Gunmen armed with heavy weapons including rocket propelled grenades on Friday attacked the Indian Consulate in Afghanistan's Herat province during which three attackers were killed, top Indian officials said.

However, TV reports further claimed that the fourth gunman has also been killed by the security forces.

All the diplomatic staff were safe.

Three gunmen were killed, one by ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) and two by Afghan police, out of four attackers who struck the Consulate which houses two buildings, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha said.

PM-designate Narendra Modi spoke to Amar Sinha and assured all help.

Modi also spoke to Afghan President Hamid Karzai and thanked him for the efforts of Afghan forces in thwarting the attack.

"President Karzai & I talked about Consulate attack in Herat.

He assured me he will do everything to protect India's Missions in Afghanistan," Modi tweeted later.

He also praised the consulate staff in Herat and thanked the security forces for thwarting the terror attack.
Afghan security forces watch a house burn at the site of a clash between insurgents and security forces at the Indian Consulate in Herat
Afghan security forces watch a house burn at the site of a clash between insurgents and security forces at the Indian Consulate in Herat

Karzai is among the leaders expected to attend Modi's swearing in as prime minister on Monday, May 26 .

In a pre-dawn assault, the gunmen attacked the building which houses the residence of Consulate General, Sinha said, adding that there were nine Indians in the mission apart from local Afghans.

One attacker was killed while climbing the wall to enter the premises of the consulate, Sinha said.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi said, "India's Consulate in Herat, Afghanistan attacked.

 Afghanistan has experienced a rise in the Taliban attacks as foreign troops plan to withdraw from the war-torn country by the end of the year.

 In August last year, a failed bombing against the Indian Consulate in Jalalabad city near the border with Pakistan killed nine people, including six children.

Lenovo has announced a price cut for the mid-range Vibe X smartphone, which will now be available at Rs. 22,999.
The Lenovo Vibe X was launched at Rs. 25,999 (translating to a Rs. 3,000 price cut) December last year as the first Vibe smartphone to reach the Indian market.

The smartphone has a premium polycarbonate body and an advanced mould, laser-engraved 3D tactile finish. One of the highlights of the device is its super thin frame measuring 6.9mm. It weighs 121 grams. The Vibe X at launch ran Android 4.2 Jelly Bean out-of-the-box.

The Vibe X sports a 5-inch full-HD display that has a resolution of 1080x1920 pixels and a pixel density of 440ppi, sitting under a Corning Gorilla Glass 3 screen bevelled at the edges. The phone is powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core MediaTek (MTK 6589T) processor, has 2GB of RAM, and offers 16GB of inbuilt storage.

The Lenovo Vibe X features a 13-megapixel auto-focus rear-facing camera with a back-illuminated sensor and an LED flash. The phone also features a 5-megapixel front-facing camera that comes with a wide-angle 84 degree lens. It includes Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AGPS and 3G connectivity options. The Vibe X is backed by a 2,000mAh battery. The smartphone supports Micro-SIM, instead of regular SIM size, and measures 144x74x6.9mm in dimensions.

On Tuesday, Lenovo also announced Android 4.4 KitKat updates for the Vibe X and the Vibe Z smartphones. The Chinese handset maker revealed that the update for both smartphones would be rolled out in a phased manner starting from the last week of May.

The Android 4.4 KitKat update for Vibe X brings security enhancements and bug fixes, and a revamped UI with lesser icons and new incoming call interface. It also brings various camera fixes such as efficient auto focus and white balance capabilities for clearer and sharper images. The company has also claimed that the update will boost the Vibe X's power management for improved battery utilisation.

After a string of teasers, Panasonic has finally pulled the wraps off its newest smartphone dubbed P81. The Panasonic P81 is company’s first octa-core priced at Rs 18,990. The device is now available for Rs 17,999  via  Snapdeal. The online retailer promises to ship the device in two business days.

The P81 poses a sleek at 7.9mm profile and follows the phablet trend with a 5.5-inch IPS display with 720p resolution. Just like most of the mid-range smartphones entering the Indian market, it comes with dual SIM functionality. It comes powered by an octa-core processor that clocks at 1.7GHz coupled with 1GB RAM. The chipset isn’t specified, but considering the price point and octa-core capability, it could be Mediatek.

On the camera front, one can expect a 13-megapixel rear snapper with auto-focus and LED flash, and a 2-megapixel front-facing camera. It gets 8GB onboard storage, expandable up to 32GB via microSD card slot. The device runs on older 4.2.2 Jelly Bean flavor of Android, and also gets a layer of Play Life UI.

Other connectivity options include 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth 3.0 A2DP. The device will also support FM radio. All of this will be fuelled by a 2500mAh battery.

The device comes packed with app freebies worth Rs 9,900, and accessories worth Rs 2000 along with a leatherette design.

An emotionally charged Narendra Modi on Tuesday said people have voted for "new hope and aspiration" and he would try his best to live up to their expectations after he was unanimously elected the leader of the BJP parliamentary party.

BJP leader and the NDA prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi receives a bouquet from newly-elected BJP Members of Parliament as he arrives at the Parliament building in New Delhi. (AFP ...

BJP president Rajnath Singh arrives in Parliament in New Delhi. (AFP photo)

BJP leader and the NDA prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi gestures as he arrives at the Parliament building in New Delhi. (AFP photo)

Bharatiya Janata Party senior leader Lal Krishna Advani arrives for the BJP parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi. (AP photo)

Newly-elected BJP Member of Parliament Varun Gandhi arrives in Parliament in New Delhi. (AFP photo)

Newly-elected BJP Member of Parliament and Bollywood actor Paresh Rawal arrives in Parliament in New Delhi. (AFP photo)

Bharatiya Janata Party senior leader Lal Krishna Advani arrives in Parliament in New Delhi. (AFP photo)

Newly-elected BJP Member of Parliament and Bollywood actress Hema Malini arrives in Parliament in New Delhi. (AFP photo)
He expressed his gratitude to the leaders of the party and specially thanked party patriarch LK Advani and president Rajnath Singh for giving him their "blessings".

"We are here in the temple of democracy. We will work with all purity... not for the designation but for the people of the country. Work and responsibility are the biggest things," Modi told the gathering.

Referring to his humble background, Modi said it was an ode to Indian democracy and its founding fathers that he was standing there, all set to be the new PM.

"Today I'm standing before you as the son of a poor man. This is the strength of democracy."

Modi said the recent election result had increased people's faith in democracy and there is a "new hope" among people that this dispensation can fulfill their aspirations.

"The new government will dedicate itself for the poor, crores and crores of youth and for the safety and security of the mothers and sisters, those in the rural areas, oppressed and the deprived," he said.

"I will try to live up to expectations of people," he said and promised to present a report card of his government to the people in 2019.

"This is the time for new hope and strength." Modi said in 2019 he will meet the MPs again with a report card.

Referring to the nature of the verdict, he said if it had been a hung or a fractured verdict then one can say that people had vented their anger against the government and that it was anti-establishment.

"But by giving BJP an absolute majority they have voted for hope and trust. People have voted for hope and faith. and I will do everything to fulfil their aspirations," he said, adding that he is a man full of optimism.

"I want to assure the people of the country that there is no need for pessimism going by the past bad experience... I am a very optimistic man and only an optimistic man can bring optimism in the country."

During his 30-minute acceptance speech, 63-year-old Modi broke down when he referred to LK Advani's mention that he had done a favour to the party by taking up the responsibility.

"Can serving the mother be a favour? A son is only dedicated to serve the mother... The favour has been done by the party," he said addressing the newly-elected MPs of the party in the historic Central Hall of Parliament.

The PM-to be also took the opportunity to praise the work of the past governments, saying every government and its leaders have contributed to the welfare of the country and he will carry forward whatever good they have done.

He also invoked former PM and BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee saying it would have been an icing on the cake had the ailing leader been present among them.

Modi, who led the saffron party to a spectacular victory in the Lok Sabha elections, was earlier elected as the leader amid chants of "Bharat Mata ki jai" and a standing ovation.


BJP president Singh announced Modi as the leader of the BJP parliamentary board after Advani proposed the name of "popular" and "famous" leader.

"This is a historic moment in the politics of India," said Rajnath Singh.

Murli Manohar Joshi seconded the proposal with a sense of "pride" and "joy" and Sushma Swaraj hoped that Modi will be a "famous" prime minister.

Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, Venkaiah Naidu and Nitin Gadkari also supported the proposal for electing Modi.

Advani, who embraced Modi after he was chosen as the leader of BJP parliamentary party, got emotional as he greeted the Gujarat strongman.

The election was an important formality before Modi approached President Pranab Mukherjee to stake claim to form the new government.

According to reports, Mukherjee congratulated Modi and invited him to form the government.

Before that, a 15-member delegation of the NDA, led by Advani, called on Mukherjee on Tuesday afternoon to convey to him that Modi has been elected as the leader of the alliance.

The NDA delegation comprised of BJP president Singh and senior party leaders Advani and Joshi.

Leaders from alliance partners included Akali Dal's Parkash Singh Badal and Sukhbir Singh, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, Shiv Sena's Uddhav Thackeray, LJP leader Ram Vilas Paswan and Neiphu Rio of Naga People's Front.

Other BJP leaders who were part of the NDA delegation included Swaraj, Jaitley, Naidu, Gadkari, Ananth Kumar and TC Gehlot.

After the meeting, BJP chief Singh told reporters that the Modi government will be sworn-in on May 26. ?

According to reports, as the race for key posts in the Modi government intensified the BJP president may get the home portfolio while Arun Jaitley could be the new finance minister.

Reports also said that Joshi could be chosen as the defence minister and Advani could be asked to guide the party.

Amid a flurry of meetings, Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar also paid a visit to Modi in New Delhi on Tuesday morning.

On Monday, hectic consultations were on in the BJP for the second consecutive day ahead of the government formation in New Delhi. A stream of leaders met Modi, Singh and senior RSS functionaries.

Swaraj, who is tipped to be one of the four top ministers of the next government, reportedly conveyed her readiness to work in a "respectable position" in his team.

The PM-designate, however, has not revealed anything about who his cabinet colleagues will be.

"He is hearing everyone out and will make his mind known at the right time," a BJP leader considered close to Modi said.

Wrong. Almost everyone in "The Runaways" was out of place or out of their element, and quite conscious of that fact. And I'll say more about that in a minute, but first, well, wow. You can't make the claim that "Mad Men" denies the viewer a full range of experiences.

First, we had the AMC After Dark scene of Don having a three-way with Megan and her friend Amy. And then we had something completely different: Michael Ginsberg proudly presenting his sliced-off nipple to Peggy. Excuse me for a minute while I go drink the entire contents of my liquor cabinet.

Yeeeeow. I feel scarred from having written the above sentence about Ginsberg's body part; seeing what was in that box was worse. There's a mental image I'll never be able to remove from my brain -- Scout's honor.

As wildly different as those two moments were, this is "Mad Men," so the moments shared a thematic link, as did much of what occurred elsewhere in "The Runaways." As I noted above, almost every character stood on unfamiliar terrain or felt deeply alienated from what was going on around them.

Even though Don may have succumbed to the charms of Megan and her friend, there was reluctance in everything he did when he was out in California. He felt left out at her party, he tried to ignore her dancing with another man and he sensed that there was something odd about Stephanie's quick exit from Megan's pad. Don was so uncomfortable that Harry Crane, of all people, turned out to be a sight for sore eyes. Don couldn't wait to get away from all those pot-smokin' hippies and go drink manly alcohol in a dimly lit bar. There's only so much extramarital flirtation and banjo a man can be expected to endure.

Ginsberg's unease, at least in his own mind, had an explanation: It was all the computer's fault. He was so rattled by that humming monolith that he actually went to Peggy's house, a weird place for him to end up on a Saturday night. There, Ginsberg found one of the episode's many odd pairings: Peggy and little Julio from upstairs. In an episode full of characters experiencing discomfort and disconnected states, it's wildly ironic and very sad that Ginsberg actually found relief from his distress. Unfortunately, his "relief" was a symptom of profound mental illness.

Actress Kareena Kapoor is said to have laughed a lot when she saw her actor-husband Saif Ali Khan don the look of a 'sexy woman' for a scene in Sajid Khan's forthcoming movie 'Humshakals'.
A source says that when the actor got ready with his costumes and make-up and came out of his van, Kareena just couldn't stop laughing at him.

"Kareena who was on the sets of 'Humshakals' for a few days when we were supposed to shoot for the cross-dressing scene. She was quite excited to see Saif dress up like a woman. And when Saif stepped out of his vanity van, Kareena busted out laughing and just didn't stop after that," said the source from the production team.

Kareena Kapoor couldn't stop laughing after watching Saif Ali Khan in drag
A file photo of Kareena Kapoor.

Apart from Saif, the movie also stars Riteish Deshmukh, Ram Kapoor, Bipasha Basu, Tamannaah and Esha Gupta.
Produced by Vashu Bhagnani and presented by Fox Star Studios, the movie will release June 20.

A forensic psychiatrist testifying for the defense told the Oscar Pistorius murder trial on Monday that the double amputee track star suffered from an “anxiety disorder” after growing up with a mostly absent father and a mother so afraid of intruders that she slept with a firearm under her pillow.

The testimony by the psychiatrist, Merryll Vorster, offered an uneasy echo of Mr. Pistorius’s own account of events in his bedroom in the early hours of Feb. 14, 2013, when he has admitted taking a handgun and firing four shots through a locked bathroom door, killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and law graduate.

Under cross-examination by prosecutor Gerrie Nel, Ms. Vorster said Mr. Pistorius’s perceived disorder did not constitute a mental illness that would require the judge to order a psychiatric examination. But Mr. Nel said the runner should be sent for psychological observation and evaluation to assess whether his mental state was a factor in the killing.

Oscar Pistorius in court in Pretoria on Monday. Testimony is set to end in mid-May, followed by closing arguments and weeks of deliberation before a verdict is issued.Witnesses Tell of Pistorius’s Anguish After Shooting GirlfriendMAY 5, 2014
The prosecution says Mr. Pistorius, 27, murdered Ms. Steenkamp, but the runner says he shot her by accident, believing at least one intruder had entered his comfortable villa in a gated complex in Pretoria, the South African capital, where he is now on trial. The case is being broadcast around the world.
The portrait she offered of Mr. Pistorius’s troubled upbringing and deepening anxieties recalled some of his own behavior during the trial since it opened in early March. On occasions he has wept, wailed, retched and sobbed when confronted with graphic evidence relating to the events surrounding Ms. Steenkamp’s death.

Ms. Vorster, the psychiatrist, said she had interviewed the athlete and some of his family members and friends.

Her testimony seemed designed to bolster the defense’s argument that Mr. Pistorius felt vulnerable because of his disability and had an usually high level of anxiety about intruders. It also seemed intended to rebut earlier prosecution testimony that he was self-centered, trigger-happy, quick-tempered and jealous.

The psychiatrist traced her analysis of Mr. Pistorius’s personality to his birth without fibula bones in his lower legs. At the age of 11 months, both legs were amputated below the knee. The procedure constituted a “traumatic assault” that he would not have comprehended at the time, Ms. Vorster said.

The runner grew up with a mother who was “very anxious,” abused alcohol intermittently and “slept with a firearm under the pillow.” His father was “irresponsible and mostly absent.”

The Hinduja brothers have emerged as the richest persons in the UK, which boasts of 102 billionaires, including Lord Swraj Paul and four others of Indian-origin.

The London-based Srichand and Gopichand Hinduja, who have a fortune of 11.9 billion pounds - "up by an astonishing 1.3 billion pounds in the past year", edged out steel tycoon Lakshmi N Mittal and Russian magnate Alisher Usmanov, according to the 'Sunday Times Super-Rich List' made public today.

The Hinduja brothers, who run the multinational Hinduja Group conglomerate with interests across automotive, real estate and oil, moved up from third position last year to top the UK's billionaire charts this year.

The list - a full version of which will be released next Sunday - also includes NRI industrialists such as Lakshmi Mittal and family, Prakash Lohia, Lord Swraj Paul and family, Anil Agarwal and Ajay Kalsi and family among the city's 72 billionaires.

Mittal also edged one position upwards to the third rank with 10.25 billion pounds even as Arsenal shareholder and Russian business chief Usmanov, who topped the list till last year, fell to the second place after his estimated fortune dropped to 10.65 billion pounds.

"Last year, the Hindujas sold a 49 per cent stake in a Saudi Arabian lubricants maker, Petromin, for more than 200 million pounds. Property investments in India have added 200 million pounds. The family's IndusInd bank is capitalised at about 2.7 billion pounds. In Britain, Hinduja Automotive turned over about 1.5 billion pounds in 2012-13," the newspaper said.

In reference to the Kolkata-based Mittal, the newspaper highlighted a final bounce in fortunes after a few years of dip.

"After a tough few years in the steel industry, Mittal is seeing a glimmer of light. Arcelor Mittal shares have recovered, making his stake worth 6.65 billion pounds - up 700 million pounds in a year," it said.
Mittal's brother-in-law India-born textiles and plastics tycoon Lohia is ranked as Britain's 46th richest man with around 2.11 billion pounds.

Leading NRI industrialist and Caparo chief Lord Swraj Paul is ranked Britain's 48th richest, with an estimated wealth worth around 2 billion pounds.

"The 83-year-old came to Britain from India in 1966 to seek treatment for his daughter's leukaemia. He stayed after her death and founded steel manufacturer Caparo, which made more than 62 million pounds profit in 2013. The company has been restructured, with its American and Indian businesses worth 1.6 billion pounds," the newspaper said.

"Paul is chancellor of Westminster and Wolverhampton universities. In memory of his daughter he set up the Ambika Paul Foundation, which supports children's charities," the newspaper said.

Vedanta Resources chief Agarwal at 50th rank and Indus Gas supremo Kalsi at 102nd complete the Indian presence among the London-based billionaires.

The 21-year-old was photographed leaving Madame Jojo's Night and Cabaret Club in London on Thursday, May 8, wearing a bra with matching underwear and some metallic leggings. She partied the night away at the SoHo hotspot with the likes of Kate Moss, singer Pixie Lott and Topshop heiress Chloe Green.
She also sported a long red wig with a light-up bow at one point in the night.

Cyrus performed in London at the O2 arena on Tuesday night, where she encouraged the crowd to smoke weed over cigarettes. While overseas, she also dispelled rumors that a drug overdose was behind her recent concert cancellations.

Zoe Saldana has never been one to hold back about her sex life, sharing her go-to positions with Marie Claire in May 2012 and then again with Amanda de Cadenet in July 2013. But earlier this week, in an interview with SirusXM "Sway in the Morning," Saldana revealed something even more ... shall we say, kinky?
"The craziest place [I've had sex] -- I am a part of the Mile High Club," Saldana said, according to Page Six. "Okay, this is ghetto, but hey, I’m from Queens, whatever. There is a train from Coney Island all the way back into the city, and in between two train cars. It was super ghetto."

The 35-year-old, who married Marco Perego in secret in late 2013, then added she's "a lady now. I'm a lady."

Saldana stars in a new miniseries, "Rosemary's Baby," in which she has the worst kind of sex (with the devil). It premieres Sunday, May 11 at 9 p.m. EDT on NBC.

Somehow Blake Lively manages to be a glittering celebrity and a regular, sundae-loving twenty-something at the same time.

On Monday, Lively attended the Met Gala with husband Ryan Reynolds, looking stunning in a sparkling Gucci gown. After dazzling on the red carpet, the 26-year-old decided to skip the Met Gala afterparties and do something decidedly awesome.

"I ate hot fudge sundaes," she told "Extra" host A.J. Calloway at Gucci's Chime for Change party Tuesday. "Yeah. That's what I look forward to because you're just, like, in a corseted gown all night, like, just give me a hot fudge sundae."
She went to the famed Serendipity in New York City's Upper East Side to indulge in some frozen hot chocolate with extra peanut butter sauce on the side.

"Closed that place down," she said. "That's how I do an afterparty ... Peanut butter frozen hot chocolate, extra thick. Then you get peanut butter sauce on the side, and you get a hot fudge sundae, and you use the peanut butter sauce for that too."

Although Lively has incited envy by saying she doesn't work out but still eats desserts, the actress says outlets fail to report she maintains an active lifestyle.

"They make me look like a jerk because I'm like 'I have hot chocolate everyday and don't go to the gym,'" she told Calloway. "Yes, that part is true that I don't go to the gym and I eat chocolate everyday. But what they don't print is that I hate the gym. So, what I do instead is I find other ways to be active."

If Naya Rivera shares enough bikini photos, will all those rumors go away?

The 27-year-old singer roped in socialites including Kyle Richards, Yolanda Foster, Lisa Vanderpump and Kim Richards to shoot 'G.U.Y.' at Hearst Castle in California but despite her unusual guest stars, a behind-the-scenes clip from the video shows all of her usual weird and wonderful touches have remained.
The clip - shown on the Today show on Friday - gave the first glimpse of the reality TV stars but also features Gaga in a series of revealing bodysuits including a slashed gold leotard and a cleavage revealing black number.

And in her scenes with the famous-for-being-famous Real Housewives, who bizarrely are all seen playing musical instruments while dressed in matching pink suits, Gaga is decked out in a splendid white headdress and bodysuit.
She also said on Today that she 'cracks the whip' on set to get things done.
Gaga explained: 'You have to [crack the whip] to keep the pace going. We had our work cut out for us with this video. It was a very big production.
'We shot for six days and it was just such a pleasure working with the whole team. We had a great time.

Taylor Kinney reveals he and Lady Gaga like to spend their time hiking and painting in a new interview with Glamour.

There’s just one tiny issue… with the pop star’s wardrobe.

“I’m always giving her flak, like, ‘Babe, you can’t wear your heels when we’re hiking,’” Kinney tells the magazine.

And while the actor won’t share what he and Gaga like to paint, he does say, “There’s a lot of laughing.

“I think that’s the basis of a healthy relationship,” says the “Chicago Fire” star. “We laugh a lot.”

Kinney goes on, “I think we just complement each other. I’m proud of her, and I’d like to believe she’s proud of me. We’re kindred spirits.”

Last year, Gaga said she’s “found love” with Kinney, saying they “complement each other’s weirdness.”

An unreleased Britney Spears song leaked online on Friday, and it may be the sultriest R&B ditty you've never heard. We got a nine-second snippet of "Love" in 2011, but now the full track -- which the YouTube video calls "Welcome To Me" -- is available. It's believed to have been intended for Spears' 2007 album "Blackout," but who knows, maybe it was part of the lost album "Original Doll." Either way, "Love" is a sensual dance-floor anthem in the vein of "I'm a Slave 4 U," peppered with cabaret undertones and Spears' signature whisper grunts. It's divine.
Britney Spears accepts the award for favorite pop artist at the 40th annual People's Choice Awards at the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2014, in Los Angeles.

In a grim incident, a Class 12 student of a public school in Gurgaon was found dead in the institution's premises.
The deceased, a Commerce student, was found hanging from the washroom ceiling of her school in Sector 23, Gurgaon, said police.
Investigation has revealed that the student was pulled up by a teacher for using mobile phone in the school premises. The teacher had even threatened to call her parents.

At last the long wait is over and Rajinikanth fans across the globe will get to see his much-awaited and anticipated Tamil film Kochadaiiyaan, directed by the matinee idol's younger daughter Soundarya. When it unravels on the silver screen on Friday, the film will introduce moviegoers to a new technology - first motion capture photo-realistic 3D animation. (Also read: Deepika Padukone's Fight Scene with Rajinikanth is the Highlight of Kochadaiiyaan)

A labour of love, Soundarya's Rs 125-crore venture, which has been cleared with U-certificate, will have a wider release - it will release in 10 countries on approximately 6,000 screens and will be dubbed in six languages, including Telugu, Hindi and more likely in Bhojpuri too.

Jointly produced by Media One Global Entertainment and Eros International, the film has been dubbed in Spanish and Japanese too.

It took Soundarya two years, over 200 technicians in India and abroad to make the film, which was tagged as a "delayed project" by many. But the 29-year-old tech-savvy director, who keeps herself abreast with the latest technology, said there wasn't any delay, "It is the process that takes such a long time to make a film like this."

It's Soundarya's tribute to her father's illustrious career.

Soundarya completed the film "braving all technological odds" and hopes that Kochadaiiyaan breaks the myth that the animation film is cartoon, and is accepted as an alternate filmmaking medium.

Comparisons with Hollywood films Avatar, made with the same technology, are inevitable, but the makers are unperturbed because they feel looking at the budget and time, comparing Kochadaiiyaan with these films is not practical.

The makers explained that Avatar was made on a budget of Rs 3,000 crores and was completed in five years, while Tin Tin cost about Rs 4,000 crore and also took about five years.

In the film, Rajinikanth, 63, has been paired with 28-year-old Bollywood actress Deepika Padukone, who also has elaborate stunts in the film.

According to Soundarya, her father felt awkward shooting romantic scenes with Deepika.

"I guess it was because I was around and calling action and cut, dad felt very awkward to shoot some romantic scenes," said Soundarya.

Deepika's stunts are described as never-before-seen action by a female star from any part of the world and said to be on par with Uma Thurman's Kill Bill and Angelina Jolie's Lara Croft.

There is a ten-minute stunt in the film, which has been choreographed by Peter Hein, the man behind Rajinikanth's stunts in Robot. Apparently, the superstar personally requested Hein to make Deepika's action sequences "super-hero style".

Soundarya feels Deepika's stunts are one of the highlights of the movie.

One of the biggest Tamil stars, Rajinikanth, who is technologically not as sound as his daughter, gives credit to god for being able to do Kochadaiiyaan.

He also marvels at his daughter's passion and understanding for the technology. "I am amazed, Soundarya, in her childhood, had this obsession. She liked to read books with pictures and my wife identified her talent and encouraged her. I am proud of her with all the legends praising my daughter. I hope people like the film."

Eighteen persons were killed and 145 injured after an engine and four coaches of the Diva-Sawantwadi Road Passenger derailed between Nagothane and Roha stations in Maharashtra, railway authorities said.

The accident happened at 9.40 am on Sunday.The injured were rushed to a nearby local hospital. “Eighteen lives have been lost in the tragedy,” Maharashtra Home Minister R.R. Patil told the IANS news agency after visiting the spot.

“We are giving all possible help to the victims’ families and providing medical attention to the injured,” he added.

"The Railway ministry has announced an ex-gratia of Rs.2 lakh to the next of kin of dead, Rs.50,000 to the grievously injured and Rs.10,000 to persons who sustained minor injuries," a Central Railways press statement said.
Doctors of the Konkan Railways and other officials are assisting CR for quick relief and restoration work. Materials and other equipment are also being provided to the CR. Rescue teams are trying to extricate bodies that have been trapped inside the bogies that turned turtle owing to the accident.

The Railways have set up a helpline at the Roha railway station.

HELP LINE NUMBERS:

CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI TERMINUS MUMBAI 022-22755990 / 22694090

DADAR 022-24114836

THANE 02225334840

PANVEL 27468833

RATNAGIRI: 02352-228176 / 228951 / 228954

BELAPUR CBD: 022-27561721 / 23 / 24

Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Amit Shah, at a press conference early today, accused the Samajwadi Party (SP) workers of booth capturing.

Alleging cases of booth capturing in the ongoing Lok Sabha election the BJP leader has called for increased security measures in the remaining two phases of the elections. "For last two phases, there should be paramilitary troops, micro observers and cameras in all booths," he said.

The allegation were refuted by the SP leaders, who called it a sign of desperation. "Such allegations are sign that they are losing," said SP leader Ramgopal Yadav. "It's just frustration on their part," added another SP leader Gayatri Prajapati.

On the controversy surrounding the snooping scandal, Amit Shah said, "Instead of conducting probes in the massive scams, they are doing this," he said. He further dismissed the issue by adding, "Anyway, we have no problem."

CONGRESS president Sonia Gandhi’s political secretary Ahmed Patel Friday refuted Narendra Modi’s claims that they shared a warm friendship.

“This is a political stunt to create confusion and create a cloud of doubt in the midst of elections. How can Modi be able to make friendship with me when he has never been able to strike friendship within his own party?”, Patel said, reacting to Modi’s claims in an interview to the Doordarshan, which were edited out by the broadcaster.

He said Modi’s claims of closeness between them were “baseless” and “a complete lie”. In the interview, Modi had claimed that he used to go to Patel’s residence and dine with him. Patel said Modi did come to his place for lunch when he was BJP general secretary in the eighties. “But I never had any one-on-one meeting with Modi before or after the communal riots in Gujarat in 2002,” Patel said.
“I do not know who are and who are not his friends in Congress, but if somebody is saying that I was very close to him or is very close friend... It is all to create doubts in the midst of elections. It is all baseless and ridiculous, a complete lie.... If he proves that I ever visited his house or his office or taken any favour, I will quit public life,” Patel said.

“It is far from truth what he is talking about our dining at each other’s house. I remember once in the eighties he had come to my residence, when he was general secretary of BJP in the eighties. I did offer him food then.... When he became CM for the first time... he used to call me on phone whenever there was a festival and I used to answer him out of courtesy, to acknowledge that his phone call had come,” he said.

Rihanna doesn't need much to look glamorous. In fact, she doesn't even need a shirt.

The singer posted photos to her Instagram account from her sexy spread in Vogue Brasil, proving this point.

The photos, taken by Mariano Vivanco, are featured in Vogue Brasil's May 2014 issue which hits stands April 28.

Kanye West has a million dollar smile, but it's his pout that has the Internet thoroughly amused.

A photo of the rapper looking rather depressed while wearing a bright red helmet outside a zip-lining office in the middle of Mexico surfaced on Reddit on May 1. The juxtaposition of his fiancee Kim Kardashian who is smiling next to a man who is likely a zip-line instructor makes the snapshot particularly hilarious.

Sad Kanye isn't exactly new as the 36-year-old rapper is known for his scowl, and has inspired a Tumblr page that features nothing but pictures of the unhappy-looking star.
Read more at www.huffingtonpost.com

SCIENTISTS have created early stage sperm from the skin of men who cannot make their own, raising hopes of new treatments for currently incurable male infertility.

A leading British expert said the stem cell research challenged the widely held view that the "door is closed" on men with the problem who want to have children.

Although still at a very early stage, the study raises the future prospect of lab-grown sperm that could allow them to become fathers.

Lead scientist Dr Reijo Pera, from the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University, US, said: "Our results are the first to offer an experimental model to study sperm development. Therefore, there is potential for
applications
to cell-based therapies in the clinic, for example, for the generation of higher quality and numbers of sperm in a dish.

"It might even be possible to transplant stem-cell-derived germ cells directly into the testes of men with problems producing sperm."

Infertility often affects 10pc to 15pc of couples, and in men it usually has a genetic origin, most commonly the loss of key genes on the male Y chromosome.

All three infertile men taking part in the new study had missing regions of Y chromosome DNA associated with the production of few or no sperm.

 BJP president Rajnath Singh has indicated that he will not be part of the government if his party comes to power after the Lok Sabha election.

BJP president Rajnath Singh has indicated that he will not be part of the government if his party comes to power after the Lok Sabha election.

"My responsibilities are already decided and I think, in the BJP, I have many colleagues who are capable who should be given a chance in the government," he added.

Rajnath Singh categorically said Narendra Modi will be the prime minister if the party comes to power.

"No matter what happens, under any circumstances, Modi will be India's PM.

"I want to clarify this as president of the party, because just by sitting in an office, people can't run a government," he added.

Rajnath Singh gave an interview to Zee news and spoke about the party leadership and why Narendra Modi would become the PM:

*In an exclusive interview with Zee News, BJP President Rajnath Singh denied that he had any ambitions of becoming the PM. He said only Narendra Modi would be the PM of a BJP-led NDA government, under any circumstances.

*Rajnath Singh also claimed that Narendra Modi was made the PM nominee after consultations with and agreement of all party leaders. He said the party cadres and leaders are disciplined and there is agreement on key issues.

*Singh also brushed aside the suggestion that the Lucknow seat, on which he is contesting, is of any significance to the PM's post. Atal Bihari Vajpayee won from Lucknow in 1998 and became the PM. However, Singh said that this does not imply that he would also become the Prime Minister. He quoted the example of Lalji Tandon, who also won from the Lucknow seat after Vajpayee. Rajnath Singh went on to say that it would be against his values to seek the Prime Minister's post after anointing Narendra Modi as the nominee.

*Singh asserted that a Prime Minister must not merely possess legal and constitutional authority, but also moral authority to be the Prime Minister. He said Narendra Modi possessed such moral authority to take over the reigns of governance at the Centre.

*The media has been abuzz about the bonhomie between Rajnath Singh and Narendra Modi. Singh however denied that there was anything extraordinary about this. He said that there must be good relations between the party president and the Prime Minister for efficient functioning of the country. Singh explained that he had always believed Modi to be the most popular leader in India, even before becoming the party president.

*Singh though stated that Narendra Modi would have the complete authority to run the country once he became the PM. There would be no interference from him or the party leadership. Rajnath claimed that it was the Congress that believed in remote-controlling the Prime Minister, because they were run by a single family all the time. He said that BJP was a democratic party which did not believe in such remote-controlled governance.

When it comes to dealing with pregnant women, I'm no expert. Hell, I still don't even know how to figure out women in general. In fact, I'm the antithesis of an expert. Luckily for you, I've made just about every single stupid mistake and placed my foot so far in my mouth during my wife's pregnancies that I'm overqualified to speak to you about things you need to know to avoid getting knocked out by the knocked up.

Here are the 10 most important things to remember.

1. Feed her constantly.
Everyone knows food is important to pregnant women. But what the uninitiated might not realize is that time is of the essence. The bottom line is, when she says she's hungry, she means it. Feed that woman immediately or she will eat your f*cking face. Know that "I'm hungry" doesn't mean she's looking forward to the dinner plans you have in an hour. It means give her a snack before you leave for the restaurant. And then again when you get in the car. Failure to promptly produce snacks will result in extreme b*tchiness at best, and bodily injury at worst. Just turn yourself into a walking, talking vending machine for nine months and you'll be fine.

2. Food: What's yours is hers, what's hers is off-limits.
There's a good chance you've been married or together a few years now, so it's perfectly understandable that you bought into all that stuff about togetherness and sharing a life, etc. And while some of that still applies, all bets are off when it comes to food. If you eat food that's hers (or food you bought for yourself but she somehow claimed as hers), she will cut you. Not physically, perhaps, but by the time she's finished excoriating you you'll wish it was just a knife wound you suffered. I ate some of MJ's chocolate once, and when she went to find it during a craving and saw that it was gone, she flew into a rage that was one of the scariest things I've ever seen. Just don't do it.

3. Get ready to gain weight.
Notice how all the topics so far have involved food? That's no mistake. Ultimately, at some point, she'll have cravings. When MJ was pregnant with Will, she wanted pizza, Kit Kats and grapefruit. The second time around, it was nothing but fruit salad. But whatever the craving, one of the unmentioned side effects of pregnancy is YOUR weight gain. Yes, the guys gain weight, too. Mainly because we inevitably partake in our partners' cravings and all the extra junk food results in a spare tire. I gained 25 pounds during MJ's pregnancy five years ago, just a shade under the total amount she gained -- WITH THE BABY! So watch your step.

4. Don't point out how big she's getting.
My Boston sports habit notwithstanding, I'm a fairly logical person. I knew MJ was pregnant and pregnant women gain weight. That's why I thought absolutely nothing of pointing out my wife's really cute swollen belly. In my mind, it was just nature progressing and running its course, and there was nothing more beautiful. But after the first two or three times I said it, she snapped on me. "STOP TELLING ME I'M FAT! I KNOW I'M FAT! I DON'T NEED YOU POINTING IT OUT!!" It didn't matter that in my eyes she had never looked more beautiful, or that she was SUPPOSED to be gaining weight. Which leads me to my next point...

5. "Pregnancy Brain" is very real.
I know it sounds like some sort of cutesy, media-created term. But it's not. Pregnancy Brain is legit. It starts with everyday occurrences like looking for her glasses while they're on her head, which is kind of adorable. But it soon progresses to things like leaving the basement door open in 5-degree weather and freezing the entire bottom floor of the house while simultaneously leaving us susceptible to a home invasion. And in a fit of irony, I just asked MJ to give me more examples of Pregnancy Brain, but she couldn't -- because she can't remember.

6. Goodbye, sense of humor.
The good news is: she's gained a baby. The bad news? There wasn't enough room for the baby AND her sense of humor. If you're a smart-a** like I am, this is especially troubling, since I show affection by giving people good-natured sh*t. Unfortunately, my pregnant wife does not appreciate my unique brand of humor while carrying our little parasite around in her stomach. The results are often me firing off (what I consider to be) beautiful comedic quips and zingers, which don't just fall on deaf ears -- they fall on potentially homicidal ears. You've been warned.

7. Say goodbye to sex, too.
Listen to me carefully -- you're about to be sexually frustrated. The first trimester is by far the worst. It's when she'll be going through the most changes and feeling the sh*ttiest. It's everything she can do to avoid throwing up every morning (and sometimes at night), so your feeling unloved and "backed up" doesn't really register. So fire up the porn and give yourself a hand, because you're now a sex camel, my friend. The only silver lining is you'll have sex two times during the pregnancy. You have a one- to two-week window when her sex drive returns early in the second trimester. Enjoy that, because it's not happening again until very late in the pregnancy. Right at the end she'll be so desperate to get the baby out of her that she'll use you in the hopes that sex will send her into labor. It's slightly awkward, but after the drought it's a welcome relief -- as long as her water doesn't break right then and there.

8. Yes, her boobs are bigger; no, you can't touch them.
While we're on the topic of sex, let me tell you about one of nature's cruelest tricks. When a woman is carrying a child, it's a beautiful thing. That "pregnant glow" you always hear about is real, and it does wonders for her hair, her fingernails and -- her rack. A becomes C, B becomes D and C becomes Hallelujah Thank You Jesus! They swell up to gargantuan sizes, literally breaking bras at the seams and popping off her chest in a fit of Playboy glory. The only problem is, you're not allowed to touch them. It's like going to the pet store and seeing the cute puppies behind the glass but not being able to pet them. They're adorable and you want to take them home and keep them forever, but if you try to motorboat her puppies she will slap the sh*t out of you. Trust me.

9. Your dick can't hurt the baby.
Let's get this one out of the way right now -- your penis will have no effect on the baby in your wife's womb. Got that? I don't care if you're on par with Ron Jeremy, your dick is not going to scare the kid and it's certainly not going to poke him in the forehead. Not only that, but any suggestion to the contrary will send your pregnant wife into hysterics. And there's nothing more demoralizing than a conversation that involves your penis and hysterical laughter. So I'm told...

10. You will be replaced by pillows.
Did you spend a crap ton of money on a mattress? Some sort of memory foam or pillowtop deal that makes you feel like 1,000 little angels are massaging you as you fall asleep every night? Well, I hope you also spent money on a comfortable couch, because that's likely where you'll be sleeping for a decent part of the pregnancy. And it's not so much because of the increased space your pregnant wife takes up, either. It's the pillows. Yup, that's right. You become increasingly irrelevant as the pregnancy wears on, but the 37 pillows -- including that godforsaken full-body pillow -- become absolutely vital nighttime companions. And when push comes to shove, you're getting the shove to the sofa.

A woman was killed and at least 14 people were injured in two "low-intensity" explosions that took place on Guwahati-Bangalore Express at Chennai Central railway station on Thursday.


Cops and security officials stand near a passenger train in which two explosions occurred, at Chennai railway station.(Reuters photo)

Bomb detection and disposal squad personnel search cargo for explosives on the platform of Bangalore railway station after twin explosions killed one and injured several in Chennai. (AFP photo)

Blood lies splattered at a railway platform close to a passenger train that was ripped by two blasts at Chennai railway station. (AP photo)

Medics treat an injured passenger of a train blast at a hospital in Chennai.(AP photo)

Medics treat an injured passenger of a train blast at a hospital in Chennai.(AP photo)

A member of the bomb disposal squad examines the area next to a passenger train in which two explosions occurred at Chennai railway station. (Reuters photo)

Police and porters stand near the site of a bomb attack at a train station in Chennai. (AFP photo)

Swati (24), an assistant systems engineer at IT firm TCS, in blasts on Guwahati-Bangalore Express in Chennai. (HT photo)

Police and security officials examine the scene of a bomb attack at a train station in Chennai. (AFP photo)

A victim, who was injured in an explosion that occurred in a passenger train, lies in a hospital in Chennai. (Reuters photo)

People crowd at a railway station to get the glimpse of a passenger train in which two explosions occurred, in Chennai. (Reuters photo)

Police and train station workers stand near the site of a bomb attack at a train station in Chennai. (AFP photo)

A victim, who was injured in an explosion that occurred in a passenger train, lies in a hospital in Chennai. (Reuters photo)

A TV grab of the blast site at Chennai Central railway station. (Agencies)

A TV grab of the blast site at Chennai Central railway station. (Agencies)

Chennai railway station

A member of a bomb disposal squad with a sniffer dog examines a passenger train in which two explosions occurred, at Chennai Central railway station. (Reuters photo)

A policeman stands guard next to a passenger train in which two explosions occurred, at the railway station in Chennai. (Reuters photo)

Cops stand guard next to a passenger train in which two explosions occurred at the railway station in Chennai.(Reuters photo)
The Tamil Nadu Police detained a person for questioning. Authorities suspect the blasts were caused by bombs planted on the train, said M Bhupati, spokesperson of Southern Railway.

Condemning the blasts, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said such "barbaric acts" highlight the "desperation and cowardice" of those responsible. He asserted that no efforts would be spared in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Tamil Nadu chief minister and AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa ordered a Crime Branch-CID probe, while the opposition DMK slammed the state government over law and order.

The woman killed in the blasts was identified as Swati, a 24-year-old engineer who had recently joined a leading software firm TCS in Bangalore. She was supposed to tie the knot after two months.

The first explosion took place around 10 minutes after the Guwahati-bound train, running one and a half hours late, chugged into platform number nine at Chennai Central around 7am. The second blast was heard within a few seconds.

"They were not major blasts. It is suspected that Chennai was not the target as the train was running late," Tamil Nadu director general of police K Ramanujam said.

Prasanna Darnal, a 20-year-old nursing student on board, said, "It was like a small Diwali bomb going off. There were shrieks and cries of people and everyone was rushing to get out of the train."

Southern Railway general manager Rakesh Misra told reporters the blasts took place in S4 and S5 sleeper coaches.

The injured, including two hurt seriously, were rushed to a state-run hospital, where doctors said they were out of danger.

Hell hath no fury like a man chasing his wife's banana-hammock-wearing boy-toy down the streets of Tijuana.

The hilarious, almost cartoonish YouTube video above -- which made the rounds on Reddit Tuesday -- appears to show just that: A man clad only in a black banana hammock clings to his cowboy hat and runs like the wind, stalked by the alleged cuckolded husband a few steps behind.

The jury's still out if this video is a fake -- as one Redditor pointed out, it seems almost too good to be true. ("If a naked guy came running down the street, I wouldn't have time to think 'Hey, let's introduce this to my YouTube fans' and casually pan round to time the run-by perfectly.")

If it is real, we sure hope our scantily clad cowboy learned his lesson: Don't take a roll in the hay with another dude's wife unless you're prepared to run down the street (nearly) naked and afraid.

Keep in touch! Check out HuffPost Divorce on Facebook and Twitter. Sign up for our newsletter here.

 Unshaken by the latest surge in violence, Iraqis braved the threat of bombs and attacks to vote Wednesday in key elections for a new parliament amid a massive security operation as the country slides deeper into sectarian strife.

Hundreds of thousands of troops and police fanned out to guard voting centers in the first nationwide balloting since the 2011 American pullout. Scattered attacks still took place north of Baghdad, killing at least three people and wounding 16.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who has held power for eight years, faces growing criticism over government corruption and persistent bloodshed as sectarian tensions threaten to push Iraq back toward the brink of civil war.

The 63-year-old Shiite leader's State of Law party was widely expected to win the most seats in the 328-member parliament but to fall short of a majority. That would allow al-Maliki to keep his post only if he can cobble together a coalition — a task made more difficult given the divisions with former Sunni Arab and Kurdish allies.

Even some of al-Maliki's Shiite backers denounce him as a would-be dictator, amassing power for himself, but most in the majority sect see no alternative. Al-Maliki also has the support of neighboring powerhouse Iran, which aides have said will use its weight to push discontented Shiite factions into backing him for another term.

Polls opened across the energy-rich nation at 7 a.m. (0400 GMT, midnight Tuesday EST) and were to close at 6 p.m. There were 22 million eligible voters, choosing from among some 9,000 candidates.

In central Baghdad, police and army manned checkpoints roughly 500 meters (yards) apart, while pickup trucks with machine-guns perched on top roamed the streets. Much of the city looked deserted without the normal traffic congestion. Most stores were closed.

Voters are being subjected to multiple searches before being allowed inside polling centers and surrounding streets were blocked by police trucks and barbed wire.

"I decided to go and vote early while it's safe. Crowds attract attacks," Azhar Mohammed said as she and her husband approached a polling station in Baghdad's mainly Shiite Karradah district. The 37-year-old woman said her brother — a soldier — was killed last week in the northern city of Mosul.

"There has been a big failure in the way the country has been run and I think it is time to elect new people," she said, shrouded in black.

Not far away, 72-year-old Essam Shukr broke into tears as he remembered a son killed in a suicide bombing in Karradah last month. "I hope this election takes us to the shores of safety," he said. "We want a better life for our sons and grandchildren who cannot even go to playgrounds or amusement parks because of the bad security situation. We want a better life for all Iraqis."

"Sister, Sister" star Tamera Mowry rocks a pink bikini in the new issue of In Touch Weekly, and looks really good doing it.

"It's the first time I’ve been in a bikini since my honeymoon," Mowry, who married Fox news correspondent Adam Housley in 2011, tells In Touch. "I feel great"

She's all smiles in the photo as she poses with her 1-year-old son Aden.

Mowry, 35, who says she's now 127 pounds, has been following her own healthy schedule, explaining that she wanted to enjoy being a new mom, first and foremost. After she stopped nursing Aden when he was seven months old, she cut 500 calories from her 1,700-calorie-a-day breastfeeding diet and started working out five days a week.

"I wanted to spend time bonding with my baby, not killing myself at the gym," she tells In Touch.

Check out Tamera's bikini body below and pick up the new issue of In Touch Weekly, on newsstands now.

With a single finger, Jennifer Lawrence let her true feelings for the paparazzi be known.

The "Hunger Games" star stepped out for dinner with Tom Ford and boyfriend Nicholas Hoult at the Chilton Firehouse in London on Thursday night, April 24. Afterwards, photographers surrounded them as they made their way from the restaurant into a waiting cab.

Lawrence was having none of it and flipped the paparazzi the middle finger from the backseat of the cab as it pulled away. Hoult seemingly attempted to get her to put her hand down, but Lawrence's message was loud and clear.

Danica McKellar broke a rib Thursday, April 24, while rehearsing for "Dancing with the Stars." The former "Wonder Years" actress tweeted to her over 90,000 Twitter followers:

Hopefully, she and dance partner Val Chmerkovskiy can come up with a way to pull through together before Monday night's episode.

McKellar is hardly the first "DWTS" contestant to get injured in a dancing-related accident. Last year, Bill Nye, The Science Guy, hurt his knee on the show. He uploaded a picture to Instagram at the time. Nye wrote, "Here is the scoop: partially torn ligament. Awaiting the doc's orders with Tyne. We plan to dance! Stand by..."

The year before, 2012, opera singer Katherine Jenkins hurt her back dancing. "Thank you for all your concerned tweets... I'm with the Doctor, he says it was a reflectorical spasm in my lower back," she tweeted after the show. She later went on to become runner-up in the season finale.

In 2011, "DWTS" pro Kym Johnson injured her neck while practicing with dance partner Hines Ward. Despite the scary looking injury, the show released a statement saying that after several tests, Kym was cleared by the medical staff, though "bruised, sore" and "wearing a neck brace." She went on to win that year's competition.

The above is a contemporary-styled video complete with gyrating dancers who would seem more at home on MTV, dancing with Miley Cyrus, than in a clip set to Antonín Dvořák's Symphony No. 9.

And the group behind the video, a Belgian classical music festival called "B-Classic," says that's the whole point. The group is hoping this video, which it's calling "the first modern music video for a classical composer," can spark renewed youth interest in classical music.

"B-Classic wants to give classical music the same recognition as pop and rock music," an explanation on the group's website reads. "That's why we are proud to announce The Classical Comeback: a new music video format that combines the timeless emotion of classical music with the visual talent of a contemporary director."

Watch the clip above, and view a short documentary on the classical music video below:

A decades-old urban legend was put to rest Saturday when workers for a documentary film production company recovered "E.T." Atari game cartridges from a heap of garbage buried deep in the New Mexico desert.

The "Atari grave" was, until that moment, a highly debated tale among gaming enthusiasts and other self-described geeks for 30 years. The story claimed that in its death throes, the video game company sent about a dozen truckloads of cartridges of what many call the worst video game ever to be forever hidden in a concrete-covered landfill in southeastern New Mexico.

The search for the cartridges of a game that contributed to the demise of Atari will be featured in an upcoming documentary about the biggest video game company of the early '80s.

As a backhoe scattered a huge scoop of 30-year-old trash and dirt over the sand, the film crew spotted boxes and booklets carrying the Atari logo. Soon after, a game cartridge turned up, then another and another.

Film director Zak Penn showed assembled gaming fans one cartridge retrieved from the site and said that hundreds more were in the surrounding mounds of garbage.

About 200 residents and game enthusiasts gathered early Saturday at the old landfill in Alamogordo to watch crews search for up to a million discarded copies of "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" that the game's maker wanted to hide forever.

"I feel pretty relieved and psyched that they actually got to see something," Penn said as members of the production team sifted through the mounds of trash, pulling out boxes, games and other Atari products.

Most of the crowd left the landfill before the discovery, turned away by strong winds that kicked up massive clouds of dust mingled with garbage.

By the time the games were found, only a few dozen people remained. Some were playing the infamous game in a makeshift gaming den with a TV and an 1980s game console in the back of a van, while others took selfies beside a life-size E.T. doll inside a DeLorean car like the one that was turned into a time machine in the "Back To The Future" movies.

Among the watchers was Armando Ortega, a city official who as a teenager back in 1983 got a tip from a landfill employee about the massive dump of games.

Apple has offered to replace faulty on-off buttons on the iPhone 5, a rare glitch which it admitted affected “a small percentage” of the previous-generation smartphones.

Apple said on its user-support page that “iPhone 5 models manufactured through March 2013 may be affected by this issue,” in which the button, also known as a sleep/wake mechanism, stops functioning or works only intermittently.

 It did not say how many phones were shipped with the faulty mechanism. Owners can type in their iPhone serial numbers on Apple’s website to see if their phones qualify for a fix, then either take their gadgets to a store or mail them in to be repaired.
“Apple will offer the service free of charge to iPhone 5 customers with models that exhibit this issue and have a qualifying serial number,” spokeswoman Teresa Brewer said in a statement on Friday.

 Apple rarely initiates large-scale repair programs for its products, and iPhone glitches are rare. The company prides itself on hardware engineering and design, particularly for a flagship phone that yields more than half its revenue.

In a 2010 incident dubbed “Antennagate,” the company famously admitted that its iPhone 4 may experience signal loss when handled a certain way. The company subsequently offered free phone casings to correct the issue.

Apple began selling the iPhone 5S and the cheaper 5C in late 2013. In the first quarter, it moved a better-than-expected 43.7 million phones, helped by the gadget’s increasing popularity in markets like Japan and China.