text:
"Results from the Phase III program with ocriplasmin are significant as they demonstrate the potential for using an enzymatic approach to resolve vitreomacular adhesion. This represents a real advance for patients living with vitreomacular adhesion who currently only have the option of surgery at a later stage of the disease," said Prof. Dr. Peter Stalmans, Department of Ophthalmology, University Hospitals, Leuven, Belgium. "The majority of patients who achieved resolution of their vitreomacular adhesion after a single intravitreal injection of ocriplasmin showed this positive outcome within the first seven days."
The results of these Phase III trials, which both met their primary endpoints, demonstrate the efficacy of ocriplasmin which, if approved, could be the first pharmaceutical therapy to treat patients with vitreomacular adhesion. The ocriplasmin Phase III program was conducted by Alcon's partner ThromboGenics, NV.
In patients with VMA, the vitreous (jelly-like substance in the center of the eye that is surrounded by a membrane) adheres in an abnormally strong way to the retina (light-sensitive layer of tissue at the back of the eye), which can lead to traction ('pulling') on the retina, causing symptoms including impaired vision. Further unresolved traction may lead to the development of macular holes and central blindness[3]. The only treatment option for progressed VMT and macular holes is a surgical procedure called vitrectomy (removal of the vitreous from the eyeball). In cases where VMT and macular holes are not severe enough to require surgery, the standard of care is "watchful waiting"[4].
Ocriplasmin, a recombinant, truncated form of human protein (plasmin), works by dissolving the proteins that link the vitreous to the macula (center of the retina), relieving the traction and resulting in posterior detachment of the vitreous from the retina.
Alcon, a division of Novartis, acquired the commercialization rights to ocriplasmin outside the United States from the Belgian biopharmaceutical company ThromboGenics, who retains the rights to commercialize the drug in the US. As the global leader in eye care, Alcon is dedicated to bringing innovative eye treatments to patients with unmet medical needs.
"The data from these studies provide a basis for worldwide regulatory filings," said Kevin Buehler, Division Head, Alcon. "With Alcon's extensive commercial capabilities, geographic footprint and strong relationships with retinal specialists and ophthalmologists, we are well positioned to bring this innovative treatment to patients outside the United States, once it is approved."
Ocriplasmin is currently under review with the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and was accepted for review by the EMA in October 2011. In July 2012, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs Advisory Committee issued a positive recommendation supporting approval of ocriplasmin in the United States.
About the Studies
Study 006 and Study 007 are two multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase III studies to test the efficacy and safety of a single intravitreal injection of ocriplasmin in patients with VMT and macular holes. One half and one third of the patients enrolled in Study 006 and Study 007, respectively, received placebo; all other patients received a single intravitreal injection of ocriplasmin (125 microgram). The primary endpoint for the studies was the percentage of eyes with nonsurgical resolution of vitreomacular adhesion at day 28, determined by optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging.
After 28 days, following a single administration of ocriplasmin, resolution of vitreomacular adhesion was observed in 26.5% of patients compared to 10.1% in the placebo group, (p<0.001). This statistically significant difference was maintained through six months of observation. For those patients with resolution of vitreomacular adhesion after ocriplasmin administration, resolution was achieved in the majority of patients within seven days. By the end of the six months observation period, fewer patients required a vitrectomy in the ocriplasmin treated group, compared to placebo (17.7% vs. 26.6% respectively, p=0.02).
In the ocriplasmin group, ocular adverse events occurring in the studied eye were transient and mild in severity, the most common adverse event being self-reported vitreous floaters (in 68.4% of patients compared to 53.5% in the placebo group). In the group treated with ocriplasmin, the incidence of any serious ocular adverse event was 7.7%, compared to 10.7% in the placebo group, (p=0.26).
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "could," "potential," "dedicated," or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding potential marketing submissions or approvals for ocriplasmin or regarding potential future revenues from ocriplasmin. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results with ocriplasmin to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that ocriplasmin will be submitted or approved for sale in any market, or at any particular time. Nor can there be any guarantee that ocriplasmin will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding ocriplasmin could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; unexpected clinical trial results, including unexpected new clinical data and unexpected additional analysis of existing clinical data; the company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; unexpected manufacturing issues; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Novartis Group's assets and liabilities as recorded in the Group's consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Novartis AG's current Form 20-F on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Novartis is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
About Alcon
Alcon, the global leader in eye care, provides innovative products that enhance quality of
life by helping people worldwide see better. The three Alcon businesses - Surgical, Pharmaceutical and Vision Care - offer the widest spectrum of eye care products in the world. Alcon is the second largest division of the Novartis Group with pro-forma sales of USD 10 billion in 2011. Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, USA, Alcon has 24,000 employees worldwide, operations in 75 countries and products available in 180 markets. For more information, visit www.alcon.com.
About Novartis
Novartis provides innovative healthcare solutions that address the evolving needs of patients and societies. Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Novartis offers a diversified portfolio to best meet these needs: innovative medicines, eye care, cost-saving generic pharmaceuticals, preventive vaccines and diagnostic tools, over-the-counter and animal health products. Novartis is the only global company with leading positions in these areas. In 2011, the Group achieved net sales of USD 58.6 billion, while approximately USD 9.6 billion (USD 9.2 billion excluding impairment and amortization charges) was invested in R&D throughout the Group. Novartis Group companies employ approximately 126,000 full-time-equivalent associates and operate in more than 140 countries around the world. For more information, please visit http://www.novartis.com.
Novartis is on Twitter. Sign up to follow @Novartis at http://twitter.com/novartis.
[1] Stalmans P, Benz MS, Gandorfer A, et al. Enzymatic Vitreolysis with Ocriplasmin for Vitreomacular Traction and Macular Holes. N Engl J Med. 2012;367:606-615.
[2] Alcon internal estimates.
[3] Trese M, Kaiser P, Dugel P, Brown D, & Humayun M (2011). Symptomatic Vitreomacular Adhesion (VMA): Diagnosis, Pathologic Implications, and Management. Retina Today, July/August (Supplement).
[4] Stalmans P. Management and Intervention Strategies for Symptomatic Vitreomacular Adhesions. Retinal Physician. May 2011.


text:
Contact Information
100 High Street
Buffalo, NY 14203
- (716) 859-5600
- Phone Directory
- Contact Us
- Map & Directions
- YouTube/Video
Pediatric Medical Services
Children are precious and deserve the utmost physical and emotional care while undergoing medical treatment. Kaleida Health has an entire facility dedicated to the care of infants and children, as well as other sites capable of taking care of our most treasured assets – our sons and daughters. Our pediatric specialists know that young people have unique body structures, emotions and needs, and they treat children as they would their own.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
New England at Green Bay features the two best teams with the most potent offenses in the NFL at the moment.
It's being billed in some quarters as a Super Bowl preview and, if so, watch how Pats coach Bill Belichick and Packers counterpart Mike McCarthy react to each other's moves. If nothing else, this meeting figures to be an important test of their wills.
Belichick is the NFL's version of a mad scientist, a strategist who's willing to overhaul his game plan from week to week, in part because he has quarterback Tom Brady to anchor the offense and enough mix-and-match defenders to play a variety of schemes.
McCarthy, too, has proved plenty adaptable during his nine seasons in charge at Green Bay. But his coaching philosophy was formed early in his career, and with Aaron Rodgers, an equally smart, adaptable and accurate quarterback in his corner, he's more likely to take a nip-and-tuck approach to change rather than a face-lift.
McCarthy learned the virtue of patience nearly 30 years ago, as a skilled but undersized Pittsburgh prep star looking to play tight end in college. He wound up at tiny Baker University (enrollment: 3,200 students) outside of Kansas City, a football powerhouse in NAIA play. What McCarthy didn't know at the time was that the Wildcats' dominance was built on an option running game.


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A prominent Sydney art curator who was stabbed to death by his son lived in constant fear of the disturbed young man, who had a "hair-trigger rage" and would go berserk for little or no reason, the NSW Coroner's Court has heard.
The comments were made by the former partner of Nicholas Waterlow, 68, during the inquest into his death and that of his daughter, Chloe Heuston, 36, at the hands of his son, Anthony Waterlow, at their Randwick home in 2009.
Anthony, 45, was found not guilty of murder in the NSW Supreme Court by reason of mental illness in 2011.
During emotional testimony at the inquest on Friday, Mr Waterlow's partner, Juliet Darling, said that from the first time she met Anthony, she saw that he was "extremely resentful towards his father" and "blamed him for everything".
"Nick was very frightened of Anthony," she said. "He was almost paralysed."
Ms Darling said that on one occasion, soon after Nicholas Waterlow sold the family's beach house, Anthony came over to see his father and "completely without warning, flew into a rage".
"He had a hair-trigger rage, and he just went mad, he went berserk," she said.
"But he was able to be quite well-behaved in a short period of time."
"When the police were called and saw the holes in the wall he would be charming - saying 'everything OK, yes, I've got some anger management issues' and they would believe him."
On another occasion, Ms Darling said she was so worried about her partner's safety that she removed all the knives from the kitchen drawers and hid them in the garden.
A key issue at this week's inquest has been the decision by various doctors and other health professionals not to compulsorily hospitalise the 45-year-old under the Mental Health Act, despite the fact that he had exhibited "bizarre and often threatening" behaviour for some years.
Anthony Waterlow's brother, Luke Waterlow, told the inquest on Friday that it had always been in the "back of the family's mind that something like this could happen".
Nick was very frightened of Anthony. He was almost paralysed.
The family is calling for a changes to the laws relating to the compulsory hospitalisation of those suffering from mental illness which produces dangerous behaviour, to provide better protection to family members at risk.
The inquest continues.


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Fertile Myrtle and the Most Important Statistic...In the World!
This material is replicated on a number of sites as part of the SERC Pedagogic Service Project
Dr. Eric Gaze
Director of the QR Program
Bowdoin College
Numb: In 2007 there were 4,317,119 babies born in the U.S.
Number: In 2007 there were 4,317,119 babies born in the U.S. meaning 14.18 births per person or 69.5 births per 1,000 child-bearing women.
Numbest: In 2007 there were 4,317,119 babies born in the U.S. meaning 14.18 births per person or 69.5 births per 1,000 child-bearing women, defined as a women aged 15-44 years old. At this point in time the average woman in the United States can expect to have 2.12 babies over the duration of her child-bearing years. Preliminary data for 2008-09 suggest these rates are falling for the first time in this decade exactly as the economy has experienced a downturn.Calling something the most important statistic in the world certainly is an attention grabber! George Friedman in his book, The Next 100 Years, makes this bold claim about the total fertility rate, which is derived from the birth/fertility rate. Simply put the total fertility rate measures how many babies every woman can be expected to have over her lifetime, on the average. Right now the total fertility rate in the United States is 2.1 babies per woman over her lifetime. This is one of those statistics that is easy to grasp on first glance but devilishly complicated once one stops to think about it. For starters how in the world would someone actually go about calculating this number? The birth/fertility rate is trivial by comparison, just take the total number of babies born in a given year and divide by the total number of people or child-bearing women. There is a little confusion out there regarding the difference between birth and fertility rates, as discussed below, but their calculation could not be more straightforward (assuming of course someone has bothered to count all the babies/people/child-bearing women for you!). The accepted definition of "child-bearing woman" is any woman aged 15-44 years, although our tables will immediately contradict this definition and extend this age range a bit. This does not do much harm, since women outside this range rarely have children, but is disconcerting to those of us who appreciate a good definition!
The National Vital Statistics Reports [NVSS] published the following table:
Table 1. Number of births, birth rates, fertility rates, and total fertility rates, by race and Hispanic origin of mother: United States, 1990, 2000, and 2001
[Birth rates are live births per 1,000 population in specified group. Fertility rates are live births per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years in specified group. Total fertility rates are sums of birth rates for 5-year age groups multiplied by 5. Population enumerated as of April 1 for 1990 and 2000 and estimated as of July 1 for 2001. Rates for 2000 and 2001 have been revised for this report and may differ from final rates previously published.]
Notice how the Total Fertility Rate is ostensibly given as total number of births per 1,000 people: "sum of birth rates," when we shall see they actually sum the fertility rates for this statistic. Thus the 2,034 is implying 2.034 births per woman over her lifetime, in the United States in 2001. The reason the total fertility rate can claim to be the most important statistic in the world is that it answers a very interesting and pertinent question.
How many children must every woman have over her lifetime to maintain a stable global population?
This is a good question that I personally never thought about before, and one that is fun to ask your students to answer while working in groups. To some the answer comes readily with a little mental effort and seems obvious, every woman must have 2 children over her lifetime in order to replace herself and her mate. There are subtleties involved however which can lead many of the groups to go round and round without coming to a consensus. Most importantly, the sex ratio, male to female, of the offspring needs to be 50-50. An "Amazonian" world where there are only 5 male births for every 95 female births, will certainly lead to a population explosion, just as only boy babies is a certain road to extinction. It is interesting to think about how the 50-50 sex ratio is optimal from an evolutionary standpoint. Actually, don't think about that, I'd like to see if my students can figure it out and maybe publish an article. Our world has a slight preponderance of male babies and thus the answer needed for a stable population would have to be above 2. Another complicating factor is infant mortality rates. If many females die before they have a chance to contribute their 2 babies then that should raise the number even more, unless of course many boys are dying as well which might offset the replacement rate; but the boys all will die sometime so maybe that doesn't matter. Yikes! Most demographers would answer the question with a total fertility rate of 2.1 babies per woman over her lifetime needed on our planet right now to maintain a stable global population.
It is necessary that we are talking about global rates so that immigration does not factor into this as it does for populations of individual countries. The United States is one of the only first world countries which actually has a total fertility rate close to the magic 2.1 with Iceland being the other exception for obvious reasons...(what else is there to do?). Most European nations hover around 1.3 babies per woman over her lifetime, but immigration has thus far kept these populations growing for the most part. Italy is a notable exception with a current annual growth rate of -0.019% and a projected population in 2050 to be 20% less than it was in 2000 (www.nationmaster.com). Russia is also experiencing population decline due to a lack of willing immigrants with an annual growth rate of -0.474%, putting it 229th out of the list of 236 countries in this category! The "Iron Curtain" tourism campaign just never took off for them. This brings us to the burning question of what is the current total fertility rate for the world? In 2009 it is estimated to be 2.8 babies per woman globally. In 1970 the rate was a whopping 4.5 babies per woman over lifetime! This is a massive 40% drop, and has led to headlines such as "Heading for Extinction" in the March 23, 2009 USA Today. Pundits refer to this now as the "Birth Dearth" and public policy advocates like George Friedman are predicting that countries will begin actively seeking immigrants in the very near future to work for the aging resident populations.
For the children being born into the aging first world countries, this is going to present them with fantastic opportunities. There is going to be less competition to get into the best schools and jobs will be so plentiful that governments will need to recruit labor from less developed nations! This sounds like something out of Malcolm Galdwell's bestseller, Outliers, which tries to make the point that success is due to a lot more than just being born with certain talents. It comes mostly from hard work and rare opportunities that we take advantage of, like being born in the Great Depression. This is so counter-intuitive even to myself as I write this that it explains why Galdwell's books are so popular. Yes being born in the Great Depression was fortuitous! It was fortuitous chiefly because so few other babies were born during this period that these children moved through life with less competition and more attention to their own development. They were like an inverse baby boom, the baby busters, just as this generation of babies is shaping up to be. Imagine if the global total fertility rate actually falls below 2.1, the replacement threshold. Population pressures on the environment and dwindling resources will all be lessened! We might actually be able to afford waterfront property again!
So how is this most important statistic in the world actually calculated? Table 1 gives us the instructions for how to calculate the total fertility rates using age specific data from Table 2, by summing "birth rates for 5 year age groups multiplied by 5." Birth rates, we recall, are babies per 1,000 people, but we want babies per woman so we need to use what they call the fertility rate not the birth rate.
Table 2. Births and birth rates, by age, race and Hispanic origin of mother: United States, 1990, 2000, and 2001
[Rates are per 1,000 women in specified group. Population enumerated as of April 1 for 1990 and 2000 and estimated as of July 1 for 2001. Rates for 2000 and 2001 have been revised for this report and may differ from final birth rates previously published.]
Notice how the rates for each year are actually the fertility rates in Table 1 above but here are referred to as birth rates, so even the experts can screw up and add to the confusion surrounding these numbers! If we add the fertility rates in the table for the age specific groups below, and multiply by 5 we do indeed get the number 2,034 that we saw in Table 1. Let's think for a bit about why this makes sense. We are trying to calculate how many babies a hypothetical woman would have if she were to live her entire child-bearing years with the given fertility rates for 2001. She of course cannot do this because as soon she ages one year the fertility rates will all change, which is why she is hypothetical. So she spends her years from 10-14 with the chance of having a baby in any of those years given at 0.8 to 1,000 which is a 0.08% probability. Thus a million of these women will contribute 800 babies per year or 4,000 over the 5 years. I am using a million women so we have nice big whole numbers to work with, not messy decimals. From 15-19 years of age these million women will contribute 45,300 babies a year, for an additional 226,500 babies over the 5 year period:
Continuing in this fashion we get the sum:
Notice how the 5 year fertility rate is assumed constant for each age group although for 15-19 year-olds they do break it down further for us with 15-17 year-olds having a rate of 24.7 comparing to 18 and 19 year-olds' 76.1 babies per 1,000 women each year. Can you figure out how they got the 45.3 for the entire 5 year cohort in this age group?
Now since the preceding has been so simplistic I would like to close with a paradox, the "Demographic-Economic" paradox to be precise. It is best illustrated with the following graph showing the inverse correlation of total fertility rate and a country's Gross Domestic Product per capita. It's a real chicken and the egg scenario. In order for less developed nations to advance economically they need to slow down their birth rates, but the best way to slow down birth rates is to become more developed. As Karan Singh aptly put it: "Development is the best contraceptive."
Sapere Aude!
[NVSS] Ventura, Stephanie, Hamilton, Brady, Sutton, Paul; Revised Birth and Fertility Rates 2000 and 2001, National Vital Statistics Reports; Vol. 51; No. 4; Feb. 6, 2003; Centers for Disease Control


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Tips and Tricks
First apply a base coat on clean, bare nails. Begin applying your first polish coat starting from your smallest finger, leaving your thumbs for the last application. Apply a second coat to even out the color and eliminate any streaks. Let polish dry for 2 minutes before applying Jordana's Quick Shine and/or Quick Dry top coat.


text:
TULSA, Okla. -- If this one had been a beauty contest, they would have stopped it.
The game was that ugly.
But, from another perspective, it was a fiercely beautiful defensive duel ... one that filtered down to one last stop, one last desperation 3-point attempt by UTEP's Konner Tucker.
But, just as most of the shots had done all night, Tucker's hurried, contested 3-pointer with only a pair of seconds left banged harmlessly off the rim.
And Tulsa escaped.
The Golden Hurricane hung on to edge the Miners 45-42 Wednesday night in the Donald W. Reynolds Center in front of a small, but feisty, crowd of 4,333. It was a game where shots were few and made shots were even fewer.
UTEP made just 16-of-51 shots for an icicle-ridden 31.4 percent. The Miners made just 4-of-20 from 3-point land for an Antarctic-like 20 percent. And the Miners made just 6-of-11 free throws for a frigid 54.5 percent.
"Tulsa guarded us about as hard as anybody we've played all year," UTEP coach Tim Floyd said. "And, to this point, we've played the toughest schedule in the nation. Our shooting percentage reflected their intensity, their defense."
No one escaped the Tulsa defense and no one was immune to a night when the rock simply would not drop. The Miners missed 3-pointers, but they also missed 10- and 15-footers and they also missed several shots in and around the bucket.
Tucker, who nailed a 3-ball late to give this team a chance, had that one last shot. The Miners forced a Tulsa turnover with full-court pressure, and Floyd, always the strategist, bought a few seconds to draw up a play by asking the officials to check the time on the game clock. They did, confirming that there were four seconds left, and the Miners ran one final play.
Tucker fought through a crowd in the lane and Jacques Streeter floated a lob to him at the top of the circle. Tucker pump faked and got it up, but there were two Tulsa defenders draped all over him.
"I'm pretty sure they knew where it was going," Tucker said. "I was able to get it off, but they were right there. It was a little bit off balanced. It was a tough night for me shooting."
It was a tough night for everyone. Tucker was 3-for-13, McKenzie Moore was 3-for-10, Streeter was 2-for-9.
But the Miners almost defended their way to a victory. Tulsa had to work most of the shot clock on possession after possession and finished at 40 percent, making just 18-of-45 shots. Tulsa made just 2-of-7 from beyond the arc and just 7-of-11 from the free-throw line.
John Bohannon was UTEP's only double-figure scorer, finishing with 11 points and nine rebounds. Moore had eight points, Tucker seven.
"You've got to expect nights like that coming on the road," Bohannon said. "I take responsibility for not letting the young guys know there are no easy road games in Conference USA. We had a couple of breakdowns at the end we would have liked to have had back, but overall we played good defense."
UTEP's Cedrick Lang shook his head and said, "We just couldn't buy a basket. But we were still in the game. We shot 30 percent and we still had a chance. I guess that's one way to look at it. If we shoot 40 percent, we win that game. And we needed that game."
The Miners are now 9-7 overall and 2-1 in conference play, while Tulsa improved to 11-7 overall and 3-1 in the league race.
The scoring in this game looked almost as if someone had stolen the shot clocks. Tulsa led 21-20 at the half. UTEP led 30-28 with 10 minutes to play. Tulsa led 32-30 with eight minutes to go. The Golden Hurricane got their biggest lead at 38-31 with five minutes to go. But the Miners reeled them back in, cutting it to 40-38 with two minutes to play.
And then it all funneled down to one final scramble, one final highly contested 3-point attempt by Tucker.
Shaking his head, Bohannon said, "Sometimes the ball doesn't go your way, but you can defend your way out of it. But, when it came to winning time, we just didn't get it done."
The total 87 points in this game was a record for fewest combined points in the 15-year history of the Reynolds Center.
It was, indeed, no beauty contest. But, when the final shot clanged, it looked quite a bit prettier to Tulsa than it did to UTEP.
Bill Knight may be reached at email@example.com; 546-6171. Follow him on Twitter @BillKnightept
Up next


text:
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
We're in Remission!!!
8 comments:
Go Bev GO!!!!!! Congrats!!!ReplyDelete
Yay!!!!! Congratulations to you all!!! I sure hope it stays that way!ReplyDelete
Best News Ever!!!! Here's hoping for endless pain free days ahead!ReplyDelete
Good to hear that she is away from Arthritis. Live Happily and Enjoy the life.ReplyDelete
Wow, this made me cry. Way to go, Bevin! My daughter was recently diagnosed with JRA and I want you to know that your blog has helped me so much. I appreciate you putting your story out to help other families. Congratulations!!ReplyDelete
We have successfully invented a New Non-invasive Method and Apparatus for Early Prognosis and Diagnosis of Arthritis. The hypothesis behind the invention has already been approved by an authorized Medical Journal publishing body, namely Journal of OsteoArthritis and Cartilage. Our future plans are to make the device and method more marketable in terms of user friendliness and portability.ReplyDelete
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Support our campaign : http://igg.me/at/itidirkha
Ayurveda treatment for Arthritis affects the musculoskeletal system, specifically the joints.Ayurveda treatment forArthritis is the main cause of disability among people over fifty-five years of age in industrialized countries.The word Arthritis comes from the Greek arthron meaning "joint" and the Latin itis meaning "inflammation". The plural of Ayurveda treatment for Arthritis is arthritides.There are over 100 types of Ayurveda treatment for Arthritis.ReplyDelete
Ayurveda Kerala and Kerala Ayurveda are the main phrases used in the aryuveda kerala is the land of aryuveda services . nilayoram is one of the best ayuvedic resort they offer echo friendly atmosphere . Treatments are based on the traditional way, Ayurveda panchakarma is the main treatmentReplyDelete


text:
Muscle Men of Mysore
a peek into the oldest martial art of India
de Raghuram Ashok
Acerca del libro
This photo series captures the life and aspirations of the traditional Kushti wrestlers in Mysore. Speaking and understanding their feelings about it, gave my story a personal perspective. I saw how they felt deeply for the nearing death of the art of Kushti and want to bring it to an audience. Wrestling as you may know, is one of India's oldest indigenous form of martial art.
I was a part of a group of artists and photographers who recently graduated from an Independant Book Publishing workshop organized by SF Camerawork. This party would mark the launch of all the books published by the graduating students. This is my first attempt at independent book design & publishing.
Características y detalles
- Categoría Arte y fotografía
Apaisado estándar, 25×20 cm
54 Páginas
- Fecha de publicación nov. 13, 2012
Inicia sesión o crea una cuenta para publicar un comentario.


text: Although most smartphones and tablets have built-in rechargeable batteries, there are still many electronics that run on the tried and true AA or AAA batteries. From inexpensive cameras to other types of electronics, batteries are still necessary.Rechargeable batteries are great because you can just plug them in a wall-charger and not have to repeatedly buy packs and packs of batteries, draining your bank account. But how do you know if your batteries need a recharging?


text:
A SUSPECTED burglar of an Oldbury is on the run after failing to appear at Birmingham Crown Court.
Florin Dunca, aged 25, was charged with burglary after a break-in at a house in Edgbaston in February last year and was bailed to appear at Birmingham Crown Court. He is also suspected of committing an attempted burglary in Causeway Green Road, Oldbury in March.
At the time of his arrest, Dunca gave an address in Handsworth, however his current whereabouts remain unknown.
Detective Constable Martin Peart, from Sandwell CID, said: "We are sure that someone will recognise Dunca and we are urging them to contact police so that we can bring him to justice."
DC Peart can be contacted on 101 or anyone not wishing to speak to a police officer can call Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.


text:
I have decided to pick up coding now after a 3 months break. What I want to do is finish a project I started on a while back and it is and text editor for use in terminals (nano, vi etc.).
The main goal I have and reason to not use named editors is that I love the typing features of http://eric-ide.python-projects.org/ and want to bring those into the terminal.
Some examples of typing feature is like:
# If you make one "(", you will automatically get both "(" and ")", and the cursor placed in the middle of them.
# When you make a ",". There will be an space inserted afterwards and the cursor is placed after it.
# If you press ctrl+d you will duplicate that whole line downwards.
These are not perhaps the best practices for overall coding but I really like it this way and don't see why I should learn any other.
Then ofcourse I would like to add some highlighting and line numbers and other basic things. In the end it will probably look like Nano with line numbers and aswell the use of wanted features..
Anyway, what I need your help for is to find a good library that can help me with this. Ofcourse the first which popped up in my head was curses and I have made a pretty good prototype with it, though curses it self seems to contain a bunch of bugs? And aswell a very incomplete set of basics? Like turn on and off insert mode! I will show you with he code I have written soon.
I have tried some urwid, but their example of a text editor is very hard to understand and when I seaked help in their irc channel they told me it was a very lazy written code, really nothing more hehe.
So I just really need advice on how I can get going. Because I really need this for use on my servers where I more and more impeltent python scripts.
Here is the prototype I have written. If you try it you will see weird things like backspace clears the whole row and some kind of insert mode is always on, which I don't use at all.
The features I have made works pretty good though, so make sure to try them out, type "," and "(" or try out ctrl+d
I am using Python 2.7.5 on Linux.
Here is the code from pastebin
- Code: Select all
# Sorry for poor documentation and at the end I probably smashed in some
# things that don't need to be here at all.
import curses, curses.textpad, curses.ascii
class sheet:
def __init__(self, win):
self.win = win
self.gridY = win.getmaxyx()[0]
self.gridX = win.getmaxyx()[1]
def end(self, gridPosY):
last = self.gridX
while True:
if curses.ascii.ascii(self.win.inch(gridPosY, last)) != curses.ascii.SP:
print curses.ascii.ascii(self.win.inch(gridPosY, last))
last = min(self.gridX, last+1)
elif last == 0:
last = last - 1
return last
def compose(self):
endIndex = {}
for i in range(0, self.gridY):
endIndex[str(i)] = 0
while 1:
gridPosY, gridPosX = self.win.getyx()[0], self.win.getyx()[1]
ch = self.win.getch()
if ch == ord(curses.ascii.ctrl('o')):
print self.win.inch(gridPosY, gridPosX)
elif ch == ord(curses.ascii.ctrl('c')):
elif ch == ord(curses.ascii.ctrl('d')):
bucket = []
for i in range(0, self.gridX):
seed = self.win.inch(gridPosY, i)
self.win.move(gridPosY + 1, 0)
for i in range(0, len(bucket)):
if gridPosX + 1 != self.gridX :
self.win.move(gridPosY, i)
elif ch == curses.KEY_END:
last = self.end(gridPosY)
print last
self.win.move(gridPosY, last)
elif ch == curses.KEY_ENTER:
endIndex[str(gridPosY)] = gridPosX
elif ch == curses.KEY_LEFT:
endIndex[str(gridPosY)] = gridPosX
if gridPosX > 0:
self.win.move(gridPosY, gridPosX - 1)
elif ch == curses.KEY_RIGHT:
endIndex[str(gridPosY)] = gridPosX
if gridPosX + 1 != self.gridX :
self.win.move(gridPosY, gridPosX + 1)
elif ch == curses.KEY_UP:
endIndex[str(gridPosY)] = gridPosX
if gridPosY > 0:
self.win.move(gridPosY - 1, endIndex[str(gridPosY - 1)])
elif ch == curses.KEY_DOWN:
endIndex[str(gridPosY)] = gridPosX
self.win.move(gridPosY + 1, endIndex[str(gridPosY + 1)])
elif ch == ord('\t'): # Tabs
self.win.addnstr(' ', 4)
self.win.move(gridPosY, gridPosX + 4)
elif ch == ord('('): # (cursor)
self.win.addstr('('), self.win.addstr(')')
self.win.move(gridPosY, gridPosX + 1)
elif ch == ord('"'): # "cursor"
self.win.addstr('"'), self.win.addstr('"')
self.win.move(gridPosY, gridPosX + 1)
elif ch == ord("'"): # 'cursor'
self.win.addstr("'"), self.win.addstr("'")
self.win.move(gridPosY, gridPosX + 1)
elif ch == ord(','): # Make space after ","
self.win.addch(ch), self.win.addstr(' ')
self.win.move(gridPosY, gridPosX + 2)
#self.win.move(gridPosY, gridPosX - 1)
elif ch in (127, curses.KEY_BACKSPACE): # Backspace
if gridPosX > 0:
self.win.move(gridPosY, gridPosX - 1)
def gather(self):
# collect and save some shit, attrs!!!!
def drawInterface(self):
myScreen_gridY, myScreen_gridX = myscreen.getmaxyx()[0], myscreen.getmaxyx()[1]
for i in range(0, myScreen_gridY - 2 - 1):
if i < 10:
myscreen.addstr(2 + i, 2, str(i))
myscreen.addstr(2 + i, 1, str(i))
myscreen.addstr(0, 5, "EngeboEditor - v0.0.1")
curses.textpad.rectangle(myscreen, 1, 4, myScreen_gridY - 1, myScreen_gridX - 2)
myscreen = curses.initscr()
win = curses.newwin(myscreen.getmaxyx()[0] - 3, myscreen.getmaxyx()[1] - 7, 2, 5)


text:
Yahoo has lost its chief operating officer who was in charge of steering the internet company's advertising business, as it continues to lose share in the digital ad market.
Henrique de Castro is leaving swiftly after reports he fell out with Marissa Mayer, who poached him from her former home Google as part of her turnaround plan for the purple-plastered company. Read more


text:
Rated 4.4 out of 5�by 7 reviewers.
Rated 5 out of 5�by Judi47 Love it! Very nice jacket. Love the fit, style and fabric . Will look lovely with jeans or slacks. September 24, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5�by Trishy The product is great Very comfortable and easy to care for. This product is of high quality. The material is comfortable and the size is right on. June 8, 2014
Rated 5 out of 5�by EJD0603 Womens color zap jacket and pants Beautiful and very smart looking.everytime I got out or to the dr.s office I wear these and get sooo many compliments. Quality is beautiful..you can dress down or up and perfect for every occassion. Great deal on sale right now..I have in every color and going back for doubles..so you can see I like this set!! December 29, 2013
Rated 1 out of 5�by Corf Outfit shrank after washing and drying I loved this outfit - wore it on plane to and from Florida last weekend. Wore it some more when down there. Washed it according to instructions on jacket and pants. Jacket is now about 3" too short in sleeves, Pants are what my kids used to call "flood pants". All fit perfectly prior to laundering. December 13, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5�by Nonie Love this!!! I love this suit and have had many compliments on it!! I wanted to order another one in pink but pink is no longer available. Are you getting more pink in?? Meanwhile I am considering one of the other colors. It is very comfortable and you can wear it most anywhere! Thanks for a great product!! February 6, 2013
Rated 5 out of 5�by Pamela Nice set Nice set. It's comfortable, launders well and looks a bit dressier than other "sweatsuits" on the market. I feel comfortable wearing this out in the public, not something I necessarily want to do in other lounging sets. Not frumpy! October 23, 2012
Rated 5 out of 5�by dawn good value this item is a good value nicely made colors are very pretty May 17, 2012
1-7 of 7
76% Cotton; 18% Polyester; 6% Rayon + 18% Polyester;; 6% Rayon
Care Instruction:
Machine wash cold, gentle cycle Tumble dry low; Cool iron as necessary +
ColorZap Jacket:
ColorZap Pants:
- Relaxed fit
- Hip-length
- Tonal colorblock flatback knit
- Heather grey/yellow color combination
- Zip-up convertible collar
- Long sleeves with wide turn-back cuffs
- Slightly dropped shoulders
- Full-front molded teeth zipper closure with 3 rhinestones on the metal pull
- Two side front zippered diagonal welt pockets
- Back yoke
- Straight hem
- Colorful contrast cover stitching on all seams
- Contrasting color on inside collar, zipper, pockets & turn-back cuffs
- Imported
ColorZap Pants:
- Pull-on style
- Relaxed fit
- Long-length
- Flatback rib knit
- Heather grey/yellow color combination
- Full-elastic waistband
- Side front pockets with contrasting piping trim
- Colorful contrasting cover stitching on outseams
- Slightly tapered hemmed legs
- Machine wash
- Imported
76% Cotton; 18% Polyester; 6% Rayon + 18% Polyester;; 6% Rayon
Care Instruction:
Machine wash cold, gentle cycle Tumble dry low; Cool iron as necessary +


text:
Women's History Month
In honor of March being celebrated as Women's History Month, I'd like to share this wonderful article written by Mrs E. N. Lockwood for an 1873 issue of Photographic Mosaics. Photographic Mosaics was published from 1866-1901, and highlighted new innovations and events happening in the world of photography at the time. As Mrs. Lockwood's passionate entreaty reminds us, women were considerably less involved in photography than men were in the mid to late 19th century, and as Naomi Rosenblum discusses in A History of Women Photographers:
"In both Britain and the Untied States, photographic societies (the main organizations promoting photography as a recreational expression) were mixed in their acceptance of women. Some were completely open, others limited access to women to certain times and occasions, and still others denied them membership altogether. Excuses for such restrictions revolved around the unladylike atmosphere of the club meetings, where male members smoked and used unacceptable language" (p. 53).
However, Rosenblum goes on to note that by 1920, 20% of professional photographers were women (p. 59). Apparently, unacceptable language and an unladylike atmosphere were not enough to discourage these determined women. I wonder what Mrs. Lockwood would think about the many women photographers successfully working today, nearly 140 years after her article was published. I suspect that she would be impressed with the progress that has been made, but might still implore women everywhere to, "interest yourselves in an art which by its very principles and uses belongs to you as well as men."
Sources: Edward L. Wilson, Photographic Mosaics (Philadelphia: Benerman & Wilson, 1873).
Naomi Rosenblum, A History of Women Photographers (New York: Abbeville Press, 1994).


text:
Did you know?
Rosebank African Craft Market has been voted Johannesburg's favourite market for over 10 years
Rosebank African Craft Market has been voted Johannesburg's premier market for 10 years in a row. Local and international visitors flock to this Johannesburg African Craft Market, attracted by its reputation as a truly pan-African shopping destination. They walk away with a range of high quality arts, crafts and antiques from all over the continent, after a pleasant day of bargaining with the friendly stall-owners.
Shopping at the market will also give you an insight into the various cultures of Africa, with many of the beautifully crafted objects on offer having cultural significance.
Rosebank African Craft Market in Johannesburg celebrates the spirit of African entrepreneurship and sustains at least 70 skilled African artisans. Some of the countries represented at the market include Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Zimbabwe, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Senegal and Togo. You can buy African masks, clothing, carvings, ceramics, beadwork and jewellery. You can also pick up a lot of 'recycled' art objects, which are fascinating studies in how recycling materials can magically transform 'rubbish' into something unique and magical − responsible shopping at its best.
While you can pick up many great souvenirs for the cost of a few rand, the market is also known for its range of African antiques, many of which are highly collectable.
The Rosebank Mall, located adjacent to the African Craft Market, is at present undergoing heavy reconstruction and refurbishment, due for completion in September 2014.
But don't let the dust and din put you off discovering the vibrant craft market next door.
Travel tips & Planning info
Who to contact
Rosebank African Craft Market
Tel: +27 (0)11 880 2906/3
Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
How to get here
The market is situated at the corner of Cradock Ave and Baker St. in Rosebank, adjacent to the Rosebank Mall.
Best time to visit
Visitors to the Rosebank African Craft Market are welcomed seven days a week from 9am to 6pm by the pulsating rhythm of African drum beats.
Get around
The tour bus parking facility located opposite the market provides tour groups with secure and convenient access to a vast range of exquisite high quality handcrafted African artifacts and antiques.
Where to stay
Rosebank has all sorts of accommodation from fancy hotels to B&Bs.
Best buys
Tthe African Craft Market in Rosebank is a magnet for bargain buyers – if you are looking for affordable quality you won't be disappointed


text:
From our friends at ActivistChat.com ....
An Anti-climax?
By Khorshid
Except for some bloggers in Iran, few will admit to it but those feeling somewhat disappointed with the coming and passing of July 8, and a nationwide mass protest that never came, need to look at the picture more carefully.
We cannot conclude that our compatriots today were being apathetic or compliant. We have to recall that the largest, and the most effective protest against this regime during its 25 years of existence occurred five months ago. The mass boycott of Islamic Majles elections in February was nothing short of a national referendum sounding the death knell for the Islamic Republic.
Furthermore, we may want to note that the level of security and surveillance during the past 48 hours has been exceptional; perhaps unprecedented. Were I in Iran, I too would have remained home and kept quiet. But there is something far more important here that should not be overlooked: Far from a show of force, these maneuvers by the regime are signs of trembling and fear. Is it difficult to understand why Supreme Leader Khamenei has spent the last two-three days in Hamedan and away from the capital?
To conclude this little note of mine, this level of security cannot be maintained for long; nor is it desirable. But you see, they have no other choice. They know theyre finished. Rebellions WILL follow.
Movement slams the regime in VOA TV program\
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Jul 9, 2004
The SMCCDI Coordinator, Aryo B. Pirouznia, paid tribute to the Student Movement's glorious uprising of July 9, 1999, during a VOA Satellite and Internet TV program broadcasted tonight Worldwide. The interview was broadcasted from Los Angeles and in duplex from Washington DC where are located the VOA's offices.
Responding live to VOA anchor's Anooshirvan Kangarloo's question on the root of the results generate from the uprising, Pirouznia stated: "The July 1999 Movement pulled off the false mask of any possibility of reforming the theocratic system. People understood gradually the difference between "us, the People" and "them, the mullahs and their cronies". It was in the aftermath of the Uprising that principles, such as, Secularity, genuine Democracy, Modernity and Humanism started to make their way in Iranians' minds and are now becoming pillars that Iranians are looking for..."
He slammed then the Islamic regime's repressive policies and the comments made by General Tala-i who had claimed that the regime's security forces didn't met any opposition yesterday.
The Movement's Coordinator who's in Los Angeles added: "I think that General Tala-i is very unkind to all the regime's repressive forces when he stated that they didn't had to do anything yesterday. He's unkind to all these repressive troops which were deployed in all Iranian streets for the last 2 months and were spreading terror. He's unkind to all these foreign mercenaries which were beating in the last 2 months on Iranian youth and women in order to increase the terror policy. Talai's comments are in the perfect line of demagogy used by the Islamic republic and it's no wonder that the World can't trust such regime. At least and as quoted by the ISNA, the official so-called Iranian Students News Agency, several demonstrators were arrested which is just a news intending to minimize the real impact of yesterday's event. As many know, at least and in Zarabkhaneh area, over 10 thousands had gathered and clashes occurred.."
The program (VOA's "News & Views" of 7/09/04) will be re-aired tomorrow morning, Iran local time, and can be seen on at the following link till 12:00 PM US EST by visiting:
http://www.voanews.com/real/voa/nenaf/fars/fars1700v.ram .
The interview can be seen from the minute 13':55'' of the program on the students starting from minute 07:15". It will be transferred after 12:00 PM to the VOA website's archives section.
DoctorZin Note: Thought you should see what the Mullahs are saying about July 9th...
Iran regime claims victory as unrest anniversary passes quietly
TEHRAN, July 9 (AFP) - Iran's Islamic regime on Friday claimed a victory against "counter-revolutionaries", after the fear of tough reprisals and deepening political apathy dissuaded pro-democracy activists from marking the anniversary of student unrest five years ago.
"Despite an extensive campaign over the past few days in the counter-revolutionary media, it was not a demanding day and night for Tehran's police," the force's commander, General Morteza Talaie, told the official IRNA news agency.
He boasted that Thursday was "totally normal", and praised the "wise and alert cooperation between police and students" during what had been a tense moment for the 25-year-old clerical regime.
"In the past few years, certain lawless elements have been trying to exploit the students, but this year... they did not dare to do anything," Talaie said.
"The bitter memories can be forgotten."On July 9, 1999, student-led protestors clashed with police in Tehran and other cities in unrest sparked by a heavy-handed police and vigilante raid on a small and peaceful campus protest over the closure of a newspaper.
It was arguably the largest show of dissent against the regime since the 1979 revolution.Officially, one student was killed and hundreds of wounded in the violence, which prompted a major crackdown on dissent in universities -- a major driving force behind the Iranian reform movement.
This year the anniversary fell on Thursday, July 8, due to the difference in the Gregorian and Persian calendars. AFP correspondents saw no sign of any gatherings across Tehran.
There were also no credible reports of gatherings in other major cities, even though foreign-based media opposed to the regime -- notably pro-monarchist satellite channels based in the United States -- had been playing up the anniversary.
Each year since 1999, the regime has sought to prevent any gatherings from taking place and this week Iranian authorities signalled they would not tolerate any commemorations.
In recent months, thousands of police and special forces units have been out in force in the capital, officially to help crack down on bad driving.
Observers said the fear of arrest, together with a deepening political apathy following the sidelining of reformists in February's parliamentary elections, had dissuaded students and their sympathisers from taking to the streets.
"Staging a demonstration against the regime nowadays is seen as being both too dangerous and totally pointless," a senior editor at a pro-reform Iranian newspaper told AFP.
"Conservatives in the regime are clearly in control of things. People who supported Khatami have been badly let down, so why should anyone stick their neck out?" said the journalist, who asked not to be named.
Iran's reformist president, Mohammad Khatami, has been left isolated and powerless by the February polls, in which conservatives romped to victory following the disqualification of many of their reformist rivals.
And even though the mild-mannered president -- once a symbol of change in Iran -- said he supported the right to protest when fresh demonstrations erupted in June 2003, he did nothing to stop a subsequent crackdown that saw thousands arrested.
The president also failed to speak out against the running of February's elections, even though many of his supporters dismissed them as "rigged".
Khatami's second and final term in office ends in June 2005.The anniversary was, however, marked by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, who challenged the regime over what they said were widespread incidences of torture committed in the wake of the 1999 unrest.
Keep me pinged on what you hear!
Dealing with a new Iran
July 10, 2004
PARIS -- Whoever wins this November's presidential elections, the U.S. faces an urgent question that the Bush administration has not resolved: What is America's strategy for coping with the rising power of Iran?
Washington and Tehran have engaged in extensive secret contacts since 9/11, premised on their shared goal of destroying al-Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein in Iraq. But despite many meetings, nothing has come of the contacts, partly because the Bush administration was internally divided over the right strategic course.
What's poignant about these wary U.S.-Iranian feelers is that just over a year ago, they yielded a plan for an "anti-terrorist" deal that both countries should have loved: Iran would hand over some senior al-Qaida operatives in its custody, and the U.S. would transfer to Iran some prisoners it was holding from the Iraqi-backed Mujaheddin-e Khalq organization, a group America has branded as terrorist.
The State Department is said to have favored such a deal, but the Pentagon balked, arguing that the Mujaheddin might be useful in fomenting regime change in Tehran.
To understand why Iran is such an interesting case study of lost opportunities, a little background is necessary. The following account is drawn from current Iranian officials, former U.S. officials and other sources.
The U.S.-Iran dialogue began in earnest after 9/11. The initial intermediary was United Nations official Lakhdar Brahimi, the same man who recently served as special envoy in Iraq. The U.S. representative was often Ryan Crocker, one of the State Department's top Middle East experts.
One former U.S. official says flatly that without Iranian help, it would have been impossible to establish the new government in Afghanistan.
A new issue arose as al-Qaida operatives fled from Afghanistan into Iran after the war. The Iranians arrested more than 500 of them in late 2001 and early 2002, according to one senior Iranian official.
A second group of high-level al-Qaida leaders crossed into Iran's remote Baluchistan province in the spring of 2002. U.S. intelligence officials believed this group included Osama bin Laden's security chief, Saif Adel, and one of his sons, Saad bin Laden. The administration badly wanted to interrogate them outside Iran.
But the Iranians had a demand of their own, which ripened after the U.S. toppled Saddam's regime in April 2003. About 4,000 members of the Mujaheddin had been captured at their bases in Iraq, which they had used for years to conduct attacks against Iran. Though the Mujaheddin were officially terrorists, the administration was wary about turning them over to Tehran.
In a secret meeting in May in Geneva, the two sides explored an exchange of the "terrorist" captives. Iranians pledged to grant amnesty to most of the 4,000 Mujaheddin captives, to forgo the death penalty for about 65 leaders who would be tried in Iranian courts, and to allow the Red Cross to supervise the transfer.
The Bush administration ultimately rejected this exchange.
The secret contacts were broken off in late May 2003, when U.S. intelligence reports suggested that some of the senior al-Qaida operatives in Iran had helped plan a bombing that month in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In the year since, Iranian hard-liners have crushed reformers there and pushed ahead with their program to acquire nuclear weapons.
Finding the right strategy for dealing with an Iran that has nuclear ambitions and terrorist capabilities won't be easy. But Iranians and Americans who were involved in the secret dialogue of the past several years remain convinced that the only answer is a "grand bargain" that builds on the two countries' shared interests. That's one item to put in the White House "in box" for next January.
Iran slammed on Iranian-Canadian photographers death
MONTREAL: The son of an Iranian-Canadian photographer who died in an Iranian jail a year ago Saturday, blasted a looming court proceeding on the case as a farce.
Zahra Kazemi, 54, was arrested in June 2003 for taking photographs outside Tehrans notorious Evin prison. She died in hospital on July 10, 2003 from a brain haemorrhage caused by a blow to the head. The case triggered a diplomatic row between Ottawa and Tehran and ties between the two countries are still in the deep freeze, a year later..
After a fierce struggle over the case between Iranian conservatives and reformers, court proceedings are due to resume in Iran on July 17. Kazemis family will be represented by Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi. This trial is the same farce that it has always been, Kazemis son, Stephan Hachemi told AFP on Thursday.
Hachemi also complained that the trial would fall well short of a complete inquiry into his mothers death. Intelligence ministry agent Mohammad Reza Aghdam Ahmadi, 42, has been charged with participation in a semi-intentional murder, in a case that has sparked a feud between the courts and the intelligence service.
International press watchdog group Reporters Without Borders marked the anniversary of Kazemis death by warning that impunity would triumph. afp
The Six Days That Shook Iran
July 09, 2004
The US Alliance for Democratic Iran
On July 9, 1999, six days of student-led uprising against the ruling fundamentalists shook the regime to its foundations, marking a new chapter in the history of Iranian peoples two decades of long struggle to overthrow tyranny and establish a democratic and secular government.
With the blessing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Mohammad Khatami, uniformed and plain-clothes security forces brutally cracked down on students and thousands of other Iranians who had joined them. Several thousands were arrested and hundreds killed or wounded.
Nevertheless, if not suppressed, the uprising, which quickly spread to nearly two dozen other cities, had the potential of sweeping the theocracy from power. In a cover-page story, The Economist magazine billed the uprising as Irans Second Revolution and a commentary in the CBS News said that a sense of revolution has returned to Iran.
After nearly two decades of relentless struggle, the movement for democracy and popular sovereignty - the unfulfilled aspirations of the1979 anti-monarchic revolution - burst out in the open on July 9 for the world to see. The student movement, always a vanguard in Iranians century-long struggle against despotism, linked up with nationwide resistance of Iranian people in demanding the overthrow of the clerical state in its totality. The students, chanting "Death to despotism, Death to dictators," exploded out of university campuses and into various neighborhoods where they were joined by thousands of citizens from all walks of life, particularly the young generation.
Politically, the six-day uprising rendered hollow the myth of the reformist Khatami. The so-called moderate President did not waste any time to go on national television to order a harsh crackdown of all dissent. While it took the rest of the world five years to see the iron teeth behind the Khatamis smiles, Iranians saw what they had indistinctly knew: When it comes to preserving the clerical system, Khatami is cut from the same bloody cloth as Khamenei, Rafsanjani and their cronies.
In a report from Tehran at the time, the Agence France Presse said that Iranian students bitterly criticized President Mohammad Khatami, saying he tricked them with empty promises. It quoted a student as saying "now we can see he's just a mullah like all the others."
Since then, students and Iranians inside Iran and abroad have marked July 9 as a national day of saying no to the mullahs regime. Every year, the clerics have tried to suppress anti-government anniversary demonstrations by the students and the youths. Last year alone, more the 4,000 students were arrested during week-long student demonstrations preceding the July 9 anniversary.
This year, the ruling mullahs, reeling from political and diplomatic fall-out of the sham parliamentary election in February, and having to deal with anti-government demonstrations and strikes since January, put into effect elaborate security and anti-riot measures to thwart this years anniversary protests.
The plan, under the absurd pretext of helping with the traffic, went into action several months ago and included flooding Tehrans major streets and intersections, especially around university campuses, with security and special anti-riot forces. Even more ridiculous was the excuse for shutting down Tehran University on July: disinfect[ing] the campus because of cockroach infestation.
Reports from Iran indicate that hundreds of students were arrested in recent weeks and hundreds more summoned to courts for questioning. The Interior Ministry also banned any student gathering outside of the capitals main universities, saying it was unnecessary to commemorate the anniversary.
Disturbing reports from Irans prisons and the families of political prisoners bespeak of the deteriorating medical condition of many prisoners. During the weeks preceding the July 9 anniversary, many student political prisoners were denied medical temporary leave to seek urgent life-saving outside assistance. Their families also received death threats and some of them were detained.
In a related development, dissident political prisoners in Tehrans Evin Prison, including many students who have been imprisoned in recent years staged a hunger strike to protest this new wave of crackdown and widespread arrest of university students and youths. Students at several other universities also joined the hunger strike.
Despite all these suppressive measures, reports from Iran indicate that as night fell on July 8, thousands of students and youths took to the streets in various parts of Tehran and other cities. Iranians called Farsi broadcasting media based abroad to reiterate their determination to defy the mullahs security forces.
The July 9 student-led uprising had an undisputable impact on hastening the eventual fall of Irans ruling tyranny. It gave Iranians self-confidence and a sense of power and legitimacy in their demands for democracy and justice. It tore the façade of the bogus champions of human rights and reform, such as Khatami. More importantly, it strengthened the historic ties between the student movement and the nationwide struggle for democracy.
The imprisonments, tortures, and executions, public stoning, amputations and floggings, however, have utterly failed in undermining the resolve of the democracy movement against ruling religious fascism to bring this regime down as a first step toward the establishment of democracy, secularism, popular sovereignty and the rule of law in Iran.
Since 1999, Tehran has continued to kill, maim, and imprison dissidents while Western democracies, particularly European nations, have expanded lucrative trade with Iran. Thanks to advanced anti-riot gear and other equipment bought from abroad, the mullahs are better equipped now than they were in 1999, to arrest, and torture students, women and the youths.
As Tehran is turning the heat on dissent inside the country and acted increasingly belligerent abroad by continuing its nuclear weapons program, spreading its fundamentalist network in Iraq and recruiting suicide bombers, the free world has arrived at a historic cross road: To continue to appease the mullahs ruling Iran or to side with Iranian people and their struggle to establish an Iran free of torture, terror, fundamentalism, and weapons of mass destruction.
The choice, no doubt, will have strategic reverberations in Iran, the Middle East and the Western world for decades to come. This is our chance to be on the right side of history by supporting Iranians and anti-fundamentalist democratic opposition forces who are indeed the true vehicle of change in Iran.
Eye of the Storm: Iraq Gets an Arab 'Helping Hand'
July 08, 2004
The Jerusalem Post
Amir Taheri
What are Iran and Syria up to in Iraq? Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari says they are up to no good. "They are fanning the fires," he told me in a recent conversation. "We have caught some of their agents."
Zebari's claim is backed by Lakhdar Brahimi, the United Nations special envoy to Iraq. He visited Teheran on Monday to ask the Khomeinist leaders to prevent "hostile elements" from crossing the border into Iraq - a diplomatic way of saying please don't send terrorists to Iraq.
Next week Brahimi will be in Damascus to deliver a similar message to the Syrians. The Iraqi government has furnished him with "ample documents" showing that Syria is the principal center of pro-Saddam agitation in Iraq.
One of Saddam's cousins, Suleyman al-Majid al-Takriti, is reportedly running a base for the so-called "resistance" across the border in Syria. The first statement of the newly created High Council of Resistance, a grouping of 16 terrorist outfits fighting the Iraqi government, was released in Damascus on Sunday.
Iran and Syria are not the only states in the neighborhood engaged in destabilizing Iraq. Egyptian and Jordanian intelligence services are conducting a campaign of disinformation to undermine the government of Prime Minister Iyad al-Allawi in Baghdad.
A recent rumor claiming that Jews were buying large tracts of land in northern Iraq has been traced to Egyptian intelligence. It was first launched in a column written by a man whose brother holds a senior post in Egyptian intelligence.
The Jordanians have done their bit by spreading rumors, followed by denials, about plans by Raghd, Saddam's eldest daughter, to set up an Iraqi government in exile in Amman.
Farther afield, satellite television channels owned by Qatari, Saudi and Emirati sheikhs often act as platforms for the terrorists working to destabilize Iraq and disrupt its planned elections.
BUT THERE is little doubt that Iran and Syria are the most active troublemakers in Iraq today. Both are happy that Saddam, their enemy for decades, is in prison. They also know that prolonged instability in Iraq could lead to the dismantling of the Iraqi state and plunge the whole region into chaos. But neither wants to see a pro-American government established in Baghdad, especially if it is the product of free elections.
"We are at war with the enemy," Iran's Supreme Guide Ali Khamenehi told a meeting of mullahs in the city of Hamadan, west of Teheran, last Monday. "The central battlefield [of this war] is Iraq."
Iran and Syria are ruled by two versions of Oriental despotism - one religious, the other secular. They see the emergence of a democratic Iraq as a challenge to their legitimacy.
The future of Iraq was at the center of talks in Teheran between Syrian President Bashar Assad and the Islamic Republic leaders last weekend. This was Assad's third state visit to Iran in four years. The Syrian leader has also visited Iran three more times for "working visits" during the same period. In comparison, his father, Hafez al-Assad, visited Iran only once, for a six-hour stopover, during his 30-year rule.
What has prompted the younger Assad to seek closer ties with Teheran is the belief that Iran and Syria are next on Washington's turkey-shoot list. Earlier this year, Iran and Syria signed a defense cooperation pact under which an attack on one would be considered an attack on the other.
"Syria is the frontline of the Islamic Republic," says Iranian Defense Minister Rear-Admiral Ali Shamkhani.
"Iran is Syria's vital hinterland," adds Syrian Vice-President Abdul-Halim Khaddam, regarded as the real strongman in Damascus.
During Assad's visit to Teheran it became clear that the two allies regard instability in Iraq as an insurance policy for them. "The Iraqi resistance is, in fact, fighting for Iran and Syria as well," says Manuchehr Badii, a Teheran analyst. "As long as Americans are busy in Iraq, they will not think of other places in the region."
That analysis is endorsed by Hashemi Rafsanjani, one of the most influential mullahs in the Iranian regime. In a recent speech in Teheran he described Iraq as a "battlefield between two visions of the world." One vision was that of "an Americanized Islam wrapped in democratic gift paper." The other was that of Khomeinist Islam, whose aim remained the ending of "American hegemony."
The current Iranian analysis is based on the hope that George W. Bush will lose the presidential election in November and that a new US administration with John Kerry as president would not be fully operational and capable of shaping a strategy for a year to 18 months. And that, of course, could give Iran and Syria ample time to exert a decisive influence on shaping the future of Iraq.
The latest Assad visit to Teheran was aimed at increasing pressure on Iraq in a crucial period of transition. The best way for the new Iraqi government to retain the initiative is to hold elections before the Americans go to the polls in November.
This just in from a student inside of Iran...
Tabriz students will go on hunger strike to force the officials to release their arrested classmate.
Ali... was arrested yesterday during an attempt to organize people to protest in Tabriz."
Rights groups target Iran regime on anniversary of student protests
TEHRAN, July 8 (AFP) - Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Thursday challenged Iran's clerical regime over what they said were widespread incidences of torture committed in the wake of student-led unrest five years ago.
In a statement released in London coinciding with the anniversary of the July 1999 disturbances, Amnesty called on Iran's hardline judiciary to undertake an impartial review of the trials of detained demonstrators.
It pointed to the cases of two detained activists, Akbar Mohammadi and Ahmad Batebi, who have complained of being subject to torture -- including being held under a "drain full of excrement" -- to exact confessions.
"To Amnesty International's knowledge, no open, independent investigation has ever been conducted into the allegations of ill treatment and torture," the statement said, adding that several fleeing students were granted asylum in European countries "where they received treatment for a range of incidences of torture, including instrumental rape."
New York-based Human Rights Watch called on the Iranian government to "immediately release all student detainees still imprisoned for peaceful dissent".
"In the weeks following the protests, thousands of students were arrested, taken away by the busload, and held in detention centers and prisons. While many of those initially detained were released, an unknown number of student protestors remain in prison," the group said.
"In subsequent years, students across the country have commemorated the anniversary of the July 1999 protestors with peaceful demonstrations and public speeches. This year, however, with repression at its highest since 1999, the government's message to students is clear: those who speak out will be detained, punished, and worse."
On July 9, 1999, pro-democracy students clashed with police in Tehran and other cities in unrest sparked by a heavy-handed police and vigilante raid on a small and peaceful campus protest over the closure of a newspaper.
This year the anniversary falls on Thursday, July 8, due to the difference in the Gregorian and Persian calendars.Officially, one student was killed and hundreds of others injured in the 1999 violence, which prompted a major crackdown on dissent in universities -- a major driving force behind the pro-democracy movement.
On each anniversary, the regime has sought to prevent any gatherings from taking place.This week Iranian authorities signalled they have outlawed all commemorations.
"In recent years there have been excellent relations between police and students and today, hand in hand, we should try to forget the bad memories of the 18th of Tir," or July 9, 1999, Tehran police chief General Morteza Talaie was quoted as telling student representatives this week.
University campuses and dormitories have all been closed for the summer, and a tour of the university areas in Tehran showed only a minimal police presence, regular evening traffic and no gatherings, AFP correspondents said.
In recent months, police and special forces units have also been out in force in the capital, officially to help crack down on bad driving amid an effort to cut Iran's massive highway death toll.
During anti-regime protests last summer, some 4,000 people were arrested. On the anniversary itself in 2003, protestors merely took to the streets of Tehran in their cars, honking their horns, with the sidewalks and universities patrolled by huge numbers of police.
Iran army in new clashes with Turkish Kurdish rebels
TEHRAN, July 10 (AFP) - Iranian troops killed two Turkish Kurdish rebels in clashes close to the Iraqi border, Tehran dailies said Saturday, amid reports of a major offensive by Tehran on Ankara's behalf.
The latest fighting took place on Thursday near the town of Baneh, in the far northwest of Kordestan province, some 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the nearest part of Turkey, the papers said.
"These people had illegally crossed the border, ruined border villages and extorted money from residents," the Hambastegi newspaper quoted an unidentified official as saying.
The new fighting comes hot on the heels of deadly clashes near the Turkish border between Iranian troops and the rebels from the former Kurdistan Workers' Party, now known as Kongra-Gel.
Deputy Interior Minister Ali Asghar Ahmadi said two Iranian soldiers and eight rebels were killed in the June 28 clashes. A pro-Kurdish news agency said 16 soldiers and four rebels died.
The Germany-based MHA news agency said Iranian security forces had launched "a comprehensive operation" against the former PKK late last month after the rebels abandoned a five-year unilateral ceasefire with Ankara on June 1.
Ahmadi is himself to travel to Turkey Monday to discuss joint moves to tackle armed groups holed up in the mountainous border region.
Turkish defence sources have already hailed what they described as a "large-scale" operation against the former PKK by the Iranian army.
Turkey and Iran have in recent years intensified cooperation on security matters, including against the former PKK, after a chilly period during which the two sides accused each other of sheltering their respective dissidents.
Iran has a large Kurdish minority of its own and shares Turkey's determination to stamp out any moves by the community towards greater autonomy.
Some 37,000 people were killed and hundreds of thousands driven from their homes during Ankara's suppression of the PKK's 1984-99 insurgency in southeastern Turkey.
Most of the group's militants are since believed to have taken refuge in northern Iraq.
US firm is part of nuclear black market
VIENNA: An investigation of the black market supplying countries wanting nuclear arms has spread to more than 20 firms some of them North American the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief told The Associated Press on Friday. A senior diplomat identified one of the firms as US based. .
Requesting anonymity, the diplomat also said the Syria and Saudi Arabia are also being investigated as possible buyer nations, beyond Iraq, Iran, Libya and North Korea the countries known to have been in contact with Pakistani scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan and members of his alleged network.
But the diplomat, who is familiar with the Vienna-based IAEA told AP that beyond suspicions prompting a continuing investigation, there has been no proof on Syria and Saudi Arabia that would warrant them being reported to the IAEA board of governors.
In separate comments to AP, IAEA Director General Muhammad ElBaradei avoided specifics on the locations of the firms supplying the nuclear black market beyond saying there were in over 20 countries, some of them in North America.
The diplomat said at least one of them was in the United States. He declined to elaborate, saying the agency was not yet at the bottom of that story.
But he said what was known about that company shed new light on the activities of the network, known up to now for primarily supplying technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran as part of the process allowing them to make enriched uranium that can be used either to generate electricity or make weapons.
Kuwait Seizes Three Iranian Fishing Boats -Iran TV
Fri Jul 9, 2004 09:47 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Kuwait has seized three Iranian fishing boats after they strayed into its waters in the latest in a string of incidents involving Iran and its Gulf neighbors, Iranian state television said Friday.
The boats' seizure, which appears to reflect stricter enforcement of territorial boundaries by Iran and its Gulf neighbors in recent weeks, came just two weeks after Iran captured and held three British naval vessels and their eight crew for three days.
The latest spat with Kuwait comes after an Iranian fishing boat was captured in the waters of the United Arab Emirates last month. Another Iranian fishing boat was fired upon by a Qatari naval vessel and later seized in similar circumstances.
Iran, which has made efforts to improve relations with its Arab neighbors under President Mohammad Khatami's reformist government, retaliated by seizing a number of fishing boats from the United Arab Emirates.
State television said Iran's embassy in Kuwait had confirmed the seizure of the three Iranian vessels and their crew.
"The Iranian embassy will follow up the issue Saturday," television quoted an unnamed Iranian diplomat as saying.
Kuwait security sources said the incident took place three days ago when the Iranian fishing boats accidentally entered Kuwaiti territorial waters. They said the Iranians had either been released or were in the process of being released.
Iran last month captured three British naval vessels and arrested eight British crewmen in the narrow Shatt al-Arab waterway along the Iran-Iraq border. Iran released the crewmen after three nights in captivity.
Britain said last week Iran had forced the British vessels into Iranian waters while the men were operating inside Iraqi territory, a charge that Iran strongly denies.
Allawi to visit Syria and Iran shortly, the Turkish army warns the Kurds, again
Iraq-Syria, Politics, 7/9/2004
The Turkish army has warned the Kurds of Iraq against the consequences of attempting to change the people's demography in Karkouk, renewing its call on the US to chase the fighters of the Kurdistani Labor Party in northern Iraq, considering that Washington has not succeeded in meeting Ankara's demands to this effect.
Meantime, a spokesman for the Iraqi government said that its chairman Eyad Allawi will pay a visit to Iran, Syria and Kuwait in the framework of a tour in the region " within the coming days" and will also head to London and Brussels.
The spokesman explained that Allawi's tour will also cover Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as " other countries" adding that Allawi will not make his tour at one time.
Meantime, the assistant for the Turkish army chief of staff Gen. Elker Basbough said in an implicit remark to the Kurds of Iraq that " ethnical groups are seeking to change the demographic structure in Karkouk at a time when measures are taken to establish peace in Iraq." He added " we expect the provisional Iraqi government will prevent that," noting the failure in having a " just and durable solution" for Karkouk's situation constitutes a threat for the geographical and political unity of Iraq."
Basbourgh warned that such a development will create great concern in Turkey on the security of the region. On the other hand, Basbourgh warned that the Turkish army will keep its forces positioned in north Iraq as far as the activists of the Kurdistani Labor party are in the region. He said " it is clear that the US has not so far succeeded in taking any effective measure against those terrorists and satisfy our expectations."
Bassiji Kills College Professor in Jahrom
SMCCDI (Information Service)
Jul 10, 2004
In the afternoon of Wednsday 17 Tir (July 7th), the Bassij mercenaries in the city of Jahrom killed a young 26 year old man. His name was Akbar Rahmanian, and he was a College Professor and computer engineer at the Jahrom's Azad university.
Akbar Rahmanian,was arrested on his way home by the Bassij, and after an interrogation on the street he was killed.
A mercenary by the name of Youssefi shot him in the shoulder and head, killing him instantly. This new murder has enraged the Jahromis and the students who are seeking justice.
Iran's supreme leader proposes national costume
July 10, 2004, 15:26
Iranians should design a national costume of which they can be proud but should not take their lead from the pages of Western fashion magazines, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, was quoted as saying today. Conservatives have recently launched a crackdown on young women who flout Iran's strict Islamic dress codes by wearing figure-hugging coats and allowing hair to spill out from under their headscarves.
But Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters, said there was no need for panic. "The young people in this country are pure believers and joyful and are very interested in Islam," he was quoted as telling young people in the western city of Hamadan. The Sharq daily said he returned to the idea of a national costume which he floated years ago.
"Arabs, Indians, Indonesians and Africans have their own costumes and they are proud of them," Khamenei said. "I say sit down and design a national costume. But I am not saying that it should be something dating back to 500 years ago," he added. "I am saying if you want to cut your hair short, if you want to change the way you put on make-up, if you want to change the way you walk - then do it."
"If fashion designers in Europe and America design a kind of clothes for men and women in their fashion magazines, should we copy them in Tehran, Mashhad and Hamadan? That would be bad," he said. "Cultural mimicry is a big danger, but don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to fashion, variety and innovation."
Khamenei, normally attired in black turban and long clerical robes, said there was nothing wrong with coats and trousers and that from time to time he would wear a western-style raincoat. A national costume would be of particular interest to hardline cleric Ahmad Khatami, who expressed his fears on sartorial freedoms to the Hambastegi newspaper.
"Some women appear in the streets half a millimetre from breaking the Islamic dress code. It is a very dangerous trend," he said. - Reuters
Author of "Millionaire Mullahs" Shot Dead
July 10, 2004
For Paul Klebnikov's, "Millionaire Mullahs" article, click here
MOSCOW, Russia -- Paul Klebnikov, the editor of Forbes Russia who once penned a critical book on Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky, was shot and killed as he left work Friday.
"Paul was a superb reporter -- courageous, energetic, ever-curious," Steve Forbes, the president and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine, said in a statement sent to all employees.
"He exemplified the finest traditions of our profession and served his readers well. All of us at Forbes are devastated by what has happened and send our condolences and prayers to his wife and family."
Klebnikov was shot four times and died shortly afterward. He was leaving the Forbes Russia office in Moscow when he was gunned down.
Klebnikov was the first editor of Forbes Russia, which launched in April with a circulation of about 40,000.
The magazine contains content based on the Forbes U.S. edition, but also includes Russian business news.
In 2000, Klebnikov wrote a book on Berezovsky titled, "Godfather of the Kremlin: The Decline of Russia in the Age of Gangster Capitalism."
Berezovsky was a one-time Russian car dealer who became one of the richest men in Russia after the fall of Communism.
"This individual had risen out of nowhere to become the richest businessman in Russia and one of the most powerful individuals in the country," Klebnikov wrote.
Klebnikov joined Forbes in 1989 and rose to the position of senior editor at the magazine, specializing in Russian and Eastern European politics, before heading up the Forbes Russia venture.
"He knew Russia well. It was a country he loved deeply," Forbes said.
By Delphine Minoui
Posted Saturday, July 10, 2004
PARIS, 10 July (IPS) Younger Iranians, including the students, fed up with 25 years of constant religious propaganda by the regime, are looking to new ways to succeed in life, far away from the official ideology.
In an article published Saturday by the French centre right newspaper Le Figaro, Ms. Delphine Minoui, the papers correspondent in Tehran says the new source of imitation for the young Iranians are no more the grand ayatollahs, but those who have made fortune thanks to their initiatives.
The article coincides with the fifth commemoration of the students revolt against the Islamic Republic, an event that had been prohibited by the authorities, deploying massive police forces in Tehran and other major cities to prevent any demonstrations by the students.
Although the date passed without major demonstrations, but officials admitted the arrest of some five hundreds trouble-makers they said had nothing to do with the students.
As the regime stopped the students to mark the savage assault on students who were demonstrating peacefully in their dormitories the closure of a popular newspaper, the Office for Consolidating Unity, the Iranian students largest organisation called on the United Nations to help them identifying the culprits of the nightly raid that resulted in the arrest of hundreds of students, the wounding of hundred others and the death of at least one.
Since all our efforts to have the culprits brought to trial have reached no conclusion, we call on international organisations to put pressures on the Iranian authorities in the identification of those responsible for the savage operation against the students, the OCU said in a communiqué.
As all good Shiite who respects itself, Babak Moradi possesses a "marja", a "source of imitation", spiritual guide to which the Iranians refer traditionally in important moments of their life. But contrary to his coreligionists, the young Tehrani of 24 years didn't choose an ayatollah in turban and white beard. His "marja" is called Jack Welch, the former Chairman of the American giant General Electric, the article starts.
"I read a great number of his books", confess Babak, who has just finished brilliantly studies in industrial management at the Shahid Behechti University. "He is an aged and experienced man, but has remained young in his head. For me, it is very important. He is creative and looks toward the future. He is a true manager, but above all, an excellent coach". He adds.
Tired of the repetitive speeches of the religious who rule the country since twenty-five years, the new Iranian generation sulks the politics. For the commemoration of the students riots of the summer 1999, the majority of the students opted for silence. Disappointed by the failure of the reforms initiated in 1997 by President Khatami, disgusted by the return in strength of the conservatives that have taken back the majority in the new Parliament and controlled closely by the police and judicial forces, they are in quest of new models of reference.
To the collective mobilization experienced by their parents at the time of the revolution of 1979, they prefer a more individual approach, a violent, underground revolt. Hence the hitherto boom of the reading of books touching to the spiritual, to psychology, to the techniques of communication and to the individual's success.
"My generation lived the post-revolution years, then the Iran-Iraq War. Today, the religious are incapable to meet our expectations. There is no freedom, no economic outlets. My only way to escape is the reading of books that gives me the keys to success", says Forouzan, a 35 years-old secretary. "The Iranians live in an environment that is closed on them", analyses the Iranian novelist Moniroo Ravanipour, who also keeps a small bookstore. "They live in a stuffy environment that they cannot change. Therefore, while reading these books, they try to change themselves", she says.
On the Avenue Enqelab, just in front of the university of Tehran, the windows of the bookstores overflow with books to the appetizing stocks: How better to know oneself. The Alphabet of Joy. The Vitamins of the hope etc.. Hossein Sadeghi, bookseller of 25 years, also specializes in this kind of works. "It is an excellent business. These are the books best sold. I sometimes sell more than a hundred of them in a week", he says.
Hossein Sadeghi knew how to evolve with his time. After the election of Khatami, seven years ago, and the softening of censorship, political and philosophical essays quickly conquered the Iranian public, thirsty of novelties. But the fashion is the translation of the works of American "gurus" like Anthony Robins. "The translation of his last book is now in its 24th print", Sadeghi points out.
House made gurus have also made its apparition in Tehran. "Not only you must respect the other, but you must respect yourself first, is the advise of Fakhrian Khoshiar, in his book Recover confidence in oneself in one day. One has also to add the specialized magazines that offer a multitude of miracle recipes. The more in vogue is called Movafaqiat (Success). Its director even proposes seminaries based on "the techniques of the success".
One is well far from the religious ideals that the regime tries to impose. "I am Moslem and I accept the Islam", says Maryam, adding, "but the religious don't know how to speak to the young. When I read their books, it is the true gibberish", she says.
Editors note: This is a free translation of Ms. Minoui article.


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Birds of Prey at Michigan Tech Thursday, Oct. 29
October 28, 2009—
What does an owl's ear look like? Do owls have eyelashes? What does a facial disk do?
On Thursday, Oct. 29, the nonprofit Upper Peninsula Raptor Rehab and Wildlife Center will present a free program at Michigan Tech that's not just for bird lovers, "Whoo's in Houghton?" Area schools will be bringing students to four 45-minute programs throughout the day, starting hourly at 10:30 a.m. From 5 to 8:30 p.m., the public is invited to stop by, view the birds and ask questions. The programs will be held outside of the Walker Arts and Humanities Center.
The presentation is sponsored by the Wadsworth Hall Student Association. WHSA volunteers, representatives of the School of Forest Resources and Environmental Science and a Michigan DNR education and outreach specialist will be participating in the morning's activities.
The nonprofit Upper Peninsula Raptor Rehab and Wildlife Center is owned and operated by Gayle and Randy Bruntjens of Gladstone. The birds in the program all suffer from injuries or disabilities that prevent them from being returned to the wild. A Cooper's hawk, a barred owl and a great horned owl will be featured. The center was established in March 2006. "Before then, there were no state or federally licensed facilities in the Upper Peninsula that could take in injured birds of prey," said Gayle Bruntjens.
For more information, contact Rebecca Prich, programming coordinator for WHSA, at email@example.com .
Michigan Technological University (www.mtu.edu) is a leading public research university developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering; forest resources; computing; technology; business; economics; natural, physical and environmental sciences; arts; humanities; and social sciences.


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Christian Today, a daily published newspaper for the Christian world with centre in London, devoted a place to Reuters news agency's interview with Mr. Adnan Oktar, under the title "Muslim creationist preaches Islam, awaits Christ", in its web page dated 20 June 2008. You can read the text of the interview from here.
Harun Yahya is one of the most widely distributed authors in the Muslim world… His glossy books and DVDs on religion and science sell in Islamic bookshops around the globe… and lets readers download much of his work from his websites for free… Adnan Oktar –the 52 year-old Turk behind the pseudonym Harun Yahya- caught the attention of scientists and teachers in Europe and North America by his 768-page "Atlas of Creation".
Harun is Arabic for Aaron, the brother of Moses. Yahya is Arabic for John... "Harun was the helper of the Prophet Moses. Yahya was also the helper of Jesus Christ." Oktar said. "When Jesus Christ comes to the world, we also would like to be helping him…You might say this is a prayer for that."
Oktar said Koran verses and sayings of Prophet Mohammed about the end of the world revealed Jesus would return as soon as a Muslim to help Islam's savior, the Mahdi, defeat the Dajjal or Islamic Anti-Christ and establish Islam around the world. "Our biggest project right now is to lay the grounds for the coming of Jesus Christ" he said…


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Texts capture judge's rift with daughter he beat
Updated 2:25 am, Tuesday, October 9, 2012
BROWNSVILLE — The former wife of the family court judge shown beating his daughter in a video that went viral on YouTube last year said in a news release Monday that the judge used his daughter's college fund to make payments for her Mercedes-Benz before confiscating it to drive himself.
Aransas County Court-at-Law Judge William Adams has not responded publicly in the year since now-24-year-old Hillary Adams posted the video, other than to issue a note claiming she was retaliating because he took away the car and threatened to withdraw financial support.
The judge last week signed off on a public warning from the State Commission on Judicial Conduct and is waiting for the Supreme Court of Texas to decide whether to lift a paid suspension imposed in the aftermath of the Oct. 27, 2011, video upload.
Hillary Adams secretly recorded the video from a camera on top of her dresser in 2004, when she was 16.
Hallie Adams, who was divorced from Adams in 2007, said text messages showed that the judge demanded the car back after Hillary posted unflattering tweets about him.
News Channel
After the video release, the judge texted, "Why Hillary?"
She answered, "Because you bullied and bullied me and my mother. ..."
"You beat me even though I was the best kid in town," she wrote. "Above all, I want to put you in your place. You have been a powerful tyrant long enough."
Hallie Adams, shown in the video going along with the beating, since has said she was under the thumb of an abusive man and that she has submitted a lengthy grievance to the commission.