National Day of Prayer goes on despite ruling

Washington (News Today) - The 59th annual National Day of Prayer was held Thursday against a backdrop of controversy and growing doubts about the future of the event, which a federal judge recently declared unconstitutional.

President Truman signed a bill establishing an official National Day of Prayer in 1952, but U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb in Wisconsin ruled April 15 that the law violates the ban on government-backed religion.

The Justice Department is appealing the case on behalf of the White House. An injunction against the National Day of Prayer will not take effect until all government appeals have been exhausted.

Several events to mark the day were scheduled Thursday across Washington, including services at the Pentagon, the Cannon House Office Building and on the steps of the Capitol.

"America was birthed in prayer and founded on the God of the Bible, on his biblical principles and on his moral values," Day of Prayer organizer Shirley Dobson said.

Dobson blamed the controversy on a "small band of self-proclaimed atheists and agnostics" determined to "take down this magnificent day."

Dobson is married to Focus on the Family founder James Dobson -- a popular evangelical broadcaster and one of the country's most powerful conservative Christian leaders.

The Rev. Franklin Graham, addressing one of the events near Capitol Hill, bemoaned what he characterized as a decay in moral values across America.

The evangelist highlighted the removal of classroom prayer from public schools, arguing that many "young people today don't understand what's right or wrong."

The Army recently rescinded its invitation to Graham to participate in the Pentagon's Day of Prayer event after he made controversial remarks about Islam.

"True Islam cannot be practiced in this country," he told CNN's Campbell Brown in December. "You can't beat your wife. You cannot murder your children if you think they've committed adultery or something like that, which they do practice in these other countries."

Shortly after the September 11, 2001, attacks, Graham -- son of famed evangelist Billy Graham -- called Islam a "very evil and wicked religion."

President Obama issued his proclamation for this year's observance less than three weeks after Crabb's ruling that the event was unconstitutional, but he had no plans to take part in any specific events.

"I call upon the citizens of our nation to pray, or otherwise give thanks, in accordance with their own faiths and consciences, for our many freedoms and blessings, and I invite all people of faith to join me in asking for God's continued guidance, grace, and protection as we meet the challenges before us," Obama said in his official proclamation.

The administration toned down White House participation in the observance last year, deciding against holding a public ceremony.

During George W. Bush's administration, the White House hosted an interfaith service each year, inviting Protestant, Catholic and Jewish leaders for an event at the East Room. Presidents Reagan and George H.W. Bush also marked the day with a White House observance.

In ruling that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, Crabb wrote its "sole purpose is to encourage all citizens to engage in prayer, an inherently religious exercise that serves no secular function. ... In this instance, the government has taken sides on a matter that must be left to individual conscience."

Source : CNN

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Whistle Blower Susno Possibly Named Suspect

Jakarta, Indonesia (News Today) - Lawyers of case brokerage whistle blower Susno Duaji, a former National Police chief detective, expressed concern on Thursday that police investigators will name him a suspect.

"There is an indication that Susno will be named a suspect and detained. There are rumors to that effect. So, it is just logical if we are worried," M. Assegaf, one of Susno’s lawyers, said at the Police Headquarters on Thursday.

Susno Duadji became popular for having revealed a Rp25 billion-worth tax fraud case involving rogue tax official Gayus Tambunan and made a public statement suggesting that case brokering practices were rife in the police force.

Apart from rumors that the former chief of the National Police’s Criminal Investigation Department (Bareskrim) would be named a suspect, his lawyers were also suspicious about the police summons which did not contain the name of a suspect.

Susno did not show up for questioning as a witness on Thursday because the summons did not include the name of a suspect. Assegaf said his client was reluctant to come to the national police headquarters because the summons did not specifically mention the names of the suspects in the case for which he was to be questioned.

"Our client is very sorry for not being able to meet the police’s summons," he said.

Assegaf said members of Susno Duadji’s lawyers’ team had met with the National Police’s chief detective, Commissioner General Ito Sumardi, to ask him about the absence of the suspects’ names in the summons. He said previous police questioning processes were conducted professionally but there were indications the police would later name Susno a suspect and arrest him.

"It has become a rumor. Of course, we are concerned," he said.

In the meantime, Chief Criminal Investigator Comr. Gen. Ito Sumardi said that police independent investigators had the authority to change Comr. Gen. Susno Duadji’s status from witness to suspect and to detain him.

"There is a rule which stipulates that the team of independent investigators has the full right to carry out investigation, including naming Pak (Mr) Susno a suspect and detain him," Ito said.

Comr. Gen. Ito made the statement in connection with the failure of Susno Duadji to meet the police’s first summons on Thursday and the fear of Susno’s lawyers that their client would be named a suspect and detained.

The independent investigators would have questioned former chief Susno Duadji at Police Headquarters on Thursday in connection with tax official Gayus Tambunan tax fraud case and alleged money embezzlement at PT Salma Arowana Lestari. Because he did not show up on Thursday at the police headquarters for examinations, investigators sent Susono a second summons on Thursday for questioning on Monday.

"The summons was sent on Thursday," Police Headquarters’ Spokesman Insp. Gen. Edward Aritonang said.

The police spokesman said Susno’s lawyer questioned the summons as it did not mention the name of the suspect nor the case over which Susno would be questioned, and that this was the reason his client had not met the summons. Edward Aritonang said the Code of Criminal Procedures (Kuhap) did not require a summons to mention the name of a suspect.

"In fact, Pak (Mr) Susno was to be questioned to identify or determine the suspect," the police headquarters’ spokesman said. The two-star general said the format of the second summons was the same as the first one, namely it did not contain the name of a suspect.

Edward said the questioning would be about the public remarks Susno had once made alleging there was a case-brokering network bigger than the one involving tax official Gayus Tambunan with Sjahril Djohan as the key player. When questioned by the police’s independent investigation team, Sjahril Djohan had linked Susno’s name with a money embezzlement case involving PT Salma Arowana Lesteri, which was doing an arowana breeding business.

Another member of Susno Duadji’s lawyers’ team, Ari Yusuf Amir, had previously said the police investigators assigned to question Susno on Thursday were the same as those who had quizzed him on April 20 and April 22. Police had so far quizzed Susno three times over the Gayus Tambunan and arowana fish cases.

Tambunan is now a suspect in tax fraud case worth Rp25 billion which also involved his lawyer, Haposan Hutagalung. During the April questioning, police questioned Susno about the arowana fish case because it might have involved Haposan Hutagalung and Sjahril Djohan. The latter was also allegedly involved in the Gayus Tambunan case.

The arowana fish case was related to a dispute between a Singaporean businessman (only identified as HKH) and his Indonesian counterpart (only identified as AS alias Am). HKH reportedly had given Rp100 billion to his Indonesian partner to engage in the arowana fish business in Pekanbaru, Riau Province. The Singaporean businessman had also handed over arowana fingerlings with a total value of Rp32 billion. The dispute occurred when he was still the national police’s chief detective.

On the summons for Susno’s questioning on Monday, Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri has confirmed it. Danuri said a followup summons had to be issued to Susno Duadji who did not meet a first summons.

Danuri said that based on existing procedural rules, a second summons would be sent if the first summons was not fulfilled. If Susno remained defiant and did not meet the second summons, the third summons would be sent with an order to bring him to the police headquarters for questioning.

"It will depend on the investigators," the police chief said.

Source : kompas.com

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Sudan president wins election, officials say

(News Terupdate) - Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir won the country's controversial but historic presidential election with roughly two-thirds of the vote, the National Election Commission said Monday.

The elections were the first in 24 years in the oil-rich African nation, which has been riven by fighting in Darfur and a civil war between north and south.

A top United Nations official in southern Sudan called the voting "a necessary step in moving towards democratic governance in Sudan."

"The fact that it has come this far can seen as a step forward. It is a step forward in the peace agreement" signed in 2005, said David Gressley, UN resident coordinator for southern Sudan.

He confirmed that two supporters of an independent candidate for governor in Unity State were killed in clashes in the state capital Bentiu on Friday. But he said that in general, the post-election period has been relatively quiet.

The United States and other international observers criticized the elections, saying there were irregularities in many parts of the country.

The elections were "an essential step" in the peace process, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said in a statement last week.

But there were problems with the process, he said, citing "reports of intimidation and threats of violence in South Sudan, [and the] ongoing conflict in Darfur did not permit an environment conducive to acceptable elections."

Al-Bashir won 68.24 percent of the vote in the presidential race, getting just under 7 million votes, the commission said.

Salva Kiir won 92.99 percent of the vote in the race for president of Southern Sudan, a semi-autonomous region that is scheduled to vote next year on whether to become independent.

The results reflect the divisions between north and south that continue to plague the country, a leading independent political analyst said.

"Omar al-Bashir did very well in Northern states and it is not surprising that he did not do well in the South as he is not really well liked by the people in the South," the expert said. The analyst is not authorized to speak on the record and asked not to be named.

There could be isolated incidents of violence in response to the results, but they are what was expected, the observer said.

Al-Bashir, a former military officer who took power in a bloodless coup in 1989, has been indicted over allegations of war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

His implementation of Islamic law created divisions between the north and south.

The voting -- for president, parliament and other local positions -- was scrutinized by about 750 international and 18,000 domestic observers.

The election was a key part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which helped end decades of civil war between the country's north and south.

The conflict pitted Christian and animist southerners against Muslim northerners, leaving more than 2 million people dead.

The peace deal also called for a referendum next year to determine whether the south should become an independent nation.

"The elections in the south experienced a high incidence of intimidation and the threat or use of force," the Carter Center said after the voting on April 18.

"There were numerous instances of the Sudan People's Liberation Army intimidating voters and being stationed too close to polling stations. State interference in the campaigns of opposition candidates was widespread in the south," said the Atlanta, Georgia-based organization headed by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter.

However, the EU mission said, the elections showed progress on gender equality, "as a minimum of 25 percent of all legislative seats will be occupied by women."

Source : CNN

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'The Science Guy' says: 'Save the Earth'

Los Angeles, California (News Terupdate) - There were several speeches at the first Earth Day -- back in 1970, before the disco era -- on the National Mall. Back then, it was about pollution -- fighting pollution. Now, it's about not just trash and crazy unnatural chemicals, it's about climate change. It's not just that there's more trouble; it's more of a desperate situation.

I rode to the Washington Monument that day on my bicycle wearing a sign that read "Pedals Don't Pollute." I rendered the "o" in Pollute as the original Earth symbol from that early era. It has an equator and is reminiscent of the Greek letter theta. Even if I wasn't as cool and thoughtful as I hoped to appear, the first Earth Day's message was good then, and it's better today: We have to take care of the Earth. Or the Earth, in hit-man style, will see to it that a great many of us are "taken care of."

When we think of Earth Day, many of us think of good ol' hippies bent on living off the electrical grid, drinking spring water from somewhere and recycling everything -- bottles, shoes and lint maybe. Their battle cry: "Save the Earth."

Well, saving the Earth might be a reasonable pursuit. But the Earth is going to be fine. It's been here 4.5 billion years. What we want to do, and Earth Day reminds us of this, is save the Earth for us ... for you and me. We want to keep the Earth in about the same shape we found it, so that most of us can keep living here.

I'm talking about billions and billions of us. My father and I were disappointed to arrive at the 1965 New York World's Fair after the scoreboard-style lighted display on the Earth's population changed from 2,999,999,999 people to a bit over 3 billion. To watch all those numbers change would have been wondrous, like the joy one gets when the car odometer flips over to 100,000 miles or kilometers.

Well, now my friends, 40-plus years later, we have more than doubled that population number to 6.8 billion. People. On Earth.

There is no question that if each of us on the planet tries to live the way people do in the parts that are considered the developed world, we won't make it. The Earth does not have enough clean water, good pasture land or even livable space along coasts to have everyone in, say, the poorer areas of western China and central India living and driving the way we do in, say, northern Virginia.

In response to this clear but astonishing state of affairs, we could try just doing less. Drive less; use less clean water and wear dirty clothes. In fact, how about if humans, like you, just don't eat?! For me, this self-denial approach would be more in keeping with your old, or early, Earth Day.

But no. Instead, what we have to come up with are ways to do more with less. This is what Earth Day has become.

We need to be conservationists to be sure, preserving wetlands, forests, open spaces and coastlines. We need to reduce our waste -- plastic trash and the like. But what we really need is big, new ideas: new ways to distribute and store energy for electric power, new ways to conserve and distribute clean water for farming and gulping, and new ways get ourselves and our cargo around, so that we don't change the Earth's climates too much as we burn our fossil fuels.

I used to believe that all we had to do was become efficient, or less inefficient. I used to think that if we just stopped squandering water, forests and electrical power, we'd improve the environment and preserve our environments around the world.

Nowadays though, I'm thinking that we are going to need extraordinary measures soon. For one thing, we're going to need to cool the planet somehow, probably by reflecting some sunlight back into space. How about if we turned that giant island of plastic trash floating in the Pacific Ocean Gyre into a mirror or shade, or something?

Climate change is going to challenge us like nothing else in human history. It's going to take big ideas that work, and big ideas that allow regulations to be enforced in harmony.

Look at a picture of our world from space. The atmosphere is often not even visible. If you could drive straight up into outer space, you'd be there in less than an hour. Our atmosphere is so very thin, and we're changing its mixture of gases with our activities. We're trapping heat and warming our world.

This Earth Day, keep in mind that each of us affects everyone else on Earth, because we all share the land, the ocean and especially the air on what is proving to be a pretty small planet. Let's take care of it.

Happy Earth Day.

Source : CNN

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