Noteworthy Headlines: Obama, Guantanamo Bay, and More

Here is a general collection of recent stories that I thought were particularly noteworthy-

- India has just delivered evidence to Pakistan showing Pakistani links to the Mumbai terrorist attack that killed 170 people.  The gunmen attacked high-profile tourist sites, including two 5-star hotels, the main railway station, popular restaurants, and a Jewish center.

- In Britain, the government has quitely passed a new measure to allow police to routinely hack into citizens’ personal computers, without a warrant.

- Obama’s silence during the Israel-Hamas conflict is causing his public opinion to suffer in the Middle East and worldwide.  His aides say that they are following U.S. protocol that “there is only one president at a time,” but he has already publicly spoken on issues related to the credit crisis and to the terrorist attacks in Mumbai.  Obama’s silence is being taken as supporting Bush’s pro-Israeli politics.  The Al-Jazeera television station recently broadcast footage of Obama on vacation in Hawaii- wearing shorts and playing golf- juxtaposed with scenes of bloodshed and mayhem in Gaza (ouch).  An Iranian newspaper wrote, “It would appear that the president-elect has no intention of getting involved in the Gaza crisis. His stances and viewpoints suggest he will follow the path taken by previous American presidents… Obama, too, will pursue policies that support the Zionist aggressions.” (While campaigning against Hillary, Obama reiterated his support for Israel.)

- Spain is in the midst of its own heated battle over the separation of Church and State, and the role of Catholic public schools and the Vatican’s influence there.  Spain is seen as one of the final Catholic footholds in an increasingly secularized Europe.

- Though never charged with a crime, a man spent 5 years at Guantánamo Bay, during which he says he was secretly taken to Egypt and tortured.  His story, of course, may or may not be true.  He says he had been beaten, tightly shackled, covered with a hood and given drugs, subjected to electric shocks and- because he denied knowing Mr. bin Laden- deprived of sleep for six months.  Spokespeople at the Pentagon and CIA insisted that this did not take place; which, of course, also may or may not be true.

- The BBC highlights some events that took place on this day in history-

• 1944: Soviet forces reach the 1939 Soviet-Polish border, finally repelling the German invasion of June 1941.
• 1929: Mother Teresa, an Albanian nun, arrives in Calcutta, home to her mission among the ‘poorest of the poor’.
• 1838: American inventor Samuel Morse gives the first demonstration of his invention, the electric telegraph.

~ by Aaron Rathburn on January 6, 2009.