Category: Religion

Uruguay Tackles Women's Rights vs. Abortion

  El Pais, Uruguay 09 Nov 2007 @ 23:01 GMT | Permalink | Comments

The Uruguayan Bishops Conference is gearing up for a fight against legalized abortion amid fears that this secular Catholic country might expand women's rights. The Senate this week passed a bill decriminalizing abortion with a narrow margin of 18-to-13. President Tabaré Vázquez, a physician by trade, has vowed to veto the legislation if the Chamber of Deputies approve it.

The bill allows "conscientious objection" by doctors and healthcare workers, but it considers a time limit on such objections to prevent them from simply refusing everybody. The country of 3.5 million people is predominantly Catholic (66 percent), but far fewer (perhaps less than half) attend mass regularly.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 23:01 | Permalink | Comments (0)
TAGGED: Abortion | Catholic Church | Uruguay

Quicklinks: 2007.11.09

09 Nov 2007 @ 20:30 GMT | Permalink | Comments

• Stage Set for Confrontation With General Musharraf (The New York Times)
• Georgia Opts for Early Vote Amid Rising Tension and Mistrust (BBC News)
• Georgia Seeks Badri Patarkatsishvili for Plotting 'Coup' (Reuters)
• Truth Comes Out: Georgian Billionaire Patarkatsishvili Wants to Be President (The Guardian)
• Ex-Thai Army Chief Threatens Another Coup If Thaksin Wins (Bangkok Post)
• Go Monks! Cracks Within the Burmese Military Appears (International Herald Tribune)
• Bolshevik Revolution Going Down as 'Political Coup' (Itar-Tass)
• Coup Within Coups: Wolfowitz's Affairs Ruined Neocon Plans (Salon.com)
• Denmark's First Muslim MP Could Become Kingmaker (Spiegel)
• Germany in Hot Seat Over Holocaust Reparation (Haaretz)
• Belgium, 'An Accident of History,' Squabbles for 150 Days Without a Government (The Economist)
• Election Time in S. Korea: Slew of Bribery Scandals Exposed (Financial Times)
• Druze Leader Jumblatt: End War With Israel, Settle Sheba'a Farms Peacefully (Jerusalem Post)
• Putin 'Urged to Rule' Russia After His Term Expires (Kommersant)
• Beaujolais Nouveau Est Arrivé, Au Japon! (Mainichi Shimbun)
• Turkana Boy Triggers Christian Opposition in Kenya (Times of London)
• Chávez: Protests Against 'Reform' Is Another U.S.-Backed Plot (El Universal (Spanish))
• Mexico Considers National Space Agency (LiveScience.com)

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 20:30 | Permalink | Comments (0)
TAGGED: Archeology | Belgium | Burma | Georgia | Kenya | Thailand | Venezuela

Radical Islam Flourishing in Bosnia

  Spiegel 09 Nov 2007 @ 18:48 GMT | Permalink | Comments

They were supposed to have gone home after the Balkan Wars. But the foreign mujahedeen who imported radical views of Islam stayed in Bosnia. Saudi financiers pumped half-billion euros into building mosques, and Wahhabism is spreading. Analysts fear the country could become another training ground for terrorists.

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 18:48 | Permalink | Comments (0)
TAGGED: Bosnia | KSA | Mujahedeen | Terrorism

Islamist Governments Stifling Science

06 Nov 2006 @ 17:02 GMT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Islamist governments stifle science and research unless it involves the military.

Across the world, Islamist governments share several things in common. They tend to be undemocratic and restrict freedom of expression. And the advancement of science and technology falls victim to their policies, says the journal Nature.

In an unprecedented look at the place science has in Islamist countries, Nature is offering "Islam and Science," a package of features, for free. (Very generous of them.)

Which countries will block access to this feature when an Arabic translation becomes available?

Read more

Posted by Dayhawk Kim at 17:02 | Permalink | Comments (1)
TAGGED: Freedom | Islam | Science