Sania-Bhupathi (India )win Aus Open mixed doubles beating Nathalie Dechy (France )and Andy Ram (Israel) 6-3, 6-1 in the final in Melbourne on Sunday afternoon.
The ace Indian pair thus made up for the disappointment of last year when they were beaten by Tiantian Sun and Nenad Zimonjic in the final.
While Sania picked her maiden Grand slam title in the process, Bhupathi swelled his Grand Slam title collection in mixed doubles to seven.
As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is recuperating from his bypass surgery in All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Antony performed all the customary duties of the Prime Minister during the Republic Day celebration.
List of 11 people who recieved Ashok Chakra-2009 , its the most respected award given and a honour to family of poeple who selflessly gave thier life for the country.
1.Kamte
2.Sandeep
3. Karkare
4.Salaskar
5.Tukaram
6.Gajendra
7.Mohan Chand (batla house)
8. RP Deinghdoy
9.Pramod Kumar Satapathy
10.Jojan Thomas
11.Bahadur Singh
Read more...India celebrates 60th Republic Day.There is a grand parade from India Gate to red fort, where India is showing its military might.
Also 11 Ashok Chakras have given to all the Shahid Jawans.
Read more...The Prime Minister will miss the Republic Day parade. as he is undergoing to By-pass surgery on Saturday.External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee would be laying the wreath at the Amar Jawan Jyoti on that day.
Read more...As Isreal has left,Rebuilding Gaza is highest priority many Allah help in doing this as millions will get food and shelter.
Read more...Obama's Inauguration Speech
My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the presidential oath. The words have been spoken during rising tides of prosperity and the still waters of peace. Yet, every so often, the oath is taken amidst gathering clouds and raging storms. At these moments, America has carried on not simply because of the skill or vision of those in high office, but because We the People have remained faithful to the ideals of our forebearers, and true to our founding documents.
So it has been. So it must be with this generation of Americans.
That we are in the midst of crisis is now well understood. Our nation is at war, against a far-reaching network of violence and hatred. Our economy is badly weakened, a consequence of greed and irresponsibility on the part of some, but also our collective failure to make hard choices and prepare the nation for a new age. Homes have been lost; jobs shed; businesses shuttered. Our health care is too costly; our schools fail too many; and each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet.
These are the indicators of crisis, subject to data and statistics. Less measurable but no less profound is a sapping of confidence across our land -- a nagging fear that America's decline is inevitable, and that the next generation must lower its sights.
Today I say to you that the challenges we face are real. They are serious and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time. But know this, America: They will be met.
On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.
On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn-out dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics.
We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness.
In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the fainthearted -- for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame. Rather, it has been the risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things -- some celebrated, but more often men and women obscure in their labor -- who have carried us up the long, rugged path toward prosperity and freedom.
For us, they packed up their few worldly possessions and traveled across oceans in search of a new life.
For us, they toiled in sweatshops and settled the West; endured the lash of the whip and plowed the hard earth.
For us, they fought and died, in places like Concord and Gettysburg; Normandy and Khe Sahn.
Time and again, these men and women struggled and sacrificed and worked till their hands were raw so that we might live a better life. They saw America as bigger than the sum of our individual ambitions; greater than all the differences of birth or wealth or faction.
This is the journey we continue today. We remain the most prosperous, powerful nation on Earth. Our workers are no less productive than when this crisis began. Our minds are no less inventive, our goods and services no less needed than they were last week or last month or last year. Our capacity remains undiminished. But our time of standing pat, of protecting narrow interests and putting off unpleasant decisions -- that time has surely passed. Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.
For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of the economy calls for action, bold and swift, and we will act -- not only to create new jobs, but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place, and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its cost. We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories. And we will transform our schools and colleges and universities to meet the demands of a new age. All this we can do. And all this we will do.
Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short. For they have forgotten what this country has already done; what free men and women can achieve when imagination is joined to common purpose, and necessity to courage.
What the cynics fail to understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them -- that the stale political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works -- whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end. And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.
Nor is the question before us whether the market is a force for good or ill. Its power to generate wealth and expand freedom is unmatched, but this crisis has reminded us that without a watchful eye, the market can spin out of control -- and that a nation cannot prosper long when it favors only the prosperous. The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity; on our ability to extend opportunity to every willing heart -- not out of charity, but because it is the surest route to our common good.
As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: Know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more.
Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions. They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint.
We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort -- even greater cooperation and understanding between nations. We will begin to responsibly leave Iraq to its people, and forge a hard-earned peace in Afghanistan. With old friends and former foes, we will work tirelessly to lessen the nuclear threat, and roll back the specter of a warming planet. We will not apologize for our way of life, nor will we waver in its defense, and for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken; you cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.
For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers. We are shaped by every language and culture, drawn from every end of this Earth; and because we have tasted the bitter swill of civil war and segregation, and emerged from that dark chapter stronger and more united, we cannot help but believe that the old hatreds shall someday pass; that the lines of tribe shall soon dissolve; that as the world grows smaller, our common humanity shall reveal itself; and that America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace.
To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect. To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict, or blame their society's ills on the West: Know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy. To those who cling to power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent, know that you are on the wrong side of history; but that we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.
To the people of poor nations, we pledge to work alongside you to make your farms flourish and let clean waters flow; to nourish starved bodies and feed hungry minds. And to those nations like ours that enjoy relative plenty, we say we can no longer afford indifference to suffering outside our borders; nor can we consume the world's resources without regard to effect. For the world has changed, and we must change with it.
As we consider the road that unfolds before us, we remember with humble gratitude those brave Americans who, at this very hour, patrol far-off deserts and distant mountains. They have something to tell us today, just as the fallen heroes who lie in Arlington whisper through the ages. We honor them not only because they are guardians of our liberty, but because they embody the spirit of service; a willingness to find meaning in something greater than themselves. And yet, at this moment -- a moment that will define a generation -- it is precisely this spirit that must inhabit us all.
For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.
Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends -- hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism -- these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility -- a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation and the world; duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.
This is the price and the promise of citizenship.
This is the source of our confidence -- the knowledge that God calls on us to shape an uncertain destiny.
This is the meaning of our liberty and our creed -- why men and women and children of every race and every faith can join in celebration across this magnificent Mall, and why a man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.
So let us mark this day with remembrance, of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people:
"Let it be told to the future world ... that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive... that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet [it]."
America. In the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words. With hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come. Let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested, we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back, nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.
First African-American president. That special burden just adds weight to a task that is already daunting — following his eloquent predecessors as he marks the peaceful transfer of power on Tuesday with an Inaugural Address, only the 56th in the nation’s history.
Mr. Obama has called Lincoln’s second inaugural speech “intimidating” and John F. Kennedy’s “extraordinary.” (Otherwise, he has said, “Some of the others are not so inspiring.”)
But since his 2004 keynote address to the Democratic National Convention, Mr. Obama has shown that he, too, is comfortable in the inaugural idiom. He writes with sweep, clarity and an eye toward history and in a style that Bob Shrum, a longtime Democratic consultant, calls a rare combination of the rhetorical and conversational.
Mr. Obama, who rose to prominence on his power as a speechmaker, has discussed his Inaugural Address with a certain detachment. He and his chief speechwriter, Jonathan Favreau, have been trading drafts back and forth for almost two months.
His primary goal, Mr. Obama says, is to define this moment in history.
“I think that the main task for me in an inauguration speech, and I think this is true for my presidency generally, is to try to capture as best I can the moment that we are in,” he told ABC News, adding that he would explain the “crossroads” where the country finds itself.
After that, he said, he wants to “project confidence that if we take the right measures, that we can once again be that country, that beacon for the world.”
Many inaugural speeches follow a somewhat classic formula of laying out the challenges before the nation and calling on basic American ideals to meet them.
But historians have high expectations for Mr. Obama, who, they say, is especially adept at framing the moment and reaching for a larger context.
“That’s one of the secrets of his success, rhetorically,” said Stephen Lucas, a professor of communication arts at the University of Wisconsin. “He seems very focused on the purpose of the moment.”
His victory speech on election night in Grant Park in Chicago provides a good example: “It’s been a long time coming,” Mr. Obama said, “but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.”
“Obama loves defining the moment, setting the scene,” said Mr. Shrum, who penned the “dream shall never die” speech for Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts in 1980. “That’s what the great Inaugural Addresses, the ones that last, do.”
Mr. Obama’s primary themes are unity and hope, and they recur frequently, as does a call to service and a reliance on American ideals.
“He goes back to those fundamental themes of American greatness and the fundamental principles, like fairness,” said Shel Leanne, author of “Say It Like Obama,” a primer on his rhetorical technique. “He always tries to create common ground. He immediately starts building a bridge.”
Mr. Obama takes office in the first transition of power since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and it will be the first wartime transition in 40 years. Despite the nation’s economic woes, Theodore C. Sorensen, who was John Kennedy’s speechwriter and longtime adviser, said Mr. Obama should keep his focus on the country’s international standing.
“That Inaugural Address is going to define his presidency in the eyes of the rest of the world,” Mr. Sorensen said. It should be “bipartisan in tone and global in reach,” he added, while leaving prescriptions for most domestic matters, like health care, for an address to Congress next month.
“If I were to fault him,” Mr. Sorensen volunteered, “I would say that occasionally his sentences and words are not always short.”
Analysts said Mr. Obama needed to create a sense of urgency, especially about the economy, to bring the public along with him and make Congress feel compelled to work with him.
Some of his tasks are inherently contradictory: give a realistic assessment about the perils facing the country without portraying them as overwhelming; raise hopes and instill confidence without overpromising what he might be able to accomplish; and represent the change he has promised without insulting his predecessor.
“He doesn’t want to create the feeling that he will magically solve all of these pretty difficult problems right away,” said Ted Widmer, a former speechwriter for President Bill Clinton and now a historian at Brown. “At the same time he does want to create the feeling that the problems are ultimately solvable.”
In a recent speech at George Mason University that may prefigure the style and substance of the inaugural, Mr. Obama gave a bleak assessment of the economy but found seeds of hope within the American spirit.
“Now, the very fact that this crisis is largely of our own making means that it is not beyond our ability to solve,” he said. “Our problems are rooted in past mistakes, not our capacity for future greatness.”
Mr. Obama also posited the duality of his job with near-inaugural sweep in his speech in Grant Park.
“The road ahead will be long,” he said. “Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there.”
Some analysts say that Mr. Obama’s best speeches are not remembered for specific lines but for their power over his audience.
“Not too many of us can spin out a quick Barack Obama sound bite that we’ve all memorized,” Mr. Widmer said. “But we all do feel mesmerized by his speeches. We do something that’s completely uncharacteristic for Americans — we listen to the entire speech.”
Mr. Obama’s speech in March in Philadelphia on race, for instance, was not instantly quotable, but was memorable for the fact of it and praised by supporters as honest and nuanced; it was one of the most watched political speeches on YouTube.
“We all stopped to listen to him as he explained this extremely complicated, sensitive topic,” Mr. Widmer said. “It was a teaching moment. He’s been unusually good at that. Not all presidents are good teachers, but he has shown great potential for that.”
And on Inauguration Day, many willing students will be listening.
This question started to interest me several years ago when I read a eulogy written by Moshe Dayan (a former Israeli Defense Minister) to his Israeli friend who was killed by a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip in 1955:
". . . Let us not today fling accusation at the murderers. What cause have we to complain about their fierce hatred to us? For eight years now, they sit in their refugee camps in Gaza, and before their eyes we turn into our homestead the land and villages in which they and their forefathers have lived.
We should demand his blood not from the [Palestinian] Arabs of Gaza but from ourselves. . . . Let us make our reckoning today. We are a generation of settlers, and without the steel helmet and gun barrel, we shall not be able to plant a tree or build a house. . . . Let us not be afraid to see the hatred that accompanies and consumes the lives of hundreds of thousands of [Palestinian] Arabs who sit all around us and wait for the moment when their hands will be able to reach our blood." (Iron Wall, p. 101)
Similarly, Ehud Barak (the current Israeli Defense Minister) was asked this question, and his reply was:"If I were a Palestinian of the right age, I'd eventually join one of the terrorist organizations." (interviewed by Ha'aretz's Gideon Levy in March 1998)
Here in America, we're a brought up to believe in our sacred right to bare arms because the right of self-defense is enshrined in our American constitution. As an American, I have the right to defend my home and family here in Chicago by all possible means, even if my defense results in the death or injury of the assailant. However, as a Palestinian defending my home and family in Palestine, that makes me automatically the "terrorist" in the eyes of many in the Western world. It should be noted that when Palestinians rocket Israeli towns, they are rocketing their own homes and farms which have been usurped by Jews who recently escaped European anti-Semitism and pogroms, here are the names of a few of the usurped Palestinian towns which are located in what is now southern Israel: al-Majdal Asqalan, Faluja, Yibna, Huj & Najd.
The more I research Israeli history, the more I discover that Israelis have a hidden empathy to what Palestinians have experienced for the past 60 years. In my opinion, this is a proof that this conflict isn't only a colonial conflict over lands, but most importantly it's a conflict about the national identity which is connected to the land. Deep at heart, every Israeli Jew suspects that the Zionist narrative to be farce. However, because Israel was created by usurping Palestinian rights, Israelis and most Jews find it necessary to deny Palestinians of their national rights and identity. This Israeli insecurity (or paranoia) increases whenever Palestinians assert their national identity (i.e. resistance to colonialism, demanding the right of return, ..etc) because it reaffirms that this is a conflict that will transcend generations.
reference: palestineremembered.com
Israel's war on Gaza was disproportionate and punishes the Palestinian people for refusing to bow to Israel's fait-accompli in the strip.
"Usually people are pushed to collective punishment because they want to punish resistance movements or national liberation movements.
"That's usually what colonial powers did, and that's what Israel is doing.
said the majority of Gazans are refugees, whose ancestors used to live in what is now Israel.
"Everybody knows that 75 per cent of the people of Gaza are refugees. Everybody knows that Israel disengaged from Gaza militarily, but occupies it economically and politically and also it besieges Gaza militarily.
"Israel would say, "what would any normal country do if they were threatened by rocket fire? They would act".
"But Israel is not a normal country, it is an occupying country, a colonial country and the people of Gaza are under siege."
‘Punishing democracy’
Bishara said that Palestinians are being punished for choosing Hamas in the January 2006 democratic elections and accused Israeli officials for dramatising their lies.
"Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, should be asked, "What would you do if your house is besieged and you can't feed your child, can't go to school, and can't take them to the doctors and physicians when they are ill.
"I consider Hamas rockets a protest shout, they haven't hurt many, only the few. They are weapons of the poor, used to express their will.
"What brought the war was the siege. When colonial powers have historically gone to occupy countries, siege has always been a weapon. Siege is a military action at the beginning of war.
"When it did not work to break the will of the Palestinian people... Israel realised that the rockets were a response to the siege, and they went to the next phase which was direct military aggression, which is actually now directed against civilians to punish them for their democratic choice.
"What I think will happen is a ceasefire that will mean an end to the siege if the rockets stop. It will happen after the deaths of so many people."
Satyam is Removed from Nifty, Its price is seen at a level of 10. Keep on Reading about what happened.
It was one of the darkest days in history of corporate India. Early this morning, B Ramalinga Raju — the founder of Satyam Computers, one of India’s largest IT companies — dropped a bombshell when he sent a five-page letter to the stock exchanges confessing to one of the biggest frauds ever seen.
Satyam had nothing by way of a balance sheet and it had been cooking its books for the last many quarters, fabricating lies for the benefit of all its shareholders, for its independent directors and other directors and perpetrating a lie that went through for several years before he chose to confess this morning.
The result: the Satyam stock lost 75% of its market cap, a huge collateral damage took place across the market that tanked 750 points raising a lot of apprehensions about how the world would see it both for the IT services sector, the Indian corporate sector and its standards of governance and also to how FIIs would react to such an episode.
"We are not interested in the whole company. We may be interested in its telecom business which forms a very small part of Satyam's entire portfolio if customers want us to," the company spokesperson speaks.
He said the interest areas for Tech Mahindra could be taking over the telecom contracts and the employees associated with the vertical.
Palestinian civilians are continuing to suffer as the Israeli military pushes deeper into the Gaza Strip.At least 548 people have been killed in the territory in the last 10 days, with at least 100 deaths reported since the Israeli ground offensive began on Saturday.Among the dead on Monday was a family of seven from Shati refugee camp, who were killed by Israeli navy shelling.
Three siblings from one family, as well as a girl and her grandfather, also died in the Zeitoun neighbourhood of Gaza during artillery shelling.Emergency medical services have also come under attack with the al-Awda hospital in Jabaliya being hit by two Israeli shells, foreign human rights activists said.
"Two consecutive shells just landed in the busy car park 15 metres from the entrance to the emergency room," Alberto Arce of the International Solidarity Movement said in a statement.
"The entrance of the emergency room was damaged. At the time of the shelling ambulances were bringing in the wounded that keep pouring in."Medics killedOn Sunday, an Israeli raid killed at least four paramedics as they tried to reach wounded Palestinians. Ambulances have also been hit in the attacks, Palestinian sources said.
government officials say they are not targeting civilians, but only seeking to halt rocket fire from the Palestinian Hamas movement governing Gaza.There are also fears that the humanitarian situation will further deteriorate as the strip, home to 1.5 million people, is suffering from acute shortages of fuel, food and medical supplies.Iyad Nasr of the Red Cross in Gaza City said that the military operation has worsened the hardships created by the Israeli blockade over the last 18 months.
"The size of the operations and the size of the misery we are seeing here on the ground is just overwhelming," he said.
"We are trying our best to support the infrastructure that has been depleted ... and prevent the total collapse of the medical systems.
Nasr also said that aid workers and emergency medical personnel were finding it increasingly difficult to move around the territory after the Israeli military effectively split it in two.
"The ICRC has to contact the Israeli authorities for each single wounded to be evacuated with an ambulance," he said.Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from Gaza City, said that many other Gazans have fled their homes taking refuge in schools converted into temporary shelters by UN agencies.
"The United Nations says 13,000 people, over 2,000 families, have now been internally displaced because of the fighting, and that is just in the north of the strip," he said.
