Combination of
drugs to terminate prostate cancer
LONDON,
Apr 15: Scientists found that two drugs used
to treat cholesterol and arthritis can halt the
progress of prostate cancer.
A combination of
Celebrex, an anti-inflammatory drug, and the
statin Lipitor kept the cancer in its less
aggressive early stage in tests on mice.
Dr Allan Conney of
Rutgers University in New Jersey, which carried
out the research, said, ''This is something we
hope is going to save lives. If clinical trials
go well, we could have something available in
five years.''
''If the trials
show that the drug therapy does a good job of
preventing the cancer from advancing, we won't
need to worry about how to handle the more
aggressive later stage cancer,'' he added.
Professor Xi Zheng
said low doses of Lipitor and Celebrex had a
''potent inhibiting effect on the formation of
later-stage tumours''.
(UNI)
Despite
missteps, pope reaching out to other faiths
WASHINGTON,
Apr 15: Pope Benedict, who is sometimes seen
as insensitive to other faiths, will reach out to
other religious leaders during his first visit to
the United States, even though the trip is aimed
at Roman Catholics.
The pope will meet
with about 150 leaders of other religions on
Thursday as he visits Washington, and he plans to
visit a synagogue in New York on Friday.
Since his 2005
election, the pontiff has provoked concern and
anger among Hindus, Muslims and Jews with highly
publicized missteps. But leaders of those faiths
said they are optimistic that interfaith dialogue
will advance during his papacy.
''There have been
a lot of positive steps,'' said Ravi Gupta, a
religion professor at Centre College in Kentucky,
a Hindu leader who will meet with the pope. ''I'm
hopeful ... In terms of what the possibilities
are.''
US Catholic
bishops and leaders of other faiths have been
holding behind-the-scenes contacts regularly, US
religious leaders said.
Pope Benedict's
criticism of India in 2006 for what he said were
''disturbing signs of religious intolerance''
over efforts to ban conversions drew a sharp
response from the Government and the opposition
Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.
The Muslim world
reacted angrily in 2006 when the pope quoted a
Christian emperor as saying the Prophet Mohammad
had brought the world only ''evil and inhuman''
things, a remark that overshadowed the
conciliatory theme of his address. He provoked
more criticism last month by baptizing a Muslim
convert.
Jews were worried
over his recent approval of a Good Friday prayer
in Latin appearing to call for the conversion of
Jews, reviving language largely eliminated in
reforms of the 1960s.
''He's had a few
bumps as we all know,'' said Rabbi Joel Meyers,
executive vice president of the Rabbinical
Assembly and one of the Jewish leaders invited to
the interfaith meeting.
''Some of his
references ... Have not been the best, the most
sensitive, but I want to put that in context,''
Meyers said. ''What he was doing, and what he
continues to do, is to try to reach out. And I
think he is trying to do that with the Orthodox
(Christian) community, with the Muslim community.
He certainly has done it with the Jewish
community.''
'RIGHT DIRECTION'
Pope Benedict
became only the second pontiff to visit a
synagogue, even before his planned visit to
another this trip. After the furor over his
comments about Mohammad, the pope visited the
Blue Mosque in Turkey, becoming the second
pontiff to visit a Muslim place of worship.
''I believe the
pope is heading toward the right direction. He is
trying to build bridges with Muslims,'' said Imam
Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini, religious director of
the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn,
Michigan.
Qazwini, who has
met the pope at the Vatican and will be at the
Washington session, said, ''I do not assume at
all that because of his previous views the pope
will be less open to dialogue.'' In fact, he
added, those reactions ''may help the pope to
entertain more moderate views about Islam.''
The religious
leaders said it was clear the pope would never
change some views, and it was unrealistic to
think he would.
''People say,
'Well, he still says the Catholic Church is
really the most favored church, or the best
church.' Well, I would hope so. I wouldn't expect
him to say anything else as the leader of the
Catholic Church,'' Meyers said.
In fact, several
religious leaders said, interfaith dialogue works
best when the participants agree to disagree on
doctrinal differences and focus on areas of
agreement and common concern.
''There is no
point in discussing theological differences. They
are old, in some cases ancient,'' said Rabbi Tzvi
Hersh Weinreb, executive vice president of the
Orthodox Union, who also will attend the meeting
with the pope.
Weinreb said his
work with Catholic leaders in New York focused on
issues where they agree, like state aid to
parochial schools. ''We also work together on the
issues of poverty, employment, peace in the sense
of between our communities, but peace in the
broader sense as well,'' he said.
While Jews have a
long-standing dialogue with the Vatican, it has
only recently launched a dialogue with some
Muslim scholars, and its meetings with Hindus are
less formalized.
Both Gupta and
Qazwini said they hoped this week's meeting would
lead to a more permanent dialogue. Although it is
a formal session with little chance for
conversation, the religious leaders said the
meeting would send an important signal.
''When leaders
come together it sends a very strong message to
their religious communities, of course, that it
is necessary for there to be understanding and
education about different religious traditions,''
Gupta said.
(AGENCIES)
Families of
Pakistani boys make emotional appeal to Govts
ISLAMABAD,
Apr 15: The families of two Pakistani boys,
who were detained after straying across the
Barmer border into India a week ago, today urged
the Governments of the two countries to take
steps for their early release.
Azhar Ansari, 17,
and his cousin Zohaib, 10, apparently dug the
earth below a barbed wire fence on the Indo-Pak
border to slip into the Indian side on Saturday,
Barmer police said. They were apprehended by a
BSF patrol party.
The two boys went
missing shortly after they left home on that day,
saying they were going to school. Their families
in Tando Layar in Sindh province learnt from
reports on television news channels this morning
that the boys were being held in a police station
in Rajasthan.
Azra, the mother
of Azhar, said, "No one from the (Pakistan)
Government has contacted us. We just want our
children to come back as soon as possible.
"We want the
Indian and Pakistani Governments and all civil
society groups to help us to get them back. Our
children have made a mistake, they said they were
going to school but did not come back. We
enquired all over but could not trace them,"
she said, breaking down in tears.
According to
Barmer police, the boys told interrogators that
they ran away from their home after being scolded
by their parents.
Abdul Sattar
Ansari, the grandfather of Azhar, said, "We
found out that the boys had mistakenly crossed
over to Pakistan from television reports. We are
waiting for someone to take up their issue."
(PTI)
Musharraf’s
popularity waning, should resign: Survey
ISLAMABAD,
Apr 15: A majority of Pakistanis feel
President Pervez Musharraf should resign while
two-thirds of respondents a new national survey
backed the new Prime Minister Yousuf Raza
Gillani’s performance.
Fifty-one per cent
of respondents in the poll conducted by Gallup
Pakistan said the embattled former General should
resign. Another 22 per cent supported a move to
remove the President through impeachment while 26
per cent favoured his continuation.
Two-third of the
respondents in the survey gave a "very
favourable or favourable" view about new
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani. Another 29
per cent rated him as "fair",
indicating moderate approval. Only seven per cent
rated him poorly.
Eighty-one per
cent of respondents favoured the reinstatement of
deposed Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar
Muhammad Chaudhry while 17 per cent opposed it.
Musharraf had sacked Chaudhry after imposing
emergency in Pakistan in 2007.
Asked about the
expected longevity of the new parliament, 40 per
cent of the respondents said there is a
"high chance" of it completing its
five-year term while the same percentage said the
chances are "moderate".
Eighteen per cent
of the respondents said they believed the chances
that the new parliament will complete its full
tenure without being dismissed are "either
slim or none at all".
Over the past 20
years, most popularly elected parliaments in
Pakistan were prematurely dismissed without
completing their tenure.
Slightly under
half of the respondents 45 per cent said the two
major coalition partners in the new government,
the Pakistan People’s Party and the PML-N,
will "pull it together amicably". But a
significant section 31 per cent said that the
coalition "is likely to fall apart
soon", said a statement from Gallup
Pakistan.
Another 36 per
cent said they were unable to make a judgment in
this matter.
Before the
February 18 general election, only 15 per cent of
people believed Pakistan was headed in the right
direction. This figure rose to 40 per cent soon
after the polls and according to the latest
Gallup Pakistan poll completed six weeks after
the elections, 54 per cent said the country is
headed in the right direction.
But 43 per cent
said Pakistan is not headed in the right
direction.
Gallup said the
survey was conducted in two phases during March
30-31 and April 5-6. The size for each phase was
over 1,200 respondents, the statement said. (PTI)
Top US official
to hold talks with Dalai Lama on Tibet
WASHINGTON,
Apr 15: A special envoy of President George
W Bush will hold talks with the Dalai Lama next
week on the "ongoing and serious"
problem in Tibet, the highest level of contact
between the administration and the Tibetan
spiritual leader since an unrest erupted in the
Himalayan region, the US said today.
It, however,
maintained that the meeting will not represent
any "new initiative" though the two
sides would discuss America’s view that the
Chinese authorities ought to engage in
discussions with the Dalai Lama on Tibet issue.
The comments from
the State Department came even as top
administration officials said that President Bush
will be attending the Olympics but continued to
hedge on whether he will be there for the opening
ceremonies.
"Under
Secretary Paula Dobriansky, who is also the
Special Envoy for Tibet, is going to be meeting
with the Dalai Lama in Michigan on April
21," State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom
Casey said.
"I’m
sure there have been some conversations between
her staff and the Dalai Lama’s staff to set
that meeting up. Beyond that, I’m not aware
that there has been any substantive contacts at a
higher level between the Dalai Lama and other
officials here in this building," Casey
said.
Describing the
Dalai Lama, now on a US visit, as "someone
who carries a great deal of moral authority among
Tibetan officials," he said the Tibetan
leader and Dobriansky were "going to be
talking about our view that Chinese authorities
ought to engage in a discussion with the Dalai
Lama."
"We’ll
be interested in hearing his views on the
situation there... We’ll be interested in
hearing about that and any other thoughts and
ideas he might have about the situation
there."
Casey said there
is an "ongoing and serious" problem in
Tibet.
"We have
spoken out on that repeatedly. It is an issue
that certainly, as I just said, I expect she will
be discussing with him. But if your point is, are
we going into this meeting with a new initiative
or expecting a new initiative from him,
that’s not the case," he added.
Meanwhile,
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said that
the Olympics is a sporting event and that she did
not even favour the US boycott of Moscow Games
following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
"I am a big
believer that the Olympics is a sporting event.
And I really wasn’t very favourable toward
the American boycott of the Olympics in 1980 when
the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Frankly, I
thought it looked kind of weak."
"They invade
Afghanistan, the best thing you can do is boycott
the Olympics and deny athletes who’ve
trained their whole lives the opportunity to be
in the Olympics. And so I see the Olympics as a
sporting event," Rice said.
This doesn’t
mean that the President or she herself will not
press the Chinese "about human rights, about
Tibet, about Darfur," she said.
"We’ve
been doing it. We’ll do it before, during
and after the Olympics. But it’s also-this
is going to be a moment of pride for 1.3 billion
Chinese people. And I think it’s important
to realise that, too. You don’t want to take
their moment of pride and make it a moment in
which the United States, for really political
theatre, decides not to come to the Olympics.
"And so I
know the President will look at the schedule and
the like...," she added.
That the President
met with the Dalai Lama "every year for the
last several years" was a show of support to
the people of Tibet, Rice said.
"The show of
support for the people of Tibet is doing what we
do every day... Telling the attorneys they ought
to be in dialogue with the Dalai Lama, calling
for diplomats and the press to get in and see. A
show of support was the President meeting with
the Dalai Lama, I think, every year for the last
several years. And by the way, a show of support
with the congressional level right up to the
Dalai Lama.
"I think
that’s a much more important show of support
than what do you do about the Olympics,"
Rice maintained. (PTI)
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