Google’s Orkut was an answer to – and never really took off in the US.  However, Google’s Orkut was popular in India and Brazil.  Unfortunately for the social networking site, Facebook traffic in India has now surpassed that of Google’s baby.

Orkut has 19.9 million users in India, and now Facebook’s popularity in the country has leapt by 200% to 20.9 million – dethroning Orkut as the most popular social networking site.

In other Google news, Google voice calls from Gmail was launched, which is a very cool feature. Calls within the US are free, and international rates are very, very low.

Google’s official gmail blog said the following:

Calls to the U.S. and Canada will be free for at least the rest of the year and calls to other countries will be billed at our very low rates. We worked hard to make these rates really cheap (see comparison table) with calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan—and many more countries—for as little as $0.02 per minute.

However, please note that US calls are free – “at least until the end of the year” which smells to me like a teaser rate. Be prepared for Google to charge for domestic calls in the future, although rates will likely be lower than using a regular landline telephone.

Lately, Indian Tennis Star Sania Mirza and Pakistani Cricketer Shoaib Malik, famous personalities belonging to two major rival nations, have been in news when they announced their marriage date for April 15, 2010. However, they have also gained extra media attention as more and more controversies spring up against Shoaib Malik.  Malik and Mirza, who are both Muslim, are due to marry in a rare cross-border union between two of the South Asian rivals’ most popular and controversial sports stars.

Police on Monday seized the passport of Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik as they questioned him in the wake of a complaint lodged against him by the father of a local girl Ayesha Siddiqui. He has been accused of marrying Ayesha, also an Indian woman and then dumping her for being fat.

But 28-year-old Shoaib told police, at the Jubilee Hills residence of 23-year-old tennis star Sania Mirza, that he had been tricked into marriage with Ayesha.

The city police questioned Shoaib Malik for one-and-a-half hours and they also seized his passport. Immigration authorities have been informed about the case filed against Malik and his passport seizure.

During questioning, Shoaib told the police that he had been “cheated” by the Siddiqui family and tricked into marriage, he said. On Sunday, the Pakistani cricketer had claimed that he was emotionally forced into the ‘nikahnama’ (muslim marriage) with the Hyderabad girl but said the marriage was invalid as her family had cheated him and ruled out divorce. He said to this day he has not met the girl whose photographs were sent to him by the Siddiqui family purported to be that of Ayesha.  The charges against Shoaib are that of harassment of Ayesha, cheating to marry another girl and criminal intimidation including threats to her to keep quiet.

Ayesha’s father in his complaint, which was lodged hours after Shoaib on Sunday confirmed his marriage with Sania, had accused the Pakistani cricketer of cheating his daughter.

Police Commissioner said there were some legal complications involved in the case and that they will have to examine whether a foreigner committing an offence on a foreign soil comes under the purview of Indian Penal Code (IPC) or not.

This is a hot topic for South Asians, especially belonging to these two rival countries. It will be interesting to see what comes up next, and how this much awaited marriage takes place, if at all, amidst these controversies of accusations from Shoaib’s “current wife” Ayesha Siddiqui and police confiscating his passport.

She’s India’s tennis ace. He’s a high-profile Pakistani cricketer. They are the citizens of rival nations, and yet they’re all set to get married in Hyderabad early next month.

Sania Mirza and Shoaib Malik are planning a small, private ceremony in Hyderabad, but their match will inevitably generate huge interest in their respective countries.

The couple will be based in Dubai, though Sania will continue to play tennis and represent India, while Shoaib will turn out for Pakistan. The alliance has been blessed by both families.

Malik, 28, has been fighting a 12-month ban by the Pakistan Cricket Board for poor performance and indiscipline.

“This is the biggest day of my life. I have been in the media glare for too long, and would appreciate a little privacy at this very personal moment,” Sania, 23.

Shoaib, 28, has pledged Sania his support: “I fully understand what it takes to be an international sportsperson. I’ll support Sania in her career as long as she wishes to play.”

“Representing India at the 2012 Olympics is very important for her, and I will be the proudest husband if she can win a medal for her country,” he said.

Marriages between citizens of the rival nations are not entirely uncommon, with Muslim families who migrated to Pakistan after the nation was carved out in 1947 maintaining ties with families who remained in India.

India Vs. Sri Lanka 4th ODI 2009 highlights: India and Sri Lanka were both missing key players during today’s Christmas Eve matchup.  Cricket fans will have to wait until January 4th to see another match in the ODI series.  January 22nd will mark a match-up between Australia and Pakistan.

Five of Sri Lanka’s regulars were missing during the 4th ODI 2009.  This affects the highlights because if these key players were there, the game’s outcome would have been affected.

India was missing both Dhoni and Yuraj Singh, but they still pulled through quite nicely to win the match.  According to Now Public, Singh Dhoni scored 94, Gambhir got a big 100.

The game was exciting, and even more exciting is the Triple ODI series which will take place between Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka on January 4th.

India vs Srilanka 2nd t20 live streaming

India is playing Sri Lanka in the second T20 match and given Indian crickets fan following all over the world (yes, not just India but where ever Indians are living – US, Middle East, Australia, Europe etc) there is healthy craze about watching the match either on TV or if not, on the internet.

Match Highlights and Score

India comfortably cruised to a win against their South Asian foes Sri Lanka without much trouble from the tigers below. India is now at the top level and this win has raised the morale of Indian batsmen specifically as this was a much deserved win after a hard fight.

Indian cricketers were able to play their natural game and everybody looked like in top form. The two cricketers I want to mention here are Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir. Both these guys gave our team a dream start. Sehwag was in a very aggressive form and did not have mercy on any Sri Lankan bowler.

Indian champ Sehwag scored 64 runs on just 34 balls. His repetoire in this match included three big juicy sixes which had the crowd go wild. His big thrashing seem to have sent the tremors among the other teams players.

Did you see the Sri Lanka India T20 match? What do you think about it. Any particular play or players gave you your money’s worth? If yes, write about it below.

The dimpled bollywood beauty, Preity Zinta who has stolen the heart of millions through her movies like Dil Se, Kya Kehna , Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna and Kal Ho Na Ho is all set to enter Havard School of Business to take up a course in Negotiating and Deal making.

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Although there wasn’t victory for India in its Fifth ODI against Australia, Indians are celebrating Little Master’s record of 17,000 runs in the ODI which is a milestone that none has reached.

Australia is leading the series at the rate of 3-2 and there are two matches left to play. The fifth ODI at Hyderabad saw Sachin Tendulkar score a mind blowing 175 runs off just 141 deliveries.

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The India vs Australia 5th ODI live is hot. The India vs Australia 5th ODI live cricket match is anticipated to be a great match between India and Australia.  The 5th ODI is today, and the game is going on as we speak.

India vs. Australia 5th ODI cricket fans are anticipating a game full of twists and turns.  Currently, the game is over

Both India and Australia Played to win. The series is tied with a 2-2 match, and winning the 5th ODI will pull one of the two teams ahead.

According to B4Tea.com, Australia won the India vs. Australia 5th ODI live match.  Of course, India can come back and win the 6th ODI which is played on November 8.  If India wins, then the 7th and final match will be a tiebreaker for the championship.

Don’t miss the 6th ODI match-up between India and Australia.  It is on November 8 so find a live streaming channel on the Internet and make plans to watch another crucial match in the 2009 Hero Honda Cup Cricket Series.

Rohit Verma is a fashion designer from India. Perhaps he has yet to gain some international standing as I could not find him on Wikipedia.

So I dug in further and here is what I found. Rohit Verma is in the news and being projected as a fashion designer with some street cred because he has been cast as a “celebrity contestant” in this season’s popular reality show in India called Big Boss 3.

Along with the him, the other ensemble on the set are Aditi Govitrikar, Tanaz Curim, Jaya Sawant(Rakhi Sawant’s mother), Bakhtiyaar, and Raju Srivastav. Some of these guys I have heard, others not.

Bigg Boss 3, is a rip off from the popular English reality show Big Brother. The show is scheduled to be broadcasted everyday and will feature 14 celebrity contestants. The contestants will be locked in the house for 85 days under constant surveillance through 35 cameras.

God save the addled brains of not just the contestants but the viewers who get hooked on to it.

Are you one of the fans of the show? What do you like about it?

The ICC Champions Trophy match between India and Australia was declared as a no result, after the match was abandoned due to rain. Australia had won the toss and elected to bat first, and they were on 234-4 from 42.3 overs when the heavens opened and rain started splattering.

This result means that Pakistan blazes through to the Semi Finals, and where does this leave India?

India and Australia are both still in with a chance of reaching the last four. If Australia beat Pakistan in their final group game then they will be through to the Semi Finals.

India, to make any more progress, must beat the West Indies by a significant margin and hope that Pakistan can beat Australia. Australia have been playing some very good cricket in recent months, and just a week ago they defeated England 6-1 in the Natwest series.

If you know where the match can be seen live, post the link below.