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Did Sunita Williams convert to Islam?

This is what is known:

Sunita Williams ( First Indian woman who went on moon) accepted "ISLAM" Masha Allah, because when they were on the moon, they saw towards EARTH, the entire EARTH looked dark, but 2 places on the EARTH looked like SPARKS (Roshni). They were shocked to see that and saw them with the help of telescope and came to know that those two places were " MECCA " and "MADINA" Masha Allah. Then they decided that after reaching to earth they'll accept "ISLAM".

The claim refers to her as the 'first Indian woman on the moon'. This is completely false. Not only is she not the first Indian woman on the moon, there have been no women at all on the moon as yet. She did live on the ISS for a time, but definitely did not go to the moon! The gross factual errors alone show the credibility of the claim.

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Color Picker Technology

 

Designer Jinsun Park from Korea has come out with a simple tool called  ' Color Picker ' . Place the pen against an object and press the scan button, the color will be detected by the color sensor and the RGB cartridges in the pen will mixed the required inks to create the target color.

 

 

Michael Jackson live passes at 50

Several news reports have confirmed that Michael Jackson had died. The pop star had been taken to the hospital, where he remained in a coma. He suffered cardiac arrest and passed away. He was only 50.

Jackson was with the pop group the Jackson Five as a kid, and then went on to become one of the most popular recording acts of all time. He is survived by his large extended family and three children.

What is Adsense?

AdSense is Google Adwords’ affiliate program

AdSense is, in one respect, Google’s own affiliate program for its AdWords
advertising system. Google gets people to open an AdWords account but it
only makes a sales and makes any money when someone clicks on an ad. If
the click occurs on one of Google’s sites, they get all the money.
If that ad happens to be on your site via AdSense, then Google essentially
pays you a commission on the click.

Now suppose you are in a situation where you spot an AdSense ad on your
site for a product or service which also has an affiliate program. Are you
best off sticking with the AdSense ads or signing up for the affiliate
program?

In other words, which way are you going to make the most money?
This Special Report explores this area so that you can make a reasoned
judgement about what is best for your website.

India’s 3 consecutive loses in T20 world cup

India ignonimously crashed out of T20 world cup, losing to England by 3 runs. Exposed to some genuine pace bowling, the Indian batsmen yet again showed their frailty against the short and rising delivery, which once again proved to be their nemesis.

Exposed to some genuine pace bowling, the Indian batsmen yet again showed their frailty against the short and rising delivery, which once again proved to be their nemesis. Taking cue from the West Indies, which defeated Indian in the earlier Super8, the English team's fast bowlers managed to soften, contain and removed the Indians.
Chasing 153, India's rising star Rohit Sharma played on Ryan Sidebottom to the stumps and he soon followed by Suresh Raina, who tried to pull the fast bowler but landed one in the hands of deep square leg fielder.

Ravindra Jadeja, often described by many as the future of Indian cricket, came to the crease and struggled to make runs. Jadeja could make only 25 runs in 35 balls, too slow for Twenty20 cricket.

Low-cost phones, emerging markets to drive handsets sector

LONDON — With developed markets saturated and shifting mostly high-end handsets, and mid–tier phone providers continuing to struggle, market tracker Juniper Research suggests low-cost devices sold to the emerging markets will be the only ray of hope in the short term.

Juniper (Basingstoke, England) is forecasting that, for the next five years to 2014, annual sales of low cost mobile handsets will rise by 22 per cent to over 700 million.

The research house note that efforts by industry players to lower the TCO (total cost of ownership) for devices and services to the sub $5 mark are already reaping the benefits in markets such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and India.

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Actor David Carradine found dead

American actor David Carradine has been found dead, hanging by a nylon rope in a hotel room closet in Bangkok, Thailand, according to a Thai police official.

David Carradine became famous in the 1970s after starring in the television series "Kung Fu."

Carradine became famous in the 1970s when he starred in the television series "Kung Fu."

The rope was believed taken from the hotel room curtains, Bangkok Police Lt. Colonel Pirom Chanpirom said.

Investigators found no sign of a forced entry into Carradine's room, Chanpirom said.

An autopsy was being conducted at a Bangkok hospital, but no results will be available for another day, he said.

A Carradine family spokeswoman issued a short statement saying the family "is devastated by the news of David's passing."

"Circumstances surrounding his death are still unknown, and there will be no further comment until more information can be confirmed," the statement said.

"The family appreciates the many expressions of condolence, and asks for privacy at this time."

Carradine's personal co-manager, Tiffany Smith, said police provided the family with information about their investigation.

Carradine's friends and personal managers said they were in "complete shock" and brushed aside suggestions that Carradine might have taken his own life.

Rohit dazzles as India crush Pakistan

London (PTI): Rohit Sharma tore apart Pakistan's bowling attack with a 80-run blitzkrieg as India bulldozed their arch-rivals by nine wickets with three overs to spare in their final warm-up match of the ICC World Twenty20 here on Wednesday night.

Chasing 159, Rohit and Gautam Gambhir (52 not out) raised 140 runs in just 16 overs for the opening stand to slam the door on Pakistan and India cruised to 159 for one in 17 overs to complete a facile win.

Rohit's was a sublime 53-ball knock, bejewelled with nine fours and two sixes. In contrast, Gambhir played the second fiddle to perfection and was unbeaten after a 47-ball knock that included five hits to the fence.

Earlier, Pakistan got off to a flier before suffering a mid-innings slump even though they eventually reached a competitive 158 for six, thanks to cameos from Ahmed Shehzad (25), Younis Khan (32), Misbah-ul Haq (37 not out) and Yasir Arafat (25 not out).

But with Gambhir getting his mojo back and Rohit continuing his purple patch, India's chase was off to a rollicking start on Wednesday and they never relaxed their grip.

Gambhir flicked the first ball from Umar Gul for a delectable four and ended the over in similar fashion.

Rohit, meanwhile, was not ready to be outshone.

Accordingly, Gul was hit over mid-on for a four, Yasir Arafat was dispatched in the stands for the first six of the match before copping two fours in his next over.

Shahid Afridi also found himself at the receiving end of Rohit's wrath when the batsman smote him over midwicket for a huge six.

Though Rohit eventually fell in the 16th over, by then it was just a matter of formality for India.

Earlier, Pakistan got off to a flier but India's disciplined bowling unit staged a remarkable comeback to restrict them to 158 for six.

Despite losing an early wicket, Pakistan cruised to 45 in just over four overs before losing three wickets without a single run added to the score.

After winning toss, Pakistan captain Younis Khan sent out teen twins Shahzaib Hasan (0) and Ahmed Shehzad (25) to open the innings but Hasan was back in the hut soon after Praveen Kumar's fifth legitimate delivery pegged back his off-stump.

Shehzad's too could have been a brief stay but Harbhajan Singh grassed a sitter at mid-wicket off RP Singh when the batsman was on five and India were made to pay for the clanger.

Shehzad shed all inhibitions and went after the Indian bowlers and suddenly it was raining boundaries at The Oval.

R.P. Singh copped two in the same over and Praveen didn't escape unscathed either as Shehzad pulled and drove with elan.

Shehzad's aggression proved contagious as Kamran Akmal (19) too started freeing his arms to good effect.

It was probably too good to last and Pakistan lost three wickets over five balls with Suresh Raina in the thick of action.

An airborne Raina first did a Jonty Rhodes to swoop on a ball and hit the stumps to remove Akmal and then placed himself under Shehzad's miscued skier in the same Ishant Sharma over.

Shahid Afridi's was a blink-and-miss stay as the swashbuckling right-hander bottom edged Irfan Pathan and Mahendra Singh Dhoni took a diving catch to remove him for a golden duck.

Shoaib Malik (14) started well before Pragyan Ojha snared the former captain in his first over and Pakistan were without their top half when the score reached 63.

Younis (32) and Misbah (37 not out) raised 50 runs in 7.3 overs but boundaries had dried up by then. Harbhajan got rid off Younis but Misbah and Arafat (25 not out) threw their bat at everything to push the score past the 150-mark.

Air France airliner 'may have tried to turn back'

The doomed Air France airliner that crashed into the sea killing all 228 on board may have been trying to return for an emergency landing at the time, aviation experts said today.

Searchers found a plane seat, a life jacket, metallic debris and signs of fuel were in the middle of the Atlantic.

The debris was spotted from the air about 410 miles north of the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha, roughly along the path that the jet was taking before it disappeared, said a Brazilian Air Force spokesman.
There were no signs of life in two sightings of separate debris areas about 35 miles apart.

"The locations where the objects were found are towards the right of the point where the last signal of the plane was emitted," said the spokesman. "That suggests that it might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha, but that is just a hypothesis."
He said authorities would not be able to confirm that the debris is from the plane until ships arrive in the area tomorrow.

The discovery came more than 24 hours after the jet bound from Rio de Janeiro to Paris went down in an area of massive thunderstorms. Investigators have still no idea why it crashed.

Rescuers were continuing to scan a vast sweep of ocean extending from far off north-east Brazil to waters off West Africa.

The four-year-old Airbus A330 was last heard from at 3.14am Irish time yesterday.

Investigators on both sides of the ocean were trying to determine what brought it down. Potential causes included shifting winds and hail from towering thunderheads, lightning or a combination of other factors.
The crew gave no verbal messages of distress before the crash, but the plane's system sent an automatic message just before it disappeared, reporting lost pressure and electrical failure.

The plane's cockpit and "black box" recorders could be thousands of feet below the surface but will emit radio tracing signals for 30 days.
French transport minister Jean-Louis Borloo said: "The race against the clock has begun".

He added lightning alone, even from a fierce tropical storm, probably couldn't have brought down the plane. "There really had to be a succession of extraordinary events to be able to explain this situation," he said.

France's defence minister Herve Morin said "we have no signs so far" of terrorism, but all theories must be studied.

The Airbus A330-200 was cruising normally at 35,000 feet and 522 mph just before it disappeared nearly four hours into the flight. No trouble was reported as the plane left radar contact, beyond Fernando de Noronha.
However, a line of towering thunderstorms were strung out just north of the equator and bands of extremely turbulent weather stretched across the Atlantic toward Africa.

France's junior minister for transport, Dominique Bussereau, said the plane sent "a kind of outburst" of automated messages just before it disappeared, "which means something serious happened, as eventually the circuits switched off".

The pilot had 11,000 hours of flying experience, including 1,700 hours flying this aircraft.

WIPE OUT DEBTS WITHOUT BANKRUPTCY

In 1938 a federal law was passed known as the Wage Earner Plan. It is administered by the same branch of our courts that handle bankruptcy. You must be a wage-earner to use the law - that is the primary requirement. The Wage Earner Plan does not in itself ’wipe out’ debts, but a little-known proviso of your filing requires that your creditors must appear to verify your indebtedness to them. Statistics indicate that 40% fail to appear, in which case, those debts are indeed ’wiped out’. In some cases 100% of the creditors fail to appear, which enables you to wipe out ALL your debts without bankruptcy. If some of the creditors do appear, then the court allows you to spread your payments out over a three year period in smaller amounts so that you can afford to pay.

Once you file under the Wage Earner Plan, you stop bill collectors, lawsuits, judgements, assignments, seized bank accounts, and other actions against you. And to top it off, your credit rating is, in many cases, improved because you made an honest effort to work with the lending firms. Additionally, if the seller used deceptive trade practices to induce your purchase, your debt may be wiped out under the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code. Under the Homestead Act, your residence can be exempted from levy to the extent determined by local law. Check at your local courthouse.

How PayPal Works

The simple idea behind PayPal -- using encryption software to allow people to make financial transfers between computers -- has turned into one of the world's primary methods of online payment. Despite its occasionally troubled history, including fraud, lawsuits and zealous government regulators, PayPal now boasts more than 100 million accounts worldwide

In this article, we'll show you how to use PayPal, find out how the transactions are made, and learn something about the company's history. We'll also examine some of the complaints about PayPal's business practices. Let's start with the basics.

PayPal is an online payment service that allows individuals and businesses to transfer funds electronically. You can use it to pay for online auctions, purchase goods and services, or to make donations. You can even use it to send cash to someone.

A basic PayPal account is free. You can send funds to anyone with an e-mail address, whether or not they have a PayPal account. They'll get a message from PayPal about the funds, and then they just have to sign up for their own account.

Funds transferred via PayPal reside in a PayPal account until the holder of the funds retrieves them or spends them. If the user has entered and verified their bank account information, then the funds can be transferred directly into their account.

Is Obama good for India?

NEW DELHI: THE GEORGE W. BUSH years were good for India, and the civil
nuclear agreement is proof of it. This is why the US President who has
just demitted office — bitterly criticised across the globe for
American unilateralism in world affairs, for the invasion of Iraq on
false premises, and for much else — remained popular in this country
until the very end. He reversed an estrangement of a half century in
the course of which India had come to expect nothing but rebuffs and
disappointment at the hands of Washington. President Clinton, a
Democrat, too had opportunities to re-configure ties with India when
the Cold War (during which India was perceived by the West to be
pro-Soviet) ended. But this country figured in his scheme only as an
entity to be hectored, not a democracy to be shown friendship and
consideration. Is President Barack Obama, also a Democrat, going to be
different? What should we expect from him?


The truth is we don’t know. Mr Obama was a first-term senator when he
won the presidency. As such, his politics has not been tested over a
span of time, in varying conditions. But as a candidate he swept people
around the world off their feet — with his thoughtful charm, and his
uplifting rhetoric holding out vistas of change.

All we really know of the new President’s politics is that he had a
liberal voting record in his one term in the senate but appealed to
Republicans. A writer in the New Yorker thought this was because Mr
Obama has the ability to present liberal goals in conservative
language. But also on account of his view of history, his respect for
tradition, and his belief that change can only be very, slow in coming.


Is he the archetypal Democrat, then, or is he not? Will he show the
same (Western liberal) streak that the young British foreign secretary
David Miliband did on a visit to India recently, and proceed to suggest
that there was no point expecting Pakistan-based jihadis not to strike
so long as the Kashmir issue wasn’t resolved to the satisfaction of the
extremists. Even the external affairs minister, Pranab Mukherjee,
doesn’t have the answer to these questions.

IT industry downplays Obama's outsourcing move

The $47-billion Indian software export industry on Tuesday sought to put up a brave face on President Barack Obama's proposal to disallow tax deduction for company's outsourcing their business, saying the move will hit the US companies with "marginal" impact on India.

IT body NASSCOM said it is still reviewing the tax proposals announced by Obama. However, "prima facie, the proposals appeared to be aimed at addressing the tax rate differentials that exist across the world and if implemented, this would impact American headquartered companies with overseas operations," it said.

It said global companies that earn profits in India are subject to a tax rate of 33.9 per cent (including surcharge and cess) and "the impact of the proposed reforms on them would be marginal."

President Obama had yesterday proposed an end to tax deductions on those US companies which create jobs overseas in places like Bangalore.

Instead, the incentives would now go to those creating jobs inside the US, in places like the Buffalo city—bordering Canada.

"We will use the savings to give tax cuts to companies that are investing in research and development here at home so that we can jump-start job creation, foster innovation, and enhance America's competitiveness," Obama said.

Sania Mirza finds her love match

Leading Indian player Sania Mirza has become engaged to a business scholar from her hometown of Hyderabad but has no plans to retire from competitive tennis, domestic media reported on Friday.
The 22-year-old Mirza is a youth icon in a nation starved for sporting success after she became the first Indian to win a WTA tour title and break into the world's top 50 in 2005 but has struggled to live up to early expectations.

The pair were unlikely to tie the knot in the near future, however, as her 23-year-old fiance Sohrab Mirza planned to pursue higher studies, reports quoted family members as saying.

Mirza has been plagued by injuries over the last two seasons but has continued playing despite being frustrated by a series of court petitions attributed mostly to people trying to grab media attention.

India's Youngest Minister Fumbles, but earns applause

New Delhi: May 28 (IANS) She went slow and fumbled twice, but the entire hall at Rashtrapati Bhavan erupted in applause and smiles as Agatha Sangma, the youngest minister in the Manmohan Singh government, took oath Thursday.

Wearing a traditional stole and sarong in beige and white, 28-year-old Sangma folded her hands into a gentle namaste for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi sitting in the front row, before taking her place beside President Prathibha Patil to take oath in Hindi.

However the mike had to be specially adjusted for the petite first-time minister.

Daughter of former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangma, who was present at the swearing-in ceremony Thursday and looked on appreciatively as his daughter took oath in the name of god, Agatha hails from Meghalaya and is a lawyer by profession.

Quite a few faces had an anticipatory look as Agatha Sangma fumbled more than once mid-sentence. However, Sonia Gandhi kept smiling throughout her oath taking, nodding appreciatively and then clapping with everyone else as Agatha completed her oath taking.

Walking back to take her seat, a number of people either folded their hands into a namaste to greet her or shook hands with the young minister.

Team Manmohan was finally inducted Thursday with 14 cabinet ministers and 45 ministers of state taking oath at the Rashtrapati Bhavan to wrap up the 79-member council of ministers that will shepherd the Congress-led UPA's second tenure in office.

Sonia Sotomayor: Who Is Obama's Supreme Court Nominee?

If Obama becomes president, his first nominee to the Supreme Court will likely be Sonia Sotomayor. As a Hispanic woman with 16 years of court experience, Sotomayor would slay two of the court's lack-of-diversity birds with one swift stone.

"These are criteria that matter these days. Even Laura Bush was disappointed that her husband didn't name a woman to replace Sandra Day O'Connor," says Mark Tushnet, the William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Law at Harvard.

And because Sotomayor has a reputation for staying behind the scenes and sits on a federal bench known for its centrism, it's likely that she would be able to garner a two-thirds majority in the Senate, even if the Democrats only control an estimated 55 or so seats.

Plus there's an insurance measure if the nomination gets too politicized publicly: Sotomayor was appointed to the U. S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in 1992 by President George H. W. Bush. Says Tushnet, "If you're a Democratic strategist, you can gin up ads that say, 'She was good enough for George H. W. Bush.

Why isn't she good enough for Mitch McConnell?' "

Iraq's Kirkuk rocked by bombings

Source : bbc

At least 16 people have been killed and dozens wounded in a series of bomb attacks on police in Iraq's northern oil city of Kirkuk.

A police patrol was targeted in the first blast in the city centre at about 0730 (0330 GMT), leaving at least 10 dead, a police official said.

About half an hour later, a suspected suicide car bomber tried to ram the main police headquarters, killing five.

The offices of President Talabani's Kurdish party were also targeted.

In another attack, a district police chief was wounded and his bodyguard killed when two bombs went off outside his house.

Confusion surrounds the exact number of attacks. There are fears the death toll could rise.

The attacks may be part of the revenge promised by al-Qaeda in Iraq for the death of their leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, in a US air strike last week, the BBC's Hugh Sykes in Baghdad says.

Ordinary guerrilla insurgents would not have the resources to organise such a co-ordinated attack, one experienced observer told the BBC.

In the first attack, eight civilians and two policemen were killed when a bomb exploded in a parked car, Brig Gen Sarhat Qadir was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying. Another eight civilians and a police colonel were wounded.


In the second attack, a suicide car bomber attempted to ram into a checkpoint at the police headquarters. Police opened fire and the car exploded. Two policemen and three civilians were killed, Brig Gen Qadir said.

An attempted car bomb attack on the office of President Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party was also foiled. Police opened fire on the car, causing it to explode.

Kirkuk, some 250km (155 miles) north of Baghdad, is home to a mix of Arab, Kurdish and Turkmen inhabitants, all of whom claim ownership of the city and the oil-rich territory around it.

The city has been spared some of the large bombings suffered by other Iraqi cities.

But it has been the scene of frequent attacks on police by insurgents waging war on US-led multinational forces and their Iraqi allies.

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NASA to try California shuttle landing

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE, California (CNN) -- NASA will attempt to land space shuttle Atlantis at California's Edwards Air Force Base on Sunday, after rainy Florida weather precluded a Kennedy Space Center landing for a third day, officials said.

Rain at Kennedy Space Center in Florida canceled plans to land the space shuttle Atlantis on Saturday.

The first attempt will be made at 11:39 a.m. ET at Edwards, north of Los Angeles. Another opportunity will come at 1:17 p.m. ET.

Rainy weather postponed the shuttle landing on Friday and Saturday. While Atlantis could conceivably remain in space until Monday, NASA has said it wants to land Sunday.

Officials said Sunday's Florida weather was better than conditions Saturday, but atmospheric conditions in Florida remained too unstable for landing.

The landing would be the 53rd at Edwards, NASA officials said. In the early days of the space shuttle program, Edwards was its primary landing site.

Atlantis launched May 11 for NASA's final repair visit to the Hubble Space Telescope. Shuttle astronauts conducted space walks during the mission to perform routine repairs and replace key instruments, in what has been called one of the most ambitious space repair efforts ever attempted.

Hubble was released back into orbit Tuesday morning.

Hubble, which has been in space for nearly two decades, can capture clear images that telescopes on Earth cannot, partly because it does not have to gaze through murky atmospheres.

Global hunt for accidental millionaires

CNN) -- An international manhunt was under way Thursday for a
New Zealand couple who fled after a bank mistakenly paid them NZ$10
million (US$6 million) when they applied for a loan of just NZ$10,000.

Westpac bank paid the couple 1,000 times the amount they asked for.

New Zealand authorities said they had sought help from Interpol in

locating the couple who disappeared May 7, two days after an employee
error at Westpac bank paid them 1,000 times the amount they asked for.

The accidental millionaires, who have not been identified by authorities but are believed to come from the resort of Rotorua, were thought to have left the country, police said.

"At this time I am not prepared to disclose the amount of money involved, name the
individuals or business involved, or discuss which country the
individuals may be in right now," said Detective Senior Sergeant David
Harvey of the New Zealand police. 

Local media identified the couple as Leo Gao and Australian girlfriend
Cara Young, adding that they are now believed to be in China.

The bank, too, would only say it was "pursuing vigorous criminal and civil action to recover a sum of money stolen."

However, local media and many Rotorua residents were abuzz about the amount.

TVNZ, a CNN television affiliate, said the couple applied for a NZ$ 10,000 (US$ 6,000) loan for a service station they owned.

On or about May 5, the bank erroneously put NZ$ 10 million (US$ 6 million) into their bank account. What would you do in this situation?

The next day, the service station closed its doors. And the day after, the couple went missing, TVNZ said.

"Saturday, Sunday, we realized something else was up," Rotorua resident Tania Davies told the station. "They'd done a runner."

Another resident, Chevi Lambert, said a private investigator came by asking about the couple over the weekend.

"It's such a big world, he could just disappear," Lambert said.

Plane crash kills 79 in Indonesia

An Indonesian military plane carrying more than 100 people crashed into
several homes and burst into flames on Wednesday, killing at least 79
people, officials said.

Dozens were injured and more were feared dead, with local television flashing footage of fire engulfing the mangled wreckage.

Black smoke billowed in the air, as soldiers carried badly burnt bodies on stretchers to waiting ambulances.

Air force spokesman Bambang Sulistyo said at least 79 people were killed when the C-130 Hercules crashed near a base in East Java province early Wednesday.

There were 112 passengers and crew on board.

Military spokesman Sagom Tamboen said the aircraft was transporting troops and their families, including at least 10 children, when it tumbled from the sky near an air force base in East Java province.

It smashed into a row of houses in Geplak village, killing three on the ground, before skidding into a rice field.

The tail of the plane and several large parts of its charred body were scattered in the paddy and nearby bushes.

It was not clear what caused the crash, the latest in a string to hit the air force.

But several witnesses described hearing a large explosion while it was still in the air and then seeing it split apart

Nearly 20,000 slots still left in H1B visas

Washington:

Once the most sought after H-1B American work visa is still having nearly 20,000 slots open seven weeks after the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) started receiving applications for the financial year 2010 beginning October this year.

The USCIS said it has so far received approximately 45,500 H-1B petitions counting toward the Congressionally-mandated 65,000 cap. As such, the USCIS would continue to accept petitions subject to till the cap is reached.

This is in contrast of the previous few years when the USCIS had to resort to computerised draw of lots as it received petitions outnumbering several times more than the Congressional mandated cap of 65,000 within the first few days after it started receiving H-1B applications.

USCIS said it has received approximately 20,000 petitions for the advanced degrees category. However, it would continue to accept advanced degree petitions since experience has shown that not all petitions received are approvable, the USCIS said in a statement.

Questions of torture, abuse rooted in Bush-era decisions

After the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, the Bush administration crafted the legal basis for aggressive interrogation techniques of prisoners and terrorism suspects.

The techniques included keeping the prisoner in stress positions for extended periods of time, sleep deprivation, slapping, enclosing the prisoner in a box with insects, and waterboarding, which simulates drowning.

Those techniques were detailed in four Bush-era legal memos -- one from 2002 and three from 2005 -- released by the Obama administration last month. The memos concluded that such techniques did not constitute torture and were not illegal.

The Obama administration disagrees.

President Obama formally banned the techniques by issuing an executive order requiring that the U.S. Army field manual be used as the guide for terror interrogations.

"I can stand here tonight and say without exception or equivocation that the United States of America does not torture," he said during an address to a joint session of Congress in February.

More than 400 people have been disciplined based on investigations involving detainee abuse, according to Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman. He said the punishments have ranged from prison sentences to demotions and letters of reprimand.

"The policy of the Department of Defense is to treat prisoners humanely, and those who have violated that policy have been investigated and disciplined," he said.

The most notorious of the cases centered on Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

DNA tests prove Prabhakaran is dead: Lankan govt

The Sri Lankan government on Tuesday said the DNA tests have proved that Prabhakaran has been killed.

PTI adds: With a pro-LTTE website raising questions over his death, the Sri Lankan army on Tuesday said Velupillai Prabhakaran's body has been found.

"Prabhakaran's body was found near Nandikadal lagoon (in the No Fire Zone)," military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said.

He said Prabhakaran was in uniform and there were bullet wounds on his head.

Military officials, giving details of the encounter in which the LTTE chief was killed on Monday, said that Prabhakaran and his two top commanders, Pottu Amman and sea Tiger chief Soosai, drove out of their hideout in an armoured vehicle escorted by his armed cadres in an ambulance.

They tried to drive through the security cordon of army, triggering a 2-hour battle, which ended when troops targeted the vehicle with a rocket and later took out the bodies.

Prabhakaran's body, the officials said on Monday, bore
burn marks apparently due to the direct impact of the rocket on the vehicle which was carrying the LTTE chief.

However, the pro-rebel Tamilnet website claimed that Prabhakaran was still "alive and safe".

"I wish to inform the global Tamil community distressed witnessing the final events of the war that our beloved leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is alive and safe," LTTE's International Relations head S Pathmanathan was quoted as saying by the website.

Is Prabhakaran dead or alive?

As Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakasa declared victory over the LTTE after a nearly three decade long civil war, the reports came that almost mythical LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran has either been killed or has committed suicide.

The reports of Prabhakaran's death gained ground as rebel websites declared the LTTE's surrender after the Sri Lankan army captured the last remaining coastline under rebel control, and rescued all civilians from the war zone.

According to Tamil.net, an LTTE spokesman S Pathmanathan said the group has decided to "silence its guns" in order to protect Tamil civilians left in the area and appealed to the government to hold fire and enter peace talks.

But President Rajapaksa who was earlier meant to address the country on Sunday has now postponed his speech to Tuesday. That is perhaps an indication that the government is not fully confident of the reports of Prabhakaran's death in the absence of concrete proof.

In fact, the army says fierce fighting against the LTTE continues at close quarters, in the last square kilometer left.

Now that all civilians have crossed over to the government-controlled area, the Tamil Tigers have no option but to fight to the last bullet and to the last man. How long will the fight last , 12 hours, may be 24 hours, no one knows but it surely is in the very last stage

Obama to tap consumers for emission, mpg standards

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama plans to propose the first-ever national emission limits for cars and trucks as well as average mileage requirements of 35.5 miles per gallon by 2016 — all costing consumers an extra $1,300 per vehicle. Obama's plan couples for the first time pollution reduction from vehicle tailpipes with increased efficiency on the road. It would save 1.8 billion barrels of oil through 2016 and would be the environmental equivalent to taking 177 million cars off the road, senior administration officials said Monday night.

The plan also would effectively end a feud between automakers and statehouses over emission standards — with the states coming out on top but the automakers getting a single national standard and more time to make the changes.

The plan still must clear regulatory hurdles at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Transportation Department. The administration officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because the formal announcement by Obama was scheduled for Tuesday.

New vehicles would be 30 percent cleaner and more fuel efficient by the end of the program, according to officials familiar with the administration's discussions. The officials also spoke on condition of anonymity because the formal announcement had not been made.

Administration officials said consumers were going to pay an extra $700 for mileage standards that had already been approved. The comprehensive Obama plan would add another $600 to the price of a vehicle, a senior administration official said.

The extra miles would come at roughly a 5 percent increase each year. By the time the plan takes full effect, at the end of 2016, new vehicles would cost an extra $1,300.

The cost would be recovered through savings at the pump for consumers who choose a standard 60-month car loan if gas prices follow government projections, according to one official.

In a battle over emission standards, California, 13 other states and the District of Columbia have urged the federal government to let them enact more stringent standards than the federal government's requirements. The states' regulations would cut greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent in new cars and trucks by 2016 — the benchmark Obama planned to unveil for vehicles built in model years 2012 and beyond.

Obama more popular than U.S. among Arabs - survey

Enlarge Photo U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner in Washington May 9,...

President Barack Obama's popularity in leading Arab countries far outstrips that of the United States, suggesting he could be able to boost goodwill in the region toward his country, a survey showed on Sunday.

Obama, set to give a major speech to the Muslim world in Egypt next month, "currently enjoys widespread optimism among citizens of that region that he will have a positive effect on their own country, the Middle East, the United States and indeed the world," the polling outfit Ipsos said.

Ipsos said its poll, conducted in March, involved 7,000 adults in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Lebanon, Egypt and Jordan.

Of those surveyed, 33 percent had a favorable view of the United States, 43 percent had a negative view, 14 percent were neutral and 10 percent said they did not know, Ipsos said.

In contrast, Obama received favorable ratings averaging 48 percent in the region as a whole. Approval ran as high as 58 percent in Jordan and was lowest among Egyptians, who gave Obama favorable ratings of 35 percent, Ipsos said.

Only 22 percent of Egyptians expressed a favorable view of the United States, the lowest of the six countries surveyed.

Regionwide, only one in 10 residents thought Obama would have a negative effect on their country, the poll showed.

The gulf between Obama's popularity and that of the United States indicated "there is an opportunity for the president to literally 'bridge the gap' where his reposit goodwill lifts the goodwill towards America," Ipsos said in statement.

The White House announced on Friday that Obama would deliver a much-anticipated speech to the Muslim world in Egypt on June 4, seeking to repair ties that were damaged under his predecessor George W. Bush.

Many Arab and Muslim nations were angered by the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, abuse of prisoners in Iraq and Bush's initial reluctance to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Ipsos said the survey had a margin of error ranging from 2.6 to 3 percentage points depending on the country.

Tiger leader Prabhakaran killed - Sri Lanka army sources

Enlarge Photo Velupillai Prabhakaran, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, is seen during the annual...

Mon, May 18 01:10 PM

Tamil Tiger leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran's body has been recovered from an ambulance troops destroyed as it sped out of the war zone early on Monday, military sources said.

"It was confirmed Prabhakaran was killed when trying to flee in an ambulance before dawn. We are waiting for the official announcement by the president," a military source said on condition of anonymity. Four other sources confirmed the account.

There was no immediate official comment from the military.

State TV also broadcast images of the corpse of Prabhakaran's son and heir apparent, Charles Anthony, for the first time.

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