Group items tagged

Suryatapa

at the age of six

Three months ago, I wandered into a salon in Kolkata with my mother and came

face-to-

face with a prejudice

my beloved aunts, and maddening when strangers suggest my dark skin is something to be “fixed.”

No one in India seems to think it unusual to try to slap some bleach, or a herbal equivalent, on my skin to reveal a whiter me.

Darkie, Blackie and Kaalia

My color defined me and it stuck.

self-conscious.

Kaalia, remember me? When I pointed out that it was insulting, I was called out for being “too sensitive.”

“We called you that with love,”

Well-meaning aunts and their neighbors worried about my marriage prospects.

Like that should justify the hurt.

Perhaps, they suggested, a little less sun exposure, or maybe a few extra layers of sandalwood paste or a homemade concoction that the neighborhood swore by?

I wouldn’t let anyone touch my face.

The aunts sighed but never really gave up.

Instead, in this country, it is everyone’s business to correct it or cover it up.

The personal is open to public opinion, whether it makes you squirm or not.

Few Indians seem to be comfortable in their dark skin.

So it is no surprise that a multi-billion rupee market in fairness products thrives in India.

whitened versions of themselves, urging you to pick up a tube or two of the latest product.

From lotions and soaps to whitening underarm deodorant; every body part it seems is could be a few shades lighter.

Urban legends abound of how turmeric and milk, with their blood cleansing properties, had turned someone’s friend’s sister into a fair maiden – so I gulped down this vile concoction, gagged and never touched it ever again.

adolescent weakness,

I too was convinced to go on a regimen of drinking milk with crushed turmeric.

As an adult I’ve become much more comfortable with the color of my skin.

Over a decade of living in North America – where tans are pursued and Halle Berry is a beauty icon – helped that.

So when I moved back to India, I was surprised and offended all over again, as I confronted people who still think porcelain skin is the epitome of beauty.

society that embraced a wider spectrum of skin tone.

Victorian ideas of beauty,

“Do you do tanning?” I was dumbstruck and could barely stammer out a surprised “no.”

In retrospect, her assumption says a lot about how Indians equate skin tone with beauty, confidence and social standing.

Suryatapa Bhattacharya is the India correspondent for “The National” newspaper.

networking are connecting people

groups of people -- primarily young people -- are using the tools at their disposal to wreak havoc.

social media networks like Facebook and Twitter, or through text message, BlackBerry Messenger or e-mail.

leaving one unconscious

broken jaw

June, some gangs attacked pedestrians and people leaving restaurants,

robbed train passengers.

stolen goods.

easy to blame technology

networks are only a tool

Twitter, texting or other means be illega

Chile earlier this summer

students amassed in Santiago's Plaza de la Ciudadanía

broke into a choreographed and costumed dance

educational system, which they say is currently rotten and dead

technology is indeed a double-edged sword.

made these events easier to organize,

also made them easier to stop

7-Eleven

robbed

terrifying riots that rocked England

over 1,000 have been charged.

technology

four years in a juvenile cent

Jordan Blackshaw, 20, invited about 100 people to an event called "Smash Down in Northwich Town,"

h Facebook.

, 22, created a group called "The Worthington Riots."

Cleveland, Ohio thinks such measures are inappropriate and legally questionable.

last weekend kept the streets of Philadelphia relatively quie

anyone 17 or younger must be home by nine p.m.

18 must be indoors by midnight

13 must be off the streets by 10 p.m.

The juveniles will face fines of upto $300.

And a recent delay in renovations to the house has given the wall itself a new lease on life.

Meanwhile, politicians braced for the fallout from the convulsion of violence as Prime Minister David Cameron faced the most severe crisis of his 15 months in office.

While many Britons had initially blamed the violence on unemployed youth, however, one surprise was the presence of young men and women with regular jobs among the riot suspects lined up in police wagons outside courthouses in London and other cities

Ahead of the emergency House of Commons session on Thursday, Mr. Cameron declared a “fightback” against what he condemned as the “groups of thugs” who had driven the riots

Users upload more than 250 million photos each day

features will be available to users over the next few days.

letting users pre-approve having their names attached to a photo posted by a friend before that photo appears on their profile.

The tagged photo will still appear on the friend’s page and could show up in the news feeds of common friends.

users can remove their names

migrant workers – who build the capital's offices and mansions, clean its streets and guard its security – have been shut down,

Tens of thousands of migrant children are left without schools

rural origin – a third of the city's 19 million population

day-to-day inju

stices

hukou (household registration), set up in 1958

control rural-to-urban migration

Peasants' role was to produce and feed the cities and support the modernisation process of their motherland.

as shown on their ID – no matter what they might choose to do. "Wo shi nongmin [I am a peasant],"

Deng Xiao Ping's gaige kaifang (economic reforms and opening up), in the late 1970s.

Agricultural production increased in the early stage of the reforms in "releasing the productive forces",

half of the 400 million rural working population have been pushed off the land, seeking a livelihood away from their villages.

As rural residents came to the cities, they immediately faced discrimination and exclusion.

They spoke their own dialects instead of "proper" Mandarin. Many faced verbal abuse as soon as they arrived.

the strict requirement for the unaffordable temporary residency permit, and the random street search by police.

The criteria for applying for a hukou remain harsh, and unreachable for most migrants, and many work for years without any status.

Without hukou,

healthcare, education and housing.

urban dwellers pay a minimal cost for medical care, many migrants have to return home for treatment.

"These children aren't treated as everyone else. They're called the mobile students, who can't go to state schools. Their parents have for years sent their children to privately run schools without proper facilities or curriculum."

hundreds such private schools were set up.

government-funded National Development and Reform Commission

admits it is an "institutional barrier"

government has shown no wish to listen to migrant workers' demands.

voice their discontent is by petitioning the local authorities

Little happens as a result.

Some suspect that migrant children's schools are being closed as a disincentive to future migration.

protests, road blockages, sit-ins and spontaneous strikes.

Hsiao-Hung Pai, Beijing

Migrants who toil in the cities still face a decades-old system of segregation and exploitation. But many are now demanding fairness

Beijing "a city of violence"

Beijing's migrant worker slums

are ruthlessly segregated from the urban dwellers, economically, socially and culturally

October after the 125th anniversary of its dedication.

2004 after a $20m security upgrade. The observation deck at the top of the crown was reopened on 4 July 2009.

240 people visit each day. About 3.5 million people visit the monument every year.

history

bestsellers 1.  Westwood by Stella Gibbons £7.99 2.  Now All Roads Lead to France by Matthew Hollis £20.00 3.  Cyclebabble by James Randerson & Peter Walker £7.99 4.  In Defence of Dogs by John Bradshaw £20.00 5.  Icon's 30 Second Series £38.97 Search the Guardian bookshop Search Sponsored feature function showSponsoredFeaturex31(){ if (window.sponJSON) { if(typeof(sponJSON) === 'object') { adx31 = sponJSON; var node = jQ('.json-features.x31'); convertJSONtoAd( node.find('img:first-child'), node.find('a.t6'), node.find('p:last-child'), adx31, node.find('.hd').children().eq(0), 'x31' ); } } } jQ(document).ready(function(){ jQ('.x31-script-placeholder').writeCapture().replaceWith('showSponsoredFeaturex31()') }) Find the latest jobs in your sector: Arts & heritage Charities Education Environment Government Graduate Health Marketing & PR Media Sales Senior executive Social care Browse all jobs Researcher on the Democratic Republic of Congo Goma, DRC, Africa | Competitive Salary + benefits HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Related information World news New York · United States Travel New York

. China's first aircraft carrier launches with pride amid regional tensions 3. US military to launch fastest-ever plane 4. Taliban who shot down Chinook helicopter killed in US air strike 5. Sarah Palin: back on her bus and heading for Iowa More most viewed

ppression systems, elevators and bathrooms.

Apple was fined 3 million won for collecting such data even when some users turned off location-recognition features on their iPhones, the Korea Communications Commission said Aug. 3. Google Inc

Earlier this year, Apple was sued in the U.S. by two iPhone and iPad users who claimed the devices secretly collected information on their movements.

“I’m an iPhone user myself, so when I first heard about this in the media, I reviewed the legality of the matter based on Korean law,” Kim Hyeong Seok, an attorney for the plaintiffs

helping

7-6, 310 pounds,

true giant

Yao averaged 19.0 points (9,247 total)

NBA into a global brand

9.2 rebounds (4,494)

1.9 blocked shots (920)

in seven full seasons

leg injuries led him to retire in July

Yao, 31 next month

Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame

contributor

As a player entry

Yao is not eligible for induction until 2017.

elected as coaches

Three hundred million Chinese play basketball.

five games last season,

51 networks in China was up 11%.

Yao is "a transformational player,

eight-time All-Star

Yao's jersey is the 36th most popular.

here were 4.7 billion page views on the NBA's website from China this past season

43% increase

say cellphones can help stave off boredom

13 percent say

avoid interacting with people around them.

29 percent

phones for awhile to get a break

83 percent of U.S. adults own some type of cellphone

35 percent own a smartphone of some kind,

51 percent say

phone at least once to get information they needed right away in the last 30 days.

One-quarter say they experienced a situation in the previous month in which they had trouble doing something because they did not have their phone at hand

40 percent of cellphone owners

hey have found themselves in an emergency situation and having a cellphone was helpful.

Hewlett-Packard

HP’s bombshell revelations

where it holds the global No. 1 spot

TouchPad

Apple (AAPL) has positioned its iPad very well for years to come against challengers in the tablet market.

Apple’s iPad was announced in January 2010

no tablet has caught up to what Apple offers.

happy with a Google (GOOG) Android Honeycomb tablet; fewer have purchased a BlackBerry (RIMM) Playbook.

third-party app support,

table the TouchPad?

For most people, the iPad is the most complete tablet available.

Apple holds the tablet crown.

phone apps,

a media store,

tens of millions were already used to.

earliest

tablet contenders appeared and they’re just now gaining certain key features: movie stores, for example, and stretch and zoom capabilities for phone apps. Consumers want a complete tablet experience, not one that’s “coming soon.”

HP’s $1.2 billion investment in webOS persuaded me that it was in the tablet race for the long haul. I defended the company’s move to sell the TouchPad at a discount and even bought one, only to find out days later that I was wrong: HP wasn’t selling the tablet at low prices to expand the user base quickly and help attract developers. HP apparently gave the TouchPad only a brief chance to gain an audience.

swiftly pulled.

Samsung's

a date for the U.S. release

its hotly anticipated phone,

sold lavishly in foreign markets

r 5 million people worldwide

bought the flagship Android phone

85 days it has been on the market

one sold every 1.5 seconds,

Samsung

"a major product announcement"

an invitation to journalists early Friday

Galaxy S II

Aug. 29.

Galaxy S II by name,

The Galaxy is coming.

"It isn't rocket science to understand that it's the Galaxy S II announcement,"

It isn't an overstatement to say that the Samsung Galaxy S II is the strongest competition the iPhone faces.

sports a 4.3-inch, 800x480 screen, a 1.2-GHz processor, fast 4G network connectivity, and a sleek, simple design evocative of the iPhone. By contrast, the Apple iPhone 4  has a 3.5-inch, 960x640 screen, a 1-GHz processor, and a slower, 3G connection.

Bigger and faster?

Though it hasn’t gone on sale yet in the U.S.

Galaxy S II are copious

obscene.

24 days, the company sold 1 million units

The 2 million units sold in 42 days would fill two and a half soccer fields.

That's a lot of smartphones. But it's more than that: It's a lot of good smartphones,

"If the U.S. versions are anything like the international versions, these are going to be spectacular smartphones," he told FoxNews.com. Segan gave an international version of the phone an Editors' Choice award, calling it the finest Android smartphone available today.

Apple iPhone 5

he elephant in the room

he 3 million Galaxy S II phones sold in just over 50 days are as heavy as 100 elephants)

iPhone 5 is widely expected to be coming out in September, Segan noted.

And getting the right price could make all the difference for Samsung. "They don't want to be more expensive than the iPhone," Segan said.

But that 4G network connection may prove a major difference between the two. 

Unless Apple has made some sort of secret breakthrough, [the faster LTE network] might make a Verizon iPhone too thick and power-hungry for Apple's demands this year. Apple may skip it for now and wait for smaller and cooler chipsets," Segan noted.

That faster connection really pays off for anyone surfing a lot of complicated websites or viewing movies over Netflix, he said. 

But in the end, pricing, a final feature set and the design is all up to the carriers. "The mainstream price for a smartphone is $199 with contract," Segan noted. "We're all hoping for $199."

The province's governor, survived the attacks, but 25 others were killed, including the attackers

50 minutes and all the suicide bombers were killed."

responsibility for the attacks.

terrorism