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Today's Republicans might view Ronald Reagan as a "wild-eyed, socialist, tax-hiking class warrior," and the late conservative icon's views on taxes might have disqualified him from the party's nomination in 2012, President Barack Obama said Wednesday.
Obama, defending his "Buffett Rule" call for higher taxes on the very rich, said in a speech that he was "not the first president to call for this idea that everybody has got to do their fair share." He went on to say:
Some years ago, one of my predecessors traveled across the country pushing for the same concept. He gave a speech where he talked about a letter he had received from a wealthy executive who paid lower tax rates than his secretary, and wanted to come to Washington and tell Congress why that was wrong. So this president gave another speech where he said it was "crazy"—that's a quote—that certain tax loopholes make it possible for multimillionaires to pay nothing, while a bus driver was paying 10 percent of his salary. That wild-eyed, socialist, tax-hiking class warrior was Ronald Reagan.
He thought that, in America, the wealthiest should pay their fair share, and he said so. I know that position might disqualify him from the Republican primaries these days, but what Ronald Reagan was calling for then is the same thing that we're calling for now: a return to basic fairness and responsibility; everybody doing their part. And if it will help convince folks in Congress to make the right choice, we could call it the Reagan Rule instead of the Buffett Rule.
Yet Reagan also championed the very same "trickle-down" economics that Obama has roundly denounced—the idea that tax cuts for the wealthy lead to investment that generates growth and thereby jobs. Obama on Tuesday described this economic policy in harsh terms, saying its supporters "don't seem to understand how it is that America got built."
"In this country, prosperity has never trickled down from the wealthy few," he said. "Prosperity has always come from the bottom up, from a strong and growing middle class."
Obama lumped trickle-down economics among "old broken-down theories" that he blamed for the 2008 global economic meltdown.
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Pakistan: Anyone in rule?
The Frontier Post
In targeted killings, at least eight people were done in brutally in Quetta and Turbat on Monday while for Karachi the people have now stopped keeping even a count of bloodletting, so inseparable has bloodshed become to the beleaguered port city�s daily life. But is there no one in rule here? Where are the provincial administrations, whose job it is constitutionally to secure the citizens� lives and properties? And where are federal hierarchs? Aren�t they required to intervene authoritatively when a provincial administration is just slumbering, shake it up out of its stupor and make it to act; and if it doesn�t, to send it packing and set about restoring law and order to its domain? Or, have both abdicated their constitutional duty to secure the citizens? Or, has life of the citizen become dirt cheap on this land that the criminal gun has been given such a free run to wreak havoc the way it likes?
Look to any direction, and every part of the country is in the sizzling lap of lawlessness and criminality. Nowhere the people�s lives are secure and safe. Everywhere they live in the dread of thugs, murderers, kidnappers, dacoits, highwaymen, rustlers and, above all, terrorists of all hues and brands. No place is safe. Quetta has become the favourite haunt of not just target killers. Along with Balochistan interior, it has turned into a hub of booming trade in kidnappings for ransom. And if Karachi is now in the tight grip of the organised crime of underworld, the Sindh interior is being overrun systematically by red-eyed dacoits and highwaymen. And while the urban Punjab is being blighted by street crimes of every description, in the rural Punjab having the field day are rustlers, dacoits and thieves. No immune either is Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, whose Peshawar metropolis long stands largely emptied of the well-off as much for fear of the criminal gun as of the terrorist bomb. The predicament of its interior could well be imagined.
To cut the sad story short, the citizens all over the land have been thrown before the criminals and terrorists to belabour and devour up. And both are having a jolly good time in their vile trade, with both the provincial administrations and the federal hierarchy alike looking on listlessly and, astoundingly, disinterestedly. The entire state security apparatus is visibly deployed on securing the lives of the federal and provincial hierarchs. They live in fortified mansions; they work in highly-secured zones and offices; they travel on multi-million-rupee, bullet-proof limousines amid layers after layers of security escorts; and for hours all roads and connecting side arteries are kept closed to general traffic to make for their safe travelling with no concern at all about the tremendous inconvenience this causes to the public. But does this country exist for these jokers or for the 180 million people who sweat on the farms and in the factories and other workplaces to produce the national wealth on which these clowns luxuriate so fabulously without giving even a shred of security to them in return of the compliment?
But would these johnnies spare a thought to know which way are they pushing the country with their contemptible disinterest in securing the land and ensuring the safety of its denizens? Aren�t they ashamed that for worse security conditions prevalent all over the country foreigners do not send even their sports teams to play matches here and our teams have to go to foreign lands to play matches, of which we are a host? Don�t they feel disgraced that for this very reason foreign entrepreneurs dread visiting our country and instead call their Pakistani partners and business associates to Dubai and other places for meetings and parleys? And don�t they feel concerned that for these dismal security conditions not just foreign prospective investors are shunning us like plague but even our own entrepreneurs are shifting to foreign pastures, though no lesser for the crippling energy crisis that the incumbent federal hierarchy and playful provincial subedars from one to all have done nothing to overcome?
Contemptuously enough, they all are throwing mounds of the taxpayer�s precious money on cheap pork barrel to build up their vote-banks. But of what would it be if the country gets caught up irretrievably in the chaos and anarchy it is inevitably heading to because of the worsening law and order conditions? Shouldn�t they instead be spending this dole on strengthening and training the law-enforcement agencies and refurbishing their arsenals and equipments so as to enable them to take on the criminals and terrorists effectively and triumphantly? Ironically enough, they are also launching even their teenaged their sons and daughters as their heirs and heiresses and their successors in time. But where would their darling babies be on a throne if this country drowns into the black hole it is adrift to so fast because of the free run of criminal guns and terrorist bombs all over the land? If nothing else, at least in their own interest and in the long-term interest of their anointed darling successors, they must get out of their hibernation and do something to return this besieged land to security, peace and stability. The portents otherwise are too dire and too sombre.
In targeted killings, at least eight people were done in brutally in Quetta and Turbat on Monday while for Karachi the people have now stopped keeping even a count of bloodletting, so inseparable has bloodshed become to the beleaguered port city�s daily life. But is there no one in rule here? Where are the provincial administrations, whose job it is constitutionally to secure the citizens� lives and properties? And where are federal hierarchs? Aren�t they required to intervene authoritatively when a provincial administration is just slumbering, shake it up out of its stupor and make it to act; and if it doesn�t, to send it packing and set about restoring law and order to its domain? Or, have both abdicated their constitutional duty to secure the citizens? Or, has life of the citizen become dirt cheap on this land that the criminal gun has been given such a free run to wreak havoc the way it likes?
Look to any direction, and every part of the country is in the sizzling lap of lawlessness and criminality. Nowhere the people�s lives are secure and safe. Everywhere they live in the dread of thugs, murderers, kidnappers, dacoits, highwaymen, rustlers and, above all, terrorists of all hues and brands. No place is safe. Quetta has become the favourite haunt of not just target killers. Along with Balochistan interior, it has turned into a hub of booming trade in kidnappings for ransom. And if Karachi is now in the tight grip of the organised crime of underworld, the Sindh interior is being overrun systematically by red-eyed dacoits and highwaymen. And while the urban Punjab is being blighted by street crimes of every description, in the rural Punjab having the field day are rustlers, dacoits and thieves. No immune either is Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, whose Peshawar metropolis long stands largely emptied of the well-off as much for fear of the criminal gun as of the terrorist bomb. The predicament of its interior could well be imagined.
To cut the sad story short, the citizens all over the land have been thrown before the criminals and terrorists to belabour and devour up. And both are having a jolly good time in their vile trade, with both the provincial administrations and the federal hierarchy alike looking on listlessly and, astoundingly, disinterestedly. The entire state security apparatus is visibly deployed on securing the lives of the federal and provincial hierarchs. They live in fortified mansions; they work in highly-secured zones and offices; they travel on multi-million-rupee, bullet-proof limousines amid layers after layers of security escorts; and for hours all roads and connecting side arteries are kept closed to general traffic to make for their safe travelling with no concern at all about the tremendous inconvenience this causes to the public. But does this country exist for these jokers or for the 180 million people who sweat on the farms and in the factories and other workplaces to produce the national wealth on which these clowns luxuriate so fabulously without giving even a shred of security to them in return of the compliment?
But would these johnnies spare a thought to know which way are they pushing the country with their contemptible disinterest in securing the land and ensuring the safety of its denizens? Aren�t they ashamed that for worse security conditions prevalent all over the country foreigners do not send even their sports teams to play matches here and our teams have to go to foreign lands to play matches, of which we are a host? Don�t they feel disgraced that for this very reason foreign entrepreneurs dread visiting our country and instead call their Pakistani partners and business associates to Dubai and other places for meetings and parleys? And don�t they feel concerned that for these dismal security conditions not just foreign prospective investors are shunning us like plague but even our own entrepreneurs are shifting to foreign pastures, though no lesser for the crippling energy crisis that the incumbent federal hierarchy and playful provincial subedars from one to all have done nothing to overcome?
Contemptuously enough, they all are throwing mounds of the taxpayer�s precious money on cheap pork barrel to build up their vote-banks. But of what would it be if the country gets caught up irretrievably in the chaos and anarchy it is inevitably heading to because of the worsening law and order conditions? Shouldn�t they instead be spending this dole on strengthening and training the law-enforcement agencies and refurbishing their arsenals and equipments so as to enable them to take on the criminals and terrorists effectively and triumphantly? Ironically enough, they are also launching even their teenaged their sons and daughters as their heirs and heiresses and their successors in time. But where would their darling babies be on a throne if this country drowns into the black hole it is adrift to so fast because of the free run of criminal guns and terrorist bombs all over the land? If nothing else, at least in their own interest and in the long-term interest of their anointed darling successors, they must get out of their hibernation and do something to return this besieged land to security, peace and stability. The portents otherwise are too dire and too sombre.
Tsunami watch lifted in most of Indian Ocean
http://www.thejakartapost.com
A tsunami watch around the Indian Ocean has been lifted hours after two powerful earthquakes hit off Indonesia's western coast.
The 8.6- and 8.2-magnitude earthquakes triggered panic Wednesday afternoon. Residents in coastal cities fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii lifted a tsunami watch for most areas of the Indian Ocean about four hours after the first quake. It was still in effect for Indonesia, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and the island territory of Diego Garcia.
A tsunami watch around the Indian Ocean has been lifted hours after two powerful earthquakes hit off Indonesia's western coast.
The 8.6- and 8.2-magnitude earthquakes triggered panic Wednesday afternoon. Residents in coastal cities fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii lifted a tsunami watch for most areas of the Indian Ocean about four hours after the first quake. It was still in effect for Indonesia, India, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and the island territory of Diego Garcia.
Massive quake triggers tsunami warning for 28 countries
The US Geological Survey said the quake was centered 33 kilometers beneath the ocean floor.
A tsunami watch was issued for countries across the Indian Ocean on Wednesday after a large earthquake hit waters off Indonesia, sending residents pouring from their homes in panic.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8.7-magnitude quake was centered 20 miles (33 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor around 269 miles (434 kilometers) from Aceh s provincial capital.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.
A tsunami watch means there is the potential for a tsunami, not that one is imminent.
Said, an official at Indonesia s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency who goes by only one name, said a tsunami warning has been issued for cities all along the coast of Sumatra island.
The tremor was felt in Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh, Malaysia and India. High-rise apartments and offices on Malaysia s west coast shook for at least a minute.
People in Banda Aceh screamed "God is great!" as they jumped into cars and the backs of motorcycles, clogging streets as they fled to high ground.
Thailand s National Disaster Warning Center issued an evacuation order to residents in six provinces along the country s west coast, including the popular tourist destinations of Phuket, Krabi and Phang-Nga.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, nearly three quarter of them in Aceh.
Indonesia issues new tsunami alert for aftershock
Indonesia has issued a fresh tsunami warning after an aftershock with a preliminary magnitude of 8.2 shook its western coast.
The first 8.6-magnitude quake off Aceh province, hours earlier, spawned a wave around 30 inches (80 centimeters) high but caused no serious damage.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the strong temblor that followed was centered 10 miles (16 kilometers) beneath the ocean around 380 miles (615 kilometers) from the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.
Harjadi, a local official who goes by only one name, said the new tsunami warning was for residents living along the western coast of the country.
It included Sumatra island and the Mentawai islands.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AP) — A massive earthquake off Indonesia's western coast triggered a tsunami watch for countries across the Indian Ocean on Wednesday, clogging streets with traffic as residents fled to high ground in cars and on the backs of motorcycles.
Two hours after the quake hit, however, there was no sign of the feared wave. Damage also appeared to be minimal.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the 8.6-magnitude quake was centered 20 miles (33 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor around 269 miles (434 kilometers) from Aceh province.
"It wasn't the strongest quake I've felt," said 22-year-old Tuti Rahmi, while trying to reach her brother by phone from Banda Aceh, people around her crying and screaming as they poured from their homes.
"But it seemed to last forever," she said, adding the ground shook for nearly four minutes.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami watch was in effect for Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Myanmar, Thailand, the Maldives and other Indian Ocean islands, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore.
But hours later, the threat appeared to have passed.
Roger Musson, seismologist at the British geological survey who has studied Sumatra's fault lines, says the temblor was a strike-slip quake, not a thrust quake. In a strike slip quake, the earth moves horizontally rather than vertically and doesn't displace large volumes of water.
"When I first saw this was an 8.7 near Sumatra, I was fearing the worst," he said, noting one of the initial reported magnitudes for the quake. "But as soon as I discovered what type of earthquake it was, then I felt a lot better."
The tremor was felt in Malaysia, where it caused high-rise buildings to shake for about a minute, and in Singapore, Thailand, Bangladesh and India.
There was chaos in the streets of Aceh, where memories of a 2004 tsunami that killed 170,000 people in the province alone, are still raw.
Patients poured out of hospitals, some with drips still attached to their arms. In some places, electricity was briefly cut.
Hours after the temblor, people were still standing outside their homes and offices, afraid to go back inside.
There were several strong aftershocks.
"I was in the shower on the fifth floor of my hotel," Timbang Pangaribuan told El Shinta radio from the city of Medan. "We all ran out. ... We're all standing outside now."
He said one guest was injured when he jumped from the window of his room.
Thailand's National Disaster Warning Center issued an evacuation order to residents in six provinces along the country's west coast, including the popular tourist destinations of Phuket, Krabi and Phang-Nga.
India's Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for parts of the eastern Andaman and Nicobar islands. In Tamil Nadu in southern India, police cordoned off the beach and used loudspeakers to warn people to leave the area.
Satheesh Shenoi, director of the Indian National Center for Ocean information Services, said the chance of a tsunami was diminishing.
"There are no indications of tsunami wave; the instruments are not showing any sea level change," he said.
The quake was felt in Dhaka, Bangladesh, where many people in the city's commercial Motijheel district left their offices and homes in panic and ran into the streets. No damage or causalities were reported.
In Male, the capital of the Maldives, buildings were evacuated.
Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity.
A giant 9.1-magnitude quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, most of them in Aceh.
Tuesday, April 10, 2012
Putting Afghans Forces in Charge Raises Concerns
www.voanews.com
U.S. and Afghan military leaders have called the agreement transferring leadership for night raid operations to Afghan forces a major milestone towards Afghanistan's sovereignty. But as Some analysts have raised concerns that the process was driven by political expediency and that the Afghan military and judiciary are not capable of fulfilling the agreement.
Afghan presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi says the compromise reached Sunday putting night raids under Afghan leadership resolved a source of tension between the Afghan government and U.S. military.
He says the "Afghan-ization" of special operations is a big achievement for the country in maintaining stability and the joint struggle against terrorism.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai had said the raids by foreign troops are provocative and increase public resentment against international forces. NATO commanders defended the operations, saying they are extremely effective in disrupting insurgent operations and apprehending Taliban and al-Qaida commanders.
U.S. and Afghan military leaders say by putting Afghan special forces in charge and requiring an Afghan judge to authorize each night raid operation, the agreement addresses the concerns of both sides.
Lack of capability
But Samina Ahmed, South Asia security analyst with the International Crisis Group, says the agreement will produce nominal change at best. She says the Afghan forces will continue to rely on the U.S. to direct and support operations, and that the Afghan judiciary lacks the training and authority to ensure that the Afghan special forces, police and local militias protect human rights and follow the rule of law.
“The legal system in Afghanistan is very weak. At best, it's incapable of implementation because the judicial arm has been so neglected,” said Ahmed.
The agreement also calls for prisoners apprehended in special forces operations to be held by Afghan authorities. This follows another recently signed deal to transfer Afghan detainees to Kabul's custody. Human rights groups have raised questions about the treatment of those held in Afghan prisons and have detailed incidents of torture and abuse. The Afghan government has denied these allegations.
Political goal
These agreements put the U.S. and Afghanistan on track to reach an important political goal - to develop a long-term strategic partnership pact ahead of a May NATO summit in Chicago. The partnership pact will authorize a reduced U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after the planned 2014 withdrawal of most Western combat troops.
Ahmed says the flurry of political progress is not being matched by the training and development of a professional Afghan army.
“In our assessment, the ANSF - the Afghan National Security Forces - are not capable of taking on the challenge of protecting ... the state against any kind of violation, whether it is within or from outside Afghanistan's borders,” she said.
She says increased anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan and a growing antiwar consensus in America may be changing the political dynamics, but the military reality is that Afghan forces are not yet ready to take the lead.
U.S. and Afghan military leaders have called the agreement transferring leadership for night raid operations to Afghan forces a major milestone towards Afghanistan's sovereignty. But as Some analysts have raised concerns that the process was driven by political expediency and that the Afghan military and judiciary are not capable of fulfilling the agreement.
Afghan presidential spokesman Aimal Faizi says the compromise reached Sunday putting night raids under Afghan leadership resolved a source of tension between the Afghan government and U.S. military.
He says the "Afghan-ization" of special operations is a big achievement for the country in maintaining stability and the joint struggle against terrorism.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai had said the raids by foreign troops are provocative and increase public resentment against international forces. NATO commanders defended the operations, saying they are extremely effective in disrupting insurgent operations and apprehending Taliban and al-Qaida commanders.
U.S. and Afghan military leaders say by putting Afghan special forces in charge and requiring an Afghan judge to authorize each night raid operation, the agreement addresses the concerns of both sides.
Lack of capability
But Samina Ahmed, South Asia security analyst with the International Crisis Group, says the agreement will produce nominal change at best. She says the Afghan forces will continue to rely on the U.S. to direct and support operations, and that the Afghan judiciary lacks the training and authority to ensure that the Afghan special forces, police and local militias protect human rights and follow the rule of law.
“The legal system in Afghanistan is very weak. At best, it's incapable of implementation because the judicial arm has been so neglected,” said Ahmed.
The agreement also calls for prisoners apprehended in special forces operations to be held by Afghan authorities. This follows another recently signed deal to transfer Afghan detainees to Kabul's custody. Human rights groups have raised questions about the treatment of those held in Afghan prisons and have detailed incidents of torture and abuse. The Afghan government has denied these allegations.
Political goal
These agreements put the U.S. and Afghanistan on track to reach an important political goal - to develop a long-term strategic partnership pact ahead of a May NATO summit in Chicago. The partnership pact will authorize a reduced U.S. military presence in Afghanistan after the planned 2014 withdrawal of most Western combat troops.
Ahmed says the flurry of political progress is not being matched by the training and development of a professional Afghan army.
“In our assessment, the ANSF - the Afghan National Security Forces - are not capable of taking on the challenge of protecting ... the state against any kind of violation, whether it is within or from outside Afghanistan's borders,” she said.
She says increased anti-American sentiment in Afghanistan and a growing antiwar consensus in America may be changing the political dynamics, but the military reality is that Afghan forces are not yet ready to take the lead.
Dental X-rays can double brain tumor risk, study finds
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/
It sounds frightening -- and there is no question it invokes a serious warning -- but even those who carried out the research urge people not to overreact.
"Our take home message is don’t panic. Don’t stop going to the dentist," said the lead author of the study Dr. Elizabeth Claus, a neurological surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Yale School of Public Health.But people "should have a conversation with their dentist" about the need to use X-rays as little as possible to keep teeth healthy, Claus says. That’s a conclusion few would dispute, with or without the new study.The tumor studied is meningioma, a type that is usually not malignant, meaning it can grow but not spread. To be sure, it can cause severe problems in some patients. But people with meningiomas often live long, healthy lives with no treatment, dying of some other cause. Doctors diagnose about 5,000 cases a year in the United States, about three times as often in women as in men.
Significantly, the study is the weakest type of epidemiology, a so-called “case control” study. The researchers interviewed 1,433 people diagnosed with meningioma and compared them with 1,350 people with no such diagnosis. The two groups were matched for age, gender, race, income and places of residence. In a tiny portion of the cases the researchers actually looked at dental records. But, most often, they asked the study subjects – whose average age was 57 -- to recall their history of dental X-rays going back to childhood.
The increased tumor risk increased in people who reported receiving bitewing exams, which use X-ray film held in place by a tab between the teeth, on a yearly or more frequent basis. There was also a greater risk from the panorex dental exam which uses an x-ray outside the mouth to get an image of all the teeth. Adults who had this type of dental X-ray when they were younger than 10 years had a five times greater risk of developing meningioma.
The well-known pitfall of case control studies is “recall bias.” People with a tumor or any other unwanted health outcome are far more likely to remember that they had X-rays, air pollution or pesticide exposure, cell phone use or anything else that might be suspected of causing the problem.
Dr. Otis W. Brawley, scientific director of the American Cancer Society, told me “the strongest thing you can say about this study is that there is a suggestion of a link between dental X-rays and meningioma.”
In guidelines published in 2006, the American Dental Association declared X-rays should not be used for "detecting disease before clinical examination." If the dentist thinks X-rays are warranted, they should be administrated with "the ALARA Principle (As Low as Reasonably Achievable) to minimize the patient’s exposure," the guidelines say.It is also comforting that the dose for most dental X-rays has dropped hundred of times in recent decades.
"Our study," Claus told me, "refers to exposures in the past rather than exposures that people are receiving in this day and age."
Still, the ALARA principle is wise advice for all medical and dental procedures that submit a patient to radiation. This latest study is yet another reason why.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Dental X-rays could double the risk for the most common brain tumor, according to a study released Tuesday from scientists and doctors at Yale, Harvard and other prestigious institutions published in Cancer, a scientific journal of the American Cancer Society.It sounds frightening -- and there is no question it invokes a serious warning -- but even those who carried out the research urge people not to overreact.
"Our take home message is don’t panic. Don’t stop going to the dentist," said the lead author of the study Dr. Elizabeth Claus, a neurological surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and the Yale School of Public Health.But people "should have a conversation with their dentist" about the need to use X-rays as little as possible to keep teeth healthy, Claus says. That’s a conclusion few would dispute, with or without the new study.The tumor studied is meningioma, a type that is usually not malignant, meaning it can grow but not spread. To be sure, it can cause severe problems in some patients. But people with meningiomas often live long, healthy lives with no treatment, dying of some other cause. Doctors diagnose about 5,000 cases a year in the United States, about three times as often in women as in men.
Significantly, the study is the weakest type of epidemiology, a so-called “case control” study. The researchers interviewed 1,433 people diagnosed with meningioma and compared them with 1,350 people with no such diagnosis. The two groups were matched for age, gender, race, income and places of residence. In a tiny portion of the cases the researchers actually looked at dental records. But, most often, they asked the study subjects – whose average age was 57 -- to recall their history of dental X-rays going back to childhood.
The increased tumor risk increased in people who reported receiving bitewing exams, which use X-ray film held in place by a tab between the teeth, on a yearly or more frequent basis. There was also a greater risk from the panorex dental exam which uses an x-ray outside the mouth to get an image of all the teeth. Adults who had this type of dental X-ray when they were younger than 10 years had a five times greater risk of developing meningioma.
The well-known pitfall of case control studies is “recall bias.” People with a tumor or any other unwanted health outcome are far more likely to remember that they had X-rays, air pollution or pesticide exposure, cell phone use or anything else that might be suspected of causing the problem.
Dr. Otis W. Brawley, scientific director of the American Cancer Society, told me “the strongest thing you can say about this study is that there is a suggestion of a link between dental X-rays and meningioma.”
In guidelines published in 2006, the American Dental Association declared X-rays should not be used for "detecting disease before clinical examination." If the dentist thinks X-rays are warranted, they should be administrated with "the ALARA Principle (As Low as Reasonably Achievable) to minimize the patient’s exposure," the guidelines say.It is also comforting that the dose for most dental X-rays has dropped hundred of times in recent decades.
"Our study," Claus told me, "refers to exposures in the past rather than exposures that people are receiving in this day and age."
Still, the ALARA principle is wise advice for all medical and dental procedures that submit a patient to radiation. This latest study is yet another reason why.
Obama visit will raise FAU's profile beyond South Florida
http://www.orlandosentinel.com
It's a school that often struggles to be noticed outside of South Florida. But on Tuesday, Florida Atlantic University will get an unexpected boost from the nation's top leader.
When President Obama gives a nationally televised speech on tax policy at the FAU Arena at 2:55 p.m., about 50 cheering students dressed in FAU shirts will be behind him. And thousands more will be in the audience.
Not bad for a university that just five years ago was known as a commuter school with little campus life.
"It's a big deal when the president of the United States shows up," said Terry Hartle, vice president of the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities. "Florida Atlantic University will be on the front page of newspapers all over the country Wednesday. It gives them a great deal of visibility that they can tout in their marketing and recruiting of students."
About 100 to 150 media are expected to cover the event, FAU spokeswoman Christine Dardet said.
"We've never had anything like this happen here," said FAU student Jervonte Edmonds, 20. "We have a losing football team, so it's exciting to have something popular here.''
Joanna Mandel, 22, of Pembroke Pines, was also surprised, saying, "You'd think it would be a bigger school like UF."
But Obama's never spoken at the University of Florida or the state's other top public school, Florida State University. It turns out FAU is a more geographically friendly location for the president. He has fundraising events in Palm Beach Gardens before his speech and in Hollywood and Golden Beach afterward.
"We're an obvious choice if you're looking for a wonderful venue for a speech between those two areas," FAU President Mary Jane Saunders said.
Saunders said she would welcome the Republican nominee for president as well, saying it's a great experience for students and employees, regardless of their political leanings. Gov. Mitt Romney was on campus in 2008 when FAU hosted a Republican presidential debate.
Obama visited the University of Miami recently and spoke at Miami Dade College's graduation last year. Lynn University in Boca Raton has been selected to host the final presidential debate in October.
Obama's FAU visit marks the first time a U.S. president has spoken at the university since 1963, whenLyndon B. Johnsongave the speech at the dedication for the new university.
Boris Bastidas, president of FAU's College Democrats, said Obama's visit could help attract more students. He said he became interested in FAU in 2008 shortly after the presidential debate and the football team's first bowl victory.
"All of that opened my eyes to the school, and got me thinking FAU is on the rise," he said. "Maybe this will also open the door to some incoming freshmen who think FAU might be a serious place for them to consider."
Obama's speech is closed to the public, but FAU is randomly selecting about 3,500 students and faculty to attend through a random lottery that drew 7,100 entries.
FAU students will also be featured in prominent volunteer roles. Student government President Ayden Maher will lead the Pledge of Allegiance, while FAU sophomore Rebecca Guillaume will sing the National Anthem.
"I'm a little bit nervous, but I'm going to try to remember I've done this before," said Guillaume, who has sung at school baseball and basketball games. "It's really a blessing to FAU that he's coming."
Most classes will go on as scheduled Tuesday, with the exception for those in the arena, which will be moved, and Lifelong Learning Society classes, which will be rescheduled. Instructors are not required to give students excused absences.
FAU is posting parking and traffic information on its website, fau.edu.
"The only downside is that traffic is going to be a nightmare," Hartle said. "FAU will be able to demonstrate to the public that important things happen at Florida Atlantic University. It's a place where news gets made."
It's a school that often struggles to be noticed outside of South Florida. But on Tuesday, Florida Atlantic University will get an unexpected boost from the nation's top leader.
When President Obama gives a nationally televised speech on tax policy at the FAU Arena at 2:55 p.m., about 50 cheering students dressed in FAU shirts will be behind him. And thousands more will be in the audience.
Not bad for a university that just five years ago was known as a commuter school with little campus life.
"It's a big deal when the president of the United States shows up," said Terry Hartle, vice president of the American Council on Education, which represents colleges and universities. "Florida Atlantic University will be on the front page of newspapers all over the country Wednesday. It gives them a great deal of visibility that they can tout in their marketing and recruiting of students."
About 100 to 150 media are expected to cover the event, FAU spokeswoman Christine Dardet said.
"We've never had anything like this happen here," said FAU student Jervonte Edmonds, 20. "We have a losing football team, so it's exciting to have something popular here.''
Joanna Mandel, 22, of Pembroke Pines, was also surprised, saying, "You'd think it would be a bigger school like UF."
But Obama's never spoken at the University of Florida or the state's other top public school, Florida State University. It turns out FAU is a more geographically friendly location for the president. He has fundraising events in Palm Beach Gardens before his speech and in Hollywood and Golden Beach afterward.
"We're an obvious choice if you're looking for a wonderful venue for a speech between those two areas," FAU President Mary Jane Saunders said.
Saunders said she would welcome the Republican nominee for president as well, saying it's a great experience for students and employees, regardless of their political leanings. Gov. Mitt Romney was on campus in 2008 when FAU hosted a Republican presidential debate.
Obama visited the University of Miami recently and spoke at Miami Dade College's graduation last year. Lynn University in Boca Raton has been selected to host the final presidential debate in October.
Obama's FAU visit marks the first time a U.S. president has spoken at the university since 1963, whenLyndon B. Johnsongave the speech at the dedication for the new university.
Boris Bastidas, president of FAU's College Democrats, said Obama's visit could help attract more students. He said he became interested in FAU in 2008 shortly after the presidential debate and the football team's first bowl victory.
"All of that opened my eyes to the school, and got me thinking FAU is on the rise," he said. "Maybe this will also open the door to some incoming freshmen who think FAU might be a serious place for them to consider."
Obama's speech is closed to the public, but FAU is randomly selecting about 3,500 students and faculty to attend through a random lottery that drew 7,100 entries.
FAU students will also be featured in prominent volunteer roles. Student government President Ayden Maher will lead the Pledge of Allegiance, while FAU sophomore Rebecca Guillaume will sing the National Anthem.
"I'm a little bit nervous, but I'm going to try to remember I've done this before," said Guillaume, who has sung at school baseball and basketball games. "It's really a blessing to FAU that he's coming."
Most classes will go on as scheduled Tuesday, with the exception for those in the arena, which will be moved, and Lifelong Learning Society classes, which will be rescheduled. Instructors are not required to give students excused absences.
FAU is posting parking and traffic information on its website, fau.edu.
"The only downside is that traffic is going to be a nightmare," Hartle said. "FAU will be able to demonstrate to the public that important things happen at Florida Atlantic University. It's a place where news gets made."
New poll has President Obama crushing Mitt Romney in the likability factor
As President Obama headed to Florida Tuesday to push for millionaires to pay more in taxes, a new poll showed him with an edge over Mitt Romney of greater than 2-to-1 when voters considered their personal traits.
But while the Washington Post-ABC News poll found the President to be far superior in terms of personal attributes, it also showed that the campaign’s central issue — the economy — is still very much a cause for concern for Obama.
When pollsters asked participants which of the two “seems like the more friendly and likable person,” Obama came out on top by the surprisingly high margin of 64% to 26%.
When questioned as to whether the Democratic president was more inspiring than his presumed GOP challenger, Obama prevailed 55% to 29%.
The poll of 1,103 people by telephone last week found Obama with a double-digit lead over the former Massachusetts governor in eight categories — including addressing women’s issues (53% to 44%); representing the middle class (49% to 39%); and confronting health care issues (48% to 38%).
The results supported the notion that Romney’s image has been hurt by the bruising GOP primary battle, Rick Santorum’s insurgent campaign and, perhaps most importantly, several of his own verbal slips that have allowed rivals to portray him as a tone-deaf, multi-millionaire who is out of touch with middle- and working-class voters.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, said the poll showed nothing the Romney campaign doesn’t already know.
“There’s something about Romney, I think the combination of wealth and his person, that just combines to make him a curiosity at times,” he said. “There is odd behavior there — when he walks into a room, there’s a reason why people are always talking about him as an automaton.”
In recent weeks, as the Romney campaign has increasingly pivoted toward the general election, it has seemingly gone on a blitz mode to make the buttoned-down former corporate turnaround artist appear more like a regular guy.
They have put more focus on his wife, Ann Romney, and the couple’s sons, all of whom come off as more appealing than the candidate himself.
“They’ve got to find ways to humanize him — bringing out [his\] grandchildren would be another way to do that,” Sabato said. “It’s hard to not be normal when you’re around little kids.”
But the polls findings on economic issues were encouraging for Team Romney.
The issue of job creation had Obama with a slight edge, 46% to 43%. But on the topic of handling the economy in general, Romney had the advantage, 47% to 43%. And perhaps his best number came in his approach to curbing the staggeringly high federal deficit, with Romney enjoying a 12-point cushion, at 51% to 38%.
On the biggest issue, however, the poll found that if the election were held today, Obama would win 51% to 44%.
Sabato, for one, believes the only way that disadvantage will turn in Romney’s favor would be if the economy nosedives — making the GOP challenger’s business cred a better selling point.
“That’s the only way Romney could win, but he’s never going to be better liked,” he said.
Sectarian killing: Hazara community seeks to make protest heard internationally
The Express Tribune
The Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) announced that the Hazara community will hold protest demonstrations outside the embassies of European, Asian countries, America, Australia and United Nations offices against targeted killings.
Chairman HDP Abdul Khaliq Hazara announced during a news conference on Tuesday that the protests will also be registered with International Human Rights Organisation to highlight the rampant targeted killings of the Hazara community in Quetta.
“This decade was really painful for the Hazara community during which hundreds of Hazara tribesmen were killed in incidents of targeted killings and suicide attacks,” he told reporters. Khaliq was accompanied by his party leaders among other activists.
Ironically there has been no progress in investigation nor any culprit brought to justice, Khaliq said adding that inaction on the part of government and its law enforcment agencies affirm the notion that they were patronising the culprits.
“Six labourers were brutally killed on the busy Prince Road on Monday night which shows the lawlessness and utter apathy of the government. I believe no religion allows such inhumane act.
“The Members of Provincial Assembly do not even have time to condemn these killings. The chief minister is running affairs of Balochistan from Islamabad which reflects his sincerity with the suffering people of his province have to bear,” he added.
The HDP announced that they will register their protest with the international community since the provincial and federal governments have failed to curb the unending targeted killings of the Hazara community and had given a free hand to criminals.
The HDP will stage protest demonstrations in front of embassies of Asian, European Countries, America, Australia and United Nations from April 20 to 30. The Hazara community residing abroad will also register their protest with International Human Rights Organisations.
The party also announced to stage a sit-in outside the Governor House and Chief Minister’s Secretariat and convene an All Parties Conference on April 15, inviting all political and nationalist parties to evolve a strategy on a future course of action.
“The province is on the brink of civil war; all the parties and responsible people have to show sincerity, otherwise the ongoing unrest will result in an unexpected crisis or a civil war,” the leaders of the Hazara community warned.
The Hazara Democratic Party (HDP) announced that the Hazara community will hold protest demonstrations outside the embassies of European, Asian countries, America, Australia and United Nations offices against targeted killings.
Chairman HDP Abdul Khaliq Hazara announced during a news conference on Tuesday that the protests will also be registered with International Human Rights Organisation to highlight the rampant targeted killings of the Hazara community in Quetta.
“This decade was really painful for the Hazara community during which hundreds of Hazara tribesmen were killed in incidents of targeted killings and suicide attacks,” he told reporters. Khaliq was accompanied by his party leaders among other activists.
Ironically there has been no progress in investigation nor any culprit brought to justice, Khaliq said adding that inaction on the part of government and its law enforcment agencies affirm the notion that they were patronising the culprits.
“Six labourers were brutally killed on the busy Prince Road on Monday night which shows the lawlessness and utter apathy of the government. I believe no religion allows such inhumane act.
“The Members of Provincial Assembly do not even have time to condemn these killings. The chief minister is running affairs of Balochistan from Islamabad which reflects his sincerity with the suffering people of his province have to bear,” he added.
The HDP announced that they will register their protest with the international community since the provincial and federal governments have failed to curb the unending targeted killings of the Hazara community and had given a free hand to criminals.
The HDP will stage protest demonstrations in front of embassies of Asian, European Countries, America, Australia and United Nations from April 20 to 30. The Hazara community residing abroad will also register their protest with International Human Rights Organisations.
The party also announced to stage a sit-in outside the Governor House and Chief Minister’s Secretariat and convene an All Parties Conference on April 15, inviting all political and nationalist parties to evolve a strategy on a future course of action.
“The province is on the brink of civil war; all the parties and responsible people have to show sincerity, otherwise the ongoing unrest will result in an unexpected crisis or a civil war,” the leaders of the Hazara community warned.
Pakistanis stage protest against Balochistan Shia killing
Pakistani people have staged massive street protests against the killing of Shia Muslims in the southwestern province of Balochistan, Press TV reports.
On Monday, gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire on a shoe store killing six Shia Muslims and injuring three others in the Hazara region of the provincial capital of Quetta.
Hundreds of people took to the streets across the province on Tuesday, shouting against the government for allowing the attackers to escape with impunity.
They also held the local administration responsible for backing the culprits who are engaged in killing Shias in the region.
Meanwhile, shops, markets and other educational institutions were closed in response to a call for a general strike in Balochistan over the killings.
Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Aslam Raisani sacked six police officials for dereliction of duty and 17suspects were arrested in connection with the incident.
No group or individual has claimed responsibility for the Monday's attack in the region rife with attacks by extremist groups against Shias.
Shia Muslims have experienced a hike in attacks by pro-Taliban militant groups in various parts of Pakistan over the past years. Local sources say more than 2,000 Shia Muslims have been killed in the northwestern Kurram region close to the Afghan border since 2007.
Bahraini prisoner in very critical condition: Danish PM
A jailed activist who has been on hunger strike in a Bahrain prison for the last two months is now in a very critical condition, Denmark's prime minister said Tuesday.
Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, a Shiite with dual Danish and Bahraini nationality, was sentenced with other opposition activists to life in jail over an alleged plot to topple the Sunni monarchy during a month-long protest a year ago.
"Denmark demands thay Danish-Bahraini citizen and human rights activist Khawaja be freed," said Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt at a press conference.
"According to our information, Khawaja's condition is very critical," she added.
Kwawaja's lawyer Mohammed al-Jeshi told AFP on Monday that Khawaja was feared to have died, after Bahraini authorities turned down repeated requests to contact him.
The last time he contacted Khawaja was on Saturday, a day after he was moved from the interior ministry hospital into a military hospital in Manama, he said.
Reacting to his statement, Bahrain's interior ministry said later Monday that Khawaja was in "good health".
A Danish foreign ministry spokesman said Khawaja was alive on Monday according to "credible independent sources" who saw him that day.
Danish ambassador to Bahrain Christian Koenigsfeldt was not allowed to see the prisoner on Sunday or Monday, as he has done daily, the spokesman told AFP.
Denmark has asked Bahrain to send Khawaja to the Scandinavian country but Bahrain's official news agency BNA reported on Sunday that Manama has rejected the request.
Saudi activists fight through their fear
As the population is left simmering after the 'Arab Spring,' those challenging the kingdom wonder whether it will suppress them or let the phenomenon grow.
Mohammad Fahad Al-Qahtani is a busy man with a dangerous passion.
A human rights activist and relentless writer of letters and legal briefs, he challenges a kingdom that demands unquestioned authority. He slips videos onto the Internet and fires off missives to King Abdullah, calling for the freeing of political prisoners and the arrest of the king's half brother and heir apparent.
He smiles at such audaciousness at a time when Saudi authorities are trying to contain calls for change encouraged by Arab rebellions, but turns somber when pondering the consequences. Hours earlier, Al-Qahtani was interrogated by security forces, clicking off his cellphone beforehand and handing his car keys to his lawyer in case he was imprisoned.
When the questioning was over, he drove across a city where religious police ensure that women are hidden by veils and the foreboding monolith of the Interior Ministry rises at the desert's edge.
"They don't like this and they keep coming after us," said Al-Qahtani, with the air of a man accustomed to surveillance. "I'm afraid they'll raid my home. The regime is very nervous. Since the 'Arab Spring,' the population is no longer passive. So what can the ruling family do? Suppress us or let the phenomenon grow?"
Even in a kingdom where police often materialize before a protest placard can be raised or a cry of dissent can be shouted, the uprisings across the region have inspired rumblings of discontent. Minority Shiite Muslims have taken to the streets and thousands of female university students have demonstrated against poor services and discrimination. Disillusioned and angry over lack of opportunities, Saudis have posted gripes in the social media about corruption and civil rights abuses.
Much of the dissatisfaction emanates from a ballooning young population irate because a country with vast oil wealth can't provide livelihoods and affordable apartments. More than 25% of Saudis in their 20s are unemployed. Rising discontent over public corruption and ineptitude prompted the government last year to promise a $130-billion program to build affordable housing, create jobs and fund religious institutions.
"They can't buy their way out anymore and they're not willing to compromise," said Al-Qahtani, an economics professor and president of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Assn. "The problem is an aging leadership and a second generation that's really corrupt. The near future of this country is gloomy."
Saudi Arabia "is redoubling its efforts to punish those who dare to demand democracy and human rights reform," Human Rights Watch charges. The group said in its 2012 World Report that the kingdom has used "unflinching repression," including travel bans, arbitrary arrests and torture, to silence critics.
The Sunni Muslim royal family claims strict security is necessary to counter Al Qaeda and prevent Iran from instigating sectarian trouble. King Abdullah sent Saudi troops into neighboring Bahrain last year to help crush Shiite protests against that country's Sunni monarchy. Riyadh said Shiite-dominated Iran stirred those demonstrations and is plotting to ignite sectarian tensions near Saudi Arabia's eastern oil fields.
The king remains popular even as his attempts at reforms have been limited by a fundamentalist Wahhabi Islam that makes free expression dangerous. One writer may face the death penalty for tweeting an imagined conversation with the prophet Muhammad: "I will not bow to you. I won't kiss your hands."
Gradual steps toward wider freedoms, including the appointment of moderates to some government ministries, have done little to appease civil rights advocates. They predict increased hostility toward reform when the king, who is in his 80s, dies. He is expected to be replaced by his half brother Prince Nayif ibn Abdulaziz, an ally of hard-line clerics and head of the Interior Ministry and its security networks that swiftly suppress protests, arrest accused witches and anyone deviating from the harsh interpretations of the Koran.
Saudi women are increasingly restive; they are not allowed to drive and must have the permission of a male guardian to travel abroad. Loosening the driving ban has gained wider support, including from members of the royal family, but, like many things in the kingdom, it is enforced by religious clerics and police.
"Prison, lashings and Interior Ministry phone threats ... drove the women driving movement underground again," said the Saudiwoman's blog in February. "If you are a Saudi woman reading this, I urge you to join the Right to Dignity initiative."
The post states that women have other options, such as calling the traffic police, if joining the initiative "sounds too intimidating."
Intimidation secures the kingdom's equilibrium. In a recent interview, a newspaper editor complained about the regime's reach and power; the following day his office called to ask that his name not be mentioned for fear of reprisal.
Al-Qahtani has no such reservations. A former talk show host, he believes, on his good days, that a high profile offers a degree of protection.
"I tell the interrogators: 'I want you to send me to prison. I want to see what's happening inside,' " he said, adding that such publicity could increase international pressure. "If I went to jail it would raise awareness. The authorities don't want to do that. It might be too costly for them. Yet they have to do something. I really think they want to understand me. I have another interrogation tomorrow."
Unease over the kingdom's stability has seeped into the mechanism of power itself. Al-Qahtani's organization has taken on the case of army Capt. Ghazi Al-Harbi, who was released recently after spending seven years in prison on allegations by the Interior Ministry that he belonged to a cadre of officers plotting a mutiny.
Al-Harbi, who said he was targeted to offer up other names in a wider purge, sat recently in a reception hall on the outskirts of Riyadh celebrating his new freedom with family and clansmen. The men-only crowd ate dates, sipped tea and listened to verse read by a tribal poet.
"I had no access to the evidence against me. I was in jail five years before I saw a judge," he said. "They tied my hands behind my back and hanged me on a wall with my feet dangling. They beat me. They accused me loudly of being anti-Muslim and then they put me on a wing with Islamist extremists to incite them to kill me."
He added: "They wanted me to confess but I did nothing wrong. What they did to me will remain for the rest of my life. I trust no one now. When I went to jail, my daughter was 2. She's 9 now. My colleagues were all promoted to higher rank, but my career is ruined."
Al-Qahtani listened and whispered: "What a crazy country.... What a broken system."
Al-Harbi's case, like those of political prisoners, activists and students are cataloged by Al-Qahtani's civil rights organization, filed with Saudi courts and sent to the United Nations and international human rights groups. Occasionally, Al-Qahtani, who has degrees from U.S. universities, and members of his group stage hunger strikes and post Internet videos.
"The ultimate goal of the royal family is stability," he said. "But the dynamic is picking up. Who would have ever imagined protests by female university students? There is no sense of engagement by the regime. For them, it's either you have it all or you lose it all. They're afraid."
Al-Qahtani, who has four children, added: "I'm pushing for democracy in my country. I spend a lot of time with my children just in case [I go to jail]. I don't want to feel guilty. I tell them what I'm doing is the right thing to do and if it means prison, then that's the right cost. I think they understand."
Saudi Woman to Receive 50 Lashes for Swearing in Text Message
A Saudi court sentenced a local woman to 50 lashes for swearing at her friend, following an argument, a newspaper reported on Monday.
The two Saudi women, aged 33 and 31 years, had decided to go out with their children for a weekend night but differed on where to go.
“An argument ensued and the two women decided to split … one of them later sent a text to her friend’s mobile phone swearing at her,” the Arabic language quotidian Kabar reported.
“The other woman went to court and showed the judge the message … although that woman said she was joking, the court ordered her lashed 50 times.”
Kabar said the court has given the convicted and sentenced woman the right to appeal.
Afghan Carpet Exports Decrease 95% in Five Years
tolonews.com
Transit problems with Pakistan and a lack of cooperation from the Afghan government have been key reasons for a 95 percent drop in exports of Afghan carpet
in the last five years, an Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) official said Tuesday.
ACCI Vice-Chairman Khanjan Alokozay said the lack of Afghanistan's processing facilities to efficiently produce carpets from the raw material had also contributed to the decrease.
He claimed that Pakistan was creating transit problems for Afghan carpet traders in an attempt to force them to produce the carpets inside Pakistan.
"Unfortunately, we don't have the necessary facilities inside the country and our neighbors are creating transit issues," Alokozay told TOLOnews. "The traders have no choice but to produce the carpets in Pakistan and export under Pakistan's name."
He warned of a complete destruction of the carpet industry if the problems were not seriously addressed.
Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MoCI) spokesman, Wahidullah Ghazi Khil, said he was unaware of any transit issues in this regard.
"If Pakistan, Iran, Russia or India are creating transit issues to the Afghan carpet traders, they [the traders] should contact us," Ghazi Khil said. "It is the duty of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries to solve such issues."
The ACCI has made three primary demands for the government to help the industry: establish a carpet industrial production park, subsidise business loans to carpet producers, and exempt carpet raw material from custom duties.
The MoCI says on its website that it is developing a marketing strategy to pitch Afghan carpets to overseas markets and will seek a premium for their "unique" character.
The carpet sector is of "strategic importance for the future development of the Afghan economy", it says, accounting for 47 % of the country´s export earnings in 2002/2003.
Transit problems with Pakistan and a lack of cooperation from the Afghan government have been key reasons for a 95 percent drop in exports of Afghan carpet
in the last five years, an Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries (ACCI) official said Tuesday.
ACCI Vice-Chairman Khanjan Alokozay said the lack of Afghanistan's processing facilities to efficiently produce carpets from the raw material had also contributed to the decrease.
He claimed that Pakistan was creating transit problems for Afghan carpet traders in an attempt to force them to produce the carpets inside Pakistan.
"Unfortunately, we don't have the necessary facilities inside the country and our neighbors are creating transit issues," Alokozay told TOLOnews. "The traders have no choice but to produce the carpets in Pakistan and export under Pakistan's name."
He warned of a complete destruction of the carpet industry if the problems were not seriously addressed.
Ministry of Commerce and Industries (MoCI) spokesman, Wahidullah Ghazi Khil, said he was unaware of any transit issues in this regard.
"If Pakistan, Iran, Russia or India are creating transit issues to the Afghan carpet traders, they [the traders] should contact us," Ghazi Khil said. "It is the duty of the Ministry of Commerce and Industries to solve such issues."
The ACCI has made three primary demands for the government to help the industry: establish a carpet industrial production park, subsidise business loans to carpet producers, and exempt carpet raw material from custom duties.
The MoCI says on its website that it is developing a marketing strategy to pitch Afghan carpets to overseas markets and will seek a premium for their "unique" character.
The carpet sector is of "strategic importance for the future development of the Afghan economy", it says, accounting for 47 % of the country´s export earnings in 2002/2003.
The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons Protest Demands Monthly Hearings of Missing Persons’ Case
The Baloch Hal News
The Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP)
on Monday staged a protest demonstration outside the Quetta Press Club (QPC) demanding safe release of all the missing persons.
They also appealed to the Chief Justice of Pakistan to hold monthly hearings on the issue of missing persons in Quetta.
Women and children participated in the demonstration and chanted slogans against government for their failure to trace the missing persons.
Addressing the demonstration, sister of missing Shabir Somalani and daughter of Dr. Din Muhammad Baloch said, as many as 410 mutilated bodies of missing persons have so far been found in desolate places of Balochistan during the past one and half year while thousands were listed missing.
They said that they observed hunger strike camps outside the Karachi and Islamabad press clubs with the hope to draw the attention of concerned authorities and humanitarian organisations. However, their missing beloveds were yet to be released. “The government and judiciary should take notice of this serious humanitarian issue,” they demanded.
However, they welcomed the recovery of five missing persons, saying relatives of more than 1300 missing persons were ready to appear before the court and record their statements.
They strongly rejected the statement of Interior Minister Rehman Malik that the missing persons were living in Afghanistan and Dubai. “The recovery of five missing persons by Supreme Court is the prove that government and its functionaries are lying,” they said, and adding that the missing persons were in the custody of government agencies and they could be released if pressure were exerted on them.
They demanded of the humanitarian organizations to play their hectic role in recovering the missing persons before it was too late and their bodies were thrown away.
Shahbaz’s laptops are useless without ‘free internet’
The federal government, to match the Punjab government’s laptop distribution campaign, has decided to provide free internet connections to all the universities and colleges of the province.
Sources said that during high level meeting at Governor House, Lahore and chaired by President Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) provincial leaders complained of least employment to party activists and also apprised the president of the increasing credibility of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz among the youth due to laptop distribution among the students.
The president taking the notice of complaints suggested provision of free internet facility in universities and colleges of Punjab which was highly appreciated the party leaders.
The PPP leaders said that providing internet facility to universities and colleges would not only help the students to get benefit of modern technology, information and research but would also bring PPP credibility at par with the N-League among the youth which was noticed inclining towards the Punjab government for its laptop distribution campaign.
Leader of the opposition in Punjab Assembly, Raja Riaz, when approached in this regard, said that Wifi connections would be provided in universities and colleges so that students who possess laptops would also enjoy internet facility.
He said that the federal government was considering establishing computer labs in universities and colleges in second phase.
Ayesha Ahad moves court against Hamza Shahbaz
Ayesha Ahad Malik, daughter of former Punjab MPA Malik Ahad, on Tuesday filed an application against eight persons, including Hamza Shahbaz, son of Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, in a session court over her alleged torture and death threats.
Aftab Bajwa, lawyer of Ayesha Ahad, filed the application in the session court Lahore.
In the application, it was stated that Hamza Shahbaz, Imran, and six other accused entered into the house of Ayesha Ahad and tortured her besides gave her death threats. The application pleaded to the court to issue orders to the police to register case against the accused. The court issued orders to the concerned police and sought reply till April 18.
Punjab Textbook fiasco
AS the Punjab government distributes some 125,000 commissioned laptops among qualified students, and another 300,000 are said to be in the pipelines, students in the province face a shortage of textbooks, the provision of which has reportedly hit many snags. While the government is at pains to explain that the laptops’ distribution is a trans-parent affair, no such explanation is offered regarding the commissioning, printing and distribution of the more basic provision of textbooks. The result is that hundreds of thousands of students fear having to go through the academic year without the prescribed books. The Punjab Textbook Board reportedly awarded the printing contracts to a number of publishers in a deal that many allege is questionable citing the lack of capacity of the publishers concerned. Also, there reportedly is confusion as to the currency of the syllabi at various levels over which the chief minister is said to have fired the head of the textbook board; however, the real concern, the non-availability of textbooks, seems to have not got the attention it deserves.
The fiasco leads one to question the priorities of the Punjab government. What should come first, it must be asked, the provision of textbooks or the laptops? It is true that computer literacy centres have been set up in a large number of public schools across Punjab, but the drive to further IT education should not come at the cost of neglecting the provision of basic education of which textbooks are an indispensable tool. The shortage of books in the market has thrown open a number of questions. For instance, a report in this newspaper on Monday expressed pessimism about the ability and the intention of private-sector publishers given the contracts to print the books. The deal does not seem to be very transparent as many publishers are said to be reluctant to print the number of copies assigned to them in order to bag more profit. Consequently, the shortage remains at many levels. While this calls for an investigation into the said deal, urgent efforts must be made to make the prescribed books available to students.
ANP lost 750 workers, leaders in fight against terror
THE NEWS
The Awami National Party (ANP) has lost more than 750 leaders and workers in its fight against militancy over the last four years, a spokesman for the nationalist party said on Sunday.
Talking to The News, Malik Mustafa said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would always remember the struggle and sacrifices of his party for peace. “They would vote for the ANP candidates in the next general election to take the struggle to its logical conclusion,” he said.
He said the ANP struggled relentlessly to protect Pakistan’s sovereignty and counter militancy. He said militants would have swarmed the whole country and destabilised it if the ANP had not offered sacrifices,” Malik Mustafa added.
He criticised the religio-political parties for not speaking out against militancy. “The religious parties have never condemned those attacking mosques, schools, funerals and military installations. They also have dual standards as during the MMA’s five-year rule they never opposed the supplies destined for the Afghanistan-based Nato forces,” he argued.
“The people should think whether they would vote for those supporting militancy or the ANP that stand like a rock against the militants,” he stated.
Enumerating the achievements of the ANP-led government, Malik Mustafa listed restoration of peace in Swat and the rest of the province as its biggest achievement of the ANP. “Renaming the province, winning provincial autonomy under the 18th Amendment and getting the net hydel profits were some other ANP achievements,” he added.
The Awami National Party (ANP) has lost more than 750 leaders and workers in its fight against militancy over the last four years, a spokesman for the nationalist party said on Sunday.
Talking to The News, Malik Mustafa said the people of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa would always remember the struggle and sacrifices of his party for peace. “They would vote for the ANP candidates in the next general election to take the struggle to its logical conclusion,” he said.
He said the ANP struggled relentlessly to protect Pakistan’s sovereignty and counter militancy. He said militants would have swarmed the whole country and destabilised it if the ANP had not offered sacrifices,” Malik Mustafa added.
He criticised the religio-political parties for not speaking out against militancy. “The religious parties have never condemned those attacking mosques, schools, funerals and military installations. They also have dual standards as during the MMA’s five-year rule they never opposed the supplies destined for the Afghanistan-based Nato forces,” he argued.
“The people should think whether they would vote for those supporting militancy or the ANP that stand like a rock against the militants,” he stated.
Enumerating the achievements of the ANP-led government, Malik Mustafa listed restoration of peace in Swat and the rest of the province as its biggest achievement of the ANP. “Renaming the province, winning provincial autonomy under the 18th Amendment and getting the net hydel profits were some other ANP achievements,” he added.
Should we put Pakistan at stake for Hafiz Saeed?
DAILY TIMES
BY:Fayyazi Sarwari
Saeed led the funeral prayers for Osama bin Laden. He cried while he read the prayers for the world’s most wanted terrorist and called him a “martyr” and a “fellow Muslim brother”
There are many fellow travellers I am not proud of sharing my green Pakistani passport with but I am particularly not proud of sharing this passport with Hafiz Saeed. His organisation is a declared terrorist outfit by the United Nations Security Council. He is a source of embarrassment to every Pakistani who wants to see Pakistan’s economy thrive and who prays for reclamation by this country of its rightful place in the international community. Who would want to do business with a country where a renowned hatemonger is given state shelter?
Even more disturbing is that the Pakistan government does not agree with the charge and continues to support and protect Saeed’s movements in the country, where he holds rallies under the Difa-e-Pakistan Council umbrella and preaches hatred for fellow Pakistanis who disagree with his totalitarian vision of a theocracy.
Born in 1950, Saeed is the head of the Jama’at-ud-Da’wah (JuD), a charity organisation that is considered a front for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), which is as stated above a banned outfit. The bounty politics and the diplomatic maneouvring by the Indian lobby in the US are of no consequence to me as a Pakistani. Here is what I know: time and again, the LeT and JuD have taken to the streets. In response to the caricature controversy in Denmark, this organisation systematically burnt down a great part of the Mall Road, Lahore. Last month, the JuD is said to have spearheaded a movement to ban the right to worship of a peaceful community in Rawalpindi. Is there no accountability for acts of terror aimed at citizens of this country let alone violence aimed at other nations?
Saeed’s hate speeches at mass rallies, which have gained prominence, include inciting violence against the “enemies of Pakistan”, even though on a television show on Geo TV, he has denied that he supports terrorism. His popularity has grown since the US announced a bounty of $ 10 million on his head. He is being hailed as a defiant hero instead of being held accountable for what he did.
The bounty was a long time coming. The statements against Saeed had been mounting. Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and adviser to Barack Obama on Afghanistan and Pakistan in an interview to the Daily Telegraph said that the evidence showed that Osama bin Laden played a key role in planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people died, including four Americans. There is also proof that both Hafiz Saeed and Osama bin Laden communicated through a courier until bin Laden died.
Saeed does not shy away from this association. It was he who led the funeral prayers for Osama bin Laden after the Americans eliminated him in a strike in Abbottabad on May 4, 2011, to the embarrassment of the ISI. He cried while he read the prayers for the world’s most wanted terrorist and called him a “martyr” and a “fellow Muslim brother”.
Meanwhile Saeed mocks the bounty, clearly emboldened by the Pakistan government’s appeasement of the ISI that supports him. “I am here, I am visible. America should give that reward money to me,” he added, “I will be in Lahore tomorrow. America can contact me whenever it wants to.”
The problem is not just that Saeed continues to spread ideology advocating terrorism despite the bounty, but that the government thinks he is important enough to take a stand for, against both the US and India. This is the same government that backed off after the murder of Salmaan Taseer, and rather than crack down on the Blasphemy law, it let flowers be garlanded on the murderer. This constant soft peddling runs the risk of Pakistan being perceived as a nation that has no capacity to act on its own. In this case, it may again be shamed if the US undertakes a unilateral strike against Saeed as it did for Osama.
The phrase ‘due process’ has been thrown around quite a bit. This is quite ironic. Our courts, which have repeatedly trampled on due process rights of its citizens, are willing to use this principle to defend someone who openly advocates violence and terrorism. Our selective application of legal principles has a Machiavellian tone to it. This country, which has hauled up dissidents and patriots alike for far lesser a slight, is incapable of jailing Saeed because of due process. The whole idea is a joke.
By deliberately sending the world a message that someone so clearly connected to violence in a very direct and deliberate manner, running a group on the fringe, has more freedom in this country than a normal citizen is not very dignified.
We do not need Hafiz Saeed with his dubious background to be the one to champion the cause of the rights of the Kashmiris, or the drone attacks — we have our politicians for that. By not sending a ‘we are on the same page’ message to the US on this one, the government is fueling the right wing sentiments in Pakistan that view Saeed as a religious scholar and not a terrorist. The state radio refers to him as “Professor Hafiz Saeed”.
We also threaten the gradual progress, especially on trade, made with India, when we fail to carry out a joint investigation into the allegations against Saeed. His recent vitriolic remarks against India came at a time when President Zardari was due to visit India for a personal trip. This visit would help in thawing the diplomatic channels given that the Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, is travelling with him and that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to hold a lunch in the visiting delegation’s honour.
The bounty on Saeed’s head is a direct result of Pakistan’s inaction; it can now either enter wholeheartedly into a world of international isolation and defy cooperation on this issue, or act like a responsible country and work effectively to put Saeed behind bars.
The types of Hafiz Saeed are not good for Pakistan’s image, for its economy and consequently for the poor people of this country. How long are you going to feed them a diet of misplaced zeal, misguided sense of honour and a sheer misreading of the events of our time? Tell them the truth. Let them figure out if they really want the dystopia that people like Hafiz Saeed want it to be or whether they stand for something different. My bet is on the latter.
The writer is a technology and media professional and a freelance writer based in Lahore. She can be reached at aisha.f.sarwari@gmail.com
BY:Fayyazi Sarwari
Saeed led the funeral prayers for Osama bin Laden. He cried while he read the prayers for the world’s most wanted terrorist and called him a “martyr” and a “fellow Muslim brother”
There are many fellow travellers I am not proud of sharing my green Pakistani passport with but I am particularly not proud of sharing this passport with Hafiz Saeed. His organisation is a declared terrorist outfit by the United Nations Security Council. He is a source of embarrassment to every Pakistani who wants to see Pakistan’s economy thrive and who prays for reclamation by this country of its rightful place in the international community. Who would want to do business with a country where a renowned hatemonger is given state shelter?
Even more disturbing is that the Pakistan government does not agree with the charge and continues to support and protect Saeed’s movements in the country, where he holds rallies under the Difa-e-Pakistan Council umbrella and preaches hatred for fellow Pakistanis who disagree with his totalitarian vision of a theocracy.
Born in 1950, Saeed is the head of the Jama’at-ud-Da’wah (JuD), a charity organisation that is considered a front for Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT), which is as stated above a banned outfit. The bounty politics and the diplomatic maneouvring by the Indian lobby in the US are of no consequence to me as a Pakistani. Here is what I know: time and again, the LeT and JuD have taken to the streets. In response to the caricature controversy in Denmark, this organisation systematically burnt down a great part of the Mall Road, Lahore. Last month, the JuD is said to have spearheaded a movement to ban the right to worship of a peaceful community in Rawalpindi. Is there no accountability for acts of terror aimed at citizens of this country let alone violence aimed at other nations?
Saeed’s hate speeches at mass rallies, which have gained prominence, include inciting violence against the “enemies of Pakistan”, even though on a television show on Geo TV, he has denied that he supports terrorism. His popularity has grown since the US announced a bounty of $ 10 million on his head. He is being hailed as a defiant hero instead of being held accountable for what he did.
The bounty was a long time coming. The statements against Saeed had been mounting. Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst and adviser to Barack Obama on Afghanistan and Pakistan in an interview to the Daily Telegraph said that the evidence showed that Osama bin Laden played a key role in planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks in which 166 people died, including four Americans. There is also proof that both Hafiz Saeed and Osama bin Laden communicated through a courier until bin Laden died.
Saeed does not shy away from this association. It was he who led the funeral prayers for Osama bin Laden after the Americans eliminated him in a strike in Abbottabad on May 4, 2011, to the embarrassment of the ISI. He cried while he read the prayers for the world’s most wanted terrorist and called him a “martyr” and a “fellow Muslim brother”.
Meanwhile Saeed mocks the bounty, clearly emboldened by the Pakistan government’s appeasement of the ISI that supports him. “I am here, I am visible. America should give that reward money to me,” he added, “I will be in Lahore tomorrow. America can contact me whenever it wants to.”
The problem is not just that Saeed continues to spread ideology advocating terrorism despite the bounty, but that the government thinks he is important enough to take a stand for, against both the US and India. This is the same government that backed off after the murder of Salmaan Taseer, and rather than crack down on the Blasphemy law, it let flowers be garlanded on the murderer. This constant soft peddling runs the risk of Pakistan being perceived as a nation that has no capacity to act on its own. In this case, it may again be shamed if the US undertakes a unilateral strike against Saeed as it did for Osama.
The phrase ‘due process’ has been thrown around quite a bit. This is quite ironic. Our courts, which have repeatedly trampled on due process rights of its citizens, are willing to use this principle to defend someone who openly advocates violence and terrorism. Our selective application of legal principles has a Machiavellian tone to it. This country, which has hauled up dissidents and patriots alike for far lesser a slight, is incapable of jailing Saeed because of due process. The whole idea is a joke.
By deliberately sending the world a message that someone so clearly connected to violence in a very direct and deliberate manner, running a group on the fringe, has more freedom in this country than a normal citizen is not very dignified.
We do not need Hafiz Saeed with his dubious background to be the one to champion the cause of the rights of the Kashmiris, or the drone attacks — we have our politicians for that. By not sending a ‘we are on the same page’ message to the US on this one, the government is fueling the right wing sentiments in Pakistan that view Saeed as a religious scholar and not a terrorist. The state radio refers to him as “Professor Hafiz Saeed”.
We also threaten the gradual progress, especially on trade, made with India, when we fail to carry out a joint investigation into the allegations against Saeed. His recent vitriolic remarks against India came at a time when President Zardari was due to visit India for a personal trip. This visit would help in thawing the diplomatic channels given that the Interior Minister, Rehman Malik, is travelling with him and that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to hold a lunch in the visiting delegation’s honour.
The bounty on Saeed’s head is a direct result of Pakistan’s inaction; it can now either enter wholeheartedly into a world of international isolation and defy cooperation on this issue, or act like a responsible country and work effectively to put Saeed behind bars.
The types of Hafiz Saeed are not good for Pakistan’s image, for its economy and consequently for the poor people of this country. How long are you going to feed them a diet of misplaced zeal, misguided sense of honour and a sheer misreading of the events of our time? Tell them the truth. Let them figure out if they really want the dystopia that people like Hafiz Saeed want it to be or whether they stand for something different. My bet is on the latter.
The writer is a technology and media professional and a freelance writer based in Lahore. She can be reached at aisha.f.sarwari@gmail.com
Monday, April 9, 2012
Obama puts taxes at center of campaign fight
With his Republican opponent now almost certain to be Mitt Romney, a multi-millionaire, President Barack Obama
is trying to put fairer taxes at the center of his re-election campaign, but a new poll suggests the message may fall flat in swing states.
Obama will talk about taxes in Florida on Tuesday when he delivers a speech in support of the "Buffett Rule," a measure to insure a 30 percent tax on income over $1 million earned by wealthy Americans.
Vice President Joe Biden will travel to the battleground state of New Hampshire on Thursday also to discuss taxes. The Obama campaign sees the issue as a weak point for Romney, a former private equity executive and ex-governor of Massachusetts.
"Middle class families are taking it on the chin right now and they don't see others doing their fair share," Wisconsin Democratic congresswoman Tammy Baldwin said in a conference call set up by the Obama campaign.
But Obama's push on tax fairness may be falling on deaf ears in the swing states where the November 6 election will likely be decided.
In 12 battleground states, 80 percent of independent voters lacking strong views on either Obama or Romney said they prefer a candidate who focuses on creating economic opportunity rather than reducing income inequality, according to a poll by the moderate Democratic group Third Way released on Monday.
All the same, Obama leads probable Republican presidential candidate Romney by 35 percent to 29 percent among the same group of "swing independents" in the poll.
Obama's renewed focus on tax rates comes as the White House stares down foreboding economic news elsewhere.
High gasoline prices hovering near $4 a gallon are set to remain a hurdle to re-election for Obama and hiring slowed in March, though the unemployment rate dipped to 8.2 percent from 8.3 percent.
"President Obama and his team are desperate to avoid talking about last Friday's incredibly weak jobs report, which is why they create sideshows to distract people from what really matters," said Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for Romney.
"Apparently, the only job the White House is interested in saving belongs to Obama. Everyone else will have to continue to suffer. Mitt Romney is running for president to put America back to work," she added.
"BUFFETT RULE" IN CONGRESS
Democrats in Congress are working with the White House to call attention to low tax rates paid by wealthy Americans.
On April 16, the Senate will take up the "Buffett Rule" although it is unlikely to be approved as Democrats lack the 60 votes needed to bring the issue to a full vote.
The proposal is named after billionaire investor and Obama supporter Warren Buffett who has said it is unfair that he pays a lower effective tax rate than many ordinary Americans, including his secretary.
So central is Buffett's case to the White House's tax message that his secretary Debbie Bosanek sat alongside first lady Michelle Obama during the State of the Union speech in January to make the point that secretaries can pay a higher tax rate than their rich bosses, who often earn most of their money from investments rather than a paycheck.
Obama's proposed change in tax policy would raise $47 billion in revenue over the next decade, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, a congressional score keeper.
As well as increasing revenue and possibly appealing to middle-class voters, the Obama campaign's focus on taxes has the added benefit of taking direct aim at Romney
In January, Romney came under criticism, even from within the Republican Party, for paying a low tax rate. He later released his tax returns from 2010 and 2011, showing that he paid an effective tax rate of 14.5 percent during the two-year period.
Romney earns most of his income from investment profits, dividends and interest.
The Romney campaign team says it is happy to discuss taxes and their candidate's plans to lower rates across the board.
Republicans accuse Obama of trying to start class warfare by targeting the rich.
"This is kind of like spring training," said one Republican operative familiar with the Romney campaign. "The Democrats are trying out different lines on taxes. If they want to argue over whether we want to lower taxes or not, that is fine with the Romney folks."
The Obama campaign has called for Romney to release the last 23 years of his tax returns — the number Obama's team says Romney provided to former presidential candidate John McCain in 2008 when he was being considered as a running mate.
Last week, Romney adviser Eric Fehrnstrom told MSNBC that Romney's financial disclosures were "sufficient." During the 2008 campaign, then-Senator Obama released his own tax returns dating back to 2000.
Obama campaign chief slams Romney ‘hypocrisy' on Harvard, out-of-touch attacks
http://abcnews.go.com
With the presidential campaign in full "I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I" swing, President Barack Obama's re-election campaign manager Jim Messina on Monday accused Mitt Romney of "hypocrisy" for his attacks on the president as a member of a coddled, out-of-touch, Harvard-educated elite.
"I would brand it simply hypocrisy," Messina told reporters on a conference call. "Romney is also a Harvard graduate."
And Messina mocked Romney's attack as "a little difficult when he's shopping for car elevators" -- a knock on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's plans to include one in a beachfront California home.
The Obama strategist's comments came on a call designed to promote legislation to implement the "Buffett Rule," a measure inspired by billionaire investor Warren Buffett's claim that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. The proposal, crafted by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, aims to ensure that Americans making $1 million per year or more pay at least 30 percent of that income in taxes. The Senate will vote on the measure April 16 -- and it is expected to fail.
But that won't necessarily dull its edge as a political weapon to embarrass Romney, who has made a series of verbal campaign-trail gaffes seen as reinforcing the notion that his vast wealth has left him out of touch with average Americans. Romney, who opposes the legislation, is "the beneficiary of a broken tax system and he wants to keep it that way," said Messina. "Why should Mitt Romney pay a lower tax rate than average Americans?"The former Massachusetts governor and multimillionaire investor recently released his 2010 and 2011 tax returns, which show he paid an effective tax rate of roughly 14 percent on income of more than $40 million.
"That's what this Buffett Rule fight is about," Messina said on the conference call.
With Obama set to make the case for the Buffett Rule at an event in Florida on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jay Carney disputed the notion that the president was targeting Romney, saying he supported the proposed tax change "long before it was evident who might emerge as the nominee for the other party."
"I think that we hope it will pass. I think that every senator who votes on it will have to examine for himself or herself whether or not they want to vote for a bill that says millionaires and billionaires should not pay taxes on their income at a lower rate than middle-class Americans, or vote against it. And they will have to explain to their constituents why they don't agree with that principle," said Carney. "That's what votes do -- they put senators on record."
Romney campaign communications director Gail Gitcho hit back at the White House, calling Obama "the first president in history to openly campaign for re-election on a platform of higher taxes."
"He has already raised taxes on millions of Americans, but he won't stop there. He wants to raise taxes on millions more by taxing small businesses and job creators. We appreciate the Obama campaign reinforcing Mitt Romney's platform of lowering tax rates across the board in order to jumpstart this bad Obama economy," she said in a statement.
With the presidential campaign in full "I-know-you-are-but-what-am-I" swing, President Barack Obama's re-election campaign manager Jim Messina on Monday accused Mitt Romney of "hypocrisy" for his attacks on the president as a member of a coddled, out-of-touch, Harvard-educated elite.
"I would brand it simply hypocrisy," Messina told reporters on a conference call. "Romney is also a Harvard graduate."
And Messina mocked Romney's attack as "a little difficult when he's shopping for car elevators" -- a knock on the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's plans to include one in a beachfront California home.
The Obama strategist's comments came on a call designed to promote legislation to implement the "Buffett Rule," a measure inspired by billionaire investor Warren Buffett's claim that he pays a lower effective tax rate than his secretary. The proposal, crafted by Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, aims to ensure that Americans making $1 million per year or more pay at least 30 percent of that income in taxes. The Senate will vote on the measure April 16 -- and it is expected to fail.
But that won't necessarily dull its edge as a political weapon to embarrass Romney, who has made a series of verbal campaign-trail gaffes seen as reinforcing the notion that his vast wealth has left him out of touch with average Americans. Romney, who opposes the legislation, is "the beneficiary of a broken tax system and he wants to keep it that way," said Messina. "Why should Mitt Romney pay a lower tax rate than average Americans?"The former Massachusetts governor and multimillionaire investor recently released his 2010 and 2011 tax returns, which show he paid an effective tax rate of roughly 14 percent on income of more than $40 million.
"That's what this Buffett Rule fight is about," Messina said on the conference call.
With Obama set to make the case for the Buffett Rule at an event in Florida on Tuesday, White House press secretary Jay Carney disputed the notion that the president was targeting Romney, saying he supported the proposed tax change "long before it was evident who might emerge as the nominee for the other party."
"I think that we hope it will pass. I think that every senator who votes on it will have to examine for himself or herself whether or not they want to vote for a bill that says millionaires and billionaires should not pay taxes on their income at a lower rate than middle-class Americans, or vote against it. And they will have to explain to their constituents why they don't agree with that principle," said Carney. "That's what votes do -- they put senators on record."
Romney campaign communications director Gail Gitcho hit back at the White House, calling Obama "the first president in history to openly campaign for re-election on a platform of higher taxes."
"He has already raised taxes on millions of Americans, but he won't stop there. He wants to raise taxes on millions more by taxing small businesses and job creators. We appreciate the Obama campaign reinforcing Mitt Romney's platform of lowering tax rates across the board in order to jumpstart this bad Obama economy," she said in a statement.
U.S. tells North Korea not to carry out nuclear test
The United States urged North Korea on Monday not conduct a nuclear test or launch a satellite and called on China to exert its influence over its neighbor to try to ward off such "provocative actions."
North Korea, which is pressing ahead with plans for a satellite launch despite U.S. and regional appeals that it desist, is also preparing a third nuclear test, South Korean news reports said on Sunday.
Another nuclear test is bound to scare neighbors and infuriate the West, which has long sought to curb the North's nuclear ambitions.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified intelligence source as saying North Korea was "clandestinely preparing a nuclear test" at the same location as the first two.
The State Department repeated its advice to the North not to launch a satellite, saying this would violate U.N. Security Council resolutions and a February 29 denuclearization agreement.
"Our position remains: don't do it," said spokeswoman Victoria Nuland. "North Korea's launch of a missile would be highly provocative, it would pose a threat to regional security and it would be inconsistent with its recent undertakings to refrain from any kind of long-range missile launches."
Nuland told reporters a third North Korean nuclear test "would be equally bad if not worse."
She declined comment on whether the United States also had reason to believe that the North might be preparing a nuclear test, saying she could not discuss intelligence matters.
North Korea, which three years ago pulled out of six-party disarmament talks on its nuclear program, agreed in February to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment and long-range missile launches in return for food aid, opening the way to a possible resumption of the negotiations.
But that has all unraveled with the North's rocket launch planned for this month, probably between Thursday and the following Monday. The North says it is merely sending a weather satellite into space, but South Korea and the United States say it is a ballistic missile test.
The United States has called on China, the closest that North Korea has to an ally, to exert such influence as it has with Pyongyang, a point Nuland made again on Monday.
"We believe, in particular, that China joins us in its interest in seeing a denuclearized Korean Peninsula and we are continuing to encourage China to act more effectively in that interest," she said.
Pakistan welcomes Indian offer for assistance
http://pakobserver.net
Pakistan on Monday applauded Indian offer for assistance in rescue operation being carried out in Siachen’s Gyari sector to recover more than hundred soldiers trapped in an avalanche.
The Foreign Office said on Monday that Pakistan appreciated Indian offer and termed it as a good gesture.
The Foreign Office spokesman noted that the issue of avalanche incident was discussed during the meeting of President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
An avalanche swept through battalion headquarters in Siachen Glacier on Saturday morning.
US rescuer team already reached Pakistan to assist ongoing operation to pull 135 soldiers and civilians under 80 feel avalanche.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office also welcomed step by Indian Supreme court for granting bail to Pakistani scientist Dr Khalil Chishty.
Talking to a private news channel, FO spokesman Abdul Basit said that this was also a positive step taken by Indian government and Pakistani government welcomes this goodwill gesture.
Sources said Dr Chishty’s case was discussed at Sunday’s lunch meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Asif Ali Zardari during the latter’s one-day India visit. Pakistani officials have urged India to set Dr Chishty, free, the sources said
Pakistan on Monday applauded Indian offer for assistance in rescue operation being carried out in Siachen’s Gyari sector to recover more than hundred soldiers trapped in an avalanche.
The Foreign Office said on Monday that Pakistan appreciated Indian offer and termed it as a good gesture.
The Foreign Office spokesman noted that the issue of avalanche incident was discussed during the meeting of President Asif Ali Zardari and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh.
An avalanche swept through battalion headquarters in Siachen Glacier on Saturday morning.
US rescuer team already reached Pakistan to assist ongoing operation to pull 135 soldiers and civilians under 80 feel avalanche.
Meanwhile, the Foreign Office also welcomed step by Indian Supreme court for granting bail to Pakistani scientist Dr Khalil Chishty.
Talking to a private news channel, FO spokesman Abdul Basit said that this was also a positive step taken by Indian government and Pakistani government welcomes this goodwill gesture.
Sources said Dr Chishty’s case was discussed at Sunday’s lunch meeting between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Asif Ali Zardari during the latter’s one-day India visit. Pakistani officials have urged India to set Dr Chishty, free, the sources said
Pakistan: Let olive branch grow
In what is widely perceived as a significant goodwill move, Asif Ali Zardari, the president of Pakistan, paid a one-day trip to India on Sunday to discuss a wide range of issues with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Zardari's visit, though a private one, was the first visit to India by Pakistan's head of state since 2005, and is the latest sign of improving relations between the two former archrivals.
His trip was more than just symbolic, as Zardari invited Singh to visit Pakistan, and the Indian prime minister accepted the invitation. Frequent exchanges at high-levels will help build the mutual trust that is desperately needed to overcome the territorial and trade disputes that keep souring their relations.
The international community has warmly welcomed the improvement in ties between two countries that have fought three wars since they gained independence from British rule in 1947.
Peaceful coexistence between the two countries is indispensable for the region.
As two nuclear-armed heavyweights on the South Asian subcontinent, Islamabad and New Delhi have a shared responsibility to help maintain regional stability and promote regional harmony. For the benefit of their two peoples and those in the region at large, they should continue to work for a durable peace.
As a close neighbor to both India and Pakistan, China is pleased to see the two countries improving their ties, and hopes Islamabad and New Delhi will continue to build on their positive momentum.
Beijing attaches great importance to maintaining good-neighborly relations with both countries and fully supports their reconciliation. China and Pakistan have been "all-weather friends" over the past decades and it has been cooperating with India both bilaterally and under the framework of BRICS, the bloc of five major emerging economies that also includes Brazil, Russia and South Africa.
Pakistan said in February that it would phase out major restrictions on Indian imports by the end of the year, this is also positive as increased trade between the two countries will not only boost their economies but also bring tangible benefits to the two peoples.
New Focus on Pakistan’s Acid Attacks
By DECLAN WALSH
KARACHI, Pakistan — Fakhra Younas went under the surgeon’s knife 38 times, hoping to repair the gruesome damage inflicted by a vengeful Pakistani man who had doused her face in acid a decade earlier, virtually melting her mouth, nose and ears.
The painful medical marathon took place in Rome, a distant city that offered Ms. Younas refuge, the generosity of strangers and a modicum of healing. She found an outlet in writing a memoir and making fearless public appearances. But while Italian doctors worked on her facial scars, some wounds refused to close.
On March 17, after a decade of pining for Pakistan, a country she loved even though its justice system had failed her terribly, Ms. Younas climbed to the sixth-floor balcony of her apartment building in the southern suburbs of Rome and jumped. She was 33.
News of her death filtered back to her home city, Karachi. And by the time her coffin arrived for burial, a storm of outrage had been whipped up — one framed by a glittering Hollywood success.
On Feb. 28, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, a Karachi filmmaker, won Pakistan’s first Academy Award, for “Saving Face,” a documentary that focuses in gritty detail on victims of acid violence like Ms. Younas. Despite the film’s disturbing topic, the Oscar gave Pakistanis a welcome shot of national pride, while focusing attention on a social ill.
Acid is the preferred weapon of vindictive men against women accused of disloyalty or disobedience. Common in several Asian countries, acid attacks in Pakistan grew sharply in number in 2011, to 150 from 65 in 2010, although some advocacy workers said the increase stemmed largely from better reporting.
The death of Ms. Younas galvanized the Pakistani news media. In Parliament, lawmakers vowed to take action, while one political leader called for a criminal investigation into the case to be reopened. But legal experts were skeptical that would happen, because the man Ms. Younas long accused of the attack — her ex-husband, Bilal Khar — was acquitted at trial nine years ago.
Unlike most men accused in acid attacks, Mr. Khar comes from a wealthy, powerful background. His family owns vast swaths of rich farmland in Punjab Province; his father, Mustafa, is a former provincial governor; his first cousin Hina Rabbani Khar is Pakistan’s foreign minister. In recent weeks, Mr. Khar appeared on television several times to defend his reputation. “My hands are clean,” he said during one broadcast.
The appearances won him little public sympathy, with critics saying that the case exemplified how Pakistan’s rich frequently evade justice. Yet there was a ringing contrast between the howls of condemnation and the virtual silence that greeted Ms. Younas after she was attacked a decade ago. And it raised a question: When this clamor has receded, will Pakistan’s next acid victims stand a better chance of obtaining justice?
Deep-rooted social prejudice and misogyny were part of her story. Born to a heroin-addicted mother on Napier Road, Karachi’s red-light district, by puberty Ms. Younas was a working “dancing girl” — a euphemism for prostitute. She had a son when she was 15. Then, in 1997, at 18, she achieved the vice girl’s version of the Pakistani dream: she married a client, Bilal Khar, who came from the other side of the tracks.
But the marriage collapsed after three years, amid allegations of domestic violence, and Ms. Younas fled to her mother’s home on Napier Road. She was sleeping there in May 2000 when two men burst into the apartment; one cast a bottle of liquid over her face and chest. Ms. Younas struggled and screamed, but it was too late: the acid fused her lips, melted her breasts and destroyed one eye. During a three-month stay in a hospital, she came close to death.
“She had two little holes for her nostrils, and her mouth was so melted that only a straw could fit in,” said Tehmina Durrani, a prominent Lahore figure who championed the case. Ms. Durrani had her own reasons for tackling the Khars — she had divorced Bilal’s father, Mustafa, and had written a searing memoir of the marriage titled “My Feudal Lord.”
Other Pakistanis, however, showed little interest in the case. Newspapers, even liberal ones, gave the story scant coverage. Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s government dragged its heels over issuing a passport to Ms. Younas, concerned that the case would hurt Pakistan’s image.
Mr. Khar went on the run, and was declared a fugitive in early 2002. But when the trial started a year later, after Mr. Khar had been caught and arrested, the case quickly crumbled. Although four witnesses testified to seeing him enter Ms. Younas’s home the night of the attack, all later retracted their statements. Earlier, they had complained of intimidation by Mr. Khar, but the judge paid little notice, and in December 2003 he dismissed the case.
In one recent television interview, Mr. Khar described himself as the victim of a “media trial.” He pleaded for privacy to protect his three daughters, who, he said, were facing awkward questions over the case at school.
“You should be considerate about that,” he chided the host.
Ms. Younas was not present for the acquittal in 2003; she had left for Rome with her son, Noman. There, over a decade, she slowly rebuilt her life. The Italian government granted her political asylum; the city authorities offered her an apartment; and a Milan cosmetics company paid for her surgery.
Dr. Valerio Cervelli, a plastic surgeon who led the work, said it was difficult at first “because her lower lip was attached to her torso, she had no neck, and her eyes were permanently open.” Complicating matters, she ignored postoperative advice. “She was so headstrong, so independent,” he said.
Still, things improved: by the 38th operation, in early 2011, Ms. Younas could move her mouth and one eye. Her once strikingly beautiful face, although still charred, had regained some of its shape. She had learned Italian, befriended local traders and co-written a memoir, “Il Volto Cancellato,” or “The Erased Face,” which brought in some income.
She ventured outside fearlessly, armed only with a bawdy sense of humor ingrained on the streets of Karachi. During a soccer match in Rome, when the noise grew too loud, Ms. Younas turned to fellow fans and “threatened to throw her false ear at them,” Ms. Durrani recalled with a chuckle.
But the grueling operations extracted a heavy physical and psychological toll, said Rachele Bonani, an aid worker who helped her. And, Ms. Bonani added, “she always wanted to go home.” But a return to Pakistan was out of the question for Ms. Younas, partly for security reasons: friends worried that her life would be in danger.
She vented her frustration at the local Pakistani Embassy. About two years ago, according to several accounts, Ms. Younas turned up, demanding to meet the ambassador. A heated confrontation developed during which “security was called,” a senior embassy employee said in an e-mail. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that Ms. Younas was persuaded to leave the building voluntarily; Ms. Durrani insists that she was forcefully ejected by the Italian police, who later apologized.
“She gave up on justice,” Ms. Durrani said. “She gave up on the fact that she could ever come back. She knew how she would be treated.”
Since Ms. Younas’s death, those close to her have recalled signs of deep-rooted depression. Her son, Noman, said he was not surprised by the suicide, because she had tried twice before to kill herself.
“It was a bad time for her, because of a lot of things. I guess she had her reasons,” he said in a telephone interview.
Now in his first year of high school, Noman, 15, is in the care of an Italian family. He says he does not intend to return to Pakistan.
Pakistani advocacy workers point to promising signs that future acid victims will be treated better. Legal reforms enacted last year mandate stiff penalties, including a minimum 14-year sentence and a one million rupee ($11,100) fine for attackers. A new Acid and Burn Crime Bill, due to come before Parliament soon, provides for better police investigations, trials and victim treatment. Further off, there are plans to regulate the sale of nitric and hydrochloric acids.
Some experts, however, worry that a notoriously weak police force and lower-court system in Pakistan could undercut any legal revolution.
“It’s a systemic problem,” said Faisal Siddiqi, a lawyer who works with acid victims. “Regardless of the laws you bring, if you are poor and a woman, you will not get justice from the courts in Pakistan.”
Ms. Younas never saw “Saving Face,” but was buoyed by the acclaim it received, friends said.
On Monday, Ms. Obaid-Chinoy, the filmmaker, said: “The tragedy is that it took a film and a suicide to bring the problem of acid violence to the national consciousness. Sometimes it takes extremes for a nation to wake up to what’s wrong within its borders.
“Now I just hope that the man who is responsible for this will face justice,” she added.
Despite the film’s success, Ms. Younas’s friends say it could not overcome her sense of isolation, heightened by the pain that the attacker who had stolen her beauty and crushed her life remained free.
“Had she been a politician’s daughter or a general’s daughter, then we would have seen what would have happened,” Ms. Durrani said. “But who was going to fight for a dancing girl?”
Six members of Hazara community killed in Quetta firing incident
The Express Tribune News
Six people were shot dead and three others wounded when armed assailants on two motorbikes opened fire at a shoe shop on Prince Road in Quetta on Monday night.
According to police, the victims were sitting inside a shoe-making store on the main intersection located on Prince and Masjid road, when they were attacked.
The attackers managed to flee from the scene after committing the crime.
“All the victims belonged to Hazara community and it appears to be a case of targeted sectarian killing,” Deputy Inspector General Police (DIG-Operations) Quetta Qazi Wahid told The Express Tribune.
The assailants on two motorbikes escaped after opening fire on the shoe-makers. Resultantly, four people died on the spot while two others received multiple bullet wounds.
A heavy contingent of police rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.
The dead and injured were taken to Provincial Sandeman Hosptial. “At least six dead bodies and three injured were brought here,” doctors at the hospital said.
The deceased were identified as Mama Karim, Mohammad Hassan, Saeed Ahmed, Qurban Ali, Nadir Ali and Shabir Hussain while injured as Yunus, Lala Musa and Ustad Hadi.
A score of people belonging to Hazara Community reached the hospital and registered their protest by raising slogans against the government and law enforcing agencies over their failure to protect the life and property of civilians.
A group angry protestors also blocked the Jinnah Road and forced shops in the area to shut down. Some people armed with sophisticated weapons harassed the doctors and journalists and surrounded the hospital. An Express News reporter, Arif Mehmood, sustained minor injuries during a stampede at the hospital after some people brandished weapons.
A passer-by identified Nor Azam received bullet wounds when some people resorted to aerial firing as they condemned the killing.
However, security forces and police reached the hospital and controlled the situation.
DIG operations Qazi Wahid said police were investigating the incident and will interview the shopkeepers who were present there when incident took place.
Six people were shot dead and three others wounded when armed assailants on two motorbikes opened fire at a shoe shop on Prince Road in Quetta on Monday night.
According to police, the victims were sitting inside a shoe-making store on the main intersection located on Prince and Masjid road, when they were attacked.
The attackers managed to flee from the scene after committing the crime.
“All the victims belonged to Hazara community and it appears to be a case of targeted sectarian killing,” Deputy Inspector General Police (DIG-Operations) Quetta Qazi Wahid told The Express Tribune.
The assailants on two motorbikes escaped after opening fire on the shoe-makers. Resultantly, four people died on the spot while two others received multiple bullet wounds.
A heavy contingent of police rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.
The dead and injured were taken to Provincial Sandeman Hosptial. “At least six dead bodies and three injured were brought here,” doctors at the hospital said.
The deceased were identified as Mama Karim, Mohammad Hassan, Saeed Ahmed, Qurban Ali, Nadir Ali and Shabir Hussain while injured as Yunus, Lala Musa and Ustad Hadi.
A score of people belonging to Hazara Community reached the hospital and registered their protest by raising slogans against the government and law enforcing agencies over their failure to protect the life and property of civilians.
A group angry protestors also blocked the Jinnah Road and forced shops in the area to shut down. Some people armed with sophisticated weapons harassed the doctors and journalists and surrounded the hospital. An Express News reporter, Arif Mehmood, sustained minor injuries during a stampede at the hospital after some people brandished weapons.
A passer-by identified Nor Azam received bullet wounds when some people resorted to aerial firing as they condemned the killing.
However, security forces and police reached the hospital and controlled the situation.
DIG operations Qazi Wahid said police were investigating the incident and will interview the shopkeepers who were present there when incident took place.
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