Climate Change: Sarkozy Announces Carbon Tax
Today, French President Sarkozy announced the creation of a carbon tax of 17 Euros per tonne of CO2 emitted. He called it “a fiscal revolution”. “If things don’t change, it will be your children who pay the price,” said Sarkozy. The new tax will be on oil, natural gas, and coal consumption. The carbon tax […]
Israeli Rights Group: 773 Out Of 1,387 Killed In Gaza Were Civilians
Today, the Israeli human rights group B’ Tselem published its findings on the number of Palestinians killed in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza strip. According to B’ Tselem’s comprehensive investigation, Israeli forces killed 1,387 Palestinians during the course of the 3 weeks military operation. Of these, 773 did not take part in the hostilities […]
Afghan Elections: 54 Percent For Karzai, But Convincing Evidence Of Fraud
Partial results released today give Hamid Karzai 54 percent of the votes, if the result is confirmed by the Independent Election Commission (IEC), it would allow Karzai to win without a runoff with Abdullah Abdullah. However, the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) in Afghanistan has ordered the IEC to recount votes at certain polling stations […]
Sudan: Woman Journalist Jailed For Wearing Trousers
Sudanese woman journalist Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein was sent to jail after she refused to pay a 500 Sudanese pounds ( 200 US dollars) fine imposed by a court on Monday for wearing trousers, deemed “indecent” by Sudanese Islamic law. She was taken to the prison for women in Omdurman. According to Sudanese law she could […]
Afghanistan: McChrystal Does Damage Control As Anger Rises After 90 Killed In NATO Air-Strike
Latest updates: 9/5/2009 at 11:00 AM ( US PST): Today, General McChrystal made the unprecedented decision of appearing on Afghan TV, to address the Afghan people directly. He also went to visit the site of the attack as NATO began an investigation. “As commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), nothing is more important […]