Good Afternoon All,
Today I would like to spotlight for you three articles that really intrigued me. First, and my favorite, is the article about the Treasure Trove found off the coast of Africa. I love the fact that no one knows what boat this was. I love the fact that they were looking for something other than treasure boats when they found this one, and I love the fact that they didn't find it because they saw a boat on a dive.
Second, I was intrigued by an article about horse tranquilizers, which have been found to possibly alleviate depression. What is so interesting to me about this article is that this particular tranquilizer is known for two things, tranquilizing horses, and being used as a street drug, known as "special K". So the fact that a potentially beneficial use for humans was found, is quite fortunate and exciting.
Third, as many of you know by now, I love the environmental stories. In Cambodia, yesterday, a sting caught a wildlife smuggling ring that was attempting to smuggle nearly 300 animals! Many of these animals were endangered. The animals were reportedly freed after the sting operation was complete. This article in particular warms my heart. :)
Anyway, hope you enjoy today's articles! See you tomorrow!
Today's Top 5:
1. Treasure Trove Found in 500-year-old Shipwreck Off Africa (Yahoo News)
2. Scientists Share $500,000 Prize for Biomedical Research (WJLA News)
3. Gas Prices Slip for First Time in Weeks, May be Near Top (The Mercury News--Silicon Valley)
4. Study Shows How 'Horse Tranquiliser' Stops Depression (physorg.com)
5. Computers Go on Sale to General Public in Cuba for 1st Time (Las Vegas Sun)
Honorable Mentions:
1. Conservationists Rescue Almost 300 Cambodian Reptiles from Wildlife Smugglers (International Herald Tribune)
2. The Cleanest City In the World (CBN News)
3. Asia Female Magician to Attempt First of its Kind Mega Escape in Singapore’s Top Entertainment District (WebWire)
4. 12-year-old Girl Lights Deshpande's Pyre, Honours Last Wish (India News)
5. Missing Escondido Girl Found in Mexico, Father Arrested (North Country Times)
Today's Top 5:
1. Treasure Trove Found in 500-year-old Shipwreck Off Africa
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/namibia_shipwreck
By DONNA BRYSON, Associated Press Writer
Fri May 2, 12:46 AM ET
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - The ship was laden with tons of copper ingots, elephant tusks, gold coins — and cannons to fend off pirates. But it had nothing to protect it from the fierce weather off a particularly bleak stretch of inhospitable African coast, and it sank 500 years ago. Now it has been found, stumbled upon by De Beers geologists prospecting for diamonds off Namibia.
"If you're mining on the coast, sooner or later you'll find a wreck," archaeologist Dieter Noli said in an interview Thursday.
Namdeb Diamond Corp., a joint venture of the government of Namibia and De Beers, first reported the April 1 find in a statement Wednesday, and planned a news conference in the Namibian capital next week.
The company had cleared and drained a stretch of seabed, building an earthen wall to keep the water out so geologists could work. Noli said one of the geologists saw a few ingots, but had no idea what they were. Then the team found what looked like cannon barrels.
The geologists stopped the brutal earth-moving work of searching for diamonds and sent photos to Noli, who had done research in the Namibian desert since the mid-1980s and has advised De Beers since 1996 on the archaeological impact of its operations in Namibia.
The find "was what I'd been waiting for, for 20 years," Noli said. "Understandably, I was pretty excited. I still am."
Noli's original specialty was the desert, but because of Namdeb's offshore explorations, he had been preparing for the possibility of a wreck, even learning to dive.
After the discovery, he brought in Bruno Werz, an expert in the field, to help research the wreck. Noli has studied maritime artifacts with Werz, who was one of his instructors at the University of Cape Town.
Judging from the notables depicted on the hoard of Spanish and Portuguese coins, and the type of cannons and navigational equipment, the ship went down in the late 1400s or early 1500s, around the time Vasco de Gama and Columbus were plying the waters of the New World.
"Based on the goods they were carrying, it's almost certain that it dates from that time," said John Broadwater, chief archaeologist at the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
"This find is very exciting because very few vessels from that period have been discovered," he said, adding that many early ships were thought to have wrecked in that area.
It was, Noli said, "a period when Africa was just being opened up, when the whole world was being opened up."
He compared the remnants — ingots, ivory, coins, coffin-sized timber fragments — to evidence at a crime scene.
"The surf would have pounded that wreck to smithereens," he said. "It's not like `Pirates of the Caribbean,' with a ship more or less intact."
He and Werz are trying to fit the pieces into a story. They divide their time between inventorying the find in Namibia and doing research in museums and libraries in Cape Town, South Africa, from where Noli spoke by phone Thursday.
Eventually, they will go to Portugal or Spain to search for records of a vessel with similar cargo that went missing.
"You don't turn a skipper loose with a cargo of that value and have no record of it," Noli said.
The wealth on board is intriguing. Noli said the large amount of copper could mean the ship had been sent by a government looking for material to build cannons. Trade in ivory was usually controlled by royal families, another indication the ship was on official business.
On the other hand, why did the captain have so many coins? Shouldn't they have been traded for the ivory and copper?
"Either he did a very, very good deal. Or he was a pirate," Noli said. "I'm convinced we'll find out what the ship was and who the captain was."
What brought the vessel down may remain a mystery. But Noli has theories, noting the stretch of coast was notorious for fierce storms and disorienting fogs.
In later years, sailors with sophisticated navigational tools avoided it. The only tools found on the wreck were astrolabes, which can be used to determine only how far north or south you have sailed.
"Sending a ship toward Africa in that period, that was venture capital in the extreme," Noli said. "These chaps were very much on the edge as far as navigation. It was still very difficult for them to know where they were."
Noli has found signs that worms were at work on the ship's timber, and sheets of lead used to patch holes, indications the ship was old when it went down.
Imagine a leaky, overladen ship caught in a storm. The copper ingots, shaped like sections of a sphere, would have sat snug, he said. But the tusks — some 50 have been found — could have shifted, tipping the ship.
"And down you go," Noli said, "weighed down by your treasure."
2. Scientists Share $500,000 Prize for Biomedical Research
http://www.wjla.com/news/stories/0508/516371.html
posted 1:53 pm Fri May 02, 2008
ALBANY, N.Y.
The nation's richest prize in medicine and biomedical research was awarded Friday to two researchers for work that has improved disease treatments and may lead to new ones for degenerative and other age-related disorders. Joan Steitz and Elizabeth Blackburn are the first women ever to receive the 8-year-old Albany Medical Center Prize. They will share the $500,000 award, which ranks second only to the $1.4 million Nobel Prize among medical prizes.
Steitz, a professor at Yale, is known for research that has improved the diagnosis and treatment of certain autoimmune diseases, including lupus, scleroderma and some forms of arthritis. She discovered the function of small ribonucleoproteins, called snRNPs, that play a vital role in producing proteins for the body's most basic biological processes.
Blackburn, of the University of California, San Francisco, made groundbreaking discoveries about structures called telomeres on the tips of chromosomes. Telomeres are like the plastic tips on the end of shoelaces - they hold chromosomes together to keep them from fraying.
Blackburn discovered an enzyme called telomerase, which repairs telomeres as they wear down. The more telomerase people have, the less likely they will get cardiovascular problems, Blackburn said. Chronic stress correlates with having a lower level of the enzyme.
Telomerase also has a dark side: It can contribute to the growth of cancer cells, a discovery that could eventually help in the treatment of some cancers.
The Albany prize was established in 2000 with a $50 million gift from the late Morris "Marty" Silverman, a New York City businessman who wanted to encourage health and biomedical research.
3. Gas Prices Slip for First Time in Weeks, May be Near Top
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_9131695
By John Wilen
Associated Press
Article Launched: 05/02/2008 07:59:18 AM PDT
NEW YORK - Retail gas prices fell slightly today - the first time in 18 days they haven't risen to a new record - and analysts say pump prices are close to peaking for the year.
Oil futures, meanwhile, rose as Turkish airstrikes on Kurdish rebel bases in Iraq injected some supply concerns into the market, giving investors reason to shrug off the strengthening dollar.
The national average price of a gallon of regular gas fell 0.1 cent overnight to $3.622, according to a survey of gas stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. That's the first time since April 14 that retail prices have fallen. Diesel prices fell 0.2 cent to a national average of $4.249 a gallon.
"It could go up just a little bit more," said Fred Rozell, retail pricing director at the Oil Price Information Service, in Wall, N.J., but, "I think it's running out of steam."
Prices could reach $3.70 a gallon, "at the most," Rozell said, but are highly unlikely to rise to $4 on a national basis. Still, motorists in parts of states such as California and Hawaii are paying $4 right now.
Soaring gas prices are cutting demand for gasoline, and analysts have long theorized that falling demand will eventually force prices lower. However, gas prices bucked those forecasts for most of the spring and followed oil's sharp gains.
Today, light, sweet crude for June delivery rose $1.42 to $113.94 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Turkish
warplanes bombed Kurdish rebel bases inside Iraq for three hours overnight, a rebel spokesman said today. When conflict breaks out in the Middle East, investors often buy on concerns that supplies will be disrupted.
The fresh supply concerns pulled the market's attention away from the dollar, which added to its gains against the euro today after the Labor Department said employers cut far fewer jobs in April than expected. Investors took that data to mean the Federal Reserve is less likely to cut interest rates further this year; falling rates tend to weaken the dollar.
A rising dollar undercuts the appeal of commodities such as oil as a hedge against inflation, and makes oil more expensive to investors overseas. The rising greenback helped pull oil prices back to nearly $110 a barrel on Thursday. Oil's climb to almost $120 on Monday from about $64 a year ago was largely due to a protracted decline by the dollar, analysts say.
However, oil's connection to the dollar can be broken when supply concerns flare up, as they did today.
"It's not a perfect relationship, and on any given day, oil will choose to go its own way," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.
Late last week, strikes by oil workers in Nigeria and Scotland stoked worries about supplies that drove oil prices higher. Both strikes were resolved this week.
Still, supply concerns tend to fade quickly. Analysts think the market's decision to shrug off today's stronger dollar will be short lived, particularly if the Fed holds interest rates steady, and the dollar continues to gain.
"It will be difficult to sustain (oil price) rallies in the face of any further strength in the dollar," Ritterbusch said.
And that means retail gas prices will likely rise no higher than $3.65 to $3.70 a gallon, he said.
"I think that will be the high for the year," said Ritterbusch, who expects prices to fall back toward $3 a gallon over the summer.
In other Nymex trading today, June gasoline futures rose 3.13 cents to $2.9095 a gallon, and June heating oil futures rose 4.16 cents to $3.1593 a gallon. June natural gas futures rose 5.8 cents to $10.619 per 1,000 cubic feet.
In London, June Brent crude futures gained $1.73 to $112.23 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
4. Study Shows How 'Horse Tranquiliser' Stops Depression
http://www.physorg.com/news128960385.html
Published: 1 hour ago, 15:19 EST, May 02, 2008
Researchers have shown exactly how the anaesthetic ketamine helps depression with images that show the orbitofrontal cortex – the part of the brain that is overactive in depression – being ‘switched off’.
Ketamine, an anaesthetic that is popular with doctors on the battlefield and also with vets because it allows a degree of awareness without pain, is a new hope for the treatment of depression – but the minute-by-minute images produced by Professor Bill Deakin and his team show how the drug achieves this in an unexpected way.
The drug deactivates the orbitofrontal cortex – located above the eyes, in the centre – which is thought to give rise to highly emotional thoughts such as guilt and feelings of worthlessness and causes reactions in visceral body parts such as a churning stomach and a racing heart.
Professor Deakin, of the Faculty of Medical and Human Sciences, said: “We were surprised to see it working on that part of the brain. We expected to see it work on the parts that control psychosis, at the sides of the brain. There was some activity there but more striking was the switching off of the depression centre.”
The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, sought to identify the sites of action of ketamine but also the release of glutamate turned out to be important in ketamine’s effects and this could point to new quick treatments to get people out of severe or long-standing depression.
The team at the University’s Neuroscience and Psychiatry Unit (NPU) and Imaging Science and Biomedical Engineering (ISBE) gave intravenous ketamine to 33 healthy male, right-handed volunteers at the Wellcome Trust Clinical Research Facility (WTCRF). Scans showed activity in the orbitofrontal cortex stopped immediately.
In studies in the US, depressed people found that their symptoms begin to improve 24 hours after taking ketamine and continued to improve for two days after that. Professor Deakin is now funded to develop this approach to treatment in psychiatric patients in the new £30M Biomedical Research Centre awarded to Central Manchester and Manchester Children’s Hospital NHS Trust just last month. He hopes to develop a treatment within the next five years.
He said: “The study results have given us a completely novel way of treating depression and a new avenue of understanding depression.”
Professor Helen Mayberg, at Emory University in the United States, who pioneered deep brain stimulation to stop overactivity of the orbitofrontal cortex, in which electrodes are used during brain surgery, agreed: “This is a terrific finding...of extreme interest to our ongoing deep brain stimulation studies.”
Source: University of Manchester
5. Computers Go on Sale to General Public in Cuba for 1st Time
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/may/02/computers-go-on-sale-to-general-public-in-cuba-for/
The Associated Press
Fri, May 2, 2008 (8:42 a.m.)
Cubans are getting wired. Computers went on sale to the general public on the communist island on Friday and potential consumers were lining up outside store windows to gawk and consider buying.
President Raul Castro's government had authorized the sale of personal computers to average Cubans more than a month ago, but they were not made available until Friday.
Computer sales are the latest of a series of measures Castro has taken to make life easier for ordinary Cubans.
The new government also has erased bans on cell phones and luxury hotel room rentals, and has made it easier for state workers to own homes they once rented as part of their jobs. It also is letting more private farmers and cooperatives take a crack at putting fallow government land to better use.
Honorable Mentions:
1. Conservationists Rescue Almost 300 Cambodian Reptiles from Wildlife Smugglers
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/01/asia/AS-GEN-Cambodia-Wildlife.php
The Associated PressPublished: May 1, 2008
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Hundreds of reptiles including some endangered species were rescued from traffickers and released into their natural habitat in Cambodia, a conservation group said Thursday.
Twelve endangered yellow-headed temple turtles were among the nearly 300 reptiles — weighing a total of 420 kilograms (925 pounds) — that authorities confiscated this week in Cambodia's northwestern Battambang province, the Washington, D.C.-based Wildlife Alliance said.
It said the animals were freed Wednesday following their rescue Monday, when Wildlife Alliance members were with Cambodian forestry officials and police who stopped a pickup truck taking the animals to Vietnam.
Cooperation between the Wildlife Alliance and various government conservation agencies is "making significant impacts on a multimillion-dollar illegal wildlife trade in Cambodia as various trade routes and wildlife stockpile locations have been exposed," the alliance said in a statement.
Two dozen reticulated and Burmese pythons were among the cargo, which also included yellow-headed temple turtles, which are significant in Cambodian folklore and legends, the statement said.
"In stone carvings on the walls of Angkorian temples, they are depicted as divine creatures of royalty; yet their numbers steadily decrease each year due to habitat loss and the illegal wildlife trade," the alliance said.
Dany Chheang, deputy director of the wildlife protection office at Cambodia's Agriculture Ministry, called the seizure the biggest in recent memory.
"It was very important that we broke this case of illegal trading. These animals are a national asset," he said.
The statement said an army lieutenant, Hong Try, was held for questioning about the smuggling. It did not say if he was driving the truck — which bore military license plates — or what charge, if any, he might face.
It said the animals had been illegally collected in three northwestern provinces, then moved to a large-scale holding facility in neighboring Thailand before being shipped back through Cambodia en route to Vietnam.
"The size of this rescue also shows the magnitude of the trans-boundary wildlife trade," said Suwanna Gauntlett, the Wildlife Alliance's country director in Cambodia.
2. The Cleanest City In the World
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/367205.aspx
By George Thomas
CBN News Senior Reporter
May 2, 2008
CBNNews.com - SINGAPORE - This country was once a swampy land mass. But in the past four decades, this island nation in Southeast Asia has transformed itself into a major financial and trading center.
It's also one of the cleanest places in the world-- where you can be fined or arrested just for spitting, littering or selling chewing gum.
As CBN News discovered, Singaporeans don't mind the strict laws one bit.
You can't see them. But you know they're there. Undercover. Watching. Scanning the crowd.
"That's why we are very careful," says a resident of Singapore while eating her lunch.
Watching Your Every Move
Orchard Road is the most famous shopping street in Singapore. Tens of thousands of people mingle and shop up and down the boulevard each day.
Hidden in the crowd are some 400 plainclothes officers from the government's National Environment Agency. Their job: to pick out those who let things slip out of their hands.
CBN News' George Thomas spoke to Lawrence who works in the financial district in downtown Singapore.
Thomas: You like to smoke? You are smoking a cigarette right now?
Lawrence: Yes.
Thomas: What would happen if you threw that cigarette on the floor?
Lawrence: You'd be fined.
Thomas: How much would you be fined?
Lawrence: Maybe $500, maybe a thousand dollars. I'm not too sure.
Thomas: A thousand Singaporean dollars?
Lawrence: Yes.
Thomas: That's a lot of money.
Lawrence: Yes.
One thousand Singaporean dollars is roughly about $700 in the U.S.
Cleanest City in the World
Singapore is famous for being the cleanest city in the world. There are many posters in buildings and parks telling people what they should and shouldn't do. Those who don't obey the rules will be fined or arrested.
Singapore is so strict that gum is a banned substance. In fact, those caught with it can be fined close to two hundred Dollars. Spitting, littering and jay-walking can also land you in big trouble.
Chewing gum is not forbidden in Singapore but bringing gum into the country in large amounts is illegal. Those caught selling it can be sent to jail. So many people like Martin, who lives on the east side of the island, just decide not to chew gum---period.
Thomas: Have you had gum before?
Martin: Never.
Thomas: Never?
Martin: Never.
Thomas: Never in your life? You've never had gum?
Martin: No.
Thomas: Do you want to have some gum?
Martin: No way.
Litterbugs Nabbed
The government reports that some 20,000 litterbugs were nabbed in 2007 -- 385 were repeat offenders. They had to pay higher fines and were ordered to pickup trash as part of a government-run rehabilitation program.
The folks that CBN News spoke to welcome these strict laws. They say it keeps Singapore a very clean, safe and orderly nation.
"It is not too controlling, you've got to learn good habits, right?" said a Ghopal another resident of the city. "So good habits start at home, right? So why not in the city."
And these habits start early. Children are taught at school and in their family, about how they should behave in society.
"There are many perceptions of Singapore that it's a very authoritarian country, where you can't speak or chew gum," said 19-year-old John, a student at one of the colleges in the city. "But I think that these are things that we just get used especially as we grow up in Singapore."
A Regional Powerhouse
The island of Singapore is not big; In fact, it's a tiny spot on the map wedged between Malaysia and Indonesia. Just over four million people live here.
Singapore has one of the strongest economies in Asia. It is the world's busiest port, is the third-largest oil refiner and a major financial and high-tech hub.
Singaporeans owe their rise to this man, Lee Kwan Yew, the country's first prime minister. Yew used these strict rules and regulations to transform the country into one of the richest, cleanest, safest and most efficient countries in the world.
A word of advice to those contemplating a trip to Singapore: make sure you know what the do's and don'ts are before going. Every year a large number of tourists are fined because they don't know about these strict rules.
3. Asia Female Magician to Attempt First of its Kind Mega Escape in Singapore’s Top Entertainment District
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=64704
WEBWIRE – Friday, May 02, 2008
Contact Information Adeline Ng, PR Executive
65-68418489
info@conceptmagic.biz
Singapore, 2 May 2008 – Widely acknowledged by the media as Singapore’s only professional female magician, ‘Magic Babe’ Ning will be attempting a first of its kind death-defying mega escape at 9.00pm on 5 July 2008, at the fountain in Clarke Quay, Singapore’s top entertainment district.
In front of an expected live audience of 5000 people, Ning will attempt to escape from a device called “The Impalement Cage”, a steel cage with a bed of 13 stainless steel spikes, timed to crash down on her in 90 seconds. She will have to pick all the locks and shackles that secure her hands, legs and neck to the inside of the cage and then roll out to safety before the spikes fall. To add to the difficulty and danger of the mega escape, Ning will also be completely blindfolded.
What makes this particular stunt so different from any other escape of its kind is the fact that it will be attempted in full view of the surrounded live audience, with no covers, shields or boxes of any kind. The audience will witness her complex escape step-by-step with no tricks or illusions.
Such a live escape of this nature has never before been attempted before in South East Asia and Ning’s stunt follows in the footsteps of fellow illusionist J C Sum’s “Impossible Teleportation” mega illusion, held last August, where he teleported up 50 stories of the OUB Centre, in 5 seconds, in front of over 9000 people. That mega illusion was a major success and made news headlines worldwide.
Ning, who was called “the sexiest women in magic” by MagicSeen and also graced 6 pages of FHM Singapore in the December 2007 issue, is excited about the mega escape and is cautiously optimistic:
“This escape is not a magic trick. It is legitimately dangerous on many levels. While we will plan for every contingency; due to the complex nature of this live stunt, any small hiccup can cause this escape to fail, with dire consequences. But I’m excited and privileged to be able to take on this challenge. Being a woman in a male-dominated industry, this is a chance to prove that females need not always play passive, cutesy or submissive roles.
This mega escape goes against magic tradition, where female magicians are typically expected to perform ‘girly’ magic with colourful scarves, fans, rings, flowers or white bunnies. But then again, ‘Magic Babe’ is no ordinary female magician! Audiences of today are ready and, in fact, embrace strong female characters that are still feminine. Just think of Angelina Jolie’s characters in Tomb Raider or Mr. & Mrs. Smith.”
Designer of the mega escape & Ning’s on-stage partner, illusionist J C Sum, highlights why this stunt will set a new benchmark in magic in Asia:
“This particular mega escape is different from anything ever done in South East Asia. Ning will be attempting the escape in an uncontrolled environment while surrounded by thousands of people, not on a theatre stage with audiences in a fixed seating position. Anything can happen as the setting is unpredictable.
In addition, anytime you see an escape of this nature, the magician is always hidden from view behind a cloth screen or curtain; this is to protect the magic secret. In this improved evolved presentation of such of a stunt, Ning will be attempting the escape in full-view of the audience at all times, atop of a multi-tiered center stage in a spiked steel cage, 14ft above ground.”
“The Impalement Cage” mega escape marks the official launch of “Ultimate Magic”, Singapore’s First Permanent Illusion Show that stars Ning & J C Sum. The long-term contract will have both illusionists performing their duo-illusion show at The Arena for 16 months, from 1 September 2008 – 31 December 2009. The show will run 6 days a week from Monday to Saturday with show times at 5.00pm & 7.00pm. Sneak previews of the show will be staged every Saturday at 7.30pm in the month of August 2008.
For updated info on “The Impalement Cage” mega escape and the “Ultimate Magic” show, visit www.jcsum.com
4. 12-year-old Girl Lights Deshpande's Pyre, Honours Last Wish
http://www.indiaenews.com/politics/20080502/115394.htm
From correspondents in Delhi, India, 06:00 PM IST
A 12-year old girl Friday performed the last rites of Nirmala Deshpande, honouring the wishes of the noted Gandhian who died Thursday. Dignitaries from across India and abroad paid their last respects to Deshpande amid the chanting of Vedic hymns and religious renditions.
'It was my dadi's (grandmother) wish that I should light her pyre. She used to love me so much,' Sambhavi Mishra, whom Deshpande had adopted, told IANS.
'It is a big loss to me,' said Sambhavi, a Class 5 student at St. Mary's School in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.
Deshpande, one of India's last Gandhians whose life was devoted to the cause of the poor and downtrodden, died in her sleep here Thursday morning. She was 79.
The cremation, conducted at Lodhi Road crematorium, was attended by top Indian leaders cutting across party lines, dignitaries from India and abroad, NGO volunteers and many of Deshpande's admirers, colleagues and friends.
Congress general secretary and MP Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai, and Minister for Steel, Fertilisers and Chemicals Ram Vilas Paswan were among those who paid their tributes.
'Her commitment to the cause of Gandhian values was unquestionable. She never compromised with her mission of life that was to uplift the poor and women. She has left behind a vacuum that will never be filled,' Paswan said.
Vice-President Hamid Ansari and his visiting Iranian counterpart Esfandiar Rahim Mashaee were also present at the ceremony.
'She was the most effective and visible representative of Gandhian ethos and values. She is no more but her efforts to spread the message of Mahatma Gandhi and empower women will keep the people around the world inspiring for years to come,' Ansari said.
According to her colleagues, the fact that Deshpande wanted a girl to perform her last rites was testimony to her dedication to women's rights.
'She used to tell us that women could do what even men cannot. There should be no discrimination on the basis on gender. If a son can perform his father's last rites, then why not a daughter, was what she often told us,' said Shiv Nath, an associate of Deshpande for 30 years.
Deshpande was a familiar figure who accompanied visiting presidents, prime ministers and other dignitaries at Mahatma Gandhi's memorial Raj Ghat.
A Rajya Sabha member, she kept a busy schedule in her last few days too. She was in Bihar last week to meet fellow Gandhians and returned early this week. Deshpande, who was popularly known as Didi, also went to parliament a day earlier and interacted with fellow parliamentarians and friends.
The foreign dignitaries who paid homage to Deshpande included Pakistan's Information and Broadcasting Minister Sherry Rehman and representatives from various embassies and high commissions located in the city.
Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said that Deshpande was the epitome of sacrifice who dedicated her life to ameliorating the woes of downtrodden.
'Nirmala Deshpande is no more, but her teachings will forever reverberate in our minds,' Singh said.
5. Missing Escondido Girl Found in Mexico, Father Arrested
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2008/05/02//news/inland/escondido/nct311fbd25e7504f7b8825743d004fc.txt
Friday, May 2, 2008 10:09 AM PDT ∞
Escondido, California
An 11-year-old girl missing since Tuesday is safe with family in Mexico and her father is under arrest in connection with her disappearance, Escondido Police said late Thursday.
Alani Vera is being harbored by her father's family in Mexico, Lt. Bob Benton said. The girl was reported missing by Rose Elementary School when she did not show up for classes after her mother dropped her off Tuesday morning.
Eduardo Vera, the girl's father, allegedly had her taken to Mexico in an attempt to conceal her from her mother, Benton said.
Vera, 32, was arrested Thursday on suspicion of child endangerment, felony child concealment and delaying a police investigation, Benton said. He will be booked into the Vista Detention Facility.
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