In Brief - December 30th, 2007

Here is today's quick news digest:

In the Pacific Northwest

• Minneapolis has overtaken Seattle as the most literate city in the US. The title is awarded to a lucky city by examining "bookselling, newspaper readership, and local magazine publishing generally as well as Internet usage, library use and education."
• The Port of Seattle has scheduled a public hearing for January 8 to discuss the state auditor's "damning performance audit of the port's construction management." Legislative hearings will follow in Olympia the next day.
• The Oregonian presents an interesting analysis of both the potential and the challenges of the electric car by looking at EcoMotion, "Oregon's first all-green auto dealer."

Across the United States

• The CIA's decisions regarding the existence and destruction of video tapes that recorded interrogations of prisoners were driven by political calculations.
• The ground war in Iowa among the three leading Democratic candidates is in its final stages looking toward Thursday's caucuses.
• The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals has overturned a December 2004 judgment that found a contributor to an Islamic charity (and the charity itself) liable for an American's death in Israel at the hands of Hamas-supported terrorists. The court held that the victim's family failed to clearly show that the funds contributed had actually been funneled to Hamas.

Around the World

• Benazir Bhutto's son, Bilawal, and husband, Asif Ali Zardari, will lead the People's Party in Pakistan and will contest upcoming elections.
• Kenya's President, Mwai Kibaki, has won a hard-fought election, but an opposition leader has declared widespread electoral fraud and has "called for a full reassessment of the results."
• At the end of a four day trip to China, Japan's Prime Minister, Yasuo Fukuda, has called for increased cooperation between the two countries, though there was not a resolution to a dispute between the two countries regarding maritime gas fields.

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