May 26, 2003

Canada makes the LA Times (reg. required) via Mad Cow Disease and SARS. Couldn’t it be about the rising Canadian dollar and the Toronto Blue Jays sweeping the Yankees at Yankee Stadium? 11:23:41 PM

After one record setting week The Matrix Reloaded has quickly fallen from top spot earning $45.6 million to place a distant second place to Jim Carrey’s comedy Bruce Almighty which made $86.4 million in its opening weekend. It’s possible that The Matrix Reloaded’s 60% fall in admissions from $91.7 million last weekend is due to poor word of mouth from people that saw the movie in the first week and that most people would wanted to see the movie went to see it immediately once it opened. This could prove a poor portent to other science fiction blockbusters such as The Hulk or Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines. 11:12:00 PM

IsraelInsider has a statement from Israel's Government Press Office announcing Israel’s acceptance of road map peace plan qualified by a fourteen points that Israel says must be addressed before the plan can be implemented. A key point reiterated in the preamble of the acceptance is that "the resolution of the issue of the refugees will not include their entry into or settlement within the State of Israel." Lebanon issued a statement rejecting this point but they can be ignored as Syrian puppets. It is important to resolve the issue of refugees and Jerusalem and holy places upfront, leaving them to the end of the process like in the Oslo Process would just delay failure. In such a case, Palestinian expectations would be too high to accept the reality that a two state solution means Jewish and Arab states, not two Arab states once all the refugees and their descendants move into Israel as they hope. 10:53:06 PM

Reuters reports that an Ukrainian airplane carrying Spanish peacekeepers back from Afghanistan crashed Tuesday (local time) into a Turkish mountain in thick fog, killing all 13 mainly Ukrainian crew and 62 Spanish troops. It is imperative that when Canadian troops are sent to Afghanistan for their role in the peacekeeping mission that safer air charters be used such a tragedy should have been avoid. 10:38:36 PM