As my wife and I sat on the couch one night this past winter, reading and half-watching the inevitable HGTV, I started sweating hard and my face got so fevered and flushed that I felt as if I were peering into an oven.
I turned to Deb and said, “Man, I’m having a wicked hot flash.” And she said, “Me, too.” Then we laughed. You laugh a lot — unless your hormones are making you cry — when you’re having menopause with your wife.
I was in the middle of treatment for an aggressive case of prostate cancer last winter, and it included a six-month course of hormone therapy. My Lupron shots suppressed testosterone, which is the fuel for prostate cancer.
When your testosterone is being throttled, there are bound to be side effects. So, with the help of Lupron, I spent a few months aboard the Good Ship Menopause with all the physical baggage that entails. It’s a trip that most men don’t expect to take.
The side effect that surprised me most were the hot flashes — not that I got them, I was expecting that, but by how intense they were. They often woke me in the middle of the night and made me sweat so much that I drenched the sheets. In midwinter I’d walk our miniature poodle, Bijou, wearing shorts and a T-shirt. I sometimes felt as if Deb could fry eggs on my chest. (It’s also a bit disconcerting when your hot flashes are fiercer than your wife’s.)
When it comes to hot flashes, ladies, I salute you. After my brief dalliance with that hormonal phenomenon, it seems to me it’s an under-reported condition. And it’s certainly under-represented in the arts. Where are the great hot flash novels or movies? How come there’s not a Web site or magazine called “Hot Flash Monthly”?
Hand in hand with the hot flashes came the food cravings. I lusted after Cheetos and Peanut Butter M&M’s, maple-walnut milkshakes, and spaghetti and meatballs buried in a blizzard of Parmesan. Isn’t it funny how cravings very rarely involve tofu, bean curd or omega-3 oils?
Then there was the weight issue. During the six months I was on Lupron I gained about 25 pounds. That was partly a byproduct of the cravings, but it also stemmed from the hormonal changes triggered in my body.
And I hated it, hated it, hated it. I had never had to worry about my weight, and I began to understand why media aimed at women and girls obsess over weight so much. It was strange and unsettling not to be able to tell my body, “No,” when it wanted to wolf down a fistful of Doritos slathered with scallion cream cheese.
When I wasn’t devouring a king-size Italian sub or smoldering from a hot flash, it seemed that I was crying. The tears would usually pour down when I got ambushed by some old tune: “Sweet Baby James” and “Fire and Rain” by James Taylor, “That’s the Way I’ve Always Heard It Should Be” by Carly Simon and, yes, “It’s My Party” by Lesley Gore. Not only was I temporarily menopausal, but it appeared that I was also turning into a teenage girl from the early 1970s.
There were other side effects, too, like headaches and fatigue. But when I started drinking Diet Coke for the first time in my life, my son Owen couldn’t take it anymore. He said, “Dad, are you turning into a chick?”
So, what else did I learn during my six months of hormone therapy?
Even though I only got to spend a brief time on the outer precincts of menopause, it did confirm my lifelong sense that the world of women is hormonal and mysterious, and that we men don’t have the semblance of a clue.
And, guys, when your significant female other bursts into tears at the drop of a dinner plate or turns on you like a rabid pit bull — whether she’s pregnant, having her period or in the throes of menopause — believe her when she blames it on the hormones.
One more thing. I don’t really know whether menopause likes company — you’d have to ask my wife that — but I do know that it really, really likes HGTV and Peanut Butter M&M’s.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Thousands Gather in Hong Kong for Tiananmen Vigil
Throngs of men, women and children gathered at a park here on Thursday evening for an enormous candlelight vigil to mark the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killingsThrongs of men, women and children gathered at a park here on Thursday evening for an enormous candlelight vigil to mark the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square killings.
organizers said that 150,000 people joined the vigil, tying the record set by the first anniversary vigil in 1990 and dwarfing every vigil held since then. The police estimated the crowd at 62,800, their largest estimate for any vigil except in 1990, which they put at 80,000.
Even before the vigil began at 8 p.m., the tens of thousands of people assembled represented the largest crowd for the annual event here in recent years. The only crowd since the early 1990s that came remotely close was in 2004, when the fifteenth anniversary of the military crackdown coincided with a surge in pro-democracy sentiment in Hong Kong.
Throughout the park, banners in Chinese demanded the vindication of the students and other Beijing residents who perished during the Chinese government crackdown against the protesters. There were people of all ages, from grey-haired retirees to young children whose parents accompanied them to explain why they felt so deeply about an event that took place before they were born.
Yvonne Chow, a middle-age social worker, said that she had come to the vigil every year for two decades and was heartened to see the turnout on Thursday night.
“I am very happy that people have not forgotten the massacre in Tiananmen on June 4,” she said. “I am very sad because it destroyed our hopes for democracy.”
Brian Cha, a 35-year-old interior designer, said that while the 20th anniversary was an important one, he also came because he was angered by recent comments by Donald Tsang, Hong Kong’s chief executive, who suggested that critics of the crackdown should also take into account China’s many successes since 1989.
Carrie Ho, a 35-year-old marketer, said that she came to the annual vigil for only the second time partly because of the Hong Kong government’s decision to bar some activists from entering the territory in recent weeks. The government’s action undermined freedom in the territory, she said.
In 2004, organizers estimated the crowd at 82,000, though the police then gave a lower estimate of 48,000. That had been the largest vigil since 1991, when 100,000 attended.
Heavy rainstorms dumped 1.45 inches of rain on Hong Kong early Thursday morning, but the streets dried and the skies cleared through the day. The crowds gathered under cloudless skies and a nearly full moon that rose past the skyscrapers to shine down among the park’s palm trees.
When a large crowd showed up in 2004, it was after public pressure had forced the government to retreat from plans to impose stringent internal security legislation sought by Beijing. The local government has not sought since then to reintroduce the legislation.
The push for democracy has lost some of its impetus in Hong Kong over the past five years, as the economy has improved and as Mr. Tsang, who is more politically adept, has taken office.
The success of Hong Kong residents in halting the internal security legislation in 2004, however, had an indirect affect on allowing the vigil here to grow to the huge size it was this year.
“Prisoner of the State,” the secret journal of Zhao Ziyang, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in the two years leading up to the Tiananmen Square crackdown, has just been published here and has immediately sold out. Mr. Zhao’s posthumous revelations about discord at the top of the Communist Party on how to respond to the student protests — he opposed the crackdown — have revived discussion of the events 20 years ago and Chinese-language copies of the book from Hong Kong are said to have been smuggled to the mainland.
In an addition to the usual schedule of the vigil, the organizers played an excerpt from a recording that Mr. Zhao made of his journal. Mr. Zhao defended the students in Tiananmen Square, saying that they wanted the Chinese Communist Party to correct its wrongs but did not seek to overthrow it.
Bao Pu, one of the three translators and editors of the book, said in a lunch speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club here on Thursday that it would have been much harder to publish the book here if the internal security legislation had been approved. He attributed the government’s retreat to a huge march here on July 1, 2003, with a crowd that police put at 350,000 and organizers at up to 700,000.
“Those people who were on the streets that day made a contribution,” Mr. Bao said
organizers said that 150,000 people joined the vigil, tying the record set by the first anniversary vigil in 1990 and dwarfing every vigil held since then. The police estimated the crowd at 62,800, their largest estimate for any vigil except in 1990, which they put at 80,000.
Even before the vigil began at 8 p.m., the tens of thousands of people assembled represented the largest crowd for the annual event here in recent years. The only crowd since the early 1990s that came remotely close was in 2004, when the fifteenth anniversary of the military crackdown coincided with a surge in pro-democracy sentiment in Hong Kong.
Throughout the park, banners in Chinese demanded the vindication of the students and other Beijing residents who perished during the Chinese government crackdown against the protesters. There were people of all ages, from grey-haired retirees to young children whose parents accompanied them to explain why they felt so deeply about an event that took place before they were born.
Yvonne Chow, a middle-age social worker, said that she had come to the vigil every year for two decades and was heartened to see the turnout on Thursday night.
“I am very happy that people have not forgotten the massacre in Tiananmen on June 4,” she said. “I am very sad because it destroyed our hopes for democracy.”
Brian Cha, a 35-year-old interior designer, said that while the 20th anniversary was an important one, he also came because he was angered by recent comments by Donald Tsang, Hong Kong’s chief executive, who suggested that critics of the crackdown should also take into account China’s many successes since 1989.
Carrie Ho, a 35-year-old marketer, said that she came to the annual vigil for only the second time partly because of the Hong Kong government’s decision to bar some activists from entering the territory in recent weeks. The government’s action undermined freedom in the territory, she said.
In 2004, organizers estimated the crowd at 82,000, though the police then gave a lower estimate of 48,000. That had been the largest vigil since 1991, when 100,000 attended.
Heavy rainstorms dumped 1.45 inches of rain on Hong Kong early Thursday morning, but the streets dried and the skies cleared through the day. The crowds gathered under cloudless skies and a nearly full moon that rose past the skyscrapers to shine down among the park’s palm trees.
When a large crowd showed up in 2004, it was after public pressure had forced the government to retreat from plans to impose stringent internal security legislation sought by Beijing. The local government has not sought since then to reintroduce the legislation.
The push for democracy has lost some of its impetus in Hong Kong over the past five years, as the economy has improved and as Mr. Tsang, who is more politically adept, has taken office.
The success of Hong Kong residents in halting the internal security legislation in 2004, however, had an indirect affect on allowing the vigil here to grow to the huge size it was this year.
“Prisoner of the State,” the secret journal of Zhao Ziyang, the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in the two years leading up to the Tiananmen Square crackdown, has just been published here and has immediately sold out. Mr. Zhao’s posthumous revelations about discord at the top of the Communist Party on how to respond to the student protests — he opposed the crackdown — have revived discussion of the events 20 years ago and Chinese-language copies of the book from Hong Kong are said to have been smuggled to the mainland.
In an addition to the usual schedule of the vigil, the organizers played an excerpt from a recording that Mr. Zhao made of his journal. Mr. Zhao defended the students in Tiananmen Square, saying that they wanted the Chinese Communist Party to correct its wrongs but did not seek to overthrow it.
Bao Pu, one of the three translators and editors of the book, said in a lunch speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club here on Thursday that it would have been much harder to publish the book here if the internal security legislation had been approved. He attributed the government’s retreat to a huge march here on July 1, 2003, with a crowd that police put at 350,000 and organizers at up to 700,000.
“Those people who were on the streets that day made a contribution,” Mr. Bao said
Iran's supreme leader blasts Ahmadinejad for corruption claims
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, faced a rare backlash from some of the country's most powerful officials today after a furious television debate in which he labelled many of his critics corrupt.
In the most significant development, Ahmadinejad appeared to have irked the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over his performance in Wednesday night's debate with Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main opponent in next week's presidential election.
"One doesn't like to see a nominee, for the sake of proving himself, seeking to negate somebody else," Khamenei said in a speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of the death of the Iranian revolution's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. "I have no problem with debate, dialogue and criticism but these debates must take place within a religious framework."
Khamenei has previously given Ahmadinejad his public backing and his support is considered essential if the president is to win a second term. Ahmadinejad may have been relieved to note that the supreme leader also found fault with his rival's rhetoric, particularly a segment where Mousavi criticised the incumbent for his "extremist" foreign policy.
"I do not accept the sayings of those who imagine that our nation has become belittled in the world because of its commitment to its principles," Khamenei said, adding "this path will continue until final victory".
Ahmadinejad's accusations of corruption prompted a string of senior figures – including former president Hashemi Rafsanjani – to demand a right of reply.
Apparently trailing in the opinion polls, Ahmadinejad attempted to link Mousavi – the main reformist candidate – to the past governments of Rafsanjani and the reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatam, which he said had been guilty of widespread graft. Among others, he singled out Rafsanjani's sons as well as Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, the current head of the supreme leader's inspectorate.
Khamenei's criticisms echoed those of Mousavi, who told Ahmadinejad during the debate: "This is a sin. We are Muslims, we believe in God. We cannot name people like that and accuse them."
The most remarkable part of an acerbic encounter came when Ahmadinejad held up a file apparently referring to Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and questioned her qualifications. "Can I speak about the education background of a lady with you – shall I," Ahmadinejad said in a goading tone. He accused Rahnavard, who has been campaigning with her husband, of gaining two degrees illegally and starting a PhD without sitting an entrance exam.
He also said she had become a university lecturer and chancellor without the necessary qualifications.
Mousavi, taken aback, replied by telling viewers that they should vote for him "if you want to change this atmosphere of so easily accusing other people".
After the debate, pro-Mousavi students took to the streets of Tehran chanting: "Ahmadinejad, impolite person, shame on you. Leave this country alone."
One Mousavi supporter was reported to have died in clashes with Ahmadinejad's followers in the eastern city of Mashhad.
Tensions have been rising ahead of the election. A bombing in a mosque last week killed 25 people in the south-west and another bout of unrest left five more dead on Monday. Khamenei has rebuked the west for meddling in Iranian affairs, and yesterday said that foreigners were trying to undermine Iran ahead of the vote, by insinuating that results would be falsified and the vote would not be competitive.
"During the past two or three months, foreign radio programmes have been tarnishing the elections, making people pessimistic," he said, accusing foreign media of "confiscating the hope of the Iranian people
In the most significant development, Ahmadinejad appeared to have irked the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over his performance in Wednesday night's debate with Mir Hossein Mousavi, his main opponent in next week's presidential election.
"One doesn't like to see a nominee, for the sake of proving himself, seeking to negate somebody else," Khamenei said in a speech commemorating the 20th anniversary of the death of the Iranian revolution's spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini. "I have no problem with debate, dialogue and criticism but these debates must take place within a religious framework."
Khamenei has previously given Ahmadinejad his public backing and his support is considered essential if the president is to win a second term. Ahmadinejad may have been relieved to note that the supreme leader also found fault with his rival's rhetoric, particularly a segment where Mousavi criticised the incumbent for his "extremist" foreign policy.
"I do not accept the sayings of those who imagine that our nation has become belittled in the world because of its commitment to its principles," Khamenei said, adding "this path will continue until final victory".
Ahmadinejad's accusations of corruption prompted a string of senior figures – including former president Hashemi Rafsanjani – to demand a right of reply.
Apparently trailing in the opinion polls, Ahmadinejad attempted to link Mousavi – the main reformist candidate – to the past governments of Rafsanjani and the reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatam, which he said had been guilty of widespread graft. Among others, he singled out Rafsanjani's sons as well as Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri, the current head of the supreme leader's inspectorate.
Khamenei's criticisms echoed those of Mousavi, who told Ahmadinejad during the debate: "This is a sin. We are Muslims, we believe in God. We cannot name people like that and accuse them."
The most remarkable part of an acerbic encounter came when Ahmadinejad held up a file apparently referring to Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, and questioned her qualifications. "Can I speak about the education background of a lady with you – shall I," Ahmadinejad said in a goading tone. He accused Rahnavard, who has been campaigning with her husband, of gaining two degrees illegally and starting a PhD without sitting an entrance exam.
He also said she had become a university lecturer and chancellor without the necessary qualifications.
Mousavi, taken aback, replied by telling viewers that they should vote for him "if you want to change this atmosphere of so easily accusing other people".
After the debate, pro-Mousavi students took to the streets of Tehran chanting: "Ahmadinejad, impolite person, shame on you. Leave this country alone."
One Mousavi supporter was reported to have died in clashes with Ahmadinejad's followers in the eastern city of Mashhad.
Tensions have been rising ahead of the election. A bombing in a mosque last week killed 25 people in the south-west and another bout of unrest left five more dead on Monday. Khamenei has rebuked the west for meddling in Iranian affairs, and yesterday said that foreigners were trying to undermine Iran ahead of the vote, by insinuating that results would be falsified and the vote would not be competitive.
"During the past two or three months, foreign radio programmes have been tarnishing the elections, making people pessimistic," he said, accusing foreign media of "confiscating the hope of the Iranian people
Barack Obama woos Muslim world with call for a new understanding
Barack Obama used his long-heralded speech to the Muslim world today to call for a new beginning in relations and made an impassioned plea for a two-state solution to resolve the bitter conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Seeking to draw a line under the war in Iraq, Guantánamo Bay and other Bush policies, Obama went out of his way to display understanding of the causes of Muslim resentment and mistrust of the west.
Ian Black, Middle East editor, reports from Cairo on Barack Obama's speech to the Muslim world Link to this audio But as he left for Germany and France for D-Day celebrations his landmark address drew mixed reviews for a performance many found sensitively crafted and sincere but lacking substance or novelty.
"I have come here to seek a new beginning between the US and Muslims around the world, one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect," the president told an invited audience at Cairo University. "America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition."
Obama's messages on the hot-button issues of Israel, the Palestinians and Iran did not break new ground, while passages on Afghanistan, Iraq and fighting violent extremism also replayed familiar themes. Still, some of his strongest words were reserved for the ever-contentious issue of Israel and the Palestinians, whose life under occupation was "intolerable".
There was loud applause when he said emphatically: "The US does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."
But comments that presage a clash with Binyamin Netanyahu's rightwing government were balanced with an appeal to the Palestinian movement Hamas to abandon violence. "It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus," he said.
Obama also referred to America's "unbreakable bond" with Israel, which he coupled with a bold attack on "baseless, ignorant and hateful" denial of the Nazi Holocaust – a staple of the hardline Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Cairo speech had been billed as one of Obama's most important, and was keenly awaited after a fleeting visit to Iraq, a Persian new year message to Iran, and a speech to the Turkish parliament in Ankara.
Obama painted a flattering picture of Islamic religion, culture and civilisation, starting with the traditional Arabic greeting, assalaamu alaykum – "peace be upon you" – drawing a thunderous ovation.
As expected, he referred to his own Muslim roots, mentioning the azaan call to prayer that he heard while a child in Indonesia. He played the religious card deftly. America would never be at war with Islam. "The Holy Qur'an teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.
"The faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace."
He referred to his decision to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp and did not use the Bush-era phrase "war on terror". Religious freedom and women's rights were also emphasised – a challenge to intolerance and bigotry.
Obama's comments on democracy – a burning issue in US allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia and most Arab countries – were detailed but non-specific, a disappointment if not a surprise to activists.
"America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election," the president said. "But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose.
''Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere."
Reaction was varied. In Damascus, the Hamas leader Khaled Meshal told Time magazine: "Undoubtedly Obama speaks a new language. We are looking for more than just mere words … We are keen to contribute to this. But we [believe that can not happen] merely with words."
"It was basically a very conciliatory speech," said Hisham Kassem, one of Egypt's leading commentators. "Obama was saying 'I'm not George Bush'. But there was very little policy and very little you could hold him accountable to."
Mohamed Habib, deputy leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that poses the strongest opposition to Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime, called the speech "a public relations address". Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon both attacked it.
In the speech Obama defended US strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq but made it clear he did not wish to maintain a permanent military presence in either country.
Obama's message on Iran – where Ahmadinejad is facing crucial presidential elections next week – repeated a commitment to "mutual respect" between the old adversaries.
But he issued a warning on the burning issue of nuclear weapons. "We have reached a decisive point. This is not simply about America's interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path
Seeking to draw a line under the war in Iraq, Guantánamo Bay and other Bush policies, Obama went out of his way to display understanding of the causes of Muslim resentment and mistrust of the west.
Ian Black, Middle East editor, reports from Cairo on Barack Obama's speech to the Muslim world Link to this audio But as he left for Germany and France for D-Day celebrations his landmark address drew mixed reviews for a performance many found sensitively crafted and sincere but lacking substance or novelty.
"I have come here to seek a new beginning between the US and Muslims around the world, one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect," the president told an invited audience at Cairo University. "America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition."
Obama's messages on the hot-button issues of Israel, the Palestinians and Iran did not break new ground, while passages on Afghanistan, Iraq and fighting violent extremism also replayed familiar themes. Still, some of his strongest words were reserved for the ever-contentious issue of Israel and the Palestinians, whose life under occupation was "intolerable".
There was loud applause when he said emphatically: "The US does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."
But comments that presage a clash with Binyamin Netanyahu's rightwing government were balanced with an appeal to the Palestinian movement Hamas to abandon violence. "It is a sign of neither courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus," he said.
Obama also referred to America's "unbreakable bond" with Israel, which he coupled with a bold attack on "baseless, ignorant and hateful" denial of the Nazi Holocaust – a staple of the hardline Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The Cairo speech had been billed as one of Obama's most important, and was keenly awaited after a fleeting visit to Iraq, a Persian new year message to Iran, and a speech to the Turkish parliament in Ankara.
Obama painted a flattering picture of Islamic religion, culture and civilisation, starting with the traditional Arabic greeting, assalaamu alaykum – "peace be upon you" – drawing a thunderous ovation.
As expected, he referred to his own Muslim roots, mentioning the azaan call to prayer that he heard while a child in Indonesia. He played the religious card deftly. America would never be at war with Islam. "The Holy Qur'an teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind; and whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind.
"The faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism – it is an important part of promoting peace."
He referred to his decision to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp and did not use the Bush-era phrase "war on terror". Religious freedom and women's rights were also emphasised – a challenge to intolerance and bigotry.
Obama's comments on democracy – a burning issue in US allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia and most Arab countries – were detailed but non-specific, a disappointment if not a surprise to activists.
"America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election," the president said. "But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose.
''Those are not just American ideas, they are human rights, and that is why we will support them everywhere."
Reaction was varied. In Damascus, the Hamas leader Khaled Meshal told Time magazine: "Undoubtedly Obama speaks a new language. We are looking for more than just mere words … We are keen to contribute to this. But we [believe that can not happen] merely with words."
"It was basically a very conciliatory speech," said Hisham Kassem, one of Egypt's leading commentators. "Obama was saying 'I'm not George Bush'. But there was very little policy and very little you could hold him accountable to."
Mohamed Habib, deputy leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement that poses the strongest opposition to Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime, called the speech "a public relations address". Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon both attacked it.
In the speech Obama defended US strategy in Afghanistan and Iraq but made it clear he did not wish to maintain a permanent military presence in either country.
Obama's message on Iran – where Ahmadinejad is facing crucial presidential elections next week – repeated a commitment to "mutual respect" between the old adversaries.
But he issued a warning on the burning issue of nuclear weapons. "We have reached a decisive point. This is not simply about America's interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path
French student murders: parents sue over killer's parole
The parents of murdered French students Laurent Bonomo and Gabriel Ferez are to sue British authorities over systematic failures in the justice system that contributed to their sons' deaths.
Olivier Ferez said tonight that an apology from the justice secretary, Jack Straw, "will not suffice" and the matter was in the hands of his lawyers.
Speaking at a press conference at Scotland Yard after two men were sentenced to life for the murders, Laurent's father, Guy Bonomo, said they knew their children "would be alive today if the British justice system had not failed us". Prosecutors described as "an orgy of bloodletting" the attacks in June last when the Frenchmen were tied up in their London flat, tortured and stabbed 244 times.
Their bodies were found after an explosion sparked by the murderers setting fire to the flat in New Cross, south-east London.
Dano Sonnex, 23, from Peckham, and Nigel Farmer, 34, of no fixed address, were convicted today, with the judge sentencing Sonnex to a minimum of 40 years and Farmer a minimum of 35 years in jail.
At the time of the murders Sonnex was out on parole under probation supervision after serving an eight-year sentence for violence and robbery.
Straw has apologised in person to the families of the victims and in February accepted the resignation of London's chief probation officer over the "grave failings" in the handling of the case. Official internal probation and police inquiry reports published alongside the verdicts identify a series of "serious management failings" by probation staff, the police and nearly every other part of the criminal justice system.
Straw said that as justice secretary he took full responsibility for the failings of the probation service. "Sonnex could and should have been in custody at the time he committed these murders," he said. "It was the consequence of very serious failures across the criminal justice system that he had not been arrested and incarcerated some weeks before."
The supervision of Sonnex was left in the hands of a newly-qualified probation officer who was struggling with a caseload of 127 offenders in the understaffed Lewisham probation office where nobody had more than two years' experience.
Among the blunders was the failure to identify Sonnex as a high-risk offender, that it took 33 days for a warrant to be issued to send him back to prison, that the courts mistakenly released him on bail, and that even then the police failed to go and look for him until the day of the murders.
On sentencing, Mr Justice Saunders told the Old Bailey the pair had only escaped being jailed without chance of parole for the "truly horrific" murders because of their young age.
He told the killers: "The misery and suffering that you have caused cannot be measured. These are the worst crimes I have ever had to deal with and, unhappily, no punishment that I can pass can ever bring any real comfort to the families.
"Only you two know exactly what happened, why it happened, and which of you bears the greater blame."
At least half of the 12 jury members were in tears as they listened to the prosecutor read out victim impact statements by the fathers of the two boys and one of their mothers. Both men and women dabbed their eyes and some struggled to compose themselves.
Guy Bonomo's statement addressed his son's killers directly. He said: "We have sat in court for the last six weeks, hoping for answers, trying to find out what happened to our children. But you have lied in court and have refused to tell the truth. This is what we have been waiting for. Without knowing what happened that night and why, we cannot move on and find peace. I ask you again, why?"
Francoise Villemont, Ferez's mother, said: "How to carry on, to live and survive after you have lost your murdered child in such inhuman conditions. He died suffering in such a way; I could never forget what was done to him. This barbaric act is indescribable and inexcusable. No human being deserves such a death. To die for so little gain does not make any sense to anybody."
The jury was told that both of the accused were habitual users of drugs, including crack cocaine, and Sonnex had a long history of violence. During the trial each blamed the other for the killings.
Sonnex had been jailed for wounding with intent and robbery in 2003 and released on licence in February last year. He was subsequently arrested for handling stolen goods and had his licence revoked. Sonnex told the court he was back in custody for "four or five weeks tops".
At the start of the trial Sonnex admitted one count of burglary, which Farmer denied. Both pleaded not guilty to murder, arson, false imprisonment and trying to pervert the course of justice.
Farmer chewed gum impassively as he listened to the jury foreman say that he had been found guilty on all six charges by a majority of 11 to one.
Sonnex's face was fixed in a frown that he cast downwards, only intermittently lifting it to look at the jury. As he was led from the dock he stared at Laurent Bonomo's father and shrugged his shoulders before going down to the cells.
In his statement released at the end of the trial, David Scott, the former chief probation officer of London who resigned over the case, said that "probation risks becoming a Cinderella service unless urgent attention is paid to its workload, over which it has few effective controls, as well as to its absence from key decision-making about policy and resources".
He said the murders filled him with regret: "I took full responsibility for the performance of the staff that I led, and tendered my resignation as soon as it was clear that failings in the probation service were partly to blame for allowing the crimes to take place."
Harry Fletcher of Napo, the probation union, said blaming individuals avoided the acceptance of political responsibility. "Ministers should either fund the criminal justice system and allow probation officers to do their job properly or stop claiming they are protecting the public. Probation did receive additional funds over the last decade but it did not result in extra probation officers."
Since the Sonnex case an extra 60 probation officers have been drafted into London with a further 80 to be recruited this year. An urgent assessment is being undertaken by the chief inspector of probation, Andrew Bridges, on the rest of London probation.
Only three years after the similar Monckton murder case caused a national outcry, probation chiefs insist that work with high-risk offenders in specialist probation public protection units across the capital has improved. But the failure in this case – where Sonnex was wrongly categorised as a medium-risk offender – shows little improvement in general probation work in London.
Olivier Ferez said tonight that an apology from the justice secretary, Jack Straw, "will not suffice" and the matter was in the hands of his lawyers.
Speaking at a press conference at Scotland Yard after two men were sentenced to life for the murders, Laurent's father, Guy Bonomo, said they knew their children "would be alive today if the British justice system had not failed us". Prosecutors described as "an orgy of bloodletting" the attacks in June last when the Frenchmen were tied up in their London flat, tortured and stabbed 244 times.
Their bodies were found after an explosion sparked by the murderers setting fire to the flat in New Cross, south-east London.
Dano Sonnex, 23, from Peckham, and Nigel Farmer, 34, of no fixed address, were convicted today, with the judge sentencing Sonnex to a minimum of 40 years and Farmer a minimum of 35 years in jail.
At the time of the murders Sonnex was out on parole under probation supervision after serving an eight-year sentence for violence and robbery.
Straw has apologised in person to the families of the victims and in February accepted the resignation of London's chief probation officer over the "grave failings" in the handling of the case. Official internal probation and police inquiry reports published alongside the verdicts identify a series of "serious management failings" by probation staff, the police and nearly every other part of the criminal justice system.
Straw said that as justice secretary he took full responsibility for the failings of the probation service. "Sonnex could and should have been in custody at the time he committed these murders," he said. "It was the consequence of very serious failures across the criminal justice system that he had not been arrested and incarcerated some weeks before."
The supervision of Sonnex was left in the hands of a newly-qualified probation officer who was struggling with a caseload of 127 offenders in the understaffed Lewisham probation office where nobody had more than two years' experience.
Among the blunders was the failure to identify Sonnex as a high-risk offender, that it took 33 days for a warrant to be issued to send him back to prison, that the courts mistakenly released him on bail, and that even then the police failed to go and look for him until the day of the murders.
On sentencing, Mr Justice Saunders told the Old Bailey the pair had only escaped being jailed without chance of parole for the "truly horrific" murders because of their young age.
He told the killers: "The misery and suffering that you have caused cannot be measured. These are the worst crimes I have ever had to deal with and, unhappily, no punishment that I can pass can ever bring any real comfort to the families.
"Only you two know exactly what happened, why it happened, and which of you bears the greater blame."
At least half of the 12 jury members were in tears as they listened to the prosecutor read out victim impact statements by the fathers of the two boys and one of their mothers. Both men and women dabbed their eyes and some struggled to compose themselves.
Guy Bonomo's statement addressed his son's killers directly. He said: "We have sat in court for the last six weeks, hoping for answers, trying to find out what happened to our children. But you have lied in court and have refused to tell the truth. This is what we have been waiting for. Without knowing what happened that night and why, we cannot move on and find peace. I ask you again, why?"
Francoise Villemont, Ferez's mother, said: "How to carry on, to live and survive after you have lost your murdered child in such inhuman conditions. He died suffering in such a way; I could never forget what was done to him. This barbaric act is indescribable and inexcusable. No human being deserves such a death. To die for so little gain does not make any sense to anybody."
The jury was told that both of the accused were habitual users of drugs, including crack cocaine, and Sonnex had a long history of violence. During the trial each blamed the other for the killings.
Sonnex had been jailed for wounding with intent and robbery in 2003 and released on licence in February last year. He was subsequently arrested for handling stolen goods and had his licence revoked. Sonnex told the court he was back in custody for "four or five weeks tops".
At the start of the trial Sonnex admitted one count of burglary, which Farmer denied. Both pleaded not guilty to murder, arson, false imprisonment and trying to pervert the course of justice.
Farmer chewed gum impassively as he listened to the jury foreman say that he had been found guilty on all six charges by a majority of 11 to one.
Sonnex's face was fixed in a frown that he cast downwards, only intermittently lifting it to look at the jury. As he was led from the dock he stared at Laurent Bonomo's father and shrugged his shoulders before going down to the cells.
In his statement released at the end of the trial, David Scott, the former chief probation officer of London who resigned over the case, said that "probation risks becoming a Cinderella service unless urgent attention is paid to its workload, over which it has few effective controls, as well as to its absence from key decision-making about policy and resources".
He said the murders filled him with regret: "I took full responsibility for the performance of the staff that I led, and tendered my resignation as soon as it was clear that failings in the probation service were partly to blame for allowing the crimes to take place."
Harry Fletcher of Napo, the probation union, said blaming individuals avoided the acceptance of political responsibility. "Ministers should either fund the criminal justice system and allow probation officers to do their job properly or stop claiming they are protecting the public. Probation did receive additional funds over the last decade but it did not result in extra probation officers."
Since the Sonnex case an extra 60 probation officers have been drafted into London with a further 80 to be recruited this year. An urgent assessment is being undertaken by the chief inspector of probation, Andrew Bridges, on the rest of London probation.
Only three years after the similar Monckton murder case caused a national outcry, probation chiefs insist that work with high-risk offenders in specialist probation public protection units across the capital has improved. But the failure in this case – where Sonnex was wrongly categorised as a medium-risk offender – shows little improvement in general probation work in London.
Warning on eurozone economy dip
The eurozone economy could shrink by more than 5% in 2009, the European Central Bank has said, worse than previously forecast.
The bank said it expected the eurozone economy to contract by between 4.1% and 5.1% this year.
However, it predicted an improvement next year, with growth of between -1.0% and 0.4% in 2010.
The comments came after the ECB kept eurozone interest rates on hold at 1%, in a move widely expected by analysts.
The Bank of England also kept UK rates on hold at 0.5% on Thursday.
Quantitative easing
At the press conference following the rate decision, the ECB's president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said that the bank's planned purchase of 60bn euros of company bonds ($85bn; £52bn) would start from next month.
The ECB is buying the bonds as a means to increase the amount of money in the financial system - a policy known as quantitative easing - to try to help the economy by returning lending by commercial banks to normal levels.
Mr Trichet said the bond purchases would be spread across the eurozone, which comprises the 16 nations that share the single currency, and completed before July next year "at the latest".
The ECB is continuing to be far more cautious with its quantitative easing than the Bank of England and Federal Reserve, a decision that has been greatly welcomed by the German government.
Berlin has long cautioned against the more aggressive stance taken in London and Washington, saying it builds up too much debt for the future.
Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised the Fed and Bank of England earlier this week for excessive spending to try to lift the US and UK economies.
The ECB last cut rates in May, when they were reduced to 1% from 1.25%. It has reduced rates seven times since last October, when rates stood at 4.25%.
The bank said it expected the eurozone economy to contract by between 4.1% and 5.1% this year.
However, it predicted an improvement next year, with growth of between -1.0% and 0.4% in 2010.
The comments came after the ECB kept eurozone interest rates on hold at 1%, in a move widely expected by analysts.
The Bank of England also kept UK rates on hold at 0.5% on Thursday.
Quantitative easing
At the press conference following the rate decision, the ECB's president, Jean-Claude Trichet, said that the bank's planned purchase of 60bn euros of company bonds ($85bn; £52bn) would start from next month.
The ECB is buying the bonds as a means to increase the amount of money in the financial system - a policy known as quantitative easing - to try to help the economy by returning lending by commercial banks to normal levels.
Mr Trichet said the bond purchases would be spread across the eurozone, which comprises the 16 nations that share the single currency, and completed before July next year "at the latest".
The ECB is continuing to be far more cautious with its quantitative easing than the Bank of England and Federal Reserve, a decision that has been greatly welcomed by the German government.
Berlin has long cautioned against the more aggressive stance taken in London and Washington, saying it builds up too much debt for the future.
Chancellor Angela Merkel criticised the Fed and Bank of England earlier this week for excessive spending to try to lift the US and UK economies.
The ECB last cut rates in May, when they were reduced to 1% from 1.25%. It has reduced rates seven times since last October, when rates stood at 4.25%.
Fraud charge for Countrywide boss
Angelo Mozilo, former boss of Countrywide Financial, has been charged with civil fraud and insider trading by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
He is the highest profile executive to face charges relating to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2007.
Bank of America eventually rescued the biggest US mortgage lender, buying it for $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in July 2008.
Mr Mozilo has denied doing anything wrong. Two other former executives have also been charged with civil fraud.
Former chief operating officer David Sambol and former chief financial officer Eric Sieracki "misled the market by falsely assuring investors that Countrywide was a prime quality mortgage lender that had avoided the excesses of its competitors", the SEC alleged.
It added that Mr Mozilo had deliberately misled investors about the credit risks that the company was taking.
'Flying blind'
The SEC also said that he had made nearly $140m in profit from selling his Countrywide shares "based on non-public information".
The sub-prime crisis, which was caused by mortgages being given to people who could not really afford them.
The loans were then repackaged by banks and sold on to investors, made to look like low-risk investments.
The SEC published extracts from e-mails sent by Mr Mozilo.
"The bottom line is that we are flying blind on how these loans will perform in a stressed environment of higher unemployment, reduced values and slowing home sales," he wrote on 26 September 2006.
He is the highest profile executive to face charges relating to the US sub-prime mortgage crisis in 2007.
Bank of America eventually rescued the biggest US mortgage lender, buying it for $2.5bn (£1.5bn) in July 2008.
Mr Mozilo has denied doing anything wrong. Two other former executives have also been charged with civil fraud.
Former chief operating officer David Sambol and former chief financial officer Eric Sieracki "misled the market by falsely assuring investors that Countrywide was a prime quality mortgage lender that had avoided the excesses of its competitors", the SEC alleged.
It added that Mr Mozilo had deliberately misled investors about the credit risks that the company was taking.
'Flying blind'
The SEC also said that he had made nearly $140m in profit from selling his Countrywide shares "based on non-public information".
The sub-prime crisis, which was caused by mortgages being given to people who could not really afford them.
The loans were then repackaged by banks and sold on to investors, made to look like low-risk investments.
The SEC published extracts from e-mails sent by Mr Mozilo.
"The bottom line is that we are flying blind on how these loans will perform in a stressed environment of higher unemployment, reduced values and slowing home sales," he wrote on 26 September 2006.
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