Four explosions rocked Sri Lanka's Jaffna peninsula in the wee hours on Jan. 26, the day slated for the first national election since the government declared victory in the war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May. At least two bombs went off outside the home of a ruling party activist in the Jaffna peninsula, but there were no reports of casualties, the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said.

A suicide attacker detonated a car bomb outside of the Forsenics Lab of the Iraqi Ministry of Interior's Criminal Investigation Department on Jan. 26, killing 21 people and injuring at least 80 others. The building collapsed shortly after the attack, which comes one day after coordinated deadly attacks against several Baghdad hotels frequented by westerners left 36 dead. Some have suggested that the attacks might be in retaliation for the previous day's execution of "Chemical Ali" Hassan al-Majid. The bombing has also aroused concerns about Iraq's ability to ensure citizens' safety in the run-up to the general election scheduled for next month. Iraq's election legislation was just amended in December following a political impasse, causing the election to be pushed back from Jan. 31 to Feb. 27.

PORT-AU-PRINCE — More than 100 people were pressed against the iron gates of the mayor's office in the Port-au-Prince suburb of Petionville. "When will we get that food?" voices called out to the mayor, Claire Lydia Parent, who stood behind the closed gates. The problem Parent faced was how to explain to the frustrated crowd that the food they just saw being delivered on Jan. 23 was intended for a neighboring community.

Ethan Bronner in the New York Times took note Jan. 21 of the controversy surrounding Israel's high-profile rescue mission to Haiti in a story entitled "For Israelis, Mixed Feelings on Aid Effort." But the statements quoted are pretty tame compared to much of what is buzzing around the blogosphere. There is certainly something fundamentally perverse about the Israeli Defense Forces establishing a field hospital in Port-au-Prince as their blockade of the Gaza Strip is actively creating an ongoing humanitarian crisis. Commentators within Israel have made the point repeatedly. "Israel's compassion in Haiti can't hide our ugly face in Gaza," wrote Akiva Eldar in Haaretz Jan. 18. Paul Woodward on the War in Context website Jan. 23 notes a piece in the Israeli daily Maariv entitled "The painful truth: Haiti's disaster is good for the Jews." Blogger Richard Silverstein Jan. 19 noted a piece in Israel's Yediot by Yoel Donchin, a doctor who is himself a veteran of Israeli international disaster response teams—who accuses Israel of "Public Relations instead of saving lives." Donchin actually blasts the IDF field hospital as a scam, saying that "sending portable toilets to Haiti would have been a better option, but this does not provide good photo opportunities."

Continuing global economic growth "is not possible" if the world is to stop devastating climate change, according to a report by the New Economics Foundation (Nef). The study, entitled "Growth Isn't Possible," finds that "unprecedented and probably impossible" carbon reductions would be needed to hold temperature rises below 2 degree C (3.6 F), the limit beyond which global warming will become dangerous for human civilization. "We urgently need to change our economy to live within its environmental budget," said Nef's policy director Andrew Simms. "There is no global environmental central bank to bail us out if we become ecologically bankrupt."

The US is set to hold talks with European and Arab partners in London on Jan. 27 to build support for a drive to defeat the perceived growing al-Qaeda threat in Yemen. The impetus for the meeting comes from the failed Christmas Day jetliner bombing by a Nigerian passenger allegedly trained by the Yemen-based al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP). Hillary Clinton will likely attend the London meeting, which comes days after the United Kingdom raised its terrorism threat assessment from substantial to severe.

An Indian court on Jan. 25 rejected a request by suspected Mumbai terror attack gunman Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab to be tried in an international court. Kasab claimed he would not receive a fair trial in India and that police had falsely accused him of taking part in the 2008 terror attacks. Special Court Judge ML Tahaliyani denied Kasab's request, calling it "premature." Kasab also requested that he be allowed to examine defense witnesses, including passport officers and government staff, from Pakistan and that he be allowed to meet with Pakistani officials. Tahaliyani told Kasab he should file a petition through his lawyer. Kasab faces 86 charges, including murder, for his role in the attacks and, may face the death penalty. A verdict is expected sometime early this year.

The US Supreme Court Jan. 25 declined to hear an appeal by former Panamanian military ruler Manuel Noriega challenging a lower court ruling denying his habeas corpus petition and authorizing his extradition to France on money laundering charges. Noriega, who has been declared a prisoner of war, invoked a provision of the Geneva Convention that requires repatriation at the end of confinement. In an April decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit found that his claim was precluded by the Military Commission Act of 2006, which the government argued "codifie[d] the principle that the Geneva Conventions [a]re not judicially enforceable by private parties."