World's first sex school opens in Austria

Ylva-Maria Thompson has opened the world's 1st International Sex School in Vienna,Austria for teaching the art of being better lovers.
The Austrian International Sex School in Vienna offers 'hands on' lessons in seduction for 1,400 pounds a term and anyone over the age of 16 can enrol at 'the world's first college of applied sexuality'. 
Students of the course are expected to stay in a co-ed dormitory block where they're expected to practice their 'homework'. By the end of their course, they are awarded a qualification.

Dhanush's '3'

Dhanush and Shruti Haasan play the lead roles in  '3'

Aishwarya( actor Dhanush's wife and Rajinikanths's daughter) makes her directorial debut in '3'

 


The film  '3' is produced by Kasthuri Raja(Dhanush's father)

Music director of the film '3' is Anirudh

The film '3' is expected for release on March 30, 2012.

 

Iranian Protesters Storm the British Embassy

Iranian Protesters Storm the British Embassy - Nov 29,2011

Iranian protesters stormed two British diplomatic compounds in Tehran on Tuesday, smashing windows, torching a car and burning the British flag in protest against new sanctions imposed by London.
The attacks come at a time of rising diplomatic tension between Iran and Western nations who last week imposed fresh sanctions over Tehran's nuclear program.

 

World AIDS Day - December 1

World AIDS Day, observed December 1 each year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS Pandemic caused by the spread of HIV Infection.
AIDS has killed more than 25 million people between 1981 and 2007, and an estimated 33.2 million people worldwide live with HIV as of 2007,making it one of the most destructive epidemics in recorded history.
In 2004, the World AIDS Campaign became an independent organization.


World AIDS Day this year (2011)is about “Getting to Zero.” Zero New HIV Infections.
Zero Discrimination and Zero AIDS Related Deaths.Backed by the United Nations the “Getting to Zero” campaign runs until 2015.

30 years of HIV and Aids

On 5 June 1981, the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) publishes a report describing cases of a rare form of pneumonia among five gay men in Los Angeles. Soon after, the number of reports of a rare skin cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, increase among gay men living in California and New York.
These are the first mentions of what later becomes known as Aids.
The term Aids (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is used for the first time. Before, it was often called Grid (gay-related immune deficiency) and was associated with homosexuality after it was first documented among gay men in New York and California.
The first evidence that Aids is caused by a virus emerges from the Pasteur Institute in Paris.
The first international Aids conference is held in Atlanta, Georgia in 1985.
The World Health Organisation launches the Global Programme on Aids in 1986.
The first World Aids Day is observed on 1 December, to raise awareness, battle stigma, support those living with HIV and Aids, and commemorate those who have lost their lives in 1988
Ten years after the first cases of Aids are reported in the US, an estimated 10 million people are infected with HIV worldwide in 1991.
In 2001,Twenty years after the first Aids cases were reported in the US, 29.5 million people are thought to be living with HIV around the world. An estimated two-thirds of the world’s HIV-positive adults and children live in sub-Saharan Africa.

Black Friday Shopping in USA - Nov 25,2011

Large crowds have crowded shops on Black Friday - the day after Thanksgiving - seen as a hugely important day for US retailers at the start of the Christmas shopping season.Half of the entire US population is expected to hit the shops this weekend.Many stores had crowds rushing in as they opened at midnight - several hours earlier than they usually do - on the busiest shopping day of the year

Shoppers stood in line for more than an hour to pay for their Black Friday purchases.

 Shoppers pass the time in line watching the recently released 'Harry Potter' movie and enjoying complimentary snacks.

Shoppers wait for a midnight opening at a Best Buy store on Thursday

The name Black Friday refers to the day on which many retailers are thought to move out of the red and into the black - which means they are making profits.
This year Black Friday(Nov25,2011) has been marred by violence, including at Walmart stores. In one incident shoppers used pepper spray to fight off other bargain-hunters, while others were robbed at gunpoint on their way home with newly purchased goods.

American Airlines files for bankruptcy

American Airlines' parent company AMR Corporation has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Chapter 11  protects a company from its creditors, giving it time to reorganise its debts or sell parts of the business.

AMR said agreements with its workforce forced it to spend $600m (£384m) more than other airlines on staff costs.The airline employs 78,000 staff worldwide and operates out of five major US hubs - New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago and Miami.
AMR Corporation lost $162m in the third quarter of 2011 and has reported losses in 14 of the last 16 quarters.
AMR  expects the airline to continue to operate as normal throughout the bankruptcy process.

Public Sector Strike in UK - Nov 30,2011

2 million public sector workers will protest today Nov 30,2011 over reforms that unions say will force them to pay more for their pensions and work for longer before they can retire.

A coalition of 30 trade unions will take part in the strike.Unions have organised 1,000 demonstrations and rallies across the country and picket lines will spring up around public buildings and hospitals.
Schools, hospitals, airports, ports and government offices will be among sites disrupted, as more than 1,000 demonstrations are due across the UK.

TUC, the trade union umbrella organisation that is organising the strikes, expects about 2 million people to take part and states that about 750,000 out of the 2.6 million people who were balloted said yes to a strike.

 

Democratic Republic of the Congo - Nov'28,2011 Presidential Elections

The Democratic Republic of the Congo is located in Central Africa and is the 2nd largest Country in Africa(by area) and the 7th largest in the world(by area)With a population of about 70 Million,it is the 4th most populous country in Africa.DR Congo - a vast country two-thirds the size of Western Europe with huge mineral wealth - gained independence from Belgium on June 30,1960

Since 1960, DR Congo has only had four presidents - only the first and last democratically elected.

Independence President Joseph Kasavubu was toppled in a coup by then army chief Mobutu Sese Seko in 1965.
 President Joseph Kasavubu                                                                         Mobutu Sese Seko

Mobutu stayed in power for more than three decades until he was overthrown by rebel leader Laurent-Desire Kabila, who was assassinated in 2001 and his son, Joseph Kabila, took over to lead a peace process and win elections.            

         Laurent-Desire Kabila                                                                 Joseph Kabila
 

  
Democratic Republic of the Congo Elections - Nov 28,2011
Voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo lined up at polling stations Monday as the giant country holds its second postwar election.
11 candidates are running for President and more than 18,000 are vying for seats in the 500-member parliament. 
Tensions are high after opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi accused President Joseph Kabila of planning to rig the election.(The last election, in 2006, was marred by weeks of street battles led by supporters of the losing candidate, Jean-Pierre Bemba.)
The African Union(AU) is working closely with all stakeholders to ensure that the presidential and parliamentary elections are transparent, free and fair.

Disputed voting reforms expected to favour DR Congo incumbent president Joseph Kabila

A joint sitting of the lower and upper house backed eight changes to the constitution, including a move to reduce the vote to a single round from two -- meaning the next president can be elected without an absolute majority.The measures were passed easily by a show of hands after opposition lawmakers boycotted the sitting as a protest. Out of 504 that voted, 485 were in favour, eight were against and 11 abstained.

The reforms also postpone plans to increase the number of provinces in the country to 26 from 11, an already overdue move to decentralise power away from the government in Kinshasa.Other changes will see the prosecutor's office placed under the Justice Ministry -- a change some argue will undermine its independence -- and give the president the power to call referendums, dissolve provincial assemblies and fire governors.

Democratic Republic of the Congo Elections - Nov 28,2011

 With more than 30 million voters, thousands of polling stations and lack of paved roads and basic infrastructure, Congo's elections were a logistical nightmare.Stacks of ballots with long lists of the more than 18,000 people running for 500 parliamentary seats was also a challenge for the nation whose majority citizens don't have access to education.Election officials scrambled to get ballot papers distributed to all 60,000 of the polling stations in the country - which is two-thirds the size of Western Europe and has little transport infrastructure.
The government is in a hurry to hold the vote because incumbent President Joseph Kabila's term expires in the first week of December 2011.

Voters in the Democratic Republic of Congo lined up at polling stations Monday as the giant country holds its second postwar election.
11 candidates are running for President and more than 18,000 are vying for seats in the 500-member parliament. 
Tensions are high after opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi accused President Joseph Kabila of planning to rig the election.(The last election, in 2006, was marred by weeks of street battles led by supporters of the losing candidate, Jean-Pierre Bemba.)
The African Union(AU) is working closely with all stakeholders to ensure that the presidential and parliamentary elections are transparent, free and fair.

Joseph Kabila casts his vote at Kinshasa

Etienne Tshisekedi casts his vote

The incumbent President Joseph Kabila is widely expected to win re-election


since the opposition is split among 10 candidates, including 79-year-old Etienne Tshisekedi, a longtime opposition leader of Union for Democracy and Social Progress (UDPS) party who is running for president for the first time.





Election Results Postponed 
The Independent National Electoral Commission is not in a position to publish the final results on Tuesday Dec 06,2011,but postponed by 48 hours.
Electoral commission staff were still struggling to bring ballots back to central counting points from remote polling stations

Election Results

Joseph Kabila Wins Election 

Provisional results published by Congo's election commission handed victory to President Joseph Kabila who won another term with 49 per cent of the 18.14 million votes cast and Longtime opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi trailed with 32 percent of the vote, according to the final tallies released by election commission chief Daniel Ngoy Mulunda.Joseph Kabila is due to be sworn in on 20 December for his second term.
Results must now be approved by the Supreme Court. 

Elections 'lack credibility' 

Several areas reported "impossibly" high turnouts of 99 to 100 per cent with "all or nearly all" votes cast going to Joseph Kabila

Results from almost 2,000 polling stations in Kinshasa, the heavily pro-opposition capital, and from 1,000 other vote centres nationwide were lost.Together, they represented 850,000 ballots missing from the final tally.

Joseph Kabila has rejected claims that he won elections through widespread rigging. The opposition have announced plans to hold protest marches after rejecting Mr Kabila's victory.

Joseph Kabila Sworn as President

 

Joseph Kabila was sworn in on Tuesday Dec 20,2011 for a 2nd  term as president  and took the oath of office at the ceremony, held in a heavily guarded in the presidential compound, in the presence of a few thousand supporters in the capital, Kinshasa.Kabila's inauguration went ahead after the country's Supreme Court upheld his victory in November's disputed presidential election.The government declared a public holiday for the inauguration, while the opposition called for strikes in Kinshasa and other cities.

DR Congo's Opposition Leader Etienne Tshisekedi Holds Own Inaguration Ceremony - Friday Dec 23,2011

Congo's opposition leader held a private ceremony inaugurating himself as president on Friday after police prevented him and his supporters from gathering publicly. This move comes three days after the president was sworn in for a second term.

Thousands flee rebel advance in DR Congo

Thousands of civilians have fled a rebel advance in the east of the country.The M23 rebel group - army mutineers who took the regional capital Goma and the key town of Sake - appeared to halt their rampant advance just south of Sake after battles with government forces and an allied local militia.

UN experts have accused Rwanda and Uganda of backing the M23 - a charge both countries deny.

UN peacekeeping spokesman Kieran Dwyer said the organisation was considering using drones for the first time to monitor the fighting.
"Unarmed aerial vehicles, drones for monitoring the movements of armed groups, are one tool we are considering," he said.