Nearly 80,000 were trafficked by criminal gangs last year. There would have been more, but some of the human cargo die en route. Treated no better than consignments of contraband freight, they perish on the hazardous sea crossing from the Horn of Africa."
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Yemen's tragic tide of trafficked humanity - Middle East, World - The Independent
Nearly 80,000 were trafficked by criminal gangs last year. There would have been more, but some of the human cargo die en route. Treated no better than consignments of contraband freight, they perish on the hazardous sea crossing from the Horn of Africa."
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Ted Koppel: Olbermann, O'Reilly and the death of real news
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Patients face eviction after Suu Kyi visit - Asia, World - The Independent
Burma's government ordered more than 80 people at a shelter for patients with HIV and Aids to leave after a visit by newly-freed democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the centre's organisers said today.
Suu Kyi, released a week ago from seven years under house arrest, visited the shelter on the outskirts of Rangoon on Wednesday, promising to provide it with badly needed medicines. She also addressed a crowd of more than 600 who came to see her.
A day after her visit, government officials told patients they would have to leave by next week or face legal action because the centre's permit was not being renewed, said Phyu Phyu Thin, a pro-democracy activist who founded the operation.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Haitian protester killed by UN in cholera riot - Americas, World - The Independent
Attempts to blame the arrival of the disease – never before documented in Haiti – on conditions at an encampment of Nepalese peacekeepers in an area on the Artibonite River were described as 'misinformation' by UN spokesperson Corinne Momal-Vanian."
Monday, November 15, 2010
Aid policy is dangerously contradictory | Madeleine Bunting | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do | Ian Birrell | Comment is free | The Observer
The study reveals that short-term volunteer projects can do more harm than good. Wealthy tourists prevent local workers from getting much-needed jobs, especially when they pay to volunteer; hard-pressed institutions waste time looking after them and money upgrading facilities; and abused or abandoned children form emotional attachments to the visitors, who increase their trauma by disappearing back home. "The more I delved into it, the more disturbing I found it," said Amy Norman, one of the researchers.
Development charities offering professionals the chance to use skills abroad have raised similar concerns; Voluntary Service Overseas even condemned this burgeoning industry as a new form of colonialism. VSO asked what right unqualified British teenagers had to impose their desire to do good at schools in developing countries. And Norman is correct: the more you look below the surface, the more these trips raise profound questions about misplaced idealism and misconceived attitudes.
BBC News - Haiti cholera death toll tops 900
The disease is present in six out of 10 provinces and 14,642 people have been hospitalised since the outbreak of the waterborne disease began last month.
Aid agencies are battling to contain cholera in the capital Port-au-Prince, amid fears it will spread through camps housing 1.1m earthquake survivors.
The UN is appealing for $164m (£101m) to treat the disease in the next year.
The death toll has risen by 121 since Friday."
Saturday, November 13, 2010
A summit high on rhetoric, low on achievement - World Politics, World - The Independent
Less prosaically, it was a US declaration of economic war; if China will not voluntarily allow her currency to reach what the G20 terms a more "market-oriented" level, as she has consistently failed to, then the Americans will do it for them by printing dollars.
For America, using the currency as a weapon works because the supply of ammunition – more dollars – is virtually inexhaustible. The Chinese may try to buy more dollars to drive the exchange rate back up again, but that has limits. Even if the Chinese added, say, another trillion dollars to the $2trn-worth of US Treasury paper they presently own, that could all be devalued by the Fed. Hence the occasional talk from Chinese officials about replacing the dollar as a reserve currency with some cocktail of the euro, yen, yuan and gold (at least before the near-disintegration of the European single currency earlier this year). The more realistic danger is that the Chinese opt to retaliate with more protectionist measures and the Americans follow suit. Both sides in this "G2" have already begun to indulge in such behaviour – American fiscal packages have a "Buy American" rule – and it remains to be seen how the new Congress will behave when it assembles next year and US unemployment stays stubbornly high. Congress won't be much influenced by what the G20 thinks, even when the more assertive French take over the chair next year.
BBC News - Scared southern Sudanese flee the north to vote
Southern Sudan's government is trying to organise many of the returns.
Many southerners have been scared by suggestions from senior northern officials that they would not be welcome if the south votes to secede.
The referendum is part of a 2005 deal to end the 21-year civil war in Africa's largest nation.
The Muslim north and south where most people are Christian or follow traditional religions are also divided along ethnic, economic and political lines and have fought for most of Sudan's post-independence history."
Friday, November 12, 2010
G20 leaders seal currency agreement - World Politics, World - The Independent
However the agreement falls well short of the 4% limit on national trade deficits and surpluses proposed by US President Barack Obama, which was blocked by exporting countries China and Germany."
Aung San Suu Kyi release: live coverage
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Peter Walker
guardian.co.uk, Friday 12 November 2010 09.43 GMT
Article history
"12.14pm: The Guardian's Jack Davies in Rangoon has contacted us to say Aung San Suu Kyi will now not be freed today as she is demanding unconditional release. This is what he says:
Aung San Suu Kyi appears set to spend one extra, but likely final, night under house arrests, as she negotiates the terms of her release with the Burmese junta.
The regime signed the order this afternoon authorising her release. But Aung San Suu Kyi is understood to be demanding an unconditional release while the regime is attempting to restrict her from travelling around the country and limit her freedom to meet with supporters.
At dusk, U Win Tin, the NLD co-founder, appeared at the military roadblock outside the gates of her house where hundreds of supporters had gathered. He said Aung San Suu Kyi had been told she "could go this day", but that it was likely it would be one more night before she emerged in public because of an impasse in negotiations."
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
His majesty? Gambia president may become king
Tribal chieftains are touring the country to rally support for President Yahya Jammeh's coronation.
"The president has brought development to the country, and for that he deserves to be crowned King of The Gambia," said Junkung Camara, chief of the western region of Foni Brefet. "This is the only way the Gambian people can express our gratitude to a leader who has done a lot for his country.""
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BBC News - Barack Obama urges global co-operation to secure growth
On the eve of the G20 summit, he said the US would play its part to create jobs and reduce global imbalances.
But, in a statement ahead of the gathering in South Korea, he said that it alone could not restore growth."