Owner: .pOINT_bLANK URL:http://www.pointblank2006.blogspot.com/ Join Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 13:24:38 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Editorial Cartoons from India with top news of the week. If laughter is the best medicine then politics is the most generous pharmacy. Site statistics:Click here
America Goes Green 2 2007-03-15 10:54:00 The ethanol boom is coming. The twin threats of climate change and energy security are creating an unprecedented thirst for alternative energy with ethanol leading the way. That process is set to reach a landmark on Thursday when the US President, George Bush, arrives in Brazil to kick-start the creation of an international market for ethanol that could one day rival oil as a global commodity. The expected creation of an "Opec for ethanol" replicating the cartel of major oil producers has spurred frenzied investment in biofuels across the America
s. - The Independant, 05 March 2007 Read more:Green
See No Evil, Shoot No Evil 2007-03-19 14:18:00 The French constitutional council has approved a law that criminalises the filming or broadcasting of acts of violence by people other than professional journalists. Perpetrators face up to five years in prison and a fine of €75,000 (£51,000). According to a French civil liberties group, the law could also be used against eyewitnesses who video acts of police violence, and the website operators who publish such images. - Excerpts from http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/greenslade, 08 March 2007 Read more:Shoot
Mulayams Undisclosed Assets 2007-03-25 22:03:00 A whopping Rs275.5 million. That is the difference between assets declared by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav before the returning officer and the figure submitted in the Supreme Court. - Khaleej Times, 22 March 2007 Read more:Assets
Indian World Cup (Non) Performance 2007-03-25 21:54:00 India's World
Cup bandwagon hit an abrupt dead-end after a thorough thrashing at the hands of Sri Lanka in their last league match. No one in India was smiling. Their World Cup was over in eight days, their team had lost to Bangladesh, and had just been humiliated by Sri Lanka, that record 413 against Bermuda now just a pathetic joke. Except for a mathematical probability (see table on page 20), which comes into play only if rank outsiders Bermuda upset Bangladesh in their last league match, the 69-run defeat virtually means the end of road for India at the 2007 Caribbean carnival. - Indian Express, 25 March 2007 Read more:Performance
Killing Cricket 2007-03-25 21:49:00 The hunt for Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer's killers may take the lid off cricket's darkest secret - match-fixing and betting, a racket worth crores of rupees that has tainted the gentleman's game. - NDTV, 25 March 2007 Read more:Killing
, Cricket
Iraq Exit 2007-04-01 21:45:00 President Bush called it “political theater” and an “abdication of responsibilities” by Democrats. But for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, passage of legislation ordering troops home from Iraq
next year was sweet victory. “Proudly, this new Congress voted to bring an end to the war in Iraq,” she said after the House vote Friday. - KansasCity.com, 24 March 2007
Congress: Non Starter In U.P. 2007-04-08 14:07:00 Rahul Gandhi, probably Congress
’s last hope in UP, has almost conceded defeat. While his roadshows through Samajwadi Party strongholds of Bhartana and Lalitpur in southern UP have drawn good responses, Rahul is now cautioning everyone not to expect immediate results. Talking with reporters in Kanpur in central UP, the Gandhi family's scion said that this was just the beginning of a long journey for Congress. CNN-IBN, 04 April 2007 Read more:Starter
Surprise! Tigers Can Fly!! 2007-04-08 14:03:00 India is seriously concerned by the audacious air attack mounted by the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka on Monday, official sources said even as the External Affairs Ministry remained silent. According to the sources, the attack showed that the Tigers had the ability to take their military prowess to a new level. It displayed a capability the LTTE so far did not possess, they added. - The Hindu, 27 March 2007 Read more:Surprise
Agni III Test 2007-04-15 19:01:00 In a significant leap for the country’s missile programme, India today successfully test-fired Agni-III, a nuclear-capable intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM) designed to reach over 3,000 km. Today’s test comes after the aborted mission in July last year when a wire cable in the missile got burnt because of suction of warm air near the control system. It was rectified with the installation of a heat shield in the missile. - Indian Express, 13 April 2007
Shashi Tharoor & The Saree Saga 2007-04-15 18:54:00 Feedback is, of course, the life blood of the columnist, but sometimes you get so much feedback it amounts to a transfusion. That's what happened to your beleaguered columnist (Shashi Tharoor) after the appearance of my appeal to 'Save the sari from a sorry fate' (March 25). Practically every woman in India with access to a keyboard rose up to deliver the equivalent of a smack across the face with the wet end of a pallu. - Shashi Tharoor, Times of India, 15 April 2007
Babubhai Travels 2007-04-22 19:58:00 BJP MP Babubhai Katara could be in a bigger soup as the police is now probing whether he was in possession of more passports allegedly used for trafficking people out of the country. Besides, the police have sent teams to Gujarat and some other states to nab the travel agents who had been allegedly hob-nobbing with Katara, who was arrested here while making an unsuccessful bid to smuggle a woman and a boy to Canada. - Indian Express, 20 April 2007 Read more:Travels
Lal Masjid Fiasco 2007-04-22 19:35:00 A radical cleric set up a vigilante Islamic court in Pakistan's capital yesterday and threatened to unleash a wave of suicide bombs if the government tried to repress his Taliban-style movement. The challenge to the authority of President Pervez Musharraf, by a firebrand cleric, Maulana Abdul Aziz, came amid growing fears of what the local media has dubbed a "creeping Talibanisation" across Pakistan. "Our youths will shake their palaces with their suicide attacks," said Maulana (Father) Aziz in a sermon delivered to thousands of his followers at Lal Masjid
, or Red Mosque, in central Islamabad.- Telegraph, 07 April 2007 Read more:Fiasco
Rahul Gandhi: The Future Is Dim 2007-04-29 20:09:00 Rahul Gandhi
, the heir of India's Nehru-Gandhi family, has sparked a political storm with a series of controversial remarks that analysts said showed the immaturity of a likely future national leader. First, Rahul said that had his family been in power in 1992, it would have stopped Hindu mobs from razing a controversial mosque in Uttar Pradesh. Then last week, Rahul claimed family credit for India getting independence from Britain in 1947 and also for saying his family was responsible for the division of Pakistan and the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. - Reuters, 17 April 2007 Read more:Rahul
, Future
Fake Encounter 2007-05-06 18:40:00 Three IPS officers are under arrest for the murders of Soharabbudin Sheikh and his wife Kauser Bi. Sheikh was gunned down in a fake encounter in November 2005 near Ahmedabad and Kauser Bi was killed later. The murders have embarrassed the Narendra Modi government and raised question whether the police was acting alone or following orders of their political bosses. - CNN-IBN, 06 May 2007 Read more:Encounter
Middle East Relay 2007-05-13 17:39:00 To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East
. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia's government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda. - The Newyorker, 5 March 2007
Just Buy It 2007-05-28 11:30:00 India Inc is on a merger and acquisition (M&A) binge like never before, as the takeover fever has gripped India Inc. For the first time, outbound investments from India have surpassed inbound investments. According to reports, there were 80 M&A deals with a total value of about $10.73 billion till October 2006. The total M&A deals between January and October 2006 have been about 380 with an announced value of $24.4 billion. - NDTV, 3 March 2007
India: A Failing State of Affairs 2007-06-01 17:56:00 The UPA Government completed three years at the Centre on Tuesday but rising inflation and an agrarian crisis seem to have put a dampener on any plans for a celebration. - CNN-IBN, 22 May 2007 Read more:India
, State
, Affairs
General Injustice 2007-06-01 13:16:00 The government banned demonstrations in Pakistan's capital Friday, the latest effort to quell mounting political turmoil over President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's decision to suspend the chief justice. Thousands of Pakistanis have joined a series of protests since the March 9 ouster of Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry, accusing Musharraf of trying to sideline the independent-minded judge before elections this year. Riots erupted last month when authorities stopped Chaudhry from leading a demonstration in the city of Karachi, leaving more than 40 people dead. - Washington Post, 01 June 2007 Read more:General
G8 Hypocrisy 2007-06-09 12:34:00 India and China are coming under increasing pressure to sign up to a mandatory limit on greenhouse gas emissions at the G8 summit in Germany. But, India says it cannot take steps which will retard its economic growth which is the only way to deliver the vast majority of its people from poverty. Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon says it is unfair to target India when the problem of global warming has been created by the industrialised countries. "Once our per capita emission levels reach the same as those of the industrialised countries, we'll be very happy to do our share too." - BBC News, 06 June 2007 Read more:Hypocrisy
US H1B Protectionism 2007-06-19 14:41:00 NASSCOM, the body that represents Indian software companies, has once again refuted claims made by some US senators that Indian IT companies are abusing H1B visas. H1B visas have nothing to do with US job losses and wants to speak to US senators. “H1B visa is not limited to the IT sector or Indians alone and any move to prohibit companies from hiring H1B visa holders is "protectionist",” says NASSCOM. -CNN-IBN, 30 May 2007
Blame it on Gujjars 2007-06-17 04:52:00 Gujjars and Meenas who lived peacefully as neighbours for decades are today at daggers drawn. Lifelong friends have developed visceral hatred for each other. As politicians play their games, the nation is being torn apart. Those who think the crisis has ended need to re-think. The crisis has begun. It will spread to other states, among other communities. Sociologists are poring over data to determine which caste fits which category. Politicians and media are busy analyzing recent political moves for the blame game. Why don't they see the big picture? - Outlook, 12 June 2007 Read more:Blame
Exercise Your Right To Information 2007-06-27 16:51:00 Triveni is a poor woman. She lives in a slum in East Delhi. She holds an Antyodaya card issued by the government to the poorest of the poor. However, it isn't easy to get ration from a ration shop. She didn't receive any grains for the last six months. Whenever she would go to the shop, the shop would either be closed or the shopkeeper would say that there was no stock. In February 2003, Triveni filed an application under the Right
to Information Act asking for the quantity of ration issued to her as per records and also copies of cash memos purported to have been issued to her. Before she could take any action, the shopkeeper came to her house and pleaded with her not to take any action and that he would mend his ways in future. Since then, Triveni is getting right amount of ration at the right price. - www.parivartan.com Read more:Exercise
Presidential Puppet Show 2007-07-01 10:07:00 Leader of Opposition L K Advani has “appealed” to the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to withdraw its candidate Pratibha Patil from the race for the president of India taking into account the “list of scandals and controversies with which her name is associated.” - Indian Express, 29 June 2007 Read more:Presidential
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