attack on cricket!

Terrorists today staged a commando-style attack on the Sri Lanka cricket team as they were being bussed to a Test match in Pakistan.Six players were injured and six police escorts killed when they were ambushed by masked gunmen with AK-47s, grenades and rocket launchers.The attackers had arrived in rickshaws and burst out in front of the bus, spraying bullets, as it neared the Gadaffi stadium in Lahore.

Batsman Thilan Samaraweera was shot in the leg and opening batsman Tharanga Paranthavina was hit in the chest by shrapnel, both were being treated in hospital and according to the sources all of them are out of danger.Three more players Sangakara, Jayawardene, Mendis and head coach Australian Trevor Bayliss, received minor injuries.Chris Broad, in a car of match officials behind the bus which was also attacked but was uninjured. Fourth umpire, the local Pakistani umpire, was hit in the back and was seriously injured.

Police said up to 12 gunmen were involved in the attack at 8.40am local time as the bus reached a roundabout. They arrived on rickshaws before opening fire.There were immediate claims the terrorists were part of the same group blamed for the horrific attack on the Indian city of Mumbai last November.I feel that India had made a wise decision to cancel their tour of Pakistan after the 26/11 attacks.

The team, apart from the two being treated in hospital, went on to the stadium and were later airlifted by a army helicopter to Abu-Dhabi and from here they will be flying back to their home today itself .The match was canceled and the series called off. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa condemned the attack and ordered his foreign minister to immediately travel to Pakistan to help assist in the team's evacuation and ensure they are safe.

Its time for Pakistan to seriously think of its internal security after just 2 weeks back the entire Swat region came under the control of Pro-Taliban regime.If they keep crumbling under the pressure it might not take much time for it to become a Taliban nation and might have to suffer the same fate as Afghanistan.

The amazing deep-sea fish with a transparent head

This amazing barrel eye fish really does have eyes in the back of his head.Accustomed to living in the pitch black of the deep sea, the animal has developed a unique and incredibly useful ability to spot predators trying to sneak up on it, as well as potential food - through its own head.

Viewed from the front, the creature appears to be just like an average fish.But the differences immediately become clear when looking at it from the side or from above.While its body is mostly dark, the top part of its head is transparent, and its eyes are clearly visible.

Scientists believed the barrel eye fish could only look upwards, but they have recently discovered the creature can also look forward to align its mouth with its eyes.During its evolution, the Macropinna microstoma has developed so its head is transparent and its eyes are able to move themselves inside its own head to look out in different directions

According to evolutionary biologists, it developed such a powerful sense of sight as a result of the harsh environment it lives in.The fish, which is only a few inches long, lives a great depths just below the line to which sunlight can penetrate the water.This means that creatures around it cannot see it clearly. Predators lurking above it cannot spot it either, but it can look upwards to hunt for the small fish and plankton it lives on.

Teenage sacked for moaning on Facebook about her 'totally boring' job!

Like many teenagers, Kimberley Swann was underwhelmed by the menial tasks she was given in her new job.But while other 16-year-olds might have confided in friends and family about the filing, stapling and hole-punching, she decided to let off steam by posting comments on the social networking website Facebook.

Three weeks later, the words 'first day at work. omg !! So dull!!' came back to haunt her when her boss discovered them as he surfed the net.Another posting two days later complained, ' all i do is shred holepunch n scan paper!!! omg!', while another fortnight of apparent misery produced the moan, 'im so totally bord!!!'

Swann was called into Stephen Ivell's office and fired on the spot before being marched from the premises in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. Swann, from Clacton, had worked as a waitress and in a call centre before being taken on by Ivell Marketing & Logistics, a product development and sourcing company, on February 2.

On Monday this week, she was called in to see Mr Ivell who handed her a letter explaining her employment had been terminated.It said: 'Following your comments made on Facebook about your job and the company we feel it is better that, as you are not happy and do not enjoy your work, we end your employment with Ivell Marketing & Logistics with immediate effect.'Mr Ivell said his firm had done everything by the book.

Apple releases Nitro-supercharged Safari 4 public beta

Safari 4 has been available as a beta browser for some time, though Safari 3 was the browser download of choice. With today's official public beta announcement, the main Safari download page takes you to the Safari 4 download link. Users wanting Safari 3 must click an additional link to reach that download page, now considered a historical release.

Apple said that its new Nitro JavaScript engine (based on WebKit) runs JavaScripts up to 4.2 times faster than its Safari 3 predecessor, 30 times faster than IE7 and three times faster than Firefox 3, at least according to Apple. Safari 4 was the first browser to pass the Acid3 web compatibility test with a perfect score a few months back while still in beta. And now it is the first final version of a browser to support this functionality. But while there are lots of new features, Apple missed putting more focus on security, which has been heavily criticized in the past.

Apple has added several new features to Safari. The hefty 25.5 MB package (excluding Quicktime) now includes a new preview of frequently visited pages called Top Sites, a full history search (Opera has had this for some time), Cover Flow -- to flip through the web history and bookmarks, as well as improved tabbed browsing.

Safari 4 also includes HTML 5 support for offline technologies that enable web-based applications to store information locally without an active always-on Internet connection. According to Apple, it is the first browser to support advanced CSS Effects which provide "highly polished web graphics using reflections, gradients and precision masks."

is this ATLANTIS???

The above is an extraordinary image which could be of the city of ATLANTIS.

It shows a perfect rectangle the size of Wales lying on the bed of the Atlantic Ocean nearly 3½ miles down. A host of criss-crossing lines, looking like a map of a vast metropolis, are enclosed by the boundary.They seem too vast and organised to be caused naturally.

And last night the possibility of an extraordinary discovery had oceanographers and geophysicists captivated.The site lies 620 miles off the west coast of Africa near the Canary Islands — a location for Atlantis seemingly suggested by the ancient philosopher Plato.He believed it was an island civilization sunk by an earthquake and floods around 9,700BC — nearly 12,000 years ago.

The “grid” showed up on Google Ocean, a Google Earth extension that uses a combination of satellite images and marine surveys. Dr Charles Orser, curator of historical archaeology at New York State University — and one of the world’s leading authorities on Atlantis — called it “fascinating”.He said: “The site is one of the most prominent places for the proposed location of Atlantis, as described by Plato. Even if it turns out to be geographical, this definitely deserves a closer look.”

The legend of Atlantis has captured the imagination of scholars for centuries. Situated in an area called the Madeira Abyssal Plane, the grid was spotted by aeronautical engineer Bernie Bamford as he browsed through Google Ocean.Bernie, 38, of Chester, said: “It looks like an aerial map of Milton Keynes. It must be man-made.”

Google claimedthat the criss-crossing lines were sonar data collected as boats mapped the ocean floor.But the internet giant said “blank spots” within the lines could not be explained.A spokeswoman said: “Bathymetric (or sea floor terrain) data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor.“The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data.“The fact that there are blank spots between each of these lines is a sign of how little we really know about the world’s oceans.”

slumdog sweeps the OSCARS with eight wins... JAI HO.!!!

It was a triumphant night for British film as Kate Winslet took the best actress Oscar for her role in film The Reader, while British film Slumdog Millionaire swept the board with EIGHT awards this morning.

While another Brit winner, Danny Boyle who took the best director Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, it also won the best picture Oscar,Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Score and Best Song.

Accepting the Oscar for best director, Boyle, 52, jumped up and down excitedly in front of Hollywood's finest. He explained that it was to honour a pledge he made to his children.Christian Colson accepted the Best Picture Oscar for Slumdog Millionare. Danny Boyle with Rubiana Ali(younger Latika) and Ismail(younger Salim) during the Oscars.

The mother of one of the Slumdog child actors celebrated the film's eight Oscars from her home in an Indian shantytown, where relatives and neighbours had gathered to watch the awards ceremony on television.'I'm so happy that my daughter has won this award and I could see her on stage with such big stars,' said Muni Qureshi, mother of 8-year-old Rubina Ali, who played the young slum kid Latika in the film.

A R Rahman won two Oscars for Best Music(Score)and Best Song with Gulzar.

Resul Pookutty along with Ian Tapp and Richard Pryke won the Oscar for Outstanding Sound Mixing.

Sean Penn won the Oscar for the Best Actor for the movie Milk, Penelope Cruz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the movie Vicky Christina Barcelona.

The late Heath Ledger's performance as The Joker in The Dark Knight won him the Best supporting actor Oscar, which was accepted by his parents and sister.Ledger has become only the second performer to be awarded an Oscar posthumously.His father accepted the award on behalf of his daughter Matilda.

The show was presented by Australia actor Hugh Jackman who took part in a stunning dance routine with singer Beyonce.

The Dark Knight Breaks a Billion

The 2008 blockbuster The Dark Knight has surpassed $1 billion at the worldwide box office, Warner Bros. announced late Friday.

According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, the critically acclaimed Caped Crusader sequel—which actually could win eight Academy Awards on Sunday—is now in fourth place on the list of all-time box office grosses, behind only Titanic ($1.84 billion), The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($1.12 billion) and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ($1.07 billion).

The Dark Knight is currently sitting pretty with $1.001 billion, while the fifth-place Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is way back there with $974.7 million.$533.1 million of that billion-plus sum was grossed in U.S. theaters, while $468 million was raked in overseas.

Warner Bros.' news comes along with the announcement that The Dark Knight is also now the top-grossing 2-D IMAX release of all time, with $64.9 million grossed worldwide