Israeli rabbis are soon to meet to determine whether the Jews of Mizoram / Bene Menashi are “really jewish” and therefore entitled to excercise claims under the law of return. No word on whether the genetic test for the Cohen gene has been performed, like with the Bene Israel of India or the Lemba of Southern Africa.

p.s. Mizoram is a state at the eastern edge of India, just to the south of Assam, sandwiched between Bangladesh and Burma. These are desis who claim to have been a “lost tribe” but whose claims are fairly recent. Continue reading →

from the Toronto Star, an article that discusses canada’s medical status quo– apparently they don’t have enough doctors.

this made me choke on my chardonnay. not enough doctors? there are one billion indians walking the earth! :p how is ANYONE lacking doctors?

is dr. sunil patel (who is quoted below) the only brown person in canada? 😉 no, that can’t be. CANADA has TEN brown legislators! so where are all the doctors? and more pressing than that, what on earth do canadian uncles and aunties brag about at parties if their kids aren’t in med school? anyone? buehler??

Canada needs to invest $1 billion over the next five years to reverse its serious shortage of doctors and ensure there will be enough health-care providers in future to reduce long waiting lists plaguing hospitals, the Canadian Medical Association says.

The association wants Ottawa to create a national health human resources reinvestment fund, which would plan for future personnel needs and “help end the health human resources boom-and-bust planning cycle,” outgoing president Dr. Sunil Patel told a news conference at the annual meeting in Toronto yesterday.

From CNN’s World report –

AGARTALA, India (Reuters) — Authorities in northeast India have urged Bangladesh not to kill about 100 wild elephants that have strayed across the border and gone on a rampage, killing 13 people and injuring dozens more.

“We are very sympathetic about the elephants’ plight and we will not take any steps to kill them,” Munshi Anwarul Islam, Chief Forest Conservator of Bangladesh, told Reuters.

“But these elephants are destroying our houses and trees and are a threat to the local people. They are not finding a corridor to go back to India.”

Funny how the wild elephants get far more consideration from CNN/Reuters than the 13 “villagers” they killed….

The FBI is looking for this man, Adnan el-Shukrijumah in connection with a future terrorist attack. The Bush Administration is pretty worried about him. According to TIME Magazine he attended a recent terrorist summit in Pakistan’s badlands.

It was a gathering of terrorism’s elite, and they slipped silently into Pakistan from all over the world in order to attend. From England came Abu Issa al-Hindi, an Indian convert to radical Islam who specializes in surveillance. From an unknown hideout came Adnan el-Shukrijumah, an accomplished Arab Guyanese bombmaker and commercial pilot. And from Queens in New York City came Mohammed Junaid Babar, a Pakistani American who arrived with cash, sleeping bags, ponchos, waterproof socks and other supplies for the mountain-bound jihadis.

Continue reading →

Maoist rebels, inspired by the shining path, in a bid to overthrow the Nepalese monarchy, have launched an indefinite blockade of Kathmandu. An indigenous Maoist movement in this day and age? The basis of their support appears to be resentment by lower caste Nepalis “against the authority wielded by the higher castes.” Nor is the King very popular. (He came to power when the crown prince supposedly ran amok, high on drugs, and shot the previous King and Queen, leaving the King’s brother as the new King). I don’t have anything snarky or witty to say about this — both sides routinely violate human rights and neither is democratic. It’s a real Charlie Foxtrot.