Advisers to Pope Benedict XVI ‘regret’ plan for state visit to UK Ruth Gledhill and Kate Youde thetimes.co.uk (Reuters) Advisers to the Pope are starting to regret that he accepted an invitation to visit Britain this September after official papers emerged that suggested he should be asked to open an abortion clinic, bless a gay marriage and launch a Benedict-branded condom range. The document also suggested that the National Anthem be changed, from God Save the Queen to God Save the World. As the Foreign and Commonwealth Office was forced into a rapid damage-limitation exercise with an official apology for … Continue reading British Foriegn Office asks Pope to bless Gay Marriage and Launch Condoms!

White robber wears African-American ‘Hollywood’ mask to hold up bank A white bank robber is alleged to have attempted to fool US police by wearing a Hollywood special effects mask and gloves that disguised him as a black man. dawn.com Conrad Zdzierak, 30, used the £450 ($700) silicon mask in an audacious string of six bank robberies Photo: SPLASH NEWS Hollywood mask ‘The Player’ sold on the internet for $700 Photo: SPLASH NEWS According to police reports, Conrad Zdzierak, 30, is alleged to have used the £450 silicon mask in an audacious string of six bank robberies in Ohio. Five … Continue reading White robber uses Black ‘Hollywood’ mask to hold up bank!

Stephen Hawking: alien life is out there, scientist warns Stephen Hawking has suggested that aliens almost certainly exist but has warned humanity not to try to contact them. dawn.com Life could evolve in the upper atmosphere of gas giants Jupitar Photo: Discovery channel Alien hunters prepare to attack a herd of plant-eaters Alien predators finish off a large grazer with repeated poison stinger strikes Photo: Discovery Channel A squid-like creature feeds on the bottom of the salty ocean thought to exist below the surface of one of Jupiter’s moons Photo: Discovery Channel/Darlow Smithson Productions Prof Hawking steps down as Lucasian … Continue reading Stephen Hawking: alien life – be scared, very scared!!

Pope receives apology from UK Foreign Office for ‘condom’ memo Internal Foreign Office memo filled with ironic suggestions about the pope’s September visit to the UK has prompted an official apology to the Vatican Stephen Bates and Fiona Winward in Rome guardian.co.uk, The Foreign Office has apologised over a jokey internal memo written by junior staff suggesting the pope should open an abortion clinic during his visit and start a child abuse line. Photograph: Giuseppe Giglia/EPA An internal Foreign Office memo about this September’s papal visit to Britain which started as a Friday afternoon joke, today has resulted in a … Continue reading Blasphemous FCO!!!

ANALYSIS: Winning the Battle of Algiers —Mir Mohammad Ali Talpur If brutal crackdowns and search operations of suspected areas had any success in deterring people from struggling for their national, political, social and economic rights, Algeria would still have been a French colony Jeehamd Shahija Marri was a notorious cattle rustler in the Pat Feeder area in the 1950s and 60s; he used to narrate his exploits about the risks they had to take and the distances they had to walk. He would recount that after reaching a relatively safe place after a continuous quick walk of 10 to 12 … Continue reading Winning the Battle of Algiers

VIEW: After the UN commission report —Haider Nizamani Ordinary Pakistanis, especially those who cannot read English, should be given the opportunity to access the report in its entirety, instead of leaving them at the mercy of spin-doctors and prejudiced television anchors trashing the report Some forces in Pakistan have already gone into overdrive to discredit the report of the UN Commission of Inquiry into the facts and circumstances of the assassination of Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. The 65-page report’s focus is on the circumstances surrounding Ms Bhutto’s assassination and the subsequent criminal investigation, or lack of it thereof, but it offers … Continue reading Pakistanis should be given the UN report directly to decide for themselves

Violence on campus By Huma Yusuf dawwn.com The Punjab University should revive a healthy culture of student politics on campus. Although the govt lifted a long-standing ban in March 08, no student union elections have been conducted. History has already shown that democracy is the best antidote to the IJT’s shenanigan, the group, which was known to terrorise progressive students in the 70s, was trounced in student elections, most notably in 78, 83 and 89. By now Pakistanis are accustomed to ‘non-state actors’ — nebulous creatures that are blamed for the nation’s ills and help the government defer the burden … Continue reading Violent Mullahs on campus

‘I am eccentric and a maverick’ By Anjum Niaz dawn.com The man who wants to be remembered as an “ordinary human being; an Indian and a friend of Pakistan” leaves us with his final thought: “While partition can’t be undone but its consequence can be undone”! – Photo by Reuters. The last time I saw Jaswant Singh was in a small study at his New Delhi home. He sat behind a pile of books listening to Vivaldi. His eyes were of a discoverer thrashing through a jungle of overgrown foliage covered in fog. Before him lay his typed manuscript covered … Continue reading Partition can’t be undone but its consequence can be undone

Smokers’ Corner: Lost bearings? By Nadeem F. Paracha dawn.com “Is this sheer hypocrisy, self-centred delusion, or a simple case of Islamism now losing its bearings on a social level just like its political version did in the political arena?” A few weeks ago a young lady wrote a moving blog for dawn.com called ‘Confessions of a hijabi,’ she predictably rambled on about how painful it has been for her to hold on to her hijab in the face of taunts by the people around her. The event that inspired her to write this piece is rather telling. She says she … Continue reading How did Pakistan come to this?

The recurring nightmare By Ardeshir Cowasjee dawn.com According to Khushwant the story of the House of Bhutto, written by Fatima in “impeccably beautiful prose would have been a joy to read if it had not been a gruesome tale of intrigue, treachery, treason, violence and cold-blooded murder. The irrepressible, inimitable, 90-plus, Khushwant Singh, who has few peers in the subcontinental journalist community, is much taken with young Fatima Bhutto — mind you, he always has had and is renowned for his roving eye. He also has much to say about Fatima’s book Songs of Blood and Sword which he has … Continue reading The recurring nightmare