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India's film and television industry contributes an immense $6.2 billion (Rs 28,305 crores) to the Indian economy, according to a new report released by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The report, titled Economic Contribution of the Indian Film and Television Industry, also finds that the sector has a total gross output of $20.4 billion (Rs 92,645 crores) and contributes more to the GDP of India than the advertising industry. "This report demonstrates the importance of the film and television sector to the overall growth and vitality of the Indian economy. Indians should be proud of the staggering growth that the film and television industry has achieved," said Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) chairman Dan Glickman, who launched the report in New Delhi at the Asia Society Conference. "The film and television industry in India is one of the world's largest markets in terms of number of consumers and offers significant growth potential. Over the past fe...

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China's economic growth rose in the fourth quarter of 2012, helping the world's most populous nation end the year with a growth rate of 7.8%, according to figures released on January 18, 2013 from the National Bureau of Statistics. Last quarter, China's economy grew at a pace of 7.9%, slightly better than analyst expectations and breaking a pattern of seven straight quarters of decline.  China's growth rate had been steadily falling since the fourth quarter of 2010, when economic output grew 9.8%. The slowing growth rate bottomed out in the third quarter of 2012, when China's economy only grew at 7.4%.  Last March, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao lowered the country's 2012 growth target from 8% to 7.5%. While such growth would be the envy of most nations, China's economy has grown at an average rate of about 10% each year for the past 30 years. This has helped propel China to become the world's second largest economy, just behind that of t...

Imran Khan with his sons  Sulaiman Isa and Kasim Imran Khan is the world famous cricketer and now also politician born on 25 November 1952 in Pakistan. He played international cricket for two decades in the late twentieth century and, after retiring, entered politics. Besides, his political activism, Khan is also a philanthropist, cricket commentator, Chancellor of the University of Bradford and Founding Chairman Board of Governors of Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital & Research Centre. Imran Khan batting He was Pakistan's most successful cricket captain, leading his country to victory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup, playing for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992, and serving as its captain intermittently throughout 1982–1992. After retiring from cricket at the end of the 1987 World Cup in 1988, due to popular public demand he was requested to come back by the president of Pakistan to lead the team once again. At 39, Khan led his team to Pakistan...

Aaron Swartz, an Internet savant who at a young age shaped the online era by co-developing RSS and Reddit and later became a digital activist, has committed suicide.  Swartz's body was found Friday evening in Brooklyn, said Ellen Borakove, a spokeswoman with the New York medical examiner's office. The 26-year-old had hanged himself in his apartment. His family and partner said they were "in shock, and have not yet come to terms with his passing." "Aaron's insatiable curiosity, creativity, and brilliance; his reflexive empathy and capacity for selfless, boundless love; his refusal to accept injustice as inevitable -- these gifts made the world, and our lives, far brighter," they said in a statement. "We're grateful for our time with him, to those who loved him and stood with him, and to all of those who continue his work for a better world."  A prodigy, Swartz was behind some of the Internet's defining moments, soaring to h...

South Korea has increased its budget to fund North Korea-related projects this year, government data showed on Thursday, with a new president seeking closer relations due to take office in Seoul and signs of an opening from Pyongyang. South Korea's Ministry of Unification said parliament had approved a 9.1 percent rise in the inter-Korean cooperation fund this year to 1.1 trillion won ($1.03 billion). "The last offer for talks we made to North Korea was last summer, when the North was suffering from flood damage," said Park Soo-jin, a spokeswoman for the ministry. The two Koreas remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended with a truce, not a treaty, and relations plunged under South Korean President Lee Myung-bak who cut aid dramatically after the shooting of a South Korean tourist in the North in 2008.  Lee's single term ends in February when he will be replaced by Park Geun-hye, who has pledged engagement with the isolated and impoveri...

Social games publisher Zynga Inc confirmed on Monday that it has carried out 11 of the planned shutdowns of 13 game titles, with "Petville" being the latest game on which it pulled the plug.  Zynga in October said it would shut down 13 under-performing titles after warning that its revenues were slowing as gamers fled from its once-popular titles published on the Facebook platform in large numbers and sharply revised its full-year outlook.  The San Francisco-based company announced the "Petville" shutdown two weeks ago on its Facebook page. All the 11 shutdowns occurred in December. The 11 titles shut down or closed to new players include role-playing game "Mafia Wars 2," "Vampire Wars," "ForestVille" and "FishVille."  "In place of 'PetVille,' we encourage you to play other Zynga games like 'Castleville,' 'Chefville,' 'Farmville 2,' 'Mafia Wars' and 'Yoville,...

Apple Inc has started testing a new iPhone and the next version of its iOS software, news website The Next Web reported. The company's shares rose as much as 4.3 percent but eased a little to trade up 3 percent at $546.11 by mid-day on the Nasdaq. Application developers have found in their app usage logs references to a new iPhone identifier, iPhone 6.1, running iOS 7 operating system, the website reported. Apple's iPhone 5 bears the identifiers "iPhone 5.1" and "iPhone 5.2" and is powered by the iOS 6 operating system. Developer logs show that the app requests originate from an internet address on Apple's Cupertino campus, suggesting that Apple engineers are testing compatibility for some of the popular apps, the website said. "Although OS and device data can be faked, the unique IP footprint leading back to Apple's Cupertino campus leads us to believe this is not one of those attempts," the website said. Raymond James analyst...

The government of Bangladesh has hiked the fuel prices of the country on the 3rd day of new year. Petrol and octane prices by Tk 5 per litre setting new prices at   Tk 96 and  Tk 99. Besides,  diesel and kerosene prices were up for Tk 7 setting new prices at  Tk 68 for the both items.   The prices would be effective from Thursday midnight, it said in a media statement at night.  The opposition BNP on Dec 26 threatened country wide general strike a day after the fuel prices were further increased.  But the opposition's reaction could not be known immediately after the fresh increase in the fuel oil costs. 

Sonia Gandhi was born at Antonia Edvige Albina Maino of Italy on 9th December 1946. Sonia turns into 67th year of age. She is an Italian-born Indian politician and the President of the Indian National Congress, one of the major political parties of India. She is 12th powerful man of the world as per the Forbes Magazine  annual ranking for 2012.   She is the widow of former Prime Minister of India, Rajiv Gandhi and belongs to the Nehru–Gandhi family. After his assassination in 1991, she was invited by the Indian National Congress to take over the Congress but refused and publicly stayed away from politics amidst constant prodding by the Congress. She finally agreed to join politics in 1997; in 1998, she was elected as the leader of the Congress. Since then, Sonia Gandhi has been the President of the Indian National Congress Party. She has served as the Chairperson of the ruling United Progressive Alliance in the Lok Sabha since 2004. In September 2010, on being re-el...

Bangladeshies have won 5-match series  with 3-2 victory  against West Indies. They won by 2 wickets today in the deciding match. This is their 2nd ODI series victory in cricket. They first got first series victory in 2010 against  New Zealand .  Bangladesh lost eight wickets as they were chasing 218-run target set by West Indies Indies in the fifth and deciding one-day international at their home ground Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium in Dhaka on Saturday. The vice-captain smashed a solid 45 off 42, featuring seven boundaries, and hauled two wickets of the Caribbeans removing Darren Bravo (51) and Andre Russell for a duck. After restricting West Indies to a modest 217, Bangladesh appeared in trouble with losing three wickets -- Tamim Iqbal (4), Anamul Haque (0) and Jahurul Islam (10) -- only for 30 runs. Later, skipper Mushfiqur Rahim and Mahmudullah made a 91-run partnership in the fifth wicket. But Narine broke the strong partnership by sending back ...

William Henry "Bill" Gates III, born October 28, 1955, is an American business magnate and philanthropist. Gates is the former chief executive and current chairman of Microsoft, the world’s largest personal-computer software company, which he co-founded with Paul Allen. He is consistently ranked among the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2009, excluding 2008, when he was ranked third; in 2011 he was the wealthiest American and the second wealthiest person. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of CEO and chief software architect, and remains the largest individual shareholder, with 6.4 percent of the common stock. He has also authored or co-authored several books. Gates is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Gates has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive, an opinion which has in some cases been upheld by the courts. In th...

Manmohan Singh, born on 26th September 1932, is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. A renowned economist, he is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term, and the first Sikh to hold the office. He born in Gah, now in Punjab of Pakistan in 1932. Singh's family migrated to India during its partition in 1947. After obtaining his doctorate in economics from Oxford, Singh worked for the United Nations in 1966–69.  He subsequently began his bureaucratic career when Lalit Narayan Mishra hired him as an advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Over the 70s and 80s, Singh held several key posts in the Government of India, such as Chief Economic Advisor (1972–76), Reserve Bank Governor (1982–85) and Planning Commission head (1985–87). In 1991, as India faced a severe economic crisis, newly elected Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao surprisingly inducted the apolitical Singh into his cabinet as Finance Mi...

2012-19th most powerful man of the world by the Forbes Magazines. 2010-World Statesman Award from Appeal of Conscience Foundation. 2005-Top 100 Influential People in the World by Time Magazine. 2002-Outstanding Parliamentarian Award by Indian Parliamentary Group. 2000-Annasaheb Chirmule Award by Annasaheb Chirmule Trust. 1999-H.H. Kanchi Sri Paramacharya Award for Excellence by Shri R. Venkataraman, The Centenarian Trust. 1999-Fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi by National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. 1997-Lokmanya Tilak Award by Tilak Smarak Trust, Pune. 1997-Justice K.S. Hegde Foundation Award by Justice K.S. Hegde Foundation. 1997- Nikkei Asia prize for Regional Growth by Nihon Keizai Shimbun Inc. 1996- Honorary Professorship by Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, Delhi. 1995-Jawaharlal Nehru Birth Centenary Award (1994–95) by Indian Science Congress Association 1994...

  The Honda Ridgeline  was made refreshing in 2012 with a new high-value Sport trim level, new front styling and improved fuel efficiency. Now, the Honda Ridgeline returns for 2013 with a rearview camera now standard on all trim levels. The 2013 Honda Ridgeline represents an exclusive and innovative approach in the half-ton pickup truck segment, prioritizing its construction and features based on the capabilities that recreational truck buyers need and use the most. The 2013 Ridgeline goes on sale in this October 2012 and pricing is unchanged for 2013, starting at $29,3501. The Honda Ridgeline features a closed-box, uni-body structure and an independent front and rear suspension for a unique combination of capability, interior spaciousness and comfortable ride performance. It also delivers a wide range of conventional pickup capabilities, with a maximum tow rating of 5,000 pounds and a half-ton payload rating, all while offering unique features like a large In-Bed Trun...

The all-new 2013 Honda Accord has been launched in September 19, 2012 with an emotionally driven, integrated multimedia campaign designed to artfully highlight the new Accord's sophisticated design, dynamic performance, rich feature content and value. The 'It Starts with You' campaign, was built around the Honda philosophy of designing the Accord around the needs of the driver and occupants. The Accord campaign highlights numerous new technologies that enhance the model's dynamic driving experience, as well as, the styling cues that improve visibility and efficiency. "This campaign demonstrates how Honda's deep understanding of the customer allowed our engineers to perfect the midsize sedan in the new Accord," said Mike Accavitti, vice president of automotive marketing at American Honda Motor Co., Inc. "The new Accord excels in all areas that are important to the midsize buyer so we created an emotionally engaging launch campaign that d...