Montek among probables for next IMF chief

Montek among probables for next IMF chief: "Top Indian policy planner Montek Singh Ahluwalia figures among the probables to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn as the next chief of International Monetary Fund, a report has said."

Arun Shourie confirms Nira Radia tapes leak - ibnlive

Arun Shourie confirms Nira Radia tapes leak - ibnlive: "Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and former Telecom Minister Arun Shourie claimed that senior party leader Venkaiah Naidu was lobbied, to ensure the BJP wouldn't oppose 2009 Budget proposals that allegedly favoured billionaire businessman and Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani.
Shourie confirmed Nira Radia tape revelation to Karan Thapar on 'Devil's Advocate' on CNN-IBN This is the first concrete proof that Nira Radia's influence extended to the Opposition ranks as well. Here's a brief transcript:"

India's 20th nuclear reactor becomes operational

India's 20th nuclear reactor becomes operational: "India's 20th nuclear power plant today became operational at Kaiga taking the total installed atomic power capacity in the country to 4780 MW.

The indigenously-developed 220 MW capacity Unit 4 of the Kaiga Atomic Power Station attained criticality at 8.07.22 am making India the sixth country in the world to have 20 or more nuclear power plants in operation."

We Hold These Tweets To Be Self-Evident [COMIC]

We Hold These Tweets To Be Self-Evident [COMIC]: "If Twitter had been invented in 1776 instead of 2006, the American Revolution would have been so much more… what’s the word… awesome."

US warns India about possible WikiLeaks release - The Times of India

US warns India about possible WikiLeaks release - The Times of India: "The US has warned India and other key governments across the world about a new potentially embarrassing release of classified documents by the whistle-blowing website WikiLeaks which may harm the American interests and create tension in its ties with its 'friends'."

Thinking the unthinkable -- a euro zone breakup | Reuters

Thinking the unthinkable -- a euro zone breakup | Reuters: "Sniping within the 16-nation euro zone mounts and popular support for the euro erodes as German taxpayers rebel against a series of costly rescues and austerity fatigue in the bloc's periphery reaches breaking point."

Twitter co-founder hopes to create news network | Reuters

Twitter co-founder hopes to create news network | Reuters: "Biz Stone, the co-founder of popular microblogging site Twitter, is eager to harness the vast quantities of information that it helps its users share to create a news network, he told Reuters on Monday.

A Twitter news network would not necessarily be run by Twitter itself but would be in partnership with several existing news organizations, and would be open, Stone said."

India eyes MotoGP in 2012 | Reuters

India eyes MotoGP in 2012 | Reuters: "The promoters of India's inaugural Formula One Grand Prix in 2011 are in talks with MotoGP bosses to bring the world motorcycling championship to the country, a company spokesman said on Tuesday.

'We are negotiating with Dorna Sports (MotoGP commercial rightholders) to bring MotoGP to India but it's quite an early stage and we have not reached a deal yet,' a Jaypee Sports International spokesman told Reuters."

Saudi King Abdullah leaves for the U.S. for medical treatment | Reuters

Saudi King Abdullah leaves for the U.S. for medical treatment | Reuters: "With both Abdullah and Sultan in their 80s, speculation arose that conservative Interior Minister Prince Nayef, at a relatively youthful 76, could take over running the affairs of state some time in the near future."

Secret chamber in National Library - The Times of India

Secret chamber in National Library - The Times of India: "National Library has always been reputed to haunted. Now, here is a really eerie secret. A mysterious room has been discovered in the 250-year-old building a room that no one knew about and no one can enter because it seems to have no opening of kind, not even trapdoors."

Startups Backed By The CIA - Forbes.com

Startups Backed By The CIA - Forbes.com: "Tiny cameras. Hearing devices for the teeth. Wi-fi for refrigerators. These are some of the products made by companies that have caught the eye of In-Q-Tel, the venture capital arm of the Central Intelligence Agency."

What happens when 15 pct of the Web goes through China? | Reuters

What happens when 15 pct of the Web goes through China? | Reuters: "A U.S. congressional advisory group said this week Web traffic to major U.S. corporate and government websites was routed through China for 18 minutes in April because of an incorrect signal sent by China Telecom."

Indian Blogosphere Condemns NDTV’s Bullying of Blogger Chyetanya Kunte Over Criticism of Barkha Dutt

Indian Blogosphere Condemns NDTV’s Bullying of Blogger Chyetanya Kunte Over Criticism of Barkha Dutt: "Now, Indian bloggers have once again come together to condemn NDTV and Barkha Dutt for bullying blogger Chyetanya Kunte into taking down his post “Shoddy Journalism“, and posting a retraction, presumably under threat of legal action. You can still read the Google cache of the original post."

Visual tour: 25 years of Windows - Computerworld

Visual tour: 25 years of Windows - Computerworld: "Twenty-five years ago, on Nov. 20, 1985, Microsoft introduced its first version of Windows to the world. Not many people outside the technical press or the tech industry took notice. Product launch events that cost hundreds of millions of dollars were still years away.

What's changed in Windows in the last 25 years? Plenty. In this image gallery, we take a look at the various faces of Windows over the past couple of decades and clue you in to what happened at every stage of the operating system's development."

Mukesh mansion under CVC lens : India Today

Mukesh mansion under CVC lens : India Today: "Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani's 27- storeyed palatial home in Mumbai, Antilia, has come under the Central Vigilance Commission scanner for alleged illegal occupation of Waqf property totaling 4,532 sq m."

Beijing to host 2015 world championships | Reuters

Beijing to host 2015 world championships | Reuters: "Beijing will host the 2015 world championships, the IAAF decided on Saturday, returning international athletics to the Bird's Nest stadium Usain Bolt made famous with his lightning speed at the 2008 Olympics."

Falling in love takes 1/5 of a second « Paulo Coelho's Blog

Falling in love takes 1/5 of a second « Paulo Coelho's Blog: "Why people don’t accept love as it is, full of agonies and extasies, a misterious force that keeps the universe together?
But no, even for love there is a need for explanations….

According to a study in the recent issue of The Journal of Sexual Medicine, people who “fall in love at first sight” do so in a fifth of a second."

India: KSCA readies for potentially historic election | Cricinf

India: KSCA readies for potentially historic election | Cricinfo: "February 7, 1999 is a day neither Anil Kumble, Javagal Srinath nor umpire AV Jayaprakash will forget. It was when Kumble became only the second man to take all 10 wickets in a Test innings, Srinath was his teammate and Jayaprakash stood at Kumble's end. Twelve years on, November 21, 2010 will be another day that neither Kumble, Srinath nor Jayaprakash is likely to forget.

The two ex-cricketers find themselves opposite the umpire in one of the most closely-watched state cricket elections in India in a long while."

JDU-BJP combine set for landslide win in Bihar - ibnlive

JDU-BJP combine set for landslide win in Bihar - ibnlive: "The last vote has been cast in Bihar Assembly elections. On November 24, the results will be declared and a new government will be formed in the state. So who is going to be the winner in this mother of all battles between Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad?"

OK - The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word - NYTimes.com

OK - The Improbable Story of America’s Greatest Word - NYTimes.com: "We’d better address one textual issue up front, and without italics. This book opts for the iconic form: OK."

Barclays ATP World Tour Finals - Singles & Doubles Groups Determined

Barclays ATP World Tour Finals - Singles & Doubles Groups Determined: "World No. 1 Rafael Nadal will head up Group A at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The Spaniard is joined by Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick. In Group B, four-time former champion Roger Federer will be challenged by Robin Soderling, Andy Murray and David Ferrer."

Facebook takes on Google, Yahoo in Web messages | Reuters

Facebook takes on Google, Yahoo in Web messages | Reuters: "Facebook rolled out an all-in-one messaging service that for the first time allows its half-billion members to communicate with people outside the social network, intensifying a battle with Google Inc and Yahoo Inc for users' Internet time."

What happens when vegetables watch TV? : The New Yorker

What happens when vegetables watch TV? : The New Yorker: "Keats—a San Francisco-based experimental philosopher who has, over the years, sold real estate in the extra dimensions of space-time proposed by string theory (he sold a hundred and seventy-two extra-dimensional lots in the Bay Area in a single day); made an attempt to genetically engineer God (God turns out to be related to the cyanobacterium); and copyrighted his own mind (in order to get a seventy-year post-life extension)"

Jonathon Keats - Wikipedia

Jonathon Keats - Wikipedia: "In 2002 Keats held a petition drive to pass the Law of Identity, A ≡ A, a law of logic, as statutory law in Berkeley, California. Specifically, the proposed law stated that, 'every entity shall be identical to itself.' Any entity caught being unidentical to itself was to be subject to a fine of up to one tenth of a cent. Deemed 'too weird for Berkeley' in an Oakland Tribune headline, the law did not pass.[5] However it did become a topic of debate in the 2002 Massachusetts gubernatorial campaign, [6] and sparked a copycat petition drive in Santa Cruz, California."

India’s Censorship and Free-Speech Crisis - The Daily Beast

India’s Censorship and Free-Speech Crisis - The Daily Beast: "President Obama visited the former home of peace activist Mahatma Gandhi in India today. Basharat Peer on Gandhi’s forgotten fight for freedom from tyranny—and why Obama won’t push the issue on his trip."

US professor sent back from Delhi airport

US professor sent back from Delhi airport: "A prominent US academic was sent back to America from Delhi airport on Monday, allegedly because his partner is associated with a human rights group in the Kashmir Valley."

Nico Hulkenberg takes Brazilian GP pole for Williams

Nico Hulkenberg takes Brazilian GP pole for Williams: "FIVE-WAY TITLE BATTLE EXPLAINED
1 ALONSO 231pts
2 WEBBER 220pts
3 HAMILTON 210pts
4 VETTEL 206pts
5 BUTTON 189pts"

Bihar: Entering the Governance Era?

Bihar: Entering the Governance Era?: "THE ONGOING ELECTIONS IN BIHAR will not only give the state a new government or re-elect the same one: these elections will have national consequences on two counts."

Bihar's two Resurrectionaries | The Caravan

Bihar's two Resurrectionaries | The Caravan: "From the 1990s to the early 2000s, this emancipation went beyond mere symbolism as, for the first time, an entire generation of Backward Caste and Dalit youth grew up in an environment of relative freedom and dignity, unencumbered by an inheritable legacy of oppression.

So, by the time Nitish Kumar took office in 2005, this generation was better educated and better informed about its rights and eager to participate in its own economic uplift. Laloo might have silently watched over the economic breakdown of the state, for which perhaps there is no justification, but nonetheless his policies sowed the seeds of aspirations for a better life among its people."

Adobe Releases Its Own HTML5 Video Player | Wired.com

Adobe Releases Its Own HTML5 Video Player | Wired.com: "Adobe has released an embeddable video player that plays HTML5 native video in browsers that support it, and falls back to Flash in browsers that don’t.

It’s cross-browser and cross-platform, so it works on iPhones, iPads and other devices that don’t support Flash. Using Adobe’s new player, these devices can show videos in web pages without the Flash plug-in.

There are already several players out there that use the HTML5-with-Flash-fallback method, such as Vimeo’s new player and the slick one from Brightcove that can handle video ads. All these players, like Adobe’s, are based on open web technologies and can be customized with CSS and JavaScript. But this newest one, because it’s from Adobe, is sure to be a bigger deal."

Who are India's real traitors? | Indra Sinha | The Guardian

Who are India's real traitors? | Indra Sinha | The Guardian: "The writer Arundhati Roy, once a national heroine for being the first Indian to win the Booker prize, today finds herself a reviled figure. The demonisation of Roy has taken just over a decade, and many will tell you it's her own fault. She just won't stop opening her mouth and saying uncomfortable things."

In an interview with the magazine, Tehelka, she said: "What we're witnessing is the most successful secessionist struggle ever waged in independent India – the secession of the middle and upper classes from the rest of the country. It's a vertical secession, not a lateral one. They're fighting for the right to merge with the world's elite somewhere up there in the stratosphere."

Who are the real traitors?

The Numbers Game: Awesome Amla | Cricinfo.com

The Numbers Game: Awesome Amla | Cricinfo.com: "When Hashim Amla made his Test debut six years ago, few would have thought he'd be such a force in one-day internationals later in his career: after all, dogged defence was his preferred mode, and he demonstrated that in his first Test innings at home, when he scored 1 off 31 deliveries in Durban in 2004. In fact, South Africa's selectors seemed to have slotted him as a specialist Test batsman: in the first 40 months of his international career, Amla played 22 Tests and zero ODIs.

In the last 12 months, though, plenty has changed. So much so that Amla is the leading ODI batsman in 2010, and has scored runs almost at will in the format. In 13 ODI innings this year he has scored five hundreds and three fifties, and averages 82.16 at a strike rate of 103.13."

Never too old to be a virgin (employee)

Never too old to be a virgin (employee): "'These are some of the preconceptions often aired: Older workers can't change; they are not as creative; they can't think laterally; they are not open to learning; they cost more to hire.

What is your approach to hiring older workers? If you were looking for a position, how would you look to overcome the ageism barrier?'

It is an especially appropriate time for me to address the issues of age and the work force, as I turned 60 in July."

Makers of Modern India top seller - Hindustan Times

Makers of Modern India top seller - Hindustan Times: "Historian Ramachandra Guha's Makers of Modern India tops the non-fiction section of the bestseller list this week while The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson was at number one in the fiction section."

South Africa news: Makhaya Ntini retires from international cricket | Cricinfo.com

South Africa news: Makhaya Ntini retires from international cricket | Cricinfo.com: "Makhaya Ntini, the South Africa fast bowler, has announced his retirement from international cricket but will continue representing domestic sides. Ntini will be given a farewell during the Twenty20 international between South Africa and India at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on January 9, when he will make his final appearance for South Africa."

World Golf rankings | Reuters

World Golf rankings | Reuters: "World rankings on Monday"