Muzaffarnagar on the boil again, 3 killed in fresh communal clashes

Fresh communal clashes broke out in Muzaffarnagar district Wednesday evening as Muslims and Jats from neighbouring villages shot at each other, killing three Muslim youths and wounding several.

In a separate incident in Foghana, about 25 km away, a Hindu woman was killed after unidentified persons attacked her and her husband while they were returning home on a motorcycle. Police sources said they were yet to establish a link between the two incidents.

Sixty-three people, 46 of them Muslim, were killed in the first wave of violence in the region last month. Thousands continue to live in relief camps after fleeing their villages in the aftermath of the clashes.

The Jats belonged to Mohammadpur Raisingh village, which is under the jurisdiction of Bhaurakalan police station, while the victims belonged to Hussainpur village, which is under the jurisdiction of Budhana police station.

Hundreds of angry villagers surrounded the Budhana police station Wednesday evening following the killings and police were trying to defuse the situation late into the night.

Five companies of the Provincial Armed Constabulary and police personnel from neighbouring districts have been rushed to control the situation.

"Rajendra Fauji of Mohammadpur Raisingh village was working in his field when a group of men from the adjacent Hussainpur village attacked him. But he somehow managed to escape and informed residents of his village who rushed to the spot armed with firearms," Uttar Pradesh Additional DG (Law & Order), Mukul Goel, told The Indian Express.

He said residents of Mohammadpur Raisingh village spotted the group from Hussainpur running towards a thicket close to Rajendra's field and they fired at them. "The other group retaliated and both groups fired at each other, killing three Muslims from Hussainpur," he said.

http://www.income4youth.com/index.php?refcode=66342

Click fraud

Click fraud is a type of fraud that occurs on the Internet in pay per click online advertising when a person, automated script or computer program imitates[1] a legitimate user of a web browser clicking on an ad, for the purpose of generating a charge per click without having actual interest in the target of the ad's link. Click fraud is the subject of some controversy and increasing litigation due to the advertising networks being a key beneficiary of the fraud.

current affairs

 India's domestic issues are stopping it from making realistic economic choices, according to a leading Chinese daily.
In an article Tuesday, the Global Times said Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh managed to raise issues like the trade imbalance and Sino-Pakistani ties with the Chinese side during his visit to China earlier this month.
But China's plans of setting up industrial parks in India, promoting regional economic cooperation and the Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor were not fulfilled, said the article, written by Liu Zongyi, a research fellow in the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies.
"China and India are the two largest emerging countries, and their bilateral ties are of global strategic significance," it said.
"That Beijing was unable to realise its hopes can be attributed to some internal factors in India, including the obstacles from opposition parties, the public resistance against foreign capital, the outdated labour law institutions and the existence of established interest groups."
According to the article, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "did not get any substantial commitments from the US during his visit there last month, since Washington primarily intends to take advantage of its military force to contain China".
Which was why "cooperation with China to develop the economy has become a realistic choice for New Delhi".
It also pointed out that the development of the BCIM corridor was necessary for tne security and prosperity of India's northeastern region, but India's concerns over the corridor come from three main reasons.
"Given the unsettled Sino-Indian border disputes, the opening-up of the northeastern area may pose a threat to its defence security once conflicts take place," the article said.
"A number of rebel groups that share ethnic ties with people in both Myanmar and China have been causing turbulence in this part of the country, and regional frictions are likely to turn into international conflicts once the district is opened up.
"Further, commodities from China and some southeast Asian nations sell well in the Indian market, which, therefore, may be occupied by foreign products amid regional economic integration."
Stating that exchange of high-level visits from both sides this year is a milestone in Sino-Indian ties, the editorial said India has to overcome its domestic problems more than China.
"Its (India's) democracy should not become an excuse to hinder the development of its relations with Beijing," the article concluded

Brazil

Brazil  officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: República Federativa do Brasil, About this sound listen (help·info)), is the largest country in both South America and the Latin American region. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population. It is the largest Lusophone country in the world, and the only one in the Americas.
Bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the east, Brazil has a coastline of 7,491 km (4,655 mi).It is bordered on the north by Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and the French overseas region of French Guiana; on the northwest by Colombia; on the west by Bolivia and Peru; on the southwest by Argentina and Paraguay and on the south by Uruguay. Numerous archipelagos form part of Brazilian territory, such as Fernando de Noronha, Rocas Atoll, Saint Peter and Paul Rocks, and Trindade and Martim Vaz. It borders all other South American countries except Ecuador and Chile and occupies 47% of the continent of South America.
Brazil was a colony of Portugal beginning from the landing of Pedro Álvares Cabral in 1500, up until 1815, when it was elevated to the rank of kingdom upon the formation of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil and the Algarves. The colonial bond was in fact broken several years earlier, in 1808, when the capital of the Portuguese colonial empire was transferred from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro, after French forces led by the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Portugal.Independence was achieved in 1822 with the formation of the Empire of Brazil, a unitary state governed under a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary system. The country became a presidential republic in 1889, when a military coup d'état proclaimed the Republic, although the bicameral legislature, now called Congress, dates back to the ratification of the first constitution in 1824.[14] Its current Constitution, formulated in 1988, defines Brazil as a federal republic. The Federation is formed by the union of the Federal District, the 26 States, and the 5,564 Municipalities.
The Brazilian economy is the world's seventh largest by nominal GDP and the seventh largest by purchasing power parity, as of 2012.[17][18] A member of the BRIC group, Brazil has one of the world's fastest growing major economies, and its economic reforms have given the country new international recognition and influence.[19] Brazil's national development bank (BNDES) plays an important role for the country's economic growth. It mostly depends on its own money and invests in big local firms. The bank's goal is to promote economic growth as well as to preserve the environment and protection of local communities.[20] Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations,the G20, CPLP, Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Organization of American States, Mercosul and the Union of South American Nations. Brazil is one of 17 megadiverse countries, home to a variety of wildlife, natural environments, and extensive natural resources in a variety of protected habitats.[12] Brazil is considered a middle power in international affairs,[22] and has been identified as an emerging power.

fcb

FC Barcelona

FC Barcelona got goals from South American stars Neymar and Alexis Sanchez in a 2-1 win Saturday over Real Madrid at Camp Nou, extending their lead over their traditional La Liga arch-rival to six points.
Brazilian sensation Neymar opened the scoring in the 19th minute of this season's first "Clasico", receiving a pass on the left side from Andres Iniesta and slotting the ball past net minder Diego Lopez.
Real Madrid's defenders signalled that Neymar was in offside position, but the referees ruled otherwise and let the goal stand.
Two minutes later, Barça super striker Lionel Messi had a chance to give his side a two-goal lead but fired a shot wide, while Real Madrid struggled to get any offence going at all in the first half.
The action heated up over the final 20 minutes of the match, however.
In the 71st minute, Los Blancos superstar Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to be robbed of a penalty opportunity when he was knocked down in the area by defenseman Javier Mascherano.
A minute later, Real Madrid had another chance to score but a blast off the right foot of Karim Benzema smashed off the crossbar and Barcelona's lead was intact.
Sanchez, a Chilean international, then all but sealed the victory in the 79th minute when he maneouvered around defenseman Raphael Varane and lofted a perfect chip over a leaping Lopez.
Real Madrid finally got a goal in stoppage time from Jese Rodriguez but it proved too little too late.
Messi was quiet in Barcelona's victory, while Welsh winger Gareth Bale, who recently transferred to Real Madrid from English club Tottenham for a whopping 100 million euros, had little impact on the match.
With the win, Barcelona moved four points ahead of Atletico Madrid, which will square off against Real Betis Sunday.

young sachin

current news

Germany and France will embark on a new initiative to seek clarifications from the US on recent allegations of spying on Europeans by the National Security Agency (NSA) and create the framework for closer cooperation between their intelligence services.

The two countries, which are at the centre of the latest allegations of massive Internet and telephone surveillance by the NSA, have agreed at the EU summit in Brussels to work for a new deal with the US, which may include a no-spy agreement and cooperation in intelligence gathering.

German chancellor Angela Merkel, whose mobile phone was allegedly tapped by the NSA, said at the conclusion of the two-day summit yesterday that their aim is to lay the groundwork for a new transatlantic cooperation of intelligence services.

"We are seeking the basis for a cooperation between our intelligence services, which is transparent, clear-cut and in line with the interests of the partners of an alliance," she told a news conference.

Germany and France will present their agreement with the US at the next EU summit in December, she said.

Other member-nations can join the group afterwards.

What is important now is to find a basis for future cooperation and to restore the trust broken by the spying row, she said.

French president Francois Hollande said the aim of the initiative is to create the framework for future cooperation and to put an end to the "uncontrolled monitoring mechanisms".

He demanded from the US detailed clarification of its surveillance operations so far and a code of conduct for the future.

French newspapers reported last week that documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed the agency had monitored millions of telephone calls and Internet communications of French citizens.

A teenaged college girl committed suicide after restricted Facebook

A teenaged college girl committed suicide after her parents restricted her use of her mobile phone and social networking sites like Facebook, police said Thursday.

The incident occurred late Wednesday night after 17-year-old Aishwarya S. Dahiwal had an argument with her parents over using Facebook on her computer.

According to investigating officer G. H. Lemgude of Nanalpeth police station in Parbhani, around 500 km east of Mumbai, Aishwarya's parents had objected several times to her using social networking sites and chatting long over the mobile phone.

"Like all parents, their intentions were only to ensure that the girl did not go astray. They advised her to concentrate on her technical studies and stay away from long mobile chats and social networking sites," Lemgude told IANS.

facebook

www.facebook.com

Jebel

Jebel is a commune in Timiş County, Romania. It is composed of a single village, Jebel, and also included Pădureni village until 2004, when it was split off to form a separate commune.

Nārāyana Guru

Nārāyana Guru (1854–1928), also seen as Sree Nārāyana Guru Swami, was a Hindu saint, sadhu[1][full citation needed][2] and social reformer of India. The Guru was born into an Ezhava family, in an era when people from the Ezhava community and other communities that were regarded as "Avarna", faced much social injustices in the caste-ridden Kerala society. Gurudevan, as he was fondly known to his followers, led Reform movement in Kerala, revolted against casteism and worked on propagating new values of freedom in spirituality and of social equality, thereby transforming the Kerala society and as such he is adored as a prophet.[1][2]
Nārāyana Guru is revered for his Vedic knowledge,[citation needed] poetic proficiency,[citation needed] openness to the views of others,[citation needed] non-violent philosophy[citation needed] and his resolve to set aright social wrongs. Nārāyana Guru was instrumental in setting the spiritual foundations for social reform[3] in today's Kerala and was one of the most successful social reformers who tackled caste issues in India. He demonstrated a path to social emancipation without invoking the dualism of the oppressed and the oppressor.
Guru stressed the need for the spiritual and social upliftment of the downtrodden by their own efforts through the establishment of temples and educational institutions. In the process he brushed aside the superstitions that clouded the fundamental Hindu cultural convention of Chaturvarna.

The economy of India

The economy of India is the tenth-largest in the world by nominal GDP and the third-largest by purchasing power parity (PPP).[1] The country is one of the G-20 major economies and a member of BRICS. On a per-capita-income basis, India ranked 141st by nominal GDP and 130th by GDP (PPP) in 2012, according to the IMF.[14] India is the 19th-largest exporter and the 10th-largest importer in the world. The economy slowed to around 5.0% for the 2012–13 fiscal year compared with 6.2% in the previous fiscal.[15] On August 28, 2013 the Indian rupee hit an all time low of 68.80 against the US dollar. In order to control the fall in rupee, the government introduced capital controls on outward investment by both corporates and individuals.[16] India's GDP grew by 9.3% in 2010–11; thus, the growth rate has nearly halved in just three years. GDP growth rose marginally to 4.8% during the quarter through March 2013, from about 4.7% in the previous quarter. The government has forecast a growth rate of 6.1%-6.7% for the year 2013–14, whilst the RBI expects the same to be at 5.7%. Besides this, India suffered a very high fiscal deficit of US$ 88 billion (4.8% of GDP) in the year 2012–13. The Indian Government aims to cut the fiscal deficit to US$ 70 billion or 3.7% of GDP by 2013–14.[citation needed]
The independence-era Indian economy (from 1947 to 1991) was based on a mixed economy combining features of capitalism and socialism, resulting in an inward-looking, interventionist policies and import-substituting economy that failed to take advantage of the post-war expansion of trade.[17] This model contributed to widespread inefficiencies and corruption, and the failings of this system were due largely to its poor implementation.[17]
In 1991, India adopted liberal and free-market principles and liberalised its economy to international trade under the guidance of Former Finance minister Manmohan Singh under the Prime Ministry of P.V. Narasimha Rao, prime minister from 1991 to 1996, who had eliminated Licence Raj, a pre- and post-British era mechanism of strict government controls on setting up new industry. Following these major economic reforms, and a strong focus on developing national infrastructure such as the Golden Quadrilateral project by former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, the country's economic growth progressed at a rapid pace, with relatively large increases in per-capita incomes.

The Brazilian economy

The Brazilian economy is the world's seventh largest by nominal GDP and the seventh largest by purchasing power parity, as of 2012.[17][18] A member of the BRIC group, Brazil has one of the world's fastest growing major economies, and its economic reforms have given the country new international recognition and influence.[19] Brazil's national development bank (BNDES) plays an important role for the country's economic growth. It mostly depends on its own money and invests in big local firms. The bank's goal is to promote economic growth as well as to preserve the environment and protection of local communities.[20] Brazil is a founding member of the United Nations,[21] the G20, CPLP, Latin Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Organization of American States, Mercosul and the Union of South American Nations. Brazil is one of 17 megadiverse countries, home to a variety of wildlife, natural environments, and extensive natural resources in a variety of protected habitats.[12] Brazil is considered a middle power in international affairs,[22] and has been identified as an emerging power.

Germany

Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a federal parliamentary republic in western-central Europe. The country consists of 16 states and its capital and largest city is Berlin.

Rajiv Ratna Gandhi

Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was the sixth Prime Minister of India, serving from 1984 to 1989. He took office after the 1984 assassination of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, his mother, to become the youngest Indian premier.
A scion of the politically powerful Nehru–Gandhi family associated with the Indian National Congress party, for much of Rajiv's childhood his grandfather Jawaharlal Nehru was prime minister. For his college education, he went to Britain where he met and began dating Antonia Maino, an Italian waitress. Rajiv returned to India in 1966 and became a professional pilot for the state-owned Indian Airlines. In 1968, he married Maino—who would subsequently change her name to Sonia Gandhi—and the couple settled down in Delhi to a happy domestic life with their children Rahul and Priyanka. Although for much of the 1970s his mother was prime minister, and his brother Sanjay wielded significant unofficial power, Rajiv remained apolitical. However, Sanjay's death in a plane crash in 1980, Rajiv reluctantly entered politics at the behest of Indira. The following year he won from his brother's Amethi seat and became a member of the Lok Sabha (the lower house of Parliament). As part of his political grooming, Rajiv was made a general secretary of the Congress and given significant responsibility in organising the 1982 Asian Games.
On the morning of 31 October 1984, his mother was assassinated by her Sikh bodyguards to avenge for Operation Blue Star; later that day, Rajiv Gandhi was appointed Prime Minister. His leadership was put to the test over the next few days as organised mobs rioted against the Sikh community, resulting in the death of 1,000s in Delhi alone. Nevertheless, that December, a nationwide sympathy vote for Rajiv's Congress party helped it win the greatest Lok Sabha majority (411 seats out of 542) in history. He began dismantling the Licence Raj – government quotas, tariffs and permit regulations on economic activity – modernised the telecommunications industry, the education system, expanded science and technology initiatives and improved relations with the United States.
Rajiv Gandhi was also mired in many controversies: the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Bhopal disaster and Shah Bano case. In 1988, Gandhi reversed the coup in Maldives antagonising militant Tamil outfits such as PLOTE. He was also responsible for first intervening and then sending Indian Peace Keeping Force troops for peace efforts in Sri Lanka in 1987, which soon ended in open conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.In mid-1987, the Bofors scandal broke his honest, corruption-free image and resulted in a major defeat for his party in the 1989 elections. In 1989, he allowed shilanyas or a ground-breaking ceremony in an undisputed site close to the islamic structure at Ayodhya, a decision whose repercussions are felt to this day. Partly as a result of these missteps, the Rajiv Gandhi era saw the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which went from just 2 seats in 1984 to 120 seats in 1991.

Manmohan Singh

Manmohan Singh  born 26 September 1932) is the 13th and current Prime Minister of India. A renowned economist, he is the only Prime Minister since Jawaharlal Nehru to return to power after completing a full five-year term, and the first Sikh to hold the office.
Born in Gah (now in Punjab, Pakistan), Singh's family migrated to India during its partition in 1947. After obtaining his doctorate in economics from Oxford, Singh worked for the United Nations in 1966–69. He subsequently began his bureaucratic career when Lalit Narayan Mishra hired him as an advisor in the Ministry of Foreign Trade. Over the 70s and 80s, Singh held several key posts in the Government of India, such as Chief Economic Advisor (1972–76), Reserve Bank governor (1982–85) and Planning Commission head (1985–87).
In 1991, as India faced a severe economic crisis, newly elected Prime Minister P. V. Narasimha Rao surprisingly inducted the apolitical Singh into his cabinet as Finance Minister. Over the next few years, despite strong opposition, he as a Finance Minister carried out several structural reforms that liberalised India's economy. Although these measures proved successful in averting the crisis, and enhanced Singh's reputation globally as a leading reform-minded economist, the incumbent Congress party fared poorly in the 1996 general election. Subsequently, Singh served as Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha (the upper house of India's Parliament) during the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government of 1998–2004.
In 2004, when the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) came to power, its chairperson Sonia Gandhi unexpectedly relinquished the premiership to Manmohan Singh. This Singh-led "UPA I" government executed several key legislations and projects, including the Rural Health Mission, Unique Identification Authority, Rural Employment Guarantee scheme and Right to Information Act. In 2008, opposition to a historic civil nuclear agreement with the United States nearly caused Singh's government to fall after Left Front parties withdrew their support. Although India's economy grew rapidly under UPA I, its security was threatened by several terrorist incidents (including the 2008 Mumbai attacks) and the continuing Maoist insurgency.

Anna" Hazare

Kisan Baburao "Anna" Hazare is an Indian social activist who led movements to promote rural development, increase government transparency, and investigate and punish official corruption. 

Lal Bahadur Shastri

Lal Bahadur Shastri was the second Prime Minister of the Republic of India and a leader of the Indian National Congress party. Shastri joined the Indian independence movement in the 1920s.

Twitter

Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables users to send and read "tweets", which are text messages limited to 140 characters. Registered users can read and post tweets but unregistered users can only read them.

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova

Maria Yuryevna Sharapova (About this sound Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова (help·info); born April 19, 1987) is a Russian professional tennis player who as of October 7, 2013 is ranked World No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the top Russian player. A United States resident since 1994,[4] Sharapova has won twenty-nine WTA singles titles, including four Grand Slam singles titles. She has also won the year-end WTA Tour Championships in 2004. The WTA has ranked Sharapova World No. 1 in singles on five separate occasions, for a total of 21 weeks. She became the world no. 1 for the first time on August 22, 2005, and last held the ranking for the fifth time for four weeks from June 11, 2012 to July 8, 2012.[5][6] She has been in eight Grand Slam finals with a record of 4–4.
Sharapova made her professional breakthrough in 2004 at age 17, when she defeated two-time defending champion and top seed Serena Williams in the 2004 Wimbledon final for her first Grand Slam singles title. She entered the top 10 of the WTA Rankings with the win. The world no. 1 ranking followed in 2005, along with subsequent major titles at the 2006 US Open and 2008 Australian Open, before she was forced out of the game for ten months by a recurring shoulder injury, which ultimately required surgery in October 2008. Sharapova returned to the game in May 2009, returning to the top 10 in March 2011 and capturing her fourth Grand Slam title at the 2012 French Open. By doing so, she became the sixth woman in the Open Era to complete the career Grand Slam in singles. In the same year, she won an Olympic silver medal in the London 2012 Olympics.
Sharapova has been featured in a number of modeling assignments, including a feature in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue. She has been featured in many advertisements, including for Nike, Prince, and Canon, and is the face of several fashion houses, most notably Cole Haan. Since February 2007, she has been a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador, concerned specifically with the Chernobyl Recovery and Development Programme. In June 2011, she was named one of the "30 Legends of Women's Tennis: Past, Present and Future" by Time,[7] and in March 2012 was named one of the "100 Greatest of All Time" by Tennis Channel.

gladiator

A gladiator (Latin: gladiator, "swordsman", from gladius, "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the arena. Most were despised as slaves, schooled under harsh conditions, socially marginalized, and segregated even in death.
Irrespective of their origin, gladiators offered spectators an example of Rome's martial ethics and, in fighting or dying well, they could inspire admiration and popular acclaim. They were celebrated in high and low art, and their value as entertainers was commemorated in precious and commonplace objects throughout the Roman world.
The origin of gladiatorial combat is open to debate. There is evidence of it in funeral rites during the Punic Wars of the 3rd century BCE, and thereafter it rapidly became an essential feature of politics and social life in the Roman world. Its popularity led to its use in ever more lavish and costly games.
The games reached their peak between the 1st century BCE and the 2nd century CE, and they finally declined during the early 5th century after the adoption of Christianity as state church of the Roman Empire in 380, although beast hunts (venationes) continued into the 6th century.

poonam pandey

She began her career as a model.[6] She became one of the Top eight contestants of Gladrags - 2010, and appeared on the cover page of the fashion magazine.[7][8] She shot for 29 calendars for the year 2011, including the Gladrags Calendar.[9] She was featured in Kingfisher Calendar 2011. In 2012, she posed naked for International Business Times, after Kolkata Knight Riders, won the IPL 5.[10] Pandey has received a lot of coverage over explicit pictures of herself that she has posted on her Twitter account and of a promise she made to strip if the Indian cricket team won the World Cup. [11]
In 2013, she was the female lead of the film Nasha, a teacher who ends up having a sexual relationship with one of her students. While Rediff stated that she "excels as a seductress" in the role,[12] the Mumbai Mirror stated she "does not play seductresses but a proper, responsible drama teacher" and that "Pandey makes an effort but isn't quite there".[13] The posters for the film, which featured her "clad in nothing, but two placards tactfully placed to cover her body", angered people and a group of protestors tore the posters and set them on fire on 20 July 2013 in Mumbai.[14] The general secretary of Shiv Sena Chitrapat has objected to Pandey's skin showing in the advertisements, saying, "We find the poster highly vulgar and derogatory and won't allow such hoardings.

Vidya Balan

Vidya Balan (pronounced [ʋɪd̪jaː baːlən]; born 1 January 1978) is an Indian actress. She has established a successful career in Hindi language films of Bollywood and is the recipient of one National Film Award, five Filmfare Awards, and five Screen Awards. She is known for portraying strong female protagonists and has been acknowledged in the media for breaking stereotypes of a Hindi film heroine.
Vidya aspired to a career in film from a young age, and had her first acting role in the 1995 sitcom Hum Paanch. She pursued a master's degree in sociology from the University of Mumbai and simultaneously made several unsuccessful attempts to start a career in film. She subsequently featured in various television commercials and music videos, and in 2003 made her feature film debut as the protagonist of the independent Bengali drama Bhalo Theko. In 2005 Vidya garnered praise for her first Hindi film, the musical drama Parineeta, and followed it with a leading role in the highly successful 2006 comedy film Lage Raho Munna Bhai. This initial success was followed by roles in the romantic comedies Heyy Babyy (2007) and Kismat Konnection (2008) which met with negative comments from the critics.
The year 2009, however, marked the beginning of the most successful period in Vidya's career as she portrayed five consecutive roles to wide critical acclaim in the 2009 drama Paa, the 2010 black comedy Ishqiya, the 2011 semi-biographical thriller No One Killed Jessica, the 2011 biopic The Dirty Picture, and the 2012 thriller Kahaani. These roles established her as a leading actress of Hindi cinema and earned her the tag of a "female hero". In addition to acting in films, Vidya promotes humanitarian causes and supports the empowerment of women. She initially drew criticism for her fluctuating weight and "questionable" dress sense, but was later credited in the media for "not morphing herself to fit into any conventional slot".[1] She is married to the film producer Siddharth Roy Kapur.

Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir (About this sound pronunciation (help·info); born 14 October 1981), affectionately known as Gauti, is one of the leading cricketers in the Indian cricket team. A left-handed opening batsman, who can also play in the middle order, he made his One Day International debut for India against Bangladesh in 2003, and played his first Test the following year, this time against Australia. He was the captain of the ODI team from late-2010 to late-2011. He is currently the highest run-scorer for India in the Twenty20 Internationals and 9th highest in the ODIs.[1][2] Fellow Indian team-mate Virender Sehwag called him "the best Indian opener since Sunil Gavaskar".[3]
Gambhir represents Delhi in first-class cricket and has been a prolific run-scorer in domestic cricket with an average of over 50. His two successive double-hundreds in 2002 (one of them against the visiting Zimbabweans) made him a strong contender for India's opening slot in all three forms of the game. He played and served as Captain for the Delhi Daredevils franchise in the Indian Premier League for three years before he was appointed skipper for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2011. He is the highest paid cricketer in the history of IPL with a salary of $2.4 million. Under Gambhir's captaincy, the Kolkata Knight Riders won their first title in 2012. Gambhir played an integral part in leading India to victory in both the final of the 2011 Cricket World Cup (97 from 122 balls) and the inaugural 2007 World Twenty20 (75 from 54 balls).
Gambhir became only the fourth Indian batsman to score a double century in a tour game at home; the previous three being Sunil Gavaskar, Dilip Vengsarkar and Sachin Tendulkar. He is the only Indian batsman to score more than 300 runs in four consecutive Test series. He is also the only Indian, and one of only four international cricketers, to have scored five hundreds in five consecutive test matches.[4] He was conferred with the Arjuna Award, India's second highest sporting award in the year 2008 by the President of India.[5] In 2009, he was the number one ranked batsman in ICC Test rankings.[6][7] The same year, Gambhir was the recipient of the ICC Test Player of the Year award.

hirakud

Before the devastating floods of 1937, Sir M. Visveswararya proposed a detailed investigation for storage reservoirs in the Mahanadi basin to tackle the problem of floods in the Mahanadi delta. In 1945, under the chairmanship of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, the then Member of Labour, it was decided to invest in the potential benefits of controlling the Mahanadi for multi-purpose use. The Central Waterways, Irrigation and Navigation Commission took up the work.[2]
On 15 Mar 1946, Sir Howthrone Lewis, the then Governor of Odisha, laid the foundation stone of the Hirakud Dam. A project report was submitted to the government in June 1947. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru laid the first batch of concrete on 12 April 1948. The dam was completed in 1953 and was formally inaugurated by Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on 13 January 1957. The total cost of the project was Rs.1000.2 millions in 1957. Power generation along with agricultural irrigation started in 1956, achieving full potential in 1966.

Shimla

Shimla (English pronunciation: /ˈʃɪmlə/; Hindi: [ˈʃɪmlaː] ( listen)), also known as Simla, is the capital city of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, located in northern India. It is bounded by Mandi and Kullu in the north, Kinnaur in the east, the state of Uttarakhand in the south-east, and Solan and Sirmaur to the south. The elevation of the city ranges from 300 to 2200 metres.[clarification needed] Shimla is well known as a hub for India's tourism sector. It is among the top 10 preferred entrepreneurial locations in India.
In 1864, Shimla was declared as the summer capital of British India, succeeding Murree, northeast of Rawalpindi. After independence, the city became the capital of Punjab and was later named the capital of Himachal Pradesh. Shimla came into existence from 1st Sept,1972 on the reorganisation of the districts of the state. After the reorganisation, the erstwhile Mahasu district and its major portion was merged with Shimla. Its name has been derived from the goddess Shyamala Devi, an incarnation of the Hindu goddess Kali. As of 2011 Shimla comprises 19 erstwhile hill states mainly Balson, Bushahr, Bhaji and Koti, Darkoti, Tharoch & Dhadi, Kumharsain, Khaneti & Delath, Dhami, Jubbal, Keothal, Madhan, Rawingarh, Ratesh, and Sangri.
As a large and growing city, Shimla is home to many well-recognized colleges and research institutions in India. The city has a large number of temples and palaces. Shimla is also well noted for its buildings styled in Tudorbethan and neo-Gothic architecture dating from the colonial era.
Owing to its scenic terrain, Shimla is home to the legendary mountain biking race MTB Himalaya. The event was started in 2005 and is now regarded as the biggest event in South East Asia.

Bhakra Dam

Bhakra Dam is a concrete gravity dam across the Sutlej River, and is in Bilaspur, Himachal Pradesh in northern India. 

Manali

Manali at an altitude of 2,050 m in the Beas River Valley is a hill station nestled in the mountains of the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh near the northern end of the Kullu Valley. It is located about 270 km north of the state capital, Shimla.

Amritsar

Amritsar (About this sound pronunciation (help·info); Punjabi: ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ, Punjabi pronunciation: [əmːɾɪt̪səɾ]) historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as Ambarsar) is a city in the north-western part of India. It is the spiritual centre for the Sikh religion and the administrative headquarters of the Amritsar district in the state of Punjab.
It is home to the Harmandir Sahib (referred to as the "Golden Temple" in the western media), the spiritual and cultural center for the Sikh religion. This important Sikh shrine attracts more visitors than the Taj Mahal with more than 100,000 visitors on week days alone and is the most popular destination for Non-resident Indians (NRI) in the whole of India. The city also houses the Sikh temporal and political authority, Akal Takht, as well as the Sikh Parliament.
The 2011 Indian census reported the population of the city to be 1,132,761. Amritsar is situated 217 kilometres (135 mi) northwest of state capital Chandigarh. Amritsar is situated near Pakistan with the Wagah border only being 28 km (17.5 mi) to the west with the nearest city Lahore, the second largest city in Pakistan being only located 50 km away (31 mi).
The main commercial activities include tourism, carpets and fabrics, farm produce, handicrafts, service trades, and light engineering. The city is known for its rich cuisine and culture, and for the tragic incident of Jallianwala Bagh massacre in 1919 under British Rule. Amritsar is home to Central Khalsa Orphanage, which was once a home to Udham Singh, a prominent figure in the Indian independence movement.

Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman

Vangipurapu Venkata Sai Laxman, commonly known as V.V.S. Laxman, is a former Indian cricketer. Laxman represents Hyderabad in domestic cricket and has played for Lancashire in English county cricket.

Alexander Graham Bell

Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik

Zakir Abdul Karim Naik is an Indian public speaker on the subject of Islam and comparative religion. He is the founder and president of the Islamic Research Foundation, a non-profit organisation that owns the Peace TV channel based in Dubai, UAE. 

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, model, and singer, who became a major sex symbol, starring in a number of commercially successful motion pictures during the 1950s and early 1960s. 

Gregor Johann Mendel

Gregor Johann Mendel was a German-speaking Silesian scientist and Augustinian friar who gained posthumous fame as the founder of the new science of genetics. 

U.S. Bancorp

U.S. Bancorp is an American diversified financial services holding company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota

American Airlines

American Airlines, Inc. is a major U.S. airline owned by AMR Corporation, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas.

Abhishek Bachchan

Abhishek Bachchan is an Indian film actor. Bachchan has received three Filmfare Awards for acting, a National Award as producer and was named as one of the highest paid actors in Bollywood in 2010. 

cocktail art

floating rock

The University of Edinburgh

The University of Edinburgh, founded in 1583,[5] is a public research university in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland.
It was the fourth university to be established in Scotland and the sixth in the United Kingdom, and is one of the most prestigious universities in the world.[6] Edinburgh receives approximately 47,000 applications every year, making it the third most popular university in the UK by volume of applicants.[7] Entrance is intensely competitive, with offer chances of 27% in the 2010–11 admissions cycle.[8] The university is deeply embedded in the fabric of the city, with many of the buildings in the historic Old Town belonging to the university.[9]
The University of Edinburgh is ranked 6th and 7th in Europe according to the 2011 QS and Times Higher Education Ranking[6][10] and 17th in the world by the 2013 QS rankings.[6] It is ranked 11th in the world in arts and humanities by the 2012–13 Times Higher Education Ranking.[11] It is a member of both the Russell Group, and the League of European Research Universities, a consortium of 21 research universities in Europe.[12] In addition, the university has both historical links and current partnerships with academic institutions in the United States and Canada, including members of the Ivy League and U15.[13][14][15] It has the third largest endowment of any university in the United Kingdom, after the universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
The university played an important role in leading Edinburgh to its reputation as a chief intellectual centre during the Age of Enlightenment, and helped give the city the nickname of the Athens of the North. Graduates of the university include some of the major figures of modern history, including the naturalist Charles Darwin, physicist James Clerk Maxwell, philosopher David Hume, mathematician Thomas Bayes, surgeon Joseph Lister, signatories of the American declaration of independence John Witherspoon and Benjamin Rush, inventor Alexander Graham Bell, first president of Tanzania Julius Nyerere, and a host of famous authors such as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson, J.M. Barrie and Sir Walter Scott.
The university is associated, through alumni and faculty, with some of the most significant intellectual and scientific contributions in human history, including laying the foundations of modern economics, modern sociology, modern geology, quantum mechanics, electromagnetism, thermodynamics, antiseptic surgery, nephrology and the theory of evolution; the discovery of carbon dioxide, latent heat, specific heat, chloroform anaesthesia, SARS, the HPV vaccine, and the Higgs mechanism; and the inventing of the telephone, the hypodermic syringe, the kaleidoscope, the telpherage, the vacuum flask, the ATM, the diving chamber, and in-vitro fertilisation. It is also associated with 18 Nobel Prize winners, 1 Abel Prize winner, several Turing Award winners, 3 Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, 2 currently-sitting UK Supreme Court Justices, and several Olympic gold medallists.[16]
It continues to have links to the British Royal Family, having had Prince Philip as its Chancellor from 1953 to 2010, and Princess Anne since 2011.[17]

Anushka Sharma

Anushka Sharma (pronounced [əˈnʊʂkaː ˈʃərmaː]; born 1 May 1988)[1] is an Indian actress and former model who appears in Hindi films. In 2008, she was signed by Aditya Chopra for a three-film contract with Yash Raj Films and made her acting debut in Chopra's Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi. She received critical appreciation for portraying a vivacious wedding planner in the romantic comedy Band Baaja Baaraat (2010).[2] Both films fetched her a Best Actress nomination at the Filmfare Awards ceremony.[3] She later won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Yash Chopra's romance Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012). Due to these prime achievements, Sharma has often been noted as one of the most promising contemporary actresses of Hindi cinema.

Lee

Lee is a unisex given name meaning "shelter". It is derived from the surname Lee (English name) and a place name meaning "sheltered from the storm" in Old English.
Its popularity in the United Kingdom peaked during the 1970s and 1980s, when it was frequently among the top 20 male names, but had fallen out of the top 100 by 2001.[3] In the United States, its popularity as a male first name occurred in the 1890s and as a female first name in the 1950s.[citation needed] Lee is also common as a middle name.[citation needed]
Lee is also a diminutive form of the given names Ashley, Beverly, Kimberley, and Leslie.

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung About this sound listen (help·info), and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976), was a Chinese communist revolutionary, politician and socio-political theorist. The founding father of the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949, he governed the country as Chairman of the Communist Party of China until his death. In this position he converted China into a single-party socialist state, with industry and business being nationalized under state ownership and socialist reforms implemented in all areas of society. Politically a Marxist-Leninist, his theoretical contribution to the ideology along with his military strategies and brand of policies are collectively known as Maoism.
Born the son of a wealthy farmer in Shaoshan, Hunan, Mao adopted a Chinese nationalist and anti-imperialist outlook in early life, particularly influenced by the events of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and May Fourth Movement of 1919. Coming to adopt Marxism-Leninism while working at Peking University, he became an early member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), soon rising to a senior position. In 1922, the Communists agreed to an alliance with the larger Kuomintang (KMT), a nationalist revolutionary party, whom Mao aided in creating a revolutionary peasant army and organizing rural land reform. In 1927 the KMT's military leader Chiang Kai-shek broke the alliance and set about on an anti-communist purge; in turn, the CPC formed an army of peasant militia, and the two sides clashed in the Chinese Civil War. Mao was responsible for commanding a part of the CPC's Red Army, and after several setbacks, rose to power in the party by leading the Long March. When the Empire of Japan invaded China in 1937, sparking the Second Sino-Japanese War, Mao agreed to a united front with the KMT, resulting in a CPC–KMT victory in 1945. The civil war then resumed, in which Mao led the Red Army to victory as Chiang and his supporters fled to Taiwan.
In 1949 Mao proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China, a one-party socialist state controlled by the Communist Party. After solidifying the reunification of China through his Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, Mao enacted sweeping land reform, overthrowing the feudal landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. He proceeded to lead a nationwide political campaign known as the Great Leap Forward from 1958 through to 1961, designed to modernize and industrialize the country, however agrarian problems worsened by his policies led to widespread famine. In 1966, he initiated the Cultural Revolution, a program to weed out counter-revolutionary elements in Chinese society, which continued until his death.
A deeply controversial figure, Mao is regarded as one of the most important individuals in modern world history.[1] Critics, including many historians, have labeled him a dictator whose administration oversaw systematic human rights abuses, and whose rule is estimated to have caused the deaths of 40–70 million people through starvation, forced labor and executions, ranking his tenure as the top incidence of democide in human history.[2][3][4] China's population almost doubled during the period of Mao's leadership,[5] from around 550 to over 900 million.[6] Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists furthermore promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, who has inspired revolutionary movements across the globe.

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung About this sound listen (help·info), and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao (December 26, 1893 – September 9, 1976), was a Chinese communist revolutionary, politician and socio-political theorist. The founding father of the People's Republic of China from its establishment in 1949, he governed the country as Chairman of the Communist Party of China until his death. In this position he converted China into a single-party socialist state, with industry and business being nationalized under state ownership and socialist reforms implemented in all areas of society. Politically a Marxist-Leninist, his theoretical contribution to the ideology along with his military strategies and brand of policies are collectively known as Maoism.
Born the son of a wealthy farmer in Shaoshan, Hunan, Mao adopted a Chinese nationalist and anti-imperialist outlook in early life, particularly influenced by the events of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911 and May Fourth Movement of 1919. Coming to adopt Marxism-Leninism while working at Peking University, he became an early member of the Communist Party of China (CPC), soon rising to a senior position. In 1922, the Communists agreed to an alliance with the larger Kuomintang (KMT), a nationalist revolutionary party, whom Mao aided in creating a revolutionary peasant army and organizing rural land reform. In 1927 the KMT's military leader Chiang Kai-shek broke the alliance and set about on an anti-communist purge; in turn, the CPC formed an army of peasant militia, and the two sides clashed in the Chinese Civil War. Mao was responsible for commanding a part of the CPC's Red Army, and after several setbacks, rose to power in the party by leading the Long March. When the Empire of Japan invaded China in 1937, sparking the Second Sino-Japanese War, Mao agreed to a united front with the KMT, resulting in a CPC–KMT victory in 1945. The civil war then resumed, in which Mao led the Red Army to victory as Chiang and his supporters fled to Taiwan.
In 1949 Mao proclaimed the foundation of the People's Republic of China, a one-party socialist state controlled by the Communist Party. After solidifying the reunification of China through his Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries, Mao enacted sweeping land reform, overthrowing the feudal landlords before seizing their large estates and dividing the land into people's communes. He proceeded to lead a nationwide political campaign known as the Great Leap Forward from 1958 through to 1961, designed to modernize and industrialize the country, however agrarian problems worsened by his policies led to widespread famine. In 1966, he initiated the Cultural Revolution, a program to weed out counter-revolutionary elements in Chinese society, which continued until his death.
A deeply controversial figure, Mao is regarded as one of the most important individuals in modern world history.[1] Critics, including many historians, have labeled him a dictator whose administration oversaw systematic human rights abuses, and whose rule is estimated to have caused the deaths of 40–70 million people through starvation, forced labor and executions, ranking his tenure as the top incidence of democide in human history.[2][3][4] China's population almost doubled during the period of Mao's leadership,[5] from around 550 to over 900 million.[6] Mao is still officially held in high regard by many Chinese as a great political strategist, military mastermind, and savior of the nation. Maoists furthermore promote his role as a theorist, statesman, poet, and visionary, who has inspired revolutionary movements across the globe.

Shahrukh Khan

Shahrukh Khan (born 2 November 1965), often credited as Shah Rukh Khan and informally referred as SRK, is an Indian film actor. Referred to in the media as "Badshah of Bollywood" or "King Khan", he has acted in 75 Hindi films in genres ranging from romantic dramas to action thrillers. His contributions to the film industry have garnered him numerous achievements, including fourteen Filmfare Awards from thirty nominations. His eighth Filmfare Best Actor Award win made him the most awarded Bollywood actor of all time in that category, tied only with actor Dilip Kumar. In 2005, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri for his contributions towards Indian cinema.
After graduating with a bachelor's degree in economics, he started his career appearing in theatre and several television serials in the late 1980s and later made his Hindi film debut in 1992 with Deewana. Early in his career, Khan was recognised for his unconventional choice of portraying negative roles in films such as Darr (1993), Baazigar (1993), and Anjaam (1994). He later rose to prominence by playing a series of romantic roles in the films Dilwale Dulhaniya Le Jayenge (1995)., Dil To Pagal Hai (1997), Kuch Kuch Hota Hai (1998) and Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham (2001).The commercial success of these films earned him the tag of "the King of Romance".[8] Khan then subsequently earned wide critical appreciation for his portrayal of a NASA scientist in Swades (2004), a hockey coach in Chak De! India (2007), and as the titular characters in Devdas (2002) and My Name Is Khan (2010).Twelve of the films he has acted in, have accumulated gross earnings of over INR100 crore (US$15 million) worldwide, making him one of the most successful leading actors of Hindi cinema.
Khan occupies the position of co-chairman of the motion picture production and distribution company, Red Chillies Entertainment and the animation studio, Red Chillies VFX. He is also co-owner of the Indian Premier League cricket team Kolkata Knight Riders.[15] The year 2007 marked his debut as a television presenter with the Star Plus gaming show Kaun Banega Crorepati. Khan is often labelled by the media as "Brand SRK" due to his various brand endorsement and entrepreneurship ventures. He has also been involved in philanthropic endeavors related to Health care, relief funds and children's education, for which he was honoured with the UNESCO's Pyramide con Marni award in 2011. Khan is considered to be one of the biggest film stars in cinematic history, with a fan following claimed to number in the billions; in 2011, the Los Angeles Times called him "the world's biggest movie star."He has also been regularly featured in the listing of the most powerful names in Indian Cinema and in 2008, Newsweek named him one of the 50 most powerful people in the world.

Venus Ebony Starr Williams

Venus Ebony Starr Williams[1] (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player who is a former World No. 1 and is ranked World No. 36 in singles as of July 29, 2013.[2] She has been ranked World No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association on three separate occasions. She became the World No. 1 for the first time on February 25, 2002, becoming the first black woman to achieve this feat during the Open Era. She is credited as changing the women's game and ushering a new, modern era of power and athleticism on the women's professional tennis tour. She is also regarded as the best grass court player of her generation and she is widely considered as one of the all-time greats of women's tennis.
Her seven Grand Slam singles titles tie her for twelfth on the all time list,[3] and is more than any other active female player except for her younger sister Serena Williams. Her 22 overall Grand Slam titles consist of seven in singles, thirteen in women's doubles, and two in mixed doubles. Her five Wimbledon singles titles tie her with two other women for eighth place on the all-time list. Venus Williams is one of only four women in the open era to have won five or more Wimbledon singles titles. Between the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2001 US Open, Williams won four of the six Grand Slam singles tournaments held. She is one of only five women in the open era to win 200 or more main draw Grand Slam singles matches.
Williams has won four Olympic gold medals, one in singles and three in women's doubles.[4] She and her sister Serena have won more Olympic gold medals than any other female tennis players. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics, Williams became only the second player to win Olympic gold medals in both singles and doubles at the same Olympic Games, after Helen Wills Moody in 1924.
With 44 career singles titles, Williams is behind only her sister Serena amongst active players on the WTA Tour. Her 35-match winning streak from the 2000 Wimbledon Championships to the 2000 Generali Ladies Linz tournament final is the longest winning streak since January 1, 2000. She is also one of only three active WTA players to have made the finals of all four Grand Slams, the other players being her sister Serena Williams and Russian Maria Sharapova.[5]
Venus Williams has played against her sister Serena Williams in 24 professional matches since 1998, with Serena winning 14 of the 24 matches. They have played against each other in eight Grand Slam singles finals, with Serena winning six times. Beginning with the 2002 French Open, they opposed each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals, the first time in the Open Era that the same two players played against each other in four consecutive Grand Slam singles finals. On the doubles side, the pair have won 13 Grand Slam doubles titles playing alongside each other.

Yahoo

Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational Internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California. It is globally known for its Web portal, search engine Yahoo Search, and related services, including Yahoo Directory, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Groups, Yahoo Answers, advertising, online mapping, video sharing, fantasy sports and its social media website. It is one of the most popular sites in the United States.According to news sources, roughly 700 million people visit Yahoo websites every month.Yahoo itself claims it attracts "more than half a billion consumers every month in more than 30 languages."
Yahoo was founded by Jerry Yang and David Filo in January 1994 and was incorporated on March 1, 1995. On July 16, 2012, former Google executive Marissa Mayer was named as Yahoo CEO and President, effective July 17, 2012.
According to comScore, Yahoo during July 2013 surpassed Google on the number of United States visitors to its Web sites for the first time since May 2011, set at 196 million United States visitors, having increased by 21 percent in a year.

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational corporation specializing in Internet-related services and products. These include search, cloud computing, software, and online advertising technologies. Most of its profits are derived from AdWords.
Google was founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin while they were Ph.D. students at Stanford University. Together they own about 16 percent of its shares. They incorporated Google as a privately held company on September 4, 1998. An initial public offering followed on August 19, 2004. Its mission statement from the outset was "to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful",and its unofficial slogan was "Don't be evil". In 2006 Google moved to headquarters in Mountain View, California, nicknamed the Googleplex.
Rapid growth since incorporation has triggered a chain of products, acquisitions and partnerships beyond Google's core search engine. It offers online productivity software including email (Gmail), an office suite (Google Drive), and social networking (Google+). Desktop products include applications for web browsing, organizing and editing photos, and instant messaging. The company leads the development of the Android mobile operating system and the browser-only Chrome OS[13] for a netbook known as a Chromebook. Google has moved increasingly into communications hardware: it partners with major electronics manufacturers in production of its high-end Nexus devices and acquired Motorola Mobility in May 2012. In 2012, a fiber-optic infrastructure was installed in Kansas City to facilitate a Google Fiber broadband service.
The corporation has been estimated to run more than one million servers in data centers around the world[16] and to process over one billion search requests and about 24 petabytes of user-generated data each day. In December 2012 Alexa listed google.com as the most visited website in the world. Numerous Google sites in other languages figure in the top one hundred, as do several other Google-owned sites such as YouTube and Blogger. Its market dominance has led to criticism over issues including copyright, censorship, and privacy.

Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee (Chinese: 李小龍; born Lee Jun-fan; 27 November 1940 – 20 July 1973) was a Hong Kong American martial artist, Hong Kong action film actor, martial arts instructor, filmmaker,[3] and the founder of Jeet Kune Do. Lee was the son of Cantonese opera star Lee Hoi-Chuen. He is widely considered by commentators, critics, media and other martial artists to be one of the most influential martial artists of all time,[4] and a pop culture icon of the 20th century.[5][6] He is often credited with helping to change the way Asians were presented in American films.[7]
Lee was born in Chinatown, San Francisco on 27 November 1940 to parents from Hong Kong and was raised in Kowloon with his family until his late teens. He was introduced to the film industry by his father and appeared in several films as a child actor. Lee moved to the United States at the age of 18 to receive his higher education,[8] and it was during this time that he began teaching martial arts. His Hong Kong and Hollywood-produced films elevated the traditional Hong Kong martial arts film to a new level of popularity and acclaim, sparking a surge of interest in Chinese martial arts in the West in the 1970s. The direction and tone of his films changed and influenced martial arts and martial arts films in Hong Kong and the rest of the world.[9]
He is noted for his roles in five feature-length films: Lo Wei's The Big Boss (1971) and Fist of Fury (1972); Way of the Dragon (1972), directed and written by Lee; Warner Brothers' Enter the Dragon (1973) and The Game of Death (1973), both directed by Robert Clouse.[10] Lee became an iconic figure known throughout the world, particularly among the Chinese, as he portrayed Chinese nationalism in his films.[11] He initially trained in Wing Chun, but later rejected well-defined martial art styles, favouring instead the use of techniques from various sources, in the spirit of his personal martial arts philosophy, which he dubbed Jeet Kune Do (The Way of the Intercepting Fist). Lee held dual nationality of Hong Kong and the United States.[12] He died in Kowloon Tong on 20 July 1973 at the age of 32.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen

Dr. Sun Yat-sen (12 November 1866 – 12 March 1925)[1][2] was a Chinese revolutionary, first president and founding father of the Republic of China ("Nationalist China"). As the foremost pioneer of Republic of China, Sun is referred to as the "Father of the Nation" in the Republic of China (ROC), and the "forerunner of democratic revolution" in the People's Republic of China. Sun played an instrumental role in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty during the years leading up to the Double Ten Revolution. He was appointed to serve as president of the Provisional Republic of China, when it was founded in 1912. He later co-founded the Kuomintang (KMT), serving as its first leader.[3] Sun was a uniting figure in post-Imperial China, and remains unique among 20th-century Chinese politicians for being widely revered amongst the people from both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Although Sun is considered one of the greatest leaders of modern China, his political life was one of constant struggle and frequent exile. After the success of the revolution, he quickly fell out of power in the newly founded Republic of China, and led successive revolutionary governments as a challenge to the warlords who controlled much of the nation. Sun did not live to see his party consolidate its power over the country during the Northern Expedition. His party, which formed a fragile alliance with the Communists, split into two factions after his death. Sun's chief legacy resides in his developing of the political philosophy known as the Three Principles of the People: nationalism, democracy, and the people's livelihood.

bureaucracy

A bureaucracy is "a body of nonelective government officials" and/or "an administrative policy-making group." Historically, bureaucracy referred to government administration managed by departments staffed with nonelected officials.n modern parlance, bureaucracy refers to the administrative system governing any large institution.

bureaucrat

A bureaucrat is a member of a bureaucracy and can comprise the administration of any organization of any size, though the term usually connotes someone within an institution of government. Bureaucrat jobs were often "desk jobs" (the French for "desk" being bureau, though bureau can also be translated as "office"), though the modern bureaucrat may be found "in the field" as well as in an office.

Democracy

Democracy is a form of government in which all eligible citizens participate equally—either directly or through elected representatives—in the proposal, development, and creation of laws. It encompasses social, economic and cultural conditions that enable the free and equal practice of political self-determination.
The term originates from the Greek δημοκρατία (dēmokratía) "rule of the people",[1] which was coined from δῆμος (dêmos) "people" and κράτος (kratos) "power" or "rule" in the 5th century BCE to denote the political systems then existing in Greek city-states, notably Athens; the term is an antonym to ἀριστοκρατία (aristocratie) "rule of an elite". While theoretically these definitions are in opposition, in practice the distinction has been blurred historically.[2] The political system of Classical Athens, for example, granted democratic citizenship to an elite class of free men and excluded slaves and women from political participation. In virtually all democratic governments throughout ancient and modern history, democratic citizenship consisted of an elite class until full enfranchisement was won for all adult citizens in most modern democracies through the suffrage movements of the 19th and 20th centuries. The English word dates to the 16th century, from the older Middle French and Middle Latin equivalents.
Democracy contrasts with forms of government where power is either held by one person, as in a monarchy, or where power is held by a small number of individuals, as in an oligarchy. Nevertheless, these oppositions, inherited from Greek philosophy,[3] are now ambiguous because contemporary governments have mixed democratic, oligarchic, and monarchic elements. Karl Popper defined democracy in contrast to dictatorship or tyranny, thus focusing on opportunities for the people to control their leaders and to oust them without the need for a revolution.[4]
Several variants of democracy exist, but there are two basic forms, both of which concern how the whole body of all eligible citizens executes its will. One form of democracy is direct democracy, in which all eligible citizens have direct and active participation in the decision making of the government. In most modern democracies, the whole body of all eligible citizens remain the sovereign power but political power is exercised indirectly through elected representatives; this is called representative democracy. The concept of representative democracy arose largely from ideas and institutions that developed during the European Middle Ages, the Reformation, the Age of Enlightenment, and the American and French Revolutions.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong (香港, see Name section) is one of the two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China, the other being Macau. It is situated on China's south coast and, enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea,[7] it is known for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour. With a land mass of 1,104 km2 (426 sq mi) and a population of seven million people, Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated areas in the world.[8] Hong Kong's population is 93.6% ethnic Chinese and 6.4% from other groups.[3] Hong Kong's Cantonese-speaking majority originate mainly from the neighbouring Canton (now Guangdong) province,[9] from which many of them fled to escape wars and Communist rule in the 1930s to the 1960s.[

Chhota Bheem

Chhota Bheem is an Indian children's animation series, focusing on the adventures of a small boy named Bheem in the fictional city of Dholakpur. The series was launched in 2009. As of 2012 it has aired over 120 episodes. It was created by Rajiv Chilaka the CEO of Green Gold Animation, written by (Seasons 1,2,3,4 and 5; Period 2008-2013) Raj Viswanadha, Arun Shendurnikar, Nidhi Anand, Sonam Shekhawat and is broadcast on Pogo TV.[1] The series quickly became popular and soon emerged as the number one Indian animation show in all of India.[2]
The success of the series, a full length feature film titled Chhota Bheem and the Curse of Damyaan (11th movie of the series) which was released in theatre on May 18 2012 making the debut in cinemas.

Jackie Chan,

Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE[1] (born Chan Kong-sang, 陳港生; 7 April 1954)[2] is a Hong Kong actor, action choreographer, comedian, director, producer, martial artist, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer, and stunt performer. In his movies, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons, and innovative stunts. He is one of the few actors to have performed all of his film stunts. Jackie Chan has been acting since the 1960s and has appeared in over 150 films.
Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a cultural icon, Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, cartoons, and video games. An operatically trained vocalist, Chan is also a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred.

Mr.Bean

Mr. Bean is a British situation comedy television programme series of fourteen 25-minute episodes written by and starring Rowan Atkinson as the title character. Different episodes were also written by Robin Driscoll, Richard Curtis and one by Ben Elton. The pilot episode was started transmission on ITV on 1 June 1989 until final television episode's "Hair by Mr. Bean of London" was ceased transmission on ITV on 15 November 1995.
Based on a character originally developed by Atkinson while he was studying for his master's degree at Oxford University, the series follows the exploits of Mr. Bean, described by Atkinson as "a child in a grown man's body", in solving various problems presented by everyday tasks and often causing disruption in the process.[1] Bean rarely speaks, and the largely physical humour of the series is derived from his interactions with other people and his unusual solutions to situations. The series was influenced by physical performers such as Jacques Tati and comic actors from silent films.[1]
During its five-year run, the series gained large UK audience figures, including 18.74 million for the 1991 episode "The Trouble with Mr. Bean".[2] The series has been the recipient of a number of international awards, including the Rose d'Or. The show has been sold in 245 territories worldwide, and has inspired an animated cartoon spin-off, two feature films, and an appearance at the London 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony.

dilbert

comics

US

President Barack Obama declared himself frustrated on Monday with the malfunctioning website that is central to his signature healthcare law and vowed to take steps to fix it.

Scrambling to get ahead of a burgeoning political uproar over implementation of the Affordable Care Act, Obama took to the White House Rose Garden to insist the law is bigger than just a website and that eventually the bugs in the software will get worked out.

Online insurance exchanges were launched on October 1 under the 2010 law, often called "Obamacare," to offer health insurance plans to millions of uninsured Americans.

But people trying to shop for health insurance at healthcare.gov have been frustrated by error messages, long waits and system failures, with many failing to make it through the system despite repeated tries.

The president acknowledged the depth of the problem.

View gallery."U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about healthcare …
U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about healthcare from the Rose Garden of the White House in Washi …
"There's no sugarcoating it. The website has been too slow. People have been getting stuck during the application process. And I think it's fair to say that nobody is more frustrated by that than I am," Obama said.

Republicans strongly oppose the law and have begun to focus intense criticism on the healthcare system's rollout. The law is the most important domestic policy achievement of Obama's presidency.

The president, standing with a number of Americans who have enrolled successfully using the system, encouraged uninsured Americans to pursue alternative means to sign up for coverage, pointing them toward phone call centers and saying those who tried but failed to get into the system would be contacted personally.

Fresh expert assistance, including some of the best technology talent in the country, is being brought in to repair the website, he said.

"Nobody's madder than me about the fact that the website isn't working as well as it should, which means it's going to get fixed," he said.

The White House said last week that Obama still has "full confidence" in Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, whose department is responsible for implementing the law.

news update

The CNN poll said that 31 percent of those surveyed had more faith in House Republicans than President Obama to handle major problems facing the country. In comparison, 44 percent of people had more faith in President Obama.

That is actually a worse number than the GOP received in 1996, when Republicans faced criticism for a government shutdown that featured Speaker Newt Gingrich taking on President Bill Clinton. The bad feelings against the GOP in 1996 were seen as a contributing factor in Bob Dole’s defeat in that year’s election against Clinton.

Also in the CNN poll, 12 percent of people thought Congress was doing a good job, a number near its historic low of 10 percent, which was set last month. Back during the 1995-1996 shutdown, the congressional approval rating stood at 30 percent.

And in two other questions that might concern Republicans, the favorability rating of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, was up 4 percentage points from late September, despite headlines about its website problems and withering attacks on the ACA by Republicans.

Americans also are clearly unhappy with John Boehner, with 63 percent saying he should be removed as Speaker of the House.

A Pew Research poll from last week showed low numbers for President Obama and Democrats, as well as the Republicans.

“Approval ratings for President Obama (43 percent approve), Democratic congressional leaders (31 percent) and GOP leaders (20 percent) all are at or near all-time lows, yet are not substantially more negative than they were in early September, a month before the shutdown started,” Pew said.

Pew said the 20 percent approval rating for GOP leaders was driven by unrest among Republicans.

In the Pew survey, 74 percent of Americans wanted to see most members of Congress defeated if they ran for re-election. That is a record in the survey for data gathered back to 1990 about midterm elections. (The previous record was 57 percent in 1996.)

Over at Gallup, polling data released Monday show that President Obama’s approval rating was down after the debt debacle, but not at its historic low.

It stands at 44.5 percent in his 19th quarter as president. In comparison, President George W. Bush had a 43.9 percent rating as the same point in his second term.

During the shutdown, other polls showed growing dissatisfaction with Congress.

An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll said 60 percent of those Americans surveyed said they would replace the entire Congress in the same election if they could—including their own representative. About 31 percent of those polled blamed Obama for the budget breakdown, while 44 percent blamed Republicans in Congress.

A Fox News poll from October 3 found that the disapproval rating of Congress stood at 81 percent. Fox said 45 percent of Americans had a favorable view of Democrats, in general, with the Republicans stood at 35 percent.

Another Gallup poll showed the favorability of the GOP fell 10 percent between September and October, to 28 percent, its lowest rating since Gallup started asking the question in 1992. The Democrats were down 4 percent to 43 percent for the same time period.

And in a telltale sign, 25 percent of Americans said they didn’t like either party.

About 60 percent of Americans—the same number that would vote out Congress—would favor the creation of a third political party.

China smog

An index measuring PM2.5, or particulate matter with a diameter of 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), reached a reading of 1,000 in some parts of Harbin, the gritty capital of northeastern Heilongjiang province and home to some 11 million people.

A level above 300 is considered hazardous, while the World Health Organisation recommends a daily level of no more than 20.

The smog not only forced all primary and middle schools to suspend classes, but shut the airport and some public bus routes, the official Xinhua news agency reported, blaming the emergency on the first day of the heating being turned on in the city for winter. Visibility was reportedly reduced to 10 meters.

The smog is expected to continue for the next 24 hours.

Air quality in Chinese cities is of increasing concern to China's stability-obsessed leadership because it plays into popular resentment over political privilege and rising inequality in the world's second-largest economy.

Domestic media have run stories describing the expensive air purifiers government officials enjoy in their homes and offices, alongside reports of special organic farms so cadres need not risk suffering from recurring food safety scandals.

The government has announced plans over the years to tackle the pollution problem but has made little apparent progress.

Users of China's popular Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging site reacted with both anger and bitter sarcasm over Harbin's air pollution.

"After years of effort, the wise and hard-working people of Harbin have finally managed to skip both the middle-class society and the communist society stages, and have now entered a fairyland society!" wrote on user.

Other parts of northeastern China also experienced severe smog, including Tangshan, two hours east of Beijing, and Changchun, the capital of Jilin province which borders Heilongjiang.

Last week, Beijing city released a color-coded alert system for handling air pollution emergencies, to include the temporary halt of construction, factory production, outdoor barbeques and the setting off of fireworks.

Beijing suffered its own smog emergency last winter when the PM2.5 surpassed 900 on one particularly bad day in January.

Lion Fish

Genetic tests show that there weren't many. No one knows how the fish arrived. They might have escaped into Florida's waters in 1992, when Hurricane Andrew capsized many transport boats. Or they might have been imported as an aquarium curiosity and later released.

But soon those lionfish began to breed a dynasty. They laid hundreds of gelatinous eggs that released microscopic lionfish larvae. The larvae drifted on the current. They grew into adults, capable of reproducing every 55 days and during all seasons of the year. The fish, unknown in the Americas 30 years ago, settled on reefs, wrecks and ledges. And that's when scientists, divers and fishermen began to notice.

In 2000, a recreational diver saw two tropical lionfish clinging improbably to the submerged ruins of a tanker off the coast of North Carolina, nearly 140 feet below the surface. She alerted the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, which started tracking lionfish sightings in the Atlantic. Within two years, the fish had been seen in Georgia, Florida, Bermuda and the Bahamas. They are now known to live from Rhode Island to Belize.

"I've never seen any fish colonize so quickly over such a vast geographic range," says Paula Whitfield, a fisheries biologist at NOAA.

Lionfish are the first exotic species to invade coral reefs.



Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Invasion-of-the-Lionfish.html#ixzz2iMfUPHG2
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Runner in KC Marathon sets knitting record

A University of Central Missouri graphic design professor has knitted his way into the record books while running the Kansas City Marathon.

The Kansas City Star (http://is.gd/mUstzF ) reports that David Babcock finished the marathon in 5 hours, 48 minutes and 27 seconds. Knitting experts measured the scarf he created along the route at just more than 12 feet long.

The Guinness scarf-knitting-while-running-a-marathon record was previously held by Susie Hewer, who runs to raise money for Alzheimer's disease research. She knitted a 6 foot, 9 inch scarf at the London Marathon in April.

Like Hewer, the 41-year-old Babcock hopes that people will donate to the Alzheimer's Association. Babcock began running and knitting as separate activities about three years ago. He decided to combine them to keep things interesting.

Roy Helu scores in final minute

Still far from being a good team, the Washington Redskins are at least a successful team for a change.
The Redskins gave up a special teams touchdown to Devin Hester — who didn't see that coming? — and had their defence shredded by a backup quarterback playing his first regular season game in 21 months.
They took advantage of an injury-depleted Chicago Bears defence and scored their most points since 2005, needing every morsel of offence from Robert Griffin III and Co., right down to Roy Helu's game-deciding 3-yard touchdown with 45 seconds remaining.
They beat the Bears 45-41 Sunday, raising their record to 2-4 while not doing much to alleviate the doubts surrounding the reigning NFC East champions.
"When we go watch the film," Griffin said, "we won't watch it with smiles on our face. ... But I think we made enough plays today to win the game, and that's all matters."
Griffin completed 18 of 29 passes for 298 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, and he also ran 11 times for a season-high 84 yards. Helu rushed for three scores, and third-round rookie tight end Jordan Reed had a breakout performance with 134 yards and a touchdown, catching all nine passes thrown his way.
"Every game is big, but we sure needed it after being 1-4," coach Mike Shanahan said. "You don't want to dig yourself a bigger hole."
The Redskins' two victories have come against backup QBs — Matt Flynn, who has since been released by the Oakland Raiders — and now Josh McCown, who entered Sunday's game in the second quarter after Jay Cutler left with a groin injury.

Gravity' holds atop box office

 Star power and Oscar aspirations are reigning at the box office, where the space adventure "Gravity" and the Somali pirate docudrama "Captain Phillips" are holding off all comers.
With $31 million over the weekend according to studio estimates Sunday, "Gravity" topped the box office for the third straight week, cementing its status as the juggernaut of the fall movie-going season. It also took in another $33.5 million overseas.
The 3-D Warner Bros. movie, staring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, has now made more than $170 million in three weeks. The film's groundbreaking visuals have been particularly popular on IMAX screens, where it made an "Avatar"-like $7.4 million on the weekend.
"Captain Phillips," starring Tom Hanks and directed by Paul Greengrass, also held in second place, taking in $17.3 million in its second week. The Sony film slid only 33 per cent from its debut last weekend of $25.7 million.
The two movies and their veteran stars were able to keep three new wide releases at bay: the horror remake "Carrie" ($17 million for Sony and MGM), the Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger action flick "Escape Plan" ($9.8 million for Lionsgate), and the WikiLeaks drama "The Fifth Estate."
The last utterly flopped — a fate predicted by its subject, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange — taking in a paltry $1.7 million for Disney. It's the worst debut this year for a film in such wide release (1,769 theatres).
"It's a very strong lineup that is not budging," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak, who noted the primary family choice, "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs 2," is also holding steady with $10.1 million in its fourth week. "'Carrie' came into a very competitive marketplace."
In a limited release of just 19 theatres, Steve McQueen's highly-anticipated slavery epic "12 Years a Slave," starring Chiwetel Ejiofor, opened with $960,000. The exceptionally high theatre average of $50,000 suggested considerable audience eagerness for the already much-lauded film.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian

Facebook says opening site to preteens

 Some privacy advocates were rankled when Facebook announced changes to its policies last week that allow teens to post public updates that can be viewed by anyone in the world.
But Facebook has contemplated another rule change that could prove even more controversial.
Facebook's manager of privacy and safety says the social network has "thought a lot about" opening up the site to children under the age of 13.
Because despite the current rules stating that you have to reach your teens before signing up for Facebook, plenty of young kids are using the site anyway, often with the help of their parents.
"In the U.S., the Children's Online Privacy and Protection Act starts at 13 and it says that companies shouldn't collect information from kids ... if they're under the age of 13 without parental consent, so that's a law we abide by," said Nicky Jackson Colaco in a recent interview.
She acknowledged that Facebook has discussed ways of letting kids under 13 use Facebook without violating the act.
"It's something we've thought a lot about, we've actually been asked by a lot of different people to open up the site. It's something that obviously we would approach very, very thoughtfully with a lot of outside advice from safety experts, advocates and public figures," Colaco said.
"We would really just want to make sure that we entered into any decision like that very responsibly, but yes, it's something we think about. But we have not made any plans or move into that market yet."
In 2011, a Facebook official was quoted as saying that about 20,000 underage accounts were being deleted every day.
Colaco said her position is that parents shouldn't help their kids break the rules to get on Facebook early.
"I think there are parents who make the decision that it's appropriate for their kids and we really encourage parents to have their kids wait until they're 13 and follow that guideline that we have," she said.
"First and foremost it's a policy of the company, it's one of the terms of service. A lot of times what we say is, as parents — I'm a mom of two — we don't want to sanction lying and so just as we wouldn't sanction lying in other parts of our lives, it's good not to do it online."
A spokesman for Canada's privacy commissioner Jennifer Stoddart said in a statement that consultation would be important if Facebook planned to begin accepting younger users.
"If this is something the company is actively considering then our office would hope to be consulted on any such proposal and to provide comments," said Scott Hutchinson.
"We would need to look at the mechanism the company would put in place in order to obtain parental consent, as well as the measures it would take to ensure children's information would not be shared with or accessed by an unintended audience."

France summons U.S. ambassador

France summoned the U.S. ambassador on Monday to protest allegations in Le Monde newspaper about large-scale spying on French citizens by the U.S. National Security Agency.
The allegations that the agency was collecting tens of thousands of French telephone records risked turning into a diplomatic row just as U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Paris for the start of a European tour over Syria.
"I have immediately summoned the U.S. ambassador and he will be received this morning at the Quai d'Orsay (the French Foreign Ministry)," French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told reporters on the sidelines of an EU meeting in Luxembourg.
Earlier, France's interior minister, Manuel Valls, said Le Monde's revelations that 70.3 million pieces of French telephone data were recorded by the NSA between Dec 10, 2012 and Jan 8, 2013 were "shocking."
"If an allied country spies on France or spies on other European countries, that's totally unacceptable," Valls told Europe 1 radio.
U.S. Ambassador to France Charles Rivkin declined immediate comment on reports that he had been called in by the French foreign ministry but stressed that U.S.-French ties were close.
"This relationship on a military, intelligence, special forces ... level is the best it's been in a generation," Rivkin told Reuters as Kerry arrived in Paris.
In July, Paris prosecutors opened a preliminary inquiries into the NSA's program, known as Prism, after Germany's Der Spiegel and Britain's The Guardian revealed wide-scale spying by the agency leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
"We were warned in June (about the program) and we reacted strongly but obviously we need to go further," Fabius said. "We must quickly assure that these practices aren't repeated."
The NSA's targets appeared to be individuals suspected of links to terrorism, as well as those tied to French business or politics, Le Monde wrote.

Counterterrorism: Where are Obama's policy changes?

It is now roughly five months since President Barack Obama announced a new direction for U.S. counterterrorism strategy.

"America is at a crossroads," Obama said at the National Defense University in May. "We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us."

The president proceeded to set out his post-war vision for the nation — the peace dividend earned for the last 12 years of a complicated, costly and at times tragically misguided counterterrorism policy. The president, as usual, gave a good speech. Where he's weak is on the follow-through, however.

Though five months isn't that long, when it comes to a war that involves killing and indefinitely detaining a vaguely defined enemy, time is of the essence. It's also critical to restoring U.S. credibility around the globe, particularly around the constitutional principles the president repeatedly emphasized.

Obama has taken a few steps in the right direction since May. As promised, he appointed an envoy at the State Department to focus on transferring Guantanamo detainees to their home countries, and just this month appointed someone in charge at the Pentagon as well. He's sent home two of the 86 prisoners already cleared for transfer.

The president also promised to curtail his use of drones to kill suspected terrorists outside the Afghan war zone. He acknowledged the need to end what's been interpreted as an indefinite authorization for the use of military force.

But a couple of appointments, two transfers and many more promises don't amount to real change. To be credible, Obama needs to do more. And there's plenty he can do right now.

1. "GTMO has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law," the president said in May. Transferring the remaining 84 detainees already cleared by government officials is a step Obama can take quickly to demonstrate he's committed to restoring America's reputation as a nation committed to the rule of law. Even with the transfer restrictions set by Congress, the president has sufficient authority to ensure that at least this group of prisoners leaves Guantanamo soon.

2. "My administration," Obama said, "has worked vigorously to establish a framework that governs our use of force against terrorists — insisting upon clear guidelines, oversight and accountability."

Despite releasing a "fact sheet" on his "policy guidance" on the use of force, the president still has not answered the "profound questions" he himself raised about the use of our new and rapidly-spreading drone technology. He's also provided no way to know whether he's fulfilling his promise to use it responsibly.

Meanwhile, the drone program has continued over the past five months — with a stepped-up campaign in Yemen over the summer, followed by a barrage of strikes in Pakistan. Yet we know no more today than we did in May about how many U.S. drones have struck; whom or how many they've killed; the legal justification; the number of civilians killed in the process, and the overall effect of this killing campaign.

In fact, we don't even know if this administration believes we are at war in Yemen or in Pakistan. Or if it's operating under a legal theory of self-defense. The distinction is critical to which rules we're following.

In his speech, the president went beyond Afghanistan. "We act," Obama said, "against terrorists who pose a continuing and imminent threat to the American people, and when there are no other governments capable of effectively addressing the threat." He added, "before any strike is taken, there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured — the highest standard we can set."

This only begs the question. Were the dozens reportedly killed by U.S. drones in Yemen really posing an "imminent threat to the American people" that couldn't have been addressed by the government of Yemen? How many civilians were killed? We still don't know.

For the president's pledge to be viable, he must do more than promise. He should release all the legal memos his administration has written to explain the underlying legal justification for his targeted killing policy. He should start by systematically providing information about the number and nature of targets and civilians killed in each attack.

As for civilians, CIA director John Brennan testified at his Senate confirmation hearing that the United States "need to acknowledge publicly" mistaken killings "in the interest of transparency." He later said that the administration should "make public the overall numbers of civilian deaths resulting from U.S. strikes targeting al Qaeda."

As the president said in May, this "is critical because much of the criticism about drone strikes — both here at home and abroad — understandably centers on reports of civilian casualties."

Washington's claims that drones are precise and result in few civilian casualties needs to be supported with verifiable facts. That's crucial not only to Obama's credibility at home, but to reducing the risk of the drone program creating new enemies overseas.

3. "I believe we compromised our basic values," Obama said, "by using torture to interrogate our enemies, and detaining individuals in a way that ran counter to the rule of law."

Though the Justice Department declined to prosecute those who carried out acts of torture during the last administration, that's not the end of the story. For the president to restore the United States' credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, he must reckon with what happened in some manner.

The best and easiest way is for him to support a process by which the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence can release its study of the CIA's brutal interrogation tactics — a 6,000-page report the committee completed last year. By publicly acknowledging this dark chapter in U.S. history, Washington can begin to assure the world that we've learned from past mistakes and will not repeat them.

Only by acknowledging this ugly truth can we credibly demand that other countries do the same with their sordid pasts. It is simply not viable for Obama to tell the American people that we must "look forward, not backward" while telling Indonesians that they "cannot look forward without looking backward."

4. "We cannot use force everywhere that a radical ideology takes root; and in the absence of a strategy that reduces the wellspring of extremism, a perpetual war — through drones or Special Forces or troop deployments — will prove self-defeating, and alter our country in troubling ways."

In addition to pledging to address "the underlying grievances and conflicts that feed extremism" — admittedly a big task — Obama promised "to determine how we can continue to fight terrorism without keeping America on a perpetual wartime footing."

The withdrawal of combat troops from Afghanistan provides an opportunity to regain peacetime footing, and end our reliance on the Authorization for Use of Military Force — the domestic legal authority for the so-called war on terror. This is a promise the president should commit to now.

"In the years to come," Obama proposed in May, "not every collection of thugs that labels themselves al Qaeda will pose a credible threat to the United States." Unless we're committed to a better strategy, "we may be drawn into more wars we don't need to fight," he said.

The president will still be able to use military force to protect against imminent threats to the United States. But five months ago he acknowledged that this war against "al Qaeda, the Taliban and their associated forces" must end — and that he wanted to steer U.S. counterterrorism policy toward a more peaceful and stable course.

Now is the time to make clear to the American people — and the world — exactly how that will happen.

As Obama said: "That's what our democracy demands."