Clipmarks | arifsali's 'india' clips

World is home to more than 10 million millionaires

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:49:24 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

NEW YORK (AP) -- Add an extra zero to the ranks of the millionaires club.

The number of people around the world with at least $1 million in assets passed 10 million for the first time last year, according to a report. And their bank accounts are growing even faster.

The combined wealth of the globe's millionaires grew to nearly $41 trillion last year, an increase of 9 percent from a year before, Merrill Lynch & Co. and consulting firm Capgemini Group said Tuesday.

That means their average wealth was more than $4 million, the highest it's ever been. Home values were not included in asset totals.

"The growth of their wealth is outpacing the growth of their population, and that's a trend that's going to continue in coming years," said Ileana Van Der Linde, a principal with Capgemini.

The ranks of the wealthy are growing fastest in the developing economies of India, China and Brazil. The number of millionaires in India grew by about 23 percent.

Tags: rich, world

Bollywood goes Hollywood

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 22:41:53 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: What a world we live in now!

Clip Source: www.iht.com

NEW DELHI: Hollywood loves to show outside investors just how the movie business really works. But some of the people behind Bollywood in India believe they have something to teach Hollywood about making movies.

Reliance Entertainment, part of an Indian conglomerate controlled by the telecommunications and finance mogul Anil Ambani, is in talks to finance Steven Spielberg and David Geffen in a new venture. The company has also recently signed production deals with several Hollywood directors like Jay Roach and Chris Columbus and stars like Brad Pitt, George Clooney and Jim Carrey.

Unlike other foreign investors who have stepped toward Hollywood - and taken some grief for their efforts - Reliance has deep experience in the film business. Ambani is a relative newcomer to the movie game, but his wife, Tina Munim, is a former Bollywood star.

have laid out ambitious plans that include creating a $10 billion entertainment company that would be one of the world's largest.

Tags: entertainment, hollywood, india

Afghanistan’s international donors

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 20:37:09 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: This is a good break down of what people have committed and have delivered, I would click on the source to see it in color to make some sense. You may also find recent news at the source on the conference which was held with all the top statesmen of the world.

Clip Source: ismailimail.wordpress.com

Reuters - Afghanistan will ask international donors at a Paris conference on Thursday for $50 billion over five years to bolster its economy.

Following is a breakdown of the nearly $25 billion donated for Afghanistan’s reconstruction since 2001

DONOR AID DISBURSED / AID COMMITTED BUT NOT DISBURSED

United States 5022.9 5377
Japan 1393.52 16.9
United Kingdom 16.3 188.87
European Commission 1074.1 646.68
World Bank 852.72 750.72
Germany 767.84 458.2
Canada 730.71 48.12
Asian Development Bank 547.8 1009.7
Italy 424.41 0
Netherlands 407.1 85.5
Norway 277 122.3
Sweden 217.26 41.15
Iran 213.87 13.89
ECHO* 207.68 2.23
India 204.26 650.85
Australia 194.81 0
U.N. agencies** 171 0
Denmark 152.79 59.38
Russia 139 0
Aga Khan Foundation 119.3 0
France 79.93 29.47
Saudi Arabia 76.9 30
Finland 64.06 29.92
Switzerland 51.55 43.96
China 41 20.35
Spain 25.6 37.15
Turkey 20.8 22.82

Tags: afghanistan, aid

Mystical India

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 21:12:40 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.linkinn.com

Tags: india, photographs

Indian widow parties for spot in heaven

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 15:18:02 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: I almost thought she would have to be the most dumbest women on earth....until I read the last sentence of the story. I guess that makes sense, a person with money and insecurity even in the next world to come.

Clip Source: www.abc.net.au

A rich 80-year-old Indian widow has spent thousands of dollars on a feast for 100,000 people in the hope it would please the gods and open the doors of heaven for her, local officials said.

People from surrounding villages and towns were fed lunch over two consecutive days by Phuljharia Kunwar, who lives in the eastern state of Bihar and has no family or relatives.

Ms Kunwar spent $US37,500 on the the feast. Local officials said she spent lavishly on the meal because she had no one to bequeath her property.

"She told us she could now begin her final journey and her soul could rest in peace in heaven," Ajay Kumar Bulganin, a local lawmaker who attended the feast, held over Wednesday and Thursday, said.

"She was worried that no one would care about throwing a feast after her death."

Tags: india, weird

5-yr-old killed for picking up scattered fruit

Thu, 29 May 2008 23:47:47 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: That's poverty and illiteracy combined!

lathi=stick/cane

Clip Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

MOTIHARI: Lathi blows were rained mercilessly on five-year-old Murti Kumari by a guard at a litchi farm in East Champaran district of Bihar, till she died. Her fault: she was picking up damaged fruit.

Tension gripped Belwa village after the death of the girl on Wednesday. Meghu Ram, the chowkidar, was angry that the child dared to enter the orchard and pick up litchis scattered on the ground, police said on Thursday.

Police rushed to the spot, but failed to arrest the accused.

Angry villagers demanded immediate arrest of the chowkidar. Ruplal Mahto, the girl's uncle, lodged a complaint against the guard, police added.

Tags: india

Is This a Can of Sardines, Or a Motorized Rickshaw?

Thu, 29 May 2008 20:29:26 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Indian Officials (Try To) Put a Stop
To Risky Overcrowding of Three-Wheel Taxis

HYDERABAD, India -- Mohammed Usman used to cram as many people as possible into his motorized rickshaw -- up to eight adults, twice the legal limit.

But not anymore. "If I put more than one extra person, I know I'll get a ticket," he says. "The risk is too high."

Tiny, tinny three-wheel taxis, known as autorickshaws, are ubiquitous in South Asia. They are nimble, cheap and popular: A ride costs just pennies.

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

Tags: india, traffic, humans

Poverty Thrives Amid Unprecedented Prosperity

Mon, 26 May 2008 19:26:33 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.ipsnews.net

Global poverty is thriving -- rather ironically -- amidst one of the most prosperous times in human history.

Kul Chandra Gautam, a former assistant secretary-general and deputy executive director of the U.N. children's agency UNICEF, points out that world economic output was never more prodigious: last year it hit the 60-trillion-dollar mark.

At this time of unprecedented global prosperity, in which someone becomes a new billionaire every second day, "We have the contrasting situation of nearly one billion people living on less than a dollar a day and 800 million going to bed hungry every night," he added.

And according to the U.S.-based Forbes magazine, the number of billionaires worldwide reached 1,125 this year, a staggering increase from 179 in 2007.

They emerged not only from rich countries such as the United States, Germany and Japan but also from developing countries, such as Egypt, Nigeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brazil, Belize, China, India, Mexico and Venezuela.

Tags: poverty, world

Top Pakistani band to rock for peace in Kashmir

Sat, 24 May 2008 17:40:47 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: uk.reuters.com

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Strife-torn Indian Kashmir is set to rock to the beat of music, not bombs, this weekend as the renowned Pakistani band Junoon performs for the region's biggest musical event in nearly two decades in a bid for peace.

unoon, arguably one of South Asia's hottest rock bands, will play on Sunday on the banks of Lake Dal with towering snow-capped Himalayan peaks and ancient Sufi shrines as its backdrop.

"It is a concert for peace in the region," Prasad Rao, whose non-governmental South Asia Foundation (SAF) is organizing the event, told Reuters.

"We are expecting 5,000 to 10,000 people and this is going to be a mega-event," he said, adding that President Pratibha Patil, scheduled to start a three-day tour to Kashmir on Friday, is expected to attend.

Singer Salman Ahmed said performing in Srinagar has always been one of the band's goals.

Tags: pakistan, music, kashmir, india

Indian children burn toy guns in protest

Thu, 22 May 2008 20:53:36 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.newsvine.com

Hundreds of children from a village in India's insurgency-wracked northeast have burned their toy guns in a symbolic protest against the violence that surrounds them, activists said Thursday.

The children, all younger than 13, held their protest Wednesday, carrying placards reading "We hate toy guns, We love football" as they marched to the local high school playground to light the bonfire.

"The children happily threw their toy guns, mostly look-alikes of AK-47 and M-16 rifles and 9mm pistols, and clapped as they went up in flames," said Amarjit Yumnam, one of the local peace activists who organized the event in Keinou, a village in Manipur state.

Keinou is some 25 miles south of state capital of Imphal.

Villagers said the protest was a reaction to the violence in Manipur, where at least 17 rebel groups have been fighting for independent homelands or autonomy. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the fighting in the past 10 years.

Tags: india, guns, children

The walls still keeping untouchables out

Wed, 21 May 2008 20:42:19 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

What do many higher caste Hindus in parts of India's Tamil Nadu state still not share with the Dalits, formerly known as untouchables?

They insist on separate glasses for drinking tea and they do not allow the untouchables to go to the same barber shops.

They ban them from temples, cremation grounds and river bathing points, among other examples.

All this in a state that prides itself on being one of the most politically progressive and educationally advanced parts of the country.

But studies have found at least 45 different forms of "untouchability" being practised by upper caste Hindus against Dalits in Tamil Nadu.

Tags: india, racism

At Friday prayers, imams to slam terror

Wed, 21 May 2008 01:32:59 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com

LUCKNOW: The fight against terror is now going to get a Quranic stamp and clerics are going to raise their voice at Friday prayers.

The Movement Against Terrorism (MAT), a new front of moderate clerics, will exhort imams at mosques across north India to use the Friday prayer to speak out against the murderous Islamic groups.

It also attempts to answer the oft-heard criticism that Muslim clerics, even the more moderate ones, aren’t seen as doing enough to condemn terrorism.

"Quran does not endorse terrorism in any way. And so we must make it a point to propagate this during speeches everywhere, including Friday afternoon prayers," said Maulana Khalid Rasheed Firangi Maheli, the Naib Imam of Eidgah Aishbagh and a member of the executive committee of All-India Muslim Personal Law Board.

Rasheed said the recently launched campaign is already getting under the skin of terror groups.

Tags: religion, india, muslims

Indian billionaire signs deals with Hollywood production houses

Mon, 19 May 2008 22:38:47 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Indian billionaire Anil Ambani's Reliance Big Entertainment group says it has signed deals with eight Hollywood production houses.

Reliance plans to invest about $1bn (£514m) in 10 films over the next few years to extend its global reach.

The deal is being seen as a major coup in Indian business circles.

Anil Ambani - one of the most powerful men in India

The BBC's Karishma Vaswani in Mumbai (Bombay) says that as India's middle-classes have become more affluent, their cinematic tastes have also changed, and Hollywood films have flourished in India in the last few years.

But Indian entertainment firms are also keen to spread their wings overseas.

Tags: india, hollywood, entertainment

India children's health 'ignored'

Fri, 09 May 2008 19:11:38 GMT

clipped by: arifsali
clipper's remarks: More than half??

Well, the more visibility is good, eventually they will reduce the numbers as they progress.

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

More than half of Indian children under the age of five do not get the health care they need, according to a report by Save the Children.

It ranks India alongside Ghana when it comes to providing basic health care to its children under five years of age.

The annual report looks at whether developing countries are delivering health care effectively to children.

It found the Philippines was performing best with almost 69% of children able to get access to health care.

Ethiopia ranks last - only 16% of children under five get health care when they need it.

Indian girls are more likely to die than boys

Tags: india, children, health, healthcare

Dalai Lama

Thu, 01 May 2008 22:55:07 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.time.com

Millions of people turn to the Dalai Lama for inspiration, but to whom does he turn? He and his people have struggled all their lives with the audacity of hopelessness. Oppression and exile are their daily bread. Yet the Dalai Lama, 72, remains calm in the face of cruelty. What does he think of the human race? "We are the superior species on Earth but also the biggest troublemakers," he once told me.

China's rulers aren't like the British masters of colonial India, and the Dalai Lama's Gandhiesque nonviolent struggle won't give them twinges of conscience, leading to Tibet's freedom. If anything, Beijing has grown more ruthless in suppressing Tibetan aspirations, as we've seen this Olympic year. And yet he has found a way to think kindly of those who oppress his people and vilify his name.

I found him unwilling to show any harshness. He said to me, "I don't dislike the Chinese, only their actions."

Tags: dalai lama