"The revelation that lobbying firm Barbour, Griffith and Rogers, whose president is a former US envoy to Iraq, is supporting former interim prime minister Ayad Alllawi, was first reported by IraqSlogger. The firm has sent hundreds of e-mails in Allawi's name from an e-mail address it purchased, DrAyadAllawi@Allawi-for-Iraq.com, and it has purchased the Web domain AllawiForIraq.com." (Another bill US taxpayers are footing??)

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/GOP_Lobby_firm_hired_to_oust_0823.html

[Wikipidea on Allawi: "As of January 2007, he appears to have left Iraq for the relative security of Amman and London, according to the New York Times's Damien Cave.]

While watching the news last night, a breaking live broadcast of Bush speech in Prague was on air. I never liked to hear this dump, but for unknown reason I decided to listen to his remarks.

While listening to him, I was speaking to myself. This is how it goes (transcript can be found here):

The most powerful weapon in the struggle against extremism is not bullets or bombs -- it is the universal appeal of freedom. Freedom is the design of our Maker, and the longing of every soul. Freedom is the best way to unleash the creativity and economic potential of a nation. Freedom is the only ordering of a society that leads to justice. And human freedom is the only way to achieve human rights.

Great, how about the freedom for Palestinian people?

For all these reasons, the United States is committed to the advance of freedom and democracy as the great alternatives to repression and radicalism...

One of those dissidents is Mamoun Homsi. In 2001, this man was an independent member of the Syrian parliament who simply issued a declaration asking the government to begin respecting human rights. For this entirely peaceful act, he was arrested and sent to jail, where he spent several years beside other innocent advocates for a free Syria...

There are many dissidents who couldn't join us because they are being unjustly imprisoned or held under house arrest. I look forward to the day when a conference like this one include Alexander Kozulin of Belarus, Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma, Oscar Elias Biscet of Cuba, Father Nguyen Van Ly of Vietnam, Ayman Nour of Egypt.

How about the (I lost count) x-number of "democratically' elected Palestinian parliament members who lay in Israeli prisons with "NO CHARGES"? Last (but not least) was Dr. Nasser Ad-Din Ash-Shair, Minister of Education and many more PLC members. Why Mr. Bush and "the United States is NOT committed to the advance of freedom and democracy" of Palestinians? At least the Syrian guy knows what are his charges, but the Palestinians did not, and will not receive any charges because there aren't any.

In the eyes of America, the democratic dissidents today are the democratic leaders of tomorrow. So we're taking new steps to strengthen our support.

Wonderful. Watch out for the thousands of Palestinian democratic leaders when they come out from Israeli jails (if at all they come out).

We recently created a Human Rights Defenders Fund, which provides grants for the legal defense and medical expenses of activists arrested or beaten by repressive governments.

Does this include the Israeli government?

I strongly support the Prague Document that your conference plans to issue, which states that "the protection of human rights is critical to international peace and security."

Would someone please ask him what does "Human Rights" mean for him? If after all what they are doing in Iraq, and what Israeli is doing in Palestine; he still says that he "strongly support protection of human rights", I have a doubt that we are talking about the same human rights which "humans" but Bush knows.

People living in tyranny need to know they are not forgotten. North Koreans live in a closed society where dissent is brutally suppressed, and they are cut off from their brothers and sisters to the south. The Iranians are a great people who deserve to chart their own future, but they are denied their liberty by a handful of extremists whose pursuit of nuclear weapons prevents their country from taking its rightful place amongst the thriving. The Cubans are desperate for freedom -- and as that nation enters a period of transition, we must insist on free elections and free speech and free assembly. And in Sudan, freedom is denied and basic human rights are violated by a government that pursues genocide against its own citizens. My message to all those who suffer under tyranny is this: we will never excuse your oppressors. We will always stand for your freedom.

I was anxiously waiting and waiting and waiting to hear what he will say about Palestine, but opss... seems that I missed last night news headlines and Palestine is now living in peace and freedom alongside with Israel.

Freedom is also under assault in countries that have shown some progress. In Venezuela, elected leaders have resorted to shallow populism to dismantle democratic institutions and tighten their grip on power. The government of Uzbekistan continues to silence independent voices by jailing human rights activists. And Vietnam recently arrested and imprisoned a number of peaceful religious and political activists.

Israel. Israel. Where is Israel?

We congratulate the people of Yemen on their landmark presidential election, and the people of Kuwait on elections in which women were able to vote and run for office for the first time. We stand firmly behind the people of Lebanon and Afghanistan and Iraq as they defend their democratic gains against extremist enemies. These people are making tremendous sacrifices for liberty. They deserve the admiration of the free world, and they deserve our unwavering support.

Did anyone tell Mr. President about the Palestinian Elections? Seems not.

Some say that ending tyranny means "imposing our values" on people who do not share them, or that people live in parts of the world where freedom cannot take hold. That is refuted by the fact that every time people are given a choice, they choose freedom. We saw that when the people of Latin America turned dictatorships into democracies, and the people of South Africa replaced apartheid with a free society, and the people of Indonesia ended their long authoritarian rule. We saw it when Ukrainians in orange scarves demanded that their ballots be counted. We saw it when millions of Afghans and Iraqis defied the terrorists to elect free governments. At a polling station in Baghdad, I was struck by the words of an Iraqi -- he had one leg -- and he told a reporter, "I would have crawled here if I had to." Was democracy -- I ask the critics, was democracy imposed on that man? Was freedom a value he did not share? The truth is that the only ones who have to impose their values are the extremists and the radicals and the tyrants.

Neither it was imposed on Palestinians. Wake up Mr. President. Time is running out.

Others fear that democracy will bring dangerous forces to power, such as Hamas in the Palestinian Territories. Elections will not always turn out the way we hope. Yet democracy consists of more than a single trip to the ballot box. Democracy requires meaningful opposition parties, a vibrant civil society, a government that enforces the law and responds to the needs of its people.

Oh... finaly... here you go... show your colors.

If it "does not turn out the way we (he) hopes", it is "dangerous forces to power".

Someone please remind Mr. President that democracy comes in different sizes, not necessary his. If you really care for what all you claimed to care for, Palestinians choice should be respected, not impose sanctions, boycott and embargo, Mr. President. How can a government enforces the law when United States is arming it's opposition parties? How can a government responds to the needs of its people when your country threat anyone who deals with it? How can it function while their money is blocked and they can't even pay the salaries of the medical stuff in public hospitals?

I leave Prague with a certainty that the cause of freedom is not tired, and that its future is in the best of hands. With unbreakable faith in the power of liberty, you will inspire your people, you will lead your nations, and you will change the world.

Thanks for having me. And may God bless you.

That's it? Well, even my nine years old boy, Noor, knows that this guy is dump. How sarcastic this is. A dump man is leading United States and the world.

Can you understand now why we HATE U.S. politicians? Still not sure? Okay, here is another example.

Hardly anyone talked about it in the media, but last night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution "congratulating" Israel on the 40^th anniversary of the "reunification" (new term for occupation) of Jerusalem and "urging" the Bush administration to move its embassy there.

The non-binding resolution, passed in a voice vote Tuesday afternoon, "commends Israel for its administration of the undivided city for the past 40 years, during which Israel has respected the rights of all religious groups."

The resolution, while symbolic, is a reminder to the Arab world (and everyone) that even the "Democratic-controlled" Congress, is on the Jewish state's side in the conflict in the Middle East. So don't expect any just.

None, I reapeat, NONE of the members of Congress spoke against the resolution on the House floor. Some members, however, did speak to endorse the bill.

Now you know why we hate them?

(Image by Ben Heine)

In the U.S., the issue is framed as "Immigration"

The face of the issue is framed as a brown skinned Mexican man.

And yet, all you have to do is scrape just a little under the surface to know what immigration really means and who it effects.

750+ Immigrants Detained in "Operation Return To Sender" Raids

Immigrant youth shelter won't reopen

Judge tells immigrant woman seeking restraining order to leave court or she will be deported.

Immigrant woman dragged a mile to her death.

Immigrant women afraid to seek health care.

Immigrant woman denied cancer treatment for lack of Medicaid.

"She realized that she had to go [back to her husband] because she needed the [immigration] papers. She described the consequences: "He beat me on the head. He sat on my stomach. He put a knife to my throat and raped me. Then he threw me naked on the street."

Palestinian man held on immigration charges held indefinitely in the name of "war on terror"

Rape is the price you pay for crossing the border.

Border patrol agents rape immigrant women: Supervisor watches.

INS holds immigrant children in prison like conditions--they are forbidden from speaking their own languages, told not to laugh, forced to ask for permission to scratch their noses.

Defense attorney demands of rape victim: You've been in this country a long time, why don't you speak English yet?(pdf file page 5)

Immigrants can be held indefinitely without trail.

Clearly, some unpacking of the "immigration debate" is in order. What is really being debated here? And why has this "debate" been framed in the way it has?

For all it's rhetoric stating otherwise, historically, the U.S. has never been all that welcoming to immigrants. The Irish, Chinese, Mexican, Polish, Haitian, Japanese have all been on the brunt end of anti-immigrant rhetoric. And that list is not exhaustive by any means. In most cases, economics pushed anti-immigrant aggression. That is, the dirty Wops/Chinks/Spics/Poles etc. stole jobs from those who deserved them--"real" Americans aka white middle class men.

But right now, things are different. Right now, although anti-immigrant aggression still centers on economics (the dirty spics are stealing jobs/making us pay for their welfare), the driving force behind the debate, the issue that really triggers the debate, is the "war on terror."

Some of the first anti-immigrant organizations in the U.S. to capitalize on anti-Arab "war on terror" policies were the hate organizations the Minutemen Project and the American Patrol Report. Both organizations were classified as hate groups by the U.S. government pre 9-11. They are known for their terror antics on the border--hunting human beings down while armed and on horseback, forcibly detaining and pistol whipping captured border crossers, and destroying water stations put up to prevent deaths. The American Border Report even went so far as to raise money to buy a plane that they could use to "monitor" the border with.

But all of this was conveniently forgotten by politicians, government officials, and universities in a post 9-11 world. "Liberal" John Kerry and Columbia University played host to Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist. Media personalities like Pat Buchanan and Lou Dobbs openly supported each group. And eventually a national debate ensued--are the Minutemen's tactics justifiable?

Almost nobody recognized or talked about the reason why these organizations gained such instant popularity. In a post 9-11 world, they had both taken the time to restructure their campaigns significantly--choosing to focus on the "desperate" situation at the border. The "desperate" situation being, of course, that thousands of Mexicans were crossing through unprotected parts of the border every year--thousands of Mexicans that could really be terrorists. The false desperation of the war on terror leaked into the border, creating a false desperation on the border that has justified everything from increased violence by border patrol agents against border crossers and the building of our own wall.

Similar anti-Arab/immigrant sentiment played out recently in the fallout of the V-Tech shootings. Before it was discovered that the shooter was a Korean born legal immigrant in the U.S., various media pundents were doing their best to connect the shooting to the the Muslim community (which by default, of course, means Arabs). Ray Hanania rightly wonders, "What would have happened to us Arab Americans if that Virginia Tech student had been Arab and not South Korean?"

Nothing good, that we can all be sure of that.

The Mexican community has picked up on this anti-Arab sentiment in their organizing. Unfortunately, this has often led to some of us doing our best to distance ourselves from the rhetoric rather than confront it. For example, at immigration rallies, signs declaring, "somos trabajadores no terroristas" are common. We are workers not terrorists. We are in the U.S. to work hard, we want to be citizens, we're as American as apple pie, we want to be just like you. We are uncritical to the idea of who, exactly, is "you" and what is this history of violence "you" has participated in through the course of U.S. history?

And because we are uncritically demanding to adopt into U.S. citizenship, our "smaller rocks" type movement does very little, if anything, to really challenge larger forms of structural violence and oppressions against any of our communities, much less challenge the working conditions of many migrant workers/undocumented workers.

Perhaps another way to look at this would be to remember that Mexicans are not the only ones whose families are being destroyed and imprisoned. In prison, there is no distinction between terrorist and worker--and ironically, whether terrorist or illegal worker, we all are imprisoned for the same thing: visa issues. If it's ok to imprison a "terrorist"on immigration issues, why wouldn't it be ok to imprison a "worker" on immigration issues?

The issue is framed as "immigration" and the face of the immigration debate is a Mexican male. But it's time for all of us to force open this tiny little box they have squeezed us all into . The United States owes its current existence to the violence it inflicts on each of our communities. If there were no threat of violence to keep workers inline, would we be a model of capitalistic prosperity for corporations world wide? If the workers had any sort of power or influence over decisions made by the government, would corporations have been able to convince the U.S. government to invade Afghanistan or Iraq? If there was no corporate sponsered war on terror, would anti-Arab aggression flourish in the U.S. the way it does? Would children still be seperated from their families? Would immigrant women still be too frightened to report interpersonal violence and abuse?

We are all interconnected. It's time to embrace our differences rather than hide from them. We are all criminals in this country--our assimilation process starts with jails and violence rather than open arms and melting pots. It's time to love each other more than we love the American dream. Our love for each other will be what saves us.

i have always loved criminals
i tell people who try to shame
me into silence

with words like television conjugal
college libraries they say
can you imagine a library in a nigerian chinese a
columbian prison do you know what happens
in the world americans are so spoiled no idea
how lucky we are here

even you often write how
your time has offered reflection
meditation deepened your faith
but you 27 and have 10
years to go nowhere how much deeper
you going to get until a system based
on money deems you rehabilitated

i have always loved criminals
and the way you bomb my tag
butterphoenix all across your letters
reminds me our affirmation is considered vandalism

i have always loved
criminals and not only the thugged
out bravado of rap videos and champagne
popping hustlers but my father
born an arab baby boy
on the forced way out
of his homeland his mother exiled
and pregnant gave birth in a camp

the world pointed and said
palestinians do not exist palestinians
are roaches palestinians are two legged dogs
and israel built jails and weapons and
a history based on the absence of a people
israel made itself holy and chosen
and my existence a crime

so i have always loved criminals
it is a love of self
and i will not cut off any part of
me and place it behind fences and bars
and the fake ass belief
that there is a difference between
the inside and the outside

there is no outside anywhere
anymore just where we are and
what we do while we are here

and there
are people anthony who make a connection
between you puerto rican ryme slayer beautiful man and
young girls twisted into sex work and these
people nazim they are working to stop prisons
from being economically beneficial to depressed
communities and these people
bronx bomber they imagine a world
where money can't be made off the hurt
of the young the poor the colored the
sexualized the different and these people
nymflow they never heard you
spit lyrics and they won't
see the cut of your brilliance
from these mere words
but these people
42851-054 5812
they beleive human
beings can never be reduced
to numbers not in concentration
camps or reservations not in
refugee camps not in schools
and not in jails

these people
brother they resist

i will share these words
with them and i will
in your name and in the names
of all who imagine

stay well
and safe
reisist
and love
suheir

excerpted from the poem "letter to anthony (critical resistance) by suheir hammad "

~En Lucha~

This is how it goes:

Israel's deputy Prime Minister canceled his visit to Ankara because Ankara invited Hamas leader. Nothing new, this and worse if expected from a racist government like Israel. However, the surprise comes from Turkish news agency, which says: "U.S. Congressman Tom Lantos on Thursday night called Foreign Minister Abdullah GÃœL and reacted to the invitation of Hamas. Lantos reportedly threatened the Turkish government with cutting its support to block an Armenian genocide resolution in the U.S House of Representatives."

And some people still think the US has an independent foreign poilicy not dictated by AIPAC/Lantos et al.

I missed this when it came up a week ago, but it’s too good to ignore.

Mayan leaders will spiritually “cleanse” ancient ruins in Guatemala after a visit by U.S. President George W. Bush.

The leaders said they would hold a spiritual ceremony to restore “peace and harmony” at the Mayan ruins of Iximche after Bush tours the site.

I wish it was that easy to cleanse Bushism ruins all around the world!

This ironic one comes from the infamous Fox News: An American occupier in Iraq had a simple request last week for a Wisconsin mattress company: "send some floor mats to help ease the hardship of sleeping on the cold, bug-infested ground."

What he got, instead, was a swift kick from the company's Web site, which not only refused the request but added: "If you were sensible, you and your troops would pull out of Iraq."

The courageous employee was fired and the coward ‘Pakistani’ company owner apologized on air!

I feel sick to my stomach when I see a multi-billion giant like Microsoft using “children refugees” as a cover up to market their latest web 2.0 businesses called live.com!

While doing my search for my previous story, I came across a press release by UNHCR which said: “Microsoft launches “Click for Cause” initiative to support UNHCR web campaign“.

UN Refugee Agency led campaign to raise awareness and funds for education and sport programs for refugee youth. The campaign website can be found at Ninemillion.org.

The merciful Micro$oft decided to support the campaign under one condition; you have to use their new web 2.0 search engine/start page enable that they generate few more billions to give some peanut to UN refugee campaign.

Under the initiative, every Internet search performed at http://click4thecause.live.com using Microsoft’s Live Search facility will result in a financial donation to ninemillion.org. The donation programme will be coupled with a broad online awareness campaign for ninemillion.org to include advertising and editorial space on Microsoft online properties, such as MSN and microsoft.com, in 26 markets around the world.

Microsoft has agreed to host the search site until the end of March and to promote it by creating a downloadable “gadget,” developing online advertising to appear on the MSN portal websites in certain countries and purchase advertising inventory from the MSN/Live network.

The company will guarantee a minimum donation of US$100,000 to UNHCR based on the number of queries that are generated from the search site. The rate for each query will be US$0.01. The maximum donation payable by Microsoft will be US$250,000, which would be equivalent to 25 million search queries.

Cheap, very cheap!!

Although I don’t personally recommend live.com as a search engine, however, I’ll use it for a while for the sake of supporting the refugee youth around the world.

This article is in response to the question posted by a new site just launched today - Love to Lead - where:

Each week for the next 16 weeks L2L will pose a question designed to stimulate debate between bloggers. Visitors will be able to vote for their favourite article and the blogger whose post receives the greatest number of votes each week will win a Toshiba Portégé R400 laptop.

Brilliant Idea, and I want a new laptop :-)

So: "Will the human race ever populate another planet?"

Here is what I have to say (after you read, head over there and plz vote for me ;-) or write your own piece):

Will we live for that?

With all what is going around us like wars, pollution, global warning, mysterious diseases, etc... Unfortunately, I don't think the world will make it to that day.

It is true that mankind is growing fast, so is technology and since is developing in light speed, however, with all this development comes the greedy of mankind. Greed for power and money. With all the technology we have now, mankind uses it more and more to destroy his kind rapidly and immense numbers.

I'm not a historian, but I can claim that people killed by wars, diseases and man-caused disasters (including many so called "natural") in the last few centuries is x-multiple of times the number of men killed throughout the history in the previous period.

On the other hand, there was an exponential growth of human population in 1987 where that year 87.01 million more people were added to the Earth. Since then, the population has declined on average by 3 million less people added per year. This means that we will peak in population reaching zero population growth in 2020 with 6.64 billion people.

The United Nation demographers did their report update of world population numbers and projected average population which reached zero population growth in 2038 @ 7.47 billion. This means that by then the growth will be equal to the decline, which in other words means mankind population is going down faster and faster each year.

As a result of all this, lets think of sustainability of soil energy, sustainability of fisheries energy, fresh water limits, literacy rates, starvation and its related diseases, HIV infection rates and similar new diseases, etc... Now, if we consider "Energy and Water" only, aren't these major reasons of wars in present times? Think how it will be more devastating in the few coming decades only. Immeasurable, I think. So, "will mankind live to see new sun from other planet (or even our sun)?" I don't think so!

Anyway, I hope I'm wrong. But from what we live through day by day, such dreams makes one feel that it will remain dreams.

Now, I want the laptop:

I'm in a business trip at Sharm El-Sheikh for the last two days and will be back home in few days.

Stay tuned!

??? ????? ??: ??????? ??????

I read this story a week ago in the Arabic media, but when I saw today a different version of it in the English mainstream media, I found myself tempted to mention it for different reasons, which you will know about after you read the story:

A Saudi court has sentenced a gang rape victim to 90 lashes of the whip because she was alone in a car with a man to whom she was not married.

The sentence was passed at the end of a trial in which the Al Qateef high criminal court convicted four Saudis convicted of the rape, sentencing them to prison terms and a total of 2,230 lashes.

The four, all married, were sentenced respectively to five years and 1,000 lashes, four years and 800 lashes, four years and 350 lashes, and one year and 80 lashes.

A fifth, married, man who was stated to have filmed the rape on his mobile phone still faces investigation.

Two others alleged to have taken part in the rape evaded capture.

Saudi courts take marital status into account in sexual crimes. A male friend of the rape victim was also sentenced to 90 lashes for being alone with her in the car.

The court heard that the victim and her friend were followed by the assailants to their car, kidnapped and taken to a remote farm, where the raping occurred.

The victim was quoted by Okaz newspaper as saying she had expected harsher penalties for the assailants, especially as they had pleaded not guilty.

Her husband and family said that they would appeal to the court Saturday for harsher penalties for a crime that has shocked public opinion in Saudi Arabia and been the subject of months of debate. [Gulf Times. Arabic version can be found here]!

Now, this ironic news has many funny things:

1. The victim is guilty of being alone with unknown man in his car, but the story didn't explain that this man was a rescuer who heard the calls of the lady and ran to help her. So she get lashes because he is not her relative (I guess he should be first degree).

2. The rescuer got lashes too because he was alone with the lady. But, couldn't it be that he was trying to rescue her from the gang and toke her in his car away from the danger? Lesson learned: If you are in Saudi Arabia and you see a girl getting raped in front of you, do nothing, unless you can go search for someone from her family (first degree relative) and ask him to come to give you cover before you attempt to try to rescue the victim.

3. I guess the Islamic laws do not say lashes in these crimes, but stoning to death, especially if the rapist is married, and they are. So, what makes them an exception? What is it? they don't have three witnesses to convict someone for such a crime, and since there is NO witnesses, but only seven rapist, one lady, and one rescuer, the math's does don't sum up to punish them with stoning? How funny this is.

4. Another funny thing is this: "The four, all married, were sentenced respectively to five years and 1,000 lashes, four years and 800 lashes, four years and 350 lashes, and one year and 80 lashes." Must be the first was fucking, the second was licking, the third was kissing and the fourth, well, maybe he came late and just started to take off his cloths. I mean, what the hell? But what do you know... this is justice! Oh, forgot the fifth guy... "A fifth, married, man who was stated to have filmed the rape on his mobile phone still faces investigation." Ok, I understand... the court did not see the clip enough times yet. Maybe after they see it for the 100000000001 time, they will remember that there was a guy who toke this clip... "but what do you know... it's a nice clip, maybe we just let him go if he leaves his mobile for us?"

5. Imagine that this same case take place in some other Arab country (I won't say Western), do you think the victim and the man who was trying to help her will be convicted and lashed? Of course not. This is not in the books of laws except in our saviors of Arabia. And what about the assailants? Was that enough to do with them?

6. Last but not least, it is worth mentioning that only in the English version of the story, the rescuers is said to be the victim's friend and she was traveling in the car with him, whereas, the Arabic version of the story does not say that. In fact the Arabic version here said that she was walking in street when she was kidnapped and the guy came to rescue her, so clearly two completely different stories.

Anyway, where in the world would the victim and the rescuer get convicted for "sexual crime" (of being alone in the car) but in ...?

Welcome to ... Arabia!

Few months old story, but ironic:

Travellers have been ordered not to look too happy in their passport photographs to avoid confusing facial recognition scanners.

Toothy, open mouthed grins are being outlawed from the tiny 35mm by 45mm photographs because they will throw off scanners used at airports.

Long fringes and head coverings, are also banned, under the new regulations along with dummies in babies' mouths.

The new type of passports are being introduced in a bid to fight terrorism.

A Home Office spokesman said: "When the mouth is open it can make it difficult for facial recognition technology to work effectively."

The machines work by matching key points on the holder's face, such as the mouth and eyes, with the photograph.

'Neutral expression'

It is easier for it to recognise a neutral expression with the mouth closed.

Chief executive of the UK Passport Service (UKPS) Bernard Herdan said: "These new guidelines are an important step in the development of the new biometric ePassport and use of facial recognition technology that will be introduced in 2005 as part of the ongoing fight against fraud and international terrorism."

The UKPS is planning to implement a facial recognition image biometric in the British passport book from late 2005 to early 2006.

It is hoped the biometric image will help to counter identity fraud and verify the identity of the holder against the document.

The new rules say "photographs must show no shadows: your face looking straight at the camera, a neutral expression, with your mouth closed."

Head coverings

Eyes must be open and clearly visible, and there must be no sunglasses, tinted glasses or hair across the eyes, it adds.

Anyone who wears glasses must wear them at the end of their nose so they do not cover their eyes. They must also ensure the lenses do not produce reflections.

No head coverings are allowed unless they are worn for a religious belief.

The new photographic regulations are effective immediately but the Passport Service says it will exercise some flexibility until early 2005.

Existing passport holders will not need to have their current passports updated, but they will have to comply with the new guidelines when they renew their passports. [Source: BBC]

Wow... finally PayPal has added few Middle East countries to their list (Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Jordan). [Hat tip: Jad, Moey]

Time to setup a tip jar :-)

Haaretz: According to a report issued by the investigations department of the Health Ministry and exposed by Haaretz, the hospitals in Gedera and Rehovot conducted illegal and unethical testing on thousands of elderly patients for years.

During one of the incidents described, twelve patients died either during the experiments or shortly after they took place, but these incidents were not reported to the Health Ministry or investigated, as is required by law. [Hat tip: Editerette]

Wondering why they are doing this... money and glory of course...

According to the report, some doctors received promotions, both in their professional and academic careers, on the basis of the illegal tests. In some cases, the tests were used as the basis for research studies published in local and international medical journals.

Some people should stop pretending that everything in Israel is good and that the people there should not be measured by others moral and ethical standards!!

Wondering who are the patients and their origins. Won't be surprised to hear they are from one of these lower ranked Jews!

A Palestinian Beermaker decides to develop non-alcoholic beer brandished with label that matches Hamas's trademark color. Cheers!