Tanya Pinto Helps Needy Children in India's Slums

Many people around the world were touched by the Academy Award-winning movie "Slumdog Millionaire" that depicts the harsh life of orphans and street children in India. And those who work in poverty projects there say the real conditions are, if anything, worse than what was shown. Many of the estimated 18 million poor children in India rely on international charity projects like Baala Dan a small effort started in 2005 by one young woman, Tanya Pinto, from Dallas, Texas who was born in India but who grew up elsewhere.

Tanya with some of the students she is helping in IndiaIn video a friend shot in India, Tanya Pinto can be seen doing what she loves most, interacting with children from the slums. She gives them food, schoolbooks and, above all, hope, through her project called Baal Dan, which means "child donation" in Hindi.Tanya was working in an advertising company in Dallas when she decided to go visit the country of her birth to work with a well-known charitable effort."I decided to take a sabbatical from my very fast-paced job in advertising and I took three months off and I went to India,” Tanya told us. “And I worked at Mother Teresa's orphanage in Calcutta and I also traveled around a little and that experience was life changing. And that is why I decided to start a charity."

Tanya Pinto has an infectious enthusiasm for lending a hand to the disadvantaged in IndiaTanya started her project in 2005 with small donations from friends and co-workers. "I would pass them in the hallway and they would say, 'Hey, the next time you go back to India, here is $20, here is $50, here is $10 for the children.”Thanks to these small donations, she has been able to feed children, support orphanages and sponsor some children's education. Tanya says she enjoys playing with the children and taking them, however briefly, out of the slums where most of them live."I will take them to the zoo or to the park,” she explains. “I will do things that are really fun activities, because these are children who are living in unimaginable poverty. So, I like to bring some fun into their lives."

Providing meals to students is just one of the ways her charity is making a differenceTanya Pinto started small, with donations of clothes or underwear. But with help from donors, her projects are more ambitious, such as water filters and solar powered water heaters. This year she hopes to build a school. Tanya says even ordinary people like her can have a major impact on the lives of poor children. "Even if you are not a celebrity, if you are not rich, if you are not famous, you can do something to help make this world a better place."And for some small children in India, Tanya Pinto has made the world a better place.

Vietnam Reports Second Human Case of Bird Flu

on 08 February 2009 news

Chicken farm owner, injects anti-Avian flu vaccine to a chicken in his chicken farm in BenTre province, in Vietnam (File)Health officials in Vietnam say a 23-year-old woman has tested positive for a deadly strain of bird flu.This is the second human case of bird flu diagnosed in Vietnam this year.Officials in northern Quand Ninh province say the woman became sick after eating chicken. Hospital director Nguyen Quoc Hung says the woman has been under treatment for five days.Last month, an eight-year old girl from northern Thanh Hoa province also tested positive for the H5N1 virus.On Saturday, animal health authorities confirmed bird flu outbreaks in poultry in three provinces in Vietnam.The H5N1 strain of avian influenza remains largely a virus in birds, but experts fear it could mutate into a form that is easily transmitted by humans.The World Health Organization says bird flu has killed 248 people since it resurfaced in Asia in 2003. More than 50 of the deaths have been in Vietnam.

Bomb Explodes Near US Iraq Ambassador's Convoy

A bomb exploded Sunday in Iraq near a convoy of vehicles transporting U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill. No one was injured in the attack.The bombing occurred in Dhi Qar province in southern Iraq. The newspaper, "USA Today" quoted Hill as saying he heard a bang and drove through a cloud of smoke.

Iraqi security forces stand guard outside one of several Christian churches that were bombed in Baghdad, 12 Jul 2009Earlier in the day, a series of bombings at Christian churches in Baghdad killed four people and wounded at least 18.The bombs went off near churches in central and eastern Baghdad. The fatal attack took place near a church on Palestine Street in the eastern part of the city.Islamist militants have staged sporadic attacks on Iraq's small Christian minority in recent years. Thousands of Iraqi Christians fled their homes in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul last year following a series of attacks against their community.In other violence, gunmen killed an Iraqi Christian local official in the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk Sunday. Police say the head of Kirkuk's audit department, Aziz Rizko was driving when assailants shot him using guns with silencers. The motive for his killing was unclear.Sectarian tension is high in Kirkuk, an ethnically diverse city that Kurds want to merge with their autonomous region in northern Iraq. Many Arab and Turkmen residents oppose such a move and want to remain under the control of Iraq's central government.Violence has declined in most of Iraq in recent months, but militants continue to stage attacks in northern Iraq and the capital, Baghdad.

In Death, Michael Jackson as Popular as Ever

The crowds are gone from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, where a memorial service Tuesday celebrated the life of pop star Michael Jackson. But fans are still coming to the city to pay tribute and people around the world are still buying his music. The singer remains as popular as ever.
Rakin ChowdhuryRakin Chowdhury, a native of Bangladesh who now lives in New Zealand, is a Michael Jackson fan who was deeply moved by Tuesday's memorial service, which was televised around the world to millions of viewers. "Actually, honestly speaking, a bit of tears actually came to my eyes," he said.

Chowdhury recalls that Jackson had his share of bad publicity. The singer was sometimes criticized for his eccentric lifestyle, and in 2005, was acquitted of charges that he had molested a 13 year-old boy. "Honestly, I think the bad stuff about him; I don't really think he deserved it. All the good things he did outweigh the bad things. But I think he was great," he said.
Many fans say they were reminded of Jackson's tremendous talent as a singer and dancer, as they listened to eulogies from the memorial service, watched videos of the pop star and again heard his music.

Space Shuttle Launch Delayed

The U.S. space agency NASA has postponed the launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, to investigate possible damage to instrument panels from lightning strikes at the launch pad.The shuttle had been scheduled to lift off Saturday on a 16-day mission to install a Japanese-built porch on the International Space Station. But NASA says the launch has been delayed at least until Sunday.Weather forecasters had predicted that thunderstorms could interfere with Saturday's liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center in the southeastern state of Florida. Endeavour was to have headed into space last month, but was grounded by a hydrogen fuel leak. Officials believe they have resolved the problem that occurred with a hydrogen vent line on the launch pad.Five spacewalks are planned during the 16-day mission to install the final component of a Japanese space module, known as Kibo, and to perform other tasks at the space station.NASA is facing a September 2010 deadline to complete construction of the Japanese lab section before the shuttle fleet is retired. Eight shuttle flights are dedicated to that construction effort.

Barbie for a new generation

Barbie may have gotten all dressed up for this special 50th anniversary "Generation of Dreams" edition, but no one is claiming she looks this good naturally. The doll has been through more than half a dozen face sculpts, and has regularly had her build altered to conform to changing attitudes. With her makeover complete, "Generation of Dreams" Barbie is featured in a gown decorated with illustrations of the icon in her early years.But it's been a while since Barbie was at her height, so Richard Dickson -- who became general manager and senior vice president for the Barbie brand in September 2008 -- has been tasked with reviving the flagging brand.

4 held in elaborate passport scam

Police arrested four Chinese nationals in what is apparently the most sophisticated counterfeit ring for passport and alien registration cards to be uncovered in this country.

The forgeries were sold in sets to Chinese and South Koreans residing illegally in Japan, the police said.

Investigators said the work is so good, it was almost impossible to differentiate from the real thing.

Officials of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department and the Shizuoka prefectural police said Thursday that a Chinese group, including the four persons arrested, sold counterfeit ID to about 7,500 Chinese and Koreans in Japan over the past five years. The group raked in an estimated 300 million yen from the enterprise, the largest uncovered to date, the police said.

Among those arrested was Zhao Taifeng, 31, a resident of Chiba.

Tokyo police made the arrests based on suspicions that Zhao's group created fake alien registration cards, work qualification certificates and other documents for two Chinese women in December 2008 and May this year.

According to a senior investigator, holograms used on the fake ID were as good as those used on cards issued by the authorities. The holograms change color in the light just like the real ones, which were added to prevent counterfeiting.

Police also arrested a fifth Chinese man, Wang Changping, 33, a resident of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, believed to be the ringleader.

Wang was arrested on suspicion of illegally overstaying in Japan. Police also arrested 24 others, many of them Koreans and Chinese, who allegedly purchased counterfeit IDs.

Police suspect the Chinese group sold sets that included a fake passport, alien registration card and work qualification certificate for 40,000 yen each. A forged driver's license cost about 30,000 yen.

They were sold through Chinese and Korean brokers.