Bill Gates, one of the world's leading philanthropists, has warned that growing donor support for climate change threatens thousands of lives in the developing world by squeezing out funding for health.
The warning comes as Mr Gates steps up investment in carbon-free energy and green technology.
In an annual letter released today through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation , the world's largest philanthropic organisation, Mr Gates expresses caution over the $100bn (€71bn, £62bn) in extra pledges by rich countries made to the developing world by 2020 at December's Copenhagen climate summit.
He wrote: "If just 1 per cent of the $100bn goal came from vaccine funding, then 700,000 more children could die from preventable diseases. In the long run, not spending on health is a bad deal for the environment because improvements in health, including voluntary family planning, lead people to have smaller families, which in turn reduces the strain on the environment."
The letter also criticises some western nations, in particular Italy which he accuses of being "uniquely stingy among European donors", for backtracking on aid commitments. He expressed "huge disappointment" that even his own personal intervention with Silvio Berlusconi, the premier, last June, failed to boost its generosity.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Gates stressed that by tackling child mortality, his existing programmes were helping reduce the birth rate and cut demographic pressure, while work on improved agricultural crops that were drought resistant was
helping to deal with the consequences of global warming.
He rejected criticism that he had not followed other philanthropists by channelling some of his foundation's $34bn in assets to fight global warming, arguing that the best solution was for-profit investment in new carbon-free energy technologies.
"There's this multi-trillion dollar market and yet the investments in totally new breakthroughs are surprisingly small," Mr Gates said, adding that he had invested "tens of millions" of dollars in ventures such as enhanced nuclear power.
In his letter, Mr Gates stressed that money spent on health and agriculture - two top priorities for his foundation - was "incredibly well spent", and represents only a small proportion of aid from rich countries.
He highlighted backtracking by France and Japan on their traditional high level of support for development, and cautioned that much US aid went to reconstruction efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.
Source:ft.com/
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Asean set to let world feel its warmth
Competitiveness Enhancement (ACE) Project in close collaboration with the Asean Tourism Association (Aseanta) yesterday presented the campaign to the ministers. ACE is a US Agency for International Development-backed project to help Asean enhance the integration and competitiveness of its travel and tourism sectors.R J Gurley, project director of ACE, told The Brunei Times the primary objective is to make the site sustainable and improve it over time for the hard launch in March at the tourism expo in Berlin. “We had a presentation to the National Tourism Organisation (NTO) on Thursday and Aseanta President Felix Cruz presented the website and marketing plan to officially ask for endorsement from the NTO. I’m pleased to report that again we have the unanimous, enthusiastic and official endorsement from them for our campaign.”
Oscar Palabyab, Philippine Undersecretary for Tourism Services and Regional Offices, during a meeting with Aseanta representatives reminded them to consider suggestions made by ministers to the website. “Aseanta in return request that materials like images for the website come from the NTOs themselves,” he said.
Cambodia’s Minister of Tourism Dr Thong Khon said the website is an important marketing tool but it still needs to be fine-tuned. “The challenge for Asean to be one destination, however, is we have to promote it a lot and it needs to be further developed.”
Brunei’s Minister of Industry and Primary Resources Pehin Orang Kaya Seri Utama Dato Seri Setia Hj Yahya Begawan Mudim Dato Paduka Hj Bakar said Brunei will also play its part in promoting other countries to reciprocate their initiatives to promote the Sultanate as part of the Southeastasia.org initiative to promote intra-regional travel. “We will be carrying out promotions. We have been doing joined promotions for example in Malaysian Borneo states. We don’t see any problem with reciprocating other countries, for example, India. We are promoting them here and they are promoting us as well. It is a joint cooperation,” he said.
Sasithara Pichaichannarong, Thailand’s Permanent Secretary from the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, said the website is Asean’s new marketing tool. “Ten years ago we had ‘Visit Asean’ and now it’s time to change this strategy and marketing tool towards more electronic ways, which is through website presentation rather than printouts. The idea is very good, today we more or less acknowledge it,” she said.
“Southeastasia.org has been recognised means that we recognise they should continue to with modifications according to the suggestions made by ministers,” she added.
Sasithara believes that the cultural diversity of each nation would not be overlooked when promoting Asean as a single tourist destination. “On the contrary, it is an attraction. I sometimes say a Thai looks like Laos and vice versa but both are different. Bruneians may look like Malaysians or Singaporeans but you are not, you are you. These factors attract people, if not they won’t go to different countries, they will visit other countries because of the culture so this is also another marketing tool to attract people to see a number of things,” she said.
Somphong Mongkhonvilay, Minister of Lao National Tourism Administration, speaking on the challenges that Asean is facing in promoting itself as a single tourist destination said, “Once the strategic plan is properly formulated, it would require every country to put in their earnest efforts to realise the objectives envisioned in the plan.” He proposed for member-states to promote themselves along with their closest neighbours, then build this promotion towards a regional approach. “Connectivity via air, road, sea and train linkages is an integral aspect to be considered in this promotion drive.” With reports from Melvin Jong, Ubaidillah Masli and Fitri Shahminan
Source:news.brunei.fm/
China is now world’s second largest market
Gross domestic product expanded 10.7 per cent between October and December, compared with a year earlier, roughly meeting market expectations, and up sharply from 8.9 per cent in the third quarter.
"Obviously the month-on-month growth momentum is very strong," said Xing Ziqiang, an economist at CICC in Beijing.
"So I think the chances for us to see an interest rate rise in the first quarter are increasing."
For all of the year, the economy grew 8.7 per cent.
That handily exceeded the official target of 8 per cent, a goal deemed the minimum needed to preserve social stability and one that some sceptics dismissed as fanciful well into 2009.
Initial market reaction to the figures was muted. Shanghai shares were up 0.3 per cent in mid-morning.
The fourth-quarter flourish was flattered by a low base of comparison in the same period a year earlier, when China's export-orientated economy was dragged down by the global financial crisis, costing more than 20 million migrant workers their jobs.
But the double-digit growth is also testimony to the government's rapid response to the downturn, which reached its peak in the second quarter.
A 4 trillion yuan ($US585 billion) fiscal stimulus package was complemented by an unprecedented surge in lending by the nation's predominantly state-owned banks, ensuring that China was the first major economy to recover decisively from the credit crunch.
Indeed, banks have been lending so freely of late that policymakers have turned their attention to nipping inflation in the bud.
The National Bureau of Statistics, which released the GDP figures, also reported that consumer prices rose 1.9 per cent in the year to December, a marked acceleration from November's reading of 0.6 per cent.
Inflation alert
Alarmed by a new burst of credit at the start of January, the central bank last week increased the proportion of deposits that banks must hold in reserve, rather than lending out, and followed through this week by ordering some of them to sharply curtail lending for the rest of the month.
After today's batch of generally strong data, economists said it was only a matter of time before Beijing tightened monetary policy further.
"The overall macro picture is one of continued strength in activity growth and rapidly rising inflation. We believe further policy tightening measures over and beyond what has already been implemented are needed in order control inflation in the coming months," said Yu Song and Helen Qiao of Goldman Sachs in a note.
So far China has resisted international pressure to let the yuan resume its rise after an 18-month pause, but expectations are growing that Beijing will relent in coming months.
"Yuan appreciation is likely to resume in March or April, though the rise will be gradual, say about 3-5 per cent a year," said Xing at CICC.
A stronger exchange rate would damp down inflation and encourage domestic demand, thus helping to rebalance the Chinese as well as the global economy.
China has already taken a slew of steps to spur spending, including subsidies for rural buyers of domestic appliances and tax breaks on fuel-efficient cars, a measure that helped China to overtake the United States in 2009 as the world's largest car market.
Retail sales grew 17.5 per cent in the year to December, accelerating from 15.8 per cent in November and compared with forecasts of a 16.4 percent rise.
Industrial production growth slowed to 18.5 per cent from 19.2 per cent, undercutting market forecasts of a 20.0 per cent increase.
Growth of 8.7 per cent in 2009 fell short of the previous year's rate of 9.6 per cent, but economists polled by Reuters expect a rebound this year to around 9.5 per cent.
That would be enough for China to relegate Japan to number three in the world economic rankings. Goldman Sachs expects China to eclipse the United States as the biggest economy in the world by 2027. - Reuters
Source:solomonstarnews.com/
DP World Sees 2009 Profit Before Tax Down On Throughput Drop
DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--Dubai-based port operator DP World (DPW.DIF) Monday said it expects 2009 profit to drop as falling container volumes amid the global economic slowdown hit earnings.
"Our 8% decline in volumes will lead to a decline in full year profit before tax against the same period last year," DP World Chief Executive Mohammed Sharaf said in an emailed statement. "However management's focus on cost cutting and maintaining revenues has mitigated the downside and we expect to report 2009 results in line with expectations."
DP World shares closed Sunday 1.9% lower at $0.52 on the Nasdaq Dubai exchange.
-By Stefania Bianchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +971 4 4461685; stefania.bianchi@dowjones.com
Source:online.wsj.com/
"Our 8% decline in volumes will lead to a decline in full year profit before tax against the same period last year," DP World Chief Executive Mohammed Sharaf said in an emailed statement. "However management's focus on cost cutting and maintaining revenues has mitigated the downside and we expect to report 2009 results in line with expectations."
DP World shares closed Sunday 1.9% lower at $0.52 on the Nasdaq Dubai exchange.
-By Stefania Bianchi, Dow Jones Newswires; +971 4 4461685; stefania.bianchi@dowjones.com
Source:online.wsj.com/
Brockie still hopeful for World Cup
All Whites midfielder Jeremy Brockie believes he can return to fitness before this year's football World Cup in South Africa.
Brockie was stretchered from the field in the North Queensland Fury's match against the Brisbane Roar at the weekend with a broken leg.
Brockie is hopeful the injury won't dent his chances of being picked in the All Whites squad for South Africa.
He says he has been told he could be back playing somewhere between eight and 10 weeks after surgery and a rehab programme.
Brockie played for the under-23's All Whites at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but did not play in the recent World Cup qualifiers.
Source:tvnz.co.nz/
Lost in a world of toy storeys
Andy Phillips explores the five levels of one man's shrine to playthings and collectables.
My eyes don't know where to look first. Should I gaze at the rare, pristine, unopened Star Wars figures in their original packaging? Or at the Flash Gordon comic - issue No.1? Pressing my face against the glass at the top level of the world's first purpose-built toy museum, it is difficult to know where to begin.
The MINT Museum of Toys, a five-storey establishment between tall buildings close to Singapore's Raffles City complex, is the manifestation of every big kid's dream.
Opened in 2008, it includes more than 50,000 toys from across the world, some worth tens of thousands of dollars. Among the displays is the only Batman sports car in the world known to exist with its original box and a 1950s Dan Dare water pistol now believed to be unique.
With the emphasis on toys of the past, a visit is as magical for grown-ups as it is for children - if not more.
Just as incredible as the sight of the shelves crammed with rare toys and games is the story of museum founder and owner, Chang Yang Fa.
From the age of six, the Singaporean started to collect toys but not in the usual way. Chang left his toys unopened and in their original packaging. By 2008, at the age of 57, he had so many that he was able to open the museum.
He was unable to use his first-choice name - Mint in Box - as the makers of the Men in Black movie franchise took issue with the abbreviation MIB. So he called it MINT, which stands for "Moment of Imagination and Nostalgia with Toys".
The monumental discipline he showed as a child has been rewarded with one of the world's most varied toy collections. Split across the five floors by theme, there are playthings from 40 nations - at last count.
The contemporary building in which the museum is housed has won several architectural awards for its undulating mesh frontage and minimalist interior.
Toys sit on backlit shelves so each gallery looks more like a high-end boutique than a museum and there is a rooftop wine bar and a basement-level cafe.
It is on the fifth-floor gallery of "outer space" toys that I find Star Wars figures from the original series, laid out in their sealed boxes. Behind me looms a life-size figure of Darth Maul, double-edged light sabre in hand.
There are also movie posters from the original Star Wars trilogy and figures of astronauts and space-aged heroes from China, India, Russia and Germany.
Down a flight of steps, level four is devoted to "characters" and includes one of the world's biggest collections of Batman memorabilia. Superman shows his face and there is a huge collection of "Disneyana".
Felix the Cat from the US and the lesser-known Bonzo the Dog (from Britain) are among the third-level floor of "childhood favourites", together with toys from Australia, Japan, Germany and Italy.
The evolution of toys is also covered, with a nostalgic lament on the impact of modern plastics on the hand-built pieces of the past.
Among the "collectables" on level two are examples of the ingenuity that was used in toymaking before they were produced on a mass scale. There are monkeys that climb ropes, the first wind-up toys and a pair of tumbling acrobats from Germany - a male and a female.
Just about the only character I don't see portrayed is Chang himself. There are no photos of him in the museum and it is clear that he gives few interviews.
But seeing his life's pride and joy throughout the museum reveals enough of his character to know that he's just like the rest of us: a big kid at heart.
MINT Museum of Toys, 36 Seah Street, Singapore, open daily from 9.30am-6.30pm. See emint.com.
Source:smh.com.au/
'Bring it on' _ Flatt, Nagasu ready to challenge world and all those critics of US skating
"Bring it on," Nagasu said, a touch of defiance beneath her smile. "At this Olympics, it's just Rachael and me and we're just going to blow them away."
Then she cocked her finger and pointed: "Bang. Bang. Bang."
The Americans have been looking for their next big things since Michelle Kwan and Sasha Cohen stepped away in 2006, and there's been much angst over the powerhouse's loss of prominence and prestige. The United States has just two spots in Vancouver, failing to qualify for the maximum for only the second time since 1924. The gold medal contenders are from half a world away, South Korea's Kim Yu-na and Japan's Mao Asada.
But Flatt, 17, and Nagasu, 16, might be just the skaters to turn things around. What they lack in experience and exposure they make up for with youthful enthusiasm.
And lest anyone forget, nobody picked the 16-year-old Sarah Hughes to win a medal in Salt Lake City, let alone a gold one.
"We need to embrace the challenge, and I'm sure we're both up for it," Flatt said. "We're young and spirited and have lots of enthusiasm, so I think that will bode well for the Olympics."
Flatt may not have the natural grace and ease that made skaters such as Cohen and Kwan so successful (and popular). But she stuffs her program with so much difficulty she can overwhelm the competition. She was one of only two women to do a triple-triple combination Saturday night, and she did five more triples, including two others in combination.
Those four triples she did in combination? That was more than some skaters did total.
Her overall score of 200.11 makes her the first U.S. woman to crack the 200-point barrier and puts her in Kim and Asada territory.
And forget about flops, Flatt is as consistent as a metronome. She won the U.S. title Saturday after finishing second the previous two years. She made a very respectable debut at worlds last year by finishing fifth, and she's the 2008 junior world champion. She's been fourth or better at all of her Grand Prix events.
"I would love to be both, steady and spectacular," Flatt said. "I've been pushing the envelope, but I haven't quite been 100 percent happy with all of my performances. I'm always on the cusp of doing something that feels absolutely incredible and completely exhilarating."
Nagasu was on the brink of stardom when she won the U.S. title two years ago. Just 14, she was perky and precious and was as entertaining off the ice as she was on it. For as gifted as she is, though, Nagasu is also a very typical teenager. When she struggled last year, part of it was ordinary teenage angst and rebellion.
But she switched coaches last spring and now works with Frank Carroll, and the move has made all the difference. Personality oozes from her programs as she uses every inch of her body — from the top of her head to the very tips of her fingers — to bring characters to life.
Her sexy, saucy and powerful "Carmen" sure proved that. She started with a seductive little dance and flew from there. Her double axel-triple toe combination was so massive it would have gone from blue to blue line had this been a hockey rink. Her spins are fabulous, done with the flexibility of a rubberband.
She also has found a way to blend the artistry and athleticism that makes skating so enticing — a quality many complain has been lost under the current judging system — by linking her jumps and spins with intricate steps and other deceptively difficult maneuvers. Instead of a series of elements, her programs are more like an entire piece of art.
She skates with her heart, too, and everyone in the arena is touched by it. She had the audience clapping in time to her music not even a third of the way into the program, and fans were on their feet when she still had a good 15 seconds to go.
Best of all, while Flatt and Nagasu have very different personalities, they're both strong enough to carry their sport.
Flatt is the daughter of a molecular biologist and a chemical engineer, and all she's done is make straight A's her entire life. She's applied to nine schools, most of them in the Ivy League. (To give you an idea of how stout the list is, she ranked UCLA as one of her "safety" schools.)
She now counts Dorothy Hamill as a friend and mentor, riding the bus to the arena with the Olympic gold medalist Saturday night.
Source:latimes.com/s
KELLY'S WORLD - Commissioner job anyone?
So, there I was, moaning and groaning about our weather when Haitians would love it if their biggest problem was feeling nippy.
The quake definitely helped me put things into perspective and I hope we all tried to help in some way. Of course, since then, I realise that the Jamaican Government seems to need help in knowing what to do with our money. This, after the news broke about the handsome pay, members of the FINSAC commission are getting.
I think, when I grow up, I want to be head of a commission of enquiry, especially one that may not solve anything for those afflicted. Now, that sounds like a good job for the chairman/adjudicator or whoever, but not for the victims. Remember, the enquiry commissioners are getting that dough for themselves, not to pay the legal folks who have been doing the paperwork, taking the notes, arranging the proceedings, etc. Plus, only one commissioner is retired, so the other two are already making their own dough.
But paying people handsomely to do stuff that hasn't helped the average Jamaican is nothing new. Jamaican taxpayers have had to fund events/spectacles that will leave the historians scratching their heads and wondering "what was that for?"
Remember back in the late '90s, when Jamaica qualified for the World Cup? We got the brilliant idea to go for the Guinness Book of World Records as having the biggest football. Well, the ball turned out not to be a ball after all as it wasn't made of the same material as a regulation-size football. So, after the money was spent to create it and promote it, I don't see where we ended up with anything substantial for our efforts.
How about the West Kingston Commission when, at times, chairman Justice Julius Isaacs was 'fas' asleep' during testimony? I know it was lengthy but c'mon man, 27 people were killed during the incident! And in the end, no member of the police was charged. Some commissions of enquiry come back inconclusive while, for others, we're still waiting for the results (does Armadale ring a bell?).
And we do it with more events than just enquiries. Remember the coroner's inquest into Bob Woolmer's death? And what about the countdown clock to show how much time we had before the year 2000? Trying to prepare Jamaica for the expected shutdown of computers as Y2K dawned (which never really happened) is one thing, but a clock to show us the time? (sigh).
No doubt, we've been penny wise and pound foolish many times. We could have used all those monies for something else, like giving me a raise. Later.
Tell me what you'd do with the commission money at daviot.kelly@gleanerjm.com
Source:jamaica-gleaner.com/
Dutch designer inspired by gory world of the trenches
During haute couture week in Paris, the most extravagant dresses on earth are unveiled amidst a rarefied atmosphere of gilt chairs and scented air.
However, as the first show of the spring/summer 2010 couture collections demonstrated yesterday, there's more to made-to-measure fashion than Cinderella ballgowns. The Dutch designer Josephus Thimister's creations were inspired by the "bloodshed and opulence" of 1915, and featured jackets, tank tops and trousers evoking Russian army uniforms and splattered with fake blood.
Past inspirations for other designer's couture shows have included Vermeer and organ music, but Thimister, 47, whose grandmother was a White Russian princess, told AFP that he wanted to express the fact that "it's a tough world we live in," and "even in ugly, rough and tough pieces you can find a kind of poetry". His collection, which was a mix of couture and ready-to-wear pieces for men and women, featured variations on long officer's coats from WW1, slim jodhpurs and evening dresses in red and khaki or beaded finishes.
The show marks a fashion comeback for Thimister, who has been invited to show as a guest member of the Chambre Syndicale, the French body that controls which brands can use the legally protected label of haute couture. After working as the creative director of the esteemed fashion house Balenciaga from 1991 to 1997, Thimister launched his eponymous ready-to-wear collection in 1997. In his late Nineties heyday he dressed Madonna and showed during the couture schedule in 1998, but was forced to close his label due to lack of investment.
However, rich couture clients who want something more traditionally glamorous might want to wait until later in the week before flexing their Coutts cards. Today will see Christian Dior, one of the grandest and most quintessentially Parisian houses on the couture calendar, unveiling its latest collection by the British-born designer John Galliano, followed by Giorgio Armani's Privé line. Other big names later in the week will include Chanel, designed by Karl Lagerfeld, Givenchy, Jean-Paul Gaultier and Valentino. A couture dress requires several fittings, take 800 hours to make and costs anywhere between tens and hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Sadly, Christian Lacroix, the couturier famed for his richly coloured, flamboyant designs, is no longer showing at couture week after being declared bankrupt and reduced to a licensing operation last year.
The number of fashion houses showing their collections as part of the event has dwindled from around 100 in 1945 to just 11 official couture members. However ready to wear labels are showing their pre-collections during the event, and the Chambre Syndicale has invited jewellers including Chanel, Dior and Boucheron to present their fantastic designs on Thursday as part of a day dedicated to their craft. Couture's high-rolling clients might find that their exclusive Parisian shopping spree just became a whole lot more expensive.
Compare top offers on 0% balance transfer credit cards at Independent Compare
Source:ndependent.co.uk/
37 hours. 102 sets. Two tired strangers. One Guinness World record
They were strangers just a few weeks ago.
Gavin White, 39, and Jeganathan "Jega" Ramasamy, 48, both from Epping, set out on Friday to play the world's longest continuous singles tennis match.
Battling shocking heat throughout Saturday, followed by rain, fatigue, sleep depravation and even delirium, the pair were supported by a team of family and friends as they smashed the Guinness World Record by almost an hour .
Gavin had placed an ad in the local paper, keen to find a partner to break the previous record of 36 hours and 36 minutes and raise money for the Haitian earthquake victims. Jega was the man who answered the call.
Starting at 7pm Friday, they played under lights at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre into a blistering Saturday, when temperatures hit 39.5C, even hotter on court.
Then came the afternoon's cool change and the rain of Saturday night and Sunday morning.
Finally, at 11.32am yesterday Gavin played a forehand winner down the line and the scorer called "game". It was then the pair agreed to call it quits, having unofficially set a record of 37 hours and 32 minutes, made up of 35 consecutive matches.
And out of those 102 sets, Jega's greatest glory came early on Sunday when he won a set tie-break to claim a 7-6 thriller.
It was the only set the still smiling father of four won.
As emotional families and friends rallied around the pair, Gavin revealed the moment that he had hit rock-bottom.
"Some time around 2am I was absolutely delirious," he said.
"I thought, 'How can I possibly keep doing this?' because at that stage I was barely able to stand up."
But with help from his support team he and Jega played on.
Neither had trained for the attempt and Jega said he'd responded to Gavin's ad because he always liked a challenge. "I thought this crazy man; I should join this crazy man," he said, pointing at himself and his partner.It could be up to six weeks until the record is made official. But the real winners are the people of Haiti - and two extraordinary men.
Source:heraldsun.com.au/
World News in Brief
Militants ambushed Pakistani security forces at checkpoints in two regions close to the Afghan border yesterday, sparking gunbattles that left 22 insurgents and two troops dead, officials said. Elsewhere in the northwest, a suicide bomber killed a police officer and three passers-by, part of a relentless wave of violence by Al-Qaida and Taliban insurgents also blamed for attacks on U.S. and NATO troops across the frontier in Afghanistan. (AP)
A roadside bomb killed two U.S. service members in southern Afghanistan, NATO said in a statement yesterday. No further details were given. The deaths bring the total number of Americans killed in Afghanistan so far this year to at least 22, according to an Associated Press tally. The south is the Taliban heartland and is expected to be a major focus of fighting as the U.S. and NATO allies send 37,000 additional troops to rout the insurgency. (AP) Advertisement
British actress Jean Simmons, who starred opposite Laurence Olivier in "Hamlet" during a career spanning 60 years, has died in California, Los Angeles Times reported yesterday. Simmons, who was 80 and had lung cancer, died at her home in Santa Monica on Friday night, it quoted her agent Judy Page as saying. Born in London, Simmons started acting in British films as a teenager and later moved to the United States to star in movies such as the 1955 musical "Guys and Dolls" with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, and Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" with Kirk Douglas in 1960. Simmons won a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for playing Ophelia in "Hamlet" in 1948. (Reuters)
The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped up nearly seven years in Iraq yesterday, handing over duties to the U.S. Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan. In Baghdad, meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden held talks with Iraqi leaders amid rising tensions over plans to ban election candidates because of suspected links to Saddam Hussein's regime. The White House worries this could raise questions over the fairness of the March 7 elections. (AP)
Saudi Arabia's assistant defense minister said yesterday that the bodies of 20 of the 26 soldiers reported missing were found on the border, raising the toll for the fight against Yemen's Shi'ite rebels to 133. Prince Khaled bin Sultan told reporters that the bodies were found after liberating areas around Dokhan mountain, a strategic high point in the rugged border region. (AP)
Pope Benedict XVI has a new commandment for priests struggling to get their message across: Go forth and blog. The pope, whose own presence on the Web has grown heavily in recent years, urged priests yesterday to use all multimedia tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel and engage in dialogue with people of other religions and cultures. And just using e-mail or surfing the Web is often not enough: Priests should use cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities, Benedict said in a message released by the Vatican. (AP)
Source:haaretz.com/
A roadside bomb killed two U.S. service members in southern Afghanistan, NATO said in a statement yesterday. No further details were given. The deaths bring the total number of Americans killed in Afghanistan so far this year to at least 22, according to an Associated Press tally. The south is the Taliban heartland and is expected to be a major focus of fighting as the U.S. and NATO allies send 37,000 additional troops to rout the insurgency. (AP) Advertisement
British actress Jean Simmons, who starred opposite Laurence Olivier in "Hamlet" during a career spanning 60 years, has died in California, Los Angeles Times reported yesterday. Simmons, who was 80 and had lung cancer, died at her home in Santa Monica on Friday night, it quoted her agent Judy Page as saying. Born in London, Simmons started acting in British films as a teenager and later moved to the United States to star in movies such as the 1955 musical "Guys and Dolls" with Marlon Brando and Frank Sinatra, and Stanley Kubrick's "Spartacus" with Kirk Douglas in 1960. Simmons won a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for playing Ophelia in "Hamlet" in 1948. (Reuters)
The U.S. Marine Corps wrapped up nearly seven years in Iraq yesterday, handing over duties to the U.S. Army and signaling the beginning of an accelerated withdrawal of American troops as the U.S. turns its focus away from the waning Iraqi war to a growing one in Afghanistan. In Baghdad, meanwhile, Vice President Joe Biden held talks with Iraqi leaders amid rising tensions over plans to ban election candidates because of suspected links to Saddam Hussein's regime. The White House worries this could raise questions over the fairness of the March 7 elections. (AP)
Saudi Arabia's assistant defense minister said yesterday that the bodies of 20 of the 26 soldiers reported missing were found on the border, raising the toll for the fight against Yemen's Shi'ite rebels to 133. Prince Khaled bin Sultan told reporters that the bodies were found after liberating areas around Dokhan mountain, a strategic high point in the rugged border region. (AP)
Pope Benedict XVI has a new commandment for priests struggling to get their message across: Go forth and blog. The pope, whose own presence on the Web has grown heavily in recent years, urged priests yesterday to use all multimedia tools at their disposal to preach the Gospel and engage in dialogue with people of other religions and cultures. And just using e-mail or surfing the Web is often not enough: Priests should use cutting-edge technologies to express themselves and lead their communities, Benedict said in a message released by the Vatican. (AP)
Source:haaretz.com/
PRGMEA joins world apparel federation
KARACHI: The Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) has joined International Apparel Federation (IAF), making Pakistan the 44th country to join hands with the grouping on apparel trade, PRGMEA Chairman Mohsin Ayub Mirza said in a statement on Saturday.
The Federation’s aims and objectives include consolidation and collaboration between apparel industries across the world in order to promote fashion industries and present innovative ideas and solutions to multiple challenges.
Ijaz A Khokhar, former central chairman of PRGMEA, recently attended the 25th World Apparel Convention in New Delhi, India in which PRGMEA was formally inducted as a full member of IAF.
The PRGMEA chairman said becoming the member of a prestigious body like IAF would help Pakistan’s apparel industry and exporters establish worldwide business contacts. These would foster dialogue and knowledge-sharing, exchange between individuals active in the world apparel value chain for the betterment of business practices, promotion of international image of Pakistan’s apparel sector, advancement of technology and promotion of its use, encouragement of innovation and new ways of thinking and improvement of social, health and safety and environmental conditions relating to the apparel chain worldwide, and advancement of apparel education and training.
The IAF is a worldwide knowledge network that collects and disseminates information about statistics, bench-marking, developments in apparel design, manufacturing, distribution, sourcing, trade and technology. Mirza said soon efforts would be made to invite IAF members from all over the globe along with different buyers and brand heads to explore the potential of Pakistan’s apparel industry. “All this is possible once the law and order situation improves in the country.”
Source:thenews.com.pk/
The Federation’s aims and objectives include consolidation and collaboration between apparel industries across the world in order to promote fashion industries and present innovative ideas and solutions to multiple challenges.
Ijaz A Khokhar, former central chairman of PRGMEA, recently attended the 25th World Apparel Convention in New Delhi, India in which PRGMEA was formally inducted as a full member of IAF.
The PRGMEA chairman said becoming the member of a prestigious body like IAF would help Pakistan’s apparel industry and exporters establish worldwide business contacts. These would foster dialogue and knowledge-sharing, exchange between individuals active in the world apparel value chain for the betterment of business practices, promotion of international image of Pakistan’s apparel sector, advancement of technology and promotion of its use, encouragement of innovation and new ways of thinking and improvement of social, health and safety and environmental conditions relating to the apparel chain worldwide, and advancement of apparel education and training.
The IAF is a worldwide knowledge network that collects and disseminates information about statistics, bench-marking, developments in apparel design, manufacturing, distribution, sourcing, trade and technology. Mirza said soon efforts would be made to invite IAF members from all over the globe along with different buyers and brand heads to explore the potential of Pakistan’s apparel industry. “All this is possible once the law and order situation improves in the country.”
Source:thenews.com.pk/
World Cup venues pass first test
Two of South Africa's World Cup venues witnessed their first football matches on Saturday in preparation for the tournament.
GettyImages
The Peter Mokaba Stadium is ready to go.
The Cape Town Stadium hosted a local derby between Santos and Ajax Cape Town while the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane held an-all day tournament and both stadiums passed the first test of their readiness for the big event in June.
The Peter Mokaba Stadium is one of the five new stadiums that were built up from the dust. It will host four group stage matches including a much anticipated clash between France and Mexico. On Saturday, the stadium held just one less match than it would in the entire World Cup, with no complications.
The Peter Mokaba Cup, featuring defending South African Premiership team SuperSport United, Soweto giants, Kaizer Chiefs, student Premiership side, BIDvest Wits and Danish club Brondby, saw two semi-finals and a final played on the same day.
Roger de Sá, former South African goalkeeper and coach of BIDvest Wits said the stadium handled the day professionally. "All round it's a very good stadium. The training grounds are close by and the stadium itself has a good pitch and tight atmosphere with modern touches."
Part of that upgrade involved security. Police spokesperson Motlafela Mojapelo said more police officers than normal were deployed in the Polokwane area for the event. The stadium has a capacity of 46,000 but less than half of it was occupied for the Cup. More than 18,000 tickets were sold, according to Ndavhe Ramakuela, the Director of 2010 in the Polokwane Municipality.
A slightly larger number of fans piled into the revamped Cape Town Stadium to watch the derby match between the two Premiership teams. Twenty thousand tickets were made available and the match was sold out. The event was dubbed the Cape Town Soccer Festival and also had a musical performance by Freshly Ground and an official blessing.
Danny Jordaan, CEO of the Organising Committee, said he hopes Cape Town would come together as a community for the eight matches that will play out there. "We want this stadium to have a significant number of supporters from Cape Town, so that they can enjoy the stadium; so that they can embrace the fans coming and get into the spirit of being good hosts. It would be sad if you have a party in your house, and there's not a single one of your family members in the house," said Jordaan.
The match was also used as an opportunity to test the transport arrangement. Almost all of the ticket holders used the free park and ride facility and organisers said there were no glitches. Security was significantly increased ahead of the match. A thousand police officers from 24 different units patrolled the area around and inside the stadium on the day. The stadium will be tested again in two weeks time when a rugby match will see over 40,000 allowed into the venue.
Source:soccernet.espn.go.com/
Lange tops four-man World Cup bobsled, Rush seventh
IGLS, Austria — Andre Lange of Germany clinched the European four-man bobsled championship with his victory Sunday in the season-ending World Cup race.
Lange, who will be looking to defend his Olympic gold in both the two-man and four-man next month in Vancouver, crossed the finish line in a winning time one minute 42.59 seconds, just 0.05 ahead of Ivo Rueegg of Switzerland. Thomas Florschuetz of Germany won the bronze.
Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., partnered up with Chris le Bihan of Kelowna, B.C., David Bissett of Edmonton and Calgary’s Lascelles Brown in the Canada 1 sled and finished seventh in 1:42.75.
Pierre Lueders of Edmonton, Justin Kripps of Summerland, B.C., Jesse Lumsden of Burlington, Ont., and Neville Wright of Edmonton finished 16th (1:43.50).
American Steven Holcomb, who secured the overall World Cup title in the four-man with his victory last weekend in St. Moritz, was eighth in 1:42.77.
Source:montrealgazette.com/
World Cup is too high a target for Zambia, says Herve Renard
How delighted are you with a place in the last eight?
“It’s a good achievement. Before the tournament I spoke a lot about making our target to reach the quarterfinals. I think some people thought I was a little bit mad. But when we were in our training camp in Johannesburg we spoke a lot to the players about this and about reaching the quarterfinals as our target. Even if the group was very tough, we were sure of our objective. We are so happy because not many believe in us. As a coach I did not have too many supporting me.”
Is this some consolation for not qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa?
“No, it’s not a consolation. The World Cup is too high a target for Zambia. A lot of people don’t agree with me but I continue to say it’s too early for Zambia.
For you personally, what has been achieved here in Angola is a great way for a young coach to make a name and create an international profile?
“I was with Claude LeRoy as assistant coach of Ghana but I came to Zambia because I’m ambitious. It was a very good opportunity for me. People won’t be happy if I say I have had to work with an average team. When I came they were ranked 13th in Africa. Zambia have qualified for a lot of Nations Cups but since 1996 they haven’t been to the quarterfinals. One of my early targets was to say that we could again go to the second round. I am ambitious for myself. I want to coach a very big team elsewhere in the world or in Africa. If it is possible, a team like Cameroon or Ivory Coast.
What are the qualities of your team?
“There is a lot of skill, to compare with the best in Africa. We have a lot of skillful players. But we need better organisation because one of the difficulties is the players sometimes forget on the pitch what they need to do. We also don’t have a player with big international experience. Sometimes they are afraid of big names and big teams but we have nothing to fear really. Physically we can hold our own. What has been missing is the experience. The best example was in the recent game against Cameroon were we played so well in the first half and we were in the game until just a few minutes to go but made mistakes and got punished. This side has a lot of potential. They can be proud of what they have done.”
Is it easier not having a big star player, like Didier Drogba or Samuel Eto’o, in your side?
“I’d prefer to have Drogba in my team! These are players who can make all the difference for a team. I often joke with Kalusha Bwalya (Zambia FA president) that we could win this Nations Cup if he was still playing at his peak. What we are really missing is one very strong defender with a lot of experience. A big captain, who can take the side up to another level.”
What about your chances against Nigeria?
“We played them three weeks ago and we played very well (the Nations Cup warm-up match in Durban ended goalless). I think now teams will be very careful about Zambia. We will go out to play our football, try to stay organised and try to play as quick as we usually do. Our offensive players have the capability of making a difference. There is a risk what the players might be satisfied with reaching the quarterfinals but I have already talked to them about this. We have to set ourselves a new target. I don’t want the players to be satisfied, we must try now to get a medal. Everything from now on is a bonus, but we must take these bonuses.”
Is there a fear perhaps about playing a team with as formidable a reputation as Nigeria?
“We don’t care who we are playing against. It is our team that can create a lot of problems for the big sides. I told the players in 2008 they were looking at the shoes of Samuel Eto’o, now they are on the same pitch as him. Zambia has a team with great potential for the future, with several new players who have done well here. Mbola, Sunzu, Thomas Nyirenda at right back. There is super potential in Zambia but we need better facilities if we are to reach our potential.”
Source:zambianwatchdog.com/
Deportivo defender Luis' season and World Cup hopes over after surgery on ankle
A CORUNA, Spain — Deportivo La Coruna defender Filipe Luis' season - and World Cup hopes - are over after the Brazilian was ruled out for up to six months.
Filipe underwent surgery on his broken right ankle Sunday, one day after falling awkwardly after scoring and with Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz landing on top of him in Deportivo's 3-1 victory in the Spanish league.
Deportivo says Filipe will be immobilized for the next four weeks and will need a minimum of four months to recover.
The 24-year-old Filipe has been Deportivo's standout player this season. He had also been likely to make Brazil's squad for the World Cup later this year after making his international debut in 2009 against Venezuela.
Source:AFP
Filipe underwent surgery on his broken right ankle Sunday, one day after falling awkwardly after scoring and with Athletic Bilbao goalkeeper Gorka Iraizoz landing on top of him in Deportivo's 3-1 victory in the Spanish league.
Deportivo says Filipe will be immobilized for the next four weeks and will need a minimum of four months to recover.
The 24-year-old Filipe has been Deportivo's standout player this season. He had also been likely to make Brazil's squad for the World Cup later this year after making his international debut in 2009 against Venezuela.
Source:AFP
R&B crooner Trey Songz is ready for the world
A lot of male celebrities are checking out Rihanna, and so is Trey Songz - but not like that."Somebody else could have sang that song but it wouldn't have been what it was (if it wasn't) for Rihanna ... just would have been a whole different moment for her - exactly where I am right now," he said.
Songz, 25, is enjoying his greatest success with his latest album. His racy song "I Invented Sex" hit the No. 1 spot on the R&B charts, while another hit, "Say Aah," is steadily rising. And "Ready" is nominated for best contemporary R&B album at the Grammy Awards on Jan. 31 in a category that also features Beyonce and Jamie Foxx.
"The record's moreso defined me than any other album I had," he said. "I feel as though anybody can have hit records, like a hit song could be sang by anyone, but you know when you find what it is that your niche is, like a song like 'I Invented Sex' - I don't feel like anyone else could have sang that song."
Gail Mitchell, a senior editor at Billboard, says Songz's rise has been a steady one.
"I think now a small circle of folks knew what he was about and understood it and it's just gotten a little bigger with each album," she said.
"Ready" was released in late August, and now the disc is some 40,000 units shy from reaching gold status, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It's his best-selling album to date. Four of its songs have reached the top 10 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart; three have peaked in the Top 5.
"I feel as though I've always had great records, but somewhere on the rise to stardom it was something not interpreted to the fan," said Songz, who will go on tour with Jay-Z and Young Jeezy in February. "I feel as though the Internet has done a lot ... helping me with that, the Twitters, Facebooks, things of that nature."
Songz, whose real name is Tremaine Neverson, debuted in 2005 with the CD "I Gotta Make It." His sophomore effort, 2007's "Trey Day," had a hit with the Grammy-nominated groove "Can't Help But Wait."
"Ready" can be viewed as a sign of his growing maturity. The singer has traded in his sneakers and T-shirts for tailored pants, tasteful shoes and a chic vest. He also chopped off his braids. The new look is something his producer and mentor, Troy Taylor, calls a "drastic change" - and a needed one.
"Trey's from the streets, he's a hood kid. He wasn't glamorous and (didn't have) the finer things in life growing up," said Taylor, who has worked with the Virginia native since he was 14 and produced for artists like Boyz II Men and Aretha Franklin.
"He didn't want to lose his street-ism," Taylor explained. "As he grew into it I think he began to realize, 'Wait a minute, this ain't that bad after all,' and then he got the ladies' opinions."
While Songz already had a strong female base, "Ready" has helped take it to a new level.
With songs like "I Invented Sex," some would say the singer is playing up sexy for sales and publicity. Songz disagrees.
Source:etaiwannews.com/
Google for good…or just for money?
HomeAboutArchivesContactProjectsSubscribe« Egypt: blogger Wael Abbas sentenced to jail. Another still in prison despite judicial release order Google for good…or just for money?
posted by CJ Hinke on Jan 24, 2010
categories: Advocacy, China, Features, Thailand
Google’s recent opposition to Internet censorship in China went wildly underreported in Thailand. Yet this move to seize the moral high ground has vast implications to Thailand and every other censorship nation. The world’s censors have been put on notice by a company worth five billion dollars, more than many governments.
Google’s unprecedented declaration that this corporate giant would no longer censor its Internet search results in China had a great measure of shock-and-awe. Google created some major spin, some wow-factor. What is especially striking is that a huge corporation would commit itself to embarking on a campaign of civil disobedience, of speaking truth to power.
Google’s actual announcement, through chief legal officer David Drummond, was that it would “phase out” its search censorship in China. Now, we really don’t know how that might be possible—you either censor or you don’t.
Since FACT’s inception in 2006, through Thailand’s military coup’s seven-month YouTube block up to the present day, Google has failed to be responsive to FACT’s concerns over Google’s censorship in Thailand. FACT’s every email, to many individuals throughout its corporate structure, has gone without reply.
In stating Google would stop its censorship in China, Google means it will continue to censor all the rest of us in every country. We find this hypocritical, to say the least.
Google created the technical marvel of geolocational blocking by country at the behest of Thailand’s military coup government in order to become unblocked here. Since that time Google has implemented geolocational blocking in all other countries to protect their “national security interests” and to shield netizens from “culturally sensitive topics”. How very thoughtful.
China’s overwhelmingly youthful population has reached over 1.4 billion people, 384 million of whom use the Internet. That’s 36.5% Internet penetration, an impressive figure in itself. For any company, China is an enormous market.
But the simple fact is that the Chinese use Chinese search engines, buy their swag from Chinese websites, social network on Chinese sites, and so on, with never a thought of the Western Internet giants. This conundrum, at least in the rest of the world, is fueled both culturally and linguistically. English may be the world’s lingua franca but China speaks only Chinese.
That means Google’s real losses in China may be minimal. It seems reasonable that Google simply did not have the effective business model in China that they implement in the rest of the world. Chinese just don’t click on Google’s ads.
Every netizen in the world interacts, if only in a minimal way, with Google. Even if an Internet user eschews Google’s search engine, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Voice, Google News, Google Docs, Google Scholar, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Books, and has not installed Google’s DNS, others you contact do and therefore your habits are known to Google.
Google’s business model is predicated on knowing the habits of every Internet user, to sell you stuff. Whether you like it or not, Google logs your searches, copies your email, records your contacts’ names and addresses, logs your chat sessions, records your phone calls, knows where you get your news and what topics are important to you, copies your documents, checks your research, knows where you’ve been, knows where you are, what you like to read and now follows you to every website. Google is a company that has no regard or concern whatsoever for your personal privacy. Google Sky, Google Moon and Google Mars might be safe…maybe. Most of us simply exchange our privacy for the convenience of using Google everything.
So when Google says, no censorship in China…or else, we cock precisely one eyebrow. Do no evil, petabyte server Google has a hidden agenda here. It’s not about an affront to corporate secrecy by the (widely-presumed to be) Chinese government hack of Google’s Gmail accounts for Chinese human rights activists. Get real: that’s just for show. Nor do they care much about the other 31 US corporations the Chinese government hacked.
The sad truth is that Google simply doesn’t have so much to lose in China. And they can always climb back into bed with China once this tiff is over and the world’s netizens have largely forgotten. Both sides, government and corporations just have their eyes on the money.
Let’s look at Google’s role as world leader as an inspiration to others. Do we really think other corporations will endanger their shareholders’ profit margins by supporting Google? If you think so, I can get you a great deal on the Rama VIII bridge!
Google has done exactly nothing in China to support human rights, free speech or a free press, including the citizen press, in China or, for that matter, in any other country. It has reliably failed to support or link any means for circumvention of China’s censorship to Chinese netizens such as TOR or Psiphon. Google hasn’t even created free proxies. That means we’re still standing in the cold whistling.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had long prepared her January 21 speech on defending Internet freedoms before Google’s announcement. However, the US’ new commitment against censorship (they are so far just talking the talk not walking the walk) may, in fact, call Google’s bluff. If they want to be an American company, then they may just have to toe the current administration’s line.
Google is megabucks, business acumen and engineering expertise, the best money can buy. Google is both huge and hugely successful almost everywhere.
If Google were to make the declaration that they were stopping censorship everywhere, including Thailand, we’d be their biggest fans. Hell, we’d buy stock!
It has been obvious Google has been setting about creating its own corporate vision of the Internet, through sheer might and money. But if Google really cares about ‘net freedoms, it will devote a miniscule portion of its enormous resource of brainpower to making the Internet uncensorable anywhere.
FACT welcomes Google’s announcement it will stop supporting censorship in Thailand.
Source:advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/
posted by CJ Hinke on Jan 24, 2010
categories: Advocacy, China, Features, Thailand
Google’s recent opposition to Internet censorship in China went wildly underreported in Thailand. Yet this move to seize the moral high ground has vast implications to Thailand and every other censorship nation. The world’s censors have been put on notice by a company worth five billion dollars, more than many governments.
Google’s unprecedented declaration that this corporate giant would no longer censor its Internet search results in China had a great measure of shock-and-awe. Google created some major spin, some wow-factor. What is especially striking is that a huge corporation would commit itself to embarking on a campaign of civil disobedience, of speaking truth to power.
Google’s actual announcement, through chief legal officer David Drummond, was that it would “phase out” its search censorship in China. Now, we really don’t know how that might be possible—you either censor or you don’t.
Since FACT’s inception in 2006, through Thailand’s military coup’s seven-month YouTube block up to the present day, Google has failed to be responsive to FACT’s concerns over Google’s censorship in Thailand. FACT’s every email, to many individuals throughout its corporate structure, has gone without reply.
In stating Google would stop its censorship in China, Google means it will continue to censor all the rest of us in every country. We find this hypocritical, to say the least.
Google created the technical marvel of geolocational blocking by country at the behest of Thailand’s military coup government in order to become unblocked here. Since that time Google has implemented geolocational blocking in all other countries to protect their “national security interests” and to shield netizens from “culturally sensitive topics”. How very thoughtful.
China’s overwhelmingly youthful population has reached over 1.4 billion people, 384 million of whom use the Internet. That’s 36.5% Internet penetration, an impressive figure in itself. For any company, China is an enormous market.
But the simple fact is that the Chinese use Chinese search engines, buy their swag from Chinese websites, social network on Chinese sites, and so on, with never a thought of the Western Internet giants. This conundrum, at least in the rest of the world, is fueled both culturally and linguistically. English may be the world’s lingua franca but China speaks only Chinese.
That means Google’s real losses in China may be minimal. It seems reasonable that Google simply did not have the effective business model in China that they implement in the rest of the world. Chinese just don’t click on Google’s ads.
Every netizen in the world interacts, if only in a minimal way, with Google. Even if an Internet user eschews Google’s search engine, Gmail, Google Talk, Google Voice, Google News, Google Docs, Google Scholar, Google Maps, Google Earth, Google Books, and has not installed Google’s DNS, others you contact do and therefore your habits are known to Google.
Google’s business model is predicated on knowing the habits of every Internet user, to sell you stuff. Whether you like it or not, Google logs your searches, copies your email, records your contacts’ names and addresses, logs your chat sessions, records your phone calls, knows where you get your news and what topics are important to you, copies your documents, checks your research, knows where you’ve been, knows where you are, what you like to read and now follows you to every website. Google is a company that has no regard or concern whatsoever for your personal privacy. Google Sky, Google Moon and Google Mars might be safe…maybe. Most of us simply exchange our privacy for the convenience of using Google everything.
So when Google says, no censorship in China…or else, we cock precisely one eyebrow. Do no evil, petabyte server Google has a hidden agenda here. It’s not about an affront to corporate secrecy by the (widely-presumed to be) Chinese government hack of Google’s Gmail accounts for Chinese human rights activists. Get real: that’s just for show. Nor do they care much about the other 31 US corporations the Chinese government hacked.
The sad truth is that Google simply doesn’t have so much to lose in China. And they can always climb back into bed with China once this tiff is over and the world’s netizens have largely forgotten. Both sides, government and corporations just have their eyes on the money.
Let’s look at Google’s role as world leader as an inspiration to others. Do we really think other corporations will endanger their shareholders’ profit margins by supporting Google? If you think so, I can get you a great deal on the Rama VIII bridge!
Google has done exactly nothing in China to support human rights, free speech or a free press, including the citizen press, in China or, for that matter, in any other country. It has reliably failed to support or link any means for circumvention of China’s censorship to Chinese netizens such as TOR or Psiphon. Google hasn’t even created free proxies. That means we’re still standing in the cold whistling.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had long prepared her January 21 speech on defending Internet freedoms before Google’s announcement. However, the US’ new commitment against censorship (they are so far just talking the talk not walking the walk) may, in fact, call Google’s bluff. If they want to be an American company, then they may just have to toe the current administration’s line.
Google is megabucks, business acumen and engineering expertise, the best money can buy. Google is both huge and hugely successful almost everywhere.
If Google were to make the declaration that they were stopping censorship everywhere, including Thailand, we’d be their biggest fans. Hell, we’d buy stock!
It has been obvious Google has been setting about creating its own corporate vision of the Internet, through sheer might and money. But if Google really cares about ‘net freedoms, it will devote a miniscule portion of its enormous resource of brainpower to making the Internet uncensorable anywhere.
FACT welcomes Google’s announcement it will stop supporting censorship in Thailand.
Source:advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/
Round-the-world girl sailor pounded in violent storm
Sixteen-year-old Jessica Watson faced the toughest conditions to date on her non-stop, unassisted circumnavigation when she endured hurricane-force winds and waves up to 10 metres (33 feet) high in the South Atlantic Ocean Friday.
The Queenslander was left bruised and feeling "like I've aged a good 10 years" while her yacht, Ella's Pink Lady, suffered minor damage during the eight-hour storm which tossed the boat beneath crushing waves.
"It was certainly one of those times when you start questioning exactly why you're doing this," she wrote in her blog.
"But at no point could I not answer my own question with a long list of reasons why the tough times like that aren't totally worth it."
Watson left Sydney in her bright pink yacht more than three months ago and during the storm passed the 11,000 nautical mile mark on her voyage.
The tempest was the first time the schoolgirl had experienced a "knockdown" -- when the mast goes below horizontal and dives into the sea.
Watson, who was strapped into a seat below deck throughout the ordeal, said she spent the storm "with my whole body clenched up holding on, various objects flying around the cabin and Ella's Pink Lady complaining loudly under the strain."
"We experienced a total of 4 knockdowns, the second was the most severe with the mast being pushed 180 degrees in to the water," she wrote.
"Actually pushed isn't the right word, it would be more accurate to say that Ella's Pink Lady was picked up, thrown down a wave, then forced under a mountain of breaking water and violently turned upside down."
Watson, who said gusts had reached speeds of up to 65 knots before she lost her wind instruments in a knockdown, said the storm made it too dangerous to be on deck and she relied on her electric autopilot to hold the vessel on course.
"We didn't come though completely un-scathed though, as there's plenty of minor damage, but luckily nothing bad enough to stop us," she said.
Watson said the solid, inch-thick stainless steel frame that supported the boat's solar panels had been bent out of shape and the starboard solar panel distorted while there were a few tears in the mainsail.
Down below, the cabin was "a disaster zone, everything is wet or damp," she said, adding that the toilet had fallen apart and her stove refused to light.
She said by Saturday, the swell had dropped to a more comfortable three metres and dolphins were swimming beside her boat.
The Queensland schoolgirl's supporters believe her 23,000 nautical mile journey, which she hopes to complete in eight months to break the record set by fellow Australian Jesse Martin, then aged 18, in 1999, is the maritime equivalent of conquering Mount Everest.
She rounded South America's challenging Cape Horn earlier this month and is now making her way east towards the Falkland Islands and the Cape of Good Hope before tackling the vast Southern Ocean and returning to Australia.
When Watson left Australia on October 18, controversy raged over whether she was too young and inexperienced to undertake the challenge after she smashed into a massive coal freighter during a test sail in September.
Source:AFP
World markets jittery after US takes a tumble
GLOBAL sharemarkets open today in the shadow of the worst week on Wall Street since the depths of the financial crisis almost one year ago.
But market watchers remain hopeful the anxiety in the US, caused by a succession of uncertainty-creating political events, does not signal the end of the bull market that added 50 per cent or more to markets last year.
Reflecting the 2.2 per cent tumble on the Dow Jones industrial average on Friday night, Australian March share price index futures were last night down 87 points at 4619, pointing to a fourth consecutive drop amid what is certain to be thin and volatile trading caused by the Australia Day holiday tomorrow.
"The US Democrats' loss of Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts senate seat, President (Barack) Obama's planned crackdown on riskier bank activities and the Chinese central bank's planned reduction in lending were some of a long list of factors affecting the US market last week," BT Australia chief economist Chris Caton said.
The Dow lost 5.1 per cent in three days to close at 10,172.98 -- its biggest weekly drop since February last year, causing concern it might fall back through the psychologically important 10,000 level that it broke through on November 5.
The corporate bond market also stumbled after surging through the start of the year, helping cash-strapped companies raise money on good terms.
By comparison, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 117.6 points or 2.4 per cent over the past three trading days to 4750.6, its lowest level since before Christmas. Both the Australian and US markets are now in negative territory for the calendar year.
"The big lift to the (US) market in 2009 was the extraordinary amount of monetary and fiscal stimulus around the world," Miller Tabak equity strategist Peter Boockvar told The Wall Street Journal. "If the economy were robust, we could handle it, but so much of the improvement has been due to stimulus that no one knows what the economy, standing on its own two feet, will look like when support is pulled away."
Dr Caton said there had also been suggestions that Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, might not be renominated to the job when his first term expires on January 31.
"I simply can't see Bernanke not getting up," he said, But he noted that online betting on his successful renomination had lowered the likelihood from 95 to 73 per cent after two Democrat senators said they would not support him.
Last week's nerves were a "one-off", he said, adding: "I don't think the bull market is over."
Justin O'Brien, a vice-president at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Sydney, said the negative political climate in the US was reinforced by the tendency of US investors to be disappointed by the early earnings results even though they were in line with expectations.
"It's the old story of buy the rumour, sell the news," he said.
"There has been a series of events from which markets have drawn the view that we may be entering a second downward phase. The pessimists can construct a good story."
He noted that the US-based VIXX, or volatility index, had jumped more than 50 per cent on the week to 27.31, well down on early 2009 numbers but reflecting a change of mood nonetheless.
One consequence of the US mood may be a negative for Australia, however. The February gold futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange slid $US9.80, or 0.9 per cent, to $US1093 an ounce amid suggestions that Mr Obama's crackdown on banks' proprietary trading might reduce the flow of money into investment and other metals.
In Australia the focus will be on the Australian Bureau of Statistics' CPI announcement for December, due on Wednesday.
Source:theaustralian.com.au/
But market watchers remain hopeful the anxiety in the US, caused by a succession of uncertainty-creating political events, does not signal the end of the bull market that added 50 per cent or more to markets last year.
Reflecting the 2.2 per cent tumble on the Dow Jones industrial average on Friday night, Australian March share price index futures were last night down 87 points at 4619, pointing to a fourth consecutive drop amid what is certain to be thin and volatile trading caused by the Australia Day holiday tomorrow.
"The US Democrats' loss of Ted Kennedy's Massachusetts senate seat, President (Barack) Obama's planned crackdown on riskier bank activities and the Chinese central bank's planned reduction in lending were some of a long list of factors affecting the US market last week," BT Australia chief economist Chris Caton said.
The Dow lost 5.1 per cent in three days to close at 10,172.98 -- its biggest weekly drop since February last year, causing concern it might fall back through the psychologically important 10,000 level that it broke through on November 5.
The corporate bond market also stumbled after surging through the start of the year, helping cash-strapped companies raise money on good terms.
By comparison, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index shed 117.6 points or 2.4 per cent over the past three trading days to 4750.6, its lowest level since before Christmas. Both the Australian and US markets are now in negative territory for the calendar year.
"The big lift to the (US) market in 2009 was the extraordinary amount of monetary and fiscal stimulus around the world," Miller Tabak equity strategist Peter Boockvar told The Wall Street Journal. "If the economy were robust, we could handle it, but so much of the improvement has been due to stimulus that no one knows what the economy, standing on its own two feet, will look like when support is pulled away."
Dr Caton said there had also been suggestions that Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, might not be renominated to the job when his first term expires on January 31.
"I simply can't see Bernanke not getting up," he said, But he noted that online betting on his successful renomination had lowered the likelihood from 95 to 73 per cent after two Democrat senators said they would not support him.
Last week's nerves were a "one-off", he said, adding: "I don't think the bull market is over."
Justin O'Brien, a vice-president at Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Sydney, said the negative political climate in the US was reinforced by the tendency of US investors to be disappointed by the early earnings results even though they were in line with expectations.
"It's the old story of buy the rumour, sell the news," he said.
"There has been a series of events from which markets have drawn the view that we may be entering a second downward phase. The pessimists can construct a good story."
He noted that the US-based VIXX, or volatility index, had jumped more than 50 per cent on the week to 27.31, well down on early 2009 numbers but reflecting a change of mood nonetheless.
One consequence of the US mood may be a negative for Australia, however. The February gold futures contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange slid $US9.80, or 0.9 per cent, to $US1093 an ounce amid suggestions that Mr Obama's crackdown on banks' proprietary trading might reduce the flow of money into investment and other metals.
In Australia the focus will be on the Australian Bureau of Statistics' CPI announcement for December, due on Wednesday.
Source:theaustralian.com.au/
'Cross: World Cup and World Champs
As the road season gets going again the 'crossers are facing their final weeks on the bike, and with that, their most important races.
For those who'd like to brush up on their 'cross knowledge:
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A59587...
Hoogerheide, last leg World Cup 24/01
It all starts off with the last leg of the World Cup this Sunday in Hoogerheide, in Holland just outside the Belgian border. With 80 points for the winner Niels Albert has to hope for Stybar to mess up his game if he still wants the win. Sven Nys lost the Cup during the very first leg in Treviso, after he forfeited half-race. That first stage of the World Cup was won impressively by Niels Albert, who finished solo 42 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic's Zdenek Stybar. The next two legs were for Albert as well, but as winter came around the corner Zdenek showed that you don't have to be Belgian to win at 'cross as he gathered impressive wins in Koksijde, Igorre and Roubaix. In between both Pauwels and Nys grabbed a World Cup win as well, but with one race to go it's Zdenek Stybar who's got the best papers.
1 STYBAR Zdenek 565
2 ALBERT Niels 551
3 NYS Sven 480
For the girls things are a whole lot more exciting, as the top three are only 25 points apart. Both Vos and Compton once failed to score any points - the Dutchie in Treviso and the American in Roubaix - which has left Van den Brand at the top. Moreover, Compton injured herself pretty badly during recon of the Roubaix race and it's still unsure whether or not she'll even be at the start tomorrow. So it looks like we're going to see a repeat of what's been going on all season, as the two Dutch ladies Vos and VDB duke it out for the win.
1 VAN DEN BRAND Daphny 285
2 VOS Marianne 265
3 COMPTON Katherine 260
Points for the top ten:
80 - 70 - 65 - 60 - 55 - 50 - 48 - 46 - 44 - 42
Tabor, World Championships 31/01
The week after it's the World Championships in Stybar's own Czech Republic. Not only will Zdenek be riding on home territory, he's shown the past few weeks he's in good shape, he'll have a solid team to back him up and the race will probably be on his beloved icy grounds. The Czech isn't the only one with a love for frozen roads though, and his biggest competition will come from Sven - The Hulk - Nys. Other names to look out for are of course Niels Albert - depending on how well his injury has healed - Kevin Pauwels, Gerben de Knegt, Bart Aernouts and a handful of random outsiders to top it off.
For the girls there is every chance that it'll once again come down to a Dutch battle between VDB and Vos. Compton has an injury holding her back but one would be foolish to not keep an eye out for her if she's healed sufficiently to start. Other girls with a shot at winning are Germany's Hanka Kupfernagel and local MTB'er and surprise victor at Roubaix Katerina Nash. Brit interest will come in the form of Helen Wyman, Nikki Harris and Gabriella Day.
The course isn't exactly the same as the World Cup leg organised in Tabor, but there are plenty of animations on the website to give you a feel. There's nothing in movies 2 to 5 that they don't show in movie 1. Movie 3 - Eye of the biker - is fantastic, it's basically an animated version of Crazy Camera Guy (also part of movie 1, just simply download that if you wanna see it all).
www.mstabor2010.cz/en/index....
Source:bbc.co.uk
For those who'd like to brush up on their 'cross knowledge:
www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A59587...
Hoogerheide, last leg World Cup 24/01
It all starts off with the last leg of the World Cup this Sunday in Hoogerheide, in Holland just outside the Belgian border. With 80 points for the winner Niels Albert has to hope for Stybar to mess up his game if he still wants the win. Sven Nys lost the Cup during the very first leg in Treviso, after he forfeited half-race. That first stage of the World Cup was won impressively by Niels Albert, who finished solo 42 seconds ahead of the Czech Republic's Zdenek Stybar. The next two legs were for Albert as well, but as winter came around the corner Zdenek showed that you don't have to be Belgian to win at 'cross as he gathered impressive wins in Koksijde, Igorre and Roubaix. In between both Pauwels and Nys grabbed a World Cup win as well, but with one race to go it's Zdenek Stybar who's got the best papers.
1 STYBAR Zdenek 565
2 ALBERT Niels 551
3 NYS Sven 480
For the girls things are a whole lot more exciting, as the top three are only 25 points apart. Both Vos and Compton once failed to score any points - the Dutchie in Treviso and the American in Roubaix - which has left Van den Brand at the top. Moreover, Compton injured herself pretty badly during recon of the Roubaix race and it's still unsure whether or not she'll even be at the start tomorrow. So it looks like we're going to see a repeat of what's been going on all season, as the two Dutch ladies Vos and VDB duke it out for the win.
1 VAN DEN BRAND Daphny 285
2 VOS Marianne 265
3 COMPTON Katherine 260
Points for the top ten:
80 - 70 - 65 - 60 - 55 - 50 - 48 - 46 - 44 - 42
Tabor, World Championships 31/01
The week after it's the World Championships in Stybar's own Czech Republic. Not only will Zdenek be riding on home territory, he's shown the past few weeks he's in good shape, he'll have a solid team to back him up and the race will probably be on his beloved icy grounds. The Czech isn't the only one with a love for frozen roads though, and his biggest competition will come from Sven - The Hulk - Nys. Other names to look out for are of course Niels Albert - depending on how well his injury has healed - Kevin Pauwels, Gerben de Knegt, Bart Aernouts and a handful of random outsiders to top it off.
For the girls there is every chance that it'll once again come down to a Dutch battle between VDB and Vos. Compton has an injury holding her back but one would be foolish to not keep an eye out for her if she's healed sufficiently to start. Other girls with a shot at winning are Germany's Hanka Kupfernagel and local MTB'er and surprise victor at Roubaix Katerina Nash. Brit interest will come in the form of Helen Wyman, Nikki Harris and Gabriella Day.
The course isn't exactly the same as the World Cup leg organised in Tabor, but there are plenty of animations on the website to give you a feel. There's nothing in movies 2 to 5 that they don't show in movie 1. Movie 3 - Eye of the biker - is fantastic, it's basically an animated version of Crazy Camera Guy (also part of movie 1, just simply download that if you wanna see it all).
www.mstabor2010.cz/en/index....
Source:bbc.co.uk
Montgomery finishes fifth in World Cup skeleton
Jon Montgomery of Canada competes in the men's skeleton competition during the FIBT Bob & Skeleton World Cup at the bob run on December 11, 2009 in Winterberg, Germany.Photograph by: Alex Grimm, Getty ImagesIGLS, Austria — Jon Montgomery of Russell, Man., capped the World Cup season by finishing fifth in the men’s skeleton race in Igls, Austria, on Saturday.
Montgomery was in fourth place after the opening run, but dropped a position after a difficult second heat. He clocked a two-run time of one minute 47.16 seconds, leaving Montgomery fifth in the final season standings.
“I am quite pleased today,” said Montgomery. “I had one good run but had some challenges on my second trip down the track in a couple of the tricky parts. This track is a bit of a track meet and not one of my favourites, but I am pleased with my finish.”
Martins Dukurs of Latvia won again on Saturday to clinch overall World Cup title. Dukurs finished in 1:46.14, followed by Frank Rommel of Germany (1:46.39) and Russia’s Alexander Tretriakov (1:46.49).
Mike Douglas of Toronto was 10th (1:47.28), while Calgary’s Jeff Pain was 11th (1:47.37).
In the men’s two-man bobsled event, Pierre Lueders and Jesse Lumsden of Edmonton finished eighth in 1:44.60.
Lyndon Rush of Humboldt, Sask., and Lascelles Brown of Calgary were 10th (1:44.67).
Beat Hefti and Thomas Lamparter of Switzerland won the men’s race in 1:44.01. Andre Lange and Kevin Kuske of Germany were second (1:44.12), while Daniel Schmid and Juerg Egger of Switzerland finished third (1:44.37).
The World Cup bobsled season wraps up on Sunday in Austria with the men’s four-man race.
Source:montrealgazette.com/
Andy Flower made me a world-class cricketer: Alastair Cook
London: England opener Alastair Cook believes that coach Andy Flower should take the credit for making him a world class cricketer.
The Essex opener will captain England in Bangladesh next month following Andrew Strauss's decision to skip the tour of the sub-continent.
Flower took the young Englishman under his wing at Essex back in 2002. The duo built up a fine partnership over a four-year period at county level with Cook benefiting from Flower's wealth of experience on the international scene with Zimbabwe, the Daily Express reports.
Cook, 25, insists that the invaluable time spent in the middle learning from Flower gave him the confidence to improve and establish himself as a regular in the England side.
"He always called me maestro but he was the real class one. When you're a raw 19-year-old like I was, Andy had confidence in me and that rubbed off. We had a race to 1,000 runs at Essex on two occasions but he pipped me both times when I was on 999. I still owe him money," said Cook.
"He always wanted the younger players to do well. Looking back now, you can see that when we batted together he gave me lots of advice," he added.
Having been appointed as vice-captain last year, Cook will now work alongside Flower again when he captains England in their two Tests against Bangladesh.
Source:dnaindia.com/
Palestine Security against Israeli Terror Techniques (Final)
Media mischeif has been ruining the Islamic world and world peace. There are quite a lot of newspapers and online media on Palestine issue and Mideast politics, but the Zionist regime just does not care for what is written against them, while they promote their own band of journalists around the world to defend their terrorism in Palestine and elsewhere. Bulk of the media on Mideast and Palestine just make money by circulating the news and opinions on Palestine and in fact do not really bother about what happens with Palestinians. Indeed, it appears, they have a vested interest in prolongation of the Mideast crisis and atrocities plus genocides of innocent Palestinians so as to keep writing about the plight of Palestinians and make good cash for the opinions they churn out day in and day out. Thus there seems to be a clear line of understanding among the Zionist perpetrators of violence in Palestine and writers on those tragic events for money. More these specialists write on Palestine, crueler the plight of Palestinians].
Whereas the world powers fought two World Wars with enemy nations attacking each other to showcase the comparative military power, now the third WW is being unleashed by the Western powers against Islamic world, but with support form the Muslims nations to kill Muslims and control their resources and defame Islam. This is the agenda after the fall of Soviet empire. In both WWars the USA-UK emerged victorious as well as the richest nations and continued to promote capitalism, imperialism and colonialism that would endanger the world with next WW.
By all standards the WW-III is going on simultaneously in South Asia, Mideast and elsewhere and the anti-Islamic nations are waging the terror war for energy cum anti-Islam goals. USA-UK led West and, Israel-India led East are killing Muslims in the Islamic world for securing energy resources and defaming Islam. During the past two years, many conferences have been held for the reconstruction of Gaza , but have not actually taken any steps to that effect. Gaza is still under siege. This shows that at these conferences they do not want to help the people of Palestine . All those who kept quiet when Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza should be ashamed.
Since its creation in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to leave their homes to live in other areas of their homeland, such as the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, in other regional countries or elsewhere in the world. It is clear from their actions that the US and Israel are trying to mock the Palestinians. The conduct of the Israeli regime and the West's lack of regard for the basic rights of Palestinians have left them with no choice but to resist.
Like USA , Israel dictates terms to the Islamic world and insists only pro-Zionist regimes alone should be involved in negotiations. Russia is perhaps not one of those. Russia always says is keen to take an active proactive role in Mideast issue, but never took any initiative, possibly on pressure from Washington . Moscow argues that the deadlock in the Middle East was due to the passivity of the Quartet ( USA , Russia , EU and UN); to divisions among Palestinians; to Obama’s retreat from pressuring Israel ; and to Israel ’s ambition to preserve the status quo.
In the recent Dec-Jan holocaust of Palestinians, the Zionist regime showcased it terror strength and also directly challenged the Arab world. Israel used prohibited chemical weapons, and destroyed hospitals, mosques, and civilian infrastructure. It is sad that despite all Israel ’s human rights violations, the US and other Western powers stood by Tel Aviv throughout the whole ordeal." The Western alliance for giving Israel all the military support it needed to launch its deadly operation on the impoverished coastal Palestinian strip. Palestinian refugees, some of whom are even denied the basic rights of a citizen where they live, currently number close to five million. Tel Aviv says allowing these people, who are mostly Arab Muslims, to return to their ethnic homeland will ruin ' democratic Israel ’s Jewish Character.' Many independent analysts believe that the key to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in Tel Aviv's outright refusal to accept the Palestinian's "Right of Return". USA and its western terror allies are least bothered about the plight of Palestinians at the terror hands of Jews.
Despite suffering heavy damages, Palestinians came out with a statement that they are the true winner of Israel ’s war on Gaza mainly because the Zionist regime failed to make the Palestinians bow down or surrender the Jewish terrorists in their jails. The leaders of regional states view the US Road Map as a "joke," because they know that it is doomed to failure. All regional states must not hesitate when it comes to taking a stance against Israel , pointing out that the people of the Middle East were convinced that the so-called US efforts to bring peace to the region were nothing but a "sham."
Blockades of Palestine borders by the Zionist terror military allows in only enough supplies to keep us at subsistence level, to prevent starvation and mass epidemics. Israel did fire two weeks after Egypt blockaded the port of Eilat in May 1967. Aside from choking the flow of goods to Gaza by land, we blockade their entire coast. We don't allow ships to sail into Gaza or out. Does anyone stop ships from coming and going at the ports of Eilat, Ashdod or Haifa ? What would Israel do if anyone from the west or east tried the same on the Jews? Now that Obama is after Israel , let him do to it what they did to Palestine .
Can Israel kill thousands of innocent Palestinians only to boost the image of the ruling dispensation and for its better chances in the polls? Can Israel capture weapons meant for Security of Palestine under perpetual siege by Israel and occasionally by Egypt ? Islamic world must send weapons to Palestine , if necessary, under UNSC and NATO escorts, so that innocent lives of Palestine are saved henceforth from the intermittent terror attacks form the fascist Israel . Gaza is ruled by Hamas party. Mossad agents in Gaza also have dramatically reduced their rocket attacks on southern Israel since a bruising winter war. But the Israeli terrorist military says Hamas rulers continue to smuggle in rockets and components through underground tunnels with Egypt .
Stopping water and electricity to them is illegal because they are not occupying Israeli lands- on the contrary Jews occupy their lands. The Israelis should dare to put ourselves in those people's place. And Israelis say they are a democracy, they have to stop doing to them what they would never allow anyone to do to Jews. In stead of arrogance, the Israelis should be capable of empathy and compassion. All these years the Zionist regime, western media bluffed around calling the Palestinians terrorists. Are they born terrorists? Israelis should go to Gaza and see in person what we've done to that place and its people, would we If we thought of our children living in a country that was just like postwar Gaza, would we allow ourselves to think what we might do?
Today a more serious disaster has befallen the Palestinians. The sufferers, however, are the Palestinians and their life is becoming harsher with Egypt officially besieging the Palestinians through terror barriers. An irresponsible PLO and its leaders Abbas who still foolishly think westerners are more important than the Hamas. Both Israel and Egypt are threatening Palestinians by blockages and iron barriers. Egypt , Israel and US led western powers, or the rogue partners against Palestine , as well as Fatah, are keen to weaken Hamas. Weakening of the elected Hamas would be catastrophic for the PLO and Palestine movement, but that is exactly what the Zionists and their American agents want. But they are sure to fail.
The FBI/CIA/Pentagon think fall of Hamas would end the Mideast crisis in favor of Israel because the Fatah-Hamas fight would deepen the internal rift. Hamas is closely allied to Egypt’s Muslim Brothers and Egypt considers Hamas a security threat to Sinai; Abbas sees a permanent threat to his authority; the ruling Hamas’ continued defiance in Gaza is intolerable to the Zionist fascist regime; the U.S. is pushing Afghan puppet President Hamid Karzai to negotiate with the Taliban, but is preventing contacts with Hamas- that is indeed the US double standards and double speaks. Quartet which is chaired by UK hard-line leader Blair who wants to kill all Afghans and other Muslims in a speed move is not at all serious about the Mideast peace job because it was UK which created al problems for the Palestinians and Kashmiris.
This means that Islamic world has no option but to resist the anti-Islamic onslaught on fictitious pretexts. If the West and Islamic world also blockade Gaza ’s airspace, preventing planes from flying in or out, the Zionist regime would understand the agonies of the Palestinians. If someone stops planes from flying in and out of Israel , will USA and other chief terror patrons keep quiet? But Israel knows for sure none would stop them.
The Zionist terror leaders should realize that Israel will be the first country to be threatened from the instability that would result if there is no Mideast peace but Israel stubbornly blocks any positive momentum in peace talks and employ its Mossad agents in Palestine to fire arms into Israel to enable the fascist military rogues could strike on innocent Palestinians. International community should ensure at the earliest Israel does not have right even to talk of settlements inside Palestine territories and any such joke coming out of Tel-Aviv should be rebuffed sternly. Washington and other players in Mideast peace efforts should take a "firm and serious" stand to put an end to Israeli construction on land Palestinians want for a future state.
Only if there were a radical shift in the U.S. position- and mere rhetoric to which the world is so used to thus far- could negotiations be started and the Israeli leaders must begin destroying all settlements inside Palestine and East Jerusalem before any meaningful dialogue to begin. Hopefully, the Palestinian issue would be resolved sooner than later so as make the rightful dream of establishing an independent Palestine state for which so far thousands and thousands of innocent lives have been sacrificed in Zionist recurrent terror attacks. Instead of taking unilateral decisions on Palestine life and future, PLO should take the Hamas also into confidence for the sake of the success of PLO and freedom movement unless Abbas wants to sabotage the PLO dreams nurtured by it s leader Arafat.
Would the Jews stand for it for 37 years, between 1967 and 2005, their terror soldiers and settlers were the overlords of the Gaza Strip. If foreign soldiers and settlers tried to come in and take over Israel , what would Israel do? Russia does not let Americans go for the "shield", but has not responded to Israeli "shield" threat. Israeli "shield" could be a hoax, a farce, but their threat to Palestine , world and peace is real. A total freeze on Israeli settlements, firmly backed by the USA , together with a reactivated Quartet, charged with formulating a framework document for resolving the conflict on the basis of the international consensus should be attempted at now. Abbas, who has completed his term as PLO chief legally, should consider the Palestine interests more important than Israeli’s or America ’s. Since more people prefer Hamas to Fatah, a Hamas leader should be made PLO chief for the sake of unity in the movement and Palestine
Source:kashmirwatch.com/
Whereas the world powers fought two World Wars with enemy nations attacking each other to showcase the comparative military power, now the third WW is being unleashed by the Western powers against Islamic world, but with support form the Muslims nations to kill Muslims and control their resources and defame Islam. This is the agenda after the fall of Soviet empire. In both WWars the USA-UK emerged victorious as well as the richest nations and continued to promote capitalism, imperialism and colonialism that would endanger the world with next WW.
By all standards the WW-III is going on simultaneously in South Asia, Mideast and elsewhere and the anti-Islamic nations are waging the terror war for energy cum anti-Islam goals. USA-UK led West and, Israel-India led East are killing Muslims in the Islamic world for securing energy resources and defaming Islam. During the past two years, many conferences have been held for the reconstruction of Gaza , but have not actually taken any steps to that effect. Gaza is still under siege. This shows that at these conferences they do not want to help the people of Palestine . All those who kept quiet when Israel was committing war crimes in Gaza should be ashamed.
Since its creation in 1948, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have been forced to leave their homes to live in other areas of their homeland, such as the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, in other regional countries or elsewhere in the world. It is clear from their actions that the US and Israel are trying to mock the Palestinians. The conduct of the Israeli regime and the West's lack of regard for the basic rights of Palestinians have left them with no choice but to resist.
Like USA , Israel dictates terms to the Islamic world and insists only pro-Zionist regimes alone should be involved in negotiations. Russia is perhaps not one of those. Russia always says is keen to take an active proactive role in Mideast issue, but never took any initiative, possibly on pressure from Washington . Moscow argues that the deadlock in the Middle East was due to the passivity of the Quartet ( USA , Russia , EU and UN); to divisions among Palestinians; to Obama’s retreat from pressuring Israel ; and to Israel ’s ambition to preserve the status quo.
In the recent Dec-Jan holocaust of Palestinians, the Zionist regime showcased it terror strength and also directly challenged the Arab world. Israel used prohibited chemical weapons, and destroyed hospitals, mosques, and civilian infrastructure. It is sad that despite all Israel ’s human rights violations, the US and other Western powers stood by Tel Aviv throughout the whole ordeal." The Western alliance for giving Israel all the military support it needed to launch its deadly operation on the impoverished coastal Palestinian strip. Palestinian refugees, some of whom are even denied the basic rights of a citizen where they live, currently number close to five million. Tel Aviv says allowing these people, who are mostly Arab Muslims, to return to their ethnic homeland will ruin ' democratic Israel ’s Jewish Character.' Many independent analysts believe that the key to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict lies in Tel Aviv's outright refusal to accept the Palestinian's "Right of Return". USA and its western terror allies are least bothered about the plight of Palestinians at the terror hands of Jews.
Despite suffering heavy damages, Palestinians came out with a statement that they are the true winner of Israel ’s war on Gaza mainly because the Zionist regime failed to make the Palestinians bow down or surrender the Jewish terrorists in their jails. The leaders of regional states view the US Road Map as a "joke," because they know that it is doomed to failure. All regional states must not hesitate when it comes to taking a stance against Israel , pointing out that the people of the Middle East were convinced that the so-called US efforts to bring peace to the region were nothing but a "sham."
Blockades of Palestine borders by the Zionist terror military allows in only enough supplies to keep us at subsistence level, to prevent starvation and mass epidemics. Israel did fire two weeks after Egypt blockaded the port of Eilat in May 1967. Aside from choking the flow of goods to Gaza by land, we blockade their entire coast. We don't allow ships to sail into Gaza or out. Does anyone stop ships from coming and going at the ports of Eilat, Ashdod or Haifa ? What would Israel do if anyone from the west or east tried the same on the Jews? Now that Obama is after Israel , let him do to it what they did to Palestine .
Can Israel kill thousands of innocent Palestinians only to boost the image of the ruling dispensation and for its better chances in the polls? Can Israel capture weapons meant for Security of Palestine under perpetual siege by Israel and occasionally by Egypt ? Islamic world must send weapons to Palestine , if necessary, under UNSC and NATO escorts, so that innocent lives of Palestine are saved henceforth from the intermittent terror attacks form the fascist Israel . Gaza is ruled by Hamas party. Mossad agents in Gaza also have dramatically reduced their rocket attacks on southern Israel since a bruising winter war. But the Israeli terrorist military says Hamas rulers continue to smuggle in rockets and components through underground tunnels with Egypt .
Stopping water and electricity to them is illegal because they are not occupying Israeli lands- on the contrary Jews occupy their lands. The Israelis should dare to put ourselves in those people's place. And Israelis say they are a democracy, they have to stop doing to them what they would never allow anyone to do to Jews. In stead of arrogance, the Israelis should be capable of empathy and compassion. All these years the Zionist regime, western media bluffed around calling the Palestinians terrorists. Are they born terrorists? Israelis should go to Gaza and see in person what we've done to that place and its people, would we If we thought of our children living in a country that was just like postwar Gaza, would we allow ourselves to think what we might do?
Today a more serious disaster has befallen the Palestinians. The sufferers, however, are the Palestinians and their life is becoming harsher with Egypt officially besieging the Palestinians through terror barriers. An irresponsible PLO and its leaders Abbas who still foolishly think westerners are more important than the Hamas. Both Israel and Egypt are threatening Palestinians by blockages and iron barriers. Egypt , Israel and US led western powers, or the rogue partners against Palestine , as well as Fatah, are keen to weaken Hamas. Weakening of the elected Hamas would be catastrophic for the PLO and Palestine movement, but that is exactly what the Zionists and their American agents want. But they are sure to fail.
The FBI/CIA/Pentagon think fall of Hamas would end the Mideast crisis in favor of Israel because the Fatah-Hamas fight would deepen the internal rift. Hamas is closely allied to Egypt’s Muslim Brothers and Egypt considers Hamas a security threat to Sinai; Abbas sees a permanent threat to his authority; the ruling Hamas’ continued defiance in Gaza is intolerable to the Zionist fascist regime; the U.S. is pushing Afghan puppet President Hamid Karzai to negotiate with the Taliban, but is preventing contacts with Hamas- that is indeed the US double standards and double speaks. Quartet which is chaired by UK hard-line leader Blair who wants to kill all Afghans and other Muslims in a speed move is not at all serious about the Mideast peace job because it was UK which created al problems for the Palestinians and Kashmiris.
This means that Islamic world has no option but to resist the anti-Islamic onslaught on fictitious pretexts. If the West and Islamic world also blockade Gaza ’s airspace, preventing planes from flying in or out, the Zionist regime would understand the agonies of the Palestinians. If someone stops planes from flying in and out of Israel , will USA and other chief terror patrons keep quiet? But Israel knows for sure none would stop them.
The Zionist terror leaders should realize that Israel will be the first country to be threatened from the instability that would result if there is no Mideast peace but Israel stubbornly blocks any positive momentum in peace talks and employ its Mossad agents in Palestine to fire arms into Israel to enable the fascist military rogues could strike on innocent Palestinians. International community should ensure at the earliest Israel does not have right even to talk of settlements inside Palestine territories and any such joke coming out of Tel-Aviv should be rebuffed sternly. Washington and other players in Mideast peace efforts should take a "firm and serious" stand to put an end to Israeli construction on land Palestinians want for a future state.
Only if there were a radical shift in the U.S. position- and mere rhetoric to which the world is so used to thus far- could negotiations be started and the Israeli leaders must begin destroying all settlements inside Palestine and East Jerusalem before any meaningful dialogue to begin. Hopefully, the Palestinian issue would be resolved sooner than later so as make the rightful dream of establishing an independent Palestine state for which so far thousands and thousands of innocent lives have been sacrificed in Zionist recurrent terror attacks. Instead of taking unilateral decisions on Palestine life and future, PLO should take the Hamas also into confidence for the sake of the success of PLO and freedom movement unless Abbas wants to sabotage the PLO dreams nurtured by it s leader Arafat.
Would the Jews stand for it for 37 years, between 1967 and 2005, their terror soldiers and settlers were the overlords of the Gaza Strip. If foreign soldiers and settlers tried to come in and take over Israel , what would Israel do? Russia does not let Americans go for the "shield", but has not responded to Israeli "shield" threat. Israeli "shield" could be a hoax, a farce, but their threat to Palestine , world and peace is real. A total freeze on Israeli settlements, firmly backed by the USA , together with a reactivated Quartet, charged with formulating a framework document for resolving the conflict on the basis of the international consensus should be attempted at now. Abbas, who has completed his term as PLO chief legally, should consider the Palestine interests more important than Israeli’s or America ’s. Since more people prefer Hamas to Fatah, a Hamas leader should be made PLO chief for the sake of unity in the movement and Palestine
Source:kashmirwatch.com/
ISRO successfully tests world's 3rd largest solid booster
Chennai: Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) today successfully conducted static testing of its largest solid propellant booster, S200, which will form the strap-on stage for the GSLV-Mk III launch vehicle being developed for putting heavier satellites in space.
S200 is the third largest solid booster in the world after the RSRM solid booster of Space Shuttle and P230 solid booster of European rocket ARIANE-5.
"Solid propellant booster Rocket Stage S200 underwent the test at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in the spaceport of Sriharikota, 80 kms northwest of Chennai," ISRO said in a statement.
The GSLV Mk III will make India fully self reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class weighing 4500 to 5000 kg, besides enhancing capability to be a competitive player in the multimillion dollar commercial launch market.
The S200 solid booster, which will form the strap on stage for GSLV-Mk III, contains 200 tonnes of solid propellant in three segments.
Source:zeenews.com/
S200 is the third largest solid booster in the world after the RSRM solid booster of Space Shuttle and P230 solid booster of European rocket ARIANE-5.
"Solid propellant booster Rocket Stage S200 underwent the test at Satish Dhawan Space Centre in the spaceport of Sriharikota, 80 kms northwest of Chennai," ISRO said in a statement.
The GSLV Mk III will make India fully self reliant in launching heavier communication satellites of INSAT-4 class weighing 4500 to 5000 kg, besides enhancing capability to be a competitive player in the multimillion dollar commercial launch market.
The S200 solid booster, which will form the strap on stage for GSLV-Mk III, contains 200 tonnes of solid propellant in three segments.
Source:zeenews.com/
World Expo sells 20 million tickets
BEIJING, Jan. 23 -- Visitors to the World Expo are expected to far exceed 70 million judging by the way tickets are selling, Shanghai Mayor Han Zheng said Friday.
Some 70 million visitors from home and overseas were expected to visit the Expo in Shanghai between May to October, a number that would surpass the 64 million record set at the Osaka Expo in 1970.
"It seems that our 70 million visitors' projection is rather conservative," Han said when meeting Heinz Fischer, the Austrian federal president, in Shanghai Friday. "The real figure may go far beyond that projection as 20 million tickets have already been sold the fair is still about three months away."
There are several kinds of tickets to meet the needs of most people. Sales of ordinary tickets, peak-day tickets, three-day and seven-day tickets have already begun.
Cheaper night tickets will be available from May.
Han said Shanghai would learn from other countries' experiences in hosting Expos to make the world fair in Shanghai a successful, wonderful and unforgettable event.
He also thanked other countries' support and help in improving the event.
Austria would go all out to support the Shanghai World Expo, an event sure to be a splendid occasion for the city to remember, Fischer said.
Many heads of state have already visited the Expo site to check their countries' preparations.
More than 50 heads of state or government have said they will visit Shanghai during the Expo.
Special Report: World Expo 2010
Source:news.xinhuanet.com/
Some 70 million visitors from home and overseas were expected to visit the Expo in Shanghai between May to October, a number that would surpass the 64 million record set at the Osaka Expo in 1970.
"It seems that our 70 million visitors' projection is rather conservative," Han said when meeting Heinz Fischer, the Austrian federal president, in Shanghai Friday. "The real figure may go far beyond that projection as 20 million tickets have already been sold the fair is still about three months away."
There are several kinds of tickets to meet the needs of most people. Sales of ordinary tickets, peak-day tickets, three-day and seven-day tickets have already begun.
Cheaper night tickets will be available from May.
Han said Shanghai would learn from other countries' experiences in hosting Expos to make the world fair in Shanghai a successful, wonderful and unforgettable event.
He also thanked other countries' support and help in improving the event.
Austria would go all out to support the Shanghai World Expo, an event sure to be a splendid occasion for the city to remember, Fischer said.
Many heads of state have already visited the Expo site to check their countries' preparations.
More than 50 heads of state or government have said they will visit Shanghai during the Expo.
Special Report: World Expo 2010
Source:news.xinhuanet.com/
Charlie Gillett's World Of Music
Having devoted an entire programme to records made in 1928, this week Charlie reverses the numbers and plays tracks from 1982. It was the year when he discovered the riches of music beyond the confines of the Western musical tradition and among the most memorable songs from that voyage of discovery are the following six.
Orchestra Baobab is one of the most influential bands in African history and their Ken Dou Werente album of 1982, later re-released as Pirates Choice, has become a classic.
In Nigeria Segun Adewale was the rising star of the year whose energetic version Yoruba pop earned him the title Crown Prince of Juju.
Charlie is a fan of high-voiced singers and says that Samba Mapangala’s is for him ‘the’ voice which defines the year. Like Samba, Nyboma Mwan'dido was also born in Zaire and had a string of hits before recording Double Double with Les Kamale Dynamique.
Two Carribbean songs complete the programme: Lorraine by Explainer consistently figures in the Top Ten soca tracks of all time while Hot Hot Hot, Arrow’s first - and so far biggest - success, remains the best selling soca record.
Source:bbc.co.uk/
Orchestra Baobab is one of the most influential bands in African history and their Ken Dou Werente album of 1982, later re-released as Pirates Choice, has become a classic.
In Nigeria Segun Adewale was the rising star of the year whose energetic version Yoruba pop earned him the title Crown Prince of Juju.
Charlie is a fan of high-voiced singers and says that Samba Mapangala’s is for him ‘the’ voice which defines the year. Like Samba, Nyboma Mwan'dido was also born in Zaire and had a string of hits before recording Double Double with Les Kamale Dynamique.
Two Carribbean songs complete the programme: Lorraine by Explainer consistently figures in the Top Ten soca tracks of all time while Hot Hot Hot, Arrow’s first - and so far biggest - success, remains the best selling soca record.
Source:bbc.co.uk/
A run for anaemia-free world
Half marathon for men and women started from Thamukkam Grounds, mini marathon from Fatima College, walk for a cause started from Madura College, dignitaries led walk and walk differently-abled persons started at Race Course grounds. This year’s theme for the event was to create an anaemia-free world.
M. Manoharan, Superintendent of Police, flagged off the half marathon, event for men which was for 21 km and for woman it was 11 km.
M.P. Vasimalai, Executive Director, DHAN Foundation, B. T. Bangera, Managing Director, Hi Tech Arai, Madurai, S. Akilan, Senior Divisional Manager, National Insurance Corporation, were present at the venue.
The dignitaries-led walk at Race Course was flagged off by R. D. Thulasi Raj, Lions Aravind Institute of Community Ophthalmology in the presence of Allan Curtis, University of Charles Stuart University, Australia.
More than 100 celebrities took part in the event to sensitise the public to anaemia and strive for creating an Anaemia-free world. Differently-abled walk was flagged off by Kathiresan, Deputy General Manager, Indian Bank. There were more than 100 participants.
S. Sebastine, Commissioner, Madurai Corporation, Sakthivel, Chief Engineer, Madurai Corporation, V. Subramanian, Chief Health Officer, Madurai Corporation, Sr. A. Fatima, Principal, Fatima College, flagged off the Mini Marathon, run for six kilometres from Fatima College to Thamukkam grounds.
Walk for a cause, a walk from Madura College to Thamukkam grounds was flagged off by Dr. I. Chandra Sekar, Dean–in-Change, in which an estimated number of two thousand and five hundred people took part.
Cultural programmes were held at Thamukkam grounds and prior to the event, around 50 adolescent girls shared their experience of their severe anaemia level before two years and how inputs from the health programme of DHAN Foundation, helped them to increase their haemoglobin level as a result of behavioural changes like taking iron tablets and nutritious food.
Allan Curtis, CSU, Australia, appreciated the girls who were brought out of anaemia. He said there is direct correlation between anaemia and poverty. The theme of the next edition of Madurai Marathon will be Climate Change.
Winners
Sivakumar from Melur secured the first prize, Sivanandan bagged the second prize and Dakshinamurthy came third in the 21 km half marathon event for men. In the 11 km half marathon event for women, Shanthi, Vidhya and Pon Kavitha secured the first three prizes respectively.
Source:beta.thehindu.com/
Parnell has the world at his feet
It Was upon his return from the Under-19 World Cup in February 2008 that Wayne Parnell received what at the time appeared to be exaggerated praise from Ray Jennings.
"I would think that Jonathon Vandiar and Wayne Parnell are ready to be in the (senior national) squad for the odd tour," Jennings, the national Under-19 coach, said after watching the pair perform superbly for South Africa in that tournament where they lost to a star-studded India team in the final.
Vandiar, a wonderfully fluid left-hand batsman, is yet to make the jump to international level but in several appearances for the Highveld Lions in the last two seasons, he has given every indication that it's only a matter of time.
'What I've noticed about him is that he enjoys the big stage'
It would be wrong to say he's a fixture in the side - maybe the T20 team - but that he will one day become an important player for his country is indisputable.
"He plays better the higher the level at which he is playing. What I've noticed about him is that he enjoys the big stage," national coach Mickey Arthur says.
Arthur admits the selectors took a big risk in picking Parnell for the final, must-win Test against England at the Wanderers last week, but Parnell's second-innings display vindicated that decision.
In fact, they had some history to look back on before making that call. When South Africa were 1-0 down to Australia in the one-day series in this country in 2008, it was Parnell who was called into the squad for the second match in Centurion.
He produced a magnificent display of swing bowling and ripped the much-vaunted Australian top order to pieces, claiming 4/25 in eight overs.
'It's inevitable the cash will be a distraction'
He was coolness personified in Friday night's MTN40 semifinal for the Warriors too, bowling two critical overs at the death and conceding just 13 runs as his side qualified for the final with a nine-run win over the Cape Cobras. A man for the big occasion he most certainly is.
For one so young - he turns 21 in July - Parnell has a surprisingly old head on his shoulders. Arthur describes him as streetwise and two decisions he made in his teens speak of his toughness as a person.
He left home as a 12-year-old to board at Grey High. He impressed, his left-arm fast bowling making him something of a rarity at the time at junior level, and getting him almost instant recognition at Eastern Province.
Because Eastern Province's practice sessions were held at St George's Park which was too far away from school, he decided to take up an offer from his English teacher, and move into her house. He'd make his first class debut for Eastern Province as a 17-year-old in 2006. A year earlier he'd already made it into the SA School's team.
Parnell's maturity is reflected in how scientific he'd become at an early age about looking after himself. "Most of my coaches don't over-bowl me," he said about playing schools and club cricket in Port Elizabeth. "They set out a log book so that I can log my overs. So I haven't over-bowled myself and didn't pick up little niggles."
International cricket has brought with it fame, and on Tuesday fortune, when Parnell picked up a $610 000 (about R4,6-million) bid from Indian Premier League franchise, the Delhi Daredevils.
That kind of money and spotlight brings with it other potential dangers, but Arthur, who has worked with Parnell in the national side for two years, expects him to handle it calmly. "He knows where he wants to go as a cricketer and he knows he has a lot of work to do."
There have been concerns that the off-the-field distractions have become too big an issue for Parnell. He was suspended by the Warriors earlier this season for some late night partying during a SuperSport Series match in Port Elizabeth but Arthur says in the time he has been in the national side he has been a model professional.
"With time, I think he will be able to handle those sorts of things. There has been nothing that we have seen with him that has needed us to step in yet."
And what about the kind of distractions that come with a $610000 contract? "It's inevitable the cash will be a distraction, we saw it a bit with JP (Duminy) last year. As long as they are sensible about things, they will come through fine. As long as they understand that their priorities are with South Africa, there shouldn't be any problems and I have seen nothing to suggest that that isn't the case," Arthur explained.
The next two big Tests of Parnell's growth as a cricketer and person will both be in India in the next few weeks. First, he has a tour with the national team that includes two Tests and three one-day internationals and then, of course, there's the IPL which starts shortly thereafter.
His first-innings performance with the ball against England at the Wanderers was a nervy one, in which he bowled three overs for 18 runs, in the second, however, he made two massive breakthroughs, first getting rid of England skipper Andrew Strauss during that raucous session on Saturday evening and then, the next morning, removing Kevin Pietersen to set South Africa on their way to a comprehensive Test win.
Starting off your Test career, claiming wickets of two such esteemed batsmen as Strauss and Pietersen, is some announcement, but the road ahead is tougher. "In India he won't get that kind of wicket (the lively Wanderers variety) and how he bowls on flat wickets will test him, especially against guys like Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar and Dravid," said Arthur.
"He still hasn't had a proper taste of Test cricket."
South Africa, remember, needed just 90.4 overs to bowl England out in both innings at the Wanderers. India won't be as rushed. "He'll have to show he can come back and be effective in a second and third spell; that when he isn't picking up wickets he can keep an end tight and remain patient. It will show him the realities of Test cricket," Arthur continued. "But I expect Wayne to learn quickly."
Nothing about his career thus far suggests anything else.
FACTFILE
July 30, 1989: Born in Uitenhage.
January 2001: Leaves home to start at Grey High where he is a boarder.
December 2005: First picked for SA schools.
October 2006: First Class debut for Eastern Province v South Western Districts.
February 2008: Captains SA Under-19 team at World Cup. SA finish runners up to India.
December 2008: Picked in national squad for one-day series in Australia.
January 30, 2009: Makes one-day international debut against Australia in Perth. Brad Haddin is his first international wicket.
March 31, 2009: Becomes the youngest player to receive a senior national contract.
April 5, 2009: Earns man of the match award in second one-day international against Australia when he claims 4/27.
April 2009: Signs a six-week contract to play county cricket for Kent.
June 2009: Stars for SA at the World T20 championships finishing with nine wickets while his 4/13 v West Indies was the fourth best bowling performance of the competition.
January 14, 2010: Makes Test debut against England. Andrew Strauss is his first Test wicket.
January 19 2010: Receives a bid of $610 000 (about R4,6-million) from the Delhi Daredevils to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Source:iol.co.za/
"I would think that Jonathon Vandiar and Wayne Parnell are ready to be in the (senior national) squad for the odd tour," Jennings, the national Under-19 coach, said after watching the pair perform superbly for South Africa in that tournament where they lost to a star-studded India team in the final.
Vandiar, a wonderfully fluid left-hand batsman, is yet to make the jump to international level but in several appearances for the Highveld Lions in the last two seasons, he has given every indication that it's only a matter of time.
'What I've noticed about him is that he enjoys the big stage'
It would be wrong to say he's a fixture in the side - maybe the T20 team - but that he will one day become an important player for his country is indisputable.
"He plays better the higher the level at which he is playing. What I've noticed about him is that he enjoys the big stage," national coach Mickey Arthur says.
Arthur admits the selectors took a big risk in picking Parnell for the final, must-win Test against England at the Wanderers last week, but Parnell's second-innings display vindicated that decision.
In fact, they had some history to look back on before making that call. When South Africa were 1-0 down to Australia in the one-day series in this country in 2008, it was Parnell who was called into the squad for the second match in Centurion.
He produced a magnificent display of swing bowling and ripped the much-vaunted Australian top order to pieces, claiming 4/25 in eight overs.
'It's inevitable the cash will be a distraction'
He was coolness personified in Friday night's MTN40 semifinal for the Warriors too, bowling two critical overs at the death and conceding just 13 runs as his side qualified for the final with a nine-run win over the Cape Cobras. A man for the big occasion he most certainly is.
For one so young - he turns 21 in July - Parnell has a surprisingly old head on his shoulders. Arthur describes him as streetwise and two decisions he made in his teens speak of his toughness as a person.
He left home as a 12-year-old to board at Grey High. He impressed, his left-arm fast bowling making him something of a rarity at the time at junior level, and getting him almost instant recognition at Eastern Province.
Because Eastern Province's practice sessions were held at St George's Park which was too far away from school, he decided to take up an offer from his English teacher, and move into her house. He'd make his first class debut for Eastern Province as a 17-year-old in 2006. A year earlier he'd already made it into the SA School's team.
Parnell's maturity is reflected in how scientific he'd become at an early age about looking after himself. "Most of my coaches don't over-bowl me," he said about playing schools and club cricket in Port Elizabeth. "They set out a log book so that I can log my overs. So I haven't over-bowled myself and didn't pick up little niggles."
International cricket has brought with it fame, and on Tuesday fortune, when Parnell picked up a $610 000 (about R4,6-million) bid from Indian Premier League franchise, the Delhi Daredevils.
That kind of money and spotlight brings with it other potential dangers, but Arthur, who has worked with Parnell in the national side for two years, expects him to handle it calmly. "He knows where he wants to go as a cricketer and he knows he has a lot of work to do."
There have been concerns that the off-the-field distractions have become too big an issue for Parnell. He was suspended by the Warriors earlier this season for some late night partying during a SuperSport Series match in Port Elizabeth but Arthur says in the time he has been in the national side he has been a model professional.
"With time, I think he will be able to handle those sorts of things. There has been nothing that we have seen with him that has needed us to step in yet."
And what about the kind of distractions that come with a $610000 contract? "It's inevitable the cash will be a distraction, we saw it a bit with JP (Duminy) last year. As long as they are sensible about things, they will come through fine. As long as they understand that their priorities are with South Africa, there shouldn't be any problems and I have seen nothing to suggest that that isn't the case," Arthur explained.
The next two big Tests of Parnell's growth as a cricketer and person will both be in India in the next few weeks. First, he has a tour with the national team that includes two Tests and three one-day internationals and then, of course, there's the IPL which starts shortly thereafter.
His first-innings performance with the ball against England at the Wanderers was a nervy one, in which he bowled three overs for 18 runs, in the second, however, he made two massive breakthroughs, first getting rid of England skipper Andrew Strauss during that raucous session on Saturday evening and then, the next morning, removing Kevin Pietersen to set South Africa on their way to a comprehensive Test win.
Starting off your Test career, claiming wickets of two such esteemed batsmen as Strauss and Pietersen, is some announcement, but the road ahead is tougher. "In India he won't get that kind of wicket (the lively Wanderers variety) and how he bowls on flat wickets will test him, especially against guys like Sehwag, Gambhir, Tendulkar and Dravid," said Arthur.
"He still hasn't had a proper taste of Test cricket."
South Africa, remember, needed just 90.4 overs to bowl England out in both innings at the Wanderers. India won't be as rushed. "He'll have to show he can come back and be effective in a second and third spell; that when he isn't picking up wickets he can keep an end tight and remain patient. It will show him the realities of Test cricket," Arthur continued. "But I expect Wayne to learn quickly."
Nothing about his career thus far suggests anything else.
FACTFILE
July 30, 1989: Born in Uitenhage.
January 2001: Leaves home to start at Grey High where he is a boarder.
December 2005: First picked for SA schools.
October 2006: First Class debut for Eastern Province v South Western Districts.
February 2008: Captains SA Under-19 team at World Cup. SA finish runners up to India.
December 2008: Picked in national squad for one-day series in Australia.
January 30, 2009: Makes one-day international debut against Australia in Perth. Brad Haddin is his first international wicket.
March 31, 2009: Becomes the youngest player to receive a senior national contract.
April 5, 2009: Earns man of the match award in second one-day international against Australia when he claims 4/27.
April 2009: Signs a six-week contract to play county cricket for Kent.
June 2009: Stars for SA at the World T20 championships finishing with nine wickets while his 4/13 v West Indies was the fourth best bowling performance of the competition.
January 14, 2010: Makes Test debut against England. Andrew Strauss is his first Test wicket.
January 19 2010: Receives a bid of $610 000 (about R4,6-million) from the Delhi Daredevils to play in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Source:iol.co.za/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)