Letter from Barack Obama Topic: obama, biodun iginla, bbc news Biodun --
When Michelle and I sit down with our family to give thanks today, I want you to know that we'll be especially grateful for folks like you.
Everything we have been able to accomplish in the last two years was possible because you have been willing to work for it and organize for it.
And every time we face a setback, or when progress doesn't happen as quickly as we would like, we know that you'll be right there with us, ready to fight another day.
So I want to thank you -- for everything.
I also hope you'll join me in taking a moment to remember that the freedoms and security we enjoy as Americans are protected by the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces. These patriots are willing to lay down their lives in our defense, and each of us owes them and their families a debt of gratitude.
MEXICO CITY, Nov. 25 -- The suspected new leader of a troubled Mexican drug cartel has been arrested in Mexico City, federal police said.
Carlos Montemayor, 38, was arrested Tuesday night in an upscale part of the city, anti-drug squad leader Ramon Eduardo Pequeno told a news conference.
His arrest was aided by intelligence from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency, The Los Angeles Times reported.
Montemayor is believed to be the leader of the Beltran Leyva gang, which has been significantly weakened in recent months by inter-gang beheadings and shootings, internal disputes and arrests, the newspaper said.
Police believe Montemayor took over the gang's leadership in August when former leader Edgar Valdez Villarreal, a U.S. citizen, was arrested. He is Montemayor's father-in-law, the report said.
Since his arrest Tuesday, police said Montemayor has told interrogators breakaway members of his gang were responsible for the abduction and killing of 20 Mexican tourists in late September in Acapulco. He said it was a case of mistaken identity and the gunmen suspected the group of being members of the rival La Familia drug cartel.
The bodies of the abducted men were later found in a mass grave.
How to live with climate change Topic: climate change, un, bbc news, bi
Climate change
by Biodun Iginla, BBC News and The Economist
It won’t be stopped, but its effects can be made less bad
Nov 25th 2010 | from PRINT EDITION
COMPARED with the extraordinary fanfare before the global-warming summit in Copenhagen a year ago, the meeting of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change that starts in Cancún next week has gone unheralded. That is partly because of a widespread belief that the publicity build-up to last year’s summit contributed to its failure, but also because expectations have changed dramatically. In the wake of the Copenhagen summit, there is a growing acceptance that the effort to avert serious climate change has run out of steam.
Perhaps, after a period of respite and a few climatic disasters, it will get going again. It certainly should. But even if it does, the world is going to go on getting warmer for some time (see article).
Acceptance, however, does not mean inaction. Since the beginning of time, creatures have adapted to changes in their environment. Unfortunately, such adaptation has always meant large numbers of deaths. Evolution works that way. But humankind is luckier than most species. It has the advantage of being able to think ahead, and to prepare for the changes to come. That’s what needs to happen now.
Even if the currently moderate pace of emissions reduction steps up, the likelihood is that the Earth will be at least 3°C warmer at the end of this century than it was at the start of the industrial revolution; less warming is possible, but so is more, and quicker. Heatwaves that now set records will become commonplace. Ecosystems will find themselves subject to climates far removed from those they evolved in, endangering many species. Rain will fall harder in the places where it falls today, increasing flooding; but in places already prone to drought things will by and large get drier, sometimes to the point of desertification. Ice will vanish from Arctic summers and some mountaintops, permafrost will become impermanent, sea levels will keep rising.
These changes will benefit some. As the melting ice allows access to the Arctic, Russia will become richer still in fossil fuels. For many, though, the prospects are grim. Drought and flood will put the livelihoods of hundreds of millions, mostly in developing countries, at risk. So the question is how to limit those risks.
Those who can adapt will do so mostly through private decisions: by moving house, say, or planting different crops. But governments have a role too.
The best protection against global warming is global prosperity. Wealthier, healthier people are better able to deal with higher food prices, or invest in new farming techniques, or move to another city or country, than poor ones are. Richer economies rely less on agriculture, which is vulnerable to climatic change, and more on industry and services, which by and large are not. Richer people tend to work in air-conditioned buildings. Poor ones tend not to.
But development is hardly an easy solution to the problem. There are already plenty of good reasons for poor-country governments to put sensible economic policies in place, stop stealing money and do the manifold other things necessary to get their economies on the right track; and if they haven’t done those things already, the threat of climate change will not spur them into action. Climate change does, however, provide an extra reason for rich countries—which caused the problem in the first place—to find ways to help poor countries develop. That is a matter of justice, not just humanity.
There is another problem with relying on development: although it can help protect poor countries from climate change, it also threatens to make the problem worse, because as economies grow, they consume more and more energy. Here again, rich countries can help, by offering poor countries support for greener energy technologies, and thus allowing them to make use of their capacity for generating renewable energy from water, wind and sunlight.
Beyond encouraging climate-friendly development, governments need to take some focused measures in three areas: infrastructure, migration and food. The Dutch, who have centuries of experience of protecting themselves against high water, are already working out how to adapt and build infrastructure to minimise the risks of flooding as sea levels rise and the rain-fed Rhine grows friskier. Elsewhere, politicians need to assess the vulnerability of their cities to changes in peak temperatures, in rainfall, in severe-storm frequency and in sea level, and act accordingly.
As life gets harder in vulnerable places, people will need to migrate both between and within countries. Rich people can help make life easier for poor ones by allowing larger numbers across their borders. Within rich countries, governments should stop subsidising insurance in vulnerable areas—such as the Florida coastline—and thus stimulating development there. People need to be encouraged to migrate away from vulnerable areas, not into them.
Going with the grain
Food security will become a crucial issue. Drought-resistant seeds are needed; and, given that the farmers least able to pay will require the hardiest varieties, seed companies’ efforts should be supplemented by state-funded research. Since genetic modification would help with this, it would be handy if people abandoned their prejudice against it.
Even with better crops, better soil conservation, better planting patterns and better weather forecasts, all of which are needed, there will still be regional calamities. To ensure that food is always available, the global food market will have to be deeper and more resilient than it is now. That means abandoning the protectionism that bedevils agriculture today.
None of this will make climate change all right. It remains the craziest experiment mankind has ever conducted. Maybe in the long run it will be brought under control. For the foreseeable future, though, the mercury will continue to rise, and the human race must live with the problem as best it can.
Politics this week by Biodun Iginla, BBC News and The Economist Topic: broadband, bbc news, the economi
Nov 25th 2010 From The Economist print edition
After much speculation the Irish government said it had asked the European Union and the IMF for a bail-out to help it meet the costs of propping up its struggling banks, with a rescue package expected to amount to around €85 billion ($115 billion). See article
The crisis caused Ireland’s already-fragile ruling coalition to fray. Brian Cowen, the prime minister, said he would call an election in the new year, following what he hopes will be the successful passage of a budget on December 7th. For that budget the government announced another round of austerity measures designed to reduce the deficit to below 3% of GDP by 2014. But it left corporation tax unchanged at a low 12.5%, despite French and German pressure to raise it.
In a video shown on state television, President Dmitry Medvedev said that Russia’s political system was showing signs of “stagnation”, and that the lack of serious opposition meant that Russia’s ruling party, United Russia, was in danger of “bronzing over”.
Germany is to suspend military conscription from next July. It will remain in the constitution but the move ends what has been a cornerstone of post-war German identity.
There was more political criticism of the Federal Reserve’sdecision to pump another $600 billion into the American economy, this time from the left. Dennis Kucinich, a Democratic congressman from Ohio, scheduled a hearing into the Fed’s second round of “quantitative easing”. He joins other mostly Republican critics of the Fed who would like Congress to have more oversight over monetary policy. See article
A jury in Texas found Tom DeLay, a former Republican majority leader in the House, guilty of money laundering by channelling corporate donations to state legislative candidates. Mr DeLay, who will be sentenced in December, maintains that the case against him is politically motivated.
North Korea attacked a tiny island in South Korea that lies in the Yellow Sea close to the countries’ maritime border. The hour-long artillery barrage killed four people and flattened neighbourhoods and was described by Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, as “one of the gravest incidents since the end of the Korean war”. South Korea’s response was restrained. As the world expressed outrage at the North’s actions, America sent an aircraft carrier to join a flotilla of warships due to take part in a military exercise with South Korea. See article
Days earlier, an American scientist reported that North Korea had shown him a uranium-enrichment facility at the Yongbyon complex that contained 2,000 centrifuges, which the scientist said could be converted to produce nuclear weapons.
India’s federal investigating agency arrested several senior banking figures in an alleged scam centred on corporate loans. It is the latest in a series of high-profile scandals to hit India that have hurt the reputation of Manmohan Singh, the prime minister. The ruling Congress party performed badly in elections this week in the state of Bihar. See article
At least 450 people were killed in a stampede at an annual water festival in Cambodia that had attracted over three million revellers. See article
In New Zealand, 29 miners trapped for a week underground were assumed to have perished after a second explosion at the mine.See article
Afghanistan’s electoral commission released the results of the parliamentary election held in September, shortly before the Afghan attorney-general announced a new investigation into claims of widespread ballot fraud. Meanwhile, it emerged that a man thought to have been the Taliban’s second-in-command and flown by NATO to Kabul for secret negotiations was in fact an impostor. See article
Dilma Rousseff made her first appointments as Brazil’s president-elect. Guido Mantega is to stay on as finance minister; Alexandre Tombini, a Central Bank official, is her nominee to replace Henrique Meirelles as the bank’s president; and Miriam Belchior, an aide to Ms Rousseff, becomes planning minister. Markets rose after the announcements. See article
At least 26 people were killed as police raided shantytowns in Rio de Janeiro during several days of attacks by drug-traffickers, who are putting up a fight against the establishment of permanent police stations in areas previously controlled by gangs.
Ecuador’s government moved to take over oilfields operated by Brazil’s Petrobras, which refused to accept new contract terms.
The trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba, a former vice-president of Congowho was runner-up in its last presidential poll, in 2006, began at the International Criminal Court at The Hague. He is accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed under his orders by his party’s militiamen in the Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003. See article
The UN reported that the number of new HIV infections and deaths from AIDS is falling worldwide. Some 33m people are HIV-positive, down by almost a fifth since the epidemic’s peak in 1999. In the developing world, more than 5m people had antiretroviral treatment in 2009. Sub-Saharan Africa had 70% of new HIV cases, though its infection rates are falling, especially in Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. See article
The Vatican sought to clarify Pope Benedict’s declaration that in some cases the use of condoms was justified to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS, confirming that there had been a distinct change in the pontiff’s policy. See article
Israel’s parliament enacted a law that would require any deal involving the ceding of land annexed by Israel, in particular East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights, to be put to a national referendum. This will probably make it harder for Israel’s government to strike peace deals with the Palestinians or with Syria. See article
A group of Iranian parliamentarians sent a letter to the country’s powerful Guardian Council with a string of complaints against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hinting that he should be impeached and revealing splits in ruling circles. But some of the apparent signatories later denied putting their name to the letter.
South Korean officials described Tuesday's attack as "surprising and shocking".
"We couldn't have imagined they would carry out this kind of grave provocation," one senior government source told me.
The South Korean rules of engagement called for a sufficient but proportionate response to an attack from their northern neighbour. But that was not enough of a deterrent.
So now they have a simple message for Pyongyang - in the face of any kind of further provocation, however unimaginable, South Korea will now not hesitate to use "all kind of measures".
"If we give this signal to North Korea they will have to think for more time before they make their judgement [to launch a further attack]," the official said.
The new defensive posture should be more flexible and more unpredictable, but it could create extra risk that any future attack could more easily escalate into something far worse.
More powerful response
The government also said it was changing its rules of engagement to allow it to respond more forcefully to similar incidents. The old rules have been criticised as too passive.
The BBC's Chris Hogg in Seoul says the cabinet had decided that under the old rules of engagement there was too much emphasis on preventing a military incident escalating into something worse.
In future, the South would implement different levels of response, depending on whether the North attacked military or civilian targets, a presidential spokesman said.
A senior government official told the BBC that Seoul wanted to be more flexible in order to keep the North Koreans guessing as to their response.
The South Korean broadcaster, KBS, said the new rules called for the South to fire back "with shots two to three times more powerful than the enemy artillery".
North Korea meanwhile threatened further military action if the South continued on its "path of military provocation", the official KCNA news agency reported.
Pyongyang has blamed Seoul for this week's incident on Yeonpyeong, insisting it did not fire first. The South was holding military exercises in the area at the time, and returned fire when the North's shells began to land.
The North also accused the United States of stoking tensions - saying it helped draw up the "illegal" western maritime border between the two Koreas.
About 28,000 US troops are stationed in South Korea.
Naval exercises
The clash was one of the worst incidents between the two Koreas, who remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended without a peace treaty.
The US and South Korean militaries are to hold joint naval exercises, which will include US aircraft carrier USS George Washington, south of Yeonpyeong in the coming days.
The Chinese foreign ministry has expressed "concern" over the exercises.
"We oppose any act that undermines peace and stability on the peninsula," it said.
Beijing, Pyongyang's main ally, has been under pressure to use its influence to ease tensions.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who is in Moscow, earlier described the situation on the peninsula as "grim and complicated".
Mr Wen repeated his view that the six-party talks on the North's nuclear programme should be resumed as soon as possible, a position shared by Pyongyang.
South Korea, the US and Japan have said the negotiations should not restart until the North stops uranium enrichment work and apologises for its alleged torpedoing of a South Korean warship in March, which killed 46 sailors.
A visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi to South Korea, which had been due on Friday, has also been postponed. The delay was put down to "scheduling" issues.
South Korea's rules of engagement
Old rules
Source: KBS
Action
Damage
Response
Shots fired
Forces unharmed
Warning broadcast three times. If more shots fired, shoot back. If no more shots fired, situation concluded
Crossing of NLL
Forces unharmed
Warning broadcast - blockade - destruction
Any action
Forces harmed
No warning, return fire in self defence. Destroy artillery bases if necessary
New rules
Action
Damage
Response
Shots fired
Forces unharmed
Warning broadcast and return fire with shots two to three times more powerful to reach same distance north of NLL
Crossing NLL
Forces unharmed
Warning broadcast - blockade - destruction
Any action
Forces harmed
No warning, return fire in self defence. Destroy artillery bases if necessary
Risk of eurozone break-up 'very real', Slovakia says Topic: eurozone, ireland, bbc news
by Natalie de Vallieres, BBC News EU Desk, for the BBC's Biodun Iginla
Today @ 09:32 CET
BRUSSELS - The debt-ridden eurozone risks break-up unless it forces banks to eventually share the crisis bill with taxpayers, Slovakia, the euro area member who recently refused to participate in the Greek bail-out, has suggested.
"Even during current conditions that are very tough, very complicated, and when the risk of the eurozone break-up - or at least of its very problematic functioning - is very real, despite all that, Estonia will become a new member in January," Slovak finance minister Ivan Miklos said on Wednesday (24 November).
A section of the Slovak flag (Photo: formulaphoto)
He was speaking to university students in the Czech capital, Prague.
Since it came to power in July this year, the Slovak centre-right government has called for private investors to feel the pain of any rescue operation under the eurozone umbrella. It considers the Greek bail-out "essentially a mistake" and a "precedent" that made European governments a "hostage" of financial markets.
"If we continue this way, we are close to a pyramid scheme," the Slovak prime minister, Iveta Radicova, told journalists after the Wednesday government session dealing mainly with Ireland (24 November). She warned that a system of accumulating debts eventually risked falling like "a house made of cards".
"Once again, taxpayers are expected to pay the bill. Once again, the banks are being rescued," Ms Radicova said, hinting that Lisbon and Madrid could be next going cap in hand to their EU colleagues.
"I cannot rule out that we will be soon discussing other countries. And I must point out that Portugal and Spain form communicating vessels," the politician said.
New bail-out ideas
Eurozone experts are already discussing details of a future permanent EU crisis instrument, a successor to the €750 billion backstop mechanism that is set to expire in mid-2013.
Germany and Finland have so far tabled proposals on how to pull bondholders into a rescue operation of the current scale, with both floating the idea of a "collective action clause".
According to media reports, governments in crisis would first adopt tough austerity programmes and in a later stage restructure their debt in agreement with the majority of creditors. This could take form of extending the original repayment period, reducing interest payments or a write-down. Governments would not negotiate with each investor individually, however, but a majority of creditors would set the terms of the restructuring.
"The only reason for them [financial institutions] to change behaviour is to include them in the responsibility chain in case of financial trouble," Iveta Radicova argued.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, for her part, stressed in the country's parliament earlier this week: "This is about the primacy of politics, this is about the limits of the markets."
"Do politicians have the courage to make those who earn money share in the risk as well?"
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen revealed on Wednesday a four-year austerity plan for Ireland that includes raising sales taxes, but keeping the current tax rate on business profits, as the government looks to save 15 billion euros by 2014.
In his first address after last week's cabinet reshuffle, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Wednesday promised to continue pushing through austerity measures, despite criticism over pension reforms and other budget-cutting policies.
The rhetoric is getting increasingly personal, supporters’ groups have clashed and the army is on high alert. With just a few days before the second-round of the presidential election, Ivory Coast teeters on the brink of violence.
South Korea has promised to bolster security on its border islands and urged China to use its influence on its North Korean ally even as Pyongyang threatened further military action in the wake of Tuesday's deadly clash.
Despite losing 3-0 to Schalke 04, Lyon moved into the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday after Hapoel Tel-Aviv secured its first-ever win in the competition against Benfica to dash the Portuguese side's hopes of qualifying.
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen revealed on Wednesday a four-year austerity plan for Ireland that includes raising sales taxes, but keeping the current tax rate on business profits, as the government looks to save 15 billion euros by 2014.
At a Christie's auction sale on Tuesday, one of the fifty remaining Apple-1 computers was sold for a record value of 133,250 pounds (around 157,390 euros). It was the first computer designed by Steve Jobs and cost 666,66 US dollars back in 1976.
US President Barack Obama and European Union leaders meeting at a joint US-EU summit in Lisbon reiterated calls on Saturday for world economies to avoid launching a round of competitive currency devaluations in a bid to boost exports.
GM pulled off the biggest initial public offering in US history on Wednesday, raising 20.1 billion dollars after returning to the stock market following a US taxpayer-funded bailout. The US stalwart floundered during the credit crisis.
Rolls-Royce announced Thursday that they are to replace as many as 40 engines across the Airbus A380 fleet of passenger aircraft, following safety fears sparked by a mid-air explosion on board a Singapore Airlines flight earlier this month.
Despite losing 3-0 to Schalke 04, Lyon moved into the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday after Hapoel Tel-Aviv secured its first-ever win in the competition against Benfica to dash the Portuguese side's hopes of qualifying.
Former winners AC Milan secured a spot in the knockout stages of the Champions League Tuesday, along with Olympique Marseille. This is the first time the French side has reached the final 16 since they took the trophy home in 1993.
Second world seed Roger Federer (photo) cruised past Andy Murray at the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Tuesday, turning his last two defeats to the British number one into a decisive 6-4, 6-2 win.
French tennis team captain Guy Forget has named Gael Monfils (pictured), Michael Llodra, Arnaud Clement, Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet as his squad to face Serbia in the Davis Cup final at Belgrade Arena on December 3-5.
Britain's Andy Murray was back at his best for the opening game of the World Tour Finals on Sunday, delighting the home crowd with a comprehensive 6-2, 6-4 defeat of Sweden's Robin Soderling at the O2 Arena in London.
He is one of the world's most celebrated fashion and portrait photographers. Rare prints of Richard Avedon's iconic fashion and portrait shots fetched 5.5 million euros at a Christie's auction in Paris on Saturday.
For some wine drinkers and diehard Francophiles, the yearly arrival of the Beaujolais nouveau is a day they await with gusto. For more discerning palates, and most people in France, it’s at best an excuse to throw a party.
UNESCO has chosen the “gastronomic meal of the French” to feature on its list of the world’s intangible cultural treasures. But what exactly is French cuisine?
Eva Longoria, star of the hit American TV series "Desperate Housewives", filed for divorce in Los Angeles Wednesday from her French basketball-player husband Tony Parker. The TV star cited "irreconcilable differences".
Sarah Palin’s participation in a new television show about her life in Alaska has political commentators scratching their heads. Is reality television stardom compatible with presidential aspirations?
Pope Benedict XVI’s suggestion that the use of condoms may be acceptable in certain circumstances does not reverse the Catholic Church’s long-standing ban on contraception, says the head of France's leading Catholic daily.
Pope Benedict XVI says that condom use can be justified "in certain cases", according to an interview to be published on Tuesday, an apparent reversal of the Vatican's longtime ban on contraception even to prevent sexually transmitted disease.
In August, more than a quarter of Pakistan was submerged under water. The floods, sparked by heavy monsoon rains, were the worst Pakistan has ever seen. Around 2,000 people were killed and 20 million Pakistanis lost everything: their homes, their possessions, their crops. The catastrophe brought Pakistan to its knees.
This week HEALTH explores several chronic conditions affecting the younger generation. We look at how 21st century kids are coping with juvenile diabetes, ADHD and a rare aversion to ultra-violet light. In particular, we show you the very latest technology and medicinal advances which are helping young patients to live as normal a life as possible.
This week Health has travelled to Chad for a special programme on the latest challenges facing the African country. Like several neighbouring states, Chad was hit by heavy flooding following an exceptional rainy season this year. Many areas in and around the capital are still underwater, months after the heavy rains. We investigate the health implications.
In his first address after last week's cabinet reshuffle, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon on Wednesday promised to continue pushing through austerity measures, despite criticism over pension reforms and other budget-cutting policies.
A key witness in the complex “Karachi affair” has cast doubt over an alleged link between a bombing that killed 11 French engineers in the Pakistani city and France’s decision to end bribes paid to Pakistan for the 1994 sale of French submarines.
Exasperated by questions on a scandal linking him to kickbacks from arms sales, French President Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters last week that by their own logic he could accuse them of being paedophiles. It is not Sarkozy's first public outburst.
A purported message by Abdelmalek Droukdel, head of al Qaeda's North Africa branch, said the fate of French hostages depends on Paris talking to Osama bin Laden and withdrawing from Afghanistan. France has rejected the ultimatum.
For some wine drinkers and diehard Francophiles, the yearly arrival of the Beaujolais nouveau is a day they await with gusto. For more discerning palates, and most people in France, it’s at best an excuse to throw a party.
Thousands of students staged another day of street protests in London on Wednesday, voicing their opposition to the British government's plan to almost triple university tuition fees.
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen revealed on Wednesday a four-year austerity plan for Ireland that includes raising sales taxes, but keeping the current tax rate on business profits, as the government looks to save 15 billion euros by 2014.
The Portuguese staged a crippling general strike Wednesday in protest of unpopular spending cuts which the government says will save the debt-crippled country from financial ruin.
Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen is set to reveal a four-year austerity plan Wednesday in order to meet the terms of an international financial rescue package. The plan aims to save 15 billion euros from the state budget.
Unions hope to bring Portugal to a halt with a general strike on Wednesday to protest against the government's budget plans for 2011, which include proposals to cut civil servant wages by five percent and introduce a freeze on pensions.
Israel's security cabinet has agreed to withdraw troops from part of a disputed village on the Lebanese border and hand over control to a UN peacekeeping force, resolving a key issue between the two countries.
Lebanon is a multi-faith country home to 17 Muslim and Christian groups, as well as a tiny Jewish community older than the country itself. The latter has not had a place of worship for the past 30 years.
Two people were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza City on Wednesday during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday. Israeli security claims that the targets were Islamic militants.
In an interview with FRANCE 24 Wednesday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said he will not sign off on the execution of former foreign minister Tariq Aziz, who was condemned to death on October 26th.
Muslim pilgrims gathered on Tuesday for the festival of Eid al Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, and the symbolic "stoning of the devil" in Saudi Arabia's Mina valley for the third day of the annual hajj pilgrimage.
South Sudanese officials accused the northern army of conducting an air strike on the southern side of the border on Wednesday in order to disrupt a Jan. 9 referendum on secession. The northern army denied it had carried out an attack.
The rhetoric is getting increasingly personal, supporters’ groups have clashed and the army is on high alert. With just a few days before the second-round of the presidential election, Ivory Coast teeters on the brink of violence.
Incumbent Blaise Compaore, who has led impoverished Burkina Faso since 1987, looks set to win Sunday's presidential election amid low turnout, with less than half the population registered to vote. Poll results are expected no later than Thursday.
Congo's former vice president Jean-Pierre Bemba plead not guilty as his trial for war crimes began Monday at the Hague. Bemba is accused in connection with mass rapes and murder committed by his troops in Central African Republic in 2002 and 2003.
Madagascar's Prime Minister Camille Vital said Saturday there were no casualties after troops stormed an army barracks occupied by rebel officers, ending a three-day mutiny.
US State Department officials have said they are worried about an upcoming publication of classified diplomatic documents by the whistleblower website WikiLeaks, stating that revelations would hurt ties with foreign leaders.
Deadly clashes pitting suspected gang members and Brazilian police raged on for a fourth day in Rio de Janeiro, in what are suspected acts of retaliation by gangs forced out of some slums as part of a city "clean-up" for the 2014 World Cup.
The Swiss bank UBS has been accused of helping the infamous fraudster Bernard Madoff cheat investors and is being sued, among others, for more than two billion dollars in a New York court.
UN officials on Friday called for an end to the violent protests in Port-Au-Prince that have sparked clashes between UN peacekeepers and angry Haitians furious at the handling of a devastating cholera epidemic.
Thousands of rescue workers sickened by toxic dust and other debris after the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York accepted a 625-million-dollar compensation payout on Friday after years of legal battles.
South Korea has promised to bolster security on its border islands and urged China to use its influence on its North Korean ally even as Pyongyang threatened further military action in the wake of Tuesday's deadly clash.
A US aircraft carrier set off for Korean waters on Wednesday after Washington and Seoul agreed to hold joint military exercises in response to North Korea's deadly shelling of a South Korean military installation.
Afghanistan has released most of the final results of the September 18 parliamentary poll that was marred by fraud, low turnout and technical problems, with opponents of President Hamid Karzai claiming a strengthened presence in government.
An investigation into the deadly stampede that resulted in hundreds of deaths in Phnom Penh Monday has reported that the panic was sparked when thousands of people tried to flee after the bridge they were on began swaying.
The burnt bodies of two construction workers have been found on the South Korean island bombarded by North Korean shelling on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to four. Eighteen people have also been wounded and hundreds evacuated.
Iran's expanding alliance with LatAm must be nipped Topic: iran, latin america, bbc news
Larry Haas and Biodun Iginla, BBC News Analysts
| Wed, Nov 24, 8:14 AM
FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2010 file photo, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivers a speech in a public gathering at the city of Bojnord, northeastern Iran. Anti-Americanism is the theme of public statements by Ahmadinejad, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega after their increasingly frequent visits with one another. Ahmadinejad says the alliance reflects "a large anti-imperialist movement" in the region, while the Latin leaders compare their ascents to power with Iran's revolution.View more photos
WASHINGTON -- Henry Kissinger famously asked whether Iran sees itself as a "nation" with a role in the international system or a "cause" that seeks to overturn the system through a global populist revolution.
Iran's activities not just in its own backyard but also south of our border -- specifically, in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and Nicaragua -- suggests the latter, and that poses a growing threat that the United States should counter quickly.
Those activities include growing cooperation among Iran and its emerging Latin American friends on matters of global concern, expanding state-level trade and financial ties, and increasing relationships among the military forces of these nations and the groups that they support.
Iran's path to growing Latin American influence comes with an ironic twist. When President James Monroe enunciated the "Monroe Doctrine" two centuries ago, warning Europe to keep its hands off the region, it was Simon Bolivar and other revolutionaries who reacted warmly because it supported their efforts to emancipate their Latin American territories from the grips of Europe's colonial powers.
Now, it is Iran and its allies in Venezuela and the other Latin American nations that cite Bolivar as they work to unseat the United States from its perch atop the world's pecking order and create a post-American global order.
For the United States, Tehran's support for Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, its efforts to de-stabilize states in the greater Middle East and its quest for nuclear weaponry raise great concern by themselves. They become ever-more frightening when considered in the context of an intercontinental alliance of revolutionaries with a shared agenda and growing working relationships.
This unlikely alliance is fueled most of all by a fervent anti-Americanism and driven by a desire to undermine U.S. influence across both the Americas and the world. They are the glue that holds the alliance together.
Anti-Americanism is the theme of public statements by Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, Bolivia's Evo Morales, Ecuador's Rafael Correa and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega after their increasingly frequent visits with one another. Ahmadinejad says the alliance reflects "a large anti-imperialist movement" in the region, while the Latin leaders compare their ascents to power with Iran's revolution.
Iran has what the Latin capitals want and vice versa, fostering a marriage of convenience that extends from trade, development and banking to the sharing of natural resources, to military cooperation.
Iran has tripled its investment in the region in the past several years, delivering hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to each of its Latin American allies. For Caracas in particular, Tehran has begun manufacturing operations in Venezuela and launched a joint venture to fund development projects in both countries.
Beyond economics, Iran is helping Venezuela build the infrastructure for its own nuclear program, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has trained Venezuela's secret services and police, and Iran-backed Hezbollah has expanded its operations in Venezuela and received financial and other support from Caracas.
In return, the Latin nations have rallied around Iran's quest for nuclear weaponry and sought to undermine efforts by the U.N. Security Council and the International Atomic Energy Commission to pressure Tehran.
Venezuela has gone further, letting Iran use its banking system to evade financial sanctions. In addition, with Iran dependent on imported refined petroleum, oil-rich Venezuela offered to send it up to 20,000 barrels of gasoline a day. And seeking to further enhance its nuclear capability, Iran is working with Venezuela to extract uranium within its borders -- giving Tehran a potentially more important route to key materials to make its nuclear pursuit a success.
Iran's alliance with the Latin nations is helping all sides promote an agenda that is challenging the United States on the world stage and nearer to home. It's time for Washington to respond accordingly.
___
ABOUT THE WRITER
Lawrence J. Haas is senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy at the American Foreign Policy Council. Readers may write to him at AFPC, 509 C Street NE, Washington, D.C. 20002; website: www.afpc.org.
This essay is available to McClatchy-Tribune News Service subscribers. McClatchy-Tribune did not subsidize the writing of this column; the opinions are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of McClatchy-Tribune or its editors.
Breaking News Ireland unveils four-year austerity plan Topic: ireland, bbc news, eu
Ireland will cut welfare expenditure, slash the minimum wage, raise income tax and introduce a levy on land and property owners under a drastic austerity plan intended to put thepublic finances on a stable long-term footing.
Under the four-year programme, announced on Wednesday, the government intends to save €15bn ($20bn) between 2011 and 2014 – or about 4 per cent of annual economic output – with €10bn in public spending cuts and €5bn in new taxes and revenues. http://link.ft.com/r/XYEWFF/XTYZYF/BAFPV/ZBEDIK/A7R4LK/ZH/h?a1=2010&a2=11&a3=24
MediaBistro News Feed by Biodun Iginla, BBC News and MediaBistro Topic: media, mediabistro, bbc news
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HarperCollins Resolves Lawsuit With Gawker (GalleyCat) In a statement, HarperCollins revealed that it has resolved its lawsuit against Gawker over a post containing photographed excerpts from Sarah Palin's memoir, America By Heart: Reflections on Family, Faith, and Flag. Over the weekend, a federal judge ordered Gawker to remove the excerpts. Here is an excerpt of the statement: "In settling the case, Gawker has agreed to keep the posted material off its Web site and not to post the material again in the future."paidContent: Gawker's response to the suit was fast and familiar: While it took down the post that had the book excerpts, it wrote a second post that mocked Palin, saying: "You may want to take a moment to familiarize yourself with the law," and linked to two pages with information about the "fair-use" rule in copyright law. The link and mocking words have since been taken down from that post.
The Media's Pat-Down Frenzy (Daily Beast) The press has taken a few revolting TSA passenger encounters and blown the story wildly out of proportion. From network newscasts to local TV, from newspaper front pages to a blur of Web headlines, it seems that untold numbers of women and untold numbers of men are feeling the intrusive hands of government guards. Actually, that's far from true.
Sarah Palin's Alaska Drops 40 Percent In Week Two (TVNewser) After a very strong premiere for TLC, Sarah Palin's Alaska dropped 40 percent in total viewers to 3 million, 44 percent in the key 18-49 demo to 885,000, and 46 percent in the adults 25-54 demo. Also worrying: The show's median age is 57, a whopping 15 years higher than TLC's average.
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Embedded Journalism: A Distorted View Of War (The Independent) Embedded journalism earned a bad name in Iraq and Afghanistan. The phrase came to evoke an image of the supposedly independent correspondent truckling to military mentors who spoon-feed him or her absurdly optimistic information about the war. To many, the embedded journalist is a grisly throwback to First World War-style reporting, when appalling butchery in the trenches was presented as a series of judiciously planned advances by British generals.
FCC To Take On Net Neutrality? (Mediaweek) Is the Federal Communications Commission about to tackle the controversial issue of net neutrality? The issue has been swirling around the Capital all week, prompting congressional leaders to issue statements reminding the FCC that taking steps to regulate the Internet was out of bounds and out of line at a time when Congress will not be in session. The FCC moved its monthly meeting from Dec. 15 to Dec. 21, signaling that the regulatory body may be taking more time to consider taking up net neutrality before the year is out.
How News Corp.'s Daily Can Succeed Without Paper (paidContent) If you put everything behind a paywall and put it on at a monthly basis, you get a low number of sign-ups as you are only appealing to brand advocates. If you make a low amount of content available free-of-charge so they can get something and give people the opportunity to subscribe daily, you're offering people the same choice they have on the newsstand. The same will be true forThe Daily.
Aol Creates Video Division (The Wrap) Aol has been making a hard push and pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into building out its online video operation. It created a division -- Aol Video -- to unify those efforts. Or, as Aol put it, to "aggregate its vast online video library assets under one strategic umbrella, and to drive the creation, production, and syndication of high-quality online video content for its millions of users."
Penguin Plans Arabic-Books Venture (WSJ) Pearson PLC's publishing unit, Penguin Group, is set to sign a joint venture with an Egypt-based publisher today to bring its Penguin Classics to Arabic-speaking countries, the latest in a string of deals that has seen Penguin expand its classic-literature brand through non-English versions in markets including Brazil, Korea, and China.
Huffington Post's Eric Hippeau On Making News Pay (Telegraph) The Huffington Post CEO Eric Hippeau explains how the popular news and opinions hub is able to make money, including via paywalls and by selling advice to brands. A particularly important thing to keep in mind, Hippeau notes, is that we are currently living in a "link economy" when it comes to presenting and sharing information online.
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Why Media Apps Aren't As Good A Business As They Seem (Forbes) It's long been an article of faith among media optimists that the shift to digital publishing would be a good thing for publishers in the long run, freeing them of the burden of their biggest costs. But David Link, founder and creative director of digital design firm The Wonderfactory, feels that producing and distributing app-based magazines for tablet computers and other mobile devices is as costly as putting them out with ink and paper, if not more so. The problem, he says, is bandwidth.
Smartphone Market Forces Yield Publishing Opportunities (minOnline) The proliferation of mobile technology is clearer now than ever before. But there is a fundamental change happening right now due to a combination of well-timed market forces that are creating mobile opportunities for businesses around the world. Here are the key trends that B2B media companies should be tracking as they develop (or at least begin to think about) their mobile strategies.
The Washington Post Hires A Conservative Blogger (Yahoo! / The Cutline) The Washington Post boasts some of the top liberal bloggers, such as Ezra Klein and Greg Sargent. Now the paper is bringing a conservative into the blog stable. The Post has hired Jennifer Rubin to launch a new blog next month that "will provide critical news coverage and commentary, with an exacting eye on conservative policy-making and Republican campaigns, pundits, and politicians," according to a memo.
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Why Spreadable Doesn't Equal Viral: A Conversation With Henry Jenkins (NJL) For years, academic Henry Jenkins has been talking about the connections between mainstream content and user-produced content. Now he's back with a new catchphrase: If it doesn't spread, it's dead. For things to live online, people have to share it socially. They also have to make it their own -- which can be as participatory as just passing a YouTube clip on as a link or making a copycat video themselves. But what does this mean for news?
Six Ways Journalists Can Use Twitter Better (DNAinfo) Here is a compilation of ideas -- many of them found, of course, on Twitter itself -- on how journalists can make better use of Twitter: First, get to know the social network better. Next, upgrade your user bio to reflect pertinent job and contact information. Then, upgrade your lists. Remember to think before Tweeting and, finally, be sure to study others' Twitter feeds.
Tonight Show Says It Will Credit Bloggers For Taylor Swift Montage (NYT) A montage Tonight Show host Jay Leno played on Monday night seemed to take its inspiration from "Taylor Swift Is Surprised," using several of the same awards-show scenes in the same order for the same duration as were used on pop-culture blog Four Four and VH1.com. But when Leno introduced the segment on his program, he told Swift, "We put together a little montage of you being surprised."
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