PC Defends Decision Allowing Muivah to Visit Manipur

New Delhi, May 18 : Union Home Minister P Chidambaram today defended the Centre's decision to allow NSCN (IM) leader T Muivah to visit his native village in Manipur saying that it was done to resolve the old and vexed Naga problem.

Reacting to BJP leader Prakash Javadekar's criticism about his unilateral decision, refusal of which by the Manipur government led to the state's blockade and violence, Mr Chidambaram said that when he asked the BJP leader about it he was was 'astounded and pleased' by the latter's explanation that the media reflected his statement before meeting the Home Minister and not the one given after the meeting.

In an interview to a private news channel, the Home Minister said the UPA government is trying to resolve the Naga problem and due to its consistent efforts NSCN(IM) leaders had agreed to come to India on Indian passports and hold talks with interlocutors.

When the talks progressed, Muivah expressed his wish to visit his native village which is in Manipur. Muivah was assured that the Centre would try to facilitate it.

However, Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh refused to give permission to Muivah's visit. The Chief Minister was called to New Delhi on April 28 where Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Law Minister Veerappa Moily and Mr Chidambaram tried to persuade him but still after going back, he refused to allow Muivah's entry into the state.

''The government did the right thing. We tried to ensure Muivah's visit to his native village. Even if we are not able to ensure his entry into his native village today, we will be able to do so in future.'' He said that the government was being pro-active in trying to resolve these issues and ensure that they were suitably dealt with.

That is why it agreed to facilitate Muivah's visit, but this setback happened. However, for long pending decisions the matter should be considered on long term basis and these small setbacks should not be given much importance.

Pointing out that India has many serious security problems, he said that these problems could not be washed away or resolved in weeks or months but required persistent efforts.

Stating that he could have remained passive and not held talks with NSCN (IM) nor allowed Muivah to visit his native village, but it would not have resolved the long pending Naga problems. So to resolve these issue, he took the decision.

Blake Lively Minus Her Chest In A Bikini

Blake Lively covers the June Vogue as she did in March 2008 and in February 2009, which was taken as a sign the magazine was in trouble.

Anna Wintour gives the following explanation for repeatedly choosing Blake as cover girl in her letter from the editor:

"Lively has been in VOGUE before--when Gossip Girl made its initial dent in the popular psyche in March 2008; for her first cover with Mario Testino and Tonne Goodman, in February 2009; and as the style icon du jour for New York socials in March 2010. She's a terrific role model for young women: sporty, healthy, family-minded, and effortlessly lovely."

Blake is currently shooting 'The Green Lantern' in New Orleans, and in the Vogue spread she dons various swimsuits and wetsuits while surfing in San Diego. Her famous chest is strangely diminished in the white bikini pic though it appears elsewhere in the shoot.

"I haven't lived in California for so long," she told the magazine, "but my New York guise is gone. Ostrich flats don't really work on the beach!"

Read the story here.

PHOTOS:
(credit: Mario Testino/Vogue)

[via Huff Post ]

Building an Agricultural Community: The Model Self-Sufficient Village in Haiti

By Wyclef Jean

Grammy-winning musician and founder of Yéle Haiti

Many people are wondering what we can do, after we deal with the immediate crises caused by the horrific January earthquake, to make sure the people of Haiti can have a bright future. I'm the father of a young daughter, so I especially worry about the kids.

The children of Haiti have a right to dream. They have a right to dream of a future not where they live in shacks without clean water to drink or food to eat, but where they have the necessities of a healthy life, a future where they can learn to read and write and get an education. They have a right to dream of having a family and being able to provide for those families. I know I don't want to be sitting here five years from now asking, "Why aren't the children any better off now than before the quake?" So I asked myself right now, in 2010, what's next?

I think the answer is in building permanent communities that run themselves. You need to start with agriculture and establish a strong job base. You need to teach people the skills they need to do for themselves. Once you make them proud of themselves, and they're given a chance and they see that the dream is real, they have something to work toward. It's like the philosopher and astronomer Galileo supposedly said: "You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him discover it within himself."

Yéle Haiti, the charitable organization I started five years ago, is looking to build a permanent agricultural community, and I'm really pumped about this. It's going to be a farming community for about 5,000 people near Croix-des-Bouquets. The idea is to introduce simple and sustainable techniques for improved farming, education, health and other services that begin to spark changes at the community level in other parts of the country.

And check this out: The government of Haiti is going to be our partner in this project, and so are my professional Haitian brothers and sisters from around the world, who will give back to their native country by lending us their expertise. My hope is that this agricultural community will introduce simple ideas that can be easily duplicated, and that it will launch a national agro-forestry movement. In doing that, we'll be creating permanent, self-sufficient, strong communities that will benefit the entire country for many, many years.

Keeping in mind this idea of sustainability and self-sufficiency, I am also really excited about our plans for a large kitchen initiative to be based at Yéle headquarters in La Plaine that will be modeled on a program we have run for several years in Cité Soleil called Yéle Cuisine. The concept here is to create jobs for local women and train them to improve the quality of the food they prepare and increase the output of meals to 15,000 a day to help feed the children at schools and orphanages in the area. Now, that's really going to help people, right?

Additionally, this program will focus on teaching women the business skills necessary to bring in more money for the food they sell at the marketplace every day. This program will help the Haitian people stand up on their own two feet and help rebuild the structure of Haiti organically. We hope to start construction on the facilities to house this ambitious program by June.

So, you see, even though we've been shipping containers full of cans of food and ration kits to feed the starving -- and I want to again thank everyone who has helped us get that food to them -- with this massive kitchen, our plan is to not only feed the hungry but also teach skills and provide permanent jobs that will help lead Haiti to a brighter future.

Here are some words of wisdom. (Bear with me while I quote a long-dead American president, but what he says is still true a century later.) I read somewhere that Woodrow Wilson once said: "We grow great by dreams ... Some of us let these great dreams die, but others nourish and protect them; nurse them through bad days till they bring them to the sunshine and light which comes always to those who sincerely hope that their dreams will come true."

I won't stand still until the dream for a brighter future for Haiti becomes a reality. We don't have any time to waste.

[via Huff post ]

Manipur Orders Magisterial Inquiry Into May 6 Incident

Imphal, May 18 : The Manipur government has ordered a magisterial inquiry into the May 6 incident in which two Naga students were killed by Manipur Police Commando’s while trying to receive NSCN-IM leader T Muivah at Mao gate along the border with Nagaland.

In a official notification dated yesterday and issued to the media today, the government said the inquiry, to be headed by Senapati district magistrate Nidhi Kesarwani, would find facts and circumstances that led to the incident.

The inquiry would recommend to prevent recurrence of such incidents in the future, said the notification signed by Kesarwani.

Earlier reports quoting official sources had said that Loshua Mao (20) and Chakho Mao (20) were killed in a stampede after police opened fire in the air to disperse the violent crowd. But later reports did not mention about the stampede or police firing.

The report of post mortem was not disclosed by the officials.

Manipur Govt Sends Feelers to Naga Students' Union

Imphal, May 18 : Manipur government has sent feelers for holding talks with agitating Naga students union, which has been blocking national highways since one month to protest government's plan to hold elections to autonomous district councils.

Manipur Sports Minister and Government Spokesman N Biren today said that the government was confident that All Naga Students' Association Manipur (ANSAM) would response to its appeal to call off the indefinite economic blockade and indicated that the government was open to talks.

Manipur-based All Manipur Christian Union (AMCU) would also be meeting civil society organizations in Nagaland soon in connection with the economic blockade along the National Highways 39 (Imphal-Dimapur) and 53 (Imphal-Jiribam) by some Naga organizations, he told reporters.

ANSAM had launched the economic blockade on the two highways to protest government's plan to hold elections to autonomous district councils in Manipur hills.

Biren said there was no lack of initiative on the part of the government in arriving at a solution.

Alternative solutions such as airlifting of life-saving drugs and rice were necessary in view of the shortage of drugs in hospitals, he said.

The sources said life saving drugs, medicines and oxygen which were urgently required in major hospitals like Regional Institute of Medical Science and Hospital and J N Hospital have been supplied for conducting emergency operations.

Eight MT of life saving drugs and 70 quintals of rice have so far been airlifted from Guwahati and more would be airlifted today, the sources said.

Food and Civil Supply Commissioner P Vaiphei said there was now a stock of 7683 metric tones of rice and it would last for a month.

Airlifting of rice from Guwahati was to show to the people that, if necessary, the government could airlift any essential item in spite of road blockade, he said.

The sources said the airlifted rice has been handed over to deputy commissioner (Imphal west). It would be distributed to the public at various places, including crowded Khwairamband market complex at the rate of Rs 18.85 per kg.

Indian Army Proposes Vairengte For as Anti-Naxal Training Centre

New Delhi, May 18 : In the backdrop of major attacks by Maoists against paramilitary and central police personnel, the Army has proposed to set up a dedicated centre to ready the security men for the battle against the Naxals.

The proposal was made during the ongoing Army Commanders' Conference here and it was suggested that the new centre could be set up on the lines of the Army's Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) in Mizoram.

Army sources said here today that the Commanders discussed the issue and they were willing to offer the services of defence officers as instructors at the new school for training the paramilitary personnel.

The new centre, sources said, would be in addition to the anti-Naxal operations training that the Army has been provided for the last six years now.

YouTube Hits 2 Billion Views a Day

By Maggie Shiels

YouTube wants users to discover and shape the world through video

Video sharing website YouTube now gets more than two billion hits daily.

That's nearly double the number of people who tune into the US's three prime time TV stations combined, its owners Google have said.

The news comes as the site celebrates the day five years ago when the first beta version of YouTube was launched.

"I see this great growth opportunity in the online video market and we are positioning ourselves to be a leader," co-founder Chad Hurley told BBC News.

"We are a stage and we give everyone in the world an opportunity to participate and that is being a video platform for creating a solution for people to not only upload and distribute their videos on a global basis but to find and share videos."

He also said that while the two billion hits a day marked a real milestone "I feel we have much further to go.

From cat videos to political videos to "how to" videos to entertainment - that is YouTube

Chad Hurley, YouTube co-founder

"Two billion video streams is a large number but on average people are only spending 15 minutes a day on the site compared to five hours a day watching TV.

"I don't think we could have ever planned or imagined we would get to the scale or the size we are today. We were mostly trying to create a video solution for ourselves based on our own frustrations. We are proud of what we have achieved so far but we have a lot of work ahead," said Mr Hurley.

The site was bought by Google near the end of 2006 for $1.65bn. Just seven months ago it clocked up one billion downloads a day.

The early years

The slogan for YouTube is "Broadcast Yourself" which Mr Hurley said was a play on "be yourself and also captured in my mind the essence of the site which was to let people express themselves."

The first person to express themselves on the platform was fellow co-founder Jawed Karim who posted a 19 seconds long video called "Me at the Zoo". It was uploaded on April 23, 2005 and can still be viewed on the site.

The first video posted to YouTube: Co-founder Jawed Karim at the Zoo - Video courtesy of YouTube

Among the other videos that have made YouTube history is that of a wounded girl dying in front of a crowd during the Iranian election protests, a YouTube interview with President Barack Obama, Ronaldinho's Nike advert and singer Susan Boyle's performance on Britain's Got Talent competition on TV.

"We wanted to create a level playing field that gave everyone that ability to be seen and heard," said Mr Hurley.

"Maybe early on people only recognised us or explained YouTube by placing it in a box but there are so many people on our site and we receive so much content over a 24 hour period, it can't be about one thing.

December 2005 8 million videos watched a day

January 2008 10 hours of video uploaded every minute

October 2009 1 billion views per day

March 2010 24 hours of video uploaded every minute

"And so from cat videos to political videos to "how to" videos to entertainment - that is YouTube," added Mr Hurley.

Today it hosts channels for everyone from Queen Elizabeth to the Pope and from President Barack Obama to the Iraqi government.

"YouTube really is a phenomenon and is very much part of popular culture," said Catharine P Taylor, media blogger at news website BNET.com.

"It really is a game changer because it gives everybody a platform to broadcast from. There are many examples where an average citizen has become a big hit on YouTube and that is something that would have been impossible to contemplate five, six years ago."

The future

In those early days the site was known for hosting pirated snippets of TV shows or movies. Even today material gets pulled from the site because of issues over copyright.

"They have made a lot of progress about weeding out illegal content," said Allen Weiner senior vice president of research at Gartner.

YouTube's front page was a very sparse looking one five years ago

"They are serious about it. Their future depends on it."

As a result YouTube has been working hard to win over content makers as it modifies its service to stream professional films and cash in on a trend towards internet television.

Industry watchers have said YouTube could possibly become part of the Google "media cloud" where people can access films, books, magazines tv shows and other digitised content.

"YouTube is going to change in a lot of ways in the next few years," Ryan Lawler of video site NewTeeVee.com told BBC News.

"I think we will see it on more devices and see it used more for live streaming. There are real opportunities for it to become a traditional content distributor like the cable channels. YouTube streams make up around 40% of all online video watched in the US, so there is massive scale there and lot of opportunity."

Analysts have predicted that while the site has struggled to reach profitability since its creation, 2010 could be its year.

Bloomberg News pointed out that the biggest challenge facing YouTube advertising is what makes it so popular - its user generated content. Many advertisers are wary of placing adverts that might run next to videos that might also offend or upset the audience.

"Obviously we want to work with everyone and show the value we can bring on multiple levels. It could be as simple as marketing a movie or show to our users and driving those audiences to another place for the experience.

"We are trying to create opportunities for everyone and this is not just about making big deals with major networks," said Mr Hurley.

 

[ via The BBC ]

Hackers Can Now Kill Car Brakes, Engine, and More

In some frightening news, new research suggests that by connecting to a standard diagnostic computer port included in late-model cars, hackers could potentially do some pretty horrible things—like turning off brakes, changing the speedometer reading, blasting hot air or music on the radio, and locking passengers in the car.

For now, researchers claim the risk of this occurring is very low, given that the technology required to make that happen is extremely sophisticated.

However, it will hopefully force car designers to develop heavier protection for new vehicle models.

Full story at Yahoo News.