Murdoch’s wife is an Internet sensation

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Wendi Deng, the wife of media mogul Rupert Murdoch, became an instant hit on the internet after she quickly came to his aid when he was hit during a Commons hearing on the phone hacking scandal, the Telegraph reported. Twitter was set alight with praise for 42-year-old Wendi, with

The Yale University business school graduate, yoga devotee and former News Corp employee reacted faster than anyone else seated around Murdoch, including his son James, when the incident took place.

The hearing in the News of the World phone hacking case by a British parliamentary panel was interrupted by a man throwing a shaving-cream pie at her 80-year-old husband.

She sprang from her seat behind her husband to smack the assailant, in a scene witnessed by millions around the world on television on Tuesday.

Wendi made the embattled News Corp chief look vulnerable, and herself strong. Her reaction also helped to take some of the heat off of Murdoch who had looked tired.

“That’s our Wendi,” said Vanity Fair writer Michael Wolff, author of a Murdoch biography.

“She is great — incredibly full of energy, incredibly intelligent, living the life and just squeezing everything out of it,” Telegraph quoted Wolff as saying.

China’s enthusiastic microbloggers made the incident one of the most popular topics on the country’s Twitter-like service Weibo, although the hacking scandal had previously attracted relatively little media coverage, the report said.

“When you marry, you should marry a Chinese woman. In times of danger, she will act,” added Loulan Loulan.

Wendi however has not taken to her own Weibo account to talk about what she did.

With 124,131 followers, her Weibo site is full of pictures of her with celebrities, and references to her “hubby”.

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• Rupert Murdoch on Wendi Deng: my 'very tough' wife - Telegraph.co.uk (news.google.com)

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India's first transsexual model goes international

The first Indian transsexual model has arrived. Nikkiey Chawla, 26, who was born a man and underwent a sex change surgery to turn into a woman in 2009, is busy doing Indian and international ramp shows and will next be seen on a popular reality show.

“I was born a boy but I always


felt like a female trapped in a male body. That is why I decided to undergo a sex change. I always wanted to be part of the glamour world as a woman,” says Delhi-based Chawla, who will feature in an episode of UTV Bindass’s show Emotional Atyachaar.

Chawla is also a stylist and claims she has walked at the Milan fashion week last year, though her journey hasn’t been easy. “I come from a orthodox family and they did not talk to me for five years when I told them I wanted a sex change. I went through hell. I never had a good life as a man.”

Chawla, who has walked the ramp for several Delhi designers including designer duo Kapil-Monika, and some leading jewellery brands, says clients have had a mixed response to the prospect of her modelling for them. “My first ramp show was in 2010, and no one got to know I had my sex changed. Those who knew were shocked. Some sarcastically said, “Ab tu model banegi! (now you want to be a model).”

On the TV show, she will be seen conducting a ‘loyalty test’ on her boyfriend Nirbhay, a model. “We met at a shoot. He knows everything about my past,” she says. Some time soon, she wishes to write an autobiography. Her views on Brazilian transgender model Lea T? “I am proud of her; it takes courage to get there.”
Fashion circle stands divided on seeing her on the ramp

It’s the right attitude, walk, looks and height that matter, nothing else
-Sunil Sethi, FDCI president

So what if she’s transsexual, if her work’s good, I won’t mind her walking for me
-Nida Mahmood, designer

I didn’t know that she is transsexual. If I knew, I wouldn’t have let her model
Kapil Arora, designer

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• You had me at "ex transsexual". (clarafications.wordpress.com)

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Norway cops say it's domestic terror, a madman's work

The 32-year-old suspected of massacring at least 80 young people at a summer camp and setting off a bomb in downtown Oslo that killed 87 is a mystery to investigators: a right-winger with anti-Muslim views but no known links to hardcore extremists. "He just came out of nowhere," a police


Norwegian news agency NTB said Breivik legally owned several firearms and belonged to a gun club. He ran an agricultural firm growing vegetables, an enterprise that could have helped him secure large amounts of fertilizer, a potential ingredient in bombs.

But he didn't belong to any known factions in Norway's small and splintered extreme right movement, and had no criminal record except for some minor offenses, the police official .

"He hasn't been on our radar, which he would have been if was active in the neo-Nazi groups in Norway," he said. "But he still could be inspired by their ideology."

He spoke on condition of anonymity because those details had not been officially released by police. He declined to name the suspect.

Neo-Nazi groups carried out a series of murders and robberies in Scandinavia in the 1990s but have since kept a low profile.

"They have a lack of leadership. We have pretty much control of those groups," the police official said.

Breivik's registered address is at a four-story apartment building in western Oslo. A police car was parked outside the brick building early Saturday, with officers protecting the entrance.

National police chief Sveinung Sponheim told public broadcaster NRK that the gunman's internet postings "suggest that he has some political traits directed toward the right, and anti-Muslim views, but whether that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen."

A Facebook page under Breivik's name was taken down late Friday. A Twitter account under his name had only one Tweet, on July 17, loosely citing English philosopher John Stuart Mill: "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests."

Police where interrogating the man, first at the scene of the shooting, and later at a police station in Oslo.

"It's strange that he didn't kill himself, like the guys that have carried out school shootings," the police official told AP. "It's a good thing that he didn't because then we might get some answers pointing out his motivation."

A police official said the 32-year-old ethnic Norwegian suspect arrested at the camp on Utoya island appears to have acted alone in both attacks, and that "it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organizations at all." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that information had not been officially released by Norway's police.

"It seems it's not Islamic-terror related," the official said. "This seems like a madman's work."

He said the attacks appeared to be the work of a lone madman, without links to any international terrorist networks. The attack "is probably more Norway's Oklahoma City than it is Norway's World Trade Center," he said referring to the 1995 attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City by domestic terrorists.

Investigators said the Norwegian carried out both attacks "at the blast at the prime minister's office in Oslo and the shooting spree at the left-wing Labor Party's youth camp” but didn't rule out that others were involved. But the police official said it wouldn't be impossible for one man to carry out the attacks on his own.

"He's obviously cold as ice. But to get close to the government is easy. The streets are open in that area," he said.

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போர்க் குற்றத்தை விசாரிக்க இலங்கைக்கு அமெரிக்கா உத்தரவு

வாஷிங்டன்: போர்க்குற்றம் குறித்து இலங்கை அரசு உரிய விசாரணை நடத்தவில்லை என்றால் அந்நாட்டுக்கான உதவிகள் ரத்து செய்யப்படும் என்று அமெரிக்க செனட் சபையில் தீர்மானம் நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டுள்ளது.

இலங்கையில் நடந்து இறுதி கட்டப்போரில் லட்சக்கணக்கான தமிழர்கள் கொன்று குவிக்கப்பட்டனர். இது தொடர்பான ஆவணங்கள் மற்றும் வீடியோ வெளியாகி உலகை அதிர்ச்சிக்குள்ளாக்கியது.

இதையடுத்து உலக நாடுகள் இலங்கை அரசை போர்க்குற்றவாளியாக அறிவிக்க வேண்டும் என்றும், இது குறித்து சர்வதேச நீதிமன்றத்தில் விசாரிக்க வேண்டும் என்று கூறி வருகின்றன.

இலங்கை அரசு போர்க்குற்றம் புரிந்துள்ளதாக ஐ.நா. நிபுணர் குழுவும் அறிக்கை சமர்பித்துள்ளது. எனினும் இலங்கை அரசு மெத்தனமாகத் தான் இருக்கிறது.

இந்நிலையில் போர்க்குற்றம் குறித்து இலங்கை அரசு உரிய விசாரணை நடத்தாவிட்டால் அந்நாட்டிற்கு அளிக்கப்படும் உதவிகள் ரத்து செய்யப்படும் என்று அமெரிக்க செனட் சபையில் தீர்மானம் நிறைவேற்றப்பட்டுள்ளதாக இலங்கைத் தமிழ் இணையதளங்கள் செய்தி வெளியிட்டுள்ளன. இந்த தீர்மானத்தை அமெரிக்க அதிபர் பாரக் ஒபாமாவின் ஜனநாயக கட்சியைச் சேர்ந்த பேர்மன் முன்மொழிந்தார்.

இந்த தீர்மானத்தின்படி மனிதாபிமான உதவிகளைத் தவிர்த்து மற்ற நிதியுதவிகள் அனைத்தையும் நிறுத்த அமெரிக்க செனட் சபையின் வெளிநாட்டு விவகார குழு அனுமதி வழங்கியுள்ளது.

போர்க்குற்ற விசாரணை தவிர்தது ஊடக சுதந்திரம், அவசரகால சட்ட நீக்கம் ஆகியவற்றை அமல்படுத்தவும் அந்த தீர்மானத்தில் வலியுறுத்தப்பட்டுள்ளது. இந்நிலையில் 2010- ம் ஆண்டின் நிதியாண்டுக்காக இலங்கைக்கு வழங்க 13 மில்லியன் டாலர் வேண்டும் என்று அமெரிக்க சர்வதேச அபிவிருத்தி நிறுவனம் அந்நாட்டு அரசிடம் கோரிக்கை விடுத்துள்ளது.

இருப்பினும் இந்த தீர்மானம் உடனடியாக அமல்படுத்தப்பட மாட்டாது என்று தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

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Hudak's Gutless Stand On Abortion

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeWe know that Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak is a big tough guy because he is prepared to put tracking bracelets on 14,000 convicted sex offenders.

That takes guts because crime rates are plummeting across Ontario due to aging demographics. So obviously with decreasing crime rates, Ontario needs to get tough on crime. Yes, it takes guts to do something so unnecessary. Oh, it's about votes you say? Well, that explains it.

So a gutty guy like Hudak would immediately say where he stands on abortion, right? Maybe not.

After all, a bleeding-heart, non-tough guy like Liberal like Premier Dalton McGuinty is forthright about his stand on abortion. Spokeswoman Jane Almeida said: McGuinty "supports a woman's right to choose. ... The McGuinty government has always held this position and will continue to stand up for Ontario women's right to choose."

Hudak at a news conference said that on abortion, "We are not reopening this debate."

In 2009, Hudak said he couldn't support abortion and had signed petitions against funding abortion.

Yet at a news conference this week despite knowing questions on this topic were bound to be asked, Hudak said he "may" have signed a petition.

Odd that Hudak can address the pressing issue of promoting the sale of buck-a-beer, but not abortion. Oh, it's about votes you say? Well, that explains it. Election is coming on Oct. 6.

Just who has guts on this issue and who doesn't?

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• Ontario Tory leader says he 'may have' signed anti-abortion petition (canada.com)
• Ontario Tory leader questioned over abortion stance (canada.com)

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Lottery winner who donated millions dies of cancer

Image via WikipediaA Nova Scotia woman whose tale of generosity touched millions around the world has died.

Violet Large, 79, passed away Saturday in Colchester Regional Hospital after a battle with ovarian cancer.

The Lower Truro woman and her husband Allen Large became household names not for their July 2010 lottery win, but for what they did with the millions they received.

Despite their windfall, the retired couple continued to drive their old car and truck, and lived comfortably in their 147-year-old farmhouse.

And they gave away almost all of the $11.2 million they won.

“What you’ve never had, you never miss,” Violet told The Chronicle Herald in November.

The couple quietly donated to hospitals in Truro and Halifax where Violet, who had been diagnosed a few months before the win, underwent cancer treatment. They also gave to family members, churches, cemeteries, fire departments, the Victorian Order of Nurses, Home and School Association, Red Cross, SPCA, War Amps and many other organizations.

The couple wouldn’t say how much they donated to each group, but they kept giving until there was nothing left but a small percentage — about two per cent — to keep their home running.

When the story of the couple’s kindness broke, interview requests poured in from the U.S. and the U.K. But the couple didn’t understand the fuss.

Violet said at the time that she and her husband felt privileged to be able to give back to the community and help all those who have helped them.

“We’re the lucky ones,” Violet said. “I have no complaints.”

Her husband of 37 years called the money “a big headache” for the couple when he spoke to The Chronicle Herald last year. And he choked back tears when he talked about Violet’s failing health.

“All the money in the world can’t buy you health,” he said.

Last month, the couple received the 2011 Maritime Outstanding Individual Philanthropist award from the Nova Scotia branch of the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The Larges were unable to attend due to Violet’s illness, but a representative from the Colchester Regional Hospital Foundation accepted the honour on their behalf.

A statement released by the foundation Monday called Violet “a friend to the foundation for many years and, more recently, a friend to those of us who work there.”

"She was a wonderful example of strength and grace, kindness and truth. She gave us many lasting gifts: the reminder of how precious life is; how to mean what you say and say what you mean; to be a good person and a good neighbour; to always do what you say you will; and, perhaps the most important for a happy life, to want what you have not have what you want."

Rev. Ian Harrison, who will officiate Violet’s funeral service scheduled for 2 p.m. Tuesday at Mattatall-Varner Funeral Home, said it’s unlikely the couple ever intended for anyone to know about their generosity.

The Larges recognized that their winnings weren't as important as helping others, he said, and people need to focus more on that idea.

"The money was more of a crutch than anything, something that was an excess that they needed to give openly to others and to those who would probably benefit from it more than they would,” he said.

The media have been asked to stay away from the funeral home leading up to and after the funeral service, and not to attend the private interment at the cemetery.

“This is a very emotional time and the family deserves to be given the privacy they need to grieve and share with their family and friends,” said a statement issued by the funeral home and signed by Violet’s widower.

“We would like to thank you in advance for your concerns and sympathy and also for your co-operation.”

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Bank of Canada keeps key interest rate at 1%

Image via WikipediaThe Bank of Canada has kept its bench-mark overnight interest rate steady at one per cent, saying the need to keep the country's economy growing amid the U.S. and European debt crises outweighs the need to slam the brakes on inflation.

Canada faces an uncertain international economic situation with European and U.S. debt concerns dominating the fiscal landscape, the central bank said Tuesday in announcing its decision.

"The U.S. economy has grown at a slower pace than expected and continues to be restrained by the consolidation of household balance sheets and slow growth in employment," the bank said in a press release.

"While growth in core Europe has been stronger than expected, necessary fiscal austerity measures in a number of countries will restrain growth over the projection horizon."

Growth versus inflation
Economists had split as to whether the bank would raise its overnight borrowing rate or keep the trend-setting interest rate at its current, record-low level as the July decision approached.

Late last year, Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney talked extensively about the need for Canadians to rein in their personal debt levels, a signal many experts interpreted as the central banker about to get tough on rising prices.

Indeed, many economists began predicting that the bank would boost rates in July, especially after three months — March, April and May — when inflation popped above the central bank's one-to-three-per-cent target range for price growth.

Greek debt riots indicate growing unrest over Europe's financial crisis. On Tuesday, the Bank of Canada pointed to the crisis over U.S. and European debt as it kept its bench-mark overnight interest rate steady at one per cent. (Petros Karadijas/Associated Press)
Carney, however, began signaling a change of sentiment in June when he talked about the financial "headwinds" Canada faced in an interview with the Wall Street Journal.

His wording lead to a subtle shift in thinking among Carney watchers.

"The hard place that Carney is caught between is the growing risk that Canada’s economy will underperform expectations if U.S. demand remains weak and/or Europe's credit crisis erupts and spews lava across global financial markets," said BMO Capital Markets economist Sal Guatieri in a commentary prior to Tuesday's rate announcement.

Economic growth — something central bankers are trained to generally ignore — began pushing out concerns over rising prices in the bank's thinking, experts said.

Still, many economists believe the Bank of Canada will boost interest rates towards the end of 2011 as long as the Canadian economy keeps to its current decent GDP growth path.

RBC Economics, for example, currently predicts that Canada's economy will grow at a 3.2 per cent clip in 2011, equal to the growth rate for 2010.

Europe and America
There are growing fears that the Greek debt crisis is spreading to other European countries, especially the continent's third biggest economy — Italy.

As well, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has so far failed to reach a deal with the U.S. Congress over whether to raise Washington's borrowing ceiling.

Failure to get an agreement by Aug. 2 risks placing the world's largest economy in technical default of it debt obligations.

Both situations hold the potential to drive the global economy back into a recession similar to the one in 2008-09 or at least to reduce the potential economic growth for most countries, experts have warned.

Related articles

• Bank of Canada rate announcement coming (ctv.ca)
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• Carney unlikely to take tough line on inflation, economists say (canada.com)
• Split thinking on possible bank rate hike (cbc.ca)
• Carney unlikely to take tough stance on inflation (business.financialpost.com)

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Image via WikipediaNews Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch and his son James Murdoch are testifying at an emergency U.K. House of Commons hearing looking into the phone-hacking scandal that is rocking their global media empire.

The emergency session of Parliament before the home affairs committee, which is being televised, was called by Prime Minister David Cameron following a dramatic last few days in the widening scandal.

Earlier, Former Scotland Yard chief Paul Stephenson repeated on Tuesday that he resigned his post in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal because he didn't want to become a distraction during the Olympics, which London is slated to host next year.

Appearing before a House of Commons committee looking into the scandal, Stephenson said he decided to resign quickly and ahead of organizing policing for the 2012 Olympics, as speculation continued to swirl about his connection to the scandal.

Questions have been raised about Stephenson's links with Neil Wallis, a former executive of News of the World who was arrested over the scandal. Wallis was employed by the police as a media consultant.

Stephenson said he now regrets the contract was taken on but there was no reason to have any suspicion about Wallis.

"There was no reason to doubt Mr. Wallis at all," Stephenson said.

Stephenson said phone hacking wasn't one of the priorities, compared to high profile murder cases and terrorism. He said he had no reason to doubt the integrity of the 2006 investigation into phone hacking that led to two arrests.


On the weekend, two of London's top police officers — Stephenson and John Yates, assistant commissioner of Metropolitan Police — resigned. On Monday, it was learned Sean Hoare, the whistleblower reporter who alleged widespread hacking at the News of the World, was found dead at his home in England. His death wasn't being considered suspicious.

Hoare was quoted by the New York Times as saying that phone hacking was widely used and even encouraged at the News of the World tabloid under then editor Andy Coulson, who most recently served as Cameron's communications chief. Coulson is one of numerous people arrested as part of the phone-hacking investigation.Sean Hoare, the first person to link former News of the World editor Andy Coulson to Britain's phone hacking scandal, was found dead Monday. Police say his death is not considered suspicious. (News International/Associated Press)

Murdoch and his son, James Murdoch, heralded as News Corp.'s heir-apparent, and his father's former British chief executive, Rebekah Brooks, are set to testify mid-morning.

Yates decided two years ago not to reopen police inquiries into phone hacking and police bribery by tabloid journalists, saying he did not believe there was any new evidence. Detectives reopened the investigation earlier this year, and apparently have the names of 3,700 potential victims.

Yates told the committee on Tuesday that had he known then what he knows now, "I would have made a completely different decision."

Brooks was chief executive of News International, whose News of the World is accused of hacking into the phones of celebrities, politicians, other journalists and even murder victims. The long-simmering scandal gained heightened interest with the revelation that journalists accessed the phone of Milly Dowler in search of scoops while police were looking for the missing 13-year-old.

Brooks admitted during her appearance before U.K. legislators in 2003 that News International had paid police for information. But she maintained she did not know any phone hacking was going on when she was editor between 2000 and 2003.

Scandal threatens to spread
At Tuesday's committee hearing, politicians are seeking more details about the scale of criminality at News of the World. The Murdochs will try to avoid incriminating themselves or doing more harm to their business without misleading Parliament, considered a criminal offence.

London's Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner John Yates resigned Monday. He's the second top official to resign in the British phone hacking scandal. Scotland Yard chief Paul Stephenson stepped down Sunday night. (Lewis Whyld/Associated Press)
The scandal has already destroyed News of the World, cost the jobs of Brooks and Wall Street Journal publisher Les Hinton, and sunk Murdoch's dream of taking full control of a lucrative satellite broadcaster, British Sky Broadcasting.

Murdoch is eager to stop the crisis from spreading to the United States, where many of his most lucrative assets — including the Fox TV network, 20th Century Fox film studio, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post — are based.

Hinton, too, could face questioning over wrongdoing at the News of the World during his dozen years as executive chairman of News International. But he is an American citizen living in the U.S., so British authorities would have to seek his extradition if he refused to go willingly.

The scandal has tested the leadership of 80-year-old Rupert Murdoch, and there has been speculation it would speed up his retirement.

But on Monday, News Corp. board member Thomas Perkins said Murdoch has the full support of the company's board of directors, and is not considering replacing him with chief operating officer Chase Carey.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Perkins denied a report that said independent directors considered the company's succession plan, including naming Carey as CEO.

The AP also reported that Bloomberg News, citing unnamed sources, said a decision on a replacement at the top of News Corp. depended in part on Murdoch's performance before Parliament.

10 arrests linked to scandal
Perkins, 79, has been an independent News Corp. director since 1996 and is co-founder of Silicon Valley venture capital fund Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

"I can assure you, there has been no discussion at the board level in connection with this current scandal of making any changes," he said Monday. "The board supports top management totally.


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News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch is driven down Whitehall in London before a scheduled appearance before a House of Commons committee. (Steve Parson/AP)
"The board has been misled, as has top management been misled, by very bad people at a very low level in the organization."

Perkins said a succession plan has long been in place given Murdoch's age, but it had not been brought up in light of recent revelations that journalists at News of the World hacked phones and may have paid British police for scoops.

James Murdoch, 38, has said he approved payments to hacking victims when he was chief executive of News Corp.'s European and Asian operations, including £700,000 ($1.1 million) to Professional Footballers' Association chief Gordon Taylor. James Murdoch said last week that he "did not have a complete picture" when he approved the payouts.

News Corp. also Monday named commercial lawyer Anthony Grabiner head of its own panel looking into allegations of wrongdoing. The panel, called the management and standards committee, includes executives who worked for the U.K. unit overseeing the scandal-tainted tabloid.

Perkins said he would "personally make damn sure" that the internal probe would be independent.

The committee will report its findings to Joel Klein, former U.S. assistant attorney general and now head of News Corp.'s education division, and independent director Viet Dinh, a Georgetown University law professor. `

Parliament was to break for the summer on Tuesday after the hearing. Cameron, speaking in Pretoria, South Africa, said "it may well be right to have Parliament meet on Wednesday so I can make a further statement."

Cameron cut short his visit to South Africa as his government faces a growing number of questions about its cozy relationship with the Murdoch empire.

Police have already arrested 10 people, including other former News of the World reporters and editors. One, Press Association royal reporter Laura Elston, was cleared by police on Monday.

None of the others has yet been charged.

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Are President Obama's Federal government Grants Aimed at Financial debt Relief Open Also to Male Col

Image via WikipediaAllow us look at carefully this grants these as pupil mortgage and pupil help applications. News feeds of about authorities grants aimed at financial debt relief is normal in nature. There is a grain of truth. Nevertheless, that some type of distinctive news only highlights females as a target recipient. However, this does not suggest, that guys are not eligible as the recipient of authorities scholarship and grants.

Male school students do get likelihood of availing national or local grants, but media will give not importance to this. The reason is uncomplicated, no a person cares. There are no societies of guys that condemn or laud when this services is prolonged to their variety. Contrary to the female sector, where feminist groups proliferate, which right absent rant when felt oppressed.

It is a truth that additional male school students have availed of this grants than female university pupils. This is since, there are essentially extra male (15 million) college college students than female (14.five million) across the country. It is crystal clear. For that reason, that there is no existing discrimination of who can avail this grants. This is truly a make any difference of speed and excellent.

Speed and excellent for the reason that, the more quickly an individual submits quality software, the outcome is relative. Because girls are more persistence and eloquent than males, this is also the purpose behind this sort of a paradox. So, male pupils hoping to avail of government grants aimed at financial debt relief, be proactive. Feel like a girl get options when it comes your way.

With today's' disappointing economic climate, turn away from the tv viewing football night time soon after night. Tonight, browse by means of the world wide web like there is no much more tomorrow and hunt for authorities grants aimed at credit card debt relief. Break away from media stereotype that young guys are lazy, and start out shaping your long run.

This might just be the financial debt relief your mothers and fathers require, when you avail of federal government grant for your education.

Pell grants can be applied for any college the university student chooses to show up at, like accredited on-line universities. On the net educations can be specially practical for moms who are unable to manage day care solutions or who would nonetheless relatively boost their children by themselves, or anyone who feels their courses would interfere with their job. Of course, mothers are not the only ones who can apply for Pell Grants. Obama has also encouraged fathers, drop outs, and high college graduates from reduced revenue households to take benefit of authorities scholarships as effectively. He believes all People in america are entitled to higher education.

Some men and women may possibly be intimidated by the prospect of returning to college following a very long absence and may well not know the place to start. If this is the scenario they can normally talk to a university suggestions specialist this kind of as a counselor or academic planner about feasible choices. Most colleges offer these products and services free of cost to anybody looking at attending school. Anybody uncertain about what they ought to examine can usually get started a liberal arts diploma and pick a specialty later when they uncover out in which their interests lay.

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Fergie is not pregnant - despite rumours

Image via WikipediaLondon: Hip hop group Black Eyed Peas` star Fergie is not pregnant.

Contactmusic.com reports that earlier this week, rumours were doing the rounds that Fergie and her actor husband Josh Duhamel were expecting their first child.

But Fergie`s spokesperson has dismissed the reports, saying, "she isn`t pregnant".

The couple has been dogged by pregnancy rumours since they tied the knot in 2009.

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton begins India visit; terror, Afghan-Pakistan, nuclear deal top agenda

Image via WikipediaNEW DELHI: US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton touched down here on Monday night to begin a three-day visit during which India and the US will hold their second strategic dialogue to expand counter-terror cooperation and seek to fasten implementation of their landmark civil nuclear deal.

Clinton, who is coming to India for the second time as President Barack Obama's Secretary of State, was warmly received at the airport by Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, India's ambassador to the US Meera Shankar and senior officials.

Clinton's special flight, which was supposed to land at 8.40 p.m., touched down an hour late as it took off late from Athens, sources said.

She will co-chair the second strategic dialogue with External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Tuesday before she heads to Chennai, India's southern city which is becoming a hub for American investment.

She will also call on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi .

Clinton's visit takes place barely a week after the triple bombings in Mumbai that killed 19 people and injured over 130. Unlike on earlier such occasions, India has eschewed pointing finger at elements from Pakistan linking them to the blasts. However, terror networks that are active in Pakistan are expected to figure in the discussions.

At the second strategic dialogue Tuesday, India and the US will discuss an entire gamut of issues including strategic cooperation, counter-terrorism, energy and climate change, education, science and technology, health and defence, officials said.

India and the US are likely to sign key pacts in the areas of cyber security and civil aviation after the talks, said sources.

"The depth of the US-India Strategic Dialogue demonstrates the United States' strong support for India as an important actor on the world stage," a statement from Clinton's office said before the visit which is expected to expand the US' trade ties with India, a $1.6 trillion economy which has fared well in the aftermath of global recession.

With the July 13 Mumbai blasts putting the focus on increased security cooperation, India is likely to seek from the US assistance in probing the bombings. It's not yet clear what kind of cooperation India may want from the US on this.

Top US counter-terrorism officials, including US Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper and Deputy Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security Jane Holl Lute are among those accompanying Clinton to India.

The Indian delegation, headed by Krishna, would include Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Adviser to the Prime Minister Sam Pitroda, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao, Foreign Secretary-designate Ranjan Mathai, the secretaries of home, commerce and environment ministries. Nehchal Sandhu, director, Intelligence Bureau, will also participate in the discussions.

Implementing the landmark nuclear deal and fresh complications arising from the new guidelines of the Nuclear Suppliers Group which deny access to enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies to countries which have not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) are set to figure in the discussions.

India is also expected to seek a fresh assurance from the US that the new NSG guidelines will not impinge on Washington's commitment to implement full civilian nuclear cooperation, that includes the transfer of ENR technologies, to New Delhi.

Besides bilateral issues, the volatile situation in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region will be an important part of the discussions.

Clinton is expected to brief India on its negotiations with a section of the so-called moderate Taliban and assuage New Delhi's worries that the reconciliation will give Islamabad an upper hand in shaping a future dispensation in Kabul that may be hostile to Indian interests. Clinton is also expected to address India's concerns arising from the phased drawdown of 33,000 US troops from Afghanistan by next year which New Delhi fears

could led to the re-emergence of a hostile Taliban.

Clinton is expected to underline India's critical role in Afghanistan's reconstruction, said sources.

India is expected to brief the US on the forthcoming foreign minister-level talks it will have with Pakistan later this month.

Clinton will also go to Chennai Wednesday, the hub of high-value American investments. She heads to Bali Thursday morning to attend the meeting of foreign ministers of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF).

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Obama makes call to space station

When he came on the line, the American leader said: "This is President Obama, who am I talking to?"

After the crew introduced themselves, he quipped: "Well, that's funny because I was just dialling out for pizza; I didn't expect to end up in space."

Mr Obama called the ISS to pay tribute to the crew of space shuttle Atlantis on its final visit to the station.

When Atlantis returns to Earth next Thursday, the ship will join the US space agency's (Nasa) other shuttles in retirement.

"There have been thousands who have poured their hearts and souls into America's space shuttle programme over the last three decades that are following this mission with special interest," the president observed. "To them and all the men and women of Nasa, I want to say thank you. You helped our country lead the space age and you continue to inspire us."


Obama: "I was just dialling out for pizza"
Mr Obama has set Nasa on a path to commercialising low-Earth orbit space transportation. He wants the next generation of American vehicles that taxi astronauts to and from the space station to be developed and operated by private companies.

The first of these ships could fly in the next three to four years. As an incentive, the Atlantis crew will be leaving on station a special flag flown by the maiden shuttle mission back in 1981. The first commercial crew to arrive at the ISS will be able to claim it as a prize in what Mr Obama described as a "capture the flag moment for commercial spaceflight".

"We sure hope to see some of our commercial partners climbing onboard really soon," said Atlantis shuttle commander Chris Ferguson. "I know there is a lot of competition out there, a lot of people are fervently working towards this goal to be the first to send a commercial astronaut into orbit; and we look forward to seeing them here soon."

The Atlantis crew are in the midst of a very busy few days at the ISS. They brought up more than 3.5 tonnes of supplies, including over a tonne of food. All of it has to be transferred to permanent storage positions on the station, and then 2.5 tonnes of rubbish must be put inside the shuttle for the return to Earth.

Nasa has extended the mission by one day. Atlantis is due to land at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida early on 21 July local time.

"It's going to be sad to retire the shuttle," commander Ferguson said in an earlier call with the American media. "That said, it's had a very long and storied career. It's done tremendous things.

"If it weren't for the space shuttle, the station wouldn't be here and it certainly wouldn't be as large as it is." he added.


The Southern Lights seen from the ISS. In the foreground (left to right) are a station solar wing, a robotic boom and the docked Atlantis

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Dhoni should've been punished: Harper

NEW DELHI: Three weeks after his retirement from ICC's Elite Panel of Umpires, Daryl Harper has lambasted the ICC for not punishing Indian skipper MS Dhoni for his comments criticizing Harper's umpiring in the first India-West Indies Test match at Kingston recently. Harper told a website that the incident betrayed that "selective management" is at work in cricket.

This, he said, was the primary reason behind his premature retirement. Harper told the website he felt targeted by the Indian team during the Kingston Test and that he had decided to speak out only because the ICC has kept its mouth shut.

When TOI tried to speak to the ICC CEO Haroon Lorgat on Harper's charge, ICC media manager James Fitzgerald said Lorgat won't respond to the allegations. "Every team plays under the ICC Code of Conduct. We don't want to comment on this."

Harper, during the interview, recalled many incidents which, he said, illustrated Indian team's antagonism towards him. Harper said that after he had disallowed pacer Praveen Kumar from bowling in the first innings for repeatedly running on the pitch, Dhoni came near him and uttered, "We've had problems with you before, Daryl". Harper interpreted it as an attempt to intimidate, the website reported.

Besides, Dhoni's post-match assertion "If correct decisions had been made the game would have finished much earlier" was inappropriate, according to the umpire.

Harper also described another incident when Abhinav Mukund, one of the close-in fielders, at one stage ran more than halfway up the pitch, charging towards the other umpire, Ian Gould, holding the ball and appealing for a bat-pad catch, which was turned down. Harper said he made a point of coming in from square leg and draw Dhoni's attention by saying that he was responsible for his team's behaviour and upholding the spirit of the game.

In reply, Dhoni didn't want to look at him, said Harper, but he insisted the message had to be received before the next ball was bowled and the game continued. "He reluctantly acknowledged I was on the planet and we moved on," Harper said.

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Review: Don 2 looks seriously slick

Image via WikipediaIt's a bit perplexing to see just how young, fit and fresh Shah Rukh Khan looks in the promos of his films. We saw the glaring gulf between the way he looked in the Ra One promo earlier this year and the way he looked on TV with Karan Johar or supporting his IPL team, and now we see him again, looking lethal in the first trailer for Don 2. Maybe those who do makeup and CGI for Rajnikanth are working their magic in SRK's films, or maybe King Khan only saves up his shininess for when it counts the most.

Either way, the Don 2 trailer looks pretty darned sharp. We see a speedboat slice through verdant green waters as Khan, in over-baritoned voiceover, tells us that his enemies thought he was dead and now he's back and ready for more. We catch peeks of Khan in tattooed longhaired Bangkokjunkie/underpaid chinesevan waiter mode, both of which make sense as a disguise while the wounded tiger licks his wounds. A word about the voice, though: in a sequel to a film where he stepped into Amitabh Bachchan's shoes -- which seemed a couple sizes too big for him at the time -- this voiceover seems to be yet another tribute from Khan, trying to sound a bit like that man who keeps proving he'll never be too old.

And then, just as he uses up all the gravel in his throat mouthing the 'remember who I am, I'm the Don' lines from that classic song used smartly here as dialogue, he smiles and says 'boom', a car explodes on cue, and then it's Shah Rukh all the way.

The rest is standard blockbuster fare, explosions and slow motion turns to the camera, maximised for dramatic effect. But there's absolutely no mistaking the fact that this film looks very, very slick indeed. Clearly Farhan Akhtar's out to prove a point, and so far, he looks like he knows what he's doing. Wish they didn't throw in the weird Khan smirk at the very end, though.

What do you think of the Don 2 trailer? Do you think SRK will give us the year's biggest blockbuster with Don 2 or Ra.One? Do you think director Farhan Akhtar, who has given us unforgettable films like Dil Chahata Hai and Lakshya, and Don will be fourth time lucky?

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Just what is Manhattanhenge?

New Yorkers have witnessed an urban solar phenomenon, with the Sun setting in alignment with the city's skyscrapers and giving an effect fans say is reminiscent of Wiltshire's Stonehenge. Welcome to Manhattanhenge.

Twice every year amateur photographers gather in carefully-selected spots to set up tripods and wait to capture the ultimate sunset.

On Wednesday night at 2025 local time (0125 BST), the east-west lying streets of the city's famous grid system neatly framed the setting sun, creating golden glows New Yorkers rarely see.

During the phenomenon, the Sun appears to be nestled perfectly between the skyscraper corridors, illuminating the north and south sides of the streets.


Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term Manhattanhenge in 1996, inspired by its likeness to Stonehenge, where the sun aligns with concentric circles of vertical stones on each of the solstices.

"As a kid, I visited Stonehenge in the Salisbury Plain of England and did research on other stone monuments across the British Isles. It was deep within me," says deGrasse Tyson.

"So I was, in a way, imprinted by the emotional power that terrestrial alignments with the Sun can have on a culture or civilization."

After coining the term, deGrasse Tyson later published dates and times in Natural History magazine.


Similar "henge" phenomena also occur in other cities with large numbers of skyscrapers and long straight streets - such as Chicago, Montreal and Toronto.

As far as sunset goes - which is the fans' true Manhattanhenge - the event happens twice in May and July, and for two nights each. There's also the winter version, but that's sunrise.

New York-based photographer Emon Hassan has celebrated Manhattanhenge in his work.

"You'll see photographers on both sides, lined up, just waiting. In one area, I could go in the middle of the street and get the shot. Photographers risk their lives to get the perfect shot.


"It's cut-throat. You only have a 15 to 20 minute window. It happens pretty quick after you consider dodging traffic."

"I don't even know how to articulate that feeling. It's almost like seeing an eclipse."

Getty photographer Mario Tama shot the event earlier this year. He says the event provides residents with a moment of clarity and beauty in a chaotic world.

"Basically, people in Manhattan are trapped in an island of tall buildings and sometimes can't even see the sky really.


"It's a brilliant moment when Manhattanites can connect with the rest of the world and with the earth. If you get out of the subway at 34th street, you'll see two or three hundred people with tripods jumping in the street. Usually when this happens, there has been a shooting or something, so this is really a beautiful thing," says Tama.

The event has become a social phenomenon in New York City.

"Amateur and professional photographers can meet up, they tag each other's work on Twitter and meet other people - people with other interests," says Hassan.

"Manhattan is one of the most fascinating places and this is such a unique event."

Its distinctiveness lies in the positioning of the city's layout.


Manhattan's Commissioner's Plan of 1811 established its grid system, which is rotated 29 degrees from true east-west. If Manhattan's streets were perfectly laid out on an east-west grid, Manhattanhenge would occur facing both east and west on the vernal and autumnal equinoxes.

It also has the advantage over other skyscraper cities because of a relatively clear view to the horizon down some of its streets.

For photographers and people taking an early evening stroll, it is just a beautiful effect of light.

But for astronomers, it's something more - a chance to engage laymen and enthusiasts with the studies of the cosmos.

DeGrasse Tyson uses the event to make people more interested in astronomy.

"I'll take any excuse I can get to get people to look up and notice our cosmic environment," deGrasse Tyson recently told PBS television.

The best vantage point to view the event, which he describes as "the greatest of the cosmos together with the greatest of our urban icons", is on Park Avenue and 34th Street, looking west, he says.

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Why do some Americanisms irritate people?

British people are used to the stream of Americanisms entering the language. But some are worse than others, argues Matthew Engel.

I have had a lengthy career in journalism. I hope that's because editors have found me reliable. I have worked with many talented colleagues. Sometimes I get invited to parties and meet influential people. Overall, I've had a tremendous time.

Lengthy. Reliable. Talented. Influential. Tremendous.

All of these words we use without a second thought were never part of the English language until the establishment of the United States.

The Americans imported English wholesale, forged it to meet their own needs, then exported their own words back across the Atlantic to be incorporated in the way we speak over here. Those seemingly innocuous words caused fury at the time.

The poet Coleridge denounced "talented" as a barbarous word in 1832, though a few years later it was being used by William Gladstone. A letter-writer to the Times, in 1857, described "reliable" as vile.

Continue reading the main story
Find out more

Four Thought is on BBC Radio 4 on Wednesday 13 July at 2045 BST
Catch up via iPlayer
My grandfather came to London on the outbreak of World War I and never lost his mid-European accent. His descendants have blended into the landscape. That's what happens with immigration. It's the same with vocabulary migration.

The French have always hated this process with a very Gallic passion, and their most august body L'Academie Francaise issues regular rulings on the avoidance of imported words. English isn't like that. It is a far more flexible language. Anarchic even.

That's part of the secret of its success. It has triumphed where Latin, French and the artificial language of Esperanto all ultimately failed, and become the natural medium of global communication. This is the version of English sometimes known as "Globish".


Apart from the occasional falling out, the US and the UK have usually been friends
To use it requires only a rudimentary knowledge of grammar and, so it is said, a vocabulary of a mere 1,500 words.

But what the world is speaking - even on levels more sophisticated than basic Globish - is not necessarily our English. According to the Oxford Guide to World English, "American English has a global role at the beginning of the 21st Century comparable to that of British English at the start of the 20th".

The alarming part is that this is starting to show in the language we speak in Britain. American usages no longer swim to our shores as single spies, as "reliable" and "talented" did. They come in battalions.

In the 1930s, the talkies took hold and represented the first overwhelming manifestation of American cultural power. This was reinforced in the 1940s by the presence of large numbers of US servicemen in Britain and the 1950s marked the heyday of the western.

There may have been a brief pushback after that, in the era of Swinging London, as Bill Haley and Elvis faded, and the Beatles and Stones conquered the world, along with words like "fab" and "groovy". In the years since, however, the movement seems to have become overwhelming, unstoppable and almost wholly one way, with the exception of Harry Potter.

Continue reading the main story
The coining of the term

J Witherspoon, writing in the Pennsylvania Journal, 1781

The first class I call Americanisms, by which I understand an use of phrases or terms, or a construction of sentences, even among persons of rank and education, different from the use of the same terms or phrases, or the construction of similar sentences, in Great Britain.

The word Americanism, which I have coined for the purpose, is exactly similar in its formation and signification to the word Scotticism.

American culture is ubiquitous in Britain on TV and the web. As our computers talk to us in American, I keep having to agree to a license spelt with an s. I am invited to print something in color without the u. I am told "you ghat mail". It is, of course, always e-mail - never our own more natural usage, e-post.

As an ex-American resident, I remain a big fan of baseball. But I sit over here and listen to people who know nothing of the games talk about ideas coming out of "left field". They speak about "three strikes and you're out" or "stepping up to the plate" without the foggiest idea what these phrases mean. I think the country has started to lose its own sense of itself.

In many respects, English and American are not coming together. When it comes to new technology, we often go our separate ways. They have cellphones - we have mobiles. We go to cash points or cash machines - they use ATMs. We have still never linked hands on motoring terminology - petrol, the boot, the bonnet, known in the US as gas, the trunk, the hood.

Yet in the course of my own lifetime, countless routine British usages have either been superseded or are being challenged by their American equivalents. We no longer watch a film, we go to the movies. We increasingly have trucks not lorries. A hike is now a wage or price rise not a walk in the country.

Ugly and pointless new usages appear in the media and drift into everyday conversation:

Faze, as in "it doesn't faze me"
Hospitalize, which really is a vile word
Wrench for spanner
Elevator for lift
Rookies for newcomers, who seem to have flown here via the sports pages.
Guy, less and less the centrepiece of the ancient British festival of 5 November - or, as it will soon be known, 11/5. Now someone of either gender.
And, starting to creep in, such horrors as ouster, the process of firing someone, and outage, meaning a power cut. I always read that as outrage. And it is just that.
I am all for a living, breathing language that evolves with the times. I accept that estate agents prefer to sell apartments rather than flats - they sound more enticing. I accept that we now have freight trains rather than goods trains - that's more accurate.


Many British people step up to the plate and have ideas out of left field
I accept that sometimes American phrases have a vigour and vivacity. A relative of mine told me recently he went to a business meeting chaired by a Californian woman who wanted everyone to speak frankly. It was "open kimono". How's that for a vivid expression?

But what I hate is the sloppy loss of our own distinctive phraseology through sheer idleness, lack of self-awareness and our attitude of cultural cringe. We encourage the diversity offered by Welsh and Gaelic - even Cornish is making a comeback. But we are letting British English wither.

Britain is a very distinct country from the US. Not better, not worse, different. And long live that difference. That means maintaining the integrity of our own gloriously nuanced, subtle and supple version - the original version - of the English language.

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