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Reporting on the Middle East, Science, and Education for January 28, 2008 - כ"א שבט תשס"ח
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Daily Dispatch Online, January 28, 2008
Editor’s Note: While the whole world is in an uproar over the “plight of the Palestinian refugees” and the “poor, oppressed, suffering Gazans living under siege,” there is little outcry over the widespread, brutal ethnic violence that is going on in Africa that is killing hundreds and rendering thousands homeless.
KOFI Annan pushed for peace and dialogue in Kenya yesterday as ethnic violence spread in western regions of the country, bringing the death toll since protests erupted over disputed December presidential elections to more than 850.
In the latest outbreak of violence, nine people were killed as gangs of youths wreaked havoc in a slum district of the lakeside town Naivasha, raising the death toll in the western Rift Valley province alone to 116 since Thursday night.
A national police commander said earlier that at least 17 people were killed overnight in the Rift Valley towns of Nakuru and Timboroa.
Bodies in the morgues and hospitals of the provincial capital Nakuru had arrow and machete wounds.
Annan, the former UN chief, met with opposition leader Raila Odinga at a Nairobi hotel as police gathered the charred and hacked remains of victims of the most recent clashes in the west. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on January 28, 2008 - כ"א שבט תשס"ח at 11:42 am
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By Nadav Shragai, Haaretz, Jan. 27, 2008
Elyakim Kovatch, a 10th-grade counselor at the Mekor Haim yeshiva in Kfar Etzion, says he does not remember the sound of shots from his gun, which killed the two terrorists who broke into the institution Thursday evening. “In my memory, the incident is like a silent movie,” he said Friday.
Kovatch described the attack, which came after six counselors gathered at 9:30 P.M. for a meeting in the small room of the yeshiva’s library, along with the principal of the boarding school, Shmueli Greenberg.
“About three quarters of an hour later, two figures entered the room. They looked like security guards. In the first few seconds they didn’t look suspicious to us. Greenberg even managed to greet them with ‘Good evening,’ and then they came closer, to a distance of about two meters, pulled out knives and a handgun, and in Arabic-accented Hebrew said: ‘Everyone stand back in a line.’
“At this stage, I still thought this was a joke. Only when I saw the counselor Rafael Singer draw a weapon, I got that it’s real. The two terrorists jumped on Singer and stabbed him in the chest. I moved a little backward. It was all a matter of seconds. I loaded a clip in the gun, waited for there to be some distance between Singer and the terrorists, and shot one of them, who was wrestling with him,” Kovatch said.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on January 27, 2008 - כ' שבט תשס"ח at 6:22 am
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New research suggests a direct interaction between cigarette smoke carcinogens and the human papillomavirus that may lead to increased risk of cervical cancer.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2008) — For the first time researchers from Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine suggest a direct interaction between cigarette smoke carcinogens and the human papillomavirus that may lead to increased risk of cervical cancer. They report their findings in the January 2008 issue of the Journal of Virology.
Cervical cancer is the third leading cancer type in women worldwide. Over 90% of the cases presented have been linked to human papillomavirus (HPV). Many women unknowingly carry HPV and the virus naturally regresses on its own over time. HPV will only progress into cervical cancer in a small percentage of women, but past studies have proposed cigarette smoking to be a likely influence.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Women's Health on January 25, 2008 - י"ח שבט תשס"ח at 6:44 am
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New York Sun Staff Editorial, January 24, 2008
URL: http://www.nysun.com/article/70096
Israeli and American officials were in high dudgeon yesterday over the decision by Egypt to allow tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands, of Arabs to cross from the Gaza strip into Egypt proper. The Jerusalem Post quoted Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak, describing the situation as a “problem,” a term that was also used in a statement by Israel’s foreign ministry. A State Department spokesman pronounced the American government to be “concerned” about the border crossing.Well, let us suggest that what some see as a problem to be concerned about may also be an opportunity to be seized on, because it could be a first step in getting the world to perceive that many of the residents of Gaza are Egyptians rather than Palestinians. They’d rather be in Egypt than in Gaza, as they showed by voting with their feet these past days. They speak Egyptian Arabic. They have closer family ties to Egypt than they do to the West Bank, where many of them have never even visited. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, Opinion, Recent Posts on January 24, 2008 - י"ז שבט תשס"ח at 9:18 am
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Editor’s Note: The following comparisons of UNRWA and UNHCR were taken from their own official websites, UNHCR.org and UNRWA.org. The data is self-explanatory. This was compiled by Israel Zwick, Editor, CN Publications.
UNHCR is present in 116 countries, has 262 offices worldwide with 6,260 staff members – 5,400 of whom are in the field. We work with 624 partners to provide help and assistance to 32.9 million refugees, displaced and stateless people.
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 4 December 2007, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.
In Geneva next Tuesday (11 December), at its annual Pledging Conference, UNHCR will present to donor countries its 2008 annual budget of US$1.096 billion, up from $1.06 billion in 2007, to help millions of refugees, displaced and stateless persons around the world.
In addition to its regular budget, UNHCR will also launch a number of supplementary appeals for emergency and special programmes for an estimated total of US $480 million bringing UNHCR’s total expected budget in 2008 to over US$ 1.57 billion, compared to US$ 1.45 billion in 2007.
In January 2008, UNHCR expects to launch supplementary appeals for programmes including the Iraq situation; relief operations in Darfur; the Somali situation; repatriation and reintegration of Sudanese and Mauritanian refugees; IDP programmes in Chad, Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia and Colombia. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts, Zwick's Picks on January 23, 2008 - ט"ז שבט תשס"ח at 1:11 pm
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Specialising in intercivilisational conflict resolution, Dr Ben Mollov says the heightened understanding that comes through cultural and religious dialogue has always been overlooked in the Middle East peace process
ERIKA FRY, Bangkok Post, Jan. 20, 2008
Back in the ’70s, when he was a teenager in Queens, New York, Dr Ben Mollov founded his high school’s Middle Eastern cultures club.
Since then, Mollov has aged several decades, earned several advanced degrees, and moved to Israel - yet his efforts and interest in currying cultural exchange, albeit now on a much grander, more global and grown-up scale, have remained more or less the same.
A professor of social sciences at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, Mollov has made the study of managing and mediating conflict through cultural and religious dialogue the basis of his life’s work.
A prolific writer and lecturer on the subject, Mollov was in Bangkok last week en route to a conference in Malaysia, where despite the lack of Israel-Malaysian diplomatic relations (Malaysian passports read “valid in every country but Israel”), he was invited to speak about moderating intercivilisational conflict. He also spoke there in 2005, when, in his first visit to the country, he was pleasantly surprised to be received by audience applause, a prominently displayed Israeli flag and inter-faith bonding with Muslim conference participants over the troubles in finding Halal and Kosher food when travelling. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Islam, Judaism, Middle East Report, Monotheistic Religions, News Articles, Recent Posts on January 21, 2008 - י"ד שבט תשס"ח at 9:20 am
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by Rabbi Avi Geller, Aish.com
See Also: Jacob Richman TuBishvat Collection
Tom was about to collapse. Three days of trekking through the desolate desert had taken its toll: fatigued and parched from a thirst that only a barren stretch of wilderness could produce. The sun blazing overhead was making his head spin. His stomach constantly reminded him of how empty it was. How long had it been since he had partaken of a decent meal?
Just when he could barely take it anymore Tom noticed something looming ahead on the horizon. Could that really be a fruit tree? “It must be a mirage” he told himself. “This hunger and thirst are going to my head!”
But before giving up he made one last effort to reach his fruit tree. With his last ounce of strength he finally reached his goal. Tom couldn’t believe his eyes! Under the luscious shade of the fruit-laden tree he found a cold spring and quenched his thirst. He then filled his stomach with the delicious fruit. Tom rested his weary body in the shade of the tree until his strength returned and he was able to continue his journey.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Judaism, Monotheistic Religions, Recent Posts on January 21, 2008 - י"ד שבט תשס"ח at 9:15 am
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Editorial, Chronicle-Tribune, January 21, 2008
See Also: A Muslim’s Dream
King is quoted as saying that everyone must decide whether they “will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.”
Today, we celebrate the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
That is the purpose of this national holiday, signed into law by President Ronald Reagan, to celebrate what King and so many others held dear - fairness and equality for all of us.
King died for that cause.
In the turbulent 1960s many others did as well. Still others were beaten in a country where, in many places, including Grant County, the color of a person’s skin often dictated how they were treated.
So it is fitting that we should honor King as the nation has every year since 1986.
Far too many people, we fear, consider this a holiday for African-Americans; it is, rather, a holiday that should be observed by us all.
There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that equal treatment for all people of all races is a basic human right.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Monotheistic Religions, Opinion, Recent Posts on January 21, 2008 - י"ד שבט תשס"ח at 6:35 am
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See Also: Suffering Palestinians
If there’s an Israeli child and a Palestinian child, whoever is in a more dire condition will get treatment first.
Photo: Shabtai Gold/IRIN 
Six-month-old Jamal and his grandmother Haifa, from the Gaza Strip, during a checkup
HOLON, ISRAEL, 20 January 2008 (IRIN) - With violence in the Gaza Strip and along Israel’s southern border escalating, a small hospital in Israel offers a ray of hope for a handful of seriously ill Gazans.
“This child would have died without surgery,” said Dr Alona Raucher-Sternfeld, as she simultaneously looked at the small Palestinian baby, Jamal, and the echo machine checking his heart.
Six-month-old Jamal came with his grandmother, Haifa, from the Dir al-Balah refugee camp in the Gaza Strip to get a check-up on 15 January at the Wolfson medical centre, an Israeli governmental hospital in Holon, a suburb of Tel Aviv. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Health Sciences, Middle East Report, News Articles, Recent Posts on January 20, 2008 - י"ג שבט תשס"ח at 10:05 pm
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by Babu Ranganathan, The Conservative Voice, January 19, 2008
Considering the enormous complexity of life, it is much more logical to believe that the genetic and biological similarities between all species is due to a common Designer rather than common evolutionary ancestry. It is only logical that the great Designer would design similar functions for similar purposes and different functions for different purposes in all of the various forms of life.
Imagine finding a planet where robots are programmed so that they can make other robots just like themselves from raw materials.
Now, imagine an alien visitor coming to the planet and, after many years of studying these robots, coming to the conclusion that since science can explain how these robots work, function, and reproduce there’s no reason to believe that there was an ultimate intelligent designer behind them.
The analogy above certainly is not perfect but it is sufficient to reveal the fallacious thinking of those who attack intelligent design behind life and the universe.
Chance physical processes can produce some level of order but it is not rational to believe that the highest levels of order in life and the universe are by chance. For example, amino acids have been shown to be able to come into existence by chance but not more complex molecules or structures such as proteins which require that the various amino acids be in a precise sequence, just like the letters in a sentence. If they’re not in the right sequence the protein molecules will not function. A single cell alone has millions of protein molecules!
There is no innate chemical tendency for the various amino acids to bond with one another in a sequence. Any one amino acid can just as easily bond with any other. The only reason at all for why the various amino acids bond with one another in a precise sequence in the cells of our bodies is because they’re directed to do so by an already existing sequence of molecules in our genetic code. Without being in a proper sequence protein molecules will not function.
Posted by CNP Webmaster as Evolutionary Biology, Recent Posts, Science on January 20, 2008 - י"ג שבט תשס"ח at 9:34 am
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