Month: January 2010

by Bill Quigley

Point One. $100 Million – Are You Kidding Me?

President Obama promised $100 million in aid to Haiti on January 14, 2009. A Kentucky couple won $128 million in a Powerball lottery on December 24, 2009. The richest nation in the history of the world is giving powerball money to a neighbor with tens of thousands of deaths already?

Point Two. Have You Ever Been Without Water?

Hundreds of thousands of people in Haiti have had no access to clean water since the quake hit. Have you ever been in a place that has no water? Have you ever felt the raw fear in the gut when you are not sure where your next drink of water is going to come from? People can live without food for a long time. Without water? A very short time. In hot conditions people can become dehydrated in an hour. Lack of water puts you into shock and starts breaking down the body right away. People can die within hours if they are exposed to heat without water.

Point Three. Half the People in Haiti are Kids and They Were Hungry Before the Quake.

Over half the population of Haiti is 15 years old or younger. And they were hungry before the quake. A great friend, Pere Jean-Juste, explained to me that most of the people of Haiti wake every day not knowing how they will eat dinner that day. So there are no reserves, no soup kitchens, no pantries, nothing for most. Hunger started immediately.

Point Four. A Toxic Stew of Death is Brewing.

Take hundreds of thousands of people. Shock them with a major earthquake and dozens of aftershocks. Take away their homes and put them out in the open. Take away all water and food and medical care. Sit them out in the open for days with scorching temperatures. Surround them with tens of thousands of decaying bodies. People have to drink. So they are drinking bad water. They are getting sick. There is no place to go. What happens next?

Point Five. Aid is Sitting at the Airport.

While millions suffer, humanitarian aid is sitting at the Port au Prince airport. Why? People are afraid to give it out for fear of provoking riots. Which is worse?

Point Six. Haiti is Facing A Crisis Beyond Our Worst Nightmares.

“I think it is going to be worse than anyone still understands.” Richard Dubin, vice president of Haiti shipping lines told the New York Times. He is so right. Unless there is a major urgent change in the global response, the world may look back and envy those tens of thousands who died in the quake.

Wake up world!

ZNet for more

Bill Quigley is Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights and a long time human rights advocate in Haiti. Quigley77@gmail.com

by A.G. NOORANI

The mood of the people of Kashmir has been neglected since 1947. Three questions must be answered honestly and courageously.

THE two-decade old cry for azadi (independence) by the separatists in Kashmir has found a new companion in the refrain by the unionists, which questions the State’s accession to India in 1947. They are not secessionists, only leaders who are responding to the popular mood. The refrain has gone unnoticed just as the people’s mood has been neglected since 1947. Three questions must be answered honestly and courageously. First, what are the roots for the appeal of independence? Secondly, what were the occasions on which it was raised and why? Lastly, given the realities that rule out independence or any form of Kashmir’s secession from India, are there any lessons from these two questions that can help in a solution to the problem today?

The unionists’ refrain is astonishing in its fervour, repetition and the chorus in which it has been sung by leaders of the National Conference (N.C.) as well as the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). It does not cast aspersions on their honesty to point out that since the days of the crudely rigged elections are over none can win a mandate without responding to the people’s mood. Have you noted any election candidate attacking the militants?

Now, for the refrain. Farooq Abdullah, the N.C.’s president, said on April 9, 2006: “India has deceived the people of Jammu and Kashmir every now and then during the past 58 years. First it was in 1953, then in 1983 [sic he probably meant 1984] and it is still pursuing the same agenda” (Greater Kashmir, April 10, 2006). Only a few days earlier, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, the PDP’s patron, said: “The people of Jammu & Kashmir have never seen their own government since 1947, and they should be given right of self-governance” (Greater Kashmir, April 6, 2006).

On November 19, 2007, reacting to the killing allegedly by the Army of a baker in the Kulgam area, Farooq Abdullah said: “Such incidents make us think again on the righteousness of the decision by our ancestors to accede to India. These incidents definitely give a setback to nationalist parties and recently the killings of two innocent people in Kupwara and Srinagar force us to think whether the signing of the Instrument of Accession by Maharaja Hari Singh and endorsed by my late father, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, was fair or not.” He remarked: “If court martial proceedings can be initiated against a Major General for passing comments at a lady Army officer, then why are you silent when it comes to rape and molestation of Kashmiri mothers and sisters?” (Greater Kashmir, November 20, and Asian Age, November 24, 2007).

On December 5, 2007, Farooq Abdullah told the press in Srinagar: “Time and again we have been reminding New Delhi about the Prime Minister’s zero-tolerance pledge on human rights. If innocents continue to be killed, and women are raped, the sadhbhavana [goodwill] campaign [of the Army] will be of zero effect and people might be forced to rethink about the accession of the State of Jammu and Kashmir to India in 1947” (Asian Age, December 6, 2007).

Frontline for more

Ethical shoppers in Britain face something of a dilemma – again. The giant Nestlé food corporation has been granted the fair trade label for its Kit Kat chocolate-coated wafers, while at the same time, campaigning group Baby Milk Action has added fair trade Kit Kat to its list of boycotted Nestlé products. Nestlé products have been boycotted for many years because of the irresponsible way the company markets its baby foods in developing countries.

Harriet Lamb of the Fairtrade Foundation believes that the significant volumes of cocoa that go into making Kit Kat (over a billion bars are sold each year in Britain) ‘will open whole new possibilities for farmers, giving them a more sustainable livelihood and the chance to plan for a better future’. But Mike Brady, Campaigns and Networking Co-ordinator at Baby Milk Action, has his doubts: ‘When Nestlé is on the record as saying that charitable contributions should benefit its shareholders, we should not be too excited by one of the world’s most boycotted companies pursuing something like this.

‘We will add Nestlé fair trade Kit Kats to the list of boycott products and recommend that anyone who is concerned about promoting real change for people in developing countries support the boycott and buy their products from companies with positive business values, not just token initiatives. There are companies whose entire output is fair trade certified, after all.’

New Internationalist

Protesters wave placards bearing the image of controversial Jamican preacher Abullah al-Faisal. PHOTO/HEZRON NJOROGE

by Sammy Chiboi and Kibiwott Koross

A protest to demand the release of a detained foreign preacher on Friday left one person dead.

Muslim leaders claimed four people died.

Scores of others suffered injuries when the demonstration turned violent in the streets of Nairobi. The demonstrators were demanding the release of radical Jamaican preacher Abdulla al-Faisal.

Police watched

What started out as a clash between riot police and Muslim youths outside Jamia mosque, ended up being a fight between the Muslims and other groups who confronted the demonstrators, as police looked on.

In Mombasa, angry Muslim leaders led another protest over continued incarceration of the cleric, and called for resignation of Immigration minister Otieno Kajwang’.

Among the injured in Nairobi was a General Service Unit officer who was allegedly shot on the shoulder by protesters, who are said to have had two pistols.

The government has in the past week attempted to deport Mr al-Faisal, who was stripped of his British citizenship after serving a jail term for his links to terrorist groups.

He was subsequently deported to his home country of Jamaica, where he is banned from preaching.

He was arrested while leaving a Mombasa mosque, after he sneaked into the country from Tanzania through Lunga Lunga border post.

Deportation

Government efforts to deport him have failed because no country wants him to set foot on their territory, denying him transit visas, and yet there are no direct flights from Kenya to Jamaica.

From 2pm, downtown Nairobi was turned into a battle field pitting Muslim faithful and police, who had banned the demonstration.

The faithful, mainly youths, attempted to march to force the government to release al-Faisal who is in custody awaiting deportation.

Muslim human rights activists have since obtained a court order compelling the government to produce the preacher in court on Thursday next week.

Nation for more

Rats exposed to high levels of chemical pollutants in fish oil could not regulate fat properly

By Sara Goodman

FAT CHEMICAL: A chemical found in fatty foods could be sentencing people to metabolic problems such as obesity and fatigue.
ISTOCKPHOTO/FOTOSMURF03

Researchers have for the first time found a connection between exposure to certain chemicals and insulin resistance, according to a study published in the online edition of Environmental Health Perspectives.

A group of European scientists examined whether exposure to persistent organic pollutants (POPs) contributed to insulin resistance, which has been increasing around the world. More than 25 percent of U.S. adults suffer from metabolic conditions stemming from insulin resistance that include fatigue, obesity and difficulty regulating blood levels of fat and sugar.

Researchers fed rats a high-fat diet of either crude or refined fish oil from farmed Atlantic salmon over 28 days. The crude fish oil contained average levels of POPs that people are exposed to through fish consumption, while the refined oil contained none. Both had equal fat levels.

They found that rats exposed to the crude fish oil developed belly fat and could not regulate fat properly. They had higher levels of cholesterol and several fatty acids in their livers. Those exposed to the refined fish oil experienced none of those symptoms.

Researchers said the findings provide “compelling evidence” of a causal relationship between POP exposure common in the food chain and insulin resistance, and highlight the need to understand the interactions of POPs and fat-containing foods such as fish, dairy products and meat.

How to deal with POPs is particularly challenging because they persist in the environment for long periods and can build up in animals’ tissues.

Scientific American for more

by B. R. Gowani

There are apples, oranges, and Muslims
and then there are the Malay Muslims

Arab and Indonesian Christians use
the word Allah in lieu of God, not Zeus

But the Malaysian Islamists strongly oppose
the Christians whom they see as their foes

The Christians should be forbidden to say
Allah, and should be asked to God only pray

Is Godallah the creator of the whole humankind
or She wasted Her time designing the Malaykind?

Seems similar to the past nationalist son of soil
or bhumiputera policy which was nothing but a boil

B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com

by Seth Mydans

BANGKOK — A ninth church was vandalized Monday in Malaysia in a series of arson attacks that have raised religious tensions surrounding a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by Christians in this mostly Muslim nation.

“Allah” is the common term for God in Malay-language Bibles, but the government and many Muslim groups insist that the word should be reserved for use in Islam.

The attacks, which began on Friday, came after a court ruling on Dec. 31 that overturned a government ban on the use of “Allah” by Christians. That ruling has been stayed while the government appeals.

Only one of the churches has been seriously damaged, and some of the attacks were minor. In Monday’s attack, the Sidang Injil Borneo Church in the central state of Negeri Sembilan was slightly damaged when its door was burned, according to local reports.

Government officials condemned the violence Monday but defended their position, saying conditions are different in Malaysia from those in neighboring Indonesia or in Arab nations where “Allah” is the common term for God.

“These outrageous incidents are acts of extremism and designed to weaken our diverse communities’ shared commitment to strengthen racial unity,” The Home Ministry secretary, Gen. Mahmood Adam, told reporters after briefing foreign diplomats on the situation.

“They don’t understand the situation here,” he said of the diplomats. “They just want to know why it can be allowed in other countries and not here.”

He said he told them: “Be fair, you have to compare apples to apples, oranges to oranges. Our landscape is different from other countries. Malays here are different from other countries. The landscape here is different from Indonesia so we can’t compare.”

The violence has strained relations among Malays, who are mostly Muslim and who make up 60 percent of the population, and the Chinese and Indian minorities, who are Christian, Hindu and Buddhist.

Indonesia is less divided, with Muslims making up 90 percent of its population of 240 million.

Some Muslims in Malaysia say they fear that Christians are trying to win converts by using the word “Allah.” They say Muslim believers could be confused by the use.

On her blog last week, Marina Mahathir, a commentator and columnist, disparaged this view as a “copyright issue.”

She said a confident Muslim “will not walk into a church, hear a liturgy in Malay or Arabic where they use the word ‘Allah’ and then think that he or she is in a mosque.”

New York Times for more

Thousands of Malaysian Christians came out for weekly services Sunday despite three new attacks in a campaign of fire-bombings that has sent tensions soaring in the Muslim-majority nation.

Two more churches and a Catholic convent school were targeted early Sunday, police said, although no one was injured.

Molotov cocktails were thrown at the All Saints Church and the school in Taiping, in the northern state of Perak, and a bottle of kerosene was found in another church nearby before Sunday services.

Six churches have now been attacked since Friday in an escalating row over the use of the word “Allah” as a translation for the Christian God by non-Muslims.

Islamic groups have staged protests in response to a court ruling last week that gave a Catholic newspaper the right to print the word following a long-running dispute with the government over the issue.

“I think that people’s faith is greater than what’s happening around so they continue to go to church and pray for themselves as well as for the nation,” Council of Churches secretary-general Hermen Shastri told AFP.

“But of course we are not blind to potential threats so churches have taken measures to increase security around their compounds, and (are) trusting the police and other enforcement agencies to keep a lookout for any suspicious individuals.”

About 1,000 worshippers at the Catholic Church of Assumption in Kuala Lumpur, one of four in the Malaysian capital targeted by the arsonists, were briefed by parish priest Phillips Muthu on the incident and told to be patient.

“I told them we don’t want to blame any people, any quarter, any religion. We are peaceful and we are here to offer our prayer for the nation,” he told reporters at the church, where a fire-bomb damaged part of the grounds.

“Of course we are afraid after the incident, but life has to go on.”

Deputy natural resources and environment minister Joseph Kurup, who was at the church with his family, urged the Catholic community to remain calm and let the authorities investigate.

One worshipper who only wanted to be identified as Lee said reactions to the court ruling from sections of the Muslim community had been “quite shocking”.

“But I think the majority of Malaysians are still peace-loving and we should have dialogue to resolve this,” she said.

A police car was stationed outside the nearby Protestant Life Chapel church, which had a Molotov cocktail thrown into its porch, and volunteers stood guard and checked worshippers’ cars.

The 1,000-strong congregation of the Metro Tabernacle church, the worst damaged in the attacks, moved its service to a hall offered by Malaysia’s ruling party.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has called for calm and said the government will not tolerate any threat to racial harmony in the multicultural nation, home to large ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities.

Tensions were heightened last week when the High Court ruled in favour of the Catholic “Herald” newspaper, which has been using “Allah” as a translation for “God” in its Malay-language section.

Bangkok Post for more

by Susan Milius

SEATTLE — It’s easy being green for a sea slug that has stolen enough genes to become the first animal shown to make chlorophyll like a plant.

Shaped like a leaf itself, the slug Elysia chlorotica already has a reputation for kidnapping the photosynthesizing organelles and some genes from algae. Now it turns out that the slug has acquired enough stolen goods to make an entire plant chemical-making pathway work inside an animal body, says Sidney K. Pierce of the University of South Florida in Tampa.

The slugs can manufacture the most common form of chlorophyll, the green pigment in plants that captures energy from sunlight, Pierce reported January 7 at the annual meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Pierce used a radioactive tracer to show that the slugs were making the pigment, called chlorophyll a, themselves and not simply relying on chlorophyll reserves stolen from the algae the slugs dine on.

“This could be a fusion of a plant and an animal — that’s just cool,” said invertebrate zoologist John Zardus of The Citadel in Charleston, S.C.

Microbes swap genes readily, but Zardus said he couldn’t think of another natural example of genes flowing between multicellular kingdoms.

Pierce emphasized that this green slug goes far beyond animals such as corals that host live-in microbes that share the bounties of their photosynthesis. Most of those hosts tuck in the partner cells whole in crevices or pockets among host cells. Pierce’s slug, however, takes just parts of cells, the little green photosynthetic organelles called chloroplasts, from the algae it eats. The slug’s highly branched gut network engulfs these stolen bits and holds them inside slug cells.

Some related slugs also engulf chloroplasts but E. chlorotica alone preserves the organelles in working order for a whole slug lifetime of nearly a year. The slug readily sucks the innards out of algal filaments whenever they’re available, but in good light, multiple meals aren’t essential. Scientists have shown that once a young slug has slurped its first chloroplast meal from one of its few favored species of Vaucheria algae, the slug does not have to eat again for the rest of its life. All it has to do is sunbathe.

But the chloroplasts need a continuous supply of chlorophyll and other compounds that get used up during photosynthesis. Back in their native algal cells, chloroplasts depended on algal cell nuclei for the fresh supplies. To function so long in exile, “chloroplasts might have taken a go-cup with them when they left the algae,” Pierce said.

There have been previous hints, however, that the chloroplasts in the slug don’t run on stored-up supplies alone. Starting in 2007, Pierce and his colleagues, as well as another team, found several photosynthesis-related genes in the slugs apparently lifted directly from the algae. Even unhatched sea slugs, which have never encountered algae, carry “algal” photosynthetic genes.

At the meeting, Pierce described finding more borrowed algal genes in the slug genome for enzymes in a chlorophyll-synthesizing pathway. Assembling the whole compound requires some 16 enzymes and the cooperation of multiple cell components. To see whether the slug could actually make new chlorophyll a to resupply the chloroplasts, Pierce and his colleagues turned to slugs that hadn’t fed for at least five months and had stopped releasing any digestive waste. The slugs still contained chloroplasts stripped from the algae, but any other part of the hairy algal mats should have been long digested, he said.

Wired for more

(Submitted by Zakir Gowani)