RagnaRollFact File

This world famous bird sanctuary and wetland habitat at Bharatpur in the state of Rajasthan in India has been rapidly disappearing since the completion of Panchana Dam in 2005 above the river Gambhir, which provided flowing water every year to this unique Park during the months of monsoon (July – August).

Despite public outcry and representations by national and international conservation bodies, the fate of KN Park – a Ramsar Convention and UNESCO World Heritage site - hangs in the balance.

KN Park’s 28.72 sq km consist of wetland, grassland and woodland, and support around 370 species of birds, 375 species of flowering and 91 of aquatic plants. It is vital to hundreds of thousands of migratory birds. The park needs 550 million cu ft of flowing water each year, which came from Gambhir river prior to the building of the dam.

Sarus Cranes and the Park in its hey-day	Sarus Cranes in Dry Land
Siberian Cranes at Park	Guides yes, jobs No
Painted Storks in hey-day	Totally Dry
Protest to get water for Park	Protest to get water for Park
Best time for birds again at Keoladeo National Park (2008-09) Painted Storks at nests. Openbilled Stork. Nature Guides’ feast to celebrate the glory. Painted Stork. Painted Storks saving eggs from sun. Grey Nightjar.

Parvathy makes India proud!
When the fingers were crossed across the world to hear the name of their country’s representative,

(L-R) Miss India Parvathy Omanakuttan, Miss Russia Ksenia Sukhinova and Miss Trinidad & Tobago: Gabrielle Walcott More Pics

Pantaloons Femina Miss India World’08 Parvathy Omanakuttan made Indians proud standing tall as the first runner-up at the Miss World 2008 contest. She was also the 2 nd runner-up at the Miss World Top Model contest that took place on December 3 at Walter Sisulu Square of Dedication in Soweto, South Africa. 32 semifinalists competed in the event. (Watch)

Back home in India, she won the Pantaloons Femina Miss India South 2008 in December last year. From there she moved to win the Pantaloons Femina Miss India World 2008 title in April.

Miss World 2008: Winners (Slideshow)
The final verdict is out, here are the results:
Miss World 2008, Winner Miss Russia: Ksenia Sukhinova
Miss World 2008, First runner-up: Pantaloons Femina Miss India World’08: Parvathy Omanakuttam
Miss World 2008, Second runner-up: Miss Trinidad & Tobago: Gabrielle Walcott

Top 5 stunners
From the Top 15, race to the coveted Miss World 2008 crown shortened down to the Top 5, which included:
1. Pantaloons Femina Miss India: Parvathy Omanakuttan
2. Miss Trinidad & Tobago: Gabrielle Walcott
3. Miss Angola: Brigith dos Santos
4. Miss Russia: Ksenia Sukhinova
5. Miss South Africa: Tansey Coetzee

The Semi-finalists
Now comes the moment when the jury has given their word of the semi-finalists. The shortlisted beauties include:
1. Miss Russia: Ksenia Sukhinova (Miss World top model)
2. Miss Mexico: Anagabriela Espinoza (Winner of the beach wear round)
3. Miss Barbados: Natalie Griffith (Winner of the talent round)
4. Miss Iceland: Alexandra Ívarsdóttir (Winner of the sports round)
5. Miss Trinidad & Tobago: Gabrielle Walcott (Winner of Beauty with a purpose)
6. Miss Venezuela: Hannelly Quintero
7. Miss Ukraine: Irina Zhuravskaya
8 . Miss Croatia: Josipa Kusić
9. Miss Brazil: Tamara Almeida
10. Miss Angola: Brigith dos Santos
11. Miss Kazakhstan: Alfina Nassyrova
12. Miss Puerto Rico: Ivonne Orsini
13. Miss Spain: Patricia Rodríguez
14. Miss South Africa: Tansey Coetzee
15. Pantaloons Femina Miss India World’08: Parvathy Omanakuttan

Peppy performances
Soon after the jury was announced, 109 beauties begin grooving to the tunes of a musical band. The ladies are looking sensuous in real short-numbers. Five major colours that rule the ramp include fuschia pink, turquoise, yellow, red and orange. During the semi-finalists’ announcement, British singing sensation Alisha, dressed in a glittering golden short dress added zing to the show with a breathtaking performance.

The hosts & the jury
Hosts for the evening Tumisho Masha and Angela Chow, are looking great in black tuxedo and a gorgeous golden gown, respectively.

The panel of judges include: Albin Beart (France), Andre Sleigh (Taiwan), Fahad Khan (Pakistan), H.K. Lee (China), Jimmy Steele (Canada), Jean Vandecasteele (Belgium), Martina Aubrechtova (Czech R.), Marjukka Nieminen (Finland), Jose Cinqueterra (Philippines), Sean Spurrier (South Africa), David Iza (Mexico), EJ Toledo (Puerto Rico), Josi Watkins (Ghana), Marcelo Stein (Argentina), Carmen Wu (Hong Kong), Arturo Gallo (Spain), Roberto Rodriguez (Costa Rica) and Patrick Tripoldi (USA)

The action begins
The much-awaited event opened in grandeur with a splendid show by a bunch of dazzling dancers. The beauties from across the world have started sashaying down the ramp in alluring evening gowns. Pantaloons Femina Miss India World’08, Parvathy Omanakuttan is looking gracious in a scintillating red dress.

Anti virus software is probably the most important program you have installed on your computer, but do you really know how it works? Most PC owners purchase or install an anti virus program and forget about it. But if you don’t understand how anti virus software works, you might be leaving yourself prone to catching a virus.

Real-Time anti virus protection

Most anti virus programs use virus signature scanning to detect viruses on your computer. This means that the anti virus program has a list of known virus signatures in it’s database, and checks this database each time your PC opens or access any file. A virus signature is a particular pattern of ‘bits’ or information contained in a virus that appears in no other file or program in the world, except for that virus. A signature is like a digital fingerprint of the virus. A good anti virus program will have a database of approx 20,000 to 60,000 known viruses. Because it can take a few milliseconds to screen every file through a list of many thousands of virus signatures, it is common for an anti virus program to make your computer run a little slower after installation. One measure the effectiveness of an anti virus program is how much it does, or does not slow down a computer after installation.

On demand virus scanning

Another type of virus protection

is on demand scanning. Unlike real-time virus protection, on-demand only checks for viruses when manually initiated. Because you have no protection against a virus between on-demand virus scans, real time anti virus is a better method of protecting your PC against catching a virus, however a good antivirus program will support both methods of virus scan.

Anti virus protection is a constant game of keeping up

It is estimated that between 100 and 500 new viruses are released into the wild (spreading via the internet

) every day. Because of this constant influx new viruses, it is extremely important to update your anti virus program’s signature database as often as possible. Virtually all commercial anti-virus programs today will update themselves over the internet automatically every month, or more often. Good anti virus programs will even update themselves whenever a particularly dangerous virus is released onto the internet. Most free or low-cost anti virus programs require manual virus signature updates and are usually updated much less often than standard commercial anti virus programs. Because of the manual intervention required by many free anti virus programs, and the potential lack of signature updates, it is usually safer for your computer to purchase a good anti virus package. Even the best anti-virus programs rarely cost more than $49 - well worth the investment if you value your time, files, photos and other data in your PC.

Real-time and on-demand scanning are the best combination

Because real-time virus protection only protects your PC from virus threats since the last virus signature update, it is possible for a new virus to be released, get into your PC, and go totally unnoticed by your antivirus software. This is why even with a good antivirus program it is important to practice safe computing. To help catch any viruses that may have “slipped through the cracks” between virus signature database updates, it’s a good idea to run an on demand virus scan at least one time every month or two. Most commercial anti-virus programs will remind you to perform on-demand scans regularly, however many free or discount anti virus programs may not.