கனவுகள் (தலையங்கம்)
கனவும் கற்பனையும் ஒன்றாக இருந்துவிட்டால் மனிதனுக்கு மன நிலை பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளதென்று பொருள். கனவு இரு வகைப்படும். ஒன்று தூங்கும்போது காணுவது. தூங்கும்போது எதையெல்லாம் கனவாய் காண வேண்டும் என்பதையெல்லாம் நிர்ணயித்து வைத்துக்கொண்டு கனவு காண முடியாது. மற்றொன்று விழித்திருக்கும்போது காணுவது. விழித்திருக்கும்போது நாம் எதைவேண்டுமானாலும் கனவாய் காணலாம். இக்கனவுகளில் – அதாவது கற்பனைகளில்- எதை காண்கிறோமோ அல்லது எதைப்பற்றி உருவகப்படுத்தி ஆழமாய் சிந்திக்கிறோமோ அதுவே தியானம் எனப்படுவது. தியானத்தில், ஆழ்நிலைத்தியானம் என்பது பரவலாக இப்போது கற்றுத்தரப்படுகிறது. ஏதோ ஒன்றைப்பற்றி சிந்தித்தலும் தியானமே. சிந்திக்காமல் மனதில் வெறுமை நிலவச்செய்வது தியானத்தின் முதற்படி. அதுவே ஒரு கருவினைப்பற்றி ஆழ்ந்து சிந்திக்க - அதாவது தியானிக்க – தேவையான மன ஆற்றலை (மூளையின் சக்தியை ஒருமுகப்படுத்தி) தந்துதவுகிறது. இந்நிலையையே ‘Relaxation’ என்கிறார்கள். கண்ணப்ப நாயனார் சிவனைப்பற்றி சிந்த்தித்தார். அதுவே அவரின் தியானப்பொருள். ஸ்டீபன் ஹாகிங்க் பரந்து விரிந்த வெளியின் (Space) தோற்ற வளர்ச்சியைப்பற்றி சிந்திக்கிறார். அதுவே அவருடைய தியானக்கரு.
கற்பனைக்கும் சிந்தித்தலுக்கும் (தியானத்துக்கும்) இடையே ஒரு வித்தியாசம் என்ன வென்றால் கற்பனை வரையறைகளற்றது. கற்பனைகள் சக்தியற்றவையாகிப்போவது ஏனெனில் அவைகளில் சட்ட திட்டங்களும், நெறிமுறைகளும் இல்லாமற்போவதால்தான். கற்பனையிலும் நிலவுக்கு பறக்கலாம். தியானத்தினாலும் நிலவுக்கு பறக்கலாம். முன்னது செயல்முறைக்கு வாராதது. வெறுங்கற்பனை பசி வந்தால் பறந்து விடும் அல்லது மறந்துவிடும். ஆனால் ஒழுங்குமுறைக்கு உட்பட்ட, இயற்பியல், உயிரியல் கோட்பாடுகளுக்கு உட்பட்ட அறிவு பூர்வமான ஆராய்ச்சி, கற்பனைகளை செயல் முறைக்கு கொண்டுவரும். காலதாமதமானாலும் கூட. உயிரோட்டமுள்ள தியானமானது பசி ,தூக்கம், உணர்வு அனைத்தையும் மறக்கச்செய்து (இதையே வேதங்களும், உபநிஷத்துக்களும் யோக சாதனா என்கின்றன) நம் ஆழமான நெறிமுறைக்குட்பட்ட கற்பனைகளை செயல் முறைப்படுத்துகின்றது. சிறு வயதில் நேரம் போவதே தெரியாமல் கிரிக்கட் விளையாடியதும் ஒரு தியானமே. பசியெடுத்தாலும் தூக்கம் வந்தாலும் அதைப்பொருட்படுத்தாமல் கேரம் போர்டு விளையாட்டை இரவும் பகலுமாக விளையாடுபவர்களை நான் பார்த்திருக்கிறேன். இவர்களும் தியானிகளே!. இப்பொழுது புரிகின்றதா?. நவீன ஆராய்ச்சியாளர்களும், நம் சித்தர்களும் கற்பனாசக்தியை ஒன்றாகவே பயன்படுத்துகின்றனர். இருவரும் தத்தம் சிந்தனைக்கருவை ஒன்றுபோலவே தியானித்து அதன் பலனை கைக்கொள்ளுகின்றனர். இவர்கள் இருவரும் ஒரே சாதியினர்.
நம் ஏவுகணை சித்தரான அப்துல் கலாம் அவர்கள் இளைஞர்களிடம் கனவு காணுங்கள் என்று சொன்னதை தவறாக புரிந்துகொண்டு பகல் கனவு கண்டுகொண்டிருந்தால்..... நல்ல வேளையாக நம் இளைஞர்கள் பகல் கனவு காணுவதில்லை. அவர்கள் செயல்முறைப்படுத்த முனைந்துவிடுகிறார்கள். ஆல்பர்ட் ஐன்ஸ்டீன் சில சமயங்களில் பல நாட்களுக்கு கற்பனையில் மூழ்கிபோய்விடுவாராம். ஐன்ஸ்டீன் எப்படிப்பட்ட கற்பனைகள் காண்பார், ஆழ்கற்பனைகளின் மூலம் என்ன விதமான முடிவுகள் அவருக்கு கிடைத்திருக்கும் என்பதை நாம் எளிதில் சொல்லிவிடமுடியும். நம்முடைய தேவை என்ன என்பதைப்பொருத்தே நம் கற்பனைகள் (பகல் கனவுகள்) மனக்கண்முன் விரிவடைகின்றன. அவைகளின் தரம், நோக்கம், வலிமை, நம்பிக்கை ஆகிய அம்சங்களைப்பொருத்தே பலன்களின் தன்மைகளும், பலனளிக்கும் காலமும் மாறுபடுகின்றன. பின் லேடனுடைய கற்பனா சக்தி அமெரிக்காவை தூங்க விடாமல் செய்கின்றது. ரத்தம் சிந்தாமல் யாரும் துன்புறாமல் சுதந்திரத்தை வென்றெடுப்பது எப்படி என்று காந்தி இடைவிடாமல் தியானித்த்தின் விளைவே அஹிம்சையும், ஒத்துழையாமை இயக்கமும் இணைந்த சத்திய சோதனை. மோகன்லால் கரம் சந்த் காந்தி, மகாத்மாவானார். வெள்ளையர் நாகரிகம் தெரிந்த இனத்தினராக இருந்ததால், மகாத்மாவின் வழிமுறைகளுடன் கூடிய கற்பனா சக்தி இறுதியில் வெற்றிபெற்றது.
எனவே நாம் எதை விரும்புகிறோம் என்பதனை முதலில் தீர்மானித்துக்கொள்ள வேண்டும். பிறகு அதை அடைய தேவையானவற்றை நாம் ஆழ்ந்து சிந்திக்க வேண்டும். சிந்திக்க அதாவது, கற்பனை செய்ய செய்ய நம் தேவைகளை அடைய நமக்கு என்னென்ன, எவ்வெப்பொழுது தேவை என்பது புலனாகும்.
முதலில் நாம் கற்பனை செய்யும் விஷயம், பொருள் நமக்கு உண்மையிலேயே தேவைப்படுகிறதா என்பதில் நமக்கு தெளிவு தேவை. நம் கற்பனைகளினால் நாம் பலனடைகிறோம் என்றால், நமக்கு நற்பெயரும், புகழும் கிடைக்கிறதென்றால் அக்கற்பனைகளும், கனவுகளும் தியானத்தின் அம்சங்களே!
“Dormancy, thy name UN?” –
Time to rewrite the charter!
The UN has the habit of keeping its lips tight during onslaughts wherever it occurs or has occurred in the past. It has become imperative of the time that the charter of UN has to be rewritten with the virtual conception of ‘one world’ and ‘one people’. Presently, the UN acts immediately –or spontaneously - when a war like situation arises in any corner of the Europe. The UN has been customarily erroneous many times by being too slow or by being too fast or simply maintaining a state of dormancy. United Nations’ assembly is a universal association created for many common global purposes including maintaining harmony and equanimity among different societies of the world. When a conflict rises between any two communities or races or ethnicities, the UN must, at once, intervene and get a precise solution acceptable for both the parties rather than awaiting the bloodshed to occur and cease. This has been the fundamental ideologies with which it was founded. If we look in to the past history of the UN, after the World War II, the virtual nature of the UN has become inaction, wrong action, slow action and negative action in solving disputes and conflicts. The UN, it seems, has adjusted its working methodology to watch and observe whether the different human communities in the world survive in accordance with Darwin’s ‘fittest survives’.
Kosovo and the human right violations - Inaction
In recent history of the UN, Kosovo massacre has been a shameful failure on its part as it had drastically failed or driven to dilemma to respond to a likely situation of genocide that was about to occur in Bosnia and Kosovo. America’s belated reaction through NATO has further worsened the situation in Kosovo (ICTY findings says so). It is widely criticised that the US led NATO bombing of former Yugoslavia incited mass killings of innocent Albanian Muslim civilians. International juries found that the Serbian atrocities on the Albanian Muslims occurred only after the NATO bombing of Serbian cities and Belgrade. Therefore we come to know that, had the UN taken necessary measures, the Dutch peace keeping forces in former Yugoslavian towns and cities needn’t have watched how the Serbians killed innocent Muslim civilians. In front of UN’s peace keeping force, Albanian Muslims were slaughtered inside the UN’s premises. Deployment of peace keeping forces in a region, where conflict between minority and majority is imminent and human carnage is very much expected, has to be done in as much strength as possible followed by rapid diplomatic solution to the issue. The UN had abruptly failed due to its inaction in Kosovo.
30 years to install a court and four years to investigate a case-Slow action
The latest story of slow action of the UN comes from Cambodia. In Cambodia, communist political party ruled from 1975 until 1979 which was led by Pol Pot. He banned education, religion and currency in Cambodia in order to introduce a self designed state administration. During his devilish regime, two million people died due to hunger and over work and, Pol Pot1 ran for shelter when invaded by Vietnam. He could not be brought before court for justice. Khmer Rouge2 tribunal, supported by The UN, started to function only in 2006, nearly after 30 years. By then, many genocide perpetrators and criminals simply had eluded justice through natural death rather than having been punished for their crimes against humanity. Thanks to the UN’s recognition of Pol Pot as the head of original government of Cambodia, he was free until his death in 1998. Many eluded the genocide charges because they had lived through their lives without any action against their part in the genocide.
Failure of the global agency in Rwanda-- Wrong action
We see more or less a kind of wrong action by the UN during the Rwandan genocide of Tutsis. It is said that nearly a million Tutsis were massacred by the state sponsored Hutu militias-usually called Interahamwe3. The France indirectly supported Hutus and the United Nations army stationed in Rwanda was evacuated by the US special sorties as soon as the violence started against the Tutsis. Even a high commander of the UN had warned the UN about the secret plan was being conceived by the Hutus for the large scale violence against Tutsis in Rwanda. Britain showed resoluteness in getting the UN out of the Rwanda which gave an ultimate wink to the Hutu murderers for the Tutsi killings. US’ efforts to send a fact finding mission to Rwanda was aborted by the other European countries. Only when the death rate figure ran in millions, the UN awoke to take some action. By then the genocidal activities had already been started to cease. Hutus, afraid of revenge by Tutsis, started to pour in to Congo as refugees. Nearly five to ten million Tutsis were believed to be killed either by the Hutu friends, distant Hutu relatives, Hutu militias, Hutu political groups. Here, too, the UN had failed to save the lives of common people. Europe has either directly or indirectly let its hands dry with Tutsi blood and the UN is always criticized for the worst human carnage in Africa.
UN’s deception in Lanka - Negative action
In Lankan Tamils issue, it appears that the UN considers all the Tamils living in Northern Province of Lanka are insurgents. The enlisting of tigers as a terrorist outfit has further complicated the struggle for civil liberties. If the UN had taken the issue seriously and strongly, the Sinhalese would have come down from their ego-ethnic fatigue and thus the inexperienced India wouldn’t have confronted with the valuable human losses including the youthful Rajiv Gandhi. The conflict has been going on for more than half a century. During 2009, the world saw the terrific massacres of innocent civilians in lanka during the final assault on the tiger stronghold. The extermination of innocent civilians through indiscriminate bombing on hospitals, schools, churches, temples showed that the Lankan army was resolute to finish the tigers along with everyone who have sense for civil liberties. There rose international concerns from human rights organisations for immediate action for halting Sinhalese army’s continual bombing of civilians in northern island. No world countries raised voice against the human destruction.
The once impregnable militant organisation, who had been specialised in conducting guerrilla attacks on the army, now appeared to know the impending downfall of their struggle for civil liberties and they now had only one option except to leave trail of evidence with the international community of the Sinhalese ethnic animosity against the Tamil population and, they did concentrate on transmitting thousand of photos of victims to all the news channels across the globe which they appeared to have premeditated that that would be more than suffice to reveal the true colour of the ignorant and faulty decision taken by the international community. Most of the online news channels and websites could not get wired photos after a specific date in May, 2009; ironically there was no one alive to cast their message. Since then the island has been iron-curtained in spite of several persuasions to allow international media and aid organisations inside detention camps. Wide scale sexual abuses on the fleeing Tamils were reported initially. The Sinhalese mass heads categorically rejected international community’s requests and threatened local media to black out news on Sinhalese atrocities. Many international organisations were to quit the island in total desperation. Here too, the UN and the US refused to intervene to stop civilian murders in detention centres carried out by the Sinhalese in the name of exterminating Tamil militants. There is no account for the missing 75,000 civilians – mostly youths- who were in detention centres and. The Northern Province has been virtually cut off from the rest of the world ever since the war against the tigers was declared as completed.
The people once supported the tigers have now been at the hands of an army of purely Sinhalese and the sufferings of resettled Tamils are in grave situation. Why the UN continues to maintain silence over the illegal detention of hundreds of thousands of women and children and non-rehabilitating the civilians even after a year is the question that needs an answer. Ought the world to take it serious that mass human rights could be possible as the Sinhalese government has not freely allowed any foreign agencies into detention centres? This is the right time that India and other countries to raised their voice over the issue as their ‘enemy’ has long been dead along with thousands of innocent civilians. Do the countries expect all the Tamil populations, just for offering cordiality extended to the tigers, should perish in the chaos? Isn’t this the right time that every humanitarian force in the world should know answers to questions? As the reports of numerous mass graves are widely spoken of by foreign demining groups, UN must take immediate and appropriate action to conduct free and judicious enquiry into what happened before and immediately after 18th of May, 2009 in northern lanka and the role played by the army and the people who are part of the present government.
As usual, the UN has been slow and, more or less, act like mere observer of civilians sufferings all over the world, or in other words, the present UN is nothing but a modernised version of the erstwhile League of Nations. The European world has had enough of bitter and bloody experiences under the head of League of Nations. It appears that now their history of the past - during the period between first and Second World War - has been diffused to the present world to suffer under the United Nations’ impuissant global leadership. Hence time has ripen to create a new association for a safer world for any human being to live freely or the UN charter has to be rewritten so as to enable to endow this world body with powers for timely action against any unruly states. We cannot expect better results from international court of justice - a subordinate agency of the ineffectual UN - for timely action against the perpetrators and opportunistic mass heads. Both the UN and the Foreign policy makers of ASEAN set up have abruptly failed to look into the potential allegations of human right abuses in lanka. It is judicious for any civilised human being to expect a fair and open enquiry be held against the human right abusers and violators where ever they are.
Without stopping the massacres while they take place and letting the perpetrators have enough free time to wipe out all the evidences of mass killings and then announcing an international enquiry followed by imprisoning five or ten people or hanging three or five people on the charges of extermination of million or so, doesn’t seem to be so humanistic intelligence. This would lead a common man to adjudge if the real perpetrator behind all the chaos is the UN.
1. More about Pol Pot
Cambodia became a French protectorate in 1863.
2. In November 1953 Cambodia gained independence and Prince Norodom Sihanouk established his rule that lasted for 16 years
3. The war broke out in Vietnam which destabilized the region.
4. In November 1963 Sihanouk terminated an aid program run by the United States as he abhorred the US roll in Vietnam war
5. In May 1965, the effect of war in Vietnam extended in to Cambodia which led Sihanouk to severe the relationship with the US broke completely.
6. In June 1969, the threat of the communist insurgents (Khmer rouge), the ceasing of US aid (as Prince Sihanouk had broken off diplomatic relations with the US in 1965), the ever-increasing incursions by the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong () and the American army’s and South Vietnamese forces’ offensives lead Sihanouk to reconsider to open relations with the US, but it was too late.
7. A ruthless clampdown on opponents forces led many take up arms.
8. Khmer Rouge, the Cambodian communist party, was building strong led by Saloth Sar (Pol Pot)
9. Pol Pot was born on 19 May 1925 in Prek Sbauv in Kampong Thum province, north of Phnom Penh.
10. His father was a farmer and his family had connections to the Cambodian royal family.
11. In the year 1931, at the age of six, he moved to Phnom Penh to live with his brother who was an official at the royal palace.
12. He learnt the rudiments of Buddhism but never passed through high school.
13. In 1946, he was serving with the anti-French resistance under Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh and he joined the Indochinese Communist Party.
14. Later he acquired scholarship to study in Paris, France.
15. The members of this so-called 'Paris student group' became the leaders of the Khmer Rouge.
16. While in Paris, Pol Pot transformed students associations to communist bloc.
17. 1951 - The Indochinese Communist Party broke into three separate units representing Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.
18. The Cambodian Communist Party was named the Kampuchean People's Revolutionary Party (KPRP).
19. In 1953, Pol Pot returned to Cambodia and actively involved in KPRP.
20. He supported himself by teaching history and geography at a private school
21. In 1956 - Pol Pot married Khieu Ponnary.
22. In 1960 - In late September Pol Pot and the 'Paris student group' took control of the KPRP, renaming it the Workers' Party of Kampuchea (WPK). Pol Pot was in number three position on the party's Central Committee, which allowed him to build the party politically strong.
23. In 1963, the number one of the party absconded mysteriously. In February,1963, Pol Pot was chosen as the WPK's general secretary,
24. In July 1963, he and most of the WPK Central Committee left Phnom Penh to organise an insurgency base, on the border with Vietnam in the country's northeast.
25. 1965 - Pol Pot conducted a rally to Hanoi, the capital of North Vietnam, for consultations with the North Vietnamese communists,
26. North Vietnamese communists told him to wait for armed rebellion until America was driven out of Vietnam
27. 1966 - He made his first visit to China and was influenced with Mao Tse-Tung's concept of a continuous revolution
28. He returned to Cambodia and began to sever ties with the Vietnamese communists.
29. The WPK changed its name again, to the Kampuchean Communist Party (KCP),
30. Cambodian communists were now more commonly known as the 'Khmer Rouge'.
31. The party's all-powerful Central Committee, headed by Pol Pot, was referred to as 'Angkar' (organisation).
32. 1967 - Pol Pot took refuge in the northeast of Cambodia.
33. Insurgency broke out in the west of Cambodia at the start of the year. It was suppressed brutally but not completely and spreads. By the end of the decade the Khmer Rouge almost completely controlled the mountainous regions on the border with Vietnam.
34. 1968 - The Khmer Rouge established the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea in January. Aided by the US, the army launched a small and ineffectual insurgency campaign.
35. 1969 - In March US President, Richard M. Nixon began secret bombing raids on Vietnamese communist camps and supply routes inside Cambodia.
36. The bombing raids were illegal, as the US had not officially declared war on Cambodia. In 14 months, 110,000 tons of bombs were dropped.
37. When news of the raids was leaked, Kissinger, the home secretary of the US govt, ordered for surveillance and phone tapping.(Watergate scandal followed this period)
38. US bombing raids into Cambodia continued until 1973. 539,129 tons of bombs were dropped on the country, much of it in indiscriminate B-52 carpet-bombing raids. The tonnage was about three and a half times more than that (153,000 tons) dropped on Japan during the Second World War.
39. Though, up to 600,000 Cambodians died, the raids were militarily ineffective. Bombing raids served better to increase the popularity of the Khmer Rouge among the affected Cambodian population.
40. 1970 - Sihanouk travelled to solicit Chinese and Soviet assistance to stop North Vietnam from encroaching on Cambodian territory during the course of its war with South Vietnam and the US.
41. On 18 March Sihanouk's right-wing opponents within the government seized the opportunity, banning his return from China and installed Defence Minister Lon Nol as premier of the newly proclaimed Khmer Republic. The coup was supported by the CIA.
42. The new, US-backed government stirred anti-Vietnamese sentiment and initiated ineffectual military operations against the Viet Cong troops. Simultaneously, the Lon Nol government cancelled the agreement allowing North Vietnam to use the port at Sihanoukville.
43. In April, US-South Vietnamese joint forces of 30,000 troops invaded Cambodia tasked with destroying Vietnamese communist bases inside Cambodia. But what happened was the offensive further pushed Vietnamese deep into Cambodia and was forced to withdraw in June by the US Congress.
44. In China, Sihanouk formed a government in exile and built an alliance with the Khmer Rouge since both had intentions to the overthrow of the Lon Nol government.
45. The Khmer Rouge received military aid and training from the North Vietnamese and support from China which effectively transformed a small guerilla outfit of less than 5,000 to an army of 100,000 in a matter of months.
46. By June the republic's troops (Lon Nol’s government troops) were swept from the entire northeast of the country. Areas in the south and southwestern parts of the country were also overrun.
47. By 1973 the Khmer Rouge was able to launch independent and successful attacks against the Khmer Republic troops, taking control of nearly 60% of Cambodia's territory and 25% of its population.
48. In 1973, In an attempt to prop-up the Lon Nol government and to halt the Khmer Rouge assault and to destroy North Vietnamese bases in Cambodia, the Nixon administration secretly intensified the bombing of the Cambodia without government authorization.
49. In 1974 - In March the Khmer Rouge captured the old capital city Odongk. What happened in Odongk was a foreshow for what was going to come during future Khmer rouge rule. The city was destroyed. Its 20,000 inhabitants were driven to countryside. Teachers and public servants were murdered.
50. In 1975 the capital Phnom Penh was surrounded which was swollen with refugees fleeing the Khmer Rouge and the US bombers. On April 17, Phnom Penh fell. Within days the city's entire population of over two million is marched into the countryside at gunpoint.
51. Pol Pot declared purification of society through ruthless programs of capitalism, western culture and all foreign influences from Cambodia.
52. Foreigners were expelled, embassies closed, and the currency abolished. Markets, schools, newspapers, religious practices and private property are outlawed.
53. Members of the Lon Nol government, public servants, police, military officers, teachers, ethnic Vietnamese, Christian clergy, Muslim leaders, members of the Cham Muslim minority, members of the middle-class and the educated are identified and executed.
54. Towns and cities were emptied and their former inhabitants are deemed "April 17th people" or "new people." The country's entire population was forced to relocate to agricultural collectives, the so-called "killing fields." Inmates exist in primitive conditions. Families were separated. Buddhist monks are defrocked and forced into labour brigades. Former city residents were subjected to unending political indoctrination. Children were encouraged to spy on adults.
55. An estimated 1.5 million were worked or starved to death, die of disease or exposure, or were summarily executed for infringements of camp discipline. Infringements punishable by death include not working hard enough, complaining about living conditions, collecting or stealing food for personal consumption, wearing jewellery, engaging in sexual relations, grieving over the loss of relatives or friends and expressing religious sentiments.
56. Khmer Rouge records from the Tuol Sleng interrogation and detention centre in Phnom Penh (also known as S-21) showed that 14,499 "antiparty elements", including men women and children, were tortured and executed from 1975 to the first six months of 1978. Only seven of those detained at the centre left alive.
57. At least 20 other similar centres operate throughout the country.
58. Terror and paranoia reign, reaching a climax in 1977 and 1978 when Pol Pot launched a bloody purge against the Khmer Rouge cadres. At least 200,000 were executed.
59. In 1976 - The Khmer Rouge declared the new state of Democratic Kampuchea on 5 January. Sihanouk resigned as head of state on 2 April and was placed under virtual house arrest in Phnom Penh. Pol Pot was made prime minister, although his identity and the identities of other members of the 'Angkar' group were kept secret from non-members.
60. 1977 - Although almost the entire population was involved in agricultural production, Cambodia experienced food shortages, resulting in many more deaths. Conflicts along the Thai, Laotian and Vietnamese borders escalated. Relations with Vietnam were broken in December. Vietnam began to turn away from China towards the Soviet Union.
61. Pol Pot, meanwhile, made a state visit to China, which promised ongoing support, including military assistance for any conflict between Cambodia and Vietnam.
62. 1978 - Vietnam deployed armed units along the Cambodian border and sponsored the establishment of an anti-Pol Pot movement.
63. On 25 December the Vietnamese launched a full-scale military invasion of Cambodia, rapidly pushing aside the Khmer Rouge. Phnom Penh was captured on 7 January 1979. Sihanouk flew to China on the last flight out of the capital. Pol Pot and the defeated Khmer Rouge retreated to the country's remote western regions from where they staged a fitful guerilla war destined to last a further 20 years.
64. About one quarter of the country's entire population of about seven million were dead during the three years, eight months of Pol Pot's rule. Khmer Rouge "revolution" is considered as the deadliest in modern Asian history.
65. 1979 - Three days after the fall of Phnom Penh the Vietnamese occupying forces established the People's Republic of Kampuchea (PRK), governed by the KPRP and headed by Heng Samrin, a former Khmer Rouge military commander.
66. Already at war with the Khmer Rouge, the PRK faced further resistance from two new insurgent movements - the noncommunist Khmer People's National Liberation Front (KPNLF) headed by Son Sen, and the National United Front for an Independent, Neutral, Peaceful, and Cooperative Cambodia (FUNCINPEC) headed by Norodom Sihanouk.
67. China also entered the dispute. Concerned by the improving relations between Vietnam and the Soviet Union, launched a limited invasion of Vietnam in February and March in retaliation for Vietnam's incursion into Cambodia.
68. ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) shared China's concerns about the spread of Soviet-backed communism in the region. Its member nations played a key role in ensuring that the United Nations (UN) continued to recognise Pol Pot's Democratic Kampuchea as the legal representative of Cambodia. The UN also withheld development aid assured to the KPRP government.
69. In August a Phnom Penh "people's revolutionary tribunal" tried Pol Pot in absentia for genocide and sentenced him to death. In December Pol Pot was replaced as prime minister of the Khmer Rouge "government" by Khieu Samphan. Pol Pot remained as leader of the KCP and the Khmer Rouge armed forces.
70. It was reported that the Khmer Rouge were receiving military backing from China and the US. It was also reported that a former deputy director of the CIA visited Pol Pot's operational base in November 1980. During 1980 the World Food Program supplied the Khmer Rouge with food worth US$12 million.
71. Meanwhile, Pol Pot's wife, Khieu Ponnary went insane and PolPot got her divorced in 1985 remarried a much younger second wife with who he had a daughter. Khieu Ponnary died in 2003.
72. 1982 - On 22 June the Khmer Rouge, KPNLF and FUNCINPEC joined in a coalition (the Coalition Government of Democratic Kampuchea) against the Vietnamese. The agreement had been brokered by ASEAN. Sihanouk was chosen as the coalition's president, Khieu Samphan was vice president and Son Sen was prime minister.
73. The coalition, which proposed a general election under UN supervision once the Vietnamese had withdrawn was recognised by the UN as the lawful government of Cambodia and funded by China, the US and Thailand.
74. 1985 - Pol Pot officially resigned as commander of the Khmer Rouge military forces, although he retained a supervisory role.
75. 1987 - In December Sihanouk arranged direct talks between himself and Hun Sen, the premier of the PRK. The talk's were largely fruitless but did open the lines of communication between the two sides.
76. 1988 - In May Vietnam announced plans to withdraw 50,000 troops from Cambodia by the end of the year. By December not only had the troops gone but also the Vietnamese military high command.
77. In July all the parties in the Cambodian conflict attended an informal meeting in Bogor, Indonesia. China called for a complete withdrawal of all Vietnamese troops but ruled out any role for Pol Pot in a post-settlement government. The meeting ended inconclusively as did a subsequent meeting held in February 1989.
78. Meanwhile, reconciliation between the Soviet Union and China caused the Soviets to pressure Vietnam to withdraw.
79. 1989 - In Europe, the French Government convened the Paris International Conference on Cambodia from 30 July to 30 August. Called to mediate a settlement between the PRK and the coalition, the conference stalled when no agreement can be reached on the future of the Khmer Rouge once all the Vietnamese troops were withdrawn. China, however, promised to cut all aid to the Khmer Rouge when a settlement was finalized.
80. The troop withdrawal was completed in September. The PRK remained in power, headed by Hun Sen. The country was renamed Cambodia and the constitution amended. Renewed fighting between the PRK troops and the opposition forces, including the Khmer Rouge, broke out on the country's western frontier with Thailand.
81. 1991 - On 23 October the four factions finally signed a peace treaty establishing a temporary coalition government under the supervision of a UN peacekeeping force. Sihanouk returned to Cambodia and was named president.
82. 1993 - Cambodia's first multiparty elections since 1972 were held in May, although they were boycotted by the Khmer Rouge, which claimed that the Vietnamese were still covertly occupying the country. When no single party won a majority the KPNLF and FUNCINPEC formed a coalition with two smaller groups.
83. However, Hun Sen refused to give up control of the government, leading to a power-sharing arrangement between the coalition and the PRK.
84. The UN withdrew after the election and China, the US and Thailand stopped their financial aid.
85. Pol Pot went into hiding and continued the insurgency against the government. He was reported to be in command of a shrinking and demoralized Khmer Rouge guerrilla force based in the Phnum Dangrek Range near the northern border with Thailand. Funding for the movement was obtained through the sale of gem mining and logging concessions to Thai interests, with the revenue estimated to be worth about 200 million American dollars a year.
86. 1996 - The Khmer Rouge began to split. In August Ieng Sary, Khmer Rouge foreign minister and 'Brother Number Three', defected to the Cambodian armed forces, bringing about 4,000 guerrillas with him. Ieng Sary subsequently named Pol Pot as the sole instigator of the Khmer Rouge policies of genocide. It was the beginning of the end for the Khmer Rouge, who were now reduced to just a few thousand cadres.
87. 1997 - In June Pol Pot becomes convinced that Son Sen, the Khmer Rouge minister for defense and his friend for 40 years, was collaborating with the Cambodian Government and ordered his execution. Sen's wife and children were also killed.
88. Pol Pot was subsequently arrested by Ta Mok, the Khmer Rouge military commander and 'Brother Number Five'. On 25 July a "peoples' tribunal" sentenced Pol Pot to life imprisonment for Sen's murder. By then, he was reported to be ailing and near death.
89. Meanwhile, Hun Sen and the PRK seized full control of the Cambodian Government in July, using force of arms to oust the coalition in an action that amounts to a military coup.
90. 1998 - Pol Pot died in the evening of 15 April, reportedly from heart failure, although the cause of his death remained unclear. Hours earlier he had learned from a radio broadcast that Ta Mok was willing to hand him over to the government for trial.
91. In May, Cambodian forces captured the last stronghold of the Khmer Rouge in the country.
92. 1999 - In February the last remaining members of the Khmer Rouge were incorporated into the Cambodian armed forces. In March Ta Mok, the last Khmer Rouge leader at large, was arrested.
93. 2001 - A report released by the Documentation Centre of Cambodia (DC-Cam) in July accused seven former Khmer Rouge leaders of direct participation in the atrocities of the Pol Pot regime and verified the existence of "a policy of mass murder devised at the highest levels of power and implemented through a coordinated chain of command."
94. Cambodian Genocide Program at Yale University in 1995 with a grant from the US Department of State was started to collect Khmer Rouge records as a historical resource for the public and as potential evidence in any future trials.
95. By September 2002 the centre had collected 5,922 pages of documents directly implicating a dozen former Khmer Rouge figures in the killings and abuses of the regime. The centre had also identified 19,400 mass graves and documented 167 former prisons, some of which were larger than the notorious Tuol Sleng.
96. The discoveries by the centre caused experts to revise upward the estimated number of victims of the Khmer Rouge from 1.7 million to 2.2-2.5 million.
97. In August 2001 the Cambodian Government passed legislation to set up a joint tribunal of local and international judges and prosecutors to try former leaders of the Khmer Rouge for genocide.
98. Negotiations with the UN over the shape and scope of the tribunal had been underway for a number of years, but without any final resolution. While Cambodia wanted the tribunal to be governed by domestic law and to contain a majority of Cambodia judges, the UN wanted to hold the authority so that it could ensure the conduct of the tribunal meets international standards.
99. 2002 - In February the UN pulled out of the negotiations on the genocide tribunal, saying the arrangements as conceived by the Cambodian authorities "would not guarantee the independence, objectivity and impartiality that a court established with the support of the United Nations must have."
100. While the Cambodian Government vowed to carry on with its own trials, the US State Department and the French Foreign Ministry called for an immediate resumption of talks between the UN and Cambodia.
101. Only two former Khmer Rouge were being held in detention awaiting trial for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes - Ta Mok, the military commander who arrested Pol Pot in 1997, and Kaing Khek Iev (also known as Duch), the governor of the Tuol Sleng detention centre.
102. Most of the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge remained free, including Nuon Chea (also known as Long Reth), one of the members of the 'Paris student group', 'Brother Number Two', and a hard-line and unrepentant supporter of Pol Pot. The former leaders advocated the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission similar to that of one set up in South Africa following the end of apartheid, rather than prosecution in a genocide tribunal.
103. In December, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution to rejuvenate negotiations on the genocide tribunal.
104. 2003 - Talks between the UN and Cambodia on the genocide tribunal resumed at the start of January. An agreement was reached on 17 March and signed by the UN on 6 June. The tribunal would be composed of both Cambodian and foreign prosecutors and judges, with a majority of Cambodians.
105. At the end of the year, on 30 December, Khieu Samphan became the first of the former Khmer Rouge leaders to acknowledge that their regime committed genocide.
106. Meanwhile, the Cambodian Government unveiled a multi-million dollar plan to turn Pol Pot's cremation site and its surrounds into an official "historical tourism" zone. Under the plan, dilapidated Khmer Rouge buildings at the site will be renovated and a new access road constructed from Angkor, about 120 km to the south. The project featured a purpose-built memorial, museum and theatre complex to record the genocide of the Khmer Rouge regime.
107. 2004 - In January Pol Pot's 'Brother Number Two', Nuon Chea, announced that he was willing to face an international genocide tribunal in order to set the record straight.
108. He was admitted that there was a mistake. He said he had an ideology to keep his country free of Vietnamese influences and wanted people to have wellbeing.
109. He denied the deaths were in millions he said the cause of deaths were many.
110. On 4 October the Cambodian National Assembly unanimously ratified the agreement with the UN to set up a genocide tribunal. The Cambodian Senate also approved the agreement. Although no timetable was set for the commencement of proceedings, the tribunal was expected to run for three years and cost 57 million American dollars.
111. 2005 - In April a deal was approved allowing a Japanese company to commercialize a large Khmer Rouge killing field site at Choeung Ek outside Phnom Penh. In return for an annual fee paid to Cambodian authorities the company will be allowed to charge tourists to enter the site.
112. Meanwhile, the establishment of a genocide tribunal came a step closer at the end of April when UN Secretary-general Kofi Annan announced that the UN had received sufficient pledges and contributions to fund the staffing of the extraordinary chambers and their operations for a sustained period of time.
113. According to the UN, donor nations had pledged more than US$40 million towards the running of the tribunal. Cambodia was expected to provide a further US$13 million, although the country later said it could only afford 1.5 million American dollars.
114. On 15 August Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned that the tribunal may not go ahead unless donor nations contributed more funds.
115. Later in August, on the 25th, the UN appointed Michelle Lee, a Chinese national, as the chief administrator for the tribunal.
116. On 30 August the US provided the Documentation Centre of Cambodia with a permanent endowment of 2 million American dollars. Interest from the endowment would be used to assist the funding of the centre.
117. 2006 - In February it was reported that Ieng Sary, former Khmer Rouge foreign minister and 'Brother Number Three', was receiving treatment for a heart condition at a hospital in Thailand. His wife, Khieu Thirith, former Khmer Rouge minister of social affairs, was also hospitalised, for an operation on a broken hip.
118. Further progress was made towards the commencement of the genocide tribunal when 17 Cambodian and 12 foreign jurists were sworn in on 3 July. The swearing in was followed by a three-day workshop during which the jurists discussed the legal procedures to be used by the tribunal.
119. Later in July the Documentation Centre of Cambodia provided the tribunal with over 380,000 pages of incriminating Khmer Rouge documents
120. On 21 July Ta Mok, one of the two the senior Khmer Rouge cadres being held in custody on charges of genocide, eluded justice through his natural death.
121. 2007 - After much wrangling, the Cambodian and international judges appointed to the genocide tribunal agreed on the rules for the proceedings on 13 June. On 19 July prosecutors submitted a list of five former Khmer Rouge leaders who they believed should stand trial. It was reported that those named were Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary, Kaing Khek Iev and Meas Muth, a son-in-law of Ta Mok.
122. Noun Chea was arrested on 19 September. He was charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes, including "murder, torture, imprisonment, persecution, extermination, deportation, forcible transfer, enslavement and other inhumane acts."
123. Ieng Sary and his wife, Khieu Thirith, were arrested and charged on 12 November and were charged with crimes against humanity.
124. Khieu Samphan was admitted to a hospital in Phnom Penh on 13 November. He was arrested immediately after his release from the hospital on 19 November and charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
125. Bail application by Kaing Khek Iev was denied.
126. Kaing Khek Iev was formally charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes on 12 August.
127. 2009 - Kaing Khek Iev's trial began on 17 February . When the trial resumed on 30 March Kaing accepted responsibility for his crimes. Kaing blamed the policies of the Nixon administration for the rise of the Khmer Rouge
128. Talking about the establishment of Tuol Sleng, Kaing said that everyone who was arrested and sent to S-21 (Tuol Sleng) had been presumed dead already. No one,even Pol Pot, the most senior person in the Khmer Rouge, acknowledged that he had no right to release any people. The eventuality of the arrested person was death.
129. Kaing Khek Iev's trial concluded at the end of November. (Now go to the news of verdict passed on him!)
130. Meanwhile, the charges against Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Khieu Thirith were to include genocide
2. More about Khmer Rouge:
1. KHMER ROUGE: A communist terrorist organization formed in Cambodia in 1970;
2. Became a terrorist organization in 1975
3. Captured Phnom Penh and created a government
4. This government killed an estimated three million people;
5. The Khmer rouge was defeated by Vietnamese troops but remained active until 1999.
3. More about Interahamwe
1. Interahamwe is the Armed Forces of Rwanda (FAR) was the army of the ethnic Hutu-dominated Rwandan regime that carried out the genocide of 10,00,000 or more Tutsis and regime opponents in 1994.
2. The Interahamwe is the civilian militia force that carried out much of the killing. The groups merged and recruited additional fighters after they were forced from Rwanda into the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC; then Zaire) in 1994.
3. They became known as the Army for the Liberation of Rwanda (ALIR), which is the armed branch of the PALIR or Party for the Liberation of Rwanda.
4. ALIR has not been formally disbanded
a. In 2001, ALIR was replaced by the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR).
b. Though directly descended from those who organized and carried out the genocide, identified FDLR leaders are not thought to have played a role in the killing.
c. Instead they have worked to build bridges to other opponents of the Kigali regime, including ethnic Tutsis.
5. ALIR sought to topple Rwanda’s Tutsi-dominated government, reinstitute Hutu domination, and, possibly, complete the genocide.
6. In 1996, a message—supposed to be from the ALIR—threatened to kill the US ambassador to Rwanda and other US citizens.
7. In 1999, ALIR guerrillas critical of alleged US-UK support for the Rwandan regime kidnapped and killed eight foreign tourists, including two US citizens, in a game park on the Democratic Republic of Congo-Uganda border.
8. In the 1998-2002 Congolese war, the ALIR/FDLR was allied with Kinshasa against the Rwandan invaders.
a. FDLR’s political wing has mainly sought to topple the Kigali regime via alliance with Tutsi regime opponents.
b. They established the ADRN Igihango alliance in 2002, but it has not resonated politically in Rwanda.
c. Exact strength is unknown, but several thousand FDLR guerrillas operate in eastern DRC close to the Rwandan border.
d. In 2003, the United Nations, with Rwandan assistance, repatriated close to 1,500 FDLR combatants from the DRC (Democratic Republic of the Congo).
e. The senior FDLR military commander returned to Rwanda in November 2003 and has been working with Kigali (Kigali is the national capital and largest city of Rwanda; located in central Rwanda) to encourage the return of his comrades.
9. Location/Area of interahamwe’s Operations is in mostly eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.
10. The DRC provided training, arms, and supplies to ALIR forces to combat Rwandan armed forces that invaded the DRC in 1998 but halted that support in 2002.
11. The abduction of foreign tourists in the Bwindi National Park in Uganda is being blamed on Rwandan rebels also known as the Interahamwe.
12. The Interahamwe are viewed by the Rwandan authorities as the remaining hardcore of the force which carried out much of the mass killing during the genocide of 1994.
13. A Tutsi-led army ended the massacres by seizing power and driving the Hutu extremists out of Rwanda.
14. Close to five years on, the Interahamwe militias are still fighting their own war, sometimes inside Rwanda, but now more often just across the border.
15. The Rwandan Government says a large-scale military campaign has cleaned up the troubled northwest of Rwanda, but accepts that the rebel units have regrouped in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.
16. The Interahamwe's political and military leadership is difficult to identify.
17. But there have been reports that thousands of Rwandan rebels have been brought under arms by Congo President Laurent Kabila to support his fight against Congolese rebels backed by Rwanda and Uganda.
18. Interahamwe are still receiving arms and money from outside supporters as per the UN’s latest report.
19. The militia's main strongholds are thought to be in the mountains along the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
20. It is a region of volcanoes and thick forests, which is also home to hundreds of mountain gorillas.
21. But wildlife tourism, once a lucrative source of revenue, has been severely hit by the continuing conflicts in this part of Africa, and the Interahamwe have made a point of targeting gorilla sites.
22. The abduction and killing of tourists has caused fresh security worries for the authorities in Rwanda and Uganda
| NEWS IN BRIEF WINWAY’S EDUCATION GENERAL AWARENESS |
20 July 2010 CryoSat-2 to find ‘Ice breaks’ near polar region
ESA (European Space Agency) recently launched Cryo Sat-2 satellite specifically for understanding how earth’s ice sheets are changing near Polar Regions. While navigating among near Polar Regions, the ever changing ice sheets pose dangers to the ships. The data arrived from the satellite is studied in detail which is enormously relieving hardship in ship movements in the said polar regions. Since the satellite is being in final commissioning stage, received data are being analysed by more than 150 scientists from 40 research institutes.
More about Antarctica
| Area (Overall) (ice-free) (ice-covered) | 14,000,000 km2 (5,400,000 sq mi) 280,000 km2 (100,000 sq mi) 13,720,000 km2 (5,300,000 sq mi) |
July 22, 2010 Fullerene discovered; existence proved
NASA scientists have discovered spherical fullerene molecules (a form of carbon having a large molecule consisting of an empty cage of sixty or more carbon atoms) first time in space. Fullerene is informally called as buckyball and was named after architectural pioneer Buckminster Fuller. The fullerene is named as buckyball because the shape of the molecule looks like the domes he had built. Fullerene is the largest molecule and in the shape of a soccer ball made of 60 or more atoms arranged in three dimensional spherical shapes. Sir Harry Kroto, Bob Curl and Rick Smalley had received 1996 Nobel Prize for the discovery of buckyballs.
How does fullerene look like?
1. Fullerenes are one of the allotropes of carbon, recently-discovered.
2. The carbon molecules of these fullerenes take form of sphere, tube and ellipsoids.
3. Spherical fullerenes are called buckyballs.
4. Cylindrical fullerenes are called buckytubes or nanotubes.
5. It has been discovered that even a small proportion of fullerene in-take is extremely dangerous
23 July 2010 Venezuela severs diplomatic ties with Colombia
Venezuelan head Hugo Chavez ordered Columbian officials to leave from Venezuela as he announced a diplomatic break off with Columbia over latter’s allegation on Venezuela for nurturing Marxist Farc and ELN guerrillas inside Venezuela. He ordered Venezuelan military to be at full alert along the border
More about........
| Venezuela | Columbia |
| Grand Colombia disintegrated in 1830 to create Venezuela, Ecuador and New Granada. Ecuador and New Granada joined together to make Colombia | Drug trade is the chief fund raising for the guerillas, Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC),who have been engaged in bloody conflict with the government forces during the last forty years. |
| Military strongmen ruled the Venezuela until half of the 20th century and worked better for oil industry | The ill organized insurgency started to collapse from 2002 as the government had declared a complete war with the drug funded terrorism. In this war many ministers, judges have been killed by the guerillas. Hundreds of police, defense personnel had to lose their lives. Even now, many areas are still under the control of drug militias. |
| All democratically elected governments could not be stable ever since first democratic election conducted in 1959. | A paramilitary organization, namely, United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) was organized to protect local people, economic assets and political heads from drug militias like FARC or National Liberation Army (NLA). |
| Hugo Chavez is the president of the country now and tries to remove all negative aspects of present day democracy and works against the capitalist globalization. He has been in power since 1999. | AUC worked and shared informations on insurgency with the government forces. |
| Current issues in Columbia are: 1. Weak democracy. 2. Political polarization. 3. politicized military 4. drug-related violence 5. internal drug consumption 6. overdependence on the petroleum industry 7. unregulated mining operations | AUC was funded from drug trade and political heads, industrial owners and farmers |
| United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) had ceased to function as it was enlisted in European countries and the US as a terrorist organization. | |
| To this effect, more than 31,000 former paramilitaries had demobilized by the end of 2006. | |
| In the wake of the AUC’s demobilization, several armed groups emerged, whose members include some former AUC cadres. |
More on 23 July 2010 - CEO of Kosovo central bank arrested
Kosovo* police arrested the central bank governor Hashim Rexhepi for corruptions charges. EU’s law enforcement designates conduct state-wide in order to purify administration free of money laundering, bribes. Recently few days ago, UN judges of the international court had declared in Hague that Kosovo's declaration of Independence in 2008 was not illegal.
More about Kosovo
1. Ethnic Serbs migrated to the territories of modern Kosovo in the 7th century
2. In Kosovo, many religious sites such as Serbian Orthodox monasteries were built during the medieval period and Kosovo became the center of Serbian Empire.
3. Ottoman rule came to Kosovo with the defeat of Serbian forces at the Battle of Kosovo in 1389 during which Turks and Albanians came in large and settled in Kosovo.
4. Albanians became dominant ethnic group by the end of the 19th century.
5. The rule of Ottoman Empire in Kosovo came to end at the end of First Balkan War of 1912 and Serbia reacquired the control over Kosovo.
6. Kosovo became an autonomous in 1974 with full republic status under Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
7. Albanian nationalism increased in the 1980s, and Kosovo started to witness riots and calls for Kosovo's independence.
8. Milosevic withdrawn the special status given to Kosovo in 1989 Kosovo Albanian leaders responded in 1991 by organizing a referendum that declared Kosovo independent.
9. Serbia tried to repress the Albanian nationalism in the early 1990s as the leader of kosovan Albanians, Ibrahim Rugova had to seek for international assistance and recognition of an independent Kosovo.
10.Disgruntled at Rugova's passive strategy, Albanians 1990s created the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and launched an militant struggle for freedom.
11.From 1998, Serbian military, police, and paramilitary forces conducted a counter insurgency campaign that resulted in massacres and massive expulsions of ethnic Albanians.
12.Approximately 800,000 Albanians were displaced from Kosovo during this time. International attempts to mediate the conflict failed.
13.Milosevic's rejected any peace settlement which led to a three-month NATO military campaign against Serbia that began in March 1999.
14.Serbia was forced to agree to withdraw its military and police forces from Kosovo.
15.Kosovo was placed under the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999) introduced in Kosovo a transitional administration.
16.On 17 February 2008, the Kosovo Assembly declared Kosovo independent.
17.Over sixty countries have recognized Kosovo, and it has joined the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
18.Serbia has not accepted Kosovo's independence and has appealed in International Court of Justice on the legality under international law of Kosovo's independence declaration.
19. International court has approved Kosovo’s declaration of independence, recently
India will release next year laptop at Rs.1500 /-
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal announced a touch screen type laptop at a cost of Rs 1500 soon to be released next year. This laptop will not have hard disk but designed to work with memory stick. Energy for functioning can be derived from solar cells built in the system. Last year there was an announcement of such laptop at a cost of Rs.500/- which never materialized
The largest flower on the earth Blooms in Japan
In a botanical garden in Tokyo has bloomed, Amorphophallus titanum, a rare flower after a gap of 20 years whose height is well above 5 feet. This flower is native of Sumatra Island in Indonesia. What is stinging is its nauseating odor when it has a full bloom.
What is Amorphophallus titanum?
1. Italian botanist and explorer Dr. Odoardo Beccari discovered Amorphophallus titanum in 1878 in the rainforest of central Sumatra in western Indonesia
2. In 1889, the first specimen flowered at Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, England.
3. Whenever the Amorphophallus titanum grows only in western Sumatra.
4. Whenever the Amorphophallus titanum has flowered in cultivation, it has attracted much attention from the public.
5. The 1998 bloom attracted more than 5,500 visitors to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden
6. A 1996 bloom of this species attracted thousands of people to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,
7. A 1970 two-day flowering in Java which attracted 34,000 viewers.
8. The flower was introduced to the United States in 1937 when the New York Botanic Garden Recently a fortnight ago the it has flowered in Japan botanical garden
25 July 2010 Mexico prisoners 'freed for killings' in Durango State
A prison in Durango state of Northern Mexico notorious for not only inmates. The guards and prison authorities let the prisoners take prison vehicle to near by state Torreon and use the guards’ weapons to kill people and return to the prison in Durango. The attack in Torreon killed 17 people in a party gathering. Jail officials are suspected and under investigation. The drug war has taken a new phase with the prison authorities directly taking part in drug related killings. It is not an uncommon involvement of police officials in drug related violence that has tarnished the peace in many cities through out Mexico.
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24 July 2010 ‘Love parade’ turned ‘death march’
An event for peace consolidation which began in 1989 turned as a grand musical festival during the years that followed in Germany. This event in fact began four years before the fall of Berlin1 wall to mark peace demonstration. During later years the festival was attended by famous musicians and pop, rock experts from Europe and other world countries. This year the music festival had to witness some 19 dead and over 500 injured in an unexpected stampede due to underestimation and preparation for the event. The festival was attended by million people from all over the world. Police attempted to stop the gathering people at the entrance of a tunnel as overcrowding was reported at parading ground. The halt at the entrance resulted in stampede as people continued to pour on inside tunnel towards the entrance. The stampede killed 19 on the spot and several hundred injured.
1. The life in the West was much better than in the East after 1948. West Germany including West Berlin had received financial help from the USA.
2. Communist party In East Germany suppressed people.
3. Border between East and West Germany were closed in 1952 as there were a lot of escapes from east to West Germany.
4. Travelling to West Germany became difficult after closing the border between East and West Germany in 1952.
5. More than 2.6 million East Germans escaped to West Berlin or West Germany from 1949 to 1961 (total population of East Germany, by then, was about 17 million).
6. East German citizen were allowed to travel to West Berlin until 1961.
7. The Wall was erected in 1961 so as not to allow anyone cross the border into West Germany.
8. In May 1952 the open border (Zonengrenze) between East and West Germany was closed by the East German government and in the years after 1952 it became more dangerous to escape through this border.
9. However, the borders between East and West Berlin city were not closed. Many East German citizens went to East Berlin and from there to West Berlin. Once arrived in West Berlin they stayed there or fled out to West Germany.
10. East Germany lost too many skilled workers in these years.
11. Another big problem was the two currencies in Germany and especially in Berlin.
12. People with West German currency (Deutsche Mark) could get goods very cheaply in the Eastern part of Berlin.
13. The East German government saw no other way to prevent from escaping to the West via Berlin than closing the border between East and West Berlin on August 13, 1961.
14. Several attempts, such as the uprisings against the Communist dictatorship in Berlin 1953, Budapest 1956 or Prague 1968 to get rid of communism in several countries failed.
15. In 1989, with the first free labor union was founded in the communist Poland, the end of the communist system had begun.
16. The soviet Russia under the leadership of Gorbachev changed its politics in 1984.
17. Gorbachev’s reforms, Perestroika and Glasnost renewed the stalinistic system in the Soviet Union but did not replace the communist system.
18. The reforms in the Soviet Union also had its effects on the other communist countries, especially in Poland and Hungary.
19. On August 23, 1989 Hungary opened the iron curtain to Austria.
20. Months before East German tourists used their chance to escape to Austria from Hungary and in September 1989 more than 13 000 East German escaped via Hungary within three days. It was the first mass exodus of East Germans after the erection of the Berlin Wall in 1961.
21. Mass demonstrations against the government and the system in East Germany begun at the end of September and took until November 1989.
22. Erich Honaker, East Germany's head of state had to resign on October 18, 1989.
23. The new government prepared a new law to lift the travel restrictions for East German citizen.
24. At 10.30 pm on November 9, 1989, thousands of East Berliners went to the border crossings and demanded to open the border and at 10.30 pm the border was opened.
25. Soon after the fall of Berlin wall began
Basic Facts of Berlin Wall
Total border length around West Berlin: 155 km
Border between East and West Berlin: 43.1 km
Border between West Berlin and East Germany: 111.9 km
Border through residential areas in Berlin: 37 km
Concrete segment wall: 3.6m high, 106 km
Wire mesh fencing: 66.5 km
Anti-vehicle trenches: 105.5 km
Contact or signal fence: 127.5 km
Column track: 6-7 mtr wide, 124.3 km
Number of watch towers: 302
Number of bunkers: 20
Persons killed on the Berlin Wall: 192
Persons injured by shooting: 200
Border between East and West Berlin: 43.1 km
Border between West Berlin and East Germany: 111.9 km
Border through residential areas in Berlin: 37 km
Concrete segment wall: 3.6m high, 106 km
Wire mesh fencing: 66.5 km
Anti-vehicle trenches: 105.5 km
Contact or signal fence: 127.5 km
Column track: 6-7 mtr wide, 124.3 km
Number of watch towers: 302
Number of bunkers: 20
Persons killed on the Berlin Wall: 192
Persons injured by shooting: 200
24 July 2010 Drone attack on talibans – 17 killed
Drone is a pilotless aircraft and can be controlled by remote. This craft can launch missiles perfectly on the targets chosen by the ground control. In Pakistan, a recent drone attack on the North West border town of Waziristan is said to have killed 16 Taliban fighters. Frequent drone attacks fuels anti American sentiments in Pakistan.
24 July 2010 Mass grave in Mexico
Drug war in Mexico has developed in to new dimensions in which discovering mass graves are not uncommon. Soldiers in Mexico have uncovered a mass grave with at least 21 bodies in northern Mexico.
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25 July 2010 Junta visit to a democratic country – Wind of foul change?
Myanmar’s military leader Than Shwe arrived in India on five days visit which has received widespread criticism. It is to be mentioned that Myanmar military directly encourages growing opium and runs refining factories for the production and exporting of Heroin, a narcotic drug. Myanmar is noted as well as for human rights violations. Aung San Suu Kyi, a Myanmar’s democratic leader has been kept under house arrest for long inspite of globally known fact that her political party had been democratic elected by the people. The democratic bigheads of the world or the saviors of human rights across the world could not effectively do anything against the ruling military regime. ‘Democratic elections’ are likely to be conducted in Myanmar in which many military leaders will participate. And, naturally there could be a lot of violations which India should ignore if business deal with India has to be successful. This is, said to be the demand of the junta leader’s behind the recent visit. The military leader starts his tour from Bodh Gaya (?) and plans to visit Mahatma Gandhi memorial in Delhi!
More about Myanmar’s JUNTA [Democratic republic (1948–1962)]
1. On 4 January 1948, Burma became an independent republic form colonial status
2. The country was named as the Union of Burma, with Sao Shwe Thaik as its first President and U Nu as its first Prime Minister.
3. Unlike most other former British colonies, it refrained from becoming a member of the Commonwealth.
4. A two-chambered parliament was formed, consisting of a Chamber of Deputies and a Chamber of Nationalities, and multi-party elections were held in 1951–1952, 1956 and 1960.
5. In 1961, U Thant, then the Union of Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations;
6. He was the first non-Westerner to head any international organization.
7. He served as the Secretary General of the UN for ten years.
8. Democratic rule ended in 1962 when General Ne Win led a military coup.
9. He ruled for nearly 26 years transformed the nation to Socialistic interwoven with Buddhism.
10. Between 1962 and 1974, Burma was ruled by a revolutionary council headed by the general, and almost all aspects of society (business, media, production) were nationalized or brought under government control
11. In an effort to consolidate power, Ne Win and many other top generals resigned from the military and took civilian posts and, from 1974, instituted elections in a one-party system.
12. Between 1974 and 1988, Burma was effectively ruled by the Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP) and it was the sole political from 1964 until 1988. Ne Win was heading the government from 1964 to 1988.
13. During this period, Burma ultimately became one of the world's most poverty-stricken countries.
14. Students continually organized sporadic protests against the military rule and were always violently suppressed by the government.
15. On 7 July 1962, the government broke up demonstrations at Rangoon University, killing 15 students.
16. In 1974, the military violently suppressed anti-government protests at the funeral of ‘U Thant’.
17. Student protests in 1975, 1976 and 1977 were also suppressed by ruling military regime.
18. Ne Win's rose to power in 1962 and his persecutions against non ethnic Burmese led to the expulsion of some 300,000 Burmese Indians.
19. A new constitution of the Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma was adopted in 1974 upon which hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims fled Burma and many refugees swamped into Bangladesh including some 200,000 in 1978.
20. In 1988, unrest over economic mismanagement and political oppression by the government led to widespread pro-democracy demonstrations throughout the country known as the 1988 Uprising. Security forces killed thousands of demonstrators, and General Saw Maung staged a coup d'état and the State Law and Order was Restored.
21. In 1989, after widespread protests, martial law was declared .
22. The military government announced People's Assembly elections on 31 May 1989.
23. In 1989, the country's official name was changed from the "Socialist Republic of the Union of Burma" to the "Union of Myanmar".
24. In May 1990, the government held free elections for the first time in almost 30 years.
25. The National League for Democracy (NLD), the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, won 392 out of a total 489 seats, but the election results were quashed by junta government.
26. Aung San Suu Kyi became the winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
27. Since 1992, led by Than Shwe, the military regime has made cease-fire agreements with most ethnic guerilla groups.
28. In 1992, SLORC unveiled plans to create a new constitution through the National Convention, which began 9 January 1993. In 1997, the State Law and Order Restoration Council was renamed the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
29. On 23 June 1997, Myanmar was admitted into the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) [what a nonsense act!]
30. On 27 March 2006, the military junta, which had moved the national capital from Yangon [Rangoon] to a site near Pyinmana in November 2005.
31. In November 2006, the International Labour Organization (ILO) charged the ruling Myanmar junta for crimes against humanity over the continuous forced labor of its citizens
32. According to the ILO, an estimated 800,000 people are subject to forced labor in Myanmar.
33. A series of anti-government protests that started in Burma on 15 August 2007 were all due to heavy price escalations on fuels. The protest demonstrations were dealt with harshly by the junta.
34. Starting 18 September, the protests were led by thousands of Buddhist monks, and those protests were allowed to proceed until a renewed government crackdown on 26 September.
35. During the 2007 anti-government protests a significant role was played by Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition to the Burmese military government.
36. Aung San Suu Kyi had been under strict house arrest since 1989.
37. In September 2007, hundreds of monks paid respects to her at the gate of her home, which was the first time in four years that people were able to see her in public.
38. She was then given a second public appearance on 29 September, when she was allowed to meet with a UN envoy
39. On 7 February 2008, SPDC announced that Elections would be held by 2010.
40. The Burmese constitutional referendum, 2008 was held on 10 May and promised a "discipline-flourishing democracy" for the country in the future.
41. In 1950, the Karen became the largest of 20 minority groups engaged in insurgency against the government of Burma. It is estimated that up to 200,000 Karen have been driven from their homes during decades of war, with 120,000 more refugees living in refugee camps on the Thai side of the border. Many accuse the military government of Burma of ethnic cleansing. More than two million people have fled Burma to Thailand due to the ongoing suppression activities by military junta.
42. On 3 May 2008, Cyclone Nargis devastated the country in which more than 200,000 people were dead or missing, and damage totaled to 10 billion dollars (USD). United Nations relief supply planes were delayed of landing due to the hinderances offered by the junta administration.
43. On 4 May 2009, an American, John Yettaw, allegedly swam across the lake uninvited to the house of Aung San Suu Kyi and remained there for two nights, resulting in the arrest of Yettaw and Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi's house arrest was due to end on 27 May 2009. On 11 August 2009, Suu Kyi was sentenced to an additional 18 months of house arrest following conviction on charges of violating the terms of her previous incarceration.
44. Britain criticized the extention of penalty as an act of preventing Sue Kyi from taking part in the regime's planned elections in 2010.
45. On August 13, 2010, Junta announced the election date for 2010 is November 7.
46. In early August 2009, a conflict known as the Kokang incident broke out in Shan State in northern Burma. For several weeks, junta troops fought against ethnic minorities including the Han Chinese, Va, and Kachin. From August 8–12, the first days of the conflict, as many as 10,000 Burmese civilians fled to Yunnan province in neighboring China.
26 July 2010 Wikileaks released US military records
Over 90,000 secret US records of military offensive against talibans in Afghanistan were released by the wikileaks website. The US president said the records leak is of a concern but the records didn’t reveal any new information. All informations, though not much sensitive, reveal one all about the military activities between 2004-09 and confirm that the US knows that Bin Laden is still alive.
26 July 2010 home made arrack cost seventeen lives.
The poor kenyans could not afford to buy branded liquor.hence home made liquor called ‘changaa’ is famous in kenya. Many houses brew this liquor and sell it. A recent sale of this liquor has a death penalty for the seventeen illicit arrack customers.
More about Kenya
1. Jomo Kenyatta was the founding president of Kenya under whose leadership Kenya gained independence in 1963 and he was the president until his death in 1978.Moi took the power of the presidentship.
2. The country was a de facto one-party state from 1969 until 1982 when the ruling Kenya African National Union (KANU) made itself the sole legal party in Kenya.
3. Political liberalization was chieved in the country as the external pressure was mounting in late 1991.
4. The ethnically fractured opposition failed to rout out KANU from power in elections in 1992 and 1997despite violence and fraud, the people chose KANU as the ruling party.
5. President Moi stepped down in December 2002 following fair and peaceful elections.
6. Mwai Kabuki with a background of multiethnic, united opposition group called the National Rainbow Coalition (NARC), assumed the presidency.
7. KIBAKI’s NARC coalition broke away in 2005 over the constitutional review process.
8. The defectors from the ruling coalition had joined with KANU to form a new opposition coalition, the Orange Democratic Movement.
9. The Orange Democratic Movement defeated the government’s draft constitution in a popular referendum in November 2005.
10. Kabuki was reelected in December 2007 as president. Along with it rose the charges of vote rigging from ODM candidate Raila Odinga.
11. The violence followed the charges killed more than 1500 people in two months of violence.
12. UN-sponsored talks in late February,2008 led to a government with Odinga as prime minister and Kabuki as the president on power sharing
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27 July 2010 Russia rejects UN sanction on Iran
Russia has criticised on the EU’s (European Union) economical sanctions on Iran’s adventure of nuclear interests. Iran’s responded that the sanctions are deeply regrettable but said would continue its uranium enriching work. Tehran said that it was enriching uranium purely for peaceful purposes, but EU considers it of trying to secretly develop a nuclear weapon.
More about Russia
1. Russia is situated on the great Eurasian plane and was vulnerable to invasions from both the East and the West (Mongols, 13-14th century; French, 1812 and Germens, 1941)
2. But under the Monarchies of Moscow (15-16th cent.) Russia was expanding once a centralized autocratic state emerged.
3. Adoption of Orthodox Christianity from Byzantium at the end of first millennium brought Russia into the fold of Christian Europe and at the same time set it apart from the Roman Catholic West.
4. It was the beginning of Russia’s mixed emotional attitude towards the West and the recurrent belief in the country’s destiny as the bearer of true faith.
5. Russia emerged on the world stage under Peter the Great (1682-1725) without renaissance and reformation. It should be noted that where the reforms (Literature, music, art, theater, ballet, film, science, weapons and space technology were notable ones) achievements over the last two centuries have been spectacular. He was selective adoption of modern Western institutions in war, industry, science, and education without diminishing Russia’s virtual statehood or confiscatory taxation laws.
6. Russia’s political weakness is concentration of power at the top- be it Tsarism or communism.
7. Russia was liberated from communism and consolidation in to institute federal democracy has been going on as long process while its market economy is in orientation with the West.
More on 27 July 2010 - Truth is crystalline
Dr. Hans Blix, former UN’s chief weapons inspector said that he has a plain and firm view that the US war against Iraq is ‘illegal’. The inspectors had visited 500 sites in Iraq and conducted 700 inspections throughout the period ended in 2003 and found no mass destruction weapons. They ought to have searched for such weapons either in the US or in any EU member countries or in Lanka. The liquidation of Iraq is a perfect example for UN’s ideological murder of innocent sovereign nation. Wrong people in wrong places!
Yes. You can sail!
The district court of Middleburg in the Netherlands has given legal consent for the 14 year old Dutch girl to sail around the world solo. The voyage will be of two year period and if she completes the trip, she will be the youngest person to have sailed the earth solo. She was born on a yacht and owned a yacht at six. She sailed solo at the age ten. And when she wanted to sail around the globe solo, the problem started. The court declined permission and ordered to keep her under surveillance last October. She once escaped the surveillance and returned home in a desperate attempt. Now she, Laura Decker, has what she has wanted so far. Laura plans to break the record set in by a sixteen year old Australian girl Jessica Watson.
More about Netherlands
1. The Dutch United Provinces declared their independence from Spain in 1579;
2. During the 17th century, they became a leading seafaring and commercial power, with settlements and colonies around the world.
3. After a 20-year French occupation, a Kingdom of the Netherlands was formed in 1815.
4. In 1830 Belgium seceded and formed a separate kingdom.
5. The Netherlands remained neutral in World War I,
6. But suffered invasion and occupation by Germany in World War II.
7. A modern, industrialized nation, the Netherlands is also a large exporter of agricultural products.
8. The country was a founding member of NATO and the EEC (now the EU), and participated in the introduction of the euro in 1999
Gaza is an open air prison
David Cameron rightly called blockaded Gaza strip a prison. He also condemned Israeli attack on the turkey aid ships in which nine people were killed. Israel’s definition for the gazans is that they are the prisoners of Palestinian militant group Hamas! Israel somewhat approaches Sinhalese ideologies but the latter hasn’t had any bitter experiences as Israel had in the past. No prime minister of UK has ever been so tough with the Israel in the past.
If blockaded Gaza is an open-air prison, how could the open air detention centres in Lanka be called? One can gain access to Gaza, but except a Sinhalese soldier and a Sinhalese policeman, no one is entitled to enter northern lanka and the deep forest prisons in the south.
More about Gaza
1. Through the September 1993 Israel-PLO Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government, a transitional Palestinian self rule in the West Bank and Gaza Strip acme to existence.
2. Israel granted limited autonomy to Palestinians in west bank and Gaza strip as ‘intifada’ arose against Israel occupation in 2000
3. US, EU, UN, and Russia-which are called Quartet- presented guideline for democratic Palestine and Israel
4. Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's died in 2004.
5. Mahmud Abbas was elected of Palestine in January 2005.
6. A month later, Israel and the PA agreed to move the peace process forward.
7. In September 2005, Israel unilaterally pulled out and dismantled its military facilities in the Gaza Strip. And Israel withdrew settlers and soldiers from small West Bank settlements.
8. However, Israel still controls maritime, airspace, and most access to the Gaza Strip; and it enforces a restricted zone along the border inside Gaza.
9. In January 2006, the Islamic Resistance Movement, HAMAS, won control of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC).
10.Al-Fatah is a Palestinian political and military organization founded by Yasser Arafat in 1958 to work toward the creation of a Palestinian state; during the 1960s and 1970s Al-Fatah had trained terrorist and insurgent groups. Al-Fatah carried out numerous acts of international terrorism in western Europe and the Middle East in the 1970s"
11.During the deadly clashes between Fatah and Hamas supporters in the Gaza Strip in 2006 and in early 2007 resulted in numerous Palestinian deaths and injuries.
12.In February 2007, Abbas and Hamas signed the Mecca Agreement in Saudi Arabia that resulted in the formation of a Palestinian National Unity Government (NUG) headed by Hamas member Ismail Haniya.
13.However, fighting continued in the Gaza Strip, and in June 2007, HAMAS militants succeeded in a violent takeover of all military and governmental institutions in the Gaza Strip. Abbas dismissed the NUG and through a series of presidential decrees formed a PA government in the West Bank led by independent Salam Fayyad.
14.Hamas rejected the NUG's dismissal, and despite multiple rounds of Egyptian-brokered reconciliation negotiations, the two groups have failed to bridge their differences.
15.There were clashes between Israeli-Palestinian from Late November 2007 through June 2008 in which more than 1000 Palestinians were dead and drove tens of thousands of people to refugee camps.
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28 July 2010 Zheng He, the peace loving mariner of China!
What is the sociological connection between china and Kenya? Astounding? Yes there is a relativity. Zheng He was from a central Asian Muslim family who fought for Mongols against the newly born Ming dynasty in china 600 years ago. Mongols were defeated by Ming and, zheng he was castrated at the age of ten as per the Ming custom. How he rose to be a successful mariner among Ming regime is not clear. Zheng he was a sea farer and was said to have sailed seven voyages including across Indian Ocean. This admiral said to have commanded 30,000 troops and a large fleet of 300 ships. But both western and eastern historians believe zheng he was a peace lover. Though he was a sea master, he, when landed in new lands like Kenya in coastal Africa, had brought along with him porcelain artefacts, gold and other valuable things such as silks and got them exchanged with ivory, perfumes etc from Arabian moors. Recently, Chinese porcelain artefacts have been found on the sea bed of Kenyan coast. China shows interest in unearthing the ship wreck that took place some six hundred years ago. The ill-fated ship is said to be one of the fleet commanded by Zheng He and has a treasure of gold and other valuable artefacts. He died in 1433 aged 62. He was buried in the Chinese city of Nanjing.
More about Ming dynasty
1. The founder of the Ming Dynasty was Zhu and he was a poor man
2. When he gained power, He was very suspicious of the educated courtiers around him and exerted an extremely authoritarian regime
3. When Zhu Yuanzhang took over the whole responsibilities of the imperial administration, he abolished crucial ministries and secretaries.
4. To control the highest officials at the court, he installed a kind of secret service staffed with the only kind of people, eunuchs. The central government that was often deeply influenced by some high ranking eunuchs.
5. The authoritarian and centralized politics of the Ming government lead to a status of immovability and orthodoxy.
6. The second emperor of Ming was overthrown by his own uncle. During his reign Ming Dynasty had most flourishing time.
More on 28 July 2010 afghan blast – 25 dead
25 killed and 20 wounded in afghanistan when a roadside bomb went off blasting a bus into pieces.this was the handiwork of the NATO says The Taliban. In a recent gruesome attack - said to be a rocket strike by NATO- killed 52 civilians in a village. Afghan government confirmed this attack was one of a crossfire between NATO and Taliban forces.
More about Taliban
1. The Taliban are fundamentalist Sunni Muslims,
2. They are mostly from Afghanistan’s Pashtun tribes.
3. The Taliban dominates large swaths of Afghanistan and a large part of Pakistan’s Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
4. The Taliban seek to establish a puritanical caliphate that neither recognizes nor tolerates forms of Islam deviating from their own.
5. They contempt democracy or any secular or pluralistic political procedure as an offense against Islam.
6. It is considered that the Taliban’s version of Islamic law, or Sharia, is fundamentally deviant from prevailing interpretations of Islamic law and practice
7. The Taliban is a Wahhabi Islamist political movement that governed Afghanistan from 1996 until it was overthrown in late 2001.
8. It has regrouped and revived as a strong insurgency movement since 2004 and fighting a guerrilla war against the governments of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the NATO forces.
9. The Taliban movement has volunteers from nearby Islamic countries such as Uzbeks, Tajikistan, Punjabis in Pakistan, Arabs, Chechens and others
10. It operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan, mostly in provinces around the Durand Line border.
11. The main leader of the Taliban movement is Mullah Mohammed Omar, who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan with a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture. Every often the US says, he has been killed.
12. While in ruling, the Taliban has been recognised only by three countries in the world; they are Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates
13. Taliban has lost one of its Pakistani leaders, Baitullah Mehsud, in a CIA missile strike.
14. Pakistan has launched an offensive to force the Taliban from its territory.
15. While in power, the Taliban enforced one of the strictest interpretations of Sharia law never seen in the Muslim world
16. Taliban became notorious internationally for their treatment of women.
17. Women were forced to wear the burqa in public. They were allowed neither to work nor to be educated after the age of eight, and until then were permitted only to study the Qur'an.
Air bus crashed in Pakistan
An Airbus A321 with 146 passengers and six crew on board crashed near Islamabad, Pakistan killing all the passengers aboard. The private owned domestic flight took off from Karachi, a coastal city in Pakistan and was to land at Islamabad, the capital city. Bad weather could be the chief cause for the crash
Botnet creator arrested in Slovenia
Botnet is a set of programs designed to run on Windows Operating Systems which steal business informations and other credit card details etc., and send them to the creator without the knowledge of the user. A 23 year old hacker, that is, the creator of the program was caught in Slovenia. The Botnet program infected more than 12 million PCs around the world.
More about Slovenia
1. The Slovene lands were part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until the latter's dissolution at the end of World War I.
2. In 1918, the Slovenes joined the Serbs and Croats in forming a new multinational state, which was named Yugoslavia in 1929.
3. After World War II, Slovenia became a republic of the renewed Yugoslavia, which though Communist, distanced itself from Moscow's rule.
4. Dissatisfied with the exercise of power by the majority Serbs, the Slovenes succeeded in establishing their independence in 1991 after a short 10-day war.
5. Historical ties to Western Europe, a strong economy, and a stable democracy have assisted in Slovenia's transformation to a modern state.
6. Slovenia acceded to both NATO and the EU in 2004.
Britain supplies 57 hawk training jets to India
Rolls Royce and BAE Systems have signed a pact with India to deliver 57 hawk training jets.
5180 Crore worth of the deal will supply jet crafts fitted with Rolls Royce engines. These crafts are used to train the pilots by the IAF. BAE had already an order in 2004 for 66 of such hawk jets to India
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29 July 2010 A largest haul, indeed!
Mexican cartels’ recent business orientation is not smuggling drugs in to the US but producing the drugs in the US itself. In California State, the Mexicans have illegally grown marijuana and refine them in almost industrial like facilities. In a major campaign, DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) have seized $1.7 billion dollar worth of marijuana plants in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. 97 Mexicans were arrested and 500 pounds of marijuana also was seized from their possession
29 July 2010 Sorry I cannot approve it!
During the First World War, Austria and Hungary were defeated. In 1929,The kingdom of Serbia, Croats and Slovenes united together to form Yugoslavia. But ethnic differences were as ever before. During the second Great War, the region was invaded by both axis and allies which fuelled the ever existing ethnic controversies. Yugoslavia became a federal state consisting six equal republics. Kosovo and Vojvodina were recognised with autonomous statehood in Serbia. Though the bondage between the states was kept secured, due to natural enmity between varied ethnicities, Yugoslavia collapsed in to separate states.
A series of splits led to the civil war in Croatia and Bosnia followed which Muslim –Croats federation and Bosnian Serb republics were born. Until 2006, Serbia and Montenegro were the residual of breaking Yugoslavia and when Montenegro seceded from Serbia, Yugoslavia disappeared from the world map. Kosovo was a terrible place during the NATO bombing of Serbia in 1999. After nearly three month NATO’s campaign, Serbia accepted that the UN could man the Kosovo. UN was managing Kosovo and Kosovo seceded from former Yugoslavian special territoryhood in 2008 which has not been approved by the Serbia. As a latest development, the international court in Hague declared that Kosovo’s secession is not against international law which was also strongly condemned by Serbia. United Nations recent draft resolution says “unilateral secession should not be a way of resolving territorial disputes”. Serbia supports the draft but Kosovo naturally condemns it.
29 July 2010
A French woman was arrested for killing her eight babies as soon as she gave birth to them. Her explanation for her odd behavior is this: she didn’t want any more children! And she didn’t wish to approach a doctor for contraception! East or west, ignorance prevails everywhere! In fact, killing babies in numerical has not been new to Europe.
30 July 2010 The ‘king of crystal’ eliminated in Mexico.
Who rules the state of Mexico has been a long time debate. Drug cartels or the government has been, the question. Finally, the President Felipe Calderon declared war on drug mafias. Ignacio Nacho Coronel is the close associate of Joaquin Guzman, the drug giant of Sinaloa drug cartel. Nacho Coronel was known as the "King of Crystal". He produces, refines, smuggles crystalline methamphetamine into the US and market it. The US had offered a 5 million dollar reward for information on his whereabouts. Both the US and Mexican government had issued arrest warrants for Ignacio. On a tip off, military conducted a sudden raid and he was killed in the ensuing shoot out.
31 July 2010 Oh my! I never thought of attacking him!
After Colombia presented videos, photos and maps as proof for Columbia’s charges on Venezuela that the latter harbors nearly 1,500 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and National Liberation Army (ELN) inside Venezuela. In the wake of this situation, Columbia complained of Venezuela’s nurturing of Columbian rebels on its territory. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez denied the charges and in a dramatic turn, Venezuela severed relationship with Columbia. Moreover, Venezuela vehemently blamed Columbia planning for an attack on Venezuela which was rejected by Columbia. Venezuela has reinforced its border areas with extra forces.
More about FARC rebels of Columbia
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
(Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC)
(Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia – FARC)
1. Established in 1964 as the military wing of the Colombian Communist Party, the FARC is Colombia’s oldest, largest, most capable, and best-equipped Marxist insurgency.
2. The FARC is organized along military lines and includes several urban fronts.
3. In February 2002, the group’s slow-moving peace negotiation process with President Andres Pastrana's administration was terminated by Bogota following the FARC's plane hijacking and kidnapping of a Colombian Senator from the aircraft.
4. On 7 August, the FARC launched a large-scale mortar attack on the Presidential Palace where President Alvaro Uribe was being inaugurated.
5. FARC has 9,000 to 12,000 armed fighters and several thousand more sympathizers, mostly in rural areas.
6. FARC’s activities include—extortion, kidnapping in Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador.
7. Some FARC units raise funds through extortion or by protecting cocaine laboratory operations In return for cash payments, or possibly in exchange for weapons.
8. Some FARC and ELN units are independently involved in limited cocaine laboratory operations. Some FARC units in southern Colombia are reported to be directly involved in drug trafficking activities, such as controlling local cocaine base markets.
9. Bombings, murder, mortar attacks, kidnapping, extortion, hijacking, as well as guerrilla and conventional military action against Colombian political, military, and economic targets.
10. In March 1999, the FARC executed three US Indian rights activists on Venezuelan territory after it kidnapped them in Colombia. Foreign citizens often are targets of FARC kidnapping for ransom.
11. Although the Colombian government has given the FARC political status and has attempted to negotiate with this terrorist organization to stop the recruitment of minors, the FARC has refused.
12. The Colombian government's Family Welfare Institute estimates that at least 30 percent of the FARC's fighters are younger than 18,
13. During recent skirmishes between the Army and a FARC column, 32 of the 77 fighters captured by army troops were under 18 years old, and 19 of those were 15 and under. Of the 46 FARC fighters who were killed in the skirmishes, 20 were children.
14. AUC- A terrorist organization in Colombia formed in 1997 as an umbrella for local and regional paramilitary groups; is financed by earnings from narcotics and serves to protect the economic interests of its members. the AUC conducted over 800 assassinations in one year
15. The UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) estimates that there were about 6,000 minors serving in the FARC and AUC terrorist groups last year.
16. The FARC broke off negotiations with the government in October 2001, protesting government security measures around the zone and military flights over the territory.
17. On 12 January 2002, President Pastrana gave the FARC 48 hours to come up with a new proposal for talks, or, he said, he would abolish the safe zone he had granted them three years earlier as a condition for talks.
18. Colombian army units took up positions around the zone and many people here feared a major escalation of the war was imminent.
19. That crisis was averted on 14 January 2002, when the FARC agreed to immediate talks, and dropped the complaint about government security measures. The resulting agreement on a timetable for talks represents the most significant advance toward peace in Colombia in nearly four decades of drug war.
20. On 20 January 2002 representatives of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, signed an agreement with the government of President Andres Pastrana that set a timetable for peace negotiations.
21. Less than four hours before the deadline for an agreement set by President Pastrana was to expire, the rebels and government negotiators announced their plan for talks.
22. The last-minute accord prevented what many feared would be an escalation of the 38-year civil conflict. The timetable included a number of target dates for completing discussions of such issues as a cease-fire, kidnappings and other action that harm civilians, and the dismantling of anti-rebel para-military groups.
23. The timetable set 7 April 2002 as the deadline for reaching an accord on these issues.
24. On 12 February, 2003 a plane tasked to the program working on eradicating Colombia's coca plantations and flying on a routine reconnaissance mission, crash landed in FARC territory.
25. The plane was carrying a Colombian sergeant and four American contractors. Once located it was discovered that the Colombian soldier and one of the American passengers had been shot by FARC rebels and the three other Americans were taken captive. The three American hostages were accused of being CIA spies and were used as bargaining leverage to negotiate a prisoner exchange with the Colombian government.
26. The FARC are believed to be in possession of hundreds of kidnapping victims ranging from Colombian politicians, policemen and other prominent figures.
27. In 2004 President Uribe launched a large military operation called "Patriot Plan" involving 15,000 government soldiers who pushed into FARC controlled territory in an attempt to wrest part of the countryside from rebel hands and capture key Guerilla leaders.
28. The plan was partially successful causing the FARC to retreat and lose territory they had controlled for decades. The Patriot Plan was limited in its success of capturing key FARC leaders producing few apprehensions and driving most of the group's top leaders into deeper hiding..
29. There was a resurgence of violence in early 2005 when 50 Colombian soldiers were killed in the month of February.
30. Also in 2005, 3 Irish Republican Army (IRA) members who were awaiting final sentencing for training the FARC on IRA bomb tactics fled Colombian parole and resurfaced in Ireland. They were detained and questioned by the Irish national police and released without charge. The Colombian government requested their extradition. Ireland does not have an extradition treaty with Colombia; the case remained under review and the three fugitives at large.
31. In August 2005, the Brazilian Federal Police arrested Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) "spokesman" Francisco Antonio Cadena Collazos under an international warrant. In August 2006, the Government of Brazil granted him political asylum and denied Colombia's extradition request.
32. On 3 September and 25 October 2007, Colombian authorities announced the deaths of commanders which is considered serious blows to the FARC.
33. In November 2007, President Alvaro Uribe agreed to a request of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba, to act as intermediaries for a possible "humanitarian exchange" of FARC-held hostages for FARC prisoners in Colombian jails.
34. The Colombian government-sanctioned effort ended in November after Chavez and Cordoba repeatedly failed to adhere to Colombia's guidelines. Nevertheless, Chavez continued his efforts to gain the release of hostages including a failed effort at year's end involving the promised release of three Colombian hostages to an international delegation that included former-Argentine President Nestor Kirchner.
35. The Government of Colombia revealed that the FARC had turned over Emmanuel to a sympathizer, who had in turn placed the child in Colombian social services. Confusion over Emmanuel's whereabouts coupled with FARC allegations that the Colombian military was operating in the area led the FARC to temporarily call off the release. The FARC, under intense public pressure, eventually turned over Rojas and Gonzales to President Chavez.
36. In March 2008 Colombia forces mounted a raid against the FARC in Ecuador, leading to the capture of laptop computers and other intelligence. The raid resulted in an immediate regional crisis over the apparent Colombian violation of Ecuadoran sovereignty, with both Ecuador and Venezuela mobilizing military forces.
37. The Colombian authorities initially suggested that the raid had been conducted with Ecuadoran approval, but later appeared to back away from this assertion. In return Colombian authorities claimed the intelligence recovered proved links between the governments of both Ecuador and Venezuela and the FARC. The crisis and potential military confrontation were later resolved, but an investigation continued into the allegations of regional support for the FARC.
38. The FARC found itself in late 2004 in the middle of a growing diplomatic crisis between Colombia and Venezuela. On 12 January 2005, Colombia's defense minister acknowledged that the Colombian government had paid bounty hunters to seize Rodrigo Granda, a member of the FARC, from neigboring Venezuela.
39. President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela subsequently described the capture, which occurred on the streets of Caracas, as a violation of his country's sovereignty and demanded an explanation.
40. The Colombian government refused to divulge any information pertaining to the capture. For weeks the government had claimed the capture had occured in the Colombian border city of Cucuta.
41. Any details relating to who was involved in the operation and how much they were paid are still unknown. A Venezuelan lawmaker, Luis Tascon, claimed that the amount was $1.5 million-an amount the Colombian government later denied. Defense Minister Jorge Alberto Uri be has asserted that Colombian agents were not involved, while a close ally of President Alvaro Uribe has claimed that "Venezuelan agents" had carried out the operation.
42. Adding to the mystery was the detainment of four Colombian officers in Venezuela just days before the capture. The four officers were suspected of taking photographs of military installations in the central city of Maracay, but were later released without being charged.
43. In a 14 January 2005 communiqué, the Colombian government claimed "The United Nations prohibits member nations to provide safe haven to terrorists in an “active or passive” manner... Mr. Granda participated in a Bolivarian Congress held in Caracas on December 8 and 9 of 2004, in representation of the FARC."
44. Rodrigo Granda, a senior FARC member, was reportedly responsible for garnering international support for the FARC. This, in sum, could be described as the source of the current conflict between Colombia and Venezuela.
45. Colombia has often complained about the lack of cooperation from the Chavez government in cracking down on leftist rebels.
46. On 16 January 2005, the Colombian government released this 9-point statement:
1. The right of the people to be free of terrorists needs the efficient and resolute cooperation of all democratic governments.
2. Colombia pays rewards to informants who allow the capture of terrorists. It does not bribe. Venezuela must present proof supporting the alleged bribe to government officials.
3. We cannot be cynically deceived by the FARC which presents the capture of kidnappers like kidnapping.
4. Colombia will present proof to the Venezuelan Government regarding the protection provided by officials of that country to Mr. Granda. The safe haven provided to terrorists violates the sovereignty of Colombia, an offended country, for it increases the risk of terror against its citizens.
5. Colombia does not accept that representatives of terrorist organizations be admitted in a political event sponsored by official Venezuelan institutions.
6. With surprise it is read in the Foreign Affairs Office in Venezuela communiqué, the intention of involving 4 Colombian police officers in the Granda case. The Venezuelan authorities timely new that it concerned another antinarcotics operation. They were investigated and released.
7. Colombia has used the diplomatic and official channels. What is demanded is that such channels operate in an efficient manner. Once again, information will be delivered to that Government concerning the presence of Colombian terrorists on Venezuelan soil. The name of 7 high ranking terrorist leaders and the location of various camps will be included.
8. The will of the Colombian Government to work in harmony with the Government of Venezuela is reiterated and according to the procedure defined by the Offices of Foreign Affairs.
9. Terrorism cannot harm the unity of our nations.
47. As of 17 January 2005, the crisis between the two countries continued. President Hugo Chavez agreed to meet with President Alvaro Uribe in a bilateral meeting.
48. By the end of January 2005 the diplomatic standoff between the two countries appeared to be improving. On January 28 representatives from Colombia and Venezuela met in Lima, Peru.
49. Tensions with the countries reached even more serious levels, following a 2008 Colombian raid against the FARC in Ecuador, with President Hugo Chavez mobilizing military forces before a meeting with Alvaro Uribe appeared to defuse the situation.
50. Major economic links between Colombia and Venezuela, as well as Colombia and Ecuador were said to be a factor in resolving the crisis.
1 August 2010 “Our characters change due to their presence here!”
Israel immigration laws are very hard for those who are not Jews. Israel says all illegal immigrants will be deported out of Israel as they considered as spoiling the Jewish culture. Drug addiction and other behavioural virtues which are thought of alien in nature to Jewish society are brought in to Israel by the illegal settlers. They bring diseases and need to be reformed, says Israel. Spot checks are done on the streets if any Palestine children reside illegally. In this way Israeli govt has marked off hundreds of children to be deported along with the parents. After a prolonged pressure, the Israeli government has given permission to the children who go to school and speak Hebrew and have absorbed Jewish culture to stay.
1 August 2010 “Magnanimous Brazil”
The religious court of Iran has condemned 43 year old Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani to death by pelting stone for adultery and murder. After international furore against the verdict, the religious government said she would not be stoned to death. But she might face death by hanging. She gave interview to the world press agencies that she had no role in the murder of her husband. Also she says she was forced to confess the crime. She was acquitted from murder charges. But charges of adultery are pending. We do not know why this issues much to Brazil. The president of Brazil, Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva offered asylum to the said woman in Brazil and asked to permit her to Brazil. But the Iran rejected Brazil’s offer of asylum.
1 August 2010 Rebels sometimes retire!
Chechen leader Doku Umarov has announced retirement showing reasons of ageing! He had straightly took part in two wars against Russia and one of active heads in the north caucus region’s Islamite fundamentalist interests. He was the key element in Moscow metro bombing in last March which claimed 40 lives! He is said to be involved in the extra judicial killing of Chechens who were in connection with Russia.
Excess internet leads to one and half time depression among teenagers, recent Chinese findings says. Agitation, addictive and loss of social interaction are the chief results due to excessive browsing. Internet viewing generally leads the youth sleepless nights and is sufficient reasons to develop stress that ultimately cause depression.
US troops are going back home
The president of the United States has said that the US troops will cease all operations by 31, august and will be heading back home. About 50,000 troops will station in Iraq until the end of 2011 to protect US interests and to ‘train’ the iraqian army there.
You are defeated in the war!
Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari says that the international authorities have failed in tackling Taliban in Afghanistan. Also the coalition government in the country could not win the hearts of people. David Cameroon criticised Pakistan that it has some people in the administration who have double minds in Taliban issue.
Karachi Killings
Raza Haider, A sitting MP of Karachi, Pakistan was shot dead followed which a bloody violence that killed 45 people. Buses were burnt down and more than100 people injured. The supporters of the dead say that the assailants are from Pashtu sect which dominates the MQM party which is in coalition of ruling PPP.
More events on the 03.08.2010
The Russian fire
The fire started on 29th of July at a naval logistics base at Kolomna, 100kilometre east of Moscow continued to rage throughout until 4th august. The fire began to engulf a large area of 465,000 acres with fires numbering over 520 and still burning. Thousands of people were driven out of their houses which were destroyed in fire. 14 regions are marked with fire rage and one fifth of Russian crops have been lost with 48 dead due to fire. All nuclear materials were removed from burning sites. Air pollution has increased from four to 10 times above normal. Nearly 1,55,000 personnel are being expended in fighting fires.
St.John’s
Bone fragments said to be of St.John the Baptist is discovered in Sveti Ivan Island near Bulgaria's southern Black Sea inn july. To claim its credibility, further tests are being conducted
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4 August 2010 the menace continues
The five naxalites in Chhattisgarh were killed in a jungle operation by police. These Maoists are said to be fighting for the rights of rural people in central Indian states which is described by the Indian government as biggest internal security issue.
More on 4 August 2010 - violence in the valleys
More than fifty people killed in the latest violence in Kashmir valleys. The protest by people against the presence of paramilitary has irritated the local people which was said to be the latest reason for the uprisings against Indian administration in Kashmir. The prime minister has announced during the Independence Day speech that the union government is ready for open talk with all the militant organization in Kashmir
Ariane 5 launched
Ariane 5 was launched today from French Guiana to place two communication satellites, Nilesat-201 and Rascom-QAF1R in to geostationary orbits. This is the 52nd mission in the series of launching satellites. Nilesat gives broad band television service to North Africa and the Middle East. Rascom is exclusively for communication in the rural Africa
5 August 2010 – Shifting Aurora due to solar prominence
[This article from O'Dell, C. R. "Aurora." World Book Online Reference Center. 2005. World Book, Inc. http://www.worldbookonline.com /wb /Article?id=ar038160]
An aurora is a natural display of light in the sky that can be seen with the unaided eye only at night. An auroral display in the Northern Hemisphere is called the aurora borealis, or the northern lights. A similar phenomenon in the Southern Hemisphere is called the aurora australis. Auroras are the most visible effect of the sun's activity on the earth's atmosphere.
Most auroras occur in far northern and southern regions. They appear chiefly as arcs, clouds, and streaks. Some move, brighten, or flicker suddenly. The most common color in an aurora is green. But displays that occur extremely high in the sky may be red or purple. Most auroras occur about 60 to 620 miles (97 to 1,000 kilometers) above the earth. Some extend lengthwise across the sky for thousands of miles or kilometers.
Auroral displays are associated with the solar wind, a continuous flow of electrically charged particles from the sun. When these particles reach the earth's magnetic field, some get trapped. Many of these particles travel toward the earth's magnetic poles. When the charged particles strike atoms and molecules in the atmosphere, energy is released. Some of this energy appears in the form of auroras.
Auroras occur most frequently during the most intense phase of the 11-year sunspot cycle. During this phase, dark patches on the sun's surface, called sunspots, increase in number. Violent eruptions on the sun's surface, known as solar flares, are associated with sunspots. Electrons and protons released by solar flares add to the number of solar particles that interact with the earth's atmosphere. This increased interaction produces extremely bright auroras. It also results in sharp variations in the earth's magnetic field called magnetic storms. During these storms, auroras may shift from the polar regions toward the equator.
5 August 2010 worst flooding in Pakistan
More than 1600 were dead, many hundreds of people are missing and early forty lakhs of people are affected by the ever worst flooding in Pakistan. In Indian occupied Kashmir more than hundred are dead. In Pakistan, 650,000 houses were destroyed and 10,000 cows have died. Crops in 14 lakhs of acre land have been destroyed in the flood. Meanwhile, in Sindh province, the government issued red alert and 50 lakhs of people have been evacuated
7 August 2010 miners trapped in Chile
Rescue workers in Chile are trying to reach 34 miners who are trapped underground at San Jose gold and silver mine in northern Chile. While working 450 meters below the surface of earth, a boulder, under which the tunnel is dug, collapsed and the tunnel was blocked. The mining authorities, as of 14th of august, are using advanced probe to reach the trapped miners. Through the drilled holes, if miners are alive, food, communication can be offered to them.
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Clashes on Israel-Lebanon border
On the third of this month, violent clashes between Israel and Lebanon occurred on the border which killed two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and a senior Israeli officer. Lebanon has said that it has a plan to rearm to face any eventual Israeli air intrusions and border violations. America has assisted Lebanese army with 720 dollar funding since the bloodiest war broke out between Israel and Lebanon in 2006. What worries the Israeli is that the arming of Lebanon would help Hezbollah favorably reinforce their arm power though the Hezbollah didn’t take part in the recent clashes. Meanwhile, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the hezbulla leader has said that if Israel continues to attack again, his guerillas will answer back
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