World Politics
Obama comes to Europe
Presidential candidate's makes plea to bridge the divide between Europe and America.
Obama's luck takes
Friday, 25 July 2008
Gordon Brown will resist the temptation to try to make some of the "Obama effect" rub off on him when he meets the US presidential candidate in London tomorrow.
Obama speech: 'We must come together to save planet'
Friday, 25 July 2008
An edited transcript of the speech that Barack Obama gave in Berlin yesterday...
Diplomatic Licence: Obama's Kool Aid moment in Berlin
Friday, 25 July 2008
Barack Obama didn't need a warm-up band for his love-fest in Berlin.
UN missing anti-poverty goals, warns Brown
Thursday, 24 July 2008
Gordon Brown will warn today that the historic commitments made by the United Nations in 2000 to relieve poverty in the developing world are in danger of being missed.
German snub for McCain as Merkel praises 'well-equipped' rival
Thursday, 24 July 2008
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has praised Barack Obama's political and physical strength as "Obamania" reached the highest levels of state on the eve of the Democratic presidential contender's feverishly anticipated visit to Berlin today.
World Focus: Sleep deprivation is small price to pay for a trade deal
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
"It is NOT his intention to exhaust ministers," explained the spokesman for Pascal Lamy, the director general of the World Trade Organisation.
Brown tells Iran to negotiate
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
Gordon Brown warned Iran yesterday that it faced growing isolation if it rejected an offer from major powers on its disputed nuclear programme.
World warned over killer flu pandemic
Monday, 21 July 2008
The world is failing to guard against the inevitable spread of a devastating flu pandemic which could kill 50 million people and wreak massive disruption around the globe, the Government has warned.
World Focus: Iran's stalling on nuclear compromise will only hand ammunition to hawks
Monday, 21 July 2008
Iran has handed ammunition to American and Israeli hawks by delaying its response to a Western offer of technological and political incentives intended to curb Iranian nuclear ambitions. At the highest-level meeting involving US and Iranian officials in almost 30 years held in Geneva on Saturday, Iran dashed expectations of a compromise that would avert the imposition of further sanctions and possible military confrontation.
Brown plans to withdraw troops as he backs Obama
Sunday, 20 July 2008
Gordon Brown prepared the ground for a historic realignment in the "war on terror" yesterday by setting out a four-point plan for withdrawal of British troops from Iraq by the end of next year.
The commonest error in politics," said Lord Salisbury, "is sticking to the carcass of dead policies."
Lord Salisbury's rule comes to mind on reading of John McCain's delight at the $40 billion contract awarded the French-led parent of Airbus -- to build the next generation of U.S. Air Force tankers.
The contract could run to $100 billion and is a body blow to Boeing in its duel to the death with Airbus. Two-thirds of all air-to-air refueling tankers are used by the United States. The contract gives a 30-year lease on life to the expiring Airbus A330 and means early death for Boeing's 767, the U.S. Model for the tanker
Congratulating himself for having exposed corruption in the Boeing bid, McCain purred, "I have always insisted that the Air Force buy major weapons through fair and open competition."
If McCain thinks Airbus has prospered through "fair and open competition," he is beyond recall. In its first 25 years, Airbus sold 770 planes but did not make a dime in profit. It was started as a socialist cartel, subsidized by the governments of Spain, France, Britain and Germany, to invade and capture a market owned by Americans who built the planes that won World War II.
Airbus drove Lockheed and McDonnell-Douglas out of the business of commercial aircraft and almost took down Boeing. And like indolent buffalo munching grass as they are shot one by one, we let it happen.
Lost U.S. Jobs should not be our primary concern, said McCain, "I've always felt the best thing to do is to create the best weapons system we can at minimum cost to taxpayers."
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French leader inaugurates Mediterranean Union
French President Nicolas Sarkozy realized his vision of a Union of the Mediterranean when representatives of more than 40 nations gathered to inaugurate the organization. Sarkozy had initially envisioned a fraternity consisting solely of those nations bordering the Mediterranean, though it was eventually expanded to include the entire EU as well. During the session, Lebanon and Syria agreed to establish embassies in one another's capitals, and the event played host to a meeting between Israel's Ehud Olmert and Palestine's Mahmoud Abbas. MU co-presidents Sarkozy and Hosni Mubarak, president of Egypt, have not yet established where the headquarters will be built. The New York Times (7/14) , Financial Times (7/13)
New threats against aid workers in Somalia
Australians map a plan to undermine malaria
Antarctic ice shelf endangered
Democracy in decline in Africa
Money-printing crunch and hyperinflation squeeze Zimbabwe economy
Skip to a section: United Nations | Development Health and Poverty | Development Energy and Environment | Human Rights | Peace and Security
If you think this currency shortage [in Zimbabwe] is bad, wait two weeks. By then it will be a disaster.
A senior staffer at Fidelity Printers & Refiners, quoted anonymously by the Los Angeles Times. Read the full story
UN DISPATCH: Until now, the international community has, out of necessity, viewed Bashir as a potential partner for peace -- not as the obstacle to peace that he has become. However, the Security Council wisely approved the ICC investigation in Darfur in March 2005.
UN Dispatch
New threats against aid workers in Somalia
NGOs are holding crisis meetings in the wake of recent killings of aid workers in Somalia, and ongoing threats to local NGO employees. Two aid workers were killed and another wounded in violence over the weekend. One week ago, the local head of the UN Development Program was killed in a similar incident. The Washington Times/Associated Press (7/13) , AlertNet.org/Reuters (7/13)
Australians map a plan to undermine malaria
Australian scientists are developing a treatment they hope will prove to be decisive in the world's battle against malaria. The treatment involves the removal of one of eight identified proteins that allows the malaria parasite to infect red blood cells, leaving them stuck to the walls of blood vessels. BBC (7/14)
World Bank seeks billions in annual food aid
Poor countries will need more than $6 billion a year in food aid to cope with higher food and fuel costs in the coming years, after an initial influx of more than $13 billion to make up shortfalls and fund aid projects, World Bank President Robert Zoellick said Saturday. The New York Times/Associated Press (7/13)
Other News
Reforms aimed at restoring Cuban farms
Los Angeles Times (7/14)
Top five news stories selected by UN Wire readers in the past week.
Hague to indict Sudan leader on genocide charges (The Washington Post)
UN official latest Somalia casualty (The New York Times)
Afghan violence ripples across region (TIME)
In Darfur, fighters strike at UN force, killing seven (The Washington Post)
Iran tests missile in show of strength (BBC)
Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.
Antarctic ice shelf endangered
New images show that the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica is in danger of becoming unmoored from the Antarctic ice shelf. If it becomes detached, there is a possibility that the entire ice shelf could become destabilized. ENN/Agence France-Presse (7/14)
Turkey bets big on border water project
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is betting that political stability will follow $15 billion worth of investment in irrigation projects that will calm his country's restive drought-struck Kurdish region along the Syrian border with a new prosperity. Erdogan hopes his plan will double Turkey's wheat and lentil harvests and create over 4 million jobs. Bloomberg (7/14)
Other News
Kenya court halts massive biofuel project over conservation concerns
AlertNet.org/Reuters (7/13)
Democracy in decline in Africa
Poverty, inconsistent international dealings, and other challenges unique to the continent have had a deleterious effect on democracy in Africa. Some nations that have made gains have backslid, and some incumbent leaders refuse to cede powers. In nations like Ghana and Sierra Leone, the potential for democracy's future will likely be tested soon. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (7/14)
Iranian dissident runs, but not to give up the fight
After a decade of imprisonment, torture and intimidation, Iranian dissident Ahmad Batebi fled his homeland in a daring escape and made his way to the U.S. in June where he plans to continue his efforts to bring about change in his home country. The New York Times (7/13)
Spanish primate rights proposition raises many questions
Spanish lawmakers' consideration of a bill that would grant some primates limited rights on par with rights normally associated with people has unleashed fierce debate. Some worry about the practicality, and folly, of guaranteeing primate rights when the rights of humans remain so poorly protected in many parts of the world. The New York Times (7/13)
Money-printing crunch and hyperinflation squeeze Zimbabwe economy
Though there seems to be no limit to the extraordinary inflation seen currently in Zimbabwe -- a 25-billion-dollar note is worth $1 U.S. -- there is a cap on the money itself. Citing concerns over the election of Robert Mugabe, the German firm that supplied Zimbabwe's government with bank notes to print interrupted the supply in protest. Bank note paper will run out in two weeks; Zimbabwe fears that in addition to the looming paper crisis, Europe may rescind the software license that allows the government to design the money. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (7/14)
Hospital is hell for Zimbabwe opposition supporters
Zimbabwe's security forces are standing guard over a ward housing severely injured opposition supporters, preventing them from receiving treatments and drugs, as punishment for their lack of loyalty to President Robert Mugabe, the Guardian reports. Opposition leaders tell the British paper this treatment is further evidence of an ongoing campaign of murder, torture and intimidation following recent elections. The Guardian (London) (7/14)
Prosecutor indicts leaders suspected of plotting coup
A Turkish prosecutor indicted 86 individuals, most of them hard-line nationalist and secularist party members whose criticism of the socially conservative government has been severe, on charges that they planned to overthrow the government. Those targets' connections to Ergenekon, a secular revolutionary organization, will be reviewed. In all, 48 of the 86 are in custody, not including two retired military officials who have alleged ties to Ergenekon. Financial Times (7/14)
In Malaysia, police blockade opposition, leadership thwarts debate
Malaysian police prevented opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim from attending a debate in the parliament in which opposition ministers hoped to force a discussion on a crisis of confidence in the government. The point became moot when Parliament Speaker Pandikar Amin refused to allow the debate. The Guardian (London) (7/14)
Taliban controls Pakistan marble quarry
After establishing authority over warring tribes in Pakistan, the Taliban has been able to reap the benefits of the Ziarat white marble quarry, one of the nation's greatest natural resources. With the resource, the fighters are further rooting themselves in Pakistan's remote, untamed border regions, from which they conduct operations. The New York Times (7/14)
Serbs in Kosovo feel political sands shifting
Serbs in Serb-controlled Kosovo feel a changing wind after Kosovo's declaration of independence and Serbia's election of a new government. Some Serbs in Mitrovica, the capital of Serbian Kosovo, feel that the new government considers Kosovo a lost cause, after Kosovo earned the recognition of some 40 countries with its independence bid. BBC (7/14)
Migrant workers riot in China
In another pre-Olympics embarrassment for China, hundreds of migrant workers in the coastal Zhejiang province rioted for three days, overturning cars and causing mayhem, after a worker seeking a temporary residence permit was beaten by a security guard. TIME (7/14)
Diplomatic breakdown over islands between South Korea, Japan
South Korea escalated tensions in the longstanding debate with Japan over a series of disputed islands -- Dokdo (in Korean) or Takeshima (in Japanese) -- by withdrawing its diplomatic envoy. Japan will recall its envoy as well. BBC (7/14)
