Al-qaeda chief killed in Yemen

The militant leader of an al-qaeda cell in yemen was killed in a gun battle with the yemenese security forces last night.  
Abdullah-al-Mehdaar was killed in a raid on a house in the remote province of shabwa. There are reports that the security forces arrested for other suspects in the raid. According to the security officers, Yemeni forces had surrounded the house, in a mountainous region, and exchanged fire with some 20 militants inside. The remaining militants escaped. According to a provincial governer, the dead militant had been one of the top al-Qaeda leaders in Yemen.

Yemen has stepped up its operations against al-Qaida with increased help from the US. Both the countries fear that al-Qaeda will capitalise on Yemen's instability to spread its operations around the surrounding area.

The spotlight was turned on Yemen after the Yemen-based group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula accepted that failed bomb attack on a US-bound airliner on 25 December was carried out by them.
Earlier this week, President Barack Obama said he had "no intention" of sending US troops to Yemen or Somalia to combat militant groups in those countries.
Analysts say al-Qaeda militants have been moving to Yemen after coming under pressure in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and following a crackdown in Saudi Arabia.
Last week, Yemeni officials said another local al-Qaeda leader and two other militants had been arrested after being injured in a raid in the province.

Anglo-Indian Nuclear Deal: Yes Or No?

India and britain are all set to sign a nuclear deal. This agreement will enable India to receive british products and skills and the two countries will be able to share nuclear technology.

A civil nuclear agreement between India and Britain seems to be on the threshold. British secretary of state for business, Lord Peter Mandelson indicated that they are all set to sign the deal. The agreement will be signed during the visit of the Indian commerce minister Anand Sharma to Britain next month.

Lord  Mandelson was said to be disappointed that such an agreement was not concluded during his visit to Delhi last month. According to a source at the Indian High Commission, India objected to a non-proliferation clause in the draft submitted by the UK.

However, even if the mentioned declaration is signed next month, this cannot become operational until New Delhi changes its policy of restricting nuclear collaboration to public sector entities. Most of the potential British suppliers of technology and nuclear energy are in the private sector.

Lord Mandelson said the agreement would cover a range of inputs and activities involved in the fuel and technology sector.

Walk-on-by

A man was stabbed to death while trying to stop two muggers who had stolen a woman's bag in London this Friday. Metropolitan Police insist that “they don’t want anyone else to do it”. Is the walk-on-by culture, otherwise prevalent in London, the right way?


Sukhwinder Singh, 31, an Indian national was killed in an incident in East London. According to SkyNews.com, “Sukhwinder Singh pursued two men who robbed a 28-year-old woman near Barking station in east London.When he caught up with the pair a fight broke out and the 31-year-old was knifed.” Locals and onlookers felt that Sukhwinder was brave enough to chase the robbers along Victoria Road into Uphall Road, where he was attacked by the two muggers with knife. According to skyNews.com, “He was taken to the Royal London hospital but later died. A post-mortem is due to take place”.

This incident has once again opened the Pandora box of debate on whether people should intervene if they witnessed the crime or just walk-on-by? The Metropolitan Police has an unusual stand, a shift from their earlier statement where they suggested “walk-on-by culture fuels violent crimes”. The Met officer this time conveyed that, “We don’t want anyone else to do this”. The Met police spokesman, Guy Dehn told BBC London that “The Met is now giving a different message” He added that “there is a shift in the message coming from Met Police and that’s very welcome.” Clearly, now the Met Police is feels that they are better off dealing crimes relating to mugging than murder.

Sukhwinder was the lone bread earner for his family in India and was trying to help an Indian student, who he did not know. Although the Met Police message leaves the common men much uninspired from confronting and challenging during a crime, it can lead to less collateral damage, is what the Met police wants to believe.

Until another incident make Londoners and the Met Police think differently, walk-on-by culture is what we follow.

Commonwealth games put delhi under high pressure

The countdown to commonwealth games has started and everyone all over india seem to be waiting for the games to commence. But for delhi, where the games are going to take place seems over burdened.
 Entire delhi looks like a massive construction site. All the roads have been dug, new flyovers, underpasses, tunnels, subways and metro(tube) lines are being constructed. The stadiums all over delhi, where the games are going to take place are going through rigorous renovation. Its a chaos all over delhi. Road blockades and traffic jams are a common and regular scene in this city. The delhi government is trying its best to prepare the city for the games in time but, they still seem to have a long way to go. Ideally, the city should have been having its finishing touches at this point of time. But, a huge amount of construction work is still underway. Hosting the commonwealth games is a matter of honour for any country but, delhi under such high pressure is taking it as an imposition. Several countries will be participating in the games and there will be an influx of a huge number of foreign tourists to witness the events of the games.

What needs to be done?

Apart from making the city beautiful and comfortable for the games, the government also needs to upgrade the security level of the city to give the audience a comfortable stay. The number of hotels in the city is also not enough for the amount of tourists expected during the games. Almost all the hotels have already been booked and the waiting list is long. Systems like the bread and breakfast scheme needs to be started. Though the delhi government seem to be working hard towards it, the transport system also requires fixing. To make transport tourist friendly, the bus, taxi and auto drivers are given training to converse in fluent English. In such a situation the government needs to work harder and faster to reach the goal. Participation and cooperation of the general public are very important for this purpose. Its never too late. What Delhi requires is just gear up and go!!!

Attacks on Indians in Australia

In the past few months, a lot of Indians have been attacked in Australia. The media and the politicians are terming it as racist attacks because people from particularly the Indian race are being attacked.
In recent attacks, Nitin Garg, a 21 year old graduate student was stabbed and killed. A 29 year old man Jaspreet Singh was set on fire by a few locals. He sustained 15 % burns. The investigation in both the cases is on and no one has been convicted yet. The Australian police does not seem to accept these attacks as racist.

Job Crisis
Every year, thousands of young Indians go to Australia for the purpose of studies and once it completes, they start working there. Majority of them also work part time while studying. The Australians see Indians as their job snatchers. They feel that the Indians are eclipsing their job prospects. The international students bring in a big chunk of export income for Australia. The series of attacks on Indian students will result in a severe decline in the tourism industry and arrival of international students in the country. According to the tourism forecasting committee of Australia, this trend will give a severe blow to the country’s economy. These attacks are increasing the tensions between india and Australia.

Indian students in Australia are living in fear. A lot of them are forced to dress up differently and put on makeup to hide their identity. Despite repeated assurances from the Australian government, the attacks don’t seem to stop. In fact, their severity has increased many folds.

Tibet: where the Tibetans belong?

The Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 forced His Holiness the Dalai Lama and thousands of Tibetans to leave their homeland Tibet and take shelter in India, Nepal and Bhutan as refugees.


Settling down in a completely new region away from their homeland was an emotional and tough task for them. They faced a lot of trouble adjusting with the new lifestyle, language, culture and climate. After leaving Tibet their first priorities were rehabilitation, education for children and preservation of Tibetan culture and identity. During this situation the Indian government played the role of a friendly neighbor and gave the Tibetans all the assistance possible. The first Tibetan settlement in India was established in 1960 and the first school for Tibetan refugees also came into being the same year. Then onwards, the Tibetans started setting up monasteries, nunneries and several institutions to preserve Tibetan language, culture and heritage.

In April 1959, the Tibetan government in exile was established in Dharamsala. It is popularly Known as Central Tibetan Administration (CTA)The Tibetans both Inside and outside recognize the CTA as their sole and legitimate government.

Present condition

There are over 60 Tibetan settlements in south Asia i.e. India Nepal and Bhutan. The life in these settlements is very simple and easy going. Their main occupation is agriculture and they also indulge in small scale businesses like woolen cloth trade during winters.
A total of 130,000 Tibetans are living in exile worldwide out of which more than 90,000 live in India and in the west the largest concentration of Tibetans is located in USA and Canada.
Every year more than 3000 Tibetans migrate to India leaving their homeland. Today, the educated Tibetan youth is fighting with problems like identity crisis and unemployment and is struggling to safeguard their cultural identity.

The 2010 Auto Expo Success

The seven day auto-expo in New Delhi in the first week of January, proved to be a major hit by greeting over 2 million automobile enthusiasts.
Auto Expo is the Complete Automotive Show organized jointly by Automotive Component Manufacturers Association of India (ACMA), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM). The first Auto Expo was held in 1986, the second in 1993, and the third in 1996. Since then, Auto Expo has been institutionalized as a biennial show.

Its huge success shows that the automobile industry in india has not been much affected by the global economic slowdown. The show saw more new launches than any other previous edition with international firms taking the lead. A total of 25 new models were unveiled.

The huge success of the expo every second year is an indicator of India’s emergence as a huge global market as well as manufacturing hub.

Small Cars, Hot Wheels

It was yet another small car special. This time it unveiled five new small cars for the Indian roads. Honda unveiled its India-specific small car concept called “New Small” targetting the likes of the Maruti Suzuki Swift and Hyundai i10. The car is powered by a new 1.0-litre petrol engine using a VTEC engine while the 1.2-litre engine from Honda Jazz also comes as a possibility.

India’s third largest auto manufacturer Tata Motors also had a bunch of surprises for the guests. The Tata Indicruz, which is a 7-seater, premium MPV that is based on Tata Motors’ most popular SUV Tata Safari platform is equipped with a latest 2.2-litre diesel engine, navigation system and active safety features like ABS and airbags. Apart from this Tata’s Nano Europa and Nano, the Indigo Manza and Indica Vista, commercial vehicles and displays from partner Fiat also made their way to the Tata stall.

As the 2010 Delhi Auto Expo, India’s 10th Auto Expo, started in the first week of January, Delhi’s Pragati Maidan was crowded with the latest designs and models by some of the world’s leading manufacturers of cars, trucks, motorcycles and auto parts.

ULFA Terror Hitting Hard

The United Liberation Front of Assam is a separatist group in the North-East Indian state of Assam. Its main aim is to create a sovereign Assam through armed struggle.



The Government of India banned this organization in 1990 and now considers it as a terrorist group. It works on the ideology of revolutionary political organization engaged in "liberation struggle" against India for establishment of a sovereign, independent Assam.

The ulfa is the main reason of all kinds of socio-political disturbances in this part of the country. The lives of the common people are always under the threat of their terrorist activities.

Lives in danger

In the past three decades, more than 30,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency in Assam state, which is known for its tea, timber and oil reserves.

It’s like a curfew situation all round the year in all parts of this little Indian state. Shops, theatres, parks and other public places close down before dusk because of terror. People are afraid of going out to busy crowded places as those are the easy targets for terrorist activities.

The special task forces and the army deployed by the government in this region are always on their toes to fight the ulfa terror.

Threat to international relations

The state of assam shares its border with countries like Bhutan, Bangladesh and is very close to the china border. It is a politically very sensitive region of the country. India is already investing a lot in securing its borders from the terrorist infiltration and the inner conflicts are making things worse.

The presence of ULFA militants along the international border is of serious security concern to both countries. The dense forests along the border provide good hiding places for the militants to regroup, rearm and plan attacks on Indian soil.

Keeping the borders free of militants is important in terms of India’s relations with its neighbouring countries. The ULFA problem is a matter of internal security and it should make all efforts to resolve it internally.

Investigative Journalism

Investigative is the most challenging field of journalism. It requires a lot of courage to become an investigative journalist.


It is a lot tougher than normal reporting as it requires an in depth research of the subject matter often involving crime, political corruption and scandal. An investigative journalist requires a curious, inquisitive, skeptical, resourceful and alert mind. He should be aware about the law and order to avoid any kind of charges or accusation.

Dangers involved

Many times, a journalist may get charged for breaking the law, if he is not careful about these things.
There have been a lot of cases of the journalist being convicted for secret filming or working somewhere on false identity for the purpose of investigation. A journalist’s purpose may be only to report something crucial to the people but, if he is not smart enough to save himself from all the constraints, he can’t be a good investigator.

De Burgh (2000) states that: "An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession it is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available. The act of doing this generally is called investigative journalism and is distinct from apparently similar work done by police, lawyers, auditors and regulatory bodies in that it is not limited as to target, not legally founded and closely connected to publicity."

This stream of journalism requires a lot of passion because it always requires the journalist to get the in-depth detail about a matter. Everyday thousands of cases erupt around us which require research and which need to be reported to the masses. A lot of illegal and under the table things keep happening all around us all the time. Journalism requires more and more people with pokey nose who are curious, courageous and have the enthusiasm to aware the masses about everything that’s happening all around us but is hidden from the surface.

The liquor licence business

There has been rise in incidents relating drunk public misbehaviour. Drunk people around pubs and bars and on the streets create a lot of nuisance. Police is having hard time controlling them. Some people insist that the govt’s liquor licence policy has to be blamed.


Easy availability and superstore offers

With the holiday season around the police had a hard time dealing with drunk people on the streets of London. A lot of them were fined a few arrested as well. Social thinkers feel that the easy and round the clock availability of liquor all over the city is to be blamed for this situation. The cheap superstore offers on alcoholic beverages makes it even more tempting.


The alcoholic beverages is today easily available outside bars and pubs in superstores. Most of the time the liquor licence owners abuse the rights to sell it beyond the legal timing for extra profit. It is difficult for the police to control this abuse as they function behind the scene.

The money on stake

The Uk liquor market is worth £37 billion. A report on bbc suggests that if the people in the uk consume liquor within the prescribed limits, the market will shrink 40%. Different liquor companies and Assotiation does not find merit in the arguement they believe that the consumption habits of liquor among people does not relate to their free distribution policies. They insist that the amount to be consumed is clearly stated on every product and it is for the consumer to drink responsibly and consume within limits. Some consumers feel that there should be additional cost attached to buying liquor as in the case of cigarettes.

The need of the hour

Today, the liquor policy and regulations need amendments. There needs to be more government control over the distribution of alcohol. But considering the liquor company’s lobbies and the amount of money on stake, its not an easy game to control the regulations for the government.

Until that happens eat, drink and merry.

SNOW BRINGS ENTIRE UK TO A STANDSTILL

The entire UK is covered under snow and the weather men have warned of severe conditions lasting until Sunday. Life across UK is getting into a standstill with the northern part including Scotland most severely hit.

The transportation across UK is the most severely hit due to the severe weather. Bad transport conditions influences a common man’s life and people have been stranded in different parts of the country because of blocked motorways and trains. London underground network which serves more passengers than any other network has been affected too. Several tube stations have to be temporarily shut and tubes did not run on several lines in the past few days. The snow has created problems including blocking of the tracks, signal problems and electricity shot circuit. The officials at London underground insist that they had been working overtime to maintain the normal running of tubes. They claim that several thousands of workers are physically scraping the ice off the tracks and hundreds of de-icing machines have been working day and night. All these efforts seem insufficient as the passengers are kept waiting on different parts of London underground for several hours.
SCHOOL AND UNIVERSITIES HIT
All the schools and most of the colleges across UK have to shut down in the event of severe weather conditions. Several schools have been shut indefinitely and the students left with uncertainty about the important exams. 227,000 students are to appear for GCSE exams (bbc news) and they are unsure whether the date has been postponed. Several university colleges are using the social networking sites like twitter and facebook to inform the students about closure because of bad weather.
GAS SUPPLIES
The government officials have warned that the gas demand has reached a record high figure and public should start cutting down on the use of gas in the event of the severe weather continuing the situation may get worse where the govt won’t be able to fullfill the heightened demand. Govt on their part reassure of taking every possible steps that they can take to maintain a healthy supply of gas to everyone.

While the common man is getting affected adversely, for some people this extreme weather has given a reason to rejoice. People on the highlands are indulging into skiing sports and sledging. There are others who are enjoying frozen lake swimming.

Airport scanners: can they get acceptance?

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian educated in London, was foiled in his attempt to blow up a flight to Detroit on Christmas Day.It threatened the governments worldwide so much that now everyone wants to install x-ray scanners in the airports all over.


They are being tried at Manchester airport, following tests at Heathrow from 2004 to 2008. These scanners reveal everything under the clothing and show a clear outline of a passenger’s body. The scanner uses a low energy x ray to reveal object or metal under a person’s cloths including the body features. This technology will enable the airport staffs instantly to identify any weapon or explosives on a passenger’s body.

Those who oppose the introduction of airport scanners have two main complaints. Firstly, they think these scanners are ineffective. They may not pick up low-density objects, such as the explosive carried by the Christmas bomber and they are very expensive too. The same amount of money can be invested in something that works better.

Secondly, they don’t want their bodies to be so clearly scanned. They find it embarrassing. It might gain more public acceptance if the face and genitals of the passenger are blurred.

Yet another issue
Apart from these, there is yet another issue acting as hindrance in the installation of these scanners.
The child protection experts have warned that the image produced by these scanners may break the law which prevents the creation of an indecent image of a child. Hence, it should not be used to scan anyone under-18. But, isn’t it necessary to scan the youngsters as well? They can be used as an easy medium for passing explosives and other deadly substances.
This technology can definitely add up to the security of the airlines but, there are people who find it unacceptable and controversial.

The good times are here!

Bihar, a poor, underdeveloped and backward north Indian state has shown a miraculous 11% rise in its GDP growth rate. Bihar has proved itself as the economic outperformer in the last five years.


Who would have thought that a state whose economic condition had been constantly declining and which had 5.15% negative GDP growth in 2003-04 could change so much in so little a time. Its more surprising in a time when the global economic slowdown has pulled down the country’s GDP to 6% from 9%. Bihar’s economy is still based on mainly agriculture and other primary sectors and its very surprising to see such a change without the contribution of industries.

A fresh breath of air

Until a few years ago, Bihar had always been in news for all the wrong reasons. It was one of the most backward portion of India with high poverty ratio, unemployment, and illiteracy. Transport was impossible because of bad roads which were the worst in the country. On top of all that, it was in a state of anarchy and corruption due to a notorious government which ruled Bihar for more than 15 years. With the establishment of a new government in 2004 things started changing in the long neglected state.

Everyone had hoped a better future from the new government and it has stood up well to everybody’s expectations. It seems the dark ages are finally reaching its end in Bihar but, this little unfortunate state has still a long way to go. Brighter future is waiting ahead.

PUFF FOR PUFF

Smoking weed can be fatal, can lead to addiction and can cause health and psychological disorders as severe as schizophrenia.
Still, weed is the most commonly abused illegal drug all over the world. When smoked, weed affects the brain immediately, increases the rate of heart beat, relaxes the muscles, make the eyes look red. It affects the person psychologically by giving a feeling of high and hallucination. In fact, marijuana smoke contains 50 to 70 percent more carcinogenic hydrocarbons than does tobacco smoke. It also induces high levels of an enzyme that converts certain hydrocarbons into their carcinogenic form—levels that may accelerate the changes that ultimately produce malignant cells. Marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, which increases the lungs' exposure to carcinogenic smoke (research report-National Institute on Drug Abuse). These facts suggest that, puff for puff, smoking marijuana may be more harmful to the lungs than smoking tobacco.Governments all over the world spend millions to stop weed trade and on numerous awareness programmes. Even though the sale, possession or consumption of weed is illegal in the UK, this trade seems to be flourishing right under the nose of the caretakers of law and order.