Vatican: Gene technology enables new racism

GENEVA (Reuters) - Technology allowing parents to choose the genetic characteristics of their babies threatens to breed new forms of racism, the Vatican told a United Nations race conference on Wednesday.

Wait...since when did this technology exist?

Pope Benedict earlier this week said the heated U.N. forum, which several Western powers are boycotting to avoid giving legitimacy to criticism of Israel, was an important initiative to confront all forms of modern discrimination.

"The Holy See is also alarmed by the still latent temptation of eugenics that can be fueled by techniques of artificial procreation and the use of 'superfluous embryos'," Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, Vatican observer to the U.N. in Geneva said.

Wait...since when did this technology exist?

100 countries declare end to racism

From VOA News...

More than 100 countries with delegates at a global conference on racism have agreed on a declaration calling for an end to intolerance and xenophobia.

WOO! Racism's officially over!

...

That's what this means, right?

The declaration, adopted Tuesday in Geneva, reaffirms a 2001 statement issued at the first United Nations conference on racism in Durban, South Africa.

The decision Tuesday by consensus came a day after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stirred controversy with an address in which he described Israel as "cruel, repressive and racist." Mr. Ahmadinejad's address sparked a walkout by delegates from 23 European Union nations.

The United States and eight other Western countries boycotted the conference over fears that it would become a forum for anti-Semitism.

...

...speaking of racism...

Thailand revokes passport of former premier

Another blow for anti-government protesters in Thailand.

BANGKOK (AFP) — Thailand revoked the passport of Thaksin Shinawatra on Wednesday, escalating a campaign against the fugitive former premier and his allies for allegedly inciting deadly anti-government protests.

Police said they were also hunting the main organisers of the demonstrations that left two people dead and 123 injured this week, after a court issued arrest warrants for Thaksin and 12 top supporters.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has vowed to prosecute all leaders of the rallies, which broke up on Tuesday after troops threatened to use force against thousands of demonstrators camped outside his offices.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said Thaksin's passport was withdrawn for inciting protests that forced the cancellation of a summit of Asian leaders on the Thai coast on Saturday.

"The ministry can cancel or recall a passport if it can prove that a person has caused damage to the country," he told AFP.

Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and lives in exile to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption. He has made a series of speeches to his supporters in Thailand in recent weeks calling for a "revolution".

In a television interview filmed in Dubai before the passport announcement, the billionaire tycoon denied the official charges that he had incited violence.

"I feel very tragic on what is happening among the Thai people. But I am not instigating it," he told Al-Jazeera English. "I keep telling them every day, the message is peaceful, peaceful, peaceful."

The 59-year-old added that he would be prepared to return to Thailand to face justice if numerous cases against him, which also include previous charges of graft, were investigated by a "neutral body".

The government cancelled Thaksin's diplomatic passport in December.

Thai police said earlier they were searching for the other protest leaders named in arrest warrants. Three have been charged and are in detention while the others remain at large.

The warrants accuse them of breaching the emergency measures put in place in Bangkok on Sunday, threatening acts of violence and inciting others to break the law.

"An investigation team is looking for them and checking their home towns to present warrants," said Bangkok police commander Lieutenant General Worapong Shewpreecha.

"Police have checked with immigration and found that there are no records of them leaving the country," he said.

Troops and police on Wednesday manned security checkpoints around the capital but Panitan said Abhisit wanted to lift the state of emergency "as soon as he can" to help local businesses.

Bangkok residents celebrated the end of the protests with the traditional pastime of soaking each other with water on final day of Buddhist New Year celebrations Wednesday.

Demonstrators loyal to Thaksin, known as "Red Shirts" because of their trademark attire, surrounded Abhisit's offices three weeks ago to demand his resignation before moving to the resort of Pattaya to disrupt the Asian summit.

They accuse British-born Abhisit of being a stooge of Thailand's military and of coming to power illegally after Thaksin's allies were removed from government by a court in December.

Italy earthquake death toll reaches 283

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano.

L'AQUILA, Italy (AP) — This quake ravaged medieval city took a limping step toward normalcy Thursday as butchers, bakers and other shopkeepers reopened for business, three days after a deadly earthquake made the historic center uninhabitable and halted nearly all economic activity.

The death toll from Italy's worst quake in three decades reached 283, including 20 children and teens, police said.

Sad that so many people died, but it's good to hear that the city is rebuilding.

China staying calm after Korean launch

China on Tuesday repeated its call for calm after North Korea's latest test of a multistage rocket, attempting to defuse anger in the U.S. and elsewhere at a time when its own economic interest in the neighboring state is soaring.

Buyout?

Kim Jong-Il launches rocket, is crazy

North Korea's state-run media reported Tuesday that Kim Jong-Il shed tears of regret during the country's controversial rocket launch because he could not use the launch funds to provide aid to his people, the AFP reported.

And you used that money on a rocket instead of people because...

The country on Tuesday also released footage of the weekend launch, along with the first video of Kim since his reported stroke in August, according to South Korean media.

Kim "felt regret for not being able to spend more money on the people's livelihoods and was choked with sobs," AFP quoted ruling communist party paper Rodong Sinmun as saying.

"Chants of jubilation are reverberating throughout the country on the news that our satellite is beaming back the 'Song of General Kim Il-Sung' and the 'Song of General Kim Jong-Il,'" the paper said, according to AFP.

Because a satellite radio channel of two songs about you and your father is WAY more important than providing for a financially struggling country.

G20 leaders work to reach agreement

From BBC NEWS...

World leaders will strive to reach an agreement on how to confront the worst global financial crisis since the 1930s at the G20 summit in London.

So far they only agree that they should listen to what fiscally conservative authorities or pundits say should be done about the economy, and then do the opposite.

Second day of G20 protests expected

From BBC NEWS...

A second day of protests are expected as world leaders gather for the G20 summit at the ExCel Centre in London.

Because governments should stay out of private enterprise's business! Wait...that's why they're protesting, right?

From 0700 BST there are plans to disrupt traders at the London Stock Exchange, and from 1100 BST anti-war protests are planned near the summit.

Or not.

President Obama Faces Busy Schedule in London

President Barack Obama will have a busy day in London. He has already made a joint appearance with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

In that conference, the morning before the G-20 economic crisis summit, Obama urged world leaders to take action for the economy, saying, "We can only meet this challenge together."

"I came here to put forward ideas," Obama said, "but I also came here to listen, not to lecture. Having said that, we must not miss an opportunity to lead."

The president disputed criticism that the US was feuding with other nations about the need to pump more money into economic stimulus policies, saying any differences are vastly overstated.

"I am absolutely confident that this meeting will reflect enormous consensus about the need to work in concert to deal with these problems," Obama said.

Obama urged nations to spur growth and work together on regulation reform, and not to fall into the protectionism that helped fuel the Great Depression.

"That is a mistake we cannot afford to repeat," Obama said.

He assured reporters that he still believes in the country's economic system.

"I think that there is a vibrancy to our economic model, a durability to our political model, and a set of ideals that has sustained even through the most difficult times."

Brown emphasized unity as well, saying never before has the world come together in this way to deal with an economic crisis.

"We are within a few hours, I think," Brown optimistically added, "of agreeing a global plan for economic recovery and reform."

Obama will also squeeze in talks with Brown's main rival, David Cameron, the leader of Britain's conservative party. The president will also have face-to-face talks with the leaders of China and Russia. Officials in both of those countries have called for a global currency to end the dollar's dominance.

April Fool's Virus Prompts Concern

Officials are worried about a computer virus that could take effect later today.

"The big concern right now is that there's a date inside of it, that something may or may not happen sometime on April 1st," said Mark Shavlik, computer security expert, president, and CEO of Shavlik Technologies in an AP interview.

"Now maybe, sometimes, nothing happens, maybe a lot of things happen."

Shavlik says the Conficker worm is already on millions of computers and can hijack computers without users even noticing. Among other things the worm blocks PCs from accessing the web sites of antivirus vendors and Microsoft. That keeps its victims from getting updates about the worm and downloading removal tools. If you can surf the Internet freely except for those websites, that's a good sign your computer is infected. Mac users so far seem to be immune.

"[I]t spreads by no password or very, very simple ones," said Mark Harrison, global director of SophosLabs in an interview with eWeek.

Microsoft has also issued a patch for the flaw targeted by the worm, so PC users who downloaded Microsoft's automatic updates recently should be protected.

Botnet detection company Damballa said Conficker is not a major problem in the typical enterprise.

"We do see Conficker compromises in enterprises," said Tripp Cox, Damballa's vice president of engineering, "but they comprise a minority of the total number of compromises we see in these environments. The majority is the long tail of small botnets."

Cox said Conficker was neither targeted nor "low-and-slow", so existing defenses performed well.

"Our experience with enterprises has been that they tend to do a good job of patch management," Cox said, "which diminished the propagation effects of Conficker in the networks. What compromises did occur, most enterprises were able to quickly track down based on their noisy, brute-force attempts to guess employee passwords."

Obama's New Strategy for Afghanistan

by Seth Graham and Ben Tan

The President continues his preparations for his first European trip, including a meeting with NATO's secretary-general.

Meanwhile Mr. Obama is readying a new strategy for Afghanistan.

General John Craddock, the Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, says security results in the country are skewed.

Craddock said gunfire in outdoor markets "counts the same as a suicide bomber killing thirty people [...] so we have to get more refined in that."

This follows thousands of new U-S troops who will soon roll into the region to reverse the Taliban gains.

Kremlin to Push Global Currency at G-20

The Kremlin will pitch a new currency at an upcoming meeting of the G-20. The Kremlin published its priorities Monday for the meeting, calling for a supranational reserve currency to be issued by international institutions. This is part of a reform of the global financial system.

The International Monetary Fund should investigate the possible creation of a new reserve currency, widening the list of reserve currencies, or using its already existing Special Drawing Rights, or SDRs, as a superreserve currency accepted by the whole of the international community, the Kremlin said in a statement on its web site.

The IMF created SDRs in 1969 to supplement the existing official reserves of member countries.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have repeatedly called for the ruble, rather than the dollar, to be used as the regional reserve currency, although the idea has received little support outside Russia. The Kremlin has repeatedly criticized the dollars status as the dominant global reserve currency, and has lowered its dollar holdings in the last few years.

Analysts said the Kremlins proposal will not elicit excitement at the meeting.

This is all in the realm of fantasy, said Sergei Perminov, chief strategist at Rye, Man and Gore. There was a situation that resembled what they are talking about. It was called the gold standard, and it ended very badly.

Alternatives to the dollar are still hard to find, he said.

Recently, there have been other calls for a common currency. Kazakhstan President Nursultan Nazarbayev proposed a global currency at an economic conference in Astana, Kazakhstan.

Opposition leader: Pakistan's security has collapsed

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — The Sri Lankan cricket team ambush shows the security system has collapsed in Pakistan since the pro-Western government took office a year ago, a leading opposition politician charged Thursday.

Huh?

The fallout from Tuesday's attack is adding to political problems facing the shaky government just as Washington wants it to stay focused on the fight against al-Qaida and the Taliban.

Under intense pressure to show progress in the investigation, authorities claimed to have identified the heavily armed terrorists and were questioning several people, but appeared to have made no major arrests. The gunmen escaped into the teeming city of Lahore following the ambush.

The country's cricket chief, meanwhile, dismissed as "totally fabricated" claims by British referee Chris Broad that police abandoned him and other match officials during the ambush by between 12 and 14 gunmen close to a stadium in Lahore in eastern Punjab province.

With a punishing economic slowdown and a looming political showdown on the horizon, some commentators have taken the brazen assault as fresh evidence the nuclear-armed nation is on a path to becoming a failed state.

Opposition parties and other critics used outrage over the ambush as ammunition against the government.

"The security system in Pakistan under this regime has collapsed because this government is too busy doing other things, they are too busy in their quest for power," opposition politician Mushahid Hussain told a televised news conference.

Oh. Well, you do know bin Laden is in Pakistan, right?

US to send envoys to Syria

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Tuesday the Obama administration would this week send two senior U.S. officials to Damascus to work on bilateral ties, in a further sign of thawing U.S.-Syria relations.

Syria, huh?

"We're going to dispatch a representative of the State Department, a representative of the White House, to explore with Syria some of these bilateral issues," Clinton said, announcing another step that could help Damascus improve its standing in the West after years of tensions.

"We have no way to predict what the future with our relations concerning Syria might be," she told a news conference with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

U.S. officials said the two emissaries would be Jeffrey Feltman, a former U.S. ambassador to Lebanon and now acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, and Dan Shapiro of the White House's National Security Council.

The administration of President Barack Obama has been reviewing U.S. policy toward Syria, including whether to return an ambassador to Damascus, a move the former Bush administration had been considering in the final months in office.

The move also indicates a wish to lessen Iran's influence over Syria as part of broader regional peace plans and follows up on a campaign promise by Obama to talk to U.S. enemies rather than isolate them.

Oh. Iran. That's what this is about.

Darfur update

From TIME...

If the prognosticators are correct, the International Criminal Court will issue its first arrest warrant for a sitting head of state on Wednesday afternoon. That's when the court will announce whether Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir ought to be brought to trial on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for his alleged role in orchestrating the Darfur conflict. Regardless of what one makes of the idea of international justice, the arrest warrant, if it comes, will be a historic move that many human rights experts believe will further erode that sense of impunity shared by dictators the world over.

As a result, it is perhaps no surprise that Sudanese officials have become more bellicose about the prospect of an arrest warrant.

Clinton goes to Israel, promises support

From The Christian Science Monitor...

JERUSALEM - Embarking on her first trip to the region as secretary of State, Hillary Clinton pledged that the Obama administration will unshakably support Israel's security and vigorously pursue the creation of a Palestinian state.

I'm sure the administration will do just that...once it takes care of its priorities.

Lots of Darfur updates

I'm still in a certain mindset...as soon as I saw this story I went to post it on my blog...only to start typing "wak" in the URL box. Though they could use *my* sense of news judgment.

TRIPOLI, Feb 24 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, the current African Union president, on Tuesday accused "foreign forces" including Israel of being behind the Darfur conflict.

Huh?

Judges from the International Criminal Court are due to announce on March 4 whether they will issue a warrant for the arrest of Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir over allegations that he masterminded genocide in Sudan's Darfur region. U.N. diplomats have told Reuters the warrant will be issued.

But Gaddafi, addressing a meeting on ways to expand cooperation between the United Nations and African Union, urged the Court to stop its proceedings against Bashir:

"Why do we have to hold President Bashir or the Sudanese government responsible when the Darfur problem was caused by outside parties, and Tel Aviv (Israel), for example, is behind the Darfur crisis?"

Gaddafi suggested, without presenting any evidence, that the Israeli military was among those stoking the conflict:

"It is not a secret. We have found evidence proving clearly that foreign forces are behind the Darfur problem and are fanning its fire," Gaddafi said, according to the Libyan state news agency Jana.

"We discovered that some of the main leaders of the Darfur rebels have opened offices in Tel Aviv and hold meetings with the military there to add fuel to the conflict fire."

Not sure what to make of this. I understand why the US hasn't gotten involved much, and why China hasn't intervened, but I have no idea what Israel has to gain from this genocide. Somebody enlighten me, because I'm skeptical of Gaddafi.
Good to see that the President and Vice President are showing concern. From BostonHerald.com...

The country’s economy is in shambles, but President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden found the time the other night to meet privately with George Clooney to discuss Darfur.

Gotta put Clooney here to make up for the bikini post.
Also good to see that negotiations to end the fighting are still going on.

CAIRO, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir will pay a visit to Egypt on Sunday for consultations with Egyptian leaders on means of ending the prolonged Darfur crisis, a diplomatic source said Saturday.
During the visit, al-Bashir is expected to have talks with President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday on various issues that include both the Darfur crisis and bilateral relations, said the source who declined to give his name.

Darfur update

DOHA (AFP) — Sudan and the Darfur rebel group Justice and Equality Movement are close to signing a "trust building and good intentions" draft document, the JEM spokesman said in Qatar on Saturday.

WHAT?!? Turns out the government and rebels have been negotiating over the last week. Read the rest.

Afghan president acknowledges tension with America

HeadOn. Apply directly to the forehead.
From Al Jazeera English...

Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has admitted that there is tension between his government and the new US administration.

The acknowledgement came in an interview to Al Jazeera's David Frost as the US special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, met high-level officials of the Afghan government.

Pakistan, huh? You know Osama's there, right?

Darfur update

From Al Jazeera English...

Khalil Ibrahim, leader of Sudan's rebel movement in Darfur, has said that his group wants a "credible peace agreement" with the government to end the conflict there.

Sounds fair enough. Too bad the government doesn't seem to want to cooperate.