Showing posts with label news. Show all posts

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Photos Of World’s First Amphibious Coach

Saturday, November 28, 2009

Russian train crash

A bomb blast caused the derailment of a Russian express train, killing at least 26 people, intelligence officials say.

The Nevsky Express derailed in remote countryside on Friday night as the train travelled between the capital Moscow and St Petersburg.

Investigators found "elements of an explosive device" at the scene, the Russia's federal investigative committee said in a statement.

A senior intelligence official said a bomb had derailed the locomotive.

Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia's domestic intelligence service told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that a bomb equivalent to seven kilos (15 lb) of TNT had been detonated, Reuters reported.

There was no immediate confirmed claim of responsibility for the attack.

Source - BBC

Monday, November 23, 2009

World's Tallest Female Model in 'ZOO'

A US model measuring 205cm is set to feature on the cover of Australian men's magazineZoo Weekly.

The model — Eve — appears on the cover of the magazine's current issue alongside a 162cm-tall Australian model.

"No other magazine has put a woman who's nearly 7ft tall on the cover," editor Paul Merrill said.

"We had ... her bikini specially made, but it was worth it."

Source- news.ninemsn.com.au

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Countries Billionaires Could Buy..

These American moguls could buy some of the world's economies

Castles in France. Islands in the Caribbean. Private jets. With a collective $1.27 trillion at their disposal, the members of The Forbes 400 could buy almost anything.

How about a country? A quick glance at the CIA Fact Book suggests the individual fortunes of many Forbes 400 members are as big as some of the world's economies.

Bill Gates, America's richest man with a net worth of $50 billion, has a personal balance sheet larger than the gross domestic product (GDP) of 140 countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Bolivia and Uruguay. The Microsoft (MSFT) visionary's nest egg is just short of the GDP of Tanzania and Burma.

Warren Buffett, who lost $10 billion in the past 12 months and is this year's Forbes 400 biggest dollar loser, still has a fortune the size of North Korea's economy at $40 billion. (The Oracle of Omaha probably would steer clear of that investment, though.)

One Forbes 400 member does actually run a small chunk of a state in an official capacity: Mayor Michael Bloomberg. While he is busy serving as the chief executive of New York City and grappling with its sluggish economy, his own personal balance sheet -- amassed through financial information services and media company Bloomberg LP -- equals the value of all the goods and services produced in South Africa's Republic of Zambia's ($17.5 billion).

Some say that land developer Donald Bren, whose assets throughout the vicinity of Orange County, Calif., include 475 office buildings, 115 apartment communities, 41 retail centers, resort properties and new housing, runs Orange County -- he certainly owns most of it. And with a net worth of $12 billion, he could, in theory, buy Haiti's economy, too.

Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson's $9 billion net worth is akin to the Bahamas' GDP ($9 billion). Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay (EBAY), the world's biggest auction marketplace, could theoretically control Somalia's market with his $5.5 billion fortune.

George Lucas, the famed Hollywood director behind the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and ILM, the world's most bankable special effects shop, has a $3 billion fortune, making him worth as much as the GDP of Guyana.

Hedge fund founder David Shaw's $2.5 billion net worth parallels Belize's marketplace.

Investor John Paulson amassed much of his fortune by exploiting the real estate bubble and shorting the subprime market in 2007. Today he has a net worth of $6.8 billion -- the equivalent of Montenegro's gross domestic product.

Although Eli Broad's fortune suffered because of AIG's (AIG) collapse last fall -- he's lost $1.3 billion in the last 12 months -- he still has a bank account that rivals Barbados' economy ($5.4 billion).

Forbes 400 members with net worths just under $1 billion still possess fortunes that could operate the economies of significant fractions of the globe. Gary Magness, who owns water rights in Colorado through his ranch holdings, has a net worth of $990 million, which barely exceeds Vanuatu's GDP ($988.5 million).

If this year's three poorest Forbes 400 members were to combine their wealth (a combined $2.9 billion), their amassed fortune would be worth more than the workings of Belize's entire economy.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Dust storm blankets Sydney

Dust blankets Sydney

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

LG ICC Awards 2009 short lists announced..

This year's LG ICC Awards includes eight individual prizes and also features the selection of the Test and ODI Teams of the Year and the award to the side that has adhered most to the Spirit of Cricket. The long-lists of nominations were made by a five-man ICC selection panel chaired by former West Indies captain and current chairman of the ICC Cricket Committee Clive Lloyd. The panel also includes former players such as India's Anil Kumble, Mudassar Nazar of Pakistan, Bob Taylor of England and New Zealand's Stephen Fleming. The short-lists were created after the individual player awards were voted for by an academy of 25 highly credentialed cricket personalities from around the world*. The academy includes a host of former players, respected members of the media as well as representatives of the Emirates Elite Panels of ICC Umpires and ICC Match Referees.

Based on the period between 13 August 2008 and 24 August 2009, the LG ICC Awards 2009 - presented in association FICA - take into account performances by players and officials in a remarkable period for the game. That period includes such high-profile events as the ICC World Twenty20 2009 in England, the ICC Women's World Cup 2009 in Australia and the ICC Cricket World Cup Qualifier 2009 in South Africa, as well as several bilateral Test and ODI series. The LG ICC Awards ceremony is now in its sixth year and this year it will be held in Johannesburg to coincide with the ICC Champions Trophy 2009. Previous ceremonies were held in London (2004), Sydney (2005), Mumbai (2006), Johannesburg (2007) and Dubai (2008).

Short-lists of nominees Individual Awards

Cricketer of the Year

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)

Gautam Gambhir (Ind)

Mitchell Johnson (Aus)

Andrew Strauss (Eng)

Test Player of the Year

Gautam Gambhir (Ind)

Mitchell Johnson (Aus)

Thilan Samaraweera (SL)

Andrew Strauss (Eng)

ODI Player of the Year

Shivnarine Chanderpaul (WI)

Mahendra Singh Dhoni (Ind)

Virender Sehwag (Ind)

Yuvraj Singh (Ind)

Emerging Player

Ben Hilfenhaus (Aus)

Graham Onions (Eng)

Jesse Ryder (NZ)

Peter Siddle (Aus)

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year

Rizwan Cheema (Can)

Ryan ten Doeschate (Ned)

William Porterfield (Ire)

Edgar Schiferli (Ned)

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year

Shahid Afridi (Pak) for scoring 51 off 34 balls and taking 2-16 against South Africa during the ICC WT20 semi-final in Nottingham on 18 June

Tillakaratne Dilshan (SL) for scoring 96 not out off 57 balls against the West Indies in the semi-final of the ICC WT20 at The Oval on 19 June
Chris Gayle (WI) - for hitting 88 off 50 balls against Australia during the ICC WT20 at The Oval on 6 June
Umar Gul (Pak) for taking 5-6 against New Zealand during the ICC WT20 at The Oval on 13 June

Women's Cricketer of the Year

Charlotte Edwards (Eng)

Shelley Nitschke (Aus)

Claire Taylor (Eng)

Umpire of the Year

Aleem Dar

Tony Hill

Asad Rauf

Simon Taufel

Spirit of Cricket

Australia

England

New Zealand

Sri Lanka

*Note: Specifically, the 25-person independent voting academy is made up of:

Former players - Ian Healy, Ramiz Raja, Athar Ali Khan, Allan Donald, Bob Willis, Sidath Wettimuny, Srinivas Venkataraghavan, Ian Bishop, Jeremy Coney, Dave Houghton, Roland Lefebvre.

Media - Jim Maxwell (Aus), Osman Samiuddin (Pak), Sayeed Uzzaman (Ban), Neil Manthorp (SA), Scyld Berry (Eng), Ramil Abeynaike (SL), Sharda Ugra (Ind), Fazeer Mohammed (WI), Richard Boock (NZ), Enock Nuchinjo (Zim), Jon Coates (Associate Representative).

Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Referees Representative - Alan Hurst.

Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Umpires Representative - Billy Bowden.

Chairman of ICC Cricket Committee - Clive Lloyd.

Introducing Nokia N 900..

Introducing Nokia N 900..

Horizontal phone / tablet Nokia N900

Nokia officially revealed smartphone / tablet N900, rumors of which went to the network is already long enough.

N900 is equipped with a 3.5-inch touch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, sliding QWERTY-keyboard, 32 GB internal memory (can be expanded up to 48 GB cards from microSD). There is a transmitter GPS / A-GPS, FM-radio, TV out, Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi, 5-megapixel camera.