Monday, November 16, 2009

Body building competition in Guwahati attracts youth

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uwahati, Nov 16 (ANI): A body building competition organized here recently to promote a healthy lifestyle has attracted a large number of local youth.

Buzz up!
'Association of Bodybuilders Kamrup' organized this body building competition to award the title of Junior Mr. Assam and Senior Mr. Assam.


People were surprised and wondered as the body builders flexed their well-toned muscles. Over more than 100 participants took part in this body building competition from around 18 districts.

Tapan Baishya who judged the competition sensed that India has great potential in this field and looked for good support from the government in near future for such competitions.

"Nowadays, guardians are also supporting the bodybuilding sports, people had a notion that boys who practiced bodybuilding got involved in fights. But now the mass is getting aware of the sport in the state," said Baishya.

Bodybuilding made its first appearance as a competitive discipline in the 2002 Asian Games, held in Pusan in South Korea.

Though bodybuilding is an accepted sport in the west, and has got its roots in India, it is yet to get its recognition here. (ANI)

Library books returned 51yrs later - with $1k money order for fines!

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New York, Nov 16 (ANI): A former student has returned a pair of library books to a high school librarian in Phoenix 51 years after they were due.

Buzz up!
Librarian Georgette Bordine at Camelback High School in Phoenix said the books were checked out in 1959.


Bordine said that she received a package containing the two library books with a letter, along with a 1,000-dollar money order to cover up the fines.

"It was just so overwhelming," the New York Daily News quoted Bordine as saying.

Bordine said that letter explained that the family of the former student, who wanted to remain anonymous, moved to another state and the books were mistakenly packed, Bordine said.

The letter said the money order was to cover fines of 2 cents per day for each book. That would total about 745 dollars.

The letter says the extra money was added in case the rates had changed.

Bordine says she'll use the money to buy new books for the library. (ANI)

Obama to China: Uncensored society is healthy

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EIJING -President Barack Obama sat down with the Chinese leader Monday night, hours after he pointedly nudged his host country to stop censoring the Internet access, offering an animated defense of the tool that helped him win the White House — and suggested Beijing need not fear a little criticism.
The president's message during a town hall-style meeting with university students in Shaghai, China's commercial hub, focused on one of the trickiest issues separating China's communist government and the United States — human rights.
In a delicately balanced message, Obama couched his admonitions with words calling for cooperation, heavy with praise and American humility.
"I think that the more freely information flows, the stronger the society becomes, because then citizens of countries around the world can hold their own governments accountable," Obama told students during his first-ever trip to China. "They can begin to think for themselves."
The first-term U.S. president and his delegation later arrived at the Forbidden City for Obama's third meeting with Chinese President Hu Jintao, where trade and economic issues were expected to dominate. The two leaders then sat down for what was expected to be a lavish dinner behind the walls surrounding the ancient city that was once home to Chinese emperors. They were scheduled to meet again Tuesday.
Obama's message, aside from his proddings on human rights, was clear: few global challenges can be solved unless the world's only superpower and its rising competitor work together. He and his advisers have insisted in virtually all public utterances since he arrived in Japan on Friday: "We do not seek to contain China's rise."
During Obama's opening statement to university students in Shanghai, he spoke bluntly about the benefits of individual freedoms in a country known for limiting them.
"We do not seek to impose any system of government on any other nation," Obama said. Then he added that freedom of expression and worship, unfettered access to information and unrestricted political participation are not principles held by the United States; instead, he called them "universal rights."
The line offered echoes of Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush, who often talked of the "universality of freedom." Obama talked at length about the Internet, which he said helped him win the presidency because it allowed for the mobilization of young people like those in his audience in Shanghai.
"I'm a big supporter of non-censorship," Obama said. "I recognize that different countries have different traditions. I can tell you that in the United States, the fact that we have free Internet — or unrestricted Internet access is a source of strength, and I think should be encouraged."
Given where Obama was speaking, such a comment carried strong implications. And he appeared to be talking directly to China's leaders when he said that he believes free discussion, including criticism that he sometimes finds annoying, makes him "a better leader because it forces me to hear opinions that I don't want to hear."
China has more than 250 million Internet users and employs some of the world's tightest controls over what they see. The country is often criticized for having the so-called "Great Firewall of China," which refers to technology designed to prevent unwanted traffic from entering or leaving a network.
Obama's town hall was not broadcast live across China on television. It was shown on local Shanghai TV and streamed online on two big national Internet portals, but the quality was choppy and hard to hear.
Obama is in the midst of a weeklong Asia trip. He came with a vast agenda of security, economic and environmental concerns, although always looming was how he would deal with human rights while in China.
His China visit features the only sightseeing of his journey. He will visit the Forbidden City, home of former emperors in Beijing, and the centuries-old Great Wall outside of the city. Aides have learned that finding some tourist time calms and energize their boss amid the grueling schedule of an international trip.
U.S. ambassador Jon Huntsman called Obama's event the first ever town-hall meeting held by a U.S. president in China. Yet former presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush also spoke to students and took questions from them during stops in China.
China is a huge and lucrative market for American goods and services, and yet it has a giant trade surplus with the U.S. that, like a raft of other economic issues, is a bone of contention between the two governments. The two militaries have increased their contacts, but clashes still happen and the United States remains worried about a dramatic buildup in what is already the largest standing army in the world.
Amid all that, Obama has adopted a pragmatic approach that stresses the positive, sometimes earning him criticism for being too soft on Beijing — particularly in the area of human rights abuses and what the United States regards as an undervalued Chinese currency that disadvantages U.S. products.
The two nations are working together more than ever on battling global warming, but they still differ deeply over hard targets for reductions in the greenhouse-gas emissions that cause it. China has supported sterner sanctions to halt North Korea's nuclear weapons program, but it still balks at getting more aggressive about reining in Iran's uranium enrichment.
Obama recognizes that a rising China, as the world's third-largest economy — on its way to becoming the second — and the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, has shifted the dynamic more toward one of equals. For instance, Chinese questions about how Washington spending policies will affect the already soaring U.S. deficit and the safety of Chinese investments now must be answered by Washington.
The White House hoped Monday's town hall meeting with Chinese university students would allow Obama to telegraph U.S. values — through its successes and failures — to the widest Chinese audience possible.
But those hopes had their limits in communist-ruled China.

India to have DNA related laws soon: Chidambaram

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aipur, Nov 16 (ANI): Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said the Central Government would soon bring out a bill in parliament on DNA testing.

Addressing the 20th All India Forensic Science conference here on Sunday, Chidambaram said: "In the lights of modern science and advances technological, the nature of crimes and criminals'' modus operandi had been changed and this necessitated due changes and upgradation in crime investigation and prosecution system."

"I understand that a bill on DNA testing is in the final stages and very soon we will have DNA related laws. 30 countries already have such laws and therefore we should also have such a law," he added.

India plans to spend rupees three billion on the expansion, modernization and upgradation of Forensic Science Laboratories (FSLs) under the Central Government''s 11th Five-Year Plan.

Chidambaram also said that 2010 would be observed as forensic science year.

"In the Government of India we have the will, we have the determination, we offer you our support. I seek your cooperation in making 2010 a year of forensic science as far as forensic laboratories are concerned," he added.

A DNA data bank would be set up soon, he said, adding that six more regional forensic science laboratories, 52 new mobile units, three Hi-tech central forensic science laboratories and three Hi-tech GFUD Centres were also in the pipeline. (ANI)

BSF DIG killed in Jammu

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amgarh (Jammu and Kashmir), Nov 16 (ANI): A Deputy Inspector General (DIG) of the Border Security Force (BSF) was killed and two soldiers were injured when a powerful IED exploded near the international border here on Monday.

According to BSF sources, DIG O.P. Kanwar was killed in the explosion. Further details are awaited. (ANI)

NIA asks Rahul Bhatt not to leave Mumbai

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umbai, Nov 16 (ANI): The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday asked Rahul Bhatt, son of film director Mahesh Bhatt not to leave Mumbai, as a restrictive order.

The NIA has also told Rahul that if he wants to leave the city, he should inform them of his travel plans.

The NIA began quizzing Rahul after it was discovered that he had met alleged Lashkar operative David Coleman Headley, who was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for plotting a major terror attack in India.

Headley was also in Mumbai for five days prior to the 26/11 attacks.

The NIA suspects that Headley and Pakistan-based Lashkar operatives may have seen the former''''s familiarity with Rahul as important for their terror plans in India.

According to investigating agencies, Headley had met Rahul during his visit to Mumbai. His name also cropped up in several email conversations with co-accused Tahawwur Rana.

According to the Mumbai Police, Rahul came into contact with Headley through Vilas who worked at the Moksha gym in the Breach Candy area of south Mumbai. (ANI)

Notice issued to Centre, Jammu and Kashmir Government on pre-paid mobile ban by SC

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ew Delhi, Nov 16 (ANI): The Supreme Court (SC) today issued notices to the Center and the Jammu and Kashmir Government on an appeal challenging imposition of the prohibit on pre-paid mobile services in the border state.

A bench, headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, sought the rejoinder of the Ministries of Home and Telecom and the state government within two weeks.

The petition, filed by Jammu and Kashmir National Panthers Party on November 5, had confronted the ban and sought an imperative hearing on the issue.

Advocate Bhim Singh, the chairman of the party had challenged the order imposed by the government to ban pre-paid cell phone services in the state from November 1 and described it as firm and illogical.

"The ban order is unconstitutional, improper, authoritarian and arbitrary and violative of the Article 14, 19 and 21 among other provisions of the Constitution of India," said the petition.

Condemning the government for not focusing on the ban issue, the appeal challenged as to why the same process could not be taken for authentication of the subscriber seeking a pre-paid plan as followed in the case of post paid service.

The government has issued strict orders that no new prepaid mobile connection should be issued and the existing pre-paid SIM cards should not be renewed in the state after November 1 on grounds of security. (ANI)

AGP likely to dump BJP ahead of 2011 Assam polls

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ssam politics is expected to witness some major realignment of forces ahead of the 2011 assembly polls with the honeymoon between the main opposition Asom Gana Parishad (AGP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) almost over.

"The time has come to take a strong call on the continuance of the tie-up with the BJP. Successive electoral defeats have shattered the confidence of the party workers and supporters... The thinking of the party should change ahead of the 2011 assembly elections," AGP vice president Apurba Kumar Bhattacharyya told IANS.

Meanwhile, the Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), a minority-based party that has emerged as the third major opposition in Assam, has sent feelers to the AGP.

"There is a big possibility of my party aligning with the AGP as the two parties have similar regional aspirations. I would say the chances are very bright," Badruddin Ajmal, leader of the AUDF, told IANS.

The AUDF managed to win 11 assembly seats in the 2006 state elections. The AGP has 24 legislators in the 126-member house.

The AGP was quick to react to the AUDF's feelers, saying nothing was impossible in politics.

"We have heard the AUDF's comments and will discuss the issue. We are talking to parties at an informal level and anything can happen," AGP president Chandra Mohan Patowary told journalists.

The AGP suffered successive electoral reverses beginning with the 2001 assembly polls. The party also lost the 2006 assembly elections, then the local council elections, the April-May parliamentary polls this year, and the humiliating defeat in the two by-elections earlier this week.

The AGP and BJP fought the April-May parliamentary elections together under a seat sharing arrangement. The regional party fared poorly - it won just one of the 14 Lok Sabha seats, down by one compared to the 2004 general elections.

"The opposition parties must take a lesson from the past elections and hence the need to unite to challenge the Congress party," said Dhrupad Borgohain, a former MP belonging to the Communist Party of India.

The AUDF has however made it clear that it would team up with the AGP provided the BJP is out of the combination.

"Minus the BJP and the Congress, we are ready for any kind of alliance," Ajmal said.

Amid the political rumblings, Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi said the Congress party was all set for a hat-trick by winning the 2011 polls.

"The AGP is down and out and there is no way the party can bounce back. The AUDF and the BJP are parties with communal overtones, and the people of Assam are going to reject them," Gogoi told IANS.

"There could be a realignment of forces, but we are not worried."

Mob torches 20 huts after youth's killing in Aizawl

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ay after a youth was shot dead allegedly by suspected Bru rebels, a mob set ablaze 20 huts at a Bru settlement near the Tripura border in Mizoram on Saturday.

A group of people that had turned up at Bungthuam, the native village of the slain youth Zarzikima, to mourn his death, later headed towards Thinghlum, the new Bru settlement near Tripura border, and torched at least 20 hutments, police said.

Many of the attackers even attempted to cross over to the Tripura side in search of the killers but were dissuaded.

While the Bru National Army, known to be a 13-member outfit, claimed responsibility for the gunning of the youth, there were unconfirmed reports of three employees of state environment and forests department being forcibly taken away in the area by the activists later.

Warning the trouble-makers, Mizoram Home minister R. Lalzirliana said that those who are out to disrupt peace would be firmly dealt with and brought to book.

Condemning the incident, several political parties and the Young Mizo Association (YMA) central committee demanded that those behind the killing should be arrested and punished as per law. The organisations also appealed to people not to harm the innocent. Leaders of YMA and Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) or Mizo Student's Federation visited Bungthuam.

Mob torch Bru house in western Mizoram

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n irate mob, angered by the murder of an 18-year-old-boy by suspected Bru militants, continued to go on rampage and have burnt down more than 300 Bru huts in Thinghlun area along the Tripura border since Friday night, police said here today.

Although no physical attacks have been reported from anywhere but a groups of boys visited few deserted Bru villages and set them afire, police said.

"It is impossible to prevent arson everywhere as the Bru settlements are scattered in inaccessible areas and the miscreants went in groups on jungle roads to torch the villages," a senior police officer from Mamit told PTI over phone.

He said that around 300 families have fled to Tripura since the incident.

A similar incident had occurred in 1997 when Bru militants killed a forest department official triggering communal tension between the Mizo and the Bru communities.

Arunachal bids tearful adieu to Dalai Lama Arunachal bids tearful

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TANAGAR: The staccato beats of propellers pierced the quiet, misty mountains of Itanagar as a Pawan Hans chopper switched on its rotor blades
and took off from the Raj Bhavan helipad early on Sunday morning. The copter took along with it all the heavenly bliss and jubilation that people of Arunachal Pradesh had managed to gather this week.

Chief minister Dorjee Khandu, his Cabinet colleagues as well as many MLAs escorted the Dalai Lama to the Raj Bhavan helipad as he completed the last leg of his visit to the frontier state amid China's stiff opposition. He left at 8.30 in the morning.

The Dalai Lama's departure silenced wagging tongues, not to mention the gibes that New Delhi and Beijing exchanged before and throughout the spiritual leader's visit. But for Arunachal, it was different. Much removed from the political mudslinging, the simple folk of the country's easternmost state bid a tearful farewell to their "God" assembling in hordes near the helipad to catch a last glimpse and seek the spiritual leader's final blessings before the copter disappeared beyond the horizon.

As the followers gloomily trooped back to their homes, a gnawing fear that the Tibetan spiritual leader may not come back again slowed their strides and moistened their eyes. The Dalai Lama's advancing age and busy schedule he will fly down to Rome from Delhi to inaugurate the two-day Fifth World Parliamentary Convention beginning from November 18 further rooted this grim possibility in their sorrowed hearts.

Lama Tashi, a composer of religious hymns, wasn't sure whether the Dalai Lama, would set his foot at Tawang again. "He's an international figure and has a hectic schedule. One never knows if he will visit again as his trips have to be cleared by all levels," Tashi said.

Torjee Khandu, a local who has seen the spiritual leader in his last two visits, said, "He's growing old and given the political repercussions of his every visit here, this might be his last trip." Octogenarian Rempa Tsering feared the worst. "The Chinese may not allow the coronation of the next Dalai Lama. Every time he visits this part of the country, there's a hue and cry from China. So, there might be every effort by them to disrupt the order."

However, Tulku Rinpoche, head of the Tawang monastery who supervised the four-day stay of the Dalai Lama in the monastery town, was optimistic. "I still have a feeling that he might choose to come here once again as he has an emotional attachment with this area since 1959," Rinpoche said, adding, "His Holiness is hale and hearty and has no health problems. So we feel that he will come here once again."

The 76-year-old preacher mesmerized thousands in the state with his divine oratory skills as people from all walks of life thronged to every venue where the Dalai Lama delivered sermons. His visit was peaceful without any untoward incidents as the state government had made elaborate security arrangements at all the places where the revered monk went.

In Itanagar, the Dalai Lama visited the Thupten Gatsalling Gompa and the Theraveda Buddha Vihar at Vivek Vihar belonging to the Hinayana Sect of Buddhism. He also interacted with intellectuals at Banquet Hall here on Saturday evening.

Bhaitbari may hold key to N-E history

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HILLONG: The sleepy hamlet of Bhaitbari in Meghalaya's West Garo Hills, which was in the national limelight when ruins of an ancient kingdom
dating back to 4-8 AD were discovered a few years ago, might hold the keys to a glorious period of N-E history.

There is speculation that the royal seat of the Kamrupa (Assam) kingdom could have been located at Bhaitbari. Nevertheless, several such interesting historical details, which are still mired in controversy, could be answered more vividly when archaeologists excavate the entire Bhaitbari-Tikrikilla area. The site is barely eight km from Phulbari near the Meghalaya-Assam boundary.

The state government is planning to tie up with the Northeast Circle of the Archeological Survey of India (ASI) to carry out excavations of the remaining areas in the Bhaitbari site. The 20-sq km area grabbed national and international attention following archaeological findings after protracted excavations in 1992. The archaeological findings, which have yet to be adequately unraveled and carbon-dated, are reported to be of considerable antiquity. The finds are of artifacts, which reveal the existence of planned places of worship with exquisitely designed masonry oil lamps.

"Further excavations are likely to reveal more remains of an earlier habitation, besides unraveling the historical antiquity of the plains-belt of the State of which very little is known from recorded history," says senior government archaeologist Julies Marak. In 1992, A K Sharma of ASI, Nagpur, excavated the site and unearthed three temple sites with numerous Shiva lingams and a Buddhist Stupa. According to ASI officials, nothing is definitely known at present about the history of the site, including the era when it had flourished.

However, on the basis of idols of deities like Ganesh, Parvati, Kubera and Yaksha depicted on the terracotta tiles and their stylistic taste and the stupa's existence, scholars say the period of the flourish of the fortified city may be contemporaneous to the reign of Harsha Vardhana during the first half of the 7th centry AD. Moreover, from the existence of ancient tanks of various sizes, this township suggests being an important temple township, they feel.

The government archaeologist, however, said it's only after the excavation of the "inhabited" or "residential" area can anything concrete be said about the history of Bhaitbari, which promises to be no less interesting and of historical significance than that of Mohenjodaro and Harappa.

Tripura-Mizoram border tense after youth's murder

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GARTALA: Tension gripped Tripura's northern boundary with Mizoram following the murder of a Mizo (Lushai) youth in the neighbouring
state.

Mizo villagers alleged that Jar Jhakma was killed by cadres belonging to the Bru National Liberation Front a virtually-defunct outfit that had once sought to fight for the displaced Reangs. A leaflet, purportedly written by the BNLF, was found near the youth's body that was lying at Laxmicherra, about four km from the inter-state boundary on Saturday.

As news spread, tension spread like wildfire in the adjoining Mizoram villages and about hundreds of Mizo youths, armed with lethal weapons, tried to enter Tripura to attack Reang camps at Damcherra.

Police immediately swung into action and put in place a massive security blanket all around Damcherra. The Mizo youths then turned their fury to Reang villages in Mizoram and set afire some houses belonging to the Brus.

North Tripura SP Deepak Kumar is keeping a watch on the situation and supervising security arrangements. The 14 battalion of Assam Rifles has been put on high alert. Battalion commandant Col Ratnakar Dwibedi visited the area and asked the villagers to maintain peace and tranquility.

Assam Rifles is likely to take over the area domination to prevent any untoward incident, sources said.

Nevertheless, the locals, mostly Reangs, are a scared lot fearing more attacks on them at villages like Hamsapara and Kangchang. "They (Mizos) tried to attack the Reangs at Khedacherra. We are living in fear as thinks they will try to do it again," said Lalthanpia Meska of Hamsapara.

On the other hand, The Mizos at Kanmun police station in Mizoram have also asked Reangs to stay away from jhum cultivation in Mizoram. They also prevented the Reangs from entering into Mizoram, said the villagers. "We have 209 families in the Khangchang (Damcherra) area which has a population of 525 males, 428 females and 257 children. The government relief is not adequate. We have to depend on jhum cultivation and work as daily wage-earners. But now the situation has become extremely scary," said B P Chorkhya, one of the secretaries of the Khangchang Relief camp.