Software to help overcome Facebook, Twitter obsession

Are you fed up of the virtual world taking over your real life? If yes, then help is at hand.

A Dutch company has developed software which can destroy all posts and personal information from your Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace and Twitter accounts.

The Web 2.0 Suicide Machine takes just 52 minutes to finish the task, instead of 10 hours it would have taken to do the job manually, reports the Daily Mail.

Some 3,000 people have already used the free programme with another 90,000 on the waiting list.

You hand over your passwords and watch as your Tweets and Facebook friends disappear - until there's just an empty screen.

Last month, one of the country's most eminent brain scientists warned that an obsession with social networking sites and computer games may be changing the way people's minds work.

Head-Turning Concept Cars at the Paris Auto Show

Concept cars are essential part of any Auto Show. They are a great way for both companies and designers to show what they could possibly do in the future. Although most of them never make it to the roads usually, they offer a visual treat to the visitors. Here ar
The Citroen Survolt debuted way back at the 2009 Frankfurt Auto Show, but the electric-vehicle concept is still pulling them in here in Paris. Putting a model next to the car never hurts, but there was an audience before she showed up.



Incredibly fast, but with the stability that comes from having four driven wheels, the Quattro was a star of the racing world that spawned, in 1984, the equally legendary road-going Sport Quattro. The only strange thing about the Audi Quattro Concept shown in Paris is why it took the German automaker so long to revive the famous model.



Lotus has revealed plans for a stunning front-engined, 2+2 V8 coupe, reminiscent of Aston Martin’s DB9 and scheduled for launch in early 2014. The car, a hybrid that incorporates a Lotus-developed KERS system, will be the third front-engined model in Lotus’s 52-year history to use the revered Elite name





Surely, one of the most hotly anticipated releases at the 2010 Paris Motor Show would be the Lamborghini Sesto Elemento Concept. After all, no automaker has teased the masses these last few weeks more than Lamborghini, and perhaps no single vehicle manufacturer is as beloved by the teenage boys lurking inside each one of us.

Use of condoms in Games Village, a positive story: Fennell

                    

New Delhi, Oct 7 (PTI) Condoms blocking toilets in the Games village might have come in for some embarrassment but the Commonwealth Games Federation boss Michael Fennell termed it a "positive" story saying that athletes are responsible in promoting safe sex. While sex is not a Commonwealth Games sport, it seems to be an activity in the Games Village at Akshardham housing more than 7,000 athletes, all of whom are in great shape and with plenty of free time at their disposal once knocked out of their respective events.

Asked about the embarraassing scenes of condoms blocking toilets at the Games Village, the CGF president said: "If that is happening, it shows there is use of condoms and I think that is a very positive story, that athletes are being responsible." "This issue was controversial some years back but not now.

Promoting safe sex is a responsible thing to do," he said. Incidentally, athletes received free condoms at every Games Village since Barcelona in 1992 to help raise awareness about AIDS, and in Beijing 2008 it notched up a record with a whopping 100,000 condoms being distributed.

It's a rubbery problem at CWG village;Condoms blocking toilets in the Games village might have come in for some embarrassment but the Commonwealth Games Federation boss Michael Fennell termed it a "positive" story saying that athletes are responsible in promoting safe sex.

 THE COMMONWEALTH Games (CWG) Village is confronting a civic problem again. It is not the dirty loos or spit-stained bathrooms, but choked drains, which are now causing problems.

And this time, the athletes themselves are to blame.When some toilets used by the athletes were found clogged, plumbers were called in to clean them. They found that thousands of used condoms, which had been flushed down, were clogging the system.

The plumbers reported this to the authorities. Since used condoms are not bio-degradable waste, they can choke the toilets.Officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi ( MCD) said the civic agency wasn't responsible for the management of the waste generated inside the Village. "We are not dealing with the garbage inside the Games Village towers. We haven't analysed the exact proportion of degradable and non-degradable garbage. It will be done after the Games," MCD's chief public relations officer Deep Mathur said.

The Delhi government has constituted 34 teams, headed by one officer each from the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Civil Service (DANICS), to monitor housekeeping and cleanliness in the towers at the Village.Each team comprises electrical, plumbing, carpeting and housekeeping experts. A protocol team, headed by a DANICS official, has also been constituted for each tower.

So, when complaints of clogged toilets came, plumbers were promptly sent for cleaning. Condoms, being supplied free at the Games Village, are in huge demand. A large condom vending machine has been installed at the Village which contains at least 4,000 contraceptive packs.Officials said more than half the condoms in the machine have already been taken out. The condoms are available at the Games Village polyclinic.

"We have installed a big condom vending machine which contains at least 4,000 contraceptives.According to reports from the Village, more than 2,000 condoms have been used so far. We will refill the machine, if need be," a health official said.

The machine at the polyclinic contains four master cartons, each of which contains 960 packets and one packet contains two condoms.

To prevent the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases during the CWG, the National AIDS Control Organisation, the Delhi State AIDS Control Society and the Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust have also installed condom vending machines at various Games venues, hotels and markets.Around 129 machines have been installed across Delhi to make condoms available round the clock. People have been hired to take care of the machines.

"The machines at the Village and other venues have been branded in sync with the CWG theme to spread the message of ' Play Safe'," an official said.

Condoms are always in demand at all residential quarters for athletes during every big international sporting event.There was a shortage of condoms in the Vancouver Winter Olympics held in February this year. Health officials there had provided one lakh free condoms to roughly 7,000 athletes and officials, but the supply ran short within four days of the start of the event.

In the Beijing Olympics Village, too, one lakh condoms were supplied, but the authorities had to replenish the stock at the start of the second week itself.In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the initial batch of 70,000 condoms vanished within days and the authorities had to order 20,000 on an emergency basis.

India Post brings out Special CWG Opening ceremony stamp:-The Indian postal department has brought out a special stamp to commemorate the opening ceremony of the 19th edition of the Commonwealth Games that kickstarted in the capital on Sunday.

If it is a village it ought to have its own post office and the brand new Commonwealth Games Village in New Delhi is no exception.

Sandwiched between a row of shops in the International Zone is a fully operational post office, with its own pin code 110090, that seems to be attracting good business.

Having opened on 16th September, the Post Office which offers facilities such as speed and registered post as well as ordinary mail, is also selling through its philately section a variety of stamps in different sizes.

These have, according to officials become popular among the athletes, who want to take home something from Delhi.

"People are very excited about the Post Office and are buying many stamps and other souveniers from here," says an official.

Magie Lynes, an England team official says, "It is very useful to have a post office in the village. Everybody wants to send something home."

She says she has been sending colourful postcards and letters to friends and relatives.

"One athlete, a shooter even shipped across a part of his gun. Initially he was skeptical whether we could deliver it but we wrapped the part and have couried it to Italy," says an official.

Generally the host countries of the Commonwealth Games as well as some competing nations celebrate the Games philatelically. 

Stamps on Shera, the Queen's Baton, Talkatora Stadium and Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium have already been launched by India Post and is in circulation.

"Stamps on Shera the mascot of the Games are popular and many people are also choosing stamps that depict the various spices of India or those which potrays messages on preserving polar regions and glaciers," says an official.

Breakdown leaves 9 lakh Panamanians without water ;As many as 900000 people were left without drinking water when a valve broke on a pipe linked to Panama City's biggest supplier of potable water, officials said on Thursday.

 High water pressure ruptured the valve on a 12-inch diameter pipe leading to the Chilibre water treatment plant north of the city, they said.

"The break is relatively small but we have had to stop operations at the water plant to control the water pressure," said Rodrigo Barragan, an official with the Institute of National Aqueducts and Sewers.

He said 800,000 to 900,000 people living in Panama City and adjacent areas were affected by the shutdown late on wednesday.

Schools and universities suspended classes because of the lack of water.

Authorities said the flow of water would return to normal on Thursday.

Af peace council holds inaugural session; Calling the meeting a "source of hope" for the Afghan people, President Hamid Karzai thursday hosted the inaugural session of a new peace council set up to guide efforts to reconcile with the Taliban and other insurgent groups.

 Karzai has long called on insurgents to renounce violence, sever ties to terrorists and embrace the Afghan Constitution.

Contacts are increasing between the government and insurgents to find a political resolution to the conflict, which is key to any US exit strategy in Afghanistan.

"The Afghan people in each province, district and village are expecting a lot from this peace council," Karzai said on the ninth anniversary of the war.

"The high peace council is a source of hope for the Afghan people," he said, adding that the international community is supporting the 70-member panel.

Publicly, the Taliban have said they won't negotiate until foreign troops leave the country, yet many Taliban leaders have reached out directly or indirectly to the highest levels of the Afghan government.

There have been no formal negotiations yet between the Afghan government and the Taliban, only some contacts and signals from each side, according to Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omar.

Addressing the opposition, Karzai said, "Once again I want to call on them to use this opportunity and welcome this effort and join in bringing peace in this country."

Efforts to reconcile with the Taliban are not supported by all Afghans. Leaders of ethnic minorities remain concerned that negotiating with the Taliban will open a path for the hard-line fundamentalist group to regain power.

Others argue that the peace council, comprising many members who fought against the Taliban, will have little success in guiding any talks.

Karzai said the government will cooperate with and assist the council but it would operate independently.

Taliban bombers attack Sufi shrine in Karachi; 10 killed

Two Taliban suicide bombers on Thursday struck venerated Sufi shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi in this Pakistani port city, killing at least 10 people and wounding 60 others in the latest in a slew of attacks on sacred places.

The blasts occurred this evening in quick succession at the entrance of the packed shrine of Abdullah Shah Ghazi, considered to be patron saint of Karachi and is revered by millions of people.

Express News channel reported that Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

The shrine located in the upmarket area of Clifton in this Pakistan's financial capital was packed with thousands of devotees, who had gathered on Thursday, considered an auspicious day, to offer prayers and distribute langar (food).

"Until now we have reports of 10 casualties and around 60 people have been wounded and shifted to hospitals in these suicide attacks," Home Minister of Sindh province Zulfiqar Ali Mirza told the media outside the shrine.

"They were suicide attacks. One of the bombers was stopped at the outer gate and blew himself up while another managed to run through to the inner entrance where security staff overpowered him but he blew himself up," he said.

Two heads, believed to be of the bombers, have been recovered from the blasts site where severed limbs and human flesh littered the ground, he said.

Mirza said that since the suicide attacks at the Data Darbar shrine in Lahore in July security had been beefed up at the Abdullah Shah shrine as well and the suicide bombers were intercepted at the walk through gates but blew themselves up.

Simi Jamali, the medical superintendent of Jinnah Hospital, told reporters that they had admitted over 50 people and several of the injured were in a critical condition. "The casualties could rise because the rescue services are still bringing in the wounded and injured," she said.

Doctors said women and children were among the injured. The shrine was evacuated after the blasts and authorities ordered the closure of all shrines in Karachi as a precautionary measure.

The blasts sparked sporadic incidents of violence that left at least seven injured across Karachi. President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani condemned the blasts at the shrine.

Zardari said such acts of terrorism cannot dent the government's resolve to fight terrorism and militancy to the end.

The attack on a religious site clearly shows that terrorists have no respect or consideration for any religion and faith, he said.

"Such heinous acts of violence are a reflection of deranged minds of terrorists who have no regard for humanity. These elements do not believe in any religion and only want to create disruption in society," Gilani said in a statement.

Gilani directed law enforcement agencies to probe the incident and submit a report to him.

The Sunni Tehrik called for three days of mourning while Muttahida Qaumi Movement announced one day of mourning.

Karachi has been the target of suicide attacks in recent times. In December last year and February this year, suicide bombers targeted Shia Muslim processions in separate incidents here in which over 70 people were killed.

Another bagful of medals keep India in 2nd spot ; India scooped up a bagful of three gold and as many silver and bronze medals to firmly remain in second spot behind leaders Australia in the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.

The three gold medals were garnered by the 25m and 10m men pistoliers with Gurpreet Singh being the common factor in both these pairs while Geeta grabbed the first gold in women's wrestling.

Gurpreet joined hands with Vijay Kumar to rake in the gold medal in the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (pairs) event before combining well with Omkar Singh to clinch the 10m air pistol (pairs) title to become a double gold winner.

The shooting gold medals provided by the men's pistol wielders took the country's overall gold tally from the Dr Karni Singh range to 14, showing how much the marksmen and women have contributed in keeping India's flag flying high.

Grappler Geeta trounced her rival Emily Bensted of Australia in the 55 kg category final.

She entered the gold medal round by defeating Lovina Odohi Edward of Nigeria, but her teammate - 63kg grappler Suman Kundu - lost in the semi-finals.

Men's double trap shooting ace Ronjon Sondhi got a silver medal along with the men's archery compound team and women's 48kg freestyle grappler Nirmala Devi.

The three bronze medals came in archery (women's team compound event), 77kg weightlifter Sudhir Kumar and Ashish Kumar, in men's gymnastics (floor exercise).

The day's haul of eight medals boosted India's overall tally to 14-11-8 and on course to their pre-Games target of achieving the runner-up spot behind overwhelming favourites Australia.

Australia were way ahead of the rest with 27-16-14 while England lagged behind in third place (8-15-10).

India struck gold early on the fourth day when marksmen Vijay Kumar and Gurpreet Singh clinched the 25m Rapid Fire Pistol (pairs) event before the men's and women's archery teams added to the medal tally with a silver and a bronze.

Kumar and Gurpreet together fired 1162 to bag the top prize in the pistol event ahead of Malaysia's Amir Hasan Hasli Izwan and Adzha Hafiz (1142) and Australian bronze medal winning duo of Bruce Quick and David Chapman (1125).

The Indian men's compound team lost to England by two points (229-231) in the gold medal-deciding match while the women defeated Malaysia by four points (223-219) in the corresponding event's bronze play-off tie.

These were the first two medals for the country from the archery range.

The other two bronze medals were claimed by men's 77kg weightlifter Sudhir Kumar and gymnast Ashish Kumar, an unexpected one, in the floor exercise. 

The Indian men's archery outfit gave a hard time to their English rivals before losing narrowly in the final.

The trio of Bheigyabati Chanu, Jhano Hansdah and Gagandeep won the bronze in the women's compound archery team event beating Malaysia 223-219 in a thrilling third place play-off tie that went to the wire.

Needing five points to clinch the bronze with one arrow left, Indians won the thrilling clash between the two Asian nations Hansdah showed nerves of steel to calmly fire an 8-pointer to haul in the country's first medal in the bow and arrow competition.

The Indians went out of contention for the gold by losing to Canada in the semi-finals while Malaysia failed to make the grade after losing to England in the other semi-final.

But world champion Tejaswini Sawant and Lajja Gauswami fell by the wayside in the 50m rifle 3 position singles.

"We are happy with our performance. All of us held our nerves in pressure situation to clinch the bronze," Chanu said after clinching the team bronze.

Indian challenge continued to remain strong in table tennis, tennis and badminton.

The women's team made it to the final of the table tennis championship by defeating England in the semi finals.

Men's tennis top seed Somdev Devvarman inched closer to a medal in the singles with a 6-3 6-4 win over sixth seed Rubin Statham of New Zealand.

Ace Indian shuttlers Chetan Anand and Saina Nehwal notched up contrasting wins as India thrashed Canada 3-0 to set up a semifinal clash with England in the mixed badminton team event.

Mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju just took 19 minutes to make short work of NG Toby and Gao Grace 21-8 21-12 in the first match of the day to give India a 1-0 lead.

Saina then sealed the issue in India's favour with a 21-16 21-13 victory over her one-time doubles partner Anna Rice in the women's singles.

China, Vietnam, Indonesia battle floods :- Over 1.30 lakh people have been evacuated after heavy floods submerged 550 villages in southern Chinese island province of Hainan, even as efforts were on to rescue 6,000 people stranded in some of the worst- hit places.

 Torrential rains, which are the heaviest in Hainan since 1961, lashed the province resulting in heavy floods damaging two highways, as many national routes, eight provincial routes along with several other roads.

Over 1.30 lakh people were evacuated and rescuers were trying to reach 6,000 people stranded in flood hit villages, provincial officials said.

A major reservoir of the Wanquan River began discharging excess water Tuesday night as its levels had become unacceptably high, which resulted in the flooding of the villages, the flood control headquarters in Qionghai City in the east of the island said Wednesday.

Rescuers were yet to reach those hit by floods, Xinhua news agency quoted a spokesman of the headquarters as saying.

Torrential rains have battered Hainan for six days and parts of the island had received an average 324.7 mm of rainfall.

About 150 soldiers had been dispatched to assist in the evacuation of villagers to safe ground.

Several cities, including the provincial capital of Haikou and the beach resort of Sanya, have also suffered flooding.

The four cities of Qionghai, Wanning, Ding'an and Haikou were most seriously hit.

Parts of the island received an average 324.7 mm of rainfall.Hainan Island is a famous tropical tourist resort and attracts millions of visitors every year.

However, tourist numbers were reported to be down by nearly 50 percent Wednesday, the sixth day of the one-week holiday celebrating National Day on 1^st October.

The rains are expected to weaken but continue until the end of the seven-day holiday, an official at the provincial meteorological observatory said.

Meanwhile, villagers in neighbouring Vietnam began to return home as the death toll from this week’s heavy flooding rose to 48, with 23 others missing, disaster officials and the government said.

In the worst-hit province of Quang Binh, 33 people died and 19 others were missing, said disaster official Nguyen Ngoc Giai. About 20,000 people were evacuated from their flooded homes in the area.

Elsewhere in Vietnam, seven people died and one was missing in Ha Tinh province, five died and three were missing in Nghe An and three others were killed in Quang Tri, according to the national floods and storms control committee.

Further south in Indonesia, rescuers searching for survivors cleared away debris in the hardest-hit village of Wasior where residents had been washed away early this week when a river burst its banks.

Rescue efforts were hindered after floods blocked off roads and damaged bridges.

Eighty-seven bodies had been pulled from the mud and the wreckage of crumpled homes, said Sutrisno, the deputy head of the National Disaster Management Agency, adding that with nearly 70 people still missing, the death toll was expected to rise.

More than 150 others have been hospitalized with injuries, most with broken bones.

NATO attack kills 8 Talibanees ; An airstrike and a raid by ground troops killed eight insurgents, including a senior Taliban leader who spearheaded attacks against Afghan security forces in northern Afghanistan.

 Maulawi Jawadullah - accused of organising deadly ambushes, roadside bomb attacks, and abductions of Afghan police and soldiers - was killed in the airstrike Wednesday in Takhar province.

Jawadullah was linked to the recent deaths of 10 Afghan National Police officers during an attack on a police station in neighbouring Kunduz province.

Seven other Talibanees also died in the assault, including three who opened fire from a forest when coalition forces moved in following the airstrikes.

Northern Takhar has been the scene of several NATO-Afghan operations recently against militants.

NATO announced Tuesday an insurgent involved in the kidnapping of a New York Times reporter was captured in Takhar.

The unidentified militant was linked to senior Taliban and Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan leaders in northern Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He "terrorised the local populace," and targeted police and local officials in attacks. Journalist Stephen Farrell and translator and reporter Sultan Munadi were taken hostage in September 2009 when they went to cover a NATO airstrike of two hijacked fuel tankers that killed scores of Afghan civilians.

British commandos rescued Farrell in a raid, but Munadi and a British commando were killed in the operation.

Last month, the Afghan government disputed NATO claims that a top insurgent and his deputy were killed in a 2nd September airstrike in Takhar. However, Afghan authorities said 10 civilians were killed and seven wounded in the attack, including a candidate vying for last month's parliamentary elections.

US backs Af govt-Taliban reconciliation :- The Obama Admin is supportive of the peace talks between the Karzai govt and the Taliban, but asserted that there is no change in its position that this requires a renunciation of al-Qaeda, following Afghan law and renouncing violence.

 "But this is something that has to be Afghan-led, and we've supported for quite some time," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said

When asked about the secretive peace talks between the representatives of the Taliban and al Qaeda to end the war in Afghanistan.

"This is not something that we do with the Taliban. This is something that Afghans government has to do with people in Afghanistan. And we have always been supportive of that reconciliation," Gibbs said in response to a question

On the Washington Post report that the representatives of the Taliban and the Karzai government have begun high-level secret talks over a negotiated end to war.

"They (the Taliban) are very, very serious about finding a way out,"one source close to the talks was quoted as saying by The Washington Post, which said the peace dialogue is continuation of similar talks, hosted by Saudi Arabia that broke down about a year ago.

"While emphasising the preliminary nature of the current discussions, the sources said that for the first time they believe that Taliban representatives are fully authorised to speak for the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban organisation based in Pakistan, and its leader, Mohammad Omar," the newspaper noted.

The Washington Post said the Quetta Shura has begun to talk about a comprehensive agreement that would include participation of some Taliban figures in the government and the withdrawal of US and NATO troops on an agreed timeline.

America and NATO have 150,000 troops in the war-torn nation aiming to quell the insurgency that began soon after the Taliban regime was overthrown in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

State Department spokesman P J Crowley said that the US has made it clear as part of its strategy that there needs to be a political component to the challenge and solution in Afghanistan.

"But this will be an Afghan-led process. We recognise that there has to be a political solution to the current challenge. Thats what we’ve discussed in both the London conference and the Kabul conference, efforts at reconciliation and reintegration," he said.

"One of the things we're doing by intensively going after and putting pressure on the Taliban, both inside Afghanistan and inside Pakistan, is to create the conditions for those who, for one reason or another, are opposing the Afghan government, to switch sides. We've established clear red lines as to the conditions that need to be established or need to be adopted for any group that decides to participate in the Afghan political system. But this is an Afghan-led effort," Crowley asserted.

"We have established our criteria in terms of what we would see as acceptable for those who might seek reconciliation: renouncing violence, ending ties to al-Qaida, and supporting the Afghan constitution and the rights that are inherent in the Afghan constitution, relative to all segments of Afghan society, including women. Anyone who adopts those criteria, in our view, can play a role in the future of Afghanistan," he said.

"In our discussions with President (Hamid) Karzai and the Afghan Government, we have made clear that there are, in our view and this is widely shared by the international community certain red lines that we think are important," he said.

"You’ve heard the Secretary (of State) talk about the importance of women and their role in the future of Afghanistan. So one of our red lines is, given the history of the Taliban, for example, and their repressive policies going back to the 1990s, that we want to see an Afghanistan that advances; we don’t want to see an Afghanistan that regresses," Crowley said.

"So we're not interested in recreating something that we rejected and the people of Afghanistan rejected during the 1990s. But to those elements who are willing to accept the criteria that are shared by the Afghan Government and Afghan people and by the international community, we support this process," he said.

Obama trip a clear statement of US' support to India:Hillary Clinton

The November trip to Indiaby US President Barack Obama will be another clear statement of American support and commitment to the US-India relationship, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said.
 "The President's visit in November will be yet another very clear statement of our support and our commitment to the relationship," Clinton told Naina Kidwai of the HSBC India in response to a question at the 12th annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit inWashington on Wednesday.

"Look, I think our relationship with India, which I was very pleased to open up in the 90s and then followed by the work of my husband and his visit and then the follow-on work by the Bush Administration on the civil nuclear agreement is going from strength to strength. I mean, we are now implementing a very comprehensive Strategic Dialogue between us," Clinton said.

"By that, I mean it's not just the visits and the meetings at high levels between the president and myself and our counterparts, but really getting into our respective bureaucracies, which, as you know in both of our countries, pose problems to actually getting things done," she said.

"Also, looking for ways to network our business communities, our academic institutions, our NGOs we are very bullish onIndia. We think that India's growth rates and India's commitment to lifting people out of poverty and doing the necessary economic reforms is essential for further development for India," Clinton said.

And at the same time, India is assuming more of a regional leadership role and a global leadership role, which the USwelcomes and encourages, the secretary of state said.

Early this week, Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Robert Blake said Obama is preparing for a landmark visit to India in November.

"I foresee our great nations becoming ever closer in the years and decades to come. President Obama intends to make a landmark visit to India in November to help further grow the ties between our two knowledge societies, our economies, and our people," he said.

"In just a decade there has been a transformation in the way the US views India. President Obama has called India our "indispensable" partner for the 21st century," Blake had said in his remarks at the San Diego World Affairs Council.

India's strategic importance to the US reflects several factors, he said, including the centre of gravity of US foreign policy has shifted from Europe to Asia.

Within Asia no other country has the thriving democracy, economic promise, the sheer human capital and the growing record of cooperation with America that India has, he argued.

US First Lady Michelle Obama has been named the most powerful woman in the world beating corporate honchos like India-born Pepsi Co chief Indra Nooyi and heads of state like the Queen of England to occupy the top slot in Forbes magazine's annual list

 Michelle, 46, ranked number one in the overall list of 'The World's 100 Most Powerful Women' 2010 released on Thursday. She ranked no.1 in 'political' category too.

Kraft Foods Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld ranked second and is followed by media mogul Oprah Winfrey in the third spot and German Chancellor Angela Merkel who ranks fourth.

India-born Pepsi Co chief Indra Nooyi ranked 6th on the list.

Two other Indian women -- Axis bank Chief Executive Shikha Sharma and ICICI bank head Chanda Kocchar also make it the list. Sharma is ranked 89th in the list while Kocchar comes in at the 92nd spot.

Forbes has divided the power women candidates into four groups: politics, business, media and lifestyle.

It ranked the women in each group, and then group against group.

The 2010 World's 100 Most Powerful Women list "reflects the New Order of now," Forbes said, adding that its assessment is based less on traditional titles and roles and more on creative influence and entrepreneurship.

"These power women have built distinctive companies and brands and championed weighty causes, sometimes through unconventional means; in other cases they have broken through gender barriers," it said.

Calling Michelle "a true change-maker", Forbes said the first African-American First Lady has "literally" changed the face of the office. With consistently high approval ratings, she's given a new generation of girls and women around the world a role model.

Describing Michelle as a "fashion icon and an athletic mother of two," Forbes said Michelle has "made the office of First Lady her own."

With 54 per cent Americans calling her a favourite, Obama is "a forceful advocate of school nutrition standards and military families' affairs."

The US First lady is more involved in policy than her predecessor Laura Bush was.

"But unlike Hillary Clinton, who championed a secretive (and ultimately unsuccessful) health care reform, Obama has stayed away from hard policy."

84-year-old Queen Elizabeth II is ranked 41 in the list. In the political category, the Queen is on the number 14 spot.

Both Rosenfeld and Winfrey occupy the numero uno spots in their respective categories of business and media.

The lifestyle category is topped by 24-year old pop sensationLady Gaga, who ranks 7th on the overall list.

Nooyi, 54, whose total annual compensation package last year was 10.6 million dollars, ranks second in the business category. Forbes said Nooyi nudged a 20 million dollar slice of the company's USD 616-million-a-year ad budget away from traditional to social media spends.

"Brands have to speak to millenniums; young people want to make a difference," Nooyi says.

"We rely on these women for, yes, managing our money, creating paychecks and governing at home and on the international stage, but also what we eat, download, talk about around the dinner table and the causes we support," Forbes said.

Forbes said traditionally, women's lists are heavily salted with the language of "firsts."

The firsts on the list include Nancy Pelosi, the first female Speaker of the House. She is ranked 11th.

Race car driver Danica Patrick (rank 93) is the first and only woman to have won an IndyCar series.

Julia Gillard, the first female prime minister of Australia, occupies the 58th spot, while Johnson Sirleaf who is Africa's first female president, is 86th on the list.

There are 25 women on the list who hold CEO titles. In the business category, Axis Bank's Chief Shikha Sharma has been ranked 33, while ICICI's Chanda Kocchar comes in at the 35th spot.

Forbes said singer Madonna (rank 29) and founder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Arianna Huffington(28) have exceptional staying power, while Sarah Palin (16) and Facebook's Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg (66) are "early bloomers."

Others in the list include singer Beyonce Knowles at the number 9 spot, talk show host Ellen Degeneres (10), Secretary in the Department of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano (13), Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor(19), actor Angelina Jolie (21) and co-chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Melinda Gates (27). French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy is ranked 35th, Yahoo Chief Executive Carol Bartz (42), tennis champion Serena Williams (55), her sister Venus Williams (60), journalistChritiane Amanpour (73), Jordan's Queen Rania al Abdullah (76), Chief Executive of Asset Mangement at J P Morgan Chase, Mary Callahan Erdoes (84) and fashion designer Vera Wang (91).

2010 ICC Awards: Double Dhamaka for Sachin Tendulkar.

We were at the 2010 ICC Awards at the Grand Castle in Bangalore.

a look at who won:

Cricketer of the Year: Sachin Tendulkar Here’s what the master blaster said about his first ICC Cricketer of the Year award: Better late than never. He was happy that the team achieved the number one Test team ranking in Decemeber and have maintained it since then. He gave credit to all his fans for the support he has which continues to egg him on.

Test Cricketer of the Year: Virender Sehwag- Sehwag who has had a spectacular past 12 months in the longer format of the game rated Tuesday’s win against Australia as the best win of his career. He said it was privelege to part of the team and that the Indian team has set their sights on winning the ODI World Cup in the coming year.

ODI Cricketer of the Year: AB de Villiers – We asked AB if he thought the ODI format was still relevant. He said he loved playing all three formats of the game, and that it was up to the ICC to make changes in the format to keep interest alive.

World Test Team of the Year: Lead by MS Dhoni

The team: Virender Sehwag, Simon Katich, Sachin Tendulkar, Hashim Amla, Kumar Sangakkara, Jacques Kallis, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Graeme Swann, James Anderson, Dale Steyn, Doug Bollinger.

India’s skipper took the opportunity to speak about his team and said he was proud of his team’s exploits. When quizzed about what India could improve on Dhoni said ground fielding was one area they weren’t brilliant at and could do with some improvement.

World ODI Team of the Year:  Lead by Ricky Ponting –

The team: Sachin Tendulkar, Shane Watson, Michael Hussey, AB de Villiers, Paul Collingwood, Ricky Ponting, MS Dhoni, Daniel Vettori, Stuart Broad, Doug Bollinger, Ryan Harris

Ponting was quite surprised to get this one. He said he came to the awards not expecting to win anything.

LG People’s Choice Award: Sachin Tendulkar

Spirit of Cricket Award: New Zealand

Women’s Cricketer of the Year: Shelley Nitschke

Twenty20 International Performance of the Year: Brendon McCullum for his unbeaten 116 against Australia.

Associate and Affiliate Player of the Year: Ryan ten Doeschate from the Netherlands

Emerging player of the year: Steven Finn from England- Steven spoke of how England were confident of winning the upcoming Ashes even though they would be underdogs in Australia.

ICC Umpire of the Year: Aleem Dar – The Pakistani umpire won the award for the second year in a row. He said that the UDRS system for reviews should be implemented

West Indies fast bowlers Courtney Walsh and Joel Garner, along with Bishan Singh Bedi and the late Ken Barrington of England joined the 60 male members of the Hall of Fame, while England’s Rachael Heyhoe Flint becomes the first woman to be inducted.

To read our preview which takes a look at the players up for the top honours: Click here

Red carpet arrivals:

Bishan Singh Bedi was among the first to arrive. He’s being inducted into the ICC Hall of Fame this evening and he said it was a huge honour. The media waiting here grilled him on what he thought about India taking on Australia and whther India vs Australia was now turning out to be a bigger rivalry than India vs Pakistan. Bedi said that there has always been a fierce rivalry between the two teams.

The Indian team arrived at the awards in their team bus and while most of them almost ran across the red carpet, Sachin Tendulkar (who was up for three awards tonight) did stop to answer questions. And there were plenty of them! Sachin seemed to be in a great mood after yesterday’s awesome win in Mohali and he said that though every win means alot, yesterday’s win was just very very special. We agree.

Who wore what:

- The Aussies came sufficiently suited and booted in team blazers and ties.

- The Indian team on the other hand wore collared T-shirts. Guess the BCCI/ Sahara couldn’t afford coats.

- Sachin Tendulkar was spotted in a Dabaang-esque belt. We were half expecting him to break out into a Salman-like jig!

- Women’s Cricketer of the Year Shelly Nitschke wore a short one-shoulder dress and couldn’t help blushing when the photographers asked her to hold up her trophy.

Take a look at some of the stars on the red carpet:

jaheer khan

sharad pawar president of ICC