What Caught My Eye Today

Syria - The White House said that North Korea's secret work on a nuclear reactor with Syria was "a dangerous and potentially destabilizing development for the world," raising doubts about Pyongyang's intention to carry through with a promised disclosure of its nuclear activities. Seven months after Israel bombed the reactor, the White House broke its silence and said North Korea assisted Syria's secret nuclear program and that the destroyed facility was not intended for "peaceful purposes." The Syrian nuclear reactor destroyed by Israeli jets was within weeks or months of being functional, but still needed significant testing before it could be declared operational. No uranium, which is needed to fuel a reactor, was evident at the site, a remote area of eastern Syria along the Euphrates River, the U.S. said the reactor was similar in design to a North Korean reactor. So basically, the United States is pointing its finger at North Korea for allegedly helping to build something that Israel blew up seven months ago, while at the same time engaging in a six nation tightwire act to suspend nuclear activity in North Korea. Is this some sort of new negotiating tactic? I gotta say I'm not exactly seeing how this is going to help.

Palestinian State - President Bush sought to inject some confidence into the flagging Mideast peace process, pledging that the contours of a Palestinian state can still be reached before he leaves office. Say what you will about the man, but the dude certainly appears to be pulling out all the stops to salvage his legacy. Under the U.S.-backed peace plan known as the "road map," Israel is to halt settlement construction and take down unauthorized outposts built after March 2001 and Palestinians are to dismantle violent groups. The settlement issue, in particular, has raised tensions lately and prompted deep concerns from Abbas. In theory, this seems rather straightforward, doesn't it? In reality...dream on, Mr. President. The core unresolved issues remain the final borders of a Palestinian state, the fate of Jerusalem, disputed Israeli settlements and Palestinian refugees. Like I said, rather straightforward. All the President needs is a little divine intervention and several large scale miracles and these issues will work themselves out.

Olympics - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he will push for a European Union-wide agreement on whether to boycott the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics. Sarkozy's boycott threat and raucous protests by pro-Tibet supporters during the Olympic torch relay in Paris on April 7 have rankled many in China and sparked a series of anti-French demonstrations. Sarkozy has sought to soothe the tensions, sending a letter to a disabled Chinese athlete attacked during the Paris torch relay, and sending senior officials to China this week. Sarkozy said he was "shocked by what happened in Tibet" but insisted China should not be marginalized from the international scene. As an economic giant and a veto-wielding member of the U.N. Security Council, China is owed respect, he said. This Sarkozy is a piece of work. Listen, bro'. I'm no expert, but threatening a boycott of the opening ceremonies is probably not the ideal way to show China some 'respect.' And another thing. You are a head of state--start acting like one. If you want to make a political statement on behalf of the French people, then do it. Asking the EU to sanction a boycott just makes you look like a wienie. You would have been better off keeping your big mouth shut in the first place. At the very least, next time maybe you should consider the possible repercussions of your statements before you make them. In other words, think before you speak. You'll be amazing at how much smarter you will appear.

Iraq - Muqtada al-Sadr is considering setting aside his political ambitions and restarting a full-scale fight against U.S.-led forces — a worrisome shift that may reflect Iranian influence on the young cleric and could open the way for a shadow state protected by his powerful Mahdi Army. A possible breakaway path would represent the ultimate backlash to the Iraqi government's pressure on al-Sadr to renounce and disband his Shiite militia. By snubbing the give-and-take of politics, al-Sadr would have a freer hand to carve out a kind of parallel state with its own militia and social services along the lines of Hezbollah in Lebanon, a Shiite group founded with Iran's help in the 1980s. And we all know how well that turned out in bringing peace to that region. It also would carry potentially disastrous security implications as the Pentagon trims its troops strength and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki finally shows progress on national reconciliation. A cease-fire declared last summer by al-Sadr has been credited with helping bring a steep drop violence.Well now, that can't be. I thought the reduction in violence was due to the U.S. troop 'surge'. Plus, last I heard we were pausing indefinitely on the troop withdrawal to reassess the security situation in Iraq. Could it possibly be that the information being fed to the U.S. public may not be entirely reflective of the actual goings on in Iraq?

Evolution - Ancient humans started down the path of evolving into two separate species before merging back into a single population, a genetic study suggests. Do you think they are referring to liberals versus conservatives? The genetic split in Africa resulted in distinct populations that lived in isolation for as much as 100,000 years. Scientists say the most likely scenario is that two populations went their separate ways early in our evolutionary history. This gave rise to separate human communities localised to eastern and southern Africa that evolved in isolation for between 50,000 and 100,000 years. This divergence could have been related to climate change: recent studies of ancient climate data suggest that eastern Africa went through a series of massive droughts between 135,000-90,000 years ago. The findings are also consistent with the idea that modern humans had a close brush with extinction in the evolutionary past. The number of early humans may have shrunk as low as 2,000 before numbers began to expand again in the Late Stone Age. Interesting. Seems global warming has messed with the human race before. Modern humans are often presumed to have originated in East Africa and then spread out to populate other areas. But the data could equally support an origin in southern Africa followed by a migration to East and West Africa. Assuming this is true a whole heapload of textbooks are going to need to be rewritten.

American Idol - I've missed my updates for the past couple of weeks, but frankly, the results just prove that this is a popularity contest more so than a talent competition. Nonetheless, here is a quick recap. This week's theme was focused on the music of stage composer Andrew Lloyd Webber who also served as this week's mentor. Syesha Mercado vamped her way through Starlight Express’ One Rock 'n' Roll Too Many. David Cook displayed unsuspected theatrical chops on the Phantom of the Opera ballad Music of the Night. David Archuleta put his emotional ballad stamp on Phantom’s Think of Me. And Carly Smithson smartly wailed through a power-packed Jesus Christ Superstar. Jason Castro was simply out of his depth on Memory from Cats, a complex ballad by his sing-along standards; and Brooke White pulled a false start for the second time this season on the Madonna Evita cover You Must Love Me. Carly ended up getting eliminated. How Jason and Brooke managed to skate through is beyond me. Sure, I'll keep watching, that is until David Cook get eliminated. Dude is head and shoulders better than everyone else remaining, especially teen heartthrob, David Archuleta.