By Zubeida Mustafa The fact is that in our society women’s issues continue to be used as pawns by politicians in their power games. –Photo by Eefa Khalid/ Dawn.com Hats off to the women who lobbied for the two bills on sexual harassment, and managed last week to move them a step further towards becoming the law. At long last the ruling coalition partners mustered enough courage to take a stand on women’s rights in this matter. At one stage the Protection against Harassment of Women at the Workplace Bill and the Criminal Law Amendment Bill had appeared to be … Continue reading Women’s bills revisited – Pakistani women must have equal rights regardless of Mullahs

By Syed Irfan Raza It has been an old practice of Mr Zardari to offer Sadqa (animal sacrifice). He has been doing this for a long time: Farhatullah Babar.—File photo ISLAMABAD: A black goat is slaughtered almost daily to ward off ‘evil eyes’ and protect President Asif Ali Zardari from ‘black magic’. Does this, and the use of camel and goat milk, make the beleaguered president appear to be a superstitious man? Well, not to his spokesman. “It has been an old practice of Mr Zardari to offer Sadqa (animal sacrifice). He has been doing this for a long time,” … Continue reading Goats sacrificed ‘to ward off evil eyes’ – Mullah Diesel sacrified would be better!

The days of banking self-rule are over – Davos policymakers must make tough choices on regulation and rewards Larry Elliott guardian.co.uk, The mood in Davos is more cheerful this year. That’s hardly a surprise since the world economy was having a near-death experience a year ago. Industrial production was collapsing and world trade contracting at rates similar to those in the early 1930s. Instead of a Great Depression we have had what economists and policy makers are calling the Great Recession; it has been tough but swift action has prevented the worst from happening. That sense was reflected in a … Continue reading 2010 is a key year for Davos when it needs to come of age

The lives of a Nazi collaborator and a woman who helped to hide Anne Frank illuminate the history of the Holocaust Efraim Zuroff guardian.co.uk, Friend in need: in this 1998 photograph, Miep Gies displays a copy of her book Anne Frank Remembered at her apartment in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Gies, who helped the teenage diarist’s family hide from the Nazis, died Monday 11 January 2010, aged 100. Photograph: Steve North/AP Earlier this month, on 11 January, two individuals whose lives were bound up with the story of the Holocaust died. One was male, the other female. The former was born and … Continue reading Two lives and the Holocaust

Did you think Zoolander was just a funny film about the fashion industry? Really? It is, I’ll have you know, all true Hadley Freeman The Guardian Ben Stiller in Zoolander, the glorious 2001 comedy about the fashion industry. Photograph: MELINDA SUE GORDON/AP For far, far too long the glorious 2001 film Zoolander has been dismissed as a mere comedy about the fashion industry, featuring Owen Wilson wearing a set of ­angel wings. An important contribution to culture, clearly, but not life-changing. But, I tell you, my hand humbly pressed to my chest, I have ­always known otherwise. Zoolander Production year: … Continue reading The amazing truth about Zoolander

Mohandas Gandhi held India back when it came to women’s rights – and his own behaviour around them could be bizarre Michael Connellan guardian.co.uk, Mohandas Gandhi, whose death anniversary falls on Saturday, was an amazing human being. He led his country to freedom and helped destroy the British Empire. Little wonder India worshipped him, and still worships him, as the Mahatma – “Great Soul”. In the west he is viewed as a near-perfect combination of compassion, bravery and wisdom. But Gandhi was also a puritan and a misogynist who helped ensure that India remains one of the most sexually repressed … Continue reading Women suffer from Gandhi’s legacy

Earth’s twin planet will be found by the end of the year, leading astronomer says By Graham Smith The first Earth-like planet outside the solar system will have been discovered by the end of the year, one of the world’s leading astronomers said yesterday. Professor Michel Mayor, the scientist in charge of the team who detected the first extrasolar planet in 1995, claimed that the chance of finding a planet that is habitable for humans is now imminent. The astronomer, of Geneva University, said that recent technological progress that allows the observation of planets outside the solar system now makes … Continue reading Grand Boffin Mullah Michel Mayor says Earth’s twin planet will be found by the end of the year!

Comment is free Series: Michael White’s political briefing Previous | Index Michael White The Guardian, Western officials hoping to nurture a role in Afghanistan‘s government for the once-denounced Taliban might be wise not to look this week for encouragement from Northern Ireland, where rival fundamentalists of Sinn Fein and the DUP still cling to the wreckage of their power-sharing agreement. There is actually a tenuous link between Kabul and the fast-moving affairs of the province where Gordon Brown and Brian Cowen, the Irish taoiseach, arrived tonight to bang heads together. The link is Robert Cecil, seventh Marquis of Salisbury, an … Continue reading Secret talks with Afghan taliban create alarm and excitement

Although some on the right see Israel as standing up to radical Islam, Jews in Germany remain committed to a tolerant society Alan Posener guardian.co.uk, Grim pilgrimage: pope Benedict XVI prays during his visit to the former Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, 28 May 2006, Poland. Photograph: Vincenzo Pinto/AFP/Getty On 27 January, Germany will commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp by Soviet troops. Though most Germans now face up to their past guilt and their present responsibilities, the road has not been easy. It wasn’t until 40 years after the second world war that a (West) German president … Continue reading Don’t let Auschwitz be forgotten