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Original Post Text:
Back in the spring, when the Pakistani Taliban still controlled the Swat valley, video footage of a girl being flogged became one of the most powerful images of their rule. The footage, shot on a mobile phone and circulated on YouTube, turned public opinion against the Taliban and helped lay the groundwork for a military offensive there.

In the latest spate of bombings sweeping Pakistan, women have again become targets.  First came the twin suicide bombing on the International Islamic University in Islamabad which included an attack on the women's canteen.  Then last week, more than 100 people were killed in the car bombing of a bazaar in Peshawar which was frequented largely by women.

"It was the deadliest bombing in Pakistan in two years and its target was clear: not the police, not the security forces, not political leaders, but Peshawar’s women," wrote Rafia Zakaria in the Daily Times. "The site of the blast, Peshawar’s Meena Bazar, as is well known in the area, is an exclusively women’s shopping area where women and children shop for clothing, household wares and similar goods. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of those killed were women and children."

"While the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have denied involvement in the bombing, investigations, the modus operandi of the attack and most importantly the target of the bombing all point to their culpability. Most significant of these factors is that the attack targeted women. It is after all females who have borne the brunt of the TTP’s onslaught since they began their reign of terror in the northwest of Pakistan. As the Taliban’s war against the Pakistani state has ensued, the marginalisation of women, the destruction of schools constructed for their education and their banishment from public spaces like the Meena Bazar have been a central facet of the Taliban’s campaign of terror and hatred. This latest attack thus fits perfectly into this grimly familiar design. The massive and indiscriminate killing of scores of innocent women and children who had dared to leave the walls of their home inculcates the very fear that the Taliban seek to instil among Pakistani women across the country."

There are many overlapping reasons for women being killed, of which forcing them to stay at home is only one.  Misogyny, in any culture, has always been the preserve of the weak who cannot show their power in any other way. So what seems to be happening here is actually about power. By attacking women and children, along with the teenage girls in Islamabad University, the militants can prove they will stop at nothing in order to drive fear into the civilian population.

My question is how this should be addressed.

In Afghanistan, the west has begun to "load-shed" the rights of women on the grounds that the environment is already complicated enough.

But what if we turn this around and say that the only way to respond to the current wave of violence sweeping Afghanistan and Pakistan is by looking at the 50 percent of the population who are women?

 Please post whatever links you can, and I'll collect and make sense of them.

(Photos: funeral of a girl killed in Islamabad; after the bombing in Peshawar)

Back in the spring, when the Pakistani Taliban still controlled the Swat valley, video footage of a girl being flogged became one of the most powerful images of their rule. The footage, shot on a mobile phone and circulated on YouTube, turned public opinion against the Taliban and helped lay the groundwork for a military offensive there.

In the latest spate of bombings sweeping Pakistan, women have again become targets.  First came the twin suicide bombing on the International Islamic University in Islamabad which included an attack on the women's canteen.  Then last week, more than 100 people were killed in the car bombing of a bazaar in Peshawar which was frequented largely by women.

"It was the deadliest bombing in Pakistan in two years and its target was clear: not the police, not the security forces, not political leaders, but Peshawar’s women," wrote Rafia Zakaria in the Daily Times. "The site of the blast, Peshawar’s Meena Bazar, as is well known in the area, is an exclusively women’s shopping area where women and children shop for clothing, household wares and similar goods. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of those killed were women and children."

"While the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan have denied involvement in the bombing, investigations, the modus operandi of the attack and most importantly the target of the bombing all point to their culpability. Most significant of these factors is that the attack targeted women. It is after all females who have borne the brunt of the TTP’s onslaught since they began their reign of terror in the northwest of Pakistan. As the Taliban’s war against the Pakistani state has ensued, the marginalisation of women, the destruction of schools constructed for their education and their banishment from public spaces like the Meena Bazar have been a central facet of the Taliban’s campaign of terror and hatred. This latest attack thus fits perfectly into this grimly familiar design. The massive and indiscriminate killing of scores of innocent women and children who had dared to leave the walls of their home inculcates the very fear that the Taliban seek to instil among Pakistani women across the country."

There are many overlapping reasons for women being killed, of which forcing them to stay at home is only one.  Misogyny, in any culture, has always been the preserve of the weak who cannot show their power in any other way. So what seems to be happening here is actually about power. By attacking women and children, along with the teenage girls in Islamabad University, the militants can prove they will stop at nothing in order to drive fear into the civilian population.

My question is how this should be addressed.

In Afghanistan, the west has begun to "load-shed" the rights of women on the grounds that the environment is already complicated enough.

But what if we turn this around and say that the only way to respond to the current wave of violence sweeping Afghanistan and Pakistan is by looking at the 50 percent of the population who are women?

 Please post whatever links you can, and I'll collect and make sense of them.

(Photos: funeral of a girl killed in Islamabad; after the bombing in Peshawar)

FDIC closed 9 banks late last night, with a combined $19.4 billion of assets all of which were owned by one holding company and sold to US Bank in Minnesota. From Robin Sidel, WSJ:

Banking regulators seized nine related community lenders in California, Illinois, Arizona and Texas, representing the collapse of one of the nation's largest privately held bank holding companies that grew through a string of acquisitions dating back to the savings-and-loan crisis of the 1990s.

The nine small banks represented the holdings of FBOP Corp., based in Oak Park, Ill., and owned by a banker who had plowed into real-estate lending around the country.

#107-#115

• Failed banks: Bank USA, Phoenix AZ; California National Bank, LA CA; San Diego National Bank, SD CA; Pacific National Bank, SF CA; Park National Bank, Chicago IL; Community Bank of Lemont, Lemont IL; North Houston Bank, Houston TX; Madisonville State Bank, Madisonville TX; Citizens National Bank, Teague TX.
• Acquiring bank: US Bank, Minneapolis MN
• Vitals: as of 9/30, $19.4 billion of assets, $15.4 billion of deposits
• DIF damage: $2.5 billion

US Bank has been highly acquisitive during this failure cycle. They also picked up Downey Savings and Loan and PFF Bank and Trust last November. Those two had $12.4 billion and $3.7 billion of assets when they failed.

The White House glowed pumpkin orange on Saturday when the Obama family turned 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue into Halloween central, complete with a giant stuffed spider dangling from a web above its front door.

More than 2,000 local area children and their families were invited for the traditional trick-or-treat event.  

The Obamas spent about 30 minutes handing out cellophane bagfulls of boxed red, white and blue M&M's. The boxes bore the presidential seal. Also tucked in was a home-baked orange-glazed cookie and, in a nod to Michelle Obama's efforts to promote healthy food, dried apricots and cranberries.

The president didn't wear a costume for his first Halloween in the White House. Michelle Obama went as a cat woman, complete with leopard-print top and furry ears on a headband. Daughters Malia and Sasha were there for the fun, but were not stuck with any candy line duties. 

The scene was worthy of a Hollywood extravaganza. Bubble machines blanketed the North Portico, the ceremonial entrance to the White House. Pumpkins, some carved and candle lighted, lined the marble steps. Behind Obama stood a white-helmeted storm trooper character from "Star Wars," along with the film's Chewbacca, the hairy, apelike "wookie."  

 Entertainers from the Chicago-based Redmoon Theater and other companies wove their own thrills and chills for those in line. A brass band clad in skeleton suits belted out a free jazz-style funeral stomp. Outsized figures on stilts simulated moving trees. Women in butterfly suits maneuvered inflatable, 10-foot (3-meter) snow-globe-like spheres on the White House lawn.

To heighten the Halloween effect, the White House was flood-lit through orange filters. Giant pumpkins weighing as much as 1,000 pounds (450-kg) dotted the 18-acre (7-hectare) grounds.  And the big, black spider hung hauntingly between the tall white columns framing the front door.

After handing out the treats, the president welcomed the children of military families chosen by the armed services along with the kids of White House staff in the East Room.

Then Susan Rice, Obama's ambassador to the United Nations, caught his eye. She was decked out as the Disney character Goofy. "Can people please not take a picture of my ambassador to the United Nations," Obama joshed photographers gathered to one side. He fretted aloud that U.S. diplomatic efforts might be spooked by the sight of her.

Photo credit: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst (Halloween at the White House)

Hi, Blog Guy, it's me! That aspiring photojournalist you've been mentoring. I'm back!

Oh good. And after I shaved my head and pierced my lip so you wouldn't recognize me. What now?

Well, I've been reading a lot about the need for transparency in journalism, and I'm wondering how that applies to my work as a photographer?

Mainly it means you should shoot a lot of photos through glass. Window washers are a demographic we're going after in a big way.

Is there really an audience for this stuff?

Sure. It must be huge, judging from the number of window-cleaning-through-glass shots on our photo file.

I hate to get pushy this early in my career, but I don't think I want to shoot this sort of material. What's a polite way to tell my editor?

Just say, "I don't do windows."

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Top combo: A worker cleans the glass roof of a tunnel linking a building to a subway station in Chongqing municipality, China, October 28, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer

A worker cleans the window of an office building in Taiyuan, Shanxi province, China, October 25, 2009. REUTERS/Stringer

Lower combo: Assorted window-washing shots, REUTERS photos

More stuff from Oddly Enough

--Joe Cerrell is director of Global Health Policy and Advocacy at the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation. He oversees the foundation's global health communications, public policy, and international finance. The views expressed are his own. --

I recently took my three-year-old twin daughters to their annual doctor visit, where they received their latest round of routine vaccinations.  Thanks to the miracle of vaccines, I know my daughters will be protected for life against measles, tetanus, and other diseases that were once serious threats. But incredibly, millions of children in poor countries still die from diseases that could easily be prevented with the effective, affordable vaccines that Americans take for granted.

Fortunately, that is starting to change.  This week, a landmark report from the World Health Organization, UNICEF, and the World Bank concludes that a renewed global push on childhood immunization has raised the number of children vaccinated to an all-time high.  The authors find that vaccines now save 2.5 million lives worldwide every year.

(Read related Reuters story: Global immunizations hit record but miss millions.)

As we continue expanding access to basic vaccines that have existed for decades, we also need to ensure that new vaccines quickly reach children in need.  Typically, when new vaccines are invented, they don’t become available in poor countries until years, or even decades, after being introduced in the U.S. What’s more, effective vaccines don’t yet exist for some of the developing world’s biggest killers, like malaria and HIV.

This situation is a classic case of markets failing the world’s poorest people. Because poor countries have limited ability to pay, vaccine makers have little incentive to make the enormous investments required to develop and manufacture new vaccines for the developing world.  So vaccines remain unavailable where they could save the most lives.

Now, innovative thinking on global markets promises to bring long-overdue change.

One of the most exciting new approaches takes aim at pneumococcal disease, a leading killer of children worldwide. While relatively unknown to Americans, pneumococcal disease causes the deaths of more than a million young children worldwide each year, 90 percent of them in developing countries.

If you’re an American parent like me, your kids are probably protected against pneumococcal disease by a vaccine called Prevnar, made by Wyeth.  But this and other pneumococcal vaccines were designed for use in wealthy nations.  They don’t protect against the types of the disease that are common in the developing world.

That is about to change thanks to a groundbreaking partnership launched with financial support from the governments of Italy, the UK, Canada, Norway, and Russia, along with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Known as the Advance Market Commitment, or AMC, the effort could save the lives of seven million children over the next 20 years.

The AMC applies a concept that is simple but had never been tried before.  In essence, the six donors have made a promise:  If vaccine makers develop and produce affordable pneumococcal vaccines designed specifically for poor countries, then the donors will buy them.  By committing $1.5 billion, in advance, they’re helping to create a predictable market where none existed before.   With the necessary incentives in place, vaccine makers can make the investments needed to develop the new vaccines and manufacture them on a large scale.

To qualify for the AMC, participating companies must make long-term, binding commitments to provide the new vaccines at affordable prices.   Thanks to donor funding and the manufacturers’ pricing commitments, developing countries will be able to purchase the vaccines at guaranteed prices of no more than $3.50 per dose.  The first of the new vaccines could become available as soon as 2010.  Developing countries are already signing up to purchase them.

If the AMC for pneumococcal vaccines proves successful, a similar model could be used to quicken the development of other urgently needed drugs and vaccines, such as new vaccines against tuberculosis, the cause of some 1.8 million deaths worldwide each year.

The AMC is one of several new initiatives that are creatively using market principles to save lives in the developing world.  For example, through a partnership launched earlier this year, donors are negotiating with manufacturers to dramatically reduce prices on the most effective drugs against malaria.  By making these prices comparable with those of older, much less effective drugs, they hope to greatly increase the number of patients who are successfully treated.  In another effort, the World Bank and donor governments have quickly raised billions of dollars for childhood immunization by issuing bonds in the global capital markets.  The funding unlocked by these bonds could help to immunize 500 million children worldwide.

Vaccines are arguably humanity’s greatest scientific achievement, and have already saved countless lives over the last 50 years.  Today, the AMC and other new approaches offer more ways to extend the benefits of vaccines to everyone in need.  With millions of lives still at stake, it’s time to use them.

A bit delayed this, but drawing your attention to Parvathy Ullatil's entertaining look at hedge fund managers going at each other with fists and gumshields, rather than outlandish claims of stratospheric bonuses. Photos from Reuters pictures.

It was the kind of opportunity loss-stricken investors probably wished for in the worst months of the financial crisis: getting a bunch of hedge fund managers in a boxing ring and pummeling them. 

But the mood at the hedge fund "fight night", held in Hong Kong late on Thursday, was exuberant, as managers and executives slugged it out, raising for charity nearly HK$700,000 ($90,300) from auctions. 

Asian hedge funds have returned close to 22 percent year to September, outperforming their U.S. and European counterparts, a year after the Lehman Brothers' collapse rocked the industry. 

Most of the tables were booked by banks and other financial institutions seeking to win favour with the industry. Six matches were held in total, with six winners crowned at the end of the night. 

Hedge funds 3A scored big with their competitor, John "Headcount Reduction" Crane, who at 49 was the oldest to jump into the ring. Crane beat out his much younger rival, Link-ICAP's Justin "Carve 'em Up" Jones on the judge's decision. 

"I really had to work on resisting the urge to kick my opponent," said Crane, a long-time practitioner of Thai kickboxing. 

The 12 contenders, whom the host for the evening said had never donned a pair of boxing gloves before they signed up for the fight night, began training in July. 

Training intensified in the final weeks and most of the night's boxers seemed relieved to break free off its rigours. 

"No regrets at all. Nothing was broken and no lasting pain," said 46-year old Benoit "La Tornade" Descourtieux who manages the Calypso Asia Fund. 

Descourtieux was gracious about his loss to Nomura's Jesse Kavanagh who recently underwent heart surgery.

UPDATE: Reuters TV has helpfully put up some footage of the bouts referred too above and some interviews with the victors and vanquished. See below for a sample.

Singer Adam Lambert has graduated from "American Idol," ended his flirtation with classic rock band Queen and now he has one message for his fans, "Baby, do what I say."

That last quote among the lyrics from Lambert's new single "For Your Entertainment," the title track from his upcoming album. The album comes out on Nov. 23, but the single came out on Friday, debuting on "Idol" host Ryan Seacrest's L.A. radio station. It's now playable at Lambert's official website. To listen, click here.

The single features lyrics like the following, "Let's go/ It's my show/ Baby, do what I say" and the equally assertive, "Oh, do you know what you got into?/ Can you handle what I'm 'bout to do?/ Because it's about to get rough for you/ I'm here for your entertainment."

You can say this for Adam, he's not shy.

The singer with a penchant for flashy costumes and eye makeup, who finished second this year on "Idol" to Kris Allen, appears on the cover of his forthcoming debut album looking glamorous and ladylike, and even somewhat resembling pop star Rihanna. The openly gay Lambert said that the cover shot was meant to look "campy" and "ridiculous."

Lambert declared recently that "glam is back" when the cover art was unveiled. How long has glam rock been gone? Most people would say it didn't last much past the early 1980s, so back when MTV was still known for playing music videos, and Ozzy Osbourne was known as the "Prince of Darkness," instead of as the star of  reality show "The Osbournes."

Can Glambert revive the music popularized by the likes of the New York Dolls, David Bowie and his heroes, Queen? Or will the music start to fade like so much old make-up?

It is former prime minister Indira Gandhi’s 25th death anniversary on October 31. 

What was her legacy?

She was associated with events like the Emergency, which briefly made Gerald Ford head of the largest democracy in the world, and decades of militancy in Punjab.

Her policy of nationalising banks was mentioned as a reason why the Indian banking sector weathered the global financial crisis.

She also won a famous military victory in the 1971 war with Pakistan and ordered the Pokhran I nuclear tests three years later.

Going by columns and television discussions around her anniversary, it is safe to say it was contentious.

Over her career and beyond she was compared to a dumb doll, the goddess ‘Durga’, a lioness and Napolean.

Some called her, like Margaret Thatcher, the only man in her cabinet.

Richard Nixon described her as an “old witch”.

She herself played at being Joan of Arc as a child.

The more enthusiastic of her partymen coined the phrase “India is Indira and Indira is India”.

Its cadence has had a longer shelf life, if not the idea itself.

Twenty five years after her assassination, the Congress party in the ascendant, one news channel recounted her as India’s Indira.

Would it be accepted the other way around now?

Indira’s India is not an incredible idea given she was the second longest serving prime minister we had.

She was Prime Minister or minister for eighteen of her sixty six years. Not counting her other political roles.

I was four when she died and my memory of her is from Doordarshan films showing her unfurling the tricolour.

Much clearer is the memory as a seven-year-old, of waiting for hours behind wood barrricades with my mother to watch Rajiv Gandhi pass by.

What I remember is my mother's patience and my disappointment when I couldn’t glimpse him as his convoy zipped by.

My mother did however, or so she said.

It was a Gandhi who was passing through that day and that seemed to be enough reason to wait however long, for a fleeting moment.

Was dynasty and its mystique, which she was accused of building, the most lasting contribution of Indira Gandhi?

Or is it too soon to assess her legacy?