Congress, DMK preparing to shake hands again?

2011-03-07 21:30:00 Last Updated: 2011-03-07 21:49:00 Chennai: Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK and the Congress were locked in hectic negotiations on Monday to put their seven-year alliance back on track, with DMK's ministers holding back for a day their decision to quit the central government after the two parties clashed over sharing of seats in next month's assembly elections. Leaders of both parties admitted that they were holding talks at various levels to bridge their differences and, if possible, contest the April 13 elections to the 234-member Tamil Nadu assembly together. Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee spoke to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi twice on the telephone while other Congress leaders met the DMK's central minister Dayanidhi Maran in New Delhi, said sources in both parties. Neither side was willing to provide details. But Tamil Nadu's Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said Mukherjee had requested the DMK to wait for one more day before taking a final call. 'We have decided to wait till tomorrow (Tuesday),' said Stalin, the younger son of the chief minister who played a key role in Saturday's dramatic DMK decision to pull out of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government and to dump the Congress, its ally since 2004. Speculation was rife that the Congress and the DMK might finally bury the hatchet -- with mutual give and take. One view in the DMK is that the party would not give the Congress more than 60 seats to contest -- the number over which the breaking point came. Some, however, said that the DMK might relent and agree to the Congress demand for 63 seats, if necessary by taking away three seats from the PMK, its other ally. Repeated attempts by IANS to reach PMK president G.K. Mani proved futile. The DMK has six ministers in the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Its decision to dump the Congress had left the latter high and dry ahead of the one-day election in Tamil Nadu where politics is still dominated by the DMK and its arch rival, the AIADMK. In New Delhi, Congress leaders Mukherjee, Health Minister and Tamil Nadu in-charge Ghulam Nabi Azad, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Ahmed Patel, political secretary to the Congress president, met in the afternoon in the Parliament house to deliberate a possible compromise. 'I think the matter will be definitely sorted out by Wednesday. If it is not sorted out in a day or so, it will be worrying,' a senior Congress leader said. He said neither party can afford to prolong the impasse since the AIADMK-led alliance was itching to give a tough fight.                                              Some Congress sources, however, insist that the DMK muscle flexing had little to do with the seats in contention but was aimed at sidetracking investigation into the spectrum corruption scandal that has led to the arrest and jailing of former DMK communications minister A. Raja. The DMK is also upset over the raids conducted by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on the office of Kalaignar TV, which is owned by the family of the chief minister, and hints that the CBI may now interrogate Karunanidhi's daughter and Rajya Sabha member K. Kanimozhi. The DMK ministers were scheduled to meet Manmohan Singh at 6 p.m. Monday to tender their resignations. The DMK has two cabinet ministers -- Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister M.K. Alagiri and Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran - and four junior ministers - S.S. Palanimanickam (Finance), S. Jagathrakshakan (Information and Broadcasting), D. Napoleon (Social Justice and Empowerment) and S. Gandhiselvan (Health and Family Welfare) -- in the UPA government. On Sunday, the Congress did not make any apparent moves to salvage the alliance. But the picture changed on Monday.

UNICEF seeks $1.4 billion to assist women and children in crisis

By Syed Ahamed(FeMWAS)Madurai TN

7 March 2011 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) today requested $1.4 billion in its annual appeal to assist children and women caught in crises, with the bulk of that needed for Pakistan and Haiti.

 

The agency’s Humanitarian Action for Children Report (HAC) 2011 highlights projected needs in 32 countries and territories and 6 regions, and emphasizes the increasing importance of strengthening the resilience of communities. This year’s requirements have increased 21 per cent over those for 2010.

 

“Investing in children and building the resilience of countries and communities living on the edge not only shortens their road to recovery, but also helps them to manage anticipated risks before a crisis strikes and to mitigate loss when it does,” said UNICEF Deputy Executive Director Hilde Johnson.

 

Investing in children and building the resilience of countries and communities living on the edge not only shortens their road to recovery, but also helps them to manage anticipated risks before a crisis strikes and to mitigate loss when it does. 

Humanitarian crisis such as drought famine, and conflict have dire consequences for children, including recruitment into armed forces, sexual violence, and the loss of basic services such as water, health and education, UNICEF pointed out in a news release. 

The agency noted that the unprecedented scale of last year’s disasters in Haiti and Pakistan triggered an extraordinary global response from all humanitarian organizations and partners. 

At the same time, it underscored the need to strengthen preparedness and risk reduction in the communities that are hit repeatedly by crisis. “Granting vulnerable communities the skills to face and withstand risk is an increasingly important component of humanitarian action, and an area to which UNICEF is deeply committed,” stated the agency. 

The HAC 2011 presents crises that require urgent action to save lives, to protect children against the worst forms of violence and abuse, and to ensure access to basic services, such as water and sanitation, health, nutrition and education. 

UNICEF is requesting $296 million for Pakistan and $157 million for Haiti, according to the Report. The financial needs for emergencies in the Asia-Pacific region have significantly increased and represent the region with the highest funding request – $373 million. Of the funding for Asia, 80 per cent is needed for assistance to Pakistani children and women affected by flooding and conflict. 

The requirements for Latin America and the Caribbean have increased eightfold, mainly as a result of emergency situations in Haiti and the addition of the Guatemala appeal. 

The 2010 regional requirements for Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have also increased with the inclusion of the Kyrgyzstan appeal as well as increasing needs in Tajikistan. 

Requirements for Eastern and Southern Africa have been significantly reduced, particularly in such countries as Burundi, Eritrea and Uganda. While maintaining funding requirements for preparedness following the Sudan referendum, overall requests in West and Central Africa and the Middle East and North Africa have also been reduced.

UN News Service

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.