Obama Diwali Celebrated In White House

This is the first time in the history of the United States that a sitting President not only hosted a Diwali ceremony but was also present at the function.Indian government and Indian people are very happy on this Diwali as the American president Barack Obama himself celebrated the Indian lights festival.

"This coming Saturday, Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists, here in America and around the world, will celebrate this holiday by lighting diyas, or lamps, which symbolise the victory of light over darkness, and knowledge over ignorance," said Obama at a ceremony in the East Room.

Obama said at his ceremonial speech in white house. It was previous president George .W Bush who actually started that tradition but he never took part himself but now Obama has taken a step ahead of litting the lamp and of taking part in ceremony by himself. Obama went to Indian treaty room and lit lamp with a candle then he listen the speech of “pandit” who was reciting from the sacred book Upanishads. Obama also had a “tilak” on his head.

Obama then lit the traditional lamp with a candle as a Hindu priest with a three-forked tilak on his forehead chanted "Asatoma Sadgamaya" (Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to liberation) from the Upanishads.

Obama listened intently as the priest ended his invocation with "Om Shanti Shanti", returned the priest's namaste with folded hands and then shook his hands before leaving with greetings of "Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak" to everyone.

"Thank you Mr President for being the first president to come to the Diwali ceremony," a journalist called out to Obama. "Yeah, isn't that something?" the president shot back.

Obama's White House also did not forget to leave the traditional box of Indian sweets on some 150 chairs for the guests.

The half-hour East Room celebration was attended by a crowd of Indians and other Asians. India's Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Ambassador Meera Shankar dropped by, and several Indian-Americans in administrative positions in Washington attended.

The brief ceremony began with a performance by the well-regarded Hindi a-capella group Penn Masala.

The White House kept it light and simple. A box of Indian mithai (sweets) was placed on some 150 chairs that filled the East Room but there was no food fest or song and dance.

After his remarks, much of which was devoted to the Asian-American initiative, there was a single lamp that Obama lit from a candle. The Siva-Vishnu temple priest, dressed in ceremonial togs with an enormous three-forked tilak on his forehead, kept his invocation short -- chanting ''Asatoma Sadgamaya'' (Lead us from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to liberation) from the Upanishads.

Obama, having lit the White House diya (a word he handled with aplomb) and wished everyone a ''Happy Diwali and Saal Mubarak,'' listened intently as the priest ended with ''Om Shanti Shanti.'' He returned the priest’s Namaste and then shook his hands before striding out to attend to the business of war.

''Thank you Mr President for being the first president to come to the Diwali ceremony,'' a gadabout journalist called out to Obama. ''Yes, how about that,’’ the President shot back.

Also, the event was always held in the Indian Treaty Room at the Old Executive Office Building, which is adjacent to the White House, and serves as an administrative office of the White House.

Indian Ambassador Meera Shankar and visiting Commerce Minister Anand Sharma were special guests of the White House at the event.

'Terrorism' The Existence Of Dark World In Humanity !!

"No turning of the seasons can diminish the pain and the loss of that day," This was uttered by Mr Obama at a memorial to victims who perished when a hijacked airliner crashed into the Pentagon military headquarters eight years ago.

Well, this is (9/11) really a black day for America or it is better to say that a BLACK day for humanity, mankind.We can forfeit the material loss of that day but we can't forfeit..the loss of those people who lost their life in that incident.And the the loss of their family...!

"No passage of time, no dark skies can ever dull the meaning of this moment." - Mr. Barack Obama;

Terrorism has no face or any identity on which we find them and destroy them for the Global peace..It has several name in several country but they has only one identity to recognize themselves, that is- TERRORISM...

We can easily kill a terrorist, if we try to do so but it is impossible for us to finish the terrorism ...why? That is the million dollar question which still needs to be answered !!

We haven't forgotten any thing, but It seems that World has forgotten many things which still leave a impact in the pages of History...

Still History can remember the horrible day of Hiroshima (6 th August) and Nagasaki (9 th August)
A victim of the attack on Hiroshima with an Atomic Bomb...Does any one tell me the reason of his death ? What we call this..War or Terrorism ??

It is a great view of Hiroshima's 'Ground Zero'. It is also a nude image of terrorism..!

I don't say that this is a beginning, but it certainly has some role to evokes the fire of terrorism. I don't know whether you agree with me or not..! But it is true my friends.

Now the whole World is shivering in the pandemic wave of terrorism...

..people have to pay a big price for it !

We can remember them, we can convey our heartiest feeling for them..but we can't do anything better than that..
Man and mankind has to think again in this issue..from where the problem arise and the exact reason behind that. By this process we can actually solve the problem of terrorism..!
This is very symbolic but still there are some patches on the white pigeon..Lot more ways to come and lot more ways...Still to go ! Are we ready for that ?


But we are still hopeful towards Global peace..

The Global Roll-Out Of Myspace Mail

MySpace has started the global roll-out of MySpace Mail, the social networking’s email service.

MySpace Mail is intended to help MySpace users to communicate and share content with people both inside and outside of the MySpace network.

The announcement follows growing speculation that the suffering network had devised the new service in an attempt to retain its declining userbase and attract new members.

Users around the world should expect to see the service rolled out in beta over the next two weeks. The company describes the email service as blending “the best of social networking and traditional mail”.

MySpace Mail is intended to help MySpace users to communicate and share content with people both inside and outside of the MySpace network. The site’s current messaging platform accounts for almost 20 per cent of its traffic, according to the company’s own figures.

All MySpace users who have registered their own “vanity URLs”, a personal MySpace web address, have a MySpace Mail address reserved and waiting for them. For example, if a user’s profile URL is: www. Myspace.com/username, the company has reserved the following MySpace Mail address: username@myspace.com.

Users will have the option change both their URL and mail address when they set up an email account.

The new service will include a feature called Mail Activity Stream which allows users to see real-time update on their friends’ activities on MySpace, providing “a real-time snap shots of the activities of everyone in the conversation”. MySpace Mail will also allow users to embed photos, music and videos directly from their MySpace profile into their email with one click.

Users will be able to receive and send mail to anyone whether they are in the MySpace network or not, while enhanced privacy features enable users to receive mails from only their MySpace ‘friends’. There is also unlimited file storage.

MySpace Mail is reportedly being headed up by a team of ex-Hotmail employees, including former Microsoft engineer Rajit Marwah, who joined MySpace last year from Microsoft’s Messenger and Hotmail teams.

Having recently announced 720 job cuts worldwide, and fallen behind Facebook for the first time in the race to gain the most unique users, there is a widespread consensus that MySpace needs speedy strategy revamp.

New services such as this email service and the imminent UK launch of MySpace Music, the ad-funded music streaming service, are two examples of the News Corp owned network trying to reinvent itself.

Global Economy Set To Shrink, India Loses Half A Million Jobs

With over half a million jobs lost in India alone in recent months, the World Bank predicts the global economy and global trade would both shrink this year for the first time since World War II.

While the global economy is likely to grow at least 5 percentage points below potential in 2009, world trade is on track to record its largest decline in 80 years - with the sharpest losses in East Asia.

World Bank forecasts show that global industrial production by the middle of 2009 could be as much as 15 percent lower than levels in 2008, it said in a paper for next Saturday's meeting of the Group of 20 finance ministers and central bank governors.

Developing countries face a financing shortfall of $270-700 billion this year, as private sector creditors shun emerging markets, and only one quarter of the most vulnerable countries have the resources to prevent a rise in poverty.

The paper said that 94 out of 116 developing countries have experienced a slowdown in economic growth. Of these countries, 43 have high levels of poverty.

To date, the most affected sectors are those that were the most dynamic, typically urban-based exporters, construction, mining, and manufacturing.

For example, 'more than half a million jobs have been lost in the last three months of 2008 in India, including in gems and jewellery, autos and textiles,' the paper noted.

Many of the world's poorest countries are becoming ever more dependent on development assistance as their exports and fiscal revenues decline because of the crisis.

Noting that donors are already behind by around $39 billion on their commitments to increase aid made at the Gleneagles Summit in 2005, the bank said: 'the concern now is that aid flows will become more volatile as some countries cut their aid budgets while others reaffirm aid commitments, at least for this year.'

The World Bank said that international financial institutions cannot by themselves currently cover the shortfall-that includes public and private debt and trade deficits-for these 129 countries, even at the lower end of the range.

A solution will require governments, multilateral institutions, and the private sector. Only one quarter of vulnerable developing countries have the ability to finance measures to blunt the economic downturn, such as job-creation or safety net programs.

'We need to react in real time to a growing crisis that is hurting people in developing countries,' said World Bank Group President Robert B. Zoellick.

'This global crisis needs a global solution and preventing an economic catastrophe in developing countries is important for global efforts to overcome this crisis.

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