International News

Nova Scotia, Canada - Maharishi's Peace Empire

Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the 90-years-old Indian spiritual guru who taught The Beetles the art of transcendental meditation is planning an international peace palace on two islands off Nova Scotia, where followers will practice yogic flying to promote global peace. His followers believe that if enough people around the world practicing yogic flying - achieved by hopping in the air while sitting cross-legged, it will create world peace. His supporters bought 2 islands near the town of Canso, planning to develop a peace tower, conference centre and school. The islands will become a part of the community for global peace, and with six other sites around the world will form the community's so-called parliament. The constitution of the universe will radiate from both these Canadian islands. Maharishi mentioned, "the new parliament of world peace will be from the peace loving people who are simple, sincere and innocent. His teachings, largely based on Hindu texts called the "Vedas;" have inspired a global movement along with a multi-billion dollar industry that includes schools and businesses across Canada. The islands will become the North American capital of the movement, attracting followers from around the continent to learn and to practice, and to offer courses on transcendental meditation and flying. Tuition at Maharishi University of Management in Iowa tops $30,000. His followers claim their beliefs are based on science, embracing theories such as quantum physics. Can Maharishi's Peace Palaces create a powerful influence of order, positivity and harmony for the city, and peace for the whole world?

USA - Oprah Winfrey a Zulu!

Many African Americans are highly interested to trace their ancestors and reveal their roots. Genetics genealogists are gene hunters who can use DNA to trace family history. More than 100,000 Americans, including celebrities such as TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey and filmmaker Spike Lee have sought to do the same by taking genealogical DNA tests now offered by commercial labs using a sample of cells swabbed from inside the cheek. Oprah Winfrey told a crowd in South Africa last June, "I went in search of my roots and had my DNA tested, and I am a Zulu." In 2003, a DNA test revealed to Spike Lee that his ancestry was linked to Niger and Cameroon. Recently, Oprah was ranked 8th in powerful women list published in The Hollywood Reporters 14th Annual Women in Entertainment Power 100th issue. Oprah Winfrey was the only performer on the list. The most powerful women in Hollywood was Anne Sweeney, the president of Disney-ABC Television Group. Judy McGrath, chairwoman of MTV networks was ranked 2nd, and Stacey Snider chairwoman of Universal Pictures was first.

Egypt - One Wife is not Enough!

The 40-year-old Egyptian journalist, Hayam Dorbek, wants her husband to get married again. She has set off a debate in her country and the rest of the Arab world about polygamy. She wrote articles with titles such as "One wife is not enough!" and helped form an association called Al-Tayseer or facilitation, that promotes polygamy. "I'm calling for women's rights: their right to get married, even to a married man. Polygamy is a license from God to stabilize society and solve its problems," she explained. Dorbek received a lot of opposition from Arab women's rights activists and also from some religious leaders, who believe there are strict conditions for polygamy. For instance, sociologist Alya Ahmed argues that calls for polygamy reflect an attempt to reconcile religion and sexual gratification in a male-dominated society, thereby looking at women as sexual objects.(Picture by John Robertson. Source: http://www.wordinfo.info/words/index/info/view_unit/2804/3/?spage=10&letter=P).

Canada - Harrington's Inuit Faces

The German-Canadian photographer, Richard Harrington died at the age of 94 in 2005. He grew up to be fascinated by the human face, taking photographs of Mao Zedong in China during the cultural revolution, Fidel Castro at a memorial service for Che Guevara in Cuba, the last surviving Yagan Indian on Navarino Island in Chile, and Inuit faces in Canada. The Inuit called him, Adeeliorli ("The man with the box"). He worked on a Mennonite farm during the Depression, and by the late-30s as a photographer of babies at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto. His most famous Arctic trip was the time he spent in the Keewatin District, west of Hudson Bay, in what is now Nunavut. He travelled by dog sled with Kumok, his friend and guide to a tiny Eskimo community that had grown around Hudson Bay Co. From there they went searching for the remote camps of the Padleimiut Clan where inland hunters and gatherers live on hunting migratory birds and caribou. His photographs bear witness to a nomadic way of life and death that had gone unchanged for tens of thousands of years. An exhibition entitled, The Incredible Journeys: Photographs from the Canadian Far North: 1947-1952, was held in 1987 comparing Harrington's art with artists such as Rembrandt. In his time, Richard Harrington, visited more than 100 countries, travelling from the Arctic to Antarctica, from Albania to Zaire, and his work published in distinguished magazines, with more than two dozen books. His photographs are on display at the Museum of Modern Art, the National Archives of Canada, and the Smithsonian. In 2000, his work was celebrated when his book Padlei Diary was privately published and after being awarded the Order of Canada, .

Japan - Princess Sayako's Love Story

The daughter of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko lost her royal status as princess by marrying a commoner engineer Yoshiki Kuroda. From opulent palace surroundings to a one-bedroom apartment. From servants galore to doing household chores. From lavishly catered meals to grocery shopping with Japanese hoi polloi. The Japanese princess married the 40-year-old civil servant, Mr. Kuroda in a humble marriage with only 31 guests including the Emperor and Empress. The Associated Press mentioned that "the bride looked just like a cherry blossom. It is like someone above the clouds is coming closer to the ordinary people like us." It marks the first time in Japan's history that a princess has left the imperial family to marry a commoner. No male has been born to the royal family since 1965. The bride became a commoner and moved behind her husband to visit the Ise Shrine in central Japan, which is considered the country's most sacred. By this wedding, Sayako bids "sayonara" to royal life.

Vatican - Pope John Paul II's Last Words

The Vatican is publishing a 200-page volume that chronicles the medical details and the final ailing weeks of Pope John Paul II. He died in April 2005 at the age of 84, weakened by advanced Parkinson's Disease, hip replacement, an assassination attempt, and bouts of high fever and tracheotomy. The records say that his last words, whispered weakly in Polish to a nun who was looking after him 6 hours before he died were, "Let me go to the house of the Father."

USA - The Saga of Vioxx

In December, the ongoing saga of the infamous pain-killer Vioxx took another unexpected turn. The prestigious New England Journal of Medicine accused the authors of a Canadian-led study involving the drug of withholding evidence about the drug's heart risks. The study headed by Dr. Claire Bombardier and funded by Merck & Co., the fifth largest global pharmaceutical company, was published in November 2000. Dr. Gregory Curfman, the executive editor of the New England Journal of Medicine said that "certain calculations and conclusions" were incorrect and misleading. He stated that some of important data appears to have been deleted from the manuscript 2-days before it was initially submitted and call into question the integrity of the data on adverse cardiovascular events of this drug. Only a month earlier, Merck  & Co. Inc had won a major victory in the legal battle as a New Jersey court found the drug-maker  not liable for a man's heart attack in 2001. This was a significant success for the company's defence team considering the major defeat they were dealt on August 19, 2005 when Texas jurors found that Merck was liable for the death of a 59-year-old tri-athlete Robert Ernst who had taken the drug Vioxx as a pain-killer for eight-months before his death in 2001. It was an email written in February 1997 - more than seven years before Merck & Co. Inc. withdrew Vioxx October 2004 after finding the drug doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke - this helped a jury deal a stunning defeat to the pharmaceutical giant. The jury awarded his widow, Carol Ernst, a total of $253 million in damages. Mr. Ernest's death certificate reported that he died of an arrhythmia (irregular heartbeats) and not from a heart attack. The coroner who did the autopsy of Mr. Ernest ruled that arrhythmia was the cause of his death, hence supporting Merck's defence while the trial linking Vioxx to heart attacks, and no study had associated the drug with potentially fatal heartbeat irregularities. The debate about the cause of death of this athlete and whether Vioxx was the cause of his death, Merck lawyers centred their closing arguments on the lack of scientific connection between arrhythmia and Vioxx.  Jurors said that they believed Merck failed to promptly add information on potential heart risk to Vioxx's product label three years ago, and that drug companies must tell customers, "the good, the bad, and the ugly."

Middle East - Dilemma of a Druze Bride

Suha Arraf, the Palestinian screenwriter and Eran Riklis, the Israeli filmmaker have a new film together, The Syrian Bride, is a shot for $2.5 million by an Israeli-French-German co-production. The film has won a clutch of awards including the Grand Prix at the 2004 Montreal Film Festival. The film is the story of Mona, a beautiful Druze woman from Majdal Shams, a village in Israel's Golan Heights, betrothed to a Syrian actor. Once she marries, once she crosses the border on her wedding day, Syrian authorities will not allow her to return to Israel. The same rules apply when bride or groom cross from Syria into Israel - there is no going back. The Golan Heights was occupied by Israel in 1967 after the Six Day War. The film uses Palestinian actors and is not serving the Syrians, the Druze or the Israelis. Most of the film is actually seen through the eyes of the bride's sister, Amal, who is struggling to cross a psychological border of her own; she wants to go to university, but must overcome the tradition-laden attitudes of her husband. Morocco is the only Arab country that has screened the film. Screenwriter Riklis, who was born in Montreal and raised in New York and Brazil, offered a DVD of the film to a high-ranking U.N. official in the region, hoping to pass it on to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Brazil - Onassis's billionaire Granddaughter marrying a Brazilian Horseman

Athina Roussel Onassis, 20, is the granddaughter and sole living heir of the Greek celebrity shipping magnate Aristole Onassis married Brazilian Olympic equestrian, Alvaro de Miranda. Both of them had dropped out from high school. The same Rome designer, who provided former US First Lady, Jacqueline Kennedy's stylish short dress for her marriage to Aristole Onassis in 1968. The couple met in 2002 in Brussels. Alvaro's, 32, ex-girlfriend Brazilian model Sibele Dorsa said that it was the heiress that caused her initial break-up, "he exchanged me for Athina's money. She can buy him horses, and I can't!"

USA - Electric Shock Therapy for the Severely Obese

Transcend II gastric stimulator is a new device implant available in Europe and North America that zaps the stomach or certain nerves with an electric current, much the way a cardiac pacemaker zaps the heart. The hope is the electric jolts can help modify eating behaviour, possibly by regulating appetite signals or boosting metabolism. The new device can be implanted using minimally invasive surgical techniques with the purpose of helping regulate appetite. It has been on the market in Europe since 2001 and was also recently approved in Canada for morbid obesity cases. The battery-powered gadget is inserted deep underneath the skin, just below the rib cage, with a small incision. The electrical current appears to trigger the release of a "satiety" chemical which tells the brain that the stomach is full. Italian centers and at Tufts-New England Medical Centre, estimate the gadget will help only one-third to one-half of obese patients.

Los Angeles, USA - Picasso of Vaginas!

Women from the United States and more than 30 other countries pay thousands of dollars to the 36-year-old vagina designer, Dr. David Matlock, MD, MBA, FACOG . The gynecologist, cosmologist, and plastic surgeon describes himself as an artist in shortening or plumping the vaginal lips. He attracts even more women, for an operation he claims improves sex, by tightening or rejuvenating the vagina. A woman and her mother visited Dr. Matlock in his Beverly Hills office seeking designer vaginas. The American Society of Plastic Surgeons noted that there is an increase in the popularity of cosmetic vaginal reconstruction.

London, UK - Lewinski off to University

Former White House intern, Monica Lewinsky, 33, joined a Masters degree in social psychology at the London School of Economics (LSE). The lady, whose name became associated with cigars and a sexual relationship with former President Bill Clinton in the Oval Office, had been a handbag designer, a spokeswoman for the Jenny Craig weight-loss outfit, and a reality TV show host. She had published her biography in 1999, entitled Monica's Story. She is fighting to make a new life for herself by joining an illustrious crew of alumni from LSE, including President John F. Kennedy, Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, and billionaire George Soros. The LSE was founded in 1895, influenced by Fabian society's principles of progress and social justice. Among the Noble laureates are Bertrand Russell and Amartya Sen.

Ontario, Canada - New Therapy for Multiple Myeloma

Velcade is the last-resort treatment for multiple myeloma. It improved the condition of Dr. John Emerson, who was expected to die last May, when his kidneys began to fail and collapse. In 2001, fatigue began to plague the retired university professor. Doctors first thought he had anemia, but in January 2002, he learned that he had multiple myeloma. He underwent chemotherapy then a bone marrow stem-cell transplant that put his cancer into remission for nearly 10-months. Then came a regimen of thalidomide and steroids, but last spring his condition took a turn for the worse and he was admitted to hospital for special access to intravenous Velcade, which is considered as the last-resort treatment for this disease, which strikes 1,500 Canadians every year. The treatment works by shocking cancer cells on their own proteins. A full course of the treatment can cost $50,000.

Saudi Arabia - Death of the Desert Jaguar

The death of King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz Saud (1923-2005), the fifth sovereign of Saudi Arabia after several health problems: overweight, diabetes, arthritis, gall bladder surgery, eye blood clot, and several incapacitating strokes during the last decade. The multi-billionaire custodian of the two holy mosques in the cities of Mecca and Medina, King Fahd, had a name which in Arabic means jaguar. King Fahd's Saud family has ruled the country since 1932, when his father King Abdul Aziz al-Saud founded modern Saudi Arabia and formed the family's third kingdom of the Arabian peninsula. He was the fifth Saudi monarch after King Abdul Aziz, King Saud, King Faisal and King Khalid. President George W. Bush said he was saddened by the death of King Fahd, the man of wisdom and offered his congratulations to his half-brother Abdullah, the newly-installed sixth king of Saudi Arabia. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, called King Fahd, "a man who has done a lot to develop and build his country and a true friend of the United Nations." Leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Pakistan, Palestine and Syria attended his simple funeral and burial as stated by the Saudi grand mufti saying that, "his grave shall be like that of all Muslims." The new King Abdullah and the Crown Prince Sultan greeted the leaders who offered their condolences in Saudi Arabia including French President Jacques Chirac, U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney, Britain's Prince Charles, and Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Anne McLellan.

USA - Potential Breast Cancer Cure

The New England Journal of Medicine published last October a study of more than 8000 women worldwide who took the breast cancer drug, Herceptin. According to the editorial written by Prof. Gabriel Horto Bagyi, director of the Breast Cancer Research Program at the University of Texas, "treatment must be changed today, so that all patients who would benefit from this drug can receive it." The journal included three studies showing a dramatic drop in cancer returning in 20-30% of breast cancer patients who produced too much HER-2 protein and who took the biological drug. Women who received the chemotherapy showed diminished recurrence by more than 50% within 4 years of diagnosis, compared with those who had chemotherapy alone. In Canada, Herceptin, has been used to lengthen the lives of women, whose cancer has spread. Herceptin is not chemotherapy. It is a monoclonal antibody, hence it uses substances derived from living cells and not chemicals. More information about the medication is available on www.herceptin.com.

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Chicago, USA - Sofia Loren's famous cheek bones

Actress Sofia Loren is famous for her cheek bones, but in many woman, facial bones deteriorate with age. Dr. David Khan, a California plastic surgeon, said at the conference for the American Society for Plastic Surgeon's in Chicago. He recently completed a study using CT scans to examine the facial bones of women and men of various ages. This study revealed that women had a significant decrease in facial bone volume at a younger age than men, therefore they visit facial cosmetic surgeons at a younger age.

Iran - A Woman Trapped in a Man's Body

Maryam Khatoon Molkara has succeeded to prove to Iran's supreme leader that she was a woman trapped inside a man's body. Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran occupies the unlikely role of a global leader for sex change operations to those who convince interviewers that they meet the necessary psychological criteria. Dr. Mir-Jalali, a 66-year old Paris-trained surgeon, has performed 320 gender operations in the past 12 years. In 1975, Ms. Molkara, who was working with Iranian TV and going by her male name of Fereydoon wrote the first of several letters explaining her situation to the Ayatollah. In 1963, the Ayatollah pronounced that there was no religious proscription against corrective surgery for hermaphrodites, defined as those bearing both male and female genital characteristics. Ms. Molkara completed her sex change four years ago. Today, she runs Iran's leading transsexual campaign group.

Toronto, Canada - Transformative Power of Art

The Art Gallery of Ontario's (AGO) successful show featuring a series of artworks drawn from historical, contemporary, European, Canadian and Aboriginal collections inviting visitors to reflect on the many ways that transformation inhabits our lives, exploring birth, death, spirituality, perception and metamorphosis. It includes favorites from the AGO's collection. This singular gathering of the greats, is an exhibition chosen from AGO's permanent collection by the public, including works by Claude Monet, Tom Thomson, Paul Sezanne. For more information on this series visit www.ago.net. This photo represents a gift to the AGO from Mr. & Mrs. W. Relemeier (1940) - a painting by Pieter Breughel the Younger (Flemish 1564-1638) called The Peasants Wedding, c. 1590 oil on wood.

North America - The "Prince of Pot" Arrested

Prominent pro-marijuana activist, Prince of Pot Marc Emery was arrested in Vancouver with two colleagues in July and face the possibility of life in a US prison for selling seeds over the internet. The 47-year-old Emery is the president of the B.C. Marijuana Party and publisher of a magazine about marijuana. The US Drug Enforcement Agency officials alleged that he has made about $3 million a year, selling seed and marijuana-growing paraphenalia from his place business in Vancouver with 70% of sales being done with Americans. Marijuana activists are staging demonstrations on Emery's behalf and continuing to smoke marijuana outside his Vancouver office - as seems to be the custom. The marijuana mogul is accused of selling seeds out of his bookstore and over the internet to Americans, which carries a minimum prison sentence of 10 years. He was pictured smoking marijuana outside Toronto Policy headquarters in 2003. Some of Emery's supporters were carted away for lying down in front of a police van, puffing openly on marijuana, then bonded drums. While Ottawa is moving towards decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of pot, there is a clash with the draconian drug laws of the US, whish is convinced that marijuana is not a benign drug. Emery spent two months in a Saskatoon jail for passing a joint around at a pro-pot rally, making it the only time he had gone to prison for any of his 11 marijuana-related convictions in Canada. Interestingly, Toronto-based filmmaker Albert Nerenberg's latest gonzo documentary, Escape To Canada, examines the results of Canada's relaxing of its marijuana laws.

Indonesia - Myths of Little People
Nature journal published last October the story of an ancient skull found in a cave on the Indonesian island Flores and the discovery of an assortment of bones belonging to 9 little people, all roughly 1-metre tall. Paleopathologists are discussing different theories about these tiny humans. Do they belong to a new human species, or they are modern humans with genetic disorder causing microcephaly (small head), micrognathia (small mandible), and short stature with long arms. The new paper adds the details to what was known about the little people: that they hunted miniature elephants, giant rats and perhaps even Komodo dragons. A third theory is that they are pygmy humans. Some believe that this discovery will offer explanations for myths found in many cultures about little people such as brownies and leprechauns!

Nagasaki, Japan - Praying for Peace

After the end of the Second World War, the world still remember the Hiroshima and Nagasaki victims. Japanese Prime Minister Junishiro Koizumi, called a crowd of thousands gathered at Nagasaki city's Peace Memorial Park for a solemn remembrance. He stated that "this is an occasion to remember the victims and pray for world peace." Thousands of children prayed in front of lit candles on August 9 at the memorial of the 60th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.Today there is a global movement to encourage non-proliferation and to promote the immediate disarmament of nuclear weapons worldwide.

Ottawa, Canada - Leonardo, Michelangelo and High Renaissance

Last summer, the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa brought an special exhibit of works by Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo which focused on the movement of Renaissance art in Florence. Leonardo arrived in Florence in 1500, after two decades in Milan. He began work in 1503 on Mona Lisa, the portrait of a local merchant's wife. Two years later, he painted his excellent piece, Leda and the Swan, in which the god Zeus, who has taken the form of a swan to seduce the wife of Spartan King, producing a sense of a strangely charged psychological complicity between the woman and the god. Michelangelo, who was 23 years younger than Leonardo, returned to Florence in 1501, after a long stint in Bologna and Rome, and shortly later produced his male nude painting, David followed by his representation, The Battle of Cascina. Leonardo and Michelangelo helped to finish off the Florentine moment of cultural supremacy.

Oxford, UK - Smoking and Lung Cancer

The doyen of the world's epidemiologists, Sir Richard Doll has died at 92. He was the first scientist to find that a true casual relationship between cigarette smoking and lung cancer; in Oxford, England. The epidemiologist's 1949 findings, based on patient surveys at 20 hospitals in London, showed smoking to be the one habit consistent among the disparate population. In 2004, he published the final report in a half-century long study of about 20,000 British doctors, finding that continual smoking reduced life expectancy by 10 years but stopping, even late in life, could significantly improve it. He was a former smoker, who gave up the habit when he saw his research results. He also showed that smoking caused premature death from cardiovascular diseases. Dana Reeve, 44, who spent nine years caring for her quadriplegic husband and star of Superman Christopher Reeve until his death last year was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Surprisingly, she falls outside the general risk group as a young non-smoker.

Europe - Honouring Fallen Aboriginal Veterans

More than 10,000 Canadian aboriginal war veterans had a contribution during both the First and Second World wars. After an 8-day spiritual journey in both France and Belgium, Canadian aboriginals connected with fallen soldiers abroad. Thousands crowded the streets to pay tribute to Canada's aboriginal war veterans and their role in both world wars. They embraced the performance of Metis, Innuits and Indians. During the short Remembrance service in their own language and snapping pictures of traditional native dancers in colourful regalia. A major component of the trip has been a calling-home ceremony of prayers, honour songs, dances and music to return to Canada. They believe that the spirits are on their way home and will eventually be at rest following another 4 years of feasts, song and dance.

South Africa - Preserved Dinosaur Eggs

Researchers published interesting data about six oval dinosaur eggs, in Science, the well-known journal published in one of its July issues. The eggs, about 6 cm long, were found in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa in 1978. One egg contains a preserved dinosaur embryo, a tiny creature curled nearly in the fetal position - dating back 190 million years, making it the oldest discovery of its kind. Most dinosaur embryos uncovered so far, date back only 146 million years. The study provides new insight into how dinosaurs evolved - from walking on four legs to two, and needs for parental help. The researchers of this study hypothesize that the young Massospondylus is the earliest example of any animal requiring parental care to survive.

Amsterdam, Netherlands - The Oldest Dutch Woman

The oldest Dutch woman, who swore by a daily helping of herring and a glass of orange juice for a healthy life, died at the age of 115. Hendrikje Van Andel-Schipper, a former needle-work teacher born on June 29, 1890 was in her sleep when she died in the northern Dutch town of Hoogeveen. She weighed only 1.36 kg when she was born, married a tax inspector in 1939 and was forced to sell her jewelry to buy food during the German occupation in the Second World War. In 1972, she decided to donate her body to the University of Groningen, to search for clues on why she lived so long. She was in extremely god health till the last moment, except that she did not see well. As a young girl, she celebrated the coronation of Dutch Queen Wilhelmina in 1898. When she became the oldest living Dutch person, more than a century, she met Wilhelmina's granddaughter, Queen Beatrix. The Guinness World Records had enlisted her as the world's oldest living person. Guinness spokesman Sam Knights said the oldest authenticated person now is Elizabeth Bolden, 115, of Memphis, Tenn., born Aug. 15, 1890. French Jeanne-Louise Calment who died at the age of 122 in 1997 is the woman to live to the oldest age in recorded history. The world's oldest living man on record today is Emiliano Mercado Del Torro, was born on August 21, 1891 and is currently living in Puerto Rico.

Australia - Saving Kangaroo Island's Koalas

Thousands of tourists flock to Kangaroo Island yearly to view the parade of kangaroos, wallabies, emus, seals, sea lions, miniature penguins, platypuses, and some 243 species of bird life. But about 30,000 harmless koalas are eating their way through several hundred hectares of animal sanctuary's trees in South Australia leaving vast tracts of dying eucalypts next to rivers and creeks. Some advise killing or sterilizing 20,000 Kangaroo Island koalas, fearing future population growth. The Australian Koala Foundation rejects killing koalas. The government received thousands of messages from around the world threatening a tourism embargo in the event of a cull of the cute, cuddly koalas.

British Columbia, Canada - The Cougar and Mother's Bravery

Monique Bazille is a brave mother who battled a cougar that had pinned her 4-year-old little girl, Hayley, in its claws. She packed four cans of beer into a cooler, before she swung it at the big wild cat, hitting the cougar on the shoulder and the face. Eventually, the cougar, its mouth red with her daughter's blood, slung back into the bushes. Monique, who is an emergency room nurse, fought the cougar with courage to save her daughter and mentioned that she was not afraid when she saw the wild cat. Her daughter had lost her scalp as a result of the attack, so the mother bandaged her, since she was suffering from severe bleeding and shock.

Madrid, Spain - Picasso's Giant Exhibition

A giant exhibition for the famous Pablo Picasso has has been setup, to mark the silver anniversary of his return to the country of his famous image of the destruction of Guernica in Spain. The Malaga-born artist did not permit his painting depicting the horrors of war, to grace Spanish soil until democracy had been restored after the death of the dictator Francisco Franco. The exhibition will be held at the Brado Museum and the Reina Sofis center for modern art, and will explore themes of war, violence and peace . It will also highlight killings at Guernica, a town in northern Spain, bombed by Franco's German allies on April 27, 1937.

Washington DC, USA - Man and Chimpanzee Genome Sequences

Francis Collins, director of the Washington based National Human Genome Research Institute, which helped fund the project of mapping the DNA of the chimpanzee, stated that "it is an historic achievement." The detective work was carried by 67 international scientists as part of Chimpanzee Sequencing and Analysis Consortium, which was published last August in the science journal Nature. Already, scientists have published genome sequences for an array of species including the human, honey bee, mouse, rat and roundworm. The chimp blueprint locates three billion building blocks of life and that we share up to 25,000 gene with chimps, with tens of millions of differences between the codes of a chimp and a human. Human DNA has signs of strong natural selection. Chimp DNA does not. Chimps also lack some genes involved in inflammation, but humans don't have function in a gene that protects other animals against Alzheimer's Disease. A trio of scientists from California call for new guidelines for the treatment of captive great apes - chimps, gorillas, orangutans and bonobos. Chimps were infected with hepatitis B & C viruses and were important in developing a vaccine for humans against them. Today, they are used to test vaccines for the Human Immuno-Deficieny Virus (HIV). The Chimpanzee genome was cracked using the DNA of a male chimp called Clint, who died of heart failure in 2003 at the age of 24, considered young for a chimp.

South Korea - "Snuppy": The First Cloned Puppy

In 1996, Dolly the sheep, was the first cloned mammal. In 2001, CC (carbon copy) was the first cloned house cat, followed by Ralph the first cloned rat. In 2003, Idaho Gem was the first equine clone and in last August, "Snuppy" became the first cloned dog. The name comes from, Seoul National University (SNU) and the rest comes from the word "puppy". It took nearly three years until the South Korean researcher Woo Suk Hwang's team brought Snuppy into the world - an animal who's entire genome came from a single cell from the ear of a three-year-old male Afghan hound, and was born by a surrogate yellow Labrador mother (see photo). One problem with dogs is that harvesting their eggs is extraordinarily labour-intensive and costs millions of dollars. While the public is divided over stem cell research in countries like the United States, Hwang has become a national hero in South Korea, with full government backing. Seoul also wants to turn South Korea into a global hub for stem cell research, endorsing Hwang's plan to open an international stem cell bank by October to help advance the quest to grow replacement tissue to treat diseases. Hwang is more popular in South Korea than any pop star and the government has issued a postage stamp in his honour. In addition to his canine program, Hwang has been active in trying to clone a human. This project recently backfired raising ethical concerns about his research and levelling accusations of fabrication, leading to his resignation

Pakistan - Billions of dollars for Earthquake Aid

After the tsunami and Hurricane Katrina natural disasters, the Pakistani earthquake led to the death of more than 70,000 persons and the destruction of many cities. International donors have pledged some $5.4 billion to help Pakistan recover from last month's devastating earthquake, said Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Azi. The figure exceeds the $5.2bn Pakistan had been asking for. The extra pledges, much of them in the form of low interest loans, came at an international donor conference in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad. A lucky mother found a temporary shelter where earthquake victims took refuge near the Kashmir town of Uri. She is seen cradling her child with sadness in her face after losing many members of her family and her home. Billions of dollars were offered from Muslim and non-Muslim countries to help the victims who need immediate housing, food, and medicines. The pain caused by this natural disaster can be seen on the face of a Pakistani father who shields his child against the force of a helicopter's rotor blades as they wait near a field hospital in Muzaffarabad, Pakistan.

USA - President Lincoln's First Lady

Historians are always interested to reveal the unattractive traits of presidential spouses. The irrational and superstitious Nancy Reagan and her astrologer, the pushy and calculating Hilary Clinton and her health care plan, and the vain and frivolous Jacqueline Kennedy in her designer gowns. Mary Todd Lincoln's uniquely miserable throughout her life and despised. "The most charitable construction that Mary Todd can put on her strange course is that she is insane," wrote the Chicago Journal of the widow, who in the wake of her husband's assassination, had returned to Illinois in a state of conspicuous mourning that drew the opposite of public sympathy, particularly when she tried to raise money by selling off her fanciest clothes as auction. When Robert, the only one of her four sons whom she had not had to bury before his time, committed his aging mother to an asylum while taking control of her assets and affairs, making Mary's humiliation complete. When her husband became president, she redecorated expensively, extensively and frivolously the White House - buying china, ordering wallpaper, updating her wardrobe, and bringing good taste and material splendor to the White House, despite a historical catastrophe, the Civil War. The unlucky first lady, from a prominent Kentucky family, was a strong believer in ghosts and became a negative model for every first lady.

California, USA - Drunken Fruit Flies

The science journal Nature published an interesting study about drunken fruit flies, which has uncovered a gene that helps build a tolerance to booze. Dr. Henrike Scholz, a behavioral geneticist at the University of California and University of Wurzburg in Germany, nicknamed it "hangover gene." Scientists believe that this discovery will offer a new understanding of alcohol dependence since the gene works in a way that ever greater amounts of alcohol are needed to produce an intoxicating effect. Many scientists believe that alcoholism tends to run in families and others stressed that environmental factors play a very significant role. Dr. Scholz said fruit flies, which often serve as genetic models for humans, are particularly suitable for studying effects of alcohol and that people have to rethink their strategies for how to treat alcoholism.

Boston, USA - Reprogramming Adult Cells

Dr. Kevin Eggan and his team at Harvard University have managed to reprogram adult skin and bone cells, teaching them to revert embryonic stem cells with all the potential for therapeutic regeneration those progenitor cells hold. Cells from an individual could be used to grow new tissues that would be an identical match to the donor, avoiding the rejection problems associated with transplantation. Science journal mentioned that it set back the clock on an adult cell to the embryonic state. Embryonic stem cells can differentiate or mature into any type of tissue, and the reprogrammed cells appear to have that skill.

Global - Documentaries on Penguins and Parrots

Two successful new movies on large flocks of penguins and parrots raised global attention last summer. The French made documentary, March of the Penguins, about the grueling overland migration and mating pattern of emperor penguin in Antarctica, is a runway success. This documentary has fetched nearly $60 million, and was the sixth-highest growing film in North America this past summer. A more modest, though no less surprising success, is The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, which is about an aging Hippie's soul-searching in San Francisco as it is about a flock of wild urban parrots. In only its first week, this documentary brought in $3.5 million, showing that animal movies are perennially popular.

Canada - The Lion Loved Canadian Journeys

It has been 65 years since Winston Churchill became the savior of Great Britain and 60 years since he became the victor of the Second World War. On this occasion, David Dilks' new book entitled The Great Dominion: Winston Churchill in Canada, 1900-1954, describes the statesman's nine visits in the first half of the last century. The book is a catalogue of Sir Winston Churchill's words and deeds. Each visit to Canada had its own character. The early ones: 1900, 1901, 1929, and 1932. The four visits during the war came in August and December of 1941, 1943, and 1944. In his penultimate visit, 1952, he returned to Canada as prime minister worried about the Cold War, while his last visit two years later was seen as a farewell since he was 80-years-old, going deaf and soon to leave office as prime minister.

Canada - Mozart in the Atlantic Ballet Theatre

The Ukrainian-born Igor Dobrovolskiy's newest work, Amadeus, was created to mark the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth in 2006. The artistic director and solo choreographer concentrates on the genius Mozart and his jealousy towards rival composer Salieri. He has cleverly created the mischievous Muse as the central female character who adores Mozart yet spurs on the conflict with the less talented Salieri. As a classicist in terms of dance vocabulary, and like all ballet choreographers, his challenge is to transform basic ballet steps and combinations into the tools of storytelling, with a brilliant choice of music from both Mozart and Salieri to create a very effective score. Costa Voynov, an extraordinarily talented dancer, plays the role of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Africa - Partners in Dangerous MSF Missions

Dave Michalski and Tiffany Moore met as undergraduates at McMaster University (Cananda) in 1989. They both joined the emergency medical organization, Medicins Sans Frontiers (Doctors Without Borders), which has taken them from Taliban-run Afghanistan to the prisons of Siberia to two of the most troubled parts of Africa. After spending a year in southern Sudan, they were offered the two head of mission jobs in Somalia and southern Sudan. Both of them setup fully functioning primary healthcare clinics in the countries they are responsible for, and share an apartment in Nairobi, where MSF has its operating base for the region. The hardworking couple would like to have children, though parenthood is not compatible with their job obligations right now, particularly since their placements seem to always be in dangerous conflict-affected regions.

Morocco - PAEMS 5th International Meeting on Mutagens and Carcinogens

In November 2005, a large group of doctors, scientists and researchers convened in Fez, Morocco to discuss education and advocacy about environmental mutagens and carcinogenic agents. This was the Pan-African Environmental Mutagen Society's (PAEMS) fifth meeting in which possibilities of continental and global cooperation and training programs were discussed between representatives of various African countries. The meeting, entitled, "ENVIRONMENTAL MUTAGENS AND CARCINOGENS: GENOMICS AND PROTEOMICS ERA" was held at Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah University in Fe. The PAEMS encourages the study of mutagens, carcinogens and substances of related biological activity in the human environment, particularly those of public health importance in Africa increase interaction with leading laboratories and international agencies around the world. More information on the meeting is available at http://membres.lycos.fr/congrespaems2005/.

California, USA - Warning to Politicians

University of Southern California researchers discovered that pathological liars, cheaters, manipulators, and some politicians have 22% more white matter and 14% less grey matter in pre-frontal region of their brains, compared to normal people. So "structural differences" in this part of the brain may provide liars with the tools necessary to master the complex art of deceit. The study, which was published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, mentioned that the white matter is essentially the wiring, while the grey matter represents the closely packed nerve cells of the brain and that the extra white matter provides the brain with increased networking to produce superior verbal and other manipulative skills. At the same time, the deficit in grey "thinking" matter, means fewer moral constraints. Dr. Adrian Raine mentioned, "they have got the equipment to lie and don't have the disinhibition that the rest of us have in telling the big whopper." Researcher Yaling Yang mentioned that MRI brain scans might help police determine whether a crime suspect is a habitual liar and employers may use them on people applying for work.

Beijing, China - Chinese Lunar Dreams

In 2003, China became just the third country in the world to launch a human into space, when it sent astronaut Yang Liwei into orbit for 21 hours. Last October, China launched two astronauts into a 5-day space mission. The astronauts, Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng, got set for their space flight at the satellite launch centre in Gansu province in a mission that set the stage for China's fast rising ambitions on the moon and outer space. China has already declared that it wants to build a permanent space station and send an unmanned spaceship to the moon within the next 5 years, and this launch is a crucial step towards its lunar dreams. For the first time, Chinese astronauts moved around the spaceship, took off their heavy space suits to enter a separate orbital module attached to the re-entry capsule. They also prepared hot meals in a food heater.

Manitoba, Canada - The Sacred Turtles

The Anishnabe Natives consider the turtle one of their most sacred symbols. The stones placed around the animal represent the incarnation of the spirits of the ancestors. The turtle's seven parts: head, body, tail and four legs - symbolize the seven codes of life: bravery, respect, honesty, humility, wisdom, honour and sharing. Ms. Caroline Bruyere is one of an increasing number of aboriginals attempting to reclaim her culture and the forgotten secrets of thousands of years of spiritual history. Her journey to Silver Falls, two hours north of Winnipeg, was part protest, part spiritual odyssey. Today, Caroline is 62. She pointed out the stones that had been carefully placed around the turtle are not just rocks, but to the natives they are grandfathers. They oppose building a cottage on top of a sacred site, mentioning that , "you can't just bulldoze a 7,000-year old culture."

Europe - Will Tamiflu Conquer Avian Flu?

Panic has broken out across Europe as a potential flu outbreak has reached the edge of the Western world. H5N1 - moved from China, to Vietnam, Indonesia, Mongolia, Russia, Romania and Turkey. The confirmation of a deadly bird flu virus in Turkey has led European governments to place a rush on orders for millions of doses of vaccines and to prepare emergency plans for an outbreak that could kill millions. It was found in the small Turkish village of Kiziksa, which is not far from the border area between Turkey, Bulgaria and Greece. The Swiss pharmaceutical company, Roche, prepared Tamiflu raw ingredients from a Chinese herb. Will Tamiflu be able to conquer the avian flu and be the best defence against the influenza pandemic which may move from Asia to Europe and the Americas?! Could the avian flu virus develop a resistance to this weapon?!

Syria - Fulla, The Anti-Barbie Doll: Friendly to Muslim Cultures

Fulla, a sister of Yasmine, is a doll built on roughly the same chassis as Barbie but with her venile feet more firmly grounded in the cultural realities of the Arab world. With her black hair, auburn eyes, and a wide selection of headscarf's. She even comes with her own prayer rug. The plastic doll, Barbie, has done a lot in her 46-years: she has been a rock star, an astronaut, and a candidate for president of the United States. But the blond bombshell could never claim to present Muslim values. Fulla has become a marketing phenomenon from Morocco to Iraq, since being launched two years ago, especially in Saudi Arabia where Barbie was banned several years ago because of her "revealing clothes and shameful poses." It seems that the two dolls, Barbie and Fulla, would have a hard time understanding each other. Barbie is a notorious party girl, who likes to prance around in a bikini, and spends a lot of her time in the company of her boyfriend. Fulla prefers the full head-to-toe abaya, has no boyfriends, although a protective brother will come with her in the next year. Fulla, who is named after a type of jasmine that grows in the Levant - has a wide range of clothing and fashion accessories. There are no bare arms, legs or cleavage. Because of regional and cultural differences, dolls with a less strict dress code sell better in more liberal countries of the region as Egypt and Jordan. On the other hand, in Gulf countries and Saudi Arabia, the target market are for the more conservative fashions. Like Barbie, Fulla, is mass produced in China. Both are made of the same material and have the same height. The only change made to the doll's physique was to flatten out Barbie's less-than-modest breasts. So far, Fulla has sold over 1.5 million dolls. Young girls are apt to ask their parents for Fulla girl's clothing, Fulla CD player, or a pink Fulla bicycle, even Fulla breakfast cereal, and pink Fulla prayer gown to be worn while they pray standing on Fulla prayer rug. In the near future, a Doctor and Teacher Fulla will become available. However, so far, no one has produced a completely veiled Fulla.

United Arab Emirates - The King of Pop in Dubai

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, appeared relaxed and friendly during his August visit to Dubai. He took a speed boat to a luxury villa on a man-made island, and he bused around the emirate with Sheik Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the son of Bahrain's king and with Mohammed Bin Sulayem, the emirate's champion rally driver. The 47-year-old performer enjoyed looking over some of the world's most audacious real estate developments in flashy Dubai. In contrast to the frail Michael Jackson, who was cleared of child-abuse charges last June, he appeared relaxed and friendly in the photographs released of his Gulf state visit. It is widely known that since this visit, Michael Jackson seems to have taken up homes in both Bahrain and Dubai!

Egypt - Literary Pillars Recognized

The Ambassadors Research Foundation organized two celebration ceremony for two distinguished Arab writers and intellectuals who were presented with prestigious national awards in 2005. Mr. Mohamed Ouda, the author of 50 books and senior political analyst and Mr. Khairy Shalabi, the renowned novelist. Mr. Khairi Shalabi, whose famous trilogy: Awilna Walad; Thanina Al-Shayib; Thaluthna Al-Komi ('First the Jack; Then the King; Thirdly the Seven of Diamonds') were the distinguished guests of the evening. The honourees enjoyed meeting friends and admirers from different countries including the international cartoonist Ahmed Toughan and his son Waleed Toughan (Roz El-Youssef magazine), Youssef El-Sherif the Arab and Middle East expert analyst, Abdel-wahab Abd-Rabo (Al-Gomhourria newspaper), Al-Saadawi (Al-Qahira newspaper), Hakem Rustom (London School of Economics),  and  Drs. Mohamed El-Nawawy and Adel Iskandar, communication experts in the US and authors of a book on Al-Jazeera (Westview Press).. The celebrations were hosted at Astoril and Le Grillon Restaurants in historic downtown Cairo, and featured lively discussions about with literature, the arts, and media, and the controversial Al-Jazeera satellite TV station.. The event was organized by Prof. Talaat I. Farag and his son Essam Farag from the Ambassadors Research Foundation in Canada.