News – Abbas in Charge

Middle East

As predicted, Mahmoud Abbas has won the Palestinian election. Now, with minimal blocks in his way(good riddens Arafat), he can make some serious steps toward peace. But he’ll be no less watched than any other world leader. Bush is considering doubling aid to Palestine to help him prep for the Israeli withdrawal. Resources to start making a real Palestinian security force would be grand, as that’s one of the things the country lacks at the moment. Hamas, who boycotted the election along with Islamic Jihad, has said it could work with Abbas, but complained about election irregularities and questioned the margin of victory. Most militant groups seem willing to give him a chance. Hopefully they will.

Baghdad’s deputy police chief was assassinated and a stolen police car was used to bomb a police station today.

According to reports, the US might start setting up elite hit squads to target the leaders of the insurgency. Hopefully then they target a leader, they’ll actually have the right intelligence on it.

The US military is launching an investigation after a US warplane dropped a 500 pound bomb on the wrong house. This being the first(as I recall) fully acknowledged mistake they’ve made. Even so, the military maintains only five died while locals say 14 did, including seven children. So there’s still a bone of contention to pick at.

Sabotage has again paralyzed Iraq’s oil operations in a flurry of recent attacks. An official has said it would take a week to get the refineries back online and more to get exports moving again.

Ukraine’s new president, Viktor Yushchenko, is making one of his priorities the withdrawal of Ukraine troops from Iraq. They currently have 1,600 in the country and a recent incident has seen eight killed in an explosion.

Asia

Aceh relief has seen setbacks as a helicopter delivering aid crashes and aftershocks. The aftershock was 6.2, but there has been no report of new casualties. The crash also resulted in no deaths, but it has brought a temporary halt to aid delivery in cut off areas, scaled back operations planned to resume soon.

Another miraculous story as an Indonesian man washed out to sea is found by a passing ship, the second such case of this that I’ve seen and the third by this article’s reckoning.

Colin Powell lets Bush know that he should plan long term aid to the region struck by the tsunami. A given.

Africa

Took a while, but it seems the rebels and Sudanese government have signed an accord that ends the conflict in the south. It doesn’t, however, cover the conflict in western Darfur. But it is a step and the people seem quite happy about it. Welcoming the deal, Britain is pledging $93 million through the UN for Sudan and eastern Chad.

North America

Democrats accuse Bush of hyping Social Security’s problems higher than they really are to scare support out of the American people. Doing so has usually backfired for Bush as much as helped in my view.

I’d have to agree that Alberto Gonzalez seemed unwilling to give a definitive answer on anything he was asked, as far as I heard from his hearing. That doesn’t speak well for him.

Northern California gets hit with flooding and mudslides due to heavy winter storms, resulting in two deaths.

US ranchers don’t want a ban on Canadian beef(due to mad cow) to end and urge the government to keep it up until Japan and Tokyo drop their bans.

General

Apple files suit against ThinkSecret for allegedly misappropriating trade secrets following a report about a $500 monitor-less iMac and new iWork software, a productivity suite to rival Microsoft’s Office. Yet some are accusing Apple of timing the suit to garner publicity for the upcoming MacWorld. Wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest.

Wikipedia’s success garners concern. It’s possible that it could grow too large, where fewer of it’s entries would receive enough scrutiny to be properly vetted. It might call for some better tools to generate a standard for which articles have been properly seen to and which haven’t.

Proof that Cannibus can make you psychotic. Better to just say no, folks.

Did you know spiders are health concious? They watch what they eat, adjusting their diet to address nutritional deficencies.

Today’s Papers has note of election officials in Iraq’s Anbar province resigning under threat by militants, a look at the state of voting in Iraq, more info on oil-for-food and other tidbits int eh one page news.

Amusements

Drunk man arrested for high-speed limojacking (Second headline)

Sometimes, naked buttocks can result in a public-relations disaster

BBC boss goes into hiding after death threats from Christian groups for showing “Jerry Springer, the Opera.” Perhaps it was the scene showing Jesus in a nappy, admitting he is “a bit gay,” that did it

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this lonely snow walker

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop some Farker’s boss and his Lamborghini

Fark Photoshop Challenge: <A HREF="http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=1293803″>Photoshop this farker on a treadmill