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2. april 2005
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Google Gulp
I guess I bring you this one day late.
11:01:11 PM 
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It is finally official.
"The Holy Father died this evening at 9:37 p.m. (2:37 p.m. EST) in his private apartment. All the procedures outlined in the apostolic Constitution `Universi Dominici Gregis' that was written by John Paul II on Feb. 22, 1996, have been put in motion."
I am no fan of Karol Joseph Wojtyla, a deeply conservative man, but one positive thing he leaves the world was his tremendous part in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe. That is something nobody can take away from his record.
Now begins the official political process of electing a new pope. The unofficial positioning has been going on for a long time.
10:10:58 PM
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Definately good news from Iraq:
A group of Sunni Arab clerics, including some hard-line figures who fiercely oppose the American presence here, issued a statement on Friday urging their fellow Sunni Arabs to join the Iraqi Army and police.
The edict, signed by 64 imams and religious scholars, was a striking turnaround for the clerics, who have often lashed out in sermons at the fledgling army and police force and branded them collaborators.
Prominently missing from the signers was Harith al-Dari, the leader of the Association of Muslim Scholars and one of the most influential Sunni Arab clerics in Iraq, who is said to have close ties to the insurgency.
Still, the directive, which carried the signature of Ahmed Hassan al-Taha, an imam at an important Baghdad mosque who has been a strong critic of the occupation, seemed to represent a significant step.
It is not good for Iraq, and obviously not for the Sunnis, that the new Iraqi armed forces consist almost entirely of Shiites.
7:53:58 PM
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On the one-year anniversary for GMail, Google doubled the free space available to 2Gb. Essentially, Google promises they will keep increasing the space as old customers are starting to get low on space. In reality, of course, only a fraction of the accounts are getting even close.
Has any GMail user actually gotten close to the limit yet?
1:33:45 AM
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Bad, but not unexpected, news from Zimbabwe:
Nearly complete results in Zimbabwe's national parliamentary elections pointed today to a victory for President Robert G. Mugabe's long-ruling party and a drubbing for his political opposition, which had predicted a strong showing for itself. [...]
With roughly three in four districts reporting, election analysts said the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front had captured 60 of the 120 seats at stake, and appeared poised to capture a two-thirds majority of the parliament, as Mr. Mugabe had hoped. That would further marginalize the opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change, which had claimed only 33 seats. That would seem to strengthen Mr. Mugabe's hand as the nation confronts a long series of economic and social problems that critics contend are a direct result of disastrous government policies.
There are widespread allegations of fraud. The opposition seems to be planning street demonstrations, but time will tell whether they are strong enough to pose a challenge to the government.
PS: It was even worse. Mugabe has two-thirds of parliament, allowing him to change the constitution.
1:27:17 AM
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© Copyright 2005 Jan Haugland.
Last update: 01.05.2005; 01:54:43.
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