Taking multi-vitamin pills 'does nothing for our health'

Experts have said that millions of consumers might be wasting their money on multi-vitamin supplements, as they do nothing for health. Researchers spent more than six years following 8,000 people and found that those taking supplements were just as likely to have developed cancer or heart disease as those who took an identical-looking dummy pill. And when they were questioned on how healthy they felt, there was hardly any difference between the two groups. Many users fall into the category of the 'worried well' - healthy adults who believe the pills will insure them against deadly illnesses - according to Catherine Collins, chief dietician at St George's Hospital in London. "It's the worried well who are taking these pills to try and protect themselves against Alzheimer's disease, heart attacks and strokes," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying. "But they are wasting their money. This was a large study following people up for a long period of time assessing everything from their mobility and blood pressure to whether they were happy or felt pain," she stated. Multi-vitamin supplements have become increasingly popular as a quick and easy way of topping up the body's nutrient levels. But a series of studies have indicated that, for some people, they could actually be harmful. While the evidence that vitamins can do harm is still limited, the latest study seems to confirm that many people are at the very least taking them unnecessarily. A team of French researchers, led by experts at Nancy University, tracked 8,112 volunteers who took either a placebo capsule, or one containing vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, selenium and zinc, every day for just over six years. They assessed the state of their health at the beginning and end of the trial, taking a quality of life survey designed to measure everything from mobility and pain to vitality and mental health. When researchers analysed how many in each group had gone on to develop serious illnesses over the years, they found little difference. In the supplement group, 30.5 per cent of patients had suffered a major health 'event', such as cancer or heart disease. In the placebo group, the rate was 30.4 per cent. There were 120 cases of cancer in those taking vitamins, compared to 139 in the placebo group, and 65 heart disease cases, against 57 among the dummy pill users. "The perception that supplementation improves general well-being is not supported by this trial," the researchers concluded. The findings have been published in the International Journal of Epidemiology.

Lady Gaga sued by former assistant

Lady Gaga's former personal assistant has filed a lawsuit against the pop diva claiming that she had to cater to the singer's every whim, at every hour of the day and night, handling her schedule, finances and food.

Long Islander Jennifer O'Neill endured 13 long months as the domineering diva's personal aide.

According to court papers, the Garden City girl could barely muster a poker face while ensuring the promptness of a towel following a shower and serving as a personal alarm clock to keep [Gaga] on schedule.

O'Neill said that there were no breaks for meals "or, at times, even sleep," and she was required to be on hand for anything the Grammy Award-winning singer needed, at her "earliest waking hour" or for "spontaneous, random matters in the middle of the night."

Part of O'Neill's 75,000 dollars-a-year job was "ensuring the availability of chosen outfits", which was no small task considering her ex-boss is best known for wearing a meat dress to the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards and dressing like a "human condom" for a appearance on Good Morning America.

O'Neill filed a lawsuit against the pop queen's Mermaid Touring company in Manhattan federal court last week for $ 380,000 in unpaid overtime, the New York Post reported.

She claimed that she worked 7,168 hours of unpaid overtime toiling at under the reign of the queen of the Little Monsters.

Along with her back pay, the American University graduate is also seeking unspecified damages.

A spokeswoman for Gaga branded the lawsuit "completely without merit."

MJ's 'Thriller' named greatest music video of all time

Michael Jackson's revolutionary 'Thriller' has been named as the greatest music video of all time, almost three decades after it was created.

The creepy video that has the late singer transformed into both a werewolf and a zombie got the maximum votes; narrowly beating Lady Gaga's raunchy Telephone in the poll.

Another classic promo, Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody, which dates back to 1975, was voted third by musicians' website musicradar.com.

'Thriller', made by John Landis, the director of An American Werewolf In London, is credited with turning pop videos into an art form of their own.

The 14-minute film was the most expensive video of its day, when it was first shown in 1983, and cost half a million dollars to create.

Gaga's violent Telephone is another epic, the nine minutes film was created by Jonas Akerlund, who was behind Prodigy's controversial Smack My B**** Up, which is seventh in the list.

"Lady Gaga ran Thriller very close, but it still seems right that the promo that saw the birth of the pop video as a cultural event should hold the top spot - for now," the Sun quoted Will Groves, editor-in-chief of Music Radar, as saying.

Top 10
1. Michael Jackson - Thriller
2. Lady Gaga featuring Beyonce - Telephone
3. Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody
4. Johnny Cash - Hurt
5. Peter Gabriel - Sledgehammer
6. Aphex Twin - Windowlicker
7. The Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up
8. Beastie Boys - Sabotage
9. Foo Fighters - Everlong
10. Nirvana - Heart Shaped Box

Dhoni reveals he wept after India won the World Cup

 Indian cricket captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni was so emotional after winning theWorld Cup early this year that he wept after the summit clash along with his teammates.

"After the final match was over, all the players cried. I also cried though there was no footage of that anywhere. It was very difficult to control emotions as we all were dreaming of winning the World Cup," Dhoni, who was on Friday named the CNN-IBN Sportsperson of the Year, said.

"I was crying and when I looked up, all the other players were forming a huddle around me. I ran to the dressing room and there I saw two players crying and running towards me," said Dhoni in a video recorded before leaving for Australia for India's Test series starting later this month.

Dhoni said it was great achievement for India to have won the World Cup as no host country has ever bagged the coveted trophy.

"It was a special achievement as no host country has ever won the World Cup before and we are winning it for the first time after 1983. Pressure was very high as all the Indian cricket fans want us to win the World Cup. And we knew that if the 15 players selected remained injury-free and played to our potential we would win the World Cup," he said.

Chairman of selectors Krishnamachari Srikkanth praised Dhoni for his leadership skills.

"The biggest quality of Dhoni is that he remains positive and takes decisions on the field. Those are qualities of a great captain. The important thing is that he keeps things simple and not complicated," said Srikkanth, who announced Dhoni's name for the award.

"Every Indian will agree that winning the World Cup was the biggest thing to happen. The team deserved it," he said.

The other nominees of the award were cricketer Rahul Dravid, archer Deepika Kumari, shooter Ronjan Sodhi, boxer Vikas Krishan and the badminton duo of Jwala Gutta and Ashwini Ponnappa.

Sodhi and cricketer Yuvraj Singh, who has been suffering from a non-malignant tumour in his lung, were handed special achievement awards.

Men mistake women’s smile for sexual desire

Men often overestimate women's desire for them and those looking for a quick hook-up are more likely to get it wrong, a new study has suggested.

"There are tons of studies showing that men think women are interested when they're not. Ours is the first to systematically examine individual differences," said Williams College psychologist Carin Perilloux, who conducted the research with Judith A. Easton and David M. Buss of University of Texas at Austin.

The research involved 96 male and 103 female undergraduates, who were put through a "speed-meeting" exercise-talking for three minutes to each of five potential opposite-sex mates.

Before the conversations, the participants rated themselves on their own attractiveness and were assessed for the level of their desire for a short-term sexual encounter.

After each "meeting," they rated the partner on a number of measures, including physical attractiveness and sexual interest in the participant.

The results showed that men looking for a quick hook-up were more likely to overestimate the women's desire for them. 

Men who thought they were hot also thought the women were hot for them-but men who were actually attractive, by the women's ratings, did not make this mistake.

And the more attractive the woman was to the man, the more likely he was to overestimate her interest.

Women also tended to underestimate men's desire.

The findings will appear in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science.

Lara Stone, Kate Moss & Milla Jovovich bare it all for Pirelli

Supermodel Kate Moss has stripped for a shoot for the latest Pirelli calendar. She was photographed by ex-boyfriend Mario Sorrenti. The 37-year-old had dated Sorrenti in the early 1990s, and he was the man behind the famous Calvin Klein campaign that shot her to fame. In the pair's latest snaps, Moss looks healthy as she soaks up the sun on a rock with her eyes shut. The shots for the 2012 version were taken on the French island of Corsica, reports thesun.co.uk. "I met Kate when we were both at the very beginning of our careers. Somehow we both kind of exploded into the fashion scene at a very young age. She exploded as a supermodel, and things just took off," said Sorrenti. Moss, who married rocker Jamie Hince this summer, is among a host of models who have peeled off for the Italian tyre firm's publicity tool. The Pirelli calendar is not available for purchase and is sent out to especially chosen individuals, including royalty and celebrities. Others who feature on the calendar's 2012 issue include comedian David Walliams' wife Lara Stone and Milla Jovovich.

Infosys to be hit most by cut in client spending: Survey

Recent surveys of chief information officers (CIOs) by research firms like Citigroup and Forrester show that IT majorInfosys Technologies will be much more under pressure in the months to come than its peers.

The Forrester report that surveyed over 1,000CIOs found that in the next 12 months Infosys, which had 105 respondents, would see a 4% fall in client spends. TCS with 111 respondents will see a 23% rise in client spends, Cognizant with 78 respondents will see a 13% rise, Wipro with 94 respondents will see a 13% rise, and HCLTech with 44 respondents will see a 11% rise.

Citi's survey of 260 CIOs found that in the September quarter, Infosys saw a fall in clients' wallet share by 6%, while the rest of the top tier pack saw positive momentum. But some analysts say the findings of these reports are only useful directionally. Given that even Forrester's sample size is relatively small, the difference between Infosys and its peers might not be as stark.

Ankur Rudra, IT sector analyst at Ambit Capital, said that in times of crisis, customers focus on non-discretionary spends. Infosys, compared to its Tier 1 peers, has the lowest proportion of nondiscretionary services.

Non-discretionary services are those that are essential for running the business, including remote infrastructure management (RIM), BPO and application maintenance (AM). Discretionary spends include those like consulting and system integration (SI), enterprise application services or product engineering which are vital to grow the business, and which companies spend on normally when markets are growing. In the previous quarter RIM contributed 5.8% of Infosys's revenues , BPO contributed 5.4% and AM contributed 21.6%. Consulting and SI contributed 31.2% of revenues.

V Balakrishnan, CFO of Infosys, recently said that the global uncertainty has made it tough to acquire large contracts as client spends will remain slow. He added that clients are cautious about committing to long-term projects and it would be difficult for Infosys to achieve the top end of the 3%-5 % sales growth guidance for October-December and the 17.1-19 .1% sales growth for 2011-12.

Obama reveals crush on Meryl Streep

Barack Obama revealed his secret crush on Meryl Streep at an awards function at the White House.

Kennedy Centre Honours’ awards programme honoured singers Neil Diamond and Barbara Cook, jazz great Sonny Rollins, and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

"Anybody who saw The French Lieutenant’s Woman had a crush on her," Sky News quoted Obama as saying.

Obama also paid tribute to the cellist Ma - who has been playing since the age of four - with a topical quip, suggesting he could learn a thing or two from the world-renowned cellist.

"Maybe the most amazing thing about Yo-Yo Ma is that everybody likes him," he said.

"You’ve got to give me some tips," he added.

Islamic Cleric bans women from toching bananas, cucumbers

An Islamic cleric residing in Europe said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any "sexual thoughts."

The unnamed sheikh was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their a father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.

He said that these fruits and vegetables "resemble the male penis" and hence could arouse women or "make them think of sex."

The sheikh was asked how to "control" women when they are out shopping for groceries and if holding these items at the market would be bad for them. The cleric answered saying this matter is between them and God.

Answering another question about what to do if women in the family like these foods, the sheikh advised the interviewer to take the food and cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it.

The opinion has stirred a storm of irony and denouncement online, with hundreds of comments mocking the cleric.

Virender Sehwag elated at breaking 'idol' Sachin Tendulkar's record

Swashbuckling Indian batsmanVirender Sehwag said the opportunity to score an ODI double hundred comes once in a lifetime and he never expected to get the epic knock, during the course of which he also broke his role model Sachin Tendulkar's record.

Sehwag smashed 219 off just 149 balls in the fourth one-dayer against the West Indies on Thursday overtaking Tendulkar's unbeaten 200 last year to become the highest individual scorer in an ODI.

"I am happy to have broken my role model Sachin Tendulkar's record. It won't be easy for people to score double hundreds. Over the last so many years only two have done it. This opportunity will come only once in a lifetime and I am happy I have taken it," Sehwag told the media persons at the post-match press conference.

"I never expected to score a double hundred. While opening the innings, I told Gautam Gambhir that if we can show some patience on this track, we will be in for a big one as the wicket is a good one. The outfield is fantastic and the distance of the boundary is only 50 yards," Sehwag he added.

The dashing opener said once the batting powerplay started, the thought of reaching double hundred crossed his mind.

"It was only after the batting powerplay started, I felt that I could reach double hundred. Also when Sammy dropped me (at 170), I knew that God was with me," Sehwag stated.

He thanked his family and thousands of fans who had always had the expectation that he can score a double hundred in ODIs.

"I want to thank my family and fans. I know people expected me to score a double century. Today when I wanted to hit a six, I just did that."

Sehwag said that he was determined to make amends for a string of poor scores in the first three ODIs.

"I have said this earlier also that the top-order needs to contribute. It was a wicket where one could score big runs if he stayed around for 30 overs."

The historic knock certainly seemed to have taken a toll on Sehwag as he smiled and said: "Obviously, I am very tired. I am an old man now and my back gets stiff. So I need to take an ice bath."

Sehwag, dedicated the epic knock to the memory of his late father.

"I am very happy and I dedicate this knock to my father who is no longer with us," he said.

The 'Nawab of Najafgarh', as he is fondly, called informed that he has received around 800 congratulatory text messages but is yet to go through them.

"I have received 700 to 800 messages and have talked with my mother, who is also very happy. Selection committee chairman Srikkanthji also called and congratulated me," said Sehwag.

"It is one of my very best innings. Unlike in Test cricket when one can bat longer, in one-dayers you have to keep an eye on the run-rate. The wicket was very good for batting but the bowlers are also trying to get you out. It was not easy to score 200," he said.

Sehwag was of the opinion that the 200 hasn't come too late in his career.

"I think it has come at the right time. One becomes more mature as a player when he is in his 30s. When you have played for 10 years in international cricket, you can achieve whatever you want," he said.

Sehwag said right through his innings he was fit and never felt the need for a runner, a practice that has been banned by the cricket authorities.

Sehwag also revealed that he took the decision to bat first if he won the toss only five minutes before the ritual.

"We had decided to field first but we were told by players who had played in the Challenger Series on this ground that the wicket had deteriorated in the second innings. That's why, I changed my mind," he said.

He said he and opening partner Gautam Gambhir had wanted to spend some time in the middle and then open out but the wicket was so good that they decided to play till at least 30 to 35 overs.

"We said to one another that if we can play together for 15 to 20 overs we could put up a good stand and give the middle-order the chance to build on it. But the wicket was so good, we decided we can bat till the 30-35 overs. I am sorry Gautam was run out. I was very upset," he said.

Sehwag and Gambhir put on 176 runs in 22.5 overs before the latter was run out for 67.

He also praised the bowling of debutant leggie Rahul Sharma and predicted a bright future for him.

"He bowled very well. I was very impressed with his bowling. It was his debut. He has a very good future," he said.

Asked whether the great innings he played today would help him on the Australian tour, Sehwag said it was a different proposition.

"I don't know what I would do there. It's totally different. We have done well there on the last two tours. We will try and do well this time too," he remarked.

Don't eat anything when really hungry

It's in our basic nature to reach for a large portion when hungry. Therefore, workouts apart, it's a must to keep high-satiety foodoptions available at hand, simply for the times when you feel those hunger pangs.

With all the energy you devote to shedding kilos, you might actually know very little about the why most diets fail - hunger pangs. It's never easy to resist that third serving of pizza even if you are bursting out of your seams. The guilt always strikes after the damage is done. Know the signs of hunger, the cues for stress eating, and what triggers your cravings to tame yourself when hunger strikes.

The culprit
You've been working since 10 in the morning and consistently thinking about the deadline. Too busy to eat, there is a chance you would suffer from starvation. "Hunger is your body's cue to eat. Due to habits such as erratic timings and long gaps between meals, hunger cues get out of sync, leading to severe hunger pangs," says clinical wellness expert Namita Jain.

A simple solution
Firstly, understand your body clock. Know the difference between actual hunger and stomach contractions. Also, at times you may be misguided by people around you. "You may feel that eating less is better but it isn't true," says John Gloster, fitness expert. "Starvation is never a great survival strategy. Eat less but eat more often," he adds.

Is it hunger or thirst?

Figure out whether you are hungry or thirsty? Sometimes your body can send off signals to the brain that you are hungry. This is because food has lots of fluid contained within it. However, you don't want to be confused with taking on-board unwanted calories when you simply haven't had enough to drink. The key is to ensure you keep your fluid intake up over the course of a day.

What to eat and when
If you're following a particular diet, you will always prefer to carry a lunch box to work. A wheat bread sandwich, idlis (four to five), unpolished rice ( a bowl) and curd, a roti roll filled with vegetables or two to three fruits are apt options for the day. For mid-night hunger pangs, foods like salad sandwich are a big no-no. You would certainly not wish to sleep with a heavy stomach that leaves you restless all night. Instead, eat a fruit and drink a glass full of water over it.

The bottomline
To make sure you don't experience hunger pangs when on a diet, use top quality meal replacement drinks like coconut water, green tea and butter milk and get your hands on whatever snacks are allowed in the diet programme like soy nuts or energy bars. Eat a healthy balanced meal that doesn't leave you feeling hungry, and this way you'll get to snack on some treats when you want to!

To avoid severe hunger pangs

- Skipping breakfast is a sin. Don't skip breakfast, or you'll be starving and cranky by mid-morning. A breakfast with complex carbs and low fat protein will help stave off snack attacks.

- Plan ahead. Make sure that you have low calorie snacks and drinks with you. Take note of what times of day you become hungry and plan your meals and snacks accordingly. If you always cave in around 4 pm, schedule a snack for 3.30 and drink a big glass of water, too.

- Your body requires a certain amount of fat. Choose healthy fats, like olive oil. Mediterranean people include a lot of olive oil in their cooking and they have famously low rates of obesity and heart disease.

- Do not take drastic steps. Cutting your calories too drastically will make your metabolism slow down and cause you to be plagued with hunger all of the time.

- Eat volumes of low-cal food. Broccoli, cauliflower and veggie salads will fill you up and help stave off hunger.

- Stay away from sugary snacks and simple carbohydrates like sticky buns, cake and donuts. If you eat them your blood sugar will soar, and then crash and you'll find yourself irritable, jittery and famished.

- Eat sufficient protein. Scientific studies show that protein leaves people feeling full longer than carbohydrates.

To keep those hunger pangs at bay, distract yourself and divert your mind from food by getting involved in a task or a hobby you enjoy doing the most.

Youth kills self after fight with live-in partner

A Technopark employee, who has been living in with his lover, killed himself by hanging following an alleged squabble with his partner at Peroorkada on Sunday night. The dead has been identified as Sarosh (21) hailing from Kottiyam.

The police said that Sarosh and his lover Deepa(20) had come to Peroorkada and rented a home introducing themselves as brother and sister. The house owner has reportedly told the police that the pair had also told him that their parents were in Chennai and would soon join them.

According to police Sarosh had a fall out with Deepa on Sunday evening after he failed to take her for an outing as promised. He had been delayed by one of his relatives who had come to the city for a PSC test. When Sarosh came late, Deepa was upset and fought with him. Deepa told police that Sarosh then went to his room and hanged himself to death.

Deepa and Sarosh had come to the city after their families resented their union. She was pursuing a CA course in a private institute in the city. The police have registered a case of unnatural death and Deepa has returned to her parents in Kottarakara.

Study confirms many of us go online for no reason

For anyone who needed official word, a new study confirms that many of us - and the majority of young adults - go online for no good reason at all. 

The report from the Pew Research Center'sInternet & American Life Project found that on any given day, 53 percent of 18 to 29 year-olds go online just to have fun or pass time. 

That should explain all those kitten videos. 

The report finds that the amount of time people spend tooling around on the Web doing nothing corresponds with age. Only 12 per cent of people over 65 say they went online the previous day for no particular reason. Of those aged 50 to 64, the study found 27 per cent answered yes to the same question. 

In all, 58 per cent of all adults said that they use the internet to pass time or have fun at least occasionally. Of adults who use the internet, nearly three-quarters surf the Web for no reason. 

The survey didn't define "fun," so people could interpret it broadly. For some people, gossip blogs might be fun, for others, they're serious research. 

Pew is releasing the study on Friday. The phone survey was conducted from July 25 to Aug. 26 among 2,260 American adults.

 

A "Late Cut" from sir changed my life, recollects Tendulkar

 Each and every teacher in this world would aspire to have a student like Sachin Tendulkar but in iconic batsman's own words, it was a "late cut" (a tight slap) from his beloved "sir" Ramakant Achrekar after missing a match, that made him realise the importance of hard work. 

On Saturday, Tendulkar along with another 100 students of Sharadashram Vidyamandir celebrated their beloved guru's 79th birthday at the Bandra Kurla Complex. 

Obviously, the centre of attraction at the reunion was none other than Tendulkar as Achrekar's students fondly recollected the old days. 

As he took a trip down the memory lane, it become an emotional journey not only for Tendulkar but also for former India players like Ajit Agarkar, Praveen Amre, Balwinder Singh Sandhu, Paras Mhambrey, Chandrakant Pandit,Sameer Dighe to name a few. 

"After finishing school, I used to hurry to my aunt's place for lunch and by that time, sir used to organise some matches for me. He used to tell the opposition teams, that I would be batting at No. 4. 

"On one such day, instead of playing in the match, I along with a friend, went to the Wankhede stadium to watch the Shardashram English-medium boys take on the Shardashram Marathi-medium boys in the Harris Shield final and cheer our team," Tendulkar fondly recollected. 

"There, we spotted sir and went to greet him. He knew that I had missed the match, but still asked me how did I perform in it. I told him that, I thought that I would skip the match in order to cheer for our team. I got a late-cut (tight slap) on my face as well. The tiffin box in my hand flew and all its contents spread across," he said. 

"At that time, sir told me 'You don't have to be here to cheer for others. Play in such a way that others cheer for you'. Since that day, I began practising very hard and put in a lot of hours. If not for that day, I might have been cheering others from the stands," he said. 

On a night, when all of Achrekar's wards narrated with pride the stories of how they got slapped by their 'guru', the world's most worshipped cricketer credited Achrekar for his capacity to run for long hours without tiring. 

"When I was batting, sir never asked me to do the rounds (running across Shivaji Park)," the maestro said. 

"However, at the end of my training session, when I was completely exhausted, he used to make me run in full gear, along with the bat and pads. It was only later, that I realised how much this helped me," Tendulkar said. 

Someone who rarely displays his emotional side, Tendulkar said, "I don't know how much cricket is still left in me. However, whatever I have achieved so far is all due to Achrekar sir." 

Tendulkar also recalled another anecdote involving him and buddy Vinod Kambli, when the left-hander was slapped by Achrekar for flying a kite, while fielding during a match. 

"Vinod was flying a kite while on the field. I warned him saying that sir might watch him. But he said he had scanned the entire place and was confident, sir was not there. 

"At the end of the day, we generally read a note that summarised the day. On that day, it was my turn to read it. Sir was standing next to me and Vinod, I think, was standing next to sir. And as I read the list, there was an entry 'Vinod-kite'. 

And then it was Kambli's turn to get a tight one from Achrekar. 

"And at the next instant, he got slapped. Later, Kambli and I were arguing as to how sir could have seen it. Actually, I had seen sir watching him from behind a tree, but I didn't tell him," he added. 

Tendulkar informed that the idea to give Achrekar a "surprise" by organising the reunion of the Shardashram Old Boys came during a conversation with former Mumbai cricketer and a close Tendulkar friend Atul Ranade. 

Several other cricketers, too, recounted heart-warming tales of how Achrekar and his family had made an important contribution in shaping up their lives. 

Sandhu, a member of the 1983 World Cup winning team recalled that it was Achrekar, who had advised him to develop his inswinger, when he started as an off-spinner during his younger days.

"I was an off-spinner but sir advised me develop my inswinger. He had an eye for talent," he said. 

Sandhu also narrated an incident, when he was spared of Achrekar's slap for shirking doing rounds, which changed his way of looking at cricket. 

"Without saying much, he told me that I was talented and had a responsibility to fulfill. My perspective towards cricket changed from that day," he added. 

Former India stumper and Mumbai captain Pandit remembered the day, when Achrekar came to his house at midnight to convince his reluctant father to let him join Shardashram. 

"My father did not see a future for me playing cricket. His argument was that how could the game help me when all I had to do was to study and get a job. At this, sir took Rs 1,000 from his pocket, gave it to my father and said 'from tomorrow, your son is mine, I will pay his salary.' His faith in me made me confident that I had the talent to do well," Pandit said. 

Another bright student of Achrekar, speedster Agarkar remembered as to how Achrekar came to his home on his motorcycle at 5 am just after the 1992 riots in Mumbai to take him for practice after assuring his worried mother. 

"We did some training and I had breakfast at his place. But that incident made me realise the importance of discipline and determination," he said. 

Veteran Mumbai batsman Amol Mazumdar recalled how slaps from Achrekar had made him learn to do 'namaste' in a proper way, treat the Shivaji Park ground as a temple, and never to say no for a match. 

"Recently, I was doing a Level-I coaching course. During the coaching sessions, I could recollect that Achrekar sir had taught us everything being taught there through presentations. That being in the 70's and 80's. He was way ahead of his time as a coach," he said. 

In a heart-warming gesture on the occasion, Achrekar's long-time assistant Das Shivalkar was presented with a cheque of Rs 1,25,000. 

The Seven Seas Hospital also announced free life-time medical treatment for Achrekar and Shivalkar.

World's first sex school opens in Austria

While many people may think it's an activity which should be best learned behind closed doors, an enterprising Swedish schoolmistress thinks otherwise. Ylva-Maria Thompson has opened the world's first international sex school for teaching the art of being better lovers, the Daily Mail reported.

The Austrian International Sex School in Vienna offers 'hands on' lessons in seduction for 1,400 pounds a term. The 'headmistress' says anyone over the age of 16 can enrol at 'the world's first college of applied sexuality'.

Students of the course are expected to stay in a co-ed dormitory block where they're expected to practice their 'homework'. By the end of their course, they are awarded a qualification.

The school head said: "Our core education is not theoretical, but very practical. The emphasis is on how to be a better lover.

"Sexual positions, caressing techniques, anatomical features. And we teach people hands on."

School's spokesperson Melodi Kirsch exuded confidence that the school would be a great success.

The school, however, has already turned controversial in Austria with its raunchy advertisments showing a couple making love having already invited a ban by Austrian TV

Kim's naked yoga session sent Kris packing

Kris Humphries was left furious after he walked in on his former wife Kim Kardashian, her sister and friends taking part in a yoga session with a naked male yoga instructor on their reality show.

Kardashian, 31, and Humphries were seen coming to blows during the season premiere of 'Kourtney and Kim Take New York', which was aired on U.S. television on Nov 28.

Only the male instructor bares everything in the yoga session.

Even though the reality star keeps her clothes one, the basketball star is not happy about her being in the company of a naked man.

That is disgusting," the Daily Mail quoted him as saying.

"This is my home. This is disrespectful.

The socialite fires back after Humphries makes his feelings known in front of the instructor.

"You are so immature I can't take it," she said.

"You can't take it? I can't take it... I felt uncomfortable when I came in. I nearly threw up," he said.

Things get even more personal when he tells her that he can no longer live with Kourtney, who had organized the naked yoga session.

"Kourtney cannot live with us anymore. I will personally pay for her to have a room on a different floor."

But in the end it is Humphries who leaves, and heads to Minnesota, expressing concerns that his New York lifestyle is getting in the way of his training routine.

Is UK on a Cocaine high?

Over one in every 10 banknotes in circulation in UK are contaminated with cocaine, police drug experts have said.

Finding of the Home Office's advisory council for the misuse of drugs (ACMD) substantiates earlier studies that indicate the use of cocaine powder in Britain is the highest in Europe, and higher than in the US and Australia, The Guardian reports.

Police experts said cocaine is now being widely sold on the streets and added it was being cut with MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine), which leads to ecstasy, in clubs. They suggested longer pub hours since 2006 might have increased its use, as cocaine powder is widely used during night out to carry on drinking without falling asleep.

A Kent police drugs expert, PC Adrian Parsons, said cocaine was widely used by people aged between 18 to 45 years and that people whom he checked following a positive palm swab on his scanning machine at nightclub doors were working, had their own homes, and no previous convictions.

"Gone are the days of the 1980s when it was just champagne charlies in the City. That's out of the window now," he added.

The probe heard that cocaine was most commonly sold between 20 and 30 pound deals for 0.4 grams or 0.6 grams with a purity ranging between 15 and 30 percent.

"There is a lot of money in it," Parsons said, adding profits from crime often funded human trafficking and other organised crime.