News – Walls = Peace?

Middle East

Iraqis protest the building of a wall between Shia and Sunni districts of Iraq. The US military thinks it will reduce sectarian violence and stop the movements of weapons and militants. I doubt it. All it will do is reinforce the division between the two sects and make life all the more miserable for average people who have to deal with going around the wall rather than through where it now divides, while those that want to do violence will find ways around the wall.

Iran gets more flack for involvement in attacks on US forces in Iraq. Not that the US is in a strong position to do anything about it, even if every accusation laid against Iran is true. Hard to tell since no one ever cites this clear evidence in specific.

Monitoring the effects of the troop surge. At the very least, the number of violent deaths among Iraqis has dropped. Still, they’re likely to remove the troops inserted for the surge. Which means its over. Which means we’ll see if those lowered levels of violence linger or if the levels rise again with the departure of US troops.

Explainer details how hot it can be in Iraq.

Africa

Looks like the new anti-government alliance of forces is already making things difficult in Somalia.

With an election looming, things look bad for fighting the significant corruption in Kenya’s government.

Omar al-Bashir, prez of Sudan, says he’s ready to call a ceasefire with rebel groups ahead of coming peace talks next month.

Asia/Pacific

China’s Supreme Court orders judges to be more sparring when sentencing people to the death penalty. They say it should be used for an ‘extremely small number of serious offenders’. A bit vague, but sounds about right.

In Japan the race to replace outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe picks up. And so do sales of manga, with the belief that Taro Aso(apparently a manga fan) is a leading candidate to replace him. Silly, but politics usually is.

Americas

Bush will be cutting troop levels in Iraq. He pretty much has to, since he can’t keep them all there forever. Petraeus says the troop cut won’t diminish gains from the surge. I suppose we’ll see how is judgment is on that score.

A look into his latest speech for the American people.

Americans score Petraeus’ report to Congress.

Obama, Kucinich, Gravel, Edwards, Dood, Clinton, Biden and Richardson answer questions in Slate’s political mashup.

General

Thanks to the work of NGOs, child mortality is at an all time low.

The use of voice synthesizers in terrorism? The ability to mimic voice would require some manner of recognition software to make phone communications reliable in security environments.

WinAmp gears up with their next release to challenge iTunes. Bring it on, competition is good.

The Blogs look at if anyone can beat Mark Warner in Virginia, why Japan’s prime minister resigned and Jon Stewart hosting of the Oscars again.

Today’s Papers has note of a new niche involving children who collect high-end art, news that a Sunni tribal leader, who had become a high-profile ally of the United States in Anbar, was killed yesterday, more on Bush’s speech and such things in the one page news.

Amusements

Even if you’re a lawyer, punching a cop in the balls is a bad idea (Mm, that reminds me – warning, tasteless humor)

EU plans to censor words like “bomb” and “terrorism” from search engines. Should prevent users from finding bombmaking instructions, Bush speeches

“The health department does not consider a person’s shoe or boot a proper instrument to use in food preparation”

Today’s “naked drunk mayor” story brought to you by Albion, NY. Too bad there’s no punchline to be made out of his last name

“Miss” Ventura County hasn’t yet returned crown after getting busted for actually being a Mrs. Claims she was too drunk and high to remember getting married, so it shouldn’t count. Oh, if only

If(Now()== “2007-09-13”) Alert.show(“Happy Programmer’s Day”);

You’re 15 and “accidentally” discover sexual content in a school library book. Do you: A) Select another book? B) Complain? Or C) Protect everyone else by checking the book out and refusing to return it?

Woman arrested for “punishing” 14-year-old neighbor boy for making noise playing basketball by stripping naked and sunning herself in front of him. This is like punishing a neighbor’s dog for barking by throwing it a steak

Alleged Ponzi scheme mastermind arrested, with sexy lounge pants pic goodness

With no more pressing crimes to solve, British police visit restaurant to warn owner to stop selling “unhealthy” sandwiches and wraps to schoolchildren (pic)

Man arrested for stealing car, but he only did it so he could turn himself in for another crime

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this strange flower

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this circus girl

Fark Photoshop Challenge: Photoshop this lovely puppet