From Times Online, November 3, 2008

Worried your winter blues might be something more sinister or having a manic day? Find out if you need help with our simple questionnaires
We often use words like stressed or depressed to describe our mood, but when does a normal period of the blues or one too many drinks become a serious problem and what can you do about it? If you’re worried about your mental health explore our easy-to-use questionnaires.
Bipolar Disorder is a mental health condition featuring extreme mood swings. If you think you might have Bipolar disorder or are worried for someone you know visit our bipolar questionnaire
Depression is a mental health condition characterised by sustained periods of unhappiness, feelings of hopelessness and physical symptoms such as insomnia or over and under-eating. If you’re worried you might be depressed take our depression questionnaire
Stress and anxiety disorders are characterised by mental and physical symptoms from feelings of panic to an irregular heartbeat. If you think you are suffering from acute stress or an anxiety disorder take our stress questionnaire
Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a common mental health problem. Sufferes find they are compelled to perform certain rituals or are plagued by obsessive, repetative thoughts. If you are worried you may be suffering from OCD, take our OCD questionnaire
Alcoholism occurs when your alcohol intake begins to seriously and negatively affect your life. If you are worried your regular drinking might be becoming a problem, take our alcoholism questionnaire
Drug abuse is often spotted by people close to the person involved. If you think somebody you know or you may have a problem with drugs take our drug problem questionnaire
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Concerning Hobbits is composed by Howard Leslie Shore for the film Lord of the Ring: The Fellowship of the Ring (Part I)

(Submitted by Salim Amersi)

It’s winter break for school children in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. It’s a time of year the students usually look forward to. But this year, it’s a time of anxious anticipation and fear for the future. The Swat Valley is in Northwest Pakistan about 160 kilometres north of the capital, Islamabad.
The people who live there say the valley has fallen almost entirely under the control of the Taliban. And the Taliban have issued a ban on the education of girls … a ban they say will take effect when schools are scheduled to re-open next month.
To underscore their seriousness, militants have blown up or attacked close to 200 schools in the last six months. And they’ve threatened to kill teachers and students if they refuse to stay home.
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(Submitted by Salim Amersi)

On one side of the equation, is a woman’s religious freedom. On the other, is the right of an accused to face those testifying against him. And in between them, is the Niqab. A Niqab is a head covering that obscures most of a woman’s face … all but her eyes. Some Muslim women wear it as an important part of their religious tradition.
Last fall, one woman expressed a desire to wear a Niqab while she testified in court. She cannot be identified because she is a complaintant in a sexual assault trial that is covered by a publication ban.
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(Submitted by Salim Amersi)

A song “jhanak Jhanak tori baje payaliya” in Brij Bhasha from film Mere Huzoor/actor Raj Kumar/singer Manna Dey/lyricist Hasrat Jaipuri/music Shankar Jaikishan

By IPS correspondents

While the Sri Lankan army has announced the capture of Mullaitivu, the last bastion of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the plight of more than 250,000 civilians caught in the fighting continues to be as grim as that of civilians in Gaza, say those involved in humanitarian work.
The defence ministry’s website said that the army had ‘’gained total control over the Mullaitivu township after completing mop up operations’’. However, there was no word that any of the leaders of the LTTE, including its elusive supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, had been captured.
“We now have a high number of people concentrated in a small area and we are very concerned for their safety. They are close to the fighting and have poor access to healthcare and shelter as well as proper water and sanitation,” Philippe Duamelle, country representative for the United Nations Children’s Fund, told IPS.
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(from Hari Sharma, head of Vancouver, Canada, based organization Sansad)

By Anita Chang
BEIJING – The global economic crisis has taken hold deep in China’s impoverished countryside, as millions of rural migrants are laid off from factory jobs and left to scratch a living from tiny landholdings — creating unsettling prospects for a government anxious to avoid social unrest.
With demand for Chinese toy, shoe and electronics exports evaporating overseas, as many as 26 million of China’s estimated 130 million migrant workers are now unemployed, the government announced Monday. A day earlier, Beijing warned of “possibly the toughest year” this decade and called for development of rural areas to offset the economic fallout.
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South Asian Network (SAN) is a grassroots, community based organization dedicated to advancing the health, empowerment and solidarity of persons of South Asian origin in Southern California. Founded in 1990, the overall goal of SAN is to inform and empower South Asian communities by acting as an agent of change in eliminating biases, discrimination and injustices targeted against persons of South Asian origin and by providing linkages amongst communities through shared experiences. Together, volunteers and staff have created a multilingual, culturally appropriate approaches to community organizing encompassing community outreach and education, direct service, and policy advocacy in five focus areas: immigration, public health, violence prevention, hate crime/discrimination and civil liberties.
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By Moises Velasquez-Manof

When Sid Goodloe bought his ranch half a century ago in south-central New Mexico, it was a dry, desertified mess. The roads leading to homesteads abandoned since the Dust Bowl days of the 1930s had eroded into gullies. Overgrazing had stripped away soil-stabilizing ground cover. Where plowing had occurred, precious topsoil had dried up and blown away in the area’s fierce winds. Years of fire suppression had allowed pinyon-juniper forest to supplant grassland.
“There was little here except broom weed, cactus, and pinyon-juniper,” says Mr. Goodloe. “And yet, it had tremendous potential.”
The soil quality was good. Native American petroglyphs of beavers suggested that the area once supported a more productive ecosystem. With the proper care, the land could recover, Goodloe thought. But that would depend on bolstering its ability to retain water, the limiting factor in much of the semiarid Southwest.
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