SONIA SHAH, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST; AUTHOR OF THE BODY HUNTERS: TESTING NEW DRUGS ON THE WORLD’S POOREST PATIENTS AND CRUDE: THE STORY OF OIL
RE-ROUTE U.S. MONEY.
It’ll be a long hard slog for our new president to correct all the ways American policies deepen the marginalization and poverty of women in developing countries. From the boatloads of cash we send to patriarchal, undemocratic regimes such as Saudi Arabia to the trade policies that allow U.S. corporations to exploit the labor of some of the most impoverished women in the world—it’ll take more than the brush of a presidential pen. In the meantime, can we at least not spread sexist dogma with our aid dollars? Billions in U.S. funding for HIV/AIDS prevention require recipients to preach abstinence and condemn prostitution. It doesn’t work, it’s dangerous and it should end, straight away.
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By Sonia Shah

There is a disease that annually sickens over one-half billion people, killing 1 million. Because of global warming, increasingly aggressive resource extraction, and growing multi-drug resistance, every year, the disease fells 16 percent more than it did the year before. By the turn of the century, this disease will be the world’s most deadly contagion.

It isn’t Ebola, or SARS, or avian influenza. It isn’t multi-drug-resistant staphylococcus bacteria. It isn’t AIDS. It’s malaria, a wily parasite that has plagued humankind and shaped our lopsided world for millennia.

http://www.resurgentmalaria.com/

Her personal website http://www.soniashah.com/

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 3 (IPS) – The spreading global financial crisis – which has taken a heavy toll of international bankers, investors and speculators – is also having a devastating impact on some of the most vulnerable and marginalised groups in society, including women and children.

The crisis will “push millions into deeper poverty and result in the deaths of thousands of children,” warned a new study released Tuesday by the Paris-based U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

Kevin Watkins, one of the authors of the study, declared: “Aid donors could clearly do far more to protect the world’s poorest people from a crisis manufactured by the world’s richest financiers and regulatory failure in rich countries.”

The impact of the crisis on women is also one of the themes of the two-week session of the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which began Monday.

Addressing the CSW, U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs Sha Zukang said: “Historically, economic recessions have placed a disproportionate burden on women.”

He pointed out that women are more likely than men to be in vulnerable jobs; to be under-employed or without a job; lack social protection; and to have limited access to and control over economic and financial resources.

The most widespread negative impact could be in the Asia-Pacific region which has one of the highest ratios of women of working age. And, among working women, about 65 percent are in vulnerable employment, largely in the region’s informal sector.

Many of them have no benefits – such as maternity leave and pensions – or job security, and are at great risk of falling into poverty in economic downturns, according to the Bangkok-based U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP).

Women’s unequal access to decent and productive employment opportunities costs the Asia-Pacific region about 42 to 47 billion dollars a year.

Thelma Kay, director of ESCAP’s Social Development Division, told IPS that in many families, household expenditures, such as for food and child-rearing, are managed by women.

“Women dependents are having to care for their entire families on less income, and working women are having to support families with their wages alone, which, on average, are lower often considerably than men’s,” Kay said.

On top of that, she said, food prices have spiraled over the last two years, forcing women to make difficult financial choices.

“And where school costs become unbearable, it is the girl-children who are more likely to be taken out of the classroom,” Kay said.

Last week, Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that women and girls are often exposed to greater risk of violence in times of hardship, and that their economic and social rights may also be jeopardised.

“They see their job opportunities shrink, are forced to accept more marginal and ill-paid employment, and forego basic services to secure food and shelter,” she pointed out.
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CAIRO: Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat urged Arabs yesterday to stand up to Persian Iran’s ambitions in the region, including its nuclear program. Prince Saud Al-Faisal told a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo that non-Arab countries should not interfere in Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories – all places where Iran has been accused of supporting militants.

Saud stressed that resolution of disputes among Arabs depended on “a unified and a joint vision” in dealing with the “Iranian challenge in regard to the Arabian Gulf security and the nuclear issue”. The predominantly Sunni Arab Middle East has been wary of the growing influence of Shiite Iran and Saud’s comments were a clear call for Arab unity.

His remarks came a day after he and his Arab counterparts expressed their concerns about Iran to US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The ministers and Clinton met on the sidelines of an international conference in Egypt on Monday that raised $5.2 billion in pledges to rebuild the devastated Gaza Strip.

Last week, Clinton announced the appointment of veteran diplomat Dennis Ross to be her special adviser on matters related to the Gulf, including overtures to the Iranians. Arabs fear that the Obama administration’s expected efforts to engage Tehran might lead to a deal that would bring U.S. and Iran closer at the expense of Arab interests.

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(Submitted by a reader)

An Ethiopian film about the regime of the country’s former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam has won the chief prize at Africa’s main movie awards ceremony.

Teza was the unanimous winner of the Golden Stallion of Yennenga at the event in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.

Director Haile Gerima’s award was accepted by his sister Selome, who also co-produced the film.

The silver award went to South African film Nothing But The Truth, and Algerian comedy Mascarades was third.

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One on One – Haile Gerima (part I)

One on One – Haile Gerima (part II)

Teza A Film By Haile Gerima

THURSDAY, March 5 (HealthDay News) — The cardiovascular damage wrought by an unhappy marriage may be greater for women than men, a new study shows.

While both men and women in “strained” unions, those marked by arguing and being angry, were more likely to feel depressed than happier partners, the women in the contentious relationships were more likely to develop high blood pressure, high cholesterol, high blood sugar and other markers of what’s known as “metabolic syndrome,” said study author Nancy Henry, a doctoral candidate in clinical healthy psychology at the University of Utah.
Metabolic syndrome is known to boost the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

While many studies have linked poor marriages with poor health, Henry said she believes her is the first to tie in depression as a possible route through which the strain boosts the risk of metabolic syndrome. “The negativity triggers the depression, which is associated with the metabolic syndrome,” said Henry. This was found true, she said, only for the women in her study.

For the study, she interviewed 276 couples, median age 54, by questionnaires, asking about positive aspects of marriage quality such as mutual support and sharing, and negative aspects such as arguing, feelings of hostility and disagreeing over important issues such as kids, sex, money and in-laws. She asked about depressive symptoms.
Couples were married, on average, 27.5 years, most in their original marriage.

“For the most part, you could say, these were happily married couples,” Henry said. About 20 percent of the men and 12 percent of the women in the study had metabolic syndrome (diagnosed when three of the five risk factors were present).

The men were as likely as the women to become depressed with marital strain, but the link between negativity, depression and metabolic syndrome only applied to women, she said. The depression in women accounted for the metabolic syndrome, she said.
Exactly why isn’t known, but Henry speculated that women may take the negativity more to heart and ruminate about it more than men.
Henry can’t say specifically how much risk of metabolic syndrome is attributed to the negativity. Earlier research has linked negativity in marriage with an increased risk of heart disease for both men and women.
She was expected to present her findings Thursday at the American Psychosomatic Society annual meeting, in Chicago.

Another researcher in the field called the findings interesting, especially the new focus on depression as a possible mechanism through which the strain influences the metabolic syndrome.
“The study raises the importance of increasing our understanding of how depression influences biological processes that result in metabolic syndrome — and why these processes might be stronger for women than men,” said Debra Umberson, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin.

The findings, Umberson said, fit in with her research finding a strong effect of marital strain on partners’ overall health. But the gender difference finding differs from her research. “Basically, we find that marital strain undermines the health of men and women,” she said, adding that perhaps the men in Henry’s study had their health influenced in a different way.
More research is needed, Henry said, to figure out how the pieces fit together.
Meanwhile, Umberson said: “Choose your partner carefully. A strained marriage is bad for your health.” If it’s already strained, she said, focus on reducing conflict.
More information

To learn about improving a marriage, visit the American Psychological Association.

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Tunisian filmmaker Kalthoum Bornaz created a stir at home when she premiered her film “Shtar M’Haba” (The Other Half of the Sky), tackling the sensitive subject of what women can-or more pointedly cannot-inherit. Bornaz’ film is in competition for the top award at the week-long Pan-African Film and Television Festival in Ouagadougou (FESPACO), which runs through Saturday. And its message still resonates, shown just days before International Women’s Day on Sunday. In Tunisia the law says that women inherit
only half of what male family members inherit.

Because it comes directly from the Koran it is a delicate subject, even taboo for certain people,” the 63-year-old director said. The film tells the story of fraternal twins Selim and Selima who have a difficult relationship with their widowed father. Ali, a lawyer, blames his children for the death of their mother who died in childbirth.

In carefully crafted dialogue, Bornaz documents the degrading family relations when Selim goes to study abroad and Selima is left to care for their father after he has an accident. One day Selima learns that girls only inherit half of the part that their brothers get. For Selima, this would mean only one-third of her father’s assets while her brother would get two-thirds. In one critical scene she asks her father why the law is this way: “Is it because fathers love their daughters only half as much?

This phrase gave the film its Arab title, “Shtar M’Haba”, which literally means half love. The title in English comes from a Chinese saying that women are the other half of the sky. Selima’s worst fears come true when she and her father are ousted from the family home by her brother, who wants to sell the house quickly to raise money for a new life abroad.

Bornaz said the problem is a typical one faced by many Tunisian women. When their parents get elderly, it’s the daughters who care for them, often forsaking a career and a family of their own by staying at home. When the parents die the brothers sell the house and take their part of the inheritance, leaving a pittance for their sister. The filmmaker, who lives and works in Tunis, was quick to say her films are never autobiographical but that she had witnessed dramatic consequences of the law first-hand wit
h friends, cousins and neighbors.

Committed to making a film on the theme, she said she researched for a year, speaking with lawyers, religious scholars and sociologist about inheritance before even starting to write the scenario. When the film was finally shown, Bornaz was hit with mixed reactions, from anger to tears of thanks for daring to talk about the painful subject. Likewise in the press, she was variously praised and chastised though at least, said a gleeful Bornaz, it got people talking.

The Tunisian director was also quick to say she does not like the kinds of films in vogue in Europe focusing solely on the difficult position of Muslim women.

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Media is reporting that Zardari regime has ordered the mass arrests of politicians and lawyers in Punjab. Section 144 has also been imposed in Punjab and Islamabad and police has started to hijack large trucks with containers around Islamabad.
UPDATES:
-Police raids in Lahore on homes and offices of PMLN leaders Bilal Yaseen(MNA) and Ajaasam Sharif (MPA).
-Army and Rangers to be deployed in ’sensitive’ Districts.
-Police Raids at residence of PMLN MPA Raheela Khadim Hussain and Waseem Qadir.
-13 PMLN workers arrested in Sargodha.
-Raid at residence of PMLN MPA Shehar Riaz in Rawalpindi.Security Guard and worker arrested.
-Raid at Residence of PMLN MNA Imran Shah in Sahiwal.
-One PMLN workers injured in a firing incident in Multan
-Crackdown in Karachi started.
-Raid at residence of PMLN MNA Shiekh Rohail Asghar in Lahore.
-Raid at residence of Aitzaz Ahsan in Lahore.
-Rangers refuse to send additional force in all over Punjab.
-Crackdown to arrest PMLN leaders in Multan.
-Police Raids to arrest political workers in all over Punjab, dozens arrested.
-Raid at residence of Taufeeq Asif, President of District bar Rawalpindi.
-Raid to arrest PMLN MNA Naseer Bhutta in Lahore.
-4 PMLN workers arrested in Fort Abbas, Bahawalnagar.

(Submitted by Barrister Abdul Hamid Bashani Khan)

Sonja Kakar, in her article, described it as deafening silence. What lies behind this phenomenon? There was a live report on Al-jazeera and written reports in Palestine Chronicle and Al-manar. It could be that there were reports and that I missed them but I listen to the Beeb’s World Service and I heard not a word, not a peep. Hundreds of people from Britain drive thousands of miles, through seven different countries, one of which, historically, opened a border which had been closed for fifteen years, for one hour, to allow this convoy through and there was not a word by the BBC, not that I heard anyway. What is it that silences powerful media?

Another event which poses a question is, of all the places the convoy passed through, the only trouble they encountered was in El-Arish in Egypt, on the border with Gaza. It was, apparently, blamed on “locals”, stone-throwing Egyptian youth but I’m not entirely convinced. My question is, are there, or were there, Israeli settlers in that area? It’s just a thought. Can Israelis, unlike the people of Gaza, come and go freely in Egypt?

On reading the Al-manar report on saint George and his convoy, which I sent her, Missy said in an e-mail, “I wish the US had a Galloway,” to which I replied, “everyone should have a Galloway, maybe then the world would be a better place.”

Is anyone else disturbed by this control of so-called “powerfull” media?

Worse than that is the eagerness world leaders have shown to send their youth to wars in foreign lands, as well as pouring unbelievable sums of their tax-payers money into such wars. Is it down to greed, power, or the belief that the US and Israel should have power in the Middle East? Which poses another question. What’s in it for them?
So many questions. Maybe I should just shut up and swallow all the BS…
Ingrid B. Mork
Norway.