U.S. gets some love, and hate, in Tehran
Officials praise Washington for placing an Iranian insurgent group on its terrorism list even as crowds mark the anniversary of the U.S. Embassy hostage-taking in 1979 with chants of ‘Death to America.’
By Borzou Daragahi and Ramin Mostaghim, Los Angeles Times
Reporting from Beirut and Tehran – Supporters of Iran’s government took to the streets of the capital Thursday to denounce the United States on the 31st anniversary of the takeover of the American Embassy compound, even as the nation’s Foreign Ministry praised Washington for placing an Iranian militant group on a list of outlawed terrorist organizations.In a rare moment of accord between the two nations, ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast praised the announcement Wednesday that the Obama administration had placed the ethnic Baluchi group Jundallah on its terrorism list. Iran executed the group’s leader,Abdulmalak Rigi, in June.
100 objects of desire: The story of the radio series of the year – from the man who made it
His History of the World in 100 Objects made for the most enlightening radio series – and now book – of recent times. They’re far more than just ancient curios, Neil MacGregor tells Boyd Tonkin
Friday, 5 November 2010
Let’s begin with a clunkingly obvious question. Neil MacGregor reports that his favourite object, among the 100 chosen from the collection he guards to convey his “history of the world” via the BBC Radio 4 series and now in a bestselling book, “keeps moving around”. Still, the director of the British Museum does pick one thing that “in a sense stands for the whole venture”. And, for a British public intellectual whose influence just now might tempt him into hubris, it teaches a lesson in humility.Chapter 90 in MacGregor’s A History of the World in 100 Objects concerns an ancient jade disc, or bi: a sort of plate-sized CD or frisbee made in China around 1200BC but inscribed with a poem written in 1790AD.
USA
Johann Hari: America is now officially for sale
It’s the Tea Party spirit distilled: pose as the champion of Joe America, while actually ripping him off
Friday, 5 November 2010
The laws and policies of the legislature of the United States of America are now effectively on e-Bay, for sale to the highest bidder. Are you a Wall Street boss who wants to party like it’s 2007? Are you a Big Coal baron who wants to burn, baby, burn? Are you an insurance company that wants to be able to kick sick people off your rolls? Meet John Boehner, the most powerful Republican and soon-to-be Speaker of the House. But – of course! – you already have.Here’s an example of how you have worked together. In 1995, the House was going to finally repeal subsidies for growing tobacco, because an addictive cancer-causing drug didn’t seem like the most deserving recipient of tax-payers’ cash – until Boehner walked the floor of the House handing out checks from tobacco lobbyists to his fellow elected representatives. They changed their minds. The subsidy stayed. Explaining his check-dispensing, Boehner says: “It’s gone on here for a long time.” So get your bids in: the House is open for business.
For G.O.P., Big Ambitions Face Daunting Obstacles
By JACKIE CALMES Published: November 4, 2010
WASHINGTON – Republican leaders in Congress are preparing to take power in two months with ambitious and sometimes contradictory goals for economic and fiscal policies, leaving little common ground with President Obama and much uncertainty about the potential impact on the nation’s problems.
Republicans are standing by their campaign vows to slash spending for domestic programs immediately by at least one-fifth – $100 billion in a single year – even as many mainstream economists say such deep cuts could further strain the economy and should await its full recovery.
Europe
‘Right to be forgotten’ proposed by European Commission
The European Commission has proposed a legal “right to be forgotten” allowing internet users to ensure that shameful pictures or other embarrassing online content is deleted from Facebook or other social networking websites.
By Bruno Waterfield in Brussels
Published: 1:38AM GMT 05 Nov 2010
EU data protection rules are to be updated to take into account the growing popularity of digital networking sites where people share photographs or personal details that can come back to haunt them in later life or when they become widely distributed on the internet.There are growing fears about the negative influence of social networking sites on people’s careers, social and private lives after personal information, available to anyone using internet search engines, has led to failed job interviews, divorces and public disgrace.
Fear Darkens Czech Uranium Mining Town
By JAMES KANTER
Published: November 4, 2010
STRAZ POD RALSKEM, CZECH REPUBLIC – The national uranium company in the Czech Republic, Diamo, has been working for years to keep toxic waste left by decades of uranium mining from poisoning some of the country’s largest underground stocks of fresh water or reaching the Elbe River.
The cleanup, which began in 1996, is expected to last 30 more years, with a total cost of around $2.75 billion.
Middle East
Iraqis take fight for ‘torture’ inquiry to the High court
The Iraqi civilians will complain that their treatment occurred in British-controlled detention facilities in Iraq in the aftermath of the war
Press Association guardian.co.uk, Friday 5 November 2010 03.40 GMT
Lawyers acting for more than 140 Iraqi civilians who allege they suffered torture and inhuman and degrading treatment at the hands of British soldiers and interrogators go to the High Court today seeking a wide-ranging public inquiry.They will complain their ill treatment occurred during the period from March 2003 to December 2008 in British-controlled detention facilities in Iraq in the aftermath of the war to topple Saddam Hussein.
Their lawyers are challenging a refusal by Defence Secretary Liam Fox to order the sort of investigation they say is now necessary “to bring the full facts to light.”
Abbas accuses Iran of trying to derail talks in Middle East
The Irish Times – Friday, November 5, 2010
MICHAEL JANSEN
PRESIDENT MAHMOUD Abbas yesterday accused Iran of encouraging Muslim militants to try to sabotage Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, stalled over the issue of Israeli settlement construction in the West Bank.He said that the US, Arab officials and representatives of the EU, UN and Russia were trying to secure a halt to Israeli settlement building. He indicated that he might step down if Israel continued to pursue its policies in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
US secretary of state Hillary Clinton plans to meet Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu in Washington next week.
Asia
Papuan tells of torture by Indonesian soldiers
Tom Allard November 5, 2010
A PAPUAN man depicted in a video being burnt, suffocated and hit by Indonesian troops says he was tortured for two days, according to his testimony recorded and translated by Papuan activists.Tunaliwor Kiwo was shown in agony as the soldiers burnt his penis in the video, which was filmed in May and revealed exclusively in the Herald last month. It prompted a horrified response in Indonesia and around the world, and led to the rapid arrest of five Indonesian soldiers, who face a military tribunal today.
Dozens die in new Mount Merapi eruption in Indonesia
At least 49 people have been killed in the latest eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Merapi volcano – more than doubling the death toll since it became active again last week.
The BBC 5 November 2010
Dozens are being treated for burns and respiratory problems after a gas cloud hit villages with even greater force than the previous eruptions.More than 90 people are now said to have been killed.
An estimated 75,000 residents have been evacuated from the area.
Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, is located in a densely populated area in central Java.
The latest eruption began late on Thursday, sending residents streaming down the mountain with ash-covered faces.
Rescue workers said villages in the area were in flames and bodies burnt beyond recognition.
Africa
Spanish Wages Keep African Island Afloat
The Second Niodior
By Dialika Krahe
The sentence is still there, written on the dusty wall of his room in Niodior. It’s a little faded by now, but the letters are still as curved and rounded as ever: “The strength of a man does not lie in his freedom, but in the ability to fulfill his duty.”The old women sit outside in the courtyard, nodding as they shell mussels and spread the yellow meat out to dry. Yes, Mamadou Ndour, they say, they remember him. He’s a good boy. He wrote the sentence on the wall with a piece of white chalk. Then he got into a wooden boat and headed out into the ocean.
Any of the boys from this island could have written the same sentence. It’s what they believe in, the young men of Niodior, a speck of land off the coast of Senegal.
Sudan peacekeepers probe Darfur clash
By David McKenzie, CNN
A battle between rebels and government forces in Sudan’s South Darfur is raising concern about further conflict in the restive region.The government and the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) give conflicting accounts of a firefight that happened Wednesday morning at a village called Khor Ta’an.
On its website, Sudan’s Interior Ministry said JEM attacked a caravan carrying goods and fuel on the road between De’ain and Nyala inSouth Darfur state.
Latin America
Haiti ‘unprepared’ as hurricane approaches
A powerful tropical storm is threatening to unleash lethal landslides in Haiti where hundreds of thousands of survivors of January’s devastating earthquake still live in exposed tent cities as aid workers warned the country is ‘unprepared’.
By Philip Sherwell in New York
Published: 12:33AM GMT 05 Nov 2010
Haitian leaders urged many displaced in the tent cities to evacuate as the storm bore down, but thousands clung to their makeshift homes.“My sisters and brothers, leave the zones that are at risk, I beg of you,” Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said in a television address.
Tropical Storm Tomas is forecast to regain hurricane strength today as it barrels past the coastline of the impoverished Caribbean country.