Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan Part II

Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

More heat than light at US hearing on radical Muslims Organisers accused of going on a witch hunt

Mar 12, 2011

By Chua Chin Hon, US Bureau Chief

Mr Peter King, who convened the hearing, said Americans cannot live in denial, referring to recent terror attempts by radicalised American Muslims.

WASHINGTON: A controversial hearing on the radicalisation of American Muslims has produced sharply divergent views as United States lawmakers clashed on a heated issue drawing increasing attention as the 10th anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks neared.

Republican lawmaker Peter King, who convened Thursday's hearing as chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, and his supporters said their intention was to 'inform, not inflame'.

'(We) cannot live in denial which is what some would have us do,' Mr King said in reference to a recent spate of home-grown terror attempts by radicalised American Muslims.

40% of Americans link Islam to violence: poll

A Pew poll says that four in 10 Americans believe that Islam is more likely to encourage violence than other religions. -- ST FILE PHOTO

WASHINGTON - FOUR in 10 Americans believe Islam is more likely to encourage violence than other religions, up sharply from March 2002, six months after the September 11 attacks, according to a new Pew poll.

The figure is lower than July 2004, when a post-9/11 high of 46 per cent of respondents said the Muslim faith is more likely than others to foment attacks, but it marks a significant rise from the 25 per cent recorded in March 2002 and 35 per cent from just seven months ago.

In the latest national poll conducted February 22 to March 1 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 42 per cent of respondents said Islam does not encourage violence more than other ideologies, down from 51 per cent in March 2002.

Parsing its own findings, the center reported that Tea Party conservatives and conservative Republicans were most likely to link Islam to violence, with 67 per cent and 66 per cent respectively, while just 29 per cent of liberal Democrats were.

Six in 10 white evangelical Protestants were likely to do the same, while 'by nearly two to one (56 per cent to 30 per cent), the religiously unaffiliated say that the Islamic religion does not encourage violence more than others,' Pew said.

The survey results were released ahead of controversial congressional hearings held on Thursday in Washington on homegrown Muslim terrorism. The independent, non-partisan Pew interviewed 1,504 adults by telephone in the United States for its poll, which did not report a margin of error. -- AFP

Mar 8, 2011

AUSSIE FIGHT AGAINST POVERTY

Lessons from Singapore's fair, not welfare, approach

By Noel Pearson

AFTER 10 years looking to North America and Britain for reform inspiration in the fight against poverty, I have come to the conclusion we are looking in the wrong places. There is a country in our own region from which we have more to learn: Singapore.

Failing the World's Lungs