WOMEN’S DAY CELEBRITIES

Most powerful female political leaders

A. SONIA GANDHI

Nobody can argue that Mrs. Sonia Gandhi is among the most powerful women political leaders of the world. She is the President of Indian National Congress as well as the head of ruling UPA in India. She is Italian-born daughter-in-law of the late Prime Minister of India, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. After her husband Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991, she was invited by the Indian Congress Party to take over the Congress but she refused and publicly stayed away from politics amidst constant prodding by the Congress. She finally agreed to join politics in 1997 and in 1998, she was elected as the leader of the Congress. Since then, she has been the President of the Indian National Congress Party becoming the longest serving President in September 2010.

Gandhi was named the third most powerful woman in the world by Forbes magazine in the year 2004 and was ranked 6th in 2007. In 2010, Gandhi ranked as the ninth most powerful person on the planet by Forbes Magazine. She was also named among the Time 100 most influential people in the world for the years 2007 and 2008.The British magazine New Statesman listed Sonia Gandhi at number 29th in their annual survey of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures" in the year 2010.

B-. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Argentina

Elected President in November 2007 (thereby succeeding her husband Néstor), Fernández has proven she is her own woman. Dismissively referred to as “Cristina” by some members of Argentina’s macho political elite, Fernández has survived a standoff with the country’s powerful farming lobby, a fallout with the U.S. over a suitcase allegedly containing illegal campaign contributions and a series of high-profile economic-policy spats that culminated in the ousting of the governor of Argentina’s Central Bank earlier this year. With her striking appearance and polarizing rhetoric, she inevitably draws comparisons with former First Lady Eva Perón.

C-. Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil

“I would like parents who have daughters to look straight in their eyes and tell them: ‘Yes, a woman can,’” Dilma Rousseff said following her victory in Brazil’s runoff election. When she takes the reins of the world’s fourth largest democracy on Jan. 1, Rousseff will become the South American country’s first female president. Her win, a victory for would-be women leaders everywhere, was also a nod to outgoing President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who handpicked her for the job. As Lula’s former chief of staff, Rousseff promised to carry on the outgoing and overwhelmingly popular leader’s work. “I offer special thanks to President Lula,” she said in her election night speech. “I will know how to honor his legacy. I will know how to consolidate and go forward with his work.”

D- Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia

After she helped orchestrate a Labor Party coup that ousted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on June 24, 2010, Gillard, 48, became Australia’s first female PM. Tasked with rebuilding dwindling support for her party, she called snap elections just three weeks into office, hoping to benefit from her bounce in public opinion. But the Aug. 21 election proved inconclusive: neither Gillard’s center-left government nor the Liberal-National coalition led by Tony Abbott were able to secure an outright majority. The stalemate finally broke on Sep. 7. After more than two weeks of protracted negotiation with a handful of independent candidates, Gillard secured a 76-74 majority in parliament to form a minority government.

E- Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia

Educated at the University of Wisconsin and at Harvard, Africa’s first female President served as Liberia’s Minister of Finance in the late 1970s. But when Samuel Doe seized power in a military coup in 1980 and executed the President and several Cabinet members, Johnson Sirleaf fled to Kenya, where she became a director at Citibank. She returned to contest the 1996 presidential election and lost to Charles Taylor. In 2005, she ran again and won, promising to bring motherly sensitivity and emotion to the presidency — a tall order in a country still reeling from years of civil war.

F-. Sheik Hasina Wajed, Prime Minister of Bangladesh

Hasina, the 62-year-old leader of the left-of-center Awami League, has a history of surviving. During a 1975 coup d’état, assassins killed 17 members of her family — including her son, three brothers, mother and father, former Prime Minister Sheik Mujibur Rahman. Hasina, then 28, happened to be abroad at the time. She later survived a grenade attack that killed more than 20 people, dodging the bullets that sprayed her car as she fled. Hasina was first elected Prime Minister in 1996. But in 2001, Transparency International named Bangladesh as the most corrupt country in the world, and Hasina was ousted in a landslide. That wasn’t the end of her, though. In January 2009, the Awami League won 230 of 299 parliamentary seats, and the consummate survivor found herself Prime Minister — again.

G. Johanna Sigurdardottir, Prime Minister of Iceland

After Iceland’s economy collapsed in October 2008, Sigurdardottir rode a wave of discontent all the way to the premiership. It wasn’t exactly surprising: the former flight attendant turned politician had won eight consecutive elections since entering Parliament in 1978, making her the country’s longest-serving parliamentarian and one of its most popular. In addition to being Iceland’s first female Prime Minister, Sigurdardottir, 67, is also the world’s first openly gay head of state. In June 2010, when Iceland legalized gay marriage, Sigurdardottir tied the knot with her long-term partner, with whom she had entered a civil union seven years earlier.

H-. Laura Chinchilla, President of Costa Rica

A former Vice President under Nobel laureate Oscar Arias Sánchez, Chinchilla won a 47% majority in the February 2010 election. In a country increasingly concerned about crime, the center-leftist played up her security experience: she previously served as both Public Security Minister and Justice Minister in the National Liberation Party. A social conservative, she opposes gay marriage, abortion and the legalization of the morning-after pill. She has pledged to continue the pro-business policies of her predecessor by courting international investment and expanding free trade.

I. Tarja Halonen, President of Finland

Brought up in a working-class family in downtown Helsinki, Halonen has built a highly successful political career by building ties with trade unions and nongovernmental organizations. Serving as President since 2000, she has vehemently defended the President’s role as commander in chief of the military, and campaigned against Finnish membership in NATO. Her hobbies belie her powerful position: she is said to enjoy swimming and taking care of her two cats. In 2006, TV host and comedian Conan O’Brien endorsed Halonen’s re-election because of her strong resemblance to him.

J. Dalia Grybauskaite, President of Lithuania

After Grybauskaite came to power in 2009, European journalists quickly dubbed her Lithuania’s Iron Lady, owing to her steely way with words and her black belt in karate. The daughter of a saleswoman and an electrician, she worked part time in a factory while earning a Ph.D. in economics. She went on to become Deputy Minister of Finance in 1999, before holding a series of positions within the European Commission. In 2009, with Lithuania mired deep in recession, Grybauskaite focused her presidential campaign on protecting those with the lowest incomes and tackling unemployment, which had climbed to nearly 16%. Running as an independent, she won with a 68% majority — the largest margin of victory ever recorded in Lithuania’s presidential election history.

 

 

White House seeks to reassure Muslims

Ahead of congressional hearings into homegrown Islamic terrorism, an Obama national security advisor tells one group: 'Muslim Americans are not part of the problem. You're part of the solution.'

By Peter Nicholas, Washington Bureau

March 7, 2011

Reporting from Sterling, Va. —

The White House took a preemptive step to defuse an emerging controversy Sunday, sending out a top aide to reassure American Muslims that the U.S. government doesn't see them as a collective threat.

Denis McDonough, deputy national security advisor to President Obama, addressed a largely Muslim audience days before congressional hearings into homegrown Islamic terrorism. The hearings, which sparked protests in New York on Sunday, will be led by Rep. Peter T. King (R-N.Y.), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee.

In his speech to members of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, McDonough said, "The bottom line is this: When it comes to preventing violent extremism and terrorism in the United States, Muslim Americans are not part of the problem; you're part of the solution."

Earlier Sunday, King told CNN's "State of the Union" that Al Qaeda terrorists were "attempting to recruit within the United States. People in this country are being self-radicalized."

The Obama administration is clearly worried that the hearings, which begin Thursday, could open a rift with Muslim leaders, whose cooperation is needed to foil terrorist recruitment. A message from McDonough's speech was that the Muslim community is vital to a larger strategy of preventing the radicalization of American youths.

"Our challenge, and the goal that President Obama has insisted that we also focus on, is on the front end: preventing Al Qaeda from recruiting and radicalizing people in America in the first place," McDonough said. "And we know this isn't the job of government alone. It has to be a partnership with you — the communities being targeted most directly by Al Qaeda."

Terrorist recruiters, McDonough said, look for people who feel disconnected from their community and are "perhaps struggling with their identity."

They suggest to prospective recruits that "their identities as an American and as a Muslim are somehow incompatible and that they must choose between their faith and their country," he said.

Afterward, reporters asked McDonough whether his speech was connected to King's hearings. "We welcome congressional involvement in this very important issue," he said.

King told the Associated Press that he agreed with what McDonough said and had spoken with him Friday. "I think it's a validation of everything I've been trying to do," King said. "There is a real threat. It's a serious threat."

Imam Mohamed Magid of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society said in an interview that Congress should not "single out" any one community and that Muslim leaders were partners in defeating Islamic extremism.

"We're doing our best," he said. "We're fighting this and we're in it together."
Rizwan Jaka, a member of the society's board of trustees, said King's hearings carried the potential to marginalize Muslims.

A better approach, he said, would be one that treats Muslims as "partners, not suspects."
King, on CNN, urged the nation to watch the hearings before casting judgment.
"I think the hearing is going to be very productive. It's going to go forward, and it's going to talk about something which is not being talked about publicly, which I think should be," he said.

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), a Muslim, also appeared on CNN.
"To say we're going to investigate a religious minority, and a particular one, I think is the wrong course of action to take," Ellison said. "I don't want them to be able to stand up and claim, you know, 'See, we told you, America is at war with Islam.' That's one of their main recruiting arguments."

Also Sunday, about 300 people turned out in Times Square to protest the hearings. Participants objected that the focus should be not on Muslims but extremists of any sort.

A smaller protest supported the hearings.
Those who opposed the hearings waved U.S. flags and held signs that read: "Today I am a Muslim too" and "Who would Jesus persecute? Islam is not my enemy."
peter.nicholas@latimes.com

 Courtesy:Los Angeles Times

CAREER GUIDANCE

EXPORT AND IMPORT LIAISON AGENTS

JUST ASK THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS YOURSELF:

If your answer is no, develop steadily, with a conquering will.

Do I have working knowledge in spoken and written English?

     

Am I sociable and easy going with others?

Do I have hard and sustainable will power and perseverance?

Do I believe that failure is also as good as success?

Do I believe in,” Seeing believing”?

Do I believe in team work?  

Do I apply my mind seriously for minor details?

Do I have the intention to travel widely including abroad?

In liaison agency either you have to buy any commodity or to sell.

Your entire job is to link the manufacturers’ products to a prospective

buyers either domestic market or to the overseas market. You will earn

certain percentage of commission lucratively as a middle man.

Your job is look after the quality of the product/s to the buyers     satisfaction.

    

Necessacity of huge investment does not arise, what capital investment

is required will be known to you by your day to day activities.

The great investment is your capacity in gaining knowledge on the items

you have chosen; thoroughly understanding everything about the

products, the kind of people you are going to deal with.

The best way to gain full knowledge about a particular product, for

example items such as finished leather, textile products, engineering

items is to work in a well established manufacturing company at least

for a year or two.

     

     

Our future writings will deal with products, and its different types.

     The contacts of the manufacturers and its existing overseas markets.

Read this page regularly.

Is Saudi Arabia Next?

March 6, 2011 by TMO 

With a wave of pro-democracy fervor sweeping the Middle East, could the region’s richest powerhouse, Saudi Arabia, be next to fall?

Or perhaps the question should be: Can oil money buy stability?

By Lauren Frayer 

Weeks ago, the answer seemed to be “yes.” While revolutions took hold in Tunisia and Egypt, the Persian Gulf’s richest and most entrenched kings and sultans seemed to be riding out the unrest around them unscathed. But over time, the movement has spread to surprising places such as Oman and Bahrain, where wealthy monarchs had until now been able to placate their populations by doling out oil money in place of democratic freedoms. Now protests are scheduled for March 11 and 20 in Saudi Arabia — a development that was unthinkable just weeks ago.

“All bets are off as far as any certainties in the entire region. While each and every country has an individual set of circumstances — demographics, economics and politics — each is being affected by this wave of revolution moving through the region,” James Denselow, a researcher in Middle East security at King’s College in London, told AOL News. “Each government is responding in its own way, and no one is immune. The Saudis have been least touched by events, but I think there’s every chance that things will happen.”

Essentially, the proverbial deck of dominoes has begun to fall, and it’s got everyone wondering who could be next. For Saudis, it’s the billion-dollar question — quite literally.

Saudi Arabia sits on what the U.S. Department of Energy estimates to be at least a fifth of the world’s known oil reserves. The kingdom is by far the world’s largest oil producer. Oil comprises 90 percent of Saudi exports and 75 percent of government revenue.

With that money, the kingdom has long managed to buy its subjects’ loyalty. Saudis have no voting rights and are prohibited from organizing into political parties. The king is essentially the whole government — its legislative, judicial and executive branches combined in one man. A council of ministers and a consultative assembly are underneath him, with nominal powers. The royal family dominates most of those posts.

Even the slightest hint of unrest in the kingdom is enough to make the world’s financial markets quiver. When the 86-year-old Saudi king suffered a slipped disk in his back last fall, oil spectators went wild. But the Saudi finance minister told reporters today that protests roiling the Arab world have had no impact on his kingdom.

“We haven’t seen any adverse impact on the Saudi economy,” Finance Minister Ibrahim al-Assaf said. That’s despite the fact that Saudi stocks slipped to nine-month lows this week.

King Abdullah was out of the country for three months, having surgery in New York and recuperating in Morocco. He returned home to the Saudi capital Riyadh last week and immediately took steps to placate would-be protesters. State employees got a 15 percent pay raise, and the king ordered $10.7 billion to be pumped into the country’s development fund, which provides interest-free loans to Saudis who want to build homes, get married or start small businesses. A few days later, he promised that any temporary government workers will have their contracts made permanent.

“Concessions by the royal family to the people are a symbol of them trying to pre-empt protests and get ahead of the curve,” Denselow said.

“Other governments, including [Egyptian President Hosni] Mubarak’s before he left, tried to do the same thing: appease the people by giving them carrots before having to use any sticks. The problem comes when these protests occur, and let’s face it, this is a country that’s not really used to handling democratic freedoms or protests particularly well.”

Al-Assaf said that what Denselow referred to as “carrots” — a massive package of economic incentives totaling $37 billion — would go into effect today.

But for the first time in the royal family’s nearly 80-year reign, it may not be enough. Over the weekend, more than 100 leading Saudi academics and activists posted a statement on the Internet calling for sweeping reforms, including swapping out Saudi Arabia’s absolute monarchy for a constitutional one.

“The current situation … is full of reasons for concern,” the statement said. “We are seeing … a receding of Saudi Arabia’s prominent regional role for which our nation was known and the … prevalence of corruption and nepotism, the exacerbation of factionalism and a widening in the gap between state and society.”

That language is hauntingly similar to complaints by protesters in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Oman. And it spells trouble for the Saudi king.

Like those countries, about two-thirds of Saudis are younger than 30, and many of them are unemployed. There’s an 18-year waiting list for government-subsidized housing — meaning many young people must delay marriage for decades, because having an apartment is a cultural prerequisite.

Those voiceless masses got some surprise sympathy from an unlikely corner last week: a Saudi prince, albeit one who holds no official government role. In an op-ed for The New York Times, Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, a grandson of Saudi Arabia’s founding king, wrote that “unless many Arab governments adopt radically different policies, their countries will very likely experience more political and civil unrest.”

“The facts are undeniable,” he wrote, citing the Arab world’s relative youth, high unemployment, and unmet needs for housing, health care and education. “The gap between the haves and the have-nots is widening.”

Young Saudis also share technology with their Arab brethren across the Middle East, watching pan-Arab satellite TV stations like Al-Jazeera and logging in hours on social media.

Facebook pages calling for Saudi protests later this month have received several thousand followers. But activists say they believe authorities are also tracking them online. Police stymied attempts to hold rallies in the Red Sea city of Jeddah last month, after learning of the protest plans on Facebook.

“They are watching closely what people are saying on Facebook and Twitter,” Saudi blogger Ahmed al-Omran told Reuters. “Obviously they are anxious as they are surrounded with unrest and want to make sure we don’t catch the bug.”

As Saudi dissidents become emboldened by the unrest in surrounding countries, Riyadh and Washington are both beginning to panic. If Saudi Arabia’s oil flow were disrupted, even for a short time, world energy prices could skyrocket, resulting in shortages and social unrest not just confined to the Middle East.

Washington wants to avoid that at all costs but also finds itself in a sticky situation. U.S. officials can’t say that Egyptians and Libyans deserve democracy but that Saudis don’t. They might work furiously behind the scenes to prop up King Abdullah’s regime, but they have to be mindful of what that looks like to the masses.

“The more they seem to be involved, the more likely these protests are to flourish, because Western meddling, as it’s seen, is one of the factors involved in this whole revolution,” Denselow said. “It’d be very hard-pressed for any Western government to come out on TV and say at one minute they’re supporting the rights of the Egyptian or Libyan people, but they can’t support the rights of the Saudi people. That would just be a complete disaster.

“There will be a public face, one saying, ‘We encourage reform in Saudi Arabia, we welcome the king’s decision to give out these subsidies,’” he said. “But privately, they’ll be concerned with shoring up their traditional interests in the country.”

Qadhafi likens his crackdown to India’s action in Kashmir

NEW DELHI: Libyan strongman Muammar Qadhafi has told Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that his crackdown against his opponents in Libya were akin to India’s actions against Kashmiris, Times of India reported on Saturday

It said that last week, on the eve of the UN Security Council debate and vote against Libya on February 26, Col. Qadhafi, in a missive to Dr Singh, asked for India’s support for his actions as civil war broke out in Libya.

“The request for support came even as African and European countries, including Libya’s UN envoy who defected to the rebels, made an impassioned plea in the Security Council to refer Qadhafi to the International Criminal Court,” the paper said. India voted for the UNSC resolution, which was passed unanimously.

Col. Qadhafi has reportedly used warplanes to strafe his own people who are fighting to free Libya from the strongman’s four decades of control. India has largely desisted from using air power to combat the rebels in Kashmir although it has used planes and helicopters to fight them elsewhere. According to some estimates, over 6,000 people have died in the Libyan fighting, a fraction of the Kashmiri casualty effected at the hands of Indian forces and Muslim extremists.

Col. Qadhafi “has rarely been a person India has been comfortable with,” the Times of India said. “In September 2009, (Qadhafi), in a 100-minute speech at the UN General Assembly, railed against India and Kashmir as well. Kashmir should be an independent state, not Indian, not Pakistani. We should end this conflict. It should be a Ba’athist state between India and Pakistan,” he said.

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.

Cong candidates’ list before March 15

Staff Reporter
 GUWAHATI, March 6 – Some of the Congress Ministers and sitting Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs) of the party may be left out of the final list of the candidates for the ensuing Assembly elections even as the party exuded confidence in securing majority.

The Assam Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) will announce the final list of the candidates before March 15.
APCC president Bhubeneswar Kalita told media persons today that the final list would be announced after the meeting of the election committee, which would be followed by the screening committee meet of the party.
The two-day election committee meet would begin on March 8, while the screening committee members would deliberate from March 10 to March 12 in Guwahati.
"Some of the Ministers and the MLAs of our party may not feature in the list, which is not new to the Congress party. We believe in projecting new faces and this election will be no exception," the APCC chief stated, adding, "Tickets would be given to those with maximum winning possibility."
Kalita, when asked, stated that the Congress would field its candidates in all the constituencies, including the BTAD.
He further informed that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh would also campaign for the party in the State, besides other national leaders and Chief Ministers of the Congress-ruled States.
"The poll campaign has already started across the State though candidate-centric campaign would begin only after March 15, the deadline set for the announcement of the final list," Kalita said.

Replying to another query, he stated that the decision on the next Chief Minister would be taken by the party high command only after the results are declared and he has nothing to comment on this. He also stated that the poll manifesto would be releasedsoon

BJP to field Muslim candidates for Assam elections

Guwahati: Eyeing the critical Muslim vote-bank ahead of the upcoming polls in Assam, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to field Muslim candidates in the upcoming elections. Announcing the names of its candidates, the BJP ensured that the minorities got an opportunity to contest the polls, which is crucial to the party as it seeks to regainpower in the region. Addressing the media in Guwahati, Ranjit Dutta, BJP president (Assam), said it was the first timeMuslim candidates were being given tickets by a party to contest the polls despite their strong presence in the region. “The Congress has never fielded any Assamese Muslim...

Zeenews 2011-03-06

DMK hardens stance, Ministers to go ahead with resignation

Clearly in no mood for a rapprochement with the Congress, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Sunday asserted that its six Union Ministers would submit their resignations on Monday.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK president M. Karunanidhi confirmed late Sunday night that there was no further contact with the Congress (I) on the issue. Asked by reporters whether a mere three seats was the reason for the collapse of the talks, he said, “That was also one of the reasons.”

He did not rule out some other parties joining the DMK-led alliance.

Senior party leaders ruled out any attempt on the DMK's part to seek a patch-up and one of them, Union Chemicals and Fertilizers Minister M.K. Alagiri, expressed happiness over the development.

“I'm happy, aren't you happy?” was Mr. Alagiri's response, when reporters asked his for a comment on the DMK's decision to withdraw its Ministers from the UPA regime. The absence of the Congress, he said, would not affect the DMK's prospects. “It is we who walked out of the alliance,” he noted.

DMK Parliamentary Party leader T.R. Baalu said the Ministers of his party would submit their resignations on Monday, as per the decision made on Saturday by the party's high-power committee.

Talking to reporters at Anna Arivalayam, he said the Congress had not got in touch with the DMK leadership after the party adopted a resolution deciding to quit the Congress-led UPA government and extend only issue-based support to it.

Asked about the possibility of accepting the Congress in the alliance if the party changed its mind, Mr. Baalu said, “I cannot answer hypothetical questions.”

In a sign that the DMK wished to get on with the business of identifying constituencies to be contested by its allies, the party began parleys with the Pattali Makkal Katchi. Emerging from the talks, PMK president G.K. Mani said the meeting was cordial.

Asked whether the party wanted to contest in the constituencies it had won in the 2006 Assembly election, Mr. Mani said it was quite natural for any party to seek to retain its constituencies.

Though he argued that the exit of the Congress would affect the DMK alliance, he expressed the hope that all was not over yet for the alliance.

The AIADMK, which had finalised a seat-sharing agreement with the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, headed by actor Vijayakant, is yet to seal a pact with the Left parties.

“We were told to wait till an agreement was reached between the AIADMK and the DMDK. Now it is over and we are not able to understand why there is a delay,” said a senior Left leader involved in the talks.

Courtesy:The Hindu