Part of the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement that ended two bloody decades of civil war in Sudan was a promise that a referendum would be held to give the Christian South the opportunity to split from the Muslim North. On Sunday, that day finally came, and impatient southerners flocked to wait in line at polling stations amid a jubilant atmosphere, even though they have a whole week to vote. International observers including former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan were among those pouring into the region for the vote, as did actor and Sudan activist George Clooney.

Al-Jazeera reports on the first day of voting:

"The atmosphere was festive in the southern capital Juba on Sunday, with voters queueing for hours outside polling stations.

'The turnout was emotional,' Chan Reec Madut, who heads the South Sudan Referendum Bureau, said.

'We have never witnessed this kind of turnout before, even during the election,' he said, referring to last April's presidential, parliamentary and state elections.

'There is singing, there is dancing, this is a day like no other in the history of the people of south Sudan.'

He said the polling would continue as scheduled on Monday.

A total of 3.9 million southerners have registered for the self-determination vote that may lead to the partition of Africa's largest country.

They came in their thousands on the first day itself to participate in an event that matters to them deeply. They were in a hurry and impatient.

Salva Kiir, the president of Southern Sudan, cast his ballot in Juba in the morning and appealed to impatient voters to spread the voting across the scheduled seven days, after having waited for more than 50 years to choose their own destiny.

'This is the moment you have been waiting for,' he told crowds outside the polling station.

'Even if you cannot vote today, you have six more days to vote.'"

"All sides should refrain from inflammatory rhetoric or provocative actions that could raise tensions or prevent voters from expressing their will. Violence in the Abyei region should cease," U.S. President Barack Obama said in a Sunday statement. "And while a successful vote will be cause for celebration, an enormous amount of work remains to ensure the people of Sudan can live with security and dignity.

"The world will be watching in the coming days, and the United States will remain fully committed to helping the parties solve critical post-referendum issues regardless of the outcome of the vote," he said.

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Needless to say, it's been a busy weekend here in Washington. The Saturday shooting of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has left lawmakers among those reeling, as members of Congress prepare to discuss this week what security precautions they should take in the daily execution of their duties as representatives of the people. But while sharing America's sorrow in the attack that left six dead and 13 wounded, the world is watching with interest the immediate storm that arose over the political rhetoric and vitriolic discourse. This despite no indications that the suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, 22, was politically motivated, and very clear indications that he has severe mental illness, likely psychotic. The ramblings on his online pages show a guy with little grip on reality, burning a U.S. flag in a video while wearing trash-bag pants. His favorite books ranged from "The Communist Manifesto" to "Mein Kampf." He'd met the congresswoman at a 2007 community event, for which he received a congressional thank-you letter that he oddly kept in a home safe. Somewhere along the line, somewhere in the breakdown of his mind, he allegedly targeted her for "assassination," as reportedly scrawled on an envelope in that safe, and bought a gun on Nov. 30.

Here's the lead story on the Guardian website right now, pulling out the right-wing rhetoric elements:

"The National Jewish Democratic Council - Giffords is the first Jewish woman elected to Congress from Arizona - saw the attack as emanating from the polarised political debate: 'It is fair to say - in today's political climate, and given today's political rhetoric - that many have contributed to the building levels of vitriol in our political discourse that have surely contributed to the atmosphere in which this event transpired.'

Giffords's father was blunter. Asked if she had any enemies, he said: 'Yeah, the whole Tea Party.'

...Repeated questions about the bitterness of the debate were raised last year during the election, with fears for Obama's life and those of other leading Democrats as a result of repeated questioning about his eligibility to be president and the constitutionality of his acts. The fear was that fringe groups not committed to the peaceful political process might be influenced by the wilder outbursts of right-wing politicians and commentators.

James Clyburn, one of the Democratic leaders in the House, called today for political rhetoric to be toned down. 'We're living in a time that all of us should begin to take stock of how our words affect people, especially those who aren't very stable.'

The sheriff conducting the investigation, Clarence Dupnik, did not mince his words. 'When you look at unbalanced people, how they respond to the vitriol that comes out of certain mouths about tearing down the government - the anger, the hatred, the bigotry that goes on in this country, is getting to be outrageous. And unfortunately, Arizona, I think, has become the capital. We have become the mecca for prejudice and bigotry.'

When Giffords held a similar meeting last year, someone dropped a gun. In March, a window at her office was shattered, possibly by an airgun pellet.

Palin, on a website, targeted Giffords and 19 other Democrats in symbolic crosshairs. By this evening, the site had been removed. Palin, on Facebook, expressed her condolences. A Palin aide, Rebecca Mansour, speaking on the Tammy Bruce radio talkshow, denied the symbol represented crosshairs. 'We never ever, ever intended it to be gun sights,' Mansour said."

So far there aren't indications that Loughner was a fan of right-wing pundits, or if he was even cognizant of the healthcare debate and other heated political words that are getting plenty of blame this weekend. But if words must be assessed first to see how they affect the mentally unstable, remember that "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz claimed his neighbor's dog commanded him to kill, so one obviously can't predict or control everything that may touch a mind that's already out of touch with reality.

What do you think?

(Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

The devastating earthquake nearly a year ago in Haiti was one of the top stories of 2010, but the island nation is making headlines for more tragic statistics as we head into the new year. Amnesty International released a grim report today saying that armed men roving through unsecured refugee camps are making sexual violence a continuing threat in Haiti. As Amnesty summarizes:

"More than 250 cases of rape in several camps were reported in the first 150 days after January's earthquake, according to data cited in the Amnesty International report, Aftershocks: Women speak out against sexual violence in Haiti's camps.

One year on, rape survivors continue to arrive at the office of a local women's support group almost every other day.

'Women, already struggling to come to terms with losing their loved ones, homes and livelihoods in the earthquake, now face the additional trauma of living under the constant threat of sexual attack,' said Gerardo Ducos, Amnesty International's Haiti researcher.

'For the prevalence of sexual violence to end, the incoming government must ensure that the protection of women and girls in the camps is a priority. This has so far been largely ignored in the response to the wider humanitarian crisis.'

Sexual violence was widespread in Haiti before January 2010 but this has been exacerbated by the conditions since the earthquake. The limited assistance the authorities previously provided has been undermined by the destruction of police stations and court houses. This has made it more difficult to report sexual violence."

Read the reports here.

The White House sent out a statement noting that Vice President Joe Biden met with a broad group of Haitian-American leaders to discuss the United States' lasting commitment to Haiti. "The Vice President and the Haitian-American leaders were joined by a team of senior U.S. government officials who discussed the whole-of-government U.S. effort relating to Haiti and the unprecedented challenges that remain for recovery and reconstruction efforts," the statement said. Unfortunately, the reconstruction hasn't been much as most of the quake debris hasn't even yet been carted away.

(Photo by Logan Abassi/MINUSTAH via Getty Images)

Every other headline is going to say that Arnold Schwarzenegger says "hasta la vista, baby" to the governor's office tomorrow in California, so let's just say that the Austrian's term has been terminated by term limits. Swept into office in 2003 in the recall of Gov. Gray Davis -- a most interesting election that included Gary Coleman and porn star Mary Carey (who wanted to eliminate the deficit by taxing breast implants) on the ballot -- Schwarzenegger won a second term in 2006 by well over a million votes over his Democratic challenger. And while it may have seemed weird for some that Conan the Barbarian was in charge of the eighth largest economy in the world, to Californians (myself included) it was electing a leader in one of the state's largest and most prominent industries. Now it's back to Jerry Brown, aka Gov. Moonbeam, who began serving his first term the year I was born.

But what next for Arnold? There was so much buzz around his recall election and impassioned speech the following year at the Republican National Convention that there was talk of changing the Constitution so that someone who is not a natural-born citizen can run for president. That's pretty much yesterday's chatter now as Schwarzenegger leaves office with the state still in financial crisis and a gridlocked legislature that can't hardly pass a budget each year. Some wondered if Arnold would seek a Senate seat, as one of California's two senators firmly entrenched in Washington got a run for her money this fall from a Republican challenger. I was standing there among the other media when Schwarzenegger endorsed Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in the 2008 presidential election, and his endorsement will still likely be sought in the future as he carries the mantle of more moderate Republicans. But he'll also likely dedicate his time to business interests and causes such as the Special Olympics and environmental interests.

What do you think?

(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)