news roundup

Listening to the Smiths and reading the NYT.

Nigerian Death Toll Rises to 700
The violent Boko Haram Islamic sect attacked police stations and government buildings last week, killing 700 people in Maiduguri. More than 50 Muslim leaders repeatedly warned the Nigerian authorities before the attacks and urged them to take preemtive action, but nothing was done.

"On July 26, militants from the sect attacked a police station in Bauchi State, inciting a wave of militant violence that spread to three other northern states.The Nigerian authorities retaliated five days later by storming the group’s sprawling Maiduguri headquarters, killing at least 100 people in the attack, half of them inside the sect’s mosque."

Malaysia Cracks Down on Protests
In reversion of Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak's vow to quell government repression, police broke up protesters in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, launching tear gas shells on parts of the crowd. 600 of the 20,000 demonstrators were arrested. Despite the PM's apparently progressive actions in the his four months in office, due to incidents like this, the ethics of the governing party and police force are still in question.

"Opposition parties, which organized the rally, were calling for the repeal of a law that allows the government to jail its critics indefinitely without charge. The opposition is also pressing the government to expand an inquiry into the recent death under mysterious circumstances of a political aide after a late-night interrogation by anti-corruption officials. ...
... 'We can provide them stadiums where they can shout themselves hoarse till dawn, but don’t cause disturbance in the streets,' Mr. Najib said Sunday, according to the Malaysian news media."

Homeless in Poland, Men Dream of Odyssey
Oh my god, this is so endearing. "Two dozen homeless men are building a ship to sail themselves around the world and prove that they have some value to society," with Homer's Odysseus as their role model. Literary references abound.

" ...their story strikes deeper chords because, for all the modern tools in the building and corporate sponsors providing the raw materials, their endeavor echoes mythic themes of escape, adventure and redemption that can seem out of reach in a world of biometric identity cards and debt-collection agencies.
...But their odds of success grew slightly longer when the unique and seemingly inexhaustible Boguslaw Paleczny — a Roman Catholic priest and a touring musician who appointed himself as the foreman of the project — died of a heart attack in June at the age of 50. The men say that his death has stiffened their resolve and that their tale will end up more Capra than Quixote with these forgotten members of Polish society circumnavigating the globe."