AIDS: 25 years on

ON MAY 20 1983, in a paper published in the U.S. journal Science, a team from France's Pasteur Institute, led by Luc Montagnier, described a suspect virus found in a patient who had died of AIDS.

Montagnier's groundbreaking work (see, The hunt for HIV,Cosmos Online) led to the determination by U.S. researcher Robert Gallo that the virus was indeed the cause of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).

At last, a key had been found to understanding the mysterious immune-ravaging disease – the "gay plague" as British tabloids smugly called it – which had surfaced among American homosexuals two years earlier.

It took another three years to resolve a spat over the pair's rival claims to be the first to discover the AIDS virus, enabling the duo to share equally in the glory. The mood was upbeat.

Israel: 60th Anniversary

(Reuters) - Israel marks the anniversary of its founding on Thursday, 60 years by the Jewish calendar since the declaration of statehood on May 14, 1948. Following is a list of key elements of planned public celebrations:

* At 8 p.m. (1700 GMT) on May 6, sirens and state ceremonies mark start of Remembrance Day for Israelis killed in conflicts. Sirens sound for further two minutes at 11 a.m. on May 7

* On May 11, Israelis turning 60 on Independence Day will attend a birthday party with President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem

* U.S. President George W. Bush visits May 14-16. He will meet Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to review progress on peace talks with the Palestinians, address Israeli parliament on May 15 and also attend conference on "The Future of the Jewish People" hosted by President Peres that runs May 13-15

* Twelve other heads of state are officially listed to attend. They are from Albania, Burkina Faso, Croatia, Georgia, Latvia, Mongolia, Poland, Rwanda, Slovenia, Togo, Ukraine and the Pacific island of Palau. Other notable guests include media mogul Rupert Murdoch, Google Inc co-founder Sergey Brin and former Cold War statesmen Mikhail Gorbachev and Henry Kissinger.

* Last week's launch of Israel's Amos-3 satellite was made part of the celebrations -- it bears a 60th anniversary logo.

* Israeli children are collecting 1.5 million marbles -- for the number of Jewish children who died in the Holocaust.

* On May 8, voting ends to choose a national bird. President Peres will announce the winning emblem on May 29.

* Other anniversary events will be held later in the year. These include mass dancing on streets of Jerusalem, a mass wedding for new immigrants, restoring 60 war memorials, building a 60-km path round the Sea of Galilee, building 60 playgrounds, launching a children's theatre in Jerusalem and a march by some 45,000 youngsters that will pass through key battle sites.

* On May 15, Palestinians will mark the 60th anniversary of what they call the "nakba", or catastrophe when 700,000 Palestinians fled or were driven from their homes at the creation of Israel. Public employees and students will stop work at 11 a.m. to join rallies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Sirens at noon start two minutes' silence.

(Reporting by Avida Landau, Editing by Alastair Macdonald and Samia Nakhoul)

Birthdays

Malcolm X May 19, 1925



Venezuelan poet Aquiles Nazoa 17 May 1920
Nazoa had always led a simple life. His poetry illustrated the beauties of daily life and the humorous soul of all Venezuelans. He was also one of the most furious advocates of Human Rights during the 1960s in Venezuela and this reflected his love for his people through his poetry. His work covered images of folkloric heritage, children’s games, colors, and dreams without putting aside political problems, freedom of speech and criticism of the bourgeois of the time. All of this was covered with a sharp and delicate, and at the same time, very authentic Venezuelan sense of humor. And as Dulceambar [es] writes, his works bring laughter to many. Nazoa is remembered by many, and Poética del Empedrao [es] writes that his greatest accomplishment is the eternal acknowledgement of his people.

190th Anniversary of Marx’s Birth

Monday, May 5, 2008

“And now as to myself, no credit is due to me for discovering the existence of classes in modern society or the struggle between them. Long before me bourgeois historians had described the historical development of this class struggle and bourgeois economists, the economic anatomy of classes. What I did that was new was to prove:

1. that the existence of classes is only bound up with the particular, historical phases in the development of production [See: Historical Materialism]

2. that the class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat.

3. that this dictatorship itself only constitutes the transition to the abolition of all classes and to a classless society.

Karl Marx
Letter to Weydemeyer
March 5, 1852

Karl Mars was born today 190 years ago in the Prussian city of Trier to a Jewish family that had earlier converted to Protestantism in order to get ahead in Prussian society.