Where endeth the lesson?
Anil Bhanot
September 10, 2007 12:30 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/anil_bhanot/2007/09/where_endeth_the_le=
sson.html
Today, the government publishes its long-awaited Faith in the System
document (pdf) on the future of faith schools in Britain. The Hindu
Council UK (HCUK) has contributed to the document over the last few
months, and welcomes the way in which it highlights the important role
faith schools play in fostering understanding between religions, and
the duty of all schools to encourage pupils to respect their own and
others' faiths and beliefs in ways that promote tolerance and harmony.
The teaching of faith in schools is an important and integral part of
childhood development; it is a necessary dimension that we should not
ignore. It adds a longer term and more spiritual element to education
and stresses the importance of delivering more caring outcomes through
our everyday actions.
Deliver us from gridlock
Edmund King
September 10, 2007 12:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/edmund_king/2007/09/deliver_us_from_gri=
dlock.html
Forecasts indicate that road traffic might grow by up to 31% by 2025.
The knee-jerk reaction to this by many transport campaigners is to
call for draconian action to cut car ownership, tax people out of cars
and stop improving roads. Is this realistic or indeed desirable?
Over the past 10 years, there has been a 40% increase in train usage,
with much of this increase coming from people being more willing to
use the train for occasional trips rather than as a main mode of
transport. So should we also take action to tax people off the rails?
Of course not. This massive increase in use means that we must do more
to improve capacity by extending platforms, upgrading lines and so on.
Why is the reaction to road and rail capacity problems met in such
different ways?
Less equal than others
Brendan Barber
September 10, 2007 11:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brendan_barber/2007/09/less_equal_than_=
others.html
Over the last six years, progressive political forces in the UK have
been focused on foreign affairs. This is hardly surprising: world
politics has been thrown into turmoil by violent tensions. One
unfortunate consequence of this has been the negligence of pressing
issues at home such as inequality. Hardly something of a new concern
to progressives.
Even after a decade of economic growth, British society is still
scarred by gross differences in wealth. The richest 1% own 21% of the
nation's wealth. The bottom half of the income scale own only 7%.
Media madness
Martin Bell
September 10, 2007 11:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_bell/2007/09/media_madness.html
I cannot remember a time, before the disappearance of Madeleine
McCann, when such sparse fragments of fact were spun into so many
acres of print and hours of broadcast news coverage over so many
months. It was a trend that began with the murders of Holly Wells and
Jessica Chapman in Soham. Since then it appears that the disappearance
and/or murder of a British child, especially a girl, will dominate the
news agenda to the exclusion of almost everything else.
Let us be clear. However this turns out, it is a crime of one sort or
another and a family tragedy - neither more nor less. It stands alone.
Unlike the death of Rhys Jones in Liverpool, it is not freighted with
issues of a gun culture, gang violence or anything else in which
politicians might be expected to take an interest.
The Tiananmen Square peg
Jonathan Fenby
September 10, 2007 10:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jonathan_fenby/2007/09/the_tiananmen_sq=
uare_peg.html
One is tempted to say, with regard to The Shock Doctrine and China, so
what else is new? The country's rulers have always used force and
shock to try to push through their agenda. The first emperor was on
the job two millennia before Milton Friedman was born.
The trouble is that, in the case she chooses, Naomi Klein firmly
grasps the wrong end of the stick as to who did what in 1989, their
motivations, and what followed.
Cold turkey in Iceland
Sasha Abramsky
September 10, 2007 10:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/sasha_abramsky/2007/09/travel_bug.html
Apologies for my absence from Comment Is Free these past several
weeks. I've been travelling. My wife, two kids, my wife's sister and
her husband recently spent a week in Iceland, driving east from
Reykjavik along the country's splendid south coast.
In addition to the wonderful scenery, I was struck by two things in
Iceland: first, we were staying in non-wireless guesthouses, rendering
accessing the internet a near-impossibility. And since there were
hardly any English-language newspapers to be bought anywhere and my
Icelandic is stuck at non-existent, I found myself involuntarily
removed from following world events. It was utterly soul-replenishing.
For a week I didn't read or think about bombs, war, economic chaos or
any of the other staples of my nightmares. (Yes, I actually have
nightmares, quite vivid ones, about these things, to my wife's disdain
and consternation.)
The celebrity interview is dead
Simon Hattenstone
September 10, 2007 9:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/simon_hattenstone/2007/09/the_celebrity=
_interview_is_dead.html
Back in the days when stars still gave proper interviews, I went to
meet Courtenay Love, the film/rock star best known for marrying Kurt
Cobain, taking drugs and stripping.
She had just made a film in which she played a junkie stripper. On my
way into the interview, I was made to sign a piece of paper promising
I would not ask about Cobain, drugs or stripping. That was when I
realised the interview was a dying form.
Osama at large
Ian Williams
September 10, 2007 9:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ian_williams/2007/09/osama_at_large.html
The US senate, in all solemnity, sat last week and voted to double the
reward for the apprehension of Osama bin Laden to $50m. So $25m was
not enough to motivate the military and security forces of the world's
superpower to catch the slippery Saudi? Or is it possible that there
is another reason why Osama, for all the rewards being offered, has
still not been caught?
Reading Cif commenters can often lead one to the conclusion that not a
sparrow falls unless it has been shot by Islamic militants, poisoned
by the CIA, or had its sense of direction befuddled by the Trilateral
Commission. In my experience most such "plots" are just an attempt by
bystanders to rationalize unbelievable and culpable stupidity on the
part of governments.
Fast work
Inayat Bunglawala
September 10, 2007 8:30 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/inayat_bunglawala/2007/09/fast_work.html
This week sees the beginning of the annual Ramadan fast. For several
years now, it has been a cherished practice of mine to save up my
allocation of annual leave and use it up in one lengthy break for the
entire month of Ramadan.
We are told that, prior to receiving his prophethood, at the age of
40, Muhammad would retreat annually during Ramadan to a cave called
Hira, two miles north of Makkah, where he would engage in
contemplation and prayer. In his biography of the prophet Muhammad,
the Egyptian writer Muhammad Husayn Haykal wrote that, in the solitude
of Hira, Muhammad would "find a measure of spiritual detachment and
peace that would enable his consciousness to screen the entire
universe for inspiration".
The generals are still waiting in the wings
Ian Bremmer
September 9, 2007 4:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ian_bremmer/2007/09/the_generals_are_st=
ill_waiting_in_the_wings.html
It is said that political power in Pakistan flows from the three As:
Allah, the army, and support from America. Of the three, it is the
army leadership that has the clearest means of ridding the country of
Pakistan's president in uniform, Pervez Musharraf. And that is the
main reason any power-sharing deal with the former prime minister,
Benazir Bhutto, is unlikely to end Pakistan's political turmoil.
Musharraf hoped to extend his presidency this autumn without caving in
to opposition demands that he renounce his military position and
restore a civilian rival to the post of prime minister. But few
international leaders face such a wide range of sworn domestic
enemies.
Undermining peace
Jimmy Carter
September 9, 2007 2:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jimmy_carter/2007/09/undermining_peace.=
html
By abandoning many of the nuclear arms agreements negotiated in the
last 50 years, the United States has been sending mixed signals to
North Korea, Iran, and other nations with the technical knowledge to
create nuclear weapons. Currently proposed agreements with India
compound this quagmire and further undermine the global pact for peace
represented by the nuclear nonproliferation regime.
At the same time, no significant steps are being taken to reduce the
worldwide arsenal of almost 30,000 nuclear weapons now possessed by
the United States, Russia, China, France, Israel, Britain, India,
Pakistan, and perhaps North Korea. A global holocaust is just as
possible now, through mistakes or misjudgments, as it was during the
depths of the cold war.
Bye bye Belgium?
Open Thread
September 9, 2007 1:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/open_thread/2007/09/bye_bye_belgium.html
According to this week's Economist, if Belgium did not exist, no one
would bother to invent it. A creation of the post-Napoleonic European
settlement, Belgium remains an uneasy combination of Flemings and
Walloons: politically, linguistically and culturally divided.
According to the Economist, even the country's next prime minister
thinks Belgians have nothing in common except "the king, the football
team, some beers".
Guarding the gunrunners
Symon Hill
September 9, 2007 12:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/symon_hill/2007/09/guarding_the_gunrunn=
ers.html
In recent weeks, horrifying reports of gun crime have, understandably,
been increasing the fear of guns among the British public. Next week,
the Metropolitan police will also have guns on their minds. They will
be guarding people selling them.
From September 11-14, about 1,000 officers per day will be policing
Defence Systems and Equipment International (DSEI), one of the world's
largest arms fairs. It will take place at the Excel Centre in east
London, with more than 1,000 arms companies selling weapons ranging
from handguns to fighter jets. When DSEI was last held, it cost
taxpayers over =A34m in policing costs.
Avoiding past mistakes
James G Moher
September 9, 2007 10:00 AM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/james_g_moher/2007/09/avoiding_past_mis=
takes.html
On Tuesday Gordon Brown will deliver his first speech to the Trades
Union Congress as prime minister and commentators are already
suggesting he could be on the brink of provoking a fresh winter of
discontent, or even going Jim Callaghan's way. In agreeing to meet the
Prison Officers' Association (POA), despite their unlawful lightning
strike action, Jack Straw, appears to have learned the lessons of
history. But will Brown and his chancellor avoid the mistakes of their
predecessors, whose incomes policy triggered the industrial strife of
1978-1979?
In 1978, Labour had been in power for 10 of the previous 14 years and
had secured remarkable wage restraint from 1975-1977. They persuaded
union leaders to enter a "social contract" - a form of national
bargaining whereby important legal rights for workers, increased tax
allowances, pensions and other social security benefits were traded
for effective wage restraint - which greatly assisted them in tackling
the sterling crisis of 1976. It especially favoured the lower paid,
but squeezed differentials, storing up resentment amongst skilled and
higher-paid groups. But by 1977, the atmosphere had changed. Even
revered union leader Jack Jones of the T&GWU was turned over by his
own conference when he asked activists and members for a further year
of pay restraint. The government were insisting on a rigid maximum 5%
pay increase, which became undeliverable at a time when inflation was
well over 10%.
Party on, dude
Rob Capriccioso
September 8, 2007 3:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/rob_capriccioso/2007/09/party_on_dude.h=
tml
Every September, Americans can depend on reading a bevy of news
reports about underage drinking on college campuses. Dozens of
educators, health advocates and researchers are annually paraded in
the press, as if they somehow know the magic bullet to prevent risky
drinking by students.
The truth is, they don't know a lick. In fact, from the statistics
I've happened to pore over, it seems that as ever more programmes and
prevention plans have been toted and promoted, the number of underage
students drinking has actually increased.
Poetic justice, please
Malachi O'Doherty
September 8, 2007 2:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/malachi_odoherty/2007/09/when_belfast_p=
oet_michael_long.html
When the Belfast poet Michael Longley received the Ireland Chair of
Poetry, on Thursday night at the lavish and splendid harbour
commissioners' office, he seemed particularly pleased to be introduced
by the deputy first minister, Martin McGuinness; And McGuinness was
more than chuffed to be meeting Longley and Seamus Heaney, who was
also there.
He even read some of his own poetry.
The strange case of Dr Cameron and Mr Hyde
Alastair Harper
September 8, 2007 1:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alastair_harper/2007/09/dr_cameron_and_=
mr_hyde.html
This hasn't been a golden week for political advertising. Abroad, the
far-right Swiss People's party launched its campaign poster. Jolly-
looking cartoon white sheep kick a black sheep off the giant Swiss
flag they apparently call their home. They say it's all about
deporting immigrant criminals, but you don't have to be Roland Barthes
to figure out the subtext.
Meanwhile, back in Blighty, the party beloved of some of our most
successful advertisers has discovered the postbox-sized bit of junk
mail that is the banner ad, and they are very smug about it.
The end of idealism
Mark Braund
September 8, 2007 12:00 PM
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mark_braund/2007/09/the_end_of_idealism=
..html
There are many reasons why Lord Justice Sedley's call for mandatory
DNA sampling should be firmly opposed, most were well rehearsed in the
comments following James Randerson's post yesterday. But even if
someone could persuade me that the ends (detecting and punishing
serious crime) justify the means (a further considerable incursion
into the civil liberties of law abiding citizens), and that it was
feasible to compile and maintain such a database, I would have grave
reservations for another reason.
Technological advances are increasingly delivering supposed solutions
to all manner of social and economic problems. In this case, advances
in DNA technology hold out the possibility that all those culpable for
serious crimes could be brought to justice. The problem with such
technology-inspired fixes is that they generally only tackle the
symptoms of complex social problems, rather than engaging with, and
addressing, the root causes.
Greens need to grasp the nettle: aren't there just too many people?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2165698,00.html
Reducing consumption is imperative, but it's pointless to cut out meat
and cars while having lots of children
Madeleine Bunting
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
It's the one issue no environmentalist organisation wants to talk
about. Population. Thirty years ago, when international concern first
began to mobilise about the planet's future, it was the pre-eminent
question, but now you're hard put to get a straight answer. Does the
UK need population management? Does the world need it?
This is one of those issues that is regarded by many privately as
common sense but rarely gets a public airing. Of the environmental
organisations I managed to contact, all acknowledged that it was
frequently brought up by the public in meetings and letters. Yet all
said they did not campaign on the subject and had no position on it.
It seems that there is a worrying disconnect between a generally
accepted consensus among those who shape the national conversation
about the environment and their audiences, who either are much less
certain or believe that, if the planet's resources are being grossly
depleted, there are just too many of us about.
Impartiality is a turn-off
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2165700,00.html
The BBC needs to tackle the big issues of the day with courage if it
wants everyone to tune in
Peter Preston
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
The word is a chameleon. It is a source of pride, a legal requirement,
a process, an imperative, an old concept and a brand new cause of
strife. It used to be a seesaw and has turned into a wagon wheel. Ah!
impartiality ... What BBC contortions are committed in your name? So
much, on last week's form, for Planet Relief. Now for Election Relief
and, possibly, Referendum Relief.
Nobody can strictly be blamed, of course. When Whitehall handed the
corporation its revised charter and system of trust governance, it
made accuracy and impartiality bounden duties. The trust faithfully
commissioned earnest studies to decide what impartiality meant and
produced "12 guiding principles", featuring seesaws and wagon wheels.
It was a diligent, intelligent effort.
Washington's serious stars
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2165701,00.html
US foreign policy experts who got the Iraq war badly wrong are still
somehow holding sway
Michael Tomasky
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
This is another one of those very "serious" weeks in Washington, when
we put aside matters like senators skulking about in men's rooms and
turn our attention to the life-and-death questions as General David
Petraeus testifies to Congress on the progress of the surge in Iraq.
Our concern here is not the testimony itself, since it's been obvious
for some time that Petraeus will say that the surge is showing
sufficient signs of success for Congress to continue funding the war.
Open door
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,2165708,00.html
The readers' editor on... reducing the probability of numerical
mistakes
Siobhain Butterworth
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
It's the job of journalists to inform. Where numbers are concerned
this involves scrutinising the information and reporting it simply and
clearly, with an explanation where necessary. This doesn't always
happen - the Guardian has published more than 80 corrections about
numbers in the past six months.
There is an episode of The Simpsons in which Bart tries to house-train
his dog. It doesn't matter how many times he shows the dog what to do,
or how slowly and clearly he speaks, Santa's Little Helper can't
understand the instructions - he hears only a collection of
unintelligible noises. Those of us who felt like Bart Simpson's dog
during maths lessons at school, or who have only a shaky recollection
of what we learned there, salute journalists who can be relied upon to
make sense of the numbers for us.
The age of disaster capitalism
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2165922,00.html
In the days after 9/11, America's firefighters, nurses and teachers
were hailed as the country's heroes. But President Bush's embracing of
the public sector didn't last long. As the dust settled on the twin
towers, the White House launched an entirely new economy, based on
security - with the belief that only private firms could meet the
challenge. In this exclusive extract from her new book, Naomi Klein
reports on those who see a profitable prospect in a grim future
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
As George Bush and his cabinet took up their posts in January 2001,
the need for new sources of growth for US corporations was an urgent
matter. With the tech bubble now officially popped and the DowJones
tumbling 824 points in their first two and half months in office, they
found themselves staring in the face of a serious economic downturn.
John Maynard Keynes had argued that governments should spend their way
out of recessions, providing economic stimulus with public works.
Bush's solution was for the government to deconstruct itself - hacking
off great chunks of the public wealth and feeding them to corporate
America, in the form of tax cuts on the one hand and lucrative
contracts on the other. Bush's budget director, the think-tank
ideologue Mitch Daniels, pronounced: "The general idea - that the
business of government is not to provide services, but to make sure
that they are provided - seems self-evident to me." That assessment
included disaster response. Joseph Allbaugh, the Republican party
operative whom Bush put in charge of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (Fema) - the body responsible for responding to disasters,
including terrorist attacks - described his new place of work as "an
oversized entitlement programme".
Never mind the Buzzcocks - download lectures instead
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2165915,00.html
Maxton Walker
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
Perhaps it's his unruly Einstein-style haircut, or his offbeat foreign
accent, or maybe it's just his steady stream of laconic jokes. But,
whatever the reason, a Dutch physics lecturer at the US university MIT
has a become an unlikely global star, thanks to Apple's "iTunes
university", where his hugely entertaining lectures have become a
permanent fixture in the site's top 10 video downloads.
And unlike Desperate Housewives or Lost, Professor Walter Lewin's
lectures - over 50 hours of them - are free. They are all available on
iTunes U, launched earlier this year to help US universities
disseminate material to students. However, many institutions have
opted to make their material freely available.
Sharif deported on return to Pakistan
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2166001,00.html
=B7 Commanders enter former PM's plane
=B7 Sharif supporters in clashes with police
Declan Walsh in Islamabad
Monday September 10, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
The former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif was arrested and
deported to Saudi Arabia within hours of arriving at Islamabad airport
today.
The airport drama was a major blow to Mr Sharif's campaign to out the
current president, General Pervez Musharraf, who deposed him in a 1999
coup and sent him into exile one year later.
The surge must go on, Petraeus to tell Congress
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2165946,00.html
=B7 General to testify amid claims he lacks credibility
=B7 Majority of US public want troop reduction, says poll
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
The Bush administration's most senior advisers on Iraq, the commander
of US forces, General David Petraeus, and the ambassador to Baghdad,
Ryan Crocker, will launch a new drive today to defer any exit of
troops until April 2008 amid growing doubts about their credibility in
Congress and among the public.
In two days of testimony before Congress, Gen Petraeus and Mr Crocker
will make the case for the White House that America should maintain
the current strategy and force levels in Iraq.
Israeli neo-Nazi ring caught after attacks on synagogues
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2165880,00.html
Conal Urquhart in Jerusalem
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
Police in Israel have uncovered a neo-Nazi ring which was responsible
for vandalising synagogues and carrying out attacks on Jews and
foreign workers in Israel, a court was told yesterday.
The group of eight Russian immigrants aged between 18 and 21 appeared
in court following an 18-month investigation into attacks on two
synagogues in which swastikas were painted on the walls of the
buildings. The men covered their heads with their shirts during the
hearing, revealing arms tattooed with Nazi imagery.
Al-Qaida says it carried out Algerian bombings
http://www.guardian.co.uk/alqaida/story/0,,2165859,00.html
=B7 Crowds condemn attacks that killed at least 52
=B7 Fears that North Africans now part of terror network
Ian Black, Middle East editor
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
Al-Qaida's purported North African wing has claimed responsibility for
two deadly suicide bomb attacks in Algeria, reinforcing fears that
jihadi militants have opened a new frontline in the Maghreb.
At least 30 people died on Saturday and 50 were injured when a
hijacked delivery van packed with explosives smashed through a barrier
at a coastguard barracks at Dellys, east of Algiers. The bombing
appeared timed to kill as many officers as possible, when they were
grouped together to raise the national flag.
No return for Noriega, the dictator whose nation is still trying to
forget
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2165809,00.html
Former general set to face charges in France after 18 years in US jail
- to the relief of his country's ruling elite
Rory Carroll in Panama City
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
Out of sight and mind for almost two decades, inmate number 38699-079
completed his sentence yesterday an older, frailer figure than the
world remembered. Manuel Noriega served out his time at Miami's
Federal Correctional Institution with a gammy leg, his hair dyed and
in the uniform of an army which no longer exists, a bogeyman from
another era.
It was a return to the limelight, but not a return home. The former
dictator is to be sent across the Atlantic to become France's
prisoner; only afterwards, truly a relic, can he return to Panama. The
73-year-old general no longer has a machete in his fist nor an army to
command, but he still inspires enough anxiety for three governments to
play an elaborate game of pass the parcel.
Coalition 'out of the question', Greek PM says
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2165811,00.html
Helena Smith in Athens
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
The countdown to one of the closest elections in modern Greek history
was marked yesterday with the prime minister Costas Karamanlis vowing
to call a fresh ballot rather than enter a coalition with a smaller
party.
Voters go to the polls on Sunday with the popularity of the ruling New
Democrats severely dented by the disastrous forest fires that have
raged across Greece. Mr Karamanlis, who appeared all but assured of
victory when he called the snap poll last month, has been put on the
defensive.
Morocco Islamists say vote unfair
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2165810,00.html
Ian Black
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
Morocco's moderate Islamist party is crying foul after failing to
become the largest party in the country's parliamentary elections,
which were won instead by a traditional secular nationalist party, but
marred by a record low turnout.
Saadeddine Othmani, leader of the Justice and Development party (PJD),
accused unnamed rivals of buying votes. "Money was our first enemy,"
he said. "We think that the PJD is the [real] winner."
Devotees go for a whirl at the country's biggest party
http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,,2165814,00.html
Declan Walsh in Sehwan Sharif
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
Soaked in sweat and enraptured by the primal drumbeat, the crowd
swirled, curled and yelled high praise to the heavens. Dancing women
span like dervishes, whipping their hair in wide arcs. Old men huddled
over a pipe, their eyeballs dewy behind a hashish haze. Fireworks
fizzed and popped; families dozed on the rooftops. And in the
glittering shrine at the heart of the carnival, a young man fell to
his knees before a bed of candles, said his prayer and softly wept.
Faith groups agree tolerance pact in return for state school funding
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,,2165895,00.html
James Meikle, education correspondent
Monday September 10, 2007
The Guardian
Faith groups will today signal a new compact with the government over
the promotion of social cohesion in schools, in return for state
education funds.
The symbolic burying of the hatchet follows a row between ministers
and Roman Catholic and Jewish leaders over admissions policies last
year.
A document has been prepared by the Department for Children, Families
and Schools and the main faith groups to promote a "shared vision" of
the future.
Caught on camera: 3D images give early warning of genetic disorders in
children
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2007/sep/10/2
=B7 Digital method could be used on two-year-olds
=B7 Asperger's syndrome may be target for technique
* Ian Sample, science correspondent
* The Guardian
* Monday September 10 2007
Tens of thousands of children with rare genetic disorders could be
diagnosed earlier and more cheaply following pioneering research that
uses computers to analyse images of people's faces.
The technique will help doctors make a swift diagnosis by identifying
the most likely genetic disorder a child has purely by examining their
features.
Revealed: How Jews fled the Roman army
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article2947458.ece
By Amy Teibel in Jerusalem
Published: 10 September 2007
Israeli archaeologists have stumbled upon the site of one of the great
dramatic scenes of the sacking of Jerusalem by the Romans 2,000 years
ago - a subterranean drainage channel used by Jews to escape from the
city's conquerors. The tunnel was dug beneath what would become the
main road of Jerusalem in the days of the second biblical Temple,
which the Romans destroyed AD70.
The channel was buried beneath rubble during the sacking, and the
parts which have been exposed since it was discovered two weeks ago
are preserved intact, said Professor Ronny Reich, an archaeologist
from the University of Haifa who led the dig. The walls - made from
ashlar stones one meter deep - reach a height of 3m in some places and
are covered by heavy stone slabs that were the main road's paving
stones.
Chinese medicine gets a 4,000-year makeover
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2947459.ece
By Clifford Coonan in Beijing
Published: 10 September 2007
Practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine are upgrading the 4,000-
year-old healing method to improve its image. They are trying to make
it more palatable to a new generation who are accustomed to visiting
spas and "wellness" clinics. Most young Chinese use western-style GPs
as their first port of call when they are sick but still believe that
swallowing tortoise shell, deer pizzle, centipede, scorpion or sea
horse, or sticking needles into their skins can treat a wide range of
illnesses, as can the vast array of herbal remedies. However,
traditional Chinese medicine has an image problem - the potions taste
awful and smell even worse.
Boutique owner Huang Zhaohe, for example, said she had great success
using traditional Chinese medicine to help her lose weight, but
admitted it was a struggle. "Once, when I saw what went into the
medicine, I felt sick but now I am used to it," she said. "There are
some strange things in Chinese medicine."
On the March: The Terracotta Army comes to London
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article2945350.ece
Not since Tutankhamun's mask dazzled the nation more than 30 years ago
has the British Museum played host to such a breathtaking display of
timeless antiquity. As China's Terracotta Army arrives, Dan Snow
traces its extraordinary history - and Tom Lubbock gives his verdict
on the exhibition of the year
Published: 10 September 2007
In the spring of 1974, two sweating labourers hacked at the soil in a
remote spot of Shaanxi province, China. The land was parched, and new
wells needed to be sunk. As they dug with the most basic tools, they
noticed that gradually the light-brown soil was getting darker. By the
time they were five metres below ground level, the soil was almost
red. Suddenly a shovelful of earth uncovered a sculpted terracotta
face with neatly styled hair and eyes that looked up, imperturbably.
Serbia warns US over future of Kosovo
http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article2947407.ece
By Douglas Hamilton in Belgrade
Published: 10 September 2007
Serbia has warned the United States that its "open threats" to force
the independence of Kosovo could wreck talks aimed at finding an
agreed future for the breakaway province.
Ignoring appeals from a wavering European Union (EU) to tone down its
own veiled threats of force over Kosovo, Serbia demanded that
Washington explain why it was threatening to "force independence
through illegally".
Amnesty film shows agony of US detention techniques
http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2947406.ece
By Terri Judd
Published: 10 September 2007
Forced on to the balls of his feet, bent double with his hands
handcuffed behind his back, the near-naked man shook violently. From
beneath the hood, muted moans were audible. It seemed obscene to stare
at this apparently frail, vulnerable man, caught in a stress position
reminiscent of the images of Iraqi prisoners being interrogated by US
soldiers at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. Yet this was not torture. It
was art.
In an attempt to draw attention to human rights abuses, Amnesty
International has filmed a dancer in the positions captives have been
forced to adopt by US troops. The resulting film makes shocking
viewing. During a break in filming, Jiva Parthipan, a Sri Lankan
performance artist, appeared relieved as he rubbed his limbs, which
were aching after just a couple of minutes in a position that suspects
in President George Bush's "war on terror" are expected to endure for
hours.
Economic View: Thank God for the Brics: they've kept the world rolling
along. But don't expect borrowers to say Amen to that
http://news.independent.co.uk/business/comment/article2944309.ece
While Brazil, Russia, India and China have protected the global
economy from the US crisis, buoyant demand means little scope for rate
cuts
Hamish McRae
Published: 09 September 2007
Good news or bad news? The Bank of England did not increase interest
rates last week, but that was not so much because its previous
increases had done the job of curbing inflationary forces; it was
because the ructions in the world's financial markets were making
credit more expensive without the Bank needing to act. The markets
were, so to speak, doing the Bank's work for it.
The central point here is that no country - or, in the case of the
eurozone, no monetary authority - sets its interest rates in
isolation. Conditions vary from place to place, and different regions
need different rates at different times. But money is now a global
commodity, flowing across national boundaries at the click of a mouse.
And while the various central banks are able to control the price of
very short-term money, they have much less influence over longer-dated
stuff. So if the world price for money is heading upwards, as it seems
to be doing, it is likely that everyone will be swept along.
Boyd Tonkin: Athens and Ankara could redraw our mental maps
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article2947419.ece
Published: 10 September 2007
Platform discussions with novelists tend to be genteel and decorous
affairs, and never before have I approached one with a niggling fear
about how to keep order in the hall. Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish Nobel
laureate whom I introduced at the South Bank in London last week,
shared the anxiety that a few of his ultra-nationalist detractors
might turn up to make a scene.
In the event, neither of us need have worried. The house was packed
with young representatives of Pamuk's Turkey, as broad-minded and open-
hearted as the writer himself. They applauded him lustily when he
picked up a questioner who implied that the nation as a whole - rather
than diehard chauvinists in the legal system - had put him on trial in
2005 for "insulting Turkish identity" by raising the Armenian
massacres of 1915 in a Swiss magazine interview.
Could a Gore endorsement put Obama over the top?
http://richmonddemocrat.blogspot.com/2007/09/could-gore-endorsement-put-oba=
ma-over.html
For the Democrats chasing the Democratic presidential nomination for
2008, the Holy Grail now has a name: Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr.
From Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray at The Washington Post:
Former vice president Al Gore's pronouncement that he is likely to
endorse one of the Democratic candidates for president before the
primary season is over has set off a slew of speculation about who his
choice might be.
Barack Obama: The Polls v The Big "O"
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/9/10/15816/8719
by boatsie
Sun Sep 09, 2007 at 11:04:15 PM PDT
A message for Obama supporters. Maybe we need to reprioritize. Shut
off our laptops, open our doors again, and talk real time about the
big "O."
Obama and McSweeney's
http://www.positivelybarack.com/2007/09/09/obama-and-mcsweeneys/
Barack Obama recently had another dinner with a few donors while he
was in New Hampshire. The campaign put up a video of the end of the
meal called Dessert with Barack
One of the donors gave Barack a book called "What is the What" by Dave
Eggers*. Barack said he had the book and that the author was a
supporter.
This Week With Barack Obama, September 3-8, 2007
http://scoop.epluribusmedia.org/story/2007/9/9/203514/0758
by icebergslim rcs1
Sun Sep 09, 2007 at 11:49:17 PM EST
cross-posted @ daily kos
Tonight, the 2008 debate plays out in Spanish
http://weblogs.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/blog/2007/09/tonight_the_20=
08_debate_plays.html
by David Lightman
For Americans who came to this country speaking Spanish, the prospect
of viewing an American presidential debate in Spanish may have seemed
like a dream.
Oprah and Obama's power
http://video.msn.com/v/us/fv/fv.htm??g=3Dd341696c-cb74-4e7d-81d0-ebd7a34c87=
af&f=3D00&fg=3Dblog
Obama-Edwards ticket?
http://obamabarack.blogspot.com/2007/09/obama-edwards-ticket.html
David Swanson, a writer who was the Press Secretary for the 2004
Dennis Kucinich for President campaign, thinks progressives should
support an Barack Obama-John Edwards ticket to help defeat Hillary
Clinton.
Fearing that a Clinton primary win will mean defeat for the Democrats
in the general election, Swanson believes that an Obama-Edwards combo
would shoot ahead of Clinton in the polls.
The Clinton-Obama contrast
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0907/The_ClintonObama_contrast.html
So here, in response to a question about how to curb anti-Hispanic
sentiment, are Clinton and Obama, boiled down.
Clinton places blame on political enemies: This is somebody's fault.
In particular, the fault of "many in the political ... and in the
broadcast world today ... who take aim at the Latino population."
Obama finds lots of green in Oprah's meadow
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-cause9sep09,0,2948036.story?coll=
=3Dla-politics-campaign
A cross section of the entertainment and sports elite donate to the
Democratic candidate at Winfrey's Montecito estate.
By TINA DAUNT
September 9, 2007
SANTA BARBARA - Over the years, dozens of celebrities and authors have
been the happy beneficiaries of what Hollywood likes to call "the
Oprah effect."
Saturday, it was Barack Obama's turn to enjoy billionaire chat diva
Oprah Winfrey's favor, as a stunning cross section of the country's
entertainment and sports elite gathered in "the meadow" of her
sprawling Montecito estate to raise money for the junior Illinois
senator seeking the Democrats' presidential nomination.
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