Lok Sabha polls from April 20; results on May 13

The Hindu: "Elections for the 14th Lok Sabha will be held in four phases, on April 20 and 26; May 5 and 10. Assembly elections would be held simultaneously in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim."

At peace with his art

The Hindu: "'When I wanted to make this movie four years ago, no producer came forward. I had put everything I had and not had. Now, I'll be able to pay back the debts,' director Cheran tells Sudhish Kamath. "

Shah Rukh-Amar face-off in Dubai

The Times of India: "We're talking about the Zee Cine Awards where Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh apparently had a pow-wow to beat all pow-wows with Badshah Khan, Shah Rukh. "

Indian American killed while preventing burglary

HindustanTimes.com: "Kalpesh Patel, a 26-year-old resident of Iselin, New Jersey, was killed when he interrupted a burglary at his employer Ramesh Desai's place."

Of Cabbages And Kings: The Passion Of The Christ - A Review

BB's Great Review (Not me): "Unless you just landed from Mars, you would have heard of the film 'The Passion Of The Christ'. This movie, Mel Gibson's third directorial effort, has generated more controversy and more headlines than any movie in recent times. It has been bagged for anti-semitic sentiments, has been flogged (no pun intended) for its over the top violence, has generated extreme reactions from several quarters and is sure to go down as one of the most argued about films in the religious communities."

10 most dangerous intersections & photos

10 most dangerous intersections & photos: "Find the dangerous intersections in your state"

Rajnikanth: Fading charm?

Sify.com: "Is our �original� superstar and the demi-God of Tamil cinema fading away from public memory? He has been displaced from the latest 2004 power list of �the most powerful people who wield influence at national level� published by India Today magazine! "

Billionaires for Bush

For real :)) "Be a Billionaire!
Envious of our wealth and political muscle? Now you too can join the ranks of the filthy rich with our brand new Billionaires for Bush Do-It-Yourself Manual. Full of action ideas, organizing tips, materials and more, this kit contains everything you need to become a billionaire in no time. Donwload Version 1.000.000.000 now! (Requires Adobe Reader to view) "

Bush in 30 Seconds

Political ad contest for Voter Fund: "Out of more than a thousand ads submitted, the 26 ads below represent the cream of the crop."

U.S. Newspapers Silent on Cheney Investigation

MoveOn.org: "If you're only watching the American media, there's a story you haven't heard a thing about, but not because it's inconsequential to Americans: International news sources have reported that Vice President Dick Cheney could come under criminal investigation for his role in a massive bribery scandal while he was head of Halliburton.
The story has been discussed in French, British, and Austrialian papers for at least three weeks. On Saturday, the Dallas Morning News became the first major U.S. newspaper to cover the story -- with a front page article, no less. Yet the other 11 of America's 12 highest-circulation daily papers haven't covered Cheney's inclusion in the investigation at all. "

How religion defines America

BBC NEWS | Programmes | wtwtgod: "Unlike some other Western countries, the United States remains an overwhelmingly religious society. The BBC programme What the World Thinks of God examines the modern world's relationship with God. Among those taking part is Dr Richard Land who explains how profoundly religion influences American society and politics."

NRI engineers swamp US honours list

The Times of India: "Eight engineers of Indian-origin are among the 72 new members elected to the US National Academy of Engineering (NAE) this year. "

World's largest IT campus coming up

The Hindu : : "The Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, today laid the foundation stone for the world's largest software development campus, to be built by Infosys Technologies. It will be constructed on 126 acres at Mahindra City, a 30-minute drive from the Chennai International Airport. "

A new way to view London: from a toilet

MSNBC: "An art exhibit of a usable toilet enclosed in a cube of one-way glass is seen across the road from London's Tate Britain Museum. The person inside the outhouse can see passersby while remaining invisible to them."

Why a PhD became a plumber

: HindustanTimes.com: "Dr Karl Gensberg, a BSc and Ph D in Molecular Biology has doubled his money by switching from being a Birmingham University researcher for 10 years to become a plumber."

Mutilation horror in DR Congo

BBC NEWS | World | Africa: "At least 100 people, mostly unarmed civilians, have been killed in a wave of horrific attacks in southern Democratic Republic of Congo.

Militiamen drained the blood of those they killed and put it into bottles."After they had cut off the sexual organs, they walked away with them. They took the victims' blood in flasks," said Claude Panza wa Losol, 22, nursing a bullet wound in his arm ."

A Chance To Chill Out

JOURNEYS; On an Island: "Block Island in January would be unrecognizable to many summer visitors, but for some people, winter brings out an unexpectedly compelling side to this traditionally summer resort.

Block Island, part of Rhode Island, sits 14 miles east of Montauk, N.Y., and 12 miles south of the Rhode Island coast, and, of course, winter cannot change that. But everything else, it does. "

Whom to Tip, And How Much

PRACTICAL TRAVELER: "ONE of the side effects of travel is finding yourself in situations where you don't know the protocol. In some sense, that's why we leave home: to learn how to drink yerba maté out of a gourd in Argentina, or the proper etiquette for ordering a cappuccino at a cafe counter in Rome.

But sometimes, being clueless merely breeds discomfort, with not even a funny anecdote to redeem the awkwardness of the moment. A case in point: not knowing when or what to tip, a quandary bound to trip up even the most urbane traveler. "

A Modern Oasis Stands Apart In the Mideast

NYT Travel: "The Burj -- Arabic for ''tower'' -- is in many ways a fitting emblem for Dubai, with its 22,000 square feet of gold leaf and its many foreign workers. Most residents are foreign workers, not natives, and most of those workers are Indian. Like Dubai itself, the Burj is crying out for an enterprising Indian documentary filmmaker with a hidden camera.

It was indeed a merry Christmas in Dubai, the tiny, striving Arab emirate that, year round, expresses something of the all-Santa-no-manger essence of the modern, secular holiday: lightheartedness, panting consumerism, glittering shallows and, for those who seek them out, depths as well. "

Trump's Next Move: From "Apprentice" to Global Master

NY Times Business People: "Trump says his private real estate development company is the biggest in Manhattan. His reality television show, 'The Apprentice,' has blockbuster ratings nationwide. Now Mr. Trump seems to have even bolder plans for his public company, Trump Hotels and Casino Resorts. Mr. Trump says the company will go global as soon as it completes a major refinancing effort that was announced on Thursday.

The refinancing plans are very preliminary, but they include a $400 million equity investment from Credit Suisse First Boston, which will replace Mr. Trump as the company's majority shareholder. Mr. Trump, who will remain as the company's chairman, said the investment would reduce Trump Hotels' debt load on its Atlantic City properties and free up capital.

The company now owns just three casino hotels, all in Atlantic City, and a riverboat casino in Indiana, but Mr. Trump plans to build new towers for the Trump Plaza and the Trump Taj Mahal, and possibly expand abroad. Of course, there is no guarantee that the deal will go through, in part because it is contingent on bondholders taking a discount on their notes.

Donald Trump's company is saddled with almost $1.8 billion worth of debt. It hasn't reported an annual profit since it went public in 1995. Yet the company's stock has been on a tear lately. Could it be "The Apprentice" effect? "

Digital video frees film-makers

BBC Technology: "Friends star Courtney Cox was not fazed when she saw the consumer video cameras on the set of award-winning psycho thriller November.

And his indie film's surprisingly low budget, just $150,000 instead of the $1-2 million low-budget movies usually cost, meant his backers at Indigent Productions were happy too.

Mini-DVs are widely used nowadays in news reporting and for TV documentaries and some soaps.

But November's award at the Sundance Film Festival for Excellence in Cinematography shows they have moved beyond the Blair Witch Project's rough, hand-held, natural light aesthetic into something more fitting for the silver screen. "

In Search of Fine Art Amid the Paper Towels

NYT Money: "Tony Pernicone, an art appraiser who owns Avanti Fine Arts, a gallery in Larkspur, Calif., north of San Francisco, and previously directed the San Francisco Art Exchange and other art galleries, said: 'At a legitimate gallery, generally the markup is 100 to 150 percent, depending on their overhead and the cost of the art. Obviously, you get galleries that try to go higher.' Costco's price of $1,550 for a Chagall Bible Series lithograph was $500 to $1,000 less than a gallery would have charged, Mr. Pernicone said.

Several art dealers said galleries in a fashionable area like Union Square in San Francisco, where rents can exceed $20,000 a month, charge higher prices for art because of their towering overhead. "

India bets on election boom

BBC: "The latest figures show economic growth to be topping 8%, a rate only matched by the powerhouse that is China. Industry is booming, as December's 6.2% year-on-year growth showed.

In another very modern symbol of development, there are now 30 million mobile phones in India - a figure which is confidently expected to triple within a year or so.

One of the oldest rules of politics is that, more often than not, the state of the economy can decide an election. "

Box-office report- Cheran Clicks!

Sify.com: "Among the films released last week it is Cheran�s Autograph that has taken a decent opening all over Tamilnadu especially in cities. In the first three days it has taken 90 percent collections in Chennai and 86 percent in Coimbatore. This means all distributors are safe as the film was sold at a reasonable price. "

Harness the power of technology to help rural women: M.S. Swaminathan

The Hindu : : "'We must harness the power of modern ICT and distance education tools to achieve the goals of food, water, health, education and work-for-all as soon as possible. This calls for programmes based on social inclusion and diversity in pedagogic methodologies.' "

Preserving culture: Konark festival strikes a successful chord

? NDTV.com: The Konark Dance Festival in Orissa ended on Saturday after another successful year. Each time it's been able to strike a chord with a range of performers and spectators.

"Here the difference is everybody is involved, so we feel we are dancing in front of people who are there to support us. They are there to wish us good luck," said Sharmila Biswas, Odissi Dancer, Kolkata.

If It's Saturday, It Must Be Paris (or Is It Tokyo?)

Journeys: NY times: "Andrea Wade, a private investigator in Orlando, Fla., decided she really needed to get away for a weekend, and Miami wasn't far enough. So she headed off for three days � to Paris.

A growing number of Americans are deciding that when it comes to a weekend away, almost nowhere is too far to go. Forty-eight hours in Tokyo? American Airlines reports that last-minute trips from Kennedy Airport to Narita — with a fare of about $400 a person for a stay of less than seven days — are "very popular." And at Site59, a travel packager, sales of last-minute getaways for long weekends in places like Zurich and Madrid jumped 24 percent last year.

Meanwhile, Gate 1 Travel, a Glenside, Pa., travel agency that offers five-night packages to Tel Aviv and four-night trips to Athens, says that 75 percent of its business now comes from shorter bookings, up from 20 percent two years ago. "

Top net villains and heroes named

BBC NEWS | Technology: "Verisign beat back competition from the Home Office and the Recording Industry Association of America to win the villain award.

Hero of the year was Steve Linford who runs the Spamhaus Project that attempts to thwart peddlers of unwanted mail. "

Emerging technology for emerging enterprises

Business Standard : "Technology to improve operational efficiency needs to work at three levels:

IT infrastructure: Affordable computing solutions like thin clients, server-centric computing, open-source software, remote management and mobility integration can help build the right base for 1:1 computing (one employee, one computer; one office, one server) within SMEs.

Collaboration and communication: A computer for every employee can make individuals more productive.

& Business process automation.

Information dissemination: One of the biggest challenges that SMEs face is getting prospective customers to know about their existence. "

The Affordable Linux-based Alternative

Emergic Freedom: "Every few years comes a software innovation so dramatic and disruptive that it redefines computing for the next generation: Microsoft DOS (1981), Lotus 1-2-3 (1983), Lotus Notes (1989), Microsoft Windows (1991) and Netscape Navigator (1994).
Now, in 2002, Emergic Freedom does the same."

Book Review - The Wedding - By Imraan Coovadia

LokVani: "When Cupid�s arrow strikes, it can make people do strange things and Ismet is no different. Getting off the train impulsively at the station, and ignoring the hard truth that the next train is scheduled to arrive only a week later, he sets off in hot pursuit to win �the most beautiful woman in the world�.

Wedding is set in South Africa and India. Readers will delight in the eccentric characters of Ahmedu, the village idiot, Rashida, Ismet’s shrewd mother, supervisor Vikram Naidoo and his wife Pravina, Jayraj Reddy and his wife Roshni and Charm Soolal. The lives of these characters are summed up in Coovadia's own words, "I wanted to restore the other story - the oddity of the many different kinds of lives that existed under apartheid."

This is a witty and entertaining read. A book lover’s delight !"

Bollywood Baatein

LokVani: "Javed Jaafrey our own desi John Stewart? India�s TV news Channel launched a half hour show �JBC� that spoofs the news, telecast every Saturday and Sunday.

When what is said to be the mother of all weddings happens on Feb 10 and Feb 14 of Sushanto and Seemanto, sons of the Sahara group chairman Subrato Roy. In Lucknow, our beloved Bollywood will be there in full form!
Bollywood stars, who will be flown in six special chartered aircraft, include Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Govinda, Aishwarya Rai, Kareena Kapoor, Raveena Tandon, Lara Dutta, Rani Mukherji, Karishma Kapoor et al. Director Raj Kumar Santoshi will film what are being billed as the "weddings of the century".
Anil Ambani and Adi Godrej, will be among the 1,500 VVIPs which also includes nine CMS from various states and the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. "

2004 Federal Poverty Guidelines

Poverty Guidelines for 2004 for the Various Jurisdictions: "48 Contiguous States plus DC
size of family unit; guideline
1; $ 9,310
2; $ 12,490
3; $ 15,670
4; $ 18,850
5; $ 22,030
6; $ 25,210
7; $ 28,390
8; $ 31,570
For family units with more than 8 members, add $ 3,180 for each additional
member."

VIEWS FROM SOUTH ASIA

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Columns: "PREITY ZINTA: The changing face of Bollywood -- What does 2004 hold in store for India's film industry?

KAUSHIK BASU: Boom or hype? -- How to put Indian economic growth on a firm footing

AHMED RASHID: Turbulent times -- More problems lie ahead for Afghanistan's President Karzai

ROHIT BRIJNATH: Cricket's limits -- India-Pakistan enmities cannot be solved by men in flannels "

Guest columnists join the BBC

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia: "Some of South Asia's best and brightest talents have signed up to write regularly for BBC News Online's South Asia page.

Top Bollywood actress Preity Zinta, star of such hits as Dil Chahta Hai (What The Heart Wants), Koi... Mil Gaya (I Found Someone) and Kal Ho Naa Ho (Tomorrow May Never Come), will be writing once a month on a range of subjects from cinema and entertainment to the depiction of women in Bollywood.

Distinguished journalist and commentator Ahmed Rashid, renowned economist Kaushik Basu and leading sports writer Rohit Brijnath will join Preity Zinta in writing for BBC News Online South Asia.

Ahmed Rashid, author of the best-selling and critically acclaimed books, Jihad and Taliban: Islam, Oil and the new Great Game in Central Asia, is a specialist on Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He will write on political and security issues in the region.

Kaushik Basu's columns are more likely to have an economic focus.

He is Marks Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics and Director, Program on Comparative Economic Development at Cornell University in the United States.

Bookmark bbcnews.com/southasia "

Rising sons: Gen next in TN politics

NDTV.com: "DMK leader Murasoli Maran's son Dayanidhi Maran's presence at every meeting of the Democratic Progressive Alliance has made it clear that he is all set to contest his father's Central Chennai seat. "

Lumumba rally clashes with UK police

ON THIS DAY | 19 | 1961: "Mounted police in London have broken up a demonstration against the murder of ex Prime Minister of Congo Patrice Lumumba. "

Buddha site celebrates UN status

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia: "An ancient Indian temple - built where the Buddha is said to have found enlightenment - is celebrating its United Nations heritage site status.

A formal ceremony at the Mahabodhi temple in Bihar state attracted tourism officials, foreign dignitaries and hundreds of chanting Buddhist monks. "

The best connected university in India

Rediff - Dilid D'Souza: "The postal service was about the only
means of communicating with the outside world -- we had no email, no faxes, no couriers, no mobile phones, no smoke signals, and trunk calls were fitful at best. Chai was 50 paise a cup, the vendor who raised his price to 75 paise in my fourth year sparking a wave of student protests. Haircuts cost a rupee; massage included. A room-sized device that read punched cards and was labelled 'IBM 1130' was what we called a computer, one machine shared by an entire college."

Microsoft launches Office programmes in Hindi

siliconindia: "Microsoft Corp. India, the local arm of the global IT giant, Monday launched its Office programmes in Hindi to tap the central and state governments and other markets.

The product includes a Hindi language interface and supports nine Indian languages, a company statement here said."

Singer calls Britney, Christina 'degrading'

MSN Entertainment - News: "Christian singer Stacie Orrico says revealing clothing like that worn by Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera is 'degrading' and makes them poor role models for girls.
'The reason that I don't dress trashy is that I'm trying to set an example for little girls,' Orrico told reporters Saturday in Singapore while preparing for the MTV Asia Awards.
'From the time they're seven or eight years old, (girls) are being taught that the only thing that makes them special and beautiful is their sexuality, and I think that's wrong.'
Orrico, wearing a loose, long-sleeved white shirt and jeans, said she doesn't approve of the image projected by the pop superstars."

Poverty 'is world's worst threat'

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature: "The leader of Catholics in England and Wales, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, says the biggest challenge confronting the world is not terrorism but poverty.

"The greatest scandal and scourge of humankind is, in fact, dire poverty and the misery and exploitation that accompanies and exacerbates it. That is the real scandal... there is a genuine recognition that this is the big issue for our times."

Bandit Queen suspect flees jail

BBC NEWS | World | South Asia: "The prime suspect in the murder of Indian bandit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi has escaped from jail.

Sher Singh Rana, arrested after Devi was killed two years ago, was due in court on Tuesday but went missing from Delhi's high security Tihar prison.

Men posing as policemen helped him in the daring escape. "

Mohanlal vs Kamal

How would pitting one against the other sound: "the movies that both bagged three National Awards each.
Kamal -- Moondram Pirai, Nayagan and Indian.
Mohanlal -- Kireedam*, Bharatham and Vaanaprastham."

Sidhu on joining the BJP

Rediff Exclusive: "People say you joined the BJP because you were unemployed??

All parties are the same, but it is the line of thinking which makes a party good or bad. The swan and crane both live in the pond. While the former looks for jewels, the latter looks for fish. I have never regretted a decision I ever made. There is a thought process involved while making a particular decision Anger is like temporary madness; you got to restrain it. The more you restrain it the more wisdom you gain. The more I meditate I get calmer and calmer. Everyone makes mistakes. Kisi ko mukammal jahan nahin milta; kisi ko zameen ya aasman nahin milta [No one gets the entire world; some get neither the land or the sky].

Nobody is perfect my friend. You are on a learning curve; you learn with each mistake."

Sidhu, Oberoi join BJP bandwagon

Rediff: "Ex-cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu and celluloid stars Suresh Oberoi and Gajendra Singh Chauhan on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party president M Venkaiah Naidu.
Sidhu was at his best with his well-known 'Sidhuisms'. He said of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee: 'Under his leadership we can convert weakness into strength, destruction into triumph and obstacles into stepping stones.'"

Kamal's laugh riot

Krishna Leela - Sify.com: "Two new girls will be the heroines and the movie will also feature veterans like Rohini, Vinodhini and nine others.

The story of Krishna Leela revolves around Krishna Das played by Kamal and the women in his life. Added to this a battalion of comedians like Goundamani, Vadivelu, Senthil, Vivek and �Chitti� Babu will be there in the supporting cast. The film will be a start to finish project and will probably release by July. "

Coke, Pepsi fizz with pesticides in Delhi: study

The Economic Times: "The results are based on tests conducted by the Pollution Monitoring Laboratory (PML) of the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE). In February this year, CSE had blasted the bottled water industry's claims of being pure when its laboratory had found pesticide residues in bottled water sold in Delhi and Mumbai.

The test results showed that all samples contained residues of four extremely toxic pesticides and insecticides: lindane, DDT, malathion and chlorpyrifos. In all samples, levels of pesticide residues far exceeded the maximum residue limit for pesticides in water used as food, set down by the European Economic Commission (EEC).

Each sample had enough poison to cause - in the long term - cancer, damage to the nervous and reproductive systems, birth defects and severe disruption of the immune system.

The tests also revealed that market leaders Coca-Cola and Pepsi had almost similar concentrations of pesticide residues. Total pesticides in all PepsiCo brands on an average were 0.0180 mg/l (milligramme per litre), 36 times higher than the EEC limit for total pesticides (0.0005 mg/l).

Total pesticides in all Coca-Cola brands on an average were 0.0150 mg/l, 30 times higher than the EEC limit.

While contaminants in Pepsi were 37 times higher than the EEC limit, they exceeded the norms by 45 times in Coca-Cola. Mirinda Lemon topped the chart among all the tested brand samples, with a total pesticide concentration of 0.0352 mg/l. "

IBM ForwardView

IBM: "ForwardView is produced and hosted for IBM by IQ television group."

Manisha upset over Tum's press photos

NDTV.com: "Controversy seems to be Manisha Koirala's middle name. The latest one is about marketing pictures for her latest film.

The actress is upset over a series of photographs that appeared in the press of her new film Tum.

But the director of the film has blamed the media. 'There were a set of 10-12 photographs sent to the press. The media chose to use two of the sexiest pictures,' said Aruna Raje, director.

Manisha's costars Karan Nath and Natanya Singh say the controversy was inevitable and good for the film too."

Siemens to relocate 15,000 jobs

IHT: "Siemens, the German electronics maker, said Monday that it would move most of the 15,000 software programming jobs from its offices in the United States and Western Europe to locations such as India, China and Eastern Europe."

US immigration officials' goof-up lands Indian in jail

siliconindia: "An Indian software engineer in the US who went to prison for no fault of his was released after a harrowing 21 days when American immigration authorities realised they had goofed up.

Hyderabad man Rayan Babu Yellina was detained for 21 days in El Paso, Texas.

His passport was valid till April 27, 2018, but officers of the Department of Homeland Security at El Paso reportedly said no country issues passports that have a 20-year validity and charged him with unauthorisedly altering the date."

Berlin judges split actress prize

Berlin judges split actress prize: "BERLIN FILM FESTIVAL PRIZES
Best film: Head On
Best director: Kim Ki-duk, Samaritan Girl
Best actor: Daniel Hendler, Lost Embrace
Best actress: Sandlino Moreno, Maria Full of Grace
and Charlize Theron, Monster "

Shankar confirms Sada!

Sify.com: "Finally after waiting for months for Aishwarya Rai to dole out dates, director Shankar has signed Sada to be the heroine for his next film Anniyan with Vikram in the lead.

Sada also did the Tamil remake of Jayam with the same title which went on to be a big hit. And now she is the heroine of Srikanth in this week’s release Varnajaalam. Sada is also doing K.S.Ravikumar’s Aethiree opposite Madhavan.

Shankar’s Anniyan will have the Puja on March 4 at AVM studio in Chennai. Vikram has given six months bulk dates for the film which will have P.C. Sreeram as the cameraman. Last month Shankar, music director Harris Jayaraj and lyricist Vairamuthu had gone to Phuket islands near Bangkok to compose three out of seven songs in the film. Oscar Ravichandran is the producer and the film is slated for Pongal 2005 release. "

France raises Sikh turban hopes

BBC NEWS | South Asia: "The French Government says it will find a 'solution' for Sikhs who are angry at a proposed ban on turbans and other religious symbols in state schools.

Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin made his remarks in India, where he has faced opposition over the issue.

Sikhs in France complain they are accidental victims of legislation intended to curb the wearing of headscarves by Muslim schoolgirls.

They say the proposed law was drawn up without officials realising its potential impact on their community in France, which has five million Muslims.

The wearing of Jewish skullcaps and large Christian crucifixes will also be affected. "

Four boys and a girl: Recipe for suspension

Newindpress.com: "A class XII schoolgirl getting her photograph taken with four boys from class XI at a farewell party _ nothing could be more blasphemous than this, so thought the teachers of the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Bulandshahr district and stopped any such photographs from being taken.

The Class XI boys took it grudgingly, but decided to give the teachers a taste of their own medicine. The next day, they refused to sit in the same class with fellow girl students. ``If we cannot be photographed with the girls, why allow us to sit with them,'' was their reasoning. The result: Suspension orders for all 24 boys."

Bride weds guest as groom ups the dowry

Mid-Day: "In yet another incident of bridal revolt against dowry, on Monday, February 9, a bride called off her wedding at the last moment, protesting against the dowry demands made by the bridegroom�s family. Instead, Jayalakshmi (21) married a distant relative who was there to attend the nuptials, in the same muhurtham.

The incident that had elements of a movie climax, started unfolding from the time of the wedding reception on Sunday evening. The groom�s family allegedly demanded 40 sovereigns of gold and a Hero Honda bike as dowry. After Sunday�s function, the boy�s side found that there were only 37 sovereigns of gold - the bike too had not been delivered. "

Indian nurses flock to the US

Rediff: "The critical shortage of registered nurses in the United States has led to a boom in the recruitment of Indian nurses to America.

Thus these days, thousands of nurses across India are getting trained to take examinations in CGFNS (Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools), TOEFL (Test Of English as a Foreign Language), TWE (Test of Written English) and TSE (Test of Spoken English)."

Politicians' fury at Janet flash

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | TV and Radio:
"The FCC has received 200,000 complaints and proposed laws could increase possible fines for indecency from $27,500 (�14,500) to $275,000. "

Life goes on for Linux users

CNET News.com: "As SCO Group's courtroom battles with IBM and Novell rage on, an open-source group seeks to reassure Linux users. Also: Linux notches another win in Europe. "

Lakshminarayanan: Old Hand in a New Seat

SiliconIndia Magazine: "When a dying Alexander was asked who he wanted his successor to be, he is said to have whispered �the best.� His terse succession policy wasn�t exactly clear-cut, and the kingdom ended in disarray. He could have learnt a lesson or two from Cognizant Technologies. When Lakshmi Narayanan, who took over the reins from Kumar Mahadeva, describes the process as �cakewalk,� we know there must be something about the process that a few latter day CEOs�besides the young Emperor Alex—could pick up pointers from"

Icons from the World of Science - S. Ananthanarayanan

SiliconIndia.com - Books: "Icons from the World of Science brings together the life stories of ten remarkable men whose discoveries and theories changed the course of science in their time. This book tells us about: J.C. Bose, whose work on electromagnetic waves anticipated the discovery of wireless telegraphy; Srinivasa Ramanujan, one of mathematics� most brilliant minds; S.N. Bose, based on whose work Einstein developed a new field of physics; C.V. Raman, India�s first Nobel laureate for science; Meghnad Saha, who developed a formula to understand how the atmosphere of the sun behaves; S. Chandrashekhar, the Nobel laureate who anticipated the existence of black holes; Homi Bhabha, who dreamt of nuclear capability for a newly independent nation; E.C. George Sudarshan, who did pathbreaking work in the field of nuclear physics; Hargobind Khurana, who started the process of mapping the human genome; Jayant Narlikar, astrophysicist and thinker who dared to think differently from the rest."

Vote By Issue Quiz

News Hour :: WBUR: "Do you really know where the candidates stand?
Learn about the candidates through their platforms,
not their personalities.

Forget about red-faced rants and ketchup heiress spouses for a minute. PBS Online News Hour and Boston NPR affiliate WBUR invite prospective Democratic voters to blind taste test the candidates on the basis of their platforms rather than their personalities. The premise is simple: read unattributed statements from the seven remaining candidates on 14 topics (tax cuts, gun laws, national security, same-sex marriage, education, etc.). Click on the statements that you agree with most. At the end of the quiz, you're presented with a political report card revealing who said what. Tally up who got most of your votes, then decide if your candidate is actually electable. Voila. (in Government > Politics)"

BBC - Languages

Yahoo picks: "Word has it that we Yanks are linguistically challenged. Luckily, our English-speaking brethren across the Atlantic have devised this Berlitz-like primer to boost anyone's French, German, Italian, and Spanish speaking skills in no time flat. Whether you know very little or ascended to college-level language courses, each of these language courses is geared so you learn at your own pace. For adventurous pupils, there are even Welsh, Gaelic, and Irish tutorials. Affable native speakers like German teacher Andrea Hoffmann walk you through conversation scenarios in which you meet people, get around Berlin, eat out, and go shopping, while Giovanna Vaccaro helps you master the Italian tongue with guided tours of Venice. If all this is just too much choice for the monolingual mind, test the waters with an essential talking phrase book in 34 languages. (in Linguistics & Languages)"

Not a Fairy Tale: Once Upon a $20,000 Mattress

NY Times: "Ms. Blatt said that in 2002, about 17 percent of consumers spent $1,000 to $2,000 on mattress and box-spring sets, up from 14 percent in 2001 and 13 percent in 2000. (The average price paid for a mattress in 2002 was $600, she said.) Only 3 percent spent more than $2,000 in 2002, up from around 2 percent the previous year, Ms. Blatt said. But even those numbers are significant, she added, because manufacturers sell an estimated 73,000 mattresses daily in the United States.

$6,000 shower curtains. If you are really looking to splurge, how about an ultraluxurious mattress?

Last summer, Evette White decided on a king-size model from Hypnos of Britain, which has been supplying beds for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family for four decades. How much did it set her back? Mrs. White would disclose only that it was at least $10,000. But she said she and her husband, Timothy, 42, thought it was well worth it.

I had just gotten a new Volvo Cross Country, and it cost a lot - $40,000 to $50,000 - but I only spend a couple of hours in it each day," said Mrs. White, 38, who is a partner in a marketing firm in Nashville. "We're spending six to eight hours sleeping every night, and I realized it is kind of silly that we don't spend more for our mattress."

"

The Pornography Industry vs. Digital Pirates

NY TImes: "Web sites are putting Playboy magazine's pictures on the Internet - free. And Randy Nicolau, the president of Playboy.com, is loving it. 'It's direct marketing at its finest,' he said.
Let the music industry sue those who share files, and let Hollywood push for tough laws and regulations to curb movie copying. Playboy, like many companies that provide access to virtual flesh and naughtiness, is turning online freeloaders into subscribers by giving away pictures to other sites that, in turn, drive visitors right back to Playboy.com. "

America's 1 percent war

IHT: "I was actually at the Super Bowl. Yup. And I too was upset about the halftime show - but not just because of Janet Jackson's antics. After the show ended, I said to my wife: How can we present something to America and the world that is this frivolous and gross when we have 115,000 U.S. soldiers at war in Iraq, dying at one per day?"

During Breaks in Game, Satire and Silliness

Advertising: NY Times: "Humor is an element marketers and agencies frequently use to pique viewer interest in their extravagant Super Bowl commercials, along with music, celebrity endorsers, surprise endings and anthropomorphic animals. This time, it seemed, the almost 30 advertisers that bought the 30 minutes of commercial time - at a record average price of $2.3 million for each 30 seconds - dialed up the satire, slapstick and silliness, with widely varying results.
By offering viewers a lineup largely composed of light-hearted commercials full of shtick, Madison Avenue could be saying the national mood is improving or that conditions are so bad that America needs to laugh. Or perhaps the message is nothing more complicated than the following: that there is nothing funnier than a knockout, drag-down brawl between Grandma and Grandpa over a bag of potato chips."

IT spending to improve in 2004

IT spending to improve in 2004: "After low year-end spending in 2003, businesses are likely to spend more on information technology than what they have budgeted for 2004, according to market research firm Gartner.

Gartner's weekly survey of decision makers in small, midsize and large companies revealed that businesses continued to spend lower than their budgets in 2003.

Growth in hardware spending is expected to be more modest. Although there may be more units sold, falling prices of hardware means that companies won't have to greatly increase their spending, Gartner said. IT managers in businesses are planning to spend more on mobile devices such as handhelds and notebooks, while spending on desktops and storage devices may go down. "

Two Malayalam films to release in China

siliconindia: "Instead of Chinese goods flooding Indian markets, two 3-D Malayalam films are being dubbed for release in movie halls in China.

'My Dear Kuttichathan' and 'Magic Magic' are children's films made by Navodaya Appachen.

He said the Chinese Film Development Corp had purchased the rights to the films and would be screening them in Chinese theatres after completing dubbing."

Infy, TCS, Wipro abusing L-1 visas: US unions

siliconindia: "Amid growing resentment in the US against outsourcing, labour organisations here have accused Indian IT majors Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services and Infosys Technologies of 'abusing' the L-1 visa programme to bring in cheap manpower to take over American jobs.

These companies were acting as 'bodyshops', bringing in foreign workers through the L-1 system and then subcontracting them out to other businesses, Michael W Gildea, Executive Director of the Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO, America's largest labour federation, told the House International Relations Committee yesterday. "

MSN Entertainment Guide to the 2004 Academy Awards

look at the films and folks that Oscar forgot this year: "Best Picture:
You hear that crashing sound? That'd be Harvey Weinstein breaking office furniture in George Steinbrenner-like fashion on the Miramax lot. For the first time in recent memory, his Best Picture machine failed to get a film nominated in the category. The irony? This year, they deserved it. "Cold Mountain" is an elegant, romantic and ultimately brutal Civil War epic that many thought had Best Picture written all over it. But it didn't even get nominated. We're thinking it was ultimately too grim for the Academy. Another major omission was Tim Burton's lovely, poignant father/son fable, "Big Fish." Again, this is a head-scratcher, as the Academy usually eats this kind of stuff up. Ditto Jim Sheridan's "In America" though it did get several acting nods and a screenplay nomination. We do offer kudos to the Academy for not falling for "The Human Stain," which had early buzz but was appropriately skipped in all categories. Deserving but Never Had a Chance: "The Station Agent," "American Splendor," "All The Real Girls" "

Janet Jackson's Super stunt was planned

MSNBC: "Janet Jackson has now admitted that her breast baring at the Super Bowl was more than just a �wardrobe malfunction.� But even before Jackson apologized for the incident, there were hints that it was hardly the accident Jackson and Justin Timberlake claimed."

Kavingar Thamarai - Interview

Online Voice: "Kavingar Thamarai is the one and only women poet in today�s Tamil cinema. She is the hottest and her lyrics add spices to the songs in almost all the latest blockbuster hit movies. The most upcoming successful lyric writer was in Singapore to present a show along with other three poets. Excerpts from the interview: "

"Different flavors of Linux: A little venting"

Google Groups: View Thread: "Why are there so many damn different implementations of Linux?! I
mean, I understand that each new version brings with it enhancements
that require a different way of doing certain things, but, jeez,
aren't we getting a little fragmented here?"

India's First Linux Magazine

LINUX For You Magazine: "Network Admins, CIOs, CTOs-if responbsible for the data that flows in the digital veins of your organisation."

Something New in Free Software?

Linux Today - ZNet: "'Intellectual property rights and their protection have become the favorite battleground for global capitalistic expansion.

'In developed countries, the most important input (factor) to productive processes of all kinds is know-how, meaning both technology and information workflows. From here, instructions to run and control productive processes of material goods are sent to the developing world, where most of these processes actually take place.

'Patents are a means of satisfying market requirements for transforming knowledge, ('merchandise' that, due to its very nature, can be exchanged indefinitely) into a scarce resource, in such a way that market-driven exploitation and control mechanisms can be applied to them just as with any traditional goods...' "

Linux Today

Linux News On Internet Time.: "Intellectual property rights and their protection have become the favorite battleground for global capitalistic expansion."

LinuxBeginner.org

Artciles: "What's really needed to settle this is a definition of Unix. Unfortunately, there's no obvious definition against which we might compare Linux. The systems we all accept as unambiguously Unix -- that is, BSD, HP-UX, Solaris and Tru64 -- have more functional differences than, say, Linux and Unixware."

The Linux Documentation Project

good documentation: "TLDP is fully multi-lingual. People volunteer their time to help with tools, reviews, translation, publishing and updates. This all requires work, and a core group of a few dozen aid the authors through a series of mailing lists. In addition, TLDP is pleased to acknowledge support from numerous companies over the years, including Red Hat and IBM. "

Linux-tips.net

Linux Forums & KB:
" Linux for Microsoft Windows Users
You want tutorials?
Mandrake Campus - Learn Free !!
PCLINUXONLINE
Linux Tips and Workshops "

Linux Resources

Webworksite.com: "It's a whole different world in Linux-land for Windows users, but we hope to ease the pain and suffering of those who are strictly Microsoft oriented, and at the same time be resourceful to those who appreciate the simplicity and beauty of the Linux operating system. "

UNIX Knowledge Base

ittoolbox.com: "A flavor can be a distribution of the UNIX operating system, or a UNIX-like operating system. The major flavors include both commercial and open source versions. "

"Call for a new operating system"

Google Groups: View Thread: "With the current SCO legal battle against Linux (and now possibly
against BSD; see http://www.atnewyork.com/news/article.php/3110981),
perhaps it is time to develop a NEW, completely independent
open-source operating system?

If it has the following features, perhaps it would be more marketable:

1. Needs to be fully compatible with Windows, Linux, AND MS-DOS
applications.

2. Needs to be consistent (note there are different flavors of Linux;
once upon a time, there were different flavors of CP/M... anyone
remember what happened next?)

3. Needs to be platform-independent (although time-critical code
could have cpu-dependent modules)

4. Needs to be idiot-friendly (Windows users won't know to type
'mount /dev/cdrom' to access the CD-ROM)

5. Needs to be written completely from scratch, so that infringement
lawsuits will be more difficult to prosecute."

Questions for Bush :)

George Bush goes to a primary school to talk about the war. After his
talk he offers question time. One little boy puts up his hand and
George asks him what his name is. "Bob".

"And what is your question, Bob?"

"I have 3 questions. First, why did the USA invade Iraq without the
support of the UN? Second, why are you President when Al Gore got
more votes? And third, what has happened to Osama Bin Laden?

Just then the bell rings for recess. George Bush informs the kiddies
that they will continue after recess. When they resume George says,
"OK, where were we? Oh that's right --- question time. Who has a
question?"

A different little boy puts up his hand. George points him out and asks
him what his name is. "Steve" "And what is your question, Steve?"

"I have 5 questions. First, why did the USA invade Iraq without the
support of the UN? Second, why are you President when Al Gore got more votes?
Third, what has happened to Osama Bin Laden? Fourth, why did the recess
bell go 20 minutes early? And fifth, where is Bob?"

Coffee: The New Health Food?

Trustworthy, Physician-Reviewed Information from WebMD: "Want a drug that could lower your risk of diabetes, Parkinson's disease, and colon cancer? That could lift your mood and treat headaches? That could lower your risk of cavities?

If it sounds too good to be true, think again.

Coffee, the much maligned but undoubtedly beloved beverage, just made headlines for possibly cutting the risk of the latest disease epidemic, type 2 diabetes. And the real news seems to be that the more you drink, the better."

Girish Karnad resigns from MIFF jury

NDTV.com : "The Mumbai International film festival (MIFF) now has serious competition in the form of Vikalp.

Vikalp is an alternative film festival set up by angry filmmakers under the banner of Campaign Against Censorship protesting over the censorship policies and the selection of Indian films for the festival."