These games are extremely addictive, addictive to the point that teens lock themselves up in their rooms, ignoring friends, family, even food and a shower, while their grades plummet and belligerence soars.

 Parents fear that their children might resort to alcohol or drugs in their teenage years.  But they don’t realise that the video console they bought for their kid as his 16^th birthday present is the worst drug, doctors contend.

Sony Playstation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendos Wii are some of the gaming consoles available in the market. The new age games that these consoles have brought are very compelling with increasing complexity so a child becomes more facile, yet wants to know more and apply new skills; this makes them addictive to these games.

 This addiction is not limited to teens; old people are addictive to video games as well. Many such people want a way to escape reality and then find that they can create a whole new persona on an online game and live their life through their new online personality. Through this they can start to like fantasy life more than reality due to newfound friends and power, and thus, refuse to be drawn away from it.

 This gaming addiction has reached to such a height in recent years that in June 2006, the Smith and Jones Clinic in Amsterdam became the first treatment facility in Europe to offer a residential treatment program for compulsive gamers.

 The treatment of this addiction is very important as it can even lead to death as it was seen in China where Xu Yan died after playing online games continuously for over 15 days during the Lunar New Year holiday. Also, a 30 year-old male died after playing continuously for 3 days.

 Parents have to play a major part in order to prevent their children from becoming video game addicts. They should intervene and limit the amount of time the youngster spends with the video game and encourage them to play more outdoor games.

In Iraq Mr. President was targetted by two, size 10 boots making it an an emotional farewell for him , but not quite in a way that he might have expected.

His press conference in Baghdad took a dramatic turn as TV reporter Muntazer al-Zaidi threw his shoe at the US President, shouting “This is a goodbye kiss from the Iraqi people, dog” forcing him to duck and then followed by another which sailed over his head

Zaidi was later dragged away by the security men, kicking and screaming and was placed under detention.

Iraq faced mounting calls to release al-Zaidi, his action which was branded as shameful and ridiculous by the Iraqi Government but hailed by many people in the Arab world as a perfect goodbye gift to the unpopular US president.

Many colleagues of Muntazer al-Zaidi who work for the Al-Baghdadia said that he detested America and had been plotting such an attack at him for months.

“Throwing the shoe at Bush was the best goodbye kiss ever… it expressed how Iraqi’s and other Arabs hate Bush,” wrote Musa Barhoumeh, editor of Jordan’s independent Al-Ghad Arabic newspaper.

The Iraqi television ‘Al-Baghdadia’ also demanded that Zaidi should be released immediately, in line with the democracy and freedom of expression that America had promised to the Iraqi people and any measures against Zaidi will be considered as an act of dictatorial regime.

By Arabs this act by the journalist is seen as  a brave one , something they are proud of and have admiration for, and later in the day alot of people celebrated the shoe throwing day!!!

Maintaining an ice cool temperament, even when he lost the trophy of being the Sports Personality of the year 2008 to cyclist Chris Hoy, this young lad surprises all. Asked about a year that has seen him go from an unknown rookie to the pinnacle of the world’s most glamorous sport, he simply says: “A lot’s changed in my life just recently.”

This young Brit exploded onto the Formula One circuit and took everybody by surprise in his debut season. At the age of ten, he approached McLaren team principal, Ron Dennis, at an awards ceremony and told him “I want to race for you one day.”

 Less than three years later, he was signed by McLaren and Mercedes-Benz to their Young Driver Support Programme. After winning the British Formula Renault, European Formula Three and GP2 championship, he became a McLaren F1 driver for 2007, making his Formula One debut 12 years after his initial encounter with Dennis.

In his first season in Formula One, Hamilton set numerous rookie records and finished second in the 2007 Formula One Championship, behind Kimi Raikkonen by just one point.

 He came third in the very first race in Melbourne, Australia. In fact his first win came in just the sixth round at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal beating his team mate and two time world champion Fernando Alonso.

Having lost the championship in 2007 by a single point, made Hamilton more eager and composed at the start of the 2008 season. He won the opening race at Australia and then again at the prestigious F1 track in Monaco. He won a total five races which were enough for him to take the championship title of 2008. 

In his personal life he enjoys the attention of A-List celebrities. Currently he’s dating the lead singer of ‘The Pussycat Dolls’, Nicole Scherzinger. Lewis says: “Meeting Beyonce was really wicked. Things like that wouldn’t happen if I wasn’t a racing driver. She’s serious, incredible and beautiful, and she invited me to her concert at Wembley.”

Though this is just the start of his career and there are even greater victories expected out of this boy racer!!

The most disturbing has been, that this time the terrorists targeted the two most iconic hotels of the country – The Taj Mahal Hotel and the Oberoi, Mumbai.

The tourism industry which was already experiencing a decline in the wake of the ongoing global financial crisis is expected to witness further fall by upto 15% during the tourist season from Oct to April.

Countries like United States and Britain, Canada, Russia have cautioned their citizens from travelling to India. The tour operators are deeply concerned with innumberable cancellations of confirmed bookings made by foreign nationals.

The aftermath of the attack is not just limited to tourists only, various shows have been cancelled including the ‘Live Earth‘ India concert that was scheduled to be held of  7^th  December  at the Andheri sports complex, Mumbai.

 A host of celebrities like American singer Bon Jovi, British rocker Roger Waters have cancelled their visits and concerts. Various  Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachhan, Aishwarya Rai were to share the stage to raise funds for the solar energy project have cancelled the event.

 ”Due to circumstances beyond our control, we are saddened to announce that Live Earth India has been called off,” organisers said in an official statement.

Mumbai is not the only Indian city facing the brunt. Agra, the most famous tourist destination is also witnessing a major dip in the tourist arrivals. A large number of tourists have cancelled their tickets and people visiting the Taj have nearly halved.

 Rakesh Chauhan, President of the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Agra, said the government security agencies must step up their security arrangements and send out a strong message that Agra is absolutely safe for tourists.

The flashy ‘incredible India’ tourism campaign launched in 2002 by the government of India to promote tourism is certain to fall short of its goal of increasing Indian tourism atleast for the coming New Year.

Stringent steps need to be taken by the government to ensure complete safety of its citizens as well as the foreigners that travel to India.

It rouses a thought process that mankind should do whatever little to save our planet from environmental destruction.

In the movie an alien comes  to earth to warn mankind about the approaching ecological ruin. In the end the alien judges that humans can change and save the planet and finally like in almost  all sci-fi thrillers, earth is saved!!

But that was a movie, a glimpse of actuality wrapped in film reel , where it was easier to save the planet but in reality can we really change and save ourselves ?? Can we stop global warming ?

We humans don’t realize that our little actions cause so much damage to the environment, simply by keeping a light bulb switched on unnecessarily that causes so much loss of electricity and if  multiplied to a billion light bulbs around the world , we make the situation worse for ourseleves.

Reduce, reuse and recycle the three R’s in waste management can work wonders.Walking short distances, using more fuel efficient cars. Buying energy-efficient products can help a lot as well.

Avoiding products that come with excess packaging, especially molded plastic and other packaging that can’t be recycled. If we reduce our household garbage by 10 percent, we can save 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

Other than these things we could help by simply planting a tree. If we have the means to plant a tree, we should plant one today. During photosynthesis, trees and other plants absorb carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.

They are an integral part of the natural atmospheric exchange cycle on Earth, but there are too few of them to fully counter the increases in carbon dioxide caused by automobile traffic, manufacturing and other human activities. A single tree will absorb approximately one ton of carbon dioxide during its lifetime.

So to save planet earth we should act today, Earth is not just a planet it’s our Home!!!

The monument built in 1648 by King Shah Jahan in memory of his loving wife Mumtaz Mahal, attracts thousands of tourists from all over the world.

The Taj Mahal is undoubtedly the most spectacular buildings of the world. But the recent news about the Taj Mahal replica being built at Narayanganj district, some 30 kms northeast of Dhaka, Bangladesh, by a wealthy Bangladeshi filmmaker Ahsan Ullah Moni has sparked lot of displeasure among the Indians. 

The construction of the replica started in March 2003 and is supposed to be complete by March 2009. According to some reports, the owner, Moni came up with the idea of the replica in 1980 when he first saw the original Taj Mahal at Agra.

Mr. Moni imported marble and granite from Italy and diamonds from Belgium for the building. He hopes that his version of the mausoleum will attract tourists to Bangladesh, a country that is well off the beaten track for Western holidaymakers.

Moni intends to shoot a film about the story of the Taj Mahal and also hopes that the landmark construction would attract tourists to Bangladesh. “We will officially inaugurate the Taj Mahal replica in the Liberation Day on March 26, 2009.”

The 58 million dollar replica seems to have not gone down easy with the Indian high commission at Bangladesh which has confirmed that the matter will be investigated, after all Taj Mahal is a historical monument and cannot be copied.

A spokesman at the Indian High Commission, Dhaka, fumed: “You can’t just go and copy historical monuments.”Someone will go out there and have a look. The reports we are reading say it is an exact replica.”

Under the shadow of controversy, the fate of the replica is yet to be seen but one thing remains indisputable, the Original ‘Monument of love’, the Taj Mahal is priceless and the creation irreplaceable.

 This has been a close victory for an Indian in these international beauty pageants  after  8 long years which is a considerably long time.

Miss India Parvathy Omanakuttan has finished as the first runner up and Miss Trinidad Tobago became the 2^nd runner up.

Parvathy was crowned Miss India in Mumbai on April 5, 2008. And everyone was quite hopeful that this Kerela born beauty would do India proud and indeed she did.

Wearing a gorgeous white gown Parvathy catwalked the stage and answered quite confidently in the final round.

 She was asked what South Africa meant to her to which she replied  by saying how thankful she was for the hospitality showered by the natives , and also mentioned how culturely rich both her country and South Africa  are.

She also compared two legends Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela and how inextricably linked the two countries’ fates have been.

Born on July 23, this Cancerian charmer’s “never say die” attitude has helped her conquer one beauty pageant after another.

At home she has won the Navy Queen contest held in connection with the annual  Femina Miss India, South held in Hyderabad last year.

Two days before the final round, Parvathy appeared sure of her victory and said she was confident of carrying forward the legacy of India’s glamour queens Reita Faria (1966), Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan (1994), Priyanka Chopra (2000), Diana Hayden (1997) and Yukta Mookhey (1999).

“I am very much confident about my victory. Femina Miss India World is not merely a crown of joy for me. With the crown, the responsibility of upholding the name of the country has also fallen on my shoulders,” she said in a statement.

 Around 400 students entered the competition, some students were spotted at nightclubs and encouraged to apply, others filled out online application forms, giving information about their age and height. They were made to answer questions such as “Which Sex and the City character would they most relate to?”

 Though some women clearly accepted the pageant concept with open arms, the contest was not received well by others. 

 Protestors claim that such events have the single function of objectifying women as sexual objects, disregarding their personal and intellectual abilities. They also said universities should be about expanding people’s minds, not judging them on their appearance.

 One of the protestors feel that participants of  these competitions are educated women ,so why do they enjoy being ogled at and identified as sexual objects, rather than proving their worth by working in some reputed job.

 Shoni Newell, President of Student Union, University of Westminster tells why she thinks the protests were valid . “Women have fought so long and hard not to be seen as sexual objects, and by  participating in these competitions , women go back to square one. Then whats the point of fighting for equal rights if they are going to obejctify themselves in that manner.”

 Although the President backs the protests, the argument has both sides to it.A majority of locals believe that a beauty contest is a celebration of the timeless vices of vanity and exhibitionism.

 Judging women on their looks when they’re being marked for an exam of nuclear physics or applying for a job as a police officer is clearly wrong.However judging them on their looks when they’ve queued up for a looks-based competition seems pretty unobjectionable.

The book makes an interesting read for Harry Potter fanatics who get to read the conclusion to the last book The Deathly Hallows. 

Interestingly J K Rowling read from one of the seven original hand-written copies of the book at a tea party at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh.

This book is actually the one that Dumbledore gifts Hermione in the final Harry Potter instalment thinking that she would find it “entertaining and instructive”   which is compiled by 15th-century bard- the wizard world’s equivalent of the Grimm brothers.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, published by Children’s High Level Group on 4 December, reveals  the four remaining tales, translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, alongside notes by Professor Dumbledore and illustrations by JK Rowling.

 Avid readers from across the globe travelled to London to become the first people to lay their hands on the new Harry Potter spin-off.

 The original hand written book will be kept in display at the National Library of Scotland from 5^th December to 4^th January.

 Madagascar Escape 2 Africa is a much awaited movie for Madagascar 1 fans that couldn’t get enough of the chicken hearted lion, the gorgeously cute hippo, the sassy Zebra and the neurotic giraffe.

 All come back together with the original star cast Ben Stiller, Jada Pinkett Smith, Chris Rock and David Schwimmer.

 The story starts from where it ended in 2005 in the last Madagascar, the four animals plan to go back to the New York Zoo to lead their happy routine lives full of comfort and luxury, in a wrecked plane mounted back by the penguins that plan to fly it to safety.

 It comes as no surprise that this plan doesn’t work and they crash land in Africa. And that’s where the fun starts. The story gets really hilarious and is vouched to be better than Madagascar 1.

 It is lively and quite funny without being unbearable as the story rolls the audience are introduced to a number of charming new characters.

It a must see for kids and without doubt all generations will love the wittiness of the movie. I am booking my tickets now!!!