Sunday, November 28, 2010

Yemen's tragic tide of trafficked humanity - Middle East, World - The Independent

Yemen's tragic tide of trafficked humanity - Middle East, World - The Independent:

"There is a tide of death and misery that washes up almost daily on the shores of Yemen. This is the Arab world's poorest nation, a land whose lawlessness has made it a fiefdom of al-Qa'ida, and the launch pad for the recent attempt to bring down a plane over the US. It is also at the centre of a vast people-smuggling industry.

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."

Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Ted Koppel: Olbermann, O'Reilly and the death of real news

Ted Koppel: Olbermann, O'Reilly and the death of real news

The transition of news from a public service to a profitable commodity is irreversible. Legions of new media present a vista of unrelenting competition. Advertisers crave young viewers, and these young viewers are deemed to be uninterested in hard news, especially hard news from abroad. This is felicitous, since covering overseas news is very expensive. On the other hand, the appetite for strongly held, if unsubstantiated, opinion is demonstrably high. And such talk, as they say, is cheap.

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Patients face eviction after Suu Kyi visit - Asia, World - The Independent

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

Haitian protester killed by UN in cholera riot - Americas, World - The Independent:

"After violent clashes in Haiti between protesters and United Nations forces that left several wounded and one civilian dead, UN officials yesterday were endeavouring to discredit claims that the cholera outbreak in the country can be traced to a contingent of peacekeepers recently deployed there from Nepal.

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

Aid policy is dangerously contradictory | Madeleine Bunting | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk


This article touches on some of the real challenges to measuring poverty and evaluating different indicators of poverty-reduction. This comes back to the questions of "what is development?" and "how do we do it well?"

Before you pay to volunteer abroad, think of the harm you might do | Ian Birrell | Comment is free | The Observer

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

BBC News - Haiti cholera death toll tops 900:

"The number of people in Haiti who have died from cholera has reached 917, the country's health ministry says.

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

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

BBC News - Scared southern Sudanese flee the north to vote:
"Thousands of southern Sudanese are fleeing the north as tension grows in the build-up to January's referendum on possible southern independence.

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

Leaders of the world's biggest economies papered over their differences at the G20 today with agreement to develop new guidelines to prevent so-called 'currency wars

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

Burma's military rulers are reportedly on the verge of releasing the country's pro-democracy leader from house arrest. Follow live updates here

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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

"DAKAR, Senegal (AP) -- Gambia's president once claimed to have developed a cure for AIDS that involved an herbal body rub and bananas. His administration rounded up nearly 1,000 people last year in a witch hunt. And now he may soon have a new title in this tiny West African nation: His majesty.

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

BBC News - Barack Obama urges global co-operation to secure growth:


"President Barack Obama has pleaded with world leaders to put aside their differences and work together for global economic recovery.

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."

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

We need greater transparency over aid budgets | Jonathan Glennie and Claire Provost | Global development | guardian.co.uk

We need greater transparency over aid budgets | Jonathan Glennie and Claire Provost | Global development | guardian.co.uk:

"'Aid, used well, has enormous potential to contribute to positive changes. While some aid is helping address some of the most difficult problems in the most challenging places in the world, we also know that aid is not always delivering the maximum impact possible. Lack of transparency in the aid system is a critical challenge to improving the impact of aid, undermining our ability to assess what is contributing to change most,' said the report."
 
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