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23
Mar
Amnesty: Fighting a Hydra with a Handicap
The Greek legends told of a hero Heracles, popularly Romanised Hercules who had to fight one of the most impossible beasts ever to be confronted in literature and in real life, if such existed. The Hydra was rumored to have more heads than the ancient artists could paint into the vases. Its notoriety is rooted in its habit of replacing each severed head by regenerating two more. It was said to have been so foul that it poisoned its immediate environment as was recorded in the “Bibliotheca”. Hercules even had to cover his mouth and nose while advancing into its lair, the lake Lernae. Hercules got the unenviable task of killing this beast by Eurystheus as one of his twelve penances for killing his six sons in a fit of Hera-induced lunacy. This self-regenerating beast proved to be so difficult for the Mighty hero that he had to beg the assistance of his cousin, Iolaus. Add a comment
24
Feb
Why Igbos won’t forget Biafra
Chinua Achebe’s new book, There Was a Country: A Personal History of Biafra, has really brought to the fore those issues some actors on the 30-month gruesome Nigerian/Biafran war would not want to hear. Achebe’s book has revealed, among other things, the genocide visited on Biafrans by the Nigerian establishment.
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24
Feb
Pope’s resignation and future of the Church
News of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Ratzinger) has been everywhere. He is the second non-Italian pope after Pope John Paul II to hold office. But beyond the news of his resignation, there is one palpable fear: What future does the Catholic Church have after the exit of Pope Benedict? Even though some commentators have tried to gloss over this fear, it is real.
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