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South Asia Quake

Tuesday, October 18, 2005
BREAKING NEWS LINK "More than 40,000 people are confirmed dead in the earthquake. Local officials say the toll may be as high as 54,000. Many of the survivors are in remote mountains or deep valleys with no medical help available. The UN says more than three million people have been left homeless and the Pakistani government says it needs another 500,000 tents capable of withstanding winter conditions." (BBC World News Online, 2005) How you can help: HOW TO DONATE Unicef www.unicef.org.uk UNHCR www.unhcr.ch Disasters Emergency Committee (UK) www.dec.org.uk World Food Programme www.wfp.org Kashmir International Relief Fund www.kirf.org Red Cross/ Red Crescent www.icrc.org LINK BBC World News South Asia Quake - Indepth (* The image above "South Asia Quake" is Copyright BBC 2005 and is taken from the following link)

Ramadan - Month of Fasting

Wednesday, October 05, 2005
INFO ARTICLE Ramadan is the 9th month in the Moslem Lunar calendar which prompts all possible moslems to give up food, drink, smoking and sexual activity during the periods starting from the morning prayer to the evening prayer. At the call of the evening prayer Azan, moslems may break their fast usually with dates as the tradition goes. Fasting is the fourth pillar (out of the total five pillars) of Islam that a moslem should follow. Ramadan is also about feeling and understanding about the poor and how they feel without food and water - for some it could be weeks, others months and tragically some even to their death. We should be happy that we are blessed with shelter and food and people that love us. Ramadan is also the month to give charity if possible. The end of Ramadan is marked with the celebration of Eid. This marks not only the end of fasting but also a celebration to thank Allah (God) for giving the people the strength and help to make it through the month of Ramadan. The main purpose of fasting is to seek self control. During Eid it is customery to wear new clothes and to reconcile and make amendments. LINKS Referenced from: BBC Religion and Ethics Pictures: BBC - Ramadan Begins - In Pictures

'10th planet' has moon companion

Monday, October 03, 2005
NEWS "The astronomers who in July announced the discovery of a "10th planet" in our Solar System say the object has a moon. Currently, the planet has been dubbed Xena; the moon will be called Gabrielle until official names are agreed. Both "codenames" come from characters in a US TV series, Xena: Warrior Princess. Xena (it also has the designation 2003 UB313) has a highly elliptical orbit. It is currently 14.5 billion km (9 billion miles) away, about 97 times further away than the Earth is from the Sun. The orbit is also tilted roughly 45 degrees above the orbital plane of the other planets. Professor Brown's team expects to learn more when it gets time on the Hubble Space Telescope in November. Gabrielle's discovery will be reported officially in a scientific paper submitted to the Astrophysical Journal." (BBC Word News Online, 2005) LINKS BBC World News Online Xena's Official News and Info site Gabrielle's announcement site