India and Russia ink N-deal beyond 123 agreement

The two old friends India and Russia inked the expanded civil nuclear deal and three defence pacts. The nuclear pact between the two countries goes far beyond the 123 agreement that India entered with the US early this year. Both the countries expressed grave concern over the increasing threat of terrorism and pledged to combat the terrorism together. They also cemented ties on a wide range of interest encompassing N-trade, shared Af-pak perceptions and a plan to boost commerce to $20 billion by 2015.

The agreement between the two countries concluded in Moscow on the official visit of the PM Manmohan Singh to Russia at the invitation of Russian President Medvedev for the Annual Summit from Dec 6 to 8, 2009.

The umbrella agreement for expanding civil nuclear cooperation will give New Delhi the right to reprocess spent fuel, taking the pact “far beyond the 123 agreement” inked with the US, official sources commented Sunday.

“Our views are similar on a global issues and our cooperation can extend to cooperation at international level. We will be sharing intelligence and information gathering,” Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who ends a three-day visit to Moscow on Tuesday, said.

Expressing concern over the "grave challenge of terrorism" the Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said, “There is a common threat that India and Russia face. We should consolidate our anti-terror base. We will provide concrete help in anti-terror activities.”

"The situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan underlines the importance of this... Terrorism is the biggest evil of current and last century," added Medvedev.

India and Russia pledged to work together for global non-proliferation, stressing that the proliferation of nuclear weapons and its possible link to terrorism poses a threat to international peace and security, undermines security of states, and complicates progress towards nuclear disagreement.

The two countries are convinced that the international community should enhance efforts to combat terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.

“Both Sides call upon the international community to comply with the provisions of international counter-terrorism conventions and protocols including the principle, 'either prosecute or extradite', regarding the persons accused of committing acts of terror. The Sides strongly call for an early adoption of the Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism. The Sides intend to further develop Indian-Russian bilateral cooperation in combating new challenges and threats, including such cooperation within the framework of the India and Russia Working Group on Combating International Terrorism.”

On UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen, India and Russia underscored the urgency of effective international action to combat climate change, and affirmed their readiness to continue to work constructively for the success of the conference in accordance with the principles and provisions of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Bali Action Plan.

Highlights of the MOSCOW PACTS:

a) 4 N-reactors to be set up by Russia in Kudankulam (Tamil Nadu); site for fifth identified in Bengal
b) plan to boost trade between both countries to $20 billion by 2015
c) 10-year deal on weapons, aircraft and maintenance contracts from 2011 to 2020

Visit World Heritage sites through Google

The international corporation GOOGLE and UNESCO has signed an agreement for making possible for Internet users to virtual visit several World Heritage sites. People can now visit 19 of the 890 World Heritage properties via Google’s Street View interface. All the other sites on the List will be shown on the Google Earth and Google Maps interfaces.

Sites inscribed on the World Heritage List -- the Palace of Versailles in France, the historic centre of Prague in the Czech Republic and the old town of Caceres in Spain, for instance can now be explore online.

The 19 sites are located in Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom. Street View provides nearly spherical panoramic (360° horizontal and 290° vertical) views taken by cameras mounted on vehicles. Once obtained, these images are overlaid on Google Maps’ satellite views – the process can take several months. When the specially-equipped cars cannot reach sites to be photographed, tricycles are used.

“The alliance with Google makes it possible to offer virtual visits of the sites to everyone, to increase awareness and to encourage participation in the preservation of these treasures,” said UNESCO’s Director-General, Irina Bokova.

“Cultural and natural heritage sites are an irreplaceable source of inspiration and fascination. This is an exciting project and we're thrilled to be working with UNESCO to make more World Heritage sites universally accessible and useful to all,” said Carlo d’Asaro, Google’s Vice-President for Southern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

At UNESCO’s suggestion, Google will soon be visiting and photographing other sites on the List. The focus is on harder-to-access sites, which will be photographed with the permission of site managers. They can then be appreciated by millions of people who might never have the opportunity to visit them otherwise. The sites are located notably in South Africa, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands.

In future, Google and UNESCO will also work together to provide online access, via Google Maps, YouTube and Google Earth, to maps, texts and videos pertaining to UNESCO’s Biosphere Reserves, to documentary heritage inscribed on the Memory of the World Register and to endangered languages.

Distance Learning in India: an overview

Distance learning or distance education has revolutionized the traditional educational methods in India by opening a number of opportunities for the learners. For a developing nation like us with fix number of seats in colleges and universities in comparison to its enormous population, it is rather difficult to provide opportunity to everyone to get enrolled. Moreover, distance learning is most opportune choice for those who want to leverage their knowledge and pursue higher education simultaneously while working.

Distance education is an innovative and flexible system of education where educators and learners are physically separated by time or space. There is no direct interaction or face to face activity between them. The learning material is sent to learners from time to time and they have to complete assignments and get it checked by their study centres. The study centres also help students with contact classes or sessions to get solved their problems and difficulties from the subject experts. In due course of time, growth of online education has revolutionized the distance education. However, a brief outline needs to be drawn here between distance learning and online learning. While distance learning courses may or may not be learning courses, all online degree courses can be termed as distance learning courses.

Distance learning is certainly not apt for those who prefer the face to face interaction and real-life discussions that is found only in the classroom. But, distance learning has been proved fruitful for students who want to leverage their knowledge while fulfilling family and work obligations. A person who has thirst for knowledge, but is unable to complete his/her education through regular system of education can avail the opportunity to complete education through distance mode of education. In other words, distance learning programs are fitting for those who want to learn and earn together. Besides, adults who wish to pursue lifelong education not only to enhance their skills but also to improve their quality of life can themselves enroll for relevant courses and gain knowledge on food, health and various other topics which are important for them as well as their family.

In view of India’s incessantly increasing population, the geographical distances, and limited number of seats available in colleges, distance learning opens new directions of opportunities for the learners to obtain higher education irrespective of distant location and time. People belonging to weaker sections of the society and residing in remote areas can also have the privilege of studying in India’s topmost universities through distance learning. Distance is now no longer a hindrance to pursue a desirable course as most universities providing distance learning programs have study and examination centres in many cities. Distance education has opened a new window of opportunities for countless professionals, dropouts (school & college), and housewives to accomplish their incomplete dreams. The distance education in forthcoming times will no doubt see a manifold increase in people’s enrolment.

Presently, there are 15 open universities, including Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and about 54 distance learning institutes in India. Most of the Indian states viz., Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Orissa, Pondicherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tripura, West Bengal offer distance learning programs. Some of the states even have a separate department for distance learning like University of Delhi, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Punjab University, Osmania University, Hyderabad and others.

Int’l Workshop in Kerala on Greenstone Digital Library Software

The Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK) is going to organize an International Workshop on Greenstone Digital Library Software at its campus in Kerala during November 23 to 28, 2009. To facilitate the workshop, IIMK has come into technical collaboration with Greenstone Support for South Asia, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and UNESCO New Delhi office.

The objective of the Workshop is to propose a six-day long high-end training programme on digital libraries on the open source software 'Greenstone'. The Workshop shall facilitate the participants in creating state-of-the-art digital libraries using the Greenstone open source software, which include software installation, configuration, customization, digitization and other related workflow operations, content development and management, designing and creating standard metadata sets to describe digital objects and encoding it in standard mark-up formats.

Participants attaining the workshop, which will be conducted as a Faculty Development Programme (FDP), are expected to develop professional capacity in their respective countries. Each participant will be provided a PC supplemented with LCD project demos, and will receive a CD-ROM comprising of the latest version of Greenstone Software, other related software packages and faculty presentations.

Registration is open for interested professionals from India and other countries on first-come-first-served basis. Nomination forms duly filled in, along with the Course Fee, should reach the FDP Office at IIMK latest by 12 November 2009.

India retain Nehru Cup beating Syria 5-4

Defending champion India retained ONGC Nehru football Cup beating Syria by 5-4 in a penalty shoot out at a jam-packed Ambedkar stadium here on Monday after both the teams scored 1-1.

The two sides were deadlocked 0-0 in the regulation time and equaled in the extra time.
India’s goalkeeper Subrata Paul eventually win the title for India making three saves in the shootout, including the decisive shot from Hamzeh Al Aitoni triggering celebrations among the crowd.

After the score went goalless in the regulation time, Renedy Singh scored through a free kick in the 24th minute of extra time. The title was in India’s kitty; however, India could not retain the upper hand as Syria’s Dyab equalized the score in the last minute of the match taking the game to a tie-breaker.

The highly tensed hyper-extended shootout eventually resulted in India’s favour after the 22-year-old goalkeeper Paul produced a heroic performance saving as many as three penalty shots to script the win.

For Indian side, Climax Lawrence, Sunil Chhetri, Steven Dias, Anwar Ali and Surkumar Singh scored in the shootout while Renedy Singh and Meharajuddin Wadoo missed the target.

Along with the Nehru cup title India earned USD 40,000, while Syria pocketed USD 20,000.

Nehru cup 2009 was almost a repeat of the 2007 edition of the tournament when India had lost to Syria in the league match but won the final 1-0.

Bollywood star Salman Khan and AIFF acting president and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel and Union Minister of Youth Affairs & Sports M S Gill, watched the Nehru Cup final at the Ambedkar Stadium. Salman Khan was appointed as the Brand Ambassador of the All India Football Federation (AIFF).

Climax of shootout

India 1-0 Syria, Climax Lawrence sent the keeper the wrong way
India 1-1 Syria, Raja Rafe straight into the top corner
India 1-1 Syria, Renedy Singh went from hero to zero, striking the post with his penalty
India 1-1 Syria, Wael Ayan hammered it to the keeper's left, brilliant save by Subrata Pal
India 2-1 Syria, Sunil Chetri stroked the ball calmy past Balhous
India 2-1 Syria, Ahmad Haj Mohamad underhit his shot, Subrata's left hand pushing the ball onto the crossbar, another save!
India 3-1 Syria, Steven Dias gave India a cushion
India 3-2 Syria, Balhous - the Syrian keeper - beats his opposite number to keep his team alive in the contest
India 3-2 Syria, Mehrajuddin Wadoo with the chance to win it, but he hits it straight to the keeper
India 3-3 Syria, Abdul Fattah beats Pal who comes racing off his line and gets a warning from the ref
India 4-3 Syria, Central defender Anwar sends Balhous the wrong way to give India the lead again
India 4-4 Syria, Abdelrazaq puts it in the corner past the outstretched hand of Pal
India 5-4 Syria, Sukumar Singh with an excellent shot to keep India ahead
India 5-4 Syria, Excellent save from Subrata Pal from Hamzeh Al Aitounim penatly to win the Nehru Cup!

Team to be announced today for tri-series, Champions Trophy

The Indian selectors of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) are meeting in Chennai on Sunday to pick up the 15-member squad for the ODI tri-series in Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy. Skipper MS Dhoni will attend the meeting whereas Coach Gary Kirsten will be connected via phone from South Africa.

The triangular ODI series will be held in Sri Lanka from September 8-14, and subsequently the Champions Trophy tournament in South Africa from September 22- October 5.

While it is almost clear that explosive batsman Virendar Sehwag will be out of both the tournaments owing to his right shoulder injury, it could be the moment of truth for the former Indian captain Rahul Dravid, The Wall. The 36-year-old is all set to make a comeback to the ODI team after a gap of nearly two years. Dravid had played the last ODI in October 2007.

Master blaster Sachin Tendulkar is also making a comeback. He had made himself unavailable for the four-match ODI series in the West Indies in June-July. Sachin Tendulkar and Gautam Gambhir will open the batting with Rahul Dravid likely to be coming in at No. 3.

Rohit Sharma may be out of the contention following patchy performances in the World T20 and the West Indies series. Abhishek Nayar and Virat Kohli may be likely probabilities. Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan and Dinesh Karthik are among the certainties.

In absence of the paceman Zaheer Khan, who is also to be ruled out for a shoulder surgery, Ashish Nehra is certainly to partner Ishant Sharma as the new ball pair, besides R P Singh and Munaf Patel. The two spinners could be Harbhajan Singh and Pragyan Ojha.

Before flying to Colombo, the selected players will have a four-day training camp in Bangalore from August 27 and will participate in Corporate Trophy.

Likely squad: Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Yuvraj Singh, MS Dhoni (skipper/wicketkeeper), Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Amit Mishra (Pragyan Ojha), Praveen Kumar (Munaf Patel), Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar.

UNESCO releases a manual on investigative reporting

UNESCO and Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ) release the Arabic version of an important guide to basic methods and techniques in investigative journalism, filling a gap in the literature of the profession. Story-based inquiry: a manual for investigative journalists, which is also available in English and French, can be downloaded online for free.

The manual focuses on the hypothesis-based inquiry approach, which takes the basic assumption that a story is only a hypothesis until verified. The methods and skills applying to every step of the investigative process, from conception to research, writing, quality control and dissemination, have been thoroughly analyzed and are well illustrated by case studies in each chapter.

The official launch will take place at the Second ARIJ conference in Amman, Jordan, from 20 to 22 November 2009. More than 250 investigative reporters representing 14 countries from the Arab world are expected to attend.

To download the manual in English please click the following URL:
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29032/12494586523story_based_inquiry_en.pdf/story_based_inquiry_en.pdf

For French, click:
http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29032/12494586535story_based_inquiry_fr.pdf/story_based_inquiry_fr.pdf

For Arabic,
click: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/files/29032/124945865311story_based_inquiry_ar.pdf/story_based_inquiry_ar.pdf

FRIENDSHIP an eternal bonding

On this occasion of Friendship Day, I give you a simple but complex thought. Just imagine your life without a friend. Dull, boring and colorless, isn’t it? I knew your answer because this is one such relation we are not born with like other family relations. This is one such relation we make ourselves with a complex blend of heart and mind. True friendship is a gift of God and a friend’s affection is a greatest treasure of life. Many people say a boy and girl can never be friend. This is utterly ridiculous. In fact, a true friend can be anyone irrespective of gender and class. Second thought (?) never comes if one is a true friend.

History speaks in volume about how one sacrificed its life for his friend, and also how one stabbed on the back of his friend. This is just part of life. Sometimes we may be wrong in making right friend, but not always. I mean to say be careful while making friends because you share ever secrets of your life with your friend even those which you can not share with your family members. Oops! I must not speak like this on this very day. So just chill out and enjoy the day with your friends. But do not forget my one advice. Never let build wall between friends. If any problems occur, try to solve it soon. Because communication gap can be perilous for your relationship. Fingers crossed.

Hapless performance continues, India lost to Proteas

In an inconsequential but confidence building and respect earning match from India’s point of view, India continued to show poor performance by bat and lost to South Africa by 12-run in their final Super Eights game. India needed to win this last match in the tournament for their pride. They have not won any of their matches against the tough competitors so a win today might give them a little confidence and respect from the fanatic fans.

South Africa had nothing to lose in this match; it was just a practice match for the Proteas who well defended the tiny 130 in the T20 game. On the other hand, India once again could not prove their strength and their batsmen failed miserably like their previous two games against the West Indies and England.

In fact, India were already crashed out of the T20 World Cup when the bizarre tinkering of the strong batting line-up failed wretchedly at the hands of England on Sunday. The host had defeated India by just 3 runs in a tough game. Coincidently, in both the games India were chasing the modest scores put up by the opponents.

Except Yuvraj Singh no any batsmen could take on the English bowlers, though the two openers Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma put on 48 runs in 6.2 overs when Gambhir got out at 21 be Johan Botha. India still looked in control of the chase. But the familiar middle order collapse came in and they lost four wickets in just 27 balls.

Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s terrible form also continued and he just scored five off 12 balls before returning to pavilion. India’s hopes once again lay squarely on the strong shoulder of Yuvraj Singh but he could not win the match for India and caught behind in the 17th over.

Earlier, Indian bowlers mainly spinners and part time bowlers performed well and the favourite Proteas struggled against them on the slow Trent Bridge wicket to manage just 130 for 5 in 20 overs. Man of the match A B de Villiers, who said that "it wasn't the fanciest knock of my life”, top scored with 63 off 51 balls.

South Africa will now meet West Indies in one of the semi finals.

WHO finds spurt in Swine flu cases

The World Health Organization (WHO) which has declared swine flu as pandemic has reported on June 12 as 29,699 laboratory confirmed cases of Influenza A/H1N1 infection from 74 countries, including 145 deaths so far.

In its latest update on June 13, the WHO has said that the health screening of passengers coming from affected countries is being conducted in 21 International airports. On this date, around 47339 passengers were screened of which 26482 were from affected countries. A total of 76 counters have been made at these airports where 221 doctors and 111 paramedics have been deployed to screen the passengers.

In India, the six-year-old girl who traveled from New York has tested positive at NIV, Pune. Her one-and-half year old brother has also tested positive. Both children have been admitted to the identified health facility and their conditions are stable.
The siblings had reached India along with their parents from New York on June 10.

Since they are too young to be quarantined, the sister-brother duo are being accompanied in hospital by their grandfather, who was put on anti-viral drugs and has tested negative for H1N1 virus. The family members were also being tested and their samples had been sent to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) for tests.

A 24-year-old student, who came to Hyderabad from Austin (US) via Dubai-Mumbai, was also admitted to hospital after showing swine flu like symptoms. While in Tamil Nadu, a five-member family was quarantined at the airport after they arrived from the US.

Meanwhile, out of the 240 persons tested for novel Influenza A [H1N1] virus in the country, 17 have been found positive. Among them nine have been discharged and rest of the passengers has been admitted to the identified health facility. The rest have been found negative for the Influenza virus.

“A total of 17 swine flu cases have been reported (in India), of which nine patients have been discharged. The rest of the patients are all stable and are admitted to the identified health facilities,” a health official said in Delhi.