Full term normal delivery following suicidal hanging

A 23-year-old woman was found hanging from the ceiling of her house by the neighbours. A live healthy male newborn baby was found lying on the ground with the umbilical cord in situ and placenta inside the uterus. The woman, a primigravida, married 3 years back, was in labour since morning. Her husband had gone out to call for some help to conduct delivery. During the absence of her husband, the wife bolted the door from inside and committed suicide by hanging. During this process she delivered a healthy male baby. This may be the first documentation of a pregnant woman delivering a healthy baby successfully, following suicide by hanging.     

The Effect of Survey Mode and Sampling on Inferences about Political Attitudes and Behavior: Comparing the 2000 and 2004 ANES to Internet Surveys with Nonprobability Samples

Jon A. Krosnick Departments of Communication, Political Science, and Psychology, Stanford University, 434 McClatchy Hall, 450 Serra Mall, Stanford, CA 94305 e-mail: krosnick{at}stanford.edu e-mail: neilm{at}stanford.edu (corresponding author) Since the inception of the American National Election Study(ANES) in the 1940s, data have been collected via face-to-faceinterviewing in the homes of members of area probability samplesof American adults, the same gold-standard approach used bythe U.S. Census Bureau, other federal agencies, and some nongovernmentresearchers for many of the most high-profile surveys conductedtoday. This paper explores whether comparable findings aboutvoters and elections would be obtained by a different, considerablyless expensive method: Internet data collection from nonprobabilitysamples of volunteer respondents. Comparisons of the 2000 and2004 ANES data (collected via face-to-face interviewing withnational probability samples) with simultaneous Internet surveysof volunteer samples yielded many differences in the distributionsof variables and in the associations between variables (evencontrolling for differences between the samples in reportedinterest in politics). Accuracy was higher for the face-to-face/probabilitysample data than for the Internet/volunteer sample data in 88%of the possible comparisons. This suggests that researchersinterested in assuring the accuracy of their findings in describingpopulations should rely on face-to-face surveys of probabilitysamples rather than Internet samples of volunteer respondents. Authors' note: We thank Randy Thomas of Harris Interactive andMorris Fiorina for very helpful suggestions. Jon Krosnick isUniversity Fellow at Resources for the Future.     

A Case of Accidental Fatal Aluminum Phosphide Poisoning Involving Humans and Dogs

Aluminum phosphide is one of the commonest poisons encountered in agricultural areas, and manner of death in the victims is often suicidal and rarely homicidal or accidental. This paper presents an unusual case, where two humans (owner and housemaid) and eight dogs were found dead in the morning hours inside a room of a house, used as shelter for stray dogs. There was allegation by the son of the owner that his father had been killed. Crime scene visit by forensic pathologists helped to collect vital evidence. Autopsies of both the human victims and the dogs were conducted. Toxicological analysis of viscera, vomitus, leftover food, and chemical container at the crime scene tested positive for aluminum phosphide. The cause of death in both humans and dogs was aluminum phosphide poisoning. Investigation by police and the forensic approach to the case helped in ascertaining the manner of death, which was accidental.     

Decapitation in road traffic accident--a case report

A 20-year-old girl along with four of her friends, all in their early 20s, met with a fatal accident in the early hours of the day. Their car was hit by a speeding truck at a crossing. All the occupants of the car sustained multiple injuries and died on the spot. The girl was decapitated in the accident. Her head was recovered outside the mangled remains of the vehicle and the rest of the body was extracted from the co-driver's seat of the damaged vehicle.     

The most ambitious plan in 26 years of telecoms market reform? No way!

The European Commission's claim that their proposed new telecoms regulation² constitutes “the most ambitious plan in 26 years of telecoms market reform” is preposterous. That honour must belong to the set of new European directives in 2002 which transformed the structure of telecoms regulation and facilitated competition throughout Europe. Instead the plans make great play of a number of actually pretty minor changes and, the Body for European Regulators for Electronic Communications (“BEREC”) has been particularly critical that the proposals will create unnecessary complexity and uncertainty and limit innovation and competition.     

A Roadmap for Sino-Indian Cooperation in Afghanistan

As NATO and Western powers begin to take a backseat in Afghanistan＇s future,one of the most pressing questions is what role the region can play in helping Afghanistan to become a prosperous and stable nation.Numerous efforts are already underway through multilateral and bilateral forums,yet the key to regional cooperation for Afghanistan＇ s future lies through closer interaction between Beijing and New Delhi.Drawing on a research project spanning a number of workshops in Beijing,New Delhi and Qatar and involving influential thinkers and experts from China,India,the UK and Afghanistan,this paper will try to map out specific ideas that policymakers in Beijing and New Delhi can explore as avenues of cooperation.Post-2014 Afghanistan will remain a major regional concern for at least the short to medium term.The earlier China and India can develop workable collaborative undertakings,the sooner they can forge a stable and prosperous neighbourhood.     

Islam,Militancy, and Politics in Pakistan: Insights From a National Sample

We use data from an innovative nationally representative survey of 6,000 Pakistanis in April 2009 to study beliefs about political Islam, Sharia, the legitimacy and efficacy of jihad, and attitudes towards specific militant organizations. These issues are at the forefront of U.S. policy towards Pakistan. Four results shed new light on the politics of militancy and Islamic identity in Pakistan. First, there is no relationship between measures of personal religiosity and the likelihood a respondent expresses highly sectarian sentiments. Second, militarized jihad is widely seen as legitimate in Pakistan but there are substantial regional differences in the acceptance of militarized jihad. Third, attitudes towards militant groups vary dramatically across groups, particularly when it comes to the efficacy of their actions. Fourth, while Pakistanis express massive levels of support for Sharia law, this is driven by its perceived connection with good governance, not by sympathy with the goals of militant groups claiming to implement it.     

On new rules for destroying old countries

The attacks on 11 September 2001 were not a major security threat to the United States, but they did create the political conditions for the implementation of an aggressive agenda by the Bush administration to assert U.S. dominance over the global control of oil and to establish an arc of military bases to contain China. Responding to Gowan, this article suggests that bid is unlikely to succeed because the concentration of military strength in the United States is paralleled by a concentration of financial strength in East and Southeast Asia. Though its Asian allies have been more supportive of the U.S. invasion of Iraq than their European counterparts, growing economic integration along Asia's Pacific coasts is likely to lead to a reduction in capital inflows to the United States and thereby aggravate the consequences of its high current accounts deficits and its low rates of domestic savings. The Bush administration's conservative social policies and anti-foreigner zeitgeist is also sapping the competitive edge of the U.S. economy in new technologies.     

Poverty and Support for Militant Politics: Evidence from Pakistan

Policy debates on strategies to end extremist violence frequently cite poverty as a root cause of support for the perpetrating groups. There is little evidence to support this contention, particularly in the Pakistani case. Pakistan's urban poor are more exposed to the negative externalities of militant violence and may in fact be less supportive of the groups. To test these hypotheses we conducted a 6,000‐person, nationally representative survey of Pakistanis that measured affect toward four militant organizations. By applying a novel measurement strategy, we mitigate the item nonresponse and social desirability biases that plagued previous studies due to the sensitive nature of militancy. Contrary to expectations, poor Pakistanis dislike militants more than middle‐class citizens. This dislike is strongest among the urban poor, particularly those in violent districts, suggesting that exposure to terrorist attacks reduces support for militants. Long‐standing arguments tying support for violent organizations to income may require substantial revision.