Monday, January 31st
Mainstream media misleads on Haiti
UN 'rules out' genocide in DarfurA genocide has not been committed in Darfur, a keenly awaited United Nations report says, according to Sudan's foreign minister. Jakarta rejects Aceh rebels offer Indonesia's government has rejected an offer by Aceh's rebels to put demands for independence on hold in exchange for a referendum on Aceh's future. Tsunami Deaths Up 5,000Just over five weeks after the disaster, the overall number dead stood at between 156,000 and 178,000 across 11 nations with an estimated 26,500 to 142,000 missing. Israelis use barrier and 55-year-old law to quietly seize Palestinians' land The Israeli government has quietly seized thousands of acres of Palestinian-owned land in and around east Jerusalem after a secret cabinet decision to use a 55-year-old law against Arabs separated from farms and orchards by the vast "security barrier". Real freedom still far offFirst, no election held under a foreign military occupation resulting from an unjustified war is legal under international law. During the Cold War, elections staged by the Soviets after invading Afghanistan, Hungary and Czechoslovakia were rightly denounced by the U.S. as "frauds" and the leaders elected as "stooges." The Iraqi Ballot, TranslatedFig-leaf freedomOne election does not a democracy make, writes Brian WhitakerPresident George Bush has pronounced the election in Iraq a success. "The world is hearing the voice of freedom from the centre of the Middle East," he said yesterday. Zimbabwe's Central Bank predicts positive economic growthIn a major economic statement Wednesday ahead of Zimbabwe's elections expected in March, the central bank says the country's economy has turned the corner and predicted a recovery for 2005. Gideon Gono, governor of Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank has become more prominent than any of his predecessors and many analysts believe he is only second in power and influence to President Robert Mugabe. S.Africa urged to tax US films after Oscar nodSouth Africa should tax foreign movies and force cinemas to show more local films to help nurture a fledging homegrown industry celebrating its first Oscar feature nomination, an industry body said on Monday. Scorpions says Thatcher conviction was unlikelySouth African prosecutors said today that they did not have a strong enough case against Mark Thatcher to guarantee a conviction when they agreed a plea bargain over his suspected involvement in a foiled coup. AU summit opens in AbujaThe fourth summit of the 53-member African Union opened Sunday in Abuja, aiming to resolve the intractable conflicts of the world's poorest continent and assess the impact of diseases such as Aids, malaria and polio. South Africans are on a highFar from being a nation of whiners, South Africans are upbeat about the future, with 73 percent of people polled believing that 2005 was going to be a good year. Politics-Ivory Coast: Mbeki Soldiers OnThe past few days have seen South African President Thabo Mbeki push ahead with his initiative to bring peace to the Ivory Coast, even postponing his departure for the World Economic Forum. As the week ends, however, it is clear that the future of the West African state still hangs in the balance. Mainstream media misleads on Haiti The mainstream media seems almost totally unwilling to highlight Canada's connection to the coup and aftermath of violent political repression. Iran to help Venezuela to sell more oil to AsiaVenezuela has enlisted Iran's help to steer its oil exports to China and away from its traditional US market. Qatar's quest: Finding a buyer for Al Jazeera WASHINGTON The tiny state of Qatar is a crucial American ally in the Gulf, where it provides a military base and warm support of U.S. policies. Yet relations with Qatar are also strained over an awkward issue: Qatar's sponsorship of Al Jazeera, the provocative television station that is a big source of news in the Arab world. Report: Under intense US pressure, Qatar moves to sell Al Jazeera TV Following American pressure, a senior Qatari official said that the government is accelerating plans to put Al Jazeera TV on the market. Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other Bush administration officials have complained heatedly to Qatari leaders that Al Jazeera's broadcasts have been inflammatory, misleading and occasionally false, especially on Iraq.
Africa on 01.31.05 @ 10:37 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, January 30th
Africa failing to meet development goals - Annan
'What a bloody charade'In Baghdad on Saturday they were supposed to be preparing for an election. But they were preparing for war. A Brief Guide to the Iraqi Elections 1. Iraqis are voting not for a party or an individual but for a list. 2. Iraqi people have no opportunity to elect their president or prime minister. 3. None of the elected members will represent a locality. 4. Large areas of the country are not expected to be able to vote. Africa failing to meet development goals - AnnanUnited Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan told African leaders on Sunday they were failing to meet targets for reducing extreme poverty and combating killer diseases five years after agreeing to global development goals. 100 hit in Darfur air raidAlmost a 100 people were killed and wounded in a Sudanese air force bombardment in South Darfur on Wednesday, UN spokesperson Radhia Achouri said on Friday. Hotel RwandaTen years ago, as the country of Rwanda descended into madness, one man made a promise to protect the family he loved, and ended up finding the courage to save more than 1,200 lives. A crisis relived:Real-life hero recalls African refugee ordeal of 'Hotel Rwanda' Another conservative columnist is clueless After years of complaining of a vast left-wing media conspiracy, the conservatives turn out to be running their own racket. The Bush administration's pay-to-sway scandal continues to spread like an oil slick. US firms' war on workersIt is often said there is no smoke without fire, but for workers in the US it is increasingly a case of "any smoke and you will be fired". News black-out on death of former top leader Zhao ZiyangReporters Without Borders today deplored continuing efforts by China's ruling Communist Party to clamp down on all news about former prime minister and party leader Zhao Ziyang on the eve of his funeral tomorrow and called on the international community to press the regime to stop its "ruthless censorship" aimed at "the father of China's economic and political reforms." UN agency applauds Iran cooperationUN nuclear chief Muhammad al-Baradai has praised Iran's cooperation over its controversial atomic programme. Barzani: Kirkuk is a Kurdish Province with the Kurdish Identity Speaking to journalists in his compound in Salahaddin, Iraqi Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) leader Masoud Barzani said, "Kirkuk is a Kurdish province with a Kurdish Identity."
Africa on 01.30.05 @ 11:02 AM CST [ link]
Saturday, January 29th
American host cuts off Iranian press agency ISNA
Reporters Without Borders said it suspected a political motive after US web host The Planet terminated its contract with the Iranian Student's News Agency (ISNA) on 14 January 2005. Full Article : rsf.org
Middle East on 01.29.05 @ 04:13 PM CST [ link]
'Reporters' condemns harassment of Al-Jazeera
Reporters Without Borders condemns harassment of Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera Summary of attacks on the channel in 2004Reporters Without Borders has protested at persistent harassment of Arabic-language satellite TV al-Jazeera as the channel said on 26 January Saudi Arabia had refused to allow it to cover the Mecca pilgrimage for a third consecutive year. Full Article : rsf.org
Middle East on 01.29.05 @ 04:09 PM CST [ link]
Why I Am Not Taking Part in These Phony Elections
I am an Iraqi woman, and I am boycotting Sunday's elections. Women who do vote will be voting for an enslaved future. Surely, say those who support these elections, after decades of tyranny, here at last is a form of democracy, imperfect, but democracy nevertheless? In reality, these elections are, for Iraq's women, little more than a cruel joke. Amid the suicide attacks, kidnappings and US-led military assaults of the 20-odd months since Saddam's fall, the little-reported phenomenon is the sharp increase in the persecution of Iraqi women. Women are the new victims of Islamic groups intent on restoring a medieval barbarity and of a political establishment that cares little for women's empowerment. Full Article : commondreams.orgU.S. Foreign Policy: Question All Assumptions José Martí: Cuba's National Hero´s 152nd Birthday Bolivian Province Gets Boost on Autonomy Middle East presence thinning on US campuses US and Allies 'Kill Most Iraqis' Andeans Want US out of Colombia-Venezuela Crisis 'They can't throw us all in jail' What Kind of Freedom?
Iraq on 01.29.05 @ 09:47 AM CST [ link]
Friday, January 28th
Aristide lectures on slavery
Almost a year after fleeing his country, Jean Bertrand Aristide took up his post at a South African university, delivering a first lecture on African values and the trauma of slavery, "Africa's first tsumani". The 51-year-old former president of Haiti was named three months ago as honorary research fellow at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, which has lauded his knowledge of several languages and his degrees in psychology, theology and philosophy. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 01.28.05 @ 04:39 PM CST [ link]
On defining genocide
The US decision to use the label ‘genocide’ to the Darfur crisis was correct in law – atrocities needed to be stopped and their perpetrators punished. But it also dragged Darfur into a wider global scheme, a polarity in which Arabs are collectively labelled and stigmatised, and divisive identities imposed upon poor and strife-ridden parts of the world. Full Article : indexonline.org
Africa on 01.28.05 @ 02:15 PM CST [ link]
U.S. Navy surveying waters near tsunami epicenter
The U.S. Navy is surveying the the Malacca Strait and coastal waters off Indonesia for signs that last month's devastating Indian Ocean tsunami altered the sea bed under the world's busiest shipping lane. Full Article : cnn.com
USA on 01.28.05 @ 01:42 PM CST [ link]
Criminals the lot of us
The invasion of Iraq was a crime of gigantic proportions, for which politicians, the media and the public share responsibility Full Article : guardian.co.uk
World on 01.28.05 @ 11:16 AM CST [ link]
Juke Box Journalism
It seems clear now that the disclosure that two syndicated right-wing columnists were paid shills of the Bush administration posing as journalists is really just the tip of a grimy iceberg. With the admission by Armstrong Williams that he had pocketed a cool $240,000 to pimp in his columns for the Bush's "No Child Left Behind" program, and by Maggie Gallagher that she'd taken $21,500 to pimp for Bush's "support for marriage" initiative (sexism is alive and well in the Bush White House when it comes to bribes), comes word that the administration has been spending $88 million on PR for its various schemes. Full Article : counterpunch.org
USA on 01.28.05 @ 10:23 AM CST [ link]
Code Names
A Look Behind Secret U.S. Military Plans in the Middle East, Africa and at Home Full Article : democracynow.org
USA on 01.28.05 @ 10:20 AM CST [ link]
Mbeki, 'Africa's troubleshooter'
With his steady and determined approach to breaking deadlocks in demand across the continent, President Thabo Mbeki is emerging as Africa's main trouble-shooter. While he has yet to claim success in Ivory Coast, Mbeki has showed staying power, taking charge of talks with opposition and rebel leaders this week in Pretoria that stretched into unscheduled third and fourth days. Mbeki cleared his diary to accommodate the men from the troubled west African state, scrapping a visit to the Democratic Republic of Congo and delaying his departure to the World Economic Forum in Davos. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 01.28.05 @ 10:13 AM CST [ link]
The US - Colombia Plot Against Venezuela
A major diplomatic and political conflict has exploded between Colombia and Venezuela after the revelation of a Colombian government covert operation in Venezuela, involving the recruitment of Venezuelan military and security officers in the kidnapping of a Colombian leftist leader. Following an investigation by the Venezuelan Ministry of Interior and reports and testimony from journalists and other knowledgeable political observers it was determined that the highest echelons of the Colombian government, including President Uribe, planned and executed this onslaught on Venezuelan sovereignty. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Latin America on 01.28.05 @ 10:05 AM CST [ link]
US prepares invasion of Venezuela: Venezuelan ambassador
The United States is preparing a future invasion of Venezuela to control the petroleum of the South American country as it did in Iraq, said Venezuela's acting ambassador to Paraguay, Elmer Nino. Nino, cited Thursday by local Paraguayan daily ABC Color, said the present diplomatic crisis between Venezuela and Colombia was created by the United States as part of its future plans for an invasion. The Venezuelan oil reserves have a strategic value as they will last 350 years at the present exploitation level, the diplomat was quoted as saying. Full Article : xinhuanet.com
Latin America on 01.28.05 @ 01:32 AM CST [ link]
Taiwan's ties with Grenada to be cut
Ties with Grenada to be cut after its dealings with ChinaThe Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced at 11:15pm last night that ties with Grenada would be cut. This followed a day of speculation in the wake of Grenada's resumption of diplomatic relations with China. Taiwan's diplomats met Grenada's prime minister and foreign minister earlier yesterday, but were unable to get a concrete idea of what was written in their joint communique with China, the ministry said. Full Article : taipeitimes.com
Caribbean on 01.28.05 @ 01:23 AM CST [ link]
Ethiopia Begins Giving Free HIV Drugs
Ethiopia has began giving free doses of life-prolonging drugs to about 14,000 HIV-infected Ethiopians in a U.S.-funded program, the government said Tuesday. The program, which is being implemented in 20 hospitals and 30 health centers across Ethiopia, began Monday and aims to have 30,000 people on treatment by the end of the year, said Solomon Abate of the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 01.28.05 @ 01:20 AM CST [ link]
Eid Al-Adhar in Nablus
A Night of Terror and DestructionAs the BBC and other major media organizations patronizingly 'congratulate' Abu Mazen on deploying 3,000 lightly-armed Palestinian troops to protect the 'security' of illegal Jewish colonists in Gaza, they report that 'it is quiet on the ground' in Palestine. In doing so, they are regurgitating the Israeli propaganda without any reference to Palestinian information sources or to the truth. Full Article : axisoflogic.com
Middle East on 01.28.05 @ 01:12 AM CST [ link]
Thursday, January 27th
India's US-Pakistan suspicions deepen
NEW DELHI - Two facts emerged in the space of a few days last week that have made India deeply suspicious of Washington's intentions in the region. One, US secretary of state-designate Condoleezza Rice told senators that the administration of President George W Bush has a "contingency plan" to prevent "Islamic fundamentalists" from getting access to Pakistan's nuclear weapons if "something happened" to Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf and they succeeded in capturing power. Full Article : atimes.com
Middle East on 01.27.05 @ 04:17 PM CST [ link]
Bush declares war on entire world
President George W. Bush secured his status as an American revolutionary in his second inaugural speech last week. In a nutshell, his speech outlined a global crusade of American-led and enforced democracy. The president returned to his favorite rhetorical trick by casting everything and everyone in black and white, "us against them" terms. According to Bush, every nation in the world faces a choice between "oppression" and "freedom." Oppression, of course, is "always wrong" while freedom is "eternally right." Full Article : thedaily.washington.edu
USA on 01.27.05 @ 02:46 PM CST [ link]
US teeters on explosive line in the sand
Modern-day maps of the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia reflect a pattern and a principle ingrained in the foreign policies of major European, and now American, powers - the existence of numerous sovereign Muslim countries. While wars and invasions against Muslim states by outside powers have taken place in the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century, none of such major military and political moves in the last several decades sought to redraw boundaries or radically change the modern map of the Islamic world. Full Article : atimes.com
USA on 01.27.05 @ 12:10 PM CST [ link]
Six Million Dying of Aids Amid Tsunami Largesse
Within three weeks after the tsunami disaster ravaged south and south-east Asia, the international donor community responded magnanimously by pledging an unprecedented 5.5 billion to 6 billion dollars for emergency relief and reconstruction. By a coincidence, says U.N. Special Envoy Stephen Lewis, the Global Fund on AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria received an identical amount of about 5.9 billion dollars in pledges from the donor community. The difference between the two responses is that it took three years -- not three weeks -- to raise the same amount of money to combat a disease devastating millions of lives, says Lewis, who is U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.27.05 @ 11:45 AM CST [ link]
Zimbabwe: South African 'quiet diplomacy' tested by recent events
PRETORIA: Recent events may test South African President Thabo Mbeki's 'quiet diplomacy' approach towards neighbouring Zimbabwe, analysts have told IRIN. News of the arrest of an alleged South African intelligence agent in Zimbabwe; more hard-line pronouncements from the United States regarding Zimbabwe; and recent comments by South Africa's ruling African National Congress (ANC), urging the opening of 'democratic space' in the country, have all occurred in the space of three weeks. Full Article : africaonline.com
Africa on 01.27.05 @ 11:42 AM CST [ link]
African Women Have Come a Long Way
NAMIBIA is among the top-ranking countries with the most women parliamentarians in Africa. Although Africa has been viewed as not putting women in the forefront in the male-dominated field of politics, this perception is about to change after Rwanda scored highest in the world when it comes to the political representation of women, with 48,8 per cent of its MPs being women. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.27.05 @ 11:39 AM CST [ link]
Pastoralists from 23 countries to meet in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is to host an international gathering of pastoralists, representing 23 countries from across the globe, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) announced on Monday. Full Article : africaonline.com
Africa on 01.27.05 @ 11:35 AM CST [ link]
Indonesia Government Prepares for Talks with Aceh Rebels
An Indonesian government delegation is in Finland preparing for talks with the exiled leadership of the Aceh-separatist movement known as GAM. The two sides are looking for a solution to the 28-year conflict in Aceh, and the talks have been given extra impetus by the need to cooperate to rebuild the region that was devastated by last month's disastrous earthquake and tsunami. Few observers expect the road to peace to be smooth. Full Article : politinfo.com
Asia on 01.27.05 @ 10:51 AM CST [ link]
Asian bird flu might turn deadly for humans
The World Health Organization has issued strong warnings to Asian governments about the bird flu virus that has recently broken out in their part of the world. The officials say that, if the flu is not properly contained, it could spread to humans and turn into a deadly epidemic such as that in 1918 which killed more than 40 million people. Full Article : newstarget.com
Asia on 01.27.05 @ 10:38 AM CST [ link]
Corruption endemic to South Africa: survey
Corruption is thought to be endemic in South Africa, with about three quarters of respondents to a survey feeling there is corruption at senior levels of government, police are taking bribes and corruption is worsening. This is according to a telephone study released by Research Surveys today. It was conducted amongst a sample of 500 South African adults in metropolitan areas with access to a landline telephone at the beginning of January 2005. Full Article : bday.co.za
Africa on 01.27.05 @ 10:12 AM CST [ link]
Khatami: U.S. most dangerous to global peace
Iranian President Mohammad Khatami responded to U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney's comment that Iran topped the list of world trouble spots by saying, the United States was the country which most endangered global peace. Full Article : aljazeera.com
Iran on 01.27.05 @ 10:09 AM CST [ link]
Crumbs for Africa
The global economy can be a cruel and competitive place, all right. Of the $612 billion in flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) recorded in 2004, just $20 billion went to Africa, as a whole, according to World Economic Situation and Prospects 2005, published by the United Nations. Full Article : m1.mny.co.za
Africa on 01.27.05 @ 10:06 AM CST [ link]
Syphilis rise tied to natural cycle
Researchers say disease increase is not because of unsafe sexA recent rise in syphilis rates in the United States is probably because of natural cycles rather than an increase in unsafe sex or other behaviors, according to a new study. The finding is encouraging to public health authorities who have worried that increasing syphilis infection, especially among gay and bisexual men, is a sign that people at high risk for HIV have grown complacent about practicing safe sex. Syphilis has been on the rise in the United States since 2000, when the incidence of the disease was at its lowest in six decades. In 2003, the most recent year for which data are available, 7,177 cases were reported, compared with 5,979 in 2000. Similar jumps in syphilis incidence have been observed in the past. Full Article : thestate.com
USA on 01.27.05 @ 10:02 AM CST [ link]
Oil curse stalks Africa's new petro-state
São Tomé, a sleepy west coast archipelago with a population of 150,000 people, is seen by many outside as the nation as having perhaps the best chance to avoid the “paradox of plenty” that has made oil-rich African countries among the world's poorest and worst-governed. The auction for the first exploration licence in a deep water zone being developed jointly with Nigeria is expected soon to yield São Tomé about $50m, or almost four times last year's total estimated government tax revenues. Estimates of the amount of oil in the zone run to more than 10bn barrels, although no reserves have yet been proved. Full Article : news.ft.com
Africa on 01.27.05 @ 09:51 AM CST [ link]
Rich countries poach doctors from Africa
LAGOS, Nigeria -- Lagos Island Hospital lost two of its best surgeons and several nurses to Gulf nations, Europe and America last year, leaving it in a dire situation shared by hospitals across the developing world. "It is usually the most skilled and experienced who leave. We lose their skills and there's no one to train new people," Lagos Island's Dr. John Adebowale said Wednesday, the day a new report was released detailing the costs of the migration of medical professionals from poor to rich countries. Full Article : seattlepi.nwsource.com
Africa on 01.27.05 @ 09:39 AM CST [ link]
Bush Administration Targets Cuba and Venezuela
The fact that the Bush Administration is intensifying its anti-Cuba actions while rightwing extremists of Venezuelan and Cuban origin are joining efforts in Miami, was the main theme of Monday's "The Round Table" TV and radio program. The members of the panel began by commenting on the aggressive statements uttered by Bush's choice for Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who voiced her anti-Cuba rhetoric at a US Senate hearing on her nomination. Full Article : invasor.islagrande.cu
Latin America on 01.27.05 @ 08:54 AM CST [ link]
Loans seen as no solution for Haiti's poorest
"The last thing you want to do is make a poor person even poorer by giving them a loan they can't pay back," said Lauren Mitten, of Development Alternatives Inc., a private contractor that runs a microfinance project in Haiti for the US Agency for International Development, or USAID. "There are lots of microfinance institutions trying to reach the same people with the same products. But no one is reaching the extreme poor." Full Article : boston.com
Caribbean on 01.27.05 @ 08:49 AM CST [ link]
Wednesday, January 26th
Bush talks issues with black leaders
To meet with Congressional Black Caucus on WednesdayPresident Bush told black leaders Tuesday that his plan to add private accounts to Social Security would benefit blacks since they tend to have shorter lives than some other Americans and end up paying in more than they get out. Full Article : cnn.com
USA on 01.26.05 @ 11:30 PM CST [ link]
Report: Helicopter Crash in Iraq Kills 31 U.S. Troops
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - A transport helicopter crash in western Iraq Wednesday killed 31 U.S Marines, CNN reported on Wednesday. U.S. military officials in Baghdad said they could not immediately confirm the toll but acknowledged there were casualties. © Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved.
Iraq on 01.26.05 @ 06:58 PM CST [ link]
S. Africa court suspends nuclear plant approval
A South African court on Wednesday suspended a government decision to let electricity utility Eskom develop a new nuclear power reactor near Cape Town. The ruling by the Cape High Court came after environmentalists objected to the proposed project and lobby group Earthlife mounted a court challenge in November last year. Full Article : alertnet.org
Africa on 01.26.05 @ 04:41 PM CST [ link]
The Ultimate War Crime: Breaking the Agricultural Cycle
"As part of sweeping 'economic restructuring' implemented by the Bush Administration in Iraq, Iraqi farmers will no longer be permitted to save their seeds, which include seeds the Iraqis themselves have developed over hundreds of years. Instead, they will be forced to buy seeds from US corporations. That is because in recent years, transnational corporations have patented and now own many seed varieties originated or developed by indigenous peoples. In a short time, Iraq will be living under the new American credo: Pay Monsanto, or starve." Full Article : globalresearch.ca
USA on 01.26.05 @ 08:46 AM CST [ link]
From U.S., the ABC's of Jihad
Violent Soviet-Era Textbooks Complicate Afghan Education Efforts In the twilight of the Cold War, the United States spent millions of dollars to supply Afghan schoolchildren with textbooks filled with violent images and militant Islamic teachings, part of covert attempts to spur resistance to the Soviet occupation. The primers, which were filled with talk of jihad and featured drawings of guns, bullets, soldiers and mines, have served since then as the Afghan school system's core curriculum. Even the Taliban used the American-produced books, though the radical movement scratched out human faces in keeping with its strict fundamentalist code. Full Article : washingtonpost.com
USA on 01.26.05 @ 08:44 AM CST [ link]
Author airs conspiracy theory on Im's death
The death of retired research Professor Jeong Im has all the makings of a spy novel, and some say that idea isn’t far off base. Someone stabbed the 72-year-old scientist multiple times in the Maryland Avenue parking garage at the University of Missouri-Columbia, put him in the trunk of his Honda and set the car on fire. Adding to the mystery, police say a hooded, masked man was seen carrying a gas can away from the scene. Full Article : columbiatribune.com
USA on 01.26.05 @ 08:42 AM CST [ link]
Israeli psychological warfare unit set up
The Israeli army is set to activate a special psychological warfare unit (PWU) whose main role is to "disseminate disinformation" and "carefully manipulated information" about Iran and other countries in the Middle East deemed to be "hostile". Full Article : aljazeera.com
Middle East on 01.26.05 @ 08:40 AM CST [ link]
Black Americans suspect HIV plot
Almost half of all African-Americans believe that HIV, the virus that causes Aids, is man-made, more than a quarter believe it was produced in a government laboratory and one in eight think it was created and spread by the CIA, according to a study released by Rand Corporation and the University of Oregon. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 01.26.05 @ 08:32 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, January 25th
Pedigree dogs of war
Some people who engage in foreign conflicts are called terrorists. Others are about to be government-licensed What is the legal difference between hiring a helicopter for use in a coup against a west African government and sending supplies to the Chechen rebels? If there isn't one, why isn't Mark Thatcher in Belmarsh? Conversely, why aren't the "foreign terrorist suspects" in Belmarsh prison free and, like Thatcher, at large in London? Why is an alleged engagement in foreign military operations called terrorism one moment and business the next? The question is an important one, for mercenaries are becoming respectable again. On Thursday Tim Spicer, Britain's most notorious soldier of fortune, will speak at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Last month he addressed a conference at the Royal United Services Institute. Last year one of the companies he runs won a $300m contract from the US government for security work in Iraq. He moves through the establishment like the boss of any other corporation. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 01.25.05 @ 09:34 PM CST [ link]
Remembering Africans in the Nazi Camps
T.Wonja Michael was born in Berlin in 1925. Their Cameroonian father, Theophilus Wonja Michael arrived in Berlin in 1894 and had four children with his German wife Martha Wegner. In early 1943, Michael was marched with other Afro-Germans into a forced-labor camp near Berlin.He was there until the camp was liberated by Russian soldiers in June 1945." His three siblings fled to France after "Negroids" were declared "undesirable" in 1936, but Michael chose to remain apparently, out of sheer stubbornness. He worked as a bellhop at Berlin's Hotel Excelsior (before being kicked out by a Nazi guest).The Nazis cast him in a tiny but very visible role in Germany's first color film released in 1943. "Muenchhausen"- which showed him cooling dignitaries with a feathered fan. Later he learned that the movie had been commissioned by propaganda Goebbels and would be used against blacks."In many ways, being a curiosity is just as bad as being a target I happen to be black, but I am German, and I insist on the recognition,"says Michael. Theodoro survived the Nazi terror and is still alive. Many other germans –Cameroonians like Mpundo Akwa, Ngoso Din, Martin Dibobe were deported and murdered in concentration camps. Full Article : icicemac.com
Africa on 01.25.05 @ 08:30 PM CST [ link]
Academy History Made With This Year's Nominees
More actors playing actual real-life people were nominated for Oscars than ever before, and more minorities were nominated in the acting categories than ever before, making some Academy Award history for the 77th year of nominations. Nine of the 20 acting nominations are based on real people, from films like "Ray," "Finding Neverland," "The Aviator," "Kinsey," "Hotel Rwanda" and "Vera Drake." In addition, "Million Dollar Baby" has three more nominations from a fictional book that is based on real-life characters. Full Article : zap2it.com
USA on 01.25.05 @ 05:35 PM CST [ link]
White farmer 'threw worker to lions'
A white South African farmer and two black employees were accused yesterday of killing a black former employee by throwing him into a pen of five lions, which ate him. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 01.25.05 @ 05:02 PM CST [ link]
Fury at farmer who 'threw worker to lions'
A packed courtroom echoed to the chants of furious South African demonstrators yesterday as a white farmer went on trial, accused of murdering a black worker by feeding him to a pride of lions. Full Article : telegraph.co.uk
Africa on 01.25.05 @ 04:59 PM CST [ link]
US saber-rattling over Iran causes high oil prices
Venezuela blames US saber-rattling over Iran for high oil prices Venezuela's oil minister said Monday that the recent rise in world oil prices stems from fears the United States may use military force against Iran because of that country's nuclear programme. Full Article : thestar.com.my
Latin America on 01.25.05 @ 04:43 PM CST [ link]
Bolivians Protest Planned Gas Hikes
Thousands of Bolivians took to the streets of this city Monday in the latest in a series of protests against President Carlos Mesa's plans to raise gasoline prices in South America's poorest country. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Latin America on 01.25.05 @ 04:41 PM CST [ link]
Torture still routine in Iraqi jails: report
Iraqi authorities routinely torture prisoners, a leading human rights group said Tuesday, citing examples of abuse which will sound all too familiar to those who suffered under Saddam Hussein. Full Article : chinadaily.com.cn
Iraq on 01.25.05 @ 04:37 PM CST [ link]
Dream On America
The U.S. Model: For years, much of the world did aspire to the American way of life. But today countries are finding more appealing systems in their own backyards. Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 01.25.05 @ 04:25 PM CST [ link]
South Africans say corruption becoming way of life
JOHANNESBURG - Almost three quarters of South Africans think corruption is getting worse and is becoming a way of life, affecting police officers and senior levels of government, a survey showed on Tuesday. The poll comes as police prepare to arrest 40 current and former members of parliament over a $2.86 million ($NZ4.04 million) travel expenses scam. Full Article : nzherald.co.nz
Africa on 01.25.05 @ 04:22 PM CST [ link]
Nigeria to host special AU Summit on Jan 30th
Nigeria is to host a special African Union (AU) Summit at the Federal Capital, Abuja on January 30, 2005 to consider a common defence and security policy for the Continental Body. The AU High-Level Committee of Heads of State and Government on the Non-Aggression Pact and the Common Defence and Security in Africa meeting on January 29th would precede the summit. Full Article : ghanaweb.com
Africa on 01.25.05 @ 04:18 PM CST [ link]
ANC backs Cosatu's trip to Zimbabwe
The ANC said today that the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) may go ahead with a controversial visit to Zimbabwe opposed by President Robert Mugabe's government. In a surprise move likely to spark tension between South Africa and Zimbabwe, the ANC said it would have no problems with Cosatu returning to Harare. Full Article : sabcnews.com
Africa on 01.25.05 @ 04:14 PM CST [ link]
Returnig refugees find little is left of their former lives
Elizabeth Adak Shindu paid a high price to return home. She walked for 30 days, endured hunger and disease, and used her life savings. When she finally reached this sprawling, dusty town, she found another family living on her land. Full Article : taipeitimes.com
Africa on 01.25.05 @ 10:44 AM CST [ link]
Protests against Swazi king
Police and security troops were out in full force in Swaziland on Tuesday as hundreds of people gathered in the capital, heeding a call from trade unions to protest the regime of King Mswati III, Africa's last absolute monarch. About 5 000 police and military personnel were deployed in the streets of Mbabane in the southern African kingdom and at the main entrances to the city, stopping buses and taxis for checks. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 01.25.05 @ 10:38 AM CST [ link]
Africa, Garang wants balance of nations in UN Sudan force
A U.N. peace force for southern Sudan should include countries without energy ties to the oil-exporting region to balance any nations with such interests, southern leader John Garang said on Sunday. The region's oil resources were a factor in two decades of civil war which ended earlier this month with a peace deal between Khartoum and the southern rebels. Speaking after talks with U.N. Sudan envoy Jan Pronk, Garang said more consultations were needed to ensure what he called the neutrality of the proposed peacekeeping force. Full Article : keralanext.com
Africa on 01.25.05 @ 10:33 AM CST [ link]
Monday, January 24th
US 'terminates' Iranian website
Iran has accused the US government of ordering an American internet service provider to stop hosting the website of an official Iranian news agency. The Iranian Student News Agency said no explanation had been given by the server, called The Planet, for its abrupt move to terminate the contract. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
USA on 01.24.05 @ 07:08 PM CST [ link]
One third of the world's urban population lives in a slum
Late in 2003 the United Nations reported that one billion people-approximately one third of the world's urban dwellers and a sixth of all humanity, live in slums. And it predicted that within 30 years that figure would have doubled to two billion-a third of the current world population. Full Article : freespeech.org
World on 01.24.05 @ 04:06 PM CST [ link]
Israel Seizes Tracts of Land in Jerusalem
Israel has quietly seized large tracts of Jerusalem land owned by Palestinian residents of the West Bank after they were cut off from their property by Israel's separation barrier, lawyers of the landowners said. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Middle East on 01.24.05 @ 04:00 PM CST [ link]
Venezuela's Chavez: US behind Colombia rebel arrest
Thousands of demonstrators backed President Hugo Chavez, who accused US and Colombian officials of provoking a diplomatic crisis between the Caribbean neighbors. "I know where this provocation comes from: from Washington, not from Bogota!" Chavez said before a crowd of cheering supporters. Full Article : turkishpress.com
Latin America on 01.24.05 @ 03:57 PM CST [ link]
Washing away history
It is one of many places in Banda Aceh that has yet to be cleaned up. But the rambling graveyard in the centre of town differs from other monuments in one unique respect - that the dead who are buried there are not Indonesian but Dutch. When the tsunami swept into the port of Banda Aceh almost four weeks ago, killing at least 70,000 people, it also destroyed much of the city's surviving colonial heritage. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Asia on 01.24.05 @ 10:48 AM CST [ link]
'Tyranny' states strike back
Rice's tough stance has the media up in arms Media in the states dubbed "outposts of tyranny" by Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's nominee as secretary of state, have hit back in no uncertain terms. A Cuban commentary says the declaration is reminiscent of President Bush's "Axis of evil", while state radio in Belarus accuses her of prejudice. In Zimbabwe and Iran, papers view her comments as part of a broader campaign against them. Burma and North Korea have been slow to react, a fact media analysts say is not unusual, as both states often take days to formulate a response. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
USA on 01.24.05 @ 10:31 AM CST [ link]
JP Morgan admits US slavery links
Thousands of slaves were accepted as collateral for loans by two banks that later became part of JP Morgan Chase. The admission is part of an apology sent to JP Morgan staff after the bank researched its links to slavery in order to meet legislation in Chicago. Citizens Bank and Canal Bank are the two lenders that were identified. They are now closed, but were linked to Bank One, which JP Morgan bought last year. About 13,000 slaves were used as loan collateral between 1831 and 1865. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
USA on 01.24.05 @ 10:27 AM CST [ link]
Liberia's peacekeeping legacy
One of the legacies the former West African peacekeeping force for Liberia (Ecomog) left behind in the 1990s was more than 6,000 fatherless children. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
Africa on 01.24.05 @ 10:25 AM CST [ link]
A fantasy of freedom
If Bush wanted to tackle tyranny, he could start with regimes under US control. But liberty clearly has limits, says Gary Younge. Full Article : trinicenter.com
World on 01.24.05 @ 03:04 AM CST [ link]
China's VP heads to Latin America on trade visit
China's Vice-President Zeng Qinghong headed for Latin America and the Caribbean on Sunday on a quest to feed the booming Chinese economy's growing appetite for natural resources and energy. Full Article : tehrantimes.com
China on 01.24.05 @ 03:01 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, January 23rd
Chinese anti-Malaria plant artemisia annua grown in Africa
The Chinese and Vietnamese anti-Malaria plant sweet wormwood or artemisia annua will now be grown in Africa, where the soil and climate are suitable, under a World Health Organisation-US Agency for International Development project. Artemisinin is the extract of wormwood that is useful against Malaria. The demand for the plant from China has exhausted supplies, leading USAID to promote new plantings in East Africa, FrontLines, a USAID publication, says. Full Article : newkerala.com
Africa on 01.23.05 @ 10:36 PM CST [ link]
Ivorians in South Africa yearn to go back home
While political talks take place to end the almost five year crisis in the Ivory Coast. Thousands of Ivorians in South Africa yearn to go back to their country. Many fled almost five years ago because of the violence. Marc Gbaffou (32), who is studying food technology in Johannesburg, wonders, like many others here, if his family is safe back home. Full Article : sabcnews.com
Africa on 01.23.05 @ 10:33 PM CST [ link]
West over-reacts to Iranian leader's visit to Zimbabwe
JUDGING by the abusive reaction of US Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice to the recent visit to Zimbabwe by the Iranian President, His Excellency Feyed Mohammed Khatami, imperialist forces are pretty upset about the consolidation of relations between Zimbabwe and Iran which was demonstrated through the recent visit and the agreements signed. Full Article : zimbabwemail.com
Africa on 01.23.05 @ 06:31 PM CST [ link]
The Radioactive Cover-Up at Rocky Flats
An FBI agent alleges that the government hasn't come clean about the dumping of radioactive waste at a closed Colorado weapons plant - and now the site is being turned into a park. Full Article : truthout.org
USA on 01.23.05 @ 01:02 PM CST [ link]
Inaugural Protests in Many Cities
Photos : commondreams.org
USA on 01.23.05 @ 12:59 PM CST [ link]
Thousands of Cubans protest against US blockade
Over 5,000 people gathered Saturday in Mantua in the western province of Pinar del Rio, demanding an end to the economic blockade imposed by the United States on Cuba. During the Open Tribune of the Revolution, which takes place every other Saturday in Cuba, the demonstrators condemned the hostile policy Washington has kept for more than 40 years against the island country. Full Article : english.people.com.cn
Caribbean on 01.23.05 @ 12:55 PM CST [ link]
Plagiarism Charge Flies Over Discovery
A Peruvian archaeologist is hurling allegations of plagiarism and intellectual plunder at American colleagues over a barren desert landscape where a mysterious culture built pyramids nearly 5,000 years ago. Peru's government and some U.S. researchers have lined up firmly behind Ruth Shady, who has long researched the ruins of Caral, the oldest known city in the Americas. She contends that Americans Jonathan Haas and Winifred Creamer lifted conclusions from her work to advance their own broader study, published last month in the prestigious science journal Nature. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
World on 01.23.05 @ 12:53 PM CST [ link]
The African presence in early Iraq
Evidence of the presence of African people in ancient Southwest Asia, particularly in the country now known as Iraq, stretches far back into antiquity. The Greek writer Homer, for example, describes African people referred to as "Ethiopians" as "dwelling at the ends of the earth, towards the rising and setting sun." The Greek historian Ephorus wrote that "the Ethiopians were considered as occupying all the south coasts of both Asia and Africa, divided by the Red Sea into Eastern and Western Asiatic and African." A very important part of Southwest Asia is the country that we now call Iraq. In truth, Iraq has had an African presence for thousands and thousands of years. Indeed, the first civilization of Southwest Asia, known as Sumer and located in Southern Iraq (formerly Mesopotamia "the land between the two rivers"), was dominated by Black people. Full Article : sfbayview.com
Iraq on 01.23.05 @ 05:17 AM CST [ link]
Saturday, January 22nd
Iraqi Insurgency Growing Larger, More Effective
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The United States is steadily losing ground to the Iraqi insurgency, according to every key military yardstick. A Knight Ridder analysis of U.S. government statistics shows that through all the major turning points that raised hopes of peace in Iraq, including the arrest of Saddam Hussein and the handover of sovereignty at the end of June, the insurgency, led mainly by Sunni Muslims, has become deadlier and more effective. Full Article : commondreams.org
Iraq on 01.22.05 @ 09:48 PM CST [ link]
Farmers Take to 'Supercrops' At Blistering Rate
SA and China are increasing their plantings of genetically modified crops at the fastest rates in the world, according to the International Service for the Acquisition of AgriBiotech Application. SA's acreage of genetically engineered crops rose to 500000ha last year, up 25% on 2003, placing the country among the top 14 growers of genetically engineered varieties, according to the organisation, which promotes biotechnology in the developing world. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.22.05 @ 08:37 PM CST [ link]
Rice 'apologist for white sins'
ZIMBABWE'S state-run Herald newspaper today launched a vitriolic attack on US secretary of state nominee Condoleezza Rice, calling her anti-black and an apologist for "white sins". A weekly column compared Ms Rice to her predecessor, Colin Powell, whom it called an "Uncle Tom", a put-down of a black who is overeager to win the approval of whites. "She is a black woman who will be manly and white in her relentless assault on blacks, their liberties and their remnant and dwindling sovereignties," said the column. Full Article : news.com.au
World on 01.22.05 @ 05:42 PM CST [ link]
We don't want your freedom
President Bush: Keep your freedom and democracy to yourselfThe international community does not want George W. Bush's Freedom and Democracy neither does it want its Hearts and Minds won over by Shock and Awe tactics, thank you very much. If George Bush was elected President of the United States of America, why does he address himself to the rest of the world? Full Article : pravda.ru
World on 01.22.05 @ 05:38 PM CST [ link]
Solar storm disruption alert
The largest emission of radiation by the sun in 15 years could disrupt mobile telephone communications as well as television and radio reception, scientists have said. Large solar flares were unleashed when energy stored in magnetic fields above sunspots was suddenly released, according to the scientists at Britain's Royal Astronomical Society. The effects of the solar flares were seen at different points on earth, including brilliant auroras over parts of Britain on Friday night. Full Article : english.aljazeera.net
World on 01.22.05 @ 05:36 PM CST [ link]
Outcry Over Creation of GM Smallpox Virus
Senior scientific advisers to the World Health Organisation (WHO) have recommended the creation of a genetically modified version of the smallpox virus to counter any threat of a bioterrorist attack. Permitting researchers to engineer the genes of one of the most dangerous infections known to man would make it easier to develop new drugs against smallpox, the scientists said. But the man who led the successful global vaccination campaign to eradicate smallpox from the wild said he opposed the move on the grounds that the scientific benefits were not worth the risks to public health. Full Article : news.independent.co.uk
UK on 01.22.05 @ 04:51 PM CST [ link]
The dangers of exporting democracy
Bush's crusade is based on a dangerous illusion and will fail Although President Bush's uncompromising second inaugural address does not so much as mention the words Iraq, Afghanistan and the war on terror, he and his supporters continue to engage in a planned reordering of the world. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are but one part of a supposedly universal effort to create world order by "spreading democracy". This idea is not merely quixotic - it is dangerous. The rhetoric implies that democracy is applicable in a standardised (western) form, that it can succeed everywhere, that it can remedy today's transnational dilemmas, and that it can bring peace, rather than sow disorder. It cannot. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 01.22.05 @ 12:53 PM CST [ link]
Caracas rejects US State Department imputations
Andrés Izarra, Venezuelan minister for communication and information, affirmed yesterday, Wednesday, that the real negative force in the world is the government of President George W. Bush,. He was responding to comments made in Congress by Condoleezza Rice, the newly-appointed secretary of state, in which she attacked Venezuela and its government. Full Article : granma.cu
Latin America on 01.22.05 @ 03:45 AM CST [ link]
US 'outposts of tyranny' banding together
Branded as "outposts of tyranny" by the US administration, Cuba and Iran have decided to step up bilateral cooperation in banking, farming and biotechnology, state media underscored yesterday. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
USA on 01.22.05 @ 03:42 AM CST [ link]
Democracy vow means it's time to take cover in Tehran
LEADERS across Europe and the Middle East could have been forgiven for spending George W. Bush's day of chilly glory in Washington with their fingers firmly crossed. They really have no idea what his second administration will do. His only really close ally in Europe, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, tried to calm down his nation by saying he believed his chum would adopt a more "consensual" international policy. Full Article : theadvertiser.news.com.au
USA on 01.22.05 @ 03:40 AM CST [ link]
Bush Speech: 'Be Very Afraid'
"The message from this coronation is clear: in line with its first mandate and armed with even more self-confidence, this administration will do what it deems to be right without being deflected by anyone else," the paper says. In France, both the conservative newspaper Le Figaro and the popular daily Le Parisien described Mr Bush's address as having "messianic" overtones, particularly on bringing freedom to nations around the world. "Bush has organized his second term along messianic lines that make him happier than the day-to-day management of the details of his presidency," Le Parisien writes. Full Article : sbs.com.au
USA on 01.22.05 @ 03:38 AM CST [ link]
North Korea calls US 'wrecker of democracy'
Seoul: North Korea called the United States a destroyer of democracies, as South Korean experts predicted that US President George W. Bush's second inauguration speech presages a tougher road ahead for the isolated totalitarian country. Bush embarked on his second term, vowing that his new administration would not shrink from "the great objective of ending tyranny" around the globe. Full Article : manoramaonline.com
World on 01.22.05 @ 03:33 AM CST [ link]
Protesters clash with police in Belize
Some 500 protesters clashed with police Friday in front of Belize's House of Representatives, as lawmakers voted to approve tax hikes opposed by a majority of the country's 250,000 people. Full Article : seattlepi.nwsource.com
Latin America on 01.22.05 @ 03:31 AM CST [ link]
White House scraps coalition of the willing list
The White House has scrapped its list of Iraq allies known as the coalition of the willing, which Washington used to back its argument that the 2003 invasion was a multilateral action. A senior US administration official, wishing to remain anonymous, says the White House replaced the 45-member coalition list with a smaller roster of 28 countries with troops in Iraq sometime after the June transfer of power to an interim Iraqi government. Full Article : abc.net.au
USA on 01.22.05 @ 03:29 AM CST [ link]
Icelanders apologise to Iraqis for invasion
A group of people from Iceland have taken out a full-page advertisement in The New York Times apologising to Iraqis for the invasion of their country. Full Article : abc.net.au
Europe on 01.22.05 @ 03:28 AM CST [ link]
Torture at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba – Made in USA
Persistent criticism of documented abuses and atrocities against prisoners at the US naval base in Guantamano, Cuba, in the name of the global war on terrorism, have turned human rights into a dead letter. The more than 500 prisoners caught worldwide during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have been illegally flown into eastern Cuban occupied territory, tortured and humiliated without the least concern from the UN Human Rights Commission. Full Article : politicalaffairs.net
Caribbean on 01.22.05 @ 03:26 AM CST [ link]
Friday, January 21st
Flood aid began pouring into Guyana
Flood aid began pouring into the country yesterday with the IDB announcing a $20M grant but many of the worst affected people are still without adequate relief and serious concerns remain over the continuing high water levels. Full Article : stabroeknews.com
Caribbean on 01.21.05 @ 09:09 PM CST [ link]
Rumsfeld cancels trip after accusations
US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld cancelled a planned visit to Germany after a US human rights organisation asked German authorities to prosecute him for war crimes, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) has learned. Full Article : aljazeera.net
USA on 01.21.05 @ 08:49 PM CST [ link]
Haitian slum dwellers feel Bush has abandoned them
On the day US President George W Bush began his second term, many Haitian slum dwellers said he has abandoned them after sending US troops here to prevent further bloodshed and ensure a peaceful transition after a violent uprising. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Caribbean on 01.21.05 @ 04:02 PM CST [ link]
Protesting the Bush Inauguration
As I flew into DC's National Airport Wednesday night, I could see celebratory fireworks over near the Washington Monument. It was the beginning of the Bush version of a party-something akin to Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Of course, I couldn't help but think of the much more dangerous explosions that are daily occurrences in the Iraq that Washington's war has made. After retrieving my backpack form the baggage claim, I made my way to the Metro station, purchased a farecard and got on the next train. The first thing I noticed was the numerous white women wearing fur coats and hanging tight to their tuxedo clad husbands. Not your usual subway crowd by any means. Apparently, the three inch snowfall in DC that day had screwed up the schedules of these celebrants' limousines. Ah, the sufferings of the rich and powerful. Full Article : trinicenter.com
USA on 01.21.05 @ 02:00 PM CST [ link]
Africa Faces Challenge of Keeping the Peace
Herb Howe is professor of African studies at Georgetown University in Washington and has written extensively about conflict in Africa. "My worry is that the underlying problems, causes of African conflict, are not yet really being resolved. Until those problems - for example, corruption, kleptocracy, ethnic and religious opportunistic appeals - have been addressed, we're going to have problems, " he says. Howard Wolpe is Africa program director of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. He says that some foreign assistance programs have unintentionally reinforced the inequities that helped lead to conflicts. "In Burundi, for example, in the past, foreign assistance dollars largely reinforced the efforts of a state that was dominated by a small sub-group of the Tutsi minority. So the foreign assistance dollars had the effect of further entrenching the minority and paid little attention to the exclusion of the vast majority of the population and various kinds of discriminatory and exclusionary policies that were in place," he says. Full Article : politinfo.com
Africa on 01.21.05 @ 01:16 PM CST [ link]
Africa Union offers hand to Haiti
The African Union Thursday offered to help troubled Caribbean nation Haiti to end violence and prepare for its upcoming elections. Full Article : washingtontimes.com
Africa on 01.21.05 @ 01:11 PM CST [ link]
Beijingers flock to Africa
Africa is the desired hot spot for Chinese tourists this winter. Package tours to Africa from Beijing's major travel agencies during Spring Festival are booked up; although most group tours for a one or two week-trip would set you back 15-25,000 yuan per person. Full Article : chinadaily.com.cn
Africa on 01.21.05 @ 01:07 PM CST [ link]
Thursday, January 20th
Shame of slavery blights Brazil's interior
An estimated 25,000 people are working as slave labourers in Brazil clearing the Amazon jungle for ranchers, or producing pig iron in the forest using charcoal smelters, according to a study. An unpublished report for the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) concludes that despite the best efforts of the government of President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva to free slaves and prosecute offenders the level of lawlessness in the country's interior means that the practice continues. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Latin America on 01.20.05 @ 05:18 PM CST [ link]
Caribbean tsunami 'a matter of when, not if'
A dozen major earthquakes of magnitude 7.0 or greater have occurred in the Caribbean near Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and the island of Hispaniola, shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in the past 500 years, and several have generated tsunamis. The most recent major earthquake, a magnitude 8.1 in 1946, resulted in a tsunami that killed a reported 1,600 people. Full Article : continuitycentral.com
Caribbean on 01.20.05 @ 04:50 PM CST [ link]
Yushchenko Seeks to Mend Ties With Russia
Ukrainian president-elect Viktor Yushchenko moved Thursday to repair relations with Russia, announcing he will visit Moscow the day after his inauguration on Sunday. He will then make a swing through the European Union, which Ukraine hopes to join, before returning home to the former Soviet republic. Full Article : washingtonpost.com
World on 01.20.05 @ 04:48 PM CST [ link]
Venezuela Rejects Meddling Allegations
Venezuela's foreign minister on Wednesday rejected accusations by U.S. Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice that President Hugo Chavez's government is meddling in the affairs of neighboring countries. Ali Rodriguez said that the United States, not Chavez's government, was interfering in the affairs of other nations. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Latin America on 01.20.05 @ 04:45 PM CST [ link]
Cuba calls on the United States to stop the torture
Cuba calls on the United States to stop the torture of prisoners in GuantánamoOn January 19, 2005, reflecting the indignation of our people at the atrocities committed on prisoners held at the US Naval Base in Guantánamo, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs presented the US governmental authorities in Havana and Washington with a diplomatic note denouncing the flagrant violations of human rights that the said government is daily committing on Cuban territory illegally occupied by the above-mentioned naval base. This communication called for an immediate end to that inhuman and criminal conduct. Full Article : granma.cu
Caribbean on 01.20.05 @ 04:42 PM CST [ link]
U.S. Disrespectful to the Venezuelan People
GOP Sen. Chafee to Rice: Bush Administration "Disrespectful to the Venezuelan People"At her confirmation hearings yesterday, Dr. Condoleezza Rice reserved some of her harshest language for Chavez, calling his rule, quote, "very deeply troubling." While a number of Senate democrats questioned Rice about Venezuela, the most interesting exchange came from republican Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island. Full Article : democracynow.org
USA on 01.20.05 @ 11:15 AM CST [ link]
Elementary lessons to be learned for Condoleeza Rice
Lawrence Summers, the president of Harvard, has been pilloried for suggesting that women may be biologically unsuited to succeed at mathematics. He may have a point. Just look at Condoleezza Rice. Full Article : mathaba.net
USA on 01.20.05 @ 10:57 AM CST [ link]
Zimbabwe breaks up South Africa spy ring
A South African spymaster has been arrested in Zimbabwe in a sting operation and is accused of running an espionage ring inside the country involving a number of prominent officials. The Guardian has been told that the agent was captured on December 15 in Victoria Falls after being lured into Zimbabwe from Zambia across a bridge spanning the Zambezi river. At the same time five prominent Zimbabweans were arrested, all of whom are closely linked to the inner circle of Robert Mugabe's ruling party, Zanu-PF. All five have been charged with espionage. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 01.20.05 @ 10:49 AM CST [ link]
Iran, Zimbabwe insist on nuclear rights
In a rebuff to the United States, Iran and Zimbabwe have insisted nations have a right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy. At the end of a three-day state visit to Zimbabwe, Iranian President Muhammad Khatami and Zimbabwean leader Robert Mugabe, in a joint communique on Wednesday, "noted the dangers of nuclear and chemical proliferation and emphasised the need to ban the use of weapons of mass destruction". "They welcomed the international initiatives to create nuclear-free zones, especially in the Middle East and Africa. They agreed and emphasised the right of nuclear non-proliferation treaty member states to the peaceful use of nuclear energy." Full Article : aljazeera.net
Africa on 01.20.05 @ 10:47 AM CST [ link]
Clinton Kept Hotel Rwanda Open
Paul Rusesabagina still won't go back to his native Rwanda. A decade ago, the courageous former hotel innkeeper saved more than a thousand lives during the genocidal rampage by Hutu death merchants against the Tutsis in Rwanda. The estimate is that a million Tutsis were killed. The movie, Hotel Rwanda, which stars Don Cheadle, and has garnered Academy Award buzz, tells the blood-drenched saga of how Rusesabagina repeatedly risked death to use his hotel to shelter Tutsi refugees. But Hotel Rwanda doesn't tell why President Clinton said and did nothing to stop that genocide, and four years after he left office, and ten years after the slaughter, he continues to hide the truth about his inaction. Full Article : AlterNet.org
Tyehimba on 01.20.05 @ 09:21 AM CST [ link]
Wednesday, January 19th
Tsunami death toll rises to 225,000
The death toll from the Boxing Day tsunami disaster increased to more than 225,000 today as the Indonesian health ministry raised the number of dead in the country by more than 50,000. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Asia on 01.19.05 @ 10:05 PM CST [ link]
Guinea's Leader Speaks on TV After Murder Attempt
Guinea's President Lansana Conte appeared on state television late on Wednesday, hours after he escaped what his aides said was an assassination attempt. Full Article : abcnews.go.com
Africa on 01.19.05 @ 09:32 PM CST [ link]
BOTSWANA: Court case on San rights resumes
GABORONE, 19 Jan 2005 (IRIN) - The right to live and hunt as their forefathers did in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR) is the crux of an application by 243 San Bushmen to overturn their relocation outside the game sanctuary by the Botswana government. The landmark case, which goes to the heart of minority rights in Botswana, resumed on Monday after a two-month break at the High Court in Lobatse, 60 km south of the capital, Gaborone.
Africa on 01.19.05 @ 08:57 PM CST [ more..]
Much of world thinks Bush is dangerous
A wide majority of people questioned in a BBC World Service global opinion poll published Wednesday believe that US President George W. Bush has made the world more dangerous. Full Article : turkishpress.com
World on 01.19.05 @ 08:22 PM CST [ link]
SPLA, Khartoum Deal is a Gamble
If the peace agreement signed in Kenya on January 9 really ends the 21-year-old Sudanese civil war, the killing will stop and millions of refugees will be able to go home - but the deal carries a big risk for Africa. As The Nation put it in Nairobi: "One of the elements of the settlement is that the south has the right to secede after six years. This is the first time in Africa that a peace settlement has recognised the right to secession." That's not strictly true, since the almost equally long war in Ethiopia ended in the early '90s with independence for Eritrea. But Eritrea could be treated as an exception because it had already been a separate entity in colonial times; the Sudan deal is different. The basic rule that Africa's old colonial borders must never be changed, adopted by the Organisation of African Unity (now the African Union) at the dawn of independent Africa, is starting to break down. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.19.05 @ 08:15 PM CST [ link]
Standoff between Venezuela and Colombia Continues
President Lula of Brazil and Peru's Foreign Minister have offered to mediate in the Colombian-Venezuelan crisis. Also, the Colombian Defense Minister offered to resign. Still, the standoff continues as Chavez insists on and apology and Uribe says Colombia did nothing wrong. Last week, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez recalled his ambassador to Colombia, vowing that official relations will remain frozen until Bogotá apologizes. According to statements made by Chávez and his minister of the interior, Granda was illegally kidnapped in Caracas in a complete breach of international law and Venezuelan sovereignty. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Latin America on 01.19.05 @ 01:35 PM CST [ link]
Feds Made Interracial Sex America's Taboo
In his PBS documentary Unforgiveable Blackness, on black heavyweight champion Jack Johnson, filmmaker Ken Burns masterfully captures the vitriol that whites (and some blacks) showered on Johnson for thumbing his nose at America's rabid phobia over sex between black men and white women. Johnson paid a heavy price for that defiance. He was prosecuted, forced into self-imposed, and eventually imprisoned. Full Article : alternet.org
USA on 01.19.05 @ 10:48 AM CST [ link]
Rice puts Venezuela on notice
Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Rice noted that the United States has had a long history of friendship with Venezuela and said "it is extremely unfortunate" that the govenrment of President Hugo Chavez "has not been constructive." She said the United States cannot remain indifferent to what Venezuela is doing beyond its borders. "We know the difficulty that that government is causing for its neighbours," she said, also taking note of "its close association with Fidel Castro of Cuba". Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Latin America on 01.19.05 @ 10:45 AM CST [ link]
Rice Names 'Outposts of Tyranny'
In an echo of President Bush's "axis of evil," Condoleezza Rice on Tuesday named Cuba, Myanmar, Belarus and Zimbabwe as "outposts of tyranny" requiring close U.S. attention. Full Article : news.yahoo.com
USA on 01.19.05 @ 10:36 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, January 18th
President Khatami's visit bolsters Zim-Iran ties
THE visit by Iranian President Seyed Mohammad Khatami to Zimbabwe is the hallmark of the strong ties that exist between the two countries and reflects the depth of engagement of Zimbabwe and its Middle East partner on issues of mutual concern. Full Article : zimbabweherald.com
Africa on 01.18.05 @ 07:48 PM CST [ link]
A deadly reversal
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, yesterday's victims have become today's aggressors Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 01.18.05 @ 05:26 PM CST [ link]
Indonesia Wants Foreign Troops Out Soon
Amid reports of increasing missionary work in the biggest Muslim nation on earth, Indonesia stepped up its effort to assert control over international relief operations, saying all foreign troops have to leave the country by March 26, and that its own forces would take over. The move comes one day after Indonesian military imposed sweeping restrictions on foreign aid workers in tsunami-hit Aceh amid reports that some evangelical groups are mixing Christian missionary work with humanitarian aid. Full Article : islam-online.net
Asia on 01.18.05 @ 04:32 PM CST [ link]
ON-AIR REMARK: Activists condemn racial slur
Blair, the station's weekend weather forecaster, was delivering the extended forecast early Saturday when he said, "For tomorrow, 60 degrees, Martin Luther Coon King Jr. Day, gonna see some temperatures in the mid-60s." "I don't think it was slip of the tongue, no way," said Gene Collins, director of the Las Vegas branch of National Action Network, a civil rights group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton. "I think (Blair) felt he could say it and get away with it by just saying he's sorry. Sorry isn't going to cut it. I think the station should be commended for doing the right thing and dismissing him." Full Article : reviewjournal.com
USA on 01.18.05 @ 01:50 PM CST [ link]
Iran, Zimbabwe seek sustainable development
Visiting Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said on Monday Iran and Zimbabwe seek sustainable development and cooperation in the fight againt unilateralism. During a meeting with Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe, Khatami said that the freedom and independence achieved by Zimbabwe was a great event in history and an important factor in the struggle to end discrimination and apartheid in Africa. Full Article : iranmania.com
Middle East on 01.18.05 @ 01:37 PM CST [ link]
Bush Uses Tsunami Aid to Regain Foothold in Indonesia
Besides improving Washington's image in South and Southeast Asia, the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush is hoping to achieve something more concrete from its aid efforts in the aftermath of the Dec. 26 tsunami that killed over 175,000 people along the coasts of the Indian Ocean. In particular, it is reviving its hopes of normalizing military ties with Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, whose strategically located archipelago, critical sea lanes, and historic distrust of China have long made it an ideal partner for containing Beijing. Full Article : dissidentvoice.org
USA on 01.18.05 @ 01:33 PM CST [ link]
The Ideology of American Empire
And like the repressed, history also returns. The repressed of the neo-liberal maximizer of utility returns. Self-directed, self-interested man looks into a warped mirror and finds homo religiosis. The sublime of religion that appalls us, also fascinates. What shows itself in the scenes of prison abuse does not appear as only defensive, the planned, rational response of threatened modernity but as something more burdened with emotion, something that simmers under the glassy surface of "no-touch," something sharp, frenzied, even exhibitionistic. It calls attention to itself. Underneath the neo-liberal rhetoric of a defensive war of modernity against the rise of a new barbarism, we must ask if we find instead a war of religion, an aggressive war against an ancient enemy, a new Crusade. There are those who think so. Full Article : dissidentvoice.org
USA on 01.18.05 @ 01:30 PM CST [ link]
Jump the gun or reinvent the wheel?
The last time Africa ruled herself, it did so on human labour just as anywhere else. The next time, things had changed, and it was a significant change. Machines did most of the work. The computer was set to change the way we thought, how much we thought and even to question the necessity for thinking. The industrial age, which we missed, had come to a natural end, and what we had was a technological age, and we were destined to miss it also. Full Article : vanguardngr.com
Africa on 01.18.05 @ 01:26 PM CST [ link]
Mark Thatcher is 'home with mommy'
London - Mark Thatcher, who pleaded guilty in South Africa to charges linking him to a coup plot in Equatorial Guinea, was on Monday at his mother Margaret Thatcher's home in London, a report said. The sentence was condemned as too light by some of his critics, while his mother expressed delight at the plea bargain. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 01.18.05 @ 11:16 AM CST [ link]
Britain should butt out of Africa
Mark Thatcher, son of the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, must have learnt a lesson or two out of his alleged involvement in the Equatorial Guinea coup case. Not only must he be embarrassed for having been found guilty of "unwittingly financing the acquisition of a helicopter" to have been used in the coup, but he must also have learned that Africa has the intellectual and legal means to combat unnecessary interference in its affairs. Credit should go to all those who have contributed to stopping the coup, for they have done exactly what the great African diplomat Kwame Nkurumah asked for when he said: "In order to halt foreign interference in the affairs of developing countries, it is necessary to study, understand, expose and actively combat neo-colonialism in whatever guise it may appear." Full Article : thestar.co.za
Africa on 01.18.05 @ 11:08 AM CST [ link]
Tsunami survivors live in fear of ghosts
PHUKET, Thailand -- Since the tsunami, taxi driver Wiwat Sakuldee is afraid of the dark and won't go near the beach. Like a lot of Thais on this resort island, he believes many of the disaster's victims have become restless spirits who haunt the streets after sunset. Full Article : boston.com
Asia on 01.18.05 @ 01:13 AM CST [ link]
CBS 'Memogate' Fallout
From the media interest surrounding CBS's investigation into "Memogate," one would think that the credibility of 60 Minutes' report on George W. Bush's National Guard service was the most pressing media issue facing the nation. Full Article : zmag.org
USA on 01.18.05 @ 01:11 AM CST [ link]
Stun The Right, Outrage The Left
The paradox of president Lula's first 24 months in power is that his greatest accomplishment has been the implementation of the very policies against which his own party was created. All assessments of these two years, whether celebratory or oppositional, are prey to this paradox and respond to it. Full Article : zmag.org
Latin America on 01.18.05 @ 01:08 AM CST [ link]
Monday, January 17th
A final round for the great Jack Johnson
JACK JOHNSON could evade almost any punch, and in his prime, no white boxer could ever defeat him. But outside the ring, he was hardly a match for a blatantly racist society. There are still many unanswered questions about Johnson's life and times -- he was flamboyant and notorious for telling stories that blurred fact and fiction -- but now, more than a half-century after his death, one question lingers beyond the rest. Will the U.S. government, in the form of a presidential pardon, make amends for its malicious pursuit and treatment of a man who was a legitimate American hero yet was wrongly prosecuted because of the color of his skin? Full Article : sfgate.comJack Johnson : pbs.orgMove to pardon Jack Johnson comes a century late
USA on 01.17.05 @ 11:49 PM CST [ link]
Chancellor Brown Goes to Africa
Whether the theme is 'democracy-building' in Iraq, or 'saving' Africa, whether military aggression or rice is being delivered, the assumptions and motives remain the same. And because this is the case, because no shift has taken place in Western attitudes towards the colonized and formerly colonized world, all 'Marshall Plans for Africa" and "Millenium Goals" are like a poisoned apple. Full Article : rootsie.com
Africa on 01.17.05 @ 10:06 PM CST [ link]
Not even the shadow of truth
When Colin Powell attempted to blind the world with science, to convince us that the regime of Saddam Hussein was too dangerous to tolerate, he spoke in front of a carefully hidden symbol of human outrage against war and the murder of innocent people. Behind him, but covered by an arras, was Picasso's Guernica, a passionate protest in paint against the fascist warplanes of Hitler and Mussolini slaughtering the innocent civilians of the Spanish town of Guernica. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Iraq on 01.17.05 @ 08:43 PM CST [ link]
Ex-Haitian Strongman Sued Over Attacks
NEW YORK (AP) - A former paramilitary leader from Haiti has been sued by three women who allege they were gang-raped and beaten by members of his right-wing group. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Caribbean on 01.17.05 @ 04:14 PM CST [ link]
Marley 're-burial' plans denied
The widow of reggae legend Bob Marley has distanced herself from reports that she plans to exhume his remains in Jamaica and re-bury them in Ethiopia. Full Article : news.bbc.co.ukBob Marley and JamaicaWe are glad that the family of Rita Marley has denied the report of her intention to exhume her husband and have his body reburied in Ethiopia, which she was quoted as saying was the reggae singer's spiritual home. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Caribbean on 01.17.05 @ 02:19 PM CST [ link]
Scots scientists boost malaria vaccine quest
SCOTS scientists have made a major leap forward in the development of a malaria vaccine following the discovery of an antibody which protects against the disease. Academics at Edinburgh University led a 17-month study of children in Ghana which found that those youngsters whose blood contained a particular antibody were far less likely to develop malaria than those who did not have the antibody. Each year more than one million people die from malaria, many of them children under the age of five, with 90% of cases occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. Full Article : news.scotsman.com
Africa on 01.17.05 @ 11:15 AM CST [ link]
Beijing's delicate balancing act in Africa
BEIJING In the 1960s and 1970s, Chinese engineers were hard at work throughout Africa, constructing stadiums, laying roads and building hospitals in the cold war battle for the hearts and minds of third world citizens. The politics and revolutionary idealism behind these projects faded in the 1980s but a fast-growing China with a voracious appetite for resources is now back with a vengeance. Full Article : iht.com
Africa on 01.17.05 @ 11:04 AM CST [ link]
Villagers furious with Christian Missionaries
Rage and fury has gripped this tsunami-hit tiny Hindu village in India's southern Tamil Nadu after a group of Christian missionaries allegedly refused them aid for not agreeing to follow their religion. Full Article @ in.news.yahoo.com
Asia on 01.17.05 @ 10:27 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, January 16th
Killings of Haitian Street Kids Soar
Murders of Haitian street children, which had declined after child-welfare campaigns waged by former president Jean Bertrand Aristide, have skyrocketed, according to human rights workers in Haiti. Full Article : zmag.org
Caribbean on 01.16.05 @ 09:37 PM CST [ link]
Indigenous Peoples Endure Intimidation, Repression
Indigenous peoples' organizations and their advocates in Ecuador and Bolivia are being attacked for their efforts to defend their land and other human rights, according to Oxfam America's partners in the region. In early January, indigenous groups reported the latest attacks on their offices, and threats to their safety and ongoing activities. Full Article : oxfamamerica.org
Latin America on 01.16.05 @ 09:30 PM CST [ link]
The Other Imperialist
Many in the Arab world are looking to Russia to help counter America's hegemonic position on the world stage. Is it a wise choice? Full Article : egypttoday.com
Middle East on 01.16.05 @ 05:55 PM CST [ link]
African rat sniffs out landmines
A giant African rat has become man's second best friend as it joins forces with the dog to sniff out landmines in Mozambique. The Belgian de-mining research group APOPO has eight of the rodents working alongside dogs and metal detectors on a minefield in Mozambique's coastal town of Vilanculos, some 405 miles northeast of the capital Maputo. Full Article : swissinfo.org
Africa on 01.16.05 @ 02:40 PM CST [ link]
Sir Mark Thatcher: Mumsy's Boy
"Save me, Mummy", read a placard hanging from a window opposite Cape Town's High Court last week. Sir Mark Thatcher is not noted for his quick intellect, but if he saw the poster as he left the courthouse, even he could hardly have failed to grasp its message. Baroness Thatcher's wayward son had just got out of his worst scrape yet; a charge of involvement in a Frederick Forsyth-style coup plot that could have landed him in a South African jail for 15 years, and everyone assumed that she had somehow extricated him. It would not have been the first time, after all. The former prime minister put up the £180,000 bail, freeing her son from house arrest last August. When he was in trouble in the US several years ago, she contributed to a £330,000 out-of-court settlement with an embittered former business partner, who accused him of conspiracy, money laundering, usury, perjury, theft and assault. So it would not be surprising to learn that she had settled the £300,000 fine which Sir Mark was sentenced to pay on Wednesday. That, and a four-year suspended jail sentence, was at the centre of the plea bargain which allowed him to fly out of South Africa the same day. He admitted that he had begun to suspect that a helicopter in which he invested $275,000 (£147,000) might be intended for "mercenary activity", but went ahead with the deal, contravening South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act. Full Article : independent.co.uk
Africa on 01.16.05 @ 02:24 PM CST [ link]
Mark was wrong - Carol Thatcher
Sir Mark Thatcher's sister, Carol, has said she wished he had not become involved in an alleged attempted coup in Equatorial Guinea. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
Africa on 01.16.05 @ 02:21 PM CST [ link]
S.Africa's Manuel says "obscene" wealth gap growing
South Africa's Finance Minister Trevor Manuel criticised international trade policies as benefiting wealthy nations and warned that "obscene inequalities" between the rich and the poor were widening. Full Article : alertnet.org
Africa on 01.16.05 @ 02:08 PM CST [ link]
Saturday, January 15th
Stealing history
A generation of children in remote but archeologically rich areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan is learning to loot the very heritage that defines them as a people, according to a British journalist. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Pakistan on 01.15.05 @ 04:04 PM CST [ link]
Iraq fighting belies Bush's claim
Almost lost in the midst of all the media coverage surrounding the devastating tsunami and the resultant massive international aid effort, there were reports that an entire US naval task group had been re-routed to the region to deliver humanitarian assistance. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Iraq on 01.15.05 @ 04:00 PM CST [ link]
Jury Suggests Probation for Ex-Drug Agent
An undercover agent in a sting that sent dozens of black people to prison on bogus drug charges was convicted of one of two perjury counts, and a jury recommended he serve probation. Full Article : wireservice.wired.com
USA on 01.15.05 @ 03:49 PM CST [ link]
The Madness of George W. Bush
The Madness of George W. Bush: A Reflection of Our Collective PsychosisBush's sickness is our own.George W. Bush is ill. He has a psycho-spiritual disease of the soul, a sickness that is endemic to our culture and symptomatic of the times we live in. It’s an illness that has been with us since time immemorial. Because it’s an illness that's in the soul of all of humanity, it pervades the field and is in all of us in potential at any moment, which makes it especially hard to diagnose. Full Article : baltimorechronicle.com
USA on 01.15.05 @ 02:52 PM CST [ link]
Banana Republican America
America is governed by one party rule, the press does not dare provoke that one party, the opposition party is afraid to oppose, the wealthy are getting wealthier by using the national treasury as their private piggy bank, civil liberties are under assault, workers think themselves lucky to earn starvation wages at Wal-Mart, and the man nominated to become the chief law enforcement official in the land has put in writing that torture is not such a bad thing after all. Full Article : trinicenter.com
USA on 01.15.05 @ 02:36 PM CST [ link]
'No UK apology' for colonial past
This article says it all about the paternalistic attitude towards Africa by those with serious superiority complexes who felt their colonization of Africa was justified.--Ayinde 'No UK apology' for colonial pastThe days of Britain having to apologise for its colonial past are over, Gordon Brown has said. The chancellor, speaking during a week-long tour of Africa, said it was time to talk about enduring British values of liberty and tolerance. Mr Brown has signed a debt relief deal with Tanzania which could cost the UK £1 billion. South African president Thabo Mbeki has attacked British imperialists, saying they treated Africans like savages. Mr Brown said that missionairies had come to Africa because of their sense of duty. He added that the history of internationalism and enterprise had given Britain a greater global reach than any other country. BBC political correspondent Mark Mardell said Britishness had long been a theme of the chancellor's but "never before has he been so outspoken in defending Britain's past history". Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
Africa on 01.15.05 @ 10:18 AM CST [ more..]
Friday, January 14th
The Washington Post in an Anti-Chavez Time-Warp
Once again the Washington Post, one of the most prestigious newspapers in the U.S., places its reputation on the line by distorting facts and disseminating outright falsehoods about Venezuela in its lead editorial of Friday, January 14, 2005 Full Article : trinicenter.com
Latin America on 01.14.05 @ 11:16 PM CST [ link]
Pop goes the Bush mythology bubble
The dreaded "BMB" (Bush Mythology Bubble) surely ranks right up there with the dreaded WMD, as in W's Mass Deception. An interesting comment from a former CIA employee, Michael Hasty, years ago sums up why we have people digging for the truth and some of them being eliminated such as recently happened to Gary Webb: "Whenever I hear the words "conspiracy theory" it usually means someone is getting too close to the truth." Full Article : onlinejournal.com
Caribbean on 01.14.05 @ 04:53 PM CST [ link]
Haiti Debt
Last Thursday the World Bank announced it would release $73 million in cash to Haiti’s government of Gerard Latortue that was installed by foreign powers after elected President Jean Bertrand Aristide was forced from office. For Haiti to get the World Bank cash it had to pay $52 million in outstanding arrears. Canada helped out by giving the regime a $12.7 million grant. Full Article : zmag.org
Caribbean on 01.14.05 @ 04:48 PM CST [ link]
A Restless Calm...
I'm typing as mortars are blasting away in the nearby "Green Zone." Mortars are easy to tell-the higher pitched 'thunk' of their launch, then a pause, then a loud boom that echoes through the still night. Blaring sirens wail in the distance, along with the random cracking of gunfire. Nightfall always seems to bring action in this area of central Baghdad-just last night there were many sporadic gun battles out my window. Full Article : zmag.org
Iraq on 01.14.05 @ 04:43 PM CST [ link]
Cuban Medical Scholarships Praised by Guatemalan Daily
A Guatemalan daily described the scholarships offered by the Cuban government to medical students from various Latin American nations as a notable example of cooperation. Full Article : periodico26.cu
Caribbean on 01.14.05 @ 04:39 PM CST [ link]
Swaziland Seeks Border Adjustment
South Africa's agreement to take seriously Swaziland's claim to its national territory has implications for all of Africa, and the pledges African countries have made to honour boundaries drawn up during the colonial era, diplomats tell IPS. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.14.05 @ 03:53 PM CST [ link]
3 held after raid on military museum
The director and two curators of the South African National Museum of Military History have been arrested - apparently for storing a large number of working weapons and mobile artillery pieces at the museum. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 01.14.05 @ 02:47 PM CST [ link]
Debt relief will not save Africa, warns Short
Clare Short, the former international development secretary, today criticised the government's plans for Africa for focusing too much on debt relief rather than conflict resolution. Interviewed on BBC Radio 4, the outspoken backbencher said "debt relief alone" was not enough to help Africa, as the chancellor, who is touring Africa to promote his plans, signed a deal to write off 10% of Tanzania's debts. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 01.14.05 @ 02:43 PM CST [ link]
Brazil to Press U.S. to Reduce $11 Billion in Farm Subsidies
Brazil, the world's second-largest soybean producer, will use global trade talks to press the U.S. to reduce $11 billion of annual subsidies that protect farmers from falling prices, said Agriculture Minister Roberto Rodrigues. Full Article : bloomberg.com
Latin America on 01.14.05 @ 11:17 AM CST [ link]
Thatcher's flit to London
SIR Mark Thatcher was heading to London last night after buying his way out of jail in South Africa. He checked in at Cape Town's airport within hours of a judge accepting a plea bargain over his links to a bungled mercenary plot. Full Article : thesun.co.uk
Africa on 01.14.05 @ 11:11 AM CST [ link]
Tsunamis likely to put two million more in poverty in Asia: ADB
The earthquake and resultant tsunami that devastated Indian Ocean countries last month will likely throw nearly two million more people into poverty in Asia, an Asian Development Bank report says. Full Article : turkishpress.com
Asia on 01.14.05 @ 11:04 AM CST [ link]
Leftists accuse CIA in rebel nab
The Venezuelan leftist group Tupamaro Revolutionary Movement on Thursday accused the CIA of having a hand in the abduction of a Colombian rebel in Caracas. The accusation came as Venezuela called back its ambassador from Colombia in a growing diplomatic row over the capture of rebel Rodrigo Granda last month. Venezuela's decision followed an acknowledgment by Colombia that it paid bounty hunters for Granda's capture in Venezuela. "We believe it is part of the policy the [U.S.] Department of State and CIA have developed, in concert with puppet governments in Latin America," said Jose Pinto, 53, secretary-general of Tupamaro, which supports President Hugo Chavez. Full Article : edition.cnn.com
Latin America on 01.14.05 @ 01:46 AM CST [ link]
Thursday, January 13th
Why We Are Horrified By The Destructive Forces Of Nature But…
To understand this dichotomy of conscience, consider why wars are fought. They are not fought to liberate a people or bring democracy to a country. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq had little to do with liberating women or throwing the Taliban and Saddam Hussein out of power and even the White House now admits that there were no Weapons of Mass Destruction. These wars, like all wars, have been fought because of greed and the quest for power and control, and the perceived need to restore honor. They are being fought to maintain and perpetuate a dominator, patriarchal society. Full Article : trinicenter.com
World on 01.13.05 @ 09:30 PM CST [ link]
Civil rights pioneer James Forman dies
January 12, 2005 James Forman, a civil rights pioneer who helped inspire young people in the 1960s as a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, has died of colon cancer, his son said Tuesday. Forman was 76. Full Article : cnn.com
USA on 01.13.05 @ 09:17 PM CST [ link]
Mugabe wise to drop Prof. Moyo
January 2005 is unfolding in a contradictory manner, in pendulum like style. It is presenting us both good and bad news. Some of the good news is emerging from Zimbabwe, where President Robert Mugabe sidestepped his controversial Information Minister, Professor Jonathan Moyo. Full Article : monitor.co.ug
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 06:03 PM CST [ link]
King of Stone Age tribe to return to jungle to rebuild
The king and the queen of an endangered aboriginal tribe vowed to rebuild their jungle kingdom on an isolated Indian island which was smashed by tsunamis. Full Article : yahoo.com
Asia on 01.13.05 @ 04:31 PM CST [ link]
Bolivia city joins anti-government rally
A strike by workers and a demonstration that drew hundreds of thousands of people paralyzed Santa Cruz on Tuesday as Bolivia's largest city joined an anti-government protest that has elicited a pledge from the president to resign if things turn violent. Full Article : seattlepi.nwsource.com
Latin America on 01.13.05 @ 04:26 PM CST [ link]
Israel opposes 'Russia-Syria missile deal'
Israel is trying to stop a sale of missiles by Russia to arch-foe Syria, which the Jewish state accuses of backing Hizbollah guerrillas and Palestinian militants, Israeli and Russian media said on Wednesday. Full Article : arabtimesonline.com
Middle East on 01.13.05 @ 04:21 PM CST [ link]
Supreme Court Limits Detention of Immigrants
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that the government may not indefinitely imprison immigrants who have been in the United States illegally for years and cannot be deported to their home countries. Full Article : boston.com
USA on 01.13.05 @ 04:15 PM CST [ link]
Toll of Missing, Dead in Indonesia Estimated Near 210,000
An official document posted here says that nearly 210,000 people in Indonesia are dead or missing from the Dec. 26 tsunami, a toll that appears to be far higher than officials have reported publicly. Rescue workers think even that number may be low. Full Article : commondreams.org
Asia on 01.13.05 @ 03:47 PM CST [ link]
Report Singles Out US, Sudan For Strong Censure
WASHINGTON - The impunity surrounding the ethnic cleansing in Darfur, Sudan and the Abu Ghraib prison scandal in U.S.-occupied Iraq has dealt a serious blow to global efforts to strengthen respect for human rights, according to a major U.S. human rights group. "No one would equate the two," according to a lengthy introduction to the 527-page survey of 60 countries by Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), "yet each, in its own way, has had an insidious effect." "One involves indifference in the face of the worst imaginable atrocities, the other is emblematic of a powerful government flouting a most basic prohibition," he wrote. "One presents a crisis that threatens many lives, the other a case of exceptionalism that threatens the most fundamental rules." Full Article : commondreams.org
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 03:39 PM CST [ link]
DRC talks make way for peaceful elections
South African President Thabo Mbeki left the Democratic Republic of Congo late on Wednesday after eight hours of high-level talks on the postwar transition process in the vast central African country. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 03:13 PM CST [ link]
Ivory Coast rebels refuse to handover arms to UN
President Thabo Mbeki says the New Forces rebel movement in the Ivory Coast have requested that they be allowed to hand over their arms to South African authorities rather than the UN. The rebels were not able to honour the January 6 deadline for disarmament because of reservations regarding the process. Full Article : sabcnews.com
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 03:10 PM CST [ link]
Earth shattering find in Africa
The African continent is slowly being pulled apart and new data collected by University of Leeds and Royal Holloway, University of London researchers suggests that molten rock from deep within the Earth is helping the rifting. Their findings, which help explain how continents split apart, are published in Nature this week. Full Article : innovations-report.de
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 03:08 PM CST [ link]
Mozambican NGOs Call for 'Unconditional' Debt Relief
Mozambican NGOs on Wednesday called for the "total and unconditional" cancellation of Africa's foreign debt, in a message addressed to the British Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, currently on a tour of the continent. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 03:05 PM CST [ link]
Bob Marley Bound for Africa
Bob Marley's widow plans to exhume the remains of the late reggae king and rebury them in his "spiritual resting place" of Ethiopia on what would have been his 60th birthday. "We are working on bringing his remains to Ethiopia," Rita Marley told the Associated Press Wednesday. "It is part of Bob's own mission." Full Article : eonline.com
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 03:02 PM CST [ link]
Jump the gun or reinvent the wheel?
What is Africa like in the beginning of the third millennium? It is a question which is similar to asking: what is childhood like, or what is old age like? It is all too similar, and all too diverse. In sub-Saharan Africa in particular, this is particularly true. There are deserts and there are rainforests, there is poverty and there is poverty. It might have been thought an irony that Africa has been named the continent of the new millennium, had two American presidents not done two separate tours of the continent, each historic in its own way and right, in the last five years. Full Article : vanguardngr.com
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 03:00 PM CST [ link]
African nations tackle polio rise
Health ministers from eight African countries are to meet United Nations health experts to discuss how to finally eradicate polio. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 02:56 PM CST [ link]
Britain Once a Coloniser - Now a Saviour?
Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, paid a lightning visit to Kenya, Wednesday, this at the start of a week-long tour of Africa that is aimed at garnering support for efforts to fight poverty on the continent. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 02:55 PM CST [ link]
Thatcher Quits South Africa after Deal
Thatcher Quits South Africa after Deal Saves Him from Prison The son of the former prime minister pleaded guilty in a Cape Town court to unwittingly helping bankroll a botched coup plot in oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, in exchange for a £265,000 fine, a suspended jail sentence and the right to rejoin his family in the United States. Full Article : news.scotsman.com
Africa on 01.13.05 @ 02:53 PM CST [ link]
Wednesday, January 12th
What's Our Biggest Problem...the Insurgency or Bush?
The Washington establishment must be wondering today how it was convinced into making such a fatal mistake. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Saddam Hussein had no terrorist links or involvement in the September 11 terror attack. US casualties (dead and wounded) now stand at 10 percent of the US invasion force. Full Article : counterpunch.org
Iraq on 01.12.05 @ 10:13 PM CST [ link]
Iraq weapons hunt is officially over
Four months after Charles Duelfer, who led the weapons hunt in 2004, submitted an interim report to Congress, a senior intelligence official said the findings will stand as the ISG's final conclusions and will be published this spring. President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top administration officials asserted before the U.S. invasion in March 2003 that Iraq was reconstituting its nuclear-weapons program, had chemical and biological weapons, and maintained links to al-Qaida affiliates to whom it might give such weapons to use against the United States. Bush has expressed disappointment that no weapons or weapons programs were found, but the White House has been reluctant to call off the hunt, holding out the possibility that weapons were moved out of Iraq before the war or are well-hidden somewhere inside the country. But the intelligence official said that possibility is very small. Full Article : seattletimes.nwsource.com
Iraq on 01.12.05 @ 08:20 PM CST [ link]
Mark Thatcher to plead guilty
Mark Thatcher, the son of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, will plead guilty to charges of funding an attempted coup plot in Equatorial Guinea. A source quoted by Britain's Press Association said the 51-year-old Briton would agree in court to pay a fine of approximately three million South African rand (roughly 380,000 euros, 505,000 dollars), and plead guilty to a charge of contravening Section Two of the regulations of South Africa's Foreign Military Assistance Act. If he failed to pay, he could face a five-year jail term, the source said. Full Article : turkishpress.comAs usual, they let them off the hook.
Africa on 01.12.05 @ 04:46 PM CST [ link]
Hidden laboratory sheds light on Leonardo's genius
Discovery of hidden laboratory sheds light on Leonardo's geniusResearchers have discovered the hidden laboratory used by Leonardo da Vinci for studies of flight and other pioneering scientific work in previously sealed rooms at a monastery next to the Basilica of the Santissima Annunziata, in the heart of Florence. Full Article : independent.co.uk
Europe on 01.12.05 @ 01:14 PM CST [ link]
Blistering attacks threaten Iraq election
While the world's attention has been on the disaster in Asia, the situation in Iraq has deteriorated so much that the insurgency has developed into near-open warfare. The head of Iraq's intelligence service Gen Muhammad Shahwani now puts the number of insurgents at 200,000, of which 40,000 are said to be the hard core and the rest active supporters. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Iraq on 01.12.05 @ 12:58 PM CST [ link]
InterOil Corp. to start the next well in Papua New Guinea
InterOil Corp. intends to start the next well in its multi-well drilling program by the end of 1Q 2005. This well is on the Black Bass Prospect in Petroleum Prospecting License (PPL) 236 in Papua New Guinea and is approximately 100 mi (160 km) northwest of Port Moresby. The primary target is a limestone reef, which was identified by a recently conducted seismic survey. The depth of this reef is estimated to be 3,937 ft. Full Article : ogj.pennnet.com
World on 01.12.05 @ 12:18 PM CST [ link]
Tsunami Showed What World Thinks of Africa
As last week closed, the amounts of money pledged to deal with the Asian tsunami was nearly $4 billion - and Africa was bewildered and deeply worried. As the world rushed to help Asia, where the deadly Christmas weekend tsunami wave killed 150,000 people and left millions homeless, there were fears that poor Africa would be forgotten. If the tsunami had swept across Africa, it would have been nothing short of a miracle if at this point the pledges for help had reached even $250 million. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.12.05 @ 11:20 AM CST [ link]
Polio spreads through Africa
The ban on polio immunisations by northern Nigeria has resulted in a rapid spread of the life-threatening disease through Africa in the last year, Medinfo said on Tuesday. Twelve previously polio-free countries were re-infected with the virus in 2004, and the problem was escalating in Nigeria, Sudan, and the Ivory Coast, the health information service said in a statement. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 01.12.05 @ 11:18 AM CST [ link]
Norway and South Africa stay best of friends
The United Nations has for several years ranked Norway as the most developed country in the world and it is among the most generous donors of aid. Yet it does not flaunt its achievements. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 01.12.05 @ 11:15 AM CST [ link]
Ex-rebels boycott Mbeki in Ivory Coast
South African President Thabo Mbeki, attempting to mediate the peace efforts in Ivory Coast, attended a cabinet meeting in the divided west African country but a no-show by ex-rebel members of the government of national reconciliation highlighted the problems he faces. Full Article : turkishpress.com
Africa on 01.12.05 @ 11:13 AM CST [ link]
Tour diary: Gordon Brown in Africa
Gordon Brown is in Africa to highlight poverty issues. The BBC's political correspondent, Mark Mardell, is travelling with the chancellor. Here is his diary of the trip, with the most recent entry first. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
Africa on 01.12.05 @ 11:11 AM CST [ link]
Africa Social Forum
"The story of the poor goes round and round. But what about the story of the rich? The story not being told is that of the beneficiaries of slavery and colonialism. The story of exploitation that put us into this dispensation, commodified our own life for profit. They divided and ruled. Can we unite and live? Can we unite for the world that will be our world? Let us rise up and begin to tell this story* of why they continue to be rich, continue to plunder." -- Wahu Kaara, Kenyan feminist activist speaking at the ASF opening plenary At the opening plenary of the Africa Social Forum in Lusaka, Zambia (10-14 December, 2004), delegates from across the continent gave varied testimonies that coalesced around a single truth: recolonisation is worse than slavery. Full Article : zmag.org
Tyehimba on 01.12.05 @ 09:24 AM CST [ link]
Flash Animation: Chickenhawks Hall of Shame
Flash Animation : geeklog
USA on 01.12.05 @ 01:37 AM CST [ link]
Latin America in Transformation
For many people, especially those who have been keeping up with the transformations in Latin America, the name of the political scientist, Marta Harnecker is well known. Her analyses, for years, have been essential for understanding what is happening in the continent. Born in Chile, lived for many years in Cuba after escaping Augusto Pinochet's repressive regime. This thinker has been tuned with the worker's movement and has travelled to many countries, including Brazil, to find out the reality of social and popular movements. Now she is involved with the Bolivarian revolution led by Hugo Chávez Frias. Full Article : zmag.org
Latin America on 01.12.05 @ 01:33 AM CST [ link]
Canada plays big role in propping up Haiti regime
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — The Canadian government is taking a leadership role in propping up the U.S.-installed regime in Haiti and keeping Fanmi Lavalas, the party of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, from returning to power. While the Canadian government currently promotes a message of reconciliation and advocates the peaceful reconstruction of Haitian society, it quietly supported the U.S. overthrow of democratically elected President Aristide. Full Article : zmag.org
Caribbean on 01.12.05 @ 01:26 AM CST [ link]
Targeting teens for troops
ATLANTA - Sprawled beneath an olive-green camouflage net snapping like a bullwhip in cold, blustery winds, Senae Hobson, a petite 17-year-old, shivers in a T-shirt behind a .50-caliber machine gun, hardly able to straddle the huge weapon. Smiling timidly, she listens as a burly veteran sergeant named Ray McCommons, 35, - warmly clad in an Army field jacket - tells her how to operate the gun. Nearby, other teenagers, baby-faced boys mostly, nervously await their turn, many flexing their bravado in sleeveless shirts. Full Article : news-journal.com
USA on 01.12.05 @ 01:22 AM CST [ link]
Caribbean Festival Dedicated to Venezuela in 2005
The 25th International Caribbean Festival, scheduled for July, will be dedicated to the cultural wealth of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The event, to be held in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba, will promote several aspects of Venezuelan culture, which comes from African and Spanish roots. Full Article : cubaxp.com
Caribbean on 01.12.05 @ 01:17 AM CST [ link]
Israeli trench plan could destroy homes
Israeli military planners have asked authorities for permission to destroy up to 3,000 Palestinian homes in the southern Gaza Strip to dig a trench meant to halt weapons smuggling across the Egyptian border, officials said Tuesday. Full Article : nwsource.com
Middle East on 01.12.05 @ 01:15 AM CST [ link]
Vladimir Putin and the global realignment
Putin's fall from grace has been swift and steep. He's gone from the White House penthouse to the Crawford chicken coop in just a matter of weeks. The man who George Bush affectionately refers to as "Pootie-poot" is no longer the trusted ally and bosom companion he was in the first four years of the Bush regime. Instead, Washington is reassessing its connection to the Russian president and reshaping its foreign policy to fit the new developments. Full Article : trinicenter.com
USA on 01.12.05 @ 01:06 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, January 11th
UN to set up computer centres in Africa
The United Nations will provide 20 African countries community telephone and computer centres to help them develop education, health, agriculture sectors and governance and create information societies, the United Nations International Telecommunications Union said today. Full Article : newkerala.com
Africa on 01.11.05 @ 11:51 AM CST [ link]
SA Could Build Ships for Rest of Africa
Stronger ties between SA and Dutch shipbuilder Damen could see this country building vessels for the rest of Africa, the company's regional director for Africa, Reinier van Herel, said yesterday. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.11.05 @ 11:50 AM CST [ link]
Sudan: Roots of Bloodshed Run Deep, Experts Warn
Human rights groups and other observers remain worried about the continuing violence in the western region of Darfur, despite the signing yesterday of a final peace accord between the government of Sudan and southern rebels. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.11.05 @ 11:49 AM CST [ link]
Israel Warns Egypt Not to Enter Air Space
Israel has asked Egypt to prevent its planes from entering Israeli air space near the southern port of Eilat, officials said, warning that if an attack is suspected, an intruding plane might be shot down. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Middle East on 01.11.05 @ 11:35 AM CST [ link]
Chavez issues decree to deepen land reform
Venezuela's populist president declared Monday that farmland nationwide would be inspected and some of it given to the poor, expanding agrarian reforms with a pledge to fight "the large estates." President Hugo Chavez signed a decree setting up a commission to inspect farmlands and told thousands of supporters gathered in a convention center that the plan provides "land for those who work it! Justice in the farmlands!" Full Article : sfgate.com
Latin America on 01.11.05 @ 11:32 AM CST [ link]
Chavez: Colombian Police Lied to its President
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused Colombian police forces of lying yesterday about the capture of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) "foreign minister," Ricardo Granda, saying that he had proof that Granda was illegally abducted in Caracas. Full Article : venezuelanalysis.com
Latin America on 01.11.05 @ 11:31 AM CST [ link]
U.S. Denies GIs Killed Iraq Civilians
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. spokesman denied on Monday that American soldiers killed five civilians in a hail of gunfire after a roadside bomb exploded near American troops, and an Iraqi Interior Ministry spokesman who initially issued the report backed away from the claim. Full Article : news.yahoo.com
Iraq on 01.11.05 @ 11:29 AM CST [ link]
Cheerleader excuse for Iraq abuse
A lawyer representing one of the alleged ringleaders in the Iraq prison abuse scandal has said piling naked prisoners into pyramids was comparable to cheerleader shows. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Iraq on 01.11.05 @ 11:28 AM CST [ link]
The most complete human being of our age
I wish to correct Peter Calder's movie review on Motorcycle Diaries, in which he wrote so many factual errors and biased opinions that I believe he intends to do a greater job as a political analyst than as a movie critic. It is a pity that he has not been very successful in either of them. Full Article : nzherald.co.nz
USA on 01.11.05 @ 11:24 AM CST [ link]
Guevara's struggle for Cuba's revolution
Peter Calder claims the movie The Motorcycle Diaries is sentimental and dishonest. He means the director should have let us know that the young romantic rebel, Ernesto Guevara, later turned into a "Stalinist revolutionary thug who summarily executed dissenters; who founded the forced labour camps that would later hold dissidents, homosexuals and people with Aids; who ached for the Cuban missile crisis to escalate into purifying nuclear holocaust; who abandoned the revolution because he thought Castro was a sissy; and who died in Bolivia organising a peasant revolution that failed to enlist the support of so much as a single Bolivian peasant". Full Article : nzherald.co.nz
Africa on 01.11.05 @ 11:19 AM CST [ link]
Root Causes: An Interview with Wangari Maathai
What made Maathai's movement remarkable, and would eventually attract the attention of the Nobel committee, was how it erased the distinctions between environmentalism, feminism, democratization, and human rights advocacy. Maathai saw a direct connection between problems such as deforestation and soil erosion and the failures of Kenya’s one-party state. "I got pulled deeper and deeper and saw how these issues become linked to governance, to corruption, to dictatorship," she says. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, she boldly confronted the country's ruling party and its autocratic president, Daniel Arap Moi. In their most visible showdown, Maathai led a successful campaign against Moi's plan to build a 62-story party headquarters, complete with a larger-than-life statue of himself, in Nairobi's Uhuru Park. Full Article : motherjones.com
Africa on 01.11.05 @ 11:18 AM CST [ link]
Root Causes: An Interview with Wangari Maathai
What made Maathai's movement remarkable, and would eventually attract the attention of the Nobel committee, was how it erased the distinctions between environmentalism, feminism, democratization, and human rights advocacy. Maathai saw a direct connection between problems such as deforestation and soil erosion and the failures of Kenya’s one-party state. "I got pulled deeper and deeper and saw how these issues become linked to governance, to corruption, to dictatorship," she says. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, she boldly confronted the country's ruling party and its autocratic president, Daniel Arap Moi. In their most visible showdown, Maathai led a successful campaign against Moi's plan to build a 62-story party headquarters, complete with a larger-than-life statue of himself, in Nairobi's Uhuru Park. Full Article : motherjones.com
Africa on 01.11.05 @ 11:17 AM CST [ link]
The Salvadoran Option
The Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration’s battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. Full Article : billmon.org
USA on 01.11.05 @ 11:12 AM CST [ link]
Short Attention Span Nation Presents ... Foreign Aid
Animation : markfiore.com
USA on 01.11.05 @ 11:11 AM CST [ link]
Shooter identified as US Marine
A United States Marine shot two police officers, one fatally, Sunday night. In a second gun battle three hours later, officers shot and killed the suspect. Full Article : modbee.com
Iraq on 01.11.05 @ 11:06 AM CST [ link]
Blistering attacks threaten Iraq election
While the world's attention has been on the disaster in Asia, the situation in Iraq has deteriorated so much that the insurgency has developed into near-open warfare. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
Iraq on 01.11.05 @ 11:05 AM CST [ link]
Monday, January 10th
West's hypocrisy adds to Africa's misery
GORDON BROWN is a man with a mission. Tomorrow the Chancellor will fly off on a whirlwind tour of southern Africa as he pursues his personal, political and moral crusade for what he calls a new Marshall Plan for the world’s poorest continent. Mr Brown's mission is a timely one. At a moment when global attention has been rightly focused on tackling the plight of the nations ravaged by the Asian tsunami, the Chancellor's trip should help to remind the nation and the world of the equally pressing cause of Africa. Full Article : timesonline.co.uk
Africa on 01.10.05 @ 08:21 PM CST [ link]
Why Africa does not need a new Marshall Plan
When Bob Geldof decided earlier last year to relaunch his song for the Ethiopian Famine of 1984 for Christmas 2004, he could not have imagined that on Boxing Day 2004 a tsunami would strike Asia. What is he now to do? Organise another big concert and raise more money? Would he then have to repeat that exercise 20 years on when another earthquake/tsunami/ famine strikes? Is there no end to this treadmill of giving and giving? Gordon Brown has an answer to such queries. He has a threefold initiative on debt, trade and aid which he takes to Africa on a trip tomorrow. Trade is straightforward as Brown wants the Doha round of World Trade Organisation talks to be completed. This means the rich countries have to deliver on their promise of cutting export subsidies which wreck the rural economies of the poor countries. But debt and aid are more complex. Full Article : independent.co.uk
Africa on 01.10.05 @ 08:17 PM CST [ link]
Mbeki congratulates Abbas on his victory
South African President Thabo Mbeki on Monday congratulated Mahmoud Abbas on his victory as president of the Palestinian National Authority in elections on Sunday. "I believe that this electoral mandate will contribute to the creation of conditions conducive to the resumption of the peace process and the implementation of the road map," Mbeki said, according to a statement by the foreign affairs department. South Africa commended the Palestinian people for conducting the presidential elections in a "dignified and democratic manner under the difficult and unique circumstances of ongoing Israeli occupation". Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 01.10.05 @ 08:14 PM CST [ link]
Thousands dance with Sudan president in south
Thousands of southern Sudanese danced with President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Monday one day after a peace deal was signed to end more than two decades of civil war in the south. A crowd of about 10,000 southerners singing and waving their hands encircled Bashir as he danced to traditional southern music, dressed in a civilian brown suit and covered in a white cloak symbolising peace. Full Article : keralanext.com
Africa on 01.10.05 @ 08:11 PM CST [ link]
Jury Selection Begins for Ex-Drug Agent
A pool of 101 prospective jurors began answering lawyers' questions Monday in the perjury trial of a former police officer whose discredited Tulia drug busts put dozens of people in prison. Tom Coleman could face up to 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine on each of three felony charges of aggravated perjury. The trial centers on whether Coleman lied about his own arrest record during evidentiary hearings for some of the defendants in 2003. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 01.10.05 @ 04:55 PM CST [ link]
Same goal, different killers
At least two international organizations have separately described 2004 as uniquely bad for the press worldwide. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), which represents more than half a million journalists in 110 countries, described the year as "the worst year on record" for the press, while the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontieres (RSF-Reporters Without Borders) called 2004 "the deadliest year for a decade" for journalists. The RSF assessment was released last January 5, while that of IFJ was made as early as mid-December, 2004. Full Article : abs-cbnnews.com
USA on 01.10.05 @ 04:53 PM CST [ link]
US deserters flee to Canada to avoid service in Iraq
American Army soldiers are deserting and fleeing to Canada rather than fight in Iraq, rekindling memories of the thousands of draft-dodgers who flooded north to avoid service in Vietnam. Full Article : telegraph.co.uk
USA on 01.10.05 @ 10:28 AM CST [ link]
Iran, Cuba agree on implementing Cuban power project
Iran and Cuba reached the agreement on the project of repair and maintenance and renovation of Cuba's power industry, ISNA reported on Saturday. Full Article : cubanet.org
Caribbean on 01.10.05 @ 10:24 AM CST [ link]
Second US attack on civilians feeds calls for Iraq withdrawal
US soldiers mistakenly opened fire on Iraqi police and civilians after an ambush south of Baghdad yesterday, killing five people. The incident came less than 24 hours after a mis-aimed US bomb was dropped on a home in the north of the country, killing another five Iraqis. Full Article : news.ft.com
Iraq on 01.10.05 @ 10:21 AM CST [ link]
The beginning of the end for oil
One of the surprises in the oil world in 2004 was the success of an underground documentary on the perilous state of world energy. The End of Suburbia has sold more than 10,000 DVDs and has been aired on TV around the world. Now the documentary maker behind the celluloid hit has announced the follow up, Escape From Suburbia, exclusively to Aljazeera.
Middle East on 01.10.05 @ 10:19 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, January 9th
Scientists: Earth still shaking after quake
The Earth is still ringing like a bell about two weeks after the earthquake that shook the Indian Ocean and triggered the tsunamis in Asia, according to Australian scientists. Full Article : chinadaily.com.cn
China on 01.09.05 @ 08:43 PM CST [ link]
Privations weigh down Iraqi housewives
The lives of Iraqi housewives have not got any easier since the US invasion in March 2003 and their hopes for better days are fading with every passing day. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Middle East on 01.09.05 @ 06:24 PM CST [ link]
Amnesty weighed for Afghan drug smugglers
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan leaders are considering offering amnesty to drug smugglers who get out of the country's booming narcotics industry and invest their profits in national reconstruction, senior officials told The Associated Press. Full Article : boston.com
Middle East on 01.09.05 @ 06:20 PM CST [ link]
Protective Role Of Coral, Mangroves
Tsunami calamity highlights key protective role of coral, mangrovesLong-term environmental lessons must be drawn from Asia's tsunami disaster, especially the consequences of ripping out mangroves and destroying coral reefs that help protect coasts from sea and storms, experts say. Full Article : terradaily.comA natural, low-tech solution to tsunamis: mangroves
Asia on 01.09.05 @ 06:14 PM CST [ link]
Venezuelan officials enter farm
Officials in Venezuela have gone into a cattle farm owned by a British company and may expropriate it as part of the government's land reform plans. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
Latin America on 01.09.05 @ 05:25 PM CST [ link]
The Salvador Option
The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in IraqWhat to do about the deepening quagmire of Iraq? The Pentagon's latest approach is being called "the Salvador option"—and the fact that it is being discussed at all is a measure of just how worried Donald Rumsfeld really is. "What everyone agrees is that we can't just go on as we are," one senior military officer told NEWSWEEK. NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration's battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers. Eventually the insurgency was quelled, and many U.S. conservatives consider the policy to have been a success—despite the deaths of innocent civilians and the subsequent Iran-Contra arms-for-hostages scandal. (Among the current administration officials who dealt with Central America back then is John Negroponte, who is today the U.S. ambassador to Iraq. Under Reagan, he was ambassador to Honduras.) Full Article : msnbc.msn.com
Iraq on 01.09.05 @ 03:21 AM CST [ link]
U.S. bomb from WWII found buried in Berlin
BERLIN -- Some 5,000 residents of a Berlin suburb were evacuated from their homes Saturday while explosives experts defused a 550-pound U.S. bomb believed dropped during the last months of World War II, police said. Much of downtown Potsdam was sealed off and hundreds of stores and businesses were closed to allow for the removal of the bomb, which was found during excavation work on the grounds of a hospital. Full Article : nwsource.com
Europe on 01.09.05 @ 03:15 AM CST [ link]
NZ's Agent Orange role exposed
NEW Zealand supplied Agent Orange chemicals to the United States military during the Vietnam war, a government minister has revealed. The disclosure led to immediate claims that New Zealand was in breach of the Geneva convention and could face a flood of lawsuits from veterans and Vietnamese. Full Article : news.com.au
Europe on 01.09.05 @ 03:13 AM CST [ link]
Venezuela: Troops seize large private farm
Venezuelan troops helped authorities seize a large private cattle farm Saturday with the intent of dividing it up among landless farmers. The 32,000-acre farm -- located in the western state of Cojedes - is owned by British meat magnate Lord Vestey, who says the property has been in his family for more than 100 years. Full Article : washingtontimes.com
Latin America on 01.09.05 @ 03:11 AM CST [ link]
Saturday, January 8th
Sudan peace deal raise expectations
The Sudanese government is to sign a peace deal with the southern rebels on Sunday, with an aim to end Africa's longest-running civil war. The much awaited peace agreement between Khartoum and the rebel Sudan Popular Liberation Movement (SPLM) has prompted fresh calls from the United States for renewed bid to bring peace even in the country's western Darfur region. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Africa on 01.08.05 @ 10:40 PM CST [ link]
Doubts over drug trials muddy Aids message in South Africa
In his office in Cape Town, South Africa, Zackie Achmat has been receiving messages of concern from Aids sufferers after media reports raised doubts about the safety of a drug widely used to fight the disease. His experience highlights how a scandal in the US over the manipulation of clinical trials for an Aids drug is causing concern in Africa. However, doctors in Africa are less concerned about the possibility that the drug could have side-effects than the risk that the scandal may deter HIV-infected women from seeking a treatment that could stop the virus infecting their unbon children. Full Article : news.ft.com
Africa on 01.08.05 @ 10:35 PM CST [ link]
250 members of ancient Jarawa tribe survive tsunami
Members of the ancient Jarawa tribe emerged from their forest habitat Thursday for the first time since the Dec. 26 tsunami and earthquakes that rocked the isolated Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and in a rare interaction with outsiders announced that all 250 of their fellow tribespeople had survived. Full Article : sfgate.com
Asia on 01.08.05 @ 08:35 AM CST [ link]
40 years on, Mississippi Burning case finally reaches trial
Forty years after three civil rights workers were killed on a dirt road in Mississippi on a night that came to symbolise the racial hate of the American south, an elderly leader of the Ku Klux Klan appeared in court yesterday to be formally charged with their murder. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 01.08.05 @ 08:17 AM CST [ link]
Suspected Klansman Says Not Guilty of '64 Slayings
A suspected Ku Klux Klansman pleaded not guilty on Friday to the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers in Mississippi, one of the most notorious civil rights-era crimes in the United States. Full Article : wired.com
USA on 01.08.05 @ 08:15 AM CST [ link]
Venezuela squatters, ranchers in dispute
EL CHARCOTE, Venezuela -- Hundreds of squatters have moved onto this vast cattle ranch and planted crops in hopes the land will one day be declared their own, putting them sharply at odds with the British-owned company that claims rightful ownership. The long-running dispute - like many others across Venezuela - is reaching a critical point as the government promises swift action on a sweeping plan to give "idle" land to poor farmers. Full Article : nwsource.com
Latin America on 01.08.05 @ 08:02 AM CST [ link]
Spy chief says 200,000 fighters in Iraq
The head of the Iraqi intelligence service has estimated that there are more than 200,000 active fighters and sympathisers in the war-torn country. Service director General Muhammad Abd Allah Shahwani told journalists on Monday that his assessment included 40,000 fulltime fighters and about 200,000 Iraqis involved part-time. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Iraq on 01.08.05 @ 07:59 AM CST [ link]
US eyes greater military clout in Asia following tsunami
The massive US-led relief operation in tsunami-hit Asia is expected to give the American military greater clout in the region and bolster counterterrorism efforts, analysts say. Backed by an array of US warships, planes and helicopters, more than 13,000 US military personnel have been dispatched to help Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka, the countries most affected by the December 26 disaster. Full Article : turkishpress.com
Asia on 01.08.05 @ 07:57 AM CST [ link]
World Bank approves US$73 million aid package for Haiti
The World Bank approved US$73 million in grants and loans to help Haiti implement economic reforms and recover from floods as the US-backed interim government prepares for elections later this year in the hopes of stabilising the volatile country. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Caribbean on 01.08.05 @ 12:56 AM CST [ link]
UN peacekeepers in Congo sexually exploited young girls
UN peacekeepers in Congo sexually abused and exploited women and girls, some as young as 13, according to a report released by a UN watchdog yesterday. Full Article : jamaicaobserver.com
Africa on 01.08.05 @ 12:49 AM CST [ link]
Friday, January 7th
Fight Against Black Racism Futile Without Tackling Stereotypes
Long before many white folks' have contact with black people they usually have stereotypes and myths about the so called dark race. The recent racial slurs in the sports world carried in the international Press attests to the fact that much needs to be done to clear the misconceptions many whites folks have about blacks. Full Article : allafrica.com
Africa on 01.07.05 @ 12:33 PM CST [ link]
Revealed: the British Army’s 20 years of secret racism
THE Army kept secret records of all recruits with "Asiatic or Negroid features" for almost two decades as part of a policy of "quota restrictions" on non-whites, according to official files. Papers released to the National Archives under the Freedom of Information Act show Army medical officers were instructed to make a note of all new recruits with non-North European facial features between 1957 and 1977. Full Article : theherald.co.uk
UK on 01.07.05 @ 12:27 PM CST [ link]
Payoffs to Haiti's renegade soldiers won't buy peace
While the Bush administration wages war against terrorism in Iraq, the government it propped up in Haiti has caved in to the terrorists who've seized control of parts of that impoverished Caribbean island nation. Last week, Haiti's interim Prime Minister Gerard Latortue began handing out checks to members of his country's former army, a brutal military force that was disbanded in 1995. So far, more than 200 former soldiers have received checks. The money, which the renegade soldiers say is back pay that covers the past 10 years, is actually a thinly veiled blackmail payment. Full Article : news.yahoo.com
Caribbean on 01.07.05 @ 12:19 PM CST [ link]
The Other Man-Made Tsunami
The west's crusaders, the United States and Britain, are giving less to help the tsunami victims than the cost of a Stealth bomber or a week's bloody occupation of Iraq. The bill for George Bush's coming inauguration party would rebuild much of the coastline of Sri Lanka. Bush and Blair increased their first driblets of "aid" only when it became clear that people all over the world were spontaneously giving millions and a public relations problem beckoned. The Blair government's current "generous" contribution is one sixteenth of the £800m it spent bombing Iraq before the invasion and barely one twentieth of a billion pound gift, known as a "soft loan," to the Indonesian military so that it could acquire Hawk fighter-bombers. On 24 November, one month before the tsunami struck, the Blair government gave its backing to an arms fair in Jakarta, "designed to meet an urgent need for the [Indonesian] armed forces to review its defence capabilities," reported the Jakarta Post. The Indonesian military, responsible for genocide in East Timor, has killed more than 20,000 civilians and "insurgents" in Aceh. Among the exhibitors at the arms fair was Rolls Royce, manufacturer of engines for the Hawks, which, along with British-supplied Scorpion armoured vehicles, machine guns and ammunition, were terrorizing and killing people in Aceh up to the day the tsunami devastated the province. Full Article : dissidentvoice.org
Asia on 01.07.05 @ 12:08 PM CST [ link]
"White Man's Burden" and the Iraq War
One of the important topics that continues to remain off-limits in regards to Iraq is race, and the racist theology that drove the country to war. It’s odd, in a country where so much of the history is steeped in the blood of chauvinistic wars, that Americans are still hesitant to examine the reflection in the mirror. Wasn't the nation shaped by a genocidal assault on Native Americans; killing upwards of 10 million indigenous people and decimating their culture? Or was that simply a demonstration "Manifest Destiny"; God's sordid will expressed by dispatching people of color to their immortal reward? The same could also be said of slavery; the odious transformation of people into chattel to augment the wealth of a few plantation owners. That crime was vindicated under the rubric of "states rights", a moniker that justified 200 years of methodical brutality and exploitation. Yes, these crimes always have their attendant rationalization. Full Article : zmag.org
USA on 01.07.05 @ 12:04 PM CST [ link]
India's untouchables forced out of relief camps
India's untouchables, reeling from the tsunami disaster, are being forced out of relief camps by higher caste survivors and being denied aid supplies, activists charged. Full Article : news.yahoo.com
Asia on 01.07.05 @ 11:43 AM CST [ link]
White House Paid Commentator to Promote Law
Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same. The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required commentator Armstrong Williams "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts," and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004. Full Article : commondreams.org
USA on 01.07.05 @ 10:28 AM CST [ link]
Mbeki slams Winston Churchill
Jan 04, 2005 South African President Thabo Mbeki used a speech in the Sudanese National Assembly to attack writings of late British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as demonstration of what colonial masters thought of Africans. In a speech released on Monday — but delivered in the Sudanese national assembly on Saturday — Mbeki said Churchill wrote "the famous account of the colonising exploits of (Lord) Kitchener in Sudan in the book The River War". Churchill served under Kitchener who led the colonial army that defeated "the patriotic Mahdist forces at Omdurman in 1898 and occupied Khartoum". Full Article : iafrica.com
Africa on 01.07.05 @ 06:49 AM CST [ link]
The Mighty US GI's: Lied To, Used, and Losing
Our good friend, Amer Jubran, was forced to leave the U.S. in November, 2003 for one reason only: He was one of the leading advocates of the Palestinian people in the U.S. and a powerful voice against Israel's occupation of Palestine. Together, we protested the wars and occupations in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan many times, side by side. Those who thought they had silenced him have failed. Since leaving the U.S., Amer has continued his work from his new home in Jordan. The anti-war movement is international and has opened many fronts against the US-led Global Corporate Empire. Amer Jubran continues to fight back with the heart of a lion on one of those many fronts. Full Article : axisoflogic.com
Middle East on 01.07.05 @ 05:52 AM CST [ link]
Miss. Grand Jury Takes Up 1964 Slayings
Mississippi prosecutors convened a grand jury Thursday to take up one of the last pieces of unfinished business from the civil rights era: the 1964 slayings of three voter-registration volunteers. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 01.07.05 @ 05:50 AM CST [ link]
Israeli court won't let Palestinian prisoners vote
JERUSALEM - Israel's Supreme Court on Thursday turned down a petition by the Palestinian Authority to allow thousands of prisoners held by Israel to vote in the Jan. 9 presidential election, a Courts Authority spokesman said. Full Article : khaleejtimes.com
Middle East on 01.07.05 @ 05:48 AM CST [ link]
China moves to tighten up laws against selective abortion
With over 40 million more men than women in the general population, China is seeking to beef up laws on prohibiting the selective abortion of female fetuses. Full Article : channelnewsasia.com
China on 01.07.05 @ 05:44 AM CST [ link]
Labour's 'Marshall Plan' for Africa won't work
Comparing the speech of George Marshall, promising emergency financial assistance from America to Europe after the Second World War, and that of Gordon Brown yesterday calling for more aid to Africa, is very instructive. It tells you a great deal about why Gen Marshall's plan was such a success, and why that advocated by the Chancellor and the Prime Minister is flawed. Marshall said America's objective "should be the revival of a working economy so as to permit the emergence of political and social conditions in which free institutions can exist", whereas Mr Brown's most revealing quote is "double the aid, halve the poverty". Full Article : telegraph.co.uk
UK on 01.07.05 @ 05:43 AM CST [ link]
Brown's Marshall plan for world poor
Gordon Brown launched Britain's campaign for a Marshall plan for Africa yesterday when he called on the international community to harness the "passion of compassion" generated by the Asian tsunami disaster to make 2005 a breakthrough year for the world's poorest continent. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 01.07.05 @ 05:42 AM CST [ link]
Microsoft offers free anti-virus programs
WASHINGTON -- Microsoft Corp., whose popular Windows software is a frequent target for Internet viruses, is offering a free security program to remove the most dangerous infections from computers. The program, with monthly updates, is a step toward plans by Microsoft to sell full-blown anti-virus software later this year. Microsoft said yesterday that consumers can download the new security program from the company's Web site -- www.microsoft.com -- and that updated versions will be offered automatically and free each month. It will be available starting Tuesday. Full Article : seattlepi.nwsource.com
USA on 01.07.05 @ 05:39 AM CST [ link]
AU troops to Somalia 'in weeks'
The African Union could have troops in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, within a few weeks to allow the newly elected Somali government to establish itself. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
Africa on 01.07.05 @ 04:54 AM CST [ link]
Anger among Sudan's southerners could hamper peace
Building confidence between northern and southern Sudanese will be crucial to the success of a long-awaited peace deal, and analysts fear this could be a monumental task after two decades of hostilities. Full Article : sudantribune.com
Africa on 01.07.05 @ 04:49 AM CST [ link]
Thursday, January 6th
US to buy ammunition from Taiwan
The US has plans to buy hundreds of millions of bullets from Taiwan in the first such deal ever as its supplies run low due to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Full Article : english.aljazeera.net
USA on 01.06.05 @ 04:40 PM CST [ link]
Anatomy of Racism
"This chauvinism about western superiority is not limited to their history and social etiquette and ethics, but also to their philosophical, ethnological, anthropological, neurological and psychological assumptions and theories." Truly, the history of Western civilization is littered with the corpses of the 'other' peoples. The blueprints for justifications of murder, genocide, annexation, plunder and colonization - all can be found in the Bible [1] and in the statements of its interpreters, Church fathers and leaders, and those who came later as philosophers – believing Christians and non-believing atheists, let alone the slave-traders and –masters, colonizers and warmongers.[2] Strictly speaking if there ever were just one factor around which all of them agreed to it was in their basic belief about the superiority of their white European race. Full Article : raceandhistory.com
USA on 01.06.05 @ 04:38 PM CST [ link]
The neocons have a hand in Aceh, too
Two days after the tsunami struck, President Bush, who had made no public statement, was vacationing at his ranch in Texas, and a junior spokesman was trotted out. The offer of US aid was $15m - $2m less than the star pitcher of the Boston Red Sox was paid that year. On December 27, UN emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland had criticised wealthy nations for "stinginess". The next day Bill Clinton described the tsunami as a "horror movie", and explained that international leadership was required for a sustained effort once the "emotional tug" waned. Now the White House spokesman reassured the country that Bush was "clearing some brush this morning; I think he has some friends coming in ... that he enjoys hosting; he's doing some biking and exercising ... taking walks with the first lady..." The spokesman said US aid would be increased to $35m, and added a jibe at Clinton: "The president wanted to be fully briefed on our efforts. He didn't want to make a symbolic statement about 'we feel your pain'." Full Article : trinicenter.com
USA on 01.06.05 @ 04:30 PM CST [ link]
Yates' murder convictions overturned
The Texas First Court of Appeals ruled that the conviction should be reversed because an expert witness for the state, Dr. Park Dietz, presented false testimony when he said Yates may have been influenced by an episode of the "Law & Order" television program. No such episode had ever aired. Full Article : cnn.com
USA on 01.06.05 @ 01:27 PM CST [ link]
Meanwhile, Back in Iraq...
WASHINGTON - While the world's attention has been focused for the past 10 days on the catastrophic tsunamis in South Asia and the subsequent relief efforts, the situation for the United States and its dwindling number of allies in Iraq appears to have worsened. The administration of President George W. Bush and its supporters continue to insist that elections to a constitutional assembly scheduled for Jan. 31 will turn the tide against the insurgency, even as key figures in Baghdad's interim government, as well as outside analysts, are expressing growing doubts about whether the poll should even go ahead, given the deteriorating security situation. Full Article : commondreams.org
Iraq on 01.06.05 @ 11:18 AM CST [ link]
Tsunami Possible in Nigeria – Red Cross
The Nigerian Red Cross Society yesterday urged Nigerians to be prepared for the possibility of a Tsunami-type calamity which took Asia, among other nations, by surprise last month occuring here. Full Article : thisdayonline.com
Africa on 01.06.05 @ 08:52 AM CST [ link]
Aids study in Uganda 'gravely flawed'
Federal officials involved in a US-funded study in Uganda endangered the lives of hundreds of patients testing an Aids drug because of careless and negligent research practices, a government whistleblower said on Tuesday. Dr. Jonathan Fishbein said officials at the National Institutes of Health overlooked safety problems with the drug, which was being used to protect babies in Africa from HIV infection during birth. Full Article : iafrica.comPresident Thabo Mbeki was Right!Flashback: December 18, 2004Africa's people used as guinea pigsPresident Thabo Mbeki's African National Congress published a stinging attack on Friday on top United States health officials, accusing them of treating Africans like guinea pigs and telling lies to promote the sales of a key Aids drug. Full Article : mg.co.za
Africa on 01.06.05 @ 07:46 AM CST [ link]
U.S. knew about dangers of AIDS medicine
U.S. knew about dangers of AIDS medicine destined for Africa, but proceeded anyway Weeks before President Bush announced a plan to protect African babies from AIDS, top U.S. health officials were warned that research on the key drug was flawed and may have underreported thousands of severe reactions, including deaths, government documents show. The 2002 warnings about the drug, nevirapine, were serious enough to suspend testing for more than a year, let Uganda's government know of the dangers and prompt the drug's maker to pull its request for permission to use the medicine to protect newborns in the United States. But the National Institutes of Health, the government's premier health research agency, chose not to inform the White House as it scrambled to keep its experts' concerns from scuttling the use of nevirapine in Africa as a cheap solution, according to documents obtained by the Associated Press. Full Article : newstarget.com
Africa on 01.06.05 @ 07:39 AM CST [ link]
Nelson Mandela's eldest son dies
Former South African President Nelson Mandela's only surviving son has died in a Johannesburg hospital. Makgatho Mandela, 54, had been in a critical condition for several weeks after being admitted to hospital late last year with an undisclosed illness. Full Article : news.bbc.co.uk
Africa on 01.06.05 @ 07:34 AM CST [ link]
150 Maoist rebels killed in clash in Nepal
Some 150 Maoist guerrillas died in fierce fighting with security forces in Nepal's remote southwest region, a top army official said. Full Article : turkishpress.com
Asia on 01.06.05 @ 01:15 AM CST [ link]
Ethiopian torture suspect arrested in Atlanta
Federal agents in Atlanta yesterday arrested a prominent Ethiopian human-rights abuse suspect and put him in deportation proceedings, for the first time using legal powers granted under a newly signed intelligence-reform law. Full Article : seattletimes.nwsource.com
Ethiopia on 01.06.05 @ 01:11 AM CST [ link]
Mexico offers illegal immigrants tips on how to cross US border
THE Mexican Government is distributing more than one million comic books containing advice and safety tips to immigrants who hope to slip across the United States border illegally. Full Article : timesonline.co.uk
Mexico on 01.06.05 @ 01:02 AM CST [ link]
Kuwaitis 'Planned to Hit U.S. Troops in Training'
Kuwaiti military personnel detained last week for plotting attacks against U.S. troops had planned to strike during joint exercises, a security source said Tuesday. Full Article : wireservice.wired.com
Middle East on 01.06.05 @ 12:48 AM CST [ link]
Putin aide pays for Yukos attack
PRESIDENT PUTIN of Russia has dismissed his economic adviser as the country’s representative to the G8 group of nations for publicly criticising the Kremlin's handling of the Yukos oil affair and the election in Ukraine. Full Article : timesonline.co.uk
Admin on 01.06.05 @ 12:44 AM CST [ link]
Wednesday, January 5th
North Korea Issues Wartime Guidelines
North Korea has ordered its citizens to be ready for a protracted war against the United States, issuing guidelines on evacuating to underground bunkers with weapons, food and portraits of leader Kim Jong Il. The 33-page "Detailed Wartime Guidelines," published in South Korea's Kyunghyang newspaper on Wednesday and verified by Seoul, was issued April 7, 2004, at a time when the communist regime was claiming it was Washington's next target following the Iraq war. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Korea on 01.05.05 @ 08:41 PM CST [ link]
White Man's Burden' and the Iraq War
Every facet of the war in Iraq has been painstakingly dissected like a murder victim at an autopsy. Every facet, except one. The only topic that continues to remain off-limits is race, and the racist theology that drove the country to war. It's odd, in a country where so much of the history is steeped in the blood of chauvinistic wars, that Americans are still hesitant to examine the reflection in the mirror. Wasn't the nation shaped by a genocidal assault on Native Americans; killing upwards of 10 million indigenous people and decimating their culture? Or was that simply a demonstration "Manifest Destiny"; God's sordid will expressed by dispatching people of color to their immortal reward? The same could also be said of slavery; the odious transformation of people into chattel to augment the wealth of a few plantation owners. That crime was vindicated under the rubric of "states rights", a moniker that justified 200 years of methodical brutality and exploitation. Yes, these crimes always have their attendant rationalization. Full Article : smirkingchimp.com
USA on 01.05.05 @ 08:27 PM CST [ link]
Tobacco treaty threat to economy
THE controversial World Health Organisation Framework Convention on tobacco marketing ban, to be effected as international law early this year, will have adverse implications on Zimbabwe and most countries in the SADC region whose economies are agro-based. Full Article : zimbabweherald.com
Africa on 01.05.05 @ 02:04 PM CST [ link]
The victims of the tsunami pay the price of war on Iraq
US and British aid is dwarfed by the billions both spend on slaughterThere has never been a moment like it on British television. The Vicar of Dibley, one of our gentler sitcoms, was bouncing along with its usual bonhomie on New Year's Day when it suddenly hit us with a scene from another world. Two young African children were sobbing and trying to comfort each other after their mother had died of Aids. How on earth, I wondered, would the show make us laugh after that? It made no attempt to do so. One by one the characters, famous for their parochial boorishness, stood in front of the camera wearing the white armbands which signalled their support for the Make Poverty History campaign. You would have to have been hewn from stone not to cry. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 01.05.05 @ 01:39 PM CST [ link]
Tsunami: 740 South Africans still missing
A total of 740 South Africans were still unaccounted for after last week's tsunami disaster in South Asia, the foreign affairs department said on Wednesday afternoon. Another six, who were reported to have been in the direct path of the giant waves, were feared dead. Full Article : mg.co.za
Africa on 01.05.05 @ 11:42 AM CST [ link]
Somali community appeals for aid to Africa
Ottawa's Somali community wants Canada and the world to understand that tsunami victims are not limited to Southeast Asia, but also are found in Africa. Somalia was the hardest hit of the African countries. Hundreds died there. Tens of thousands are homeless. Most of the deaths occurred in the northeastern coastal region of Puntland. Full Article : ottawa.cbc.ca
Africa on 01.05.05 @ 11:38 AM CST [ link]
Africa generously aids Asia's tsunami victims
From the poorest parts of Africa to the more industrialised countries in the north and south, Africans make their donations for Asia's tsunami victims. Mozambique made a US$ 100,000 "symbolic" donation, Nigeria gave US$ 1 million, South Africa's Red Cross today launched a fundraising drive, following Uganda, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles and Kenya. Also the AU, Algeria, Egypt and Libya have contributed significantly. Full Article : afrol.com
Africa on 01.05.05 @ 11:36 AM CST [ link]
Comparing Iraqis with Victims from the Tsunami
Comparing Iraqi Victims with Victims from the Indian Ocean TsunamiThe recent destructive tsunami caused by an earthquake in the Indian Ocean was no doubt a terrible disaster. The human victims of the disaster certainly deserve rescue, support, and assistance by the entire world community. And the world community has rallied to support these victims in a massive way, which hopefully will be adequate to the cumulative needs of all the affected people. Unfortunately, though, the Iraqi people have experienced a different sort of tragedy, which has killed well over 100,000 innocent Iraqis. The world has largely failed to rescue, support and assist the Iraqi people in their prolonged time of travail, which actually has been underway for well over a decade, but which is considerably worse since the U.S. led invasion and occupation of that ancient land. Let us make some comparisons between the tsunami and the invasion. Full Article : mediamonitors.net
USA on 01.05.05 @ 02:35 AM CST [ link]
The CIA, Crack Cocaine and the Black Community
The Death of Gary WebbOn Monday, Dec. 12, I read in the obituary section an article regarding the death of Gary Webb, the reporter for the San Jose Mercury News and author of the book entitled “Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion.” On Friday, Dec. 10, movers found the body of Gary Webb in his California home. As they entered the door, a note attached to it said, “Please do not enter. Call 911 and ask for an ambulance.” He was found with a gunshot wound to the head—which was later described as a suicide. For those of you who may not remember this reporter, on August 18, 1996, Gary Webb wrote a series of articles for the San Jose Mercury News, bearing the same name as the book, to expose the fact that the CIA worked with a drug cartel group in Nicaragua, in particular, who brought in cocaine that was later converted to crack cocaine. This crack cocaine, which first hit the West Coast and then spread throughout America, was the new craze in the Black community. Full Article : ncmonline.com
USA on 01.05.05 @ 02:32 AM CST [ link]
Tuesday, January 4th
U.S. bungled AIDS study, whistleblower says
Federal officials involved in a U.S.-funded study in Uganda endangered the lives of hundreds of patients testing an AIDS drug because of careless and negligent research practices, a government whistleblower said today. Full Article : chron.com
Africa on 01.04.05 @ 06:45 PM CST [ link]
Iran wins 'victory' over National Geographic
TEHRAN: Iran's foreign minister boasted of scoring a "victory" over National Geographic after the U.S. magazine agreed to remove a reference to the "Arabian Gulf" and stick with the "Persian Gulf" in its atlas. "National Geographic's climbdown and correction of this fake name it had used for the Persian Gulf ... is a victory for every Iranian," Kamal Kharrazi was quoted as saying Monday by the state news agency IRNA. Full Article : dailystar.com.lb
Middle East on 01.04.05 @ 06:00 PM CST [ link]
U.S. Troops Wounded in Iraq Tops 10,000
The number of U.S. troops wounded in Iraq since the start of the war in March 2003 has surpassed 10,000, the Pentagon said Tuesday in a delayed update of its casualty data. Of the 10,252 total wounded, the Pentagon said 5,396 were unable to return to duty and 4,856 sustained injuries that were light enough to allow them to resume their duties. The total is normally reported each week, but the Pentagon had not updated the figures since Dec. 22, when the number of wounded stood at 9,981. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
USA on 01.04.05 @ 05:56 PM CST [ link]
Death and Life in the Andaman Islands
I'd been wondering about the Andamans and Nicobars. These are hundreds of small islands that rise out of the Andaman Basin northwest of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. They stretch out five hundred miles towards the Bay of Bengal, and constitute a Union Territory of India with their capital at Port Blair. Most of the islands are uninhabited, the whole archipelago's population only some 350,000. The people are mostly from the Indian mainland, but there are also "tribals" of what the New Delhi calls "Mongoloid" and "Negrito" stocks. Full Article : rastafarispeaks.com
Asia on 01.04.05 @ 03:51 PM CST [ link]
Elephants help clear debris in Thailand
A year ago, they were filming battle scenes for the movie "Alexander." Now six elephants are pitching in to help with the massive cleanup from the tsunami that devastated many of Thailand's prime tourist destinations. The massive waves, which killed 5,000 and left nearly 4,000 missing in Thailand, dumped debris more than a mile from the popular beaches of Phuket island and Phang Nga province a week ago. While heavy machinery works on the tangled wreckage that used to be posh seafront resorts, some areas are too muddy or hilly for anything other than 4 foot drive. Full Article : 24hour.startribune.com
Asia on 01.04.05 @ 12:16 PM CST [ link]
The Asian tsunami: why there were no warnings
As the horrifying toll of death and destruction continues to mount in southern Asia, it becomes ever more obvious that lives could have been saved if a tsunami warning system had been in place. With just 15 to 30 minutes notice, and clear directives to flee, many people who had no idea what was happening, or how to react, could have escaped to safety. The tsunami and the earthquake that triggered it are natural phenomena. While earthquakes cannot be forecast they can be quickly pinpointed. Moreover, if the appropriate scientific equipment is in place, the formation of a tsunami can also be detected and its likely path predicted and even tracked. Full Article : wsws.org
Asia on 01.04.05 @ 11:07 AM CST [ link]
A Dark Anniversary in Afghanistan
Amid the bells and baubles of the holiday season, few in the West will pause to mark one of the year's darker anniversaries. Twenty-five years ago this month, the Red Army invaded Afghanistan, opening a Pandora's box whose effluvia include Osama bin Laden and leader of the Taliban Mullah Omar. Afghanistan has largely slipped from the collective consciousness since the U.S. bombing of 2001, which toppled the Taliban and brought a precarious, internationally enforced peace. But, as centuries of history have shown, it is dangerous to underestimate this turbulent land, whose mountains have swallowed the ambitions of more than one great power. Full Article : moscowtimes.ru
Afghan on 01.04.05 @ 11:02 AM CST [ link]
First Andes civilisation explored
An ancient civilisation was flourishing in Peru over 5,000 years ago, making it the oldest known complex society in the Americas, Nature magazine has reported. Full Article : bbc.co.uk
UK on 01.04.05 @ 08:50 AM CST [ link]
Army covered up secret quota for black recruits
It was known as D Factor, the secret Army description for black and Asian recruits. Files from 1975 released under the Freedom of Information Act show how for 20 years the largest of the Services secretly monitored the ethnic origin of new soldiers, initially to enforce a previously-unknown quota system apparently designed to ensure white domination of units. Full Article : telegraph.co.uk
USA on 01.04.05 @ 08:45 AM CST [ link]
Monday, January 3rd
Bush and the Tsunami: The Petulant and the Petty
He never fails, does he? Never fails, that is, to reduce world catastrophes and international dramas to the lowest common denominators of petty petulance, malevolence and spite. I write of the latest efforts by Bush to smear a public figure; in this case Mr Jan Egeland, of the United Nations. Being a senior UN official naturally makes him an attractive and even mandatory target for the spleen of Bush, but this instance of senseless insult highlights the ethos of the Bush regime : in any circumstances in which it is imagined there might be the slightest criticism implied of the mighty Emperor, ignore the moral imperatives and go for the weakest jugular you can find. Then get the media to state what you said over and over again until the original comment is lost in the fetid muck of Bush propaganda. Full Article : trinicenter.com
USA on 01.03.05 @ 09:45 PM CST [ link]
Egypt urges Israel to quit Palestinian towns, halt incursions
CAIRO - Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit renewed a call on Israel Monday to withdraw its troops from Palestinian towns reoccupied since the re-launch of the intifada four years ago and urged a halt to army raids. Full Article : khaleejtimes.com
Middle East on 01.03.05 @ 07:22 PM CST [ link]
Criminals Prey on Tsunami Victims Across the World
Thieves, rapists, kidnappers and hoaxers are preying on tsunami survivors and families of victims in Asian refugee camps, hospitals and in the home countries of European tourists hit by the wave. Full Article : wireservice.wired.comStarving islanders kidnap officials A desperate group of starving survivors in one of the tsunami-hit Nicobar islands kidnapped the island's top civilian official and its police chief in protest at the inadequate relief operation, it emerged yesterday. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Asia on 01.03.05 @ 07:17 PM CST [ link]
$2bn pledged, but will the world keep its promises?
The United Nations yesterday warned that huge promises of aid from rich countries to the Asia tsunami crisis might not be fulfilled as some countries use dubious methods to appear more generous than they really are. Charities and international bodies say they fear that much of the money pledged so far to help the emergency in southern Asia may not materialize because governments traditionally renege on their humanitarian pledges. Last night the death toll stood at more than 125,000, although the exact tally will probably never be known. More than 5 million people have been left homeless. Full Article : guardian.co.uk Cartoon from Trinidad Express Newspaper
USA on 01.03.05 @ 06:49 PM CST [ more..]
Ain al-Hilweh marks Fatah's 40th anniversary
Thousands of Palestinians gathered Sunday to march and light a torch in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the founding of Fatah at the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. Full Article : dailystar.com.lb
Middle East on 01.03.05 @ 05:42 PM CST [ link]
Zapatero is tested by Basques
MADRID The Basque country's declaration last week that it has the right to secede from Spain has pushed Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero toward the first domestic crisis of his tenure, political analysts say. Full Article : iht.com
Europe on 01.03.05 @ 04:29 PM CST [ link]
Zim, SA urged to respect each other's laws
ZIMBABWEANS and South Africans should respect the laws governing their respective countries despite excellent and cordial relations that exist between their governments. The two countries have a lot in common, which include history, culture, destiny and a shared boundary. In a statement, the Zimbabwe ambassador to South Africa, Cde Simon Khaya Moyo, said for many years Zimbabweans have been working in South Africa in farms, mines, hotels and other professional spheres. The relationship between the two countries’ ruling parties, Zanu-PF and African National Congress (ANC), also proves the solid ties between them. He said despite all this there was still a need for both countries to respect each other's laws. Full Article : zimbabweherald.com
Africa on 01.03.05 @ 11:31 AM CST [ link]
SA pilot seeks deal to give evidence against Thatcher
Star witness says Thatcher funded and tested helicopter for Equatorial Guinea plot Sir Mark Thatcher must have been hoping this year would be better than the last. But with his trial for allegedly breaking South Africa's anti-mercenary laws - maximum sentence 15 years - and with a number of former associates apparently lining up to give evidence against him, the signs are not looking good. The Guardian has learned that the star witness against Sir Mark has revealed the most detailed allegations yet of his role in a west African coup attempt, including a series of hitherto unknown meetings in which the son of the former British prime minister, Lady Thatcher, is described as an "investor". Crause Steyl, a South African pilot convicted last month of violating South Africa's foreign military assistance act for his role in the botched coup in Equatorial Guinea, has agreed to testify against Sir Mark in return for escaping a hefty jail sentence. Mr Steyl says the old Harrovian was fully aware of the coup and was instrumental in choosing and paying for a helicopter for the mission. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 01.03.05 @ 10:52 AM CST [ link]
Mbeki outlines bold plans for the new year
Helping countries on the African continent solve their political, economic and social problems will be a key area of South Africa's foreign policy in 2005, says President Thabo Mbeki. In a new year's message on Friday, he said particular attention would be paid to the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Ivory Coast. "Our continent of Africa has continued to make progress towards solving its political, economic and social problems. We will continue in the new year to contribute whatever we can towards the achievement of this objective. "In particular in the new year, we will have to focus on working with the governments and people of the DRC, Burundi and Cote d'Ivoire as they prepare for and hold democratic elections, as well as the Sudanese people as they engage the challenge of post-conflict reconstruction. Full Article : iol.co.za
Africa on 01.03.05 @ 10:43 AM CST [ link]
Mbeki in Sudan for ceasefire deal
President Thabo Mbeki has witnessed the signing of the Protocol on Implementation Modalities and the Permanent Ceasefire Agreement between the Sudanese government and southern rebels. The signing between the government of Sudan and the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) brings to an end a 21-year civil war and paves the way for the signing of the comprehensive peace agreement on January 9. Full Article : iafrica.com
Africa on 01.03.05 @ 10:38 AM CST [ link]
Sunday, January 2nd
Politicians face bad year - it's in the stars
BEIRUT: Tunisian astrologist Hassan Charni, the man who famously predicted the death of Princess Diana in a car crash a year before it happened, has unveiled what he believes is in store for the upcoming year. And if you are reading this President George W. Bush, you may want to look away now. Among a batch of predictions, Charni believes the U.S. president will face "significant problems before being shot dead in a public place by the fall of 2005." Full Article : dailystar.com.lb
USA on 01.02.05 @ 10:36 PM CST [ link]
One customs union for E Africa
A treaty designed to to free up trade and harmonise tariffs on goods entering Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, came into force on Saturday, marking a key step towards the region's integration, leaders said. "I am happy to note that the customs union, which is the entry point of the integration process, comes into effect with the New Year," Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki said. Full Article : news24.com
Africa on 01.02.05 @ 10:27 PM CST [ link]
If You Don't Do What We Want, Bombs Away!
The FOX News Channel has clearly been given its marching orders by the Bush Administration: Pump up hatred of Syria, rattle American sabers and threaten President Bashar Assad with a second "Shock and Awe" attack as a prelude to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's imminent visit to that country. In my opinion this is a carefully orchestrated media blitz, designed to give the Syrians the impression that Mad Dog George is just waiting for the opportunity to lay waste to Syria. Full Article : newshounds.us
USA on 01.02.05 @ 10:24 PM CST [ link]
Polluters of US perceptions
By Linda S. Heard, Al-JazeerahThe results of a recent US nationwide poll, conducted by Cornell University, are shocking. Can you believe that in the "land of the free" almost half believe the civil liberties of American-Muslims should be restricted? Most enthusiastic to single out Muslims were religious Republicans, and frequent watchers of television news channels. While more than a quarter of all respondents thought Muslims should be required to register their home addresses with the government, while almost one third supported the covert infiltration of Muslim organizations within the US. Syndicated columnist, Fox News contributor and author of "In Defense of Internment: The Case for ‘Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror" Michelle Malkin goes one step further, saying "targeted intelligence-gathering at mosques and in local Muslim communities, for example, makes perfect sense". Full Article : aljazeerah.info
USA on 01.02.05 @ 10:20 PM CST [ link]
Elders' Sea Knowledge Spares Some Thais
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Knowledge of the ocean and its currents passed down from generation to generation of a group of Thai fishermen known as the Morgan sea gypsies saved an entire village from the Asian tsunami, a newspaper said Saturday. By the time killer waves crashed over southern Thailand last Sunday the entire 181 population of their fishing village had fled to a temple in the mountains of South Surin Island, English language Thai daily The Nation reported. Full Article : newsday.com
Asia on 01.02.05 @ 08:42 PM CST [ link]
The year of brazening it out
In Bush's world, you put it behind you and declare victory Full Article : thestar.com
USA on 01.02.05 @ 08:38 PM CST [ link]
Tsunami Death Toll May Reach 200,000
The world will never know how many people lost their lives in the cataclysm that struck the Indian Ocean region a week ago. The official death toll moved incrementally forward to 123,184 yesterday, with more than 80,000 of these in Indonesia and nearly 30,000 in Sri Lanka. But one leading observer Laila Freivalds, the Swedish Foreign Minister said after visiting Thailand: "The whole area is still chaotic. Dead bodies are being collected, boats are arriving from the islands loaded with dead people. In the whole area, the death toll is beginning to rise towards 200,000." Full Article : commondreams.org
Asia on 01.02.05 @ 05:42 PM CST [ link]
Argentina Squares Off With International Financiers
December 22, 2004 - President Nestor Kirchner of Argentina is locked in a standoff with the International Monetary Fund on the third anniversary of a popular uprising. Just before Christmas, 2001 protesters surged through the streets of Buenos Aires demanding that the entire political class and its international financial backers be tossed out. The IMF along with private banks like the Bank of Boston and Citibank were denounced for their role in the country’s economic crisis. In less than two weeks the country had five presidents. Full Article : zmag.org
Latin America on 01.02.05 @ 02:48 PM CST [ link]
The Future of Pacifist Japan
I've visited lots of Japanese castles, from Kumamoto in Kyushu to Matsumae in Hokkaido. Some sit atop hills, enjoying a commanding view of the surrounding area. Some are encircled by moats, or twisting roadways designed to thwart attacks. Most castles date to the sixteenth through eighteenth centuries, or are modern concrete reconstructions of fortresses first built during those centuries. They typically sport elegant interiors, combining austerity with opulence, and outside the towering donjon barracks for the lord's samurai retainers. I'm reminded of those castles when I read about Japan's present-day fortified base, outside of Samawah, in Iraq. Full Article : trinicenter.com
Iraq on 01.02.05 @ 02:46 PM CST [ link]
A View from Syria on the Palestinian Right to Return
Then I visited the Jaramana refugee camp near Damascus, housing around 5,000 registered Palestinian refugees (of the total 500,000 that reside in Syria), mostly displaced after the 1948 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars and some one thousand who fled southern Lebanon in 1982 following the Israeli invasion. Instantly, the euphoria associated with returning to Syria to meet new relatives, savor syrupy baklava and carry on a conversation in Arabic disintegrated into shame. Shortly after I entered one of the country's ten official camps, an elderly Palestinian woman originally from Jericho reminded me of how I took for granted what for her epitomizes the core of human patience: "we're still waiting for a home of our own." Full Article : counterpunch.com
Middle East on 01.02.05 @ 10:07 AM CST [ link]
SBI suffers major blow in A&N tsunami
PORT BLAIR: Functioning of State Bank of India (SBI) in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has suffered a major blow after the tsunami tidal waves devastated four of its major branches having a total credit outflow of Rs 86-crore. Full Article : sify.com
Asia on 01.02.05 @ 10:03 AM CST [ link]
Peru Prez declares emergency after police station siege
President of Peru, Alejandro Toledo, declared a 30-day state of emergency in remote Andean province, where a group of nationalist dissidents seized a police station and took officers hostage, demanding his resignation. Full Article : hindustantimes.com
Latin America on 01.02.05 @ 09:59 AM CST [ link]
US Applying 'Israeli Tactics' in Felluce
It has recently been discovered that US and Iraqi forces have been using a method of demolishing houses in Felluce (Fallujah) that Israelis have also used on Palestinian homes. An Iraqi soldier told an Agency France Press (AFP) reporter that they set the houses on fire where they encounter pro-insurgence publications or materials. Ismail Ibrahim Shaalan, a 50 year old resident of Fallujah, explained that he saw some soldiers set houses on fire on December 14th even though there were no clashes. A US soldier also admitted that, in some situations, they use "alternative precautions" like "setting fires and bombing" for houses that are presumed to shelter insurgents. US Sergeant John Cross also said that if they are unable to enter a place, they apply alternative methods. Full Article : zaman.com
Iraq on 01.02.05 @ 09:56 AM CST [ link]
Spiritual search takes African turn
BELFORD ROXO, BRAZIL - Beyond the storefront churches and sidewalk bars on Rio's gritty north side, where the asphalt ends and dirt roads begin, Brazil gives way to Africa. The sound of atabaques, or African drums, rises in the night air from a squat brick house, and a full-throated tenor sings incantations in the ancient Yoruba tongue of Nigeria. Full Article : sun-sentinel.com
Latin America on 01.02.05 @ 09:15 AM CST [ link]
Powell and Little Bro Should Stay Home
As the Bush administration stumbles towards its response to the South Asian Disaster, tacking on pieces of response as the days move forward, I want to suggest to responsible news agencies that they urge the administration to cancel the proposed trip to South Asia. Full Article : trinicenter.com
USA on 01.02.05 @ 02:04 AM CST [ link]
Saturday, January 1st
Earthquakes and End Times, Past and Present
Two and a half centuries ago a colossal earthquake probably measuring 8.7 to 9.0 on the Richter scale, centered 200 miles off the Iberian Peninsula in the Atlantic, shook Lisbon, Portugal. The tremor lasted a few minutes, immediately followed by a tidal wave. The water of Lisbon harbor was momentarily, mysteriously sucked back, revealing the carcasses of ill-fated ships. Then the ocean surged forward through the downtown area. Historians disagree about the casualty figure of this double blow, most estimates ranging from 30,000 to 90,000 (one-third the city's population). One-third of the city's buildings were destroyed. Full Article : rastafarispeaks.com
USA on 01.01.05 @ 08:13 PM CST [ link]
How the Justice Department Continues to Screw the Sioux
They Waste No Time Putting Indians in Prison;
Do Nothing to Protect Them from Corporate PlunderAn attorney who represented the Oglala Sioux Tribe in a Grand Jury probe says an official with the U.S. Attorney's office in Rapid City failed to follow up on the theft of documents, a loss that essentially destroyed the tribe's argument. Part of the case involved claims against corporations that build homes on the reservation, dwellings that contain a disproportionately high level of mold. The head of the Oglala Lakota Sioux Housing Authority says that of the 1,700 housing units on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 73 percent have been found to contain mold, which can lead to sinus and respiratory infections. Full Article : counterpunch.org
USA on 01.01.05 @ 07:38 PM CST [ link]
Mosul election staff quit en masse
The entire staff of Iraq's Independent Electoral Commission in the northern city of Mosul, amounting to about 700 emplo-yees, have resigned amid growing violence in the country. Full Article : aljazeera.net
Iraq on 01.01.05 @ 07:35 PM CST [ link]
An example of independent foreign policy in Latin America
Pursuing the national interest of his country, Venezuela"s President Hugo Chavez has proved that it is possible to lead an independent foreign policy in Latin America. Challenging US long running interests in the region, Caracas has pushed forward cooperation agreements with Russia, Iran and China, opposed to the Washington fuelled Free Trade Area of the Americas and worked hard toward regional integration with Brazil and Argentina. Full Article : pravda.ru
Latin America on 01.01.05 @ 07:32 PM CST [ link]
Cuba: One More January, One More Victory
Without a doubt, the events of January 1, 1959 marked a turning point in Cuban history. The date has become the before and after in the centuries-old struggles of the island, and 46 years later, it has reached a meaning that was not even dreamed of when it occurred. This anniversary wraps up a year that was characterized not only by increasing US hostility, but also by a strengthening of the unity, resilience and the trust of the Cuban people in the historic leadership of the Revolution, represented by President Fidel Castro. Full Article : periodico26.cuCuban Revolution Turns 46President Musharraf greets Cuba on its Revolution Day Cuban Five: Another New Year's Eve Behind Bars
Caribbean on 01.01.05 @ 07:28 PM CST [ link]
Africa's prospects for peace brightened
Signing of Sudanese power-sharing deal boosts hope of peace in Africa Africa's prospects for peace brightened yesterday with the signing in Kenya of an accord to bring an end to Sudan's long-running conflict with southern rebels. "The new year will be a year of peace and democracy in Sudan," vowed rebel leader Yasir Arman, according to Associated Press. "It will be the end of one of the longest wars in Africa." Celebrations erupted in the streets of Khartoum at the news, with many southerners waving the rebel flag of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement. "Peace is a popular demand," said Abdullah Gomaa, a 28-year old southerner living in Khartoum. The Sudanese agreement is the latest of several deals that have sparked hope that 2005 will see peace take hold in African regions that have been plagued by long-running conflicts. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
Africa on 01.01.05 @ 11:24 AM CST [ link]
New era as East Africa becomes a tax bloc
The East African Community (EAC) Customs Union was launched yesterday, ushering in a new economic era for the countries of the region. But a cloud hung over the launch because of differences over a demand by Uganda which wants some of its industries protected. Uganda presented a list of 174 items which it wants protected. If the Ugandan demand is accepted, then Kenya, which has a high volume of trade with its eastern neighbour, is likely to suffer considerable economic damage. One of the effects of the demand would be to open the Kenyan market to the duty free export of Ugandan goods, while at the same locking out certain Kenyan products from Uganda. Full Article : eastandard.net
Africa on 01.01.05 @ 11:20 AM CST [ link]
Total number of dead: 125,977
January 1: Death toll from the Indian Ocean tsunami, according to government and health officials. East Africa 137* Bangladesh 2 Burma 36 India 12,709
Indonesia 79,940 up to 100,000
Malaysia 72
Maldives 73
Sri Lanka 28,508
Thailand 4,500* Total 125,977* The tsunami killed people as far away as east Africa. This figure includes Kenya, Seychelles, Somalia and Tanzania. The Indian government says there are 12,709 confirmed and presumed dead.
*Data from Thai national and provincial disaster centres collated by Reuters, includes at least 2,230 foreigners.
Asia on 01.01.05 @ 10:33 AM CST [ more..]
In death, imperialism lives on
For the western media, it is clear that a tourist's tragedy is more important than that of the 'locals'The number of fishing boats from Sumatra, Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu at sea when the Boxing Day tsunami hit will never be known. There is scarcely any population tally of the crowded coasts. Nameless people are consigned to unmarked graves; in mosques and temples, makeshift mortuaries, people pull aside a cloth, a piece of sacking, to see if those they loved lie beneath. As in all natural disasters, the victims are overwhelmingly the poorest. This time there was something different. The tsunami struck resorts where westerners were on holiday. For the western media, it was clear that their lives have a different order of importance from those that have died in thousands, but have no known biography, and, apparently, no intelligible tongue in which to express their feelings. This is not to diminish the trauma of loss of life, whether of tourist or fisherman. But when we distinguish between "locals" who have died and westerners, "locals" all too easily becomes a euphemism for what were once referred to as natives. Whatever tourism's merits, it risks reinforcing the imperial sensibility. Full Article : guardian.co.uk
UK on 01.01.05 @ 10:31 AM CST [ link]
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