Spanish judge's plea to court

Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon at Palma de Mallorca's court, Spain, in this file photo.

MADRID: Crusading Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzon has asked the European Court of Human Rights to rule on a case brought against him over his probe into Franco-era crimes, said his legal team on Friday.

Judge Garzon is challenging his prosecution for abuse of power for launching an investigation into the disappearance of tens of thousands of people during Spain's 1936-39 civil war and General Francisco Franco's subsequent right-wing dictatorship.

“Judge Garzon today filed a case to the European Court of Human Rights challenging the lawfulness of his prosecution in Spain for having opened an investigation into crimes committed during the Franco era,” said his legal team in a statement.

The action follows “a request by families and representatives of victims of the regime,” said the statement from International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights (Interights), a London-based NGO which is representing him.

A spokesman for the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights said it had received the request by fax and would decide whether to accept it or not, a process which could take several weeks.

The case against Judge Garzon followed a complaint by far-right groups who claim the probe violated an amnesty law passed in 1977, two years after Franco's death, for crimes committed under the general's rule.

The judge, best known for his attempt to extradite former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet from Britain for human rights abuses in 1998, had argued that the Franco-era disappearances constituted crimes against humanity and were therefore not covered by the amnesty.

If convicted he would not go to prison but could be suspended for up to 20 years, effectively ending his domestic career.

Judge Garzon was suspended from his post in May last year pending his trial, which has yet to start. He later accepted a temporary post at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

“Judge Garzon's case represents a threat to the independence of judges and to their role in ensuring accountability for alleged widespread and systematic crimes,” said Interights, in an English version of the statement originally 

released in Spanish.

Criminal case

“In his case Judge Garzon alleges that the criminal case against him in Spain violates several of that country's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights”. “These include the obligation to protect judicial independence generally, including protecting judges from unfounded criminal prosecutions as exemplified by this case.”

Helen Duffy, Interights' litigation director who is Judge Garzon's legal counsel before the European Court, described the case as an “anathema to justice”.

“It is surprising that a country with a strong commitment to the rule of law, which emerged from dictatorship decades ago, should respond to a leading judges investigation of Franco era crimes in this way,” she said.

The case is one of three involving Judge Garzon in Spain.

He was also placed under judicial investigation in October for having allegedly ordered illegal wiretaps during a probe into corruption involving the main 

opposition party.

The third case involves suspected bribery over payments he allegedly received for seminars in New York.

But the judge has drawn support from leading Spanish actors and writers as well as international jurists.

Judge Garzon (55) also indicted Osama bin Laden in 2003 over the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States and looked into the deaths of Spaniards in Argentina during the military regime of 1976-83, under the principle of “universal jurisdiction.”

Universal jurisdiction holds that heinous crimes like torture or terrorism can be tried in Spain even if they had no link to the country.

Plastic surgeon says he operated on Qadhafi

Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi.

SAO PAULO: It was well past midnight when the Brazilian surgeon says he was escorted deep inside a bunker in the Libyan capital. His assignment — to shave years off Muammar Qadhafi's appearance by removing fat from his belly and injecting it into his wrinkled face. The Libyan leader also got hair plugs.

“He told me that he had been in power for 25 years at that time, and that he did not want the young people of his nation to see him as an old man,” Dr. Liacyr Ribeiro recalled. “I recommended a facelift, but he refused.”

The secretive four-hour procedure in 1995 was done, at Mr. Qadhafi's insistence, with local anaesthesia because he wanted to remain alert. Midway through, the Libyan leader stopped to have a hamburger. Mr. Qadhafi was worried a facelift would be too noticeable, so he opted for the less radical procedure, the plastic surgeon told The Associated Press. “I warned Qadhafi that the effects of the operation I performed would last for about five years, that it had an expiration date after which the skin would sag and the wrinkles 

would reappear,” said Dr. Ribeiro.

“He said he would call me if he needed me to come back,” and about five years ago there was such a request, but Dr. Ribeiro had a family obligation.

“They never called me again,” he said.

At the time of the surgery, Mr. Qadhafi was 53, but Dr. Ribeiro said he looked at least 10 years older. A photo taken at the time shows the smiling doctor posing next to the Libyan leader, who wore a white suit, floral shirt and had pronounced wrinkles crisscrossing his face and neck.

After the procedure, “he looked like a 45-year-old man.” He insists he is speaking out now only to provide insight into a man, and certainly not to boast.

“Qadhafi is not looking very good these days,” said Dr. Ribeiro, noting that the 68-year-old leader has appeared jowly in recent appearances, his skin puffy, loose and deeply creased. “To let potential patients know that I operated on him would be counterproductive.”

Berlusconi

Mr. Qadhafi is hardly the only world leader to go under the knife.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi owes his look to plastic surgery and a hair transplant work also performed by Dr. Ribeiro, according to media reports, though the doctor refuses to confirm that. And rumours swirled about Russian leader Vladimir Putin after he appeared last October with heavy makeup covering bruises under his eyes.

“He was an extremely polite, intelligent, cordial and soft-spoken person who quickly told me what he wanted and why,” Dr. Ribeiro said.

Mr. Qadhafi's bunker “had two fully equipped and very modern operating rooms, a gym and a swimming pool,” Dr. Ribeiro said. Dr. Ribeiro said after the surgery he was given an envelope “full of U.S. dollars and Swiss francs”. He would not say how much money it contained.

“All I can say is that it was more than I would charge for my services in Brazil,” he said.

Dr. Ribeiro said he assumes Mr. Qadhafi turned to him because Libyan surgeons were either “incapable of doing what I did or too scared that he would die on the operating table.”

We'll use great force: Netanyahu

A Palestinian man collects broken windows from his house in Gaza City on Friday.

Caesarea (Israel): Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates on Friday that Israel was ready to act with “great force” in response to a spate of rocket fire by Gaza militants and a deadly bus bombing in Jerusalem.

Israel had been “subjected to bouts of terror and rocket attacks,” Mr. Netanyahu told reporters before going into a meeting with Mr. Gates.

“We stand ready to act with great force and great determination to put a stop to it,” he added, with police saying Israel had not been hit by any projectiles on Friday morning. Mr. Netanyahu said he had received a “very warm” telephone call from U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday expressing his condolences after the latest flare-up in violence.

“Any civilised society will not tolerate such wanton attacks on its civilians,” he said.

Mr. Gates, a former CIA Director with years of experience in Washington, said U.S.-Israel security ties were as strong as they had ever been at a time when the region is in “turmoil”.

On Thursday, he said in Tel Aviv that Washington firmly backed Israel's right to respond to the both the rocket fire and the Jerusalem bombing, which he described as “repugnant acts”.

Popular unrest

But he suggested Israel should tread carefully or risk derailing the course of popular unrest sweeping Arab and Muslim countries.

The American defence chief is pressing Israeli and Palestinian leaders to take “bold action” for peace despite soaring tensions, saying political upheaval in the region offered an opportunity.

After his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu, Mr. Gates travelled amid heavy security to the West Bank city of Ramallah to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, the first such visit by a U.S. defence chief. Mr. Fayyad told Mr. Gates it was a time of “great challenge throughout the region but also a time of opportunity, requiring a redoubling of the effort in pursuing the cause of peace, and justice and security”.

Indian embassy in US redacts Ambassador's Sonia “Christian” remark

WASHINGTON: In the context of the greening of the India-United States relationship, it has often been said that one of the most celebrated aspects of the two countries' “shared beliefs” is their unshakeable commitment to secularism or religious pluralism, howsoever defined.

While this was exactly the sentiment that Indian Ambassador to the U.S. Meera Shankar tried to convey in a speech at Emory University on February 24, the irony was that the embassy itself later appeared to have decided to redact one part of her statement on that subject—that the multi-religious nature of the Indian state was symbolised by the fact that it had “a Christian as the leader of the largest national political party.” A video of the 

Ambassador's speech, posted on the You Tube website (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBWE0Bl3-a0), clearly shows Ms. Shankar saying: “Today the fact that we have a woman Head of State, a Sikh Head of Government, a Muslim Vice-President and a Christian as the leader of the largest national political party, is perhaps the best statement of the multi-ethnic and multi-religious nature of our state.”

Yet the transcript of the speech posted on the Indian embassy's website (http://www.indianembassy.

org/prdetail1685/

keynote-address-by-

ambassador-meera-

shankar-

at-emory-

universityandrsquo%3Bs-

emerging-india-summit-

on-24th-february-2011-

andquot%3Bwhy-india-mattersandquot%3B) leaves out the section of the sentence that makes an obvious reference to Sonia Gandhi, head of the Congress.

A reply has not yet been received to a request for comments made to the Indian embassy here.

While it is generally rare for any senior member of the Indian government to make a direct reference to Ms. Gandhi's religion, especially during an election year, the controversy undercuts the candid and positive nature of Ms. Shankar's remarks on religious tolerance in India.

Lenin's niece dies

MOSCOW: Olga Ulyanova, a niece of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin who wrote several books about her uncle and family, has died in Moscow. She was 89.

Ms. Ulyanova was the last known relative of Lenin, who never had any children, according to the government in the Ulyanovsk region, which was named after her family. Ms. Ulyanova, a chemist and writer, died in Moscow on Friday, the government said.

Her uncle, Vladimir Ulyanov, took Lenin as his nom-de-guerre in 1901 while in exile near the Siberian river of Lena. Sixteen years later, Lenin headed the Bolshevik revolution. After he died in 1924, Lenin's embalmed body was placed in a mausoleum on Red Square, where it is open to the public. After the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union, Ms. Ulyanova repeatedly demanded that the body remain there.

Saleh Proposes Orderly Exit

As sections of Yemeni Army join protesters

Showdown: Opposition activists and (right) supporters of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh

DUBAI: Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh has announced fresh conditions for his early exit, after mounting popular pressure calling for his removal was significantly bolstered when, breaking ranks, powerful sections of the Army, joined the protesters.

State television beamed images of Mr. Saleh addressing crowds, where he announced he would stand-down, but only after handing over power to “capable, responsible” hands. Calling for an orderly transition, Mr. Saleh, who has long projected himself as the pillar of stability in a tough political environment, said power could be transferred “peacefully and through constitutional means”. He invited the protesters for a “political dialogue” that could “pave the way for a political transition.”

But analysts say the opposition appears set to seek the President's immediate departure.

On Thursday, opposition groups rejected Mr. Saleh's earlier offer to quit at the year-end, following a fresh presidential election. “No dialogue and no initiatives for this dead regime,” said Mohammed al-Sabry spokesman of the opposition coalition, on Thursday. Mr. Saleh faced a fresh political challenge on Friday when tens of thousands protesters, after Friday prayers, assembled in capital Sana'a as Change (Taghyir) square, the scene of a bloodbath last Friday, when gunmen climbed rooftop and killed 52 protesters.

Intervention

In other protests on Friday in the region, security forces killed at least 20 protesters in Daraa, Syria's southern city. Reuters news agency is also reporting heavy gunfire in the city, where anti-government protests are spiralling in recent days. In Bahrain, where sustained protests have led to Saudi Arabia's military intervention, police have reportedly broken protests in the villages of Karzakan, Dair, Sitra and Duraz.

Last week's killings in Sana'a were a turning point which breached the Yemeni military, as it led to defections of many senior officers including Ali Mohsen, commander of the northwest military zone. Tensions within Yemen's rapidly splintering military spiked on Friday after presidential guards loyal to Mr. Saleh came close to confrontations with the pro-opposition military. Army units backing protesters fired in the air to deter government supporters from disrupting the rally.

General Mohsen has downplayed fears of a military coup in the wake of the vertical split within the military. He pointed out that Arab countries were no longer willing to accept military takeovers, as people now wanted to be governed within the framework of a modern civilian state.

NATO takes over military operations

Washington: NATO will take over command and control of military operations in Libya, in particular the enforcement of the no-fly zone imposed under a Security Council resolution, said its Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Thursday.

The U.S. State Department, in a conference call with journalists on Friday, denied that any crack in the Western alliance, or in the international community's support for the military action.

Specifically State Department Spokesperson Mark Toner said in response to a question from The Hindu notwithstanding suggestions that nations such as Russia had disputed the U.S.' claims surrounding civilian casualties resulting from the air strikes, the key backers of UNSCR 1973, authorising the no-fly zone, were on board.

New concerns over reactor core

SINGAPORE: Japan on Friday vowed to make greater efforts to control the escalating crisis of radioactive leakage at the Fukushima Daiichi civil nuclear plant. The possibility of such leakage from the worst-hit reactor's core raised concerns among the nuclear safety officials. At this, the government stepped in to assuage fears.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan, speaking in Tokyo exactly two weeks after a temblor and a tsunami devastated parts of Japan and ravaged the nuclear power plant, said: “We are trying to prevent a deterioration of the situation and we are still not in a position where we can be optimistic.” He said “we must remain vigilant and treat every development with the utmost care.”

The “development” in prime focus on Friday was the radiation accident that occurred at the reactor site a day earlier, forcing the hospitalisation of three workers. They had stepped on highly radioactive water at the site, apparently mindful of only air radiation, while on duty to connect the reactor unit to an external source of electricity.

In televised comments on Friday, an official of Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency (NISA), Hidehiko Nishiyama, said: “When we look into the composition of the water [at the reactor site], the source of water seems to be the reactor core. Another possible [source] … is the spent fuel. And, we cannot rule out that possibility either. But, I think, it is more likely that the water came from the reactor core.”

With such a possibility causing concerns that the reactor's core itself might have been damaged by the quake and the tsunami, Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano sought to calm nerves.

New developments

Addressing a press conference in Tokyo, Mr. Edano said: “There are no new developments being reported. There was water inside the [reactor] building. We do not know how this water has come into the building … At the current time … there is a possibility that a certain level of radioactive materials is leaking. And, whether the radioactive water came from the rector or from the spent-fuel pool: that's a question that requires some exhaustive investigation.”

We will monitor NGOs: Rajapaksa

COLOMBO: Justifying the move to tighten the monitoring mechanism on NGOs, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told Sri Lankan Editors on Friday that the government had the right and the responsibility to monitor how the NGOs obtained funds and what they were used for.

Responding to the recent debate on NGOs and the role they played in facilitating development, he said many millions of rupees come into the country. There is no mechanism to monitor where they come from and how they are utilised.

The President referred to the situation in India and said no country allowed organisations to bring in large amounts and spend them on projects of their own without any monitoring by the government.

Guidelines

“Therefore, the government intends to work out a suitable policy to monitor their activities.” He pointed out that specific guidelines were needed for NGOs to obtain funds through correct methods and spend in a correct manner.

Joining the discussion, Minister of Mass Media and Information Keheliya Rambukwella said such fund inflows could even lead to money laundering, which is now a growing global concern.

Mission Ends

Washington: NASA spacecraft Stardust has ended a 12-year run that helped the world better understand comets and plan for future deep space missions, said the U.S. space agency on Friday.

Even U.S. President gets ‘locked out', sometimes

Washington: Not every door opens, even for the powerful U.S. President Barack Obama.

Mr. Obama temporarily found himself locked out of his Oval Office at the White House, soon after he returned from a five-day Latin America trip along with his family on Thursday. The President ran into the unexpected trouble when he discovered that he could not open the door to the Oval Office from the outside.

White House staff members were apparently not told that Mr. Obama would be returning a few hours early, and the door was locked.

A video from the press pool shows the first family exiting Marine One and then Mr. Obama striding up to French doors leading into the West Wing only to find them locked. A cool Mr. Obama continues walking nonchalantly — and appears to be whistling also — until he finds a door that will open.

The video is making its rounds on the internet.

70 dead in Myanmar quake

A man examines the rubble of his partially-destroyed house in Myanmar's north-eastern city

YANGON: A powerful earthquake that toppled homes in north-eastern Myanmar has killed more than 70 people, and there were fears on Friday the toll would mount as conditions in more remote areas became known.

The Thursday night quake, measured at magnitude 6.8 by the U.S. Geological Survey, was centred just north of Tachileik town in Shan State near the Thai border. It was felt hundreds of km away in Bangkok and Hanoi. Myanmar state radio announced on Friday that 74 people had been killed and 111 injured, but was updating the total frequently. It said 390 houses, 14 Buddhist monasteries and nine government buildings were damaged.

An official from the U.N.'s World Food Program said there were many casualties and serious damage in Mong Lin village, 8 km from Tachileik. State radio said 29 were killed there and 16 injured.

Most of rural Myanmar is underdeveloped, with poor communications and other infrastructure, and minimal rescue and relief capacity. The junta is reluctant to release information as it is sensitive to any criticism.

Somchai Hatayatanti, governor of Thailand's Chiang Rai province, said dozens of people suffered minor injuries on the Thai side of the border. Cracks were found in buildings in downtown Chiang Rai city, about 90 km from the epicentre, including a provincial hospital and city hall. The tops of spires fell from at least two Buddhist temples.As a precaution for aftershocks, a relief centre was being set up on Friday in Mae Sai.

Top 10 Biggest Mafias Around the world

Mafia refers to secretive groups involved in organized crimes spread over a lot of countries. They are usually referred to by the name of the country they originated in and the majority of members will be of this nationality. They usually aspire to have a monopoly over illegal activities like drugs, firearm trafficking, etc. This is an article about the mafia groups and their activities. They are listed in an increasing order of their influence in the world.


1. Russian Mafia

Russian Mafia originated in the Soviet Union and now has influence all over the world. It has between 100,000 to 500,000 members. They are involved in organized crimes in countries like Israel, Hungary, Spain, Canada, UK, US, Russia, etc. They have also immigrated to Israel, America and Germany by using Jewish and German identities. Their activities include drug and firearm trafficking, bombings, smuggling, pornography, internet fraud, etc. One of their rules is to never co-operate with the authorities. If any of the members squealed when captured, they would be killed on release. They are feared for their vandalism, terrorism, organ trafficking and contract killings.


2. Sicilian and American Cosa Nostra

Sicilian and American Cosa Nostra is a relatively new group. It was started in the second half of the nineteenth century in Italy. In spite of it being a young mafia, it has a great ability to plan large crimes and get away with it. It is involved in protection rackets, drug and arms trafficking, mediation of criminal business are some of the things the Sicilian and American Cosa Nostra are involved in. It has a small number of members ranging from 3500 to 4000. In addition to these members they have associates who aren’t true members. A member will have to undergo the initiation ceremony where he will probably have to murder somebody to prove his worth. Every member will have to follow the code of silence.


3. Colombian Drug Cartels

Colombian Drug Cartels were formed mainly for controlling and trafficking drugs. They operate in a lot of countries. They have many organizations that deal with political, military and legal aspects of the cartels. The important cartels from Columbia are the Cali Cartel, Medellin Cartel and the Norte del Valle Cartel. At one point these cartels were threatened by the extradition treaty between the US and Columbia. The lords went into hiding and ordered its members to kill its supporters. They have also been involved in a lot of kidnappings and terrorism.

4. Chinese Triads

Chinese Triads consists of many criminal organizations which are based in Mainland China, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, etc. They are also very active in New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, Vancouver as well as San Francisco. Their organized crime involves theft, contract killing, drug trafficking, extortion, piracy, etc. It is now involved in piracy as well. They started in the 18th century but were called Tian Di Hui then. Even though it is steadily increasing in power, the activities have been low key. The triads can have 50 to over 30,000 members. They are also involved in counterfeiting Chinese currency.


5. Japanese Yakuza

Japanese Yakuza is a native organized crime group which uses threat and extortion to get their way. Its origin is found to be in the 17th century. A missing joint of the little finger is a tell tale sign of the gang members. This is often offered to the leader as an act of appeasement or apology. Some of the members even have full body tattoos. It has 110,000 active members in this group who are from 2500 families. They are involved in protection rackets, importing uncensored pornography from Europe and America, prostitution and in illegal immigration.

6. Mexican Mafia

Mexican Mafia is a very strong prison gang in the United States. It was started in the late 1950s to protect prisoners against other inmates and from the officers. This gang has also been involved in extortion and drug trafficking. It has about 30,000 members all over the United States. The gang members sometimes sport a tattoo with a common design which is a Mexican national symbol over a flaming circle and crossed knives. It is said that there are 150 prison members who have the authority to command murder and 2000 associates who will execute these commands. They force gangs and dealers to pay a protection tax and the ones who refuse will be killed.

7. Israeli Mafia

Israeli Mafia works in a lot of countries in activities like narcotics, drug trafficking and prostitution. Times have changed as the Israeli mafia was once looked at with awe and known for its patronage but today they are ruthless and don’t think twice about killing by standers. The Russian-Israeli Mafia has permeated the US political system so well that the US forces are failing to make any significant progress in stopping them.

8. The Serbian mafia

The Serbian mafia operates in more than ten nations including Germany, United States, United Kingdom, France, etc. They are involved in diverse activities like drug trafficking, smuggling, contract killing, protection rackets, gambling and gen thefts. It has three major groups called Vozdovac, Surcin and Zemun which control the smaller groups. Presently there are about 30-40 groups working in Serbia.

9. The Albanian Mafia

The Albanian Mafia consists of a large number of criminal organizations which are based in Albania. They are active in US and European countries as well. It is said that the Albanian mafia spread to international levels in the 1980s. Organized crime prevailed in Albania right from the 15th century. In United States and United Kingdom, they run sex and drug trafficking rackets and are known for quick use of violence for vengeance.

10. Jamaican-British Yardies

Jamaican-British Yardies were the Jamaicans who immigrated to Britain in 1950s. They were involved in gang violence and got to be known as Yardies. They conduct organized crimes like drug trade and other gun crimes. They haven’t tried infiltrating the law enforcement system so they aren’t considered to be as strong as other mafia groups. All the crimes involve the use of firearms the use of which is strictly controlled in Britain.

Bill Gates

William Henry "Bill" Gates III born on October 28, 1955 and raised in Seattle along with his two sisters, he is an American business magnate, philanthropist, investor, computer programmer, and inventor. In 1975, Gates co-founded Microsoft, the world’s largest PC software company, renowned for making software with Paul Allen. That is powerful and innovative while still being user friendly. Microsoft now employs more than 55,000 people in 85 countries. During his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software architect, and was the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. Gates has authored and co-authored several books.

Starting in 1987, Gates was included in the Forbes list of the world's wealthiest people and was the wealthiest overall from 1995 to 2014 excluding a few years after the Financial crisis of 2007–08. Between 2009 and 2014 his wealth more than doubled from $40 billion to more than $82 billion. Between 2013 and 2014 his wealth increased by $15 billion. Gates is currently the richest man in the world.

Bill Gates and Paul Allen turned to a computing company, in exchange for free use of a more powerful computer they searched for bugs in the computers system while also learning new languages. Bill went on to Harvard University and while there teamed up with Paul to write a new version of Basic programming language for the first personnel computer the Altair 8800. The company was impressed with Gates and Allen’s work and licensed the software resulting in Gates and Allen forming the company Microsoft to develop software for other companies. Bill dropped out of Harvard to spend more time on the new business.

 

Their break came when they developed an operating system called MS-DOS for the first IBM personnel computer, and later managed to persuade other manufactures to standardize their systems to run MS-DOS. This standardization started a new computer industry boom throughout the 1980’s as MS-DOS took hold of the market and gained popularity, Microsoft also started developing applications such as word processors.

Microsoft's BASIC was popular with computer hobbyists, but Gates discovered that a pre-market copy had leaked into the community and was being widely copied and distributed. In February 1976, Gates wrote an Open Letter to Hobbyists in the MITS newsletter saying that MITS could not continue to produce, distribute, and maintain high-quality software without payment. This letter was unpopular with many computer hobbyists, but Gates persisted in his belief that software developers should be able to demand payment. Microsoft became independent of MITS in late 1976, and it continued to develop programming language software for various systems. The company moved from Albuquerque to its new home in Bellevue, Washington on January 1, 1979.

Microsoft announced Windows 1.0 in 1983, which promised a graphical user interface GUI better graphics and multitasking. However the final product was not released for another 2 years until 1985, with very few compatible applications Windows did not sell well.

Over the next five years Microsoft released a number of upgraded windows 2.0 versions which added many programs, versatility and features. As Microsoft grew, its share price sky rocketed, and at the age of 31 Bill Gates became the youngest self-made billionaire in American history.

During Microsoft's early years, all employees had broad responsibility for the company's business. Gates oversaw the business details, but continued to write code as well. In the first five years, Gates personally reviewed every line of code the company shipped, and often rewrote parts of it as he saw fit.

Partnership with IBM approached Microsoft in July 1980 regarding its upcoming personal computer, the IBM PC. The computer company first proposed that Microsoft write the BASIC interpreter. When IBM's representatives mentioned that they needed an operating system, Gates referred them to Digital Research (DRI), makers of the widely used CP/M operating system. IBM's discussions with Digital Research went poorly, and they did not reach a licensing agreement. IBM representative Jack Sams mentioned the licensing difficulties during a subsequent meeting with Gates and told him to get an acceptable operating system. A few weeks later, Gates proposed using 86-DOS (QDOS), an operating system similar to CP/M that Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) had made for hardware similar to the PC. Microsoft made a deal with SCP to become the exclusive licensing agent, and later the full owner, of 86-DOS. After adapting the operating system for the PC, Microsoft delivered it to IBM as PC DOS in exchange for a one-time fee of $50,000.

Gates did not offer to transfer the copyright on the operating system, because he believed that other hardware vendors would clone IBM's system. They did, and the sales of MS-DOS made Microsoft a major player in the industry. Despite IBM's name on the operating system the press quickly identified Microsoft as being very influential on the new computer. PC Magazine asked if Gates were "the man behind the machine?", and InfoWorld quoted an expert as stating "it's Gates' computer". Gates oversaw Microsoft's company restructuring on June 25, 1981, which re-incorporated the company in Washington state and made Gates President of Microsoft and the Chairman of the Board.

In 1990 Microsoft headed by Bill Gates created a new version of Windows called Windows 3.0 with a much improved GUI and features which sold more than 10 million copies, quickly followed by Windows 3.1, 3.11 and workgroups which added networking support. Building on their success Microsoft developed Windows 95 followed by windows 98, 2000, Millennium Edition and The current version Windows XP. Each new windows release has seen Microsoft gain more market share and along with their popular applications such as Office, games etc has seen Bill Gates become the richest man in the world worth an estimated US$46 billion.

Gates also has interests in other business having many investments and positions in company’s including Corbis Corporation, Berkshire Hathaway Inc, Teledesic Corporation. In 1998 Gates gave up his role as CEO to focus on development of new technology and products.

Bill married Melinda French Gates in 1994 and has three children, Jennifer, Rory and Phoebe. Both Bill and Melinda are keen Philanthropist’s starting the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has committed more than $3.2 billion to global health, $2 billion to improve learning opportunities to low income families, $477 million to community projects and more than $488 million to special projects and annual giving campaigns. 

In 2007 the Los Angeles Times criticized the foundation for investing its assets in companies which have been accused of worsening poverty, polluting heavily, and pharmaceutical companies that do not sell into the developing world. In response to press criticism, the foundation announced a review of its investments to assess social responsibility. It subsequently canceled the review and stood by its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices. The Gates Millennium Scholars program has been criticized by Ernest W. Lefever for its exclusion of Caucasian students. The scholarship program is administered by the United Negro College Fund.

In 1987 Gates was listed as a billionaire in Forbes magazine's 400 Richest People in America issue, just days before his 32nd birthday. As the world's youngest self-made billionaire, he was worth $1.25 billion, over $900 million more than he'd been worth the year before, when he'd debuted on the list.

A fragile country at the mercy of nature

The world is reacting with shock at the huge quake and tsunami that has devastated Japan, but people there have learnt to expect natural disasters.

The first indication was a humming and a rattling.

Hundreds of upturned beer glasses on wooden shelves, shook from side to side, then knocked into each other. Conversation dimmed then stopped completely. Faces looked from one to another across the plates of tempura and sushi.

"Quick," shouted the barman, "turn off the gas."

It was my first experience of a tremor, just a few days after I had gone to live in Japan.

 And it was typical - everyone trying to gauge just how serious this quake was going to be.

When should we get up and try to run outdoors? Or would we have to dive under the tables? Or seek safety under a door frame - which we all knew was the strongest part of the room?

It is no coincidence that tsunami is a Japanese word

After a few seconds the tremor subsided, the conversation picked up, the sushi chef started wielding his heavy knife on the chopping block.

Just a few seconds later, a white subtitle appeared on the TV in the corner - it was on all channels - indicating the size of the quake and the location of the epicentre.

It was not the "big one". But everyone knew that one was coming.

The question was: when?

Tradition held that animals and fish would act strangely ahead of a quake - carp, for example, would jump out of the water.

The Japanese government even sponsored an experiment to monitor carp activity to see if they could be used to predict tremors.

Japanese people live with an ever-present expectation of natural disaster - floods, hurricanes, fires, and most of all earthquakes and the massive waves they can generate.             

Hell on earth?

It is no coincidence that tsunami is a Japanese word.

The native religion, Shinto, is animist - speaking of the divine nature of trees and mountains, of goddesses who emerged from deep clefts in the rocks. The very earth can seem alive.

The islands sit on a massive fault line and the classic image of the country is the perfect volcanic cone of Mount Fuji.

Boiling hot water steams up from cracks in the rocks, exploited for the natural hot springs that are one of the country's great wonders.

Schoolchildren still commemorate the victims of the Kanto earthquake

In the town of Beppu you can see pools of foul-smelling sulphuric waters that emerge from the earth. But the big draw is the dark red pool guarded by statues of ferocious, boggle-eyed deities. It is called Jigoku - Hell.

All Japanese know that at any time the powers of the earth can turn against them.

In 1923, the great Kanto earthquake devastated Tokyo.

Fires raged across a city built of wooden houses, killing an estimated 140,000 people.

Since then the population on the Kanto plain has grown massively in an interconnected series of cities from the mountains down to the sea.

Everyone knows that the pressure between the tectonic plates deep underground will be released sometime.

Everyone prepares. Schools and office workers take part in earthquake drills. And these are dramatic.

The authorities bring along a mock-up of a living room, complete with a sofa and a dining table, with one wall missing so you can see inside.

The whole room is mounted on a machine on a truck and gently the mechanism rocks the room from side to side - simulating the usual tremors that you feel every few days.

Curtains sway and plates slide across tables.

The movement gets stronger and stronger, wilder and wilder. Crockery smashes, the furniture is hurled about furiously.

Just watching, you can feel the panic rising in your stomach. And this is just a mock-up of a moderate quake.

Extraordinary resilience

An ever-present sense of disaster is deeply woven into traditional ways.

Japanese culture has long-prized fragility, impermanence, transience.

The cherry blossom is the most prized of all expressions of nature because it achieves such a brief perfection before falling carelessly.

Samurai - so it was said - gave up their lives with similar carelessness, because their honour was more important.

The earthquake has caused extensive damage to homes and roads

Zen teaching praised the way bamboo's flexibility gave it a special strength.

Subjected to force it sways and bends. It does not snap.

The Japanese traditionally built their houses lightly out of wood and it is said this is so they would sway in an earthquake rather than simply collapse.

The city of Tokyo has shown extraordinary resilience.

In March 1945, a couple of decades after the great earthquake, American B29s dropped incendiary bombs on the city of wooden houses.

The resulting firestorm killed 100,000 people in the course of a single night.

Waiting for the "big one" is a part of Japanese life and the carp, it turns out, are no help. They have no better idea of when a tremor will strike than the rest of us.