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Robert Watts TERRY PRATCHETT, the fantasy writer suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, has suggested he may have found God after years of atheism. The 60-year-old creator of the Discworld series has spoken of an unexplained experience shortly after his diagnosis with the condition. |
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Science may soon liberate us from our addiction to expensive fossil fuel The Times Forgotten to fill the petrol tank? Worried that you won't find a garage that still has any diesel, because of the strike by fuel tanker drivers? Fearful that even if the garage does have petrol, you don't know if you'll be able to afford any on account of the numbers in the price window at the petrol station spinning round, these days, as randomly as the drums of a one-armed bandit? |
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By Prof. Mohammed Rafi FRIDAY FEATURE LAW is generally defined as a body of rules, regulations and principles that govern the affairs of a country. It is enforced by a political authority in conformity with an established legal system.
As Islam makes no distinction between religious and social values, its laws cover not only the ritual, but every aspect of life. Four main sources of Islamic law include the Quran, as the supreme source, Sunnah or the life of the Prophet (SAW) as an example, the consensus of the Muslims (Ijma) and reasoning by analogy (Qiyas). |
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By DAVID BROOKS Is Barack Obama really a force for change, or is he just a traditional Democrat with a patina of postpartisan rhetoric?
That question is surprisingly hard to answer. When you listen to his best speeches, you see a person who really could herald a new political era. But when you look into his actual policies, you often find a list of orthodox liberal programs that no centrist or moderate conservative would have any reason to support. |
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An Arab Muslim foresees a possible new era of positive US leadership By Yasser Khalil Cairo - U.S. Senator Barack Obama represents a phenomenon that has drawn global attention and captivated the minds of Muslims around the world as he wages a spirited campaign to become the next president of the United States.
In spite of the campaign's heated debate and some controversial rhetoric regarding Islam, large segments of the Muslim population here remain fascinated with the election and have become big fans of Senator Obama. |
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By GAIL COLLINS Everybody knows that the very first rule in picking a vice president is to do no harm. Really, you can choose anybody. How dumb would you feel if it turned into an embarrassment? This is why the careful, modern candidate sets up a screening system. Now ask yourself: how dumb would you feel if you got in trouble over your selection for the vice-presidential screener. |
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By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF One of the missed opportunities of the primary season was that Hillary Clinton never gave a speech about gender comparable to Barack Obama’s speech about race. That was understandable: She didn’t want to be reduced to the “woman candidate.” But such a speech might have triggered a useful national conversation about women in leadership, and so, Mr. Obama, now it’s up to you: Why don’t you give that speech? I’m helpfully offering some talking points: |
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By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN This column will probably get Barack Obama in trouble, but that’s not my problem. I cannot tell a lie: Many Egyptians and other Arab Muslims really like him and hope that he wins the presidency.
I have had a chance to observe several U.S. elections from abroad, but it has been unusually revealing to be in Egypt as Barack Hussein Obama became the Democrats’ nominee for president of the United States. |
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By David Usborne THE armed revolutionary has no place in modern Latin America, the Venezuelan President has declared. Catching his critics off guard, Hugo Chavez called on the Marxist rebel army in neighbouring Colombia to lay down its arms and release its hostages, declaring that guerrilla armies are now “out of place”. |
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Second-guess the president? Actually, yes By Mickey Edwards The central feature of American government, the one that made the United States "exceptional" and preserved our freedoms for more than 200 years, is in the process of being destroyed. The enemy is not in Iraq or the hills of Pakistan but in Washington and in cities and towns throughout the United States. |
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The Prime Minister has got to decide whether he is tender or tough on terrorism Rachel Sylvester If you ask Google “What is the meaning of life, the Universe and everything?” the search engine replies: “42”. This is, of course, the response given by the Deep Thought Computer in Douglas Adams's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But it could just as easily explain why our Deep Thought Prime Minister decided that it should be possible for the State to detain terrorist suspects without charge for 42 days. |
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By David Cronin
It is a safe bet that there will be no mass shedding of tears when US President George W. Bush visits Slovenia to attend the final summit of his presidency between the European Union and the United States June 10. Some 50 detainees are believed to face grave risks to their personal safety if they are returned home. Human rights activists have asked European governments to provide shelter to many of these detainees. Some of them have already been cleared for release but remain in custody. |
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By ROGER COHEN
The French have always cherished a class of people called “les bons Américains.” These good Americans were those truest to a Gallic idea of what the United States should be, and in recent years those at the furthest remove from the aberrant folk who elected George W. Bush. “Polls,” Packer writes, “reveal that Americans favor the Democratic side on nearly every domestic issue, from Social Security and health care to education and the environment.” |
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By Mubarak Ali
IN a stagnant society where moral values and traditions decline, where intellectuals fail to create new ideas in order to inspire the people, where political parties take no interest in mobilising the masses for a change in the system and where leaders, instead of resisting, are ready to compromise with the powers that be in order to retain their privileges and status, the emergence of a new movement with fresh ideas and a vision for change inspires the entire society to actively participate in the struggle. |
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America's swing vote lies with those who may be relaxed about race but fearful and suspicious of the Democratic candidate as a member of the educated, liberal elite, writes Sarah Churchwell
Ever since Barack Obama clinched the Democratic nomination, one question has preoccupied the European media: is America ready for a black president? This seems to me a silly question but clearly it needs answering. Logically, there are four possible responses: America is ready, and Obama will be elected; America is ready, and Obama will not be elected; America is not ready, and Obama will be elected; America is not ready, and Obama will not be elected. |
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By Ameer Buksh Bhutto ON May 28, the Nepalese parliament passed a declaration dethroning King Gyanendra and abolishing a 240-year-old monarchy, declaring the country to be a republic. This is how things are done when there exists an honest commitment and sincerity to achieve a certain goal.
Our awami government, on the other hand, has wasted more than two months doing nothing more than wrangling over whether the judges should be restored by means of a resolution or a constitutional amendment. |
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By choosing the right man for the White House, Americans can salvage the inspiring idea of the United States Matthew Parris I don't write much about America. This newspaper boasts reporters and commentators with so much better knowledge and wisdom in this field that my three-ha'pence-worth seems superfluous. It's years since I was at university in Connecticut and my finger is no longer anywhere near the pulse of Washington politics or American culture.
So this column, provoked by the suspension of Hillary Clinton's campaign, will be an unusual trespass into unfamiliar territory. It is written by a comparative ignoramus and complete outsider. |
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By Chris Suellentrop Leaping past Carter, McGovern and Goldwater: Barack Obama’s presidential campaign “will likely be remembered as the most successful primary insurgency ever,” writes Ronald Brownstein in National Journal. That’s part of the reason why Obama’s candidacy represents an enormous gamble for the Democratic Party, Brownstein adds. |
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Going carless may not be cool – but I know it's worth it By Mark Klempner Florence, Mass. - My wife and I do not own a car. Going carless seems like the right thing, based on what we know about global warming.
Granted, we don't much like cars, and we chose our house because we can walk or bike to most places we need to be. Still, once in a while, it would be nice to get a few kudos. The old pop hit celebrates "two less lonely people in the world." Why doesn't anyone celebrate two less polluting people in the world? |
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By Rupert Cornwell in Washington
(© Independent News Service) SO where did it all go so badly wrong for Hillary? It already seems an eternity ago, but as recently as October, the Democratic nomination for 2008 seemed to be Hillary Clinton's for the asking. But the dream has died and the party is on a fixed course to nominate Barack Obama at its Denver convention in August. |
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