The Gates Foundation also announced on Wednesday grants to nine foundations totalling $120 million illustrating the range of efforts necessary to empower millions of small farmers to grow enough to build better, healthier lives.

Nobel laureates write to support Obama

Dr M S Swaminathan, friends with Dr Norman Borlaug for 56 years, recalls how the Nobel Laureate transformed Indian agriculture.

Former world number one golfer Greg Norman and tennis great Chris Evert announced on Friday they had separated, just 15 months after they were married in the Bahamas.

Dr Siddiqui is currently the vice president, Science and Regulatory Affairs at the Washington, DC-based CropLife America, where he is responsible for regulatory and international trade issues related to crop protection chemicals.

The media is celebrating Norman Borlaug as a great hunger-fighter, whose intervention with the 'Green Revolution' is supposed to have eradicated hunger in India. Obviously, the real starvation is of the mind, says Sadanand Menon.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday paid glowing tributes to Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, recalling that his Green Revolution techniques helped India achieve self-sufficiency in foodgrains, overcoming severe shortage. At a time in the 1960s, when India was facing the specter of severe food shortage, the introduction of Borlaug's high yielding varieties of seeds set in motion a technological revolution in agriculture, leading to India achieving self-sufficiency, he said.

Nobel Peace Prize winner US scientist and one of the main architects of India's first green revolution Norman Borlaug died in Texas on Saturday. He was 95.

According to the publication, in July, McGraw-Hill Cos, owner of BusinessWeek, said it was putting the magazine on the block. Since then, McGraw-Hill and its investment bank, Evercore Partners Inc, have had discussions with several parties.

Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dloughy moved into the semi-final of the men's doubles and were joined by Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles of Bahamas.

Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles entered the semi-finals of the men's doubles at the US Open after beating Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia and Michael Llodra from France in the quarter-finals of the tournament.Earlier, Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy entered the semi-finals, beating seventh seeds Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Tuesday.

Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy entered the semi-finals of the men's doubles at the US Open, beating seventh seeds Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Normam of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Tuesday.

India's Jeev Milkha Singh and Shiv Kapur made a strong start to their Omega European Masters campaign with an identical three-under 68s to be placed tied 19th after the first round at Golf Course Crans-Sur-Sierre in Switzerland.

Leander Paes is seen with wife Rhea Pillai and daughter Aiyana in a New York restaurant.

Asian Tour No 1 Jeev Milkha Singh hopes to produce an eye-catching performance at this week's Omega European Masters to boost his chances of earning a captain's pick for the Presidents Cup.

Priyanka Chopra has had a successful 2009 so far. Will her reign continue?

A birdie start was hardly the inkling of a bumpy back nine in store and Jeev Milkha Singh found himself lying at tied 69th after beginning his campaign at the US PGA Championship with a mundane two-over 74. Eyeing an encore of his top-10 finish in the PGA Championship last year, Jeev had a rather sedate front nine where birdies on the first and seventh holes more than made up for the stroke he dropped on the fourth.

French Open finalist Robin Soderling overcame some second set nerves to beat Argentine Juan Monaco 6-3, 7-6 on Sunday, clinching the Swedish Open title and his first ATP win on clay.

Tom Watson spectacularly rolled back the years to grab an early one-shot lead in Thursday's first round of the British Open as a bunch of veterans took advantage of ideal scoring conditions. While three-times champion and heavy favourite Tiger Woods struggled to a one-over-par 71, fellow American Watson fired a flawless 65 on a surprisingly calm day at the Ailsa Course.

Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles twice erased the deficit but were still sent packing from the Wimbledon championships following a defeat in a marathon men's doubles quarterfinal against Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman on Wednesday.

West Indies skipper Chris Gayle has warned India that his side could "sting like a bee" in the one-day series starting next week in the Caribbean following their agonising Twenty20 World Cup semifinal defeat to Sri Lanka.

A 16-member Indian team, eager to ease the pain of their Twenty20 World Cup debacle, arrived in Port-of-Spain from London on Friday for a four-match ODI series against the West Indies, starting June 26. The visitors landed at the Norman Manley International Airport in Jamaica without key players Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan.

Winning the Grand Slam title on physically demanding red clay is 'special' says Indian tennis ace Leander Paes, who clinched his third French Open men's doubles trophy with Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy.

World number two Roger Federer said he would never again feel any pressure in his career after clinching his first French Open title with a 6-1, 7-6, 6-4 victory over Swede Robin Soderling in Sunday's final. 'It might be the greatest victory of my career,' said the 27-year-old Swiss, who equalled Pete Sampras's record of 14 Grand Slam titles and became the sixth man to win all four majors.

Leander Paes and Lucas Dlouhy staged a magnificent recovery to beat South Africa's Wesley Moodie and Belgium's Dick Norman and win the men's doubles title at the French Open in Paris on Saturday. The third seeded Indo-Czech pair turned in a solid display after losing the first set to emerge 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 winners over their unseeded opponents in the final that lasted a hundred minutes.

Robin Soderling kept his wits about him in a heated 6-3, 7-5, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 win over Fernando Gonzalez to reach the French Open final on Friday. Sweden's Soderling, the conqueror of champion Rafael Nadal, withstood a fierce fightback from the Chilean 12th seed to march into his first Grand Slam final.

Leander Paes and Lucas Dlouhy entered the final of the men's doubles at the French Open after a thrilling victory over top seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the semi-finals on Thursday. The Indo-Czech pair needed two tie-breakers to quell the challenge of the Canadian-Serbian duo and emerge 7-6(4), 7-6(5) winners, and set up a meeting with South Africa's Wesley Moodie and Belgium's Dick Norman in the final.

The counties and metro areas with the nation's poorest air quality.

World record sprinter Usain Bolt of Jamaica suffered minor injuries on Wednesday when he crashed his BMW sports car on the outskirts of his Caribbean homeland's capital, authorities said. Bolt, 22, lost control of the high-powered vehicle and plowed into a ditch on Wednesday afternoon, police said.

Prakash Amritraj carved out an easy 6-2, 6-3 win over local favourite Santiago Gonzalez to advance to the quarter-finals of the US $35,000 ATP Challenger in Mexico City. The eighth seeded Indian will now face off against Belgian qualifier Dick Norman, who shocked fourth seed Argentine Horacio Zeballos 7-6 (4), 6-7(15), 6-3 in his second round match.

You can make millions, if you are a celebrity and are willing to license your name to other people's business ventures.

Argentina's Angel Cabrera won his second major championship with a nerve-jangling playoff victory at the U.S. Masters on Sunday, becoming the first South American to claim the prized Green Jacket.

Jeev Milkha Singh's cold putter left him in agony as the Indian missed the halfway cut at the Masters golf tournament by just one stroke on a wind-swept day at the Augusta National. Struggling to roll his putts in, Jeev brought home three-over 75 for a two-day total of 146 to miss the cut -- first time in three appearances -- by just one stroke and join the likes of Greg Norman and Ernie Els on the sidelines.

Practice rounds with Greg Norman, acquaintance with Arnold Palmer and paired alongside Tiger Woods Jeev Milkha Singh finds himself in august company at the Augusta Masters.

Tiger Woods is in danger of surrendering his position as world number one to Phil Mickelson in two weeks' time.

The disgraced money manager's victims include a who's who of wealth and celebrity.

The ICC on Sunday virtually authorised the BCCI to decide on the Indian Cricket League's plea for official recognition, saying member countries would determine if a match or tournament within their territory was "approved or disapproved".

With more than 40,000 miles of coastline fronting its azure waves the Indian Ocean has become a vast playground of private islands, uninhabited coasts, and jetsetting sun-seekers basking in the balmy breeze.

India's highest ranked squash player Joshna Chinappa made it to the final qualifying of the main draw in the US $25,9000 Harrow Greenwich Open. She came from behind to get the better of a fighting Alexandra Norman of England 8-11, 13-11, 11-9, 19-21, 11-6 in 64 minutes in Connecticut on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, major companies including BHP Billiton, announced cutting off over 3,000 local jobs after deciding to shed 6,000 positions worldwide, while leading retailer Harvey Norman also forecast a series of job cuts.