Heropanti actress Kriti Sanon to star in Housefull 3?

Newcomer Kriti Sanon, who makes her debut in Bollywood with Tiger Shroff's Heropanti, seems to have impressed the moviemakers already.

Her debut film will release May 16 but she already has another project in her hand in advance. According to a leading tabloid producer Sajid Nadiadwala is keen to cast her in his third installment of 'Housefull'.

Kriti has made her acting debut with the Tollywood film 'Nenokkadine' where she was paired opposite south star Mahesh Babu. Earlier, it was reported 'Housefull 3' would also star Jacqueline Fenandez as one of the leading ladies. The film is said to go on floors by the end of 2014.

By indiatoday

General Elections 2014: Repolling underway in Uttar Pradesh

 Repolling is underway on Monday at six polling stations of Agra, Firozabad and Etawah Lok Sabha constituencies as the Election Commission (EC) received complaints about booth capturing and intimidation during the election. 


According to a report, more than 32 percent voting has been recorded in the first four hours. 

Several complaints were sent to the poll panel about bogus voting and booth capturing during the election held on Thursday, especially in the belt of Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. 
Following the complaints, the EC sent observers to asses the situation in the constituencies. 

The EC observers, in their report, confirmed about illegal means of voting at booth no 160, 161 and another polling booth in Sirsaganj Legislative Assembly of Firozabad from where Akshay Yadav, the nephew of the SP chief, is contesting the election. 

Repoll was also recommended for booth no 10, 14 in Dibiyapur Assembly segment in Etawah, the native place of the SP chief. 

Officials also said the fact that these incidents, including an earlier one, where repoll was held at some booths after the second phase of election in Rampur Lok Sabha constituency, the stronghold of another SP minister Azam Khan, "has put the SP in bad light".

Opposition parties has accused the ruling SP of indulging in such illegal means. 
By zeenews

NASA discovers sun's icy neighbor

NASA's Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and Spitzer  Space Telescope have found what appears to be a brown dwarf, or star-like object, that is as cold as the North Pole, just 7.2 light-years away from the sun.

The closest solar system to the sun is Alpha Centauri, about 4 light-years away.

The closest solar system to the sun is Alpha Centauri, about 4 light-years away.

"It is very exciting to discover a new neighbor of our solar system that is so close," Kevin Luhman, an astronomer at Pennsylvania State University's Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds, said in a statement.

"And given its extreme temperature, it should tell us a lot about the atmosphere of planets, which often have similarly cold temperatures."

Brown dwarfs begin as collapsing balls of gas, just like any other star, but they do not have enough mass to sustain nuclear fusion.

This new brown dwarf named WISE J085510.83-071442.5 was found after WISE surveyed the entire sky at least twice using infrared light (NASA says that cooler objects stand out in infrared light because it capturestheir thermal glow).

It is between -54 and 9 degrees Fahrenheit, which is much colder than the other brown dwarfs discovered by WISE and Spitzer, thought to be around room temperature.

"It is remarkable that even after many decades of studying the sky, we still do not have a complete inventory of the sun's nearest neighbors," Michael Werner, Spitzer's project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Lab, said in a statement.

"This exciting new result demonstrates the power of exploring the universe using new tools, such as the infrared eyes of WISE and Spitzer."

The animation below, courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech/Penn State, shows how the brown dwarf was spotted, thanks to its rapid motion across the sky.

By authintmail

Flipkart to offer same day delivery amid rising e-commerce battle

The ongoing battle for supremacy in the Indian online retail industry already has a clear winner — the customer — as companies trip over each other to provide the best and most innovative service. The latest salvo has come from Flipkart, the market leader, which on Monday launches same-day delivery across all categories in 10 cities. The importance of customer service, especially in last-mile delivery, is apparent as the Bangalore-based online marketplace has launched. Three new services in April.

The seven-year-old firm, which reached the milestone of annual sales of $1 billion (over Rs 6,000 crore) in March, has introduced deliveries on Sundays in 10 cities when a customer places an order on Saturday. Most other online sites do not deliver on Sundays. It is also piloting "try and buy" for a few fashion categories like men's and women's jeans in Bangalore. 

"We have been working on this service (same-day delivery) for quite some time and we felt this is the right time to launch," said Sachin Bansal, co-founder and chief executive of Flipkart. "Customers want quick service and we are able to offer this to them at scale." These delivery features come at a time when there is a growing feeling among experts that Flipkart has been slipping up on customer service innovation and losing out to Amazon India. 

Amazon.in, which entered the Indian market just 10 months ago, has scaled up its product selection rapidly and has about 23 categories offering over 15 million products. It launched women's ethnic apparel less than a week ago. Earlier this month, Flipkart said it had millions of products across 21 categories and 40 sub-categories. At peaktimes, the Bangalore-based company ships 1.3 lakh products a day. Amazon India has been testing out a number of new features on the service side too. In March, .. 

Amazon.in, which entered the Indian market just 10 months ago, has scaled up its product selection rapidly and has about 23 categories offering over 15 million products. It launched women's ethnic apparel less than a week ago. Earlier this month, Flipkart said it had millions of products across 21 categories and 40 sub-categories. At peaktimes, the Bangalore-based company ships 1.3 lakh products a day. Amazon India has been testing out a number of new features on the service side too. In March, .. 

"Flipkart should know the Indian customer better and provide innovative solutions faster," said Ashish Jhalani, head of advisory firm eTailing India. "They should figure out something that Amazon is just not able to do in India." Flipkart's Bansal said that that being the leader in innovation is important for the company. "But we do not believe in thinking small. We want to expand services to as many categories and geographies as possible." In fact, the competition to provide better customer service in last-mile delivery is evident in the way Flipkart and Amazon have been playing catch up. 

By economictimes

My Father Doesn't Want Me To Get Married: Alia Bhatt

It is said every father dreams about arranging his daughter's marriage some day, but the saying does not hold good for actress Alia Bhatt's father, Mahesh Bhatt who doesn't want his daughters to get married. In an exclusive interview, 2 States actress, Alia Bhatt revealed some unknown facts about her daddy which reflects how much possessive Mahesh Bhatt is regarding his daughters. "Recently my father told us none of you girls are going anywhere. I will lock you up and you will not go anywhere. The guys will come and live here but you both are not going to stay with them," said Alia quoting her dad Mahesh Bhatt.

Alia further revealed how Mahesh feels jealous when Alia or Pooja gets a gift from any of their boyfriends. "He is very possessive about us. Like if any of mine or Pooja's boyfriend gets us any gift he will say that he can also get us such gifts," said the younger daughter. "He doesn't say all these jokingly. He is very possessive about us and he really doesn't want us to get married," she added. Also to be mentioned, in a TV show when Mahesh Bhatt was asked like whom he would want to see dating Alia, the possessive daddy said "no one".

Alia who is being rumoured to be in a relationship with her co-star in 2 States Arjun Kapoor, said that she has become more thick skin after entering Bollywood. "I used to be very sensitive person but now I have become more thick skin after entering Bollywood. Being in this industry people talk about you every time and you automatically become this kind of a person," said the Highway girl. Well, it seems Arjun would have to be at his best to impress Alia's possessive daddy. Oh yes...Of course only if Arjun and Alia have something growing in their hearts.

AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal slapped during Delhi roadshow

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal was on Tuesday slapped during his roadshow in Sultanpuri area of North West Delhi. "An auto rickshaw driver allegedly slapped Kejriwal," Times Now reported. 
According to Times Now, AAP workers in turn thrashed the attacker. This is not the first time that Kejriwal has been attacked during his roadshows. 
Soon after he was attcaked, Kejriwal tweeted, "I am just thinking - why am i being repeatedly attacked? Who r the masterminds? What do they want? What do they achieve?"

Last week, Kejriwal was attacked during the party's road show in South Delhi. When Kejriwal was shaking hands with his supporters, the person punched Kejriwal on his back and even tried to slap him.
Later the man was thrashed by AAP workers and handed over to police. Reacting to the attack, Kejriwal had said, "Let them attack us. We will not retaliate. We should not respond with violence" "Some people will do anything to become PM," Kejriwal added.

Kejriwal had also been assaulted during his campaign trail in Bhiwani, Haryana prompting a backlash from his supporters who beat up the attacker.

The assaulter had got near the open vehicle in which Kejriwal was travelling during the road show and tried to hit him. The former Delhi chief minister was hit near his neck, but he was not injured.

Kejriwal had tweeted immediately after the attack urging volunteers to stay calm and not retaliate with violence elsewhere. "Someone hit me hard on my neck jst (sic) now. This kind of violent reaction is expected of them. It only shows their true character and desperation," the former Delhi Chief Minister said on Twitter. The attacker was eventually detained by the police. "I am deeply hurt by the reaction of our supporters." 

more indiatimes

Lok Sabha polls: Google launches 'Know your candidates' tool

New Delhi: Google has announced the launch of a new tool as part of its elections portal offering 'google.co.in/elections', called 'Know Your Candidates'. 

The new tool will allow citizens to get easy access to relevant information about political candidates contesting from their constituency and their incumbent Member of Parliament. This tool integrates publicly available information sourced from Indian organizations such as the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), PRS Legislative Research and Liberty Institute India. 
The tool will provide information for each sitting Lok Sabha MP and contesting candidates such as their disclosed educational background, financial details and social media presence (wherever available) including video bios of the candidates provided by Ping networks. Mapped onto Google Maps interface, citizens will be able to find the information by using pin codes of their area or by zooming on their locality on the map. The tool will be updated regularly to provide information about all candidates as they get finalised and will be made available at least a week before the voting day in each constituency. 
Prof. Trilochan Sastry, a founding member of ADR applauded this launch saying, "We are delighted to collaborate with Google to launch this tool, which will help our concerted effort to disseminate to the citizens of India the background information of the candidates contesting the Lok Sabha 2014 elections that will enable them to make an informed choice during voting. As citizens we have to play a proactive role in ensuring that we choose politicians who are clean, honest and committed to the progress, security and development of the people of India, and we at ADR have been working on deeper reforms including political party reforms and in the last few years have obtained several landmark judgments from the Supreme Court and Central Information Commission." 

Commenting on the launch, Rajan Anandan, VP and Managing Director of Google India, said "In the last five months, we have made a concerted effort to provide our users a one stop destination for all their information needs for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. With the launch of this tool, we have added all the important information of the contesting candidates with the help of groups such as ADR and PRS Legislative Research who have been doing a stellar job of collating all the important information about the candidates. We hope that making this information easily accessible will help Indian voters learn more about candidates running for public office and help them to make an informed decision." 
The site also includes features such as elections related News Videos, Search Trends, G+ Hangout Series, and an interactive Pledge to Vote campaign. 

Google created its first elections tools seven years ago when our engineers noticed a huge increase in search traffic around the election period in the United States. 

Today over 20 countries including Malaysia, Thailand, and now, India have elections pages that aid voters during election periods. Google aims to encourage people to be more participative and engage with candidates. It also allows voters to have a deeper understanding of politics and governance through engagement with the candidates. 

Facts of India

• India never invaded any country in her last 100000 years of history.
• When many cultures were only nomadic forest dwellers over 5000 years ago, Indians established Harappan culture in Sindhu Valley (Indus Valley Civilization)
• The name 'India' is derived from the River Indus, the valleys around which were the home of the early settlers. The Aryan worshippers referred to the river Indus as the Sindhu.
• The Persian invaders converted it into Hindu. The name 'Hindustan' combines Sindhu and Hindu and thus refers to the land of the Hindus.
• Chess was invented in India.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus are studies, which originated in India.
• The 'Place Value System' and the 'Decimal System' were developed in India in 100 B.C.
• The World's First Granite Temple is the Brihadeswara Temple at Tanjavur, Tamil Nadu. The shikhara of the temple is made from a single 80-tonne piece of granite. This magnificent temple was built in just five years, (between 1004 AD and 1009 AD) during the reign of Rajaraja Chola.
• India is the largest democracy in the world, the 7^th largest Country in the world, and one of the most ancient civilizations.
• The game of Snakes & Ladders was created by the 13th century poet saint Gyandev. It was originally called 'Mokshapat'. The ladders in the game represented virtues and the snakes indicated vices. The game was played with cowrie shells and dices. In time, the game underwent several modifications, but its meaning remained the same, i.e. good deeds take people to heaven and evil to a cycle of re-births.
• The world's highest cricket ground is in Chail, Himachal Pradesh. Built in 1893 after leveling a hilltop, this cricket pitch is 2444 meters above sea level.
• India has the largest number of Post Offices in the world.
• The largest employer in India is the Indian Railways, employing over a million people.
• The world's first university was established in Takshila in 700 BC. More than 10,500 students from all over the world studied more than 60 subjects. The University of Nalanda built in the 4th century was one of the greatest achievements of ancient India in the field of education.
• Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine known to mankind. The Father of Medicine, Charaka, consolidated Ayurveda 2500 years ago.
• India was one of the richest countries till the time of British rule in the early 17th Century. Christopher Columbus, attracted by India's wealth, had come looking for a sea route to India when he discovered America by mistake.
• The Art of Navigation & Navigating was born in the river Sindh over 6000 years ago. The very word Navigation is derived from the Sanskrit word 'NAVGATIH'. The word navy is also derived from the Sanskrit word 'Nou'.
• Bhaskaracharya rightly calculated the time taken by the earth to orbit the Sun hundreds of years before the astronomer Smart. According to his calculation, the time taken by the Earth to orbit the Sun was 365.258756484 days.
• The value of "pi" was first calculated by the Indian Mathematician Budhayana, and he explained the concept of what is known as the Pythagorean Theorem. He discovered this in the 6th century, long before the European mathematicians.
• Algebra, Trigonometry and Calculus also originated in India.Quadratic Equations were used by Sridharacharya in the 11th century. The largest numbers the Greeks and the Romans used were 106 whereas Hindus used numbers as big as 10*53 (i.e. 10 to the power of 53) with specific names as early as 5000 B.C.during the Vedic period.Even today, the largest used number is Terra: 10*12(10 to the power of 12).
• Until 1896, India was the only source of diamonds in the world
  (Source: Gemological Institute of America).
• The Baily Bridge is the highest bridge in the world. It is located in the Ladakh valley between the Dras and Suru rivers in the Himalayan mountains. It was built by the Indian Army in August 1982.
• Sushruta is regarded as the Father of Surgery. Over2600 years ago Sushrata & his team conducted complicated surgeries like cataract, artificial limbs, cesareans, fractures, urinary stones, plastic surgery and brain surgeries.
• Usage of anaesthesia was well known in ancient Indian medicine. Detailed knowledge of anatomy, embryology, digestion, metabolism,physiology, etiology, genetics and immunity is also found in many ancient Indian texts.
• India exports software to 90 countries.
• The four religions born in India - Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, are followed by 25% of the world's population.
• Jainism and Buddhism were founded in India in 600 B.C. and 500 B.C. respectively.
• Islam is India's and the world's second largest religion.
• There are 300,000 active mosques in India, more than in any other country, including the Muslim world.
• The oldest European church and synagogue in India are in the city of Cochin. They were built in 1503 and 1568 respectively.
• Jews and Christians have lived continuously in India since 200 B.C. and 52 A.D. respectively
• The largest religious building in the world is Angkor Wat, a Hindu Temple in Cambodia built at the end of the 11th century.
• The Vishnu Temple in the city of Tirupathi built in the 10th century, is the world's largest religious pilgrimage destination. Larger than either Rome or Mecca, an average of 30,000 visitors donate $6 million (US) to the temple everyday.
• Sikhism originated in the Holy city of Amritsar in Punjab. Famous for housing the Golden Temple, the city was founded in 1577.
• Varanasi, also known as Benaras, was called "the Ancient City" when Lord Buddha visited it in 500 B.C., and is the oldest, continuously inhabited city in the world today.
• India provides safety for more than 300,000 refugees originally from Sri Lanka, Tibet, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh, who escaped to flee religious and political persecution.
• His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhists, runs his government in exile from Dharmashala in northern India.
• Martial Arts were first created in India, and later spread to Asia by Buddhist missionaries.
• Yoga has its origins in India and has existed for over 5,000 years.