December 30, 2004

Conservative students, liberal professors
Latest fight pits teachers against pupils

December 29, 2004

How you can help tsunami victims
While the government is still slow with publicising details of how people can help those affected by tsunamis that hit south India on Sunday morning, bloggers in India and elsewhere seem to be doing their bit

Tsunami: Complete coverage

December 19, 2004

RIP Gary Webb -- Unembedded Reporter
The finest journalist ever to get fired for telling the truth is dead at age 49

Rumsfeld to sign condolence letters himself
The US defense secretary will now sign letters to families of troops killed in action, after the Pentagon acknowledged signing machines had been used

10 things we learned about blogs
Radio had its golden age in the 1930s. In the 1950s, it was television's turn. Historians may well date the golden age of the blog from 2004—when Merriam-Webster.com's most searched-for definition was blog

December 18, 2004

Media Wish List for 2005
This time of year, columnists tend to put on their prognostication caps and tell readers what they think will happen next year

December 15, 2004

Hotmail founder has lots more in store
Sabeer Bhatia is preparing for the launch of five startups

December 06, 2004

Flat tyre spikes NRI's US dream
An Indian-American businesswoman who sought police help is in jail, awaiting deportation

Father wants Subrata to quit football
A day after the fatal collision with Cristiano de Lima Junior, Pranballav Pal and his family were waiting, not for a hero’s homecoming, but for a young man living through 'the most painful moment' of his life

NYTimes.com seeks fresh talent
E-mail to newsroom staff in search of an experienced editor, as it prepares for redesign

December 05, 2004

Google's Newsbot isn't biased
Rather than representing news, the bots often reflect a bias that exists on the Net

Headliners
Arms business booms again
(The Times of India)

Bolt your door, or they'll steal it
(thisislocallondon.com)

Beckham's butler quits
John Giles-Larkin, 29, left after two years, apparently fed up with the demands of the football star's pop singer wife Victoria

December 03, 2004

Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law speaks out
Jamal Khalifah
says he's not surprised that it is difficult to capture the Al Qaeda leader

Prospects for peace
Vinod Mehta considers the first official visit of Pakistan's prime minister to the Indian capital

November 26, 2004

Disney channels from December 17
STAR group to handle distribution

November 20, 2004

Bradford dreams
Bollywood director Mahesh Bhatt is to turn his attention for the first time on the British Asian scene

Indian Telly Awards snubs Bollywood
'Television rocks! Why do we need Bollywood stars? Yes, it is true that we did not invite any Bollywood stars for this event,' Anil Wanwari said


November 17, 2004

Oscar winner sues Microsoft over Yoga
Hollywood screenwriter Roger Avary said Microsoft
stole his ideas for the game Yourself! Fitness

November 15, 2004

Bappi collaborates with beta Bappa
The Biggest B (literally!) of the music industry created a
buzz recently when he staked his claim over the song Kaliyon Ka Chaman, the remix version of which became an instant rage

November 14, 2004

Cary Grant


Ever more notorious


Gaming is the current craze among youths

After working shifts at a call centre in south Chennai, 22-year-old Vijay stops over at his favourite gaming parlour in Adyar — an upmarket suburb, to fight terrorism

The Blair Switch Project
Jayson Blair, the diminutive ex-journalist who shook up the mighty New York Times when his serial plagiarism was revealed last year, has all but evaporated from public view

PLO chief unhurt in Gaza shooting
Masked men open fire in Yasser Arafat mourning tent

John Kerry T-Shirt


I don't think this is real, but it could be

The trouble with fixers
Are you an editor who helps reporters or who frustrates them?

Urban Indians growing fatter

Heart attacks, diabetes on the rise

India's Child Geniuses meet President
Some of the country's brightest young minds participating in Britannia India's Child Genius on STAR World experienced the
meeting of a lifetime at a special interaction with President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam

FLASH: Shubham Prakhar (extreme right) is India's Child Genius

Bhopal 'faces risk of poisoning'

Thousands of Indians remain at risk 20 years after the disaster, an investigation by the BBC has revealed

Super Cartoon

...on Super Bush!
(New York Observer)


Rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard is dead

Russell Jones' criminal lifestyle and strange behavior overshadowed his work as one of the founding members of rap collective Wu-Tang Clan

November 13, 2004

Time lists Asian Heroes
Patna District Magistrate Gautam Goswami, who stopped an election rally of the then Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani earlier this year, and classical musician Anoushka Shankar are among 20 personalities recognised


Bloggers should be Time's People Of The Year
Each year around this time going all the way back to 1927 its editors sit down to debate and
select their Person or People of the Year

November 12, 2004

In search of a war
As Microsoft enters the internet search engine market, users find themselves overwhelmed with options. BBC compares the big players on five key areas

November 10, 2004

Now a 9/11 film, Bollywood ishtyle
B
andhak, a Hindi feature film about the 9/11 backlash in the US, will be released in December

November 09, 2004

Different Website, day and night
Making news websites more relevant by customizing content depending on the time of the day, a concept pioneered a few years ago

November 08, 2004

How technology failed in Iraq
The Iraq war was supposed to be a preview of the new US military: a light, swift force that relies as much on sensors and communications networks as on heavy armor and huge numbers. But once the shooting started, technology fell far short of expectations

November 05, 2004

Al Sharpton, wife announce separation
The Sharptons said they 'will remain on the best of terms'

Sikh students expelled for wearing turbans
Officials of the Louise Michel high school in Bobigny, northeast of Paris, decided to expel the three teenagers at disciplinary hearings ordered by a court

November 03, 2004

Lawyer to post list of accused priests
List compiled of 2,600 Roman Catholic priests nationwide who have been accused of sexual misconduct against children

Hindu or Muslim? Wear your badge
Anger after children at school in Gujarat were required to wear badges showing whether they were Hindu or Muslim

Charles Sobhraj's bid to escape
The Nepal police claimed to have unearthed an e-mail sent from the serial killer's laptop asking a friend to help drug prison guards

Time for smaller schoolbags
A textbook publisher has hit upon a rather simple way to reduce the weight of books for primary school children -- decreasing their number of books to practically one


BBC to air banned Indian documentary
Final Solution will have its first screening on BBC4. Covering the massacre of Muslims in Gujarat two years ago, it won awards elsewhere but was deemed too provocative for India

November 02, 2004

Landslide win for Kerry
World gives President George W Bush opponent 77.1 percent votes

My life is full of sadness: Adnan Sami
The singer says he has suffered a lot of emotional pain and much of it shows in his music videos

Liz, Arun plan Udaipur wedding
The couple has been spotted in Mumbai looking around for an apartment, fuelling speculation that they are about to take their wedding vows

October 31, 2004

If you were to vote in the US election...
What Al Jazeera readers think

Who will be the next UN Secretary-General?
If it all comes down to a ladies’ race, India may well nominate Sonia Gandhi

Why Indian-Americans should support...
George W Bush
John Kerry

Advani's new tenure

Not much hope for the BJP, but threat multiplies, says Harkishan Singh Surjeet


HEADLINER
Advani sets off wrath yatra
(mid-day.com)

Star's DTH project by year-end
The Star-Tata venture, in which the Indian partner holds 80 per cent equity as per government guidelines, is called Space TV

October 30, 2004

Google guru shares words of wisdom
Ram Shriram held court before a few hundred people. But if they were hoping to hear Google's secret to success, they were disappointed

October 29, 2004

Osama is back
Al Jazeera
airs new video

Key facts about Osama


UPDATE: Transcript

October 28, 2004

Beckham, J-Lo, Beyonce in Pepsi epic
The advertising push is set to pit David Beckham against Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce in a martial arts style campaign

Times buys stake in Mid-day
Bennett, Coleman is believed to have earlier made an offer to buy the 68.9 per cent stake held by the Ansari family for close to Rs 1 billion

Hannibal Lecter to return
Behind the Mask by Thomas Harris to be published by Delacorte Press


CNNfn network to shut down
The financial news cable network owned by Time Warner Inc said it will shut down by mid-December due to competitive challenges


October 27, 2004

Yasser Arafat 'very, very sick'
A team of doctors has arrived at the Palestinian leader's headquarters in Ramallah
Update: Arafat to be treated in Paris; cancer suspected

If I were President
Is a progressive populist social vision, ie, ridding the world of hunger, poverty and war, a viable goal for the presidency? 'Elected on Friday, assassinated on Saturday' is how Wyclef Jean sees it


Bush website blocked outside North America
I checked it out at 2:50 am, October 28 IST and it was still down

Seymour Hersh: Man on fire
In an astonishingly candid and far-ranging interview, the journalist who exposed major stories from the My Lai massacre to the Abu Ghraib scandal, proves his voice is every bit as powerful as his pen


BBC TV to reveal new Florida vote scandal
Republican 'Caging List' targets black voters in Jacksonville

John Peel 'worn out by BBC schedules'
The DJ felt marginalised in the weeks before his death, friend and colleague Andy Kershaw said


October 26, 2004

Cinema's scariest scenes
Turn on your night light, because these scenes are downright terrifying

Revolt of Fox's Hens
It has been a
bloody and unpleasant couple of weeks at the Fox News Channel

October 25, 2004

Scooby-Doo breaks cartoon record

Children's television favourite awarded Guinness World Record for notching up most episodes of a cartoon comedy series

‘(The Left) here feels that as in the 1930s, they have a
Fascist Right to fight with. It’s a fantasy’

Nobel Laureate Sir V S Naipaul has never believed in intellectual convention

One of these four men will be Maharashtra CM
Sushilkumar Shinde, Ajit Pawar, R R Patil
or Chhagan Bhujbal?

October 24, 2004

Cartoon revival
Russian animators wise up about children's films

October 23, 2004

Bin Laden located, but...
Former US Navy Secretary John Lehman said the Pentagon has
pinpointed the location of Osama in the Baluchistan region of Western Pakistan, but is holding back on rounding him up because it could destabilize the government of Pakistan leader Pervez Musharraf

October 22, 2004

Headliner
RSS chief hits Left with a hard right
-- The Times of India


BBC cuts ex-Spice Girl video
The network
cut Geri Halliwell's bottom-wiggling scenes from her new video

Wanna watch ESPN-Star? Be a good sport
Hotels, pubs and restaurants, its time to
pay up your broadcaster

Eminem talks Bush song

Rapper calls Iraq war 'mess', blames US president

October 21, 2004

Dobro Pozhalovat, Mr President
When I shook Mikhail Gorbachev's hand, my heart was pounding. We get a fair number of prominent visitors at Google, but none have thrilled me more than my former President
Castro breaks knee, arm in fall
The Cuban president tripped on a step and tumbled to the ground after leaving the stage at a graduation ceremony, fracturing a knee and arm but quickly returning to say that he was 'all in one piece'

October 19, 2004

The Sun launches 'no logo' war
Editor Rebekah Wade has ordered the paper's sports desk to drop all mention of football sponsors from its coverage
Senator John Kerry 'excommunicated'
A consultant to the Vatican has said Democratic presidential candidate incurred the penalty from the Catholic Church
Journalist Batuk Vora dead
He was suffering from liver cancer and was operated upon four times in recent months

October 18, 2004

'Pawar's infatuated with politics'

Former press advisor and official biographer P K Ravindranath isn't surprised at the Nationalist Congress Party chief’s resurgence in Maharashtra
Sharmila shoots straight

The new Censor Board chief expresses respect and admiration for Anupam Kher
Headliner
Pune's canvas painted with new strokes
[Pune Times]
Prasar Bharati DTH to air 23 private channels
The private channels which have signed up with Prasar Bharati are Aaj Tak, Headlines Today, BBC, Zee Music, Zee News, Smile, Surya TV, Star Utsav, ETC, Akash Bangla
Breaking news
Police have shot dead the country's most wanted bandit Koose Muniswamy Veerappan in southern India
Bush and the Press in the Age of Chaos
The US journalism community and government are in the grip of chaos — no rules, no holds barred
George W Bush ain't no cowboy
Here's how the United States President stacks up against the Cowboy Code
Magic DVD players arriving, but...
Remember when the Motion Picture Academy started sending its members magical DVD players that would play enchanted, copy-protected screener copies of movies for Oscar consideration? It seems that the studios have balked at producing the DVDs because they haven't seen the machines or observed how they will work in Academy members' homes, so there might not be actual 'movies' to 'watch' for this upcoming awards season

UAE petrol pumps may close
You would think this couldn’t possibly be happening there, but it is

Malayala Manorama to launch men’s magazine
The group plans to launch an English 200-page glossy magazine Man in November. It will be priced at Rs 100
Two grand Indian families
One political, one moviemaking - and one public feud

October 17, 2004

Mr Arun Gulab Gawli gets his bullet-proof jacket
The only resident ganglord of Mumbai has got the tag of an MLA, the magic shield from encounters and rivals

October 16, 2004

Lord Lucan murder case reopened
Former Scotland Yard detective Duncan MacLaughlin claimed the missing Earl had died in Goa, India, in 1996

October 15, 2004

Naipaul to retire
A retirement home for Mr Biswas? V S Naipaul — hailed by many to be the finest writer of English prose alive today — has announced he is too old to write another book

October 13, 2004

Anupam Kher out, Sharmila Tagore in
The information and broadcasting ministry served marching orders on a defiant Central Board of Film Certification chief. It appointed yesteryears screen siren as the new censor board chief

October 12, 2004

‘50 channels to turn pay soon’
A purely advertisement-based model for television channels is not likely to survive for long, according to Sony Entertainment Television CEO Kunal Dasgupta
Google plans big expansion in India

Sergey Brin and Larry Page

'We are committed to substantial growth in terms of both manpower and infrastructure at the offices in Hyderabad and Bangalore,' said Sergey Brin, Google co-founder
A black eye for CBS - and the US
The state of American journalism is a mess

October 11, 2004

Former CA chief speaks out
Under indictment and out on bail, Sanjay Kumar heads to France and speaks publicly about the mistakes he made as CEO of Computer Associates
Supermom remembers Reeve

Susannah York, who played Superman's mother in the classic films, shares her memories about Christopher Reeve
Journalist stands by controversial Clark comments
New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark linked strife-torn Kashmir with nuclear friction between India and Pakistan in the Hindustan Times interview by Saurabh Shukla
Radio fails to tune into right frequency
Given the Congress party’s uproar at the general election and the party’s subsequent rise to power, what has been the impact on the radio industry?
STAR News to play a critic for TV industry
Is STAR News, with the title Saas Bahu Aur Saazish - Kyunki Har Serial Kuch Kehta Hai, trying to play a spoof on its sister channel STAR Plus, which is known for its Saas-Bahu soaps?
STAR News to play a critic for TV industry
Is STAR News, with the title Saas Bahu Aur Saazish - Kyunki Har Serial Kuch Kehta Hai, trying to play a spoof on its sister channel STAR Plus, which is known for its Saas-Bahu soaps?

October 10, 2004

Aga Khan files for divorce

After six years of marriage, one of the world’s richest men and leader of the Ismaili Muslims, and his German wife Begum Inaara (Princess Gabriele zu Leiningen) claimed their relationship had 'irretrievably broken down'
Goodbye, Hello!

What possessed Imran Khan, who has always been conscious of his status, to open his heart to Hello! about why his marriage to Jemima went wrong?

October 09, 2004

The Next Top Editors
How to become a top editor (in seven tips?)
Censoring the Net with a Hotmail account
The Bits of Freedom group conducted a test to see how much it would take for a service provider to take down a website hosting public domain material, and have published their results
13 journalists to create ideal
youth-oriented newspaper section

The teens are recipients of the Newspaper Association of America Foundation’s eighth annual Teen Fellowships, awarded to outstanding young writers, editors, photographers and illustrators who regularly contribute to the teen sections of their local newspaper
Login or logon?
What is the difference?

October 07, 2004

Where are the weapons of mass destruction?

The Guardian front page
Sun, sex and spirit of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

Followers of the late Indian mystic have taken his high-society lead, converting his old spiritual headquarters into an opulent relaxation resort
Isn’t it time Gandhi got the Nobel?
Considered to be the greatest apostle of peace in the 20th century, Mahatma Gandhi had the Nobel Peace Prize pass him by, for a variety of reasons — all of them wrong. There is no better time than today to set things right
War of words at Al-Jazeera (and not only there)
It's a very hot topic, not only in Gulf television channels, but also in Arabic newspapers

October 06, 2004

Racist? Not kidding
A 14-year-old boy was named one of Britain's youngest racists after waging a race hate campaign against a Muslim family

Tenth of Reuters jobs destined for India
New facility will employ up to 10 per cent of company staff within two years. The data centre in Bangalore is part of the information giant's Fast Forward programme, which seeks drastically to reduce costs

October 05, 2004

When Gandhi met Hindy
Muslims take photos and home videos of the C N Tower as undercover police, media, watch
Baghdad training project forced to close
Journalists move out amid fears of abduction and beheading
Robbie Williams saw ghosts at Ringo's house
The sexy star lived in the former Beatles drummer's Los Angeles house

October 04, 2004

362 Hindustan Times workers get pink slips
K K Birla-promoted Hindustan Times staff move court against decision

Star News cuts headcount
Twelve video editors stationed in New Delhi have been asked either to move to Mumbai or to Kolkata
Jai Maharashtra
Hindi dailies continue to be highest-read publications. But Marathi dailies are more popular than English dailies
Is your computer recycled junk?
Up to 100,000 labourers earn a living pulling apart disused computers and electronics shipped in from the US, Japan and Europe. Many of the recycled computers are shipped to Pakistan or India
Paanch drunk?
After making the market fizz with a Rs 5 offering, cola makers have raised prices
Sir Elton attacks 'mime' Madonna
‘Anyone who lip-syncs in public on stage when you pay £75 to see them should be shot’
BBC launches Newstracker news monitor
There will be links to other news providers alongside its stories in the news sections of its website
A linking policy
After years of making fun of 'linking policies' that set out the terms under which a website can be linked to, Boing Boing has decided to create a linking policy of our own. Here it is -- now, abide by it!
Oh! Calcutta director dead
Broadway theater director Jacques Levy dies of cancer

September 30, 2004

Heart operation for Tony Blair
The British prime minister told Sky News it will have no effect on his wish to serve a third term after a general election
Trai to set norms for WorldSpace
After almost four years of its presence in India, regulatory norms are being considered for satellite radio by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

Visit WorldSpace

September 28, 2004

Why Google News signals the
death of the online exclusive


The biggest player is undermining those who break stories, says Charles Arthur

September 27, 2004

More news is good news
Young adults are much more likely to read the newspaper if they were exposed to it in school
STAR One
A channel for those who complain that STAR Plus is getting boring


Plus: Sahara's Rs 1500 crore rethink

September 25, 2004

BBC drops pogo Pope series
Animated series depicts Pope on pogo stick in fictional Vatican
Mihir Bose re-tells life of a revolutionary
The British journalist will re-release his book on one of the most controversial figures of the Indian freedom struggle, Subhas Chandra Bose
Showman undertaker adds life to funerals
Part of his marketing appeal lies with his appointment of gorgeous young women to staff funeral reception areas and transportation of bodies and bereaved relatives in Cadillacs
Eddie Adams embraced life with a wide lens
The photojournalist, shown stepping out of his New York City studio in October 2001, lived a life full of passion and energy, says Stacia Spragg, a Tribune photojournalist who once was Adams'assistant

September 24, 2004

Matt Phillips in Northern India
His penchant for travel, adventure and laughter recently landed him with Lonely Planet. At this very moment, Matt is swimming in the sights, sounds and smells of India while on his quest to update West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand for LP's next guide to the subcontinent

September 23, 2004

Now, Sholay games, comics
Sholay Media and Entertainment has a clear-cut mandate: Reach out to the younger generation and market Sholay as a brand
Prime minister's media man may lose job
Manmohan Singh’s first interview to the RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya may have hit the headlines, but it could also hit his media advisor Sanjaya Baru hard
Sabeer Bhatia, founder, Hotmail

What's your biggest mistake?
Not hiring the right people (first) and then trusting them too much
Mexico churches jam mobiles
It's a miracle made in Israel
STAR News to launch news, business channels in English
Regional news channels later

September 21, 2004

The HT question
Has The Hindustan Times launched a service that offers editorial coverage for a price, on the lines of Medianet its arch rival The Times of India launched two years ago?
DTH market is set to sizzle
An insight into the battle between Zee and Doordarshan that has come direct to your home

September 20, 2004

Jay Sean teams up with Bipasha Basu for single

The rising British Asian star is getting ready to release his followup single next month, with a video featuring the Bollywood actress
Alone at the Summit
Manmohan Singh is pragmatic, honest — and starting to show some steel as Prime Minister of India
Update: India termed 'completely and wholly inaccurate' a report in Time magazine that suggested that India will offer to 'adjust' the Line of Control 'by a matter of miles eastwards'

September 19, 2004

Don't AskJeeves
Search engine goes in for renovation. Will be back September 21
Onlookers at accident site may be punished
Legislation is likely to be enacted in United Arab Emirates

September 18, 2004

Deadline Hollywood

Jay Leno talks about the tragedy and comedy of politics
Original Sim

Rhianna Pratchett speaks to Will Wright, the creator of the best-selling PC game of all time, about robots, virtual dreams and gaming's cultural revolution
Life in the eye of a hurricane

Post the National Award for Kal Ho Naa Ho, Sonu Nigam is officially the most wanted singer in Bollywood
Shah Rukh Khan

Bollywood star’s TalkAsia interview transcript
Jail Alone
Actor Macaulay Culkin, who gained fame as a child in the smash hit film Home Alone, charged with drug possession
North Korea: On the face of it
The standard of living appears to be rising, but is everything quite as it seems?

September 17, 2004

In a spell
Vivian Cook, author of spelling compendium Accomodating Brocolli in the Cemetary, has set the following quiz to test your knowledge of some of the most difficult and frequently misspelt words in the language
Offices that resemble newsrooms
All across America, there are offices that resemble newsrooms, and in those offices there are people who resemble journalists, but they are not engaged in journalism. It is not journalism because it does not regard the reader – or, in the case of broadcasting, the listener, or the viewer – as a master to be served.
To the contrary, it regards its audience with a cold cynicism. In this realm of pseudo-journalism, the audience is something to be manipulated. And when the audience is misled, no one in the pseudo-newsroom ever offers a peep of protest

September 16, 2004

Time journalist replies to Liberhan's summons
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad Yadav had called upon the Liberhan Commission to summon journalists Jefferson Penberthy and Anita Pratap to appear as eyewitnesses to the December 6, 1992 Babri Masjid demolition and the role played by Bharatiya Janata Party leaders L K Advani and Uma Bharti

September 14, 2004

Great cover

Time magazine, September 20, 2004
Fallout
Three years after the World Trade Center attacks, thousands of cops, firefighters, and people who worked and lived near Ground Zero are sick with respiratory problems. Some have cancer. Is 9/11 to blame?
Good Housekeeping comes to India
The India Today Group is all set to launch the US magazine by the month-end

September 13, 2004

Snoring can hurt sex life
People in bed with someone who snores don't only suffer when their partner is sleeping: They also don't have as much sex as silent sleepers and when it happens it's not as good
Bloggers find clicks don't mean cash
Bloggers at this summer's political conventions brought heightened visibility to blogging, but the money for most is still missing
Star News wants to woo viewers with Fox, Sky content
With a slew of news channels around and many waiting to be launched, this is one of Star's strategies to smarten up
A home for Mr Naipaul
He has written another novel, is actively involved in Indian politics and believes that certain countries should be destroyed. Yet, at 72, V S Naipaul says that what he craves most is a quiet life. His wife sometimes begs to differ
Tendulkar on Broadway!
In a rare honour for the Indian theatre movement, leading Indian playwright and literary essayist Vijay Tendulkar's best works will be showcased at a fest on Broadway from September 29

September 12, 2004

Newsmaker: Subhash Chandra
One man stands between ESPN Star Sports and absolute monopoly over cricket telecast from India
Pressing ahead
Daily News strikes back at rival NY Post with Sunday magazine, other new publications
Why shy, get a wi-fi
No need to huddle up next to your modem at home anymore. Get wirefree. It’s easy and cheap
Fully loaded

United States Presidential hopeful John Kerry and deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
This is my India

India, the 1 percent society

‘Indians have the best brains in the world’

‘Indians lack self-confidence’

September 08, 2004

Steve back at his job

After undergoing surgery late July for a rare form of pancreatic cancer, the Apple Computer chief executive is on the road to recovery and plans to return to full-time work later this month
The Workplace: Bully them to make them leave
Dr Carine Holly can spot them right away: They complain of nightmares about work, feel tightness in their chests, have high blood pressure and don't eat properly. They are workers who are either harassed, bullied or ignored by bosses
Indian dance routine wins over US

'Balle balle, Hadippa,' the chorus chants breathlessly, as the sweaty and bouncing group of New Yorkers moves to the rhythm of the latest workout in aerobics exercise
BBC in talks on Worldwide future
Talks held with three global media giants over future of its commercial arm

September 07, 2004

The Right to Information Act
Civil society groups in India have launched a public campaign to ensure a proposed Right to Information Act 2004 giving people access to information from closed government departments, introduces a real culture of glasnost in the country.

An update...
Keyboards are old
Tap tables to send email
Bush 'took cocaine at Camp David'
And wife Laura liked dope, says Kitty Kelley in her biography The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty

September 06, 2004

Zoom looking at end-September launch
It's almost all systems go for the first of the four 'premium, unique niche channels'

Also: Doordarshan's DTH service likely from September 15
The grief of Beslan

Pictures of grief on a scale rarely seen in the world make up a powerful front page on The Independent as families of the 330-plus children and adults killed in the Beslan school massacre in Russia began two days' mourning
Vijay Singh sends Tiger to the woods
Clinches No 1 ranking with sixth victory of the year
Project Censored 2005
The Top 25 Censored Media Stories of 2003-2004
In February 2003, a Florida Court of Appeals unanimously agreed with an assertion by FOX News that there is no rule against distorting or falsifying the news in the United States

Out-of-print bestsellers
The Internet, which was supposed to herald the end of old-fashioned books, has instead saved the most vulnerable ones
Guardian Children's Fiction prize 2004

A tradition of finding new voices in children's fiction has distinguished the prize since it was founded in 1967
PM finetuned script with Sonia

Even as he is supposed to be ‘asserting’, Dr Manmohan Singh continues to move completely in step with the Congress party chief

September 05, 2004

Kabir Bedi in Farrukh Dhondy film
The acclaimed writer's newest film does for urban club music what Bend It Like Beckham did for soccer
Urine takes stink out of diesel fumes
Researchers at Switzerland’s Paul Scherrer Institute have come up with a novel solution

September 04, 2004

The KhERs'experience
Even as he is battling censorship issues, Central Board of Film Certification chief Anupam Kher is busy making more of a mark for himself overseas. Kher was back last week after completing the shooting, along with Kirron Kher for a guest appearance in the hit medical saga
King Kong filming set to begin
Peter Jackson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) will bring his sweeping cinematic vision to the iconic story of the gigantic ape monster captured in the wilds and brought to civilization where he meets his tragic fate
New-look Aaj Tak
The Hindi news channel is going in for a makeover from September 6
Sachin Tendulkar to feature in Bradman documentary

The documentary will be screened on Australia’s national broadcaster, ABC TV
Cricket for dummies
Watching cricket used to be like a cup of tea in the morning: you knew what you were getting. Of late, it feels like someone threw in a few extra spoons of sugar
Google Code Jam 2004
Do you have exceptional programming skills?
French author finds muse, home in India
Faced with a writer’s block a few years ago, award-winning Jean Echenoz came to India. And voila! He found his plot

September 03, 2004

Around the world with Peter Leslie
‘I remember clearly being in the railroad station in Calcutta surrounded by thousands of Indians and hearing the news that Mahatma Gandhi had just been assassinated’
Zoom in on Times TV
Bennett, Coleman and Co, publishers of The Times of India, have announced the launch of a 24-hour channel. Programs: non-fiction: talk shows, chat shows, game shows, magazine-based formats, interviews and music-based shows
‘Our editorial policy will remain the same across the globe’
'As far as a sensitive issue like Kashmir is concerned, it will be our endeavor to provide an unbiased view on the issue,' says Wadah Khanfar, the Al Jazeera managing director
Google on a hiring spree
The world’s largest search engine is recruiting for its research and development centre in Bangalore
Headliner
Hot TV ordered to cool down
(The Indian Express)
53 million adults use Instant Messaging in US
For many people, waiting for a response to an email takes too long, according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life project

September 02, 2004

Mira Nair may direct Harry Potter 5
The filmmaker confirmed that she has been approached to direct The Order Of The Phoenix
Dumb dumb dumb dumb
rediff.com/India Abroad Principal Correspondent Arun Venugopal was detained at the Republican National Convention in New York

Also read: Journalists arrested during protests
Hack to school
School wasn't even in session, and Dartmouth College chief information officer Lawrence Levine was penning the kind of letter technology executives dread
Portraits of US Presidents

From George Washington to George W Bush
Jonty Rhodes keen to coach India
South Africa's legendary former fielder said, ‘It'll be a perfect marriage, as I love fielding and being in India’
KGL paid nearly one million for hostages' release
The Kuwaiti company denied it halted operations in Iraq as demanded by the abductors
Jimi Mistry to star in Mission: Impossible 3
The British Asian actor will star opposite Tom Cruise. All actors for the film have to be approved by Cruise
Adult shows are off
Forget bikini-clad babes
India's ancient body art returns

Starlets are reviving an ancient style statement , as youth in the land of nose and forehead markings embrace a new generation of body art with pierced belly buttons and tattoos
755 Indians qualify in 'Brain Olympics'
All the Indian participants scored enough in the second semifinal to reach the national finals in July 2005

CNN launches 'Eye on India'
The Cable News Network has announced the launch of a unique initiative that will feature a dedicated week of programming
Al-Jazeera to broadcast in India
News bulletins by the Arabic news channel, dubbed in Hindi, will be broadcast from Friday on India TV

August 31, 2004

Bush's loose lips give Democrats more firepower

The President, who hoped for a triumphant, gaffe-free entrance to the Republican National Convention, has spent the past few days giving rhetorical ammunition to Senator John Kerry
Man barred from sending junk
text-messages to cell phones

The messages were sent over the last several months to cell users in California, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Rhode Island
Indian retro comics and ephemera
Straight outta Bombay, a cool collection of strange and unusual artifacts from Indian pop culture
Aamir weds secretly in London
India’s reclusive superstar wed his newest girlfriend Kiran Rao.
But Aamir's aide denies marriage report
Pain ends for heroic Miami Herald editor

During his 21 years at the Miami Herald, John Wolin -- born an anchondroplastic dwarf -- lost the use of one leg, then the other. ‘Yet he kept coming to work, hobbling along on braces and canes at first, then getting around on an electric scooter,’ writes Curtis Morgan. ‘The pain, combated with a dizzying array of powerful drugs, did little to take the edge off the rapier tongue that made him a newsroom legend.’ Columnist Dave Barry recalls: ‘He got really angry at a reporter and yelled into the phone: 'You're not just dealing with a bald dwarf here. You're dealing with a bald, ticked-off dwarf.’’
Government awaits Trai note on DTH content sharing
The government has asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to expedite its recommendations on non-discriminatory clause for direct-to-home broadcasting. The Trai formulation will be incorporated in the DTH licence even for those who are in the market. The clause will make it mandatory for all broadcasters to share their feed across DTH platforms
Pinxit Blue bags Google India account
The first advertisement will roll out in Wednesday's edition of The Times of India, Bangalore, for computer scientists

August 29, 2004

Mistry millionaires
India’s third richest keep away from flashbulbs, don’t wear it on their sleeve

August 28, 2004

Satellite fault shuts train doors

Hi-tech systems used to open train doors automatically have been failing, leaving people trapped on trains in the South of England
Losing is an art for most Olympians
For the thousands of athletes who don't win medals, the Olympics teach lessons in defeat
Great Journalist

Want to become a great journalist? Visit Great Journalist.
The site, which will be updated every week or so,
is dedicated to Anjum Nair

August 27, 2004

Google
What it looked like when it launched in 1997

August 26, 2004

Now, outsourcing of media, publishing work
Financial news service Reuters' decision to move editorial jobs from US and Europe to India has triggered a new outsourcing era in the global media and publishing business
'Mr Hotmail' seeks new challenges
Sabeer Bhatia is the pin-up of India's IT revolution; the boy from Bangalore who went to Silicon Valley and made his fortune
Road Raja
British celebs drive around Mumbai for Sky reality series
The most powerful woman
Behind every successful woman is an unsuccessful man!
Tumour diary: Two years on
BBC News Online science and technology writer Ivan Noble was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour in August 2002. Since then he has been sharing his experiences in an online diary

August 24, 2004

Ship's anchor cuts cable to Sri Lanka
Internet and international telephone services have been disrupted. Indian-registered State of Nagaland to be sued for $5 million for damages
Factors behind newspapers' rush to contrition
To judge from this year's rash of apologetic postmortems, American newspapers are a very sorry bunch
Times TV's second coming
India’s premier newspaper publishing company which runs, among other publications, The Times of India and The Economic Times, will burst on Indian television screens with a bouquet of satellite channels
Slower, lower, weaker
A commentator on the first day of the Olympics summed up India's shortcomings

August 23, 2004

I witness
People in a negative mood provide more accurate eyewitness accounts than people in a positive mood state, according to new research
Big B back with KBC in April


Kaun Banega Crorepati will reappear on Star Plus with Amitabh Bachchan back in the hot seat
Attack on pax
When events in the Middle East turn especially bloody, as they have during the last couple of weeks in Najaf, I am often struck by a whimsical -- some might say ridiculous -- thought. I imagine that the man at the centre of the trouble is not Moqtada al-Sadr (or whoever happens to be the villain of the moment) but Mahatma Gandhi, the leader of India's struggle for independence. I wonder what he would have done about it

-- Brian Whitaker
Police turn up volume for GOP convention
Forget the megaphones. The police will have a more high-tech and louder option to make themselves heard over the din of Manhattan traffic and noisy protesters outside the Republican National Convention. The Long Range Acoustic Device developed for the military can blast warnings, orders or anything else at an ear-splitting 150 decibels
Film on hangman rekindles capital punishment issue
One Day From a Hangman’s Life by four-time National Award winning director Joshy Joseph captures hangman Nata Mallik in his many hues

August 22, 2004

Rumors of Pope's demise

The pope is dying again. I just read about it yesterday. Some of my friends heard it on the radio, and called to see if it was true. By my count, Pope John Paul II has been dying since one Friday afternoon in September of 1994

-- Greg Burke


The space shuttle's return to flight

August 26 last year, the Columbia Accident Investigation Board released its assessment of the devastating space shuttle crash on February 1, 2003, which claimed seven lives and brought the US human space flight programme to a jarring halt. One year on from the report, news@nature.com looks at the shuttle's long road to recovery, and its uncertain future
Stolen!

Scream if you see the original of the painting!

August 21, 2004

A big hitter steps forward
Zee`s Subhash Chandra has triggered a fight by outbidding ESPN with help from India's cricketers
Dial a demostrator
Thousands of Germans have been protesting against the government's welfare reforms in recent weeks. Now, all they have to do is pick up the phone to have their message carried to parliament
'Stop calling me Wacko Jacko’

The beleaguered pop star said he was tired of being ‘vilified’ and taunted in the public eye


Uday Shankar new head of STAR News
The appointment came after Ravina Raj Kohli quit the company on mutually agreed terms
You're athletes, not journalists
The International Olympic Committee is barring competitors, as well as coaches, support personnel and other officials, from writing firsthand accounts for news and other websites

August 20, 2004

Newspapers' digital editions not yet successful
Vin Crosbie continues campaigning against the waste of money occured by newspapers websites and digital editions. This time (see former postings in February), he gives a few circulation figures for some US newspapers' digital editions:
USA Today 900 self-reported (0.05 percent of the total weekday print circulation of 2,154,539).
The New York Times 3,172 ABC-audited (0.28 percent of 1,118,565).
The Washington Post 424 ABC (0.06 percent of 732,904).
Boston Globe 321 self-reported (0.03 percent of 452,109).
Arkansas Democrat Gazette 3,418 s-r (1.8 percent of 187,601).
His conclusion:
With one expection, none of those newspapers have been able to signup a number of digital edition subscribers equal to one-tenths of one percent of that newspaper's print circulation


[Link via www.editorsweblog.com]

August 18, 2004

What makes good marathoners great
The marathon at the Olympics in Athens is fearsome, so grueling that even an elite athlete is liable to feel at least a moment of trepidation
Hotmail to offer 2GB in September
But it has become useless as a primary mail client for many users
Indian transcription service 'putting lives at risk'
Patients' lives are at risk as letters from hospital doctors are being sent to secretaries in India to be typed and returned to GPs with mistakes
TimeOut Mumbai update
The first issue will be out September 8.
Earlier report

August 17, 2004

Bombay or Mumbai? Even UN can get it wrong
The United Nations will intervene to avoid confusion over the names of countries, cities, hills and rivers which have been changing so frequently that postal services, search and rescue workers, tourists and public transport companies are struggling to cope
Bollywood Dreams

Sankha Guha embarks on a Bollywood adventure through the film sets of India's city of film. Talking to Bollywood's top stars and directors, he reveals a darker side to the familiar image of glitz and glamour

August 16, 2004

The prisoner abuse story
About midway into his monthlong stint in Iraq, reporter Mike Francis was chatting with an Oregon National Guard member when the soldier asked, 'You know about the detention facility thing, right?'

He didn't.
Newspaper Tigers
NY Times and LA Times continue to wage war while Big Media gets away with murder
The Internet is now the internet
Effective with this sentence, Wired News will no longer capitalize the 'I' in internet. At the same time, Web becomes web and Net becomes net
Indian Curry House ruffles McDonald's feathers
What has stirred spice is the red and yellow colours used on the newly-opened Anisha's Family Restaurant's advertisement boards, prompting McDonald's to shoot off a letter pointing out trademark violation in Australia
New York is going to the dogs

The New York Dog will feature horoscopes and obituaries, dieting tips and pop psychology advice for dogs

August 12, 2004

Sony shifts its hope to China
It realized it made a wrong decision on investment in India where its performance was getting worse
'Bikini-killer' linked to murders

Charles Sobhraj had never been convicted, even though he has been accused of more than 20 killings in India, Thailand, Nepal, Turkey and Iran
rediff.com: The Bikini Killer
Naveen Andrews to star in television thriller

The British Asian actor, most famous for his role in the BBC drama Buddha of Suburbia, plays a Middle Eastern man in the US series Lost
New Jersey governor reveals he's gay

James McGreevey announces resignation after telling of affair
Crystal ball gazing into Tendulkar’s future
An ageing M F Husain will pay the cricket star tribute by publicly painting a picture. It will show Sachin wrapped in the tricolor, galloping ahead of the horses!

August 11, 2004

Television channel only for advertisements
The first 24-hour channel dedicated to the world of advertising, Advert Channel, will feature a combination of classic commercials from the 1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s and today, plus live studio discussions and debates on the world of advertising, and behind the scenes documentaries on the filming of top commercials

August 10, 2004

'Nature Boy' is dead
NPR remembers Gypsy Boots, the health food and exercise guru who inspired the 1948 Nat King Cole hit (audio)

August 09, 2004

The San Jose Mercury News Olympics section frontpage
Channel surfing. Great headline. Great design. Great visual. Great...
[Link via www.newsdesigner.com]
King Kong's girlfriend dies
It wasn't the beast that killed the beauty, it was old age. Fay Wray, the shrieking blond beauty who earned fame as the frightened girl stalked up the Empire State Building, has died at age 96
Sesame Street comes to India

The venerable show for preschoolers is coming to the world's largest democracy