German Man Tears Hitler’s Head Off (and More!)

And Now the News with Kandy Korrespondent!The Group of Eight (G8) summit is taking place this week on the Japanese island of Hokkaido. The meeting originally was to center around the issue of climate, but was changed due to surging food and oil prices.

The intensity of the global situation has turned this island paradise into a police state. Japan has spent $280 million on security, surrounding the summit venue with a human blockade of 21,000 riot police. Despite the wide security perimeters, protesters began to gather on Saturday with many more expected to arrive during the week.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, leaders of the world’s largest Islamic nations gathered for their annual “D8” summit to discuss global inflation. The D8 is a reaction against the exclusive nature of the G8 summit.

In Other News:

World leaders remain split over attending next month’s Olympics in Beijing. Chancellor Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Brown of the UK will not be attending the opening games in protest of China’s poor human rights record—most notably demonstrated through the crackdown on Tibet in March.

Prime Minister Sarkozy of France is still debating the issue. Last week, as a result of Sarkozy’s public lambasting of China’s human rights abuses, the government said that it would give Sarkozy the cold shoulder even if he were to attend.

On the other side of the spectrum—President Bush reiterated his intent to attend the entirety of the Olympic games as has Japan’s Prime Minister Fukuda.

This morning, during rush hour in Kabul, Afghanistan, a suicide bomber attacked the Indian embassy. According to witnesses, the attacker targeted the line of people waiting in line for visas.

On Sunday, another suicide bomber killed 15 policemen in Islamabad, Pakistan during celebrations marking the end of last year’s Red Mosque Siege. No organization has claimed responsibility.

Will the violence never cease?

And Now, on a lighter note, for Something Completely Different:

In case you haven’t been following the news from Germany very closely, the country has been in an uproar for the past few months over the upcoming wax Hitler addition to Berlin’s Madam Tussaud’s wax museum. Barely minutes after the grand opening on Saturday, a German man forced his way past the figure’s guards and tore Hitler’s head off. I guess that was that.

That’s the news!