Helio Castroneves Wins Third Indianapolis 500

INDIANAPOLIS — Pumping his fist as he took the checkered flag and breaking down in tears when he was done, Helio Castroneves capped a perfect month of May with the biggest win of all Sunday at the Indianapolis 500.

Castroneves became the ninth driver to win the historic race three times, and his timing couldn't have been better. Just 5 1/2 weeks ago, he was aquitted of most charges at a federal tax evasion trial, and the remaining count was thrown out on Friday.

Instead of going to prison for as long as six years, Castroneves pulled his red-and-white machine into Victory Lane at the Brickyard. No wonder he was sobbing when team owner Roger Penske leaned in to give him a hug.

Click here for photos of Helio Castroneves.

"Thanks for giving my life back," the 34-year-old Brazilian told his boss, who earned his record 15th win at Indy.

Castroneves completed a clean sweep of every Indy prize, also claiming the pole position and winning the pit-stop competition. Throw in the federal government's decision to drop the last of the tax charges just minutes before he went out for the final practice, and "this is the best month of May ever," said Castroneves, now only one win away from joining the most elite group of all: four-time Indy winners A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears.

Castroneves pulled away over the final laps to beat Dan Wheldon and Danica Patrick, who eclipsed her historic fourth-place finish as a rookie in 2005 by crossing the strip of bricks in third.

Patrick, however, was never really a factor.

Click here for photos of the Indy 500.

This day belonged to Castroneves, who pumped his fist all the way down the final straightaway.

"I want to climb the fence," said the driver known as "Spiderman," referring to his signature celebration.

Then he did just that, climbing out of his car after the victory lap and scaling the fence along the main grandstand with his pit crew. Someone tossed him a green-and-yellow Brazilian flag.

The victory was clearly popular with the quarter of a million fans who turned out on a sweltering late spring day and were on their feet, cheering and waving these caps as Castroneves sped around the 2.5-mile oval for the final time.

"You guys kept me strong," Castroneves told the crowd. "You guys are the best. I'm honored to have fans like you.

"Let's celebrate now!"

Crashes took out some of the biggest names in the field, including Tony Kanaan, Marco Andretti and Graham Rahal. The most frightening wreck occurred on lap 173, when Brazilians Vitor Meira and Raphael Matos got together going into the first turn.

Meira's car veered head-on into the padded outside wall. He was removed from the car, put on a stretcher and taken to a nearby hospital complaining of severe lower-back pain.

The lengthy caution period ensured that everyone had enough fuel to get to the finish. When the race restarted with 17 laps to go, Castroneves got a great jump on Wheldon and Patrick and pulled away to win by nearly 2 seconds, more than two football fields.

"I had a really good car," Patrick said. "Oh well, what are you going to do?"

Added Wheldon, "At the end, I just didn't have enough for Helio."

It was clear from the start that Team Penske and Chip Ganassi Racing had the strongest cars. Castroneves led 66 laps and teammate Ryan Briscoe ran out front for 11. On the Ganassi side, defending 500 champion Scott Dixon set the pace for a race-best 73 laps, while his teammate Dario Franchitti, who won in 2007 and returned to Indy this year after a disappointing foray into stock cars, led the other 50.

Dixon's powerful car lost its edge near the end of the more than three-hour race and he slipped back to sixth, failing to become the first driver since Castroneves in 2001-02 to win back-to-back 500s. Franchitti had a problem in the pits late in the race and couldn't make up the lost ground, settling for seventh.

Two drivers who don't even have full-time rides in the IndyCar series crossed the line behind Patrick. Townsend Bell was fourth, while Will Power — who filled in while Castroneves was on trial — finished fifth in a third Team Penske car.

It may have been a perfect month for Castroneves, but it wasn't a perfect race. He had problems with his radio all day, and there were gearbox issues when he came into the pits. But he knew what to do on the track.

"Once I got in front, it was never look back," Castroneves said.

Rounding out the top 10 were Ed Carpenter in eighth, Paul Tracy and Hideki Mutoh. Tracy was racing at Indy for the first time since the disputed 2002 event, when a late caution froze the field just as he was going past Castroneves. The outspoken Canadian is still convinced he won that race — his appeal was turned down — but there was no doubt about this one.

It was Castroneves all the way.

The race had barely started when Mario Moraes drifted to the outside and made contact with Andretti, sending both cars into the wall going into the second turn.

The Andretti curse remains in force at Indy. Marco said there was nothing he could do when the 20-year-old Moraes pinched him into the wall.

"The kid doesn't get it, and he never will," said Andretti, only 22 himself. "He's just clueless out there."

Neither driver was hurt, and Andretti even got back on the track for 56 laps to finish 30th in the 33-car field.

Rahal, son of 1986 Indy winner Bobby Rahal, crashed on the 56th lap in virtually the same spot where he slammed into the wall a year earlier. He started fourth and was running fifth when his car went high coming out of the fourth turn and slammed the barrier. He was not injured.

"I got mid-corner and the car just went straight. It was the same exact thing as last year," the 20-year-old Rahal said. "I felt I was being patient. I thought I wasn't going to have any problem, and all of a sudden it just went."

Kanaan was running third when something snapped in his No. 11 car, sending it straight into the wall at about 190 mph. The helpless machine slid through the third turn and slammed into the SAFER barrier again before finally coming to a stop.

The popular Kanaan wasn't seriously hurt, but he sure was aching after the big hit.

"I went on quite a ride," he said after getting checked at the infield media center. "I knew it was going to be a big one."

It was another painful Indy moment for the hard-luck Brazilian, who had led the race a record seven straight years — but is still seeking his first 500 win.

"Me and this place," Kanaan said with a sigh.

foxnews.com

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Cyclone in Kolkata

Three people were killed in Kolkata on Monday as cyclone Aila crossed the coast into West Bengal. There was no information from the coastal districts, where extensive damage was feared.

As the cyclone that had formed in the Bay of Bengal hit Kolkata around 11 am on Monday, a large number of trees were uprooted, blocking major roads. The three victims, one in north Kolkata and two in the south, were killed by falling trees or house collapses, officials said.

Weather officials were expecting the wind speed to pick up to 100-120 km per hour as the full fury of the cyclone hits Kolkata by the evening.

Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said the army had been asked to stand by for rescue operations.

Deputy Commissioner (Detective Department) Javed Shamim told IANS that "boats have been kept ready for emergency evacuation" of people from low lying areas of the city.

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Karnataka CET 2009 Results

The result of the Karnataka CET will be announced today by KARNATAKA EXAMINATIONS AUTHORITY, Bangalore, a government of Karnataka undertaking. The time of announcement has not been reported on the official website or the examination authority. even though it is believed to be announced in the morning but we will confirm that as we get the official words from the authorities.

The result is will be made available by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Bangalore.


To know results individual can make login to kea.kar.nic.in


The Karnataka CET is conducted to get a merit of the students to have them admission in the Dental, Ayurveda, Medical, Homoeopathy, Engineering, Technology and Architecture courses offered by the various colleges in Karnataka.

So the time has finally arrived to know the result of the hard work done by the students over all those last months.

Also Results availabe at : http://karresults.nic.in/cet09.htm

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Kung Fu Hustle

As Superman can attest, it’s not a good idea to release the game based on your movie too long after the movie comes out. Though as Luke Skywalker and his fellow Jedi can agree, all is forgiven when your game is as good, or even better than, your movie. Which might be the saving grace for Kung Fu Hustle, Sony Online’s action MMO for the PC. Though the movie came out more than five years ago, and the game’s release date is still to be determined, it still looks like it’ll be a good one. At least that was our impression when we played the game at a SOE event in Los Angeles last week.

At its core, Kung Fu Hustle is a 2D side-scrolling beat-’em-up, though one where you can move up and down as well as side-to-side. Though it’s not picky about it, you don’t need to perfect aligned with someone horizontally to hit them.

Once you create your own character, you pick a fighting style, which include both long-range attacks and melee ones. As you progress, you can collect or buy new moves, which is made easier by the game being set in a version of China where people drop gold and experience points when they die. One of the guys we played as, for example, enjoyed throwing an endless supply of knives, while another threw an arsenal of elbows. You can even attack as you get up from being knocked down, or do a jump attack by, well, jumping before you attack. Funny how that works.

All of this was made fairly easy by the controls, which were as responsive as Microsoft Word. Though, as it is a PC game, there are certain limitations. You can’t, for example, do a normal attack and move at the same time; when you throw a punch, your feet are firmly planted in the ground. Well, unless you’re jumping. The game will also support PC controllers, which could make this a moot point.

How the game works as an MMO, however, is still somewhat unanswered. Though there will be side quests as well as a major story, and characters can be leveled up to fifty, it doesn’t seem like the game will have the kind of “virtual world” motif as World Of WarCraft.

It’s also not very cinematic, as the game’s connection to the film seems somewhat superficial: There are a couple settings from the film, while the film’s director and star Stephen Chow has been very involved in the project. But it is not a direct translation of the film, so while you will have to appreciate side-scrolling beat-’em-ups, you don’t need to have seen, or even enjoyed, the movie to appreciate this game. Which, potentially, might be a good thing.

The game is currently in beta in a few Asian markets and US release plans have not been discussed at this time.

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Los Angeles Marathon 2009

Los Angeles Marathon officials can rest easy today.

They caught a huge break from Mother Nature. The marathon isn't expected to be run in sweltering temperatures. There won't be cause for pacing and worrying and sweaty brows and clenched jaws.

There's probably no need to say prayers and wait and hope.

They're awfully lucky. They rolled the dice, and apparently won't get burned.

Next year, remove the gamble from the equation.

Today is May 25. Running the race this late in the year in Southern California was the most ridiculous idea ever. That anyone ever considered it is laughable.

Clearly, no one who signed off on this has ever run a marathon.

But why consult the people who pay the registration fees and pound the pavement around Los Angeles for 26.2 miles and give officials a reason to have an event to make a mess of, anyway?

Thankfully, once soaring temperatures have given way to a 60-something degree day mixed with clouds and sun. The threat of heat-related deaths shouldn't be a factor.

The marathon can't be left to chance again, and it's all up to the Los Angeles City Council.

When the race date was moved from the first Sunday in March, when it has been scheduled since its inception, to the end of May, runners were justifiably outraged.

The race was and still is broken, there's no question, and has had many problems before Frank McCourt took over ownership rights last year. The date was not one of

those problems. McCourt wants the Los Angeles Marathon to be on par with Boston and Chicago, but the race doesn't attract elite runners and isn't even a must-event for Angelenos anymore. There's work to be done, and this public-relations nightmare didn't help.

The city council needs to approve the proposed change. Three city council members - Tom LaBonge, Janice Hahn and Bill Rosendahl - introduced the measure and earlier this month it passed an initial test of approval but still needs approval of the entire council.

The city council was pressured into moving the race to a Monday in order to not disrupt services at churches that sit along the marathon's 26.2-mile route.

It's one Sunday a year.

Instead of working with neighboring churches to allow parishioners alternate locations or times for worship, the city council caved and voted to move the marathon date.

About 14,000 runners are expected this year, down about 3,000 from last year. And last year's nearly 17,000-runner field was down a few thousand from the previous year. The fear of heat probably wasn't the only reason runners retreated, but this was a blow, and organizers must be sweating it out. If you lose runners one year, it will be hard to lure them back.

Many are surely running in Rock 'N' Roll Marathon on May 31 in San Diego. When the Los Angeles Marathon was in March, some runners participated in both. Those who did were forced to make a choice this year.

Yet another reason the city council needs to approved the change, and do it quickly.

Race organizers were hoping to have the 2010 date set by today so it could use today's marathon as the kickoff for next year's race.

The mantra should be something along the lines of "we've come to our senses."

Running 26.2 miles is one of the most grueling activities the human body can endure. I know. I ran the Los Angeles Marathon two years ago. I ran it in March, and it seemed awfully hot those last 13 miles.

This year's race is nearly three months after its usual date. Everyone makes mistakes. The city council made a big one here - subjecting runners to the possibility of 90-degree temperatures - but at least LaBonge and others recognize it.

May cooler heads prevail. Move it back.

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Pregnant Girls Gone Wild Video

Pregnant Girls Gone Wild Video

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North Korea confirms underground nuclear test

North Korea state media said the country's military conducted a successful underground nuclear test early Monday, confirming earlier reports of a suspected test based on seismic data.

The news triggered an emergency security meeting among South Korea officials and forced a temporary halt to trading on South Korea's main stock market.

News reports cited North Korea's state-run Korean Central News Agency as saying the nation had "successfully conducted another underground nuclear test on May 25 as part of its measures aimed at strengthening its self-defense nuclear deterrent in every way."

South Korean officials said earlier that it suspected a nuclear test had taken place after detecting an "artificial earthquake."

The U.S. Geological Survey reported an earthquake of magnitude of 4.7 on the Richter scale, centered about 230 miles northeast of Pyongyang. The epicenter is in the same area where North Korea conducted its previous nuclear test in October 2006.

Trading on the South Korean stock market was halted briefly after shares fell sharply in the wake of the news. Stocks recouped some of those earlier losses to trade 0.7% lower by Monday afternoon. Japan's Nikkei index was 1.2% higher at 9,335.18.

The move prompted negative reaction from the diplomatic community, with the United Nations Security Council expected to meet to discuss the event soon.

British junior foreign minister, Bill Rammell, called North Korea's announced nuclear test a "clear breach" of Security Council resolutions and urged it to return to disarmament talks, according to comments quoted by Agence France-Presse.

"We are gravely concerned by North Korea's claims," AFP quoted a U.S. State Department official as saying on condition of anonymity.
Political transition

"These are not ordinary times in North Korea," Uwe Parpart, a chief economist at Cantor Fitzgerald, said in comments Monday afternoon referring to a reported political change in the shadowy Pyongyang regime.

"Any political transition period in an absolute state is fraught with danger," he said. And "dangers in Korea range from military provocation all the way to chaotic Korean unification."

An article late Sunday in the Wall Street Journal said that U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has concluded that North Korean leader Kim John Il has begun a political transition, in which his brother-in-law and third son will be key players. See full WSJ.com story on North Korean transition.

Parpart said "investor caution is most advisable" and "Japan and Taiwan are fine alternatives for investment in North Asia while one waits for the smoke to clear."

North Korea's state media made the announcement around noon local time, or about two hours after South Korean officials detected the unusual seismic activity.

Pyongyang said in late April it would conduct more tests of nuclear devices and missiles.

South Korea's President Lee Myung-bak had called an emergency security meeting to assess the situation, Yonhap reported.

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