Anushka, Virat enjoy honeymoon in ‘heaven’

Couple post a picture from unknown snowy destination

Newly wed actress Anushka Sharma and star cricketer Virat Kohli are currently enjoying their honeymoon amidst snowcapped mountains — but won’t say where.

Sharma on Friday shared a selfie with Kohli.

Is Ram Setu, The Land Bridge Connecting India And Sri Lanka, Manmade? Science Channel Says Yes

There are stones that have been brought from far and set on top of the sand bar in the island chain.

Is Ram Setu, the land bridge connecting India and Sri Lanka, manmade or natural?
A new TV show by the Science Channel owned by Discovery Communications  claims that a scientific investigation into the structures forming Ram Setu, also called Adam’s Bridge, suggests that the ancient Hindu myth of Lord Ram building such a bridge could be true.

The show has used satellite images from NASA and quotes scientists and geologists from Indiana University Northwest, University of Colorado Boulder, and Southern Oregon University.
am Setu, between Pamban Island near Rameshwaram in India and Mannar Island off Sri Lanka is 50km long and has been in the centre of a controversy since the UPA-1government in 2005 proposed the Sethusamudram shipping canal project that would have required dredging the area. The project was opposed by the BJP-led NDA citing the mythologicalimportance of the bridge. It is believed that Ram Setu is the bridge built by Lord Ram with the help of a vanara sena to reach Sri Lanka to rescue his wife Sita from the Rakshasa king, Ravana.  
The UPA-I government had initially filed an affidavit in Supreme Court saying there was no evidence to prove that Ram Setu was a place of worship. It was later withdrawn.

Communists win Nepal’s first election under the new constitution

AFTER centuries of absolute monarchy followed by decades of chaos, Nepal is taking to democracy in a big way. Since May its people have voted into office 753 newly created local councils, seven new provincial assemblies and a 275-member national parliament. Counting is not quite done for those last two votes, run simultaneously over the past three weeks, but the winner is clear. A coalition of two ostensibly communist parties, the Unified Marxist Leninists (UML) and the Maoist Centre, looks set to control not just the national government but six of seven provinces.

The alliance was tapped to win after the Maoists abruptly ditched their erstwhile coalition partner in the outgoing government, the Nepali Congress, to join the UML. But the scale of the avalanche comes as a shock to the centrist and liberal Congress, which over the turbulent past quarter-century has served as the default party of government. The leftists captured 70% of the 165 seats allocated on a first-past-the-post (FPTP) basis, compared with a meagre 14% for Congress. (Calculations are still under way for the remaining 110 seats, which will be allotted proportionally.)

Fire Destroys Years of Research at 4,500-year-old Ventarron Site

The Ministry of Culture has requested a criminal investigation into the causes of a fire that has heavily damaged the pre-Inca site of Ventarron, outside the city of Chiclayo on the north coast in Lambayeque.

Conservation specialists from the Culture ministry have arrived at the site to assess the damage.  According to archaeologist Walter Alva, who discovered the magnificent burial site of the Lord of Sipan nearby almost 30 years ago,  years of research and excavation work have been lost.

Alva’s son Ignacio, also an archaeologist and working at the site, said pots and other artifacts more than 4,500 years old have also been destroyed or damaged.

entarron, an exceptional site, is the oldest architectural complex in northern Peru and includes the oldest mural painting discovered so far in the Americas.  The unusual mural, now blackened from the fire is painted in blacks and ochers and depicts a deer trapped in a net.

Saudi sovereign fund plans cinema venture with AMC Entertainment

Saudi Arabia’s main sovereign wealth fund said it planned to enter the cinema business with major U.S.-based movie exhibition company AMC Entertainment Holdings, as the conservative kingdom lifts a 35-year-old ban on cinemas.

“In line with the fund’s mandate to help unlock promising new sectors within the kingdom, PIF and AMC Entertainment will explore theatrical exhibition and related investment and partnership opportunities in Saudi Arabia,” the Public Investment Fund said.
Neither of the partners gave details of the business ventures which might arise from their non-binding memorandum of understanding.
The Saudi government announced on Monday that the first theaters could start showing films as early as March, part of a liberalizing reform drive that has opened the door to concerts, comedy shows and women drivers in the past year.

Can Rahul Gandhi revive India's Grand Old Party?

Rahul Gandhi's ascension to the leadership of India's 132-year-old Congress party comes at a time when it is struggling to stay relevant.

Mr Gandhi's appointment was confirmed on Monday, days after he filed his nomination papers for the post. There were no other contenders. He will officially take over on 16 December.

The Congress, the country's largest opposition party, won less than 20% of the popular vote in the seismic 2014 general elections which catapulted Narendra Modi's BJP to power. It secured just 44 - or 8% - of the 543 parliamentary seats in its worst performance ever.

Since then, the Congress has lost elections in half-a-dozen states, and is now in power in only two big states - Karnataka and Punjab - and three other smaller ones. Its prospects in two imminent state elections - Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh - look mixed.

Voters in cities and villages have deserted the party in droves - between 2009 and 2014, the Congress lost more than 9% of the popular vote, bleeding support across castes and minorities. "It is a party bereft of a social constituency of its own," says political scientist Suhas Palshikar.

The party has already gained the unenviable reputation of failing to make a comeback in states it loses.

Tamil Nadu, where the Congress last won an election in 1962, and West Bengal, where it hasn't been in power since 1977, are standout examples. Key states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, where the Congress lost in recent elections, appear to be going the same way.

At the next local government election, J, V, P functionality is another way.

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had prescribed a code of ethics to be followed by all its candidates seeking to contest at the forthcoming local government elections.

Parliamentarian and the JVP Propaganda Secretary Vijitha Herath said it had been made mandatory for all candidates to adhere to this code of ethics to ensure an emergence of group that was well-disciplined and people and environmentally friendly.

Mixed marriages and their success formulae

I would describe our family as: ‘globetrotting,’ ‘entrepreneurial,’ and ‘sleep-deprived’.

My children’s unending energy comes from both cultures. From having a Finnish breakfast to an American dinner, the children are balanced in the middle. One of the advantages of raising children in a multi-cultural family is the understanding that there are many ways to do and to think about something, and being able to literally think about things in two ways. This starts with us as the parents learning from each other and then it is passed on to the kids.

“I would agree that being raised in a multicultural family makes a child more tolerant, open-minded and accepting of other cultures. Besides helping to create a richer environment at home, the blend of cultures creates a more accepting and curious attitude for things outside the home.

We have been gradually taking pieces from both our cultures and adding new traditions of our own as we go to create our own family culture.

There are double the holidays celebrated, traditions that need to merge, and cultural foods that I need to find ingredients for to make.

“We are also trying to figure out what curriculum our children will follow for their upcoming school. Our toddler understands both English and Finnish, but mainly speaks back in English, while our eight-month-old is cooing fluently in both languages.”

I would describe our family as: mosaic, dynamic, and interesting.

Raising children in a multicultural environment creates different scenarios that allow them to possess receptive minds towards any environment they find themselves in. I believe that tolerance is innate for children born in multicultural homes by default. Being raised in an interracial home also inculcates acceptance in children at a very young age, making them understand that there are different ways of living. It makes the children innovative and this can be observed in little things such as fabricating a dish by simply infusing both cultures in it or just incorporating one cultural dance move into another.

Sri Lanka accedes to the Optional Protocol

Dec 08, Colombo: Sri Lanka, as announced at the U.N Human Rights Council last month, has acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture to cooperate with international agencies in combating torture

he Secretary-General of the United Nations, acting in his capacity as depositary, announced that Sri Lanka acceded to the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment on 5th December 2017.

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom - Official Trailer [HD]

Dubai government to build Mars Science City as part of mission to Mars

The government of Dubai has announced plans for the development of a vast 'space simulation development' in Dubai called Mars Science City, as part of Dubai's Mars 2117 Strategy, which seeks to build the first settlement on Mars in the next 100 years.

The AED 500 million-scheme, extending over 1.9m sq ft, will simulate conditions on the surface of the red planet, with heat and radiation insulation and walls which are 3D printed from desert sand.

The developers say the structure – consisting of a series of domes – will be one of the most sophisticated the world.

Mars Science City will have a museum displaying "humanity’s greatest space achievements", with educational areas to engage young people and inspire in them a passion for space, exploration and discovery.