News – France Collaborating?

Africa

France is accused of playing an active role in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. French soldiers were in the region as part of the UN mandate known as Operation Turquoise to set up a protected zone. There are accusations that French soldiers allowed Hutu extremists to enter Tutsi camps and provided escape routes to militia escaping to the Democratic Republic of Congo after the massacres. Also, that France has not apprehended genocide suspects living in France. A French military court is conducting a separate investigation into claims that French soldiers played a part in the genocide.

Chad’s government accuses Sudan of arming local militias.

Dutch firm Trafigura has denied responsibility for toxic waste dumped in the city of Abidjan(Ivory Coast), saying they employed a local company to dispose of it. Still, they’re being sued on behalf of about 1,000 victims.

Interviewed on her adoption of a child from Malawian, Madonna says she’s surprised at all the furor. Considering her long and.. interesting career, I find that hard to believe.

Middle East

Israeli Prime Minister Olmert is now facing allegations of taking bribes during a major bank privatization deal. He might as well step aside and let another hopeful try and guide Israel properly.

Olmert appoints Avigdor Lieberman, a far right winger, as deputy PM in charge of ‘strategic threats’. So much for Kadima being centrist. As well as calling for a “population exchange” to swap Arab Israeli villages for Israeli settlements, earlier this year Mr Lieberman, 48, called for the trial and execution of Arab Israeli MPs who met leaders of Hamas or Hizbullah or who refused to celebrate Israel’s Independence Day, describing them as “collaborators”. Lovely. This is the sort of extremist that gives all Israelis a bad name.

Former Finance Minister Ali Allawi says that officials in the former interim government stole about $800 million meant for buying military gear. He also says the US government has done little to resolve this.

A look into a Baghdad hospital, amid the current violence and strife. From what I see in the article, I don’t envy those doctors their jobs and am surprised they keep them. Doctors here don’t know how good they’ve got it, I’d say.

Sean Gourley and Professor Neil Johnson of the physics department at Oxford University and Professor Michael Spagat of the economics department of Royal Holloway, University of London speak out on the Lancet study of Iraqi casualties, saying the methodology of the study was fundamentally flawed by what they term “main street bias”.

Young women fleeing the violence in Iraq fall prey to sex traffickers. Remember the typical thoughts of honor when it comes to young Muslim women and their virginity.

Asia/Pacific

Australia is planning to build a massive solar power plant as part of a new strategy by the government to combat climate change.

China is cracking down on corruption.

Chinese government spokesman Liu Jianchao says that Kim Jong-il told a visiting Chinese envoy that it does not intend to carry out a second nuclear weapons test, but he might take action if subjected to more international pressure.

Europe

Putin says North Korea shouldn’t be driven into a corner if the world wants to deal with their nuclear program. I don’t like Putin, but I think he’s on the money with that sentiment. We all know the danger of desperate individuals. One never knows what they will do.

Protests come to the offices of the EU as they prepare to debate the Basque separatist group ETA.

Americas

Bush and friends continue to defend their plans for Iraq. They say their plans are adaptable. Perhaps, but they haven’t adapted well during this four-five year occupation, have they? All plans are adaptable. The question is if the one changing it knows how to change it to the better.

Bush has changed his rhetoric, though. No more ‘stay the course’. The new buzzword for him is change. Of course, rhetoric is the only thing that has changed for Bush.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg says they won’t stop construction at Ground Zero despite the recent discovery of human remains at the site.

General

Heavy use of mobile phones may effect male fertility. Research found that men who use cell phones for four hours or more a day had fewer sperm than those who don’t and what they have is of lower quality. UK researchers say it’s unlikely that the phones were the cause, since they weren’t near the men’s crotches and think being sedentary was the cause. Interesting and certainly in need of further study.

Experts make a prototype ‘invisibility cloak’. Very basic, not very useful in its current form, but a step toward more.

Prominent hacker Jon Lech Johansen claims to have cracked the code that prevents music from Apple’s iTunes Music Store from playing on any music player.

Explainer delves into the physics of baseball’s most illegal pitches. Science is everywhere, my friends. He also looks at the legal issues of the upcoming Borat movie.

The Blogs look at the fate of Jeffrey Skilling, the demise of “stay the course” rhetoric and Sony’s importation rules.

Today’s Papers has Rush Limbaugh saying actor Michael J. Fox was exaggerating the effects of his Parkinson’s disease in a series of political ads for candidates who favor stem cell research, that House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert testified for almost three hours before the House ethics committee about when he found out of the complaints surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley and his communications with male pages, new regulations announced by Education Secretary Margaret Spellings allowing public school districts to create more single-sex classes and schoolsand more in the one page news.

Amusements

Carl’s Junior, the home of the 1010-calorie bacon cheeseburger, has an online nutrition calculator. Not responsible for PC crashes from floating point overflows

Spike-haired escapee from 1982 shows how to play “Guitar Hero” using unique guitar positions

Idiots at North Carolina rodeo get mad because they’re not allowed to ride “aggressive” bull when cowboys fail to show, so they do the only logical thing: Poke it with sharp sticks and let it loose for nine days

Student learns valuable lesson about censorship after principal orders article on its low test scores cut from each copy of school newspaper: “High school is not the real world”

I-Mockery tests out the worst “haunt your own house” kit ever. (Includes video footage)

Ever get so sick of slow service that you just leave? So did this guy. Which wouldn’t have been newsworthy, except he was robbing the place at the time

Church hot dog shop forced to change name from Hot Dogma to Franktuary, because someone has a trademark on teh word “dogma”

Actual headline: “Stop mailing fake grenades, Canadians told.” Real ones still fine?

Three teens caught after streaking across a high school football field wearing ski masks, apparently unaware that being naked with a ski mask makes it hard to hide

News: Hospital delivers newborn baby to the wrong mother. Fark: Hospital charges mother $100 for a blood test to identify the correct baby

Barbra Streisand’s a bit paranoid, requires a police K-9 team to sweep arenas before she opens her 64-y-o trap

Bubble or no bubble, developer finds buyers for 134 homes in 5 hours

Hilarious Beard Society

Yet another way to sell your kid in Wisconsin: The Toy Crane method. (with pic)

Japanese invent robotic nanny. Because really, Japanese schoolchildren weren’t messed up enough yet

Canadian city, under pressure for alleged sexual harassment within its fire department, has ordered firefighters to wear only boxer-style underwear. Your dog wants tighty whities and poutine

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this old man and his bling

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this man holding ice cream

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this creepy grinning girl