Also Try Archives Current Events Lessons Democracy and Corporate Power Democracy and Media Swine Flu Lists Countries - Search Engines by Country (Search Engine Colossus) Provides search engines from within many countries in both the language of the country and English. 3-00 Globalization Issues (Awesome Library) Provides sources that discuss the pros and cons of globalization and "Americanization." 8-02 Leaders by Country (Peoplespot.com) Provides six sources of information on of leaders by country. leaders, rulers, Presidents, and Prime Ministers 9-00 Multimedia -Editorials: Commentary on World Political Issues (CNN News) "Fareed Zakaria GPS is an hour-long program that takes a comprehensive look at foreign affairs and the policies shaping our world. Every week we bring you an in-depth interview with a world leader, as well as a panel of international analysts who examine the major global developments of the week. As always, Fareed's emphasis is on new ideas and innovative approaches to solving the world's toughest problems." 11-08 Happy People Dancing Across the Earth (NASA.gov) "Many humans on Earth exhibit periods of happiness, and one method of displaying happiness is dancing. Happiness and dancing transcend political boundaries and occur in practically every human society. Above, Matt Harding traveled through many nations on Earth, started dancing, and filmed the result. The video is perhaps a dramatic example that humans from all over planet Earth feel a common bond as part of a single species. Happiness is frequently contagious -- few people are able to watch the above video without smiling." 07-08 News -001 Austerity in Greece Making It Harder, Not Easier, for Self-Reliance (New York Times) "The budget gap is widening as the so-called troika of lenders — the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission — withholds 1 billion euros in bailout money earmarked for government financing while it waits to see whether new leaders elected June 17 will honor Greece’s commitments." "Even if the troika delivers that money, Greece will struggle to cover its obligations. It underscored a harsh reality that is playing out in other troubled euro zone economies. Prolonged austerity is making it harder, not easier, for governments like Greece to become self-reliant again." 06-12 -01-12-13 Cancer and Chemical Dyes (New York Times) "For the last five years I have been writing a history of the chemical industry’s egregious 60-year involvement in the New Jersey shore town of Toms River, which gained unwanted notoriety in the late 1990s thanks to a remarkably well-documented cluster of childhood cancer cases and a long history of often hidden industrial pollution." 01-13 -01-21-13 Death Count in Algeria Mounts (Time.com) "As the death toll from Algeria’s hostage massacre rose to at least 69, security experts in Europe and beyond are examining the six-day drama for clues about the evolving terror threat." 01-13 -01-28-13 Why Islamists Are Destroying Mali's Cultural Heritage (Time.com) "In the puritanical strain of Islam adhered to by Ansar Dine (and the Taliban), veneration of Sufi saints counts as idolatry, a heretical practice that cannot be tolerated. Militants bearing guns, pickaxes and shovels reduced to rubble the tomb of Sidi Mahmoud, who died in 955 A.D. They have also knocked down tombs of two other prominent medieval saints, Sidi Moctar and Alpha Moya. One Ansar Dine spokesman told the BBC that they plan to destroy every single Sufi shrine in the city, 'without exception'.” "International outrage has been swift. UNESCO, which designates some of Timbuktu’s mosques and tombs as World Heritage sites, has desperately urged an end to the campaign of destruction." 01-13 -02-16-12 Abuse of Girls in Afghanistan (MSNBC News) "Although baad (also known as baadi) is illegal under Afghan and, most religious scholars say, Islamic law, the taking of girls as payment for misdeeds committed by their elders still appears to be flourishing. Shakila, because one of her uncles had run away with the wife of a district strongman, was taken and held for about a year. It was the district leader, furious at the dishonor that had been done to him, who sent his men to abduct her." 02-12 -02-20-12 Iran Warns U.S. on Syria (New York Times) "Two Iranian warships docked in a Syrian port on Monday as a senior Iranian lawmaker denounced American calls for arming the Syrian opposition, adding to the international tensions over the nearly yearlong crackdown by the government of President Bashar al-Assad." 02-12 -02-24-11 A Country-by-Country Look at Protests in the Middle East (New York Times) Provides "the latest news on the protest movements and uprisings shaking countries across the Middle East and northern Africa." 02-11 -03-08-13 Funeral for Venezuela's Leader (CBS News) "With leaders from five continents on hand, Venezuela prepared for a day of distinctly different ceremonies -- first the formal state funeral of Hugo Chavez, then the controversial swearing in of his anointed interim successor, who the opposition charges has no constitutional right to the job." 03-13 -03-08-13 How the Conclave for Electing the Pope Works (CBS News) "On the first day of the conclave, the cardinals will hold no more than one round of voting, in the afternoon. Each round consists of two votes. They have already discussed the merits of each papal prospect during days of "general congregations" at the Vatican, but a deciding vote must see one name garner two-thirds plus-one vote to win -- that translates to support from 77 of the 115 cardinal electors. The now-retired Pope Benedict XVI himself committed that absolute majority rule into Church law just two days before he stepped down." 03-13 -03-15-11 U.S. Owes China $1.16 Trillion (CBS News) "China, the biggest buyer of U.S. Treasury securities, owns a lot more than previously estimated." "In an annual revision of the figures, the Treasury Department said Monday that China's holdings totaled $1.16 trillion at the end of December. That was an increase of 30 percent from an estimate the government made two weeks ago." "Japan had the second highest foreign holdings, totaling $882.3 billion at the end of December. The revision was only slightly below the original estimate." "The total foreign holdings of Treasury debt stood at $4.44 trillion at the end of December, according to the new report. That's up 1.5 percent from the estimate made two weeks ago. About two-thirds of U.S. Treasurys owned overseas are held by foreign governments and central banks." "The U.S. government is selling huge amounts of debt to finance record-high budget deficits. The Obama administration in its new budget released on Feb. 14 projected that this year's deficit will reach a record $1.65 trillion. It would be the third consecutive year the federal deficit has exceeded $1 trillion." 03-11 -03-15-12 Bo Xilai Is Removed from Chinese Post (Time.com) "Bo Xilai, the high-profile Chinese official who was once seen as a favorite for elevation to the top echelon of Chinese political power, has been removed from his office as Communist Party secretary of the southwestern megacity of Chongqing, the official Xinhua news agency announced. Bo’s axing comes one day after he was publicly criticized by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao. Bo’s rise was derailed last month when a key deputy, former police chief and Chongqing vice mayor Wang Lijun, made a surprise visit to a U.S. consulate.” 03-12 -03-16-11 A Meltdown at a Nuclear Power Plant (MSNBC News) "Experts on nuclear power say that the seriousness of the Fukushima Dai-ichi currently rates somewhere between Pennsylvania's 1979 Three Mile Island incident, in which the reactor's core melted down halfway but was kept contained within the facility; and the 1986 Chernobyl incident in Ukraine, in which a raging, uncontained fire spread radioactive contamination throughout Europe." 03-11 -03-16-11 Expert: U.S. Not at Risk from Japanese Radiation (CBS News) "Dr. Glenn Braunstein, of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, sees patients with thyroid cancer -- one of the biggest risks from radiation exposure of a nuclear meltdown. He says the 5,500 miles between the U.S. and the nuclear plant in Japan is more than a safe distance." 03-11 -03-16-11 Symptoms of Radiation Sickness (MSNBC News) "Radiation sickness (acute radiation syndrome, or ARS) occurs when the body is exposed to a high dose of penetrating radiation within a short period of time. The first symptoms of ARS typically are fatigue, hair loss, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, as well as skin changes such as swelling, redness, itching and radiation burns. Symptoms may present within a few minutes to days after the exposure, and may come and go. This seriously ill stage may last from a few hours up to several months." 03-11 -03-19-11 The French Attack Gaddafi's Forces in Libya (Time.com) "Libya's monthlong revolt became an international conflict on Saturday as five French reconnaissance jets roared over the country, in the first foreign military action ostensibly designed to stop Muammar Gaddafi's army from inflicting more damage on rebel strongholds and Libyan civilians. But the likely consequence of such an action was also emerging, that it would be the beginning of a campaign to drive Gaddafi out of rebel-held eastern Libya — and ultimately to force him from office after nearly 42 years in power." 03-11 -03-19-11 Yemen Police Kill Demonstrators (HuffingtonPost.com) "A massive demonstration against Yemen's government turned into a killing field Friday as snipers methodically fired down on protesters from rooftops and police made a wall of fire with tires and gasoline, blocking a key escape route." "At least 46 people died, including some children, in an attack that marked a new level of brutality in President Ali Abdullah Saleh's crackdown on dissent. Medical officials and witnesses said hundreds were wounded." 03-11 -03-20-11 Air Strikes Against Gaddafi's Forces Considered Effective (CBS News) "The U.S. and European nations pounded Muammar Qaddafi's forces and air defenses with cruise missiles and airstrikes, launching the broadest international military effort since the Iraq war in support of an uprising that had seemed on the verge of defeat. Libyan state TV claimed 48 people had been killed in the attacks, but the report could not be independently verified." "The U.S. military said 112 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from American and British ships and submarines at more than 20 coastal targets to clear the way for air patrols to ground Libya's air force. French fighter jets fired the first salvos, carrying out several strikes in the rebel-held east, while British fighter jets also bombarded the North African nation." 03-11 -03-23-11 Tokyo: Radiation in Water Puts Infants at Risk (New York Times) "Radioactive iodine detected in the capital’s water supply spurred a warning for infants on Wednesday and the government issued a stark new estimate about the costs of rebuilding from the earthquake and tsunami that slammed into the northeast of Japan this month." 03-11 -03-24-11 Editorial: How Will the U.S. Get Out of Libya? (Time.com) "In the final analysis, however, the most significant challenge for Barack Obama is to keep America's military involvement limited." "There were Presidents who managed to keep military missions limited — Dwight Eisenhower — or even withdraw them when they were not working and live to fight another day: Kennedy with the Bay of Pigs; Reagan in Lebanon. They lived with partial success, stayed focused and husbanded America's power and global position. Those who didn't want to be seen as 'losing a country' often ended up losing a lot more." 03-11 -03-24-11 Radiation and the Japanese Nuclear Reactors Crisis (CNN News) "Radiation levels at the plant Tuesday were between 100 and 400 millisieverts, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said. To put that in perspective, in the United States, a person typically gets a radiation dose of 6.2 millisieverts per year." "At the higher end of that spectrum at the Japan plant, exposure to millisieverts for three hours would lead to radiation sickness, and eight hours would be fatal, said Ira Helfand of Physicians for Social Responsibility. But in general, in an emergency situation, keeping it below 500 millisieverts is pretty safe, said Nolan E. Hertel, nuclear engineering expert at Georgia Institute of Technology. And the further away you are from a radiation source, the lower exposure you will have." 03-11 -03-25-07 Blair: Iran's Capture of British Sailors "Very Serious" (MSBC News) British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Sunday that 15 British sailors and marines captured by Iran as they searched for smugglers off the Iraqi coast had been outside Iranian waters, and warned that Britain viewed their situation as 'very serious.' " 03-07 -03-25-09 EU Leader Criticizes U.S. Economic Policies (CBS News) "Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek told the European parliament in Strasbourg that the Obama administration's stimulus package and financial bailout risked undermining the stability of the global financial market." 03-09 -03-25-11 Truth Hard to Determine in Japanese Nuclear Plant Crisis (Time.com) "Each day at the stricken Fukushima power plant seems to bring a new piece of troubling news—today, reports surfaced that three workers at the Fukushima plant had been hospitalized after radiation levels reported at the plant spiked to '10,000 times above normal.' There were also reports that the No. 3 reactor vessel had been damaged, which if true would result in a serious leak of radiation at the only reactor at the site that contains the especially-toxic MOX fuel." "The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reported that the three hospitalized workers were the first radiation-exposure injuries at Fukushima, contradicting earlier reports suggesting some workers showed symptoms of radiation sickness. The IAEA seemed to confirm this, stating that the number of workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant found to have received more than 100 millisieverts of radiation dose totaled 17 including the three contract workers. Again, 100 millisieverts is not nearly a high enough dosage to cause acute radiation sickness--that requires a dose of at least 1,000 milliesierverts." "Many outside experts have begun openly criticizing both TEPCO and the Japenese government for the lack of transparency and reliable information about the Fukushima crisis. It's an admittedly frenzied and difficult time for TEPCO and Japanese nuclear safety officials, but it's also difficult to disagree with the sentiment of Najmedin Meshkati, a USC engineering professor who has advised U.S. agencies on nuclear safety issues; he told the LA Times, 'Information sharing has not been in the culture of Tepco or the Japanese government. This issue is larger than one utility and one country. It is an international crisis.' " 3-11 -03-25-11 Truth Hard to Determine in Japanese Nuclear Plant Crisis (Time.com) "Each day at the stricken Fukushima power plant seems to bring a new piece of troubling news—today, reports surfaced that three workers at the Fukushima plant had been hospitalized after radiation levels reported at the plant spiked to '10,000 times above normal.' There were also reports that the No. 3 reactor vessel had been damaged, which if true would result in a serious leak of radiation at the only reactor at the site that contains the especially-toxic MOX fuel." "The Bulletin of Atomic Scientists reported that the three hospitalized workers were the first radiation-exposure injuries at Fukushima, contradicting earlier reports suggesting some workers showed symptoms of radiation sickness. The IAEA seemed to confirm this, stating that the number of workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant found to have received more than 100 millisieverts of radiation dose totaled 17 including the three contract workers. Again, 100 millisieverts is not nearly a high enough dosage to cause acute radiation sickness--that requires a dose of at least 1,000 milliesierverts." "Many outside experts have begun openly criticizing both TEPCO and the Japenese government for the lack of transparency and reliable information about the Fukushima crisis. It's an admittedly frenzied and difficult time for TEPCO and Japanese nuclear safety officials, but it's also difficult to disagree with the sentiment of Najmedin Meshkati, a USC engineering professor who has advised U.S. agencies on nuclear safety issues; he told the LA Times, 'Information sharing has not been in the culture of Tepco or the Japanese government. This issue is larger than one utility and one country. It is an international crisis.' " 3-11 -03-27-10 The Rise of Muammar Gaddafi's Son in Libya (Time.com) "ust over six years ago, Saif coaxed his father into abandoning Libya's chemical- and nuclear-weapons program. Muammar Gaddafi's stunning aboutface, which followed longstanding demands from Washington, ended Libya's isolation from the West." 03-10 -03-28-10 Russia and U.S. Agree to Slash Nuclear Weapons (MSNBC News) "The U.S. and Russia sealed the first major nuclear weapons treaty in nearly two decades Friday, agreeing to slash the former Cold War rivals' warhead arsenals by nearly one-third and talking hopefully of eventually ridding a fearful world of nuclear arms altogether." 03-10 -03-29-11 Electrical Blackouts Pose Threat for U.S. Nuclear Reactors (CBS News) "Long before the nuclear emergency in Japan, U.S. regulators knew that a power failure lasting for days at an American nuclear plant, whatever the cause, could lead to a radioactive leak. Even so, they have only required the nation's 104 nuclear reactors to develop plans for dealing with much shorter blackouts on the assumption that power would be restored quickly." "In one nightmare simulation presented by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2009, it would take less than a day for radiation to escape from a reactor at a Pennsylvania nuclear power plant after an earthquake, flood or fire knocked out all electrical power and there was no way to keep the reactors cool after backup battery power ran out. That plant, the Peach Bottom Atomic Power Station, has reactors of the same older make and model as those releasing radiation at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi plant, which is using other means to try to cool the reactors." "And like Fukushima Dai-ichi, the Peach Bottom plant has enough battery power on site to power emergency cooling systems for eight hours. In Japan, that was not enough time for power to be restored." 03-11 -03-29-11 Japan on "Maximum Alert" (CBS News) "The contaminated water has been emitting radiation exposures more than four times the amount the government considers safe for workers and must be pumped out before electricity can be restored to the cooling system." "The discovery of plutonium, released from fuel rods only when temperatures are extremely high, confirms the severity of the damage, Nishiyama said." "Plutonium is a highly toxic substance which breaks down very slowly, remaining dangerously radioactive for hundreds of thousands of years." "Safety officials say the amounts are not a risk to humans but support suspicions that dangerously radioactive water is leaking from damaged nuclear fuel rods — a worrying development in the race to bring the power plant under control." 03-11 -03-30-11 Has the Japanese Nuclear Reactor No. 1 Gone Critical? (Time.com) "To nuclear workers, there are few events more fearful than a criticality accident. In such a scenario, the fissile material in a reactor core--be it enriched uranium or plutonium--undergoes a spontaneous chain reaction, releasing a flash of aurora-blue light and a surge of neutron radiation; the gamma rays, neutrons and radioactive fission products emitted during criticality are highly dangerous to humans. Criticality occurs so rapidly--within a few fractions of a second--and so unpredictably that it can suddenly kill workers without warning. There have been 60 criticality incidents worldwide since 1945. The most recent occurred in Japan in 1999, at an experimental reactor in Tokai, when a beam of neutrons killed two workers, hospitalized dozens of emergency workers and nearby residents, and forced hundreds of thousands to remain indoors for 24 hours." 03-11 -03-30-11 High Radiation Found in Japanese Seawater (New York Times) "Hidehiko Nishiyama, deputy director general of the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, said that seawater collected about 300 yards from the Fukushima Daiichi station was found to contain iodine 131 at 3,355 times the safety standard. On Sunday, a test a mile north showed 1,150 times the maximum level, and a test the day before showed 1,250 times the limit in seawater taken from a monitoring station at the plant." "Iodine 131, one of the radioactive byproducts of nuclear fission, can accumulate in the thyroid and cause cancer, but it degrades relatively rapidly, becoming half as potent every eight days. The risk can be diminished by banning fishing." 03-11 -03-30-11 Key Libyan Leader Defects (Time.com) "In a thundering blow to Muammar Gaddafi's standing and the morale of his regime, Libya's Foreign Minister Moussa Kusa defected to London on Wednesday night, in the regime's most high-profile break since the Western bombing campaign began nearly two weeks ago—if not, indeed, the most momentous split in the Libyan government in years" 03-11 -04-04-11 Youth Protesters March on Yemen Palace (CNN News) "For the first time since the start of unrest in Yemen's capital, youth protesters numbering in the tens of thousands marched toward the Republican Palace on Monday, eyewitnesses said, in an act of defiance against President Ali Abdullah Saleh's regime." "Witnesses told CNN that security forces made no move to repel the youths, who were marching in support of protests Monday in the city of Taiz, where at least 14 people were killed when security forces reportedly opened fire on demonstrators." 04-11 -04-06-09 How Ahmad Batebi Survived Torture in Iran (CBS News) "Asked if he feels free now, he told Cooper, 'No, I don't feel free. I have a responsibility to the people imprisoned in Iran whose human rights are being violated. I have to get their message out. And it’s a big responsibility that doesn't leave one free. But to an extent I do feel free. I live in a free country and I've left prison.' " 04-09 -04-06-11 Radiation in Seawater Over a Million Times More Than Safety Limit (New York Times) "The company that runs Japan’s crippled nuclear power plant announced Wednesday that it had stopped the leak of tons of highly radioactive water into the ocean discovered over the weekend. The news came a day after the company said the levels of radioactive material in the seawater near the plant were measured at several million times the legal limit." "The announced standards for fish came hours after Tokyo Electric said it had found iodine 131 in seawater samples at 200,000 becquerels per cubic centimeter, or five million times the legal limit. The samples were collected Monday near the water intake of the No. 2 reactor of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station." "The samples also showed levels of cesium 137 to be 1.1 million times the legal limit, according to the Japanese public broadcaster NHK. Cesium remains in the environment for centuries, losing half its strength every 30 years." 04-11 -04-08-10 Editorial: What Can We Really Do to Limit Climate Change? (New York Times) "American companies can trade emission rights. By setting overall caps at levels designed to ensure that China sells us a substantial number of permits, we would in effect be paying China to cut its emissions. Since the evidence suggests that the cost of cutting emissions would be lower in China than in the United States, this could be a good deal for everyone." "But what if the Chinese (or the Indians or the Brazilians, etc.) do not want to participate in such a system? Then you need sticks as well as carrots. In particular, you need carbon tariffs." "A carbon tariff would be a tax levied on imported goods proportional to the carbon emitted in the manufacture of those goods. Suppose that China refuses to reduce emissions, while the United States adopts policies that set a price of $100 per ton of carbon emissions. If the United States were to impose such a carbon tariff, any shipment to America of Chinese goods whose production involved emitting a ton of carbon would result in a $100 tax over and above any other duties. Such tariffs, if levied by major players — probably the United States and the European Union — would give noncooperating countries a strong incentive to reconsider their positions." 04-10 -04-09-13 Margaret Thatcher Dies (Time.com) "As one of the most divisive and polarizing leaders in British political history – from her controversial closure of coal mines to the introduction of a poll tax and the push for privatization – it is no surprise that even in death she continues to divide the country." 04-13 -04-10-10 Poland Mourns Death of President (CNN News) "Thousands gathered outside Warsaw's presidential palace on Saturday evening to lay flowers and light candles in honor of Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who was killed in a plane crash in western Russia earlier in the day." 04-10 -04-10-10 President of Poland Dies in Plane Crash (CNN News) "Polish President Lech Kaczynski was killed early Saturday along with his wife, several top military officials, and the head of the national bank when their plane crashed at a western Russian airport, officials said." 04-10 -04-10-11 Temporary Japanese Workers Do the Most Dangerous Nuclear Jobs (New York Times) "Mr. Ishizawa, who was finally allowed to leave, is not a nuclear specialist; he is not even an employee of the Tokyo Electric Power Company, the operator of the crippled plant. He is one of thousands of untrained, itinerant, temporary laborers who handle the bulk of the dangerous work at nuclear power plants here and in other countries, lured by the higher wages offered for working with radiation. Collectively, these contractors were exposed to levels of radiation about 16 times as high as the levels faced by Tokyo Electric employees last year, according to Japan’s Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency, which regulates the industry." 04-11 -04-10-12 China Is Headed for Change (New York Times) "The dust hasn’t settled on the dramatic Bo Xilai affair in China." "But the Bo affair is, essentially, a sideshow, a distraction from the essential challenges facing China under its changing leadership. Nobody can deny the country’s huge material achievements, and individuals live far better and freer lives than they did under the Great Helmsman. But the economic model is out of date." "China is gripped by a major environmental crisis and an acute water shortage is building up in the north of the country. Beijing lacks a coherent foreign policy. Corruption is rife. Regulation and safety standards are weak. There is a broad lack of trust in institutions. The falling birth rate and increasing longevity mean that the demographics will shift during this decade so that the People’s Republic may become old before it gets rich." "There is broad acceptance of the need to rebalance the economy’s excessive dependence on investment in infrastructure and real estate plus exports, moving it toward domestic consumption." 04-12 -04-11-10 Editorial: Lessons from Kyrgyzstan (New York Times) "For Washington and the West there are lessons, if anyone wants to learn them. The key one is that authoritarian regimes are not only unpalatable allies; they are unreliable ones. They block all safety valves — free elections and media, democratic discourse, opposition. Change usually comes in an explosion. Dependence on them is both miserable ethics and poor strategy." "Finally, Kyrgyzstan is not the exception in Central Asia. It is the rule. The region’s other leaders resemble Bakiyev in many respects, and some are worse. All are autocrats and most are extravagantly corrupt. (And all allow their territory to be used for the resupply of allied forces in Afghanistan)." 04-10 -04-11-10 Nuclear Terrorism a Global Security Priority (ABC News) "World leaders from 47 countries are descending on Washington, D.C., this week for an unprecedented summit to discuss what is arguably one of the most pressing global security questions: What can be done to prevent a nuclear weapons attack by terrorists?" 04-10 -04-15-09 Fiat Requires Union Concessions for Chrysler Deal (MSNBC News) "Automaker Fiat Group SpA will walk away from a deal to take a 20-percent stake in Chrysler LLC if the U.S. automaker's unions don't agree to major cost cuts, Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne said in an interview published Wednesday." 04-09 -04-15-09 Taliban Cleric Declares Judicial Independence in Pakistan Area (CBS News) "The Taliban cleric in charge of Pakistan's Swat Valley has declared the area judicially independent from the country's federal government." "Sufi Mohammad said Wednesday that Islamic law, or Shariah, decisions handed down by militants in the mountainous region will not be subject to appeal or overrule by the Pakistani Supreme Court or any other avenue of appeal in the justice system, reports CBS News' Farhan Bokhari." 04-09 -04-18-11 The Carnage in Libya (New York Times) "Asked if he was afraid, Mr. Madhoun’s answer was quick." " 'Absolutely not,' he said. He added: 'We have a strong connection to God. All of us here know that some day death will come. We know we will die. And we do not care how we die.' " "He stood quietly as patients were moved by. A refrigerated truck in the lot held rotting remains collected in the morning on the street. He amended his answer. 'It is an honor,' he said, 'to die in defense of freedom.' " "So many, though, have been wounded or killed defending nothing, resisting nothing, just trying to stay out of the conflict’s way." "As Sunday’s tallies rose, an aged woman joined the procession of the wounded, as did a wafer-thin 92-year-old man, who was carried into the tent with bloodied face and feet." "He had been in his home, his son said, when a mortar or artillery round hit it, collapsing the roof." 04-11 -04-19-09 The New Left in China (MSNBC News) "Although Chairman Mao continues to be revered here as the visionary who founded the country and transformed it into a world power, the Communist Party has broken from many of his ideals through market-based reforms over the past three decades." "The most influential critics, known collectively as the New Left, are not like the dissidents or political exiles of a previous generation. They are not calling for an overthrow of the Communist regime. Their recommendations and criticisms are, instead, based on a belief that state power can redress the injustices created by free markets, privatization and globalization. Their views are also characterized by a fierce nationalism and criticism of the West." 04-09 -04-25-13 White House: Small-Scale Chemical Weapons Used in Syria (NBC News) "Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday that the U.S. believes "with some degree of varying confidence" the Syrian government has used chemical weapons -- specifically the nerve agent sarin -- against its own people." "Hagel could not say whether Syria had crossed the 'red line' laid down by President Obama, who has said evidence that chemical weapons were used would be a 'game-changer' in whether the U.S. intervenes in the Syrian civil war." 04-13 -04-26-09 Swine Flu Kills 81 in Mexico (CNN News) "No kissing to say hello. No large crowds. No close contact." "That's the advice of the Mexican government as more and more people die of swine flu, which has turned into a 'public health emergency of international concern,' according to the World Health Organization." 04-09 -04-26-12 Masses Sing to Annoy Mass Killer (CNN News) "Norwegians raised their voices in unison on Thursday to get under the skin of admitted mass killer Anders Behring Breivik." "An estimated 40,000 people turned out in central Oslo's Youngstorget square to sing 'Children of the Rainbow,' a Norwegian version of 'My Rainbow Race,' written by American folk singer Pete Seeger." 04-12 -04-27-09 Preventing the Flu (CDC.gov) "The single best way to prevent seasonal flu is to get vaccinated each year, but good health habits like covering your cough and washing your hands often can help stop the spread of germs and prevent respiratory illnesses like the flu. There also are flu antiviral drugs that can be used to treat and prevent the flu." Editor's Note: As of April 27th, a vaccine for "swine flu" had not been made available. 04-09 -04-28-11 New Political Leader for Tibet in Exile (Time.com) “Lobsang Sangay, a 43-year-old Indian-born legal scholar educated at Harvard, was elected prime minister of the Tibetan government in exile after claiming 55% of votes cast by the Tibetan exile diaspora. His victory comes on the heels of the Dalai Lama's announced departure from political life — a move that marks a new phase in the history of the Tibetan exiles' struggle with China.” 04-11 -04-29-11 Editorial: Syria's Assad Cracks Down on Protesters (New York Times) "When Bashar al-Assad succeeded his father, Hafez, as Syria’s president in 2000, the United States and many others hoped that Syria might finally stop persecuting its people and become a more responsible regional power." "That didn’t happen. Now Mr. Assad appears determined to join his father in the ranks of history’s blood-stained dictators, sending his troops and thugs to murder anyone who has the courage to demand political freedom." 04-11 -04-29-11 Syrian Forces Shoot Protesters (New York Times) "In the afternoon, residents said, hundreds tried to march to the town, either to break the siege or to bring food and medicine. As they approached, reportedly carrying olive branches and white sheets to signal their peacefulness, security forces opened fire." " 'There was a lot of screaming,' Mr. Tarif said by phone, citing the accounts of residents there. 'It was a massacre. It was another bloody massacre.' " 04-11 -04-30-09 Experts: Too Late to Close Borders (Time.com) "The data matches computer models run by biostatisticians like Longini, who found that even the strictest limits on air travel would only slow the start of a flu pandemic, not stop its spread." "What works better are social-distancing actions on a local level — closing schools, having employees work at home and limiting public gatherings where the flu can spread easily. Such methods worked during the deadly 1918 Spanish flu — cities that acted quickly to close schools and theaters early in the pandemic had peak death rates 50% lower than cities that acted more slowly. Today doctors could also prophylactically administer antiviral drugs to the close contacts of any swine flu patients, a strategy that has been shown to help prevent the spread of the flu. 'Until you start to see really massive clusters, that can be a really effective method,' says Longini." 04-09 -04-30-09 Specialists: Containing Flu Is Not Feasible (New York Times) " 'Containment is no longer a feasible option,' Dr. Keiji Fukuda, deputy director general of the World Health Organization, announced Monday night in Geneva after a meeting of the agency’s emergency committee on the spreading swine flu virus. 'The world should focus on mitigation. We recommend not closing borders or restricting travel.' " 04-09 -04-30-09 WHO: Swine Flu Epidemic Imminent (Time.com) "The World Health Organization has raised its pandemic alert for swine flu to the second highest level, meaning that it believes a global outbreak of the disease is imminent." 04-09 -04-30-11 NATO Strike Kills Qaddafi's Son and Three Grandchildren (New York Times) "Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a NATO airstrike on Saturday night that killed his youngest son Saif al-Arab and three of his grandchildren, a Libyan government spokesman said." 04-11 -05-03-09 India's Teachers Use Corporeal Punishment (Time.com) "Teachers say they resort to physical punishment because of the inherent problems of India's public education system, specifically, the immense challenge of maintaining control of huge classes of unruly children. 'Most children in my school are criminal-minded,' says Dr. S.C. Sharma, the principal of a government school in South Delhi. 'We have caught them stealing fans from classrooms and even the iron grills from the windows. How do you discipline such kids?' In Sharma's school the teacher-student ratio is 1:63, compared with a recommended ratio of 1:35." 04-09 -05-06-12 Hollande Defeats Sarkozy in French Elections (CBS News) "Socialist François Hollande defeated conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday to become France's next president, heralding a change in how Europe tackles its debt crisis and how France flexes its military and diplomatic muscle around the world." 05-12 -05-07-12 Teen Gets 200 MPG in Car (KCTV) "It doesn't really look like there's a lot to his 1994 Geo Metro. But, when he bought it, he pulled out the gas engine and replaced it with an electric forklift engine he bought on eBay." 05-12 -05-08-10 Europeans Attempt to Head Off Spread of Debt Crisis (New York Times) "Leaders from the euro zone countries signed off on a support package for Greece on Friday night and pledged to take steps to stanch a spreading debt crisis before markets opened on Monday morning." 05-10 -05-10-10 AIDS Battle Is Being Lost (New York Times) "Uganda is the first and most obvious example of how the war on global AIDS is falling apart." "The last decade has been what some doctors call a “golden window” for treatment. Drugs that once cost $12,000 a year fell to less than $100, and the world was willing to pay." "In Uganda, where fewer than 10,000 were on drugs a decade ago, nearly 200,000 now are, largely as a result of American generosity. But the golden window is closing." 05-10 -05-11-07 British Prime Minister Announces Resignation (PBS News) "British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced Thursday that he plans to resign next month from the office he has held for the past decade. Foreign policy analysts look at Blair's record and relations with the United States." 05-07 -05-11-07 Gordon Brown's Personality (Time.com) "What are the qualities demanded of a leader? Wisdom? Integrity? Experience? Perhaps. But what really counts may be pubbability — an elusive X factor that makes voters want to share a pint with a politician. And on that front, Gordon Brown — the 56-year-old Scot who is expected to replace Tony Blair as Britain's Prime Minister this summer — has a problem." 05-07 -05-11-10 Cameron Becomes Britain's New Prime Minister (MSNBC News) "Conservative leader David Cameron became Britain's youngest prime minister in almost 200 years Tuesday after Gordon Brown stepped down and ended 13 years of Labour government." "Cameron said he aims to form a full coalition government with the third-place Liberal Democrats after his Conservative Party won the most seats but did not get a majority in Britain national election last week." 05-10 -05-11-11 Rare Planetary Alignment Now, Not in 2012 (Time.com) "Beginning today and lasting for a few weeks, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and Mars will be visible in the early morning sky, aligned roughly along the ecliptic — or the path the sun travels throughout the day. Uranus and Neptune, much fainter but there all the same, should be visible through binoculars. What gives the end-of-the-worlders shivers is that just such a configuration is supposed to occur on Dec. 21, 2012, and contribute in some unspecified way to the demolition of the planet. But what makes that especially nonsensical — apart from the fact that it's, you know, nonsense — is that astronomers say no remotely similar alignment will occur next year." 05-11 -05-11-11 Yemeni Forces Fire on Protesters (Time.com) "Yemeni security forces, including snipers, opened fire on thousands of anti-government protesters marching to the Cabinet building on Wednesday, killing one and injuring at least 40, medical officials and protesters said." "The protesters demanding the ouster of longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh were marching from a main square in Sanaa toward the Cabinet headquarters when they came under fire from snipers on rooftops, plainclothes security forces, and soldiers with anti-aircraft guns mounted on pickup trucks, activists said." 05-11 -05-12-07 International Editor of the Year Award (World Press) "In recognition of enterprise, courage and leadership in advancing the freedom and responsibility of the press, enhancing human rights and fostering excellence in journalism, our 2005-2006 choice honors three Mexican journalists posthumously." "Raúl Gibb Guerrero, Dolores Guadalupe García Escamilla and Alfredo Jiménez Mota gave the ultimate sacrifice in their pursuit of journalistic excellence and freedom of press. Their courage, tenacity, and dedication in covering sensitive subjects, especially drug trafficking, caused them to live in a danger zone of threats and violence, which ultimately led to their murders. They led three very separate lives, but had the love of their country and press freedom in common." 05-07 -05-14-10 Violence Continues in Thailand (MSNBC News) "Thai troops fired bullets at anti-government protesters and explosions thundered in the heart of Bangkok on Friday as an army push to clear the streets and end a two-month political standoff sparked clashes that have killed at least eight and wounded scores of others." 05-10 -05-18-07 World Bank After Wolfowitz (MSNBC News) "The political firestorm at the World Bank that cost President Paul Wolfowitz his job Thursday was sparked by a promotion he arranged for his girlfriend. But some of the real issues behind his ouster have been festering since his first day on the job in 2005, when he embarked on a mission to change the way the 60-year-old institution manages its task of fighting global poverty." 05-07 -05-18-09 Civil War in Sri Lanka Over? (Time.com) "Firecrackers exploded around Colombo on Monday as Sri Lankans celebrated what they hoped would be the end to a civil war that has plagued the nation since 1983." 05-09 -05-18-12 WHO Report: One Third of World Has Hepatitis (CBS News) "Hepatitis takes a huge toll on health. More than two billion people - roughly one-third of the entire world population - is infected with one of the viruses that causes the potentially deadly liver disease, according to a new estimate from the World Health Organization." "Tragically, most people infected with one of the viruses that cause hepatitis don't know they're infected. That increases the risk that they will unwittingly transmit the virus to other people.” 05-12 -05-23-11 Ash Cloud from Icelandic Volcano Causes Flight Canecellations (Time.com) "A dense cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano was being blown toward Scotland Monday, forcing one airline to cancel nearly all its flights, U.S. President Barack Obama to cut short his visit to Ireland and carriers across Europe to fear a repeat of the huge disruptions that stranded millions of passengers a year ago." 05-11 -05-24-12 Tens of Thousands of Elephants Likely Killed (MSNBC News) "Providing the grimmest count yet on Africa's wildlife crisis, the global body tracking endangered species reported Thursday that tens of thousands of elephants likely were slaughtered last year by poachers after their tusks. Rhinos, while fewer in number, also saw mass slaughter as poachers went after their horns." 05-12 -05-25-11 China Has Problems with World's Largest Dam as Drought Persists (CNN News) "In a rare admission, the Chinese government has said the Three Gorges Dam -- the world's largest hydropower plant -- is having 'urgent problems,' warning of environmental, construction and migration "disasters" amid the worst drought to hit southern China in 50 years." 05-11 -05-29-12 US and Other Nations Expel Syrian Diplomats (MSNBC News) "The United States and a string of other nations expelled Syrian diplomats Tuesday, in response to a United Nations announcement that most of the 108 victims of the Houla violence had been executed." "Images of bloodied, young bodies laid out in a shallow grave after Friday's onslaught triggered shock around the world and underlined the failure of a six-week-old U.N. cease-fire plan to stop the violence." "Most of the victims were shot at close range. 'At this point it looks like entire families were shot in their houses,' Colville was quoted as saying by The Telegraph." "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton demanded that those who carried out the killings be held to account.'The United States will work with the international community to intensify our pressure on Assad and his cronies, whose rule by murder and fear must come to an end,' she said." 05-12 -05-30-11 City Under Jerusalem ( CBS News) "Underneath the crowded alleys and holy sites of old Jerusalem, hundreds of people are snaking at any given moment through tunnels, vaulted medieval chambers and Roman sewers in a rapidly expanding subterranean city invisible from the streets above." 05-11 -05-30-11 Fresh Water from Icebergs (NOAA.gov) "Already 40% of the world’s population lives in areas subject to severe water shortages." "Nearly 70% of all fresh water is locked in the polar ice caps. Just the new icebergs that form every year around Antarctica hold enough water to meet the needs of every person on Earth for several months. Longstanding proposals to tow icebergs to lower latitudes where their valuable water can be harvested have been met with both skepticism and interest. To date, no successful attempts have been made." Describes challenges to moving icebergs to shores where fresh water is needed. Also notes that it is now practical to do so. "In this activity, you will investigate some of the logistical problems involved in moving enormous chunks of ice long distances through often turbulent seas." 05-11 -05-30-11 India's Poverty (Time.com) "Spikes in the prices of onions and other vegetables sent thousands into the streets to protest, a reminder that despite India's 8% growth, it is also home to 64 million malnourished children, nearly half the world's total. India produces enough food for them, but not all their families can afford to buy it. 'There is a very vulnerable section who may not have seen any change in their income levels,' says Kaushik Basu, India's chief economic adviser. 'If income does not change and if prices rise, you're being hit badly.' " 05-11 -05-30-11 Project to Gain Fresh Water from Icebergs (Time.com) "Mougin hopes to launch the pilot test next year and advance to a full-scale trial a year or two later. He's also confident of the gambit's commercial potential and has formed a company called WPI (Water and Power from Icebergs) to exploit it. After nearly 40 years of effort, Mougin anticipates serving frozen drinks en masse soon." 05-11 -06-02-09 North Korean Successor Announced (USA Today) North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il has picked his youngest son — the NBA-loving product of a Swiss boarding school — to succeed him as ruler of the reclusive, nuclear-armed state, South Korean media and legislators reported Tuesday." "Choi and others suspect that, at best, Kim Jong Woon would emerge as the front man for someone wielding backstage power. 'If he is indeed the choice — a huge if — it might reflect the desire of some people to have a convenient but powerless figurehead,' Lankov says. 'So somebody is going to run the show, keeping the boy in front.' " "The real power broker after Kim Jong Il dies might be his brother in law, Jang Song Taek, 63, Choi and other analysts say." 06-09 -06-02-11 Gaddafi's Rule in Libya Considered Near the End (Time.com) "With Gaddafi's regime mortally wounded, the question now is how his rule will end. In an effort to end the conflict quickly by offering the Libyan leader alternatives to a war-crimes trial or death on the battlefield, Zuma is believed to have urged Gaddafi to accept immediate exile." 05-11 -06-03-11 Study: War on Drugs a Disaster (Time.com) "The Global Commission on Drug Policy, an organization launched by former Presidents of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico (and whose accomplished 19-member board includes former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, Pakistani feminist activist Asma Jehangir, and, yes, Sir Richard Branson), declared today that the "global war on drugs has failed, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies around the world." Four decades ago, policy makers imagined creating a drug free world through "harsh law enforcement action" that cracked down on drug production and distribution. But the resulting "vast expenditures on criminalization and repressive measures directed at producers, traffickers and consumers" have only led to an expansion of the trade, higher rates of drug consumption, and has created — as seen in places like Mexico or Afghanistan — deadly, volatile new arenas for an illicit industry to sow mayhem." "The commission advocates decriminalizing drug use by those who do no harm to others. Countries that have adopted measures that treat drug users as patients — and not criminals — have, for example, drastically lower rates of HIV-positive needle-users. The public health consequences for decades of ineffective policies are stark and can't be ignored. Governments, the report says, need to stop fretting over false dichotomies of "tough or soft, repressive or liberal" policies and think up a flexible approach that both minimizes "health and social harms" and maximizes "individual and national security." A vital cog of this is decriminalizing and perhaps even legalizing certain drugs, particularly cannabis, and taxing their production and sale." 06-11 -06-04-09 Obama Makes Major Speech in Egypt (MSNBC News) "Using quotes from the Quran, President Barack Obama called for a 'new beginning between the United States and Muslims' Thursday and said together, they could confront violent extremism across the globe and advance the timeless search for peace in the Middle East." 06-09 -06-04-11 Success with HIV/AIDS in Brazil (CNN News) "As we mark the 30th anniversary of the CDC's official reporting of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, it's surprising to see which nation has fared the best in response. It's not the United States; it's not China, India, or even Russia ... It's our good friend to the south, Brazil." "After several trips to cities throughout the country, interviewing AIDS patients, health officials, and activists, it gradually became clear that the government was indeed fully committed to eradicating AIDS, in turn proving to the world that it had the technical capacity and political commitment needed to do so." 06-11 -06-07-11 NATO Destroys Qaddafi's Compound (New York Times) "In a sudden, sharp escalation of NATO’s air campaign over Libya, warplanes dropped more than 80 bombs on targets in Tripoli in an assault that began Tuesday morning and continued into the predawn hours of Wednesday, obliterating large areas of Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi’s Bab al-Aziziya command compound and what NATO identified as other military targets around the capital." 06-11 -06-08-09 Pakistani Tribesmen Attack Taliban (Time.com) "As many as 1,600 tribesmen have joined a citizens' militia in Upper Dir district — an indication of rising anti-Taliban sentiment in Pakistan as the military pursues its offensive against the militant group in the nearby Swat Valley." "The militias, known as lashkars, were focusing on two villages known as Taliban strongholds, said Khaista Rehman, a local police chief. Officials said Sunday the tribesmen had managed to clear three other villages." 06-09 -06-08-11 Hitler's Infamous Genocide Letter (Time.com) "In September 1919, the year after the end of World War I, a German captain named Karl Mayr, who ran a propaganda unit in charge of educating demobilized soldiers in nationalism and scapegoating, received an inquiry from a soldier named Adolf Gemlich about the army's position on "the Jewish question." Mayr tasked a young subordinate named Adolf Hitler to answer. The resulting Gemlich letter, as it is known to historians, is believed to be the first record of Hitler's anti-Semitic beliefs and has been an important document in Holocaust studies for decades." 06-11 -06-11-12 Spain Agrees To Be Assisted (Time.com) "Knowing how bailouts doomed the governments of other countries, Spain insists it has accepted a massive 'loan' to recapitalize its banks. Others, however, are calling it as they see it." 06-12 -06-11-12 The Golden Age of Gas: Changing Global Politics (CNN News) "It's becoming increasingly clear that the shale gas revolution is a game-changer not just for the energy industry, not just for the U.S. — but for geopolitics." "And in a short time, its success has led to the drilling of 20,000 wells in America, the creation of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and a guaranteed supply of gas for perhaps 100 years. The International Energy Agency says global gas production will rise 50% by the year 2035; two-thirds of that growth will come from unconventional sources like shale — a market the U.S. completely dominates." 06-12 -06-12-12 Spain No Longer in Denial? (PBS.org) "As Spain secured up to $125 billion from the eurozone to bolster its ailing banks, early optimism was overshadowed by worries that the amount might not be enough." "All of this stems from the collapse of the real estate bubble in Spain and the banks holding the bag, in essence." "And the bust breaks the back of the banks. There needs to be a bailout. Unfortunately, the Spanish government has been in denial about the true state of its banks for pretty much since the crisis began. But you could say that finally they have run out of options. So what happened over the weekend was really the end of denial." 06-12 -06-17-10 Russia Refuses to Intervene in Kyrgyzstan (Time.com) "Armed gangs were slaughtering the Uzbek community in the south of Kyrgyzstan — a region that Russia still considers part of its geopolitical backyard — and the interim Kyrgyz government was pleading with Moscow to send in troops. Its leaders said that many of the ethnic Kyrgyz soldiers were refusing to shoot at their own people, allowing the marauders to systematically kill Uzbeks and burn their homes. But President Dmitry Medvedev has refused to intervene." 06-10 -06-20-10 Massive Arsenic Poisoning in Bangladesh (CNN News) "A new study published Saturday in the British medical journal the Lancet found that tens of millions of people in Bangladesh have been exposed to poisonous levels of arsenic from contaminated groundwater." See Arsenic Removal 06-10 -06-20-10 Mayor of Guadalupe Gunned Down (CNN News) "Gunmen shot and killed the mayor of the Mexican town of Guadalupe as his wife and child watched, the mayor of nearby Ciudad Juarez told CNN." 06-10 -06-22-09 Iranian Leader Tries to Cut Off the "Head" of Opposition (ABC News) "As part of a broad crackdown on the media and perceived dissidents, the Iranian government has arrested 23 journalists and bloggers since the disputed presidential election on June 12." "A spokesman for opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi said today more than 700 supporters and organizers have also been detained over the past week, among them former Vice President Mohammed Ali Abtahi and Ebrahim Yazdi, a former foreign minister and architect of the Islamic Recpublic." 06-09 -06-22-12 Germany Switching From Nuclear Power to Solar and Wind (Truth-Out.org) "Germany, the world’s most aggressive adopter of renewable energy, is taking a bold leap toward a future free from nuclear energy. In March, the German government announced a program to invest 200 billion euros, or approximately $270 billion, in renewables. That’s 8 percent of the country’s GDP, according to the DIW Economic Institute in Berlin." 06-12 -06-24-12 Muslim Brotherhood Candidate Wins Egypt's Presidency (CBS News) "Mohammed Morsi was declared Egypt's first Islamist president on Sunday after the freest elections in the country's history, narrowly defeating Hosni Mubarak's last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in a race that raised political tensions in Egypt to a fever pitch." 06-12 -07-01-09 Coup in Honduras (CNN News) " 'Foreign governments misunderstand our situation,' Congressman Juan Orlando tells TIME. 'Once they learn that this was really a legal change of power, they will change their position.' Yet it could be tough to persuade the international community of the legality of exiling a President at the barrel of a gun." "On July 1, the Organization of American States gave Honduras 72 hours to reinstate Zelaya or face suspension of its membership, and Zelaya has said he plans to return to Tegucigalpa anyway if his foes don't comply. In response, Micheletti has sworn that he will arrest Zelaya if he sets foot in the country and that he is ready for anything Venezuela — or anyone else — can throw at him. With neither side showing signs of compromise, the risk of a violent clash rises — a prospect that worries many in Tegucigalpa." 07-09 -07-04-10 Tree-Eating Beetles Invade Italy (Christian Science Monitor) "In Sicily it has killed an estimated 13,000 palms and has pushed north, attacking trees in Campania and Rome, and all the way up to the famed Italian Riviera, near the border with France." "Conservationists are calling the weevil infestation a national emergency and say there is, as of yet, no proven way of combating the insect. Scientists have found they can capture the bugs using traps laced with pheromones, but deploying the devices is time-consuming and costly." 07-10 -07-06-12 New President of Egypt Orders Parliament to Convene (MSNBC News) "The military had been running Egypt since Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year. But, shortly before the handover to the elected president, the army put some curbs on the presidency and gave itself legislative powers." "After a little more than a week in office, Morsi's move highlights the power struggle likely to define his term, pitting long repressed Islamists against generals used to calling the shots and an establishment full of Mubarak-era officials." 07-12 -07-08-09 Chinese Government Still in Conflict With Citizens (Time.com) "Three days after ethnic clashes left 156 dead in the city of Urumqi, the Chinese government is still struggling to bring calm and order to the Xinjiang capital. On July 8, Communist Party leader Li Zhi announced that the government would seek the death penalty for anyone found responsible for the killings as President Hu Jintao flew home from Italy, cutting short his visit to the G-8 summit. While the city hasn't seen a return to fighting on the scale it witnessed on July 5, scattered outbursts are stoking fears that violence could erupt again, and tensions on all sides of the conflict are still high." 07-09 -07-11-12 Melinda Gates Launches Global Effort for Contraception (Time.com) "Decades of research shows, conclusively, that improving access to contraception is good for women, good for children, good for countries. Yet over the last 15 years, support for family planning programs has plummeted. The redirection of development funds to HIV/AIDS programs explains some, but not all, of the drop. Coercive campaigns like China’s one-child policy and forced sterilizations in India have fostered suspicion about state-backed population programs. Conservative religious groups, particularly in the United States, have tried to link family planning to forced abortion. In 2002, President George W. Bush cut funding to the United Nations Population Fund completely, turning birth control into a bad word. The cause has yet to recover. Support from Gates, a Catholic who enjoys support from conservatives and liberals alike, could turn this around." 07-12 -07-18-12 Blast Against Assad in Syria Changes the Situation (Time.com) "Once he has ordered his security forces to exact a bloody revenge for the assassination of four key members of his inner circle in a spectacular bomb attack on the Syrian regime’s counterrevolutionary nerve center on Wednesday, President Bashar Assad will face the challenge of replacing those slain comrades." "But by killing four of the key figures in security structure (curiously enough, they included two Alawites, a Christian and a Sunni) that has overseen the 18-month crackdown on the uprising that has claimed 16,000 lives, the rebels have struck a devastating blow at a critical moment — and challenged the regime’s coherence." 07-12 -07-18-12 Kim Jong Un Takes Over in North Korea (Time.com) "Many analysts have openly questioned whether Kim Jong Un was anything but a front man in North Korea. Shortly after assuming power, a senior U.S. official told TIME that the military would effectively run and control North Korea, given Kim Jong Un’s utter inexperience. His father had practiced 'military first' politics in the North, in order to keep the generals happy, and there was virtually no one who thought Kim Jong Un would do anything other than what he was told by the generals. Now, in the span of two days, the country’s senior military figure — Ri — is out, and Kim Jong Un is the titular head of the military, as well as the ruling party. Cheong Seong-chang, senior fellow at Seoul’s Sejong Institute, viewed the Ri sacking as a clear collision between the military and the ruling party. The KWP has plainly won and so too, apparently, has young Kim Jong Un." 07-12 -07-26-11 Murdoch's Role in the World (Truth-out.org) "Rupert Murdoch has had a profound influence on the state of journalism today. It's a kind of tribute, in some sense, that the general coverage of his current troubles has reflected the detrimental effect of his influence over the years. Right now, the media, by and large, are focusing on tawdry 'police blotter' acts of the very sort that have historically informed Murdoch's own tabloid sensibility, while the bigger picture gets short shrift." 07-11 -07-31-12 Chinese Men's Gymnastic Team Wins Gold (Time.com) "For the Chinese, the night simply underscored what they already knew. “ 'We are the best in the world,' says Li Xiaopeng, a double gold medalist in both Beijing and Sydney, who has since retired and was covering Monday’s competition for state broadcaster CCTV." 07-12 -07-31-12 India: 620 Million in the Dark (Time.com) "India‘s energy crisis cascaded over half the country Tuesday when three of its regional grids collapsed, leaving 620 million people without government-supplied electricity for several hours in, by far, the world’s biggest blackout." 07-12 -08-11-08 Why Africa Is Still Starving (Time.com) "Over time, sustained food aid creates dependence on handouts and shifts focus away from improving agricultural practices to increase local food supplies. Ethiopia exemplifies the consequences of giving a starving man a fish instead of teaching him to catch his own. This year the U.S. will give more than $800 million to Ethiopia: $460 million for food, $350 million for HIV/AIDS treatment — and just $7 million for agricultural development. Western governments are loath to halt programs that create a market for their farm surpluses, but for countries receiving their charity, long-term food aid can become addictive. Why bother with development when shortfalls are met by aid? Ethiopian farmers can't compete with free food, so they stop trying." 08-08 -08-12-11 Helping Starving People in Africa (CNN News) "Twelve million people are facing a hunger crisis in the Horn of Africa, and they are in desperate need of help." "The United Nations declared a famine in parts of southern Somalia, calling for a widespread international response to end the suffering." " 'Pledge to Fund-raise' by raising $100 on your own or through social networks by asking 10 friends to donate $10 each. Give through the Facebook Cause page or text 'SURVIVE' to 20222 to donate $10 from the United States." 08-11 -08-13-12 Editorial: Is Israel Growing Closer to War With Iraq? (Time.com) "Clearly, someone wants Israelis and the world to think Israel is moving closer to launching a fateful attack on Iran. Whether such a scenario has really become more likely than it was two weeks or two months ago, or the agenda is part of some game of bluff designed to change either Iranian or Western behavior, there’s a growing danger that the Israeli public’s expectations of war are being raised to a critical point. After all, as many in the security establishment have long warned, you can’t keep telling Israelis that there’s a grave and gathering danger of annihilation looming on the horizon without creating overwhelming pressure to act." 08-12 -08-16-07 The Growing Role of China in the World (US News) "After years focusing on its own economy, China has begun to go global in influence as well as economics. With growing interests around the globe—from mines in Peru to peacekeepers across Africa to pipelines into Central Asia—China is finding it can no longer live by its doctrine of 'nonintervention.' In Africa, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East, China is beginning to use its influence in ways that may prove problematic for the United States." 08-07 -08-21-11 Rebels Take Tripoli in Libya (New York Times) "Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s grip on power dissolved with astonishing speed on Monday as rebels marched into the capital and arrested two of his sons, while residents raucously celebrated the prospective end of his four-decade-old rule.” 08-11 -08-22-10 Help the People of Pakistan (Avaaz.org) "A humanitarian catastrophe of terrifying proportions is unfolding in Pakistan, with a fifth of the country under water, and millions of people homeless and desperately needing assistance." "Some relief efforts are underway, but the international response to the mega-disaster has been irresponsibly slow and weak -- the UN has urgently appealed for $460 million of vital aid, but just 60% has been committed. Relief workers warn that without an immediate increase in aid the death toll could sky-rocket." "With the expert advice of leading humanitarian NGOs on the ground, we'll offer donations to trusted local organizations, including: Hirrak Development Centre (HDC) and Participatory Welfare Services (PWS). With these partners on the ground our community will help provide much needed humanitarian aid. 100% of the funds raised will go directly to helping Pakistanis cope with this disaster and strengthen their local systems." Visitors sometimes misspell as Packistan, Pakestan, or Packestan. 09-08 -08-22-11 After Tyranny: How Can Libya Avoid Iraq's Fate? (Time.com) "Away from the dizzying euphoria on Tripoli's streets, where Libyans have held wild celebrations of the end of Muammar Gaddafi's 42-year rule, there is a specter that hovers over the scene in the minds of many Libyan officials and Western governments — that of another Arab capital: Baghdad." 08-11 -08-23-09 Drought Strikes India Again (Time.com) "Even if it can't buy rain, there is still time for the government of India to rethink how it can start to prepare for the next drought. Sunita Narain of the Centre for the Study of the Environment in New Delhi advocates a new, national water policy to make farmers less vulnerable to the vagaries of the monsoon, encompassing more effective use of groundwater, better monitoring of weather patterns and water supply, implementing village water-security plans, and encouraging conservation and water recycling in the cities. In a recent editorial she wrote, 'We must learn, fast, how to reinvigorate our water policy keeping in mind the two big changes — more variable rainfall and desperately growing water needs.' Seth believes farmers need not just more handouts, but better access to low-interest credit, so they don't have to rely on moneylenders in every lean year." 08-09 -08-28-08 Narrowing World Health Disparities (Time.com) "On average, a black man living in Washington, D.C., does not live as long as a man in India, and he certainly doesn't live as long as a white man in his hometown. The reasons — just like the reasons that the Japanese and Swedes live longer than the Ukrainians, and why aborigines in Australia on average die 17 years earlier than non-aborigines — are almost entirely social, according to a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) released today." 08-08 -08-28-08 Study: Lifespan Depends on Where You Live (MSNBC News) "Major inequalities in health and life expectancy persist worldwide, according to an independent World Health Organization commission which on Thursday called for all countries to offer universal health care." " 'Between countries we have life expectancy differences of more than 40 years. A woman in Botswana can expect to live 43 years, in Japan 86 years.' " 08-08 -09-01-08 Japanese Prime Minister Resigns (Time.com) "Japan's unpopular prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, announced his resignation Monday after less than a year in office." "Fukuda, in a hastily arranged news conference Monday evening, said he was stepping down to avoid a "political vacuum" at the head of the world's second-largest economy." 09-08 -09-02-08 Mental Health Issues Surface on Pakistan's Likely Leader (Newsweek.com) "If Pakistan's upcoming election goes as expected, Asif Ali Zardari, widower of assassinated leader Benazir Bhutto, will succeed Pervez Musharraf as the country's next president, giving Zardari at least partial sway over the Muslim country's nuclear arsenal. Concerns spiked last week with the disclosure of medical records indicating that as recently as last year, doctors hired by Zardari had diagnosed him with mental problems including dementia, depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. While Zardari's spokespeople say he has been cured, multiple U.S. officials, among them Rep. Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, told NEWSWEEK that word of Zardari's mental-health history took them by surprise." 09-08 -09-06-08 Bhutto's Widower Is Elected Pakistan's President (MSNBC News) "The widower of slain former leader Benazir Bhutto will succeed Pervez Musharraf as president of Pakistan after winning a landslide election victory Saturday." Visitors sometimes misspell as Packistan, Pakestan, or Packestan. 09-08 -09-06-10 Study: After $75,000, Wealth Does Not Increase Happiness (Time.com) "People say money doesn't buy happiness. Except, according to a new study from Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, it sort of does — up to about $75,000 a year. The lower a person's income falls below that benchmark, the unhappier he or she feels. But no matter how much more than $75,000 people make, they don't report any greater degree of happiness." 09-10 -09-07-09 U.N. Worker Tried for Wearing Pants Faces Fine, Not Flogging (CNN News) "A woman put on trial for wearing clothing deemed indecent by Sudanese authorities was fined Monday, but will not get the 40 lashes she could potentially have faced, her lawyer said." "Al-Hussein, a journalist who worked in the media department of the United Nations mission in Sudan, is fighting to have the law declared unconstitutional. She resigned from her U.N. position in order to waive her immunity as an international worker." " 'The manner in which this law has been used against women is unacceptable, and the penalty called for by the law -- up to 40 lashes -- abhorrent,' Tawanda Hondora, deputy director of Amnesty International's Africa program, said in a statement." "U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said he is concerned about al-Hussein's case." " 'The United Nations will make every effort to ensure that the rights of its staff members are protected,' Ban said in July. 'The flogging is against the international human rights standards. I call on all parties to live up to their obligations under all relevant international instruments.' " 09-09 -09-12-07 Putin Replaces Prime Minister (MSNBC News) "President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday replaced his long-serving prime minister with an obscure Cabinet official — a surprise move that could put him in the running to succeed Putin in next year’s presidential election." 09-07 -09-12-07 The World's Energy Hotspots (WorldPress.org) "The volatile Middle East is still the center of the globe when it comes to energy policy, which has consequences for the rest of the world. For example, according to the Institute for International Economics, the United States faces a probable economic recession, estimated at 30 percent due to a sudden increase in the hydrocarbon price index. Moreover, the Center for Global Energy Studies in London estimates that the geopolitical turmoil in Iran, Iraq, Nigeria, and Venezuela, coupled with the emergence of "energy nationalism," has reduced the daily supply of oil—from 2000 onward—by 7.8 million barrels. This is a substantial decrease, comparable with the daily consumption of Germany and France combined. For the time being, there are five hotspots where the 21st century's energy game is unfolding, which will affect the economy worldwide for the coming years." 09-07 -09-23-09 China, Not U.S., Stars at Climate Summit (MSNBC News) "Although some 100 world leaders met Tuesday for a U.N. climate summit, most of the attention was on just two — President Barack Obama and China's Hu Jintao. Both vowed to take the threat of rising seas, drought and deforestation seriously, but only one had some momentum behind him and it wasn't Obama." " 'China and India have announced very ambitious national climate change plans,' Yvo de Boer said. 'In the case of China, so ambitious that it could well become the front-runner in the fight to address climate change,' de Boer said. 'The big question mark is the U.S.' " 09-09 -09-25-07 Perilous Passage to Pakistan (Christian Science Monitor) "With Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf in an unusually vulnerable political position, one of that nation's most popular opposition leaders, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, is pledging to return home from self-exile on October 18." 09-07 -09-27-07 China and Others Running Out of Water (New York Times) "The North China Plain undoubtedly needs any water it can get. An economic powerhouse with more than 200 million residents, the region has limited rainfall and depends on groundwater for 60 percent of its water supply. Other countries have aquifers that are being drained to dangerously low levels, like Yemen, India, Mexico and the United States. But scientists say the aquifers below the North China Plain may be drained within 30 years." "'There’s no uncertainty,' said Richard Evans, a hydrologist who has worked in China for two decades and has served as a consultant to the World Bank and China’s Ministry of Water Resources. 'The rate of decline is very clear, very well documented. They will run out of groundwater if the current rate continues.' " 09-07 -10-08-10 Jailed Chinese Human Rights Advocate Given Nobel Prize (New York Times) "Liu Xiaobo, an impassioned literary critic, political essayist and democracy advocate repeatedly jailed by the Chinese government for his activism, has won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of 'his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.' " 10-10 -10-09-09 Barack Obama Wins Nobel Peace Prize (New York Times) "President Obama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for his 'extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples,' a stunning honor that came less than nine months after he made United States history by becoming the country’s first African-American president." 10-07 -10-13-09 Gaza's Tunnel Economy (Time.com) " 'There is only one economy — there's a tunnel economy,' says John Ging, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in the Gaza Strip. 'You have zero exports and zero commercial imports through the [Israeli-controlled] crossing points.' " "Under the blockade, Gaza's unemployment rate has become the highest in the world." " 'It's accurate to say that the economy has been destroyed. All aspects of the commercial sector are in tatters, including the physical infrastructure,' says the U.N.'s Ging. 'But what we have here is a phenomenal entrepreneurial spirit, and the only thing we need to revive the economy of Gaza is the creation of opportunity, which means lifting the siege.' " 10-09 -10-17-09 Children Are Victims of Churches in Africa (MSNBC News) "The idea of witchcraft is hardly new, but it has taken on new life recently partly because of a rapid growth in evangelical Christianity. Campaigners against the practice say around 15,000 children have been accused in two of Nigeria's 36 states over the past decade and around 1,000 have been murdered. In the past month alone, three Nigerian children accused of witchcraft were killed and another three were set on fire." "Nigeria is one of the heartlands of abuse, but hardly the only one: the United NationsChildren's Fund says tens of thousands of children have been targeted throughout Africa." 10-09 -10-17-09 Swine Flu Links to Pneumonia (CBS News) "The virus can cause life-threatening viral pneumonia much more commonly than the typical flu, prompting the World Health Organization on Friday to warn hospitals to prepare for a possible wave of very sick patients and to urge doctors to treat suspected cases quickly with antiviral drugs." "Experts stress that most people who get the H1N1 virus either never get sick or recover easily. But some young adults, possibly especially women, are falling seriously ill at an unexpectedly rapid pace and are showing up in intensive care units and dying in unusually high numbers, they say." "Although why a minority of patients become so sick remains a mystery, new research indicates that H1N1 is different from typical seasonal flu viruses in crucial ways -- most notably in its ability to penetrate deep into the lungs and cause viral pneumonia." 10-09 -10-17-10 Haiti: The Beginning of Rubble Removal (New York Times) When rubble removal finally became an urgent priority late this summer, only baby steps were taken." "At its September meeting, Haiti’s reconstruction commission, led by Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive and former President Bill Clinton, approved a $17 million United Nations Development Program plan to clean up six neighborhoods — an important project but only a small piece of the $1 billion in reconstruction projects approved to date." 10-10 -10-20-11 Gaddafi Dead (Time.com) "After being forced out of his fortified bunker and into a life on the lam, Libya's flamboyant former strongman met his end at the hands of his own people." 10-11 -10-28-09 A "Trial of the Century" for Muslims (Time.com) "The killing of Marwa el-Sherbini provoked outrage among Muslims for its sheer brutality and brazenness. According to witnesses, the pregnant mother was stabbed to death in front of a courtroom full of people in Germany by a man with an apparently deep-seated hatred of Muslims. Thousands marched in Egypt, Iran and other Muslim countries against what they perceived as a disturbing rise of Islamophobia and racism in Germany, as well as the scant attention the attack received in the German media." 10-09 -10-31-10 Brazil Elects First Female President (CNN News) "Brazil's new president-elect vowed to continue her predecessor's move to fight against inequality and promote human rights and fight poverty in her victory speech Sunday night." " 'My mission is to eradicate poverty,' Dilma Rousseff said after the country's Supreme Electoral Tribunal declared her the winner in Sunday's runoff election." 10-10 -11-05-08 World Reacts to Obama's Victory (USA Today) "From Beijing's streets to France's Elysee Palace, common citizens and leaders of the world greeted Barack Obama's election largely as a sign of hope that America would mend torn international relations and lead the way out of global economic turmoil." 11-08 -11-15-09 World Leaders Agree to Delay Agreement on Climate Change (New York Times) "President Obama and other world leaders have decided to put off the difficult task of reaching a climate change agreement at a global climate conference scheduled for next month, agreeing instead to make it the mission of the Copenhagen conference to reach a less specific 'politically binding' agreement that would punt the most difficult issues into the future." 11-09 -11-21-07 U.S. Presidential Candidates Protest Saudi Court Ruling (CNN News) "U.S. presidential candidates Wednesday condemned Saudi justice after a rape victim was sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail." 11-07 -11-23-07 Imran Khan Ends Hunger Strike in Pakistan (Daily Express) "Drawn and haggard, former cricket superstar Imran Khan ended his hunger strike yesterday." "He had vowed to fast to death after his arrest last week in a round-up of political protesters in Pakistan." 11-07 -11-27-09 China Proposes to Reduce Rate of Emissions (ABC News) "The Chinese propose, by 2020, to reduce so-called carbon intensity — or the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of economic output — by 40 to 45 percent compared with 2005 levels. By that measure, emissions would still increase, though the rate would slow." "In a sense, the Chinese offer is less ambitious than the American proposal because China is already well on the way to its target with existing energy efficiency initiatives, while the American offer would require changes in many government policies. American efforts, though, have been mired in Congressional infighting." "Yet the offers by the United States and China both amount to politically safe opening bids in what is likely to be a long, tough process of negotiations on concrete steps that the two countries should take to address climate change." Editor's Note: Neither the U.S. nor China are planning reductions in emissions in relationship to the actual dangers of emissions for the climate; rather, both are using political goals that have no relationship to the dangers. 11-09 -11-29-12 U.N. Recognizes Statehood for Palestine (CBS News) "The United Nations voted overwhelmingly Thursday to recognize a Palestinian state, a long-sought victory for the Palestinians but an embarrassing diplomatic defeat for the United States." "The resolution upgrading the Palestinians' status to a nonmember observer state at the United Nations was approved by a more than two-thirds majority of the 193-member world body -- a vote of 138-9, with 41 abstentions." 11-12 -12-01-11 An Activist Stands Her Ground in Bahrain (New York Times) "During a protest in Bahrain on Saturday, an American journalist named Matthew Cassel reported on Twitter that he had just witnessed something remarkable: a lone female protester who refused to move as police officers in riot gear charged past her, firing tear gas shells just a few feet from her head." 12-11 -12-01-11 Syria Now in Civil War (CBS News) "The U.N.'s top human rights official says Syria is now in a state of civil war with more than 4,000 people killed.” "Syrian President Bashar Assad has been trying to crush an 8-month-old revolt against his autocratic rule." 12-11 -12-02-11 Islamists Dominate in Egyptian Election (Time.com) "The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's political mainstream, and its most significant challengers are the more extreme Islamists of the Salafi movement rather than the secular liberal forces that dominate the Tahrir Square protest movement. That appears to be the not-exactly-surprising verdict of the electorate, according to reports from the first two days of voting in Egypt's protracted parliamentary election." "The Muslim Brotherhood is Egypt's political mainstream, and its most significant challengers are the more extreme Islamists of the Salafi movement rather than the secular liberal forces that dominate the Tahrir Square protest movement. That appears to be the not-exactly-surprising verdict of the electorate, according to reports from the first two days of voting in Egypt's protracted parliamentary election." "The official announcement of results from the nine (out of a total of 27) provinces has been delayed until Friday or Saturday, but the New York Times reports that the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party looks to have garnered some 40% of the vote, while a further 25% could go to the even more conservative Salafist al-Nour party. Despite the apparent Islamist majority, Brotherhood leaders hastened to reassure Egyptians Thursday that they have no intention of seeking a coalition with the Salafists, seeing secular parties as the more natural ally for their vision of a democratic Egypt. If anything, the Islamists' share of the vote is more likely to grow than shrink, considering that the electoral districts that voted this week were the most urban, middle class and liberal." 12-11 -12-03-07 Venezuela Votes "No" on Extending Term for President Chavez (MSNBC News) "President Hugo Chavez suffered a stunning defeat Monday in a referendum that would have let him run for re-election indefinitely and impose a socialist system in this major U.S. oil provider." 12-07 -12-03-12 The Global Water Crisis (Christian Science Monitor) "The global water crisis – caused by drought, flood, and climate change – is less about supply than it is about recognizing water's true value, using it efficiently, and planning for a different future, say experts." "If renewable water supplies – rainfall in lakes, streams, and rivers – are like an annually replenished checking account, then ground water and deep aquifers are the savings. A few thousand years ago, when civilizations first branched out from rivers, they populated areas where they could draw from that savings in the form of ground water 20 to 30 feet below the surface. Globally, this was the norm until the 1950s, when fossil fuel energy became widely available to allow pumping water from ever-deeper depths. Ever since, humanity has increasingly lived beyond the margins of its renewable water supply." "In ancient fossil aquifers – in the Great Plains of the United States, the North China Plain, or Saudi Arabia – water levels are not recharged by rainfall. Elsewhere, as in northern India, ground water is used faster than it can be replenished. According to the United Nations, ground-water extraction globally has tripled in the past 50 years, during which time India and China's ground-water use has risen 10-fold." 12-12 -12-06-11 Editorial: The "Strange Doings on Earth" (Truth-Out.org) "The IEA [International Energy Agency] estimated that if the world continues on its present course, the 'carbon budget' will be exhausted by 2017. The budget is the quantity of emissions that can keep global warming at the 2 degrees Celsius level considered the limit of safety." "Also last month, the U.S. Department of Energy reported the emissions figures for 2010. Emissions 'jumped by the biggest amount on record,' The Associated Press reported, meaning that 'levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst-case scenario' anticipated by the International Panel on Climate Change in 2007." 12-11 -12-07-11 Wheeler, Rachael: Builder of Homes in Haiti (MSNBC News) "The 12-year-old Florida resident has done more to aid others than many grown-ups do in a lifetime." "Three years ago, when she was only nine, Rachel tagged along with her mother to a very adult meeting about charity work in Haiti. She listened as Robin Mahfood, from the aid agency Food For The Poor, describe children so hungry that they eat cookies made of mud, so poor that they sleep in houses made of cardboard." 12-11 -12-08-12 Egyptian President Gives Up Sweeping Powers (USA Today) "A national dialogue committee said a referendum on a disputed draft constitution will be held on schedule, but President Mohammed Morsi has agreed to rescind the near-absolute power he had granted himself." 12-12 -12-12-12 North Korea Launches a Long-Range Rocket (CBS News) "South Korean and Japanese officials confirmed that liftoff took place Wednesday morning. Each nation had been urging North Korea to refrain from a launch widely seen as a cover for a test of banned ballistic missile technology." "The White House condemned the launch calling it 'a highly provocative act,' that was both a threat to regional security and a violation of U.N. resolutions." 12-12 -12-13-09 U.N.: $24 billion could slash infant deaths (MSNBC News) "Maternal deaths in developing countries could be slashed by 70 percent and newborn deaths cut by nearly half if investment in family planning and pregnancy care was doubled, the United Nations said Thursday." 12-09 -12-18-11 Kim Jong-il, North Korean Leader, Dies (New York Times) "Kim Jong-il, the reclusive North Korean leader who has been battling ill health following a reported stroke in 2008, has died, the North’s official news media reported on Monday." 12-11 -12-19-12 Malala Yousafzai Advocates Education for Girls (Time.com) "She has become perhaps the world’s most admired children’s-rights advocate, all the more powerful for being a child herself. Her primary cause — securing Pakistani girls’ access to education — has served to highlight broader concerns: the health and safety of the developing world’s children, women’s rights and the fight against extremism. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is now the U.N.’s special envoy for global education, declared Nov. 10 Malala Day in honor of her and the more than 50 million girls around the world who are not at school. Nearly half a million people have signed petitions on Change.org to nominate her for the Nobel Peace Prize. That is not how the Taliban intended things to turn out." 12-12 -12-20-09 Agent Orange Poisons New Generations in Vietnam (Time.com) "After years of meetings, signings and photo ops, the U.S. held another ceremony in Vietnam on Dec. 16 to sign yet another memorandum of understanding as part of the continuing effort to manage Agent Orange's dark legacy. Yet there are grumblings that little — if anything — has been done to clean up the most contaminated sites." 12-09 -Current Events (Wikipedia.org) Provides world news each day in a variety of topics, especially politics. -Editorial: Innovation and Education Needed to Head Off Water War (WorldPress.org) "For 2ie's dean, Paul Ginies, Africa's water shortage needs money to be thrown at it. But Africa also needs trained people to manage that influx of cash, he says. 'The main problem here is the lack of capacity of governance and the under-capacity of companies to respond,' he said." "Ginies estimated one trained engineer should be in place to manage every $1 million invested in a country's infrastructure. In Burkina Faso, because of austerity measures imposed on the civil service, if there is not a major new recruitment drive natural attrition will mean there are no trained engineers in the Ministry of Agriculture and Water within 10 years, according to 2ie's calculations." 09-07 -Editorial: It's Too Late for "Later" (New York Times) "There was a chilling essay in The Jakarta Post last week by Andrio Adiwibowo, a lecturer in environmental management at the University of Indonesia. It was about how a smart plan to protect the mangrove forests around coastal Jakarta was never carried out, leading to widespread tidal flooding last month." "This line jumped out at me: 'The plan was not implemented. Instead of providing a buffer zone, development encroached into the core zone, which was covered over by concrete.' " "You could read that story in a hundred different developing countries today. But the fact that you read it here is one of the most important reasons that later has become extinct. Indonesia is second only to Brazil in terrestrial biodiversity and is No. 1 in the world in marine biodiversity. Just one and a half acres in Borneo contains more different tree species than all of North America — not to mention animals that don’t exist anywhere else on earth. If we lose them, there will be no later for some of the rarest plants and animals on the planet." "Indonesia is now losing tropical forests the size of Maryland every year, and the carbon released by the cutting and clearing — much of it from illegal logging — has made Indonesia the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the world, after the United States and China. Deforestation actually accounts for more greenhouse gas emissions than all the cars and trucks in the world, an issue the Bali conference finally addressed." 12-07 -Finding the World's Happiest Places (CNN News) "It may take a lot of frequent-flier miles, a penchant for cold places, a tolerance of taxes and regular doses of chocolate, but happiness could be within reach. However, it's not where most people might expect." 02-08 -Minorities Now One-Third of U.S. Population (Financial Times) "Paul Wolfowitz announced his resignation as president of the World Bank shortly after 6pm on Thursday, bringing to an end a turbulent two-year tenure as chief of the world’s leading development institution." "This follows the publication of a devastating report Monday into his handling of a secondment package for Shaha Riza, a bank official with whom he was romantically involved. "The report found that Mr Wolfowitz had broken the bank’s code of conduct, three staff rules and the terms of his contract." 05-07 -UN Calls Water Top Priority (Time.com) "U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged the world on Thursday to put the looming crisis over water shortages at the top of the global agenda this year and take action to prevent conflicts over scarce supplies." 01-08 -World Watch News (CBS News) Reports on breaking news throughout the world. -World's Largest Companies (ABC News) "In total, the global 2000 companies now account for $30 trillion in revenues, $2.4 trillion in profits, $119 trillion in assets and $39 trillion in market value. Around the world, 72 million people work for these companies." 04-08 -Worst Food Crisis in a Generation (MSNBC News) "The globe's worst food crisis in a generation emerged as a blip on the big boards and computer screens of America's great grain exchanges. At first, it seemed like little more than a bout of bad weather." 04-08 02-17-11 How Egypt Is Different From Bahrain (MSNBC News) " 'Nationally, Bahrain is a very poor country and the wealth that does get created is concentrated in the hands of the rulers and the influential,' he said. '… I’ve never seen wretched poverty like I’ve seen in Bahrain.' " 02-11 Chechnyan Leader Dies Fighting for Justice (Time.com) "Indeed, [Natalia] Estemirova's determined efforts over the past decade to uncover and document extrajudicial killings, torture, disappearances and kidnappings in Chechnya have made her many enemies, including Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov, the republic's Kremlin-backed president. She had also become a thorn in the side of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who, as former president, had presided over the Second Chechen War, which began in 1999 and ended in 2002." 07-09 European Union News (Awesome Library) Provides news about the European Union. Gene Sharp: The Shy Revolutionary (New York Times) "Few Americans have heard of Mr. Sharp. But for decades, his practical writings on nonviolent revolution — most notably 'From Dictatorship to Democracy,' a 93-page guide to toppling autocrats, available for download in 24 languages — have inspired dissidents around the world, including in Burma, Bosnia, Estonia and Zimbabwe, and now Tunisia and Egypt." 02-11 International News (Washington Post) Provides international news stories. New Pope Announced (Time.com) "Habemus Papam Franciscum came the tweet, the first official word from the @Pontifex account, just after the white smoke curled from the copper chimney watched by hundreds of thousands in St. Peter’s Square, by millions and millions on every imaginable 21st century technology around the world. And there it was, old and new, past and present, the arrival of a Pope who for the first time hails from “the most unequal part of the world,” as he once called Latin America, who cooked his own dinners and rode the bus and took his regnal name from the sainted champion of the least among us. Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope Francis, brings to the throne of St. Peter a concern about the “spiritual sickness” that can afflict a church if it seems to care more for its priests than its people. “I want you to bless me,” he told the crowd, before it was his turn to bless them. He noted that his brother Cardinals had gone “to the end of the earth” to find the new Bishop of Rome. But there was a kind of subtle, rounded—perhaps divine—justice to it all. And by the time his brief debut was over, it was already clear that a profound change had occurred in an institution famously resistant to it." 03-13 New Prime Minister for Australia (Time.com) " 'Today Australia has looked to the future,' said the country's newly elected Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, claiming victory for his Labor Party for the first time since 1996. Poll after opinion poll had predicted a Labor triumph in national elections, but few had forecast its scale. Labor captured at least 22 seats from the ruling Liberal-National coalition — including, it appears, the northwestern Sydney seat held for the past 33 years by Prime Minister John Howard." 11-07 News Sources (Awesome Library) Provides sources of national and world news, by subject or country. North Korea (Awesome Library) Provides news and current events related to North Korea's relationship with the USA and the international community. Also provides background information on North Korea, such as history, economy, government, and more. Party Veterans Issue Letter for Free Speech in China (PBS) "This hasn't been a great week for China's Communist Party leaders in the PR department, as they gather for a big party confab in Beijing today. Yes, they're flush with the glow from high-octane economy and their new assertiveness on the world stage. But they've also taken a couple of public hits for their decidedly unmodern brand of repression at home." 10-10 Papers "Climate Change Is All About the Oceans" (Time.com) Tony Knap, director of the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences (BIOS), states that "just as carbon levels have been rising in the atmosphere, thanks largely to man-made greenhouse-gas emissions, CO2 levels are on the rise in the ocean as it warms as well. Ocean data matters — the oceans hold far more energy than the atmosphere. 'This will tell us how the ocean is changing over time,' says Knap. 'Climate change is all about the oceans, not the atmosphere.' " Editor's Note: Also try Threatened Oceans. 07-11 -001 Earth Hour (EarthHour.org) "2,848 cities, towns and municipalities in 84 countries have already committed to VOTE EARTH for Earth Hour 2009, as part of the worlds first global election between Earth and global warming." Editor's Note: Buildings will turn off their lights on March 28th, 2009, to show solidarity with efforts to reduce human contributions to climate change. 03-09 -05-10-12 Time's Most Influential People of 2012 (Time.com) "They are the people who inspire us, entertain us, challenge us and change our world. Meet the breakouts, pioneers, moguls, leaders and icons who make up this year's TIME 100." 05-12 -A New Framework for Describing How the World Is Getting Warmer (Christian Science Monitor) "Trying to get beyond the standard scientific disclaimer that no single weather event can be pinned on global warming, government scientists on Tuesday unveiled a new framework: what are the odds of a specific event being impacted by warming?" "They tested it on several extreme events in 2011 -- a strong La Nina year -- and, in the case of the record Texas drought, concluded that such severe dry spells are 20 more times likely during a La Nina year today than a La Nina in the 1960s, before greenhouse gas emissions jumped. " "The 43 indicators tracked in 2011 -- ranging from thinning Arctic sea ice to more acidic oceans -- continued to show a warming trend, according to the State of the Climate report." " 'Those indicators,' said Thomas Karl, head of the National Climatic Data Center, 'show what we expect to see in a warmer world.' " 07-12 -Brazil, the World's Hottest Market (Newsweek.com) "The specter of rising food and fuel prices now threatens to destroy an era of unprecedented global prosperity, with two notable exceptions: Brazil and Canada. Both countries produce and export enough food and fuel not just to offset the worst of global inflationary pressures but even to turn the price spike from a menace to a boon. They are the only two major economies where prices have not burst the upper limit of the central bank's inflation target." 07-08 -China Controls 95 Percent of World's Rare Earth Minerals (CBS News) "China produces 95 percent of the world’s rare earths, essential for a wide range of high-tech industries." "No more than a few thousand metric tons remain to be shipped under this year’s quota, out of 30,300 metric tons of authorized shipments. World demand for Chinese rare earths approaches 50,000 tons a year, according to industry estimates." "The value of the remaining quotas has soared to the point that the right to export a single ton of rare earths from China now sells for about $40,000, including special Chinese taxes." "That is a sizable additional cost for buyers of neodymium, a rare earth used to make lightweight, powerful magnets essential to everything from large wind turbines to gasoline-electric cars to Apple iPhones. 10-10 -Editorial: A Blueprint for Preventing Nuclear Terrorism (Time.com) "Today’s terrorists have global reach, so that mission rightly requires a broad international effort. But the United States and Russia possess 95% of the world’s nuclear weapons and most of the world’s weapons-usable nuclear material, and so bear a special responsibility for preventing nuclear terrorism." 03-12 -Editorial: Europe Needs an Energy Supergrid (New York Times) "Some cross-border power connections exist, but many European countries still produce and supply most of their own electricity or have links to just one other country. Experts say a richer cross-border network will reduce power prices for consumers and make supplies more secure by promoting competition and distributing surplus production more efficiently." 01-12 -Editorial: How China Is Capitalizing on the Economic Crisis (Time.com) "Once shy of making major foreign investments, Beijing has gone on the prowl for resources and underpriced assets across the globe. Cash-rich Chinese companies, backed by soft loans from state banks and re-energized by lower labor costs as jobs dry up, are descending on Central Asia, Africa and even Western Europe to snap up assets." 04-09 -Editorial: Is the Press Misreporting the Environment Story? (Time.com) "Rather than a stenographer, Pooley would prefer to see the media adopt the position of an "honest referee — keeping score, throwing flags when a team plays fast and loose with the facts, explaining to the audience what's happening on the field and why." In an issue as complex as climate change, the country badly needs smart, fair umpires, and the media can play that role. But the wave of cutbacks and closings that have hit the American media could make that all but impossible. Referees need to know the game cold, and climate change demands day-in, day-out experience from dedicated reporters. But a dwindling few media outlets are willing to pay for that kind of coverage at a time when the economy is crashing — Time's corporate cousin CNN has eliminated its entire full-time science section." 03-09 -Exceptional Ecosystem Found Under Arctic Ice (New York Times) "The quantities of plankton are 'truly exceptional,' says Walker Smith, a marine biologist at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., who was not part of the team conducting the research." "If these blooms are widespread under the ice along continental shelves, the primary productivity in these regions could be up to 10 times greater than open-water productivity, the team estimates." "In addition, researchers have noted that the Arctic ocean is becoming an enormous sink for atmospheric CO2 as the waters open up in the summer. Yet the open waters in the Chukchi Sea don't show the levels of dissolved CO2 they should if that's the case. Now, it looks as though the answer lies with the under-ice phytoplankton blooms, because they consume the CO2 via photosynthesis, just as land plants do." 06-12 -Experts: Sanitation Is a Life-Saver Worldwide (MSNBC News) "The world is neglecting a crisis over poor sanitation even as it makes progress in providing clean water, which means that diarrhea and related illnesses such as malnutrition will continue to kill at an alarming rate, experts said Friday." "About 1 billion people do not have access to safe drinking water, and 2.5 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation, according to the United Nations. But the World Water Council, organizer of a forum in Turkey this week, said investment in sanitation rarely amounts to more than 0.3 percent of global GDP, even though latrines and sewers are relatively cheap and play a key role in preventing disease." 03-09 -German Federal Court Rejects Voting Machines (Bundes-Verfassungs-Ggericht) "However, the Federal Voting Machines Ordinance (Bundeswahlgeräteverordnung) is unconstitutional because it does notensure that only such voting machines are permitted and used which meetthe constitutional requirements of the principle of the public nature ofelections. According to the decision of the Federal ConstitutionalCourt, the computer-controlled voting machines used in the election ofthe 16th German Bundestag did not meet the requirements which theconstitution places on the use of electronic voting machines." Editor's Note: Voting machines were rejected because they did not allow public scrutiny of the individual ballots. This standard would also be relevant to voting machines in other countries, such as the United States. 03-09 -How to Avoid Human Extinction (Huffington Post) "Why are we in danger of going the way of the dinosaurs? What has caused progress to slow and governments, leaders and experts to suddenly become gridlocked, unable to solve our most dangerous problems?" "The answer is complexity." "There's no denying it. Even the most brilliant among us is trapped in the same biological spacesuit -- a spacesuit that requires millions of years to develop new features. So what happens when the complexity of the problems we have to solve simply exceeds the capabilities we humans have evolved to this point?" "The answer is that we come to an impasse." -Millennium Development Goals to Reduce Human Suffering (United Nations) The first goal is to "Reduce by half the proportion of people living on less than a dollar a day" and to "Reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger." Editor's Note: The 191 UN member states agreeing to support the goals estimate that between 2000 and 2015 it would cost $40 billion dollars to achieve all of the goals to reduce suffering. Meanwhile, world spending on military was $956 billion last year alone. 5-05 -No Compelling Evidence for Prevention or Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease (New York Times) "The scene was a kind of science court. On trial was the question 'Can anything — running on a treadmill, eating more spinach, learning Arabic — prevent Alzheimer’s disease or delay its progression?' " "To try to answer that question, the National Institutes of Health sponsored the court, appointing a jury of 15 medical scientists with no vested interests in Alzheimer’s research. They would hear the evidence and reach a judgment on what the data showed." " 'Currently,' the panel wrote, 'no evidence of even moderate scientific quality exists to support the association of any modifiable factor (such as nutritional supplements, herbal preparations, dietary factors, prescription or nonprescription drugs, social or economic factors, medical conditions, toxins or environmental exposures) with reduced risk of Alzheimer’s disease.' " "To its great surprise, the Duke group discovered a vast amount of literature on Alzheimer’s prevention. Instead of coming up empty on many topics, Dr. Williams said, 'We came up empty on very few.' ” "The problem, the group wrote, was that 'the quality of the evidence was typically low.' ” "Low confidence did not necessarily mean the measures did not work — it meant the evidence was so faulty that there was no way of deciding." 08-10 -Report: Climate Change "Catastrophic" (CNN News) "More than 300 million people are already seriously affected by the gradual warming of the earth and that number is set to double by 2030, the report from the Global Humanitarian Forum warns." "The report's startling numbers are based on calculations by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that the Earth's atmosphere warmed by 0.74 degrees Celsius (1.33 degrees Fahrenheit) from 1906 to 2005, with much of that increase coming in recent decades. The panel predicts that by 2100 temperatures will have increased a minimum of two degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial levels regardless of what's agreed in Copenhagen." 05-09 -Research: Amazon Forest Crisis Can Create "Incalculable Consequences" for Earth (The Independent) "The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's climate, alarming research suggests. And the process, which would be irreversible, could begin as early as next year." "Scientists say that this would spread drought into the northern hemisphere, including Britain, and could massively accelerate global warming with incalculable consequences, spinning out of control, a process that might end in the world becoming uninhabitable." 07-06 -Scary New Math on Climate Change (Time.com) "In the paper, which Time.com confirmed has been peer-reviewed, the authors show that extreme outliers of more than three standard deviations above the mean temperature covered between six and thirteen percent of the globe during the years 2003 to 2008. If they were normally distributed and similar to the climactic record, that should have been just a 0.1-to-0.2 percent frequency of an extreme heat event. (That’s about exactly as often as a perfect bell curve predicts they would occur.) Hansen dubs this difference a “three-sigma anomaly,” for the Greek-letter symbol for standard deviation. And in the world of statistics, these anomalies represent a stunning 10-fold increase in extreme weather events." 05-12 -Simulation Results: Temperature Rise Caused a Mass Extinction (BBC News) "A computer simulation of the Earth's climate 250 million years ago suggests that global warming triggered the so-called 'great dying'." "A dramatic rise in carbon dioxide caused temperatures to soar to 10 to 30 degrees Celsius higher than today, say US researchers." "Some 95% of lifeforms in the oceans became extinct, along with about three-quarters of land species." 8-05 -Study Ranks Countries on Nuclear Security (New York Times) "Now, for the first time publicly, experts have surveyed the precautions each country has in place and ranked the nations from best to worst. The study is full of surprises and potential embarrassments: for instance, Australia takes first place in nuclear security and Japan comes in at No. 23, behind nations like Kazakhstan and South Africa." "The United States? It tied for 13th place with Belgium. Last place goes to North Korea, a police state that the report finds to be seriously deficient on issues of atomic security." 01-12 -Study: Climate Problem the Top Concern Worldwide (USA Today) "Pollution and other environmental problems increasingly are seen as the leading threat the world faces, according to a massive survey of global public opinion released Wednesday. The United States is given much of the blame for those problems and the responsibility to respond to them." "In 34 countries, the proportion of those who said they had 'a lot of confidence' in Bush to 'do the right thing' was in single digits." 07-07 -Study: Global Warming Is Irreversible (TruthOut.org) "As carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, the world will experience more and more long-term environmental disruption. The damage will persist even when, and if, emissions are brought under control, says study author Susan Solomon, who is among the world's top climate scientists." 01-09 -Super-Rich Hiding $21 Trillion in Tax Havens? (BBC News) "A global super-rich elite had at least $21 trillion (£13tn) hidden in secret tax havens by the end of 2010, according to a major study." "The figure is equivalent to the size of the US and Japanese economies combined." "The Price of Offshore Revisited was written by James Henry, a former chief economist at the consultancy McKinsey, for the Tax Justice Network." "Mr Henry used data from the Bank of International Settlements, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and national governments." 07-12 -Why Europe Needs Russian Oil (Time.com) "Moscow sent a chilly reminder, over the New Year, of the urgency behind Europe's quest to wean itself off a dependence on Russian natural gas. Millions of Germans, Slovaks, Bulgarians, Moldovans and Italians were left without heat for a week in sub-zero temperatures, as a result of a commercial dispute between Russia and Ukraine — Moscow had turned off the gas supply piped across the vast former Soviet Republic, hoping to turn up the heat on the Western-aligned government in Kiev by turning off the heat in Europe. Restarting the flow required urgent diplomatic shuttling by German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other European leaders. But as much as the episode highlighted the problem of depending on energy supplies from an increasingly churlish Russia, finding alternative supply sources will be far from simple." 01-09 Africa's Future: Four Essentials (WorldPress.org) "As the Group of 8 nations prepare for the annual July 2005 Summit in Scotland, the dire development needs of Africa will again come into sharp focus. A recent report on development issues worldwide by the United Nations concludes that Africa is neither on course to meet goals of halving poverty rates by 2015 nor moving significantly to improve access to portable water and basic sanitation." "However, to provide assistance to more than 300 million Africans who live on extreme poverty, surviving on less than one dollar a day, Group of 8 nations at the July 2005 Summit have an urgent obligation to provide immediate, 100 percent debt relief for the poorest nations in Africa. Poor African nations should not have to choose between debt servicing and saving the lives of its citizens." 7-05 Ahmadinejad, Mahmoud - President of Iran (ABC News) "Until a few months ago, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the mayor of Tehran. This son of a blacksmith was elected president of the country by promising to give poor people a share of Iran's oil wealth." "From his first days in office, he began to express a fervent belief in the Shiite prophecy that the 12th imam, or the messiah, would return to save the believers and kill the infidels. What really got many people's attention was that the new president said it would happen in the next two years." 01-06 Amazing Pictures of the Week (Time.com) Provides pictures. 08-10 Brazil Reacts to High Food Prices (New York Times) "Luciano Alves planted beans, corn and grain on about 7,500 acres of his farm in southern Brazil last year. This year, he is planting 8,600 acres. And he credits Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, with the increase." " 'The government is helping us finance the purchase of new machinery,' said Mr. Alves. 'They reduced the interest rates we pay and have given us more time to pay off the loans. It’s vital.' " 08-08 Bush Administration Blocks Plans to Reduce Global Warming (Guardian Unlimited) "While the aid-for-Africa element of the G8 discussions has progressed to the point where pledges of billions of dollars have been made, the greater issue of saving the planet is bogged in petty negotiation, largely because America's delegates still refuse to admit, in public, that global warming is caused by human activity." 6-05 Climatologist: 450, the CO2 Red Line? (ForeignPolicy.com) "Twenty years ago, when global warming first came to public consciousness, no one knew precisely how much carbon dioxide was too much. The early computer climate models made a number of predictions about what would happen if we doubled the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere to 550 parts per million. But, in recent years, as the science has gotten more robust, scientists have tended to put the red line right around 450 parts per million. That’s where NASA’s James Hansen, America’s foremost climatologist, has said we need to stop if we want to avoid a temperature rise greater than two degrees Celsius. Why would two degrees be a magic number? Because as best we can tell, it’s where the melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets would become rapid and irrevocable. The ice above Greenland alone contains about 23 feet of sea-level rise, which is more than enough to alter the Earth almost beyond recognition." 01-09 Dalai Lama Blasts Chinese Military Action in Tibet (CBS News) "The Dalai Lama says China has launched a 'brutal crackdown' in Tibet since protests shook the Himalayan region last year." 03-09 EU Nations Make Ocean "Land Grab" (Guardian Unlimited) "A vast tract of the Atlantic seabed more than 200 miles off shore is being claimed by a coalition of four European countries eager to expand their oil and gas prospecting rights." "No country may claim any part of the seabed more than 350 miles from its shore. Once rights are established, states may extract the minerals and natural gas or oil discovered in the annexed seabed." 06-06 Editorial: "No Government Can Justify Torture" (Bloomberg.com) "Iraq security forces are torturing detainees and the abuses are becoming 'routine and commonplace,' the Human Rights Watch said." " 'The Iraqi security forces obviously face tremendous challenges, including an insurgency that has targeted civilians,' Whitson said in the report published on the Human Rights Watch Web site. 'We unequivocally condemn the insurgents' brutality. But international law is unambiguous on this point: no government can justify torture of detainees in the name of security.' ''1-05 Editorial: Are Aid Agencies What Africa Really Needs? (Guardian Unlimited) "Ending poverty appears to have little to do with overseas aid or the activities of NGOs. It has to do with pragmatic governments that create a business-friendly environment and place a heavy emphasis on education." "By contrast, Africa has suffered from rulers who are parasites on their people, where the elites loot resources to line their own pockets and create an environment where investors fear to tread." 01-06 Editorial: Death of a Fighter for Truth (TimesOnline.co.uk) "As one of Iraq’s most gifted journalists, Atwar Bahjat covered many funerals, capturing the grief, indignation and fury of countless mourners struggling to comprehend their country’s descent into sectarian conflict." "Yesterday her own funeral made news when the procession through Baghdad was attacked, first by a gunman and then by a bomber." 02-06 Editorial: Indian News Adherence to Cardinal Principles (WorldPress.org) "From the above, it seems that these news channels perhaps lack a definite focus and may have diverged from the cardinal principles of broadcasting to which they should be adhering." 03-07 Editorial: Iraq Must Deliver Oil to Sunnis in the Constitution (Christian Science Monitor) "Rather, the key to Iraq's near-term stability is quite simply the rights and prerogatives of the 20 percent of Iraqis who are Sunni Arabs." "It is this group that provides perhaps 90 percent of the insurgency's active fighters and most of its new recruits. It is this group amid which the insurgency lives, hides its arms, plots its attacks, finds its safe houses. And it is this group that is on the verge of being fundamentally marginalized, in political power as well as economics, by what is happening in the constitution-writing right now." "The Kurds want not only the land back for the Kurdish families who once owned it - a reasonable enough proposition - but virtually all the rights and revenue to the oil produced in its vicinity." 8-05 Editorial: Is Democracy Empowering Islamists? (Christian Science Monitor) "The Palestinian vote was a win for democracy - but also for a radical group the US rejects." "The 'irony,' Mr. Gerges adds, is that the Bush administration's championing of the Middle East's democratization has allowed the radical Islamists to 'flex their political muscle' - from Egypt and Saudi Arabia to Lebanon and Iraq." 'We're seeing that, for now, the only alternative to secular regimes in the Middle East are the Islamists,' says [Haim] Malka [a Middle East expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington]. 'They're the only ones who have legitimacy among the people.' " 01-06 Famous Muslim Cleric Issues Fatwa Against Terrorism (CNN News) "Sheikh Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri: At a news conference in London, England, on Tuesday, the renowned Islamic scholar issued a fatwa -- a religious ruling -- condemning suicide bombers as destined for hell, removing extremists' certainty of earning paradise after death." "The 600-page fatwa is arguably the most comprehensive theological refutation of Islamist terrorism to date. Qadri said his aim was to set an important precedent that might allow other scholars to similarly condemn the ideas behind terrorism." 03-10 From Dictatorship to Democracy (AEinstein.org) "Out of these concerns and experiences grew a determined hope that prevention of tyranny might be possible, that successful struggles against dictatorships could be waged without mass mutual slaughters, that dictatorships could be destroyed and new ones prevented from rising out of the ashes." "I have tried to think carefully about the most effective ways in which dictatorships could be successfully disintegrated with the least possible cost in suffering and lives. In this I have drawn on my studies over many years of dictatorships, resistance movements, revolutions, political thought, governmental systems, and especially realistic nonviolent struggle." "This publication is the result." 02-11 How Young Is too Young to Be a Fighter? (ABC News) "As young girls and boys wildly kick and punch each other in rural rings across Thailand, spectators (farmers, trainers, families, friends) place their bets. Each child stands to change his or her family's fortune with a winning blow." 10-07 Illiteracy Increasing in China (MSNBC News) "Illiteracy is increasing in China, despite a 50-year-old campaign to stamp it out and a declaration by the government in 2000 that it had been nearly eradicated. The reasons are complex, from the cost of a rural education to the growing appeal of migrant work that draws Chinese away from classrooms and toward far-off cities." 04-07 Iran Ultra-Conservative Becomes President (BBC News) "Iran's new ultra-conservative President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been confirmed in office, following his surprise election victory in July." 8-05 Iran's Current Nuclear Capability (Time.com) "Ahmadinejad was shown on national TV attending the installation of a domestically-produced fuel plate of uranium enriched to 20% into a Tehran research reactor that produces medical isotopes." 02-12 Iranian Reactor Comes Online with Russian Fuel (Time.com) "Despite the media hysteria over a supposed drumbeat for war with Iran, the White House is not unduly worried by the news that Russia will, on Saturday, begin loading enriched uranium into Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactor. " "Instead of prompting confrontation, the move to bring Bushehr online will be used by the Administration to argue that it demonstrates Western readiness to accept a Iranian nuclear energy program without uranium enrichment. The uranium that will power the Bushehr reactor is imported from Russia, while the reactor's spent fuel — from which Iran could hypothetically extract plutonium if it had the technology to do so, and if it weren't under the scrutiny of IAEA inspectors — will be removed from Iran by the Russians. And the fact that Bushehr will produce electricity with Russian-supplied uranium, says White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, "underscores that Iran does not need its own enrichment capability if its intentions, as it states, are for a peaceful nuclear program." 08-10 Is Western-Style Democracy Good for Everyone? (BBC News) Asks readers to answer the question, "Is western-style democracy good for the world or is it just another example of cultural imperialism?" Provides samples of responses to the question. 11-03 Japanese Workers Urged to Go Home Early (CNN News) "In a country where 12-hour workdays are common, the electronics giant has taken to letting its employees leave early twice a week for a rather unusual reason: to encourage them to have more babies." "Japan in the midst of an unprecedented recession, so corporations are being asked to work toward fixing another major problem: the country's low birthrate." "At 1.34, the birthrate is well below the 2.0 needed to maintain Japan's population, according to the country's Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare." "Analysts say the world's second-largest economy faces its greatest threat from its own social problems, rather than outside forces. And the country desperately needs to make some fixes to its current social and work structures, sociologists say." 01-09 Lifestyles of Women in Iran (Time Magazine) "These girls came of age in the same culture as my friend's little girl, into a society whose middle-class value system was being transformed, where laws forced religious observance, and the lines between an individual's private values, the force of habit, and social background blurred. But rather than turning out uniformly devout or predictably rebellious, they are more independent than any generation before them, negotiating their way through society, and around hejab, with great competence." 02-07 Limits to Debt Relief to Poorest Nations (BBC News) "The deal to relieve 100% of poor country debts is historic - but it only sets the scene for a much bigger battle at Gleneagles over trade and aid." 6-05 News and Articles Related to Current Events (Council on Foreign Relations) CFR provides news and articles 05-07 Nuclear Risks Grow (Independent - Popham) "At least as damaging as North Korea's departure [from the non-proliferation ban] have been successive moves by Washington to distance itself from nuclear disarmament." "In the run-up to the Iraq war, the US President, George Bush, signed National Security Presidential Directive 17, which said: 'The United States will continue to make clear that it reserves the right to respond with overwhelming force – including potentially nuclear weapons....' " "This assertion, analysts say, undermined...the so-called 'negative security assurances'...not to use nuclear weapons against the non-nuclear weapon states." "The assurances were considered vital in discouraging states from developing their own nuclear weapons.""More and more states are likely to buy the argument that the only way to be secure in a unipolar world is to go down the nuclear road – 'to pre-empt pre-emption', one analyst said." 4-03 Peace and War (Waging Peace) Provides articles and news stories regarding peace and war. 5-02 Provides Key Documents Related to Democracy (Democracy Dialogues) Provides over two dozen documents. 03-06 Red Crystal Now Available to Protect Medics (USA Today) "The 'Red Crystal' debuts Sunday as an emblem that can be used to protect its relief workers, part of an agreement for Israel's admission to the Red Cross movement after more than half a century of exclusion." 01-07 Report: Global Warming Cause and Effects (CBS News) "The study traces global temperatures and so-called greenhouse gases going back thousands of years. It shows a gradual variation until the Industrial Revolution begins, when fossil fuel use skyrockets, as do temperatures, CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reports." 01-07 Report: Scientists Offer Plan to Combat Global Warming (RedOrbit.com) "To head off the worst of climate change, governments must pour tens of billions of dollars more than they are into clean-energy research and enforce sharp rollbacks in fossil-fuel emissions, an expert scientific panel reported to the United Nations on Tuesday." 02-07 Report: USA, China, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia Are the Worst Offenders (CBS News) "Sweden, Britain and Denmark are doing the most to protect against climate change, but their efforts are not nearly enough, according to a report released Monday by environmental groups." "The United States — the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases — ranked at 53, with only China, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia doing worse." 11-06 Report: We Are Threatened (BBC News) "The most comprehensive survey ever into the state of the planet concludes that human activities threaten the Earth's ability to sustain future generations." "Two services - fisheries and fresh water - are said now to be well beyond levels that can sustain current, much less future, demands."7-05 Study: New Estimates on Deaths from Wars (ABC News) "The researchers estimate that 5.4 million people died from 1955 to 2002 as a result of wars in 13 countries. These deaths range from 7,000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 3.8 million in Vietnam." "According to Obermeyer, the estimates are three times higher than those of previous reports. Data from this new study also suggests that 378,000 people worldwide died a violent death in war each year between 1985 and 1994, compared with 137,000 estimated at the time." 06-08 Study: World Is More Unequal Today (BBC News) "A UN report has found that the world is more unequal today than it was 10 years ago, despite considerable economic growth in many regions." "The report recommends expanding opportunities for productive employment, bringing marginalized groups into society and working to distribute the benefits of what it called the increasingly open world economy." 8-05 Toxic Cottonseed Becomes Food (Christian Science Monitor) "Dr. Rathore and his colleagues have figured out how to make poisonous cottonseeds fit for human consumption. The new, nontoxic seeds could give 500 million people an additional source of high-quality protein, the team estimates, if the genetically engineered plant is approved for cultivation." 11-06 U.N. Resolves to Protect Children from War (BBC News) "The UN Security Council has unanimously approved a resolution aimed at protecting children in armed conflict." "The council agreed to monitor more than 50 governments and rebel groups accused of violating children's rights and punish those who did not stop." "Abuses include killing or maiming children, using child soldiers and sexual violence against children." 7-05 U.N.: World Can End Poverty by 2025 (MSNBC News) "Global poverty can be cut in half by 2015 and eliminated by 2025 if the world’s richest countries including the United States, Japan and Germany more than double aid to the poorest countries, hundreds of development experts concluded in a report Monday." "At stake is life or death for tens of millions of impoverished people, it said." 1-05 United Nations Climate Change Conference (CBS News) The United Nations Climate Change Conference will be held in Copenhagen on December 7 - 18, 2009. 03-09 Wael Ghonim, Revolutionary (Time.com) "But in spite of his career achievements and comfortable life, he chose to be part of a hidden, more dangerous world — one in which he sought to activate change in his homeland. After he returned to Egypt, that work thrust him into prison for more than 10 days. When he emerged, he was hailed by some as the leader of the faceless group of young revolutionaries who are credited with getting the uprising against President Hosni Mubarak off the ground." 02-11 Where Abusing Women Is Normal (International Herald Tribune) "In few places on earth is violence against women more entrenched, and accepted, than in sub-Saharan Africa. One in three Nigerian women reported having been physically abused by a male partner, according to the latest study, conducted in 1993." 8-05 Wolff: Global Food System Can't Survive (CNN News) "As the nation marks World Hunger Relief Week, more people are asking: Why are so many people starving and what, if anything, can be done to eradicate hunger?" "Wolff thinks hunger can be conquered. Her group produces 'Medika Mamba,' energy dense, peanut butter food that's designed to ensure Haitian children survive childhood. Medika Mamba is easy to make, store, preserve and distribute, she says." "Patel says '2008 was a record year in terms of harvest. There's more food per person in 2008 than there's ever been in history. The problem is not food, but how we distribute it.' " 11-08 World Military Spending Tops $1 Trillion (USA Today) "Global military spending in 2004 broke the $1 trillion barrier for the first time since the Cold War, boosted by the U.S. war against terror and the growing defense budgets of India and China, a European think tank said Tuesday." "Led by the United States, which accounted for almost half of all military expenditure, the world spent $1.035 trillion on defense, equal to 2.6% of global gross domestic product, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said." 6-05 World's Growing Food-Price Crisis (Time.com) "With relief agencies struggling to feed the hungry and the shelves in Pakistan, Burkina Faso, Senegal and many other countries in the developing world stocked with food many locals can no longer afford, the prospects for chaos are steadily growing." 2-08 World's Priciest Cities (Time Magazine) "The survey by Mercer Human Resource Consulting ranked 143 cities around the world, measuring the comparative cost of more than 200 areas such as housing, transportation and food. The findings are designed to help multinational employers determine compensation for their expatriate workers." 06-07

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