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By Aleem Maqbool BBC News, Punjab The Pakistani school that has produced 57 international hockey players We find 14-year-old Abu Bakr dribbling a ball with a hockey stick everywhere he goes. "One Olympian, Nadeem, lived on my street," he tells us. "Watching him inspired me to play, now I think of hockey the first thing in the morning and I think about it when I lay in bed at night." The little town of Gojra in central Punjab is far from affluent. It once hit the headlines in recent years, but only for the religious tensions that boiled over there. Its biggest secondary school is shabby, and its pupils often have lessons sitting on the ground outside because there is not enough room inside the classrooms. But if, like Abu Bakr, they have ambiti

THIS is apropos Irfan Hussain`s article `Morality and atheism in an uncertain world` (Feb 17), wherein the learned columnist laments the decline in the West of the marriage institution, sexual promiscuity, and lack of belief in a supreme being. In spite of that, he points out that most corrupt countries happen to be Muslim, while in contrast Sweden and Singapore are the least corrupt countries in the world. He says Pakistanis are fond of criticising western materialism and boasting of their supposed spirituality without any evidence of practising `spirituality` in their behaviour. The West changed the modern world. The West`s gifts include a gentler standard of behaviour towards the weak, justice, the intellectual rigour of science and its fruits in travel and better healthcare. Modernisation and industrialisation have become worldwide as they enhance the people`s standard of living. All other cultures have been attempting to catch up with the West in wealth and modernity an

Taran Adarsh with Nana Patekar Part - 1 Taran Adarsh with Nana Patekar_Part 2

maykon nach ke yar manawn de... bulhe shah poetry .. sings by reshma singh

What really caused the eurozone crisis? World leaders probably spent more time worrying about the eurozone crisis than anything else in 2011. And that was in the year that featured the Arab Spring, the Japanese tsunami and the death of Osama Bin Laden. What's more, 2012 looks set to be not much different. But as eurozone governments hammer out new rules to limit their borrowing, are they missing the point of the crisis? Follow the path to find out. The eurozone has agreed a new "fiscal compact" Eurozone leaders have agreed to a tough set of rules - insisted on by Germany - that will limit their governments' borrowing each year to just 3% of their economies' output. This is supposed to stop them accumulating too much debt, and make sure there won't be another financial crisis. But didn't they already agree to this back in the '90s? Hang on a minute. They agreed to exactly the same 3% borrowing limit back in 1997, when the euro w

Estonia: The muted revival of a Baltic tiger   By Jon Bithrey Business reporter, BBC World Service   Estonia is the euro's newest member and also has the eurozone's fastest growing economy Most European leaders would be delighted if their economy was growing as fast as Estonia's. The small Baltic state's economy is forecast to have grown by 8% during 2011, according to the EU's official statistics body. That's more than five times faster growth than the European Union as a whole. But Estonia is still regaining the ground it lost during a financial crisis that struck it and its Baltic neighbours in 2008-9, when a property bubble burst spectacularly, causing the economy to shrink and unemployment to rocket to 18%. And with the eurozone crisis still unresolved, the renewed growth could slow once again. 'Superficially better' In the inauspicious offices of an employment agency j

Outsider Switzerland feels Europe's pain By Imogen Foulkes BBC News, Zurich Economists suggest the Swiss outlook is not as rosy at it might seem at first As the crisis in the eurozone continues, many Europeans are wondering whether the single currency, and even the European Union (EU) itself, were ever really good ideas. Some are looking towards Switzerland, which has stayed out of the EU and the euro but maintains close ties with Brussels, as a better example of how to protect the national economy while still enjoying the benefits of Europe's trade markets. The Swiss continue to enjoy high salaries and a high standard of living and Switzerland's major cities regularly make the top ten list of best places to live. What's more, Switzerland's welfare and social services remain relatively generous, with little sign of the austerity measures currently being introduced in many EU member states. But Swiss econo