International News 3/27/14

U.S. President Obama to meet with Pope Francis. NY Times notes that "both made the cover of Rolling Stone," but so did the Boston Bomber, disgracefully, when he should not have, so that is not much of a distinction.

Egyptian General and defense minister Abdul-Fattah el-Sisi announced he was retiring from the military and running for President. He was the leader of last summer's coup against the government of President Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood. El-Sisi focused on fear and fighting terrorism, saying,"“It is true this is my last day in uniform but I will fight every day for [an] Egypt free of fear and terror...I repeat what I have said before: ‘We’d rather die before Egyptians are terrorized.’” The NY Times states that he is "is almost universally expected to win the election..." but that seems strange to elect a military leader after the seemingly liberal and "free speech" demonstrations of the Arab Spring. Unless he and his supporters plan to machinate an unfair election. We will have to see how the election goes.

Amnesty International states that world-wide death-penalty executions increased in 2013.  According to the NY Times, "...the number of publicly disclosed executions last year totaled 778, compared with 682 in 2012. The data excludes capital punishment in China," where such information is not available.  Amnesty International (AI) considers China to be the world’s top executioner, killing more defendants than all other countries combined. AI attributed the increased number of killings to “alarming levels of executions in an isolated group of countries..." including Iran and Iraq. The United States is also one of the top executioner countries.

Turkish Court Overturns Government Ban on Twitter - NY Times
People had used Twitter to publicize leaked recordings of telephone conversations that demonstrated widespread corruption in the government. Turkey's Constitutional Court was expected to rule on a separate complaint about the ban on Twitter.

Pollution in Iraq during War May Have Caused Cancer, other Illnesses - NY Times
U.S. troops lived near what were called 'burn pits' while in Iraq, where military waste was burned, the pollution of which contained chemicals that could contribute to cancer, and liver, kidney, heart and respiratory problems, and could harm the brain and reproductive system, according to the Institute of Medicine. Apparently, some U.S. soldiers have become ill after the war, and many Iraqis too, possibly from exposure to these pollutants.