As was well said while we were celebrating our festival of democracy other significant events have occurred elsewhere on our planet.

I find these summaries of events very useful by pointing to developments that can be kept under review. Peter Hatcher provides the commentary at The Sydney Morning Herald:

. . . Seven of the most serious dramas have escalated. All pose major problems for the world and, yes, that includes our island.

The election campaign has shut out almost all of these crises, four of which are slow-motion geopolitical crises concentrated in a single country or region; another three are systemic and global. Read more »

The floods in Pakistan are reported to have left 20 million people homeless, in round figures equivalent to the population of Australia.

To emphasize how bad things are, the Prime Minister linked them to the likened the challenge to that of the Partition. In these situations the disaster is bad enough in terms on its immediate impact on the people involved, but often the secondary effects such as the spread of disease, the destruction of infrastructure, and the loss of food production may have a greater impact.

David Batty and Saeed Shah in The Independent described some of these implications and ramifications of the disaster:

The agricultural heartland has been wiped out, which will cause spiralling food prices and shortages. Many roads and irrigation canals have been destroyed, along with electricity supply infrastructure. Read more »

The fact that celebrities are involved in the sordid affairs of a former dictator now facing trail at The Hague is attracting the attention of the news media.

Who knows, who cares about such people, other than the fact the trial is going ahead. One day it might be hoped they will catch up with the big time mass murderers. We can only hope they day will arrive soon.

Nevertheless, The Independent carries the details of a diamond given to a model, and there was a witness account by an actress. Exciting stuff. Joe Sinclair, Press Association reports the details:

Supermodel Naomi Campbell named Charles Taylor as the person who gave her a “huge diamond”, actress Mia Farrow told the former Liberian leader’s war crimes trial today.

Farrow contradicted Campbell’s account that she was given two or three “dirty looking pebbles” but did not know what they were or who they were from. Read more »

Sport can do positive things, but winning does seem to matter. Despite the octopus, I think that it is likely that Spain has a fair chance of winning against Holland in the final of the Soccer World Cup.

According to the Spanish Ambassador they are the European champions, so that is the basis of my prediction. But should that happen the feel good factor, and the expressions of nationalism may have political consequences, momentary at least. According to Giles Tremblett for The Guardian:

Spaniards cannot recall an outpouring of national pride similar to that provoked by the country’s first-ever appearance in the World Cup final today. “Not since the Spanish civil war have there been so many flags in the streets,” El País newspaper reported as Madrid prepared for an all-night party if La Roja beat Holland in South Africa this evening. Read more »