Bangladesh News Blog @newzblogz.com

Youth for Understanding and the U.S. State Department are looking for Snohomish County families to host high school exchange students from Middle East countries for the 2007-08 school year. The program is an attempt to build bridges of understanding between the United States and countries of the Arab and Muslim world. The students are from Lebanon, Morocco and Bangladesh. For more information, call Hanna Welch, YFU's Washington Field Director, at 206-262-0762.

* EF Foundation for Foreign Study is looking for volunteer families in Snohomish County to host teenage foreign exchange students for an academic year or semester. Students speak English, are fully insured and bring their own spending money. Host families provide a bed to sleep in, a place at the dinner table and a caring home. For more information, call Michelle Rotharmel with EF Foundation at 425-308-9279.

* Cultural Homestay International is looking for families in Stanwood, Marysville and Arlington to house exchange students from Japan who will be visiting from July 14 to Aug. 2. Call LuCinda, 360-629-2173.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

In April of this year, a Military Advisory Board of 11 retired admirals

and three- and four-star generals led by retired Gen. Gordon R. Sullivan, a

former Army chief of staff, examined global climate change through the prism of

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

ISTANBUL, Turkey Here in Turkey, the matter of headgear is taken seriously. An edict in 1925 forbade wearing of the fez, causing millions of Turkish men to don bowlers, which were seen as more Western and secular. In 1982, the government banned the wearing of headscarves by women in university classrooms a symbolic statement that Turkey would not be taking the route of the Iranian revolution across the border. But colorful headscarves are common on the streets here, worn out of piety and protes...

This sartorial piety points to a large historical fact. From the Enlightenment to the sociological theories of the 20th century, it was assumed that religion was in decline and would be increasingly privatized and marginalized. Instead, we have seen the global "deprivatization" of religion a reassertion of religious values in defining the common good, from the Islamic revolution in Iran, to the Solidarity movement in Poland, to the religious right in America. As these examples show, the attitude of public religion toward democracy and individual freedom varies greatly and matters greatly.

This "deprivatization" has caused particular strains in Turkey, the most resolutely secular of nations. Religion, according to the Turkish constitution, is supposed to have no political or legal influence of any kind an ACLU utopia. It is difficult to argue with the outcome of this model: Turkey is a prospering democracy where radical Islam has little traction. At the same time, Turks live with restrictions that would drive religious Americans frantic.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Four East Lansing High School seniors have received Student Excellence Awards from East Lansing Rotary. The recognition, which includes a $100 stipend, is for students who have demonstrated good character and citizenship through activities in school and the community, or who have demonstrated substantial personal growth and/or courage by making positive change or by having overcome substantial difficulties or obstacles to personal growth and progress.

Award recipients for 2007 are:

Eric Artman, who overcame the sudden death of his father at the beginning of the school year and excelled both in the classroom and as a hockey player. He has competed at the highest level of Junior Hockey (ages 16-20) throughout the United States while maintaining a grade-point average that places him in the top 20 percent of his class.

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit

Daniel Schorr, analyst at National Public Radio, is on target when he said, "The experience of ancient China seems to have had little effect on human 'wallitis'.The Romans tried to shut out the Scots from Northern England. The French tried to wall out Germany with the Maginot line. More recently the Soviets built a formidable wall between East and West Berlin. Closing off problems prevents the flow of people but not the solving of problems.Presently the United States is building a 700 mile wall ...

Link to full article

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg This | Post to Reddit