Category Archives: News

President Singh

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Manmohan Singh and Dubya are frolicking together like puppies. Bush even matched his tie to Singh’s turban, although G. Kaur couldn’t talk Laur into a sari. It’s all happening right now.

Bush rolled out full pomp and pageantry for Singh’s visit, with a bewigged fife and drum corps marching across the South Lawn during the welcome ceremony…

Administration officials say the pomp was designed to emphasize the growing importance to the United States of India, a rising economic and military power whose newfound affinity for the United States is something Bush considers a major foreign policy success. [Link]

An American army band played the Indian and American anthems, and Singh will address Congress tomorrow. In return, Singh promised Bush a reenactment of the Salt March, with be-lungi’d freedom fighters marching across the lawn to a fountain at Rashtrapati Bhavan. (Elapsed time: 30 seconds.)

  

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Email fraud: the only corruption Bangladesh doesn’t have

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Some sweeeet justice for those @$$h0!e$ who continue to annoy my spam filter:

A Nigerian court has sentenced a woman to two and half years in jail after she pleaded guilty to fraud charges in the country’s biggest e-mail scam case…
Typically fraudsters send out junk e-mails around the world promising recipients a share in a fortune in return for an advance fee. Those who pay never receive the promised windfall.

Take THAT, Amaka Anajemba! You scammer! That’s what you get for lying about your dead husband/uncle/ferret’s secret fortune that you needed my help in claiming. Sadly, the example you set is too addictive to not emulate:

Scams have become so successful in Nigeria that antisleaze campaigners say swindling is one of the country’s main foreign exchange earners after oil, natural gas and cocoa.

Oil, gas, cocoa and email fraud? Are you kidding me?

Anajemba’s sentencing by a Lagos High Court on Friday is the first major conviction since the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) was established in 2003 to crack down on Nigeria’s thriving networks of e-mail fraudsters.
The agency said in a statement that the judgment was a “landmark achievement by EFCC in the fight against advance fee fraud, corruption and other related crimes.”

When they say “thriving” they mean it; 200 junk e-mail/scam suspects have been arrested in the last two years, $200 million worth of loot has been confiscated and ten other people have been convicted.

Here’s my main point– After wading through all of this justice via CNet, I read THIS about Nigeria. Apparently, it is

Ranked the world’s second most corrupt country after Bangladesh by sleaze watchdog Transparency International

What?! What the hell is Bangladesh doing? I don’t get email scams from any enterprising Bongs. Why does THIS have to be the one contest Bangladesh wins? Continue reading →

Let’s get rid of that nasty competition

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That most excellent of libertarian/econ blogs, Marginal Revolution, reports on a situation in India –

India receives 90% of its rain during monsoon season so forecasting monsoons is critical for productive farming. Fortunately, according to an article in Nature (subs. req.), the Indian Meteorological Department has found a way to make its forecast better than any other available – they have suppresed publication of the other forecasts. The Indian government says this is necessary to prevent “confusion.”

…[a competitive] Institute, for example, forecast that rainfall would be 34% below average in June and 12% below average in July while the government forecast “normal or above normal rains.” The rainfall in June? 35% below average.

Sigh. Good thing Indian farmers have entrenched bureaucrats with guaranteed paychecks scraped off taxpayer backs watching out for them. Continue reading →

Militants rally in Pakistan after US Ops

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I’m so fascinated by the whole sidestory about US troops doin’ some GWOT Biz inside of Pakistan. As an IR geek, there’s just so much drama when you mix up semi-failed states, egg shell diplomacy, tenuously legitimate state leadership, semi-autonomous regions, nukes, and age-old rivalries…. Stir and you get something like this –

MIRAMSHAH (North Waziristan), July 16: Thousands of emotionally charged tribesmen, raising anti-US slogans, buried on Saturday 24 suspected militants killed inside Pakistan by US forces operating from across the border in Afghanistan.

And, of course, the standard retort / backlash –

…“These 24 people are martyrs and our entire Waziristan region is ready for jihad (holy war),” Maulana Abdur Rehman, a local prayer leader, said at the funeral of two suspects.

Open, combat ops within a non-combatant state. What a world. Stratpage gives us an idea of what this this looks like from the front line –

July 18, 2005: Heavy losses have caused most Taliban fighters to flee into Pakistan, where Pakistani troops are becoming more active in going after them. But the Taliban refuges in Pakistan are still largely intact. Once the Taliban reach their camps, which are usually under the protection of local tribes, they are still safe. But if the Pakistani troops catch the Taliban in transit, it’s another story.

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This debutante is FIERCE

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amir dedicates win.jpg

On Saturday night, yummy Sepia athlete Amir Khan destroyed his opponent David Bailey in what is being hailed as “a stunning debut to his professional career” (thanks, Ananthan). The fight lasted all of 109 seconds. You can’t beat that with a bat, Salman.

Khan floored his opponent almost as soon as the bell went and knocked him down again very quickly.
The towel appeared to come in from Bailey’s corner but the referee seemed not to notice and the fight continued.
Bailey threw a couple of punches but was caught by another fierce delivery from Khan and the referee stepped in.

A previous SM post discussed Khan’s reaction to the London bombings. His point of view seemed especially significant; like those who carried out the attacks, he is a British Muslim of Pakistani descent. Any similarities to the suspected terrorists end right there, however. Khan made his sympathies clear then (during an interview the day before his match) and at the main event itself:

Khan entered the ring to “Land of Hope and Glory” and dedicated his victory to the victims of the London bombings.

How did the teenager with the Olympic Silver Medal for Boxing feel about his debut?

“I was a bit nervous because it was my first fight – I’m going to go home and watch the video and see how it was,” said the teenager.
“I want to be one of the youngest British world champions ever and hopefully it will happen.”

Word, Amir. Show ’em how it’s done. Continue reading →

A brown athlete represents

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amir-khan-selogo.jpgThe comment threads on this blog are ablaze with flaming hot conversation (not to be confused with those uber-yummy flaming hot cheetos, please).

Everyone has an opinion regarding last week’s devastating attack on London, especially when it comes to the issue of how to react to terror. A few of you have exhorted moderate, if not all Muslims to speak up and out about their horror over what a few fundamentalists wrought.

Someone famous seems to be reading your minds; Olympic-Silver Medal-Boxer Amir Khan is the son of Pakistani immigrants, he is considered by some to be “Britain’s highest profile Asian-Muslim sportsman”. As a British Muslim, he feels especially called to react to the bombings. He made the following statements today, the day before his debut as a professional boxer:

“The worst thing about last week was that some people will tar all Muslims with the same brush,” the 18-year-old told the Daily Mirror newspaper.
“The Asian community has been appalled with what has happened. I hope that by stepping into the ring I can show all young kids in Britain that there are better things to do than getting into trouble and mixing with bad people.
“The world Islam means peace.”

Indeed. Rather than misdirecting hostility towards innocents, puree a punching bag. Hell, IMO any extra-curricular activity is preferable to growing glassy-eyed and hypnotized by a charismatic terrorist mastermind. Continue reading →

Code jock

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At age nine, Arfa Randhawa from Faisalabad, Pakistan, became the youngest person ever to pass a Microsoft certification exam in programming (via Slashdot):

Sitting down for a personal meeting with Bill Gates this week, 10-year-old Arfa Karim Randhawa asked the Microsoft founder why the company doesn’t hire people her age…

She has created basic Windows applications, such as a calculator and a sorting program, primarily in the C# programming language… The institute instructors assumed it would take Arfa about a year to go through the process of certification for developing Windows applications. But after four months… she passed the required exams….

“I saw her doing something extraordinary, making presentations,” said her father, Amjad Karim, who serves with a U.N. peacekeeping force in Africa and came with his daughter to Microsoft this week… he first noticed something unusual when she started displaying a remarkable memory, perhaps photographic, at a young age…

Later in the afternoon, she sat outside with S. “Soma” Somasegar, a Microsoft corporate vice president, and described her vision for a self-navigating car. [Link]

BillG evinced some curiosity:

… he asked her at what age Muslim women start wearing the “Hijab”… Arfa… extended an invitation to him to visit… The Microsoft chief reportedly accepted the invitation and said that he would visit Pakistan in the near future. [Link]

Arfa says she wants to build satellites or software. She has stiff competition in Mridul Seth of Bangalore, who at age eight became the youngest to pass the Microsoft system admin exam.

Somasegar blogged their meeting here. Related post here.

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“Lost” finds TWELVE nominations

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congrats naveen.jpg The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences revealed the nominees for the 57th Annual Emmy Awards today…and would you look at who got props:

Supporting Actor, Drama Series : William Shatner, “Boston Legal,” ABC; Oliver Platt, “Huff,” Showtime; Naveen Andrews, “Lost ,” ABC; Terry O’Quinn, “Lost ,” ABC; Alan Alda, ” The West Wing,” NBC.

Can our boy beat Captain James Tiberius Kirk? Does the latter pronounce “I’m Denny Crane” a lot on Boston Legal? 😉

Eeeek, how exciting– “Lost” is also up for “Best Dramatic Series…and before you ask, no, I don’t know what the other nine noms are for. 😀

The only even remotely un-fun part about this is the fact that there are dueling-“Lost” nominees in the same category. I hate it when that happens, though I’m not exactly torn about whom I prefer in this instance. Now if it were the “Lead Actress” contest… Continue reading →

Love is heroic

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prem.jpg When I was in Chicago for the fourth of July holiday, I made my first (and most assuredly not last) pilgrimage to Devon Avenue. I got there early, scouted the boutiques and took pictures of anything that caught my attention. Still, despite my attempts to take it all in, I almost missed the most significant thing I ended up seeing that saturday– the small brown sign that read “Gandhi Marg”, to the left of the regular “W Devon Ave” designation.

This may seem like an odd thing to be fascinated by, but in my defense, I’ve never seen an American street that was named after someone desi. To me, it was a big deal. I remember feeling a distinct sort of awe while gazing at that very official metal rectangle. If I go to Edison, NJ, and visit the intersection of Oak Tree Road and Wood Avenue, I will be overwhelmed there, too.

Four years after 57-year-old structural engineer Prem N Jerath died in the 9/11 terror attacks while saving a fellow worker’s life, a street here has been named after him…
“This corner reflects him. We chose this place because earlier we used to live around here. We passed from here everyday; even now I pass from here. I will get a chance to see this every day,” Meena Jerath, widow of the deceased said.

Edison City Councilman Parag Patel dedicated the intersection to Jerath, as the honoree’s family and friends looked on. Jerath’s widow thought the gesture was “touching”. I think it is as well. I also can’t think of a better person to celebrate:

Meena said her husband was always helping others. She said he lost his life while trying to help a person on whose leg a wall had fallen.
“He was helping him to go back to office and call for help…but…they didn’t realise the scope of the situation.”

In the Greek Orthodox church, we take the act of remembrance seriously; the chant that is sung at memorial services is “May his/her memory be eternal.” Prem Jerath was an engineer who worked for the Port Authority on the 82nd floor of Tower 1. Without hesitation, he sacrificed his own life for another’s. Such selfless love should be remembered forever.

As I mourn newly-stolen victims of terror, celebrating this life which was also lost in a senseless act of hatred provides me with a tiny bit of comfort. If I ever visit Edison (haven’t yet), I’m taking a picture of that intersection, for an everlasting reminder of Love. Continue reading →

British Backlash box scores

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Earlier, somebody asked if the incidence of hate crimes in the UK was worse now than in the past. The short answer is yes, immensely so:

In the three days after the bombing, police in London recorded 180 racial incidents. A total of 58 faith-related crimes were recorded, compared with one in the same period last year.

Attacks have also been reported on mosques in Tower Hamlets and Merton, both in London, Telford, Leeds, Bristol, Birkenhead and Gloucester, and on a Sikh temple in Kent. [Guardian]

Today’s BBC Worldservice radio broadcast indicated that there have been additional reports of backlash related violence, but gave no further details. Before some of you start frothing at the mouth and comparing this to the violence of the bombings, there is no comparison. I was livid when the bombings occurred. Since then, it has only become more personal – my cousin was one of those lucky enough to dodge the bullet, passing through only 10 minutes before the bombs went off. There is no reason to mix the two issues though. The bombing does not justify anti-brown violence afterwards.

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