What the world is reading

What would Martin Luther King Jr say to Obama?

In this article,John Lewis,civil rights leader and a member of the House of Representatives since 1987,describes how if Martin Luther King Jr were here today,he would have taken a special interest in President Obama. Dr King would encourage him to get out of Washington,to break away from handlers and advisers and go visit the people where they live; to shake the hands of the working poor in our large urban centres,juggling multiple jobs to try to make ends meet, says Lewis,who was the last surviving speaker from the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28,1963. Dr King would assert without hesitation that war is obsolete,that it destroys the very soul of a nation,and that it wastes human lives and natural resources8230;There is no need to match each step to the latest opinion poll. The people of this country recognise when a leader is trying to do what is right. Take a stand,he would say. Go with your gut. Let the people of this country see that you are fighting for them and they will have your back.

Huffington Post

10 things you didnt know about Steve Jobs

James Altucher lists down 10 unusual things about the man he wanted to be ever since he had the Apple II as a kid. One,his sister is novelist Mona Simpson but he didnt know that until he was an adult. Since Steve Jobs was adopted,Steve and Mona didnt know they were siblings until the 90s when he tracked her down. Second,His fathers name is Abdulfattah Jandali. If you had to ask me what Steve Jobss fathers name was I never in one zillion years wouldve guessed that and that Steve Jobs biologically was half Syrian Muslim. The list makes for great reading if you havent been following Jobss life closely: Did you know that he denied paternity on his first child,claiming he was sterile; that he is a pescetarian,which means that he eats fish but no other meat; or that he is a Zen Buddhist? And the uncharitable bit: He doesnt believe in charity. When he became Apples CEO,he stopped all of their philanthropic programs. He said,wait until we are profitable. Now they are profitable,and sitting on 40b cash,and still not corporate philanthropy.

Los Angeles Times

Beyond suffrage: How far have women come since?

As the United States celebrates another anniversary of female suffrage,Eve Weinbaum and Rachel Roth look at what that empowerment has meant for women since then. Since the 1920s,women have won many rights and opportunities in areas as diverse as higher education,professional sports and,in six states,same-sex marriage, say the writers. They look at socialist feminist Crystal Eastmans 1920 essay titled Now We Can Begin,which laid out a plan towards freedom for women,and ask,On the core priorities Eastman identified,how far have we come? According to the writers,though women now outnumber men on college campuses,the upper echelons of most professions and political bodies remain male-dominated. Just look at Congress: Only 17 per cent of its members are women. Between 1923 and 2011,only 28 women have chaired congressional committees and only 45 women of colour have ever served in Congressjust one in the Senate. The new congressional super-committee of 12 legislators charged with reducing the federal deficit has one white woman and not a single woman of colour.

Dawn

Nightmare scenario in Pakistan

IF youre a Pakistani,your nightmare scenario could be one of an infinite number of developments depending on your politics,social class,religious sect,gender etc. You could fear assassination,kidnapping,and death by suicide bomb attack,gang rape,blasphemy accusations,or the collapse of your small business owing to extortion rackets, says Huma Yusuf. If youre not Pakistani,your nightmare scenario vis-à-vis Pakistan centres primarily on one event: a successful terrorist attack by Pakistan-based actors on the US homeland or against American targets. She says,Pakistan is toeing the dangerously fine line between engagement and containment. In case of the former,the international community,led by the US,will continue to invest in the promise of the Pakistani state and its people. In the latter case,Pakistan joins the notorious ranks of places like North Korea and Iran that are diplomatically and politically isolated.