former Israeli prime minister and Likud opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu admitted that Israel launched an air strike against Syria on September 6, aafter weeks of refusing to confirm the operation. It appears the rationale for the strike is that Syria had nuclear weapon making materials from North Korea. While this may have been true and …
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Category:9 Regions
Let poor children suffer
Despite the rhetoric being bandied about by Presidential candidates Bush has threatened to veto additional federal funding for a the State Children’s Health Insurance Program which insures children from low-income families. Another sad sign of where the current administration’s priorities are. Our hope for enlightened leadership from the global superpower dims a bit more.
Invest in Kenya: Focus Kisumu
A new African investment guide, Invest in Kenya: Focus Kisumu, was launched by the Millennium Cities Initiative and the Columbia Program on International Investment in Nairobi on September 26. MCI’s first investor’s guide focuses on Kisumu, the first city named a Millennium City. Kisumu, located on Lake Victoria, is Kenya’s third largest city and an …
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Japanese leadership crisis – new PM
September has not been a good month for politics in Japan. At the beginning of September, Agriculture Minister Takehiko Endo resigned only a week after being appointed. He admitted that a private farm group he heads was involved in illegal dealings – it had been paid 1.15m Yen ($9,900) by the state after overstating crop …
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Embrace Islam
What a good idea! It sounds strange given the geopolitical tension around the world. But embracing Islam would be a whole lot more productive than condemning it. Now, being atheist, I’m not advocating religion. Rather, I’m suggesting that a positive attitude that embraces people would have better results than a divisive and condemning one that …
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Iraqis want end to occupation more than ever
A survey for the BBC, ABC News and NHK of more than 2,000 people across Iraq shows that about 70% of Iraqis believe security has deteriorated in the area covered by the US military “surge” of the past six months. The relative optimism registered in November 2005 has deteriorated to the gloom of this year’s …
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Baghdad dividing wall counters peace
Construction of another dividing wall in Baghdad between Shula and Ghazaliya districts causes more division than unity. It is another sign of the primitive knee-jerk thinking of an administration resorting to primitive policy. The wall is an attempt to separate Sunni and Shia districts. But of course it also separates families, neighbours and communities, it …
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US August data modest
Retail sales and industrial output both slowed in the US in August. Shop sales grew 0.3% in August, below market expectations of a 0.5% rise and below July’s 0.5% increase, but excluding car sales, which are at their strongest in two years, retail spending actually declined 0.4% in August. Industrial output rose 0.2%, the slowest …
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China also turning away from the death penalty
China’s Supreme Court has ordered judges to be more sparing in the imposition of the death penalty, ordering that execution should be reserved for “an extremely small number of serious offenders”. The Supreme Court said murders triggered by family disputes should not always result in the death penalty and the death penalty should be withheld …
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US changing policy; will reduce troops in Iraq
Over the past month there has been a definite change in the US administration policy of troop levels in Iraq. The surge is over and political pragmatism underpins troop reductions. On September 13 Bush said that about 30,000 troops might return home by summer 2008 (pre-surge level), starting with 5,700 by Christmas. Then on 14 …
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