Bristol-Myers Squibb Gains on Drug OK
The News Review:
- Bristol-Myers Squibb Gains on Drug OK
- Child rebel
- Boot money still alive and kicking
Bristol-Myers Squibb Gains on Drug OK
thestreet.com – Mar 30, 2005
Although analysts don’t expect the once-a-day pill to produce huge sales, Baraclude should provide a boost to morale because it’s a home-grown product and because it’s the fourth new drug from Bristol-Myers Squibb approved in less than 30 months. Baraclude’s strongest selling point during the FDA review was that it did a better job in clinical trials of suppressing HBV than did Epivir, from GlaxoSmithKline(.
Child rebel
Al-Ahram Weekly – Mar 30, 2005
Unlike fellow townspeople who emerged on the Parisian music scene at more or less the same time, however, he does not sing rai — a genre to which his contribution (the best known of which is the hit titled 1,2,3 Soleil, in trio with rai icons Cheb Khaled and Cheb Faudel) is remarkably modest. In fact, Taha is adamant about the place he occupies in the musical arena. "I play rock ‘n roll," he says, repeating the sentence in English — with a jocular emphasis on rolling his letters in stereotypical rock ‘n roll fashion. And here as elsewhere one can easily guess that, notwithstanding the depth of his position on such issues as fear, complacency, ignorance, racism, poverty and deceit — such human and political commitments, which come through in his lyrics, were still discernible during the few moments of the interview he gave Al-Ahram Weekly at the French Cultural Centre this week — Taha is a man with an almost clownish sense of humour. The expression of his eyes did remain inaccessible behind dark sunglasses, but a subtle curl at the corner of the lips combined with the occasional, extremely engaging little buffoonery to place his disposition for light-hearted hilarity beyond any doubt…
It is the year of the Gulf War, and his album is kept far at bay by French radio stations. But happily this is not the end. A flair for musical experimentation, and a deep-rooted sense of cultural dualism, took Rachid Taha from rock ‘n roll to punk, techno and back again, never without the assistance of Arab musicians who support his Western rhythms with the clarity of traditional Middle Eastern melodies — played on home-grown instruments. He was once quoted as saying that the bendir — ancestor of the snare drum — is his favourite traditional instrument: since it can be held with one hand, it allows him to play, sing, and dance all at the same time. As for the mandolute, an instrument combining the sounds of both guitar and oud, it represents for Taha a cherished mix of West and East: "it reminds me of where I come from and where I’m going. " Now a top star in France and the Western world, Taha finds Egyptian audiences just as responsive to his music as their European counterparts — if not more so, in reality, for the simple reason that "they must have a scorching thirst for something different," as he says. "The Egyptian public wants to dance, to have fun, and to change the world — like all publics.
Boot money still alive and kicking
Telegraph.co.uk – Mar 30, 2005
(And you thought this was a Premiership problem. ) In this season alone, he reckons his club have met more southern hemisphere players than the home nations put together. “We do not have the spectator base to sustain professional leagues at all levels,” he writes, lamenting the fact that the great promotion and relegation contests all the way down the food chain leave clubs and sponsors spending money on players for short-term expediency rather than developing home-grown talent. He cites the example of Staines in London Two North, who have secured the services of Chris Sheasby, Waisale Serevi and Nick Greenstock, and questions how other clubs at that level can compete. He wonders how Cambridge, one level above, genuinely feel about the number of foreign nationals who have helped their promotion challenge. He talks about the dilemma facing Sutton, but he could be speaking for any one of 100 other clubs. Sutton, he says, have to decide whether to chase some serious money to maintain their place on the rugby ladder, or whether to change the entire ethos of the club.