Monday, June 25, 2007

Coasting Along

The news unfolds, as it will. For events continue to present themselves. To be dutifully reported upon. The good, the bad and the ugly. Human nature being what it is, we remark far less upon the good than upon the bad, the ugly in human events. For indeed there is much to be remarked upon. Such is, after all, the nature of humanity. We are quietly accepting of the good, and proud ourselves to be good.

And look on in horror at what human relations can conspire toward in unsettling the affairs of the world. But we must know, and we will know, of all the events, minor and major, inspied by natural cataclysms, and by mankind - close at hand, and at a remove - which describe the disorder of the day. And so we look to the day's news. Not to entertain, but to educate and remind ourselves that much is required of us.
  • Iraq - Saddam Hussein's cousin, "Chemical Ali", was sentenced to death yesterday for a campaign of genocide that included bombings, mass deportations and gas attacks in which an estimated 182,000 Iraqi Kurds were killed and 4,000 villages wiped out. Two other defendants, Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai, Saddam's defence minister, and Hussein Ashid Mohammed, an army commander, were also ordered to face the gallows. Two military intelligence officials were jailed for life. "Thousands of people were killed, displaced and disappeared," the Iraqi high tribunal chief judge, Mohammed al-Oreibi al-Khalifah said. "They were civilians with no weapons and nothing to do with war". Kurdish leaders described the conviction as a historic ruling that had finally brought justice for the dead.
  • Lebanon - Six UN peacekeepers were killed by a car bomb in southern Lebanon yesterday, the UN mission said, further rattling security as another 11 people died in fighting with Islamists in the north. A 19-year-old soldier from the Spanish city of Seville died in hospital. The other five dead, three Colombian nationals serving in the Spanish army and two Spanish citizens were identified by the Spanish defence ministry in Madrid.
  • Iran - Iran is deploying missiles in Syria in preparation for military action if it is attacked over its controversial nuclear program, say UN officials in the region. Under a mutual defence pact signed between Damascus and Tehran in 2005, Syria agreed to the deployment of sophisticated weaponry on its territory. The Iranians have now decided to implement the agreement following a meeting last month of Iran's Supreme National Security Council. Most of the missiles can be fired from mobile launchers and are capable of hitting targets right across Israel.
  • Israel - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert flies to Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt's Sinai Desert today for a crisis summit with Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, to discuss the havoc caused by Hamas's military victory over Fatah in Gaza. He is expected to declare a tentative commitment to transfer frozen tax and customs revenues to PA President Abbas's shaky Fatah regime. Mr. Olmert explained his government has "concerns that Abu Mazen (Abbas) will be tempted to...enter into a new unity government alongside Hamas."
  • Gaza - BBC Gaza correspondent Alan Johnston, 45, appeared in a video posted on the Internet yesterday wearing what he said was an explosive belt that his captors have threatened to blow up if force was used to free him. "The situation now is very serious. As you can see, I have been dressed in what is an explosive belt, which the kidnappers say will be detonated if there was any attempt to storm this area," Mr. Johnston said in the video, posted by the Army of Islam on a website used by militants. He said negotiations to seek his release were thwarted by what his captors told him was a plan by Britain and Hamas to use force to secure his release.
  • Pakistan - More than 200 people were killed as torrential rain and thunderstorms lashed Karachi, destroying hundreds of homes and causing widespread power outages yesterday. Karachi was deluged by 17.2 millimetres in just one hour on Saturday, while gale-force winds uprooted trees and power pylons and blew down roofs and walls, crushing and electrocuting scores of victims.
  • Nepal - Police in Nepal have detained a self-styled holy man who sowed panic across much of the country by prophesying that a massive earthquake would kill 300,000 people in South Asia last week. Bishweshwor Chauhari, a former builder, had his followers distribute thousands of pamphlets last month forecasting the earthquake. When Friday came and went without the slightest tremor, angry residents of the city rushed to Mr. Chaudhari's house and beat him up, declaring him a charlatan and demanding that he be punished. Police intervened and detained him for disturbing the peace.
  • Pakistan - The NATO-led force in Afghanistan admitted yesterday to killing more civilians, this time in Pakistan, a day after harsh criticism from Afghan President Hamid Karzi about military operations. A weapon fired by the International Security Assistance Force hit a building in Pakistan as warplanes were chasing down insurgents preparing to attack a base across the Afghan border, a spokesman said. Pakistani military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad yesterday put the toll at 20 dead and 14 wounded.
  • Canada - a deeply divided Anglican Church of Canada opted not to let its priests bless the partnerships of same-sex couples. At the same time - in a move described as puzzling by advocates on both sides of the debate - the church voted that such blessings would be compatible with the "core doctrine" of the church. That "doctrine" vote, some conservatives say, makes it only a matter of time before the blessings become a reality across the country.

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posted by Pieface @ Monday, June 25, 2007

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