*Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
There is an eagerness in the US to finally engage in serious talks with Berlin. The German election campaign put many important topics on ice until a new government was elected. "Washington and the new US administration gladly granted Merkel this grace period," said Himmelreich. "But now President Obama would like to know what the new German government thinks about transatlantic relations and Obama himself will surely also express his ideas and wishes." His colleague Hulsman put it more bluntly, calling it "put up or shut up time."
There is an eagerness in the US to finally engage in serious talks with Berlin. The German election campaign put many important topics on ice until a new government was elected.
"Washington and the new US administration gladly granted Merkel this grace period," said Himmelreich. "But now President Obama would like to know what the new German government thinks about transatlantic relations and Obama himself will surely also express his ideas and wishes."
His colleague Hulsman put it more bluntly, calling it "put up or shut up time."
(The Empire is undead.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
AFP - Southern Sudanese president Salva Kiir on Satuday backed independence for the semi-autonomous region in its upcoming referendum, warning that unity would make southerners "second class" citizens. The south will vote in a referendum slated for January 2011 as part of the 2005 peace deal that ended Sudan's 22-year civil war -- the African continent's longest armed conflict. "You want to vote for unity so that you will become a second class in your own country, that is your choice," said Kiir, speaking at Saint Teresa's Catholic Cathedral in the southern capital Juba at the end of a service.
AFP - Southern Sudanese president Salva Kiir on Satuday backed independence for the semi-autonomous region in its upcoming referendum, warning that unity would make southerners "second class" citizens.
The south will vote in a referendum slated for January 2011 as part of the 2005 peace deal that ended Sudan's 22-year civil war -- the African continent's longest armed conflict.
"You want to vote for unity so that you will become a second class in your own country, that is your choice," said Kiir, speaking at Saint Teresa's Catholic Cathedral in the southern capital Juba at the end of a service.
After President Hamid Karzai snubbed a series of measures put forward by Abdullah in a bid to avoid a repeat of the massive first-round fraud, Abdullah said he saw no point in standing in the second round, but stopped short of calling for a boycott. Election officials said the November 7 vote would go ahead with both names on the ballot but with Karzai the only candidate. "Based on election laws and based on the constitution there should be a second round. The constitution is clear," Daoud Ali Najafi, chief electoral officer of the government-appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC), told Reuters. But a spokesman for U.N. mission chief Kai Eide voiced doubt about the practicality of carrying on with the election. "It's difficult to see how there can be a run-off with only one candidate," said spokesman Aleem Siddique.
Election officials said the November 7 vote would go ahead with both names on the ballot but with Karzai the only candidate.
"Based on election laws and based on the constitution there should be a second round. The constitution is clear," Daoud Ali Najafi, chief electoral officer of the government-appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC), told Reuters.
But a spokesman for U.N. mission chief Kai Eide voiced doubt about the practicality of carrying on with the election. "It's difficult to see how there can be a run-off with only one candidate," said spokesman Aleem Siddique.
The newsmagazine Der Spiegel said in an early release of its edition to be published on Monday that a NATO investigation into the September airstrike that killed dozens of Afghan civilians showed the German commander who ordered it broke military procedure. The September 4 strike on two fuel trucks in the northeastern Kunduz province was the most deadly operation involving German troops since World War Two. The Afghan government said the airstrike killed 69 Taliban fighters and 30 civilians....The report said that German authorities have put pressure on NATO not to issue an outright condemnation of Colonel Georg Klein because it could lead to legal problems. This message was given to the NATO commander in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, during a visit to Berlin on October 15.
The newsmagazine Der Spiegel said in an early release of its edition to be published on Monday that a NATO investigation into the September airstrike that killed dozens of Afghan civilians showed the German commander who ordered it broke military procedure.
The September 4 strike on two fuel trucks in the northeastern Kunduz province was the most deadly operation involving German troops since World War Two. The Afghan government said the airstrike killed 69 Taliban fighters and 30 civilians.
...The report said that German authorities have put pressure on NATO not to issue an outright condemnation of Colonel Georg Klein because it could lead to legal problems. This message was given to the NATO commander in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, during a visit to Berlin on October 15.
(FUBAR.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
AFP - Up to 250,000 people have fled a tribal region on the Afghan border where the Pakistani army is in the third week of a major offensive against the Taliban, an official said Sunday. The figure is higher than the 200,000 which the army reported had fled the conflict zone in South Waziristan last week.
The figure is higher than the 200,000 which the army reported had fled the conflict zone in South Waziristan last week.
More importantly, Pakistan's vital interests are at stake here. I think this is going to get really ugly. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
AFP - A spate of bombings across Iraq, including two suicide attacks and a bicycle bomb, killed seven people and wounded more than 40 on Sunday, police said. In the deadliest attack, five people were killed and 37 wounded when a bomb hidden in a cooler on the back of a bicycle ripped through a market in the Shiite city of Mussayib at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT). The two-wheeler had been parked at the market in Mussayib, 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Baghdad and in Babil province, police said.
In the deadliest attack, five people were killed and 37 wounded when a bomb hidden in a cooler on the back of a bicycle ripped through a market in the Shiite city of Mussayib at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT).
The two-wheeler had been parked at the market in Mussayib, 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of Baghdad and in Babil province, police said.
Reuters - The Obama administration has sent six Uighur Chinese detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Pacific island nation of Palau, the Center for Constitutional Rights said on Saturday. The transfer leaves 215 detainees at the detention camp which President Barack Obama has pledged to close by Jan. 22, though political and legal hurdles are making it difficult for his administration to meet that goal.
Reuters - The Obama administration has sent six Uighur Chinese detainees from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Pacific island nation of Palau, the Center for Constitutional Rights said on Saturday.
The transfer leaves 215 detainees at the detention camp which President Barack Obama has pledged to close by Jan. 22, though political and legal hurdles are making it difficult for his administration to meet that goal.
The United States will put an end to a 22-year-old travel ban on foreign patients infected with the AIDS virus, President Barack Obama has announced, hailing the move as a step towards ending the stigma of the disease.
Colombia and the United States have signed a pact on increasing US access to Colombian military bases, despite objections to the deal from left-leaning South American leaders.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived Sunday in the Moroccan city of Marrakech on the next stop in her diplomatic mission to relaunch the stalled Middle East peace process.
(From the no-news-news department) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Ivory Coast's long-awaited presidential election will not be taking place next month as scheduled, the website of President Laurent Gbagbo has announced, signalling the latest in a string of postponements that have stretched over the past five years.
African leaders have decided to impose sanctions on military-ruled Guinea in the wake of last month's massacre of scores of opposition supporters in the capital, Conakry, leaving the country increasingly isolated.
The UK's cash-strapped Foreign Office is leading the charge in a looming battle over the rising cost of funding the UN and who should pay for it. Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, last week asked for $4.9bn (€3.3bn, £2.9bn) to finance the organisation's so-called regular budget over the next two years.Before a further adjustment for inflation, that represented a 0.5 per cent increase over the previous two years. However, diplomats from countries that pay the bulk of the bill said uncosted extras in the budget proposal could push the final total to nearer $5.4bn....At a time of departmental cutbacks, the Foreign Office has been told that any extra expenditure at the UN will have to be met by savings elsewhere. Diplomats at the UN said the UK appeared particularly sensitive to additional budgetary pressures. France, the UK's permanent European partner in the 15-member UN Security Council, shares its concerns.They noted that the UK hasinsisted that a UN three-person inquiry team, established last week to investigate violence in Guinea, be financed from existing funds.
Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, last week asked for $4.9bn (€3.3bn, £2.9bn) to finance the organisation's so-called regular budget over the next two years.
Before a further adjustment for inflation, that represented a 0.5 per cent increase over the previous two years. However, diplomats from countries that pay the bulk of the bill said uncosted extras in the budget proposal could push the final total to nearer $5.4bn....At a time of departmental cutbacks, the Foreign Office has been told that any extra expenditure at the UN will have to be met by savings elsewhere. Diplomats at the UN said the UK appeared particularly sensitive to additional budgetary pressures. France, the UK's permanent European partner in the 15-member UN Security Council, shares its concerns.They noted that the UK hasinsisted that a UN three-person inquiry team, established last week to investigate violence in Guinea, be financed from existing funds.
JOHANNESBURG -- In a culmination of his party's major shift on AIDS, a disease that has led to plunging life expectancies here, President Jacob Zuma last week definitively rejected his predecessor's denial of the viral cause of AIDS and of the critical role of antiretroviral drugs in treating it. Almost 10 years to the day after President Thabo Mbeki first suggested that AIDS drugs could pose "a danger to health" in an Oct. 28, 1999, speech in Parliament, Mr. Zuma declared Thursday in the same chamber, "Knowledge will help us to confront denialism and the stigma attached to the disease."In a country that now has more H.I.V.-infected people and annual AIDS deaths than any other, Mr. Zuma's clarion call for a battle against the disease, six months into his term as president, led to rejoicing among advocates who had long sought such national leadership.
JOHANNESBURG -- In a culmination of his party's major shift on AIDS, a disease that has led to plunging life expectancies here, President Jacob Zuma last week definitively rejected his predecessor's denial of the viral cause of AIDS and of the critical role of antiretroviral drugs in treating it.
Almost 10 years to the day after President Thabo Mbeki first suggested that AIDS drugs could pose "a danger to health" in an Oct. 28, 1999, speech in Parliament, Mr. Zuma declared Thursday in the same chamber, "Knowledge will help us to confront denialism and the stigma attached to the disease."
In a country that now has more H.I.V.-infected people and annual AIDS deaths than any other, Mr. Zuma's clarion call for a battle against the disease, six months into his term as president, led to rejoicing among advocates who had long sought such national leadership.
Finally. Just a shame so many people had to die before they got the memo. The fact is that what we're experiencing right now is a top-down disaster. -Paul Krugman
President Robert Mugabe took a sharp dig at his estranged governing partner Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai on Saturday, but said they were still allies in Zimbabwe's troubled coalition. Speaking Saturday at the state funeral of a former guerrilla leader who fought for independence from Britain in 1980, Mugabe, speaking of Tsvangirai's temporary withdrawal from the Cabinet, said: "Even if some person is not mentally stable he is still your partner. "We bound ourselves to work together even though we had disparate positions. We will continue talking, no matter what," Mugabe told mourners at the Heroes Acre cemetery west of the capital as Mischek Chando was buried. The 85-year-old leader wore his trademark tailored suit and dark sunglasses for the occasion. Mugabe said his Zanu-PF party and Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change had taken "positive steps" despite having faced difficulties.
This can only go more wrong...
Palestinian officials accused Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, of backtracking on pledges by the Obama administration after she endorsed the Israeli prime minister's stance that a renewal of talks should not hinge on a settlement freeze. During a visit to Israel on Saturday, she hailed Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of a "restraint" on settlement activity as "unprecedented in the context of prior negotiations" and added that the issue should not be made a condition for more talks.Mrs Clinton appeared to depart from the US administration's previous insistence that Israel completely freeze the construction of Jewish settlements in occupied territory, an issue that has become the sticking point for the resumption of the peace process.
During a visit to Israel on Saturday, she hailed Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of a "restraint" on settlement activity as "unprecedented in the context of prior negotiations" and added that the issue should not be made a condition for more talks.
Mrs Clinton appeared to depart from the US administration's previous insistence that Israel completely freeze the construction of Jewish settlements in occupied territory, an issue that has become the sticking point for the resumption of the peace process.
WASHBURN, Mo. -- At a former al-Qaida stronghold southeast of the Afghan capital, a state-owned Chinese company is at work on a $3 billion mine project to tap one of the world's largest unexploited copper reserves, a potential financial boon for an impoverished country mired in war. The promise of a bright future at Aynak, however, cannot conceal the troubling reality of how business often is done in Afghanistan, according to critics of the Kabul government's decision to reject bids from competitors in the United States, Canada and other countries. The bidding process unfairly favored China, they have said, and epitomized the backroom deals and abuse of power that have turned Afghans against their government and undercut the U.S. military effort there. .... Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, said the bidding process was aboveboard. He said he pushed for the U.S. bidder, Phelps Dodge International Corp., to be awarded the Aynak rights, but that China offered to start work right away while Phelps wanted to wait until the country was safer. "We can't afford to give the mining rights to a company that will sit on them for the next 10 or 15 years," Jawad said.
The promise of a bright future at Aynak, however, cannot conceal the troubling reality of how business often is done in Afghanistan, according to critics of the Kabul government's decision to reject bids from competitors in the United States, Canada and other countries.
The bidding process unfairly favored China, they have said, and epitomized the backroom deals and abuse of power that have turned Afghans against their government and undercut the U.S. military effort there. ....
Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, said the bidding process was aboveboard. He said he pushed for the U.S. bidder, Phelps Dodge International Corp., to be awarded the Aynak rights, but that China offered to start work right away while Phelps wanted to wait until the country was safer.
"We can't afford to give the mining rights to a company that will sit on them for the next 10 or 15 years," Jawad said.
