This blog is again going on a short hiatus. My apologies. There are some personal and some technical reasons for this. We will be back up and running in an improved — and audio-tastic! — manner quite soon.
Monthly Archives: October 2007
Food aid halts in Somali struggle
October 18, 2007 – 1:41 pm
The United Nations’ World Food Programme was suspended in Somalia yesterday after government troops kidnaped its leader.
The kidnaping came just two days after the program had restarted for the first time since June.
The WFP had been given permission by Mogadishu’s mayor, Muhammad Umar Habib, to distribute food through local mosques.
Mr. Habib is close with Somalia’s [...]
Somali troops nab UN food chief
October 17, 2007 – 1:06 pm
Uniformed and heavily armed Somali soldiers stormed the United Nations compound in Mogadishu today, arresting Idris Osman, the head of the UN World Food Programme for Somalia.
The UN has been given no explanation for the incident and is halting food distribution in Mogadishu.
However, spokesmen for the program have in the past praised the former [...]
Iraq’s refugees out of options
October 16, 2007 – 11:04 am
Most Iraqi provinces have shut their borders to refugees trying to avoid violence in other parts of the country. Ten of Iraq’s 18 provinces — roughly analagous to counties — have either closed their borders to outsiders or deny them aid once they arrive.
About 60,000 Iraqis are forced to leave their homes every month, and [...]
China backs off on Myanmar
October 12, 2007 – 11:53 am
One day after endorsing a unanimous United Nations security council resolution urging Myanmar to rein in its violent tactics and engage in genuine dialogue with political opposition, China’s foreign minister said Myanmar’s political issues are purely its own.
Yesterday’s non-binding resolution was the first action taken by the security council in response to Myanmar’s violent repression [...]
Booze saves Italian’s life
October 12, 2007 – 10:41 am
The life of an Italian man visiting Australia was saved two months ago by a doctor who set up bottles of rum, vodka and whiskey on a drip-feed to counteract the effects of antifreeze the man had drunk.
The recommended treatment for ingestion of ethylene glycol, a poisonous chemical found in antifreeze, is pure pharmaceutical grade [...]
Ralston departure reveals vacuum
October 11, 2007 – 10:45 am
Turkey prepares to ignore an agreement it signed just two weeks ago that explicitly rules out Turkish military operations inside Iraq.
Dick Gephardt and Bob Livingston take Turkish money to argue that Ottoman Turks didn’t commit genocide against 1.5 million Armenians in 1915.
Turkish officials mutter about “what the US will lose” in Iraq if it crosses [...]
Bush downplays Armenian genocide
October 10, 2007 – 6:59 pm
President George W. Bush urged American congressional leaders to defeat a resolution that would declare the killing of hundreds of thousands of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a “genocide”.
Calling the deaths which occurred in 1915 tragic, Bush nevertheless said that the word “genocide” could hamper American relations with Turkey.
The US walks a delicate line with Turkey, [...]
Turkey plots Iraq incursion
October 10, 2007 – 12:16 pm
Turkey is preparing to invade Kurdish-controlled territory in northern Iraq — against American wishes.
Turkish troops are already shelling Kurdish positions across the border. The executive branch will submit a request to parliament some time this week for a larger ground invasion.
Turkey says it is targeting separatists allied to the Kurdish Workers’ Party (PKK). The two [...]
Junta throttles info export
October 9, 2007 – 11:42 am
The military government that rules Myanmar is seizing telephones and internet-capable computers.
Images of the regime’s brutal reprisals against Buddhist monks and pro-democracy demonstrators have been spread around the world in recent days.
Last week the country’s public internet link was severed, though embassy internet connections and satellite telephones continued to operate. Now those links are gone [...]
