Docudharma Times Tuesday October 27

Ex-A.I.G. Chief Is Back, Luring Talent From Rescued Firm



By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

Published: October 26, 2009

Maurice R. Greenberg, who built the American International Group into an insurance behemoth with an impenetrable maze of on- and offshore companies, is at it again.

Even as he has been lambasting the government for its handling of A.I.G. after its near collapse, Mr. Greenberg has been quietly building up a family of insurance companies that could compete with A.I.G. To fill the ranks of his venture, C.V. Starr & Company, he has been hiring some people he once employed.

Now, Mr. Greenberg may have received some unintended assistance from the United States Treasury. Just last week, the Treasury severely limited pay at A.I.G. and other companies that were bailed out by taxpayers. That may hasten the exodus of A.I.G.’s talent, sending more refugees into Mr. Greenberg’s arms, since C. V. Starr is free to pay whatever it wants.

Statisticians reject global cooling

Some skeptics claim Earth is cooling despite contrary data

By SETH BORENSTEIN

AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON – An analysis of global temperatures by independent statisticians shows the Earth is still warming and not cooling as some global warming skeptics are claiming.

The analysis was conducted at the request of The Associated Press to investigate the legitimacy of talk of a cooling trend that has been spreading on the Internet, fueled by some news reports, a new book and temperatures that have been cooler in a few recent years.

In short, it is not true, according to the statisticians who contributed to the AP analysis.

USA

U.S. official resigns over Afghan war

Foreign Service officer and former Marine captain says he no longer knows why his nation is fighting

By Karen DeYoung

Washington Post Staff Writer

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

When Matthew Hoh joined the Foreign Service early this year, he was exactly the kind of smart civil-military hybrid the administration was looking for to help expand its development efforts in Afghanistan.A former Marine Corps captain with combat experience in Iraq, Hoh had also served in uniform at the Pentagon, and as a civilian in Iraq and at the State Department. By July, he was the senior U.S. civilian in Zabul province, a Taliban hotbed.

But last month, in a move that has sent ripples all the way to the White House, Hoh, 36, became the first U.S. official known to resign in protest over the Afghan war, which he had come to believe simply fueled the insurgency.

New York race at epicenter of a GOP mutiny

Many conservative voters are rejecting the party nominee in a special House election, leaving leaders to rethink the Republican Party’s identity.

By Janet Hook

October 27, 2009

Reporting from Washington – Silvan Johnson adores Sarah Palin, belongs to a conservative discussion group and fumes at President Obama’s spending policies. But when it comes to picking a new congressional representative for her upstate New York district, she is in no mood to help the Republican Party.

In fact, Johnson and many other conservatives want to use a Nov. 3 special election to teach the GOP a lesson about sticking to conservative values — even though that lesson could mean the party loses a House seat it has held for decades. The conservatives are backing a third-party candidate, splitting the Republican vote and giving the Democrat a lead in some recent opinion polls.

Middle East

Egypt needs more women in power

A parliamentary quota system for women might favour Egypt’s ruling party, but maybe the opposition should just catch up

Joseph Mayton

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 27 October 2009 08.00 GMT

Empowering women in the Middle East is a much-discussed idea but it has run into a number of obstacles – mainly Islamic conservatism, which sees the woman’s place in society as a wife, daughter and provider to her male counterparts. There are plenty of progressive views around, but in reality life is difficult for liberal-minded women in Egypt.

Taking Tunisia’s lead, Egypt’s parliament earlier this year approved a quota system for women that aims to increase female representation. In Tunisia, the quota system has been quite successful. In 2004, women won 22.8% of parliamentary seats – which in the view of many women shows the idea is working, much as America’s affirmative action policy worked to put African-Americans on a more equal footing. In that respect Tunisia has, despite its obvious political failings as an undemocratic state, set an example for the rest of the region to follow.

Israel accused of denying Palestinians access to water

Up to 200,000 families have no running water, damning Amnesty report says

By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

Israel is accused today of denying the West Bank and Gaza access to adequate water through a “total” and “discriminatory” control that enables its own people to consume four times as much as the Palestinians.

An Amnesty International report paints a picture of many Palestinian families struggling – and often failing – to secure enough water for drinking, cleaning, and agriculture while Israelis, including residents of Jewish settlements in the West Bank, have all they need for lush, irrigated farmland, swimming pools and gardens.

Europe

France glued to saga of the fugitive

Accused of murdering a lesbian couple, Jean-Pierre Treiber posted himself out of jail and has remained at large ever since. John Lichfield reports on a man determined to prove his innocence

Tuesday, 27 October 2009

They seek him here. They seek him there. Those Frenchies seek him everywhere. Jean-Pierre Treiber bears little resemblance to the daring, aristocratic Scarlet Pimpernel. He is a former forest worker and game-keeper, accused of the brutal kidnapping and double murder of a young, lesbian couple in 2004.

Like the fictional Pimpernel, however, he is defeating all efforts by the French authorities to capture him. Fifty days ago tomorrow, Treiber escaped from prison in Auxerre in Burgundy. He hid inside a cardboard box in the prison workshop and had himself “delivered” to the outside world as part of a consignment of tools.

Fury as Karadzic refuses to turn up for war crimes trial

From The Times

October 27, 2009

David Charter in The Hague

The victims of Radovan Karadzic voiced outrage yesterday after the former Bosnian Serb leader made a mockery of the first day of justice for the worst atrocities seen in Europe since the Second World War.

Dr Karadzic, 64, remained in the plush detention centre nicknamed the “Hague Hilton” rather than face charges of genocide and war crimes in his trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He has vowed to do the same today.

It was too much to bear for the Mothers of Srebrenica, the relatives of about 8,000 men and boys murdered allegedly on Dr Karadzic’s orders in a UN safe haven 14 years ago. The families arrived in three bus-loads from Bosnia hoping to see justice done.

Asia

China champion banned for life for drugs use  

From Times Online

October 27, 2009

 Jane Macartney in Beijing

China has banned its 21-year-old women’s 100-metres champion for life after she tested positive for banned drugs at the National Games.

Wang Jing, from southeastern Fujian province, was the third athlete to fail a doping test at the games. Competition is intense at the quadrennial event since a strong performance can lead to a place on the national team.

The sprinter, who was on the China team at last year’s Beijing Olympics, had won the 100 metres last week in a time of 11.50 seconds. That was more than a second outside the world record of 10.49 seconds. After the race, she tested positive for testosterone.

Ms Wang said she accepted the results but insisted she was innocent.

Japan to create huge ‘manga’ library

One of the world’s largest collections of Japanese manga comics is to be showcased in a new library created in a bid to promote academic study of the subject.

By Danielle Demetriou in Tokyo

Published: 7:00AM GMT 27 Oct 2009

A collection of more than two million comic books will be housed in the new Tokyo International Manga Library which will open in 2015 on the grounds of Meiji University.

Manga has long enjoyed a soaring popularity in Japan among salarymen, teenagers and even politicians – such as former prime minister Taro Aso – alike.

The new library, which will exhibit a small sample of the collection at the university later this week, aims to elevate the study the art of manga to a level on par with more serious academic subjects, according to its founders.

As well an epic collection of manga accessible by researchers from both Japan and overseas, the library will also house animation drawings, video games and other cartoon industry artefacts.

Africa

South Africa: Should white students who made racist video be reinstated?

The video, filmed by white South African students who fed black workers food apparently laced with urine, caused the students to be expelled. But now a black university official says they should be reinstated.

 By Scott Baldauf | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the October 26, 2009 edition

JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – It’s not easy to peddle reconciliation in South Africa these days.

Two weeks ago, the new vice chancellor of the University of Free State called for the school to reinstate four white students who were kicked out after making a racist video in which they forced black staffers to eat food that was apparently laced with urine. Criminal charges against the four students remain, but Vice Chancellor Jonathan Jansen – himself a black South African – said that the University of Free State as an institution was as much to blame for these students’ behavior as the individual students were themselves, and needed to transform itself into an institution that encouraged understanding.

“To dismiss the video as a product of four bad apples is too easy an explanation. This video-recording was preceded by a long series of racial incidents protesting racial integration, especially in the residences of the university,” Professor Jansen said in a speech at the University of Free State in Bloemfontein. (See full speech here.) “I have spent many nights in tears regretting what we – yes, we – did to the five black workers of the University of Free State. This institution begs your forgiveness.”