News – TGIF News

Middle East

Saudi Arabia is gunna overhaul its legal system. This includes the creation of a supreme court. Whether or not this ends up an improvement remains to be seen. Hopefully it will and score one for the reformists.

Nice to hear about a school in the West Bank that shuns hate and retribution with regard to Israel. Because not all schools in Palestine territories teach the opposite.

Talk of partitioning Iraq is growing. Not that we’ve had much success with that in the past.

Kahled al-Mudallal, a Bradford University student, cannot leave Gaza and return to his studies in the UK according to Israel’s Supreme Court. And she’s just one of hundreds in the same sort of predicament.

Africa

South African prosecutors confirm that they have an arrest warrant for Interpol president Jackie Selebi.

Lakhdar Brahimi, one of several veteran statesmen visiting Sudan, accuses the West of pandering to unrepresentative rebel groups in Darfur.

The US congress is targeting Ethiopia for sanctions and a stop in military aid unless democratic reforms are made.

Asia/Pacific

Fiji’s military run government is lifting the state of emergency placed when deposed PM Laisenia Qarase re-entered politics.

Europe

A long missing da Vinci painting is recovered in a police raid in Glasgow, Scotland. The painting is called the Madonna with the Yarnwinder.

Russia celebrates Sputnik. The space race started fifty years ago with that opening salvo. We’ve come a along way in that time, but there’s still a long ways to go yet. Hats off to the catalyst, without which we’d be missing out on a lot in this modern times.

The Vatican is to sponsor a soccer team. The express purpose seeming to be highlighting ethical conduct in the game and promoting sportsmanship. Yeah.. ok, whatever. I doubt having a Pope supported sports team will do much to reform the cesspit that sports can become. Sports support several base aspects of humanity’s nature, which I believe go against matters such as religious enlightenment.

Americas

The House of Reps passes legislation that would tighten up laws on security firms, seeing that they face prosecution if they commit crimes. This is something that should have been in effect long ago. Especially when it comes to matters such as the conflict in Iraq, the conduct of private US organizations in the country needs to be carefully regulated because the stakes are high and foul ups can be serious. Private contractors should feel that.

Sgt Frank Wuterich, alleged to have been the ringleader in the November 2005 killings of 24 Iraqi civilians, may escape murder charges, instead being tried on the lesser charge of negligent homicide.

Americas

The widow and five children of the Pinochet family are arrested on charges of embezzlement.

RIAA wins a fat $222k lawsuit against a thirty year old single mother for downloading 24 music tracks, which she mistakenly thought she got for free. Score one for justice?

According to Bill, Hilary would put him in charge of restoring the image of the US abroad should she win the presidency. Say what you will about the man, but I honestly think he could do it. Crooked or honest, he has that sort of charisma and savvy.

Justice Antonin Scalia evokes 24 in a speech.

General

Got some real winners for the Ig Noble prize this year. First and foremost is pioneering research on a ‘gay bomb’. Not to be mistaken for Gay Bar.

Research suggests that breeding in captivity weakens the ability of animals to survive in the wild. Not surprising since captivity won’t teach them from birth the skills needed to survive. Who can say what that quality is, but whatever it is, we can’t give it to them.

The Catholic Church puts some elderly nuns out in the street to help pay for the lawsuits stemming from the past pedophile priests.

Musing the legality of hacking the iPhone.

The Blogs look at a 2005 Justice Department opinion that indorses extreme interrogation techniques for terror suspects, the Chinese-Iraqi weapons deal and Sputnik’s 50th birthday.

Today’s Papers has word that track star Marion Jones is expected to plead guilty today to lying to federal agents about her use of performance-enhancing drugs, Sen. Larry Craig’s announcement that he would stay in the Senate even though a judge refused to let him withdraw his guilty plea to disorderly conduct in a restroom, that Sen. Pete Domenici won’t be running for office again because he was diagnosed with a degenerative brain disease and more in the one page news.

Amusements

A few flash anims for the weekend. Have a good one.

Neurotically Yours: A-Gore-Aphobia

Newgrounds: 8-Bit D&D – I may have posted this one before, but it’s still good.

Newgrounds: Charlie the Unicorn

Newgrounds: Jerry – I know I posted this one before, but I love it so much I have to post it again.