Vivre la Démocratie!

Tomorrow is the big day! France goes to the polls for the 1st round of balloting to elect the next President of the 5th Republic. In a race widely seen to be a dive to the centre (or right) for the top three candidates, the media has a whole pile of goodies out there, for instance, about the pragmatic voter, the endemic economic and racial problems in the banlieues, straight-up overviews the candidates, or focusing on the frontrunner's book. The election itself is a tossup with 40% of those polled still undecided, so it should make for an interesting election night.

Russian police beat down a bunch of protesters this week as 2,000 protesters met 9,000 riot police in St. Petersburg. Given the size of the crackdown, Spiegel asks an important question: what exactly is Putin afraid of? Russian police held and questioned former world-champion chess player Kasparov about comments he made on a radio programme, attempting to gather evidence to charge him with making 'extremist' remarks against the government. Slate compares this protest with the protests that are going on in the Ukraine. And you wonder why Britain gave opposition figure Boris Berezovsky political asylum.

Putin's government shut down a media foundation after a police raid because its President didn't declare some currency she brought back from the EU - apparently the private actions of an executive member is enough to bring everything to a stop. It's not all about the political freedoms either. Russia is making it much more difficult for Westerners to adopt children from orphanages, despite the large demand - 260,000 children are considered available for adoption in Russia. Adoption agencies, who helped place almost 7,000 children last year, are facing a dramatic increase in the amount of bureaucracy to reapply for their status this year. Finally, the trust between the EU and Russia is at a very low level, although the main issue here is whether Russia can provide a constant natural gas supply.

Couple of interesting science stories out there this week. The results of Gravity Probe B scores another victory for Einstein. Astronomers have found that big ass stars are really bad for planetary formation. Speaking of stars, our own sun has recently found to have musical potential. In a page directly out of sci-fi, some are speculating that deflector shields could be used to protect future astronauts from radiation. Oh, and looking for a new way to explore other planets? Why not try smart dust!

Also:
- Yay! No more limbo!
- If I haven't said it before, animal rights activists are seriously crazy.
- One Tory MP is looking to censor the internet in Canada.
- Slate argues for promiscuity.
- A 1,400 year-old business files for bankruptcy.
- What is Stephen Harper Reading?
- Women do more work overall then men, right? The empirical data is in, and in the West, it's actually a tie.

Wolfowitz in Hot Water

Paul Wolfowitz, noted neocon and recent head of the World Bank, has come under fire for giving his partner a promotion and large pay raise without the approval of the executive board. The New York Times explores the background to the scandal, especially given the relationship between the United States and the rest of the West.

You should check out this documentary entitled 'Death of a Nation' - it overviews the demographic crisis that Russia is currently facing, and how it plays into xenophobic attitudes toward those ethnic groups seen to be having many children. The part with the Cossacks is particularly frightening. On a similar topic, Russia has banned all immigrant vendors from working - even those who are legal immigrants. Now that only ethnic 'Russians' can sell goods, the people are paying the economic cost of that decision in higher prices and shortages. Oh, and if you want to protest this legislation, you should think twice. A key opposition leader, Garry Kasparov, has been arrested after attempting to organise a rally against the Putin regime.

Also:
- Slate overviews the French Presidential election.
- Spiegel published the results of a Dutch study on European Islamic terrorism.
- The White House 'accidentally' lost millions of emails, many of which could have been used in proving Republican wrongdoing.
- 13 detainees at Guantanamo Bay are being force-fed.
- If you have Google Earth, check out their new coverage of Darfur.
- The CSM gives great coverage of how Chiquita had Columbian paramilitaries on salary.
- Who killed JFK? Apparently a French assassin hired by LBJ.
- You can now listen to the 2007 Reith Lectures, delivered this year by Jeffrey Sachs.
- Which came first, the chicken or the Tyrannosaurus Rex?
- The Mozart effect is just a placebo.
- Do we really need 8 hours of sleep?
- The hardest Super Mario level... ever... (he never finishes 1-2, so you can stop after 1-1)

I'm Coming Back!

Yeah, it's been a while since the last post. PhD's, shockingly, take a lot of work. I'm over the big hump for the month though, so watch this space for something new. ;)