Originally posted by Yahoo_UK: my 1st thaught when i heard it .. Air ticket prices will go down to Egypt It's all about dollars and cents eh????

Originally posted by ibtisam: Back to Mandela, what you have typed in one version, the popularised version. Read around and you will find his so called four by four cell looks different from m angle. Good luck with your research. Cheers Could you enlighten me on this point? :confused: :confused:

^Good article Viking - but generally that is the exception unfortunately. I loved this quote in the article: "Louis Verchot, senior scientist in Nairobi for the International Center for Research in Agroforestry (ICRAF), commends individuals working wonders like Mbindyo, but cautions it is not so simple to copy his ideas wholesale. "Bear in mind [Mbindyo's] may be niche technology, successful because he has spare land, good soil, and extra manpower," Mr. Verchot says." - Why is he downplaying the man's success - sometimes almost makes you want to believe the conspiracy theories.

wish he would shut his trap

^From what I know - much lower proportion of students go to university in Britain as opposed to US/Canada. Like less than 50% in UK as opposed to greater than 60% in Canada/US. Additionally, the class system still exists to a greater degree in UK schools than in NA. And the school system is more fragmented and less egalitarian. From the Economist: Britain "Admissions, too, bring a whiff of the old Soviet system. The government is convinced that more working-class students, including many with few formal qualifications, should go to university. Its ultimate target is 50% of 18-30-year-olds by 2010, and it is getting there fast. Figures released this week show that the number of students in higher education has risen in just one year from 43% to nearly 45% of the relevant age cohort. In 1979, the percentage of school-leavers going on to higher education was just 12.4%." "No wonder, then, that British and European academics cast envious and wondering eyes at the American university system. It manages both quantity and quality: more than 60% of American high school graduates at least start some form of tertiary education. And it keeps standards high, too. The European Commission recently published a painstaking ranking of the world's best universities, compiled by researchers in Shanghai. Of the top 50, all but 15 were American. From Europe, only Oxford and Cambridge made it into the top 10; from other EU countries, no university ranks higher than 40."

^From what I know - UK Somalis are less likely to go on to university because of the school system - university entry is higher in North America and thus those Somalis better situated for success.

Nice pictures

Originally posted by Blessed: Hmmmm, good, good! But how many will actually go back? Nonestly doesn't matter - as long as you have Somalis taking advantage of opportunities to better themselves. It will eventually trickle down.

What utter garbage that man has written - and he is a professor who has supposedly done 'verfication' and 'field work'. This is appalling. What is also clear is that a number of warlords and factions are pumping this fallacy up so that they can get aid and arms to further their own interests.

^yeah damn - it sucks. Such a good article.

I don't get some of the commentary. Posting pictures of a region(or independant state as you may view it) has nothing to do with whether you accept it's self-proclaimed independance. All it shows are signs of progress and advancment which every well-intentioned Somali should admire. I don't support Somaliland independance but I have nothing but admiration and good wishes for every improvement they make. Can't we just leave it at that????

Suldaan, It's so funny that you oppose the denigration of Somaliland but to defend it you go on to denigrate Puntland. Stop! All Qabiilists: Regardless of your position on Somaliland separation - just seek to defend clans/regions/Somalis on their own merits and leave it at that.

lol - love the background music. Very military no? :eek:

Originally posted by Farah Blue: quote: That woman should be teaching, shame on her for lowering herself so easily. What the .. The woman is trying to survive. She's forced to do this. How can she teach, if nobody can pay her allowance. FB - lol - that is the same argument used by prostitutes. I had no other choice boo-hoo :rolleyes:

^well since they can't find an answer medically - what choice do they have? It's not totally implausible.

^^But of course - we're all investing our time on SOL aren't we??? Gotta be more specific my friend.

Originally posted by Suldaan Nacasdiid: Recently, the AU has made some very positive noises. Last year it sent a delegation to Somaliland, and the team concluded that the claim for recognition was "historically unique and self-justified in African political history. As such, the AU should find a special method of dealing with this outstanding case." Despite the progress, Somalilanders remain a frustrated lot. Until there is formal international recognition, there can be no access to lenders such as the World Bank and the IMF (though there are some who say aid may harm the momentum achieved so far through self-sufficiency). For Mr Awil, the lack of international investment is more of a problem. Rumours abound of possible oil reserves, but no foreign company has stepped in to examine them. "Who wants to invest in a country that is not internationally recognised?" asked Mr Awil. "No one: it is too risky. That's what is really holding us back." I'm afraid I don't get it - loans and investments are made to and in regions/provinces around the world - why can't IMF/World Bank etc treat Somaliland as that. It seems to me Somaliland's political status is less of an issue than these mulitlateral organizations desire to lend to and invest in S/L.

intersting - some of the answers were too much of a caricature and constrained by politness and political correctness. The worst part was how they did not know that Somalia was in Africa. If you've met them and can comment on their robes/work skills etc - how is that you cannot place them as black people and thus in Africa. Anyway - didn't any of them see Blackhawk Down etc.? strange

^People seriously! If some individuals want to post a diary here - let them be. If you don't like it - don't read it. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Charlemagne Islam in Europe Apr 12th 2006 From The Economist print edition Sending a message to the faithful back home “I BELIEVE there is no European Islam,†said Mustafa Ceric, a Bosnian imam, at a meeting of Islamic clerics and advisers in Vienna. Yet two months ago, his supreme Islamic department of Bosnia said that “Muslims who live in Europe have the right—no, the duty—to develop their own European culture of Islam.†Such contradictions are part of a broad debate over the role and character of Islam in Europe, which could have profound implications, and not only because Muslims are the continent's largest minority. It might affect the wider Islamic world if it shows that Muslims can adapt to modern, secular democracies. Traditional teaching frowns on the idea of distinctive forms of Islam, holding that there is a single community of believers, the umma. Differences clearly exist between Sunni and Shia, or between Saudis and Malays, but Muslims are reluctant to proclaim fresh ones. As a declaration by Islamic organisations in Europe put it in 2003, “a ‘European’ Islam is non-existent; only the term ‘Islam in Europe’ offers an adequate definition.†Traditional teaching also divides the world into a house of Islam, under Muslim laws, and a house of war, where infidels prevail. But since Islam's earliest years, it has been accepted that there are also intermediate situations, with non-Muslim regimes that can provide tolerable conditions for Muslims. Theologians have wrestled over the terms under which Muslims may live in non-Muslim lands. In the background is the belief that, if Muslim-friendly conditions do not exist, believers have a duty to migrate in search of more congenial places. But what makes the European Muslim experience challenging is that Muslims have migrated from their heartlands to places where they are a permanent minority. Theologians can hardly say that conditions in Europe are intolerable, when millions have voted with their feet. But given that Muslim life in Europe is a reality, on what terms should believers participate in secular western institutions? Some groups, especially the international Muslim Brotherhood, consider that they should participate vigorously in western, democratic institutions, even if they do not abandon their core belief that Muslim governance and law are ideal. In the teeth of traditional teaching, European Muslims are creating a distinctive form of Islam. They are driven by their experience as minorities; by a desire to overcome ethnic differences; and by the trauma of emigration. The first encourages Muslims to co-operate with non-Muslims; the second encourages them to look beyond their traditions; the third forces them to come to terms with change and modernity. Sayed Ghaemmagami, mufti of the Shias in Germany, argues that the situation of Muslims in Europe is unique. “The existence of an Islamic diasporaâ€, he says, “is totally different from the past and requires new thinking about relations with non-Islamic peoples.†The Koran calls for peaceful relations between Muslims and others, so Muslims should engage with their new countries and not set up parallel structures. “We must participate in all activities of life, as students, as businessmen, as social workers,†says Ahmed al-Rawi, president of the Federation of Islamic Organisations in Europe. Muslims should also respect the difference between religion and politics. As Mr Ceric puts it, “a Muslim has allegiance to God as an act of faith but is a citizen with a duty to the state as an act of reason.†Mr Ghaemmagami says that “parallel societies are unIslamic. Muslims ought to feel accountable to the overall society and not manifest their customs in such a way as to run counter to the societies in which they live.†Internal ethnic differences are reinforcing the minority experience to encourage a European Islam. Outsiders tend to see Europe's Muslims as all the same. But in fact they fall into at least five categories: those from European countries (Bosnia, Albania, bits of Russia); converts; first-generation immigrants; second- or third-generation Muslims born in Europe, who speak only European languages and, except in their religion, are indistinguishable from others; and those who have become largely secular. The lure of fundamentalism Olivier Roy, a French academic, has argued that, when Islam is torn from its traditional moorings—customs, family life and cuisine—it can become fundamentalist, and in some cases fanatical. Alienated both from their parents' way of life and their host societies, young European Muslims can be easily attracted by a back-to-basics version of Islam that acknowledges no national boundaries and has been disseminated with the help of plenty of Saudi oil money. As an example of the rupture between young European Muslims and their parents' homeland, take the Muslims of Bradford, England. When imams were brought in from north-western Pakistan to teach them, they failed completely to communicate with their young pupils. It is exactly in these circumstances, as Mr Roy points out, that Saudi-supported “neo-fundamentalism†becomes attractive. The question is whether the search among young European Muslims for a new reading of their faith will stop there. Merely to live in pluralist western societies, where “choice†is important, is to pose questions that their parents never faced. In Bradford, the Islamic teaching curriculum had to be entirely overhauled to make it comprehensible to young Muslims. The development of a European Islam is, in a sense, at a caterpillar stage. As the final declaration of the conference of imams in Vienna said, there is no agreement on how to resolve the conflict between freedom of expression and defending Islam. Nor is there a consensus on the rights of European Muslim women. For all these reasons, Europe's emerging Islam has not so far had any impact farther afield. But it is hard to believe that an Islam that is more open to democracy, sexual equality, and modernity would have no effect in the Middle East. And, uncertain and gradual as its gestation may be, that seems to be the Islam that European Muslims are trying to create.

^^^Bartender, it seems to me you just want to xaar all over other ppl's threads. Perhaps, the bar is better place to conduct that sorta thing. And ease up on the liquor - ur posts just keep getting more incomprehensible.

^^Khalaf - take it easy man - I was referring to the post below. Originally posted by bartender: cheers.....whats a second grade class kindergarden class

^^Funny - I thought your posts had a kindergarten quality to them. They were barely comprehensible as English language posts.

^^^OK - I guess semantic difference. Yeah - definitely should cater to the needs of believers but I guess the way I understood attract was more in the vien of the synagogue thingy.

lol - quite the spoof. Getting back to actual case - I heard the prosecutor is pressing on despite the lack of DNA evidence. My question is: how does that work? If there is no DNA - doesn't that rule out sexual assault - apart from fondling/grabbing etc??