Beauties of California!

Back on the shore of SF, you can choose to travel through the city in cable cars which take you to the tourist spots, including Lombard Street, aka the ‘crookedest’ (most winding) street in the world. The eight sharp turns and a one-way street not only make you test your driving skills, but also your senses as you try to observe and admire the view of the beautiful houses and landscape around you but of also the distant Bay and the Golden Gate Bridge.

To conclude your active day in San Francisco, take a break from the travel and driving and stroll down the Piers, especially Pier 39. Robust with life and rife with live local musicians, this pier is suffused with the natural smell of walrus’s as well as the local farmer’s market. And with fine dining, available in the form of five star restaurants with a romantic setting, Pier 39 offers you all the variety for anyone and everyone, literally! My favourite destination in San Francisco is the stretch of Piers from 35 to 39, as I can walk along the Bay and get some time alone or go shopping across the street for local memorabilia and also satisfy my extravagant side by splurging in shops like Gap, Macy’s etc.

During my stay in California, my monthly mantra, without fail, was a trip to San Francisco to grab an escape from routine and a chance to imbue interesting atmospheres and cultures.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Obama and Lincoln

Throughout his election campaign last year and this, President-elect Barack Obama promised to make US politics return to the bipartisan ethos. If his selection of people to fill the key cabinet posts is anything to go by, he has already scored here. From Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, to Economic Policy Advisor Lawrence Summers, to likely Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and to New York Federal Reserve's Timothy Geithner as the new Treasury Secretary and Commerce Secretary Bill Richardson; all are veteran Washington hands and belong to different ideologies altogether.

While Geithner has lent a hand to direct efforts to soothe financial markets and stressed that banks vital to the worldwide financial scheme should function under an integrated regulatory scaffold, Clinton has a comprehensive profile both as a political person in charge in her own right, and as the wife of a former US President. Her appointment could help Obama mend the only chink in his armour – foreign policy. The passionate and plainspeaking Lawrence Summers has previously served as Treasury Secretary in the Clinton regime and is pegged by both Republicans and Democrats as the best hand to deal with the current crisis. Bill Richardson’s potential appointment as Secretary of Commerce will not only bring the much needed experience in that department, but will also inject confidence in the Hispanic community after disillusionments of the Bush era. The appointment of Tom Daschle as Secretary Of Health And Human Services is a tactical move to make the Left fringe of his party happy.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

Lt. Col. Purohit's case becomes murkier and murkier as the Maharashtra police contradicts what the central government has been saying so far.

By all available accounts of army officials close to him, Purohit has had a distinguished career. In an interesting twist, the ATS now hounding and investigating him, had hosted Purohit at their Mumbai headquarters in 2005 to deliver guest lectures and conduct a day-long training programme on “operational techniques and strategy.” Now, it appears, his process of de-learning could have begun. Surprisingly, the ATS which made these charges appeared cagy to defend them when the case came up for hearing before a lower court in Nasik last week, which is potentially a source of huge embarrassment for the government. Just how politically motivated is the ATS?

The case being made by the ATS is at total odds with the central government’s position on the blasts which laid the blame for explosions and horrendous deaths on Pakistan-inspired jehadis. In the case of Samjhauta Express blasts, the National Security advisor and India’s defacto intelligence boss, M.K.Narayanan, was categorical in his assertion that Islamabad was behind them. After months of pointing fingers at Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba, the ATS has made a U-turn and declared that it was actually Purohit who had supplied RDX used for the Samjhauta blast.

Questions one security official: “If Purohit masterminded Samjhauta blasts, what intelligence inputs did India give to Pakistan to act on in this case at the various anti-terror mechanism meetings?” It is a tricky question which provides no easy answers......Continue

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Barack Obama

Said Nadkarni: "There is a degree of xenophobia among Americans — what is not like them is viewed with an element of suspicion. I think Obama is going to change that." Nadkarni was talking about how the public discourse on immigration affected her daily interactions with the American people. While she acknowledged that some Indian Americans had conflicting views on the candidate best equipped to address the key issues affecting them — such as the Indo-US civilian nuclear treaty and security — she herself never changed her mind about Obama.

A pre-election poll by the non-profit organization Bridging Nations immediately before the election had predicted that fully 81 per cent of Indian-Americans favoured Obama and Joe Biden, with barely 19 per cent rooting for John McCain and Sarah Palin.

McCain's steep drop in popularity in recent months is being blamed on the ongoing economic slump that brought down Bush's approval rating to below 30 per cent. Worse, McCain's choice of the inexperienced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his running mate found few takers among large sections of traditional Republican voters.

A national election exit poll conducted on behalf of AP and other major US TV networks said responses from nearly 10,500 voters after voting suggested that Obama had succeeded in mobilizing African-American voters to an unprecedented extent. He won 95 per cent of the black vote against McCain's 4 per cent. Moreover, Obama was also a major hit with the Hispanic voters whom Bush had partly succeeded in winning over in 2004. McCain led slightly among white voters.

But no surveys or polls are needed to conclude that the Americans know just what is good for them and the rest of the world. The melting pot that is the US of A has shown that the man holding its top job can be of any origin — and that black is better than white if it can deliver better.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

PAKISTAN : IMPOVERISHMENT

"In the last 30 years, we have not invested in our infrastructure, both physical and human. A lot of our infrastructure is non-productive and is falling apart. The basic problem is that the economy is not producing what it ought to. Our annual food production growth rate is one per cent, population is growing at 2.5 per cent per annum, so shortages are bound to occur," he said. Bengali believes that the Benazir Income Support Program would enable the poorest segment of the society, that earns Rs 5,000 per month, to boost its income by 20 per cent. He dismisses the notion that the bulk of the money earmarked for the scheme would be appropriated by a bureaucracy that is corrupt to the core.

"The money will be directly transferred from the ministry of finance to beneficiaries through an electronic postal system," he argues. About 3.5 million people would benefit from the scheme.However, given the track record of Pakistan, one could hardly believe that the bulk of the amount earmarked for families living below the poverty line would not be misappropriated by a corrupt bureaucracy working under still more corrupt ministers.....Continue

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The Sunday Indian

The last time i called you bro...

IIPM Publication

Porcupines are tricky creatures. When they fight, they leave each other bloody. And when they mate, it is no different. The same can be said about China and Taiwan. Landmark financial agreements inked between China and Taiwan this week have brought the long-time antagonists one more stride nearer to ending what is now a six decades long conflict. However, deep-rooted political divergences from a rupture that keeps the Cold War alive in East Asia threaten supplementary reconciliation progress in the near future.

Marking the highest-level contact between China and Taiwan's administration in 60 years, Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou met in brief with Beijing's most high-ranking herald for Taiwan, Chen Yunlin, this week post latter’s signing of the deal with his Taiwanese counterpart PK Chiang as thousands of demonstrators deafeningly yelled anti-China slogans outside.

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The Sunday Indian