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By David Ransom

The people who brought you the financial meltdown have been pouring the molten remains into the same broken mould.

The latest G8 finished with a promise of $20 billion over three years for agriculture in the ‘developing’ world. That’s less than $7 a year for each of the estimated billion people (and counting) who are now malnourished – even supposing that the cash materializes, and that G8 promises don’t come as cheap as they are.

No G8 leaders – even ministers – bothered to turn up at a UN conference on the financial crisis in June. Rather, they went out of their way to rubbish it. That was partly because a UN Commission, chaired by the Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, dared to propose modest reforms, including some sort of UN Economic Council to oversee the IMF, World Bank and WTO – and a new international currency to replace the US dollar.

Despite talk of ‘recovery’, so far it relates to little more than the continuing flow of public funds into private banks (now via ‘quantitative easing’ – or printing money). They’re still not lending, least of all to each other. An unknown quantity of toxic debt remains. General Motors is bankrupt – floating, with the banks, on public funds. The Millennium Development Goals disappear over a distant horizon. Beyond even there the ‘targets’ for reduced carbon emissions are invisible to our current political system and therefore useless.

New Internationalist for more

By Pepe Escobar

BANGKOK – A Big Pharma star player – Sanofi Aventis – has been battling a stock market tsunami these past few days. It was all caused by a negative rumor about one of its best-selling products, Lantus (or glargine) – an insulin-a-day wonder that is key in the fight against diabetes.

Tens of thousands of Lantus users panicked. Diabetes is a complex disease with multiple angles, touching tens of millions of people around the world. The stakes – strategic, financial and in terms of health – are enormous. Welcome to the New Health Great Game.

Asia is getting fat. Literally. And that spells trouble. The best specialists agree that obesity is largely responsible for a global diabetes epidemic. For instance, 25% of China’s 1.3 billion people re already overweight. 2.8% of Chinese males and 5% of females are obese; and no less than 16.1% of males and 37% of females suffer from what is graciously defined as “abdominal obesity”. In a nation of no less than 350 million smokers, 60% of them males, and with female smoking also rising, that spells a monster red alert.

By 2025, no less than 20 million people all over the world will be dying of cardiovascular diseases – mainly coronary diseases and strokes, linked to a cluster of risk factors that include obesity. And this will especially affect low and middle-income countries, as are most in Asia.

The medical diagnosis is implacable, as presented by Professor Rody Sy, of the University of the Philippines. “Carbohydrates in excess of energy needs” lead to “abdominal obesity”, and that causes “dyslipidemia [major alterations in cholesterol traffic], hypertension and diabetes”. This carbohydrate-rich diet may be better handled in rural areas, where people move about more often; but in increasingly urbanized – and sedentary – Asia it can be lethal. What to do about it?

Asia Times for more

By Susan Brownell

It is commonly stated that the 1964 and 1988 Olympics were “turning points” for the integration of Japan and South Korea, respectively, into the global community. It was anticipated that the Beijing Olympics would be a “turning point” for China. Now that the Beijing Games are over, we can ask whether anything “turned,” and if so, in which direction? This essay deals with a central paradox of the Olympic Games – they reinforce nationalism and internationalism at the same time. A one-sided focus on nationalism, such as characterized much of the media coverage of the Beijing Olympics, can lead to the erroneous conclusion that the Olympic Games exacerbate rather than moderate political conflicts. Wishful thinking that the Beijing Games would be a turning point for human rights and democracy led to the conclusion by China watchers in the West that the Beijing Games were not the turning point that was hoped for.
However, reflection on what actually “turned” in Japan and South Korea helps us to see what we should actually be looking for in the case of China. This retrospective suggests that the interplay between nationalism and internationalism was similar in all three Olympic Games, and offers a more optimistic prospect for China’s peaceful integration into the international community.

Japan Focus for more

How much you pay for cigarettes depends on where you live. But there’s nowhere on Earth that charges $23 quadrillion – that’s $23,148,855,308,184,500, to be precise – a pack.

But thanks to a computer error, that’s how much a New Hampshire man paid at a gas station using his pre-paid Visa card. When he checked his balance online later he discovered the amount – plus the $15 bank fee for being overdrawn, just to add insult to injury.

Josh Muszynski told TV station WMUR:

“I thought somebody had bought Europe with my credit card.”

“It is a lot of money in the negative, something I could never, ever afford to pay back. My children could not afford it, grandchildren, nothing like that.”

He spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America before the bank removed the charge and the overdrawn fee. In a statement, Visa Debit Processing Services said:

“Late yesterday, July 13, a temporary programming error at Visa Debit Processing Services caused some transactions to be inaccurately posted to a small number of Visa prepaid accounts.”

“The technical glitch, which impacted fewer than 13,000 Visa prepaid transactions, has been corrected and erroneous postings have been removed. Importantly, this incident had no financial impact on Visa prepaid cardholders.”

“Visa regrets any inconvenience to our customers, and has taken immediate steps to ensure this error doesn’t occur again.”

Yahoo for more
(Submitted by reader)

By Donna Abu-Nasr, Associated Press Writer

Appealing to a powerful Saudi prince, an 8-year-old girl asked why she was not allowed to play sports in school like boys. She got an unexpected response: The prince said he hoped government schools for girls would allow playing fields.

The stand taken by Prince Khaled al-Faisal, governor of the holy city of Mecca and one of the most senior second-generation members of the royal family, on the controversial issue is the strongest official endorsement so far of women’s sports and a sign the government may be tilting toward opening up on that front.

Physical education classes are banned in state-run girls schools in conservative Saudi Arabia. Saudi female athletes are not allowed to participate in the Olympics. Women’s games and marathons have been canceled when the powerful clergy get wind of them. And some clerics even argue that running and jumping can damage a woman’s hymen and ruin her chances of getting married.

Like other restrictions on women in the kingdom, including the ban on driving and voting, the prohibitions on sports stem from the strict version of Islam the kingdom follows. Conservative clerics have strong influence on government and society, and they ban anything they believe might lead to women’s emancipation or encourage women to abandon conservative Muslim values.

Despite the obstacles, there has been some progress in the past couple of years on this issue. Some Saudi women have quietly been forming soccer, basketball, volleyball and other teams throughout the kingdom.

Princess Adelah, King Abdullah’s daughter, recently spoke publicly about the need to “seriously and realistically look into the issue of introducing sports in girls’ schools because of the rise in diseases linked to obesity and lack of movement,” according to Al-Riyadh newspaper. About 52 percent of Saudi men and 66 percent of women are either obese or overweight, according to Saudi press reports.
And on Sunday, the National Retirement Association, a voluntary group that works under the umbrella of the Jiddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry, opened a half-mile (one-kilometer) walkway inside a Jiddah mall for female retirees to encourage them to lead active lives. Dressed in the long black cloaks women have to wear in public and clutching their handbags, a few women took part in a “marathon” soon after it opened.

Khaled’s remarks, which he made at the launch of a project Monday aimed at developing cultural and sporting activities in the western city of Jiddah, gives a boost to these individual efforts. The prince is interested in sports and has served as head of the General Presidency for Youth Welfare, the federation that oversees it.

According to local newspapers, the 8-year-old girl told Khaled: “I ask myself why is it that only boys can play sports and have courts while we girls don’t have anything?”

“I hope to see sports courts for girls inside girls’ schools,” the prince responded, according to Al-Hayat newspaper.

He said if this were to happen, it will be in coordination with the Education Ministry and “according to certain mechanisms that take into consideration women’s privacy in this country.”

His remarks came amid an intense debate over the issue in Saudi newspapers. The government allows such debates because the views expressed by the readers, columnists and clerics help it to gauge people’s opinions over controversial issues.

A statement issued by three senior clerics last month lashed out at Saudis who demand the opening of more gyms for women, saying such a move would “open the doors wide for spreading decadence.”
“It is well-known that only women with no shame will go to these clubs,” said the statement signed by clerics Abdul-Rahman al-Barrack, Abdul-Aziz al-Rajihi and Abdullah bin Jibrin.

In a recent column in Al-Watan newspaper, Sheik Abdullah al-Mani, an adviser at the royal court, said virgins should think twice before engaging in sports.

“Soccer or basketball require running and jumping and these could damage (a woman’s) the hymen,” he wrote. “If she marries, her husband will … think that her hymen was destroyed as a result of an (immoral) action.”

“He will either divorce her or lose confidence in her chastity,” he added.

His words triggered an angry response from Al-Watan columnist Haleema Muthafar.

“I’d like to ask the sheikh, “If in his opinion the hymen is the reason why girls should not engage in sports, what about married women? What’s to stop them?” she wrote.

SFGate for more
(Submitted by reader)

By Amy Goodman
Wendell Potter is the health insurance industry’s worst nightmare. He’s a whistle-blower. Potter, the former chief spokesperson for insurance giant CIGNA, recently testified before Congress, “I saw how they confuse their customers and dump the sick—all so they can satisfy their Wall Street investors.”

Potter was deeply involved in CIGNA and industrywide strategies for maintaining their profitable grip on U.S. health care. He told me: “The thing they fear most is a single-payer plan. They fear even the public insurance option being proposed; they’ll pull out all the stops they can to defeat that to try to scare people into thinking that embracing a public health insurance option would lead down the slippery slope toward socialism … putting a government bureaucrat between you and your doctor. They’ve used those talking points for years, and they’ve always worked.”

In 2007, CIGNA denied a California teenager, Nataline Sarkisyan, coverage for a liver transplant. Her family went to the media. The California Nurses Association joined in. Under mounting pressure, CIGNA finally granted coverage for the procedure. But it was too late. Two hours later, Nataline died.

While visiting family in Tennessee, Potter stopped at a “medical expedition” in Wise, Va. People drove hours for free care from temporary clinics set up in animal stalls at the local fairground. Potter told me that weeks later, flying on a CIGNA corporate jet with the CEO: “I realized that someone’s premiums were helping me to travel that way … paying for my lunch on gold-trimmed china. I thought about those men and women I had seen in Wise County … not having any idea [how] insurance executives lived.” He decided he couldn’t be an industry PR hack anymore.
Truthdig for more

By Authors Many
The truth may be bitter, but it must be told
– Written on a wall of a detention centre in Lesvos

[The following is based on reports by many people and organizations in Greece.]

It has been around a year and a half now since the first attempt of the state to demolish the self-made Afghani refugee camp in Patras, which was prevented due to a vast and eminent solidarity movement. Nevertheless, the public authorities struck back and eventually succeeded to fulfil their initial plan on the dawn of Sunday 12th of July. This action can be only described as part of a major concrete plan of “zero tolerance” designed and declared by Markoyannakis, the Minister of Public Order of Greece.

The operation was initially planned to take place the night before, yet it was decided to postpone for a day in order for riot police reinforcements to arrive from Athens. At around 3.30 a.m. on Sunday numerous riot police forces swamped the whole area surrounding the refugee camp. By 5 a.m. they had already blocked every street leading to the camp inducing a climate of terror in the area. Only 150 immigrants were still there, by that point knowingly unable to defend themselves and their vestige shelter after weeks of continuous repression, arrests and terror deriving from the state. Some managed to flee the camp only moments before getting arrested and the rest were indulged to the hands of the authorities. The camp was unreachable for the protestors outside and the few who were already inside in solidarity got arrested and were released only after the operation was complete. The obvious reason for these arrests was to have no witnesses of the imminent villainous scenes of state-induced horror.

Immediately after the arrests and the removal of the immigrants on police buses, the demolition of the camp started before a huge fire erupted, burning any ruins of sheds and personal belongings. Nothing should be left to remind us that there used to be a refuge for thousands of immigrants and refugees throughout the years, desperate to seek survival and a dignified life in the European Fortress.

At the same time, at the other side of the port of Patras, another operation was taking place targeting mainly Somalian and Arab immigrants, which resulted to a horrific manhunt at the centre of Patras.

ZMag for more

Eminent leader of women rights and leftist movement Hena Das died at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) yesterday morning at the age of 85.

She had been suffering from old age complications and breathed her last at 11:30am.

Her body is kept at the BSMMU mortuary. The funeral may take place on Thursday after the arrival of her younger daughter from Germany on Wednesday.

She will be taken to the offices of Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), Bangladesh Mahila Parishad and Teachers Association on Thursday. Then, she will be taken to the Central Shaheed Minar premises at 12 o’clock where people will get the opportunity to pay their last tribute to the selfless leader.

She will be cremated in Narayanganj, said CPB leaders.
Hena Das was admitted to the city’s Labaid Hospital Friday morning soon after she had lost consciousness at her residence inside the Buet quarters. She was shifted to BSMMU Sunday afternoon.
Leaders and activists of CPB and different rights organisations thronged the BSMMU at the news of her death.

“She was a valiant lady and took part in different movements including the language movement and liberation war,” said CPB General Secretary Mujahidul Islam Selim, adding that she also contributed a lot in teachers’ movement and women rights movement.
She also played a significant role in cultural movement and her dedication and activities will remain a source of inspiration for all, he added.

Hena Das fought for building a humanitarian society throughout her life and also worked hard for the cause of women’s rights, said Bangladesh Mahila Parishad President Ayesha Khanam. She was the vice president of the first committee of Mahila Parishad and served as its president for long eight years after the demise of Begum Sufia Kamal.

“Hena Das is one of the persons whose sacrifice, devotion and activities inspired me in politics,” said Agriculture Minister Matia Chowdhury while visiting the leader at BSMMU. She never compromised with her ideology and she was a rare person, Matia added.

Hena Das was born in Sylhet on February 12, 1924. The anti-British movement influenced her while she was a class-VII student. In 1938, she joined progressive students’ organisation, Students’ Federation.
Daily Star for more

By Ayesha Siddiqa

Modern-day media is a strange animal. It is easily excited, raises expectations quickly and then just as rapidly dashes them.
The excitement focused on the meeting of the Pakistani and Indian prime ministers is a typical example. On the morning of the foreign secretaries’ meeting in Sharm el Sheikh there began a rush of phone calls that increased during the course of the day in which anchorpersons were eager to know what could be obtained from the meeting and why we couldn’t stop talking to India. The tone and tenor of the conversation was similar on the other side as well.
At this point in time, Indo-Pakistan ties can hope to make little movement. Given the highs and lows of our bilateral engagement, there is little that the two establishments expect from each other. They can only try and convince the international community of their eagerness to have a debate and ensure the absence of military conflict.

Socio-politically these are historic days for the subcontinent because the media, one of the most effective tools for lobbying public support for policy, is an active player in the foreign-policymaking debate. The common media refrain in both countries is that their side must not talk to the other. The media is being exceptionally hostile and influencing public opinion and policymaking. Of course, policymakers don’t admit that using the media is dangerous because after a certain point it becomes difficult to roll back public opinion.
Dawn for more