| Landmine victims grope in the dark |
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The world can see him, his mutilated self sans legs and eyes. But 27-year-old Ram Chander can’t see anyone and anything.
The world can see him, his mutilated self sans legs and eyes. But 27-year-old Ram Chander can’t see anyone and anything.
For one thing, he simply can’t see the Indian government’s reason for planting landmines as part of its strategy to defend the country from the enemy.
Nearly a month ago, he accidentally tripped over landmines sown in the fields of Rajasthan, along the border with Pakistan, by the armed forces. That was the end of the world as he knew it.
His father has spent more than Rs.100,000 (over $2,000) on his treatment so far. The government has given him a measly Rs.2,000, but that’s like a drop in the ocean, says his father, who knows deep in his heart that no amount of money can get his son’s eyes back.
Ram Chander was the only breadwinner in his family. Besides old and ailing parents, he has six sisters who depend on him on sustenance. Who will now look after him, asks the distraught and angry man.
Ram Chander’s is not an isolated case of the government’s blindness towards the victims of landmines.
Darshan Singh, a resident of Ferozepur in Punjab, lost his leg to a landmine explosion a year ago and is now coming to terms with a life that is increasingly becoming a drag.
Likewise, the wizened Raj Kaur lost her legs while she was walking back to her home from her in-laws’ place in another Punjab village.
In the face of their vivid suffering, cold facts are inadequate. But nonetheless here are some disturbing statistics.
Two casualties occur every hour in the world due to landmines-related accidents. Most victims are civilians. Nearly 110 million mines are scattered over 68 countries and an equal number is stored in stockpile.
India stepped up its mine laying operations following the Dec 13, 2001 terror attack on its parliament. In the last three years, more than one million mines were planted by the Indian Army covering over 2,000 km of land along the India-Pakistan border, claims Balakrishan Kurvey, an anti-mines activist and co-ordinator of Indian Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL).
But due to sandstorm in Rajasthan, rain and rats in Punjab and Jammu, and snow in Kashmir, landmines have shifted from their positions. This resulted in large-scale casualties of civilians and armed forces personnel, Kurvey told IANS.
A total of 145 army personnel were killed or injured in the first three weeks alone (after Dec 13), says in the Landmine Report 2004. The report was released at a seminar here Wednesday to raise awareness to create a landmine-free world.
The seminar was organised by the Indian Institute for Peace, Disarmament and Environmental Protection (IIPDEP) and Society for All-Round Development, New Delhi.
The financial cost of mine clearing is staggering. At the rate of $3 a minute, it will require a whopping $320 billion to purge the world of landmines. The UN estimates that it requires $153 billion for its demining operations.
Summarising India’s position, which has not acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty, Satnam Jit Singh, a retired diplomat, said: While India is concerned with humanitarian objectives of anti-landmines campaign, including the Ottawa Convention, India believes that the use of mines is indispensable to the defence of the country. However, the Indian government’s decided policy has been not to attend any anti-mine ban meetings.
Satnam Singh added on an upbeat note: The goal of a mine-free world is within its reach. While challenged are formidable, the international will is not weak.
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| Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Partnership Ltd Adopts e-Learning - Nov 26, 2004 13:54 IST |
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European based e-Learning solutions provider Futuremedia Plc (NASDAQ: FMDAY), the UK’s leading HCI supplier, today announced that it is providing its award-winning Learning For All™ program with the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Partnership. The financial impact of this contract to Futuremedia will depend on, among other factors, the level of employee and CSWP members’ and partners’ participation.
CSWP co-ordinates the formation of a sub-regional regeneration strategy. Its aim is to enable its 56 partners and members, corporations as well as universities and public bodies, to determine key actions that contribute to sustaining prosperity and quality of life.
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| Vajpayee welcomes Kashmir troops reduction - Nov 26, 2004 13:55 IST |
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Former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee here Thursday welcomed the government move to reduce troops in Jammu and Kashmir.
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| India-Politics-OverallLead BJP - Nov 26, 2004 13:49 IST |
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India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday rejected Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf’s proposals to resolve the Kashmir dispute and charged the government with inept handling of the issue.
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| How to Capture Thanksgiving with Your Camera - Nov 26, 2004 13:48 IST |
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One of the biggest family events every year in America is the annual Thanksgiving Day celebration. According to the New York Institute of Photography (NYI), America’s oldest and largest photography school,Thanksgiving is a great time to photograph your family enjoying the holiday.
Most people don’t realize it, but Thanksgiving Day offers lots of photo opportunities and it’s also a terrific time to take family portraits that can make great Christmas presents, noted Chuck DeLaney, Dean of America’s oldest and largest photography school.
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| Kamau Kokayi, M.D., Appointed Medical Director at New York’s Olive Leaf Wholeness Center - Nov 26, 2004 13:47 IST |
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Kamau Kokayi, M.D., has been named Medical Director of the Olive Leaf Wholeness Center, New York’s largest independent, integrated wellness center. Making the announcement, Claire Haaga Altman, who founded the holistic health care facility in June 2001, said: “We could not have made a better choice. Dr. Kokayi is an extraordinary physician and healer, one with a passionate commitment to the well-being of patients and the greater community. His groundbreaking multidimensional approach has proven highly effective, and, in the almost two years that he has worked here, Dr. Kokayi has become the heart and soul of the Olive Leaf family of practitioners, allopathic and alternative. All of us welcome his leadership.”
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| The American College for Advancement in Medicine Commentary on the Meta-Analysis - Nov 26, 2004 13:32 IST |
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In November of 2004, a pre-publication release of a Johns Hopkins School of Medicine study destined to appear in the Annals of Internal Medicine created a stir about the safety of vitamin E. The research, simultaneously released on the website of the Annals of Internal Medicine and reported at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2004, states that daily vitamin E doses of 400 international units (IU) or more can increase the risk of death and should be avoided. From this, headlines luridly touted the supposed finding that Vitamin E Increases Death. What’s the truth about the study, and how does it impact integrative physician’s recommendations for this supplement?
First of all, the study is nothing new. A meta-analysis is simply a study of studies that have already been performed. It involves a set of statistically analyses based on manipulations of existing data. Even statisticians outside the vitamin community criticized the study as being too far-reaching in its conclusions that vitamin E might be unsafe. For example, the New York Times of November 11, 2004 wrote: Their paper, however, failed to convince some statisticians, who noted that is notoriously difficult to pool data from disparate studies with different populations and weak results. Dr. David Freedman, as statistician at the University of California at Berkeley said in the Times: As a statistician, I find this paper unpersuasive.
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| True Story of Top Runway Model and Serious Painter Goes to Entertain Our Troops Overseas in “USO’s Care Package” - Nov 26, 2004 13:30 IST |
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North Carolina author Mildred Harris has donated six autographed copies of AFTER ANAÏS, A Second-Hand Memoir, to USO’s “Care Package” of books for the enjoyment of our troops overseas.
AFTER ANAÏS is the true story of a young woman from Southeastern North Carolina who became a model in demand on two continents -- beautiful, intelligent. bewitching. And a serious painter, too. She refused to accept injustice as “just the way things are”.
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| TraumaCad Digital Preoperative Orthopedic Solution is selected by Stony Brook University Hospital (SBUH)) - Nov 26, 2004 13:23 IST |
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TraumaCad enables orthopedic surgeons to utilize digital images, tools and templates for planning a full range of orthopedic surgeries, providing an easier and more accurate alternative to traditional preoperative planning using hard copy film and overlays. TraumaCad displays PACS images from a full range of modalities. It enables preoperative plans to be archived with patient files and viewed in the operating room.
A second-generation, fully Web-driven PACS, IntegradWeb employs server-centric, open architecture to deliver a consistent user-friendly working environment to any Internet-enabled PC. Referring physicians and other authorized users access the same image archive, databases and toolsets wherever they are located. Functionality can be customized for individual users and user groups. IntegradWeb leads the industry with its advanced 3D image processing and analysis functionality—and now its orthopedic surgical planning tools--which are all fully integrated into the primary reading environment.
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| JK Harris: Tax Treatment for Theft Losses a Well-Kept Secret - Nov 26, 2004 13:20 IST |
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The advantageous tax treatment available for theft losses related to a non-business, for-profit transactions, is one of the best-kept Internal Revenue Code secrets, according to Bart Siegel, an independent investment and tax expert retained by JK Harris 165 Services, LLC.
JK Harris 165 Services, LLC, is a division of JK Harris and Company, the nation’s largest and most successful tax resolution firm.
According to Siegel, instead of taking a loss using the more familiar IRC § 1211 capital loss treatment, commonly at the rate of 15 percent, victims of investment fraud may qualify to reduce their ordinary taxable income, which may be taxed at rates up to 35 percent, by using the IRC § 165(c)(2) theft-loss provision.
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| $200,000 Reward for evidence of vote fraud in the presidential election - Nov 26, 2004 13:10 IST |
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On November 6, 2004, Justice Through Music, www.jtmp.org, posted a $100,000 reward for specific evidence of vote fraud in the presidential election. On November 16, that reward was doubled to $200,000 in light of the rampant voter irregularities reported online and in the media over the past two weeks which has resulted in the recounting of votes in various states.
Specifically, the reward will be given to the person or persons who provide concrete evidence of hacking, tampering, implanting improper software codes, miscounting votes, or vote rigging in one or more states that would change the result of the election. JTM is seeking evidence from insiders, whistleblowers and others in the know who have information about vote fraud. There have been over 30,000 documented instances of voting irregularities in the election, which include improperly tested voting machines and people having access to the machines in unsecure areas.
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| America’s Image In Sports: NBA suspends Artest for Season; NFL Terrell Owens apologizes for MNF Skit, South Carolina Clemson Players Brawl - Nov 26, 2004 13:1 IST |
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The amateurism of today’s professional athlete was played out in the newspaper and on television this past two weeks. Prior to the rivalry match of the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns, the major fist fight between Joey Porter and several Cleveland Browns resulted in his ejection from a key game for the Steelers. Terrell Owens add insult to injury with his public display with a naked Nicollette Sheraden prior to the Monday Night Football Game. The saga continued with the Pacers and Piston Brawl that resulted in suspension of Artest for a season, and several other players for several games that will probably cost the NBA and players millions of dollars in lawsuits.
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| EESI Finalizes Negotiation For Acquisition of American Eagle Realtors - Nov 26, 2004 12:50 IST |
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CEO Robert Baker said, We are very pleased with the acquisition and that Steve Bloecher agreed to sign a one-year contract to move forward as the president/broker of this newest EESI subsidiary. The company has a solid team of 12 professionals working together to produce $20,000,000 in house values/listings. Additionally, we will be adding business brokerage services to the mix by the same date.
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| Announcing New Book to be Published by PublishAmerica - Nov 26, 2004 12:38 IST |
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Bruce Goldwell is proud to announce that his book The Door to Super Achievement will be published by PublishAmerica. He has already received endorsements from Barry Spilchuk, Co-Author Cup of Soup for the Soul and Jill Lublin, Author Guerilla Publicity and has endorsements coming from Joan Gustafson and several other best selling authors. Goldwell expects his book is going to make a major impact on readers because his book offers a simple step-by-step approach to success that even the lay person can understand.
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| Code Red Launches 802.11 Wireless Solution for Industrial Environments - Nov 26, 2004 12:37 IST |
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Industrial companies today are more vulnerable than ever to wireless attacks, with the majority not even realizing the severity of the problem. Despite security precautions such as surveillance cameras, barbed wire fences, Firewalls, and Intrusion Detection Systems, most industrial companies are still dangerously exposed to security risks through the use of devices such as wireless barcode readers and forklift mounted computers. These devices pose a real threat since they cannot be fitted with current state-of-the-art wireless security solutions and are left to operate in an insecure manner. Coupled with the number of Centrino based wireless laptops being shipped daily, it is only a question of when, and not how, these networks will be compromised.
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| ClickBank Affiliates Discovering Bigger Checks With 1stPromotion - Nov 26, 2004 12:33 IST |
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ClickBank affiliates in over 110 countries are discovering that members of 1stPromotion have a definite advantage over other ClickBank affiliates. Through a single web site, 1stPromotion members can earn commissions of up to 75% on over 10,000 products and services offered through the ClickBank Marketplace.
1stPromotion offers the finest searchable ClickBank storefronts (online mall) available on the market today, and is an ideal solution for those that are looking to learn how to profit online.
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| Crossware Releases Flash Programming Software for Freescale ColdFire Boards - Nov 26, 2004 12:28 IST |
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Crossware (www.crossware.com), a leading embedded tools developer, has released flash programming software that can be used to program Freescale ColdFire® boards using its FireFly USB BDM (background debug mode) interface. This can save developers considerable amounts of time as FireFly can program flash more than 8 times faster than via a parallel port interface.
The flash software – available free of charge to users of Crossware’s FireFly interface - will simultaneously control up to 127 USB ports each connected to a separate ColdFire board. A single click of the mouse will program the selected software file into any or all of the connected boards.
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| Helping Computer Novices Build High Profit Websites - Nov 26, 2004 12:16 IST |
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This is a brand new website which I feel has potential in teaching anyone to build high quality websites that can attract many people. From teenagers to old age pensioners can do this, there are many tools and guides to building the perfect site with simplicity. Simple type and click programs that can add different features to your website.
I would like to recruit many people because I would like to see more websites made by regular people with regular jobs because I believe the internet is the biggest place to get something you want to share out to other people with less knowledge.
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| Freedom Bands Wristbands Support Our Troops. Get Yours - Nov 26, 2004 12:7 IST |
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Kib and Lisa Jensen and their four children Stephanie age fourteen, Brady twelve, Jacob ten, and Justin who is nine wanted a family project they could do together to help others. Because of their great love for America they decided to do something to help the troops and their families. Inspired by the success and popularity of Lance Armstrong’s LIVESTRONG bands that they have been wearing for months, they created a similar wristband that is red named Freedombands. The red wristband is similar to the yellow LIVESTONG and has the words LIFE, LIBERTY, and FREEDOM inscribed with each word separated by stars.
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| Mission: Coffee for Our Troops - Nov 26, 2004 11:53 IST |
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American troops serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom (Iraq) and Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) will soon be receiving a strong message of support from Sacramento.
Hundreds of pounds of ground coffee are being shipped as part of the “Coffee for Our Troops” program. The program is a partnership between two Sacramento-based entities: non-profit Move America Forward (www.MoveAmericaForward.org) and premium coffee roaster, Cornerstone Coffee (www.CornerstoneCoffee.com).
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| Police Auctions Professional Resource Information at http://DEAauctions.COM - Nov 26, 2004 11:49 IST |
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Police Auctions Information: No, a police auction is not where you go to buy a policeman. Most people do not realize that police agencies, including local police departments, county sheriff departments, as well as state and federal law enforcement agencies end up with a lot of confiscated, lost, or abandoned property. This property ends up in the agency’s possession as the result of arrests, forfeitures, and just plain carelessness on the part of the property owner who sets a camera down in some public place and walks away.
Once the agency has accumulated enough property they will hold a police impound auction. The purpose of the police impound auction is two-fold. First, they want to empty out their property rooms which, in the case of some state and federal agencies, may be the size of a warehouse.
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