World News Did you know?

Everyday that I live in America I hear about what's going on in my backyard, I barely get any news from around the world unless it's really outrageous like the freak in Vienna... Well I should say Alleged freak,not fair since in America you are innocent until proven guilty, (*grumble mumbel the MF is guilty). A lot of things may not pertain to you and I directly but in order to become a stronger better informed country I feel it is my duty to get some tid bits of OTHER news in order for my readers to see... this country is not the Universe. Please read on. If you find any news that you would like to add to this blog feel free to drop me a line I will read it and include it.

'Dungeon dad' admits to incest
28/04/2008 14:22 - (SA)
Vienna - A 73-year-old Austrian admitted on Monday to having fathered seven children with his daughter whom he kept imprisoned in a dungeon for 24 years. Josef Fritzl, a retired electrical engineer from Amstetten in eastern Austria, had "started" to admit to having locked his daughter, Elisabeth, 42, in the basement in August 1984, the Austrian Press Agency said.(read more)

Divorce - who gets the pets?
24/04/2008 21:23 - (SA)
Sydney - Forget the family silver or the car. Increasing numbers of couples who split up have a greater bone of contention - who gets the family pet? With pets being treated more as one of the family than just an animal, the fate of Fido or Cuddles is becoming a growing problem which lawyers are taking on board, drafting "petimony" contracts and sparking a new focus on animal law issues. Michelle Brown, a family law expert from Sydney firm Watts McCray, said it's becoming more common for couples to share access to pets after they split but the law in most nations was not equipped for this.(read more)

Raikkonen leads Ferrari 1-2
(Reuters) 28 April 2008
BARCELONA — Ferrari’s world champion Kimi Raikkonen stretched his Formula One lead to nine points with a dominant win from pole position in the Spanish Grand Prix yesterday.
Brazilian Felipe Massa sealed Ferrari’s second successive one-two finish, and third win in a row, with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton third to revive his title challenge after a disappointing last race in Bahrain. Raikkonen’s 17th grand prix win left the Finn with 29 points, nine clear of closest rival Hamilton, and catapulted Ferrari back in front of BMW Sauber in the constructors’ standings. While Raikkonen had an uneventful afternoon in the sunshine, his compatriot Heikki Kovalainen was flown to hospital with concussion after his McLaren plunged across the gravel and into a tyre wall. (read more)

Militia crackdown pays off for al-Maliki
LIZ SLY; Chicago Tribune
Published: April 28th, 2008 01:00 AM
BAGHDAD – The fortunes of Iraq’s Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have received an unexpected boost from his initially botched offensive against militias in Basra, which has turned into a standoff between al-Maliki and the Shiite Mahdi Army militia. The showdown is recalibrating the political balance in Iraq in ways that could help break the deadlock that has stalled progress on key measures including a new oil law and the broader issue of national reconciliation. (read more)

UN frustration at DRC allegations
By Laura Trevelyan
BBC News, New York
At UN headquarters there is both irritation and unease over the BBC story. Irritation because officials regard the allegations of gold smuggling in the Congo by Pakistani peacekeepers as rehashed. Unease because, as the head of UN peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno, put it in a letter to the BBC: "Every incident of misconduct by the Blue Helmets diminishes public confidence in our work and weakens the institution of peacekeeping." (read more)