One year ago, Barack Obama was elected as the US President on a message most succinctly defined by a single word: ‘change’.
However, there has been a mixed scorecard on ‘change’, especially on changing the ways of the Bush era.
But, at the same time, though Obama might not have achieved anything for the US or the World, he’s already got Nobel.
May be a Nepali blogger at mero-bichaar.blogspot.com understands the ‘change’ Obama meant. Hence this pic on Barack Obama’s One-Year Anniversary. Click here for the earlier post on Obama.
Filed under: International, International Politics, US, World | Tagged: Barack Obama, President, US | Leave a Comment »
The Festival of Lights – Diwali – has always meant CELEBRATIONS – rows of lighted lamps and colourful bulbs, bursting of crackers, new clothes, exchanging gifts, festive meals, cleaning home thoroughly and opening doors and windows to welcome the Goddess of Wealth Mother Lakshmi.
Here’s an interesting twist.
“We are all locked in Chambers—200 of us.” That exaggerated number was quickly passed to Indian TV. “There are reports of hundreds locked in Chambers,” Barkha Dutt announced. Within moments, handlers watching in Pakistan appeared to have alerted the terrorists, and a hail of bullets was fired at Chambers.
Lata Mangeshkar turns 80 on Monday, September 28.
Hitler may be the ugliest face you can use to show evil but you cannot make a point like this – that AIDS, like Hitler, is a mass murderer. Oh! C’mon.
Stating that Ishrat and three others were killed in a fake encounter by the police for personal interests, promotions and appreciations, Tamang appended a list of top police officers running into about two pages who he held responsible for the fake encounter. Tamang report said the police “kidnapped” Ishrat and three others from Mumbai on June 12, 2004 and brought them to Ahmedabad. The four were killed on the night of June 14 in police custody, but the police claimed that an “encounter” took place on the morning of June 15 near Kotarpur water works on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. It said the explosives, rifles, and other weapons allegedly found in their car were all “planted” by the police after the encounter.
“The point is that we will never know whether they were terrorists. The killings made it impossible for their guilt or innocence to be established in a court of law,” wrote senior journalist Vir Sanghvi in The Hindustan Times on Sept.12, 2009. “Are we prepared to live with the situation where a policeman is prosecutor, judge and executioner?”
Less fortunate are those who haven’t stayed at a 5-star hotel. And hardly there would be a person who would not like to spend a day or a night at a starred hotel. Politicians and journalists frequent these 5 stars on a daily basis, almost. Aren’t 5 star hotels then the second home for ministers and editors! No matter how tall, well-located a 5 star hotel is, for them the luxury building’s seductive and juicy ambience are a mass of hexagonal waxen cells, formed by bees. Yes, I mean a honeycomb, used by them to hold their honey and eggs.
But look at this. Some greedy news channels intercepted a link in Tuesday’s Indian Express that carried a story about External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna and his deputy Shashi Tharoor making suites at Maurya and the Taj their temporary homes. At the end of the day, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee stood before the camera like a police inspector driving the two ministers out of Delhi’s 5 star hotels. The fact that the government houses allotted to Krishna and Tharoor were not in state where the high-profile duo could move in was malafidely played down.
“I have been pushing hard for my official residence to be made ready. I would much prefer a home to a hotel – wouldn’t everybody? I would be ashamed if I was spending the people’s money. But I’m not – I’m spending my own savings.”
Colors channel claimed that popularity of ‘Big Boss Season 3′ will surpass popularity of first two seasons of Big Boss. The TV channel’s CEO Rajesh Kamat said in a statement: “We want to take it to even higher levels this year – in ratings, in novelty and in appeal. With Mr. Bachchan on board, we strongly believe that ‘Bigg Boss’ this year has all the ingredients to surpass its last year’s popularity.”
Oprah launches her 24th season of The Oprah Winfrey Show with what she calls “the most anticipated music interview of the decade,” a must-see television event with singing icon Whitney Houston on September 14.
Since her 1985 self-titled debut, Houston has built an illustrious career that has generated more than 170 million combined worldwide sales of albums, singles and videos. Cited by the Guinness World Records as music’s “most awarded female artist of all time,” with an unsurpassed tally of 411 awards, inclusive of six Grammys, two Emmys, 23 American Music Awards and 16 Billboard Music Awards. Houston remains a singular force in music today. Whitney is also featuring in the next issue of Entertainment Weekly…check out this 
One of the biggest stars in tennis, Serena Williams is busy these days with practice because she’s preparing for the US Open and the release of her book, “On The Line.” The release date for the book is September 1, 2009. The publicity for ‘On The Line’ is starting to kick into place.
From growing up in the tough, hardscrabble neighbourhood of Compton, California, to being trained by her father on public tennis courts littered with broken glass and drug paraphernalia, to becoming the top women’s player in the world, Serena has proven to be an inspiration to her legions of fans both young and old.
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Obviously, the Mizzima journalists are working against odds, struggling to overcome fear as they file stories of Burma to a global audience from their forced homes in exile in India, Bangladesh, Thailand and China. It’s stirring to know that this news agency was started in 1998 from a very humble beginning just with a laptop.
Imagine the efforts of three Burmese exiles in India who started the venture without even a telephone line. Today, it has matured into a source of information for people inside and outside Burma, with its head office in New Delhi ably supported by the underground units based in Burma. Nearly 1,500 miles away from the streets of Rangoon and an unlikely destination for most Burmese refugees and exiles, New Delhi may seem an odd location from which to initiate a campaign for freedom of the press and democracy against Burma’s military junta, but it was off the congested and boisterous streets of the Indian capital that Mizzima was born. Mizzima staff shared their mission statement with me – “We are committed to the struggle against censorship and we support and stand in solidarity with Burmese journalists who fight daily for this freedom.” 
Amreeka recalls Dabis’s family’s memories of their lives in rural America during the first Iraq War. The film stars Haifa-trained actress Nisreen Faour as Muna, and Melkar Muallen plays her 16-year-old son, Fadi. Also in the cast are Hiam Abbass, Alia Shawkat, Yussef Abu-Warda and Joseph Ziegler. Written and directed by Cherien Dabis, the film was produced by Christina Piovesan and Paul Barkin. Amreeka made its world premiere in dramatic competition at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, and played as Opening Night of New Directors/New Films, a co-presentation of The Museum of Modern Art and The Film Society of Lincoln Center. It made its debut internationally in Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. 
The Ministry of Labour & Employment conducted the survey between Oct.-Dec.’08 in 2581 units spread over 11 States in Mining, Textiles, Metals, Gems, Automobile, Transport and IT sectors. These sectors alone contribute more than 60 per cent GDP. Interestingly, the government conducted yet another survey to assess the impact of economic slowdown on employment during Jan.-Mar.’09 wherein it was found that total estimated employment in these sectors increased by 0.6 per cent. Non-export units showed higher rate (0.92 per cent) of increase in employment as compared to export units (0.28 per cent). As compared to Oct.-Dec.’08 quarter wherein about half a million workers lost their jobs, the employment in selected sectors increased by a quarter million during Jan.-Mar.’09. Indian government’s Department of Commerce also undertook sample surveys relating to reduction in exports and resultant job losses in export-related industries. In the sample survey on job losses for export-related industries for August 2008 to 16 January 2009, out of 402 units surveyed, the loss in export order was around Rs. 6272 crores and loss of 1,09,513 jobs. Ministry of Commerce has also conducted another updated sample survey related to job losses (direct and indirect) for export related industries from August 2008 to April 2009 according to which in different export-oriented units, 1,34,593 jobs have been lost. Click 
