[lucia celeste molina sierra] and those pesky immigration laws

Velkomin, Lucia Celeste Molina Sierra

You remember, of course, that matter I rushed to you some time ago, about the Minister's son's girlfriend? Well, there've been startling developments:

Gudjón Ólafur Jónsson, an MP and a member of the parliament’s General Committee, announced yesterday that neither he nor other members of the committee had been pressured to grant Icelandic citizenship to a Central American woman, whose boyfriend’s mother is Jónína Bjartmarz, Iceland’s Minister for the Environment.

“I was very lucky and I know that I can become a good Icelandic citizen because I am educated and hard-working,” Lucia Celeste Molina Sierra, the woman in question told Sirkus, a Fréttabladid supplement.

That's lovely, Lucy and this ongoing pesky controversy must seem a trifle provincial to you, I suppose. And with a fabulous name like yours, I should think they would have granted you citizenship straight away. However, there'll always be sticklers for the law, I suppose and to them, we say:

En hver lak þessu máli? Þar er einn líklegastur og það er Guðjón Ólafur. Hann er líkleg búinn að reikna dæmið þannig að eftir kosningar þá verði Jón ekki lengi formaður. Þá standa eftir forystumenn í Rvk hann og JB, þetta mál veikir Jónínu verulega.

Hope that clears the matter up, for once and for all. Now, in other cutting edge news from Iceland:

The Capital Region Police were called to the pond in central Reykjavík on Wednesday evening to attend to a man spotted swimming. When the police arrived he had made it to dry land.

According to Fréttabladid, the man turned out to be a Japanese tourist who could not explain his behavior due to drunkenness. It is unclear whether he jumped or fell into the pond.

Police also attended to two other men Wednesday evening who were so drunk they had to be taken to the police station to sober up.

Rivetting. simply rivetting.

[karma] are you hot or just a snot

Spiny Norman

People, get ye over to Croydonian and take the Karma test - how's your karma at this moment in time? As Croydonian says:

"Mildly amusing and does not take long."

And as Nobby Clark once said to Dinsdale Pirhana, in the classic tale: "Good Friends I've Topped", whilst having his head nailed to the floor:

"Oo-oo-ughhhh, bad karma, man."

[young in russia] glimpse of life

I promised Rinat I'd run this, this evening.

Here's a glimpse into the life of one of my students, composing and arranging music at 22 and even singing. In the photo above are his girlfriend, best friend, fans, protegees he's helping out and of course, himself.

Rinat has been seen around some of the best musos in Russia, including Vladimir Kuzmin - click below for an example of his work. Allow a few minutes for it to load:

He has more talent than most but he's not unique in this city and the girls around him are virtually those I deal with every day.

ASBOs are hard to find over here and the workrate, responsiveness, politeness and deference make working with young people like these a breeze.

The photos above speak for themselves.

[france] le plus grande nation du monde

I'm a sort of francophile but all the same, this sort of thing is a bit rich:

Les Français les plus influents du mond

Le Figaro bases that on Frenchmen being among a Time Magazine top 100 list of influential people in the world. They're further delighted to announce that George Bush has been excluded from the list.

Ho hum. They do seem to have this thing about being first in the world or is it just my imagination?

[british elections] summary for non-brits

From the BBC:

Labour is suffering election losses in England and Wales and has seen a swing to the SNP in Scotland - but claims to have avoided electoral "disaster". The contest in Scotland is still too close to call with half of the results in - but it has been marred by problems with the voting system.

In Wales Labour looks likely to lose control of the Welsh assembly. The Tories say their 41% share of the vote in England puts them on course for victory at the next general election. The Lib Dems appear to be losing ground overall despite some high profile wins.

Possibly Labour is right in saying it has avoided disaster. Ho hum.

[france latest] sarko has the edge

You don't need to know French to follow this:

le Figaro:

L’ÉLECTION présidentielle est-elle d’ores et déjà pliée ? Avec 54,5 % des intentions de vote (+2,5), Nicolas Sarkozy accroît son avance sur Ségolène Royal (45,5%) à trois jours du jour J, si l’on en croit les résultats de notre dernière enquête Sofres-Unilog Groupe LogicaCMG.

le Monde:

Les trois derniers sondages publiés depuis jeudi 3 mai placent toujours Nicolas Sarkozy en tête des intentions de vote pour le second tour de l'élection présidentielle. Le candidat de l'UMP semble même avoir creusé l'écart à l'issue du débat télévisé de mercredi.

To tell you the truth, my eyes tend to stray to the right in the above photo. Such a pity Segie wasn't politically sane and her social views were so destructive. She was a damned fine woman, other than that.

It's not over by a long shot - Sarkozy realizes that and is not crowing. Can't wait for Sunday.

[may day, may day] memories die hard

Shows how the press doesn't really understand the situation over here:

In a sign of the Kremlin’s dominance of politics and society under President Vladimir Putin, the largest gathering was apparently a march and rally in downtown Moscow led by the loyal United Russia party and the government-approved trade union organization. Organizers said some 25,000 people participated.

What the article failed to say was that the majority of Russians actually do support Putin. As for the "mass rallies", I was working on May Day and on the way into town, went through Freedom Square, where 15 people were standing forlornly in the centre, waving red flags.

Later I put it to the babushki at my house: "There used to be hundreds marching."

"Hundreds?" they sighed, "Nyet - thousands."

[nuclear tourism] come see our bunkers and swim in the pool

If any doubted the growing economic power of China or its opportunism [read "taking opportunities when they arise"], this new tourist venture takes the biscuit:

"The underground headquarters of the nuclear weapons research and production base are a curiosity to many people. They can see the 'nuclear city' for themselves," the report quoted Zuo Xumin, an official in the mainly Tibetan region where the base is situated, as saying.

"The base will be developed into a key travel site, and it will become a platform for spurring the patriotic spirit of Chinese people," he said. The headquarters originally held a research laboratory, electricity generation room, telegraph transmitting room and a command room.

Can you see the U.S. opening their secret tunnels under the Appalachians where the insurgents against the post-2010 police state [SPPNA] will be "corrected"? Or The Pres's underground command and control centre?

[iran kissogate] good one, ahmi

Never thought I'd ever praise the Iranian leader but this was a class act:

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been accused of "indecency" after he publicly embraced and kissed on the hand an elderly woman who used to be his schoolteacher.

At a ceremony ahead of Iranian teachers' day, Mr Ahmadinejad was photographed and filmed by state media stooping to kiss the woman's hand and then clasping her arms in a warm embrace.

"The Muslim Iranian people have no recollection of such acts contrary to sharia law during Islamic rule," since the 1979 revolution, seethed the ultra-conservative Hezbollah newspaper on its front page.

Now, if Ahmadinejad could do more veneration of this sort and less sabre-rattling, well who knows? Perhaps some sort of peace can come to a troubled part of the world.

[segie-sarko] al jazeera says sarko ahead

Sorry to be obsessed by this but I'm obsessed by this:

A new opinion poll indicates that Nicholas Sarkozy, the conservative candidate for the French presidency, has widened his lead over his Socialist rival ahead of Sunday's elections.

The poll, published by the newspaper Le Figaro on Thursday, showed support for Sarkozy rose after he debated Segolene Royal, the Socialist candidate, on Wednesday.

Naturally the socialists have denounced the poll and le Figaro is not exactly pro-left.

I've tried to get as excited about the British elections but so far have failed miserably.