Sherry Rahman Withdraws Blasphemy Amendment Bill

Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani Wednesday said that Sherry Rehman has agreed to withdraw Blasphemy amendment Bill.

Talking to parliamentary delegation here, Gilani said that Sherry decided to withdraw the said bill in accordance with the party policy.

Prime Minister urged religious parties to come forward with the policy to restrain the misuse of Blasphemy law.

Gilani made it clear that no committee was constituted to amend the said law.

Famous Social Websites Speak Against Internet Blockade In Egypt

Google, Facebook and Twitter, breaking with the usual practice of corporate silence, are speaking out forcefully against the Internet blockade by the Egyptian authorities.
As Egypt is rocked by continuing protests against President Hosni Mubarak, the three companies spawned by the Internet have criticized the attempt by the authorities to sever the nation of 80 million people from the Web.
While corporate responsibility has been a front-burner issue since companies were pressured into cutting ties with apartheid South Africa decades ago, experts said the statements and moves by the three Web giants were unusual. "Usually with most corporations the issue is what's going to make profits, not necessarily what's going to do good for the world," said Benjamin Hermalin a finance professor at the University of California, Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
"Particularly given a situation of political uncertainty it would be very strange for companies to take bets on one side because if the other side wins they're in deep trouble," Hermalin said.
The uncertainty in Egypt did not stop Facebook, which had about five million active users in the country before the Internet shutdown, from issuing a statement saying that "no one should be denied access to the Internet."
"Although the turmoil in Egypt is a matter for the Egyptian people and their government to resolve, limiting Internet access for millions of people is a matter of concern for the global community," Facebook spokesman Andrew Noyes said.
Google and Twitter went considerably further than merely expressing concern, jointly creating a tool to allow Egyptians to bypass the Internet closure and post messages to Twitter by making telephone calls.
Google said the "Speak to Tweet" service, which turns voice messages into "tweets," was aimed at "helping people in Egypt stay connected at this very difficult time."
Google-owned YouTube also highlighted videos from Egypt on its news and politics channel, CitizenTube, invited users to submit their own and began streaming live coverage of broadcasts by the Al Jazeera television network.
Google also created a "Crisis Response" page featuring links to the "Speak to Tweet" tool, CitizenTube, emergency telephone numbers and Google Maps of where protests have been occurring in Egypt.
Michael Connor, editor and publisher of the online magazine Business Ethics, noted that Google, whose motto is "Don't Be Evil," has taken stands previously, refusing to censor Internet search results in China, for example.
At the same time, Connor said Google, Facebook and Twitter were also acting out of self-interest. "The image of these companies is being open and being involved in the free exchange of information," Connor said. "They had to do something. They've got a customer base that expects them to do certain things."
Timothy Fort, professor of business ethics at George Washington University and executive director of the Institute for Corporate Responsibility, agreed that Internet freedom is "core to their identity." "In distinction with an established company that does earth-moving, say, or dam-building the identity of Google, Facebook and Twitter is the free flow of information," Fort said. "That is their business. "It is very much in their corporate interest to be forcefully aligning themselves with that," he said.
Although a Google executive has gone missing in Egypt, Hermalin said Internet companies are better placed to speak out than a company such as Coca-Cola, which needs to protect its employees in a particular country. "Internet companies are kind of a new breed of company," Hermalin said. "They have global reach but almost zero assets on the ground."
Coca-Cola, however "could really be hurt," Hermalin said. "Let's suppose that Mubarak or allies of Mubarak retain control and Coke is out there handing out free Cokes to the demonstrators," he said.
"What's the first thing they're going to do? They're going to punish Coke like crazy, they're going to nationalize their bottling plants," he said.
"And if Coke is seen as someone who's going to use its assets to help overthrow dictators then other places in the world that have dictators are going to say 'Maybe having Coke around is not such a good idea.'"
For Google, Facebook and Twitter, the positive publicity they get from standing up to the Egyptian authorities "more than makes up for the risks to whatever business they have in Egypt," he said.

"The Anonymous" Helped Tunisians

When the tug of war was continued between Tunisian fighters and the government in the world of internet. The anonymous organization of whistle-blowers reached to help Tunisian public. They started "Tunisia Operation" against the dictatorial regime. On the occasion the organization issued the statement," The moment of success is near and the time has come when people will express their opinions freely. Their voice will be heard all over the world. Tunisian government wants to capture the present under the cover of lies and deception, and wants to take in hand the future through hiding the facts. But we would let them do. The anonymous have come to know that Tunisians need help and we are here to help." They also said," We warn the government that attacks on freedom of opinion and ban on access to information are intolerable. Any organizational website that is involved in censorship will be attacked and these attacks will be continued till the restoration of human rights and freedom of expression". Then the hackers of The Anonymous started attacking the governmental websites as DDOS( Distributed denial-of-service attack). This is the way through which hackers send so many demands to peculiar websites that they can not bear the load and get crashed.

Protests In Egypt Backed By US---Whistle Blowers

The American government secretly backed leading figures behind the Egyptian uprising who have been planning "regime change" for the past three years, the disclosures, contained in previously secret US diplomatic dispatches released by WikiLeaks.
The US Embassy in Cairo helped a young dissident attend a US-sponsored summit for activists in New York, while working to keep his identity secret from Egyptian state police.
On his return to Cairo in December 2008, the activist told US diplomats that an alliance of opposition groups had drawn up a plan to overthrow President Hosni Mubarak and install a democratic government in 2011.
In a secret diplomatic dispatch, sent on December 30 2008, the US Ambassador to Cairo, recorded that opposition groups had allegedly drawn up secret plans for "regime change" to take place before elections, scheduled for September this year.
The memo, sent to the US Secretary of State in Washington DC, was marked "confidential" and headed: "April 6 activist on his US visit and regime change in Egypt." It said the activist claimed "several opposition forces" had "agreed to support an unwritten plan for a transition to a parliamentary democracy, involving a weakened presidency and an empowered prime minister and parliament, before the scheduled 2011 presidential elections". The embassy's source said the plan was "so sensitive it cannot be written down".
The cable said:
Summary and comment: On December 23, April 6 activist (identity not given) expressed satisfaction with his participation in the December 3-5 "Alliance of Youth Movements Summit," and with his subsequent meetings with USG officials, on Capitol Hill, and with think tanks. He described how State Security (SSIS) detained him at the Cairo airport upon his return and confiscated his notes for his summit presentation calling for democratic change in Egypt, and his schedule for his Congressional meetings. XYZ contended that the GOE will never undertake significant reform, and therefore, Egyptians need to replace the current regime with a parliamentary democracy. He alleged that several opposition parties and movements have accepted an unwritten plan for democratic transition by 2011; we are doubtful of this claim. XYZ said that although SSIS recently released two April 6 activists, it also arrested three additional group members.
We have pressed the MFA for the release of these April 6 activists. April 6's stated goal of replacing the current regime with a parliamentary democracy prior to the 2011 presidential elections is highly unrealistic, and is not supported by the mainstream opposition. End summary and comment.
Satisfaction with the Summit
2. (C) XYZ expressed satisfaction with the December 3-5 "Alliance of Youth Movements Summit" in New York, noting that he was able to meet activists from other countries and outline his movement's goals for democratic change in Egypt.
He told us that the other activists at the summit were very supportive, and that some even offered to hold public demonstrations in support of Egyptian democracy in their countries, with XYZ as an invited guest. XYZ said he discussed with the other activists how April 6 members could more effectively evade harass.

Whistle Blowers Triggered The Revolution In Tunisia

The martyrdom of Bu Azizi in Tunisia that lead to the great revolution in the country was triggered by WiliLeaks. During the frst week of December the disclosure of cables about Tunisia created an uproar. The Diplomatic cables of American Ambassador in Tunisia opened carried the corruption scandals of rulers and opened the secrets of lucrative lives of ruling family. Tunisia has a high rate of literacy that is 75%, so out of 100 million population 3.5 million people use internet. Among these 2 million have acoounts on facebook, twitter, flicker youttube and on other social websites. The number of internet users in Tunisia are higher than the neighboring countries. The reason for this was that government controlled the media that used to telecast and broadcast official reports in which every thing was declared well and good in the country. If any journalist wrote against the policies of government he was tortured and put to jail and tortured. Therefore people used internet to be aware of the national and international latest news. When the Wikileaks documents were opened, Government blocked all the websites that displayed the documents. In this way government surrounded the internet by "FireWall" Opposition called this censorship as "Ammar404", because those websites did not opened and showed the message 404. Due to all these restrictions on media and internet the people diverted to face book and published Wikileaks documents there.

"Milliom Man March"--In Eqypt

Egyptian protesters on Monday called for an indefinite general strike and a "million man march" on Tuesday in Cairo, upping the stakes in their bid to topple President Hosni Mubarak's creaking regime. "It was decided overnight that there will be a million man march on Tuesday," Eid Mohammed, one of the protesters and organisers, told. "We have also decided to begin an open-ended general strike," he said.
The strike was first called by workers at a factory in the canal city of Suez late on Sunday. "We will be joining the Suez workers and begin a general strike until our demands are met," Mohammed Waked, another protest organiser, told.
In Cairo's Tahrir square, hundreds of protesters camped out overnight, determined to escalate the biggest anti-government protests in three decades.
An increasingly embattled Mubarak appointed the first vice president in his 30-year-rule, and a new prime minister in a desperate attempt to hold on to power. Egypt ordered riot police back onto the streets nationwide two days after they virtually disappeared as the army was deployed to deal with the revolt, but few police were visible on Monday morning.
Many Cairo men are exhausted, taking part in neighbourhood vigilante groups protecting their homes from looters by night and protesting during the day.
Mubarak, who sacked his cabinet on Friday, tasked his new prime minister on Sunday to ram through democratic reforms.
His instructions to Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq were read out on state television late on Sunday but had no discernible effect on protesters bunkered down in Tahrir square vowing not to leave until he steps down.
Mubarak also said the new prime minister's priority was creating new jobs.
"Above all that, and concurrent with it, I emphasise the importance of urgently, completely, effectively taking new and continuous steps for more political reforms, constitutional and legislative, through dialogue with all parties," Mubarak told Shafiq. He also instructed the new cabinet, whose members have not yet been named, to end corruption and restore trust in the country's economy.
But the announcement created little excitement among the more than 1,000 people encamped Monday at Tahrir square, the protest epicentre, some sleeping but many more marching and chanting "We will stay in the square, until the coward leaves."
The army has positioned tanks around the area and was checking identity papers but letting protesters in. Civilian popular committee members were also checking papers to make sure no plainclothes police get in.
"We are looking for police trouble makers, they want to come in and break our unity," said a popular committee member who asked not to be named.
Nearby soldiers scrubbed furiously at their tanks in a bid to wash off some of the anti-Mubarak graffiti they have been covered in over the last three days, as officers looked on. Top dissident Mohamed ElBaradei late Sunday told a sea of angry protesters in the square that they were beginning a new era.
The Nobel laureate, who was mandated by Egyptian opposition groups including the banned Muslim Brotherhood to negotiate with Mubarak's regime, hailed "a new Egypt in which every Egyptian lives in freedom and dignity." "We are on the right path, our strength is in our numbers," ElBaradei said in his first address on Tahrir square. "I ask you to be patient, change is coming." "We will sacrifice our soul and our blood for the nation," the angry crowd shouted. "The people want to topple the president."
Brotherhood leaders Essam el-Erian and Saad el-Katatni, who walked out of prison earlier on Sunday after their guards fled, also addressed the crowd. "They tried every way to stop the revolution of the people but we will be steadfast regardless of how many martyrs fall," Erian said.
The protests against Mubarak's three-decade rule have shaken Egypt and left at least 125 people dead as the veteran leader clings to power. A curfew slapped on Cairo, Alexandria and Suez on Friday was further extended on Sunday from 3:00 pm to 8:00 am, state television said, leaving citizens only seven hours a day to take to the street.
Mubarak has struggled to placate a nation angry at his autocratic rule with token gestures such as sacking the government. Several foreign governments said they would evacuate their nationals, while the United States authorised the departure of embassy families.
Mubarak on Sunday met with army brass seen as holding the key to his future as warplanes roared low over the downtown Cairo protest in an apparent show of force.
State television said he visited central military command where he met his newly appointed vice president, Omar Suleiman, the intelligence chief.
Mubarak, a former air force chief, appeared to be bolstering his army support as he faces down the revolt.
Washington, a key ally of Egypt, called on Mubarak to do more to defuse the crisis, with President Barack Obama voicing support for "an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people."
With fears of insecurity rising, thousands of convicts have broken out of prisons across Egypt after they overwhelmed guards or after prison personnel fled their posts.
Troops set up checkpoints on roads to riot-hit prisons, stopping and searching cars for prisoners on the run.

Artificial Pancreas Can Help Expectant Mothers With Type 1 Diabetes

Scientists have shown how an "artificial pancreas" can help pregnant women with type 1 diabetes and say their finding could significantly reduce cases of stillbirth and death among diabetic expectant mothers.
British researchers used a so-called "closed-loop insulin delivery system" or artificial pancreas, in 10 pregnant women with Type 1 diabetes and found it provided the right amount of insulin at the right time, maintained near normal blood sugar, and prevented dangerous drops in blood sugar levels at night.
"To discover an artificial pancreas can help maintain near-normal glucose levels in these women is very promising," said Helen Murphy of Cambridge University, who led the study.
The experimental artificial pancreas was created by combining a continuous glucose monitor, or CGM, with an insulin pump, both of which are already used separately by many people with type 1 diabetes.
Previous trials in children with the condition found that using an artificial pancreas system at night improved blood glucose control and reduced hypoglycaemia when the level of glucose in the blood falls too low.
The bodies of type 1 diabetes sufferers become unable to properly break down sugar and if untreated, bloodvessels and nerves are destroyed, organs fail and patients can die.
Pregnancy can be particularly risky for women with diabetes as hormonal changes make it very difficult to keep blood glucose levels within a safe range, especially at night.
As a result of high blood glucose levels, babies of women with diabetes are five times as likely to be stillborn, three times as likely to die in their first months of life and twice as likely to have a major deformity, the researchers said.
Data from previous studies suggest that pregnant women with type 1 diabetes spend an average of ten hours a day with glucose levels outside recommended targets, said Murphy, whose findings were published in thejournal Diabetes Care.
This increases the risk of birth defects, stillbirth, neonatal death, preterm delivery, oversized babies and other complications.
Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease in which the body destroys its own ability to make insulin, accounts for around 10 percent of all people with diabetes. The more common type 2 diabetes is often linked to bad diet and lack of exercise.
Iain Frame, director of research at the charity Diabetes UK, which part-funded the study, said that although it was a small and early stage trial, the results were encouraging. "It's a fantastic example of how existing technologies...can be adapted and developed to benefit as many people with diabetes as possible," he said in a statement.
The researchers said more studies were now needed on larger numbers of women to validate their findings, and to see if the system could be developed for use outside of a hospital.