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**SNIP** In an interview published Friday, Obama said "the stars are aligned" to enable the United States and India to forge a global partnership. The cancellation of the Taj Mahal visit would deprive the country's top tourist attraction of publicity at a time when the government is trying to boost visitor numbers. Twitter users rushed to thank the president for orchestrating a clean-up of the mausoleum in the town of Agra, built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan for his beloved empress who died during childbirth in 1631. "It was just Obama's clever plan to get Agra cleaned up. Thank you...

5 Oct, 2011, 10.49AM IST, ANI 358-yr-old Taj Mahal 'in the danger of collapsing within 5 years LONDON: The Taj Mahal will collapse within five years unless urgent action is taken to fix its rotting foundations, campaigners warn. The 358-year-old marble mausoleum is India's most famous tourist attraction, bringing four million visitors a year to the northern city of Agra. But the river crucial to its survival is being blighted by pollution, industry and deforestation. Campaigners believe the foundations have become brittle and are disintegrating. Cracks appeared last year in parts of the tomb, and the four minarets, which surround...

Obama's ten day India Trip, to the sung to the tune of "The Twelve Days of Christmas:" On the first day of vacation my taxpayers sent to me:the coconuts removed from the treesOn the second day of vacation my taxpayers sent to me:forty big jets and the coconuts removed from the trees On the third day of vacation my taxpayers sent to me:6 armoured cars34 warships and the coconuts removed from the trees On the fourth day of vacation my taxpayers sent to me:1 aircraft carrier500 agentspersonal chefs and the coconuts removed from the trees On the fifth day of...

Terming the choice of Mumbai and the Taj Mahal Hotel to launch his maiden India trip as a “strong message” against terrorism, US President Barack Obama said on Saturday in his first official statement in the country that he was looking forward to discussing with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh how India and the US could deepen their partnership in counter-terrorism efforts. While the President made no mention of state-sponsored terrorism, he demanded that the perpetrators of the 26/11 attack be brought to justice. “Mumbai is a symbol of energy and optimism,” he said, adding that the Taj and its staff...

Just an observation here. Any other comparisons welcome, but this is just ridic. What a toolbox this twit is.

Elaborate security arrangements The presidential entourage will have 40 aircraft, including the Air Force One that will ferry the president. There will be six armoured cars, including four Barack Mobiles and a Cadillac.

Note: The following text is a quote: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Thursday, March 18, 2010 Chicago Resident David Coleman Headley Pleads Guilty to Role in India and Denmark Terrorism Conspiracies Admits Conducting Surveillance for Lashkar e Tayyiba in Planning 2008 Mumbai Attacks David Coleman Headley, a U.S. citizen of partial Pakistani descent, pleaded guilty today to a dozen federal terrorism charges, admitting that he participated in planning the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India, as well as later planning to attack a Danish newspaper. In pleading guilty to all 12 counts that were brought against him in December and were...

FAIRBANKS — While nominating Taj Mahal for a Grammy Award in the Contemporary Blues category (he didn’t win this year, but has two others) wasn’t as far off base as nominating Jethro Tull in the Heavy Metal category (they won!), proclaiming Mahal to be only a blues artist doesn’t fully do justice to his musical legacy. “That’s a hornets nest I don’t want to get into,” he said with a laugh during a telephone interview from his Los Angeles home. “The central part of what I do has always been blues, but blues can have a world view just like...

The Ministry of Culture has begun insisting that tourists visiting the country’s monuments, including the Taj Mahal, pay the entrance fees in rupees rather than in dollars. Entrance to many sites for foreign tourists is priced in dollars and then converted to rupees, but the ministry has been losing tourism revenue as the dollar slid more than 12 percent this year against the rupee. The government had fixed a $5 entrance fee for World Heritage sites like the Taj Mahal and Humayun’s Tomb and $2 for other monuments at a time when the dollar was worth about 50 rupees. It...

LONDON (Reuters) - Only one of the ancient wonders of the world still survives -- now history lovers are being invited to choose a new list of seven. Among 21 locations shortlisted for the worldwide vote is Stonehenge, the only British landmark selected. The 5,000-year-old stones on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire, will be up against sites including the Acropolis in Athens; the Statue of Liberty in New York; and the last remaining original wonder, the Pyramids of Giza in Cairo.

Police in northern India have heightened security around the Taj Mahal after receiving a letter threatening to blow up the monument, officials said Friday. ADVERTISEMENT Sandbag bunkers have been set up outside the towering entrance gates leading to the 17th century monument and soldiers belonging to an anti-terrorist squad have been posted on 24-hour duty, said Ashok Kumar, a senior government official in Uttar Pradesh state where the Taj Mahal is located. Police were investigating a handwritten letter purportedly sent by an al-Qaida supporter, saying the terrorist group planned to carry out blasts at the Taj Mahal. Police were skeptical...

I recently set out to learn more about Islam. I had no agenda at the time except to broaden my knowledge on the subject. What I have learned sickened me. I had previously been accepting of the notion that Islam was a peaceful religion and that the Muslim terrorists who inflict so much pain and death around the world represented a fringe element outside of mainstream Islam. I was wrong. The Islamic deity, Allah, is a false god. While the term "Allah" does indeed carry the same meaning as "God," Mohammed's Allah is nothing more than a construct of a...

Indian government rejects Muslim body's claim to Taj Mahal NEW DELHI (AFP) - The Indian government has rejected a Muslim body's claim to ownership of the Taj Mahal monument which sparked angry reactions among Hindus. Law Minister Hansraj Bhardwaj said there was no need for the Sunni Waqf Board to take charge of the world-famous monument which it claimed this week because it houses Muslim graves. "I am surprised about this declaration. The Sunni Waqf Board already has so much property and they do not know how to take care of it," Bhardwaj said on Friday. "There is no need...

Indian Government Body, Islamic Trust File Competing Claims for Taj Mahal The Associated Press Published: Jul 13, 2005 LUCKNOW, India (AP) - An Islamic trust claimed ownership Wednesday of the Taj Mahal and demanded a slice of tourist revenue from the 17th-century monument to love, but the government-run group charged with its upkeep vowed to challenge that claim in court. The white-marble monument - built by Mogul Emperor Shah Jahan between 1632 and 1654 for his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal - should be officially recognized as belonging to the Sunni Waqf Board, said its chairman, Hafiz Usman. "The Taj Mahal...

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), the waqf board, an Agra resident... and now one more claimant pledging to be the true Mughal descendant has emerged from Hyderabad for "custodianship" of India's prized Taj Mahal. 'Prince' Yaqub Habeebuddin Tucy, who says he is the great great grandson of Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, arrived here on Thursday to stake his claim for the famed 17th century monument in Agra as a "true descendent of the Mughal lineage". He has filed a formal petition before the Uttar Pradesh Sunni Central Waqf Board, a state funded autonomous body, which is already in...

Mughal Emperor Shahjahan's unfulfilled last wish of building a black Taj Mahal facing the white one at Agra is all set to come true -- albeit after 350 years, thanks to Sudarshan Patnaik, a sand artist of international repute from Orissa. "I have been asked by the Uttar Pradesh Government to create a Taj Mahal in black sand in front of the white marbled monument of love as part of the celebrations commemorating 350th year of Taj," Patnaik said on his return from Houston in USA, where he exhibited his skills in erecting a 15-feet-tall white sand replica of Taj...

Muslim charity claims Taj Mahal By Kulsum Talha BBC News, Lucknow Millions of people flock to Taj Mahal every year An Indian Muslim charity has laid claim to the ownership of the world's most famous monument to love, the Taj Mahal. The Sunni Waqf Board controls all Muslim graveyards in the state of Uttar Pradesh, where the spectacular marble monument is located. It says the Taj Mahal houses several Muslim graves other than those of the Moghul royalty and thus falls under its jurisdiction. Millions seeking romance flock to the Taj Mahal every year. The monument was built by the...

Agra, India, Oct. 20 (UPI) -- India has asked experts to study if the Taj Mahal, its tourism showpiece, is really tilting and will eventually sink into the banks of River Yamuna. The alarm has been raised by historians who fear the drying out of the river might have affected the foundations of the masterpiece monument in Agra in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh. The expert committee has been asked to report back in a week, the BBC reported. The Taj, known as the great symbol of love, will mark its 350th anniversary this year. It was ordered built...

It is a Great photo of an Air Force training squadron flying in a never-done-before "USA" formation over the control tower "Taj Mahal" (HQ building) of Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Pray for all our young men and women serving our country and going into danger that we might preserve our Freedom. And pray for wisdom for our leaders.