World Where You Live--09 Jan 2006 Edition

Alright, we're gonna get back into the groove of this Cracks feature (and hopefully publish this roundup more regularly now that the holidays are done and dusted). Let's take a spin 'round the globe, starting with Ariel Sharon's condition:

Jerusalem Post - Positive signs as PM's anesthesia gradually reduced
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, while still in . serious but stable condition , gave his family and doctors a reason for some optimism when he not only began to breathe spontaneously but also moved his right hand and right leg "slightly but significantly" in response to a pain stimulus.

In yet another briefing on Sharon's condition outside Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem, Hadassah Medical Organization director-general Prof. Shlomo Mor-Yosef said on Monday evening that the dosages of the anesthesia drugs -- which have kept him in a deep state of induced coma to help his brain recover from surgery -- were being reduced gradually. Soon after the first reduction, Sharon began to breathe by himself, although he continues to be connected to a hi-tech ventilator.

I'll have a longer post later wrapping up some of the other news tidbits and commentary about Sharon's legacy and where his exit from politics (which is inevitable at this point, no matter how healthy he may become) leaves the upcoming election.

In Iraq, it looks like we've got those darn insurgents on the run again:

WaPo - Suicide Bombers Kill 29 at Iraqi Ministry
Two suicide bombers reportedly wearing Iraqi police uniforms struck the heavily guarded Interior Ministry headquarters Monday, killing 29 people as senior Iraqi and American officials attended ceremonies marking Iraq's Police Day in an adjacent compound.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Interior Minister Bayan Jabr and Defense Minister Sadoun Dulaimi were among dignitaries gathered at the neighboring police academy, but they were far from the explosions and were not harmed, according to Iraqi and State Department officials.
[...]
The attack was the latest in a wave of violence that has followed a period of relative calm after elections held Dec. 15. More than 200 Iraqis and 16 U.S. soldiers have been killed in high- and low-profile attacks by insurgents since Wednesday. Twelve more Americans died when their UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashed in bad weather Saturday night.
[...]
On Monday, gunmen assassinated an investigative judge in Kirkuk, in northern Iraq. Assailants killed a member of a government committee in Baghdad, and an Iraqi intelligence officer and a doctor were fatally shot in separate incidents, the Associated Press reported. Police also found a group of five bound and blindfolded bodies in the capital late Sunday, the AP said.

Bird flu is also making a move:

WaPo - Bird Flu Appears to Spread West
Two children and an adult from a town near the Turkish capital tested positive Sunday for a lethal strain of bird flu as the virus continued to spread west from its source in East Asia toward Europe.
[...]
Turkish medical authorities reported Sunday that as many as 10 Turks have been infected.
Some of these cases have appeared in family clusters, raising concern that the disease might have begun spreading more easily among people. But international health experts said they find it more likely that the human cases in Turkey were caused by contact with infected birds, when children were playing with slaughtered chickens or crawling into henhouses, for example.

In Iran, nuclear ambitions are growing:

The Independent (London) - ElBaradei 'loses patience' as Iran breaks UN seals
Iran was preparing to remove United Nations seals at several nuclear research and development sites last night, despite warnings from the UN nuclear chief, Mohamed ElBaradei, that the international community was running out of patience with Tehran.
It would be the second time in five months that Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is peaceful, removed seals put in place by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
[...]
Iran has not publicly disclosed what activities it plans to resume today. Diplomats and analysts say atomic research and development could involve some laboratory tests of uranium enrichment and the assembly of enrichment centrifuges.
[...]IAEA officials say an Iranian team failed to show up for talks in Vienna last week to explain what activities Iran planned to resume.
Asked why the Iranian team flew back from Vienna without meeting the IAEA, Javad Vaeedi, deputy head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, told state television: "Holding any meeting has to be based on the attainment of an aim and a result. The cancellation of the meeting in fact took place in this light."

And in a very under-reported meeting this week, the US alternative to the Kyoto plan is having its first meeting:

CSM - Climate summit challenges Kyoto's approach
The inaugural two-day summit of what many see as an American-led alternative to the Kyoto climate treaty convenes Wednesday in Sydney. Formed this past July, the new bloc brings together the US, China, India, Australia, South Korea, and Japan. These six nations are responsible for more than 40 percent of the world's greenhouse gases, which many scientists say cause global warming.

Unlike the Kyoto Protocol, which sets emissions targets for nations, the new Asia-Pacific Partnership for Clean Development and Climate aims to reduce emissions voluntarily through the transfer of emerging technologies - including "clean coal," burial of carbon dioxide, and next-generation nuclear power - from industrialized nations to the developing world.

The pact's advocates argue it is a more realistic approach than Kyoto, and commits many of the major nations not yet bound by Kyoto quotas to at least the principle of reducing emissions. The effectiveness of this effort, however, may ride on whether the high-tech systems can be developed fast enough and made commercially enticing for businesses not otherwise compelled to adopt greener methods.
[...]
Some projections suggest that Australia's annual temperature could rise between one and six degrees centigrade by 2070. A recent government report says it may already be too late to save some of the country's environmental landmarks such as the Great Barrier Reef, from the effects of the build up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Both the US and Australia had earlier refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol on the grounds that it cost jobs - about 5 million in the US alone. They also said that it was too lenient on developing nations such as China and India.

Neither China nor India are targets bound by Kyoto to cut greenhouse gases during the agreement's first stage, set to end in 2012. It was agreed that the emerging Asian powers needed economic space to grow, and that those nations most responsible for the current level of pollution - the developed nations - should shoulder the initial burden.

And finally, from HappyNews.com, some pleasant news for UK residents--your leader doesn't feel like he's wasting his time!

Happy News - Blair describes being PM as worthwhile
Tony Blair said in a video released Monday that the rewards of getting things done and seeing results makes the prime minister's job worthwhile despite the grueling hours and intense stress.
[...]
"When you get things done and you see results, and you think, 'Well, that in part happened as a result of something I did, or we did, or decisions that were taken here,' that's what makes everything worthwhile and it is an enormous privilege to be able to do it," he said in the film.
[...]
Blair said he has to be sure to get his facts right when he speaks since "everything you say is on the record and is then subject to the most minute scrutiny."

"So, if suddenly, you end up getting a fact wrong, or even just get hold of the wrong end of the stick, and it's happened to me on several occasions, then you can end up in a lot of trouble and people then either ascribe meanings to your words that you never intended them to have or you have to go and eat humble pie and say you got it wrong."

Huzzah!

Also, if you're tracking her progress as she "circles the sun" on her cruise aboard the Holland America Prinsendam, my blog partner Old Fogey is in Bridgetown, Barbados today.