Summer vacation was over and Little Johnny returned back to school.

Only two days later his teacher phoned his mother to tell her that he was misbehaving.

"Wait a minute," she said. "I had Johnny with me for three months and I never called you once when he misbehaved!"

Little Johnny wasn't getting good marks in school. One day he surprised the teacher with an announcement. He tapped her on the shoulder and said, "I don't want to scare you, but my daddy says if I don't start getting better grades, somebody is going to get a spanking!"

Little Johnny's kindergarten class was on a field trip to their local police station where they saw pictures, tacked to a bulletin board, of the 10 most wanted men.

One of the youngsters pointed to a picture and asked if it really was the photo of a wanted person.

"Yes," said the policeman. "The detectives want him very badly."

So Little Johnny asked, "Why didn't you keep him when you took his picture?"

One evening, Johnny was sitting at the kitchen table doing his homework while his mother watched television.

Upon hearing the evening news, his mother let out a shriek, "Little Johnny! China just launched a nuclear missile toward the United States."

Little Johnny looked up from his book with a confused expression on his face.

"Do you understand what this means?" his mother implored.

Little Johnny quickly replied, "No school tomorrow?"

Velayudham and 7am Arivu of Kollywood are 2 of the much awaited films in India recently as they have released for this Diwali (26-Oct-2011) after a long wait. Here we have reviews Velayudham.

Sify review

Vijay is back in action with Velayudham an out and out mass entertainer with all Navarasas of commercial cinema mixed in the right proposition.

Read 7am Arivu Review here

Director M Raja has packaged it as a Thali meal catering to the taste of all sections of the audiences.

It is Vijay’s Diwali treat to his fans. The film makes no bones, no pretences. It is an old-fashioned masala entertainer that plays to the galleries- a rocking introductory song, two glam girls, adrenal pumping action scenes, comedian Santhanam the current flavour of the season in some hilarious situations, sister sentiments and a message. But that's all part of the design.

One major plus for the movie is Vijay Antony's songs which are melodious and mass. The Vijay introductory song Sonna Puriyadhu.., Chillaxxx.. and Molachu Moonu... are the pick of the lot. Raja has taken the basic thread of the film from Nagarjuna’s Telugu film Azad directed by his friend the late Tirupathi Samy. The original itself was etched out of Amitabh Bachchan’s Main Azaad Hoon which was inspired by Hollywood 1941 classic Meet John Doe.

Rediff review

Ilaya Thalapathi Vijay has his comfort zone in the form of formula mass films that have a superhero at its epi-centre, destroying evil; saving his world; offering safety and security to those around him: all preferably done with panache and the prowess of a superman.

Read Ra.One Review here

Velayudham, remade from the Telugu hit Azad, with suitable modifications, has a story that's as old as the hills but there are a few elements that do add some flavour to the old wine in a new bottle.

Saranya Mohan, as his sister has precious little to do except look adorable and hug him a lot, which she does dutifully. She gets almost as much screen-time as Genelia D'Souza, who, for once, has given up the giggling school-girl act and actually has something to do. Hansika, however, doesn't, and her tittering gets on your nerves after a while.

Santhanam delivers his usual, as is his wont. The rest of the cast: Suri, Shayaji Shinde, Manivannan, et al merely form part of the backdrop.

Velayudham doesn't take itself seriously and doesn't expect you to either. In other words, it's paisa vasool.

Ra.One of Bollywood and 7am Arivu of Kollywood are 2 of the much awaited films as they have released for this Diwali (26-Oct-2011) after a long wait. Here we have reviews for both films.

7am Arivu review

Considering the hype that's surrounded the movie, it's almost a given that you're going to end up with mixed feelings about it. It would be impossible to give a linear review for a film that traverses several plot-lines.

Read more film reviews

The first half-hour of the film. It might be slightly in the style of a documentary but the camera-work, the SFX and the maker's obvious love of history transport you back 1600 years into the past, to the reigning Pallava dynasty, and to the surroundings of Kanchi, to a land that is at the height of both martial and medical prowess. It's here that you're introduced to Bhodhi Dharmar (Suriya), a Pallava Prince who leaves his family behind and journeys to China. His travel across the lands, and the way he slowly assimilates the life of an ascetic, casting away his princely robes is a revelation. It takes him three years to reach China -- where a completely different life awaits him.

7am Arivu has several things working for it -- its historical background, and a rock-solid villain who uses mind-control, and an intelligent heroine, among other things.

Ra.One review

Ra.One is a subpar superhero film with a mediocre soundtrack and occasionally terrific effects. For those of you looking to compare, it's well below Krrish on the superpecking order, and far, far below Robot.

More about Indian films..

It has a good villain in Arjun Rampal, a striking heroine in Kareena Kapoor and a visual effects team that, while derivative, gets the job done rather well. The problem lies in the hodgepodge script -- a congealed instant-noodles mess of mixed flavours and overzealous Bollywoodisation -- and, even more crucially, in the man.

There is far too much Shah Rukh Khan in Ra.One, and while the man can normally be counted on to entertain no matter how completely he overwhelms us with his presence, this is him trying too hard in a film that straddles the disparate worlds of Shankar and Farah Khan, and, having been made by Anubhav Sinha, falls painfully flat.

Shiney Ahuja seems to be on the bad side of women all the time. Most recently, the actor has been accused of sexually harassing his co-star Sayali Bhagat according to media reports.

Well, if what actress Sayali Bhagat is saying is true then Shiney Ahuja seems to have not learnt from his past experiences.

This is not the first time that Shiney has been in the eye of storm over such allegations. In 2009, the actor's maid filed a case against him alleging rape.

Shiney was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Mumbai sessions court on March 30 this year. About a month later, however, he was released on bail.

Sayali Bhagat, however, cannot decide whether her 'Ghost' co-star Shiney Ahuja misbehaved with her on the sets of the film. For the past 7 months now, Sayali has been going back and forth on her allegations.

Reportedly, there was news that Sayali Bhagat was miffed with the gossip circulated all over that Shiney pinched her butt while filming their upcoming flick ‘Ghost’. Later she enlightened more on the lecherous habits of Shiney saying that he didn’t pinch her butt, but made quite a few passes at her and also made it quite clear that working with Shiney was no less than mental molestation.

"My life has been a living hell ever since a leading film magazine (Stardust) came out with the story that Shiney misbehaved with me on the sets of our upcoming film Ghost. I was under tremendous pressure to deny all the claims and allegations I made in my interview, so I gave into the pressure," says Sayali.

According to the actress, the crew of the film also noticed Ahuja's behaviour towards her. "During a scene wherein I teach him how to chop vegetables, he asked me to feel up his arms at least ten times, so much so that even the light-man threw the lights and left the sets out of disgust. Then while our shots were getting ready, Shiney would often whisper into my ears that he can’t resist me, suggesting that we should hook up."

It didn’t stop there. Even after the shooting was over and done with, Sayali received text messages and calls from Shiney at odd hours.

After the story appeared in the magazine, Sayali claims she received several messages from Shiney's wife that she shouldn't have said such defamatory things about her husband. "I am the last person to speak out strongly against anyone, but I am at the end of my tether. I will not take this kind of harassment lying down and I want Shiney and Anupam to leave me alone," Sayali states loud and clear.

The actress has decided to go to the police and lodge an official complaint against Shiney Ahuja and his wife Anupam.

So after the rape case, it will be off to court for a sexual harassment case.

Having recovered well from his kidney ailment, South Indian Superstar Rajinikanth chose to go to Tirupati hill shrine and offer prayers to Lord Balaji with his family.

Superstar Rajinikanth, accompanied by his family members, was in Tirumala on Wednesday evening as a thanksgiving visit after recovering from ailment recently. He offered prayers at the famous hill shrine of Lord Venkateswara and performed various rituals.

Speaking to reporters, he said, "I am thankful to all my fans who prayed for me while I was undergoing treatment. By the grace of the Almighty, I am fine now and took part in the shoot of Ra.One recently. This is a thanksgiving visit to the Lord for answering our prayers."

The actor, who took ill during the shoot of the film 'Rana' in April, underwent treatment at a hospital in Singapore for reported kidney problem.

Obituaries are being written about Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement. Two core Team Anna members, PV Rajagopal and Rajinder Singh, have quit or moved away.

Barely three months after it gained country-wide name as Team Anna, an anti-corruption movement it is spearheading suffered a blow on Tuesday (18-Oct-2011) as these two key associates of Gandhain activist Anna Hazare quit the core committee of his team objecting to the movement taking a political turn.

The trigger was the group's decision to unleash an anti-Congress campaign in Hisar, which the two claimed had not been taken by the core committee.

"I dissociate with the team. The team is turning political. There were statements indicating that including the on Hisar," Rajinder Singh said.

Rajagopal, who is in Kerala`s Attappadi as part of an all-India yatra for land rights, wrote to Core Committee convenor Arvind Kejriwal about his decision while Singh said he did not feel the need to write any such letter as he had not sought any membership in the first place.

Both Singh, and Rajagopal had joined the anti-graft team after some persuasion and their presence in the team was seen as a counter to the allegation that Team Anna represented a very small section of civil society.

Eight months and expecting, the Bachchan 'bahu' Aishwarya is going to have her 'god bharai' or baby shower today (18-Oct-2011), according to media reports.

Aishwarya has not made too many public appearances since June. The shoot for a soap brand she endorses caught the first glimpse of the baby bump a few months back. Recently at Mata ki Chowki hosted by Sanjay Dutt and the North Mumbai Durga Puja hosted by Rani Mukherjees family, Aishwarya was seen with Amitabh and Jaya covering her baby bump with her sari or dupatta.

Her baby shower today (18-Oct-2011) can be expected to be one of the biggest events on the Bollywood calendar.

Read more about baby shower for aishwarya...

A set of five Google-coloured clay balls spring to life on Google's home page as a tribute to Arthur 'Art' Clokey, a pioneer in the art of stop motion clay animation.

Past Doodles have at times been interactive such as The Muppets and its creator Jim Henson, what would have been Freddie Mercury‘s 65th birthday, Les Paul the guitar hero and so on.

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Art Clokey began experimenting with stop-motion clay animation in the 50′s. He and his wife created the Gumbasia project, which morphed into the Gumby series. Gumby has remained popular more or less ever since, even spawning a movie as recently as the mid-90′s.

Art Clokey died in 2010 and is remembered today as one of the key figures in American animation. His influence extends to many of the 20th century’s key animators, ranging from the likes of the Czech Republic’s Jan Svankmajer to Britain’s own Tony Hart.

The Gumby Google Doodle features a wooden block for the "G," with clay balls following the Google color scheme sitting in a row, just waiting for you to click and bring them to life. Gumby, in place of the "L," gives a wave when you land on the page, pointing to the clay balls. At the top of the screen, "Art Clokey’s 90th Birthday" links to the search results page for Clokey.

Hovering over each clay ball causes it to compress; moving away releases it to full shape... but when you click on them, they come to life.

Google doodles have gained immense popularity over the past few years and the Google team has put out commemorative doodles on events ranging from news events, civic milestones, birthdays, death anniversaries and important dates in history.

Google estimates it has created more than 900 doodles since 1998, with 270 of them running in 2010 and about 200 in 2011.

The Big Ben, the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster in London, is leaning and its tilt is now visible to the naked eye, engineers have claimed.

Civil engineers have discovered that the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster is no longer ramrod straight and the problem is getting worse every year.

The top of the tower is now almost one-and-a-half feet off the perpendicular and if left uncorrected it would eventually fall.

It would still take four thousand years for the tower to reach the angle of Italy's famous leaning tower of Pisa and even longer to reach tipping point.

The problem has been blamed on decades of building work that have gone on around the foot of the structure - 315ft (96m) tall, with 11 storeys and 393 stairs - since it was completed in 1858.

These have ranged from a sewer built in the 1860s to the District Line the following decade and an underground car park for MPs in the 1970s.

When the Jubilee Line was extended through Westminster in the late 1990s, special techniques were used to create a concrete barrier under the tower, in a bid to secure it.

Yet a new survey for London Underground and the Parliamentary Estates Department has found that the rate of movement has accellerated in recent years.

The tower is now leaning towards the northwest at an angle of 0.26 degrees, meaning the top of the tower is 1ft 5in from vertical. John Burland, emeritus professor and senior research investigator from Imperial College London who has worked on the Big Ben tower, said: "The tilt is now just about visible. You can see it if you stand on Parliament Square and look east, towards the river."

From the moment the scientists across the world established that the elevated attentiveness of several substance in synaptic vesicles, which is generally identified as an important portion of the neuron, which supplies neurotransmitters, till date the researchers have been trying hard to fix the role of zinc in the functioning of the brain.

Of late, zinc has made its presence felt in the medical arena both as a helper and a threat, if present in excess.

Now, scientists at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), and colleagues at MIT and Duke University have found that zinc plays a key role in regulating how neurons communicate with one another, and could affect how memories form and how we learn.

The researchers studied neurons in a brain region called the hippocampus, which is associated with learning and memory formation. They found that removing zinc interfered with a process called long-term potentiation, which strengthens the connection between two neurons, and is believed to be important for memory and learning.

Supermodel-actress Lisa Haydon, who is also a filmstar now, is connected to Chennai in many ways. Born in Chennai to a Malayali father and an Australian mother, Lisa is a trained Bharathanatyam dancer, and like all Chennaiites, loves Kollywood too.

There used to be a time when models, who wanted to be part of the film industry, were questioned on their capability to actually act.

However, model-turned-actress Lisa Haydon sees no logic in that question anymore. "Aren't there plenty of models who can act well and look good at the same time?" she questions, adding, "Over the years, models — men and women — have proven their credibility as versatile actors. This thought that models can't act, should be made obsolete."

Lisa, who made her film debut with Anil Kapoor's Aisha, says excitedly, "I was born in Chennai, but didn't get a chance to spend my growing years here. However, once I started modelling, I came here often on assignments. I haven't explored the city much, but I keep track of whatever happens here. I sometimes head to Puducherry from Chennai for surfing. I was in the city even two weeks ago."

Sharing screen space with Ajay Devgn and Sanjay Dutt in forthcoming Bollywood movie 'Rascals', Lisa says she enjoyed working with them.

"They both have a great sense of fun and sharing screen space with them was just amazing," says Lisa. Asked who does she think is the biggest 'rascal' of them, she says: "I think I am the biggest rascal amongst all the leading stars, including Ajay and Sanjay."

Ask her if it's just a matter of days before she signs her first Tamil film, and she says, "I'd love to do Tamil movies. As long as I get a very good role in a good film, I'm game for Kollywood as well. Interestingly, a lot of Tamil movies get remade in Hindi and vice versa. I've heard so much about the actors down south like Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth. I even know a few stars from the south like Rana Daggubatti. I'm just waiting for a good script so that I come make a mark here as well."

In an act of cold-blooded murder, a bus driver Wednesday (05-Oct-2011) ordered tourists to de-board and then ran the vehicle over them in Rajasthan, killing seven people including a girl, police said.

Ten others were injured in the incident, which occurred at college road this morning in Karauli, 160 kms from Jaipur. All the victims were from Agra, Superintendent of Police Omprakash said.

The passengers, who were on their way to Keladevi temple, had an argument with the driver (identified as Raju) of the private bus plying between Jaipur-Hindaun over fare.

The injured have been admitted to a nearby hospital, the police said, adding that the matter was under investigation.

The driver is absconding. A case has been registered against him under different sections including for 302 (murder) of IPC, Mr. Omprakash said.

Expressing happiness over meeting his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar at a reception in New York on Tuesday (27-Sep-2011), External Affairs Minister S M Krishna said such social exchanges would go a long way in normalising relations with the neighbouring country.

Asserting that there cannot be a "selective approach" in the fight against terrorism, India today hoped that Pakistan will be "serious" in dismantling terror camps on its soil and live up to its pronouncements.

"I am sure they (Pakistan) will realise and they have, by now they should have (realised) that terrorism cannot be fought selectively," external affairs minister SM Krishna said after meeting his Pakistani counterpart Hina Rabbani Khar at a reception hosted by her here.

In a series of media interviews, Hina Rabbani Khar has challenged the US to share with Pakistan any evidence it might have about Pakistani involvement with the militants.

She has highlighted the sacrifices Pakistan has made in the fight against terror.

At the outset, the foreign minister praised Pakistan’s UN Ambassador Abdullah Hussain Haroon for his excellent work in the service of his country, saying she found him to be the most popular envoy here. Diplomats and journalists especially noted the presence of Indian External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna, who came to the reception with his UN ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri.

Last year Pakistan voted for India when it won a non-permanent seat. In her speech, Khar reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to multilateralism and the principles and purposes enshrined in the UN Charter as she focused on her country’s role in the the peacekeeping missions around the world, the world body’s flagship activity.

Indian envoy to the UN Hardeep Singh Puri had earlier said that the "possibility" of a meeting between Krishna and Khar in a social set-up "is very likely."

Krishna recalled that Khar had mentioned during her visit to New Delhi in July this year that her country too was a victim of terrorism.

Replying to a question that US too is talking in the same voice as India on the terror network in Pakistan, Krishna said terrorism has to be fought across the board and not in a selective manner.

On September 24, Muppets creator Jim Henson would have been 75, had he been alive. And in his honor Google has rolled out its latest amazing Doodle a little early.

James Maury Henson is best known for ‘The Muppets’ and memorable shows such as Sesame Street, The Muppet Show and films such as The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper.

Internet search giant Google has created a new interactive doodle that allows users to control digital puppets to celebrate what would have been the 75th birthday of the Muppets creator.

"Become a digital puppeteer today and tomorrow with our homepage tribute to Jim Henson!" Google tweeted.

Google posted a message on its official blog, in which Brian Henson, the chairman of The Jim Henson Company, described his father as a playful, happy, forgiving, visionary and creative figure.

The Doodle is fully interactive with five different muppets on show. Simply use the buttons below each of the muppets to activate their individual animations.
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The Doodle allows users to become puppeteers through the Google homepage. Six original characters include their own animations including ‘bonus/hidden’ animations which can be discovered by patient Google puppeteers.

The characters were designed at the Henson Company and modeled into a digital puppet in Jim Henson's Creature Shop before being handed over to Google.

Engeyum Eppodhum (Tamil: எங்கேயும் எப்போதும், English: Anywhere Anytime), produced by A. R. Murugadoss in association with Fox Studios is a romantic Tamil film written and directed by newcomer M. Saravanan. Starring Jai, Anjali, Ananya and Sharvanand in the lead roles the film released worldwide on 16th of September 2011.

Rediff Review

It is refreshing to see a debutant director bring a tale of urban love and its pain in not just a convincing fashion, but with large dollops of comedy and a twist that jolts you out of your seat.

Fox Star Studios, venturing into Tamil cinema under the aegis of A R Murugadoss, looks like it's landed itself a winner with Engeyum Eppodhum (Anywhere, Anytime), directed by M Saravanan.

Velraj's camera-work and Antony's editing are excellent; but it's the SFX team that deserves kudos.

Praise goes, deservedly, to the director for choosing a simple story that focuses on the smaller joys and sorrows of life, of personal tragedy that barely makes a mark in public consciousness. Director M Saravanan weaves a tale of love, but also has other characters you might miss if you blink, but who still have their parts to play. His biggest strength is that the screenplay rarely loses pace and manages to be realistic most of the time.

The Hindu Review

Engeyum Eppodum, a production of Fox Star Studios in association with A. R. Murugadoss Productions, conveys a message, but subtly. Shouldered entirely by a young cast, it works because of the chemistry between the lead actors.

All the lead actors — Jai, Anjali, Sharvanand and Ananya — excel in their comic timing and dialogue delivery. The director has tried to keep their performances real.

Despite some clichés, the movie works well. The dialogues are crisp and the technical aspects top-notch. R. Velraj's cinematography and Kishore's editing are a standout. It is refreshing to see the way Tiruchi has been brought to screen. The elaborate sequences inside the buses have also been photographed effectively. The tight editing has kept the non-linear narrative not too confusing.

Deccan Chronicle Review

Living up to all the hype and expectations is Engeyum Eppodhum.

Though it is helmed by newcomer Saravanan, the fact that it is produced by filmmaker A.R. Murugadoss and Fox Star Studio makes it a grand affair.

It is a mix of romance and feel-good moments that end up with a riveting climax. A bus journey filled with twists and turns, ‘EE’ is a smooth ride that ends with a strong message.

Pace suffers in the first half. The movie, which has a larger message and comes in a neatly packaged manner, is a must watch for everyone!

An explosion rocked a private hospital in Agra on Saturday (17-Sep-2011), leaving six persons injured. The blast took place in the reception of Jai Hospital where explosives were kept under a chair, said Inspector General of Police, Agra Range, PK Tiwari.

Police called it a crude explosive, but it was still too early to determine a motive or whether it was the handiwork of terrorists.

The Home Ministry said it had dispatched commandos to Agra and was in the process of collecting evidence from the scene.

"It was an explosion with a bang when I was getting down the stairs and when I turned back, there was panic all around," said an eye witness.

An team from the anti-terror squad has been sent to the hospital, Additional Director General of Police (Law & Order) Brij Lal told PTI.

The motive behind the blast is yet to be discovered, said Agra zone deputy inspector general of police Asim Arun. The police and administration is looking after the victims and all possible help is being extended, he added.

Five days after he was rushed to a Hyderabad hospital after a road accident, Ayazuddin, son of former cricketer Mohammed Azharuddin, has died.

The 19-year-old, a budding cricketer, breathed his last in Apollo Hospital this morning (16-Sep-2011) after fighting for his life for six days.

Ayaz was seriously injured in a motobike crash on Sunday (11-Sep-2011) last on the Outer Ring Road of Hyderabad and his condition was very critical since then.

A promising cricketer, Aiyazuddin was a second year B.Com student and was the younger of Azharuddin's two sons with his former wife, Naureen.

Ayazuddin's cousin, Ajmal-ur-Rahman (16) who was riding pillion, succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment.

Azharuddin was out of the country when the accident happened.

Petrol prices were hiked for the 10th time since June 2010, by a little over Rs.3.14 a litre from Friday (15-Sep-2011), as India's oil retailers sought to pass most of the burden of the falling value of the rupee and high crude prices on to consumers.

The increase in petrol price is the latest after a record 5 rupee hike in May 2011. Petrol prices vary from city to city depending on VAT and other local levies.

Oil companies in India have been free since June 2010 to set their own prices for petrol, which is considered a rich person's fuel. Raising the petrol price is politically easier than lifting state-controlled diesel prices, which New Delhi did in June after months of delay.

The recent depreciation of the rupee, which has fallen nearly 8 percent from its 2011 high, adds to the subsidy burden for oil marketing companies.

Petrol price were freed from the government control in June last year but the retail rates have not moved in line with cost as high inflation rate forced the oil companies to seek 'advice' from parent oil ministry before revising rates.

Scientists belonging to the Harvard University have made a claim that the universe is also home to two 'alien' planets, which they refer to as being 'invisible'.

Both the planets, known as Kepler-19b and Kepler-19c, were detected by NASA's Kepler space telescope which was launched in 2009 with an aim to hunt for alien worlds.

First, Kepler spotted 19b as it passed in front of, or transited, its host star. Then, scientists inferred the existence of 19c after observing that 19b's transits periodically came a little later or earlier than expected. The gravity of 19c tugs on 19b, changing its orbit.

The method used to discover Kepler-19c is only a few years old, it is a modern variation on the process used to identify Neptune.

Kepler, an Earth-orbiting space observatory responsible for finding hundreds of alien planet candidates, was launched in March 2009. It searches for planets by looking for dips in stars' light caused by planets passing in front of them.

The telescope's Holy Grail is to find an Earth-sized planet orbiting within the "habitable zone" of its star that would enable it to support liquid water, and possibly life.

"Although additional observations will be needed to achieve that milestone, Kepler is detecting planets and planet candidates with a wide range of sizes and orbital distances to help us better understand our place in the galaxy," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa was today (12-Sep-2011) asked by the Supreme Court to appear personally on October 20 before a Karnataka trial court, adjudicating a disproportionate assets case against her.

Rejecting Jayalalithaa's earlier plea for grant of exemption from personal appearance, an apex court bench had on September 5 observed that she was trying to delay proceedings. Jayalalithaa had sought exemption from personal appearance for recording her statement under Section 313 of the Criminal Procedure Code on grounds of threat to her security.

She will appear before the court Oct 20. Jayalalithaa faces charges for accumulating wealth disproportionate to known sources of income when she was the chief minister from 1991 to 1996.

The case was transferred from Chennai to Bangalore.

A bench of justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma, however, left it to the trial court judge to decide her plea for being examined at a separate building, other than the regular court, in view of security considerations.

The apex court said the presiding judge shall ensure that she is examined in a proper environment.

Ayazuddin, the youngest son of former Indian cricket captain and Congress MP Mohammad Azharuddin, is in a serious condition after crashing his motorcycle. He was riding with his cousin Ajmal-ur-Rahman (16) who died after being admitted to a city hospital.

Update: Ayazuddin is dead

Ajmal-ur-Rahman, nephew of former Indian captain Mohammed Azharuddin, died in Hyderabad while the cricketer's son Mohammed Ayazuddin is fighting for his life after an accident early Sunday (11-Sep-2011), police said.

According to Rajendra Nagar police, Ayazuddin, who is studying for his B.Com, was reportedly riding a sports bike when he met with the accident on Outer Ring Road near Narsingh toll gate. Ajmal was the pillion rider.

Ayazuddin and Ajmal were rushed to Apollo Hospital in Jubliee Hills around 9 a.m. Both received head injuries, hospital sources told IANS.

"In medical terms, they had both gone into a state of cardiac arrest. In spite of our best efforts we could not revive Ajmal. Aiyazuddin has suffered serious injuries on his head, chest and abdomen and is at present undergoing surgery. His condition is very very critical. We are trying our best to resuscitate him," Dr Joshi said. Ajmal-ur-Rehman is son of former Congress Rajya Sabha MP Khalil-ur-Rehman who passed away in January this year.

Mr. Azharuddin, who was away in London, is rushing back to Hyderabad. His relatives and friends including Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, reached the hospital.

Ayazuddin is the younger of Azharuddin's two sons from his first wife, Naureen. Both he and Asaduddin, the elder son, are cricketers.

Scientists in South Africa say they have discovered a potential missing link in the evolutionary chain, after they claim to have found the fossilised remains of our earliest ancestors.

The ancient remains of two human-like creatures found in South Africa could change the way we view our origins.

Humans are thought to have descended from a creature called Homo erectus, which lived more than a million years ago, and it in turn was descended from more primitive species.

Palaeontologists have unearthed the remains of a primitive ape-like creature which they believe could be the man's earliest ancestor that lived almost two million years ago.

The hominin, named Australopithecus sediba, was discovered in a cave in South Africa and has been dubbed the "missing link" between apes and humans.

From head to toe, the bones reveal an unexpected patchwork of primitive and advanced traits, the researchers reported in the journal Science. The tiny skulls, long arms and diminutive bodies were all chimp-like; yet the hands, ankles and pelvis were surprisingly modern.

After examining A. sediba's anatomy, for instance, scientists think they may have evidence that the species was capable of making and using tools.

In addition, the team thinks it may have found samples of fossilized skin. If confirmed, the discovery would mark the first time any type of soft tissue has been recovered from an early human ancestor.

Uranium lead dating of the flowstone, conducted by the University of Melbourne, combined with palaeomagnetic analysis of sediments surrounding the fossils, conducted by La Trobe University, provide the tightly constrained new age.

The team was able to pin down the age of the fossils to within 3000 years of 1.98 million years, a massive advance on the age range of around 200,000 years from the 2010 estimate.

Scientists analysed the brain, pelvis, hands and feet of the Australopithecus sediba that existed around the same time when early Homo species first began to appear on the earth. The analysis shows that Australopithecus sediba had 'mosaic' nature of the hominin's features.

Whatever the correctness of the analysis, the creature certainly has a fascinating mix of features - some archaic, some modern.

Independent scientists describe the fossils as exquisite and utterly fascinating.

South sensation Kajal Agarwal, who debuted as the girl next door alongside Ajay Devgn in SINGHAM, has shocked one and all with her latest avatar. The pretty actress, who was mostly seen in salwar-kameez in the action blockbuster, was seen topless in the latest issue of FHM magazine.

The popular magazine's September issue carries the interview of the actress and the cover page has her posing topless. The actress was shown topless and also sporting an haute pair of stockings with polka dots.

Interestingly, soon after the magazine hit the stands, Kajal Aggarwal washed her hands off the 'bold' act. She has completely denied posing 'topless' and giving an interview to the men's glossy. However, she accepted she did shoot for the pictures, but with teeny-weeny clothes on (the Punjabi-born prominent south actress claims she was wearing a tube top for the photo-shoot).

She says the family was upset since they were getting innumerous calls from friends, family and well-wishers from the industry, expressing shock over the issue. "We had to explain to them that it was a morphed picture and exposed the unprofessional conduct of the publishing house," she adds.

Kajal, who is currently shooting for the Tamil film Maatran, is upset with the final outcome of the pictures and the story. "I'm not the kind of person who would ever do a topless shoot. My reputation and work stands by me. Publishing a distorted version of the photo is wrong and unethical," she states.

The image on the cover was doctored and the interview which appeared in the magazine was also entirely fabricated, Kajal has attested. She said that her legal representatives will deal with the matter from this point.

So, did a famous magazine like FHM fall back on photoshop tools to strip Kajal digitally?

Responding to Kajal Aggarwal’s sister Nisha Aggarwal's allegation that her elder sister's topless photo published on the cover of FHM’s September issue was morphed, the FHM India officials clarified that Kajal Aggarwal’s topless picture in the magazine is real.

Kabeer Sharma, the editor of the magazine said that the pictures used were real and his magazine has never ever stooped to the level of using morphed images of celebrities. There is ample proof of his statement, the editor said and he will be perfectly able to back it up in court, should it come to that. Kajal's statement is slanderous and casts slurs on the reputation of the brand, he added.

At least 10 people have been killed and 65 others injured in a bomb blast outside the Delhi High Court on Wednesday (07-Sept-2011) morning.

Confirming the toll, home minister P Chidambaram in his statement in Parliament severely condemned the bomb blast that killed at least nine people outside the Delhi high court.

Terming the blast as a terrorist attack, Chidambaram said it was not possible at this stage to identify the terrorists who exploded the bomb outside the court.

The blast, from a sophisticated explosive device, had a precursor just four months ago – on May 25 – when a low-intensity bomb had gone off in the same area, though outside a different gate.

Police officials said the bomb went off at 10.15 am outside gate 5 which was jampacked with visitors waiting for entry passes.

Local police said no one had claimed responsibility for the incident, but security officials suspected that the Indian Mujahideen, a home-grown extremist network, could have carried out the strike.

Rajya Sabha MP and former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and two former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs were Tuesday (06-Sep-2011) arrested and sent to judicial custody for alleged involvement in the cash-for-votes scandal during the July 2008 trust vote in Parliament.

Amar Singh is the latest in a long line of high profile politicians and corporate honchos to be housed in the sprawling prison complex in west Delhi.

Singh was denied bail by a Delhi court today (06-Sep-2011) and remanded in judicial custody till September 19. Two former BJP MPs Faggan Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora were also arrested and sent to judicial custody in cash-for-vote case.

The crime branch of Delhi police has named Singh in an 80-page chargesheet as the person who was instrumental for distribution of Rs 1 crore to Kulaste and Bhagotra to abstain from voting with BJP members in July 2008 on a confidence motion moved by the Manmohan Singh government.

Jayalalithaa has made good on one of the major promises of her election campaign - she has made cable television available in Tamil Nadu through a government service.

For Rs 70, customers will be able to get 90 channels. Most private operators charge double that for similar services.

The Tamil Nadu government revived the dormant State-run cable TV service by formally launching its operations on Friday (02-Sep-2011).

The ACTVC was the brainchild of the previous DMK government which set it up in 2007 at the height of a feud between the families of then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and his grand nephews Dyananidhi Maran and Kalanidhi Maran.

The move then was seen as an attempt by Karunanidhi to cut to size the Marans whose Sumangali Cable Vision dominated the cable TV business. But later both patched up ahead of the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, leaving the Arasu Cable TV Corporation in limbo.

Giving fresh life to the Arasu Cable TV Corporation to fulfill the AIADMK’s poll promise, Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said, with mentioning names, “one particular family” was enjoying monopoly over the cable TV business.

While the cable network operators are relieved that the new government-owned multi-system operator (MSO) will break the domination of private operators in the cable TV market, they are wondering what to tell customers as some popular pay channels will not be part of the bouquet.

Arasu Cable will operate in all districts except Chennai, which is expected to get the licence for conditional access system.

Mankatha (Tamil: மங்காத்தா) is a 2011 Tamil action thriller film written and directed by Venkat Prabhu. The Kollywood movie features Ajith Kumar in the lead role, starring in his 50th film,[6] along with an ensemble cast including Arjun, Trisha Krishnan, Vaibhav Reddy, Lakshmi Rai, Andrea Jeremiah, Premji Amaren and Anjali.

Rediff Review

The first thing that needs to be said about the enormously anticipated movie of the year, Cloud Nine and Sun Pictures' Mankatha, directed by Venkat Prabhu, is that this is probably the film Ajith has enjoyed making the most. This being his 50th film, as the title scorches the screen, you expect fire-works. Fireworks there are aplenty: guns blaze, men are liberally killed and gangsters run all over the place.

Ajith, the star that he is, has carried practically the whole film on his capable shoulders -- and he's simply had a blast as the guy whose character sports negative shades.

And you wonder why no one ever gave him a role like this after Vaali. The man's screen-presence works wonders -- and here, he's also had a blast dancing.

Director Venkat Prabhu has made a name for himself on his ability to wring humour from his tried and tested cast.

Sakthi Saravanan's camera-work isn't scintillating, but it manages to keep you interested. Praveen K L and N B Srikanth's editing could not have been more effective. Yuvan Shankar Raja's Vilaiyadu Mankatha is mesmerising; he also plays around with some of his father's tunes for the background score, appropriately placed.

Galatta Review

Mankatha is everything one would expect (or want?) it to be: A complete masala entertainer with doses of slickness, comedy and riveting dishoom-dishoom.

...And one unique element added to this? The unabashed portrayal of negative shades of characters and lack of forced moral correctness! Yes. In this movie, it's not always that the good guys defeating the bad guys; just as the bad guys are fun enough that you'd want them to win!

An entertaining end to an entertaining movie: The end credits are un-missable so don't get up and walk away thinking the movie's over! Hilarious and uber cool!

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a case stating that yoga icon Baba Ramdev and his trust have violated foreign exchange laws.

There is trouble for Baba Ramdev. The Enforcement Directorate has finally found evidence of FEMA violations in two of his trusts - Divya Yog Mandir Trust and Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd.

Ramdev's castle on Scotland's The Little Cumbrae Island, is also being investigated. The island off the fishing town of Largs in Scotland, serves as Ramdev's base overseas and also as a wellness centre.

The ED is verifying the holding patterns and other details of the companies through the Registrar of Companies (RoC) and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.

However, Ved Pratap Vaidik, a close associate of Ramdev, said the case has been filed because of "vendetta and revenge".

"The timing of the case is suspect. If the government had all this information, why did they not file a case earlier," Vaidik told reporters.

The case has been registered under the Foreign Exchange Managment Act (FEMA), official sources added.

A new study has found that one of the world's strangest animals — a unique fish that lives on land and can leap large distances despite having no legs — has a rich and complex social life.

Alticus arnoldorum is a species of combtooth blenny found in coral reefs in the Pacific ocean. It was first named by Curtiss in 1938, and is commonly known as the Pacific leaping blenny or the Leaping rockskipper.

The odd lifestyle of the Pacific leaping blenny (Alticus arnoldorum) has been detailed for the first time in research findings that throw new light on how animal life first evolved to colonise the land.

The Pacific leaping blenny is a marine fish in all aspects...except for the tiny detail that it spends all its time living on land. It could help us understand how the first animals colonized the land billions of years ago.

Adult blennies shelter in rock crevices at high and low tide, emerging only at mid-tide to feed, breed and socialize in surprisingly complex ways, Terry Ord of the UNSW Evolution and Ecology Research Center said.

The study has been published in the journal Ethology.

A high-tech 'kitchen garden' may be the answer to the worry about what astronauts may eat on a long journey to Mars.

Astronauts on the first manned missions to Mars could tend “kitchen gardens” of salad and vegetables onboard spaceships, scientists claim.

Maya R Cooper, a senior research scientist at the NASA Johnson Space Center in the Space Food Systems Laboratory in Houston, Texas, says that feeding astronauts could be one of the greatest challenges to the first manned mission to Mars.

Cooper explained that the challenges of provisioning space vehicles and Martian surface bases begin with tangible factors, such weight and nutrition, and encompass psychological nuances, such as providing a varied, tasty menu that wards off boredom.

Experts say the crops would not only give crews healthy food to eat during the long journey to the red planet, but would also improve the atmosphere onboard by producing oxygen and removing carbon dioxide.

These gardens, maintained by the astronauts, can give all the necessary fruits and veggies during the mission. The only weight added to the shuttle will be seeds. Currently, the list consists of lettuce, spinach, carrots, tomatoes, spring onions, radishes, peppers, strawberries, herbs and cabbage.

Space food has evolved from freeze-dried blocks and gooey messes - squeezable from toothpaste-like tubes - since the advent of space travel in the early 1960s. These days, astronauts are able to select their own menus in advance of the mission, which features rehydratable, thermostabilized, irradiated and natural form items, according to NASA's Web site.

A newly found mammal fossil pushes back the date when two lines of mammals diverged, researchers say. Scientists unearthed the 160-million-year-old fossil of a shrew-like mammal in northeast China.

Named the "Jurassic mother from China" (Juramaia sinensis), the newfound fossil species is the earliest known ancestor of placental mammals—animals, such as humans, that give birth to relatively mature, live young—according to a new study.

The small, furry placental mammal lived in what is now north east China during the Jurassic era when dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

Features of the creature clearly set it apart from marsupial mammals, which adopt a very different reproductive strategy.

The discovery pushes back the date the two groups took up their separate lines, according to Nature magazine.

Until now, the oldest known ancestor to placentals was a small mammal that dates back about 125 million years, to the Cretaceous period.

The new fossil has a well-preserved skull with all its teeth intact. Based on the teeth, the researchers determined that the mammal was more closely related to modern placentals than to modern marsupials.

"Because it lived 160 million years ago, and nobody was there to sign the birth certificate of its descendants, Juramaia could be our great grandmother 160 million years removed or it could also be our great grand aunt that represents a relative on the side lines," lead author Zhe-Xi Luo told Discovery News.

Luo, a Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist, and his colleagues Chong-Xi Yuan, Qing-Jin Meng and Qiang Ji analyzed the well-preserved remains of the prehistoric animal, which was discovered in Liaoning Province.

Indian actress Celina Jaitly recently announced her wedding on Twitter. The couple had plans to marry in September in Egypt. However, because of a family tragedy, they got hitched at a quiet ceremony.

Celina Jailty broke the news of her wedding to Dubai-based hotelier Peter Haag on Twitter over the weekend. Rumours about this impending union were doing rounds for quite a while.

The actress tweeted: Beloved tweeple. ..With great pleasure I would like to announce my wedding with @peterhaag on the 23rd of last month at a thousand year old monastery in Austria. We seek your blessings and good wishes, and apologize for the delayed announcement due to a family tragedy. Here is a picture of the most cherished moment of our lives. [The following picture features myself and my beloved husband, flanked by my dearest father in law to my left, and my brother in law to Peter’s right.]

Peter Haag is a hotelier based in Dubai. He describes himself on twitter as, "Hotelier. Marketeer. Brand Strategist. Passion for Luxury, Hotels, Fashion, Photography, Design, Innovation and Nature. Apple-fanatic."

They were engaged in a small ceremony in Mumbai earlier this year. At that time, Celina, tourism ambassador of Egypt, had insisted that they would only tie the knot in Egypt.

Senkodi, 27, a woman member of a Tamil chauvinist group died on her way to hospital within two hours after her self-immolation outside a government office in Kanchipuram, police said.

The campaign to seek commutation of the death sentences of three convicts in former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's assassination turned tragic on Sunday (28-Aug-2011) with a woman setting herself afire to allegedly press for the demand, according to a letter recovered from her.

P. Senkodi died within two hours after she set herself on fire. She emptied two litres of petrol from a bottle before setting herself ablaze.

Police sources said eyewitnesses had noticed a young woman, dressed in a salwar kameez, walking into the office around 5.45 p.m. Minutes later, they heard a woman's cries and rushed to the spot and noticed her engulfed in a ball of fire. Residents and the skeleton staff of government offices, including the police and fire stations, put out the fire. A government ambulance stationed nearby rushed her to the Government General Hospital, where she succumbed to injuries around 7.30 p.m.

Police sources said Senkodi was completely charred above her waist and her chances of survival were slim when she was brought to the hospital.

Elsewhere in Tamil Nadu various Tamil groups have launched fast demanding the commutation of the death penalty to the Rajiv assassins.

Kancheepuram police recovered a suicide note from Senkodi in which she urged Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to take a humane view and release the three convicts, who have already spent 21 years in jail. “If my life can save their three lives I will die happily’” she had said in the note.

The process to hold their death sentences was set in motion on Friday (26-Aug-2011) with the Vellore Prison authorities receiving the communication from Rashtrapathi Bhavan that the president has rejected the clemency petition filed by the three LTTE activists.

Former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated while proceeding to an election meeting in Sriperumbudur on May 21, 1991.

The three convicts, along with 23 others, who stood trial in the case, were sentenced to death by the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities Act Court-1, Poonamallee on January 28, 1998.

The mercy petitions of the three were rejected by President Pratibha Patil earlier this month, 11 years after they were filed, and the Union Home Ministry has notified her decision to the Tamil Nadu government. Of the three, Murugan and Santhan are Sri Lankan Tamils.

Scientists led by an Indian-origin researcher have discovered a huge underground river which, they believe, is flowing some 13000 feet beneath the mighty Amazon River in Brazil.

In an amazing discovery, scientists have found signs of an underground river flowing below the Amazon.

The Amazon basin covers more than 7 million square kilometres in South America and is one of the biggest and most impressive river systems in the world. But it turns out that - until now - we have only known half the story.

Researchers at the department of geophysics of the Brazil National Observatory have showed evidence of the existence of an underground river that flows 13,000 feet beneath the Amazon.

The finding came from studying temperature variations at 241 inactive oil wells drilled in the 1970s by Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras, the Daily Mail reported.

Researchers decided to name the underground river the Hamza, in tribute to the scientist of Indian origin Valiya Mannathal Hamza, who has been studying the region for more than four decades.

It is believed the river originates from the region of Acre and reaches the sea at Foz do Amazonas, flowing through the basins of Solimoes, Amazona and Marajo.

Even though the two rivers cover a similar path they have differences. The underground river flows at a far slower pace and empties into the ocean deep underground.

The findings were presented recently at a meeting of the Brazilian Geophysical Society in Rio de Janeiro.

Salman Khan will fly to the United States to undergo treatment for Trigeminal Neuralgia, a nerve disorder that causes intense pain in the face.

Seeing Salman Khan beat up a dozen goons at a time, one may feel that he is invincible. However, even superstars like him can suffer bouts of ill health.

The actor has been suffering from Trigeminal Neuralgia, which gives him shooting pain in his jaw. When he was being examined for this problem, he was also diagnosed with an aneurysm at the back of his head.

He will undergo two surgeries within four days and miss action in Mumbai for almost a month.

Trigeminal neuralgia is characterized by intense pain across the face, even during the most benign act of biting into a sandwich.

Unfortunately, Salman will be missing all the action on the release of his much-awaited flick ‘Bodyguard’, which is slated to hit the screens this Eid (31-Aug-2011).

Anna Hazare declared on Saturday that the nation's people had won a great victory as he announced he would end his fast at 10am on Sunday (28-Aug-2011).

"Parliament has spoken, it is the will of the people," a smiling Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said Saturday (27-Aug-2011) after both the houses adopted a "sense of the house" on the key demands of Anna Hazare. The prime minister was speaking after the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha saw almost eight hours of debate on the Lokpal bill.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, who negotiated with Team Anna to resolve the Lokpal logjam, said he was happy with the resolution of the issue.

It was victory for Anna Hazare and a triumph for people's power at Delhi's historic Ramlila Maidan. When Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh handed over a letter from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh conveying Parliament's resolution on Hazare's demands to him, history was made.

Even before he was picked up in a police swoop down on the day he was due to begin his fast, Anna has been maintaining simply that it was the massive support he received that gave him energy, he continues his fast, which is in its last few hours. In spite of the twists and turns today (August 27) Anna has only been smiling, a simple reminder of how he's won over the masses with this movement.

In what could be called a gem of a discovery, astronomers claim to have found a planet entirely made of diamonds.

An international team of astronomers, led by Australia's Swinburne University of Technology professor Matthew Bailes, has discovered a planet made of diamond crystals, in our own Milky Way galaxy.

But, at 4,000 light years from Earth, it is out of human reach - for now.

The odd planet was discovered orbiting what's known as a millisecond pulsar — a tiny, fast-spinning corpse of a massive star that died in a supernova.

Pulsars are highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars that emit a beam of electromagnetic radiation. The radiation can only be observed when the beam of emission is pointing towards the Earth.

The new planet is far denser than any other known so far and consists largely of carbon. Because it is so dense, scientists calculate the carbon must be crystalline, so a large part of this strange world will effectively be diamond.

"The ultimate fate of the binary is determined by the mass and orbital period of the donor star at the time of mass transfer. The rarity of millisecond pulsars with planet-mass companions means that producing such exotic planets is the exception rather than the rule, and requires special circumstances," said Benjamin Stappers from the University of Manchester.

Astronomers estimate that the newfound planet is 34,175 miles (55,000 kilometers) across, or about five times Earth's diameter.

Coriander oil could be used to cure a host of infections including food poisoning and the superbug MRSA, say researchers.

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum) is an annual herb in the family Apiaceae. Coriander is native to southern Europe and North Africa to southwestern Asia. It is a soft, hairless plant growing to 50 centimetres (20 in) tall.

A team of researchers at the University of Beira Interior, Portugal, found coriander to be toxic to a broad range of harmful bacteria.

The scientists tested samples of the oil — taken from the seeds of a coriander plant — against 12 bugs and found that their growth was reduced significantly.

More importantly, most of the bacteria were killed by a solution containing less than 1.6 per cent of the oil, the Daily Mail reported. According to the researchers, the oil attacks and kills the outer membrane of bacteria cells, including salmonella, E.coli and MRSA.

This study not only shows that coriander oil also has an antibacterial effect, but provides an explanation for how it works, which was not previously understood.

The 112th birthday of Jorge Luis Borges, the famed Argentinian author known for his works that explored dreams and unreality, has been celebrated with a colourful Google Doodle

Google doodles have gained immense popularity over the past few years and the Google team has put out commemorative doodles on events ranging from news events, civic milestones, birthdays, death anniversaries and important dates in history.

We see many different GOOGLE DOODLEs now which can vary to interactive creations or actual playable games.

Before there was the World Wide Web, the Internet, hypertext markup, or even a digital computer, there was Jorge Luis Borges’ idea of "forking paths." The Argentinean writer who envisioned "a massive branching structure as a better way to organize data and to represent human experience," was born 112 years ago today and is the subject of a special Doodle on Google home page on 24-Aug-2011.

On June 14, 1986 Jorge Luis Borges died of liver cancer aged 86.

His 1941 short story 'The Garden of Forking Paths' is viewed by many as the basis for what we know today as the World Wide Web.

Over the years Google doodles have been commemorating important dates in history. Some of these, including the most recent one for Les Paul was an interactive video.

The long-missing parent yeast of lager beer was discovered newly, and is believed to have sailed from Patagonia in South America, taking a 7000-mile journey to Bavaria, the birth place of the most popular alcoholic beverage of today.

Lager is a type of beer made from malted barley that is brewed and stored at low temperatures. There are many types of lager; pale lager is the most widely-consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world; Pilsner, Bock, Dortmunder Export and Märzen are all styles of lager.

Yeasts are microscopic fungi that feast on sugar, converting it to carbon dioxide and alcohol via the process of fermentation.

German lager yeast appears to have originated on beech trees in southern Argentina. But how did it get to Europe 600 years ago?

Scientists have identified a yeast that led to the discovery of lager.

The researchers isolated the new species in the frozen forests of Patagonia in South America.

Their discovery suggests that this yeast crossed the Atlantic hundreds of years ago and combined with one traditionally used in Europe to make ale.

The discovery is described in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Credit for the discovery of this wild yeast goes to Diego Libkind of the Institute for Biodiversity and Environment Research in Bariloche, Argentina, who was interested in the ball-shaped lumps of sugar that form on beech trees there.

The lumps, called galls, are an immune response to invasion by a fungus. They are abundant in the spring and local Aborigines such as the Mapuche traditionally use them as a slightly-sweet topping for salads.

Archaeologists have found something that seems to interest them a lot right now. They have apparently found the world's oldest fossils which seem to be as old as 3.4 billion years old.

The fossilised remains of the oldest known lifeforms on Earth have been discovered in samples of rock collected near a remote watering hole in the middle of the Australian Outback.

The Strelley Pool Formation in Western Australia was once a beach, but is now more than 100 Km inland near(ish) the town of Marble Bar, and is popular among paleontologists because of the stromatolites preserved there.

According to a report in Nature, the structures spotted in black sandstone at the Strelley Pool appear to have biological origins. The researchers, led by University of Oxford paleobiologist Professor Martin Brasier, said the 5-80 micrometer structures show traces of cell walls and spherical, rod and ellipsoid shapes.

Scientists say their analysis of the microfossils clearly shows the organisms were processing sulphur for energy and growth - not oxygen.

The team says the microbe remains offer a fascinating insight into conditions on the ancient Earth.

After decades of research, researchers at Southampton University have developed a theory, according to which, the first 1,000 days of a child's life – the nine months in the womb and the first two years out of it, are vital in determining a child’s long-term health prospects.

According to Professor David Barker and his colleagues from the Southampton University, the stages in a child’s development have an impact on later life, like poor nutrition in a prospective mother may have an adverse effect on her baby’s weight.

Similarly smoking, stress, drugs and alcohol also leaves their impact on the child.

Since, the development of pancreatic cells responsible for making insulin takes place in the womb; the seeds of diabetes are also sown before birth.

Professor Barker believes many health problems can be traced back to poor growth in the womb.

He has shown that the lighter a baby is at birth, the higher its odds of heart disease in later life. On average, a baby weighing less than 5lb 7oz is twice as likely to die from a heart attack than one born at 9lb 7oz.

Barker adds that the key to health is ensuring women eat well throughout their lives.

He says, "What we are seeing is a window of opportunity where we can make better people."