Category: World News & Politics

Multiple Explosions Hit London

Multilple explosions in London have caused terrible injuries…

Police are confirming at least three explosions on buses in central London today, and several blasts rocked the Tube network leaving dozens of people injured.

British Home Secretary Charles Clarke says there have been “terrible injuries” in the explosions.

The Tube blasts at the height of the rush hour on Thursday were initially blamed on a power surge.

Union officials blamed the Tube blasts on a series of bombs, and Scotland Yard confirmed the bus explosion and said it was dealing with “multiple explosions” in London.

The Prime Minister’s office said they were “still unsure” whether the explosions were a terrorist attack and although casualties were reported, no further details were yet available.

Update:
Metropolitan Police Commissioner Ian Blair said authorities found found indications of explosives at the scene of one of the blasts and that there are concerns it was a coordinated terror attack.

PM Tony Blair said: “It is reasonably clear there have been a series of terrorist attacks in London.” There have been casualties, he said “both people that have died and people seriously injured.”

[Source: CNN, BBC News]
[More: Londonist]

Our hearts are with the people of London and England, hoping that the damages are limited and that their loved ones are safe and unharmed.

Live 8 – The Long Walk To Justice

Live 8Live 8, which was launched by Bob Geldof, is a series of concerts and events across the world, which are being staged to highlight the problem of global poverty. It’s a chance for ordinary people to call on world leaders at this year’s G8 summit and tell them to put a stop to the needless deaths of 30,000 children every single day.

On 6th July 2005, the leaders of Great Britain, the USA, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia will meet at Gleneagles in Scotland to talk about world affairs, including Africa. They will be presented with a workable plan to double aid, drop the debt and make trade laws fair.

The G8 summit is our opportunity to demand that the world’s most influential leaders take action now.

Live 8 has organised concerts in Philadelpia, Berlin, London, Rome, Paris and Edinburgh, with 100 artists, a million spectators, two billion viewers and one message: Make Poverty History.

For more information, check out the Live 8 website.
Technorati have even launched a special Technorati Live 8 site.

The Israeli Media

“Since 1967, we have been brutal conquerors, occupiers suppressing another people…”

It is in such terms Yavin has been expressing his disgust for the Israeli occupation in the five-week series of reports “A Land of Settlers” currently being broadcast on Israeli Channel Two.

Known to Israelis as “Mr. TV”, Yavin has been the anchor of Mabat, the main news show on Israeli public television, since 1968, and has accompanied Israelis through all major political events since.

[Source: Electronic Intifada]
[Via: Je Blog]

Microsoft Bans ‘Democracy’ For China Web Users

Microsoft’s new Chinese internet portal has banned the words “democracy” and “freedom” from parts of its website in an apparent effort to avoid offending Beijing’s political censors.

Users of the joint-venture portal, formally launched last month, have been blocked from using a range of potentially sensitive words to label personal websites they create using its free online blog service, MSN Spaces.

Attempts to input words in Chinese such as “democracy” prompted an error message from the site: “This item contains forbidden speech. Please delete the forbidden speech from this item.” Other phrases banned included the Chinese for “demonstration”, “democratic movement” and “Taiwan independence”.

First Google banned some news sources from it’s Google News for Chinese users and now MSN is banning words such as these.
I truly wonder what will come next?!

[Source: MSN Money]

Chinese Blogs Face More Restrictions

More restrictions from China…

The Chinese government has announced plans to police web forums, chat rooms and blogs alongside other websites.

Websites in China have long been required to be officially registered.
The authorities are now determined that blogs should also be brought under state control.

Private bloggers must register the full identity of the person responsible for the sites, the Chinese Ministry of Information Industry (MII) said.

All blogs and websites must be registered by 30 June.

[Source: BBC News]

This follows a similar move by the Bahraini government in April.

The purpose behind such moves is an obvious attempt by the governments to keep a leash on bloggers, track everyone and hold them accountable for their opinions.

I hope we don’t see other countries following suit and imposing such restrictions on bloggers.

Saddam Hussein Trial Within Two Months

Ousted Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is expected to go on trial within two months.

The Iraqi prime minister’s spokesman said on Sunday that Saddam could face up to 500 charges, but he will be tried on only 12 because prosecuting all would be a “waste of time”.

Plus, the 12 chosen charges should be quite enough to get him executed.

[More: Al Jazeera]

U.S. Legitimizes Use of Nuclear Weapons

Bush pushing new “let’s use nuclear” policy…

Under the cloak of secrecy imparted by use of military code names, the American administration has been taking a big – and dangerous – step that will lead to the transformation of the nuclear bomb into a legitimate weapon for waging war.

No longer are nuclear bombs considered “the weapon of last resort.” No longer is the nuclear bomb the ultimate means of deterrence against nuclear powers, which the United States would never be the first to employ.

In the era of a single, ruthless superpower, whose leadership intends to shape the world according to its own forceful world view, nuclear weapons have become a attractive instrument for waging wars, even against enemies that do not possess nuclear arms.

The nuclear policy that the Bush administration continues to formulate, including plans for a preemptive nuclear strike against states that do not possess such weapons and the development of new nuclear weapons – is a recipe for disaster.

[Source: Haaretz]

This is very dangerous and disastrous. Plans like these should not go through.

This would truly open the doors of hell, dragging the whole world into an even worse cycle of violence and spreadout nuclear war.

French Voters Reject EU Constitution

French voters have overwhelmingly rejected the European Union’s proposed constitution in a key referendum.

Almost 55% of people voted “No”, with 45% in favour. Turnout was high, at about 70%.

The vote could deal a fatal blow to the EU constitution, which needs to be ratified by all 25 member states.

President Jacques Chirac accepted the voters’ sovereign decision and said that he had noted it and intends to respond.

It appears that his reponse will come as a government shakeup with strong signs that the prime minister will be replaced.

I haven’t read all of the proposed EU constitution, but I have read some of the main points it deals with, and most of it seemed quite logical.
Anyway, it’s not my decision to make, it’s that of the French people, and they have spoken for themselves.

Personally, I admire how European countries are building their union, and how they do it step by step and always include the people in the decisions. It’s amazing, and I wish Arabs could learn a lesson from Europe and I’m not talking about Arab unity here, I’m talking about a real democratic process, I’m talking about putting step-by-step programs and plans for the future, I’m talking about putting the will of the people first. That’s what’s really important.

[Sources: BBC News, CNN]