Here is another scam email for the Euro Million Lottery.

From: EURO MILLION AWARD <euromillionaward2006@caramail.com> To: ...Date: Aug 14, 2006 11:45 AMSubject: FINAL WINNING NOTIFICATION 2006 EMAIL AWARD PROGRAMME EURO MILLION AWARDOFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENTINTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT.REF: EMLA/61-ILGI0509/45BATCH:EMLA/15/096/WRCSRE: WINNING FINAL NOTIFICATION:We happily announce to you the draw of the Euro Million LotteryInternationalprograms held on the 30th July 2006 in Madrid Spain.Your e-mail addressattached to ticket number: 213440056545 168 with Serial number4188/05drew thelucky numbers:4 9 22 24 30 41 20 which subsequentlywon you the lottery in the 2nd category.You have therefore been approvedto claim a total sum of 500,000.00 Euro(Five Hundred Thousand Euro)in cash credited to file KPC/9087533308/03.This is from a totalcash prize of Five Million Euro(5 million Euro), shared amongst the firstTenth(10th)lucky winners in this category.Please note that your luckywinning number falls within our Madrid booklet representative office in Spain asindicated in your play coupon.In view of this, your 500,000.00 Euro(Five HundredThousand Euro) would be released to you by our security firm in Madrid, Spain.Our agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of yourfunds as soon asyou contact him.All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web sitethrough computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 companies. Thispromotion takes place annually. For security reasons, you are advised to keepyour winning information confidential till your claims is processed and yourmoney remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fitto claim your prize.This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming andunwarranted abuse of this program by some unscrupulous elements. Pleasebewarned.To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:DR PETER JAMESSanta Lucia Security Company. Spain.Email:santalucespana@netscape.netEmail:santaluciaespana@casinomail.comTelephone: 0034-660 689 879For due processing and remittance of your prize money to a designatedaccount of your choice. Remember,You are to contact our agents by email and withina week of receiving this notice.After this date, all funds will be returnedtothe MINISTERIO DE ECONOMIA Y HACIENDA as unclaimed. To avoid unnecessarydelays and complications, please quote your reference/batchnumbers in anycorrespondenceswith us or our designated agent.Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program.Yours Sincerely,Wilfred MiguelLottery Director.

The Economist has a well written article on how the Lebanon-Israel war is perceived in the USA and the rest of the world.As usual, the USA is staunchly pro-Israel and can't understand why would anyone think otherwise. The rest of the world has a very different perception.The influence of lobby organizations like AIPAC, and the Evangelical constituency cannot be underestimated. Read the Economist article To Israel with love.

A recent poll in the US show a disturbing trend.In a USA Today / Gallup poll shows that almost 40% of Americans acknowledge having prejudice against Muslims. A similar percentage, 39%, favor subjecting Muslims to stricter security measures including carrying a special ID. 41% favored Muslims undergoing more intensive security checks at airports. Most respondants said that they don't personally know a Muslim. While this is not unexpected in the USA, where the right wing media has been demonizing Muslims even before September 11, the fact that Canada has similar negative views of Muslims is saddening.

This is a web site that collects media articles hostile to Muslims. Although they can use better wording than "Western Imperialism" on their About us page,  the collection is valuable, and categorized by country and topic.Even notorious Islamophobes like Daniel Pipes and Oriana Fallaci have their own category, not a surprise given the volume and vitriol of their writing.Visit Islamophobia Watch and judge for yourself. 

A new scarecrow term that has emerged recently, specially in right wing media and the Bush administration's rhetoric. The term is the caliphate.

In this article, I mention some facts on the caliphate, and what the above rhetoric is.

In an open letter published in several newspapers, four British Muslim MPs, and 38 organizations accused Prime Minister Tony Blair of fuelling extremism and terrorism.They specifically name the UK government's foreign policy towards Iraq and Israel.This CBC article has more details and quotes.

Wal-mart has accepted that its Chinese stores will be unionized.

The retail giant employs 28,000 workers in China, and the union is the state-sanctioned All China Federation of Trade Workers (ACFTU).

This is in stark contrast with North America, where Wal-mart closed stores in Quebec shortly after they unionized.

The Christian Science Monitor is reporting from various sources how the influential neo-cons in the White House are urging Israel to attack Syria.This is like trying to widen a fight during lunch break in a high school ... specially when the person doing the encouraging is doing so to further their own agenda ...

As the saying goes : Even a broken clock tells the correct time twice a day ...Little Green Footballs is a political blog that often has an Islamophobic tone. It often gets anonymous tips of important news.It broke the word on Dan Rather's flop with G. W. Bush's army service letter.It also broke the news on photoshopped pictures from Beirut freelance photographer Adnan Hajj. See the CBC coverage as well.

As a child, I used to spend summer with family in Agami, west of Alexandria. The blue water of the Mediterranean, and the white sand were a major part of the activities there.

Jellyfish torture

On some summers, we would see an invasion of large blue jellyfish with purple fringes, probably Pelagia noctiluca. These caused a lot of pain that lasted for hours.

Several years ago, my two eldest daughters were subjected to the same torture. We were watching a Balans بلنص (traditional fishing boat in Alexandria) hauling in its catch to the shore, as often is the case. As the net was taken out of the water, the girls ran between the net and the surf. The net was dripping a lot of water, and since there were lots of jellyfish in it, the water was like a caustic fire. That resulted in a lot of crying and tears.