PMO recommends Sachin for Bharat Ratna

New Delhi: Cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar's name has been recommended for Bharat Ratna by the Prime Minister's Office, sources have told CNN-IBN.

However, sources also add that there is some reservation on conferring Bharat Ratna on Tendulkar as he is considered too young for the highest civilian award of the country.

Those opposing his name also say that as the maestro received Padma Vibhushan just two years back and it may be too early for a Bharat Ratna

At a function in Mumbai the batting maestro stayed away from the issue, saying Bharat Ratna is the dream of every Indian.

"It is every Indians dream to make the country proud," he said.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni backed the chorus for awarding Bharat Ratna to Tendulkar.

"Every Indian wishes that a youth icon like Sachin should get Bharat Ratna. It's my personal wish also that Sachin should get Bharat Ratna," said Ambika.

Sources also say that VVS Laxman has been awarded the Padma Shree.

Aus Open: Nadal, Clijsters enter last eight

Melbourne: The "Rafa Slam" is still alive after Rafael Nadal beat Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 at the Australian Open on Monday to maintain his chance of owning all four Grand Slam trophies at once.

That's a feat which hasn't been achieved since Rod Laver won four majors in 1969.

A favorite for the women's title here, US Open champion Kim Clijsters, also advanced to the quarterfinals Monday with a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win over Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.

Wikileaks gets Swiss bank account holders' data

London: A former Swiss private banker handed over data on hundreds of offshore bank account holders to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Monday, saying he wanted to draw attention to financial abuses.

Rudolf Elmer, 55, headed the office of Julius Baer in the Cayman Islands until he was fired by the bank in 2002. He is scheduled to go on trial in Switzerland on Wednesday for breaching bank secrecy.

Swiss national Elmer handed Assange the data at a news conference at a media club in London. The two yellow and blue discs contain information on around 2,000 banking clients, both individuals and companies, he said, declining to reveal further details on the data.

Vetting information

WikiLeaks will take at least "a couple of weeks" to vet the data before publishing it, Assange said. Vetting will be done by themselves, media organisations and other partners to protect sources.

"We have a four-year publishing history. We have never been wrong ... so far as we are aware in relation to anything we have published," said Assange

WikiLeaks may also hand over some of the material to Britain's Serious Fraud Office, he added.

In 2007 Elmer became one of the first whistleblowers to use WikiLeaks, which angered US authorities last year by publishing hundreds of secret diplomatic cables it had obtained.

Assange said the data Elmer had provided previously about the Cayman Islands revealed "corrupt practices" and "clear asset-hiding". He said he expected similar revelations from the new data.

Julius Baer denounced Elmer for waging a campaign to discredit the bank and its customers.

"After his demands (including financial compensation) in connection with the dismissal could not be satisfied, Mr Elmer embarked in 2004 on a personal intimidation campaign and vendetta against Julius Baer," the bank said in a statement.

"The aim of his activities was and is to discredit Julius Baer as well as clients in the eyes of the public."

'The Social Network' sweeps Golden Globe 2011'

The Facebook tale "The Social Network" won top honors Sunday at the Golden Globes with four prizes, including best drama and director, solidifying its prospects as an Academy Awards favorite.
Winning the dramatic lead-acting prizes were Colin Firth for the British monarchy saga "The King's Speech" and Natalie Portman for the psychosexual thriller "Black Swan."Lead-acting honors for the Globes' musical or comedy categories went to Annette Bening for the lesbian-family story "The Kids Are All Right" and Paul Giamatti for the curmudgeon tale "Barney's Version."

The boxing drama "The Fighter" earned both supporting acting Globes, for Christian Bale and Melissa Leo.

David Fincher, directing winner for "The Social Network," said he thought it was strange when "The Social Network" script came to him, since he usually makes dark character studies about misanthropes or films about serial killers. His films include the murder tales "Seven" and "Zodiac."

World Cup: Tendulkar's 6th, debut for 7 players

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Hackers celebrate North Korea heir's birthday

Seoul: Hackers have attacked North Korea's official Youtube and Twitter accounts, posting a cartoon showing Kim Jong-il's heir apparent driving a sports car into a crowd of starving countrymen.

The cyberattack on Saturday, believed to be leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un's birthday, also called for an uprising against the communist nation's ruling dynasty.

The online embarrassment comes at a time when North Korea has called for dialogue with South Korea to defuse tensions aggravated by an exchange of artillery fire and the sinking of a South navy ship last year.

One of the messages posted on the North's official Twitter account said the ailing Kim Jong-il and his son were sworn enemies.

Another called for the removal of Kim Jong-il for hosting drinking parties at his lavish cottage while 3 million countrymen starved to death.

Several people on a South Korean internet forum, Dcinside, claimed responsibility for the attack.

A two-minute spoof posted on the North's official youtube account showed Kim Jong-un running over a group of starving people and a train, laden with birthday gifts for him, derailed after hitting children on the tracks.

The Youtube account is often used by the North to communicate with the outside world.

There was no immediate comment from the North on the cyberattack. The North Korea's official mouthpiece, KCNA news agency, also did not report any public events or festivals to mark Kim Jong-un's birthday.

Very little is known about Kim Jong-un outside North Korea, who is the youngest son of Kim Jong-il.

Facebook overtakes Google

San Francisco: Facebook passed Google as the most visited website in the US in 2010, according to a survey by the web tracking firm Experian Hitwise.

The social networking site also claimed the top search term of the year, with variations on its name filling four of the 10 most popular searches, the survey found. In all, Facebook searches accounted for 3.48 per cent of all web searches in the US in 2010, a 207-per cent increase over 2009.

The study found that Facebook accounted for 8.93 per cent of all US website visits in the year, ahead of Google.com's 7.19 per cent and third-placed Yahoo Mail with 3.85 per cent.

However if all Google's various properties are taken into account, the web search giant did overtake Facebook with 9.85 per cent of all website visits. Microsoft's msn.com and bing.com also made it into the list of top ten websites, as did myspace.com.

Other terms in the top 10 searches included "youtube", "craigslist", "myspace", "ebay" and "yahoo".

'Missing Link' following the Big Bang

London: Astronomers have uncovered the 'missing link' in the evolution of the universe following the Big Bang.

For years the scientists knew nothing about the 'dark ages' of space - a period between the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago, and the creation of the first stars.

But Cambridge University researchers have now captured light emitted from a massive black hole to peer into this unknown portion of the history of the universe.

They discovered remnants of the first stars and evidence of the aftermath of an exploding star, which was a staggering 25 times larger than the sun, the Daily Mail reported.

Max Pettini of Cambridge's Institute of Astronomy believes the discovery of these gases could help reveal the origin of the universe.

He said: "We have effectively been able to peer into the dark ages using the light emitted from a quasar.

"The light provides a backdrop against which any gas cloud in its path can be measured."

The Cambridge scientists teamed up with researchers at the California Institute of Technology to carry out the ground-breaking research.

Microsoft sold over 8 mn Kinects in 60 days

Las Vegas: Microsoft Corp sold more than eight million of its Xbox Kinect motion-sensing game system in its first 60 days since launch, outpacing its target of five million and outshining Sony Corp's competing Move.

The Japanese electronics maker sold 4.1 million units of its Move, which like the Kinect tracks body gestures for video games, in its first two months. However, that figure did not take into account the peak December holiday shopping month.

Sony launched the Move controller - a wand-like device that allows users to control on-screen gaming action - in September in North America and in October in Japan. The device costs $50 for the controller or $400 bundled with a PlayStation 3. Microsoft's Kinect, launched in early November, costs $150 or $300 bundled with a 4 gigabyte Xbox console.

Chief Executive Steve Ballmer also told the Consumer Electronics Show that Sprint and Verizon Wireless will begin carrying phones based on its fledgling Windows Phone 7 operating software from this year's first half.