Earth Day - 22 April 2009

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Earth Day Facts: When It Is, How It Began, What to Do
John Roach
April 20, 2009

From not-so-humble beginnings in 1970, when 20 million participated across the U.S., Earth Day has grown into a global tradition, with a billion expected to take part in 2009. Find out when it is, how it started, how it's evolved, and what you can do.

When Is Earth Day?

Every day, the saying goes, is Earth Day. But it's popularly celebrated on April 22. Why?

One persistent rumor holds that April 22 was chosen because it's the birthday of Vladimir Lenin, the founder of the Soviet Union.

"Lenin's goal was to destroy private property and this goal is obviously shared by environmentalists," the Capitalism Magazine Web site noted in a 2004 article perpetuating the theory.

Kathleen Rogers, president of Washington, D.C.-based Earth Day Network, which was founded by the original organizers of Earth Day, scoffs at the rumored communist connection.

She said April 22, 1970, was chosen for the first Earth Day in part because it fell on a Wednesday, the best part of the week to encourage a large turnout for the environmental rallies held across the country.

"It worked out perfectly, because everybody was at work and they all left," she said.

In fact, more than 20 million people across the U.S. are estimated to have participated in that first Earth Day.

Earth Day is now celebrated every year by more than a billion people in 180 nations around the world, according to Rogers.

Global music sales down 8 percent in 2008

An Excerpt
Tue Apr 21, 2009 10:31pm BST
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Global recorded music sales fell by more than 8 percent in 2008 to $18.42 billion (12.56 billion pounds) led by a sharp drop-off in sales in the United States, according to the world music trade body IFPI.

The global music industry has seen recorded music sales tumble in recent years due to the twin impact of a transition by consumers to cheaper digital song formats such as MP3s and rampant piracy in many countries.

While digital music sales are growing, they have failed to make up for the shortfall of compact disc sales.

Overall, U.S. music sales fell by 19 percent last year while sales in Europe were down by 6 percent. Latin America was also down by 5 percent but Asia was the one positive regional bright spot with sales up slightly by 1 percent.

Sales of physical music formats like CDs fell 15 percent globally to $13.83 billion, led by a drop of nearly a third in U.S. physical format sales and an 11-percent fall in European physical sales.

Digital music sales, which include song downloads, mobile music, online subscriptions and streaming via advertising supported services, grew by 24 percent globally to $3.78 billion. Global digital music sales were dominated by the United States where sales grew 16.5 percent to $1.78 billion.

The world's largest recorded music companies include Vivendi's Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Group.

(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)

Great Wall of China longer than expected

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:09:58 GMT

A two-year government mapping study has revealed that the Great Wall of China is 180 miles longer than previous surveys had found.
According to a report posted on the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping website, the new sections of the ancient structure were found using infrared range finders and GPS devices.
Newly-found sections of the wall, which were concealed by hills, trenches and rivers, stretch from the Hu Mountain in the northern Liaoning Province to the Jiayu Pass in the western Gansu Province.
Experts say the hidden sections were constructed to stop northern invaders during the Ming Dynasy (1368-1644) and were submerged over time by sandstorms.
The study will continue for another 18 months to map the parts built during the Qin (221 BC-206 BCE) and Han (206 BC-9 CE) dynasties, BBC reported.
Recent archeological studies have found that some parts of the wall in Gansu are being eroded to "mounds of dirt" by sandstorms and will be completely destroyed in the next 20 years.
China has been restoring parts of the wall in recent years and experts are concerned about tourist graffiti covering almost every brick on a popular section of the wall near Badaling.
The Great Wall of China, which was listed as a UNESCO world heritage site in 1987, was built to keep out Mongols and invaders and protect the northern borders of the Chinese Empire.
TE/HGH

President Ahmadinejad's speech at the Durban Review Conference on racism

"A proposal backed by Muslim countries for a defamation of religion clause was dismissed as an attack on free speech, and yet some of those very countries making those criticisms didn't want the president to make his address." - QUOTE


Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:20:10 GMT

The following is the speech of the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Durban Review Conference on racism in Geneva on April 20.


Mr. Chairman, honorable secretary general of the United Nations, honorable United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Ladies and gentleman:

We have gathered in the follow-up to the Durban conference against racism and racial discrimination to work out practical mechanisms for our holy and humanitarian campaigns.

Over the last centuries, humanity has gone through great sufferings and pains. In the Medieval Ages, thinkers and scientists were sentenced to death. It was then followed by a period of slavery and slave trade. Innocent people were taken captive in their millions and separated from their families and loved ones to be taken to Europe and America under the worst conditions. A dark period that also experienced occupation, lootings and massacres of innocent people.

Many years passed by before nations rose up and fought for their liberty and freedom and they paid a high price for it. They lost millions of lives to expel the occupiers and establish independent and national governments. However, it did not take long before power grabbers imposed two wars in Europe which also plagued a part of Asia and Africa. Those horrific wars claimed about a hundred million lives and left behind massive devastation. Had lessons been learnt from the occupations, horrors and crimes of those wars, there would have been a ray of hope for the future.

The victorious powers called themselves the conquerors of the world while ignoring or down treading upon rights of other nations by the imposition of oppressive laws and international arrangements.

Ladies and gentlemen, let us take a look at the UN Security Council which is one of the legacies of World War I and World War II. What was the logic behind their granting themselves the veto right? How can such logic comply with humanitarian or spiritual values? Would it not be inconformity with the recognized principles of justice, equality before the law, love and human dignity? Would it not be discrimination, injustice, violations of human rights or humiliation of the majority of nations and countries?

The council is the highest decision-making world body for safeguarding international peace and security. How can we expect the realization of justice and peace when discrimination is legalized and the origin of the law is dominated by coercion and force rather than by justice and the rights?

Coercion and arrogance is the origin of oppression and wars. Although today many proponents of racism condemn racial discrimination in their words and their slogans, a number of powerful countries have been authorized to decide for other nations based on their own interests and at their own discretion and they can easily violate all laws and humanitarian values as they have done so.

Following World War II, they resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering and they sent migrants from Europe, the United States and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in occupied Palestine. And, in fact, in compensation for the dire consequences of racism in Europe, they helped bring to power the most cruel and repressive racist regime in Palestine.

The Security Council helped stabilize the occupying regime and supported it in the past 60 years giving them a free hand to commit all sorts of atrocities. It is all the more regrettable that a number of Western governments and the United States have committed themselves to defending those racist perpetrators of genocide while the awakened-conscience and free-minded people of the world condemn aggression, brutalities and the bombardment of civilians in Gaza. The supporters of Israel have always been either supportive or silent against the crimes.

Dear friends, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. What are the root causes of the US attacks against Iraq or the invasion of Afghanistan?

Was the motive behind the invasion of Iraq anything other than the arrogance of the then US administration and the mounting pressures on the part of the possessors of wealth and power to expand their sphere of influence seeking the interests of giant arms manufacturing companies affecting a noble culture with thousands of years of historical background, eliminating the potential and practical threats of Muslim countries against the Zionist regime or to control and plunder the energy resources of the Iraqi people?

Why, indeed, almost a million people were killed and injured and a few more millions were displaced? Why, indeed, the Iraqi people have suffered enormous losses amounting to hundreds of billions of dollars? And why was billions of dollars imposed on the American people as the result of these military actions? Was not the military action against Iraq planned by the Zionists and their allies in the then US administration in complicity with the arms manufacturing countries and the possessors of wealth? Did the invasion of Afghanistan restore peace, security and economic wellbeing in the country?

The United States and its allies not only have failed to contain the production of drugs in Afghanistan, but the cultivation of narcotics has multiplied in the course of their presence. The basic question is that what was the responsibility and the job of the then US administration and its allies?

Did they represent the countries of the world? Have they been mandated by them? Have they been authorized by the people of the world to interfere in all parts of the globe, of course mostly in our region? Are not these measures a clear example of egocentrism, racism, discrimination or infringement upon the dignity and independence of nations?

Ladies and gentlemen, who is responsible for the current global economic crisis? Where did the crisis start from? From Africa, Asia or from the United States in the first place then spreading across Europe and their allies?

For a long time, they imposed inequitable economic regulations by their political power on the international economy. They imposed a financial and monetary system without a proper international oversight mechanism on nations and governments that played no role in repressive trends or policies. They have not even allowed their people to oversea or monitor their financial policies. They introduced all laws and regulations in defiance of all moral values only to protect the interests of the possessors of wealth and power.

They further presented a definition for market economy and competition that denied many of the economic opportunities that could be available to other countries of the world. They even transferred their problems to others while the waves of crisis lashed back plaguing their economies with thousands of billions of dollars in budget deficit. And today, they are injecting hundreds of billions of dollars of cash from the pockets of their own people and other nations into the failing banks, companies and financial institutions making the situation more and more complicated for their economy and their people. They are simply thinking about maintaining power and wealth. They could not care any less about the people of the world and even their own people.

Mr. President, Ladies and gentlemen, Racism is rooted in the lack of knowledge concerning the root of human existence as the selected creature of God. It is also the product of his deviation from the true path of human life and the obligations of mankind in the world of creation, failing to consciously worship God, not being able to think about the philosophy of life or the path to perfection that are the main ingredients of divine and humanitarian values which have restricted the horizon of human outlook making transient and limited interests, the yardstick for his action. That is why evil's power took shape and expanded its realm of power while depriving others from enjoying equitable and just opportunities of development.

The result has been the making of an unbridled racism that is posing the most serious threats against international peace and has hindered the way for building peaceful coexistence in the entire world. Undoubtedly, racism is the symbol of ignorance which has deep roots in history and it is, indeed, the sign of frustration in the development of human society.

It is, therefore, crucially important to trace the manifestations of racism in situations or in societies where ignorance or lack of knowledge prevails. This increasing general awareness and understanding towards the philosophy of human existence is the principle struggle against such manifestations, and reveals the truth that human kind centers on the creation of the universe and the key to solving the problem of racism is a return to spiritual and moral values and finally the inclination to worship God Almighty.

The international community must initiate collective moves to raise awareness in afflicted societies where ignorance of racism still prevails so as to bring to a halt the spread of these malicious manifestations.

Dear Friends, today, the human community is facing a kind of racism which has tarnished the image of humanity in the beginning of the third millennium.

World Zionism personifies racism that falsely resorts to religions and abuses religious sentiments to hide its hatred and ugly face. However, it is of great importance to bring into focus the political goals of some of the world powers and those who control huge economic resources and interests in the world. They mobilize all the resources including their economic and political influence and world media to render support in vain to the Zionist regime and to maliciously diminish the indignity and disgrace of this regime.

This is not simply a question of ignorance and one cannot conclude these ugly phenomena through consular campaigns. Efforts must be made to put an end to the abuse by Zionists and their political and international supporters and in respect with the will and aspirations of nations. Governments must be encouraged and supported in their fights aimed at eradicating this barbaric racism and to move towards reform in current international mechanisms.

There is no doubt that you are all aware of the conspiracies of some powers and Zionist circles against the goals and objectives of this conference. Unfortunately, there have been literatures and statements in support of Zionists and their crimes. And it is the responsibility of honorable representatives of nations to disclose these campaigns which run counter to humanitarian values and principles.

It should be recognized that boycotting such a session as an outstanding international capacity is a true indication of supporting the blatant example of racism. In defending human rights, it is primarily important to defend the rights of all nations to participate equally in all important international decision making processes without the influence of certain world powers.

And secondly, it is necessary to restructure the existing international organizations and their respective arrangements. Therefore this conference is a testing ground and the world public opinion today and tomorrow will judge our decisions and our actions.

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, the world is going through rapid fundamental changes. Power relations have become weak and fragile. The sound of cracks in the pillars of world systems can now be heard. Major political and economic structures are on the brink of collapse. Political and security crises are on the rise. The worsening crisis in the world economy for which there can be seen no bright prospect, demonstrates the rising tide of far-reaching global changes. I have repeatedly emphasized the need to change the wrong direction through which the world is being managed today and I have also warned of the dire consequences of any delay in this crucial responsibility.

Now in this valuable event, I would like to announce to all leaders, thinkers and to all nations of the world present in this meeting and those who have a hunger for peace and economic well-being that the unjust economic management of the world is now at the end of the road. This deadlock was inevitable since the logic of this imposed management was oppressive.

The logic of collective management of world affairs is based on noble aspirations which centers on human beings and the supremacy of the almighty God. Therefore it defies any policy or plan which goes against the influence of nations. The victory of right over wrong and the establishment of a just world system has been promised by the Almighty God and his messengers and it has been a shared goal of all human beings from different societies and generations in the course of history. Realization of such a future depends on the knowledge of creation and the belief of the faithful.

The making of a global society is in fact the accomplishment of a noble goal held in the establishment of a common global system that will be run with the participation of all nations of the world in all major decision making processes and the definite root to this sublime goal.

Scientific and technical capacities as well as communication technology have created a common and widespread understanding of the world society and has provided the necessary ground for a common system. Now it is upon all intellectuals, thinkers and policy makers in the world to carry out their historical responsibility with a firm belief in this definite root.

I also want to lay emphasis on the fact that Western liberalism and capitalism has reached its end since it has failed to perceive the truth of the world and humans as they are.

It has imposed its own goals and directions on human beings. There is no regard for human and divine values, justice, freedom, love and brotherhood and it has based living on intense competition, securing individual and cooperative material interest.

Now we must learn from the past by initiating collective efforts in dealing with present challenges and in this connection, and as a closing remark, I wish to draw your kind attention to two important issues:

Firstly, it is absolutely possible to improve the existing situation in the world. However it must be noted that this could be only achieved through the cooperation of all countries in order to get the best out of the existing capacities and resources in the world. My participation in this conference is because of my conviction to these important issues as well as to our common responsibility of defending the rights of nations vis-à-vis the sinister phenomena of racism and being with you, the thinkers of the world.

Secondly, mindful of the inefficiency of the current international political, economic and security systems, it is necessary to focus on divine and humanitarian values by referring to the true definition of human beings based upon justice and respect for the rights of all people in all parts of the world and by acknowledging the past wrong doings in the past dominant management of the world, and to undertake collective measures to reform the existing structures.

In this respect, it is crucially important to rapidly reform the structure of the Security Council, including the elimination of the discriminatory veto right and to change the current world financial and monetary systems.

It is evident that lack of understanding of the urgency for change is equivalent to the much heavier costs of delay.

Dear Friends, beware that to move in the direction of justice and human dignity is like a rapid flow in the current of a river. Let us not forget the essence of love and affection. The promised future of human beings is a great asset that may serve our purposes in keeping together to build a new world.

In order to make the world a better place full of love and blessings, a world devoid of poverty and hatred, merging the increasing blessings of God Almighty and the righteous managing of the perfect human being, let us all join hands in friendship in the fulfillment of such a new world.

I thank you Mr. President, Secretary General and all distinguished participants for having the patience to listen to me. Thank you very much.

HN/AR/SME/MMA

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Mon, 20 Apr 2009 23:54:13 GMT

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at a Swiss university has been canceled due to apparent pressure from pro-Israeli lobbying.


President Ahmadinejad was scheduled to deliver a speech at the Webster University in Geneva, Switzerland and later participate in a question and answer session, but the event was cancelled after intense Israeli lobbying, ISNA reported on Monday.

The Iranian president arrived in Geneva on Sunday to attend a UN-backed Durban Review Conference against racism, xenophobia and intolerance beginning on Monday.

Tel Aviv stepped up efforts to convince European countries to boycott the meeting and to abstain from meeting the Iranian president, a vocal critic of Israel.

Israel also recalled its ambassador to Switzerland, Ilan Elgar, in protest to the UN conference that was boycotted by Tel Aviv's allies.

The United States and Israel walked out of the first UN racism conference in Durban in 2001, which condemned Israeli atrocities against Palestinians and sought to pass a resolution likening Zionism to racism.

RZS/AR/SME/MMA
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mon, 20 Apr 2009 18:30:32 GMT
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has questioned the advocates of "freedom of speech" about the sincerity of their conviction.

After Israeli advocates staged a walkout in the midst of the Iranian president's speech at the UN anti-racism summit, President Ahmadinejad criticized the "so-called advocates of freedom of information."

"Why is it that the so-called advocates of freedom of information fear hearing other people's opinions," the Iranian president asked.

Speaking at a news conference in Geneva after addressing the United Nations conference on racism, President Ahmadinejad described the countries which boycotted or walked out of the UN anti-racism summit as "arrogant and selfish."

"In our opinion, this is arrogance and selfishness and the root cause of the world's problems," President Ahmadinejad told the Monday press conference.

"The subject of this conference is anti-racism and the advocates of racism did not attend this summit," he added.

The Iranian president's speech at the Durban Review Conference at the UN European headquarters was disrupted several times by protesters who shouted slogans and held placards before they were escorted out of the conference room by security guards.

President Ahmadinejad's anti-Israeli remarks also caused 23 European Union delegatees to walk out of the conference room.

CS/HGH
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Ahmadinejad calls for 'change' in world order
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said all peace-loving nations must join the cause of "justice" if there is to be change.
Tue, 21 Apr 2009 06:59:12 GMT

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has invited all peace-loving humans across the world to take steps toward promoting justice.
"The world today needs convergence. We need to construct a new world on the basis of friendship and mutual respect," Ahmadinejad said in a Geneva meeting with Ramsey Clark, former US attorney general and winner of the 2008 UN Human Rights Award.
"It is not important where people are from, Palestinian or American or even Iranian. All of the peace-loving people of the world irrespective of their origin must join the cause of justice," he continued.
Ahmadinejad, who had been in Geneva to address the UN-backed Durban Review Conference against racism, returned to a heart-warming welcome in Tehran on Tuesday.
Supporters of Israel in Europe and the US had reacted with dismay to remarks by Ahmadinejad at the conference on Monday; 23 European Union delegates walked out of the room in protest at his criticism of Israeli crimes.
Ahmadinejad criticized the officials, reminding the audience that they are the people who boast of carrying the mantle of 'freedom of expression' in the world today.
"Why is it that the so-called advocates of freedom of information fear hearing other people's opinions?" the Iranian president asked.
Although his speech prompted a temporary walkout by certain delegates, the UN assembly hall received a rapturous applause from those delegations that had remained seated.
Clark told Ahmadinejad that logic dominated his speech and that many Americans would agree with his stance if they were allowed to judge for themselves.
Clark is among a handful of former US officials that have criticized Israel and White House support for the crimes perpetrated against the Palestinian nation.
"We've had 50 years of assault on Palestinian rights. I think they are the most terrorized… at least with the Iraqi people…. They're the most terrorized people on earth… and have been for so many years," he has said.
"Practically every Palestinian lives in constant harassment, threat of violence, humiliation
It's been that way for a long long time."
Pressures from the Zionist lobby in the United States have led to objections to the tone of the declaration set to be adopted by the five-day conference.
The United States and Israel walked out of the first UN racism conference in Durban in 2001 -- a conference that condemned Israeli atrocities against Palestinians and sought to pass a resolution likening the philosophy of Zionism to racism.
Ahmadinejad responded on the issue that the global need for justice requires that all countries seek 'change', including the Israel-allied United States.
SF/JG/AA

Yusuf Islam's past, present in harmony on new album

Yusuf Islam's past, present in harmony on new album
Sat Apr 18, 2009 12:40am EDT - REUTERS EXCERPT

By Ann Donahue

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Yusuf Islam is wearing a starched white shirt and sitting on a stark white couch at Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel, sipping tea from a white teacup and admitting that he's taken aback by the hotel's lurid vibrancy.

"It's so ... Hollywood," chuckles Yusuf, the Artist Formerly Known As Cat Stevens, as Prince might call him. Rumored to be haunted by the ghost of Marilyn Monroe, the hotel is located on a vaguely upmarket stretch of Hollywood Boulevard -- in that it contains a Baja Fresh fast food joint instead of a fetish shop.

Hollywood -- a place perpetually in the process of reinventing itself -- seems an appropriate place to meet Yusuf (he now goes by the single name), whose back story is the stuff of cable TV biopics. After almost drowning in the ocean off the coast of Malibu in 1977 and converting to Islam, Yusuf left the secular music scene and stayed away for almost 30 years. He re-emerges to make occasional musical appearances for charity -- and has made involuntary appearances in headlines after several controversies surrounding his faith.

Since the Nielsen SoundScan era started in 1991, he has sold 6.2 million albums; his last one as Cat Stevens was released in 1978. But after receiving support from Islamic theologians about the propriety of performing music -- and with the unceasing encouragement of his son, Muhammad Islam, a singer-songwriter who records melodic folk under the name Yoriyos -- Yusuf returned in 2006 with "An Other Cup."

With the May 5 release of "Roadsinger" -- only his second collection of secular music since his conversion -- he reconciles his Cat Stevens singer-songwriter past with his man-of-faith Yusuf Islam present.

INTIMATE SHOWS

Yusuf, who splits his time between London and Dubai, will tour clubs to support the album, and the shows will feature music from both of his creative incarnations, according to his manager, David Spero. In the coming months he will perform in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Toronto, as well as some yet-to-be-announced European dates.

"It will be a very informal kind of setting where there might be some tables onstage, might be some friends having coffee and maybe a little conversation in between," Yusuf says.

The cover of "Roadsinger" is a cheeky nod to his Cat Stevens era; it features a snub-nosed 1969 Volkswagen van decorated with the iconic artwork from the "Tea for the Tillerman" and "Moonshadow" album covers. (Yusuf owns the van and drives it around London.)

"After I recorded 'An Other Cup,' I got a fantastic reaction, but a lot of people wanted to hear me do simple stuff, just with the guitar again," he says. "Perhaps I went to town a little bit with the production on the last album. I was just having fun with the new technologies -- we have endless tracks on Pro Tools. You can just flow them out and add and add, and I did."

Recorded in Los Angeles and London, the tracks on "Roadsinger" are stripped down, with his voice and guitar in the forefront.

While he's promoting the album on late-night and early-morning talk shows, Yusuf is writing the musical "Moonshadow," scheduled to debut in London's West End at the end of 2009. Like his upcoming tour, it's a blend of his classic songs, including the title track, and newer work. A corresponding soundtrack is expected later this year.

For Yusuf, working on the two projects simultaneously created some headaches: Which song goes into the stage show? And which on the album? Again, it was his son Yoriyos who guided him. "He said, 'Dad, let me have a go,'" Yusuf says. "He's got such ears. He wanted to create that journey that the album can take you on." Yoriyos will open for his father during Island Records' 50th anniversary concert series the last week of May at London's Shepherds Bush Empire.

MUSIC AS COMMON GROUND

Although Yusuf has reconciled his personal life with his creative history, he finds his ability to move between the two cultures overshadowed by politics. To put it bluntly, it's a tough time to be a Muslim with a Western fan base. But Yusuf believes that music can help harmonize different outlooks.

"I think the recent events of the world -- the polarization of creative chaos, if you like -- has helped create an upsurge in people wanting to mend this world and call humanity back to its senses," Yusuf says. "It's the same as when I was writing 'Peace Train' and the Vietnam War was going on. It was another very unpopular war, which created energy within the populace to speak out and sing out."

A series of incidents drew media attention, starting in 1989 when remarks he made at London's Kingston University were interpreted as support for the fatwa against author Salman Rushdie. Yusuf maintains that his comments were misunderstood, that he intended only to explain tenets of Islamic law. He issued a statement against vigilantism the day after his appearance.

In 2004, Yusuf was flying to the United States to meet his longtime friend and collaborator Dolly Parton when the Department of Homeland Security's no-fly list led to his being deported back to England. An official explanation was never given, but Yusuf released a statement saying that he was the victim of mistaken identity because of a misspelling on the list. (Yusuf since has been granted entry to the States numerous times without incident.)

A simple bureaucratic error, but in the post-9/11 era, one that still resonates. How is Yusuf dealing with it? By making fun of the situation. The song "Boots & Sand" was written after the incident and features Parton, Paul McCartney, Alison Krauss and Terry Sylvester portraying sheriffs and trading verses with Yusuf: Sheriffs: "Is your name this?" / Yusuf: "I guess it is." / Sheriffs: "You're on our 'no song' list." / Yusuf: "Oh no, sir, no. This can't be so!"

"It's a slight oddity of a song," Yusuf says. "The image I had was kind of a cowboy B movie made in Italy -- but the story came from real events, real people." It's a way of cleverly defusing the memories of the situation for Yusuf and the pop culture-consuming public. His manager, Spero, says the song may be released as a bonus track on the U.S. version of "Roadsinger."

The Fellini-inspired video for "Boots & Sand" was shot by Jesse Dylan in the desert outside Los Angeles and features Yusuf leading a band of weary travelers. "It's a goof," Spero says. "He took a real sense of humor to it."

Between these public incidents and personal crises of faith, Yusuf hasn't traveled an easy road. "One of the things he's realized again is what he does best is make music," Spero says.

One track on "Roadsinger," "Be What You Must" -- a piano-and-strings tune that features Michelle Branch, Gunnar Nelson and children from a London school that Yusuf supports -- strikes to the heart of the artist's conversion from pop star to religious devotee and his re-emergence to embrace his status as one of the industry's elder statesmen.

"That was inspired by a philosophical saying of Eckhart Tolle," Yusuf says. "He says, 'To be what you must, you must give up what you are.' I thought that said so much about my life."
_______________________________________________________________________________

PROFILE OF YUSUF ISLAM

Profile of Yusuf Islam
He was born Steven Demetre Georgiou, in London, 21st July 1948. His mother was Swedish and his father was a Greek Cypriot restaurant owner, they lived in the centre of London and Steven went to Roman Catholic Primary School.

Having left school at the age of 16 with an ‘A’ grade O-Level in Art, he entered Hammersmith Art Colleges and the following year, 1966, as ‘Cat Stevens’, he recorded his first single. From then right up to 1977 Cat Stevens composed and sang many hit records including ‘Mathew and Son’, ‘Here Comes My Baby’, ‘Wild World’, ‘Morning Has Broken and ‘Moonshadow’, selling approximately 40 million long playing records throughout the world.

Following a bout of TB during his career, Cat Stevens undertook an ongoing search for peace and ultimate spiritual truth. This yearning often expressed in his songs and reflected through his investigations into eastern faiths such as Zen Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism and Astrology, resulted in this embracing the Islamic faith in December 1977. ‘Cat Stevens’ became Yusuf Islam.

Since embracing Islam, Yusuf Islam has married and now has five children.

He is a leading and active member of the Muslim community in Britain and is principally involved in three areas: Education of Muslim children, Da’wah to non-Muslim and Humanitarian Relief work. Among his well known projects can be listed the following :

ISLAMIA SCHOOLS Islamia Primary School was founded by Brother Yusuf in October 1983, with 13 boys and girls between the ages of 3 and 4.

The School grew in popularity, numbers increased very quickly and in the following year the waiting list exceeded one thousand.

In 1989 he set up the Islamia Girls’ Secondary School, teaching up to GCSE examination level. This soon became top in local examination results and set a new standard for Muslim Schools in the UK. Today Islamia School’s Centre teaches over 430 pupils has recently expanded its activities to include A-Level courses for girls: Islamia 6th Form college.

OTHER EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES Brother Yusuf is also Chairman of the United Kingdom Islamic Education Waqf (UKIEW) which offers financial help to Muslim schools. He is also Chairman of the Association of Muslim Schools which gives advice on educational matters and representation to over 40 schools in Britain.

WAQF AL-BIRR EDUCATIONAL TRUST Waqf al-Birr Education Trust a registered UK Charity, was founded by Brother Yusuf Islam in 1992 specifically to cater for Da’wah as well as educational research and development.

It is instrumental in providing expert advise and assistance to both new and well established Muslim schools in matter relating to staff recruitment, curriculum development and teacher training. This is done through its involvement with the International Board of Educational Research and Resources (IBERR).

In September 1996 Waqf al-Birr opened its Brondesbury College for Boys in London. The college was founded by Brother Yusuf in recognition of the need for the provision of a board system of educational excellence, one that would meet the demands of parents who want their sons to have the necessary skills and moral qualities for tomorrow’s world. The school holds 125 boys of the secondary age.

MOUNTAIN OF LIGHT - Mountain of Light was set up as a Company by Brother Yusuf Islam in December 1994, and its activities were fully operational by July 1995, its principle aim was to provide high quality Da’wah material, primarily in audio-visual form. Brother Yusuf turned his attention to studio work and this has resulted in an audio recording of his highly popular CD and cassette release of ‘Life of the Last Prophet’.

This spoken- word production, which is designed for both Muslim and a non-Muslims listening public, is Brother Yusuf’s first official record since departing from the music business nearly twenty years ago. This latest production is a Book and CD / Cassette recording of ‘A is for Allah’, which teaches Islam.

This spoken- word production, which is designed for both Muslim and a non-Muslims listening public, is Brother Yusuf’s first official record since departing from the music business nearly twenty years ago. This latest production is a Book and CD / Cassette recording of ‘A is for Allah’, which teaches Islam.

RELIEF WORK Muslim Aid, an international aid agency, was established by Brother Yusuf Islam in 1985 in co-operation with other Muslim organisations, he being the founding Chairman.

Its aim was to alleviate poverty and provide relief for the victims of wars and natural disasters. In 1994 / 1995 the organisation helped some 400,000 people in need around the world, distributing around £2 million in aid.

Last year Brother Yusuf resigned his role as Chairman and left Muslim Aid, but is still very actively involved in Relief with his new charity Small Kindness which concentrate on orphans and families. He currently supports 2,500 orphans and children in Kosova and is supporting ‘100 – Homes’ building project in Turkey.

World's Most Expensive Domain Name

Business.com which was resold in 1999 for $7.5 million, according to Guinness World Records, appears to have been surpassed as the most expensive domain name, and not by theRecordBreakingDomain.com which was attempting to become the most expensive domain name in a media-move by selling for $7,500,001.

On January 19, 2006, it was reported that the domain Sex.com sold for $14 million US dollars to Boston-based Escom LLC, making it the most expensive domain sold. Former Sex.com owner Gary Kremen, reportedly wants to get out of the adult entertainment business. Other sources are quoted as saying the price Sex.com sold for was $11.4-12 million US dollars according to Reuters and AZOnline.

While the current market for internet domains is nowhere as solid as it was during the dot-com peak, the market remains strong and is experiencing solid growth. Each year tens of millions of dollars are exchanged during the resale of domains. In September of 2005, the gambling company Leisure & Gaming has paid $1.4 million for the vip.com domain. This is the most expensive domain name sale publicly reported during 2005.

The most expensive domain sale in 2004 was for creditcards.com.

A small Austin marketing firm has paid $2.75 million for CreditCards.com. Despite the rocky history of high-priced domain sales, participants say it was a fair price, and the sale may signal a new gold rush for Internet address speculators.

“It’s like prime real estate, there’s only so much of this real estate to go around. I feel like we bought a slice of Park Avenue,” said ClickSuccess CEO Dan Smith. The sale was actually completed in March [2004]. src

Excerpt from : World's Most Expensive

The Most Expensive Coffee In the World

The most expensive coffee in the world does not hail from Jamaica or Hawaii, but instead from Indonesia.

Kopi Luwak the most expensive coffee in the world does exist, and those who drink the expensive coffee insist that it is made from coffee beans eaten, partly digested and then excreted by the Common palm civet, a weasel-like animal.

“Kopi” the Indonesian word for coffee along with “luwak” is local name of this animal which eats the raw red coffee beans. The civet digests the soft outer part of the coffee cherry, but does not digest the inner beans and excretes them.

Apparently the internal digestion ends up adds a unique flavor to the beans, removing the bitter flavor, and then beans are then picked up by locals and sold. The most expensive coffee beans can cost up to $600 a pound, and up to $50 per cup, if you can get over the fact that you are drinking such a strange brew.

You would know if you drank the most expensive coffee in the world, because the quantities of it are tiny amounts.

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From Dung to Coffee Brew With No Aftertaste

By NORIMITSU ONISHI
Published: April 17, 2010

SAGADA, the Philippines — Goad Sibayan went prospecting recently in the remote Philippine highlands here known as the Cordillera. He clambered up and then down a narrow, rocky footpath that snaked around some hills, paying no heed to coffins that, in keeping with a local funeral tradition, hung very conspicuously from the surrounding sheer cliffs.

Mr. Pat-og and Goad Sibayan counted the coffee beans they found.
Reaching a valley where coffee trees were growing abundantly, he scanned the undergrowth where he knew the animals would relax after picking the most delicious coffee cherries with their claws and feasting on them with their fangs. His eyes settled on a light, brownish clump atop a rock. He held it in his right palm and, gently slipping it into a little black pouch, whispered:
“Gold!”

Not quite. But Mr. Sibayan’s prize was the equivalent in the world of rarefied coffees: dung containing the world’s most expensive coffee beans.
Costing hundreds of dollars a pound, these beans are found in the droppings of the civet, a nocturnal, furry, long-tailed catlike animal that prowls Southeast Asia’s coffee-growing lands for the tastiest, ripest coffee cherries. The civet eventually excretes the hard, indigestible innards of the fruit — essentially, incipient coffee beans — though only after they have been fermented in the animal’s stomach acids and enzymes to produce a brew described as smooth, chocolaty and devoid of any bitter aftertaste.

As connoisseurs in the United States, Europe and East Asia have discovered civet coffee in recent years, growing demand is fueling a gold rush in the Philippines and Indonesia, the countries with the largest civet populations. Harvesters are scouring forest floors in the Philippines, where civet coffee has emerged as a new business. In Indonesia, where the coffee has a long history, enterprising individuals are capturing civets and setting up minifarms, often in their backyards.

Neither the Indonesian government nor the Association of Indonesia Coffee Exporters breaks down civet coffee’s tiny share of Indonesia’s overall coffee production. The Association of Indonesian Coffee Luwak Farmers, created in 2009 to handle the rising demand for civet coffee, or kopi luwak, as it is called in Indonesian, said most civet producers were small-time businessmen who exported directly overseas.
Given the money at stake, fake and low-grade civet coffee beans are also flooding the market.

“Because of its increasing popularity, there is more civet coffee than ever, but I don’t trust the quality,” said Rudy Widjaja, 68, whose 131-year-old family-owned coffee store in Jakarta, Warung Tinggi, is considered Indonesia’s oldest.
Competition is touching off fierce debates. What is real civet coffee, anyway? Does the civet’s choice of beans make the coffee? Or is it the beans’ journey through the animal’s digestive tract? Can the aroma, fragrance and taste of beans from the droppings of a caged civet ever be as tasty as those from its wild cousin?

Vie Reyes, whose Manila-based company, Bote Central, entered the civet coffee business five years ago, said she bought only from harvesters of the wild kind. Ms. Reyes exports to distributors overseas — Japan and South Korea are her biggest markets — and also directly sells 2.2-pound bags for $500, or about $227 a pound.
Maintaining quality was a constant challenge because distinguishing the real stuff from the fake was never easy. One time, harvesters sold her regular beans glued to unidentified dung.

“I washed it,” she said. “But the glue wouldn’t come off.”
One of her suppliers, Mr. Sibayan, 37, buys beans from collectors throughout the Cordillera, a mountainous region in the north that can be reached only after a punishing 12-hour drive from Manila. On a recent day, he dropped by to see the Pat-ogs, who own a 1.7-acre lot just outside this town.

Until Mr. Sibayan began buying their civet coffee four years ago, the Pat-ogs had never given much thought to the droppings left behind by the civets that came to munch on the family’s coffee trees at night. They discarded the beans or mixed them with regular beans they sold to agents. Now, they were getting about $9 a pound for the civet beans, or about five times the price of regular coffee beans, which, furthermore, required labor-intensive harvesting.

Mr. Sibayan inspected their batch and said he would pay just under top-grade price. He had found some impurities — inferior beans that the civet had spat out; beans chewed on, not by civets, but bats — that were indiscernible to all but Mr. Sibayan’s expert eye or, rather, tongue.
Licking one bean, he explained that real civet coffee beans should have lost their natural sweetness and acquired a rough texture. “This is pure, good quality,” he said, adding, “Once, some farmers tried to fool me by slightly roasting regular beans to remove the sweetness.”

Alberto Pat-og, 60, a retired school principal, said he did not understand why foreigners were willing to pay so much for a cup of the stuff.
“We are a bit surprised,” he said. “A bit perplexed.”
His son, Lambert, 20, added, with a big grin, “We are ignorant.”
The Pat-ogs wished they could expand their business but said there were simply not enough civets around. Compounding the problem, farmers around these parts tended to trap civets, which also have a taste for chicken. Local residents still prized civets less for their coffee-picking ability than their meat, which was typically dried before being prepared adobo-style.

“It’s very difficult to convince my neighbors not to kill civets because they’re considered such a delicacy here,” the father said.
In Indonesia, too, a shrinking civet population is creating obstacles for those hoping to ride the civet coffee boom. Civet coffee has long been centered in the western island of Sumatra, where a growing human population, economic development and deforestation have eroded their habitats.

Mr. Widjaja, the Jakarta store owner, said that the Dutch, who ruled Indonesia for more than three centuries, and Japanese soldiers, who occupied the country during World War II, were the most die-hard drinkers of civet coffee. But the coffee all but disappeared after the late 1950s, he said, and resurfaced on the market only after its reputation began spreading overseas. After he began fielding inquiries in 2007 from interested buyers in the United States, Japan and Taiwan, he secured a regular supply of wild civet coffee and began selling it only last year — at $150 a pound.
In Liwa, a small town in southwestern Sumatra, more than 30 families were involved in civet coffee.

Mega Kurniawan, 28, entered the business two years ago by setting up shop in the backyard of his family home. He had already expanded to three other locations and was now in civets full time. With a total of 102 civets, he gathered about 550 pounds of beans a month.

During the day, Mr. Kurniawan’s civets slept inside their small wooden cages before growing active at dusk. At night, the animals ate from fresh plates of coffee cherries, replenished every two hours, or paced back and forth at a brisk, caffeinated clip.

Though caged, the civets ate only about half of the beans placed before them, choosing only the best specimens, Mr. Kurniawan insisted. He dismissed connoisseurs’ criticism that stress felt by the caged animals invariably affected the taste of the beans.
“It’s the same,” he said, acknowledging, however, that some buyers preferred wild civet coffee. “Maybe it’s the prestige.”

A few blocks away, Ujang Suryana, 62, had his own firm opinions about what constituted real civet coffee. A reflexologist, Mr. Suryana began moonlighting in civets three months ago after catching a local television report on the brew’s popularity abroad. He pooled $1,000 to buy three civets and cages.
He had already found a way to increase the civets’ output exponentially by mechanically stripping the coffee beans from the cherries and mixing them in a banana mash. The civets gobbled it all up. This way, no beans were wasted. What is more, he had raised the dung production from 2.2 pounds a week to a whopping 6.6 pounds a day.

But wasn’t Mr. Suryana denying the civet its renowned ability to sniff out the best beans?
He scrunched up his face as if to wave away the suggestion. “The most important thing is that the beans go through its stomach and are fermented,” he said. “It all tastes the same, anyway.”


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The World's Most Expensive Tea

Tea is an extremely popular beverage around the world, coming in second to coffee as the most popular beverage in the world. Typically packaged in a porous bag, tea leaves are soaked in hot water for a short time to create the drink we all know as tea. Tea can be served hot or ice cold. White tea, Green tea, Oolong, Black/Red Tea, and Yellow teas are among the most commonly enjoyed teas. Since first being discovered in China around 2000 BC, tea has evolved into a lucrative, worldwide market that has created some expensive teas most people wouldn’t dream of buying, let alone drinking.

If you consider yourself a tea connoisseur of sorts and love to drink expensive cups of tea, the Ritz Carlton of Hong Kong boast the world’s most expensive High Tea at a price of $8,888 per couple. Of course, you’ll get all sorts of high-priced finger foods too. Furthermore, if you’re into tea culture enough to buy accessories, nothing says you’re rich like this handcrafted diamond teabag worth £7,500 (US $15,250), made by Boodles jewelers to celebrate PG Tips’ 75th birthday. The most expensive teabag in the world contains 280 diamonds and is being used to raise money for a children’s charity in Manchester, England.

The name Darjeeling also may ring a bell when thinking of expensive teas. Probably the most famous type of tea in the industry, it is so expensive because its best plants are grown on steep and dangerous slopes around the India, Nepal, and Bhutan border that range from 5,000 to 8,000 feet above sea level.

The Silver Tips teas made by the Makaibari estate brand in 2003 made headlines for reaching prices of $400 US for one kilogram. In 2007, depending on market prices and the season, a single-estate Darjeeling will cost about $25 to $100 US per pound at retail, but the most expensive Darjeelings are currently fetching prices of about $3,300 US per kilogram (2.2 pounds).

The most expensive tea in the world, however, is a rare Chinese tea called Tieguanyin, which is priced at £1,700 per kilo (that’s around $1,500/lb). The tea is named after the Buddhist deity Guan Yin (Iron Goddess of Mercy). It’s an oolong tea, meaning its oxidization is somewhere between that of black and green teas. Luckily for anyone who buys this expensive tea, a leaf can be brewed up to seven times before it loses its flavor.

Excerpt from : The World's Most Expensive