Reminder about your invitation from Hanif Thotathil

2011-06-20T12:56:00.001+05:30

This is a reminder that on June 8, Hanif Thotathil sent you an invitation to become part of his or her professional network at LinkedIn.

Follow this link to accept Hanif Thotathil's invitation.

https://www.linkedin.com/e/d968ja-gp53r2c0-1g/doi/3153529005/I9wPJYBj/gir_681022675_1/EML-inv_17_rem/

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On June 8, Hanif Thotathil wrote:

> To: [thotathil.blog@blogger.com]
> From: Hanif Thotathil [thotathil@gmail.com]
> Subject: Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

> I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.
>
> - Hanif

The only way to get access to Hanif Thotathil's professional network on LinkedIn is through the following link:

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You can remove yourself from Hanif Thotathil's network at any time.

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Reminder about your invitation from Hanif Thotathil

2011-06-13T14:43:00.001+05:30

This is a reminder that on June 8, Hanif Thotathil sent you an invitation to become part of his or her professional network at LinkedIn.

Follow this link to accept Hanif Thotathil's invitation.

https://www.linkedin.com/e/d968ja-gov7gptw-3y/doi/3153529005/I9wPJYBj/gir_681022675_0/EML-inv_17_rem/

Signing up is free and takes less than a minute.

The only way to get access to Hanif Thotathil's professional network on LinkedIn is through the following link:

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--------------

Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

2011-06-09T03:05:00.001+05:30

I'd like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

- Hanif

Hanif Thotathil
Regional TSD Manager at Arabian Business Machines Company
Saudi Arabia

Confirm that you know Hanif

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2010-01-15T14:02:00.001+05:30

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Solar Eclipse

2010-01-15T12:42:00.001+05:30

www.hanif.in

A new law abolishing the sponsorship system

2010-01-10T22:42:00.001+05:30

JEDDAH, Jan 4: A new law abolishing the sponsorship system and streamlining the relationship between employers and their workers will be issued "very soon," Al-Madinah daily reported yesterday quoting a Shoura Council member.

The Shoura member, who requested anonymity, however, pointed out that the new law to be passed by higher authorities would be based on the proposals of the Labor Ministry and not of the National Society of Human Rights (NSHR).

"Labor Minister Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi told a Shoura session that his ministry had presented its viewpoints regarding cancellation of the sponsorship rules and that the law would be issued very soon," the Shoura member said.

In a close-door session of the 150-member Shoura, Al-Gosaibi disclosed his ministry's plan to establish specialized companies to organize foreign work force and supervise the signing of contracts between employers and workers.

NSHR President Bandar Al-Hajjar said last week that the rights watchdog had presented to authorities a proposal to establish a government commission to look after guest workers. He also called for the abolition of the sponsorship system. "There was no coordination between NSHR and the Labor Ministry or any other party on preparing a study on cancellation of the sponsorship system," Al-Hajjar said while commenting on the Shoura member's statement.

The Labor Ministry is the legitimate agency to organize the affairs of foreign workers, he added..
Al-Hajjar said he had no information whether the Labor Ministry had prepared a similar study on the subject or not. The NSHR held last year a seminar on the rights of Saudi employers and foreign workers in the light of the sponsorship system, he said. Officials from the Ministries of Interior and Labor attended the seminar.

"We heard the viewpoints of the two ministries as well as the views of the chambers of commerce and recruitment companies on the topic," the NSHR chief said, adding that there were differences of opinion. "The NSHR study was based on our viewpoint," he explained.

Saudis and expatriates have welcomed the plan to abolish the sponsorship system saying that it would give more freedom to guest workers and attract foreign investment. Yasin Alireza, a Saudi businessman, said the new system should be simple and provide greater freedom to guest workers in matters related to travel and switching jobs.
"We all look forward to a big change in the sponsorship system. We all know it has been abused and how the rights of many non-Saudis have been seriously and continuously violated," said American Edward Flood…

Wish you all a Happy and Action Packed New Year.

2010-01-02T02:24:00.000+05:30

Arab News Editorial: The year that Was

THE farewell to 2009 Thursday night was marked by a blue moon which about sums up the rarity of the agglomeration of exceptional events that has left the world nervous and angry for its future. The year began with outrage and despair as Israel launched a rain of death on the luckless inhabitants of Gaza. It ended with a rising tattoo of explosions, many of them made by suicide bombers in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

In between the actual violence we have seen the clear beginnings of a new nuclear arms race. There has been the abject failure of the international community to agree at Copenhagen on what to do about climate change and even renewed concern at the soundness of the science which asserts the cause is man-made pollution. The only clear evidence is that there are radical changes to the weather as the devastating Jeddah floods last month demonstrated so vividly. This said however, the hard truth is that much of the death of destruction in all such disasters in recent years, not least in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, was caused by gross human error or incompetence.

The global financial markets spent much of the year in turmoil with high price volatility in key commodities such as oil. First World governments continued to pour taxpayers’ money into their economies to stop recession turning to a full-blown economic depression. As the year ended, the tactic seemed to be working. Now, however, the focus of nervous investors is turning from financially shaky companies and banks to whole struggling economies. The vast sums of new money created to save the financial system now have to be paid back, before serious price inflation starts to take hold. Lean times lie ahead for many developed countries, with higher taxes, less spending on key government services such as health and welfare and more job losses.

In North America and Europe, the high sense of anxiety generated by this knowledge was enhanced by the appreciation of another, ultimately more alarming reality. Financial power is slipping away from the hands that have long assumed an exclusive right to wield it. The emergence of China and India as the new global economic nexus is now clear. But few in the West yet dare contemplate the full implications of this change after almost 500 years of European and then North American hegemony. There is a facile belief that to succeed India and China will need to assume Western standards at every level of business and finance. There is still little suspicion that with already $2 trillion of foreign currency reserves, booming China is capable of writing its own rules which one day everyone else will have to follow.

The West’s fear of the future is boosted by the grim knowledge of its own systemic failures. Indeed 2009 was the year in which many once comfortable and complacent families simply did not know what was going to happen next, just as a billion people in the Third World do not know on this new year’s morning, where their next meal is coming from.

Hanif Thotathil wants to keep up with you on Twitter

2009-12-02T02:26:00.001+05:30

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Hanif Thotathil wants to keep up with you on Twitter

2009-12-02T02:24:00.000+05:30

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CDC H1N1 Flu | Questions & Answers Novel H1N1 Influenza Vaccine

2009-10-27T17:05:00.001+05:30

The following link found at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (http://www.cdc.gov) has been sent by thotathil@gmail.com.

CDC H1N1 Flu | Questions & Answers Novel H1N1 Influenza Vaccine
http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/vaccination/public/vaccination_qa_pub.htm

11/10/2009

2009-10-11T13:39:00.001+05:30

Masu

[From: Hanif Mohammed Thotathil] Nokia's N97 brings a clash of two cultures

2009-07-02T00:44:00.001+05:30

Hanif Mohammed Thotathil spotted this on the guardian.co.uk site and thought you should see it.

To see this story with its related links on the guardian.co.uk site, go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/jul/01/mobile-phones-nokia-victor-keegan

Nokia's N97 brings a clash of two cultures
Smartphones are booming ? even in the middle of a recession ? but their design and functionality can differ remarkably
Victor Keegan
Thursday July 2 2009
The Guardian

The launch of Nokia's long-awaited N97 smartphone at the same time as Apple's beatified iPhone 3GS marks a clash not just of two remarkable devices but of two cultures. Nokia didn't invent mobiles ? Motorola did ? but it has led the world in their exploitation, especially in adding new functions. Apple, with no legacy in mobiles to protect, came to the drawing board with a clean sheet of paper, and it still shows. The 3GS has virtually no moving parts and despite its sophistication it is amazingly easy to use and doesn't need a manual. Nokia couldn't, and maybe shouldn't, make that leap yet (its touchscreen N800 tablet a couple of years ago was not a success). The N97, in addition to a touchscreen, comes with a pull-out keypad ? it's an impressive piece of engineering but it adds weight and cost.

On some scores, the N97 is streets ahead of the iPhone: screen resolution is better, the 5 megapixel camera superior and the video much better . It has an FM radio, FM transmission and more memory for the money. It has a big selection of music and, now, its own Ovi store for apps (games and services) which works fine, except the cupboard is embarrassingly bare. I hardly spent any of the voucher money supplied for the trial, as they didn't compare in quality, let alone quantity with Apple's cornucopia of more than 50,000 apps. But Nokia is trawling the world for new ones and has a greater geographical reach than the iPhone, so there is plenty of potential. What I was most looking forward to was mapping, where Nokia has invested heavily. I had been impressed by Nokia demos showing fast access to GPS signals and maps that (unlike web-based Google ones) are embedded in the phone for easy access. But it was not to be. I spent hours figuring out what was wrong, including emails to Nokia's press advisers (not open to ordinary buyers), a visit to the Nokia shop ? which recommended a software update from my PC at home ? but to no avail. It gave spasmodic GPS data but no maps. Whether it was my fault or a rogue phone, who knows. The lesson? Before you buy this potentially exciting device, get them to include the maps. 

There are no winners and losers with these phones. There will be opportunities for all in a global market where half of humanity already has at least one phone and before long nearly everyone will. According to Informa, around 160 million people already have web-savvy smartphones. Nokia offered mobile web access and apps long before the iPhone was dreamed about but it took Apple's genius to make them user-friendly and, more important, to break the resistance of telcos to "unlimited data" packages. The iPhone/iPod Touch is still a comparatively small player but accounts for a large proportion of people using their phones to access the web, a market it has singlehandedly prised open. Nokia, with 37% of the global phone market (and 43% of smartphones) won't lose, at least in the short term, because it operates in markets where Apple is absent. In the US, where it barely makes the top five in terms of unit sales, it ought now to be attractive to all the other operators looking for an iPhone killer. It will have tough competition from Google's Android handsets and from the well-received Palm Pre, not to mention the BlackBerry, but if it irons out the teething problems on the N97 it has all to play for.

These devices seem expensive ? the N97 costs ?499 with 32GB of memory without a contract, while the iPhone 3GS starts at ?440 for 16GB (or ?538 for 32GB) ? but as they relieve you of the need to buy an MP3 player, a camera, a video camera, a satnav system, a tape recorder, a watch, an alarm clock, a calculator, even a computer, and goodness knows what else, they are remarkably affordable. No wonder smartphones are booming even in the midst of an international recession.

twitter.com/vickeegan

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Internet is sweet 20

2009-03-15T01:52:00.002+05:30

GENEVA: The World Wide Web yesterday marked its 20th anniversary, and one of its founders admitted there are bits of the phenomenon he does not like.

The creation of the Web by British computer software genius Tim Berners-Lee and other scientists at the European particle physics laboratory (CERN) paved the way for the Internet explosion which has changed our daily lives. Berners-Lee and CERN colleagues such as Robert Caillau, who originally set up the system to allow thousands of scientists around the world to stay in touch, took part in yesterday's commemorations at the laboratory.

In March 1989, the young Berners-Lee handed his supervisor in Geneva a document entitled "Information Management: A Proposal." The supervisor described it as "vague, but exciting" and later gave it the go-ahead, according to CERN. "It was really in the air, something that had to happen sooner or later," said former CERN systems engineer Caillau, who teamed up with Berners-Lee.

They drew up the global hypertext language — which is behind the "http" on website addresses — and came up with the first Web browser in October 1990, which looks remarkably similar to the ones we use today. "Everything that people talk about today, blogs and so on, that's what we were doing in 1990, there's no difference. That's how we started," Caillau told Swiss radio RSR.

The WWW technology was first made available for wider use on the Internet from 1991 after CERN was unable to ensure its development, and the organization made a landmark decision two years later not to levy royalties. Caillau still marvels at developments like Wikipedia that allow knowledge to be exchanged openly around the Web, but never imagined that search engines would take on the importance they have now.

"A search engine is very centralized ... while the Web is totally decentralized, I couldn't have predicted the things that it does," he said. But the commercial development of the Web still irritates some of the founders. "There are some things I don't like at all, such as the fact that people have to live off advertising," said Caillau, who preferred the idea of direct "micro payments" to information providers. "And there's the big problem of identity, of course, the trust between the person who is consulting and the person who provides the page, as well as the protection of children," he added.

Berners-Lee, now a researcher at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States and a university professor in Southampton, Britain, still heads the World Wide Web Consortium that coordinates development of the Web.

Housing in Riyadh

2009-02-27T13:25:00.001+05:30

From American Bedu

A serious issue facing not only expats who may be coming to work in Saudi
Arabia but for the residents as well is the severe housing shortage. This is
particularly noticeable in Riyadh where the demand far exceeds the available
supply. This housing shortage is attributable to several reasons:

* Rising inflation and cost of living making affordable housing
prohibited to many Riyadh residents.
* The majority of Saudi Arabia's population is under 20 years of age.
As these individuals start to join the workforce and marry, leaving their
family homes, there is a new influx of citizens seeking affordable housing.
* There has been an increase of large contracts and projects being
awarded to international firms who are exporting more workers into the
Kingdom adding to the housing shortage.

The housing shortage is particularly noticeable for the expat who has
accepted a job in the Kingdom but responsible for finding his own housing.
He will likely acquire a copy of "Riyadh Today" pocket-size book and start
culling through the pages of compounds. But he will find after calling each
and every compound most are either not even taking names for a waiting list
or have a minimum of a two year waiting list. All compounds are full.

Many compound owners are also taking advantage of the housing shortage and
raising rents exponentially as leases expire. I know of one individual whose
rent was raised from 200,000 SAR (per year) to 300,000 SAR (per year) and is
now among those trying to find more affordable housing. Sadly due to the
shortage compound owners can demand and receive such rents.

So what does one do when accepting employment in Riyadh? My advise is to
make sure that the employer will provide housing. It is never an enjoyable
experience to interact with realtors and compound managers in Riyadh. There
are language barriers, lackadaisical attention spent to clients needs,
punctuality issues let alone having to face negotiating and enforcing lease
agreements and commitments on the part of the landlord. Don't forget, when
signing a lease in Saudi Arabia, in most cases the full years rent must be
paid upfront in advance which leaves a landlord little incentive to see to
needed repairs or problems.

If you are responsible for acquiring your own housing make sure to have
adequate lead time for this endeavor. Be willing to take a temporary place
at a furnished hotel/apartment which allows you to rent month-to-month while
you take your time and find the right place for your needs. Don't be shy in
asking anyone and everyone about housing leads. Drive around In the area you
would like to live in. Ask security guards if they are aware of any vacant
dwellings or ones soon to be vacant.

Atheeb’s KSA WiMAX network “weeks” from launch

2009-02-27T02:04:00.003+05:30

Saudi Arabia's Atheeb Telecom is "weeks" away from launching its mobile broadband network in the Kingdom, according to the company's CEO.

By George Bevir on Friday, February 27, 2009

Atheeb Telecom is one of three companies licensed to operate a new fixed-line network in Saudi Arabia, and it plans to be the first to offer a nationwide WiMAX network. Dr Ahmed Sindi said that he expects corporate registration of Atheeb Telecom to be issued "in the next week or so", with a stock exchange listing "in a month's time" and a launch of the service to follow soon after.

"Our launch is very much on target. It will launch very soon - we're talking weeks. Our network is about 95% ready in Jeddah and Riyadh," Sindi told CommsMEA.

"We have five more cities to follow maybe a month to a month and a half after that, including Mecca, Medina and Ta'if, and once the five cities are covered we will have close to 65% of the population covered. Very soon we will announce the second phase of the project, and that will give us up to 85% coverage, which will be implemented this year."

Office Hours: How Bill Gates uses Office

2009-02-16T03:11:00.002+05:30

Bill Gates

People are often curious about which applications and technology I use, and
if there are features in the new version of Office that have changed the way
I work. Without a doubt, Office 2007 enables me to get my work done more
easily and quickly than before.

Applies to

2007 Microsoft Office system

_____

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_____

If you visit my office, you will probably notice right away that I have
three large flat screen displays that sit together and are synchronized so
they work like a single very wide display. The large display area enables me
to work very efficiently. I keep my Outlook 2007 Inbox open on the screen to
the left so I can see new messages as they come in. I usually have the
message or document that I'm currently reading or writing in the center
screen. The screen on the right is where I have room to open up a browser or
look at a document that someone has sent me in e-mail.

I spend the majority of my time communicating with colleagues, customers, and partners. As a result, Outlook is the application that I use the most. I receive about 100 e-mail messages per day from Microsoft employees, and many more from customers and partners.

It's very important that I hear what people think about our products and our
company. Yet I need to balance that against the very real risk of
information overload from all the e-mail that I receive. The advances we
made in Outlook 2007 for filtering, rules, and search folders have made it
much easier to manage my e-mail than before, especially because so much
happens automatically once I've set everything up.

A great thing is that all my voice mail, faxes, and even instant messages
are sent to my Outlook Inbox using our unified communications technology.
Another important feature of unified communications that we have integrated
into Office applications is presence and identity. That means I can always
tell at a glance whether the person I need to get in touch with is available
or not.

One change to Outlook that I appreciate is tasks are now integrated with how
I view my calendar. Before Office 2007, I never used the Outlook task
feature, but now that tasks are automatically added to my calendar, it makes
it much easier to stay on top of the important things I need to do.

Working with other people efficiently and effectively is more important than
ever, not just for Microsoft but for any organization. I find that
SharePoint, a software program that enables people to easily create internal
Web sites so they can collaborate on projects, has become indispensable.

For example, each year I do something called ThinkWeek where anybody in the
company can submit a paper about an idea they have to change the way our
company works or to pursue a new development project. We used to rely
primarily on printed documents, but now it's simple for us to create a Web
site to manage the entire process. This year, more than 350 papers were
submitted. Not only did I read and comment on many of them, but other
technical leaders from across the company were able to go up to the
ThinkWeek Web site and add their thoughts. This has led to many lively
discussions and started numerous new projects, something that was much
harder to do when everything was on paper.

This release of SharePoint also has many social networking features that I
find enormously helpful. In addition to searching any corporate intranet
site for documents, SharePoint now enables me to search for specific people
based on their expertise, job title, or the department they work in. Also,
employees can easily create personal Web sites where they can post photos
and list their experiences and interests. SharePoint even automatically
associates every document with its author, and explains his relationship to
other employees on the same team and in his department. So SharePoint makes
it far easier to quickly identify the two or three people who are experts in
parallel computing, for example, even though there are more than 80,000
employees at Microsoft now.

Of course, collaborating often means meeting with my colleagues in person or
remotely over the Internet via Office LiveMeeting. I always take a lot of
notes about ideas to think about or things to follow up on. I try to bring
my Tablet PC to meetings as often as possible so that I can use OneNote 2007
to write notes in ink that can later be searched or converted to text. Even
if I forget my Tablet, I can scan a document or piece of paper and add that
image to OneNote. One of the nice new features in OneNote 2007 is that it
automatically recognizes the text in those scanned documents, so that it's
easy to search for them later.

Then there are times when I really want to drill down into an industry or
market trend. The new business intelligence and data visualization tools in
Excel 2007 and SharePoint are fantastic for accessing the kind of data that
used to be hard to find because it was stored in back-end databases, and
then dig through that data to gain some real insights into what is going on.
Now I can easily take a look at how a change to something like our
assumptions about customer demand might affect the market for a certain
product.

Taken together, the improvements in Office 2007 have certainly had a large
impact on the way I work. I seem to discover a new feature or a better way
of doing something almost every day, and I am hopeful that many of you will
find the new Office to be as useful as I do.

About the author

William (Bill) H. Gates is chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the worldwide
leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses
realize their full potential.

On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008, Gates will
transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his
global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
After July 2008 Gates will continue to serve as Microsoft's chairman and an
advisor on key development projects.

Under Gates' leadership, Microsoft's mission has been to continually advance
and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective
and more enjoyable for people to use computers. The company is committed to
a long-term view, reflected in its investment of approximately $7.1 billion
on research and development in the 2007 fiscal year.

Does your Pepsi lack pep? Is your Coke not the real thing? India's Hindu nationalist movement apparently has the answer: a new soft drink made from cow urine.

2009-02-13T11:18:00.001+05:30

Does your Pepsi lack pep? Is your Coke not the real thing? India's Hindu nationalist movement apparently has the answer: a new soft drink made from cow urine.

The bovine brew is in the final stages of development by the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), India's biggest and oldest Hindu nationalist group, according to the man who makes it.

Om Prakash, the head of the department, said the drink – called "gau jal", or "cow water" – in Sanskrit was undergoing laboratory tests and would be launched "very soon, maybe by the end of this year".

"Don't worry, it won't smell like urine and will be tasty too," he told The Times from his headquarters in Hardwar, one of four holy cities on the River Ganges. "Its USP will be that it's going to be very healthy. It won't be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins."

The drink is the latest attempt by the RSS – which was founded in 1925 and now claims eight million members – to cleanse India of foreign influence and promote its ideology of Hindutva, or Hindu-ness.

Hindus revere cows and slaughtering them is illegal in most of India. Cow dung is traditionally used as a fuel and disinfectant in villages, while cow urine and dung are often consumed in rituals to "purify" those on the bottom rungs of the Hindu caste system.

In 2001, the RSS and its offshoots – which include the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party – began promoting cow urine as a cure for ailments ranging from liver disease to obesity and even cancer.

The movement has often been accused of using more violent methods, such as killing 67 Christians in the eastern state of Orissa last year, and assaulting women in a pub in Mangalore last month. It also has a history of targeting foreign business in India, as in 1994, when it organised a nationwide boycott of multinational consumer goods, including Pepsi and Coca Cola.

The cola brands are popular in India, now one of their biggest markets, but have struggled in recent years to shake off allegations, which they deny, that they contain dangerous levels of pesticide.

Mr Prakash said his drink, by contrast, was made mainly of cow urine, mixed with a few medicinal and ayurvedic herbs. He said it would be "cheap", but declined to give further details about its price or ingredients until it was officially launched.

He insisted, however, that it would be able to compete with the American cola brands, even with their enormous advertising budgets. "We're going to give them good competition as our drink is good for mankind," he said. "We may also think of exporting it."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/article5707554.ece

Valentine's Day from an Islamic Perspective

2009-02-13T02:39:00.002+05:30

Vaentine's Day- It's reality and its ruling.

Islam does recognize happy occasions that bring people closer to one another, and add spice to their lives. However, Islam goes against blindly imitating the West regarding a special occasion such as Valentine's Day. Hence, commemorating that special day known as the Valentine's Day is an innovation or bid`ah that has no religious backing. Every innovation of that kind is rejected, as far as Islam is concerned. Islam requires all Muslims to love one another all over the whole year, and reducing the whole year to a single day is totally rejected.

Hence, we Muslims ought not to follow in the footsteps of such innovations and superstitions that are common in what is known as the Valentine's Day. No doubt that there are many irreligious practices that occur on that day, and those practices are capable of dissuading people from the true meanings of love and altruism to the extent that the celebration is reduced to a moral decline.

for further reading.....

http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/archive/article.php?lang=E&id=142702

http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/engblue/article.php?lang=E&id=142703

Spread the Message of Islam.

Hanif

Sabra Ahmadzai: An Afghan woman married and then abandoned by an Army Doctor, stationed in Uttarakhand

2009-02-11T00:33:00.001+05:30

Sabra Ahmadzai is a young Afghan woman, who is confronting an Indian Army Major, Chandrasekhar Pant, who married her two years ago in Kabul, and then dumped her two weeks later.

Mr Pant, who was already married with children, converted to Islam, and changed his name to Himmat Khan, just so that he could marry Sabra.

Sabra is now in India, to confront her husband, and seek justice.

Please visit this site that highlights Sabra Ahmadzai's plight:
http://justiceforsabra.blogspot.com/

Make sure to watch the video news segment at the end.

Afghan bride confronts missing major

2009-02-11T00:21:00.004+05:30

Early morning prayers at Hazrat Nizammudin, a sufi shrine in the Indian capital, Delhi.
In the main hall of the onion-shaped dome people are milling around, their hands clasped in prayer.
Men entering the shrine pay their respects as women huddle outside, peering in.
Sitting by a pillar and praying is 20-year-old Sabra Ahmadzai. She left her home, Afghanistan, for the first time in November of last year.
Along with personal belongings which included copies of her wedding video and marriage certificate, she boarded a flight to India to confront the man she says is her missing husband - a doctor in the Indian Army.
Taboo
Ms Ahmadzai was working as a Hindi translator in a hospital in Kabul where she met her husband, Maj Chandrashekhar Pant.

Bigamy is illegal in India
She is now pursuing a case of bigamy.
"We were together for about 15 days when he was transferred back to India," she says.
"He promised to return with his parents and left. In six months he only called me three times, and in his last call he told me Sabra you are young and you can marry again - I have two kids and a wife from before."
In Afghanistan marrying a foreigner is still taboo.
But Ms Ahmadzai said that she decided to go ahead after he converted to Islam and after receiving the consent of her family and relatives.
Dressed in a white gown and holding hands, her wedding video shows the couple walking down the aisle, cutting their wedding cake and performing the ceremonial rituals of an Islamic marriage.
Ms Ahmadzai says she waited for two years for her husband to return but the talk in the neighbourhood of her abandonment became unbearable.
'Three options'
"People would often ask me why hasn't your husband returned? Does he even call you? I was quite upset by all this, so I decided to come to India and confront him."

The army says that it takes bigamy cases very seriously
Having travelled two days on a local bus to the small hill town of Pithoragarh in the Himalayas, Ms Ahmadzai met Maj Pant on the hallway of the local hospital.
She says he was taken aback by her unexpected visit to his hometown.
"I told him I will give you three options and you can choose what suits you best," she said.
"When a girl marries she lives in her husband's house, so either you let me live with your family here in India, or you and your family come with me to Afghanistan. And if you are not happy with either of these choices, then at least come to Afghanistan and divorce me in front of the same cleric and the same people."
Ms Ahmadzai - who has now been in India for more than six weeks - is grateful for the support of local students and non-government organisations (NGOs).
With their help, she has already registered a complaint with the police. Her lawyer, Ravindra Garia, says they have a solid case against the major.
"Sabra is here, there are video CDs of her marriage and she has a wedding certificate which is a documentary proof that this marriage actually took place," he says.
However, according to the local police, Maj Pant has said his picture in the wedding video has been fabricated.
"Chandrashekhar Pant denies that any marriage ceremony has taken place and believes that these photographs are actually cut and paste," Police superintendent of Pithoragarh, PS Rawat told the BBC.
'Disciplinary action'
While an inquiry is in progress, the Indian Army Chief, Deepak Kapoor, says action will only be taken if the major is found guilty.

The bride has thanked all who have helped her in Delhi
"If an inquiry reveals that an army man is at fault, he is automatically liable to appropriate disciplinary action and it will be immediately taken. The army does not believe in the philosophy of shielding a perpetrator of any kind of irregularity, corruption or crime," he said.
Gen Kapoor says the army has done its own investigation and has found a certain "dichotomy" between army records and what Ms Ahmadzai claims in her complaint to the police.
"The dichotomy stems from the fact that her so-called marriage took place in December. As per our records and according to the details of the officer on the mission to Afghanistan, he was there from January to November. So there is a basic dichotomy in what the FIR (First Information Report) has said and what the officer has done when he was detailed there," Gen Kapoor said.
Meanwhile, for Sabra Ahmadzai this is a battle that must be fought - even if it takes many years.
"I have learnt that you should not marry outside your community," she says, "and if you do then you should inquire and be careful."
As she walks out of the shrine into the winding lanes of Nizamuddin, she talks of returning to Afghanistan and opening an NGO that will help other Afghan women from being exploited in these difficult times her country is facing.
"This fight is not just for me," she says while nibbling on prayer sweets and rose petals, "but for people who are facing similar situations and they must fight it out."

Downandup/Conficker worm infects 9 million PCs

2009-01-22T01:24:00.000+05:30

Judging from the complaints and questions filling my inbox, Windows security looks like it's already on track for its worst year this decade. The latest attack is a worm called Downandup, Downadup, Kido!, or Conficker (all the same thing), and it primarily seems to be being delivered via infected USB drives.

How's it work? By tricking you into running the virus by modifying the way "autorun" works when you plug in a drive. Look closely at the screenshot above and you'll see two entries for "Open folder to view files." The one at the top is a phony entry that actually installs the virus on your machine... but of course it's the default selection that pops up when you plug in a drive. Once installed, the virus spreads like crazy via a separate flaw in Windows networking system (now patched, so be sure to run Windows Update if you haven't lately) and can quickly infect a whole office. F-Secure has more analysis on the clever way it tricks you into installing the malware yourself.

How bad has it gotten? Estimates range from 3.5 million infected in the first four days after it bean spreading to 9 million impacted... and gettng worse. By now I figure the numbers could top 15 or 20 million.

From an antivirus standpoint, fixing Downandup isn't easy. The worm is particularly problematic because of the tricky way it involves the user in installing the software, bypassing auto-installation safeguards, plus its sophisticated way of avoiding detection, as it morphs its code constantly (using randomized elements) to make traditional, signature-based detection almost impossible.

Your best strategy for avoiding Downandup? Turn off AutoPlay/AutoRun on your computer (with Windows XP, TweakUI is the easiest way to do it). If you do see an AutoPlay dialog box like the one above, just close it and eject the disc or thumbdrive; browsing the drive manually for individual files should keep you uninfected, but you're best off not using the drive at all. And of course, make sure your system is fully patched via Windows Update.

What if you already have Downandup infecting your machine? Try your standard antivirus utility as a fix. If that doesn't work, F-Secure has a removal tool that should get rid of it. Good luck out there.

Obama's BlackBerry Is a National Security Risk

2009-01-16T02:03:00.001+05:30

We read a few weeks ago that Barack Obama wanted to keep his BlackBerry after he became president. Then, sanity prevailed and it seemed to be a dead issue. However the latest news reports quote Obama as saying that they will have "to pry the BlackBerry from his cold hands." I certainly hope this is an exaggeration.

In the end, Obama will be the president. Legally, if he wants something done, short of a major crime, he can order it done. However, I thought after he became president we would have less hubris in government. The fact is that the BlackBerry does represent a major security threat that is hard to fully account for.

Specifically, the BlackBerry is a networked computer that also happens to be a cellphone. For the average person, this isn't really a major problem. However, Obama will be the most targeted person in the world. There are tens of billions of dollars of resources that are currently focused on targeting him. If he has a BlackBerry, which connects to a public network, it will be targeted, and it must be expected that someone will get through.

And there is a lot to target. First, people might say that Obama's BlackBerry would go through an enterprise server, but that just means that the messages go from the mail server to the BlackBerry server inside the organization. The messages still get to the BlackBerry from the server over public networks. There is some encryption capability, but it is a commercial-grade encryption product and fairly easily cracked.

People then might say that Obama says that he won't transmit anything sensitive over the BlackBerry, so that shouldn't matter. That is where the bigger problems come in. Again, the key thing about a BlackBerry is that is a networked computer with Internet access.

While everyone believes that when you are not making a call on a cellphone, it is definitely not transmitting, that is a mistake. It is possible to hack the phone and make it into a listening device. Basically, the phone dials out to a telephone number and doesn't indicate that it is making a call.

A lot of people will be skeptical about this, but think about the fact that a telephone call is driven by software. The call and hangup buttons just trigger a software flag. BlackBerries regularly check email, which means that they are constantly communicating over the network. Additionally, there are a variety of applications that involve Internet voice communications, most notably iSkoot, which is Skype for BlackBerries.

Many readers might remember the scene in the recent Batman movie, where Batman created a system that uses cellphones as receivers and much more. While the system as a whole remains science fiction, the basic premise (cellphones being used surreptitiously) is real and practical.

There is, of course, the basic issue that cellphones can be geo-located from anywhere in the world. This would enable a variety of terrorist attacks. There are many other potential issues that I don't have the space to cover.

People have to remember that a computer is a computer is a computer. The fact a cellphone is involved makes the situation even worse, given that it is designed to listen to people talking. For just about everyone else in the world, the risk involved is acceptable. But since Obama will be President, every major foreign intelligence, criminal, and terrorist organization in the world will devote every resource they can to listen in on conversations that he has -- especially when he isn't talking on the cellphone.

— Ira Winkler, Former National Security Agency analyst and author of Spies Among Us

Hanif Thotathil is suggesting this article from Arab News

2009-01-13T23:10:00.001+05:30

The Middle East's Leading English Language Daily

13/01/2009

Hello,

Hanif Thotathil is suggesting the following article from http://www.arabnews.com:

DNA test proves Indonesian maid’s fatherhood claim
Laura Bashraheel I Arab News

JEDDAH: A DNA test has proved that the child born to an Indonesian maid who claimed she was raped is that of her alleged 18-year-old Saudi attacker.

The 25-year-old maid alleged that the youth, who was 17 at the time, raped her in early 2007 while she worked for his family, a claim that was previously rejected by the family and the Bureau of Investigation and Prosecution (BIP) in Riyadh.

Nasser Al-Dandani, a lawyer representing the Indonesian Embassy, said he now hopes the case would be reopened.

“We sent a letter to the Human Rights Commission which helped to prove the child’s parenthood ... we are now waiting for the final verdict after we proved that the child is the youth’s son,” said Al-Dandani, adding that the HRC and its Chairman Turki Al-Sudairi have been very sympathetic and cooperaative.

The maid’s ordeal began when she ran away from her abusive sponsor and sought shelter at the Office for Maid’s Affairs with the help of a taxi driver. At the door of the shelter she was met by the 17-year-old youth’s family who convinced her to come and work for them.

After two months, the family’s eldest son allegedly raped the maid, who then ran away and took shelter at the Indonesian Embassy in Riyadh, which helped her file a case at the city’s Al-Naseem police station.

The case was then transferred to BIP, which detained the son for a few days for questioning. The youth denied the accusations and was subsequently released.

The bureau then decided to close the case claiming “lack of evidence.”

The maid, however, sought the help of the National Society for Human Rights.

Arab News reported in August that the maid, who was six months pregnant at the time, wanted to establish the fatherhood of her unborn child before returning to her home country. She is now at the Indonesian Embassy with her baby.

Saudi airports embrace self-service

2009-01-09T02:57:00.001+05:30

After the success of an experiment at King Khalid International Airport, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia is to implement a self-service system for the completion of travel procedures for passengers moving through international airports in Jeddah and Dammam, says Saudi Gazette.

The new system enables passengers to use their fingerprints and other bio-data to complete travel procedures using an electronic gate set up for this purpose.

This will remove the need to stand in conventional queues to have passports stamped after passport officers verify their identity.

Customers move to self-service

A recent US consumer survey commissioned by IBM showed a 50% growth in the use of self-service technology in the past year, with 70% of respondents saying they expect businesses to offer more self-service options, states AsiaOne.

Today's busy, tech-savvy consumers are demanding access to information and services outside normal business hours, less time standing in line, greater ease of use, and more privacy.

This trend towards customer self-sufficiency is creating opportunities for companies to innovate and change the way consumers connect, interact and transact business.

Retail federation showcases kiosks

This year's National Retail Federation Big Show is demonstrating how self-service technology is improving the retail customer, says Self-service World.

One focus this year will be the way in which interactive kiosks can help save the brick-and-mortar music store.

A "Sonic Bar" area will demonstrate how new trends, ranging from digital signage and interactive kiosks to loyalty programmes and ideas for social retailing, can give online shoppers new incentive to drop their laptops and head for the mall.

The Story of Iraq's Republican Palace

2009-01-04T22:18:00.001+05:30

By Ma'ad Fayad

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- Some mistakenly call Iraq's Republican Palace in Baghdad, "Saddam's Palace", sometimes even adding the historical landmark to the numerous palaces that once belonged to the late Iraqi dictator, which have now been transformed into either headquarters of US forces, or accommodation for new Iraqi officials.

The Republican Palace is located in the Kharadah Mariam district of Baghdad, a wealthy district in the Western half of the Iraqi capital which is split by the Tigris River. The palace was built for King Faisal II to reside in following his marriage [to Egyptian Princess Sabiha Fazila Khanim Sultan]. However before the wedding could take place the King, along with his family was assassinated on 14 July 1958 at Rehab Palace in a coup d'état undertaken by a group of army officered led by Abd Al-Karim Qasim.

With the establishment of the first republic [in Iraq] headed by Qasim, the palaces name was changed to the "Republican Palace." This palace was the third royal palace to house the Iraqi monarchy, after the Zuhur Palace and the Rehab Palace.

Zuhur Palace is located in the "Um Al Azzam" district of Baghdad and was the residence of King Ghazi, the second King of Iraq and father of Faisal II. King Ghazi died in a car accident on the road leading from his palace to the main road; some believe that this accident was arranged by the British due to the King's tendency towards nationalistic ideology and his admiration of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. After this the royal family left Zuhur Palace, moving to the Rehab Place in the Harithia quarter which is not far from the first palace.

Some consider it an overstatement calling the Rehab Palace a palace at all, since it size is no bigger then that of a normal Baghdad house. This same description applies to the Zuhur Palace which became one of Saddam Hussein's presidential palaces at the end of the 90s.

The Iraqi royal family did not truly have royal palaces in the true sense of the word rather any dwelling they resided in was given the name of "palace." When King Faisal I came from Hejaz to Baghdad in 1921 [to accept the crown of the British Mandate of Iraq] the people of Baghdad were unsure as to what do about the issue of their new King's residence. The British forces rebuilt an old Abbasid palace that had been used by the Ottoman's first as a vocational school, and then as a military camp.

This Abbasid palace was located in Baghdad near the North Gate on the Eastern Bank of the Tigris River near, adjacent to another Abbasid palace overlooking the Tigris that is still there today. King Faisal I made the decision that this palace would be his residence, and his family residence.

Since the beginning of the [Iraqi] monarchy there has been much consideration as to building a large royal palace to serve as residence and headquarters for the King; this was the palace that was built by Faisal II [the Republican Palace].

It must be noted that the first President of the Iraqi Republic, Abd Al-Karim Qasim never resided in the palace, it is even said that he never saw or visited the place, rather Qasim continued to rule from his office in the Ministry of Defense.

Abdul Salam Arif, the second President of Iraq, was the first to reside in the Republican Palace, and he used it as his official headquarters. He even used one of the royal cars, a black Rolls Royce, removing the royal crest and outfitting it with the presidential seal.

Abdul Rahman Arif inherited the Iraqi presidency after the death of his brother Abdul Salam in a helicopter accident in 1966, along with the Republican Palace, and so was the second Iraqi president to rule the country from there. On the 17th of June 1968 the Republican Palace guards cooperated with the Baath party in staging a coup against the President. The head of military intelligence, along with leader of the Republican Guard, were granted access into the Republican Palace, where they overthrew Arif in a [bloodless] coup, and thus the Baath party came to power [in Iraq].

The fourth President of Iraq, Ahmed Hassan Al-Bakr, also used the Republican Palace as his headquarters, while his deputy at the time Saddam Hussein resided in the National Council building, which was intended to be the Iraqi parliament's headquarters. This building sits directly on the Tigris River in the western half of Baghdad, and is not far from the Republican Palace.

It is striking that Saddam Hussein never resided in the Republican Palace; rather he chose to reside in the Radwaniyah Palace close to Baghdad International Airport. This palace has been transformed today into a US forces headquarters, as well as an office for the National Council, although the Council continues to receive its high-profile guests at the Republican Palace.

American forces bombed the Republican Palace more than once during Operation Desert Shield in 1991; they also bombed it prior to their entry into Baghdad in 2003.

The turquoise dome of the Republican Palace is an architectural wonder that characterizes this palace which has witnessed important historical events, even though its original owner never resided there. Perhaps the bitterest of these events for the Iraqi people to swallow was the transformation of the palace into a US embassy headquarters. The Republican Palace was returned to the Iraqi Presidency by the US on 1 January 2009.

SCIENCE CONFIRMS LIFE AFTER DEATH

2009-01-02T01:44:00.001+05:30

SCIENCE CONFIRMS LIFE AFTER DEATH

by J.J. Snyder

A group of British scientists, including two astrophysicists, a
thermodynamicist, and other professional researchers, are conducting
experiments and solving complex equations that they believe furnish
conclusive and irrefutable proof of human survival of bodily death.

Michael Roll, a rationalist and freethinker who heads The Campaign for
Philosophical Freedom, is unofficial spokesman for the group. He has
recently revealed information that could drastically alter humankind's
entire belief system regarding continuation of consciousness beyond the
grave. Roll, of Bristol, England, a former businessman, is a long-time
explorer of paranormal phenomena. He and his colleagues' series of
discoveries, involving mathematical equations and physical experiments, when
taken together, furnish empirical evidence that makes an extremely strong
case for continuing after-death survival of the human psyche.

The group has come to regard that continuation as the functioning of a
natural, universal law, the study of which is strictly a branch of
chemistry, physics, and mathematics, rather than an article of religious
faith.

This scientific approach to a subject which heretofore has been discussed
mainly as a function of theology is stirring lively debate, not only in
Britain, but worldwide. The assertion that immortality is conferred on
humankind through natural law alone, rather than by an all-powerful,
monotheistic God, is awakening interest and triggering penetrating questions
from the general public, including churchgoers, as they become more fully
informed about prospects for continuing existence beyond the transition
known as "death."

The researchers' premise is that certain recent mathematical discoveries,
combined with results of in-depth exploration of physics and quantum
mechanics, now furnish verification for many previous well-documented
scientific experiments dealing with what has been previously known as
"psychic phenomena." These experiments were, and are being, conducted by
various researchers from the late nineteenth century down to the present
day, and all have a common thread. Each features repeated appearances by,
and communication with, entities from the next level of existence who have
experienced the event known as death, and yet maintain consciousness, remain
articulate, and sometimes become visible on this physical level. At times
these visitors from etheric realms can be touched, felt, and even held
tightly by incarnate humans. Fully authenticated and documented visits to
living family members, friends, and researchers have long proven the reality
of these manifestations, but their cause and origin has remained
inexplicable in the context of heretofore known laws of physics. However,
many of the questions relating to these phenomena have been answered by the
British researchers, and ongoing exploration continues.

Discarnate entities sometimes appear through materialization mediums - those
specially endowed individuals who are able to furnish a psychic link between
the two planes. At other times, usually when influenced by extremely strong
emotions on either, or both, the etheric or physical level, materializations
occur spontaneously. Other mediums, while not always able to effect
materializations, are still able to relay communications between the two
levels of existence.

Much of the evidence provided by certain mediums has been subjected to
close, even hostile, scientific scrutiny, and found to be true and valid.
Recently, there have been many reports of discarnate communication occurring
by electronic means - telephone calls, tape recordings, fax messages, and
even long discourses on computer screens. Etheric entities identify
themselves, answer questions put to them by experimenters, and furnish
information on conditions in the dimensions where they now exist. Extensive
research into electronic communication with afterworld beings is being
conducted on both sides of the Atlantic. In the USA, the American
Association of Electronic Voice Phenomena and the Continuing Life Research
organizations are in the forefront of these investigations.

Simply put, the British investigative group's contention is that these
appearances of and contacts with "deceased" persons are manifestations of
natural physical laws, the validity of which has been proven by recent and
startling discoveries in mathematics and quantum physics. These are fields
of study directly related to the structure and behavior of electrons,
protons, neutrons, and other sub-atomic particles. Roll asserts that these
new discoveries now fully vindicate the findings of early investigators of
psychic phenomena such as Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge, John Logie
Baird, Arthur Findlay, Dr. Glen Hamilton, and many other prestigious
scientific truth-seekers. After years of research, each of these
experimenters declared unequivocally that life continues, endures, and
advances on the next levels of existence.

Baird, a television pioneer, and inventor of the infrared camera, contacted
the "deceased" Thomas A. Edison through a medium, and a discussion of the
infrared camera followed. Later, Baird made the following statement: "I have
witnessed some very startling phenomena under circumstances which make
trickery out of the question...I am convinced that discoveries of
far-reaching importance remain waiting along these shadowy and discredited
paths."

Fittingly, efforts in Britain are now underway to embark on a project to
employ an infrared camera that will scientifically measure and record
phenomena produced during experiments, including the videotaping of recently
deceased persons. Many early investigators were given a very rough time by
fellow scientists and the media. This holds especially true for Crookes. In
1874, he published the results of his four years of experiments dealing with
a wide variety of unexplained phenomena. The report described many
well-documented appearances, in the presence of Florence Cook, a
materialization medium, of a spirit entity by the name of Katie King.
Immediately upon publication of these findings, he became the target of
infuriated detractors. After Crookes' death in 1919, his enemies even went
so far as to accuse him of being sexually obsessed with Cook, and
collaborating with her in faking evidence of psychic phenomena. These
cowardly attacks were directed at one of the most distinguished scientists
of the nineteenth century, a Fellow of the Royal Society, later it's
President, and the discoverer of the chemical element Thallium.

Although Crookes had become convinced of the reality of etheric
communications long before beginning work with the medium (he began his
research by investigating the numerous psychic phenomena associated with D.
D. Hume), these unfounded and unproven allegations, many of them outright
lies, have persisted into our own time. They have muddied the waters of
paranormal investigation, and discouraged other scientists from following in
Crookes' footsteps.

This is in spite of the reams of documentation of the many paranormal
occurrences, including numerous appearances of the aforementioned discarnate
entity, which occurred throughout Crookes' investigation. Conclusive
photographs are part of the record, and the authenticity of the phenomena
has been verified by a number of independent witnesses. Some of these
witnesses were themselves brilliant and esteemed scientists of the era, one
of note being Cromwell F. Varley, an early researcher into ionization
phenomena, and supervisor of the initial laying of the Atlantic Cable.

Another investigator, Dr. Glen Hamilton, MD, of Winnipeg, Canada, a member
of the Canadian Parliament and long-time psychic researcher, carried out
later experiments which closely paralleled Crookes', and achieved comparable
results. His research sessions were also marked by manifestations of, and
communication with discarnate entities. All of these occurred under
closely-controlled, replicable, conditions, including a battery of fifteen
flash cameras which photographed the apparitions from all angles
simultaneously. Scientific observers who were present at these experiments
included four other doctors, two lawyers, and two engineers. All of these
witnesses stated unequivocally that "time after time, we saw dead persons
materialize." In well over a century, there has never been an explanation
put forth for these hundreds of scientifically validated manifestations and
communications being anything other than what the experimenters claimed them
to be, that is, paranormal, or "psychic" phenomena.

Roll balks at the term "psychic," however, preferring instead to talk of
"sub-atomic" phenomena. This he perceives as beginning with the separation
of the human mind from its bodily shell, a natural and universal function
that takes place at the end of physical life.

The mind, retaining all of the memories, emotions, and intellect that it
possessed on the material plane, then moves on to its next level of
existence. This event occurs without regard for an individual's religious
belief and/or good behavior, or lack of the same, during his or her physical
existence.

The term "sub-atomic" refers to the many particles that compose the atom.
There are over two hundred of these so far discovered, in addition to the
generally well known electrons, protons, and neutrons. An electron is part
of a family known as leptons. Its companion protons and neutrons are
constructed of a similar sub-atomic group known as quarks. It has been
postulated by a number of physicists that another sub-atomic particle, the
neutrino, may account for ninety percent of the previously "missing" matter
in the universe.

All of these particles possess properties and exhibit behavior which remains
inexplicable in the context of conventional physics, and there are strong
indications that they may furnish an explanation for the numerous phenomena
which are characteristic of the so-called "etheric body." According to the
group's premise, both the human body and its etheric personality, the
essence of human consciousness that endures after the physical ceases to
operate, are composed of various sub-atomic particles. When the etheric
portion detaches from the physical, in the event known as "death," it
remains energized by these same particles, which, in their new state, are
now able to impart to it powers and abilities unknown, and even
unimaginable, in our material world. Under certain conditions, discarnate
entities manifesting on the material plane can appear and disappear at will,
speak, respond, and even be grasped and held by those present at controlled
experiments.

In Roll's view, there is nothing "supernatural" or "paranormal" about these
appearances, which he sees as merely proving the ongoing existence of human
consciousness and personality beyond the end of physical life. He blames
certain religious denominations and national political leaders, pandering to
their own interests by keeping the masses in ignorance, for this information
on sub-atomic phenomena as it impacts upon survival not being more widely
circulated and available to the general public. To aid Roll's efforts in
disseminating this evidence, an impressive array of scientists, physicists,
and university professors have lent him support and made public their own
research findings, all of which bear out the validity of his assertions.

The late Professor Abdus Salam was a Nobel Laureate and Director of the
International Centre for Theoretical Physics, who was awarded an honorary
knighthood. After reviewing the results of investigations by the savants, he
gave Roll numerous monetary contributions from his own pocket, as well as a
sizable grant from the Foundation, to help him spread the word of these
exciting discoveries that verify the truth of ongoing life beyond the
physical level.

R. D. Pearson, BSc, another of Roll's scientific collabarators, is a former
university lecturer and engineer whose specialty is thermodynamics and fluid
mechanics. He has written a book, "Intelligence Behind The Universe," along
with a companion booklet, "Colossus," and an accompanying appendix of
mathematical proof. These purport to explain the cosmic force that drives
the phenomenom of continuing life, and mathematically back up the
experiments of Crookes and Hamilton. Put quite simply, Pearson sees
post-mortem survival of the human psyche as one of many functions of a
multi-dimensional, multi-universal, sub-atomic grid matrix, on which all
forms of life exist, and which sustains the etheric, as well as the physical
consciousness of all living organisms. In this model, physical
materializations of so-called "dead" persons, and even deceased animals, are
but the temporary merging of two different frequencies, or wave-lengths,
from two discrete levels of the grid, somewhat similar to when more than one
radio broadcast is picked up on the same dial setting.

Pearson furnishes full mathematical proof for his postulations, which may
one day be looked upon as the key that finally unlocked the door to
universal awareness of the reality of discarnate existence. One of the
roadblocks to scientific acceptance of this "grid theory" (which is
considerably more complex than the above simplified outline) has been the
existence of Einstein's Theory of Relativity, parts of which seemed to
negate Pearson's hypothesis. However, Doctor Louis Essen, a Fellow of the
Royal Society, and inventor of the atomic clock, informed Pearson that he
has found significant errors in Einstein's calculations.

This recent discovery by Doctor Essen is in accord with a statement made by
Einstein himself on his seventieth birthday: "There is not a single concept
of which I am convinced that it will stand firm, and I am not sure if I was
on the right track after all." Over the past several years, other physicists
and cosmologists worldwide have also come to the general agreement that
"Einstein's laws contain some flaws." As a result of this consensus, they
are examining certain discrepancies that have been found in Einstein's work,
and are formulating other premises to account for specific occurrences in
quantum physics that cannot be explained by his theories.

Pearson is confident that his "grid theory" corrects some of the discrepant
data in Einstein's works, and that it will withstand close examination and
criticism by fellow physicists and cosmologists. In his book, he calls for
seven experimental checks to be made which he is certain will return
positive results and affirm his conclusions. Pearson has made several trips
to Russia to present his theories. After extensive investigation and review,
they were fully accepted by the physicists and scientists of that country,
and Russian physics textbooks are in the process of being revised to reflect
his new and exciting discoveries in sub-atomic physics. One of the strongest
points in their favor is the fact that they have been shown not to conflict
with the proven realities of quantum mechanics, as do many of Einstein's
theories.

Sam Nicholls, MSc, an astrophysics graduate of Leeds University, and a
fellow researcher into sub-atomic phenomena, concurs with Pearson's
findings. He has further postulated that so-called "deceased" entities,
although composed of slightly different atomic components, exist in, and
share the same space with, incarnate persons. He states:

"Like the physical universe, their world would likewise be composed of
sub-atomic particles, but these may be in much closer vibrational harmony
with the all-pervading "grid" than their physical counterparts."

In one context of observation, this grid itself could be seen as the
Creator-Sustainer of All Things for a number of parallel but separate
universes. This premise does not, however, negate the possibility of an even
higher, ultimate, Intelligence behind the grid.

Another British astrophysicist and sub-atomic researcher, Michael Scott,
BSc, a graduate of Edinburgh University, cites Niels Bohr's "Copenhagen
Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics" as seeming to actually require the
existence of consciousness as a non-material extension to space-time. Scott
makes the point that sub-atomic physics, as explored by him and other
researchers worldwide, no longer views the building blocks of the universe
as discrete particles of solid substance, but rather as vague, wavelike
structures whose existence borders on the ethereal. Scott further states
that:

"The advancement of quantum physics has produced a description of reality
which allows the existence of parallel universes. Composed of real
substance, they would not interact directly with matter from our universe."

Professor Fred Alan Wolfe, although not a member of the British group, seems
to concur with their findings in his book "Mind and the New Physics". In it
he states that "as fantastic as it may sound, the 'new physics' called
quantum mechanics posits that there exists, side by side with this world,
another world, a parallel universe, a duplicate copy that is somehow
slightly different and yet the same. And not just two parallel worlds, but
three, four, and even more...! In each of these universes, you, I, and all
the others who live, have lived, will live, and will have ever lived, are
alive."

These radical concepts of quantum physics and the ephemeral state of
perceived reality as it impacts human existence beyond physical life have
spurred attacks on the researchers from many quarters. These include certain
members of the clergy, spiritualists, other scientists, and professional
"skeptics." Roll, as spokesman for the group, has drawn the wrath of
religionists and spiritualists by his denial that belief in a supreme being
is a necessary condition for next-world survival. His assertion that
religious faith, or lack of it, is irrelevant in the context of continuing
afterlife has placed him in direct conflict with the established churches,
especially certain Christian denominations, and some of his fiercest foes
are to be found in this camp.

It seems particularly ironic that Christian sects are in the forefront of
opposition to the sharing of these findings. The reported teachings of
Jesus, whose doctrines are the foundation of their beliefs, are all based on
the existence of another life beyond the present. Many thinking persons feel
that these new discoveries in sub-atomic physics give credence to all those
who, since the advent of human consciousness, have taught survival of death,
and in addition, eliminate the necessity of belief through faith alone. This
point is made by Pearson when he states,

"People need to be made aware that their religious faiths have a base
strongly supportable by modern physics. There is no longer any reason to
think of science and religion as basically incompatible."

Roll expected strong opposition from the churches, but sees it as
paradoxical that certain British spiritualist organizations have also joined
in denouncing his views. The very core of spiritualism has always been a
belief in the reality of contact with departed entities, and many
survivalists of the past, especially the great historian and researcher
Arthur Findlay, have made important and lasting contributions to research
dealing with these contacts. Roll's charges, which are backed by
correspondence of record with several Spiritualist groups, are that their
present day members have abandoned the rationalist philosophy of Findlay and
other pioneers. They have instead tended to side with organized religion in
asserting that belief in a monotheistic "God" is a vital part of the
spiritualist creed. To refute the concept that faith in a supreme being is
necessary for afterlife salvation from eternal punishment, Roll states
unequivocally that life continues on in the next dimension without divine
intervention or retribution, regardless of one's religious beliefs or lack
thereof. In addition to the findings of his colleagues, he bases this
statement on personal communications with discarnate entities with whom he
has spoken, and even held and embraced, including a "deceased" member of his
immediate family.

From information received through these contacts, he describes the
afterworld as having many of the same conditions that are found on this
physical plane. One significant difference seems to be that the environment
experienced by each person is wholly dependent upon that individual's
behavior while incarnate. Punishment for wrongdoing, if any, is meted out to
oneself by oneself, after undergoing a review of the past physical life.
There are infinite and varying levels of existence, and advancement to
higher planes is within the reach of every inhabitant of those realms. Roll
outlines his philosophy in a quote from his booklet "The Physicists' and
Rationalists' Case for Survival After the Death of Our Physical Bodies:"

"Dying is as natural as being born; we all pass into the next world whether
we like it or not. There is no special place reserved for Christians or
members of any other sect. There are no social strata or racial barriers. We
all graduate to the level we have earned by the development of our
characters."

Conspicuously missing from this scenario is that favorite authority figure
of religious fundamentalists, the "Big Daddy God," a stern judge who
summarily sentences some souls to eternal fire as punishment for alleged
"sins", while raising others to eternal glory as a reward for belief in
"Him." Mention of this deity is found nowhere in the numerous accounts by
discarnate entities of life in their world. The Creator of the Universe,
whoever or whatever he/she or it may be, seems to be a much more loving and
compassionate being than literal interpreters of the Bible can conceive of.
Opposition from certain establishment scientists to this view of after-death
survival as a natural function of sub-atomic processes has also been strong.
In spite of Lord Kelvin's statement that "Science is bound by the
everlasting law of honour to face fearlessly every problem which can fairly
be presented to it," some scientists have refused to even look at Pearson's
data, or review the hypotheses of the other researchers.

Adrian Berry, Science Correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph," has framed
this attitude perfectly by stating in print that

"few subjects more infuriate scientists than claims of paranormal phenomena,
because, if confirmed, the whole fabric of science would be threatened."

Although obviously not Berry's intention, these words make a crucial point
for the embattled researchers.

Roll's response to Berry is that "nothing can threaten true science, which
in essence is the unceasing search for knowledge, and that observed and
verifiable facts call for an explanation of their cause, no matter how
uncomfortable the eventual solution may be for it's discoverers." He equates
such reluctance to explore new vistas with past suppression of uncomfortable
ideas and discoveries, as when the brilliant researcher Giordano Bruno was
murdered by the Catholic Church for daring to assert that "There are many
suns, with many planets circling them. The priests and so-called
"scientists" of Galileo's day refused to look through his telescope, because
of fear that what they might observe would overturn their cherished and
antiquated beliefs.

Even the ubiquitous James "The Amazing" Randi, erstwhile magician and member
of the "Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the
Paranormal," (although he has been forced to resign from this organization
due to legal problems stemming from character defamation suits brought
against him) has taken it upon himself to attack the premise of scientific
verification of continuing post-mortem existence. His nose was figuratively
bloodied during an encounter with Sam Nicholls, however, when the
astrophysicist, as a member of the audience of a television show, stood up
and publicly challenged Randi's assertions. The magician quickly ordered the
cameras of Granada Television Studio switched off before they could record
Nicholls' words.

Since there is no separation of church and state in Britain, religious
opposition there has, until very recently, made it difficult for Roll to air
his findings and those of his colleagues. As an example of this church-state
integration, the law demands that an "act of Christian worship" be performed
daily in every school throughout the land!

Also, British laws have not always favored Roll's attempts to disseminate
his views in the media. One example of this mental harassment is an incident
which would be unimaginable in the USA. Because of a clause in the
Broadcasting Act, the host of a radio show on which Roll appeared and
championed the existence of subatomic phenomena as a natural law, while
denying it's divine origin, was threatened with being reported to the IBA,
(the British counterpart of the Federal Communications Commission) if Roll
ever again appeared on his show. The courageous broadcaster was not
intimidated, and his publicizing of the threat resulted in increased demand
by listeners for more information on the subject, which led to Roll
ultimately being invited back on the air without fear of sanctions. These
and other restrictions have worked as deterrents to the free dissemination
of information on sub-atomic phenomena, but the situation is rapidly
changing.

Lately, likely due to public pressure, Roll has been allowed to air his
views more freely, and has been appearing on a series of radio broadcasts,
where he was able to reveal the far-reaching discoveries of his colleagues
with a minimum of restrictions. He also gives numerous lectures throughout
the UK and in Europe, and recently formed the Campaign for Philosophical
Freedom to further disseminate the truth about ongoing life in etheric
realms. As word of these exciting and factual affirmations of heretofore
only hoped-for afterlife existence spreads, the public is showing its strong
interest in life after death by ever-increasing attendance at lectures and
programs given by Roll and his associates. They are demanding more
information, as well as the lowering of all remaining barriers to free and
open discussion of the matter. In future years, it is likely that the
present times will be looked back upon as the dawning of a new Renaissance
in humankind's perception of both the physical and non-physical worlds
alike.

A quote from Arthur Schopenhauer describes the current situation in the
study of sub-atomic physics as it relates to ongoing life now being at the
second stage, and nearing the third:

"Any unexplained phenomenon passes through three stages before the reality
of it is accepted:
During the first stage it is considered laughable.
During the second stage, it is adamantly opposed.
Finally, during the third stage, it is accepted as self-evident."
- After Arthur Schopenhauer (1788 - 1860)

Hanif Thotathil has forwarded a page to you from LaRouche Political Action Committee

2009-01-01T00:24:00.001+05:30

Hanif Thotathil thought you would like to see this page from the LaRouche Political Action Committee web site.

Message from Sender:

Threat of Peace

LPACTV: The Threat of Peace

720p HD (watch fullscreen)

ipod / low bitrate version

Click here to read more on our site

Sweepstakes, Promotion and Prize Scams - How to Recognize Them

2008-12-28T22:42:00.001+05:30

Sweepstakes, Promotion and Prize Scams - How to Recognize Them

Congratulations!
You're guaranteed to win a fabulous diamond ring, luxury vacation or
all-terrain vehicle!

Prize Offers: You Don't Have to Pay to Play!

Sound great? It's a fraud. If you receive a letter or phone call with a
message like this, be very skeptical. The $15,000 "prize" may cost you
hundreds of dollars in taxes or service charges — and never arrive. Your
"fabulous" prize may not be worth collecting; especially if you have to sit
through a high-pressure sales pitch for time-share condos. The diamond is
likely to be the size of a pinhead. The "vacation" could be one night in a
seedy motel, and the ATV, nothing more than a lounge chair on wheels!

There are two general types of sweepstakes scam winning notifications:

1. the notification comes from a real business organization, but the
prizes are a scam or misdirection (usually for MLM, vacation time shares,
etc.)
2. The notification comes a scammer who is unaffiliated with any real
organization. The name of the sweepstakes may be real, but he's just using
the name!

An example of the first type is the Reader's Digest Sweepstakes, which faced
legal action over exaggerated prize claims. Scam artists also often use the
promise of a valuable prize or award to entice consumers to send money, buy
overpriced products or services, listen to real estate sale pitches or
contribute to bogus charities. People who fall for their ploys may end up
paying far more than their "prizes" are worth, IF they get a prize at all.
People generally know that they cannot win a lottery if they didn't buy a
ticket, (see lottery scams here
<http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/lotteries.php> ) but sweepstakes
catch more victims because they are like a sponsored lottery: you don't have
to buy anything to be able to win in a sweepstakes.

More common are second type of sweepstakes scam; the completely fake prize
notifications that come from scammers, usually from Nigeria. Although they
never say so in the initial emails, eventually they will tell you you must
pay fees or taxes. This
<http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/sweepstakesscams.php> page has some
examples of these scams.

Remember: You do not have to pay to enter a sweepstakes or collect a prize.
If you're asked to pay, the sweepstakes is a scam.

_____

What is a Sweepstakes?

By definition, a sweepstakes is an advertising or promotional device by
which items of value (prizes) are awarded to participating consumers by
chance, with no purchase or entry fee required to win and NO FEES or taxes
to be paid prior to receiving the prize(s). If any purchase or payment is
required to collect winnings, then, by definition, it cannot be a
sweepstakes or promotion, but may be a lottery
<http://www.consumerfraudreporting.org/lotteries.php> . It is not possible
for an event to be both a lottery AND a sweepstakes.

_____

How do the scammers disguise the scams?

Some con artists use the lure of a sweepstakes to convince consumers to send
in money to claim a "prize" they've supposedly won. They tell consumers that
the only thing that separates them from their "winnings" is a fee to cover
the taxes or service charges. But as all too many consumers know, the
winnings as described never materialize.

In a new spin on the age-old sweepstakes scam, crooks are getting bolder,
using names of government agencies and legitimate phone numbers that mask
where they're calling from. Claiming to represent "the national consumer
protection agency," the non-existent National Sweepstakes Bureau, and even
the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), they say that the delivery of the
sweepstakes prize is being supervised by the supposed government agency. And
they're using Internet technology to make it appear that they're calling
from Washington, DC, the nation's capital, or the consumer's own area code.

These scammers then convince consumers to wire money to a foreign country —
they usually suggest using a commercial money transfer company like Western
Union or Money Gram to wire the money — to an agent of "Lloyd's of London"
or some other well-known insurance company to "insure" delivery of the
"prize." In fact, no insurance company is involved; con artists take the
money and disappear.

_____

And the (fake) Winner Is...

Everyone loves to be a winner. A recent research poll showed that more than
50% of all American adults entered sweepstakes within the past year. Most of
these contests were run by reputable marketers and non-profit organizations
to promote their products and services. A few lucky winners even received
millions of dollars or valuable prizes.

Capitalizing on the popularity of these offers, some con artists disguise
their schemes to look legitimate. And an alarming number of people take the
bait. Every day, consumers throughout the United States lose thousands of
dollars to unscrupulous prize promoters. During 1999 alone, the Federal
Trade Commission received more than 10,000 complaints from consumers about
gifts, sweepstakes and prize promotions. Many received telephone calls or
postcards telling them they'd won a big prize - only to find out that to
claim it, they had to buy something or pay as much as $10,000 in fees or
other charges.

There's a big difference between legitimate sweepstakes and fraudulent ones.
Prizes in legitimate contests are awarded solely by chance, and contestants
never have to pay a fee or buy something to enter or increase their odds of
winning. In fraudulent schemes, however, "winners" almost always have to dip
into their pockets to enter a contest or collect their "prize."

Skill Contests

There is a third type of promotion scam: skill contests. These are puzzles,
games or other contests in which prizes are awarded based on skill,
knowledge or talent - not on chance. Contestants might be required to write
a jingle, solve a puzzle or answer questions correctly to win.

Unlike sweepstakes, skill contests may legally require contestants to buy
something or make a payment or donation to enter.

Some of these skills contents are legitimate. Having said that, it's
important to recognize that many consumers are deceptively lured into
playing skill contests by easy initial questions or puzzles. Then, once
they've sent their money and become "hooked," the questions get harder and
the entry fees get steeper.

Entrants in these contests rarely receive anything for their money and
effort.

Cinema makes a low-key comeback in Saudi

2008-12-20T23:41:00.001+05:30

Cinema has made a low-key return to Saudi Arabia after a three decade absence but a sharp reaction by the religious police chief shows efforts to relax Saudi's strict Islamic laws face tough opposition.

A locally produced comedy, "Menahi," premiered in two cultural centers in Jeddah and Taif this month before mixed-gender audiences, a taboo in Saudi Arabia whose strict Islamic rules ban unrelated men and women from mixing.

Turnout for the movie, produced by billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's media company Rotana, was so big the film had to be played eight times a day over a 10-day period, the organizers said.

It had to be stopped in Taif due to overcrowding in the hall, Rotana spokesman Ibrahim Badi said.

Showing the film was the latest attempt to introduce reforms by King Abdullah, who has said the world's largest oil exporter cannot stand still while the world changes around it.

Political analysts say Alwaleed could not have gone ahead without the blessing of royals with key decision-making roles.

"We have obtained permission from the Information Ministry and from the governorate of Mecca to show the movie in Jeddah and Taif," Badi said. The province of Mecca is governed by Prince Khaled al-Faisal, a pro-reform son of late King Faisal.

Badi could not immediately say if Rotana intended to show the movie in other provinces of the kingdom.

While the kingdom's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al al-Shaikh has not commented on the issue, the head of Saudi Arabia's religious police condemned cinemas as a pernicious influence.

"Our position on this is clear -- ban it. That is because cinema is evil and we do not need it. We have enough evil already," said Ibrahim al-Ghaith, the head of the religious police, whose official title is the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Al-Ghaith is the kingdom's second most influential cleric and his comments were widely carried by Saudi newspapers on Saturday. Local media have devoted little coverage to the film, a decision interpreted by some in Saudi Arabia as an attempt to avoid antagonizing the powerful religious establishment.

The religious police have wide powers to search for alcohol, drugs and prostitution, ensure shops are closed during prayer and maintain a strict system of sexual segregation in Saudi society, where women are even banned from driving.

"Menahi" stars new comedy sensation Fayez al-Maliki as a naive Bedouin entangled in a get-rich-quickly scheme in Dubai, the region's tourism and trade hub where lifestyle is far less restricted.

Saudi Arabia had some movie theatres in the 1970s but the conservative clerical establishment managed to snuff out the industry.

Saudi film buffs had to travel to neighbors like Bahrain to see movies in cinemas but a new generation of young Saudis has begun making films in recent years.-Reuters

A pair of boots from Iraq

2008-12-19T12:25:00.001+05:30

Aijaz Zaka Syed | Aijaz.syed@hotmail.com (Arab News)

As a columnist I always fret worrying myself sick: "What if I woke up one day to find there are no more issues and subjects to write about?" But then I reassure myself I needn't worry as long as there are enterprising politicians like George W. Bush around. They give us hope — and a whole lot to write about each week — week after week.

Look what he has given us this week! And what a fitting finale this has been to eight years of beating about Bush! This week, the US president decided to pay another "surprise" visit to the country he invaded nearly six years ago. It would be Bush's fourth and last trip to Baghdad before he turns over the reins — and two unfinished wars — to Barack Obama on Jan. 20. So there he was once again working up the charm on Iraqi politicians in Baghdad who owe their fortunes and power to him. And of course how could he have missed out on those last photo ops with the US troops at Camp Victory! What really fascinates you about Bush is his remarkable consistency in sticking to the script from which he has been faithfully reading all these years — without ever pausing to ponder for one moment the bedtime stories he's been telling himself and his captive audience.

Standing next to the larger-than-life Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and without batting an eyelid Bush said, "the war had been necessary for American security, Iraqi hope and world peace." Praising the bitterly contested US-Iraq pact, the president reminded the world that the agreement was "a way forward to help the Iraqi people realize the blessings of a free society!"

Blessings, huh? Only last week, in a rare moment of self-doubt, the president had told ABC's Charles Gibson that his biggest regret was the flawed intelligence about Iraq on which the entire case for the war was built. When asked if he would have invaded Iraq if he knew Saddam didn't have any WMD, pat came the reply: "That's a do-over I can't do!"

Six years of war, over a million Iraqis dead, total devastation of a country considered the cradle of civilization, not to mention the losses the US itself has suffered — nearly 4,500 troops and trillions of dollars — for a lie and we are told this war was necessary! Bush has built this impregnable wall around himself that keeps transient and trivial things like reality and facts out. It's this wall that Iraqi journalist Muntadar Al-Zeidi from Al-Baghdadia TV was hoping to break when he lobbed his pair of shoes at the US leader.

Bush wanted this farewell visit to Iraq to be a historic one. Having bungled his first "Mission Accomplished" photo-op aboard the battleship, USS Abraham Lincoln, that proved a tad too early in the war, his minders were careful not to project the farewell visit to Baghdad as a victory rally. But that's what it was — a victory march of sorts with the leader of the coalition of the willing claiming the "success" of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

So this visit had been historic all right — historic for the people of Iraq and the Middle East and the oppressed people everywhere.

By throwing those shoes, Al-Baghdadia reporter might have got out of line and gone too far. But like it or not by doing so he has in one powerful, defiant gesture managed to capture what the majority in the Arab-Muslim world thinks of this whole Western enterprise in Iraq! It was no surprise then that within hours of the shoe-throwing incident, Al-Zeidi became the hero and poster boy of the Muslim world with television networks endlessly debating the episode.

After initially trying to ignore and black out the embarrassing episode involving the leader of the free world, CNN was soon forced to follow the story when it realized it had captured the imagination of the whole world.

Remember the CNN that in 2003 ran and re-ran ad nauseam the footage of Saddam's statue being dragged through Baghdad streets with the excited Iraqis taking turns to hit it with shoes. Today, it's a different target. Clearly, history is repeating itself in Iraq. And how! A shocked New York Times has reported from Baghdad how tens of thousands of Iraqis came out on the streets with their footwear in their hands expressing solidarity with Al-Zeidi and demanding immediate US pullout from Iraq. The perceptive Times also informs its readers that "hitting someone with a shoe is considered a deep insult in the Arab world." As I key in this, Al Jazeera Arabic has interrupted its regular transmissions to take in calls from emotional viewers around the Arab world — complimenting Al-Zeidi for his Size 10 "courage" and promising revenge to "the invaders". Muammar Qaddafi's Libya, Bush's new ally, has announced a "bravery award" for the Iraqi journalist, with his daughter Aisha praising Al-Zeidi as a fighter for "human rights." The mood on the Arab street has never been more defiant. The reckless action of a little known journalist has helped erupt a volcano of deep-seated anger and frustration in the greater Middle East that has long suffered at the hands of big powers — from illegal wars spawned on the basis of complete lies and false pretences to historical injustices that have turned into festering wounds.

This reservoir of anger had been right there, pulsating and bubbling just below the surface. The Iraqi journalist merely tapped into it. There are lessons in this for all occupiers and invaders. The Middle East's cup of woes and patience is brimming over. The world would ignore this at its own cost. Bush wanted history to remember and record his farewell visit to Iraq and protect his so-called legacy. A little known journalist has immortalized it with his lone act of defiance. Whoever thought you could start a revolution by throwing shoes!

What Toyota knows that GM doesn’t

2008-12-19T01:08:00.002+05:30

Do you know how many hourly jobs GM has laid off from 2006 to July 2008? Take a guess. How about 34,000? And now, they're talking about another 5,500 layoffs. And now they're asking you and your government for a bailout to end their troubled, outdated, low quality, wasteful production system. But, let's not focus on fixing GM's problems with an infusion of cash. There's something even deeper going on here that's really wrong.

OK, here's a better question. How many hourly jobs has Toyota's American production system laid off in the same time frame? Zero. That's right. ZERO. How? Isn't Toyota experiencing the same slow down in auto sales as GM is? Yes, it is. And yes, Toyota has halted production at its Texas and Indiana plants for the past 3 months. But the 4,500 people who work at those plants have not been laid off. What!?!?! How? Why?

The answer: Toyota has a special culture, deep-rooted values, and respect for their workforce. Toyota's tradition is to NOT lay off employees during hard times. This tradition hasn't really been put to the test until now. And Toyota has stuck to its guns and its values.

"This was the first chance we've really had to live out our values," says Latondra Newton, general manager of Toyota's Team Member Development Center in Erlanger, Ky. "We're not just keeping people on the payroll because we're nice. At the end of all this, our hope is that we'll end up with a more skilled North American workforce."

Interesting. But what does that last line mean? "At the end of all this, our hope is that we'll end up with a more skilled North American workforce." It means that while these employees were not manufacturing automobiles, they were in training. They were doing safety drills, participating in productivity improvement exercises, attending presentations on material handling and workplace hazards, taking diversity and ethics classes, attending maintenance education and taking a stream of online tests to measure and record their skill improvements. Toyota is shifted the Texas and Indiana workers temporarily to Toyota plants whose assembly lines were moving at full speed, such as the Camry assembly plant in Georgetown, Ky. In addition to all of this, the workers also spent some time painting the plants and even helped build Habitat for Humanity homes. And they were getting paid.

Wow! So what is this costing Toyota? The estimate is at least $50 million dollars, plus the loss of revenue of shutting down production. Why is this value and tradition worth so much to Toyota? Why would they be willing to spend $50 million rather than lay people off? It's because Toyota believes that its people, yes, its PEOPLE are its greatest investment and its greatest asset. You hear so many companies say that, but would they really put their money where their mouths are when the rubber hits the road (no pun intended)? In Toyota's case, the answer is yes they would.

So what does Toyota get out of this? When, not if, the plants return to full production, Toyota will have well trained employees on the front line, ready and able to meet the demand for their vehicles. And not only will they be well trained, they'll be happy and motivated to work. Because Toyota is willing to go to the mat for their people, their people will be willing to do the same for Toyota.

The lesson here: Unlike their counterparts GM and Ford, Toyota has always taken a long-term strategic view about their employees. Toyota understands that laying off thousands of employees for slowdowns or plant retooling is counter productive. They wisely utilize the time to redistribute their workforce to understaffed plants, provide additional training for the new products, and leverage their workforce to speed the transition for newer products. Their philosophy has avoided labor disputes and staffing shortages. It has kept the company as a leader in quality and profitability over its shortsighted competitors.

So, the message for you in all of this: Really commit to upholding the value that your people, let me repeat that, your PEOPLE are your greatest asset. Treat them with respect and dignity. Do everything in your power and your imagination to keep them on the payroll during the rough times. If you don't, you may not find those people again on the upside of the downturn. And if you do, you'll have hyper-productive, motivated teams delivering quality because they're committed on a deeper level to your company.

Note 1: If you really want to understand why the Big 3 are losing big time compared to Toyota in terms of market share, take a listen this excerpt from Public Radio International's "The World" report from last Friday (Nov. 14, 2008) describing why Toyota and other Japanese manufacturers seem to have a leg up on their American counterparts (for the complete report, from The World, click here). After reading this post, you might not be so surprised when you hear that the employees being laid off by the Big 3 are now working at Toyota. Click here to listen to the excerpted report.

Note 2: From Forbes online: At American companies, finance guys and marketers rise to the top. Not at Honda. Read the whole article here.

Note 3: Another Japanese leader shows the way to be a true leader: When Japan Airlines JAL slashed jobs and asked older employees to retire early, their CEO cut every single one of his corporate perks, and then for three years running slashed his own pay. In 2007, he made about $90,000 U.S., less than what his pilots earn. Compare that to United Airlines CEO Glenn Tilton: In 2006, Tilton's compensation alone exceeded $39.7 million ($38 million in stock and options) in a year the company emerged from bankruptcy and employees were forced to accept painful cuts! Read the rest of the story about JAL and United here.

Fw: Islamic Banking and the Collapse of Capitalism

2008-12-19T00:20:00.001+05:30

By Lahem Al Nasser

The global financial crisis has shaken the foundation of capitalism all over the world, from the rich North to the poor South, from democratic regimes to dictatorial ones. Voices were raised everywhere; I am talking of course about the Muslim writers and intellectuals who predicted the collapse of capitalism, and the bankruptcy of capitalist countries, announcing that the Islamic financial system would soon prevail. After the dust settled around the US financial institutions, and the subsequent impact of the US financial crisis on the global financial system emerged, it became clear that this collapse will not be limited to US financial institutions alone; it will affect many financial institutions worldwide.

This financial collapse has also resulted in a crisis of confidence following the international credit crisis. This crisis further expanded to include the real economy worldwide, and it has shown the extent to which international markets are linked to, and affected by, one another. The prices of oil and basic commodities, and the transport, tourism, and real-estate markets have declined significantly worldwide, while purchasing power has also been weakened. On the other hand unemployment rates worldwide, from New York to Dubai, have soared, and charitable organisations all over the world have suffered. All sectors have suffered, including even the sports sector, for example Honda has pulled out of Formula One racing. No regime or country is immune from this [economic] crisis.

The world has woken up and realised the importance of the tie between the world economy and the US economy, and it has felt the impact of this connection during the economic crisis, more so than it did in times of prosperity. The crisis also revealed the spread of capitalist ideology and its permeation throughout the world's political regimes, even the autocratic regimes such as China. It also revealed that those most harmed by the economic crisis are the developing countries and the emerging economies around the world, which include many Muslim countries whose economies have sustained heavy losses.

It is expected that many Muslim countries, which had fast-growing economies, will suffer [from the global financial crisis] and experience a decrease in growth, which will have a negative effect on their development projects. There is no doubt that the consequences of this crisis and the subsequent impacts on the Islamic countries mean that those rejoicing at the crisis should reconsider their position, and use a more rational and realistic discourse, especially that we have not witnessed the collapse of the capitalist countries or the disintegration of the capitalist system. Rather, we have seen how the Western world has mobilized all international forces in order for capitalism to overcome its current crisis by making a few amendments to the system.

What truly collapsed was the Anglo-Saxon capitalist model, which calls for a free market system away from the interference of the state, with the least possible amount of legislation and restriction. This crisis has highlighted that the Islamic financial model was not harmed directly by the financial crisis, and also shown that the Islamic financial model is in need of a political regime to adopt, sponsor and support it, as no economic system can prevail without political support. The crisis also revealed the lack of research into the Islamic financial model in various languages so that the world can better understand it.

This was clearly reflected in the lack of publications detailing the Islamic financial system at the Frankfurt Book Fair during the economic crisis. Sales at the fair were predominated by works of Karl Marx, as everybody sought to understand the causes of the crisis and how it could be solved. Undoubtedly this failure to explain the Islamic financial system to the world is due to the lack of research centres specializing in this industry and institutions such as development centres and specialized financial and legal consultancy agencies.

The crisis also revealed the lack of an Islamic financial model that is capable of covering all financial aspects of this system, and is not reduced to Islamic Banking alone. We believe that capitalism is a system that is in a transitional process; the capitalist system is coming to an end in the same way that socialism, feudalism and the bourgeois system came to an end. This is an historical year, and we believe that the solution [to the global financial crisis] is to follow the Islamic financial model, which will undoubtedly prevail, as we are sure that God has decreed that there is a reason for everything.

The Joke of Saudi Private Schools

2008-12-18T23:55:00.003+05:30

Khalaf Al-Harbi Okaz

The biggest joke in this country is the private schools. You pay a lot of money for your son or daughter to learn, but the surprise is that it is you who will learn at the end. You will come to learn that you have fallen prey to the red tape that allowed these bad companies to call themselves "schools."

You will also come to learn that any complaint you may dare to file against the school will be settled by a telephone call from the principal of the school in which he will say, "Rid us of this nagging parent. He is annoying us!"

I sincerely wish I knew the official in charge of granting licenses for the establishment of private schools. I want to understand from him how things go in his department. I would not delve with him into the educational system, the syllabuses or the other terms and conditions concerning private education. I would simply ask him to go to any private school and try to find a parking place for his car in front of the villa that calls itself a school.

As I am sure he would park in the wrong place, I would inform the traffic police about him and after they tow his car and confiscate his driving license, I would ask him this: How did you give the school a license in this place?

Then, because his car would be gone, I would offer to take him to his workplace in my car on the condition that he first enters a school to listen to the complaints of the teachers who are being badly exploited.

These teachers accept low salaries offered in order to obtain a certificate of experience that would enable them to work in government schools. It is a twisted logic. Private schools are not obliged to employ Saudi teachers but Saudi teachers are obliged to find a job in these schools as a prelude to joining public schools.

As this school official listens to the complaints of the teachers, I would ask him to imagine the silent predicament of the women teachers. I would ask him again: "How on earth did you give the license to this cruel school?"

On the way back, I would ask him to make telephone calls to his counterparts in neighboring countries to ask them about private school fees. I have no doubt that he would discover that our fees are much higher despite the fact that our standards are much lower. When he finishes his international calls, I would ask him: "How on earth did you give a license to this opportunist school?"

As long as the school is located in a wrong place, its teachers are facing difficult work conditions and its administration is ruthlessly sucking the pockets of the parents, then any talk about the low level of education becomes futile. The book is read from its title. The title of the book about Saudi private schools is this: "Whoever Does Not Like Us Should Go To Public Schools."

Even though sacrificing an animal during the Eid festival is not obligatory for Muslims, it is recommended for those who can afford to do सो

2008-12-12T23:42:00.001+05:30

Even though sacrificing an animal during the Eid festival is not obligatory for Muslims, it is recommended for those who can afford to do so, according to both old and contemporary Islamic scholars. As for the poor, or those who cannot afford it, the sacrificing of an animal during Eid is not a religious obligation, even though it is a good tradition.
However, despite this jurisprudential stance with regards to the sacrifice, most families in the Islamic world, the Arab world especially, consider the sacrificing of an animal at Eid an obligatory religious duty for which there must be an allocated financial budget. Even crimes are being committed just to fulfil this “duty”!
A number of news items surfaced in the days leading up to Eid Al Adha regarding the connection between the Eid sacrifice and crime. The daughter of the famous Moroccan singer Layla Ghofran was murdered at the hands of an Egyptian youth who claimed that he carried out the crime to obtain money for Eid. The most important of the Eid expenses is of course the Eid sacrifice. We also received news that six women were arrested in rural Egypt for forging the regional governor’s signature to receive financial aid to help buy an animal to sacrifice for Eid. The women were pardoned for their crime by the governor himself as part of the Eid festivities.
In Morocco, the race to provide an Eid sacrifice began in earnest, and according to the government affiliated L’opinion newspaper, a family that does not sacrifice an animal on Eid feels a sense of defeat and “humiliation”. The newspaper asked “What can we do on Eid if we do not have a lamb to sacrifice…it is a kind of suffering and humiliation when you smell the aroma of your neighbour’s Eid sacrifice.” Ordinary Moroccans, in spite of their financial difficulties and the price of Eid lambs, which can cost as much as 440 Euros, manage to scrape together the necessary amount even if it means resorting to borrowing money.
The people of the Gaza Strip, which has been afflicted by hunger and the Israeli blockade and lacks the bare necessities under the “triumphant” Hamas government, live their lives in waiting. Yet they do not pay as much attention to the availability of electricity and gas, as they do to the availability of sacrificial animals for the Eid festival. Some animals have been smuggled into the Gaza Strip through the underground tunnel and cost no less than US $300, which is very expensive and unaffordable to most people there except the rich (according to Arabia.net).
In Egypt, the insistence of many to slaughter an animal to celebrate the Eid festival, despite their financial inability to do so, has led to the practice of paying for Eid sacrifices in instalments even though the term ‘instalment’ itself has come to be a source of financial fear and economic worry.
As for Saudi Arabia, and other states whose societies are described as “affluent”, the price of a sacrificial animal is generally between 1000 and 2000 Saudi Riyals, which is a difficult amount to obtain for many families who have been affected by the consecutive plummets in the stock markets. Some of these families also sacrifice more than one animal during Eid, as they sacrifice animals for others who have passed away, even though this practice is not related to the traditional Eid sacrifice.
What is the aim of this discussion?
The aim is to stop the collective behaviour of Arab societies, which encourages members and families of these societies to buy items that they simply cannot afford or which they can obtain only with difficulty. Is this merely to strengthen feelings of religiosity, spirituality, and piety? Or is it related to social flaunting of wealth? Or does it go deeper than this; is it related to the rekindling of society’s religious identity, which is the most important aspect in Arab societies?
There are private religious acts, for example praying at home, or the extolment of God by reciting his name [Dhikr] and other private religious practices which do not occur in the public eye, unlike communal prayer, Hajj, or this celebrating of Eid. The celebration of the Eid festival, which entails rushing to buy an animal to sacrifice, and distributing this sacrificial meat to the poor, as well as giving some to friends, family, neighbours, and having some yourself. All of these public performances of religious rituals are annual events that allow for the rekindling of the sense of collective belonging to a larger religious community.
According to a number of researchers in the field of socio-religious research, “performing the religious rites is more than just an individual act. These practices go further than the worship of God; they involve belonging to a system of personal and familial morality whose rules and values are consolidated by a set of assumptions,” (research paper by Farhan Al Deek, Religion in the Arab Society, Page 119, Centre for Arab Unity Studies).
It becomes an issue of strengthening collective religious affiliation, which is even stronger in times of fear or in times of conflict between the modern nation and the ancient collective identity, which relates to the legitimacy of nationality or citizenship. And so an increase in religious practices may be seen during such times of fear and anxiety, while previously these religious practices were performed by Muslims without the need for exaggeration and public passion. Muslims had previously performed such religious rituals, such as celebrating Eid, and performing prayers, spontaneously, and without planning or fabrication.
The puzzling thing here is that if many of us share this determination to scrape together the price of an Eid sacrifice, then where does this determination disappear to when it comes to fulfilling other secondary collective obligations such as the upkeep of our cities, or our collective sense of responsibility towards children, the aged, and towards eliminating violence against women. Where does this desire to create a free society disappear to, the liberty of which is emphasised by the second Caliph Omar Ibn Al Khattab when he famously said, “How dare you enslave people who have been born free?”
In the Arab world, people are complaining about theft, the lack of security, and the lack of collective responsibility, not to mention the lack of “society” which encourages man to live within its boundaries. The level of frustration has increased. But is there a difference between who is complaining and who is being complained about?
If only were as enthusiastic for the sake of our spiritual future as we are about sacrificing an animal for Eid. This is desirable and good, but it is not a “religious obligation” that will lead to a free, dignified, and just life.

The foreign & the Gulf tourist

2008-12-10T17:41:00.000+05:30

The Gulf tourist: "IF you happen to travel abroad, look at foreign tourists and compare him with those from the Arab Gulf region. The foreign tourist will most likely plan his trip day by day while the Gulf tourist will have no ready program but will leave it to work out itself day after day and hour by hour.
The foreign tourist is keen to visit museums, as well as historical and tourist sites while the Gulf tourist will roam through markets, sit in cafes and restaurants and hang out where other Arab Gulf tourists hang out.
The foreign tourist will be fatigued by his daily activities while the feet of the Gulf tourist will be not be tired from his walk in the markets, his stomach will aching from too much food and his eyes will be dazzled by observing his other fellow Gulf tourists.
For the foreign tourist, the vacation is a rare opportunity to learn about the lives, traditions and cuisines of other people. For the Gulf tourist, the vacation is a chance to meddle in the lives of other Gulf tourists who happen to be with him in the same place. It is also an opportunity for him to forget his traditions and values. Ironically, the Gulf tourist is usually looking for the very Arab food that he left at home.
The foreign tourist will live within a limited budget and control his expenses. The Gulf tourist will spend all the money in his pocket and may return home broke or in serious debt.
The foreign tourist will return home dragging behind him a single suitcase while the Gulf tourist will be pulling at least 10 after him."

Nokia Europe - Nokia PC Suite - Support

2008-11-28T21:40:00.000+05:30

Nokia Europe - Nokia PC Suite - Support

M-earn makes your pockets jingle

2007-08-01T09:24:00.000+05:30

From: hanifthotathil@yahoo.com

Hi,

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* You receive the messages in the times specified by you

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In case you are wondering how much your mobile phone is capable of earning, register at http://m-earn.com/Beta/index.jsp?inviteID=

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KFH Riyadh

2007-06-12T05:59:00.000+05:30

A rather spectacular dusk view of King Fahd Highway, Olaya Street & Kingdom Tower at Riyadh.

Getting the most from open source

2007-06-11T07:39:00.000+05:30

A BBC Report

Getting the most from open source

Free. It is not something Western culture does particularly well. It is certainly not something that features big in the plans of the millionaires at Microsoft, Apple and Intel - to name but a few.

But there is one crowd that lives for free technology, and it is not doing bad business either.

LINUX

Open source is a strange phrase. To many, it suggests someone has left the top off the ketchup bottle, but in the hi-tech world it is both a way of life and some say the future of the computer industry.

"Open Source is where the source code which makes up the application is freely available to download, to distribute, to review," said Paul Holt of open source technology company Redhat.

"It's essentially developed by any number of organisations, individuals, academic institutions. The advantages of it are numerous because there are many eyes on the code itself it tends to be much much better in terms of the quality of software - peer review etc.

"You tend to find that because of the open nature of the code it tends to be designed in a modular fashion because the module which someone is writing over here has to work with the module that someone else is writing and that really helps drive innovation."

And from the open source movement we get the Linux operating system. It is free and you can copy it to as many machines as you like.

And from that acorn did many versions of Linux grow - up to 300. Each flavour is called a distro (short for distribution) and is a version prepared for a different purpose or a particular type of user.

It is a given that techies can load it with their eyes closed but the holy grail for Linux is for it to be as easy to load and use for those who use Windows on a PC or OS X on the Mac.

Any novice installing the latest version of Ubuntu - a Linux distro developed for PCs - may find it disturbing as its highly technical computer workings are clearly visible.

But the open source crowd has taken the need for usability to heart and has worked hard to make the software look clean and professional.

It is influenced by modern front ends like Windows and OS X which is good news for novices. The surprise may be that the front end is just a bolt-on and there are many others to choose from.

"The modularity of Linux, essentially means that the front end, the GUI, the graphical user interface, is just another module," said Mr Holt, "and that means that if an organisation wants to develop its own specific GUI to sit on top of the kernel itself, they are absolutely free to do that.

"So what you are seeing is just a function of Open Source, the fact that there are a number of front ends out there, that's because organisations have felt the need to go out and develop that.

"That's all about choice, it's about organisations allowing the end user to choose what their front end looks like."

The distributions usually come with a free word processing and spreadsheet software and, if you add to that the many other applications developed by the open source world, Linux is finally looking like a very serious alterative to Windows and OS X.

SOFTWARE RECOMMENDATIONS

Open Office

Open Office is a fully functional suite of business programs that mimics just about all of the main features of the paid-for office software from firms such as Microsoft. It has been going since before 1999 and there are versions for other operating systems including, OS X and Linux.

This is the answer if the question is: "How do I get an office suite for free?"

The latest version has been beta tested by hundreds of thousands of people, each reporting back the slightest error. While this is good it can lead to a backlog of tweaks and bugs to be fixed, although unlike with Microsoft Office, you can pop over to the Open Office website and look at the status of the corrections or add a bug report yourself if you want.

It looks just like a real piece of software - real as in a piece of software you buy.

Firefox

The other must-have application for the modern computer user is a web browser and of course there is a very popular open source application in that area - Firefox.

According to some measures it is now in use by nearly 15% of the internet population.

Firefox was one of the first to introduce tabbed browsing and it is also one of the most secure as any security problems are found and fixed quickly by its large developer community. There are also dozens and dozens of downloadable customisations that you can add to it.

Thunderbird

And finally the third part of the computer user's tool kit is an e-mail client and that is Mozilla Thunderbird.

It understands all the standard ways of sending and receiving e-mails and it also has a newsreader built in so you can put all your RSS news feeds into it.

These are just some of the bits of software out there being made by others for all of us - proving you can use your computer and do just about all the things you need to do without having to buy any applications at all.

Cairo campus veil ban struck down

2007-06-11T05:37:00.000+05:30

A BBC Report

Cairo campus veil ban struck down

The court said wearing the niqab was a matter of religious freedom A court in Egypt has ruled that the American University of Cairo cannot ban women from wearing the niqab - the full Islamic face covering - on campus.
The ruling comes after a lengthy legal battle between the university and a female student, who was told she had to remove the niqab for security reasons.
Supporters of the niqab greeted the ruling as a victory for freedom.
But officials at the university have said it indicates a drift towards Islamic extremism.
'Religious values'
A committee of the High Administrative Court upheld a 2001 court ruling that the university could not ban Iman al-Zainy from wearing the niqab as it was a matter of personal and religious freedom under law.
The American University (AUC) said some of the principles in the court's ruling appeared to support its position and it was discussing this with lawyers.
It said it had sought the ban out of security concerns.
"While the American University in Cairo has a policy prohibiting face covering as an issue of personal safety and security, it also recognises the need for respect for the religious values and convictions of our students," the AUC said.
The ruling does let the university place some restrictions on the niqab, court sources told Reuters news agency. Female students could be required to show their faces to security guards at university entrances.
Ms Zainy, who was a doctoral student at the Islamic Al-Azhar University, sued the AUC in 2001 after it banned her from entering its library wearing the niqab.
Hossam Bahgat, one of Ms Zainy's lawyers, told Reuters news agency the ruling was a victory for "women's autonomy over their body and dress code".
"The court said in the strongest of terms that it is up to women to decide about their clothing, and that women should not be discriminated against because of the clothes that they choose to wear," he said.
AUC students are allowed to wear the hijab, a headscarf which covers a woman's hair but leaves the face visible.

2007-06-11T05:33:00.000+05:30

It was raining Cats and Dogs on friday. The whole Thalassery town got flooded. Poor infrastucture and negligient municipality have made life miserable in the town during monsoon.

Ariel

2007-06-10T08:19:00.000+05:30

A bird's eye view of my home town Mattanur, in Kannur

Pazhassi Dam

2007-06-08T09:48:00.000+05:30

The famous Pazhassi Dam is just 5 Kms from my home, A beautiful place for recreation and fishing. i have been there a number of times but could not catch a single fish. may be i have to try some other time.

My Home

2007-06-08T09:32:00.000+05:30

My Home in Kerala, we named it Thaqwa. the Complete Postal Address is Thaqwa, Kalaroad, Chavassery Post, Kannur, Kerala, India. 670702, Telephone +914902474205

2007-06-08T09:08:00.000+05:30

Another Spectacular view of the Masjid an Nabi at dusk

Masjid al Quba in Madina

2007-02-04T14:35:00.000+05:30

Masjid Al Quba after the Fajr Prayer, its one of the first constructed in the name of Islam, Prophet Salla Allahu Alaihi wa Sallam use to conduct the Juma Prayers during his earlier days in Madina, Performing a couple of Rakats here fetch you the reward of an Umra!!

My Home

2007-02-03T07:59:00.000+05:30

A glimpse of my blog site, at peace and relaxed at home.

My Visit to Dammam

2007-02-02T23:07:00.000+05:30

A stride along the Marine Drive at Dammam is a plesant sight. the weather was cool around 15C during the midday, and the sun was nowhere visible. I was with Ahmed Al Katib to attend the hearing in the Ministry of interior. this was the day i left to India

Masjid An Nabawi

2007-02-02T22:31:00.000+05:30

Watching the Masjid An Nabawi during the night is a spectacular sight, especially when the lights are lit, it's brilliant!!!

My Trip to Medina

2007-02-02T09:44:00.000+05:30

I welcome you all to my personal blog where you can share my day to day events and experiences. I begin this blog with my visit to the Masjid Al Nabawi where I spent few days during the Eid al Adha Holidays 2006. The weather was cold but the experience was rich, I have also snapped some shots in and around Medina

Blogger Hanif

Reminder about your invitation from Hanif Thotathil

LinkedIn

Reminder about your invitation from Hanif Thotathil

LinkedIn

Invitation to connect on LinkedIn

LinkedIn

Have you got Skype?

Solar Eclipse

A new law abolishing the sponsorship system

Wish you all a Happy and Action Packed New Year.

Hanif Thotathil wants to keep up with you on Twitter

Hanif Thotathil wants to keep up with you on Twitter

About Twitter

Hanif Thotathil wants to keep up with you on Twitter

Hanif Thotathil wants to keep up with you on Twitter

About Twitter

CDC H1N1 Flu | Questions & Answers Novel H1N1 Influenza Vaccine

11/10/2009

[From: Hanif Mohammed Thotathil] Nokia's N97 brings a clash of two cultures

Internet is sweet 20

Housing in Riyadh

Atheeb’s KSA WiMAX network “weeks” from launch

Office Hours: How Bill Gates uses Office

Does your Pepsi lack pep? Is your Coke not the real thing? India's Hindu nationalist movement apparently has the answer: a new soft drink made from cow urine.

Valentine's Day from an Islamic Perspective

Sabra Ahmadzai: An Afghan woman married and then abandoned by an Army Doctor, stationed in Uttarakhand

Afghan bride confronts missing major

Downandup/Conficker worm infects 9 million PCs

Obama's BlackBerry Is a National Security Risk

Hanif Thotathil is suggesting this article from Arab News

Saudi airports embrace self-service

The Story of Iraq's Republican Palace

SCIENCE CONFIRMS LIFE AFTER DEATH

Hanif Thotathil has forwarded a page to you from LaRouche Political Action Committee

Sweepstakes, Promotion and Prize Scams - How to Recognize Them

Cinema makes a low-key comeback in Saudi

A pair of boots from Iraq

What Toyota knows that GM doesn’t

Fw: Islamic Banking and the Collapse of Capitalism

The Joke of Saudi Private Schools

Even though sacrificing an animal during the Eid festival is not obligatory for Muslims, it is recommended for those who can afford to do सो

The foreign & the Gulf tourist

Nokia Europe - Nokia PC Suite - Support

M-earn makes your pockets jingle

KFH Riyadh

Getting the most from open source

Cairo campus veil ban struck down

Ariel

Pazhassi Dam

My Home

Masjid al Quba in Madina

My Home

My Visit to Dammam

Masjid An Nabawi

My Trip to Medina