US Ambassador to India Nancy J. Powell announced in a US Mission Town Hall meeting on Monday that she has submitted her resignation to President Obama and, as planned for some time, will retire to her home in Delaware before the end of May. 

The statement did not give a reason why Ambassador Nancy Powell had resigned, saying only that she would retire from the foreign service after a 37 year career.

She is ending a 37 year career that has included postings as U.S. Ambassador to Uganda, Ghana, Pakistan, Nepal and India as well as service in Canada, Togo, Bangladesh, and Washington, where she was most recently Director General of the Foreign Service.

Ambassador Powell expressed her appreciation for the professionalism and dedication of the US Mission to India team who have worked to expand the parameters of the US-India bilateral relationship.

She also thanked those throughout India who have extended traditional warm Indian hospitality to her and who have supported stronger bilateral ties.

'This is for the first time that the sales value has crossed Rs.9,000 crore (Rs.90 billion) and with just one more day for the current fiscal to end, it could cross Rs.9,300 crore,' sources in the state excise department told IANS.

Rum reigns as the first choice of tipplers, accounting for more than 55 percent of liquor sold, followed by brandy, with close to 40 percent share. Vodka sales account for four percent while gin, whiskey and wine together account for barely one percent.

The total sales value for the 11-month period (April 2013-February 2014) in the current fiscal touched Rs.8,511 crore and contribution to the state exchequer by way of taxes was Rs.6,830 crore,' said a source, who did not wish to be identified.

In the previous fiscal (2012-13), liquor sales in value terms closed at Rs.8,818 crore and contribution to the state exchequer was Rs.7,241 crore. But in quantity terms, the government expects that there would be a marginal drop, as in the previous fiscal a record 24.4 million cases of Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL) were sold.

'Till February 2014, sales of 22 million cases of IMFL were recorded and by Monday, the sales for March 2014 would be around 2.1 million cases. It means, in quantity terms there is going to be a marginal fall compared to the previous fiscal,' said an excise official.

The sale of beer in quantity terms grew by five percent by the end of last month and by March 31, 2014, beer sales were expected to touch 10.7 million cases -- up compared to 9.5 million cases in the previous fiscal.

Liquor is sold in the state through 708 bar hotels and 383 state-owned retail outlets.

Madhubala talks about her comeback movie, Vaayai Moodi Pesavum, and why cinema is her calling. 

At the peak of her career, when she was just 30, Madhubala traded the arc lights for a regular life and settled down in Mumbai. “I never dreamt of making a comeback. Some years ago, I started doing small roles in Hindi films. I was sure I would do only Hindi, because it meant shooting in Mumbai and not leaving my daughters alone for long,” says Madhu. But, Tamil cinema always had a special place in her heart. “I was very impressed with what was happening in the Tamil movie scene, and had okayed a script by Lakshmy Ramakrishnan. That movie did not work out, but Balaji convinced me to sign up for his film. I was worried on many counts. The distance, the long days away from home… but he was so persistent. He said he would shoot within whatever time frame I gave. And, he did.”

Madhubala says she always likes to connect the dots. “I look for signs. Mammootty Sir was my first hero… now I’m working with his son Dulquer Salmaan. It’s like the universe is telling me that I will be welcome again in the industry.”

A lovely character

In Vaayai…, Madhubala plays a writer, the heroine’s stepmom. “It is such a lovely character. I know that at my age, I will be offered only character roles; but, I want to choose roles with spunk, roles of substance. Something on the lines of what Rishi Kapoor is doing right now in Hindi. A role that is pivotal, a role that challenges me as an actor,” she says.

The time is right, she says, to make a comeback. Industry trends are changing; newer stories are finding favour… “Like Amitji (Amitabh Bachchan) once said, he is able to do so much more as a character artiste than he could have as a hero.”

Madhubala has also returned to a much more professionally-managed industry. “Teams stick to the script. It is all about planning and executing it well. Everything from the script to the contract comes over mail!”

In her heydays, Madhubala acted under top directors — K. Balachander, Mani Ratnam, Shankar… and won critical and commercial acclaim. Despite that, on the first day of shooting for Vaayai… she was a nervous wreck. “I wondered if I would remember my dialogues. I was insecure and felt I was making a mistake. It was like being back on the sets of Azhagan as a rookie. But once, the first shot was canned, the 17 years seemed to melt away,” she says.

Supportive family

How easy then was it to say goodbye to cinema all those years ago? “It was the most difficult decision of my life. But, today, from where I stand, I can say it was the best decision too. I have a supportive husband, I’ve raised two lovely children… I would not want to change anything. Having said that, everyone has their strengths. There are women who rule the kitchen and find great joy in creating new dishes. There are women who do wonderfully well in other fields. But, other than my love for the arts, no other skill left me feeling fulfilled. I’m feeling so good now.”

Madhubala admits she never realised what a good thing she had going in her first stint, with the best of roles coming her way with very little effort. “I am someone who does not think too much. Things just happened. In my youthful brashness, I thought I had arrived, even without a godfather. Now, I look at what I got with so much more gratitude and humility.”

How has her family reacted to her movie? Her girls (13 and 11), who’ve watched Roja only in bits, are a little upset their mom is going to be away from them, but they understand, says Madhubala. “They don’t know their mom as an actor. For them, I’m just someone who can’t bake a cake or make a pizza! I can’t cook to save my life,” she laughs.

Restaurant owner in India places tables around coffins after opening business on site of old cemetery.

The cafe in Ahmadabad, India has flourished since opening at old cemetery. Coffins are sealed off by iron grills and lie inside the restaurant. Owner Krishnan Kutti claims it gives customers ‘a unique experience’. Graves thought to belong to followers of 16th Century Sufi saint.

As her doctor said the days of the week out loud to her, Joanne Milne sobbed and shook.

Milne, 40, suffers from a rare condition called Usher Syndrome. She was born deaf, but recently received bilateral cochlea implants.

Her friends captured the moment she heard sound for the first time on video and posted it to YouTube.

"The switch-on was the most emotional and overwhelming experience of my life and I'm still in shock now. I have to learn to recognize what these sounds are as I build a sound library in my brain," Miline told the U.K. Journal.

"Hearing things for the first time is so emotional from the ping of a light switch to running water. I can't stop crying and I can already foresee how it's going to be life changing."

Milne also listened to music for the first time. Her first song was John Lennnon's Imagine.

Her friend, Tremayne Crossley, made Milne an introduction to music playlist with one song for each year of her life.

It is, of course, a biblical blockbuster, a 21st-century answer to Cecil B DeMille. It's also a disaster movie — the original disaster, you might say. It's an intense family drama. Part sci-fi film. An action flick? Definitely, along the lines of The Lord of the Rings. At times you might also think ofTransformers, and at one point, even The Shining.

But there's one thing Noah is not, for a moment: Dull. So, what to make of Noah? It's a movie that, with all its occasional excess, is utterly worth your time — 138 minutes of it.

Although the real star of the film is its visual ingenuity, particularly in a few stunning sequences, one must give ample credit to Russell Crowe, who lends Noah the moral heft and groundedness we need to believe everything that ends up happening to him. Noah's near-descent into madness would not be nearly as effective had Crowe not already convinced us of his essential decency. At the same time, the actor is believable when pondering the most heinous crime imaginable. It's one of Crowe's more effective performances.

It wouldn't have been possible, though, without considerable liberties taken by Aronofsky and his co-screenwriter, Ari Handel, in framing Noah's story. There's been controversy here, but if you glance at the Bible, you'll see why liberties are necessary: the story takes up only a few passages, hardly enough for a feature-length script.

And yet, it's one of the best-known tales in the Bible, if most of us only remember the children's version, with visions of brightly painted animals standing two-by-two on the ark. But there's a much more serious backdrop: Man's wickedness, and God's desire to purge the earth of that wickedness. Aronofsky dives headlong into this story of good vs. evil, not only between men, but within one man's soul.

We meet Noah and his family as they're attempting to live peacefully off the land, and ward off the greedy, violent descendants of Cain. Noah has three sons and a wife, Naameh (Jennifer Connelly, genuine and appealing). Along the way they pick up Ila, an injured young girl who will grow to love Noah's son Shem (an invented character, played with sensitivity by Emma Watson.)

Noah visits his grandfather, Methuselah, embodied with scene-stealing vigor by Anthony Hopkins. The old man — and by the way, this is relative, because Noah himself is already over 500 years old, according to the Bible — helps him induce a hallucination, which brings a vision. The Creator will destroy the Earth in a great flood. Noah's job, of course, is to build that great ark, and get out of Dixie.

It's a monumental task, but Noah has help: the Watchers, huge, lumbering creatures made of rock, who, for Aronofsky, represent the biblical Nephilim. Are they angels, giants or men? Interpretation varies.

But it is here that the movie courts ridicule. These creatures look a little too much like Transformers, and detract from the mystical feel of the film. A giggle is surely not what the director was going for here, but he may get a few.

But that ark? It's a wondrous thing — constructed on a Long Island field, according to measurements specified in Genesis, and finished up digitally.

Also stunning: the flood itself, more chilling than any you've seen in a disaster flick. It's also rather magical to watch the animals arrive, two by two (and by virtue of CGI) at the ark.

But for sheer cinematic beauty, it's hard to beat the dreamlike sequence in which Aronofsky illustrates the story of creation, as recounted by Noah. At this moment, you may well forgive any excesses in the film. Like his flawed hero, Aronofsky has a vision — a cinematic one — and the results, if not perfect, are pretty darned compelling.

No wonder, the presiding deity of the shrine located at Subrahmanyapuram on the outskirts of the the town is known locally as "Munch Murugan." According to temple authorities, people, irrespective of caste, creed and religion, come to the shrine with cartons of chocolates, seeking the blessings of Lord Muruga. Naturally, children flock to the temple in large numbers, especially during the examination season.

No one knows for certain how or when the ritual of offering chocolate began. "The principal deity in the temple is 'Balamurugan', Lord Muruga as child. Somebody who thought that the child Muruga likes chocolate, might have begun the practice first," temple manager D Radhakrishnan told PTI. He said chocolates are given back to devotees as 'prasadam' like flowers and sandal paste after 'pushpanjali' or 'archana'. Chocolate is also used for rituals like 'thulabhara' along with other traditional articles like flowers and jaggery. 

A large number of devotees, even those from other states and foreigners, visit the temple with boxes of chocolates. In the initial days, children were those who offered chocolates. But now, devotees of all ages, including the elderly, offer chocolates to the Lord Muruga, he said. 

The shrine, managed by a 21-member trust, was built by an ardent devotee of Lord Muruga as a family temple decades back. He was frequent pilgrim to the famous Muruga temple in Palani in Tamil Nadu. The temple lore has it that Lord Muruga once appeared in his dreams and asked him to build a shrine in his village.

"Since the time I entered the industry, the growth (of women-centric movies in Bollywood) has been phenomenal. The kind of roles being written is great...Kangana Ranaut has done queen, Vidya Balan did 'Kahaani'...now it has more layers. Our cinema has come a long way.

"But one thing which has not changed is the remuneration for women. There is still a huge disparity. Let's see what happens with that," she added.

Earlier, Kangana and Kareena Kapoor have been vocal about the financial compensation of actresses in tinsel town.

Facebook Inc is harnessing satellite, drone and other technology as part of an ambitious and costly effort to beam Internet connectivity to people in underdeveloped parts of the world.

The world’s top social network said on Thursday it has hired aerospace and communications experts from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and its Ames Research Center for the new “Connectivity Lab” project. “Today, we’re sharing some details of the work Facebook’s Connectivity Lab is doing to build drones, satellites and lasers to deliver the internet to everyone,” Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a post on Facebook. He gave few specifics and did not specify a time frame.

The move extends the social networking company’s Internet.org effort, aimed at connecting billions of people who do not currently have Internet access in places such as Africa and Asia. Facebook has been working with telecommunications carriers to make Internet access more available and affordable. “We’re going to continue building these partnerships, but connecting the whole world will require inventing new technology too,” Zuckerberg said in his post.

Facebook envisions a fleet of solar-powered drones as well as low-earth orbit and geosynchronous satellites delivering Internet access to different regions of the world. Invisible, infrared laser beams could allow Facebook to dramatically boost the speed of the Internet connections provided by the various aircraft, Facebook said on a Web page that explaining the project.

Facebook's plans to take to the skies underscore the company’s rising ambitions to exert its influence beyond the confines of its 1.2 billion-member social network and to set the pace for new technology that will shape society.

Among the jobs openings posted on Facebook’s website on Thursday were roles such as Antenna Systems Engineer and Electro-Optical Network Access Hardware Engineer. Facebook also said it had hired a five-member team that worked at Ascenta, a British company whose founders created early versions of the Zephyr, which Facebook said held the record for the longest-flying solar-powered unmanned aircraft.

The Durex study polled 2,000 British residents to understand if technology had an adverse effect on their sex lives. Nearly 30 percent of respondents reported that their partners had been distracted by their mobile devices during sex. About 60 percent said they spend more time playing with technology in bed than they do focusing on their partners, said the report published in The Daily Dot. Over five percent of them admitted using Facebook while having sex with their partner. The survey, however, did not go to the length to determine why is this happening. “The thought of two people having sex while they both check Facebook is an alarming trend,” the survey added.

Accomplished Marathi and Hindi actress Sonali Kulkarni is reprising the role Sajitha Madathil played in Shutter. Directed by Joy Mathew in Malayalam,Shutter had made waves and won several awards with its gritty tale of three men and a woman.

VKP has directed films in five languages. This is his first Marathi film.

“Both VKP and I felt that we wanted to make a mark in Marathi cinema, which is going though a very creative phase. Moreover, what is heartening is the support given by distributors and viewers to support good regional cinema,” says Prakash. He is also acting in the film along with some leading names from Marathi theatre such as Sachin Khedekar, Radhika Harshey, Amey Vagh, Kamlesh Savant and Jaywant Wadkar.

Prakash and Sajeev M.P., in association with Trends Ad Films, are producing the movie under the banner of Silicon Media. Prakash is also moving into the television scene with an English sitcom Brown Nation that will be authored and directed by the team of Akkara Kazhchankkal, the hugely popular sitcom on YouTube, which was also telecast by Kairali. “We are in the stage of discussions and it should materialise soon. Star Plus has expressed interest and so has a Malayalam channel,” says Prakash.

After a happening year in 2013 when he toured the festival circuit with the critically acclaimed Papilio Buddha, Prakash had also acted in a couple of films. However, he is cutting on Malayalam films this year to spread his wing. Oraalppokkam is perhaps the only film he is working on in 2014.

As campaigning for the Lok Sabha battle heats up, political parties are making all-out efforts to woo voters in the online space — from blogs by senior leaders, spoofs on famous faces to hangouts with decision-makers or celebrity endorsements.

But will the battle being fought on myriad social networking sites and other online platforms translate into votes? Do your ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ ensure that you would vote for a particular party?

Experts feel that although political campaigning on social media stands to benefit the parties in influencing their potential vote bank, its range and reach is restricted to a small audience.

“Social media is a legitimate tool of persuasion. It helps build a personal rapport, may be, more effective than door-to-door campaigning. In the information age, political parties need to flex their ‘electronic muscle’ along with money and might,” says Professor Deepak Kumar, chairperson, Centre for Media Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University.

Although middle class urban voters may be influenced by online political campaigning, a sizeable number of people will cast their votes based on local issues, he says. “These online campaigns cannot reach people in the rural belt of the country owing to the digital divide.”

A study conducted by a media think-tank, Centre for Media Studies (CMS), on the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, speaks of the strong influence of social networking sites on young voters.

“Though young voters are moving to new media to get information about candidates, they do not consider it the only source. The social media marketers are still struggling to gauge whether ‘likes and shares’ are actually translating into action, i.e. votes,” says P.N. Vasanti, director, CMS.

A number of students who consider interaction on social networking sites an integral part of their daily routine, said they will not be influenced by online political advertising and will cast their votes based on “ground realities.”

“The beauty of new media lies in the fact that we also get the counter argument to what we are saying at one place,” says K. Mallikarjuna Gupta, a student of Conflict Analysis and Peace Building at Jamia Millia Islamia.

Like or unlike, share or tweet, upload or download — the political battle on social media seems to be getting only fiercer.

Kochi: In strong remarks against the office of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, the High Court on Friday held that authorities at the helm of affairs in the state have not been "prudent and responsible" in appointing personal staff with integrity and character.

"The Chief Minister's office should be a model institution serving the people of the State", Justice Harun-Ul-Rashid said, ordering a fresh CBI probe in two land grabbing cases against Salim Raj, former gunman of the CM.

Delivering the 132-page judgement while allowing petitions in the land grabbing cases in Thrikkakara and Kadakkampally in Thiruvananthapuram, the court said the CBI probe should be completed in nine months.

Besides the two cases, a criminal case was registered against Salim Raj for kidnapping by Kozhikode Police last year Pointing to the involvement of another personal staff of Chief Minister in a Solar panel scam case in which Saritha Nair is a key accused, the court held that all the incidents have "evoked shock and surprise" among people of the state.

The alleged involvement of members of the personal staff of the Chief Minister's office in criminal acts has come to the attention of this court at multiple instances, it held. This shows that "the authorities at the helm of affairs of the administration in the state have not been prudent and responsible in appointing personal staff with integrity and character", the court observed.

"The above incidents have raised serious questions on the functioning of the Chief Minister's office for which the Chief minister is answerable to the State", Justice Harun Al Rashid said. The court held that prima facie evidence of the presence of "unscrupulous elements" among personal staff in the Chief Minister's office and associated criminal activities in these cases calls for a "thorough and independent" investigation.

"Serious allegations' have been made against the accused of colluding and conspiring with Revenue Department officials in forging and fabricating false documents and records for the purpose of defeating the title of the petitioners," it said.

The court said it was evident from records that Salim Raj, now under suspension and described by the petitioners as "gang leader of the land mafia" and his associates had held multiple meetings with landowners and had pressurised them to part with the land.

Salim Raj had also allegedly threatened the petitioners with dire consequences if their demands were denied. The same team was involved in both incidents and the method of operation was also same, the court pointed out.

The court held that a direction for CBI investigation was necessary since offences have been made out prima facie by several persons, including higher officials and persons capable of wielding high influence and pressure in the field of administration.

The state government had expressed no objection in ordering CBI probe, the court held. It directed police officers in charge of investigation and the revenue officials to hand over all the case records, including vigilance enquiry report to CBI which shall commence further investigation and complete the same in nine months. CBI should register FIR in Kadakampally case since no FIR was registered pursuant to the complaints.

The probe agency shall investigate the case from all angles, take assistance of the petitioners, Revenue Intelligence, Vigilance and Anti corruption Bureau, Police and other agencies and submit a final report to the jurisdictional court. The Investigating Officers can also peruse all documents produced in the cases, the court held.

Nagma told media "I may not return to Meerut if this happens again". She said she has been facing this sort of blatant harassment virtually every day as she campaigns.

The 39-year-old has reportedly hired bouncers and guards to keep her safe.

Last week, she was manhandled by Congress legislator Gajraj Singh, who grabbed her face and allegedly kissed her at an event. The incident was caught on camera. Nagma was seen removing his hand and walking off angrily, without addressing the crowd. (Congress legislator manhandles Nagma, no action despite visual evidence)

The visuals were aired repeatedly on channels and websites, but no action was taken against the Congress leader. 

Nagma denied the incident and another Congress leader Pramod Katyan, who did speak up for her was apparently punished for it, which spurred allegations that the party did not want to risk making an enemy out of a legislator who can damage its chances of winning.

Mr Katyan was expelled on Monday, just after he criticized Gajraj Singh, saying, "He is an experienced leader. He should maintain the decorum expected of his position."

See Video here:
Congress candidate Nagma slaps man who allegedly groped her at public meeting

Her relatives abandoned her and the employees of the King Edward's Memorial Hospital took care of her fought against a petition seeking a mercy killing for Aruna and won the case. Anumol will be portraying Aruna's character.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: -- The families of those on board Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have been waiting for answers for 20 days. The loved ones of those who were passengers on Malaysia Airlines 653 have been waiting for 37 years.

Flight 653 was hijacked in 1977 en route from the northern Malaysian city of Penang to Kuala Lumpur, the country's capital. The airliner -- a Boeing 737-200 -- crashed into a mangrove swamp as it descended, killing all 100 on board. Before Flight 370, it was the deadliest incident in Malaysian aviation history.

"Thirty-seven years down the line, we still don't really know the truth," said Ruth Parr, who was 19 when her father, Thomas, died in the crash.

The hijacker or hijackers of MH653 have never been identified, despite cockpit voice recordings that captured everything from the breach of the cockpit, to the sound of gunshots that killed both pilots. According to the Malaysian Civil Aviation Department's report into the crash, the aircraft was hijacked as it approached Kuala Lumpur.

Amid confusion over whether it was to land there or not, it proceeded towards neighboring Singapore. As it descended, the crew was shot and the aircraft "carried out some unusual pitch up and pitch down terminal maneuvers before finally impacting into swampy ground at some 450 knots." The report concluded that the crash was caused by the crew being fatally incapacitated, leaving the aircraft "professionally uncontrolled."

However, some eye witnesses at the time reported seeing the aircraft in flames before it hit the ground, while others reported hearing an explosion before impact -- though investigators could not find evidence to support these reports.

Defining event

For other family members of MH653 victims reached by CNN, the recent disappearance of MH370 brought back memories of that traumatic time. Over the years, they have learned to cope with their grief, but the 1977 crash will always be a defining event in their lives.

"You have to carry that with you all the time," said Tom Sherrington, whose father, Richard, was also on MH653. He believes talking openly about their memories of his father, whom he described as a "fun guy" and "big adventurer," helped his family to cope.

He also said visits to the memorial, built near the crash site in the Malaysian coastal town of Tanjung Kupang, have given his family a tangible place to reflect on their loss.

As for the families of those on board MH370, Sherrington said they should focus on remembering their loved ones and try not to fixate on assigning blame.

"The one thing I would say is not for them to get too obsessed with the detail and the recriminations and all that," he said. Sherrington added that he hopes the families will stick together and find comfort in each other.

'You can never forget the date'

Both Parr and Sherrington warn that everyone processes their grief in different ways and there is no shortcut.

It gets a little easier over time but you can never forget the date," Parr said.

"You will forever think you see that person out and about, a glance in the car's rearview mirror or crossing the road. It could be anywhere, a voice that sounds like him will have you spinning around only to find it's someone else."

Singapore Changi Airport has been crowned the best in the world for the second year in a row at the World Airport Awards, announced Wednesday in Barcelona, Spain.

Changi, which also won the award for best airport leisure amenities, beat out second-place Incheon International Airport in South Korea and third-place Munich Airport in Germany.

The awards are based on surveys conducted by Skytrax, an international travel research and consultants firm, which polled 12.85 million passengers across 110 nationalities about 395 airports worldwide.

7 of the world's most entertaining airports

"Changi Airport offers a travel experience in itself and continues to develop its quality standards to be named the world's favourite airport again," Edward Plaisted, CEO of Skytrax, said in a news release.

"Changi Airport is a well-known leader and innovator for the airport industry and genuinely delights and surprises travellers who are lucky enough to enjoy the airport facilities. Changi Airport demonstrates how to make the airport experience an enjoyable part of the journey that is so important in today's fast-moving world."

Changi served more than 52 million passengers in 2012. No wonder it's popular: The airport has an on-site movie theater, swimming pool, gardens and trails.

A day in the life of the world's busiest airport

Five of this year's top 10 airports were based in East Asian cities, and four were in Europe, just like last year's award winners. Just one North American airport -- Vancouver -- cracked the top 10.

The World's Best Airports 2014

1. Singapore Changi Airport

2. Incheon International Airport (South Korea)

3. Munich Airport (Germany)

4. Hong Kong International Airport

5. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport

6. Tokyo International Airport (Haneda)

7. Beijing Capital International Airport

8. Zurich Airport (Switzerland)

9. Vancouver International Airport (Canada)

10. London Heathrow Airport (England)

Hours after the sudden demise of veteran actress Nanda, Twitter was abuzz with news of legendary playback singer Lata Mangeshkar having suffered a heart attack. However, the Nightingale of India put rumours to rest via her official Twitter account.

And now a day after, there were reports of the death of veteran actresss and Nanda’s best friend Asha Parekh.

And this looked more real because of tweets by former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar and senior journalist Rajdeep Sardesai.

But actress Adah Sharma of 1920 fame tweeted that the veteran actress was perfectly fine.

The bottles of air will to be manufactured as part of a tourism scheme by authorities in the Guizhou province, the report added.

Air from the area’s eco-tourism zones such as Fanjing and Leigong mountains will be bottled, and on the shelves to be sold from June 20, the UK-based site said.

Thiruvananthapuram: A record number of 27 women candidates, including two each from mainstream parties like Congress, CPI(M) and BJP, are among 269 candidates contesting in the 20 Lok Sabha constituencies in Kerala going to polls on April 10.

Though majority of them are either independents or belonging to minor parties, it is the first time in the state’s poll history that the number of women candidates is crossing the mark of 20. Fifteen women candidates contested the previous Lok Sabha polls in 2009 and 2004. The number was 13 in 1999 and 10 each in 1998, 1996 and 1991 elections, election commission sources said. The number was the lowest in the 1952, 1957 and 1962 polls–only one woman candidate was in the fray during these years.

In the coming polls, Congress has fielded two women leaders Bindhu Krishna in Attingal and KA Sheeba in Alathur.The opposition LDF has opted for veteran leader and former minister PK Sreemathi in Kannur and PK Sainaba in Malappuram (both CPI(M). Senior BJP leaders Shobha Surendran and Girija Kumari are in the fray in Palakkad and Attingal respectively.

Journalist Anita Pratap and writer Sara Joseph, both representing Aam Aadmi Party are other prominent women candidates, seeking an entry into the lower House.

Pathanamthitta, where four women candidates are in the fray, has the highest participation of women. Wayanad, Malappuram, Ponnani, Palakkad, Chalakkudy and Ernakulam constituencies have one woman candidate each, while no women have figured in the candidate list of Kasaragod, Kozhikode, Kottayam and Kollam constituencies. Though women outnumber men on the electoral rolls in the state, women representation has been very low in Kerala in electoral politics.

Though the state is known for its remarkable track record on social development and literacy, many women leaders feel that they do not get their deserved share. Since 1952, Kerala has sent only seven women leaders to the Lok Sabha.

Susheela Gopalan, AK Premajam, Sathi Devi and CS Sujatha of CPI(M), Bhargavi Thankappan of CPI and Savithri Lakshman of Congress are among the prominent women who represented the state in Parliament. Out of the total electorate of 2,42,51,942 in the state, 1,25,70,439 are women.

For starters, we all know that good sex can be fun, romantic, exciting, and something that makes most consenting adults feel warm and fuzzy all over. Over the years we have interviewed thousands of successfully married couples, and most report a reasonable degree of satisfaction with their sex life. But here is our most important research finding concerning this issue: no marriage was ever made successful because the couple had a great sex life!

And more importantly, when we asked successfully married couples how important sex is to the success of their marriage — to rank on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest — the average rank was only 6! This finding has held true over the more than 30 years of our research. The results are hardly a resounding endorsement for the importance of sex in a successful marriage.

You see, marriage is a multi-faceted and highly complex relationship, and in the best marriages, no one aspect stands out as the "make or break" part of it. The truth is, there are seven pervasive characteristics present in all successful marriages. And guess what: sex isn't one of them! Sex is only one part of the seven characteristics of a successful marriage.

As we say so often in our many interviews and writings, all of the married couples, representing the best marriages we've interviewed, have shared with us the importance of touching in their relationship. One gentleman we interviewed told us that if he passed his wife in the house a hundred times a day, he touched her. To touch someone you love is to acknowledge their presence and to communicate your desire for them. That's why the most successfully married couples amongst us do it so often.

We believe that the overemphasis of sex on television, in the media, and in books about marriage cause people to believe that if they don't have stupendous sex everyday, there is something wrong with their marriage. But marriages that fail do so for a variety of reasons, not for a single reason. Simply put, our research findings hold true that no marriage was ever saved, or made successful because the couple had a great sex life.

We've reported many first-hand accounts from successfully married couples who tell us how important the human touch is to a loving marriage. They hug each other often, they kiss, they touch each other while talking, they sit cheek to cheek on the couch while having a conversation, they curl around each other when they sleep or just gaze at the stars, and yes, they have sex from time to time — when it's right for them.

You see, people touch each other in many, many different ways, and no single form of touching wins the day. It's what we like to call "the accumulation of touching" that matters. Touch the one you love often and in whatever way your heart desires. It's that human connection that wins the day — and wins the marriage! The simple truth is, the best marriages engage in a lot of touching, and sex is only one form of touching.

Creating a successful marriage is not always the easiest thing to do. And truthfully, we've learned in over 30 years of marriage research that there are proven, effective ways to ensure a happy and healthy marriage. In fact, as love and marriage experts, we took hundreds of tips from the thousands of happy couples we interviewed throughout the world and put them into our award-winning and bestselling book, "Building a Love that Lasts."