I have a Dream

Martin Luther KingForty five years ago On 28 August, 1963, Martin Luther King delivered “I have a dream speech” on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington which inspired millions around the world towards equality and tolerance. The next year, King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. On April 4th,1968 Dr King was shot dead in the southern US city of Memphis, Tennessee.

“…I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: “We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal”. Read the full speech here.

Birth of Two New Nations.

Two new nationsRussia formally recognizes the independence of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. Leaders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which have had de facto independence since the early 1990s, thanked Russia. The US state department had said that recognition of the two provinces’ independence would be “a violation of Georgian territorial integrity” and “inconsistent with international law”. Russian president Medvedev called on all other countries to follow suit.“That was a no easy choice to make, but it is the sole chance of saving people’s lives,” he said. US and western European countries recognized Kosovo’s independence early this year amid strong protection from Russia. There are 192 member countries in United Nations, even though Kosovo and Vatican City are recognized as independent countries they are not members of UN. With the addition of two new countries there are 196 countries in the world now.

McCain ahead of Obama : POLL

ObamaRepublican presidential candidate McCain took his first lead on Obama in the monthly Reuters/Zogby poll. Poll shows McCain has a 5 point lead. The poll was conducted among 1 089 votes over the phone. Most national polls have given Obama a narrow lead over McCain throughout the summer. In June Obama had a 5 point lead in the Reuters/Zogby poll. Obama still has a strong support among voters between the ages of 18 and 29. He won 52 percent support among young voters.

US offensive Killed 76 Civilians in Afghan

Afghanistan WarAfghan interior ministry claimed that 76 civilians were killed in a US-led operation in western Afghanistan. The ministry said most of the victims were children. U.S.-led coalition forces said that 30 militants had been killed in an air strike in Shindand district. Air support was called after a patrol of Afghan and coalition soldiers were ambushed by insurgents.

Image Credit: http://flickr.com/photos/pingnews/499010349/

Iran Plans to Send first Astronaut to Space in 10 Years

Iran RocketIran plans to send a manned rocket into space in the next 10 years, Fars News agency reported. Iran announced last Sunday that it successfully launched a home-made satellite-carrier rocket named Safir (messenger) and placed a dummy satellite into orbit. But U.S. officials said the vehicle which Iran said had delivered a dummy satellite into space failed shortly after lift off. Iran planned to put a “series of satellites” into space by 2010 to aid natural disaster management programs and improve telecommunications, said Iranian Space Organization chief Reza Taghipour. Iran and some other Islamic countries has been constructing an Islamic satellite called “Besharat” (Good News). Its a noticeable achievement for the country despite long-time sanctions imposed by the West.

Internet Fraud doesn’t Get the Attention

PhishingPhishing, Malware and Viruses costs consumers $7.1 billion in 2007. But its a concern of many that most internet fraud is not prosecuted by US government. Even though loss by internet fraud is increased by $2 billion from the previous year,U.S. federal and state law enforcement authorities are doing little to resolve what has become a multi-billion-dollar problem. Phishing is an attempt to steal your personal data in the form of fraudulent e-mail or website claiming to be legitimate seeking identifiable information.

Fragile fictions of ’sovereignty’ and ‘territorial integrity’

Tug of WarJust a few months ago the United States along with Britain, Germany and a host of Western states, embraced the unilateral declaration of independence of Kosovo from Serbia, over the vehement protests of Russia. The Western states solemnly declared that the will of the majority of Kosovans could not be ignored for the sake of ’sovereignty’ or ‘territorial integrity’. Last week these roles were laughably reversed. It was the West which backed Georgia’s onslaught into South Ossetia to end the rebellion - even though the entire population there, along with that of Abhazia, clearly want to be free of Georgian rule. The two contrasting situations have revealed the utter hypocrisy of the United States, Europe and the Russia when it comes to notions of ’sovereignty’ or ‘territorial integrity’; they have amply illustrated that whether these are important principles or fragile fictions depends wholly on if and how they suit or frustrate the self-interested maneuvers of powerful states.

Image Credit:http://photo.net/photo/pcd3945/tug-of-war-35.4.jpg

Beijing Olympics Medal Count.

Medal Count 2008 Olympics

Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 China Flag China 22 8 5 35
2 United States United States 10 9 15 34
3 Germany Germany 7 2 3 12
4 South Korea South Korea 6 7 3 16
5 Italy Italy 6 4 3 13
6 Australia Australia 5 4 7 16
7 Japan Japan 5 3 3 11
8 Russia Russian Fed 3 8 3 14
9 France France 2 7 6 15
10 Great Britain Great Britain 2 2 3 7

For a complete list of medal count see the Google gadget at the bottom right. China still leads with 22 gold medals.

Beijing Olympics Medal Count.

Medal Count 2008 Olympics

      Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 China Flag China 6 2 0 8
2 South Korea South Korea 3 2 0 5
3 United States United States 2 2 4 8
4 Czech Republic Czech Republic 2 0 0 2
5 Italy Italy 1 2 1 4
6 Japan Japan 1 0 2 3
7 Australia Australia 1 0 1 2
7 Spain Spain 1 0 1 2
7 Netherlands Netherlands 1 0 1 2
10 Great Britain Great Britain 1 0 0 1

So far China leads with 6 Gold medals in Diving, Shooting,Judo and Weight lifting. United States won 2 Gold medals in fencing and swimming. 3 of the Chinese Gold medals won by women. For a complete list of medal count see the Google gadget at the bottom right.

Hindus World’s cleanest people

ShowerAmericans comes to second followed by Russians as cleaner people in the world. On average Americans take shower twice a day.  The majority of Russians take shower daily. The Hindus are the cleanest people in the world. Hindus wash their hands and bodies twice as often as Germans and 1.5 times as often as Americans. One should note that world runs out of its fresh water reserves very quickly and a serious fresh water shortage is in sight. A regular shower requires about 50 liters of water.

China behind Cyber Attacks

MatrixTitan Rain was the U.S. government’s designation given to a series of coordinated attacks on American computer systems. Titan Rain hackers gained access to many U.S. computer networks, including those at Lockheed Martin, Sandia National Laboratories, Redstone Arsenal, and NASA. At the International Crime Science Conference held in London, UK security expert, John Walker, CTO of forensics consultancy Secure-Bastion, said that the Chinese government was behind the ‘Titan Rain’ attacks. The academic made his comments during a Q&A session when he was asked about state-sponsored terrorism. The attacks were identified as coming from servers in China, but the Chinese government has never officially been accused of being behind the assault. The International Crime Science Conference is organised by the Centre for Security and Crime Science at University College London.

See Also:
Pentagon Site hacked.

Obama gets more donation in Europe.

Barack ObamaIt seems like Obama is more popular than McCain in Europe. His campaign has raised roughly 10 times more money than the republican candidate. According to Federal election commission reports Obama’s campaign has raised at least $1 million from donors in Europe. In overall funding raising, Obama has raked in $338 million while McCain raised about $126.3 million. Does this huge disparity in fund raising mean something?