Climate change is fuelling conflicts around the world and helping to drive the number of people forced out of their homes to new highs over 37 Million. www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/jun/17/climatechange.food

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The explosion echoed across Islamabad, crushing the embassy front wall and scattering broken trees, torn clothes and charred body parts across a leafy suburban street. No group claimed responsibility but Osama bin Laden's deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, recently called for attacks on Denmark following the republication of controversial cartoons of the prophet Muhammad.

www.guardian.co.uk/world/video/2008/jun/02/pakistan.bomb

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Yesterday Nepal's new constitutional assembly held its first meeting and put an end to the monarch which had been a key part of a 2006 peace deal with Maoist guerrillas who gave up the bullet for the ballot box on the condition that the country becomes a secular republic. The civil war lasted a decade and cost more than 13,000 lives. The Maoists who won last month's elections to become the largest party in Nepal's assembly, say that the monarch will have an "honourable exit" but the fall of King Gyanendra and the disappearance of the world's last Hindu monarchy has been dramatic. In the past few months the word "Royal" has been dropped from the army and national airline. Gone from the national anthem are any references to the king. The royal family, consisting of the king, the queen, the queen mother, the crown prince and his wife and children, left their pink-hued palace in the centre of the capital last week for the last time. After yesterdays vote the king, who once ruled by divine right, will be reduced to a commoner - albeit an extremely wealthy one with tea estates and tobacco holdings in the 12th poorest country in the world. more details

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

420,000 homes were destroyed by the recent aftershocks and there are breaking reports that China has started evacuations. The details are not available in the UK yet but at a guess this may have something to do with the Dams that are already severely damaged. The breach of the Dams was a serious possibility and they may well be giving way soon. 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The Dalai Lama today called for Tibetans to end protests against the Beijing Olympics, also telling MPs in London he would happily accept an invitation to attend the event if relations with China improved. The comments by the Tibetan spiritual leader came as his government-in-exile called for a temporary halt to all protests against Chinese rule over the territory while Beijing deals with the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake.

Dl4

On its website, the government, based in the northern Indian town of Dharamsala, urged Tibetans not to demonstrate for at least a month. The statement said: "In order to express our solidarity with the great natural disaster that befell on China, Tibetans across the world should shun staging demonstrations in front of the Chinese embassies in the respective host countries they live in." - full details at the Guradian

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

Israel and Palastine seem to have been regions where bloodshed, war and devastation have been the common norm for decades. I have picked up on a current news item by the Guardian who constantly make excellent, informative balanced reports in multimedia on-line. Rather than try to summarize what's going on out there I thought I would provide a link so those who are interested can follow the news series......... A week in Gaza 

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The murder of two radio activists in Oaxaca has brought the repression suffered by indigenous Mexicans into sharp focus. Oaxaca has the biggest percentage of indigenous people who speak many different languages and suffering serious discrimination including the theft of their natural resources.

One such example is the village of San Isidro Aloapam who have been fighting the destruction of their local forest by commercial loggers who are bending the law to justify their activity. Attempts by the villagers to protect the forest have been met with extreme violence leaving many villagers injured and imprisoned. The village is represented politically by indigenous action group CIPO-RFM who have organized a series of media and international solidarity events to highlight the struggle. CIPO-RFM activists Miguel Cruz Moreno and Pedro Bautista Rojas were recently interviewed by IMC UK about the struggle.

oaxaca resists

CIPO-RFM in Oaxaca have documented to date 517 detentions and tortured people, 103 police and paramilitary incursions into their communities, 81 prison orders, 229 penal, civil and commercial processes, 263 people assaulted, 37 death threats and 27 murders - There will be a prisoner support benefit gig in London on Wednesday April 16th.

[ clipping from indymedia ] full story www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2008/04/396419.html which has various links to get the background on the main item with much more detail.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

The US defence secretary Robert Gates said yesterday the deployment of a second aircraft carrier to the Gulf could serve as a "reminder" to Iran of American resolve to defend its interests in the region. I wonder what interest he refers too though. CBS News reported the Pentagon has ordered commanders to explore new options for attacking Iran and that the state department was formulating an ultimatum calling on Iran to stop arms smuggling into Iraq. Gates claimed: "What the Iranians are doing is killing American servicemen and women inside Iraq." - Whereas what Americans are doing is killing Iraqis inside Iraq. What's the difference.

It's that American attitude and double standards again - We can do what we want and everyone else must do what we say - or - Do as we say and not as we do.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

From the Times On-Line: Scores of children and babies have been locked up in filthy prison cells in Harare as Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe’s president, sinks to new depths in his campaign to force the opposition into exile before an expected run-off in presidential elections. Twenty-four babies and 40 children under the age of six were among the 250 people rounded up in a raid on Friday, according to Nelson Chamisa, spokesman for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Yesterday they were crammed into cells in Southerton police station in central Harare.

full story - www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article3822569.ece

Read and post comments | Send to a friend

A Chinese cargo ship carrying 77 tonnes of arms, including more than 3m rounds of ammunition, AK47 assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades has docked in the South African port of Durban for transportation of the weapons to Zimbabwe. The South African government confirmed this yesterday and claimed it was powerless to intervene as long as the ship's papers were in order.

Copies of the documentation for the Chinese ship An Yue Jiang show that the weapons were sent from Beijing to the ministry of defence in Harare. Headed "Dangerous goods description and container packing certificate", the document was issued on April 1, three days after Zimbabwe's election. It lists the consignment as including 3.5m rounds of ammunition for AK47 assault rifles and for small arms, 1,500 40mm rockets, 2,500 mortar shells of 60mm and 81mm calibre, as well as 93 cases of mortar tubes. The carrier is listed as the Cosco shipping company in China.

That's one way to win the next election then, start a war and kill the opposition.

Read and post comments | Send to a friend