Dr Zaki Badawi was one of the UK's most respected Muslim leaders, who preached harmony between different faiths.

Many of his supporters regarded him as the unofficial "Grand Mufti of Britain", a leading voice who could command respect within his own faith, and among others.

a face of Islam as I know it from working with, knowing and having Muslims as friends.

BBC NEWS | UK | Obituary: Dr Zaki Badawi

India and China are performing an awkward tango. Each is wary of the other as partners; both are talented and experienced on their feet. But dance together they must.

In Beijing this month, India's oil minister, Mani Shankar Aiyer, signed an agreement to cooperate with China in securing crude oil resources overseas. The landmark deal is aimed at preventing fierce competition for oil from driving up the price of assets. It marks the start of a new era of energy geopolitics focused on Asia, and reveals something of how Asia's emerging superpowers intend to behave.

this article is a good companion piece to the article on China's position vis-a-vis using its veto on the Security Council in respect to Iran and its uranium enrichment/nuclear programme in that it presents China's strategic growth policy requirement for energy/oil driving foreign policy

Michael Vatikiotis: India and China: A delicate dance

The diplomatic dogfight over Iran's nuclear program is generating noise all over the world.
...
why has Beijing been reluctant - so far - to renew the veto threat?

so what is more important to China? its relationship to Iran (an oil supplier to China), its domestic energy needs and the effect of sanctions on the global price of oil or China's political and economic relationship with the US and Europe?

i don't think an invasion of Iran is practical or wise but there may come a point where the US and Europe need to enact airstrikes against the Iranian nuclear installations before the Israelis do.
The Iranians may not have a delivery system but they do have Hezbollah. Do we wait for deterrence or would that be akin to risking others lives for fear of bold action? does deterrence work in a terrorist age?

What will China do? - Editorials & Commentary - International Herald Tribune

Fast-forward to 2006. Rice gave two speeches last week calling for "transformational diplomacy," meaning diplomacy that will transform undemocratic societies: The internal affairs of other countries turn out to be important after all. "The greatest threats now emerge more within states than between them," she said Wednesday. "The fundamental character of regimes now matters more than the international distribution of power. In this world it is impossible to draw neat, clear lines between our security interests, our development efforts and our democratic ideals."
....
The United States lacks the instruments to transform other societies, Fukuyama argues; to build nations you must first build institutions, and nobody knows how to do that. Conservatives, who have long preached the limits to what government can achieve with domestic social policies, should wake up to government's limits in foreign policy as well.

Rice's Blind Spot

Equality "insinuates deep into the heart and mind of every man some vague notion and some instinctive inclination toward political freedom," he insisted, "thereby preparing the antidote for the ill which it has produced."

Democracy in America, Then and Now, a Struggle Against Majority Tyranny - New York Times

Decades of abortion-rights restrictions pushed through Congress and the statehouses by wily abortion opponents with the acquiescence — indeed, the encouragement — of the public have made the right to choose granted by Roe an empty promise for large numbers of American women.

This has been an unqualified triumph for abortion opponents and has put Republican leaders in an enviable position; even with a majority of the American public still solidly “pro-choice” (in the abstract), they can rest easy in the knowledge that, at this time, Roe is, in certain parts of the country, close to meaningless.

civilisation?

Another testimonial from Michelman’s book: The voice of Becky Bell, a high school junior who died of an illegal abortion in 1998 because she didn’t want to have to tell her parents that she was pregnant — and her state, Indiana, required parental notification or judicial bypass. As she lay dying on a hospital gurney, Becky pulled off her oxygen mask to speak to her parents. “Forgive me,” she said.

what other consequence is the likely result of such legislation
u live in a strange country roe v wade probably soon to be overturned and u have the death penalty and u consider the rest of the world to be uncivilised!

Judith Warner - Domestic Disturbances - New York Times Blog

In the State of the Union address, President Bush will surely assert, to choreographed applause, that he has a strategy for victory in Iraq. I don't believe him. In fact, I believe that three years into the conflict his administration refuses to admit defeat but has given up even trying to win.

To explain myself, let me tell you some stories about electricity.

Power shortages are a crucial issue for ordinary Iraqis, and for the credibility of their government. As Muhsin Shlash, Iraq's electricity minister, said last week, "When you lose electricity the country is destroyed, nothing works, all industry is down and terrorist activity is increased."

Iraq's Power Vacuum - New York Times

Activists angered by a US Supreme Court ruling that homes can be demolished for public developments are trying to seize the home of one of the judges involved.

About 60 people rallied in the small New Hampshire town of Weare on Sunday, where Justice David Souter has a house.

The protesters say they have enough signatures from Weare residents to put their proposal to a town vote in March.

hehehe

BBC NEWS | World | Americas | Campaign to seize US judge's home

Kidnapping is the biggest nightmare of every Western journalist in Iraq but both foreign and Iraqi reporters face many other obstacles that obscure the U.S. public's understanding of the war.

Jill Carroll, an American freelance journalist missing in Iraq, was the 36th reporter to be kidnapped since April 2004, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. Six of them have been killed.

"This has been our No. 1 threat and our worst nightmare for almost two years," Jackie Spinner, a Washington Post reporter who escaped a kidnap bid outside Abu Ghraib prison in June 2004, told Reuters.

"They grabbed me as I was walking out," she said. "I was wearing a scarf and an abaya. One man grabbed my wrist and another grabbed my waist and they started dragging me off."

Fortunately, U.S. Marines noticed and came to the rescue.

She recounts the incident in her book "Tell Them I Didn't Cry," due out on Feb 1. The book describes Spinner's experience reporting, including the 2004 siege of Falluja. But much of it is about her Iraqi colleagues, from drivers to cooks, guards and translators, and about how much she depended on them.

the marines of truth

Top News Article | Reuters.com

The Iraq debate split the country into two partisan camps, but the Iran debate is much more complicated. It's opening up a rift between conservatives and the Bush administration. It's dividing Democrats into rival factions: those who can contemplate the eventual use of force against Iran and those who can't.
...
These four approaches have one thing in common: they all stink.

a world of tough choices

Hating the Bomb - New York Times

The battleground for women's rights is expanding from the boardroom to the bathroom, and a serious legislative initiative nicknamed "potty parity" is giving new meaning to the term "separate but equal."

The new push, which is quietly making its way into construction standards around the world, says restrooms should provide two to three times as many "outlets" for women as for men. In that sense, "potty parity" bills offer women more than parity: It may finally trim the long lines for women's rooms at theaters, stadiums, and highway rest stops.

a good idea
men should support this if they are sick of being in a hurry and having to wait while their partner queue
or just think it seems fair

'Potty parity' aims to remedy long lines - Yahoo! News