The batteries were sold in the same time frame as Sony notebook batteries involved in a massive recall in 2006. Some of those batteries, which resulted in recalls by Apple, Dell, Lenovo, HP, Toshiba, and Sony, had also overheated and caused fires that resulted in minor injuries.

The latest recall followed at least 19 reports of the batteries overheating, including 17 reports of the batteries sparking fires, according to the CPSC. Ten of the fires resulted in minor property damage, and at least two people suffered minor burns.

The notebooks containing the recalled batteries were sold directly by the computer makers or through computer and electronics stores and Web retailers. The notebooks were sold for between $700 and $3,000. Some of the batteries were also sold separately for between $100 and $160.

In the United States, HP's recall involves a total of 32,000 batteries in three notebooks, the HP Pavilion, models dv1000, dv8000 and zd8000; Compaq Presario, models v2000 and v2400; and the HP Compaq, models nc6110, nc6120, nc6140, nc6220, nc6230, nx4800, nx4820, nx6110, nx6120, and nx9600. The recalled batteries have a bar-code label starting with A0, L0, L1, and GC. HP has set up a Web site for customers to get instructions on replacing the batteries and has also listed a toll-free number, 800-889-2031.

Toshiba has recalled 3,000 batteries in two notebooks, the Satellite, models A70/A75, P30/P5, M30X/M35X, and M50/M55; and the Tecra, models A3, A5, and S2. Toshiba also has a recall Web site and toll-free number, 800-457-7777.

Dell's affected notebooks are the Latitude, model 110L, and Inspiron, models 1100, 1150, 5100, 5150, and 5160. Dell also has set up a customer Web site and toll-free number, 866-342-0011.

The CPSC is advising people to remove recalled batteries from their notebooks immediately and request a free replacement from the computer manufacturer.

Starring Ben Stiller, Robin Williams

Directed by Shawn Levy

Good-hearted dreamer Larry Daley (Stiller, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story) may be down on his luck, but he’s sure he's destined for something big. He soon gets his wish when he accepts what appears to be a menial job as a nightshift security guard at New York’s Museum of Natural History.

During Larry's watch, extraordinary things start to happen. Roman gladiators, historical figures and cowboys come to life and step out from their displays to wage epic battles. As Larry tries to maintain order, a Neanderthal discovers fire, Attila the Hun pillages his neighboring exhibits and a T-Rex reminds everyone why he's history's fiercest predator.

The only person Larry can turn to for advice is President Teddy Roosevelt (Williams, The Final Cut), who helps our hero restore order, stop a nefarious plot, and save the museum.

With three days to go in this game and a series to save, Australia can only hope Matthew Hayden and friends don't binge on the prawns as Mike Gatting so famously did back in 1993. In many respects, India once again resemble the side that crushed all-comers during the last decade of the 20th century, and Australia need all hands on deck to avoid a repeat of the thrashing they got at Eden Gardens in 1998.

The only good thing to come out of that four-day debacle was Steve Waugh's involvement with Udayan, but charity will be the last thing on Indian minds when they take the field tomorrow. Already, Zaheer Khan has got disconcerting movement into the left-handers' pads, and a couple of deliveries from Anil Kumble and Amit Mishra spat off the surface from the rough. Hayden and Simon Katich survived 15 overs before stumps, but as the ball softens and the bounce becomes even more uneven, the close-in cordon will be so proximate that mouthwash tips could be exchanged.

The 3-0 annihilation of England 15 years ago established the blueprint for a generation. Once they won the toss, and sometimes when they didn't [like at Eden Gardens in 1998], India's batting line-up would proceed as serenely as Tennyson's brook. The only threat would be boredom or satiation. With Sachin Tendulkar often to the fore, and support from the likes of Navjot Sidhu, Mohammad Azharuddin and Vinod Kambli, monumental totals would be constructed before a spin trident punctured visiting hopes of survival.

It was relentless cricket, and the batting usually followed a pattern. Never gung-ho, the leading lights would steadily wear down the bowling, easing along at more than three an over to give themselves ample time to force a result. There were echoes of that in the way this Indian innings was constructed, with Tendulkar and then VVS Laxman playing around a superlative effort from Gautam Gambhir.

Even during a morning session that gave the impression of slowness, India moved along at a cracking pace, gathering 97 from just 26 overs. It wasn't the new-age cricket unveiled by Ponting before the series - has anyone seen it? - but it was a return to the tried and tested ways of the past. As Laxman said later in the evening, that strategy was fine-tuned to such an extent that India had success with it at venues as diverse as Multan, Headingley and Sydney.

In decades gone by, Mumbai batsmen would be accused of being khadoos, a term that combines bloody-mindedness with the desire to bury the opponent in the fifth-day dust. For more than two decades, it helped them mentally disintegrate domestic opposition and the presence of so many Mumbai stalwarts in the national side meant that it eventually became part of the big picture. Neither Gambhir nor Laxman is from Mumbai, having emerged from the vastly different cricketing cultures of Delhi and Hyderabad, but the cold-eyed approach has been imbibed by every successful batsman given his cap during the Gavaskar-Tendulkar era.

India scored 317 runs from just 72 overs on the second day, with Laxman and Gambhir stretching their partnership to 278. Astonishingly, it was the fourth stand in excess of 250 that Laxman has been involved in against Australia. And after his latest killing-them-softly masterpiece, he will only hope that the result is similar to Kolkata [376] and Adelaide [303], rather than Sydney [353], where Steve Waugh managed to salvage a draw from the wreckage of his Test farewell.