Water water everywhere?

In new pictures by the European Space Agency's probe Mars Express, currently circling the Red Planet, details of what seem to be channels cut by water appear clearly. More importantly, they have discovered the presence of water in the atmosphere and in the southern polar cap's soil. This is just the beginning though. Outfitted with many instruments, the orbiter has plans to map the mineral composition of the surface, map the composition of the atmosphere and its circulation, and determine the interaction of the atmosphere with the solar winds, just to name a few tasks that it will perform in the coming months.

China has gotten some press for their push towards the Moon, but the New York Times today wrote a detailed piece about another country's attempts to develop their own space program: Brazil. The story illustrates the technical difficulties developing countries have in pursuing their goals on slim budgets, a fact which was partly to blame for the explosion of a Brazilian rocket last August that killed 21 of the country's top scientists and technicians working on the program.

Paul Martin seems to be busy these days. Canada agreed to cancel the $750 million dollars in debt owed by Iraq to aid in the development of the country. In addition, he scheduled his first First Minister's Conference where he will discuss heath care and Canada-U.S. relations with the Premiers. Finally, and as promised, he delivered his speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos on the topic of global poverty.

Global poverty and economic development received a good deal of attention today, as UN Secretary General Kofi Annan also spoke to the WEF in Davos on this issue, asking business leaders to commit to a larger role in alleviating the problem and reminding Western nations that the focus on security after 9/11 did not abdicate them from their responsibilities to poorer nations. Germany announced this week that they had increased international development investment to developing countries by 9% in 2003. This announcement comes in the middle of a four-country tour of Africa made by German councilor Gerhard Schröder in an attempt to show that there are many opportunities available for investment in economic, political and social capital.

Not all is happy with Canada though, especially when it comes to one of its citizens, Maher Arar. Mr. Arar, a Syrian-born resident of Canada who holds dual citizenship, reported today that he is suing John Ashcroft, Tom Ridge and Robert Muller after he was forcefully deported from the United States to Syria instead of Canada after passing through JFK airport on his way home from vacation in Tunisia. He was then held and tortured by Syrian authorities for 10 months. He claims that the United States government deported him to Syria because they knew that torture was inevitable, as the State Department has regarded Syria for many years as a country where violations of human rights, including torture, were common. He has not asked for a specific amount of money in the suit, claiming that it is more important to him that he clears his name as a suspected terrorist.

In a broader and important legal issue issue, the Supreme Court is preparing to take up the cases of 'enemy combatants' who are being held indefinitely in Guantanamo Bay and military brigs on the mainland. They plan to examine whether President Bush has the constitutional authority to enforce these detentions. This case is especially important in the cases of Yaser Hamdi and Jose Padilla, both of whom are U.S. citizens and theoretically should be have the full protection of the American legal system.

In updates from previous stories:
- Despite the reports of corruption and his refusal to speak about his relationship to his now convicted briber, Ariel Sharon maintains that he will continue to hold the Prime Ministerial post until his term ends in 2007. Israel's Attorney General Edna Arbel, on the other hand, has stated that she intends to pursue further questioning of the Prime Minister over the next few days.
- The Guardian Council in Iran has reinstated another 100 candidates for the upcoming election, though still leaving thousands of candidates unable to participate.

Finally, in a case of either taking an argument too far or just a classic case of foot-in-mouth, British MP Jenny Tonge stated that she will not be seeing re-election in her London constituency of Richmond Park after stating that if she were a Palestinian woman, she would consider becoming a suicide bomber. Although her resignation has been controversial, with some advocating that it draws attention to the root causes of terrorism, I'm in agreement with Liberal Democrat party leader Charles Kennedy in asking for her resignation. There is no doubt that the Palestinian people face massive issues of poverty and hopelessness in their situation, but advocating an action that causes the deaths of more innocent civilians is clearly reprehensible and illustrates a lack of understanding of the impact suicide bombers have on Israeli families who have to cope with the loss of loved ones.