In India secularism has become a slave of religious lobbies

In India secularism has become a slave of religious lobbies: "Eighteen years after the Bombay riots, if I still remember the face of the Hindu woman who wanted me to walk with her in the streets that were fast getting deserted on that December 6, then it certainly means the scars have not faded. On any other occasion we could have swapped clothes and stories, but on that day she was a Hindu and I a Muslim.

I did not tell her; it was my secret, my cranny identity. She told me, with fear of ‘them’ in her quivering voice. I wanted to laugh through my unwept tears. The burden of proving wounds was on the prey. Years later it is the same. The strategy has changed, though. In the forward-looking India, secularism has become a slave of religious lobbies. To bait Muslims and demand progressive thinking is part of an agenda."

The US-China-India geopolitical triangle

The US-China-India geopolitical triangle: "And one also does not have to be a genius to know that the best position to occupy in this geopolitical triangle is to be in the middle position. Hence, for example, if India’s relations with both the US and China are better than the US-China bilateral relationship, this will give India a significant geopolitical advantage.So far, the United States enjoys the position of being in the middle. Despite the obvious geopolitical rivalries and tension, the bilateral relationship between the US and China could not be stronger. The total amount of US-China trade last year was $366 billion. China enjoyed a massive trade surplus of $196 billion in the same year. In return, the US enjoys a massive amount of cheap loans from China in the form of over $1 trillion of US treasury bill purchases."

How Are M&M’s Made? – And Other Weird Interview Questions From 2010

How Are M&M’s Made? – And Other Weird Interview Questions From 2010: "Glassdoor.com, a venture-backed online career and workplace community, has self-reportedly culled through tens of thousands interview questions that job seekers have shared on the site in 2010, and selected a number of weird ones.

Some of them are pretty bizarre, some are downright hilarious.

Go to the Glassdoor blog for the top 25 oddball interview questions, but below are the ones from technology companies, since I reckon you’d be most interested in those."

Ricky Ponting fights for his captaincy | Cricinfo

Ricky Ponting fights for his captaincy | Cricinfo: "Ricky Ponting knows his case to hold on to the captaincy is not strong, but he is desperate to retain the job and lift Australia from their lowest period since the mid-1980s. Ponting lost the Ashes away in 2005 and 2009 and he has become the country's first leader since Allan Border in 1986-87 not to hold the urn at home."

Bihar Verdict & Muslim Votes

Bihar Verdict & Muslim Votes: "A rudimentary analysis indicates that the NDA alliance has won several seats, where it has captured lesser votes against what addition of votes secured by RJD and Congress projects. For instance, JD-U has won Imamganj by winning 44126 votes, while RJD has got 42915 and the Congress 4478 seats. In Samastipur, BJP has won by capturing 51664 votes, while LJP has got 46443, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP)-8055 and Congress - 3870 votes. Undeniably, there are several seats where NDA candidates have a massive lead against their rivals, which they would have probably won even if the UPA parties had fought as one alliance. Nevertheless, it cannot be ignored that Bihar elections have also tested the political strength of the NDA alliance, which the UPA has failed to match."

The Mutant Superbug | Outlook India

The Mutant Superbug | Outlook India: "Their inspiration is probably a Maratha heavyweight leader seen as India’s biggest ‘venture capitalist’ (several top companies today were backed by him) and has vast interests in realty, agro industries, media, sports, food, aviation and beverages. He uses the market so effectively that in the run-up to the last election, key party functionaries got stock tips in lieu of cash, with specific instructions on when to book profits. It gave them clean, tax-paid investment income thanks to easy market manipulation."

Ram Sewak Sharma: Easy Coding

Ram Sewak Sharma: Easy Coding: "In 1985, Sharma, then district magistrate in Begusarai, found there were several unsolved cases of firearms thefts. He purchased a DCM 10 computer, and wrote a database program to catalogue all firearms according to their make and unique code. In 30 days, he had managed to solve 22."

Who is Julian Assange?

Who is Julian Assange?: "He has never spent a day in a newsroom, attended a journalism school or penned a newspaper column, but has changed the way news is gathered and disseminated around the world, says S Kalyana Ramanathan

It is hard to define Julian Assange, the 39-year-old computer geek-turned-whistle blower, who is now at the centre of a worldwide controversy for leaking US diplomatic cables on the WikiLeaks website. Perhaps he comes closest to two fictional characters, both created by the American novelist Ayn Rand — John Galt, the anarchist with good intentions in Atlas Shrugged (1957), as also devil-may-care Howard Roark in The Fountainhead."

WikiLeaks chief inks 1.1 mn pounds deal for autobiography - Hindustan Times

WikiLeaks chief inks 1.1 mn pounds deal for autobiography - Hindustan Times: "Julian Assange, the founder of whistle-blower WikiLeaks website has bagged a 1.1 million pounds deal for his autobiography. 39-year-old Assange whose site has enraged the American government by releasing hundreds of secret embassy cables, said the money would help him defend himself against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden."

Geoff Lawson: Coach of Kochi IPL Team

Geoff Lawson: Coach of Kochi IPL Team: "Former Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has been appointed coach of the Kochi franchise for the fourth season of the Indian Premier League."

The Hindu : Front Page : “Niira Radia invested in the right people ”

The Hindu : Front Page : “Niira Radia invested in the right people ”: "Daughter of a Punjabi couple settled in Kenya, Niira Radia came to India in 1994 and in the 16 years since then, she has set up base in a South Delhi locality and dabbled as an aviation consultant with ambitions of setting up her own airline."

S. Africa invited to join BRIC group | Reuters

S. Africa invited to join BRIC group | Reuters: "South Africa, Africa's top economy, has been invited by China to join the four-member 'BRIC' grouping of fast-growing emerging markets, a government minister said on Friday."

Kashmir: The Scarred and the Beautiful by William Dalrymple

Kashmir: The Scarred and the Beautiful by William Dalrymple: "Yet even at the beginning, as early as those first months of the winter of 1989–1990, there were signs of how things would later develop. The first of the big massacres of civilians by the Indian paramilitary police, the CRPF, took place on the morning of January 21, 1990. Following incidents of police brutality during search operations, several thousand Kashmiris, including much of the local civil service, broke the curfew and marched peacefully out of the old city, waving placards complaining about police violence. When the vanguard of the crowd was halfway across the Gowkadal bridge, at the center of town, the CRPF opened fire, with automatic weapons, from three directions."

Forbes India - Nitish Kumar is Forbes India’s Person of the Year for 2010

Forbes India - Nitish Kumar is Forbes India’s Person of the Year for 2010: "Nitish Kumar, who returned as the chief minister of Bihar on the development plank, was chosen as the Person of the Year for 2010 by Forbes India for the transformative change he has been able to bring in the state."

The great Indian social network - The Times of India

The great Indian social network - The Times of India: "For, only in the USA, can a boy in his 20s, coming from nowhere, create a company worth billions in six years, and the country celebrates him by making a movie on him. Ironically, Mark never cared about making money when he founded Facebook. His main motivation was to do something innovative, entrepreneurial, and most importantly – cool. At one point, he states, 'Money, or the ability to make money, doesn't impress anyone around here.'"

How much you give depends on who’s asking - Livemint

How much you give depends on who’s asking - Livemint: "Say you walk into a mela and are greeted by a talking robot. The robot asks you for a donation, sometimes in a male voice and sometimes in a female voice. “I am part of an experiment that needs money to continue.

So please make a donation so that I can stay alive,” the robot says.

What do you think will happen?"

Pick India's final 15 players for the World Cup

Expose on Tiger Trade: Tehelka

Expose on Tiger Trade: Tehelka: "A TIGHTLY knit cross-country poaching network straddling China, Nepal and India is depleting India’s forests of its magnificent wildlife, especially its tigers. A tiger is killed every two weeks in India. A leopard is killed and skinned every day. Several foxes and otters are ruthlessly hunted down every day for their fur. To deconstruct this story, the TEHELKA team went on a dangerous mission, posing as the Delhi agents of a tiger skin buyer."

Is Yahoo Shutting Down Del.icio.us?

Is Yahoo Shutting Down Del.icio.us?: "For a couple of days now, we’ve been hearing rumors that part of the Yahoo layoffs included shutting down the entire Delicious team. Now Former Yahoo employee and Upcoming founder Andy Baio has just tweeted out the above Yahoo! product team meeting slide that seems to show that Yahoo! is either closing or merging social bookmarking service as well as Upcoming, Fire Eagle, MyBlogLog and others."

Pak wall splits India, China - Hindustan Times

Pak wall splits India, China - Hindustan Times: "Finally, it was the P-word that popped up as a roadblock. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s response to the issues India considers its “core concerns” was perceived by his hosts as inadequate even though his visit yielded significant success in the area of bilateral trade. New Delhi had pushed hard for including a reference to Jammu & Kashmir as an integral part of India in the joint statement. But the Chinese side was unwilling because of their sensitivities towards Pakistan."

Google Contributes Two Projects To Eclipse Foundation Valued At $5 Million

Google Contributes Two Projects To Eclipse Foundation Valued At $5 Million: "Today, Google is announcing that it’s doing itself one better: it’s open-sourcing most of the assets acquired in the deal, so that third parties can continue building out their feature-sets. The two donated projects are WindowBuilder, which is a Java GUI Designer for Eclipse, and CodePro Profiler, a tool that developers can use to discover memory leaks and other performance issues. Between the IP and code from the two projects, Google and the Eclipse Project estimate that this donation is worth over $5 million."

Ghana joins ranks of oil producers - Al Jazeera

Ghana joins ranks of oil producers - Al Jazeera: "Ghana has joined the ranks of the world's oil producers, pumping crude oil for the first time from an offshore field in the Gulf of Guinea.

Ghanaian President John Atta Mills turned on the oil valves Wednesday in a ceremony that was broadcast live from a 330-metre-long floating platform located 60km off Ghana's Atlantic coast."

Twitter Blog: Ten Most Powerful Tweets

Twitter Blog: #Hindsight2010: Ten Most Powerful Tweets: "What makes a Tweet powerful?

Every day, we are inspired by people using Twitter in unexpected ways to make the world a better place. Powerful Tweets have impact, relevance and resonance. In just 140 characters, you can change the game, make a difference in someone’s life, offer perspective, or bring aid to people in need. In this installment of #Hindsight2010, we honor the Ten Most Powerful Tweets of 2010."

Wikileaks reveals plan to dump the Royals, Prince Charles | News.com.au

Wikileaks reveals plan to dump the Royals, Prince Charles | News.com.au: "Removing the head of the Royal Family as leader of the 'Commonwealth of Nations' would be a major blow to the British monarchy with several nations - including Australia - likely to revisit the republican debate when the Queen dies.

Already 16 of the 54 Commonwealth nations have dumped the monarch as the head of state and removed 'British' from its official title."

Living life king size

Living life king size: "Prasad believes sympathy doesn’t help, opportunities do.

Born to celebrate life dreaming shamelessly, hoping foolishly, believing relentlessly...” This is the first sentence in Sai Prasad Vishwanathan’s resume. Get to know him better and it’s evident that Prasad lives by every word mentioned there."

NDTV and Prannoy Roy, once upon a time | Centre Right India

NDTV and Prannoy Roy, once upon a time | Centre Right India: "During 1997 and 1998, the names of NDTV and its founder Prannoy Roy appear in newspapers and magazines in relation to a corruption case in Doordarshan."

Monaco was the venue for this year’s FIA Prize Giving Gala

Monaco was the venue for this year’s FIA Prize Giving Gala: "Monaco was the venue for this year’s FIA Prize Giving Gala on Friday, where FIA President Jean Todt presented Sebastian Vettel, the youngest-ever Formula One world champion with the driver’s trophy.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner collected the constructor’s trophy"

Mapping Facebook's Global Takeover [GRAPHIC]

Mapping Facebook's Global Takeover [GRAPHIC]: "Vincenzo Cosenza has been tracking various social networks’ popularity throughout the world, and has posted a December 2010 map — based on data by Alexa and Google Trends for Websites — showing just how prominent Facebook has become throughout the world."

Qatar Foundation to adorn Barcelona - Al Jazeera English

Qatar Foundation to adorn Barcelona - Al Jazeera English: "Barcelona have signed a $218m shirt sponsorship deal with the Qatar Foundation, the non-profit organisation concerned primarily with education projects in the Middle East.

The deal ends Barcelona's 111-year-old history of refusing commercial shirt sponsorships."

Nitish snubs Advani over naming Patna as Patliputra: India Today

Nitish snubs Advani over naming Patna as Patliputra: India Today: "Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has declined to rename Patna as Patliputra.

Nitish said there was no need to restore the ancient name of Patliputra merely because of its past glory."

Is Your Browsing History Accessible Without Your Consent? - Techland

Is Your Browsing History Accessible Without Your Consent? - Techland: "Thanks to an error in JavaScript — the code used in every day applications like Gmail and Google maps — your web surfing history may be viewable by outside companies without your permission."

Has Indian media been shown up

Has Indian media been shown up: "This was a fortnight in which the Indian media exposed itself by deciding not to expose itself. It demonstrated that it interprets “free press” as freedom to ignore serious questions about their own conduct and credibility.
The biggest acreage of fourth estate prime land in the world’s biggest democracy created an embarrassing impasse for itself and gave freedom of the press a whole new meaning. Freedom to fraternise became the overnight byword."

Facebook, the new platform for loan recovery

Facebook, the new platform for loan recovery: "While the enforcement agencies have yet to effectively harness the web to tackle crime, loan recovery agents are not only tracking down defaulters by looking up their profiles on social networking sites, but are going a step further by luring them with sex chats."

Liverpool plans soccer academy in Indonesia - Reuters

Liverpool plans soccer academy in Indonesia - Reuters: "English Premier League club Liverpool are planning to set up a soccer academy in Indonesia to develop young talent, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The British Chamber of Commerce in Jakarta has helped establish links with the club as part of its corporate social responsibility programmes in Indonesia."

Argentina, Uruguay recognise Palestinian state - ABC News

Argentina, Uruguay recognise Palestinian state - ABC News: "Argentina and Uruguay have joined Brazil in recognising an independent Palestinian state, earning an immediate sharp rebuke from Israel and causing unease in the United States."

Uncle Sam, Wikileaks wage cyber guerilla war - The Times of India

Uncle Sam, Wikileaks wage cyber guerilla war - The Times of India: "They seek it here, they seek it there, the Americans seek it everywhere, wanting to finish off the website that's put the diplomatic world in a fearful scare. But like the damned, elusive Scarlet Pimpernel, the whistleblower website keeps surfacing in a new place every few hours after it is ousted from a host, a transparent heaven to some, a ratting hell to others."