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World News Once a Week |
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| Published Thursday, October 16, 2008 |
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| Reuters/Gene Blevins: A firefighter battles a blaze in California. |
Issue 121
After a grueling 37-day campaign, the polls have closed and the results have been tallied. The upshot: voters have overwhelmingly
rejected change and embraced more of the same. No, this isn't a bizarro version of the Obama/McCain saga; it's Canada's election, in which conservative incumbent Stephen Harper won what may be a Pyrrhic victory. For some actual shuffling of the governmental decks, you could turn to Afghanistan, where allegations of poppy-trade corruption
forced Hamid Karzai to reorganize his cabinet. And in more heroin-related news (unlike your health plan, we never skimp on drug coverage), Mexico's increasingly violent
cartels have sighted journalists in their crosshairs. An informant in their ranks sure would be useful for the police: perhaps Milan Kundera is available?
Elsewhere, yet another turbulent spell in the markets helped burnish Gordon Brown's newfound reputation as a problem-solver while further dimming John McCain's electoral prospects. At this point, advice for the Arizona senator
is getting farfetched; next, some columnist will be urging him to hire Elbot as his communications director. (Or Joe the Plumber as a mascot, judging
by his starring role in last night's punchy debate.) A more helpful
suggestion might be to sign up whoever advises Kim Jong-il. The dictator may be in ill health, but he sure knows how
to get what he
wants.
- Benjamin Hart |
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| Top Stories |
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Canada votes: new boss same as the old boss
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Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper's big gamble — win a Conservative majority via early elections — fell short of an expected
windfall, as the incumbent ended the night with another minority government. Harper violated his party's own election law
to dissolve parliament last month, which drove politicians out on a whirlwind campaign trail.
The election saw modest gains for the left-wing New Democratic Party (NDP), which picked up eight seats, while the centrist Liberal Party — a perennial
contender — received a historic drubbing at the polls. Pundits are questioning whether Ottawa can function with two opposition parties nipping at Harper's heels. However, the Liberals' weak showing may
prompt a leadership shakeup as MPs return to the House of Commons.
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North Korea: from 'axis' to ally?
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Five years after condemning North Korea as part of an "axis of evil," President Bush removed the country from the US terrorism blacklist. In exchange, North Korea will recommence dismantling
its nuclear facilities while reopening the international inspection process.
Reaction to the deal was mostly positive, though some citizens and politicians in South Korea and Japan denounced it, claiming
that North Korea should first be punished for past kidnappings. Some also expressed concern that the agreement would not hold
sway only at the Yongbyon reactor, and not at undeclared nuclear sites. Another factor complicating the deal: the health of
the country's "Dear Leader," Kim Jong-il. Before an apparent sighting on October 4, the eccentric dictator had not been seen in public in 51 days.
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Government buys stake in US banks
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Following Europe's decision to inject €500 billion into its shaky banking system, President Bush announced on Tuesday that the US government will devote
a third of the $750 billion bailout plan to recapitalize banks and unfreeze lending. According to the proposal, the Treasury
will purchase about $125 billion in preferred stock from the nine largest banks — effectively a partial nationalization — and will use the rest to support small and mid-level lenders.
Through guaranteeing debt and alleviating fears surrounding lending, the government hopes to attract private capital back
into the market and eventually return the economy to its feet. Wall Street sent the Dow surging to its largest single-day gain, although markets have since plummeted again.
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Karzai shuffles cabinet amid corruption charges
In an attempt to curb widespread government corruption, Afghan president Hamid Karzai appointed former Communist-era secret-police
officer Muhammad Hanif Atmar to lead the Interior Ministry. Diplomats have accused government officials of reaping illegal
profits from the country's $4 billion opium trade.
| New York Times | TIME |
Connecticut legalizes gay marriage
In a 4-3 decision, the Connecticut Supreme Court legalized gay marriage, contending that civil unions do not adequately protect
the rights of same-sex couples. This fall, California voters will decide whether to overturn legalization, while Florida and Arizona consider state-wide bans.
| Hartford Courant | Washington Post |
Britain drops 42-day detention proposal
England's House of Lords overwhelmingly rejected a measure backed by Prime Minister Gordon Brown that would allow suspected terrorists to be detained
without charges for 42 days. The proposal is part of a larger counterterrorism bill that will continue to move through parliament.
| Guardian | Scotsman |
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I, chatbot: AI gabs to win
This year's Loebner Prize for artificial intelligence was awarded to Elbot, the chatty virtual creation of Hamburg, Germany-based programmer Fred Roberts. Elbot fooled three of 12 judges into thinking
it was human — the best showing since the challenge's inception.
| Times, UK | New Scientist |
iPods make you deaf — say what?
Hey, have you heard the new Barmaid Sire? No, I said, "Arcade Fire." Perhaps you've been rocking out to your MP3 player an
hour a day for over five years; a recent study predicts 10% of such listeners will suffer severe hearing loss.
| CNET | Melbourne Herald Sun |
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Op-ed scribe wins Nobel economics prize
New York Times columnist Paul Krugman won the 2008 Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Sciences, prompting a heated online debate over the award's political ramifications. Best-known as a lefty pundit, Krugman is also renowned for his academic work on the geography of trade.
| 3 Quarks Daily | Curious Capitalist (TIME) |
McCain's struggles prompt grousing
A William Kristol column advising John McCain to "fire his campaign" hit a nerve with the senator's advisors — who shot back at Kristol — and with online commentators. Many agreed with the sentiment, but found the idea ironic coming from the attack-happy
pundit.
| Swampland (TIME) | Scared Monkeys |
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| The Week in Pictures |
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Click to see the full-size image and caption.
 Reuters/Romeo Ranoco
 Reuters/Miro Kuzmanovic
 Reuters/Tim Wimborne
 Reuters/Ognen Teofilovski
 Reuters/Gene Blevins
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*Unless otherwise noted, all photos are courtesy of Reuters.
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| Below the Fold |
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Journalists killed in Mexican drug war
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| Reuters/Jorge Duenes |
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Drug-related violence has skyrocketed in Mexico this year, and several journalists have ended up in the cartels' crosshairs. Last week, a newspaper editor was kidnapped and shot, and a political columnist
and ten others were gunned down in a bar. Clean-up crews have struggled to keep up with the surge in violence.
| San Antonio Express-News | Christian Science Monitor |
Sudan arrests war-crimes suspect
Under international pressure, the Sudanese government arrested a militia commander accused of war crimes in Darfur. Sudanese
president Omar al-Bashir faces legal challenges of his own stemming from the genocide, which has left at least 300,000 people dead and millions displaced.
| Telegraph | BBC |
The unbearable spying of Kundera?
A Czech government institute released a report indicating that Milan Kundera — an acclaimed expatriate writer and anti-Communist satirist — denounced a Western spy in 1950. Kundera, who normally refuses
to speak to the press, emerged from seclusion to vehemently deny the allegation.
| CzechNews | Independent |
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| Masthead |
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