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Research and Markets: The Top-up Shopper Mission 2010: Hot Drinks Focus- Detailed Analytics Covering All Major Retail Channels

June 12, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

DUBLIN–(Business Wire)–
Research and Markets
(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2e5de5/the_topup_shopper) has
announced the addition of the “The Top-up Shopper Mission 2010: Hot Drinks
Focus” report to their offering.

The top-up food and grocery market. Essential insight into shopper motivations
and behaviours.

Addressing the increasingly significant top-up food and grocery industry,
Evolution presents the most up to date and authoritative study into the market,
shoppers motivations and behaviours, and retailer top-up propositions – offering
relevant and actionable insight for your business.

Evolutions report also goes beyond market and shopper analysis to offer
additional detailed analytics relating to hot drinks top-up shoppers, and how
they compare to the average top-up shopper.

The report will help your business to develop targeted shopper marketing
initiatives designed to influence shoppers at the point of purchase, explore
broader demand in the top-up market and identify how hot drinks performs in
relation to others, drawing key learnings and opportunities for growth.

The report covers all major retail channels including supermarkets and
superstores, c-stores, symbol group and independents.

Aimed at FMCGs, retailers and in-store creative agencies, the report will help
you to:

* Understand the size and value of the top-up market in the UK.
* Recognise the role and profile of the top-up shopper in the UK food and
grocery market.
* Learn about the underlying drivers and motivations for different top-up
missions and how these can influence choice of channel or store.
* Find out how food and grocery retailers perform in the top-up market, and how
their propositions cater for their top-up shopper.
* Understand how top-up shoppers behave in-store; what journey they take, their
key decision points and how they are affected by marketing.
* Find out which methods of shopper marketing are the most effective with top-up
shoppers.
* Review the key drivers of change, major innovations and trends shaping the
top-up market

In addition to extensive coverage of the top-up market and shopper motivations
and behaviours, Hot Drinks Focus will help your business identify specifically
how hot drinks performs in relation to other categories in the top-up market.

* Review the profile of hot drinks top-up shoppers by key metrics including
demographics, penetration, geographic region, frequency and spend.
* Compare and contrast the views of hot drinks top-up shoppers to the average
top-up shopper in relation to key topics including budgeting, planning, shopping
lists and different shopper marketing initiatives.
* Ascertain the performance of the hot drinks top-up market across the different
UK retailers and channels, and identify opportunities for growth.
* Recognise complementary categories for top-up shoppers who buy hot drinks.
* Discover the different circumstances in which shoppers buy hot drinks as part
of their top-up shop.

Key Topics Covered:

The top-up mission definition

A framework for behaviour

The top-up market

Drivers and trends

Top-up shopper behaviour

The Top-up mission: Hot Drinks focus

Retailer top-up profiles

Methodology

Glossary

Companies Mentioned:

* Asda
* The Co-op
* Marks and Spencer
* Morrisons
* Sainsbury
* Tesco
* Waitrose

For more information visit

http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/2e5de5/the_topup_shopper

Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager,
press@researchandmarkets.com
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: Authoritative Study, behaviours, business wire, Creative Agencies, Decision Points, Grocery Industry, Grocery Market, Grocery Retailers, Hot Drinks, Independents, Industry Evolution, Learnings, motivations, Point Of Purchase, recognise, Retail Channels, Shopper Marketing, shoppers, supermarkets, Uk Food

Critics, ex-players want to axe Smith, Kallis and Boucher from Proteas 20-20 squad

May 13, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Cape Town (South Africa), May 13 (ANI): Critics have said that it is time for South African cricketing stalwarts Graeme Smith, Jacques Kallis and Mark Boucher to make way for better performers in the Tweny20 format.

Former South African convenor of selectors Omar Henry is demanding the heads of the trio in the country’s Twenty20 side.

“I would axe Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher and even Graeme Smith from the T20 team. I believe we need to build a new side and head in a new direction,” Sports24 quoted Henry, as saying.

Even though he was very critical of Smith’s captaincy in the tournament, he would keep the captain and Kallis in the squad until next year’s World Cup on the subcontinent.

“Kallis is worth a lot as an all-rounder in 50-over cricket. I would retain Smith as captain, but he would have to agree to a number of changes in how he goes about his job,” added Henry.

Henry was unimpressed with the decision to let Kallis open the batting.

Kallis managed an impressive 171 runs in the tournament, but his strike rate was only 116.32, Some of the other opening batsmen that performed well scored their runs at a faster rate.

Majola said it would be dangerous to jump to conclusions in the heat of the moment.

“I don’t recognise the South African team that played there. We weren’t even close to being in the picture in this tournament. It was a shock to see those performances. I’m looking for answers,” he said.

Former South African coach Ray Jennings said that the question needed to be asked who was calling the shots in the team. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: axe, Calling The Shots, Cape Town South Africa, convenor, Cricketing, Graeme Smith, Heat Of The Moment, Jacques Kallis, Mark Boucher, new direction, proteas, Ray Jennings, recognise, rounder, selectors, south african coach, stalwarts, subcontinent, twenty20, World Cup

Gardeners welcome greater watering flexibility

April 13, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

The Nursery and Garden Industry Association says an easing of water restrictions for home gardeners in Adelaide will make little difference overall.

Allowable watering times will be increased from five to seven hours per week from May.

Geoffrey Fuller from the Association says it will give gardeners more flexibility to spread their watering across the week.

“It just gives us a longer period that we can water our gardens,” he said.

“Some of the gardeners try and push it all into one section and so the extra couple of hours does give you a lot more flexibility to be able to do sections of it without rushing through.”

Premier Mike Rann says improved flows in the Murray-Darling system have led to the easing for Adelaide.

“South Australians recognise that we faced a one-in-1,000-year drought,” he said.

“We said that we would ease those restrictions when conditions improved and of course we’ve now got a considerable amount of water – extra hundreds of billions of litres coming down the River Murray.”

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Malaysia mulls local training academy to reduce number of Hindu priests from India

April 5, 2010 By vani Leave a Comment

Ipoh, Apr 5 (ANI): To reduce the number of Hindu priests coming from India, the Malaysian Government is toying with the idea of setting up an academy to train and accredit priests in the country.

Human Resources Minister Dr S. Subramaniam said the Government had been toying with the idea of setting up such an academy for more than 15 years.

“At present, there are people practising locally as temple priests with various types of training which are very confusing. With the setting up of an academy, there will be a national body to recognise and accredit the priests,” he said on Sunday.

He said at present, there were 350 priests from India serving at various local Hindu temples in the country, The Star reports.

“But there is a need for thousands of priests,” Dr Subramaniam said, admitting that the local Hindu community might take some time to get used to the idea of having locally trained priests.

Dr Subramaniam said the Hindu Priests Association would be in charge of the syllabus, which had been drawn up after consultation with leading institutions in India.

He said under the syllabus, it would take five years to become a full-fledged priest.

“There are five grading, allowing those at each level to perform different functions,” he said, adding that, for example, those who passed Grade One could perform the worship ritual puja while those with Grade Five could consecrate new temples. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: academy, Hindu Priests, recognise, S. Subramaniam, Syllabus

Meet Prince Charles and Camilla, the ‘wedding planners’!

September 20, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sept 20 (ANI): Prince Charles and wife Camilla are turning wedding planners and “loaning out” their country retreat of Highgrove House to wannabe brides and grooms.

And included in the package will be the royal couple’s shared “expertise”.

Like Charles and Camilla did at their Windsor wedding four years ago, couples will be encouraged to “keep it simple”, say reports.

As per rumours, the first pair to enjoy a “Charles and Camilla wedding” are TV babe Jenni Falconer and her actor fiancé James Midgley, reports The Daily Star.

A royal source said: “Obviously with it being their house they would want control of the event. But they also recognise what a great opportunity it would be to showcase their home.

“Highgrove is an absolutely fantastic building and would make a wonderful venue for a wedding and reception.”

The nine-bedroom country house on a 37-acre estate near Tetbury, Gloucestershire, was bought for Charles in 1980.

A source said: “Charles is hugely proud of Highgrove. It’s a wonderful property and he has spent thousands of pounds on the gardens and grounds. I’m sure by holding weddings there Charles would take great pleasure being the host.

“And he could use them to promote the Duchy Originals organic products he’s involved with.” (ANI)

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Machines can’t recognise images like humans as yet

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, Sep 10 (ANI): Computers might have reached a point where they can replicate many aspects of human behaviour, but still they cannot recognize distorted images like humans do, says a team of Penn State researchers.

James Z. Wang, along with Ritendra Datta and Jia Li at Penn State, explored the difference in human and machine recognition of visual concepts under various image distortions.

“Our goal is to seek a better understanding of the fundamental differences between humans and machines and utilize this in developing automated methods for distinguishing humans and robotic programs,” said Wang.

The researchers used those differences to design image-based CAPTCHAs (Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart), visual devices used to prevent automated network attacks.

Many e-commerce web sites use CAPTCHAs, which are randomly generated sets of words that a user types in a box provided in order to complete a registration or purchasing process. This is done to verify that the user is human and not a robotic program.

In the study, a demonstration program with an image-based CAPTCHA called IMAGINATION was presented on imagination.alipr.com.

Both humans and robotic programs were observed using the CAPTCHA.

While the scope of the human users was limited, the results of the study proved that robotic programs were not able to recognize distorted images.

In other words, a computer recognition program had to rely on an accurate picture, while humans were able to tell what the picture was even though it was distorted.

Wang said that he is hoping to work with developers in the future to make IMAGINATION a CAPTCHA program that Web sites can use to strengthen the prevention of automated network attacks.

Although machine recognizability does not exceed human recognizability at this time, Wang is optimistic that it would be possible in the future.

“We are seeing more intelligently designed computer programs that can harness a large volume of online data, much more than a typical human can experience in a lifetime, for knowledge generation and automatic recognition. If certain obstacles, which many believe to be insurmountable, such as scalability and image representation, can be overcome, it is possible that one day machine recognizability can reach that of humans,” said Wang.

The study has been presented in the latest issue of IEEE Transactions on Information Forensics and Security. (ANI)

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Malaysian Indian Congress working committee has two Punjabis candidates

September 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kuala Lumpur, Sep. 7 (ANI): In an unprecedented move, the Malaysian Indian Congress has kept two Punjabi hopefuls on the preferred list of candidates for the party’s central working committee (CWC).

MIC President S. Samy Vellu has endorsed J. Randhir Singh from Johor and G. Jaspal Singh from Selangor among 27 candidates, who will be part of party’s decision making body.

According to a part source, one of the two was being groomed by Samy Vellu to fill the vacancy left by former vice president K.S. Nijhar.

“But it will be an uphill task since both are newcomers and are going for the same allocation. And there are only a few north Indian delegates,” the New Strait Times quoted him, as saying.

“There are many candidates vying for the 23 CWC seats and these two are newcomers. They have so little time and the delegates want to get to know them more. They will have to work hard in whatever little time they have,” said another source.

Though popular in their own states, the two candidates are relatively unknown at the national level.

But Randhir is not letting that hamper his chances. He is leveraging on his father Jasbir Singh’s popularity, who has been the Pontian division chairman for the past 45 years.

“I am using the picture with my father because many people recognise my father for his long service to the party. I want to tell them that I am the second generation who will continue what he has been doing for the community,” Randhir said of an appeal in newspapers which shows him along with his father.

Being a non-Tamil speaking candidate in a predominantly Tamil speaking party is a non-issue, as far as he is concerned.

“My father doesn’t speak Tamil as well and he has been division chairman for 45 years. Language is not a barrier. What is important is your ability and willingness to work for the betterment of the community,” he said.

Being on Samy Vellu’s list of endorsed candidates showed that the president recognises the work of non-governmental organisations, he said. (ANI)

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Malaysian Indian Congress working committee has two Punjabis candidates

September 7, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

MIC President S. Samy Vellu has endorsed J. Randhir Singh from Johor and G. Jaspal Singh from Selangor among 27 candidates, who will be part of party’s decision making body.

According to a part source, one of the two was being groomed by Samy Vellu to fill the vacancy left by former vice president K.S. Nijhar.

“But it will be an uphill task since both are newcomers and are going for the same allocation. And there are only a few north Indian delegates,” the New Strait Times quoted him, as saying.

Though popular in their own states, the two candidates are relatively unknown at the national level.

But Randhir is not letting that hamper his chances. He is leveraging on his father Jasbir Singh’s popularity, who has been the Pontian division chairman for the past 45 years.

Being a non-Tamil speaking candidate in a predominantly Tamil speaking party is a non-issue, as far as he is concerned.

“My father doesn’t speak Tamil as well and he has been division chairman for 45 years.

Language is not a barrier. What is important is your ability and willingness to work for the betterment of the community,” he said.

Being on Samy Vellu’s list of endorsed candidates showed that the president recognises the work of non-governmental organisations, he said. (ANI)

Now, a smart home that can alert owner about a stove burner left on

September 3, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 3 (ANI): Ever thought that your home would tell if you have left a stove burner on after making your breakfast? Well, it is now possible, thanks to the new sensor-stuffed apartment created by researchers at Washington State University in Pullman.

The smart home, known as Casas, developed by Diane Cook and colleagues, can learn the ways of its inhabitants by observing their daily habits and how they use different appliances everyday.

The technology could be used in houses to support people with cognitive difficulties or dementia with their daily living needs, or to make things easier for healthy people.

For example, the apartment can recognise when a person is performing actions associated with making breakfast and can prompt them with audio and video signals to warm them of any anomaly like a stove left burning.

While Casas was developed to analyse the sensors’ output, Graduate student Parisa Rashidi has improved the system, so that it can learn a person’s habits without prior assumptions about what events or patterns to expect.

While previous smart homes used movie cameras to pre-define key activities before recognising them, the new system was successfully tested in a specially outfitted apartment with a single resident on campus.

It required around a month of training to accurately tease out the resident’s habits from the sea of sensor data, said Rashidi.

Once trained, Casas can identify patterns as complex as “at 6 am the kitchen light comes on, the coffee maker turns on, and the toaster turns on” without any prior knowledge of what to expect.

To maintain a resident’s sense of privacy Casas works without cameras, RFID chips or microphones.

Instead less “invasive” sensors that detect motion, temperature, light, humidity, water, door contact and the use of key items, such as opening a bottle of medication or switching on the toaster.

“We don’t want to give residents the feeling that Big Brother is watching them,” New Scientist quoted Rashidi as saying.

The researchers developed a number of data-mining algorithms to help make sense of the sensor output.

One algorithm uses a grid of motion sensors to map out how a person walks around the home, looking for daily “trajectories”, or routes through the house.

A second algorithm finds patterns in a sequence of events, such as learning to expect the resident to turn on a tap after turning on the oven.

And a third algorithm looks to correlate events it detects with the time of day to identify the pattern, for example, of when the person eats dinner.

Now the researchers are working on upgrades that allow the apartment to decipher the actions of multiple inhabitants and recognise subtle variations in commonly repeated tasks.

The study has been published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics. (ANI)

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Teddy bear-shaped nurse robot developed

September 1, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 1 (ANI): Japanese scientists have come up with a robot resembling a huge, happy teddy bear to help look after hospital patients.

RIBA, Robot for Interactive Body Assistance, which can lift a weight of 61 kg on its foam padded arms, is the work of the government-run Riken research institute.

Dr. Toshiharu Mukai, the lead researcher, said the device was developed to lift hospital patients in and out of their wheelchairs and beds.

“We have developed RIBA because we want to help caregivers when they are required to transfer patients between hospital beds and wheelchairs,” the Telegraph quoted Mukai as saying.

The robot, that can also recognise faces and voices and respond to up to 30 spoken commands, may be seen in hospitals and retirement homes within three years.

Mukai said battery-powered RIBA was based on a teddy bear because humanoid versions could leave people uncomfortable. (ANI)

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Lovelorn lady gorillas at London Zoo go wild over new guy

August 28, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, August 28 (ANI): Just like posters showing football ace David Beckham stripped to his briefs leave his women fans drooling, lovelorn lady gorillas at London Zoo were also found to have a similar reaction to pictures of a continental hunk.

The keepers of Mjukuu, 10, Effie, 16, and Zaire, 34-who have lacked male attention since the death of their silverback mate Bobby in December-recently gave the girls their first glimpse of 20-stone Yeboah, 12, who is due to arrive from France within weeks.

Judging by their reaction to the pictures, they hope that sparks should fly when the new boy arrives at London Zoo.

According to them, Zaire was the most appreciative, as she carefully wedged her pictures into the bark of tree to show them off to best effect.

Teenager Effie was found to tenderly clutch one of the photos to her bosom, but she later ate it.

Youngster Mjukuu also appeared to be delighted at the prospect of a new boyfriend, for she threw her head back and roared with joy.

“It would be nice to think they’ll recognise him. I wouldn’t be surprised if the penny drops when he arrives,” the Daily Express quoted keeper Tracey Lee as saying.

The newspaper further revealed that German-born Yeboah was being shown pictures of the girls by staff at La Boissiere Du Dore zoo in the Loire, so that he would feel at home when they meet.

Lee said: “We think Yeboah will go for Mjukuu first because she’s very pretty and she’s a big flirt.” (ANI)

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People with HIV, TB, malaria should not rely on homeopathy, says WHO

August 21, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Aug 21 (ANI): The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned people with HIV, TB and malaria to stay away from the use of homeopathic medicines.

The WHO’s statement came following concerns of young researchers who fear that encouraging the use of homeopathy in developing countries could risk people’s lives.

A group called Voice of Young Science Network, which is part of the charity Sense About Science, had also campaigned for “evidence-based” care.he BBC quoted Dr Mario Raviglione, director, Stop TB department, WHO, as saying: “Our evidence-based WHO TB treatment/management guidelines, as well as the International Standards of Tuberculosis Care do not recommend use of homeopathy.”

Speaking on the use of Homeopathy to treat diarrhoea in children, a spokesman for the WHO department of child and adolescent health and development said: “We have found no evidence to date that homeopathy would bring any benefit.

“Homeopathy does not focus on the treatment and prevention of dehydration – in total contradiction with the scientific basis and our recommendations for the management of diarrhoea.”

Medics from the UK and Africa had written to the WHO in June asking the body to discourage the use of homeopathic treatment. They had said: “We are calling on the WHO to condemn the promotion of homeopathy for treating TB, infant diarrhoea, influenza, malaria and HIV.

“Homeopathy does not protect people from, or treat, these diseases.

“Those of us working with the most rural and impoverished people of the world already struggle to deliver the medical help that is needed.

“When homeopathy stands in place of effective treatment, lives are lost.”

Dr Robert Hagan, a biomolecular science researcher at the University of St Andrews and a member of Voice of Young Science Network, as saying: “We need governments around the world to recognise the dangers of promoting homeopathy for life-threatening illnesses.

“We hope that by raising awareness of the WHO’s position on homeopathy we will be supporting those people who are taking a stand against these potentially disastrous practices.”

Dr Nick Beeching, a specialist in infectious diseases at the Royal Liverpool University Hospital, said: “Infections such as malaria, HIV and tuberculosis all have a high mortality rate but can usually be controlled or cured by a variety of proven treatments, for which there is ample experience and scientific trial data.

“There is no objective evidence that homeopathy has any effect on these infections, and I think it is irresponsible for a healthcare worker to promote the use of homeopathy in place of proven treatment for any life-threatening illness.” (ANI)

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Now, a simple computer game that can help stop smammers in their tracks

July 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 16 (ANI): Computer scientists at Newcastle University have come up with a simple game that can turn a tedious manual labelling task into a form of light entertainment, and simultaneously help companies improve their chances of tackling online spammers.

Dr. Jeff Yan and his PhD student Su-Yang Yu call their innovation ‘Magic Bullet’.

The researchers highlight the fact that commercial websites like Google and Yahoo use Completely Automated Public Turing Test to Tell Computers and Humans Apart (CAPTCHA) to defend against malicious Internet bots, which spread junk emails or grab thousands of free email accounts.

They say that a common approach to testing its robustness is to try and attack or break the scheme.

According to them, this involves acquiring a set of labelled samples, but as computers find it difficult to recognise distorted test or images, this task usually falls to human researchers.

“Manually labelling samples is tedious and expensive. For the first time, this simple game turns it into a fun experience with a serious application as it also achieves a labelling accuracy of as high as 98 per cent,” says Dr. Yan.

Since spammers can misuse computer programs that can automatically bypass a heavily used CAPTCHA, it is important for researchers to understand and improve the robustness of the system in order to stay one step ahead.

To fully evaluate the robustness of a CAPTCHA scheme, at least 10,000 segments usually have to be labelled – a task that cannot be automated.

Dr. Yan and Yu say that their Magic Bullet is a dual-purpose online shooting game that can be played just for fun, but also contributes to solving a real problem.

Players are randomly pitched against each other, with two in each team. They cannot communicate with each other, and security techniques are used to ensure that they are geographically apart to reduce the likelihood of cheating.

Just in case there are not enough human players, one of two types of bots-a Data Relay Bot that replays data from old games or a Tailored Response Bot that acts according to an opposing team’s performance-will be introduced.

A randomly chosen segmented CAPTCHA character appears in each round, and shoots towards the target only when both players correctly identify it before their opponents.

Although the computer does not know which character each of the segments is, the answers given by the winning team can be accurate labels for the segments in the majority of cases.

The researchers have also included a high scoring table in the game in order to encourage players to return to improve on a previous score.

“An average game session produced 25 correct labels per minute, giving 1,500 per hour. Although this is not particularly fast, if touch typists were used it would be noticeably improved, and also players need time to get to know how the game works,” says Dr. Yan.

“As this game supports a large number of parallel sessions, which are limited only by the network bandwidth and game server’s CPU and memory, there is also a lot of scope to increase the labelling rate dramatically,” he adds.

A presentation on the research team’s findings were made at the ongoing IJCAI’09, a leading artificial intelligence conference in Pasadena, CA, USA. (ANI)

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Oz parents still oblivious to kids’ burgeoning weight

July 16, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 16 (ANI): An Australian study has shown that many parents fail to recognize their children’s burgeoning weight, despite constant warnings about childhood obesity.

The disturbing results of the national MBF Healthwatch survey showed that only 7.9 percent of kids were considered to be overweight by their parents.

However, this is a gross underestimation according to the recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) report, which showed almost a quarter of all children (aged two to 12) are overweight or obese.

“Parents need to be extremely conscious that their failure to recognise these weight problems can be potentially damaging to their children in the long-term,” Bupa Australia* Chief Medical Officer Dr Christine Bennett said.

“Even taking into account recent suggestions that measures of overweight might be including some children on the border, many parents don’t pick up on the risk.

“And once children become overweight, it’s often extremely difficult for them to shed these excess kilos, particularly if their diet is incorrect and they are living a sedentary lifestyle.

“Therefore, it’s incumbent upon us as parents to help ensure our children embrace healthier lifestyles,” she added.

Bennett also found that parents’ inability to recognise weight issues was markedly more pronounced with their sons.

This was typified by the fact that considerably more parents believe their daughters are overweight (10.3 percent), compared to their male siblings (5.5 percent).

However, the AIHW data showed there was little difference in the prevalence of overweight or obesity between boys and girls.

Bennett said that she was particularly concerned regarding parents’ perceptions of infants (aged up to two years old), with not one parent recognising that their son was overweight, compared to 8 percent for daughters.

“It is genuinely concerning that parents are more conscious of their daughters’ weight than their sons, and this has to change,” Bennett said.

“Unfortunately, this may mean an overwhelming number of boys experiencing weight problems will not receive timely assistance to rectify the problem as a direct result of their parents’ failure to recognise and address the problem at a young age,” she added. (ANI)

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Emma Watson likes to watch initial ‘chipmunk Harry Potter’ films

July 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Washington, July 15 (ANI): ‘Harry Potter’ actress Emma Watson has said that she prefers watching earlier films in the franchise because she looks like a “chipmunk” in them, and does not recognise herself.

Watson, who has been playing Hermione Granger since she was 10, likes to watch the initial ‘Harry Potter’ instalments because she looks so different.

“Really, I find it easier to watch the earlier films, which might surprise you, because I had the whole bushy hair, chipmunk face, big cheek thing going on, which wasn’t a great look for me. Actually, I find that easier to watch because I can completely disconnect myself. It felt like such a long time ago. I really don’t identify myself with that girl,” Contactmusic quoted her as saying.

She added: “However, the ones from one or two years ago – I find them much, much harder to watch.”

Emma has starred in six ‘Harry Potter’ movies, and is currently shooting the final two. (ANI)

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India underestimated Maoist threat, says Chidambaram

July 15, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, July 15 (NAI): Alarmed by spread of the Maoist tentacles, Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Wednesday admitted to government’s failure in curbing the menace.

Speaking in Rajya Sabha, Chidambaram said, the government had underestimated the Maoist challenge as result of which the left wing extremists had increased their areas of influence.

“Today, they pose a very grave challenge to the states,” he added.

Urging lawmakers to join hands in facing the challenge, Chidambaram said, “All sections of the house must recognise that if we must remain a democratic, republic ruled by law, we must collectively rise and face the challenge of left wing extremists.”

Chidambaram’s statement comes in wake of recovery of a consignment of communication equipment meant for Maoists in Jharkhand on Tuesday.he recovered equipment included walkie-talkies, a number of radio sets, micro tape recorders and signal receivers, among others, which was sent as cargo from New Delhi on a state-run domestic flight.

The Maoists have recently stepped up attacks against police, officials and civilians away from remote rural areas and closer to towns and cities across India.

Naxals had also in big way disrupted the first phase of this year’s Lok Sabha elections.

They had also taken over Lalgarh and surrounding areas in West Bengal’s Midnapore district.

Maoists, who say they are fighting for the rights of poor farmers and landless labourers, are expanding their influence in east, central and southern India. (ANI)

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Recognition of Israel as Jewish state key to peace with Palestine: Netanyahu

July 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Jerusalem, July 13 (ANI): Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has said that Palestine must recognise Israel as a Jewish state, and give up its demand to resettle the descendents of Palestinian refugees in Israel in order to attain peace.

“The key to peace lies in explicit and unequivocal recognition of Israel as the Jewish state on the part of the Palestinians. They must once and for all give up the demand to resettle inside of Israel the descendents of the refugees,” The Jerusalem Post quoted Netanyahu, as saying.

Netanyahu added that the Palestinian leaders must say: “We have had enough of this conflict; we recognize Israel as Jewish; we will live alongside you in true peace.

“As soon as that is stated, a huge window to peace will be opened,” he said.

Earlier, Netanyahu called on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to meet with him as soon as possible in order to renew peace talks.

“Let’s make peace – both diplomatic peace and economic peace. There is no reason why we can’t meet, the Palestinian Authority president and I, anywhere in Israel, and since we are in Beersheba, I say, let’s meet here,” Netanyahu said at the start of a cabinet meeting in Beersheba hat was held there as an act of solidarity with the Negev capital.

“We’ve removed many roadblocks, we have decided to increase the operating hours of the Allenby Bridge for more goods, and I’ve decided to advance a series of projects with the Palestinians to promote peace. But all these efforts can only bring us to a certain point, and the results will be multiplied by the dozen if there is cooperation from the other side,” he added.

Netanyahu also tried to reach out to Arab countries, saying: “Let’s meet, let’s cooperate… We have the ability to bring many players on board.” (ANI)

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Dame Judi is UK’s favourite female role model

July 13, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 13 (ANI): Dame Judi Dench has been voted Britain’s favourite female role model in a survey.

Conducted for the A Woman of Substance Awards, the poll showed that 70 per cent of the 1,000 British women participants, between the ages of 18 and 65, took the veteran actress to be the woman who had real substance.

The 74-year-old star beat fellow actress Joanna Lumley, followed by actress-novelist Julie Walters.

Round-the-world yachtswoman Ellen McArthur bagged the fourth spot, and wrapping up the top five was British Queen Elizabeth II.

The awards, meant to recognise and honour the “unsung heroines” in the UK, were the brainchild of author Barbara Taylor Bradford

“It’s great to see these acclaimed actresses, sportswomen and the Queen being recognised as strong female role models,” the Scotsman quoted Barbara as saying. (ANI)

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When Becks was refused booze for being ‘too young’!

July 2, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, July 2 (ANI): David Beckham was refused alcohol because a waiter thought the 34-year-old football ace was too young to drink, according to a new book.

US sports writer Grant Wahl claims in his tome, entitled ‘The Beckham Experiment’, that the waiter failed to recognise the star at a steakhouse in Arlington, near Washington, where he was dining with LA Galaxy team-mates.

The waiter was said to have asked Beckham to produce some ID, and when the English footballer failed to do so, the jobsworth took away his wine glass.

“No ID … no wine,” The Daily Star quoted him as saying, as the player’s teammates rolled in laughter.

A bemused Beckham apparently asked: “Is this guy taking the piss?”

And when the star’s bodyguard tried having a word with the waiter, he replied: “I don’t care who they are.”

Later, however, the waiter reluctantly gave back the glass.

More embarrassment was said to have come in the way of the midfielder, who was later presented with the bill. (ANI)

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Panesar ‘back to basics’ before Ashes to save his career

June 30, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, June 30 (ANI): In an attempt to save his career, England spinner Monty Panesar, has turned to basics and is returning to what he does best, bowling the same ball six times an over.

The England management’s attempt to turn Panesar into a match winning combination of Bishen Singh Bedi and Shane Warne has been temporarily abandoned ahead of the Ashes series.
Over the last six months, England spin-bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed has been working to add variation to Panesar’s one-note repertoire.

An arm-ball has been introduced, along with subtle changes in flight and trajectory. But the end result seems to have left Panesar more confused, when it was supposed to make him more confident, The Telegraph reports.

“Over the past couple of weeks I’ve changed myself and gone back to just trying to bowl my stock ball all the time,” Panesar said.

“I know that coming into this game against Warwickshire I’m looking to bowl my natural way. I’m not going to do any experimentation because I don’t think it’s the right time to do that.”

Panesar must also know that he faces strong competition from Adil Rashid, the young Yorkshire leg-spinner, who will be playing for the England Lions against Australia at Worcester.

If he keeps thinking about the bowler he might be in six months’ time, rather than the one who takes the field on Wednesday, he could come badly unstuck

“My strength is that I have a natural ability to bowl a certain pace, bowl lots of overs, and get a lot of maidens,” Panesar said.

“When I haven’t been a strike bowler I’ve been able to hold pressure on the batsmen, which gives respite to the seamers. Then, later on, I recognise that when the pitch deteriorates I’m able to come in and be a strike bowler,” he added. (ANI)

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