Week in Review, Sunday, September 16, 2007
- An Al Qaeda-led group said on Friday it was responsible for the killing of Iraqi tribal leader Abdul Sattar Abu Risha, according to an Internet posting on Friday. Abu Risha, who met U.S. President George W. Bush less than two weeks ago, had led the Anbar Salvation Council, an alliance of Sunni Arab tribes that worked with U.S. troops to push Sunni Islamist al Qaeda out of much of the vast desert area. President Bush was saddened to hear of his passing, and said he alone had made the sandpit in Western Iraq almost safe enough for his Tonka trucks.
- Four former Guantanamo prisoners should be allowed to proceed with their lawsuit claiming torture and violations of their religious rights, their lawyer argued Friday. When asked what the violations of religious rights were exactly, the lawyer put a gag on his clients after they said 'Killing Americans in a Holy War'.
- Republican presidential candidates need to make a "clean break" from President George W. Bush and the U.S. government or they will lose in November 2008, a veteran Republican leader said on Friday. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Republicans need to approach it the same way he approached the three divorces he's had.
- Russia's new prime minister has pledged to boost the country's military and economic might amid growing signs that he could emerge as President Vladimir Putin's sucessor next spring. He refused to boost the numbers of Russian lawyers saying guns and poison are still more than enough to resolve Russian business disputes.
- In Philadelphia, the city's embattled police chief, acknowledging that police alone cannot quell a run of deadly violence in the U.S. city, has called on 10,000 black men to patrol the streets to reduce crime. After one week, 10,000 black men asked to be traded to Denver from Philly like Allen Iverson.
- A man is due to go on trial in Moscow accused of the murders of 49 people. Investigators say he told them that he aimed to kill one person for every square on a chessboard. Which not only proves chess is still popular in Russia, but that Joseph Stalin's personable nature is alive and well.
- A school in northern France was evacuated yesterday after a nine-year-old girl took a World War II handgrenade to show to the class. The other students sat on the school oval after the scare waving the white flags they had brought for show and tell about WWII.
- Andrei Lugovoi, the former Russian agent wanted by Britain over the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, is running for election as an ultra-nationalist candidate in Russia. He is expected to campaign on matters of economy, specifically liquidating Russian debts.
- A suicide car bomber killed eight people and wounded 15 near a police checkpoint in south-west Baghdad today, Iraqi police said. And Al-Qaeda has threatened more bombings during the month of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, where men fast from sun up to sun down, and by 4 PM in the afternoon will kill anyone regardless of what they've done due to lack of food.
