Tuesday, May 25, 2004

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Daily News Summary

From DemocracyNow.org

Bush on Iraq: "If They Need More Troops, I Will Send Them."
In a prime-time address Monday night, President Bush vowed to send more troops to Iraq if requested by the military. He said, "If they need more troops, I will send them." 138,000 U.S. troops are currently stationed in Iraq. Nearly 800 have died since the US invasion began last March. In his 31-minute speech, Bush also vowed sovereignty would be handed over to Iraq on June 30. But questions still linger as to how much sovereignty Iraq will actually have. On Monday the U.S. put forth a new United Nations resolution that clearly states the new Iraqi government will not have the power to ask occupying troops to leave the country or to overrule military missions carried out by the U.S. and its partners.

Bush Approval Rating Drops To New Low
For Bush, the speech came on the day that his approval rating dropped to a new low -- 41 percent -- according to a new CBS poll. The president is planning to give five more prime-time speeches on Iraq in the coming weeks in what the Washington Post describes as a "tightly orchestrated public relations effort." How the speech played out in Iraq is less clear since Bush began speaking at around 4 in the morning Baghdad time.

Bush Vows To Tear Down Abu Ghraib
During his speech Bush announced the U.S. would tear down the Abu Ghraib prison if the new Iraqi government wanted it to be done. Abu Ghraib has been a symbol of abuse and torture under both Saddam Hussein and the U.S. occupation forces. In other Abu Ghraib news, US Army Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the notorious prison, has been suspended.

Gen. Sanchez, Head U.S. Office In Iraq To Be Removed
Bush made no mention of perhaps the biggest news out of Iraq Monday: the Pentagon's decision to remove the top U.S. officer in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, from his duty in Iraq. He had come under criticism for his handling of the Abu Ghraib prison torture scandal. Sanchez is expected to be brought back to the U.S. and be replaced by the Army's second-ranking general, Gen. George Casey.

Bush Reaches Out To Voters in Penn.
The Associated Press reports Bush chose to give the speech at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in order to reach out to Pennsylvania voters. Since losing Pennsylvania in the 2000 election Bush has visited the state 28 times. According to the Associated Press, Bush has visited no swing state more often.

U.S. Has Regularly Ignored War College Reports
The Center for American Progress noted the irony in Bush's appearance at the War College which has released a string of reports condemning the president's handling of Iraq and the war on terror. In January, one War College Professor released a report that concluded " "the invasion of Iraq was a diversion from the more narrow focus on defeating al Qaeda." Another report came out in March warning that in Iraq the US was "ignoring the more critical strategic aim of creating a stable, democratic nation." And last month a third report warned that U.S.-Arab relations would suffer if the US fails to articulate a clear exit strategy in Iraq.

Nader Calls for US Military & Corporate Withdrawal
While Bush was speaking at the War College, independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He called for a complete withdrawal of US military and corporate interests from Iraq by the end of the year. Nader also called on US forces to be replaced by peacekeeping forces from the United Nations.

Sacred Shrine of Imam Ali Damaged in Fighting
In Najaf, parts of the most sacred Shiite site in Iraq, the Imam Ali shrine, was damaged today in fighting between the U.S. and backers of the Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr. The inner gate of the shrine, which leads to the tomb of Imam Ali, appears to have been hit by a projectile. Imam Ali was the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law and he is the most revered saint among Shiite Muslims. Al Jazeera is broadcasting images of a torn veil covering the door to the inner shrine and damage on the walls nearby. Several people were injured in the mosque compound as well. Outside hundreds of Shiite Iraqis protested the destruction.

Soldier Nearly Killed in Prison Training Exercise At Guantanamo
In Kentucky, a former member of a military police company assigned to Guantanamo Bay, has come forward to tell the press how he was almost killed by his fellow American troops during a training exercise where his colleagues thought he was an actual inmate at Guantanamo. Sean Baker's story took place in 2003. He was stationed at the Cuban base where the military was holding hundreds of detainees captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Baker was ordered to play the role of a detainee in a training exercise. He says four U.S. soldiers who thought he was a detainee grabbed his arms, legs and twisted him. One soldier got on his back and then began to choke him while pressing his head against the steel floor. After 20 or 30 seconds Baker couldn't breathe. He gave the code word -- red -- to stop the exercise. But the beating continued until one of the soldiers noticed Baker was wearing Army boots indicating he was not a detainee but one of them. Baker suffered a traumatic brain injury that has left him with a seizure disorder. The military hasn't confirmed Baker's story but a spokesperson for the Kentucky National Guard told the Associated Press "There was a training accident, after which he was medically discharged."

FBI Admits It Mistakenly Held Portland Man In Madrid Bombing Case
In Portland Oregon, the FBI has admitted it mistakenly detained a Muslim lawyer in connection to the Madrid bombings that killed 191 people in March. Brandon Mayfield was picked up as a material witness in the case after the FBI claimed it had matched his fingerprints to prints found near the scene of the attacks. Now the FBI said the fingerprints do not match. Mayfield, who is a convert to Islam and a former US Army lieutenant, said after his release "This is a serious infringement on our civil liberties. In a climate of fear, this war on terrorism has gone to the extreme, and innocent people are victims as a result." Mayfield was held for nearly three weeks although no charges were ever filed against him.

Court Rules Against The Former H. Rap Brown
In Georgia, the former civil rights leader H. Rap Brown, who is now known as Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, lost his bid Monday for the Georgia Supreme Court to overturn his conviction for the shooting of a sheriff's deputy four years ago.

Wal-Mart Charged With Endangering Vermont's Future
The National Trust for Historic Preservation has put the state of Vermont on its list of endangered places in the country because the state is endangered of losing its small-town charm by the growth of Wal Mart. It marks the first time the national trust has put a state on its annual list. Vermont has four Wal-Mart stores and at least one more on the way.

Friday, April 30, 2004

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Daily News Summary

Iraq: A US military investigation has recommended disciplinary action against several of its officers for the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops. According to footage obtained by CBS and broadcasted by the BBC, there are "images of prisoners with wires attached to their genitals, a dog attacking an inmate, prisoners being forced to simulate having sex with each other, and one detainee with an abusive word written on his body." The highly disturbing video link can also be found at this website.
The airstrikes in Falluja in the past three days by American warplanes and helicopter gunships have been the most intense aerial bombardment in Iraq since major combat ended nearly a year ago, military officials said Thursday.
The US has sent additional heavy tanks and armoured vehicles to Iraq to combat the recent upsurge in attacks on its forces there.

Israel/Palestine: Israel's prime minister Ariel Sharon has warned his Likud party that if it rejects his Gaza pull-out plan, it would give a huge "victory" to Palestinian militants. Israeli police arrested the top Palestinian official in East Jerusalem, Sari Nusseibeh, on suspicion of hiring illegal Palestinian workers.

Syria: A top Syrian official said Tuesday's attack in Damascus was carried out by men who may have links with al-Qaeda.

Africa: Many African Finance ministers are in Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank.
They have been continuing their long-running efforts to get a more effective voice for the continent in running the two organisations. South Africa- The mainly Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party has left South Africa's cabinet after its leader was sacked by President Thabo Mbeki. Chad/Sudan- Chadian troops have clashed with the Sudanese army, following a cross-border raid into Chadian territory by Arab militiamen from Darfur in Sudan.

Indonesia: Indonesian police have re-arrested militant cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir on terror charges, immediately after his release from a Jakarta jail.

Thailand: Thai troops are braced for new attacks after over 100 suspected militants were killed on Wednesday during fighting in the country's Muslim south.

Sri Lanka: Police in central Sri Lanka have opened fire to try to break up rioting sparked by tension between local Tamil and Sinhalese communities.

Kashmir: A grenade attack on an election rally in Indian-administered Kashmir has killed three people and injured 59, the authorities say.

Italy: Hundreds of Italians have taken part in a peace march in Rome calling for three hostages held in Iraq to be released. Italy's parliament has approved a controversial media law which, critics say, strengthens Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's hold over the media.

France: France has expelled dozens of clerics for spreading radical Islam, but making such a hard-line stance stick is difficult.

Colombia: At least 21 children and two adults have been killed in the Colombian capital, Bogota, after their school bus was crushed by a bulldozer.

United States: President George W Bush says he had a "wide-ranging and cordial" conversation with the commission investigating the 11 September 2001 attacks. One NY Times article asks, "Just How 'Historic' Can an Oval Office Interview Be if It's Not Recorded?" Paul Krugman writes a biting op-ed of the Administrations decisions concerning Iraq over the past year as does Bob Herbert. In reportedly the largest Women's Rights March Ever of over one million people, a new generation showed up in the hundreds of thousands, in a ratio of five women to one male, to march for women's lives in Washington DC last Sunday.

Sunday, April 18, 2004

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UNDER THE WIRE

consider it the news summary magazine...

FROM BBC, REACTIONS AROUND THE MIDDLE EAST TO ISRAEL'S ASSASSINATION OF HAMAS LEADER

SOCIALIST PM WHO PROMISED TO PULL SPANISH TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ IS SWORN IN

HEY DO WE HAVE ROOM FOR ONE MORE ACCOUNTING SCANDAL? ERNST & WHO? ACT NOW!! DON'T MISS OUT ON THE NEXT BULL MARKET!

SUPREME COURT CONSIDERING CASES INVOLVING BUSH'S OVERSTEPPING HIS CONSTITUTIONAL AUTHORITY IN PRODUCTION OF THE WAR ON TERROR(t.m.) WHICH HAS KILLED TENS OF THOUSANDS SINCE ITS MARCH 2003 RELEASE. DISTANT SECOND THE PASSION CONTINUES INFLICTING CASUALTIES.

REMEMBER AFGHANISTAN? REMEMBER WHAT WE PROMISED THEM?

Friday, April 16, 2004

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Friday, April 16

US: The Arab television station Al Jazeera aired footage today of a captured U.S. soldier reported missing along with another soldier. Bush and Blair met to discuss support for U.N. plan for Iraqi Government. Paul Krugman writes a scathing op-ed analyzing the Iraq-Vietnam analogy.

Africa: President Thabo Mbeki today hailed his party's biggest-ever landslide in South Africa's general elections as a triumph of racial harmony and reconciliation over the efforts of opposing parties to divide the nation. Police in Madagascar have rescued 11 babies between the ages of three weeks and nine months who were in the process of being sent abroad.

South Korea: Ignoring South Korean voters' rejection of the impeachment of President Roh Moo Hyun, the nation's Constitutional Court said today that it would not be dissuaded by the election returns.

China: Seven people have been killed and tens of thousands evacuated after a chlorine gas leak at a chemical plant in south-western China, state media says.

Europe: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has gone back on trial on corruption charges after an immunity law was rejected earlier this year. The United Nations in Kosovo says it has arrested more than 260 people following the wave of violence which hit the province last month. The French government is not ruling out bandannas as discreet forms of headwear for Muslim students, the country's education minister has said.

Israel/Palestine: Read opinions from around the world on Sharon's new plan to unilaterally pull Israelis out of the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank while keeping some Palestinian land in the West Bank.

Indonesia: Indonesian police have said radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir will be questioned in connection with terrorism offences.

Japan: Japan has been celebrating the release of three of its civilians kidnapped last week in Iraq.

Sri Lanka: The United Nations children's agency, Unicef, has called for an end to all child recruitment among Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers.

Latin America: Argentina's foreign creditors will meet the government in two weeks for further talks on how much of its multi-billion dollar defaulted debt it can pay back.

Monday, March 29, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
The Massachusetts legislature on Monday approved a state constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage and create same-sex civil unions instead. Challenges were underway in three courtrooms across the country today to the first federal ban on an abortion procedure since a woman's right to terminate her pregnancy was established by Roe vs. Wade more than three decades ago. Bush has welcomed seven former communist eastern European countries as new members of Nato. Diplomatic and military officials say Sadam Hussein has provided little useful information in interrogations so far.

Europe
The incoming Spanish government, said to be considering withdrawing forces from Iraq, has agreed to double the number of its troops in Afghanistan. A survey by a pollster, CSA, showed 54% of the French wanted a new prime minister, with the popular favourite - by far - the interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy.

Middle East
The Pakistani army claimed yesterday that a spy chief of al-Qa'ida was killed in the military operation to flush out Islamic militants from the Afghan border

Iraq
American authorities accepted responsibility on Monday for the shooting deaths this month of two Iraqi journalists. The new chief American weapons inspector in Iraq has prepared a classified report on the hunt for illicit weapons.

Israel
Ariel Sharon's younger son is ordered to hand over documents linked to two corruption cases.

Asia
Two women blew themselves up at a children's store and bus stop in the capital of Uzbekistan, killing 19 people.

Latin America
President Vicente Fox of Mexico signed a justice reform proposal aimed at overhauling a system plagued by corruption, inefficiency and a lack of public accountability. The Bush administration voiced concern over a refusal by Caribbean leaders to recognize Haiti's American-backed interim government.

Wednesday, March 24, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
George J. Tenet today defended his role and that of his agency in fighting terror under the Bush and Clinton administrations before the special commission investigating the 9/11 attacks. The CIA is blamed for over-reliance on Afghan tribesmen and murky instructions from high-level Washington officials in the search for Bin Laden. The US embassy in the United Arab Emirates has been shut because of "a specific threat". Washington is highlighting the malfunctioning of Medicare saying that the program's hospital insurance trust fund could run out of money before the end of the next decade. A gay member of Congress declared Tuesday that backers of a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage were trying to restrict emotional and legal bonds that should be none of their concern.

Europe
Microsoft was fined $630 million by the European Commission, which made orders designed to tackle the company's sales monopoly. Calls for autonomy for ethnic Serbs in Kosovo were rejected by the European Union yesterday. In the UK, public's disengagement from politics was revealed in a study that found that only two in five people could name their own MP and barely half the population admitted to being interested in politics.

Middle East
Syria's vice president brushed aside the threat of U.S. economic sanctions, while analysts predicted the economic effects would be limited and the measures would make cooperation between the two nations on terrorism more difficult.

Israel/Palestine
Just one day after assassinating Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin, Israel threatened to kill the Islamic group's entire leadership and hinted that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat also might be targeted. Hamas backed off its initial threats against the United States, saying Wednesday that it would focus on attacking Israel. More about the consequences of the assassination of Yassin.

Iraq
Insurgents attacked a U.S. military patrol west of Baghdad early Wednesday and an ensuing fight left three civilians dead and two U.S. soldiers injured.

Latin America
Antigua's Prime Minister Lester Bird has conceded defeat in a general election which took place on Tuesday. A branch of Venezuela's Supreme Court overturned a ruling favoring a referendum against President Hugo Chavez yesterday.

Asia
President Chen Shui-bian of Taiwan tried to defuse a political crisis yesterday, calling for a recount in an election he narrowly won the day after a bizarre shooting slightly wounded him and his vice president.

Monday, March 22, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: A former White House security expert has accused President Bush of doing a "terrible job" of tackling terrorism. Richard Clarke said Mr Bush ignored warnings of the threat from al-Qaeda before the 11 September 2001 attacks. The accusations by Richard A. Clarke, the former White House counter terrorism specialist, that the Bush administration failed to take the threat of Al Qaeda seriously prior to Sept. 11 overtook other campaign developments Sunday and promised to reverberate this week as the Sept. 11 commission conducts a public hearing.

Israel: Hamas spiritual leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was killed at daybreak Monday when Israel Air Force helicopters fired missiles at a car carrying the wheelchair-bound head of the radical Islamic group as he left a mosque near his house in Gaza City. Tens of thousands of Palestinians have taken part in the funeral of Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the assassinated founder of the of militant group Hamas.

Europe: The Spanish authorities have arrested four more people in connection with the 11 March Madrid bombings which left 202 people dead and hundreds injured.

Middle East: Saudi Arabia's foreign minister has criticised US-led calls for reform in the Middle East. Forces loyal to the governor of Herat in western Afghanistan have regained control of the city after factional fighting reportedly killed up to 100.

Asia: Three people in Thailand have been killed in separate incidents as unrest continues in the mainly Muslim south of the country.

Latin America: El Salvador has elected a new leader. The right-wing Arena party has triumphed for the fourth time in a row. Brazil has refused to allow inspections that would reveal the capacity, characteristics and scope of the equipment developed by its navy to enrich uranium. These inspections would assist in determining whether Brazil is seeking the enrichment of uranium for peaceful purposes or is pursuing a weapons program.

Thursday, March 18, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: The US embassy in London today described claims that detainees were tortured in Guantánamo Bay as "rubbish". The House yesterday approved a simple four-point resolution praising US troops and the Iraqi people on the first anniversary of the war in Iraq, but only after a raucous debate over whether the war was warranted and had made the world a safer place. The House ethics committee yesterday authorized a probe into bribery allegations linked to House passage of the Medicare drug benefit bill, the second investigation related to the landmark Medicare reform law announced in as many days. A defiant Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia today refused to remove himself from a case involving Vice-President Dick Cheney, a good friend, dismissing suggestions of a conflict of interest. The county that was the site of the Scopes "Monkey Trial" over the teaching of evolution is asking lawmakers to amend state law so the county can charge homosexuals with crimes against nature.

Americas: Venezuela and Jamaica have refused to recognise the new Haitian government. Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez castigates the U.S., saying it misjudges him. The Venezuelan government opened an investigation yesterday that could lead to the removal of three Supreme Court magistrates who ruled that signatures on a petition for a vote to recall President Hugo Chavez were valid.

Europe: Top Republicans accused the Spaniards of appeasing terrorist groups by turning out of office the party of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. The Bush administration said Wednesday for the first time that the Spanish government had mishandled early information about the Madrid bombing when it played down evidence that Islamic extremists were behind the plot. Spain retaliated by declassifying intelligence reports today in a bid to show it told the truth about the deadly train bombings it initially attributed to Basque guerrillas. Spanish police have seized four more suspects over the Madrid train attacks, bringing to 10 the total number of arrests. Poland, which has about 2,400 troops in Iraq and was a strong supporter of the U.S.-led invasion, was “misled” about the threat from Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction, its president said today. Check out the CS Monitor's article on the growing anti-US sentiment in Europe; the war in Iraq has undermined US credibility and further polarized US and European views about the proper way to handle terrorism.

Africa: The 53-member African Union (AU) launched a pan-African parliament today, hoping to provide a new forum in which to battle perennial problems of war, poverty and disease. 67 detained men won't face coup charges in plot, Zimbabwe says. The UN says tests on a flight recorder found last week suggest that it is not from the plane that crashed in Rwanda, triggering the country's 1994 genocide.

Asia-Pacific: Pakistani troops believe they have surrounded al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri in an operation near the Afghan border, three senior Pakistani officials said this afternoon. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell yesterday praised Pakistan's attempts to root out Islamic extremists in untamed tribal regions along the Afghan border, a day after fierce clashes there claimed nearly 40 lives. South Korea's Constitutional Court has begun reviewing the country's first presidential impeachment, starting what could be months of deliberations on whether to restore Roh Moo-hyun to the presidency.

Middle East: Gun battles, riots and street fights between Serbs and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo left 22 people dead and injured about 500, officials said today. NATO is sending about 1,000 new troops to reinforce 17,500 K-For peacekeepers already there. For information of the ongoing violence in Kosovo, check out the BBC's Q&A: Kosovo violence. Saudi authorities have arrested activists this week who announced their intention to form a human rights group. President Bush and his aides have announced June as "an important deadline" for Iran to reveal all the details of its clandestine nuclear program.

Iraq: A massive car bomb gutted a hotel last night in a busy section of downtown Baghdad and destroyed two private houses, killing at least 27 people and injuring 45, US military officials said. The number dead was later revised to 17, and then to 7 - hmm... a bit too sketchy for my likes. Another car bomb went off today in the southeast city of Basra, Iraq, killing at least three Iraqi civilians. Also, at least two people were killed in fighting between U.S. troops and insurgents in the Sunni Triangle town of Fallujah. Two U.S. service members died in separate mortar attacks that also wounded 10 of their colleagues, military sources said today. Three people also died in an attack on staff at a US-funded TV station in Baquba, north of Baghdad. The military appears to be reporting REALLY sketchy figures about the number of deaths that have occurred in Iraq over the past couple days...

Israel/Palestine: Four armed Palestinians, including two teenagers, were killed yesterday during operations conducted by the Israel Defense Forces in Rafah, on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt. The BBC reports that at least one person has been killed and 17 others injured in a gun battle between Palestinian police and Hamas militants in Gaza City. Israel's Supreme Court has imposed an open-ended freeze on construction of a 25-kilometre section of the country's controversial West Bank separation barrier. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan will include a complete withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but, at most, a pullout from only a handful of settlements in the West Bank.

Haiti: Haiti's new U.S.-backed cabinet was installed Wednesday without a single member of ousted president Jean-Bertrand Aristide's Lavalas Family party. New Prime Minister Gérard Latortue apologized to Haitians and promised to introduce a culture of governmental accountability and to battle corruption in a country that has been repeatedly damaged by a cycle of coups and military-backed governments.

Wednesday, March 17, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: During the first year of the United States occupation of Iraq, antagonism toward American foreign policy in some European and Muslim countries has hardened, with public opinion overseas swinging sharply in favor of charting a course independent of Washington, a new poll has found. President Bush is now emphasizing his role as wartime commander in chief on the campaign trail. The Justice Department has opened an inquiry into whether executives at the Royal Dutch/Shell Group violated any laws by failing to disclose in a timely fashion a significant shortfall in proven reserves of oil and natural gas, a person involved in the inquiry said Tuesday. Democrats are torn over investigating GOP for alleged Republican wrongdoings. Federal Reserve officials yesterday left a key short-term interest rate unchanged at 1 percent and signaled that they are likely to leave it there for some time, in part because of sluggish job creation. A US soldier who has refused to return to serve in Iraq is expected to learn whether he will be charged with desertion later on Wednesday.

Middle East: Hundreds of Islamic militants and Pakistani government paramilitary troops engaged in heavy fighting for more than six hours on Tuesday at a fort in the Pakistani tribal areas, just miles from the Afghan border, Pakistani officials said. Concerned that the administration may not meet its target for reducing mercury emissions by 2018, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Mike Leavitt has ordered additional studies to see how it might tighten the proposed rule. At least five people have been killed in fresh clashes between Kurds and police in northern Syria, reports say. TomPaine.com writes that: What's happening in Syria has all the hallmarks of a classic, 1950s-era, Cold War-style CIA coup d'etat scheme.

Africa: A British-based development group has accused industrialised countries of failing to punish companies alleged to have profited from the DR Congo war.

Europe: Spain's prime minister-elect says his position on withdrawing troops from Iraq is unchanged despite an appeal from US President George Bush.

Israel: Israel should withdraw almost entirely from the Gaza Strip, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz recommended to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Wednesday. defense minister suggests only partial, symbolic pullout from West Bank. Security forces prevented five terror attacks in Jerusalem over the past two weeks, Border Police Major General David Tzur said on Wednesday afternoon. The Labor Party leveled harsh criticisms at Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in a "status report" released by the party on Wednesday detailing the failures and oversights of the current government after its first year in office. The High Court of Justice on Wednesday ordered to state to respond to claims that the current route of West Bank separation fence does not meet Israel's security needs and simply causes harm to the Palestinian villagers. Large numbers of IDF troops were deployed last night on the outskirts of the Gaza Strip, awaiting orders to begin operations in Palestinian Authority territories, while in another development yesterday, participants in a high level security consultation decided to escalate the selective assassinations policy. Palestinian officials speaking at a meeting in the Muqata this week presented a grim picture of the Palestinian Authority's situation in the Gaza Strip, highlighting in particular the PA's lack of control over many activists from the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, Fatah's military wing.

Iraq: For Iraqis in Harm's Way, $5,000 and 'I'm Sorry': the US is giving monetary compensation to civilians casualties in Iraq.

Latin America: A senior official from the United Nations emergency feeding agency voiced concern today over the plight of 2 million Colombians displaced by armed conflict, 80 percent of them lacking access to food.

Tuesday, March 16, 2004

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Daily News Summary

Spain
As Spanish investigators searched for between six and eight new suspects in the Madrid train bombings, senior counterterrorism officials in the United States said they were increasingly convinced that Islamic militants were behind the attacks.
Spain's incoming Socialist Prime Minister, José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, the unexpected victor in Sunday's general election, launched a withering attack on Tony Blair and George Bush yesterday over their decision to go to war in Iraq.

US
Krugman writes that "The Bush administration ... must be very, very afraid."
Conservative commentator Brooks wailed that "[he was]trying not to think harshly of the Spanish".
With the prime minister of the Netherlands beside him, President Bush said today that it was essential that Dutch troops remain in Iraq, both to ensure peace there and to press the campaign against terrorism.

Palestine-Israel
A 24-year-old Palestinian Qalqilyah resident was critically wounded on Tuesday evening after a civilian police volunteer opened fire at him.
Israel launched another air strike on Gaza yesterday. The IDF said it had killed two Islamic Jihad militants and Palestinian sources put 3 children among the injured.
Haaretz has an article on Rachel Corrie.

India
The that computerised Election Commission has ordered a probe into the allegationProvident Fund forms for social security scheme for the unorganised sector carried the "lotus" symbol of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Pakistan
A vehicle laden with explosives attached with a timer and detonators was left by unidentified men in front of the United States consulate in Karachi on Monday.

South Africa
The poor infection control practices in some of South Africa's top academic hospitals raise the spectre of "unexplained" HIV/Aids transmission, an article in the SA Medical Journal (SAMJ) says.

Haiti
You can read an interview with Aristide here.

Monday, March 15, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
Consumer debt is hitting record levels, the federal budget deficit is yawning ever larger, but Alan Greenspan is more concerned about raising taxes. According to a NYT/CBS poll, the number of Americans who think that the nation is heading in the wrong direction is now 54 percent, as high as it has been in Bush's presidency. Al Sharpton has endorsed John Kerry as the Democrat's presidential bid.

Europe
Spain's newly elected Socialist prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero pledged Monday to shift allegiance away from Washington to Paris and Berlin, and to bring the spanish troops home from Iraq. Many european governments feel misled by the government of Prime Minister José María Aznar in the way it initially blamed the Basque separatist organization ETA for the terror attacks last week. Britain's 1.6 million Muslims resent the 'war on islam' and seem to be feeling an increasing sense of isolation. European election observers criticised Vladimir Putin's landslide re-election as Russian President yesterday, claiming that slanted coverage in the state-run media made for a one-sided campaign

Iraq
Three American relief workers were killed and two were wounded in a drive-by shooting Monday in the northern city of Mosul. Robert Fisk reflects on one year of US war and occupation in Iraq.

Middle East
An attack on US consulate in Karachi, Pakistan, was thwarted when a bomb was discovered next to the building two days before a visit to the country by Colin Powell.

Israel/Palestine
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Monday ruled out negotiations with the Palestinians. Yasser Arafat reiterated the statement that the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip has to be coordinated with the PA and must continue in the West Bank until the final goal: an Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders.

Latin America
Venezuela's Supreme Court gave a major boost Monday to opponents of President Hugo Chavez, ruling that signatures on recall petitions need not be validated. Haiti suspends relations with Jamaica after Aristide arrived in Jamaica from exile in Africa on Monday.

Sunday, March 14, 2004

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Daily News Summary

Europe:
Spanish elections taking place, with polls showing the ruling Popular Party struggling to hold its absolute majority. With about 80% of Spaniards opposing their country's involvement in Iraq, it is unclear what effect bombings will have on the election. Authorities have not yet been able to identify man on tape claiming Al-Qaeda responsibility for attack.

Iraq:
Is Al Jazeera the only news service reporting on Iraqi civilian deaths? Meanwhile, under the heading "deaths Americans actually care about", Reuters reports on two roadside bombs which killed 4 U.S. soldiers, making nine in the last four days.

Iran:
Colin Powell warns Iran after it announces it will bar international inspectors indefinitely. Iran is protesting a censure issued against it by the IAEA, who claim Iran is not being forthcoming about aspects of its nuclear energy program. No stern warning yet for Pakistan, nuclear supermart to the world.

Palestine/Israel:
Two suicide bombers kill 11 in Israeli seaport near the Gaza Strip, in apparent first breach of security fence there. Fatah and Hamas claim responsibility.

Haiti:
Another for the stern warning category, as U.S. tries to maintain order in its coup du jour.

China:
China comes out of the closet as authoritarian capitalist state, as parliament ammends constitution to guarantee certain human rights, including the all-important right to "inviolable private property." Growing disparity between rich and poor has led to calls to eliminate taxes on poor farmers for fear of unrest among those benefiting less from the privatization of China's wealth, like poor farmers and the unemployed. They need not fear long, as Wal-Mart provides more than 1% of China's GDP. As China, like the U.S., learns to sort its poor into prisoners and minimum-wage serfs, we can at least take comfort in the low low prices offered by the Wal-Marts of the world. Or can we??

Afghanistan:
Torture alleged by British detainees recently released from Guantanamo. Will new American operation Mountain Storm net OBL? With Kerry insisting on debating Bush sooner rather than later, my magic 8-ball says "it is decidedly so."

Friday, March 12, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: The California Supreme Court on Thursday ordered city officials here to stop issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, bringing at least a temporary end to a monthlong experiment that had thrust San Francisco to the forefront of a national debate on gay marriage. Freed Briton tells of beatingsat Guantanamo Bay. Guantánamo Bay returnees say police questions were 'charade' One of the Britons freed from Guantánamo Bay spoke for the first time last night of the full horror of his ordeal. The US House of Representatives has voted 276-139 for a bill that would prevent lawsuits against the food industry for making people fat.

Europe: The flood of conflicting evidence and clues that emerged from the carnage of the Madrid bombings yesterday pointed in two very different directions, leaving counterterrorism officials in a country painfully familiar with terrorist violence struggling to identify a culprit. Spain entered three days of mourning today with black ribbons, flickering candles and the promise of huge demonstrations in defiance of a synchronized series of explosions on city commuter trains on Thursday that claimed almost 200 victims.

Africa: The UN has revealed that it received a flight recorder soon after the downing of a plane in 1994 which triggered the genocide in Rwanda.

Iraq: A bomb has killed two US soldiers and wounded a third on a road 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of Baghdad. Two Iraqi women employed at a laundry for the US-led coalition have been shot dead in the southern city of Basra. The US Defense Department has awarded seven Iraq reconstruction contracts worth a total of about $130m (£72.3m) to consortia of US firms. The multinational force will be led by a four-star US general A US general will be in charge of all military forces in Iraq even after the end of the occupation, a senior British official said on Wednesday.

Asia: Thousands of protesters have taken part in rallies across Nepal as part of mounting protests against the king.

Latin America: Colombian police captured the commander of an urban guerrilla unit accused of murdering the ex-president of Congress' Peace Commission and six others, the Bogota police chief said Thursday. Colombian police have seized property worth an estimated $100m in raids aimed at a major cocaine cartel.

Haiti: Ousted Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife will travel to Jamaica next week, returning to the Caribbean less than three weeks after fleeing into exile, Jamaica's prime minister said Thursday. Haitian police fired tear gas to disperse a demonstration by hundreds of supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the capital. The crisis in Haiti has had a "devastating effect" on the country's precarious health system, a leading aid expert says. "I am very concerned," Paul Farmer - a Harvard academic who also runs a clinic in Haiti - told the BBC.

Israel: The Israel Defense Forces has issued expropriation orders for Palestinian land in the area of the West Bank village Dir Balut, the army confirmed Friday. The land is due to be used for a five-kilometer section of the West Bank separation fence that will close the gap between the nearby settlement of Elkana and the Trans-Samaria Highway.

Thursday, March 11, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: A former journalist and one-time press secretary for four members of Congress was arrested today on charges she served as a paid agent for the Iraqi intelligence service before and after the U.S. invasion. Central Intelligence Agency chief George Tenet acknowledged Tuesday before the US Senate Armed Services Committee that the CIA was "wildly inconsistent" about policing White House statements on Iraq before the invasion last year. Massachusetts lawmakers reopened deliberations today on a proposed constitutional ban on gay marriage in a debate under scrutiny nationally as a bellwether of same-sex rights.

Europe: In the bloodiest terrorist attack in modern Spanish history, 10 bombs exploded during the this morning's rush hour in three commuter train stations. The Interior Ministry said more than 190 people were killed and more than 1,200 wounded. The London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi said today it had received a claim of responsibility issued by The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri in the name of Al-Qaida for the Madrid terrorist attacks.

Asia: The South Korean National Assembly has been adjourned until Friday after supporters of President Roh Moo-hyun blocked an impeachment vote.

Africa: Sixty-four men said to be mercenaries planning a coup in Equatorial Guinea and three air crew are due to face charges in Zimbabwe within days.

Middle East: United Nations nuclear inspectors have found traces of extremely highly enriched uranium in Iran, of a purity reserved for use in a nuclear bomb, European and American diplomats said Wednesday. A key UN atomic agency meeting turned to Iran today as it debated how harshly to censure Tehran for failing to fully expose its nuclear activities and dispel suspicions it wanted to make weapons. The US is to impose tough new sanctions against Syria "very shortly", a senior American official has said.

Israel/Palestine: Five members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades were killed by an Israel Defense Forces undercover unit yesterday. Israel's high court has extended an order preventing construction of a section of the controversial barrier being built in the West Bank. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon met this afternoon in Jerusalem with U.S. diplomatic envoys to discuss the plan for unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians and what the U.S. will give Israel in exchange for the planned withdrawal from Gaza and the evacuation of settlements in the West Bank. Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat has tentatively backed the proposal. A UN report has found that after three years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, 40 percent of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip don't have regular access to the food they need, and another 30 percent are at risk of losing that access.

Iraq: The Pentagon is paying $340,000 a month to the Iraqi political organization led by Ahmad Chalabi, a member of the interim Iraqi government who has close ties to the Bush administration, for their often misleading and incorrect "intelligence collection" about Iraq. Gunmen killed two Iraqi women working as translators for the British army, a day after the slaying of two U.S. coalition officials and their translator by attackers disguised as police in southern Iraq, officials said today.

Haiti: Gérard Latortue, the economist and former diplomat chosen by a United States-backed council to lead Haiti out of its political crisis, arrived in the country from southern Florida on Wednesday. Today, Haitian police fired tear gas to disperse a demonstration by hundreds of supporters of ousted President Jean-Bertrand Aristide in the capital. The recent crisis has had a "devastating effect" on the country's precarious health system, a leading aid expert says.

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: America's trade deficit mushroomed to an all-time high of $43.1 billion in January as sales of foreign-made goods hovered near record levels. Three advertising campaigns by political groups harshly critical of President Bush are getting under way in 17 states, in an effort to counter Republican commercials that began showing last week. Mike Leavitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, is scheduled to go before Congress today to defend President Bush's proposed environmental budget for 2005 which slashes about $600 million or 7.2 percent from the EPA's budget. George J. Tenet, the director of central intelligence, told a Senate committee on Tuesday that he had privately intervened on several occasions to correct what he regarded as public misstatements on intelligence by Vice President Dick Cheney and others, and that he would do so again. A new study in the United States says obesity is likely to become the country's biggest preventable killer.

Latin America: Colombian troops have marched into the farming town of Carbrera that for years languished under rebel rule, but its people fear the thinly stretched forces may not hold it for long. Hidden cameras have exposed evidence that Mexico's small political parties have helped spread corruption through the political system. There have been major delays at airports across Brazil after more than 8,000 federal police officers began an indefinite strike for higher pay.

Haiti: U.S. Marines shot and killed two gunmen who opened fire on them, a spokesman said Wednesday, bringing to four the number of Haitians to die this week at the hands of the peacekeepers.

Middle East: Iran has accused the US of "bullying" the UN's nuclear watchdog into drafting a resolution censuring Tehran over its nuclear programme.

Iraq: Gunmen posing as police at a makeshift checkpoint south of Baghdad killed two American civilians and their Iraqi translator -- all employees of the U.S.-led coalition, U.S. officials said Wednesday.

Israel: Jerusalem police raised the level of security in the city on Wednesday due a terror attack alert in the capital. Roadblocks have been placed in central Jerusalem and at entrances to the city. A level of alert was also in place at the Erez crossing, in the northern Gaza Strip, due to threats of militants' intent to carry out an attack in the area. The border crossing was evacuated of civilians, and additional soldiers were brought to the site. The construction of the separation fence is overwhelmingly supported by the Israeli-Jewish public, despite the internal debate and the international pressure against it. The support for the fence is based on the widespread assessment that it can significantly reduce terror attacks, though only a small minority believe it can prevent them completely. A majority also believe the route of the fence should be determined according to security considerations of the government and should not necessarily follow the Green Line, even if the route causes suffering to the Palestinian population.

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

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Daily News Summary

Argentina
Argentina has paid £3.1bn of loans to the International Monetary Fund. Last year Argentina was responsible for the single biggest missed payment in the IMF's history - $2.9bn, and further missed payment could halt any more aid.

US
At least 92 accusations of rape involving Air Force personnel in the Pacific were reported to military authorities there from 2001 to 2003, according to a new study by the service.The Air Force's Pacific command study comes as the overall military faces the most serious accusations of sexual misconduct in years. There have been at least 112 reports of sexual misconduct, including rape, in the past 18 months in the Central Command area of operations, which includes Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan

President Bush will answer all the questions of a federal commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, the White House spokesman said today

Britain
Five UK citizens held by the US government for more than two years in Guantánamo Bay were back on British soil tonight.

The firm behind Dolly the sheep last night announced that it was "almost certain" to declare itself bankrup.

India
The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani, said today that the riots in Gujarat in 2002 were "unfortunate" and a blot on the six-year rule of the National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre.

Zimbabwe
The mystery surrounding the ownership of a Boeing 717-100 cargo plane impounded at Harare's airport deepened on Tuesday with various reports citing different sources contradicting each other.

South Africa
High levels of South African investment in other African countries are raising fears that this country is becoming the continent's newest coloniser.

Monday, March 08, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
The United States is sending a 50-strong team of lawyers, prosecutors and investigators to Iraq to prepare for the war- crimes trial of Saddam Hussein that could start this summer. Facing a Republican governor who has vowed repeatedly not to raise taxes, Californian Democrats this week will roll out a tax strategy designed to make change his mind. Analysts say that Bush's increased military spending may no longer be sustainable in a time of deepening deficits.

Europe
Greece's conservative party has swept to power in the general election, ousting the socialists after more than a decade in power. Austrian far-right politician Joerg Haider is set to remain governor of the province of Carinthia after an election result which confounded opinion polls. Downing Street tried to muzzle the British Government's top scientific adviser after he warned that global warming was a more serious threat than international terrorism. Reforms in Russia have devastated many farms, but some residents, yearning for stability, will vote Putin nevertheless.

Iraq
The Iraqi governing council signed an interim constitution. About an hour before the signing ceremony began, resistance fighters fired mortar shells at two police stations in central Baghdad.

Middle East
Police have broken up a rare protest by human rights activists in Syria demanding political and civil reforms. American troops are killing and abusing Afghans, Human Rights Watch says.

Israel/Palestine
Israeli armored forces raided two neighboring refugee camps in the Gaza Strip on Sunday, igniting a gun-and-grenade battle that left 14 Palestinians dead. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has rejected the idea of an Egyptian security role in the Gaza strip.

Latin America
At least five people were killed in Haiti on Sunday when gunfire broke out near the presidential palace during a march that included rebel leaders. Washington's foreign policy in Haiti is driven by self-interest and delivered through force. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said the opposition must use peaceful means to pursue a referendum on whether he should stay in office.

Sunday, March 07, 2004

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Daily News Summary

Iraq: Representatives of Iraqi Shiites have decided to sign interim constitution despite concerns raised by their spiritual leader. The Justice Department is sending a team of prosecutors and investigators to Baghdad to work on the case against Saddam and other former regime leaders, saying Iraqis will be ultimately in charge of the prosecution. John Kerry is likely to send his own team of experts to Iraq in order to hone his policy for the presidential election. Kerry has committed to finishing the task of coloni-- er, rebuilding of Iraq.

U.S.: As use of the Taser increases among police, some worry about potential abuse of the device which immobilizes targets with 50,000 volts of electricity. Bush has rejected calls from 9-11 families and firefighters to pull political ads that use images of WTC wreckage and casualties, claiming they serve to highlight his leadership abilities.

Israel/Palestine: After botched suicide bombing attempt, Israeli
troops raid Gaza, killing 14, injuring 81.

Middle East: Iran is asserting it's right to develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, calling for an end to probe by UN's IAEA.

Europe: Greek election likely to result in loss for Socialists, who have held power for ten years. A proposed plan to decentralize political power in Turkey is criticized for possibility that it might increase religious influence over the civil service.

Asia:Malaysia detains suspects in Bali bombings.

Latin America: The elite-biased Venezuelan media are playing a significant role in forming perceptions of President Hugo Chavez and his government.

Haiti:Protests by both sides in Haiti are expected today, as U.S. troops defend National Palace and help police the streets. The Boston Globe points out how aid was withheld from Aristide's government over the years, Jeffrey Sachs opines on U.S. role in destabiliziation, and John Kerry questions Bush's failure to intervene before ouster of democratically elected
leader.

Saturday, March 06, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: Mexican President Vicente Fox says he and President Bush have agreed to ease immigration controls for Mexicans entering the US for short periods.

Latin America: Tens of thousands of Venezuelans are taking part in an opposition rally in Caracas to demand a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule. Thousands of furious supporters of exiled President Jean-Bertrand Aristide poured out of Haiti's slums and into the streets on Friday, marching on the U.S. Embassy to denounce the "occupation" of their homeland and demand Aristide's return. Haitian police with rusty shotguns hunted looters in the garbage-strewn alleys of a teeming Port-au-Prince slum on Saturday, seeking to reassert control of an area dominated by armed gangs who back the ousted president. The death toll in the revolt is more than 200.

Asia: China has announced another large increase in its military spending. The increase of nearly 12% - higher than that of 2003 - will see an extra $2.6bn allocated to defence, officially raising the budget to more than $25bn. The BBC's Rupert Wingfield-Hayes in Beijing says analysts believe the real figure is at least double that.

Iraq: Following a White House directive, the Justice Department is sending a high-level team of prosecutors and investigators to Iraq to take charge of assembling and organizing the evidence to be used in a war crimes trial of Saddam Hussein, administration and Iraqi officials said in recent days. American forces are still conducting daily raids, bursting into homes and sweeping up families. More than 10,000 men and boys are in custody. According to a detainee database maintained by the military, the oldest prisoner is 75, the youngest 11.

Middle East: (The rest of it). American and Afghan troops killed nine suspected Islamic militants during a gun battle in the eastern province of Paktika, the U.S. military said on Saturday, in one of the heaviest clashes reported in recent months. In a formal declaration on Friday, Libya disclosed that it had produced and stored some 23 tons of deadly mustard gas, according to an international disarmament body that monitors the ban on chemical weapons.

Israel: At least four Palestinians have been killed and about 20 wounded in an attack on the main crossing point between the Gaza Strip and Israel. Israel has imposed a total closure on the West Bank and Gaza Strip amid fears of attacks by Palestinian militants during the Jewish festival of Purim. Gideon Levy reports in Haaretz on a protest of the seperation fence/wall which resulted in three palestian deaths. Police have been holding a 22-year-old Haifa man and his 54-year-old father in custody since Wednesday on suspicion of involvement in making and planting bombs over the last three years, aimed mostly at Arab targets in the Haifa area.

Friday, March 05, 2004

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Daily News Summary

Haiti: United States Special Forces landed in Port-Au-Prince and sought out rebel leaders on Friday, as marines at the presidential palace were jeered and cursed by demonstrators loyal to the deposed president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

France: A Muslim prayer center in the Alpine town of Seynod was destroyed, and the annex of a mosque in nearby Annecy was damaged in arson attacks before dawn on Friday.

US: Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts today delivered a blistering indictment of President Bush's decision to go to war in Iraq, accusing Mr. Bush of deliberately exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein's regime.
Under pressure from the Bush administration's war on terror techniques at home, US federal judge convicted three American Muslims on Thursday of conspiring to help a Pakistani group wage "violent jihad" against Indian forces in Kashmir and possibly American troops in Afghanistan. The dollar has dropped sharply after weak US jobless figures raised questions about the pace of recovery in the world's largest economy.

Iraq: The signing of Iraq's interim constitution is put off as five Shia members seek changes to boost their position.

Latin America: Embattled Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has demanded the US "get its hands off" his country.

Africa: Libya has declared a 20-ton stockpile of deadly mustard gas in a full report on its chemical weapons programmes submitted to the UN on Friday.

Russia: Russia has launched a rescue operation to evacuate 12 of its scientists stranded on a research station which partially sank near the North Pole.

China: China's Premier has opened the National People's Congress with a call to slow growth and help the rural poor.

Malaysia: The Sri Lankan government has rejected a call for a separate truce with a renegade rebel commander. Colonel Karuna, a Tamil Tiger commander in the east, broke ranks after facing the threat of disciplinary action.

Europe: Tens of thousands of people lined the streets to mourn the death of Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski as his coffin was driven to its final resting place in a cemetery for national heros. Tony Blair confronted his critics over the war on Iraq yesterday with a warning that he was prepared to launch similar pre-emptive strikes against rogue states and terrorists that threatened Britain and the world.

Middle East: The Bush administration plans to impose sanctions on Syria within weeks for its support of terrorist groups and for failing to stop guerrillas entering Iraq, congressional officials and other sources familiar with the matter said on Friday. Political sources said Friday that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, in a concession to the United States, had dropped the option of moving settlers from Gaza Strip settlements to the West Bank, an idea that had enraged Palestinians.

Thursday, March 04, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: David Kay, the man who led the CIA's postwar hunt for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, said it was time for President Bush to "come clean with the American people" and admit that he and his administration were wrong about the presence of WMD in Iraq. The first television ads released by the Bush-Cheney reelection team began airing today. They convey the core theme of his campaign - namely, that President Bush is a leader with clear, principled stands, while the likely Democratic nominee is not. House Speaker Thomas M. Finneran signaled yesterday that he is ready to abandon his support for a compromise constitutional amendment that both bans gay marriage and creates civil unions, suggesting instead that the two approaches be split into separate measures for voters to consider. Meanwhile, dozens of gay men and women tried to get marriage licenses this morning at the municipal building in Manhattan, before being turned down by the city clerk. The House of Representatives approved a 60-day deadline extension for the commission investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Europe: Germany's highest court today overturned the verdict against the only person convicted of involvement in the Sept. 11 terror attacks and ordered a retrial. In a bizarre blackmail plot against the French state, an unknown terrorist entity has threatened to explode bombs throughout the French railway system unless more than $5 million is paid, Interior Ministry and other officials said Wednesday. The upper house of the French parliament has approved a bill banning Islamic headscarves and other religious symbols in state schools. The proposal was approved with 276 votes in favour and 20 against.

Asia: China has warned Washington against meddling in Hong Kong affairs as an outspoken democracy leader from the territory prepares to speak to a U.S. Senate hearing. A leading Chinese dissident, Wang Youcai, has been released from jail and is headed to the US.

Middle East: Arab governments, suspicious that the Bush administration plans to give priority to changing how the region is ruled rather than solving the Arab-Israeli conflict, began thrashing over a joint position on Wednesday to counter any such American initiative.

Israel/Palestine: Three Gazan activists from the Hamas military wing who were apparently trying to collect intelligence in the Netzarim area, were killed yesterday when an Israel Defense Forces helicopter fired a missile at their car as they headed toward the Netzarim junction.

Iraq: Following the deadly attacks in recent days, the United States has announced a multi-million dollar program to strengthen security on Iraq's borders.

Haiti: Political turmoil continued in Haiti late Wednesday as Prime Minister Yvon Neptune declared a state of emergency and announced the formation of a commission to oversee security in the turbulent nation. Meanwhile, in the US, Colin L. Powell and his top aide for Latin America faced fierce questioning on Wednesday from lawmakers who rejected the administration's claims that President Jean-Bertrand Aristide of Haiti had resigned of his own free will.

Wednesday, March 03, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: John Kerry won the 9/10 primaries on Tuesday, effectively capturing his party's presidential nomination and prompting his main rival, Senator John Edwards, to move to end his campaign. US senators have voted against a bill to protect the gun industry after opponents added new restrictions.

Iraq: Simultaneous suicide bombings ripped through dense crowds of Shiite Muslim worshipers in Baghdad and Karbala on Tuesday, killing at least 143 people and injuring more than 400 others in the deadliest day of attacks since the fall of former president Saddam Hussein.

Latin America: Bush administration officials have told a congressional committee the United States is committed to fighting the production and trafficking of narcotics in and from Colombia and other countries in South America. Testimony on Capitol Hill coincided with the release of the administration's annual report on drug control. Aid agencies are gearing up to take in urgent supplies to Haiti where weeks of revolt and political upheaval have left thousands short of food and water. Protests have erupted in cities across Venezuela after election officials said the president's opponents had failed to force a referendum on his future. There is more information on Haiti in the special Haiti Primer entry on the blog.

Middle East: (Well, the rest of it) The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog has praised Iran's better co-operation with global non-proliferation efforts as a "sea change".

Israel: Three Hamas militants were killed in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday when Israeli aircraft fired missiles at a car traveling on main road, near the Jewish settlement of Netzarim. Police detained 11 Israeli settlers for questioning on Wednesday who were suspected of attacking Palestinians near Havat Maon in the southern Mount Hebron region of the West Bank.

Monday, March 01, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
At the last debate before super Tuesday, John Edwards tried to draw a stark contrast between his record and John Kerry's. The Californian grocery workers strike has come to an end, resulting in a loss for the strikers (and bad media coverage). A study has revealed that only half of black high school students in US are graduating.

Europe
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder's ruling Germany's Social Democrats suffered a crushing defeat last night in Hamburg's state elections.
Mikhail Fradkov, a former tax police chief who is Russia's representative to the European Union, was appointed to the post of Russia's prime minister. The EU considers imposes new tariffs against US.

Iraq
NY times reports that Iraqi leaders agreed to an interim constitution that would serve as the framework for the government through next year.

Middle East
Saudi investigators are grilling some 50 people for allegedly attending a gay wedding in the city of Medina. Pakistan to help US in bid to 'capture or kill' Bin Laden.

Asia
China has published a scathing attack on human rights in the US, accusing it of military aggression overseas and increasing levels of poverty at home. More than a million people in Taiwan have linked hands to form a 500 km human chain in a demonstration against China's deployment of missiles against Taiwan.

Latin America
American and French troops move into Haiti after Aristide fled the country. US is pondering about its 'role' in Haiti. President Hugo Chávez accused the Bush administration of meddling in Venezuelan affairs and supporting antigovernment forces.

Sunday, February 29, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
Southern California grocery workers seem ready to accept new contract which spares current workers' health benefits at the expense of new-hire wages and benefits. Tom Friedman explains how Indians learn to sound Canadian and how outsourcing makes unemployed Americans safer. H-Bomb hammered in Christian Science Monitor online poll, vote here. Bush disapproval rate rises, might be time to "find" Osama.

Iraq
The Observer reveals doubts on the part of the British military on legality of Iraq war. Fog of war still thick, Iraqi and U.S. officials differ on guilt of those gunned down. Interim constitution delayed.

Haiti
Democratically elected President Aristide flees country. Corporate media ignore U.S. role in coup.

Israel/Palestine
Two leaders of Islamic Jihad killed in Gaza. Israeli Supreme Court orders stop to construction section of security wall. Israeli envoys in U.S. to discuss possible unilateral plan.

Asia
Korean nuclear talks will continue by this June. Abu Sayyaf claims it was behind Phillipines ferry explosion. Thai Prime Minister cracks down on news media.

Europe
Milosevic prosecution rests, some doubt whether genocide charge will stick. Latvia for the Latvians? Latvians wary of May 1 entry into EU.

Latin America
In Venezuela, G15 summit ends, and violent protests continue around presidential recall petition.

Sunday Comics
This Modern World, Mark Fiore, True Majority

Monday, February 23, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
Nader will run for president as an independent candidate, revitalizing third party politics. Read his platform here. Bush is hesitating on how to frame his support for a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. The Pentagon is moving elements of a supersecret commando unit from Iraq to the Afghanistan theater to step up the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

Iraq
A suicide car bomb exploded at an Iraqi police station in northern Iraq today, killing at least eight Iraqi officers as Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld arrived in Baghdad to examine the security problems.

Israel/Palestine
A Palestinian suicide bomber blew apart a Jerusalem bus yesterday morning, killing himself and eight passengers. Israeli troops today fired tear gas at Palestinians protesting at the apartheid wall being constructed in the West Bank as a court case on its legality opened in The Hague. Sharon told the Knesset Foreign Affairs Committee today that Israel would never give up the massive West Bank settlement of Ariel.

Middle East
Pakistani authorities are gearing up for a drive against Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in remote western tribal areas. Eight people have died in clashes with police in Iran over disputed election results in which Islamic conservatives have won a big victory over reformists. The European Union describes these recent parliamentary elections in Iran as a "setback for democracy".

Europe
The International Court of Justice in The Hague has started a hearing on the legitimacy of the Israel's separation wall. British home secretary David Blunkett was accused this morning of "overreacting" to the perceived threat of a migrant "invasion" from eastern Europe. A London's tabloid claims that Osama bin Laden has been trapped by British elite soldiers.

Asia
North Korea has reportedly offered to scrap its nuclear weapons programme if it gets its way at six-nation talks due to open in Beijing on Wednesday.

Latin America
Rebel leaders, who now control virtually all of Haiti's northern region, vowed to take over the entire country within two weeks. Read more about US's hand in Haiti's uprising.

Wednesday, February 18, 2004

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Daily News Summary

U.S.
The Democratic presidential nomination battle turned into a two-man contest on Tuesday as Senator John Kerry narrowly defeated Senator John Edwards in the Wisconsin primary.
Howard Dean is expected to effectively end his presidential campaign today, a day after a distant third-place finish in the Wisconsin Democratic primary.

Iraq
Shiite leaders are pushing a new plan for the transfer of power in Iraq that calls for partial elections, with balloting in the relatively secure Shiite and Kurdish areas but not in the more turbulent "Sunni triangle.

Iran
Many people were killed when train carriages carrying industrial chemicals derailed and exploded in Iran today, causing widespread devastation in five villages.

Europe
the number of people locked up in England and Wales hit a record high of nearly 75,000.

Haiti
The armed rebellion in Haiti extended its reach over the central third of the country yesterday after 50 men led by a former army death-squad commander stormed the town of Hinches, near the border with the Dominican Republic, killing the police chief and breaking open the local prison.

For some good analysis, see the Council for Hemispheric Affairs.

India-Pakistan
India and Pakistan have arrived at a "broad understanding" on the modalities and timeframe to carry forward the process of a composite dialogue that was interrupted in 1998. After a long debate, finally settled at the cabinet level by the Prime Minister, it has been decided that the Indian cricket team will tour Pakistan.

Israel-Palestine
In an unprecedented statement, the International Committee of the Red Cross has condemned Israel's building of a barrier in the West Bank as "contrary" to international law.
Meanwhile, Ariel Sharon's government has allocated an extra 96 million shekels (£11.4m) for new building in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem.

Tuesday, February 17, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US: One of the main border crossings between Canada and the US was closed when border guards found a hand grenade in a vehicle heading into Canada. Two leading American experts on computer voting have warned that the forthcoming US presidential election could be more chaotic than the last. Wealthy Arab-Americans and foreign-born Muslims who strongly back President Bush's decision to invade Iraq are adding their names to the ranks of Pioneers and Rangers, the elite Bush supporters who have raised $100,000 or more for his re-election.

Iraq: Former UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix has accused US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair of being on a “witch hunt” leading up to the war in Iraq. Most members of Iraq's U.S.-appointed Governing Council no longer support the Bush administration's plan to choose an interim government through caucuses and instead want the council to assume sovereignty until elections can be held, several members have said. An explosion on Monday in the corner of a crowded playground of an elementary school for boys in northern Baghdad killed at least one child and wounded at least three. The top U.S. administrator in Iraq suggested Monday he would block any interim constitution that would make Islam the chief source of law, as some members of the Iraqi Governing Council have sought.

Israel: Israel has 629 Palestinian administrative detainees, most in Ketziot prison. The investigative material against most of them is confidential, and the military prosecution authorizes continued detention on evidence unseen by the detainees or their attorneys. The Knesset Finance Committee yesterday approved a transfer of NIS 96 million for settlements and Jewish building in East Jerusalem. Most of the money had been allocated previously to people in need of housing.

Latin America: France says it is ready to consider sending a peacekeeping force to its former colony Haiti, where civil unrest has left more than 50 people dead. A United Nations envoy has published a scathing report on Cuba's treatment of political dissidents in prison. Colombia -- Right-wing paramilitary fighters should be required to gather in special zones to keep them from violating a cease-fire, the government's peace commissioner said Monday.

Monday, February 16, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
Kerry shows sympathy for a variety of Bush's policies, supporting free trade agreements and the Patriot Act. In the meanwhile, the inevitable rumors such as Kerry's infidelity already emerge. Archbishop Desmond Tutu will challenge George Bush and Tony Blair today to apologise for their pursuit of a counter-productive and "immoral" war in Iraq. Bush administration announced the details of its 2005 budget proposal, with the message that there was a lot of trimming to do. The Grocery Strikes in California are continuing.

Iraq
The US says that Iraqi forces are unable to guarantee security after the planned transfer of sovereignty to an Iraqi government, hinting at a longer stay of US troops. A former Halliburton employee told Senate Democrats in Washington, D.C., on Friday that the firm routinely wastes public money in Iraq. Bremer pins hopes on UN as exit strategy from Iraq.

Israel
A hawkish minister has proposed fencing the Palestinians into four isolated districts in the West Bank with Israel controlling access between them, with the Gaza Strip entirely under Israeli control. The politics of the separation wall do not revolve around security but around annexation.

Middle East
US has suggested that Afghanistan's elections scheduled for June may have to be postponed because of alleged security problems and the failure to register enough voters. Senior Indian and Pakistani officials today started their first formal talks on Kashmir for more than three years

Australia
Civil unrest erupted in Sydney after rioters blamed the death of a young black cyclist on police.

Latin America
Read this article on the situation in Haiti.

Monday, February 02, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
Bowing to the pressure, Bush will establish a panel to examine the administration's twisted intellegence that led to the war on Iraq, the results of this investigation will however not be revealed untill after the fall elections. At the same time, Bush sent Congress a $2.4 trillion election-year budget featuring big increases for defense and homeland security but also a record $521 billion deficit. The Democratic candidates try to appeal to Latino voters as the primaries in Arizona and New Mexico ar coming up. John Edwards is spicing up his campaign by glorifying biographical elements. Kerry is forecasted to win the primary in Missouri. Read also this article on electability versus political content. Hillary Clinton supports Israel's 'security fence', also called the 'apartheid wall'.

Iraq
Suicide bombers launched two attacks on Kurdish leaders celebrating an Islamic feast in the city of Arbil yesterday, killing and wounding at least 300 people.

Middle East
Iran's largest pro-reform party says it will not take part in this month's elections as they will not be free and fair. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, will address the nation to blunt the Opposition campaign that the Government has made A.Q. Khan, father of the country's nuclear programme, a scapegoat under American pressure.

Israel
A Hamas activist was killed and four IDF soldiers were wounded in a siege of the militant's house at the Aida refugee camp, in the West Bank city of Bethlehem. Ariel Sharon, has ordered the relocation of 17 Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip.

Europe
Triggered by Kay's report, England is starting a new inquiry into the intelligence basis for the war in Iraq. Details have emerged on how BBC came under pressure from Blair on Iraq issue. Human rights campaigners today condemned proposed British legal reforms that would allow terror suspects to be tried in secret without a jury. Muslim communities warned British authorities that crackdown by police is 'driving Muslims to extremists'. A Norwegian court has ordered Mullah Krekar, the founder of the Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, to remain in custody for another four weeks. Sikhs from across Europe have protested in Paris against the proposed law which would ban religious symbols from French schools.

Thursday, January 08, 2004

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Check this!

Quickly, two interesting pieces that have been bouncing around the web: turns out its not just that Bush43 was dense when the world and half of America challenged the war, but he's also incredibly insulated from dissent. Whats the point of speaking truth to power, if power has you at least a mile away in a fenced in "free-speech zone." How does the administration justify such illogic? Well...if your exercising your constitutional rights, you might get so enraged...that you would walk right into the motorcade!

The second piece is a commentary on how the Anti-War movement should deal with the upcoming elections from a member of Bring Them Home Now, an organization dedicated to organizing military families and GIs to demand an end to the occupation of Iraq and other imperial misadventures. The writer suggests that electing Howard Dean won't end the Occupation, it will just attempt to seek legitimacy by internationalising it. In fact the only thing that the Anti-War activits can do to bring and end to this and other wars is to keep fighting the administration. The author also points to the oft-ignored role of racism in legitimizing the war effort - a new millenium white man's burden for the Arab world.

Monday, January 05, 2004

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Daily News Summary

US
Still shaking from the high alert during the Christmas holidays, the latest measure in Tom Ridge's Homeland Security program to increase US security is to finger-print and photograph foreigners who travel on a visa at air- and seaports. After facing heavy attacks from his fellow Democratic candidates at the latest Democratic debate, Dean is now expected to receive support from Bill Bradley. General Clark has ruled out the possibility of taking on the vice-presidential spot next to front-runner Dean. In the meanwhile, in the absence of republican challengers, Bush is gearing up to appeal to centrist swing voters with a less-than-extremely-conservative program. MoveOn has launched a contest for a to-be-televised anti-Bush ad. The US foreign aid program now awards countries 'whose governments are judged to be just rulers' and are 'welcoming hosts for foreign investment'. Tomorrow, Schwarzenegger will unfold his budget for California's fiscal year, that promises to repair the deficit without raising taxes but by slashing essential social, education and healthcare programs.

Europe
Letter bombs sent to two members of the European Parliament have exploded at offices in England and Belgium. A Norwegian court has ruled that Mullah Krekar, founder of the Iraqi Islamic militant group Ansar al-Islam, cannot be held while he is investigated for attempted murder. The newly elected president of former Soviet republic Georgia, the US-trained Mikhail Saakashvili, vows to mend fractious relations with Russia.

Middle East
The UK believes that the audiotape that contained a message from Osama bin Laden and was broadcasted on the Arabic television channel al-Jazeera, carries a genuine recording of Bin Laden. Despite a swath of problems, the new consitution that was framed in Afghanistan could open up perspectives for elections.

Iraq
Jack Straw, the British foreign secretary, confirmed that British troops will stay in Iraq for at least three or four more years. Blair hails the troops as 'new pioneers of soldiering'. At he same time, a young Iraqi man was beaten to death by British soldiers in Basra. Chomsky gives his view on Iraq in this Zmag interview.

Israel/Palestine
A reservist colonel in the Israeli army has resigned his commission in protest at his army's "immoral conduct" in the occupied territories. Today, Sharon ended his Knesset speech, in which he reiterated his plan for Israel's unilateral measures in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, with the words "This is my plan and I will execute it!". Settlers have issued a petition against the removal of illegal outposts, claiming that it violated the outpost residents' basic human rights.

Asia
India's Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, met today the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, for recontinued peace negotiations between the countries, in hopes of settling the conflict. China says its trade surplus with the US was $53.2bn for the first 11 months of 2003. It puts the US as China's second largest trade partner after Japan. North Korea blamed Washington's stance for the delay in scheduling a new round of disarmament talks and rejected as unfair U.S. demands that it first irreversibly and verifiably disarm. Read also counterpunch's article on the nuclear disarmament of North Korea.

Latin America
In response to US security measures, Brazilian police in Rio have begun photographing and fingerprinting all US visitors arriving at its main international airport.

Friday, December 26, 2003

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Friday, December 26

Middle East: Iranian officials feared thousands of people are killed or trapped under rubble after a severe earthquake devastated the ancient city of Bam. An American soldier died in a rebel ambush and two others were killed in bomb explosions Friday, one of the bloodiest days for the U.S. military since the Dec. 13 capture of Saddam Hussein. Leaders of Sunni Muslim groups across the country agreed to form a council to speak with a unified political voice during the transition of Iraq from American rule to Iraqi governance.

United States: US rescue workers say at least 10 people are missing in southern California after a mudslide engulfed a children's camp. Some Canadian pharmacies are refusing to fill big orders from the U.S., in a setback for cities and states seeking cheaper drugs. U.S. officials quarantined two calves from the Washington state cow that had mad-cow disease, but said infection was unlikely.

Israel/Palestine: The Israeli army chief of staff has predicted a ceasefire with Palestinian militants could happen within weeks. Nevertheless, Israeli soldiers have opened fire on a demonstration in the West Bank, injuring two peace activists.

Africa: At least 111 people were killed as a plane plunged into the sea off the West African state of Benin on Thursday. Madagascar's former prime minister has been sentenced to 12 years hard labour and fined $7m for abuse of office. The International Red Cross has urged the independence movement for Western Sahara, the Polisario Front, to release the remaining prisoners it holds.

Asia-Pacific: Chinese officials have delayed an operation to plug a gas well spewing toxic fumes that have killed about 200. An advance contingent of Japanese military personnel has set off on a humanitarian mission to Iraq.

Europe: Turkish authorities have broken up the group behind last month's bomb attacks in Istanbul, city governor Muammer Guler has said. The French authorities say they have found little evidence of plans to use US-bound aircraft to launch attacks against US targets over Christmas. A Hamburg court has released Abdelghani Mzoudi - only the second person in the world to stand trial over the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US.

South Asia: Two suicide bombers involved in a failed attempt to kill Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf have been identified, officials say. There were cheers and shouts of "Allah is Great" in Peshawar's elegant assembly building when the bill introducing Sharia, or Islamic law, went into the statute books in this Pakistani province. A top Indian rebel leader has surrendered after being reported killed in recent fighting.

Latin America: An explosion that killed at least four people and injured more than 30 others on a bus in northwest Colombia was an accident and not a terrorist attack as earlier thought, the nation's police chief said. Brazil's congress approved a 309 billion-real ($106 billion) budget that narrows the deficit, helping to bolster investor confidence in the country's ability to make payments on its $400 billion debt.

Monday, December 22, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US
A recent poll by Associated Press revealed that Americans believe 2-to-1 that going to war in Iraq was the right decision. Tom Ridge, the secretary of homeland security, said the danger of an attack in the "near term," possibly in the United States, was "perhaps greater now than at any point since Sept. 11, 2001." Dean's declining popularity due to crumbling anti-war sentiment in the week following the capture of Hussein, has opened up perspectives for General Clark's campaign. In the spirit of increased attention for war and occupation, the American soldier, who bears the duty of "living with and dying for a country's most fateful decisions," was named Sunday as Time magazine's Person of the Year. Examination of workplace deaths showed that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration declined to seek prosecution of employer's "willful" safety violations. The number of Americans without health insurance now equals the population of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Illinois and North Carolina combined. Today almost one in six Americans lacks health insurance.

Canada
Canada's new prime minister Martin's first week in office has been marked by a more businesslike and conservative agenda - friendlier to the United States and to the Canadian military. Quebec's powerful labor unions have moved to counter Premier Jean Charest's agenda of budget cutting, privatization and limits on labor's collective bargaining power.

Europe
The biggest trial in Serbian history is due to open today when 15 suspects accused of assassinating the prime minister Zoran Djindjicappear at a special court in Belgrade.

Iraq
Two Iraqis were killed in the efforts of U.S. troops, acting on intelligence gleaned from the capture of Saddam Hussein, of rounding up dozens of suspected rebels during two days of raids. Two American soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter were killed here this morning when an improvised bomb exploded by their convoy. Pentagon officials say that the Coalition Provisional Authority has failed to institute a smoothly run bureaucracy, resulting in cash shortages and delays in starting reconstruction programs.

Middle East
Pakistani officials to question his aides and openly confront evidence that the country was the source of crucial technology to enrich uranium for Iran, North Korea and possibly other nations. Two rockets hit a residential area in the north of Kabul, landing several kilometres from the site where hundreds of delegates at grand council are debating Afghanistan's new constitution.

Israel/Palestine
In line with Sharon's unilateral plan, Israel has said it may dismantle settler outposts and speed up work on a barrier to separate Israel from the Palestinian territories. According to a report by human rights groups, Israel's siege policy and restriction of Palestinians' movement is disrupting every aspect of Palestinian daily life and health. Egyptian foreign Minister Ahmed Maher met with Sharon in an effort to restart talks on the stalled U.S.-backed ``road map'' plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Mr Maher became unwell after being jostled by angry Muslims as he came to pray at the holy site on Monday.

Asia
Members of China's National People's Congress have introduced a proposed amendment to the constitution, which will legally protect private property rights for the first time since 1949.

Afrika
Libya has agreed to open its nuclear activities to pervasive inspections by the U.N. atomic agency this week, hoping for improved relations with America and Brittain. The authorities in western Sudan have imposed a curfew and banned public gatherings after peace talks collapsed last week.

Latin America
Brazilian president Lula da Silva defended the unpopular pro-market policies by stating that the sacrifices Brazilians had made this year would be repaid with sustained economic growth.

Saturday, December 20, 2003

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Daily News Summary

Middle East:
The International Court of Justice in the Hague has agreed to a UN request from earlier this month to vote on the legality of Israel's construction of the "security fence."

After nine months of secret negotiations with the US, Libya has agreed to give up its programs for developing weapons of mass destruction.

Two Kurdish political parties from northern Iraq have announced plans to establish a unified state that will have a voice in shaping the new government of Iraq.

The number of medical evacuations from Iraq of US troops has reached nearly 11,000, according to a Pentagon report requested by United Press International.

Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act through the National Security Archive provide an in-detail account of US dealings with Iraq as it used chemical weapons against Iran.

Asia:
Nearly 4 million North Koreans will be deprived of food aid from the UN by February if foreign help does not come.

Africa:
The World Health Organization says that AIDs has caused the adult mortality rate in southern Africa to reach a 30-year low.

Americas:
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that prisoners at Guantanamo should have access to representation in the American court system. Next year, the Supreme Court will rule on the legality of the prisoners' detention.

Friday, December 19, 2003

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Daily News Summary

Turkey: A Turkish court has charged a suspect in last month's suicide bomb attacks in Istanbul with attempting to overthrow the constitutional order by force.

Africa: Dozens of slaves have been set free at a ceremony in Niger despite an attempt by the local authorities to stop the event being reported. Riot police have occupied the offices of Zimbabwe's only privately-owned daily newspaper, hours after a court ruled it could resume publication. The United Nations says it is facing a looming crisis in its peacekeeping operations in Africa because of a lack of troops and specialised equipment.

USA: A new audiotape said to be from the al-Qaeda leader's deputy Ayman al-Zawahri taunts the US over its efforts to stabilise Afghanistan.The United States says it is sending about 2,000 extra troops to Iraq and asking 3,500 more to stay on longer. Civil rights campaigners have welcomed court rulings against US administration efforts to curtail the rights of those it accuses of involvement in terrorism.
The two rulings said the US Government could not detain suspects without granting them access to lawyers.

Japan: Japan has decided to build a missile defence system using US technology, to shield itself from possible attack.

Latin America: The former head of Colombia's highway police has been arrested, accused of using the men under his command to escort drug shipments around the country. Officials presented today the final design of the 1,776-foot building to be constructed on the World Trade Center site.

China: The United States has criticised China for falling behind on promises to open its market to foreign competition.

Israel/Palestine: From Yasir Arafat's fog-enshrouded compound here to the soggy streets of Gaza City, Palestinians said today that they would oppose any attempt by Israel to establish a unilateral border between them.

Germany: German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder won parliamentary approval for the biggest welfare shake-up since World War II on Friday and pledged more reforms to shake off the ``German disease'' of economic stagnation.

France: Islamic leaders in France urged young Muslims to stay calm after the French president's support for a law which would ban items such as Islamic headscarves, Jewish skullcaps and Christian crucifixes being worn in state schools.

India: India and Pakistan today decided to resume Samjhauta Express from Attari to Lahore twice a week as also freight services from January 15, after a gap of two years.

Russia: President Vladimir Putin, facing the nation Thursday in his annual televised call-in show, said he would run for a second presidential term and, without mentioning the campaign, laid out a no-nonsense pitch for trying to solve the country's social woes.

Thursday, December 18, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US: A federal appeals court panel ruled today that President Bush does not have the power to detain a United States citizen who was seized on American soil as an enemy combatant and to deny him a lawyer.
The chief of the hunt for weapons of mass destruction may be leaving his post. Weapons of mass destruction have not been found in Iraq.
After a five-month investigation, U.S. News and World Report has published an in-depth study of the Bush administration's unprecedented moves to keep its workings away from public scrutiny. For the first time, the chairman of the independent commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks is saying publicly that 9/11 could have and should have been prevented,reports CBS News Correspondent Randall Pinksto.

Iraq:The situation in Iraq is turning explosive after the capture of Saddam with massive unrest. Rallies and rioting rocked Iraq yesterday.
Robert Fisk has an excllent article

Iran:Iran has signed an agreement allowing the UN nuclear watchdog to conduct snap inspections across its territory.

Zimbabwe:South African President Thabo Mbeki held lengthy talks with President Robert Mugabe in Harare on Thursday over Zimbabwe's crisis. He was also due to see opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai later.

Rwanda:Witnesses to Rwanda's genocide are being intimidated and killed to stop them testifying in court against those who took part in the 1994 slaughter of up to one million people, in was claimed on Wednesday.

Bhutan/India: Bhutan today rejected a ceasefire call by the United Liberation Front for Assam(ULFA) and vowed to go ahead with its military operation. Reports spoke of a massive death toll with 44 soliders and over 100 militants killed.

Sri-Lanka:The President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe have failed to agree on who should control the military.

Russia: Vladimir Putin announced that he would run in the presidential election scheduled for March. He also said that the Iraq war was unjustified

Milosevic trial:Wesley Clark testified yesterday that former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic knew a Bosnian Serb general was planning the mssacre of Muslim civilians and warned against it.

Israel/Palestine:Sharon made a speech. 4 Palestinians were kileld in a lethal IDF raid into Nablus. One man was shot 9 times in the chest. 5 Israelis were wounded lightly

Latin America: Colombian authorities say three bombs exploded almost simultaneously in the coastal city of Barranquilla, killing one person and injuring at least 20 others.

Wednesday, December 17, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US: The capture of Saddam Hussein has lifted Americans' view of the state of the nation and their opinion of President Bush, while at least momentarily halting what had been a spiral of concern about the nation's economic and foreign policy, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll. The US is developing an Arab Language network for the middle east: It is to be called Al Hurra, a slickly produced Arab-language news and entertainment network that will be beamed by satellite from this Washington suburb to the Middle East. The name translates to English as "The Free One." President Bush gave an extensive interview with Diane Sawyer of ABC News, among the highlights is:

DIANE SAWYER: But stated as a hard fact, that there were weapons of mass destruction as opposed to the possibility that he could move to acquire those weapons still — PRESIDENT BUSH: So what's the difference?

Sigh. Attorney General John Ashcroft's 2000 Senate campaign and his political action committee have agreed to pay a $37,000 civil fine for campaign finance violations. It should be noted that Ashcroft still lost this election to a dead person.

Iraq: Donald Rumsfeld indicated in a press conference that Saddam Hussein would not be treated as a prisoner of war. According to Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the Univ. of Illinois, this is a violation of the 3rd Geneva convention of 1949. Rumsfeld also indicated Hussein is being interrogated by the CIA. A truck laden with explosives that was apparently on its way to strike a police station blew up in the middle of a busy intersection in Baghdad today when it collided with a bus, killing 13 people and wounding 22, the Iraqi police said. While James Baker is touring Europe asking countries to drop Iraq's debt Press Secretary Scott McLellan refused to confirm that the US will do the same.

Middle East: The BBC has been given exclusive access to Yemen's controversial new strategy for defeating al-Qaeda cells. Iran has said it will sign a protocol that will allow snap inspections of its nuclear sites on Thursday.

Asia: Cambodia’s Prime Minister has ordered the destruction of the country’s surface-to-air missiles in a bid to prevent them from falling into the hands of terrorists.

Israel: Palestinian sources said Wednesday afternoon that a 17-year-old Palestinian had been shot dead by IDF troops in the Gaza town of Rafah. Earlier in the day, Palestinian militants attempted to blow up an Israel Defense Forces post on the Israeli-Egyptian border, near Rafah.

UK: Katharine Gun is the brave GCHQ officer who took a stand on principle in January/February and blew the whistle on the US/UK plans to spy on the non-permanent members of the Security Council. She is now being prosecuted under the Official Secrets Act.

Afghanistan: Protest interrupted the loyal jirga, when a female delegate told the council that the mujahideen fighters at the jirga had brought war to the country.

Bhutan/IndiaThe Bhutanese army achieved 'major successes' in its operations against north-eastern militants in India. Under pressure from the Indian government, the Bhutanese army is cracking down on militant groups based in Bhutan.

Pakistan:It is said that a jamming device in Pervez Musharraf's car foiled the recent assassination attempt.

Latin America: Colombian authorities say three bombs exploded almost simultaneously in the coastal city of Barranquilla, killing one person and injuring at least 20 others.

Tuesday, December 16, 2003

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Daily News Summary

Iraq: Iraqi militants ambushed a US convoy and demonstrations in support of Saddam Hussein turned violent in flashpoints. Three US soldiers were injured when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. In the violence today, US soldiers killed 16 Iraqi people. The BBC, the New York Times have stories. Meanwhile, Paul Krugman continues to direct attention to profiteering.
According to Democracy Now Halliburton has been awarded 222 million dollars of additional contracts by the Pentagon. (Democracy Now, sources this story to Reuters, but I couldnt find it on the Reuter's website.)

US: Strom Thurmond's family has acknowledged that Esse Mae Washington-Williams, a black woman, is the daughter of Mr. Thurmond.
Howard Dean is being attacked for his speech on the capture of Sadedam.

Australia: Eight Afghans on the remote island of Nauru were taken to hospital yesterday after refusing food and water for almost a week. The eight are among 284 people, including 93 children being held in a detention camp on the South Pacific island in conditions condemned as deplorable by refugee advocates.
In a grim reminder of racism prevalent in Australia, Indian fans and journalists were attacked at a cricket match in Adelaide yesterday.

Bhutan/India: The Royal Bhutan Army launched a crackdown on 'anti-India' militants said to be camping on its soil for 12 years.

Pakistan: The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) announced on Monday a schedule for its countrywide movement to oust President Gen Pervez Musharraf from office. The federal cabinet, Pakistani senators and the Indian government have condemned the attack on Gen. Musharraf. See this story for example.

Colombia: Colombian police said that they had captured a suspected rebel commander.

Somalia: About 34 people were killed and 80 wounded, some seriously, in two days of clashes this week between rival clans in central Somalia, elders said on Tuesday.

Ethiopia: Fighting in far western Ethiopia has left at least 21 people dead in several days of violence, an Ethiopian official said on Monday.

Palestine: Israeli troops shot a 15 year old boy in the head, injuring him critically, because he threw stones at them.

Europe: Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is said to be reeling from his president's refular to sign a bill that relaxes limits on media ownership.
Six of the EU's richest states have called for a capping of the bloc's future budget, which could lead to a cut in aid to its poorer nations.

Monday, December 15, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US
Analysts speculate on the capture of Sadam Hussein having a positive influence on the market and the confidence in Bush. The capture also gives a different twist to the 'anti-war campaigns' of the Democratic candidates. Listen to what Lieberman has to say: "If Howard Dean had his way, Saddam Hussein would be in power today, not in prison, and the world would be a much more dangerous place". General Wesley Clark will testify at war-crime trail of ex-Yugoslav leader Milosovic.

Iraq
Leaders of the Iraqi Governing Council paid a visit to Sadam Hussein. Hussein most likely will be tried in Iraq under terms set by a war crimes tribunal created by the Iraqi Governing Council last week and sanctioned by occupation authorities. Occupying forces are hopeful that Sadam will reveal important intellegence on Iraqi insurgents. Despite the capture of the ex-leader, suicide bombers killed 8 policemen in Iraq. Read also Robert Fisk's article.

Middle East
Many in the Middle East are in disbelief and shocked by Hussein's lack of resistance. The Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, escaped an assassination bid yesterday when a powerful bomb went off minutes after his convoy crossed a bridge. Afghans gathered Sunday for a historic grand council, or loya jirga, to debate and approve a new constitution that will pave the way for national elections.

Europe
European leaders congratulate Bush with the capture of Hussein. France and Germany vowed to press for closer integration despite the collapse of talks on the EU constitution. France and other creditor nations are looking to strike a deal on helping Iraq reduce its foreign debt next year. Elections in Turkish part of Cyprus remained inconclusive on unification and joining the EU. A group of Chechen fighters has seized hostages in the neighbouring Russian republic of Dagestan.

Israel/Palestine
Israel Defense Forces troops shot dead two unarmed Palestinians Monday morning after they approached the security fence. Israel Defense Forces soldiers and settlers clashed Monday as troops evacuated the illegal Havat Shaked outpost, south of Nablus. Israel's military yesterday charged a Gaza-born Canadian citizen with conspiracy to commit murder for allegedly planning attacks against Israelis and Jews in North America.

Asia
North Korea rejects U.S. plan on nuke crisis.

Latin America
Brazil's governing party expelled four dissident lawmakers on Sunday, an action that confirms the recent shift of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and his government away from their leftist roots. President Alejandro Toledo of Peru is scheduled to swear in a replacement for Prime Minister Beatriz Merino, in the wake of a gossip-laden political scandal.

Sunday, December 14, 2003

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Daily News Summary

U.S.: Howard Dean shows strength among party leaders. In the sequel to the SARS scare, ABC News warns of flu pandemic. The Boston Globe reports on limits on dissent post 9/11.

Iraq: Saddam Hussein has been captured. A car bomb exploded at an Iraqi police station, killing at least 17.

Israel/Palestine: Much of Israel is on high alert after a foiled attack and a number of warnings received. The article linked to also reports that an armed Islamic Jihad activist was killed by Israel Defense Forces near Ramallah, bringing to 3 the number of Palestinians killed over the weekend, and that on Sunday Palestinians fired 17 mortar shells at settlements in Gaza, though no one was injured.

Europe: EU meeting to draw up a new constitution ends in failure. Participants at the internet summit in Switzerland last week were unknowingly tracked by radio transmitter chips embedded in their name badges.

East Asia: China, South Korea and Japan reach environmental agreement.

Pakistan: A bomb exploded on a road near Islamabad minutes after Pervez Musharraf's car passed it.

Latin America: Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won a major legislative victory after the Senate approved controversial pension system reforms, though some on the left feel it's a sell out.

Afghanistan: The loya jirga is underway; 500 delegates from around Afhanistan will debate a draft constitution with the goal of ratification. The BBC reports that "50,000 written surveys" went into the drafting process. Apparently Afghanis could log onto this website and submit their views...hmmmm.

Saturday, December 13, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US: The FBI has implemented new ground rules that fundamentally alter the way investigators handle counterterrorism cases, The result is that the FBI, unhindered by the restrictions of the past, will conduct many more searches and wiretaps that are subject to oversight by a secret intelligence court rather than regular criminal courts, officials said. Civil liberties groups and defense lawyers predict that more innocent people will be the targets of clandestine surveillance. A 78-year-old retired Los Angeles schoolteacher said she is breaking a lifetime of silence to announce that she is the illegitimate mixed-race daughter of former U.S. senator James Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), once the nation's leading segregationist. In an interview, the woman said that Thurmond privately acknowledged her as his daughter and provided financial support since 1941.

Iraq: Hundreds of civilian deaths in the US-led invasion of Iraq could have been prevented, says Human Rights Watch. It concludes that many deaths could have been avoided if the US and Britain had abandoned what it calls "two mis-guided military tactics". Cluster bombs and attacks on Iraqi leaders are singled out for criticism. The commander of US forces in Iraq, Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez, has said he will look again at the pay structure of the new Iraqi army. This after about 300 of the original 700 recruits who had signed up to become part of the battalion in the new Iraqi army left earlier in the week citing low pay. A former Iraqi intelligence officer said to have met with the suspected leader of the Sept. 11 attacks has told U.S. officials no such meeting occurred. A reporter for Global Exchange describes that the situation for women in iraq is getting worse, a link to a word document with the article is available here.

Africa: Ivory Coast has begun a disarmament process, with both government forces and former rebels collecting weapons used in the bitter civil conflict. The government said 18 attackers and one security force member died in three shootouts on Thursday night including a group of men it said tried to attack the state television headquarters. Rebel commanders denied involvement.

South Asia: Indian police say that Nepalese rebels are entering India to take shelter and seek medical treatment. Former Pakistan Premier Benazir Bhutto on Saturday publicly acknowledged that Islamabad took a conscious decision to launch a low-intensity proxy war against India in the late 1980s to draw the world's attention to Kashmir.

Israel: The IDF and the Shin Bet security service foiled an attempted terror attack in the Dan region over the weekend. Israel Defense Forces troops shot and killed a Palestinian approaching the fence surrounding an IDF outpost in the Gaza Strip on Saturday. Earlier Saturday IDF troops opened fire at a Palestinian taxi at a roadblock in the West Bank city of Nablus, killing a woman passenger. Three people were killed yesterday afternoon and at least 30 were injured in a gangland Tel Aviv explosion apparently aimed at killing underworld kingpin Ze'ev Rosenstein, who escaped with slight injuries to his hand and leg. U.S. envoy urged Israel and the Palestinians on Saturday to take real steps to put into motion a U.S.-backed peace "road map" whose revival awaits a still-unscheduled meeting of their prime ministers.

Asia: Under heavy security, a Chinese court on Friday began hearing the case of 14 people accused of organising a mass orgy for Japanese tourists that sparked public uproar and diplomatic protests.

Latin America: One of the founders of Colombia's Marxist FARC rebel army, Latin America's largest and oldest guerrilla insurgency, has died, apparently of a heart attack, El Tiempo newspaper has reported.

Friday, December 12, 2003

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Daily News Summaries

Here is the news summary courtesy of Katie, somewhat late because the Harvard servers were acting up:

US: President Bush said today that Halliburton would have to pay back any money it might have overcharged the government for work in Iraq. Officials announced the flu had spread to all 50 states, nearly half of those considered hit hard by the illness.

Afghanistan: President Hamid Karzai today dismissed the gradually intensifying Taliban insurgency in southern and eastern Afghanistan.

Canada: Jean Chretien stepped down Friday after 10 years as Canada's popular and often combative prime minister, giving way to Paul Martin, a former finance minister who has pledged to seek smoother ties with the United States despite strains over Iraq.

Europe: At a summit meeting to create rules by which an expanded Europe will operate, the leaders of the 15-nation European Union adopted a common security strategy today to enable Europe to "share in the responsibility for global security and in building a better world." In this summit, Italy told a key EU summit that failure to agree a constitution would be better than signing up to a bad one.

Iraq: Hundreds of civilian deaths in the US-led invasion of Iraq could have been prevented, says Human Rights Watch. The American administrator of Iraq said Thursday that the country's transition to independence could be marred by increased violence, but he expressed confidence that Iraqis could build a democracy that values religious and political freedom. Two Polish soldiers serving in Iraq have been injured by a roadside blast.

Israel/Palestine: Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom has called for peace talks with the Palestinians to be resumed immediately. Seven Israelis were injured when Palestinian gunmen opened fire on their car near the West Bank city of Nablus, Israeli military sources said.

Africa: Armed men have attacked military police outside the national television station in the main Ivory Coast city, Abidjan, killing at least 19 people.

Asia-Pacific: A former aide to ex-South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has been sentenced to 12 years in jail relating to a North Korean summit scandal.

Latin America: Brazil's president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has won a major legislative victory after the Senate approved controversial pension system reforms.

South Asia: A court in Pakistan has sentenced a man to be blinded by acid after he carried out a similar attack on his fiancйe.

Friday, December 12, 2003

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Daily News Summary 12/11

US: The UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has added his voice to criticism of Washington's decision to bar countries opposing the Iraq war from reconstruction contracts. It has also drawn denunciations from rejected countries - such as France, Russia and Germany - and from the European Union's foreign affairs chief. But US President George Bush defended the move, saying contracts should go to countries that risked lives in Iraq. ... Delegates from 27 countries, including cabinet ministers from four continents, gathered in Washington, DC this week to draw up a plan to increase women's participation in politics and government around the globe. ... Human rights groups have urged the U.S. military not to repatriate more than a dozen Chinese Muslim detainees facing possible release from Guantanamo Bay, saying they are likely to face torture and even execution if sent back to China. ... Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge told a Miami audience this week that the U.S. government should consider offering some form of legal status to as many as 12 million illegal immigrants, raising the issue of immigration reform, which was halted by the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Iraq: Three suicide bombers in a furniture truck blew themselves up at the gates of a U.S. Army base today, killing one soldier and wounding 14. ... The Bush administration has authorized creation of an Iraqi intelligence service to spy on groups and individuals inside Iraq that are targeting U.S. troops and civilians working to form a new government, according to U.S. government officials. ... US plans to create a new Iraqi army have suffered a setback after hundreds of recruits resigned over poor pay. ... U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced plans yesterday to begin re-establishing a U.N. presence in Iraq — but from a remote base in Cyprus. ... A Pentagon investigation has found evidence of overcharging and other violations in billions of dollars worth of reconstruction contracts for Iraq that were awarded to Vice President Dick Cheney's former company.

Afghanistan: The US military in Afghanistan has revealed that six children died in a raid on suspected militants in the eastern province of Paktia last week. ... Afghanistan's Soviet-era guerrillas will control a majority at the constitutional loya jirga, scheduled to open this weekend. Now a coalition of powerful guerrilla commanders is poised to wrest control of the proceedings and redraft the new Afghan constitution according to their own wishes.

Israel/Palestine: Six Palestinians were killed and at least 15 were injured early Thursday in clashes with Israel Defense Forces troops in a Gaza refugee camp on the Egyptian border, Palestinian sources said. ... Israel's justice minister says he will seek to redraw the route of the controversial West Bank barrier. Yosef Lapid's call came as the UN General Assembly approved a resolution asking the International Court of Justice to consider its legality. ... While attention is focused on the fate of far-flung West Bank settlement outposts, Israel has launched a major settlement thrust only a few miles from the Knesset in Jerusalem. The bulldozers started grinding in the Palestinian area of Jabal Mukaber last week to launch the largest settlement yet inside a Palestinian neighborhood. ... The Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Mohamed ElBaradei, has called on Israel to relinquish its nuclear weapons as part of a general peace agreement in the Middle East. ... Representatives of the donor community are meeting in Rome to decide on future aid for the Palestinians. The meeting, hosted by the European Union, is seeking to tackle a growing humanitarian crisis in the area. The Palestinian Authority is expected to seek $1.2 billion in aid.

Europe: Bitter quarrels over a new constitution threaten to dim hopes that an expanding European Union could speak with a stronger common voice on the international stage. ... The US has accepted controversial British-brokered plans for independent EU military planning, despite having warned that this would pose a grave threat to Nato. In what will be regarded as a diplomatic coup for Tony Blair, diplomats in Brussels said last night that Washington had finally given its blessing to proposals that will allow the prime minister to implement a landmark defence deal with France and Germany. It will be formally tabled at the EU summit on Friday. ... Muslim girls in France could be barred from wearing headscarves in schools after an expert commission recommended a ban on "conspicuous" religious signs. ... German police have raided hundreds of addresses in an operation targeting suspected Islamic militants. The searches were aimed at suspected members of the Caliphate State group, one of a number of groups banned after the 11 September attacks in the US. ... The Swiss parliament on Wednesday elected a nationalist firebrand to the cabinet in a move that analysts said could lead to a clampdown on immigration and doom remaining prospects of joining the European Union.

Africa: The Sudan Government is preventing food and medical supplies from reaching Darfur province, where there is a rebellion, a United Nations envoy says. Mukesh Kapila said while this could be for security reasons, it could also be to mask alleged human rights abuses. ... A Tunisian human rights lawyer has ended a hunger strike she began in October to protest against alleged harassment by the authorities.

Asia: Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian has defended plans to hold a referendum asking people if they feel threatened by China's military presence. US President George Bush earlier warned Taiwan against any steps towards independence, after talks with the Chinese prime minister in Washington. ... As winter grips North Korea, 2.2 million people, or 10 percent of the population, will no longer receive food rations provided by the World Food Program. Unless new food aid comes quickly, as the winter progresses the program will cut rations further, eliminating a total of 3.5 million people from food distribution rolls, program officials said today.

Apologies for the late posting!

Wednesday, December 10, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US: The United States has rejected an offer by North Korea to freeze its nuclear activities in return for a series of concessions from Washington. President Bush, with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at his side in the Oval Office, delivered a firm warning yesterday to the Taiwanese government over its aspirations for independence, telling the island's leaders not to pursue a referendum that has angered mainland China. Premiere Wen Jiabao is speaking today at the Harvard Business School. The talk is expected to be accompanied by a number of protests including supporters of the Falun Gong, Students for a Free Tibet as well as people protesting the illegal detention of a former Harvard Medical School resarcher. A sharply divided Supreme Court upheld key features of the nation's new law intended to lessen the influence of money in politics, ruling Wednesday that the government may ban unlimited donations to political parties. The 248 page opinion from the 5-4 decision can be found here. O'Connor, Stevens, Ginsberg, Breyer and Souter were in the majority, Rehnquist, Scalia, Kennedy and Thomas dissented.

Iraq: The Pentagon has barred French, German and Russian companies from competing for $18.6 billion in contracts for the reconstruction of Iraq, saying it was acting to protect "the essential security interests of the United States.". The text of the memo sent by Wolfowitz can be found here. Countries set to be excluded from billion-dollar reconstruction contracts in Iraq have questioned the logic of a formal ban being imposed by the US. Nations that opposed the U.S.-led war in Iraq denounced on Wednesday the Pentagon's decision to bar their companies from bidding for $18.6 billion worth of reconstruction contracts, with France questioning its legality and Canada threatening to halt aid. The US-appointed Iraqi Governing Council has announced the formal establishment of a war crimes tribunal. Two American soldiers were killed and four were wounded today in two separate attacks on coalition troops in Mosul, a city in northern Iraq, the American military reported. Private corporations have penetrated western warfare so deeply that they are now the second biggest contributor to coalition forces in Iraq after the Pentagon, a Guardian investigation has established.

Israel: Settlers evacuated an unoccupied outpost Wednesday afternoon, near the central West Bank settlement of Na'aleh. This is the fifth in a list of six unoccupied outposts that the Israel Defense Forces Central Command received orders to dismantle. A senior United States official responded coolly to the announcement Tuesday, cautioning that any unilateral attempt to impose a final agreement to the conflict would not succeed. Israel and the US are the only two countries in the world developing an anti-ballistic missile system.

Africa: The BBC reports that Ethiopian farmers are swapping coffee for drugs. Kenya's newspaper vendors have stopped selling unlicensed, sensational publications for fear of arrest.

Middle East: The US military in Afghanistan has revealed that six children died in a raid on suspected militants in the eastern province of Paktia last week. OPEC Secretary General Alvaro Silva said the organisation is considering trading oil in euros to compensate for the US dollar's decline in value.

Latin America: Relatives of people kidnapped by Colombia's rebels took over Bogota's 17th-century cathedral and vowed to stay as long as it takes to force the government to renew talks to free their loved ones.

Tuesday, December 09, 2003

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Daily News Summary

Russia: A bomb exploded outside a hotel in the heart of Moscow today, killing at least five people and wounding 13

Iraq: Three Iraqis were killed in an attack in Baghdad. Witnesses said it was a rocket attack launched against a Sunni Mosque in a Shiite neighborhood, and that in addition to the three Iraqis killed, two others were wounded.
Forty-one American soldiers have been injured in northern Iraq in a suicide car bomb explosion. A helicopter was reportedly downed.

Afghanistan: The US army has launched a large operation in Afghanistan.

US: Al Gore has endorsed Howard Dean in the race for president.

Taiwan: Taiwan has rejected a US request to avoid holding a referandum that could fuel the island's independence movement. The Chinese premier is visiting the US and due to speak at Harvard tomorrow.

Britain: Racism and Islamophobia is on the rise in Britain, a new study reveals.

Liberia: Disarmament of Liberian rebels is underway.

Zimbabwe: Africa is split over the suspension and ensuing pull-out of Zimbabwe from the commonwealth. Mugabe and some neighbouring governments are accusing the "White Commonwealth" of forcing its will.

South Asia:The chief negotiator the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam wants a radical change in India's attitude. The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Jayalalithaa has made a suggestion that the Governments of India and Sri-Lanka take up joint naval exercises to eliminate the threat of unathorised operations by the sea-arm of the LTTE. An analysis may be found here

Argentina:Argentina has demanded an apology after it was revealed that British warships carried Nuclear Weapons in the Falklands war.

Palestine/Israel: The IDF has killed two armed men near the Lebanon border. It is 'unclear' whether they were intending to carry out a terror attack.

Monday, December 08, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US: Democratic candidate Lieberman attacked, once more, the entertainment industry for its contribution to the decline of values. Lieberman: "I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that the GOP or President Bush has a monopoly on values or a sense of right or wrong. They don't." At the same time, Kerry's profanity gets Bush's attention. Time Magazine reports on Dean's confidence about winning Iowa and New Hampshire next month, and setting his sights on the rest of the nation. In Washington, a $328.1 billion bill that the House expects to pass today takes earmarking to new heights. The dollar falls to a record low against the euro and an 11-year low against the pound, battered by concerns over the US economy. Arnold Schwartzenegger is selling his agenda for California by giving speeches in malls, with stores in the background and shoppers as his immediate audience.

Europe: Russian voters, showing a mixture of resignation, apathy and cynicism, gave President Vladimir Putin the electoral victory he had hoped for yesterday, making United Russia the biggest party by far in the new parliament. A Greek court today convicted the mastermind behind November 17, the terrorist organisation that killed dozens of Greek and foreign political targets during its 27-year campaign of violence.

Iraq: Iraq's political leaders are expected to vote this week to create a special court to try members of Saddam Hussein's government on charges varying from genocide to squandering the nation's wealth. One concern expressed by human rights experts, however, is that the decisions of such an Iraqi court would be tainted because it would be formed while the country was under occupation. Weapon experts question the claims made by an Iraqi 'colonel' that Iraq had WMD. The colonel was asked by NBC's Baghdad correspondent why he was so sure that these were chemical or biological weapons. His reply suggests that he was not, in fact, sure at all. Indonesia criticises US over Iraq, saying it has angered Muslims and left the entire Middle East more insecure and vulnerable. A US soldier died in a drive-by shooting in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, the US military says.

Asia: The Bush administration has agreed with South Korea and Japan to a broadly worded set of principles to end North Korea's nuclear program, calling for a "coordinated" set of steps towards the North's verifiable disassembly of its nuclear facilities. The Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao begins a visit to the US by warning Taiwan not to use democratic hopes as a cover for separatism.

Israel/Palestine: Representatives of 13 Palestinian militias agreed in Cairo yesterday to suspend suicide bombings inside Israel, but were divided over whether to offer a more comprehensive ceasefire that would stop attacks on soldiers and settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Israel has reacted to the failure of the Cairo cease-fire talks by saying the terror groups' intransigence presented a growing danger to PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei's government and warning that Israeli forces would take "necessary steps" if faced with a threat of new suicide bombings. Shinui ministers decided Monday to demand at the next cabinet meeting that the government alter the route of the fence, changing it from a "political" fence to a "security" fence, Israel Radio reported.

Africa: Commonwealth summit in Nigeria is dominated by Zimbabwe's withdrawal from the Commonwealth. Mr Mugabe has indicated his decision to pull out if the Commonwealth decided to maintain his country's suspension.

Latin America: Former Nicaraguan President Arnoldo Aleman has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for corruption. Wal-Mart, the biggest corporation in the United States, has become the biggest private employer in Mexico.

Sunday, December 07, 2003

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Daily News Summary

U.S.: Attempting to explain why George W. Bush can't decide why he took the nation to war, Tom Friedman compares America's first Republican president to its last. The Washington post reports on evolving Jewish and Arab-American party loyalties since 9//11/01. The Saudi government is taking measures to reduce its role in promoting Islam by no longer providing diplomatic status to Islamic clerics and educators teaching overseas, according to a senior Saudi official who declined to be identified. In a move towards government by referendum (when convenient) Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California will now try to bypass the Legislature whenever feasible.

Europe: "Dirty bomb warheads" have gone missing in a breakaway region of Moldova known for being a major black market for Russian weapons. U.S. accused of involvement in Georgia coup. Negotiators clear hurdles to Internet summit

Canada: The Progressive Conservative party sealed a historic political union with the Canadian Alliance Saturday. The emergence of a united conservative movement in Canada will create the first serious obstacle to majority liberal party rule in Canada for over a decade.

Afghanistan: A U.S. air strike apparently killed nine children and a suspected militant in eastern Afghanistan. Karzai "shocked".

India: At least three people have been killed and more than 20 injured in clashes between Muslims and Hindus in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad.

Iraq: The Pentagon might be underreporting casualties in Iraq. An Iraqi army officer has claimed it was he who told UK intelligence that weapons of mass destruction could be used within 45 minutes of an order from Saddam Hussein. Says half an hour would have been enough, in fact... Israeli intelligence miscalculated the threat posed by Saddam Hussein, an Israeli think-tank has suggested. A new body set up to monitor the use of Iraq's oil funds holds its first meeting at the United Nations in New York on Friday. Halliburton makes off with more loot. Tough new tactics by U.S. tighten grip on Iraq towns: As the guerrilla war against Iraqi insurgents intensifies, American soldiers have begun wrapping entire villages in barbed wire. In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers. They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in.

Israel/Palestine: Palestinian factions meeting for talks in Cairo appear to have failed to agree to a full ceasefire in the Middle East. Hamas rejects Fatah's unconditional cease-fire. Israel says it will reject what it calls 'half-measures'.

Africa: Mugabe threatens to withdraw Zimbabwe from Commonwealth.

NEW!! Sunday comic!

Saturday, December 06, 2003

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Daily News Summary

Middle East: In his second trip to Iraq in four months, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld visited the Iraqi cities of Kirkuk and Baghdad today. Major General Raymond Ordierno, commander of the division in charge of operations in the Sunni triangle, gave Rumsfeld a public briefing. He claimed that attacks on US forces had declined from 21 per day to about 6 daily. He also claimed that Iraqis are increasingly accepting American presence in Iraq, and many, he said, are joining forces with the Americans to establish stability. 107 Iraqi security people have been killed, he said.

Strangely, L. Paul Premer said in an interview with the AP that better US intelligence has determined that Iraqi guerillas are likely to increase attacks in coming months in order to prevent the transfer of authority in Iraq to a US-formed Iraqi government. A Nov. 15 agreement between the US and Iraq's governing council outlines the current plan for transferring authority to the Iraqis: caucuses will be held throughout Iraq that will elect delegates who, a month after beginning their terms in the end of May, will formally end US occupation by electing members of a transitional government. Some prominent Shiite leaders, however, have opposed this idea, calling for early, direct elections.

US: The lobby group American Enterprise Institute, from whose ranks comes Richard Perle and other members of the Bush administration, has teamed with the Los Angeles-based radio station "Sadayeh Iran" to broadcast into Iran live chat shows that feature both American and Iranian anti-government-activists. One Iranian who spoke on the show under the pseudonym "Narges" suggested that the exiled son of the former shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi, could play a role in initiating revolution in Iran. Most of the LA-based station's organizers have monarchist leanings.

In late October, Congressman Richard Armitage told Congress that the US should not form regime change in Iran, quoting Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi in her opinion that change must come from within.

Afghanistan: Twenty people were wounded after a bomb exploded in a bazaar in Kandahar. The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for the attack, said that the bomb had targeted American forces who shop in the bazaar.

Georgia: On his way to Iraq, Rumsfeld made a stop in the former Soviet Republic of Georgia, where he expressed support for Georgia as it deals with obstacles introduced by Russian military presence in Georgian territory, a recently-revolutionized government, and a poor economy. Georgia is a strategic ally for the United States because it is often used as a crossroads for terrorists and because an oil pipeline, set to open in 2005, will run through Georgia from Azerbaijan to Turkey.

Rumsfeld and Georgian president Nino Burdzhanadze called on Rusia to accelerate the removal of 3, 300 troops stationed in Georgia, in accordance with a 1999 treaty agreement made in Istanbul.

Georgia is of stategic value to Russia because it borders Chechnya and its borders encompass warm water ports on the Black Sea.

Americas: Human Rights Watch is scheduled to release today a report on workers' rights violations in the manufacturing, textile, and transport industries of El Salvador. Release of this study will come just a week before scheduled talks on forming the Centeral America Free Trade Agreement.

Friday, December 05, 2003

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Daily News Summary

Russia: On a train near Chechnya a suicide bomber killed at least 37 people and injured 150, in what President Putin described as a terrorist attack designed to disrupt elections occuring in Russia this weekend.

Iraq: A G.I. and 2 Iraqis were killed in a bomb explosion near a military convoy in Baghdad, and 13 other civilians riding a bus nearby were injured in the blast.
In the United States in Arlington Virginia yesterday, more than 400 people attended a conference meant to discuss the rebuilding of Iraq. As the New York Times writes, "If the participants conveyed a common message it was this: despite suicide bombers, snipers and attacks from Saddam Hussein loyalists, Iraq is open for business."

UN/NATO: In Brussels, Secretary of State Colin Powell asked for increased support from NATO and the UN in Iraq. Part of the United States' urgency in requesting help may come from the self-imposed deadline of this summer to transfer authority to an Iraqi-led government. However, nations among the security alliance, some of whom strongly opposed the war in the first place, are not eager to step in.

Israel/Palestine: President Bush and King Abdullah of Jordan discussed a Palestinian proposal in Washington yesterday which would prevent Israel from killing terrorist suspects and stop construction of the Wall in the West Bank in exhange for a cease-fire by militants. U.S. administration officials sided with Israel when they said that any peace plan must be accompanied by concrete actions by Palestinian authorities to disarm militants, dismantle weapons and rocket launchers and move against the infrastructure of the militant groups. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell will meet on today with self-appointed Palestinian and Israeli negotiators who have worked out an unofficial peace agreement announced in Geneva this week despite Israeli objections.

USA: The jobless rate in the United States fell to an eight month low of 5.9% in November. The United States and Syrian officials are disputing the fate of hundreds of millions of dollars deposited by Saddam Hussein in a Syrian bank. An op-ed by Paul Krugman gives a biting criticism of George Bush's speech at a recent fundraiser in which he emphasized the state of Medicare and the elimination of WMD in Iraq.

India: Stating that India would continue its peace process with Pakistan, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee said today that Islamabad should not only stop cross-border terrorism but also dismantle terrorist infrastructure. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won electoral victories in the Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh Assembly elections.

Africa: Sixty-four villagers have died after reportedly drinking a potion at a religious ritual in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The BBC describes the Commonwealth summit's six-nation panel investigating Zimbabwe's suspension from the grouping.

Asia: A possible vaccine against the Sars virus has passed the first stage of testing in monkeys. Executions in the Philippines will resume after President Gloria Arroyo lifted a freeze on the death penalty, after a series of kidnappings incited public outrage. The Chinese government intends to accelerate bank reforms in an attempt to strengteh local financial sectors.

Latin America: A rare television interview granted by Chile's former dictator Augusto Pinochet has revived a judicial effort to put him on trial for human rights crimes as he showed little evidence of the senility or strokes that prevented British and Chilean authorities from putting him on trial earlier. Seven people were killed and another 15 injured in western Colombia when a landslide caused by heavy rains buried their homes. Thirteen people are reported to have been killed in an attack on a remote village in Colombia.

Thursday, December 04, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US:The Bush administration plans to announce on Thursday that it will rescind tariffs it imposed last year on imported steel. The Pentagon said this week that it would let an American being held as an enemy combatant meet a lawyer. It may be that the action was less of a substantive change than merely a calculated gesture to help the administration shield its policies from criticism and reversal by the courts. Community leaders in the US city of Cincinnati have called for the local police chief to resign over the death of a black man beaten by police. Australia says it will participate in the US missile defence system.

Iraq:: US officials have rejected a plan to hold a census in Iraq. This census is necessary if elections are to be held.

India: The right-wing, Hindu fundamentalist BJP party has won elections in three states in India. These elections are widely viewed as an indicator of what will happen in the National elections next year. The Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that the poll results showed that BJP could win without raking up the 'temple issue'.

Russia: The NY Times has an editorial on Russia and the Kyoto Protocol. It reports that it might have been a false alarm, a negotiating tactic to strengthen Moscow's leverage in economic talks with the European Union, and that Russia was indeed "moving toward" ratification.

Africa: Interpol said on Thursday it has issued an international arrest warrant for Charles Taylor, the former Liberian president living in exile in Nigeria, following a request from a United Nations-backed war crimes tribunal in Sierra Leone. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has moved to expel Zimbabwe, citing a lack of cooperation and arrears of more than $270-million running back almost three years, the body said in a statement. Two Rwandan journalists were jailed for life and a third sentenced to 35 years on Wednesday for inciting the 1994 genocide in which an estimated 800 000 people were killed. British Prime Minister Tony Blair headed to a summit of Britain and its former colonies on Thursday with a message that Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe has yet to earn reinstatement to the bloc -- while two African leaders pledged to campaign for Mugabe's return.

Afghanistan: Donald Rumsfeld has made a trip to strife-torn Afghanistan to meet the warlords who control the country. According to the Guardian after the fall of the Taliban, Afghanistan swiftly recovered its position as producer of two-thirds of the world's heroin and main supplier to Europe, including the UK. The Washington Times also has an op-ed on Afghan Heroin production.

Palestine/Israel The Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has called on Israel to return the captured Golan Heights to Syria. In Cairo, Palestinian groups have begun talks in an attempt to halt anti-occupation attacks. Meretz MK Yossi Sarid on Thursday called for the creation of a committee to probe the conduct of Israeli intelligence ahead of the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

Latin America: The Guardian article quoted above about Afghanistan also says that the Colombian army is closely allied to paramilitary forces who are paid, fed, clothed and armed by drug money, and the Colombian legislature is full of senators and congressmen whose electoral campaign expenses were funded by drug money.

Wednesday, December 03, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US: A team of military lawyers recruited to defend alleged terrorists held by the US at Guantanamo Bay was dismissed by the Pentagon after some of its members rebelled against the unfair way the trials have been designed, the Guardian has learned. The Guardian also has an extensive special report on Guantanamo. The Crimson how students arrested at the FTAA conference in Miami told their story at the IOP last night. The US military has put on hold a controversial $18bn deal to buy Boeing tanker aircraft. The Pentagon said the deal would be frozen pending an inquiry into alleged wrongdoing by one of its former officials. Civil rights groups in the US city of Cincinnati have called for an investigation into the death of a black man who was beaten by police.

Iraq: The U.S. civilian and military leadership in Iraq has decided to form a paramilitary unit composed of militiamen from the country's five largest political parties to identify and pursue insurgents who have eluded American troops and Iraqi police officers, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Tuesday.

Europe: Russia says it will not ratify in its present form the Kyoto Protocol designed to mitigate global warming, prompting Canada to also rethink its commitments.

Israel: US Secretary of State Colin Powell has said he intends to meet the authors of an unofficial peace plan for the Middle East, despite opposition from Israel. Ha'aretz reports that the U.S. administration has lowered its level of interest in the Israeli-Palestinian dispute and ceased efforts to renew the political process as it focuses on the war in Iraq and President George W. Bush's reelection. The Tel Aviv District Court on Wednesday indicted a 17-year-old Israeli Arab from the village of Taibe in the north of the country on suspicion of contacting a senior Hamas operative and conspiring to smuggle a suicide bomber into Israel. Israel has arrested some 30 Palestinian militants in a series of raids on the eve of talks in Egypt aimed at securing a new truce from Palestinian groups. The same article reports that the Israeli Government is reported to have approved the construction of more than 1,720 new houses in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip this year. The Washington Post has a more detailed story on the same subject.

Africa: Two Rwandan media executives have been sentenced to life in prison for their part in the 1994 genocide. Ivory Coast police have fired tear gas at hundreds of supporters of President Laurent Gbagbo outside the main French military base in Abidjan. Nigeria has recovered some $200m from conmen in the past eight months, its anti-corruption commission says.

Latin America: A story in the Globe and Mail comments on recent events in Colombia including the disarming of 800 paramilitaries. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Tuesday began an eight-day trip to five Middle Eastern countries in search of diplomatic, trade and investment gains for Latin America's biggest country. A petition drive to force a referendum on Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez collected 3.6 million signatures, more than the 2.45 million required by law, the country's opposition said. Greg Palast reports on Chavez Versus The Free Trade Zombies Of The Americas.

Tuesday, December 02, 2003

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Daily News Summary

Iraq:The death toll in the gunfight yesterday, earlier put at 54 was widely disputed today. Iraqis claimed that only 8 people were killed, many of them civilians, in indiscriminate firing by American troops. Reporters for the New York Times spoke to an eyewitness who said "The Americans were shooting in every direction".
Al-Jazeera reports that not even a single body has been recovered from the site.

North America:Canada's view on social issues is Opening Rifts with the U.S. Abdurahman Khadr, the Canadian citizen returned from Guantanamo we reported on yesterday admitted to learning to use assault weapons at an 'al-Qaeda related' training camp but insisted that such instruction was routine for teens in war-torn Afghanistan.U.S. President George W. Bush's administration is hurrying to release large numbers of the 600 detainees held in Cuba after a Supreme Court decision to examine whether those held incommunicado in the stark Guantanamo Bay prison camp may be entitled to legal rights. The Department of Homeland Security is ending the special registration program begun after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that required tens of thousands of mostly Middle Eastern men and boys to register with the government while in the United States, officials said yesterday. The only woman among a group of American Muslims who tried to ally themselves with the Taliban was sentenced Monday to three years in prison.
A US soldier was killed by a bomb in Iraq yesterday.

Palestine/IsraelIsraeli troops blew up two houses yesterday, saying that they belonged to suspected militants. They also killed a man, who they said, was a member of the Al-Aqsa martyrs Brigade. The Hard-Line Israeli government has slammed the Colin Powell for offering to meet the architects of the Geneva accords. The full-text of the Geneva accords may be found here.

Africa:The treason trial of Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai resumed yesterday.
Waving knives and machetes, pro-government mobs extended their siege of France's main military base in Côte d'Ivoire for a second day on Tuesday --demanding that French peacekeepers withdraw from the former French colony to allow government forces to resume attacks on rebels.

India:30 people perished in a bus accident in Himachal Pradesh yesterday.India and Pakistan have agreed to resume simultaneous air links and overflights from January 1 on a reciprocal basis

Latin America: The Guardian describes the actions of Méicins Sans Frontières in Colombia. Venezuelan opposition leaders say they are confident they have collected enough signatures to six Colombian police officers died and five other officers were missing today after they were attacked by suspected left-wing guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in northern Colombia, police said.

Monday, December 01, 2003

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Daily News Summary

Today is World AIDS Day

HIV/AIDS: Global health chiefs are to spell out plans to ensure three million people with HIV get the drugs they need by the end of 2005. The BBC has a piece on Uganda's AIDS policy, Uganda is one of the few nations to have turned a burgeoning Aids crisis into a relative success story. The Guardian has a flash presentation "AIDS: Crisis at a Glance". Z-Magazine a has a good piece putting things into perspective: "Institutionalized AIDS And The Quest For Social Responsibility Revisiting Basic Questions On World AIDS Day".

US: President Bush is expected to announce this week that he will immediately lift most of the tariffs he placed on foreign steel in an effort to protect American industry, bowing to a ruling by the World Trade Organization that his administration had violated global trading rules. A Colorado court rules against Republicans' efforts at redistricting, a similar case is occuring in Texas. John Raymond Bushey Jr. became the first person in as long as anyone can remember to be convicted of adultery in Virginia. More than 100 prisoners will be released from US custody at the detainment camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and more will follow, military officials said. The Candian press reports on a Canadian citizen returning home after two years in Guantanamo.

Iraq: American soldiers killed 54 people in the intense firefight that ensued in the town of Samarra in central Iraq. The BBC emphasizes that the ambush was an attempt to seize new Iraqi banknotes, the US military say. President Bush's visit to Iraq on Thanksgiving Day was a panicky publicity stunt intended to obscure the failing U.S. occupation, according to many commentators in the international press. Bush's declaration that the United States is committed to staying in Iraq, while lauded by his few supporters, is neither welcomed nor believed in the online media of the Islamic world.

The Washington Post has an editorial on the media situation in Iraq with the comment on the Al-Aribiya news channel that was recently shut down: "al-Arabiya recently broadcast a statement it received at its Dubai headquarters that was attributed to the former dictator. This last act was the pretext for its shutdown. Yet the channel was doing no more or less than American networks that report smuggled statements from Saddam Hussein or Osama bin Laden, not because they support them but because they are news. After this fact was pointed out, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld charged at a press conference that al-Arabiya works in league with the Iraqi resistance, which, he claimed, summons it to cover attacks. But he offered no evidence to back this sensational charge."

The South African Mail and Guardian reports "The US military has not punished any soldier for shooting an unarmed civilian and refuses even to keep count of the civilians its soldiers kill. Yet for several months now, US officers have been quietly paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to relatives of the dead and injured, offering polite but carefully worded condolences and promising investigations that lead nowhere." sadly this is a pay site, and access to the article requires $$ and I cannot find this elsewhere, if a more informed reader comesw across it, please post a comment.

Israel: IDF forces mounting a major raid in Yasser Arafat's headquarters town of Ramallah Monday killed three armed Palestinian militants and a 9-year-old boy, later demolishing a four-story building believed to be hiding a Hamas man on Israel's most-wanted lists. Yossi Beilin, a former Israeli justice minister and Yasir Abed Rabbo, former minister of information for the Palestinian Authority have published an published an op-ed in the NY Times outlining the Geneva Accords, a "virtual agreement" or peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians which has been mailed to every household in Israel. Prominent Israeli and Palestinian politicians and peace activists gathered Monday gathered to launch the Geneva Accord peace initiative in the presence of Jimmy Carter and other world figures in the Swiss city.

Latin America: Spreading Gang Violence Alarms Central Americans. Since the wars ended in the 1990s, Central America has become fertile ground for gangs. Central American countries have very young populations, rampant poverty and unemployment, and hundreds of thousands of leftover weapons. Analysts say gangs are an attractive option for children as young as 10 looking for a place to belong in societies that seem to offer them little else. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez set the stage to challenge the latest attempt to end his rule, saying a petition drive for a recall election against him and his allies was tainted by fraud.

India: State elections were held in four states recently. Exit polls predicted a win for the BJP in the huge state of Madhya Pradesh, a win for the Congress in Delhi and the possibility of a 'hung assembly' in Rajasthan and Chattisgarh. The BJP is a right-wing party and the political front for Hindu fundamentalist organizations.

Africa: The Ivory Coast government supporters, who threw stones and lit fires, demanded French peacekeepers withdraw from a buffer zone in central Ivory Coast. Hutu rebels opposed to Burundi's power-sharing government have been meeting senior Tutsi government figures at a secret location in Nairobi.

Sunday, November 30, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US: Diebold withdraws threats against ISP's for hosting corporate documents on problems with electronic voting. Former DOJ offifials question aspects of Patriot Act.

Iraq: Attackers killed seven Spanish intelligence agents and two Japanese diplomats yesterday in separate ambushes in Iraq, in the latest assaults on allies of the United States. Reactions from Japan and Spain. Also, two South Korean electricians working for a firm contracted by a U.S. company were shot and killed in Iraq near Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, the Yonhap news agency reported early Monday. Al-Arabiya, banned from operating in Iraq by the governing council there, denies Rumsfeld claims of collaborating with insurgents.

Israel/Palestine: With approval from Arafat, Fatah officials will participate in ceremony launching alternative peace plan. Differences emerge in Sharon cabinet over settlement policy, and between Sharon and IDF regarding the stance Israel should adopt toward the new PA government, headed by Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala). Sharon rejects any compromise on security fence. Kofi Annan speaks out against fence.

Europe: Georgia's new government has appointed a new foreign minister one week after former President Eduard Shevardnadze resigned. At the U.N. in Geneva, more than 90 countries have approved a treaty designed to clean up unexploded weapons following conflict.

India/Pakistan: Shortly after President Pervez Musharraf's announcement that the ban on Indian overflights would be lifted, Pakistan today said the current momentum of the peace process should lead to a "composite dialogue" to resolve bilateral issues.

Africa: Liberia's militias have refused to disarm their fighters unless they are given more top posts, says the United Nations special envoy. Bono and Beyonce rock for AIDS.

Latin America: Venezuela says it has closed parts of its border with Colombia to stop fraud in an campaign to force a referendum on President Hugo Chavez's rule. The move was designed to stop unregistered voters from crossing into Venezuela to sign a petition. Texaco's envrionmental crimes in Ecuador exposed.

North Korea: North Korea accuses U.S. of breaching nuclear agreement after an American-backed international consortium last week suspended work on power projects.

Saturday, November 29, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US: The billionaire George Soros stakes fortune on 'matter of life and death' - defeating George Bush. Molly Ivins has a column describing two recent pieces of Republican legislation, the medicare and energy bills. President Bush's reelection team, anticipating another close election, has begun to assemble one of the largest grass-roots organizations of any modern presidential campaign, using enormous financial resources and lack of primary opposition to seize an early advantage over the Democrats in the battle to mobilize voters in 2004. Bush's campaign Web site already has signed up 6 million supporters. United States military authorities at Guantanamo Bay have not finished interrogating seven of the nine British detainees and have yet to decide whether "they have done something wrong", Colin Powell, the US Secretary of State, said on Thursday, nearly two years after the prison camp was set up in Cuba.

Iraq: That U.S. Says Iraqi Police May Have Coordinated Attacks on G.I.s. Bush administration officials are increasingly concerned that anti-American forces in Iraq are using simple but effective means to monitor activities and coordinate attacks against the American military, civilian administrators and visiting dignitaries. The NY Times reports that the US has not addressed serious problems with Iraq's underground oil reservoirs, which American and Iraqi experts say could severely limit the amount of oil those fields produce. US troops in Iraq have arrested 41 suspected insurgents during a series of raids, the US military has said. Hundreds of Iraqis have marched in the capital, Baghdad, to protest against "terrorism" and continuing violence. Two members of a Spanish intelligence team were killed in southern Iraq when their vehicles came under attack Saturday, the Spanish Defense Ministry said. Ha'aretz reports that at least 6 were killed.

Middle East: Former Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar was seen in the Pakistani border town of Quetta last week, according to Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Turkish police have arrested a suspect in the bombing of an Istanbul synogogue as he tried to enter Iran, authorities said Saturday. The attack was part of a string of bombings that killed 61 people earlier this month.

Israel: The Palestinian prime minister has said that Israel's security fence must be scrapped as a condition for any future peace negotiations.

Nepal: The Interpol has issued arrest warrants for 11 top Nepalese rebels. The BBC has a story here. The US and Britain have been propping up the Nepalese monarchy in the face of a guerrilla struggle led by a Maoist party. Some extremely detailed (though admittedly biased) eyewitness reporting may be found here.

Europe: It appears that Britain did not seek permission from
Washington before agreeing to the military deal with Germany and France. The Independent reports that Jack Straw was caught off-guard yesterday The dollar has tumbled to an all time low against the Euro. Read the here . It has been speculated that maintaining the supremacy of the dollar was one of the major reasons behind the war. Some more analysis on the Dollar vs the Euro can be found on Pressure-Point.

Sri-Lanka: The Sri-Lankan Prime-Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe has rejected the President's proposal for power-sharing. This promises to stretch the tense-standoff in Sri-Lanka.

Africa: Two of seven foreign oil workers kidnapped by ethnic militants in Nigeria's volatile oil delta have been released, a state government official said Saturday. Nine people have been killed and an Italian missionary wounded in rebel attacks in northern Uganda in the past two days, church and army sources said on Friday. The Nelson Mandela 46664 (his prison number) Aids benefit concert is being staged LIVE from Cape Town. Performers on stage include Bono, Beyonce, Queen and Youssou N'Dour. A live streaming is available for the next few hours on the BBC news site.

Latin America: Thousands of Venezuelans lined up for blocks Friday to sign petitions demanding a recall vote against President Hugo Chavez. Opponents of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez start a four-day signature drive on Friday seeking a referendum to vote the leftist leader out of office five years after he was first elected. Officials in Colombia say 69 officers of the highway patrol have been dismissed in a crackdown on corruption in the police force. The UN high commissioner for human rights condemned Thursday the murder of Japanese businessman Chikao Muramatsu, demanding an explanation from Colombian leftist rebels suspected in the slaying. The left-wing Colombian guerrilla group National Liberation Army says it will soon release its five hostages, four of which are Israeli.

Friday, November 28, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US: An American sodlier was killed when guerrilla fighters from the Iraqi resistance shelled a military base near Mosul today. A member of the Iraqi governing council said that he did not consider Bush's arrival at the Baghdad International airport a visit to Iraq, since Bush did not meet any Iraqis. These stories are reported here . Zmag has a funny piece on the visit. The New York Times reports that the US plan to transfer power to Iraq 'gained momentum' when the President of the Iraqi governing council, Jalal Talabani met with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani who had, earlier, voiced objections to the US plan. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. writes in Rolling Stone that George W. Bush will go down in history as America's worst environmental president.

Kashmir: A day after the guns fell silent on the Siachen glacier, following a 'cease-fire' between India and Pakistan, fresh violence rocked the region. At least 12 people were killed when militants ambushed security personnel.

Sri-Lanka: The Leader of the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Elam(LTTE), V Prabakaran, in his "Heroes Day" address, accused the divided Sri-Lankan polity of carrying out an absurd drama and alleged that Sinhala racism stood exposed. He said his movement was re-arming for war. The Daily News carries a detailed report whereas The Hindu carries a brief report

Venezuela: Foes of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez need to collect 2.4 million votes by Monday to call a referendum to remove Chavez from Power. Venezuelans living in Chicago are collecting signatures! See the ChicagoTimes Report here. Chavez's radical policies and refusal to kowtow to Washington have created much resentment. The Bush adminitration supported the coup of 2002. In May, the New Left Review published a very detailed review of the situation in Venezuela .

Europe: The BBC reports that Germany, Britain and France have reached a join defence agreement for Europe. The United States is, naturally, opposed to this accord. The New York Times reports that 'Hard Line' Parties made strong gains in elections in Northern Ireland

Taiwain: China has warned Taiwan against seeking independence.

Palestine/Israel: A Palestinian security officer was shot and killed by Israeli troops. Palestinians said that the soldier fired at a crowd near the settlement of Dugit. The Haaretz article above also mentions that 3 Palestinians were injured in an Israeli incursion into the Jenin refugee camp. AlJazeera mentioned the same incursion in a report yesterday. Kofi Annan has condemned the Wall .

Thursday, November 27, 2003

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Daily News Summary

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

US: The UK Independent reports that the Republicans have a potential cruise missile for a candidate to contest the crucial race in Florida next year for a seat in the US Senate. The candidate is Katherine Harris, once called the "power bitch" for her pivotal role as Florida's secretary of state in handing the state, and therefore the Presidency itself, to George Bush in the 2000 balloting debacle. For more information about Ms. Harris, see this story by BBC-TV reporter Greg Palast about the 2000 election, read the first chapter of Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men" (where he dubs her an honorary stupid white man) or watch this flash presentation entitled Grand Theft America. This is worth watching/reading for anyone who is unaware of this.

President Bush made a surprise secret visit to Iraq today to spend Thanksgiving with the troops. Robert Fisk questions the sincerity of Bush's sympathy for the troops. "President Bush, our hero in the 'war on terror', won't be attending [the dead soldier's] funerals. The man who declined to serve his nation in Vietnam but has sent 146,000 young Americans into the biggest rat's nest in the Middle East doesn't do funerals."

Iraq: There have been a few setbacks to US plans for Iraq in the past two days:. The head of the Iraqi Governing Council has said the US plan for handing over power to Iraqis may be amended. The BBC reports that The latest American plan for Iraq's political future is running into trouble. The country's most senior Shia Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, is reported to feel it fails to give a sufficient role to the Iraqi people - or to acknowledge the role of Islam in Iraqi society. Dozens of the American intelligence experts and linguists sent to Iraq to search for illicit weapons have been reassigned to an expanding effort to learn more about the insurgents attacking United States troops, senior government officials said Wednesday.

South Asia: Violence erupted in Kashmir despite the cease fire agreeement between India and Pakistan. A grenade exploded at a crowded market in the Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-held Kashmir, killing one shopkeeper and wounded nine others on Thursday. Meanwhile Indian security forces shot dead 10 suspected militants in gun battles elsewhere in the Himalayan region.

Israel: The heads of UN and international agencies operating in the territories recently warned Israel that they may stop their activity in the territories unless Israel alters its closure policy. This follows ten days after the Red Cross announced it is ending two emergency aid programmes that support roughly 50,000 West Bank Palestinian families. This Ha'aretz article reports: 1) Palestinian sources reported Thursday that three residents of the West Bank city of Jenin were
wounded in a military operation there. 2) The IDF said Thursday morning that three Palestinians who were killed Wednesday night by military fire in the southern Gaza Strip were not armed, as had been originally reported. 3) Palestinians fired a mortar shell at a military base in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday morning. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has vowed to press ahead with Israel's controversial West Bank security fence. More information on the secrurity wall being erected can be found here.

Africa/Developing World: The trial has begun of four ministers and former ruling party officials during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda in which some 800,000 people died. The Wall Street Journal reports that The IMF dropped its plan to issue contingent credit lines to developing countries to keep them afloat when they are rocked by financial instability outside their borders. Unfortunately, this is a pay site and I can't find this (IMHO important) story anywhere else. If you do, please link it in a comment below. Eritrea is moving troops towards the most hotly contested part of its border with Ethiopia, says the United Nations. 160 bodies recovered in Congo ferry crash.

Wednesday, November 26, 2003

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Daily News Summary

US/Harvard: The Crimson has a couple pieces talking about the Free Trade Area of the Americas. In this opinion piece John T. Trumpbour, the research director of the Labor & Worklife Program at Harvard Law School gives reasons to resist the FTAA. This article documents how 4 IOP funded Harvard college seniors were arrested at the protests, and how that is now prompting a review of whether they should hgave gotten funding to go to Miami in the first place. A group of Harvard workers protested outsourcing and University labor policies yesterday. A senior British judge has launched an unprecedented attack on US treatment of the 660 prisoners at Guantanamo bay. He has called the treatment 'monstrous'. See the report by the Independent.

Africa: NY Times reports Somalia is still in a state of anarchy 10 years after "Black Hawk Down" events. The New York Times also reports Africa Has More Than 11 Million AIDS Orphans.

Middle East: The UN nuclear watchdog (IAEA) has passed a resolution censuring Iran over its nuclear programme but stopped short of recommending sanctions. The Christian Science Monitor reports that Israel is working on a wide range of measures to undermine Iran's nuclear program, with senior leaders hinting that Israel may take preemptive action if that is deemed necessary. Analysts here suggest that action may include a strike similar to Israel's 1981 attack on Iraq's Osirak reactor. Al Jazeera reports that Afghanistan's ousted Taliban have called for a boycott of the country's presidential election to be held in June next year. They also said attacks against US soldiers and foreigners will continue.

Russia: Seven Russian soldiers and three policemen were killed in rebel attacks in Chechnya an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said.

Iraq: The US has detained the Wife and Daughter of a former top Iraqi general. See the report here. The Washington Post reports Iraq's Top Shiite Cleric Criticises U.S. Political Plans.

Israel: The Bush administration, in a rare rebuke to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, has decided to rescind $289.5 million in American-backed loan guarantees for Israel as a punishment for illegal construction activities in the West Bank, the Israeli Embassy announced Tuesday. Ha'aretz has a more in depth analysis of the meaning of the cuts. A 9 year old Palestinian boy was killed by IDF gunfire near Rafah. The Geneva accords have been mailed to Israelis and Palestinians. The full text can be found here. However, right-wing settlers have opposed the Geneva accords and have proposed an alternative plan that would drive the Palestinians into cantons and maintain Jewish control even if an Arab demographic majority is seen in a few years. Extreme right-wing settlers have opposed this plan, since it would give some land to the Palestinians, calling it a betrayal of the homeland. They would like "All of the Land[of Israel] to be under the sovereignty of the State of Israel". Ha'aretz has a good report. Fox News has a report that Israeli doctors have been trying to save an Iraqi baby.

Latin America: The International Herald Tribune reports on growing hopes for peace in Colombia.

Tuesday, November 25, 2003

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Daily News Roundup

HIV: A UN Aids and WHO report has found that Global HIV infection rates have hit a record high. The number of newly infected people, this year, was put at 5 million. A discussion may be found here . The epidemic of AIDS is primarily linked to poverty. For some good analysis, see Zmag. Some progress has been made in making medicines more accessible in recent times. Particularly prominent have been the efforts of the Clinton Foundation . However, many activists argue that it is important to address the root issues . Nicholas Kristoff also ran a series of articles on this issue

US: In a major victory for President Bush, the Senate approved a bill proposing major changes to Medicare. The New York Times has an article here . The NY Times also reports that the US economy grew at 8.2% rather than the 7.2% reported earlier. See here . Naomi Klein, author of 'No Logo' reports Heavy-handed police and propaganda tactics brought Baghdad to Miami in her article The War on Dissent. In this Op-Ed, Paul Krugman outlines some tactics of the Bush administration in demonizing their opponents. The Australian Government says it has reached a deal with the United States for the trial of two Australians held at Guantanamo Bay.

Poverty: The NY Times also carries an article that reports that the number of hungry people in the world has gone up.

South Asia: India and Pakistan agreed to a formal ceasefire along the Line ofControl(LOC). The Hindu has an article

Iraq: 2 Iraqis were killed by American soldiers at a checkpoint yesterday. See the article in The Dawn . An explosion was heard in central Baghdad. The Guardian has a report.

Africa: Nigeria has agreed to surrender Charles Taylor for trial if the Liberian government makes a request. See the article here

Latin America: 800 fighters of Colombia's feared right-wing militia surrender weapons their weapons and ammunition at a disarmament ceremony Tuesday touted by the government as a first step toward ending four decades of war.
Chileans have expressed outrage over an interview in which ex-dictator Augusto Pinochet said he was a "patriotic angel" with nothing to apologise for.

Palestine/Israel: : A Palestinian youth attempted to stab Jewish worshippers Tuesday evening at the entrance to the Western Wall plaza in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem's Old City.

Monday, November 24, 2003

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Daily News Roundup

US: President Bush signed the biggest defense budget in history yesterday at 401.3 Billion dollars. The Guardian had a report last year on some aspects of US military spending, including that the US spends as much as the next 9 highest countries, and that it accounts for 40% of the world's total military expenditure. The United States has released 20 prisoners -- and added another 20 -- at its Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, military prison for suspects in the U.S.-declared war on terrorism, the Pentagon said on Monday.

Iraq: The BBC reports that Iraq's US-appointed interim leadership has banned an Arabic television station, accusing it of inciting violence against the coalition. General Peter Pace said the US would stay in Iraq as long as it took to
'restore stability'.

Africa: Electricity was restored to a part of Monrovia for the first time in 10 years. Z-Magazine has an article about Post-Apartheid South Africa claiming the ANC has betrayed its promises.

Europe: Europe insists on having a separate defence force of its own. As background, several moves towards this separate defence force have already been made.

Israel: Ha'aretz reports that Rabbi Eric Yoffie, ranked second on the list of the 50 most influential Jews in America, after Paul Wolfowitz, broke the vow of silence he had taken upon himself since the beginning of the intifada and sharply attacked the government’s settlement policy, which he says endangers the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.

Latin America: Amnesty International has issued a briefing to the UN Committee against Torture on the Republic of Colombia. The Seattle Times reports that the Pinochet regime dumped hundreds of bodies into Pacific Ocean. More information on the US's involvement with the Pinochet regime can be found here, (although a google search will turn up many equally good sources). Students in Ireland are calling for a boycott of the Coca-Cola company for alledged huamn rights abuses in Colombia.

Sunday, November 23, 2003

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Daily News Roundup

You are reading the very first HIPJ weblog news roundup.

US: Maureen Dowd conjectures on the Bush administration plans to use fear in order to win the next election in an op-ed in the New York Times. A poignant analysis of fear tactics used in Bush's standard stump speech is offered by radio host Mike Malloy. The NY Times also has an article outlining how the FBI has been monitoring anti-war demonstrators.

GeorgiaThe President of Georgia, Eduard Shevardnadze has resigned. This follows a tense standoff, during which he imposed emergency while the opposition claimed a 'velvet revolution'. Read the BBC report here . The New York Times carries a Reuters report.

Israel/Palestine: Two privately hired Israeli security guards were shot dead at a construction site along the route of the separation fence, in East Jerusalem's Kidron valley at around 8:00 P.M. (Israeli time) last night. More information on the secrurity wall being erected can be found here. An 11- year old Palestinian boy was killed by the IDF near Jenin and two armed Palestinians were killed by the IDF in the Gaza Strip, this is reported in the Israeli paper Ha'aretz.

Iraq: A letter to the editors of the NYTimes by the executive director of Human Rights watch condemns Brutality in Iraq. A terrorist attack killed 14 civilians and a missile hits a civilian plane.

Latin America: Colombian President Alvaro Uribe on Saturday accused a police unit of having such close ties to ring-wing paramilitary death squads that they went drinking together. Officials from the Roman Catholic Church and rights bodies have arrived in northern Colombia to inspect alleged human rights abuses.
The visit is aimed at satisfying a key demand of left-wing rebels currently holding seven tourists hostage. The NYTimes reports editorial proclaims that the The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), the effort to create a mammoth free trade area throughout North and South America by 2005, begun with such fanfare nine years ago, runs the risk of being downsized to a point of near irrelevance. The BBC gives a slightly different account.

India In continuing strife, two more Biharis were killed in the state of Assam. This takes the death toll of the week's violence to 52. Migrant workers from the state of Bihar are being attacked by the United Liberation Front for Assam(ULFA). Read the report from The Hindu . A report of the incident yesterday in which 16 people were killed is available from The Hindu or The Indian Express .