Julio Aparicio GORED IN THROAT During Bullfight

Julio Aparicio, one of Spain's most famous matadors, was gored in the throat today during a bullfight. The horrific injury has left him in critical condition:

"[The horn] went though the tongue and penetrated the roof of the mouth, fracturing the jawbone," one of the medics who worked on Aparicio told AFP news in Madrid.

[UPDATE: After two operations, it appears leading surgeon Maximo Garcia Pedros has saved Aparicio's life. The bull, however, was quickly killed by other matadors.] The incident took place during the Festival of Saint Isidro, considered to be the most important event in the bullfighting calendar, at the Plaza de Toros las Ventas bullring, which can seat up to 24,000 people. Scroll down for photos and video of the goring. WARNING: they are not for the faint of heart.

World Cup Commercials: Best Tournament Ads

Yesterday Nike released a new three-minute ad in advance of the 2010 World Cup. It is not, however, the apparel maker's first foray into soccer advertising.

Scroll down to see the new commercial and take a look at other prominent ads from past World Cups -- by Nike and other advertisers. Which one is the best?

Facebook Could Predict When Your Relationship Will End

Buzz is growing around The Facebook Effect, David Kirkpatrick's forthcoming book about Facebook's rise to social networking stardom.

Citing excerpts from Kirkpatrick's book, AllFacebook.com, claims that "Facebook knows your relationship will end in a week."

How is that possible? (And is it, really?)

Kirkpatrick reveals that during Facebook's early days, Zuckerberg enjoyed analyzing the social patterns of the site's users--in particular, those in relationships.

Kirkpatrick writes (in an excerpt posted on AllFacebook.com),

As the service's engineers built more and more tools that could uncover such insights, Zuckerberg sometimes amused himself by conducting experiments. For instance, he concluded that by examining friend relationships and communications patterns he could determine with about 33 percent accuracy who a user was going to be in a relationship with a week from now. To deduce this he studied who was looking which profiles, who your friends were friends with, and who was newly single, among other indicators.

Though online privacy concerns have many Facebook users worried, AllFacebook.com assures its readers that Zuckerberg's old habits no longer take place at Facebook.

Meanwhile, Village Voice counters, if Facebook can predict the end of your relationship, it's likely that somebody in real life has noticed, too. Salon.com has a similar take:

"[Y]ou don't have to be able to see behind the scenes or develop a complex formula to tell when a relationship is on thin ice. Flirtatious comments, snippy wall posts between significant others, photos that reveal a certain sadness (or wandering eyes) -- these are all pretty straightforward hints. The same is also true of our non-virtual lives."

Read more revelations from Kirkpatrick's The Facebook Effect here. (For example-- Zuckerberg's early business cards read "I'm CEO...b**ch.")

Chidambaram to Visit Mizoram, Assam Beginning Monday

New Delhi, May 23 : As part of his efforts to review the internal security situation, Home Minister P Chidambaram will undertake a series of tours to different parts of the country beginning Monday.

Chidambaram on Monday will visit Mizoram where he will hold meetings with Governor Lt Gen (retd) M M Lakhera and Chief Minister Lalthanhawla and review the security situation in the Northeastern state.

On Tuesday, Chidambaram will visit Assam where he will take stock of the law and order situation with Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi and top civil and security officials, official sources said.

In Guwahati, the Home Minister is expected to discuss with the Assam government the issue of peace talks with ULFA.

Sources said that in the next stage, the Home Minister will visit the Naxal-affected states like Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Difficult to Destroy Poppy Cultivation in Northeast India

Shillong, May 23 : Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) chief O P S Malik today admitted that anti-narcotics agencies were finding it increasingly difficult to destroy poppy and cannabis cultivation in Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh.

''West Bengal, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh have been identified as poppy cultivation state, but destruction of poppy cultivation in Manipur and Arunachal has become very difficult as poppy seeds are grown in inaccessible areas,'' Mr Malik told newspersons after chairing the Regional Conference of Drug Law Enforcement Agencies Eastern Region.

Over 3000 acres of poppy cultivation were destroyed in West Bengal alone, while 1200 acres in Arunachal Pradesh and 850 acres in Manipur, he said.

The NCB chief also said Meghalaya had been identified as ''transit point'' in drugs smuggling business, though the consumption in the state was not high.

'' Trafficking route will be formed to combat the menace of unlawful drugs trade, '' he added.

When asked, Mr Malik did not rule out the possibility of militants' involvement in drug smuggling in the North East being a militant-prone region in the form of ''monetary benefits''.

'' We cannot say and don't have direct evidences but the possibility of making monetary benefits by militant outfits cannot be ruled out, '' he said.

Manipur Crisis: 42 days, Ibobi Still Adamant

Imphal, May 23 : Highway blockade on National Highway 39 to Manipur persists on Day 42. However, trucks with supplies have broken the blockade on NH 53.

National Socialist Council of Nagaland - Isak-Muivah (NSCN-IM) leader T Muivah is adamant on his visit to his ancestral village in Manipur, however, the Manipur government remains firm on stopping him.

This pictures it all….Welcome to Manipur with Sticks, Stones, Guns….

Ibobi adamant on denying Muivah entry

By Sobhapati Samom

Imphal, May 23 : Manipur Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh has reaffirmed the Government’s stand on the visit of NSCN-IM general secretary Thuingaleng Muivah to the State.

Chief Minister responding to a question while addressing a hurriedly-called press conference here this evening, said, “Our stand is very clear, we’ll not allow his entry under any circumstances”.

Responding to another question, he further informed that his Government is trying it’s best to defuse the ongoing situation in the State and if necessary the security forces which were presently being deployed at Mao Gate,an important border commercial town bordering Nagaland’s Khuzama village, will be withdrawn.

Appealing to the civil society organizations to monitor and stop the unwanted activities of the blockade and counter blockade supporters in public interest, he said his government is minutely monitoring the ongoing situation every alternate day by holding joint meeting with the Council of Ministers and top brass of the security forces.

“We’re monitoring the situation every alternative day besides charting out plans to bring in essential commodities through various routes or means leading to the state”, he said.

The Government is even trying to contact the concerned Union Ministries to transport essential commodities through Indo-Myanmar route (110 km) or Imphal-Jiribam sector of NH-53 (220 km) or NH 150(550) km.

“Yes,we’re not thinking of short term plan but a long term plan” he replied.

Assam Literacy Rate Below National Average

Guwahati, May 23 : The Northeastern region, having a share of 3.80 per cent of the total Indian population, is home to nearly 6.60 per cent of the illiterate population of the country, despite the fact that Mizoram – a State with one of the highest literacy rate – belongs to the same region.

Though being a prominent State of the region, literacy rate in Assam is below the national average along with other two of the Northeastern States, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya.

Out of the total 700,00,000 illiterate people of the country above the age group of 15 years, 46,25,715 people are in the Northeast, according to the National Literacy Mission data.

On a visit to the State for launching the female literacy sensitization programme, the Director General of the National Literacy Mission Authority (NLMA) Jagmohan Singh Raju said that the mission ‘Saakshar Bharat 2012’, a scheme announced by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh aims at mitigating the large disparities not only between the male and female literacy rates, but also those of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribes and the minority population.

Addressing the media here today, he said that the scheme has the provision of skill development or the employment oriented training of the neo-literates.

Commissioner Secretary Education, Government of Assam Md AB Eunus, while speaking on the occasion said that the infrastructure has been put into place to conduct a survey for identification of beneficiaries of first phase of the programme that would cover the five districts, out of the total 12 identified districts in the State.

In the Northeast, 35 districts out of the total 86 districts are being targeted under the scheme on the basis of a female literacy rate of 50 per cent or below.

The total literacy rate of Assam is around 64 per cent against a national average of 65 per cent. The gender gap between the male and female literacy rates in the State is nearly 15 per cent.

Why The Road Blocks Really Started

By Suhas Chakma

Manipur is in the news for the wrong reasons again. After the State government foiled the visit of NSCN Chief T. Muivah to Manipur on May 6, the Naga Students Federation joined the fray to block NH-39 and NH-53 — the lifelines of Manipur. The prices of essential commodities shot up. Petrol cost about Rs 200 a litre. It made headlines. But the media and the political parties missed the complete story, again.

Muivah’s proposed visit only accentuated the blockade of the national highways already imposed by the All Naga Students’ Association, Manipur and the All Tribal Students’ Union, Manipur on April 11. They have been protesting the elections to be held on May 26 under the controversial Manipur (Hill Area) District Council Act (Third Amendment) 2008.

As everybody sees the blockade through the Muivah prism, the cause espoused by the students unions has been subsumed. The Manipur (Hill Areas) District Councils Act, 1971 gave the district councils powers to legislate, plan and implement development programmes in the hill areas. It gave these councils full executive powers.

In the last 39 years, the state government failed to transfer many of the subjects to the district councils. Even executive powers relating to hospitals, primary health centres, high schools and colleges, and roads other than national highways in the hill areas, were not transferred.

Instead, the Manipur government adopted the controversial Manipur  District Council Act which has been opposed by the tribals. The amended Act destroys the powers of the tribal villages. The Manipur government turned the district councils into its agents instead of truly autonomous bodies. Therefore, the blockade.

The tribals of Manipur are divided along community lines and have disagreements with regard to the model district council to empower them. Yet, there is no doubt that the Nagas and the Kukis agree that the current Act must go.

The Imphal valley has been badly affected by the road blocks. The hill areas too have been affected by the counter blockade launched by the United Committee Manipur and women groups since May 11.

The country will have to pay the price for the mishandling of Muivah’s visit. As the battle lines are drawn on communal lines, civil society groups have been propagating a communal agenda.

Manipur is not monolithic. The hills have the same story to tell about the Imphal valley as Manipur has to tell about New Delhi.

The author is the director of Asian Centre for Human Rights, Delhi