Saudi Arabia rebukes US

In a move that caught Washington completely off guard and sent shock waves throughout the world, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia called the US presence in Iraq an "illegitimate foreign occupation". These comments were made at a two-day Arab summit held in Riyadh.
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It marks the first time that Saudi Arabia has publicly criticised the US role in Iraq. It also appears to be a signal that the Saudis are moving to take on a more visible leadership role in the region and is not afraid to bump heads with the US to achieve its goals. They have been very active lately in tackling the problems in the region. They have held reconciliation talks with Palestinian factions, discussed Iran's nuclear ambitions and been involved in the situation in Lebanon.

The recent Saudi moves may be an effort to contain the influence of Iran in the region, which has been involved in everything from Palestinian politics to confrontation with the West over its nuclear program. It has provided financial and military support to many factions including Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Palestine and Shiites in Iraq.

Saudi King Abdallah said that the United States was occupying Iraq and made it clear that he was on the side of his “brothers”.

“In beloved Iraq, blood is flowing between brothers, in the shadow of an illegitimate foreign occupation, and abhorrent sectarianism threatens a civil war.”

In response, the Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said the term occupation has “negative implications” and is “in contradiction” to the vision of “Iraqi patriotic and national forces.”

The US, obviously taken by surprise by the King's remarks said:

"The United States and Saudi Arabia have a close and cooperative relationship on a wide range of issues," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. "And when it comes to the coalition forces being in Iraq, we are there under the U.N. Security Council resolutions and at the invitation of the Iraqi people."

Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns told senators. "We disagree with them, we were a little surprised to see those remarks."

The public rebuke of the US by the Saudis also seems to indicate that the government of Iraq is not quite accepted in the rest of the Arab world and lacks legitimacy in the eyes of its neighbors. There are no Arab embassies in Iraq and no Arab states have formerly recognised the al-Maliki Shiite-led government. The summit has taken a tough line on Iraq, demanding it change its constitution and military to include more Sunnis and end a program of uprooting former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath party. The Sunni-led governments of the Arab world have long been suspicious of Iraq's Shiite leadership, blaming it for fueling violence by discriminating against Sunni Arabs and accusing it of helping mainly Shiite Iran extend its influence in the region.

Sex on the Net

Sex has a never ending fascination for most of us. Here are some sex-related stories found on the Internet that are not your ordinary run of the mill features.

• Russian surgeons 'grow' penis on man's forearm
  
  
  
  • Sergei, 28, who lives in a village in Siberia was born with genitals so small that he was unable to have sex. He has now been given a chance at having a normal love life by his surgeon Professor Mikhail Sokolshchik. The operation involved removing the penis, stitching it unto the patient's forearm, grafting addtional flesh and tissue and re-attaching it to his groin.
    
    The 11 hour operation was an apparent success. Sergei should soon be able to have sex for the first time. He will not be able to achieve an erection, but will be in a permanent state of semi-arousal. "He has never had a partner or sex because of his micropenis," Prof Sokolshchik said.
    
    
    
    • Prof Sokolshchik, who has specialised in microsurgery and phalloplasty - plastic surgery for male sexual organs - for 13 years, said: "We've carried out thousands of operations on patients, ranging from female-to-male transsexuals to the treatment of victims of horrific accidents, and have a wealth of experience in amputation, reconstruction and surgical implants. "But this operation was highly risky because it was an amputation, reconstruction and reattachment in one go. If it had gone wrong, the patient would have ended up with no genitalia at all."
    
    
    
    
  
  
  
  

• Anti-rape device to hit market - and rapists
  
  
  
  • The device, known as Rapex, has stirred controversy around the world but its inventor, Sonnet Ehlers, is preparing the final pre-production phase after seven years of waiting. The controversy has raged over whether the device, which has fish-like teeth that attach to the head and shaft of the penis, is a medieval device built on a hatred of men or whether it is an easy-to-use invention that could free millions of South African women from fear of rape.
  
  
  
  




• Judge Rules in Transvestite Case
  
  
  
  • Ferris Griggs of Kansas City, Kan., sued Josie Garcia of Kansas City, claiming that Garcia had defrauded him by pretending to be a woman. Griggs wanted the judge to remove Garcia's name from a deed to a $20,000 house they co-own. Griggs also gave Garcia a $2,500 engagement ring, but didn't ask for that back. The judge eventually ruled that the house should be sold and the proceeds be split between the couple.
  
  
  
  




• Former Judge Collapses as He's Sentenced for Child Porn
  
  
  
  • Ronald Kline, 66, fell into his attorney's arms as Judge Consuelo B. Marshall was announcing his sentence shortly after noon. Court proceedings were temporarily halted and paramedics summoned.
    He was arrested in November 2001 after a Canadian hacker used a computer program to download diary entries and other images from the former judge's computers. The hacked information was turned over to Pedowatch, a Colorado watchdog group, which notified Irvine, Calif., authorities. Police searched Kline's Irvine home and seized his computer. Kline pleaded guilty and acknowledged he had more than 100 sexually explicit images of young boys stored on disks and his computer. Kline served a six-year term as a judge before bowing out of the November 2002 election. Upon his release from prison, he must register as a sex offender.
  
  
  
  

Cancer Respects No-one

Two prominent people in politics have been stricken again with cancer. Both Tony Snow, White House Spokesman and Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John Edwards, presidential hopeful, have announced that they are again fighting cancer that has returned after being treated previously.

Elizabeth Edwards, 57, was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. At the time it was thought that she was completely cured, but it has returned and has now spread to her bones . It is considered "treatable" but not "curable". John Edwards in consultation with his wife has decided to continue to seek the presidential nomination.

Breast cancer will be diagnosed 178,480 times in 2007, according to the American Cancer Society and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women today. 40,910 deaths are expected this year from breast cancer.

Tony Snow, 51, was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2005. He had his entire colon removed in hopes of aggressively attacking the cancer. He recently discovered that his cancer has also returned and spread to his liver. He has taken a leave of absence from work but hopes to return as soon as possible.

Colo-rectal cancer cases this year are expected to reach 153,760 and more than 52,000 people will die of the disease. It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the US according to the American Cancer Society.

I think this forces upon us the reality that cancer is a very serious problem, not only in the US, but worldwide. Anybody, anytime, anywhere can be diagnosed with this terrible disease. The dignity with which Tony Snow and Elizabeth Edwards have faced their challenges should be an inspiration to all of us.

Of course they are both public figures and are expected to live their lives in the public glare, but they are also human beings and just like all of us have emotions and fears. They are facing the same situation that hundreds of thousands of people will face this year, a look at their own mortality.

Cancer respects no-one regardless of class, race, sex or any other method we use to differentiate ourselves from one another, in the end we are all human beings and we are all mortal. Good luck to both of you Tony and Elizabeth. I hope you beat the odds.

Bob Woolmer Update

Was Bob Woolmer killed because he knew too much about corruption in cricket? That is the question on the minds of investigators, cricket officials and the public in general. There is much speculation that he was about to expose the darker side of the game where players have been known to accept money to throw games. There have been well documented cases in the past in which guilty players have been banned, either permanently or for an extended period of time, for engaging in "match-fixing". The following clips examine some of these issues.
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Whatever the reason for Bob Woolmer's murder, he was a man who loved the game of cricket and lived his life with integrity. His untimely demise is a blight on the sport and hopefully the perpetrators of this despicable act will be brought to justice in a timely manner. Below is a tribute to the life of Bob Woolmer - May 14th 1948 to Marh 18th 2007.
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Murder in Jamaica

Bob Woolmer, coach of the Pakistan Cricket team, was found murdered in his hotel room in Kingston, Jamaica. The Jamaican police said the cause of death was: "Due to asphyxia as a result of manual strangulation" In these circumstances, the matter of Mr Robert Woolmer’s death is now being treated by Jamaica police as a case of murder.

Mr Woolmer was found “lifeless” by a maid in the bathroom of his room at the Pegasus Kingston hotel. The former England all-rounder, a diabetic, was surrounded by blood, vomit and diarrhoea. Much of the vomit was sprayed high on the walls, suggesting a violent struggle.

Mark Shields, the Deputy Police Commissioner in Kingston and a former Scotland Yard detective, said there was no sign of forced entry into Mr Woolmer’s hotel bedroom, nor had his possessions been disturbed, increasing speculation that he was killed by people he knew. It was likely more than one killer was involved in the “particularly horrific” murder. “It would take some force because Bob was a large man and, therefore, it would have taken some significant force to subdue him.” He added: “We do not know how many people there were in the room.”

All the guests at the hotel were interviewed by the police, including the entire Pakistani Cricket team. The team was allowed to leave Jamaica the next day after leaving DNA samples and fingerprints with the authorities. The police however have no witnesses nor suspects at this stage of the investigation.

There are suspicions that Mr. Woolmer may have been murdered to prevent him from exposing illegal activities in the cricket world involving corruption and match-fixing.

Malcolm Speed, chief executive of the International Cricket Council (ICC), would not rule out corruption as a motive. “We don’t know whether this is corruption-related at this stage,” he said. “We believe that in the past few years we have been able to keep corruption under control.”

Mr Speed said that Lord Condon the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Paul Condon, was standing by and willing to assist with the inquiry. He has been involved with helping the ICC to fight corruption within the sport.

Mr. Bob Woolmer leaves behind a wife and two children. His body will remain in Jamaica until an inquest is held. For more on Bob Woolmer's life and career check out his official website here