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Wed, 21 May 2008 17:42:00 +0200
The big competition here is between Google Health and Microsoft’s HealthVault. (Revolution Health is more of an information portal at this point, and who is going to trust their health insurance company?). Whereas HealthVault’s strengths seem to lie in tying together different health information silos on the back end, Google Health is focusing more initially on the consumer side. It is trying to do an end-run around the health establishment by trying to get consumers to manually load their own medical information into their profiles. HealthVault allows this as well, but seems to have stronger partnerships with back-end health data providers. Google will no doubt tackle the existing health data silos as it proceeds. It really has no choice if it wants to organize the world’s health information. To gain consumer acceptance, Google promises never to advertise on Google Health (although ads in related searches should be fair game) and that people’s personal health information will never appear in search results (one would hope not). Members can add their doctors to their Gmail contacts and APis are n the works.In order for Google Health to be of much use, you need to tell it about your health history by creating a personal medical profile. It is easy enough to get started. You tell it your age, weight, medical conditions, medications, allergies, and so on. It provides guided keyword suggestions, so that when you type in a symptom, for instance, you get a list of health terms.  But the key is importing your medical record in there. That is going to be a huge hurdle in terms of people feeling comfortable giving that sort of data to Google in the first place, and then simply getting the data in an electronic form from their doctors. Google Health lists only eight partners so far from which it can import medical records, and half of them only cover drugs (Medco, Walgreens, RXAmerica, and Longs Drug Stores). The others are Quest Diagnostics (for lab tests), MinuteClinic from CVS Caremark, and two hospitals: the Cleveland Clinic, and Beth Isreal Deaconness Medical Center. Even if your doctor sent you a file with your complete medical record, it is not clear that you could upload it (although you could enter it by hand). It also does not let you import data directly from medical devices, a feature that Microsoft’s HealthVault does have.  Google has also created specific in-depth pages for hundreds of health topics. When you enter a condition into your profile, there is a reference link to one of these pages where you can do more research. These are really helpful. They give a summary of the symptoms, treatment, causes, and prevention of different conditions; illustrations where appropriate, as well as links to related news, Google Groups, and search trends. Here is one for “Sciatica,”for instance.
HealthVault has its own list of partner sites (American Heart Association, CapMed, HealthMedia, Healthy Circles, Kryptiq, Peaksware, Pure Wellness,Sound Health Soultions, US Wellness, Podfitness, MyVitalStatistics, Limeade, and Active Health).  Google is planning to open up APIs to Google health to make it easy for other partners to tap into its health platform. And make no mistake about it. That is what this is: a platform. Health apps anyone?  Blogged with the Flock Browser Tue, 06 May 2008 07:04:00 +0200 FARANGI IN TOWN: Is this Pakistan? —Ella Rolfe Source: Daily Times Blogged with the Flock Browser Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:43:00 +0200 Late in 2007, our User Experience (UX) group—which does user interface design, visual design, user research, web development, and user interface writing—set out to articulate the principles that ought to guide Google designs worldwide. What are the fundamentals that all Google designers and researchers accept? Which approaches to design are particularly "Googley"? How can we encourage teams throughout Google to dream big and make smart design decisions? A small team gathered to discuss these questions and define the Googley Design Principles: 1. Focus on people—their lives, their work, their dreams.These UX principles flow naturally from the Ten things Google has found to be true and the UX group's stated mission: to design products that satisfy and delight our users. We described the principles as "Our Aspirations" for two reasons:
 Blogged with the Flock Browser Wed, 23 Apr 2008 15:54:00 +0200
If Windows XP does become the XO's operating system, then a substantial reworking of the laptop will be in order. Currently just 1GB of internal memory is available, and XP needs around 1.1GB. Sticking a larger SSD inside the machine will just pump up the price, making the XO even further out of reach of those who need it. Blogged with the Flock Browser Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:13:00 +0200
After a bit of looking, you’ll find, like me, that you’re familiar with several things that fall under the umbrella of Microformats, even if you’ve never heard the term used before. For example, there’s hCard, the microformat for contact information, and rel-nofollow, the microformat attribute designed to discourage splogging and comment spam. Other than those two subsets of microformats, I really haven’t had the opportunity to take advantage of microformats much (and frankly, since switching to GMail over a client side solution, I haven’t done much with hCard other than to synchronize a couple mobile devices). That’s not uncommon, and that’s probably why Sean gave a good example on how to take advantage of the feature from within the browser: It’s a useful feature, and an interesting upgrade I haven’t seen on any other search engines so far. It might just even inspire me to break out my old WinCE device and test it out. Blogged with the Flock Browser Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:11:00 +0200
Others trickled in over the following two weeks. But in the last hour a mass of users (all the rest, as far as I can tell) is reporting seeing it for the first time. I have a policy of accepting all friend requests on Facebook (although I am quickly reaching the 5,000 friend limit). Apparently a significant number of my friends decided to test Facebook Chat as it went live with yours truly. I’m trying to respond to the messages, but a response seems to lead inevitably to a conversation, and having 25 of those at once is a little challenging. Meanwhile, eight more pop in. Settle down, Facebook friends, and don’t be offended if I’m not jumping right in to the conversation. Except the guy who said his dad is an investment banker for Yahoo - please keep sending those messages. Blogged with the Flock Browser Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:56:00 +0200 Having already announced its plans to create a no-download version of its video chat tool as an integrated communication tool for users across Open Social participating networks, SightSpeed has finally been able to release its MySpace version of SightSpeed Light. Beyond just chatting via video, there are also public video posting options as well as video mail. Blogged with the Flock Browser Mon, 21 Apr 2008 15:00:00 +0200 Business Standard reports, quoting "Apple (NSDQ: AAPL) retail sources" that the iPhone will be launched in India the first week of September with Vodafone (NYSE: VOD). We have not been able to confirm this independently, so it's anybodys guess. However, readers might remember this story from BS about the Google Mobile Phone being launched in India. Ironically, that launch was supposed to happen in September as well (last year), and we know that never happened. Blogged with the Flock Browser Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:54:00 +0200 And so are we in a recession? You wouldn’t know it from the latest Forbes billionaires list which now boasts of 1,125 members, breaking four digits for the first time.
Interestingly, the Ambani family of the Indian company the Reliance group might have come in first on the richest list with a combined worth of $85 billion, except that the warring Ambani brothers Mukesh and Anil split up their fortune and showed up in fifth and sixth positions respectively, with individual net worths of $43B and $42B. And how about the youngest self made billionaire? Yes, you guessed it - it is 23 year old Facebook genius Mark Zukerberg who is worth $1.5 billion. Of course this number is based upon Microsoft paying $240 million last October for a 1.6% stake in the company, which pegged Facebook’s value at a whopping 15 billion. Not many believe this huge valuation, and the story going around is that Microsoft paid up not necessarily because it believes that the company is worth as much, but more to keep out those who might be thinking about taking over all of Facebook! While on unnamed suitors for Facebook, Google founders Larry Page and Sergei Brin made the top of the Forbes thirtysomething list with $19 billion apiece.. Blogged with the Flock Browser Fri, 11 Apr 2008 15:20:00 +0200 Posted by Tracy Chan, Product Manager, YouTube
I remember the first time a video I posted to YouTube cracked 100 views. I wasn't so much surprised as curious: Who were these people? How did they find this video? Where did they come from?  Insight gives the creators an inside look into the viewing trends of their videos on YouTube, and helps them to increase views and become more popular. Partners can evaluate metrics to better serve and understand their audiences, as well as increase ad revenue. And advertisers can study their metrics and successes to tailor their marketing -- both on and off the site -- and reach the right viewers. As a result, Insight turns YouTube into one of the world's largest focus groups. Blogged with the Flock Browser Sat, 15 Mar 2008 11:45:00 +0100  Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:52:00 +0100
Pietersen said he had been approached by the IPL but that no amount of money would tempt him away from England. "There's no way in this world I'd turn my back on England," he insisted. "I know there is interest and, yes, there have been offers, etc etc, but it's not something I'm particularly interested in."Blogged with the Flock Browser Sat, 01 Mar 2008 15:44:00 +0100 By Yousuf Nazar The new government’s economic managers may hold the key to its success or failure. Inflation, energy crisis, and stagnant exports would need immediate attention. There is a tendency to look at the economic issues in isolation from the politics but the economic policy would need heavy engagement from the new leadership. It will need to demonstrate that it has the capacity to take bold and imaginative decisions. The new leadership may not have the luxury of any honey moon period and is likely to face not only a rough ride but also the risk the bureaucracy or former World Bank types would drive its policy and ensure its failure. Pakistan’s major economic issues are usually cited as inflation, energy crisis and the growing current account deficit. This is deceptively simple. While energy crisis is a huge issue and no quick fixes are possible (except import of electricity and oil from the Gulf countries and Iran at favourable terms), inflation and current account deficit represent symptoms not causes. Low agricultural productivity, narrow tax and export bases, trade policy distortions, and big government non-development expenditure are among the major reasons why the government has not been able to address these issues for a number of years. While the media, government and the opposition talk a lot about inflation, there is little discussion on its causes and remedies. One reason is the absence of quality research in our business and academic institutions and lack of meaningful and substantive debate in public forums. Take, for instance, the issue of food inflation. The last year’s GDP growth of 7 per cent was helped by a 5 per cent growth in the agriculture sector, which accounted for 20.9 per cent of the GDP. However, the growth in the crops sub-sector (which accounts for only 47.9 per cent of the agriculture sector, the livestock’s share being 49.6 per cent) masks the fact that the (i) 7.5 per cent growth in major crops was from a low base as prior year’s growth was negative and (ii) the minor crops grew by only 1.1 per cent during 2006-07. However, going beyond a single year’s production data, the last seven years’ record indicates more fundamental and structural problems with the growth trend of the agricultural crops. The production of cotton, wheat, rice and sugarcane grew by a yearly average of 1.63, 1.23, 0.59 and 1.87 per cent respectively during the seven years from 1999-2000 to 2006-2007 and was below the estimated average population growth of 2.2 per cent or so during this period. An examination of a sample of the production of other agricultural produce reveals similarly low and volatile rates of growth. The government needs to pay immediate attention to food crops’ production. The international price of rice and wheat has doubled in the past year while freight costs have also increased sharply on the back of rising fuel prices. International food prices are rising on a mix of strong demand from developing countries; a rising global population; more frequent floods and droughts caused by climate change; and the biofuel industry’s appetite for grains, analysts say. Soyabean prices on February 22nd hit an all-time high of $14.22 a bushel while corn prices jumped to a fresh 12-year high of $5.25 a bushel. Given the soaring food prices worldwide, the most immediate decision it may have to make is about the issue of procurement price of the next wheat crop. The caretakers have fixed a price of Rs. 510 per/40 kg but this is too low and should be at least Rs. 700/kg otherwise this may not be enough to encourage the farmers to grow more wheat due to escalating prices of food crops and inputs. Another issue is rural poverty - an area where the PPP would need to deliver to keep its vote bank. It is a common misconception that the improvement in agriculture alone holds the key to lift rural population out of poverty. Not entirely! Let see why? Rural population accounts for 70 per cent of the total but 80 per cent of Pakistan’s poor live in the rural years. Agriculture (including both crop and livestock production) accounts for only about 40 percent of rural household incomes and the poorest 40 percent of rural households derive only about 30 percent of their total income from agriculture. The new government must undertake massive infrastructure, particularly in water and transportation, investments to benefit the rural areas besides taking steps to solve high quality seeds, fertilizer and related issues to attack poverty and increase incomes in rural areas. A key to improving crop yields would be modern technology with a special emphasis on growing high-yielding varieties of grains by encouraging free flow of technology transfers and investments from countries such as the United States, China, India and Mexico. Massive infrastructure investments in the rural areas may sound counter-intuitive to some but the fact is fiscal deficits are not necessarily harmful. However, they can be deadly if they are used to finance wasteful spending rather than productive investments. We have been guilty of big government and wasteful spending. This brings us to the most immediate and pressing issues of inflation and fiscal deficit. The situation calls for a holistic approach involving a comprehensive reorientation of fiscal and trade policies from protectionism and big government to fair competition and less government in areas where it is least effective or non-productive. In simple words, the government (i) must allow duty free import of all food items to lower inflation as a short-term measure and make increase in crop yields a top priority, (ii) must increase taxes on non-productive areas (such as imports of cars) or those not under the tax net to reduce deficit, (iii) cut taxes on productive areas (e.g. manufacturing) to boost production and exports, and (iv) eliminate guaranteed profits to oil companies to lower or minimise increase in oil prices, and lastly but no less importantly (v) undertake rightsizing of the government bureaucracy. Fiscal incentives and lower energy costs would give a shot in the arm to the industry to increase exports and removal of restrictions/lowering of tariffs on food imports would help lower overall inflation through more supplies and lower costs. Cutting the overall deficit through new (or higher) taxes would also lower government borrowings and interest rates but that effect will not be felt until after 18 months or so. The areas where tax policy needs a review include: (a) a cut in income tax rates for the publicly listed companies (excluding financial sector) to 15%, (b) increase in income tax rates for the banking industry, (c) imposition of income tax on trading income from stocks (d) imposition of tax on capital gains from land and property, (e) withdrawal of blanket exemption to all income from agriculture regardless of income level, etc. The government should also rationalize payroll and sales taxes for publicly listed companies because levies such as Employees Old Age Benefits do not profit the workers. Instead, the government should encourage stock options and direct cash compensation to allow the benefits to flow through to the employees. In this respect, the government while doing away with schemes that are de-facto indirect taxes, should increase the minimum wage to Rs. 8000 per month. In the arena of monetary and foreign exchange rate policies, the government needs to replace borrowings from the State Bank with market instruments, allow the exchange to be determined by market forces and phase-out subsidized lending schemes prone to abuse. Tue, 26 Feb 2008 11:06:00 +0100  NEW YORK: US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph Biden said that Musharraf would quit the office peacefully. Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:19:00 +0100  A brief interview with Fortune Magazine reveals that Google co-founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page, along with CEO Eric Schmidt, made a pact shortly before the company’s 2004 IPO to stay at the company for at least 20 years. That means that we’ve got at least 16 years left with the trio leading what is currently the world’s biggest search engine. It also means that they are firmly committed to seeing through Google’s many initiatives outside of search, such as wireless, print advertising, Google Knol, and countless other projects currently sitting in Google Labs. So, what will the company look like in 2024 when the top Googlers start thinking about retirement? Pontificate in the comments. [Source: Mashable] Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:30:00 +0100
On Tuesday, Harbhajan had a charge of racially abusing Australia's Andrew Symonds downgraded to abusive language by the International Cricket Council. "We have told the players not to get into altercations," said Indian cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah. India play Australia in a Twenty20 match on Friday ahead of a one-day series, which also includes Sri Lanka. Spinner Harbhajan had been found guilty of calling Symonds, Australia's only mixed-race player, a "monkey" during the second Test in Sydney this month. However, Tuesday's appeal hearing ruled there was not enough evidence to convict Harbhajan of racial abuse, but instead charged him with using abusive language. Harbhajan pleaded guilty and consequently escaped a three-match suspension but he was fined half his match fee. New Zealand judge Justice John Hansen, who considered the appeal, indicated that even if Harbhajan's accusers had proved he had made the racist remark, a ban would not have been upheld. Hansen felt Symonds' sledging of Harbhajan had effectively removed his right to be offended. Shah now expects the matter to be finished and is confident the controversy will not affect future India-Australia cricketing ties. "I don't think this will have any repercussions for the future," he said. "So many such incidents have happened in the past, there have been heated exchanges in the middle and teams have gone on from there." Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:29:00 +0100
Prime Minister Stephen Harper is demanding that a further 1,000 Nato troops be sent to Kandahar province where Canada's 2,500 troops are based. Canada's current mission in Afghanistan is set to expire in February 2009. Seventy-eight Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002. An independent report into Canada's mission issued last week recommended that Canadian troops remain in Afghanistan indefinitely. However, it also said that Canada should pull out if it did not get the support it needs. 'Additional resources' A spokeswoman for Mr Harper said the prime minister had told Mr Bush that "unless Canada was able to meet the conditions specified by the [report] of additional combat troops and equipment from Nato allies, Canada's mission in Afghanistan will not be extended". White House press secretary Tony Fratto said that in reply, the president had "noted the deployment of 3,200 additional US marines to Afghanistan".
It is not clear if the additional US troops meet Canada's requirements for more troops in Kandahar. Nato spokesman James Appathurai said the alliance would discuss Canada's demand at a meeting next month, and would try to find the additional troops. "Nato thinks Canada is doing a very important and valuable job in Kandahar. We hope Canada will find a way to extend the mission," he said. There was a long-standing request to Nato countries to provide additional resources, he added. Canadian troops are engaged in counter-insurgency operations against the Taleban, alongside mainly British, US and Dutch troops. Mr Harper has always supported extending Canada's military mission. To do so beyond the 2009 deadline would require the approval of parliament. But the Liberals and other opposition parties all want Canada's direct combat role to come to an end. Fri, 01 Feb 2008 11:27:00 +0100 Unidentified gunmen have opened fire on the Israeli embassy in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, wounding at least one person, officials have said. The Israeli ambassador said the wounded man was a Mauritanian who lived nearby, and that no embassy staff had been hurt in the overnight shooting in the city. Witnesses said the six attackers had traded fire with embassy guards before shouting "God is great" as they fled. Thu, 31 Jan 2008 19:00:00 +0100
Google and Facebook are fighting hard to hire this years crop of computer science graduates, we’ve heard, and ground zero is Stanford. Most of the class of 2008 already have job offers even though graduation is months away. Last year, salaries of up to $70,000 were common for the best students. This year, Facebook is said to be offering $92,000, and Google has increased some offers to $95,000 to get their share of graduates. Students with a Masters degree in Computer Science are being offered as much as $130,000 for associate product manager jobs at Google.Apparently the popular Facebook Applications class is getting a lot of attention from other startups, too. Slide and RockYou are both recruiting hard. One source says that RockYou is approaching students and telling them they aren’t hiring them, they’re “acquiring” their “companies” and will let them continue to work on their applications after graduation. That is, of course, some serious smoke blowing - any code they’ve been working on in the class is likely to be shelved by RockYou. Still, it’s a great way to recruit by making these students feel like they’re entering into some kind of an M&A transaction. Something tells me the Pitzer students who’ve enrolled in the Learning From YouTube class aren’t getting the same types of offers.Source: TechCrunch.com Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:58:00 +0100 [Following is the Interview of Imran Khan with Amy Goodman of Democracy Now TV, you can also watch Real Video Stream or listen Real Audio Stream or just MP3 Download ] Legendary Cricket star turned politician Imran Khan is a Pakistani opposition figure who is boycotting the upcoming elections and calling for an end to military action in the embattled border regions of Pakistan. The staunch critic of Musharraf is the founder and chair of the movement for justice party known in Pakistan as "Tehreek e-Insaaf”. I sat down with Imran Khan on Sunday here in New York after he had just been in Washington visiting congressional leaders. I asked him why he was here. IMRAN KHAN Well, basically, the Pakistani- American community here, they invited me here to explain the other point of view. There’s a government point of view, Musharraf’s government point of view, and then there’s the other point of view. And they wanted me to explain it to the U.S. lawmakers, to make them understand two things. One is, that they should not back one man, a dictator, against the forces of democracy of Pakistan. Secondly, that a new strategy is needed in this war on terror because at the moment, terrorism is spreading with leaps and bounds. And unless we have a new strategy, the existence of Pakistan is at stake. AMY GOODMAN Why is the United States relevant to that? IMRAN KHAN Well, for two reasons. One, that the U.S. is involved in Afghanistan. Secondly, the U.S. feels Musharraf is the best bet, the US Administration they feel that hes their best bet in fighting terrorism. AMY GOODMAN Your feeling about that? IMRAN KHAN I think it is the biggest mistake. It is the biggest blunder the U.S. is committing. Because you could only win the war on terror if you mobilize the people and exclude the terrorists. A famous saying of the Chairman Mao, that a terrorist should be a fish out of water rather than fish in water. In other words, if people from whom the terrorists are operating from, if they start considering them as freedom fighters, the war is going to be lost. They should be the hearts and minds of those people should be won, so they too should consider them terrorists. So that is the basic premise. And, at the moment, unfortunately, the battle for hearts and minds is being lost. And the terrorists of 9/11 are gaining ground because people are joining them, the way the war is being fought. AMY GOODMAN Who do you see are the terrorists, Imran Khan? IMRAN KHAN Well, the terrorists really were the al-Qaeda. Taliban were really just religious fundamentalists. They were not terrorists. And they inherited Osama bin Laden. Al-Qaeda was already in Afghanistan when The Taliban took power. The best strategy should have been, was to isolate al-Qaeda. But, by attacking the Taliban, of course, then backing a minority which was the Northern Alliance and making them takeover Afghanistan and pushing the Taliban not just did they push the Taliban towards al-Qaeda, but to push—but the Pushtuns who basically or been pushed in that direction also. What should of been a war against al-Qaeda, is evolving into a war against the Pustuns, and if its a war against the Pushtuns, then I’m afraid it is a never- ending war. Because, you know there are millions of Pustuns on both sides of the border, Pakistan and Afghanistan. And unless a change of strategy takes place, I’m afraid not only is the U.S. stuck in a quagmire, but in Pakistan, as I said, the country itself is going to be destabilized, is being destabilized. AMY GOODMAN The assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the day it happened, where were you? IMRAN KHAN Well that day I had gone to India to attend a wedding. And as I landed in India,and it was only for a day, as I landed there, I found out that she had been assassinated. AMY GOODMAN You knew her well? IMRAN KHAN We went to university together, and we were friends until she became Prime Minister. AMY GOODMAN Where in university? IMRAN KHAN At Oxford University in England. And so it was a huge shock, not just to me, but the whole country. I’ve never seen such grief in the country. AMY GOODMAN Her significance? And what was your assessment of her role in Pakistan? Prime Minster twice. IMRAN KHAN Very significant because she represented one of the two major parties in Pakistan. I did not agree with her politics because I felt that she wanted U.S. backing to get into power in Pakistan. the U.S. did back her. And then she was prepared to do a power-sharing deal with the military dictator, who is Musharraf. And a U.S.-brokered power deal where she would share power with military dictator and abandon people like us who were fighting for democracy in Pakistan. So, I did not agree with her tactics. AMY GOODMAN Why was the U.S. involved with that? Why did she work with the US? IMRAN KHAN Well, the U.S. was involved with her because they felt she was a moderate or liberal political force which would back Musharraf who was their man to fight terrorism. And she needed the U.S. and she needed Musharraf. The reason, in my opinion, in fact the opinion of most people in Pakistan, she needed them because she was stuck in corruption cases, in Switzerland and in Spain. And she needed Musharraf to be on her side so of the Pakistan government would not pursue these corruption cases. AMY GOODMAN Who do you think killed Benazir Bhutto? IMRAN KHAN Very difficult to say. It could have been any of the various groups that are now fighting the Pakistan army now. Benazir Bhutto had specifically stated that she would fight against al-Qaeda, against Taliban, against the fundamentalists. So, clearly, all of those groups – and this is not one group now, there are various groups—which is why I think the way the war on terrorism is being fought is actually creating more terrorists. So, there are various groups now, and all of them would have been gunning for her. And, secondly, it could have also been the stakeholders, people who have been in power for five years who were threatened by her. And, that is why an independent inquiry is needed. AMY GOODMAN Meeting Musharraf? IMRAN KHAN Well, Musharraf and the political forces supporters of Musharraf. AMY GOODMAN At that time of the assassination, it has now come out that the United States quietly approved $500 million worth of fighter jets to go to Pakistan, Lockheed Martin jets. What do you think of that? IMRAN KHAN One the reason why the U.S. is supporting the Pakistan army is because. the Pakistan army is now the front- line army in fighting not just Taliban, but the people of the tribal area who now are moving now towards the Taliban because the Pakistan army went to the tribal area. And used the tactics which have alienated the people-like bombing from helicopter gunship, fighter jets bombing villages, women and children dying. And so the whole tribes is turning against the Pakistan army. The way of the war is on terror is being fought, its pushing more people on the other side. So, the U.S. is supporting the Pakistani army because it is basically started fighting the U.S. war on terror. When it is suppling it equipment, It thinks it is buying it equipment, because it thinks doing the job—if the Pakistan army was not doing it, the U.S. army would have to do it. AMY GOODMAN In fact, the US has talked about expanding its presence in Pakistan but most recently, announcing plans to expand military training and equipment to Pakistan in a $2 billion package over the next five years. That would seek to boost Pakistan’s intelligence service, its air, and ground power. IMRAN KHAN Well, at the moment, and not many people in the U.S. know, that the Pakistan army has lost most soldiers then U.S. army in Iraq and Afghanistan put together. The sort of casualties the Pakistani Army is taking is unsustainable. In my opinion its not long before there is some unrest within the army. Already, there are stories already bought soldiers refusing to fight. And, so the army is fighting its own people now, not terrorists of 9/11. When the Pakistan army went into the tribal area, it broke the treaty with the people of tribal area, which was signed in 1948, that the Pakistan army would not go there. So, by going in there, they’re virtually fighting people in the tribal area, fighting their own people, and they are sustaining heavy casualties. AMY GOODMAN Who is the army, the Pakistani Army? Who are the soldiers? Where do they come from? IMRAN KHAN Well, there are mainly Pushtuns, who are from the Northwest Frontier Province, and the Punjabis, which come from the Punjabi Province. Actually the Punjabis are the predominant force, and the Pushtuns, are second in number. They would be the second highest in numbers there. AMY GOODMAN Do you see U.S. military aid shoring up Musharraf? IMRAN KHAN Well the US are propping up Musharaff. And thats why I came here, to make them understand this is a tried and failed policy. AMY GOODMAN Do you think the U.S. should cut off aid to Pakistan under Musharraf? IMRAN KHAN The U.S. should back the people of Pakistan. Whenever, if ever this war is going to be won, it will be won by mobilizing the people of the country.You back the people, by backing the democratic process, not a military dictator.—and you back the democratic process right now in Pakistan by insisting on free and fair elections with the reinstatement of the judges sacked by Musharraf. Sixty perfect of our judges have been sacked by him. We want them reinstated. And, under them, free and fair elections. Which ever government comes into power, a genuine democratic government, it will be the best bet for the U.S. to work with that to fight terrorism. AMY GOODMAN You’re boycotting the February 18 elections, why? IMRAN KHAN Because, how can you fight elections when your Supreme Court Chief Justice is under house arrest? Sixty perfect of the Superior Court judges have been sacked. And Musharaff has his own judges, his own election commission, his own administration, his own caretaker government – how can you have free and fair elections under this situation? AMY GOODMAN Other opposition parties are going forward, for example Nawaz Sharif, who had originally said he was going to boycott earlier elections, is participating. IMRAN KHAN Well, more less all political parties have boycotted the elections after November 3 emergency, when Musharaff sacked sixty percent of our judiciary. Unfortunately, Benazir decided to fight the elections, the People’s Party. When she decided to fight the elections-– AMY GOODMAN You mean to participate in them? IMRAN KHAN She participated in the elections. And this was the American Administration pressure, and this was to save Musharaff. If she had also boycotted the election that was the end of Musharraf. But she actually gave him a life line by deciding to participate. And then others followed in because they feared they would be left out. AMY GOODMAN Pakistanis opposition leader, Imran Khan, we will come back to this interview and a minute. [break] AMY GOODMAN: We return to my conversation with Pakistani opposition leader Imran Khan. He was arrested by Musharraf last year. I asked him why he moved from being a cricket star to a politician. He could well be prime minister or president of Pakistan one day. This was Imran Khan’s response. IMRAN KHAN: Well, simply because I discovered that in our country there’s a tiny elite who has usurped the resources of the whole country. The whole country panders to this tiny elite. By the way, I belong to them. And the rich are getting richer. And the vast majority of people don’t even have basic rights. And so, I felt that the way to fight for rights is—and that’s why we were called Movement for Justice—we felt that we have to have an independent justice system. Only when you have an independent justice system is there a check and balance on the executive, because what is happening is, the elite has basically captured the government. Whether it’s one party or the other, basically the interests are the same. And so, they come into government, and they plunder the country. They usurp the resources. And so, common people are deprived of all the basic needs: health, education, water, housing, justice. And the only way we can check this elite and have even free and fair elections, even have prosperity, if our justice system is independent. So that’s what my movement was eleven years ago. AMY GOODMAN: You’ve been in this country for a few days now. What do you think of the U.S. media here and its portrayal of Pakistan, your country? IMRAN KHAN: Well, unfortunately, you know, they do not have—this whole war on complex—on terrorism is extremely complex. This—what they call terrorism and all the people they think are terrorists, not all of them have anything to do with al-Qaeda or even Taliban. And here, people seem to think that there is one man who is fighting this war on terror, and so they should support one man. And if he went, the country would implode, and the Pakistan nukes would fall in the hands of the extremists. And so, this sort of a fear is prevailing in the U.S., actually not understanding the ground realities of the country. The realities are, whenever we’ve had elections, even religious parties, not all of them are extreme, all of them have been marginalized. People always vote for centrist parties in Pakistan. So people are politically very aware. They don’t buy this whole thing about people trying to use religion to come into power. So, you know, even our elite underestimates the population of Pakistan. And secondly, the different strands of terrorism, all of them have different origins and they have different solutions. You cannot all put them in one basket. If you do that, the danger is they morph into one movement, so that you all then have a common enemy. So it has to be dealt very carefully, and military is not the solution. Political dialogue is the solution to isolate the terrorists. AMY GOODMAN: Most of the nineteen who flew those four planes were from Saudi Arabia. But Saudi Arabia is a close ally of the United States, even also the royal family very close to the Bush family and the United States. Nawaz Sharif, another opposition leader in Pakistan, was exiled in Saudi Arabia. What is your assessment of Saudi Arabia? IMRAN KHAN: Well, you know, he is a Democrat, so when you ask me this question, I would always say that the problem—basic problem with the Muslim world is we don’t have democracy. And Saudi Arabia is one of those countries that, too, doesn’t have democracy. And sadly, the reason always given is that, you know, we are not ready for democracy, you know, our people are not ready for democracy. It’s like saying our people are not ready for freedom, that they like being slaves. You know, it’s just—the forces of status quo always have used various excuses to deprive people of their freedom. And the problem with the U.S. is that, unfortunately, it always ends up backing military dictators or dictators at the expense of the people and unnecessarily alienates the people. I mean, when I spoke to the lawmakers, I asked them a simple question. I said, look, why would people in Pakistan—if you have a democratic government in Pakistan and back a democratic government which comes through free and fair elections, well, you do not pick horses. I mean, the U.S. backed Benazir Bhutto. I thought that was absolutely wrong. They should not interfere in the domestic politics, because if they back one party, then everyone else goes against the U.S. So if a government comes through free and fair elections, why would it not want to work with the U.S.? It’s bizarre. I don’t understand this. Why would a democratic elected government in Pakistan not want to work with the only superpower in the world? I mean, after all, we have to—if I’m a Democrat, I have to go to the people to get their vote, and if I don’t bring them prosperity, they’re not going to vote for me. And if I pick a fight with the only superpower, how am I going to help my people? So it’s so bizarre that they end up sort of picking one dictator, and this is our man, at the expense of and alienating the people. AMY GOODMAN: Osama bin Laden, believed to be in the northwest frontier of Pakistan. Your thoughts? IMRAN KHAN: How can anyone say where he is? I mean, I don’t understand. This is all pure speculation. He could be anywhere in the mountains of Afghanistan. I don’t think people have any idea of what this whole region is. These are wild mountainous countries. There is no border. There’s a 1,500-mile border with Afghanistan and Pakistan. There is no border, there is no check post. There are no—you know, people have always crossed from one side to the other. The same Pashtun tribes, half of the tribe would be on one side of the Durand Line or the border, half is on the other side. How can anyone say what is going on where? And so, this is pure speculation that he’s on the Pakistan side of the border. He could easily be on the other side of the border. AMY GOODMAN: You’re here in the midst of the presidential race. Senator Barack Obama just won in South Carolina. In the debates, he talked about authorizing the U.S. military to carry out unilateral attacks inside Pakistan without the support of the Pakistani government if there was actionable intelligence against al-Qaeda. IMRAN KHAN: Well, OK. The U.S. has already conducted attacks inside Pakistan, and I’ll give you one example. They attacked this place where they thought some Taliban commander was hiding, a seminary, a madrasah. They ended up killing eighty-three people in this bomb attack in Bajaur. Out of those eighty-three, sixty were children below the age of eighteen. As a result of that attack, there was an immediate suicide bombing. A bomber walked into a camp, Pakistan military camp, killed fifty soldiers. Now, if the U.S. gets it wrong and does these attacks, which it has got wrong several times, killed innocent people, all that is happening is that those people, because the U.S. is just doing aerial bombing, those people then attack the Pakistan army. And as I said, the casualties that the Pakistan army is taking, it’s unsustainable. You know, they are having forty, fifty soldiers dying a day. When the Pakistan army—when innocent people are killed among the Pashtuns, they take revenge against the Pakistan army. They have done suicide bombings inside the GHQ in Rawalpindi. They’ve gone inside the commando base and blown up soldiers. So if the U.S. has this intelligence, surely if the Pakistan army is taking these casualties, they should take them into confidence and tell them to deal with the situation, rather than taking unilateral action and then most of the time getting it wrong, ending up alienating the people and then people taking their anger out on the Pakistan army. AMY GOODMAN: There has been polls done in Pakistan that show a serious amount of support for Osama bin Laden, that he is actually more popular than President Bush. IMRAN KHAN: Well, you know, this is the issue. Why is it the case? On 9/11, when everyone in Pakistan from across the political spectrum stood with the U.S., why is it now that the situation has come to this, that basically when you say support for Osama bin Laden, it basically means anti-American? At the moment, anti-Americanism is growing in Pakistan. This should be, you know, carefully tackled. It’s not a black and white thing that you are with us or against us. You know, they hate us; why do they hate us? You should find out: why is this alienation going on? And if all the root causes are explored, one of them would be that the country is backing an unpopular military dictator against the people of Pakistan, against the democratic forces in Pakistan. And all those people who are turning against Musharraf are also turning against the U.S. AMY GOODMAN: I mean, hasn’t Pakistan, the ISI, the intelligence services, been working closely with the Taliban, shoring them up, building them up in Afghanistan for many years? IMRAN KHAN: Well, if you go a little further back, then ISI and CIA were shoring up the Afghan Mujahideen. In fact, they trained the Afghan Mujahideen. The whole of ’80s, the people who were being trained in acts of terrorism against the Soviets were the Mujahideen, who most of them later on became Taliban. So the relationship actually goes right back to the ’80s, you know, when the CIA also had relationship with them. Then, of course, when the Soviets left, the Americans basically abandoned Afghanistan, and chaos prevailed, where the warlords took over various parts of the country. And the movement of Taliban was a genuine popular movement started against these warlords. And then, unfortunately, this movement then degenerated into a total Islamic fundamentalist. AMY GOODMAN: Have you ever considered a power-sharing agreement with Musharraf? IMRAN KHAN: Absolutely not, because that would be negating a democracy. Remember, Pakistan—you know, when we talk about Pakistan’s democracy, you should only look at India, because our history is similar to India. We were the same country, separated in 1947. And we came—and Pakistan came into being through democracy, through a vote. And people in Pakistan are quite prepared for democracy. There’s a level of maturity that prevails amongst the people. Our problem has been, unfortunately, because of this threat of a neighbor seven times the size, we became a security state, and army became very strong and actually kept interfering in the democratic process. So the way to go about bringing democracy to Pakistan is free and fair elections, independent justice system, not power-sharing with a military dictator. AMY GOODMAN: Do you think Musharraf should resign? IMRAN KHAN: He should have resigned a year back, but he certainly—if we want stability in Pakistan, he must go. He is now the cause of instability in the country. He is attracting terrorism. The people who were not terrorists before, because of him, are now picking up the gun, because they’re losing faith in the democratic process. When you have rigged elections, when people feel that through their vote they cannot change the system, there are eventually going to pick up the gun. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 22:37:00 +0100
He said Libya would instead look towards Europe and the Arab world. Col Gaddafi was speaking just ahead of the opening of a summit of African Union leaders in Ethiopia on Thursday. He also said Libya was prepared to move its African investments, which he said amounted to more than $5bn (£2.5bn), to Arab and Mediterranean states. The Libyan leader has for a long time advocated the creation of a United States of Africa - with its government including a foreign minister, defence minister and minister of trade. The AU, which succeeded the Organisation of African Unity in 2002, was conceived by Mr Gaddafi as part of this vision. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:53:00 +0100 MIAMI, Jan 29 (Reuters) Senator John McCain won the Florida Republican primary Tuesday, defeating rival Mitt Romney in a close contest that gave momentum to his effort to become the party's U.S. presidential candidate, U.S. media projected. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 21:50:00 +0100 CAIRO, Jan 30 (AFP): Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks with Iran's parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel on Wednesday, the first such high-level meeting since the two nations froze ties almost 30 years ago. Haddad-Adel hailed his “very good” meeting with Mubarak, whom he said had insisted on rejecting any pressure from Washington aimed at stopping the resumption of diplomatic ties. “The fact that I'm here is proof of the improvement in relations between the Islamic republic and Egypt,” Haddad-Adel told journalists. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:06:00 +0100   Source: The News By Rauf Klasra LONDON: Imran Khan and Jemima Khan appeared together in public for the first time since they divorced in 2004 to lead a big protest rally of Pakistanis in front of 10 Downing Street where President Pervez Musharraf was meeting British Prime Minister Gordon Brown here on Monday. The high profile divorced couple stood side by side in front of the prime minister’s office for some time, where a large number of overseas Pakistanis had gathered to protest the arrival of Musharraf in London and his “anti-democratic” steps in Pakistan. Many believe here that this was one of the biggest rallies of overseas Pakistanis in the recent days who had gathered to protest against Musharraf’s policies. The protesters kept on chanting slogans against Musharraf for more than two hours without any break. The intensity of the slogans was so powerful that these could be heard from a long distance. The PPP and PML-N activists were also present there in a large number. The international and Pakistani media was present there to cover this event. But, the most striking attraction in the whole demonstration was the presenceEl of Imran and Jemima. Both Imran and Jamima stood in the front row facing the office of Prime Minister Brown. However, Imran left the venue after staying there for some time. While Jemima stayed back with the demonstrators and kept on shouting slogans against Musharraf’s action against the civil society, democracy, judiciary and lawyers. In the past, Jamima Khan had been participating in such demonstrations outside 10-Downing Street and Pakistan High Commission when General Pervez Musharraf imposed emergency in the country on November 3 last year. Jemima had even participated in the demonstrations which were held to protest the arrest of Imran Khan in Pakistan. She also used to bring her two sons along with her to push for the demand of release of their father. But, on Monday, both Qasim and Suleman were missing from the scene of demonstration. A small number of people carrying the pictures of President Musharraf were also present outside the 10-Downing Street there to appreciate his policies in Pakistan. They were also chanting slogans in favour of Musharraf and welcomed his arrival in London. Their presence created a big stir in the law enforcement agencies who feared that both the groups of Pakistanis might clash with each other. A heavy contingent of police force was deployed between the two groups After chanting slogans against Musharraf, the anti-govt demonstrators turn their focus to the pro-Musharraf people and raised slogans against them for supporting the president. The overseas Pakistanis were also carrying the pictures of Benazir Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharif. A large number of Baloch nationalists were also present there, carrying anti-Musharraf placards. The protesters were also carrying placards inscribed with slogans like “restore the judges”, “Musharraf should go”, “restore democracy in Pakistan” and “respect the human rights of the people of Pakistan”. The demonstrators kept sloganeering till Musharraf left the office of the prime minister around 2 pm. Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:59:00 +0100
The Islamist-rooted governing AK Party and the nationalist MHP say it is an issue of human rights and freedoms. The two parties have enough votes in parliament to overturn the constitutional ban on headscarves. A strict headscarf ban has been in force in universities since 1997. It was ordered by the secularist military. The issue is highly controversial in a mainly Muslim country whose secular elite - including the powerful military - sees the headscarf as a symbol of political Islam, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford in Istanbul says. The move to ease the ban has been criticised by judges and university officials. read more |
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The middle classes, especially the young, do not have a sense of belonging to Pakistan; do not care for anything it produces; would rather display their status by seeing an expensive, over-hyped, big-budget Bollywood film than show any interest in things Pakistani
The founder and chairman of OLPC has admitted that only using open-source software has not been good for the project. Just a day after the resignation of group president Walter Bender, Nicholas Negroponte admitted that the choice of the Sugar operating system has hit the XO laptop project in two places: usability; and popularity.
We hope Canada will find a way to extend the mission 
