As the investigation over the Madrid bombings continues, the former government of Jose Maria Aznar is looking increasingly worse as both mistakes and deception before and after the bombing are now surfacing. According to a Spanish newspaper, the government committed several errors in its intelligence gathering and did not capitalize on opportunities to prevent the attacks. After the attacks, the government of Mr. Zapatero intentionally spread disinformation about the bombings from their allies in Europe that blamed ETA for the attacks. Meanwhile, investigations are now pointing at the terrorist group Ansar al-Islam as the prime suspect.
Prime Minister-elect Zapatero announced that he has spoken to George Bush about the troops, but will not change his position on their withdrawal, stating, "My position is the same. I have explained it throughout the election campaign ... Fighting terrorism with bombs and Tomahawk missiles is not a way to win but will instead provoke more extremism. Terrorism is fought with the rule of law, international law, and with intelligence services." You've probably heard the commentators talk about how the election of the Socialists is a victory for the terrorists, and might spurn further attacks, but as the Christian Science Monitor points out, it has been historically difficult to judge the reaction of the public to a terrorist attacks, so future attacks might backfire on those committing them. However, declaring preemptive unilateral war against a country seems to have a fairly uniform effect, as a recent poll has shown that the War on Iraq has seriously damaged American credibility in European and Muslim countries. To make matters a little worse, a congressional report tallies up 237 misleading public statements made by Bush and his four top advisors on the threat posed by Iraq.
A poll taken last week shows that Nader is adversely affecting Kerry's numbers, but since we're a long way out, I wouldn't worry all that much. John Kerry did make it official as his win in Illinois yesterday technically gave him the majority of the delegates at the Democratic convention. To commemorate the event, the Bush campaign released another attack ad on Kerry once again playing him as weak on defense. Slate has a critique and link to the actual ads posted, as well as those by the Kerry campaign.
The government of France has received a letter threatening to plunge France into "terror and remorse" but according to French intelligence it does not match the style of known Islamic extremists. The group repeatedly mentions the new ban on headscarves and other religious paraphernalia as a primary motivation. Germany has announced plans to overhaul its domestic intelligence services in the wake of the attacks.
Despite being open in America for several weeks now, The Passion continues to make news, mostly because it is just opening in other countries like Germany now, where they are now going through the same controversy as with the American opening. I know that people are concerned with young people emulating shows like Jackass, but I never thought this movie would be put on the list -- a 23-year-old man is being treated in a Maine hospital for attempting to commit suicide by crucifixion. I know this is somewhat serious, but I sort of had to laugh when I read this part:
Lt. Pierre Boucher said the man took two pieces of wood, nailed them together in the form of a cross and placed them on the floor. He attached a suicide sign to the wood and then proceeded to nail one of his hands to the makeshift cross using a 14-penny nail and a hammer.
"When he realized that he was unable to nail his other hand to the board, he called 911," Boucher said.
- A research team at the Marie Curie Research Institute have found a way to differentiate melanomas that spread from ones that don't.
- Scientists at the European breast cancer conference have announced that a new test of the disease could be out soon. They have also announced the results of a study showing that breast cancer hits younger women harder than older women.
- With all the debate over whether Sedna is or isn't a planet, the International Astronomy Union is looking into a working definition of 'planet,' but until that time they have declared that Sedna is not one.
- Physicists at the University of Otago have found that last November's solar flare was almost twice the size that was originally reported.
- The German government has come to a consensus with industry on how to allocate carbon credits under the emissions trading system.
- Toshiba has set the world record for the world's smallest hard drive with a size of 0.85 inches. They are designed to hold up to 4 gigabytes of information.
- Utah removed the option of a firing squad in its capital punishment cases. It still retains capital punishment by lethal injection.
- Britain has just tabled their budget, and although I'm sure you're eager to hear about the increase to NHS funding, I have here a list of interesting budgetary facts instead.
- German president Johnnes Rau is in the middle of an eight-day tour promoting human rights in Africa.
- Colin Powell has pledged continued American commitment to Afghanistan.
- Fighting continues meanwhile on the border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
- An overview of the eight major trends in American journalism.
- Norway's parliament, the Stortling, is considering legalizing same-sex marriage. They currently have a partnership law that grants same-sex couples many of the rights of heterosexual ones.
- A recent poll shows that 51% of Americans favor civil unions for same-sex couples.
- Looking for buried treasure? Why not take a trip to Nova Scotia?
- Google local is now active. This could make ordering pizza so much easier.
- A list of the 100 most often mispronounced words in English.
- Don't believe in astrology? Check out the reverse astrology site to see if you actually match your sign. Mine came out correctly, therefore it must be correct, right?
- Remember the woman who tried to cash the $1 million bill? Here she is.
I wrote in my last post about how Spanish Muslims were afraid of the repercussions that could arise from the terrorist attacks. This, however, is not what I had in mind.
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