Daily Headlines: April 26, 2012

* Venezuela: Suspected drug trafficker Walid Makled claimed in court that he maintained close ties to Eladio Aponte, a former Venezuelan Supreme Court judge who alleged that government officials have links to drug traffickers.

* South America: Standard & Poor's downgraded its credit rating outlook for Argentina in the wake of the government takeover of YPF, while Moody’s revised Uruguay's rating outlook from stable to positive.
 
* Brazil: President Dilma Rousseff is expected to use her line-item veto powers against a controversial environmental bill that critics believe will lead to increased deforestation.

* Panama: Security minister Jose Raul Mulino denied corruption allegations linking President Ricardo Martinelli to an Italian associate of disgraced ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

Video Source – YouTube via NTDTV (Suspected drug trafficker Walid Makled was sought by both the U.S. and Venezuela but he was eventually extradited from Colombia to its South American neighbor in May 2011). 
 
Online Sources- UPI, Reuters, MSNBC, CBS News, AFP

Weekend World Watch: The Long Road Ahead in Yemen

* Yemen: At least twenty-six people were killed in a car bombing that occurred hours after Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was sworn in as the country’s new president.

* Italy: Judges dismissed the bribery case against former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi though he continues to face charges of corruption and sex with an underage prostitute.

* Pakistan: Authorities began demolishing the residence where U.S. special forces killed ex-Al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden last year.

* Afghanistan: NATO withdrew its personnel working in Afghan ministries in Kabul after two U.S. officers were killed amid heavy protests.

Video Source– YouTube via Al Jazeera English

Online Sources – USA TODAY, Reuters, BBC News, Bloomberg

World Watch: Ciao Silvio

* Italy: The Senate is poised to approve a series of austerity measures that will likely lead to the resignation of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

* China: The country’s inflation rate decreased for a third consecutive month as the government is supposedly trying to “cool economic growth.”

* Iran: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran would not back down from its nuclear program despite a U.N. report indicating “serious concern” over developing nuclear arms.

* Libya: International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said that he was close to completing an investigation regarding hundreds of rapes allegedly overseen by officials under former leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Video Source – YouTube user euronews

Online Sources- BBC News, Reuters, Voice of America

World Watch: Gbagbo give up?

* Ivory Coast: France and the U.N. have set out a conditions for embattled leader Laurent Gbagbo to hand over the presidency though that may not save him from possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

* Japan: India suspended food imports from Japan due to concerns over radiation while the U.S. and the E.U. are considering similar restrictions.

* Libya: Rebel commander Gen. Abdul Fattah Younis blasted NATO efforts as “not doing anything” to help civilians under attack by forces loyal to President Muammar Gaddafi.

* Italy: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is not expected to appear in court on Wednesday when trial proceedings being in the “bunga bunga” sex scandal.

Image – Rebecca Blackwell/AP via CSMonitor.com (“New Forces soldiers loyal to Alassane Ouattara drive at a checkpoint at one of the principal entrances to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Tuesday.”)
Online Sources- Xinhua, BBC News, Times of India, Reuters

World Watch: Mortality

* Japan: The death toll from Friday’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan rose to at least 3373 people though the country’s disaster preparedness system was credited with saving hundreds of lives.

* Bahrain: Hundreds of anti-government protesters were injured in clashes with domestic security forces and troops from neighboring Saudi Arabia.

* Italy: Prosecutors reportedly accused Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi with having sex thirteen times with an under-age Moroccan teen.

* Ivory Coast: Violence has intensified between factions loyal and opposed to Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo.

Image – Kim Jae-Hwan/AFP/Getty Images via The Guardian (“Residents on a devastated street in Ishinomaki in Miyagi prefecture on Tuesday.”)
Online Sources- Xinhua, BBC News, Voice of America, BusinessWeek, MSNBC

World Watch: Bending but not yet breaking

* Middle East: At least 27 people died in anti-government protests in Libya while Bahraini opposition leaders vowed to fight on despite being victims of a violent crackdown.

* Israel: The U.S. was the lone U.N. Security Council member to veto a resolution calling for a halt to new Israeli settlements.

* Italy: Embattled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi proposed a series of judicial reforms that critics claim are an attempt to protect himself from trials.

* Asia: The Philippine government made a last ditch effort to stop the planned executions of three Philippine nationals imprisoned in China.

Image – Hassan Ammar/Associated Press via The New York Times (“Protesters fled during an assault by Bahrain security forces in Manama on Friday.”)
Online Sources- Xinhua, Time, The Guardian, BBC News, MSNBC

World Watch: Bumps on the road

* Middle East: One person died when Bahraini police used tear gas in an attempt to clear out protesters while demonstrators in the Iranian capital of Tehran clashed with police.

* Italy: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said that he was “not worried” over going to trial despite the possibility that he could be imprisoned for fifteen years over the “bunga bunga” sex scandal.

* Japan: Officials temporarily suspended Arctic whaling due to pressure from a conservation group popularized by the TV series “Whale Wars.”

* Space: A massive solar flare was emitted from the Sun and it could possibly interfere with the Earth’s electrical power, communications systems and satellites.

Image – Reuters/Hamad I Mohammed via CBC News (“Family members and supporters of Fadel al-Matrook, a protester who was killed Tuesday morning during police clashes in Bahrain, carry his coffin to the funeral in Manama on Wednesday.”)
Online Sources- The Telegraph, Voice of America, Reuters, BBC News, MSNBC

World Watch: Seeking a real transition

* Egypt: The number of protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square ballooned and continued calling for the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak.

* Italy: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi could face an “immediate trial” as a result of allegedly paying to sleep with an underage girl and subsequently trying to cover it up.

* U.S.: A proposal to extend a trio of Patriot Act provisions was rejected by the House of Representatives.

* Africa: Ex-Liberian president Robert Taylor’s lawyer left in a huff from his client’s war crimes trial at The Hague.

Image – AFP via Al Jazeera English
Online Sources- Voice of America, Al Jazeera English, BBC News, Reuters

World Watch: Is Egypt next?

* Egypt: President Hosni Mubarak could suffer the same fate as Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali as he risks being ousted after a popular uprising.

* Tunisia: Speaking of Tunisia the country’s interim government issued an arrest warrant for the capture of Ben Ali and six of his relatives.

* Italy: The pressure of the latest sex scandal seems to be getting to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after he engaged in a war of insults with a TV talk show host.

* Russia: The landmark “New START” nuclear disarmament treaty between Russia and the U.S. could soon take effect.

Image – Ben Curtis/AP via The Guardian (“Mobile phone users film riot police blocking press photographers during a second day of protests in Cairo.”)
Online Sources- The Guardian, AP, ABC News (Australia), The Telegraph

Daily Headlines: January 25, 2011

* Dominican Republic: Dominican model Maria Ester Garcia Polanco is one of the figures caught in the middle of the most recent sex scandal implicating Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

* Nicaragua: The ruling Sandinista party could ratify President Daniel Ortega to run for reelection though he may be constitutionally banned from doing so.

* South America: A minor diplomatic spat has arisen after the cover for Chilean author Eduardo Labarca’s latest book showed him supposedly urinating on the grave of Argentine wordsmith Jose Luis Borges.

* Mexico: Bishop Samuel Ruiz, best known for campaigning for indigenous rights and acting as a mediator with the Zapatistas, died on Monday at the age of 86.

Image – Ettore Ferrari/EPA via The Guardian (“Support for Silvio Berlusconi's party has increased from 28% to 30% this month, according to a poll published in Corriere della Sera.”)
Online Sources- The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Tico Times, BBC News

World Watch: Smacking Silvio

* Italy: Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will remain hospitalized until Tuesday after he was assaulted over the weekend at a political rally.

* Iran: Officials said that they would plan to prosecute three U.S. citizens who have been accused of spying.

* Sri Lanka: According to a former general the government was behind the killings of three Tamil Tiger rebels who had surrendered to the army.

* Australia: Could the cuddly and cute koala bears soon become extinct?

Image – CBC (“Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi leaves Duomo Square with blood on his face after the statue-throwing incident.”)
Online Sources- BBC News, Guardian UK, MSNBC, CNN

World Watch: Crossing the DMZ

* Asia: According to the South Korean press representatives from that country and North Korea met secretly last week to negotiate a possible bilateral summit.

* Pakistan: At least 27 people were killed in several attacks today as part of a Taliban offensive that has left over 200 dead in the past three weeks.

* U.S.: 106 banks have failed so far in the U.S. this year; the highest number since 1992.

* Italy: Over 100,000 women have signed an online petition against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi after he made a sexist remark to a former minister.

Image- MSNBC (“Two North Korean soldiers on the lookout in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that has separated the two Koreas since the Korean War”.)
Online Sources- AFP, Guardian UK, MSNBC, New York Times

World Watch: The written word

* World: Romanian-born German author Herta Müller won the Nobel literature award for her depictions of the “landscape of the dispossessed" in her work.

* Afghanistan: At least seventeen people died due to a car bomb that went off outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul.

* Africa: Ugandan police arrested a former intelligence officer accused of involvement in the 1994 massacre of hundreds of thousands of Rwandans.

* Italy: Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi is losing his sanity after Italy’s constitutional court removed his legal immunity.

Image- Times Online
Online Sources- New York Times, BBC News, Guardian UK, Al Jazeera Online

World Watch: The Afghan conundrum

* Afghanistan: At the eight-year mark of the war in Afghanistan, the White House is considering whether to deploy tens of thousands of additional troops.

* Universe: NASA scientists have discovered a barely visible ring around Saturn whose diameter is several million miles.

* Italy: Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi could soon face trial after Italy’s constitutional court removed his legal immunity.

* Japan: Over 21,000 people have been evacuated from coastal areas as Typhoon Melor and its 86 mile per hour winds hit Japan.

Image- AFP (“A US Marine from Fox Company 2nd Battalion 3rd Marines writes in his journal.”)
Online Sources- New York Times, CNN, Guardian UK, Bloomberg

World Watch: This and that

* South Africa: According to an Australian newspaper, the results of a gender test on Caster Semenya concluded that she is a hermaphrodite.

* Iraq: At least 25 people were killed when a truck bomb exploded near Mosul in northern Iraq.

* Italy: Prime Minister/rabo verde Silvio Berlusconi admitted that younger women were brought to his house for “parties” but claimed that he did not pay for sex.

* Myanmar: Oil firm Chevron (sound familiar?) has been accused of using gas profits to support Myanmar’s military regime.

Image- Guardian UK
Online Sources- Times Online, New York Times, BBC News, Guardian UK, The Latin Americanist, urbandictionary.com

Beyond Borders: Berlusconi’s verbal diarrhea

Despite being such a prominent figure, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is notorious for his verbal gaffes. His most notorious remarks have been directed at women such as claiming that Italy’s right-wing female politicos are more attractive than those on the left or that he would cheat on his wife with a government minister who was a former topless model.

Berlusconi once again targeted women in his latest (and possibly most ugly) utterances yesterday:

While campaigning for local elections in Sardinia Sunday, Berlusconi was asked by reporters to comment about an interior ministry proposal to deploy troops on city streets after a series of sexual assaults on women.

"We can't think of deploying a large force," Berlusconi said. "We would have to send as many soldiers as there are beautiful girls. And I don't think we would manage"…

Later, Berlusconi said he meant his remarks as “a compliment."

"Women have to be defended," he said. (Sexual violence) "is a trauma that remains for life."

The Italian leader’s words were rightfully attacked by feminist groups and opposition politicos. “Berlusconi would do better to stay silent rather than make offensive remarks about women,” said shadow Minister for Equal Opportunities Vittoria Franco.

Berlusconi returned to power last April; he and his allies have been accused of unfairly blaming immigrants for rising crime levels in and around Rome. His polices have received widespread criticism including from residents of a small town that houses a new detention center.

(Hat tip: Mikeb302000).

Image- Times Online
Online Sources- Times Online, BBC News, AFP, UPI, CNN, Reuters, Mikeb302000