Johannesbur

Channels from Hale Crater

This image from NASA 's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter shows channels to the southeast of Hale crater on southern Mars . Taken by the orbiter's High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera, this view covers an area about 3 kilometers (2 miles) wide. Channels associated with impact craters were once thought to be quite rare. Scientists proposed a variety of unusual circumstances to explain them, such as impacts by comets or precipitation caused by the impact event. As more of Mars is photographed with high-resolution imagery, more craters surrounded by channel systems are being discovered. The channels in this HiRISE image are from Hale crater, an exceptionally well-preserved, 125-by-150-kilometer (78-by-93-mile) impact crater located on the northern rim of Mars' Argyre basin. Hale crater is roughly 170 kilometers (100 miles) to the southeast of the site seen here. The channels in this image are up to about 250 meters (820 feet) across, though most are much smalle

Robot Armada Might Scale New Worlds

October 27, 2009 An armada of robots may one day fly above the mountain tops of Saturn's moon Titan, cross its vast dunes and sail in its liquid lakes. Wolfgang Fink, visiting associate in physics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena says we are on the brink of a great paradigm shift in planetary exploration, and the next round of robotic explorers will be nothing like what we see today. "The way we explore tomorrow will be unlike any cup of tea we've ever tasted," said Fink, who was recently appointed as the Edward and Maria Keonjian Distinguished Professor in Microelectronics at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "We are departing from traditional approaches of a single robotic spacecraft with no redundancy that is Earth-commanded to one that allows for having multiple, expendable low-cost robots that can command themselves or other robots at various locations at the same time." Fink and his team members at Caltech, the U.S. Geological Su

JPL's 'Green' Space Flight Building Debuts with Ribbon-Cutting

JPL Director Charles Elachi and other dignitaries cut the ribbon for JPL's new, environmentally friendly Flight Projects Center, which is NASA's "greenest" building to date. Image credit: NASA/JPL NASA's "greenest" building to date -- an environmentally friendly Flight Projects Center at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. -- is now open for business, following a ribbon-cutting ceremony today attended by lawmakers and local dignitaries. The building houses missions during their design and development phases. It will enable engineers and scientists from various countries to collaborate more closely during these critical mission phases. "It seems fitting that the new building, where teams will plan future space missions that use new technologies, also has the latest 'green' technologies to help JPL do its part to improve our environment here on Earth,&qu

Rafael Benitez: Liverpool Were Always Confident Of Manchester United Scalp

Reds boss insistent his players offered "perfect response". 27-Oct-2009 3:23:13 PM Photo Gallery Zoom EPL: Wayne Rooney & Dimitar Berbatov, Liverpool - Manchester United (Getty Images) Related Links Teams Liverpool Man Utd. Players Rafael Benítez The mood around Anfield prior to the Manchester United game was quietly confident, according to Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez , who today (Tuesday) claimed that everyone associated with the club, from the first player to the last fan, was sure maximum points could be secured against Sir Alex Ferguson's men. Benitez has been witness to contrasting f

Injured Lee and Hopes miss second ODI

Australia's injury-hit bowling attack will be without Brett Lee and James Hopes on Wednesday after the pair was ruled out of the second ODI in Nagpur. Lee picked up a right elbow strain in Sunday's opening win, while Hopes limped off with a hamstring problem. There was serious doubt over Mitchell Johnson's fitness as well, after the bowler had hurt his ankle, but Australia coach Tim Nielsen said at the pre-match press conference they were happy with how Johnson trained on the eve of the match and did not rule out his participation. Moises Henriques, the New South Wales allrounder, has been called up as a standby until the fourth fixture; he will join the team in Delhi on Thursday, flying back to India a couple of days after returning to Australia following his side's win in the Champions League Twenty20. "With James Hopes' right hamstring injury being more serious and likely to keep him out for at least the next two matches it is thought adding a standby player

Dhoni should bat up the order: Gilchrist

NEW DELHI: Former Australian skipper Adam Gilchrist has backed Sourav Ganguly's suggestion that Indian captain MS Dhoni should bat up the order and give himself more overs to play. While addressing the media, Gilly reiterated the fact that MSD is a good finisher and that he should bat at no.3 to giver him a chance to play his natural game. Gilchrist said, "Dhoni is such a dangerous batsman. I would love to see him bat up the order, particularly in the shorter version of the game. You want your best players to face the maximum deliveries. But Dhoni has a lot on his plate at the moment, which is understandable. However, I would encourage him to play his natural game and trust his instincts." When asked about the blow for the Aussies with the like of Lee, Hopes and Johnson being injured, Gilchrist said that any kind of injury is a blow to the team. He said that the feeling would be similar to how India felt when Yuvraj Singh was left out due to an injury. Gilchrist's s

Where will NASA's next giant step take us?

As space agency rolls out a new rocket, its long-range mission remains unclear It emerged just after midnight last Tuesday, bolted down and gleaming under the floodlights. This was the biggest debut since King Kong, joked the aerospace folks. The Ares I-X is the world's tallest rocket, 327 feet high, and it began the long crawl toward the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center, where it will blast off Oct. 27 if weather permits. This is a test rocket, a crude approximation of the Ares I, the rocket that NASA has said will replace the aging commuter bus known as the space shuttle. But the Ares I may turn out to be a rocket to nowhere. A blue-ribbon committee has said the Ares I is part of a NASA program that doesn't make sense given current and future budgets. The commission would like NASA to get out of the business of ferrying astronauts to low Earth orbit and let commercial companies handle that task. Now the Obama administration may try to kill the Ares I. The spa

Maoists abduct 2 Rajdhani drivers, seek leader's release

KOLKATA: Two drivers of the New Delhi- Bhubaneswar Rajdhani Express were kidnapped by Maoists between Jhargram and Sarna stations of the South Eastern Railway this afternoon. Pro-Maoists group PCPA has claimed responsibility for the attack stating that the train drivers had defied the bandh call. TV reports also suggest that PCPA has set the conditions for releasing the Rajdhani drivers. The pro-Maoist group is seeking the release of their leader Chhatradhar Mahato from the police custody, in a swap deal. SER sources had earlier said the news was received at the headquarters around 3.30 pm that some people had stopped the train by waving a red flag between Jhargram and Sarna stations. All Rajdhani Express trains have two drivers and an assistant.

Akram's wife was taken out of Pakistan against doctors' advice

LAHORE: Pakistani cricketer Wasim Akram's wife Huma, who died in a Chennai hospital two days ago, was reportedly flown out of the country against A file photo of Wasim Akram's wife Huma Akram. (TOI) More Pictures the advice of doctors treating her in this eastern Pakistani city. The physicians are of the view that the decision proved fatal as Huma was not in a condition to be allowed by any doctor to travel abroad for treatment. "A panel of 10 senior doctors of three hospitals in Lahore had advised Wasim Akram not to take her abroad to Singapore in view of her serious health condition," said one of the physicians, who did not wish to be named. Huma died in a hospital in Chennai on Sunday and was buried here on Monday. According to Huma's physician at the National Defence Hospital in Lahore, she developed a throat infection and a dry cough after undergoing dental treatment in Karachi in September. She got herself treated for this but developed an infection in

Raju Srivastava to leave 'Bigg Boss 3'?

Reality show ‘Bigg Boss 3’ is embroiled in controversy once again. After Kamaal R Khan’s unexpected exit, Raju Srivastava, the TRP driver of the ‘Bigg Boss’ house may have to leave the show midway. Production house Sri Adhkari Brothers has sent the comedian a legal notice saying he has to be present for the shooting of a show for their channel ‘Masti’. Adhikari producer Markand Adhikari said, “Raju is under contract with us from November 1. So he has to quit ‘Bigg Boss 3’. Besides has not taken permission from us.” On Monday, the show was caught in the I&B ministry’s crosshairs. The ministry issued a showcause notice to Colors entertainment channel objecting to certain visuals broadcast by it. The channel has been asked to reply in five days. This is the fourth showcause notice issued to the channel for its various programmes. In its notice, the ministry said the show had broadcast content offending good taste and decency that was unsuitable for unrestricted public exhibition. C

Pakistani army officer escapes gun attack

Tue Oct 27, 2009 4:38pm IST In an apparent move to divert army's attention from Waziristan , the militants have also stepped up attacks elsewhere in the volatile northwest, officials said. Government forces on Tuesday killed six Taliban in Mohmand , a distant tribal region northeast of Waziristan, after militants attacked a security post and killed two soldiers. In neighbouring Bajaur, the militants shot dead the head of a pro-government tribal militia. A senior government official in the town of Tank, the gateway to South Waziristan, told Reuters that militants had begun fleeing to neighbouring regions, a claim backed up by ordinary residents. "I saw Uzbeks and Pakistani militants in Mir Ali as well as on my way," a tribesman, Majeed Mehsud, told Reuters. The military says 239 militants and 33 soldiers have been killed since the offensive started on Oct. 17, but there has been no independent confirmation as foreign journalists

Shilpa's wedding date finalised!

View More Pictures Shilpa's engagement ceremony Shilpa Shetty and Raj Kundra have finally vowed to marry by year-end. The couple exchanged rings midst family and friends. Here are exclusive pics of the private affair. Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty says that her wedding date has been finalised, but she will announce it only when her sister Shamita is by her side. "I know everyone's eager to know about the wedding date. All I can say is yes it's been finalised and I will make an official announcement as soon as I know when Shamita's coming out," Shilpa, who got engaged to London-based Raj Kundra on Saturday after a courtship of about two years, posted on her blog. Shamita is currently participating in the Colors' reality show Bigg

Jackson fans in premiere protest

By Ian Youngs Music reporter, BBC News The fans say they gave letters to Jackson on the night before he died A group of Michael Jackson fans are planning to protest about a new film showing his final weeks, claiming it covers up his declining health. Some are planning to hand out leaflets later at simultaneous global premieres of This Is It, a movie made by piecing together concert rehearsal footage. A small circle of loyal followers say they saw his health go downhill. Talin Shajanian, from Los Angeles, said: "A couple of weeks before he passed, we saw him change drastically." Ms Shajanian was one of a number

NASA Technology Key Component of New Diagnostic Aid From DynaDx

NASA technology will now be available to the medical community to help in the diagnosis and prediction of syndromes that affect the brain, such as stroke, dementia, and traumatic brain injury. DynaDx Corporation of Mountain View, Calif. has released the Multimodal Pressure-Flow (MMPF) technique for analysis of dynamic cerebral autoregulation—the ability of cerebral vessels to maintain a constant blood flow despite changes in arterial blood pressure—that incorporates the Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) technology licensed from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. DynaDx obtained exclusive rights to HHT, an algorithm used to analyze nonlinear, nonstationary signals, from Goddard in the first ever sale of a government-owned patent license conducted through a public auction of intellectual property. MMPF is a unique computational method for analyzing and evaluating autoregulatory dynamics, based on instantaneous phase analysis of nonlinear and nonstationary signals from bloo