Super-Typhoon Megi hits northern Philippines
Super-Typhoon Megi has made landfall in the northern Philippines, lashing the area with heavy rains and winds of more than 225km/h (140mph).
The BBC
Thousands of people in the path of the storm have fled their homes, emergency services are on high alert and schools have been closed in many areas.It is the strongest storm the Philippines has faced for four years.
In 2006, a storm with winds of 155km/h triggered mudslides, burying villages and killing about 1,000 people.
‘Preparing for war’The northern provinces of Cagayan and Isabela are on the highest storm alert.
One man in Cagayan was reported missing after he fell into the fast-flowing Buntun river. The man was named as Vicente Decena, a candidate in next week’s local elections.
Socrates – a man for our times
He was condemned to death for telling the ancient Greeks things they didn’t want to hear, but his views on consumerism and trial by media are just as relevant today
Bettany Hughes guardian.co.uk,
Two thousand four hundred years ago, one man tried to discover the meaning of life. His search was so radical, charismatic and counterintuitive that he become famous throughout the Mediterranean. Men – particularly young men – flocked to hear him speak. Some were inspired to imitate his ascetic habits. They wore their hair long, their feet bare, their cloaks torn. He charmed a city; soldiers, prostitutes, merchants, aristocrats – all would come to listen. As Cicero eloquently put it, “He brought philosophy down from the skies.”
USA
New Post poll finds negativity toward federal workers
By Lisa Reinand Ed O’Keefe Washington Post Staff Writers
More than half of Americans say they think that federal workers are overpaid for the work they do, and more than a third think they are less qualified than those working in the private sector, according to a Washington Post poll.
Half also say the men and women who keep the government running do not work as hard as employees at private companies.
The critical views of federal workers – just one in seven of whom works in the D.C. area – echo the anti-Washington sentiment roiling the midterm elections, as some Americans lose confidence in their government to solve the country’s problems.
U.S. Companies Are at Risk of Spying by Their Own Workers
By CHRISTOPHER DREW
Published: October 17, 2010
Huang Kexue, federal authorities say, is a new kind of spy.
For five years, Mr. Huang was a scientist at a Dow Chemical lab in Indiana, studying ways to improve insecticides. But before he was fired in 2008, Mr. Huang began sharing Dow’s secrets with Chinese researchers, authorities say, then obtained grants from a state-run foundation in China with the goal of starting a rival business there.
Now, Mr. Huang, who was born in China and is a legal United States resident, faces a rare criminal charge – that he engaged in economic espionage on China’s behalf.
Europe
Weak Merkel stokes xenophobia as she fights for political survival
By Tony Paterson in Berlin Monday, 18 October 2010
Chancellor Angela Merkel has branded Germany’s attempts to build a multicultural society an “utter failure” in an unprecedented speech designed to revive her own and her conservative party’s flagging popularity and regain the initiative in an increasingly hostile public debate about immigration.Ms Merkel, who normally scrupulously avoids courting xenophobic opinion, bluntly told a meeting of young members of her ruling Christian Democratic party that the “Multikulti” notion of people from different cultural backgrounds living happily side by side simply did not work.
France: Saudis warn of new al-Qaeda threat
Saudi Arabia has warned France it is the target of an imminent al-Qaeda attack, French Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux has said.
The BBC
He said Saudi intelligence agencies spoke of a threat to Europe, and “France in particular”, from Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.France is already on high alert following warnings of possible attacks aimed at France, Germany and the UK.
The Eiffel Tower was evacuated twice in September over security alerts.“I can tell you – and it’s not information that’s been made public yet – that even a few hours, a few days ago, [we received] a new message, from the Saudi [intelligence] services, indicating to us that Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula was certainly active, or expecting to be active,” Mr Hortefeux said in a joint radio and television interview.
Middle East
Iran brokers behind-the-scenes deal for pro-Tehran government in Iraq
Fears over Iran’s influence after secret talks involving Syria, Hezbollah and the highest authorities in Shia Islam>
Martin Chulov in Baghdad guardian.co.uk,
Iran has brokered a critical deal with its regional neighbours that could see a pro-Tehran government installed in Iraq, a move that would shift the fragile country sharply away from a sphere of western influence.The Guardian can reveal that the Islamic republic was instrumental in forming an alliance between Iraq’s Nouri al-Maliki, who is vying for a second term as prime minister, and the country’s powerful radical Shia cleric leader, Moqtada al-Sadr.
Netanyahu accused over stalled talks to free Shalit
By Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem Monday, 18 October 2010
The family of Gilad Shalit, the soldier seized by Gaza militants in 2006, sharply criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday for not securing his release despite the disclosure that a German mediator had renewed contact with both sides.Amid some confusion over the status of current negotiations, Hamas and Mr Netanyahu separately confirmed that the senior German official charged with mediating a prisoner exchange had recently been in touch with both Israel’s government and the Islamic faction.
Asia
Gunmen kill 25 people during Karachi election
Attack raises tensions in Pakistan’s largest city as voters cast ballots to replace a provincial lawmaker murdered in August
Associated Press The Guardian, Monday 18 October 2010
Gunmen have killed at least 25 people in Karachi over the weekend, raising tensions in Pakistan’s largest city as voters cast ballots yesterday today to replace a provincial lawmaker murdered in August.Police said they were still investigating the motives behind the shootings, but many so-called “target killings” have been linked to gangs controlled by the city’s main political parties, which have been feuding for much of the the last 20 years.
Video shows Papuans being tortured
Tom Allard in Jakarta
October 18, 2010
A graphic and disturbing video shows a Papuan man being poked in the genitals with a fiery stick as he is interrogated by a group of men who appear to be members of Indonesia’s security services.The video has come to light as the Indonesian government faces continuing criticism about abuses by its security forces in Papua, scene of a long simmering separatist struggle.
The Papuan man, stripped naked, bound and with one of the interrogators placing his foot on his chest, is being asked about the location of a cache of weapons. After he tells his interrogators it has been hidden in a pigpen, one of them screams at him: ”You cheat, you cheat.”
Africa
DR Congo women march against rape
Olive Lembe Kabila, wife of Joseph Kabila, president of the Congo, led protest against sexual violence in eastern city.
Aljazeera
Thousands of women have marched against sexual violence in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the miseries of war have been compounded by mass rapes.About 1,700 women who had attended a week-long forum on peace and development in Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu province, joined in the march on Sunday, which was led by Olive Lembe Kabila, the wife of the president, Joseph Kabila.
The atmosphere of the march was colourful and peaceful, and many demonstrators carried banners with slogans such as “No to sexual terrorism”.
“Coming here is important because violence towards women is used systematically as a weapon of war,” Miriam Nobre, an organiser of the march with the World March of Women, said.
Latin America
Mexico closely watches Calif. marijuana vote
Skepticism emerges on whether legalization would financially harm traffickers
By RANDAL C. ARCHIBOLD
MEXICO CITY – In two weeks, Californians will decide whether to legalize small amounts of marijuana for recreational use, in a vote that polls show could be close.Now, for a change in the drug war, it is Mexico wondering about the possible spillover, this time of an idea. Will such a bold step by its neighbor to the north add momentum to a burgeoning movement here for broad drug legalization?