26. november 2004

Rain, rain, rain Local newspaper Bergens Tidende tries to look on the bright side of the weather forecast: The most positive thing to say about the weekend weather is that it will not rain all the time. The headline says "warning about dry spell." Maybe an hour on Sunday, I guess. 10:10:19 PM    comment []  trackback []

Three fourths of Arabs want Hamas to take over Palestinian Authority According to a survey, the vast majority of Arabs want a Hamas representative to be elected the next president of the Palestinian Authority. A survey of the Arab world organized by the Al-Arabia network website after the death of Yasser Arafat, showed 73.72% want a Hamas representative to replace Arafat, ITIM reported. In contrast only 0.7% expect that one of the PLO leaders will take over. 25.58% were in favor of an independent candidate.  If even the darkest cloud has a silver lining, it has to be that PLO has no credibility even among Arabs, and that 25% are sane enough to want new blood (and not running in the streets, I hope). The primary reason most Arabs prefer Hamas and other extremists is that these are totally honest in saying they want to totally eradicate Israel. 6:46:38 PM    comment []  trackback []

Press watchdog: Lies are OK To no real surprise, the Norwegian press ethics watchdog (Pressens Faglige Utvalg) has ruled that state broadcaster NRK did the right thing when they lied through their teeth about an anti-terrorism event. A totally unrelated case, but also involving watch-puppy PFU, was decided in an Oslo court today. Rodney Omdahl Karlsen and Anette Young, a couple who rose to celebrity status by having public sex on Norwegian "reality" show Big Brother (yes we have it too) sued Norways' largest celebrity magazine Se og hør ("See and hear"). The rag continued running stories about their relationship and breakup long after the couple had withdrawn from public and included some quite vicious lies about them. Especially after the couple started litigating did the rag publish some nasty articles about them, in what appeared as a vendetta. The two ex-celebrities first complained to PFU, who decided in favour of Se og hør and found nothing wrong with this coverage. But today Oslo municipal court decided the case in favour of Karlsen and Young, and the decision was devastating for the rag. Quite a few journalists have been heard whining today, anxious that they can no longer write distortions and intrude on the private lives of celebrities. Now, you could argue that a court and the media watchdog coming to a different conclusion in one case doesn't necessarily mean the dog has no teeth. But remember that a media ethics watchdog has to operate under much stricter criteria than a court, which only judges violations of law. There are many situations where press behaviour is legal while still being unethical by voluntary press ethics standards. When the press watchdog has a more lenient view of press ethics than a court of law, it is good evidence that press ethics is quickly becoming an oxymoron. (Celebrity story from Norwegian article in TV2 Nettavisen) 5:13:35 PM    comment []  trackback []

How to handle diplomats ignoring parking tickets Under diplomatic immunity, diplomats worldwide feel free to ignore parking tickets and traffic fines, and eventually this runs into serious money for areas with large diplomatic delegations. Moreover, it really, really pisses people off. The State of New York, home of the United Nations and thousands of diplomats, has had enough of this, and now the money will be charged back from US foreign aid. At the urging of New York lawmakers, Congress tucked the measure -- to cut aid to countries next year by 110 percent of the amount their diplomats owe in parking tickets and penalties -- into the huge $388 billion spending bill lawmakers approved over the weekend. New York City, which houses the United Nations, would stand to recover about $195 million from about 200 countries, New York's senators said. That's a hell of a lot of bad parking. Norway has the same problem, of course on a vastly lesser scale, according to Aftenposten. - Some of the diplomats in this country abuse their diplomatic status, says Øyvind Braathen, director of the diplomatic section of the Foreign Department. Hungary has 22 unpaid parking tickets, while Greece has 16. But the Greek ambassador John Boucaouris defends the practice, and says Greece cannot afford to pay the fines. - I tell my diplomats they can park whereever it suits them, he says to [newspaper] Dagsavisen. The country of Greece can't afford to pay 16 parking fines. Now that is a good one! Declare Greece bankrupt, sell off Acropolis to the British Museum, let Turkey have the rest and get it over with. In all, 192 of the 273 tickets given to diplomats in Oslo so far this year has not been paid. Russia (14), Iran (13), Israel (6) and the EU delegation (5) are also among the twenty countries or organisations that for one reason or another ignore paying parking tickets. The US, however, is not on the list, which is good considering the hardline provision outlined above. 2:50:15 PM    comment []  trackback []

Pakistani military: No Bin Laden here A Pakistani Army Commander says that he has been going through the so-called tribal lands along the border to Afghanistan, and there is absolutely no sign of Bin Laden: "He requires his own protection, and the kind of security apparatus that he is supposed to have around him, that gives a very big signature," said Lt. Gen. Safdar Hussain, military chief of northwest Pakistan Thursday. "And there is not an inch of South Waziristan agency or the tribal area which we have not swept time and again. And if he was here in the tribal areas, I can assure you that he wouldn't have escaped my eyes and ears." Hmm. 2:32:16 PM    comment []  trackback []

© Copyright 2004 Jan Haugland. Last update: 01.12.2004; 07:29:01.