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Cairo, 26 January – It started as a day of celebration, with tens of thousands of Egyptians converging on Tahrir Square to mark the first anniversary of Egypt’s revolution, 25 January. The morning crowd — dominated by bearded Islamists — waved flags and strolled peacefully in the Square — flashpoint of the eighteen day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak last year.

In his State of the Union address, many heard echoes of the Barack Obama of old, the presidential aspirant of 2007 and 2008. Among the populist pledges rolled out in the speech was tough talk against the too-big-to-fail banks that have funded his campaigns and for whom many of his key advisers have worked: “The rest of us are not bailing you out ever again,” he promised.

We had a chance to talk with the humanist national leader of the Teachers’ Association, in an interview carried out in “Umbral”, in the neighbourhood of Bellavista, in which we asked him to evaluate this year’s most compelling demonstrations in Chile for a high quality and not-for-profit education, also attempting to make a projection of what may happen in the future.

In his last State of the Union speech before the November election, President Barack Obama defended his record addressing the financial crisis and called for greater economic fairness. He warned that Wall Street would no longer be allowed to play by its own set of rules. But the bulk of the speech dealt with the economy.

Responding to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, longtime consumer advocate and former presidential candidate Ralph Nader says President Obama’s criticism of income inequality and Wall Street excess fail to live up to his record in office. “[Barack Obama] says one thing and does another,” Nader says.

So yes, this larger-than-life psychodrama we call “Iran” may turn out to be as much about China and the US dollar as it is about the politics of the Gulf, or Iran’s nonexistent bomb. The question is: What rough beast, its hour come round at last, slouches towards Beijing to be born? [We took permission from Mr Escobar to run his story on Pressenza, appeared Asia Times.

The Chinese New Year celebrations formally began on January 23. China has become 4710 years old as per its lunar calendar. This year will be known as the Year of the Dragon, which symbolises strength and prosperity. The New Year celebration is one of the longest and the principal festive season for the Chinese: the official holiday itself extends over a week or two.

The Humanist Movement members want to thank all the participants and supporters of our World Unity for Peace March that took place at Hetuda, just outside the Kathmandu valley, and about 90Km from the Kathmandu)capital. We send our heartfelt appreciation for a wonderful day that brought all together and sent an important message around the world – Tulsi Sigdel.

Berlin – “We want a nuclear weapons free world.” More than 80 percent of people around the globe have expressed this overwhelming desire to authors of a new report. But a close look shows that very little is happening rather slowly in terms of reducing nukes and putting a halt to proliferation. This is cause of profound concern also to atomic scientists.

For innovative young folks, angels are by no means mythical beings or messengers of God as depicted in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles and the Quran. They are flesh-and-blood source of equity capital at the seed and early stage of company formation, particularly when banks are reluctant to lend.

Article by Ramesh Jaura