The Indian Panorama

Year: 2013

  • NEWLYWEDS’ GUIDE TO DOING UP THEIR NEST

    NEWLYWEDS’ GUIDE TO DOING UP THEIR NEST

    His was a clumsy bachelor pad and hers a girly den before the two got married and moved into their romantic nest. Looking simply at the bare walls and empty spaces of a house can be quite intimidating for a newlywed who has before them the trying task of creating a home, and then sharing it with each other. Even if nothing like a sprawling Beverly Hills condo, you would still want yours to be homey and aesthetic with a reflection of your personality. But most couples undermine the beauty of the experience of doing up the house together, and in the process discovering a lesser-known side of one another.

    Contrary to popular perception, home decor doesn’t necessarily have to cost an arm and a leg, even for a honeymoon-return couple who wish to create for themselves a haven of romance. By giving flight to your imagination and a dint of creativity, you can do wonders with your small space despite the budget. But remember patience with each other is paramount in this phase as you are bound to have one too many disagreements, and might end up discarding potential home decor pieces from the old attic.We try to make your time setting up the house less harrowing by getting interior design duo Sumessh Menon and Vivek Popli of Trikaya Interiors along with Shivika Bhasin of German kitchen and home furnishing brands Hacker, Hulsta and Rolf Benz, to share their impressions.

    Living room

    It wouldn’t be inappropriate to say that the living area is the heart and soul of the house. You host your guests in that space, you often sit down to breakfast there or simply lie around reading on a weekend. And so, the choice of furniture among other items of decor such as paintings, lamps, and vases, becomes vital in deciding the personality of the house. Go for contemporary straight line furniture as it makes the room look serene post wedding celebrations.Wicker furniture is another great idea and is quite popular in the West too for their chic designs and affordability.

    You can get them designed and colored to your liking and toss bright cushions on them. Espresso brown, wine red and white are the classic shades in wicker. Shivika insists on sprucing it up with contrasting color cushions in heart shape and keeping the contours of the couches soft to give a sensuous, romantic feel to the living area. For a sense of dimension, introduce a conversation piece chair, suggests Sumessh Menon, in a colour that stands out from the rest of the furniture.

    Dining area
    The world is going minimalist in a big way over home decor. In keeping with the trend, and not to mention the occupancy of the house, a couple should go for a dining table comprising two chairs and a bench. “This is a very creative way to break the monotony, and make optimal utilization of space,” feels Sumessh. To give your space a rustic look, you can even do up the wall facing the dining table with brick tiles, and hang a few lanterns or a beautiful colored glass lamp. A creative wall notwithstanding, lighting gone wrong can mar the effect of a tastefully done up interior.

    Aside from pedestrian lamps, the dining area should also have the option of dimmers, mood lighting or indirect cove lighting. Spread a pretty cutwork tablecloth and table runner for an elegant look. To enhance it, you can place a glass bowl of rose petals and candles in the center of the dining table. “Keeping fresh fruits in a crystal bowl is another way out,” Shivika adds.

    Lobby
    You can lay out your coffee table in the lobby area which is otherwise used only as an access path to adjoining rooms. For a chic look, pick a low coffee table with low stools. It makes sense to stack some books, a scrabble, some stationary and a coffee mug on the table to make this part of the house look in-use. The coffee table, however, need not match with the other furniture bits in the house. More creative ones can get logs of wood converted into coffee table and stools with help from a carpenter.

    If you have more room, why not spread out a rug and throw in some blingy, over-the-top cushions. Pottery lovers can scatter terracotta vases that come in interesting shapes, or as Sumessh would prefer, different sizes of aquamarine pottery clustered together in a corner to lend your home a soothing Mediterranean feel.

    Bedroom
    Our experts advice, “Let the woman have her choice of colors splashed on the wall.” Post wedding women in particular are very possessive about their bedrooms and would rather do it up their way. So, she can have her pinks and fuchsias on the walls, and maybe you can convince her to leave a wall vacant for a nice wallpaper. Create a collage of wedding and honeymoon photographs and hang it on an empty wall in the bedroom or the anti-lobby leading to the bedroom. Television is a must in this room, and never the living room like many do. Make sure the bed is placed against the dead wall, and no where close to a window. But ensure you have a multi-purpose bed with pull-out breakfast consoles, mobile ancillary tables for morning tea.

    The dressing table can be lightweight with spacious drawers to stock cosmetics. Use wooden blinds, bamboo chicks for an aesthetic look; or go all out with sheer curtains along with the main one. The latest doing the rounds in home interiors is a walk-in wardrobe, and every newly married girl dreams of owning one. Shares Sumessh, “Walk-in wardrobes are not a far-fetched idea even in a small setup. You can always convert the lobby connecting the kitchen with the living room into a walk-in closet.”

    Kitchen
    Modular kitchens, says Shivika, come with an option to change the fronts anytime. Place the crockery in tall cabinets lit up with LED and illuminated shelves. Use wall hung cabinets for the light crockery pieces, add a corkboard to hang pots and pans, and make use of inbuilt appliances to organize your kitchen better.

  • CADBURY’S LARGEST PLANT IN ASIA-PACIFIC TO COME UP IN AP

    CADBURY’S LARGEST PLANT IN ASIA-PACIFIC TO COME UP IN AP

    HYDERABAD (TIP): Cadbury India on November 27 signed a memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh Government that will see it set up its largest manufacturing plant in the Asia-Pacific region. The proposed plant, which is to come up on a 134-acre site in SriCity, Chittoor, with an initial investment of Rs 1,000 crore, will be functional by mid-2015. Part of the $35-billion Mondelez International Inc, Cadbury India plans to develop the project in four phases by 2020, eventually increasing its annual production capacity to 250,000 tonnes.

    Manu Anand, President-India & South Asia, said the plant will be able to serve the southern region and possibly other markets as it gets implemented in phases. India is rated among the top 10 markets in the company’s global business. The MoU was signed by Anand and K. Pradeep Chandra, Andhra Pradesh’s Industries Principal Secretary, in the presence of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and others. “The plant will employ about 1,600 people when fully developed and account for nearly 50 per cent of Cadbury’s overall capacity (it currently has six plants).

    Cadbury manufactures products under five broad categories: chocolates, powder beverages, gum, candy and biscuits,” said Anand. Typically, some of the suppliers, too, set up plants where Cadbury locates its facilities, he added. The Chief Minister said Chittoor being the home of dairy companies has capacity to supply Cadbury about 500,000 litres of milk per day, initially, and possibly 100,000 litres per day by phase two of the project. And the demand of about 200 tonnes of sugar per day could boost the prospects of sugar mills. He said that in the three years since he took over as the Chief Minister, he had cleared proposals worth Rs 1.35 lakh crore, covering 75 factories, making AP a favoured destination for investments.

  • HERO GROUP TO OPEN UNIVERSITY

    HERO GROUP TO OPEN UNIVERSITY

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Hero Group on Wednesday announced the launch of BML Munjal University, a fully residential university, spread across 5 lakh sq ft on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway near Manesar. “The university will be operational next year with the first session starting in July 2014,” said Chairman Hero Corporate Services Sunil Kant Munjal. The university plans to focus on all disciplines except medicine.

    Akshay Munjal, Executive Director, BML Educorp Services, said: “The first year would open with three disciplines: MBA, BBA and B. Tech.” Alongside the academic departments, the Group plans to set up a research institute, the founding partner for which will be the Imperial College London. It will also mentor the business school being set up in the university.

  • ADANI PORTS SIGNS MOU WITH BELGIAN PORT OF ZEEBRUGGE

    ADANI PORTS SIGNS MOU WITH BELGIAN PORT OF ZEEBRUGGE

    MUMBAI (TIP): Adani Ports & SEZ Ltd (APSEZ), India’s largest private port developer, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Belgian Port of Zeebrugge on November 27 to get access to European markets. “The MoU over a period of time will help in an enhanced movement of traffic to and from APSEZ into Europe and beyond,” Adani Ports said in a statement.

    Adani Ports will explore joint business opportunities between the two ports along with other forms of trade, shipping, railway infrastructure across India and Europe, the statement added. Karan Adani, Executive Director, said Adani Ports was keen to jointly explore marketing initiatives and strategies to promote Indo-European trade relations across both the ports via shipping lines.

  • LONDON INVITES KERALA START-UPS

    LONDON INVITES KERALA START-UPS

    THIRUVANANTHAPURAM (TIP): Start up in London, develop in India. This is the message from London and Partners, the metropolis’s official promotional organisation, to start-ups based in Kerala.Set up business there and get back home to develop it. Size does not matter for aspiring entrepreneurs, says Jeff Cao, Head for Asia and Pacific, London and Partners.

    DIRECT FLIGHTS

    In fact 95 per cent of the businesses hosted by the agency have strength varying from 10 to 15, according to Gautam Sehgal, Chief Representative for India. There are 131 direct flights operating to London every week from various cities in India, notes Cao. So companies here are best positioned to take advantage of facilities that the city offers, he adds. Aspirants need just to plug in at office space made available for liberal terms. The agency will also help with finding necessary capital for investment and growth – be it in the form of angel funds, venture capital or private equity.

    STORY TO TELL
    Cao said his agency is looking to invite aspiring entrepreneurs ‘who have a compelling story to tell’ to use the platform London offers and reach out to the rest of the world.

  • INDIA, BELGIUM AGREE TO ENHANCE COOPERATION IN RENEWABLE ENERGY

    INDIA, BELGIUM AGREE TO ENHANCE COOPERATION IN RENEWABLE ENERGY

    NEW DELHI (TIP): India and Belgium have agreed to work on signing an MOU to enhance cooperation in renewable energy. This was discussed at a bilateral meeting between Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister for New and Renewable Energy, Government of India and Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium. Princess Astrid is currently visiting India as head of the Belgian Economic Mission to India. She is accompanied by Mr. Didier Reynders, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and European Affairs and Mr. Kris Peeters, President of the Region of Flanders and Flemish Minister for Economic, Foreign Policy along with a large business delegation.

    Dr. Abdullah briefed the visiting delegation on the energy situation in India and the rapid growth of the renewable energy sector in India. He spoke of India’s plans to add over 30 GW of renewable energy to its energy mix in the next 5 years. He dwelt on the success of the wind programme as well as the significant cost reductions in solar energy through the Jawahar Lal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM). He also highlighted India’s conducive and investor friendly policy framework for promoting renewable energy in a big way.

    Dr. Abdullah suggested that India and Belgium had great potential for enhancing cooperation in promoting renewable energy and offered to provide all possible assistance for the purpose. The Belgian delegation recognized India’s considerable achievements and strengths in renewable energy and noted that India had made large strides in this field. The business delegation accompanying the official delegation also made brief presentations on their activities and reciprocated India’s desire for enhanced energy cooperation between the two countries.

    After detailed discussions, the two sides agreed to start work on a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of Renewable Energy between the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy of the Government of India and the Government of Belgium in order to strengthen, promote and develop renewable energy cooperation between the two countries on the basis of equality and mutual benefit. Both countries also agreed to explore possibilities of coordination in renewable energy through joint Research and Development programmes of mutual interest.

  • MHRD to provide for 5000 faculty positions in higher education

    MHRD to provide for 5000 faculty positions in higher education

    NEW DELHI (TIP): The Ministry of Human Resource Development proposes to provide for 5000 faculty positions in the higher education under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) during the current Five Year Plan, ending 2017. Support will be provided to fill positions in the category of Assistant Professors or equivalent cadre against vacancies. A fixed amount of Rs. 5.8 lakh per year for each faculty position will be given by the Centre and any excess over and above this amount due to higher scales, grade pay or DA increase has to be borne by the State Government.

    The 99,000 crore rupee programme was approved by the Union Cabinet last month to boost the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) to 30% by 2020 from the present about 19%. All the State universities will be eligible to receive grants under this programme. The recruitment process will have to adhere to UGC norms and regulations. The funding priorities are as follows:

  • CHINESE COMPUTER RETAINS ‘WORLD’S FASTEST’ TITLE

    CHINESE COMPUTER RETAINS ‘WORLD’S FASTEST’ TITLE

    LONDON (TIP): A computer in the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (Pune) has been declared the 44th fastest machine in the world, capable of 719 trillion calculations per second. In all, 12 Indian computers have made it to the list of the world’s 500 fastest super computers. The world’s fastest computer is capable of 33,863 trillion calculations per second and it was made in China. Tianhe-2 (meaning milky way), developed by China’s National University of Defence Technology, has a performance of 33.86 petaflop/s (quadrillions of calculations per second). In comparison, India’s fastest computer performs at 7.19 petaflop/s (quadrillions of calculations per second). Tianhe-2 ‘s power is almost double the score achieved by the second most powerful machine: the American Titan supercomputer, which clocked 17.59 petaflop/s.

    The list of the world’s fastest supercomputer is compiled every two years by the University of Mannheim in Germany, using a test known as the Linpack benchmark. It measures how fast the computers can solve a special type of linear equation, but does not take account of other factors – such as how fast data can be transferred from one part of the system to another – which can also influence real-time performance. The US still dominates the overall list of fastest supercomputers accounting for 265 of the top 500. It’s followed by Asia (115 systems, down from 118) and Europe (102 machines, down from 112).

  • NASA FINDS GRANITE ON MARS

    NASA FINDS GRANITE ON MARS

    LONDON (TIP): Researchers from the US space agency NASA have said that granite – an igneous rock common on Earth— could be found in abundance on Mars. For years Mars was considered geologically simplistic consisting mostly of one kind of rock in contrast to the diverse geology of Earth. Most of the surface of Mars is covered by dark-coloured volcanic rocks called basalt. Large amounts of a mineral found in granite called feldspar were found in an ancient Martian volcano. Minerals that are common in basalts rich in iron and magnesium are nearly completely absent here.

    The location of the feldspar also provides an explanation for how granite could have formed on Mars. While the magma slowly cools in the subsurface, low density melt separates from dense crystals in a process called fractionation. The cycle is repeated over and over for millennia until granite is formed. Granite or its eruptive equivalent rhyolite is often found on Earth in tectonically active regions. This is unlikely on Mars but the research team concluded that prolonged magmatic activity on Mars can also produce it on a large scale.

    “We’re providing the most compelling evidence to date that Mars has granitic rocks,” said James Wray from the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at the Georgia Institute of Technology. The research supported by the NASA Mars Data Analysis Program bolsters the evidence for granite on Mars by using remote sensing techniques with infrared spectroscopy to survey a large volcano on Mars that was active for billions of years. The volcano is dust-free making it ideal for the study.

    Most volcanoes on Mars are blanketed with dust but this volcano is being sand-blasted by some of the fastest-moving sand dunes on Mars, sweeping away any dust that might fall on the volcano. Earlier this year, the Mars Curiosity rover surprised scientists by discovering soil with a composition similar to granite. No one knew what to make of the discovery because it was limited to one site on Mars.A separate team from the European Southern Observatory and the University of Paris found a similar signature elsewhere on Mars but likened the rocks to anorthosite which is common on the moon.

    “We talk about water on Mars all the time but the history of volcanism on Mars is another thing that we’d like to try to understand,” Wray said. “What kinds of rocks have been forming over the planet’s history? We thought that it was a pretty easy answer, but we’re now joining the emerging chorus saying things may be a little bit more diverse on Mars, as they are on Earth.”

  • Car mechanic invents device to ease childbirth

    Car mechanic invents device to ease childbirth

    NEW YORK (TIP): The idea came to Jorge Odon as he slept. Somehow, he said, his unconscious made the leap from a YouTube video he had just seen on extracting a lost cork from a wine bottle to the realization that the same parlor trick could save a baby stuck in the birth canal. Odon, 59, an Argentine car mechanic, built his first prototype in his kitchen, using a glass jar for a womb, his daughter’s doll for the trapped baby, and a fabric bag and sleeve sewn by his wife as his lifesaving device.

    Unlikely as it seems, the idea that took shape on his counter has won the enthusiastic endorsement of the World Health Organization and major donors, and an American medical technology company has just licensed it for production. With the Odon Device, an attendant slips a plastic bag inside a lubricated plastic sleeve around the head, inflates it to grip the head and pulls the bag until the baby emerges. Doctors say it has enormous potential to save babies in poor countries, and perhaps to reduce cesarean section births in rich ones.

    “This is very exciting,” said Dr Mario Merialdi, the WHO’s chief coordinator for improving maternal and perinatal health and an early champion of the Odon Device. “This critical moment of life is one in which there’s been very little advancement for years.” About 10% of the 137 million births worldwide each year have potentially serious complications, Dr Merialdi said. About 5.6 million babies are stillborn or die quickly, and about 260,000 women die in childbirth. Obstructed labor, which can occur when a baby’s head is too large or an exhausted mother’s contractions stop, is a major factor. In wealthy countries, fetal distress results in a rush to the operating room.

    In poor, rural clinics, Dr Merialdi said, “if the baby doesn’t come out, the woman is on her own.” The current options in those cases are forceps — large, rounded pliers — or suction cups attached to the baby’s scalp. In untrained hands, either can cause hemorrhages, crush the baby’s head or twist its spine. Although more testing is planned on the Odon Device, doctors said it appeared to be safe for midwives with minimal training to use. Along the way, it has won research grants from the United States Agency for International Development and from Grand Challenges Canada.

    “We’ve given out $32 million for 61 different innovations, and this one is the farthest along,” said Dr Peter A. Singer, the chief executive of Grand Challenges Canada. The device will be manufactured by Becton, Dickinson and Company, or BD, of Franklin Lakes, N.J., which is better known for making syringes. “My first reaction, as soon as I saw it, was positive,” said Gary M. Cohen, the company’s executive vice president for global health. It was at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Dr Merialdi asked him to consider taking it on. “Many inventions get to the prototype stage, but that’s maybe 15% of what needs to be done,” Cohen said. “There’s finalizing the design for manufacture, quality control, the regulatory work and clinical studies.

    Absent that, they don’t see the light of day.” So far, the device has been safety-tested only on 30 Argentine women, all of whom were in hospitals, had given birth before and were in normal labor. “I was glad they asked me, because it was for a good cause,” said Luciana Valle, a kindergarten teacher who was 31 two years ago when her son, Matteo, was one of the first babies extracted with the device. Because Matteo weighed almost nine pounds, “it really helped,” she said in a telephone interview. “His head came out on my second push.” The WHO will now oversee tests on 100 more women in normal labor in China, India and South Africa, and then on 170 women in obstructed labor.

    In a telephone interview from Argentina, Odon described the origins of his idea. He tinkers at his garage, but his previous inventions were car parts. Seven years ago, he said, employees were imitating a video showing that a cork pushed into an empty bottle can be retrieved by inserting a plastic grocery bag, blowing until it surrounds the cork, and drawing it out. That night, he won a dinner bet on it. At 4am, he woke his wife and told her the idea that had just come to him. (His own children were born without problems, he said, but he has an aunt who suffered nerve damage from birth.) His wife, he recalled, “said I was crazy and went back to sleep.” The next morning, a somewhat skeptical friend introduced him to an obstetrician.

    “You can imagine these two guys in suits in a waiting room full of pregnant ladies,” he said. The doctor was encouraging, so he kept working. Polyethylene replaced the bag his wife had sewn, and the jar was replaced by a plastic uterus. With the help of a cousin, Odon met the chief of obstetrics at a major hospital in Buenos Aires. The chief had a friend at the WHO, who knew Dr Merialdi, who, at a 2008 medical conference in Argentina, granted Odon 10 minutes during a coffee break.

  • SRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB

    SRI GURU GRANTH SAHIB

    || 4 || 2 || 11 || AASAA: As many mistakes as the son commits, his mother does not hold them against him in her mind. || 1 || O Lord, I am Your child. Why not destroy my sins? || 1 || Pause || If the son, in anger, runs away, even then, his mother does not hold it against him in her mind. || 2 || My mind has fallen into the whirlpool of anxiety.Without the Naam, how can I cross over to the other side? || 3 || Please, bless my body with pure and lasting understanding, Lord; in peace and poise, Kabeer chants the Praises of the Lord. || 4 || 3 || 12 || AASAA: My pilgrimage to Mecca is on the banks of the Gomati River; the spiritual teacher in his yellow robes dwells there.

    || 1 || Waaho! Waaho! Hail! Hail! How wondrously he sings. The Name of the Lord is pleasing to my mind. || 1 || Pause || Naarada the sage, and Shaarada the goddess of knowledge, serve the Lord. The goddess Lakhshmi sits by Him as His slave. || 2 || The mala is around my neck, and the Lord’s Name is upon my tongue. I repeat the Naam, the Name of the Lord, a thousand times, and bow in reverence to Him. || 3 || Says Kabeer, I sing the Glorious Praises of the Lord; I teach both Hindus and Muslims. || 4 || 4 || 13 || AASAA, KABEER JEE, 9 PANCHPADAS, 5 DU-TUKAS: ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD. BY THE GRACE OF THE TRUE GURU: You tear off the leaves, O gardener, but in each and every leaf, there is life. That stone idol, for which you tear off those leaves – that stone idol is lifeless. || 1 || In this, you are mistaken, O gardener.

    The True Guru is the Living Lord. || 1 || Pause || Brahma is in the leaves, Vishnu is in the branches, and Shiva is in the flowers.When you break these three gods, whose service are you performing? || 2 || The sculptor carves the stone and fashions it into an idol, placing his feet upon its chest. If this stone god was true, it would devour the sculptor for this! || 3 || Rice and beans, candies, cakes and cookies – the priest enjoys these, while he puts ashes into the mouth of the idol. || 4 || The gardener is mistaken, and the world is mistaken, but I am not mistaken. Says Kabeer, the Lord preserves me; the Lord, my King, has showered His Blessings upon me. || 5 || 1 || 14 || AASAA: Twelve years pass in childhood, and for another twenty years, he does not practice self-discipline and austerity. For another thirty years, he does not worship God in any way, and then, when he is old, he repents and regrets.

    || 1 || His life wastes away as he cries out, “Mine, mine!” The pool of his power has dried up. || 1 || Pause || He makes a dam around the dried-up pool, and with his hands, he makes a fence around the harvested field. When the thief of Death comes, he quickly carries away what the fool had tried to preserve as his own. || 2 || His feet and head and hands begin to tremble, and the tears flow copiously from his eyes. His tongue has not spoken the correct words, but now, he hopes to practice religion! || 3 || If the Dear Lord shows His Mercy, one enshrines love for Him, and obtains the Profit of the Lord’s Name. By Guru’s Grace, he receives the wealth of the Lord’s Name, which alone shall go with him, when he departs in the end.

    || 4 || Says Kabeer, listen, O Saints – he shall not take any other wealth with him. When the summons comes from the King, the Lord of the Universe, the mortal departs, leaving behind his wealth and mansions. || 5 || 2 || 15 || AASAA: To some, the Lord has given silks and satins, and to some, beds decorated with cotton ribbons. Some do not even have a poor patched coat, and some live in thatched huts. || 1 || Do not indulge in envy and bickering, O my mind. By continually doing good deeds, these are obtained, O my mind. || 1 || Pause || The potter works the same clay, and colors the pots in different ways. Into some, he sets pearls, while to others, he attaches filth. || 2 || God gave wealth to the miser for him to preserve, but the fool calls it his own.

    When the Messenger of Death strikes him with his club, in an instant, everything is settled. || 3 || The Lord’s humble servant is called the most exalted Saint; he obeys the Command of the Lord’s Order, and obtains peace.Whatever is pleasing to the Lord, he accepts as True; he enshrines the Lord’s Will within his mind. || 4 || Says Kabeer, listen, O Saints – it is false to call out, “Mine, mine.” Breaking the bird cage, death takes the bird away, and only the torn threads remain. || 5 || 3 || 16 || AASAA: I am Your humble servant, Lord; Your Praises are pleasing to my mind. The Lord, the Primal Being, the Master of the poor, does not ordain that they should be oppressed.

    || 1 || O Qazi, it is not right to speak before Him. || 1 || Pause || Keeping your fasts, reciting your prayers, and reading the Kalma, the Islamic creed, shall not take you to paradise. The Temple of Mecca is hidden within your mind, if you only knew it. || 2 || That should be your prayer, to administer justice. Let your Kalma be the knowledge of the unknowable Lord. Spread your prayer mat by conquering your five desires, and you shall recognize the true religion. || 3 || Recognize Your Lord and Master, and fear Him within your heart; conquer your egotism, and make it worthless. As you see yourself, see others as well; only then will you become a partner in heaven. || 4 || The clay is one, but it has taken many forms; I recognize the One Lord within them all.

    Says Kabeer, I have abandoned paradise, and reconciled my mind to hell. || 5 || 4 || 17 || AASAA: From the city of the Tenth Gate, the sky of the mind, not even a drop rains down. Where is the music of the sound current of the Naad, which was contained in it? The Supreme Lord God, the Transcendent Lord, the Master of wealth has taken away the Supreme Soul. || 1 || O Father, tell me: where has it gone? It used to dwell within the body, and dance in the mind, teaching and speaking. || 1 || Pause || Where has the player gone – he who made this temple his own? No story, word or understanding is produced; the Lord has drained off all the power. || 2 || The ears, your companions, have gone deaf, and the power of your organs is exhausted. Your feet have failed, your hands have gone limp, and no words issue forth from your mouth.

    || 3 || Having grown weary, the five enemies and all the thieves have wandered away according to their own will. The elephant of the mind has grown weary, and the heart has grown weary as well; through its power, it used to pull the strings. || 4 || He is dead, and the bonds of the ten gates are opened; he has left all his friends and brothers. Says Kabeer, one who meditates on the Lord, breaks his bonds, even while yet alive. || 5 || 5 || 18 || AASAA, 4 IK-TUKAS: No one is more powerful than the she-serpent Maya, who deceived even Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. || 1 || Having bitten and struck them down, she now sits in the immaculate waters. By Guru’s Grace, I have seen her, who has bitten the three worlds. || 1 || Pause || O Siblings of Destiny, why is she called a she-serpent? One who realizes the True Lord, devours the she-serpent.

    || 2 || No one else is more frivolous than this sheserpent. When the she-serpent is overcome, what can the Messengers of the King of Death do? || 3 || This she-serpent is created by Him. What power or weakness does she have by herself ? || 4 || If she abides with the mortal, then his soul abides in his body. By Guru’s Grace, Kabeer has easily crossed over. || 5 || 6 || 19 || AASAA: Why bother to read the Simritees to a dog? Why bother to sing the Lord’s Praises to the faithless cynic? || 1 || Remain absorbed in the Lord’s Name, Raam, Raam, Raam.

    Do not bother to speak of it to the faithless cynic, even by mistake. || 1 || Pause || Why offer camphor to a crow? Why give the snake milk to drink? || 2 || Joining the Sat Sangat, the True Congregation, discriminating understanding is attained. That iron which touches the Philosopher’s Stone becomes gold. || 3 || The dog, the faithless cynic, does everything as the Lord causes him to do. He does the deeds preordained from the very beginning. || 4 || If you take Ambrosial Nectar and irrigate the neem tree with it, still, its natural qualities are not changed. || 5 || 7 || 20 || AASAA: A fortress like that of Sri Lanka, with the ocean as a moat around it – there is no news about that house of Raavan. || 1 || What shall I ask for? Nothing is permanent.

    I see with my eyes that the world is passing away. || 1 || Pause || Thousands of sons and thousands of grandsons – but in that house of Raavan, the lamps and wicks have gone out. || 2 || The moon and the sun cooked his food. The fire washed his clothes. || 3 || Under Guru’s Instructions, one whose mind is filled with the Lord’s Name, becomes permanent, and does not go anywhere. || 4 || Says Kabeer, listen, people: without the Lord’s Name, no one is liberated. || 5 || 8 || 21 || AASAA: First, the son was born, and then, his mother. The guru falls at the feet of the disciple. || 1 || Listen to this wonderful thing, O Siblings of Destiny! I saw the lion herding the cows.

    || 1 || Pause || The fish of the water gives birth upon a tree. I saw a cat carrying away a dog. || 2 || The branches are below, and the roots are above. The trunk of that tree bears fruits and flowers. || 3 || Riding a horse, the buffalo takes him out to graze. The bull is away, while his load has come home. || 4 || Says Kabeer, one who understands this hymn, and chants the Lord’s Name, comes to understand everything. || 5 || 9 || 22 || 22 CHAU-PADAS AND PANCH-PADAS, AASAA OF KABEER JEE, 8 TRI-PADAS, 7 DU-TUKAS, 1 IK-TUKA: ONE UNIVERSAL CREATOR GOD.

    BY THE GRACE OF THE TRUE GURU: The Lord created the body from sperm, and protected it in the fire pit. For nine months He preserved you in your mother’s womb, and then, after you were born, you became attached to Maya. || 1 || O mortal, why have you attached yourself to greed, and lost the jewel of life? You did not plant the seeds of good actions in the earth of your past lives. || 1 || Pause || From an infant, you have grown old. That which was to happen, has happened. When the Messenger of Death comes and grabs you by your hair, why do you cry out then? || 2 || You hope for long life, while Death counts your breaths.

    The world is a game, O Kabeer, so throw the dice consciously. || 3 || 1 || 23 || AASAA: I make my body the dying vat, and within it, I dye my mind. I make the five elements my marriage guests. I take my marriage vows with the Lord, my King; my soul is imbued with His Love. || 1 || Sing, sing, O brides of the Lord, the marriage songs of the Lord. The Lord, my King, has come to my house as my Husband. || 1 || Pause || Within the lotus of my heart, I have made my bridal pavilion, and I have spoken the wisdom of God. I have obtained the Lord King as my Husband – such is my great good fortune. || 2 || The angles, holy men, silent sages, and the 330,000,000 deities have come in their heavenly chariots to see this spectacle. Says Kabeer, I have been taken in marriage by the One Supreme Being, the Lord God.

  • HANUKKAH

    HANUKKAH

    Afestival is a collective celebration of an achievement in a given community. The Festival of Hanukkah is a Jewish celebration, and it is celebrating the recovery and re-dedication of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem in 165 B.C. Hanukkah is spelled in many different ways in case you want to Google it; Hanuka, Chanukah, Chanuka, Hanuka, Hanukka and other variations. Hanukkah is celebrated for eight days and nights. It is also called the festival of lights. It starts on the 25th of the Jewish month of Kislev each year. The actual date differs due to the lunar calendar.

    It is about 11 days earlier in each successive year. The Jews, Muslims and some Hindu festivals follow the moon for observing their holidays and the date is different every year. This year the festivities will begin with the lighting of Menorah on Thursday, November 28th and will continue thru December 5, 2014. This year, I found one of the best pieces written by Rabbi Michael Lerner, who and I met in Melbourne, Australia and have kept up writing to each other since then. Rabbi Michael Lerner wrote about Chanukah, describing it as “the holiday celebrating the triumph of hope over fear, light over darkness, and the powerless over the powerful.”

    He went on to say that Chanukah is about “understanding that when we connect with the transformative power of the universe, the Force of Healing and Transformation, YHVH, we become aware that the powerless can become powerful, that oppression of any sort is in contradiction to the fundamental nature of human beings as loving, kind, generous, free, creative, intelligent, attuned to beauty, caring for and needing each other beings created in the image of God. When that energy and awareness permeates our consciousness, no ruling elite and no system of exploitation can possibly last for very long.”

    The Hanukkah Story

    Here is a story I received in email that tells the story and significance of Hanukkah. In 168 B.C.E. the Jewish Temple was seized by Syrian-Greek soldiers and dedicated to the worship of the god Zeus. This upset the Jewish people, but many were afraid to fight back for fear of reprisals. Then in 167 B.C.E. the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus made the observance of Judaism an offense punishable by death. He also ordered all Jews to worship Greek gods. Jewish resistance began in the village of Modiin, near Jerusalem.

    Greek soldiers forcibly gathered the Jewish villages and told them to bow down to an idol, and then eat the flesh of a pig – both practices that are forbidden to Jews. A Greek officer ordered Mattthias, a High Priest, to acquiesce to their demands, but Mattthias refused. When another villager stepped forward and offered to cooperate on Matthias’ behalf, the High Priest became outraged. He drew his sword and killed the villager, then turned on the Greek officer and killed him too.

    His five sons and the other villagers then attacked the remaining soldiers, killing all of them. Matthias and his family went into hiding in the mountains, where other Jews wishing to fight against the Greeks joined them. Eventually they succeeded in retaking their land from the Greeks. These rebels became known as the Maccabees, or Hasmoneans. Once the Maccabees had regained control they returned to the Temple in Jerusalem. By this time it had been spiritually defiled by being used for the worship of foreign gods and also by practices such as sacrificing swine. Jewish troops were determined to purify the Temple by burning ritual oil in the Temple’s menorah for eight days.

    But to their dismay, they discovered that there was only one day’s worth of oil left in the Temple. They lit the menorah anyway and to their surprise the small amount of oil lasted the full eight days. This is the miracle of the Hanukkah oil that is celebrated every year when Jews light a special menorah known as a hanukkiyah for eight days. One candle is lit on the first night of Hanukkah, two on the second, and so on, until eight candles are lit.

    Significance of Hanukkah
    Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists and others have figured out a way to keep their children in the joyous mood of receiving gifts, so they have their own version of Christmas. Similarly, Jewish children receive gifts for Hanukkah – often one gift for each of the eight nights of the holiday. Many parents hope that by making Hanukkah extra special their children won’t feel left out of all the Christmas festivities going on around them. America is an amazing land!


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    Hanukkah Traditions
    Every community has its unique Hanukkah traditions, but there are some traditions that are almost universally practiced. They are: lighting the hanukkiyah, spinning the dreidel and eating fried foods. Get a Hanukkiah. The most basic thing you need to celebrate Hanukkah is a 9- branched candelabra, called a Hanukkiah (or often a Menorah, although technically aMenorah is a 7-branched candelabra), and candles. Eight of the branches represent the eight nights, while the last one (at a different height, usually higher than the rest) is called theshamash or helper candle, and is used to light the rest of the candles. The Hanukkiah is usually lighted at or right after sunset.

  • THE ESSENCE OF THANKSGIVING

    THE ESSENCE OF THANKSGIVING

    Expression of gratitude is the ultimate balancing act in everyone’s life. We know whom we receive the good from and offer our gratitude. The absence of a simple thank-you creates an imbalance in the relationship and spiritual energy, while a simple thank you restores it. I am pleased to share my personal story and few small things you can do to regain your sense of composure and balance. Firstly, we need to be considerate to those who did not have a good childhood, youth, adulthood or retirement. Let’s be kind to those who are struggling to take care of themselves, and fighting for a square meal for their families.

    The least we can do for them is to let them know that we care. Secondly, we need to awaken our mentor, be it Zarathustra, Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavira, Jesus, Muhammad, Tao, Confucius, Nanak, Bahaullah, Gandhi, MLK or whomever we hold dearly. We need to emulate them for at least for the day as an experiment, ready to embrace every one with a caring attitude. Finally, let’s make a list of people who have helped us shape our lives. We should not lose enthusiasm due to a large number of people we have to thank, we can do it by carrying a piece of paper, and writing down the names as they pop in the mind, even if we don’t call everyone on the list, we have already said our thanks by thinking about the individual and writing his or her name down. When we express our gratitude to the person who has made a difference in our life, it brings a ton of relief. It’s ours to keep.

    Life Is a Self-Balancing Act

    Life is self-balancing act; everything we do and say is spiritual as well as a real life transaction that moves the needle from balance to imbalance, and back to balance. The mechanism is built around forgiveness, repentance, service and gratitude. These values are a product of coexistence and inculcated through religious teachings; however, the atheists would also achieve the same without invoking God. The accountant chants, for every debit there is a credit; the physicist has proved that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and the doctor declares, that blood lost from the body of an individual must be replenished with an equal amount of blood to sustain life. As a spiritualist I say, for every wrong we do, an equal amount of energy is drained from us, and for every good we do, energy is recouped. We are constantly receiving and giving energy, intake and output must be equal to have a healthy living, or else we are

    THE UNFORGETTABLE STORY OF APPAIAH

    It was a Sunday ritual for me to sit and take care of the poor. A line of the needy people would pass in front of my house, and being the oldest in the family, my father had assigned me the task of doling out the alms to the individuals when they pass by our door. I have seen lepers, people who cannot see, hear or talk, and people with missing body parts. I was fascinated by one such person, he did not have arms and limbs from the base of the body, and he was just a torso with a head. He wrapped his body with a tube (those days car tires were inlaid with rubber tubes to hold the air) of a car tire, and would slide inch by inch on his back from door to door… his shoulder and rear part would move in tandem similar to a snake.

    It was beyond me to understand Appaiah, I often wondered, what is there for him in life? The 14-year-old in me was full of ambition, and was looking forward to getting my education, finding the work, getting married, having a house and kids. I was a typical teenager loaded with testosterones and could not imagine life beyond that. Why does he not commit suicide? What is there for him to look forward to? One day, I asked him. “Appaiah, you don’t have relatives, can’t do thing, don’t have a place to live, and can’t wear clothes … why do you want to live?” He turned around and took a deep breath and looked at me, he made an effort to move, but could not, and said, son, I look forward to every morning to see the blue sky or see the rain and smell the earth, I taste the good food people give me, I am thankful to God for giving me these eyes to see the beauty of his creation.

    I was watching him, he did not have the arms to point to his eyes, he then asked me, isn’t there so much to be thankful for? Live for? He was poetic, philosophical and pragmatic. He shattered my bias to smithereens, here I was thinking, what does this guy know? I was rendered speechless. Here is a man with nothing to hope for, yet he is not complaining, instead, he is appreciating what he has got, which is nothing. That was quite an influencing experience in my life to treat others as I would want to be treated (Bible). Just that morning, I heard my Dad’s favorite verse from Quran: “Then which of the favors of your Lord will ye deny?” (55:16).


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    Now, when hopelessness hits me, I go to the Scriptures. I have found solace in opening Bhagvad Gita, Bible, Guru Granth Saheb, Dale Carnegie’s book, Kitáb-i-Aqdas or simply read Sura Rahman, chapter 55 in Quran, to uplift my spirits. We have to be grateful for whatever we have and express it to the unknown giver, a true thanksgiving. You can only feel the joy when you say a big or a small thank you to the ones who have helped you along the way, whether it is materially, spiritually or professionally.

    A simple thank you will do a lot of good to us, and our relationships. Most people say thanks without fail, those who miss out on a few things; we have an opportunity to reflect on this Thanksgiving Day. If you don’t believe in God, that is fine, it is still a release when you say thanks to the invisible good that came to you un-asked.

    thrown off balance. For every hurt we hurl on others, an equal amount of burden gets dumped on us, and until we say sorry and repent genuinely, the energy balance within us deteriorates. The transaction remains incomplete.

    Where Is Happiness?

    If you are single or empty nesters and nowhere to go, call up Salvation Army, a hospital or a homeless shelter and volunteer your services. There is a joy in serving others. As the Jewish Scriptures say, Ve’ahavta la’ger — you must love the stranger for that guaranteed happiness. Jesus reached out to the ones who were abandoned by the society. Prophet Muhammad said the least you can give to others is hope and a smile.

    The Hindu Scriptures guides you to treat the whole world as one family. Buddha, the learned one, taught the joys of living for others. The Sikh faith is indeed founded on the principle of caring for the humanity. The Jains and Baha’i believe our joy comes from taking care of others. The Native Americans and Wicca believe we have to take care of what we see around us and preserve it for the next seven generations, life and the matter. With malice toward none is a good advice from Mahatma Lincoln to follow.

    Happy Thanksgiving

    When you express your gratitude to the persons who have made a difference in your life, it brings a ton of relief to you. Make an effort and enjoy the peace of mind that comes with it. May you be blessed to be a blessing to others. Amen!

  • India Seeks Congressional Help over Immigration Bill

    India Seeks Congressional Help over Immigration Bill

    WASHINGTON (TIP): India has sought Congressional help in addressing its concerns over certain alleged discriminatory provisions of the comprehensive immigration bill, which if passed into law would adversely impact Indian IT companies. “One of the concerns, Indian businesses are seeking to address, and where the US Congress can help them, is about the current debate, on restrictions on the movement of high-skilled non-immigrant professionals employed by Indian IT companies into the United States,” Taranjit Singh Sandhu, Charges d’Affaires of the Indian Embassy in the U.S., said.

    “These discriminatory provisions, if they are enacted, will essentially create a market access barrier, for Indian IT companies in the US and will, not only cause damage, to their operations, but will also impact the ability of US companies, who depend on their services to innovate, grow and be competitive, and affect the local economies,” Mr. Sandhu said on Tuesday. He was addressing the ‘Indian American Meetup’ event organized by the GOP Conference and the House Foreign Affairs Committee, at the Capitol Hill.

    The Indian IT industry has led the way, in strengthening the India-U.S. trade and investment relationship, Mr. Sandhu said adding that today, companies like TCS, Wipro, Infosys and HCL employ well over 50,000 U.S. citizens and support more than 280,000 other local U.S. jobs. “They are integral, to the operations of many US companies, helping them in developing new products, and improving operations and efficiencies,” he argued. Trade and economic partnership, remains a central pillar of expanding India-U.S. ties, creating jobs for hundreds of thousands of people in both countries, he said.

    “Our bilateral trade today, has reached $100 billion, and maintains an upward trajectory. Indeed, despite global economic slowdown, US exports in goods and services to India, which is nearing $50 billion, have grown by an impressive 12 percent, in the first half of 2013,” Mr. Sandhu said. Noting that U.S. is an important source, for foreign direct investment, in India, he said for the U.S., India is now, among, the fastest growing sources, of inward investment.

    More than 65 large Indian corporations, including TATA, Reliance, ESSAR, Piramal and others, have invested in the U.S., about $17 billion, in a number of U.S. states, including Colorado, Oklahoma, Georgia, Idaho, Tennessee and Kansas among others over the last five years, he said. Taking note of the concerns expressed in U.S. about the pace of reform in India and its investment climate, Mr. Sandhu said New Delhi is sensitive to these views.

    “Government of India has focused, on improvement of our investment regulations, leading to significant FDI liberalization, in the past year, in a number of sectors, of U.S. interest – including, multi-brand and singlebrand retail, civil aviation, telecommunications and defense,” he observed. “In addition, clearances for pending projects, have been fast-tracked, taxation issues have been addressed upfront and clarified, and the much talked about Preferential Market Access guidelines for private sector companies have been kept in abeyance,” Mr. Sandhu said.

  • 26/11 intended to provoke Indo-Pak war: US expert

    26/11 intended to provoke Indo-Pak war: US expert

    WASHINGTON (TIP): As the fifth anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks approaches, US counter-terrorism expert Bruce Riedel says the horrific Lashkar-e- Tayyeba assault, aided and abetted by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Al Qaeda, was intended to change dramatically the future of South Asia, perhaps even by provoking a war between rising nuclear powers India and Pakistan.

    “Five years after Mumbai, justice has yet to be served,” writes Riedel in The Daily Beast, pointing out how Hafiz Saeed, the LeT founder and mastermind of the Mumbai plot, roams freely in Pakistan and remains “a darling of the ISI and regularly calls for more attacks on India and America”. Riedel, a former CIA analyst who has advised four US presidents on South Asia, termed the Mumbai attack the most important terror strike since 9/11, noting: “The targets were the same, Indians, Americans, and Jews, the targets of the global jihad started by al-Qaeda in the late 1990s.

    I pointed this out to President-elect Barack Obama and his transition team at the time in several briefings in my role as South Asia transition director after his election (in 2008).” “We know a great deal more today than ever about the attack, its planners, and the critical American hand in the plot,” Riedel says, while going into the “most shocking” role played by Pakistani-American jihadi David Coleman Headley who helped plot the attack by mapping the targets during his five visits to Mumbai between 2005 and 2008 – and each time stopping in Pakistan on the way back to report his surveillance results to LeT and the ISI, and get new instructions.

    In his confession of guilt under a plea bargain deal with the US investigators, Headley said the raid also was planned with active ISI involvement at every stage, pointing out that at each of his meetings in Pakistan, he used to meet ISI officers as well as the LeT leaders. “Sometimes the ISI gave him particular assignments separate from what the LeT asked,” Riedel notes, citing the example of the agency tasking Headley with taking photos of an Indian nuclear facility near Mumbai.

  • Jobs key for world’s 49 poorest countries: UN

    Jobs key for world’s 49 poorest countries: UN

    UNITED NATIONS (TIP): The population in the world’s 49 poorest countries is projected to double to 1.7 billion by 2050 and job creation will be crucial to prevent increasing poverty, social unrest and mass international emigration, according to a new report launched on November 20. The Least Developed Countries Report 2013 urges these countries to take action to upgrade infrastructure, greatly expand credit, improve education and spur domestic firms and entrepreneurs to create new jobs. According to the report by the UN Conference on Trade and Development, strongly increasing investment and improving services such as transportation and electricity supply will increase the value and variety of the goods and services produced by these impoverished countries which is vital to helping these 49 impoverished countries create a total of 16 million new jobs needed every year.

    The report notes that job creation was disappointing even during the “boom” years from 2002 to 2008 when the economies of the least developed countries or LDCs, averaged an economic growth rate of 8% per year. From 2000 to 2012, employment growth in the LDCs averaged 2.9 percent per year, it said. “The growth we have seen in LDCs in the last couple of decades is a jobless growth,” Mussie Delelegn, head of UNCTAD’s New York office told a news conference launching the report.

    “Consequently what we see is the bulging demographic trends, we see persistent poverty … accelerated urbanization and rising inequalities.” The report said LDCs face “a stark demographic challenge:” The population of 858 million in 2011 is projected to double to 1.7 billion by 2050, and the population aged 15 to 24 is expected to soar from 168 million in 2010 to 300 million by 2050.

  • Afghanistan-US reach draft security agreement

    Afghanistan-US reach draft security agreement

    KABUL/WASHINGTON (TIP): The United States and Afghanistan on November 20 reached a draft agreement on a crucial security pact, a day before thousands of Afghan elders are set to debate whether to allow US troops to stay in the country after 2014. Without the accord, the United States has warned it could withdraw its troops by the end of next year and leave Afghan forces to fight a Taliban-led insurgency without their help.

    Thousands of Afghan dignitaries and elders are due to convene in a giant tent in the capital Kabul on Thursday to debate the fate of US forces after a 2014 drawdown of a multinational Nato force. “We have reached an agreement as to the final language of the bilateral security agreement that will be placed before the Loya Jirga tomorrow,” Kerry told reporters. Intense negotiations between Kabul and Washington have provoked frustration among the Afghan tribal and political elders who made perilous journeys from all over the country to the capital Kabul for a grand assembly to debate the pact.

    Efforts to finalize the pact stalled on Tuesday amid disagreement over whether US President Barack Obama had agreed to issue a letter acknowledging mistakes made during the 12-year Afghan war. Kerry denied there had been any discussion about the possibility of a US apology to Afghanistan for US mistakes or Afghan civilian casualties during the 12-year US military presence in Afghanistan. Such an apology would draw widespread anger in the United States. “The important thing for people to understand is there has never been a discussion of or the word ‘apology’ used in our discussions whatsoever,” Kerry said, adding that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had also not asked for an apology.

    State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the possibility of a letter, or some other kind of correspondence, would seek to reassure the Loya Jirga of the importance of the US-Afghan relationship and to address concerns over civilian casualties. The Afghan government said it had received assurances that an Obama letter would be provided this week to the grand council of Afghan elders, known as a Loya Jirga. But Susan Rice, Obama’s national security adviser, insisted on Tuesday that an apology was “not on the table.”

    NATIONAL INTERESTS

    The drawdown of Western troops has allowed tentative peace overtures between Kabul and the Taliban to gather pace, and Afghan officials arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday to initiate talks. The Taliban have nonetheless condemned the Loya Jirga as a farce, and security has been tight in Kabul following a suicide bomb attack near the assembly ground over the weekend. Insurgents fired two rockets at the tent where the last Loya Jirga was last held in 2011, but missed the delegates. If the two sides cannot agree on a pact, Karzai has suggested submitting different versions of the document for the Loya Jirga to decide on. That caused confusion among Jirga members.

    Khan Ali Rotman, who runs a Kabul youth organization, said if the pact was not in Afghanistan’s national interests, “we will raise our voice and not vote for it”. But a Kabul senator, Khan Mohammad Belaghi, said Afghanistan had no choice but to sign: “We have to have a partnership with a country like the United States and we will vote in favor of it because it can protect us from threats from neighboring countries, especially Pakistan, and the Taliban.” Violence spiraled on the eve of the meeting, with the Taliban attacking two high-ranking police officials.

    Gunmen ambushed and killed the police chief of Marja district in the southern province of Helmand on his way to work, said Omar Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor. Also in the south, guards shot dead a suicide bomber trying to force his way inside the house of the Kandahar provincial police chief, said Hamid Zia Durrani, a spokesman for the police. Later a bomb exploded at a hotel a few doors away, killing three and wounding 14, he said.

  • Historic call: UK PM rings up Rouhani

    Historic call: UK PM rings up Rouhani

    LONDON (TIP): In a historic first, David Cameron on November 19 became the first British PM to call an Iranian president in more than a decade. Cameron spoke to Hassan Rouhani by telephone on Tuesday afternoon ahead of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions in Geneva this week. A Downing Street spokesman said “The two leaders discussed the bilateral relationship between Britain and Iran welcoming the steps taken since President Rouhani took office, including the appointment of non-resident Charges d’Affaires last week”.

    On Iran’s nuclear programme, the Downing street spokesman said “both leaders agreed that significant progress had been made in the recent Geneva negotiations and that it was important to seize the opportunity presented by the further round of talks”. The PM underlined the necessity of Iran comprehensively addressing the concerns of the international community about their %nuclear programme including the need for greater transparency. On Syria, there was agreement on the need for a political solution to end the bloodshed”. Rouhani also gave details of the phone call on his Twitter feed, saying the two leaders discussed “way to create a positive atmosphere to address concerns on both sides on the nuclear issue”.

    Three days of highlevel talks between representatives from Iran and the P5+1 %group of nations earlier this month failed to achieve a breakthrough. In September, President Barack Obama and Rouhani made history with a phone call, thawing three decade freeze between US and Iran. It was the first time that leaders from the US and Iran had directly communicated since the 1979 Iranian revolution. UK said is committed to negotiating a peaceful diplomatic settlement that gives the world confidence that Iran’s nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes. UK recently appointed Ajay Sharma as the UK’s non-resident Charge d’Affaires to Iran.

    On October 8, Britain’s foreign secretary Willian Hague announced that the UK and Iran had agreed to appoint nonresident Charges d’Affaires as an important step towards improving the bilateral relationship. “Mr Sharma’s appointment will enable the UK to have more detailed and regular discussions with Iran on a range of issues, including conditions under which our Embassies could eventually be reopened. Mr Sharma will be based in the UK but will travel regularly to Iran.” UK said. Mr Sharma has significant experience of Iran and the region.

    He is currently head of Iran department at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and served previously as deputy head of mission in Tehran. On his appointment, Mr Sharma said “I am very much looking forward to renewing direct UK contact with the Iranian Government and society. This is very much in the interests of both our countries. I hope to make my first visit to Tehran as non-resident Charge later this month”.

  • Karzai wants US president to acknowledge army’s errors

    Karzai wants US president to acknowledge army’s errors

    NEW YORK (TIP): Afghan President Hamid Karzai wants a letter written by US President Barack Obama that will acknowledge military mistakes made during 12-year war in his country in return for allowing American counterterrorism raids on private Afghan homes, a media report said. Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi has said the letter would be tantamount to an apology, though not directly using that word, a report in the New York Times said.

    In return for a letter from Obama, that will be a display of contrition by the President for military mistakes that have hurt Afghans, Karzai would end his strong opposition to American counterterrorism raids on private Afghan homes, an issue that has become very contentious between the two allies. According to Faizi, US secretary of state John Kerry has offered to write the letter but Karzai wants the letter from Obama instead. Faizi said Kerry has agreed to those terms, the NYT report added. However, US National Security Adviser Susan Rice has flatly denied that there would be any presidential apology.

  • Volcano raises new island far south of Japan

    Volcano raises new island far south of Japan

    TOKYO (TIP): The Japanese coast guard and earthquake experts say a volcanic eruption has raised a new island in the seas to the far south of Tokyo. Advisories from the coast guard and the Japan Meteorological Agency said the islet is about 200 meters (660 feet) in diameter. It is just off the coast of Nishinoshima, a small, uninhabited island in the Ogasawara chain, which is also known as the Bonin islands.

    The approximately 30 islands are 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) south of Tokyo and along with the rest of Japan are part of the seismically active Pacific “Ring of Fire.” The coast guard issued an advisory warning of heavy black smoke from the eruption. Television footage showed heavy smoke and waters roiling over the crater.

  • Silvio Berlusconi expelled from Italian parliament

    Silvio Berlusconi expelled from Italian parliament

    ROME (TIP): The Italian Senate on November 27 expelled three-time ex-Premier Silvio Berlusconi from Parliament over his tax fraud conviction, ending, for now, his two-decade legislative run but not his political career. Berlusconi has warned that the unprecedented move would embarrass Italy internationally. He maintained his defiance as the Senate voted, declaring on Wednesday a “day of mourning for democracy” before thousands of cheering, flag-waving supporters outside his Roman palazzo. Even though Berlusconi won’t hold a seat in Parliament, he is expected to remain influential in Italian politics.

    He has relaunched his Forza Italia party and he still commands millions of loyal supporters. While his lawyers chart possible legal challenges and his allies move into Italy’s opposition, Berlusconi’s fans massed in front of his Roman palazzo for a rally that analysts said was essentially the start of Italy’s next electoral campaign. “Today they are toasting because they can take an adversary, they say a friend, in front of the executioner’s squad,” Berlusconi said. “It is the day they have been waiting for for 20 years.”

    He pledged to continue his role as a political leader, citing other figures not in Parliament, namely the founder of the Five Star Movement, Beppe Grillo, and Matteo Renzi of the Democratic Party, tipped by many as a future premier candidate. “Also, from outside the Parliament, we can continue to fight for our liberty,” he said. Supporters were treated to a video montage of Berlusconi’s greatest political hits from a career that began in 1994 when he first came into power with a political party named for a soccer chant “Go Italy.” He said that even if he’s no longer a senator, he will continue to be a force to reckon with.

    “For us he will always be there,” said Marilda Antonello as she held a banner reading “The law is not equal for everyone. Sick justice.” “He is our only leader. He is the only man who can take Italy forward,” she said. The Senate vote on whether to remove Berlusconi from the chamber stems from a 2012 law that bans anyone sentenced to more than two years in prison from holding or running for public office for six years. His lawyers claim the law is unconstitutional and have questioned why the rush to expel him while legal challenges are still pending.

    Italy’s high court on August 1 upheld Berlusconi’s tax fraud conviction and four-year prison term stemming from his Mediaset empire’s purchase of television rights to US films. The prison term was reduced automatically to one year under a general amnesty; he will serve his time either under house arrest or through public service. Berlusconi claims he didn’t receive a fair trial and that the judges were biased and out to “eliminate” him from public office.

    His lawyers have also charged that the 2012 law is unconstitutional and can’t be applied retroactively to crimes allegedly committed before it was passed. They have taken their challenge to the European Court of Human Rights — even though it turns out Berlusconi didn’t make much of his Senate role to begin with: Private TV La7 reported this week that Berlusconi attended just one Senate session since April’s elections. And that was when he did an about-face and backed the government in a confidence vote after threatening to bring it down.

    Nevertheless, Berlusconi made a lastditch bid to save his seat this week, sending a letter to opposition senators warning them that kicking a threetime premier out of public office would tarnish Italy’s image abroad and weigh on their consciences, “a responsibility that in the future will shame you in front of your children, your electors and all Italians.”

  • Iran invites inspectors to visit Arak nuclear site, says the International Atomic Energy Agency

    Iran invites inspectors to visit Arak nuclear site, says the International Atomic Energy Agency

    VIENNA (TIP): The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will accept Iran’s invitation to send inspectors to visit its Arak heavy-water production plant on December 8, IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano said Thursday, November 28. “We have not yet answered, but it is for sure that we’ll do this activity,” he told reporters in Vienna, Austria. “We will visit the site, we will do our necessary activities and we will report the facts to the Board of Governors,” he said. But, he added, “I’m not in a position to share the details of the activities — this is a part of the safeguard activities, verification activities.”

    Over the weekend, Iran and six world powers, including the United States, reached an interim deal under which Iran agreed to limit its nuclear program in exchange for an easing of economic sanctions. As part of the six-month deal, Iran is required to dilute its stockpile of uranium enriched to 20%, halt all enrichment above 5% and dismantle the technical equipment required to do that enrichment. It also agreed to freeze essential work on the heavy-water reactor under construction at Arak, southwest of Tehran.

    But Amano noted that the invitation applies only to the heavy-water production plant, not the heavy-water reactor. Though the IAEA does not have inspectors stationed permanently in Iran, it has at minimum a team of two inspectors at any given time, and usually has two teams of two inspectors, he said. He added that his agency would probably need help to complete its task. “I don’t think we can cover everything by our own budget,” he said. The heavy-water reactor has been of concern to international powers because that facility could be used as a source of plutonium — a second pathway to a potential nuclear bomb.

    Questions about the Arak reactor’s fate had been a sticking point in earlier negotiations. Asked about the agreement that Iran will provide daily access to inspectors from the IAEA, Amano said, “We would like to understand the objective and we would like to make it meaningful and useful.” The inspectors will be expected to visit centrifuge assembly and storage facilities and uranium mills, as well as the Arak site. Iran insists it’s enriching uranium and building nuclear reactors only for peaceful civilian energy needs.

    ‘Welcome step’

    The IAEA has been following a parallel but separate track to the six world powers in negotiations with Iran. This month, the nuclear watchdog and Tehran agreed on a framework for further cooperation, and the IAEA said then that its inspectors would carry out a technical visit to the Arak plant “in the near future.” Iran has previously allowed IAEA inspectors access to the heavy-water reactor at Arak, said Shashank Joshi, a research fellow at the London-based Royal United Services Institute think tank, so the latest visit is a “welcome step” in terms of increased transparency but may not reveal much that’s new.

    The big question isn’t about inspection of the heavy-water reactor, which is not yet operational, but rather what might happen to it in the longer term, Joshi said. What concerns many in the international community is that the reactor is a type that some other countries have used to make nuclear weapons, he said. For that to happen, the spent fuel must be reprocessed to extract the plutonium. Iran’s agreement to freeze work at the Arak plant is more significant than it allowing the inspectors in, Joshi said.

    Tehran has said the plant could be operational next year, although most analysts believe its activation would be a lot further off, he said. The United States and other world powers do not want to see it ever switched on and would prefer Iran to turn it into a safer, light-water reactor, which produces less plutonium, he said. For its part, Iran has said it won’t build a reprocessing plant next to the reactor. The inspectors’ work in visiting the centrifuges used to enrich uranium may ultimately prove more important than monitoring the Arak plant, Joshi said. “The issue at the end of the day is going to be whether Iran allows the IAEA more transparency in exploring alleged military aspects, its alleged nuclear weapons program,” he said.

  • China’s recent behaviour has been unsettling to neighbours: US officials

    China’s recent behaviour has been unsettling to neighbours: US officials

    WASHINGTON (TIP): Recent actions by China concerning air space over the East China Sea have worried its neighbors and US Vice-President Joe Biden will raise the issue during a visit to Beijing next week, senior US administration officials said on November 27. Biden is due to visit China, Japan and South Korea during a week-long trip. He will seek to de-escalate tensions heightened after China demanded that airplanes flying near contested islands identify themselves to Chinese authorities, officials said.

    In a phone call with his Japanese counterpart on Wednesday, US defense secretary Chuck Hagel reaffirmed that the US-Japanese defense treaty covers the small island group where China established a new airspace defense zone last week. Hagel “commended the Japanese government for exercising appropriate restraint” following China’s announcement and pledged to consult closely with Tokyo to avoid unintended incidents around the islands, a Pentagon spokesman said. China recently declared identification rules for planes passing through the new airspace defense zone, raising the stakes in a territorial standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the contested islands.

    Defying those orders, two unarmed US B-52 bombers flew over the islands on Tuesday without informing Beijing and flights of Japan’s main airline similarly ignored Chinese authorities while flying through that air space. “The visit to China to creates an opportunity for the vice president to discuss directly with policy makers in Beijing this issue to convey our concerns directly and to seek clarity regarding Chinese intentions,” a senior administration official told reporters.

    “It also allows the vice president to make the broader point that there’s an emerging pattern of behavior that is unsettling to China’s own neighbors, and raising questions about how China operates in international space and how China deals with areas of disagreement with its neighbors,” the official said. Biden will not be making a demand on a specific issue but rather will raise the topic as part of talks spanning a range of themes, the official added.

  • 26/11 ATTACKS / Five years on, Pak’s ‘sham’ trial continues

    26/11 ATTACKS / Five years on, Pak’s ‘sham’ trial continues

    NEW DELHI (TIP): Exactly a month back when Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif met US President Barack Obama in Washington, the first thing the American leader inquired about was the progress in the trial of the seven accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks case in a Pakistani anti-terror court. Even the Americans are concerned over the fact that Pakistan has done precious little to bring to justice the masterminds of the audacious serial attacks on India’s financial capital, which left at least 166 persons killed and nearly 300 injured.

    Obama was only giving vent to his sense of frustration over the unending trial since there were four Americans among those killed. But the frustration is much more palpable in the corridors of power in New Delhi over the ‘sham trial’ as ties between India and Pakistan continue to plummet over justice being denied to the victims of the horrific attacks. As India observes the fifth anniversary of the Mumbai mayhem, Pakistan says New Delhi should not get fixated with Mumbai attacks while claiming that it was determined to take the Mumbai trial to its logical conclusion.

    There is little evidence to suggest that Pakistan is sincere about pursuing the trial while making tall claims about its commitment to proceed in the case. Not once but on several occasions in the past five years, Islamabad has complained that India has not provided it with sufficient evidence to proceed against the guilty. But an analysis of the amount of evidence India has submitted to Islamabad raises suspicions about Pakistan’s true intentions. Last month, India turned over five key documents to Pakistan, completing the full list of documents asked for by the neighbouring country for the trial of the accused.

    The Pakistan Judicial commission, which is probing h Mumbai attacks, was provided access to two key witnesses during its visit to Mumbai in September. The anti-terror court, which is conducting the trial of the seven accused presently in the custody of Pakistani authorities, has seen the change of judge on at least five occasions. Every time the court meets, it adjourns almost immediately without proceeding any further in the case.

  • Abu Salem gets 7-year RI in fake passport case

    Abu Salem gets 7-year RI in fake passport case

    Hyderabad (TIP): A special CBI court awarded seven-year rigorous imprisonment to extradited gangster Abu Salem in a fake passport case. Third special court judge for CBI cases MV Ramana Naidu had on November 18 held the underworld don guilty under different sections of Indian Penal Code for obtaining a passport under a fictitious name and address, from Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh. Salem, convicted earlier for criminal conspiracy and cheating under the IPC, was sentenced to seven years rigorous imprisonment (RI) and fined Rs 1,000 for each of the charge.

    Salem, also convicted on the charge of forgery for the purpose of cheating, was sentenced to one year RI, and also slapped with Rs 1,000 fine. He was also sentenced to oneyear RI each on the charges of cheating by impersonation and for using as genuine a forged document of the IPC. All sentences will run concurrently. “Salem has completed a term of around six years of imprisonment in the case,” CBI’s senior public prosecutor TV Ramana said. Salem was present in the court when the judgment was pronounced. After the verdict, he was taken back to Mumbai by the jail authorities there.