Gudi Padwa - A New Year Celebration

The Gudi Padwa festival marks the beginning of the Hindu new year in Goa. Also known as Sansar Padwa, it is considered one of the most auspicious days to start new business ventures. The Hindu calendar year begins with the onset of Vasant season (spring) in Chaitra.

In some parts of Goa, Shigmo festival concludes on the day of Gudi Padwa. Once many villages situated in the remote corner of the Sahyadri hills were involved in the performances of Ranmale, a popular form of folk drama. Besides, Sattari and Sanguem, villages from Karnataka and Maharashtra bordering these talukas have performances of the Ranmale during the 5-day celebration of the Shigmo or on the Gudi Padwa's night.

In various parts of Goa, the new year celebration is observed with various cultural performances on the previous day of Gudi Padwa. In Nanoda, Bicholim, a folk dance called ghodemodni is performed besides the performance of virbhadra.

In Gaondongri, unmarried youth from the Velip community take part in Dinya Jatra'. The carry a stick of dino (Leea indica) decorated with flowers.

ForMoreInfo: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Goa/Gudi-Padwa---A-new-year-celebration/articleshow/4320723.cms

Egypt Is Ready Is forget Previous Threatening Statements

The Egyptian ambassador to Israel said this week that his country is ready to forget previous threatening statements by Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman, who appears likely to be foreign minister in the incoming Israeli government.

Cairo was particularly incensed by Lieberman's statement several years ago that should Arab countries launch an attack on Israel, Israel would be justified in responding by bombing Egypt's Aswan Dam, among other targets. Egypt was also infuriated by his statement in the Knesset last October that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak "could go to hell."

Yasser Rida, speaking at the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv at the beginning of the week, said that Egypt would be ready to cooperate with the new government and would judge it by its actions, rather than by past statements. He added that Egypt would invite Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu to Cairo for an official visit as soon as he takes office.

Egyptian officials have expressed concern about the stance of a right-wing Israeli government. Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told European lawmakers in Brussels Monday that the establishment of an "extreme" right-wing government would be negative and possibly damaging.

Bears Go Home After Failed Comeback

When Patrick Christopher made consecutive three-pointers to turn an apparent blowout into a one-point game Thursday, the game started to have the feel of one of Cal's dramatic comebacks.

This time, however, the Bears couldn't rebound.

Literally.

USC scored seven of its next 10 points off offensive rebounds to further open a night-long wound for Cal in its 79-75 exit from the quarterfinals of the Pac-10 tournament at the Staples Center.

USC led by as many as 18 in the final seconds of the first half and seemingly had absolute control from a game-opening 15-3 run. Cal, however, kept adjusting and kept believing.

The Bears cut the deficit to 58-57 with a frenetic series that lasted 3 1/2 minutes and resulted in a 17-4 run, ending with Christopher's back-to-back threes. The defensive-sparked run included three steals, including one by Jorge Gutierrez, who scored a career-high 14 points and willed the Bears' comeback attempt.

USC outrebounded Cal 51-25 and scored 35 second-chance points. The Trojans got a putback from Marcus Simmons, a three-point play from Leonard Washington off a second chance and a Washington dunk off a third chance to take a 70-64 lead with 2:58 left.

Jerome Randle, an 85.9-percent career free-throw shooter, made only one of three to leave Cal trailing 72-70 with 1:14 remaining, but he made up for it. After a Dwight Lewis three-pointer made it 75-70 with 47 seconds left, Theo Robertson made a three and Randle hit a runner to tie it 75-75 with 19.6 left.

Daniel Hackett, who has six inches on Randle, drew a foul with 3.8 seconds left and all but clinched it with a pair of free throws. Randle fumbled the inbounds pass out of bounds, and Hackett made two more free throws for the four-point win.

It was an oddly-called game in which the officials went minutes at a time without blowing their whistles to stop physical play at both ends. The "let-them-play" tenor of the game favored USC (19-12), which had their postseason hopes on the line and advanced to the semifinals to play second-seeded UCLA at 8:30 p.m. today.

Cal (22-10) was coming off an uninspired loss to Arizona State in the teams' meaningless regular-season finales, but the Bears could use the valiant comeback attempts to build momentum for the NCAA Tournament.

The Bears and the Trojans split their regular-season meetings using varying strategies. USC correctly gambled that career nights from Cal posts Jamal Boykin and Jordan Wilkes wouldn't be enough in the game in Los Angeles, and the Bears responded by getting 54 points from their three perimeter players and a victory in Berkeley.

Simmons got just his third start of the season and made the most of it, chasing Randle all over Cal's offensive end to deny the guard the ball and frustrate him. The same thing was being done to Christopher and Robertson, so the Bears were forced to find someone else to score.

No one emerged as USC jumped out to a 42-24 lead in the final 30 seconds of the first half and only a last-second three-pointer by Randle kept Cal from heading to the locker room with its largest halftime deficit of the season.

USA Ready For World Baseball

Whether or not the World Baseball Classic has excited baseball fans will be determined over the next three weeks, but the tournament certainly has the attention of the people in Team USA uniforms.

"We got kind of ambushed a couple of times in '06," says Chipper Jones, who was on the U.S. squad that didn't reach the semifinals in the inaugural event. "I don't think that's going to happen this time."

The USA begins play Saturday (2 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Toronto against Canada, the host of one of the four first-round groups. Venezuela and Italy also are in the group, from which two teams advance to one of two four-team second-round groups.