Vice President?s Banquet Speech at Banquet Hosted by Vice President of Socialist Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi, Vietnam

Following is the text of the speech by the Vice-President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari at the banquet hosted by Madam NGUYEN THI DOAN, Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam in Hanoi, Vietnam today :

?Your Excellency, Madam NGUYEN THI DOAN, Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am delighted to be in a country that holds a special place in the hearts of the Indian people. The occasion itself, the conclusion of an India-Vietnam Friendship Year, adds to the significance of the visit. I congratulate all those who contributed to making the Friendship Year a great success.

Vietnam and India share a long tradition of close relations. Its foundations were laid by our great leaders, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and President Ho Chi Minh. Successive generations of our leaders - and here I would specially like to recall Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Pham Van Dong - nurtured this friendship.

We in India have admiration for the indomitable spirit of the Vietnamese people, for their determination to succeed against all odds, for their tenacity and courage against powerful adversaries. Vietnam?s rapid economic and social development resulting in increased prosperity for your people is commendable. The success of your effort in achieving the Millennium Development Goals are worthy of emulation. I congratulate the leadership and people of Vietnam for their success in reducing poverty from 58 percent to less than 10 percent in two decades.

Excellency

Today Vietnam and India have a Strategic Partnership founded on a common vision, shared interests and mutual trust and friendship. We are convinced that it will promote peace, stability and security in this region and the world.

We stand ready to impart greater content to our partnership for mutual benefit. The agreements and MoUs that we have signed today will open new avenues for bilateral cooperation.

We value our strategic understanding and cooperation at regional and multilateral forums like ASEAN, Mekong-Ganga Cooperation, East Asia Summit, ASEM and international organisations like the United Nations and WTO. We deeply appreciate Vietnam's support to India's candidature as a permanent member of an expanded UN Security Council.

As two developing countries with a stake in the future, we must take advantage of our synergies to jointly face emerging challenges and also to exploit new opportunities.

We wish to bring together the exchange of ideas and culture, with a contemporary face, to our ancient bonds of friendship. To facilitate these ties and promote people-to people contacts, we plan to open the Indian Cultural Centre in Hanoi this year.

Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,

It gives me great pleasure to invite you all to join me in a toast:

-- To the good health and happiness of Her Excellency, Madam NGUYEN THI DOAN, Vice President of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and all of you present here tonight;

-- To the well-being and prosperity of the friendly people of Vietnam; and

-- To the everlasting friendship between India and Vietnam.?

******

Sanjay Kumar (from Hanoi)/VPI (2)/15.01.2013
(Release ID :91587)

Source: http://pib.nic.in/newsite/erelease.aspx?relid=91587

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The milky way spawns galaxy of Nobel winners

LONDON: Countries that consume large quantities of milk and its products also tend to have a lot of Nobel laureates among their populations, according to new research. A previous study published in the New England Journal of Medicine had reported a strong association between a nation's chocolate consumption and Nobel laureate prowess, speculating that the flavonoid content of chocolate was behind the boost in brain power.

This got the authors of the new research thinking. As chocolate is often combined with milk, could it be the amount of milk/milk products consumed per head that fuels Nobel Prize success?

In a paper published in journal Practical Neurology, they looked at the 2007 data from the Food and Agriculture Organization on per capita milk consumption in 22 countries as well as the information provided by the author of the chocolate theory, and found a significant association.

Sweden has the most Nobel laureates per 10 million of its population (33). Although, it hosts the Nobel committee, which some might argue could introduce an element of bias; it also consumes the most milk per head of the population, getting through 340 kg every year.

And Switzerland, which knocks back 300 kg of the white stuff every year, has a Nobel haul of similar proportions (32).

At the other end of the scale, China has the lowest number of Nobel laureates in its population. But it also has the lowest milk consumption of the countries studied - at around 25 kg a year.

There does seem to be a ceiling effect, however, noted the authors, with no discernible impact beyond an annual per capita consumption of 350 kg, as Finland's Nobel haul seems to attest.

"Is milk consumption therefore simply a reflection of a strong educational system, or do Nobel Prize winners celebrate by drinking it?" the authors queried. But there is a plausible biological explanation for the link: milk is rich in vitamin D, and this may boost brain power, the evidence suggested.

"So to improve your chances of winning Nobel prizes you should not only eat more chocolate but perhaps drink milk too: or strive for synergy with hot chocolate," they concluded.

Source: http://timesofindia.feedsportal.com/fy/8at2Ete0ium9X3uL/story01.htm

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Israel seeks to remove Palestinian tent outpost in West Bank

By Ali Sawafta

E1, West Bank | Sat Jan 12, 2013 1:57pm EST

E1, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday he was seeking court approval to remove an outpost of Palestinian tents pitched in an area of the occupied West Bank that Israel has earmarked for a new settlement.

Israel's Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the Palestinian outpost, built in the geographically sensitive area known as E1, could remain for six days while the issue of its removal was being discussed.

Netanyahu's pledge last November to build settlements on E1 caused an outcry, with European diplomats warning that it could kill off any hope of creating a contiguous Palestinian state.

The prime minister's office said in a statement on Saturday that the government was petitioning the court to retract its ruling on the outpost, and had instructed security forces to block off roads leading to the rocky desert terrain.

A group of Palestinian lawmakers was refused entry. But others who came from nearby villages made the long trek up the hillside northeast of Jerusalem to join scores of protesters who have erected 20 large, steel-framed tents in an effort to preserve the land for a future Palestinian state.

The encampment's name, "Bab el Shams", which means "Gateway to the Sun" in Arabic, was taken from a novel by Lebanese writer Elias Khoury which tells the history of the Palestinians through a love story. The writer called the protesters in solidarity.

Hanan Ashrawi, a top Palestine Liberation Organization official, said Israeli forces had prevented her from entering the compound with other lawmakers.

"We will continue to try to enter the village of Bab el Shams, which to us means freedom," she told Reuters.

For years Israel froze building in E1, which currently houses only a police headquarters, after coming under pressure from former U.S. President George W. Bush.

But Netanyahu has recently announced a wave of plans to expand settlements after the Palestinians won de-facto statehood recognition at the United Nations General Assembly last year.

International powers view all Jewish settlement building in areas captured by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War as detrimental to securing an Israeli-Palestinian peace deal.

E1 covers some 4.6 sq miles (12 sq km) and is seen as particularly important because it not only juts into the narrow "waist" of the West Bank, but also backs onto East Jerusalem, where Palestinians want to establish their capital.

Palestinians want to establish an independent state in the West Bank, which is dominated by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, and the Gaza Strip, which is run by the rival Islamist group Hamas.

Approximately 500,000 Israelis and 2.5 million Palestinians live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians broke down in 2010 over the issue of Israel's continued settlement building.

(Editing by Rosalind Russell)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Reuters/worldNews/~3/QCQAuDHHw4g/us-palestinians-israel-tents-idUSBRE90B0FD20130112

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?Os acord?is de cuando Google compr? The Dealmap en un movimiento para integrar...

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Energy drinks and RTD coffee are fastest growers in US vending ...

Energy drinks and ready to drink coffee are the fasting growing products in the vending market ? although they still represent a relatively small chunk of the market ? according to a new report from Packaged Facts. ?

Read More:
Energy drinks and RTD coffee are fastest growers in US vending market

Tagged as: article, chocolate, events, health, industry, market, regulation, sports, virtual

Source: http://bestfoodsciencejobs.com/2013/01/energy-drinks-and-rtd-coffee-are-fastest-growers-in-us-vending-market/

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Buchanan discusses golf cart ordinance

Although the golf cart ordinance, which was drafted by Dr. Phil Buchanan last year, was largely accepted by Lee County staff, there were a few portions that were denied because of safety issues.

Buchanan said he had a meeting with the Lee County Department of Transportation and Lee County staff on Aug. 15 to discuss its findings.

"Everything they objected to was stuff we thought was going to be problematic anyway," he told the crowd at the Elks Lodge Thursday night during the Greater Pine Island Civic Association meeting.

Buchanan said Lee County staff agreed that golf carts could be safely used in downtown St. James City, Bokeelia, Pineland, Alden Pines and side streets off Stringfellow Road.

"They also agreed with our findings that golf carts would not be safe on Stringfellow Road or Pine Island Road," he said. "The cut-off points, which we suggested, were approved, which is St. Jude Boulevard, next to Froggy's in St. James City, and the Jug Creek Bridge in Bokeelia."

Although golf carts are allowed anywhere in town south of Froggy's in St. James City, they are not allowed south on Jug Creek Bridge in Bokeelia.

Buchanan said Lee County staff did not approve Matlacha.

"Understandably, making a finding that golf carts could be safely added to the thick and confusing traffic in Matlacha would be a difficult if not impossible finding to make," he told the crowd.

Buchanan said if some things are straightened out in Matlacha, the county might reconsider allowing golf carts, but for the time being only low speed vehicles are permitted.

Another portion of the ordinance that was denied was the use of golf carts after the sun goes down.

"The county staff was also unable to make a finding that driving golf carts on public roads at night would be a safe thing to do, so that will be prohibited," Buchanan said. "Sunset to sunrise is the way the rule reads."

Gulf District Capt. Joe Poppalardo also attended the meeting Thursday night and provided some background information about Captiva's golf cart ordinance, since he worked on it when it was in the process of being drafted.

A few individuals questioned why night driving of golf carts was not allowed on the island.

Poppalardo said that Captivans were not initially allowed to drive at night.

"DOT has to look at it and see what happens," he said, adding that over time Captiva was granted to drive golf carts at night with the right equipment.

Poppalardo said they do want to look at it because they are putting golf carts where they weren't before.

Another portion of the drafted ordinance that was turned down was allowing individuals older than 16 years old with a disabled permit to drive golf carts on the streets without the possession of a driver's license.

"The county staff said no, and a driver's license will thus be required of all golf cart drivers on public streets," Buchanan said. "Again, they were unable to make a finding that the mere possession of a disabled permit means it is safe to drive on the streets, an understandable determination, which we had also expected."

The ordinance also asked permission for disabled individuals to be able to use the bike path, shared use path, to drive their golf carts, which was turned down by the county.

"They advised us that much of the bike path was built with so-called 'iced-teas funds,' federal interstate transportation funds, which prohibit use by golf carts," Buchanan said. "The county staff had no choice but to say no. Therefore no golf carts will be allowed on the bike path."

Poppalardo said that motorized vehicles with bicycles and pedestrians are deemed not safe and it is a public safety issue.

"It is not a cart path, not for golf carts, that is something we do have to enforce," he said.

Poppalardo said he is more than willing to work with the community to make it a better place, and he is more than happy to assist and do whatever he can, but there are still restrictions.

Buchanan said that come next fall the road will be moved over in St. James City past 8th Avenue to include four feet of bike path on each side of the road, which will go all the way to the end of the island.

The extra space will allow individuals to pull their golf carts over to let traffic pass, Buchanan said.

"This will be very beneficial for golf carts," he said.

A concern that was brought up during the meeting dealt with insuring golf carts.

Buchanan said that Florida state law does not require an individual to have insurance for golf carts or bicycles. He said that it is rare for a bicycle or golf cart to do much damage to a vehicle.

Poppalardo disagreed with Buchanan because of an accident that occurred with a young kid driving a golf cart causing significant damage to a brand new Mercedes that was hit.

Poppalardo said that is why he is an advocate of low speed vehicles because you have to register them, as well as having them insured.

"To me it's much safer to have on the roads than golf carts," he said.

With that said, Poppalardo commended Buchanan for the job he did with the golf cart ordinance.

"He did an amazing job," he said of Buchanan. "We left out a lot of things that he put in. You try to find a happy medium and do the best you can. You can't make everyone happy unfortunately. You do the best you can and that's what he did. And again did a very good job."

Once Buchanan went through the ordinance he told the crowd that the things that were turned down were denied for reasons that were strong.

"I think the changes are pretty much as we expected," he said.

Although county staff approved the ordinance, it still has to go before the Lee County Commissioners for final approval.

"I have no indication that any county commissioner will say no to this," Buchanan said of the ordinance.

There will be two hearings held for the golf cart ordinance, which will most likely start in March.

"I want to remind everyone that use of golf carts on the designed roads is not legal yet, not until the County Commissioner's vote," Buchanan said.

Source: http://www.pineisland-eagle.com/page/content.detail/id/523217.html

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