Nujood Ali, above, sits with her father, Ali Mohammed Ahdal, who is unemployed and has two wives and 16 children. Yemeni law sets the age of consent at 15. But tribal customs and interpretations of Islam often trump the law in this country of 23 million. The amazing story of Nujood Ali is yet another in a recent series of stories about the place of women in Islamic cultures that are making news around the world. In this case, her father gave Nujood’s hand in marriage to a man three times her age who abused her. She’s ten years old and despite her young age quite precocious.

On April, 2, 2008, she waltzed in to a courthouse in Sana, the capital of Yemen and flat out just said:

“I came to get a divorce.”

What an exceptional little girl to stand up for her rights of conscience inalienable. Here is the full story from the Los Angeles Times.

The little girl was waist-high, so small that the lawyers, clerks and judges hurrying through the courthouse almost missed her.

As lunchtime arrived and the crowds of noisy men and women cleared away, a curious judge asked her what she was doing sitting alone on a bench. “I came to get a divorce,” 10-year-old Nujood Ali told the jurist.

Her impoverished parents had married her off to a man more than three times her age, who beat her and forced her to have sex, she explained. When she told her father and mother that she wanted out of the marriage, they refused to help. So an aunt provided her with bus money to travel to court and seek a divorce.

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David Villa, who plays for one of my favourite clubs FC Valencia, had himself quite the trick today, a hat trick that is, to lead Spain 4-1 over Russia. Meanwhile the defending champs, Greece fell to Sweden 0-2.

Some of the coverage:

Villa scored twice in a breathless first half and completed his treble 15 minutes from time before sealing a virtuoso display by helping to create Cesc Fàbregas’s fourth as Luis Aragonés’s men sounded a warning to the rest of Group D. “It was every important to win, as there are only three matches,” said Villa. “To start like this and score goals is very important for our position in the group. Our next game against Sweden will be very difficult and we’ll have to keep our positions very well against them. We’ll have to fight together and take advantage of any chances that come our way.

Meanwhile in historic Salzburg, the Swedes paid no attention Greece’s recent history and dispatched the Greeks.

Holders Greece already have a fight on their hands to maintain their grip on the trophy they won so memorably four years ago after second-half goals from Zlatan Ibrahimović and Petter Hansson gave Sweden all three points in their opening Group D match in Salzburg.

Otto Rehhagel’s side were always on the back foot as they relied on the tactics that had served them so well in Portugal, defending deeply and looking for opportunities to threaten on the counterattack. For all their territorial dominance, however, Sweden were unable to pick a way through a characteristically displined Greece defence, until a moment of inspiration from Ibrahimović who – with his first international goal since October 2005 – broke the deadlock in the 67th minute. Hansson added a second five minutes later to leave Greece with plenty to ponder before Saturday’s meeting with Russia.

Group A has its second set of matches tomorrow. Winners of their first games, Portugal and the Czech Republic square off. The winner will get a pass to the second round, though a tie can also benefit both teams. Meanwhile for the Swiss and the Turks, it is do or die.

For more on the matches and the tournment, please visit Euro2008.

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In my continuing effort to highlight anti-Obama blogs here is one more: Chicagoans Against Obama. It will be added to the blogroll. Obama is a danger on so many levels and this site will continue to point them out since the national media largely isn’t. And I would suspect that Chicago knows Obama better than the rest of us. It’s a good read, check it out.

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On June 3, 2008, Jodie Evans, the founder of Code Pink and an Obama Bundler went on the Conscience of Kansas Radio Show with Paul Ibbetson. During the interview, Jody Evans noted that Osama bin-Laden had a valid reason for attacking the United States on 9/11.

From the interview:

Jodie Evans:…”We were attacked because we were in Saudi Arabia, that was the message of Osama, was that because we had our bases in the Middle East, he attacked the United States.”

Paul A. Ibbetson: “Do you think that’s a valid argument?”

Evans: “Sure. Why do we have bases in the Middle East? We totally violated the rights of that country. Why do we get to have bases in the Middle East?”

Here’s the audio from the Paul A. Ibbetson June 3, 2008 radio programme: Conscience of Kansas Radio Program, June 3, 2008. The interview is the second half of the programme.

Here are more highlights from the interview:

Jodie Evans also note that Code Pink’s goal is to “undermine the war effort.” Ibbetson called that “treason.” It’s civil disobedience in my view so I don’t have a problem with it per se, though I think some of Code Pink’s members resort to vandalism and that’s a different story.

As part of that effort, Evans said Code Pink was trying stop recruiting for the Armed Forces because “you can’t go to war if you don’t have any soldiers.” Evans denies being anti-military, saying she come from a military family. Again some of their protesters have crossed the line but generally they are just citizens expressing their view points. Here are photos from March 22, 2008 demonstration in Berkeley, California from Zombietime. Zombietime also profiled Obama’s visit to Billionaire’s Row where he made his “bittergate” comments.

With regard to Saddam Hussein, Evans said she would prefer that Saddam Hussein still ruled Iraq, as does “every Iraqi I know.” She probably hasn’t talked to many Kurds, still no doubt the US invasion and occupation of Iraq has been a disaster but we can’t just get up and go now. The Colin Powell Pottery Barn dictum applies –”we broke it, we own it”– that’s the difference I have with the radical left on Iraq. I opposed the war because I am a Westphalian not a Hobbesian but I am also a realist and in international political theory, realism dictates that you don’t leave countries in a vacuum. We last did that in Somalia and it is still a mess. We broke it, we have to find a way to fix it. Hillary Clinton knows how, pity that we will have to wait until 2012 to start that process now.

She also called Hugo Chávez, “a very nice, jovial sweetheart of a guy…I love Hugo Chávez. . . an amazing person.” She cites that under Chávez Venezuela has cut its illliteracy rates from 30% to under 2%. She has her facts wrong. The literacy rate in Venezuela in 1990 was 96%. It’s true that it is now 98% but the illiteracy rate in Venezuela was last 30% in the 1960s. That’s the problem with the radical left and shared with the radical right, they make up facts. And the fact that Chávez has supported the FARC doesn’t seem to bother her. It bothers me.

She also denied backing Barack Obama. She noted that she gave money to several candidates including Ron Paul, Dennis Kucinich, and John Edwards not just Barack Obama. That’s true, she did give $2,300 to each of the aforementioned. But she only bundled money for Barack Obama. That she chose to omit.

Here is her page on the Barack Obama website:

Senator Obama is about to have another problem. These radical associations that Obama has so front and center in his campaign will haunt him through the campaign.

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whooping at the polls. The popular vote doesn’t matter, it is only the Electoral College and that favours McCain. Still the US Presidential election is likely to hinge on one factor: how Clinton supporters vote. If Obama wins 90% of them, he’ll win. If he only wins 75% of them or less, John McCain is President. I stand by my post yesterday that we will not be coming around.

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Once synonymous with Pablo Escobar and unrelenting drug violence, the city of Medellín in Colombia’s Antioquia department has undergone quite the transformation. Today, the Miami Herald is profiling Medellín’s comeback.

A few statistics tell the story: In 1991 Medellín had 6,349 homicides, 381 per 100,000 inhabitants, or nearly 18 per day.

In 2007, the body count was 653, or 26 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants, not quite two per day.

”Medellín went from fear to hope,” said Sergio Fajardo, who served as mayor for four years until Jan. 1 and is widely credited with leading Medellín’s rebirth.

Medellín is not alone. In fact, security across much of Colombia has improved since President Alvaro Uribe took office in 2002. He has the FARC guerrillas on the run, has dismantled most — but certainly not all — of the right-wing paramilitary groups — and has curbed some of the worst human rights abuses by government troops.

”Medellín is emblematic of Colombia’s transformation,” John Negroponte, the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State, said at the recent gathering here of the Organization of American States. “It is a testament to the change that Colombia has undergone.”

People everywhere in Medellín avidly discuss the transformación, about how the city of 2.1 million has dramatically improved.

El Parque Botero

The Miami Herald also has a two minute video report on Medellín.

More below the fold:

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Here is the Tuesday, June 10th, 2008 edition of interesting reads from around the world.

South Korean Cabinet Shake-up
President Lee Myung-bak is expected to replace up to 10 of his Cabinet ministers and senior secretaries this week in efforts to ease the public backlash over U.S. beef imports and a lackluster economy, ruling camp officials said yesterday. More from the Korea Herald. Additionally tonight in Korea, over a million people are expected to participate in a candlelight vigil to protest the importation of US beef. This part of the story from the Times of London.

Irish Political Leaders Pull Out All the Stops to Save Lisbon
With the prospect of a defeat at the polls in the referendum over the Lisbon Treaty, Ireland’s political leadership are going on the offensive to sway voters. The Irish Times reports.

The Syrian-Iranian Alliance
Syria, alone among Arab nations, supported Iran in the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s establishing then a Damacus-Tehran entente. Now come signs that the alliance may be fraying. Syria’s rapprochement with “moderate” Arab states may be the rebirth of Syrian-Arab relations and a stepping stone for dialogue between Damascus and Washington. Considering Syria’s indirect talks with Israel, it is also a step away from Tehran, which is not pleased, fearing a break between Syria and Iran on one front, and Syria and Hezbollah on another. The Asia Times has the coverage.

The US and the EU to Warn Iran
US President George W Bush is holding talks with EU leaders in Slovenia, at the start of what is expected to be his last tour of Europe while in office. They are expected to issue a joint warning to Tehran that more sanctions against Iran’s banks are being readied to pressure Iran to abandon its nuclear programme, rejecting claims it is solely for peaceful purposes. The BBC reports the story while the New York Times writes an editorial entitled Threatening Iran.

On Bush In Europe
Fistful of Euros blogs on the indifference to Bush on his last European tour. Bush may as well take in all the sights he can because once he leaves office, he will be a prisoner at his Crawford Ranch. War crimes charges are sure to dog the President and many of his team.

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