Hamid Karzai has issued a decree calling for presidential elections to be moved to April. He says that’s in line with the country’s constitution.
The Independent Election Commission has already said it wants the vote to be held in late August, citing concerns over security and possible delays caused by winter weather.
Al Jazeera’s James Bays reports from the Afghan capital. More from the New York Times.
One year has passed since Kenya’s leaders signed a peace deal to end post-election violence that killed at least 1,000 people.
While those behind the killings are waiting to be brought to justice, Al Jazeera’s Yvonne Ndege in Nairobi reports on how other contending issues have made the coalition government increasingly unpopular.
A funky, psychedelic fish that bounces on the ocean floor like a rubber ball has been classified as a new species. The fish is found off Ambon in the Moluccas.
“I didn’t come here to do the same thing we’ve been doing or to take small steps forward. I came to provide the sweeping change that this country demanded when it went to the polls in November. That is the change this budget starts to make, and that is the change I’ll be fighting for in the weeks ahead.” — President Barack Obama
The President in his Weekly Address speaks on the Budget, calling it a “a threat to the status quo in Washington.” He first notes how it meets the promises made on the campaign trail in addition to reflecting the values of the country and the stark realities facing the nation. The President also acknowledges that powerful forces are gearing to fight the changes proposed in the Budget but notes that so is he. President Obama is casting himself as a populist crusader willing to do battle with special interests.
More from the New York Times.
The address hinted at the strategy the White House intends to employ to push for the spending plan released last week, a return to a more traditional Democratic approach of positioning the party as fighting against the rich and powerful. In Mr. Obama’s telling, he is taking on entrenched interests in the form of banks, insurance companies, large agribusinesses, oil and gas companies and others.
Beyond the $3.6 trillion budget for the 2010 fiscal year, the president’s spending plan outlines an array of ambitious initiatives for the next several years that collectively would transform American society. He wants to extend health coverage to the more than 40 million uninsured, revamp industry so that it stops producing so many emissions that cause climate change, develop alternative energy sources and invest billions of dollars more in education.
At the same time, he wants to restructure the tax code to shift more of the burden from lower- and middle-income workers to the rich to reverse the widening income gap of recent years. And he promised to bring the skyrocketing federal deficit, projected to reach $1.75 trillion this year, under control in his first term.
The president said his plan already had “special interests” gearing up for battle. He said that “the insurance industry won’t like the idea” that he would force competitive bidding for Medicare coverage, that “banks and big student lenders won’t like the idea” of ending subsidies for student loans, and that “oil and gas companies won’t like” the end of certain tax breaks.
“The system we have now might work for the powerful and well-connected interests that have run Washington for far too long, but I don’t,” he said. “I work for the American people.”
He sure does and it is really nice to have him on the job.