Will Gulf follow Saudi Visa limit?

A decision by Saudi Arabia to limit the stay of expatriate workers to six years appears to have triggered fears among foreigners residing in the region that such a move could also be enforced by other Gulf oil producers in line with a proposal discussed at the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in 2008.

Nitaqat (limits), the new Saudi government program to be enforced in June, compels private sector firms in the Gulf Kingdom to recruit Saudis and provides incentives to companies which abide by the new rules. The program will limit the stay of foreign workers, mainly unskilled, to six years for certain categories of firms while it will also ban visa renewals for non-compliant companies.

More than 18 million expatriates live in the six-nation GCC, remitting home tens of billions of dollars every year, seen by regional economists as drainage of the Gulf countries’ wealth. Unskilled labour is estimated at around 3 million in Saudi Arabia and 10 million GCC-wide.

The Saudi program comes amidst reports that unemployment in the country is widening because of the private sector’s preference of the cheaper expatriate labour and the fact that the population is growing faster than the economy.

“We have nearly half a million unemployed Saudi in the country while around 8m expatriates live here…6m of them work in the private sector, transferring nearly SR100 billion every year,” Faqih said.

Government data released early this year showed Saudi Arabia is suffering from very high jobless rate among young men as more than 43 per cent of citizens aged between 20 and 24 years are unemployed. The rate at the end of 2009 was higher than in 2008 despite an ongoing campaign to find jobs for the fast-growing nationals.

“This comes at a time when one million labour visas for foreign workers were issued last year,” the report said. “The private sector continued a drive to import foreign labour although nearly 111,000 Saudis were looking for jobs,” it said.

Saudi Arabia, which controls over a fifth of the world’s recoverable oil deposits, is suffering more from unemployment than other Gulf hydrocarbon producers given its large population and the slowdown in its economy in some years.

Other analysts believe Faqih’s announcement of the six-year limit is intended to block the way for Saudi-based foreigners to demand political rights, including Saudi citizenship. But Suleiman believes such demands are not “in the pipeline” on the grounds that many expatriates have been residing in Saudi Arabia for more than 50 years and have not made such demands.

The government in the world’s dominant oil power has not yet published details of the programme but its labour minister said it includes “generous” incentives to compliant companies and punitive measures against non-abiding firms.

“Companies which abide by Nitaqat will be moved to the green zone, which will allow them to receive many benefits, including visas and others,” Faqih told businessmen this week. “It will also allow them to get skilled labour from firms in the red zone.”

Abkhazia President Dies

Abkhazia is mourning the death on Sunday of the president of the breakaway Georgian region.

Officials said Sergei Bagapsh, 62, died from complications following lung surgery in a Moscow hospital.

He was in the middle of his second 5-year term as president.

Abkhazia declared independence from Georgia in 1992, but it is only recognized by Russia and a few other countries.

Abkhazia officials say Vice President Alexander Ankvab will be acting president until elections for a new president are held in three months.

Abkhazia's Security Council is meeting Sunday to decide on the official days of mourning as funeral arrangements are finalized.

Tata Nano - Now available outside India

Tata Motors on Saturday said it has begun exporting Nano with the official launch of the small car in Sri Lanka, with a price tag starting at LKR9.25 lakh (about Rs3.80 lakh).

"Sri Lanka has become the first international market for the Tata Nano, with the people's car being commercially launched in the country today (Saturday)," the company said in a statement.

"Tata Motors has already established a firm footprint in international markets...The Tata Nano will play a major role in the next phase of growth of our international business," Tata Motors Managing Director and Group CEO Carl-Peter Forster said.

A company spokesperson said the three variants of the car will be available at ex-showroom prices between LKR9.25 lakh (about Rs3.8 lakh) and LKR11 lakh (over Rs4.5 lakh). In India, the car is priced between Rs1.40 lakh and Rs1.97 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).

Nano, touted as the world's cheapest car, is now produced at Sanand in Gujarat for the Indian market after initially being producing at Pantnagar in Uttarakhand.

Besides Nano, the company today introduced five more products in the commercial vehicle segment. It launched Tata Divo luxury buses, Tata Marcopolo low-floor buses, Prima 4928 tractor trailor, 1618 truck and a high-end variant of the Ace.

Tata Motors had started sending the Nano to overseas markets from April with shipment of 498 units.

Besides Sri Lanka, the firm was exploring possibilities in different neighbouring nations such as Nepal.

In 2009, Tata Motors unveiled the European version of Nano -- Nano Europa -- at the 79th Geneva Motor Show.

Although Tata Motors did not reveal any price tag for the Nano Europa, British media had predicted a price of over $6,000. The Indian edition of the car hit the roads in 2009 for about $2,500.

Zuckerberg wants to kill chickens and pigs

It seems that the Valley's own Scotty McCreery has decided to start killing his own fowl before he eats it. According to Fortune, he isn't just stopping at fowl. He's into a little pig slaughter too.

Zuckerberg himself wrote an e-mail to Fortune, in which he explained that before he eats any animal, he makes sure it is one whose life he has personally ended.

It's a little, he wrote, like learning Chinese (that was his personal challenge for last year).

This year, he explained, "my personal challenge is around being thankful for the food I have to eat. I think many people forget that a living being has to die for you to eat meat, so my goal revolves around not letting myself forget that and being thankful for what I have."

There will be some who will have a little difficulty connecting every single dot between gratitude and pig slaughter. However, Zuckerberg merely stated: "This year I've basically become a vegetarian, since the only meat I'm eating is from animals I've killed myself."

So, is the idea that it is so hard to get oneself to kill a pig that this is a fine way to reduce one's meat intake?
It's hard to judge from Zuckerberg's e-mail. For he revealed the roots of his new behavior this way: "A bunch of people told me that even though they loved eating pork, they really didn't want to think about the fact that the pig used to be alive. That just seemed irresponsible to me. I don't have an issue with anything people choose to eat, but I do think they should take responsibility and be thankful for what they eat rather than trying to ignore where it came from."

He offered to Fortune that his first victim of pleasure was a lobster. He boiled it alive. How did it feel to eat a personally boiled lobster?

"The most interesting thing was how special it felt to eat it after having not eaten any seafood or meat in a while," he told Fortune. But did it feel special because his relationship with the lobster was personal--even if a little lopsided?

Zuckerberg told Fortune that his next step will be to go hunting. And in case you're wondering just how far his animal-elimination had gone so far, Mashable revealed that on his private Facebook page, Zuckerberg had posted: "I just killed a pig and a goat."

 

And shouldn't he accord the same alleged respect for lettuce, tomatoes, and fruits? Those things are living too, aren't they? So shouldn't he eat only greens that he has personally chopped off or torn asunder at the roots?

I think there will be some psychologists who will feel that the Facebook CEO's innately competitive nature will be stirred by his exploits.

Belgium to ban the burqa soon

Belgium will soon become the second country in Europe to ban the burqa in public places, after the parliament approved legislation forbidding full veils, the bill's author said on Thursday.

The legislation quietly cleared the Senate last week after it was overwhelmingly approved by the lower chamber of deputies last month, when only one Green lawmaker voted against it and two abstained.

The new law will take effect 10 days after it is published in Belgium's official journal, in around one month. France became the first European country to ban the burqa on April 11.

The Belgian legislation, drafted by liberal lawmaker Daniel Bacquelaine, bans all clothing that hides the face.

"It is a law that takes into account a fundamental principle, the equality between men and women," Bacquelaine told the media.

"Moreover, if we want an open society, the visibility of the face is essential. Humanity comes from one's face," he said.

Lawmakers first voted for the legislation in April 2010, but it was shelved after the government fell following legislative elections two months later.

Only a few hundred women in Belgium are believed to wear the burqa, a full body veil, or the niqab, which hides the face.

Which friends appear in the left column of my facebook profile?

We have always wondered as to which friends appear in the left column of our facebook profile. Here is what facebook, itself says:

The left column of your profile may display different types of people in your life:

We highlight your friend list.

By default, a changing selection of friends always appears under the "Friends" heading in the left column of your profile. The selection includes many friends who you publicly interact with the most. Examples of public interactions include Wall posts, comments and mutually attended events — Facebook will never show friends based on whose profiles you choose to view or who you interact with over messages and chat.

You can choose custom friends to highlight.

In addition to your general list of friends, you can choose to feature specific friends (e.g., best friends, roommates or coworkers) or groups to which you belong.

Your family and relationship partner appear here, too.

If you choose to add family members or a relationship to your profile, those people will also be featured in the left column. 

So now we know! :)

Google to offer street view of cities in India soon

Global Internet search engine Google on Thursday announced plans to offer street view of Indian cities on its maps platform.

"We are launching the street view project from Bangalore as it is the IT capital of India where IT-savvy users will be able to leverage the benefits of the facility optimally," Google India product head Vinay Goel told reporters here at a preview of its latest product.

As a user-friendly feature of Google Maps, the US-based global IT major has already uploaded street view of about 100 cities in 27 countries world over with a host of information for the benefit of users seeking specific details.

"Inspired by the success of the project in other cities, we will collect images of Bangalore streets by driving across the city in cars and trikes (three-wheeler rickshaws) that will have high resolution cameras mounted atop," Goel said.

To be made available on www.google.co.in/streetview in the coming months, the novel feature will enable users to virtually explore and navigate a neighbourhood through a panoramic view of its streets on their desktops or mobile handsets.

"The users will also be able to access street-level imagery by zooming into the lowest level on Google Maps or by dragging the orange 'pegman' icon on the left side of the map onto a blue highlighted street," Goel pointed out.

Images of faces, addresses of houses or offices and number plates of cars will be blurred to safeguard privacy. Detailed imagery of public or private properties and specific locations will also be blurred on request by the concerned or the affected party.

"Street view will also be useful for urban development planners, law enforcement agencies, house-hunters, travellers and diverse users looking for specific information on shops, offices, restaurants, hotels, etc, in a particular street, area or locality," Goel said.

The feature will enable businesses to upload their details on the imagery map for free by using the tools on the street view site.

"Street view is designed to comply with all local laws, including those related to security and privacy issues in India," Goel added.

Google India's development centre in this tech hub has been actively involved in the global street view project for developing application interface, associated tools and solutions for trouble-shooting.

World's fastest internet connection 'used to dry laundry'

With her blistering 40 gigabits per second connection, Sigbritt Löthberg had the world's fastest internet connection - many thousands of times faster than the average residential link and the first time ever that a home user had experienced such a high speed.

So, after nine months with the ability to download a full high definition DVD in just two seconds or access 1,500 high definition HDTV channels simultaneously, how has Sigbritt's life changed?

Not much, according to Hafsteinn Jonsson, who is heading up the fibre network operation for Karlstad Stadsnät.

"She mostly used it to dry her laundry," he told The Local.

"It was a big bit of gear and it got pretty warm."

Sigbritt's son, Swedish internet legend Peter Löthberg, was behind the project, which was intended to demonstrate how a low price, high capacity fibre line could be built over long distances. Löthberg has now taken the equipment up to Luleå, in the north of Sweden, for further testing.

"The project was a huge success," said Hafsteinn Jonsson, who explained that his department now measures its history in terms of 'Before Sigbritt and After Sigbritt'.

"Apart from the death of Ingmar Bergman, this was the biggest story to come out of Sweden in 2007. We used to get all these detailed questions about what we're working on - now we just mention Sigbritt and everybody understands."

The secret behind the ultra-fast connection is a new modulation technique which allows data to be transferred directly between two routers up to 2,000 kilometres apart, with no intermediary transponders.

According to Karlstad Stadsnät the distance is, in theory, unlimited - there is no data loss as long as the fibre is in place.

Sigbritt may have been denied her world-beating internet link but she still has an admirable 10 gigabits per second connection. And there may be another surprise in store for her.

"We're considering giving her a 100 gigabits per second connection in the summer," said Hafsteinn Jonsson.

"Then she'll be able to dry all her neighbours' laundry too."

Sun to set above Makkah on Saturday

Muslims praying at the Grand Mosque in the western Saudi city of Makkah will be able to see the sun straight above them on Saturday, a rare phenomenon that helps worshippers worldwide to set the exact direction of the holy city.

The phenomenon is the first this year and will take place exactly at 12:18 noon Saudi time (13:18 UAE time or 09:18 GMT), said Majid Abu Zahira, head of the Jeddah Astronomy Association.

“This vertical solar phenomenon will happen for the first time this year and Makkah will be straight under the sun….this means all structures and bodies in the Grand Mosque will have no shadow at that time…it will be a zero shadow,” he told the Saudi Sharq newspaper.

Abu Zahira said the phenomenon would help Muslims around the world in knowing the exact direction of Makkah, including those in Europe, Africa, Russia, China and East Asia, where the best time to define Makkah direction will be around sunset by looking at the sun.

In North and South Americas, the direction can be best known at sunset on that day, he said.

“Muslims and other people can set that direction by placing a stick or any other object vertically on the ground at that time…its shadow will point accurately towards Makkah…this applies to distant areas not in areas close to Makkah like Jeddah,” he said.

Abu Zahira called on residents of neighboring Gulf countries to carry out the experiment for the Makkah direction setting and email photographs to the Society.

No entry in Kuwait for citizens of Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan

Kuwait has imposed a blanket ban on nationals from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan from entering the country, local media have reported.

The ban includes suspending all tourism, visit and trade visas, as well as visas sponsored by spouses, Kuwaiti media quoted immigration sources, as saying.

They attributed the blanket visa ban to the "difficult security conditions in the five countries" and "the remarkably increasing tendency of nationals from the five countries to apply for visas to bring in relatives who faced or could face arrest by the local authorities to Kuwait," Gulf News reports.

According to the sources, the authorities insisted that no exception in the visa application would be tolerated, but asserted that the ban was temporary and would be lifted following the stabilisation of the security situation.

Last month, a social affairs and labour official had denied reports that Kuwait was planning to impose a ban on issuing visas to nationals from the five countries.

Obama: I will approve another Abbottabad-like operation in Pakistan

Barack Obama today said that he would approve an Abbottabad-like operation which killed Osama bin Laden if another militant leader was found in Pakistan but will not allow other nations (India) to follow the same path.

Speaking to the BBC on the eve of his visit to Britain, Obama said that he was mindful of Pakistani sovereignty but said the US could not allow "active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action".

Asked what he would do if one of al-Qaeda's top leaders, or the Taliban leader Mullah Omar, was tracked down to a location in Pakistan or another sovereign territory, he said the US would take unilateral action if required.

He said, "Our job is to secure the United States. We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people or our allies' people. We can't allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action."

The raid on May 2 in Abbottabad has raised hackles in Islamabad and generated tension between US and Pakistan.

Obama is due to leave for Europe later today. He will first visit the Irish Republic, then the UK, France, and Poland.

Sony hacked again

Sony Corp has been hacked again.

So-Net, the Internet service provider unit of Japan's Sony, alerted customers an intruder broke into its system and stole virtual points worth $1,225 from account holders.

This latest setback comes after personal information of some 100 million Sony user accounts was stolen last month when its online gaming systems, the PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment, were hacked.

Security experts said there were not surprised the electronics company has yet to clean up weaknesses in its massive global network. Earlier this week, Sony shut down one of its websites set up to help millions of users change their passwords after finding a security flaw.
"Sony is going through a pretty rigorous process and finding the holes to fill," said Josh Shaul, chief technology officer for computer security firm Application Security Inc."The hackers are going through the same process and they're putting their fingers in the holes faster than Sony can fill them."

About 100,000 yen ($1,225) was stolen from accounts that were attacked. The company said there was no evidence other accounts in the online system had been hacked.

"At this point in our investigations, we have not confirmed any data leakage. We have not found any sign of a possibility that a third party has obtained members' names, address, birth dates and phone numbers."

Security experts have cautioned that Sony's networks around the world remain vulnerable to attack.

Has Mona Lisa’s skull been discovered?

Archeologists are one step closer to solve the secret behind the famously enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa, they say they have discovered the skull of the woman who posed for Leonardo's da Vinci's masterpiece in a convent burial ground in Italy.

The excavation team revealed that it had unearthed a female-sized skull in a crypt under the floor of the St Ursula convent in Florence, believed to contain the remains of Lisa Gherardini Del Giocondo.

Officials say the skull was found five feet under the convent's original floor along with other fragments of human ribs and vertebrae.

Now scientists will compare the DNA in the bones with the remains of the model's two children who were buried nearby.

“We don't know yet if the bones belong to one single skeleton or more than one. But this confirms our hypothesis that in St.Ursula convent there are still human bones and we cannot exclude that among them there are bones belonging to Lisa Gherardini,” the Daily Mail quoted archeologist Silvano Vinceti, who is in charge of the dig, as saying.

If the scientists can confirm the skull belongs to the model, forensic artists will then attempt to reconstruct her face to see how it compares to the 500-year-old version painted by da Vinci and perhaps solve the riddle of the Mona Lisa's enigmatic smile in the process.

Apple to Launch Cloud Music Service

Apple Inc is close to launching an online music storage and streaming service after reaching deals with three of the four major labels and is expected to wrap up the fourth in a few days, according to several people familiar the plans.

The iPhone and iPad maker completed work on the new service a while back, according to two people, and will beat Google Inc and Amazon.com Inc in the bid to launch a comprehensive 'cloud' music service. The iTunes cloud-based service will offer users the ability to buy, store and stream favorite songs and albums wherever they have an Internet connection on any device.

Warner Music Group Corp was the first to reach a cloud deal with Apple more than two weeks ago and was followed by EMI Group and Sony Corp's Sony Music Entertainment more recently, according to three people with knowledge of the talks. Vivendi SA's Universal Music Group, the largest music company in the world, is "within days of putting pen to paper on the new cloud service," said a fourth person.

Spokespeople for Apple and the labels all declined to comment.

The big technology companies are vying to be leaders in new ways for fans to access songs and videos. As the sales of physical media such CDs and DVDs fall rapidly, the tech giants are betting they can sell media subscriptions, software and innovative devices linked to these services.

While Amazon is the leading e-reader maker, Apple and Google are competing on mobile platforms for smartphones and tablet devices.
Steve Jobs, Apple's founder, has in the past unveiled products, including the iPhone 4, at the WWDC.
There is a chance the new music service could be ready to launch by June 6, but it would also need deals with song publishers. Apple has opened talks with some publishers, according to two people.
Amazon and Google launched music locker services in the past few weeks without new licensing agreements, leading to threats of legal action from some music companies. At the time, Amazon argued its Cloud Drive service does not need licenses and said uploaded music belongs to the users, something the labels dispute.

21 May 2011 - The Day The World Didn't End

Oh we are alive! That's probably the first thought that crossed the minds of people in New Zealand as the appointed time of apocalypse predicted by a US fundamentalist preacher passed the island's time zone Saturday.

Eighty-nine-year-old tele-evangelist Harold Camping had prophesised that the "Rapture" would begin with powerful earthquakes at 6 p.m. in each of the world's regions, after which the good would be beamed up to heaven.

Saturday morning, Kiwis confirmed there were no signs of the dead rising from the grave, nor of the living ascending into the clouds to meet Jesus Christ, the Daily Telegraph wrote.

Vicky Hyde, spokesman for the New Zealand Skeptic Society, said she was confident the Rapture was not imminent.

"These kind of predictions come up particularly in times of economic or social uncertainty - which is pretty much almost every year actually, you can track them, whether it's commentary impacts or the rapture or giant space aliens or something," the newspaper quoted her as saying.

"And the only thing they have in common is they are all wrong," she added.

Camping spread his message of doom via Family Radio, which has a network of 66 radio stations and online broadcasts.

After today's day of reckoning, he said non-believers would suffer through hell on earth until Oct 21, when God would pull the plug on the planet once and for all.

But after incorrectly predicting the end of the world in 1994, Camping's prophecies have been met with derision. And it seems this time he was wrong again, the newspaper said

'Macho Man' Randy Savage dies in car accident

Legendary wrestler Randy Savage, known to fans as "Macho Man," died in a car accident in Tampa, Fla., on Friday, according to TMZ. He was 58.

According to the Florida Highway Patrol, Savage was driving his Jeep Wrangler when he veered across a concrete median, through oncoming traffic, and "collided head-on with a tree." He was transported to Largo Medical Center, where he died. Savage's wife of one year, Lynn, was a passenger but sustained only minor injuries, according to TMZ.

Savage's brother, Lanny Poffo told TMZ that the wrestler suffered a heart attack while he was driving and then lost control of the vehicle.

Savage joined the World Wrestling Federation in 1985 and became a star with the catchphrase "ooooooh yeaaaahhh." He also made a series of memorable TV commercials where he urged viewers to "snap into a Slim Jim."

Incurable mosquito virus hits Australia

A deadly mosquito-borne virus, that reportedly has no cure and no vaccination, has claimed the lives of two Australian people, officials said.

The Murray Valley Encephalitis virus, which causes inflammation of the brain has led to hospitalisation of at least six Australians, Western Australia Today reported.

The virus causes fever, nausea and dizziness. In severe cases, victims can experience delirium or lapse into coma.

The two deaths have led the health department to issue a stern warning about the virus.

"It causes inflammation of the brain. People have suffered paralysis and brain damage of varying degrees. Every case is very significant, because about one-quarter of all cases die, and of those that survive they're left with severe nerve damage that can result in paralysis," a spokeswoman said.

There is yet no cure for the virus, nor a vaccine to prevent infection, she said.

In addition to the Murray Valley Encephalitis virus, mosquito-borne Kunjin, Ross River and Barmah Forest viruses are also causing infection in the country.

Google Issues Patch to Plug Android Data Leaks

Google's putting a quick patch on an Android security flaw that could leak contacts and calendar data through open Wi-Fi networks.

The patch will roll out to Android phones starting Wednesday. "Today we're starting to roll out a fix which addresses a potential security flaw that could, under certain circumstances, allow a third party access to data available in calendar and contacts. This fix requires no action from users and will roll out globally over the next few days," Google said in a statement.

Researchers at Ulm University's Institute of Media Forensics reported the flaw last week. The issue lies in the way Android handles authentication tokens. If sent over an insecure http connection, a hacker on the same Wi-Fi network as the user could conceivably steal the authentication and gain access to the user's calendar, contacts and Picasa Web albums. Although the issue of contact and calendar leakage was already fixed in Android 2.3.4, the vast majority of Android phones run older versions of the software.

The odds of being attacked are unlikely, but it's not the type of issue Google would want to ignore. The patch only addresses calendar and contact data; Google is still trying to figure out how to address the issue within Picasa.

Couple Names Their Baby After Facebook's 'Like' Button

They say it wasn't a publicity stunt. But the news that an Israeli couple named their baby girl after Facebook's "Like" button is drawing plenty of criticism on Mashable, which spotted the item at the Hebrew-language Israeli news site Galgaletz earlier this week.

Lior and Vardit Adler wanted to call their daughter "something unique," according to Mashable's Brenna Ehrlich.

Naming a child after a something associated with a corporation isn't exactly a new thing—though whenever it happens, groans can be heard across the Internet.

Back in February, an Egyptian couple went the distance and named their daughter "Facebook."

There's also the option of giving the child a more traditional first name and using the middle name as a repository for one's peculiar loyalty to a faceless multinational. That's what one Swedish couple did a a few years back when they named their son Oliver Google Kai.

NASCAR driver Jimmie Johnson was even more subtle. His daughter Genevieve Marie has the initials "GM" — as in "General Motors." Johnson's No. 48 car is a Chevy Impala, naturally.

Stop treating India as biggest enemy: Nawaz Sharif

As Pakistan's powerful military held out threats to India, former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called for reappraisal of ties with its neighbour to move forward and progress, saying Islamabad must stop treating New Delhi as its "biggest enemy".

Sharif, who was earlier involved in talks with India when the Kargil crisis erupted, also sought a probe into the 1999 conflict with India.

He called on the government to also conduct an inquiry into the 2006 killing of Baloch leader Nawab Akbar Bugti in a military operation and the carnage in Karachi on May 12, 2007 that killed over 40 people who tried to rally in support of then-deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry.

Sharif, whose government was deposed in a military coup led by former President Pervez Musharraf in 1999, reiterated his demand for the budgets of the military and the ISI to be placed before Parliament for scrutiny in line with the practice in other democracies.

He said one of his biggest regrets was not taming the powerful military when he was Prime Minister in the 1990s.
The Parliamentary resolution calling for an independent commission to investigate the killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in a US raid on May 2 was the first step towards making Parliament a sovereign body, Sharif said.

"We need structural changes and this inquiry has provided an opportunity to move forward and put the country on the right track, correct its direction by putting our house in order, establish the rule of law and bring all institutions under civilian control," Sharif said.

If the government fixes responsibility for the Abbottabad incident and punishes those found guilty, a message will go out to the world that the people of Pakistan will not brook another embarrassment like the US raid, he said.

Sharif spoke out against the recent alliance forged by the ruling PPP and the PML-Q, both of which are rivals of his PML-N in Punjab and at the centre.

flydubai - Cheap flights now between Dubai and Hyderabad a reality

Flydubai, Dubai’s first low-cost airline, today announced its much anticipated second destination in India, the City of Pearls, Hyderabad. The airline’s 37th destination will provide a low-cost option from Dubai to one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and will open up Southern India to travellers on flydubai’s rapidly expanding network, it said in a statement.

Flights to Hyderabad will operate three times per week and will start on June 11th, giving the 1.4 million-strong Indian expat community in the UAE a timely yet low-cost connection to their home country during the peak summer holiday season.

flydubai CEO, Ghaith Al Ghaith, said: “We are delighted to announce Hyderabad as our latest destination. There is a huge Indian community in the UAE and one of the reasons flydubai was established was to provide low cost, quality links to places the expat community in the UAE wish to travel to.

“Hyderabad is an important new route for flydubai and goes a long way in our efforts to fulfil that commitment. While our Lucknow route provides a gateway to North and Central lndia; our Hyderabad route will be a low-cost connection to South India, benefiting not only the Indian expat population in the UAE but also bringing increased tourism and business opportunities to this historic city.”

A one-way fare to Hyderabad from Dubai starts at Dh585, and includes one piece of hand luggage weighing up to 7kg and one small laptop bag or hand bag. Fares from Hyderabad to Dubai are priced from Dh760. Checked baggage starts at Dh50 for 20kgs. A seat with extra legroom costs Dh100.

A List of Muslim American Bloggers

Recently, one of my friends, came up with an idea that I found as unique as the people it represents. Basically, he made a list of Muslim American Bloggers who represent their community's views and opinions.

Agreeably, by no stretch of imagination is the list all-inclusive nor exhaustive. But what it shows us is how the American Muslim population has evolved over the last decade or two. It is now relatively more open to expressing their ideas and ideologies to the outside world. Another way to look at this prism is how they now feel that they are part of the American society and want to positively contribute to it's growth.

This is not to say that they haven't done so in the past. But it seems the present generation is not only more vocal but also is comfortable about it.

Also noted by us is the popularity this article has gained. It was posted on the 14th of May 2011 and in less than 24 hours is already in the fifth position on Google.

Please click below to view the complete list by Zahid Lilani on his blog, MyLifeDump:

List of Muslim-American Bloggers

Sony PlayStation Has Been Restored in North America

The PlayStation Network has been restored in North America . All states in the U.S. have come back online as well as Canadian provinces and territories. After nearly a full month of downtime filled with questions about the whats, whys, whos, and most importantly whens, Sony has restored their free-to-play online service. Hopefully, the PlayStation Network is back and more secure than ever before, and we can put these problems behind us.

Shane Warne in Trouble Again

Rajasthan Royals captain Shane Warne has landed in trouble as the state's Cricket Association (RCA) has lodged a complaint against him with the BCCI and the IPL for publicly abusing its secretary Sanjay Dixit for not acceding to his request of a suitable pitch.

The RCA has alleged that Warne, who has already announced his retirement from IPL as a player, misbehaved with Dixit for not acceding to his demand after Rajasthan Royals slumped to a humiliating nine-wicket defeat against Royals Challengers Bangalore in their last home match last night.

RCA venue director Narendra Joshi has written to IPL's chief operating officer Sunder Raman, alleging that Warne had publicly abused Dixit.

The ugly incident took place just after the prize distribution ceremony at the Sawai Man Singh stadium.

Sources allegedly that a disappointed Warne walked up to Dixit and abused him for not replying to his messages. He called Dixit a liar, egoistic and asked him to go away, forcing Rajasthan Royals owner Shilpa Shetty to intervene and apologise for the incident.

RCA secretary Dixit also filed a separate complaint and had urged the BCCI and IPL to take stern action against Warne for pressuring him to provide a suitable wicket for Rajasthan Royals' home matches.

The back-to-back defeats at home against Chennai Super Kings and RCB had made Warne furious as he believed that the change of pitch after Sachin Tendulkar's criticism last month following Mumbai Indians' seven-wicket loss had robbed Rajasthan Royals of the home advantage.

Double Earthquake Shakes Up Spain

Two earthquakes struck southeast Spain in quick succession Wednesday, killing at least 10 people, injuring dozens and causing major damage to buildings, officials said. It was the highest quake-related death toll in Spain in more than 50 years.

The epicenter of the quakes — with magnitudes of 4.4 and 5.2 — was close to the town of Lorca, and the second came about two hours after the first, an official with the Murcia regional government said on condition of anonymity in line with department policy.

Dozens of injured people were being treated at the scene and a field hospital was set up in the town of about 85,000 people, officials said.

The Spanish prime minister's office put the death toll at 10 and the Murcia administration said the deaths included a minor and occurred with the second, stronger quake.

Spanish TV showed images of cars that were partially crushed by falling rubble, and large cracks in buildings. Nervous groups of residents gathered in open public places, talking about what happened and calling relatives and friends on their cell phones.

Many residents decided to spend the night camped out in parks and other open spaces, fearing aftershocks and because of structural damage to their homes, according to state TV footage.

This was the deadliest quake in Spain since 1956, when 12 people died and some 70 were injured in a quake in the southern Granada region, according to the National Geographic Institute. It says Spain has about 2,500 quakes a year, but only a handful are actually noticed by people. Spain's south and southeast are the most earthquake-prone regions.

The quakes occurred in a seismically active area near a large fault beneath the Mediterranean Sea where the European and African continents brush past each other, USGS seismologist Julie Dutton said.

Best of Android packed into 'Ice Cream Sandwich'

Google on Tuesday said it is packing the best of its Honeycomb tablet computer software into a new ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ version of Android for mobile devices.

The California-based Internet titan planned to release Ice Cream Sandwich by the end of the year and promised that it is being designed to run smartphones, tablets, and any other Android gadgets.

"Our top priority for Ice Cream Sandwich will be one operating system that runs everywhere," Android engineering team chief Mike Claron said at a Google developers conference in San Francisco.

"We are taking all the good stuff we added to Honeycomb for tablets and making it available everywhere."

Google crafted Honeycomb from the ground up to power tablet computers being rushed to market to compete with Apple's hot-selling iPads.

Android software is free and Google was concerned that tablet makers would resort to using a prior version of the open-source operating system geared for smartphones but not optimal for tablets.

Ice Cream Sandwich features shown off at the conference included compatibility with major videogame console controllers and the ability of Web cameras to recognize who is speaking at given moments.

"With Ice Cream Sandwich we will make consumers really happy," Cleron promised a room packed with thousands of software developers.

"It will work on phones in every size and shape, tablets in every size...even tablets that transform to laptops."

Iran not Arabs' enemy : Arab League

The Egyptian head of the Arab League (AL) has rejected attempts to picture Iran as an enemy of Arab nations, saying Egypt is determined to expand ties with the Islamic Republic.

"Iran is not the natural enemy of Arabs,” AL Secretary General Amr Moussa told The Washington Post in an interview published on Tuesday.

The former Egyptian foreign minister emphasized the need for the post-revolution Cairo to improve its relations with Tehran.

“We have a lot to gain by peaceful relations -- or less tense relations -- with Iran," he said.

Following the fall of President Hosni Mubarak's decades-long grip on power in January, Egypt has been reaching out to mend relations with Tehran severed over Cairo's support for Iran's ousted monarch Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the and the Mubarak regime's pro-Israeli policies.

On Iran's nuclear program, Moussa described Iran's nuclear activities as separate from that of Israel, which remains Washington's closest Middle East ally and is believed to be the region's sole wielder of nuclear weapons.

The remark denotes Washington's decades-long support for Tel Aviv's Israel's policy of nuclear ambiguity, under which it refuses to admit or deny the possession of nuclear arms.

Moussa, who plans to run in the country's upcoming presidential elections, accused Mubarak of unjustly separating Egypt's relations with the Arab world from the Palestinian issue.

"Egypt conducted its relations in the region in a way that the people did not accept. Egyptian-Arab relations is one thing; the Palestinian question is another."

How to Uninstall McAfee Antivirus Plus

Recently, I decide to uninstall the antivirus program on my system (McAfee Plus) in lieu of another one. As one would normally do in such a scenario I proceeded to the Control Panel and then to 'Uninstall a Program' utility in Windows.

To my utter dismay, it was NOT displayed in that list! My next option was to delete it from the registry. Unfortunately, I was unable to pick it out confidently from the registry.

Searching on the internet, made me realize this was a common problem for most users of this version of McAfee! Hence, I decided to copy down the steps here for future references of others:

1. Download McAfee Consumer Product Removal tool from McAfee.
2. Save the tool (MCPR.exe) in your desktop and then close any opened Windows, including the browser that may have the McAfee SiteAdvisor program.
3. Execute by double-clicking MCPR.exe from the desktop.
4. Reboot the system when prompted to complete the removal of the antivirus program.
5. Just a word of advice before I end. Removing antivirus by McAfee should be done only if you are having problems or if you plan to use another virus protection for Windows.

The Student Visa, An Indirect Approach to Work and Live in USA

In strategy, the longest way round is often the shortest way there. -- B. H. Liddell Hart.

You want to work and live in US. But you could not find American employers who are willing to hire you from thousands of miles away. Or you are already in United States, but your visa is going to expire before you can find a work visa sponsor.

Should you give up? Student Visa(F Visa or M Visa) can be your indirect approach to work visa.

There are over 9 thousand schools in United States that have been certified to issue I-20 Form for student visa, from Harvard University in Boston to language training center in Jersey City. In fiscal year 2009, United States received 477,782 applications for F1 Student visa and approved 331,208 of them, a success rate of 70%.

With the student visa, you can work on and off campus. You will get 12 - 29 months of practical training period after graduation. Not to mention that American employers will be much more likely to hire you and sponsor your green card if you have a US degree.

But as always, there is a down side too. We will cover that in another post some time in the future

Zakir Naik annouces Rs 1 Crore scholarship for 2011

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik is a public speaker and writer on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation (IRF), a non-profit organization that owns the Peace TV channel based in Mumbai, India. Before becoming a public speaker, he trained as a doctor.

According to recent media reports, the United Islamic Aid IRF Educational Scholarship based on Islamic Knowledge, taqwa and merit is now available for Muslim students pursuing courses in Medicine, Engineering, Education, Management etc. They have allotted Rs.1 crore to be given in scholarships.
 
The scholarship Application Form is available at the Islamic Research Foundation Office or it can be downloaded from www.irf.net

Please note that there is a written Islamic Exam on Sunday, 29th May 2011 in Mumbai, Pune, Aurangabad, Malegaon, Akola, Delhi, Kolkatta, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai for the fair distribution of the amount among the deserving candidates.

The scholarship is sub-divided in two categories, namely:
1. English/Urdu medium students of Maharashtra
2. Only English medium students of rest of India

For further details, contact:
ISLAMIC FOUNDATION TRUST : TELEPHONE: 022-23736875 (8 LINES)

Facebook improves friend tagging

Facebook has made two improvements to its @ Mentions feature when tagging friends. The first allows you to tag a friend without first typing the @ symbol and the second allows you to shorten a friend tag, as first pointed out by Inside Facebook.

Previously, you had to insert the @ symbol and then type out your Facebook friend’s name to tag them. Now, the automatic friend tag suggestion feature will activate when you type out a friend’s name starting with a capital letter and type five or more characters of a friend’s name, or type a whole name that is less than five characters.

Previously, you had to leave your friend’s full name or it wouldn’t appear as a tag and trigger a notification for them. Now, after you’ve tagged a friend in a post or comment, you can then shorten it by deleting the beginning or end of your friend’s name. The remaining part of the name will still be highlighted, and will show up as a link once the post is published.

Facebook reinstates Hide Recent Activity option

In a recent update to the Facebook site, the company removed the ability to customize what Recent Activity appears on your Wall. These are little stories of actions you have taken elsewhere on the site, and they are republished on your Wall for your friends to see.

It’s worth underlining that your friends can only view your Recent Activity that they can view elsewhere: for example, a wall post you made on a mutual friend’s wall or a comment you posted on a photo that both you and your friend can see. In other words, if they cannot the action you made elsewhere on Facebook, they will not see at story of it on your Wall. Of course, you can see everything since you made the actions.

Previously, you could disable this functionality and clean up your Wall with only activity you make on it (status updates) and posts your friends make on your Wall. This functionality was recently removed and users were stuck with whatever they had customized their Walls to prior to the site update. You had to manually remove anything you didn’t want on your Wall. Now, the company has brought back the option to automatically hide all current and future stories of a given Recent Activity type. This change can also be reverted if need be.

The Edit Options link is worth taking a closer look at. If you don’t click it when you are making changes to your profile story settings, don’t worry as you can still find the link at the bottom of your profile. On the left there is a link to show Older Posts and on the right there should be a link for Edit Options. Clicking the right link opens up a “Edit your profile story settings” window where you can undo the changes you have made.






Notice that it does not list all options in Recent Activity that you can disable, but merely the ones you have disabled. In this way, Facebook is forcing you to only be able to remove types of stories that are currently on your Wall: you can’t simply disable everything from ever appearing!

Being able to hide this Recent Activity allows users to engage with more content on Facebook and not have to clean up their own Wall afterwards by removing content they don’t want there. It should be particularly useful to Facebook users who are always using the site as well as those who are more sensitive about their actions on the social network being shown on their own Wall.

‘Good looks’ get you better jobs than ‘qualifications’

A new study has revealed that employers give more importance to ‘lookness’ than qualifications and job experience while hiring a candidate for a job.

Though recruitment based on appearance is nothing new but the practice is becoming more explicit.

How a candidate looks, dresses and speaks, are all part of the ‘lookness’ that employers are using to determine who gets the job. Unfortunately, there is not much that candidates can do if they feel discriminated. 

Professor Chris Warhurst, an expert in employment studies from the University of Sydney said that people ‘perceived to be better looking’ were up to five times more likely to be hired over others.

They had better careers and could earn up to 16 pc more than others doing the same job.

He further added that physical appearance also influenced perceptions of job competence and performance, among men and women.

With 30 pc of the Australian workforce considered over-qualified, employers are looking at ‘soft skills’ such as appearance to help decide who gets the job, Warhurst said.

"The degree might get you to the interview but having good soft skills will get you the job," The Courier Mail quoted him as saying.

Researches conducted in Australia and UK have found that employers favor appearance and personality over previous job experience and qualifications.

The main reason given for such a practice is a desire to conform to a company or brand image.

The future lies in PaperPhone

 

 

A prototype of paperphone.

If you think iPhone has revolutionised the smartphone space, hold your judgment.

A team of Canadian and American researchers has invented a plastic smartphone, which is as thin and flexible as a paper sheet.

With a 9.5 cm diagonal thin film flexible electronic ink (E Ink) display, this smartphone prototype, called PaperPhone, does everything a smartphone does.

“This is the future. Everything is going to look and feel like this within five years,” said the creator, Mr Roel Vertegaal, the director of Queen’s University’s Human Media Lab. It will be unveiled on May 10.

You don’t have to use touchscreen or buttons to operate the phone. Just bend its corners to trigger a command. Bending it in different ways triggers different commands in its sensors.

“You interact with the phone by bending it into a cellphone, flipping the corner to turn pages, or writing on it with a pen,” he said.

Hindu Goddess on Bikini, Shoes and Toilet seat

Hindu Goddess Lakshmi printed on bikini bottom paraded in Australia joins growing list of fashion shockers.

You don’t have to be religious to feel disgusted at seeing a picture of Hindu Goddess Lakshmi on a bikini bottom. It is simply disrespectful and cheap.

A recent addition to the archive of such outrageous pictures, the photo is paraded by a model walking the ramp for designer Lisa Blue at the recent Australian Fashion Week on Thursday.

(Pictures are not released in keeping the mind not to hurt the Hindu religious sentiments)

International designers’ obsession with Hindu gods and goddesses is not new, but keeps progressing to shocking levels every few seasons.

With most stylists ignorant of devotees’ sentiments, there have been several examples of highly acclaimed designers — even the likes of Roberto Cavalli — crossing the boundary with offensive clothing.

Cavalli’s attempt to create a swimwear line with Hindu deities printed on them had received an aggressive reaction from the public.

He had to withdraw the blasphemous bikinis and was reportedly shocked by the furore he had caused.

One of his spokespersons was believed to have said the designer’s aim was to celebrate Hindu culture, and not to denigrate it.

In the past, there have been instances of footwear being sold with impressions of Lord Ganesha, and of deity impressions on toilet seats.

In 2008, actress Heidi Klum was spotted dressed up and posing as Hindu Goddess Kali for a Halloween party in New York.

Indian designers have, till now, avoided indulging in such activities.

Salman Khan breaks World Record on most kisses received

Bollywood actor Salman Khan breaks the World Record for most kisses received on the hand in a minute, on 'Guinness Book Of World Record – Ab India Todega' on Colors. The previous record was set by an actor from Japan, who received 87 kisses in one minute.

Salman, with the help of 25 young girls, attempted to break the previous record.

The girls who were thrilled to have the opportunity to kiss the superstar, managed to kiss Salman, 108 times in a minute, thereby breaking the Guinness World Record.

Available on the Grand Finale episode of the show, 'Guinness World Records – Ab India Todega' on Saturday, May 7 at 9.00 pm on Colors.

Bing to be default search engine on BlackBerry

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer announced on Tuesday that the US software giant's Bing search engine and maps would be the default service on BlackBerry devices.

Ballmer made the announcement during a surprise appearance at the three-day BlackBerry World developers conference being held by BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) in Orlando, Florida.

"Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer announces Bing as default search and map application solution for BlackBerry devices," RIM said in a statement on its Twitter feed.

Google dominates the Internet search space but Microsoft is mounting a challenge and they are battling over the rapidly growing market for mobile devices.

RIM lowered its quarterly earnings outlook last week on weaker BlackBerry sales as it faces stiff competition from the iPhone and handsets running Google's Android software.

Finland's Nokia announced in February that it planned to begin using Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system for its smartphones.

Teacher shaves for first time since September 11, 2001

A middle school teacher vowed after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, that he would not shave his beard until Osama bin Laden was caught.
Gary Weddle kept his word till Sunday evening.

"I spent my first five minutes crying and then I couldn't get it off fast enough," Weddle, 50, told the Capital Press.

Weddle, who lives in East Wenatchee and teaches in Ephrata, had wanted to cut his beard for years. The gray stringy growth actually made him look a bit like bin Laden, the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks who was killed by U.S. forces.

Weddle was a substitute teacher in Wenatchee when the terrorist attacks occurred on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, killing some 3,000 people.
Weddle said he was so absorbed in the news that he neglected to shave. A week or so later, he decided not to shave until bin Laden was captured or proven dead. He figured it would just be a month or two.
 

At the start of each school year, Weddle told students the beard was a reminder of the attacks.

 

He was working in his garden on Sunday evening when news came that bin Laden was dead. Weddle wasted no time finding scissors and razors. He had cut the beard and was shaving the stubble before President Obama addressed the nation.

Friends and neighbors watched him cut the beard. He cut himself while shaving for the first time in 3,454 days.

John Cena Announces Bin Laden Death

New WWE Champion John Cena announced the killing of Osama Bin Laden to the Tampa fans who attended the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on Sunday.

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead Facebook Page Goes Viral

Within about two hours of reports first surfacing (and since confirmed by the President) that Osama Bin Laden had been killed, a Facebook Page titled “Osama Bin Laden is DEAD” has already accumulated more than 150,000 “likes.”

The page appears to be adding thousands of likes by the minute with users also sharing hundreds of comments and links to stories about the news.

Interestingly, the page itself appears to have been setup well prior to tonight as a way to advocate the theory that Bin Laden had actually died long ago.

The page description reads in part: “Osama Bin Laden has not been found and will never be found because he died a long time ago. This may be news to you because it wasn’t in the news. His death is critical to the CIA because they want you to believe in this so called ‘War on terror’ which has made the world a more dangerous place. If Osama Bin Laden was alive, he would’ve been found – just like Saddam Hussein.”

Nonetheless, the page is now serving as a real-time discussion board for the historic news.