Check your Awareness........!!

1. What is the expansion ( Full Form ) of YAHOO..?
Yet Another Hierarchy of Officious Oracle




2. What is the expansion ( Full Form ) of ADIDAS?
ADIDAS- All Day I Dream About Sports





3. Expansion of Star as in Star TV Network?
Satellite Television Asian Region





4. What is expansion of "ICICI?"
Industrial credit and Investments Corporation of India





5. The 1984-85 season. 2nd ODI between India and Pakistan at Sialkot - India 210/3 with Vengsarkar 94*. Match abandoned. Why?
That match was abandoned after people heard the news of Indira Gandhi being killed.





6. Who is the only man to have written the National Anthems for two different countries?
Rabindranath Tagore who wrote national anthem for two different countries one is our 's National

anthem and another one is for Bangladesh- (Amar Sonar* *Bangla )





7. From what four word expression does the word `goodbye` derive?
Goodbye comes from the ex-pression: 'god be with you'.





8. How was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu better known?
Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu is none other Mother Teresa





9. Name the only other country to have got independence on Aug 15th?
South Korea





10. Why was James Bond Associated with the Number 007?
Because 007 is the ISD code for Russia (or the USSR , as it was known during the cold war)





11. Who faced the first ball in the first ever One day match?
Geoffrey Boycott





12. Which cricketer played for South Africa before it was banned from international cricket and later represented Zimbabwe ?
John Traicos





13. Which is the only country that is surrounded from all sides by only one country (other than Vatican )?
Lesotho surrounded from all sides by South Africa ..





14. Which is the only sport which is not allowed to play left handed?
.. Polo.

India Plans ‘Simpler’ Mining Law to Boost Investment

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- India aims to cut permit delays and attract overseas capital through “simpler” resource investment laws to help double mining’s contribution to the nation’s $1.2 trillion economy to at least 4 percent.

“We hope to increase it to 5 percent but expect it to increase to at least 4 percent in five years,” Mines Minister B.K. Handique said in an interview in New Delhi yesterday. The legislation will be presented to parliament in the winter session this year, he said.

Delays in securing mining licenses have undermined India’s efforts to win more investment, holding up construction of $32 billion projects announced ArcelorMittal and Posco, the world’s largest and sixth-largest steelmakers. The new law will develop the changes to the mineral policy last year that have so far failed to unlock development.

“It will be great if the government is able to cut down the long-winded procedure,” Niraj Shah, an analyst at Centrum Capital Ltd., said today. It will help companies who are serious about building operations in India, he said.

India, which holds the world’s fourth-largest bauxite deposits and the fifth-largest iron ore reserves according to McKinsey & Co., currently regulates mining through the five- decade old Mines & Minerals (Development & Regulation) Act.

“We will introduce a legal framework that ensures sustainable development and includes environment concerns,” Handique said. “We have to ensure it’s more broad-based as if there is resistance from people it will not be possible to translate the act into reality.”

Posco, ArcelorMittal

Land disputes and delays in allocating mining licenses have stopped South Korea-based Posco from proceeding with potentially the biggest overseas investment in India. The company is yet to begin building a $12 billion, 12 million metric ton steel plant in eastern Orissa state, planned for more than five years.

“The policy is aimed to make the rules more transparent and simpler,” Handique said. “Posco is a bad precedent but we know that overseas companies want to invest in India and transparent policy will help that,” he said, adding that he also expects the law changes to spark investment from domestic companies.

“We hope the government approves the mine license soon, then we would like to secure land and start the project as soon as possible,” Choi Doo Jin, a spokesman at Posco, said by phone from Seoul today.

ArcelorMittal has proposed setting up two mills in India, one in Orissa and another in Jharkhand -- with a total capacity of 24 million tons. It signed an accord for the Jharkhand mill in mid- 2005, followed by the one in Orissa.

Besides companies, countries including South Africa, Namibia and Colombia have shown interest in investing in the mining sector, Handique said.

Review : Kaminey

Kaminey is the best Bollywood film I’ve seen this year. It’s an audacious, original rollercoaster ride. Written and directed by Vishal Bharadwaj, Kaminey requires patience and attention but the pay off is more than worth it.

Kaminey is about Charlie and Guddu, twin brothers played by Shahid Kapoor, both of whom suffer from speech impediments and who can’t stand the sight of each other. Charlie, who pronounces S as F, is a small time gangster. Guddu, who stammers, is a mousy NGO worker. Guddu’s life plans, chalked out until 2014 on a chart stuck in his cupboard, are wrecked when he impregnates Sweety, his fiery girlfriend who until now has neglected to tell him that she is the sister of a powerful gangster-politician, Bhope, played by Amol Gupte. Meanwhile Charlie has come to possess a guitar containing cocaine worth 10 crore. The quintessential gambler thinks he’s finally hit the big score. What follows is a frantic, convoluted journey through Mumbai’s mean streets which are of course populated by many Kamineys: corrupt cops, nasty drug dealers, gun wielding henchmen. Eventually, the brothers’ determinedly separate narratives collide and they are forced to come together.

Be warned: there are stretches of Kaminey that will thoroughly confuse you, starting with the first fifteen minutes. The film has eleven-odd characters that you need to keep track of. Snatches of dialogue are in Bengali and Marathi. If you look away from the screen to send a text message, you might miss another twist in this very, very tangled tale. The first half moves slowly. You might be bewildered and perhaps even bored. But stay with the film. Because the pacing picks up in the second half and Vishal ties up the threads in an exhilarating climax, which, incredibly enough, manages to combine stunning violence with humor.

Kaminey is that rarest of things: an unpredictable Hindi movie. Vishal, referencing the crackling gangster dramas of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, keeps it gritty and dark. Violence looms large over Kaminey but the tension is layered with black humor. The film reworks Hindi cinema’s favorite formula - twins - into a bloody theater of the absurd. Charlie and Guddu are unlike any twins you’ve seen before. Each one is willing to sacrifice the other to get what he wants. This is the role or roles of a lifetime and Shahid Kapoor, best known for innocuous chocolate-boy romances, sinks his teeth in. Kaminey does for him what Omkara did for Saif Ali Khan. A star has evolved into an actor.

Sweety is this year’s most exciting heroine after Paro in Dev D, and Priyanka plays her with aplomb. Only her perfectly manicured nails struck me as out of synch with her character. Vishal has equal affection for the smaller players: from the coke-addled Mikhail played nicely by Chandan Roy Sanyal to the Jai Maharashtra-spouting Bhope. Each one is flesh and blood.

Kaminey will take some getting used to. It isn’t the comfort food that Bollywood normally dishes out. But I strongly recommend that you see it. This taste is worth acquiring.

INTERVIEW - Greenspan sees strong finish to 2009, worries on 2010

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is probably due for two strong quarters of economic growth to close out 2009, but the recovery may falter next year, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said on Monday.

"I think we're OK for the next six months," Greenspan told Reuters in an interview. "We are getting a recovery in (housing) starts and motor vehicles, but the process doesn't have legs to it."

Auto sales and housing, normally the driving forces behind economic recovery, got a boost from government efforts such as the $3 billion "cash-for-clunkers" trade-in program, which encouraged consumers to buy new cars, but it may not be sustainable.

Greenspan, who stepped down as Fed chairman in 2006 after 18 years at the helm, said the U.S. market for autos was "saturated," with 20 percent more cars and light trucks on the road than there are licensed drivers.

With U.S. consumers' finances still shaky after three years of housing market declines, new vehicle sales may fade once the clunker program's cash is exhausted.

As for new home sales, a sharp drop in construction is helping homebuilders clear inventory, but Greenspan said it was unlikely that the rate of U.S. homeownership would return to the boomtime peak, which will keep home sales subdued.

While he has been lauded for presiding over the longest uninterrupted period of economic growth in modern U.S. history from 1991 to 2001, his record has recently come under harsher scrutiny.

Some economy watchers note that it was during Greenspan's tenure at the Fed that the housing bubble inflated.

Critics argue that under his leadership, the Fed kept short-term borrowing costs too low for too long after the 2001 recession, sowing the seeds of the housing and easy credit bubble that contributed to the financial crisis.

Greenspan has defended his record repeatedly, saying global forces overwhelmed the U.S. central bank's efforts to raise borrowing costs.

He has also maintained that bubbles cannot be detected until they burst.

What gives him confidence that the last half of 2009 will generate strong growth is primarily a sharp drop in inventories of goods.

Consumption has been running about 1-1/4 percentage points above the level of economic output. In order to close that gap, companies need to make more goods, which would generate gross domestic product growth on the order of 4 percent to 5 percent if it happened all in one quarter and 2.5 percent per quarter if spread out over six months.

A rebound in stock markets since March 2009 lows may also add some fuel to the recovery by helping companies obtain cheaper sources of funding and rebuilding household wealth.

"The 50 percent rise in corporate equities in the United States, and more than that in the rest of the world, has created an important buffer for debt," he said. "The consequent major contraction of yield spreads across the globe has added more fiscal stimulus than anybody realizes."

Monsoon Revival Boosts India’s Sugar Cane, Rice Crops

Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- A revival in India’s monsoon rains is helping ease dry weather that’s caused drought in a third of the nation’s districts and dented sowing of rice and sugar cane, a weather bureau official said.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that there was “no need to panic” as the nation has “adequate stock of wheat and rice” to face the drought.

Uttar Pradesh, the country’s biggest cane grower, Madhya Pradesh, the largest soybeans producer, and Bihar, a top grower of rice and corn, received “good rain” over the past few days, said Ajit Tyagi, director general of the India Meteorological Department, from New Delhi today.

The monsoon season, which brings about three-quarters of the nation’s annual rainfall, may be the driest in seven years, Tyagi said last week, curbing farm output in the world’s second- biggest producer of rice, wheat and sugar. As many as 209 of 626 districts have declared drought, the farm ministry said.

“A lot of paddy crop has been saved in Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh because of irrigation,” Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar told reporters in New Delhi earlier today before a meeting of chief ministers with Singh to discuss the drought. Recent rains may have helped the crops, he said.

Rice, the nation’s biggest monsoon-sown crops, has been the worst hit: the crop area has fallen 19 percent from a year ago to 24.7 million hectares as of Aug. 12, the farm ministry said. Cane has been planted to 4.25 million hectares, compared with 4.38 million hectares a year earlier.

More Electricity

The government will divert more electricity to farmers so that pumps can be run for longer hours to draw water from tube- wells for irrigating fields, Chandrashekar said. Farmers will be asked to sow short-duration crops, such as oilseeds and lentils, to counter the fall in farm output, he said.

India’s farmers will have to increase the area of coverage in the winter crop to “salvage” the losses in the monsoon crop, Farm Minister Sharad Pawar said in a statement posted on the government’s Web site today. “Every effort has to be taken to contain and moderate” price increases, including controlling speculative tendencies in the market, he said.

Fuel Subsidy

Pawar last month said the government will give a 10-billion rupee subsidy for diesel used to operate water pumps. The assistance hasn’t reached farmers, said Sukhbir Singh Badal, deputy chief minister of Punjab, the nation’s top grower of rice and wheat.

“Farmers should have got free diesel by now,” he told reporters in New Delhi. “If we get more subsidized power and diesel, we may be able to save the paddy crop and match the target” of 13.7 million tons, he said.

Monsoon rain may be similar to 2002, when showers were 19.2 percent below average and the nation faced its worst drought in 12 years, Tyagi said last week. The deficit since the start of this season on June 1 has widened to 29 percent as of Aug. 12, from 25 percent a week ago, the weather bureau said last week.

Falls were 43 percent below average in the northwest, which includes states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Shortfall was 23 percent in peninsular India, which includes Maharashtra, the second-biggest grower of sugar cane and cotton.

The weather office has pared the forecast for August rain to between 85-to-90 percent of the long-period average from 101 percent predicted in June. Showers in July, the wettest month in the June-September season, were more than predicted, following the driest June in 83 years.

Most Asian Stocks Fall Amid Growth Concerns; James Hardie Rises

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Most Asian stocks fell, led by commodity companies, after metals prices slumped amid concern the global economic recovery will fail to meet investors’ expectations.

Mitsubishi Corp., which generates nearly half its revenue from trading commodities, sank 2.2 percent in Tokyo, while Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. lost 3.1 percent in Sydney. James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., surged 21 percent after forecasting profit at the high end of analyst estimates. Everbright Securities Co. soared 34 percent on its first trading day in Shanghai.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.3 percent to 110.26 as of 12:05 p.m. in Tokyo. Two stocks declined for each one that advanced. The gauge sank 3.1 percent yesterday, paring its rally from a more than five-year low on March 9 to 57 percent.

“These technical corrections, profit taking and pullbacks are to be expected, but my feeling is that they’ll be relatively shallow,” said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about $1.2 billion at Platypus Asset Management in Sydney. “Valuations looked stretched, but as long as earnings keep going up, they will start to look more normal as time goes by.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.4 percent. Casio Computer Co. rose 5.8 percent after Credit Suisse Group AG increased its rating on the electronics maker. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.6 percent.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7 percent, extending yesterday’s 5.8 percent slump, which was the steepest since November. Air China Ltd. sank 7.1 percent on concern it may have paid too much to raise its stake in Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.

Trailing Estimates

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.3 percent. The gauge fell 2.4 percent yesterday, extending a global stock slump after figures on Japan’s economic growth trailed some economists’ estimates and foreign direct investment in China dropped for a 10th month. The MSCI World Index was little changed today after sinking 2.8 percent yesterday.

Reports last week showed that Chinese exports dropped in July, lending fell, and investment growth slowed, while Australia’s statistics bureau said wage growth stalled last quarter as the worst global slump since the Great Depression drove up unemployment.

Mitsubishi sank 2.2 percent to 1,880 yen. Mitsui & Co., a trading house that generates more than half its profit from metals and energy, lost 1.8 percent to 1,219. Fortescue slumped 3.1 percent to A$4.44, following a 10 percent advance in the four previous trading days.

Metal Prices Gain

A measure of six metals, including copper and zinc, traded on the London Metal Exchange fell 2.7 percent yesterday to the lowest level in a week. Copper futures in New York dropped 2.3 percent, while oil sank 1.1 percent.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rallied 62 percent through Aug. 14 from its March 9 low on speculation a global economic recovery will boost earnings. Companies in the gauge trade at 1.57 times book value, compared with 1.03 times at the March low. The benchmark has averaged about 1.7 times book value since 2001.

“We were due for a correction, but the overall rising trend for the market remains as earnings and the economy are on the mend,” said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Tokyo- based Daiwa Asset Management Co., which oversees the equivalent of $89 billion.

A third of the 503 companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index that have reported results since early July have beaten analysts’ profit estimates, while 18 percent have missed, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

James Hardie

James Hardie, which reported a first-quarter loss on declining earnings from the U.S., surged 21 percent to A$6.97. The company said it expects full-year operating profit at the high end of analysts’ forecasts, excluding costs relating to asbestos claims, and that the U.S. housing slump may be easing.

Everbright Securities, the first Chinese brokerage to make an initial public offering in almost seven years, soared 34 percent to 28.21 yuan. The company raised 11 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) by selling shares to institutional and retail investors.

Air China, the world’s biggest airline by market value, sank 7.1 percent to 7.29 yuan. The company said it will spend HK$6.3 billion ($813 million) raising its stake in Cathay Pacific to 29.99 percent. Cathay lost 1 percent to HK$11.50.

“Further alignment with Cathay will enhance Air China’s strategic control of China’s most important international gateways -- Beijing and Hong Kong,” said Ally Ma, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. Still, the price “seems too high and disappoints our positive view on Air China.”

In Tokyo, Casio gained 5.8 percent to 788 yen. Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “underperform” amid optimism the company will restore profits in money-losing businesses.

Most Asian Stocks Fall Amid Growth Concerns; James Hardie Rises

Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Most Asian stocks fell, led by commodity companies, after metals prices slumped amid concern the global economic recovery will fail to meet investors’ expectations.

Mitsubishi Corp., which generates nearly half its revenue from trading commodities, sank 2.2 percent in Tokyo, while Fortescue Metals Group Ltd. lost 3.1 percent in Sydney. James Hardie Industries NV, the biggest seller of home siding in the U.S., surged 21 percent after forecasting profit at the high end of analyst estimates. Everbright Securities Co. soared 34 percent on its first trading day in Shanghai.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dropped 0.3 percent to 110.26 as of 12:05 p.m. in Tokyo. Two stocks declined for each one that advanced. The gauge sank 3.1 percent yesterday, paring its rally from a more than five-year low on March 9 to 57 percent.

“These technical corrections, profit taking and pullbacks are to be expected, but my feeling is that they’ll be relatively shallow,” said Prasad Patkar, who helps manage about $1.2 billion at Platypus Asset Management in Sydney. “Valuations looked stretched, but as long as earnings keep going up, they will start to look more normal as time goes by.”

Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average gained 0.4 percent. Casio Computer Co. rose 5.8 percent after Credit Suisse Group AG increased its rating on the electronics maker. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index added 0.6 percent.

The Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.7 percent, extending yesterday’s 5.8 percent slump, which was the steepest since November. Air China Ltd. sank 7.1 percent on concern it may have paid too much to raise its stake in Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd.

Trailing Estimates

Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index gained 0.3 percent. The gauge fell 2.4 percent yesterday, extending a global stock slump after figures on Japan’s economic growth trailed some economists’ estimates and foreign direct investment in China dropped for a 10th month. The MSCI World Index was little changed today after sinking 2.8 percent yesterday.

Reports last week showed that Chinese exports dropped in July, lending fell, and investment growth slowed, while Australia’s statistics bureau said wage growth stalled last quarter as the worst global slump since the Great Depression drove up unemployment.

Mitsubishi sank 2.2 percent to 1,880 yen. Mitsui & Co., a trading house that generates more than half its profit from metals and energy, lost 1.8 percent to 1,219. Fortescue slumped 3.1 percent to A$4.44, following a 10 percent advance in the four previous trading days.

Metal Prices Gain

A measure of six metals, including copper and zinc, traded on the London Metal Exchange fell 2.7 percent yesterday to the lowest level in a week. Copper futures in New York dropped 2.3 percent, while oil sank 1.1 percent.

The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rallied 62 percent through Aug. 14 from its March 9 low on speculation a global economic recovery will boost earnings. Companies in the gauge trade at 1.57 times book value, compared with 1.03 times at the March low. The benchmark has averaged about 1.7 times book value since 2001.

“We were due for a correction, but the overall rising trend for the market remains as earnings and the economy are on the mend,” said Yoshinori Nagano, a senior strategist at Tokyo- based Daiwa Asset Management Co., which oversees the equivalent of $89 billion.

A third of the 503 companies in the MSCI Asia Pacific Index that have reported results since early July have beaten analysts’ profit estimates, while 18 percent have missed, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

James Hardie

James Hardie, which reported a first-quarter loss on declining earnings from the U.S., surged 21 percent to A$6.97. The company said it expects full-year operating profit at the high end of analysts’ forecasts, excluding costs relating to asbestos claims, and that the U.S. housing slump may be easing.

Everbright Securities, the first Chinese brokerage to make an initial public offering in almost seven years, soared 34 percent to 28.21 yuan. The company raised 11 billion yuan ($1.6 billion) by selling shares to institutional and retail investors.

Air China, the world’s biggest airline by market value, sank 7.1 percent to 7.29 yuan. The company said it will spend HK$6.3 billion ($813 million) raising its stake in Cathay Pacific to 29.99 percent. Cathay lost 1 percent to HK$11.50.

“Further alignment with Cathay will enhance Air China’s strategic control of China’s most important international gateways -- Beijing and Hong Kong,” said Ally Ma, an analyst at Citigroup Inc. Still, the price “seems too high and disappoints our positive view on Air China.”

In Tokyo, Casio gained 5.8 percent to 788 yen. Credit Suisse upgraded the stock to “outperform” from “underperform” amid optimism the company will restore profits in money-losing businesses.