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Environment and Energy : Denmark

Danes are eco-friendly people and Denmark is a leader in environmental and energy technology across a wide range of fields.

The Mofaz plan—state now, ask questions later

Israeli politicians are reportedly setting out their ideas for the creation of a Palestinian state in a move that comes after the PA suggested asking the UN to recognise the Occupied Territories as an independent Palestinian state. Is this just an attempt to buy time and draw attention away from the stalled peace process?

Baby Trade.

Twenty years ago the United Nations adopted the Convention of the Rights of the Child. The CRC or UNCRC, is an international treaty setting out the civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights of children.

Nations that ratify the UNCRC are bound to it by international law.As of December 2008, 193 signatories have ratified it, including every member of the United Nations except the US and Somalia.The UNCRC has been used as a blueprint for child protection legislation around the world.

The treaty restricts the involvement of children in military conflicts and prohibits the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.However, the treaty's promise to protect children has not always been kept.In many cases, poverty is to blame for making worse, the plight of the most vulnerable.

 

The illegal sale of children makes up more than half of all the cases of human trafficking around the world, according to recent estimates.

Traditionally it has involved the exploitation of children in poorer nations, but an Al Jazeera investigation has found that it is also happening in developed countries, such as South Korea.

For four months, Al Jazeera surfed community boards on popular Korean Internet sites, and found an underground trade where pregnant women can sell their unborn children.

Muslim 500 – A Listing of the 500 Most Influential Muslims in the World

November 17, 2009   |  Muslim Media Network

A fascinating new book has just been issued by The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center (in Jordan) in concert with Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

The book lists the 500 most influential people in the Muslim world, breaking the people into several distinct categories, scholarly, political, administrative, lineage, preachers, women, youth, philanthropy, development, science and technology, arts and culture, media, and radicals.

Before this breakdown begins however, the absolute most influential 50 people are listed, starting with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.  The top 50 fit into 6 broad categories as follows:  12 are political leaders (kings, generals, presidents), 4 are spiritual leaders (Sufi shaykhs), 14 are national or international religious authorities, 3 are “preachers,” 6 are high-level scholars, 11 are leaders of movements or organizations.

The 500 appear to have been chosen largely in terms of their overt influence, however the top 50 have been chosen and perhaps listed in a “politically correct” order designed not to cause offense.  For example, the first person listed is the Sunni political leader of Saudi Arabia, King Abdullah.  The second person listed is the head of the largest Shi’a power, Iran, Ayatollah Khamenei.  As these are not the two Muslim countries with the largest populations, and do not even represent the two countries with the most spiritual or religious relevance (Saudi Arabia yes, Iran no) therefore clearly the decision of spots one or two appears to have been motivated by a sense of political correctness.

In total 72 Americans are among the 500 most influential Muslims, a disproportionately strong showing, but only one among the top 50.  Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson of Zaytuna Institute is listed surprisingly at number 38.  The world leader of the Naqshbandi Haqqani Sufi order, however, Sheikh Nazim al Haqqani, with millions of followers worldwide, spiritual adviser to kings, presidents, doctors, lawyers, professors and others across the spectrum of profession, race, and ethnicity on seven continents, is listed at number 49.  While Sheikh Hamza Yusuf has successfully built the Zaytuna Institute, his influence is confined mostly to American academia, scholars and students.  Surprisingly, Khaled Mashaal, leader of Hamas, (at number 34) is listed before any American Muslim. 

It seems strange that Yusuf is the only American listed in the top 50. Especially when Rep. Keith Ellison (D-5-MN), Tariq Ramadan and Ingrid Mattson are listed among the “honorable mentions” in the book (“honorable mentions” were almost among the top 50 but not quite—they are still listed among the 500).  Ingrid Mattson alone is likely more influential than Hamza Yusuf Hanson, for instance.  Not to mention Rep. Keith Ellison.  Even the Nobel prize winner Mohammad Yunus is listed only among the honorable mentions.

Sheikh Hisham Kabbani in the USA is listed among the most influential scholars in the Muslim world, and his relative Mohammad Rashid Qabbani, the Grand Mufti of Lebanon and its leading Sunni scholar, is also among the most influential scholars.  The Shi’a marja Ayatullah Sayeed Mohammad Fadlallah is the other listed scholar for Lebanon. 

The 18 prominent American Muslims in the Scholars section of the book also include Yusuf Estes, Sulayman Nyang, Muzammil Siddiqui, Sherman Jackson, Zaid Shakir, and Nuh Keller.  Two Americans are listed as Political figures in North America.  Nine Americans are listed as Administrative leaders, including Siraj Wahhaj—surprising to list him as an administrative leader rather than a preacher.  One Canadian is listed under the Lineage section, namely Jamal Badawi, but no Americans.  Under the Women heading appear six very recognizable names, perhaps most recognizable among them Ingrid Mattson, the controversial Amina Wadud, and the extremely influential Dalia Mogahed (who wrote the perhaps watershed work Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think.)  Two Americans are listed in the Youth category.  Under the Philanthropy category is listed one person, Dr. Tariq Cheema, co-founder of the World Congress of Muslim Philanthropists.  13 Americans are listed under Development, including strangely the boxer Mohammad Ali.  Four Americans are listed under Science and Technology, perhaps most recognizably Dr. Mehmed Oz, who frequently appears on morning television to help explain medical situations to people, and who shows an interest in the overlap between traditional medicine and spirituality.  Seven Americans are listed under Arts and Culture, including the notable actors Mos Def and Dave Chappelle, also the calligrapher Mohammad Zakaria.  Nine Americans are listed in the Media section, including Fareed Zakaria and the filmmaker Michael Wolfe.

The book’s appendices comprehensively list populations of Muslims in nations worldwide, and its introduction gives a snapshot view of different ideological movements within the Muslim world, breaking down clearly distinctions between traditional Islam and recent radical innovations.

People who are themselves prominent scholars contributed to or edited the book, including of course Georgetown University’s Professor John Esposito and Professor Ibrahim Kalin.  Ed Marques and Usra Ghazi also edited and prepared the book.  The book lists as consultants Dr. Hamza Abed al Karim Hammad, and Siti Sarah Muwahidah, with thanks to other contributors.

The entire book is available online (here:  http://www.rissc.jo/muslim500v-1L.pdf) and we hope that it will be available for sale soon inside the United States.  Currently it is not available.

To encourage the printing and release of the book in the United States you can contact Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at edu, or by phone at 202-687-8375.

America, Islam and South East Asia.

 We look at the state of the Islamic movements in Southeast Asia. 

Mahkamah : SPRM Diharamkan Soal Siasat Saksi Selepas Waktu Pejabat

TVSelangor.com  

Dalam satu keputusan bersejarah, Mahkamah Tinggi Kuala Lumpur memutuskan Suruhanjaya Pencegahan Rasuah Malaysia tidak lagi dibenarkan menyoal siasat saksi pada waktu malam.

Hakim Mohd Ariff Md Yusof memutuskan SPRM hanya berhak menyoal siasat saksi dari pukul 8.30 pagi hingga 5 petang.

Keputusan itu dibuat berikutan pendedahan mendiang Teoh Beng Hock (gambar demonstrasi diatas) disoal siasat sepanjang malam sehingga awal pagi sebelum di jumpai mati di perkarangan ibu pejabat SPRM Selangor di Shah Alam 16 Julai lalu.

Seorang lagi saksi yang turut disoal siasat ketika itu, Tan Boon Wah, telah memohon Mahkamah Tinggi untuk menyemak sama ada SPRM berhak menyoal siasat saksi pada bila-bila waktu.

Boon Wah turut mendakwa beliau di kasari oleh pegawai penyiasat SPRM ketika beliau di soal siasat.

Beng Hock mati dalam keadaan mencurigakan, malah seorang pakar bedah dari Thailand tidak menolak kemungkinan mendiang mangsa jenayah.

Berikutan keterangan pakar itu pada inkues Beng Hock bulan lalu, arahan diberi untuk menggali semula mayat mendiang Sabtu ini bagi membolehkan bedah siasat yang lebih terperinchi dijalankan.

Dalam keputusannya hari ini, Hakim Mohd Ariff menolak tafsiran SPRM bahawa

Seksyen 30(3)(a) Akta SPRM kononnya memberi kuasa kepada badan itu untuk menyoal siasat saksi sepanjang masa.

Ungkapan dari hari ke hari (untuk jalankan siasatan) dalam seksyen itu tidak bermaksud 24 jam tetapi waktu kerja pejabat yang biasa,” kata beliau.

“Justeru, saya bersetuju bahawa pemohon (Boon Wah) dalam kes ini telah ditahan secara tidak sah untuk disoal siasat.

Number of Students Studying Abroad on Rise Globally

A Washington-based educational institute says the number of university students who study abroad is on the rise. The Institute of International Education reports a 60 percent increase in the number of students studying outside their native country since the year 2000.

ElBaradei Ends Term With Goals 'In Tatters'

By Joe Lauria - WSJ

NEW YORK -- The departing director of the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency declared Wednesday that efforts to curb nuclear proliferation were in "tatters," but he held out hope that current talks over Iran's nuclear program could open "a new era" between the West and Tehran.

Mohamed ElBaradei, who leaves Dec. 1 after 12 years as director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Council on Foreign Relations that 50 years of mistrust threatens the proposed deal for Iran to ship most of its low-enriched uranium to Russia and France for processing into medical isotopes.

Iran has balked over issues of timing and amounts to be shipped, but talks could still succeed, he asserted. "If I can do that by the end of the month, I'd leave as a very happy man," he said.

The Egyptian diplomat said the IAEA still has no concrete proof that Iran has an ongoing nuclear-weapons program. He praised the Obama administration for opening a dialogue with Iran without preconditions.

Mr. ElBaradei said military action against Iran would solve nothing, since Tehran would engage in a crash program and "you cannot bomb knowledge.'' If Iran was attacked, "Every Iranian, even in Los Angeles" would support the nuclear program, he asserted, as would its allies.

Arab nations were "not comfortable reading that Israel has 200 warheads and it wants to bomb a country just for having the technology," he said.

Mr. ElBaradei said the world had fared poorly in its nonproliferation efforts. "We have not done well over the past 25 years," he said. "If you look at our international security system, it is in tatters." He said there was more danger now that nuclear weapons would be used than during the Cold War, especially if they get into terrorists' hands.

UNICEF: "Paris Commitments" protect child soldiers

NEW YORK, USA, 30 September 2009 The challenging and critical job of protecting children from recruitment by armed forces or groups took a step forward this week, as a number of United Nations Member States added their names to the Paris Commitments.

Adopted in February 2007, the Paris Commitments are an expression of strengthened international resolve to prevent the recruitment of children and highlight the actions governments can take to protect children affected by conflict. A related document, the Paris Principles, sets out operational guidelines for the sustainable reintegration of former child soldiers.

A total of 84 states now have endorsed the commitments. The latest signatories are Albania, the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Guinea, Jamaica, Liechtenstein, Panama and Senegal.

Russia wants more countries to join START

Sat, 17 Oct 2009 | Presstv reports

Other nuclear powers should join the US-Russia Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov (photo) says.

"The involvement of more nuclear powers to this process is a necessity that will become pressing in the near future," Lavrov said in an interview with the news agency RIA Novosti.

If Moscow and Washington are able to "reach an agreement on the level of reductions that we are proposing, the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States will be comparable to those of other official nuclear powers," Lavrov added.

Signed in 1991, START placed strict limits on the number of missiles and warheads in the Russian and US nuclear arsenals. But the agreement expires on December 5. Following a meeting on Tuesday with his US counterpart Hillary Clinton in Moscow, Lavrov said the two countries had made "substantial progress" in their negotiations for a new agreement.

"Human need, not corporate greed"

Thousands protest against G20 summit in US Sat, 26 Sep 2009 02:31:09 GMT

Thousands have streamed through the streets of Pittsburgh in a peaceful protest against the leaders of the world's top economies.

Waving banners and chanting slogans, the crowd stretched out of sight as people made their way down the city streets lined by black-clad riot police, still tense after the previous night's violent anti-G20 protests.

The G20 represents the leaders of the world's most powerful economies and the group's summits attract a diverse crowd of anti-globalization activists and anarchists opposed to what they see as its inhumane free market policies.

According to the security forces there were up to 4,500 marchers, but Peter Shell, president of the Thomas Merton Center which helped organize the march, estimated the number to be twice that.

Tensions ratcheted up a notch when three protesters bearing signs that said "Human need, not corporate greed" sat down in the middle of a city street, but the situation was resolved without a fight.

A night without stars for seven years.

The Big Mac Index:

The Currency Line Up Today.

From Economist.com

For all its weaknesses, the Big Mac Index has caught on even among economists as a shorthanded way of looking at PPP across the world's economies. The table below -- reproduced from the Economist -- shows by how much, in Big Mac PPP terms, selected currencies were over- or undervalued at the end of January.

An alternative Big Mac index

Aug 20th 2009

How many minutes to earn the price of a Big Mac?

THE size of your pay packet may be important, but so is its purchasing power. Helpfully, a UBS report published this week offers a handy guide to how long it takes a worker on the average net wage to earn the price of a Big Mac in 73 cities. Fast-food junkies are best off in Chicago, Toronto and Tokyo, where it takes a mere 12 minutes at work to afford a Big Mac. By contrast, employees must toil for over two hours to earn enough for a burger fix in Mexico City, Jakarta and Nairobi.

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KES KUIL DI SHAH ALAM.

PR Serah Memo Bantah Khidmat KPN Bermasalah Dilanjutkan.

Nik Aziz Nafi Keluar Kenyataan Ahli Umno Tidak Masuk Syurga.

Merdeka, Merdeka

PEMASYURAN KEMERDEKAAN

Dengan nama Allah yang Maha Pemurah lagi Mengasihani, segala puji bagi Allah yang Maha Berkuasa dan selawat dan salam ke atas sekalian RasulNya.

Bahawasanya kerana telah tibalah masanya bagi umat Persekutuan Tanah Melayu ini mencapai suatu bangsa yang merdeka lagi berdaulat sama setimpal kedudukannya dengan segala bangsa seluruh dunia.

Dan bahawasanya kerana dengan perjanjian yang disebut namanya Perjanjian Tanah Melayu tahun 1957 yang diperbuat antara Duli Yang Maha Mulia Baginda Queen dengan Duli-duli Yang Maha Mulia Raja-raja Melayu, maka, telah dipersetujui bahawa Negeri-negeri Melayu, iaitu Johor, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu dan Perak serta negeri yang dahulunya dinamakan Negeri Selat, iaitu Melaka dan Pulau Pinang mulai 31 hari bulan Ogos tahun 1957, hendaklah menjadi sebuah Persekutuan baharu bagi negeri-negeri yang bernama Persekutuan Tanah Melayu.

Dan bahawasanya kerana telah bersetuju pula antara kedua-dua pihak dalam perjanjian tersebut, iaitu Melaka dan Pulau Pinang hendaklah daripada tarikh tersebut itu tamat daripada menjadi sebahagian daripada jajahan takluk Baginda Queen, dan Duli Yang Maha Mulia Baginda Queen tidak lagi berhak menjalankan apa-apa kedaulatan baginda ke atas kedua-dua buah negeri yang tersebut itu.

Dan bahawasanya kerana telah bersetuju pula antara kedua-dua pihak yang tersebut, iaitu Perjanjian Persekutuan Tanah Melayu tahun 1948, dan segala perjanjian yang lain ada sekarang antara Duii Yang Maha Mulia Baginda Queen dengan Duli-duli Yang Maha Mulia Raja-raja ataupun salah seorang daripada baginda itu sebelum tarikh yang tersebut hendaklah dibatalkan mulai daripada tarikh itu, dan semua kuat kuasa dan hak Duli Yang Maha Mulia Baginda Queen ataupun Parlimen Negeri United Kingdom dalam Negeri-negeri Selat ataupun Persekutuan Tanah Melayu seluruhannya adalah tamat dengan sendirinya.

Dan bahawasanya kerana Duli Yang Maha Mulia Baginda Queen, Duli-duli Yang Maha Mulia Raja-raja Melayu, Parlimen Negeri United Kingdom dan Majlis-majlis Undangan Persekutuan dan Negeri-negeri Melayu telah meluluskannya, Perjanjian Persekutuan Tanah Melayu tahun 1957 itu berjalan kuat kuasanya.

Dan bahawasanya kerana suatu perlembagaan bagi kerajaan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu telah ditentukan menjadi suatu kanun yang muktamad baginya.

Dan bahawasanya kerana Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang tersebut itu, maka, ada disediakan syarat untuk menjaga keselamatan hak-hak dan keutamaan Duli-duli Yang Maha Mulia-Raja-raja serta hak-hak asasi dan kebebasan sekalian rakyat untuk memajukan Persekutuan Tanah Melayu dengan aman dan damai serta teratur sebagai sebuah kerajaan yang mempunyai Raja yang Berperlembagaan yang berdasarkan demokrasi cara Parlimen.

Dan bahawasanya kerana Perlembagaan Persekutuan yang diadakan oleh Majlis Undangan Persekutuan yang tersebut itu telah diluluskan oleh suatu undang-undang yang diadakan oleh Majlis Undangan Persekutuan serta dengan undang-undang yang diadakan oleh negeri-negeri Melayu dan dengan ketetapan-ketetapan dalam Majlis Undangan Negeri Melaka dan Pulau Pinang, dengan demikian Perlembagaan itu telah berjalan kuat kuasanya pada 31 hari bulan Ogos tahun 1957.

Maka, dengan nama Allah yang Maha Pemurah lagi Maha Mengasihani, saya Tunku Abdu Rahman Putra ibni Aamarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, Perdana Menteri bagi Persekutuan Tanah Melayu, dengan persetujuan dan perkenan Duli-duli Yang Maha Mulia Raja-raja Negeri Melayu dengan ini memasyurkan dan mengisytiharkan bagi pihak umat Persekutuan Tanah melayu bahawa mulai Tiga Puluh Satu hari bulan Ogos Tahun Seribu Sembilan Ratus Lima Puluh Tujuh, maka Persekutuan Tanah Melayu yang mengandungi Negeri Johor, Pahang, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor, Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan, Terengganu, Perak, Melaka dan Pulau Pinang dengan limpah rahmat Allah subnahu wa ta’ala akan kekal menjadi sebuah Negara yang merdeka dan berdaulat serta berdasarkan kebebasan dan keadilan dan sentiasa menjaga dan mengutamakan kesejahteraan da kesentosaan rakyatnya dan mengekalkan keamanan antara segala bangsa.

PAS Gesa Musa Tidak Disambung Kontraknya Sebagai KPN.

A Frank Talk from Chua Jui Meng.

July 29, 2009 - Former health minister Chua Jui Meng, the most senior BN politician to have defected to Pakatan Rakyat, has described Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak as a leader who conceals his iron fist in a velvet glove.

Opposition wins Japan polls - 31 Aug 09

JOHOR, SASARAN PAKATAN RAKYAT SETERUSNYA

JOHOR, SASARAN PAKATAN RAKYAT SETERUSNY.

Kezaliman ISA

Dr Hatta saman Polis Rompin

Najib's 100 Days, What Went Wrong? : Elizabeth Wong

Ku Li : on Petronas governance,

Petronas governance, oil and talent .

JUNE 29,2009 — There are reports of a supposed tussle of wills between the prime minister and the board of Petronas over his choice of a non-executive, independent director for the board. I find the way this discussion is being framed in the press and on the blogs a little puzzling.

To begin with, the question of a tussle of wills, so to speak, between the board of Petronas and the prime minister does not arise. The Articles of Association governing Petronas give the prime minister the absolute power to appoint and remove every single member of the board and management. The prime minister has the right to appoint or remove anyone, from the president and chief executive officer down to the company drivers. In particular, every member of the board is an appointee of the prime minister, and represents him on the board.

Therefore it is puzzling that appeals are being made for the prime minister not to interfere in the composition of the board of Petronas, when it is in fact his duty and sole prerogative to appoint members of the board who will help him in his function of overseeing the running of this wholly state-owned enterprise and seeing to the disposal of the wealth that it generates. Let us not suddenly forget the extent to which previous prime ministers directed the decisions of Petronas in service of their conceptions of the national interest.

Many discussions which raise the issue of corporate governance refer to Petronas as a GLC, and refer to governance practices proper to GLCs. But these GLCs have multiple shareholders and indeed publicly traded stock. Petronas is unlike any other GLC. It has only one shareholder: the state. Almost unique among national oil companies the world over, the entire oil and gas wealth of Malaysia is vested in Petronas. It has supervisory power over the major oil companies operating in our territory. It was not formed to privatise our oil and gas reserves but to safeguard our national sovereignty over them and to manage them more effectively as the common inheritance of all Malaysians. It is charged with ensuring our energy security.

Petronas’ sole owner is ultimately the Malaysian people. The person charged with stewardship of the people’s ownership is the prime minister, and he is accountable to the people through a democratic political process. Every member of the board is appointed by him to help him discharge this stewardship. In that situation if, as reported, any member of the board disagrees on principle with the prime minister’s decision to appoint someone, he should resign. This is the proper way for board members all appointed by a sole shareholder to express strong objection to an appointment.

Those calls being made in the name of good governance for the prime minister “not to interfere” unwittingly advocate bad governance because they are framed on a misunderstanding about the nature of Petronas and therefore about who it is accountable to, and how it should be governed.

Because Petronas is charged with the stewardship of public assets we need to understand the governance of Petronas in terms of a public process; that is to say, the political process. The Petroleum Development Act that I had the privilege to help design did not envisage Petronas becoming a mega-corporation accountable only to privileged insiders. The real framework for understanding governance in Petronas is its accountability to the people of Malaysia through the prime minister of their elected government. This could hardly be otherwise for an organisation vested with such awesome resources and responsibilities.

On scholarships and talent

When we started Petronas we could not find enough local talent. The late Tun Abdul Razak said to me: “Let’s use foreign talent only as consultants. Let’s staff Petronas with Malaysians.” I started the Petronas scholarship programme in my first year as chairman. We set aside 3,000 scholarships a year. In that first year we only managed to give out 1,000. Our intention was to flood Malaysia with returning talent, for whatever industry or sector. The scholars were not bonded, except where they had skills essential to Petronas such as geophysics or petroleum engineering. Understanding our role as custodians of the greatest single source of the people’s wealth, we deliberately pursued a broad rather than narrow scholarship programme to serve the national interest by building its human capital. So we gave out scholarships in fields of study as far from Petronas’ direct interests as architecture and medicine. We did not bond these scholars. I wonder if people understand the spirit of the Petronas scholarships when they are so quick to stigmatise a young person of ability with the title “scholarship defaulter.”

We should try to raise our level of public debate above the gutter of name-calling, racial slurs and the assumption of guilt by association. We should stop looking under our beds for ghosts and shadowy conspiracies. I’m disappointed to find such mean-spirited resentment of talent and of youth precisely when we desperately need those two ingredients in and around government. In our focus on the excesses of certain young people, we may have forgotten the excesses of the old and the decrepit.

I started by talking about the reported tussle between the PM and the board of Petronas. But this is a more real and consequential tussle involving a resource more valuable even than our oil and gas reserves: our people. There is now a generational struggle, in every political party, throughout the civil service, and wherever politics rather than merit governs promotions and appointments, between the young of this demographically very young country and self-interested incumbents blocking their rise with the Catch-22 argument that they are too inexperienced. How else will they gain that experience than by taking up those responsibilities?

We face a generational loss that will destroy our future if we continue to discourage talented and highly educated Malaysians in their thirties and forties from taking up key roles in our society.

Watch video on razaleigh.com

U.S. set to pay off UN debt

We have terrific news to share! The President signed legislation this week that will enact Congress’ FY 2009 emergency supplemental appropriations bill, which includes enough funds to pay off all debt the U.S. owes the UN going back to 1999.

As you may know, when Ted Turner announced his intention to give a billion dollars to support the UN almost 12 years ago, he did so because the United States was about a billion dollars behind in its payments to the UN.

The UN Foundation and our sister organization, the Better World Campaign, worked to build support for the original Congressional agreement, which in exchange for certain UN reforms, led to the U.S. paying over $800 million in debt to the UN. It was a great accomplishment.

Now, a decade after the first Congressional agreement, it is time to celebrate once again. Our government has recognized that we must keep the U.S. in good financial standing and honor our obligations at the UN. And with passage of the FY09 supplemental spending bill, debt to the UN accumulated since 1999 has been paid.

Indeed, great nations pay their bills, and by fully funding the UN and other international organizations whose work supports U.S. national security, we create greater legitimacy for our foreign policy and economic goals and empower U.S. diplomacy. In this way, we can continue America’s resumption of leadership through multilateral diplomacy.

Thank you for your continued support and interest in a strong U.S.-UN relationship.

Sincerely,

Timothy Wirth signature

Timothy E. Wirth
President, United Nations Foundation

Health care a human right?

22 June 2009 - A single payer rep finally testifies to Congress; insurance industry steps up attack on any public plan

Listening Post - The media role in Iran's election.

19 June 2009 - On Listening Post this week, how the media has been used in Iranian election and the ongoing debate as to whether or not we should pay for online content.

The role the media, both new and old, played in the Iranian Election.

EU Participatory Democratic Deposit : Turnout

08 June 2009

		1979	1981	1984	1987	1989	1994	1995	1996	1999	2004	2007	2009
	BE	91.36		92.09		90.73	90.66			91.05	90.81		90.39
	DK	47.82		52.38		46.17	52.92			50.46	47.89		59.52
	DE	65.73		56.76		62.28	60.02			45.19	43		43.3
	IE	63.61		47.56		68.28	43.98			50.21	58.58		57.6
	FR	60.71		56.72		48.8	52.71			46.76	42.76		40.48
	IT	85.65		82.47		81.07	73.6			69.76	71.72		66.46
	LU	88.91		88.79		87.39	88.55			87.27	91.35		91
	NL	58.12		50.88		47.48	35.69			30.02	39.26		36.5
	UK	32.35		32.57		36.37	36.43			24	38.52		34.27
	EL		81.48	80.59		80.03	73.18			70.25	63.22		52.63
	ES				68.52	54.71	59.14			63.05	45.14		44.3
	PT				72.42	51.1	35.54			39.93	38.6		37.03
	SE							41.63		38.84	37.85		43.8
	AT								67.73	49.4	42.43		42.4
	FI								57.6	30.14	39.43		40.3
	CZ										28.3		28.22
	EE										26.83		43.2
	CY										72.5		59.4
	LT										48.38		20.91
	LV										41.34		52.56
	HU										38.5		36.29
	MT										82.39		78.81
	PL										20.87		24.53
	SI										28.35		28.25
	SK										16.97		19.64
	BG											29.22	37.49
	RO											29.47	27.4
	EU total	61.99		58.98		58.41	56.67			49.51	45.47		42.94

Source: TNS opinion in collaboration with the EP.

EU Election results: towards the new Parliament

Provisional 08 June 2009 at 17:19 CEST

Legend:

• EPP-ED : Group of the European People's Party (Christian Democrats) and European Democrats
• PES : Socialist Group in the European Parliament
• ALDE : Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
• UEN : Union for Europe of the Nations Group
• GREENS/ EFA : Group of the Greens / European Free Alliance
• GUE/ NGL : Confederal Group of the European United Left - Nordic Green Left
• IND/ DEM : Independence/Democracy Group
• Others : Others

Without prejudice to the composition of the EP at the inaugural session on 14 July 2009

Source: TNS opinion in collaboration with the EP.

European elections, democratic deficit analysis, right-wing parties:

Video presentation of Audiovisual Unit services and facilities.

Men 'out-performed at university'