Kingfisher gets nod for 5 global routes

The government has allowed Kingfisher Airlines to operate daily services on various international sectors, including Mumbai-London, Chennai-Colombo and Mumbai-Singapore. The Vijay Mallya-owned Kingfisher currently flies between Bangalore-London, the only foreign route after it became eligible to fly internationally in August this year. “The government has granted permission to Kingfisher to operate daily services to Singapore, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Colombo and Dhaka with immediate effect. In our earlier interaction, the airline had showed its preparedness to operate to all these sectors,” a government official, who did not wish to be named, said. The airline confirmed the development. “The time frame for launch of these services will be announced progressively,” a spokesperson of Kingfisher Airlines said. The airline plans to operate services to Hong Kong and Singapore in the next few months. It may, however, wait to operate in the Mumbai-London sector as the route already has excess capacity.



“Despite the downturn in the world economy, Singapore and Hong Kong offer robust premium air traffic growth. There is very good onward connectivity from the two points for north Asia and north America. Both the two destinations are gateway to north Asia and hold huge premium traffic to North America,” Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation India head Kapil Kaul said. London is overserved at present, he added. According to an industry estimate, designated airlines carried about 7.89 lakh passengers during January-October, 2008 on India-Singapore sector. Last year, these carriers flew 7.48 lakh passengers. India-Hong Kong sector also saw the traffic growing with designated carriers carrying 3.58 lakh passengers during January-October period.

Kim Sharma takes flak for national flag mess

Mumbai is still recovering from those dastardly terror attacks and this is definitely not the time to be playing around with emotions. But poor Kim Sharma seems to have messed up more than just her good PR - she pretty much killed the national flag!

What is saffron, white and green took all sorts of colours on Kim`s shirt as she walked with protestors in Mumbai to express her anger against the terrorist attacks on November 26thand 27th.

We could probably overlook this as an innocent oversight- but will the majority agree?

Leave your comments below!

Little Master Tendulkar walks tall -"SACHIN RECORD"

India's Sachin Tendulkar moved past Brian Lara's world batting record for most Test runs on Friday, accumulating another record in a long career that has been earmarked for greatness since he made his debut at 16.

The 35-year-old, who has already secured his place among the pantheon of all-time great batsmen, achieved the landmark on the first day of the second Test against Australia.

Tendulkar needed 15 runs to surpass the retired West Indian's mark of 11,953 runs after narrowly missing the record while helping salvage a draw in the first Test. He reached 16 shortly after tea to break the record.

The veteran batsman fell for a magnificent 88 during which he also scaled the 12,000-run mark in Test cricket.

He already holds the records for most Test hundreds (39), one-day runs (16,361) and centuries (42) and is the third-most capped Test player (152) behind Australia's Steve Waugh (168) and Allan Border (156).

Once described by Australia's Don Bradman as having a similar batting style as his own, Tendulkar has lived up to that expectation since his international debut in 1989.

Emulating compatriot Sunil Gavaskar as Test cricket's highest run scorer, however, should also help send a gentle reminder to fickle Indian fans he still has plenty to offer the team.

Frenzied speculation in the cricket-mad country has surrounded Tendulkar as to whether he, along with other veterans, should keep their places or retire and allow a new generation in.












Tendulkar made his debut in Karachi in November 1989, and batting at number six made just 15 before he was bowled by Waqar Younis.

Since then, he has been the mainstay of the Indian batting lineup and had to carry the weight of expectations alone in the 1990s until Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman and Virender Sehwag established themselves.

Tendulkar's fearless assault on bowlers won him a legion of admirers, with his personal duels against major bowling rivals, the best coming against Australian leg spinner Shane Warne, enlivening the action.

The diminutive player has been more than just runs, bowling clever spin, running hard between wickets for partners and being a good advertisement for the game in its global commercial hub.

The Mumbai batsman has suffered a series of injuries since a major back problem flared up in 1999, largely attributed to the wear and tear of constant play since he was a teenager.

Some critics have also recently questioned the disappearance of his natural flair and compared it unfavourably to Lara's sustained batting throughout his career until his retirement in 2007, a criticism Tendulkar has not taken too kindly.

He had two unsuccessful stints as captain, sacked after the first term in 1996, before giving it up four years later saying it affected his batting.

The World's 10 Most Dangerous Roads

1. The North Yungas Road, Bolivia

Built by Paraguayan prisoners of war in the 1930s, the North Yungas Road, which locals call the “Road of Death,” snakes across roughly 40 miles of the Andes in northeastern Bolivia. In 1995, the Inter-American Development Bank named the La Paz to Coroico route “the world’s most dangerous road.” And for good reason. The unpaved road is bordered by 3,000-foot cliffs. More than 100 travelers die every year trekking the route’s hairpin curves











2. BR-116, Brazil

The second longest road in Brazil, BR-116, runs from Porto Alegre through Curatiba and Sao Paulo, all the way to Rio de Janeiro. The Curitiba-Sao Paulo section of the highway is nicknamed “Rodovia da Morte” (Highway of Death). The name fits. The road runs around--and even through--the edges of steep cliffs. The result: “accidents and road fatalities are distressingly common,” as one travel advisory puts it.










3. Sichuan-Tibet Highway, China

In China, the number of deaths caused by car accidents has nearly doubled in the past 20 years, climbing from 3.9 to 7.6 per 100,000 of the population between 1985 and 2005. During this time, the number of cars on the road increased ninefold, and the number of other vehicles, principally motorcycles, jumped by a factor of 54. Government statistics show nearly 82,000 road deaths--5.1 for every 10,000 motor vehicles--in China in 2006, according to the Xinhua News Agency. Ironically, the least populated regions had the highest overall death rates per 100 000 motor vehicles. The Sichuan-Tibet Highway, a high-elevation road between Chengdu and Tibet where landslides and rock avalanches are common, is undoubtedly part of the problem.





4. Pan American Highway, Costa Rica

The Pan American Highway, a network of roads that stretches nearly 30,000 miles from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, in North America to the lower reaches of South America, is the world's longest "motorable road," according to Guinness World Records. Although only a small portion of the road runs through Costa Rica, that portion boasts some of the most dangerous miles. Called the Hill of Death, the stretch of the Pan-American Highway from San Isidro de El General to Cartago is a gauntlet of narrow curves, steep cliffs, flash floods and landslides








5. Coastal Roads, Croatia

The good news for the droves of tourists pouring into the fishing villages and sea resorts that crowd Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast on the Adriatic Sea is that they don’t need to worry about land mines. The detritus of a decade of ethnic warfare that ended with the breakup of the former Yugoslavia is far from the narrow, congested and curvy roads along the coast, which brings us to the bad news. The coastal roads and the fast-driving Croats that crowd them probably account for more deaths and injuries than accidents associated with unexploded ordinance ever do.








6. Cotopaxi Volcan, Ecuador

Traveling to Ecuador? Be careful, the roads are dangerous, and the most dangerous of them all is one many tourists unwittingly travel. Slightly south of capital city Quito, the Cotopaxi Volcan Road is a 25-mile span of treacherous dirt road that connects the Pan American Highway with Cotopaxi Volcan national park, which boasts the highest active volcano in Ecuador at 19,460 feet. The “road” is plastered with potholes and runs through a nightmarishly deceptive “stream” that puts the “flash” in flash floods when it rains. Add poorly maintained cars and poorly trained drivers, and you’ll appreciate the trials and tribulations of a drive in the jungle.








7. Luxor-al-Hurghada Road, Egypt

The road that links the ancient city of Luxor in southern Egypt and Hurghada, the regional hub for several scuba diving resorts on the Red Sea, is a death trap. The vast majority of drivers never turn on their headlights after the sun goes down, setting the stage for the high accident fatality rate that has earned the road a spot on this list. Ironically, the only thing more dangerous than driving on the road at night with your headlights off is driving at night with them on. If the bandits don’t get you, the terrorists probably will. In 1997, terrorists shot and killed 62 German tourists in Luxor in a massacre that resulted in a massive government crackdown that endures today.







8. A44, U.K.

The A44 runs from Oxford to Aberystwyth. The two-lane road has tallied enough accident fatalities and serious injuries in recent years to earn the ignominious honor of having government surveillance cameras installed to deter speeding and otherwise encourage cautious driving. And on a road where more than 25% of crashes on are head-on collisions, caution is well advised.










9. Patiopoulo-Perdikaki Road, Greece

Although the Ottoman Empire occupied Greece for 400 years, they never conquered a small mountainous region in central Greece called Agrafa. They had the military fire power and political will to do so. They simply didn’t have any way to get there. The roads were as dangerous in the steep, mountainous region then as they are now.











10. Grand Trunk Road, India to Afghanistan

The Grand Trunk Road was built in the 16th century to connect the major cities of India with those of Pakistan and Afghanistan. It hasn’t changed much since then, but the world around it has. The road is chronically congested with ox carts, animals, bicycles and pedestrians and massive numbers of cars and buses.

US economy: What Obama, McCain promise

There's no question that concern over the faltering American economy has become the pre-eminent issue of the upcoming US Presidential elections being contested by US Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.

For proof, one need only look at last Friday's first presidential debate: though the stated topic -- agreed upon earlier by both campaigns -- was to be foreign policy, a full 40 per cent of the debate was dedicated to the two candidates' plans for America's economy.

In the most recent CBS/New York Times 2008 Presidential Election poll, 52 per cent of respondents identified 'the economy and jobs' as the issue that would most determine whom they vote for.

The second most pressing issue, according to the same poll, was terrorism and national security, which garnered only 11 per cent of responses. It's clear where prospective voters are assigning importance.

Of course, given the recent meltdown of the US financial sector, this emphasis on the economy is to be expected. The importance of this issue has only accelerated in recent weeks, with America, the epitome of capitalism, showing uncharacteristic signs of socialism.

It began with the government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in early September, and worsened with the market freefall and collapse of Lehman Brothers (which filed for bankruptcy on September 15), AIG (saved by $85 billion emergency funding from the US government) and Merrill Lynch (bought by Bank of America for just $50 billion), and culminating in the Capitol Hill drama over the $700 bailout plan for the accumulated bad assets that threaten to drown Wall Street. The pertinent questions, then, are:

(1) What exactly do the two candidates promise to do with regard to economic matters;

(2) How have they responded to this month's economic crisis; and

(3) Whether or not their respective economic platforms are plausible.

Because, when looking at the two plans, it's important to remember that what a candidate promises on the campaign trail is often wildly different from what he or she can bring about once in office.

Keeping that in mind, a quick perusal of the two candidates' economic positions shows many and vast differences of short-term policy and long-term opinion. These differences were only further highlighted during Friday's debate.

US Senator and Republican Party candidate John McCain is, first and foremost, a foreign policy wonk. The bulk of his experience centres on issues of national security and how the United States should operate in the international arena. His experience with economic matters, on the other hand, is somewhat lacking.

In fact, in 2005, McCain told the Wall Street Journal, "I know a lot less about economics than I do about military and foreign policy issues. I still need to be educated."

He followed that up by telling the Boston Globe, less than a year ago, "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should."

That being said, McCain does have a record on the economy, one that's caused consternation for rank-and-file Republicans in the past. He was one of two Republican senators to vote against a $1.35 trillion tax cut that President George W Bush proposed in 2001.

And though, at times, he's been opposed to federal regulation and oversight of Wall Street, he's recently begun to sing a different tune.

Having learned his lessons from a disastrous 2000 defeat in the Republican primaries to the eventual President, George W Bush, McCain has worked hard to curry favour from the party's right-wing, fiscally conservative establishment.

His economic platform has increasingly fallen in line with President Bush's, and can be perhaps best summed up by this quote from last Friday's debate.

"I want to cut taxes, to keep spending low," McCain said. "The worst thing we could do in this economic climate is to raise people's taxes."

o, not only has McCain promised to extend tax cuts that he once voted against, he's also promising to slash corporate tax rates (in order to stimulate job growth) and permanently repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax (a very unpopular item in the US tax code perceived to punish upper-middle class families).

Having come into the fold of the Republican Party, McCain seemed to be saying all the 'right' things about the economy while on the campaign trail. Unfortunately for Mr McCain, this idea of 'right' comes at a time when Americans increasingly disagree with Republicans about what is 'right' for the economy.

To be sure, McCain only made his problems on this issue several degrees worse with last week's complete and naked flip-flopping on the current economic crisis.

On a day that has quickly become known as 'Black Monday', September 15, the same day that saw legendary Wall Street institution Lehman Bros collapse, McCain uttered the phrase which may end up costing him the election: "The fundamentals of the economy are strong," he said.

As political pundits and economic gurus quickly pounced on this gaffe and began to run and rerun the tape, the McCain camp moved to frame the comments as 'patriotic,' saying that McCain meant the US workers and business infrastructure were strong. Apparently, Americans didn't buy what McCain's campaign advisor Steve Schmidt was selling, as McCain has witnessed increasingly poor polling numbers ever since.

Furthermore, having already made the statement, McCain would probably have been best served to leave the issue alone. He instead made the rather bizarre choice of abruptly calling a press conference nine days later to suspend his presidential campaign in the wake of what he now termed a "historic crisis."

He went on to say that if a bill was not passed and a resolution reached, "Credit will dry up, with devastating consequences for our economy. People will no longer be able to buy homes and their life savings will be at stake."

He then travelled to Washington in order to work with Congressional leaders and President Bush on the bill, though initial reports pegged his input as marginal at best, leading many commentators to call McCain move a political stunt and a sham.

Though he's in the past been a champion of Wall Street's deregulation, McCain is now advocating governmental oversight. It would be political suicide not to, though McCain's new take on the issue must be a bitter pill to swallow for many US conservatives.

Given all this, McCain performed surprisingly well during the portion of last Friday's debate that was devoted to economics.

He iterated and reiterated the Republican talking point of spending cuts and lower taxes, even saying he would go so far as to implement a 'spending freeze', which would cut off funding to all but the most essential of government expenditures. He also promised to balance the budget, though didn't give a timeline for achieving this seemingly lofty goal.

On the other hand, 47-year-old US Senator Barack Obama's stance on economic matters presents a stark contrast to Senator McCain's.

It's safe to say that Obama strikes fear in the heart of many fiscal conservatives, who have labelled him everything from a 'Spend-ocrat' to a 'Socialist' and 'Anti-Capitalist'. To combat this image of being a tax-raising, big government Democrat (the kiss of death in US national politics), Obama has worked hard to cultivate his image as champion of the Middle Class.

An outspoken opponent to the George W Bush tax policy and the Republican Party's famed 'supply side, trickle down economics', Obama has promised tax cuts for 95 per cent of Americans, failing to mince words on how he will manage to pay for such a move: He will close loopholes in the tax code that favour corporations and their fatcat executives. He will punish companies who ship jobs overseas and reward those who try to create American jobs. Those who make over $250,000 a year will certainly face tax hikes.

He's even gone so far as to suggest 'windfall profit' taxes on Big Oil companies, arguing that at a time of record profit for the oil industry, the average American is paying more at the pump than ever. When this suggestion, the windfall profit directive, drew howls, scowls and intensified cries of 'socialist', Obama backed off the plan.

While Obama's economic stances resonate with what he calls 'Main Street', he's clearly found an enemy in Wall Street.

The junior US Senator from Illinois and Democratic Presidential candidate has pulled no punches in decrying what he calls the 'culture of greed' and the 'failed economic policies of the last eight years', saying the current crisis we face is the 'logical end result' of unfettered, unregulated markets. He's also a staunch advocate of raising the minimum wage and a friend of unions and workers' rights group.

Republicans have hit back at Obama by saying his policies make employers vulnerable and would lead to a deep recession. They also paint him as having the 'most liberal voting record in the US Senate', though Obama defends this charge by saying his voting record is just the result of 'being against George W Bush's wrong-headed policies.'

One thing is certain, however: as much as the financial meltdown is hurting the US economy, it is serving Senator Obama's electoral chances. It all fits quite nicely into his narrative about corporate greed and reckless handling of the US tax-payer's dime. His message stressing the need for increased oversight and federal regulation of Wall Street comes across as extremely prescient, and there's no doubt he's sitting in the cat bird's seat on economic issues, at least in prospective voters' eyes.

But how feasible are these plans? After all, President Clinton built nearly his entire campaign in 1992 around the idea of a more centralised, all-encompassing medical plan. It was to be his baby, his pride and joy.

Early into his first term, however, faced by staunch opposition of Congressional Republicans, Clinton saw his medical plan fade into obscurity, not to be heard from again. 16 years later, medical coverage in the United States has become, if anything, more dependant on HMOs and the private sector. So it's not always, "What you see is what you get."

For one thing, should Senator McCain be elected, he will be facing, in all likelihood, a rather powerful Democratic majority in Congress. Though he's called for a spending freeze, without the consent of Congress, he has no authority or jurisprudence to do so, and might be thwarted.

He's also promised to keep the George W Bush tax-cuts and current funding for Iraq ($12 billion a month), while simultaneously balancing the budget. Looking at the massive federal budget deficit, which has grown dramatically under George Bush's watch, these claims seem long on promise but short on plausibility.

If he wins and is able to cobble together a majority voting bloc comprising moderates from both parties, perhaps he would be able to pursue some of his agenda. But given the current highly partisan political climate of US national politics, where votes often fall directly down party lines, this seems a long-shot. In all actually, in terms of economics, a McCain term would look much like the last two years under President Bush, with a stubborn Democratic majority in Congress perpetually at odds with a stubborn Republican President.

With Barack Obama, on the other hand, the question is simple: How's he going to pay for all this stuff? In Friday's debate, he mentioned increased spending for health care, primary education, science and technology, infrastructure and alternative energy initiatives.

But when debate moderator Jim Lehrer pressed him on how he could reconcile these plans with what could be a smaller than expected federal budget, Obama seemed stumped, eventually conceding that lower tax revenues will likely alter his short-term plans but not his long-term vision.

Make no mistake: the US is facing its greatest economic crisis since 1930s' Great Depression. In the voters' eyes, this issue has surpassed all others in importance. And the candidate who best speaks to the concerns of a worried electorate will waltz his way into the White House.

India's hottest businessmen

Ratan Tata

Ratan Naval Tata has been in the news for the past few days due to the unseemly controversy over the Nano car plant in Singur, West Bengal.

The 70-year-old is the chairman of the Tata Group, which is one of India's largest conglomerates.

A bachelor, Tata is one of the most admired businessmen not just in India but the world over. He has been at the helm of the Tata empire since 1991.

N R Narayana Murthy

Nagavara Ramarao Narayana Murthy is the co-founder, non-executive chairman and chief mentor of India's best known software firm, Infosys Technologies Ltd.

Murthy is a globally known and highly regarded entrepreneur.

Azim Premji

Azim Premji is the chairman Wipro, India's second largest software firm after Tata Consultancy Services.

Premji is credited with transforming Wipro, his family's vegetable oil business, into one of the world's foremost software company.

Although one of the richest Indians, he flies economy class and is happiest when hiking, reading or discussing the foundation he has set up to promote primary education.

Mukesh Ambani

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is, according to Forbes the world's fifth richest man and his net worth is estimated at $43 billion.

The Indian billionaire and his younger brother parted ways after the death of their father, Dhirubhai, the patriarch of the Reliance empire.

Mukesh is currently building a $2-billion home on Mumbai's Altamount Road.

Anil Ambani

Anil Ambani is Mukesh's younger brother. With a net worth estimated at $42 billion, he is also the world's 6th richest man.

The chairman of the Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Anil has a vast range of companies under his umbrella: Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Mutual Funds, Reliance Energy, etc.

He is married to former Bollywood actress Tina Munim.

Sunil Bharti Mittal

Bharti Group chairman & managing director Sunil Bharti Mittal is one of India's greatest success stories. In just a period of 10 years, he has built India's largest cellular services company.

His net worth is estimated at close to $12 billion.

Vijay Mallya

Vijay Mallya is a shrewd businessman and a Member of Parliament. He is the chairman of the United Breweries Group and Kingfisher Airlines.

One of India�s richest men, his wealth is estimated at $1.4 billion. Mallya is also the owner of Force India F1 racing team and also of the Indian Premier League�s cricket team, Royal Challengers Bangalore.

Rahul Bajaj

Padma Bhushan awardee and Rajya Sabha member Rahul Bajaj is the chairman of Bajaj Auto.

An alumnus of Harvard Business School, Bajaj is an outspoken and fearless entrepreneur. His two sons, Rajiv Bajaj and Sanjiv, are now handling the Bajaj businesses, under his guidance.

Anand Mahindra

A Harvard alumnus, Anand Mahindra is the vice chairman and managing director of Mahindra & Mahindra.

The 53-year-old businessman has taken his company to unprecedented heights. He is married to Anuradha Mahindra, who edits three niche magazines.

S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan

S 'Kris' Gopalakrishnan is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Infosys Technologies Ltd.

An IIT-Madras alumnus, Gopalakrishnan is a very soft-spoken and shy person. His net worth is estimated to be around $1.4 billion.

Nandan Nilekani

Co-chairman and co-founder of Infosys Technologies Ltd, Nandan Nilekani is a well know and widely admired entrepreneur.

Adi Godrej

Adi Godrej, chairman of the renowned Godrej Group, is one of India's great businessmen.

Even when India was still a closed economy, he managed to take his group to great heights. When India embraced economic reforms, he changed the way his group did business to face the challenges of changing times and needs. Godrej is also involved in philanthropy.

Profile: Bill Gates

William (Bill) H. Gates was chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft had revenues of US$51.12 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2007, and employs more than 78,000 people in 105 countries and regions.



On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After July 2008 Gates will continue to serve as Microsoft’s chairman and an advisor on key development projects. The two-year transition process is to ensure that there is a smooth and orderly transfer of Gates’ daily responsibilities. Effective June 2006, Ray Ozzie has assumed Gates’ previous title as chief software architect and is working side by side with Gates on all technical architecture and product oversight responsibilities at Microsoft. Craig Mundie has assumed the new title of chief research and strategy officer at Microsoft and is working closely with Gates to assume his responsibility for the company’s research and incubation efforts.




Born on Oct. 28, 1955, Gates grew up in Seattle with his two sisters. Their father, William H. Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary Gates, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.

In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.










In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen. Guided by a belief that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home, they began developing software for personal computers. Gates' foresight and his vision for personal computing have been central to the success of Microsoft and the software industry.

Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to a long-term view, reflected in its investment of approximately $7.1 billion on research and development in the 2007 fiscal year.

In 1999, Gates wrote Business @ the Speed of Thought, a book that shows how computer technology can solve business problems in fundamentally new ways. The book was published in 25 languages and is available in more than 60 countries. Business @ the Speed of Thought has received wide critical acclaim, and was listed on the best-seller lists of the New York Times, USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. Gates' previous book, The Road Ahead, published in 1995, held the No. 1 spot on the New York Times' bestseller list for seven weeks.



Top row: Steve Wood (left), Bob Wallace, Jim Lane. Middle row: Bob O'Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin. Bottom row: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen. December 7, 1978.
Top row: Steve Wood (left), Bob Wallace, Jim Lane. Middle row: Bob O'Rear, Bob Greenberg, Marc McDonald, Gordon Letwin. Bottom row: Bill Gates, Andrea Lewis, Marla Wood, Paul Allen. December 7, 1978.

Gates has donated the proceeds of both books to non-profit organizations that support the use of technology in education and skills development.

In addition to his love of computers and software, Gates founded Corbis, which is developing one of the world's largest resources of visual information - a comprehensive digital archive of art and photography from public and private collections around the globe. He is also a member of the board of directors of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., which invests in companies engaged in diverse business activities.








Philanthropy is also important to Gates. He and his wife, Melinda, have endowed a foundation with more than $28.8 billion (as of January 2005) to support philanthropic initiatives in the areas of global health and learning, with the hope that in the 21st century, advances in these critical areas will be available for all people. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed more than $3.6 billion to organizations working in global health; more than $2 billion to improve learning opportunities, including the Gates Library Initiative to bring computers, Internet Access and training to public libraries in low-income communities in the United States and Canada; more than $477 million to community projects in the Pacific Northwest; and more than $488 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns.

Gates was married on Jan. 1, 1994, to Melinda French Gates. They have three children. Gates is an avid reader, and enjoys playing golf and bridge.

Billionaire college dropouts!

Dhirubhai Ambani

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani (1932-2002) was born into a modest family of a schoolteacher. When he was 16, he dropped out of school and went to Aden to work as a gas-station attendant and then later as a clerk in an oil company.

He returned to India 10 years later and started a business with a meagre capital. By the time of his demise, his company -- Reliance Industries Ltd -- had grown into a mammoth business empire! He was one of India's greatest ever entrepreneurs.

Dhirubhai is credited with having single-handedly breathed life into the Indian stock markets and bringing in thousands of investors to the bourses. In the process he became one of the world's richest men.

His modern way of thinking brought into play his second achievement: the idea that Indian manufacturing could and should be world class.

His sons, Mukesh and Anil are among the top 10 richest persons in the world, each of them worth over $40 billion.

Dhirajlal Hirachand Ambani (1932-2002) was born into a modest family of a schoolteacher. When he was 16, he dropped out of school and went to Aden to work as a gas-station attendant and then later as a clerk in an oil company.

He returned to India 10 years later and started a business with a meagre capital. By the time of his demise, his company -- Reliance Industries Ltd -- had grown into a mammoth business empire! He was one of India's greatest ever entrepreneurs.

Dhirubhai is credited with having single-handedly breathed life into the Indian stock markets and bringing in thousands of investors to the bourses. In the process he became one of the world's richest men.

His modern way of thinking brought into play his second achievement: the idea that Indian manufacturing could and should be world class.

His sons, Mukesh and Anil are among the top 10 richest persons in the world, each of them worth over $40 billion.

Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani (1962-) is chairman of the Adani Group, that is one of India's largest export and trading houses.

He is one of India's richest businessmen with an estimated personal net worth of $6.7 billion.

The Adani Group, despite a humble beginning in 1988, is one of the fastest growing enterprises in India. The flagship company, Adani Enterprises Ltd. (formerly known as Adani Exports Ltd.), was established by Gautam Adani in 1988 as a partnership firm with a seed capital of Rs 500,000.

Gautam Adani dropped out of college at the age of 18 and went on to work in Mumbai at a diamond store. He later set up his own diamond firm.

Born in a family of modest means in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, Gautam was one of the seven children of Shantilal and Shantaben Adani.

Later, along with his elder brother Mansukhbhai, he entered into import of raw materials used for manufacturing plastics. When import duties on the materials they imported were cut, following liberalisation, their profits multiplied.

Today, Gautam Adani owns two private jets.

Subhash Chandra

Subhash Chandra, founder of Zee TV and the Essel Group, dropped out of school when he was only 12.

He started his own vegetable oils and rice trading unit at 19 in Hissar, Haryana.

He launched Zee Telefilms in October 1992 as a content supplier for Zee TV -- India's first Hindi satellite channel.

He pioneered new businesses: amusement park (Esselworld), laminated tubes (Essel Tubes,) satellite television (Zee TV). He has also set up world class facilities that made quality products at competitive prices.

His personal wealth is estimated at $2.3 billion.

Bill Gates

For long the world's richest man, till he was upstaged by legendary investor Warren Buffett recently, Bill Gates wears many a hat: computer whiz kid, entrepreneur extraordinaire, compassionate capitalist, top management thinker. . .

Born on October 28, 1955, William H Gates III grew up in Seattle with his two sisters.

Their father, William H Gates II, is a Seattle attorney. Their late mother, Mary, was a schoolteacher, University of Washington regent, and chairwoman of United Way International.

Gates attended public elementary school and the private Lakeside School. There, he discovered his interest in software and began programming computers at age 13.

In 1973, Gates entered Harvard University as a freshman, where he lived down the hall from Steve Ballmer, now Microsoft's chief executive officer. While at Harvard, Gates developed a version of the programming language BASIC for the first microcomputer - the MITS Altair.

In his junior year, Gates left Harvard to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend Paul Allen.

Bill Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January, 2000; remained as chairman and created the position of chief software architect. Gates's last full-time day at Microsoft was June 27, 2008. He remains at Microsoft as a part-time, non-executive chairman.

Gates married Melinda French from Dallas, Texas on January 1, 1994. They have three children: Jennifer Katharine Gates (1996), Rory John Gates (1999) and Phoebe Adele Gates (2002).

Li Ka-shing

Li Ka-Shing, whose net worth is estimated at $18.8 billion, is one of the richest men in Asia.

The chairman of Hutchison Whampoa and Cheung Kong Holdings was only 12-years-old when his family fled from China after the Japanese invaded the country.

They arrived in Hong Kong looking to make a life for themselves. However, when Li was only 15, his father passed away forcing him to drop out of school and support the family.

He started off working at his uncle's shop, selling watches. When he was 21, he established his own plastic manufacturing company that dealt in high-quality plastic flowers. He also ventured into real estate development, retail, ports, and power, electronics, and telecommunications.

Carl Icahn

Carl Icahn, a corporate raider and a private equity investor, was educated at Princeton University and New York University School of Medicine, but left prior to graduation.

Not becoming a doctor turned out for the good for Icahn, who is a billionaire financier with an estimated net worth of $14 billion.

Icahn calls himself an activist investor and is leading a shareholder revolt at Yahoo hoping that the Internet giant will sell out to Microsoft. He has launched a proxy fight to unseat Yahoo's board.

Roman Abramovich

Billionaire Russian businessman Roman Abramovich is best known for owning the United Kingdom's Chelsea Football Club.

He started his business in the late 1980s after the then Russian President Michael Gorbachev set in motion a few economic reforms.

Abramovich has invested around $500 million into Chelsea Football Club since buying it in 2003 and transformed the fortunes of the London team in just two years.

He also owns the private investment company Millhouse Capital, and with a net worth of $23.5 billion, is one of the richest persons alive.

He invested around $500 million since taking over the football club in 2003 and transformed the fortunes of the London team in just two years.

Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren was born in a Jewish family in the Bronx. He was so enamoured of fashion that even as a schoolboy he would work after school to make money to buy suits.

He went to the City College of New York to study business but soon dropped out. He joined the army for a while and then began to work for Brooks Brothers as a salesman.

He started a necktie business under the label 'Polo' in 1967, and then went on to build a global reputation for himself as a fashion designer and a formidable businessman.

His net worth is estimated to be around $3.8 billion.

David Geffen

David Geffen is the founder of Geffen Records and Dreamworks SKG.

He was born in New York and studied at New Utrecht High School in Brooklyn before going to University of Texas in Austin. However, he soon dropped out.

He began his entertainment career in the mailroom working in a talent agency. In 1971, at the age of 28, which singed on noted artistes such as Bob Dylan, The Eagles, Linda Ronstadt and Jackson Browne. His company was acquired by Warner and merged with Elektra Records in 1972, but Geffen remained in-charge of the business till 1975. In 1975, he become the vice chairman of Warner Brothers.

In 1980, he set up Geffen Records. His net worth is estimated at $4.4 billion.

Steve Jobs

Steven Paul Jobs (1955-) and Apple Computer are names that have long gone together.

Born in the United States to an unknown Egyptian-Arab father, Jobs was adopted soon after birth. After graduating high school, he enrolled in Reed College, dropping out after one semester.

In 1976, 21-year-old Jobs and 26-year-old Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer Co in the family garage. Jobs revolutionised the industry by popularising the concept of home computers.

By 1984, the Macintosh was introduced. He had an influential role in the building of the World Wide Web. He is also the former CEO of Pixar Animation Studios.

Today, with the iPod and the iPhone, Apple is bigger than ever. Incidentally, Jobs worked for several years at an annual salary of $1. It got him a listing in the Guinness Book as 'Lowest Paid CEO.' He was once gifted a $90 million jet by the company though. And his net worth? More than $5.4 billion.

Larry Ellison

Lawrence Joseph Ellison (1944-), co-founder and CEO of Oracle Corporation, founded his company in 1977 with a sum of $2,000.

Once a school dropout, he is now one of the richest people in America with a net worth of around $25 billion.

As a young man, Ellison worked for the Ampex Corporation, where one of his projects was a database for the CIA. He called it Oracle, a name he was to reuse years later for the company that made him famous.

Ellison is quite a colourful man, and has long dabbled in all kinds of things. Want to learn more? Try his biography, The Difference Between God and Larry Ellison.

Andrew Carnegie

Industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie (1835-1919) is better known, today, as the steel tycoon who started over 2,800 libraries. His rags-to-riches tale is also among the most famous in American history.

After moving to Pennsylvania from Scotland, at the age of 13 he worked as a bobbin boy in a textile mill. He invested his money wisely and, within a span of four decades, managed to gain control of a number of manufacturing plants that grew to become the Carnegie Steel Company.

He is equally -- if not more -- famous for his donations of over $350 million to further public education: an ironic gesture coming from a dropout.

The author Dale Carnegie was a distant relative, gaining fame for his 1937 bestseller, How to Win Friends and Influence People. And here's another titbit to chew on: During the American Civil War, Andrew Carnegie avoided the battlefield by paying a replacement the sum of $850.