I-T crackdown on undisclosed Swiss account holders

NEW DELHI: In a first of its kind crackdown against those stashing unaccounted wealth overseas, the income tax department has launched an offensive against politicians and industrials who had parked money in HSBC Bank, Geneva.

Under pressure to act against black money andmoney laundering, the tax department has conducted at least 50 searches over the last two months. The move follows receipts of details regarding 700 bank accounts from the French government.

The list of those under the lens includes a top Mumbai-based industrialist who during questioning admitted to having family accounts in HSBC, Geneva with deposits totaling more than Rs 800 crore. Summons have also been issued to three Members of Parliament (MPs) from Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala to appear for questioning at the Delhi office of I-T department's recently-set up Directorate of Criminal Investigation (DCI). The MPs would be asked to explain the source of funds in the Geneva accounts.

In addition, recovery of over Rs 300 crore has already been made from several evaders, although some of those whose names figured on the list have refused to admit to having Swiss bank accounts. But unwilling to give up in the face of mounting scrutiny from the courts, the tax department is also making enquiries overseas to get details of nearly 300 cases of undisclosed wealth.

A senior finance ministry official told TOI that looking at the gravity of the cases and their overall impact, the government has handed over the entire investigation to the Delhi office of DCI. This will also help prosecute those accused of parking black money in tax havens.

Unlike Liechtenstein, where the tax department levied penalties amounting to around around Rs 25 crore against some 18 persons whose names were shared by German authorities, this time the government intends to invoke stringent provisions of the I-T Act to set a precedent. This could mean that those found guilty of evasion could not just face monetary penalty but also end up spending between five and ten years behind bars.

As part of the assault on tax evasion and money laundering, the government has asked the Central Board of Direct Taxes ( CBDT) to disallow any compounding of penalty and instead go for prosecuting the accused, something the I-T department had fought shy of in the past.

So far, the accused were only tried under Prevention of Corruption Act, and even that was limited to public servants. The I-T Act was merely treated as civil law and tax evaders were let off after they coughed up penalty.

Besides these account details, the Income Tax is in possession of nearly 10,000 pieces of information on high-value suspicious transactions undertaken by Indians overseas. Investigations have started in all these cases and references have also been made to enforcement agencies abroad to seek more details.

England would have lost Test series too had there been one: Shastri

KOLKATA: Former Indian cricketer Ravi Shastri has made light of England's poor display in the recent one-day international series in India, saying that the hosts would have pounded them just as badly had there been aTest series as well.

Speaking to mediapersons, Shastri attributed India's drubbing on their England tour to fatigue.

"I'm not surprised one bit. When India were in England, they were a little under-prepared and they were tired. They were jaded. The World Cup took a lot out of them. (In) India, thank God there was no four Test match series. You might have had a 4-0 score and all Test matches would have got over in four days," he said.

The former India Test cricketer was upbeat about India's upcoming tour of Australia. He said that while the tour would be challenging, the prospect of facing the formidable ex-champions at home with a young team was exciting.

"It will be challenging. Traveling overseas (with) lots of youngsters, it will be challenging. Australia, at home are a strong side, but I'm sure India will do a lot better than they did in England," he added.

India face England in their only Twenty20 International on Saturday (October 29), having beaten the visitors 5-0 in the ODI series.

India's stellar performance comes very shortly after a dismal tour of England, where the injury-ridden team lost its top spot in Tests and slid down the one-day rankings after failing to secure a single victory.

Saudi Arabia names new crown prince

RIYADH: Saudi state TV says the kingdom has named a new crown prince.

Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz Al Saud, the kingdom's tough-talking interior minister, was named heir to the Saudi throne following the death of the previous crown prince late last week.

Prince Nayef has led crackdowns on Islamic militants but has also shown favor to ultraconservative traditions, such as keeping the ban on women voting.

He is set to assume the throne upon the death of King Abdullah, 87, who is recovering from his third operation to treat back problems in less than a year.

Prince Nayef, 78, was also named prime minister in addition to keeping his job as interior minister.

Post-26/11, Mukherjee's words rattled Pakistan: Condoleezza Rice

WASHINGTON: Tough talking by then external affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, following the 26/11 attacks, rattled Pakistan so much that it pressed the panic button and called everyone from Chinese to the Americans saying that India has decided to go to war.
At one point, the then secretary of state,Condoleezza Rice also panicked temporarily after she could not get Mukherjee on line even after repeated attempts.
"The Pakistanis say the Indians have warned them that they've decided to go to war," a White House aide anxiously called Rice.
As a result of the wrong rumour coming out of Pakistan, the then US President George Bushasked her to travel to Islamabad and New Delhi to defuse the situation, Rice says in her latest book 'No High Honors' that is scheduled to hit the book stores next week.
"What?" Rice uttered after the White House aide told her about the message from Pakistan.
"That isn't what they're (India) telling me. In my many conversations with the Indians over the two days, they'd emphasised their desire to defuse the situation and their need for the Pakistanis to do something to show that they accepted responsibility for tracking down the terrorists," Rice wrote in her 766-page book.
Rice asked the operations centre to get Mukherjee on the phone, but they couldn't reach him.
Consequently she started getting nervous and she thought that Mukherjee was trying to avoid her as New Delhi was preparing for war.
"I called back again. No response. By now the international phone lines were buzzing with the news. The Pakistanis were calling everyone--the Saudis, the Emiratis, the Chinese. Finally Mukherjee called back. I told him what I'd heard," Rice wrote.
''What?' he said. 'I'm in my constituency. (The Indians were preparing for elections, and Mukherjee, who was a member of Parliament, was at home campaigning.) Would I be outside New Delhi if we were about to launch a war?'" Mukherjee asked.
Rice said Mukherjee explained that the Pakistani foreign minister ( Shah Mehmood Qureshi) had taken his stern words in their recent phone call the wrong way.
"'I said they were leaving us no choice but to go to war', he said," Rice recalled adding "This is getting dangerous, I thought."
On her emergency visit to New Delhi after the Mumbai attacks, Rice said Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and the foreign minister both categorically told her that they were against war, despite increasing public pressure, but wanted Pakistan to do something.
And when she arrived in Islamabad, the Pakistani leadership were still denying what the world knew by then that the attackers were from Pakistan.
"The Pakistanis were at once terrified and in the same breath dismissive of the Indian claims. President Zardari emphasised his desire to avoid war but couldn't bring himself to acknowledge Pakistan's likely role in the attacks," Rice writes.
Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani, in a long speech told her that terrorists who had launched the attack had nothing to do with Pakistan.
"Mr Prime Minister, I said, either you're lying to me or your people are lying to you. I then went on to tell him what we--the United States--knew about the origins of the attack," she wrote.
"I didn't accuse Pakistan's government of involvement; that wasn't the point. But rogues within the security services might have aided the terrorists. It was time to admit that and to investigate more seriously," she said.
"Finally, I went to meet the chief of staff, General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani. Our military liked him and considered him honest and effective. He was the one person who, even if he couldn't admit responsibility, understood that Pakistan would have to give an accounting of what had happened. That was a start," she wrote.
In this separate chapter on Mumbai, Rice recollects receiving frantic calls from the American Ambassadors in New Delhi and Islamabad.
"Ambassador (David) Mulford's message was stark. 'There is war fever here. I don't know if the Prime Minister can hold out. Everyone knows that the terrorists came from Pakistan'.
"I then talked to Anne (Patterson). Her message was just as clear. 'They have their heads in the sand,' she said," Rice wrote in her book.

Indian-American gets job, USD 295,000 in discrimination case in US

WASHINGTON: Six years after he was denied prison guard's job in California as he refused to shave off his beard required by his Sikh religion, an Indian-American has finally been appointed as a correctional officer in the prison and won USD 295,000 in damages.

Trilochan Singh Oberoi, 63, has reached a settlement in this regard with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) as a result of which he would start his duty as a correctional officer from November 1.

"Oberoi's legal battle exemplifies the challenges many Sikhs face in the US in seeking private and government employment after 9/11, as widespread ignorance, prejudice and hate pose serious challenges to equal opportunity for South Asians, and particularly Sikh Americans, who are often mistaken for Middle Eastern terrorists," said attorney Harmeet K Dhillon, who represented Oberoi.

In 2005, Oberoi applied for a position as a correctional officer with the CDCR, according to a statement issued on Friday.

Oberoi advanced to the final stage of the application process, which involved being fit-tested with a particular model of tight-fitting respirator mask, and was told that he could not take the test unless he were to shave off his beard.

Oberoi requested that the CDCR accommodate his religiously mandated beard, but was not granted such an accommodation and was not hired by the CDCR in any capacity.

After making numerous attempts over the next year to ascertain the status of his accommodation request, in February 2007, he filed an appeal with the California State Personnel Board (SPB) concerning the CDCR's denial of his opportunity to complete the correctional officer application because of his religiously-mandated beard.

Army needs Rs 41,000 crore to rev up waning firepower

Holding that the “hollowness” in ammunition and equipment is “still critical”, the 11th Plan review to the defence ministry says around Rs 41,000 crore will be required “to make up current deficiencies”.

NEW DELHI: The Navy and IAF may be on the modernization track at a pace that's much slower than desired, but it's the Army which seems to be floundering. The 1.13-million-strong force needs as much as Rs 41,000 crore to meet even existing shortages in equipment and ammunition.

The Army has painted a grim picture in its 11th Plan (2007-2012) review, pointing at operational gaps artillery, aviation, air defence & nightfighting capabilities, ATGMs (anti-tank guided missiles), PGMs (precision-guided munitions) and specialized tank and rifle ammunition, say sources.

Holding that the "hollowness" in ammunition and equipment is "still critical", the 11th Plan review to the defence ministry says around Rs 41,000 crore will be required "to make up current deficiencies". This, when both China and Pakistan are rapidly modernizing their forces.

Incidentally, the Army itself has projected the remote but nevertheless plausible eventuality of a simultaneous "two-front war" in a worst-case scenario, as was first reported by TOI earlier.

But the force is nowhere near 100% operational capability, which an earlier projection held would be possible only by the end of the 14th Plan in 2027.

Take, for instance, ATGMs. While "authorized holding" for these missiles is over 80,000, just about half that number is actually held by the infantry, mechanized infantry and armoured corps, say sources. Similarly, the Bofors ghost is yet to be exorcised, with the force failing to induct any new 155mm howitzers since the infamous 1980s scandal.

A senior official, however, said, "Deficiencies are being made up. The Defence Acquisitions Council and Cabinet Committee on Security have cleared some major contracts. It will take some time for the equipment to reach troops."

The Bofors ghost is yet to be exorcised, with the force failing to induct any new 155mm howitzers since the 1980s scam.

Tendulkar listened to too many people as captain: Lele

Sachin Tendulkar

MUMBAI: He sits on a pile of batting records but Sachin Tendulkar's 'not-so-impressive' stint as captain remains an abiding paradox in Indian cricket and former BCCI secretary JY Lele feels it was because he used to pay heed to too many advices.


For a cricketer who has made it a habit of breaking one record after another and is on the threshold of another - 100 international centuries - the champion batsman has a modest captaincy record to boast of.


Lele, in his newly published book, 'I Was There - Memoirs of a Cricket Administrator', writes that Tendulkar used to pay heed to too many advices and thought it was disrespectful to ignore suggestions from elders.


"Sachin could not exactly prove himself as a successful captain, though as a player he is a legend, the greatest! I need not specially write about his unmatched batting prowess, as it is a worldwide accepted fact and volumes have gone into describing his cricketing skills. When I saw him step down as captain, I was in tears!" writes Lele in his memoirs.


"I consider myself lucky that I got many opportunities to interact with him when he was captain. His biggest problem was that he used to listen to too many people. Basically a very soft, rather shy, cultured gentleman, Sachin played international cricket at the tender age of 16 plus, and from then on, formed the habit of respecting elders. He thought it was his duty to implement what they suggested. While doing so, he sometimes did not apply his mind. In deserving cases, it proved advantageous, in others, otherwise," Lele writes.


Lele also says that Tendulkar, at least on one occasion, listened to someone else's recommendation and backed a player without knowing that he had been dropped by his own Ranji Trophy team.


"A classic example came at the very beginning of his stint. In the series against South Africa, after the Kanpur Test match, the selection committee met to select the team for the next match in Ahmedabad. Chairman Kishan Rungta was a no-nonsense man and the best selector, who always attended meetings well-informed, to do justice to his job," writes Lele.


"At that meeting, Sachin said that Mumbai's Nilesh Kulkarni was a fine bowler and as he had taken 26 wickets the previous season, he should find a place in the team. Rungta asked him, "Yeh wickets usane kaunsi tournament me liye? (In which tournament has he had taken these wickets?) Have you seen him bowl?


"Sachin fumbled. Though he himself was a Mumbai player, he had rarely played a Ranji Trophy match for Mumbai for some time due to his busy international schedule, nor had he followed the scores. 'No sir, but I know he has taken 26 wickets and is very good'," Sachin continued tentatively.


Rungta said, "Dear skipper, I might have given thought to your recommendation if you had seen him bowl. Now, let me tell you for your kind information that in the current season, Mumbai has played two Ranji matches and Kulkarni has not played a single. He was dropped from the team. Tell me, how can a player find a place in the national team when he is not found worthy of selection in the local team?"


"Sachin had no answer. The fact was that someone had strongly recommended Kulkarni's name and without cross-checking the records, Sachin blindly put his proposal forth and unfortunately had to cut a sorry figure!" Lele writes.


Lele, whose stint as a BCCI office-bearer almost coincided with the master-blaster's grand entry into international cricket, has also revealed that Tendulkar was intent on quitting the captaincy in the midst of the opening Test against South Africa in 1999-2000 and finally hung up his boots as captain after the Test series got over.

After Ramdev, Anna, Sri Sri Ravishankar is plan C of RSS-BJP: Digvijaya Singh

NEW DELHI: Upping the ante, Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday alleged that the anti-corruption stir by Anna Hazare and Ramdev were part of an over-all plan of RSS- BJP to divert attention from Sangh's "terror links" and warned spiritual guru Sri Sri Ravishankar that he too could be used by them.
The AICC general secretary said that while Ramdev and Anna Hazare were plan A and B of the Sangh-BJP, Sri Sri Ravishankar is plan C and asked the spiritual guru to be "wary" of the two organisations.
Singh remarked on the microblogging site Twitter "Plan A, B and C are of Sangh/ BJP to divert the minds of the people from their involvement in terror activities to corruption."
Later talking to reporters, he said that plan A of this over-all scheme has been Baba Ramdev, B is Anna and C is Sri Sri Ravishankar.
"I hold Sri Ravi Shankarji in high esteem and have done a course in the Art of Living as CM MP in 2001. He should be wary of Sangh/ BJP," Singh remarked in another post on twitter.
Reacting to it, Sri Sri said, "People write so many things. I do not react to every comment. Everybody is entitled to his views."
Singh, however, told reporters that all this is a part of an over-all plan of RSS-BJP combine to "divert" the attention of the people of the country "to corruption from the issue of involvement of Sangh activists in terror activities" in Malegaon, Modasa, Hyderabad, Ajmersharif and Samjhouta Express."
Claiming that the UPA government under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi and Prime MinisterManmohan Singh has taken "all posstible steps" including to bring Right to Information (RTI) Act and making Money Laundering (Prohibition) Act stricter to check corruption, Singh charged that BJP's record on action over charges of corruption has been "pathetic".
Reacting sharply to Singh's charges, BJP said the Congress leader was attempting to "demonise" all those who are fighting against corruption.

"I compliment Digvijaya Singh for his important plan of almost shameless way of demonising all those who are fighting against corruption. Good luck to him. The more he speaks, more the Congress will lose its credibility," chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

Singh has in the past accused RSS of "spreading terrorism and making bomb factories". Following the anti-graft agitation by yoag guru Ramdev and Team Anna, the Congress leader has alleged that they were being backed by the Sangh.

Noting that the UPA has taken action against corrupt people in spite of the fact that they were allies, Singh questioned, "Why BJP did not register a case against (its former president) Bangaru Laxman under Prevention of Corruption Act when he was caught on camera taking money?

"Why was the BJP MP ( Dilip Singh Judev) not sent to jail when he was caught on television cameras accepting bribe. Why a case was not registered against Jaya Jaitley whe she was caught on tape striking deal with arms-dealers in the house of then defence minister ( George Fernandes)?"

Nokia unveils first Windows phones

Nokia unveiled two sleek new Microsoft Windows phones on Wednesday in time for Christmas, a first step in the ailing cellphone maker's fightback against Apple and Google.

Chief Executive Stephen Elop presented the two new smartphones, the first fruits of his big bet on Microsoft software, to a 3,000-strong audience in London, saying they represented the beginning of a new era for the Finnish giant.

"It's a new dawn for Nokia," Elop said as he unveiled the high-end Lumia 800 and mid-range Lumia 710, which will go on sale in key European markets next month.

Elop said the world's biggest cellphone maker had transformed itself during his 13-month tenure, which has seen a shake-up of senior management and thousands of lay-offs.

"It is a different company operating on a different clock speed," he said. "The amount of effort and passion and work that's been accomplished that we were able to show off today is the best evidence of that."

Nokia shares, which have halved in value since Elop announced his high-risk partnership with Microsoft and ditched its old software platform in February, were up 3.1 percent at 1323 GMT, outperforming the wider market.

Elop said the new phones' minimalist design and superior navigation features would make them stand out among rival Windows phones, some of which have been faster to market with Microsoft's new Mango mobile platform.

Christian Lindholm, a partner at design agency Fjord who formerly managed Nokia's classic S60 and S40 user interfaces, said the new phones showed a renewed confidence in Nokia's traditional strengths.

"They're getting back to their roots -- simplicity," he said. "They've stripped out the noise and focused on what people need to communicate, navigate and socialise."

FIRST RESULTS: Analysts were positive about the new phones, though they said the first results of the Nokia-Microsoft pairing remained well short of an iPhone killer.

"These devices are a good start, but the reality is that they are pretty much plain vanilla Windows Phone products," said Ben Wood, director of research at UK-based telecoms analysis firm CCS Insight.

"The real fruits of Nokia's and Microsoft's labours will come next year ... but it remains a Herculean task to recapture this lucrative market from Apple and (Google platform) Android."

The Lumia 800, with vivid colours and a curved, black display, features Windows Phone's live icons on the home screen, which automatically update news, weather and Facebook feeds.

It also boasts free navigation and Microsoft's new Internet Explorer 9 browser, and will sell for about 420 euros ($584) excluding taxes and subsidies, putting it in the same bracket as Apple's iPhone and Samsung's top Galaxy phones.

The Lumia 710 will sell for about 270 euros. "The Lumia phones do have some strong selling points in their own right ... and they offer a look and feel that's radically different from anything seen previously on a Nokia device," said John Delaney, research director at technology research firm IDC.

HERCULEAN TASK: Nokia has suffered most in recent years in the United States, where operators have spurned its offerings in favour of the iPhone and popular Android models such as the Motorola

Droid. Elop said the company planned a portfolio of new products for the US market early next year, and said Nokia did have US carrier support.

In Europe, Nokia has launched the new phones with the support of 31 operators and retailers, which will help push the phones into the hands of consumers and secure subsidies.

Microsoft's mobile platform has a market share of just 2-3 per cent, compared with Android's near 50 per cent and Apple's 15 per cent of the smartphone market.

Analysts and developers said Microsoft's platform was emerging as the third player at a fortuitous time, when Google's planned $12.5 billion offer for Motorola Mobility was creating uncertainty among other Android phone makers.

"They got really lucky. There is a lot of confusion in the Android marketplace now," said Carolina Milanesi, analyst with technology research firm Gartner.

Elop said it was an open question as to how much disruption the Google-Motorola deal would have, but said any indication of problems should help.

"I think that any confusion or questions in the other ecosystems can be something that can be an advantage to the Windows Phone," Elop said.

The phones will go on sale in France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Britain in November, and in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan before the end of the year.

Nokia also unveiled four new basic phones for emerging markets, where it still holds a leading position. 

RA.One review

G.One clinging by a Mumbai local

Cast: Shahrukh Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Armaan Verma, Shahana Goswami, Tom Wu

Directed by Anubhav Sinha

Rating: Not even One

Science fiction is an oxymoron. And when this genre is sprinkled with moronic humour and logic takes a beating from hell, you know you've punched your tickets for 'RA.One'. With metallic blue and red costumes right out of Falguni Pathak's wardrobe, this out-of-console experience offers laughs, dances and androids touching humans in more ways than considered socially acceptable. Insert coin to read more.

The film sweeps us into a video game fantasy where anything is possible (with a 175-crore-budget, it better be). Game developer, Shekhar Subramanium (Shahrukh Khan) wants to earn his son, Prateek's (Armaan Verma) love and respect. And the only thing that gives Prateek joy is to see his joystick twiddling to spell doom for the most vicious video game super-villain ever. So daddy makes a baddie just like that and calls it RA.One (Arjun Rampal). The game also has a not-so-indestructible superhero called G.One (an emotionally challenged Shahrukh). Please read the box carefully for the 25 permutation-combinations in which RA.One and G.One can kill each other (something to do with the heart being in the body and not in the pocket or anywhere else during combat).

Anyway, it gets nasty as our virtual warriors tear out of the game, 'Terminator 2'-style. Also, thanks to some goofy programming, RA.One is hell-bent on killing Prateek. Naturally, G.One has to do the rescuing and being an android, do it without getting teary-eyed or romantic with Prateek's mum, Sonia (Kareena Kapoor). But who said robots can't ham or chant prophetic life-changing verses coded by its master? No.One!

Humour based on linguistic stereotypes may have worked in 'Zabaan Sambhalke' but now it hardly earns a chuckle. This is assuming the average audience intellect dictates that Tamilians don't always say 'Aiyoo' or pronounce 'keys' as 'kiss'. And even if they do, no amount of laughter track can make this seem funny. No.Fun!

'RA.One' does what no other Sci-Fi movie has done before: it mocks itself. So, the superhero who is manually stopping trains in one scene, is also burning his crotch or sneezing out metallic wires in another. No respect.

Shahrukh's robotic expressions will remind you of his 'My Name is Khan' role, as he confuses machines with differently-abled humans. Kareena's character covers the entire gamut of expressions but isn't memorable or mentionable enough to be regarded. Arjun Rampal has bagged his dream role: an android with mechanical expressions who allows his body to do the talking. Good job, Arjun Rampal's body!

The VFX award would go for most battle arenas, inspired from many popular games. It wouldn't go for the local train swishing out of CST station like a PowerPoint slide.

It's convenient to say that if you have no expectations from 'RA.One', you wouldn't be disappointed. But if you feel so little for the film, why go to watch it at all?

The man who made the Taj Mahal disappear

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Franz Harary once made the the Taj Mahal disappear for over a minute. It has been his most famous act as an internationally acclaimed magician. When asked how he did it, Harary's answer was: “It was the perfect illusion."

Through March, the American illusionist will host his 90-minute, over-the-top, hyper-sensory spectacle at New Delhi's Kingdom of Dreams, in the 840-seater Nautanki Mahal.

The blue-domed, gold-studded, rose-petaled, outrageous design of the recently opened Kingdom of Dreams is a display of India’s heritage and artists traditions at the least, and a riotous, ironic spoof on India’s kitsch aesthetic at its best.

The other live act inside the Kingdom is Bollywood musical "Zangoora, the Gypsy Prince" which has been selling out to audiences from around the country since it opened in September 2010.

Culture Gully showcases each state of India in its traditional architecture in a Venetian canal atmosphere, with astrologers, tarot readers and food and artisans from each state.

One of the (ironic) highlights is the mock Indian wedding, complete with an acting bride and groom, with a host of dancers and musicians following. Their tag line: “A Magical, Mystical & Memorable Experience of India.”

This same idea of India becomes the literal stage to unite the worlds of control and fatalism, of fear and safety, and of ordinary, extra-ordinary and magic. In the other-worldliness of The Kingdom of Dreams, magician Harary is right at home.

Trick o' techno, mind over magic

His entrance is nothing short of a high-budget sci-fi film, as a giant silver spaceship peels open to reveal a man in a silver jacket, arms welcoming loud applause, black shades, spiked hair.

The glitterati of the bedecked purple and gold Nautanki Mahal, where "Mega Magic" is staged, is perfectly congruent to Franz Harary’s own theatrical embellishments.

Cinema screens light up 180 degrees around the stage, confetti and foam flies from the air and 10 women in mini skirts and bikinis enter. Rock and roll blasts from the speakers.

Smoke billows from every corner: this is the first and most physical manifestation of the mysterious haze that surrounds Harary’s work.

He walks past the ladies casually -- we  realize his powers of seduction as the evening grows -- and picks one. He puts her in a box, covers the box in a sheet and lets his fingers hover and dance, appealing to the age-old gesture of abracadabra.

The sheet is removed and much to the disappointment of many in the audience, the girl is nowhere to be found. In her place lies, instead, a stray, furry, grey cat from a shelter, purring almost as his previous, bikini-clad avatar might have.

This is the magician’s prestige: the seduction, the secret and the eternal un-resolution.

It is this last factor that separates magic from other entertainment forms and likens it more to life itself where hints inspire us to search for answers that finally elude us.

But it is Harary’s almost hyper-human view of magic that is intriguing. He insists that his magic is only based in optical illusions that take advantage of our limited senses, and that real magic exists in the everyday unknowns of the world outside the stage.

His act opens with this thought-provoking sentence: "Magic by its definition is anything outside the laws of science. As science progresses, magic's evolution must remain just ahead of it…

"In a sense, surfing the wave of technology. Scientific discovery depends on mankind's ability to dream. Magic rekindles that child-like ability.

"Linked together in a perpetual dance, magic and science are forever advancing each other… Each one driving the other forward at the speed of wonder."

So just as science oddly appeals to our sense of logic, so does Harary’s magic.

As he has done for Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and Alice Cooper concert tours, Harary employs new, complex technological systems and formulae to achieve a cat in place of a woman, endless streams of paper emanating from a mouth, a lady divided in eight inside a box appearing unharmed, one woman’s torso attached to the legs of another, a man splintered with iron rods disappearing, a ring borrowed from an audience appearing in the hand of a woman in a bathing suit who miraculously appears inside a previously empty aquarium, a man levitating even as a hoopla-hoop swipes the air above and below him.

Harary capitalizes upon our sense of fear, our sense of desire and the ultimate knowledge that magic will keep the protagonist safe.

And it is this very belief that Harary utilizes, rather meta-theatrically, at the end when he gets inside a heavy chamber hung from the ceiling of the theater and midway, the box breaks open and a crew member appears with headphones saying, "Stop the show!"

Harary’s hands and feet are seen flailing in the air, his breath loud against the microphone. The audience is -- if only for a moment -- slightly alarmed.The box is finally revealed: and there is no one in there. Something shiny and silver glitters from where the audience is seated. A spotlight hits Harary, his hair raised, wearing a silver jacket -- an old magician’s costume -- smiling with irony and triumph. Harary’s uniqueness is in his utilization, ultimately, of constructed, human skill: he is an engineer before a magician, designing each instrument to carry out his illusions and relying on our sense of wonder to do the rest.

Steve Jobs refused cancer treatment too long - biographer

REUTERS - Apple Inc co-founder Steve Jobs refused potentially life-saving cancer surgery for nine months, shrugging off his family's protests and opting instead for alternative medicine, according to the tech visionary's biographer.

When he eventually sought surgery, the rare form of pancreatic cancer had spread to the tissues surrounding the organ, biographerWalter Isaacson said in an interview with "60 Minutes" on CBS, to be aired on Sunday.

Jobs also played down the seriousness of his condition and told everyone he was cured but kept receiving treatment in secret,Isaacson said in the interview.

The biography hits bookstores Oct. 24 and emerged from scores of interviews with Jobs. It is expected to paint an unprecedented, no-holds-barred portrait of a man who famously guarded his privacy fiercely but whose death ignited a global outpouring of grief and tribute.

The book reveals Jobs was bullied in school, tried various quirky diets as a teenager, and exhibited early strange behavior such as staring at others without blinking, according to the Associated Press, which said it bought a copy on Thursday, without disclosing how.

In his "60 Minutes" interview, Isaacson confirmed details that had been speculated upon or widely reported, including that Jobs might have been cured of his "slow-growing" cancer had he sought professional treatment sooner, rather than resorting to unconventional means.

Jobs deeply regretted putting off a decision that might have ultimately saved his life, according to Isaacson.

"He tries to treat it with diet. He goes to spiritualists. He goes to various ways of doing it macrobiotically and he doesn't get an operation," Isaacson said in the interview.

"I think that he kind of felt that if you ignore something, if you don't want something to exist, you can have magical thinking," he said. "We talked about this a lot."

Jobs announced in August 2004 that he had undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his pancreas. In 2008 and 2009 -- as his dwindling weight stirred increasing alarm in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street -- he said first he was fighting a "common bug," then that he was suffering from a hormone imbalance. In 2009, news emerged that he had undergone a liver transplant.

FAVORITE BAND: BEATLES

Jobs died on Oct. 5 at the age of 56. Outpourings of sympathy swept across the globe as state leaders, business rivals and fans paid their respects to the man who touched the daily lives of countless millions through the Macintosh computer, iPod, iPhone and iPad.

He had never revealed much about his life or thinking -- until he commissioned Isaacson for a biography he hoped would let his children know him better.

The book shed new light on how Jobs' relationship with longtime friend and ex-Apple board member, then-Google Inc CEO Eric Schmidt -- unraveled when the Internet search giant chose to go toe-to-toe with Apple in the smartphone arena.

According to AP's account of the biography, Jobs went on an expletive-laced rant against what he called "grand theft," after Google launched its Android mobile software on phones made by Taiwan's HTC Corp in 2010.

"I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong," Jobs was cited as saying in the book, according to AP. "I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this."

Experts say Apple and Samsung Electronic's legal patent battle -- spanning at least three continents -- was really an attack on Google's 3-year-old software, now the world's most-used smartphone operating system.

Details also emerged about Jobs' life away from the world of business, which by all accounts had consumed most of his time.

Adopted as a baby by a family in Silicon Valley, Jobs met his biological father -- Abdulfattah "John" Jandali -- several times in the 1980s without realizing who he was, according to Isaacson.

Jandali had been running a restaurant in the area at the time. But Jobs never got in touch with Jandali once he found out the restaurateur was his biological father, according to an excerpt from the TV interview posted on CBS' website.

The technology icon also revealed he stopped going to church at age 13 after he saw starving children on the cover of Life Magazine, the AP cited the book as saying.

Jobs spent years studying Zen Buddhism and has famously traveled through India in search of spiritual guidance.

He talked in his biography about his love for design and called Apple's design chief Jonathan Ive his "spiritual partner"; Ive had "more operation power" at Apple than anyone besides Jobs himself, according to AP.

The man who made the Taj Mahal disappear

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Franz Harary once made the the Taj Mahal disappear for over a minute. It has been his most famous act as an internationally acclaimed magician. When asked how he did it, Harary's answer was: “It was the perfect illusion."

Through March, the American illusionist will host his 90-minute, over-the-top, hyper-sensory spectacle at New Delhi's Kingdom of Dreams, in the 840-seater Nautanki Mahal.

The blue-domed, gold-studded, rose-petaled, outrageous design of the recently opened Kingdom of Dreams is a display of India’s heritage and artists traditions at the least, and a riotous, ironic spoof on India’s kitsch aesthetic at its best.

The other live act inside the Kingdom is Bollywood musical "Zangoora, the Gypsy Prince" which has been selling out to audiences from around the country since it opened in September 2010.

Culture Gully showcases each state of India in its traditional architecture in a Venetian canal atmosphere, with astrologers, tarot readers and food and artisans from each state.

One of the (ironic) highlights is the mock Indian wedding, complete with an acting bride and groom, with a host of dancers and musicians following. Their tag line: “A Magical, Mystical & Memorable Experience of India.”

This same idea of India becomes the literal stage to unite the worlds of control and fatalism, of fear and safety, and of ordinary, extra-ordinary and magic. In the other-worldliness of The Kingdom of Dreams, magician Harary is right at home.

Trick o' techno, mind over magic

His entrance is nothing short of a high-budget sci-fi film, as a giant silver spaceship peels open to reveal a man in a silver jacket, arms welcoming loud applause, black shades, spiked hair.

The glitterati of the bedecked purple and gold Nautanki Mahal, where "Mega Magic" is staged, is perfectly congruent to Franz Harary’s own theatrical embellishments.

Cinema screens light up 180 degrees around the stage, confetti and foam flies from the air and 10 women in mini skirts and bikinis enter. Rock and roll blasts from the speakers.

Smoke billows from every corner: this is the first and most physical manifestation of the mysterious haze that surrounds Harary’s work.

He walks past the ladies casually -- we  realize his powers of seduction as the evening grows -- and picks one. He puts her in a box, covers the box in a sheet and lets his fingers hover and dance, appealing to the age-old gesture of abracadabra.

The sheet is removed and much to the disappointment of many in the audience, the girl is nowhere to be found. In her place lies, instead, a stray, furry, grey cat from a shelter, purring almost as his previous, bikini-clad avatar might have.

This is the magician’s prestige: the seduction, the secret and the eternal un-resolution.

It is this last factor that separates magic from other entertainment forms and likens it more to life itself where hints inspire us to search for answers that finally elude us.

But it is Harary’s almost hyper-human view of magic that is intriguing. He insists that his magic is only based in optical illusions that take advantage of our limited senses, and that real magic exists in the everyday unknowns of the world outside the stage.

His act opens with this thought-provoking sentence: "Magic by its definition is anything outside the laws of science. As science progresses, magic's evolution must remain just ahead of it…

"In a sense, surfing the wave of technology. Scientific discovery depends on mankind's ability to dream. Magic rekindles that child-like ability.

"Linked together in a perpetual dance, magic and science are forever advancing each other… Each one driving the other forward at the speed of wonder."

So just as science oddly appeals to our sense of logic, so does Harary’s magic.

As he has done for Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson and Alice Cooper concert tours, Harary employs new, complex technological systems and formulae to achieve a cat in place of a woman, endless streams of paper emanating from a mouth, a lady divided in eight inside a box appearing unharmed, one woman’s torso attached to the legs of another, a man splintered with iron rods disappearing, a ring borrowed from an audience appearing in the hand of a woman in a bathing suit who miraculously appears inside a previously empty aquarium, a man levitating even as a hoopla-hoop swipes the air above and below him.

Harary capitalizes upon our sense of fear, our sense of desire and the ultimate knowledge that magic will keep the protagonist safe.

And it is this very belief that Harary utilizes, rather meta-theatrically, at the end when he gets inside a heavy chamber hung from the ceiling of the theater and midway, the box breaks open and a crew member appears with headphones saying, "Stop the show!"

Harary’s hands and feet are seen flailing in the air, his breath loud against the microphone. The audience is -- if only for a moment -- slightly alarmed.The box is finally revealed: and there is no one in there. Something shiny and silver glitters from where the audience is seated. A spotlight hits Harary, his hair raised, wearing a silver jacket -- an old magician’s costume -- smiling with irony and triumph. Harary’s uniqueness is in his utilization, ultimately, of constructed, human skill: he is an engineer before a magician, designing each instrument to carry out his illusions and relying on our sense of wonder to do the rest.

India break Australia's record

300s In ODIs: India Break Australia's Record

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It took India nearly 22 years of playing ODI cricket to cross 300 for the first time in a matchand they were the last major cricket team to reach that score. Even Zimbabwe had achieved the feat many years earlier.

But once there, India have now made scores of 300 or more, more times than any other team.

The Mohali ODI provided the 65^th such instance, and India have now overtaken Australia at 64.

Here's a list of ODI teams that have crossed 300 in an ODI at least once.

Team	300+ Scores	Won	Lost	Tied	NR	HS
India	65	52	12	1	0	414
Australia	64	59	4	0	1	434
Pakistan	53	47	6	0	0	385
South Africa	45	41	4	0	0	438
Sri Lanka	38	33	5	0	0	443
New Zealand	32	26	5	1	0	402
England	27	17	8	2	0	391
West Indies	27	19	8	0	0	360
Zimbabwe	19	16	3	0	0	351
Ireland	6	4	2	0	0	329
Bangladesh	4	4	0	0	0	320
Netherlands	4	3	1	0	0	315
Asia XI	3	3	0	0	0	337
Kenya	3	3	0	0	0	347
Africa XI	2	0	2	0	0	318
Canada	1	1	0	0	0	312
ICC World XI	1	1	0	0	0	344
Scotland	1	1	0	0	0	323

Some Key Figures:

Out of India's 65 scores of 300, 16 were batting second.

Out of those 16, India won 11 games. Three were against England.

The 11 successful chases:

No	Score	Overs	Result	Oppn	Ground	Start Date
1	316/7	47.5	won	Pak	Dhaka	18 Jan 1998
2	302/7	49.4	won	RSA	Kochi	09 Mar 2000
3	326/8	49.3	won	Eng	Lord's	13 Jul 2002
4	325/5	47.4	won	Win	Ahmedabad	15 Nov 2002
5	303/4	46.1	won	Srl	Jaipur	31 Oct 2005
6	317/8	49.4	won	Eng	The Oval	05 Sep 2007
7	301/4	42.1	won	Pak	Karachi	26 Jun 2008
8	310/4	46.5	won	Srl	Karachi	03 Jul 2008
9	317/3	48.1	won	Srl	Kolkata	24 Dec 2009
10	321/5	48.5	won	NZl	Bangalore	07 Dec 2010
11	300/5	49.2	won	Eng	Mohali	20 Oct 2011