Light Within

Year 2010 was big for Pakistan blogsphere. Able Pakistani bloggers did a wonderful job covering everything from WikiLeaks to fight against terrorism in addition to traditional raves and rants and hobby blogs in exponentially growing blogsphere. Walk around online and you can see prize winning blogs with a strong voice and reach out.

Many of the Pakistani bloggers are also making passive income through their blog work (AdSense, links backs, sponsored ads). But there are no meaningful examples of outright making money through blogging and Internet in Pakistan.Need is to go active for making money in local market.

Given my personal experience, I can’t agree to these old myths: Pakistan doesn’t have sound infrastructure, we have yet not developed online culture, corporate sector has yet not realized the importance of powerful online presence and more. Pakistan does have infrastructure including WiFi and broadband, Pakistani users base is one of the largest in the world (ask facebook) and a lot of local businesses are shifting online and looking for ways to create buzz in online world.

The only thing that seems lacking is that Pakistani bloggers, perhaps still shy, are not presenting themselves as available to work with corporate sector, marketers and advertisers. I suggest local bloggers should approach local businesses, including those who are doing business in global market, and tell them what they can do for them. I can assure you that they will find a lot of opportunities out there. That ‘seth’ culture where owner use to think what has been working good for m grandfather is working for me good’ has changed. Now CEOs look up to search engines to get new clients and customers. Given the unavailability PayPal, that limits Pakistani bloggers from working with foreign businesses, they have more reasons to explore local market.

After having worked with local TV channels, many NGOs, businesses and services, let me confess that it is easy to work with local businesses and easier to make money online in Pakistan. Make 2011, making money online year!

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Thank you Google for wishing us Millions of Happier New Years. And more thanks for donating $20 million to charitable organizations around the world. (Also Google.org granted $1 million to Pakistani flood 2010 relief in September, localized crisis response tools, and launched a flood relief landing page.) I am glad to be a part of what Google is today.

To mark the occasion, Quick Online Tips – one of my favorite blogs and a regular read - has invited all bloggers to thank Google this season for all the amazing tools and services which make blogging fun and profitable.

Given my personal experience with some of Google services (Google Adsense, Google Site Search, Google Apps, Google Related Links, Google Webmaster Tools and best of all Google Blogger – my favorite blogging platform which I am using since it was first offered to public and so far never had a reason to shift), I own my special thanks to Google. What is more, despite being a free service, their support team is always there to help.

Thank you Google for changing my orientations and turning me into a writer whose work now appear in print. It would not have been possible if I had not started using blogger.com.   

On a bright winter’s morning lines of plane trees and immaculately tended rose bushes fall away down terraces where men crash out on carpets and sheepish young couples sit as close together as they dare. The plants are fed by a central water channel, the signature feature of a Moghul garden. Below is the brown smog of Kabul; beyond, snowy mountains.

The tomb of Babur, the first Moghul emperor, blasted and pock marked during the civil war of the 1990s, has been lovingly restored by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Some visitors come because it is now Kabul’s most tranquil public space; some because Babur is emerging as an unlikely national hero in a country short of leaders worth admiring. People pray at the foot of his low, simple grave. One enthusiast sacrifices a buffalo to him every year, and distributes the meat to the gardeners who tend the place.

Born far to the north of modern Afghanistan, Babur went to Kabul only because he had failed in Central Asia. It was Samarkand he dreamed of capturing. Yet when the demands of building an empire drove him south, he yearned to return to Kabul.

For a man who achieved so much, he is strangely unknown outside Afghanistan. Not only did he create a dynasty whose empire stretched from Afghanistan to southern India and which gave the world some of its greatest cultural riches, but he also wrote an autobiography which, though half a millennium old, is a far better read than most of the political and business memoirs churned out today. The Baburnama recounts the barbarity and hardship of a princeling’s life in a chaotic world; but it is also full of delight and humanity. Sometimes self-aggrandising, sometimes self-critical, Babur emerges from his autobiography as a real person, in a way no other great leader except Churchill does. And because the author is so open, and the style so clear, the book offers an intimate view of a world the reader would otherwise struggle to imagine. “Rarely can such a sophisticated mind”, says Bamber Gascoigne in “The Great Moghuls”, “have recorded so wild an existence which combined to an extraordinary degree the romantic and the sordid.” It was first translated into English in 1922 by Annette Beveridge, mother of William Beveridge, architect of Britain’s welfare state; “The Garden of the Eight Paradises”, a recent biography of Babur by Stephen Dale, has done it more than justice; yet it still lacks the fame it deserves.

As per good blogging practice, I have always been exploring blogsphere. By doing this not only I come across some good and useful blogs but also meet people who are who are working on purpose and with goals. People with direction.

Lately, I discovered very aptly named blog Borderline Green. I was amazed to see the listed goals; to explore the history of our region and our people with an independent mindset, to reflect on our social issues, their causes, effects and possible solutions, to engage in an active dialog on politics – both national and international, to provide a diversity of opinions on matters of social interest, to share ideas for improvement, to celebrate our rich culture and unique people and quite a lot in between.

I so far know only one chartered accountant Mubeshir Kazmi who blogs. I am pleasantly surprised to see people (Anie Onaiza, Binte, Munershra, Murtaza and Nauman are based in Saudi, UK and Pakistan) behind this blog are mostly chartered accountants. And I can say by experience that economists and account people have incisive observation and grasp the issue relating political economy better than all of us. That is what they are doing. Explore Borderline Green and see for yourself. Better still, like minded observers are invited to contribute and play their part in bringing a required change.

Well done Anie Onaiza, Binte, Munershra, Murtaza and Nauman and keep it up. Your work matters.

– AFP photos

When I was a small child, keeping hobbies was very much in. Wherever one went, the elders would invariably ask, “What is your hobby?” And every kid in those had a hobby. Mostly kids collected stamps, coins, match box covers, read books, collected post cards and many other things. I for myself collected stamps and would spend my pocket money in buying stamps to add to my collection.

One of my brothers loved making small aero planes from balsa wood and paper, installed a small engine and flew it with remote control. Mind you I am talking of the age when such hobby was very rare and no one knew much of these small aero planes that he used to fly from Lahore Flying Club’s runway. The place from where he bought the kits was known as Hobby Lobby. And all along these years, the name of the shop always fascinated me.

And this makes me name my blog Hobby Lobby – a lobby for the hobby lovers. While I have a separate and exclusive blog on philately (My Philatelic World), I wanted to have a forum for likes of others as well. So this blog of mine is a platform for all hobbyists and their hobbies. I shall share all news and details of every hobby that interests people around the globe and would welcome everyone to share their views on their hobbies here.

WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange said in an interview published Sunday he had signed deals for his autobiography worth more than one million pounds (1.2 million euros, 1.5 million dollars).

Assange told Britain's Sunday Times newspaper that the money would help him defend himself against allegations of sexual assault made by two women in Sweden.

"I don't want to write this book, but I have to," he said. "I have already spent 200,000 pounds for legal costs and I need to defend myself and to keep WikiLeaks afloat."

The Australian said he would receive 800,000 dollars (600,000 euros) from Alfred A. Knopf, his American publisher, and a British deal with Canongate is worth 325,000 pounds (380,000 euros, 500,000 dollars).

Money from other markets and serialisation is expected to raise the total to 1.1 million pounds, he said.

The latest project of Assange's whistleblower website is the gradual release of tens of thousands of US diplomatic cables.

Since this latest project began Assange, who is on bail in Britain fighting a bid by Sweden to extradite him over the sex assault claims, has faced problems financing WikiLeaks.

Credit card companies Visa and MasterCard and the Internet payment firm PayPal have blocked donations to WikiLeaks, prompting Assange to label them "instruments of US foreign policy."

The Bank of America, the largest US bank, has also halted all transactions to WikiLeaks.

Washington has been infuriated by WikiLeaks as the site slowly releases the cache of around 250,000 secret US State Department cables. The US is believed to be considering how to indict Assange over the the huge leak.

Assange has been staying at a friend's country mansion in eastern England since his release from jail on December 16 on strict bail conditions that include reporting to police daily and wearing an electronic tag.

A court in London is due to hold a full hearing on the Swedish extradition request starting February 7.

Local market has realized the power of the buzz those blog posts can create and I can see the marketers and advertisers approaching bloggers and working together, unfounded myths of low tech online culture and problems of financial transactions notwithstanding.

Personal scouting reveals so much happening in still growing blogsphere. One can see more quality blogs coming up every day. Experts are available to help start a blog. I also know at least one case of blog flipping. Yes, you guessed it, a running blog was sold and money changed hand while ownership shifted.

On a more familiar level, I also know a Lahore based SEO expert who is closely working with bloggers and get their help while optimizing a site. Those famous SEO concern has mostly foreign clients but he says local companies are also coming up.

A CEO of a new public sector star up is looking for bloggers who can pick up one product from their site and review it. Last month I had the offers from PTV to write about their flood coverage efforts. Another encouraging case is of a local TV channel that is getting posts written by local bloggers and is successfully creating a buzz to promote newly launched channel.

Although no platform has come up where bloggers and advertisers can meet and work together but activities to make money on life and fine art of blogging are flourishing.

Bloggers just need to come up and grab the opportunities that new blogging ecosystem - the blogsphere marketplace - is offering and make money online. Come on, join the party, everyone. It is on.

Royal Pingdom have found Blogger to be the most reliable blogging service on the web. Without question. Of all the blogging platforms monitored, only Blogger delivered 100% uptime. Here's the full article for your perusal. “Since Blogger was the only service with zero downtime overall, we skipped the chart here. We hope you don’t mind. It simply wouldn’t have been very interesting,” Royal Pingdom site reads. 

(Via Blogger Buzz)

An old sleepy and dusty village Sher Garh lies about 20 minutes drive away from Renala Khurd (Okara). The coins found at Sher Garh prove that the place was inhabited at the time of Kushan dynasty. Though “the name Sher Garh was given by the Governor of Molten, Faith Jang Khan after the name of Afghan King Sher Shah Sure,” wrote Abbas Khan Sarauni in his book Tarikh Sher Shah Suri.

On the old bank of River Beas, it is a typical Pakistani village where farmers live like rustics in the face of urban attractions. Even the electricity and telephone are a recent phenomenon. But the village has never been out of limelight. Besides heritage conscious people from all over the world, the village is venerated by a large number of devotees. Reasons, a massive mud fort and mosque which were built in the period of Afghan Sher Shah Suri. And, it is the last resting place of Saint Muhammad Ibrahim Daud-e-Sani Kirmani Bandgi.If one wants to absorb the sense of history, Sher Garh is a place to visit. Director Syed Noor has set his film Chooriyan in the background of this village. One has to possess a sensibility shaped in granite not to be moved by the village of past age that has not changed much in last 400 years. In the periphery few van (salvadora) trees, may be as old as the village stand witness to the bygone era. The village is experienced changed due to awareness about various things and agricultural advancements but at a snail speed.

Saint Muhammad Ibrahim is regarded as one of the famous saints of central Punjab. His forefathers migrated from Kirman (Iran) and settled in Seetpur (suburbs of Multan) where Muhammad Ibrahim was born. The family later moved to Sher Garh when Mir Chakar Rind was ruling in the area. The Baluch hero Mir Chakar Rind having refused to help Sher Shah Suri joined Humayun when, after a long exiled Mughal emperor recaptured Delhi and ousted Afghan Suris in 1556. The emperor as a reward conferred a vast jagir including Sher Garh (also horses and slaves) upon him. He ruled this chieftaincy till he died in 1565. Farishta has written, “Mir Chakar Rind was a holder of jagir and commanding hordes of warriors in Punjab.”

Muhammad Ibrahim completed his education in Basirpur and Lahore. Contemporary of saints like Musa Pak Shaheed and Sher Shah of Multan, he got his spiritual blessings from Saint Syed Hamid Ganj Buksh in Uch Sharif before he set about preaching Islam in Central Punjab. Komal Singh Maghyana, a famous landlord of his time who used to keep 1000 buffaloes (hence Maghyana) was one of the first who embraced Islam. Mulla Badauni wrote, “Hundreds of non-Muslims used to convert to Islam on the hands of Muhammad Ibrahim every day.”

Sher Shah Suri built a fort in Rohtas against gakhars. But why the Governor Fateh Jang Khan built the mud fort near strongly defended and fortified places like Dipalpur and Pak Pattan? “It might have been built to guard against thieves and robbers,” says Muhammad Abbas Kirmani, the direct descendent of the saint, once told me. There is no trace of the fortification in the village. The mosque that was built in the middle of 10 century in the village was a fine specimen of Islamic architecture. It had large (100 x 25 feet) main chamber, five doors, five dooms and a wide compound with a well for abolition. The mosque had 30 feet high octagonal minaret in each corner. During the Sikh rule, the mosque was desecrated and damaged and it decayed completely in 1958. Now a new mosque has been built in red bricks at the same place. There used to be a library containing rare books and manuscripts that too was destroyed by the Sikh rule.

It was the shrine of Saint Muhammad Ibrahim that I had come to see at Sher Garh. Among the cluster of old and new houses inside the village is a dominant building of the shrine which is enclosed in a court-yard. It was constructed by Shah Abdul Maa’ali- the nephew of the saint. Upon entering the doorway to the shrine compound, I was taken aback at the sheer tranquility and beauty of the place. This grand edifice with solid masonry and ornate design wrought by artisans and artist centuries ago is one of the fine specimens of Muslims architecture. There are many graves of descendants and devotees and another smaller shrine in the enclosure. People were having food at lounger (community kitchen for free food) in one corner of the courtyard.

Constructed of narrow red bricks, used in upright courses to ensure additional strength, the shrine is located at the vantage point in the village. Being at the raised ground it looks higher than its actual height. The fine quality of marble has been used outside where as inside is decorated with intricate Kashi work.

A devotee was reciting Holy Qura’an in the main chamber. The shrine is in the care and custody of the Auqaf, though the department has not been able to repair even the gold plated pinnacle that needs immediate attention.

The first impact that this monument gives is an emotional one for it is a symbol of cultural identity – a part of heritage. It also has architectural historic, documentary, spiritual and symbolic values.

I managed to arrange impromptu meeting with Muhammad Abbas Kirmani, a progressive farmer, who had graduated from Government College Lahore in 1930. Muhammad Abbas is remarkably alert at the age of 84. Sitting inside the room of his home adjacent to the shrine, Muhammad Abbas Kirmani told me about the family history. He also talked candidly about every thing from agriculture policies to old customs to modern culture. I could not see the hand written Holy Qura’an, though. “It is taken out on the eve of annual mela which is held on March 13,” he said. Besides my differences of opinion on few of the things he said during our frank conversation, I was impressed by the amount of interest he had in variety of issues of the society, his force of conviction in arguments and intellect.

As I drove back on a single way metallic road through the green fields of sugarcane, piled mainly by animal transports and milkmen on the motorbikes, I could not help thinking: I shall have to go back to Sher Garh again. May be to see the annual mela next March.

According to the latest edition of the trivia book Top 10 of Everything 2011 by Russell Ash, Pakistan has the 10th highest newspaper circulation in the world!

There are several interesting records in the book, but the one that caught my attention was the top 10 list of countries with the highest circulation of newspapers. I’ve always heard that newspaper circulation has been pathetic in Pakistan but the numbers quoted in this book and taken from surveys of UNESCO put Pakistan at number 10 in the world in terms of the highest circulation of newspapers.

Following is the list of Top 10 countries with highest newspaper circulation. The numbers written infront of country names give the average daily circulation of newspapers in these countries according to the cited UNESCO numbers.

While we have previously recognized the importance of WikiLeaks, the events of recent weeks have proven just what a powerful force it has become. After exposing thousands of acutely embarrassing and sensitive documents, it seems that the website that was previously “only” a nuisance is now viewed in some quarters as a threat to the security of nations. For its founder, Julian Assange, this has been a bittersweet episode; despite the universal coverage he has achieved, he has also heard calls for his assassination from multiple pundits across North America. He is currently free on bail after several days in solitary confinement in a UK prison (for sex-offense charges ostensibly unrelated to WikiLeaks), while websites that assisted in the operation of his site have withdrawn their support, possibly under pressure from the U.S. government -- which is at the moment researching the possibilities of trying Assange for espionage.

WikiLeaks stands at number 4 in AskMen Top 10: Agents Of Truth

The Economist magazine has divided world economy into three zones. Even though talk about emerging economies is often about China, India and few other countries, Pakistan too is part of the emerging-economies zone. This article is very much relevant to Pakistan and its economic future. Some have suggested that Pakistan should take a 'piggy ride' on the back of economic success of its neighbor India. I argue Pakistan need not to do that. It can and it must chalk its own independent economic course. Pakistan is worlds 25th. largest economy and a huge economic market. If Pakistan plays its cards well and fully integrates itself with Europe, North America and South America, whose economies are very different than those of Asian emerging economies, there is no reason why it can not be part of the G-20.

Pakistan Slide Show

Tags: Pakistan, Travel, Heritage, Culture

The most baffling thing about the Wikileaks Cablegate kerfuffle is the massive foot-shooting overreaction across the entire American political spectrum. Here in the rest of the world (okay, in Canada), we’ve already moved on, because (to date) the cables are more shrug-inducing than explosive—but US senators are still in the throes of a bizarre frenzy of rabid chest-beating and tooth-gnashing.

Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, has called for Julian Assange’s prosecution, despite the general consensus that he hasn’t actually committed any American crime. Mitch McConnell, a Republican, has a slightly clearer-eyed view; he wants the law changed so that Assange can be prosecuted as a terrorist. Joe Lieberman wants a criminal investigation of not just Assange but also the New York Times.

Julian Assange - the Founder

In 1958 a young Rupert Murdoch, then owner and editor of Adelaide’s The News, wrote: “In the race between secrecy and truth, it seems inevitable that truth will always win.”

His observation perhaps reflected his father Keith Murdoch’s expose that Australian troops were being needlessly sacrificed by incompetent British commanders on the shores of Gallipoli. The British tried to shut him up but Keith Murdoch would not be silenced and his efforts led to the termination of the disastrous Gallipoli campaign.

Jalal Hameed Bhatti

My friend S A J Shirazi asked me to list top 10 blogs 2010 as I perceived these to be the best. Well being a new in the field of blogging, I had been looking around to see how people feel and express themselves on social issues and everything that happens around them. It wasn’t an easy request as every blog has its unique theme, substance and impact.

But I had to do it as Shirazi never ceases to follow someone till he realizes his aims and objectives. So I quickly made a few criteria that included:-

I thought I had set a comfortable target and would list 10 blogs within no time. But when I went about checking the blogs I frequent mostly and some not very frequently, I found that it wasn’t an easy task. Some of the blogs that I thought would find a way into my list looked back at me with hollowness. Some blogs that I thought would have a high page rank turned to be with no page rank at all.

About the writer: Jalal Hameed Bhatti may be new in blogsphere but he has been online since the time when there used to be no blogs. His online presence was first felt when he started PakistanPedia (then Jalal Pages) in early days of dot com. Lately, Jalal has joined blogsphere and in addition to Jaho Jalal, he is writing Management Matters, Fire Within and My Philatelic World.

Iran commemorated the National Day of Saadi, the highly revered 13th-century poet, who is known both in and outside Iran for his enticing choice of word, ethical and social teachings and deep expressive poetry.

Different ceremonies were held throughout Iran and in Saadi's hometown Shiraz in southern Iran on Wednesday and large numbers of Iranian and foreign guests convened in remembrance of the talented poet who lived from 1184-1283/1291 AD.

Abu-Mohammad Mosleh al-Din bin Abdallah Shirazi, better known by his pen-name as Saadi was one of the major Persian poets of the medieval period. He is recognized not only for the quality of his writing, but also for the depth of his social thoughts.

A native of Shiraz, his father died when he was an infant. Saadi experienced a youth of poverty and hardship, and left his native town at a young age for Baghdad to pursue a better education. As a young man he was inducted to study at the famous an-Nizzamiya center of knowledge (1195-1226), where he excelled in Islamic Sciences, law, governance, history, Arabic literature and theology.

Although Saadi was born and died in Shiraz, Persia (Iran), during his life he traveled extensively. He is said to have traveled for thirty years throughout the Islamic world. Iran has filled the centuries with some of the world's finest poets, but Iranians consider Saadi to be one of the greatest.

Historians often divide his life into three parts. His first twenty-five years were spent studying in various countries, going to university at Baghdad. During the next thirty years he traveled widely, east to India and as far west as Syria. He made his pilgrimage to Mecca fourteen times. Finally, Saadi returned to Shiraz where he devoted himself to writing and to teaching.

Saadi was a disciple of the Sufi master Sheikh Shahabud-Din Sahrawardi.

Saadi's two best known works are the Bustan (the Garden), composed entirely in verse, and the Golestan (the Rose Garden), in both prose and verse. He was particularly known for the wry wit he injected into his poems.

Saadi is probably the first Persian poet to have been translated into European languages. A German version of the Golestan appeared in 1654.

Saadi's tomb can be seen in the town of Shiraz. Lines from Saadi's poems are still commonly used in conversations by Iranians today.

The Lahore School of Economics’ Eighth Annual Convocation was held at the main campus on December 4, 2010. Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry, the Rector Lahore School of Economics conferred degrees and awards to 850 graduating students of MPhil, MS Economics, MSc Economics, Masters in Business Administration, BSc Economics, Bachelors of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration (Executive) and Masters of Business Administration (Professional).

The Lahore School of Economics, chartered in 1997, has grown to become a mature institution of higher learning. This is reflected in its present strength of 181 faculty and 3154 students – 2741 Undergraduate, 339 Postgraduate and 74 MPhil / PhDs candidates - in Economics, Business Administration, Social Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, Environmental Sciences and Media Studies, Art and Design.

In his convocation address, Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry summarized the Lahore School’s academic activities and programs. The School admits students every year into the Undergraduate program after an extremely selective admission process. After a common first year involving intensive training in mathematics, statistics, basic economics, English language skills and computing these students then specialize in economics, social sciences and business including finance and marketing – often with double majors in these disciplines or with strong minors in mathematics and statistics, environmental sciences and media studies, art and design. As a result students emerge with extremely high level academic skills which provide a basis for both further academic studies and or immediate employment. The Lahore School also offers a range of Graduate Programs in Economics, Business Administration and Environment Studies which range from M.Sc. in Economics and MBA to MS and PhD in Economics, Business Administration and Environmental Sciences.

There are currently 40 students doing M.Sc./MPhil leading to PhD in Economics, 43 students doing MS/MPhil leading to PhD in Business Administration and 9 students doing MPhil leading to PhD in Environment Studies. In addition the School has 321 students enrolled in its MBA Programs.

The Rector said that the Lahore School encourages both its faculty and student body to undertake research which is supported by a specialized Centre for Research in Economics and Business. The Lahore School has excellent research support facilities including specialized libraries and electronic data bases, the JSTOR archives and EBSCO Business and Econ Lit which provide up to date full text access to the world’s leading journals in these disciplines. All undergraduate students are required to write an original paper before they graduate and faculty members are expected to write two first authored research papers and one second authored research paper each year.

The Lahore School also places great stress on extra-curricular activities, particularly in Sports, Debates, Dramatics, Music and Art. Our Sports and Debating Teams are amongst the best in Pakistani Universities in large part due to the fact that these activities are a regular part of the daily activities of the campus.

All of these efforts have led to extremely successful job placements for our graduating students. At the same time, our graduates are entering some of the finest academic programs in the world for further studies. "I am also proud to see that our previous graduates are reaching the highest levels of the financial and corporate sectors and I am sure that this graduating class will exceed the accomplishments of previous graduating classes," said the Rector.

Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry also noted the Lahore School’s Board of Governors, Faculty and Student body has been touched as has every Pakistani by the enormity of the damage done by floods this summer and has accordingly made a serious effort to assist the flood affectees. In addition to provision of active flood relief during the floods by the faculty and students, the faculty and staff have contributed one day’s salary to the Government’s Relief Fund and the students have collected a considerable sum of money which is intended for flood relief. The students supported by the faculty have decided to utilize their collected funds (which is an ongoing process) together with a matching grant from the Lahore School to reconstruct about 20 single room dwellings in the poorest area of the Town of Jampur, District D.G. Khan. We hope to construct more such dwellings in the future. The Centre of Environmental Sciences deserves recognition for coordinating the efforts in this regard.

Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry congratulated all the graduating students and the parents for their remarkable achievements. “The strength of any academic institution lies in their students, and the strength of these students lies in their parents. Both the graduating students and their parents should be proud of themselves just as the Lahore School of Economics is proud of you,” the Rector said.

The Convocation was attended by a large number of parents.

http://213.251.145.96/

With international pressure mounting on WikiLeaks, Amazon's decision to kick the site off its server triggered debate among other Web-hosting companies over how to handle the political hot potato. Brian Ries talks to the deciders.

In the wake of the WikiLeaks cable disaster, Team Obama plans to reassign key U.S. embassy personnel—pulling those who were compromised and could be in danger. By Philip Shenon.

The Obama administration is planning a major reshuffling of diplomats, military officers, and intelligence operatives at U.S. embassies around the world out of concern that WikiLeaks has made it impossible—if not dangerous—for many of the Americans to remain in their current posts.

Lahore School of Economics Association of Debaters (LSEAD) British Parliamentary Quadrangular Debate was held at the Lahore School on the November 30, 2010 in Mahmood Chaudhry Library at the Main Campus. The teams present were the opening government LUMS (Ali Javed and Osama Zaman), opening opposition Kinnaird College (Osheen Fatima and Amel Ghani), closing government UCL (Abbas Ali and Neeshay Aqueel) and closing opposition the Lahore School itself (Syed Ali Akbar Abbas Rizvi and Shahraiz Chishti).


The topic under discussion was, “this house believes that globalization is a tool for exploitation.” After a heated debate the decision eventually boiled down between LUMS and LSE with LUMS managing to get victory by a split decision. Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry, the Rector Lahore School of Economics, Dr. Azam Chaudhry, the Dean of Economics, Javed Quershi, the Director Extra Curricular and large number of the students from Lahore School and students from Learning Alliance School attended the debate.

Use of social media applications is being debated across the World Wide Web. Fans support the usage of tools like Blog, tweet, Facebook to break down barriers between businesses, public servants and ordinary people to discuss ideas and gather feedback. Trend watches and analysts still see the social media tools as time wasting diversions. It is in this milieu that we need to look at the fast growing social media usage in our own, still low tech, corporate and public sectors.

After the "job" has been done, the US struck its first blow against WikiLeaks after Amazon.com pulled the plug on hosting the whistleblowing website in reaction to heavy political pressure.

The company announced it was cutting WikiLeaks off yesterday only 24 hours after being contacted by the staff of Joe Lieberman, chairman of the Senate's committee on homeland security.

WikiLeaks expressed disappointment with Amazon, and insisted it was a breach of freedom of speech as enshrined in the US constitution's first amendment. The organisation, in a message sent via Twitter, said if Amazon was "so uncomfortable with the first amendment, they should get out of the business of selling books."

Related: WikiLeaks are intentional leaks

Fixing up the home before the holidays get here can be both expensive and time consuming. That’s why many of us try to look online to see where the best deals are. Say you need something like a new power tool in order to handle your new remodeling project. Well you would look online to see who has the best deal available and then go to the store and pick it up. Well the problem is that right now stores are selling out items if they have a great deal on it so you could drive all the way out there to find out that the power tool is sold out.

This problem could have been avoided if you used different websites to research the info. There are now websites out there that can actually allow you to not only find out which store has the best deal, but which store still has those items. So not only can you find out which store sells the power tool the cheapest, you can also find out which of the local Home Depot locations, Lowes locations, or Sears locations actually have it in stock without having to waste an entire day driving around. This can save you a lot of money as well as a lot of time and time is something we cannot afford to waste during the holiday season, especially if we are remodeling our home. So find the ways to make it easiest on yourself, the technology is out there, you just have to keep your eyes open.