Manju Warrier is back

Manju Warrier has relaunched her acting career with an advertisement featuring one of the legends of Indian cinema Amitabh Bachchan.

After a long break of 14 years, Manju has returned with an ad of Kalyan Jewellers, directed by V A Sreekumar. She enacts a modern girl who enjoys watching TV with Bachchan in the visiting room.

Speaking to media about her second innings,  Manju said, she was happy that she could be back along with Big B. “This is the first time I have met Amitabh and his presence has increased my confidence level,” she added.

Manju's parents were also present on the shooting location.

Ajmal Kasab hanged

Just five days before the fourth anniversary of the brutal terror attacks, Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving Pakistani terrorist of the Nov 26-29 2008 terror siege, was hanged at Pune’s Yerwada Jail on Wednesday morning.

Ajmal Kasab, the sole surviving terrorist from the 26/11 terror attack, was hanged to death at the Yerawada Jail in Pune this morning, Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil today said.

Kasab was hanged at 7.30 am, he said here.

25-year-old Kasab had been lodged in the Arthur Jail Road here ever since he was arrested immediately after the attack in 2008. He was convicted and given capital punishment by the trial court on May 6, 2010 which was upheld by the Bombay High Court on February 21, 2011.

The Supreme Court subsequently upheld the sentence on August 29 this year.

“Due process of law has been followed,” Mr. Patil said adding that hanging came after the President of India rejected his mercy petition on November 8.

“This is a true homage to the innocent victims, including policemen and security personnel, who laid down their lives,” he said.

166 persons had died in the attack. Police had succeeded in capturing Kasab alive after killing the remaining nine terrorists.

“Attack on Mumbai was an attack on the entire country,” Mr. Patil said.

Letter faxed to Pakistan

While stating that Pakistan was informed about the execution of Ajmal Kasab, Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said, with this (execution) the judicial procedure of 26/11 case has been completed.

"Indian mission in Islamabad informed the Pakistan government about Kasab’s hanging through letter. Since Pakistan refused to take the letter, same was sent through fax", Mr. Shinde said.

Alcohol does more harm to women than men

Women who drink alcohol are at an increased risk of mortality than men, a new study has found.

German researchers found that mortality rates of alcohol-dependent women are 460 per cent higher than the non-drinking general population while male alcoholics have a 190 per cent higher death rate than the general population.

"Clinical data has revealed a higher proportion of individuals who have died than among the general population of the same age," said Ulrich John, professor of epidemiology and social medicine at the University of Greifswald.

John and colleagues gathered a random sample of 4,070 respondents aged between 18 and 64 years. Of them, 153 were identified as alcohol dependent (AD). Of these, 149 (119 males, 30 females) were followed for 14 years.

"Gender-specific data is rare, even among clinical samples. Furthermore, these studies have two main limitations," adds John, according to the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research.

"First, we know that only a minority of AD individuals receive treatment. We lack knowledge about how this selection occurs. Second, we have no evidence about the potential effects of specialised alcoholism treatment on mortality among people who had been diagnosed AD," said John, according to a University Medicine statement.

"We would like to know whether treatment might enhance survival time. For ethical reasons, no controlled trials are possible. Thus, longitudinal descriptive data as in this study are helpful," says John, study co-author.

"Our data are also of international interest because researchers used the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), which is an internationally and widely accepted instrument," he said. 

Kissenger

Kissenger: Kiss Messenger, A Lovotics Application]

 Kissnger is an application of Lovotics. Kissenger system consists of a pair of robots to transfer kiss over distance.

Kissenger provides a novel way of transferring a kiss through interactive digital media. It provides a physical interface enabling kiss communication for several applications facilitating intimate human tele-presence with the real and virtual worlds. 

Kissing is a very important mode of human communication that involves joining lips in order to express many deep felt positive emotions such as affection, respect, greeting, farewell, good luck, romantic affection or sexual desire. Apart from the surface level enjoyment humans have by kissing, it also plays a crucial biologically motivated role in allowing prospective mates to smell and taste each other's pheromones for detecting compatibility. 

With the aid of digital communication media and advanced robotic technology, the system takes the form of an artificial mouth that provides the convincing properties of the real kiss.

Kissenger enables three modes of interaction:

1. Human to Human tele-kiss through the device: bridges the physical gap between two intimately connected individuals. Kissenger plays the mediating role in the kiss interaction by imitating and recreating the lip movement of both users in real time using two digitally connected artificial lips. 

2.  Human to Robot kiss: enabling an intimate relationship with a robot, such technology provides a new facility for closer and more realistic interactions between humans and robots.  In this scenario, one set of artificial lips is integrated in a humanoid robot. 

3. Human to Virtual character physical/virtual kiss:  provides a link between the virtual and real worlds. Here, humans can kiss virtual characters while playing games and receive physical kisses from their favorite virtual characters. Further, Kissenger can be integrated into modern communication devices to facilitate the interactive communication between natural and technologically mediated environments and enhance human tele-presence.

Kiss Messenger

Kissenger: Kiss Messenger, A Lovotics Application

 

Jadeja ($2 million or 10 Crore), Vinay Kumar, Jayawardene top draws at IPL auction

Bangalore: Ravindra Jadeja, R. Vinay Kumar and Mahela Jayawardene became the top draws while West Indies all-rounder Andre Russell and leggie Sunil Narine were the surprise buys at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction here Saturday.

India all-rounder Jadeja lived up to his "hot property" tag at the auction with Chennai Super Kings buying him for $2 million while fast bowler R. Vinay Kumar was snapped up by Royal Challengers Bangalore for an unexpected $1 million.

Jadeja was bought by the Super Kings in a hotly contested battle with Deccan Chargers. Jadeja, who had a base price of $100,000, was bagged in a tie-breaker between Super Kings and Chargers.

The $2 million budget cap for the auction meant the Super Kings have spent all their money on a single player and cannot participate in the auction any more.

Chargers spent $650,000 on Indian wicketkeeper Parthiv Patel, whose base price was $200,00. Chargers went aggressively after Patel, who attracted bids from Mumbai Indians, Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals.

Fast bowlers Shantakumaran Sreesanth, Rudra Pratap Singh and spinner Ramesh Powar were bought by Royals, Mumbai Indians and Kings XI respectively for $400,00, $600,000 and $1,60,000.

Amongst the Sri Lankans, captain Jayawardene, who led the terminated franchise Kochi Tuskers last year, remained the second biggest draw of the auction with Delhi Daredevils dishing out $1.4 million for the marquee player. Retired Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan ($200,000) was picked up by Royal Challengers for $220,000.

West Indies players were sought after too. Russell was bought by Daredevils for $450,000, nine times his base price. Daredevils secured Russell after a stiff battle against Chargers.

Extensive bidding for leggie Narine surprised many. Knight Riders coughed up $700,000 for the West Indian, who had a base price of $50,000. Mumbai Indians were the other franchise interested in him.

Speedster Mitchell Johnson, batsman Brad Hodge and left-arm spinner Brad Hogg were the three Australians who went under the hammer.

Mumbai Indians bought Johnson for his $300,000 base price. Hogg ($100,000), who made a comeback into the national Twenty20 side at 40, was purchased by Royals for $180,000. Royals also paid a handsome $475,000 for Hodge, who had a base price of $200,000.

New Zealand batsman-wicketkeeper Brendon McCullum (base price $400,000) was snapped up by Knight Riders for $900,000 and was the first player to be sold. McCullum was a part of the Knight Riders for the three years before being bought by Kochi Tuskers last year.

India's veteran batsman V.V.S.Laxman ($400,000) and Irish all-rounder Kevin O'Brien ($50,000) did not find any takers. England fast bowler James Anderson (with a base price of $300,000) was amongst the 32 players who went unsold.