World's Top Hotels

World's Top Hotels

You arrive at your palace-like hotel and walk past reflection pools to your room, which has Burmese teakwood floors and rich fabrics. But the “wow” moment really comes when you step out onto your private open-air terrace, and there, off in the distance, you see the Taj Mahal. This is the experience you can have at India’s Oberoi Amarvilas, one of the world’s top 25 hotels.

The top 25 hotels are just the beginning of a larger list that includes 500 hotels—218 of which are in the U.S.—and shows that readers are interested in all sorts of experiences. Hotels at the top of the list include Triple Creek Ranch, with western-style cabins in the Montana Rockies (No. 2); California’s San Ysidro Ranch and its 41 rooms in a string of clapboard cottages in Santa Barbara’s wine country (No. 4); and Chicago’s Trump International Hotel & Tower, set in the second-tallest building in the U.S. (No. 20). All three illustrate what travelers are looking for now: unique environments and stellar service.

For those looking to stay close to home, this year’s list delivers plenty of ideas. Trump International Hotel & Tower Chicago (No. 20) opened less than two years ago, but it has already wowed our readers with its minimalist design, stellar service, and indulgent brunch menu. Chicago also has three other hotels on the list, while perennial powerhouse New York City had only one: the Ritz-Carlton New York Central Park. Are second—and smaller—cities on the rise?

World's Top Hotels

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The 10 Strangest Laws Around the World

01. Singapore

In a bid to keep the streets of this super-efficient city clean, the authorities in Singapore decided in 1992 to ban chewing gum completely. Stick to a mint. 09 More after the break...

02. Eraclea, Italy

Many holidaymakers head to the sandy beach at Eraclea to escape the hordes of tourists in nearby Venice. Unfortunately, those who enjoy building sandcastles can think again – it’s forbidden.

03. Amsterdam, Netherlands

A curious loophole in the law means that smoking tobacco in a public place such as a coffee shop in Amsterdam is banned, while puffing away on pure cannabis is entirely legal.

04. South-East Asia

The durian, a fruit native to Brunei, Indonesia and Malaysia, has a smell so incredibly strong that it is banned from many public places in South-East Asia.

05. Florida, USA

For those who are young, free and single and enjoy jumping out of planes in their spare time, be careful if you’re in Florida – unmarried women who parachute on Sundays can be jailed.

06. Switzerland

Bizarrely, flushing the toilet in a Swiss apartment is illegal after 10pm. It is also against the law for a man to relieve himself while standing up after 10pm.

07. Eboli, Italy

Honeymooners might be best to avoid hiring a car in Eboli, just south of Naples. Kissing in a moving vehicle here can carry a fine of up to €500.

08. Capri, Italy

Locals in Capri, northern Italy, must value their peace and quiet – a couple were arrested recently for wearing excessively noisy flip-flops, following the introduction of a ban on ‘noisy footwear’.

09. Alabama, USA

The Southern American state has a quite superfluous law in place which states that it’s illegal to be blindfolded while driving a vehicle.

10. Dubai, UAE

Dubai’s luxurious resorts and stunning beaches may seem like the ideal place to spend a romantic holiday, but don’t get too affectionate – kissing in public here is illegal, and many tourists have fallen foul of this law in recent years.

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Top 10 Richest Indians

Top 10 Richest Indians

Richest Indians in 2010. More after the break...

10. Gautam Adani

Gautam Adani — Net Worth: $6 Billion

Started just in 1988, the Adani group has climbed up the ladder fast to reach forefront of business in commodities trading and expanded to infrastructure and energy. Its chairman Gutam Adani is our tenth richest person.

09. Kumar Birla

Kumar Birla — Net Worth: $7.8 billion

Birla group used to be the number two business house in India but after its split some decades ago, one of the group companies Aditya-Birla group, is the world's tenth largest cement company.

08. Sunil Mittal

Sunil Mittal — Net worth - $8.2 billion.

Airtel is the pioneer in the telecom in India and is the number one in the field.  It is this company that took mobile phone and telemedia to all the corners of India. The Bharthi Airtel, the company that owns Airtel has Sunil Mittal as its chairman.

07. Savitri Jindal

Savitri Jindal — Net Worth - $12 billion.

Om Prakash Jindal, the founder of the Jindal Group died in March 2005 and the family fortune was divided into four parts for 4 brothers but eh controlling interest went to his wife Savitri Jindal. The lady as the non-executive chairman of the O.P. Indal group. This company manufactures  power and steel. 

06. Kushal Pal Singh

K.P. SIngh — Net Worth - $13.5 billion.

The property company DLF's  slogan says it all: Building India. DLf is India's and now world's largest builders and their operations extend throughout India. Almost all metropolitan and tier II cities come under their developing activities. The chairman Kushal Pal Singh is an army veteran. DLF  has a city named after itself near Delhi: DLF city!

05. Shashi & Ravi Rhuia

Shashi - Ravi Rhuia — Joint Net Worth - $13.6 billion.

Family business to the fore again. When Nand Kishore Ruia,their father died, the brothers Shashi and Ravi Ruia took over the company known as Essar group. mainly into shipping and paint in the beginning, now their multi-faceted operations include steel, power and oil.

04. Azim Premji

Azim Premji — Net Worth - $14.9 billion

When Azim Premji was selling cooking oil, nobody knew him. He made a plunge into IT sector when it was in nascent stage. He did not look back since then. His Wipro is as well known as any other IT major in the world with its third largest exports from the country to scores of countries in the world. Computers and allied industries keep him in the 4th position.

03. Anil Ambani

Top 10 Richest Indians

Anil Ambani — Net Worth - $17.5 billion. 

Ambani brothers can easily be the richest people in the world by far, had they chosen to remain as one company. Alas, they had to part company and the younger Brother Anil Ambani comes third in our list of 10 richest Indians. His business interests include telecom, entertainment, financial services and infrastructure. His flag ship company is Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani Group.

02. Lakshmi N. Mittal

Lakshmi N. Mittal — Net Worth - $30 billion

You could have called him a little upstart some years ago and you would not have been more wrong. Not any more. From a scrap merchant in erstwhile Calcutta to one of the top steel magnets in the world is no joke. Sheer hard work and prudence has earned him the second place in this list. His factories are present in South America, India and Middle east.

01.  Mukesh Ambani

Mukesh Ambani — Net Worth - $32 billion.

Well, we all know who the first one is in our list. Yes, It is Mukesh Ambani, the elder of the Ambani brothers. He has his hand in many businesses but the important ones are Petrol, oil and gas. His Reliance Industries is the numero uno company in India.  Another distinction he has is that he is the second richest man in the world. Fortune magazinwe predicts he will be the richest man in the world before 2014. He continues his father, Dhirubhai Ambani's legacy in business.

Top 10 Richest Indians

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Some Unethical Experiments Carried Out On Human Beings

Some Unethical Experiments Carried Out On Human Beings


Over the years, innumerable researchers and doctors have carried out experiments on humans and animals with the aim of finding cures to certain diseases or tapping in to the human psyche. While some were acceptable, others were grossly unethical. The following fall into the second category. 

1. Stanford Prison Experiment

This experiment was carried out at Stanford University by Philip Zimbardo. A mock prison was created and volunteers were asked to live in it for a while. However, the guards soon went out of control and their behavior became sadistic and vicious while the prisoners developed severe emotional problems.

2. Speech Therapy

The subjects of this experiment were over 20 orphan children in Iowa. The supervisor of the project, Tudor, divided the children into two groups- one group was given positive and encouraging speech therapy but the other group was not as lucky. The children in the second group were made fun of if they stuttered or made mistakes and they grew up with speech problems.

3. The Marshall Islands Experiment

Marshall Islands residents were forcefully exposed to radioactive substances in 1954. Over the years, several results were seen- women went through miscarriages, stunted growth was noticed in children and some developed thyroid cancer.

4. The CIA Experiment

This project was carried out by the CIA during the 1950s. Drugs like LSD were surreptitiously given to employees, prostitutes, those who suffered from mental problems and the general public. The motive here was to keep a track of their reactions to the drug.

5. The Removal of Homosexuality

Homosexual soldiers were forced to go through sex-change operations by the army in South Africa. Many of them were given electric shocks and subjected to chemical castration. The aim was to ‘remove homosexuality’ from the army.

6. North Korean Experiments

These experiments were carried out on women prisoners in North Korea- they were made to eat cabbage leaves that were poisoned and if they refused, their families would be punished. Each and every woman died in less than half an hour either of anal bleeding or severe vomiting. Others were led to ‘suffocation chambers’ while the supervisors looked on as they choked to death.

7. The Soviet Experiments

This experiment was supervised by the Soviet secret police agencies. They used poisons like ricin digitoxin and mustard gas on Gulag prisoners to find out whether they could find such a gas that could not be discovered by doctors when they carried out autopsies. The victims actually became shorter and died quickly.

8. The Syphilis Study

This was carried out for 40 years in Alabama and African American individuals were not allowed to recover from Syphilis. Some patients were made to undergo placebo treatments in order to evaluate the different stages in the fatal progression.

9. Unit 731

Unit 731 was an experiment carried out by the Imperial Japanese Army from 1937 to 1945. Living people were vivisected; limbs of prisoners were removed and stitched onto different parts of their bodies while the others were frozen and then thawed. Some prisoners were injected with different diseases and then studied.

10. Nazi Experiments

Nazi Experiments were carried out at Auschwitz wherein inmates were the subjects of the research. Josef Mengele focused on twins and tried to change their eye colors by injecting a wide variety of harmful chemicals into their eyes. Prisoners were also made to stand in tubs of freezing cold water to find out the best way to get rid of hypothermia.

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Top 10 Awesome iPhone 3G Accessories

Looking to pimp up that boring new iPhone 3G of yours? Here’s the list of favorite iphone 3G accessories available on the market:

1. B&W Zeppelin speakers for iPhone 3G
These beautiful speakers from Bowers & Wilkins were released late last year. At the time we weren’t sure that they would support the iPhone 3G. Now that the iPhone 3G has been released we can confirm that they work seamlessly together. Check out the iPhone Speakers / B&W Zeppelin video which demonstrates this.

2. Plantronics Discovery 925 Bluetooth Headset

The Plantronics Discovery 925 is the best bluetooth headset I have played with to date. I know, I know there’s a lot of buzz about the new Aliph Jawbone but until I get my hands on one, the Plantronics Discovery 925 is my suggested iPhone bluetooth headset. Also waiting for Blueant’s Z9i to hit my desk!

3. Sennheiser MM iP iPhone Stereo / Mobile headphones
The first high quality music headset for the iPhone. Upgraded music quality to take and make calls. Tailor-made for the iPhone.

4. Parrot Minikit Slim Bluetooth Speakerphone

The new Parrot MINIKIT SLIM Bluetooth Speakerphone is packed with innovative features, including nxt SuperSound technology which gives the MINIKIT SLIM it’s sleek ultra-slim design. One of its most impressive and useful features however is the automatic phone book synchronization with text-to-speech voice synthesis.

5. iPhone 3Gscreen protector
Huge glass screen display, susceptible to scratches and the like, needs protection. Our Mr.Gadget iPhone 3G screen protectors cover the full screen and also come with a life-time warranty. Can’t go wrong.

6. DLO iPhone 3G Car Charger

We all know that battery life is an issue with both old and new version of the iPhone. So instead of whinging let’s do something practical to keep it energized throughout the day, like with the DLO iPhone 3G Car Charger!

7. DLO iPhone 3G Portable Speakers
Whether you’re at school, in the office or in the park, you can now share your music with your friends and the rest of the world. One neat trick about these speakers is that, once you’re done, you can fold them up into a ball. Not sturdy enough to play soccer with, I’m afraid.

8. XStand for iPhone 3G

Why settle for a boring desk stand when you can have an Xstand to hold up your iPhone 3G? Its named is derived from its contemporary “X” design and complements the curves of the phone to provide secure desktop support.

9. DLO Sports Action Jacket iPhone 3G Case

For those fitness buffs who want to securely carry around their iPhones while doing exercise, the DLO iPhone 3G Sports Action Jacket Case is perfect.

10. Dexim-Blue Pack Battery Pack for iPhone

Another way to keep your iPhone topped-up, this time without the aid of a free AC power point handy, is with the Dexim-Blue Pack Battery Pack for iPhone. With one of these gadgets attached, you can enjoy another 30+ hours of audio bliss or 3+ hours of talk time. Well worth considering buying and just keeping in your bag.

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