TwistedSifter

Every Wednesday you will find links and top-line summaries to current events around the globe.

Vatican forced to defend itself over abuse cases [BBC]

- After recent revelations of widespread abuse in Ireland, and claims of similar mistreatment of children by priests in Austria and Germany, Catholic bishops in the Netherlands have now set up an independent inquiry to look into allegations there. More than 200 reports of abuse have been made to a victims’ support organization in the last few days
- The allegations from Germany are particularly sensitive, because the Pope was born in the country, and because they include a choir led by his brother Georg. Reports surfaced last month that Catholic priests had sexually abused more than 170 children at Jesuit schools in Germany
- The Church is already fighting a battle against secularisation in Western Europe, and the steady erosion of its influence. There are demands for modernisation, especially the ending of celibacy for priests, fiercely resisted by Pope Benedict.

Iraq election turnout 62%, officials say [BBC]

- The voter turnout in Iraq’s general elections was 62%, officials said, despite attacks that killed 38 people.
Preliminary results are not expected for several days but the turnout figure is down from the 75% who voted in the 2005 general elections
- Prime Minister Nouri Maliki’s State of Law Coalition is widely expected to win the most seats. But it is unlikely one party will form a government alone and there may be months of negotiations on a coalition. The final official results will not be declared until the end of March, though preliminary results are expected this week
- Despite the attacks in Baghdad and other cities including Mosul, Fallujah, Baquba and elsewhere, the election has been hailed as a “milestone” in Iraq’s history. Insurgents had threatened to disrupt the elections, but there were no large-scale suicide bombings as many had feared. The most deadly strike was on an apartment block in Baghdad which collapsed, killing 25 people

The Lithium Chase [New York Times]

- For many years, few metals drew bigger yawns from mining executives than lithium, a lightweight element long associated mostly with mood-stabilizing drugs. Suddenly, the yawns are being replaced by eurekas. As awareness spreads that lithium is a crucial ingredient for hybrid and electric cars, a global hunt is under way for new supplies of the metal
- In Bolivia, which has almost half of the world’s reserves, the leftist government is building a pilot production plant and is drilling exploratory holes. That Bolivia is a remote, unstable country often hostile to foreign investment has helped spur interest in producing lithium in neighboring Argentina and Chile, in Australia, and in the United States
- About 25% of all lithium produced is used for energy storage, from cellphones to laptop computers to digital cameras. That proportion stands to increase sharply if battery-powered cars take off. Lithium-ion batteries are the favored battery type for electric and hybrid vehicles because they carry more energy with less weight than other materials and because they lose their charge more slowly. They store about 3x as much as energy per pound as a nickel-metal hybrid battery

Nigeria urged to end impunity after village massacre [Reuters]

- The U.N., U.S., Human Rights Watch and opposition politicians all urged the authorities to ensure those responsible face justice after attacks on Sunday on three Christian villages in which hundreds are feared to have died. The raids were in apparent retaliation for four days of violence around Jos, the capital of Plateau state, in January which killed several hundred people, many of them in an attack on the mostly Muslim settlement of Kuru Karama
- The latest unrest at the heart of Africa’s most populous nation comes at a turbulent time, with Acting President Goodluck Jonathan trying to assert his authority while ailing President Umaru Yar’Adua remains too sick to govern. Some villagers were hacked to death with machetes as they tried to flee their homes after hearing gunfire. Others were burned alive
- Plateau state lies at the crossroads of Nigeria’s Muslim north and Christian south and fierce competition for control of fertile farmlands between indigenous groups and settlers from the north have repeatedly triggered unrest over the past decade. Its position on Nigeria’s main ethnic and religious fault line means it is viewed as a microcosm of the wider country, a patchwork of more than 200 ethnic groups

LHC to shut down for a year to address design faults [BBC]

- The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) must close at the end of 2011 for up to a year to address design issues, according to an LHC director. Dr Steve Myers told BBC News the faults will delay the machine reaching its full potential for two years
- The atom smasher will reach world record collision energies later this month at 7 trillion electron volts. But joints between the machine’s magnets must be strengthened before higher-energy collisions can commence. The Geneva-based machine only recently restarted after being out of action for 14 months following an accident in September 2008
- The Large Hadron Collider sends beams of protons in opposite directions around the tunnel at close to the speed of light. These cross and collide, smashing into each other with enormous energy. The ultimate aim is to collide particles head on at 14TeV to recreate the conditions in the moments after the Big Bang. Scientists hope they will see new subatomic particles in the debris and gain insights into how the universe came into being, billions of years ago. The machine is buried 100m below the French-Swiss border

Mexico Oil Politics Keeps Riches Just Out of Reach [New York Times]

- To the Mexican people, one of the great achievements in their history was the day their president kicked out foreign oil companies in 1938. Thus, they celebrate March 18 as a civic holiday. Yet today, that 72-year-old act has put Mexico in a straitjacket, one that threatens both the welfare of the country and the oil supply of the United States
- Mexico probably still has plenty of oil, especially beneath the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, but Pemex lacks the technology and know-how to get it out. Inviting foreign companies into the country to help is one of the touchiest propositions in Mexican politics. As the Mexican government struggles to find a way forward, production keeps falling
- Historically, oil has supplied 30 to 40% of the Mexican government’s revenue. President Felipe Calderón has pushed through the strongest reforms he can defend politically, in hopes of attracting foreign investment. Pemex — officially Petróleos Mexicanos — is the most important company in Mexico, employing 140,000 people. Oil money is used for everything from building schools to fighting the war against drug cartels

France seizes 35 Somali ‘pirates’ [BBC]

- The French navy has captured 35 piracy suspects off Somalia’s coast - hailing it as the most successful mission since EU operations began in 2008. French officials said four mother ships and six smaller boats had been seized in four operations since last Friday
- The EU launched its anti-piracy mission in December 2008, but the pirates have since attacked ships in a wider area. The EU’s mission has focused on the Gulf of Aden, one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes which was being ravaged by pirates. But recently, the attackers have struck hundreds of miles further south, near the Seychelles and even as far afield as Madagascar
- It is not yet clear what France intends to do with the suspects. More than 100 Somalis accused of piracy have been sent to Kenya, but very few have been convicted and most are languishing in jail awaiting trial in the country’s overburdened legal system. A handful have been sent for trial in France, the Netherlands and the US. But jurisdiction over suspected pirates seized on the high seas remains unclear and calls for an international tribunal to be set up have so far come to nothing

Berlin’s Airport: Shining Beacon or Waste of Money [New York Times]

- To get Berliners arguing, bring up the new $3.4 billion airport rising just beyond the limits of this hip but economically strapped metropolis. Germany’s cultural magnet and international beacon is also its national poorhouse, struggling to break out of a long slump. Berlin has the highest rate of residents on welfare — 18.6 percent — and received some $4 billion in state subsidies last year
- In a time of rising budget deficits, Germans are loath to bail out Greece in part because they have been bailing out their capital — and other stagnant parts of the former East Germany — for two decades. The previous city government fell in 2001 after auditors discovered that a city-controlled bank had billions of dollars in bad loans
- City officials call the airport the top priority for economic development, which they say will generate 73,000 jobs for the region, while helping Berlin become the transit hub between Europe’s east and west, north and south. Yet even Germany’s flagship airline, Lufthansa, will not be flying long-haul international routes to Berlin right away, continuing to rely on Frankfurt

- The National Enquirer Earns Some Respect [New York Times]
- China February Exports Jump 45.7 Percent [New York Times]
- Missing Body of Cyprus’ Ex-Leader Found [New York Times]
- Quake Kills 51 in Eastern Turkey [New York Times]
- Google’s Computing Power Refines Translation Tool [New York Times]
- Defectors Say Church of Scientology Hides Abuse [New York Times]

Photograph by Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images

A demonstrator pulls another protester away from riot police during clashes outside the Greek parliament in Athens on March 5. (AFP / Getty Images / Aris Messinis)

via The Frame: Riots in Greece over Debt Crisis



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