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Exploring the media landscape in a country where going to work has become a life-and-death decision for reporters.
2012 has been a big year for Somali media – after years of covering
civil war, rising insurgency and a battle for resources, Somali
journalists reported on the country’s first election in decades. But
there is another reason 2012 has been significant: 13 journalists have
been killed in the country this year. A suicide bomb attack in Mogadishu
on September 20 killed three reporters. Hours later, unidentified
gunmen shot dead veteran journalist Hassan Yusuf Absuge for covering the
explosion.
Al-Shabaab, the armed group operating in Somalia, has claimed responsibility for a number of the killings this year, but they are by no means the only threat. There are no official regulations on what you can or cannot report but journalists trying to cover stories that criticise Al-Shabab, government, big business or certain clans and their leaders, do so at their peril. |
Sunday, September 30, 2012
Somalia's war on journalism
Al-Jazeera's political independence questioned amid Qatar intervention
Al-Jazeera English journalists protest after being ordered to re-edit UN report to focus on Qatar emir's comments on Syria
Al-Jazeera's editorial independence has been called into question after its director of news stepped in to ensure a speech made by Qatar's emir to the UN led its English channel's coverage of the debate on Syrian intervention.
Journalists had produced a package of the UN debate, topped with excerpts of President Obama's speech, last Tuesday when a last-minute instruction came from Salem Negm, the Qatar-based news director, who ordered the video to be re-edited to lead with the comments from Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
Despite protests from staff that the emir's comments – a repetition of previous calls for Arab intervention in Syria – were not the most important aspect of the UN debate, the two-minute video was re-edited and Obama's speech was relegated to the end of the package.
The episode left a bitter taste among staff amid complaints that this was the most heavy-handed editorial intervention at the global broadcaster, which has long described itself as operating independent of its Qatari ownership.
An al-Jazeera spokesman said the emir's speech was "a significant development" that day and the broadcaster "consequently gave it prominence".
Al-Jazeera's editorial independence has been called into question after its director of news stepped in to ensure a speech made by Qatar's emir to the UN led its English channel's coverage of the debate on Syrian intervention.
Journalists had produced a package of the UN debate, topped with excerpts of President Obama's speech, last Tuesday when a last-minute instruction came from Salem Negm, the Qatar-based news director, who ordered the video to be re-edited to lead with the comments from Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani.
Despite protests from staff that the emir's comments – a repetition of previous calls for Arab intervention in Syria – were not the most important aspect of the UN debate, the two-minute video was re-edited and Obama's speech was relegated to the end of the package.
The episode left a bitter taste among staff amid complaints that this was the most heavy-handed editorial intervention at the global broadcaster, which has long described itself as operating independent of its Qatari ownership.
An al-Jazeera spokesman said the emir's speech was "a significant development" that day and the broadcaster "consequently gave it prominence".
Six In The Morning
US military death toll in Afghanistan reaches 2,000
The US military has suffered its 2,000th death in the Afghan war - with a suspected "insider" attack at a checkpoint.
30 September 2012 Last updated at 07:33 GMT
A US soldier and a foreign contractor were killed in the east of the country, apparently by a rogue member of the Afghan security forces. "Insider" attacks sharply increased this year, prompting the coalition to suspend joint operations this month. However, such operations resumed in recent days, the Pentagon said. The nationality of the contractor was not given immediately. The American death toll goes back to the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. 'Checkpoint row' The two new deaths occurred on Saturday in Wardak province, a spokesman for the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force said. Afghan officials say the incident took place at a checkpoint near an Afghan National Army base in the district of Sayedabad.
Bo Guagua speaks up for disgraced father Bo Xilai
"Princeling" defends former leader accused of responsibility for wife's murder of Briton, taking bribes and abusing power
Tania Branigan in Beijing and Rory Carroll guardian.co.uk, Sunday 30 September 2012 06.40 BST
Bo Guagua, the high profile son of toppled politician Bo Xilai and his wife Gu Kailai, has defended his "upright" and dutiful father in his first statement on the scandal. His comments come shortly after Chinese leaders announced that they had expelled the former Chongqing party secretary from the Communist party and that he would face criminal charges. Bo Xilai was once tipped for possible promotion in this autumn's leadership transition. But his spectacular fall culminated in Friday's announcement that he was accused of offences including abusing power and taking massive bribes.
Berlin's gas lamps to be snuffed out
Heritage fans and greenies battle over plan to cull historic street lights
Sunday 30 September 2012
The pools of soft yellow light cast on the pavements of night-time Berlin by the city's thousands of historic gas street lamps can give visitors a thrilling sensation of having either walked back in time or straight on to the set of Cabaret, the award-winning film set in the German capital of the early 1930s. Berlin has a record 43,900 gas street lights – more than any other city in the world. They range from ornate wrought-iron five-lantern candelabra dating from the 1890s to graceful curved arc lights lining the city's thoroughfares and installed in the still bomb-damaged capital of the 1950s.
The two faces of Hezbollah
Hezbollah, the dominant party in the Lebanese government, is closely allied with the Syrian regime. With Assad's future uncertain, Hezbollah has a tricky balance to maintain.
The so-called "Party of God" has undergone a dramatic transformation since it was founded 30 years ago. The stimuli for its creation were the Islamic Revolution in Iran and the Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Hezbollah's stated aims were resistance against Israel, and establishing an Islamic state in Lebanon. In the years that followed, Hezbollah slowly began to integrate itself into the Lebanese political system. In 1992 it participated in parliamentary elections for the first time. It abandoned its aim of establishing an Islamic state in the country, and this no longer a plank in the party's official platform.
Favourites crash out of Mozambique succession race
Mozambique's ruling Frelimo party has given no clear sign of who will be its candidate at the next national presidential vote due in two years after wrapping up its conference.
Sapa-AFP | 29 September, 2012 15:55
Although the choice of a presidential candidate was not on the agenda of the Frelimo congress that ended Friday, the succession race was an unavoidable subtext. President Armando Guebuza is legally not eligible for another term as he is serving his second and final tenure. But two leading politicians that had been tipped as the party's most likely future presidential candidates, failed to secure places on the ruling party's supreme decision making body -- a key step and unwritten requirement to the country's top job.
Brazil: As prison populations grow is it time to rethink policy on drugs?
A new São Paulo think tank is urging Brazilians to rethink the country's drug policy. Brazil's drug law changed in 2006, but many say it has backfired as the drug-related prison population has boomed.
By Julia Michaels, guest blogger
RioRealblog cheated on Rio de Janeiro earlier this [month], running off to São Paulo for two days and a night. There were the constant comparisons: an art Biennial that didn’t hold a candle to the recent wharfside ArtRio fair, an unbeatable crunchy beirute sandwich, much cleaner streets, and the surreal paulistano penchant for the upscale. How could anyone seriously name a building in the Jardins section of the city “Les Jardins des Jardins?" And there was also an inspiring, imaginative breath of life: the launch of Pense Livre, a network to urge a rethink of Brazil’s drug policy. Policy debate is such a rarity here; though the launch was one-sided, it did throw down a useful and provocative gauntlet.
Saturday, September 29, 2012
Typhoon On The Way
As you can see from the storm track there is a typhoon heading towards Eastern Japan where I live. With its arrival it means disruptions in train service which will make it difficult to commute home from work on Sunday. It may also cause electrical outages which means posts could be limited,
Six In The Morning
In statement, spy chief’s office defends evolving accounts of Benghazi attack, cites shifting intelligence
By Greg Miller, Saturday, September 29, 8:14 AM
The office of the nation’s spy chief issued a statement Friday defending the Obama administration’s accounts of the siege on a U.S. mission in Libya, saying it became clear only in the aftermath that it was “a deliberate and organized terrorist attack.” The statement appeared aimed at quieting criticism, mostly from Republicans, of the administration’s shifting characterizations of a Sept. 11 assault that killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three other Americans. Officials initially described the attack as spontaneous but in recent days have said it was an act of terrorism with links to al-Qaeda. The release from the office of Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. came as lawmakers sought more details about the siege in Benghazi. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee sent a letter to the State Department on Thursday posing questions about intelligence in the period leading up to the attack and the adequacy of the security at U.S. compounds.
Shabaab abandon Kismayu stronghold
Residents in the city confirm the Islamist fighters seemed to have moved outside city lines and that their radio station, Radio Andalus, was off the air.
Posted Saturday, September 29 2012 at 09:15
Al-Qaeda linked al-Shabaab rebels said on Saturday that they have abandoned the southern Somali port city of Kismayu, their last bastion in the country, a day after an assault by African Union troops. "The military command of Shabaab mujahedeen ordered a tactical retreat at midnight," spokesman Ali Mohamud Rage told AFP. The announcement came a day after an assault on the city by African Union troops, who had been trying to dislodge the insurgents from the key coastal city for days. Residents in the city confirmed that the Islamist fighters seemed to have moved outside city lines and that their radio station, Radio Andalus, was off the air.
Irish gun thefts spark fears of new Ulster sniper campaign
Security forces trying to trace up to 30 high-powered rifles with telescopic sights stolen from shop by Republican dissidents
Henry McDonald, Ireland correspondent The Guardian, Saturday 29 September 2012
Anti-ceasefire republicans have stolen up to 30 high-powered rifles with telescopic sights that can be used in sniper attacks against the security forces in Northern Ireland, the Guardian has learned. The theft of the long-range rifles has raised the spectre of a new lethal sniper campaign similar to the one the South Armagh Provisional IRA conducted that resulted in the deaths of several soldiers and policemen in the 1990s.
Return to autocracy feared as Yudhoyono era peters out
September 29, 2012
Hamish McDonald Asia-Pacific editor, Sydney Morning Herald
There comes a point in the curve of political authority for a limited-term leader where it turns inexorably downwards and he or she becomes more and more of a lame duck. Indonesia's national language has no direct translation of that term, although the country's traditional statecraft was obsessed with the appearance and disappearance of ''wahyu'', the mystical right to rule. The President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, or SBY, as he is widely known, is now well into the second-last year of the second of the two five-year terms allowed under the constitution.
Syria between Hama 1982 and Lebanon
Middle East
By Victor Kotsev
Recent talks between the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and the rebels appear to have hit a hard spot. The Egyptian peace initiative is on the rocks after the failure of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to show up; various other efforts continue but the Emir of Qatar conveyed his pessimism poignantly on Tuesday by calling for an Arab military intervention in the country at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York. Though it is also remotely possible that this is the proverbial darkest moment before dawn breaks - the latest developments can also be interpreted as tough bargaining - what is happening on the ground is far from encouraging.
Nobody's safe: an insider's view of Mexico's drug-fuelled strife
In 2006, the Mexican government declared war on its country's drug gangs. The result? Mexico has become a battleground, with 60,000 civilians, police and drug lords already dead. Photographer Jerome Sessini recalls the two years he spent on the narcotics frontline
JEROME SESSINI SATURDAY 29 SEPTEMBER 2012
These photographs were taken between November 2008 and December 2011, against a background of unprecedented violence in Mexico. Narco-insurrection, low-intensity civil war, drug war: the terms – some more simplistic than others – to define the Mexican crisis are many but often inaccurate. What defines a war? Why do certain conflicts attract more attention? Certain deaths sway public opinion, others don't. History is written everywhere, but who decides on a hierarchy of evil and of memories? In Mexico, the issues are blurred.
Friday, September 28, 2012
No Where To Go
The Rohingya are a stateless people described by the UN as one of the world's most persecuted minorities.
They are reviled in Myanmar, the country many Rohingya call home, and unwelcome in neighbouring Bangladesh, where tens of thousands live in refugee camps.
And now they could be facing their worst crisis yet.
Violent ethnic clashes in Myanmar's Rakhine state have led to calls for their expulsion from the country. Boatloads of Rohingya refugees have been denied entry into Bangladesh. Those already there live on the fringes of society, undocumented and at risk of exploitation.
They are reviled in Myanmar, the country many Rohingya call home, and unwelcome in neighbouring Bangladesh, where tens of thousands live in refugee camps.
And now they could be facing their worst crisis yet.
Violent ethnic clashes in Myanmar's Rakhine state have led to calls for their expulsion from the country. Boatloads of Rohingya refugees have been denied entry into Bangladesh. Those already there live on the fringes of society, undocumented and at risk of exploitation.
In late May, news broke of the brutal rape and murder of a Buddhist woman in Myanmar's Rakhine state. It was, by all accounts, a horrific crime.
What made it worse for some was that the alleged perpetrators were men from the Muslim Rohingya minority.
Five days later a crowd attacked a bus and killed nine Muslims in what appeared to be a retaliatory attack. The clashes erupted suddenly, and ferociously.
What made it worse for some was that the alleged perpetrators were men from the Muslim Rohingya minority.
Five days later a crowd attacked a bus and killed nine Muslims in what appeared to be a retaliatory attack. The clashes erupted suddenly, and ferociously.
Six In The Morning
Security fears hobble inquiry of Libya attack
The volatile situation in the area adds to the challenge of the investigation
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK, ERIC SCHMITT and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Sixteen days after the death of four Americans in an attack on a United States diplomatic mission here, fears about the near-total lack of security have kept F.B.I. agents from visiting the scene of the killings and forced them to try to piece together the complicated crime from Tripoli, more than 400 miles away. Investigators are so worried about the tenuous security, people involved in the investigation say, that they have been unwilling to risk taking some potential Libyan witnesses into the American Embassy in Tripoli. Instead, the investigators have resorted to the awkward solution of questioning some witnesses in cars outside the embassy, which is operating under emergency staffing and was evacuated of even more diplomats on Thursday because of a heightened security alert.
Kenyan troops take control of Shabaab stronghold Kismayu
On Thursday, the commander of the Ras Kamboni Brigade, Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, told the Nation the final push to take the city was imminent.
By NATION Reporter Posted Friday, September 28 2012 at 08:27
The Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) have taken control of Kismayu, the last remaining al-Shabaab stronghold in Somalia. KDF information officer Cyrus Oguna said the military entered Kismayu at 2.00am and advised locals to avoid areas where the troops are operating. "KDF troops have taken control of Kismayu!!!," the military said Friday. "Residents are advised to avoid areas where KDF and SNA troops are to avoid collateral damage." KDF said it had suffered no casualties. "Our troops are safe and sound, so far no casualties," the military said.
Greece may seek Spanish-style rescue of banks as part of debt crisis solution
NATHALIE SAVARICAS ATHENS FRIDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2012
Greece could return cap-in-hand to its European partners for a Spanish-style rescue of its ailing banking sector despite receiving billions of euros in bailout loans. A Greek government source said the country was looking for ways to lessen its burden as it attempts to put its economy back on course, including another writedown in the value of its debt or a "strong recapitalisation of its banks". The country remains mired in a deep recession, and will have contracted by 25 per cent by time the recession ends, the Greek finance minister, Yannis Stournaras, said last week.
Alternative Nobel winner says non-violence works
Known as the "Machiavelli of non-violence," Gene Sharp shares the 2012 Right Livelihood Awards with three others. He's written widely on non-violent political action, inspiring movements from Myanmar to Egypt.
DW-DE
It may have started when he chose to become a conscientious objector and refused to serve in the Korean War of the 1950s. The US political theorist Gene Sharp, now 84, knew even back then that political revolution could be non-violent. That conviction - and his work over the past decades - has won Sharp a Right Livelihood Award, otherwise known as an "Alternative Nobel prize," in Stockholm. He shares the 150,000-euro ($195,000) prize with Sima Samar, an Afghan doctor, and Britain's Campaign Against Arms Trade. The 90-year-old Turkish environmentalist Hayrettin Karaca receives an honorary award.
Egypt pursues blasphemy cases as Morsi defends ban at UN
Several blasphemy cases moved forward this week in Egypt. President Morsi defended curbing free speech in an address Wednesday at the United Nations.
By Kristen Chick, Correspondent / September 27, 2012
An Egyptian court upheld a six-year prison sentence today for an Egyptian Christian charged with insulting Islam and the president, just a day after the opening hearing in the trial of another Egyptian man accused of insulting the religion. An Egyptian rights group also announced today that it would ask Egypt’s highest appeals court to consider the case of an Egyptian Shia man convicted of desecrating a mosque. And, in a rare case, prosecutors this week brought charges of defaming Christianity against a Muslim who ripped a Bible. The flurry of developments in blasphemy-related cases comes in the wake of the uproar, in Egypt and across the Muslim world, over an American-made anti-Islam YouTube clip.
World fish supply declining, but there’s hope for recovery
McClatchy Newspapers
A group of leading ocean scientists took a look at previously unstudied fisheries across the world and found grim news: declining stocks and poor fishery management threaten their future. But there’s also promise, it says. Well-managed fisheries that have seen copious scientific study, such as the valuable pollock fishery in Alaska, can serve as a model for developing nations where fish is a vital source of protein for their growing populations. Even collapsed fisheries can recover, said Christopher Costello, one of the lead authors of the study published this week in the journal Science.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Are U.S. drones terrorising civilians?
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A new report reveals the programme is counter-productive and causing great harm to civilians and US national security.
The US' official line is that its drone strikes are precise and
successful in their mission to attack those deemed to be a threat to the
US.
Barack Obama, the US president, said: "Actually drone attacks have not caused a huge number of civilian casualties. For the most part they have been very precise, precision strikes against the al-Qaeda…" But a new report Living under drones released by human rights researchers at Stanford and New York universities says the US' official narrative is simply false, and that many civilians have been killed and injured.
But the report judged the most credible figures to be from 474 to 881 civilians killed by drones between June 2004 and September 2012, in Pakistan alone. It also points out that the number of "high-level" targets killed as a percentage of total casualties stands at two per cent. |
North Korea's Ryugyong 'Hotel of Doom'
The shiny three-sided facade gives the impression the hotel is nearly finished
Pictures have emerged showing the inside of a 105-storey pyramid-shaped hotel that has been under construction in Pyongyang for 25 years.
North Korea began building the Ryugyong hotel in 1987, but construction was halted for 16 years when funds ran out.
Although work restarted in 2008, the hotel has become, for many, a symbol of North Korea's thwarted ambitions.
The tour company that took the pictures say the hotel is now due to open in two or three years time.
Few people have been allowed inside the notorious hotel, which has been variously dubbed the "The Hotel of Doom" or "The Phantom Hotel".
When conceived, the Ryugyong was intended to communicate to the world an impression of North Korea's burgeoning wealth.
But other economic priorities meant that the hotel had to be put to one side, and it remained untouched until a city-wide "beautification scheme" was introduced five years ago.
At that time, external construction was forecast to take until the end of 2010, with work on the inside being completed in 2012 at the earliest.
Six In The Morning
Indian Ocean earthquake may have triggered others around the globe, scientists say
By Hristio Boytchev, Thursday, September 27, 2:58 AM
A powerful earthquake under the Indian Ocean on April 11 was followed by a series of smaller earthquakes around the globe, including off the West Coast, pointing to a possible chain reaction that many geologists found surprising. “I didn’t think this could happen,” said Ross Stein, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, Calif., who co-authored a study published Wednesday in the science journal Nature describing the trigger effect of the quake. The team of scientists led by Fred Pollitz compared global records of earthquakes before and after April 11.
Chinese court upholds $2.4 million fine against Ai Weiwei
A Chinese court ruled that artist and dissident Ai Weiwei will have to pay a $2.4 million tax evasion fine. Many view the fine as a way of silencing Ai's criticisms of the government.
By Reuters / September 26, 2012
A Chinese court upheld a $2.4 million tax evasion fine against China's most famous dissident Ai Weiwei on Thursday, in a case that has badly tarnished the country's already poor human rights reputation. "It's an extremely shameless court," Ai, whose 81-day detention last year sparked an international outcry, told reporters. "It didn't respect the facts or give us a chance to defend ourselves; it has no regard for taxpayers' rights," he said, adding he did not know whether now he had to pay to entire fine though he suspected he did.
German court warns Catholics: pay church tax or face expulsion
Judges back bishops' cash demands over grassroots opposition
TONY PATERSON BERLIN THURSDAY 27 SEPTEMBER 2012
A German court gave its backing yesterday to a decree by the country's Catholic bishops declaring that believers who refused to pay an eight per cent church tax could not be considered Catholic and would automatically lose the right to receive Holy Communion and a religious burial. The verdict, which was delivered by Germany's chief administrative court in Leipzig, was a bitter defeat for Germany's grass-roots Catholics and conservative church campaigners who had denounced the bishop's decree as "pay and pray" and claimed it sent "the wrong signal".
Are Iran's nuclear sabotage fears justified?
German tech giant Siemens has rejected Iranian accusations that it is sabotaging the country's nuclear program by delivering booby-trapped technology. Observers say the charges could be justified.
Nuclear scientists killed in mysterious circumstances, and a computer virus that disabled entire nuclear power plants. Iran has taken several heavy blows to its controversial nuclear program in recent years. Now Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Iranian Parliament's national security and foreign policy committee, has expressed fears of a new threat. On Saturday (22.09.2012), he accused Munich-based technology firm Siemens of sending nuclear components to Syria that had been booby-trapped with explosives. "The devices were meant to explode after they went into operation in order to destroy our systems," said Boroujerdi.
Deep Read: The party's over for Somalia's pirates
The empty whisky bottles and overturned, sand-filled skiffs that litter the Somali shoreline are signs that the heyday of Somali piracy may be over.
26 SEP 2012 12:23 - SAPA-AP
Most of the prostitutes are gone, the luxury cars repossessed. Pirates talk more about catching lobsters than seizing cargo ships. Armed guards aboard cargo ships and an international naval armada complete with aircraft that carry out onshore raids have put a huge dent in Somali piracy and might even spell the end of the scourge. One piracy expert said it's too early to declare victory. But the numbers are startling: In 2010, pirates seized 47 vessels. This year they've taken only five.
Plastic debris reaches Southern Ocean, previously thought to be pristine
Researchers on 70,000-mile voyage to investigate climate change say effect of humans is now 'truly planetary'
Zoe Holman guardian.co.uk, Thursday 27 September 2012 07.00 BST
The first traces of plastic debris have been found in what was thought to be the pristine environment of the Southern Ocean, according to a study released in London by the French scientific research vessel Tara. The finding comes following a two-and-a-half-year, 70,000-mile voyage by the schooner across the Atlantic, Pacific, Antarctic and Indian Oceans, to investigate marine ecosystems and biodiversity under climate change. "We had always assumed that this was a pristine environment, very little touched by human beings," said Chris Bowler, scientific co-ordinator of Tara Oceans. "The fact that we found these plastics is a sign that the reach of human beings is truly planetary in scale.
Wednesday, September 26, 2012
Kabul- A city of hope and fear
Walking through the parks and bazaars of Kabul after many years covering the war in the south and the east of the country was both terrifying and liberating.
There is certainly a very real threat from suicide bombers and the “spectacular” attacks that garner international headlines, but the reality is that after walking through IED (improvised explosive device) infested orchards in Kandahar, and climbing mountains swarming with Taliban fighters in Nuristan and Kunar, Kabul felt like a different, much safer world.
Kabul is the heart of Afghanistan. It is the centre of politics and economics, and this is why the Mujahedeen fought the Soviets so hard here, and why the ensuing civil war was so brutal.
Now the Taliban know that although they cannot hope to re-occupy the city while international forces are in the country, keeping up attacks accomplishes two objectives; reminding the public in the West that their troops should leave, and reminding Afghans that once the foreigners are gone, the Taliban will be waiting.
Tuesday, September 25, 2012
Six In The Morning
In Arab Spring, Obama finds harsh lessons on diplomacy
The president learns that bold words are not enough to engender good will
By HELENE COOPER and ROBERT F. WORTH
President Hosni Mubarak did not even wait for President Obama’s words to be translated before he shot back. “You don’t understand this part of the world,” the Egyptian leader broke in. “You’re young.” Mr. Obama, during a tense telephone call the evening of Feb. 1, 2011, had just told Mr. Mubarak that his speech, broadcast to hundreds of thousands of protesters in Tahrir Square in Cairo, had not gone far enough. Mr. Mubarak had to step down, the president said. Minutes later, a grim Mr. Obama appeared before hastily summoned cameras in the Grand Foyer of the White House. The end of Mr. Mubarak’s 30-year rule, Mr. Obama said, “must begin now.” With those words, Mr. Obama upended three decades of American relations with its most stalwart ally in the Arab world, putting the weight of the United States squarely on the side of the Arab street.
Outrage at CIA's deadly 'double tap' drone attacks
Report claims just one in fifty victims of 'surgical' US strikes in Pakistan are known militants. Jerome Taylor reports on a deadly new strategy
JEROME TAYLOR TUESDAY 25 SEPTEMBER 2012
Late in the evening on 6 June this year an unmanned drone was flying high above the Pakistani village of Datta Khel in north Waziristan. The buzz emitted by America's fleet of Predators and Reapers are a familiar sound for the inhabitants of the dusty hamlet, which lies next to a riverbed close to Pakistan's border with Afghanistan and is a stronghold for the Taliban commander Hafiz Gul Bahadur. As the drone circled it let off the first of its Hellfire missiles, slamming into a small house and reducing it to rubble
Governments and Islamists Exploit Film Protests
The protests against "Innocence of Muslims" are not just spontaneous outbreaks of rage. Radical Islamists and governments are exploiting the unrest for their own ends. In the process, it is hard for moderate Muslims to make their voices heard.
By SPIEGEL Staff
On Sept. 14, shortly before the black Islamic flag was hoisted above the German Embassy in Khartoum, before the windows were shattered and before part of the building was eventually set aflame amidst cries of "Allahu akbar," Rahmatallah Osman, an undersecretary in Sudan's Foreign Ministry, was sitting together with the German ambassador at his ministry. Tea and sweets were served. "The conversation proceeded in a markedly friendly atmosphere," the diplomat wrote to Berlin soon thereafter. During the entire preceding week, Sudanese preachers and media sources had been fiercely attacking Germany and Chancellor Angela Merkel.
'Da Vinci of mental manipulation' faces French court
September 25, 2012 - 10:53AM
Henry Samuel
.A Frenchman went on trial yesterday for allegedly keeping an aristocratic family under his "mental spell" in their chateau and in Oxford for a decade and defrauding them of their $5.6 million fortune. Thierry Tilly, whom prosecutors have called the "Leonardo da Vinci of mental manipulation", is accused of convincing 11 members of the De Vedrines family that they were in mortal danger from a cabal of freemasons, a European secret society and paedophiles. He allegedly claimed he was a secret agent whose job was to protect them from their enemies.
Plight of rescued baby gorillas raises fears in DRC
The plight of two rescued infant gorillas highlights the dangers confronting the endangered animals, victims of ongoing violence and rebellion in DRC.
25 SEP 2012 08:03 - MICHELLE FAUL
And a decision to allow oil exploration in a national park there may put the Grauer's gorillas at greater risk. Virunga National Park said on Monday wildlife authorities rescued two baby gorillas in the space of a week this month after they were kidnapped from their families. "Baby gorilla trafficking is terribly damaging for endangered gorilla populations because many members of the gorilla's family will probably have been killed to obtain the infant," said the park's director, Emmanuel de Merode.
Gold replaces coca for Colombian mafia
Illegal mining, with serious environmental consequences, has replaced coca cultivation as the main source of income for the Colombian mafia. Millions have been thrown out of their homes as a result.
The Colombian drug mafia is looking for new business interests. In eight of the country's provinces, illegal mining has replaced coca farming as the main source of income for organized crime. Mines are proving lucrative - the worldwide financial crisis has kept the gold price high for years, which makes it well worth mining. In addition, there's continually increasing demand for all kinds of valuable metals. The hunt for gold and other valuable minerals encourages investment in mining, much of which takes place beyond the reach of the taxman.
Monday, September 24, 2012
Just what you have been waiting for!
The First Senkaku Islands Moron's Yacht Race
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Tickets available at Moron Yacht Racing Dot Com
Bloggers jailed in Vietnam for "Producing Propaganda"
A court in Vietnam sentenced three bloggers for producing "anti-state propaganda".
Blogger Nguyen Van Hai, alias Dieu Cay, was sentenced on Monday to 12 years in prison and policewoman turned dissident Ta Phong Tan was given 10 years, while Phan Thanh Hai, the only one of the trio to plead guilty, was handed a four-year term. after a trial lasting just a few hours.
The bloggers were charged with conducting propaganda against the one-party communist state under Article 88 of the criminal code, which rights groups say is one of many "vaguely defined articles" used to prosecute dissidents.
"Their crimes were especially serious with clear intention against the state," Court President Nguyen Phi Long said, adding that "they must be seriously punished".
Controlled court
Nguyen Van Hai, whose plight was als highlighted by US President Barack Obama, and Tan had "caused disorder" in the court and so were not allowed to make closing statements, he added.
In a speech that was curtailed when the audio feed from the courtroom was cut off, Nguyen Van Hai said he had never been against the communist state.
The charges relate to political articles the bloggers posted on the banned Vietnamese website "Free Journalists Club" as well as their postings on their own blogs, denouncing corruption and injustice and criticising Hanoi's foreign policy.
Dieu Cay, one of the founders of the Club of Free Journalists, is known for his writings calling for greater respect for human rights and democratic reforms. He is also known for his criticisms of China’s claims over disputed islands in the South China Sea.
Google and the video that enraged Muslims
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How did a film trailer that lived in well-deserved obscurity on Youtube turn into something altogether different?
On television screens, the story looked like round two of the Arab
Spring - only the targets of the demonstrations were not presidential
palaces, but the various embassies of an American government that had
absolutely nothing to do with the offending film. The story was also
reminiscent of the unrest provoked in 2006 by the publication of those
Danish cartoons. But this time around, Google had a pivotal role to
play. Google, which owns Youtube, resisted pleas to take the film down,
yet it did block access to it in parts of the Muslim world and left it
up to governments to do the rest. Then there is the role of the Egyptian
TV channel that took a video that lived in well-deserved obscurity on
Youtube and turned it into something else entirely.
|
Six In The Morning
China sentences former police chief for hiding murder by Bo Xilai’s wife
By Keith B. Richburg, Monday, September 24, 12:0
Wang Lijun, a flashy former police chief who helped derail the career of one of China’s most prominent Communist Party figures, was sentenced Monday to 15 years in prison on charges including covering up a murder and then attempting to defect to the United States. The defection charge alone could have brought Wang a death penalty. But prosecutors asked for a more lenient sentence, saying Wang cooperated with investigators in exposing how Gu Kailai, the wife of Chongqing Party boss Bo Xilai, poisoned British businessman Neil Heywood in November. The swift trial and sentence suggested China’s Communist rulers are eager to move beyond the high-level scandal in time to hold a Party Congress to usher in China’s most wide-ranging leadership change in a decade.
CNN slammed for report on ambassador’s diary
US TV network reported on diary of Christopher Stevens days after he was killed at the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
Last Modified: 24 Sep 2012 07:48
A US government spokesperson sharply criticized CNN, saying the network had reported on the diary of ambassador Christopher Stevens after his death at the US consulate in Libya despite the objections of his family. State Department spokesperson Philippe Reines said on Saturday that CNN took Stevens' personal journal from the site where he and three other Americans were killed in an armed attack in Benghazi on September 11 and used it in reporting on the story despite the express wishes of his family members. "Whose first instinct is to remove from a crime scene the diary of a man killed along with three other Americans serving our country, read it, transcribe it, email it around your newsroom for others to read, and only when their curiosity is fully satisfied thinks to call the family or notify the authorities?" Reines said in a statement.
Foxconn closes China factory after brawl
Reports suggest as many as 2,000 workers involved in fight in dormitory at Taiyuan plant, which makes Apple's iPhone 5
Charles Arthur and agencies guardian.co.uk, Monday 24 September 2012 07.46 BST
A brawl involving as many as 2,000 workers forced Foxconn to close its Taiyuan plant in northern China late on Sunday, and left a number of people needing hospital treatment. "The fight is over now … we're still investigating the cause of the fight and the number of workers involved," said Foxconn spokesman Louis Woo, adding it was possible it involved "a couple of thousand workers". A police statement reported by the official Xinhua news agency said 5,000 officers were dispatched to the scene.
Marseille: Europe's most dangerous place to be young
Away from its glamorous tourist centre, 15 men have died this year as the city's drug war spirals out of control. John Lichfield reports
Monday 24 September 2012
To understand Marseille catch a bus – bus number 30 from the Bougainville metro station. The route starts at the northern terminus of the metro system, five kilometres from the city centre. It winds past motorways, factories, unofficial rubbish tips and a 10th-century monastery. France's second city sprawls for another 10 kilometres over ridge after ridge of limestone hills. Each is crowned by a white citadel gleaming in the Mediterranean sunshine which, as the bus approaches, turns into a group of shabby tower blocks.
Hopes mount for deal as Sudan, South Sudan leaders meet
In Summary Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his Southern counterpart Salva Kiir meet to kickstart face-to-face talks, following efforts by rival delegations to bring negotiating positions closer Key issues include the ownership of contested regions along their frontier -- especially the flashpoint Abyei region -- and the setting up of a demilitarised border zone after bloody clashes It was hoped the summit would settle the details of last month's deal to fix the oil export fees that landlocked Juba will pay to ship crude through Khartoum's pipelines to the Red Sea
By AFP Posted Monday, September 24 2012 at 05:38
The leaders of Sudan and South Sudan met late Sunday as international pressure grew to end long-running disputes that have brought the former civil war foes to the brink of renewed conflict. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and his Southern counterpart Salva Kiir met for almost two hours to kickstart face-to-face talks, following efforts by rival delegations to bring negotiating positions closer. The drawn-out talks in the Ethiopian capital began several months before South Sudan split in July 2011 from what was Africa's biggest nation, following a landslide independence vote after decades of war.
Ireland's gaelic football final: playing for glory, but not a paycheck
On Sunday, Ireland's attention will be focused on the final match of its most popular sport, gaelic football. But not one of the men on the field will earn wages for playing – it's all amateur.
By Jason Walsh, Correspondent
Tomorrow, 80,000 people will pile into a sports stadium in Dublin to watch the annual culmination of the national football league. But regardless of which team wins, one thing is certain: Neither will get paid. Despite being Ireland's most popular sport, gaelic football remains a completely amateur affair. So when County Donegal plays County Mayo in the annual All-Ireland Football Championship on September 23 at Dublin's Croke Park, it will be purely for glory and the Sam Maguire Cup. Gaelic football's amateur status is the lifeblood of the sport and – according to its organizing body, the Gaelic Athletic Association – the country.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Palestinian child prisoners 'abusued'
Hundreds of Palestinian children are arrested by the Israeli military every year for throwing rocks at occupying forces.
They are tried in Israeli military courts and human rights organisations say the trials lack due process and are against international law.
When asked about the allegations, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the rights organisation that documented the abuses was "not a credible organisation", and said that no such evidence had been shared with the Israeli authorities.
Six In The Morning
Anti-Islam film: Pakistan minister's bounty condemned
The Pakistani PM's spokesman has condemned a minister's $100,000 (£61,600) reward for the killing of the maker of an amateur anti-Islam video.
The BBC 23 September 2012
Shafqat Jalil told the BBC the government "absolutely disassociated" itself from comments by Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmad Bilour. The film, produced in the US, has led to a wave of protests in the Muslim world and many deaths. The bounty offer came a day after at least 20 died in clashes in Pakistan. Friday's violence, which saw protesters pitted against armed police, occurred in cities throughout Pakistan, with Karachi and Peshawar among the worst hit. "I will pay whoever kills the makers of this video $100,000," the minister said. "If someone else makes other similar blasphemous material in the future, I will also pay his killers $100,000.
Now in power, rifts emerge within Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood
How to deal with the U.S. and Israel, the movement's longtime foes, is one of the issues creating divisions within the Muslim Brotherhood now that it is running the government.
By Ned Parker and Reem Abdellatif, Los Angeles Times
It was a recent Saturday night at the U.S. Embassy and a delegation of more than 100 American business leaders was rubbing shoulders with Egyptian counterparts, some of them affiliated with the newly dominant Muslim Brotherhood. Hassan Malak, a longtime Brotherhood leader, sat on a couch in deep conversation with an economic official from the embassy as executives from Boeing and Cisco floated through the crowd. Malak, who made his fortune selling furniture and software, was blunt. "We need investments," he told a group of foreign reporters, in a break from his tete-a-tete with the embassy official.
Viva Macau: What does the future hold for China's gambling capital?
Once a sleepy Portuguese colony, China’s gambling capital is now playing for high stakes, taking five times the gaming revenues of its American rival. But mega-moguls are jostling for dominance and triad violence has resurfaced.
CLIFFORD COONAN SUNDAY 23 SEPTEMBER 2012
Chinese gamblers stand at a bus stop outside the Sands casino in Macau, once a somnolent Portuguese colony, now a glitzy playground that every year generates five times more in gross gaming revenues than the casinos on the Las Vegas Strip. The streets are thronged. Some of those waiting for the shuttle are groups of laughing tourists, but many are single visitors, sullen or indifferent as they stand beneath a sign saying "To border gate". They are heading back to mainland China via Zhuhai, or through Hong Kong.
Belarus elects new parliament amid opposition boycott
President Alexander Lukashenko's ruling party is likely to sweep the board in Sunday's parliamentary elections in Belarus, not least as two of the main opposition groups have boycotted the polls, calling them a sham.
DW.DE
Polls opened in the capital Minsk and the rest of Belarus on Sunday, with voters invited to elect 110 people to the country's legislature. The last such vote in 2008 led to a landslide victory for the candidates loyal to President Alexander Lukashenko, officially classified as independents, who raked in all but seven of the available seats. The remainder went to the Communist and farmers' parties, neither of which are considered genuine opposition groups. Sunday's ballot is unlikely to yield a different result. Two of the main opposition parties have urged voters to boycott the elections, publishing promotional videos encouraging people to take their families to the park or to go fishing instead. This campaign is unlikely to result, however, in a sufficiently low turnout to invalidate the vote.
People power drums Libya's jihadists out of Benghazi
There were incredible scenes in Benghazi as tens of thousands of citizens marched on the Islamic extremists in their compounds.
23 SEP 2012 06:43 - CHRIS STEPHEN
As fires blazed and protesters danced in the ruined compound of a vanquished jihadist militia, I watched as the citizens of the Libyan city of Benghazi staged a dramatic display of raw people power. Numbed by the murder of an American ambassador in their city, furious with jihadist militias lording it over them and frustrated by a government too chaotic and intimidated to react, ordinary Benghazians took matters into their own hands. Elsewhere in the world jihadists staged fiery attacks on foreign targets. In Libya they were sent running by people power. A rally called to Rescue Benghazi on Friday night became the launch pad for a spontaneous retaking of the streets, and more—a retaking of the soul that saw this city become the cradle of last year's Arab spring revolution.
Ex-Guatemalan Army commander accused in massacre faces charges in U.S
By Dan Whitcomb | Reuters
A former Guatemalan army commander accused of taking part in the massacre of more than 200 people during that country's civil war has been returned to the United States to face charges he lied about his past to gain U.S. citizenship, authorities said on Saturday. Jorge Sosa, 54, arrived at Los Angeles International Airport accompanied by U.S. Marshals on Friday evening following his extradition from Calgary, Canada, where he was arrested in January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lori Haley said. U.S. prosecutors, who have no jurisdiction in Guatemala, have not charged Sosa in connection with the December 1982 massacre in the village of Dos Erres.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Philippine child labourers enslaved by poverty
The International Labour Organisation says there are more than 215 million child labourers across the world. More than half are in the Asia-Pacific region, with over 3 million of them in the Philippines. The country's government has promised to eliminate child labour by 2016. But generational poverty continues to hold back millions of Filipino families, as the money earned by children goes a long way in helping them get by.
Six In The Morning
Bashar al-Assad defiant that nothing will oust him from power in Syria
BASSEM MROUE BEIRUT SATURDAY 22 SEPTEMBER 2012
The Syrian President said in remarks published yesterday that he is adamant his regime will not fall, and he lashed out at Gulf countries he accused of using their oil wealth to try to drive him from power. In an interview with the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, President Bashar al-Assad said the rebels "will not succeed" and that foreign military intervention such as helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in Libya will "not be repeated" in Syria. Mr Assad also hit out at Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two of his strongest critics and backers of the opposition, saying they are trying to influence the region with their money.
Is the Internet Really Making Us Dumber?
Many scholars and critics warn that TV and the Internet are dumbing us down. But, if that's true, why are children around the world performing better on IQ tests? Are we actually getting smarter, or are we merely thinking in different ways?
By Hilmar Schmundt
Vincent is sitting on the couch and watching a vacation video when he suddenly poses two questions to his parents: "Why is space endless? And what was there before the Big Bang?" Without waiting for an answer, Vincent jumps up to turn his attention to a different topic: his new red rubber boots with pictures from the animated film series "Cars." "I want a puddle!" Vincent shrieks, dancing around the room in excitement. "Then I can jump in it and splash you!" Vincent T. is 4 years old. Two years ago, he was having problems at his day care center, where he was throwing sand and hitting other children.
Le Pen call for religious headwear ban criticised
The Irish Times - Saturday, September 22, 2012
RUADHÁN Mac CORMAIC in Paris
FRENCH FAR-RIGHT leader Marine Le Pen has been rebuked by political opponents after she called for a ban on the wearing in public of Muslim veils and Jewish skullcaps. Insisting secularism was “non-negotiable”, Ms Le Pen said religious headwear, including the Jewish kippa, should be banned “in shops, on public transport and on the streets”. Tensions have been running high this week since the publication by the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo of cartoons ridiculing the Prophet Muhammad. French embassies and schools in 20 countries were closed yesterday as a precaution against possible violent protests.
Police suspect bodies moved from possible Kenya mass grave
Bodies may have been moved from mass graves in Kenya to prevent an investigation into a suspected slaughter of villagers during inter-tribal unrest in the Tana River region.
Reuters | 21 9月, 2012 13:04
The suspected graves were found on Monday in Kilelengwani village, the focus of fighting in the coastal area that has killed more than 100 people in the past three weeks, including nine police officers. The scale of the unrest has left many Kenyans convinced it was politically instigated and has raised fears of serious tribal fighting before elections due in March. The Kenya Red Cross said at least 20 people believed to have been killed were still unaccounted for, and they suspected their bodies had been buried in the graves.
New war footing on Thai-Cambodian border
Southeast Asia
By John Cole and Steve Sciacchitano
Since early January, Royal Thai Army (RTA) planners have prepared new plans to defend Thailand against potential attacks from Cambodia, a move that threatens to rekindle tensions along the two countries' contested border. The plan, drawn up by the RTA's 2nd Army Region and formally approved in April, represents a significant departure from previous Thai strategic footings vis-a-vis Cambodia and involves the immediate commitment of large regular army combat units along the border. The new plan is highly unusual for the RTA and could be perceived as provocative given the lack of any immediate and realistic military threat from Cambodia. It would also seem to contradict the policy of the Yingluck Shinawatra administration, which has worked to ease tensions with Cambodia over a disputed land claim at the Preah Vihear temple that spiked during the previous Abhisit Vejjajiva-led government.
Ancient land of 'Beringia' gets protection from US, Russia
By Miguel Llanos, NBC News
You might have missed it, but the ancient land of Beringia has become the protectorate of superpowers Russia and the United States. That's right, Beringia -- 2,800 miles stretching from Siberia, across the Bering and Chukchi seas, through Alaska and into Canada's British Columbia. For thousands of years, Beringia even had a 1,000-mile-long land bridge that emerged when sea level dropped. OK, so it's not an actual nation, but Beringia does have its own heritage of people divided by borders but united culturally -- and a natural kingdom of whales, polar bears, walruses and seals. "From the diversity of its Arctic wildlife, both on land and within its waters, to the bounty it provides that sustains cultures on both sides of the U.S.-Russian border, Beringia is home to a kingdom of wildlife and cultural riches, deserving of protection in perpetuity," Cristian Samper, president of the New York-based World Conservation Society, told NBC News.
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