Paes-Hanley pair gets first-round bye in Barcelona

Leander Paes and his Australian partner Paul Hanley got a first-round bye in the Euro 888,000 Open Sabadell Atlantico tennis tournament in Barcelona.

The sixth seeds will now take on the winners of the match between the Argentine-Uruguayan pair of Juan Ignacio Chela and Pablo Cuevas and Spanish wildcards Guillermo Alcaide and Albert Montanes in the second round of the clay court event.

Paes and Hanley were ousted in the second round of last week's Monte Carlo Masters.

NDTV 24x7 brought this news to me. It is an excellent news channel for NRIs. This channel is available in the US through DirecTV. You can now receive the latest news about India.

Gilchrist smashes fastest ton in IPL

I missed the IPL match between Deccan Chargers & Mumbai Indians but NDTV 24x7's crisp coverage was good enough for me.

Adam Gilchrist produced a breathtaking hundred to take Deccan Chargers to their first win. It meant that Mumbai Indians slumped to their fourth straight loss. Adam's century is the fastest so far in the Indian Premier League.
The former Australia wicketkeeper clubbed a 42-ball hundred with 10 sixes and nine fours making a joke of the 155-run target that Mumbai had set. Hyderabad were home by 10 wickets with an astounding 44 balls to spare. Hyderabad captain VVS Laxman made 36, playing bass to Gilchrist's electrifying riffs.

NDTV 24x7 is a must for Indians living in the US as it covers India-centric news extensively. The news channel is available in the US through DirecTV.

Irked by study choice, NRI kills daughter

NDTV Reports:
An Indian national stabbed to death his 17-year-old daughter who had been awarded a scholarship to study medicine in Chennai because he did not want her to go to India, reports said in Kuala Lumpur on Monday.

S Narrmata was stabbed repeatedly by her father Selvaraj Deekramasamy, 49, who also killed his younger sister Mahalaxmi, before hanging himself from a ceiling fan, the reports said.

All of them were Indian nationals living in Malaysia as Permanent Residents. Selvaraj, 49, an ex-taxi driver was unemployed for the last 10 years, while his wife was a cleaner.

Media reports said the family prayed together at about 2pm on Sunday before having lunch to celebrate the Tamil New Year. The incident took place after his wife left for work.

Narrmata, who had obtained top marks in her exams had been awarded a scholarship to study medicine in Chennai. Her father was against her studying in India.

Shocking!!! I saw a report about this on NDTV last night. It was very well reported and presented. NDTV is available here in the US on DirecTV...

Americans seek employment in India

Though, India might still not be a hot destination for foreigners like the US is for Indians for jobs, applications for work visa has been gradually increasing. From what used to be a rare category of visas a couple of years ago, hardly a day passes when the Consulate in New York does not receive at least one such application in this regard.

In the past two years, the New York Consulate has issued work visa to more than 900 people. In 2006 the New York Consulate issued 335 employment visas while in 2007, more than 430 employment visas were issued. If the trend of the first three months is of any indication, 2008 could well break all previous records.

This is widely being attributed to the recent economic recession here which has resulted in job loss in thousands, wherein US multinationals have shifted their work oversees mainly to countries like India and China.

India’s economy is certainly growing by leaps and bounds. NDTV 24x7 has been continually covering India’s economic growth. This channel provides great coverage to all India related stories from all over the world. NDTV 24x7 is indeed a very good channel for NRIs and is available in the US through DirecTV.

World's youngest director

He might just be 12, but he has more cinematic success than many older professionals. Meet Kishan Shrikant, who's in the Guinness Book for being the world's youngest director. And the icing on the cake? He's just bagged 3 awards at the Cairo International Film Festival for his film on street children.

While most children his age spend time watching movies, 12-year-old Kishan Shrikanth of Bangalore prefers to call the shots from behind the camera.

The Guinness book of records calls him the youngest movie director. Kishan's feature film Care of Footpath has now bagged 3 awards at the Cairo International Film Festival.

The film won the Children's Jury Award, the Special International Jury's Award and a third special achievement award.

In the past such awards have been given to superstars such as Amitabh Bachchan.

It’s a proud moment for me as an Indian that Kishan Shrikant was recognized by Guinness Book as the youngest director. I saw this news on NDTV 24x7. This news channel provides the best coverage of India related news stories for NRIs. DirecTV brings this news channel to the US.

Stamp released in Madhubala's name

NDTV 24x7 brought to me the news of the most beautiful heroine in the history Bollywood. Madhubala, one of the most charismatic actresses of all time, is still considered by many as the benchmark of beauty and talent.

The postal department has revived memories of Madhubala once again in the hearts of millions by issuing a stamp in her name. The stamp was launched by none other than son of the soil, veteran star, Manoj Kumar.
"You can just have one queen of beauty and emotion and Madhubala was one," said Manoj Kumar.

For family and friends it was an emotional moment. "We are actually quite surprised that my sister has been given such an honour. We are very happy," said Shashikala, sister.Madhubala now joins the league of legends like Kishore Kumar and Guru Dutt, people who already feature on postage stamps and with whom she gave two of her hits Chalti Ka Naam Gaadi and Mr and Mrs 55.

NDTV 24x7 covers all sort of India-centric news. Be it politics, sports, films or international events. The channel is available in the US only through DirecTV.

Overwhelming response to NDTV’s tiger campaign

My favorite news channel had initiated a campaign to protect my favorite animal, tiger. After receiving nearly five lakh signatures on Save Tiger campaign from all over the country, the petitions will be handed over to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and chief ministers of states.

The response to NDTV’s Save the Tiger Campaign, supported by Sanctuary Asia and Kids for Tiger, has been overwhelming. Even a week after the rallies held across the country, people continued to sign the petition.

A remarkable 4,97,944 people came forward to sign the petition. The signatures will be submitted to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

It has been little over a month since the government came out with the latest tiger census. According to the government’s latest census, there are only 1411 tiger left in the wild, 50 per cent down from 3642 in 2001-02.

The figure was an acknowledgment of the fact that tigers in India are in serious danger. Following this, NDTV carried out a campaign to raise awareness and make people put pressure on the government to be more vigilant. The aim of NDTV’s public campaign is that leaders and politicians should see the urgency of the problem and declare an emergency for the tiger and save the national animal from extinction.

The news channel that cares for the society and is the first to cover India-centric & International news is available in the US only through DirecTV.