Russian Army Flying Fortresses images

In 1930s Russian army was … by the idea of creating huge planes. At that times they were proposed to have as much propellers as possible to help carrying those huge flying fortresses into the air, jet propulsion has not been implemented at those times yet.

Not much photos were saved since that times, because of the high secrecy levels of such projects and because a lot of time passed already. Still on the photo below you can see one of such planes – a heavy bomber K-7.

Now modern history lovers in Russia try to reconstruct according the plans left in once to be top-secret Russian army archives their look in full color. This is one example based on ideas of Russian aviation engineers of that times.

Wipro deposit 24cr tax case

The Karnataka high court has directed IT bellwether Wipro Ltd to deposit Rs 24 crore (Rs 240 million) by Wednesday evening in a case of tax on re-export of software, a company official admitted. As the company did not comply with the court's order of December 10, the vacation bench of justice

Venugopala Gowda and justice BV Pinto on Tuesday declined to hear its appeal for a stay on payment of 4% value added tax (VAT) on software re-exported. 

In the earlier order, a single-judge bench of the court directed the export division of Wipro to pay 50% of the VAT and file an appeal before the appellate authority for commercial taxes by December 24 for tax exemption.

When the company failed to pay the amount and appeal within the fortnight, the commercial tax department attached its bank accounts and moved the high court against it.

The company official declined to comment on the court directive, saying the "case is sub-judice and our legal experts are dealing with the issue."

Wipro sought tax relief on software it developed for other vendors, which in turn exported it to the IT company.

"The company failed to submit the statutory H-form to the department for claiming tax exemption," a tax official said on anonymity.

Wipro challenged the tax department for levying the export tax on the software and sought exemption as it was paying service tax under the development of software act, and approached the court for quashing the department notice Oct 26.

Rejecting the company's appeal, the tax department contended before the high court that the sale of software amounted to sale of goods and services and cited a Supreme Court ruling in 2006 in a similar case between the central government and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country's largest IT bellwether.

England win Ashes 2010-biggest win over Australia

England win by an innings an 157 runs and retain the Ashes

And there you have it, England win by an innings an 157 runs and retain the Ashes. It's taken them less than an hour and a half, and it's their biggest win over Australia since Old Trafford in 1956 - emphatic, to say the least. Man-hugs and back-slaps all round on the field, the Barmy Army fill the 'G with noise! As the England team leave the field they're met by the coaches and technical staff, Andy Flower is there and congratulates each and every one of them.

This has been a thoroughly deserved win, England led the game from the moment the coin was tossed. They used the conditions perfectly to dismantle Australia in the first innings, surged ahead with the bat, and finished the job with more than a day and a half to spare. After setting the tone with the bat at Brisbane, they took the a lead in the series with an-innings-and-71-run win at Adelaide. It appeared there was life in Australia yet when an inspired Mitchell Johnson helped them bounce back at Perth, but England showed depth, determination and killer instinct to take this game by the scruff of the neck and keep hold of the urn.

"Is it time to throw out the bathwater, the baby and the rubber duck?" asks Peter. "Sack the selectors who have clearly failed to adequately prepare for this vital series." The Ashes are lost, but it's 2-1 and there's still a series at stake here, so perhaps now might not be the best time to ring the changes.

 Andrew Strauss :-

"I hoped we would retain the Ashes here," says Andrew Strauss. "You know how much hard work is needed to win a series over here," he says to Athers, "a huge amount of credit has to go to Andy Flower and the backroom staff who got us prepared for this, and even more so to the guys out on the field who did what was asked of them. We've still got a series to win.

"What a great ground this is, and what an amazing place to come and retain the ashes at. This will live in my memory and in the memories of all the players. It's easy to get carried away with this win, but we still want to win the series even though we're going to be taking the urn home."

Ricky Ponting :-

"I'm not sure if you're better off getting flogged like we have been here or go down in a tight one," says losing captain Ricky Ponting. "Sometimes I think it can be more disappointing when it goes down to the wire, and we've been totally outplayed here. We've only got ourselves to blame, and we've got to give credit to England.

"It's really hard to work out why there's been such big momentum swings, not only in this Ashes series but in previous ones too. One team dominates and then the other one does. England executed their plans really well here, and we couldn't respond quickly enough or for long enough. I've got a lot of thinking to do [about my future]. I've tried my heart out, a lot of people have said I've even tried too hard. hopefully next week I'll prepare as well as possible and make two big scores to have an influence on the series.

Of his fractured finger, he says: "I don't know if the finger will be OK, it's been x-rayed but the specialist hasn't had a look yet. If there's no damage and it's like it was this week, I'll play. it's important we bounce back in Sydney and give the fans something to be proud of. We've got to prove to ourselves and the fans that we're still good cricketers."

 The fortress has fallen and the era of Australian dominance has ended, but the series is not over yet, and Australia could yet begin 2011 on a positive note. Follow every ball of the Sydney Test, which begins on January 3.

CNNIBN award-shankar enthiran video

  CNN IBN Indian of the year 2010 for entertainment-Director Shankar

A.R.Rahman Foundation for underprivileged

Launched in support of the cause of education for less privileged children

For the second year in a row, the A.R.Rahman Foundation in collaboration with World Light (Audio Media Education Subsidiary) has come out with their official calendar. Supporting the cause of education for less privileged children, the Foundation has set up educational institutions and provides world class, state-of-the-art infrastructure and education to underprivileged children who do not have the means to access and fund their education. This will equip them with knowledge and skill sets to pursue specialized higher studies that will provide them career opportunities to build a secure future for themselves and their families, Foundation states.

“At the Foundation, we know that there is no better investment than that in the education of children.” says Oscar Winner A R Rahman. The Foundation is providing free music education to 30 students from corporation schools in Chennai (India) in Rahman's world-class K M Music Conservatory and aims at increasing this number.

One of A.R.Rahman's quotes in the calendar is in Tamil and translates to evince his deep belief in the Almighty- “EACH and EVERY glory belongs to GOD.”

The calendar features pictures of singers and musicians from a broad cross section of the Indian music industry. From Chinmayi's classic portrayal of a traditional singer to Benny Dayal's heart-felt crooning, the musicians have struck a common chord that echoes through the calendar-- a quiet yet powerful energy that is the trademark of A.R.Rahman himself. One factually interesting aspect of the calendar is that of the ten musicians featured in it, eight of them found their way into the industry through A.R.Rahman.

Capturing the musicians as they reflect their profound passion for their chosen craft is photographer Selvakumar, the CEO of Audio Media Education and a specialist in visual art. “A moment of giving is much greater than a moment of receiving. I am honoured to be associated with the A R Rahman Foundation. I believe each one of us should come forward and support this initiative,” he says.

Notes to the editor: ABOUT AR RAHMAN FOUNDATION:

AR Rahman Foundation strives towards making poverty history. On the path to achieving this vision, the foundation has set up educational institutions and is providing world class, state-of-the-art infrastructure and education to underprivileged children who do not have the means to access & fund their education. This equips them with the knowledge and skill sets required to pursue specialized higher studies that will provide them with career opportunities to build a secure future for themselves and their families.

CALENDAR CREDITS:

Photography: T.Selvakumar, Creative Team: A.R.Rahman, T.Selvakumar and Sarangarajan Design: Pollen Web Creatives. Makeup: Venkat, Ramana, Harsha Babu. Vidya Jagtap (Mumbai); Styling and Costumes: Drashta Sarvaiya, Vivek Karunakaran, Geetha Solaraj & Navaneetha Selvakumar; Printing: NPT Offset Press Pvt. Ltd. Artist Management: Noel James, Swamy Durai, Vijay Iyer & Nazeef Mohammed Photography Studio: Worldlight, Chennai & Sri Balaji Studios (Mumbai) Equipment: Hasselblad H3D II 31 Medium Format Digital SLR, Broncolor Power Packs and Heads.

Kalavani’ Vimal’s secret marriage -real Kalavani

Vimal has two consecutive smash hits – Pasanga and Kalavani – to his credit and is presently acting in Ethan. This young and upcoming actor, who has been camping in Kumbakonam for the past one month to participate in the shooting of Ethan, decided to marry his childhood sweetheart Priyadarshini in Swamimalai and did so secretly.

 According to Vimal, Priyadarshini is a medical student, pursuing her course in a private college in Chennai.

Though they both are related and have known each other since childhood, the bride’s parents strongly opposed the marriage. 

This forced Vimal and Priyadarshini to wed secretly. The actor said that the parents have been informed and the wedding reception will be held in Chennai soon after the issues between both the families are sorted out.

Oprah richest Hollywood rich star of top20

TV mogul Oprah Winfrey tops the list of Hollywood's rich of the year compiled by Forbes magazine.

Oprah takes the top spot on the newly-released Hollywood's 20 Highest-Earning of 2010 with an estimated $ 315 million, while the success of "Avatar" has put director James Cameron in second place with an estimated $ 210 million earning, reports contactmusic.com.

Filmmaker Tyler Perry is on third spot with $125 million. Steven Spielberg, Jerry Bruckheimer, George Lucas and Michael Bay have also made it to the top 10 list.

The highest paid musician on the coveted list is Beyonce, who is ahead of Lady Gaga and Britney Spears by grabbing number nine with an $87 million.

Spears is at number 13, while Gaga on 14.