According to Halperin, 50-year-old Jackson has been diagnosed with Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency, a genetic condition that can be fatal in severe cases, and the singer is now so ill he can barely speak and has lost as much as 95 per cent of the vision in his left eye. "He has had Alpha 1-antitrypsin deficiency for years but it's gotten worse. He needs a lung transplant but may be too weak to go through with it. "He also has emphysema and chronic gastrointestinal bleeding which his doctors have had a lot of trouble stopping. It's the bleeding that's the most problematic part. It could kill him," Halperin said. Author Halperin has also claimed that Jackson's lung conditions -- which affects only one in 5,000 Americans -- has been difficult to treat due to its associated health problems. "For years, Mikaeel has been working with his own doctors to try to make sure it doesn't progress. He has been on many medications that have stabilised him," he was quoted by the British newspaper as saying. Though Jackson's official spokeswoman wouldn't comment on Halperin's claims but his elder brother Jermaine seemed to have confirmed that the singer has serious health issues. "He is not doing so well right now. This isn't a good time," he told America's 'Fox TV News'. |
Tuesday, 23 December 2008
Michael Jackson 'close to death': reports
Piramal Healthcare acquires US company
India's major Pharma and healthcare company, Piramal Healthcare Tuesday announced acquisition of Minrad International, an US-based generic inhalation anesthetics provider, for a total consideration of $40 million.
Piramal Group Chairman Ajay Piramal told newspersons here that the offer to Minrad was in consistent with the commitment of Piramal to build a serious global presence in critical care. He said the strategic combination would give Piramal access to key intellectual property for the manufacture of inhalation anesthetics, including process based intellectual property for both servoflurane and desflurane and would provide Piramal an immediate entry into the US market for selvoflurane, the largest selling inhalation anesthetic in that country.
He said the two companies have signed a definitive merger agreement under which Minrad will merge with a newly incorporated wholly owned subsidiary of Piramal.
If the merger is completed shareholders of Minrad would receive $0.12 per share in cash.
In connection with the merger agreement, Piramal has also agreed to acquire Minrad's 89 per cent senior secured convertible notes from the note holders.
The total consideration for the merger and acquisition of the notes, in cash plus the assumption of debt would be approximately $40 million.
The transaction was conditional on approval by Minrad's shareholders and other customary closing conditions. It was not subject to any financing contingency and was expected to close in the first quarter of next fiscal.
Upon merger the combined Company would have marketing and sales presence in 108 countries. The Board of the two companies had approved the move.
Concurrently with the signing of the merger agreement, Piramal provided Minrad with a senior secured loan of $12 million to provide it with capital for operations during the period preceding the closing of the merger.
65-year-old bulb still shines, and outshines all
It withstood German air raids on London in the second world war. It defied the British police opposed to its presence. And it continues to survive, about to outlive the store it was brought from. This is the story of a light bulb, aged 65.
The 40-watt bulb, which still works, now has the pride of place in a china cabinet at the home of Valerie Beaney, 68, whose late mother Rose Allen bought it from Woolworths in 1943.
Woolworths is now insolvent because of the credit crunch and all the shops of the British retail chain will close between coming Saturday and next January.
The bulb survived the bombing of London in the second world war. Rose and her husband Jack were then living in Waklthanstow in east London. Their building took bomb hits, but nothing happened to the bulb.
Defying British black-out rules, the bulb illumined the Allen's bedroom. They were even fined for it, but the Allens never put it off. It was under its light that their younger daughter Elaine - sister of Vaierie - was born.
When Jack died 10 years ago, Rose moved to a house in Kent. The bulb went with her and was used in her spare bedroom.
When Rose died three years ago, aged 92, daughter Valerie, who lives nearby, decided to preserve the light bulb that has outlived Woolies, as Woolworths is fondly known.
She wrote to Woolworths, whose customer relations department told her they were “amazed” the bulb had lasted so long.
Valerie told Daily Mail: “The bulb my mother bought all those years ago still lights up, although I am very careful not to drop it on the rare occasions that I show it to people.
“Although I am very sad to see Woolworths go, at least the wonder of Woolies shines on through our little bulb.”
The world's oldest working bulb is a carbon-filament lamp with a hand-blown glass bulb which was first switched on in the summer of 1901 in the hose-cart house of the fire department of Livermore, California, US.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, the bulb manufactured by the Shelby Electric Company, is still lighting up.
Untouchables enter Rajasthan temple
There was a sense of pride, jubilation and certainly relief as 55-year-old Shanti Chamar finally entered a temple, performed puja and shared food with upper caste people here in an attempt to bring equality and social assimilation.
Chamar and scores of scavengers tagged as untouchables by India's orthodox caste system finally achieved their dream of social equality in this Rajasthan town.
"Since my birth I had not entered a temple. Today I feel liberated and have achieved what I have been dreaming for years," she told IANS after coming out of Jagannath temple here.
"From now on, I will visit the temple every morning. Like Bramhins and other people, I can pray to my god," she said wearing a clean sky-blue saree as nearly 50 other women of the same caste clapped to support her and express their feeling of "liberation".
"We had left the dirty job (of cleaning toilets and carrying human excreta on the head) a couple of years back but the stigma still continued. It finally ended today (Sunday)," said Lalita, 40.
Lalita said her 14-year-old daughter has been complaining about their social status and now she can go to school and temple without anyone asking her about her family profession.
"I will tell all my fellow women who are still doing the job to quit and do some other work. But let me tell you, this is a dream come true," said Nitu Goyar, 33.
Amid hundreds of people and scores of journalists from several states, these women shared offering from the temple and then lunch - dal, rice, bread and vegetable curry - with people in their village, Hajuri Gate.
Pandit Debanand Sharma, the chief priest of the temple, said: "This is definitely a great day for our people from all castes. I believe god is of everyone and no one should be discriminated."
Bindeshwar Pathak, the founder of the Sulabh International, an NGO working for the socio-economic emancipation of these scavengers, said: "For last four decades, I have been trying for this day. With this development, I can say Gandhiji's dream of equality got fulfilled."
"Though there is still a long way to go to dispel untouchability, this humble step is a step forward in this direction," Pathak said.
Though Indian government claims that they have liberated most of the scavengers, there are thousands who still need social and economic upliftment.
Indian-American CEO of tech firm shot to death
An Indian-American CEO of a semiconductor company was shot dead along with two other persons by a laid-off employee of the firm in northern California, police said.
Sid Agrawal, the chief executive officer of SiPort Inc, the company's vice president of operations Brian Pugh and an unidentified woman was killed when several rounds were fired on the premises of the firm in Santa Clara on Friday.
Police said investigators are searching for Jing Hua Wu, 47, in connection with the shooting. Jing worked as a lead product test engineer for the four-year-old firm, media reports here said.
Police said he had recently been laid off from the company and investigators are exploring that as a possible motive in the shooting. It is believed that a handgun was used in the shooting, a police official told reporters.
Police released a description of the vehicle in which Jiang is believed to have fled and launched a manhunt for him. According to his biography in the company's website, Agrawal had more than 25 years of experience at startup and established high-technology companies, including at Adobe, Intel and Bell Labs.
He held a degree in Electrical Engineering from IIT-Kanpur, an MS degree from Southern Illinois University and an MBA from the University of Chicago.
Rolls-royce to power Dubai water taxis
A fleet of new water taxis powered by Rolls-Royce waterjets is being introduced here by the Road Transport Authority to help improve transport infrastructure in this gulf city. This is the first order for waterjets for water taxis in the UAE where Rolls-Royce is already a supplier of marine, aerospace and energy power systems in the region. The first of ten catamaran-based vessels, a modern version of the traditional water taxi, is scheduled to carry out sea trials in August 2009. The Deliveries are due to be completed by early 2010. "Waterjets are ideal for these taxis because they are most efficient at speeds of about 30 knots and upwards," Esa Uotinen, the regional manager Marine, at Rolls-Royce said. "They are lightweight, simple to maintain and enables vessels excellent manoeuvre ability coupled with high speed," he said. Each water taxi is capable of more than 30 knots and will be able to carry 11 passengers. They will work around the Dubai Creek as well as the Dubai coast to provide a more modern, flexible and integrated public transport service. The heart of a waterjet unit is a pump, usually driven by a shaft from a diesel engine or gas turbine, which draws in water through a sloping intake duct from under the boat's hull, and discharges it through an aft-facing nozzle. The result is a thrust that drives the vessel forward. Fast patrol boats built by Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) here are already powered by Rolls-Royce waterjets. Earlier, ADSB and Rolls-Royce signed a service agreement covering waterjets in the region and a new Marine Service Facility is expected to come up soon in Dubai. |
Google to offer search of old magazines
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San Francisco: Google is teaming up with dozens of publishers to index old magazines and make them available online, according to a blog posting by the company. The move is another facet of Google's ambition to organize the world's information and comes two years after the tech search giant embarked on a scheme to scan and index millions of books. In September, the company launched a project to digitize newspaper archives, making millions of old newspaper articles searchable online. The new offering allows users to browse magazine covers and to delve into individual issues, which will be presented in exactly the same way as they first appeared in print, including all the ads. The magazine pages will be shown alongside contemporary Google ads and links to publishers' web sites. Dozens of publishers have already signed on for the project. Among the magazines already available are New York Magazine, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science and Ebony. "Over time, as we scan more articles, you'll see more and more magazines appear in Google book search results," wrote Dave Foulser, the software engineer in charge of the project. "Eventually, we'll also begin blending magazine results into our main Google.com search results, so you may begin finding magazines you didn't even know you were looking for," he said. |
NVIDIA brings supercomputing to the desktop
US technology firm NVIDIA rolled out high-performance "personal supercomputers" that let desktop workstations handle mind-boggling tasks once far beyond their capabilities. Computers built with innovative NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) are capable of handling calculations typically relegated to expensive supercomputing "clusters", a technology breakthrough the company says could soon bring lightning speeds to the next generation of computers aimed at the consumer market.
NVIDIA's Tesla Personal Supercomputers deliver approximately 250 times the processing power of current computer workstations for similar prices, according to the California-based company.
"This changes everything. This supercomputing power is being brought to the workstation," Tesla computing products general manager Andy Keane said.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other universities and research facilities are already using GPU-based personal supercomputers. "GPU-based systems enable us to run life science codes in minutes rather than the hours it took earlier," said Jack Collins of the Advanced Biomedical Computing Centre in the US state of Maryland. "This exceptional speedup has the ability to accelerate the discovery of potentially life-saving anti-cancer drugs."
NVIDIA, founded in 1993, became renowned for GPUs that drive sophisticated computer game and video hardware.
World's first eco-computer produced in Ireland
The world's first biodegradable computer, the iameco, has been manufactured in Dublin from bio-degradable wood panels made from waste products in the lumber and pulp industry.
During a visit to the company by Ireland's Minister for Science and Innovation, Jimmy Devins, the inventors of iameco, MicroPro Computers Ltd, said they could implant the seeds of native-tree species into the wood panels.
The minister's visit coincided with the announcement of details of a new Enterprise Ireland Green Technology Support for businesses.
"Our business is built around green technologies and using them to produce healthier, more energy-efficient and cheaper computers that have less impact on the environment," said Paul Maher, chief of MicroPro.
He added: "One advantage of iameco is that when the components are buried in landfill the wood gets wet, breaks down and new plants begin to grow from old computers."
In addition to the iameco computer, which uses one third less energy than conventional computers, the biodegradable wood can also be used to manufacture the computer monitor casing, keyboard and mouse.
Commenting on the success of iameco, Devins said: "The iameco computer story is a true example of innovation at work. Not only have MicroPro Computers developed a new, profitable product range but consumers now have the option of buying an environment friendly computer or TV."
He added: "Enterprise Ireland's GreenTech Support can help companies find ways to reduce air pollution and effluents, conserve water and save energy in the workplace as well as come up with new environmentally friendly products."
Microsoft issues emergency patch for IE
Microsoft has issued an emergency patch for its Internet Explorer browser, aiming to fix a critical flaw that allowed hackers to take over computers merely by steering them to infected websites.
Microsoft Wednesday took the rare step of issuing the patch after numerous security experts advised people to switch to rival browsers until Microsoft fixed the problem. Microsoft usually releases patches on a set schedule and this is only the third emergency patch in the last three years.
The flaw has been in circulation since the first week of December. So far, more than two million computers are believed to have been infected, according to PC Magazine.
The vulnerabilities are found on copies of Internet Explorer 7, as well as IE6 and IE5. The patch is designed to prevent attackers from downloading malware onto users' computers if they visit a malicious Web site, or a legitimate Web site that has been infected.
Vulnerabilities found in VLC Media Player
ermany: A security hole has been discovered in the VLC Media Player, the German Federal Agency for Security in Information Technology (BSI) here reported.
Attackers can exploit this vulnerability using rigged Real Media files (file ending with "rm") to install malicious software onto the user's computer. The victim has just to open the manipulated multimedia file.
VLC Media Player versions prior to release 0.9.8 are affected, BSI reports.
The software maker has fixed the problem for Version 0.9.8, but to date has only made the source code available.
All VLC Media Player users are advised to remove the file libreal_plugin.* manually from the VLC plug-in installation directory.
Human bone marrow synthesised in lab
Artificial bone marrow that can continuously make red and white blood cells has been synthesised in a lab for the first time. This could lead to simpler pharmaceutical drug testing, closer study of immune system defects and a continuous supply of blood for transfusions.
To determine whether the substance behaves like real bone marrow, the scientists implanted it in mice with immune deficiencies. They produced human immune cells and blood vessels grew through the substance.
Cancer-fighting chemotherapy drugs can strongly suppress bone marrow function, leaving the body more susceptible to infection.
The new artificial marrow could allow researchers to test how a new drug at certain potencies would affect bone marrow function, said Nicholas Kotov, co-author of the study and professor in University of Michigan departments of chemical and bio-medical engineering.
"This could assist in drug development and catch severe side effects before human drug trials," he said.
The substance grows on a 3-D scaffold that mimics the tissues supporting bone marrow in the body,
Kotov and Joan Nichols, professor at the University of Texas, collaborated on many aspects of the project.
"This is the first successful artificial bone marrow," Kotov said. "It has two of the essential functions of bone marrow. It can replicate blood stem cells and produce B cells. The latter are the key immune cells producing antibodies that are important to fighting many diseases."
Blood stem cells give rise to blood as well as several other types of cells. B cells, a type of white blood cell, battle colds, bacterial infections, and other foreign or abnormal cells including some cancers.
Bone marrow is a complicated organ to replicate, Kotov said. Vital to the success of this new development is the 3-D scaffold on which the artificial marrow grows. This lattice had to have a high number of precisely-sized pores to stimulate cellular interaction.
The scaffolds are made of a transparent polymer that nutrients can easily pass through. To create the scaffolds, scientists moulded the polymer with tiny spheres ordered like billiard balls. Then, they dissolved the spheres to leave the perfect geometry of pores in the scaffold.
The scaffolds were then seeded with bone marrow stromal cells and osteoblasts, another type of bone marrow cell, said a Michigan university release. The findings were published online in Biomaterials.
"The scaffold for this work had to be designed from scratch closely mimicking real bone marrow because there are no suitable commercially available products," Kotov said.
Pak soldier among three terrorists held in J&K
Jammu and Kashmir Police have averted a major terror strike with the arrest of three Jaish-e-Mohammad fidayeen (suicide bombers).
All the three terrorists belong to Pakistan and one of them, Gulam Fareed, is a serving Pakistani Army soldier. Fareed joined the infantry battalion of the Pakistan Army as a sepoy in 2001.
Fareed joined the 10 AK Regiment of Pakistani Army in 2001 and his belt number is 4319148.
He was selected from the Pakistani Army by Jaish to carry out terror strike in India and police claim say he is still serving in the Army.
Director General of Police, Jammu, Kuldeep Khoda confirmed that the three terrorists arrested were planning an attack in Jammu to disrupt the ongoing Assembly polls.
"Questioning has revealed that all three of them had come from Pakistan. They all belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit and they had been deputed here to launch fidayeen attack. One of them revealed that he had been trained to take a loaded vehicle to a target which would be subsequently identified and exploded,” said Khoda.
All the fidayeen were reportedly trained by Jaish-e-Mohammad chief Maulana Masood Azhar's younger brother Mufti Abdul Rauf.
Police also say a Jaish camp in Karachi has been operating under the patronage of Pakistani Army just outside the Cantonment in the cty.
They were in Rawalpindi with Mufti Abdul Rauf and from there the three terrorists went to Karachi from where they took a flight to Dhaka.
They infiltrated into India through West Bengal and then took a train from Kolkata and reached Jammu. They checked into a hotel near the railway station from there they moved to hotel in Jammu city to carry out their plans.
The guide for the terrorists was to come from Kashmir but he could not reach as the roads have been blocked due to heavy snowfall. The local terrorists were to give ammunition and specify a target for the attack.
Police sources say that four more terrorists are reported to have infiltrated with the three arrested terrorists.
The arrests come just two days after the Jammu police arrested four suspected terrorists including the commander of Harkat-ul-Jehadi-Islami at the Jammu railway station on Sunday.
The final phase of elections is on December 24 in which 21 Assembly constituencies will vote.
India - Centre rushes Army chief to Siachen
In view of the heightening tension with Pakistan, the central government on Tuesday rushed Army chief General Deepak Kapoor to Siachen Glacier and forward areas of Jammu and Kashmir to check the operational preparedness of the troops.
Government sources told PTI in New Delhi that General Kapoor left for Siachen Glacier on Tuesday morning and will be there for a day to interact with unit commanders and senior officers before returning to New Delhi after taking stock of the situation.
Gen Kapoor would also visit some of the remote areas in Jammu and Kashmir along the borders with Pakistan to interact with the troops posted there, the sources said.
His sudden trip to the forward areas comes at a time when the government has stated that it is not ruling out any option in its fight against terrorism emanating from Pakistani soil in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and some senior ministers had deliberations with the armed forces' top brass at the PMO in South Block, following which it is believed that Defence Minister A K Antony directed that all leave to military personnel be cancelled till April next year in view of the situation along the borders.
Since the Mumbai carnage, Army units along the borders with Pakistan have been maintaining a close vigil.
Some of IAF fighter aircraft squadrons in bases in forward areas have been on a 'cockpit alert' under which the force remains ready for military operations.
Taliban pledges support to Pak in war against India
Hunted by the United States and NATO forces for committing acts of terror in Afghanistan, the Taliban on Tuesday said they would back the Pakistan Army by deploying hundreds of suicide bombers in case of any military action with India.
Claiming that 'thousands of our well-armed militants are ready to fight alongside the army if any war is imposed on Pakistan', chief of the outlawed Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Baitullah Mehsud, told The News daily by phone from an undisclosed location.
Hundreds of would-be bombers had been 'given suicide jackets and explosive-laden vehicles for protection of the border in case of any aggression by the Indian forces', he said.
'The time had come, to wage a real jihad that the Taliban had been waiting for,' Mehsud, for whom the Pakistani and US forces are on the look out claimed.
'We know very well that the visible and invisible enemies of the country have been planning to weaken this lone Islamic nuclear power. But the mujahideen will foil all such nefarious designs of our enemies,' he said.
This is for the first time Mehsud has admitted that Taliban has marshalled thousands of fighters close to the Afghan-Pak border and where Pakistani army has launched a major operation to flush them out.
Mehsud said people might question how the Taliban would fight alongside the Pakistan Army when the militants had been fighting the force for a long time.
'Therefore, I want to make it clear that the army was acting otherwise (in the past). But now it would fight for the protection and survival of the country, which is why we will support them,' Mehsud said.
Mehsud, who was accused by former President Pervez Musharraf of masterminding the assassination of Pakistan People's Party chairperson Benazir Bhutto in December last year, significantly said the Taliban would defend the country's frontier with Afghanistan in the event of hostilities with India.
He said he wanted to 'assure the nation, government and army that they should not worry about Pakistan's western borders with Afghanistan' as 'thousands of his armed fighters had already been deployed to safeguard the strategically important frontier'.
Taliban fighters are ready to fight under the army's command, he said, but remarked it would be better for the military to 'give them a separate sector or specify special targets for the militants'.
Tensions have escalated in the region after India blamed Pakistan-elements for the Mumbai terror attacks, which killed over 180 people. India has asked Pakistan to take action against elements, including the Lashkar-e-Tayiba terror group.
Though India has said war is not an option, Pakistan's top leaders, including Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, have said the country is prepared to face any aggression on the eastern border. Several Taliban commanders have pledged their support to the Pakistan Army in the event of hostilities with India.
Blog in, reach out
| Both intensely private and daringly public, blogs are becoming the young urban woman's medium to reveal the most intimate feelings |
For a techno-savvy young woman trapped in the traditional set-up, a blog is a great getaway. — Photo: AP
WHO IS BridalBeer? Her blog reads: Single, 20s, was briefly in love. I was in New York for long enough to miss it. Now I am in India, training to be a wife-for-life to a relative stranger (not a stranger who is a relative, we don't do those).
BridalBeer (telling name!) was in love with someone in NYC. And is now back in a joint family in Kolkata tamely chatting on IM (Instant Messenger) to "Almost Engaged (to me)", a boy her parents have found for her. Her stream of consciousness blog tells about her everyday life, her parents' hunt for a suitable boy for her, and often reminisces longingly on a more-perfect life of freedom and discovery in New York.
BridalBeer is the profile of a new blogger, who is increasingly asserting in cyberspace the control over her environment that might be missing in actuality. Cyber identities project selectively: only what the blogger wants to be known about themselves and their lives, and the way in which they want to communicate are available to the general public. They may post photos of themselves, their babies, their boyfriends, their kitchen cabinets. Of course, not all young women bloggers in India use blogs in the same way.
`My life'
Consider Compulsive Confessor. This young journalist's blog defiantly declares that she "goes out for drinks pretty regularly. That's my life and that's what I write about. Okay? Okay." We hear in detail just what CC thinks of various parts of Rahul Bose's anatomy, and how single status is getting to her. Often, a girl's blog is her companion and emerges merely as today's i-Pod-wielding generation's secret diary.
At first, blogging was hailed as the Great New Way to subvert or at least bypass mainstream media. It seemed to emerge from a culture of indymedia, from resistance movements, from people writing out from war zones and repressive regimes (such as Salam Pax from Iraq). But now, in India, blogging is as effective a tool for a different profile — the profile that matrimonial ads are made of: young, urban, single, highly educated women. Sometimes living alone in a big city busy charting their career trajectory; at other times cloistered within the tight embrace of a large joint family, waiting to be married. This is the young Indian woman who can't always say what she would really like to and so turns instead to the modern-age secret diary.
"Basically it's a form of release," says one regular blogger from Bangalore. "Sometimes you're forced to keep quiet. But your blog is your world where you make rules... and others have to follow them! There's no policing."
Even while physically present in a room full of assertive relatives wanting to "Do Internet" (as BridalBeer describes it) the young woman blogger can shortcut into an alternate world, a world where she can be as honest as she wants to be, and importantly, as uncensored as she wishes. BridalBeer tells MetroPlus: "My blog defines my reality and to that extent, BridalBeer is a creative escape from tragicomic maladies of daily life. It is therapeutic, in the way fun is."
Although all blogs may be equal, some blogs are more, well, popular than others. Unlike in a diary, a blog usually allows for comments after every post, a good indication of how many people read your blog. It's also a way to build your own community, privy to the most intimate details of your day... all without any clue as to what your real name might be.
A blogger explains, "It's a nice way to get some feedback and find other people who think like me. On a blog you find your own community and it's still anonymous; it gives you the distance missing in a face-to-face."
Qualitative researcher Dina Mehta with interests in new cultures of communication cautions about seeing blogs as a way for many women to communicate since "the entry barriers for blogging are very high; you have to actually set up a page and maintain it and be very comfortable with writing as a medium." She points out that another popular option "is a chatroom where you can discuss the most intimate things with your chosen circle — your buddy list."
But chatrooms don't allow the development of identities as blogs do. Constructed on-line, blog identities are often shorn of the usual layers developed in order to be "acceptable" in urban, middle-class Indian society. So young women can talk about Rahul Bose's rear and how every girl needs an imaginary boyfriend with little expectation of being hauled up by hysterical parents. Sex workers can be sex workers, as with Belle de Jour (whose book has now hit the stands). Lesbians can be lesbians. As with the controversial "20-going-on-38" lesbian (Popagandhi) whose blogs were so popular that they caused her host server technical difficulties.
Writing to MetroPlus, she said: "I'm not surprised to see the element of women-blogging-as-means-of-escape: I'd say that would happen to any community that is in any way in the minority, repressed, not given equal privilege etc. Women may be taking to blogging because it allows them to exert control, beyond what they are given in real life, especially in less developed and more patriarchal societies; teens take to blogging especially because it is here in cyberspace that they set the rules. Gays and lesbians may take to blogging because it is there that they can be unclosetted without fear."
Colliding worlds
Already, in Singapore, when a girl breaks up with her boyfriend, she SMSes her friends: "It's all over — read my blog." Real world and blog world often collide harshly though, rupturing the careful divide that once granted independence and control. The Times in London has launched a hunt for call girl Belle de Jour and Popagandhi admits: "I have dates coming home to find out who I am from my site; I have teachers telling me they read me regularly, I've been spotted on the street or in a bar, far too often for comfort."
But she adds that she's "quite protective about what I put up online, even if it doesn't seem so. As much as blogging gives you a voice and a presence easily, it also takes away — all's fair game on the Internet, and a certain amount of responsibility is demanded of you even on the Net where there are supposedly no rules."
For many young women, using blogs and the technology that come with it are more natural than using diaries. In an age where emails have replaced letters, Excel sheets have replaced ledgers, and PDAs are the new little black books, blogs are, but naturally, the most accessible way to vent, ponder, share, and communicate.
Pak ups 'vigilance', air force jets fly low over cities
Pakistani fighter jets flew low near major cities Monday amid tensions with India triggered by last month's terror attacks on Mumbai.
The air force declined to comment on the flights but issued a statement saying that "in view of the current environment, the Pakistan Air Force has enhanced its vigilance".
The apparent exercises briefly delayed two Pakistan International Airlines flights, said a spokesman for the airline.
Several jets were seen flying close to Lahore and Islamabad, alarming some residents, witnesses said.
Last weekend, Pakistan said Indian jets violated its airspace in two parts of the country, but were chased back over the border. New Delhi said there was no violation.
Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan have fought three wars over the last 60 years.
India accuses Pakistani militants of planning and carrying out the attacks on Mumbai.
Pakistan has promised to cooperate, but the strikes have raised tensions nevertheless.
Banned LeT front Jamaat still active in cyberspace
Jamaat-ud-Dawa, the banned frontal organisation of Lashkar-e-Toiba, still has two websites running.
While one of the website is in English and the other is in Urdu and both are being hosted by American companies.
The websites have been unearthed by a Jewish group that fights terrorist groups using the Internet.
The website in English has received 14 posts in the last nine days and one of them is a poem titled 'Manmohan Singh and JuD in a Dream'.
It is illegal for American companies to provide services to Jamaat-ud-Dawa as it is a front for the LeT. But despite the ban, the websites have not been deactivated.
Jamaat was banned earlier in the month by the al-Qaeda and Taliban Sanctions Committee of the United Nations Security Council after it was declared as a terrorist organisation.
The committee has added Jamaat and four Lashkar leaders to a list of firms and people facing sanctions for ties to al-Qaeda or the Taliban, the UN said.
The terrorists added to the sanctions list include Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, which the UN statement described as the leader of the group.
The others are Pakistan-born Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi, the chief of operations, Haji Muhammad Ashraf, the chief of finance, and India-born Mahmoud Mohammad Ahmed Bahaziq, described as a financier for the group who served as its chief in Saudi Arabia.
The same four were hit with US Treasury Department sanctions in May. The UN sanctions, covered by Security Council resolution 1267 from 1999, include the mandatory freezing of assets and travel bans.
PM meets Indian envoys, to turn the heat on Pak
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will be meeting all the 120 heads of Indian missions from across the world in New Delhi on Tuesday and is expected to ask them to keep up building pressure on Pakistan.
The heads of Indian missions are in New Delhi to discuss Mumbai terror attacks, Pakistan's role in instigating the attacks and India’s diplomatic options.
External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Monday had inaugurated the two-day meet and briefed envoys on the diplomatic offensive mounted against Pakistan by India following the Mumbai terror attacks.
Addressing the meet, Mukherjee has also warned Pakistan that India has kept all its options open if Islamabad does not act against terror groups based on its soil.
"Terrorist infrastructure has to be dismantled permanently. Terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan is dangerous to peace and security of entire world," Mukherjee had said.
He had also demanded that the major powers of the world need to do more to tackle terrorism and said that the current effort by the global community is not enough.
Blaming Pakistan for supporting terror groups, the External Affairs Minister said, "Pakistan has unfortunately resorted to the policy of denial and is shifting the blame and responsibility. Elements within Pakistan still continue to use terrorists as an instrument of state policy."
Earlier, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had said Islamabad will have to fight terror or else terror will consume Pakistan.
"This really comes down to dealing with the problem, and that means Pakistan has got to do everything it can to help bring the perpetrators to justice," Rice said in an interview to Financial Times.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen is in Islamabad on Tuesday and is expected to meet Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari later in the day.
Dawn News Correspondent Mubashir Zaidi said that Mullen's visit to Islamabad is aimed at easing Indo-Pak tensions.
"Mike Mullen met the Army chief last night (Monday night). The statement after that was about Indo-Pak relations and nothing about Afghanistan. So it was more to cool off temper and US has asked Paksitan to do more. He appreciated the efforts made by Pakistan on the LeT crackdown but also asked for a judicial effort which was lacking in the previous cases. The sincerity of Pakistan will count if they book Jamaat leaders and take action in the court of law," said Zaidi.
Pakistan is still unconvinced about India's charges that all the 10 terrorists who attacked Mumbai in November were Pakistani saying there isn't enough proof.
According Pakistani media reports Pakistan Air Force is on a high alerts and has increased its surveillance.
Meanwhile, a Pakistani newspaper The Nation claims the Indian Air Force plans to hit targets in Lahore and Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir in the next 24 hours.
Interpol Secretary General Ronald K Noble, too, is in Pakistan and is likely to raise the issue of terrorists and criminals demanded by India.
We will retort within minutes if India strikes: Pakistan
Pakistan's armed forces will mount an equal response "within minutes" if India carries out any surgical strike inside the country, army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani has reportedly assured the nation's leadership. During a meeting at the presidency on Kayani informed President Asif Ali Zardari about the operational preparedness of the military in the face of mounting tensions with India in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks. The armed forces were "fully prepared to meet any "eventuality" and the "men are ready to (make a) sacrifice for their country", Kayani was quoted as saying by pro-establishment The News daily. The report also quoted the army chief as saying that Pakistan would respond "within minutes" in the event of surgical strikes by India. The report further stated that the "crux of the meeting" between Zardari and Kayani "was that any further buckling under mounting Indian pressure would prove counter-productive in the sense that it would further encourage New Delhi to further build up pressure on Islamabad". The two leaders met hours after the Pakistan Air Force enhanced its vigilance and warplanes conducted sorties over key cities like Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Lahore. Speaking in Karachi, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani too said the nation would stand united in the event of any aggression "on the eastern border". During a meeting last night with the visiting US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, Kayani said Pakistan reserved the right to defend itself in case of any aggression from India, Dawn News channel reported. In his hour-long meeting with Kayani, Zardari said he believed in gearing up efforts for peace, which should not be taken as a sign of weakness. Zardari also said Pakistan wanted peaceful and cordial relations with all its neighbours, but the "threatening statements" of the Indian leadership were creating an atmosphere of aggression and harming the regional environment, The News reported.He said all national security agencies, the army, political leadership and the people are united to meet any aggression against Pakistan. The country has the right to defend its borders in case of any aggression, Zardari added.
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