a website having blogs, writings of many Cine-personalities

Found something extremely enticing for Cinema lovers.

Here is a site that has blogs, writings of many Cine-personalities.

It also allows users to write with them.

Website : http://passionforcinema.com/

Mumbai India November 26 2008 terrorist attacks of , evidences & evnts aftermath

This is a scanned copy of the 69-page dossier (A collection of papers containing detailed information about a particular person or subject; usually a person's record) of material stemming from the ongoing investigation into the Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 26-29, 2008 that was handed over by India to Pakistan on January 5, 2009.

Evidence 1

Evidence 2

Evidence 3

**The Mumbai terrorist attacks of November 26-29, 2008 were more than ten coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's financial capital and its largest city. The attacks, which drew widespread condemnation across the world, began on 26 November 2008 and lasted until 29 November, killing at least 173 people and wounding at least 308.
Where did exactly it take place ?
Eight of the attacks occurred in South Mumbai: at Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus, the Oberoi Trident, the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, Leopold Cafe, Cama Hospital, the Orthodox Jewish-owned Nariman House, the Metro Cinema, and a lane behind the Times of India building and St. Xavier's College. There was also an explosion at the Mazagaon docks, in Mumbai's port area, and in a taxi at Vile Parle.

The Mumbai's attacked areas

action by India's National Security Guards (NSG)& mumbai police men:

By the early morning of 28 November, all sites except for the Taj Mahal Palace had been secured by Mumbai Police and security forces. An action by India's National Security Guards (NSG) on 29 November resulted in the death of the last remaining attackers at the Taj Mahal Palace, ending all fighting in the attacks.

who were the attackers?
Ajmal Amir Kasab, the only attacker who was captured alive, disclosed that the attackers were members of Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan-based militant organization, considered a terrorist organization by India, the United States, and the United Kingdom, among others.

Ajmal Amir Kasab


photos of attackers

The Indian Government said that the attackers came from Pakistan, and their controllers were in Pakistan. On 7 January 2009, after more than a month of denying the nationality of the attackers, Pakistan's Information Minister Sherry Rehman officially accepted Ajmal Amir's nationality as Pakistani. On 12 February 2009, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik, in a televised news briefing, confirmed that parts of the attack had been planned in Pakistan and said that six people, including the alleged mastermind, were being held in connection with the attacks.

Indian policemen, armymen & nsg men who laid down their lives to save Mumbai

the top 2008 global headlines / stories

1)
Bill Gates' mysterious new company - Months after leaving his full time gig at Microsoft the software billionaire forms a new entity called bgc3. The website of this company is: http://www.bgc3.com/

bill gates

logo of bgc3

2)
After a four-month pursuit, Microsoft said on June 12 that it was abandoning its efforts to acquire all or part of Yahoo, prompting Yahoo to conclude an advertising partnership with their mutual rival, Google.

Microsoft logo

After withdrawing a $47.5 billion offer for Yahoo on May 3, Microsoft began talking with Yahoo again about a more limited deal. On May 30, the company submitted a formal proposal, according to people knowledgeable about Microsoft’s thinking, who agreed to speak on condition that they remain anonymous. Under the proposal, Microsoft would have taken a 16 percent stake in Yahoo at $35 a share, bought Yahoo’s search business and established a revenue-sharing agreement for searches coming from Yahoo, these people said. The deal would have delivered an estimated $1 billion or more in additional operating income for Yahoo, they said. The companies’ chief executives, as well as Yahoo board members and top Microsoft officials, met on June 8 to consider the proposal. Four days later, Yahoo said that it had concluded that selling its search business alone to Microsoft would not be in its best interests over the long term and that all talks with Microsoft were over. “Clearly it is time to move on,” Jerry Yang, Yahoo’s chief executive, said in a conference call. “This agreement with Google helps us to do so.”

Google logo

Yahoo logo

3)
Microsoft reported flaws in their product "Internet Explorer" - world's most used web browser.

IE

4)
The global financial crisis of 2008–2009 is an ongoing major financial crisis. It became prominently visible in September 2008 with the failure, merger or conservatorship of several large United States-based financial firms. The underlying causes leading to the crisis had been reported in business journals for many months before September, with commentary about the financial stability of leading U.S. and European investment banks, insurance firms and mortgage banks consequent to the subprime mortgage crisis. Beginning with failures of large financial institutions in the United States, it rapidly evolved into a global crisis resulting in a number of European bank failures and declines in various stock indexes, and large reductions in the market value of equities (stock) and commodities worldwide. The crisis has led to a liquidity problem and the de-leveraging of financial institutions especially in the United States and Europe, which further accelerated the liquidity crisis. World political leaders and national ministers of finance and central bank directors have coordinated their efforts to reduce fears but the crisis is ongoing and continues to change, evolving at the close of October into a currency crisis with investors transferring vast capital resources into stronger currencies such as the yen, the dollar and the Swiss franc, leading many emergent economies to seek aid from the International Monetary Fund. The crisis was triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis and is an acute phase of the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

5)
USA gets it's First BLACK President - Barack Hussein Obama II - click here to read more

Obama

6)
On June 17th 2008, Firefox set the Guiness Book of World Record for the most downloaded software within 24 hours. Mozilla foundation urged its users the world over to update their browsers by downloading the latest version namely Firefox 3. click here to read more

Mozilla's Firefox

7)
at 1:30 a.m. CDT; Wednesday, Sept. 10, when the world's largest scientific instrument began it's operation. That's when scientists will flip the switch on the world's most powerful particle accelerator in an attempt to begin answering some of the oldest scientific quandaries. Large Hadron Collider, and its purpose is simple but ambitious: to crack the code of the physical world; to figure out what the universe is made of; in other words, to get to the very bottom of things. click here to read more

LHC

8)
The 23-year-old swimming sensation Michael Phelps stormed into the record books with an 11th gold medal, his fifth at these games at the Beijing Olympics. click here to read more

Phelps

9)
Usain Bolt CD (born 21 August 1986) is a Jamaican sprinter. Bolt holds the Olympic and world records for the 100 metres at 9.69 seconds, the 200 metres at 19.30 seconds and, along with his teammates, the 4x100 metres relay at 37.10 seconds, all set at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Bolt became the first man to win all three events at a single Olympics since Carl Lewis in 1984, and the first man in history to set world records in all three at a single Olympics. His name and achievements in sprinting have earned him the media nickname "'Lightning' Bolt".

Bolt

10)
After 13 years on top, Bill Gates is no longer the richest man in the world. That honor now belongs to his friend and sometimes bridge partner Warren Buffett.

Warren Buffett

Nationality - American
Occupation - Chairman & CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
Salary - US$100,000
Net worth - US $62 billion (2008)

11)
The year saw Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar surpass Brian Lara to become the worlds most prolific Test run scorer of all times.

Tendulkar is the highest run scorer in both Test matches and ODIs, and also the batsman with the most centuries in either form of the game. On October 17, 2008, when he surpassed Brian Lara's record for the most runs scored in Test Cricket, he also became the first batsman to score 12,000 runs in that form of the game, having also been the third batsman and first Indian to pass 11,000 runs in Test cricket.

Tendulkar

Brian Charles Lara (born 2 May 1969) (nicknamed "The Prince of Port-of-Spain", "The Prince of Trinidad" or simply "The Prince") is a retired West Indies cricketer. He has topped the Test batting rankings on several occasions where he holds the record for highest individual innings. He also holds the record for the highest individual score in first-class cricket, with a total of 501* for Warwickshire against Durham at Edgbaston in 1994, as well as the highest individual score in a test innings with 400 not out. Lara played his international career with the West Indies cricket team.

Lara

12)
Sourav Chandidas Ganguly, (Nicknamed : Dada, Prince of Kolkata, Bengal Tiger, Maharaja) the former Indian Skipper retired after the series against Australia. In a rare moment of glorious send-off for an Indian cricketer, he ensured that he left on a high with some excellent knocks against Australia, including a century, also completing 7000 runs in Test cricket becoming only the fourth Indian after Sachin, Gavaskar and Dravid to do so. As of October 2008, he was India's most successful Test captain to date, winning 21 tests out of 49 tests he captained and leading India into the 2003 World Cup finals. An aggressive captain, Ganguly is credited with having nurtured the careers of many young players who played under him. The left-handed also has over 11,000 ODI runs to his credit.

During the final match of the
2002 Natwest Trophy held in Lords
after a stunning performance by team mates
Sourav Ganguly took off his shirt in public
and brandished it in the air
to celebrate India's winning of the match.

His Records:
Ganguly is the seventh Indian cricketer to have played 100 Test matches. He is currently the 4th highest overall run scorer for India in Tests. He is the fourth Indian to have played in more than 300 One Day Internationals.In terms of overall runs scored in ODIs, Ganguly is the second among Indians after Sachin Tendulkar (who has the highest ODI runs in the world) and the fourth in the world. Ganguly has scored 16 centuries in Test matches and 22 in ODIs. He is one of only seven batsmen to score more than 10,000 runs in ODIs. Ganguly has 22 centuries in ODIs, in terms of number of centuries in ODIs, he is only behind Sachin Tendulkar, Sanath Jayasuriya and Ricky Ponting. Sourav, along with Sachin Tendulkar, formed by far the most successful opening pair in One Day Cricket, having amassed the highest number of century partnerships (26) for the first wicket. Together, they have scored more than 7000 runs at an average of 48.98, now with Sachin he is a world record holder for creating most no. of 50 run partnership in the first wicket(44 fifties). Ganguly is the fourth player to cross 11,000 ODI runs and third player to cross 10,000 ODI runs and so far the fastest in ODI history, after Sachin Tendulkar. He also reached 6000, 7000, 8000 and 9000 ODI runs milestones in the fewest number of matches. Sourav can bowl medium-pacers as well, taking 31 wickets in 99 matches, at an average of 52.47. As of 2006, he is the only Indian captain to win a Test series in Pakistan (although two of the three Tests of that series was led by Rahul Dravid). He is also one of the 3 players in the world to achieve amazing treble of 10,000 runs, 100 wickets and 100 catches in ODI cricket history, the others being Sachin Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya.

Sourav

13)
The Tata Nano is a proposed city car — a small, affordable, rear-engined, four-passenger car aimed primarily at the Indian market — first presented by India's Tata Motors at the 9th annual Auto Expo on January 10, 2008, at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi, India. Tata targets the vehicle as the least expensive production car in the world — aiming for a starting price of 100,000 rupees or approximately $2000 US. Newsweek identifies the Nano as a part of a "new breed of 21st-century cars" that embody "a contrarian philosophy of smaller, lighter, cheaper" and portend a new era in inexpensive personal transportation — and potentially, "global gridlock". The Wall Street Journal confirms a global trend toward small cars, which includes the Nano.

Its designer are Girish Wagh, Justin Norek of Trilix, Pierre Castine.

Tata Motors Limited's Chairman "Ratan Tata" with Nano
Tata motors was formerly known as TELCO (TATA Engineering and Locomotive Company)

IBN mentioned: “The ambitious Nano car has not rolled out of the assembly line of the makers Tata's plants yet. But it is already in the Guinness book as the world's cheapest car."

Tata logo

Its immediate competitor is Bajaj Auto-Renault-Nissan ULC (no prototype has yet been presented). Bajaj Auto says its $2,500 car, which it is building with Renault and Nissan Motor, will aim at a fuel-efficiency of 30 km/litre, or twice an average small car, and carbon dioxide emissions of 100 gm/km. The Bajaj venture will have an initial capacity of 400,000 units, while Tata expects eventual demand of 1 million Nanos. Other Rival car makers including Fiat, General Motors, Ford Motor, Hyundai and Toyota Motor have all expressed interest in building a small car that is affordable to more middle-class consumers in emerging markets. The bulk of demand there is for small cars because people are much more sensitive to fuel prices. Honda and Toyota are leading the way on so called cleaner gasoline-electric hybrids, and some environmentalists argue getting prices down on these technologies is where efforts should be concentrated. Inexpensive and eco-friendly electric-cars like Tara Tiny, Oreva Super (both reportedly even cheaper than Tata Nano) and REVA pose even more significant danger to Nano.

14)
Anil "Jumbo" Kumble, the former Indian Skipper retired after the series against Australia. Kumble was appointed the captain of the Indian Test cricket team on 8 November 2007. He is one of only two bowlers ever (the other being Jim Laker) to have taken all 10 wickets in a Test innings.

Kumble

15)
J. Craig Venter, an American biologist and businessman, is on verge of creating life in laboratory - look out for him in 2009.

Craig

16)
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods, an American professional golfer is currently the World No. 1. He was the highest-paid professional athlete in 2007, having earned an estimated $122 million from winnings and endorsements. He won the 2008 U.S. Open.

Woods

17)
We also saw creation of "The Indian Premier League" (also known as the "DLF Indian Premier League" and often abbreviated as IPL), - a Twenty20 cricket competition created by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and chaired by the Chairman & Commisoner IPL, BCCI Vice President Lalit Modi. The first season of the Indian Premier League commenced on 18 April 2008, and ended on 1 June 2008 with the victory of the Rajasthan Royals (led by the austrailian veteran Shane Warne) in the final at Mumbai.

Warne

IPL logo

We also saw some action at the Indian Cricket League (ICL), a private cricket league that runs parallel to the Indian Premier League (IPL). (Players participating in this league have been banned by the cricket boards of their respective countries as the IOCl is regarded by them as unsanctioned rebel league). The 2008 Indian Cricket League 20-20 Indian Championship, 2008/09 season was the second ICL tournament of the year, as well as the second season of the 20-20 Indian Championship. The season commenced on 10 October 2008, with the final match to be held on 16 November 2008. Both the opening and closing fixtures will be played in Hyderabad, India. The league consists of 9 teams.

ICL logo

18)
University of California announced they'd invented an invisibility cloak. Using nanowires grown inside a porous aluminum tube to create a sheeting 10 times thinner than a piece of paper, they proved that they could wrap an object in the material and bend light waves around it, making it effectively invisible.

(the target) invisibility

19)
Penn State biochemistry professor Stevan Schuster announced that he had reconstructed 80% of the genome of the long extinct woolly mammoth, using clumps of hair from the remains of several of the giant critters. The job involved not just piecing together more than 3 billion DNA sequences, but making sure none of the material that was used came from bacteria or other organisms clinging to the fur. The work raises the inevitable Jurassic Park question and the answer is, no, we won't see wooly mammoth–populated theme parks any time soon. But the key word is soon. Stephan doesn't rule out the possibility forever.

Stevan Schuster


the mammoth

20)

Viswanathan Anand is an Indian chess grandmaster and the current World Chess Champion. Anand won the FIDE World Chess Championship in 2000, at a time when the world title was split. He became the undisputed World Champion in 2007 and defended his title against Vladimir Kramnik in 2008. With this win, he became the first player in chess history to have won the World Championship in three different formats: Knockout, Tournament, and Match. He will next defend his title in the World Chess Championship 2009 against the winner of the challenger match between Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky. Anand is one of four players in history to break the 2800 mark on the FIDE rating list. He was at the top of the world rankings five out of six times, from April 2007 to July 2008. In October 2008, he dropped out of the world top three ranking for the first time since July 1996. In 2007 he was awarded India's second highest civilian award, the Padma Vibhushan. He is also the first recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award in 1991-92, India's highest sporting honour.

Anand with India's President

21)
2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup was held in Malaysia from February 17, 2008 to March 2, 2008. The opening ceremony took place on February 15, 2008. The final was played between India and South Africa, which India won by 12 runs by D/L Method. Previously also India had won the world cup in 2000.

22)
The White Tiger is the debut novel by Indian author Aravind Adiga. It was first published in 2008 and won the Man Booker Prize for the same year. The novel studies the contrast between India's rise as a modern global economy and the main character, who comes from crushing rural poverty.

Other Indians who have won Booker till now:

in 1981 Salman Rushdie for Midnight's Children


in 1997 Arundhati Roy for The God of Small Things


in 2006 Kiran Desai for The Inheritance of Loss


in 2008 Aravind Adiga for The White Tiger

Salman Rushdie for Midnight's Children was also awarded the "Booker of Bookers" Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary.

23)
Iraqi Journalist hurled shoes at Bush and denounced him on TV as a ‘Dog’.

USA's president George W Bush being attacked by
Iraqi journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi, 28, a correspondent for Al Baghdadia

BAGHDAD - December 14, 2008 - President Bush made a valedictory visit on Sunday to Iraq, the country that will largely define his legacy, but the trip will more likely be remembered for the unscripted moment when an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at Mr. Bush’s head and denounced him on live television as a “dog” who had delivered death and sorrow here from nearly six years of war. The drama unfolded shortly after Mr. Bush appeared at a news conference in Baghdad with Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to highlight the newly adopted security agreement between the United States and Iraq. The agreement includes a commitment to withdraw all American forces by the end of 2011. The Iraqi journalist, Muntader al-Zaidi, 28, a correspondent for Al Baghdadia, an independent Iraqi television station, stood up about 12 feet from Mr. Bush and shouted in Arabic: “This is a gift from the Iraqis; this is the farewell kiss, you dog!” He then threw a shoe at Mr. Bush, who ducked and narrowly avoided it.

2008 events Summary for India Inc.

and died the 2008 while giving birth to 2009 at 23:59:59 hours of december 31st.

2009 inherited by fate some good and some bad features from 2008
and 2009 took responsibility to end some of the unfinished events of 2008

lets make a fast dig into 2008 and figure out what made it different from other years for India Inc. (India Inc. is a common term used by the Indian media to refer to the corporate sector of the nation.) So here it is:

1) A new media era: Long running saas-bahu soaps such as Kyuunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi, Kasautii Zindagii Kay, Kahaani Ghar Ghar Kii - were phased out by Star Plus impacting production superstar Balaji Telefilms to a large extent. It was the end of a long successful partnership even as Ekta Kapoor was battling to bring Balaji back in the success sweepstakes as the year was ending. The year also saw the emergence of Sphere Origin (Balika Vadhu), and Directors Kut (Sapna Babul Ka - Bidaii) as major production powerhouses.

2) Biggest till-date Terror Strike on India (in Mumbai on 26/11/2008): India was stabbed and stabbed and stabbed..... The economic capital was raped by a few commandos like terrorists from our fcuking neighbor.

3) The global economic downturn made 2008 an unforgettable year. It had its usual share of ups and downs for India Inc.

***********

And here is a chronological listing of events for India Inc. ->

Jan 10: 'Nano' is born. The world's cheapest car costing Rs 100,000 unveiled at 9th Auto Expo in Delhi by Ratan Tata.

Jan 15: India's largest IPO by Reliance Power to raise Rs 11,000 crore (Rs 110 billion) opens. The issue closed on
Jan 18 but was hammered in the market on debut. The company issued bonus shares to retain investor confidence.

Feb 8: Developer Emaar MGF Land Ltd calls off Rs 7,000 crore (Rs 70 billion) IPO following poor investor response.

Mar 11: Real estate firm BPTP strikes India's biggest ever land deal by shelling out Rs 5,006 crore (Rs 50.06 billion) for a 95-acre commercial plot at Noida. As financial crisis deepens, the company is now facing problems paying the sum.

Mar 26: Tata Motors announces agreement with Ford Motor to acquire Jaguar Land Rover for $2.3 billion.

Apr 19: Cancer drug maker Dabur Pharma acquired by Singapore-based Fresenius Kabi for nearly Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion).

May 6: Telecom operator Bharti Airtel in talks with South Africa's MTN Group for a deal that would give it presence in 21 African and Asian countries.

May 24: Bharti Airtel backs out from MTN deal.

May 28: Anil Ambani-run Reliance Communications begins discussions for reverse merger with MTN. Talks fail in July.

June 11: Japanese drug firm Daiichi Sankyo acquires control of Ranbaxy for over Rs 22,000 crore (Rs 220 billion) -- essays biggest Indian pharma industry deal.

June 18: India gets first commercially available hybrid car when Honda Siel launched its Civic Hybrid priced at Rs 21.5 lakh (Rs 2.15 million).

June 25: Idea Cellular acquires 40.8 per cent stake in a smaller rival Spice Communications for about Rs 2,700 crore (Rs 27 billion).

June 27: Russia's Severstal outbids Essar's $1.2 billion offer for US-based Esmark.

July 11: Gurgaon-based WNS (Holdings) Ltd acquires UK insurance major Aviva's BPO business Aviva Global Services (AGS) for around $228 million (Rs 980 crore).

Aug 8: South Korean steel giant Posco gets approval from Supreme Court to go ahead with its Rs 51,000 crore (Rs 510 billion) steel project in Orissa after getting environmental clearance.

Aug 11: Low-cost airline Spicejet secures $100 million investment from Goldman Sachs and WL Ross.

Aug 21: Apple's iPhone makes India debut.

Sep 16: US Foods and Drug Administration bans 30 drugs manufactured by Ranbaxy Laboratories at its two facilities in Dewas and Poanta Sahib.

Sep 23: UAE telecom giant Emirates Telecommunications Corp (Etisalat) buys about 45 per cent of Swan Telecom for up to $900 million.

Sep 26: HCL Technologies makes a cash offer of 650 pence a share for acquiring UK-based SAP consulting firm Axon Group.

Oct 3: Tata Motors pulls out of Singur, where it planned to set up the mother plant for Nano at an investment of Rs 1,500 crore (Rs 15 billion).

Oct 7: Tata Motors announces new Nano plant will come up at Sanand in Gujarat at an investment of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion).

Oct 8: TCS acquires 96.3 per cent stake in Citigroup Global Services Ltd, the BPO outfit of the American bank, for $505 million.

Oct 13: Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines form operational alliance to cut costs.

Oct 15: Jet Airways lays off 1900 of its employees in various work profiles. Two days later, company Chairman Naresh Goyal orders reinstatement of all the sacked employees.

Oct 30: Real estate major Unitech sells 60 per cent stake in telecom venture Unitech Wireless to Norway-based Telenor for Rs 6,120 crore (Rs 61.20 billion).

Nov 4: Kolkata-based FMCG firm Emami completes acquisition of Zandu Pharmaceuticals.

Nov 12: Japan's largest mobile operator by users, NTT DoCoMo picks up 26 per cent stake in mobile and wireline operator Tata Teleservices for $2.7 billion.

Nov 21: Dabur India acquires 72.15 per cent stake in women's skin-care company Fem Care Pharma (FCPL) for Rs 203.7 crore (Rs 2.037 billion).

Dec 11: State-owned telecom operator MTNL launches third generation (3G) services.

Dec 16: India's fourth largest IT firm Satyam Computer announces acquisition of Maytas Properties and Mytas Infra for $1.6 billion.

Dec 17: Satyam calls off acquisition after angry shareholders response. Since then, four of the company's independent directors have quit.

Dec 23: Country's third-largest software services provider Wipro agrees to buy Citi Technology Services Ltd from Citigroup for about $127 million.

Dec 25: World Bank says Satyam barred from doing business with it for eight years; Reliance Petroleum commissions its 580,000 barrels per day refinery at Jamnagar.

Dec 31: Stock market benchmark Sensex closes trading for the year down 69 points at 9,647.31. It had peaked to 21,206.77 points in January.