Thursday, May 17, 2007

Now For Today's World News....

Things are happening everywhere; events that shape the world we live in, that run counter to the well-being of our lives here on earth, that threaten us, that occasionally surprise and delight us in their unexpected lightness of being, mild antidotes to the heavier news of global despair. This world we inhabit is a busy place, always changing, agitating, disputing, threatening. To be more precise, it isn't the world, in and of itself, that charming green-and-blue globe that supports and retains us, but the higher animals that inhabit it and who presume to view themselves as the masters of all they survey.

As masters we have proven ourselves not to be equal to the tasks at hand, primarily that of respecting our environment, of protecting vital, non-renewable resources, of treating the world's co-habitants with the gentle hand due them, and of discharging our obligations to our fellow man in a thoroughly unfair, unequal and disruptive manner. We have proven ourselves to be unworthy stewards of this great globe whose vast energies and resources have for so long sustained us, and which now appears to be groaning under the weight of our demands.

The news stories we read should have the sobering effect of encouraging realization of just how poorly we have managed our ungovernable impulses to wreak continual havoc among ourselves and throughout the world's geography and topography. We read of far-off tragedies, thankful we have been spared by an accident of birthright which has led us to our entitled and wasteful way of life in the developed world. Despite which, we continue our depredations on our environment and our neglect of our obligations toward each other.

Don't buy that? Well, read for yourself...
  • Gaza - At least 17 Palestinians were killed yesterday as President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas battled for control of Gaza and Israel launched a deadly round of air strikes against the Islamists. Palestinian officials said the widening hostilities could bring down a two-month-old unity government formed between Hamas and secular Fatah. Some Palestinians see this leading to all-out civil war and the end of the Palestinian Authority.
  • Beijing - North Korea may have used a launch pad in Iran to test a new missile capable of hitting U.S. bases on the Pacific island of Guam, according to reports from Japan and South Korea. South Korean and U.S. intelligence reports suggest the weapon may then have been tested in Iran, with which North Korea is known to have military links.
  • Washington - After weeks of arguing, Paul Wolfowitz was on the brink of resigning as World Bank president last night. Support from the White House had begun to ebb after a bank panel determined Mr. Wolfowitz had acted improperly; he was said to be 'livid' over how he had been treated. Allies argue he is the victim of a witchhunt as a result of his role over the U.S. invasion of Iraq.
  • Korea - Trains are due to cross the Cold War frontier between North and South Korea early today for the first time in 56 years, a symbolic act of reunification and a step toward the dream of continuous railway travel between Seoul and London. The last time a train crossed the border was New Year's Evn, 1950, when refugees fleeing the Chinese advance from the North were topped at the border and their locomotive disabled.
  • London - After decades of political irrelevance in the Republic of Ireland, Sinn Fein is poised to emerge from the shadow of the gunman and become a government 'kingmaker' when voters go to the polls in a week's time. Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, declared "We are ready for government, North and South."
  • Washington - Common species of North American birds have suffered dramatic population declines since the arrival of the West Nile virus 8 years ago, leaving rural and suburban areas quieter than they used to be and imposing ecological stresses on a variety of other animals and plants, a new study has found. The analysis, led by researchers at the National Zoo in Maryland, offers sobering evidence that even a microscopic invasive species can wreak long-term environmental disruption.
  • Estonia - Jewish leaders and politicians from Estonia and Israel celebrated the opening of the Baltic country's first and only synagogue yesterday, six decades after previous houses of worship were destroyed during the Second World War. Estonia was the only country in Europe to be declared "free of Jews" by the Nazis - its 5,000 Jews were deported to gulags in the Soviet Union, fled Nazi troops or were killed in the Holocaust.
  • Russia - Russia closes another chapter on its Communist past today, when the Orthodox Church ends 80 years of schism with descendants of clergy who fled the Bolshevik revolution. The Moscow Patriarchate will join the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia for a reunification service in Moscow's largest cathedral, a symbol of the country's religious revival, since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
  • Pakistan - Christians in a Pakistani town beset by pro-Taliban militants sought government protection on the eve of a deadline for them to convert to Islam or face violence. About 500 Pakistani Christians in Charsadda, a town in the North-West Frontier province bordering Afghanistan, received letters earlier this month telling them to close their churches and convert or become the target of 'bomb explosions'.
  • Berlin - Nicolas Sarkozy, choosing Germany for his first foreign trip as French president, told Chancellor Angela Merkel he wanted to lift the European Union out of its institutional paralysis. Just hours after taking over from Jacques Chirac, Mr. Sarkozy visited Berlin to show the importance he attaches to the French-German relationship, often described as the driving force of the EU.
  • Tokyo - A wave of anger and soul searching spread across Japan yesterday after a father left his 3-year-old son in a controversial 'baby hatch' for unwanted newborns the day it opened. "I came with Daddy," the boy was quoted as saying by the Mainichi newspaper.
  • Britain - Iraq faces the distinct possibility of collapse and fragmentation, UK foreign policy think tank Chatham House says. Its report says the Iraqi government is now largely powerless and irrelevant in many parts of the country. It warns there is not one war but many local civil wars, and urges a major change in US and British strategy, such as consulting Iraq's neighbours more. The report comes as Iran said Iranian and US diplomats would hold talks on 28 May on the security situation in Iraq.
  • Turkey - Two secularist opposition parties in Turkey are joining forces to challenge the Islamist-rooted ruling AK Party in the July general election. The alliance was announced at a news conference on Thursday by the Republican People's Party (CHP) and Democratic Left Party (DSP). The 22 July election was brought forward from November to try to resolve a dispute over the Turkish presidency. Secularists accuse the AKP of trying to pursue an Islamist agenda. Opinion polls indicate the AKP is still Turkey's most popular party. Several giant opposition rallies have been staged in Turkish cities in defence of the country's secular institutions.
  • Zimbabwe - Zimbabwe's rate of inflation surged to 3,731.9%, driven by higher energy and food costs, and amplified by a drop in its currency, official figures show. April's inflation rate jumped up from the 2,200% recorded last month, the Central Statistical Office (CSO) said. The announcement came after Zimbabwe's government created a commission charged with finding a way to curb the country's spiralling cost of living. There is high unemployment, and fuel and food shortages across the nation. The surging cost of domestic electricity, food, fuel and commuter transport fares were at the heart of last month's price surges, the CSO said.
  • New York - Belarus has been defeated in a bid to join the UN's Human Rights Council, with Bosnia-Hercegovina and Slovenia being chosen to fill two vacant seats. Western countries persuaded Bosnia to stand at the last minute and then threw their weight behind its candidacy. Human rights groups have praised the decision to shut out Belarus. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has described the country, ruled by President Alexander Lukashenko, as Europe's last dictatorship. The campaigning group Human Rights Watch said Bosnia's win over Belarus was "an important signal to the future that abusive governments" would not be acceptable members. Fourteen new members were elected to join the 47-member council, which aims to uphold human rights around the world. Egypt, Angola and Qatar won seats despite opposition from human rights groups. The vote follows the controversial election of Zimbabwe to a key UN body last week. Zimbabwe was elected to chair the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, despite having instituted land reforms which have left the country unable to feed itself.
  • India - The Indian government is sending security reinforcements to the states of Punjab and Haryana amid signs of growing religious violence. Thousands of Sikhs, many armed, have been staging protests, some violent, against a Hindu sect. They accuse the Dera Sacha Sauda (DSS) sect of insulting Sikhism.
  • Canada - The Air India enquiry heard yesterday that the airline was ultimately responsible for security shortfalls in Toronto and Montreal in the hours before the flight was brought down by a terrorist bomb, killing all 329 aboard. A former security guard informed the enquiry head that he overheard an Air India official at Mirabel Airport stress how expensive it would be to delay the flight, despite the discovery of three suspicious bags.
Not an awful lot to cheer about there. There there are, from time to time, news sufficiently encouraging to be on the cheerful side. However, on the basis of what now appears here, I rest my case. As the result of a cheeky experiment by a powerful spirit, we've proven ourselves to be duds.

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posted by Pieface @ Thursday, May 17, 2007

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