News – Seeking One of Their Own

Middle East

Protests and vigils continue for missing BBC reporter Alan Johnson. Palestinian journalists are now boycotting the functions of their own government to protest how little the government is doing to find this man.

Further is how the lawlessness is leading some to take matters into their own hands on the streets. The people don’t have confidence in their government’s enforcement of law and order. A justified lack of confidence.

Olmert says that if Saudi Arabia invited him and Abbas to talks in a ‘moderate’ Arab state, he’d attend. This is good. But there have been talks before. I’ll not be holding my breath for them any more, until I see some progress from both sides. Olmert refers to Israel being ready to make “big and painful” concessions to advance the peace process One wonders what that means to Israel’s leaders. Going back to the old borders? That would be more likely. Right of return? Doubt it.

Iraq’s government has a plan to resettle thousands who were moved north into Kirkuk during Saddam’s reign. The plan is popular with the Kurds, but not the Sunni Arabs.

Africa

Five AU peacekeepers, guarding a watering point near the Chad border , are killed. The Au has not said which of the groups in the country perpetrated the attack.

Many Somalis use a lull in the fighting in Mogadishu to flee. More Ethiopian troops are headed in as well.

Asia/Pacific

A Zombie Walk in Australia. That would be interesting to see, I think. I’m quite a bit more intrigued by the idea of a zombie shopping spree. Just watching the reactions of store owners would likely be priceless.

Illiteracy is rising in China, this attributed to the children of farmers leaving school early to work. Children of that age shouldn’t have to do paying work. Illiteracy will only lock them into the menial jobs they end up getting.

David Hicks, held in Gitmo for about 5 years, has been sentenced to seven years of prison, with all but nine months of that sentence suspended. Small comfort considering he’s already served a majority of that by virtue of his extended stay in Gitmo. He’ll be serving the nine months in an Australian jail.

Europe

Some Ukrainian nationalists protest their country’s entry into the Euroivision Song Contest being Verka Serdyuchka, a drag queen. I think they need to lighten up. This performer was chosen by a majority of the people and is popular inside and outside of Ukraine. Any damage that might be done by a performance is likely already done.

Something to keep an eye on, a ban in Wales against smoking in any enclosed public structure. The way things are going here, it won’t be too long until the US has a similar law, I’m sure.

Americas

The breaking of the US Army.

Hillary raises record amounts of cash to fuel her campaign. I shudder to think of all the PITA mud slinging that will pack the airwaves in the coming years. Hopefully some of it will be amusing, so that it isn’t all a total loss.

The US says no to trading five Iranians they’ve captured for the fifteen UK sailors being held by Iran.

The Pentagon gets twitchy about cash for Iraq as Bush and the Democrats face off. Perhaps it wouldn’t be as much an issue of the military had put most of its Iraq needs into the main budget rather than slipping them in under the budgetary radar with supplementals. That said, I doubt they have anything at all to worry about. Money will be approved before any real damage is done.

General

Big news for the blood biz. Scientists have developed a way to convert blood from one group to another. That means they can change any type of blood into Type O, the universal blood type. With all blood changed to Type O, it would help deal with the issue of shortages of a certain type of blood. Of course, they have trials to do before it’s deemed safe to use in hospitals.

UK scientists grow a human heart valve from a stem cell. This notable as the valve is more complex than any prior grown organ. The stem cell itself was drawn from bone marrow and the group hopes to one day grown an entire human heart. They plant to implant the valves in animals to see if they actually work.

Frequent, long distance travelers could be risking their health. A body clock out of kilter by crossing multiple time zones can trigger psychotic and mood disorders. There are some suggestions for combating this, including deliberately seeking or avoiding light at the new destination to help the body clock adjust.

Microsoft is moving quickly to seal a security hole dealing with animated cursors, outside of it’s once a month pattern of sending out fixes.

The Blogs look at Hillel Neuer of Geneva-based nongovernmental organization UN Watch giving it to the UN Human Rights Council and what makes a New York apartment a romantic deal-breaker. In general, I agree with Neuer’s observations. The human rights council hasn’t been doing much of anything for all of these happenings around the world.

Today’s Papers has note that alQueda has rebuilt its leadership in Pakistan, the Democrats gearing up to push Bush on several issues, reports on doctor-run hospitals whose lack of basic emergency care may have caused patients’ deaths and more in the one page news.

Amusements

Remember those Muslim imams who were kicked off the airline for “suspicious behavior”? Yeah…they’re suing everyone involved, including the passengers who complained

Please bring your seat to the full upright position or I will cap your ass

Attorney for the state of Florida to a confused mayor: Despite what you may have thought you learned in school, Canada is not another state — it is, in fact, a totally different country

<A HREF="http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/liverpooldailypost/news/regionalnews/tm_headline=police-quiz-boy–10–for-calling-schoolfriend–gay-&method=full&objectid=18842810&siteid=50061-name_page.html”>10 yr old boy is quizzed by police for sending email with word gay in it

Famous RCA logo of dog listening to gramophone meets the new age: Nipper the terrier to be replaced by Gromit the claymation pooch (with pic)

New study finds one in five drivers texting while behind the wheel. ur lamo coz u drV yl txtN on a celfne

Hungry husband wakes sleepy wife with sharp teeth

Teens increasingly using Myspace to break off relationships, confirm spastic retardtivity, lower the tone of the world

If you’re a police officer, and you raid a brothel, don’t come back later for sex. Especially if you posted a guard at the front door to stand lookout

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this cluttered bed

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this guy petting his dragonfly kite

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this treadmill test