THE ECONOMIST: The failure of the drug war has led a few of its braver generals, especially from Europe and Latin America, to suggest shifting the focus from locking up people to public health and “harm reduction” (such as encouraging addicts to use clean needles). This approach would put more emphasis on public education and the treatment of addicts, and less on the harassment of peasants who grow coca and the punishment of consumers of “soft” drugs for personal use. That would be a step in the right direction. But it is unlikely to be adequately funded, and it does […]

MSNBC: After Barack Obama’s first six weeks as president, the American public’s attitudes about the two political parties couldn’t be more different, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds. Despite the country’s struggling economy and vocal opposition to some of his policies, President Obama’s favorability rating is at an all-time high. Two-thirds feel hopeful about his leadership and six in 10 approve of the job he’s doing in the White House. “What is amazing here is how much political capital Obama has spent in the first six weeks,” said Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with […]

[Illustration by TAMER YOUSSEF] INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE: One day after judges at the International Criminal Court ordered his arrest for atrocities committed in Darfur, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir of Sudan offered a fiery and defiant response on Thursday, telling a crowd of thousands in his own country that “we are not succumbing, we are not bending” to outside pressure. Jabbing the air with a walking stick and flanked by aides and bodyguards, Bashir called the court’s decision a conspiracy designed to recolonize his country. “Sudan is raising its voice. It rejects the hegemony, the colonialists,” he declared. Referring to the […]

STATEN ISLAND LIVE: Several people have asked him to stop. But as of today, Salvatore Ballarino [pictured, below] was still forwarding e-mails of jokes that make him chuckle — and that, at times, make others feel very uncomfortable. “I just sent six or seven out today,” he said. “If I get an e-mail and I think it’s funny, I’m going to send it out.” Many people are questioning Ballarino’s judgment after the member of the all-volunteer Community Education Council District 31 forwarded an e-mail that has put Staten Island’s African American community into a fury. The e-mail, a mock photo […]

[via YAWOOT] THE U.K. REGISTER: The [British] government has announced that it will publish guidance for schools on how creationism and intelligent design relate to science teaching, and has reiterated that it sees no place for either on the science curriculum. It has also defined “Intelligent Design”, the idea that life is too complex to have arisen without the guiding hand of a greater intelligence, as a religion, along with “creationism”. Responding to a petition on the Number 10 ePetitions site, the government said: “The Government is aware that a number of concerns have been raised in the media and […]