Monday's Plate of News

There are several stories today that should be noted. Let's take a look at some of them.

1. An Improvised Explosive Device intended for a US-bound airplane has been retrieved - we don't know where or by whom yet. But, experts are piecing together the facts released by the American Defense Department, including the detail that the bomb was "non-metallic" and that it was made by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (i.e., Yemen), and believe that it was Saudi Arabian intelligence that traced the bomb and alerted the US. This is the latest of AQAP's unsuccessful efforts to plant bombs on US airplanes and it shows that perhaps, annoying as it is, the passenger searches carried out on US commercial aircraft are needed. At least, it will make it mose difficult for anti-search lawmakers to succeed in drastically changing the regulations. Apart from searches, the use of the word non-metallic is an indirect way of saying that the bomb was made of PETN, a powder explosive impossible to detect in small quantities.

2. Trumped up elections were held in Syria today and roundly condemned by UN Secretary General Ban-ki-moon, who said they did not meet standards required of democratic elections. Meanwhile, more UN monitors are in place, but the killing goes on.

3. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has invited newly elected French President Francois Hollande to Berlin, but at the same time said that the austerity pact now in place is not negotiable. Thus, the first shoe falls on Hollande's grand plan for Europe and he wll need to figure out how to circumvent Merkel's "no" vote.

4. The Greek far-right party has said that it cannot form a coalition. This leaves a mess in Greece, where no party won an outright majority in Sunday's parliamentary elections. A coalition of some sort will eventually be formed, but whether it will honor Greece's commitment to its strict austerity program, which is rquired for it to continue to receive operating funds from the Eurozone and the European Central Bank, is now an open question. If the new Greek government fails to comply with its austerity program, it would probably need to leave the Eurozone in order to enter bankruptcy and come out with its old currency, and that would bring the Euro itself into question. This is a little like, "what goes around comes around" because the problem has been on the table or pushed under the tablecloth for more than a year now.

5. And lastly, the good news. Phil Mickelson has been chosen to be inducted into the PGA Golf Hall of Fame. The 41-year-old is imminently qualified. Bravo and congratulations, Phil!