The website for Hezbollah's Al Manar TV reported today that the Iranian Committee for the Reconstruction of Lebanon (ICRL) completed repaving the al-Ghajar Bridge in south Lebanon. The bridge, destroyed during the July War of 2006, spans the Hasbani River near the border town of al-Ghajar. Half of the town lies in Lebanese territory, while […]
It pains me to report on this, but I feel it is important to capture the wide variety of reactions to an important moment in American history. Last week, Die Tageszeitung, a left-leaning German newspaper, ran the following headline when Barack Obama became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, that when translated into English, reads: “Uncle Barack's Cabin.” It has caused an […]
President Bush began a five-country European tour on Monday, his last trip to Europe as President. The pre-take-off remarks he made to the Washington press corps on what he hopes to acheive there can be read here and watched here. Bush kicked off the trip with an annual European Council summit in Slovenia. While the subject of the […]
I'm sorry to report that the backers of renewable energy tax credit legislation today failed to get enough votes to get a vote on the legislation itself, H.R. 6049, the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act of 2008. This is getting tired. I reported yesterday on the continued blossoming of activity in renewables. However, things […]
The trial of five terrorists accused of plotting the 9/11 attacks is making headlines in Europe that are unlike those in the United States. Journalists from Italy, Germany and Britain – along with Canada and Pakistan – were among those present when the trial began at the U.S. Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba on Thursday, […]
The German newspaper Die Welt published an article with the headline, "Mit Bush, verlieren die Deustchen ihr Feindbild' ("With Bush, Germans lose their bogeyman'), which argues that Bush's prestige has deteriorated so much that Germans no longer think him important. According to Die Welt, this explains that lack of planned demonstrations during the German leg […]
Economic security, writes the Spectator’s Michael Heath, is the best form of loyalty required to stabilize Afghanistan’s volatile environment (see The Spectator issue May 31, 2008). But how does one provide economic security in a country that depends on the illicit production of poppies, heroin’s source ingredient? Turn a blind eye. Legitimate crops, writes Heath, […]
The website for the Jordanian Islamic Action Front (IAF) reported that 10 members of Jordan's parliament signed a memorandum demanding that the country's ambassador to Iraq not be dispatched to Baghdad. This comes shortly before the Jordanian government announced on Monday its intention to send its envoy to Iraq ‘in the near future’, following the […]
"For millions of people around the world, the fight against human trafficking is a matter of life and death," she told the debate. "To reunite families that have been torn apart, to restore childhood to kids who have been robbed of their youth, to bring back dignity to all those violated by these abuses , […]
Is this the end for the cluster bomb? For many the idea of placing a ban on a military weapon which is said to inflict a 98% civilian casualty rate is seen by many a no brainier. However when states unite on the issue feet seem to drag. It took weeks before the latest ban […]
(United Evening News, Taipei, Taiwan) Continuing the theme of the global reaction to Obama's clinching the Democratic nomination for President, this time courtesy of Media Bistro. The US-focused media industry website collected front page covers from news dailies around the world. Click here for the full spread. PS: the front page covers were originally […]
Offshore in Britain , The UK's Crown Estate is looking to create up to 25 GW of offshore wind in the next dozen years. Okay. What is the Crown Estate? It is the British monarchy's real property and enterprises, and it is managed separately from government properties. Here's the story from CarbonFree. The Crown Estate […]
Our friends at Human Rights Watch have just released an important report that is a must read for anyone following the Zimbabwe crisis. “Bullets for Each of You” is a professional look at the flawed electoral process and a warning siren to the international community. Here is a paragraph or two from the report summary: […]
Malaria battle gains mainstream popularity through the “Nothing But Nets” program. The program for which a mere $10 buys an insecticide-treated bed net, has united people and organizations from all walks of life in the battle against malaria and helped make charitable action a wildly popular undertaking, The New York Times reports. Supporters that have […]
When Senator Obama clinched the Democratic nomination last week, the BBC, by far the oldest and most global news network in the world, broadcast reactions to his feat from four areas of the world: China, Russia, India and Britain. In the segment about Chinese views on the election, the BBC's Beijing correspondent conceeds that most Chinese doesn't know […]