The BBC reports on Libya: UN Security Council passes sanctions vote

The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to impose sanctions on Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan regime for its attempts to put down an uprising.

They backed an arms embargo and asset freeze while referring Col Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.

The UN didn’t get involved when he was blowing up passenger aircraft or orchestrating civil wars in Africa, so it is nice that they finally found something about him they didn’t like.

But Gaddafi isn’t the least popular leader in the world, the ABC writes about that individual: Ireland’s PM concedes defeat

Irish prime minister Brian Cowen has conceded defeat in the general election, after his ruling Fianna Fail party was crushed by voters angry over the collapse of the economy and an EU-IMF bailout.

The Irish people are really fed up. If the election hadn’t been scheduled, Dublin might have looked similar to Cairo or Madison, Wisconsin.

From TV New Zealand’s Live Updates:

6:00am: Recap
– The official death toll in Christchurch stands at 145.
– More than 200 people remain missing. There have been no live rescues since Wednesday.
– Nationals of more than 20 countries are among the missing
– More than 600 rescue workers, including overseas teams, have been toiling in rubble and ruined buildings.
– 62,500 people remain without water and 100,000 have no sewerage service.
– Officials say once the rescue and recovery effort has finished, demolition of damaged and unstable buildings in the CBD will go ahead.

It looks like a significant portion of Christchurch’s Central Business District [CBD] will be leveled. The basic problem with most of the buildings was foundation damage when the soil liquefied during the quake. A number of buildings lost their internal stairways, and there is no economical way of repairing or replacing them.