Random Jottings from (",)::~~~ the Absolutely Hilarious, Fabulously Wonderful Guy!

During his trip to Indonesia, home to the world's largest Muslim population, British prime minister Tony Blair visited an Islamic boarding school twinned with a school in West Yorkshire.

After singing John Lennon's Imagine and treating the prime minister to displays of silat and joget, the pupils asked Blair questions about his foreign policy.

Apparently, one of the questions was: "Why did you allow your best friend George Bush to persuade you to start a war with Iraq?"

In reply, Blair told the children some waffle about the Iraqi people could now vote, and that he believed "people of different faiths can live together in harmony and peace".

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

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Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

Australian Region Infrared Satellite Image

Source: Image from Japan Meteorological Agency satellite MTSAT-1R via Bureau of Meteorology.

Captured: Wednesday 29 March 2006 09:30 UTC

The forecast path shown above is the Australian Bureau of Meteorology's best estimate of the cyclone's future movement and intensity. There is always some uncertainty associated with tropical cyclone forecasting and the grey zone indicates the range of likely tracks.

Due to the uncertainty in the future movement, the indicated winds will almost certainly extend to regions outside the rings on this map. The extent of the warning zone reflects this.

Communities along the Pilbara coast should be aware that SEVERE TROPICAL CYCLONE GLENDA is expected to approach the coast later this afternoon and Thursday. Gales with gusts to 100 kilometres per hour are expected to develop on the Pilbara coast this evening with gusts increasing to 125 kilometres per hour overnight.

Residents of the central and west Pilbara coast are warned of the risk of very destructive winds with gusts exceeding 250 kilometres per hour during Thursday close to the centre as this very dangerous cyclone nears the coast.

Source: Image from Japan Meteorological Agency satellite MTSAT-1R via Bureau of Meteorology.
Captured: Thursday 30 March 2006 10:30 UTC

Last Updated: Thursday, 30 March 2006, 10:00 GMT 11:00 UK
Cyclone Glenda lashes Australia

Glenda could be as destructive as Larry, which hit two weeks ago

A major cyclone has begun crossing Australia's north-west coast as thousands of residents ride it out.

The shore was being lashed by 130 km/h (80 mph) winds, the government weather authorities said, according to AP.

Onslow, a fishing town of more than 800 people in the remote Pilbara region, was expected to feel the worst of Cyclone Glenda, meteorologists said.

The storm first hit land at about 1600 local time (0800 GMT), Bureau of Meteorology manager Grahame Reader told AP.

Emergency workers feared Cyclone Glenda could be as dangerous as Larry, or Hurricane Katrina, which devastated the US city of New Orleans in August.

"This does have the potential to do what happened in the eastern states and what happened in America," State Emergency Services official Steve Cable told Australian television.


Australia set for Cyclone Glenda

Towns along the west Australian coast are bracing for the arrival of Cyclone Glenda, a category four storm expected to bring winds of 250 km/h (155 mph).

Heavy rain has already hit the remote Pilbara region, but worse is expected later on Thursday.

Pilbara's 10,000 residents have been advised to seek shelter. Hundreds have decided to leave the area.

Australia's north-east is still recovering from Cyclone Larry, which hit the area two weeks ago.

That storm, which made landfall in the state of Queensland, caused no fatalities but left a damage bill which is expected to top AUS$1bn (US$707m).

A weather forecaster told ABC radio on Wednesday that Cyclone Glenda's current wind speeds were similar to that of Larry's prior to it hitting the coast.

"It is a very large system, one of the strongest cyclones we have seen off our Australian coastline," Gavin Edmonds said.

Getting ready
This latest cyclone is forecast to hit land near the towns of Karratha and Dampier.

"We are asking people to stay indoors and to seek shelter," Jim Cahill, an operations manager with the Fire and Emergency Services Authority of Western Australia, said on Thursday.

"The cyclone is basically very close and there are extreme winds and a lot of danger."

Global mining giant Rio Tinto has halted its huge iron ore shipping operation in the region ahead of Glenda's arrival.

Oil firms have also moved their floating rigs out of the path of the cyclone.

The Right Honourable Dr James Gordon Brown, MP

Widely tipped to become Labour Leader and UK Prime Minister after the retirement of Tony Blair, Gordon Brown is the longest continuously-serving Chancellor of the Exchequer since Nicholas Vansittart (1812-1823). Only William Gladstone has served longer in the office. Gordon Brown was appointed on 2 May 1997. David Lloyd George previously held the the twentieth century record - he was in office for a total of seven years and two months between 1908 and 1915. In the nineteenth century, William Gladstone was Chancellor for a total of 12 years and four months between 1852 and 1882.

Brown dominates the domestic political agenda like few previous holders of that office. The ultimate prize of Number 10 continues to elude him but with Tony Blair expected to stand down before the next election, it is closer than ever. There are few other contenders that could command the same level of support within the Labour Party.

A Labour activist since his teenage years, Brown obtained a first class degree in History from Edinburgh University and worked in television before entering parliament in 1983, along with Tony Blair.

He shared an office with his younger colleague and the pair's sometimes stormy relationship was the driving force behind the modernisation of their party and the creation of New Labour.

Brown's first and arguably boldest move as chancellor in 1997 was to hand control of interest rates to the Bank of England. His early period in office was characterised by fiscal prudence, but he went on to put up taxes in order to pay for increased investment in the NHS.

His stewardship of the economy, which has seen low interest rates and falling unemployment, took centre stage during the recent election campaign.

His frequent appearances alongside Blair at campaign events led to speculation that preparations for the smooth handover of power were already under way - but both sides have denied the existence of a deal or "gentleman's agreement".

Biography of The Right Honourable Dr James Gordon Brown, MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
James Gordon Brown was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer on 2 May 1997. He has been MP for Dunfermline East since 1983 and was Opposition spokesperson on Treasury and Economic Affairs (Shadow Chancellor) from 1992.

Brown was born on 20 February 1951 and educated at Kirkcaldy High School and while at school he suffered a detached retina in a rugby accident, so his left eye is now made of glass. At Edinburgh University he gained 1st Class Honours in History and then a Doctorate on the radical Labour Party politician, James Maxton. He was Rector of Edinburgh University and Chairman of the University Court between 1972 and 1975, while still a student. From 1976 to 1980, Brown lectured at Edinburgh University and then Caledonian University (then known as the Glasgow College of Technology) before working as a journalist at Scottish Television (1980-3).

After becoming an MP, Brown was the Chair of the Labour Party Scottish Council (1983-4). Before becoming Shadow Chancellor he held two other senior posts on the Opposition front bench - Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1987-9) and Shadow Trade and Industry Secretary (1989-92).

Brown has had a number of works published including Maxton, The Politics of Nationalism and Devolution, New Scotland, New Britain and Where There is Greed: Margaret Thatcher and the betrayal of Britain's future. He has edited a number of books including John Smith: Life and Soul of the Party and Values, Visions and Voices: An Anthology of Socialism.

Outside of work, Brown's interests include football (Raith Rovers F.C. supporter since childhood), tennis and film. Brown married Sarah Macaulay at his home in North Queensferry, Fife, on 3 August 2000 after a four-year courtship. Mrs Brown is a public relations executive and was, until 2001, Chief Executive of Hobsbawm Macaulay, the consultancy firm she owned with Julia Hobsbawm. On 28 December 2001, a daughter, Jennifer Jane, was born prematurely; she died on 8 January 2002 of a brain haemorrhage. Their second child, a son, John, was born on 17 October 2003. In January 2006 it was announced that they were expecting a third child in July.

Biographies
Peston, Robert (2005). Brown's Britain: How Gordon Runs the Show. Short Books. ISBN 1904095674.
Bower, Tom (2003). Gordon Brown. HarperCollins. ISBN 000717540X.
Keegan, William (2003). The Prudence of Mr Gordon Brown. John Wiley. ISBN 0470846976.
Naughtie, James (2001). The Rivals: The Intimate Story of a Political Marriage. Fourth Estate. ISBN 1841154733.
Routledge, Paul (1998). Gordon Brown: The Biography. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684819546.
Speeches 1997-2006, to be published by Bloomsbury in September 2006.

Wan Nazariah Wan Mohd Noor
TM Net Customer Care Support (streamyx@tm.net.my)
TM Net Sdn. Bhd.
Website: www.tm.net.my

(ICOMS#702005-165117)

Please arrange for another rebate to be credited to my account.

My Internet was problematic from March 13 to 20 (Report Number 1109911) with about 10 disconnections a day. Then until last Thursday it was out of action. Fixed on Thursday but with about 3 or 4 disconnections a day. At 0035 hrs on Sunday morning (Report Number 1210873) it kaput until earlier today, March 27.

I have discussed at length with your technician Farid 012-389 5170 who is the chap who has to come everytime to reset the network card in the Telecoms cabinet. Apparently, this network card is faulty and frequently trips. He is as fed up as I am and not just because he has to come to reset the network card every time it trips but also because Telekoms Malaysia doesn't seem to be interested in replacing it with one in working order.

If I can offer some helpful advice: It would be cheaper for you in the long run to replace the faulty network card and find out the reason for the frequent tripping. It could be something as simple as overheating in the cabinet. In which case, you should replace the cooling fan as well.

The rebate of RM14 you gave me the last time is really quite unfair as my neighbour, Puan Rogayah, who faced the same issue I did (as we are connected the the same network card) got a rebate of RM44. In fact, she is so fed up with the problem that she moved to Subang Jaya during the recent school mid-term break. Like me, she does a lot of work online and your narrowband non-service is not something she was able to put up with.

I have done everything I could think of short of asking my MP to move a motion in Parliament to cut your CEO's salary. I am sure you do not enjoy receiving my messages as much as I do not relish your extremely poor service.

Its about time you show what PIONEERING THE POSSIBILITIES really means and fix the problem once and for all.

with much regret
Azlan Adnan

On 3/9/06, TM Net Customer Care Support (streamyx@tm.net.my) wrote:
> Dear Mr. Azlan Adnan,
>
> Thank you once again for your e-mail to TM Net. Firstly, we apologise for the late reply.
>
> With regards to your previous request for rebate, we would like to inform you that adjustment has been made to your account and it is reflected on your 11 February 2006 bill. Alternatively, you may check your latest outstanding amount via https://tmbill.tm.net.my.
>
> Should you require any further assistance or to submit any enquiry / feedback, kindly visit www.tm.net.my and click on Customer Support or call 1-300-88-9515.
> Thank you.
>
>
> Regards,
> Wan Nazariah Wan Mohd Noor
> Customer Care Support,
> TM Net Sdn. Bhd.
> Website: www.tm.net.my
>
> (ICOMS#702005-165117)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: AZLAN ADNAN
> Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 11:01 PM
> To: streamyx@tm.net.my
> Subject: Re: Re : Re: rebate request
>
> ***********************
> This e-mail was scanned by TM Net E-Mail Virus Shield.
> ***********-***********
>
>
> I am quite fed up with your lack of service. In the past week alone I have
> had to make two service disruption reports: 649273, 699924, the last one
> being only this afternoon,
>
> Are service disruptions a permanent feature of your "service"?
>
> What exactly is preventing you from implementing a permanent solution to my
> woes?
>
> Until and unless you fix this issue, you will continue to be hearing from
> me, profanity or no profanity. Sometimes you come up with such ridiculously
> preposterous statements and exhibit such denial of the lack of service that
> you do no provide, that it is impossible to believe that you are serious and
> sincere in wanting to fix this issue.
>
> Please exhibit some empathy with the difficulties you cause me and fix the
> issue permanently. Surely you can't now say this is too much to ask for?
>
> still waiting
>
> On 1/24/06, TM Net Customer Care Support (streamyx@tm.net.my) wrote:
> >
> > Dear Mr. Azlan,
> >
> > Thank you once again for your e-mail to TM Net.
> >
> > Further to your enquiries on rebate request, kindly note we have suggested
> > a rebate due to the Streamyx service interruption. This has been proposed
> > to our management. Please note that, the rebate approval is depending on
> > our management. Once approved, the adjustment to be reflected in your
> > account.
> >
> > Kindly note that, we wish to assist you. However your language might be
> > hindrance to this. Kindly refrain from using profanity as our communication
> > will going smoother.
> >
> > We apologise for the inconvenience caused you have encountered. Your
> > patience and understanding are highly appreciated.
> >
> > Should you require any further assistance or to submit any enquiry /
> > feedback, kindly visit www.tm.net.my and click on Customer Support or call
> > 1-300-88-9515.
> > Thank you.
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> > Noor Aziean bt Omar
> > Customer Care Support,
> > TM Net Sdn. Bhd.
> > Website: www.tm.net.my
> >
> > (ICOMS#564669-146865 ONYX#5216757)
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Azlan Adnan
> > Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 2:01 AM
> > To: streamyx@tm.net.my
> > Subject: Re: rebate request
> >
> > ***********************
> > This e-mail was scanned by TM Net E-Mail Virus Shield.
> > ***********************
> >
> >
> > dear stupid person,
> >
> > your bloody backside "Furthermore, we can see that you are able to get
> > connected smoothly to your Streamyx account."
> >
> > you must be fucking blind or what.
> >
> > u people at TM don't know the first thing about customer service, so just
> > stop being in denial and fix the service disruptions.
> >
> > why does the DSL light go out almost every day? sometimes for just a few
> > minutes, sometimes for 3 days or more. of course lah not until a week. so
> > if
> > you give me problems that don't last a week u buggers think you are giving
> > good service?
> >
> > Kepala hotak engkau! u people are so stupid it make me so angry.
> >
> > geram nyer!!!
> >
> > On 1/7/06, TM Net Customer Care Support (streamyx@tm.net.my) wrote:
> > >
> > > Dear Encik Azlan,
> > >
> > > Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. Firstly, we would
> > > like to apologise for the late reply.
> > >
> > > We refer to your request for rebate due to Streamyx service
> > > disruption. Upon investigate further with our technical department, we
> > > regret to inform you that we are unable to proceed with any rebate
> > request
> > > as we noted that your connection problem in November 2005 being
> > rectified by
> > > our technical personnel within 7 days from the date
> > reported. Furthermore,
> > > we can see that you are able to get connected smoothly to your Streamyx
> > > account. We apologise for any inconvenience.
> > >
> > > Should you require any further assistance or to submit any enquiry /
> > > feedback, kindly visit www.tm.net.my and click on Customer Support or
> > call
> > > 1-300-88-9515.
> > > Thank you.
> > >
> > >
> > > Regards,
> > > Shamsida Bt. Abdullah,
> > > Customer Care Support,
> > > TM Net Sdn. Bhd.
> > > Website: www.tm.net.my
> > >
> > > (ICOMS#398064-139819 ONYX#4761246)

# posted by (",)azlan::~~~ @ 23:14

A True Story by Kent Nerburn

There was a time in my life twenty years ago when I was driving a cab for a living. It was a cowboy's life, a gambler's life, a life for someone who wanted no boss, constant movement, and the thrill of a dice roll every time a new passenger got into the cab.

What I didn't count on when I took the job was that it was also a ministry. Because I drove the night shift, my cab became a rolling confessional. Passengers would climb in, sit behind me in total anonymity, and tell me of their lives. I encountered people whose lives amazed me, ennobled me, made me laugh and made me weep. And none of those lives touched me more than that of a woman I picked up late on a warm August night.

I was responding to a call from a small brick fourplex in a quiet part of town. I assumed I was being sent to pick up some partiers, or someone who had just had a fight with a lover, or a someone going off to an early shift at some factory for the industrial part of town.

When I arrived at the address, the building was dark except for a single light in a ground-floor window. Under these circumstances, many drivers would just honk once or twice, wait a short minute, then drive away. Too many bad possibilities awaited a drive who went up to a darkened building at 2:30 in the morning.

But I had seen too many people trapped in a life of poverty who depended on taxis as their only means of transportation. Unless a situation had a real whiff of danger, I always went to the door to find the passenger. It might, I reasoned, be someone who needs my assistance. Would I not want a driver to do the same if my mother or father had called for a cab? So I walked to the door and knocked.

"Just a minute," answered a frail and elderly voice. I could hear something being dragged across the floor. After a long pause, the door opened. A small woman somewhere in her 80s stood before me. She was wearing a print dress and a pillbox hat with a veil pinned on it, like you might see in a costume shop or a Goodwill store or in a 1940s movie. By her side was a small nylon suitcase. The sound had been her dragging it across the floor.

The apartment looked as if no one had lived in it for years. All the furniture was covered with sheets. There were no clocks on the walls, no knickknacks or utensils on the counters. In the corner was a cardboard box filled with photos and glassware.

"Would you carry my bag out to the car?" she said. I took the suitcase to the cab, then returned to assist the woman. She took my arm, and we walked slowly toward the curb. She kept thanking me for my kindness.

"It's nothing," I told her. "I just try to treat my passengers the way I would want my mother treated."

"Oh, you're such a good boy," she said. When we got in the cab, she gave me an address, then asked, "Could you drive through downtown?"

"It's not the shortest way," I answered quickly.

"Oh, I don't mind," she said. "I'm in no hurry. I'm on my way to a hospice." I looked in the rearview mirror. Her eyes were glistening. "I don't have any family left," she continued. "The doctor says I don't have very long."

I quietly reached over and shut off the meter. "What route would you like me to go?" I asked. For the next two hours, we drove through the city. She showed me the building where she had once worked as an elevator operator. We drove through the neighborhood where she and her husband had lived when they had first been married. She had me pull up in front of a furniture warehouse that had once been a ballroom where she had gone dancing as a girl.

Sometimes she would have me slow in front of a particular building or corner and would sit staring into the darkness, saying nothing.

As the first hint of sun was creasing the horizon, she suddenly said, "I'm tired. Let's go now." We drove in silence to the address she had given me. It was a low building, like a small convalescent home, with a driveway that passed under a portico.

Two orderlies came out to the cab as soon as we pulled up. They were solicitous and intent, watching her every move. They must have been expecting her. I opened the trunk and took the small suitcase to the door. The woman was already seated in a wheelchair. "How much do I owe you?" she asked, reaching into her purse.
"Nothing," I said.

"You have to make a living," she answered.

"There are other passengers," I responded.

Almost without thinking, I bent and gave her a hug. She held on to me tightly. "You gave an old woman a little moment of joy," she said. "Thank you."

There was nothing more to say. I squeezed her hand once, then walked out into the dim morning light. Behind me, I could hear the door shut. It was the sound of the closing of a life. I did not pick up any more passengers that shift. I drove aimlessly, lost in thought. For the remainder of that day, I could hardly talk. What if that woman had gotten an angry driver, or one who was impatient to end his shift?

What if I had refused to take the run, or had honked once, then driven away? How many other moments like that had I missed or failed to grasp? What if I had been in a foul mood and had refused to engage the woman in conversation?

We are so conditioned to think that our lives revolve around great moments. But great moments often catch us unawares. When that woman hugged me and said that I had brought her a moment of joy, it was possible to believe that I had been placed on earth for the sole purpose of providing her with that last ride.

I do not think that I have ever done anything in my life that was any more important.

Nik Aziz Nik Mat has controversial views about women

By Jonathan Kent
BBC, Kuala Lumpur

Recently the daughter of a former prime minister of Malaysia compared the fate of Muslim women to black South Africans under apartheid. And senior police officers received a public dressing-down by their chief for a lack of awareness of human rights. But Jonathan Kent is keen to put on record that, behind the headlines, lurks another, different, Malaysia.

On a good day I reckon I have the best job in the world.

It gives me an excuse to talk to people from every walk of life in Malaysia.

I have interviewed prime ministers and religious leaders and businessmen, but that also means spending inordinate amounts of time in smart residencies and marble dressed hotels and that is not the Malaysia I love.

There is a modest wooden house next to the mosque in Kampung Melaka.

The green paint is peeling and the door hinges could use a spot of oil. But it is home to Nik Aziz Nik Mat, the elderly chief minister of the state of Kelantan and the spiritual leader of Malaysia's conservative Islamic opposition party PAS.

Nik Aziz studied at the same religious school as all but one of the leaders of Afghanistan's Taleban.

In the past he has declared that wearing make-up can invite rape, that the state should offer jobs to ugly women because pretty ones can find husbands, and that TV sport shows featuring skimpily clad women should be banned.

But if you are picturing an irascible boggle-eyed firebrand think again.

He [Nik Aziz] may believe that I am going to burn in hell but he is always charming and welcoming, and there is always a mischievous sparkle in his eye

Nik Aziz embodies the deep-rooted gentility that is one of the defining characteristics of Malay culture.

He may believe that I am going to burn in hell but he is always charming and welcoming, and there is always a mischievous sparkle in his eye.

And however uncompromising his pronouncements, he always ends them by saying: "But that is just what I, an old man, believe. You must decide for yourselves."

It is a humility he shares with Malaysia's Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi, a man whose heart belongs to the country's small towns and villages where decency can still prevail.

'Quiet dignity'
Halfway up the Cameron Highlands road, down a blink-and-you-miss-it turning, through a ramshackle village, across a river and through the forest, is another small home.

It belongs to Zaini, a member of one of Malaysia's indigenous communities collectively known as the orang asli.

It is a hut made of bamboo and thatched with palm leaves. The air flows though the slatted floor and it is perfectly cool even in the tropical heat.

Zaini brings pineapple from the field outside and you have never tasted fruit so sweet.

The orang asli are defined by the land. Their relationship with it is spiritual as well as material.

And though nearly 50 years after independence Malaysia is yet to give most of its indigenous people ownership of their ancestral land, they struggle on with quiet dignity.

Indeed dignity is a quality I associate with many of the poorest Malaysians.

The rubber tappers, the farmers, the tea pickers, the hunter gatherers. They raise their families, put food on their tables, eke out the little money they have with great stoicism and hope for a better future.

Some dishes are more exotic than others at the kopitiam

'Extraordinary' food
In Pulau Tikus on Penang Island there is a coffee shop - I forget its name - what locals call a kopitiam, in the hokkien Chinese dialect.

It is old and not particularly clean, its tables and chairs are plastic and the food is extraordinary only in the way that much of the food in Malaysia is extraordinary.

They do a few dishes and they do them well. This is the kind of place I meet up with friend or interviewees and where they ask the key Malaysian questions.

"Can you take spicy ah?" They push small bowls of hot chillies towards me and look coy.

"Spicy, no problem," I'll say and pop a chilli padi in my mouth.

"You can take belacan [dried shrimp paste]?" they ask.

"Belacan oso," I reply, "and petai."

Petai are crunchy beans with a metallic flavour whose essence comes back to haunt one hours or even days after they have been eaten.

They look impressed.

These last two years the quiet Malaysians have started to speak up
"What about durian?" Durian is a fruit the taste of which has been described as like eating cheese off a dead body.

"Aiyoh," I say "durian cannot," and screw up my face.

At this point everyone will laugh.

Political awakening
This kopitiam is the favourite of Lim Kean Chye. The doyen of Penang lawyers, 86-years-old and sharp as a pin.

I ask him what has changed here during his lifetime.

"Nothing," he says. And of course it has not.

The noodles are the same, the local coffee, the chatter as people meet friends and eat.

But then he tells me of the old days when doors were left unlocked, bullock carts were parked on Northam Road and there was always a free cup of tea for the rickshaw pullers.

Abdullah Ahmad Badawi became prime minister in October 2003

There is a nation of quiet Malaysians out there.

Recently I recorded five from very different ethnic, religious and political backgrounds debating police reform, something I think they may have been too scared to do under the old premier, Mahathir Mohamad.

But these last two years the quiet Malaysians have started to speak up.

And though the braying benches of parliamentarians who call one another monkeys or racists warn that public debate will lead to race war, disorder and strife, the Malaysians I meet can thrash out the issues and get along with one another just fine.

And with a quiet Malaysian like Abdullah Badawi at the helm perhaps their time has come.

From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 25 March, 2006 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.

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Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/4841580.stm

Published: 2006/03/25 12:49:41 GMT

© BBC MMVI

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Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

Syed Hamid Albar (right) was not allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi

March 25, 2006 14:58 PM
Myanmar Opposition Unhappy No Meeting With Syed Hamid
By D. Arul Rajoo

BANGKOK, March 25 (Bernama) -- The National League for Democracy, Myanmar's main opposition party, is disappointed that an Asean fact-finding delegation led by Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar did not meet them.

The Chiang Mai-based Irrawaddy online news said NLD confirmed that Syed Hamid did not hold any meeting with the party.

"We are very sorry. Why didn't they meet with us?" Irrawaddy quoted NLD spokesman Myint Thein as saying from the party's headquarters in Yangon.

Despite a request to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, Syed Hamid did not see her.

The state-run The New Light of Myanmar called the trip by the Asean delegation a goodwill visit.

Irrawaddy said Asean's first attempt at making a balanced assessment of Myanmar's democratic progress appeared to have ended in failure.

The online news site is run by Irrawaddy Publishing Group which was established in 1992 by Myanmar nationals living in exile following the 1990 Suu Kyi-led NLD election victory which Myanmar's military rulers refused to recognise.

It quoted veteran politician Amyotheryei Win Naing who questioned Syed Hamid's decision to shroud the trip in secrecy despite intense interest from inside and outside Myanmar.

"I believe Mr Albar is going to tone down the trip's consequences in this way so that he might have the possibility to come back here later," he said.

Syed Hamid, who arrived in Yangon on Thursday, left the capital yesterday after meeting Prime Minister Gen Soe Win and Foreign Minister Nyan Win but did not meet the junta leader Senior General Than Shwe.

During his last trip to the capital in October last year, Syed Hamid met all the three leaders.

Yesterday, he also met the head of the junta-affiliated Union Solidarity and Development Association, Htay Oo, who is also Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation, and the vice chairman of the National Convention Convening Committee Aung Toe.

Syed Hamid had described the visit as a chance to obtain first-hand information on the progress of the implementation of the reconciliation and democratisation process in Myanmar.

Asean, under pressure by the international community, reached an agreement with Myanmar at its summit in Kuala Lumpur last December to allow a delegation led by Syed Hamid to visit the country and evaluate its progress towards democracy.

Syed Hamid is expected to submit a report on his trip during the Asean Foreign Ministers meeting in Bali on April 17 and 18.

-- BERNAMA

---

Malaysian FM cuts off Burma trip

Malaysia's foreign minister, Syed Hamid Albar, has cut short his fact-finding trip to Burma, in which he was due to check progress on political reform.

It was not clear why Mr Syed Hamid left Burma on Friday, rather than Saturday, as scheduled.

He met the Burmese prime minister, but his request to see the pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, was not granted.

Mr Syed Hamid made the trip as an envoy of the regional diplomatic group Asean.

As current chairman of the group - the Association of South East Asian Nations - he was sent to evaluate whether Burma's military junta is implementing its plan for political reform.

Burma has been widely criticised for a lack of progress.

Several times Burma postponed the envoy's visit, saying it was too busy moving its administrative capital, or discussing democratic reform.

This was a snub to Asean to pay it back for forcing Burma to forego its turn as chair of the organisation, the BBC's South-East Asia correspondent Kylie Morris says.

She says it is unlikely this uncompleted fact-finding mission will see Burma restored to the bosom of Asean.

Regional impact
Before arriving in Rangoon, Mr Syed Hamid said his aim was to "obtain first hand information on the progress of the implementation of the reconciliation [with the opposition] and democratisation process in Myanmar [Burma]".

But he did not meet anyone from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.

He will brief Asean foreign ministers on his findings during their 17-18 April summit in Bali, Indonesia.

Malaysia has said a failure to reform by Burma, which is a member of Asean, is starting to cause problems for the whole region.

Mr Syed Hamid says Burma's neighbours can only continue to defend the regime internationally if they can report back that there is progress towards reform.

---

March 29, 2006 15:51 PM
Myanmar Leaders In Exile Want Syed Hamid To Meet Opposition Parties
By D. Arul Rajoo

BANGKOK, March 29 (Bernama) -- A Myanmar government-in-exile leader has urged Asean to set clear conditions and pressure the Myanmar government to let Asean special envoy Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar to meet opposition parties, student activists and, particularly, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi who is under house arrest.

The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) said Syed Hamid's recent fact-finding mission was incomplete as he had failed to meet these groups of people who were important in any national reconciliation process.

Its Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, Bo Hla-Tint, said the Asean foreign minister's retreat in Bali next month must affirm its stance that the Malaysian foreign minister must be allowed to meet Suu Kyi and other opposition figures.

"This must be a continuous process and such visits must be frequent. It's good that Asean managed to have direct political engagement but it's not enough just meeting government leaders," he said when launching NCGUB's 12th report on "Human Rights in Burma 2005", here today.

Myanmar's military rulers do not recognise the Suu Kyi-led National League for Democracy party's victory in the 1990 general election.

Bo said Syed Hamid was not allowed to meet opposition figures because the military government considered him as visiting the country in his capacity as the foreign minister of Malaysia and not as a special envoy of Asean.

"They have been telling their people and the media it was a visit by the Malaysian foreign minister and not a visit by the Asean special envoy," he said.

Last week, Syed Hamid made a two-day visit to Yangon and met Prime Minister Gen Soe Win and Foreign Minister Nyan Win but did not meet the junta leader Senior General Than Shwe.

He made the trip after Asean, under pressure from the international community, reached an agreement with Myanmar during the Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur last December to allow a delegation led by Syed Hamid to visit the country and evaluate its progress towards democracy.

Syed Hamid is expected to submit a report on his trip at the Asean foreign ministers' meeting in Bali on April 17 and 18.

Bo said he had made a request through the Malaysian embassy here to meet Syed Hamid but had yet to receive approval.

Asked about Suu Kyi's condition, Bo, a qualified civil engineer who won a seat in the 1990 general election in Myanmar but is living in exile in Washington, said there was hardly any confirmation as outsiders were not allowed to see her.

"Only her doctor can see her with permission from the top authorities but he is not allowed to reveal her condition. She underwent two operations last year ... we are also not sure of rumours that she has cancer," he said.

Bo said that while Asean was doing its best to change the situation in Myanmar, the country's neighbours China, India and Thailand could play a bigger role to pressure the military regime.

Former Thai diplomat Asda Jayarama said that while India and Thailand could be influenced, it needed intervention from United Nations Security Council members with veto powers to talk with China.

"I am sure this can be done ... there are a lot of tradeoffs happening among the big five," he said.

On the Myanmar military regime's sudden decision to move the country's capital to Pyinmana, Bo said it was an irrational one and was done due to phobia and fear of foreign invasion.

"This is not a joke but from what we heard from inside the country, the first lady (Than Shwe's wife) had a bad dream.

So, an advisory group of prominent astrologers came up with the idea of moving the capital to avoid bad luck. Until then, they had wanted to move only the military headquarters, said Bo.

-- BERNAMA

Zaki Badawi: Leading figure in British Islam

I was saddened to learn of Dr Zaki Badawi's passing today, exactly two months after he died. I met him at The Muslim College in London ten years ago and found him a very gracious, humble yet learned gentleman.


Influential Muslim cleric mourned

Prince Charles and Tony Blair are among leading figures to have paid tribute to one of the UK's most influential Muslim clerics, Zaki Badawi, who has died.

He was principal of the Muslim College in Britain and called for Muslims to engage fully with life in the country.

Mr Blair described him as "a wonderful mix of spirituality and practicality", while the prince said his death was "a blow personally and for the country".

Dr Badawi, 83, collapsed and died after delivering a speech in London.

'Warm-hearted'
Dr Badawi was a former imam of Regent's Park Mosque, in London, and forged close ties with Jewish and Christian leaders.

Following his election in 1984, he had served as the chairman of the Council of Mosques and Imams of the United Kingdom.

The Muslim College in Britain was a seminary he founded to train imams and Muslim leaders in the West.

In the aftermath of the 7 July London bombings, Dr Badawi was consulted by the government on how best to tackle extremism.

"Dr Badawi's passing constitutes a major loss for British Muslims"
Sir Iqbal Sacranie
Muslim Council of Britain

Prince Charles said in a statement: "His brand of wisdom, scholarship, far-sightedness and above all humour has ensured that Zaki played an extraordinarily important role in the life of this country and amongst the Muslim community.

"His hard-won legacy will, I hope, provide a fitting tribute to a truly remarkable and warm-hearted man."

Dr Badawi's death came on the day of a major gathering of Christians and Muslims at London's Lambeth Palace to mark the launch of the Christian Muslim Forum.

Dr Badawi had agreed to serve as an adviser to the forum and had been due to attend the event on Tuesday evening.

Addressing the gathering, Mr Blair paid tribute to the cleric's "excellent work" which he had carried out during "a lifetime of service".

He said Dr Badawi had been "a special person" and it was poignant he had died on the same day the forum had been launched.

Later, Tory leader David Cameron said: "Zaki Badawi's contribution to the integration of Muslims in British national life will be remembered and his death is a great loss."

'Man of conscience'
Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks, who worked on inter-faith initiatives with Dr Badawi, said he was the "face and voice of Islamic dignity and tolerance".

"He was a man of conscience and courage and I cherished his friendship," Sir Jonathan added.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, described Dr Badawi as a "uniquely effective interpreter of Islam" and paid tribute to Dr Badawi's contribution to Christian-Muslim dialogue.

A statement from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said it was "shocked and saddened" by Dr Badawi's death.

"Dr Badawi's passing constitutes a major loss for British Muslims," said Sir Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the MCB.

The editor of The Muslim News, Ahmed Versi, said Dr Badawi's death was a "loss to all communities".

"Dr Badawi was a great scholar of Islam and has made a huge contribution to the Muslim community. His devotion to inter-faith dialogue was unparalleled," Mr Versi said.

---

Obituary: Dr Zaki Badawi
By Dominic Casciani and Andrew Walker
BBC News

Dr Zaki Badawi was one of the UK's most respected Muslim leaders, who preached harmony between different faiths.

Many of his supporters regarded him as the unofficial "Grand Mufti of Britain", a leading voice who could command respect within his own faith, and among others.

Following his election in 1984, he had served as the chairman of the Council of Mosques and Imams of the United Kingdom. For the same period, he was the principal of the Muslim College in Britain, a seminary he founded to train imams and Muslim leaders in the West.

It was the first Muslim body in the United Kingdom to offer university-accredited qualifications for Islamic theological training, the equivalent of studying divinity to enter the Church of England.

Born in Egypt in 1922, Dr Badawi was educated at Al-Azhar University, the most prestigious of the major Islamic institutions.

"His brand of wisdom, scholarship, far-sightedness and above all humour has ensured that Zaki played an extraordinarily important role in the life of this country and amongst the Muslim community"
Prince of Wales

Continuing to study at the University of London, he obtained his Doctorate in modern Muslim thought. His teaching posts took him to universities in Malaysia, Singapore and Nigeria.

On his return to Britain, Dr Badawi was Director of the Islamic Cultural Centre, the Chief Imam of London Central Mosque in Regent's Park and also helped to establish the Sharia Council which gives guidance to Muslims on important issues of the day.

It was during his time as imam at Regent's Park that he began calling for imams to focus on using English in their sermons, and on doing more to reflect life in the UK, rather than life on another continent.

This, he argued, was crucial to help the immigrant Muslim communities fit in and find acceptance in their new home.

Dr Badawi's council aimed to reconcile any conflict between Islamic law and the British civil code.

As part of his work, Dr Badawi negotiated with the Bank of England and Treasury to establish the UK's first licensed Islamic financial institutions, such as mortgages compliant with Islamic law, which opposes the paying of interest.

Moves like these, he argued, were classic examples of allowing people of faith to follow their deeply-held beliefs while at the same time playing a full part in society.

Understanding across faiths
But some of Dr Badawi's most important work came in the field of inter-faith relations. The cleric, who had a dry wit, became close friends with many senior figures in British Christian and Jewish life, regularly holding meetings with them in mosques, churches and synagogues.

One of the key bodies to which Dr Badawi dedicated his time was the Maimonides Foundation, an organisation that sought to build understanding between Jews and Muslims, both in the UK and in the Middle East.

Mehri Niknam, director of the foundation, said he had been like a "wise father" in the counsel he offered to those determined to break down barriers.

Many years ago he became a key adviser to the Prince of Wales on Islamic issues. Those initial meetings led to a warm friendship, with Dr Badawi and the Prince often meeting to debate world events.

Dr Badawi also enjoyed contributing to the media, including television. This enthusiasm for speaking out ran contrary to many of his peers who were wary of speaking beyond the mosques where they gave sermons.

He was awarded an honorary knighthood in 2004, one of the few senior Muslims to be given such an award because of their work in faith issues, rather than other fields such as business or medicine.

Facing extremism
He called the events of 11 September 2001 "a violation of Islamic laws and ethics".

When a fatwa was placed upon Salman Rushdie for his Satanic Verses, Badawi took a different position to many British Muslims, saying spurn the book, but save the man.

He waged a scholarly war against forced marriages and female circumcision, citing their cultural rather than Islamic roots.

And he was outraged after being detained at JFK airport last August before being prevented from entering the US. A week later he was given an "unreserved apology" and assurances of a visa by the US Embassy in London. US authorities never explained why he was refused entry.

In the wake of the July 7 bombings of London, Dr Badawi returned to themes that he had first raised on arrival in the UK many years before, saying that Muslims needed to seize the opportunity to reclaim from extremists the presentation of their faith.

In one of his last interviews with the BBC in the autumn of 2004, he called for more local accountability and democracy in the mosques. He said this would help communities find figures who could give moral leadership.

Critically, he said the younger generation were best placed to present the true face of Islam to British society, given widespread concern about terrorism.

Some European-born Islamic thinkers are now pushing the liberal boundaries of what many Muslims usually regard as the authentic code of their faith. But Dr Badawi was more of a traditionalist at heart, rather than an out-and-out reformer.

He himself, though, tried to resist definition. While some non-Muslims considered him a liberal thinker, and some Muslims considered him too radical, he himself said he did not like words such as "moderate".

"It implies I am somehow less of a Muslim," he said. "I call myself mainstream."

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

UK foreign office minister Kim Howells has admitted the situation in Iraq is "a mess."

Howells, who is visiting the country to examine the oil industry, however, played down fears of a civil war.

He said Iraq was undergoing a "very, very painful process" and praised how ordinary Iraqis were adapting to the country's changes. He said Iraq was also no longer in a position to harm other countries.

"Iraq as a mess, But it is a mess that can't launch an attack now on Iran; a mess that won't be able to march into Kuwait; it's a mess that can't develop nuclear weapons. So yes it's a mess but it's starting to look like the sort of mess that most of us live in."

Don't you just wish you could smack that smirk off his gloating face? A true Bushite apologist, if you ask me.

Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic (right):
On the run for 10 years

Two top indicted war crimes suspects are unlikely to be arrested anytime soon. Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his former top general Ratko Mladic have been on the run for 10 years, accused of genocide.

The fact that the two fugitives remain free has increased speculation that both are now living in neighbouring Serbia and Montenegro and are therefore out of reach of peacekeepers in Bosnia.

For 10 years, the two former Bosnian Serb leaders have thumbed their noses at the West.

Accused of genocide, they have been at the top of The Hague's most wanted list since the transfer of former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic to the international war crimes tribunal in 2001.

The West's attempts to capture them have been characterised by unfulfilled promises, botched arrest attempts and, until recently, a distinct lack of interest.

Radovan Karadzic, the former political leader and Ratko Mladic, his military commander, have managed to exploit not only their hero status among many Serbs but also the remote, inaccessible mountains and valleys where they are believed to have spent much of their time in hiding.

The two men have managed to evade arrest for so long but, it is believed, they have done so in different ways and have been supported by different people.

In 2004, documents leaked by western diplomats suggested general Mladic was still enjoying the protection of the Bosnian Serb military.

General Mladic's erstwhile political leader, Radovan Karadzic, has been somewhat difficult to track down. It is understood that very little hard evidence has emerged about his movements since he disappeared from his former wartime headquarters in the Bosnian Serb stronghold of Pale.

Most recent intelligence reports put Karadzic living in the remote mountains of north-west Montenegro, not far from his home town of Niksic. But international peacekeepers cannot act there, as the area is part of Serbia and Montenegro.

Indicted
Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic have both been charged and indicted in absentia by the United Nations war crimes tribunal at The Hague.

They face 16 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and violation of the laws of war in Bosnia-Hercegovina between April 1992 and July 1995.

The indictment says Karadzic, a former Bosnian Serb leader, and Mladic, who was a chief of the Bosnian Serb army, are responsible for persecution of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians on national, political and religious grounds.

The tribunal says Karadzic's and Mladic's squads killed thousands of Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995 "in order to kill, terrorise and demoralise the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat population".

THE CHARGES

Persecution of Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat civilians

Targeting of political leaders, intellectuals and professionals

Unlawful deportation and transfer of civilians

Unlawful shelling of civilians

Unlawful appropriation and plunder of property

Destruction of homes and businesses

Destruction of places of worship

It says Karadzic and Mladic are responsible for the unlawful confinement, murder, rape and inhumane treatment of the civilian population in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

It lists detention facilities, such as Omarska, Keraterm and Luka, where Bosnian Muslims and Croats were detained and says the camp commanders were accountable to Karadzic and Mladic.

In many instances, women and girls were repeatedly raped. Food rations and medical care in the prisons were inadequate.

Karadzic and Mladic are accused of shelling Sarajevo and of using 284 UN peacekeepers as human shields in May and June 1995. Both men are charged with the unlawful appropriation and destruction of property and places of worship. The tribunal also accuses Karadzic and Mladic of committing grave breaches and violations of the laws or customs of war.

Radovan Karadzic: Psychologist, poet and war crimes suspect
Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic is one of the most wanted men in the world. Accused of leading the slaughter of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats, he has twice been indicted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

The UN says his forces killed at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica in July 1995 as part of a campaign to "terrorise and demoralise the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat population".

He was also charged over the shelling of Sarajevo, and the use of 284 UN peacekeepers as human shields in May and June 1995.

He was obliged to step down as president of the SDS in 1996 as the West threatened sanctions against Republika Srpska, and later went into hiding.

Karadzic was born in 1945 in a stable in Savnik, Montenegro.

His father, Vuk, had been a member of the Chetniks - Serb nationalist guerrillas who fought against both Nazi occupiers and Tito's communist partisans in World War II - and was in jail for much of his son's childhood.

His mother, Jovanka Karadzic, described her son as loyal, and a hard worker, who used to help her in the home and in the field.

She said he was a serious boy who was respectful towards the elderly and helped his school friends with their homework.

In 1960 he moved to Sarajevo, where he later met his wife, Ljiljana, graduated as a doctor, and became a psychologist in a city hospital.

He also became a poet and fell under the influence of the Serb nationalist writer Dobrica Cosic, who encouraged him to go into politics.

Years later, after working briefly for the Green Party, he helped set up the Serbian Democratic Party (SDS) - formed in 1990 in response to the rise of national and Croat parties in Bosnia and dedicated to the goal of a Greater Serbia.

Less than two years later, as Bosnia-Hercegovina gained recognition as an independent state, he declared the creation of the independent Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina (later renamed Republika Srpska) with its capital in Sarajevo, and himself as head of state.

Ratko Mladic: carried out ethnic cleansing of Croats and Muslims

Ratko Mladic was Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic's army chief throughout the Bosnian war. Along with Karadzic, he came to symbolise the Serb campaign of ethnic cleansing of Croats and Muslims and is one of the most wanted suspects from the Bosnia conflict.

Ratko Mladic was born in Bosnia, in the village of Kalinovik, in 1942. He was brought up in Tito's Yugoslavia, becoming a regular officer in the Yugoslav People's Army.

INDICTMENT CHARGES

Genocide

Complicity in genocide

Crimes against humanity

Violations of laws or customs of war

As the country began to disintegrate in 1991, he was posted to lead the Yugoslav army's 9th Corps against Croatian forces at Knin. Later he took command of the Yugoslav Army's Second Military District, based in Sarajevo.

Then, in May 1992, the Bosnian Serb Assembly voted to create a Bosnian Serb army, appointing General Mladic commander.

He is considered to have been one of the prime movers in the siege of Sarajevo and in 1995 led the Serb onslaught against the UN-protected enclave of Srebrenica, the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

Bosnian Serb forces laid siege to the Srebrenica enclave, where tens of thousands of civilians had taken refuge from earlier Serb offensives in north-eastern Bosnia.

The Serb forces bombarded Srebrenica with heavy shelling and rocket fire for five days before Mladic entered the town accompanied by Serb camera crews.

The next day, buses arrived to take the women and children sheltering in Srebrenica to Muslim territory, while the Serbs separated out all Muslim men and boys from age 12 to 77 for "interrogation for suspected war crimes".

In the five days after Bosnian Serb forces overran Srebrenica, at least 7,500 Muslim men and boys were murdered.

After the end of the Bosnian war, Mladic returned to Belgrade, enjoying the open support and protection of Milosevic. He lived openly in the city - visiting public places, eating in expensive restaurants and even attending football matches until Milosevic's arrest.

Having lived freely in Belgrade for some time, Mladic disappeared from view when former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested in 2001.

Starting in October 2004 former aides to Mladic began surrendering to the war crimes tribunal, as Belgrade came under intense international pressure to co-operate. They included Radivoje Miletic and Milan Gvero, both accused of involvement in ethnic cleansing.

# posted by (",)azlan::~~~ @ 04:42

Claude Allen:
was considered a rising Republican star

US President George W Bush's former political adviser has been charged with stealing more than US$5,000 from department stores.

Claude Allen resigned abruptly as his domestic policy adviser last month.

Allen, 45, has denied at least 25 thefts from Target and Hecht's stores.

The scam allegedly involved Allen claiming refunds for merchandise that he did not buy.

Allen was arrested on Thursday (9 March 2006) by police in Montgomery County, Maryland, following an investigation into an alleged incident at the Target store in Gaithersburg, Maryland on 2 January.

A Target employee said he saw Allen put items in an empty Target bag, which he then took to the refund desk with a receipt, and claimed money back, according to a police statement.

He was credited more than $5,000 to his credit card through similar transactions at other shops, police said.

'Misunderstanding'
Allen reported the 2 January incident to White House staff the next day, saying it was a misunderstanding related to his credit cards, a White House spokesman said.

"He assured them that he had done nothing wrong and the matter would be cleared up," the spokesman said.

Allen, a lawyer born in Philadelphia, was promoted to White House domestic policy adviser in early 2005, having been the No 2 official at the health and human services department.

Appeals court nominee
President Bush had nominated him in 2003 for a seat on the Fourth US Circuit Court of Appeals in Virginia, but withdrew him because of political opposition.

Allen resigned suddenly on 9 February, saying he wanted to spend more time with his family.

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

Slobodan Milosevic:
architect of Balkan "ethnic cleansing"

War criminal former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has died in the detention centre at The Hague tribunal.

The tribunal said Milosevic, 64, was found dead in his cell on Saturday morning and that although the cause was not yet clear, there was no indication of suicide.

Milosevic's untimely death is a blow to prosecutors, who had been hoping to convict him as being part of a joint criminal enterprise that operated across the former Yugoslavia, intent on setting up a greater Serbian state.

Milosevic faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged central role in the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo during the 1990s. He also faced genocide charges over the 1992-95 Bosnia war, in which 200,000 people died.

Mothers and widows of Muslims killed in Srebrenica during the Bosnian war said they regretted that Milosevic's death meant he would never face justice for the killings.

"However, it seems that God punished him already," said Hajra Catic of the Association of Srebrenica mothers.

Serbia-Montenegro's Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic, who accused Milosevic of organising the assassinations of many of his colleagues and family, said it was a pity the former president had not faced justice in Belgrade.

Both the former Serbian leader's parents committed suicide.

Milosevic's death comes just six days after a fellow Serb prisoner at The Hague, Milan Babic, committed suicide.

The Croatian Serb leader had pleaded guilty to crimes against humanity carried out during the 1991-95 war in Croatia.

---

Milan Babic:
admitted persecuting the non-Serb population in Krajina

Milan Babic had expressed shame and remorse

Former Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic has committed suicide in his prison cell in The Hague, the UN war crimes tribunal has said.

Babic, 50, was serving a 13-year prison term for crimes against humanity, after admitting persecuting the non-Serb population in Croatia's Krajina region.

He was a key ally of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic but later testified against him at the tribunal.

He was found dead on Sunday (5 March 2006) evening, the tribunal said in a statement.

Babic was president of the self-declared breakaway Krajina Serb republic, covering about one-third of Croatian territory, after Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991.

He was jailed in 2004 for crimes committed during Croatia's 1991-1995 war. In return for his guilty plea, prosecutors dropped four other charges of murder, cruelty and the wanton destruction of villages.

It is the second time a detainee in The Hague has committed suicide. The first was Slavko Dokmanovic, another Croatian Serb leader, in 1998.

---

Slavko Dokmanovic:
responsible for Vukovar massacre

The Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal in the Hague has confirmed that the former Serb mayor of the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar committed suicide while he was in custody awaiting sentence.

The inquiry decided that he hanged himself with his tie while depressed.

The tribunal's investigation found that on the day of his death, Dokmanovic had already had two unsuccessful suicide attempts. He finally hanged himself from a wardrobe door.

Slavko Dokmanovic, who was considered one of the biggest catches of the tribunal, was found hanging in his cell shortly after midnight on 29 June 1998, just a week before a verdict in his case was due.

Dokmanovic was accused of complicity in the 1991 slaying of more than 200 hospital patients in Vukovar. He was accused of overseeing the eviction of at least two-hundred men, mostly Croats, who'd been sheltering in Vukovar hospital. They were then killed by rebel Serbs, protected by the Federal Yugoslav Army.

Vukovar:
suffered a three-month siege by Serb forces

Vukovar was a modestly prosperous, sleepy, provincial town in eastern Croatia, near the border with Serbia, noted for its picturesque baroque architecture. That was before the war for Croatia's independence erupted in July 1991.

By the end of its three-month siege at the hands of Serb forces in November 1991, Vukovar had become utterly devastated.

It was, perhaps, the most comprehensively destroyed town of any size in either Bosnia-Herzegovina or Croatia during the wars of the first half of the 1990s.

Capture of the town was an important strategic objective for the Serb-dominated Yugoslav army. It was designed to consolidate Serb control over the region of Croatia known as eastern Slavonia.

That objective was achieved, even though there was little left, apart from than ruins, following the siege.

It was also accompanied by the ethnic cleansing of Croats, who prior to the war were present in Vukovar municipality in roughly the same numbers as Serbs.

Croat defenders of Vukovar later claimed that the town could have been saved from capture by Serb forces if the nationalist President Franjo Tudjman had been willing to send reinforcements.

Mr Tudjman was accused of deliberately sacrificing Vukovar - dubbed the Croatian Stalingrad because of its devastation - so as to reinforce his portrayal of Croatia as the victim of Serb aggression.

Grim events
Whatever the late President Tudjman's intentions, Vukovar has since become a symbol of destruction - and atrocities.

When the Serb forces took control of Vukovar on 19 November 1991, several hundred people took refuge in the town's hospital in the hope that they would be evacuated in the presence of neutral observers.

A deal to that effect had earlier been agreed in negotiations between the Yugoslav army and the Croatian government.

But instead of the hoped-for evacuation, about 400 individuals - including wounded patients, soldiers, hospital staff and Croatian political activists - were removed from the hospital by Yugoslav army and Serb paramilitary forces.

According to The Hague Tribunal's indictment, which was originally issued in 1995, three Yugoslav army officers, Colonel Mile Mrksic, Major Veselin Sljivancanin and Captain Miroslav Radic, oversaw the removal of some 300 men to Ovcara farm, four kilometres outside Vukovar.

The detainees were beaten up. Some died of their injuries and approximately 260 of them were executed and then buried in a mass grave.

Details of the Vukovar massacre soon began to emerge as survivors reported on the events, and doubts began to appear about the large number of missing detainees.

But it took several years of exhumations and painstaking investigations to gather the evidence that formed the basis of the Tribunal's indictment.

Trail of guilt
Subsequently, the Tribunal also issued the first of its sealed, secret indictments; against the wartime Serb mayor of Vukovar, Slavko Dokmanovic.

With the three army officers out of the Tribunal's reach in President Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia, and with the danger that Dokmanovic might escape from eastern Slavonia across the border to Yugoslavia if he were to be publicly indicted, his arrest by UN forces was swiftly accomplished in 1996.

Two years later Dokmanovic hanged himself in prison while awaiting the verdict at the end of his trial in The Hague.

Mrksic and Radic surrendered to the Tribunal after Belgrade began to enact laws on the extradition of indicted war crimes suspects last year.

Sljivancanin's arrest will now make it possible to go ahead with the trial of all members of the group known as the "Vukovar Three".

Vukovar, as part of eastern Slavonia, was the only region of Croatia's rebel Serb-held areas to escape capture by the Croatian army in 1995.

Because it was spared a military campaign in that year with the subsequent refugee exodus, it has also remained the only region with a substantial ethnic Serb community.

After the Dayton peace treaty for Bosnia and the Erdut agreement for Croatia brought the wars in the region to an end, eastern Slavonia was placed under UN administration for two years.

It was finally reintegrated with Croatia in 1998.

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

A mental health charity has defended a statue it commissioned of Sir Winston Churchill in a straitjacket.

The statue has been criticised as "absurd and pathetic" by his grandson, Tory MP Nicholas Soames.

Charity Rethink commissioned the 9 ft high sculpture, unveiled in Norwich, to highlight the stigma of mental health.

Rethink said the image of Churchill - who suffered bouts of depression - was designed to "portray a more positive image of people with mental illness".

"I would question whether his depression was ever really a straitjacket for him."
Allen Packwood, Churchill Archives Centre

Rethink director of campaigns Paul Corry said Churchill was often used by professional counsellors when talking about depression.

"We did not intend the statue to be offensive in any way," he added.

"The message we want to portray is that it is possible to recover from mental illness and overcome it and be successful - because Churchill is an example of someone who was able to do that.

"We are not intending to undermine Churchill or denigrate the efforts of anyone involved in the Second World War in any way whatsoever.

Allen Packwood, director of the Churchill Archives Centre, said while he could understand the reasons for putting up the statue, he disagreed with the portrayal of Churchill.

"It does highlight the fact that even the most famous individuals, the most iconic, are human, do suffer from human frailties ... and I think it is quite right that that does not diminish him, it heightens his achievements," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"What I would question is whether his depression was ever really a straitjacket for him," he added.

He said did not believe the former prime minister - who liked being in control of his image and being depicted as strong - would have liked the sculpture.

"I think this illustrates quite positively that Winston Churchill, despite any problem he may have had with his mental health, was able to carry out his functions."
Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson

But Norwich North MP Dr Ian Gibson disagreed, saying Churchill himself acknowledged his depressive periods.

"He does record that he has bad days and that he was in a straitjacket," he told the programme.

"I think this illustrates quite positively that Winston Churchill, despite any problem he may have had with his mental health, was able to carry out his functions," he said.

Commenting on the statue, Mr Soames MP said he was sure the mental health charity behind the project was perfectly "sensible," but the idea of showing Winston Churchill who suffered from depression wearing a straitjacket was "appalling and a pity," but would not harm his grandfather's memory.

'Publicity paying off'
Peter Threadkell of the Norwich branch of the Royal British Legion reportedly told the Daily Express paper it was "disrespectful".

"To show him in this way insults his memory," he said.

Mr Gibson said he felt the critics has "misinterpreted" the idea behind the statue.

"I think a lot of people will disagree with Mr Soames, although I see some have agreed with him. I think they have misinterpreted what is happening here," he said.

"The publicity itself is paying off. The campaign is gaining a lot of publicity from this statue."

The glass fibre and bronze sculpture has been erected in Norwich city centre and will remain until the end of March.

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

March 09, 2006 22:45 PM
Court To Decide On DBP's Application To Strike Out 'Keling' Lawsuit

KUALA LUMPUR, March 9 (Bernama) -- The High Court Thursday fixed March 24 to decide on an application by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) to strike out a lawsuit against the agency for including the word "keling" in its Kamus Dewan dictionary.

Senior Assistant Registrar Tasnim Abu Bakar fixed the date after hearing submissions by DBP and the Angkatan Pelopor India Muslim Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan (APIM) in chambers.

APIM accused DBP of failing in its statutory role and responsibility by allowing the word and its various meanings to be published in the dictionary.

They are:

Keling - a word used to define an Indian who originates from South India (specifically from the state of Kalinga).

Keling karam - used in a metaphor to describe someone who likes to make noise.

Keling mabuk todi - used metaphorically to describe someone (drunk) who utters nonsense.

Keling pelikat - used for Indians who are Muslims (i.e. kelings who wear kain pelikat).

The association is also seeking to have the word "keling" dropped from DBP's Kamus Dewan Third Edition and a ban on the sale and distribution of the publication and other DBP publications that contained the word.

It said the word insulted and lowered the dignity of the Indian community.

In the summons, APIM named DBP Director-General and Harian Zulfadzli Sdn Bhd as defendants.

DBP Deputy Director-General Abu Bakar Mohamad, in an affidavit supporting the application to strike out the lawsuit, stated that APIM had no right and locus standi to sue on behalf of the Indian community.

-- BERNAMA

---

What about "awtar keling?" This means bullshit. Also "belit macam cakap keling" means a long-winded grandfather's tale that takes a long time to reach the point, if any.

Keling or kaling is derived from the word "Kalinga" and was first used to denote the early Indians in Malaya, who came from the now-defunct south Indian state of Kalinga. What's so derogatory about that?

If the word keling has subsequently gained a negative connotation it is only a reflection of the behaviour of the kelings, for which they have total and sole responsibility. If the kelings stop behaving like kelings, then being a keling will no longer be held in odium.

Kelings have only to correct their behaviour that insulted and lowered the dignity of the Indian community.

---

For the information of The Keling Speaks:

Kalinga was an ancient kingdom of central-eastern India, in the province of Orissa. Kalinga was a rich and fertile land that extended from the river Subarnarekha to Godavari and from Bay of Bengal to Amarkantak range in the West. The kingdom had a formidable maritime empire with trading routes linking Sri Lanka, Burma, Thailand, Vietnam, Borneo, Bali, Sumatra and Java.

Colonists from Kalinga settled in far away places such as Sri Lanka, Burma as well as the Indonesia archipelago. Even today Indians are referred to as Kelings in Malaysia because of this. Many Sri Lankan kings both Sinhalese and Tamil claimed decent from Kalinga dynasties.

Kalinga is mentioned in the Adiparva, Bhismaparva, Sabhaparva, Banaprava of Mahabharat so also is the conquest of Karna. Kalinga King Srutayu stated to have fought the Mahabharat war for the Kauravas. Kalinga is also mentioned as Calingae in Megasthenes' book on India - Indica:

"The Prinas and the Cainas (a tributary of the Ganges) are both navigable rivers. The tribes which dwell by the Ganges are the Calingae, nearest the sea, and higher up the Mandei, also the Malli, among whom is Mount Mallus, the boundary of all that region being the Ganges." (Megasthenes fragm. XX.B. in Pliny. Hist. Nat. V1. 21.9-22. 1. [1])

"The royal city of the Calingae is called Parthalis. Over their king 60,000 foot-soldiers, 1,000 horsemen, 700 elephants keep watch and ward in "procinct of war." (Megasthenes fragm. LVI. in Plin. Hist. Nat. VI. 21. 8-23. 11. [2])

The Kalinga script (ref), derived from Brahmi, was used for writing. Among the offshoots, Kalinga script had the maximum resemblance with the parent script, Brahmi and later modified to Oriya script in the beginning of the second millennium. This makes the Oriya Script as the most unique and least distorted script among the Indic scripts. ([1])

This region was scene of the bloody war fought by the Mauryan king Asoka the Great of Magadha around 260 BCE, and whose death and destruction later served as a precursor as one of the main centers of Buddhism.

Kharavela was a famous king of Kalinga during the 2nd century BCE, who, according to the Hathigumpha inscription, attacked Rajagriha in Magadha, thus inducing the Indo-Greek king Demetrius to retreat to Mathura.

---

Why stop with the Kamus Dewan? I suppose the likes of Angkatan Pelopor India Muslim Selangor dan Wilayah Persekutuan (APIM) and The Keling Speaks would want to file a lawsuit to expunge "keling" from all encyclopaedias and history books as well? Well, good luck to you kelings!

BTW, The Keling Speaks, you can hide behind a veil of anonymity but you can't hide the fact that you're a keling!

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

More than 260 medical experts have signed a letter condemning the US for force-feeding prisoners on hunger strike at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The doctors said physicians at the military prison had to respect inmates' right to refuse treatment.

The letter, in the medical journal, The Lancet, said doctors who used restraints and force-feeding should be punished by their professional bodies.

Some 500 terror suspects are being held without trial at Guantanamo Bay.

The US has argued that the Geneva Convention does not apply to prisoners at the camp, who, it says, are enemy combatants who continue to pose a threat to national security.

Human rights groups and the UN have urged the US to close down the facility.

Amnesty International said the "troubling" accusations in the doctors' letter underlined the need for the "independent medical examination of the prisoners.

'Nasal tubes'
The open letter in the Lancet was signed by more than 260 top doctors from seven countries - the UK, the US, Ireland, Germany, Australia, Italy and the Netherlands.

"We urge the US government to ensure that detainees are assessed by independent physicians and that techniques such as force-feeding and restraint chairs are abandoned," the letter said.

The doctors said the World Medical Association - a world body representing physicians, including those in the US - specifically prohibited force-feeding.

Detainees at the camp have said hunger-strikers were strapped into chairs and force-fed through tubes inserted in their noses.

More than 80 inmates are said to have gone on hunger strike in December last year - a figure that has now reportedly dropped to four.

Dr David Nicholl, a UK neurologist who initiated the Lancet letter, told the Reuters news agency the allegations of force-feeding represented "a challenge" to the American Medical Association, which is a signatory to the World Medical Association's code of conduct.

"Are they going to obey those declarations [forbidding force-feeding], or are... [they] literally not worth the paper they are written on?" he asked.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/americas/4790742.stm

Published: 2006/03/10 00:09:34 GMT

© BBC MMVI

---

The Lancet 2006; 367:811

DOI:10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68326-8

Forcefeeding and restraint of Guantanamo Bay hunger strikers
David J Nicholl a, Holly G Atkinson b, John Kalk c, William Hopkins d, Elwyn Elias e, Adnan Siddiqui f, Ronald E Cranford g and Oliver Sacks h, on behalf of 255 other doctors

We write regarding the forcefeeding and restraint of Guantanamo Bay detainees currently on hunger strike.1,2 The World Medical Association specifically prohibits forcefeeding in the Declarations of Tokyo and Malta, to which the American Medical Association is a signatory.

Fundamental to doctors' responsibilities in attending a hunger striker is the recognition that prisoners have a right to refuse treatment. The UK government has respected this right even under very difficult circumstances and allowed Irish hunger strikers to die. Physicians do not have to agree with the prisoner, but they must respect their informed decision. Those breaching such guidelines should be held to account by their professional bodies. John Edmondson (former commander of the hospital at Guantanamo) instigated this practice, and we have seen no evidence that procedures have changed under the current physician in charge, Ronald Sollock.3

Edmondson, in a signed affidavit, stated that ?the involuntary feeding was authorized through a lawful order of a higher military authority.?4 This defence, which has previously been described as the Nuremberg defence,5 is not defensible in law. In a reply to an earlier draft of this letter, Edmondson said that he was not forcefeeding but ?providing nutritional supplementation on a voluntary basis to detainees who wish to protest their confinement by not taking oral nourishment?.

Recently, it was confirmed that health-care staff are screened to ensure that they agree with the policy of forcefeeding before working in Guantanamo Bay.1 On his departure, Edmondson was awarded a medal for his ?inspiring leadership and exemplary performance [which] significantly improved the quality of health care for residents of Guantanamo Bay? and ?scored an unprecedented 100% on both the Hospital and the Home Health surveys.?3 The New York Times, however, reports that hunger striking detainees are strapped into restraint chairs in uncomfortably cold isolation cells to force them off their hunger strike.2

We urge the US government to ensure that detainees are assessed by independent physicians and that techniques such as forcefeeding and restraint chairs are abandoned forthwith in accordance with internationally agreed standards.

We declare that we have no conflict of interest.

Signatories of the Correspondence letter ?Forcefeeding and restraint of Guantanamo Bay hunger strikers?

References
1. Okie S. Glimpses of Guantanamo: medical ethics and the war on terror. N Engl J Med 2005; 353: 2529-2534. CrossRef

2. Golden T. Tough US steps in hunger strike at Camp in Cuba. New York Times. Feb 9, 2006:
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70714F...
(accessed Feb 22, 2006).

3. Byrington S. Sollock takes command of Naval Hospital. Guantanamo Bay Gazette 2006; 63: 3
http://www.nsgtmo.navy.mil/Gazette%20Online/archived%20...
(accessed Feb 22, 2006).

4. Al Joudi et al vs George Bush in the US District Court for the District of Columbia. Case1: 05-cv-00301-GK. Document 48, Exhibit A. Filed Oct 19, 2005.

5. Spitz V. Doctors from hell: the horrific account of Nazi experiments on humans. Boulder: First Sentinent, 2005:.

Affiliations
a. Department of Neurology, City Hospital, Birmingham B18 7QH, UK
b. Physicians for Human Rights and Division of Medical Ethics, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA
c. Derbyshire Royal Infirmary, Derby, UK
d. Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, London, UK
e. Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK
f. CAGE Prisoners, London, UK
g. Department of Neurology, Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis, MN, USA
h. 2 Horatio Street #3G, New York, NY, USA

What are Noroviruses?
Noroviruses are a group of viruses that are the most common cause of gastroenteritis (stomach bugs) in England and Wales. In the past, noroviruses has also been called "winter vomiting viruses", "small round structured viruses" or "Norwalk-like viruses".

How does it spread?
The virus is easily transmitted from one person to another. It can be transmitted by contact with infected person; by consuming contaminated food or water or by contact with contaminated surfaces or objects.

What are the symptoms?
The symptoms of norovirus infection will begin around 12 to 48 hours after becoming infected. The illness is self-limiting and the symptoms will last for 12 to 60 hours. They will start with the sudden onset of nausea followed by projectile vomiting, and watery diarrhoea. Some people may have a raised temperature, headaches and aching limbs. Most people make a full recovery within 1-2 days, however some people (usually the very young or elderly) may become very dehydrated and require hospital treatment.

Why does norovirus often cause outbreaks?
Norovirus often causes outbreaks because it is easily spread from one person to another and the virus is able to survive in the environment for many days. Because there are many different strains of norovirus, and immunity is short-lived outbreaks tend to affect more than 50% of susceptible people. Outbreaks usually tend to affect people who are in semi-closed environments such as hospitals, nursing homes, schools and on cruise ships.

How can these outbreaks be stopped?
Outbreaks can be difficult to control and long-lasting because norovirus is easily transmitted from one person to another and the virus can survive in the environment. The most effective way to respond to an outbreak is to disinfect contaminated areas and to institute good hygiene measures including hand-washing and provide advice on food handling and also isolating those infected for up to 48 hours after their symptoms have ceased.

How is norovirus treated?
There is no specific treatment for norovirus apart from letting the illness run its course. It is important to drink plenty of fluids to prevent dehydration.

If I?m suffering from norovirus, how can I prevent others from becoming infected?
Good hygiene is important in preventing others from becoming infected ~ this includes thorough hand washing before and after contact. Food preparation should also be avoided until 3 days after symptoms have gone altogether.

Who is at risk of getting norovirus?
There is no one specific group who are at risk of contracting norovirus ~ it affects people of all ages. The very young and elderly should take extra care if infected, as dehydration is more common in these age groups.
Outbreaks of norovirus are reported frequently in semi-closed institutions such as hospitals, schools, residential and nursing homes and hotels. Anywhere that large numbers of people congregate for periods of several days provide an ideal environment for the spread of the disease. Healthcare settings tend to be particularly affected by outbreaks of norovirus. A recent study done by the agency shows that outbreaks are shortened when control measures at healthcare settings are implemented quickly, such as closing wards to new admissions within 4 days of the beginning of the outbreak and implementing strict hygiene measures.

How common is norovirus?
Norovirus is not a notifiable disease so reporting is done on a voluntary basis. The HPA only receives reports of outbreaks and we see anywhere between 130 and 250 outbreaks each year. It is estimated that norovirus affects between 600,000 and a million people in the UK each year.

Are there any long-term effects?
No there are no long-term affects from norovirus.

What can be done to prevent infection?
It is impossible to prevent infection, however, taking good hygiene measures (such as frequent hand washing) around someone who is infected is important. Certain measures can be taken in the event of an outbreak Including the implementation of basic hygiene and food handling measures and prompt disinfection of contaminated areas, and the isolation of those infected for 48 hours after their symptoms have ceased.

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

Solar panels help reduce carbon emissions

A Scottish firm has launched what it describes as a new type of solar panel aimed at home owners.

Solar Power Scotland, which is based in Montrose, said the system, ~ which contains tubes made on the same principle as a vacuum flask - can be connected to an ordinary water tank, could cut water heating costs by more than two thirds.

The firm's finance director Mary Haddick said its system had been developed "to meet increasing demand from the public to reduce ever-spiralling fuel bills and to do something proactive in helping reduce damaging carbon emissions. The panels are a real alternative energy option for the 21st Century."

Advanced Solar Hot Water Heating System
Thermal Solar Evacuated Tube Collectors
Reduce your hot water heating costs by up to 70% by installing an Evacuated Tube Thermal Solar Collector on your roof.

Traditional flat plate solar collectors produce copious amounts of hot water in sunny conditions but very little in dull, overcast and rainy weather. With our new evacuated tube solar technology we can produce very useful amounts of hot water in every season of the year.

The technology is based on the same principle as the vacuum flask, the heat being trapped by the vacuum and once it has been absorbed, gives very much less heat loss.

The tubes are coated with an extremely thin layer of a special coating which enhances the absorption of the sunlight with a huge 93% of sunlight being transformed into heat. Even in hazy sunshine these evacuated tube solar collectors can achieve around 75% total efficiency compared to only 5% for the conventional flat plate. So now we can have good performance during spring and autumn and also useful amounts of hot water during winter.

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

Jared Diamond could win the prize for an unprecedented third time

The 13-strong longlist of popular science books vying for the prestigious 2006 Aventis Prize:

The six shortlisted books in the running to claim the 2006 Aventis General Prize for science books have been named:

Power, Sex, Suicide -
Mitochondria and the Meaning of Life
by Nick Lane (Oxford University Press)

Mitochondria are tiny structures within all our cells that do the essential task of producing energy. They are pivotal in power, sex, and suicide. In his book, Nick Lane shows how understanding mitochondria is of fundamental importance, both in understanding how complex life came to be, but also in order to be able to control our own illnesses, and delay our degeneration and death.

Empire of the Stars -
Friendship, Obsession and Betrayal in the Quest for Black Holes
by Arthur I. Miller (Little Brown)

In August 1930, the young Indian scientist Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar calculated that certain stars could end their lives by collapsing indefinitely to a point - to nowhere. This idea brought Chandrasekhar into conflict with Sir Arthur S. Eddington, the grand old man of British astrophysics, who publicly ridiculed the idea. Empire of the Stars teases out the major implications of this infamous event, setting it against the backdrop of the turbulent growth of astrophysics.

Electric Universe -
How Electricity Switched on the Modern World
by David Bodanis (Little Brown)

For centuries, electricity was viewed as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention. In Electric Universe, Bodanis weaves the tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud that surround the story of electricity.

Collapse -
How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive
by Jared Diamond (Penguin Allen Lane)

Why do some societies flourish, while others founder? What happened to the people who made the long-abandoned statues of Easter Island or to the architects of the Maya pyramids? And will we go the same way? Bringing together new evidence and piecing together the myriad influences that make societies self-destruct, Collapse shows how, unlike our ancestors, we can benefit from our knowledge of the past and learn to be survivors.

Parallel Worlds -
The Science of Alternative Universes and our Future in the Cosmos
by Michio Kaku (Penguin)

Getting a grip on the creation and ultimate fate of the Universe is one of the great scientific stories of the 20th Century. In the 21st, the story is expanding to enfold many universes. Parallel Worlds tells that new story. Using the latest astronomical data, Prof Kaku explores the Big Bang, "theories of everything", our cosmic future and the human implications of this story.

The Truth About Hormones -
What's Going on when We're Tetchy, Spotty, Fearful, Tearful or Just Plain Awful
by Vivienne Parry (Atlantic Books)

Hormones rule our internal world: they control our growth, our metabolism, weight, water-balance, body clocks, fertility, muscle bulk, mood, speed of ageing, whether we want sex or not (and whether we enjoy it) and even who we fall in love with. In The Truth About Hormones, Vivienne Parry explains how, exactly, these mysteriously powerful things affect us.

The following books made the longlist but not the shortlist for the 2006 Aventis Prize:

Venomous Earth - How Arsenic Caused the World's Worst Mass Poisoning
by Andrew Meharg (Macmillan)

Seven Deadly Colours - The Genius of Nature's Palette and how it Eluded Darwin
by Andrew Parker (Simon & Schuster)

Stalking the Riemann Hypothesis - The Quest to Find the Hidden Law of Prime Numbers
by Daniel N. Rockmore (Jonathan Cape)

The Fruits of War - How War and Conflict have Driven Science
by Michael White (Simon & Schuster)

The Elements of Murder - A History of Poison
by John Emsley (Oxford University Press)

The Gecko's Foot - Bio-inspiration - Engineering New Materials from Nature
by Peter Forbes (Fourth Estate)

The Silicon Eye - How a Silicon Valley Company Aims to Make All Current Computers, Cameras, and Cell Phones Obsolete
by George Gilder (WW Norton)

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The full shortlist for the 2005 General Prize:

Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another
by Philip Ball (William Heinemann)
This thought-provoking book by one of Britain's leading young science writers, Philip Ball, causes us to examine our own behaviour; whether in buying the new Harry Potter book, voting for a particular party or responding to the lure of advertisers. Philip shows how much we can understand about human behaviour when we cease to try to predict and analyse the behaviour of individuals and instead look to the impact of hundreds, thousands or millions of individual human decisions.

The Ancestor's Tale
by Richard Dawkins (Weidenfeld & Nicholson)
The Ancestor's Tale is a pilgrimage back through time - a journey that provides the setting for a collection of some 40 tales, each exploring an aspect of evolutionary biology through the stories of characters met along the way. Together they give a deep understanding of the processes which have shaped life on earth; convergent evolution, the isolation of populations, continental drift and even the great extinctions.

Why Life Speeds Up As You Get Older
by Douwe Draaisma (Cambridge University Press)
Where do the long, lazy summers of our childhood go? Why is it that as we grow older time seems to condense, speed up, elude us while in old age significant events from our distant past can seem as vivid and real as what happened yesterday? In the book Douwe Draaisma, author of the acclaimed Metaphors of Memory, explores the nature of autobiographical memory and extraordinary phenomena such as déjà-vu, the memory feats of idiot-savants or the effects of extreme trauma on memory recall.

Matters of Substance: Drugs - and Why Everyone's a User
by Griffith Edwards (Penguin, Allen Lane)
Matters of Substance presents a radical approach to the question of drug control. Arguing for a consideration of all drugs ~ licit and illicit ~ as more than the sum of their chemical structure, Edwards believes that the effect of a drug is just as dependent on the social setting, historical legacy and psychology of the individual as on any inherent quality of the drug itself. Examining the history of our relationship with the vast array of mind-acting drugs since the 14th Century, he explores why drugs are as important to the global youth culture of the 21st Century as they were in the 14th.

The Earth: An Intimate History
by Richard Fortey (HarperCollins)
Richard Fortey introduces us to the earth's distinct character, revealing the life that it leads when humans aren't watching. He follows the continual movement of seabeds, valleys, mountain ranges and ice caps and shows how everything ~ our culture, natural history, even the formation of our cities ~ has its roots in geology.

The Human Mind
by Robert Winston (Bantam Press/ Transworld Publishers)
In his accessible and entertaining book - which accompanies a major BBC1 television series - Robert Winston tells us how our senses, emotions, personality, feelings and intelligence, are the result of a ballet of genes and environment that shapes the path of our lives. He explains how memories are formed and lost, how the ever-changing brain is responsible for toddler tantrums, teenage angst, the battle of the sexes, the insights gained from Shakespeare, Pirandello and Larkin and the truth behind extra-sensory perception, déjà vu and out-of-body experiences.

---

The shortlist for the 2005 Junior Prize:

Kingfisher Knowledge: Endangered Planet
by David Burnie (Kingfisher)
As humans continue to influence every habitat in the world, this book is a timely reminder of our responsibilities to preserve our fragile earth and to save the hundreds of species of animal and plant life which become extinct each year. With state-of-the-art digital artwork and information panels throughout, this is a book which hopes to inspire the younger generation to think about how to live in harmony with the planet and safeguard it for future generations.

Mysteries and Marvels of Science
by Phillip Clarke, Laura Howell and Sarah Khan (Usborne)
This book combines breathtaking photography with colourful and informative illustrations to reveal the science behind everyday events in our world. From the mysteries of atoms to the possibility of thinking robots and machines the size of sand grains, this book aims to inspire and stimulate the scientists of tomorrow.

Leap Through Time: Earthquake
by Nicholas Harris (Orpheus)
This book takes its readers on an earth shattering journey, from the initial rumbles of an earthquake to the violent shaking, the toppling of buildings, the collapse of bridges and the vast waves which engulf the shore. As each page is turned, the story moves on by a few seconds, a few minutes, a few hours or even a few years to record the consequences of the earthquake and the rebuilding process needed to return to normality.

Night Sky Atlas
by Robin Scagell (Dorling Kindersley)
This practical and inspiring book takes readers on an amazing journey across the night sky, bringing this enthralling subject to life with easy-to-follow guides to understanding and recognising the most obscure night sky phenomena. With state of the art space photography, unique see-through pages and detailed diagrams pinpointing constellations and fascinating stars, this book is perfect for any budding astronomer.

Kingfisher Knowledge: Microscopic Life
by Richard Walker (Kingfisher)
Winner of the Aventis Junior Prize in 2002, Richard Walker makes another appearance on the long-list with his guide to exploring the fascinating miniature world all around us. Microscopic Life investigates the tiny creatures that live around us, inside us and even on us - creatures so small they cannot be seen without microscopes. Part of the spectacular Kingfisher Knowledge series, this book has brilliant photography and digital artwork bursting with information to get the child?s mind racing.

What Makes Me, Me?
by Robert Winston (Dorling Kindersley)
Written by acclaimed author, scientist and TV presenter, Robert Winston, this book is the first children's book to attempt to unravel how biology and experience make each person individually themselves. Questions such as "why do we have hairy fingers?", "which of my parents is to blame for my fear of spiders?" and "why are some people left handed?" are all debated and discussed in this innovative book. A revolutionary design and user-friendly text tell the story of the human mind and body from a child's point of view, while the tests and quizzes make reading the book an interactive experience and help children to see how the information relates back to themselves.

---

The full shortlist for the 2004 General Prize:

A Short History of Nearly Everything
by Bill Bryson (Doubleday/Transworld)
The incomparable Bill Bryson travels through time and space to show us the world, the universe and everything.
Bill Bryson describes himself as a reluctant traveller: but even when he stays safely in his own study at home he can't contain his curiosity about the world around him. This book is his quest to understand everything that has happened from the Big Bang to the rise of civilization.
This is how he describes it:
This is a book about how we went from there being nothing at all to there being something, and then how a little of that something turned into us, and also what happened in between and some of what happened since.
How did we end up with a sun in the middle of our planet and how do they know how hot it is? And if it is there burning away, why isn't the ground under our feet hot. Why isn't the rest of the interior melting, or is it?
How do they know what goes on inside an atom. And how, come to that - or perhaps above all - can scientists so often seem to know nearly everything but then still can't predict an earthquake or even tell us whether we should take an umbrella with us to the races next Wednesday?
Bill started out with little more in the way of base knowledge than the average dad and, as he says, much of the work depended on his finding saintly experts to answer these and other, as he puts it, outstandingly dumb questions to see if it isn't possible to understand - or even marvel - at the wonders of science.

In The Beginning Was The Worm: Finding the Secrets of Life in a Tiny Hermaphrodite
by Andrew Brown (Simon & Schuster)
This book is an account of the first great triumph of genomics: the thirty-year struggle to decode the complete DNA of a nematode worm. Success in this was what made the human genome project possible. In the Beginning was the Worm is an exciting but scrupulous account of a genuine scientific triumph, which will delight both those who know the subject and those who don't.
In the Beginning was the Worm tells of some remarkable characters who have changed our approach to science irrevocably, among them Sydney Brenner, a heroic dreamer who first thought of understanding an animal as a sort of biological Meccano; John Sulston, his first post-doctoral student, who managed to raise £30 million; his friend, Bob Horvitz, who has, to all intents and purposes, spent more than thirty years studying the 22 cells of a worm's vulva; and Fred Sanger, the only man to have won two Nobel Prizes in the same discipline.
Decades of painstaking research triumphed in 1998, when this worm was the first creature to have all its DNA mapped - but now what? We still don't know how to build a single worm. In this intriguing story of dreams and disillusionment, Andrew Brown contemplates the next fifty years of biological science, and the way that ignorance expands to surround all available knowledge.

Magic Universe: A Grand Tour of Modern Science
by Nigel Calder (Oxford University Press)
Magic Universe brings current science to the general reader in an imaginative and wholly original way. It offers an exhilarating tour of the horizons of knowledge, from quarks to linguistics, climate change to cloning, and chaos to superstrings, presented as a set of self-contained stories. The stories are arranged as A - Z entries, but this is not a conventional encyclopaedia. Each story unfolds in a totally unpredictable way, seamlessly crossing disciplines, and told in engaging, accessible language.

Mutants: On Genetic Variety and the Human Body
by Armand Marie Leroi (Penguin: Viking USA)
"Who are the mutants? We are all mutants."
Why are most of us born with one nose, two legs, ten fingers and twenty-four ribs? and some of us not? Why do most of us stop growing in our teens? while others just keep going? Why do some of us have heads of red hair? and others no hair at all? The human genome, we are told, makes us what we are. But how?
This is a book of stories: of a French convent girl who found herself changing sex upon puberty and her miserable death in a Parisian garret; children, who echoing Homer's Cyclops, are born with a single eye in the middle of their foreheads; a village of long-lived Croatian dwarves; a hairy family who were kept at the Burmese royal court for four generations (and from whom Darwin took one of his keenest insights into heredity) and the ostrich-footed Wadoma of the Zambezi river valley.
In Mutants, Armand Marie Leroi gives a brilliant narrative account of our genetic grammar and the people whose bodies have revealed it. Stepping effortlessly from myth to molecular biology, this elegant, humane and illuminating book is about us all.

Nature Via Nurture: Genes, Experience, and What Makes Us Human
by Matt Ridley (Fourth Estate)
Armed with the extraordinary new discoveries about our genes, Matt Ridley turns his attention to the nature versus nurture debate to bring the first popular account of the roots of human behaviour. This is the story of the first glimpses inside the genome, which reveals the surprising truth that because of the mechanism for switching genes on and off, genes consist largely of devices for extracting experience from the outside world.
In February 2001 it was announced that the genome contains not 100,000 genes as originally expected but only 30,000. This startling revision led some scientists to conclude that there are simply not enough human genes to account for all the different ways people behave: we must be made by nurture, not nature. Yet again biology was to be stretched on the Procrustean bed of the nature-nurture debate.
Matt Ridley argues that the emerging truth is far more interesting than this myth. Nurture depends on genes, too, and genes need nurture. Genes not only predetermine the broad structure of the brain; they also absorb formative experiences, react to social cues and even run memory. They are consequences as well as causes of the will.
Published fifty years after the discovery of the double helix of DNA, Nature via Nurture chronicles a new revolution in our understanding of genes. Ridley recounts the hundred years' war between the partisans of nature and nurture to explain how this paradoxical creature, the human being, can be simultaneously free-willed and motivated by instinct and culture. Nature via Nurture is an enthralling, up-to-the-minute account of how genes build brains to absorb experience.

The Backroom Boys
by Francis Spufford (Faber & Faber)
Britain is the only country in the world to have cancelled its space programme just as it put its first rocket into orbit. Starting with this forgotten episode, The Backroom Boys tells the bittersweet story of how one country lost its industrial tradition and got back something else.
Sad, inspiring, funny and ultimately triumphant, it follows the technologists whose work kept Concorde flying, created the computer game, conquered the mobile-phone business, saved the human genome for the human race - and who now are sending the Beagle 2 probe to burrow in the cinnamon sands of Mars.
The Backroom Boys is a vivid love-letter to quiet men in pullovers, to those whose imaginings take shape not in words but in mild steel and carbon fibre and lines of code. Above all, it is a celebration of big dreams achieved with slender means.

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The shortlisted books for the 2004 Junior Prize:

Really Rotten Experiments
by Nick Arnold and Tony De Saulles (Scholastic Children's Books)
Ever wanted to experiment with the sick side of science? Really Rotten Experiments is packed with loud, noisy, wet and soggy experiments that are guaranteed to make your friends and teachers squirm! Are you itching to find out...

who invented pong-free underpants?

which strange scientists ate tadpoles for tea?

the revolting recipe for green slime?

how you can make £5 without doing any work?
Plus learn to dance like a skunk, eat like a chimp and chat in cat language. With crazy cartoons, queasy quizzes and a terrible term at Rotten Road School, Really Rotten Experiments is simply oozing with info!

The Beginning: Voyages Through Time
by Peter Ackroyd (Dorling Kindersley)
The Voyage Begins... the first title in an epic illustrated history of the world for children.
The Beginning is the story to end all stories, the most astonishing story of them all. It is the story of who we are, where we are, and how we came to be here. It is the story of life itself. Fourteen billion years ago there was a great explosion out of nothingness ? and the Universe was born.
Beautifully illustrated throughout, and containing a wealth of factual information to complement the extraordinary narrative, The Beginning will take you on a journey of wonder: from alien landscapes to "upside down" continents, violent collisions and mass extinction; from worms with jaws and pigs as big as men to sabre-toothed cats and monstrous dinosaurs. A time when humans were the victims, not masters, of their world - a world of blazing heat and falling meteorites, of enormous rodents and metre-long scorpions; where eventually, out of the violence and the chaos, the first humans emerged.

Riotous Robots
by Mike Goldsmith (Scholastic Children's Books)
First they were a figment of our imaginations. Then they started to replace large numbers of people in factories. Now they're doing our housework and performing brain-surgery (though not at the same time).
Yes, Riotous Robots are taking over the world, and this cybernetic guide tells you just how they're doing it. From underwater discovery to space travel, these metallic marvels are getting the most exciting jobs on the planet. But read on and you'll discover a robot that's forced to snack on slugs for a living and a robo-alligator that works as a scarecrow. PLUS - you'll learn how to tell your cyborgs from your cyberpets into the bargain.

Start Science: Forces and Motion
by Sally Hewitt (Chrysalis Children's Books)
Catch paperclips with a bouncing, magnetic spider, discover how submarines sink and how friction slows you down. Six topics introduce children to fascinating facts about forces and motion. Magnifiers pick out details in the colourful illustrations. Facts about the forces that make things move, speed up, slow down and change direction are explained in clear, simple language. Projects and activities are included throughout that encourage children to make their own observations about the forces at work around them.

Tell Me: Who Lives in Space?
by Clare Oliver (Chrysalis Children's Books)
How can a belt be made of rock? Can I fly around the solar system? Which planet came as a big surprise? Find out the answers to these and other questions about the universe in this informative book, packed full of facts, quizzes, activities and internet links. The Tell Me series also includes: How Does My Body Fit Together? Where is the Top of the World? and Why Don't Mummies have Brains?

Survivors Science: In The Rainforest
by Peter D. Riley (Hodder Wayland)
This book examines the science skills you would need to survive in the rainforest. It begins with a map showing where rainforests are in the world. The text then looks at this habitat's unique features and at how these features might help you to survive if you were on an expedition here.
Aspects of survival are considered and each one is supported by a science activity which readers can perform using everyday materials and equipment. For example, it shows you what to wear, how to find food and drinking water, how to make a shelter, find your way, stay safe and, if necessary, be rescued.
There is an easy-to-follow activity on every other spread.

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The full shortlist for the 2003 general prize:

Right Hand, Left Hand: The Origins of Asymmetry in Brains, Bodies, Atoms and Cultures
by Chris McManus (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
In this sweeping and penetrating investigation into the lop-sided universe, Chris McManus takes familiar, deceptively simple questions about handedness and asymmetry and attempts to answer them: Why are most people right-handed? Why is the heart always on the left-hand side of the body? Why does European writing go from left to right while Arabic scripts go from right to left? Why are male testicles unbalanced? Why are muppets left-handed? Right Hand, Left Hand uses sources as diverse as the paintings of Rembrandt and the drawings of Leonardo, the origins of medieval iconography, the history of medicine, molecular biology, particle physics and sport to explain the vast repertoire of ?left-right? symbolism that permeates our everyday lives. Chris McManus addresses questions about why the universe, the human body and our societies and cultures are so full of distinctions between left and right. He concludes his grand tour by arguing that many of these differences have a single ultimate cause that can be traced back to an underlying asymmetry long, long ago in the depths of space.
About the author: Chris McManus is Professor of Psychology and Medical Education at University College London. He is the author of Psychology in Medicine and is the co-editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Psychology, Health and Medicine. His writing has appeared in numerous magazines and magazines and journals, he is one of the world's foremost experts on handedness and lateralization. He is the winner of the Wellcome Trust Prize, 1999.
What the judges said: "An accomplished celebration of asymmetry and a perfect balance between science and culture."

Small World: Uncovering Nature's Hidden Networks
by Mark Buchanan (Weidenfeld & Nicolson)
Is it conceivable that there could be mathematical laws for the human world? Mark Buchanan believes that it may be possible. In Small World he reveals how "small world networks" have been unearthed in all aspects of human life from the spread of HIV to the structure of the Internet. Most of us have had the familiar experience of running into a friend of a friend far away from home ~ and feeling that the world is somehow smaller than it should be. According to a new generation of physicists, this "small-world" phenomenon is no coincidence. Rather, it is a manifestation of a hidden and powerful design that binds the world together. In Small World, Mark Buchanan tells the story of how a stunning discovery in complexity science is revolutionizing the way we understand networks. The Internet, the brain, power-grids and the global economy are all networks that seem to have evolved a "small-world" geometry, with properties independent of the nature of the things themselves. Small World argues that this underlying pattern may be one of nature's greatest design tricks. The discovery promises to change the way we see the web of relationships that weaves our lives together. What's more, it may well provide the foundation for a new kind of physics that searches for the laws not of substance but of pure form.
About the author: Mark Buchanan earned a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of Virginia, USA. Following several years of research into nonlinear dynamics and chaos theory, he moved to London to join the staff of Nature. He later spent two years as features editor at New Scientist, before moving to Normandy, France. He is the author of Ubiquity: The History of Science... Or Why the World is Simpler Than We Think, which was shortlisted for the 2001 Guardian First Book Prize.
What the judges said: "A perfect example of how to show that science and maths underpin everything. Clear, gripping and beautifully written."

Reckoning With Risk: Learning to Live with Uncertainty
by Gerd Gigerenzer (Allen Lane)
However much we want certainty in our lives, it feels as if we live in an uncertain and dangerous world. But are we guilty of wildly exaggerating the chances of some unwanted event happening to us? Are we misled by our ignorance of the reality of risk? Far too many of us, argues Gigerenzer, are hampered by our own innumeracy, while statistics are often presented to us in highly confusing ways. Using real world examples, such as the incidence of errors in tests for breast cancer or HIV, or in DNA fingerprinting, and the manipulation of statistics for evidence in court, he shows that our difficulty in thinking about numbers can easily be overcome. Reckoning with Risk illustrates how, with a few simple techniques, we can learn to uncloud our minds, demand helpfully presented information and turn ignorance into insight.
About the author: Gerd Gigerenzer is Director of the Center for Adaptive Behaviour and Cognition (ABC) at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin and a former Professor of Psychology at the University of Chicago.
What the judges said: "A book that makes an enormous impression and does a very good job of explaining a counter-intuitive idea. It makes you think, explains statistics and shows you how to handle them."

The Extravagant Universe: Exploding Stars, Dark Energy and the Accelerating Cosmos
by Robert P. Kirshner (Princeton University Press)
In a remarkable adventure of discovery, supernova expert and leading astronomer Robert P. Kirshner brings readers inside a lively research team on the quest that led them to an extraordinary cosmological discovery: the expansion of the universe is accelerating under the influence of a dark energy that makes space itself expand. Measurements of light from exploding stars ~ some of them halfway across the universe ~ enable these astronomers to trace the history of cosmic expansion. The results have been amazing. Instead of a universe slowing down due to gravity as theory predicted, observations reveal a universe whose expansion is speeding up. This measurement of dark energy ~ a quality of space itself that causes cosmic acceleration ~ points to a gaping hole in our understanding of fundamental physics.
About the author: Robert P. Kirshner is Clowes Professor of Science at Harvard University and Head of the Optical and Infrared Division at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. He teaches Harvard's large undergraduate course "Matter in the Universe" and is the author of over 200 scientific publications. He has also written for National Geographic, Natural History, Scientific American, and Sky & Telescope. He was elected President of the American Astronomical Society in 2003.
What the judges said: "A true adventure story. An honest and exciting account of what it's actually like to work in the front line of science."

The Blank Slate: The Denial of Human Nature and Modern Intellectual Life
by Steven Pinker (Allen Lane)
In The Blank Slate, Steven Pinker explains why many of today's intellectuals deny the existence of human nature, claiming that each of us is born a blank slate upon which the environment writes, and that these inscriptions define every aspect of who we are. Pinker shows that this thesis is no longer tenable, nor is it particularly desirable. By disentangling the moral and political issues from the scientific facts, Pinker examines who and what we are. He shows that our commitments to equality, compassion, responsibility and purpose can be strengthened by a clear conception of human nature. Pinker explains how the new sciences of mind, brain, genes and evolution, far from being corrosive of human values, complement observations about the human condition made by millennia of artists and philosophers.
About the author: Steven Pinker is the best-selling author of The Language Instinct and How the Mind Works ~ both books were shortlisted for the Rhone-Poulenc Prizes for Science Books (the forerunner to the Aventis Prizes) in 1995 and 1999 respectively. He is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience at MIT.
What the judges said: "A powerful, provocative and challenging book that explains the bridges between biology and culture and pulls the reader along with its arguments."

If the Universe is Teeming With Aliens? Where Is Everybody? Fifty Solutions to Fermi's Paradox and the Problem of Extraterrestrial Life
by Stephen Webb (Copernicus Books)
During a lunchtime conversation at Los Alamos more than 50 years ago, four world-class scientists agreed, given the size and age of the Universe, that advanced extraterrestrial civilizations simply had to exist. The sheer numbers demanded it. But one of the four, the renowned physicist Enrico Fermi, asked the telling question: If the extraterrestrial proposition is true, "Where is Everybody?" Stephen Webb presents a detailed discussion of the 50 most cogent and intriguing answers to Fermi's famous question, divided into three distinct groups: aliens are already here among us; aliens exist but have not yet communicated and aliens do not exist. The varieties of arguments ~ from first-rate scientists, philosophers, historians, and science fiction authors - are astonishing, entertaining and vigorous intellectual exercises.
About the author: Stephen Webb is a physicist working at the Open University in England and the author of Measuring the Universe. He lives in Milton Keynes.
What the judges said: "A cleverly handled account of the interface between science and science fiction. Ingenious, bold and fun to read."


The shortlisted books for the 2003 junior prize:

The DK Guide to the Oceans
by Dr Frances Dipper (Dorling Kindersley, Age: 8-10)
An illuminating exploration of the world's saltwater environments ? their wildlife, ecosystems, structure and natural history. Close-up photography and illustrations show microscopic ocean life in vivid detail, while stunning large-scale images invite the reader into an amazing world both above and below the waves.
About the author: Dr Frances Dipper is an independent marine consultant, photographer and author. She has written numerous books and articles on marine biology and ocean environments for both children and adults. She was consultant on DK?s acclaimed Animal project. She lives in Cambridgeshire.
What the judges said: "An excellent insight to the oceans, which touches upon a great deal of marine and ecological diversity with expertise and outstanding photography."

Horrible Science: The Terrible Truth About Time
by Nick Arnold (Scholastic, Age: 8-12)
Part of the best-selling Horrible Science series, The Terrible Truth About Time answers some thought-provoking questions with a mixture of humour, fact files, quirky quizzes and crazy cartoons. Find out how flies tell the time, what happens if you go too close to a black hole and who was killed for changing the calendar.
About the author: Nick Arnold has been writing for Scholastic for over seven years, clocking up 20 titles in the Horrible Science series, as well as Sticky and The Knowledge ~ Archeology. When he is not writing, he spends his time travelling around the UK, giving talks to children in bookshops, schools and libraries. He was shortlisted for the Aventis Prizes in 2001 for Horrible Science: Suffering Scientists. Nick Arnold lives in Devon.
What the judges said: "A really enjoyable book that deals with a difficult concept with imagination and humour. Nick Arnold manages to tell the story of the human comprehension of time in a way that will engage many young readers."

Hands-on-Science: Get In Gear
by Sholly Fisch (Innovative Kids, Age: 8-12)
Get in Gear takes a hands-on look at the concept of transferring motion through the use of gears. Guided by Doc Sprocket, a robot who lives in a scrapyard, kids can build wacky gear contraptions directly on the pages, using real gears that are stored at the back of the book and a built in motor.
About the author: Sholly Fisch is the author of several books for children and adults, and co-editor of an academic book on the educational impact of Sesame Street. His other writing credits include numerous comic book stories (featuring popular characters such as Batman, Bugs Bunny, Spider-Man, Ren and Stimpy, and the X-Men), as well as television scripts, short stories, magazine articles, and material for the World Wide Web. A developmental psychologist and former vice-president at Sesame Workshop (a.k.a. Children's Television Workshop), Sholly is founder and president of MediaKidz Research & Consulting, through which he provides educational consulting, hands-on testing, and writing services for children's media. He lives in New Jersey, USA.
What the judges said: "A fun, inspirational and hands-on book that, through it's own built-in technology, allows readers to learn about the principles of gears."

Leap Through Time: Dinosaur
by Nicholas Harris (Orpheus Books, Age: 8-10)
Leap Through Time: Dinosaur is part of a unique series that allows the reader to fast forward through a period of history in a lively and imaginative way. Following the story of an individual from hatchling to fossil, this is an innovative book about dinosaurs with detailed illustrations and a thumb index that lets you whizz through time ~ days, years or even centuries.
About the author: Following a childhood obsession with the accumulation of facts (anything from the kings and queens of England or stars and planets to the great composers, FA cup winners and, yes, dinosaurs) Nicholas Harris founded his own company, Orpheus Books in 1992. Inevitably, Nicholas found himself turning author as well, writing books on a whole range of subjects including animals, the human body, the oceans, space, and, of course, dinosaurs. Nicholas and co-author Trevor Day, were shortlisted for the 1997 Rhone-Poulenc Junior Science Book Prize (the forerunner of the Aventis) with The Incredible Journey (Kingfisher 1996). He lives in Herefordshire.
What the judges said: "A novel, engaging and informative approach to dinosaurs, which addresses the difficult question of timescale. It weaves a wonderfully educational story starting with a dinosaur hatching and ending with modern archaeology."

Why Can't I...? Series
Why Can't I... Jump to the Moon? and Other Questions about Energy
Why Can't I... Sleep on a Bed of Bubbles?
Why Can't I... Live Underwater with the Fish?
Why Can't I... Slide Down a Rainbow?
Why Can't I... Fly like a Superhero?
Why Can't I... Roar like a Lion? and Other Questions about Sound
by Sally Hewitt (Belitha Press, Age: Under 8)
What Makes a Rainbow so bright? Why can't I hear a dog whistle? Four new titles in this amazing series from Belitha Press that explain the basic principles of science in an understandable and thought provoking way. The Why Can't I? series looks at the questions that children so often ask, and answers them using clear, simple explanations accompanied by fun eye-catching photographs.
About the author: Sally Hewitt taught in primary schools for 10 years. She is now a full time writer of children's non-fiction books and has written over 100 titles including the well-known Start Maths, Fun with Maths and Why Can't I? books for Belitha Press. Amongst other new projects she has a new series called Start Science out in the summer. She lives in Richmond.
What the judges said: "An impressive, stimulating and brilliantly designed series that addresses science ideas at a very young age. Each book asks the question why, answers it extremely well and in a way that will stimulate a continuing curiosity."

The Way Science Works
by Robin Kerrod & Dr Sharon Ann Holgate (Dorling Kindersley)
Whether you want to learn about the colours that make up the Aurora Borealis, how a mobile phone works, or what makes you float in the Dead Sea, The Way Science Works holds the answers. From carbon chemistry to computer animation and lightning bolts to liquid density, key scientific theories are explained in clear and accessible language and vibrant colour pictures. Each theory is supported by several exciting hands-on experiments, which include making a camera, building a rocket and making polymer slime.
About the authors:
Robin Kerrod writes for young people on all aspects of science and technology, and also on astronomy and space for a wider audience. He won the very first Science Book Prize in 1988 with Science Alive - Living Things. He lives near Salisbury in Wiltshire.
Sharon Ann Holgate is a science writer and broadcaster. She has written for New Scientist, Focus and The Times Higher Education Supplement and broadcast for the BBC World Service and regional stations. She won a Merit Award in the 1994 Daily Telegraph Young Science Writer of the Year competition. She lives in Worthing, West Sussex.
What the judges said: "A rich store of information and ideas that coherently develops scientific themes and ideas. Very well written with exciting design and illustrations. A book you can go back to again and again."

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General Prize Shortlist 2002

Measuring Eternity: The Search for the Beginning of Time
by Martin Gorst (Fourth Estate)
Was published under the title Aeonsin 2001 by Fourth Estate, a Division of HarperCollins Publishers, this book takes us on the intriguing journey through the history of humankind?s attempts to give the world a starting point. Recounting the exploded paradigms of past scientific quests, Aeons is a story as much about the politics of reconciliation between the Biblical creation story and the empirical evidence that violently contradicted the belief that the world could have been made in seven days, as about the attempts to date the age of the world. Gorst brings the book to a close full of hope that we could be on the verge of discovering this elusive date, but reminds us that we have been here before many times.
About the Author: Martin Gorst is a writer and director of science documentaries for, among others, Channel 4 and the Discovery Channel.
What the Judges said: ?A fascinating, well-written account of the quest to discover how old the universe is, which combines a historical sweep with a scientific pursuit."

The Universe in a Nutshell
by Stephen Hawking (Bantam Press)
The sequel to the best-selling A Brief History of Time, which sold over 10 million copies worldwide. In this new, lavishly illustrated book, Professor Hawking turns to the most important breakthroughs that have occurred in the years since his acclaimed first book. He brings the reader to the cutting edge of theoretical physics, where truth is often stranger than fiction and explains, in layman's terms, the principals that control our universe. In The Universe in A Nutshell, Professor Hawking guides the reader on his search to uncover the secrets of the universe, "to combine Einstein's General Theory of Relativity and Richard Feynman's idea of multiple histories into one complete unified theory that will describe everything that happens in the universe."
About the author: Professor Stephen Hawking is the Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge.
What the judges said: "Authoritative, hugely ambitious and beautifully illustrated."

The Secret Life of Dust: From the Cosmos to the Kitchen Counter, the Big Consequences of Little Things
by Hannah Holmes (John Wiley & Sons)
Humble dust built the very planet we walk upon. It tinkers with the weather and spices the air that we breathe. Billions of tons of tiny particles rise into the air annually - the dust of deserts and forgotten kings mixing with volcanic ash, seal salt, leaf fragments, shreds of T-shirts and scales from butterfly wings. In the hands of Hannah Holmes dust becomes a dazzling and mysterious force. She tracks the story of restless dust from its beginnings among exploding stars, through the dinosaur beds of the Gobi Desert, digging into Antarctic Glaciers and probing the dark underbelly of the living-room couch. Holmes gathers together a fascinating cast of characters - the scientists who study dust. Some investigate its dark side - how it killed off dinosaurs and how its industrial descendants are killing us today. Others sample the shower of Saharan dust that nourishes Caribbean jungles. All of them unveil the mayhem - and the magic - wrought by little things.
About the author: Hannah Holmes is a science and natural history writer for the Discovery Channel Online. Her freelance work has been widely published in journals including National Geographic Traveller and The New York Times Magazine.
What the judges said: "Magnified the microscopic into something magnificent. An unusual perspective on the things we don't notice and a very clever synthesis of a wide range of science."

The Madness of Adam & Eve - How Schizophrenia Shaped Humanity
by David F. Horrobin (Bantam Press)
In this controversial new book, Schizophrenia expert David Horrobin examines the link between schizophrenia and human evolution, and argues that madness may have played a critical role in the emergence of modern humans. He presents a new understanding of our origins, a new respect for the "schizophrenic genome" and discusses a groundbreaking new approach to the treatment of this devastating illness
About the author: David Horrobin has been Medical Advisor to the Schizophrenia Association of Great Britain for the 25 years he has spent researching the disease. He has founded two biotech companies and currently runs Laxdale Ltd, which specialises in developing new drugs for psychiatric and neurological disorders. He also founded and still edits the journal Medical Hypothesis, the leading forum for new ideas in medicine. He lives in Scotland.
What the judges said: "A well-argued piece of scientific and medical advocacy, which although possibly contentious, brings a richness and humanity to a very important area."

A Primate's Memoir: A Neuroscientist's Unconventional Life Among the Baboons
by Robert M. Sapolsky (Jonathan Cape)
Book-smart and more than a little naïve, Robert Sapolsky left the comforts of college in the US for a research project studying a troop of baboons in Kenya. Whether he is relating his adventures with his neighbours, Masai tribesmen, or his experiences learning how to sneak up and dart suspicious baboons, Sapolsky combines irreverence and humour with the best credentials in his field. The culmination of over two decades of experience and research - an exhilarating, daring and ultimately very moving memoir on the people and nature of Africa.
About the author: Robert Sapolsky is Professor of Biology and Neurology at Stanford University, and a research associate with the Institute of Primate Research, National Museums of Kenya. He lives in San Francisco.
What the judges said: "An exciting, epic and honest account of a scientist's life and work. Hugely funny."

Rivals - Conflict as the Fuel of Science
by Michael White (Secker & Warburg)
Rivalry has been a key feature of scientific endeavour and a powerful impetus for the greatest advancements in Western science. Michael White examines eight instances in the history of science and technology that changed the world, in all of which the stress of rivalry played a pivotal role. Rivals presents the human aspect of science, where the protagonists in this book find themselves caught in battles for supremacy, battles born of jealousy, pettiness and simple personality clashes ~ as well as more noble instincts. The stories of Newton and Leibniz, Lavoisier and Priestley, Darwin and Wallace, Edison and Tesla, the race for the Atom Bomb, Crick and Watson, the Space Race and the feuds between Bill Gates and Larry Ellison illustrate the varying forms of rivalry can take, and the eternal impulse for scientists not only to be right, but also to be first.
About the author: Michael White was formally a professional musician before becoming a lecturer at d'Overbroeck's College and then Science Editor of GQ. He became a full-time writer in 1988, since when he has published twenty books including the bestsellers Stephen Hawking: A Life in Science (with John Gribbin) and the award-winning Isaac Newton, The Last Sorcerer. He has been a columnist for the Sunday Times, the Mail on Sunday and the Daily Telegraph and has become a regular consultant and presenter for TV and radio.
What the judges said: "A behind-the-scenes look at the role of competition in driving forward scientific discovery. Filled with human emotion, fury and passion."

Junior Prize Shortlist 2002

Life Finds its Feet
by Jacqui Bailey (A&C Black)
A vibrant, action-packed, comic style book bursting with information and stories about the beginnings of life on Earth. Explores how life started as jelly blobs, and went on to become giant fish, sea scorpions, swamp monsters to name a few.
About the author: Jacqui Bailey has been creating, editing and writing children's books for over 20 years. During that time she has worked on everything from a 22-volume encyclopaedia to a slim collection of very silly stories.
What the judges said: "A delightful book that tackled difficult scientific ideas with a real lightness of touch. The use of cartoons made the story clear and interesting."

The Kingfisher Illustrated Dinosaur Encyclopedia
by David Burnie (Kingfisher)
World-famous dinosaur hunter, Susan Hendrickson introduces you to a dramatic journey from the dawn of life on Earth through each dinosaur era from the Triassic to the Cretaceous, exploring every dinosaur family along the way. Packed with facts and figures, timelines, all the latest discoveries and powerful, atmospheric pictures.
About the author: David Burnie is a zoology graduate. He worked as a nature reserve ranger before becoming a natural history author and editor. He has written a number of books, many of which have won educational awards and prizes.
What the judges said: "This is much more than an encyclopaedia. Beautifully produced and written, it is excellent at explaining not just what we know but how we know it."

Dead Famous: Albert Einstein and his Inflatable Universe
by Mike Goldsmith (Scholastic)
A rip-roaring journey through the life of Albert Einstein, which discovers some amazing facts along the way. Did you know that he was expelled from school and spied on by the FBI? A funny, gripping look at the man and the theories that changed the entire cosmos - that won't give you a headache.
About the author: Mike Goldsmith is a doctor of astrophysics who worked as a research scientist before becoming an author. This is his first book.
What the judges said: "At last, a book to help everyone understand what the theory of relativity is all about. An engaging, lively book that makes you laugh out loud. A magical way of explaining some very difficult physics."

Mega Bites: Bugs
by Christopher Maynard (Dorling Kindersley)
A guided tour through the wonders of the insect world. Crammed full of megabite-sized facts and figures from the gross to the gigantic to the downright peculiar. Did you know that the longest insect tongue is a whopping 28 cm? Dramatic photographs and an easy to use reference section including websites.
About the author: Chris Maynard has over 55 children's books under his belt and won the 1996 Rhone-Poulenc Prizes for Science Books Junior Prize with The World of Weather.
What the judges said: "An exuberant book that is immensely successful at presenting a lot of interesting information in an engaging way and in a small format."

The Usborne Internet-Linked Library of Science: Materials
by Alastair Smith, Phillip Clarke & Corinne Henderson (Usborne)
Taking examples from everyday life, this fascinating book explores the chemistry of solids, liquids and gases, explaining exactly what they are and how they behave. An ideal revision tool, this book also contains experiments, activities and recommended Web sites designed to enhance learning.
About the authors:
Phil Clarke has been working at Usborne for about two years. Titles he has worked on include The Usborne Internet-linked Science Encyclopedia, the Spotter's Guide to Wild Animals, the Spotter's Guide to Weather and Baby Animals (Lift-the-flap). He is currently deep in the Usborne Book of Ocean Facts & Lists.
Corinne Henderson has been writing for Usborne for nearly 20 years, on science subjects as diverse as computers, the weather, cell biology, microscopes and animal behaviour. Her main work to date has been the much-acclaimed Illustrated Dictionary of Science, now into its 19th reprint.
Alastair Smith, has worked at Usborne Publishing since 1990. He has authored and edited way over 20 books for the company, on subjects ranging from the workings of the human body to the physics of outer space, and from drawing people to telling really corny jokes.
What the judges said: "An engaging way into chemistry through print, illustration and internet links. Congratulations to the publisher for using the internet in such an innovative way."

DK Guide to the Human Body
by Richard Walker (Dorling Kindersley)
The DK Guide to the Human Body takes readers on a remarkable journey through the incredible systems of the body - from the tiniest cells to the largest organs. Revealed in fantastic computer-enhanced, three-dimensional pictures, the ingenious processes involved in moving, breathing, digesting food, producing babies, growing and fighting off disease are all explained with clear, lively text.
About the author: Richard Walker, BSc, PhD, has taught biology at school and university levels and is an accomplished author of numerous books on human biology and anatomy, including Dorling Kindersley's Eyewitness Visual Dictionary of Human Anatomy. He has also written many titles on health and science for children and adults.
What the judges said: "This is a visually stunning book which, through the use of incredible pictures, conveys some of the trickiest parts of science really well."

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

# posted by (",)azlan::~~~ @ 09:41

What a wanker! He looks like he socked one in the goolies.

US President George W Bush was hit by a tennis ball at the heavily-guarded US embassy in Pakistan - as he tried his hand at the country's national sport, cricket.

The baseball-loving leader was shown how to bat and bowl by members of Pakistan's national team, using tennis balls. Hah, what a sissy!

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

Wind Power in the UK is set against the UK Government target to increase the contribution of renewables to UK electricity to 10 per cent by 2010 ~ with an aspiration of 20 per cent by 2020 ~ as part of efforts to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions while enhancing energy security. The report aims to help policy-makers and planners balance genuine local concerns with wider environmental and social needs, so the benefits of renewable energy are realised through careful design and consultation. The report is 176 pages long. This report was revised in November 2005.

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

SDC Chair, Jonathon Porritt, says:
"There's little point in denying that nuclear power has benefits, but in our view, these are outweighed by serious disadvantages."

Nuclear power is not the answer to tackling climate change or security of supply, according to the Sustainable Development Commission.

In response to the Government's current Energy Review, the SDC nuclear report draws together the most comprehensive evidence base available, to find that there is no justification for bringing forward a new nuclear power programme at present.

Based on eight new research papers, the SDC report gives a balanced examination of the pros and cons of nuclear power. Its research recognizes that nuclear is a low carbon technology, with an impressive safety record in the UK. Nuclear could generate large quantities of electricity, contribute to stabilising CO2 emissions and add to the diversity of the UK's energy supply.

However, the research establishes that even if the UK's existing nuclear capacity was doubled, it would only give an 8% cut on CO2 emissions by 2035 (and nothing before 2010). This must be set against the risks.

The report identifies five major disadvantages to nuclear power:

1. Long-term waste ~ no long term solutions are yet available, let alone acceptable to the general public; it is impossible to guarantee safety over the long- term disposal of waste.

2. Cost ~ the economics of nuclear new-build are highly uncertain. There is little, if any, justification for public subsidy, but if estimated costs escalate, there?s a clear risk that the taxpayer will be have to pick up the tab.

3. Inflexibility ~ nuclear would lock the UK into a centralised distribution system for the next 50 years, at exactly the time when opportunities for microgeneration and local distribution network are stronger than ever.

4. Undermining energy efficiency ~ a new nuclear programme would give out the wrong signal to consumers and businesses, implying that a major technological fix is all that?s required, weakening the urgent action needed on energy efficiency.

5. International security ~ if the UK brings forward a new nuclear power programme, we cannot deny other countries the same technology*. With lower safety standards, they run higher risks of accidents, radiation exposure, proliferation and terrorist attacks.

On balance, the SDC finds that these problems outweigh the advantages of nuclear. However, the SDC does not rule out further research into new nuclear technologies and pursuing answers to the waste problem, as future technological developments may justify a re-examination of the issue.

SDC Chair, Jonathon Porritt, says:

"It's vital that we get to grips with the complexity of nuclear power. Far too often, the debate is highly polarised, with NGOs claiming to see no advantages to nuclear at all, and the pro-nuclear lobby claiming that it's the only solution available to us.

"Instead of hurtling along to a pre-judged conclusion (which many fear the Government is intent on doing), we must look to the evidence. There's little point in denying that nuclear power has benefits, but in our view, these are outweighed by serious disadvantages. The Government is going to have to stop looking for an easy fix to our climate change and energy crises ~ there simply isn't one."

Concluding with advice on a future energy strategy, the SDC report establishes that it is indeed possible to meet the UK's energy needs without nuclear power. With a combination of a low-carbon innovation strategy and an aggressive expansion of energy efficiency and renewables, the UK would become a leader in low-carbon technologies. This would enhance economic competitiveness whilst meeting the UK's future energy needs.

All reports, evidence papers and audio interviews can be download from our website at:

http://www.sd-commission.org.uk/pages/060306.html

ENDS

Notes to Eds:

- The SDC nuclear review, research papers and audio launch interview with Jonathon Porritt are available to download at www.sd-commission.org.uk

- The SDC has spent a year gathering evidence and agreeing its position on nuclear power.

- The process for developing the SDC position on nuclear power has been rigorous and transparent.

During the process, the SDC identified three divergent positions on nuclear power:

position 1 - NO, position 2 ~ NOT NOW, position 3 - MAYBE.

SDC Commissioners voted as follows:

eight Commissioners favoured position 1,
five favoured position 2,
and two favoured position 3.

As part of the current Energy Review, we expect the Government will go through a comparable decision-making process, and we advise them to be similarly transparent.

- The SDC nuclear review is based on eight new research papers

1. An introduction to nuclear power ? science, technology and UK policy context, by the Sustainable Development Commission

2. Reducing CO2 emissions: nuclear and the alternatives, by the Sustainable Development Commission

3. Landscape, environment and community impacts of nuclear power, by the Sustainable Development Commission

4. The economics of nuclear power by the Science & Technology Policy Research (SPRU, University of Sussex) and NERA Economic Consulting

5. Waste and decommissioning by the Sustainable Development Commission with contributions from Nirex and AMEC NNC

6. Safety and security by the Sustainable Development Commission with contributions from Large & Associates and AMEC NNC

7. Public perceptions and community issues by Professor Robin Grove-White, Dr Matthew Kearnes, Dr Phil Macnaghten and Professor Brian Wynne

8. Uranium resource availability by Future Energy Solutions, an operating division of AEA Technology plc

- The Sustainable Development Commission is the Government's principal advisory body on all matters relating to sustainable development, reporting to the Prime Minister and the First Ministers of Scotland and Wales. Through advocacy, advice and appraisal, we help put sustainable development at the core of Government policy.

For further information, or interviews, contact Hazel Dempster on 020 7238 6606 / 07790 119 215, or email hazel.dempster@sd-commission.org.uk

* Under the terms of the Framework Convention on Climate Change

Sustainable Development Commission,
Ground Floor, Ergon House,
Horseferry Road, London SW1P 2AL
T: 020 7238 4995
E: enquiries@sd-commission.org.uk

See also: 'No quick fix' from nuclear power

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

BRUTAL: Woman soldier points at genitals of hooded and naked Iraqis

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
PRESS RELEASE

AI Index: MDE 14/005/2006 (Public)
News Service No: 053
6 March 2006

Embargo Date: 6 March 2006 00:01 GMT

Thousands of detainees being held by the US-led Multinational Force (MNF) in Iraq are trapped in a system of arbitrary detention that denies them their basic rights, Amnesty International said in a report published today. At the same time, there is increasing evidence of torture of detainees by the Iraqi security forces that the MNF underpins.

"Three years after it toppled Saddam Hussain, the US-led alliance has failed to put in place measures which respect the basic rights of detainees under its control and to safeguard them from possible torture or other abuses. The system of detention that has been established is arbitrary and a recipe for possible abuse," said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.

Some detainees have now been held without charge or trial by the MNF for more than two years without being given an adequate opportunity to challenge the reasons for their imprisonment. They face the prospect of being held for years more on the basis of information to which they do not have access. The systems the US and UK use to review detainees' cases fail to meet international standards, including the requirement for court oversight. Detainees are also routinely denied access to lawyers and their families.

The report Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and torture in Iraq focuses on human rights violations for which the MNF is directly responsible but points also to mounting evidence of torture by Iraqi security forces operating alongside the MNF, including the so-called Wolf Brigade that reports to the Iraqi Interior Ministry. There have also been cases in which detainees have died in the custody of Iraqi forces. Amnesty International is concerned that these cases and torture allegations have not been properly investigated and those responsible held to account. US and UK investigations into abuses by their forces have also generally focused on junior military personnel and sentences have failed to reflect the gravity of the offences.

It is imperative that both the MNF and the Iraqi authorities take urgent steps to reassert the importance of fundamental human rights if there is to be any hope of halting Iraq's slide towards ever increasing violence and sectarianism. In particular, they must ensure that detainees' rights are respected in full, that all allegations of torture or other abuses are thoroughly and promptly investigated, and that those responsible for ordering or carrying out abuses, however senior, are brought to justice.

"International human rights law applicable in Iraq as well as domestic Iraqi legislation contain safeguards to protect the fundamental rights of people in detention ? including the right not to be subjected to torture or ill-treatment. It is high time for all parties to the conflict to start observing the laws to which they have been and remain legally bound," said Hassiba Hadj-Sahraoui.

For a copy of the report, Beyond Abu Ghraib: Detention and torture in Iraq, please see:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/index/engmde140012006

Public Document
****************************************
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566
Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW.
web: http://www.amnesty.org

For latest human rights news view http://news.amnesty.org

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice

Rowan Williams attacks Guantanamo camp

The Archbishop of Canterbury has launched a scathing attack on Guantanamo Bay, branding the US prison camp an "extraordinary legal anomaly."

Dr Rowan Williams said holding people who had not been found guilty, or allowed access to proper legal channels, set a dangerous precedent.

The archbishop was interviewed during a visit to Sudan, broadcast on Sunday.

"I think what we've got in Guantanamo is an extraordinary legal anomaly creating a new category of custody with prisoners," he said.

"Now precedents matter in law, nationally and internationally. Any message given, that any state can just over-ride some of these basic habeas corpus-type provisions, is going to be very welcome to tyrants elsewhere in the world, now and in the future.

"Once again, words have consequences, policies have consequences. What, in 10 years' time, are people going to be able to say about a system that tolerates this?"

Copyright 2003-2006 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice