How to Bend It Like Beckham

                            LONDON: In what will certainly bring a cheer or two to all the budding David Beckhams, British and Japanese scientists have revealed that the England captain's ability to score from a free kick lies in a combination of Magnus forces, rate of spin and climatic conditions. According to the study, the first of its kind published in Sports Engineering, this is what makes the perfect free kick - aiming the centre of the toecap of the boot at a point precisely 120 mm from the centre of the football. (Details)

BSNL Cuts STD Rates by 47 Per Cent

          NEW DELHI: The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) on Monday announced a cut of 47 per cent in STD rates. The new rates cover domestic long distance STD calls beyond 500 km. From now onwards the consumers will have to pay Rs 4.80 per minute instead of the prevailing Rs 9. The massive cut came after approval of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. The STD rates for calls within 500 km remain unchanged.

Pak Rally Calls for Boycott of American, British Goods (Go To Top)

          KARACHI: Thousands of participants of the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal rally, named million march, resolved on Sunday to boycott American, British and Israeli goods and franchise outlets in Pakistan and warned the Government against toeing the US line, reports Dawn. Speaking at the rally, the chairman of the MMA, Senator-elect Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, called upon the parliament to reject the Government's pro-US policies and demanded that the US forces be asked to vacate the bases they had been provided in the country since the intervention inAfghanistan. He made it clear to the Government that the people would not allow the Americans to use Pakistan's soil for aggression against Iraq or any Muslim country.

Khalid Was to Hit US Again: Report (Go To Top)

          NEW YORK: Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the Al Qaeda suspect arrested last week in Pakistan, was getting ready to hit the United States again, Newsweek reports in its coming issue. The magazine says that according to a February 26 intelligence report obtained by the news weekly, Khalid Shaikh, known as 'KSM', "is actively involved in Al Qaeda attack planning in CONUS" (continental United States). "He has directed operatives to target bridges, gas stations and power plants in a number of centres, including New York City."

           Some of this intelligence came from a Qaeda operative now in custody, who told investigators that at one point Khalid had planned to blow up bridges and gas stations in New York and Washington as part of the 9-11 attacks. Though those attacks never came off, he intended to return to finish the job, the magazine report added. Al Qaeda operatives would steal or hijack tanker trucks and crash them into fuel pumps at filling stations, while other terror operatives would slash the suspension cables on bridges. These threats, as well as other leads from electronic intercepts and suspicious financial transactions led Bush-administration officials to raise the threat level to Code Orange three weeks ago.

Vajpayee Flays Sonia's Remark on Hindu Extremism (Go To Top)

          NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Monday criticised the Congress for its remarks blaming Bharatiya Janata Party for arousing Hindu extremism on the pretext of tackling terrorism. Vajpayee attacked Sonia Gandhi, Congress president, for falsely blaming BJP and warned such statements malign the country's image in the international arena.

          Last week Ms Gandhi had warned the ruling alliance not to hype Pakistan's war hysteria as an excuse for dividing multi-ethnic Indian society. "To bring terrorism into this is not right ... because in international society it will weaken our stand. World will say there is no terrorism in your country and it is an internal matter which you are terming as terrorism," said an anguished Vajpayee replying to the debate on the vote of thanks to the President's speech, which outlines the Government policy.

          Participating in the debate last week, Ms Gandhi had warned the ruling alliance not to hype Pakistan's war hysteria as an excuse for causing a rift in multi-ethnic Indian society.

Jaya Launches Free Meal Scheme for Muslims in Tamil Nadu (Go To Top)

          CHENNAI: Jayaram Jayalalitha, chief minister of Tamil Nadu, on Monday launched a free meals scheme for devotees visiting Muslim shrines. It is an extension of the 'anna daanam' (Food Donation) scheme implemented earlier at Hindu temples in the State.Under the scheme, every week food will be distributed free at a dargah to 200 poor and needy devotees. The scheme will be executed by the Tamil Nadu Waqf (Management of Muslim msoques and shrines) Board through a corpus created by the State Government and to be funded by donations. Jayalalitha's patronage is aimed at establishing her secular credentials and striking a balance between the two communities, majority Hindus and the largest minority, Muslims.

          Last year, Jayalalitha's All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) Government passed the Anti-Conversion Bill, the first law of its kind in the country aimed at curbing mass conversion of Hindus to Christianity or Islam by appeasement or force. She was also criticised after she lent support to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led federal Government's tough anti-terrorism law, Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA).

German President Is Here (Go To Top)

          NEW DELHI: German President Johannes Rau was given a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan on Monday, a day after he arrived in New Delhi on a five-day official visit. During his visit Rau is expected to carry forward the new impetus in Indo-German bilateral relations and hold consultations with Indian leaders on the Iraq crisis. President APJ Abdul Kalam and Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee received him at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Later Rau visited the samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, at Rajghat and offered flowers. He will leave for Hyderabad on Tuesday evening. This is the first presidential visit from Germany in over a decade, the last being that of President Richard Von Weizsacker in 1991. The last presidential visit from the Indian side to Germany was of President KR Narayanan in September, 1998.

Insurance Cover for Scribes Soon (Go To Top)

          NEW DELHI: Minister of Information and Broadcasting Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said that a comprehensive insurance scheme for journalists was in the pipeline. The scheme would be operational soon for the welfare of journalists across the country, Prasad said during Question Hour in the Rajya Sabha. He said preliminary talks in that regard have already been held with the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC). He said the owners of newspapers will also have a role to play in this insurance scheme. The minister said that there were about 1500 accredited journalists in the Capital and 7500-8500 State accredited journalists. In reply to a query, Prasad said a 'Journalist Welfare Fund' with a corpus of Rs 5 crore is already operational and some journalists had already been provided financial assistance under the same.

$100 Million Grant from Global Health Agency for AIDS Cure (Go To Top)

          MUMBAI: It was only a couple of months ago when Bill Gates had visited the country and committed 100 million dollars for the cure and prevention of AIDS in the country, the AIDS moneywagon has just got more chunky. Another 100 million dollars have been committed by a global health agency to the country for AIDS cure and prevention.

           Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a body created by the G-8 nations to provide financial aid to the developing and poor countries to help them fight the menace created by the dreadful diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Richard Feachem, the Executive Director of the Global Fund, who is on a visit to India to support its efforts to mobilise a broad public-private response to the three diseases, said the amount granted to India is the largest single country grant within Asia, in the second round of Global Fund Awards. The programme expands the ongoing Revised National Turberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP) to cover 56 million people in 47 districts of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttaranchal, and to over 4 million HIV-infected patients over the country.

Beckham Can't Bend It in US (Go To Top)

          SYDNEY: He may be an icon in his native England, but across the waters in the United States, he is a virtual nobody. And this is the reason why football superstar David Beckham won't be promoting 'Bend It Like Beckham', the film named after him, in that country. The movie is all set for its US release, but instead of Beckham, Mia Hamm, one of America's most celebrated female footballers, will be promoting the hit film. "The film name is staying the same but it makes sense to use Mia and her name to promote it because she is a household name over there (US). She is better known than David Beckham," Andrew Orr, of the Works, the London-based company that sold the US distribution rights to Fox Searchlight, was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald. Mia helped the hosts US take the gold medal in the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and lift the 1999 Women's World Cup.

China Rolls Out Red Carpet to Rolling Stones (Go To Top)

          BEIJING: The Rolling Stones are all set to perform in China for the first time ever. The concert dates have been confirmed for Beijing and Shanghai, an organizer said on Sunday. The shows are part of the band's 40th anniversary 'Forty Licks' tour. The British band will perform in Shanghai on April 1 and in Beijing on April 4, Wang Long, an organizer for the Beijing Time New Century Entertainment Co was quoted as saying in Japan Today. Cui Jian, China's most famous rocker, will open for the Stones in Beijing. Cui is hugely popular in China but has rarely been allowed to play big shows in the Capital because he performed on Tiananmen Square during the 1989 pro-democracy protests.

           When the Rolling Stones first rose to fame in the 1960s, China was on the verge of the radical Cultural Revolution, which reviled Western pop culture as spiritual pollution. Their music first became available in China only after the start of economic and social reforms in the late 1970s.

Anthony Hopkins Ties the Knot for Third Time (Go To Top)

          LONDON: Oscar winner Sir Anthony Hopkins tied the knot with antiques dealer Stella Arroyave at his clifftop mansion in Malibu over the weekend. The 65-year-old Welshman, who has been married twice before, met Arroyave, 46, two years ago at her Los Angeles shop while hunting for furniture. At that time, Sir Anthony was still married to Jennifer Lynton. The couple later divorced after being 29 years together. Among the celebrities who reportedly attended the wedding were Steven Spielberg, Winona Ryder, Nicole Kidman and Catherine Zeta-Jones, as well as the groom's 88-year-old mother, Muriel. Before Lynton, Sir Anthony, who won an Oscar for his role as Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs, was married to actress Petronella Barker for three years. His only child, Abigail, from Barker is also an actress.

Pop Diva Denies It All Afterwards (Go To Top)

          LONDON: Pop diva Britney Spears on Sunday lashed out at ex-boyfriend Fred Durst insisting their romance was all one-way. According to a report in the Sun, Spears hit back after Limp Bizkit singer Durst revealed intimate details of their alleged fling last week. The rock star had claimed that she tried to seduce him by arriving at his studio in a see-through blouse at 3 am. He went on to claim the couple later romped in a private room at her Hollywood Hills mansion. "We were just doing our thing. She was wearing low-rider panties. She was very forward and aggressive." Durst also claimed the pair did not use anything extra. Asked if the pair had really fallen for each other, the 21-year-old pop princess said: "I think him for me, but not me for him." She added: "He's said some pretty amazing things about me. But, um, I think he leaped in too deep, too quick." Britney also said she would never kiss and tell on anyone she dated - branding it unladylike.

I'm Sorry: Gwyneth to Playboy Farrell (Go To Top)

          WASHINGTON: Star of the Recruit and known playboy Colin Farrell got a cold shoulder as he tried his charms on Gwyneth Paltrow. The Irish actor tried chatting up the Hollywood beauty in Los Angeles' trendy Ivy restaurant. Farrell, 26 - nicknamed the Lusty Leprechaun - spotted Oscar winner Gwyneth, 30, and unabashedly marched up to her table without introducing himself. Witnesses were quoted by the Sun as saying that he told her she was the "greatest actress on the planet". He added: "Give me your phone number and we can get together." Stunned Gwyneth, who dates Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, 25, mumbled: "Uhm, I don't know it off hand" - and carried on talking to friends. Daredevil star Farrell butted in, demanding her number. Gwyneth said: "I'm sorry. I can't remember it. It's a new one."

-ANI