There's so much news and so many who report it well, it's difficult to hit all of the high points without a round-up.
Afghanistan:
–One of the South Korean hostages has been killed. Negotiations continue for the other 22 hostages, who are, according to the ROK government, safe …
Yesterday, Stephen Blank of the US Army War College wrote at Eurasianet that U.S. aid and relations in Central Asia are likely to scale back further. Though U.S. interest in the region is high, financial constraints are appearing to dictate a lessening of aid and assistance to Central …
The United Nations has initiated a forensic examination into mass graves peppered throughout Afghanistan at the request of the government there. Some graves in eastern Afghanistan contain over 1,200 victims. Specialists from various human rights groups, including the Washington based Physicians for Human Rights, have been providing technical assistance to …
Human Rights Watch is accusing the Spanish government of abusing unaccompanied migrant children in its detention facilities on the Canary Islands. In its report (“Spain's Failure to Protect the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in the Canary Islands”) issued on July 26, the …
“Man is the only animal that deals in that atrocity of atrocities, War. He is the only one that gathers his brethren about him and goes forth in cold blood and calm pulse to exterminate his kind. He is the only animal that for sordid wages will march out and …
Hot off the presses, go here for my Great Decisions Analysis piece on some of the exciting developments in green building across the world.
Two months after taking office after a disputed election fraught with irregularities, Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua finally announced the formation of his cabinet yesterday after weeks of horse trading with the Senate, which has to approve the selections. It is difficult to discern whether this represents good news or …
Mohammed Zahir Shah, Afghanistan's last king, was interred today. At al-Jazeera, the obituary notes that the King, who abdicated in 1973, presided over a forty-year period of stability and peace in Afghanistan. After the U.S. invaded Afghanistan, he returned briefly to his home state as a figure of unity.
Not everyone …
The Rwandan government has asked France for the extradition of two men arrested last week for their alleged involvement in the Rwandan genocide in 1994. Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Catholic priest, and Laurent Bucyibaruta, an ex-civil servant, were detained in France after the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (
I was so sad to hear that the Kazakhstan-sponsored cyclists at the Tour de France, Team Astana, dropped out of the race. The team was led by Kazakhstani cyclist Alexander Vinokourov, was hit with charges of steroid abuse.
(This picture is not of Mr. Vinokourov, but Mr. Bazaev).
It looks as if …
Two Zimbabwean Children in Search of Food
The children of Zimbabwe are no strangers to struggle, for they have fallen through the cracks from colonialism, civil war, and now to the long and frightful rule of Mugabe. With the heavy hand of Mugabe has come the political violence that it has …
Sorry that I've been off the airwaves for a few days. I think I got some sort of food poisoning at lunch on Friday. It's not even safe being a vegetarian these days. Plus I've had a few other irons in the fire which needed tending.
Anyway, here are some stories that …
The International AIDS Society (IAS) conference, the biggest of its kind in the world, just closed in Australia. Its most significant conclusion is that the world must find a way to develop and deliver child-specific, side-effect-free (or limited) drugs to allow children with the disease to survive …
Rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) called on the United Nations to investigate the ruling Ethiopian administration for violations of crimes against humanity. The ONLF opposition group won several seats in the Ethiopian parliamentary in 2005 in an attempt to topple the regime of Prime Minister Meles Senawi. …
"I cannot sleep at night now, I cannot eat, I am just afraid"
said Rania Hamed, an eight-year-old Palestinian refugee,
who fled the Nahr al Bared camp on foot with her family in May
(Fleeing Palestinian children speak of horrors).
In armed conflict, children always pay the heaviest price from the …
