Daylight saving time

Daylight saving time (DST; also summer time) is the convention of advancing clocks so that afternoons have more daylight and mornings have less.

source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time

Mahoran status referendum, 2009

In a referendum, Mayotte chooses to become an overseas department of France.

A referendum on becoming an overseas department of France was held in Mayotte on 29 March 2009. In contrast to the four other similar regions (Guadeloupe, Martinique, Réunion and French Guiana), Mayotte would not have become a DOM/ROM but would only have had a single assembly; the four DOM/ROM will have the option of changing their status to this format, as well.

Mayotte will become the 101st French department and the first with a 95% Muslim population in 2011 as a result of the "yes" vote.

Thousands of video lectures from the world's top scholars.

http://www.academicearth.org/

Human Development Index

The Human Development Index (HDI) is an index used to rank countries by level of "human development", which usually also implies to determine whether a country is a developed, developing, or underdeveloped country.

The HDI combines three basic dimensions:

• Life expectancy at birth, as an index of population health and longevity
• Knowledge and education, as measured by the adult literacy rate (with two-thirds weighting) and the combined primary, secondary, and tertiary gross enrollment ratio (with one-third weighting).
• Standard of living, as measured by the natural logarithm of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita at purchasing power parity (PPP) in United States dollars.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

Nathu La Pass

Nathu La is a mountain pass in the Himalayas. It is located on the Indo-China border connecting the Indian state of Sikkim with the Tibet Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China. The pass, at 4,310 m (14,140 ft) above mean sea level, forms part of an offshoot of the ancient Silk Road. Nathu means "listening ears" and La means "pass" in Tibetan.

Nathu La is one of the three trading border posts between China and India; the other two are Shipkila in Himachal Pradesh and Lipulekh (or Lipulech) in Uttarakhand.

Sealed by India after the 1962 Sino-Indian War, it was re-opened in 2006 following numerous bilateral trade agreements. The opening of the pass is expected to bolster the economy of the region and play a key role in the growing Sino-Indian trade.