Synthesis and characterization of chromium(III), manganese(ll), iron(III), cobalt(ll), nickel(ll), copper(II), cadmium(ll) and dioxouranium(VI) complexes of 4(2-pyridyl )-1-(2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde )-3-thiosemicarbazone

914-918A few complexes of Cr(III), Mn(II), Fe(III), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II),Zn(II), Cd(II) and dioxouranium(VJ) with 4(2-pyridyl)-1-(2,4-dihydroxybenzaldehyde)-3-thiosemicarbazone have been synthesised and characterized on the basis of elemental analysis, IR, electronic NMR, and magnetic moment data. An octahedral structure is proposed for the Cr(III), Fe(III),Co(II)and Ni(H3PBT)2Cl2.2H2O complexes; a tetrahedral structure for the Mn(II) and Ni2(PBT)OAc.H2O complexes and a square planar structure for .the Cu(II) complexes. The antimicrobial and antifungal activities of H3PBT and of its metal(II) complexes are investigated. The results reveal that H3PBT exhibits greater antimicrobial activities than its complexes

Political Islam and Non-Muslim Religions - A Lesson from Lessing for the Arab Transition

Hardly any region has recently captured the global geopolitical imagination as much as the Arab world after the so-called Arab Spring and very likely no state more so than Egypt. Finally it seemed that democracy was coming to the region, that this would spell the end of radical Islam, and of any local aspirations of creating Islamic states, and mark the beginning of a rapprochement between East and West. This article analyses and links those dynamics, with particular reference to the transition process in the wake of the so-called Arab Revolution, and gauges what may be at stake for members of non-Muslim faiths. It particularly traces the rift between theoretical Muslim discourse about Islamic tolerance towards other faiths and its implementation or the absence thereof in practice. It concludes that so far no real progress has been made and that, for the relationship to evolve, Islam needs to proceed to a state in which it sees itself as no more than an equal to other religions. The recognition of its tradition-based nature and of the consequences that flow from such a realization for the treatment of its fundamental sources, the Qur'an and the Sunna, will be addressed. To evaluate the current situation and the outlook, we shall use the example of the famous eighteenth-century German play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, Nathan the Wise, about the occupation of Jerusalem by Saladin