"Singapore has lost a true opposition leader, devoted to fight till the very end for what he believes in. My deepest condolence to Mr. JB Jeyaretnam. May he rest in peace."
It is one tough Ah Neh, JB Jeyaretnam!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Top Opposition AH Neh Pass Away - JBJ
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Indians behind Force F1
Motor Racing: Force India F1 season gets even worse
The car of Giancarlo Fisichella of team Force India is taken away after a crash during the final practice session.
SINGAPORE - Force India has had a sobering introduction to Formula One in its inaugural season and once again nothing went right for Vijay Mallya's team Saturday.
Giancarlo Fisichella will start last on the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday and Adrian Sutil will join him at the back.
"I think this is probably our worst qualifying performances so far this year," said Sutil.
"We really don't know where the problem is, but it just seemed the grip was not there and the balance wasn't right. We just have to try our best and find the problems."
The sport's newest outfit are still without a point in either the drivers' or constructors' championship with just four races of the 18-race campaign left.
The experienced Fisichella crashed into the barriers in practice Saturday and although the crew fixed the car's damaged right corner, he got a puncture in qualifying.
"I'm really disappointed -- not for myself, as I think it would have been a tough qualifying anyway -- but for the team as they worked so hard," he said.
Billionaire owner Mallya, who had high hopes at the beginning of the season, said he was confident their luck would change.
"Both drivers had their problems but the team did a tremendous job to get Giancarlo's car out in time for qualifying, something I think we can be proud of," he said.
"As a small team such knock-backs can be tough but everyone has dealt with it admirably. Hopefully, we've had all our bad luck this weekend and can look forward to picking up positions on Sunday." - AFP
The car of Giancarlo Fisichella of team Force India is taken away after a crash during the final practice session.
SINGAPORE - Force India has had a sobering introduction to Formula One in its inaugural season and once again nothing went right for Vijay Mallya's team Saturday.
Giancarlo Fisichella will start last on the grid for the Singapore Grand Prix on Sunday and Adrian Sutil will join him at the back.
"I think this is probably our worst qualifying performances so far this year," said Sutil.
"We really don't know where the problem is, but it just seemed the grip was not there and the balance wasn't right. We just have to try our best and find the problems."
The sport's newest outfit are still without a point in either the drivers' or constructors' championship with just four races of the 18-race campaign left.
The experienced Fisichella crashed into the barriers in practice Saturday and although the crew fixed the car's damaged right corner, he got a puncture in qualifying.
"I'm really disappointed -- not for myself, as I think it would have been a tough qualifying anyway -- but for the team as they worked so hard," he said.
Billionaire owner Mallya, who had high hopes at the beginning of the season, said he was confident their luck would change.
"Both drivers had their problems but the team did a tremendous job to get Giancarlo's car out in time for qualifying, something I think we can be proud of," he said.
"As a small team such knock-backs can be tough but everyone has dealt with it admirably. Hopefully, we've had all our bad luck this weekend and can look forward to picking up positions on Sunday." - AFP
Friday, September 26, 2008
Singapore have F1, India also want
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said Friday he plans to hold a Grand Prix in India in 2011, a year later than first thought.
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi announced last year that he had sealed a deal to host a Grand Prix in New Delhi from 2010.
But Ecclestone told AFP it would likely happen later than that, without giving a reason.
Asked if 2010 was still in the pipeline, he said: "It's all going on as usual, but these things take time.
"Probably 2011 is what I want."
India's ambitious F1 plans were first unveiled in June last year when the IOA said it had received a letter from Ecclestone allowing the country to host a race subject to meeting certain conditions, like building a track.
Millions of Indians watch F1 on television, often with the same passion they reserve for the country's most popular sport -- cricket.
Pls stick to what you guys are good at!
Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Suresh Kalmadi announced last year that he had sealed a deal to host a Grand Prix in New Delhi from 2010.
But Ecclestone told AFP it would likely happen later than that, without giving a reason.
Asked if 2010 was still in the pipeline, he said: "It's all going on as usual, but these things take time.
"Probably 2011 is what I want."
India's ambitious F1 plans were first unveiled in June last year when the IOA said it had received a letter from Ecclestone allowing the country to host a race subject to meeting certain conditions, like building a track.
Millions of Indians watch F1 on television, often with the same passion they reserve for the country's most popular sport -- cricket.
Pls stick to what you guys are good at!
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
India, sisters of Mother Teresa assaulted by Hindu radicals and arrested by police
The fundamentalists attacked the religious, accusing them of the "kidnapping and forced conversion" of four children between one and two years old. Although their identification documents were in order, the children were taken away from the sisters and put in a government hospital. Tough condemnation by the Indian Church.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) - The Missionaries of Charity are again in the crosshairs of the fundamentalists: yesterday, September 5 - the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta - four sisters of Mother Teresa were attacked by about 20 Bajrang Dal activists at the Durgh train station in Chhattisgarh, a state in central India. The Hindu radicals forced them off the train, and then handed them over to police officers while chanting anti-Christian slogans.
The Hindu fundamentalists accused the sisters - Sr Mamta, the mother superior, Sr Ignacio, Sr Josephina, and Sr Laborius - of the "kidnapping and forced conversion" of four children between one and two years old, whom the religious were taking from their home in Raipur to the Shishu Bhava charity center in Bhopal. The activists followed the women to the police station, "insulting them and chanting slogans against the Christians".
The sisters presented all of the identification documents for the children and their travel permit, in addition to other documentation brought later by the religious from the house in Bilaspur. In spite of this documentation, the children were taken to be housed temporarily at the government hospital in Durg, while the documents and identity papers presented by the sisters are verified by the judicial authorities.
"The mob threatened to beat us up, but I was not afraid", Sr Mamta tells AsiaNews. Her only concern is for the children, who require care and assistance, "but most of all our love. We love these darlings like our own, that is our pain".
The sister says that she "prayed to Mother Teresa" (yesterday was the anniversary of her death, and her liturgical feast day), entrusting the "well-being of the children" to her. She emphasizes that this new episode of "persecution" is an integral part of the missionary task of "witnessing to Christ" entrusted to them by the founder of the order. Although she got no sleep during the night spent at the police station, the following morning - today, September 6 - she took part in Mass, "thanking God and our beloved Mother Teresa".
The Indian Catholic Church has taken a tough stance, through the head of the bishops' conference, who denounces the climate of hostility and terror toward Christians. "I am absolutely shocked", says Cardinal Osvaldo Gracias, "at the baseless and fabricated allegations of conversion levied against the Missionary of Charity". The prelate stresses that he knew "Mother Teresa personally, and I was also involved with her mission, and I can vouch for the fact that never has any baby or anyone been converted by the Missionaries of Charity, either in the remotest rural area or in any part of the world".
In condemning this new attack against the Christians, Cardinal Gracias accuses those who "are instrumental in poisoning minds" and foster interconfessional confrontation: "This is a climate of intolerance [against Christians] that is growing in the country, and it will have serious drastic long-term effects on Indian society".
This new episode of violence against the sisters confirms the growing climate of hostility toward Christians, in the crosshairs of the Hindu fundamentalists who are seeking by every means to eliminate their mission and their charitable works in the country.
The tribals, the Dalits - untouchables - and the many orphaned children find in Christianity and in the activity of the religious a way to improve their condition and bring dignity to their lives. By attacking the Christians, the Hindu fundamentalists are above all harming India and its people, anchoring it in a feudal and backward past, based on the hierarchy determined by caste and by slavery.
New Delhi (AsiaNews) - The Missionaries of Charity are again in the crosshairs of the fundamentalists: yesterday, September 5 - the anniversary of the death of Mother Teresa of Calcutta - four sisters of Mother Teresa were attacked by about 20 Bajrang Dal activists at the Durgh train station in Chhattisgarh, a state in central India. The Hindu radicals forced them off the train, and then handed them over to police officers while chanting anti-Christian slogans.
The Hindu fundamentalists accused the sisters - Sr Mamta, the mother superior, Sr Ignacio, Sr Josephina, and Sr Laborius - of the "kidnapping and forced conversion" of four children between one and two years old, whom the religious were taking from their home in Raipur to the Shishu Bhava charity center in Bhopal. The activists followed the women to the police station, "insulting them and chanting slogans against the Christians".
The sisters presented all of the identification documents for the children and their travel permit, in addition to other documentation brought later by the religious from the house in Bilaspur. In spite of this documentation, the children were taken to be housed temporarily at the government hospital in Durg, while the documents and identity papers presented by the sisters are verified by the judicial authorities.
"The mob threatened to beat us up, but I was not afraid", Sr Mamta tells AsiaNews. Her only concern is for the children, who require care and assistance, "but most of all our love. We love these darlings like our own, that is our pain".
The sister says that she "prayed to Mother Teresa" (yesterday was the anniversary of her death, and her liturgical feast day), entrusting the "well-being of the children" to her. She emphasizes that this new episode of "persecution" is an integral part of the missionary task of "witnessing to Christ" entrusted to them by the founder of the order. Although she got no sleep during the night spent at the police station, the following morning - today, September 6 - she took part in Mass, "thanking God and our beloved Mother Teresa".
The Indian Catholic Church has taken a tough stance, through the head of the bishops' conference, who denounces the climate of hostility and terror toward Christians. "I am absolutely shocked", says Cardinal Osvaldo Gracias, "at the baseless and fabricated allegations of conversion levied against the Missionary of Charity". The prelate stresses that he knew "Mother Teresa personally, and I was also involved with her mission, and I can vouch for the fact that never has any baby or anyone been converted by the Missionaries of Charity, either in the remotest rural area or in any part of the world".
In condemning this new attack against the Christians, Cardinal Gracias accuses those who "are instrumental in poisoning minds" and foster interconfessional confrontation: "This is a climate of intolerance [against Christians] that is growing in the country, and it will have serious drastic long-term effects on Indian society".
This new episode of violence against the sisters confirms the growing climate of hostility toward Christians, in the crosshairs of the Hindu fundamentalists who are seeking by every means to eliminate their mission and their charitable works in the country.
The tribals, the Dalits - untouchables - and the many orphaned children find in Christianity and in the activity of the religious a way to improve their condition and bring dignity to their lives. By attacking the Christians, the Hindu fundamentalists are above all harming India and its people, anchoring it in a feudal and backward past, based on the hierarchy determined by caste and by slavery.
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