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Re: the news
par Vine le Mer 23 Avr - 21:42
Couch-potato culture may cut our lives short
Will today’s kids be the first generation to reverse U.S. longevity gains?
updated 9:29 a.m. ET April 23, 2008
The turning point happened last summer when Sherrie Boughter's son came to her in tears about his weight — at 8 years old, he tipped the scales at 184 pounds.
"I weigh more than Rey Mysterio," the professional wrestler, Justin told his mom. "You have to help me! You have to help me!" he pleaded.
We sat and cried for an hour," remembers Boughter, 41, who lives in Medina, Ohio.
She and her husband, Brian, sought help from the Akron Children's Hospital Future Fitness Clinic, where she says the staff didn't beat around the bush. While Justin didn't have full-blown diabetes, which runs in the family, he had brown patches on the back of his neck that can be a warning sign of the disease.
"It was the worst day of my life when I was there and they're going, 'You're killing him. You're not doing him any favors by giving him another piece of cake,'" she says. "You give this child life and you don't stop that. I brought him here and basically now I was wrecking him."
Thanks largely to medical and public health advances, Americans are living longer than ever. The average life expectancy in 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, was nearly 78. That's up from 47 in 1900 and 68 in 1950.
But even as the market for anti-aging pills and products has never been hotter with Americans seeking a longer life, some experts say we as a nation are doing ourselves in with our couch-potato culture of eating way too much and exercising far too little. Some health professionals even raise the controversial notion that today's generation of kids like Justin — about a third of whom are overweight or obese — may be the first to live shorter lives than their parents.
'Like advanced aging'
"All of the signs are pointing in the wrong direction," says Dr. Jennifer Shu, an Atlanta pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"Young kids are getting what have traditionally been adult-type diseases — type 2 diabetes and heart disease," she says. "It's like advanced aging."
"These kids are headed for real trouble," agrees S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health and a researcher at the Center on Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Their parents may not be faring so well, either, he says. Two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese.
In 2005, Olshansky and colleagues published a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine predicting that in the coming decades, the obesity epidemic and its health consequences would reverse the upward longevity curve in America over the last century, slashing life expectancy by two to five years — more than the impact of cancer or heart disease.
Olshansky says he's particularly concerned about obesity in children, which has tripled since 1970, because they could be dealing with diabetes, heart disease and other weight-related health problems for a longer period of time and face a greater toll.
Predicting the future, of course, is a rather uncertain science. And researchers studying life expectancy may use different methods to go about it.
Olshansky's team, for instance, based their forecast on the prevalence of obesity and on reports of the years of life lost from it. They estimated the effect of obesity on life expectancy for the U.S. population based on reductions in death rates that would occur if everyone who was obese would lose enough weight to have an optimal body mass index .
But not everyone is convinced that the obesity epidemic will have such a dramatic impact — or even an effect at all — on life expectancies across the nation. Critics say dire predictions focus too much on body weight without taking the whole picture into account.
“It’s extremely unlikely that today’s children will have shorter life expectancies than their parents. From everything I see, we continue to make rapid progress at extending life as a result of improvements in medical technology and personal health practices," such as smoking less, says Samuel Preston, a professor of demography at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "Yes, we are fatter than we used to be but the implications of that have not been nearly as severe as has been popularly assumed."
Preston, who wrote an editorial accompanying the Olshansky paper, acknowledges there is "some uncertainty" about the long-term impact of obesity on young kids. But, he says, "I haven't seen a single convincing study that relates adult deaths to childhood obesity."
Living vs. healthy living
Olshansky believes that, unfortunately, such hard data will come in time, once today's generation of young people grows older and begins to suffer the consequences of decades of obesity.
The level of frailty and disability that we’re going to see in this population is going to be enormous," he says. Besides the health impact of obesity, the monetary toll will be staggering, he says, noting that annual health care costs of treating obesity and its complications, such as diabetes, already total an estimated $70 billion to $100 billion a year in America.
Experts don't dispute that obesity, particularly morbid obesity, can lead to a host of serious and costly health problems. The question with regard to life expectancy, though, is whether those problems will be so great as to actually alter averages for the entire nation — and reverse decades of longevity gains.
David Freedman, an epidemiologist in the division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, says he believes, as Preston does, that modern medicine will blunt the impact of the obesity epidemic because heavy people who develop diabetes or heart disease can live a long time with the right medical care.
There are effective treatments for the complications of obesity," he says, such as medicines for high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and excess blood sugar.
Of course, a lifetime of pills and doctor visits isn't ideal, particularly for the young generation who may "be the most medicated in history," Freedman says. “It would be better for people not to be moderately to severely obese. I think it would be a healthier life for people. It’s not a matter of longevity in my opinion, it’s more a matter of living a healthy life.”
Clearly, it would be a mistake to conclude that obesity does not matter for our health or well-being, that it's without consequence to eat all the Krispy Kremes we want, throw out our sneakers and kick back and watch as our waistlines expand, says Dr. I-Min Lee, an associate professor of epidemiology and medicine at Harvard.
"Looking at dead versus not dead is not the only option,” she says.
Lee says the confusion about the impact of extra pounds on our health relates to how much weight conveys which risks.
:affraid:
The turning point happened last summer when Sherrie Boughter's son came to her in tears about his weight — at 8 years old, he tipped the scales at 184 pounds.
"I weigh more than Rey Mysterio," the professional wrestler, Justin told his mom. "You have to help me! You have to help me!" he pleaded.
We sat and cried for an hour," remembers Boughter, 41, who lives in Medina, Ohio.
She and her husband, Brian, sought help from the Akron Children's Hospital Future Fitness Clinic, where she says the staff didn't beat around the bush. While Justin didn't have full-blown diabetes, which runs in the family, he had brown patches on the back of his neck that can be a warning sign of the disease.
"It was the worst day of my life when I was there and they're going, 'You're killing him. You're not doing him any favors by giving him another piece of cake,'" she says. "You give this child life and you don't stop that. I brought him here and basically now I was wrecking him."
Thanks largely to medical and public health advances, Americans are living longer than ever. The average life expectancy in 2005, the latest year for which figures are available, was nearly 78. That's up from 47 in 1900 and 68 in 1950.
But even as the market for anti-aging pills and products has never been hotter with Americans seeking a longer life, some experts say we as a nation are doing ourselves in with our couch-potato culture of eating way too much and exercising far too little. Some health professionals even raise the controversial notion that today's generation of kids like Justin — about a third of whom are overweight or obese — may be the first to live shorter lives than their parents.
'Like advanced aging'
"All of the signs are pointing in the wrong direction," says Dr. Jennifer Shu, an Atlanta pediatrician and spokesperson for the American Academy of Pediatrics.
"Young kids are getting what have traditionally been adult-type diseases — type 2 diabetes and heart disease," she says. "It's like advanced aging."
"These kids are headed for real trouble," agrees S. Jay Olshansky, a professor of public health and a researcher at the Center on Aging at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Their parents may not be faring so well, either, he says. Two-thirds of American adults are overweight or obese.
In 2005, Olshansky and colleagues published a paper in The New England Journal of Medicine predicting that in the coming decades, the obesity epidemic and its health consequences would reverse the upward longevity curve in America over the last century, slashing life expectancy by two to five years — more than the impact of cancer or heart disease.
Olshansky says he's particularly concerned about obesity in children, which has tripled since 1970, because they could be dealing with diabetes, heart disease and other weight-related health problems for a longer period of time and face a greater toll.
Predicting the future, of course, is a rather uncertain science. And researchers studying life expectancy may use different methods to go about it.
Olshansky's team, for instance, based their forecast on the prevalence of obesity and on reports of the years of life lost from it. They estimated the effect of obesity on life expectancy for the U.S. population based on reductions in death rates that would occur if everyone who was obese would lose enough weight to have an optimal body mass index .
But not everyone is convinced that the obesity epidemic will have such a dramatic impact — or even an effect at all — on life expectancies across the nation. Critics say dire predictions focus too much on body weight without taking the whole picture into account.
“It’s extremely unlikely that today’s children will have shorter life expectancies than their parents. From everything I see, we continue to make rapid progress at extending life as a result of improvements in medical technology and personal health practices," such as smoking less, says Samuel Preston, a professor of demography at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. "Yes, we are fatter than we used to be but the implications of that have not been nearly as severe as has been popularly assumed."
Preston, who wrote an editorial accompanying the Olshansky paper, acknowledges there is "some uncertainty" about the long-term impact of obesity on young kids. But, he says, "I haven't seen a single convincing study that relates adult deaths to childhood obesity."
Living vs. healthy living
Olshansky believes that, unfortunately, such hard data will come in time, once today's generation of young people grows older and begins to suffer the consequences of decades of obesity.
The level of frailty and disability that we’re going to see in this population is going to be enormous," he says. Besides the health impact of obesity, the monetary toll will be staggering, he says, noting that annual health care costs of treating obesity and its complications, such as diabetes, already total an estimated $70 billion to $100 billion a year in America.
Experts don't dispute that obesity, particularly morbid obesity, can lead to a host of serious and costly health problems. The question with regard to life expectancy, though, is whether those problems will be so great as to actually alter averages for the entire nation — and reverse decades of longevity gains.
David Freedman, an epidemiologist in the division of nutrition, physical activity and obesity at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, says he believes, as Preston does, that modern medicine will blunt the impact of the obesity epidemic because heavy people who develop diabetes or heart disease can live a long time with the right medical care.
There are effective treatments for the complications of obesity," he says, such as medicines for high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and excess blood sugar.
Of course, a lifetime of pills and doctor visits isn't ideal, particularly for the young generation who may "be the most medicated in history," Freedman says. “It would be better for people not to be moderately to severely obese. I think it would be a healthier life for people. It’s not a matter of longevity in my opinion, it’s more a matter of living a healthy life.”
Clearly, it would be a mistake to conclude that obesity does not matter for our health or well-being, that it's without consequence to eat all the Krispy Kremes we want, throw out our sneakers and kick back and watch as our waistlines expand, says Dr. I-Min Lee, an associate professor of epidemiology and medicine at Harvard.
"Looking at dead versus not dead is not the only option,” she says.
Lee says the confusion about the impact of extra pounds on our health relates to how much weight conveys which risks.
:affraid:
vine
Re: the news
par Vine le Ven 25 Avr - 1:54
Somali pirates find booming business
Draft U.N. resolution to give countries legal arsenal to nab high-seas thugs
updated 7:10 p.m. ET April 23, 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya - The spoils of a career as a pirate off Somalia's high seas were simply too good for Abdi Muse to pass up. He bought two Land Cruisers and a new home, then married two women in one passionate week.
"I was giving away money to everyone I met," said Muse, 38, who said he made $90,000 hijacking ships. "After two months, I had no money left. Can you believe it?"
For years, Somali pirates like Muse have found lucrative work stalking the country's lawless coast, seizing boats and negotiating ransoms. But these brazen assailants could soon face more force as the United States and France muster international support for taking them on
"This is a very important and serious signal that the nations of the world take (piracy) seriously," said C :no: . Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy.
The United States has been leading international patrols to combat piracy along Somalia's unruly 1,880-mile coast, the longest in Africa and near key shipping routes. Now, the U.S. and France are drafting a U.N. resolution that would allow countries to chase and arrest pirates after a spate of recent attacks, including a Spanish tuna boat hijacked this week by pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades and a Dubai-flagged cargo ship seized while carrying food to the desperately poor country.
The cargo ship was rescued Tuesday by Somali forces, who arrested seven pirates, but the Spanish boat and its crew remain in the hands of hijackers.
French officials say they are pushing for a resolution that would make it easier for armies to swoop into other countries' waters and nab pirates. The push comes after French commandos freed hostages on a French tourist yacht seized earlier this month off the coast of Somalia, and then chased the pirates on land and arrested them.
"The international community must respond and set up a rotating mechanism to control and keep watch with our naval forces so as to guarantee the security and protection of all those who fish or sail through that zone," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said as his country awaited word on its hijacked tuna boat.
[b]Linked to powerful clans
[/b]Many Somali pirates are trained fighters linked to politically powerful clans that have carved the country into armed fiefdoms; others are young thugs enlisted to do the dirty work for older, more powerful criminals, who turn a profit by taking a cut of the ransom money and selling the ship's cargo.
Pirates often dress in military fatigues and use speedboats equipped with satellite phones and Global Positioning System equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers and grenades, according to the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia.
Somalia's already overstretched government welcomed the initiative to involve international forces in patrolling its pirate-infested coastal waters. Wracked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy, Somalia does not have a navy, and the transitional government formed in 2004 with U.N. help has struggled to contain a deadly insurgency.
"These forces could come inside the country if it is needed," said government spokesman Abdi Hagi Gobdon.
To some pirates, however, the prospect of international force is not particularly daunting.
"We are not scared of the U.S. troops or any other troops stationed off our waters. Why should we be scared?" asked Siyad, a Somali pirate who asked that his full name not be used for fear of reprisals.
"They have weapons, but so do we. And we are the ones with the human shields," he said, noting that troops are loath to use force because it risks harming hostages.
Draft U.N. resolution to give countries legal arsenal to nab high-seas thugs
updated 7:10 p.m. ET April 23, 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya - The spoils of a career as a pirate off Somalia's high seas were simply too good for Abdi Muse to pass up. He bought two Land Cruisers and a new home, then married two women in one passionate week.
"I was giving away money to everyone I met," said Muse, 38, who said he made $90,000 hijacking ships. "After two months, I had no money left. Can you believe it?"
For years, Somali pirates like Muse have found lucrative work stalking the country's lawless coast, seizing boats and negotiating ransoms. But these brazen assailants could soon face more force as the United States and France muster international support for taking them on
"This is a very important and serious signal that the nations of the world take (piracy) seriously," said C :no: . Lydia Robertson, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy.
The United States has been leading international patrols to combat piracy along Somalia's unruly 1,880-mile coast, the longest in Africa and near key shipping routes. Now, the U.S. and France are drafting a U.N. resolution that would allow countries to chase and arrest pirates after a spate of recent attacks, including a Spanish tuna boat hijacked this week by pirates firing rocket-propelled grenades and a Dubai-flagged cargo ship seized while carrying food to the desperately poor country.
The cargo ship was rescued Tuesday by Somali forces, who arrested seven pirates, but the Spanish boat and its crew remain in the hands of hijackers.
French officials say they are pushing for a resolution that would make it easier for armies to swoop into other countries' waters and nab pirates. The push comes after French commandos freed hostages on a French tourist yacht seized earlier this month off the coast of Somalia, and then chased the pirates on land and arrested them.
"The international community must respond and set up a rotating mechanism to control and keep watch with our naval forces so as to guarantee the security and protection of all those who fish or sail through that zone," Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos said as his country awaited word on its hijacked tuna boat.
[b]Linked to powerful clans
[/b]Many Somali pirates are trained fighters linked to politically powerful clans that have carved the country into armed fiefdoms; others are young thugs enlisted to do the dirty work for older, more powerful criminals, who turn a profit by taking a cut of the ransom money and selling the ship's cargo.
Pirates often dress in military fatigues and use speedboats equipped with satellite phones and Global Positioning System equipment. They are typically armed with automatic weapons, anti-tank rocket launchers and grenades, according to the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia.
Somalia's already overstretched government welcomed the initiative to involve international forces in patrolling its pirate-infested coastal waters. Wracked by more than a decade of violence and anarchy, Somalia does not have a navy, and the transitional government formed in 2004 with U.N. help has struggled to contain a deadly insurgency.
"These forces could come inside the country if it is needed," said government spokesman Abdi Hagi Gobdon.
To some pirates, however, the prospect of international force is not particularly daunting.
"We are not scared of the U.S. troops or any other troops stationed off our waters. Why should we be scared?" asked Siyad, a Somali pirate who asked that his full name not be used for fear of reprisals.
"They have weapons, but so do we. And we are the ones with the human shields," he said, noting that troops are loath to use force because it risks harming hostages.
vine
Re: the news
par Vine le Lun 28 Avr - 1:01
Zimbabwe police take vote counting materials
Hundreds of people arrested in raids, opposition officials say
Zimbabwean riot policemen are seen in a street of Harare after raiding the Harvest house, the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change on April 25, 2008.
updated 3:05 p.m. ET April 25, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Riot police and intelligence officers Friday ransacked opposition party headquarters and the offices of independent election monitors, hauling away material documenting the apparent election defeat of President Robert Mugabe.
Hundreds were arrested in the strongest signal yet that Zimbabwe's longtime leader intends to cling to power in the face of a growing global clamor for him to step aside.
The raids come the day after a U.S. envoy declared opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won the March election.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change and the independent Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network both claim Tsvangirai won the March 29 vote, based on their own surveys of results posted at ballot stations. Official results have yet to be released.
About 250 heavily armed riot police wielding batons arrested about 300 people in a swoop on the opposition's Harvest House offices, the opposition party reported.
Pregnant women and mothers with babies strapped to their backs were among people herded into a bus and a pickup truck, witnesses said.
The party said they included scores of supporters brutalized in a postelection campaign of revenge in the countryside who had sought refuge at the party offices in the capital, Harare.
"Their homes were burned," Thokozani Khupe, a party vice president said. "Some have been brutally assaulted."
Assistant Police Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said those arrested were suspected of "crimes that were committed in the countryside."
Raids aimed at election information
But the raids appeared aimed at collecting any information showing Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union lost the March 29 elections.
"The police ... say they want the documents that the party has that form the basis of our claim that we won the election in general, and the presidential ballot in particular," Tsvangirai's party said in a statement.
Police took computers and equipment, and searched for key election-related documents, the party said.
Noel Kututwa, chairman of the independent monitoring organization, said officers from the feared Central Intelligence Organization "said they were looking for subversive material likely to overthrow (the) government using unconstitutional means."
Kututwa told The Associated Press the raid appeared aimed at intimidating and weakening his organization ahead of any possible presidential runoff.
The official Zimbabwe Electoral Commission stopped announcing results after publishing those for legislative seats showing that the ruling party had lost its control of Parliament for the first time since independence in 1980. An ongoing recount for 23 constituencies instigated by the ruling party appears aimed at overturning those results.
Mugabe has been under intense international pressure to publish the results of presidential balloting held the same day — results that independent monitors say were known the day after the vote.
Kututwa, of the observer group, said the intelligence officers had wanted to arrest him and his deputy, Rindai Chipfunde-Vava, but that they both were away from the office. He said they were both now in hiding.
Hundreds of opposition supporters have been abducted, tortured and assaulted in recent weeks in what independent religious and human rights groups call a violent crackdown on dissent. Tsvangirai's party says at least 10 of its supporters have been killed.
Mugabe's officials have accused the opposition of violence.
Human Rights Watch, the New York-based international organization, told The Associated Press that the campaign against people perceived to have "voted wrongly" has escalated this week.
Carolyn Norris, HRW's deputy director for Africa, said soldiers have joined in torturing and beating people in recent days. Previously, Human Rights Watch had reported that ruling party officials, militia and war veterans were carrying out the violence at informal torture centers in the countryside.
Hundreds of homes have been torched, the organization reported.
In one case, Norris said, a man's ear was cut off. During Zimbabwe's seven-year bush war to end white minority rule, guerrillas would cut off the ears and tongues of people accused of being traitors.
Norris also said they were getting the first reports of opposition supporters retaliating — by burning the homes of ruling party supporters in the central Mashonaland East and Manicaland provinces.
Tsvangirai's party had been urging its supporters not to retaliate, fearing it would give Mugabe reason for an even more severe crackdown.
U.S. envoy: Opposition victorious
Friday's raids come as the top U.S. envoy for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, is in the region on a diplomatic push to help resolve Zimbabwe's crisis.
"We think in this situation we have a clear victor: Morgan Tsvangirai won, and perhaps outright," U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer said in South Africa on Thursday.
In Washington Friday, the U.S. State Department backed off her comments. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that there are a lot of indications that Tsvangirai "may well have won," but would not go as far as Frazer.
Frazer, assistant U.S. secretary of state for African affairs, on Friday flew to Angola and met with President Eduardo dos Santos, a staunch ally of Mugabe who himself has not held elections since 1992.
Mugabe sent a delegation that met with dos Santos before Fraser. After that meeting, Zimbabwe's former Security Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa told reporters that he expected results to be announced in three or four days. Mnangagwa also said he expected there would be a presidential runoff.
Fraser is also scheduled to travel to Zambia for talks with President Levy Mwanawasa, the current head of the Southern African Development Community of 15 nations, which is thought to have some sway over the intransigent Zimbabwean leader.
Hundreds of people arrested in raids, opposition officials say
Zimbabwean riot policemen are seen in a street of Harare after raiding the Harvest house, the headquarters of the Movement for Democratic Change on April 25, 2008.
updated 3:05 p.m. ET April 25, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe - Riot police and intelligence officers Friday ransacked opposition party headquarters and the offices of independent election monitors, hauling away material documenting the apparent election defeat of President Robert Mugabe.
Hundreds were arrested in the strongest signal yet that Zimbabwe's longtime leader intends to cling to power in the face of a growing global clamor for him to step aside.
The raids come the day after a U.S. envoy declared opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai had won the March election.
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change and the independent Zimbabwe Electoral Support Network both claim Tsvangirai won the March 29 vote, based on their own surveys of results posted at ballot stations. Official results have yet to be released.
About 250 heavily armed riot police wielding batons arrested about 300 people in a swoop on the opposition's Harvest House offices, the opposition party reported.
Pregnant women and mothers with babies strapped to their backs were among people herded into a bus and a pickup truck, witnesses said.
The party said they included scores of supporters brutalized in a postelection campaign of revenge in the countryside who had sought refuge at the party offices in the capital, Harare.
"Their homes were burned," Thokozani Khupe, a party vice president said. "Some have been brutally assaulted."
Assistant Police Commissioner Wayne Bvudzijena said those arrested were suspected of "crimes that were committed in the countryside."
Raids aimed at election information
But the raids appeared aimed at collecting any information showing Mugabe and his ruling Zimbabwe African National Union lost the March 29 elections.
"The police ... say they want the documents that the party has that form the basis of our claim that we won the election in general, and the presidential ballot in particular," Tsvangirai's party said in a statement.
Police took computers and equipment, and searched for key election-related documents, the party said.
Noel Kututwa, chairman of the independent monitoring organization, said officers from the feared Central Intelligence Organization "said they were looking for subversive material likely to overthrow (the) government using unconstitutional means."
Kututwa told The Associated Press the raid appeared aimed at intimidating and weakening his organization ahead of any possible presidential runoff.
The official Zimbabwe Electoral Commission stopped announcing results after publishing those for legislative seats showing that the ruling party had lost its control of Parliament for the first time since independence in 1980. An ongoing recount for 23 constituencies instigated by the ruling party appears aimed at overturning those results.
Mugabe has been under intense international pressure to publish the results of presidential balloting held the same day — results that independent monitors say were known the day after the vote.
Kututwa, of the observer group, said the intelligence officers had wanted to arrest him and his deputy, Rindai Chipfunde-Vava, but that they both were away from the office. He said they were both now in hiding.
Hundreds of opposition supporters have been abducted, tortured and assaulted in recent weeks in what independent religious and human rights groups call a violent crackdown on dissent. Tsvangirai's party says at least 10 of its supporters have been killed.
Mugabe's officials have accused the opposition of violence.
Human Rights Watch, the New York-based international organization, told The Associated Press that the campaign against people perceived to have "voted wrongly" has escalated this week.
Carolyn Norris, HRW's deputy director for Africa, said soldiers have joined in torturing and beating people in recent days. Previously, Human Rights Watch had reported that ruling party officials, militia and war veterans were carrying out the violence at informal torture centers in the countryside.
Hundreds of homes have been torched, the organization reported.
In one case, Norris said, a man's ear was cut off. During Zimbabwe's seven-year bush war to end white minority rule, guerrillas would cut off the ears and tongues of people accused of being traitors.
Norris also said they were getting the first reports of opposition supporters retaliating — by burning the homes of ruling party supporters in the central Mashonaland East and Manicaland provinces.
Tsvangirai's party had been urging its supporters not to retaliate, fearing it would give Mugabe reason for an even more severe crackdown.
U.S. envoy: Opposition victorious
Friday's raids come as the top U.S. envoy for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, is in the region on a diplomatic push to help resolve Zimbabwe's crisis.
"We think in this situation we have a clear victor: Morgan Tsvangirai won, and perhaps outright," U.S. envoy Jendayi Frazer said in South Africa on Thursday.
In Washington Friday, the U.S. State Department backed off her comments. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters that there are a lot of indications that Tsvangirai "may well have won," but would not go as far as Frazer.
Frazer, assistant U.S. secretary of state for African affairs, on Friday flew to Angola and met with President Eduardo dos Santos, a staunch ally of Mugabe who himself has not held elections since 1992.
Mugabe sent a delegation that met with dos Santos before Fraser. After that meeting, Zimbabwe's former Security Minister Emmerson Mnangagwa told reporters that he expected results to be announced in three or four days. Mnangagwa also said he expected there would be a presidential runoff.
Fraser is also scheduled to travel to Zambia for talks with President Levy Mwanawasa, the current head of the Southern African Development Community of 15 nations, which is thought to have some sway over the intransigent Zimbabwean leader.
:oops:
vine
Re: the news
par Vine le Mar 29 Avr - 0:26
Zimbabwe opposition unites against Mugabe
Divided movement comes together, orders president to concede defeat
Posters showing Zimbabwean presidential candidates Robert Mugabe, Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai, is seen in Harare on Sunday.
updated 11:56 a.m. ET April 28, 2008
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Zimbabwe's opposition leaders declared Monday that the country's opposition has won control of parliament for the first time in history — and that President Robert Mugabe must concede defeat.
Putting months of bickering behind them, opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara stood united to order Mugabe to step aside.
"In a parliamentary democracy, the majority rule," Tsvangirai said alongside Mutambara at a news conference in South Africa. "He should concede that ... he cannot be president."
More than a month after the elections, results from the presidential race have not been announced. Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, maintains that he won the presidency outright — although independent observers say he fell just short of the votes needed to avoid a runoff.
Tsvangirai reiterated Monday that he would not take part in a runoff.
"The question about a runoff doesn't arise. It doesn't arise because of the simple fact that the people have spoken, the people have decided," he said.
Recount still under way
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has been conducting a recount of 23 parliamentary seats from the March 29 elections.
Officials announced last weekend that recounts of 18 of 23 disputed parliamentary seats left initial results unchanged — enough to confirm opposition's seizure of control of parliament from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party for the first time since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980.
Results of the final five disputed seats had been expected to be announced Monday, but there was no mention of the final count — and no word on when the presidential results would be released.
The two opposition leaders celebrated the results and said they have put past rivalry between them aside.
"We are here to ... say there will be no divisions among ourselves," Mutambara said. "We are all going to work together in case Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF try to sabotage the will of the people."
"We are in control of parliament. We are also controlling the senate. This is the state of affairs in our country," he said.
Tsvangirai said that the Movement for Democratic Change wants to work with former Finance Minister Simba Makoni, the third presidential candidate. He said the MDC also would also approach sympathetic ZANU-PF lawmakers to see if they would cross party lines.
Divided movement comes together, orders president to concede defeat
Posters showing Zimbabwean presidential candidates Robert Mugabe, Simba Makoni and Morgan Tsvangirai, is seen in Harare on Sunday.
updated 11:56 a.m. ET April 28, 2008
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Zimbabwe's opposition leaders declared Monday that the country's opposition has won control of parliament for the first time in history — and that President Robert Mugabe must concede defeat.
Putting months of bickering behind them, opposition leaders Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur Mutambara stood united to order Mugabe to step aside.
"In a parliamentary democracy, the majority rule," Tsvangirai said alongside Mutambara at a news conference in South Africa. "He should concede that ... he cannot be president."
More than a month after the elections, results from the presidential race have not been announced. Tsvangirai, leader of the Movement for Democratic Change, maintains that he won the presidency outright — although independent observers say he fell just short of the votes needed to avoid a runoff.
Tsvangirai reiterated Monday that he would not take part in a runoff.
"The question about a runoff doesn't arise. It doesn't arise because of the simple fact that the people have spoken, the people have decided," he said.
Recount still under way
Meanwhile, the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission has been conducting a recount of 23 parliamentary seats from the March 29 elections.
Officials announced last weekend that recounts of 18 of 23 disputed parliamentary seats left initial results unchanged — enough to confirm opposition's seizure of control of parliament from Mugabe's ZANU-PF party for the first time since Zimbabwe gained independence from Britain in 1980.
Results of the final five disputed seats had been expected to be announced Monday, but there was no mention of the final count — and no word on when the presidential results would be released.
The two opposition leaders celebrated the results and said they have put past rivalry between them aside.
"We are here to ... say there will be no divisions among ourselves," Mutambara said. "We are all going to work together in case Robert Mugabe and ZANU-PF try to sabotage the will of the people."
"We are in control of parliament. We are also controlling the senate. This is the state of affairs in our country," he said.
Tsvangirai said that the Movement for Democratic Change wants to work with former Finance Minister Simba Makoni, the third presidential candidate. He said the MDC also would also approach sympathetic ZANU-PF lawmakers to see if they would cross party lines.
vine
Re: the news
par Vine le Mar 29 Avr - 20:25
Dean: Clinton or Obama must drop out by June
DNC chair says once voters have had say, move must be made to unify party
updated 8:51 a.m. ET April 28, 2008
WASHINGTON - Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Monday that either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama must drop out of the Democratic presidential race after the June primaries in order to unify the party by the convention and win the election in November.
But Dean didn't say which candidate should drop out, only that it should happen after primary voters have been to the polls.
"We want the voters to have their say. That's over on June 3," Dean said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Dean also said that while the party rules say Democratic superdelegates can wait until the party's Aug. 25 convention to make up their minds, that would be too late to unify the party and defeat the presumptive Republican nominee, jonh McCain
"We really can't have a divided convention. If we do it's going to be very hard to heal the party afterwards," Dean said. "So we'll know who the nominee is and that'll give us an extra 2 1/2 months to get our party together, heal the wounds of having a very closely divided race and take on Senator McCain."
Dean said he won't have to tell either Clinton or Obama when it's time to leave the race.
"Either of these candidates, if it's time for them to go, they'll know it and they will go," Dean said. "They don't need any pushing from me. You know when to get in and you know when to get out. That's just part of the deal."
Obama has more delegates and popular votes than Clinton, but she is also fresh off a big-state win in Pennsylvania.
Dean said that "none of the so-called party elders I talked to" think the contest should go until the convention. "I agree with that," Dean said.
"We've got nine more primaries ... Five hundred of the 800 unpledged delegates have already said who they are for. The remaining 300 will do that by the end of June and we'll know who our nominee is and that's what we need to do," Dean said on 's "Today" show.
DNC chair says once voters have had say, move must be made to unify party
updated 8:51 a.m. ET April 28, 2008
WASHINGTON - Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean said Monday that either Hillary Rodham Clinton or Barack Obama must drop out of the Democratic presidential race after the June primaries in order to unify the party by the convention and win the election in November.
But Dean didn't say which candidate should drop out, only that it should happen after primary voters have been to the polls.
"We want the voters to have their say. That's over on June 3," Dean said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."
Dean also said that while the party rules say Democratic superdelegates can wait until the party's Aug. 25 convention to make up their minds, that would be too late to unify the party and defeat the presumptive Republican nominee, jonh McCain
"We really can't have a divided convention. If we do it's going to be very hard to heal the party afterwards," Dean said. "So we'll know who the nominee is and that'll give us an extra 2 1/2 months to get our party together, heal the wounds of having a very closely divided race and take on Senator McCain."
Dean said he won't have to tell either Clinton or Obama when it's time to leave the race.
"Either of these candidates, if it's time for them to go, they'll know it and they will go," Dean said. "They don't need any pushing from me. You know when to get in and you know when to get out. That's just part of the deal."
Obama has more delegates and popular votes than Clinton, but she is also fresh off a big-state win in Pennsylvania.
Dean said that "none of the so-called party elders I talked to" think the contest should go until the convention. "I agree with that," Dean said.
"We've got nine more primaries ... Five hundred of the 800 unpledged delegates have already said who they are for. The remaining 300 will do that by the end of June and we'll know who our nominee is and that's what we need to do," Dean said on 's "Today" show.
vine
Re: the news
par Vine le Mer 30 Avr - 22:39
Hair of the dog keeps children’s allergies at bay
Growing up with a pet lowers kids' risk to asthma, hay fever, study says
updated 8:55 p.m. ET April 28, 2008
LONDON - Having a dog in the house reduces the risk that young children will develop allergies, German researchers said on Tuesday.
The finding, based on a six-year study of 9,000 children, lends weight to the theory that growing up with a pet trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever.
Just why this should be is unclear but scientists believe youngsters may get beneficial early exposure to germs carried into the house on the animal’s fur, which helps their immune systems develop.
“Our results show clearly that the presence of a dog in the home during subjects’ infancy is associated with a significantly low level of sensitization to pollens and inhaled allergens,” said Joachim Heinrich of the National Research Centre for Environmental Health in Munich.
The same protective effect was not seen in children who had frequent contact with dogs but did not have one at home.
Previous studies have suggested that exposure to pets may have a protective effect against allergies but many of these studies were based on retrospective questioning of subjects about their exposure.
Heinrich’s study, by contrast, was designed before the data was collected. Experts consider such prospective studies make for more reliable results.
Parents answered detailed questionnaires about possible allergic symptoms in their children, from birth to the age of 6, and blood samples were also taken from a third of the group to test for antibodies to common allergens.
The group’s findings were published in the European Respiratory Journal.
Growing up with a pet lowers kids' risk to asthma, hay fever, study says
updated 8:55 p.m. ET April 28, 2008
LONDON - Having a dog in the house reduces the risk that young children will develop allergies, German researchers said on Tuesday.
The finding, based on a six-year study of 9,000 children, lends weight to the theory that growing up with a pet trains the immune system to be less sensitive to potential triggers for allergies like asthma, eczema and hay fever.
Just why this should be is unclear but scientists believe youngsters may get beneficial early exposure to germs carried into the house on the animal’s fur, which helps their immune systems develop.
“Our results show clearly that the presence of a dog in the home during subjects’ infancy is associated with a significantly low level of sensitization to pollens and inhaled allergens,” said Joachim Heinrich of the National Research Centre for Environmental Health in Munich.
The same protective effect was not seen in children who had frequent contact with dogs but did not have one at home.
Previous studies have suggested that exposure to pets may have a protective effect against allergies but many of these studies were based on retrospective questioning of subjects about their exposure.
Heinrich’s study, by contrast, was designed before the data was collected. Experts consider such prospective studies make for more reliable results.
Parents answered detailed questionnaires about possible allergic symptoms in their children, from birth to the age of 6, and blood samples were also taken from a third of the group to test for antibodies to common allergens.
The group’s findings were published in the European Respiratory Journal.
vine
Re: the news
par Vine le Mer 30 Avr - 22:53
Zimbabwe: U.N. talks are 'racist and colonial'
At U.N. Security Council, Western powers press for mission to Zimbabwe
updated 9:36 a.m. ET April 30, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe’s government dismissed the United Nations’ first session on Zimbabwe’s election crisis as “sinister, racist and colonial” on Wednesday and said it would have no impact on the country.
At the U.N. Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Western powers pressed for a U.N. mission or envoy to visit Zimbabwe, where the results of a disputed presidential election four weeks ago have still not been released.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says its leader Morgan Tsvangiari won the March 29 vote outright. The MDC accuses Mugabe of delaying results to rig victory and says a prolonged crisis will lead to widespread bloodshed.
Former colonial power Britain has been at the forefront of international pressure on Mugabe. It is seeking an arms embargo on Zimbabwe, an investigation into post-election violence, and has called for the election results to be issued immediately.
“While we condemn all these machinations, we are also sure that the larger international community are getting to understand that our main problems are with the British. They are behind all these moves against us, but we will stand our ground,” Matonga said.
Verification of election votes has been put off until Thursday, again delaying when Zimbabweans will know if Mugabe will stay in power in a country critics say he has ruined with reckless economic policies. The process could take a week.
[b]'Humanitarian crisis'
[/b]France’s U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert told reporters the fact that the Security Council had met to discuss the crisis sent a signal to Zimbabwe’s authorities “that we are looking very carefully at what they are doing.”
The U.S. and British envoys said U.N. Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe had told the closed meeting that Zimbabwe was in the midst of its worst humanitarian crisis since independence from Britain in 1980.
Zimbabweans had hoped the election would ease economic turmoil. Instead, severe food, fuel and foreign currency shortages are worsening and there are no signs an inflation rate of 165,000 percent -- the world’s highest -- will decrease.
In the aftermath of elections, violence which the opposition blames on Mugabe has spread through the country. The government denies it is involved.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement late on Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s army is supplying militants with weapons to intimidate voters to ensure Mugabe wins a possible runoff.
The rights body said military forces had equipped war veterans with weapons and trucks to scare Zimbabweans into backing Mugabe.
European countries, Latin American U.N. members and the United States also supported sending an envoy, diplomats said, but South Africa, which currently holds the council presidency, said such a move was not a matter for the council.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has come under attack at home and abroad for his softly approach to Zimbabwe.
Countries including the United States and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have said it was clear Tsvangirai won the election.
Zimbabwe’s U.N. ambassador suggested both sides would need to come up with a power-sharing deal in a national unity government.
“There is no way anybody can do without the other,” Boniface Chidyausiku told the BBC. 
At U.N. Security Council, Western powers press for mission to Zimbabwe
updated 9:36 a.m. ET April 30, 2008
HARARE, Zimbabwe - President Robert Mugabe’s government dismissed the United Nations’ first session on Zimbabwe’s election crisis as “sinister, racist and colonial” on Wednesday and said it would have no impact on the country.
At the U.N. Security Council meeting on Tuesday, Western powers pressed for a U.N. mission or envoy to visit Zimbabwe, where the results of a disputed presidential election four weeks ago have still not been released.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) says its leader Morgan Tsvangiari won the March 29 vote outright. The MDC accuses Mugabe of delaying results to rig victory and says a prolonged crisis will lead to widespread bloodshed.
For us, this (U.N. session) is a sign of desperation by the British and their MDC puppets. It is sinister, racist and colonial for Britain to try to rope in everyone to support its neo-colonial agenda here ... but it will fail,” Zimbabwe’s Deputy Information Minister Bright Matonga told Reuters.
Former colonial power Britain has been at the forefront of international pressure on Mugabe. It is seeking an arms embargo on Zimbabwe, an investigation into post-election violence, and has called for the election results to be issued immediately.
“While we condemn all these machinations, we are also sure that the larger international community are getting to understand that our main problems are with the British. They are behind all these moves against us, but we will stand our ground,” Matonga said.
Verification of election votes has been put off until Thursday, again delaying when Zimbabweans will know if Mugabe will stay in power in a country critics say he has ruined with reckless economic policies. The process could take a week.
[b]'Humanitarian crisis'
[/b]France’s U.N. Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert told reporters the fact that the Security Council had met to discuss the crisis sent a signal to Zimbabwe’s authorities “that we are looking very carefully at what they are doing.”
The U.S. and British envoys said U.N. Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe had told the closed meeting that Zimbabwe was in the midst of its worst humanitarian crisis since independence from Britain in 1980.
Zimbabweans had hoped the election would ease economic turmoil. Instead, severe food, fuel and foreign currency shortages are worsening and there are no signs an inflation rate of 165,000 percent -- the world’s highest -- will decrease.
In the aftermath of elections, violence which the opposition blames on Mugabe has spread through the country. The government denies it is involved.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement late on Tuesday that Zimbabwe’s army is supplying militants with weapons to intimidate voters to ensure Mugabe wins a possible runoff.
The rights body said military forces had equipped war veterans with weapons and trucks to scare Zimbabweans into backing Mugabe.
European countries, Latin American U.N. members and the United States also supported sending an envoy, diplomats said, but South Africa, which currently holds the council presidency, said such a move was not a matter for the council.
South African President Thabo Mbeki has come under attack at home and abroad for his softly approach to Zimbabwe.
Countries including the United States and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have said it was clear Tsvangirai won the election.
Zimbabwe’s U.N. ambassador suggested both sides would need to come up with a power-sharing deal in a national unity government.
“There is no way anybody can do without the other,” Boniface Chidyausiku told the BBC.
vine
Re: the news
par Vine le Ven 2 Mai - 1:54
Ladies’ love lit stirs up Nigeria’s Muslim north
Bound by Islamic tradition on their roles in society, women turn to books
Author Binta Rabiu Spikin reads from her book "Sultan" in Kano, Nigeria, on April 11. Women in Nigeria are increasingly turning to literature to explore topics of courtship and love
updated 2:10 p.m. ET May 1, 2008
KANO, Nigeria - Each evening, headscarf-shrouded women seeking romantic advice gather at book stalls lining a rush-hour intersection in Nigeria’s Islamic heartland.
With the sun setting red behind a nearby mosque, the women thumb through northern Nigeria’s unique, female-authored literary offerings: cheaply bound but popular volumes that address issues confronting women in a Shariah society: courtship, polygamy and the meaning of love.
While hardly bodice-rippers by Western standards, the controversy surrounding what academics call “Kano market literature” is increasing with the books’ readership. Conservative scholars and clerics in Nigeria’s north deride the tomes as pulp fiction that degrades Islamic and indigenous cultural mores. A top Islamic leaders recently set fire to a pile of the books.
But female readers say the volumes — with such titles as “Edge of Fate,” “False Love” and “Undeceiveful Heart” — help them navigate contemporary life and their titles are proliferating rapidly, pitting younger women against a predominantly male, conservative elite.
“Women are not only writing for pleasure, no, we are writing because we are seeing what is happening in the society and we want a lot of corrections,” says Binta Rabiu Spikin, a 32-year-old single woman who was raised in her grandfather’s home, which included four wives.
“We want amendments made. That’s why we write.”
The books are mostly written in the local language of Hausa. They extoll the values of true love based on feelings, rather than family or other social pressures. Some also carry anti-drug messages.
Several volumes instruct women on how to send loving text messages to their intended mate’s mobile phones: “Knowing I can love U with the distance between our hearts makes my love 4U stronger.”
Still, readers hoping for Kama Sutra-like instruction in male-female relations will be disappointed. The story lines in most of the novels highlight issues facing women and girls, particularly their relations with men.
Many men in northern Nigeria have up to four wives, in keeping with Islamic injunctions, frequently forcing women who may not be natural allies to live together in close quarters. Multiple wives is far less common in Nigeria’s predominantly Christian south.
The books don’t normally offer instructions on how to deal with this family set up, but instead offer a picture of the household dynamics, so that women will know what to expect.
Other volumes take on a dreamier approach, with women openly flirting and dancing closely with men in public. In reality, that’s a rarity in northern Nigeria, where public modesty and chastity are encouraged in women. Readers say the books help them understand female adult life.
“Now we’re living in a modern society, but there are still things they don’t tell you,” says Maryam Muhammed Haladu, a 20-year old devotee of the books. “Some ladies, when they’re married, they don’t know what to do. They don’t know how to take care of a man, how to seduce him.”
But even the depiction of men and women together rankle some conservatives. Throughout the ages, cultural mores were transmitted by village leaders and through families in an oral tradition
Arab slave and spice traders brought Islam to the Hausa people in 1300s. Later, English colonialists who ruled Nigeria until its 1960 independence applied the English alphabet to the Hausa language, allowing for a written history. The British encouraged Hausa writing with competitions in the 1930s.
Over the decades, Hausa speakers developed a thriving literary tradition in their own language, which is rare in Africa, where many languages had no written tradition until colonialists brought script.
But until computers and cheaper means of publishing arrived in the late 1990s, when Shariah or Islamic law was installed in the area, male cultural elites controlled the presses.
With the recent explosion of communication technology, women have found ways to publish their books, too. About 100 of the Kano chapter of the Nigerian Writers Association are now female, a massive increase since the turn of the century when military rule ended and mobile phone and other technology blossomed in Nigeria.
The women writers’ books, along with similarly themed novels by men, now crowd jerry-rigged roadside bookshops across Kano. At about 30 cents a copy, writers say sales are way up in the past few years.
The colorfully titled books, which are little more than stapled pamphlets, normally boast covers with women smiling at passers-by. Between the covers, women discuss how to approach men while remaining chaste, and how to live peacefully in a household with the four wives allowed by Islam.
But many academics and Islamic clerics wish the books would just disappear. They say foreign influences are creeping into the writings, particularly from the popular Indian Bollywood movies, undermining traditional Hausa and Islamic practices.
They also complain that the writing is of a low level, which tarnishes their long literary traditions. The region’s traditional leader, the Emir of Kano, recently presided over a ceremony where several of the books that were found inside school houses were torched.
“Women, particularly the youth, like love and they want to talk about it. But among us Hausas, we do love inside the home, not outside,” says Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil, the head of Kano’s Islamic clerics’ association, the Council of Ulama.
“Religiously, it’s not haram (banned) to write about love in Islam. But they way they write, it’s not very mature,” he said. “It’s a problem for our education, our culture, our morality.”
For many others, the books herald broader shifts, while also encouraging literacy among women in a region with low levels of female education.
“I do think (the books) have some prophetic qualities, in terms of where Islamic and Hausa culture is headed,” says Novian Whitsitt, an associate professor at Africana studies at Luther College in Iowa, who has studied the phenomenon.
“It speaks to younger generations’ desire to make for a more liberating environment with regard to women’s expression and contributions to society.”
While some books have had publishing runs of over 100,000, the writers say authorship doesn’t pay a living wage, but they find importance in communicating with a mass audience.
Bound by Islamic tradition on their roles in society, women turn to books
Author Binta Rabiu Spikin reads from her book "Sultan" in Kano, Nigeria, on April 11. Women in Nigeria are increasingly turning to literature to explore topics of courtship and love
updated 2:10 p.m. ET May 1, 2008
KANO, Nigeria - Each evening, headscarf-shrouded women seeking romantic advice gather at book stalls lining a rush-hour intersection in Nigeria’s Islamic heartland.
With the sun setting red behind a nearby mosque, the women thumb through northern Nigeria’s unique, female-authored literary offerings: cheaply bound but popular volumes that address issues confronting women in a Shariah society: courtship, polygamy and the meaning of love.
While hardly bodice-rippers by Western standards, the controversy surrounding what academics call “Kano market literature” is increasing with the books’ readership. Conservative scholars and clerics in Nigeria’s north deride the tomes as pulp fiction that degrades Islamic and indigenous cultural mores. A top Islamic leaders recently set fire to a pile of the books.
But female readers say the volumes — with such titles as “Edge of Fate,” “False Love” and “Undeceiveful Heart” — help them navigate contemporary life and their titles are proliferating rapidly, pitting younger women against a predominantly male, conservative elite.
“Women are not only writing for pleasure, no, we are writing because we are seeing what is happening in the society and we want a lot of corrections,” says Binta Rabiu Spikin, a 32-year-old single woman who was raised in her grandfather’s home, which included four wives.
“We want amendments made. That’s why we write.”
The books are mostly written in the local language of Hausa. They extoll the values of true love based on feelings, rather than family or other social pressures. Some also carry anti-drug messages.
Several volumes instruct women on how to send loving text messages to their intended mate’s mobile phones: “Knowing I can love U with the distance between our hearts makes my love 4U stronger.”
Still, readers hoping for Kama Sutra-like instruction in male-female relations will be disappointed. The story lines in most of the novels highlight issues facing women and girls, particularly their relations with men.
Many men in northern Nigeria have up to four wives, in keeping with Islamic injunctions, frequently forcing women who may not be natural allies to live together in close quarters. Multiple wives is far less common in Nigeria’s predominantly Christian south.
The books don’t normally offer instructions on how to deal with this family set up, but instead offer a picture of the household dynamics, so that women will know what to expect.
Other volumes take on a dreamier approach, with women openly flirting and dancing closely with men in public. In reality, that’s a rarity in northern Nigeria, where public modesty and chastity are encouraged in women. Readers say the books help them understand female adult life.
“Now we’re living in a modern society, but there are still things they don’t tell you,” says Maryam Muhammed Haladu, a 20-year old devotee of the books. “Some ladies, when they’re married, they don’t know what to do. They don’t know how to take care of a man, how to seduce him.”
But even the depiction of men and women together rankle some conservatives. Throughout the ages, cultural mores were transmitted by village leaders and through families in an oral tradition
Arab slave and spice traders brought Islam to the Hausa people in 1300s. Later, English colonialists who ruled Nigeria until its 1960 independence applied the English alphabet to the Hausa language, allowing for a written history. The British encouraged Hausa writing with competitions in the 1930s.
Over the decades, Hausa speakers developed a thriving literary tradition in their own language, which is rare in Africa, where many languages had no written tradition until colonialists brought script.
But until computers and cheaper means of publishing arrived in the late 1990s, when Shariah or Islamic law was installed in the area, male cultural elites controlled the presses.
With the recent explosion of communication technology, women have found ways to publish their books, too. About 100 of the Kano chapter of the Nigerian Writers Association are now female, a massive increase since the turn of the century when military rule ended and mobile phone and other technology blossomed in Nigeria.
The women writers’ books, along with similarly themed novels by men, now crowd jerry-rigged roadside bookshops across Kano. At about 30 cents a copy, writers say sales are way up in the past few years.
The colorfully titled books, which are little more than stapled pamphlets, normally boast covers with women smiling at passers-by. Between the covers, women discuss how to approach men while remaining chaste, and how to live peacefully in a household with the four wives allowed by Islam.
But many academics and Islamic clerics wish the books would just disappear. They say foreign influences are creeping into the writings, particularly from the popular Indian Bollywood movies, undermining traditional Hausa and Islamic practices.
They also complain that the writing is of a low level, which tarnishes their long literary traditions. The region’s traditional leader, the Emir of Kano, recently presided over a ceremony where several of the books that were found inside school houses were torched.
“Women, particularly the youth, like love and they want to talk about it. But among us Hausas, we do love inside the home, not outside,” says Sheikh Ibrahim Khalil, the head of Kano’s Islamic clerics’ association, the Council of Ulama.
“Religiously, it’s not haram (banned) to write about love in Islam. But they way they write, it’s not very mature,” he said. “It’s a problem for our education, our culture, our morality.”
For many others, the books herald broader shifts, while also encouraging literacy among women in a region with low levels of female education.
“I do think (the books) have some prophetic qualities, in terms of where Islamic and Hausa culture is headed,” says Novian Whitsitt, an associate professor at Africana studies at Luther College in Iowa, who has studied the phenomenon.
“It speaks to younger generations’ desire to make for a more liberating environment with regard to women’s expression and contributions to society.”
While some books have had publishing runs of over 100,000, the writers say authorship doesn’t pay a living wage, but they find importance in communicating with a mass audience.
vine
Re: the news
par Vine le Lun 5 Mai - 20:54
Bush: No quick fix for gas prices
President troubled by 'tax on working people'; to take look at proposals
updated 9:28 a.m. ET May 5, 2008
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday that he's troubled by rising gas prices and will take a look at proposals to relieve the crisis but warned that there is no quick fix.
"It's been a while in the making and it's going to be a while that we solve the problem," Bush said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America." "We're too dependent on foreign oil and we need to be exploring more at home."
Bush said the rising cost of gas "troubles me a lot" because it is "like a tax on the working people."
President troubled by 'tax on working people'; to take look at proposals
updated 9:28 a.m. ET May 5, 2008
WASHINGTON - President Bush said Monday that he's troubled by rising gas prices and will take a look at proposals to relieve the crisis but warned that there is no quick fix.
"It's been a while in the making and it's going to be a while that we solve the problem," Bush said in an interview on ABC's "Good Morning America." "We're too dependent on foreign oil and we need to be exploring more at home."
Bush said the rising cost of gas "troubles me a lot" because it is "like a tax on the working people."
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton and Republican presumptive nominee John McCain have proposed, with variations, a summertime suspension of federal gas taxes. Other proposals include a windfall-profits tax on oil companies, supported by Clinton, Democratic rival Barack Obama and many other Democrats; and new refineries, nuclear power plants and drilling in the Alaska wilderness, supported by Bush.
"We'll analyze some of these suggestions, but the key is that we think long-term for America, that we diversify away from oil and we're wise and build new refineries and increase supply for the American consumers," Bush said in the interview on the White House grounds with his wife, Laura.
He said he understands the pinch for working families and that some people will cut back on summertime travel. The federal tax rebate on the way to taxpayers will help, he said.
"One way to help solve it, of course, is by sending some of the money back. That's what's happening now as we speak. There's a rebate going back to the American people, which should help," Bush said. He reiterated his call for Congress to make permanent the tax cuts enacted during his administration.
:clown:
vine
Re: the news
par OCrAzYgirlO le Mar 6 Mai - 1:25
thx vine very interesting :)
Absente a cause d'un problme de connection .
"Dieu aima les oiseaux et inventa les arbres. L'homme aima les oiseaux et inventa les cages."
"Dieu aima les oiseaux et inventa les arbres. L'homme aima les oiseaux et inventa les cages."
Re: the news
par Dhl le Ven 9 Mai - 19:03
pascal sevran est dcd ce matin a l'age de 62ans meskine :( il avait un cancer de poumon
Re: the news
par Lord AntaractikA le Ven 9 Mai - 19:05
eh oui mais le malheur c'est qu'ils ont annoc ca mort ca fait 15jours meskine jean pierre el kabache l'a annoc
la chanson chanson et oui le bon vieux temps
la chanson chanson et oui le bon vieux temps
Re: the news
par Vine le Ven 9 Mai - 23:45
yes thanks OCrAzYgirlO . Dhon . Antaractika. read my the news .
:apl:
:apl: vine
Re: the news
par Vine le Ven 9 Mai - 23:47
Somali insurgents seize police headquarters
Islamist fighters attack Ethiopian military convoys in deadly conflict
updated 6:18 p.m. ET May 8, 2008
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Firing rocket-propelled grenades and heavy submachine guns, Islamist fighters seized the police headquarters at the heart of the government's stronghold in Mogadishu on Thursday in a bold attack that witnesses said killed two soldiers and two policemen.
The insurgents have tried many times to attack the heavily guarded K4 district but Thursday's raid was their first major success. The ambush could not be immediately be verified by Somali officials.
It came a day after a bloody Wednesday in the Horn of Africa nation. Insurgents attacked Ethiopian military convoys in two rural areas, and the soldiers responded by opening fire on civilians in both towns, killing at least 17 villagers total, according to witness accounts.
It was not known how many Ethiopians died in that fighting and the witness accounts could not be verified. Ethiopia, which sent troops into Somalia last year to back up soldiers fighting Islamic insurgents, does not make public its troops' fatalities but the insurgents said one of their regional commanders was killed.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed three Somali soldiers Wednesday, a military officer said. A separate attack on a World Food Program convoy in central Somalia killed a driver, U.N. officials said.
'Fighting was hideous, terrifying'
In the Mogadishu attack Thursday, witnesses said an explosion rocked Makalal Mukrama Road outside police headquarters in K4 district, sending plumes of black smoke into the night air after fighters set ablaze a captured "technical" — a pickup with a submachine gun fixed to its bed.
The blast came after the insurgents seized the police station yelling "God is great," witnesses said.
"The fighting was hideous, terrifying," said resident Hawa Abdi. The gunfire was so heavy that "I thought it would smash the walls of my concrete home."
Resident Elmi Osman said bullets crashed through the window of the house where he lives, killing his aunt and a nephew.
Street vendor Abisaq Mohamed said he saw the bodies of two police officers on Makalal Mukrama Road. He also reported seeing two government soldiers killed, and one insurgent being carried away. The attackers dispersed several hours later, witnesses said.
Islamist spokesman Abdirahim Issa Adow told The Associated Press that his fighters killed eight policemen. He said one Islamist fighter died and two were wounded in the attack.
He also said the Islamists fired mortars into two Ethiopian military bases in the capital — a claim that could not be verified.
In the worst of Wednesday's attacks, suspected insurgents ambushed an Ethiopian convoy with rocket-propelled grenades in the central province of Hiran, witnesses said.
"I saw two Ethiopian military vehicles burning and several soldiers underneath them, but I cannot confirm whether they were dead," Ahmedey Farah Hilowle said by telephone from his village south of the provincial capital, Belet Weyne.
'We inflicted a great loss of lives'
Ethiopian troops retaliated by opening fire, killing eight civilians including a woman who was collecting water from a well, villager Abdisalan Muxsim said. Residents said they found the bodies of six insurgents.
But Adow, the Islamists' spokesman, said only two insurgents were killed, including a regional commander.
International human rights groups have accused Ethiopian troops of targeting civilians out of frustration over their failure to halt insurgents who have adopted Iraq-style tactics, such as roadside bombs and occasional suicide attacks.
"We inflicted a great loss of lives on them (Ethiopians) and destroyed their vehicles, but in retaliation the enemy troops mercilessly killed civilians," Adow said.
Also Wednesday, Ethiopian troops killed nine civilians in the Lower Shabelle region after suspected insurgents ambushed a military convoy, witnesses said.
"During the battle, we ran away from our village to the bush," resident Said Abukar Ganey said. "This morning, we came back and we found the bodies of nine of our villagers."
Outside Baidoa, southwest of Mogadishu, a roadside bomb hit a truck carrying Somali soldiers, killing three troops and wounding six, military officer Madey Hassan Nur said.
Islamist fighters attack Ethiopian military convoys in deadly conflict
updated 6:18 p.m. ET May 8, 2008
MOGADISHU, Somalia - Firing rocket-propelled grenades and heavy submachine guns, Islamist fighters seized the police headquarters at the heart of the government's stronghold in Mogadishu on Thursday in a bold attack that witnesses said killed two soldiers and two policemen.
The insurgents have tried many times to attack the heavily guarded K4 district but Thursday's raid was their first major success. The ambush could not be immediately be verified by Somali officials.
It came a day after a bloody Wednesday in the Horn of Africa nation. Insurgents attacked Ethiopian military convoys in two rural areas, and the soldiers responded by opening fire on civilians in both towns, killing at least 17 villagers total, according to witness accounts.
It was not known how many Ethiopians died in that fighting and the witness accounts could not be verified. Ethiopia, which sent troops into Somalia last year to back up soldiers fighting Islamic insurgents, does not make public its troops' fatalities but the insurgents said one of their regional commanders was killed.
Elsewhere, a roadside bomb killed three Somali soldiers Wednesday, a military officer said. A separate attack on a World Food Program convoy in central Somalia killed a driver, U.N. officials said.
'Fighting was hideous, terrifying'
In the Mogadishu attack Thursday, witnesses said an explosion rocked Makalal Mukrama Road outside police headquarters in K4 district, sending plumes of black smoke into the night air after fighters set ablaze a captured "technical" — a pickup with a submachine gun fixed to its bed.
The blast came after the insurgents seized the police station yelling "God is great," witnesses said.
"The fighting was hideous, terrifying," said resident Hawa Abdi. The gunfire was so heavy that "I thought it would smash the walls of my concrete home."
Resident Elmi Osman said bullets crashed through the window of the house where he lives, killing his aunt and a nephew.
Street vendor Abisaq Mohamed said he saw the bodies of two police officers on Makalal Mukrama Road. He also reported seeing two government soldiers killed, and one insurgent being carried away. The attackers dispersed several hours later, witnesses said.
Islamist spokesman Abdirahim Issa Adow told The Associated Press that his fighters killed eight policemen. He said one Islamist fighter died and two were wounded in the attack.
He also said the Islamists fired mortars into two Ethiopian military bases in the capital — a claim that could not be verified.
In the worst of Wednesday's attacks, suspected insurgents ambushed an Ethiopian convoy with rocket-propelled grenades in the central province of Hiran, witnesses said.
"I saw two Ethiopian military vehicles burning and several soldiers underneath them, but I cannot confirm whether they were dead," Ahmedey Farah Hilowle said by telephone from his village south of the provincial capital, Belet Weyne.
'We inflicted a great loss of lives'
Ethiopian troops retaliated by opening fire, killing eight civilians including a woman who was collecting water from a well, villager Abdisalan Muxsim said. Residents said they found the bodies of six insurgents.
But Adow, the Islamists' spokesman, said only two insurgents were killed, including a regional commander.
International human rights groups have accused Ethiopian troops of targeting civilians out of frustration over their failure to halt insurgents who have adopted Iraq-style tactics, such as roadside bombs and occasional suicide attacks.
"We inflicted a great loss of lives on them (Ethiopians) and destroyed their vehicles, but in retaliation the enemy troops mercilessly killed civilians," Adow said.
Also Wednesday, Ethiopian troops killed nine civilians in the Lower Shabelle region after suspected insurgents ambushed a military convoy, witnesses said.
"During the battle, we ran away from our village to the bush," resident Said Abukar Ganey said. "This morning, we came back and we found the bodies of nine of our villagers."
Outside Baidoa, southwest of Mogadishu, a roadside bomb hit a truck carrying Somali soldiers, killing three troops and wounding six, military officer Madey Hassan Nur said.
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Re: the news
par Vine le Mar 13 Mai - 1:15
Leader of al-Qaida in Iraq arrested
Iraqi defense ministry says Abu Ayyub al-Masri is captured in Mosul
A U.S. soldier at a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 15, 2006, stands by a photograph that purports to show Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. The Iraqi Defense Ministry said Thursday that al-Masri had been arrested in Mosul
Iraqi defense ministry says Abu Ayyub al-Masri is captured in Mosul
A U.S. soldier at a press conference in Baghdad, Iraq, on June 15, 2006, stands by a photograph that purports to show Abu Ayyub al-Masri, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq. The Iraqi Defense Ministry said Thursday that al-Masri had been arrested in Mosul
updated 5:56 p.m. ET May 8, 2008
BAGHDAD - The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested Thursday in the northern city of Mosul, Iraqi defense officials said.
Defense Ministry Spokesman Mohammed al-Askari said the arrest of al-Masri, also known as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, was confirmed to him by the Iraqi commander of the province. There was no immediate confirmation or comment from U.S. forces on the arrest.
An Interior Ministry spokesman, Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, said that Mosul police "arrested one of al-Qaida's leaders at midnight and during the primary investigations he admitted that he is Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir."
News of the arrest was also reported by Iraqi state television and Arab satellite TV stations.
The state channel, Iraqiya, said that Minister of Interior Jawad al-Bolani would reward Mosul police for the capture.
The U.S. government had posted a $5 million reward for his capture.
Khalaf told the station by phone that a source close to the al-Qaida leader informed Mosul police that al-Masri would be at a house in the city's Wadi Hajar area at midnight Wednesday.
"The police raided this house and arrested him. During the primary investigation, he confessed that he is Abu Hamza Al-Muhajir, the leader of Al-Qaida in Iraq. Now a broader investigation of him is being conducted," he said to Iraqiya.
Major blow to al-Qaida in Iraq
If confirmed, the arrest would represent a major blow to al-Qaida in Iraq, which has been on the run for the past year following a shift in alliances by Sunni tribesmen in western Anbar province, and elsewhere, and an influx of thousands of U.S. troops.
"The commander of Ninevah military operations informed me that Iraqi troops captured Abu Hamza al-Muhajir the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq," al-Askari said by telephone.
He did not have any further details nor did he say when the al-Qaida leader was arrested. According to unconfirmed reports he was caught Thursday evening in the Tayran area in central Mosul, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad.
Mosul is currently a major battleground for U.S. forces and al-Qaida.
Taking over from al-Zarqawi
Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant, took over al-Qaida in Iraq after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed June 7, 2006 in a U.S. airstrike northeast of Baghdad.
The Islamic State of Iraq, an umbrella organization that includes al-Qaida in Iraq, last year announced an "Islamic Cabinet" for Iraq and named al-Masri as "minister of war."
U.S. officials said al-Masri joined an extremist group led by al-Qaida's No.2 official in 1982. He joined al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
According to associates in Afghanistan, al-Masri has been involved in Islamic extremist movements since 1982, when he joined Islamic Jihad, a terror group led by Ayman al-Zawahri, who became bin Laden's chief deputy.
Al-Masri fought with Muslim rebels against the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1980s and later ran al-Qaida training camps there.
U.S. officials said al-Masri joined an extremist group led by al-Qaida's No. 2 official. He later joined al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Islamic websites have claimed he personally killed two American soldiers within days of Zarqawi's killing, leaving their mutilated, booby-trapped bodies in the city of Yusufiya.
His real name is Youssef Al Dardiri. Al Dardiri was originally from Sohag, about 300 miles south of Cairo. He then lived in Cairo in an area called Zawya Al Hamra, poor to middle-class area that was one of the sites of fundamentalist activity in the early 80's. He didn't belong to a fundamentalist organization but subscribed to the Jihad ideology. He wasn't on the security chart in Egypt because he never engaged in any activities here.
In the early 1990s, he went to Yemen, which was then a place where Egyptian Jihadists gathered and planned and organized attacks on Egyptian politicians.
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