July 24, 2008 :: staff :: No Comment Yet
Sen. Barack Obama meets with Israeli political leaders, seeks to reassure key US ally he supports its efforts to achieve peace and security without seeking to diminish its influence or impede key political goals of the state. He did say he believes to achieve peace, both sides need to make key concessions, and that “a US administration has to put its weight behind the process” for peace in Israel and Palestine. He added that he felt sure that none of the politicians he met with would come away with the impression he would pressure them to make concessions that would work against the interests of the state of Israel.
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April 21, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
21 April :: Carter says Hamas leaders may be willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist, in exchange for lasting peace, even if negotiated by rival Fatah group, so long as accord is submitted to Palestinian people in referendum; CNN cites Carter saying at the start of his trip: “I’m not a negotiator, I’m just […]
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April 21, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
19 April :: “The global food crisis became official yesterday [15 April] when the UN called for urgent intergovernmental action and farming reforms to tackle the soaring prices that are plunging millions of people into potentially deadly poverty”, reports UK’s Independent; reports of riots from southeast Asia to the Caribbean, along with multiple border crises […]
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April 10, 2008 :: admin :: One Comment
10 April :: ABC News reported yesterday that “In dozens of top-secret talks and meetings in the White House, the most senior Bush administration officials discussed and approved specific details of how high-value al Qaeda suspects would be interrogated by the Central Intelligence Agency, sources tell ABC News”; Rice chaired the meetings, as National Security […]
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March 23, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
23 March :: US military has reported 4,000th soldier killed in Iraq conflict; BBC reports 4 US soldiers were killed by a roadside bomb in southern Baghdad, “In Baghdad, the heavily-fortified Green Zone suffered sustained mortar and rocket fire, which killed at least 15 civilians”… Dr. James Hansen, NASA’s leading climate scientist, says both Republican […]
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March 9, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
9 March :: Sharif, Zardari form coalition gov’t in Pakistan, calling into quesiton the viability of Pres. Pervez Musharraf, politically; Musharraf has lost substantial support for his hardline attempts to reform the nation’s government structure in his favor, declaring martial law, throwing out judges who ruled against him, detaining lawyers and muzzling the press; former […]
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March 2, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
2 March :: A demonstration estimated in excess of 50,000 and including former presidents Corazon Aquino and Joseph Estrada called for Philippine pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s resignation, amid allegations her husband took multi-million-dollar kickbacks in a telecommunications deal… State of Georgia yet to reform pension system to permit African American police officers who worked before […]
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February 14, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
14 February :: Record-high grain prices will cause an untenable 35% minimum increase in poor nations’ expenditures for cereals imports through July 2008, reports UN Food and Agriculture Organization; prices have increased rapidly due to record oil prices, dramatic deterioration of arable land in China — turning world’s most populous nation into net importer of […]
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January 27, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
27 January :: Tribal violence, spurred by Kenya’s disputed election, continues to spread, with 50 dead in recent clashes; VoA reports “Local media report that people have been hacked with machetes, shot with bows and arrows and burned to death in their homes. Shooting in Naivasha continued late Sunday despite the arrival of soldiers and […]
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January 23, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
23 January :: DR Congo death toll since 1998 now stands at 5.6 million, with 45,000 still dying each month in 10-year ongoing civil war; Democracy Now! reports that “Amidst the deadliest conflict since World War II, hundreds of international corporations have reaped enormous profits from extracting and processing Congolese minerals”, speculation has long weighed […]
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January 21, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
21 January :: Lights out in Gaza City, as Palestinian authorities there are forced to shut down two turbines at Gaza power plant, due to Israel cutting off fuel supplies and other imports into Gaza Strip; officials there have said hospitals and emergency services will also be affected by the blackout; Israel says its effort […]
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January 14, 2008 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
14 January :: Israel, Palestinians have opened most extensive peace negotiations in more than 7 years, after US pres. Bush toured region in effort to accelerate talks; Reuters reports: “Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said she would keep details of her talks with former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie confidential, but later told parliament she […]
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December 19, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
19 December :: Cuban gov’t announces official consideration of Fidel Castro’s retirement; ailing leader will likely not return to power, leading to wide-ranging speculation about successor to the world’s longest ruling dictator; no timetable has been set for his official withdrawal from public life… Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who served as PM in their short-lived […]
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December 3, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
3 December :: With 54.5% of vote counted, Putin’s ‘United Russia’ party has reportedly gathered 62.9% of the vote, the Communist party a distant 2nd with 11.6%; NY Times reporting “Across Russia in recent weeks, members of opposition parties said they had been subjected to intense harassment from the authorities, and people who worked for […]
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November 27, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
27 November :: 40 nations to gather at Annapolis summit for Mideast peace negotiations; Israel, Palestinian leaders express hope for progress on comprehensive peace deal, while Hamas leader, ex-Palestinian PM, Haniyeh, says the Palestinian people will not be bound by what his rival Abbas agrees to… French pres. Nicolas Sarkozy has urged calm as riots […]
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November 19, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
19 November :: Fmr UK PM Tony Blair, envoy for ‘Quartet’ —UN, US, EU, Russia— to Middle East, has proposed a sweeping economic regeneration, job-creation plan for Palestinian territories, to dissuade militancy, get territories on path to viable statehood, long-term peace; plan to include Jericho trade-park, a checkpoint-free Jordan-Jericho trade corridor, public works projects like […]
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November 12, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
12 November :: Judge Mukasey was sworn in Friday as US attorney general, after key senators said they were re-assured by his promises not to endorse any interrogation practices beyond the law… “A 4,000-year-old temple filled with murals has been unearthed on the northern coast of Peru, making it one of the oldest finds in […]
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November 5, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
5 November :: Foreign envoys aim to force Musharraf to keep promises to US, UK, to hold elections in January, step down as military chief or face drop in Western support… As reports say as many as 3,500 dissidents have been arrested in Musharraf’s 2nd military takeover, the Pakistani president has said on state television […]
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October 30, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
30 October :: US Dept. of Homeland Security has for 2nd time in 2 years detained, searched and interrogated Shahid Malik, the UK’s international development minister and its first Muslim cabinet minister; on both occasions, he had been in the US to meet with members of the Dept. of Homeland Security itself… Bloomberg reporting “Karbala […]
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October 17, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
17 October :: Lake Lanier, Atlanta’s main water source, might be dry within four months, according to one worst-case projection; drought across the US southeast has reached the most severe warning level… Guardian reports “Britain risks the prospect of a US-style crash in its house prices as the credit crunch in the financial markets takes […]
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October 9, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
9 October :: The fabled ‘Northwest Passage’ through northern Canada was ice-free this summer for the first time in recorded history, and is being explored by a Canadian Coast Guard ice-breaker, whose journey will be far easier than any before through the glacial route; climate models had not foreseen such intense Arctic-wide ice-melt until one […]
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September 24, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
24 September :: Estimated 100,000 march in Rangoon (Yangon) to support Buddhist monks calling for end to military rule in Burma; some fear junta will impose another harsh crack-down… Iran pres. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said his nation does not need nuclear weapons and is not headed for war with US; news comes amid heightened tensions […]
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September 23, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
23 September :: Sunday Times reports “Israeli commandos seized nuclear material of North Korean origin during a daring raid on a secret military site in Syria before Israel bombed it this month, according to informed sources in Washington and Jerusalem”; nuclear-related material not named, report also says Israel raid carried out with US backing… Newsweek […]
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September 21, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
21 September :: Spain has begun airing commercials in West Africa urging would-be migrants not to attempt the perilous journey by boat to Spanish soil in the Canary Islands; adverts show weeping families, drowned migrants, urge viewers to see themselves as "the future of Africa"; the 6-week, $1.4 million campaign was launched on Senegalese TV… […]
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September 20, 2007 :: admin :: No Comment Yet
20 September :: US Director of National Intelligence says China, Russia now spying on scale not seen since Cold War; claims comes as reports suggest China, India invovled in ballistic missile build-up, concerns over Asian arms race; Pentagon recently alleged its computer network was attacked by Chinese hackers… Israeli gov’t criticizes opposition leader Netanyahu for […]
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