IPL 2 goes to South Africa

South Africa will host the second edition of the multi-billion dollar Indian Premier League (IPL) from April 17 at six venues.

The IPL Twenty20 championship will be played at Durban, Cape Town, Bloemfontein, Pretoria, Johannesburg and Port Elizabeth.With South Africa saying yes to IPL, League Commissioner and Chairman Lalit Modi's search for a country to host the second edition of the Twenty20 championship is finally over.

Modi met Cricket South Africa CEO Gerald Majola at an undisclosed venue to discuss the possibility of hosting the second edition of the Twenty20 event here. And after the meeting, sources told CNN-IBN that the deal was sealed to host the league in South Africa.

South Africa says there will be no trouble staging the League and has assured full security. Cricket South Africa, it is reported, has also offered full support to the IPL.

Pussycat Dolls version of Jai Ho !!!

The Pussycat Dolls made a perfomance at 'Late Night with Jimmy Fallon' on March 10, singing the English version of 'Jai Ho', the 'Slumdog Millionaire' soundtrack.

Led by Nicole Scherzinger, they rocked NBC's Rockefeller Center Studio 6B with their Bollywood-themed appearance. Pussycat Dolls will reportedly premiere a music video for "Jai Ho" on March 21 at 9 A.M. on VH1 Top 20 Countdown. In the upcoming video directed by Thomas Kloss, they will be captured performing a dance sequence, which is similar to the one seen in the Dev Patel starring movie.

An iPod that talks !!!!!!!!

The iPod family has a new member. . . it is a smaller version of iPod Shuffle. Apple calls it the world's smallest music player' and the first talking music player.It can tell you song titles, artists and playlist names and is smaller than a AA battery.

This is half the size of the previous Shuffle and can store 1,000 songs. At the press of a button, it tells you what song is playing and who is performing it.

It also tells you that your battery needs to be charged. VoiceOver speaks 14 different languages. So it can tell you song titles and artists in the correct languages.The iPod can speak in English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

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All of the controls on the new Shuffle have been moved from the device to the earphone cord. Apple says the iPod shuffle can play your music non-stop for ten hours on a single charge.It comes in a new aluminium design with a built-in stainless steel clip that makes it wearable.

Priced at $79, the iPod shuffle only comes in two colours -- silver and black.

iGATE joins fray to buy majority stake in Satyam

New York: Nasdaq-listed IT and outsourcing solutions major iGATE on Friday announced its interest in acquiring a 51-percent stake in scam-hit Indian firm Satyam Computer Services by registering for a global auction.

This brings up to four the number of firms interested in buying a majority stake in Satyam, whose founder Ramalinga Raju confessed to Rs 7,000-crore fraud in January.

"We are now expecting to receive from Satyam the latest financial statements, including those for the quarter ended December 2008 and the months of January and February 2009, and updated position on liabilities and potential liabilities of the company," said iGATE in a press statement.

"In the event of iGATE not receiving this information immediately, it has no option but to withdraw its expression of interest," the statement added. iGATE, which has its Indian headquarters in Bangalore, is led by former Infosys' worldwide head of sales and marketing Phaneesh Murthy.

Thursday was the last day for registering interest in the bidding. With iGATE declaring its interest in the Hyderabad based computer giant, the total number of known contenders in the global bid has gone up to four.

The others are infrastructure major Larsen and Toubro (L&T), Mahindra and Mahindra's IT arm Tech Mahindra and the B.K. Modi controlled Spice Group.

L&T already holds about 12 percent equity stake in Satyam.The Hinduja Group, which had expressed interest earlier, has reportedly withdrawn from the bid.

Puzzle : Blast fro mthe past !!!!

Professor Patrick invented a time machine. While testing it, he inadvertently reached the past. However, thankfully, he carried, in his pocket, a device that could return him to his present time. The travel to the past took its toll on him and he lost consciousness. On regaining consciousness, he found himself in an ancient laboratory, surrounded by strange-looking people. One of them seized the device from Professor Patrick's pocket. Professor Patrick tried to snatch it back but the man struck him down and let out a high-pitched, shrill laugh. He said,

"Welcome, Stranger, to the not-so-welcome land of Entropia.
I am Dr. David, the scientific plunderer from a nearby town, Enthalpia. I steal theories from other scientists and publish them as my own. Don't worry. I make sure that even their bones aren't found. (He let out yet another shrill laugh!)
It seems that this device is precious to you. I'll let you have it back if you manage to answer my question.

The people at Entropia are divided into two groups: the Newtons and the Oldtons. The Newtons always tell the truth while the Oldtons always lie.

Here are four inhabitants from Entropia: Alex, Barney, Charlie and Darren.

(Turning to Alex) Alex, is Barney a Newton or an Oldton?"

Alex replied, "An Oldton, sire."

"All right. Barney, What about Charlie? Is he a Newton or an Oldton?"

"Charlie is definitely an Oldton."

"Hmmm. What about Darren, Charlie?"

"Darren is an Oldton, Sir."

"Haha!! And, finally, Darren, if I ask Alex about Charlie, what will he say?"

"He will say that Charlie is an Oldton."

"Very well. Ok, Mr. Stranger, Now answer my question: Is Darren a Newton or an Oldton? If you answer correctly, I shall let you go scot-free. Lest, you will have to explain the secret of this device to me and prepare for a gruesome death. Muahahahaha!!"

Help Professor Patrick solve this riddle and return safely to the present time. Provide a detailed solution along with your answer.

South Korean woman fails driver's test 775 times :O

A South Korean woman who has failed the driver's exam 775 times is not about give up on her hope of buying a truck one day to go into her own business, whether other drivers want her on the road or not.

Cha Sa-soon, 68, has been trying since 2005 to pass the written portion of the test to get a license, but she has so far failed to get the 60 per cent required to clear it.

"I've looked up some guidebooks to get a driver's license, and they were saying it takes at most five years to get this," Cha said in North Jeolla province, where farmers on tractors or cows can be just as common on country roads as motor vehicles."It's already been four years, so I might pass the test next time. That's what I hope for," she added.

Driving schools in Soutk Korea offer courses to enable applicants to walk away with a license in a week. Cha has not been fortunate enough to set foot in such a class, which tends to congregate more in busy metropolitan areas, but she remains unfazed, even after having spent more than 10 million won ($6,800) on test applications.

"I believe you can achieve your goal if you persistently pursue it," she says. "So don't give up your dream, like me. Be strong and do your best," she said.

Bill Gates is back as world's richest

The world has become a wealth wasteland. Like the rest of us, the richest people in the world have endured a financial disaster over the past year. Today there are 793 people on our list of the World's Billionaires, a 30 per cent decline from a year ago.

Of the 1,125 billionaires who made last year's ranking, 373 fell off the list--355 from declining fortunes and 18 who died. There are 38 newcomers, plus three moguls who returned to the list after regaining their 10-figure fortunes. It is the first time since 2003 that the world has had a net loss in the number of billionaires.

The world's richest are also a lot poorer. Their collective net worth is $2.4 trillion, down $2 trillion from a year ago. Their average net worth fell 23 per cent to $3 billion. The last time the average was that low was in 2003.

Bill Gates lost $18 billion but regained his title as the world's richest man. Warren Buffett, last year's No. 1, saw his fortune decline $25 billion as shares of Berkshire Hathaway fell nearly 50 per cent in 12 months, but he still managed to slip just one spot to No. 2. Mexican telecom titan Carlos Slim Helu also lost $25 billion and dropped one spot to No. 3.

The biggest loser in the world this year, by dollars, was last year's biggest gainer. India's Anil Ambani lost $32 billion--76 per cent of his fortune--as shares of his Reliance Communications, Reliance Power and Reliance Capital all collapsed.

Ambani is one of 24 Indian billionaires, all but one of whom are poorer than a year ago. Another 29 Indians lost their billionaire status entirely as India's stock market tumbled 44 per cent in the past year and the Indian rupee depreciated 18 per cent against the dollar. It is no longer the top spot in Asia for billionaires, ceding that title to China, which has 28.

Russia became the epicenter of the world's commodities bust, dropping 55 billionaires--two-thirds of its 2008 crop. Among them: Dmitry Pumpyansky, an industrialist from the resource-rich Ural mountain region, who lost $5 billion as shares of his pipe producer, TMK, sank 84 per cent.

Also gone is Vasily Anisimov, father of Moscow's Paris Hilton, Anna Anisimova, who lost $3.2 billion as the value of his Metalloinvest Holding, one of Russia's largest ore mining and processing firms, fell along with his real estate holdings.

Twelve months ago Moscow overtook New York as the billionaire capital of the world, with 74 tycoons to New York's 71. Today there are 27 in Moscow and 55 in New York.

After slipping in recent years, the U.S. is regaining its dominance as a repository of wealth. Americans account for 44 per cent of the money and 45 per cent of the list's slots, up seven and three percentage points from last year, respectively. Still, it has 110 fewer billionaires than a year ago.

Those with ties to Wall Street were particularly hard hit. Former head of AIG Maurice (Hank) Greenberg saw his $1.9 billion fortune nearly wiped out after the insurance behemoth had to be bailed out by the US government. Today Greenberg is worth less than $100 million. Former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill also falls from the ranks.

Last year there were 39 American billionaire hedge fund managers; this year there are 28. Twelve American private equity tycoons dropped out of the billionaire ranks.

Blackstone Group's Stephen Schwarzman, who lost $4 billion, and Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts' Henry Kravis, who lost $2.5 billion, retain their billionaire status despite their weaker fortunes.

Worldwide, 80 of the 355 drop-offs from last year's list had fortunes derived from finance or investments.

While 656 billionaires lost money in the past year, 44 added to their fortunes. Those who made money did so by catering to budget-conscious consumers (discount retailer Uniqlo's Tadashi Yanai), predicting the crash (investor John Paulson) or cashing out in the nick of time (Cirque du Soleil's Guy Laliberte).

So is there anywhere one can still make a fortune these days? The 38 newcomers offer a few clues. Among the more notable new billionaires are Mexican Joaqun Guzmn Loera, one of the biggest suppliers of cocaine to the U.S.; Wang Chuanfu of China, whose BYD Co. began selling electric cars in December, and American John Paul Dejoria, who got the world clean with his Paul Mitchell shampoos and sloppy with his Patron Tequila.