Weekly Round Up: Goodbye Blair, Death of President Bush & Expensive Salsa Lessons

It’s been another crazy week in world politics mostly dominated by the announcement of Prime Minister Tony Blair expecting to stand down next year and also of President Bush announcing that CIA prisons does exist in countries outside of the US. It has now been revealed by the US senate that there is no link between Saddam Hussein and Al-Qaida (check my blog article), prior to this they claimed that there was no WMD in Iraq. Here are the other news this week….

Iran
Iran snubs U.N. chief over nuke program
Iran's leader rejected international demands to stop enriching uranium and ignored Kofi Annan's warnings not to incite hatred by questioning the Holocaust including an exhibition in Tehran of cartoons mocking the Holocaust that was opened as a response to Western caricatures of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
- I can understand why Iran is allowing the carton exhibitions to go ahead, but two wrongs don’t make a right and this should stop. For the record it must be noted that the cartoon exhibition was (like the Danish cartoons) commissioned by a newspaper and not by the government. Anyone publishing/ broadcasting under “Freedom of speech” should bear responsibilities and if guilty of causing hatred should be punished.

Iranian Fighter Planes in action
Iran unveiled its first locally manufactured fighter plane Wednesday during large-scale military exercises, state-run television reported. The report said the bomber Saegheh is similar to the American F-18 fighter plane, but "more powerful." The Saegheh is capable of launching both rockets and bomb.

The Islamic republic is concerned about the U.S. military presence in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan at a time when the international community has threatened to impose sanctions against Tehran because of its disputed nuclear program. After decades of relying on foreign weapons purchases, Iran now says it is increasingly self-sufficient, claiming it annually exports more than $100 million worth of military equipment to more than 50 countries.

Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers and missiles, the government said. It announced in early 2005 that it had begun producing torpedoes. The government has not said how many warplanes it will build.


USA
Khatumi visits the US
It has been confirmed that former President of Iran Mohammad Khatami will be addressing the Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government on the eve of the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

The faculty proposed the invitation after they learnt that Khatami would be speaking at the United Nations. Sept. 10 was the only date available. Several months ago Harvard came under attack when a professor helped write an article criticizing a so-called "Israel Lobby" for driving foreign policy in Washington to the detriment of U.S. interests. In 2004,

Various newspapers and community groups have already denounced the timing of Khatami’s visit to Harvard.
- So much for freedom of speech!

Death of a President
Channel 4 is courting controversy with what it calls a "shockingly real" drama about the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush.

In the film "Death of a President,", Bush is killed by a sniper, and the investigation quickly focuses on a Syrian-born man. It will air in October on Channel 4's More4 digital channel, as well as at the Toronto Film Festival in September.
- When the drama was revealed to the press earlier this week, there were mixed views between European and American public. The European public was all for it as it was a fictional drama and freedom of speech allowed such scripts. In America, the land of the free, the public were very angry at the drama, citing that it might inspire some nutcase to do something in real life. I tend to agree with the American public. I think the American have had so many high profile assassination that drama like this is very hurtful to the American public.

Here is a list of some high profile assignations in the US:
Abraham Lincoln, (1865), President of the United States
James Garfield, (1881), President of the United States
William McKinley, (1901), President of the United States
John F. Kennedy, (1963), President of the United States
Medgar Evers, (1963), U.S. civil rights activist
Malcolm X, (1965), black leader,
Martin Luther King Jr., (1968), U.S. civil rights activist
Robert F. Kennedy, (1968), Presidential candidate

UK
Blair jeered by college students
Tony Blair was booed and faced chants of "out, out, out" by pupils at at Quintin Kynaston school at which he made a statement about his future

Students at the school used their afternoon off lessons to join anti-war demonstrators at the school gates. A small group of teachers cheered and applauded Mr Blair as his cavalcade approached the school gates but they were drowned out by about 60 protesters who gathered in the street outside the school.

They held placards with the words "time to go" and a 4ft model of a dog biscuit which they were offering as a "reward" to "Tony the Poodle" for his obedience to US President George Bush. One 13-year-old girl said: "They [the protesters] are not exploiting us. "We understand some stupid people in politics are trying to kill the Lebanese and Iraqis and everybody else."
- Looks like the future is bright!


Mr Brown for PM?
The Labour leadership battle flared again today as the former Home Secretary Charles Clarke criticised Gordon Brown's behaviour as "absolutely stupid ".

He said that people in the Labour Party had been angered by a photo of Mr Brown grinning as he left Downing Street after talks with Mr Blair. Mr Brown should have distanced himself the rebels who wrote to the Prime Minister demanding his resignation.
- Quite right!

Palestinians tell Blair: you are not welcome here
Tony Blair has already been told that he not welcome in the Lebanon, now Palestinians have also told him not to come. Hundreds of Palestinians signed a newspaper advertisement yesterday criticising Tony Blair and telling him he would not be welcome when he arrives on a Middle East visit expected this weekend.

Mr Blair is expected in Jerusalem this weekend where he is likely to meet the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, as well as the foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, and the defence minister, Amir Peretz. Mr Blair will travel to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to meet Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority. He is not expected to meet members of the Hamas government.

Palestinian politics are in crisis at the moment because Israel and the international community have blocked funding to the elected Hamas government. There have been strikes among teachers, doctors and security forces who have not been paid since March.
- An article about this issue will be published soon!

Africa
South Africa deaths rise sharply
South Africa's death rate rose sharply over a seven-year period and the increase is partly due to the country's staggering AIDS epidemic, the government said.

Overall, the government has estimated more than 5.5 million South Africans are infected with HIV, a number second only to India and one that amounts to about an eighth of estimated cases worldwide. On average, more than 900 people die of the disease in South Africa each day.

South Africa's government has come under mounting international criticism because of its handling of its AIDS epidemic. President Thabo Mbeki once questioned the link between HIV and AIDS and both he and Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang have doubted the effectiveness of anti-retroviral drugs used to treat AIDS.

Her office has been controversial, mainly because of her reluctance to adopt a plan for treating AIDS in the public sector with anti-retroviral medicines. She has been called 'Dr Beetroot' for promoting the benefits of beetroot, garlic, lemons, and African potatoes as well as good general nutrition, while referring to possible toxicities of AIDS medicines.
- so much for using alternative medicines!


Asia & Australasia
Philippines: Mayoral Election
It is assumed that Imelda Marcos may run for mayor of Manila in 2007. The widow of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, was a one-term member of the Lower House of Congress from 1995 to 1998.
- Lets hope, if elected, the petty cash till at the mayoral office can cope with her shoe fetishes.

Australia: "Crocodile Hunter" Irwin dies
It was also sad to hear of the death of Steve Irwin, the quirky Australian naturalist who won world-wide acclaim. A stingray barb went through his chest, instantly killing him. A state funeral was proposed but the Irwin family declined it.

And finally….

Hong Kong: Banker wins salsa case
A prominent Hong Kong banker has won back millions of dollars paid to famous salsa dancers for private lessons. Monica Wong agreed to pay Italian Mirko Saccani and world champion wife Gaynor Fairweather HK$120m ($15.4m, £8.2m) for eight years of unlimited lessons from 2004 till 2012.

But the relationship quickly broke down after Mr Saccani called her a "lazy cow" at a public practice session. The dance instructors claimed it was a tool to motive her, but Monica felt hurt by the comments and never went back to the lessons. A judge ordered the pair to return HK$62m Ms Wong had already paid, plus interest.
- Having too much money means there is a chance of wastage of money, this is one such case.