New Year's Eve 2013: Google bids goodbye with an animated doodle

NEW DELHI: Keeping up with its tradition of coming out with doodles to mark important days, Google, on Tuesday, displayed an animated New Year's Eve 2013 doodle on its homepage to bid adieu to the year. It is the last Google doodle for the year 2013.

Today's attractive doodle features the numbers 2,0,1 and 3 partying on a multi-coloured dance floor. The number 4 is also depicted in the doodle, which is interpreted as waiting along the sides to replace 3. In the background, two speakers are seen playing music uniformly.

Additionally, the Google logo is presented in a colourful way with a disco ball that represents the letter 'O'. And if you move the cursor on the doodle then a message 'Happy New Year!' will appear.

Just below the search bar, the search engine displays a caption that reads 'What did the world search for this year? Remember the moments of 2013'. And on clicking the given link, users are redirected to the Google Zeitgeist 2013 page that highlights some of the major and significant events of the year in a 1.31-minute video.
 

Brave Ajinkya Rahane wins hearts of cricket guru's

Durban:  Ajinkya Rahane's patience bore fruit and he made the most of the chances that came his way in the two-Test series which India lost to South Africa yesterday.

Rahane hit 47 and 15 in the Johannesburg Test, and followed it up with a fighting 51 and 96 here. And it was his courage that impressed everyone who saw him bat. “Ajinkya Rahane will go a long way and he will score heavily in international cricket from now,” said Ravi Shastri who is here as a commentator. The former all-rounder felt Rahane should be promoted to the No 5 spot in the forthcoming series against New Zealand.

Indian skipper MS Dhoni said: “He spent a lot of time on the bench. But he did not sit idle. He worked very hard on his fitness, technique and temperament.”
Jacques Kallis who bid adieu to Test cricket yesterday said: “Rahane is a wonderful player. He will shine because of his technique.” Former SA captain Kepler Wessels observed: “Although he did not get his 100, he will learn the value of those four runs now. He is confident both on his front and back foot.

Former chief of the SA cricket board, Dr Ali Bacher said: “He could not reach his 100 because he did not have strong partners. I think the courage he showed against Dale Steyn and Morne Morkel was remarkable. “He played well to delay the South African victory. He is ready, he is mature, and has a bright future.”

Rahane’s coach Pravin Amre too was happy with his performance. When contacted, Amre said: “I watched the innings. So far he has played well.” Incidentally, Amre scored a century at the same venue in 1992 on his debut.

Narendra Modi questions Jharkhand's poverty

Jharkhand is endowed with rich natural and human resources and yet it has remained poor despite 13 years since the new state came into being, Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi said on Sunday.

Addressing a public rally in Ranchi, Modi said if a survey report was submitted to the leading economists of the world, they would certainly say that the state would have been among the most prosperous regions in the world, if the resources were properly utilised.

"Why is Jharkhand is still poor and poverty is growing even if it has rich resources?" Modi wondered and then gave the answer himself: "I would say the party in whose Independence should reply."
He said that the people of the region had been demanding a separate state for a long time to determine their own destiny, but the "sultanate" in Delhi did not hear and rejected the demand.

"It was former prime minister A B Vajpayee who understood the aspirations and dreams of the people of the region and created the state along with Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh," Modi said.

"The new state was created accepting that it will be 'progressive', but why has it not happened in 13 years?" Modi wondered, comparing the state with Chhattisgarh which, he said, had "sped away on the path of development".

He attributed Chhattisgarh's "success" to the people's desire for development and for the BJP.

He said the next five years would be crucial for the state.

Referring to a sick PSU in Ranchi, he stated how he had revived Gujarat Fertiliser Corporation which was on the verge of closure by ensuring professionalism and technological upgradation and above all putting a cap on unnecessary expenditure.

4th Ashes Test: Australia beat England by 8 wickets to take 4-0 lead

MELBOURNE: Australia cruised to an eight-wicket win over demoralised England with more than a day to spare on Sunday to claim a 4-0 series lead and stand on the cusp of an Ashes whitewash.

Scorecard
Led by a century from opener Chris Rogers and a 136-run stand with Shane Watson, the Australians had few problems getting the required 201 runs on the fourth day to seal England's fate at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
England contributed to their own demise with two confidence-sapping dropped catches by skipper Alastair Cook early in the day to take all the steam out of the dispirited tourists.

The two fielding blunders from the team leader were psychological body blows for England and evidence of batsman Kevin Pietersen's comments on Saturday in a television interview that the tourists were "mentally fragile".

England now face the monumental challenge of fighting off an Australian clean sweep of the series in the fifth and final Test, starting in Sydney on Friday.

Playing on his home ground, veteran left-hander Rogers claimed his second Test century after scoring 110 against England in the last series earlier this year at Durham.

Rogers, 36, was out caught behind for 116 off 155 balls cutting Monty Panesar, with his team some 31 runs short of victory.

At the end, Watson was unbeaten on 83 with skipper Michael Clarke not out six with Australia 231/2.

Clarke reached 8,000 Test runs in his unbeaten knock.

It was the best fourth innings run chase in 51 years at the Melbourne Cricket Ground since England's 237/3 in 1962-63.

While England have been on the end of heavy defeats this Test series, Sunday was a particularly dispiriting loss for England, who were well on top and led the home side by 116 with 10 wickets in hand after lunch on Saturday's third day.

Man-of-the-match Mitchell Johnson and spinner Nathan Lyon staged a dramatic turnaround, with England bowled out for 179, leaving Australia with what became a comfortable task of scoring 231 in more than two days for victory.

It was Australia's fourth consecutive win over England and comes four months after they lost the last series 3-0 in England.

English heads dropped when Cook got his right hand to a snick from Rogers on 19 through slips after wicketkeeper Jonny Bairstow failed to respond, and then grassed a straightforward two-handed chance from David Warner (22) off Stuart Broad.

Warner scored only three more runs before he was caught behind off Ben Stokes and Australia's first wicket came down at 64.

Symbolic of England's malaise, Cook did not bring on his specialist spinner Monty Panesar until 90 minutes into the fourth day and he had little effect on stemming the Australian run flow until he finally removed Rogers.

There will be selection questions ahead of the final Ashes Test for an England team in decline with the most pressure on Panesar, Bairstow, whose technique behind the stumps was exposed, and seamer Tim Bresnan.

Actor Farooq Sheikh dies in Dubai

 

Actor Farooq Sheikh, who is best remembered for his performances in films like 'Garm Hava', 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi', 'Chashme Buddoor' and 'Kissi Se Na Kehna', died after suffering a heart attack here.

 

He was 65. "He has passed away," a family member told , without disclosing any further details.

 

The actor was in Dubai apparently for a concert when he suffered the heart attack on late Friday night. His body will be brought to Mumbai later in the day after completing the formalities in Dubai.

 

Sheikh made a tremendous contribution in theatre, films and TV as well. He started his career in Bollywood in 1973 with 'Garm Hava' and is best remembered for his performances in films like 'Shatranj Ke Khiladi', 'Chashme Buddoor', 'Kissi Se Na Kehna', 'Noorie'.

His last film was 'Club 60' and before that he was seen playing the role of a father to Ranbir Kapoor in 'Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'.

He also hosted the popular Zee TV show 'Jeena issi ka naam hai' in which he interviewed many Bollywood celebrities.

Ludhiana acid attack victim succumbs to injuries at National Burns Centre in Mumbai

LUDHIANA:Exactly twenty days after she received severe injuries due to an acid attack while she was getting ready at a beauty palour in Sarabha Nagar in Ludhiana, the 22-year-old from Barnala breathed her last at around 9am on Friday morning.

  National Burns Centre in Mumbai by phone, Devinder Kaur, the shocked mother of the acid attack victim, said, "My daughter has finally given up her battle for life and she died a few minutes ago at around 9am. She was in severe pain for the last few days. The last times she talked to us, was about six days ago and at that time she told us that her pain was increasing by the day. Even at that time she did ask for the groom, who didn't call even once after she suffered the acid attack due to the deeds of his family."

The family members said that they had been awaiting compensation and they received Rs 2 lakh only on Thursday.

"We didn't get compensation all these days and it was only yesterday that we got Rs 2 lakh. We were desperately in need of the money for her treatment but the government gave us the money late," said the victim's elder brother. "We will be probably flying back her dead body back to our native town this evening as ACP crime Gurbans Singh Bains is coming to Mumbai and will be arranging for the same."The doctors treating the acid victim had already suggested that the chance of survival of the girl acid attack victim had already suggested that chance of survival of the girl was only 50%Dr Sunil Manohar Keswani, a plastic surgeon at National Burns Centre Navi Mumbai, who was treating the acid attack victim, had told TOI on Thursday evening that, "For the last five days, she has suffering from early sepsis and all her organs are malfunctioning. During my more than two decades of practice, I haven't seen a patient of acid attack whose wounds are this deep. She has the most extensive acid burns. We wanted to carry out more surgeries on her but her health did not allow us to do so. Though she is stable, her condition is critical as well. As of now there are 50-50 chances of her survival and she has been on ventilator for the last four days."

The 22-year-old bride was attacked by goons hired by the ex wife of her to-be brother-in-law while she was getting ready for her wedding at a salon in Sarabha Nagar on the morning of December 7. She was shifted to Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) immediately after the incident where she underwent treatment for few days before being shifted by air to National Burns Centre in Navi Mumbai by Ludhiana Police on December 12.