Daily News

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yousuf Raza Gilani had "very good talks" in Bhutan's capital and agreed that relations between them should be normalised, said Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao on Thursday.

"The Prime Ministers held very good talks in a free and frank manner. They agreed that cooperation between the two countries is vital for the people of South Asia to realise their destiny," Rao told reporters.

The two leaders decided that the channels of dialogue between the two countries should be kept open to restore "trust and confidence" in the bilateral relationship.

After celebrating their third wedding anniversary in New York , Abhishek and Aishwarya Bachchan were in Mumbai on Saturday, just for a day. The stopover - before flying to Greece - was for the music launch of their upcoming film Raavan. "I'm going to Greece for the shoot of Game and Aishwarya has agreed to come along," says Abhishek, looking dapper in a black suit. His star wife looked elegant in an intricately designed Sabyasachi sari. However, the spotlight was on Mani Ratnam's Raavan, arguably the most awaited release of 2010. The couple made it clear that the film has no connection to the epic. "The only connection is the title. But then you can draw parallels once the film has released," says Aishwarya, adding it was the most taxing role of her career. It wasn't any different for Abhishek, who recounted the entire experience with a touch of humour. "The first day, Mani put us under the waterfall for two hours and, trust me, we were in character. After that, we were made to jump off cliffs, dance in the forest with snakes and leeches around. After a point, we stopped acting, we were just reacting naturally." Despite all the trouble they had, they insist Ratnam is the best. "Once you work with him, you will be in awe of him because of the talent he brings to the table. The minute he says cut, he turns into a dear friend," says Abhishek, who plays Beera, whose nickname is Raavan.Aishwarya portrays Ragni, a strong, feisty woman who is paired opposite Tamil superstar Vikram. "Beera is the most fun character I have played. When we work on a character, we draw an outline and then fill in the blanks. But Beera is so unpredictable that you can get away with everything," says Abhishek.

Uninvited guests and security mismanagement marred Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik's reception in Sialkot, Pakistan, forcing the hassled newly-weds to leave the function before it was over.Reports claimed that along with the newly-weds, Sania's family, which had arrived from India for the celebrations, left for Lahore early as they were upset at the mismanagement at the function. In their efforts to stop the 'uninvited guests' from entering the reception held at a hockey stadium, private security guards did not even allow some of Shoaib's relatives and friends to enter the venue.Eyewitnesses said hundreds of people showed up for the reception many of whom were not invited. There were reports that invitation cards for the wedding reception had been sold by some people for between Rs 5000 to Rs 10,000. To make matters worse, power corporation officials insisted that no extra lighting would be allowed at the reception.There was chaos soon after Sania, clad in a green and maroon sari with gold brocade, and Shoaib, in a white sherwani, entered the venue at 9 pm. A reported 2,000 people showed up as against 1,000 invitees. Shoaib and Sania were escorted by security guards as they tried to avoid a crowd of guests.The guests were served chicken korma and rice in keeping with the government's ban on serving more than one dish at wedding receptions. However, a petition was filed in the Lahore High Court alleging that more than one dish was served.No cricket star attended the Sialkot reception of former Pakistan cricket captain Shoaib Malik, who has been banned by the PCB for a year for his role in inciting player unrest during Pakistan's tour of Australia.

Teenagers on social networking sites such as Facebook and Bebo are creating a secret language to stop adults knowing what they are up to, researchers say.

The teens are using it to stop parents and employers judging them by their social activities such as partying and drinking. So instead of writing they are drunk, teens post 'Getting MWI' - or mad with it', reports telegraph.co.uk.

Being in a relationship is known as 'taken' or 'Ownageeee' and 'Ridneck' means to feel embarrassed.

Meanwhile, girls posting 'Legal' are indicating that they are above 16 and legally allowed to have sex.

Lisa Whittaker, a postgraduate student at the University of Stirling, who studied teens aged 16-18 on Bebo in Scotland said that the slang had been created to keep their activities private, and cited the example of one young girl who was sacked after bosses found pictures of her drinking on the website.

'Young people often distort the languages they use by making the pages difficult for those unfamiliar with the distortions and colloquialisms,' said Whittaker.

'The language used on Bebo seems to go beyond abbreviations that are commonly used in text messaging, such as removing all the vowels. This is not just bad spelling, which would suggest literacy issues, but a deliberate attempt to creatively misspell words,' she added.

Going by Maruti Suzuki's previous ad campaigns for the WagonR, the car has so far been targeted at the mature and responsible customer. Be it the poorly done mascot 'Mr WizeR' or a smart apple growing R Madhavan, all signal towards it being the thinking man's car. So if you have your first grey hair, a wife, two kids and pet dog, the car suited you to a 'T'. The boxy tall boy sported no frills on the outside but offered generous room inside (the extra headroom made it an instant hit among sardaars). The interiors, though basic, served the purpose and the car featured a fuel efficient and refined engine. The car was given a major face-lift in 2006 and continued its steady progress. In short, it lived up to its image quite well and sold quite well. Over eight lakh WagonRs on the road in a decade tells of its great popularity. In fact, Maruti claims it is still the best-selling hatch in the A2 segment.

Chennai Super Kings played the smarter cricket and deservingly won the IPL Cup by defeating fancied Mumbai Indians by 22 runs at the packed DY Patil Stadium.

Batting first after winning the toss, the Super Kings shrugged off a slow start as "Player of the Match" Suresh Raina (57 not out), dropped twice, led from the front to pile up 168 for five and then turned in some brilliant performance in the field to restrict Mumbai Indians to 146 for nine.

The much-heralded Mumbai batting line-up caved in under pressure despite a brave 48 by skipper Sachin Tendulkar and big-hitting by Kieron Pollard (27 off 10) even as the Super Kings took some brilliant catches with skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni yet again spot-on with his field placements and bowling changes.

Apart from Raina, there were quite a few other heroes for the Super Kings. Spinners Muttiah Muralitharan (17 runs in four overs), Shadab Jakati (2 for 26 from three) and Ravichandran Ashwin (24 in four) and later, seamers Albie Morkel and Doug Bollinger, all chipped in at the right moment to author a historic victory for the Super Kings who had finished runners-up in 2008.

The other factor that tilted the scales in the Super Kings, who also won the Fair Play trophy, favour was the team composition, besides of course their superior fielding. The Chennai outfit kept their faith in their three specialist spinners and held their catches.

The Mumbai Indians went in with just one in Harbhajan Singh while opting for an overly pace attack that was not as effective on a pitch that grew progressively slower.

The home team, faced with a big target, never got into their stride despite a promising second wicket partnership between Tendulkar and Abhishek Nayar who put on 66 runs. But Nayar committed a blunder attempting a non-existing single and was run out. The rot well and truly set in at that point.

Later, despite Tendulkar farming the bowling, wickets fell at the other end. The spinners came into their own with Ashwin up front followed by Muralitharan and Jakati, who dismissed Tendulkar and the dangerous Saurabh Tiwary in one over, doing the bulk of damage.

The Mumbai Indians kept back the powerful Pollard and when he came into bat, the asking rate had climbed to over 15. He blasted some massive hits, but it was all too little too late and he eventually fell to a brilliant catch by Matthew Haydenwho thus atoned for a dropped chance earlier in the evening.

The turning point of course was Jakati's third and the 15th over of the innings when he removed Tendulkar and Tiwary. Thereafter, the rest of the batsmen, barring Pollard, were simply not up to the task and although Pollard took 22 off Bollinger in the 18th over, his exit signaled the end of the Mumbai Indians' challenge.

Super Kings did well not to look the gift horse in the mouth when they batted. The going in the initial overs was rather painful and scratchy despite a few big hits by the two openers, Murali Vijay and Hayden who looked distinctly out of depth.

In fact, Hayden was lucky to survive a plumb leg-before decision early in his innings, but even otherwise, was unconvincing. At the other end, Vijay batted quite beautifully until he tried to break the shackles and departed in the eighth over.

Hayden followed his partner back into the dugout, miscuing a big hit. Subramaniam Badrinath did not stay long and with the runs all but dried up, he too fell trying to force the pace and the Super Kings were reduced to 67 for three in the 12th over.

In walked skipper Dhoni and almost immediately set about repairing the damage. Raina, meanwhile, lived a charmed life, being dropped when on 13 and 28 and the Mumbai Indians were to pay a heavy price for these lapses.

The pair went on at a good clip to add 72 runs for the fourth wicket before Dhoni fell in the 18th over trying to maintain the brisk pace.

At this stage, the Super Kings still did not have enough runs on the board, but Raina and Albie Morkel came up with some big hits to push the score along. However, just when the partnership appeared to be flourishing, Morkel was run out attempting a bye in the final over.

Lasith Malinga sent down two dot balls to Raina and off the third, the southpaw batsman attempted a suicidal bye that caught Morkel well short of the crease. Another dot ball followed to new man Anirudha Srikkanth and then five wides. Anirudha hit the fifth legal ball to the boundary and finished the innings with a two.

Thus, a total of 168 gave the Super Kings lots to play with after looking hopelessly out of the contest in the first 10 overs when they scored a mere 59 runs.

Turmeric or haldi has so many medicinal properties that it is a wonder we still see it as a simple kitchen spice rather than as a herbal sensation. Haldi has been used in traditional Indian medicine for centuries, as a home remedy for sprains, swellings and wounds and to treat stomach ailments and infections.

It is such an efficient antibiotic that it not only kills dangerous bacteria in the human intestine when it's cooked with food, but can also neutralise parasites when applied as a paste on wounds. And adding haldi to dals is a simple way to allow the body to digest dal better - most dals are difficult to digest and cause gas.

In ancient India, all vaids and doctors used haldi to treat injuries and wounds. Those vaids knew what they were doing. Recently, Austrian scientists reported that haldi protects against liver damage that eventually causes cirrhosis. Curcumin, the active ingredient that gives turmeric its characteristic yellow colour, reduces inflammation that causes liver cell damage, blockage and scarring in eight short weeks, reported Gut, a British medical journal publication.

Turmeric has been used since ancient times to boost the body's immune response. In fact, it is one of the few spices allowed in khichri for babies above six months of age. In 2007, US researchers reported that curcumin helped stimulate the immune system cells among people who had Alzheimer's disease, slowing the progression of the degenerative disease. Later that year, Clinical Cancer Research reported that curcumin effectively blocked the activity of a gastrointestinal hormone implicated in the development of colorectal cancer. Since then, turmeric has been proven to prevent rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis that leads to bone loss.

Its anti-inflammatory properties were not only found to relieve the aches and pains of arthritis, but also prevent it, said the study in Arthritis and Rheumatism, the American College of Rheumatology journal. International studies have also shown it suppresses cancer tumours and that people who eat lots of turmeric are less prone to the disease even though curcumin loses its anti-cancer attributes quickly after being ingested.

In laboratory tests, haldi has also successfully killed and stopped the growth of melanoma skin cancer cells in laboratory tests.

So how do you include turmeric in your diet? Here's how: Add it to dals and vegetables Add it to milk for children, along with jaggery. Add it to rice or atta dough. It will give the foods a lemon colour Add it to stews and soups, especially if you have loose motions or any infection

Add it to milk if you have bruises and internal injuries.

No Katrina No Deepika, Its Priyanka who is ruling Ranbir's heart these days!Well this revelation comes from none other than B-town's blue-eyed boy, Ranbir Kapoor himself.

Ranbir, who otherwise maintains silence (when probed) about his relationship status and/or link-ups or equation with co-stars, quite candidly accepted his fondness for (no not Katrina or Deepika as you thought) the effervescent actress Priyanka Chopra recently.

"She is magical, an amazing actress, amazing girl to hang out with. And I think I have also found a dear friend for life."

And this fondness developed on the sets of ANJAANA ANJAANI, in which Ranbir and Priyanka are paired up for the first time.

"I have had the opportunity to work with the finest actress of Bollywood, Priyanka Chopra, who's just so amazing. Her energy levels, her focus, her dedication, her passion towards work, her craft of acting. I always felt like an underachiever in this film," says Ranbir with utmost honesty.

While Ranbir seems to be almost besotted by Priyanka's charm, now we are all the more eager to know the vice-versa case!

The Delhi Metro has constructed Asia's highest automatic train washing plant at a cost of Rs.45 crore at the Sultanpur depot in its Gurgaon Metro corridor, officials said Sunday.