women rights

Women's rights are the rights and entitlements claimed for women and girls of many societies worldwide. In some places these rights are institutionalized or supported by law, local custom, and behaviour, whereas in others they may be ignored or suppressed. They differ from broader notions of human rights through claims of an inherent historical and traditional bias against the exercise of rights by women and girls in favour of men and boys. Issues commonly associated with notions of women's rights include, though are not limited to, the right: to bodily integrity and autonomy; to vote (suffrage); to hold public office; to work; to fair wages or equal pay; to own property; to education; to serve in the military or be conscripted; to enter into legal contracts; and to have marital, parental and religious rights.

women rights

Jayawardene quits T20 captaincy

Mahela Jayawardene stepped down as Sri Lanka’s Twenty20 captain after losing the World Twenty20 final against West Indies by 36 runs on Sunday.
“I think we need a young leader,” Jayawardene said. “It’s a great opportunity for somebody to start (captaining) in the T20 format.”
Angry fans want players like Sangakkara and Malinga to be axed to make way for youngsters

Jayawardene said he had informed the selector about his decision before the tournament began last month and they were quite happy with the choice he had made.
However, Jayawardene said he would continue to lead the side in test matches and one-day internationals until the tour of Australia later this year, and if the new Twenty20 captain wanted him to compete as a player in that format he would continue.
“I haven’t stepped down from the other formats (test matches and ODIs), obviously I took over until December. … I will assess what I want to do after that.”
He led Sri Lanka in 19 Twenty20s, winning 12 and losing 6 with one tied match.

Sri Lanka was well placed to win a first major title in 16 years up until the 10th over as West Indies struggled at 32-2.
But Marlon Samuels smashed six sixes and three fours in his blistering knock of 78 off 56 balls to guide the West Indies to a competitive 137-6.
Jayawardene top scored with 33 in the unsuccessful run-chase to the much disappointment of 35,000 home fans at R Premadasa Stadium.
“It hurts a lot because you want to do something special, not just personally but for the public as well,” Jayawardene said. “We’ve been playing some really good cricket, but unfortunately we haven’t been able to cross that (final) hurdle.”
Sri Lanka lost just one game in the tournament before Sunday’s final — a rain-shortened seven-over-a-side group match against South Africa at Hambantota.
Jayawardene’s team was trying to become the first host nation to win the tournament, and looked to be on their way to an elusive title as they defeated defending champion England in Super Eights, won one-over eliminator against New Zealand and had an easy nine-wicket win over the West Indies.
Even against a dangerous Pakistan, Sri Lanka’s bowling attack looked far superior as they won the semifinal by 16 runs.
But when it really mattered, Jayawardene’s reliable pace bowler Lasith Malinga came under the hammer of Samuels in the final.
Malinga gave away precious 54 runs off his four overs with Samuels hitting the sling-arm fast bowler for five towering sixes.
“We did not bowl particularly well in that last six, seven overs,” Jayawardene said. “We never looked having any momentum chasing down that run rate as well, credit to them, they played good cricket in the big final which we did not.”
Since that famous victory in the 1996 World Cup final, Sri Lanka just once shared the Champions Trophy with India in 2002. They came close to winning the 50-over World Cup, but twice they stumbled in the final — in 2007 and in 2011.
Pakistan also made sure a major trophy eluded Jayawardene when it beat Sri Lanka in the 2009 World Twenty20 final at Lord’s.
“Every defeat has been different how we approached,” a dejected looking Jayawardene said. “Couple of the finals obviously we did not start well …. and kept chasing the game.”
Even on Sunday night, while chasing a trickier target on slow wicket, Sri Lanka lost its experienced opening batsman Tillakaratne Dilshan in the second over.
Kumar Sangakkara and Jayawardene tried to rebuild the innings, but their cautious approach kept the run-rate increasing which put the pressure on the home team.
“We wanted to attack obviously,” Jayawardene said. “The first six overs were crucial for us … but Dili got out off the first ball of the second over, that kept us back.
“They bowled very well, they took the pace of the ball…we never had momentum going in the chase, we lost wickets regularly so it was tough.”

ICC World Twenty20 CUP - Team Captians

This T20 World Cup looks wide open with India slight favourites in terms or odds and sentiment. But you could throw a blanket of even terms over the next seven teams with New Zealand and Bangladesh being the outsiders. Whatever else can be said about Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe, they cannot win the big thing.
It will however be quite interesting to observe whether the minnows, Afghanistan, Ireland and Zimbabwe are more competitive in the T20 than in the 50-over format.
There is a very good chance that in T20 games such as India versus Afghanistan will be more interesting in T20 than in 50 over form.

The toughest group is that of Pakistan, New Zealand and Bangladesh where one of those teams will miss out making it to the Super Eights.
All the other favourite sides should make it comfortably through the group stages unless the weather intervenes.





India’s success appears to depend on how desperate they are to win the cup. Can they match the intensity of their long journey in the 2011 World Cup where it seemed almost imperative for the team and nation that they prevail?

In those tough and defining moments of tournament play, it is this hunger and desire that can carry you through those moments of crisis. In my time as coach with the team, the biggest enemy at various times seemed to be success.
Any major win or forward step of progress seemed to be followed by a period of time where our results were mixed. It wasn’t until we found ourselves in the situation of having to win a game from all the outside pressures that our quality of play would pick up.
Among India’s main opponents, three teams stand out in terms of hunger and desire. South Africa, New Zealand and Bangladesh have never won a World Cup of any significance (This is outside the Champions Trophy which is now on its last legs).
Bringing home the trophy would have real meaning for those three countries. You can add to them by including Sri Lanka.
There is nothing more motivating than playing in front of your own fans. One of the reasons in sport of the advantage in playing at home is not just about geography.

Yes, you will get to sleep in your own bed and you will know every blade of grass on your territory and how the wicket plays and where the wind blows, but the main factor in home games is that you are playing in front of your own. They haven’t come to watch you fail and if they do they will let you know.
Failure in performance is recognised more personally at home so Sri Lanka will be proud and primed.
Of the rest, Australia will compete hard because they of all teams are the most consistent day-in, day-out competitors whatever and wherever they play.
Pakistan seem more organised these days and dangerous with momentum and as we all know, tough for any Indian side to beat.

England seem to have a bit much going on off the stage with the Kevin Pietersen shenanigans. They may miss his runs but they won’t miss him and his puerile texting.
That leaves the West Indians. T20 almost seems to have been invented for these outrageously talented strikers of a cricket ball.
Their bowling is patchy and their eventual success may depend upon the effectiveness of their mystery spinner, Sunil Narine.

The Elephant Inspired Robotic Arm

It’s not every day that elephants inspire technological advances, let alone make existing technologies safer. Robotic arms can be quite dangerous, a single malfunction can cause frantic motion that could easily cause severe damage to us poor biological creatures. But the robotic arm ISELLA is built to minimize potential of such malfunction, and it’s design is inspired by an elephant’s trunk.

The arm was created by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing, Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, who pondered the extreme agility of elephants’ trunk and consequently came up with the designs. An elephant’s trunk contains around 40,000 muscles which he uses for a variety of tasks, including tearing down trees and carrying heavy loads — but also for more delicate tasks, such as manipulating objects. Herald Staab who invented the technology in ISELLA, says that “Its suppleness and agility gave us the idea for a bionic robot arm, ISELLA”.
The main difference when compared to conventional robotic arms is that while standard arms are equipped with one motor for each articulated joint, ISELLA has two. If one motor fails, the other takes over and prevents the arms jerking out of control. The arm is actuated by a simple and low cost muscle that consists of a motor and a cord attached to moving parts — similar to how muscle tendons are attached. The motor’s drive shaft is attached to the midpoint of the cord, so that when it turns the cord pulls in both directions. Their newsrelease states they’ve dubbed this mechanism “DOHELIX” due to it’s visual similarity to the double helix.

There are ten DOHELIX muscles in the ISELLA arm which act as flexors and extensors for each of the 9 articulated joints. Without giving any specific degrees of freedoms, they say it’s as flexible as a human arm, and that they are currently working on the elbow. Amongst the uses of this tech, Staab mentions medical rehabilitation and prosthetic devices (Dude… you forgot humanoid robots!).
On the issue of prosthetics, the Icelandic company Ossur was recently awarded the gold Medical Design Excellence Award for their robotic Proprio Foot which uses A.I. technologies to a great extent (not their first award, either). Basically, instead of having the user of the robotic foot need to learn how to use it, the embedded intelligence of the foot learns how the user walks: how he moves his leg, when he puts pressure on it, etc. That way, the act of rehabilitation becomes much easier and the consequent adaptation to the leg can feel much more natural. You no longer have a dead metal stick where your leg used to be — it’s somewhat alive and aware of your movements; a more coherent part of your body.

That’s todays two cents on elephants and robotic body parts. Stay tuned for penguins and brain-machine interfaces.

The Robotic Artificial Elephant

Artificial elephant is a robotic elephant made from 45 tons of recycled materials, measuring 12 meters high and 8 meters wide and the beauty of it is that it can carry up to 49 passengers.

The arm was created by researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing, Engineering and Automation IPA in Stuttgart, who pondered the extreme agility of elephants’ trunk and consequently came up with the designs. An elephant’s trunk contains around 40,000 muscles which

he uses for a variety of tasks, including tearing down trees and carrying heavy loads — but also for more delicate tasks, such as manipulating objects. Herald Staab who invented the technology in ISELLA, says that “Its suppleness and agility gave us the idea for a bionic robot arm, ISELLA”

8 tax haven countries in the world

While some of us file taxes dutifully every year, others enjoy the benefit of skipping personal tax because they live in countries with no income taxes. Here’s a list of eight countries which do not impose income tax, based on a survey conducted by KPMG.

Kuwait

Officially the State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. Being a tax-free country, Kuwait's oil industry accounts for 80 percent of government revenue.

Oman
Situated in Southwest Asia on the southeast coast of the Arabian Peninsula, Oman exempts tax as an incentive to encourage their expansion and development, with the industrial sector expected to contribute 15 percent to the country's GDP by 2020.

Qatar
Qatar is a sovereign Arab state, located in Western Asia. With no income tax, Qatar is one of the countries with the lowest tax rates in the world.

United Arab Emirates
The UAE is a federation of seven emirates, each governed by a hereditary emir, with a single national president. The UAE does not have any federal income tax on wages or salaries. Each emirate can impose income taxes but none do.

The Bahamas
Located in the Atlantic Ocean, The Bahamas consist of more than 3,000 islands, cays, and islets. The economy has a very competitive tax regime. The government derives its revenue from import tariffs, license fees, property and stamp taxes, but there is no income tax, corporate tax, capital gains tax, value-added tax, or wealth tax.

Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory located in the western Caribbean Sea. The Cayman Islands historically have been a tax-exempt destination. The government's primary source of income is indirect taxation.

Bermuda
Located off the east coast of the United States, Bermuda’s local tax system depends upon import duties, payroll taxes and consumption taxes.

Bahrain
Officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a small island country situated near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is a tax free economy with no withholding tax, corporate tax, income tax and VAT.

Remembering 9/11

It was a terror attack that shook the world’s most powerful nation. The attack on the World Trade Center in New York was an attack on the very symbol of prosperity and unity. On its 11 anniversary, here is a look at the day terror gripped America.

A fiery blasts rocks the World Trade Center after being hit by two planes September 11, 2001 in New York City.
United flight 175 flies directly into World Trade Center tower 2 during a terrorist attack.Photo by Carmen Taylor/WireImage

Shaun Tait to make Bollywood debut

Australian cricketer Shaun Tait has been approached to step into the acting pitch in Bollywood with Abhishek Kapoor's directorial "Kai Po Che!" He is expected to play a prominent part in the movie.

"Kai Po Che!" is the big screen adaptation of Chetan Bhagat's book "The 3 Mistakes of My Life". It features Sushant Singh Rajput, Amit Sadh and Rajkumar Yadav in key roles.

Since cricket is an integral part of the film, production company UTV Motion Pictures is on the lookout to cast a prominent international cricketer to cast.
It has already roped in Indian bowler Ashish Nehra to coach Sushant for his role of a cricket enthusiast in the film.
"Ashish suggested Shaun's name when the makers were brainstorming on who to cast for the part. But unlike Ashish, Shaun will actually play a prominent role in the film. UTV is in final talks with Shaun, who has shown interest in the film," said a source.
Manish Hariprasad, creative director, studios, Disney-UTV, confirmed the news, saying: "Abhishek Kapoor wanted a well-known international fast bowler for the climax. And Abhishek's good friend Ashish put us in touch with Shaun. We're in discussions with him, and hope to have him on board soon."
However, Tait will only do the film if his shooting schedule doesn't clash with his commitments towards the Australian team.
"Cricket will always come first for him. He liked the script and wants to do the film, but he will only give them a go-ahead if his timings work out," says the source.

Cape Point :South Africa Where the Indian and Atlantic Ocean meet.

Cape Point is a promontory at the southeast corner of the Cape Peninsula, which is a mountainous and scenic landform that runs north-south for about thirty kilometres at the extreme southwestern tip of the African continent in the Republic of South Africa. Table Mountain and the city of Cape Town are close to the northern extremity of the same peninsula.

The cape is located at 34°21′26″S 18°29′51 about 2.3 kilometres (1.4 mi) east and a little north of the Cape of Good Hope on the southwest corner.
Although these two rocky and beautiful capes are very well known, neither cape is actually the southernmost point in Africa; that is Cape Agulhas, approximately 150 kilometres (90 mi) to the east-southeast.
The peak above Cape Point is higher than that above the Cape of Good Hope.





The rugged sandstone (Table Mountain sandstone) ridge that rises from Cape Point at sea level develops into two peaks. There is a major peak that dominates the skyline locally but there is also a smaller peak about 100 m further south. The higher peak has the old lighthouse on the top. The Flying Dutchman Funicular runs from a car park to the north up to slightly below the level of the old lighthouse and a short flight of steps leads to a viewing platform at the base of the lighthouse. From the end of the railway a second path leads to the lower peak.