United States welcomes opening of Afghan parliament

United States welcomed the opening of the Afghan parliament Wednesday, calling it a "significant milestone," and urged the start of a dialogue on election reform. Afghan President Hamid Karzai swore in the country's parliament in Kabul after threatening to delay its opening pending an investigation into charges of irregularities in September elections. "The seating of parliament is a significant milestone in the progression of Afghanistan's democracy and an extremely important moment for Afghans who bravely cast their votes last September," said US National Security Council spokesman Mike Hammer.


"The United States joins the Afghan people in celebrating today's achievement and we encourage the Afghans to begin an inclusive dialogue on electoral reform." Nearly a quarter of the five million votes cast in the parliamentary elections were thrown out, and there were relatively few wins by Pashtuns, Afghanistan's biggest ethnic group of Karzai's power base. Karzai has not endorsed the final outcome, and established a special tribunal to investigate claims of election fraud. The new MPs have demanded that the court be scrapped. The United States, the United Nations and the European Union all welcomed Karzai's decision to relent and finally open parliament.


US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley earlier welcomed the inauguration, saying the United States hoped all branches of government would "work together to advance the priorities of the Afghan people."

BP – Blood Pressure treatment discovery

Blood pressure treatment is safer and more effective with two medicines than one, a study has shown. The results are likely to change the way doctors treat the condition, a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes. Patients are normally given one drug, with others added, if needed, over a period of months. But the Accelerate study shows it is best to start treatment with two medicines together at the same time as it can result in much faster and more effective control of blood pressure, with fewer side effects. Professor Morris Brown, from Cambridge University, who led the trial, said: "The Accelerate study breaks the mould for treating hypertension (high blood pressure). Most patients can now be prescribed a single combination pill and know that they are optimally protected from strokes and heart attacks."


Prof. Bryan Williams, from the British Hypertension Society, said: "This study is important and the findings could change the way we approach the treatment of high blood pressure." The research, which involved 1,250 patients with high blood pressure, is published in an early online edition of The Lancet medical journal. It shows that starting treatment with the two drugs aliskiren and amlodipine in a combination pill produces a 25% better response in patients than conventional "monotherapy". The scientists suspect taking the drugs in series allows the body to neutralise each of them in turn. Having them together may prevent this from happening.


Almost 10 million people in the UK are believed to have high blood pressure.

Knowledge In a point - 5

• Name the country which has no cinema theatre = Saudi Arabia.

• The word ‘Pakistan’ was invented by a Cambridge student namely? = Rahmat Ali.

• Sugar bowl of India = Uttar Pardesh.

• Scotland of the East = Shilong.

• Queen of Himalayas = Darjeeling.

• City of 7 Islands = Mumbai.

• National Emblem of Germany = Cornflower.

• National Emblem of Iran = Rose.

• National Emblem of USA = Golden Rod.

• National Emblem of Sri Lanka = Lion.

• National Emblem of Italy = White Lily.

• India is home to over 200 million cows.

• Only female mosquitoes bite.

• Sharks are immune to all known diseases.

• Horses sleep standing up.

Sugar Sweetened coffee helps you remember well

Sweetened coffee may be the best way to prepare the brain for a busy day ahead, say scientists. Researchers at the University of Barcelona in Spain found that taking caffeine and sugar at the same time boosted the brain's performance more than taking them on their own. They now believe each one boosts the effect of the other on brain functions such as attention span and working memory.

Findings come from brain scans carried out on 40 volunteers who were tested after they had coffee with sugar, coffee without sugar, sugar on its own or just plain water. "The two substances improve cognitive performance by increasing the efficiency of the two areas of the brain responsible for sustained attention and working memory," the Daily Mail quoted researcher Dr Josep Serra Grabulosa as saying. "The brain is more efficient under the combined effect of the two substances, since it needs fewer resources to produce the same level of performance than when volunteers took only caffeine, glucose or water," Serra Grabulosa added. But it's likely that coffee lovers who do not take sugar will get the same benefits from enjoying a sugary snack with their drink. The results have been published in the journal Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental.

Green tea is best for fighting cancer, dementia

Green tea could be a far more powerful medicine for fighting cancer and dementia, experts have claimed. Scientists were astounded at how effectively compounds within the drink, once they reached the gut, protected cells from attack, reports express.co.uk. The green tea not only battled against toxins that allow plaques to build up in the brain, which lead to Alzheimer's, but it also stopped cancer cells from dividing.


Research by Newcastle University was carried out only on cells in a laboratory but scientists insist this provides an insight into how the tea will work in our bodies. Ed Okello, from the university's School of Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, said: 'What was really exciting about this study was that we found, when green tea is digested by enzymes in the gut, the resulting chemicals are actually more effective against key triggers of Alzheimer's development than the undigested form of the tea.' 'In addition, we found the digested compounds had anti-cancer properties, significantly slowing down the growth of the tumour cells which we were using in our experiments,' he added.


Only problem with the results is the huge amounts of green tea should be drunk to gain the same effects. But Okello pointed out : 'There are many factors that together have an influence on diseases such as cancer and dementia - a good diet, plenty of exercise and a healthy lifestyle are all important.' 'But it's fair to say that at least one cup of green tea every day may be good for you and I would certainly recommend it,' he added.

US President Barack Obama's first two years : Courage and compromise

Challenging man President Barack Obama inherited from his predecessor were daunting. President George W. Bush’s eight years in the White House culminated in a financial meltdown, a foreclosure crisis, and an economic collapse, all of which arose during his final years in office. The nation was entrenched in two foreign wars with no end in sight, Bush had done little to combat the looming threat of climate change, and global opinion of the United States was at an all-time low. In November, Republicans capitalized on the fact that Obama was unable to entirely clean up the enormous, putrefying mess that had been dumped in his lap. No one could have reassembled the nation’s woeful economy in just two years, and Obama warned of as much before he took office. But voters, many of them out of work or underemployed, were understandably frustrated, and the Democrats suffered their wrath. Now, Republicans are sweeping right back into office, where they’ll try their damnedest to undo everything the president has accomplished.

Those accomplishments have been significant. Whether you agree with his politics or not, President Obama has succeeded in seeing through the passage of several historic acts. There was the economic stimulus package, tight new financial regulations, and the health care overhaul. More recently, during the lame duck sessions, there was the Food Safety Modernization Act, a repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and an arms treaty with Russia. Other politicians have attempted to accomplish similar feats for years or even decades, but without success. In addition, combat operations in Iraq have ended, and Obama plans to begin withdrawing troops from Afghanistan this summer. Maybe the president deserved that 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, after all. Topping it all off, at the end of the year, Obama struck a deal with leading Republicans to extend Bush-era tax cuts, while also extending jobless benefits for the unemployed. It was a compromise that tasted pretty sour for lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and it’s seen by some as one of the president’s most dubious accomplishments.

Obama was forced to make concessions in order to secure sorely needed jobless benefits before the end-of-the-year deadline, it’s troubling that Bush’s steadfast policy of rewarding the rich for being wealthy will continue another two years. While Tea Partiers call Obama a socialist and accuse Democrats of trying to rob the rich of their hard-earned affluence, the truth is that taxes have remained at historic lows. In a recent article in The Huffington Post, writer Sam Harris pointed out that the nation has rarely known such modest taxation for its wealthiest citizens.“Throughout the 1950s—a decade for which American conservatives pretend to feel a harrowing sense of nostalgia—the marginal tax rate for the wealthy was over 90 percent. In fact, prior to the 1980s it never dipped below 70 percent,” Harris wrote. “Since 1982, however, it has come down by half. In the meantime, the average net worth of the richest 1 percent of Americans has doubled (to $18.5 million), while that of the poorest 40 percent has fallen by 63 percent (to $2,200).” As a feeble defense for giving immense tax cuts to the rich (who need it the least) while offering miniscule relief to the poor (who need it the most), conservatives have long claimed that building the wealth of the rich has a trickle-down effect, enabling them to hire more employees and pay higher wages. If only it actually worked out that way. As a recent issue of the N.H. Gazette pointed out, Bush’s tax cuts were less than successful at stimulating economic growth during his own presidency.

As “The rate of job growth between 2001 and 2007 was less than half what it had been during previous periods of economic expansion. What’s more, during that period real wages and salaries grew at less than half the rate of earlier economic expansions” (the Gazette cites a November episode of “CBS Moneywatch” for the data). If you still need more convincing, just watch Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Nov. 30 filibuster speech, in which he pointed out that the top 1 percent of income earners take home more than 20 percent of all U.S. income—“more than the entire bottom 50 percent.”

Challenges that lie ahead for President Obama are just as daunting as the ones he faced two years ago, and now he’ll have a Republican majority in the House to contend with, along with a 2012 election on the horizon. So will Obama stick to his guns and promote the policies he believes are best for the nation, or will he capitulate to his rivals in the hopes of salvaging votes for his reelection bid? We can only hope the answer is the former, because doing right by America is more important than clinging to that hot seat in Washington, D.C., and there’s much more for President Obama to accomplish in the next two years.

Knowledge In a point - 4

• The 1st cement factory was established in 1904 at Chennai.

• Which state is known as the land of legends? = Gujarat.

• What is the strongest force in the Universe?= Nuclear force.

• Who invented diesel engine? = Rudolf Diesel.

• Who invented Stethoscope ? = Rene Laenec.

• English became India’s official language in the year = 1835.

• All insects have 6 legs.

• Frogs cant swallow with their eyes open.

• Pearls melt in Vinegar.

• EI Nino is a sea storm.

• Which helps the flowering of plants? = Phosphorus.

• Which article is called as the soul of the Constitution = Article 32.

• In which ground did Sachin Tendulkar made his debut in one day cricket = Gujjanwala.

• The land of Humming Bird = Tonga.

• Rain contains Vitamin B12.

• When Alexander Bell passed away in 1922, every telephone served by the Bell system in the USA & Canada was silent for one minute.

Happy New Year