CP World Report: Fiscal Cliff, Egypt Court Suspended, Starbucks Coffee
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas returned to a crowd of cheering supporters yesterday, following the UN General Assembly decision to elevate the PA status from non-member observer entity to non-member observer state. Abbas called for an end to the division among Palestinians, as Israel refused to acknowledge the new-found recognition. Israel says it violates a Palestinian agreement to work out central issues through negotiation. The U.S. also opposed the PA's upgraded status as did Canada. France supported it.
There's a lot of finger-pointing going on in Washington. Lawmakers have 30 days to come up with a plan to reduce the country's deficit, before the U-S falls off the so-called "fiscal cliff." The automatic tax increases and spending cuts are set to take effect January first.
Egypt's high court has indefinitely suspended all its sessions, after supporters of President Mohamed Morsi surrounded the building and blocked judges from entering.The scheduled court session was widely viewed as a challenge to Morsi, who set off a political storm on November 22 when he declared almost unlimited personal powers, virtually immune from judicial oversight. Islamic members of Egypt's constitution panel have rushed through a draft constitution without the presence of liberal and Christian members, two days before a court ruling that could possibly dissolve the panel. Morsi has announced a constitutional referendum will be held December 15th.
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More troubling news involving Egypt: the Evangelical Alliance Wales has urged organizations and individuals in Wales with links to Egypt to do all that it can to stop the horrific treatment of Eritrean refugees at the hands of Bedouin traffickers in Egypt's Sinai Desert. The refugees flee their poverty-stricken country. But then the Bedouin traffickers hold them for ransom until friends or relatives abroad can come with money to pay for their release. They face death if the money isn't paid.
Well a lot of us have to have that morning cup of coffee and now Starbucks has introduced the most expensive cup of coffee the chain has ever sold.
