World Watch: Hot hot heat

* World: 2010 could be “one of the three warmest years on record” according to data released by the World Meteorological Organization at a climate change conference in Cancun, Mexico.

* Israel: At least forty prison guards died as a result of a raging forest fire in northern Israel.

* Nigeria: Authorities plan to charge former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney in a $180 million bribery case allegedly involving energy firm Halliburton.

* India: India will supposedly buy billions of dollars worth of arms from Russia and France as part of a “military modernization” plan.

Image – Mikhail Metzel/Associated Press via CBC (“Fading sunflowers droop in a field in Voronezh region, some 415 km south of Moscow, after weeks of searing heat and practically no rain during the summer of 2010. A severe drought destroyed one-fifth of the wheat crop in Russia, the world's third-largest exporter of the grain.”)
Online Sources- MSNBC, BBC News, The Guardian, Voice of America

World Watch: Sunset, sunrise

* Japan: After nearly 54 years of nearly unbroken rule, Japan’s conservative Liberal Democratic Party was defeated as most voters tired of political scandal and the country's weakened economy.

* Europe: Turkish and Armenian officials agreed to negotiations that could resume bilateral diplomatic ties after nearly a century of bitterness.

* Rwanda: Proceedings began in a trial against the accused mastermind of the massacre of 2000 Tutsis who were killed while seeking refuge from war.

* U.S.: White House spokesman Robert Gibbs launched the latest salvo in the war of words between the Obama administration and ex-vice president Dick Cheney over torture and national security.

Image- BBC News (Democratic Party of Japan “leader Yukio Hatoyama says he is ready for the challenge”).
Online Sources- Los Angeles Times, AFP, BBC News, MSNBC

Alberto Gonzales, Dick Cheney indicted

A Texas grand jury indicted former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Vice President Dick Cheney for the supposed abuse of prisoners.

According to the indictment filed yesterday, both men engaged in "organized criminal activity" based on the supposed abuse leading to the 2001 death of an inmate. As a Reuters article mentioned:

The grand jury in Willacy County, in the Rio Grande Valley near the U.S.-Mexico border, said Cheney is "profiteering from depriving human beings of their liberty," according to a copy of the indictment obtained by Reuters.

The indictment cites a "money trail" of Cheney's ownership in prison-related enterprises including the Vanguard Group, which owns an interest in private prisons in south Texas.

Former attorney general Gonzales used his position to "stop the investigations as to the wrong doings" into assaults in county prisons, the indictment said.

The indictment also laid blame at Democratic state Sen. Eddie Lucio Jr. His lawyer claimed that Willacy County District Attorney Juan Angel Guerra was “settling political scores in his final weeks in office.”

Gonzales has been under fire for aledgedly abusing his power during his time as Attorney General including the accused partisan firing of eight federal attorneys. A recent Justice Department (DOJ) probe blasted Gonzales for “abdicating his repsonsibilty” as top cop; ironically, the DOJ agreed to use taxpayer funds to pay for his private counsel.

Image- WELT ONLINE
Sources- The Latin Americanist, miamiherald.com, Houston Chronicle, Reuters, CNN

Daily Headlines: November 7, 2007

* Sixteen people are feared dead after mudslides swept away areas of the southern Mexican state of Chiapas.

* Seventy percent of Mexicans living in California are U.S. citizens according to data released by the Census Bureau.

* Brazilian oil firm Petrobras may make significant inroads in Bolivia according to the company’s CEO.

* U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama flew to Puerto Rico on Monday and met with the commonwealth’s governor before heading to a fundraiser in San Juan.

* Follow-up: Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez teased U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney for erroneously calling Chavez the leader of Peru.

Sources- AHN, Monsters & Critics, UPI, KGBT, Associated Press, Reuters, The Latin Americanist

Image- New York Times

Video of the Day: Cheney's geographical gaffe

See Dick speak.

See Dick talk about Hugo Chavez.

See Dick erroneously calling Hugo Chavez the leader of Peru.

(Video link):


Sources- YouTube, BBC News