Despite spill, deep-water drilling is here to stay
‘We’ve run out of everything else and don’t have access … elsewhere’
By Steven Mufson
Willie Sutton robbed banks because that’s where the money is. And oil companies venture into deep waters for exploration because that’s where the oil is.That’s why – even though President Obama has imposed a six-month moratorium on deep-water exploration drilling in the Gulf of Mexico – the oil and gas industry is going to be back. And it’s why in other countries, the deep-water search hasn’t stopped.
Within five years, global deep-water production is expected to rise by two-thirds, to 10 million barrels a day, according to Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
Aaron McGruder’s ‘Boondocks’ lampoons Tyler Perry
The Adult Swim cartoon turns its satirical sights on Perry, ridiculing his brand of comedy, even down to a Madea-like character.
By Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times
June 22, 2010
Aaron McGruder of “The Boondocks” and Tyler Perry of “Meet the Browns” and TBS’ “House of Payne” are unlikely allies, but they have a common link. Both are the key creative forces behind some of Turner Broadcasting’s popular hits.Still, executives for the broadcaster, which owns both TBS and the Cartoon Network (home to “Boondocks”), might be wise not to sit the two men together at the same table during the next company picnic.
USA
Poll Finds Deep Concern About Energy and Economy
By JOHN M. BRODER and MARJORIE CONNELLY
Published: June 21, 2010
Overwhelmingly, Americans think the nation needs a fundamental overhaul of its energy policies, and most expect alternative forms to replace oil as a major source within 25 years. Yet a majority are unwilling to pay higher gasoline prices to help develop new fuel sources.
Those are among the findings of the latest nationwide New York Times/CBS News poll.The poll, which examines the public’s reaction to the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, highlights some of the complex political challenges the Obama administration faces. For instance, despite intense news coverage and widespread public concern about the economic and ecological damage from the gulf disaster, most Americans remain far more concerned about jobs and the nation’s overall economy.
Wikileaks plans to release files about deadly U.S. airstrike on Afghan civilians
By Ellen Nakashima
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Wikileaks.org plans to release as soon as this week documents related to a U.S. airstrike that killed Afghan civilians last year and plans to release combat footage of the incident this summer, the founder of the whistleblower site said in an interview Monday.Julian Assange said the documents pertain to an attack near the Afghan village of Garani, which killed scores of civilians in May 2009
In April, Wikileaks released video footage of a U.S. Apache helicopter attack in Iraq that killed several civilians, including two employees of the Reuters news service.
Europe
I have support of Vatican, says cardinal accused of corruption
By Philip Pullella, Reuters, in Rome Tuesday, 22 June 2010
An italian cardinal, caught up in a vast corruption probe that has already tainted the government, said he had done nothing wrong and had the support of the Vatican.“I did everything with the utmost transparency,” said Cardinal Cresenzio Sepe, the archbishop of Naples, who is under investigation by Italian magistrates for questionable real estate transactions when he was a top Vatican official in 2005.
Sepe, 67, is being investigated for alleged corruption when he was running the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples, a cash-and-real-estate-rich department of the Vatican that finances the work of missions abroad.
Google ‘faces legal action in France’ over Street View
Google could be prosecuted in France after it “accidentally” scooped up sensitive data belonging to users, such as passwords, when putting together its Street View service
Published: 7:30AM BST 22 Jun 2010
The French data protection agency has carried out an investigation into whether it should prosecute the search engine for gathering the data after asking Google to hand over the information last month.
CNIL examined the data to see if any privacy laws had been breached.The data was collected as Google logged Wi-Fi hot spots to help it develop location-based services.
However, the US internet giant also captured emails and sensitive information such as the bank details of users who were logged on to unsecure networks at the time.
Middle East
Kurdish rebels suspected of Istanbul bus bombing
At least four dead and 12 injured in Turkey after roadside bomb blast hits a bus carrying military personnel and their families
Associated Press
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 22 June 2010 08.55 BST
Suspected Kurdish rebels detonated a remote-controlled bomb in Istanbul today, killing four people and wounding 12 on a bus carrying military personnel and their families.Governor Huseyin Avni Mutlu said two of the wounded were in a critical condition following the early morning attack. The state-run Anatolia agency said the dead included the 17-year-old daughter of an officer.
Kurdish rebels have staged bomb attacks in Istanbul in the past but the last large bomb attack in the city was in 2007, when 17 people were killed.
Crossings ready for more Gaza goods
TUESDAY, JUNE 22, 2010
Measures are in place for a sharp increase in road shipments to the Gaza Strip, following Israel’s decision to change the conditions of its blockade of the Palestinian enclave.The Palestinian Ma’an News Agency quoted an Israeli border crossing official as saying that 130 lorry loads of goods would be permitted into Gaza on Tuesday.
Israel has said it will allow the import of “civilian” goods, but will continue to restrict items they say could be used to build weapons, including cement and steel rods.
Asia
Pakistan conflicted over targeting rising extremists in its heartland
By Karin Brulliard
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
LAHORE, PAKISTAN — Even as its army battles insurgents on the mountainous western border, Pakistan’s government remains deeply ambivalent about tackling extremist Sunnis it says are a rising menace within its populous heartland.In the vast lowlands of Punjab province, fundamentalist and sectarian organizations banned for terrorist links operate openly and with occasional support from officials. The groups’ encouragement of violence against minorities and others considered infidels is tolerated, one top provincial official said, because it is part of Pakistan’s political “mind-set,” and confronting it might spawn more radicals.
Kashmir on a knife edge once again after security forces kill three youths
By Andrew Buncombe in Delhi
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Kashmir is boiling again. The killing of three young men by security forces in the past ten days has ratcheted up tension and sent hundreds of demonstrators into the streets.The Indian authorities have responded by deploying thousands of police and paramilitary forces.
Yesterday, the city of Srinagar, capital of the Kashmir valley, was brought to a standstill as separatists called yet another strike to protest against the killing of the young Muslim men. Police have imposed a strict curfew in an effort to halt the demonstrations that have reverberated around the city.
Africa
‘Blood diamond’ activist kept in Zimbabwe jail
A judge in Zimbabwe has denied bail to a human rights activist accused of providing false information about the diamond trade.
The BBC Tuesday, 22 June 2010The judge said Farai Maguwu, if convicted, would have committed “treacherous and abominable” crimes.
The ruling came as the body which oversees the trade in “blood diamonds” – from conflict zones – meets in Israel to decide whether to allow Zimbabwe to resume international sales.
Mr Maguwu was arrested on 3 June.
He had met a representative of the diamond trade body, the Kimberley Process.
Lobby group Human Rights Watch has urged the meeting in Israel not to allow Zimbabwe to resume the trade.
Latin America
Brazil floods: 1,000 missing, 39 dead
Floods after days of driving rain have killed at least 39 people in northeastern Brazil, and left 1,000 unaccounted for and another 100,000 people homeless.
Published: 10:11AM BST 22 Jun 2010
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called a crisis cabinet meeting and said the government would make federal funds available to help the homeless.
“Up until the early afternoon we had 26 confirmed dead in Alagoas and more than 1,000 people missing,” Teotonio Vilela Filho, the Alagoas Governor, said.
“We are praying for the missing to be found alive. But we are very worried because bodies are starting to turn up on beaches and on riverbanks,” Mr Vilela said.
Civil defence officials in devastated Alagoas state said the Mundau River burst its banks in the town of Uniao dos Palmares, leaving at least 500 people unaccounted for there.