Archive for December, 2006
Fiji military took over running the country in a bloodless overthrow
Fiji military taken over running the country in a bloodless overthrow,after confining the elected Prime Minister to his home in the south Pacific island nation’s fourth coup in 20 years. Military commander Frank Bainimarama said he had temporarily stepped into President Ratu Josefa Iloilo’s role as head of state and dismissed the government of Laisenia Qarase after a power struggle that had simmered all year. Promising that the takeover would not be permanent, Bainimarama said he had appointed little known Jona Senilagakali Baravilala, a former military doctor and political novice, as interim Prime Minister.
“The stalemate has forced me to step forward and the military has taken over government,†Bainimarama said, adding that the chief executives of government ministries would run their departments until Baravilala appoints an interim government. Bainimarama had repeatedly threatened to topple Qarase’s government, which won a second five-year term in May, calling it corrupt and too soft …
“Life for Iraqis is now more dangerous than under Saddam Hussein” says Annan
Life for Iraqis is now more dangerous than under Saddam Hussein UN secretary-general Kofi Annan has said.In his hardest-hitting assessment yet, Annan said in an interview on Monday that Iraq was the toughest issue he had dealt with during his 10 years in office and that he believed “we could have stopped the war†if weapons inspectors had been given more time.
Annan told that if I was an average Iraqi, I would make the same comparison,†he told the BBC. “They had a dictator who was brutal but they had their streets.“They could go out, their kids could go to school and come back home without a mother or father worrying ‘Am I going to see my child again?’ A society needs minimum security and a secure environment for it to get on. Without security, not much can be done.â€
Annan gave no statistics but the latest UN report on human …
Us is not winning the war in Iraq
US is not winning in Iraq, President Bush’s nominee for defence secretary conceded bluntly at his confirmation hearing on Tuesday in remarks that touched a raw nerve in US military and strategic circles.
Nominee, former CIA chief Robert Gates, also said the US would have to maintain some presence in Iraq for a long time. Gates did not commit to any particular line of action while saying he would take advice from every quarters. “I am under no illusion why I am sitting before you: the war in Iraq,†Gates told the senate foreign relations committee that has to confirm him. “I welcome the alternative strategies and tactics.â€
If confirmed, he said, he would quickly consult military commanders in the field and politicians back home to determine the best course of action in Iraq. But Gates candid admission bothered some analysts who wondered what kind of message it would send to US …
sex tips on TV
Heba Kotb is a conservative Muslim, wears an Islamic head scarf, and goes on television once a week to talk—frankly and in great detail—about sex. Big Talk, Kotb answers questions from Muslims all over the Middle East about the most intimate bedroom issues with an openness that is shocking and revolutionary in a society where discussing the subject is taboo.
She does it by talking about sex in an Islamic light, arguing that the faith is in favour of pleasure for both men and women, with one important caveat—that it be only in the context of marriage.“I’m very proud of my religion,†Kotb said in an interview at Cairo University, where she teaches forensic medicine. “My studies revealed to me more and more how Islam was ahead in all sexual matters … I discovered that Islam understood sex long before the world.â€
she told an example, Islam “stresses the importance of foreplay,” …
70 militants of Taliban were killed by NATO soldiers
70 militants of Taliban were killed by NATO soldiers in Southern Afghanishtan after police told military authorities where insurgents had gathered. NATO soldiers suffered no casualties in the fighting in Helmand province that lasted till Sunday. The NATO ground commander estimated that 70 to 80 militants were killed.
The battle was in a remote location and there was no way to independently confirm NATO’s casualty figures.The fighting was in the Musa Qala district of Helmand but outside Musa Qala town, where British troops in October pulled out after an agreement with tribal elders that they would keep Taliban fighters out of town. Taliban militants have launched a record number of suicide and roadside bombs this year. A growing insurgency, especially in the country’s south and east, have left close to 4,000 people dead.
Norovirus sickened 46 crew members and 338 passengers
More then 380 sick and crew aboard the world’s largest cruise ship were sickened by a virus during a 7days Caribbean cruise, officials of cruise said on sunday that NOrovirus sickened 46 crew members and 338 passengers aboard the Royal Caribbean’s Freedom of the Seas, and there was over the counter medication,The Miami vased company said.
The ship,Which had roughly 1300 crew members and 3800 passengers where returned on Sunday as scheduled to the port of Miami.Crew members sanitised frequently touched surfaces such as railings, door handles and elevator buttons after the short-lived outbreak began, officials said. A guest previously exposed to norovirus likely brought it on board on November 26, the company said.
Noroviruses, characterised by stomach flu-like symptoms, affect about 23 million Americans annually, according to the US Centre for Disease Control.An outbreak struck more than 700 passengers and crew members aboard a trans-Atlantic cruise last month on the Carnival …
BSE market cap crosses $800bn mark
Investors in Indian markets are worth a whopping $800 billion now. And the figure looks all set to cruise past the trillion dollar milestone in 2007. On Friday, as the sensex picked up another 148 points to close at 13,845, Bombay Stock Exchange’s market capitalisation settled at $810 billion (Rs 36.16 lakh crore).
The latest data show that India is the 14th largest market in the world in terms of market capitalisation and the second largest among the BRICs countries, if the bourses in Hong Kong and mainland China are considered separate entities. At $778 billion, China is just snapping at India’s heels while Russia, with a market capitalisation of $985 billion, is far ahead of the other three BRICs nations. In this group, Brazil, with a market capitalisation of $658 billion is far behind India and China. Interestingly, if we consider Chindia as an investment destination along with Hong Kong, …
Indian team got its first taste of Twenty20 cricket
The Indian team got its first taste of Twenty20 cricket, or Pro20 as it is called in these parts of the world, and loved almost every lick of it. After restricting South Africa to a mean 126 for nine, they huffed and puffed home with one ball to spare, for their first victory on this tour.In the dying moments, it looked like India would come undone again. But man-of-the-match Dinesh Karthik,killed the tension with a massive six off the first ball of the last over. His 31 and Dinesh Mongia’s 38, accompanied by Virender Sehwag’s blistering 34 set up an exciting finish to their first ever Twenty20 game.
Some wags might like to call it the Sourav Ganguly effect. In fact, almost all the members in his fan-club played minor roles in turning it around. It, of course, also helped that South Africa were without six of their key players, including …
“BREATHE EASY” China frees press for Olympics
Determined to make the Olympic Games a success, the Chinese government has relaxed decades-old restrictions giving the foreign media more freedom to travel and report from across the country. The new rules that come into effect on January 1 will expire on October 17, 2008 immediately after the Games close. Foreign journalists based in Beijing or Shanghai will no longer need the provincial government’s permission before visiting any province, including Tibet. This requirement of a permission has been a major hurdle since the early 1990s. Journalists are wary of informing the governments about their story plans for the permission as this information is often used to block news sources.
“Foreign journalists will also no longer need to apply to provincial foreign affairs offices for permission to carry out reporting in all provinces of China… but need only prior consent of the organisations or individuals they want to interview,’’ director of the …
Washington Pledges $100 Million Grant To Combat Jihadist Sentiments Among Schoolchildren
The US will teach Pakistan some lessons soon. No, not the kind critics say Pakistan deserves to be taught for being the hotbed of world terrorism. The new lessons Washington has in mind are aimed at changing Pakistan’s jihadist orientation through infusion of cash and rewriting of curriculum.Under a $100 million education grant for 2007 in addition to $200 million already disbursed for the purpose since 2002 — Washington has pledged to “expand educational opportunities… and create new prospects for economic growth†for Pakistan by way of greater academic exchanges between the two countries.
A joint statement issued following the first ever US-Pakistan Education Dialogue held this week says the two sides will collaborate closely on education exchange for workforce development and promote faculty, teacher, and student exchanges, ostensibly as part of a grand US plan to overhaul a system that has produced virulent anti-American sentiments despite billions of dollars in …
The good news on the occasion of World AIDS Day
Good news on the occasion of World AIDS Day. Thanks to medical advancement, HIV\AIDS is no longer a death sentence. It is more a chronic disease, which allows persons to live with HIV for up to 25 years. Cheaper options of anti-retroviral drugs have indeed made HIV more manageable.Now, the bad news. Society’s biased attitude towards HIV\AIDS-positive persons has not changed. Social health workers contend that HIV\AIDS is met with the same apprehension and derision as it was two decades ago. The recent incident in which an HIV-positive widow in a Kolkata hospital had to “pull out’’ her foetus as the medical staff didn’t want to assist her with the abortion, is just the tip of the iceberg.
Mumbai is no better. A 34-year-old HIVpositive person had to put up with painful hernia for three months because two public hospitals refused to admit him. “Despite claims of non-discrimination, no doctor wants …
Sunita Williams set for odyssey space
Indian-American astronaut, Sunita Williams, is all set to go into space on December 7 with National Aeronautics and Space Administration clearing space shuttle Discovery for its first night time launch in four years.
Flight engineer Williams will join six other crew as Discovery lifts off at 9:36 pm on December 7 in the third launch of the year and the fourth since the Columbia disaster killed seven astronauts including Indianborn Kalpana Chawla in 2003.
“There were really no dissenting opinions on the night launch,†said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator on Wednesday announcing the launch plans for the 20th flight to the International Space Station on a 12-day mission.The announcement followed a twoday flight readiness review at NASA’s Kennedy Space Centre in Florida typically conducted two weeks prior to the opening of the launch window for each space shuttle mission.
The group thoroughly evaluates all activities and elements necessary for the safe and …
College rallies for American-Indians over cartoon row
A prestigious US college founded as a school for American-Indians has been roiled by controversy over the way some students are treating the very people the school was set up to help.More than 500 students, faculty and administrators at Dartmouth College rallied in support of the American-Indian community on Wednesday, a day after a conservative student newspaper published on its front page a picture of an Indian warrior brandishing a scalp with the headline, “The Natives are Getting Restless!â€
The Dartmouth Review, an independent newspaper also published articles ridiculing Native American students’ complaints about a string of incidents seen as racist. Students said the latest issue of the paper, which has had a sometimes adversarial relationship with minority students, was the trigger for the demonstration. Earlier this year, American-Indian students protested a T-shirt design that was made for the college alumni. The shirts showed a knight performing a sex act on …
Recent Discussions
- sanam: Hello Sir, if we want to teach our children the truth, we must know what is meant by Lord and Lord of the...