So far, as at 12.40pm, two of the 33 miners trapped underground in Chile for 69 days have been rescued. The Chilean president, Sebastian Pinera, has publicly given thanks to God, describing the rescue as a miracle. Watch live BBC video footage of the Chilean miners being rescued here.
2030: Anwar, Tunku Abdul Aziz and RPK are speaking in London right now. The video streaming, however, might not be that smooth.
Whoever is arranging Najib’s schedule these days has been busy. This time the PM has managed to get a chance to thump the mallet at the New York Stock Exchange and ring the closing bell on Monday.
A Jewish peace ship heading for Gaza was intercepted by the Israeli navy today and towed to Ashdod, a cargo port in Israel 40km south of Tel Aviv. The London-based Jews for Justice for Palestinians had organised the aid voyage. Among those on board were Holocaust survivor Reuven Moskovitz, 82, and Rami Elhanan, an Israeli whose daughter was killed in a suicide attack by a Palestinian in 1997. Also on board were American and British peace activists. The Israeli peace group Gush Shalom reports on a demonstration by peace activists at Ashdod Port to protest the capture of the ship:
Like many other Christians elsewhere in the world, I condemn the plan by a pastor in Florida to burn copies of the Qur’an. That is nothing but a hate crime and has absolutely nothing to do with Christianity or the values of love, compassion and forgiveness that Jesus promoted. Similarly, I don’t see anything wrong behind plans for an Islamic centre that is open to inter-religious dialogue in New York. (Lest we forget, Muslims too died at the World Trade Centre on 11 September 2001.)