UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

Gulf News, Dubai, March 17: It is easy to understand the anger of taxpayers and U.S. President Barack Obama after it emerged that executives at American International Group (AIG) have received $165 million ... in bonus payments.

AIG has received $170 billion in bailout money from the U.S. government, with more on the way. Obama has reportedly ordered that every legal avenue be explored to recoup the payments.

Legal route

Obama is right to choose the legal route — tearing up a contract between a company and any one of its employees is not an option. The business world operates on trust and the strength of contracts between companies and other parties.

If executives were wrongly paid performance bonuses, then the money should be reclaimed. Incompetence should never be rewarded. But if those that have received payments are due the bonuses, then the rule of law must be respected by the company and politicians alike.

JAPAN

Asahi Shimbun, March 13: Multipotent stem cell research in the United States is likely to accelerate following a recent decision made by President Barack Obama.

Obama lifted the restrictions imposed by his predecessor on federal funding of research on embryonic stem (ES) cells, an important class of multipotent stem cells extracted from embryos, which could turn into any of the human body’s tissue types.

Obama is seeking to establish a sound science policy not distorted by political or religious influences. His stem cell initiative is a major step in that direction.

Induced pluripotent stem

Along with Nobel laureates and other leading scientists, Kyoto University professor Shinya Yamanaka was invited to the White House ceremony for signing the executive order by Obama. Yamanaka is known worldwide for his discovery of a method of producing a new type of versatile cell, known as induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, from ordinary cells, instead of an embryo.

After the ceremony, Yamanaka voiced alarm about the state of stem cell research in this country, saying, “Japan will find itself left behind if things remain unchanged.” Yamanaka says Obama’s decision will accelerate further the remarkable progress already achieved in the United States in this field.

BRITAIN

The Times, London, March 18: Roman Catholic teaching rejects artificial methods of birth control. ... You either accept the teaching or you do not.

But statements about the effects of contraception are different. While traveling to Cameroon on his first trip to Africa, Pope Benedict XVI yesterday declared that Aids “cannot be overcome through the distribution of condoms, which even aggravates the problems.” The Pope’s comment is a testable proposition that has immense implications for human health and welfare.

Gravity of the epidemic

The Church’s position on the virtues of chastity outside marriage, and fidelity and natural family planning within it, has consistency but it is inadequate to the gravity of the epidemic that afflicts Africa. The United Nations estimates that worldwide there are 33 million adults and children living with the HIV virus — of whom two thirds are in sub-Saharan Africa. While the position is stabilizing in some African countries, such as Malawi, others report an increase in new infections.

The Church, through its hospitals, hospices and orphanages on many continents, has provided compassion and selfless care for Aids sufferers. But it has opposed the most reliable means of preventing Aids: the distribution of condoms and education in safe sex.