Morning News Roundup (01 September)

Middle East Sturm und Drang

• A string of closely timed explosions killed at least 72 people and wounded 236 in a Shiite Muslim area of Baghdad on Thursday night, one of the deadliest attacks in the capital in months despite the launch of a new security plan to stanch the sectarian carnage.
  

  
  The blasts struck the Nuairiya and Baladiyat neighborhoods. One senior Interior Ministry official said the attackers had rented homes in the heavily populated neighborhoods, planted large amounts of explosives within the buildings and then detonated them. "This is a new terrorist invention," said an official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "The terrorist insurgents have found a new way of killing people." [WaPo]
  
  

• The United States has expanded its force in Iraq to 140,000 troops, the most since January and 13,000 more than five weeks ago, the Pentagon said on Thursday, amid relentless violence in Baghdad and elsewhere. Recent moves including the Pentagon's July 27 decision to delay for up to four months the scheduled departure from Iraq of about 4,000 soldiers from an Alaska-based brigade have indicated significant U.S. troop cuts are unlikely in the near future. [WaPo]
  
  
• 60: Percentage of Americans who think there will be more terrorism in the U.S. because of the Iraq war. [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast] (PS: The Bushies must be loving that number--the larger the fear, the more hope for Republican votes come November.)

Climate Crisis

• In regards to yesterday's legislation in California to cut greenhouse gases, The Independent in London notes:

  The Republican minority in the California legislature has opposed the greenhouse gas initiative all the way and has not offered a single vote in favour of either of the bills.

  Which brings up this comment from AmericaBlog's Chris in Paris, which I've been scratching my head about for years:

  The Republicans in the California state house are all stuck in the dark ages, afraid of change and unwilling to accept that there is an environmental problem. To the GOP, change is always awful and regardless of the merit of the argument unless we're talking about invading a foreign country and having no idea what to do afterwards, then it makes perfect sense. What has puzzled me for a long time on the issue of alternative energies and global warming is that yes, this does mean change, but doesn't that also mean new business opportunities?
  
  How blind does one have to be to not get that point. New opportunities means the chance to be at the cutting edge of a market that will be taking off. Becoming an early market leader means jobs, it means money it means tax dollars. Hello? What's the problem here? Are the anti-change people afraid of change because it's change? Are they afraid of change because they are already beholden to special interest groups who pay them handsomely and fund their political campaigns? Are they just so lacking in creativity that they miss the point that being a market leader will translate into new opportunities? Sheesh. How narrow minded, but tell me something new.

Big Blue Marble

• The throngs that Barack Obama has attracted on his two-week trip through Africa suggest a star status for the son of a Kenya-born economist, stretching from Lagos to Lesotho. [...] Obama has raised the attention paid to Africa by a notch, at least temporarily. In addition, some observers say Darfur and its emergence as a global human rights lightning rod has refocused a congressional spotlight on Africa. And they say that such Africa-related issues as development, AIDS prevention and treatment, and global poverty have renewed interest in Africa - especially as some influential religious conservatives in Congress have adopted those issues as their own.
  [...]
  Obama had hoped to visit Sudan and some camps of internally displaced persons during his trip. The Sudanese government threw a wrench into that plan, however, waiting until the day before his departure to issue visas to the entourage, according to an Obama staffer. Instead, Obama is scheduled to tour Darfur refugee camps during his stop in Chad Friday and Saturday. [Christian Science Monitor]
  
  
• The U.N. Security Council yesterday approved a long-sought resolution that would place an expanded peacekeeping force in Sudan's troubled Darfur region under U.N. authority, even as the government appeared to have begun a new offensive against rebel forces.
  [...]
  The stalemate over the troops and the new outbreak of fighting appeared to signal the failure of a peace deal reached three months ago that was hailed by the Bush administration as the key to resolving the conflict. Only one rebel group, with little support from the population, signed the agreement, and it has joined forces with Sudanese troops in an effort to crush ethnic African tribes challenging the Arab-led Khartoum government. [WaPo]

Misc.

• Two Edvard Munch masterpieces stolen in one of the world's most audacious art thefts two years ago have been recovered. A version of the Norwegian artist's most famous painting, The Scream, and his Madonna are in the hands of the authorities apparently in good condition after speculation that they had been irreparably damaged.
  [...]
  The recovery comes almost two years to the day after two armed men wearing hooded tops and balaclavas entered a museum gallery and pulled the paintings from the wall as a terrified security guard was held at gun point. Dozens of tourists were made to lie on the ground. [The Guardian]
  
  
• Expect gasoline prices to stay between $3 and $4 a gallon for the rest of the decade, says ... no, not some fearmongering environmentalist or peak-oil nut, but Chrysler CEO Thomas LaSorda. In fact, all of Detroit's Big Three automakers have resigned themselves to current gas prices and are revamping their business models accordingly. [Daily Grist]
  
  
• It's has finally been proven--organic milk really is healthier. Although we have always known this intuitively, researchers have now shown that organic milk has 68% more omega 3 fatty acids. These are the good ones that have been linked to reduced risk of heart disease and cancer. In addition, two British universities have looked at milk from 36 farms over a three year period. It turns out that the omega 3 content went up significantly when cows ate fresh, juicy grass in the great outdoors. Clover adds an extra dose of health, and guess what—organic farm cows graze in fields with more clover. [Treehugger]
  
  
• In terms of health benefits, doctors believe “breast milk is something of a magic elixir” for infants. Yet a class system is developing for working mothers: “for lower-income mothers — including many who work in restaurants, factories, call centers and the military — pumping at work is close to impossible.” [ThinkProgress' ThinkFast]
  
  
• Angel Merkel, not Condi, is now the world's most powerful woman. [Foreign Policy's Passport]

And finally... some cheesecake (just for Mrs. F and the Velvet Bulldog), in the guise of former Arsenal left back Ashley Cole, now Chelsea left back after a protracted transfer saga that went to the final minutes before the close of European football's transfer window. In return for Cole, Chelsea sent their want-away defender William Gallas and a bag filled with £5 million. This surely puts an end to Wayne Bridge's sparkling start to the season for Chelsea (and will require me to switch him out of my fantasy team immediately).