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Follow us on Vol.5 No. 33 December 1-7, 2012 60 Cents New York Edition TheSouthAsianTimes.info

US-Pak ties fully repaired: Pakistan foreign minister

Pakistan's foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar

Islamabad: Pakistan and the US have restored full military and intelligence ties after relations hit a low point last year, and Islamabad will take further steps to support Afghan peace process, Pakistan's foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar said Wednesday.

Full cooperation between Islamabad and Washington is critical to US efforts to stabilize Afghanistan before most NATO combat troops withdraw by 2014. "There was a difficult patch and I think we've moved away from that into a positive trajectory," Khar told Reuters, referring to relations with US which were severely strained by incidents in 2011. The crisis began when a CIA contractor shot dead two men by mistake in Lahore. Months later, US special

forces killed Osama bin Laden in a raid and kept the Pakistan military in the dark. Then a NATO air raid mistakenly killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border. In response, Pakistan expelled US military trainers and CIA agents and placed limits on the numbers of visas given to US diplomats. Pakistan, which relies heavily on American aid, also closed supply routes for trucks carrying supplies to US-led NATO Continued on page 4

UN GIVES PALESTINIANS STATE STATUS

New York: The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday endorsed an upgraded UN status for the Palestinian Authority, despite intense opposition from the US and Israel. The resolution elevates their status from "non-member observer entity" to "nonmember observer state," the same category as the Vatican, which will provide new leverage in their dealings with Israel, reports CNN. Continued on page 4

Zee chief seeks time to join police probe in extortion case

New Delhi: Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra has sought more time from Delhi Police to join probe into allegations that two senior journalists of his news channels tried to extort Rs.100 crore from industrialist and Congress MP Naveen Jindal's company, police said. Police had served notice on Chandra Wednesday, asking him to join probe after the arrest of Zee News editor Sudhir Chaudhary and Zee Business editor Samir Ahluwalia following complaint by Jindal Steel and Power Ltd claiming that money was sought to block airing a negative story over coal block allocation. Chandra said he was abroad till Dec 5. Police had also told a local court Wednesday that they were treating Chandra as an accused as he knew about the dealings between his employees and Jindal's company.
Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra

A jubilant Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said: We came to affirm the legitimacy of the state that must now achieve its independence.

Asked whether investigators would approach court seeking issuance of a warrant, a senior police officer said they will take such a decision if there is a need. "At the moment, it does not seem so," said DCP S.B.S. Tyagi. Continued on page 4

Bobby Kumar is Malawis Special Liaison for South Asia

By Parveen Chopra Hicksville, NY: A charismatic Indian American political leader, Bobby Kumar Kalotee, has been appointed Special Liaison Envoy of the Republic of Malawi to the South Asian region, especially India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. This was announced at a reception Thursday given here by the Indian and other communities congratulating Bobby Kumar on this singular honor. Bobby Kumar, who is Chairman of the All American Political Party, USA, told the Continued on page 4

Bobby Kumar Kalotee with Jack Brewer, NFL star and Senior Adviser to the President of Malawi.

A map of Israel and Palestine areas of West Bank and Gaza (marked in green).

US Affairs 10

Op Ed 19

Self Help 27

Spiritual Awareness 30

excellence in journalism

December 1-7, 2012

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Ranju Batra among 3 honored at NYC Comptrollers Diwali event

New York: New York City Comptroller John C. Liu hosted a Diwali celebration at Surrogates Courthouse on Chambers Street here and honored three prominent members of the Indian community. The honorees were Subhash Kapadia, board member of the Jackson Heights Merchants Association, Ranju Batra, President, Association of Indians in America-NY, and Dr. Devbala Ramanathan, well-known obstetrician and gynecologist. John Liu cited Ranju Batra for her dedication and distinguished service to the community and New York City. New York State Assemblyman David Weprin, in his remarks, acknowledged the Indian community and identified Ranju and Ravi Batra as an example of the level of contribution that can be made. In her acceptance speech, Ranju Batra, who headed AIA's Silver Diwali in October at the South St. Seaport, the largest such celebration in North America, said she was touched by the honor. I am happy that our dear friend Subhash Kapadia is also being honored tonight and I congratulate Dr. Devbala Ramanathan too, she said. Ranju Batra thanked Comptroller Liu for his constant support for the Indian American community, and added, When you were chairman of the Transportation Committee of the City Council, your leadership made every New Yorker love Diwali because you voted to make it a parking holiday. Your support for so many communities has helped the city feel like a neighborhood that belongs to all of us. I have had the joy of being a member of your Diwali Committee when you were in the City Council and now, while you are Comptroller of NYC. She pointed out that she continued to work closely with Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney on her pet project: the issuance of a Diwali Stamp by the USPS. Among those present at the celebration were Sujata Thakur, Regional Director of India

New York City Comptroller John C. Liu wishing the audience a Happy Diwali. Ranju Batra was honored for her dedication and distinguished service to the community and New York City. Joining NYC Comptroller John Liu in honoring her were Democratic party leader Uma Sengupta and New York State Assemblyman David Weprin.(Photos: Mohammed Jaffer/SnapsIndia)

Ranju Batra making her acceptance speak, listened on by John Liu, honorees Dr. Devbala Ramanathan and Subhash Kapadia, and David Weprin.

Tourism, Shiv Dass, also of Jackson Heights Merchants Association, Dr. Uma Mysorekar, President of the Hindu Temple Society of North America, Mr. Kathuria of Hindu Center, Democratic party leader Uma Sengupta, Dr. Urmilesh Arya and Suneel Modi, both of AIA-NY.

The distinguished audience enjoying a cultural performance at the Diwali celebration.

Shahi Qawwals from Ajmer perform at the UN

New York: On the occasion of India's Presidency of the UN Security Council in November, the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations hosted a special musical concert on Monday at the UN with the theme of "Love Towards All, Malice Towards None", a core Indian belief. The concert featured the first ever performance at the UN by the Shahi Qawwals from the Holy Shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty, Ajmer. The evening also had renditions from the Alleluia Choir, with children from the Skymusic Ensemble, and the UN Symphony Orchestra playing the Wind Quintet. Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Jan Eliasson, was the Chief Guest. In his remarks, he voiced sincere appreciation for India's role at the UNSC and emphasized that it was important for multilateral bodies like the UN to send out a message of love, peace
The Sufi concert featured the first ever performance at the UN by the Shahi Qawwals from the much revered Holy Shrine of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty, Ajmer. (Photos: Mohammed Jaffer/SnapsIndia)

Haji Syed Salman Chishty (middle), Director of the Chishty Foundation, Ajmer, presenting a memento to the Ambassadors Hardeep Singh Puri and Manjeev Singh Puri.

and tolerance, especially through cultural events. The event had a packed audience of 500 plus, which included over 50 Permanent Representatives of UN Member states, and several dignitaries including Amb. Vijay Nambiar, the Special Adviser on Myanmar to UN Secretary-General. Amb. Hardeep Singh Puri, Permanent Representative of India to UN, emphasized that the message of Khwaja Nizamuddin Chishty, of "Love Towards All, Malice Towards None'' was also the message that

'1.2 billion Indians believed in, and hoped that rest of the world would also, soon abide by.' Led by the Director of the Chishty Foundation, Haji Syed SalmanChishty, the Shahi Qawwals visit from Ajmer was sponsored by the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR). The event also coincided with the 800th 'Urs' of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty. Earlier on the same day, the Permanent Mission of India along with the Department of Public

Information of the UN also cohosted an Interfaith Dialogue featuring a Panel Discussion on "Unlearning Intolerance : Dialogue, Faith and Integration", which included eminent speakers like Dr. Deepak Chopra, Dr. Neal King, Rabbi Joseph Potasnik and Roland Schatz. The Panel Discussion also affirmed the need for tolerance, inclusive nature and an affirmation of the unity of the human family, as flowing from the muticulturalism and pluralism represented in India.

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December 1-7, 2012

Ban Ki-moon unveils Aakash2 tablet at UN

ple's lives, he encouraged partners around the world to work with the UN to help young people reach for the sky (Aakash in Hindi means sky) and meet their dreams. In his welcome address, Ambassador Hardeep Singh Puri, Permanent Representative of India to the UN, noted that the device represented the 'actualization the an idea of development innovation' which had the potential to fundamentally alter the development discourse. Emphasizing that the innovation seeks to empower and give access to quality education for all, he called for the need to promote research and innovation in national institutions and create an eco-system of excellence right from the elementary level up to the institutions of highend research and innovation. He emphasized that by partnering with key initiatives such as these, the UN development system would be able to 'force multiply' to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of universal education and global partnership. The architect of the device and CEO of Datawind, Suneet Singh Tuli, who flew in from Canada for the launch at the UN, also made a presentation and outlined that the purpose of the device was not to create an 'Ipad killer' but to create a device for the most needy sections of society at costs that they could easily afford. Terming it a product of 'frugal innovation', Mr Tuli outlined that the device incorporated the best of innovative hardware design with a unique business model, and reflected Indian Government's commitment to eliminating illiteracy by equipping all 220 million students in India over the next five years with low cost computers and internet. The Indian government is giving $20 subsidy on each tablet, half the cost. An interactive Q&A Session followed the presentations.

Sahara buys 2 iconic Manhattan hotels

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Indias PR to UN, Amb. Hardeep S. Puri and Aakash 2 tablet developer Suneet Singh Tuli at the launch of the $40 device.

The Indian group acquired New York Plaza (left) and Dream Downtown (this one from Chatwals) for $800 million

United Nations: On the occasion of India's Presidency of the UN Security Council, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in New York hosted a special event to unveil and launch the world's most cost competitive tablet ($40 apiece) Aakash2 at the here on Wednesday. The tablet was unveiled by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the event attended by 500 plus invitees, including 65 Ambassadors/PRs, media delegates, NGOs and select members of the Indian community. In his remarks, Ban Ki-moon congratulated India on its Presidency of the Security Council during an 'extremely challenging month' and emphasized that India was a critical player on security issues. Terming India as a 'superpower on the information superhighway', he appreciated the launch of technologies such as the Aakash2, which helped bridge the digital divide. Calling them as 'great enablers' with potential to transform peo-

Mumbai: Subrata Roy-promoted diverse Sahara Group has acquired two iconic New York hotels - New York Plaza and Dream Downtown, located near Manhattan's Central Park, for around $800 million. The Group, which had acquired Grosvenor House in London in 2010, is said to be looking at buying more landmark properties in New York to build a portfolio of luxury hotels. According to a report in Times of India, the Sahara Group will acquire a 75% stake in Plaza Hotel for $570

million, while Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal will continue to hold a 25% stake. Sahara bought Dream Downtown from hotelier Vikram Chatwal for $220 million. Dream Downtown, featuring 315 loft-style rooms and suites, was a prized property of the Chatwals. Both Plaza and Dream would continue to be looked after by the existing management. It could not be immediately ascertained as to how Sahara would finance the two deals.

Sinha murder: Contreras pleads guilty

New Jersey: Steven Contreras, one of the five accused in the fatal attack on Prof Divyendu Sinha has pleaded guilty to second degree charge of "Conspiracy to Commit Aggravated Assault" in a plea bargain deal a day before his jury retrial was to begin on Nov 27. Contreras, 19, was to be retried on a reckless manslaughter charge for the death of the 49-year-old computer scientist. If convicted, he faced up to 10 years in prison. In June, a Superior Court jury convicted the teen of aggravated assault, conspiracy and hindering but acquitted him of murder and aggravated manslaughter. The jury failed to reach a decision on the reckless manslaughter charge and a plea deal was rejected by the defense. Middlesex County prosecutors had offered Contreras three to five years in state prison on all charges if he pleaded guilty to reckless manslaughter and agreed to testify against his four co-defendants, according to The Star-Ledger. If sentenced he now faces jail term of up to four years. This paves way for the next trial of four co-defendants - Julian Daley, Christopher Conway, Cash Johnson and Christian Tinli. Contreras's guilty plea to a second degree conspiracy charge becomes significant as it may help in establishing the other four as co-conspirators in the next trial.

Powerball produces two lucky winners, neither of which is me

By Vikas Girdhar New York: A major part of me actually debated how I was going to divvy up my winnings among myself, my family and my friends for the greater part of Wednesday evening. I sat by myself and thought about what my first major purchase was going to be, as if I was going to defy all odds and actually win this thing. I bought two tickets, both computer-chosen, and hoped for the best. One in 175 million chance, and I was going to defy the odds and be that one, I told myself. Alas, I was wrong. Dead wrong. Not only did I not win, but no one in my state did either. Powerball produced two winning tickets late The rate at which lottery tickets were being purchasedan astounding 130,000 per minutewas six times the volume from one week ago. As the numbers 05-16-22-23-29 and Powerball 06 were announced on Wednesday night, disappointments swelled the nation. So inevitably, I was not one of the Powerball winners. I was also, however, not one of the eight people who won $2 million or even one of the 58 people who won a cool $1 million. As of Thursday morning, the names of the winners had not yet been released but Missouri and Arizona Powerball officials were thrilled to have produced millionaires in those states.

Wednesday night, hailing from Missouri and Arizona- the names of the winners were not released immediately. The $579.9 million jackpot was one of the largest Powerball giveouts ever and had to be rolled over 16 times without an actual winner before this huge sum culminated. The largest total ever was earlier this year, at $656 million that was divided among three people.

December 1-7, 2012

TURN PAGE
UN gives Palestinians State Status story Continued from page 1 Palestinian leaders had been working with many supporting nations to develop a formal draft, enlisting the backing of European countries such as France and Spain. The vote was 138 delegates in favor of the measure, nine against and 41 abstentions, including Germany. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the move, which many call symbolic, represents a "last chance to save the two-state solution." It comes on the heels of an eightday conflict that raged between Israel and Hamas fighters, where a series of airstrikes and rocket launches drew international attention and threatened regional stability. "We did not come here seeking to delegitimize a state established years ago, and that is Israel; rather we came to affirm the legitimacy of the state that must now achieve its independence, and that is Palestine," he said. The United States and Israel have remained steadfast in their opposition, saying the move will not advance the cause of Middle East peace. Meanwhile, Indias Ambassador to the UN, Hardeep Singh Puri, said in his capacity as President of Security Council on the occasion of International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People (Nov 29): The Security Council remains committed to a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East, based on the vision of a region where two democratic States, Israel and Palestine, live side by side in peace within secure and recognized borders. US Pak ties story Continued from page 1 forces in Afghanistan. US has been

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Balasaheb Thackerays death an irreparable loss to 900 million Hindus W
e are deeply saddened at the passing away of Shiv Sena Chief Balasaheb Thackeray in Mumbai and express our condolence to his family and millions of Hindus all over the world. Thackeray was an embodiment of courage and valor, a powerful orator, a consummate communicator; and forthright in his thinking. A legendary name, particularly in Maharashtra, who was loved by nationalists and feared by separatists. He was a de facto ruler of Mumbai and Maharashtra. He was endowed with mental strength which enabled him to venture and confront danger. He was a fearless fighter, a legend who knew how to capture the collective imagination of the people he wanted to lead. Thackeray derived his inspiration from the great Hindu warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He created a sense of pride and selfrespect among Hindu people for their history, civilization, country and dharma. He was darling of millions of people. It is reported that approximately two million people participated in his funeral procession. He was known as Hindu Hridaya Samrat (ruler of Hindus heart). His death has created a void which is very difficult to fill. Narain Kataria President, Indian American Intellectuals Forum

Former foes meet at White House

Three weeks after a heartbreaking loss to President Barack Obama, Gov. Mitt Romney met him for a private lunch at the White House Thursday. They spoke of American leadership in the world. They pledged to keep in touch; maybe even work together.

Why did Savita have to die?

T
he cruel irony of fate befell on Dr Savita Halappanavar, a 31year-old dentist who succumbed to death two weeks ago, after a week of hospitalization, with severe pain at the start of a miscarriage. She was 17 weeks pregnant with her first child. Doctors refused her requests to remove the fetus until its heartbeat stopped four days after her hospitalization, but it was too late to bring Savita out of danger. At the fully equipped university hospital in Ireland, inappropriate medical management due to restrictions of anti-abortion law cost Savita her life. I can feel the rage of Savitas husband, watching her being systematically murdered, as the law would not allow a life saving abortion. So Gods Principles ended up taking two lives. And here is my take on the fundamental ideological differences of the Thinkers of the west. Religion was devised to keep the society civil. We should be smart enough to remove the blindfold of baseless sentimental extremism that turns into abdominal acts against humanity. I am sure along with Savita and her husband, the Supreme Being somewhere up there would be sobbing. If this is not religious fanaticism, then what is? Dr. Akshat Jain MD New York

accusing Pakistan's ISI of backing Afghan insurgent groups. Pakistan denies that. Pakistan recently released midlevel Afghan Taliban prisoners to help facilitate peace talks between the militant group and the Kabul government, the clearest sign it was committed to advancing Afghan reconciliation. Zee chief story Continued from page 1 Another official added that notice was served to Chandra after an analysis of call data records allegedly showed that Chaudhary and Ahluwalia had spoken to Chandra immediately after their first meeting with JSPL representatives at Hyatt Hotel. "We want to probe Chandra's alleged role in the case and to unearth the entire conspiracy as it is suspected that he was aware of the meetings. We want to ascertain if he knew about the alleged extortion bid," the officer added.

Bobby Kumar story Continued from page 1 SATimes that he was introduced to the people, the country and the President of Malawi by Jack Brewer, Senior Adviser to the southeast African countrys President, and that he was grateful to the NFL star and founder of the Jack Brewer Foundation. At the reception at Antuns, Jack Brewer read out Malawi President Joyce Bandas letter appointing Bobby Kumar to the South Asian region. Your goal will be to facilitate our relationship with these countries and make improvements in the area of agriculture of Malawi, the letter says. Malawi is one of the worlds least developed countries. Bobby Kumar said that assisting Malawi in its endeavor to rebuild and restructure its government through its Economic Recovery Program will be my priority. Many of the communities leading lights spoke at the event heaping fulsome praise on Bobby Kumar, who is always loving and helpful.

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December 1-7, 2012

Nargis Dutt foundation and Shanti Fund pitch in for Sandy relief
NDMF donates $21,000, Shanti Fund gives $5001 to Red Cross at Nassau County Executive Office
Mineola, NY: In a simple and sober ceremony, Nassau County Executive Edward P. Mangano and American Red Cross officials accepted donations for Hurricane Sandy relief operations from two prominent organizations on Long Island. Nargis Dutt Memorial Foundation (NDMF) presented a check of $21,000 and Volunteers of Shanti Fund gave $5,001 the day before Thanksgiving at the County Executives office here. Sandy hit Long Island on October 29 and caused power outages and merciless destruction. Even though the transit and transportation system was shut down well in time, very few anticipated the havoc and hardship that ensued. In fact, things are still not normal for many people in the worst hit areas. More than prayers and sympathy, money is needed to get over this. Hon. Mangano admired the generous contributions --a timely gesture of both NDMF and Shanti Fund, and presented citations to them. He went on to praise the contributions of Indian-Americans in every field. The Red Cross was represented by Rebecca Nelson and Craig Cooper. Kamlesh Mehta, the Countys Director of Business and Economic Development, praised NDMF and Shanti Fund, whose work he said he was well versed with. He observed that the first generation IndianAmericans with professional careers have done well for themselves as well as for the community and society. However, many of those who

Sher S. Madra (fifth from left), Chairman of Nargis Dutt Memorial Cancer Foundation, along with its Board of Directors presents a check of $21,000 for Hurricane Sandy Relief efforts to the American Red Cross through the office of the Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano. (Photos: Michael Tamborrino)

Prof. Andali Raghunath, Shudh Jasuja, Arvind Vora, Craig Cooper, Ila Vora, County Executive Ed Mangano, Rebecca Nelson of Red Cross (who accepted the check of $5,001 from Volunteers of Shanti Fund), Rashmin Master, Kishan Lal and Peter Bheddah at the event.

came here in the last decade or two are not necessarily as well off. It is high time that community organizations took leadership role to make available government resources to uplift them, he said. He assured all present that the County Executive and Social Services Department are willing to provide necessary resources to the deserving families. Mehta then invited others to speak. Introducing Arvind Vora of Shanti Fund, he said Vora has contributed immensely to our community and society at large with Mahatma Gandhis philosophy and message. The Funds volunteers like him are reaching out to local schools to promote peace, nonviolence and enlightenment through education. Vora is a oneman army and has done more than most and better than best, he said.

Mr. Arvind Vora said Volunteers of Shanti Fund appreciates the prompt action taken by Hon Mangano before and after Sandy hit. He informed that Shanti Fund was also giving a check of $5,001 for Sandy relief in Suffolk county. Vora said their first big event was in 1993 when $10,000 was raised in less than two weeks for earthquake relief work in Maharashtra. Then too the money was handed over to the Red Cross (in the presence of the then Suffolk County Executive Robert J. Gaffney). Shanti Fund, he said, is a unique community organization sans membership fees, elections, President, or Chairman, since there is endless work and one should selflessly do ones best. He mentioned that as a result of many bridge building events be-

tween our community and the mainstream, the Suffolk County officially entrusted the Shanti Fund to erect a Gandhi Memorial anywhere in the county. Currently the lifesize bronze statue of Gandhiji, sculpted by an American artist, is gracing the Suffolk County Executive Office Building in Hauppauge, NY. The statue is only a symbol, Vora said, as the real work is to spread the message to the next generation, which Shanti Fund has been doing for the last decade by reaching out to thousands of students in Long Island schools. Vora thanked Mr. Rashmin Master, Prof. Andali Raghunath and Mrs. Ila Vora, representatives of Shanti Fund present at the event. From the NDMF, its chairman Sher Singh Madra and board members Shudh Prakash Jasuja, Dr Dr In-

derpal S Chhabra, Gurdeep Singh Narula and Vidya Sharma spoke at the event. Others present were the founder of NDMF Inder Bindra, Peter Bheddah, Zinda Singh and Dr Shakir Mukhi. Dr Kishore Kuncham, first Indian American superintendent of schools in NY State, and Chair of Indian Association of Long Island Food Drive project also spoke and echoed Mr Mehtas sentiment about initiatives to help the needy in Indian communities. He committed his services and resources for such efforts. Recently, under the leadership of Dr Kuncham, IALI donated $35000 and 2 truck loads of canned food to INNs soup kitchen in Long Island. Kishan Maharaj of Rasraj, Hicksville, and Mr Shudh Jasuja sponsored the light refreshment.

Indian American gets bail in $276M insider trading case

New York: A former SAC Capital portfolio manager was released on $5 million bail on Monday after making his first appearance in a New York court on charges of making illegal trades that hedge fund titan Steven A. Cohen personally signed off on. Mathew Martoma, 38, of Boca Raton, Florida, was charged last week in what U.S. prosecutors called "the most lucrative" insider-trading scheme ever. Martoma was accused of helping Cohen's firm avoid losses and reap profits totaling $276 million in the summer of 2008 by using insider tips he obtained from a doctor about Elan Corp and Wyeth LLC. Martoma worked for CR Intrinsic, a unit of Cohen's SAC Capital. Cohen was not charged with wrongdoing, but prosecutors have said in court papers that the "owner" of the hedge fund signed off on Martoma's recommendation to sell the shares of Elan and Wyeth. A spokesman for SAC Capital said last week that "Mr. Cohen and SAC are confident that they have acted appropriately and will continue to cooperate with the government's inquiry." At a 13-minute hearing in U.S. district court in Manhattan on Monday, Martoma spoke only once, answering "yes, your honor" to a judge's question. He did not enter a plea. Magistrate Judge James Cott on Monday agreed to a proposed $5 million bail package for Martoma, who has been free on similar bail conditions since appearing in a Florida court after his arrest on Nov. 20. Martoma's wife, Rosemary, attended the hearing and agreed to serve as one of three co-signers for Martoma's bail. Martoma, who began using Mathew as his first name in the middle of his professional life instead of Ajai, worked for CR Intrinsic in Stamford, Connecticut, until 2010. Before becoming a healthcare stock analyst, he worked in the field of bioethics, serving as deputy director of the National Human Genome Research Institute's Office of Genome Ethics, according to biographical information attached to a paper he wrote for a Harvard Law journal. He attended Harvard Law School but left before graduating, opting instead for an MBA from Stanford University. In a criminal complaint, authorities said

Mathew Martoma

Martoma spoke in July 2008 to the "hedge fund owner" - Cohen - and recommended selling shares of Elan and Wyeth before a negative announcement on clinical trial results for an Alzheimer's drug jointly developed by the two companies.

December 1-7, 2012

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Police say Wayne Hindu temple statue stolen for metals

New Jersey: The theft of a 300-pound statue of a Hindu deity in Wayne wasnt taken as a prank or bias crime, police said but likely was one in a streak of burglaries and thefts of increasingly valuable metals. The Shiva statue was stolen Tuesday night at the end of the five-day celebration of Diwali. If there was a bias or religious motive, the statue would typically be destroyed or mutilated, said John Reardon, Wayne police chief. My guess would be that 300 pounds of copper and other metal was stolen for scrap. He speculated the thieves would have offloaded the statue to a scrap dealer, who would have had it melted down for its component metals, all in a matter of hours. Depending on the scrap yard where it was taken, there would be no questions asked, Reardon said. The price is based on weight. Thats it, and its done. Thefts of copper, brass and other valuable metals have become common as the cost of metal has risen. Thieves have pulled out copper piping in homes under construction, have cut brass fittings off office-building emergency fire hoses, and even stole a manhole cover in Wayne, Reardon said. Vacant houses scheduled for demolition in flood-prone Hoffman Grove section of the township have been stripped of every bit of copper by thieves, he said. Detectives on Thursday scoured area scrap yards, Reardon said, but there was little information for police to work with. The looters left only tire tracks and boot imprints on the grass. The temple board plans to increase security at the temple. They will install a gate to close off the main driveway and invest in cameras and motion detectors. The board is collecting donations to offer a reward for the arrest of the thieves.The society began to build the cultural center and temple on Preakness Avenue in 2001 and completed it in 2006 at a cost of about $2.6 million. The statues of Shiva and Nandi could not fit inside the temple, so they were placed on the grounds of the 6-acre campus.

Community pays tributes to Susil H Singh

Long Island: At a solemn cereObituary mony at the packed Glen Cove Sikh temple in Long Island on Affairs in Malaysia and served at November 25th Sunday evening, the Association of the South East the local Sikh community and a Nations Conference in Kuala large number of Jewish and nonLumpur and was subsequently Sikhs congregation bade a fond deputed to the Malaysian Embassy farewell to Susil H. Singh who in London UK where she also got to passed away on Thanksgiving meet Her Excellency Queen Day after a brief illness. The tribElizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. utes paid by her grandchildren and After immigrating to the United her children were especially mov- Late Susil H Singh States, Susil worked as the Personal ing. Her husband, a former senior was a well-known Assistant for the Permanent UN official, Harbachan Singh and community leader Representative of Malaysia to the from NY area currently an active community United Nations and later as activist said that Susil was a caring person Assistant Director of the World Environment fully devoted to the protection of life and Center in New York in 2003. She retired as environment. Harbachans own poetical ren- Director of the Center for the Women of New derings in Punjabi and English language were York. deeply touching and well received by the Susil was always passionately dedicated to attendees. Over half dozen elected officials serving others. And for her ongoing charitable from the US Congress, NY State Senate, NY work she received many awards including one State Assembly, the NY City Comptroller and from the United Nations Secretary General U the Speaker of NY City Council and its Thant for the outstanding job she did for the Members were amongst family and friends World Youth Assembly. She was also the who sent messages of condolences. recipient of the World Environment Center Susil Kaur, 74 was the eldest daughter of award in recognition of her distinguished second generation Sikhs in Malaysia from work. Susil H. Singh Memorial Fund has Punjab, India. Her father was a Parliamentary been established in her memory at the Cornell Draftsman in the Attorney Generals Cardiology New York Presbyterian Chambers. She joined the Ministry of Foreign Hospital.

IN BRIEF

Designer duo Shyamal and Bhumika showcase their creations in NJ

hyamal and Bhumika, leading fashion designers from India hosted a fashion show at Imperia in Somerset, New Jersey on October 28. The exclusive collection included bridal wear, formal wear and other variety collection for men and women started from $200 to $3,000. Shyamal and Bhumika started their careers in fashion in 2000 in Ahmedabad, India. This was the first time, the couple held their fashion show in New Jersey. The duo is partnering

brations work through the chord of sympathy existing between man and his surroundings. The human body has about 72,000 astral nerves (nadis) which continuously vibrate in a specific rhythmic pattern. Disturbance in their rhythmic pattern is the root cause of disease. The musical notes restore their normal rhythmic pattern thereby bringing about

good health. Listen with your heart and not with intellect," states Sri Swamiji about the healing music. All program details, along with registration and ticket details have been published at www.yogasangeeta.org. To know more about Sri Swamijis activities visit www.dattapeetham.com

Vegetarian Vision hosts Thanksgiving Dinner event

Models display the designer wedding collection

with OHM International, Inc. for the launch of their

brand new boutique in New Jersey in near future.

Meditation and healing concert in NJ

ri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji of Mysore will be performing at a Meditation and Healing Concert on December 1, Saturday, at 6.30 p.m., at the Raritan Valley Community College in Branchburg, NJ. To celebrate the Silver Jubilee Year of Sri Ganapathy Sachchidananda Swamiji of Mysore, a New Jersey based non-profit, Yoga Sangeeta, is organizing Yoga Tunes Raga Sagara - music for meditation and healing concert. Currently on a month-long tour to California, Texas and New Jersey, Sri Swamiji will participate in public programs and perform at healing concerts. On December 2, at 4 p.m., a day after the concert in NJ, Sri Swamiji will be in New York, for Divya

Nama Sankeertana, a bhajan program at the Ganesha Temple in Flushing. On December 3, starting at 9 a.m., Sri Swamiji will be giving a three-batch music healing sessions at the South Brunswick Family YMCA in Monmouth Junction in NJ. Sri Swamiji has been performing Healing and Meditation concerts all over the world for 25 years now. Notably, Sri Swamiji performed along with globally renowned violinist Dr. L. Subramaniam in a packed concert at the famous Lincoln Center in 2008 in New York City. Other prominent venues include the Esplanade Concert Hall in Singapore and the Royal Albert Hall in London. The power of vibrations connects, in some manner, all things and all beings in the universe in all places of existence. Nada vi-

L to R: Girish Soni,Dr.Sudhir Parikh, Dr.Sudha Parikh, Dr.Greger, H.K.Shah, Kenny Desai, Dr. Rekha and Vinod Shah

egetarian Vision, Inc., a non-profit organization in tri-state area celebrated its 20th Anniversary with a Thanksgiving Dinner event on Sunday Nov. 18th at Utsav Restaurant in New York. Harshad K Shah, Chairman and Founder of Vegetarian Vision, honored Girish Soni as a noted Vegetarian and lifelong promoter of vegetarian cause. Almost 200 guests attended this grand celebration and learned about healthy living and disease prevention from nationally well-known nutrition expert, Dr. Michael Greger, MD who was a keynote

speaker. Several community leaders graced the occasion including Dr.Sudhir Parikh, Dr.Sudha Parikh, Kenny Desai and Sunil Nayak. Comedian Dan Nianan provided endless laughter to guests with his standup comedy who were also entertained by live music and songs by Varsha Joshi. Executive Secretary Vinod Shah announced selection of Flora Parekh as a new joint secretary for Vegetarian Vision. Delicious, healthy vegetarian food highlighted a memorable Thanksgiving.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NATIONAL COMMUNITY

December 1-7, 2012

Black Friday family shopping trip Pratham USA honors Wendy Kopp at Annual Tri-State Gala turns tragedy for Tandel family
Sisters Nisha and Sheetal killed in horrific car crash. The family was out shopping gifts for Nishas wedding in January.
San Bruno, California: A family shopping trip turned to tragedy on Black Friday when two young sisters were thrown from an SUV being driven by their father and killed as the vehicle collided with a highway patrol car. Nisha Tandel, 24, who was due to be married in January, died instantly and her sister, 20-year-old Sheetal, was pronounced dead of her injuries several hours later. The young women, their parents and two other sisters had been shopping for gifts to take to Nisha's wedding in India and were heading home to San Bruno, California, when the horrific crash happened on Highway 101 in Palo Alto. Arvind Tandel, 48, who was driving the vehicle, was rushed to Santa Clara Valley Medical Center and is now in stable condition along with daughters Payel, 22, and a 12-year-old who hasn't been named. The two surviving girls had also been traveling in the backseat of the SUV. The mother, Yogita Tandel, who was sitting in the passenger seat, is fighting for her life in Stanton hospital, where Sheetal died, according to CBS News. New York: Despite challenging circumstances resulting from Hurricane Sandy, over 400 guests attended Pratham 2012 TriState Gala at the Plaza Hotel here Nov. 2 and raised over $1.4 million to support the organizations innovative and award-winning educational programs in India. Guests at the gala were able to bid on over 40 items in the events silent auction, which included art pieces from Aicon Gallery, business class tickets donated by Ovation Travel, autographed memorabilia, and precious jewelry by Sej Jewels. The silent auction itself raised over $45,000, of which over $11,000 will be donated to the American Red Cross to support Hurricane Sandy victims. Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America and Teach for All, was the recipient of the third annual Pratham USA Award for

Wendy Kopp, founder and CEO of Teach for America

Nisha (left) and Sheetal Tandel, right, were killed when their SUV hit highway patrol car and flipped multiple times.

Before the crash, the California Highway Patrol vehicle had pulled up in front of a broken-down pickup truck on the right hand shoulder to help the motorist change a tire. As the SUV drove up, it swerved into the shoulder and hit the left side of the parked CHP car, causing it to flip multiple times. It finally came to a rest on its wheels after the two sisters were ejected. Authorities said Nisha and the 12-year-old had not been wearing seat-belts while the rest of the family

were buckled up, according to CBS. The CHP officer suffered a cut and bruise on his face and was taken to hospital but has since been released. He had put up a flashing arrowboard to indicate his vehicle was parked on the highway's shoulder. Authorities said neither drugs nor alcohol appeared to be a factor in the tragic collision. They are investigating why Mr Tandel pulled over into the shoulder so suddenly and believe it may be that he fell asleep at the wheel.

Outstanding Service in Education. The award serves to recognize the remarkable ability of an individual to effect change and dramatically impact the delivery of education to the underprivileged. Kopp was presented the award by Pratham USA chair Arvind Sangar. In her

acceptance speech, Kopp spoke of the commitment to making a difference through education which linked Teach For America / Teach For All and Pratham / Pratham USA, and the extraordinary impact these organizations had had worldwide. Bollywood actor Omi Vaidya served as the emcee.

Indian Americans in SoCal raise $52K for Sandy victims

Buena Park, CA: The Jain Center of Southern California and Anekant Community Center along with local Los Angeles Indian American organizations organized a fundraising event at the JCSC here Nov. 16 to help the victims of Super Storm Sandy. About 300 community members attended a musical evening of old and new Bollywood songs by the professional musical group Poly Tunes from India. Dr. Jayesh Shah, president of the JCSC, and Dr. Nitin Shah, president of the ACC, opened the program by welcoming the attendees and thanked them for taking time out from their post-Diwali celebrations and for their compassion to help those fellow citizens affected by Sandy. Emcees Reshma Block of SAHARA and Premal Doshi of JCSC gave a slide presentation showing the devastation and havoc caused by the storm. The attendees donated generously when an appeal was made by the emcees for donations. The highlight of the event was lead singer Mukesh singing a song and acting like a blind man as he walked around in the audience with a large basket in hand. Again, the attendees donated large amounts of cash in the basket. At the conclusion of the event, Jayesh Shah thanked the attendees and major donors for their generosity. It is great to see the local Indian American community members unite in large strength to help the victims of the natural disaster within USA and or around the world, he said. The major donors were Uma and Avadhesh Agarwal as event sponsors, Sudha and Pravin Mody of GBS Linens, Pushpa and Bhikhubhai Patel of Tarsadia Foundation, Sonal and Vraj Lathiya, Rika and Manu Shah of Sarva Mangal Trust and Drs. Mira and Jasvant Modi

December 1-7, 2012

NATIONAL COMMUNITY

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

IN BRIEF

Statement by the President on occasion of Gurpurab

resident Obama sent best wishes to Sikhs in the US and around the world on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev Ji, the first Sikh Guru. He said in a press statement, As always, this is a time to celebrate the principles of equality, respect, service and interfaith cooperation that are the core of the Sikh faith, and to recognize the extraordinary contributions that Sikh Americans make to our

country every day. This year, we also remember the innocent lives that were lost in the unspeakable violence directed against the Sikh congregation at the gurdwara in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. I can think of no better way to honor their memory, and to join our Sikh friends as they mark this sacred time, than to recommit ourselves to the spirit of pluralism, equality and compassion that define both the Sikh community and our nation.

United Sikhs urges FBI to declare Wisconsin gurdwara shootout an act of hate

2012 World Congress of Religions to commemorate Swami Vivekananda

nited Sikhs, an NGO, has asked the FBI to declare Wisconcin Gurdwara tragedy as an act of hate and take constructive action to prevent future similar acts. "The shooting that occurred in Wisconsin shows us that we have allowed individuals such as Wade Michael Page, a "frustrated neo-nazi", who led a white supremacist music group, to steer the direction of US. He used his privilege as a white supremacist member of society to show US that diversity must be counteracted with vio-

lence, hate, and ethnic cleansing", Staff Attorney, International Civil and Human Rights Advocacy, United Sikhs, Manmeet Singh said, adding that this was not the message that they wanted to send to the world, or to our children. He went on to add that no one was oblivious of the fact that the massacre was fueled by hate. "We want FBI to acknowledge this fact, akin to the statement issued by attorney general Eric Holder on August 10 where he called the attack a "hate crime."

Harinder Pal Singh recognized for humanitarian work

he World Congress of Religions 2012 and Commemoration of the 150th Birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekananda is being held on a grand scale in Washington, DC from November 30-December 2. The keynote speakers are: Rev. Martin Luther King III (Friday); Dr. Condoleezza Rice (Saturday); and Congresswoman elect Tulsi Gabbard (Sunday). The event features a distinguished group of speakers from major religions - Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Judaism. Venue is the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, 2660 Woodley Road, NW, Washington, DC. The World Congress of Religions 2012 will explore the relevance of religion and

spirituality in addressing the critical issues of poverty, empowerment of women, human rights and peacemaking. The gathering will bring together engaged leaders, scholars, activists and members from diverse religious and spiritual communities, engaged actors in the local and global inter-religious movements, as well as influential policymakers and civil society actors from guiding institutions such as government, business, education, science, media and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). The event is inspired and informed by the message of the religious and social visionary Swami Vivekananda on the 150th anniversary of his birth. For more info visit www.worldcongressofreligions2012.org

arinder Pal Singh, president and CEO of Management and Information Technology Solutions Inc., was honored with the Asian American Humanitarian Award 2012. The award was presented to him by the Asian Chronicle USA TV Program at a function Nov. 18 at the Sheraton Four Points Hotel here. According to a press release, more than 250 guests, mostly Asian-Americans from Chicago, attended the dinner banquet, which included musical entertainment. Singh was cited by Executive Producer Lourdes Mon as a benefactor of the Center for Elderly Care, a nonprofit in Amritsar, Punjab, where thousands of needy elderly have received free medical care and other help over the years. He is an educator and mentor who has helped hundreds of laid off and unemployed Asian-

American professionals in the Chicago area by retraining them with new marketable skills, the press release said. His MITS is a premier training and consulting company in project management, information technology and medical informatics. A former chairman of the Punjabi Cultural Society of Chicago, Singh was honored with the Asian American Coalition of Chicago Community Service Award in 2010. Among the awardees was Asif Ashiqali, a Pakistani-American, who is assistant dean of the School of Continuing Education at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee and an adjunct faculty at Oakton Community College. He was cited for mentoring and guiding youth as they pursue their education and toward their professional careers. He is also an associate board member of Apna Ghar.

Beauty salon franchise Seva partners with Walmart

Highland Park, Ill.: How did an entrepreneur convince Walmart, the worlds largest retailer, to partner with a new and relatively unknown beauty salon franchise concept that specializes in the art of brow shaping, facial hair removing and waxing? With hard work, creativity, and attracting more than 1,000 customers a week, Seva founders, Vas and Sonal Maniatis, overcame incredible odds to form an exclusive in store partnership and expand their franchise concept nationwide. In addition to brow shaping and facial hair removal, Seva offers a full range of nail and spa services including body waxing, facials, and eyelash extensions. After years of success in the real estate industry, serial entrepreneur Vas Maniatis and his partner Sonal opened their first eyebrow threading business in 2008 only after a Walmart regional manager needed to fill a vacant retail stall in his new Indianapolis location, days before and get involved in a franchise that offers full support and demonstrates success, said Vas Maniatis. Seva is a company that began in the shadows of a retail giant and has continued to thrive and generate profits in a down economy. Seva currently operates 50 franchise and corporate locations throughout sixteen states, with huge expansion plans in 2013. Walmart currently operates over 8,500 locations worldwide. Seva has designed a complete turnkey Salon-in-a-Box delivery system which handles all aspects of the design, construction, delivery, and coordination of build out of every new Seva salon. The company requires start-up capital of $100,000, in which $15,000 is allotted for the franchise fee. Sevas proprietary iPad-based POS technology is installed in every location to enables its franchisees to easily run and monitor their stores in real time from anywhere in the world via any computer, web-enabled phone, or iPad. Offering world class training and support, Seva has established the Seva Academy to assure franchisees continued support of trained and certified threading masters. The academy offers a series of hands-on threading instructional classes limited to eight students per class. Classes provide highly personalized one-on-one instruction by Sevas Master Threader in state-of-the-art training facilities located within the companys corporate headquarters in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, IL. "We are proud of what the Seva brand represents and are fully committed to continued research and development of customized services and new beauty products, Sonal Maniatis said. Our Seva brand line of beauty products compliments our current line of spa services and offers the franchisees an additional profit center.

Seva Salon was founded by Vas Maniatis and his partner Sonal in 2008

its grand opening. Vas and Sonal agreed to open their eyebrow threading concept in Walmart, only to grow the business to two additional locations before catching the full attention of Walmart executives

and forming an exclusive in-store retail partnership. Seva offers an opportunity for potential franchisees with and without experience in the beauty industry to fulfill their American Dream

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

NATIONAL COMMUNITY

December 1-7, 2012

AAPI all set for the Global Healthcare Summit in January

The groundbreaking AAPI Global Healthcare Summit (GHS) in Cochin from January 1-3, 2013 will discuss ways to bring the most innovative, efficient and cost effective healthcare solutions for India.
Chicago, IL: Healthcare in India is one of the largest sectors, in terms of revenue and employment. India is making significant improvements in the healthcare infrastructure and is building modern medical facilities throughout India. Indian doctors have made tremendous progress in the medical field and India is now being touted as a medical tourism hub. With a rise in population, there is an urgent need to create additional health infrastructure, which entails a higher level of investment in the Indian healthcare market in the coming years. The government of India is committed to the ever increasing need to invest in the health care system in India Its in this context, the groundbreaking AAPI Global Healthcare Summit (GHS) 2013 organized by the Association of American Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), Global Association of Physicians of Indian Origin( GAPIO) and Indian Medical Association (IMA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs & Ministry of Health, with participation from some of the worlds most well known physicians, and industry leaders becomes very critical and significant. Described as the most innovative, efficient, cost effective healthcare solutions for India, the GHS 2013 is aimed at exploring possibilities for greater collaboration and cooperation between the physicians and health care providers in India with those of Indian origin and major healthcare providers abroad. This innovative Summit is aimed at advancing the accessibility, affordability and the quality of world-class healthcare to the people of India. Among other areas, the Summit will focus on prevention, diagnosis, treatment options and share ways to truly improve healthcare transcending global boundaries. AAPI USA has been actively engaged in harnessing the power of Indian Medical Diaspora, Dr. Narendra Kumar, President of AAPI, said. In our efforts to realize these goals, we have successfully gained the support of several leading healthcare experts and professional physician associations, including GAPIO and IMA to collaborate on this ground breaking international healthcare summit, designed to bring the best, cost effective quality healthcare solutions to the people of India. ccording to Dr. Kumar, Our ability to share knowledge and influence the medical world has never been greater. With the advancement of modern technology, the quality of care we provide and the values that we support can reverberate around the world as it never been before. Apollo Group of Hospitals), Devi Prasad Shetty, MD (Medical Director, Narayana Hrudayalaya Hospital, Bangalore), Dr. Dilip Jeste (President of American Psychiatric Association), Dr. Kalpalatha Guntupalli (Past President of ACCP), Dr. Dattatreyudu Nori (Professor of Oncology, The New York Presbyterian Hospital), Dr. Mani Menon (Professor of Urology & Robotic Surgery, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit), Dr. P. Mahalingam (Chairman, Santosh University, Delhi-NCR), Dr. K.K. Talwar (Chairman, Medical Council of India), Dr. Shiv Kumr Sarin (Former Chairman, Medical Council of India), Dr. Ranjan Pai (CEO, Manipal University), Dr. G.N. Singh (Drug Controller General of India), Dr. Eshwar Reddy (Device Controller of India), Dr. M.S. Valiathan (Advisor, Manipal University), Dr. K.M. Cherian (Frontier Lifecare Hospital, Chennai), Dr. N.K. Ganguly (Former Director General, ICMR, Dr. Girdhar Gyani (Secretary General, Quality Council of India), Dr. Rajan Badwe (Director, Tata Memorial Hospital), Dr. K. Vijay Kumar (President, Indian Medical Association), Shri M. Ayyappan, CMD, Lifecare HLL, Dr. Prem Nair, Medical Director, Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. Azad Moopen, Chairman, Aster Medicity & DM Healthcare etc. GHS 2013 will be held at the prestigious Le Mridien's signature chic world-class Convention Center in Cochin. For more information, visit: http://www.aapighsindia.org.

Dr. Narendra Kumar, president, AAPI, (second from left) addressing a press conference in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala, during his recent visit to India

This international healthcare summit is a progressive transformation from the first Indo-US Healthcare Summit launched by AAPI USA in 2007 under the leadership of Dr. Hemant Patel and moderated by Anwar Feroz. Providing a forum for innovative opportunities for learning, networking and giving back to our motherland that have now enabled us to plan ahead and prepare for an outstanding event that has already received confirmation and endorsement from over 300 very prominent and talented physicians and surgeons from abroad, who are very passionate about serving their homeland, mother India, Dr. Kumar added. During the past five Indo-US Summits since the first innovative summit in 2007, AAPI has been instrumental in developing strategic alliances with various organizations. It is this experience and the resulting relationships that have enabled us to organize this outstanding event. Dr. Jayesh Shah, PresidentElect of AAPI, said. The Summit, which is a public-private initiative between the Government of India and AAPI, is all about dedication and commitment of IndianAmerican physicians to improving healthcare in India, he added. This Convention will display how well the Indian doctors have shown themselves as an effective force in the medical world in USA, Dr. Ravi Jahagirdar, Vice President of AAPI, said. GHS 2013 will include a scientific program developed by leading experts with contributions by the Scientific Advisory Board and International Scientific Committee, which will includes high priority areas like Cardiology, Diabetes, Oncology, Surgery, Mental Health, Maternal and Child Health, Allergy-Immunology and Lung Health, Health Information Technology (HIT), and the impact of co-morbidities, Dr. Jahagirdar elaborated. Featuring plenary sessions, interactive roundtables, clinical practice workshops, and meet-the-expert ses-

sions, the first ever scientific poster session will facilitate dissemination and exchange of best practices. More than 100 opinion leaders and expert speakers from across the globe will present cutting-edge scientific findings related to clinical practice, and the dozens of Chairs and speakers will represent major centers of excellence, institutions and professional associations. For the first time at GHS, a Healthcare CEO Forum representing CEOs from around the world and from major hospitals, teaching institutions and healthcare industry sectors, including pharmaceutical, medical devices and technology, will join together to explore potential opportunities for collaboration, Dr. Kumar said. Mr. Omar Ishrak, Worldwide CEO of Medtronic, the foremost device company in the world has agreed to be the keynote speaker for this Forum. Several other senior Vice Presidents of pharma companies have already accepted our invitation.

Among those representing the Government of India and addressing the Summit include: Indias Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs, Vayalar Ravi, Indias Minister of Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Chief Minister of Kerala, Oommen Chandy, Kerala Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar, Kerala Tourism Minister A.P. Anil Kumar, Ramesh Chennithala, Pinaray Vijayan, Smt. Sreemathy Teacher and Advisor to the Prime Minister of India, T.K.A Nair. Expected to have over 1,000 participants from across the globe, GHS 2013 keynote speakers and expert panel will include Jeremy Lazarus, MD (President, American Medical Association, Chicago), Emmanuel G. Cassimatis, MD (President and CEO, ECFMG USA), P.K. Pradhan, IAS (Principal Health Secretary), Dr. Jagdish Prasad (Director General of Health Services), Rajeev Sadanandan, IAS (Kerala Health Secretary), Dr. Prathap C. Reddy (Chairman,

Dr.Narendra Kumar: Taking AAPI to new heights

Dr. Narendra Kumar, an Otolaryngologist, practicing medicine in the state of Michigan, assumed office as the president of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) during its 30th annual Convention in Long Beach, CA. Dr. Kumar, who had completed his medical degree from Trivandrum Medical College, Kerala and post-graduate residency from Banaras Hindu University (Varanasi, India) and Case-Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, has been practicing Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery in Saginaw, Michigan since 1988. Committed to giving back to the community and to the enhancing of opportunities for the professional growth of the over 65,000 Indian origin physicians Dr. Kumar has been involved in social professional and political arenas and has taken active leadership roles in various medical organizations both in USA and abroad. Recognizing his leadership and contributions, the AMA honored him with the Leadership Award in 2008. He is also a recipient of several honors and awards. Serving in various capacities in his local Michigan chapter and subsequently parent AAPI, Dr. Kumar has an intimate knowledge of the nuts and bolts of this giant organization. He has been instrumental in establishing an Electronic Learning Resource center in various medical colleges in India. Ever smiling, affable and approachable, Dr. Kumar is a solid leader in the AAPI tradition.

AAPI President Dr.Narendra Kumar

and 25,000 fellows and residents of AAPI, Dr. Kumar proved to be an effective leader, taking this prestigious global organization to stability and prestige.

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December 1-7, 2012

US AFFAIRS

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

US making drone submarines to patrol oceans

Washington: Have you heard of unmanned drone submarines that can patrol the oceans? The US Department of Defense is creating such submarines that will navigate the oceans, tracking and following enemy subs for months at a time, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is responsible for developing new military technologies, started the project because "the growing number of adversaries able to build and operate quiet diesel electric submarines is a national security threat that affects US and friendly naval operations around the world", according to a statement on the DARPA website. Normally, anti-submarine warfare has been conducted by US Navy captains at the helm of ships, but humans will never board these drones, also known as a "Continuous Trail Autonomous Vessels", according to Discovery News. The subs will be able to patrol the US coastline for up to 80 days at a time covering thousands of kilometers using non-conventional sensor technologies that "achieve robust continuous track of the quietest submarine targets over their entire operating envelope", DARPA stated on its website. The vessel's main task will be to patrol the waters for enemy submarines and then chase them away if located. The sub will also gather information deemed necessary by the US government, which will then be sent to US naval commanders up above on land, according to Discovery News. The only time humans are needed to operate the unarmed drones will be to navigate the robot subs through crowded harbors. In August, DARPA awarded a $58 million contract to Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), which is now responsible for designing, constructing and creating a prototype of the vessel.

Peter King: My wife would knock off Grover Norquists head

New York: The famous no-tax pledge promulgated by conservative activist Grover Norquist dates to 1986, and 258 members of the current Congressvirtually all of them Republicanshave signed the oath never to raise taxes in any form. But a few pledge-signers now seem to be repudiating that commitment, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker and New York Rep. Peter King. No Republican is eager to raise taxes, but those drifting away from the pledge say they'll consider tax hikes as part of a deficit-cutting package that also includes deep spending cuts. This is an important development in the "fiscal cliff" negotiations, since most budget experts say it will take a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts to truly fix Washington's finances and strike a deal to prevent an abrupt set of austerity measures from going into effect on Jan. 1. Republicans coming to terms with the need for tax hikes are arriving late to a belief many Americans have held for a while. Polls show that Americans strongly favor tax hikes on the wealthy as the best way to narrow Washington's huge annual budget deficits. In a Pew Research Center poll from October, 64 percent of respondents approved of raising taxes on households earning more than $250,000the highest level of support for any of 12 deficit-reduction measures. Even 41 percent of those who planned to vote for Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said they favored higher taxes on the wealthy. King said Wednesday that he didn't feel bound to Grover Norquist's anti-tax increase pledge -- and he suggested that Norquist's head might not stay bound to his neck, either. King, who has feuded with Norquist over the upcoming budget negotiations, was offended that

Gynecologist group calls for over-the-counter birth control pills

Sherman, TX: Buying birth control pills without a prescription from your doctor: that's what America's largest group of gynecologists hopes will be the way of the future, and it's sparking a big debate. Many are on both sides of the fence when it comes to this issue. Some say it'll prevent unplanned pregnancies. Others say it's just way too risky. According to the CDC, nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended, a rate that hasn't changed in 20 years. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is recommending birth control be sold over the counter to get that number down. Doctor Dan Grossman supports the idea. "We have over 50 years of experience with oral contraceptives now and it's one of the best studied medications that's around. So, we know that it's incredibly safe, " Dr. Grossman said. But many physicians say it's risky. "It may offer easier access, but physicians are concerned patients won't use them correctly," Dr. Todd Cutler said. Gynecologist, Dr. Todd Cutler says he knows people who can't afford a doctor s visit would have easier access, but he says the side effects of birth control such as head aches, nausea and the more serious blood clots, high blood pressure and even stroke, can be dangerous. "Part of a visit when you come to a physicians office to talk about birth control pills is education and learning how to use them, when to use them, the right way to use them. If they're not taken at the right time or if you take the wrong pill, it's not effective. It's not effective birth control," Dr. Cutler said. Folks, of course, have their own separate views. "I think it's a good idea if the person is an appropriate age. Girls in high school... shouldn't have the option." Megan Ripley said. "They should have to be prescribed by a doctor. This way, there's less room for abuse." "Yes! Think of all of the teens and women who can't afford to go to the doctor. I think teen pregnancy will go down if teens were able to get birth control without seeing a doctor," Chelsea Flinn said. Jessica McCraw disagrees. "I believe it'd be very risky to just go and buy it over the counter and say 'oh I need this one,'" McCraw said. The FDA will have to give the final approval. It is unknown whether any groups or pharmaceutical companies have approached them after ACOG's recommendations.

Senior Republican Peter King

Norquist had mentioned his wife during a TV appearance. I dont think hes ever met me, certainly hes never met my wife. And he better hope he doesnt. Shell knock his head off," King told Politico. King earlier attracted Norquist's ire when said that his pledge never to raise taxes didn't apply for the duration of his career, and that all fiscal options should be on the table in debt talks. Norquist hit back, saying "I hope his wife understands the commitments last a little longer than two years or something." "That was a bit below the belt, Grover," Morgan objected. Norquist, the president of Americans for Tax Reform, has spent much of the week on the defensive against Republicans who have backed away from his pledge, predicting that some wouldn't follow through or didn't mean for their comments to go public. He had said that those open to tax hikes have "sugar plum dancing fairies in their head."

Rolling Stones mark 50th anniversary with show abroad, slated next for New York
London: The Rolling Stones made a triumphant return to the London stage on Sunday night in the first of five concerts to mark the 50th anniversary of their debut as an American-oriented blues band. They showed no signs of wear and tear except on their aging, heavily lined faces as frontman Mick Jagger swaggered and strutted through a stellar two-and-ahalf hour show. He looked remarkably trim and fit and was in top vocal form. The Stones passed the half-century mark in style at the sometimes emotional gig that saw former bassist Bill Wyman and guitar master Mick Taylor join their old mates in front of a packed crowd at London's 02 Arena. It was the first of five megashows to mark the passage of 50 years since the band first appeared in a small London pub determined to pay homage to the masters of American blues. Jagger, in skin-tight black pants, a black shirt and a sparkly tie, took time out from singing to thank the crowd for its loyalty. "It's amazing that we're still doing this, and it's amazing that you're still buying our records and coming to our shows," he said. "Thank you, thank you, thank you." Lead guitarist Keith Richards, whose survival has surprised many who thought he would succumb to drugs and drink, was blunter: "We made it," he said. "I'm happy to see you. I'm happy to see anybody." But the band's fiery music was no joke, fuelled by an incandesgreater New York area, lacked some of the band's customary bravado the "world's greatest rock `n' roll band" intro was shelved and there were some rare nostalgic touches. Even the famously taciturn Wyman briefly cracked a smile when trading quips with Richards and Ronnie Wood. The concert started with a brief video tribute from luminaries like Elton John, Iggy Pop and Johnny Depp, who praised the Stones for their audacity and staying power. The Stones' show contained an extended video homage to the American trailblazers who shaped their music: Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and others. The montage included rare footage of the young Elvis Presley.

cent guest appearance by Taylor, who played lead guitar on a stunning extended version of the ominous "Midnight Rambler," and Mary J. Blige, who shook the

house in a duet with Jagger on "Gimme Shelter." The 50th anniversary show, which will be followed by one more in London, then three in the

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

US AFFAIRS

December 1-7, 2012

11

Cracks in GOP resolve on tax rates could help get over fiscal cliff
Washington: The first cracks are developing among Republicans over whether to accept a quick deal with President Barack Obama on allowing the top two income tax rates to expire, even as an administration official said the White House was stepping up behind-the-scenes negotiations. Conservative Oklahoma GOP Rep. Tom Cole told GOP colleagues in a private meeting Tuesday that it's better to make sure that tax cuts for the 98 percent of taxpayers who make less than $200,000 or $250,000 a year are extended than to battle it out with Obama and risk increasing taxes on everyone. Cole's remarks are noteworthy because he's a longtime GOP loyalist and a confidant of House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. They were made in a meeting of the House GOP Republican whip team, which is a sounding board for GOP leaders. "If we don't believe taxes should go up on anybody, why can't we accept a deal that takes 98 percent out and still leaves us free to fight on the other grounds," Cole said in have been worried that the GOP would lose a bargaining advantage by separating tax cuts for the highest earners from everyone else, but Cole said he believes the reverse is true. "I think we have the winning argument," he said. "Most Americans intuitively understand that raising taxes on small business is costing them jobs." House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Wednesday that the starting point for talks should be a framework discussed by Obama and Boehner in the summer of 2011. Then, Democrats were willing to consider curbing the inflation adjustment for Social Security and lifting the eligibility age for Medicare ideas that other top Democrats have taken off the table. "We can all be there and start with that and go from there to reach an agreement," Pelosi said. Pelosi made her remarks as she met with prominent business executives and Erskine Bowles, the chairman of Obama's 2010 deficit commission. Bowles and the executives also met with House GOP leaders. Obama said Wednesday he still believes that members of both parties can reach a framework agreement on a debt-cutting deal before Christmas. He made a public statement, joined by about a dozen middleclass Americans who have raised concerns about their taxes going up at the end of the year. He said lawmakers face important deadlines in the coming weeks but the voices of the American people need to be a part of the debate. Obama could be in position to blame Republicans if an impasse results in the government going over the so-called fiscal cliff, an economy-rattling set of automatic spending cuts and tax increases from the expiration of longstanding tax cuts made in 2001 and 2003 during the Bush administration. Democrats already are portraying GOP lawmakers as hostage-takers willing to let tax rates rise on everyone if lower Bush-era tax rates are not extended for the top 2 percent to 3 percent of earners those with incomes above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for joint filers.

President Obama with House Speaker John Boehner

an interview on Wednesday. "I'm not for using the American people for leverage or as a hostage." Meanwhile, an administration official speaking on grounds of anonymity told the AP that two of Obama's top negotiators on the fiscal issues will meet separately Thursday with leading lawmakers. The sessions are seen as an important step in determining how the government will avoid a year-end package of tax increases and spend-

ing cuts that could throw the economy into recession. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and White House legislative chief Rob Nabors will meet with House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, said the official. Some Republicans on the Hill

Kerry stays quiet as Cabinet speculation swirls

Washington: Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry is angling to be the nation's top diplomat by being, well, diplomatic. The longtime Democratic lawmaker from Massachusetts has largely stayed quiet while President Obama considers him for the next secretary of state. He has even defended his chief rival for the post, Susan Rice, amid Republican criticism of her initial explanation of the attack on Americans in Benghazi, Libya. White House officials say Obama is still mulling over his pick to replace Hillary Clinton, though a decision is expected soon. Rice, who has a close relationship with the president, is widely viewed as the favorite. Kerry had backed Obama early in his 2008 presidential run and was under consideration to be his first secretary of state. More recently, Kerry spent months helping Obama with his campaign debate preparations, playing the role of Republican nominee Mitt Romney in practice sessions. White House aides say Obama sees Kerry as a team player, a quality the president values in making personnel decisions.

US postal service could be 'stamped out'

Washington: It has endured for more than two centuries amid technological revolutions, civil wars, and tectonic shifts in society and geography. But the days may be numbered for America's national postal service if the US Congress doesn't act fast. The US Postal Service (USPS), which predates the US itself, is careening toward bankruptcy in the wake of a record $15.9 billion loss this year that has ignited fierce debate over the government's role in preserving an iconic American institution. "What we're facing now is our own fiscal cliff," US Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said Wednesday. He implored Congress to pass legislation by the end of the year that would help it free up capital and bolster its entrepreneurial flexibility. "If they act now, we'll get this whole thing behind us and we can be profitable and then focus on growing the postal business," he said. Conservative-minded critics including Republican lawmakers - call the agency an unwieldy, inefficient behemoth incapable of competing with private couriers like FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS).

Sen. John Kerry in shortlist as Republicans disapprove Susan Rice

Sandy wrath proved Christies political windfall

New York: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, once a darling in the Republican Party, is now everybody's darling in the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. With his highly visible visits to storm-damaged coastal towns with President Obama, not to mention a surprise appearance on "Saturday Night Live," the blunt, brash governor has been winning over independents, Democrats and others who like the bipartisan image. For all the havoc Sandy unleashed upon New Jersey, the storm put Christie in a politically enviable position, especially now that he is formally seeking re-election next year and touted as a top prospect for the White House in 2016. But that also makes it his advantage to lose, say political experts. Christie need only look across the Hudson River, where Rudolph Giuliani's wide popularity as mayor of New York in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks proved fleeting. For now, Christie is riding high on cross-over appeal, in his home state term, and 32 percent are opposed. That is way up from late September, when 44 percent supported him but 47 were opposed. "Up until the storm, he really has been one of the more polarizing governors," said David Redlawsk, a political science professor at Rutgers and director of the poll. "People either felt really positive or very negative towards him. "What we don't know is whether this dramatic shift is going to be something long term or is it simply a reflection of the aftermath of the crisis," he said. A third of voters in New York City where Democrats outnumber Republicans more than two to one gave Christie top marks post-storm in another recent survey. He scored well ahead of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat often mentioned as a presidential contender. Christie's obvious concern for his ravaged state, as well as his praise for Obama even as he backed Republican challenger Mitt Romney, helped change minds among his critics.

In a new poll, 67 percent of New Jersey voters said Chris Christie deserves a second term as Governor. and neighboring New York at least. In a Quinnipiac poll released on Wednesday, a whopping 67 percent of New Jersey voters said he deserves a second term. It showed Christie leading his most likely Democratic opponent, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, by 18 points. A poll on Tuesday illustrated the shift in support for Christie pre- and post-Sandy. The Rutgers-Eagleton poll showed 59 percent of registered state voters support him for a second

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December 1-7, 2012

INDIA

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Extortion row: Zee scribes in police custody

The duo arrested on charges of attempting to extort Rs.100 crore from Jindal Power in exchange for not filing news reports; Channel terms arrests illegal
New Delhi: A Delhi court has sent two Zee News journalists to two days' police remand even as Delhi Police asked Zee Group chairman Subhash Chandra to join the probe into the extortion claims made against the channel by Jindal Group. The channel said the arrests were "illegal" and done under pressure from the industrial group owned by Congress MP Naveen Jindal. Metropolitan Magistrate Gaumti Manocha sent the two journalists Sudhir Chaudhary, head of Zee News, and Samir Ahluwalia, head of Zee Business, to two days custody of Crime Branch of Delhi Police and dismissed their bail plea. The two were arrested on Chaudhary and Ahluwalia police also charged them under Section 420 (cheating). During the hearing, advocate Rebecca John appearing for the journalists told the court that both the journalists are innocent and respectable individuals in the society. The counsel denied Jindal Group's allegations that the two journalists had attempted to extort Rs.100 crore from the company. "Money was never involved in the case and there was no deal. Where is the crime?" She told the court that the meeting between the Jindal Power and Steel Ltd (JPSL) officials and the two journalists was held only because the company's officials had called both the journalists, and her clients had not made any deal with JPSL. But the police told the court that Chairman Subhash Chandra and Managing Director Punit Goenka are also accused in the case. They said that Chandra was complicit in the demand for money. The Public Prosecutor Rajiv Mohan said police have the video and audio recording as evidence against the journalists demanding money from Jindal group. The police added that both had contacted Subhash Chandra, which reflected his involvement in the case. Meanwhile, the police asked Subhash Chandra to join investigation, but as he did not turn up they will ask him again. The channel vehemently denied all allegations of extortion leveled against its two journalists and said police were being forced to act on the matter under pressure from Congress MP Naveen Jindal and his associates. Zee News Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Alok Agarwal alleged that Jindal had offered money to Zee journalists. "Our channel raised fundamental questions about coal blocks allocated to the Jindal Group. Jindal's mother pleaded with us to play down the coalgate," he said at a press conference.

Congress MP Naveen Jindal (right). The police asked Zee Group head Subhash Chandra to join investigation, but he did not turn up.

charges of attempting to extort Rs.100 crore from Jindal Power and Steel Ltd. in exchange for not filing news reports linking the firm to the irregular coal blocks allocation. Delhi Police had sought three days' custody of the journalists to interrogate them, and said that while reporting on the matter Zee News misreported facts and "there

was an element of deception involved". The police registered a case against both the journalists under Sections 384(extortion), 120 (b) (criminal conspiracy) and 511 (punishment for attempting to commit offenses punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Before arresting

Kejriwal formally launches Aam Aadmi Party

New Delhi: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), India's newest political outfit, was formally launched here by activist Arvind Kejriwal in the presence of hundreds of supporters. "This party is result of our struggle against corruption," said Kejriwal, who had announced the name of his party. Kejriwal also formally released the party's constitution, a key feature of which disallows the relative of a party member in the state executive or national executive councils from getting a place there. He announced an internal Lokpal also for his party. Former Jharkhand High Court justice Bhagwati Prasad and former navy chief Admiral (retd.) L. Ramdas will perform this role. In his address on the occasion, Kejriwal demanded formation of fast track courts, an independent Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and corruption-free government agencies. "We will bring the Janlokpal bill in 15 days and a corruption-free India within six months," Kejriwal prom-

Government allows FDI debate with voting

New Delhi: Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar has allowed a debate under voting rules on foreign investment in multi-brand retail. She was responding to notices submitted by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Communist Party of IndiaMarxist (CPI-M) for a debate on the issue under rule 184, which entails voting. "I have allowed a debate on FDI retail under rule 184," the speaker said. Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj thanked the speaker for allowing BJP's motion and assured that the house will run smoothly. "I thank you for allowing the motion and I assure you that now the house will run smoothly," she said. The date and time of the debate is to be decided later. Both houses of parliament have been seeing disruptions since the winter session began Nov 22, with the opposition adamant on a debate on the issue under rules that entail voting.

Arvind Kejriwal

ised. He attacked the government's economic policies. "Inflation has not gone upward by itself. The government is imposing taxes which leads to increase in the prices of diesel and petrol," he said. Kejriwal's colleague Manish Sisodia, who declared the name of the party to the gathering at Parliament Street near Jantar Mantar in central Delhi, said: "It is our party.

Yeddyurappa to quit, BJP braces for split

Bangalore: The ruling BJP in Karnataka is bracing for a split as former chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa will quit the party to launch his own outfit on December 9. The 69-year-old Yeddyurappa, credited with leading the Bharatiya Janata Party to power in the state for the first time in May 2008, is also resigning as an assembly member. The new party, Karnataka Janata Party (KJP), is scheduled to be formally launched at a public meeting in Haveri, about 400 km north of Bangalore. The KJP was registered last year with the Election Commission by a Karnataka voter, Padmanabha Prasanna Kumar. On Nov 10, former BJP union minister V. Dhananjaya Kumar, who was expelled from the party Oct 16, took over as the KJP interim president. He will make way for Yeddyurappa Dec 9. The KJP has urged the Election Commission to allot it a cycle or a farmer ploughing the field as its election symbol, according to Dhanajaya Kumar. The BJP is putting up a brave front in the face of an imminent split though it privately acknowledges that Yeddyurappa's departure will damage its prospects of retaining power in next year's elections. In order to prevent ministers and legislators loyal to Yeddyurappa from following him, BJP state president K.S. Eshwarappa has promised ticket to all but four of the party's 119 assembly members. The Karnataka assembly is 225-member strong. Eshwarappa, who is also one of the two deputy chief ministers, met senior leaders and heads of frontal organisations here Tuesday to draw up plans to counter the impact of Yeddyurappa's exit. Eshwarappa and Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar have been claiming that only a handful of legislators and one or two MPs will join the KJP. They also say that Yeddyurappa was committing a big mistake by starting a regional party and asserted that no regional party has ever had any impact in the state. Dhananjaya Kumar has said that over 40 legislators will join the new party, most of them after election dates are announced. Yeddyurappa is peeved that BJP president Nitin Gadkari did not keep his promised to
Former Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa

make him state BJP chief after he was forced to quit as chief ministers in July last year following mining bribery charges. Yeddyurappa is also making desperate attempts to get rid of the tag of being a Lingayat leader. His is a caste group that makes for 17 percent of the state's 65 million population.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

INDIA

December 1-7, 2012

13

New Facebook fracas over post against Raj Thackeray

Thane: Police in Palghar questioned a young man for allegedly posting on Facebook objectionable matter against MNS chief Raj Thackeray, official sources said. However, a police official from Palghar, declining to be identified, said the "youth had neither been detained nor arrested, but was merely being questioned" and no offence has yet been registered in the matter. Identified as an 18-year-old meat shop assistant, Sunil Vishwakarma was picked up Wednesday for quizzing by police after some Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists complained of objectionable matter allegedly posted under his name on networking site Facebook. According to initial investigations, it was found that Vishwakarma was unable to operate Facebook and police suspected someone might have created his fake profile, pointing to hacking. The official said the matter was beyond the purview of the Palghar police and would be transferred to the Thane police's cyber cell for probe and action. With the recent Facebook controversy involving two Palghar girls -- Shaheen Dadha and Renu Srinivasan -- still fresh in the minds of the police, they are dealing with the matter with extra caution. Vishwakarma "has been kept in the police station to protect him from possible attacks" as police probed the issue, the official said. Meanwhile, Palghar, around 100 km from here, and its surroundings observed a shutdown following a call by the Shiv Sena. The shutdown was in protest against the departmental inquiry against and suspension of superintendent of police (Thane rural) Ravindra Sengaonkar and Palghar police chief senior inspector Shrikant Pingle in the DadhaSrinivasan Facebook case. With a population of around 200,000, Palghar is a sprawling semi-industrialised and tribal dominated, eco-sensitive region in north-west part of Thane district, which is soon to be carved out as an independent district.

Vadra land deals pure business: PMO

Lucknow: In its affidavit submitted to the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court, the Prime Minister's Office has termed the land deals between Robert Vadra, Congress president Sonia Gandhi's sonin-law, and real estate giant DLF as "a pure business transaction" and a "matter between two individuals". The affidavit, signed by joint secretary Dheeraj Gupta in the PMO, has been submitted in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a probe into alleged irregularities by Vadra in land deals in Haryana. It now looks likely to kick up another controversy. The affidavit, dated Nov 24 whose copy was received by petitioner Nutan Thakur Nov 26, alleges that the charges levelled against Vadra are "false, vexatious, hearsay". Social activist Thakur says she is "completely stumped" by the affidavit. "This is amazing that without a probe being held into the matter, the Prime Minister's Office has decided not only to give Robert Vadra a clean chit but has also defended him vehemently," she said. The papers and documents appended with her PIL, she pointed out, had "nothing which could be contradicted". In its response, the PMO has attacked the petitioner saying "it is ex facie obvious that the petitioner has no knowledge of the truth or otherwise of the imputations and allegations in the various news reports and articles." It says that "the petitioner has not applied her mind nor conducted any due diligence as to the factual and legal basis of the petition" and also questions the locus standi of the petitioner. "The petitioner is not an expert on company affairs, corporate matters, finance and economics," the PMO

Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law Robert Vadra

affidavit states. While the "overt tone of defense of Vadra" has come as a shock,, Nutan Thakur told IANS she expected a similar but milder defense from the PMO. "I had earlier sent a representation to them, demanding a probe into the allegations against Vadra and DLF leveled by anti-graft crusaders Arvind Kejriwal and lawyer Prashant Bushan last month but there was no response," she said. In its three-page affidavit, the PMO said the PIL was "not in good faith" and recalled how on the primary hearing of the petition on Oct 11, counsel for the respondent - Union of India - had "raised several objections as to the maintainability of the writ petition". It went on to allege that the PIL was "driven by a desire for publicity and seems to be actuated by political considerations rather than public interest." The PIL was filed Oct 11 before a division bench of Justice Uma Nath Singh and Justice V.K. Dixit who had given the PMO three weeks to respond.

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December 1-7, 2012

INDIA

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Mumbai attack: Headley to be sentenced in January

London: Pakistani American David Coleman Headley, a key plotter in the 2008 Mumbai terror attack, will be sentenced on January 17, it was reported here. Headley pleaded guilty to checking out targets for the Mumbai attack that left 166 Indians and foreigners dead, a US judge has ruled. He entered a guilty plea on 12 counts in a Chicago court in 2010, reported BBC. The sentencing of co-accused, Tahawwur Rana, who was convicted of aiding Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, has been scheduled for Jan 15. Headley had initially denied the charges but changed his plea to avoid the death penalty or extradition to India. Nine of the 10 terrorists from Pakistan who sneaked into Mumbai were also killed while the admitted that he attended training camps in Pakistan operated by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a designated foreign terrorist organisation, on five separate occasions between 2002 and 2005. Prosecutors said in late 2005, Headley received instructions from three members of LeT to travel to India to conduct surveillance. Son of a Pakistani father and an American mother, he changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 to visit India five times to scout targets for the Nov 26 Mumbai attacks. Headley, prosecutors said, has cooperated with the government since he was arrested Oct 3, 2009, and the plea agreement states that he "has provided substantial assistance to the criminal investigation, and also has provided information of significant intelligence value".

Sensex near 19-month high

Mumbai: The Sensex and the Nifty hit their highest in nearly 19 months on hopes the logjam in Parliament may end after the government agreed to a vote on allowing foreign entry in multi-brand retail and helped by an upgrade of Indian equities by Goldman Sachs. The Sensex rose to its highest since May 2, 2011 when it hit an intraday high of 19,253.87, surging over 300 points. Goldman Sachs raised Indian stocks to 'overweight' from 'market-weight', citing growth recovery and inflation moderation ahead.

The sentencing of co-accused Tahawwur Rana has been scheduled for Jan 15

tenth, Ajmal Amir Kasab, was arrested. He was hanged this

month. In pleading guilty, Headley

Mend your ways or lose power: Katju to Mamata

Kolkata: Press Council of India chairman Markandey Katju has described West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as "intolerant and whimsical" and warned she would lose power if she did not change. In a letter to her, Katju sought action against policemen who arrested Jadavpur University professor Ambikesh Mahapatra and farmer Shiladitya Chowdhury, the first for circulating a cartoon of the chief minister and the second for questioning her policies. The former Supreme Court judge also said that former joint commissioner of police Damayanti Sen be restored to her earlier office, from which she was removed after she cracked a rape case on Park Street. "We all make mistakes but a gentleman is one who realises his mistake and apologizes. "I request you to act against the policemen who ordered and implemented the arrest of Mahapatra and Chowdhury, you should immediately withdraw the cases against them and apologize to them." He accused Banerjee of victimizing Damyanti Sen, who he said was an upright police officer. "You should apologize to her. You should also apologize to Tanya Bharadwaj whom you insulted on CNN-IBN show." Bharadwaj, a young student, received the ire of the chief minister for questioning her on a TV show.

No time frame for electoral reforms: Govt

New Delhi: Government has said that it cannot lay down any time frame for electoral reforms keeping in mind the "complexity" of the subject. In a written reply to the Lok Sabha, Union law and justice minister Ashwani Kumar said, "In view of the complexity of the subject, it is not possible to lay down any rigid time-frame in this regard." He was asked whether the government proposes to carry out comprehensive electoral reforms. Giving details of the steps taken by government in this regard, Kumar said, "With a view to carrying out comprehensive electoral reforms, a Core Committee was constituted on October 1, 2010 under the chairmanship of Vivek K Tankha, additional solicitor general." The talking points of the committee included decriminalisation of politics, funding of elections, conduct and better management of elections, regulations of political parties, audit and finances of political parties and review of anti-defection law, he added. The committee under the aegis of legislative department and in co-sponsorship of the Election Commission of India conducted seven regional consultations at Bhopal, Kolkata, Mumbai, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Bengaluru and Guwahati, the reply said. The consultations included various stakeholders such as leaders and workers of political parties, legislators, legal luminaries, representatives of NGOs, eminent persons, civil servants and students. "On basis of the inputs received in these consultations, discussion with all political parties is contemplated," Kumar said.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee

Katju said Banerjee's ministers and bureaucrats "are afraid to speak out their minds fearlessly before you, and are terrorised by your unpredictable and whimsical behaviour". Stating that her ways were "very unhealthy", he said Banerjee "will not be able to remain chief minister for long unless she changed her ways and became more tolerant... "It is still not too late if you listen to my advice and change your ways. I had praised you at one time. But of late you seem to have become increasingly intolerant and whimsical."

Ready for probe on US funding: Tibetan administration

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher. Rohrabacher, in a letter to Tibetan political leader Lobsang Sangay Nov 19, said: "I am also aware of serious accusations that US funding meant for Tibetans may have been misspent." "If US assistance has been misspent and perhaps even goes into the pockets of the Communist Chinese and Tibetan power brokers, I will learn of it and action will be taken," he said. Replying to Rohrabacher, Sangay has already clarified that the CTA takes "great pride in maintaining fiscal integrity and transparency". "Every dollar we receive in humanitarian and development assistance is accounted for, and, as required, funders receive clear, complete and timely statements on use of their finds," he said. Rohrabacher, who is also chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Committee on Foreign Affairs, in his letter to Sangay also expressed his "outrage that actions taken by you and other Tibetan leaders such as Lobsang Nyandak, Lodi Gyari and Samdong Rinpoche are eroding support within the US Congress for the Tibetan cause." "You and your cohorts must immediately cease making disparaging remarks and taking harmful actions aimed at the Tibetan service of Radio Free Asia," the Republican leader serving his 12th term in the US Congress wrote. Replying to the Congressman, the speaker said, "Concerning the internal matters of Radio Free Asia, we would like to assure you that we have neither in the past nor will we ever in the future interfere in its functioning". He also clarified that "the position of the CTA in resolving the Tibetan issue is unanimously approved by the Tibetan parliament in exile and the US government has stood firmly behind us". "We have nothing to say on your personal position on the Tibet issue," the letter, also addressed to US President Barack Obama, added. The Dalai Lama has lived in India since fleeing his homeland in 1959. The Tibetan exile administration is based in this northern hilltown.

Tibetan parliament speaker Penpa Tsering

Dharamsala: Taking exception to allegations of misuse of funds from the United States, the Tibetan government-in-exile said it is ready for probe. "Any assistance by US received through the Central Tibetan

Administration (CTA) are accounted and audited through proper democratic mechanisms with full transparency and accountability. We welcome scrutiny by any US agency," Tibetan parliament speaker Penpa Tsering said in a letter to US

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

LIFESTYLE

December 1-7, 2012

15

Men can try bandhgalas, angrakhas this winter

New Delhi: Who said there are fewer options for fashion-conscious men during winters? This season, jazz up your wardrobe with Indian cuts and styles such as classic 'bandhgalas' or 'angrakha'-style jackets to make a statement, suggest designers. Unlike women, who can use accessories to glamorize their look, men face limitations on this front. But no harm in experimenting a bit! "Being your glamorous best is a little difficult in winter, especially for men. But one can try out bandhgala jackets with 'dhotis' and 'salwars', angrakha and frock-tunic silhouette with palazzo pants and double-breasted cut in silk-brocade. These make a very contemporary statement," designer Sunil Mehra said. For party animals, go mafia chic, says designer Aniket Satam. "Sport well-fitted trousers teamed with shirts in baroque jacquard. Also try suede and velvet jackets for maximum party appeal," he said. There are other options too depending on the mood and the setting. "Classic Indian patterns and style lines such as angrakha jackets, 'bandi'-style 'koti' and asymmetrisilver or 'minakari' buttons and embroidered 'juttis'. However, be wary of bling and glitter. "Please avoid anything shiny. No bling for a man. It is quite passe to put on a stone-jewelled brooch on the left of your jacket or a gold or pearl necklace. And absolutely no shiny lines of lurex in the fabrics. Do not touch polyesters and acetates-they tend to cheapen even the best of designs," said Mehra. No wonder then that it is best to stick to understated yet luxurious clothing in rich and dark tones. Follow fabrics such as velvets, silks and wool blends and opt for expensive cashmere wool garments if you want true luxury. In terms of colors, grey, metallic and black with accents of neon are hot trends, says designer Pam Mehta. "Also pull out deep military greens, browns, fawn and burgundy to add deeper hues to your wardrobe," she said. The designers feel it is important for men to flaunt the right attitude as trying on anything new needs a lot of confidence. "Always remember the basic rules - that of comfort and confidence. Wear the garment; do not let it wear you," Mehra said.

Changing fashion trends in India

By Prakash Bhandari Jaipur: Fashion in India has changed considerably over the past few years as it has spread from the ramps in metros exclusively to being highly visible on the roads in mofussil towns. Prof Vandana Narang of New Delhi's Fashion Design Department of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), said that fashion activity is highly visible not only in metros but also in Tier II and III towns. Over the last decade awareness has increased as new brands and labels are reaching more and more Indian customers, she said Fashion forecasting is nothing more than predicting the mood, behavior and buying habits of the customers, who are no longer identified by traditional norms of age, geography or

cal panelled jackets work well for a more Indo-Boho appeal. Bow ties for guys are in trend with contrasting funky graphic socks. Woollen fedora (hat) and vintage watches also add a quirky element in regular dressing for men," Satam said. Also, accessorizing would not be a bad idea for men, especially when it comes to ethnic and fusion wear. So, how about throwing in these options-a simple embroidered collar on a bandhgala jacket, a crushed silk stole, a brocade handkerchief, a classic brooch, pearl,

income; but by how, what and why they buy, based on their mood, beliefs and occasion, Prof Narang said. Fashion also changes because of boredom, social trends and sales promotion, she added. She said in India everybody wants to be a designer but not a producer of apparel. A designer or a design is only good as the sales last summer, so we need to focus on production as much as the craft itself, she said. Dr Darlie Koshy, director general of apparel training development centre, added, "The democratization of fashion is the key to future. India's economic emergence on the global scene and 500 million youth are going to influence fashion trends as purchasing power of young India is increasing and the country is expected to be the fifth largest consumer market by 2025."

Game Review

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Play first person shooter and kill zombies

By Shiv Chopra Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, a first person shooter, released on November 13 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC and then on November 18, 2012 for the Wii U, was a huge success, earning 500 million dollars in 24 hours, being the biggest entertainment release of all time. According to Gamestop, the biggest national retailer of video games, Black Ops 2 had broken the record of most pre-orders of a video game, which was held by the previous Call of Duty game, Modern Warfare 3. Black Ops 2 is the ninth installment in the Call of Duty franchise. The game is set in 2025. It follows the story of Black Ops which was released in 2010 and features two connected story lines, one in the 1970s through the 1980s and the other one in 2025. You are playing as Alex Mason, the main character of the original Black Ops in the first story and his son David Mason in the second storyline. The plot has branching story lines based on player choice. The voice acting is phenomenal. The graphics are stunning and look more lifelike with every Call of Duty installment. On the minus side, there are some glitches and holes in the plot, not to mention the confusing narrative. Though previous Call of Duty players will enjoy it, not everyone will be taken in. Now we move on to multiplayer, the main part of the Call of Duty franchise. In multiplayer you compete with players from all over the world to rank up in the game. There arent too many differences from previous games, only the futuristic guns and maps. But yes, it features a new advancement known as the pick 10 system, which allows you to pick 10 things, such as guns, attachments for the guns and lethal and tactical grenades for you to load out in the game. The multiplayer is smooth for the most part until you join a game where the host of the lobby has bad internet connection, then you have to deal with lag in the game. Also there in no system pairing you with people of your skill level so you could end up in many one-sided games. Although I found the multiplayer to be entertaining, there were times when problems made me just give up. Last but not least, the Zombie mode. First featured in Call of Duty: World at War as one small side game, it quickly gained popularity as the Call of Duty team released more maps for people to buy, ending up with total four maps. The mode allows you to play on the maps with 1 to 4 players. The mode made its return in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Now it is a main part of the game. It also started to develop a story in the maps with Easter eggs you could do to learn more. It started with two maps, three including a small third person arcade style map. The last map called Moon had a very complicated Easter egg, which allowed you to blow up to sort of destroy earth to get rid of all the zombies. With Black Ops 2, the zombie maps look very post-apocalyptic with lava, fire and destruction everywhere. It includes five different maps with one exclusive map for people who bought the more expensive versions of the game. The zombies mode had three different modes inside instead of the one from previous games. The modes being Tranzit, a sort of new story mode combing the five maps into one huge map, Survival which is the original zombies mode and then grief a new mode featuring 8 players, instead of the normal maximum of 4, with two teams trying to outlast the other to see who wins. Zombies is very entertaining as you find more things in the map every time you play it. New and old Call of Duty players will find themselves having a lot of fun trying to survive with hundreds of zombies on their tail. I would recommend this game to people who like playing first person shooters and killing zombies. Although the story might seem confusing and the multiplayer annoying at times, I still like the game as a whole.

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December 1-7, 2012

ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Review
fter winning over audiences with his fun-loving and enduring character Rancho in 2009 film "3 idiots", actor Aamir Khan is set to take his fans on a thrilling trip with his next film "Talaash", which is ready to hit screens this week. Directed by Reema Kagti, the film promises a lot of suspense, drama and thrill. It is among the list of much-awaited Hindi movies of the year, and comes two weeks after two big-ticket Bollywood releases - Shah Rukh Khan's "Jab Tak Hai Jaan" and Ajay Devgn's "Son Of Sardaar". With suspense at its core,

Get set for a thrilling 'Talaash'

"Talaash" is a tale of love lost, fatal attraction and a quest to solve a perfect crime. It explores Mumbai's underbelly. Aamir plays a police officer named Surjan Singh Shekhawat in the film. An early morning call informing of an accident and death sets the ball rolling for some new investigation -- a case which turns into a life-altering chase for Suraj. He is forced to reel under the repercussions of a broken married life with wife Roshni played by actress Rani Mukerji and come face-to-face with his suppressed grief. Being on his investigative quest and fighting it out with personal struggle, Suraj meets a sex worker Rosie, played by actress Kareena Kapoor, who adds shades of mystery to the puzzle. What looks like a simple car accident investigation turns into a haunting mystery as further probe shows many anomalies were linked to the death of the victim. Co-produced by Aamir, Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, "Talaash" has been given U/A certificate by the censor board. Made at a budget of Rs.40 crore, the movie is co-written by Kagti and Zoya Akhtar.

Aamir Khan with Kareena Kapoor in Talaash

'Bigg Boss' to be made into film, as horror comedy 'I don't believe in Rs 100-crore club'
opular reality show "Bigg Boss" is now headed for the big screen -- as a horror comedy! Endemol India, producers of "Bigg Boss", along with Select Media Holdings Pvt. Ltd's film production arm, Moving Pictures, will jointly produce the horror comedy, based on the experiences of the people in the "Bigg Boss" house. The movie will go on the floors next year. "The success of 'Bigg Boss' has achieved epic proportions, where we have seen that it has become a part of people's daily lives. One of the biggest advantages is its ability to cut across people of all age groups. We are certain that we will be able to replicate the success and

Interview

Actor Aamir Khan

A scene from Bigg Boss

amir Khan returns with his first big starring role in three years with the suspense drama Talaash. The awardwinning actor/producer sat down to talk about his latest picture. Here are excerpts from an exclusive interview: Do you gravitate towards movies about social messages? Not all of my films have social messages. You might have seen Delhi Belly, I dont think there was any social message in that. Or Fanaa, or Ghajini, no social message. Those are emotional stories or love stories. Its not true that I only do movies with social messages. I do films that excite me. I do films that touch my heart and move me. They may or may not have a social message. But thats not why I am doing films. Im doing a story because it touches me. What is Talaash about? Its essentially a suspense drama. The reason why I chose Talaash and the reason that it attracted me was because not only is it a great suspense story where when I heard the script I couldnt tell what was going to happen next, its also an exciting story and it held that suspense for me. But at its heart its a story about coming to terms with

loss. Its a very emotional story at its core. And each one of us has either lost somebody close to us or we are afraid of losing someone close to us. So losing somebody close to you is a reality for all of us. Thats how life is. So here is a film which apart from being a suspense drama is a film which helps you, perhaps, to come to terms with loss. Do you follow box office figures for your films? At the outset, I am not looking at figures. Figures I look at in retrospect, it helps me gauge how well a film of mine has been received. Its one of the yardsticks that helps me. But thats not the only yardstick and certainly its not something I keep in mind when Im selecting a film. Had I kept the figure in mind, then I never would have made films like Lagaan. These films went on to become very successful, but at the outset there were not any logical reasons for them to do big business. So theres Lagaan, Rang De Basanti, Sarfarosh, Taare Zameen Par all of these films I would have never done if I thought oh, I have to do 100 crore. All of these films take up a fair amount of my time, even if Im not acting in them. So Im the last person to look at figures at the outset.

recreate the unpredictability of this format on the silver screen as well," Deepak Dhar, CEO, Endemol India, said in a statement.

The cast of the film is being finalized and the makers have approached some of the contestants from the previous seasons of the reality show.

'Life Of Pi' a must watch: KJo, Shekhar Kapur

to post viewing analysis. That's the fun of it," Karan tweeted Sunday. It has been released in 2D and 3D format and Kapur liked the movie so much so that he went to watch it a second time. "Watching 'Life Of Pi' second time in two days. Brought my daughter and her friends. Nice to see a full house and lots of kids. Fantastic movie," Kapur tweeted. "Life Of Pi" narrates the tale of a boy who is adrift at sea in a lifeboat with a Royal Bengal tiger after his family is drowned in a shipwreck. It features Indian actors Tabu and Irrfan Khan and newcomer Suraj Sharma. The movie was shot in the hillside town of Munnar along with the elegance of Pondicherry - all on 3D.

A scene from Life of Pi

ilmmakers Karan Johar and Shekhar Kapur can't stop praising Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee's "Life Of Pi", based on Yann Martel's Booker Prize winning novel of the same name.

The movie opened here Friday in four languages - English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu and collected Rs.3.5 crore. " 'Life Of Pi' - must watch!! Its message will have multiple interpretations and will be open

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

ULTIMATE BOLLYWOOD

December 1-7, 2012

17

Sonakshi more excited for 'Dabangg 2'

he made her Bollywood debut with the blockbuster "Dabangg" in 2010, and now actress Sonakshi Sinha, who is also a part of "Dabangg 2", says she is upbeat about being a part of the franchise. "I am very excited. When a film gets a good response, it feels good. I started with 'Dabangg' and now doing 'Dabangg 2' is very exciting for me," the 25-year-old said on the sidelines of an event here Sunday. Sonakshi was joined at the event by director Milan Luthria, who is working with her in the sequel to "Once Upon A

A scene from Dabangg 2

Time in Mumbaai". In the movie, Sonakshi features opposite Akshay Kumar, who plays don Shoaib Khan. But she refuses to call her own part negative. "It's negative? No. It's a very interesting character. For me, as an actor it is a very challenging role and the film is set in a very interesting premise. It is a great role, that's all I can say now," Sonakshi said. The film also features Imran Khan and Sonali Bendre. It is to release around Eid next year.

Priyanka plays Mary Kom in Bhansali's next

heres been speculation for some time now on who will play the lead role in Sanjay Leela Bhansalis film based on the life of Indias ace boxer, Mary Kom. Now we hear that Priyanka Chopra has been signed on for the project. A source from the production house has confirmed the news saying, Priyanka signed on the dotted line on Sunday. The meeting didnt happen in person, but shes onboard. The work on her character will begin shortly. Priyanka and Bhansali were apparently in talks for a while, and she was an obvious choice owing to her film record. The source says, Priyanka has

Academy Award-winning Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier

India fascinates director Susanne Bier

A
Priyanka Chopra

done action films in the past and she can pull off the role. Of course, a lot of hard work will have to be done in terms of getting the look and character right. The movie, which will be directed by Umang Kumar, will go on the floors early next year. Mary Kom, in fact, had met Bhansali a few weeks ago to discuss it.

fascination for India and a cultural attraction towards the country made Academy Award-winning Danish filmmaker Susanne Bier to set a part of her new film in India. Interacting with mediapersons at the 43rd International Film Festival of India, Susanne said her 2006 film "After The Wedding" had a part of the plot set in India, where the protagonist lived and managed an orphanage. "I've always had a fascination with India. I've been reading a lot of Indian literature. India is culturally influential in ways you may not realise. Besides history, there is a

much more substantial influence. "So having to make my character live outside of Denmark, India became the place naturally," said the 52-year-old, adding that it was "important to somehow educate, tell the audience to embrace the multicultural world". "After The Wedding", being screened at the film festival, stars Mads Mikkelsen, a Danish actor known for his role as a poker-playing villain in the James Bond film "Casino Royale". Bier's film "In a Better World" won an Oscar for the Best Foreign Film last year. She said her interest was

not about movies per say but about storytelling. "For me, movies are the best tool for doing that." Bier said several producers had approached her to make a movie based in India, but she was cautious because she was not fully aware of the land and not confident to tell a story about a country and its people. But she said she was working on a film that might open in India. "It is a romantic comedy which has a serious element. It deals with the theme of cancer," she said, adding that to familiarise herself with Indian cinema, she would buy a bagful of DVDs.

Moulin Rouge to appear on 'Dil Dosti Dance'

A
cclaimed dance and entertainment troupe Moulin Rouge has made inroads to Indian television with Channel V's youth show "D3: Dil Dosti Dance". The French dancers have performed cancan in their trademark brightly coloured ruffled skirts, feathered headgear and tinkling rhinestone jewellery. "We are really pleased with the outcome of this integration. Moulin Rouge has been spectacular in the episode and they've really complimented 'D3' to the hilt and added so much quality to the sequence. We hope that they enjoyed being on our show and performing with our stars," Prem Kamath, Channel V, executive vice president and general manager, said in a statement. The troupe will shake a leg on popular Bollywood item song "Chikni chameli", choreographed by the cast of "D3: Dil Dosti Dance", Kunwar Amar Singh and Shantanu Maheshwari.
Kunwar Amar Singh with Moulin Rouge troupe in 'D3: Dil Dosti Dance'

18

December 1-7, 2012

ART

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Asia's second Pieta now in continent's tallest church

he second replica in Asia of Michaelangelo's Pieta, which represents the body of Jesus in the lap of his mother Mary after crucifixion, was consecrated and unveiled at the Shrine Basilica of the Lady of Dolours, here.The Pieta is regarded a masterpiece of Renaissance art. The tallest portion of the Shrine Basilica of the Lady of Dolours at Thrissur stands 260 feet above the

ground, making this the tallest church in Asia; it has a total plinth area of 25,000 square feet. Andrews Thazhath, Archbishop of the archdiocese of Thrissur performed the blessing ceremony of the replica recently. The statue is faithful to the original in detail and subtlety.Seven skilled artisans of Jaipur worked five months to get the replica ready. The sculpture shows the nuanced

folds of Mary's garments and the limp muscles in Jesus' body. Built using Makrana white marble, this replica was created from one solid mass of a 10-tonne (10,000 kg) marble block. The replica was commissioned by a donor who spent more than Rs.45 lakh. The donation was made as an offering, for blessings received from the Divine Mother.

The replica of Michaelangelo's Pieta, installed at the Basilica of the Lady of Dolours Church, Thrissur, Kerala

Tagore paintings begin tour of India

abindranath Tagore entered the world of visual imagery, drifting from words to images, only when he turned 64. The winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 went on to become one of the earliest master painters in India, with his drawings of human figures and nature. "The last Harvest: Sesquicentennial Exhibition of Paintings by Tagore," a collection of nearly 100 paintings that has already travelled the world as part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of the sage (his birthday was on May 8, 1861), has now dropped anchor in India at the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) in the capital. The exhibition, which opened Monday, will continue for a month in New Delhi, before touring other cities in the country. Director of the NGMA Rajeev Lochan said: "We will take it to Mumbai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Bhopal." He added that the paintings had already travelled to nine museums in three continents. At NGMA, New Delhi, the exhibition was inaugurated by Union Culture Minister ChandreshKumariKatoch. The exhibition was curated in chronological order, under four cat-

Ancient rock sculptures discovered in Maharashtra

A still from Rabindranath Tagore's 'Dakghar' by challenged children at NSD's children theatre festival

egories in keeping with the progression of Tagore as a painter of curious natural creatures and creator of layered landscapes, mysterious figures, self-portraits, narratives and head portraits, inspired by Cubism. Tagore the globe-trotter began to paint at his long-time friend Victoria Ocampo's mansion named Miralrio San Isidro in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 17 years before his death. But even as a writer, Tagore was a frequent doodler. Instead of scratching out errors, he drew forms around

them so that the overwriting and scratching took on separate lives on hand-written pages. Out of this doodling emerged a strange set of drawings, mostly geometric forms from his early days as a painter. The drawings throw light on the poet-turned-artist's struggle to master form and lines in the first section, "shapes". That makes way to a section on "animal and nature" in which the poet paints fantastic imaginary beasts, many of them blending aspects of man, reptile, bird and amphibian creatures. While some images resemble the 'gharial' (small alligators) found in eastern India, wolves, bovine or feline shapes, all make a presence. All these creatures peer out with knowing, gnome-like eyes. In his writings, the poet says: "In human society, we sometimes encounter various animals that live hidden within us". The hybrid animals speak of Tagore's obsession with abstract forms and inner psyches. The mediums are as simple as the pen, coloured ink, water colour and charcoal on paper. Large gloomy black spaces dominate his silent landscapes, which are hazy in their contours and illuminated by sudden sources of light.

ock sculptures dating back to between 4,000-7,000 BC have been found in a well-preserved condition in the forests near Kudopi village in Sindhudurg district of coastal Konkan region, an official said here Tuesday. There are more than 60 big and small images of Mother Goddess, birds and animals, found in a single location of around 20,000 square feet, considered one of the biggest such concentration anywhere in the country, SatishLalit, leader of an expedition team which made the discovery last May, said. "Though similar carvings have been found in other parts of India, this is the first find on a red soil laterite plateau. These are petro-glyphs unlike the picto-graphs found in places like Amravati," Lalit, a member of Rock Art Society of India (RASI), said. With this significant historical find dating back to over 6,000 years from now, Sindhudurg district, around 490 km from Mumbai on the MaharashtraGoa border, will be catapulted onto the global rock-art map. Last week (Nov 17) Lalit, who is also the media advisor to Maharashtra Chief Minister PrithvirajChavan, presented his findings before the RASI's 17th National Congress held in Badami, Karnataka. Eminent historian SundaraAdiga described the findings as "unique and

Rock sculptures dating back to between 4,000-7,000 B.C. found in in the forests near Kudopi village in Sindhudurg district of coastal Konkan region. very beautiful" pieces of art. "The findings, in terms of the variety, the depiction, art and sheer beauty are incomparable, of world class. They provide an insight into the human development in that age and must be preserved carefully," Adiga said at the congress. Lalit explained that the manner in which the rocks have been carved indicate that they belong to the Neolithic era which flourished in southern Asia between 4,000-7,000 BC. "The most striking carving is of a 15-foot tall Mother Goddess with all the internationally known symbols indicating her status. During that era, women were accorded a very high social status, were revered and worshipped by human tribes," he added.

Identity important for globalization of Indian art: Paresh Maity

or leading multi-media contemporary artist PareshMaity, a globalized painter with an eye for diversity of Indian life, "identity is very important for any form of art to flourish". "I can be removed from my own heritage, but I cannot lose touch with it. Proper globalization of Indian art is possible only when heritage meets modernity. If there is no root, you are baseless," Maity said. The waterscapes of riverine Bengal, the golden light of the Thar and the cosmopolitan colours of the bustling capital, have all come together on the canvas of Maity, who will be honored with the prestigious DayawatiModi Award for Art, Culture and Education-2012, in the

An image of Paresh Maity's mechanical installation, "A Procession of Ants"

capital Monday. The artist says his journey from Midnapore to Kolkata and then to Delhi, Rajasthan and around the

world in the last two decades has changed his color palette, formats of creative expression and returned him closer to his roots as an idol

artisan in a strange way. Maity is known for his cuttingedge mechanical western-style installations, bronze sculptures and giant paintings of more than seven feet. "It is always better to know your roots and build your artistic dimensions around it," the artist said about the essence of global Indian art. "You can have a different language, but the content of your art must be from your culture," he said. The 47-year-old artist is making a 12-foot installation of the seven cities of Delhi for the India Art Summit 2013. "The installation is six feet in diameter. It portrays how the metropolis of Delhi have evolved

over the centuries; how the ancient Tughlaqabad was like and it is now. I am using day-to-day material and lot of colors," Maity said. The next year will see Maity reconnect to his core oeuvre of water color once again at the World Art Fair at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore spread across 1,000 sq feet. "The water colors will be large some almost 7 X 10 sqft in size. They will be impressions of the places I have visited in the last 20 years. It is difficult to tackle water color on large surfaces," Maity said. An installation of small boats will lend solidity to the minimal landscapes in water color, he said.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

OP-ED

December 1-7, 2012

19

The most talked-about global economic trend in recent years has been the rise of the rest, with Brazil, Russia, India, and China leading the charge. But international economic convergence is a myth. Few countries can sustain unusually fast growth for a decade, and even fewer, for more than that. Now that the boom years are over, the BRICs are crumbling; the international order will change less than expected.

Broken BRICs: Why the Rest stopped rising

By Ruchir Sharma

ver the past several years, the most talked-about trend in the global economy has been the so-called rise of the rest, which saw the economies of many developing countries swiftly converging with those of their more developed peers. The primary engines behind this phenomenon were the four major emerging-market countries, known as the BRICs: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. The world was witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime shift, the argument went, in which the major players in the developing world were catching up to or even surpassing their counterparts in the developed world. These forecasts typically took the developing world's high growth rates from the middle of the last decade and extended them straight into the future, juxtaposing them against predicted sluggish growth in the United States and other advanced industrial countries. Such exercises supposedly proved that, for example, China was on the verge of overtaking the United States as the world's largest economy - a point that Americans clearly took to heart, as over 50 % of them, according to a Gallup poll conducted this year, said they think that China is already the world's "leading" economy, even though the U.S. economy is still more than twice as large (and with a per capita income seven times as high). As with previous straight-line projections of economic trends, however - such as forecasts in the 1980s that Japan would soon be number one economically - later returns are throwing cold water on the extravagant predictions. With the world economy heading for its worst year since 2009, Chinese growth is slowing sharply, from double digits down to seven % or even less. And the rest of the BRICs are tumbling, too: since 2008, Brazil's annual growth has dropped from 4.5 % to 2 %; Russia's, from 7 % to 3.5 %; and India's, from 9 % to 6 %. None of this should be surprising, because it is hard to sustain rapid growth for more than a decade. The unusual circumstances of the last decade made it look easy: coming off the crisis-ridden 1990s and fueled by a global flood of easy money, the emerging markets took off in a mass upward swing that made virtually every economy a winner. By 2007, when only three countries in the world suffered negative growth, recessions had all but disappeared from the international scene. But now, there is a lot less foreign money flowing into emerging markets. The global economy is returning to its

normal state of churn, with many laggards and just a few winners rising in unexpected places. The implications of this shift are striking, because economic momentum is power, and thus the flow of money to rising stars will reshape the global balance of power. Forever emerging The notion of wide-ranging convergence between the developing and the developed worlds is a myth. Of the roughly 180 countries in the world tracked by the IMF, only 35 are developed. The markets of the rest are emerging-and most of them have been emerging for many decades and will continue to do so for many more. The Harvard economist Dani Rodrik captures this reality well. He has shown that before 2000, the performance of the emerging markets as a whole did not converge with that of the developed world at all. In fact, the per capita income gap between the advanced and the developing economies steadily widened from 1950 until 2000. There were a few pockets of countries that did catch up with the West, but they were limited to oil states in the Gulf, the nations of southern Europe after World War II, and the economic "tigers" of East Asia. It was only after 2000 that the emerging markets as a whole started to catch up; nevertheless, as of 2011, the difference in per capita incomes between the rich and the developing nations was back to where it was in the 1950s. This is not a negative read on emerging markets so much as it is simple historical reality. Over the course of any given decade since

1950, on average, only a third of the emerging markets have been able to grow at an annual rate of 5 % or more. Less than one-fourth have kept up that pace for two decades, and one-tenth, for three decades. Only Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, and Hong Kong have maintained this growth rate for four decades. So even before the current signs of a slowdown in the BRICs, the odds were against Brazil experiencing a full decade of growth above 5 %, or Russia, its second in a row. Meanwhile, scores of emerging markets have failed to gain any momentum for sustained growth, and still others have seen their progress stall after reaching middle-income status. Malaysia and Thailand appeared to be on course to emerge as rich countries until crony capitalism, excessive debts, and overpriced currencies caused the Asian financial meltdown of 1997-98. Their growth has disappointed ever since. In the last decadce, emerging markets became such a celebrated pillar of the global economy that it is easy to forget how new the concept of emerging markets is in the financial world. The first coming of the emerging markets dates to the mid-1980s, when Wall Street started tracking them as a distinct asset class. Initially labeled as "exotic," many emergingmarket countries were then opening up their stock markets to foreigners for the first time: Taiwan opened its up in 1991; India, in 1992; South Korea, in 1993; and Russia, in 1995. Foreign investors rushed in, unleashing a 600 % boom in emerging-mar-

ket stock prices (measured in dollar terms) between 1987 and 1994. Over this period, the amount of money invested in emerging markets rose from less than one % to nearly 8 % of the global stock-market total. This phase ended with the economic crises that struck from Mexico to Turkey between 1994 and 2002. The stock markets of developing countries lost almost half their value and shrank to four % of the global total. From 1987 to 2002, developing countries' share of global GDP actually fell, from 23 % to 20 %. The exception was China, which saw its share double, to 4.5 %. The story of the hot emerging markets, in other words, was really about one country. The second coming began with the global boom in 2003, when emerging markets really started to take off as a group. The third coming, an era that will be defined by moderate growth in the developing world, the return of the boom-bust cycle, and the breakup of herd behavior on the part of emerging-market countries, is just beginning. Without the easy money and the blue-sky optimism that fueled investment in the last decade, the stock markets of developing countries are likely to deliver more measured and uneven returns. Gains that averaged 37 % a year between 2003 and 2007 are likely to slow to, at best, 10 % over the coming decade, as earnings growth and exchange-rate values in large emerging markets have limited scope for additional improvement after last decade's strong performance. Past its sell-by date No idea has done more to muddle thinking about the global economy than that of the BRICs. Other than being the largest economies in their respective regions, the big four emerging markets never had much in common. They generate growth in different and often competing waysBrazil and Russia, for example, are major energy producers that benefit from high energy prices, whereas India, as a major energy consumer, suffers from them. Except in highly unusual circumstances, such as those of the last decade, they are unlikely to grow in unison. China apart, they have limited trade ties with one another, and they have few political or foreign policy interests in common. In the decade to come, the US, Europe, and Japan are likely to grow slowly. Their sluggishness, however, will look less worrisome compared with the even bigger story in the global economy, which will be the three to four percent slowdown in China, which is already under way.

China's population is simply too big and aging too quickly for its economy to continue growing as rapidly as it has. In due time, the sense of many Americans today that Asian juggernauts are swiftly overtaking the U.S. economy will be remembered as one of the country's periodic bouts of paranoia, akin to the hype that accompanied Japan's ascent in the 1980s. The uneven rise of the emerging markets will impact global politics in a number of ways. For starters, it will revive the self-confidence of the West and dim the economic and diplomatic glow of recent stars, such as Brazil and Russia (not to mention the petrodictatorships in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East). One casualty will be the notion that China's success demonstrates the superiority of authoritarian, state-run capitalism. Of the 124 emerging-market countries that have managed to sustain a five % growth rate for a full decade since 1980, 52 % were democracies and 48 % were authoritarian. At least over the short to medium term, what matters is not the type of political system a country has but rather the presence of leaders who understand and can implement the reforms required for growth. Another casualty will be the notion of the so-called demographic dividend. Because China's boom was driven in part by a large generation of young people entering the work force, consultants now scour census data looking for similar population bulges as an indicator of the next big economic miracle. But such demographic determinism assumes that the resulting workers will have the necessary skills to compete in the global market and that governments will set the right policies to create jobs. In the world of the last decade, when a rising tide lifted all economies, the concept of a demographic dividend briefly made sense. But that world is gone. Although the world can expect more breakout nations to emerge from the bottom income tier, at the top and the middle, the new global economic order will probably look more like the old one than most observers predict. The rest may continue to rise, but they will rise more slowly and unevenly than many experts are anticipating. And precious few will ever reach the income levels of the developed world. Ruchir Sharma is head of Emerging Markets and Global Macro at Morgan Stanley Investment Management and the author of Breakout Nations: In Pursuit of the Next Economic Miracles. Courtesy: Council on Foreign Relations.

The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.

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December 1-7, 2012

OP-ED

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The latest round of fighting in Gaza gave Hamas room to paper over growing rifts between its Gaza-based leadership and its leadership in exile. But eventually the group will need to resolve internal disputes over working with Iran, working with Arab capitals, and negotiating with Israel --or face decline.

Hamas: Time to regroup or rupture

politics, Hamas' PM, Ismail Haniya, has endorsed a close relationship with Iran. Haniya paid a warm visit to Tehran in February, provoking the ire of Arab leaders, who have since given him the cold shoulder, preferring other Hamas leaders. Haniya has expressed no interest in talking about a two state solution and overall, the rest of the Gaza-based leadership has simply grown more uncompromising under the Israeli blockade and now two lopsided wars. It prefers full-throated resistance to any political settlement. It is unclear whether the differences presage an ideological split or are simply the result of two very different vantage points: inside Gaza, where the leaders have to worry about staying in power, and outside it, where the leaders worry about staying regionally relevant. So far, Hamas has seemed unable to address the issues that divide the two factions, which might explain why the movement has not selected a successor to Meshal, who was supposed to step down this spring. The sides do, of course, have lowest common denominators that hold them together: resistance as the primary avenue to winning Palestinian rights; gaining greater share of Palestinian leadership; and Islamism. Since Hamas' creation in 1987, it has tried to match Fatah's strength. With that goal largely accomplished by 2007, it has moved on to pushing Fatah completely to the sidelines by maintaining a commitment to Islamism and opposition to the Jewish state. By contrast, Fatah has remained secular, and has even agreed to recognize Israel and to conduct an experiment in joint governance with it through the Palestinian Authority. Meanwhile, Hamas has not had to face Palestinian voters since 2006. Polling suggests that Palestinians -- Gazans in particular -- have lost patience with Hamas. But each conflict with Israel gives the movement a new lease on life. Thanassis Cambanis is a fellow at the Century Foundation. He is a foreign policy columnist for The Boston Globe. This article courtesy: .Council on Foreign Relations

Telecom debacle: Myth of high loss broken

By Arvind Padmanabhan he debacle witnessed in the latest round of auctions of precious airwaves for India's telecom sector where close to half the spectrum on offer w e n t unsold is another rap on the knuckles of the country's official auditor and a lesson again for the government. The question, naturally, being asked is: Where is that presumptive loss of Rs.1.76 lakh crore, or around $32 billion going by an exchange rate of 55 rupees to a dollar, which the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) had so sensationally estimated? There is no denying the fact that the government got it all wrong in the manner in which it handed out 122 licences and related spectrum to new telecom players in 2008 which was later ordered cancelled by the Supreme Court, as it found the process followed wanting. But what the government actually got from the latest auction of the airwaves of 1,800 MHz spectrum in 18 circles was just Rs.17,343 crore ($3.14 billion) -- Rs.9,407.6 crore ($1.75 billion) and a one-time fee of Rs.7,936 crore ($1.44 billion). Just 10 percent of that startling figure is mentioned as presumptive loss. To be charitable to the official auditor, its report had presented several scenarios and said presumptive loss could be estimated at between Rs.57,000 crore ($10.3 billion) and Rs.1.76 lakh crore. But even the lower end of that estimate has proved to be fictional. What has happened in the interim? In the case of auction of airwaves two years ago for third generation (3G) telephony and broadband services, the government did get a whopping Rs.106,219 crore ($19.3 billion). But the high price took its toll on subscriber accumulation as the fee charged had to be high. A report by Wireless Intelligence, a global authority on data related to the telecom sector, said India's 3G connection base was estimated at a mere 33 million in the first quarter of 2012, as compared to the total telecom subscriber base of around 900 million. In the case of broadband, too, the subscriber base stands at a mere 15 million. Clearly, it is the customer who has suffered. India has, indeed, come a long way since the 1980s when one

Khaled Meshal, Hamas' main leader now based in Doha.

By Thanassis Cambanis nce again, Hamas has been spared from making the difficult political choice that face most resistance movements when they gain power: whether to focus on the fight or to govern. Since it won the Palestinian elections in 2006 and then took control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, Hamas has been free to pursue a middle course, resisting Israel while blaming its political failures on its cold war with Fatah and on Israel's blockade. Now Hamas will tout the concessions it won from Israel last week -- as part of the ceasefire, Israel agreed to open the border crossings to Gaza, suspend its military operations there, and end targeted killings -- as proof that it should not give up fighting. Meanwhile, the outcome should be enough to buy Hamas cover for its poor record of governance and allow it to again defer making tough choices about statehood, negotiations, regional alliances, and military strategy. The group might even be able to use the momentum to supplant Fatah in the West Bank as it has done in Gaza. Hamas' recent advance won't fully mask the organization's central dilemma, nor will it cover internal rifts about how to solve it. In the American and Israeli media, portrayals of Hamas often focus heavily on the group's commitment to eliminating the Jewish state. And certainly any fair study of the group should take into account that goal. Yet for Hamas, the end of Israel is more an ideological starting point than a practical program. And what comes after the starting point is unclear: Hamas has

never developed a vision of what a resolution short of total victory might look like, nor has it spelled out an agenda for governing its own constituents, despite all these years in power. In part, that is because Hamas is a diffuse and contested movement, whose competing factions all work toward their own selfinterest. Hamas' top political leadership used to operate out of Damascus but scattered to Cairo, Doha, and other Middle Eastern capitals this year as Syria descended into chaos. Since then, the exiled leadership has clashed publicly with Hamas' Gaza-based leadership. Khaled Meshal, the organization's main leader, now based Doha, and his cohort have generally allied with the Sunni Arab states over Iran, welcoming the rise of Islamists in Egypt, in Tunisia, and among the Syrian rebels. Meshal himself has publicly endorsed a truce with Israel based on Israel's withdrawal to its 1967 borders. The rest of the exilebased leaders have also indicated their willingness to consider a truce, although they say they would consider the deal temporary and would not recognize Israel. Partly in response to Hamas' pragmatism, and partly in acceptance of the reality of the movement's rising power. Arab leaders finally ended their informal boycott of Gaza, and, in recent months, the emir of Qatar and the prime minister of Egypt paid visits. Yet the growing stature of Hamas might accentuate, rather than diffuse, the tensions between its exiled chiefs and its Gaza-based leadership. According to Mark Perry, a historian who follows Palestinian

needed proximity to someone in authority to get a telephone connection. None of that today. The subscriber base stands at 937 million, which is no mean achievement. But a much better technology -- read 3G and broadband services, as opposed to 2G -- at affordable prices is also something which telecom subscribers must be entitled to. Particularly when airwaves are scarce. Therefore, in hindsight, the government has got it wrong this time as well. Harping on the erroneous calculations of the official auditor will not help any longer, especially after the Supreme Court clearly said policymaking was the executive's sole preserve and that even the judiciary had no role to play in this regard. The government, led by Communications Minister Kapil Sibal, says the combined value of unsold spectrum is Rs.62,000 crore ($11.2 billion) at this realized price. Even if half of that is secured, it will be close to the target of Rs.40,000 crore ($7.25 billion). Is that the point? Not at all. The executive scored a point -- that calculations by the official auditor had no basis. But what is in store is a more glaring scenario. That is the threat of a 30-40 percent hike in telecom tariff due to high spectrum cost. This will bode ill for telecom penetration in India where the bulk of the subscribers in terms of numbers are low-end users. At a larger level, it will affect growth, as studies show that a nation's output expands one percent if telecom penetration rises 10 percent. The health of the industry is equally important -- millions of people are employed by the telecom companies and billions of dollars of public money is riding on them. There is also the question of nation's credibility among foreign investors. Clearly, the high reserve price fixed for the latest auction has not worked. What else would explain an absolute lack of interest among telecom players for Delhi and Mumbai circles, the two most lucrative areas in the country for telecom revenue. The government certainly needs to balance its policy, weighing the options between the need for resources and prevention of irrational bidding on the one hand, and ensuring market-led fair price for airwaves and affordable telecom services on the other. So, the myth of high presumptive loss has been broken and even the Supreme Court has paved the way for the adoption of right policy, without the lingering fear of a future reprimand. But the government has to show maturity! Arvind Padmanabhan is executive editor-business with IANS.

The views expressed in Op Eds are not necessarily those of The South Asian Times.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

DIASPORA

December 1-7, 2012

21

Ireland says abortion policy depends on Savita report

New Delhi: As outrage on Indian dentist Savita Halappanavar's death in Ireland continues, the country's Education Minister Ciaran Cannon said his government will take a decision on its abortion policy after they get reports on her case. "First of all, I extend my sympathy to the Halappanavar family. Ireland is one of the best places in the world to have a baby, we are proud of our health care system. To bring clarity to the incident, we have set up a commission to look into the case," Cannon, who was in Delhi on an official visit said. Savita, an Indian dentist working in Ireland, died of septicemia after being denied an abortion. Ireland's Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) is now looking in the case which sparked a row over the anti-abortion laws in the country and abroad. Asked if the government will consider changing its anti-abortion law, Cannon said the final decision will depend on the reports. "Ireland's Health Information and Quality Authority, which is an independent authority, is looking in the case. It will give its report which will be published soon. Based on the advice of this report, the government will decide what to do," he said. Ireland's Health Minister James Reilly recently met Savita's husband Praveen.

Indian-origin Tory politician slammed for racist slur on Muslims

London: Britain's first female Asian peer has been slammed for claiming all Muslims are on benefits and vote Labor. Indian-origin crossbencher Baroness Flather made the comments while defending PM David Cameron's new Aussie campaign chief Lynton Crosby "who had allegedly said that chasing Muslim votes was a waste of Tory time". Crosby is also said to have used the phrase 'f***ing Muslims' while on London Mayor Boris Johnson's staff, the Sun reports. "I don't condone swearing, but Lynton is right. They are all on benefits and all vote Labor," Flather, who has Indian roots, said. According to the report Labor Party vice- chair Michael Dugher condemned Flather for her comments and said that they were unacceptable. "These comments are unacceptable. There can be no place in politics for such offensive and ignorant attitudes," Labor Party vice-chair Michael Dugher said. According to the report, Flather later admitted she went too far, but added that her point was valid.

Indian-origin Trinidad hunger striker back outside PM's office

Port of Spain: An increasingly frail Indian-origin activist who has been on hunger strike for nearly two weeks returned to the office of the prime minister of Trinidad & Tobago to protest a highway extension project in the Caribbean country. Activist Wayne Kublalsingh was joined by a small group of supporters as the protest returned to the public eye for the first time since he was briefly hospitalized and treated with intravenous fluids because of his hunger strike. Police kept the protesters away from the sidewalk outside the office of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar but the group spent much of the day in the street. Kublalsingh said he will continue his fast until Persad-Bissessar either halts the highway extension or agrees to a review of the project that includes the effects on the environment and several rural communities, something he says she agreed to do earlier this year. "Unless she undertakes to keep that promise, to do a serious technical review with a cost-benefit analysis, a social impact analysis, hydrological studies, I will not put any food or drink into my mouth," he said.He started the hunger strike November 16. He grew increasingly weak before he was taken to the hospital, where he said he was given intravenous fluids. The government, showing apparent concern for his health, stationed an ambulance near the protest yesterday. He went home in another ambulance hired by his family. The highway project, which will cost more than USD 800 million and will connect the southern city of San Fernando to one of the country's energy-producing towns, Point Fortin, the location of a major liquefied natural gas refinery at the southwestern tip of Trinidad. Opponents want the project rerouted because they say it will damage wetlands and destroy about 350 homes in rural communities. The prime minister has expressed concern for Kublalsingh, and her government's health minister met with him, but she opposes any halt to the project. "I cannot choose to deprive generations of our nation's citizens of the development which the extension of the highway would bring," Persad-Bissessar said in a speech. Kublalsingh traces his ancestors to India, as do many of those in the path of the highway project, but he does not live in any of the affected communities. He is a lecturer at the University of the West Indies who has long been an environmental activist in the twin-island nation, most prominently in a campaign against an aluminum smelter project that was eventually canceled after extensive protests.

IN BRIEF
Indian Cultural Day was celebrated at the Benha University in Benha, Egypt. Seen here Ambassador Navdeep Suri (left) at the event.

Tagores bust unveiled at historic Borobudur Temple in Yogyakarta

Jakarta: The bust of Indian Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore was unveiled November 26th in a grand ceremony against the backdrop of the majestic Borobudur Temple at Yogyakarta by Gurjit Singh, Ambassador of India to Indonesia and ASEAN, and Mrs. Listyowati, Director of South and Central Asia, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Indonesia. The event was one of the main highlights of the ASEAN-India Car Rally 2012 which kicked off at Yogyakarta earlier today. 124 participants of the Car Rally also witnessed the ceremony. In his remarks at the unveiling ceremony, Ambassador Gurjit Singh said that the Tagores bust has been placed at the premises of the most iconic monument of Indonesia which reflects the closeness of our ties and importance both our great countries accord to the ideas and vision of Tagore. He said that Tagore was a revered cultural figure, a spokesman of the East. As an enlightened soul he remained in a continuous journey of search

Cairo: To commemorate the birthdays of Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad and Jawaharlal Nehru, the Maulana Azad Centre for Indian Culture organized the prize distribution function for the annual 'Glimpses of India' painting competition for the year 2012 on November 22. Renowned singer Iman El Bahr Darwish was the guest of honor. Mrs. Camellia Sobhi, the First Undersecretary, Ministry of Culture and Mr. Mohamed Naguib El Babli, Art Education Counselor, Ministry of Education were also present.

and quest to generate awareness among diverse entities and races. Tagores journey to the Indonesian archipelago was one of his ongoing discoveries of an Asian Identity which belonged to a common cradle of civilization. The bronze bust which has been sculpted in India by Janak Jhankar Nazary, Professor of Art History in Viswa Bharti and gifted by the Indian Ministry of Culture commemorates the visit of Rabindranath Tagore to Indonesia in 1927 where he also planted a sapling at the Borobudur Temple and sitting on the steps of this grand temple wrote a poem To Jawa expressing his great love for this island.

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December 1-7, 2012

SUBCONTINENT

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

GMR row: Nasheed terms government xenophobic

Extradition request for Headley to be decided soon: US

New Delhi: US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman said that India's request for extradition of Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley was under consideration and a decision could be taken soon. In an interview with CNN-IBN news channel, Sherman also said that the Barack Obama administration would do everything possible to bring 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed to justice. Sherman, who earlier in the day met Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai, told the news channel that she understood the sentiments behind the 26/11 attack. "There are processes of justice what both of our countries recognize. That's what is being played out with David Headley. He has been convicted. He is about to face sentencing and he is going to pay for his role in this heinous act. I hope Indians understand the rule of law." To a question on extradition of Headley or PakistaniCanadian Tahawwur Hussain Rana, Sherman said: "That extradition request is before the US now. I expect that there will be a ruling on that soon. I can't speak about the department of justice." Speaking to the channel on the fourth anniversary of 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, Sherman said: "The US is very clear on that....we must do whatever we can to bring all of those responsible for such heinous act to justice." "The US wants to do every single thing that we can to bring everyone to justice. We have announced the rewards for justice programme to bring the organizer of the attack - Saeed to justice. In this execution that just occurred, the US was very much engaged with India," she said. "The FBI testified, we helped with forensic, with GPS location; we gave access to David Headley to Indian

Former Maldives president Mohamed Nasheed

Male: Former president Mohamed Nasheed has said the government of President Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik used xenophobia, nationalism and religious extremism to attack GMR and annul the agreement. Reacting to the government's decision to annul the agreement to manage the Ibrahim Nasir international airport, Nasheed told Haveeru online: "This decision is bad for tourism, bad for the economy and bad for the Maldivian people." The government decided to terminate the agreement signed in June 2010 between GMR-MAHB Consortium, Maldives Airports Company Ltd., and the government of the Maldives, to lease the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport

in Male to GMR for 25 years. On the cabinet's decision to annul the agreement, GMR head of communication Arun Baghad told Haveeru Online he refused to accept that the government can terminate the agreement after just two years into the 25-year contract. Despite the seven-day notice given by the government to hand over the airport, GMR would look to honor the agreement and stay in the Maldives till the end of the 25year contract, Baghad said. "We are going nowhere. A solution to the matter will be sought out," he was quoted as saying. India said the Maldives government's decision to cancel the GMR contract would send "a very negative signal to foreign investors and the international community".

Lashkar-e-Taiba operative David Headley

authorities. I think it's incumbent upon all of us to bring everybody to justice who had anything to do with this ordeal." Headley had pleaded guilty in a US court to his involvement in the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai that claimed 166 lives. He had, however, entered into plea bargain with US authorities. Sherman said the US's offer of $10 million bounty for Saeed is "one tool". "Reward for justice is just one tool. It's a tool to say if people can come forward with information that can lead to conviction...we continue our work with Indian authorities, we raise this issue with Pakistan. This is just one tool among many things we are doing to bring everyone to justice." "The US courts have convicted both Headley and Rana who, we believe, have been part of this. They are now waiting sentencing. So we don't believe in finishing till the job is completely done."

Bangladesh mourns factory fire victims

Dhaka: National flags across Bangladesh flew at half-mast as the country observed a national mourning day for over 100 people who lost their lives in a devastating fire at a garment factory and in a flyover collapse. Flags were flown at halfmast at offices of all government, semi-government and autonomous and academic institutions as well as in other important buildings. The fire at the factory in Ashulia on the outskirts of Dhaka claimed at least 111 lives and 12 others perished in the flyover collapse in the southeastern port city of Chittagong, according to official figures. The government also declared a day off at all readymade garment factories across the country Tuesday. The decisions were taken at a weekly cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Special prayers were offered Tuesday at mosques, temples, pagodas, churches and other places of worship. Thousands of garment workers in Dhaka and other places in the country took part in mourning processions, demanding punishment to the owners of the garments factory where the tragedy occurred. Officials said samples were collected from the severely burnt bodies for DNA tests so as to identify them. The unidentified bodies will be buried at a graveyard in Dhaka by Anjuman-e-Mofidul Islam, a charity arranging funerals for unidentified deceased. Hasina Monday night said the fire at Tazreen Fashions Ltd. was set in a planned way. The Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers' and Exporters' Association also spoke about plots to set the factory ablaze in an attempt to create anarchy. Some workers who escaped by jumping from windows said factory authorities had barred them from running to safety after the fire alarm went off. Some survivors said they found two of the three staircases leading to the ground floor were locked.

Taliban threatens to avenge Kasab death

Islamabad: A Pakistani days after another Taliban facTaliban faction has tion threatened to avenge claimed that its fighters Kasab's hanging by "striking were holed up in Amritsar Indian targets anywhere". and Hyderabad to carry The Pakistani state and minorout attacks to avenge ity Muslim sects Shiias and 26/11 convict Ajmal Sufis have so far been the Kasab's execution last group's prime targets. week. Thousands of people have been "We will avenge the killed since it launched a wave death of Ajmal Kasab on of destabilizing attacks on the Indian soil within a country's armed forces, spy month,'' Ahmed Marwat, agencies, market places and a spokesman for Tehreekmosques beginning 2009. e-Taliban Pakistan's The group had taken Jundullah group was We will avenge the death of responsibility for the failed quoted as saying. "His Ajmal Kasab on Indian soil Times Square car bombing death will not go waste. within a month, says Taliban attempt in 2010, but retract(Our) group has a numed days later. Experts doubt ber of fighters in Amritsar and Hyderabad its ability to strike overseas, saying the Deccan, who will soon take revenge of group lacks the sophistication to do so. Ajmal Kasab. With the death of one Kasab, Jundullah has been closely tied to Qaida scores of his other comrades are ready for and responsible for sectarian bloodbath martyrdom.'' across Pakistan. It has claimed responsibility Marwat spoke in what seemed like Pashto for most of attacks on Shias across Pakistan language's tribal accent spoken in Pakistan's in the last two years. tribal northwest bordering Afghanistan. The The group was blamed for September region has long been an al-Qaida and attacks on Karachi's Dawoodi Bohra comTaliban safe haven. The fresh threat comes munity that killed 11 people.

Pak Cabinet approves anti-terror authority

Islamabad: The Pakistani Cabinet approved a bill to set up a National Counter Terrorism Authority, Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said. The authority will be tasked with drawing up strategies to tackle the threat of terrorism, Xinhua reported. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, who chaired the meeting, condemned the terror attacks on Shias in the country that left nearly 50 people dead in the past 10 days. The NCTA will coordinate and complement the work of other law enforcement agencies in dealing with terrorism, Kaira said at a press conference. He said there was a need for more coordination among various law enforcement agencies.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

INTERNATIONAL

December 1-7, 2012

23

Saudi embassy official gunned down in Yemen

Riyadh: A Saudi Arabian embassy military official and his Yemeni bodyguard were assassinated by unidentified gunmen in security uniforms in Yemen's capital city of Sana'a, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. A source at the Saudi ministry of foreign affairs told SPA that Corporal Khalid Shbikhan AlEnazi, working with the Saudi military attache in Sana'a, and his bodyguard were shot outside the diplomat's home. The attack took place in Bait Zabatan district, a suburb of the capital near Hadda district, CNN reported. At least five gunmen in a 4x4 truck chased the victims' vehicle The shots caused the vehicle to flip over. The gunmen were said to have been dressed as members of the security services. A Yemeni interior ministry official told Xinhua: "Gunmen in security uniforms intercepted the car of a Saudi military diplomat in a busy street in downtown Sana'a while he was on his way to the Saudi embassy, killing him and his Yemeni bodyguard." The gunmen fled the scene before police rushed to investigate the incident. No one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Xinhua identified the killed Saudi as Khalid Shibikan Al Anizi, the assistant military attache.

Seven Egyptians get death in anti-Islam film case

Cairo: Seven fugitive Egyptians were sentenced to death in absentia for crimes related to unity and independence of Egypt following the release of a film that allegedly insulted Islam, state media reported. On Sep 11, thousands of Egyptians surrounded the US embassy in Cairo protesting the movie that reportedly insulted Prophet Mohammad. Clashes between protesters and security forces left one dead and more than 200 people injured. The Cairo Criminal Court Wednesday sentenced to death the seven defendants, who are Egyptian immigrants to the US, Xinhua reported. They were accused of committing crimes related to unity and independence of the country. The seven defendants have also been put on the watch list of the Cairo International Airport.

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet

for about five minutes, Saudi embassy official told CNN in

Sana'a. More than 20 shots were fired in the victims' direction.

Twin car blasts leave 54 dead near Damascus

British media norms must change: PM

London: The current British media regulation regime was "unacceptable" and "needs to change", Prime Minister David Cameron said, as he received a judicial report into press standards following the phone- hacking scandal involving Rupert Murdoch's tabloid. "The status quo, I would argue, does not just need updating - the status quo is unacceptable and needs to change," Cameron said while receiving the Leveson report. "This government set up Leveson because of unacceptable practices in parts of the media and a failed regulatory system," he said. Cameron set up the inquiry last year after it emerged that journalists at the now-defunct News of the World tabloid had hacked the phone of Milly Dowler, a murdered schoolgirl. Cameron's comments come amid reports of a split in the ruling coalition over the level of regulation and after more than 80 MPs and peers urged Leveson not to recommend a new law.

In Cold War, US planned to blow up the Moon!

London: The US planned to blow up the Moon with a nuclear bomb during the Cold War as a show of strength, a British media report said. American military chiefs allegedly devised the secret project, "A Study of Lunar Research Flights" - or "Project A119" - in the hope that the then Soviet Union would be intimidated by viewing the nuclear flash from the Earth, the Telegraph reported. It would have given the US a much needed morale boost after the Russians successfully launched Sputnik in 1957, according to physicist Leonard Reiffel, who was involved in the project. The US would have used an atom bomb, because a hydrogen bomb would have been too heavy. The planning reportedly included calculations by astronomer Carl Sagan, who was then a young graduate. Military officials, however, reportedly abandoned the idea, which would have taken place in 1959, because of fears that it would have an adverse effect on the Earth should the explosion fail.

More than 120 people were wounded in the attacks Syria: Simultaneous car bombings killed more than 50 people and left a trail of destruction in a town near Syria's capital this week as rebels downed a second military aircraft in as many days. The explosives-packed cars were detonated at daybreak in a proregime neighborhood of the mainly Christian and Druze town of Jaramana, residents, state media and a rights watchdog reported. The blasts ripped through a central square near a petrol station, sending residents fleeing in panic. There was a ball of fire at the end of a narrow lane, and the impact of the explosions brought walls down onto cars, crushing them and scattering debris over the ground. Pools of blood and severed body parts were on the streets, said a photographer in the town. The death toll mounted as the day wore on, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights giving tallies of 20, then 29, 38 and later 54. More than 120 people were wounded, and many residents rushed with them to hospital, while others visited the homes of bereaved families. "What do they want from Jaramana? The town brings together people from all over Syria and welcomes everybody," one resident said. Jarmana has now been targeted by four such bomb attacks in three months.

British Prime Minister David Cameron

'Oxford dictionary's former editor deleted Indian words'

with foreign roots, including those of Indian-origin, a new book claims. Robert Burchfield deleted words like 'balisaur', a badger-like animal from India, 'Danchi', a Bengali plant and 'boviander', the name in British Guyana for a person of mixed race living on the river banks. The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is now re-examining words removed by Burchfield who edited the world respected dictionary during the 70s and 80s and who died in 2004 aged 81, the 'Daily Mail' reported. Burchfield, who bizarrely blamed previous editors for it, has long been considered the editor who opened up the English dictionary to the wider world. Sarah Ogilvie, also a former OED editor, in her new book 'Words of the World' reveals how Burchfield started a rumor that his earlier editors were inward-looking anglocentrics, when in fact the opposite was true. After investigating Burchfield's rumors she discovered they were unfounded and that he was actually responsible for the deletion of words such as 'shape', meaning a Tibetan councillor and 'wake-up', a golden-winged woodpecker. "I was the editor of the OED responsible for words from outside Europe and while editing these words I noticed a pattern that went against the general consensus: there were thousands of foreign words and words from varieties of English around the world in the dictionary and they had been put there by editor James Murray and his fellow editors," she said. "The irony of the whole story is that although in the beginning the dictionary editors were criticized for putting too many 'outlandish' words in the dictionary that were 'decaying' our language, one hundred years later they were criticised for the opposite: for too many British words in the dictionary and not enough foreign words! But it turns out that this was a myth perpetuated by a 20th-century Chief Editor of the OED," said Ogilvie. She compared Burchfield's four OED dictionaries published between 1972 and 1986 to a 1933 edition and found that he had erased 17% of the 'loanwords'.

Robert Burchfield

London: An eminent former editor of the Oxford English Dictionary attempted to rewrite it by deleting thousands of words

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December 1-7, 2012

BUSINESS

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Mumbai: Moody's said that the outlook on its Baa3 rating for India is stable, in part due to the country's high savings and investment rates, as debate rages in Delhi over whether the country can avoid credit downgrades from other rating agencies. In its annual credit analysis on India, which Moody's said does not constitute a rating action, the agency also cited the country's large, diverse economy and strong gross domestic product growth as supportive of the rating. However, Moody's said: "The rating is constrained by the credit challenges posed by India's poor social and physical infrastructure, high government deficit and debt ratios, recurrent inflationary pressures and an uncertain operating environment." Last month, Standard & Poor's warned India still faced a one-inthree chance of a credit rating downgrade over the next 24 months, although it said a series of reform steps launched in September had slightly improved

Moody's says India's rating Maldives scraps GMR contract, India outlook is stable reacts sharply
Standard & Poor's warned India still faced a one-in-three chance of a credit rating downgrade

the country's prospects. Fitch also has a negative outlook on India. Having faced a series of revenue-raising setbacks, the Indian government is grappling with a widening fiscal deficit that threatens to undermine the country's credit standing and possibly trigger a downgrade to junk status. Finance minister P Chidambaram has an ambitious target of holding the government's fiscal deficit for 2012/13 at 5.3 percent of gross domestic product, even as skeptical private economists forecast a deficit closer to 6 percent.

New Delhi: In a unilateral action, the Maldives government decided to scrap the $500 million contract given to GMR Group for developing the Male airport. India reacted sharply, saying it sends a "very negative signal" to foreign investors. The Maldives cabinet annulled the agreement made with GMR Group to operate the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA), at Hulhule Island nearby capital Male, Maldivian President's Press Secretary Masood Imad said. Maldives Attorney General Aishath Azima Shakoor had announced cancellation of the contract and revealed that the decision has been conveyed to Maldives Airports Company Limited (MACL). GMR has also been informed of the decision, Azima added, according to haveeru online. The Maldivian government said the decision to terminate the agreement signed on June 28, 2010, between GMR-MAHB consortium, Maldives Airports Company Ltd and the government was based on a paper presented by the Attorney General's office prepared after a "thorough research done for the past nine months by a Cabinet Committee". The AG's paper is based on "technical, fiscal and economic issues" and includes the legal advice of lawyers from Britain and Singapore regarding the agreement which was "legally invalid, and impossible to further continue." Given strong bilateral relations with the Indian Ocean island nation, India was surprised and distressed at the unilateral decision.

Maldives government scraped the $500 million contract for developing the Male airport

It said the Maldives government's decision to cancel the GMR contract would send "a very negative signal" to foreign investors. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said: "Whatever legal decision is taken (by Maldives) will have repercussion here." India also asked the Maldives to ensure Indian interests and security of Indian nationals in the Indian Ocean island country are "fully protected". The investment by GMR represents the single largest foreign direct investment in the history of Maldives, it noted. The $500 million contract awarding the airport to GMR Group for 25 years was signed on June 28, 2010, by then president Mohamed Nasheed's government, but hanging in balance ever since the regime change in the Maldives earlier this year. Meanwhile, GMR Male International Airport Ltd (GMIAL) said the "unilateral and completely irrational move" of the Maldives government "is void".

Foreign airlines to buy stakes in domestic carriers

New Delhi/Mumbai: Some Indian private airlines are in touch with foreign carriers for sale of stakes that could happen soon, a government official said. "A possible stake sale is on the card," said the official preferring anonymity and added that the talks are on with carriers based in the Middle East and Southeast Asia."These are private affairs between the airlines and as much as we know that they are in talks and that some movement is expected in a month or two." Talk of possible stake sale has been doing the rounds for the last three months, ever since the government allowed foreign airlines to pick up 49 percent shares in domestic carriers. This sent the scrips of two of the most eligible private airlines for FDI -- Jet Airways and SpiceJet soaring. Sharan Lillaney, aviation analyst at broking firm Angel Broking, said that the foreign carriers are not short-time investors and that the long term growth story in India is very attractive for them. "No one will announce any plans until all the modalities are fulfilled." The Indian civil aviation sector has been going through a tough operating environment as high fuel and interest costs have hurt it.The government expects that the decision will help bring in more funds to the airlines who have been cold shouldered by banks.

HSBC secret accounts: I-T to begin prosecution

balances ranging from few thousands to lakhs of rupees and, hence, a policy has to be made as to how many will be prosecuted and how many penalised under tax theft laws. "A policy framework will be decided and action would be taken on a case-to-case basis," the sources said. The I-T department, through the finance ministry, has already approached Swiss revenue authorities for banking data of certain individuals after investigations showed some of them reportedly had other accounts under fictitious names. The department has already begun a country-wide I-T assessment of those entities whose names have figured in these secret lists. India had obtained data of over 700 HSBC accounts from French government channels last year.

Greece rescue deal cleared

New Delhi: The Income Tax department has decided to begin prosecution action against those having "substantial" amounts in their bank accounts in HSBC's Geneva branch. The department has now written to the finance ministry to suggest a benchmark for funds held on the basis of which the I-T department can initiate legal action for tax evasion and tax theft. Top sources said a benchmark of about Rs five crore is being mulled for initiating court proceedings

against those Indians whose names have figured on the secret list of HSBC Geneva, supplied to India by the French government. All others below the benchmark amount, the sources said, could be penalised under I-T laws and the amount can be realised from them by way of raising a comprehensive tax demand. The sources said a number of individuals or entities who have figured in these accounts, also searched and probed by the I-T department, held small

Brussels: The Greek government and financial markets were cheered by an agreement between Eurozone finance ministers and the International Monetary Fund to reduce Greece's debt, paving the way for the release of urgently needed aid loans. The deal, clinched at the third attempt after weeks of wrangling, removes the biggest risk of a sovereign default in the Eurozone for now, ensuring the near-bankrupt country will stay afloat at least until after a 2013 German general election. "Tomorrow, a new day starts for all Greeks," Prime Minister Antonis Samaras told reporters at 3 am in Athens after staying up to follow the tense Brussels negotiations. After 12 hours of talks, international lenders agreed on a package of measures to reduce Greek debt by more than 40 billion euros, projected to cut it to 124% of gross domestic product by 2020. Ministers committed to taking further steps to lower Greece's debt to "significantly below 110%" in 2022. That was a veiled acknowledgement that some write-off of loans may be necessary in 2016, the point when Greece is forecast to reach a primary budget surplus, although Germany and its northern allies continue to reject such a step publicly. The euro strengthened, European shares climbed to near a three-week high and safe haven German bonds fell on Tuesday, after the agreement to reduce Greek debt and release loans to keep the economy afloat.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

SPORTS

December 1-7, 2012

25

Speculation over Sachin's retirement downplayed

Mumbai: The debate over the future of Sachin Tendulkar is getting intense by the day. The news of master blaster's discussion with chief selector Sandip Patil on his retirement flew thick and fast, followed by equally quick denials. While a media report claimed that Tendulkar had told Patil to decide his fate as he was out of form, a television channel labeled the conversation as a 'pep talk' by Patil to the 39-year-old. Earlier in the day, BCCI official Rajiv Shukla said that Tendulkar's focus was "very much on the third Test", beginning December 5. Tendulkar has struggled in the two Tests against England and last scored a hundred in the longest format in Jan 2011. His long-time teammate Rahul Dravid has had his say on the raging issue: India need Tendulkar "I thought he was a little scratchy and looked a little underprepared against New Zealand. Here, I know it seems strange to say after he's had three failures, but he's actually looking quite good." "He's played a couple of straight drives, he's played a couple of shots that when I was playing with him, you knew he was playing well if he was playing those shots," he said. India lost the second Test by 10 wickets in Mumbai after winning the first one in Ahmedabad.

Unchanged India to face England

Sachin Tendulkar has struggled in the two Tests against England

more than ever. "India need him now more than ever. At 1-1 in a tight series, it's going to be very important for

senior players to stand up and who better than Sachin to do that," Dravid was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.

Mumbai: The All India Senior Selection Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) named an unchanged side for the third cricket Test against England, to be played at Kolkata starting December 5. India won the first Test at Ahmedabad comfortably but suffered a humiliating 10-wicket loss to England in the second

Test here. Unfazed, the national selectors persisted with the same squad giving under-fire star players another chance to prove their worth. "The teams for the fourth Test and the T20 International series, will be picked later," BCCI Secretary Sanjay Jagdale said in a statement.

Cricketing world lauds Ponting's career

IOC sticks to its stand on IOA suspension

New Delhi: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) reaffirmed that it will propose Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) suspension for not holding its Dec 5 election in compliance with the Olympic Charter. The IOC has also decided against sending its team to India for sorting out the matter involving the IOA and the union sports ministry. The IOC, which had warned IOA of suspension in a letter last week, reiterated its position in its latest letter to the IOA. "We wish to remind you of the terms of the IOC letter of 23 November. It was indeed clearly mentioned that a proposal for suspension of the IOA would be submitted to the next IOC Executive Board meeting on 4-5 December, 2012, if the situation is not rectified with immediate effect and the IOC is given clear and written guarantees to ensure that the IOA's elections can be held strictly on the basis of the Olympic Charter and the IOA's constitution," the IOC said. "Your letter does not, unfortunately, provide us with these guarantees but invites for an IOC delegation to come to India while you continue to move ahead with an 'election process'," wrote IOC director general Christophe de Kepper in his letter to IOA acting president Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

Yuvi on 'The Unbreakables'

Ricky Ponting scored 13,366 runs at an average of 52.21 in 167 Tests

New Delhi: After Australian cricketing legend Ricky Ponting announced he would retire after the Perth Test against South Africa, the cricketing world started congratulating the former captain for his brilliant 17-yearold career. During this period Ponting, who turns 38 on December 19, scored 13,366 runs at an average of 52.21 in the 167 Tests he has played with a highest score of 257, also scoring 41 centuries and 62 half-centuries. He has also played 375 One-Day Internationals, scoring 13,704 runs at an average of 42.03, including 30 centuries and a highest score of 164. Compatriots and former teammates Glenn McGrath and Matthew Hayden congratulated their "Punter" and asked him for a final century in his 168th Test. "Well done Punter on an incredible career. It would be great to see you finish with a ton. It was an honour to play alongside of you. #legend," tweeted McGrath, who won three World Cups in 1999, 2003 and 2007 with Ponting.Former left-handed opener Hayden said: "Punter, congratulations on a fantastic career.

Your departure will be a massive hole in the Australian Cricket team #RickyPonting #Legend" Among his cricketing rivals England's Kevin Pietersen and West Indian great Courtney Walsh also complimented the Australian great. "Ricky Ponting RETIRES.... ONE OF THE GREATS! I always got excited playing AUS, so I could watch him bat up close. Well done Punter! #legend," said Pietersen on Twitter. Walsh wished the 37-year-old Ponting for his life after cricket. "Well played Ricky ponting on a great career hope you end it on a very high mate good luck as there is plenty life after cricket well played." Former England skipper Michael Vaughan called him the best batsman he has ever played against. "The best batsman I had the privilege to play against ... Ricky Ponting... #Punter Australia cricket will not be the same without him...," said Vaughan.Among the Indian cricketers Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Sanjay Manjrekar and Murali Kartik also wished him the best on Twitter.

'Yuvi fought like a tiger'

By Prakash Bhandari Jaipur: The BCCI and International Cricket Council (ICC) consultant orthopedic surgeon Dr Anant Joshi has described Yuvraj Singh as a player with exception mental toughness that enabled him fight the lung cancer. Dr Joshi, also the chairman of the Congress of Arthoscopy and Sports Medicine (CASM), said Yuvraj has fought like a tiger to overcome the lung cancer. Yuvraj, who underwent chemotherapy at the Cancer Research centre in Boston in United States suffered from malignant tumor and he took the wise decision to get treatment at the Bostons centre which is one of the best in the world, he added. Dr Joshi said any normal person under the circumstances would not ventured into cricket again, but it was Yuvraj who during the period when he was in US getting chemotherapy that he decided to stage a comeback. Dr Joshi who treated Sachin Tendulkar when he suffered from tennis elbow and was later successfully operated said Sachin also fought his disease showing great courage especially at a juncture when the tennis elbow would have jeopardized his cricket career.

Yuvraj Singh

New Delhi: Star cricketer Yuvraj Singh has been roped in to host a new TV series, "The Unbreakables", which will unfold stories if courage in the face of adversities. The show will go on air on Nat Geo starting December 24. The cricketer, who has battled cancer, is an inspiration to fans worldwide. He will narrate tales of others' valour - of people who were captured and held hostage by guerrilla groups while on an adventure tour, and of another person who was forced to smuggle cocaine at gun-point. Yuvraj is happy about his association with such a show. "I have tremendous respect for people with a profound positive attitude who face dire situations headon and emerge stronger from them. 'The Unbreakables' is a series that recounts formidable incidents, while outlining sheer strength that people exude when the going gets tough, Yuvraj said in a statement.

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December 1-7, 2012

HEALTH

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Burning calories easier with mate? Men with belly fat ripe for bone loss
Washington, DC: Those who exercise with a friend post better workout time and intensity by as much as 200 percent. So says a study by Brandon Irwin, assistant professor of kinesiology at the Kansas State University. He and his colleagues tested whether individuals engage in more intense physical activity when alone, or with a virtual partner or while competing against a team mate. "People like to exercise with others and make it a social activity," Irwin said. "We found that when you're performing with someone who you perceive as little better than you, you tend to give more effort than you normally would alone." For the first part of the study, college-age females Washington, DC: Men with belly fat are ripe candidates for bone loss and decreased bone strength, says a new study. "It is important for men to be aware that excess belly fat is not only a risk factor for heart disease and diabetes, it is also a risk factor for bone loss," said Miriam Bredella, radiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, Boston. More than 37 million American men alone over 20 years are obese, according to official statistics. Obesity is tied to cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, high cholesterol, asthma, sleep apnea and joint diseases. Yet it was commonly accepted that men with increased body weight were at lower risk for bone loss. "Most studies on osteoporosis have focused on women. Men were thought to be relatively protected against bone loss, especially obese men," said Bredella, who and her team evaluated 35 obese men with a mean age of 34 years, according to a Massachusetts statement. But not all body fat is the same. Subcutaneous fat lies just below the skin, and visceral or intra-abdominal fat is located deep under the muscle tissue in the abdominal cavity. Genetics, diet and exercise are all contributors to the level of visceral fat that is stored in the body. Excess visceral fat is considered particularly dangerous, because in previous studies it has been linked to heightened risk for heart disease. After the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study -- a multi-centre observational study designed to determine risk factors for osteoporosis -- indicated that male obesity was linked with fracture risk, the researchers wanted to quantify belly fat and study its impact on bone strength. These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

exercised on a stationary bike over a four-week period. On average, each participant rode for 10 minutes, according to a Kansas university statement. Next, the same group returned to the lab for more exercise but was told they were working out with a partner in another lab whom they could see on a screen. "In this group, participants

rode an average of nine minutes longer than (when) exercising alone." Irwin and his team had a hunch that motivation could rise further. The participants were given more exercise sessions with a virtual partner. Participants in this trial exercised approximately two minutes longer than while working out with someone.

Both passivity, hyperactivity can damage knees

Washington, DC: Both high and low levels of physical activities can speed up damage to the knee cartilage among the middle-aged, says a new study. Researchers at the University of California - San Francisco (UCSF) previously had found a link between physical activity and cartilage degeneration. But that study focused on one point in time. UCSF researchers looked at changes in knee cartilage among a group of middle-aged adults over a four-year period. They used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)based T2 relaxation times to track the evolution of early degenerative cartilage changes in the knee, according to an UCSF statement. "T2 relaxation times generated from MR images allow for analysis of the biochemical and molecular composition of cartilage," said Wilson Lin, research fellow and medical student at UCSF. "There is increased water mobility in damaged cartilage, and increased water mobility results in increased T2 relaxation time," Lin added. Researchers analyzed 205 patients, aged 45 to 60 years, from the UCSF-based Osteoarthritis Initiative, a nationwide study funded by the National Institutes of Health on the prevention and treatment of knee osteoarthritis. Participants used a questionnaire to record their physical activity. The researchers measured T2 values of cartilage at the patella, femur and tibia of the right knee joint at baseline and at two- and four-year visits. According to the results, participating frequently in high-impact activities, such as running, appears linked with more degenerated cartilage and potentially a higher risk for development of osteoarthritis. "When we compared the scores among groups, we found an accelerated progression of T2 relaxation times in those who were the most physically active," said Thomas M. Link, professor of radiology and chief of musculoskeletal imaging at UCSF. "Those who had very low levels of activity also had accelerated progression of T2 values. This suggests that there may be an optimal level of physical activity to preserve the cartilage." These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Reading, writing keep aging brains healthy

Washington,DC: Reading and writing can preserve brains of older people and insure them against deterioration as they age, says a new study. Konstantinos Arfanakis and colleagues from Rush University Medical Center and Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, examined the effect of late-life cognitive activity on the brain's white matter, composed of nerve fibers, or axons, that transmit information through the brain. Previous research, unlike that of Arfanakis, had linked late-life cognitive activity with better mental sharpness, according to a statement from Rush University and Illinois Institute. "Reading the newspaper, writing letters, visiting a library, attending a play or playing games, such chess or checkers, are all simple activities that can contribute to a healthier brain," Arfanakis said. The researchers used a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method known as DTI to generate data on diffusion anisotropy, a measure of how water molecules move through the brain. These values in white matter drop with aging, injury and disease. The study included 152 elderly participants with an average age of 81 years, from the Rush Memory and Aging Project, a large-scale study looking at risk factors for Alzheimer's disease. They were without dementia or

Helping dementia patients recall words

Sydney: Dementia patients who fumble for words, trying to recall their usage, could now regain their word memory thanks to a new training program. This ability to re-learn vocabulary indicates that even in dementia, some recovery of function is possible, says a new study led by Sharon Savage at NeuRA (Neuroscience Research Australia). "People with this type of dementia lose semantic memory, the memory system we use to store and remember words and their meanings," Savage was quoted in the journal Cortex. "For example, a person with this type of dementia usually knows what a kettle does, but they may not know what to call it and may not recognize the word 'kettle' when they hear it," said Savage, according to a NeuRA statement. Researchers utilized a simple computer training-program that paired images of household objects such as food, appliances, utensils, tools and clothing, with their names Savage found that after just three weeks of training for 30-60 minutes each day, patients' ability to recall the name of the items improved, even for patients with more advanced forms of the dementia. "Semantic dementia is a younger-onset dementia and because sufferers lose everyday words life can be very frustrating for them and their families. "By re-learning some of these everyday words, day-to-day conversations around the house may become less frustrating, improving patient well-being," Savage concluded.

mild cognitive impairment, based on a detailed clinical evaluation. Researchers asked them to rate on a scale of one to 5 the frequency with which they participated in a list of mentally engaging activities during last year, such as reading newspapers and magazines, writing letters and playing cards and board games. Data analysis revealed significant associations between the frequency of cognitive activity in later life and higher water molecule diffusion in the brain. These findings were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

SELF HELP

December 1-7, 2012

27

Dancing helps to overcome low spirits, stress

D
ancing helps girls overcome low spirits, stress, fatigues and headaches, besides contributing to their mental health and self-esteem, says a study. According to the study, dancing also brings greater poise and capacity to deal with daily problems. Anna Duberg, physical therapist at Orebro University Hospital and a doctoral candidate at Orebro University, Sweden, conducted the study. The study included 112 Swedish girls aged between 13 to 19 years. On multiple occasions, these girls had gone to see the school nurse for symptoms such as anxiety and depression, fatigue, headaches, and back, neck, and shoulder pain, according to an Orebro statement. In the study, 59 of the girls were randomized to a group that regularly danced together two days a week and 53 girls to a control group where the girls did not change their living habits. The results indicated that the girls in the dance group, despite all the challenges entailed by being a teenage girl, increased their self-esteem compared with the control group. The positive effect persisted at follow-ups four and eight months after the dance training ended. Ninety one percent of the girls in the dance group felt that the dance study had been a positive experience. In the long run this may also lead to a more healthy lifestyle.

Secrets for Improving Your Relationships

utting yourself first may be the key to improving your relationships with others. While this may not sound like an intuitive way to improve your friendships, some experts now believe that by connecting with who we are at the core, we can become more aware of how our feelings govern our interactions and make better choices in the way we communicate. Transformation coach Sally Anderson, author of Freefall: Living Life Beyond the Edge (Morgan James Publishing 2012), believes that many of us act with a default identity, a way of being that is shaped by our past pain and experiences and our unrecognized feelings. She says that this disassociation from who we really are can be a source of dysfunction in our relationships. But recognizing these problems can be challenging, experts warn. You must be prepared for some honest reflection. Some of the signs that youre allowing your unconscious thoughts to sabotage your relationships include: Making the assumption that the other person is in the wrong when your expectations are not met. Placing conditions on your love. Displaying a victim mentality. Feeling powerless. Being resentful. Reacting defensively. Listening to others in a negative context.

Five Tips to Boost Your Retirement Readiness

n challenging financial times, it can be difficult to pay bills today, let alone save for the future. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Lincoln Financial Group found that 72 percent of Americans say that the state of the economy is making it challenging for them to stay on track with their retirement savings. With everything that Americans have on their minds today, the economy can weigh heavily on retirement savings decisions, says Chuck Cornelio, president of Retirement Plan Services at Lincoln Financial Group. But its important not to take a break from saving. Even if you are already enrolled in your employer-sponsored retirement plan, like a 401(k) or 403(b), there are steps you can take to help better prepare you for retirement. Here are five tips to help you get you started. Enroll in your employer sponsored retirement plan: Participating in your employer-sponsored retirement plan reduces your taxable income today, while helping to build retirement savings for tomorrow. If you dont know how to get started, contact your benefits administrator or human resources department to help you enroll. Consolidate assets: Consolidating your retirement assets into one account helps to simplify the savings and income planning process and can help your money grow

Becoming withdrawn in your relationships. Questioning your commitment to others. The failure to recognize the source of your feelings is a lot like the annoying static you hear when you arent properly tuned in to a radio station. So instead of just reacting the next time youre upset with someone, try tuning-in to yourself. You may find your first reaction isnt the best reaction. This awareness is crucial to better communication and functional relationships, according to Anderson, who advises taking the following helpful steps: Commit to an empowered relationship, dont just want one. Realize that forgiving is not condoning an act. Know that when someone specifically aims judgment at you personally, it never has anything to do with you. Quite the contrary, it says more about them than it does about you! Take responsibility for your own emotional and mental state and avoid placing blame on others. Love unconditionally. Be willing to transform yourself. Extraordinary relationships are possible for those willing to be open, transform themselves, truly listen, and love unconditionally, says Anderson. By doing so, we can achieve a level of insight into ourselves and one another that we never thought possible.

over time. Schedule a retirement plan check-up: Make it a habit to schedule an annual plan check-up just as you would your health exam. An annual meeting with a financial professional will help you stay on track of goals. Resist the temptation to borrow against your retirement plan: While the best plans can be impacted by unexpected events, avoid borrowing against your retirement plan savings. When you do that, you may miss out on potential returns when the market recovers. All the time you spend paying back the loan is time youre not making contributions, missing out on the ability for your money to grow. Increase contributions with income boosts: Whenever you receive extra cash from a tax refund, a bonus, a salary increase or some other pleasant surprise, consider increasing your retirement plan contributions. Even increasing by a percentage or two can make a big difference in the long run. When you hit the maximum contribution level in your employersponsored retirement plan, a financial advisor can help you find the right place to invest additional savings. Although retirement may seem far off when you are in the middle of your working years, getting on track early and saving steadily can help you fund the lifestyle you want to live in your retirement years.

How to Get a Job You Love in the New Year

he New Year is the perfect time to evaluate your career and take control of your professional life. And doing so may be easier than you think in todays economy, where one-third of the American workforce is now comprised of freelancers. Experts say self-employed, independent workers have gone mainstream and are here to stay. From computer programmers and nannies to opera singers and anesthesiologists, nearly every industry is now employing freelancers, says Sara Horowitz, founder of the Freelancers Union and author of the new handbook, The Freelancers Bible. The times long past for viewing freelancing as a euphemism for slackers or the unemployed. While freelancing does have challenges, Horowitz contends that with some planning and research, a freelancer can survive and thrive in

the new economy. Even those with stable full-time jobs should consider the benefits of freelance work -- from the freedom to pursue multiple professional paths at once, to the ability to take time off without permission, says Horowitz. To help Horowitz founded the Freelancers Union to empower this growing independent sector with solutions for affordable health care and retirement planning.Whether youre an experienced independent worker, or just getting started, there are several things that can help you become a more nimble, flexible and successful freelancer: Tell everyone: Sometimes gigs drop in your lap, but mostly they come from connecting and sharing with others. Remember that everything is a marketing opportunity. Dont be shy about networking. People will want to help. Give them what they need to spread the word. Just be

careful to be professional, not pushy. Stay positive: In many ways, having multiple sources of income and multiple money-making skills is less risky than putting all your eggs in an employers basket. So dont think of freelancing as volatile and risky, so much as flexible and opportunity-rich. Balance risks and rewards: Weigh how much time and energy you should invest in various projects and be open to changing the mix depending on the work market and your income needs. Negotiate: Negotiating a contract isnt about displaying bravado. Its about knowing your power relationship with the client. Get informed by learning your industrys deal norms, the markets needs and your market value. Not happy with where you stand? Get training, find markets with bigger budgets or gain more experiences until you can be rewarded with higher pay.

Get a life: Employees get vacation time, sick leave, family leave, bereavement days and personal days. Those policies exist largely because workers advocated for them. Who advocates for you? Without a 9-5 schedule, its easy to forget you have a life outside of your work. Be sure to schedule breaks and vacations and budget for time off. More practical tips on living the freelance life can be found at the Freelancers Union website at www.freelancersunion.org. More information on Horowitzs new book can be found at www.workman.com. In this new economy thats friendlier toward independent workers, taking control of your career is easier than ever.

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December 1-7, 2012

HUMOR

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Humor with Melvin Durai

Moving can be a tail-wagging experience

M
y family and I just moved from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to the suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. Most of our stuff went across the border in a big trailer, the rest came with us in a small trailer behind our minivan. It was a challenging trip for us and we learned a lot along the way. Perhaps the biggest lesson was that when youre entering America by car and facing those stern-faced border officers, it really helps if you happen to be a dog. The border officers were quite thorough in checking our passports and other documents, making sure we could legally enter America. As for our dog, Legacy ... well, they merely took a glance at her just to make sure she was really a dog and not one of Osamas cousins in a furry costume. They didnt even check her rabies certificate or ask if she packed her bags herself. I didnt realize that dogs could cross the border so easily. I thought we would at least have to fill out a form, answering questions such as What is your dogs nationality? Has your dog ever been denied entry into the country? and What are the last three addresses that your dog did her business in? Letting animals into the country so easily could be a major security risk. Just imagine a bunch of monkeys being trained by the Taliban to cross the border, make their way to Washington D.C., and take over the nations biggest zoo. Wed see some strange headlines: Chaos Reigns in U.S. House of Representatives, Experts Called in to Determine Whos a Monkey, Who Isnt, and House Passes Resolution to Increase Banana Imports. Getting our dog across the border was easy, but finding dog-friendly motels where we could stay was a bit of a challenge. A number of motels allow dogs to stay in rooms, but the ones we came across werent exactly the type of motels wed normally stay in. Not that we were looking for a particularly fine motel, but we did have some basic needs, like smoke-free air, clean sheets, and blankets that had been aired out since the Reagan Administration. The first dog-friendly motel we encountered fell short in a few areas. How bad was this motel? Well, heres how bad it was: our dog refused to stay there. She took one look at the room, put her nose in the air and dashed back to our car. Actually, she didnt mind the room at all. It was the first time she had ever stayed in a motel and it might as well have been the Hyatt Regency, for all she knew. What a nice smell in this room, she probably said to herself. And it already comes with stains on the carpet - I dont have to make them. Thats the good thing about dogs. They dont care about clean sheets or hot showers or cable TV. As long as theyve got food and a dry spot to sleep in, theyre as happy as a teenager at the mall. I shouldnt complain about the motel at least they gave us a room. Other motels werent so kind, especially since Legacy is a fairly big dog. They just couldnt accommodate a dog of her size, even when I promised not to bring her to the breakfast buffet. I wish I could have sneaked her into one of those nice rooms. Legacy is a smart dog and has learned several commands, such as Shake hands! and Roll over! but its going to take a few weeks for her to learn Get into the suitcase!

Photo of the week

Lindsay Lohan looks the splitting image of Elizabeth Taylor (right in Cleopatra getup) as she poses as Cleopatra. Lindsay plays Elizabeth in a movie based on her titled 'Liz & Dick.'

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

ASTROLOGY

December 1-7, 2012

29

By Dr Prem Kumar Sharma

Stars Foretell: December 1-7, 2012
Aries: Take advantage of your stars and seek favours from important people. Efficiency will be the key to success, so finish pending correspondence on priority basis. In a business environment, your creative ability will flourish, and you will be able to convey your new ideas in a simple way. Those planning a trip abroad will have a pleasant and a memorable journey. Pleasant news towards the weekend uplifts the spirit of the entire family. Spiritual gains for some provide mental peace and comfort. Taurus: This week you need to be highly cautious while doing business. Watch out for individuals who might think that you could be easily tricked. This week is definitely not good for taking any risky chances, especially with money. Your charisma will no doubt attract lot of attention. Time spent with old friends will leave you with happy memories. Travel will be on your mind, but you need to be extra careful of your belongings. Gemini: Opportunities to make financial gains will develop through connections that you have recently made. You will get inspiration from your large circle of friends and acquaintances. Important message from a distant place, later in the week, will boost your moral and spirits. Your financial position will improve from unexpected gains, but your health however will need extra care, therefore take preventive medicines if necessary. Cancer: You need to stop other activities and finish off pending correspondence that you have neglected recently. Investment connected with arts and antiques will be profitable. A visit to a spiritual person or a holy shrine later in the week will bring mental peace and happiness. Your health will show remarkable improvement, but there would be little activity on the professional front. Avoid people who like to pry into your affairs. Leo: This week you will spend much more than required on your home and entertainment. You'll have a chance to earn extra money through the strength of your personality and wonderful contacts. You will feel that destiny is playing a favorable role in your life and things are moving according to your plans. Travelling will be beneficial and educating. Children may bring in some thrilling news towards the weekend. Virgo: You should disassociate with colleagues who are fond of gossip and spreading rumours. Work should be on your top priority. Your accomplishment will bring you good results in the long run. Dealing with land and property matters will ensure gains. Time spent at home will improve your understanding about the family needs and bring you enormous love and affection. Your income will definitely improve but there will be a rise in expenses as well. Libra: This week you will have tremendous mental pressure trying to cope up with your professional as well as personal responsibilities. Refrain from any actions or statements that will make you regret later in life. Your financial status seems to get better with new opportunities and ventures in the offing. Sportsmen and athletes can look forward to some benefits and fame. Spiritually you will be gaining a lot. Scorpio: Positive thinking will have a good impact upon you, as you integrate more practical methods into your work and decisions. You will be more skillful in handling your clients and negotiations will work to your benefit, but you need to keep your secrets to your self and avoid overspending. Sports and physical fitness programs will be highly beneficial. Those connected with arts will finally be rewarded for their efforts. Sagittarius: Your accomplishments will exceed your expectation if you concentrate on your jobs. Special honor and recognition will come your way if you help your colleagues and coworkers. This is also a very good period for matters relating to the heart, as a casual partnership will turn into more serious commitment. Meddling in the affairs of others should be avoided. Legal problems will cause a state of nervousness and tension. Capricorn: Put your creative ideas to good use. Taking immediate decisions will be crucial for your career and your goals, therefore do not waste your time. Financial front looks bright as gains from speculation are also foreseen. Romantic pleasures are assured as spouse or beloved will be in a loving and caring mood. Cultural activities will be entertaining. Journey would yield returns. Some good news expected during the end of the week. Aquarius: This week simplicity will be one of your greatest strengths and your determination will become your greatest asset. A close friend or colleague will help you complete pending jobs on time. Opportunity to meet new lovers will evolve through your involvement in functions and ceremonies. It would be wise to do a safety check on water taps, door and electrical equipment, before going on a vacation. Unexpected guest makes surprise, but pleasant visit later in the week. Pisces: This week you will gain approval from seniors if you present your ideas well. Refrain from arguments and avoid being too outspoken and critical about others. Property related investment will be highly beneficial. Lectures and seminars that you attend will be highly interesting and educating. Financial losses are likely if you get involved in new ventures or risky investments. Get involved in creative hobbies in order to relax.

Chandigarh, India: +91-172- 256 2832, 257 2874 Delhi, India: +91-11- 2644 9898, 2648 9899 psharma@premastrologer.com; www.premastrologer.com

Annual Predictions: For those born in this week

December 01 Ruled by number 1 and the planet Sun. You are confident, intelligent, original, enthusiastic, and possess a very creative and artistic mind. You are a good host and love moving about in good society, but you need to control your tendencies towards extravagance and stubbornness at times. This year you will see a remarkable improvement in your ability to take quick and correct decisions. Your self-confidence and dedication would help you accomplish difficult tasks and assignments before the stipulated time. Monetary rewards and benefits for those employed. Favours from govt. officers and prominent persons likely later in the year. Your health would be perfect, but the health of your parents would bring some moments of stress and anxiety. New romance for some through social gathering and entertainment activities. Matrimonial alliances for those eligible. Renovation or new construction activities towards the year-end. The months of January, April, August and December would prove to be important and significant. December 02 Influenced by number 2 and the Moon. You are imaginative, emotional, trustworthy, simple and possess a sharp memory. Your command over your work can do wonders for you in your career and profession, but you need to check your tendency to behave fickle-minded and introvert at times. This coming year will require you to be highly cautious of your moves. During this period you are likely to face several ups and down in your career. Your financial position also seems to be moderate, therefore make new investments with extreme precautions. Only secure investments like banks fixed deposits and tax saving schemes should be encouraged. Domestic front however would bring enormous happiness. Your spouse and children would be supportive and helpful to your concerns. A sudden influence of an important and eminent spiritual person would provide you solace and mental comfort and bring a new twist into your life. Distant journeys probably for pilgrimage would be undertaken later in the year. The months of February, August, September and November would prove to be highly significant. December 03 Governed by number 3 and the planet Jupiter, you are energetic, honourable, ambitious, dignified and intelligent. You are hard working and always appreciated for your commitment and efforts, but your tendencies towards extravagance and jealousy need to be checked at times. This coming year brings enormous prosperity for those inclined to learn and improve their skill levels. Success would be yours provided you work towards given opportunities. Businessmen are likely to venture into new and more profitable avenues. Important decisions and contacts that you establish during this phase would bring long lasting benefits to your career. Health will show improvement in spite of the hectic schedule that you might have to follow. Investments will yield favourable returns. Foreign education or travel for some. Some misunderstanding with your in-laws might create some tense atmosphere at home. Being patient and calm would be important to ease out the tension. New romance for some, so make the best of it. The month of January, March, June, July and August will be significant. December 04 Influenced by number 4 and the planet Uranus. You are active, energetic, reliable, systematic and methodical. You are fond of art and soft music. You can really do wonders in your career but you need to check your tendency to behave introvert, stubborn, and jealous at times. This year your stars promise you plenty of fame and fortune. Your sincerity towards your work and your office would ultimately bring you enormous benefits in the long run. New sources of income will improve your financial position. Journeys undertaken will bring you in close contacts with important and influential people. Acquisition of some real estate later in the year cannot be ruled out. Health wise this year would not be satisfying as minor ailments would keep on bothering you now and them. It would be wise not to avoid preventive medication and seek a doctors advice whenever necessary. Matrimonial alliances for those eligible as other would find romance to get them going. Lending and borrowing money should be avoided to the casual acquaintances. The months of March, June, July and August will be significant and result oriented. December 05 Ruled by number 5 and the planet Mercury. You are an imaginative, practical, honest, brilliant and simple. Youre co-operative and helpful person and enjoy enormous respect in your friends circle, but you need to check your tendency to behave jealous and stubborn at times. New proposals and assignments would improve your income and prosperity. Although there would be a rise in expenses but increase in earnings would take care of your needs. Your strong willpower and determination would see you emerge victorious in whatever task you undertake. Travel would be undertaken quite frequently and would be important in establishing new and important ties. Difference of opinion with your family members would bring some stressful moments at home. Certain losses due to overconfidence in others and speculation cannot be ruled out. Children will win laurels in their respective fields and would be supportive and understanding towards you. The months of February, April, August, September and December would be highly significant. December 06 Ruled by number 6 and the planet Venus. You are kind hearted, generous, simple, accommodating, love peace and harmony. You have a strong memory and an ability to impress others with your intelligent and witty conversation. but you need to control your tendency to be extravagant, reckless and moody at times. This year plenty of important function and religious ceremonies would be performed in the family. Social gathering and activities would be beneficial in establishing new and long lasting ties. Property matters will materialize. Financially this year might not bring results that you have been dreaming for long. Opportunities for a new job and assignments would be plenty but job satisfaction seems unlikely. A sudden influence of a person from the opposite sex will give a new and interesting twist to your life. Travelling will be pleasurable and highly exciting. Friends would be helpful and supportive to your concerns. Some gains through inheritance also seem high on your cards. Pilgrimage or a distant journey with the family for some. The months of May, June, September and October will prove to be highly result oriented. December 07 Ruled by number 7 and the planet Neptune. You are intelligent, sensitive, adaptable, charming, independent and kind hearted. You enjoy a good position and respect at your work place, but you need to control your tendency towards extravagance, recklessness and to dominate others. This year you are going to do major changes in your style of working. You are also going to be more particular about your health and looks. Gains from investment and speculation will improve your financial positions. Long pending legal matters will be sorted out to your satisfaction. Promotions or increments are likely to take place later in the year for some of you. Your rapport with the important govt. authorities in various departments will improve. Children may cause some dissatisfaction, but your spouse will provide you with lots of love and affection. The months of April, July, August and November will prove to be highly eventful.

Before you consult...

i) Accurate Data: Please make sure Date, Time and Place of birth is accurate. ii) Careful: Did you check background of the astrologer before disclosing your secrets. iii) Fee: Discuss the charges before, dont feel shy. Its his business. iv) Expectation: Expect the best, if the outcome is not as desired, never give up. v) Consult: Take second opinion before spending thousands on cure/remedies.

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30

December 1-7, 2012

SPIRITUAL AWARENESS

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

Concluding part of the discourse 'Giving thanks by giving'

If we all give, no one would be without anything.

By Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj
hysical help means we do something for others that involves our body and our hands. We may help someone build their broken-down house, shattered by a flood or hurricane. We may help by feeding the poor. We may provide physical assistance to someone who is incapacitated by illness. We may take care of someone elses children so they can go to work or if they are ill and need assistance in their home. We may visit someone who is ill who needs some company. We may bring needed items to them in the hospital or their homes, when they cannot get what is needed by themselves. We may go to the market to pick up food or medicine for those in need. We may help someone fix their car, when they cannot afford to go to a repair shop themselves. There is no dearth of opportunity to help someone physically. Intellectual help means that we help someone learn or study. We may teach someone a skill or craft. We may provide advice intellectually to help someone with a problem. We may do work that is of a literary nature that helps humanity. We may give a talk that helps someone learn something new. We may engage in spreading a message in which we help people find what they need. Emotional help means we help someone with their problems. We may give someone a shoulder on which to cry. We may provide psychological counseling or assistance. We may help someone give up an addiction. Maybe we merely smile or say warm words to lift the spirits of others. Financial help means to give money to those in need. It might mean buying them food or medicine or paying their medical bills if they do not have other means to help themselves. It may mean donating to a worthy cause to help others. It may mean tithing to support an organization benefiting other people. While spiritual help is reserved for the saints and Masters who are going to help put people in touch with the Light and Sound of God, or the holy Word or Naam which can reunite their soul with God, we can assist the Masters in their mission. The Masters provide spiritual help by putting seekers after truth, yearning for God, in touch with the divine Light and Sound of God through meditation. They initiate people into the inner Light and Sound, giving them firsthand proof that there is more to our existence than just this physical world. The Masters take over the giving to others. If we all were to give, we would have a world typified by this story: God had a big feast and invited all the angels and demons. God told them that they could eat to their hearts content anything from the banquet, but only on one condition. When they ate, they had to abide by one rule: do not bend your elbows. The angels and demons were perplexed. They wondered, How can we eat food if we cannot bend our elbows? Picking up food and putting it into ones mouth requires the bending of the elbows. Even if they used forks and spoons, some bending of the elbows would be required. Both groups thought and thought. What were they to do? They were hungry. How could they eat? Suddenly, the angels had an idea. Their idea worked. When God returned to see how they had solved their dilemma, God was delighted. The angels figured out if they fed each other, they could put food into each others mouth without bending any elbows. Thus, the angels feasted by learning the law of giving by feeding others. In this way, everyone was fed. Let us give thanks by giving. If we all give, no one would be without anything. We would all be helping each other. Like the angels, we would all be feeding each other. In this way, we would create a world that is loving, giving, and caring, and we would bring the kingdom of God down to earth. Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj is an internationally recognized spiritual leader and Master of Jyoti Meditation who affirms the transcendent oneness at the heart of all religions and mystic traditions, emphasizing ethical living and meditation as building blocks for achieving inner and outer peace. www.sos.org.

Each time we celebrate Thanks giving, let us find ways we can give thanks by giving. If we have been giving generously in some ways over the years, let us continue to do so. If we have been giving occasionally, let us find ways to increase our time spent in selfless service.
karmic account of the initiates to speed their progress back to God. They provide a boost to the meditations of their disciples so they can soar beyond this physical realm to the astral, causal, and supracausal realms until returning to their true home, Sach Khand. The Masters provide divine love to attract our souls away from this physical world to yearn to return to their true Beloved, God. While the Masters are the true providers of spiritual service, we can assist the Masters in the various selfless service projects. We can provide help in cooking food to feed those who come to meditate. We can clean the facilities in which the satsangs and langar take place. We can assist with programs that help put people in touch with their spiritual gifts within. There is no dearth of opportunities to assist the Masters in the work of the mission to help separated souls reunite with God. Each time we celebrate Thanksgiving, let us find ways we can give thanks by giving. If we have been giving generously in some ways over the years, let us continue to do so. If we have been giving occasionally, let us find ways to increase our time spent in selfless service. If we have not given much, let us make a plan to start giving thanks for the gifts we have received by turning around and

Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj addresses international audience on Thanksgiving weekend

Naperville, IL: The international audience who gathered at the Wyndham-Lisle Hotel on Thanksgiving Weekend had traveled from all over the globe to spend time with His Holiness Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj, world-renowned spiritual Master and head of Science of Spirituality. Speaking on the theme of the holiday, the spiritual Master focused on the importance of remembering to be grateful to the One who created this existence, giving us an opportunity to know ourselves at the level of the soul and ultimately know God. Using stories that distill spiritual concepts into easy-to-understand messages, he inspired the audience to live each day with a renewed sense of gratitude. Each program closed with everyone sitting in meditation. Theres something about the way he speaks that goes straight to my heart and soul, said one local visitor. I go to as many of his talks as I can because I feel so good afterward. Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj travels the globe extensively teaching meditation on the inner Light and Sound of God, encouraging those he meets to lead ethical lives and realize their true selves as soul. During his stay in the Chicagoland area, he will offer a series of talks focused on spirituality and meditation. His next programs are on Sunday, December 2 and December 9 at 2:30 PM at Pipers Banquet Hall, 1295 Butterfield Road, Aurora, IL 60502. Spanish translation is offered for all talks. All are welcome to visit the Science of Spirituality national headquarters, 4S 175 Naperville Rd., Naperville, IL 60563 from 10am to 5pm daily to browse the library, watch videos, or meditate in the sanctuary. For more information or to register for Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharajs free programs in the Chicagoland area, call 630.955.1200; 800.222.2207 or visit www.sos.org.

His Holiness Sant Rajinder Singh Ji Maharaj greets members of the audience following the Thanksgiving Weekend program in Naperville, IL.

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

December 1-7, 2012

TheSouthAsianTimes.info

December 1-7, 2012