SOCIALLY ACTIVE

Time magazine has picked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as its annual Person of the Year, the figure it believes had the most influence on events in 2010.

The 26-year-old billionaire was the subject of a 2010 film, The Social Network, charting Facebook’s rise.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange earlier won a Time readers’ poll on 2010’s most influential person. The annual feature has been a fixture since the 1920s, with the winner appearing on the front cover of Time.

The conservative Tea Party political movement was second choice of the magazine’s editors and correspondents, followed by Mr Assange, Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the 33 trapped Chilean miners.

In the readers’ poll, more than 382,000 favoured naming Mr Assange as Person of the Year, ahead of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan and pop star Lady Gaga. Mr Zuckerberg only made tenth place in the poll, garnering less than 20,000 votes.

Time managing editor Richard Stengel said Mr Zuckerberg’s social networking service was “transforming the way we live our lives every day”.

Mr Zuckerberg co-founded Facebook while a student at Harvard University in 2004. It now has more than 500 million users worldwide and employs more than 1,700 people.

In a statement, Mr Zuckerberg said the Time award was “a real honour and recognition of how our little team is building something that hundreds of millions of people want to use to make the world more open and connected. I’m happy to be a part of that.”

TO KILL THE MESSENGER

Web attacks on the Mastercard site have disrupted payments. The site is among several targeted by the Anonymous group of hackers, who have pledged to pursue firms that have withdrawn services from Wikileaks.

Mastercard, which stopped processing payments to the whistle-blowing site, said the attack had had “no impact” on people’s ability to use their cards.

But the BBC has been contacted by a payment firm that said its customers had “a complete loss of service”.

In particular, it said that an authentication service for online payments known as Mastercard’s SecureCode, had been disrupted. Other readers have also said that they have had problems with online payments. The scale of the problems is still unclear.

Mastercard has not responded to the claims.

It said in a statement that it was making “significant progress” in restoring full service to its website. “Our core processing capabilities have not been compromised and cardholder account data has not been placed at risk,” it said.

“While we have seen limited interruption in some web-based services, cardholders can continue to use their cards for secure transactions globally.”

Other firms that have distanced themselves from the site have also been hit in the recent spate of attacks including the Swiss bank, PostFinance, which closed the account of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

For rolling news outlets Wikileaks has been a dream come true with thousands of US embassy cables dribbling out titbits of sensitive information and providing new headlines on a daily and even hourly basis.

But for the US government, the revelations are less welcome. The site has become its bete noire and after making its displeasure clear, US firms that have dealings with it have been quick to turn their backs.

The troubles began for Wikileaks when Amazon which hosted its servers in the US, withdrew services saying the site was breaking its terms and conditions. They continued when EveryDNS, the domain name firm which allowed the Wikileaks.org address to be translated into an IP address, withdrew services.

KAREENA & PRIYANKA AT WAR

The B-town beauties, Priyanka Chopra and Kareena Kapoor, who don’t see eye to eye over Shahid Kapoor didn’t leave the golden opportunity to take digs at each other on Karan Johar’s controversial show Koffee with Karan. Kareena Kapoor who came along with beau Saif Ali Khan in the show said,
“I wonder where Priyanka got her accent from?”

When asked to comment on Kareena’s query, Priyanka Chopra, who came along with rumoured boyfriend Shahid Kapoor on Karan’s show had a smart reply for her arch rival, “I want to tell Kareena that I got my accent from the same place where her boyfriend (Saif Ali Khan) got his,” referring to Saif and her education overseas.

According to reports, Priyanka later told a couple of people in the industry, “I’m flattered that Kareena thinks I am a good actress. But otherwise I don’t think people take Bebo too seriously.”

Priyanka left no scope for doubt that the actors shared icy vibes, when she was asked what would she steal from computers of Bollywood superstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Shahid, Kareena and others. Priyanka giggled and asked, “Does Kareena have a computer in the first place?”

Well, over to you, Kareena!

FUN TIME IN MUMBAI

US President Barack Obama has announced $10bn (£6.2bn) in new trade deals with India.

He was speaking in Mumbai at the start of a 10-day Asian tour designed to boost US exports and create jobs. Obama also announced an easing of US export controls and rejected caricatures of India as a nation of “call centres.”

Visiting the scene of the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, he said India and the US were united against terrorism. “We will never forget,” he said at a memorial to victims of the attack by Islamic militants.

The outdoor memorial is a fountain with floating flowers just off the lobby of the Taj Mahal Palace hotel, where he and his wife are staying as guests.

He described the hotel as a symbol of India’s “strength and resilience”. He also wrote in a memorial book: “The United States stands in solidarity with all of Mumbai and all of India in working to eradicate the scourge of terrorism.”

The White House said the deals for new export business with India would help to support around 54,000 jobs in the United States.

• The sale by Boeing of 30 new 737 aircraft to private Indian airline SpiceJet. The White House says this will help support over 12,000 US jobs.
• Preliminary agreement had been reached on the Indian purchase of 10 Boeing C-17s military transport planes.
• The sale by GE of fighter 107 F414 jet engines to the Indian military.
• A separate deal with GE worth $500m (£309m) for the sale of six heavy duty gas turbines and three steam turbines to India’s Reliance Energy Ltd.
• Harley-Davidson plans a new plant in India to assemble American-made motorcycle kits.
• The White House said India had identified GE subsidiary GE Transportation, based in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Electro-Motive Diesel, of LaGrange, Illinois, a unit of Caterpillar Inc, as bidders to supply Indian railways with over 1,000 diesel locomotives over 10 years.

The president said the relationship between the US and India was one of the “defining and indispensable partnerships of the 21st Century.

HARD TO COMPREHEND

The death toll from a tsunami that hit several remote islands in Indonesia has risen to at least 400, officials say. Rescue teams on the Mentawai islands say hundreds are still missing, two days after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami in western Sumatra.

Officials say there were faults with an early warning system designed to alert locals to the 3m-high (10ft) wave. Indonesia’s president has cut short a trip to Vietnam to visit the islands and oversee the relief operation.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono flew back from a meeting with regional leaders to help deal with the tsunami aftermath. On Thursday he is expected to tour the region to monitor relief efforts. He will also be briefed on the rescue effort on Java, where an erupting volcano has caused chaos.

At least 10 villages on a series of islands known as the Pagai islands are thought to have been flattened by the tsunami, caused by the earthquake late on Monday. Waves reached 3m high and the water swept as far as 600m inland on South Pagai.

The first aerial images emerging from the Mentawai Islands showed bodies being collected from empty clearings where homes and buildings once stood before they were levelled by the power of the wave. Corpses were strewn along beaches and roads, said district chief Edison Salelo Baja.

Rescue teams are now finally on the ground, but they have yet to reach the worst affected areas, with bad weather delaying their work. The vast Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world’s most active areas for earthquakes and volcanoes.

More than 1,000 people were killed by an earthquake off Sumatra in September 2009.

In December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake off the coast of Aceh triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed a quarter of a million people in 13 countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

LET THE GAMES BEGIN

The 2010 Commonwealth Games have begun with a spectacular opening ceremony in Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Athletes from the 71 competing nations joined in a parade that began with 2006 hosts Australia and ended with India.

Prince Charles and Indian president Pratibha Patil announced the Games open, but organising committee chair Suresh Kalmadi was jeered by the crowd. The build-up to the Games had been blighted by concerns that venues and accommodation may not be completed.

However, the glittering opening ceremony, which charted both the heritage and present-day experience of India and featured about 9,000 performers went smoothly. In his speech, Kalmadi stated that India was ready to host the Games despite much-publicised problems in the build-up.

“There have been delays and many challenges but we have managed to rise above them all,” he said.

“Despite the adverse publicity on health, safety, rain and security, all the Commonwealth associations have stood by India as we have put together the biggest Games in Commonwealth history. “India is ready, ready to host the Commonwealth Games.” Kalmadi emphasised the legacy that will be left by the Games.

It has been estimated that as much as $6bn (£3.8bn) has been spent – 60 times the original estimate when the Games were awarded in 2003 – on infrastructure such as a new airport and metro system. Prince Charles described the staging of the 19th edition of the Games in India as “particularly fitting” as he spoke on behalf of the Queen. His message to the crowd arrived as the Queen’s baton completed a 112,000-mile relay that began almost a year ago at Buckingham Palace.

A vibrant performance of Jiyo, Utho, Bado, Jeeto, the theme song for the Games, by Bollywood’s AR Rahman, who composed the music for Slumdog Millionaire, marked the end of the ceremony.

The sporting action gets under way with the heats of the women’s 200m freestyle swimming at 0830 local time on Monday. Over the course of the following 11 days, 4,300 athletes will compete in 17 sports across 12 venues.

The Games, the first to be staged in India, have been dogged by problems with the athletes’ village being called “inhospitable” just last week. However, Games officials have worked round the clock to ensure competitions start as scheduled.

TIME TO LEAVE

US military vehicles leave the country through Kuwait

The last US combat brigade in Iraq has left the country, seven years after the US-led invasion.

The 4th Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, began crossing by land into Kuwait in the early hours of Thursday, a military spokesman said.

Some 50,000 US troops will remain until the end of 2011 to advise Iraqi forces and protect US interests.

A further 6,000 support troops will be in Iraq until the end of the month, when US combat operations will end.
‘Long-term commitment’

Stryker Brigade’s personnel drove out of Iraq in a convoy of armoured vehicles.

“The last one crossed [into Kuwait] at around 0600 (0300 GMT) this morning,” Lieutenant Colonel Eric Bloom said.

The US military restricted journalists embedded with the brigade from reporting on its movements until they were almost at the border.

After crossing the border, US troops told journalists of their relief at leaving Iraq.

“It’s just a whole bunch of stress just off my shoulders, but it feels good to be in Kuwait, about to head home,” Troy Danahy said.

“Best part of getting back to Kuwait? One, I know no one else will get hurt, and two, I’m going home,” Timothy Berrenar said.
‘Significant step’

State Department spokesman PJ Crowley said the US involvement in Iraq was far from over, but that it would be less intrusive and more civilian focused.

“We are ending the war… but we are not ending our work in Iraq. We have a long-term commitment to Iraq,” he told MSNBC.

A GRIM SITUATION

The International Monetary Fund says the floods that have struck Pakistan pose a “massive economic challenge” and it will review the country’s budget and financial prospects.

The IMF will start talks with Pakistani officials in Washington on Monday to assess how best to give help.

Tens of thousands more Pakistanis have been fleeing the floods, with the south now bearing the brunt.

Overall, about 1,600 people have been killed and 20 million affected.

Masood Ahmed, director of the Middle East and Central Asia department of the IMF, said in a statement: “The floods which have hit Pakistan in recent weeks and brought suffering to millions of people will also pose a massive economic challenge to the people and government of Pakistan.

“The scale of the tragedy means that the country’s budget and macroeconomic prospects, which are being supported by an IMF-financed programme, will also need to be reviewed.”

Mr Ahmed said that the IMF stood by Pakistan “at this difficult time”.

The IMF agreed a rescue package with Pakistan two years ago as the country was then weighed down by soaring inflation, shrinking reserves and fighting militancy.

The Pakistan government has said that the cost of rebuilding after the floods could be as high as $15bn.

Extensive damage to the agricultural industry as a whole is another heavy blow because this is such an important part of the economy.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands more Pakistanis are being displaced in the southern province of Sindh, which is now being described as the country’s worst hit province.

The UN says it has now raised about 70% of the $460m it called for in its emergency appeal, as donors pledged more money.

Pakistan has also accepted $5m in aid from its rival and neighbour India.

THE CORE ISSUES

Congresswoman Dina Titus on Main Street Mantra with Ajay Dayal.

Congresswoman Dina Titus addressed the concerns of the hardworking families across the state and nation on Main Street Mantra Talk Show with Ajay Dayal. The issues ranged from education to economy.

The key issue was jobs and how to get the hard working men and women on the main street get back on their feet in these hard economic times. Congresswoman presented various scenarios that she is and has been working to benefit the families.

To listen to the entire interview please click on the link above.

To listen to the entire show Listen to the entire show!

IT'S IN OUR HANDS

Census 2010 teams were invited to a thank you lunch at Palace Station on 21st August ‘10, as gesture of Mission Accomplished after having all the teams worked really hard to created awareness for Census 2010 and its benefits for our state.

One of the teams was Southern Nevada Asian Pacific Coalition for Census 2010 (SNAP-CC) is a collaboration of Asians and Pacific Island leaders, community organizations, businesses and advocates whose aim is to facilitate a Complete Count of their community.

Together it represents a multitude of Asian and Pacific Islander businesses, communities, and organizations including the Asian American Justice Center (AAJC), Asian Pacific Labor Alliance (APALA), Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce, Hawaiian Civic Club, Japanese American Citizens League (JACL), Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA), National Federation of Filipino Americans and Associations (NaFFAA), UNLV Rebel R.O.A.R. (Raising Our Asian Rights) and many more organizations/clubs and ethnic affiliations.

Founded by its members Vilma Gorre and Betty Atkins, and other very active community leaders including Duy Nguyen, Bessie Lee-Oh, to address the need of community to participate in the upcoming 2010 Census.

The core mobilized itself due to a sense of duty and concern on the full representation of the community, particularly those who are hard to reach and will present as a challenge to count.  Their primary goal was to partner with the Census in the Complete Count and mobilize their efforts to provide Questions and Answer Centers(QAC) and Language Assistance Centers (LAC) with the various community leaders and organizations who will be solicited to coalesce with SNAP-CC in its drive for a Complete Count of the APIA community.

Salve Vargas Spensko-Edelman, Partnership Specialists for the Native Hawaiians, Asians and Pacific Islanders was invited to meet with SNAP-CC to provide resource information and secure the partnership form required.

SNAP-CC meets regularly and engaged other members of the community to reach their goal in meeting the APIA Complete Count.  They established committees and events to ensure that these goals were met including an Asian Unity Fest to bring the ethnically diverse community to an awareness on the importance of participating in the census.

It is time now for all to come together and build a consensus to bring the benefits to hurting families on the main street in these tough economic time. Thank you for getting involved.