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15. januar 2003
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Al Qaeda connection to police killer
"The terror suspect who stabbed to death a police officer in Manchester is alleged to be a "key" al-Qa'ida member who was wanted by MI5 for plotting chemical attacks in Britain." (Independent)
Next time, watch him a bit more carefully, I think.
10:34:00 PM 
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Now, where did I put those plague vials?
Between 30 and 35 vials, some of them holding potentially potent bubonic plague samples, are reported missing from TexasTech University Health Center in Lubbock. The FBI is looking, as city officials don't know whether the samples have been stolen or misplaced.
Officials go to great pains claiming it's unlikely the samples can be used for bioweapons, as they are unlikely to be lethal now. They hope.
After Iraq, Texas is next.
9:21:17 PM
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Georgia abolishes adultery law
There were ten US states left in the medieval world, now there are nine left. Georgia Supreme Court has eventually overturned a 170 year old law outlawing adultery.
Funny fact: Google News only found this item in Islam Online, UK. It is already carried in most Norwegian media, but of course, they love portraying the US as medieval.
8:34:18 PM
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Havel's farewell speech: end of an era 
Vaclac Havel, one of the heroes of the mostly peaceful transition from communist rule to democracy in Eastern Europe, has just given his farewell speech to the Czech parliament.
Havel will be remembered as one of the giants in modern Eueopean politics, in my opinion. Even as a leader of a small nation he was respected far beyond Europe. Especially, we should value his support for democracy, human rights and his application of reason to leadership. He was a playwright, poet, and political dissident who came to power, but yet stood by his ideals.
Now he retires from a two-term presidency where he has naturally been restrained from offering his frank opinions on many issues, and it will be interesting always to listen to him.
8:06:56 PM
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There is their bias and there is our bias
Mickey Kaus, conservative Slate columnist and New York Times arch-foe, bemoans that the NYT is not up-front about being a liberal newpaper. Instead of using the slogan "All the News That's Fit to Print", he argues, they should say it like it is, using the slogan "A Crusading Liberal Newspaper." So, what, then, about the obvious conservative crusader Fox News, which reports under the slogan "Fair and Balanced, As Always"? Kaus concendes, somewhat, but here is the clincher: "the claim is so transparently bogus" that it's less annoying. (browse down to 1/13-03)
Does Kaus think he is the only one considering the NYT a 'liberal' news source? And, where is your own honest motto, Kaus? I must have missed it.
6:30:00 PM
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Gun culture
I have tried to find an example of a European country with a gun culture similar to the US. Apparently, there is one: Albania. And there are other similarities too, especially if you turn back the calendar a century or so.
5:14:54 PM
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Canada may legalize pot, US not amused
 What the US government fears and many are hoping for, is about to happen in Canada: cannabis being gradually decriminalised, and it may even become formally legalised. The pro-cannabis lobby argues that just like alcohol, a dangerous drug, can be legal and yet regulated, so can cannabis. Its opponents assert that cannabis is addictive (a dubious claim at best), serves as an entry-level for harder drugs (ditto) and besides, we already have enough problems with alcohol, we don't need another drug (too late).
In the meantime, some Canadians are waiting for cannabis to be legalised, knowing where the big market is: down south. Want a classic thong (picture) with the baked canuck theme? Or what about a teddy bear?
4:52:10 PM
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Bush says "time is running out" for Iraq
President Bush says that he is getting "sick and tired" of Iraq's delaying tactics, and states that "time is running out" for Saddam Hussein. Strangely, at the same time, he refuses to say exactly what the timeline is.
6:17:38 AM
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Online Polling Part II 
Time magazine is running an online poll that has attracted wide international attenton, and of course also bloggers. The disclaimer notwithstanding, a lot of people take the result seriously. Time asks which of the countries South Korea, Iraq or the United States pose the greatest danger to world peace. And not totally surprising, giving how this works, almost 80% has selected the United States.
What does that mean? Not necessarily that people have no grasp of geopolitics. More likely that lots of people across the world wants to send a message that they dislike George Bush jr. And we already knew that.
5:10:20 AM
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German MP receives royalties for Pro-Cannabis song
Member of the German parliament, Christian Stroebele, stands to receive £13,000 (~$21,000) in royalties after a pro-cannabis speech was sampled and used in a pop song. Stroebele, a teetotaller, says he will donate his part of the royalties to campaign groups.
2:35:35 AM
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Intel doubles profits
Chipmaker Intel doubled its earnings in the fourth quarter, beating investors' expectations, but still announced cuts in capital expenses for '03.
Still no unambiguous good signs of a recovery in the tech sector.
1:10:07 AM
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Terror suspects kill police officer
During a raid on a suspected terror group in Manchester, England, a police officer was stabbed to death, and four other officers were injured. The raid had connections to the ricin discovery, and the arrested suspects are of North-African origin.
1:03:48 AM
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A Mullah crosses his paths
 According to the FBI, Mullah Krekar, also known as Najmuddin Farah Ahmad, is a dangerous fundamentalist terrorist. According to Jordan, he is a drug smuggler. A few months ago, he was arrested in the Netherlands, who considered expelling him to Jordan. Apparently, the Dutch wanted none of that anymore, so they expelled him to the country were he is a permanent resident, as a refugee, namely Norway.
According to Norwegian authorites, Mullah Krekar (picture, with wife) is simply a very undesired individual at the center of a massive legal mess. While being a refugee in Norway, Krekar a number of times went back to his native Northern Iraq, where he and his Kurdish group is fighting to replace Saddam Hussein's regime with something more similar to the Taliban. Now, that is technically a violation of his refugee status, and his papers have apparently been revoked, but the problem was that the Norwegian police was told all the time what he was doing in Iraq.
Now the Norwegian Security Police wants to charge him with waging war against Saddam Hussein, a guy we will probably be waging war against ourselves pretty soon. The state attorney overruled that, as it is doubtful that he violated Norwegian law. That was the reason a group of bewildered Dutch police officers, escorting a possibly dangerous terrorist to Norway, found that the welcome comittee in Norway consisted entirely of his wife and a horde of journalists. He is a free man, but apparently the police would like to talk to him.
Mullah Krekar has a PR problem, for sure, considering that he was very sympathetic to Bin Laden and the attack on the US on 9/11-01. He realises that doesn't exactly make him welcome, as some desperate backpedalling suggests, but he has still not broken any law. We have freedom of speech in this country, and that extends to religious fanatics who happen to be refugees too. If we throw him out, it is, frankly, on a technicality he himself informed our police about many years ago.
Besides, where should we expel him to? Give him to Saddam Hussein to chop his head off? To Jordan, who was unable to substantiate the drug charges to Dutch authorities (and, to be frank, the Jordanian security police is probably just eager to please some new-found friends in the US)? I am quite sure the Dutch does not want him back, and nobody else seems either. According to himself, he's retired and wants to enjoy his family life in peace and quiet in Norway.
I wonder who else lives here on refugee status? Is that you, Bin Laden?
12:37:18 AM
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© Copyright 2003 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.02.03; 00:36:53.
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