Not A Hanging But An Amazing Garden
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Posted:Feb 11, 2015 4:33 am
Last Updated:Jan 5, 2023 11:36 pm 4374 Views
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It is springtime in Bangladesh now.
It is also the time for the people of Dhaka, to visit the famous Baldha Garden as usual until summer sets in fully. Spring is the season of mirth, gaiety, flowers, fairs, festival and cultural events in this country of mine.. Every year, in spring, visitors would throng in large numbers to visit this particular garden to enjoy the wealth of the nature!
Some consider the garden as a miniature one as it is many times smaller than the National Botanical Garden located at Mirpur, Dhaka.
Until 1962, the garden was privately owned by the decedent of Narendra Narayan Roy Chowdhury ,a wealthy landowner of the then Baldha Dhaka, who built the garden. It took him over three decades to build it. He passionately enriched the garden, until he died in 1943, with rare plant species collected from various countries of our planet.
The ownership now stands transferred to the Government of Bangladesh for proper maintenance of this magnificent serene garden located at Wari in the old section of the city of Dhaka on 3. 15 acres of land, containing over 800 species of plants
The garden is divided into two parts. The larger part is called Cybele after the Greek nature goddess of fertility. Psyche is the smaller unit. The builder might have considered this smaller unit as the soul of the garden as the meaning of the name suggests!
A network of walkways crisscrosses the trees, nurseries and bushes. The ground happens to be dominated by a large pond.
You will be welcomed and greeted,after you walk in, by a profusion of delicate red flowers of Amberstia Nobilis (Raj Ashok} and Muchkunda chapa (Pterospermum Acerifoliam) tree in bloom and yellow- orange flowers of Sarica Indica (Ashok).
Large Keya plants and a Tabebun the ground until some one from the garden tells you that these are blossoms of wild nuts. Several Magnolia trees and Caperis Zeylamisia with brilliant orange leaves can be seen lined up along the banks of the pond. You could be speechless to see tiny star-shaped yellow-orange flowers o (Kontok) bush bursting with white flowers may surprise you also!
You may also be surprised to see hundreds of bats dangling from the tall branches of Eucalyptus, Buddha Narikel, Champa and Tamarind trees.
You will come across signs everywhere asking the visitors to behave themselves and not to embarrass others. The idea is no doubt good and has proved fruitful.
One must not come to visit this wonderful and amazing garden unless he has patience, tolerance and time too. Visiting Baldha Garden is a lifetime experience that one must not miss if one has the capability to come here. The trees, plants, colorful flowers,even morning mist and other scene everywhere are feast for the eyes!!
Happy reading the text and viewing the photos:
source. various and the daily star.
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Identify The Great City IF You Can
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Posted:Feb 5, 2015 3:07 am
Last Updated:Jan 6, 2023 2:34 am 4464 Views
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This nocturnal image is the super view of a great city and its nearby area, recorded from space using a still camera with a 400-millimeter lens.
The metropolitan area of this city is also laid along a regular grid of city blocks and streets.
This is not, however, the photograph of the metropolitan city where I live now.
The photograph clearly reveals the street lightening pattern visible from far above.
The grid is naturally most evident at night than day.
The metropolitan area of the city today includes 25 other municipalities linked by a network of surface streets and freeways.
The image area shows parts of at least three cities (right, center and left).
The brightly lit properties include large shopping centers, strip centers, and gas stations.
The lightening patterns of large industrial and commercial properties are also visible along the length of the major transportation corridors of the image area.
A viewer with keen eyes should be able to identify the dark areas too. The upper right part of the photographed city is less urbanized and as such noticeably dark. The dark areas here are largely public park and recreational land.
The lower left (to the west) of the image are Agricultural fields which provide a sharp contrast to the lit streets of neighboring residential developments.
No more hints. Could the viewers of the photograph identify this great city now?
It could be safely guessed that readers and viewers must have identified the City by now !!
Not a difficult riddle to solve,dear viewers::
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Last surviving bronzes by Michelangelo identified.
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Posted:Feb 3, 2015 7:20 am
Last Updated:Jan 6, 2023 2:37 am 4572 Views
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At last, they found the priceless objects in Great Britain. I considered the objects as priceless as the objects are the last two surviving bronzes of Michelangelo
The bronze statues called “Bacchants Riding on Panthers” thought to be by Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo are now on display at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge since February 2,2015. (Please see the photo below)
The bronzes, date from 1506-08 and show a muscular pair of nude male revelers, arms raised in triumph to the sky, astride snarling panthers.
"In terms of Michelangelo, this is really pretty significant," said Victoria Avery of Cambridge's Fitzwilliam Museum.]
Cambridge University says that, if the attribution is correct, the bronzes would be the only surviving ones by Michelangelo anywhere in the world.
“Michelangelo often drew inspiration from ancient mythology for his works. Bacchants were followers of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine and fertility, who pursued the instinctive, sensual life.”
Photo Credit: Two bronze statues named "Bacchants Riding On Panthers", thought to be by Italian Renaissance master Michelangelo, are displayed at the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge on February 2, 2015. Photo: AFP
Source: The Daily Star.
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Helicopter Parenting !
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Posted:Jan 19, 2015 12:17 am
Last Updated:Jan 6, 2023 12:12 am 4271 Views
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Maybe, we were helicopter parents!
We could never trust ourselves that our two were competent enough to look after themselves in all situations during the period they were growing up in a mega city like Dhaka. We did not allow them to go to their schools alone even on a school bus. Either of us would have accompanied them to and from their schools. Our , who was seven years younger than our , however, liked the arrangement even until she was a university student studying architecture!
However, our did not want us to accompany him either to his school or his college to drop or pick him up in any situation. He preferred always the family car driver to do the driving for him after he finished primary level at school. However, he never wanted to drive our family car until he became the owner of a car himself while studying at a State university in the United States of America.
You may be surprised to read these monologues! Some of you may consider that we were overprotective in our ’s affairs! You may also think that it was wrong for us not to give our the freedom that they were entitled to have during their childhood. Maybe, you are right in thinking so. Maybe, you are not! However, may I invite you to read the following story and request you to leave your opinion here on my blog? I have quoted the story hereunder without editing as I read it.
I would also take this opportunity to let you know that both our are now grown up. Have of their own. They live independently. Both are highly successful in life. They prefer to follow both types of parenting! They have devised a new type of parenting for their !!
Dateline, Washington.
The parents of 10 – and 6-year-old who were allowed to walk a mile home from a Silver Spring, Maryland Park are being investigated for neglect.
Danielle and Alexander Meitiv say the county’s Protective Services began investigating them after police stopped their and about halfway through their walk home on Dec. 20. Police say they stopped the and drove them home after someone reported seeing them.
The Meitivs say they’re responsible parents who are teaching their self-reliance and responsibility. They say the investigation infringes on their parental rights and invades their privacy.
Protective Services declined to confirm whether they are investigating the Meitivs but pointed to Maryland law, which defines neglect as failure to properly care for and supervise a .
Danielle and Alexander Meitiv say they believe in “free range” parenting, as opposed to “helicopter parenting.”
Alexander Meitiv says he was forced to sign a safety plan with Montgomery County pledging he would not leave his unsupervised.
Hope you have read the story carefully. What is your opinion? What do you think? Were the Meitivs wrong? How much freedom should parents have to let their stay home alone or walk home alone? Should parents be allowed to make this kind of decision on how much freedom to give their ? Alternatively, does this go too far? What kind of limits need to be in place with young ?
Happy Reading
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Farewell Winter....Some More Pictures.
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Posted:Jan 15, 2015 2:32 am
Last Updated:Jan 6, 2023 2:37 am 5116 Views
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As winter, here in Bangladesh prepares to bid us a hasty farewell, let me avail the chance to offer winter my goodbye by uploading some more pictures to remember the season that was apparently less cruel, less cold,less windy this year. However, it was, as usual. a season of mists and fog. A season when trees were bare of leaves, nature looked dead and gloomy,days were shorter than night and the sun went up late in the morning.
However,as usual, we enjoyed the season. Winter heralds the advent of spring. Bangladeshis will surely miss this year's winter for many reasons and will feel sad when it would finally leave us for the current year.
Photo credits: Rifad Aziz Chowdhury, Apu Jaman, Avijit Roy, Ehsanul Siddik Aranya,Tahmeed ibne Mazhar,Farzana Nazneen, Reemon Mehedi. Faisal Rumee S M Abdullah, Muhammad Anamul Hoque.
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Hidden passage to Great Pyramid of Khufu near Giza and The Elusive White Pyramid of China.
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Posted:Jan 13, 2015 2:42 am
Last Updated:Jan 22, 2015 8:48 pm 5245 Views
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Very recently, I read an off bit news item published in my favorite news paper about the sudden discovery of the hidden passage leading to great Pyramids by a man while illegally digging on his property in a village near Giza.
When digging, he came upon a tunnel made of large stone pieces.
Archaeologists soon rushed to the scene to investigate and confirmed that the man had dug down to the long hidden corridor that leads to the Pyramid of Khufu.
Until recently, one thing that has confounded experts is where a covered passageway leading to the Great Pyramid referenced by the Greek historian Herodotus could possibly be!!
The causeway currently lies about 30 feet under the ground’s surface. Only fragments of the underpass had turned up while searches and excavations performed over number of decades prior to this unauthorized digging by the man on his property.
Not only does the discovery confirm the passageway referenced by Herodotus in the 5th century BC exists, it suggests the location of the undiscovered Valley Temple is at its terminus.
Archaeologists now believe that the adjoining structure is located somewhere beneath the village Nazlet el-Samman.
The above report made me more curious about these great ancient buildings called Pyramids and I came to know about the elusive white pyramids of China.
The reported sighting of an enormous white pyramid in China date back more than a century. A trader and a travel agent named Fred Meyer Schroder first reported seeing one giant pyramid, along with smaller pyramids surrounding it in 1912 in Shaanxi Province of China. “It was even more uncanny than if we had found it in the wilderness,” he wrote. “Those [pyramids] were to some extent exposed to the eyes of the world—but still totally unknown in the Western world.”
Schroder estimated that the main pyramid was at least 300 meters high (roughly 1,000 feet) with 500-meter sides. Schroder’s Mongolian guide, Bogdo, informed him that the pyramids are at least 3,000 years old and that information about them is recorded in ancient monastic documents and is well known in local legend.
The second sighting was reported by a United States Army Air Corps Pilot named James Gaussman while flying to Assam in India from China in the Spting of 1945. He reported the sighting of a jwel-capped pyramid to the southwest ofXi’an.
Trans World Airlines’ eastern director, Colonel Maurice Sheahan, while flying over a valley near the Qin Ling Mountains, approximately 40 miles southwest of Xi’an in Shaanxi Province saw the pyramid in the landscape below.The New York Times, in its March,28 edition reported the news under headline “U.S. Flier Reports Huge Chinese Pyramid In Isolated Mountains Southwest of Sian [Xi”an]
Two days after the report, the New York Times published a photo of the supposed pyramid, which was later attributed to Gaussman. Meanwhile, Chinese archaeologists were denying that any such pyramid existed.
The photograph was somewhat disappointing – it was not pure white, nor was it jewel-capped, and it did not appear to be 1,000-ft high, making some question whether the photo was merely a filler added by the newspaper and not taken by Gaussman at all.
The photograph was later identified as the well-known Maoling burial mound, the tomb of Emperor Wu of Han (156–87 BCE), located in Xingping, Shaanxi Province, China, about 25 miles to the northwest of the provincial capital of Xi'an
The question is now,” does the white pyramid really exist?”
Researchers, as usual, could not agree unanimously, with either the legend or the sightings of the white pyramid of Xi’an as the exact location of the pyramid as well as the descriptions of do not match up, ,including the fact that Sheahan described the White Pyramid as having a “perfect pyramidal form”, which contrasts to the flat-topped appearance of Maoling.
Is it possible that the New York Times simply used a photo of Maoling as a stock photo to represent a pyramid in China, leaving open the possibility that a real White Pyramid is still out there waiting to be discovered? Or were Schroder, Gaussman, and Sheahan all mistaken in their descriptions and size estimations, and their sightings really were of Maoling?
Some believe that the White Pyramid may lie within the rugged terrain of the Qin Ling Mountains, difficult to spot among the towering mountains and deep gorges. Numerous researchers and explorers have pursued the White Pyramid of Xi’an, but none to date have been successful.
Picture Details:
1. White pyramid
2.White Pyramid of Xi'an
3.Emperor Wu of Han
4.Moaling tomb of Emp Wu.
5.photo used by the New York Times
6. Pyramids trapezoidal burial mounds.
7. white pyramids
8.Great pyramid of Giza
9Khufu pyramid
10.Crosspyr
Source : The Daily Star, The Epoch Times
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In Response To Her
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Posted:Jan 9, 2015 11:12 pm
Last Updated:Jan 6, 2023 2:38 am 5288 Views
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Dear Fimour.
Night before last, you asked me what had happened to me? I could not make any response to you although I wanted to tell you what had actually been happening to me at that time.
I felt like telling you the truth. The hard truth. The truth that would have made you to ponder on why you suddenly prefer to leave me here alone for chatting with others under various pretext!
Most of such times, I recite the under mentioned lines from my favorite poet hoping to get you back in my open arms as I know that no amount of argument between us could make you come back immediately to your beloved NI whom you love.
"Show up my love; ignite the lamp
In my hushed hut,
A day of high rain meets dusky twilight,
Shadowy clouds blot the forests.
Create an epiphany as I await you,
In the mild sweetness of braided jasmines,
With the blue stole of yours, shade our rendezvous,
Like the splendor of a prolific night.
Yet my flute is lost and I have no music to summon you.
As I gaze at your path with speechless longing,
Do you hear me?
Can you fathom my quivering heart in the teary wind?"
Whenever such thing happens, you say that I am jealous. You say ‘friendship and love’ are two different things. May be, you are correct or may be not. In response, how I wish to tell you that I am not at all jealous----I am completely lost.
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All That Mattered In The Year. 2014
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Posted:Jan 6, 2015 9:03 pm
Last Updated:Feb 2, 2015 11:37 am 5558 Views
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The year 2014 is gone. However, it has left a number of events for us to remember. Commemorate too if we like!!
Some of the events that mattered most to me are mentioned below for ready reference of the readers. . Those who regularly stop by my blogs must have read my posts on some of the events from time to time during the year.
The perilous outbreak of Ebola is one of the events that has shocked as well as scared me tremendously. I therefore posted two blogs on it for obvious reason.
The senseless killings of innocent women and of Gaza did not escape my attention. I have posted two blogs on this subject also only for the sake of suffering humanity.
Some of you have appreciated my efforts; some however could not do so. I appreciate all the views left by my readers on my blogs! Those comments have no doubt not only encouraged me to concentrate on such subjects in future but also made me happy. Some of the readers who could not leave any comment on my blog they liked for some reasons, have subsequently explained to me why they could not post their views immediately while chatting with me online. I thank you for reading as well as leaving your meaningful posts on my blogs. I hope to see you come back to my blogs in future too.
Now, I would like to post the summaries of some of the events that must have influenced us greatly during last year. There are few optimistic events like the first ever landing on a comment and the icebreaking of Cuba--US relationship ignited the light of hope for the coming days. The rise of Islamic State may cause further tension in the war torn Middle East.
GAZA WAR
The month of July 2014 will be remembered for the Israeli Defense Force’s initiation of “Operation Protective Edge”----- an aerial and ground campaign against Hamas in Gaza that lasted seven weeks and killed 2192 people---- most of whom are innocent and women! The operation was lunched on July 8, 2014.The goal, according to the Government of Israel, was to restore “security” to Israeli Civilians living under Hamas’s sustained rocket bombardment from Gaza and to dismantle the Hamas tunnel network used to infiltrate Israel. During the Israeli operation, 7,000 Palestinian homes were demolished and 89,000 were damaged, some 10,000 of them severely by Israeli air strikes. Nearly 75 percent of the Palestinian casualties were civilians. Thirteen (13) Journalists were killed during the offensive.
The seven-week-long operation ended on August 5 with the intervention of Egypt and the US. Israeli air strikes on landmark buildings at the tail end of the operation in Gaza in August were declared as a deliberate and direct attack on civilian buildings and amount to war crimes, Amnesty International accused Israel.
MISSING MH370
While Travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, Malaysia Airlines’ flight 370 vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board. As weeks stretched to months and the numerous reports of floating debris led nowhere, baffled aviation experts have admitted the MH370’s final resting-place could take years to discover.
Flight MH370 was a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. A total of 227 passengers and 12 crews were on board. Among the passengers, six were from Australia, two from Canada, 152 from China, four from France, five from India, seven from Indonesia, two from Iran, 50 from Malaysia including all 12 crew members, two from New Zealand, three from United States, two from Ukraine and one from each of these countries – Hong Kong, Netherlands, Russia and Taiwan. Search for the missing aircraft expanded from Southeast Asia to Southern Indian Ocean by many government and private organizations. The operation went on surface and underwater in thousands of square kilometers but in vain.
BOKO HARAM
Armed militants from Islamist movement Boko Haram stormed into an all-girls secondary school in the village of Chibok, Nigeria, packing around 276 teenagers onto trucks before disappearing into a remote, hilly area along the Cameroon border. The kidnapping sparked international outrage with numerous countries pledging to help locate the missing girls and eradicate the Boko Haram. Despite all the international assistance, only a handful of girls have been recovered, having escaped their captors and fleeing into the bush.
The military fueled confusion in the immediate aftermath by incorrectly saying most of the girls had been rescued. On the following day parents and some girls who escaped said more than 200 students were seized from their school by gunmen overnight. Locals said many remained unaccounted for and parents of the missing girls headed into the Sambisa forest near the Cameroonian border to search for them.
The headmistress of the school in Chibouk, appealed to the government to do more to save the girls and called on the kidnappers - thought to be members of the Boko Haram -- to "have mercy on the students." Nigerians took to social media to show their anger at the government response and Ibrahim M Abdullahi, a lawyer in Abuja, sent the first tweet using the hash tag #BringBackOurGirls.
In May, President Goodluck Jonathan made his first public comments since the abduction, saying his government was seeking assistance from the US and other world powers to tackle Nigeria's "security challenge". US President Barack Obama mentioned the incident as "heartbreaking" abduction". He promised US experts’ dispatching to help find the girls.
SHOOTING OF MIKE BROWN, THE FERGUSON RIOTS
The shooting of unarmed black 18-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri on August 9 by a white police officer Darren Wilson, 28, ignited racial tensions in the United States, leading to civil unrest, looting and riots. Following an investigation into the events surrounding the shooting by Officer Wilson, a Grand Jury announces on November 24 they will not be pursuing a criminal investigation
On August 9 Brown and a companion, both black, were confronted by Officer Wilson as they walked back to Brown’s home from a convenience store. Brown and the officer, who was white, were involved in a scuffle, followed by gunshots. Brown died at the scene, and his body remained in the street for four hours in the summer heat. Neighbors later lashed out at authorities, saying they mistreated the body
On the next day people, protesting Brown’s death smashed car windows and carried away armloads of looted goods from stores. In the first of several nights of violence, looters were seen making off with bags of food, toilet paper and alcohol. Some protesters stood atop police cars and taunted officers.
Missouri Governor Jay Nixon declared a state of emergency and imposed a curfew in Ferguson. He was compelled to call the National Guard to Ferguson to help restore order and lifts the curfew. In Clayton, a grand jury began hearing evidence to determine whether Wilson should be charged.
In October, protesters from across the country descended on the St Louis region for “Ferguson October,” four days of coordinated and spontaneous protests. A weekend march and rally in downtown St Louis drew several thousand participants. In November, Nixon again declared state of emergency and created ‘Ferguson Commission’ with 16 people, selecting a diverse group of people; nine of its members were black while seven were white. In November 25, the grand jury decided not to bring any charges over the killing. Announcement was met with night of heavy protests in the city and further demonstrations across the US.
FIRST LANDING ON A COMET
After a 10-year mission across the cosmos on November 12, the Rosetta space probe, built and launched by the European Space Agency, made history by deploying and landing its Philae mini-lab on the surface of a comet. Travelling at a speed of 135,000 kilometers per hour, the Agency likened the landing on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko to, ‘landing a washing machine on a speeding bullet’.
Rosetta was launched on March 2,2004 from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana with its Lander Philae into space on board an Ariane-5 G+ rocket. This marked the start of a 10-year journey that would lead Rosetta to its destination comet: 67P/C. On March 4, 2005 Rosetta swung by planet Earth at a distance of 1,954km above the Pacific Ocean. This flyby was the first in a series of ‘gravitational kicks’ that Rosetta would undergo during its journey. The boost was needed to get the spacecraft onto the correct trajectory to be able to meet up with the comet in August 2014
On March 20, 2014, at about 5 million kilometers distance, Rosetta caught a first glimpse of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, visible as just a little dot in the sky. Between May and August 2014 Rosetta performed a series of complex maneuvers to reduce the separation between the spacecraft and comet from around 20 million km to 100km. From this close distance, scientists could determine the best landing spot for the Philae Lander
Finally on November 12, the Philae Lander was released by the Rosetta spacecraft and touched down on the comet: a first in the history of space exploration. Landing on a comet, a tiny low-gravity celestial body moving at a speed of several tens of thousands of km ph, was never achieved
US CUBA RELATIONS BREAKTHROUGH
After more than 50 years, on December 18, the United States and Cuba agreed to restore diplomatic ties. A day earlier, after 18 months of secret talks, Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro agreed in a phone call on a breakthrough prisoner exchange, the opening of embassies in each other's countries, and an easing of some restrictions on commerce.
World leaders welcomed the groundbreaking news that the US and Cuba moved to diplomatic relations and bury one of the last vestiges of the Cold War after more than 50 years of hostility.
From China to Chile, plaudits rang out. South American leaders holding a trade meeting in Argentina interrupted their session and broke into euphoric applause. The gush of praise for the shock announcement in Washington and Havana -- it emerged that secret talks have been underway for a year and a half -- featured a plethora of terms like "turning point" and "historic day." In making the announcement, President Barack Obama said decades of trying to isolate Cuba and oust the communist regime had failed, and it was time to turn the page.
President Obama promised to urge Congress to lift the trade embargo, imposed in 1960, while using his presidential authority to advance diplomatic and travel links. "We are all Americans," Obama declared, breaking into Spanish. The White House portrayed the US move as a bid to reassert US leadership in the Western Hemisphere. The European Union, which is also moving to normalize ties with Cuba, hailed the breakthrough as a "historical turning point." In Havana, Cubans were jubilant. The breakthrough came after Havana released jailed US contractor Alan Gross and a Cuban who spied for Washington and had been held for 20 years -- one of the most important US agents in Cuba
THE RISE OF ISLAMIC STATE
Islamic State (IS) is a radical Islamist group, who aims to establish a "caliphate", a state ruled by a single political and religious leader according to Islamic law, or Sharia, that has seized large swathes of territory in eastern Syria and across northern and western Iraq. IS has since sworn allegiance to its leader , Ibrahim Awad Ibrahim Ali al-Badri al-Samarrai, better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the IS unleashed its brutal tactics - including mass killings and abductions of members of religious and ethnic minorities, as well as the be headings of soldiers and journalists - have sparked fear and outrage across the world and prompted US military intervention, which caused nearly 1.2 million Iraqis forced from their homes and thousands of casualties.
In May, IS kidnapped 140 Kurdish schoolchildren in Syria and forced them to take lessons in radical ‘Islamic’ theology. In June, they announced the creation of a caliphate (Islamic state) that ‘erased’ all state borders, making al-Baghdadi the self-declared authority over the world's estimated 1.5 billion Muslims.
Taking control over Syria’s largest oil field, al-Omar, in July, IS confirmed a regular flow of income. al-Omar field can produce 75,000 barrels of oil daily. IS later on the month blew the tomb of Prophet Yunus (pbuh) in Mosul.
Later in August, September, October and November, the IS militants posted several beheading videos on the internet. The videos showed deaths of US journalist James Foley, missing in Syria since 2012, US journalist Steven Sotloff, British aid worker David Haines, hostage Alan Henning and American aid worker Peter Kassig, also known as Abdul-Rahman Kassig.
Sources: CNN & BBC The Independent, USA Today, Washington Post,Essa and The Daily Star. AFP
A gallery of photos highlighting international news events in 2014.
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Cheap Air Fare idea and then.........
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Posted:Jan 4, 2015 5:23 am
Last Updated:Jan 6, 2023 2:51 am 5409 Views
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Appended a news story published here today that may be interesting to many of the readers who are required to travel a lot throughout the year. Please read the story and make your views known to us all,if possible!
Quote........"Aktar-er-Zaman, a 22-year-old innovative New Yorker of Bangladeshi origin, is facing rage of professional competition as he launched a website Skiplagged.com to help save on air fares and seemingly disrupting the established business model.
The website informs via an algorithm that travelers can fly cheaper by “skipping” the last leg of a purchased flight, reports New York Post.
For example: Instead of booking a direct flight to Atlanta, you book a trip to a further destination that uses Atlanta as a “hidden city” layover — and you don’t use the last leg of your ticket. In some cases, this can mean savings of hundreds of dollars.
United Airlines and Orbitz are not amused by Zaman’s technique. They are taking him to court, claiming Skiplagged.com is “unfair competition.” They want the site to be shut down and Zaman to be ordered to pay $75,000 in damages.
The irony is ironic indeed -- Orbitz, like other discount ticket sellers, became successful using the Internet to identify cheaper flights. In doing so, they all but ended the once-thriving travel-agent business. Zaman just took the idea to the next level.
As seen with other tech-savvy disrupters like Uber, when entrenched interests find themselves up against the new competition, they’ll work to end it, by hook, crook — or courts.
The good news is that efforts aimed at preventing customers from getting more info and more choices are probably doomed to failure.
Within days of his fight with United and Orbitz going public, Zaman — who makes no money from his site — had raised more than $50,000 to help with his legal fees, via the Web site GoFundMe.co."...... UnQuote.
Source. The Daily Star. The New York Post.
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AIR ASIA TRAGEDY
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Posted:Dec 30, 2014 8:40 pm
Last Updated:Jan 22, 2015 8:52 pm 5502 Views
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With a heavy heart, the report published in a local News Paper on the recent Air Asia Tragedy is appended for the interested readers to read. Let us pray for the departed souls and also for those who have lost their dear and near ones in this tragedy.
Air Asia plane's wreckage found
40 bodies recovered off Indonesian coast; media criticized for showing live footage
Indonesian rescuers searching for an Air Asia plane carrying 162 people pulled bodies and wreckage from the sea off the coast of Borneo yesterday, prompting relatives of those on board watching TV footage to break down in tears.
Indonesia Air Asia's Flight QZ8501, an Airbus A320-200, lost contact with air traffic control early on Sunday during bad weather on a flight from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore.
The navy said 40 bodies had been recovered. The plane has yet to be found.
"My heart is filled with sadness for all the families involved in QZ8501," airline boss Tony Fernandez tweeted. "On behalf of Air Asia, my condolences to all. Words cannot express how sorry I am."
The airline said in a statement that it was inviting family members to Surabaya, "where a dedicated team of care providers will be assigned to each family to ensure that all of their needs are met".
Pictures of floating bodies were broadcast on television and relatives of the missing already gathered at a crisis center in Surabaya wept with heads in their hands. Several people collapsed in grief and were helped away.
"You have to be strong," the mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, said as she comforted relatives. "They are not ours, they belong to God."
A navy spokesman said a plane door, oxygen tanks and one body had been recovered and taken away by helicopter for tests, reports Reuters.
"The challenge is waves up to three meters high," Fransiskus Bambang Soelistyo, head of the Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters, adding that the search operation would go on all night. He declined to answer questions on whether any survivors had been found.
About 30 ships and 21 aircraft from Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea and the United States have been involved in the search.
Media stations have been criticized for showing split-screen footage of distraught families as they were watched live footage of bodies from missing Air Asia flight being recovered from the water, reports Independent.
TV One, an Indonesian news channel, screened images from rescue crews as they encountered the debris and bodies found earlier yesterday in the Java Sea, off the coast on Borneo, on a split screen interposed with live reaction from the families of passengers.
In Surabaya airport where the passengers' family were gathered in a 'crisis center', six giant flat screen TVs were reported to have played the footage immediately emerging from the scene of discovery.
Similar footage was later picked up by other channels and broadcast around Indonesia and South-east Asia.
Channel Asia later tweeted an apology to its users after “inadvertently” airing similar footage showing the debris and what appeared to be bodies to its viewers.
Social media users reacted angrily to the actions of the media stations, with many scarcely able to believe what they were seeing.
The plane, which did not issue a distress signal, disappeared after its pilot failed to get permission to fly higher to avoid bad weather because of heavy air traffic, officials said.
It was traveling at 32,000 feet and had asked to fly at 38,000 feet, officials said earlier.
Pilots and aviation experts said thunderstorms, and requests to gain altitude to avoid them, were not unusual in that area.
The Indonesian pilot was experienced and the plane last underwent maintenance in mid-November, the airline said.
The aircraft had accumulated about 23,000 flight hours in some 13,600 flights, according to Airbus.
Online discussion among pilots has centered on unconfirmed secondary radar data from Malaysia that suggested the aircraft was climbing at a speed of 353 knots, about 100 knots too slow, and that it might have stalled.
The plane, whose engines were made by CFM International, co-owned by General Electric and Safran of France, lacked real-time engine diagnostics or monitoring, a GE spokesman said.
Such systems are mainly used on long-haul flights and can provide clues to airlines and investigators when things go wrong.
Three airline disasters involving Malaysian-affiliated carriers in less than a year have dented confidence in the country's aviation industry and spooked travelers across the region.
Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 went missing on March 8 on a trip from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board and has not been found. On July 17, the same airline's Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
Bizarrely, an Air Asia plane from Manila skidded off and overshot the runway on landing at Kalibo in the central Philippines yesterday. No one was hurt.
On board Flight QZ8501 were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one person each from Singapore, Malaysia and Britain. The co-pilot was French.
US law enforcement and security officials said passenger and crew lists were being examined but nothing significant had turned up and the incident was regarded as an unexplained accident.
Indonesia Air Asia is 49 percent owned by Malaysia-based budget carrier Air Asia.
The Air Asia group, including affiliates in Thailand, the Philippines and India, had not suffered a crash since its Malaysian budget operations began in 2002.
Source: Agency Report. The Daily Star
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