If you've been waiting to hear what Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi's sex tapes sound like, today's your day. A leftist website released them - and the Times has gone and translated everything for those who don't speak the Romance language. Leaders. Even Tony Blair's mother is a bit upset about the rough American crowd he's been hanging about with. Pakistani Taliban are confident that their head Swat honcho is still alive, and promise all sorts of revenge.

It's all very muddled in Pakistan. Pathans from Peshawar buying Kalashnikovs from the same black markets from which they acquire fridges, Punjabis getting warm about their boy Sharif, and spillover into Balochi lands.

Where was I? Right, Euros. They still think they'll set world trends, according to this Spiegel editorial. Does that include the reckless slaughter of humanitarian activists?

It's a bit tough being Muslim right now. Ramadan's around the corner. The Philippines government has ceded to a respite in the war against the Muslim militia just in time. Israel's been arresting Palestinian football players. And villagers that dare to testify against the IDF. And it's been getting rid of the word catastrophe from Arabic texts that refer to the 1948 debacle as such.

On the plus side, Serb commanders that led the killing of Muslims in Bosnia have finally been convicted. And I found another reason I'm glad I don't eat pork, specifically bacon. Just for the many people who ask how on earth anyone could ever give it up.

Did you know there was a prison riot recently in Canada? I didn't until today. Coincidental to my visit to the Archived Resistance gallery downtown. As they say in the Almanac of the Dead, the revolution begins not on the streets or in universities, but in the prisons. There's also a bit of Vancouver controversy about a guy who the govt. allowed to stay in the country that killed another guy. It's being billed as a failure of the system type thing.

I can't wait to watch the South African version of Slumdog Millionaire.