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Hrithik Roshan launches a vodka brand

Mumbai, July 15: Liqour manufacturer – Radico Khaitan, on Tuesday launched M2-Magic Moments Vodka in the country's market.
The new product was launched by brand ambassador and Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan, a company release said here.
Magic Moments grain vodka is targeted at the young and the young at heart, the release said.
"I am happy to be here for two primary reasons. One Magic Moments promises everything that a great life should have. And two, it embodies an excitement in and for life," Roshan said.
Magic Moments vodka has been launched in six flavours, chocolate, orange, green apple, lemon grass and ginger and lime and raspberry, the release said.

After Jab We Met, Imtiaz Ali to cast Bebo in another flick

mumbai, July 16: The film ‘Jab We Met’ would always be remembered for Shahid-Kareena’s ‘Jab We Split’ saga. However, director Imtiaz Ali got oodles of accolades for the same. Now, the director is casting Bebo again in his upcoming film, opposite none other than Akshay Kumar.
Earlier, Bebo was said to be extremely upset when Imtiaz, for whom she has great regards, did not cast her in his next flick after their big draw, ‘Jab We Met’. Instead, Imtiaz chose to cast newcomer Deepika Padukone, opposite Bebo’s beau Saif Ali Khan. Kareena resented this as she had assumed that she would be a part of Imtiaz’s project after ‘Jab We Met’.
However, now all is well between Kareena and Imtiaz, as the director has approached the actress for another flick. The film will also be written by Imtiaz. "It's still in the initial stages so I can't divulge much right now. I prefer to work at one project at a time so as soon as I wrap up Saif's film, I will concentrate on it. By early 2009, I hope to roll the project with Kareena."
Kareena is presently in the US shooting for Sajid Nadiadwala's ‘Kambakht Ishq’. Sources say that the actress has given her consent to the project. "Yes, she has said okay to this project. She's pretty excited about it. After all, it's her favourite director, producer and co-star too."
Sexiest Woman’ Katrina Kaif turns a year older

Mumbai, July 16: Things seems to be going great for ‘Sexiest Woman’ Katrina Kaif, who turns a year older on Wednesday. The 24-year-old lass, who has currently been featured on the cover of Damas-designed Kohl - the world’s most expensive Lifestyle magazine catering to Asian women, is in an upbeat mood these days. News has it that the lady will be celebrating her birthday in Mumbai along with boyfriend Salman Khan. Earlier, Salman was planning to fly down to Ooty on her special day but things did not turn out that way. Says a source, "Salman had planned to take off a couple of days from the shooting of 10 Ka Dum and spend time with Kat in Ooty on her birthday. But now that the schedule is cancelled, Salman and Kat will be celebrating her birthday in Mumbai.”
When asked about what Salman plans to gift her, Katrina expressed ignorance. Katrina excited as her mother and her sister Isabelle are coming over from London for her birthday. Looking forward to the birthday bash, Kat says, “I don’t like throwing lavish parties on my birthday. This year I am very excited about my mother coming all the way from London to be with me. I am planning to just chill out with some of my friends and have dinner after work. Actually I am a last-minute person and never like to plan anything before-hand.”
So, she will be working on her birthday? “I have a lot of promotional activities for Singh Is Kinng, which go on from the morning to evening. I will be done by 6 pm and will then plan my dinner with family and friends.”
Hope you have a wonderful birthday Katrina, and may you spread your charming smile for many many years to come!

Mecca

History of Mecca

The Saudi government uses the following verse as a Koranic confirmation for this law, however there are other interpretations to this verse (in particular, People of the Book would usually not be regarded as pagans) "O ye who believe! Truly the Pagans are unpure; so let them not, after this year of theirs, approach the Sacred Mosque. And if ye fear poverty, soon will God enrich you, if He wills, out of His bounty, for God is All-knowing, All-wise." -- Koran, 9:28 As one might expect, the existence of cities closed to non-Muslims and the mystery of the Hajj aroused intense curiosity in people from around the world. Some have disguised themselves as Muslims and entered the city of Mecca and then the Grand Mosque to experience the Hajj for themselves. The most famous account of a foreigner's journey to Mecca is A Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, written by Sir Richard Francis Burton.[43] Burton traveled as a Qadiriyyah Sufi from Afghanistan; his name, as he signed it in Arabic below his frontispiece portrait for "The Jew, The Gypsy and al-Islam," was al-Hajj 'Abdullah.[citation needed The primary industry in Mecca in modern times is to support the annual pilgrimage of the Hajj, as well as to support the pilgrims who visit the city at all other times of the year. Major stops in their visit include:The Kaaba is the ancient stone building towards which all Muslims pray. It was originally one of multiple such buildings in Arabia, but was the only one made of stone, and therefore is the only one still standing. Many Muslims believe that it dates back to the time of Abraham in 2000 BC. All pilgrims are required to walk counter-clockwise around the Kaaba seven times starting at the Black Stone, in a ritual called the Tawaf.
Muslims believe that the Zamzam Well was revealed to Hagar (هاجر), mother of Ishmael. She was desperately seeking water for her infant son, but could find none. Mecca is located in a hot dry valley with few other sources of water. According to tradition, the water of the Zamzam well is divinely blessed. It is believed to satisfy both hunger and thirst, and cure illness. The water is served to the public through coolers stationed throughout the Masjid al-Haram and the Al-Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina. All pilgrims make every effort to drink of this water during their pilgrimage, and some dip their ihram clothing into it, so that the cloth can be used as their own burial shroud when they die.

Apples beat pears on crunch issue

Apples beat pears on crunch issue

By Jonathan Amos Science reporter, BBC News
AdvertisementInside a pear: Tiny interconnected channels do not carry oxygen to the fruit's core as efficiently as apples
Just why pears rot faster than apples can now be explained by science.

It is all to do with how oxygen is able to find its way to the centre of the fruit after it has been picked.
Belgian researchers used one of the world's most powerful X-ray machines to image the tiny pores and channels that carry air through the two foods.
Pieter Verboven's team was able to show how the structures in pears meant they got "out of breath" quicker than apples - key information for growers.
The results of the study will improve the models used to determine optimal storage conditions. The study will help reduce waste in the fruit industry
"If we know how the pears get into storage, we can better predict how they will behave," the Catholic University of Leuven scientist told BBC News.
"From season to season, from batch to batch, even from orchard to orchard - we can give advice to the grower, saying 'well, for these pears, you may have to elevate the oxygen concentration in your storage room because there is the potential for problems'."
There is a clear economic driver to minimise wastage in the fruit industry; and supermarket shoppers certainly do not want to cut into the flesh to find a brown, mushy mess.
Year on year, very practical experiments are run to see how different crop varieties cope under a range of shelf conditions; but science is also trying to improve its understanding of the biochemical and physical mechanisms that underpin decay.
After picking, the cells in the fruit need oxygen for respiration - to produce the sugars and energy required to maintain good health. If air cannot pass through the fruit, cells close to the core will eventually start to brown and rot.
Pieter Verboven's group put apples and pears inside the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France, which produces an intense, high-energy light that can pierce just about any material, revealing its inner structure.
AdvertisementInside an apple: Cavities inside the apple carry oxygen to the core very efficiently
The giant X-ray machine is able to resolve features down to and below a thousandth of a millimetre; and by turning the target in front of the light beam, it is possible to build up extremely high-definition, three-dimensional views of the subject under study.
The latest research illuminated the microscopically small structures for oxygen supply that exist in fruit. In apples, the pathways appear as irregular cavities between cells, whilst in pears they have the shape of tiny interconnected channels.
"We already knew that different apple varieties have a different density which means they have a different fraction of air spaces; but we didn't know the structures," Dr Verboven told BBC News.
"We also knew that pears have a much lower amount of void spaces inside because pears sink to the bottom if you drop them in water whereas apples float, which indicates that one has more air than the other one.
EUROPEAN LIGHT SOURCE Electrons are fired into a linac, or straight accelerator. They're boosted in a small ring before entering the storage ring. The superfast particles are corralled by a train of magnets. Energy lost by turning electrons emerges as intense light (X-rays). The 850m-circumference ring has 32 magnet clusters, or cells. Electrons turned by plain magnets produce 'standard' X-rays. Particles 'wiggled' at undulator magnets emit stronger X-rays. X-rays can't turn with electrons and head straight down beamlines. Experiment 'hutches' receive the most intense X-rays in Europe. The light probes materials on the atomic and molecular scale. Robots can place many samples in the beam for rapid science. ESRF data leads to new materials, drugs, electronics, etc.BACKNEXT1 of 3"But also in pears, no-one knew what the structure of those air voids was."
Now, the scientists understand not only what the cavities and micro-channels look like but also how they perform. The Verboven team was able to describe the complex mechanisms of gas exchange, respiration and fermentation that take place in the different fruits.
There is much less water in apples to slow the penetration of the gas, and although the channels in pears are connected they just do not work as efficiently as the big pores in apples in allowing oxygen to pass through to the core.
"It is still unclear how airways in the fruit develop, and why apples have cavity structures and pears micro-channel networks", explained Dr Verboven.
"The micro-channels are so small that oxygen supply to the fruit core is very limited and cells are quickly 'out of breath' when oxygen levels fall below the safety threshold," he said.
The research is published in the journal Plant Physiology.

Climate focus for G8 summit talks

Climate focus for G8 summit talks

Green fingers: G8 leaders are considering climate issues World leaders are focusing on climate change and the global economy on day two of a key meeting in Japan.
Last year's Group of Eight industrialised nations summit pledged to "seriously consider" carbon emissions cuts of 50% by 2050.
The EU and Japan want leaders to adopt a stronger statement that includes interim targets.
Monday's talks were dominated by soaring food and fuel prices, and their effect on the world's poorest people.
Seven African leaders joined the summit to highlight their concerns.
Campaigners, meanwhile, accused G8 leaders of falling behind on pledges to double aid to the continent.
Climate targets
The summit is taking place in Toyako, on the Japanese island of Hokkaido.
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What is hoped for from the G8 talksLeaders from the G8 nations - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States - are being joined by counterparts from some 15 other countries.
They are expected to issue a series of statements later in the day.
On Monday, negotiators worked late into the night to agree a statement on climate change, Reuters news agency reported.
Some countries want a deal on a long-term global goal for emissions cuts - but there are divisions over what targets should be set and what would be expected of developing countries.
The US says it will not commit to binding targets unless China and India agree to rein in emissions too.
Biofuels can be made from crops like wheat and rapeseed
The leaders are also expected to discuss biofuels, amid concern that the rise in their use is driving food prices up.
On Monday World Bank President Robert Zoellick called for reform of biofuel policies in rich countries, urging them to grow more food to feed the hungry.
He laid particular blame on fuels made from corn and rapeseed produced in the US and the EU.
"The US and Europe also need to take action to reduce mandates, subsidies and tariffs benefiting grain and oil seed biofuels that take food off the table for millions," he said.
Leaders were also expected to discuss rising energy prices, global inflation and stabilising financial markets, officials said.
The summit is also expected to release a statement on the elections in Zimbabwe, which President George W Bush on Monday described as a sham.

Sydney news

Church sex abuse row ahead of Pope`s Sydney visit Sydney,

July 08: The head of the Catholic Church in Australia was embroiled in a sexual abuse controversy on Tuesday, only days before Pope Benedict arrives in Sydney for a visit that could see abuse victims staging protests.
Cardinal George Pell denied he misled a man complaining of sexual abuse by a Sydney priest when he wrote him a letter in 2003 saying his abuse claim was rejected because there were no other complaints against the same priest.
Australian television reported that Pell wrote another letter on the same day to a different man saying his claim of sexual abuse by the same priest was upheld.
"Cardinal Pell misrepresented the truth. It destroyed my faith," Anthony Jones told Australian Broadcasting Corp's (ABC) "Lateline" program on Monday night.
"He had to know that there was other complaints because he wrote to the man who as an 11-year-old boy was assaulted by Father Goodall on the same day," said Jones.
"I now hate Catholicism because of what Cardinal Pell has done to me, more so than what Father Goodall did to me." Catholic priest Terence Goodall was convicted in 2005 of indecently assaulting Jones in 1982.
Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic priests and brothers in Australia are calling on Pope Benedict to apologize when he arrives in Sydney on Sunday for World Youth Day, July 15-20.