Aamir Khan advises students not to look upon the SSC Boards as a milestone, it's just another stone with many miles on it!

The SSC results are about to be announced and this takes me back to my school days. I remember being petrified of exams, even more petrified of the results. The red lines on my report card were demeaning, disheartening, and most discouraging. How could I face my friends and family? Shame! Broken self-esteem.

I remember I used to have nightmares. In fact, after having put in a distance of more than 20 years between myself and my last exam, I still haven't managed to escape the cold fear of exams and results. I still wake up with the shivers after a nightmare about going blank in front of a question paper with time running out.
I am sure there are many children out there who go through similar emotions and are currently in a state of panic about the impending SSC results. Kids, don't be afraid. Just chill. All izzz well!

Don't look upon the SSC Boards as a milestone in your life, it's just another stone with many miles on it! You have a long way to go and many more important exams to face. Not the school or college exams, but the exams of life. And those are the ones to be prepared for. The marksheets to look out for are not the ones printed on some paper, but the ones on the faces of the people you love. Those are the marksheets that matter. Bring a smile on the face of your mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, friend, and you have done well in the exam of life.

I remember that the one person who always gave me strong support and encouragement even after bad results was my father. My mom would complain and tell him that I had failed in Marathi or History or something and he would laugh it off and say "What? You failed in only 2 subjects? I always failed in at least 4!" "Don't worry about exams," he always said, "just have a good time in school and be honest." Honesty was always a big one for him. It genuinely never bothered him that I had done badly. And when I look back now I realise that it was probably because of his utter and absolute belief in me, and his strong support, that I grew up with confidence in myself. Had he lost faith in me I would NEVER have been able to reach where I have in life, and achieve what I have.

Parents, there is a strong lesson here for all of us. Tomorrow the SSC results will be out. I want each of you to remember that we need to accept our children as they are. Your child might fail, or get average marks, or might miss by half a per cent the result that you may desire, either way, I want you to accept him/her as he/she is. Is the marksheet more important or is your child more important?

Do not be disappointed with one exam. Life has so much to offer. Each one of us is special. And for each one of us to do well in life we need the encouragement and support of the people who love us, especially our parents. Remember the marksheet of life. And this marksheet has only 3 subjects -- love, caring and happiness.
Fame, success and money are calculated on some other marksheet, and they cannot compete with the value of love, caring and happiness. Let us, as parents, not fail in the exam of life. Remember our face is also a marksheet, as is the face of our beloved child. Let us see really high scores on each and every face this time!

This exam, no matter what the marks of the child, I want every parent to hug his/her child when they come home with their results. Try it, and see the power of love. See what it did to me when I came home to my father.

This exam I would like teachers and principals to click photos NOT WITH THE TOPPERS but with the students who have not done as well. Reach out not to the toppers but to the ones at the other end. Give them your encouragement and support, they need it much more.

Kids, any problems with your parents, show them TZP and 3i. You have the power to change the world no matter how much you have scored in your exams. The whole wide world is ahead of you to enjoy and contribute to in small and big ways.

By the way, did any of you know what Gandhiji scored in his Matriculation Exams (which is equivalent to our SSC boards today)? 40%.

Now do you believe me?

SSC results tomorrow
The most awaited SSC results will be declared on June 17 according to the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education. The results will be available online through several websites at 11 am. It can be made available even through SMSes on BSNL mobiles and on rediff.com.
To know your results go
on the following sites:

http://mahresult.nic.in/
www.rediff.com/exams
http://www.studyssconline.com/
http://www.msbshse.ac.in/
http://www.mh-ssc.ac.in/
www.sscresult.mkcl.org

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All the 116 Indian nationals, who were stranded in riot-hit southern Kyrgyzstan, have been safely evacuated and will return to India over the next few days, the government said here Tuesday.

The Indians stranded in the southern Kyrgyz towns of Osh and Jalal-Abad were safely evacuated last night by air to Bishkek, the external affairs ministry said here.

"They are expected to return to India over the next few days. Flights out of Bishkek are operating normally," the ministry said.

The airlift of the Indian citizens was arranged by the Indian embassy in Bishkek with the active cooperation and support of the Kyrgyz authorities.

Around 116 Indians were feared trapped in the riot-hit former Soviet republic. The stranded Indians included 15 students in Jalalabad and 99 students, a professor and a businessman in Osh.

In the worst ethnic violence in decades, at least 124 people have been killed and more than 1,685 wounded in southern Kyrgyzstan
 

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A MiG-21 fighter aircraft of the Indian Air Force today crashed near Halwara air base in Punjab, but the pilot bailed out safely.

The crash took place at around 11.15 hours just outside the Sidwan Khas Range in Halwara, 33 km from here. "A MiG-21 Type-96 aircraft crashed around 11.15 hours near S K Range near Halwara air base.

The pilot ejected from the cockpit safely," an IAF spokesperson said in New Delhi. "The pilot had flown the plane from Pathankot air base for a routine armament training sortie at the range in Halwara when the mishap occurred," he said.

With today's crash, the IAF has lost three fighter jet planes this year. It had lost a MiG-27 warplane on February 16 this year in a crash near Hashimara and a MiG-21 Type-77 fighter aircraft on February 19 at Bagdogra, both in West Bengal.

In the Hashimara crash, the pilot, Wing Commander Oswald, was killed, while in the Bagdogra mishap, the pilot ejected out of the cockpit safely. Last year, the IAF was hit by 11 crashes and five of them involved variants of the MiG-21 fighter planes
 

(malathi)

Sattaru Umapathi, an Andhra Pradesh police officer who has led numerous operations across India to rescue victims of human trafficking, has been hailed as a hero by the US state department.

Umapathi, the anti-human trafficking officer of the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department, is among nine heroes "around the world who have devoted their lives to the fight against human trafficking" named in the Trafficking in Persons Report 2010 released Monday.

The annual report has placed India on its Tier 2 Watch List for the seventh consecutive year saying "the Indian government has not demonstrated sufficient progress in its law enforcement, protection, or prevention efforts to address labour trafficking, particularly bonded labour."

Umapathi and eight other heroes "are recognized for their tireless efforts - despite resistance, opposition, and threats to their lives - to protect victims, punish offenders, and raise awareness of ongoing criminal practices in their countries and abroad," the report said.

Umapathi has played a key role in rescuing victims and arresting traffickers, the report said noting he has contributed to multiple convictions, leading to sentences ranging from four to 14 years' imprisonment.

He also forged partnerships with NGOs across the country and implemented United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) anti-trafficking protocols in his state police department.

Umapathi has changed the mindset of the his state's law enforcement community by teaching officials to stop treating trafficking victims as criminals, the report said.

He has organised judicial conferences and addressed a colloquium in New Delhi, helping educate the judiciary about the need to treat victims with empathy.

Umapathi argued for application of the more stringent sections of Indian law in trafficking cases, such as laws related to minors in prostitution, import of foreign girls, and unlawful compulsory labour. He successfully implemented a rescue protocol that included the payment of $220 as interim relief for trafficking victims.

"Thanks to Officer Umapathi's dedicated efforts, Andhra Pradesh is becoming a model for other Indian states fighting human trafficking," the report said.
 

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At least 16 people died today and seven others were injured when part of a mountain collapsed on work sheds at a construction site in southwestern China, the government said.

The huge landslide happened in the early hours today in Sichuan province's Kangding county and rescue work is under way, the provincial government said in a statement on its website.

The statement indicated some people remained missing, but no figure was given. Landslides are common in China during the rainy season in spring and summer.

Last month, at least 19 people were killed and another 71 injured when a train derailed in a mountainous area of east China after a landslide damaged the tracks. 
 

(malathi)

Islamic militants have killed two Somali football fans after they caught them watching World Cup football matches.

The Hizbul Islam group militants stormed a house near the capital Mogadishu where people were watching Nigeria play Argentina on Saturday and killed two people.

The areas of southern and central Somalia controlled by the Islamic militants are under a strict version of Islam. The group also arrested ten people for watching the match. 

The next night, another 30 people were arrested as they watched the Germany-Australia game in the town of Afgoye, The Telegraph reports.

Sheikh Mohamed Abdi Aros, a spokesman for the militants, said Somalia should respect their ban on the World Cup and focus on pursuing jihad. 

"We are warning all the youth of Somalia not to dare watch these World Cup matches," he said.

"It is a waste of money and time and they will not benefit anything or get any experience by watching mad men jumping up and down," he added.
 

(malathi)

An Australian man has been sentenced to seven-and-a-half years jail for sexually assaulting and beating his 11-year-old daughter.

The Victorian County Court was told on June 15 that the 33-year-old single father of four, who cannot be named, had committed the offence between December 2008 and June 2009.

The sexual assaults came to light only after the man hit his four children with a belt trying to find out who had stolen 3 dollars from a change bowl.

The children went to school that morning upset over the beatings and a teacher reported it to police who then discovered through interviewing the girl that she was an incest victim.

The judge said the man had only pleaded guilty halfway through the trial after his daughter had gone through the trauma of giving evidence and where it had been alleged she had made the whole thing up.

"Your level of insight makes it difficult to see that you are completely contrite," the Herald Sun quoted the judge as saying.

"The message must be sent to the community that if you sexually abuse children, harsh punishment will follow," he stated.

He added that as a sole carer, the father's role had been to protect his children.

The man pleaded guilty to one count of incest and one count of causing serious injury.

The judge sentenced him to seven-and-a-half years in jail with a minimum non-parole period of five-and-a-half years.

The man will be registered as a sex offender for life.

(malathi)

Over 100 people on board an Air India plane had a close shave when two tyres of the left landing gear of the aircraft deflated soon after it landed at the IGI airport here today.

"Air India's Mumbai-Bhopal-Indore-Delhi flight (IC-133) with 100 passengers and six crew members landed at Delhi airport around 10.58 a.m and was taxiing towards the parking bay when engineers at the ground noticed two deflated tyres of the left landing gear and sparks emanating due to friction," an airline official said.

They then immediately informed the pilot and asked him to stop the Airbus-320 aircraft. The crash fire tenders were immediately called in, which sprinkled water and foam to cool the aircraft's undercarriage in order to prevent any fire, he said, adding "all the passengers onboard are safe".

According to sources, there was no tyre burst as the pilot did not notice any unusual jerk. "The tyres got deflated after the aircraft had landed and while it was taxiing," they said.

Today's incident at the IGI airport is in the series of close shaves involving passenger aircraft.

Earlier this month, an Air India Express Dubai-Pune flight, with 112 passengers on board, rapidly descended several thousand feet over Muscat air space. Reports had alleged that the commander was not in the cockpit and the co-pilot could not control the aircraft as it started the descent.

About a week later, a mid-air collision was averted by pilots as a Jet Airways and an Air India plane came 'dangerously close' on the same flight path over Tamil Nadu.

Air India flight IC 671 and Jet Airways flight 9W 4758, carrying nearly 250 passengers and crew, came close to colliding with each other at a height of 17,000 feet near Trichchirapalli air space, triggering an Air Traffic Collision Avoidance siren in both the planes.

The Air India flight was bound from Chennai to Madurai and the Jet flight was headed to Chennai from Thiruvananthapuram. On June 3, a possible disaster was averted at Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport when a flight was cleared for landing while another plane was waiting for take-off on the same runway.

A Chennai-bound Spicejet flight with 201 passengers was cleared for take-off shortly after 1.30 a.m. but the flight commander detected some technical problem and informed the air traffic control.

At the same time, the ATC had already cleared for landing a Kingfisher Airlines flight arriving from New Delhi.

The Kingfisher flight too had some 200 passengers on board. On May 22, an Air India Express aircraft had overshot the runway at Mangalore airport and fell into a ravine killing 158 passengers
 

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Tens of thousands of Uzbek refugees have fled raging violence in Kyrgyzstan that left 113 dead as the interim government struggled to stem the worst ethnic clashes since the end of the Soviet Union.

Gunbattles between rival groups turned cities into warzones and marauding mobs torched whole villages on a third day of bloodshed in the Central Asian nation. Neighbouring Uzbekistan said up to 80,000 ethnic Uzbeks, mostly women and children, had fled the fighting and were being housed in hastily set up camps along the border.

Rights groups warned of a looming humanitarian crisis. Russia sent paratroopers to protect its airbase in Kyrgyzstan but rejected requests from Bishkek to help end the unrest, the worst since President Kurmanbek Bakiyev was ousted in April.

Officials said 113 people have been killed in the three days of clashes and 1,400 injured. Interim Kyrgyz President Roza Otunbayeva's provisional government late Saturday gave security forces shoot-to-kill orders to protect civilians, amid growing calls from foreign leaders and aid groups to end the clashes.

"If we do not take opportune and effective measures the unrest could become much more serious and descend into a regional conflict," it said. It tightened a state of emergency to a 24-hour curfew in the Osh region, where the violence erupted Thursday and extended the emergency rule across the country's entire southern Jalalabad region as fighting spread there
 

(malathi)

A 54-year-old Brazilian man locked up his daughter in a self-made prison, raped her for over 15 years and fathered her seven children, police said.

Pereira, a farmer from Pinheiro village in Brazil's Maranhao state, kept his daughter for over 15 years in his prison in another village. He started sexually abusing her when she was 12 years old and fathered seven children, now aged between two months to 12 years, police said. His wife had left the family many years ago.

All the seven children had been left unattended without any clothes. They were all illiterate and police had great difficulty in communicating with them as they could not understand any proper language, Xinhua reported.

Pereira now faces charges of setting up a private prison, rape, neglect and abuse.

A similar case that had global repercussions was of Austrian engineer Josef Fritz, who kept his daughter prisoner for 24 years and fathered seven children with her.
 

(malathi)