Five get life over UK Bomb Plot

Five men have been jailed for life after being convicted in a UK bomb plot that has reportedly been linked to Al-Qaeda. Plans of targetting a shopping centre, nightclub, and a gas network were released by the men in their nearly year-long trial. The judge said that his men betrayed their country and what they were doing was 'despicable'. A variety of political leaders have called for the investigation to be furthered into the July 7th terrorist attacks in London. It has also been proven that the men were not religious extremists, although they had past links to Muslim groups, rather they were 'artists of terror', men who simply wanted to cause a rucus. The group purchased 600 kg of amonium nitrate, an essential ingredient in home bomb-making kits. The trial proved to be one of the longest terrorist trials in British history, with over 3,644 witnesses giving statements which led to it lasting for over 13 months.

This is a very inspiring story to read as it obviously shows the dedication that major countries have devoted to cracking down on terrorism, and the resources they are willing to spend doing so. Obviously this case has seemed to be extremely drawn out, but the closure it provides is excellent. A strong message is being sent to potential terrorist threats by establishing cases such as these. Since terrorism is such a high priority in international securities at this point, any and all terrorist groups must be wary of committing serious acts such as these, for fear of being sent away for life. It is also interesting to see that such lengthy sentences were given to the men involved, although thir plans were never even followed through with. This strengthens the dedication that nations are paying to the process of eliminating terrorism, in my eyes.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6195914.stm

New Hampshire Senate Approves Civil Unions

A bill authorizing civil unions for gays has been passed in New Hampshire, becoming the first state to authorize same-sex unions without the threat of a court order. The Senate passed the bill 14-10, after which it was sent to Governor John Lynch who stated a week ago that he will be signing the bill. Democratic Senator Joe Foster stated that "We're making this move not because some court some place is telling us that we must...We do so today because it is the right thing to do." Two years ago, a study panel unanimously agreed that the consideration of same-sex marriage was completely out of the question, so this proves to be quite a turn-around. New Hampshire will join New Jersey, Connecticut, and Vermont to be the first few states to offer civil unions in the United States next month.

This is a hot topic, especially in Canada where same-sex marriage is allowed by the government. In my eyes it is completely fine for same-sex marriage to be endorsed by any government, I feel that the idea of same-sex marriage in now way hampers the running of any nation and there seems to be no logical explanation for not allowing same-sex marriage, aside from it being outside the norms of modern society's views on civil unions. It is promising to see that some states are leaning more towards this ideology today, and I hope that more states change their legislature to support same-sex marriage in the future.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-NY-Civil-Unions.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

Senators Discuss Preventing College Attacks

Lawmakers have began discussing ways to prevent more tragedies from happening on college campuses, including discussing the improvement of campus mental health facilities and security plans. Joseph Lieberman, chairman of the committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs stated that "We are here to begin a discussion, in the aftermath of Virginia Tech, to make sure that we are doing everything we can to prevent any other campus and any other students and their families from experiencing the nightmare and loss Virginia Tech experienced."Russ Federman, director of psychological services at the University of Virginia stated some disturbing facts during the meetings:
-94% of students feel overwhelmed during the school year
- 50% of students feel so depressed that it is difficult to function
- 9% of students consider suicide
- 1.3% of students actually attempt suicide
Federman has also stated that he feels psychological help and mental help resources are beginning to fall behind the curve in terms of how many resources are available for troubled students. Improving university security proves to be a difficult task as many university campuses are tied in with local communities and changing security measures in small towns could prove to be a difficult task (juggling university and municipal laws/securities).

It is promising to see a group of prominent individuals discussing what could possibly be done to increase security on college campuses. It is also unfortunate that it took such a dreadful catalyst for this summit to occur, but some good must come out of the wake of the attacks. Putting more focus on mental health facilities and increasing privacy of psychological accounts and analysis will surely help troubled students (who are apparently the majority of college campuses, according to Federman). The September 11th terrorist attacks were mentioned in the article as events that sparked an increase in nationwide security. Hopefully the same will be done here, and college campuses and other areas of education will remain safe places to be.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/24/washington/24campus.html?_r=1&ref=education&oref=slogin

Over 50 dead in Baghdad attacks

More than 50 people have been killed in a series of blasts and bombings in Baghdad. The worst bombing came in Sadr City, where a car bomb went off, leaving 30 people killed and dozens injured. A car bombing earlier in the day left 10 others dead, and a variety of small bombs and shootings left the final 10 killed. Car and suicide bombings has become a daily occurrence in Baghdad. The bombings in Sadr City obviously proved to be the worst, when a suicide bomber blew up the car he was sitting in, on a busy city street. As a result of the bombings, at least thirty people have been detained in connection to the militant group suspected of carrying out the bombings.

The thought that suicide bombings are now a daily happening in countries around the world is a disturbing one. It is hard to imagine that people are in fear for their lives everyday in Iraq, as the conflict has grown to be so extensive that thoughts such as these are quite rational. Seeing media coverage of events like these is a commonplace event, and it seems that North Americans have become desensitized to the events that are occurring simply because they happen so often. I wonder how long these conflicts will last, and what means it will take to resolve them...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6567329.stm

Eight killed as storms batter US

Spring storms occurring on the Eastern United States have killed eight people, and have caused massive amounts of damage to housing and property. The worst areas affected have been West Virginia, and New Jersey, with a state of emergency being declared in both states. High winds and up to 18 inches of snow have caused flights in and out of many major airports to be canceled. A large amount of people have been rescued from West Virginia. Many of them had to come out of their near underwater houses to stand on their roof or a neighbour's roof to flag down any help they could get. Citizens in less affected areas are riding canoes and boats down their completely submerged streets.

In the light of these Eastern US weather patterns, our situation seems to pale in comparison. It seems every year some kind of town is affected in a terrible way by weather patterns, and this is but another instance of this. Luckily we have never experienced these kind of weather patterns in Southern Ontario (at least in my lifetime), so I can't fully understand what these people are going through, but I definitely realize how traumatic these kind of instances are. With the Virginia Tech Shooting today, the US seems to be in quite a bit of turmoil at the present.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6560061.stm

Kurt Vonnegut, American author, dies at 84

Kurt Vonnegut, classic American author of 84 died Wednesday night in Manhattan. Vonnegut suffered brain injuries after a fall several weeks ago. He was a significant author, and his satirical tone influenced many, making him a literary idol. Many of his novels dealt with themes of human existence, and his unique sense of humour created highly unique pieces of work. Vonnegut's life was changed when he was subjected to the Dresden fire-bombings in World War II. Many of his novels dealt with themes of warfare and cruelty, putting a humorous but also time worthy spin on very serious topics. Vonnegut briefly taught at a variety of universities, but never dedicated his life to teaching. His last book was published in 2005, a collection of biographical essays.


Trying to analyze the death of Kurt Vonnegut Jr. creates a strange circumstance. I wonder whether or not you should grieve him, as his outlook on life was one that didn't put a premium on existence. Without a doubt, he was a highly influential author and is a favourite author of mine, so this story hits home. The way that he viewed different facets of life was very unique, and I greatly enjoyed reading his works as they brought forward important topics in an unimportant light. Luckily his work will always be here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/11/books/11cnd-vonnegut.html?pagewanted=3&_r=3&hp

Water detected on distant planet

Water has been detected for the first time, on a planet outside of our solar system. The planet is known as HD 209458b, and is 150 light-years away from earth, located in the constellation of Pegasus. It has been thought for a long while that water vapour exists on planets other than ours, especially in this constellation, but for a long period of time scientists were unable to detect this vapour because of the planets closeness to their parent stars. A variety of astronomers were involved in making the detection, including Travis Barnam from Flagstaff, AZ, and Heather Knutson from Harvard University. The detected planet is a gas giant, like Jupiter and Neptune in our solar system, so it is unlikely that it has any kind of life on it. The planet also has nearly no atmosphere, as it lies so closely to its parent star.

This topic is one of the first ones all year that I have found to be truly interesting, and I was excited to read it. The idea of life on a planet other than ours is such a complex and unknown concept, and research being put into the topic is something that I think is important. This story is a massive breakthrough. As water and/or water vapour has never been discovered on a planet outside of our solar system, this really does have an unmistakable significance. The aspect of space discovery that I find extremely interesting is the fact that there is so much outside of the world that we live in, outside of the earth that we live on. The universe could be a completely endless entity, there could be trillions of worlds outside of ours that operate in the same way, or are far superior to ours in terms of technology, or politics. The opposite of this could also be true, there could be absolutely nothing else out there that represents even a semblance of our world, these questions simply can't be answered right now. I know I've diverged from the original topic, but the concept of space and the universe is highly interesting to me, so I usually ramble when I get onto the topic.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6544257.stm

Peru to bomb Amazon cocaine labs

Alan Garcia, President of Peru, has announced that he has ordered the use of warplanes to destroy Peruvian drug operations, specifically coca plant farms. Garcia has stated that drug barons must be pursued in order to avoid an insurgency funded by illicit drug funds. Garcia is worried that his nation may be spiraling out of control in a similar fashion to their neighboring country, Columbia, one that has been nearly overtaken by the drug trade. Peru is the 2nd largest producer of cocaine in the world, behind Columbia. Garcia's ideas are highly opposed by Peruvian farmers, who if it weren't for coca would be producing much cheaper crops such as coffee and cocoa. Later this month Garcia is visiting the United States to finalize a free-trade agreement, and many of his critics state that he is trying to appease the American government and their war on drugs by means of his crackdown on coca.

This is quite an ongoing case, starting last year Garcia stated that he was planning on cracking down on the coca world in Peru, it seems as though this may finally be the culmination of his words. If this is so, Peru is losing a major market and something that provides a hefty portion of their economy, but it could very well eliminate some major political enemies of the Peruvian government - the Cartels. It is obvious that Garcia is catering to the interests of the United States as well, but there is nothing wrong with this. If he wants to appease them in order to finalize their free-trade agreement, so be it. It is a strong political move to align yourself with a world superpower, and Garcia is making a very assertive move (if he follows through on his words) if he eliminates coca farms.

Bush apology over troops' neglect

US President George W. Bush apologized yesterday for the sub-par living conditions that injured US soldiers have been residing in. "It is not right to have someone volunteer to wear the uniform and not get the best possible care," he said. This is Bush's first visit to the Walter Reed Medical Centre since a scandal broke out six weeks ago, over the treatment of Iraq war veterans. Bush admitted that there was indeed a problem at the Centre, and assured that it would be fixed promptly. The President of the US also presented wounded troops with medals and awards for their commitment and dedication to their country's cause.

I believe that George W. Bush has taken a step in the right direction with his move to help clean up the poor living conditions that US soldiers have been residing in. It shows dedication that he took the time to go to Iraq and also shows his (possibly feigned) interest in the war effort. Since it has been such a controversial affair, I would be curious as to what Bush thinks of the endeavour in hindsight, but taking care of those who supported the effort and fought for their country is a very positive move. It was also noted in the article that some retired officers were criticizing Bush for creating a relative photo-op at the Medical Centre. Obviously, you can't please everyone as the President - it seems as though if Bush hadn't gone over he would have been criticized for not caring, and even now that he did go over he was blasted - he has a very difficult crowd to please.