London, Mar 22 : A leading professor is sucking all the fun out of the puzzle phenomenon - by revealing a formula to solve any Sudoku problem.

James Crook, an emeritus professor in South Carolina, will tomorrow publish his "pen-and-paper algorithm for solving Sudoku puzzles" on the website of the American Mathematical Society.

The algorithm boils down to five logical steps.

Sudoku fans, however, are aghast by the idea, reports The Times.

Colin Dexter, author of the Inspector Morse crime novels and a puzzle enthusiast, said: "I'm sorry to hear somebody's discovered how to do it. It's like using a computer program to work out crossword anagrams - it takes all the fun and struggle out of it."

London, Mar 22 : Cancer-stricken Jade Goody has been in a coma-like state for 48 hours, it has emerged.

The former Big Brother star has courageously clung to life far longer than expected.

However, her close family feared she would not be in any state to see her beloved boys Bobby, five, and Freddie, four,

"She has not really been with it for the last 48 hours," News of the World quoted a source, as saying.

"She badly wants to see her kids on Mothers Day but hardly has any energy at all.

Saira Banu: Saira Banu was born into a Urdu-speaking family in India on August 23, 1944. Her mom's name is Naseem Banu, and she is the granddaughter of a courtesan, Chamiyan Bai, also known as Shamshad Begum (not to be confused with the famous playback singer of the yesteryear Shamshad Begum). She spent much of her childhood in London and was able to debut in 1961 in a Bollywood movie 'Junglee' opposite Shammi Kapoor.

Birthday: 23rd August, 1944. Spouse: Dilip Kumar (1966-present)

Debut Film: Junglee (1961).

Major Impact: Junglee (1961).

Dilip Kumar: Dilip Kumar is regarded as arguably the greatest actor ever to grace the Indian silver screen. His performances have been regarded as the epitome of emoting in Indian Cinema. Though he has done all kinds of films, he is mainly remembered as the King of Tragedy. In the 1970s roles dried up for Kumar and after 1976 he left films for a five year break. In 1981 he returned with a character role in the blockbuster film Kranti and continued his career playing central character roles in hits. His last film was Qila in 1998. He has since retired from the industry.

Birthday: 11th December, 1922 in Peshawar, Pakistan.

A heart-breaking news for the fans of big ticket Bollywood films is that two of upcoming summer’s biggest Bollywood releases – Kambakkht Ishq and Kaminey will be delayed. Akshay Kumar-Kareena Kapoor starrer Kambakkht Ishq and Shahid Kapoor-Priyanka Chopra starrer Kaminey were due in the last week of May (May 29th) and first week of June (June 5th) respectively but now chances are they could be pushed further due to the ongoing revenue sharing issue between multiplexes and producer/distributors.

AAMNA SHARIF tells JYOTHI VENKATESH in a telephonic chat that she does not like to play safe as an actress

In a telephonic chat on the eve of the release of her debut film Aloo Chaat, Aamna Sharif asserts that she believes in maintaining her exclusivity and hence wants to play it right, whether it is on TV or films, as an actress. When asked what made her say yes when she was asked to act in Aloo Chaat, Aamna states that it was the content of the script of Aloo Chaat that made her instantly say yes to the offer though she had been offered several film projects earlier before Aloo Chaat.