International Glance
President Nicolas Sarkozy faced an embarrassing split in his Cabinet today over a computer system that a new French internal intelligence service will use to spy on the private lives of millions of law-abiding citizens.
Hervé Morin, the Defence Minister, broke government ranks to side with a growing revolt against Edvige, an acronym for a police database that will store personal details including opinions, the social circle and even sexual preferences of more or less anyone who interests the State.
French revolt over Edvige: Nicolas Sarkozy's Big Brother spy computer
Israeli Police Suggest Indicting Olmert
The Israeli police on Sunday recommended indicting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on charges including bribe-taking, fraud and breach of trust.
The recommendation, which followed a corruption investigation that unfolded over several months, has no legal weight of its own. The decision whether to charge the prime minister lies with the attorney general, Menachem Mazuz. It is likely to come in a few weeks, after Mr. Olmert has been granted a hearing. Mr. Olmert’s lawyers immediately issued a statement that the police recommendation had “no meaning.”
Hamid Karzai blames Britain for Taliban resurgence
Karzai claims Brown has threatened to withdraw British troops from Helmand province, where 31 of them have died this year, if the president reinstates two provincial governors sacked for alleged dealings in the heroin trade.
One of them is Sher Mohammed Akhundzada, the former governor of Helmand, who was forced out under British pressure two years ago after nine tons of opium and heroin were discovered in his basement. Karzai’s plan to reinstate the governors has alarmed western diplomats in Kabul and dismayed British officials.
However, the Taliban have made advances since Akhundzada’s departure and drug production has increased. Karzai believes Britain’s “interference” is to blame.
Cheney urges divided Ukraine to unite against Russia threat
Using similar language as he did on previous stops on his tour of ex-Soviet republics Azerbaijan and Georgia, Cheney vowed Washington's "deep and abiding interest" in Ukraine's "well-being and security."
He kept up the pressure on Russia, whose ties with the United States have sunk to a post-Cold War low, touting Georgian democracy and slamming Russia's military actions last month over the rebel region of South Ossetia.
TVNL Comment: Cheney the war maker is on the loose again...and nobody is keeping an eye on him! Especially not the US establishment press.
US was told N. Korea would restore nuke operation
Before workers began moving mothballed equipment back into place, North Korea informed U.S. personnel at its Yongbyon nuclear plant it would start reassembling its nuclear facilities, a South Korean official said Thursday.
West Bank settlement construction nearly doubled this year
More than 2,600 housing units are under construction in West Bank settlements, including units in more than 1,000 new buildings, Peace Now contends in its semi-annual report.
The upshot of its latest report, says Peace Now director Yariv Oppenheimer, is that "Israel is erasing the Green Line through intensive construction intended to create territorial continuity between settlement blocs and isolated settlements in the heart of the West Bank, with this construction approaching Palestinian cities such as Bethlehem and Ramallah."
TVNL Comment: American tax money at work.
Russian lawmakers recognize Georgia separatists
Russia's parliament voted unanimously Monday to urge the president to recognize the independence of Georgia's two breakaway regions, stoking further tensions between Moscow and the small Caucasus nation's Western allies.
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