Problems in Zimbabwe are escalating under Mugabe's control - Millions of Zimbabweans are threatened with starvation after the widespread failure of the latest harvest brought on by the government's disastrous mishandling of land redistribution and food shortages in the shops caused by hyperinflation. The U.N stated hundreds of thousands of people require food aid immediately because they have harvested little or nothing in recent weeks. It has warned that up to 5 million will need assistance in the coming months. A third of the population is chronically malnourished.

Attempts to assist them are blocked by a ban on foreign aid agencies working in rural areas after President Robert Mugabe [a relative of the devil] said they were just fronts for "regime change" by Britain and the US. Aid workers say the first signs of looming famine are evident with significant population movements and children arriving at hospitals suffering from kwashiorkor (a form of malnutrition). Many families are reduced to one meal a day, with some living on fruit berries. According to the UN there has been a significant rise in the number of families fleeing to South Africa. Food availability has also been hit by hyperinflation which economists say runs above 10m%. The central bank is issuing a $100bn note today, the highest denomination to date but worth less than 10p - [source - guardian on-line] full story

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Having just read this story > American foreign policy and the absolute hypocrisy of their stance on nuclear power is just so absurd and so biased. Who the hell do the Bush Administration think they are. The answer is obvious, the Bush Administration is now a Global Dictatorship with its sole aim and objective being it's own self-serving interests. 

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They told me to go to rehab and I said no no no.
But hold on do you have lots of drugs there ?
and they said yeah yeah yeah
Are the drugs all free there ?
and they said yeah yeah yeah
They told me to go to rehab and I said yeah yeah yeah
Can all my mates come with me ?
and they said no no no
Well I don't care if the trips are free so hell, Yeah Yeah Yeah

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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

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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

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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

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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. 

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The Pakistani government has agreed to withdraw troops and introduce Sharia law in the conflict-ravaged Swat valley in exchange for a halt to Taliban suicide bombings and attacks on government buildings. The peace deal was signed this afternoon by the newly elected government of North-West Frontier province (NWFP) and representatives of extremist cleric Maulvi Fazlullah, whose fighters engaged in full-blooded warfare against the army last year. More info at the guardian on-line

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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

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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 

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