User talk:NewsColl

US President has turned up a hornet’s nest with his suggestion that a mosque be built on ground zero where the twin towers of the World Trade Center existed in New York. Now speculations are rife that he is recommending this probably because he is a Muslim, as his name suggests. According to a recent poll by Pew Research Centre, close to one in every five Americans think wrongly that Obama is a Muslim, which is a far higher number than people who thought the same when he took up residence in the White House. The survey was conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and was based on interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Little idea about their president Only 34% of people polled correctly answered that Obama is a Christian. 43% said they had no clue about his religion, showing how little the Americans knew about the person who holds the privilege of being the ‘most powerful man on the planet’. Most of the people (close to 60% of the respondents who felt he was a Muslim) said their perceptions were largely influenced by media information or mis-information in this case. And this feeling gained momentum once he supported suggestions by Muslim groups to construct an Islamic cultural centre and mosque near the 9/11 terror attack site. The issue about the has also brought to the fore, the underlying and growing religious intolerance of US citizens, who consider all brown-skinned people as Pakistanis, unaware about the diversity of the different cultures in the Asian sub-continent. Xenophobia has become rife in a country which was better known as the land for the free and fearless at one point of time. But post-9/11, people are on the edge and distrust most Asians, which is unfair. Where ignorance is bliss, is it truly folly to be wise? The Pew survey results show how important a role the media plays when it tries to influence people with their perception of reality. With the current viewpoint about Obama’s religion, his political career could see a period of turmoil, since most Americans have a not so favorable view about Muslims. When Obama supported the creation of a mosque on ground zero, doubts started creeping into the citizens’ mind about his religious beliefs, which could have a direct impact on his popularity. He has already faced a lot of opposition on the health reform bill which he pushed through the Senate and the Pew poll shows that now 41% of respondents disapprove of his job performance as compared to 26% who voiced their disapproval in the agency’s March 2009 poll. Following this poll Joshua DuBois, White House faith adviser shared his unhappiness and blamed certain factions in the media and his opponents for creating this wrong impression. “While the president has been diligent and personally committed to his own Christian faith, there are certainly folks who are intent on spreading falsehoods about the president and his values and beliefs,” he reportedly said. Now the White House’s public relations machinery will have to work on an overdrive to highlight that Obama was actually born to a Kenyan father and an American mother. He grew up in Hawaii when his father left for Africa, when Obama was just two. He was raised by his maternal grandparents and incidentally his grandfather, Hussein Onyango Obama, was a Muslim. The bone of contention The Islamic educational culture centre which also houses a mosque whose construction Obama supported is actually two blocks away from Ground Zero. This 13-story building is led by the Cordoba Initiative, which is headed by Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf, a cleric with a mosque in New York, who also belongs to an advocacy group that promotes improved relations between Islam and the West. The group aims to educate local masses about the actual teachings of the Islam and showcase that the religion is not fundamentalist in nature nor does it preach hatred. The message that the group wanted to spread is that ordinary Muslim Americans and most Muslims around the world do not subscribe to the terror attacks carried out by a minority faction in their community, under the guise of religion. Ironically, their centre itself has now come in the eye of the storm, with strong opposition from major Republican leaders. Amongst them is former House Speaker Newt Gingrich who claimed that “Nazis do not have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington. We would never accept the Japanese putting up a sight next to Pearl Harbor. There is no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.” Obama on the other hand tried to fervently convince his opponents, during an iftar dinner (a dinner which signals the end of a day-long fast during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan) telling that the believed that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as every other person in this country. And if they wish to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances, then such a move should not be opposed. Bouquets and brickbats thrown in together Obama has found some supporters for his move like New York City Mayor Michael R Bloomberg, who also supported the planned mosque. He described that Obama’s views were “a clarion defense of the freedom of religion”. But Republicans like former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin asked Obama, whether they should permit the building of the mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed 3000 people? The mosque is just a symbol now which shows what the general public opinion is about religious tolerance, especially a religion which has unfortunately been linked to most terror attacks to the world over. Co-relating its construction with the perceived religious beliefs or even the religion that the President of United States subscribes is not only foolish, but also counter-productive to his detractors in the long run. Obama’s overtures to the construction of the Islamic center is a positive step in telling the world that the US is not prejudiced against any religion and supports their right to practice it peacefully in the country. One can only hope that his political peers see how this message will help assuage millions who have been trained to believe that the US is a demon to hated and feared and then inducted in terror camps in certain countries. http://www.newscollective.com/blog/?p=3385

Lara Logan – Determined, focused and on the mend
CBS, like all networks around the world, had many of its correspondents in the thick of the Egyptian crisis these past weeks. One of those reporters, Lara Logan, chief foreign correspondent for the network, had been reporting on what she thought would be one of the last broadcasts from Tahrir Square, situated in the heart of the Egyptian unrest. She was, like everyone else, paying close attention to the events that were unfolding moment by moment. Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak had only minutes before announced his resignation. It should have been a time for celebration for those in the area; after all, it was the Egyptian leader’s refusal to step down that had resulted in the uncertainty that gripped the country for weeks. Now, it appeared as though the crisis was beginning to recede. For Logan, however, it symbolized the start of an entirely new hell on earth; one she continues to recover from. Logan surely felt as though she were safe; after all, she was surrounded by hundreds, if not thousands of people – happy people; folks who were celebrating and with renewed hope. She and her producers were looking for people to interview for an upcoming 60 Minutesbroadcast. For a few brief moments, she was separated from her team. And in that brief window of time, Logan was kidnapped and as CBS reports, “dragged away”. She was stripped and then brutally beaten for more than thirty minutes by several men. She endured punches, slaps, pinches, kicks and groping. Once her team found her, they too were attacked and at least one security guard suffered a broken hand in the melee. Logan escaped, ironically, only after a group of Egyptian women came to her rescue. These fearless women jumped on the attackers and distracted them long enough for Logan to flee. While she’s recovering in her Washington DC home, she knows her journey is not over. From a psychological stance, those wounds not visible will surely be the ones that haunt her the longest. Controversy soon began as many people from around the world contributed their thoughts. One journalist went so far as to say that Logan should have been better prepared for the Egyptian cultural norms. The anti-American sentiment is undeniable; though for anyone who does not travel outside the U.S; it may be difficult to comprehend. Women are not safe. They are not safe in their world and sadly, as one look at FBI statistics reveal, they are not safe in their American homes. So was Logan expecting too much? Did her false sense of security, courtesy of the former president’s announcement along with the hundreds of folks she was surrounded by, play a role? The truth is Logan took all the precautions. As one who’s traveled in some of the most savage places for women, she knows all too well how quickly danger can arrive. She knows that there are areas in the world where women are still treated as property. She has reported on women’s rights in the past – from some of the most dangerous places for any woman to be. Still, and chalk it up to human nature, there are few women who would not have let their guard down, even just slightly, with the dynamics in place that fateful day. She was with her team, even if the team was out of her line of vision for a split second. As the photos reveal, she was not isolated; people were surrounding her and at no time there was not a group of people less than two inches from her. It was a celebratory tone, cheering and laughing Egyptians all around. It should have been a safe moment for her. Instead, that brief moment betrayed her in a savage way. For now, Logan, known for her independent spirit and willingness to ask tough questions, insists she will continue in her career. Her husband, understandably, has his concerns. He knows that Logan is a powerhouse who refuses to be held back. She’s focused and healing – and those two sentiments will certainly lend to a more powerful woman – and journalist – once she comes through the other side. http://www.newscollective.com/blog/?p=3729

Japan Hit By Magnitude 8.9 Earthquake and Tsunami
Several countries in the Pacific, Southeast Asia, Latin America, and North America have also raised tsunami alerts. The places that have already issued the alerts are Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Russia, New Zealand, Philippines, Hawaii and Chile.

The quake struck at a depth of approximately15 miles with the epicentre 240 miles northeast of Tokyo. Within two hours 4 to 10-meter high tsunamis slammed into Japan’s eastern coast, sweeping away cars and boats inland. Structures already damaged by the earthquake were further damaged by the tsunamis and swept away.

Fires in several locations along the coast, triggered by ruptured gas lines, also burned structures. A large fire also hit the Cosmo oil refinery in Ichihara city in Chiba prefecture near the capital. According to Prime Minister Naoto Kan, nuclear power plants were not affected. The Japanese government has already sent military troops to affected areas.

Television footage showed the Sendai airport inundated with water and mud. The runway was littered with debris, cars, buses, and trucks swept in by tsunami waters. One TV news footage showed a house on fire being swept away by water. Elsewhere, large fishing boats lay beside city freeways, left at the site as the tsunami water receded back to sea.

Arlyn Kobori, who lives in the Saitama Prefecture, located in the northern part of the Greater Tokyo Area, which is very close to the epicentre, said that numerous strong aftershocks continued hours after the big quake. Water and gas lines were cut in her home. Kobori said it was the most powerful quake she had ever felt in Japan.

“My son was about to leave for work but the earthquake struck before he was able to leave the house.” Kobori said. “We huddled under the tables several times as aftershocks kept coming and would not stop.” Kobori said she fears for her husband who is not home yet with night and darkness creeping in.

In central Tokyo trains were stopped and power was down. Power is down in most parts of Tokyo including its suburbs. The ceiling of a large hall in Tokyo, Kudan Kaikan, collapsed injuring people who were inside. Video clips showed office workers stumbling around as the earthquake struck. Buildings continued to sway 30 minutes after the big earthquake struck.

Tokyo’s main airport was closed after a ceiling at the year-old airport at Ibaraki collapsed with a loud crash. Dozens of fires and fallen structures were reported in the northern prefectures of Sendai, Fukushima, Iwate and Ibaraki.

A hotel reportedly collapsed in Sendai raising fears of hundreds of people trapped, dead and injured. Landslides and collapsed homes were also reported in Miyagi. The death toll has been confirmed at 26 as of Friday evening local time. Junichi Sawada, an official from Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said that they expect damages and casualties to rise.

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