--Thailand New Year~Songkran 2010--

The Songkran festival (Thai: สงกรานต์, from Sanskrit saṅkrānti, "astrological passage") is celebrated in Thailand as the traditional New Year's Day from 13 to 15 April. It coincides with the New Year of many calendars of South and Southeast Asia.
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The date of the festival was originally set by astrological calculation, but it is now fixed. If these days fall on a weekend, the missed days off are taken on the weekdays immediately following. If they fall in the middle of the week, many Thai take off from the previous Friday until the following Monday. Songkran falls in the hottest time of the year in Thailand, at the end of the dry season. Until 1888 the Thai New Year was the beginning of the year in Thailand; thereafter 1 April was used until 1940. 1 January is now the beginning of the year. The traditional Thai New Year has been a national holiday since then.
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Songkran originally was celebrated only in the north of Thailand, and was probably brought there by the Burmese, who adapted it from the Indian Holi festival. It spread across Thailand in the mid 20th century and is now observed even in the far south. However, the most famous Songkran celebrations are still in the northern city of Chiang Mai, where it continues for six days and even longer. It has also become a party for foreigners and an additional reason for many to visit Thailand for immersion in another culture.
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~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thai_New_Year

--Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin--

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Путин (help·info), IPA [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ ˈputʲɪn]; born 7 October 1952) was the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when president Boris Yeltsin resigned in a surprising move, and then Putin won the 2000 presidential election. In 2004 he was re-elected for a second term lasting until 7 May 2008.
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Due to constitutionally mandated term limits, Putin was ineligible to run for a third consecutive Presidential term. After the victory of his successor, Dmitry Medvedev, in the 2008 presidential elections, he was then nominated by the latter to be Russia's Prime Minister; Putin took the post on 8 May 2008.
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~http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Putin

--Polish president among 132 dead in jet crash--

Plane goes down in Russia en route to commemoration of Stalin’s victims
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msnbc.com news services

updated 5:28 a.m. ET April 10, 2010
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SMOLENSK, Russia - Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed when a plane carrying 132 people crashed in thick fog on its approach to a Russian airport on Saturday, killing everyone on board, officials said.

The governor of the Smolensk region, where the crash took place about 11 a.m. (3 a.m. ET), said no one survived.

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~http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/36352097/ns/world_news-europe?GT1=39002

--Manchester United FC 3-2 FC Bayern München--

United buckle under Bayern strain
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Manchester United FC 3-2 FC Bayern München
(agg: 4-4, Bayern win on away goals)
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A magnificent volley from Arjen Robben capped a stunning Bayern recovery with the home side having taken a 3-0 lead before Rafael's dismissal.

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What happened
United established a 3-0 lead before Ivica Olić and Arjen Robben – with a superb volley – scored either side of Rafael's dismissal to send Bayern through.
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~http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/matches/season=2010/round=2000030/match=2000483/index.html

--10 Smallest Countries in the World--

Check out this great MSN Video: 10 Smallest Countries in the World

--A Boy From NoWhere--

--A Boy From NoWhere--

The nights grow cold,
My search for gold
Is leading nowhere
Whichever lonely road I take
It seems to go where
It's a fight to survive just until tomorrow
How can I display
What I know I'm worthy of
When they turn me away

The doors are closed to such as I
A boy from nowhere
But not to those who merely buy
The right to go where
They'll be met with respect,
Not humiliation.
A man's place on earth
I have come to realize
Is decided by birth

So what's the future
No matter where I go
I will still belong...
In Andalucia
Where we don't know where
The next penny's coming from
Something's wrong

I'm bound to Spain,
I won't remain
A boy from nowhere
There has to be
A place for me
And I must go there
I don't fantasize unlike a million others
Who must bow and scrape
For my one means of escape
Is to flourish a cape.

I'll fight all odds
And fight the Gods if they oppose me
I have to win
I won't give in
No one who knows me
Would expect me to fail
For the want of trying
Not a man alive
Had to beg or steal or fight
more than me to survive

So what's the future
No matter where I go
I will still belong...
In Andalusia
Where good honest men grow weak
and the rich grow strong
Something's wrong

Another dawn, another boy
A boy from nowhere
My destiny will guarantee
I'll only go where
It's a fight to survive just until tomorrow
One more mouth to feed
And the way things are round here,
That's the last thing they need.