The United States Army has approved the awarding of the Bronze Star to four Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Marc Leger, Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, Pte. Richard Green and Pte. Nathan Smith were killed in a “friendly fire” accident in April of last year.

Military officials at the Pentagon say the medals and certificates were sent to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa in January, but the Department of Foreign Affairs says it has not been formally contacted by American officials.

The protocol for awarding the medals would see a committee of the chancellery, under the Governor General, have the final say whether the soldiers would receive the U.S. military honour posthumously.

Eight other Canadians were wounded in the fraticide incident.

China

Two explosions have rocked two of Beijing’s top universities, injuring nine people.

The blasts happened 90 minutes apart, at lunchtime in cafeterias at Beijing University and Tsinghua University, both located in the north-west of the capital.

No one has stepped forward to claim responsibility.

Venezuela

There have been explosions at a Spanish embassy building and a Colombian consulate in different parts of the Venezuelan capital, Caracas.

Tension has been rising again in Venezuela following the arrest last week of one of the leaders of long-running protests against Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez.

Carlos Fernandez, who is now under house arrest, has been accused of treason and civil rebellion.

Keep Trying has a three part series on blogging that is very interesting.
Part of todays post:

Habit One - Be Proactive
Covey says that this habit involves taking charge and responsibility for you life. For Bloggers, this means taking charge of your blogging. Blogging should be an asset in your life. If it is not, you have the ability to change that. If you can’t make blogging a positive experience, you can quit or take a break. But first you might want to try to take control of your blogging.

I also like how clearly he articulates the three phases he has gone through.

Today begins the third phase of blogging for me.

1) Phase one was very lovey-dovey. No conflict. Very polite. It was interesting because blogging was new.

2) Phase two was not as pleasant. Very conflict oriented. Too much anger.

3) This entry starts phase three. It will focus on questioning assumptions and definitions and trying to get to the roots of disagreement. But it will be without anger, with respect and civility. At least that is my goal, I ask my friends to take me to task (privately, if possible) if I fail to reach those goals.

I try not to hold grudges, so anyone who wants to start or restart a friendship, you know where to reach me.

Link via Jordon Cooper

Bloggedy Blog relates his experience participating in the 30 Hour Fast for World Vision.

Dr. Mark Byron is also on a prayer and fast for different reasons. He says it better than I can.

However, there was a larger part of me that realizes that my prayer life needed a boost and that fasting hasn’t been part of my routine. None of my colleagues at Warner know about this unless they’ve been reading my blog and if I’m to keep it biblical, it’s going to stay that way. The reward in fasting is drawing closer to God, not showing off.

And here.

The bible geek…James Hooten of Cruciform Chronicle has stopped blogging and is moving on to other things. Stop in and say thanks eh?