News – Investigate Them

Middle East

Amnesty International accuses Israel of war crimes by deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure in Lebanon. Of course, the group wants both sides investigated for breaking humanitarian laws.

Israel warns a family in Jabaliya that their house will be destroyed because it was being used to store weapons. The later missile strike lightly wounds two. With Lebanon out of the picture, mostly, they can focus on Palestine now.

Israel takes captive another Hamas member of Palestine’s government. The Israeli army says it has detained him because he was a member of a “terrorist organisation”.

Some believe that the US’ war on terror has, overall, boosted Iran’s influence in the region. Entirely likely.

Lebanon is still facing a vacuum in terms of security. It will take time to deploy a peacekeeping force and Italy is leery of going in while Israel is still toying with ceasefire violations.

A brigade of Israeli reserve soldiers accuse the Israeli government of fighting a war with “indecision” and “cold feet”, regarding the Lebanon conflict. I find it amusing that Israelis are howling over the government not pulling off a clear victory over Hamas. Truth be told, they were never going to get one, because pure military force can’t break a group like Hamas, short of tyranny or genocide. Thus it isn’t really fair to blame the Israeli government for not succeeding at this. They were doomed to failure from the start.

British forces think they can hand over Basra to Iraqi forces within 9-12 months. Of course, as usual, it depends on the state of security in the country. It always does.

Vague resolutions from the UN are all we ever seem to get. The security council is so fractious, that the language of resolutions must be made dumbed down to get those much publicized unanimous votes.

And, sadly, Bush shows clearly that he knows little when it comes to the region of the world in which he meddles. He talks a good line, but when it comes time to show results, he’s lacking.

Europe

EU officials finally start to get rolling toward defining a UN force to be sent to Lebanon.

Some suspect that a recent bomb attack in a Moscow market may have been racially motivated.

A spokesman for the Romanian oil firm GSP says that one of their rigs came under attack by Iranian troops and they’ve lost contact with it. That seems a strange thing to have happened.

The poisoning of two eagles in Scotland has led to a reward being offered for the culprits. Hopefully someone will turn them in for such a senseless waste of a majestic bird.

Asia

North Korea gets huffy over US-South Korean military drills. The irony is, as always, amusing.

Africa

Somali Islamists ban the export of charcoal and wild animals. Considering the environmental effects these two trades have on the country, it’s an interesting move. All in all, things are getting strained in that region of Africa.

North America

There you go, our bill with regard to Israel’s destruction of Lebanese infrastructure stands at $230 million. You can thank Israel for that.

Bush authorizes the US Marine Corps to call up inactive reservists to fill out a gap in their forces. Not enough volunteers to send to Iraq, it seems. Sadly these people will get caught up in the ‘in until the end of the Global War on Terror’ thing. Meaning they’ll be in the military for the foreseeable future, since there is no end or real reachable goal in sight for the GWoT.

Bush confirms, no pull out on his watch. So we’ll likely be in Iraq up to 2008.

A judge throws out the charge of “conspiring to murder, kidnap and maim persons in a foreign country” against Jose Padilla. It was tossed out because it was, compared to the other charges against him, redundant.

Looks like practical jokers released real, poisonous snakes into a showing of Snakes on a Plane in Arazona. So if you go see this movie, remain aware of what’s going on around you.

General

Scientists think the ozone hole above Antarctica has stabilized. That’s good. They hope it will heal over the next 60 years. Hopefully so, but I wouldn’t place many hopes on so uncertain a thing.

Language specialists think that cows have regional accents to their mooing, like humans have for their speech.

A study on rats suggests that cooling can relive chronic pain. Apparently, cooling compounds activate a protein called TRMP8, which is expressed in the nerve cells in the skin and mediates the sensation of coolness.

Explainer looks at legally bringing snakes on a plane. Then he goes into the smell of poisonous gases.

The Blogs look at the start of Saddam Hussein’s second trial, the Bush administration’s move to reclassify Cold War-era documents, and fuming over the high style in which JonBenet Ramsey’s and the high style in which JonBenet Ramsey’s suspected murderer flew back to America. They also check Iran’s offer to discuss its nuclear program, reports that the United States wants to collect more airline passenger data and Osama Bin Laden’s love life. They’ve been busy.

Today’s Papers has many states are setting up online “meth-offender” registries, the ongoing astronomer summit in Prague agreeing on a definition of planets that excludes Pluto, an Education Department study has found that students at charter schools test worse than their counterparts at public schools, even controlling for race, socioeconomic class, and other factors, the NYT and Post report. Both the Journal andthe LAT and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Ten Years

Verizon lobbies FCC to eliminate government surcharge on DSL service. Then immediately adds their own surcharge of the same amount, which is, of course, totally unrelated to the eliminated fee

If you’re a pedophile and a junior league coach and in charge of publicity, you probably shouldn’t put porn on the back of the league flyers you publish

To ensure success at bank robbery, doublecheck to see if you’re actually in a bank. Bonus: “ATM machine” sighting in article

Counterterrorist unit’s memo, stamped repeatedly with “Do NOT release to the public or media,” is emailed to pretty much every media organization in Southern Arizona

Justice minister in favour of jailing children aged 10 to 12, eliminating preliminary hearings for defendants, eliminating Sections 7 through 14 of Charter. Okay, the last one’s not in there, but you know he’s thinking it

Connecticut mayor, serving 37 years for sexually abusing minors, claims city owes him tens of thousand of dollars for vacation and sick days he never got to use because he was in jail

Activists try to curtail hotels’ in-room porn. However, “precise statistics on in-room adult entertainment are hard to come by”

“Rap music blamed for teen pregnancy”: Proof that the rhythm method doesn’t work

Crazy twelve-year-old kid throws flaming towel at a SWAT team, sets the lawn on fire

Teeth, apply directly to the forehead. Teeth, apply directly to the forehead. Teeth, apply directly to the forehead

“Too pretty for prison” schoolteacher Debbie Lafave too popular for house arrest. Judge grants break in confinement to allow her to appear on “Today” show

Study finds we can’t remember where we left our damn car keys, but our brains need only one-tenth of a second to decide if someone if attractive

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Bill Clinton’s 60th birthday is tomorrow. Photoshop him a nice card

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this crowd watching a horse race

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop these two wanna-be rockers and their plastic guitars