From Tamil Nadu, Another Viral Hit Is Born

“Nenjukulle,” a Tamil song composed by the Oscar-winning musician A.R. Rahman, seems poised to be this season's breakout social media hit, days after it was first broadcast on Nov. 3 during “Unplugged,” a program on MTV India.

Sung by 24-year-old Shakthisree Gopalan, the mellifluous song features in the Tamil film “Kadal,” which is directed and produced by Mani Ratnam and is slated for a December release.

The lyrics were penned by the Tamil poet and lyricist Vairamuthu. The opening lines of the song roughly translate to:

In my heart
I've tied you

In my heart
I've tied you
I don't know in which direction my day rose?

You gave me a sweet glance
And this heart of mine became a mirror glazed by water

A five-minute video posted on the MTV India Web site, featuring Ms. Gopa lan and Mr. Rahman, accompanied by an orchestra, was viewed over 139,000 times by Monday evening and received 44,000 likes on Facebook.

Ms. Gopalan, a relative newcomer, has also co-sung the title song of the Bollywood film “Jab Tak Hai Jaan,” starring Shah Rukh Khan, which comes out Tuesday.

The fast-growing popularity of “Nenjukulle” is reminiscent of the success of “Why This Kolaveri Di” last year, a Tamil song interlaced with bits of English, which ultimately became an international sensation. Whether an all-Tamil song can create the same magic remains to be seen.

Happy Diwali!

Rajesh Kumar Singh/Associated PressDiwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is a public holiday in the country. 

Image of the Day: Nov.12

Manish Swarup/Associated PressAfghanistan President Hamid Karzai met with Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi during his visit to New Delhi. 

Voting for U.N. Rights Council Puts Focus on Records of Panel\'s Member States

Those who criticize the United Nations as a toothless and dysfunctional organization often point to the membership of the Human Rights Council to make their case. China, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Russia currently hold seats. The body has been a vocal and reliable critic of Israel, but has been lenient on countries like Sri Lanka, Sudan and Zimbabwe.

Even the United States refused to participate in the council, until the Obama administration reversed a Bush-era policy and ran successfully for a seat in 2009. On Monday, the U.S. won re-election to the body for another three-year term.

Today 18 new states will gain seats and activists have mobilized once again to denounce each potential member's human rights record. “We need better ingredients in the soup,” Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, said about members on Friday at an event at the United Nations.

UN Watch and the Human Rights Foundation invited activists fro m Venezuela, Pakistan and Kazakhstan to speak about human rights violations. The three countries are likely to gain council membership today, even as the two groups consider them “not qualified” to serve, based on an examination of their domestic rights protections and their voting record at the United Nations.

“It would be immoral to let Venezuela join if it doesn't improve its behavior,” said the Venezuelan businessman Eligio Cedeño, who supported opposition politicians before being arrested and charged with circumventing currency controls.

As my colleague Simon Romero reported in 2010, a judge, María Lourdes Afiuni, freed Mr. Cedeño after a U.N. legal panel said his pretrial detention exceeded the limits set by Venezuelan law. The ruling by Judge Afiuni angered President Hugo Chávez, who, while contending on national television that she would have been put before a firing squad in earlier times, sent his secret police to arrest her. She was senten ced to 30 years and is currently under house arrest. Mr. Cedeño fled to the United States.

U.N. Watch and the Human Rights Foundation also criticized Pakistan for failing “to meet the minimal standards of a free democracy.” A major point of international scrutiny and condemnation has been Pakistan's blasphemy law.

Sajid Christopher, a Christian activist, denounced the law as an instrument of intimidation against religious minorities. “The law requires neither proof of intent nor evidence to be presented after allegations are made, and includes no penalties for false allegations,” said Mr. Christopher, the head of a group called Human Friends Organization International.

He mentioned the case of Rimsha Masih. My colleagues Declan Walsh and Salman Masood reported in August that Rimshah, a 14-year-old Christian girl living outside Islamabad, was detained for weeks after being accused of burning pages from a religious textbook. Some reports said she had Down syndrome. Her case unleashed a public furor that showed the deep polarization in Pakistani society over the blasphemy law.

Igor Vinyavsky, a newspaper editor from Kazakhstan, denounced harassment and persecution against independent media outlets. In its latest press freedom index, Reporters Without Borders ranked Kazakhstan 154th out of 179 countries. Mr. Vinyavsky was detained in January and held for two months, accused of distributing leaflets calling for an insurrection, a charge he has denied. He was arrested after a raid on his Almaty-based newspaper, Vzglyad, in which the security forces confiscated all reporting equipment, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported.

“To elect Kazakhstan would be a baffling and shameful act,” Mr. Vinyavsky said Friday through a translator.

With each speaker, frustration about Venezuela, Pakistan and Kazakhstan joining the Human Rights Council became more palpable. But some, like Thor Halvorssen, the presi dent of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation, remained hopeful that the system could be reformed.
“It is up to the news media and civil society groups to point out the contradictions within the Human Rights Council,” Mr. Halvorssen said.

But some think reform it's a lost cause. Critics of the council say the election system is flawed, giving equal say to all countries in the General Assembly, regardless of their record. “That's the problem with using the U.N. to address human-rights problems,” wrote Joel Brinkley, a professor of journalism at Stanford and former foreign correspondent for The Times, in an op-ed in July. “Every single state in the world, even the most reprehensible, is an equal member.”

Once they gain membership, repressive states use the council to craft Orwellian resolutions that seek to protect their political control under the banners of national sovereignty and international respect.

“The council is irredeemable ,” Mr. Brinkley wrote. “It's time the U.S. dropped out.”

Mr. Halvorssen, however, keeps trying. He founded the Human Rights Foundation after his mother was shot during a 2004 protest in Venezuela. In June, he was cut off by the delegation of Cuba in Geneva while delivering a fiery speech against Venezuela's human rights record.

Among the speakers on Friday was Marcel Granier, the president of RCTV, one of Venezuela's oldest television stations and a frequent government critic. The station went off the air after losing its license in 2007, in a move widely seen as political retaliation. Mr. Chávez accused RCTV and other private broadcasters of supporting a coup that briefly ousted him in 2002.

Mr. Granier lives in Venezuela and considers speaking up the only way forward. “I receive threats against my life almost everyday,” he said matter-of-factly as attendees to the lunch event overlooking the East River ate their chocolate desserts. “I'm used to it.”

Malala Yousafzai\'s Father Thanks Supporters From Her Hospital Room

A video message from Malala Yousafzai's father, Ziauddin, includes footage of the young activist recovering in a British hospital.

Ziauddin Yousafzai, the Pakistani educator whose 15-year-old daughter, Malala, survived an assassination attempt by Taliban militants, thanked “all peace-loving well-wishers,” for their support in a video statement released on Monday by the hospital in England where she is recovering.

The video, which shows young Malala sitting up at a table in her hospital room, holding a teddy bear, includes excerpts from some of the cards and letters sent to her from around the world. “Malala is recovering well and wants me to tell you she has been inspired and humbled by the thousands of cards, messages and gifts that she has received,” Mr. Yousafzai said. “She wants me to tell everyone how grateful she is - and is amazed that men, women and children from across the world are interested in her well-being.”

Two weeks ago, Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham released video of Malala with her family in the hospital room. That clip was posted online without sound, but appeared to show the young girl speaking to her parents and two brothers.

Fireworks Safety Tips for Diwali

Piyal Adhikary/European Pressphoto AgencyA you boy packing sparklers at a factory in Saradapalli village, north of Kolkata, in West Bengal.

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is also celebrated with plenty of sound - in the form of fireworks. The noise tends to divide people into two groups: those who say they can't stand them, and those who can't imagine Diwali without them.

For the latter group, here's some tips based on advice from The National Council on Fireworks Safety and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, two consumer groups based in Washington, D.C., and India's Insurance Regulatory and D evelopment Authority:

Always keep a bucket of water handy.

Never allow young children to ignite or play with fireworks. Even sparklers are dangerous, as they can reach temperatures of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,093 Celsius), hot enough to melt some metals.

Don't relight a “dud” firework. Soak it in your bucket of water instead.

Have a “designated shooter,” someone who is not drinking alcohol at all.

The “shooter” should wear safety glasses, and the audience should stay a safe distance away.

Never light more than one firework at a time.

Never point fireworks at another person.

Never place any part of your body directly over a fireworks device when lighting the fuse.

Back up to a safe distance immediately after lighting fireworks.

Never take unnecessary risks while lighting fireworks â€" don't show off.

Don't wear loose, long or dangly clothing, and avoid wearing silk or nylon, both of which are highly flammable.

And, of course, only light fireworks outside.

The promotion of safety tips by consumer groups and fireworks manufacturers' associations in the United States, like the American Pyrotechnics Association, appears to have paid off: America's consumption of fireworks grew almost tenfold between 1976 and 2007, to 265.5 million pounds. But injuries, as measured per 100,000 pounds of consumption, have decreased by 90 percent, the American Pyrotechnics group reports.

In 2011, nearly 10,000 people in the United States were injured by fireworks, the U.S. Consumer Safety Product Commission reported, and four were killed. While figures on the consumption of fireworks in India aren't readily available, the production and use of fireworks have become so dangerous that various charities encourage people to boycott them altogether. Dozens were killed this fall at an explosion at a firework factory in Tamil Nadu alone.

Fireworks Safety Tips for Diwali

Piyal Adhikary/European Pressphoto AgencyA you boy packing sparklers at a factory in Saradapalli village, north of Kolkata, in West Bengal.

Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is also celebrated with plenty of sound - in the form of fireworks. The noise tends to divide people into two groups: those who say they can't stand them, and those who can't imagine Diwali without them.

For the latter group, here's some tips based on advice from The National Council on Fireworks Safety and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, two consumer groups based in Washington, D.C., and India's Insurance Regulatory and D evelopment Authority:

Always keep a bucket of water handy.

Never allow young children to ignite or play with fireworks. Even sparklers are dangerous, as they can reach temperatures of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,093 Celsius), hot enough to melt some metals.

Don't relight a “dud” firework. Soak it in your bucket of water instead.

Have a “designated shooter,” someone who is not drinking alcohol at all.

The “shooter” should wear safety glasses, and the audience should stay a safe distance away.

Never light more than one firework at a time.

Never point fireworks at another person.

Never place any part of your body directly over a fireworks device when lighting the fuse.

Back up to a safe distance immediately after lighting fireworks.

Never take unnecessary risks while lighting fireworks â€" don't show off.

Don't wear loose, long or dangly clothing, and avoid wearing silk or nylon, both of which are highly flammable.

And, of course, only light fireworks outside.

The promotion of safety tips by consumer groups and fireworks manufacturers' associations in the United States, like the American Pyrotechnics Association, appears to have paid off: America's consumption of fireworks grew almost tenfold between 1976 and 2007, to 265.5 million pounds. But injuries, as measured per 100,000 pounds of consumption, have decreased by 90 percent, the American Pyrotechnics group reports.

In 2011, nearly 10,000 people in the United States were injured by fireworks, the U.S. Consumer Safety Product Commission reported, and four were killed. While figures on the consumption of fireworks in India aren't readily available, the production and use of fireworks have become so dangerous that various charities encourage people to boycott them altogether. Dozens were killed this fall at an explosion at a firework factory in Tamil Nadu alone.