Post Date:
August 27, 2010 Issue Date:
September 11, 2010

Looking Ahead

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Oktoberfest

Germans and beer lovers around the world will lift a stein on Sept. 18-200 years after the original festival. In the two centuries since, Oktoberfest has become the world's largest festival with an estimated 6 million participants every year.

Toronto Film Festival

The 35th Toronto International Film Festival debuts Sept. 9 with a 10-day run in a brand-new, world-class cinema complex in the Canadian city's downtown. Critics consider Toronto among the most important film festivals because it informally kicks off Oscar season.

Beck speaks

Media personality Glenn Beck will headline a United Republican Fund event in Chicago on Sept. 18. The rally will be part of Beck's Right Nation 2010 effort to unite conservatives, libertarians, and plain Republicans behind GOP candidates in November.

Obamacare on trial

A federal District Court in Richmond, Va., will be the scene of the opening salvo Sept. 14 in the legal battle over the constitutionality of the planned overhaul of U.S. healthcare passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barack Obama earlier this year. Plaintiffs in the case, Commonwealth of Virginia v. Kathleen Sebelius, charge that the law's individual mandate to buy health insurance violates the Constitution.

Happy birthday, OPEC

After a half-century of dominating the global oil market, don't expect The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to head into an early retirement after its 50th birthday on Sept. 10. During a five-day conference that began on this day in 1960, representatives of Venezuela, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia agreed to form the oil cartel that has dominated both energy politics and production ever since. Despite a dip in oil prices in recent years, forecasters expect OPEC to generate $181 billion more in revenue in 2010 than in 2009.

Turkish referendum

On Sept. 12 voters in Turkey head for the polls to decide on amendments to the nation's 1982 constitution. The vote comes exactly three decades after a 1980 military coup toppled the government. The constitution that followed has been criticized for overly restricting civil liberties in the country, which is officially secular but predominantly Islamic.