Word: bans
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...many liberal Catholics, July 25, 1968, was the day the music died. Pope Paul VI's encyclical Humanae Vitae, published 40 years ago today, reaffirmed Catholicism's absolute ban on birth control. Coming on the heels of the Second Vatican Council's unprecedented opening of the Church to modernity three years earlier, the Vatican's decision to stand by a doctrine that ever fewer Catholics were obeying would reverberate far beyond the bedroom...
...Thursday, the International Olympic Committee informed Jassim Mohammed Jaafar, the Iraqi minister of sport and youth, in a letter, that it would uphold an earlier ban on the Iraqi Olympic team after the government unilaterally replaced the members of its national Olympic panel - the Iraqi affiliate of the international committee - two months ago. The move was taken by the IOC as corrupt conduct and it cited "political interference" as its reason for the ban. "We deeply regret this outcome which severely harms the Iraqi Olympic and Sports Movement and the Iraqi athletes but which is unfortunately imposed by the circumstances...
...because no one understands the situation in Iraq," says Abu Haider, a Baghdad resident. Indeed, now into the sixth year of living with war, Iraqis may be justified in claiming their team should be granted special understanding due to difficult circumstances. But particularly infuriating is the timing of the ban; many argue that under Saddam Hussein, the sports atmosphere was no less corrupt, with Hussein's son Uday exercising an abusive grip on state sports. "Why didn't the International Olympic Committee intervene under the previous regime when Uday used to imprison and torture some of the players?" says Mithal...
They're not the only ones suffering the consequences of political wrangling, though. The ban amounts to collective punishment for all Iraqis. The IOC's protestations that it had no choice but to impose its rules are plainly disingenuous. For one thing, Iraq is hardly the only country where politicians meddle with sport. The Games are, after all, being held in China! For another, if the IOC was perfectly happy to let Iraq participate in previous Games when Uday was running Iraq sports. Perhaps locking a football player in an iron maiden doesn't qualify under the IOC's definition...
...August 2007, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon went to Khartoum with his political negotiators - without the ICC charges on any schedule for discussion. He talked privately with Bashir about the ICC and arresting Haroun; Bashir refused. As if to show the prosecutor just how impotent the ICC was, al-Bashir promoted Haroun and expanded his influence a week after Ban Ki-moon left the country. In his new position as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Haroun was able to routinely block humanitarian aid to the 2.5 million Darfuris trapped in refugee camps. In addition, he was given three new titles...