bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Ancestral voices
Authors: Aygi Gennady
Published: October 2007

Irena Maryniak talks to Chuvash poet Gennady Aygi (b 1934)
Blueprint for an Islamic press
Authors: Haeri Safa
Published: October 2007

'Un-Islamic' dissent was crushed long ago. Now, with widespread popular discontent, the Iranian Ministry of Islamic Guidance is turning on the Islamic press in an attempt to stifle criticism from within its ranks
Sweet home of liberty
Authors: Chomsky Noam
Published: October 2007

A tale of justice denied, rights violated and darkness at the heart of the enlightenment
Hi-tech terror
Authors: Hesse Genevieve
Published: October 2007

Threats from neo-Nazis are forcing German journalists to choose self-defence or self-censorship
Fortress Europe
Authors: Islam Shada
Published: October 2007

The term used only a few years ago to describe the European Union's protectionist strategy to keep out competing foreign goods and services, has become charged with a more sinister meaning
Letting the cat out
Authors: Allott Anna J.
Published: October 2007

Complicated stories of treacherous machinations and conspiracies by the army
Unending war
Authors: Smith Martin
Published: October 2007

For 50 years, Burma's ethnic groups have fought army and government for recognition of their language, culture and ancient learning
Apartheid and censorship
Authors: Gordimer Nadine
Published: October 2007

Written in 1972 following the South African government's plans to abolish the right of appeal against decisions brought by the State Publications Control Board
They stoop to silence
Authors: Hite Shere
Published: October 2007

Censorship by any other name spells silence for those who offend the canons of the establishment, especially if they are women
Chinese shadows
Authors: Fawthrop Tom
Published: October 2007

New communications technology played a vital role in overthrowing Thailand's military government. No wonder the Chinese are getting nervous
Media regulation and democracy
Authors: Hollick Clive
Published: October 2007

Contrary to the general view, regulation can be the defender of free speech and the forces of the marketplace the chief threat to a plurality of view. But new technologies demand new forms of regulation and government intervention may be the best way of ensuring the plurality of voice on which democracy depends
One death more or less
Authors: Hyman Anthony
Published: October 2007

The young Kabul-based BBC reporter, Mirwais Jalil, was kidnapped and brutally murdered by gunman on a road close to Kabul on 29 July. He was returning from an interview Gulbuddin Hekmatyar had given to Italian journalist Ettore Mo for the Italian daily Corriere della Sera
Press intimidation
Authors: Maja-Pearce Adewale
Published: October 2007

Three years in power has dampened the government's initial enthusiasm for free speech. With elections looming, things can only get worse
No news is bad news
Authors: Chanel Ives Marie
Published: October 2007

Rumours of intervention abound but the military does its best to ensure that the facts don't get out
Death or exile
Authors: Lemsine Aïcha
Published: October 2007

‘I'm 17 and I don't want to die. I dream of becoming an Olympic champion like Hassiba Boulmerka. I also dream of taking flying lessons and becoming a captain… Today, they ban even our dreams’
The rape of fiction
Authors: Collen Lindsey
Published: October 2007

On 7 December 1993, four days after The Rape of Sita was published in Mauritius, it was plunged into a strange limbo: driven from circulation by Hindu fundamentalists, banned by the government, and temporarily withdrawn by me and my publishers
Auntie gets a whiff of glasnost
Authors: Miller David
Published: October 2007

A dismal retrospective of 25 years of television coverage of Northern Ireland had a happy ending: the IRA renounced violence and the government lifted the broadcasting ban
Open letter to Yasser Arafat
Authors: Eïd Bassem
Published: October 2007

A Palestinian journalist warns the PLO leader against setting a dangerous precedent
Are there any journalists left in Rwanda?
Authors: Deguine Hervé , Ménard Robert
Published: October 2007

The long list of journalists killed since the massacres began on 6 April, puts a question mark over the future of the Rwandan media
Propaganda going cheap
Authors: Hesse Geneviève
Published: October 2007

Germany's taxpayers finance the government's election campaign, and the journalists fall for it
Media, market and democracy
Authors: Webb W.L.
Published: October 2007

Getting the press out of the hands of state and Party and into private ownership was a key priority of post-Wall governments. That was the easy part: since then, things have not gone entirely as expected
Freedom and garbage
Authors: Klima Ivan
Published: October 2007

The profound transformation in the former Soviet Union, in central and eastern Europe, has not only affected political and economic conditions, it has made deep inroads on the way of life, the value system and the culture of these countries
A more civil world
Authors: Garton Ash Timothy
Published: October 2007

Five years on, the author of We the People takes another look at his account of the revolution of '89 and asks what has gone right — and what has gone wrong
Idols and demons
Authors: Maryniak Irena
Published: October 2007

Shaken by the loss of its old enemy, and its own reduced status, the Catholic Church moves back into authoritarian mode
The greatest Pole of all time
Authors: Stanosz Barbara
Published: October 2007

The choices people make in personal and collective behaviour depend on their perception of their own interests or values
The press in Nigeria
Authors: Maja-Pearce Adewale
Published: October 2007

This report was funded by the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA) and the Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD). The full report will be available from Index in January 1995.
Life before article 154
Authors: Ivnev Ryurik
Published: October 2007

A long-hidden diary reveals the rich sensual life of Russia's intelligentsia before Stalin's homosexual purge
Letting go
Authors: Pope Nicole
Published: October 2007

Turkey has a choice: more democracy; more army?
Ayten's story
Authors: Ayten
Published: October 2007

'If you ask my age, I'll tell you I'm only two-and-a-half years old because I've only been living my life as I wanted it for this brief period. Before this new childhood, there were 25 long years of darkness'
Journey to Haymana
Authors: Gerger Haluk
Published: October 2007

In 1980, Index visited an academic fallen foul of the new military government. In 1994, he sent us a letter from prison
A record year
Authors: Ménard Robert
Published: October 2007

1994 was a record year: 102 journalists were killed, 135 languish in jail. Algeria and Rwanda head the lists, but others are not far behind in their intolerance of the press
Italian press gangs
Authors: Roccuzzo Antonio
Published: October 2007

The Italian mafia have not spared journalists in their determination to wipe out those who get in its way
Dead from excess
Authors: Adam Boris
Published: October 2007

The second journalist in less than three months was shot in the middle of Phnom Penh in September 1994
'We're no detectives'
Authors: Couillard Claude
Published: October 2007

With the expansion of television reporting, it is becoming increasingly tempting for law courts to use footage as evidence. In Canada, as elsewhere, studio invasions and confiscation of material are increasing
Pressed into action
Authors: Ross James D
Published: October 2007

The continuing battle over Cambodia's new press law is testing the mettle of a fragile democracy
Virtual liberty
Authors: Fisher Mark
Published: October 2007

Is liberty alive in Britain? Are our freedoms and rights real and effective? Or do we live in a state of virtual liberty, all appearance but little substance?
Public and private concerns
Authors: Frankel Maurice
Published: October 2007

As public and private sectors impose gagging contracts on their employees, the need for whistleblowers grows. But who will protect their interests?
Moral panic
Authors: Campbell Beatrix
Published: October 2007

Things are never what they seem. The debate on video violence has been dramatically entered by protagonists who appear to be touching the nerves of common sense, but turn out to be defending something else
Rag-bag regulation
Authors: Petley Julian
Published: October 2007

With the proliferation of moral watch dogs, television is more censured than censored
A special cruelty
Authors: Neier Aryeh
Published: October 2007

There is a random and arbitrary quality about the death penalty. Often it is used more as a political convenience than a measure of justice
Impermissible evidence
Authors: Bloche Greg , Kapihl Balvir
Published: October 2007

An ethical dialogue. Dr Greg Bloche, a psychiatrist and professor at Georgetown University law school, and co-author of Breach of Trust, and Dr Balvir Kapihl, chief physician at the Virginia Department of Corrections, discuss the physician's role in a prisoner's final moments. Breach of Trust1, a recent report by a coalition of medical and human rights groups, argues that physicians who take part in executions are violating the fundamental ethical principles of medicine. Dr Kapihl has taken part in a dozen executions
Misspent millions
Authors: Dieter Richard
Published: October 2007

Despite the exorbitant costs of capital punishment, America feels less safe. Badly needed resources are diverted from effective crime fighting strategies and social programmes — but the politicians don't let on
Let the Chechen go
Authors: Solzhenitsyn Alexander
Published: October 2007

Alexander Solzhenitsyn's views on the invasion of Chechnya have not endeared him to government nor critics in Russia. Natalia Zhelnorova of Argumenty i fakty asks him for some clarification
Shut down
Authors: Roy Atanu
Published: October 2007

Suharto's open society was short-lived: those who took him at his word paid the price
Death, lies and videotape
Authors: Eïd Bassem
Published: October 2007

Nidal Tamimi, a 23-year-old Palestinian, was shot dead by soldiers of the Israeli Defence Forces at a checkpoint in the West Bank town of Hebron on 22 October 1994. According to Israeli sources, Nidal Tamimi was shot while trying to stab a soldier. Eyewitnesses, however, say he was unarmed, that he was shot while on the ground, that a knife had been placed next to his body as he lay dead.

The killing of Palestinian civilians in the Occupied Territories by Israeli soldiers is not unusual. What gives the death of Nidal Tamini particular significance is that the whole episode was captured on videotape. It provided conclusive evidence that allegations, always denied, of summary execution by the IDF, do occur. Even so, it took the outrage of the foreign media, persuaded by the tape to report what has become a commonplace in the Occupied Territories, to persuade the Israeli government to open an inquiry. Bassem Eïd, a fieldworker for the Israeli human rights organisation, B'Tselem, tells the story of the investigation that unearthed the evidence.
Suffer little children
Authors: Maja-Pearce Adewale
Published: October 2007

Children as young as eight are recruited for battle by armed gangs fighting Liberia's civil war
What future for the Russian past ?
Authors: Service Robert
Published: October 2007

Historical research and publication are freer now than at any time in Russia's past. History is no longer seen through the single vision of the great leader, but has fragmented into a kaleidoscope of views that put the people back into the picture
What makes a Belarusian
Authors: Bely Alexander
Published: October 2007

The states newly liberated from Soviet control are making a hash of constructing their pre- and post-Soviet history
From Beirut to Bosnia
Authors: Fisk Robert
Published: October 2007

Despite the peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in Israel, there is, it seems, no intention on the part of Jews or Arabs to reunite their own particular versions of each others' history
A short course in blasphemy
Authors: Gauhar Altaf
Published: October 2007

Even by its own standards, Pakistan is going through a turbulent phase of its brief history as obscurantist clerics fight would-be democrats for control of its future
New barons of the press
Authors: Berger Guy
Published: October 2007

The ownership of South Africa's press is changing fast. Alternative papers are vanishing, foreigners moving in, and new monopolies are being formed
Trick or treat
Authors: Sullivan Peter
Published: October 2007

The most remarkabie thing about editing a newspaper under the new the dispensation is its normality, says the editor of The Star, the country's leading white-owned daily...
Censorship by intimidation
Authors: Tugwana Gabu
Published: October 2007

... Not quite so, says the black editor of New Nation
Getting into bed with democracy
Authors: Zerbst Jeff
Published: October 2007

Pornography has replaced politics as the big issue in press freedom
Sorry? Are you Jewish?
Authors: Bonner Yelena
Published: October 2007

Self-determination is a very private matter, a question of personal identity. To write about it is to write about oneself
I have much to say to the Korean government
Authors: Tokchin Kim
Published: October 2007

Continuing our series focusing on the voices of those silenced by poverty, prejudice and exclusion
Witch-hunt
Authors: Foreman Jonathan
Published: October 2007

Oscar-winning director Carl Foreman was an early victim of the informers and blacklisters who rampaged through Hollywood during McCarthy's witch hunt. His son recalls a loyal citizen and man of high principle
Interview: Constantin Costa-Gavras: Politics and propaganda
Authors: Sampson Sally , Vidal-Hall Judith
Published: October 2007

Costa-Gavras is one of a select band who have made political cinema into big box-office and stayed independent on the way. Films like Z, Missing and Betrayed, each of which tackled a hot political issue of their day, would, he thinks, have some difficulty getting through the US studio system today. Z (1969), a powerful indictment of the rule of the Colonels in Greece, and banned for many years in that country, is shown regularly today in memory and warning. Missing (1982), a big budget, big star movie, brought the horror of the disappeared in 1970s Latin America to a huge US audience. Betrayed (1989), a fiction built round disturbing factual material supplied by an unsuspecting FBI, was, say commentators, prophetic of the rise and rise of America's right-wing militias.

At a time when mainstream political cinema is all but dead in the USA, the Greek film-maker, who is as much at home in Paris as in the studios of Paramount or Gaumont, draws the lines between propaganda, politics and the militant tendency; and points to the current political horizon
How to stay independent
Authors: Sayles John
Published: October 2007

'If you're clear that the point Is the work itself, not the economic gains or celebrity glory, you have the necessary focus to try at least to tell a movie story with an independence of spirit'
The measure of freedom
Authors: Gordimer Nadine
Published: October 2007

A Nobel prize-winner charges Africa's writers with creating a literature that will 'feed the consciousness' of their readers
Pawns in a propaganda war
Authors: Zinovev Alexandr
Published: October 2007

Russian émigré literature was more an arm of the Cold War than a literary venture in its own right
A balance sheet
Authors: Lloyd John
Published: October 2007

The charges against him are all too obvious, but the gains of Yeltsin's three years in office should not lightly be given up
Censorship yesterday, today, tomorrow
Authors: Simonov Aleksei
Published: October 2007

Russian Journalism is at a crossroads. Since Communism and a free press cannot coexist, argues a veteran Russian journalist, the first task of a free press is to prevent a Communist victory in the June elections
Of blood and votes
Authors: Maryniak Irena
Published: October 2007

The result of the presidential election in June may be determined less by Boris Yeltsin or Gennady Zyuganov than by the direction of the new Chechen leadership
Polling for partition
Authors: Williams Michael
Published: October 2007

Peace has confirmed the ethnic divisions forged by war; elections In September are likely to legitimise their leaders and warlords
In peace as in war
Authors: Dobnikar-Seruga Romana
Published: October 2007

The Council of Europe has deferred Croatia's application for membership citing its 'lack of respect for the freedom of the press'. But the peace-time media in other Balkan republics is faring no better
Billboard wars
Authors: Pringle Peter
Published: October 2007

The battle over tobacco rages on as the Industry suppresses information and muzzles criticism
The case of Abu Zaid
Authors: Nasr Abu Zaid
Published: October 2007

THE POLITICS of the interpretation of the Quran lie at the heart of the Abu Zaid case. In the eyes of orthodox Islam, the Quran is the eternal word of God. As it always existed, it was never created. That this eternal text should have been revealed to the Prophet Mohammed in seventh-century Arabia has no bearing on the meaning of the Quran, which is a book to be read literally and holds true for all times. Consequently there is no tradition of textual criticism of the Quran analogous to those for the Hebrew Bible and New Testament.

However, this orthodox view has been challenged by Islamic scholars over the centuries. A rationalist school emerged in the ninth century under the Abbasid Empire, known as the Mu'tazilites, whose doctrines fused notions of social justice with a purified, spiritualised monotheism. They argued for a created Quran by distinguishing between God's essence, which they held to be eternal and beyond human understanding, and His word, which is created and accessible to reason.

While the Mu'tazilites were marginalised after two decades, their thought remained influential down to the present, as evinced in the writings of Abu Zaid himself. Here he sets out the evolution of his scholarship from the beginning of his career as a graduate student to his most recent scholarly works. Abu Zaid has applied contemporary methods of textual criticism to his study of the Quran, contextualising the book in its historical setting. This challenge to orthodoxy, he argues, has been used as a pretext by those who perhaps had more personal reasons to seek his downfall.
Su Qin carrying his sword
Authors: Hua Bai
Published: October 2007

I gaze at her window. In the past, it was pasted over with black paper; now a cloth curtain urith tiny blue flowers hangs there.
Demographic disaster
Authors: Yunusov Arif
Published: October 2007

After three years of an inconclusive ceasefire there is still no prospect of peace nor any hope of Azerbaijan's huge refugee population returning home
War of words
Authors: Zhavoronkov Gennady
Published: October 2007

The Abkhazian-Georgian conflict began in the pages of the press long before it erupted into full-blown civil war. Even now, despite a fragile peace, the media is up to its old tricks
Crude manoeuvres
Authors: Roy Olivier
Published: October 2007

There was a time when holidays on the Caspian Sea meant caviar and casinos. Now it's boom town Baku and the oil industry has descended to fight for a slice of the action on the world's latest wild frontier
The wounds of oil
Authors: Aburish Saïd
Published: October 2007

Instead of fuelling the development of democratic institutions and a system capable of coping with the consequences of its new-found wealth, oil in the Middle East has weakened or destroyed traditional religious, family and tribal adherences. Class differences are sharper and the divide between the 'oil chiefs' and their followers deeper today than ever
Algerian icon
Authors: Guerrin Michel
Published: October 2007

It took a single photograph to alert the world's media to the nightmare that is Algeria. Taken by a local news photographer after a massacre in which over 200, many women and small children among them, died, it was distributed by AFP and made the front pages of the press throughout Europe and the USA
The price of freedom
Authors: Ahmad Eqbal
Published: October 2007

In both India and Pakistan, the fiftieth anniversary of Independence was anticipated with high expectations. In the event, the anniversary passed quietly. Official celebrations were muted, and citizens in both countries expressed more doubt and discontent than patriotic fervour. The promise of a peaceable South Asian future may lie in this awareness of common failure
More hidden histories
Authors: Butalia Urvashi
Published: October 2007

OFFICIALLY, Partition has been forgotten in India, its painful memories put aside. No mention is made of it in government documents, and its enormous, long-term human costs do not figure in histories of the subcontinent. Unofficially, however, these histories live on, inside families and communities, and are told and retold: people recall the time when, suddenly, neighbour turned upon neighbour, friends became foes, boundaries were suddenly set up, and whole lifetimes of sharing had to be put aside and new, hostile identities assumed. Communities separated into 'them' and 'us', religion became the marker of identity, borders were suddenly drawn across villages and communities.

These are the many hidden histories of Partition, the things history books don't tell us about. In the 10 years or so that I have been working on Partition, it is these histories that I have listened to, these that have led me to realise how this cataclysm affected the lives of ordinary people, those who live on the margins of society — women, children, the poor, untouchables. In each of the stories I listened to, there was a different telling, a different experience.

There are hundreds of such histories: histories that tell us that Partition was not only about being Hindu and Muslim, it was about being a harijan [untouchable], a woman, a child; about love and sharing, about friendships. Only when we begin to listen to the stories of Partition's survivors shall we begin to understand: only through the cracks in the official version do we find the human actors who are the real stuff of any history.
First find your fault-line
Authors: Hitchens Christopher
Published: October 2007

The partition of Cyprus demonstrates both the art and science of dividing even the smallest of nations
Serial veto
Authors: Chomsky Noam
Published: October 2007

The Palestinian-Israeli 'peace process' can only be understood as a vindication of 50 years of force
In the name of democracy
Authors: Oppenheimer Paul
Published: October 2007

Germany needs its censorship laws to save face with its friends
Clear and present danger
Authors: Neier Aryeh
Published: October 2007

When is hate speech a suitable case for censorship? When there is 'clear and present danger' of the word becoming the deed
Diary of a hostage
Authors: Bagautdinova Olga
Published: October 2007

Alexander Utrobin, photo journalist for Chelyabinsk Worker and Satkin Worker, and Olga Bagautdinova, a reporter with Satkin Metallurgist, were taken hostage in Chechnya in mid-March 1997 and held for 53 days. The excerpts below are from Olga Bagautdinova's hostage diary with her notes added after their release.
Out of the depths
Authors: Khabarova Olga
Published: October 2007

Stories and images from the streets of Moscow. Photographs by Olga Khabarova
Role reversal
Authors: Foley Michael
Published: October 2007

The European Convention on Human Rights says freedom of expression is the rule, limitations on it the exception. And these exceptions must be narrowly interpreted. This is where any debate on the role of the media must begin
A world of silence
Authors: Moorehead Caroline
Published: October 2007

Despite the proliferation of human rights groups and a growing concern with free expression worldwide, no group is as silent and invisible as the world's widows. Widows fall through the cracks of everyone's agenda. They are silent, invisible. The victims of traditional custom and practice in many parts of the world, and the uncounted legacy of war from Europe to Afghanistan
Hostages
Authors: Griffin Michael
Published: October 2007

Kabul's war widows have become a bargaining chip in a bid, by the Taliban and relief agencies alike, to deflect attention from the abiding issue of human rights for all Afghan women
Flowers for Kabul
Authors: Bonino Emma
Published: October 2007

European Commissioner Emma Bonino talks of her concern for the women of Kabul and her 'Flower for the Women of Kabul' Initiative, launched on 8 March, International Women's Day
Witness to Srebrenica
Authors: Nuhanovic Hasan
Published: October 2007

From April 1993 until July 1995, Hasan Nuhanovic worked as an interpreter and translator for the UN Military Observers (UNMO) and the Dutchbat team guarding the demilitarised enclave of Srebrenica. Here, for the first time, Hasan Nuhanovic tells what happened the day the Serbs arrived to destroy the town, massacre its menfolk and drive their widows into exile
Media mirage
Authors: Macleod John
Published: October 2007

The President makes promises and the world turns a blind eye as he continues to silence the press and lock up the opposition
A small matter of corruption
Authors: Sydykova Zamira
Published: October 2007

The euphoria that characterised the early years of independence In Kyrgyzstan soon gave way to a more repressive climate in which a newspaper became the scapegoat for the wrongdoing of government
After the war is over
Authors: Bobonazarova Oinhol
Published: October 2007

After almost five years, the civil war In Tajikistan is nominally over but human rights continue to be abused daily. Chief among the offenders are the state law enforcement agencies
Shadow play
Authors: Weil Mark , Djumaev Alexander
Published: October 2007

A theatre director and a musicologist in Tashkent talk about post-Soviet Uzbek culture and come to the gloomy conclusion that the past is repeating Itself. The new government Is exercising as tight a grip on artistic expression as its predecessors and woe betide those who step out of line
Babel: Widows of Tajikistan
Authors: Sharipova Muborak , Tadjbakhsh Shahrbanou
Published: October 2007

The human toll of the Tajik civil war is not yet fully known. In the short period of fighting between the summer of 1992 and the spring of 1993, up to 50,000 may have died and 500,000 fled to neighbouring Afghanistan or became internally displaced. One undisputed factor is the war's heavy toll on the lives of women. In just one war-torn southern region, more than 20,000 households are now headed by women. Many lost their husbands to war, others to the crime that is now endemic in Tajikistan.

Tajikistan is a patriarchal society in which women living without men are accorded little respect. When they marry, Tajik women marry into their husband's families, moving in to live with the in-laws. The death of their husbands makes them, in a sense, internally displaced persons.
The making of a nationalist
Authors: Akimbek Azat
Published: October 2007

Unlike Tibet, which has its spiritual and political leader in the Dalai Lama, the Uighurs have no political leadership to take their case to the world.
To stay or not to stay, that is the question
Authors: Richter Anthony
Published: October 2007

Russians, many of whom have been in Central Asia for three generations, are faced with the difficult choice of taking the hard road home or staying on in countries where they are now a minority
Rhetoric and reality
Authors: Orme Bill
Published: October 2007

Competing but not binding, Article 19 is a 'fine piece of aspiratlonal rhetoric' still more widely honoured in the breach than the observance
Out of danger
Authors: Ignatieff Michael
Published: October 2007

Cast in the shadow of World War II and Nazi atrocities, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was shaped more by the fear of evil than the expectation of good. Fifty years on, it has become the individual's defence against the excesses of power and, even when challenged by dictators and demagogues, the universal language of human rights everywhere
The taste of the spider
Authors: Sheng Wei Jing
Published: October 2007

Wei Jing Sheng, in conversation with Yang Lian, talks of politics culture and the role of China's intellectuals
Down Mexico way
Authors: Walt Vivienne
Published: October 2007

As the women of Tijuana have discovered, the much lauded North American Free Trade Agreement operates one law for the north and quite another south of the border
Apologies: who's sorry now?
Authors: Mitchell Emily
Published: October 2007

The fashion for 'apoiogies' is growing. For the offenders they draw a line under the past. But reparations are seldom discussed
Turning the page
Authors: Ienaga Saburou
Published: October 2007

Japan's refusal to admit to the atrocities committed by its troops in World War II still undermines its standing in Asia and the world. Recently retired from a long-running campaign for greater academic openess, Professor lenaga explains his personal mission to bring the grisly germ experiments of Unit 731 into the light of day. His barrister Kinju Morikawa explains why the fight must still go on.
Who owns the battlefield?
Authors: Kadare Ismaïl
Published: October 2007

History In the Balkans is a commodity used and traded by all sides in furtherance of competing claims. The fourteenth century Battle of Kosovo has become central to Serbia's present claims to Kosovo
Through a veil darkly
Authors: Mabro Judy
Published: October 2007

Seventy-five years ago, three Egyptian feminists returning from a women's suffrage conference in Rome removed their veils in public at Cairo railway statio. The veil, they said, was the most serious obstacle to women being educated and playing a full role in society. Today, in a society caught between islam and the values of the West, their grandaughters are taking up the veil in pursuit of a new Egyptian identity
Return to fundamentals
Authors: De Waal Alex
Published: October 2007

The prevention and punishment of genocide requires an intellectual and moral honesty that can only exist where there is complete freedom of information and expression
'Education is my daughter's future'
Authors: Mbeer Naila
Published: October 2007

Bangladeshi women, denied education themselves, have seen its value as the way to a better future for their daughters. In their own words, they tell of their dreams and aspirations, their insecurities and constraints and of their hopes for the next generation
When more is less
Authors: Williams Granville
Published: October 2007

Cost cutting, market forces, ratings and vertical concentration of ownership are undermining the media's coverage of anything that doesn't look like entertainment
Time for dialogue
Authors: Sait Siraj
Published: October 2007

Human rights might be better enforced if their 'universality' were more widely regarded
Terms of estrangement
Authors: Matic Veran
Published: October 2007

Media control has always been vital to rallying domestic support for Serbian aggression in the Balkans. As Kosovo follows Bosnia into outright war, a less bloody but still critical battle is taking place over language - and the uses to which it Is put.
How many roads
Authors: Kenrick Donald
Published: October 2007

The Gypsies of eastern Europe have become scapegoats for the ills of post-communist society; governments do little to combat the attacks and pogroms that have become commonplace. When they flee to the West, they are not welcome in countries where centuries-old discrimination against Europe's largest- and one of its oldest - minorities still persists
Go for the full monty, Tony!
Authors: Cohen Nick
Published: October 2007

In opposition, freedom of information was at the front of Labour's vision; in power, myopia has taken hold
A world of your own
Authors: Cockroft Robert
Published: October 2007

Accountants and media pundits would say it's not cost effective, but the editor of a provincial paper in the north of England is proving them wrong. Demand for 'local' news is insistent and insatiable
'You have the right to remain silent...'
Authors: O'Connor Paul
Published: October 2007

In Britain, reporting the news the mainstream media ignores is fast becoming a ticket to the cells
Colors of confusion
Authors: Tolstoya Tatyana
Published: October 2007

East is east and west is west, as Colors magazine found out when it launched its Russian-language version. Readers were baffled and the translators have much to answer for
Bordering on peace
Authors: Foley Michael , O'Farrell John
Published: October 2007

It is cold comfort for the families of those who died in Omagh, and for the community of that small town itself, but the response to the horror of Saturday 15 August does show the strength of a process that is backed by the unequivocal will of the people. Not even a tragedy as horrific as the Omagh massacre has derailed the peace process.
Letter from Pärnu
Authors: Lucie-Smith Edward
Published: October 2007

The Pärnu International Documentary and Anthropology Film Festival In Estonia had some suprises in store, including the breaking of some long held taboos
From praise to protest
Authors: Santorri Rotimi
Published: October 2007

The music of Nigeria's legendary singer and songwriter, Fela Kuti, has its origins in the traditional praise-singing that is an integral part of Yoruba culture and is familiar throughout Africa
Songs of divine love
Authors: Basmenji Kaveh
Published: October 2007

Iranians are increasingly tuning in to the new wave of 'revolutionary' pop that combines state-of-the-art production techniques and western melodies with traditional Iranian elements and lyrics about divine love
Marriage made in Hell
Authors: Buric Ahmed
Published: October 2007

The fusion of folk and funk - of glamour with violence- triggered a wave of Balkan hate music with its roots back in World War II
Our men in Mexico
Authors: Allard Elizabeth
Published: October 2007

Since moving into markets recently left open by the Colombian drug cartels, Mexican traffickers have increased pressure on their country's press. In states bordering the USA they have become particularly powerful.
All into the dark
Authors: Kermode Frank
Published: October 2007

The announcement that the Oxford University Press has decided to abolish its poetry list has been greeted with cries of disapproval and astonishment
Exiled in its own land
Authors: Owen Hilary
Published: October 2007

'Whores or lesbians - who cares what they call us, so long as the battle is fought and not lost.' ( Novas Cartas Portuguesas)
Reluctant heritage
Authors: Tomory David
Published: October 2007

'In 1498,' went the school mnemonic, 'Vasco da Gama knocked on India's gate.' In Goa you can still hear the knocking
The right colour
Authors: Cestarollo Daniela
Published: October 2007

Five hundred years after the arrival of the Portuguese, Brazilians are only just beginning to address the legacy of slavery
A Bible and an automatic
Authors: Oliveira Francisco , Stegun Katia
Published: October 2007

Ignored by the system and hounded by the police, blacks are organising through music to end the 'invisibility' imposed on them
Our cousins do not know us
Authors: Agualusa Jose Eduardo , Guibest Alejandra
Published: October 2007

An Angolan novelist 'discovers' black Brazil
The vanished library
Authors: Canfora Luciano , Coleman Antonia
Published: October 2007

The fate of the Great Library of Alexandria weaves in and out of legend and remains the subject of scholarly wrangles to this day
Cry havoc
Authors: Soueif Ahdaf
Published: October 2007

The destruction of a library leaves us all the poorer. Creating one is a way of offering the past a refuge from the present
The splendour of truth
Authors: Walsh Michael
Published: October 2007

'It is the first law of history not to say anything false,' wrote Pope Leo XIII upon opening the Vatican Archive to scholars for the first time in 1883, 'or to refrain from saying something which is true'
Purgation and liberation
Authors: Margaronis Maria
Published: October 2007

Enjoy the freedom of a bookless world; purge the libraries and create society anew. People have been burning books, even if only in the imagination, for centuries and for many reasons
Secrets and lies
Authors: Tesanovic Jasmina
Published: October 2007

A library can illuminate the past; it can also trap us in it
Orbital libraries
Authors: Clarke Arthur C
Published: October 2007

Nearly 40 years ago, Arthur Clarke foresaw a massive, technology-driven social restructuring. The world we now live in bears out many of his predictions
Dishing the dirt
Authors: Petley Julian
Published: October 2007

Satellite television is synonymous with Murdoch and the homogenised monoculture of BskyB. But it doesn't have to be like that: take Med-TV for instance
Ways of healing
Authors: Demientieff Martha
Published: October 2007

A Yu'pik Elder from Alaska talks about her tribe's traditional medicine and respect for their fellow creatures
A map of the world
Authors: Chamberlin Ted
Published: October 2007

From the silence of slavery came the voice of the Rasta
Sadly mythed
Authors: Maryniak Irena
Published: October 2007

The future map of the Balkans is taking shape as a segregated patchwork of monoethnic regions and states, vying for territorial and political supremacy - and for the best story
Nanwalek rocks
Authors: Palast Gregory
Published: October 2007

Incorporation did what earthquake and oil pollution had failed to achieve: it broke the Chugach - until the women took over
Preachers of doom
Authors: D'Entremont Jim
Published: October 2007

Moral panic in the wake of the Columbine High School shootings produced an unprecedented wave of censorship initiatives from politicians and activists on the left as well as the right — but nobody wants to ban the guns
Date with destiny
Authors: Mobasser Nilou
Published: October 2007

It is 10 years since Ayatollah Khomeini died and he might not recognise his revolution today. But as recent events have shown, it is the Iranian people who will decide its future
Digging up the dirty war
Authors: Matus Alejandra
Published: October 2007

Chile's establishment would rather forget the past; journalists who choose to remember can find themselves on the run
In God we trust
Authors: Maryniak Irena
Published: October 2007

While Boris Yeltsin played politics in Moscow, the Muslims of his southern provinces were mounting a more serious challenge
The Effect of Parathion-methyl and Antidotes on Parotid and Pancreatic Glands: A Pilot Experimental Study
Authors: Gulalp Betul , Gokel Yuksel , Gumurdulu Derya , Seydaoglu Gulsah , Daglioglu Kenan , Dikmen Nurten , Karcioglu Ozgur
Published: October 2007

The objective of this study is to investigate the functions of parotid and pancreatic glands in response to intoxication with parathion-methyl (PM) and the effects of treatment in rats. Seventy-five male Wistar rats were divided equally into five groups: Group I, control; group II, received atropine and pralidoxime (2-PAM) for 24 h, but no PM; group III, oral PM but no atropine and 2-PAM; group IV, PM and atropine for 24 h and 2-PAM; group V, PM and atropine for 96 h and 2-PAM. After the administration of the chemicals, blood samples were drawn to test for amylase, lipase, acetylcholinesterase (AChE), and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE), while pancreatic and parotid glands of each rat were removed for light microscopic examination. Amylase levels were found significantly elevated in groups II, III, IV, and V, whereas lipase levels were supranormal in groups III, IV, and V. The blood levels of AChE were decreased in groups III and IV and BChE were decreased in II, III, IV, and V. No evidence of pancreatitis and parotitis was identified in the histopathologic evaluation in any group in 96 h; however, hyperchromasia, irregularity in nuclei, and binuclear cells were observed in all parotid glands in group V. Parotitis and pancreatitis were not evident; however, hyperamylasemia and hyperlipasemia were found, whereas various histologic changes in parotid glands were documented in the groups that were administered organophosphate and treatment.
Neurotoxicity and Toxicokinetics of Artelinic Acid Following Repeated Oral Administration in Rats
Authors: Si Yuanzheng , Li Qigui , Xie Lisa , Bennett Kent , Weina Peter J. , Mog Steven , Johnson Todd O.
Published: October 2007

Neurotoxicity secondary to oil-soluble artemisinins has been reported in various animal species. The onset of neurotoxicity and toxicokinetics of oral artelinic acid (AL), a water-soluble artemisinin, were investigated. After dose range study, rats were dosed at either 160 mg/kg daily for 9 consecutive days or at 288 mg/kg once every other day for five doses, so that the total dose (1440 mg/kg) and duration (9 days) were identical. Neuronal damage of varying severity was identified beginning as early as 1 day after completing dosing and continued for up to 10 days post dosing. Neuronal injury was most severe 7 days after the last treatment in each of the two dosing regimens. The rats dosed with 160 mg/kg of AL daily showed moderate neurotoxicity and lost 22% of their body weight during treatment. Compared with the first dose, the toxicokinetic profile of this regimen changed significantly, with the elimination half-life increasing 3.82-fold and the volume of distribution increasing 5.23-fold on the last day of dosing. In the animals treated with AL at 288 mg/kg every other day for 5 doses, minimal neuronal degeneration (severity score 1.17) was identified and the body weight was only 8% loss. Furthermore, there were no obvious differences in the pharniacokinetic parameters between first and last dosing days with this regimen. Additionally, a progressively drug retention in stomach and drug accretion in blood were only found in rats treated with 160 mg/kg daily for 9 days. These results imply that delayed gastric emptying resulted in AL accumulation in blood and prolonged a neurotoxic exposure time (186 h) in 160 mg/kg rats when compared to that (75 h) in 288 mg/kg animals. Therefore, the drug exposure time is a key factor in the neurotoxicity induced by AL.
Nonclinical Safety of Ziconotide: An Intrathecal Analgesic of a New Pharmaceutical Class
Authors: Skov Michael J. , Beck James C. , de Kater Annelies W. , Shopp George M.
Published: October 2007

Ziconotide, a potent, selective, reversible blocker of neuronal N-type voltage-sensitive calcium channels, is approved in the United States for the management of severe chronic pain in patients for whom intrathecal therapy is warranted, and who are intolerant or refractory to other treatment, such as systemic analgesics, adjunctive therapies, or intrathecal morphine. In the European Union, Ziconotide is indicated for the treatment of severe chronic pain in patients who require intrathecal analgesia. Nonclinical investigations of ziconotide included a comprehensive characterization of its toxicology, incorporating acute and subchronic toxicity studies in rats, dogs, and monkeys; reproductive toxicity assessments in rats and rabbits; and mutagenic, carcinogenic evaluations performed in vivo and in vitro. Additional investigations assessed the potential for cardiotoxicity (rats) and immunogenicity (mice, rats, and guinea pigs), and the presence or absence of intraspinal granuloma formation and local cell proliferation and apoptosis (dogs). The resulting nonclinical toxicology profile was predictive of human adverse events reported in clinical trials and consistent with ziconotide’s pharmacological activity. Frequently observed nonclinical behavioral effects included tremoring, shaking, ataxia, and hyperreactivity. Occurrences were generally transient and reversible upon cessation of treatment, and intolerable effects occurred at doses more than 45 times the maximum recommended clinical dose. Ziconotide was not associated with target organ toxicity, teratogenicity, or treatment-related gross or histopathological changes; it displayed no mutagenic or carcinogenic potential and no propensity to induce local cell proliferation or apoptosis. Although guinea pigs developed systemic anaphylaxis, antibodies to ziconotide were not detected in mice, rats, or guinea pigs, indicating low immunogenic potential. No evidence of granuloma formation was observed with intrathecal ziconotide treatment. In summary, the results from these nonclinical safety assessments revealed no significant toxicological risk to humans treated with ziconotide as recommended.
Pharmaceutical Agents Known to Produce Disulfiram-Like Reaction: Effects on Hepatic Ethanol Metabolism and Brain Monoamines
Authors: Karamanakos Petros N. , Pappas Periklis , Boumba Vassiliki A. , Thomas Christoforos , Malamas Michalis , Vougiouklakis Theodore , Marselos Marios
Published: October 2007

Several pharmaceutical agents produce ethanol intolerance, which is often depicted as disulfiram-like reaction. As in the case with disulfiram, the underlying mechanism is believed to be the accumulation of acetaldehyde in the blood, due to inhibition of the hepatic aldehyde dehydrogenases. In the present study, chloramphenicol, furazolidone, metronidazole, and quinacrine, which are reported to produce a disulfiram-like reaction, as well as disulfiram, were administered to Wistar rats and the hepatic activities of alcohol and aldehyde dehydrogenases (1A1 and 2) were determined. The expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 was further assessed by Western blot analysis, while the levels of brain monoamines were also analyzed. Finally, blood acetaldehyde was evaluated after ethanol administration in rats pretreated with disulfiram, chloramphenicol, or quinacrine. The activity of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 was inhibited by disulfiram, chloramphenicol, and furazolidone, but not by metronidazole or quinacrine. In addition, although well known for metronidazole, quinacrine also did not increase blood acetaldehyde after ethanol administration. The protein expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 was not affected at all. Interestingly, all substances used, except disulfiram, increased the levels of brain serotonin. According to our findings, metronidazole and quinacrine do not produce a typical disulfiram-like reaction, because they do not inhibit hepatic aldehyde dehydrogenase nor increase blood acetaldehyde. Moreover, all tested agents share the common property to enhance brain serotonin, whereas a respective effect of ethanol is well established. Therefore, the ethanol intolerance produced by these agents, either aldehyde dehydrogenase is inhibited or not, could be the result of a “toxic serotonin syndrome,” as in the case of the concomitant use of serotonin-active medications.
Evaluation of Mercury Contamination in Smilax myosotiflora Herbal Preparations
Authors: Ang Hooi-Hoon , Lee Kheng-Leng
Published: October 2007

The DCA (Drug Control Authority) of Malaysia implemented phase 3 registration of traditional medicines in January 1992 with special emphasis on the quality, efficacy, and safety of all dosage forms of these medicines. For this reason, a total of 100 herbal products containing Smilax myosotiflora were purchased in the Malaysian market and analyzed for mercury content, as mercury is a recognized reproductive toxicant. The products were analyzed using cold vapor atomic absorption spectrophotometry. It was found that 89% of the above products do not exceed 0.5 ppm of mercury. Heavy metal poisoning such as mercury has been associated with traditional medicines. Therefore, it is important that doctors and health care practitioners are aware of these risks and finding ways to minimize them, including questions pertaining to the use of these remedies during the routine taking of a patient’s history.