Every Wednesday you will find links and top-line summaries of current events around the globe.
Afghan Vote Too Close To Call As Results Trickle In [Reuters]
- The first tranche of results released on Tuesday showed incumbent President Hamid Karzai with 41 percent and his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, with 39 percent in a race that will go to a second round unless either gets more than 50 percent
- The elections are a major test for Karzai after eight years in power and also for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has poured in thousands of extra troops as part of his new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan
- The results suggest a disappointing turnout of around 5 million votes in a country of some 30 million people and an estimated 15 million eligible voters. Taliban fighters had launched attacks and threatened reprisals against voters during the election, scaring many Afghans away from the polls, especially in the violent south
South Korean Rocket Launch A ‘Partial Success’ [BBC]
- South Korea has launched its first space rocket, though a scientific satellite it was carrying failed to enter into its proper orbit
- The rocket – 33m (108 ft) long and weighing some 140 tonnes – was the country’s half-a-billion dollar bid to join the exclusive club of spacefaring nations
- No North Korean satellite has been detected in space, although Pyongyang insists its rocket launch worked and the device is now orbiting the earth transmitting revolutionary melodies
Fit-looking Fidel Castro Appears on Cuban TV [Reuters]
- Fidel Castro, 83, appeared on Cuban television for the first time since June 2008 and his photograph was published in an official newspaper on Sunday in a signal that his once-failing health has improved
- He resigned the presidency last year and was replaced by his brother Raul Castro, 78
- Castro has not been seen in public since July 2006, when he underwent intestinal surgery for a still-undisclosed ailment
Obama To Name Bernanke To 2nd Term As Fed Chief [Reuters]
- U.S. President Barack Obama will nominate Ben Bernanke to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve on Tuesday as the economy shows signs of recovery
- Analysts said the early move by Obama — before Bernanke’s four-year term ended on January 31, 2010 — would be welcomed by financial markets and would halt any lingering worries about who might lead the Fed as the economy bounces back
- Bernanke, 55, was appointed by Obama’s Republican predecessor President George W. Bush to succeed Alan Greenspan and is a widely respected monetary scholar who has long called for a more open central bank
South Asia Hit by Sugar Shortages [BBC]
- The price of raw sugar worldwide has increased to its highest level since 1981, as supply concerns grow
- India is the largest consumer of sugar in the world and the second largest producer, but poor monsoon rains have slashed output, forcing it to rely on imports
- In Pakistan, a production shortfall has sent sugar prices up by more than 15% over the last couple of months
Argentina Decriminalizes Small-Scale Marijuana Use [Reuters]
- Argentina’s Supreme Court decriminalized the small-scale use of marijuana on Tuesday, opening the way for a shift in the country’s drug-fighting policies to focus on traffickers instead of users
- Elsewhere in Latin America, Colombia and Mexico have already decriminalized the possession of small amounts of drugs. Brazil and Ecuador are looking at an initiative to legalize some drug use
- Argentina, whose population is less than a quarter that of Brazil, is Latin America’s biggest cocaine user, according to the U.N. report
- Senator Edward Kennedy Dies At 77 [BBC]
- China Racing Ahead of U.S. in the Drive to Go Solar [New York Times]
- Pakistani Taliban Confirm Leader is Dead: Report [Reuters]
- Hotels Shrug Off Bad News [Wall Street Journal]
- Warner Chilcott Buying P&G Pharmaceutical Unit for $3.1 billion [Reuters]
- PartyGaming to Buy World Poker Tour for $12.3 Million [Reuters]
Mexico has decriminalized drug use, setting ‘personal’ use limits to:
- 5 grams of marijuana
- 0.5 grams of cocaine
- 50 milligrams of heroin
- 40 milligrams for methamphetamine
- 0.015 milligrams for LSD
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