Bill Weinberg

Greenhouse techno-fix would kill ozone layer

Gee, good thinking, science geeks. There's too much junk in the atmosphere...so let's throw even more junk into the atmosphere. Anything to avoid fat Americans having to give up their precious automobiles. From AP, April 24:

Using chemicals to cut global warming may damage ozone layer
WASHINGTON — The rule of unintended consequences threatens to strike again. Some researchers have suggested that injecting sulfur compounds into the atmosphere might help ease global warming by increasing clouds and haze that would reflect sunlight.

Armenian genocide commemoration highlights struggle for Caucasus

Thousands marched in Yerevan April 24, the 93rd anniversary of the start of the mass killing campaign of at least 1.5 million Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. More than 10,000, mostly youths and students, carried torches and candles, demanding Turkey join several other countries around the world in officially recognizing the massacres as genocide. After burning a Turkish flag in Yerevan's Freedom Square, participants marched to a monument to the victims of the genocide, where they laid wreaths and flowers. Many carried flags of the 23 countries whose governments or parliaments have recognized the killings as genocide, including Canada, France, Switzerland and Poland.

Abkhazia: new Cold War frontline?

Officials in Georgia are seeking to use the alleged downing of a Georgian reconnaissance drone by a Russian warplane to build international support for reducing the Kremlin's "peacekeeping" role in the separatist enclaves of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Georgia's Foreign Ministry asserts that a Russian MIG-29 shot down the Georgian Interior Ministry drone off the Black Sea coastline of Abkhazia April 20. Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili says the drone's final video footage provides "clear proof" of a Russian violation of Georgian airspace.

Spain intervenes against Somali pirates

Spain is sending frigate to the coast of Somalia following the seizure of a Spanish tuna fishing boat, the Playa de Bakio, by pirates. Some 26 people were aboard, including 13 Spaniards and a crew of various African nationals. The Dubai-flagged Al-Khaleej, was carrying food for sale in Somalia, was also hijacked seven kilometers off the northeastern Somali port of Bosasso, and pirates reportedly fired on a Japanese-flagged chemical carrier off Yemen.

Indonesian fundamentalists march against Ahmadiyya Islam

Chanting "Allahu Akbar" and "Disband Ahmadiyya," some 1,000 members of the Indonesian Muslim Forum (FUI) marched on the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta April 21 to demand President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono issue a decree to ban the "deviant" Islamic sect. "We are pushing the president to immediately issue a presidential decree disbanding Ahmadiyya," FUI secretary general Muhammad Al Khaththath told Reuters. The FUI also demanded the government arrest Ahmadiyya leaders and seize all the organization's assets.

Mexico: Pemex protests paralyze congress

Mexico's Senate and lower-house Chamber of Deputies have been occupied by protesters, with a giant tarp strewn over the dais painted with the word "CLOSED," since followers of the Broad Progressive Front (FAP) took over the chambers on April 10. The FAP, led by Andrés Manuel López Obrador, is blockading the entrances to the building, while hardhat-clad legislators from the FAP-aligned Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD), Labor Party (PT) and Convergence Party maintain a round-the-clock presence in the chamber. Only one door has been left open for reporters. Legislators from other parties have been turned back by protesters. The FAP says the blockade won't be lifted until law-makers agree to a four-month "national debate" on plans to reform the state oil monopoly Pemex.

Afghanistan: insurgency spreads

A suicide attack in front of a mosque in Zaranj, capital of Nimroz province in southwest Afghanistan, killed 16 and wounded more than 30 others April 17. The attack took place as worshipers were preparing for evening prayers. At least two other suicide attacks have hit Nimroz this month, including an attack April 1 that left two police officers dead in Zaranj, and another on April 12 that killed two Indian road construction engineers and their Afghan driver in Khash Rod.

Iraq: US builds walls, reaps terror

Having been busily building separation walls between Shi'ite and Sunni districts of Baghdad for the past two years, the US is now building one around the southern quarter of the Shi'ite enclave of Sadr City—to keep out Mahdi Army militants, effectively separating Shi'ite from Shi'ite and turning the quarter into an armed camp, patrolled by tanks, Stryker vehicles and Apache attack helicopters. (NYT, April 18)

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