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“Life is a succession of lessons which must be lived to be understood..”
| VBA's Positive News |
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NASA rover Curiosity makes historic Mars landing, beams back photos
NASA's Mars science rover Curiosity performed a daredevil descent through pink Martian skies late on Sunday to clinch an historic landing inside an ancient crater, ready to search for signs the Red Planet may once have harboured key ingredients for life. Mission controllers burst into applause and cheers as they received signals confirming that the car-sized rover had survived a perilous seven-minute descent NASA called the most elaborate and difficult feat in the annals of robotic spaceflight.
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Touchdown: NASA rover Curiosity lands on Mars
In a show of technological wizardry, the robotic explorer Curiosity blazed through the pink skies of Mars, steering itself to a gentle landing inside a giant crater for the most ambitious dig yet into the red planet's past. 'Touchdown confirmed,' said NASA engineer Allen Chen. 'We're safe on Mars.' Minutes after the landing signal reached Earth at 10:32 p.m. PDT, Curiosity beamed back the first black-and-white pictures from inside the crater showing its wheel and its shadow, cast by the afternoon sun.
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Bhutan is happy to be one of smallest nations at Games
Ask archer Sherab Zam from the remote Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan about the highlight of her Olympic experience and she has no doubts -- meeting the Queen of England. Sherab was in the dining room of the athletes' village in Olympic Park when Queen Elizabeth popped by, unannounced. With only two athletes, Bhutan has one of the smallest teams at London. The other 10 with only two athletes are East Timor, Sao Tome and Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Mauritania, Gambia, Dominica, Sierra Leone, the British Virgin Islands, Somalia, and Nauru. Bhutan's two Olympians have gotten used to explaining several times a day that Bhutan is a mountainous country wedged between India and China with 700,000 people, and, yes, it is the country with a happiness index used to measure its success. 'We are a small country but a happy one, and one of the smallest at the Olympics. Lots of people know nothing about us and have to look us up on a map,' said Sherab with her trademark smile.
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US Secretary of State, on Africa trip, praises Malawi
UUS Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton offered praise and pledged continued American support to the impoverished southern African nation of Malawi on Sunday, making a brief a stop here to visit with the country's first woman President, only the second female African head of state. A longtime champion for women's empowerment, Clinton met Malawian President Joyce Banda in the capital of Lilongwe and encouraged her to stay on a course of economic reform to make the country more attractive to foreign investment.
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Video of the Day:
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World Round-Up
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Hamid Ansari set to win Vice President poll comfortably
New Delhi: UPA nominee Hamid Ansari appears set to get a second term as Vice President by emerging a clear winner against NDA's Jaswant Singh in a direct contest for the post on Tuesday.
The election for the post of Vice President has seen UPA and its allies, the Left as also other parties supporting it from outside backing the incumbent.
A total of 788 Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha MPs are eligible to vote in the poll to elect the 14th Vice President.
The UPA managers are confident that 75-year-old Ansari is set to get at least 500 votes in a contest in which Ansari has a definite edge as far as the arithmetic is concerned.
The Congress itself has 204 members in Lok Sabha and 71 in Rajya Sabha. UPA constituents Trinamool Congress has 19 MPs in Lok Sabha and nine in Rajya Sabha, the DMK has 18 members in Lok Sabha and seven in Rajya Sabha, the NCP nine in Lok Sabha and seven in Rajya Sabha and the RLD has five in Lok Sabha. The National Conference has three in Lok Sabha and two in Rajya Sabha.
Mohammad Hamid Ansari (born in Kolkata ,West Bengal,India on 1 April 1937) is the 12th and current Vice President of India. He also presently serves as President of the Indian Institute of Public Administration and Chancellor of Punjab University, Chandigarh.
Ansari worked as an ambassador and served as Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University from 2000 to 2002.[1] Later he was Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities from 2006 to 2007. He was elected as Vice President of India on 10 August 2007 and took office on 11 August 2007. He has been nominated by the UPA, India's ruling coalition, as their candidate for the 2012 Vice Presidential Election. Nitish Kumar, a party leader from the NDA, has also pledged support to Ansari's candidature.
Ansari is a renowned West Asia scholar and has written trenchantly on the Palestinian issue and taken positions inconvenient to the Indian official line on Iraq and Iran. He questioned India’s vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency on Iran’s nuclear programme where India voted against Iran. He said that though the Indian Government claimed to have acted on "its own judgment," this was not borne out by facts.
Ansari was born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) on 1 April 1937 though his family belongs to Ghazipur in Uttar Pradesh. He is the grand nephew of former Congress President Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, a leader of the Indian independence movement. Ansari earned a double doctarate studied at Shimla's St. Edwards High School, the St. Xavier's College of the University of Calcutta and pursued Ph.d at the Aligarh Muslim University. He started his career as a civil servant in the Indian Foreign Service in 1961. He was Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, Indian High Commissioner to Australia and Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan, Iran and Saudi Arabia. He was awarded the Padma Shree in 1984. He was also the Vice-Chancellor of the Aligarh Muslim University from May 2000 to March 2002. He is known for his role in ensuring compensation to the victims of the Gujarat riots and pushing for a complete re-look into the relief and rehabilitation for riot victims since 1984.
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Astrology
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Aries March 21 to April 19
If you've experienced any frustrating miscommunication lately with a child or even your sweetheart, after today it'll be easier to have a conversation that allows you to both to clarify your thoughts and become more receptive to one another. Also, if there's been any stall in a creative project or if you've given it extensive revision, you'll begin to see rewards for your effort. You'll be glad you spent the extra time on this endeavor because now it's ready to shine.
Taurus April 20 to May 20
Domestic misunderstandings will have an opportunity for resolution after today, thanks to Mercury turning direct in your home and family sector. If you have any real estate transaction in the works that has been on hold for the last few weeks, after today you'll find that the red tape begins to clear. It'll be a good time to sign contracts or make any vital decision with a relative by the end of the week since everyone will communicate clearly.
Gemini May 21 to June 20
 Mercury, your ruling planet, will turn direct today after having been retrograde since July 14. Although Gemini tends to feel these retrograde cycles more than others, this one might have been especially challenging since it fell in your message sector. Thankfully, after today you'll get back on track with all writing assignments, contracts, and negotiations. In fact, you'll soon have a glorious edge back in all communications matters!
Cancer June 21 to July 22
After today you can move forward with confidence in your financial decisions. If you've spent the last few weeks revising your budget or rethinking your approach to money altogether, you have certainly reaped the benefits of Mercury's retrograde in your income sector. Today Mercury will turn direct, allowing you to finally put the new ideas into practice. You might also initiate an important conversation about your earning capacity now since VIPs are more likely to listen.
Leo July 23 to Aug. 22
 Expect a brilliant edge starting today in all efforts to promote your personal agenda, innovative ideas, and even in negotiations. Mercury has been traveling retrograde in your identity sector since July 14 but will now begin to orbit direct, much to your joy! You'll benefit considerably from this shift in energy since now you'll easily iron out any previous misconceptions in all areas of communications. Speak with clarity and confidence - it's time that you're heard!
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India to help Sri Lanka set up SEZs
India will help Sri Lanka establish a special economic zone to manufacture auto components in Trincomalee, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma said here on Friday.
“I cannot talk about how much investment will happen in this,’’ he said, addressing a press conference.
The SEZ would promote exports to the production chains in India..
A Joint Task Force on the SEZ would be set up , he said, after inaugurating the India Show here. The task force would submit its report within 90 days, he added.
Pharma hub
The Minister also announced the setting up of a pharmaceutical manufacturing hub in Sri Lanka. He said that within 30 days a pharma industry team from India would visit Sri Lanka to work out the details.
The Minister said that India and Sri Lanka would aim to double bilateral trade by 2015, which crossed the $5-billion mark this year.
The signing of Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) would bring more investment and services into Sri Lanka. The Minister said that the two Commerce Secretaries would resume dialogue on CEPA, and resolve all related issues. He asserted that Sri Lanka would be given preferential access to the “big Indian market.”
Trade issues
Earlier, Mr. Sharma, and his Sri Lankan counterpart, Rishad Bathiudeen, held a round of informal discussions on outstanding trade issues. Sri Lanka’s Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa also participated.
Sri Lanka has been asking India to be a “little large hearted” on outstanding issues in the Free Trade Regime, while India has been wanting to go to the next level, and progress on CEPA. Sri Lanka wants to first address issues in FTA ahead of taking up CEPA, which has been in the making for more than half-a-decade now. A formal meeting will be held during the course of Mr. Sharma’s four-day stay here.
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10 best foods to reduce cholesterol
Have a salmon fish dinner. Snack on a handful of nuts. Pour a dash of olive oil in your salad.
And bite into that sinister chocolate. Now you can do all this guilt-free! All these foods help in fighting bad cholesterol. According to the American Heart Association, 'You can reduce cholesterol in your blood by eating healthy foods'. So, here we are today with our list of top 10 cholesterol fighting foods.
Oats: If you change your morning meal to oats then you can do your cholesterol level a whole lot of good. Do note that two servings of oats can lower LDL cholesterol by 5.3% in only 6 weeks. Essentially, oats contain a substance called beta-glucan which absorbs bad cholesterol.
Red Wine: Here's yet another reason to toast to your health. The red grapes used in the manufacturing of red wine have an important effect on cholesterol levels. Two glasses of red wine in a week can do you a whole lot of good.
Salmon and fatty Fish: Full of Omega-3 fatty acids, salmon is a natural health wonder, which helps in keeping heart conditions such as heart attacks, stroke and high cholesterol levels at bay. Fishes such as salmon, sardines and herring help in raising good cholesterol levels by 4%.
Nuts: Mono-unsaturated fats (found in nuts, seeds etc.) have the lowest fatty acid molecules and are the best of the three fats, namely poly-saturated fats, saturated fats and mono-unsaturated fats. Nuts are the best way to get those required healthy fats into your body without feeling guilty. Since the fats that come from nuts are natural and are not chemically processed, this makes them heart healthy, filling, and nutritious options.
Beans: Excellent for the heart, ½ a cup of beans added in our diet (in the form of any dish or soup), helps in lowering cholesterol levels by 8%. You should try black, kidney, or pinto beans; each one of them supplies about one-third of your day's fiber needs.
Tea: Tea has antioxidants and less amounts of caffeine than coffee. An eight-ounce cup of coffee contains around 135 mg caffeine; tea contains only 30 to 40 mg per cup. Tea helps in protecting your bones because of the presence of phytochemicals in them. It is also a great defense against LDL cholesterol levels.
Chocolate: Chocoholics can celebrate with a healthy dose of dark chocolate as it is full of antioxidants and cholesterol-reducing properties. According to a Spanish study published in 2010 in the "Journal of Hepatology,", "the antioxidants in dark chocolate reduce the damage that can occur to blood vessels, which can further threaten the health of people with cirrhosis. The dark chocolate can help prevent the blood vessels in the liver from rupturing".
Spinach. Popeye the sailor was quite right when crediting his muscle power to this green leafy vegetable. It is believed that spinach contains around 13 flavonoid compounds which keep us away from cancer, heart diseases and osteoporosis. 1/2 a cup of this lutein-rich food, daily, guards us against heart attacks.
Olive oil: This oil has many health benefits. It contains mono-unsaturated fatty acids which lower bad cholesterol and triglycerides, without lowering good cholesterol levels. Different stages of pressing and processing yield different varieties of olive oil.
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Virgo Aug. 23 to Sept. 22
If you've felt as if your mind has been in a state of foggy confusion since July 14 you'll feel delighted to know that starting today, the clouds will begin to disappear! Mercury will turn direct and whatever idea you may have been revising quietly in the background will soon be ready to show to the world. You'll want to continue working on any writing or communications project privately, however, now you'll feel a stronger sense of mental clarity.
Libra Sept. 23 to Oct. 22
Expect your social life to become more hectic and to start moving along a more positive course. Mercury will turn direct in the area of your chart ruling friendships and group involvement, allowing you to clear up any potential misunderstanding that might have occurred over the last couple of weeks. In addition, if you've been planning to launch a website or social media campaign, you'll have a fantastic chance for success now.
Scorpio Oct. 23 to Nov. 21
 Starting today, you'll begin to implement any revisions you've come up with over the last few weeks relating to your professional ambitions. Mercury will turn direct in your career sector, which will also allow you to move forward in discussions or negotiations for a promotion or to launch a new business endeavor of your own. If you've felt as though VIPs weren't really paying attention to you lately, that phase will be a thing of the past. It's time to be heard.
Sagittarius Nov. 22 to Dec. 21
If you've been relearning a subject you thought you mastered, chances are that you'll be glad you put forth the effort to brush up on it. In fact, the new tidbits you've picked up recently will now be ready for you to implement and possibly even teach others about. It'll also be a fantastic time to plan for that long distance trip you may have felt was on hold recently. Any setbacks will begin to dissipate.
Capricorn Dec. 22 to Jan. 19
 A decision about a joint financial matter or investment opportunity can now happen with intelligibility and confidence. It's likely that you've done your homework and have mulled over the pros and cons, and you'll be ready to act. Also, if there's been an unusually long delay with paperwork surrounding a line of credit, investment opportunity, or even a tax issue, after today you should be able to get the answers you've been waiting for.
Aquarius Jan. 20 to Feb. 18
 You may have noticed tension in the communications department lately between you and your spouse or partner. It's probable that one or both of you have had more difficulty understanding each other's perspective and finding common ground. As a result, coming to an agreement about any decision might have felt impossible. Luckily, after today this will change and you'll have an extraordinary edge in all matters of collaboration - whether business or personal.
Pisces Feb. 19 to March 20
Lately you might feel as if you'll never get through the mounds of paperwork across your desk. When it came to making progress in a work assignment, there may have been extensive delays, revisions, or red tape blocking any ability to reach a deadline. And at the office, you might have experienced a frustrating misunderstanding with a co-worker. Thankfully, after today you'll see a major difference as all of these communications related stressors will begin to melt away.
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Moral Story
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SMS
Life, in all ranks and situations, is an outward occupation, an actual and active work.
LOVE & RELATIONSHIPS
“Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.”
LEADERSHIP & SUCCESS
A leader has the vision and conviction that a dream can be achieved. He inspires the power and energy to get it done.
Three life insurance salesmen of different countries were having a chat.
Pakistani: When a man died, we processed the claim and delivered the check within 24 hours.
Indian: When a man died, we delivered a check the same evening.
American: That’s nothing. Our office is on the 20th floor of the WTC building. A man was working on the 50th floor. He slipped and fell. We handed him his check as he passed our floor!
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Barkatullah University to hold first test for PhD, M Phil on Sept 22
BHOPAL: Barkatullah University, for the first time, will organise entrance tests of M Phil and PhD on September 22. University officially announced the dates on Monday.
Announcing the dates, university authorities said entrance test would comprise one multiple objective question paper having 100 questions of one mark each covering all basic papers of post-graduate level subjects.
Eligible candidates seeking admission to M Phil or PhD will have to submit their application on prescribed form with the requisite fee of Rs 2,500 by cash or demand draft drawn in the favour registrar Barkatullah University. The form can be downloaded from BU's official website. The application form should reach registrar or on before August 30.
Candidates who have qualified in national level tests, including NET, GATE and state level tests like MPSLET, accredited by UGC or teacher fellowship holders or M Phil degree holders through an entrance test are exempted from the entrance test of PhD.
However, such candidates will have necessarily apply in the prescribed form and submit the fee of Rs 2,500 for admission in PhD and M Phil programmes.
Under the PhD programmes, there will be 42 disciplines in which students can apply which includes applied economics and business management, applied aquaculture, Arabic, bio-science, bio-technology, botany, chemistry, commerce, computer science, drawing and painting, economics, education, electronics, yoga, English, genetics, geography, geology, Hindi, history, home science, law, environment science and limnology, linguistics, management, mathematics, microbiology, military science, music, Persian, pharmacy, philosophy, physical education, physics, political science, psychology, Sanskrit, sociology, statistics, technical education, Urdu and zoology.
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Super Saina returns to rousing welcome
NEW DELHI: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal on Tuesday returned to a rousing reception after winning a historic bronze medal at the Olympic Games in London.
Saina was flanked by her father Harvir Singh, coach Pullela Gopichand and several secuity personnel as she arrived in the national capital early Tuesday morning on a British Airways flight.
The 20-year-old showed no signs of a jet lag as she smiled and greeted several cheering fans, who jostled to catch a glimpse of her at the Indira Gandhi International Airport from where she took a connecting flight to her base Hyderabad.
Saina who bagged the bronze medal in London under fortuitous circumstances when her opponent -- world no. 2 Xin Wang -- was leading by a game and 1-0 before withdrawing from the bronze medal contest.
Wang twisted her knee late in the opening game when attempting an acrobatic smash from the rear court.
The Chinese shuttler was unable to continue the contest and the bronze went to Saina who became only the second Indian woman after weightlifter Karnam Malleswari (bronze in 2000 Sydney) to clinch an Olympic medal.
It was also the country's 10th individual medal since its first - a bronze - in 1952 by wrestler Kashaba Jadhav and its third in the ongoing Olympics after rifle shooter Gagan Narang's bronze on July 30 and pistol marksman Vijay Kumar's silver on August 3.
The other badminton players who also landed with Saina were men's singles quarterfinalist P Kashyap and women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and Jwala Gutta.
Another coach Edwin Iriawan was also a part of the badminton contingent which returned.
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Ek Tha Tiger
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Ek Tha Tiger
Movie Name : Ek Tha Tiger
Release Date : August 15, 2012
Genre : Thriller, Romance
Producer : Aditya Chopra
Director : Kabir Khan
Music Director : Pritam
Cast : Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Ranvir Shorey, Girish Karnad.
Synopsis:
In the dark world of intelligence and espionage...all information is guarded in the name of national security...But some stories escape the fiercely guarded classified files...stories that become legends.
This is one such story...a story that shook the very foundation of this dark world. In a government employees' neighbourhood in New Delhi, there lived a rugged, handsome and mysterious bachelor about whom his neighbours knew nothing.
That was because he was India's top spy, an officer with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), India's external intelligence agency. This man was known even in official corridors as TIGER (Salman Khan).
Tiger is sent on a relatively easy and safe mission to Dublin, Ireland to observe a scientist of Indian origin who is suspected of sharing his research findings with the Pakistan defence establishment. Tiger attempts to meet the scientist but it is not successful. He tries to befriend the scientist's part time home caretaker, Zoya (Katrina Kaif). As Tiger begins to get closer to Zoya...he begins to discover his human side.
For the first time in his life Tiger falls in love....
What follows is a tumultuous journey that Tiger and Zoya embark upon, battling the dark world of intelligence and espionage that forbids its soldiers from falling in love...
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the longest street in the world is Yonge street in Toronto Canada measuring 1,896 km (1,178 miles)
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" INSPIRING STORY "
The cat, partridge and the hare
Long time ago there lived a partridge under a
tree. The partridge one day decided to go to
the fields and indulge itself in the food there.
But it did not return for many days as it found
the fields a good source of food.
In the meantime a hare came along one day
and occupied the same dwelling which the
partridge used to live in. The partridge
however returned from the fields having
grown plump from the food. It wanted to claim
the dwelling for itself. A fight ensued and the
hare was saying that the dwelling belonged to
whoever occupied it.
Then they both decided to contact a
supposedly learned cat. So one day, they both
approached the cat with their problem. The
cat, which was actually a hypocrite who
earned his livelihood by posing as a priest,
decided to take advantage of the situation. On
hearing the partridge and the hare from a
distance, it said, "Sorry! I can't hear you from
that far a distance because of old age. Don't
worry I mean no harm to you. Come closer
and both of you tell me your stories."
They were fooled into coming near and as
soon as he could lay his hands on both of
them, he killed them both and had a meal.
Story moral: When two people fight, the third
mediator has the advantage.
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“Life is a grindstone. Whether it grinds us down or polishes us up depends on us.”
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