Clinton sees progress on Asia tour
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday wraps up a tour
of Asia dominated by thorny disputes, as she sees signs of progress in
working through problems with emerging powers between China and India.
Clinton's week-long trip was dominated by a crisis in China over
dissident Chen Guangcheng, who took refuge in the US embassy in Beijing,
and ended in India where usually friendly US ties have been tested by
disagreement on Iran.
Clinton, who meets Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna on Tuesday
before returning to Washington, has been pressing India to buy less from
Iran as a way to pressure the Islamic regime over its contested nuclear
programme. Clinton meeting Monday in Kolkata, west bengal, with Mamata Banerjee, seen as a rising star.Banerjee, who won West
Bengal's top job as chief minister last year .
In India more people live in poverty than in the whole of Africa. It
is a region where the most vulnerable women, babies and children are hit harder status of our social mecanisam.
Britain is working with the Government of Orisha, one of India's
poorest states, to build up government-led health service, which
alongside support from UNICEF, bring healthcare to all rural
communities. Last year the lives of 7,500 newborn babies were saved in Orisha because of better support for mums offered by healthcare services.
Thai billionaire who invented Red Bull energy drink died in Bangkok
The creator of Red Bull,Chaleo Yoovidhya was 89, who became one of the world's richest men,
thanks to the success of the fizzy, caffeine-laden drink, died in Bangkok .
The Thai billionaire came from very ordinary beginnings.Having been
born into a poor farming family in the northern province of Phichit, he
moved to Bangkok in search of work and ended up starting his own
company: TC Pharmaceuticals. One of his products was a tonic drink aimed
at keeping factory workers and truck drivers awake through long shifts.
Called Krating Daeng(In Thai for Red Bull ) the mixture of water, sugar,
caffeine, taurine, inositol and B vitamins provided the inspiration for
what is now the world's best-selling energy drink. Twenty-five years on, it is
sold in more than 79 countries. Sales in the UK alone is worth more
than £230m a year. The global brand, which the company claims
"gives wings to people who want to be mentally and physically active and
have a zest for life" has a number of spin-offs. These include two
football teams, Red Bull Salzburg in Austria and the New York Red Bulls
in the US, as well as Red Bull Formula One racing. Thanks to the soaring
sales of the drink, Mr Yoovidhya became the world's 205th richest man,
with a fortune of £5bn.( according to Forbes magazine). Showing no
lack of energy himself, he married twice, and had 11 children, five from
his first wife and six from the second. Mr Yoovidhya wsa a prominent legend in asian history.
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2012
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh (L) delivers a speech
during the opening ceremony of the tenth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas 2012 on an Overseas
Indian Conference in Jaipur,India.(Photo-Raveendran)
The stone temple that houses a secret room home to astrological theories in Chichen Itza, Yucatan, Mexico. A famously wise and advanced civilisation which was at its height between 250 and 900AD in the present-day Mexican state of Yucatan and Guatemala, have grabbed everyone’s attention.
For the first time, I heard it, a shattering noise, crackling pieces inside my soul.
The pain is ever lasting, just increases as time passes by, whoever said that time is the best healer.I wonder . . . I forgive, I try to keep myself busy, but I can’t seem to stop thinking of him. Mixed feelings, apprehension . . . I don’ know. Am I angry at you for walking away, or am I waiting for you to come back? I know you were lying to me all the while, but I choose to believe you. All time low, crazy, makes me dizzy. Tears brim , never seem to dry up . . . I turn to God for solace and prayer, no respite, yet.
I see my world falling apart, right here, I can touch the pieces, but I can’t do anything about it. I am helpless. I don’t want to drown in self-pity, I want to be happy, smile, and spread warmth, but you never cease to take over me.
I see so many faces around me, oblivion to all that I feel because I have a plastic smile. The strum of the guitar, the slightest vision of light, soft melodious notes, the dreams at night, all of them, all of them are filled with him.
It is not possible to fake happiness and peace . . .
Cambridge Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall goes to Mr Aiyar
Mani shankar Aiyar is the first south Asian in
over 50 years to get the honour to
sit on the High Table.
The controversial Congress
leader Mr Aiyer returned on tuesday 47 years
after he left Cambridge
University. He was honoured to be made an Honorary Fellow of Trinity Hall, his
alma mater, in recognition of his contribution to the“diplomatic and political life of the world's greatest democracy.”
Hajji Sir Khawaja Nazimuddin, (Bengali: খাজা নাজিমুদ্দীন Khaja Nazimuddin, Urdu: خواجہ ناظم الدین) Nawab of Dhaka( bangladesh), who was Pakistan's
second governor-general and became the Prime Minister of Pakistan, has had the same honour.
The first elected Bengali mayor Lutfur Rahman , London, United Kingdom.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Steve Warne
Steve Warne is an Australian documentary filmmaker with extensive
experience. He worked as a journalist for various TV stations, radio and
the print media. He has conducted 'Bangladox' -- a workshop for Young
film maker -- at the Dhaka International Film
Festival 2012.
The First elected Bengali as a member of Congress in United States, Mr.Hansen Clarke .
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François Hollande: France's Mr. Normal gets his chance to shine after 31 years of socialist era.
François Hollande
has won the presidency of France on the second and final round voting on 6th may, turning the tide on a rightward and
xenophobic lurch in European politics and vowing to transform Europe's handling of the economic crisis. The
57-year-old rural MP and self-styled Mr Normal, a moderate social
democrat from the centre of the Socialist party, is France's first
leftwing president for 17 years. His victory is a boost to the left in a continent that has gradually swung right since the economic crisis broke few years ago.
From the town of Tulle in his rural heartland of Corrèze in southwest
France, Hollande declared victory. "May 6 should be a great date for our
country, a new start for Europe, a new hope for the world.His mission was to go to European leaders to demand measures for "growth, jobs and prosperity",he said. Hollande also arged France had voted for change, Vowing that
France would no longer be fractured, divided or riven by discrimination,
or those in the poor high-rise suburbs and abandoned rural areas cast
aside, he said: "No child of the republic will be abandoned."
French presidential election:first round
• Hollande takes 28.63% and Sarkozy 27.18%
• Marine Le Pen comes third with 17.90% of vote. The definitive figures: Recorded votes : 35 885 845
Abstention: 20,53% François Hollande 28,63% (10 273 475 votes)
Nicolas Sarkozy 27,18% (9 754 324 votes)
Marine Le Pen 17,90% (6 421 808 votes)
Jean-Luc Mélenchon 11,10% (3 985 088 votes)
François Bayrou 9,13% (3 275 390 votes)
Eva Joly 2,31% (828 392 votes)
Nicolas Dupont-Aignan 1,79% (644 065 votes)
Philippe Poutou 1,15% (411 183 votes)
Nathalie Arthaud 0,56% (202 562 votes)
Jacques Cheminade 0,25% (89 558 votes)
The official first results in the French Presidential Election were scheduled to come at 20:00 GMT, even as unofficial allies by Belgian and Swiss news sites had been circulating the
results throughout the day. Sunday the 22 april at 18:00 the result was as follows:
How do French women live long?
FRENCH women live the longest in Europe and the second-longest in the world, after the Japanese;so what’s the secret?
Women’s magazine Femme Actuelle says the answer lies in diet, exercise
and a healthy lifestyle. It recommends a handful of walnuts a day as
part of its key recipe to beat off old age, along with broccoli, white
tea (Camellia sinensis), grapes and oily fish. Editorial director Maryse Bonnet said family meals also play a part:
“French women live longer because they eat with the family at the table
and have a varied diet of fruit, vegetables, dairy products and proteins
– plus they ban snacks between meals, ban crisps and fizzy drinks, but
they allow a little chocolate and drink good wines in moderation (never
beer).
Royal Edinburgh Hospital researcher Dr David Week also showed in a study
of 3,500 people that making love three times a week could help you to
live 10 years longer. Almost the same tale from the world’s longest-lived woman, Jeanne
Calment, who died in 1997 at the age of 122. She said the secret of her
longevity was the olive oil in her diet, but said she also enjoyed
chocolate. The University of Pittsburgh study said those walking at one metre a
second and higher lived longer than average, and it found that the
faster older people walked the longer-lived they were.
Glencore and Xstrata set for £50bn mining mega-merger---Nick
Goodway
Glencore, the world's largest commodities trader, is set
to merge with miner Xstrata in a deal that is worth just over £50 billion. The all-share "merger of equals" would create a commodities super-giant to rank
with BHP Biliton, Rio Tinto and Anglo American.
Xstrata told the London Stock Exchange, where both companies are in the FTSE
100 that it "has received an approach from, and is in discussions with, Glencore
International Plc regarding an all-share merger of equals which may or may not
lead to an offer being made by Glencore for Xstrata". Xstrata and Glencore are both headquartered in Switzerland.Glencore trades across the range of commodities from metals to foodstuffs, owns
a shipping fleet and employs almost 55,000 people in 30 countries. Xstrata has
mines in 18 in countries, holds a 24.9% stake in Lonmin and employs 39,000
people.
When spring starts peeping it's little green shoots up through the earth, I get the urge to wear a new perfume. The fragrance does not have to be light or floral, but it must makes me feel the pure joy of spring after a long cold winter. The first hint of green, the sight of a fragrant lily of the valley when arctic blasts are still turning my fingers blue, and the first chirp of a finch … these are the things that bring a smile to my face and a bounce to my rubber boot–clad. That is what I want in my spring fragrance—and if the bottle is beautiful ? Bonus!
Just one milligram of the sex drug can give them another week of life, according to TV gardener David Domoney. He said: "You only need a tiny amount of Viagra to stiffen things up nicely. Just 1 mg - there are 50mg in a single tablet - dissolved into water with your plants will make them last a week long." "Viagra contains nitric oxide - which slows down the dying process in plants. The same chemical relaxes the muscles in a man's penis - allowing the blood rush which is how Viagra perks things up in men, too. "We are very similar to plants - our genetics are compatible in many ways. Now scientists are working on ways to market a gardeners' version of Viagra for plants. "Soluble aspirin also works in the same way, too. Put one tablet into some wilting flowers and the effervescence will prolong their life."
why not take a more measured approach to a happier, healthier you? From your office to your bedroom, these small changes can have a big impact on daily life:
1. Wake up ten minutes earlier: When you start your morning in a frantic sprint, you set a stressful tone for the day. Even ten extra minutes in the morning can help you feel more calm, collected, and ready to face the day.
2. Spend five minutes in silence or meditation: You will soon realize, whether it’s in the morning or evening, that five minutes of sitting quietly with your eyes closed feels a lot longer than five minutes. But just this short respite can foster a tranquility that carries through the day. When things go off the rails as they inevitably do, simply close your eyes and recall that earlier quietude.
3. Make your bed: I once heard the saying, “Messy bed, messy head,” and it is true. I was not always a bed-maker, but once I started I realized what a difference just pulling up the sheets and straightening the pillows made in my general outlook for the day. Plus, a made bed is much more inviting to climb into at night.
4. Walk: Is there one trip you’d normally make in the car (to work, the gym, the store) that you can make on foot? Walking saves money (good for you) and gas (good for the environment) and burns calories (around 2,000 steps equal one mile). Need motivation? Take a pedometer (there’s one on many iPods and phones) with you.
5. Swap your latte for tea: Those sugary coffee drinks we suck down can actually drain our energy, as well as our wallets. A Starbucks grande latte with skim milk has 150 mg caffeine, 130 calories, and 18 grams of sugar and will set you back almost $4 (or over $1,000 a year). Avoid a sugar crash and ditch your caffeine crutch by switching to tea (black has just 14-61 mg caffeine). Spice it up with lemon and honey or agave syrup instead of sugar.
6. Swap your Coke for water: Studies have linked soda to kidney damage, weight gain, tooth decay and bone loss. Especially if you consume more than one a day, consider trading a can for a cup of water. 7. Compliment someone: Don’t wait for one. Give one. Compliments are great conversation starters and when you give a lift, you feel a lift. 8. Tell someone you love them: Life is never long enough to say this as many times as it should be said. Whether your mother or a friend or a significant other heck or your dog, make it a habit to tell someone at least once a day that you love him or her. While it may feel strange at first, you will never regret it. 9. Sign up for an savings account:Setting aside a portion of your paycheck each month can be painful. But if you sign up to have your bank save a little bit for you every day (for example, Bank of America’s Keep the Change program, which rounds every debit purchase up to the dollar and automatically deposits the difference into your savings), you’ll hardly even notice. It’s not a retirement plan, but it’s something ! 10. Turn out the lights: Taking just two minutes to switch off your lights and electronics when you’re going to be away from home (or the room) can save you hundreds of dollars a year on your electricity bill. Plus, it’s earth friendly. Everybody wins. 11. Stand or sit up straight: Good posture prevents back and neck pain and projects—and even boosts—confidence. One trick when driving: tilt your rearview mirror up a bit. You’ll have to sit up to see. At your desk, the top of your computer screen should be at eye level. Put a small cushion in the curve of your lower back, and your spine will fall into alignment. 12. Replace your pillow. A lumpy, overstuffed, or flat pillow could be keeping you from a good night’s sleep. (Not to mention the gross statistics about dead skin cells and dust mites.) Experts say quality pillows should be replaced every two to three years; cheap ones more often. Here’s the test: fold your pillow in half and hold it like that for 30 seconds. If it doesn’t spring back when you release it, it’s time to shop for a new one.
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DAVID CAMERON marked the Olympics by promising the greatest Games ever in Uk history. 
The PM took his entire Cabinet to the stadium in east London as he promised “the whole country” would benefit from the sporting spectacular.
The venues at Stratford’s Olympic Park will today be handed over to organisers on time and on budget.
Mr Cameron hailed the “massive legacy” the Games will bring to Britain, saying businesses and tourism will get a much-needed £1billion boost. He said it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put the UK on the world stage.
The PM said: “This is the perfect time for the Cabinet to come together and ensure we are doing everything we can to make the most of this unique opportunity to showcase all the great things the UK has to offer to the rest of the world.
“We are absolutely determined to maximise the benefits of 2012 for the whole country.”
He confirmed that six out of the eight Olympic venues now have owners in place when the Games and Paralympics finish, with deals for the others expected before July’s opening ceremony.
London 2012 Organising Committee boss Lord Coe said: “The handover of the Olympic Park sounds the starting pistol in the race to get the site ready to host the two biggest sporting events on the planet.”
Number of Dutch HIV infections stabilises
811 people were diagnosed with HIV in the Netherlands in
2011, according to the HIV Monitoring Foundation. That figure is similar
to the number in 2010.
In total, there are approximately 19,500 people in the Netherlands who
are known to have HIV or AIDS. Approximately 4 out of 5 are male.
Homosexual contact among men is by far the biggest risk factor for
contracting HIV in the Netherlands. Over 72 percent of all infections
come from sex between men. But the trend of recent years, that the
number of infections among gay men has been on the rise, has been
broken.
The number of new cases of AIDS last year was between 250 and 300,
according to the HIV Monitoring Foundation. The number of people who
actually die from AIDS is declining.
(dcf/imm)
© Radio Netherlands Worldwide
This winter and next are the ideal times to view the magical Aurora Borealis.
This is an exceptional winter for the aurora borealis. Solar activity is at a
cyclical peak, turning the usual solar breeze into gales of free electrons
travelling at almost one million miles per hour. This year the state of luminous
excitation may reach more people than usual – by extending the spectacle into
lower latitudes than normally afford a view of the aurora borealis.
You need not dispense entirely with urban pleasures on a
Northern Lights trip; indeed, this could be the year when inhabitants of some important cities get a rare glimpse of the phenomenon. The optimum latitudes are 10 to 20 degrees from the magnetic
North Pole, with the chances of success diminishing with every degree further.
Northern Canada and northern Alaska are prospective candidates. Looking at the
map, northern Siberia should be, too – although the far north of Russia is
difficult and expensive to reach. It is also viciously cold and largely lacking
in any kind of tourism infrastructure. And, given the location of the magnetic
pole on the far side of the Arctic Ocean, unhelpfully located.
In contrast, Iceland and Lapland – the northern portions of
Norway, Sweden and Finland – lie close to, or inside, the Arctic Circle, yet are
far warmer than comparable latitudes elsewhere on the planet and have reasonable
provision for travellers. The other big Baltic cities – Stockholm, Oslo, Helsinki and St
Petersburg – are within a degree of each other, which is shared by
lovely Lerwick in Shetland,uk. The Nordic capital with the northernmost latitude is
Reykjavik, Rovaniemi in Finland , Tromso in north Norway and Longyearbyen on Spitsbergen.
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The Mars rover Opportunity 
The Mars rover Opportunity is snapping pictures like a tourist since
arriving at its latest crater on the Red Planet, much to the delight of
scientists many millions of miles away.
The solar-powered workhorse beamed back images of the horizon, soil
and nearby rocks that are unlike any it has seen during its seven years
roaming the Martian plains.
Opportunity is doing more than just sightseeing. It recently spent a
chunk of time using its robotic arm to investigate a flat-topped
boulder to find out what it's made of.
After a three-year drive, the six-wheel rover finally rolled up to
the western rim of Endeavour Crater earlier this month to begin a new
chapter of exploration.
Project managers chose the locale because it's older and different
than previous spots Opportunity has visited. The view from orbit reveals
tantalising evidence of clay deposits believed to have formed in a warm
and wet environment early in Mars' history.
The next task will be to search for more ancient rocks and hunt for
the elusive clay minerals, said the mission's deputy principal
investigator, Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St Louis.
Opportunity's latest feat comes months after Nasa bid farewell to
its identical twin Spirit. Both rovers parachuted to opposite ends of
the red planet in 2004 and lasted years beyond their original
three-month task.
Spirit fell silent last year not long after it got mired in a sand
trap. Nasa diligently listened for a signal from the rover and gave up
in late May.
To commemorate Spirit, the rover team named a spot on Endeavour Crater Spirit Point.
Opportunity will soon have company on the surface. Nasa is set to
launch a mobile laboratory named Curiosity in November after a two-year
delay.
The age of criminal responsibility
The age of criminal responsibility in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is 10 – but a report by the Royal Society, the world's oldest scientific academy, says that may be ‘unreasonably low’. The report was produced to examine the state of neuroscience and how it might apply to the legal system in the UK. Nicholas Mackintosh, emeritus professor of experimental psychology at the University of Cambridge and the study’s leader, said ‘the science says a 10-year-old brain is still immature and developing’ and he added that the brain generally isn't fully developed until age 20. The report stated: ‘It is clear that at the age of 10 the brain is developmentally immature, and continues to undergo important changes linked to regulating one's own behaviour. ‘There is concern among some professionals in this field that the age of criminal responsibility in the UK is unreasonably low, and the evidence of individual differences suggests that an arbitrary cut-off age may not be justifiable.’ There has long been a debate in Britain about the age of criminal responsibility, provoked in part by the 1993 killing of Liverpool toddler James Bulger by Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, both 10.
The film, starring Meryl Street, made £2.15million in its opening weekend as thousands of cinema-goers in the West End were unable to buy tickets and screenings sold out. Just under half of all ticket sales were in the capital and South East although just a quarter of the population live in those london areas of United Kingdom.
There was a time when, if you wanted to get a divorce, complain about your
doctor or fall out with a colleague, the only people who could help you were
lawyers – and the only place to settle things was the cold, adversarial
surroundings of the courtroom.
Now, a new breed of professional is increasingly taking up the burden of
dispute resolution in nearly every sector of the law: the mediator – a neutral
third party observer who does not take sides, but tries to help both parties
come to an agreement before they call in the lawyers – avoiding the courts, the
emotional fallout and, crucially, the legal fees.
At a time of economic stagnation and government penny-pinching, it is one of
the few professions that is actually expanding. Its practitioners believe it has
the potential to revolutionise the British legal system.
"There are more people training to be mediators than there have ever been,"
said Neil Robinson, vice-chairman of the Family Mediator's Association, which
represents 420 mediators. "We've had 800 years of an adversarial legal system
and it will take a couple of generations for it to set in – but it's getting
there."
The Syrian National Council, an umbrella of several opposition groups, wants international action to safeguard civilians. It has called for “safe zones” or “no-fly zones,” but no boots on the ground. “There would be international intervention, not necessarily a NATOoperation, but the creation of safe zones and safe routes that would protect civilians,” said Murhaf Jouejati, a Syrian National Council member. “The regime is continuing to use lethal force against civilians, despite international condemnation, so this action is necessary.” Syrian forces have killed more than 5,000 people since the start of the uprising in March, according to the United Nations. Most anti-Assaddemonstrators have been unarmed. The Syrian National Council wants to oust the Assad regime and its security forces, but keep government institutions intact.
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