rejected the charges

Fazil Say, who has played with the New York Philharmonic, the

Berlin Symphony Orchestra and others, is on trial for sending

tweets that included one in April that joked about a call to

prayer that lasted only 22 seconds.

Say tweeted: ‘Why such haste? Have you got a mistress

waiting or a raki on the table?’ Raki is a traditional

alcoholic drink made with aniseed. Islam forbids alcohol and

many Islamists consider the remarks unacceptable.

Prosecutors in June charged Say with inciting hatred and

public enmity, and with insulting “religious values.” He

faces a maximum 18 months prison term, although any sentence

is likely to be suspended.

Say, who has served as a cultural ambassador for the European

Union, rejected the charges and demanded his acquittal,

according to the state-run Anadolu Agency.

The private Dogan news agency said the trial was adjourned

until Feb. 18.

michael kors watches on sale

(MORE: Turkey’s Massive Military Trial Opens Old Wounds and

New Anxieties)

The prosecution has caused anger among intellectuals in

Turkey and escalated concerns over freedom of expression in

the country. Hundreds of his fans, supporters and human

rights activists went to the courthouse in Istanbul in a show

of solidarity, holding up signs that read: “Fazil Say is not

alone” and “Free Art, Free World”

Say, 42, is a strong critic of the government of Prime

Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a devout Muslim who has

preached conservative values, alarming some secular Turks who

fear the government plans to make religion part of their

lifestyle.

question. Equal pay for equal work

michael kors watches on sale

Romney took no position on that bill when it passed Congress,

and his campaign says he would not seek its repeal. But Obama

chided him, saying, "That shouldn't be a complicated

question. Equal pay for equal work."

Romney's campaign launched a new television commercial that

seemed designed to take the edge ever so slightly off his

opposition to abortion — the latest example of his recent

move toward the middle — while urging women voters to keep

pocketbook issues uppermost in their minds when they cast

their ballots.

"In fact he thinks abortion should be an option in cases of

rape, incest or to save a mother's life," says a woman in the

new ad. Pivoting quickly to economic matters, she adds, "But

I'm more concerned about the debt our children will be left

with. I voted for President Obama last time, but we just

can't afford four more years."

That dovetailed with Romney's personal pitch to an audience

in Virginia.

"This president has failed American's women. They've suffered

in terms of getting jobs," he declared, saying that 3.6

million more of them are in poverty now than when Obama took

office.

His running mate, Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, echoed that

message in Ohio.

"Twenty-six million women are trapped in poverty today.

That's the highest rate in 17 years," he said. "We need to

get people back to work."

To plan for anything less would be to invite environmental disaster

michael kors watches on sale

The nuclear industry has aggressively rebranded itself as eco-friendly. John Ritch, the head of the World Nuclear Association, an international trade group, has painted nuclear as the only barrier against apocalypse: "We must place ourselves on a trajectory for a twenty-first-century nuclear industry that achieves the deployment of nothing less than 8,000-10,000 gigawatts of nuclear power"--that is, more than 20 times current capacity. "To plan for anything less would be to invite environmental disaster." This kind of hyperbole infuriates skeptics of the nuclear renaissance, who note that nuclear power cannot grow nearly fast enough to "solve" global warming--the optimistic scenario put forward by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) predicts the amount of nuclear power will merely double by 2030.
But hyping nuclear power brings greater problems than false hope. During the cold war, the anti-nuclear conflation of security threats with environmental concerns made little sense. The spread of atomic power had nothing to do with why the United States and the Soviet Union were building nuclear arsenals or whether they might someday use them. But, as fears of terrorism took precedence, the potential spread of fissile material has made the environmental movement's once-spurious national security linkages more credible.