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Showing posts from February, 2006

It is the festive season for Fatwas

LUCKNOW: Unusual causes have unusual effects. As a fallout of UP minister Yaqoob Qureshi's fatwa that he would pay Rs 51 crore for killing Danish cartoonist for caricaturing the Prophet, an unheard of body called the Hindu Law Board on Wednesday came up with a counter bounty. It has offered Qureshi Rs 101 crore for slaying M F Husain, embroiled in a controversy over depictions of Saraswati and Bharat Mata and owners of an European distillery for using Durga illustrations to promote their wine. Although no one knew about the existence of the Board until Wednesday, its president Ashok Pandey, an Allahabad High Court lawyer, claimed the body was 3,500-member strong and the decision was taken at a board meeting. Of course, no one knows where the money will come from. "Although gods and the Prophet are quite capable of punishing those who malign their image, the task could also be delegated to their devotees. The minister is, therefore, very well within his right to d

A Vertex Hope

"The VX-950 pill recently drove the virus down to undetectable levels within 28 days in all 12 patients of a tiny clinical trial. Standard treatments typically clear the virus in only about half of patients after a full year of treatment. Vertex plans to soon begin mid-stage trials involving more than 200 patients to verify the VX-950's impressive earlier effectiveness and its lack of side effects. Boger said he is hopeful VX-950 in larger trials will also eliminate the virus in the lion's share of patients. "I wouldn't be surprised if it was 90 plus (percent)," Boger said. An estimated 4 million Americans are infected with hepatitis C, which quietly attacks the liver for decades and is the leading cause of liver transplants." However, if NM283 is approved so it could be used alongside the Vertex pill in a "cocktail" of therapies. Later on Tuesday, Idenix Chief Executive Jean-Pierre Sommadossi said NM283 ind

In search of a Gandhi

The world badly needs a Gandhi. Nelson Mandela is not young anymore. People are killing each other. It is out of the fear that iof we don't kill - they will kill us. There is something terribly wrong with the way people think these days. When everyone wants to live in peace... why is it so difficult to get peace?

A caricature of decency

Should there be a line drawn? And who gets to draw the line...? For an argument there is a counter-argument... both sides have to be heard, before we make any conclusions. Why are we killing each other? Why is hatred the most celebrated form of emotion these days? West and East are responsible for it - claiming only they have the right to live or better rule the world. Here is one argument by the Editor who published the cartoons. Why I Published Those Cartoons By Flemming Rose Sunday, February 19, 2006 " Has Jyllands-Posten insulted and disrespected Islam? It certainly didn't intend to. But what does respect mean? When I visit a mosque, I show my respect by taking off my shoes. I follow the customs, just as I do in a church, synagogue or other holy place. But if a believer demands that I, as a nonbeliever, observe his taboos in the public domain, he is not asking for my respect, but for my submission. And that is incompatible with a secular democracy. " Childish. Irrespo

Devils and Dust

Got my finger on the trigger But I don't know who to trust I look into your eyes There's just devils and dust We're a long, long way from home Bob Home's a long, long way from us Feel the dirty winds blowin' Devils and dust I got God on my side I'm just trying to survive But if what you do to survive Kills the things you love Fear is a powerful thing It can turn your heart black you can trust It'll take your God-filled soul Fill it with devils and dust Well I dreamed of you last night In a field of blood and stone Blood began to dry And a smell began t

Abu Ghraib and Salon

By continuing to publish documentation of the abuse, we hope to shed light on a chapter in American history that this administration has tried to keep in the shadows. By Joan Walsh Feb. 18, 2006 | In the wake of our publication Wednesday evening of photos from Abu Ghraib prison that had not previously been available to the public, Salon's readers have raised several issues that we'd like to address. The most important of these are: Why did we publish this material when we did? Was Salon somehow "sitting on" this material? And why didn't we publish everything we have? We received a voluminous archive of Abu Ghraib materials a week before we published our story. With help from our news team, investigative reporter Mark Benjamin began the careful process of vetting what his source provided and determining what we had that was new and not simply duplicates or near-duplicates of images already available to the public. This process took several days. As we

Where is our Anti-Virus?

Hepatitis C: 170-200 million people infected Hepatitis B: 350-400 million people infected HIV: 40 million people infected STD: 500 Million people infected World population is at 6 billion 600 Million people have deadly hepatitis Hepatitis B or C hits 1 in every ten people. The odds get really bad when we add the HIV and STD cases into it. 1/5th of the world population has some disease that can be spread through sex!

Eau de Cologne vs Perfume

So Lakshmi Mittal should pare his plans according to his ethnicity? Priya Ramani Priya Ramani When Lakshmi Niwas Mittal announced his 18.6 billion euro bid for King Kong-sized steel producer Arcelor last month, it apparently surprised even his dad Mohan. So it’s understandable that the French were a little taken aback. But that still doesn’t excuse their hostile response. Arcelor’s Chief Executive Guy Dolle described the hostile bid as a ‘‘bit ridiculous’’, adding that European steel was like ‘‘perfume’’ and Mittal’s steel like ‘‘eau de cologne.’’ Ittar would have been a more accurate comparison, but then Dolle is clearly not a global citizen. The French company’s board of directors said the offer spelt doom for its shareholders. In fact, Arcelor’s share price shot up by more than 30 per cent as markets took a call that the mega deal would go through despite the noisy opposition. Why, even the otherwise stagnant stock price of Germany’s second biggest steel-maker Salzgitter AG has been