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Ransom claim in Ingrid Betancourt release | World news | guardian.co.uk

Posted by okami from Guardian UK

Ingrid Betancourt arrived in France today after being held captive for six years in the Colombian jungle, amid claims that a ransom was paid to free her.

The Colombian government said that she was freed in an audacious operation after the military tricked Farc into handing the French-Colombian politician over without a shot being fired.

20 votes | 1 comment

Mexico Cracks Down on Cubans

Posted by Shemuses from

For the first time, Mexican immigration authorities have launched raids on safe houses where Cubans await transportation to the U.S. border. In the first such raid, reported widely throughout Mexico on July 2, 20 Cubans were arrested in Cancun. Once Cubans present themselves to U.S. officials on the border, they are automatically granted asylum in the United States. Mexicans are angered at the disparate U.S. laws that give Cubans permanent residency while Mexicans attempting to enter the United States are deported. Mexico's President Felipe Calderon has also ordered Mexico's Navy to increase patrols in the Yucatan Channel, the body of water that separates Cuba and Cancun.

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Beijing Turns Green Before the Olympics

Posted by Shemuses from

From shopping to driving to eating, Beijing residents are rearranging their lives to help save the environment just in time for the Olympics Games this August.

25 votes | Post comment »

Alleviate world hunger produce more clean carbon dioxide By Dirck T. Hartmann

Posted by HansGruen from

What is your carbon footprint? That is the wrong question to ask. A more meaningful question is--How much carbon dioxide does it take to grow the wheat required to produce a loaf of bread? Or--How much carbon dioxide does it take to grow the corn for the chicken feed required to produce a dozen eggs?

Far from being a pollutant, man along with every animal on land, fish in the sea, and bird in the air is totally dependent on atmospheric carbon dioxide for his food supply. ...

15 votes | Post comment »

4 Burma - Post Cyclone Chronicle

Posted by bugaloo from

As Irrawaddy went to report on Wednesday, June 11th 2008, despite the announcement of a major multilateral operation to determine the scope of cyclone Nargis on Burma, 18 cyclone victims (women and children) were arrested following their call for help at the UN's office in Rangoon. They walked there to complain about not receiving any government assistance.
On May 23rd the UN' Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, met General Than Shwe to secure free access ....

1 votes | Post comment »

Deadly Jerusalem bulldozer attack

Posted by Damianmann from BBC News

A Palestinian man has driven a bulldozer into a bus and several cars in Jerusalem, killing three people, before being shot dead.

25 votes | Post comment »

McCain Backer's Firm Pleaded Guilty To Funding Terrorist Group In

Posted by theangryindian from Angryindian.blogspot

The co-host of a recent top-dollar fundraiser for Sen. John McCain oversaw the payment of roughly $1.7 million to a Colombian paramilitary group that is today designated a terrorist organization by the United States.

76 votes | Post comment »

Real change happens off-line

Posted by Jeff from Christian Science Monitor

Millennials need to be activists face to face.

65 votes | Post comment »

Canada: Our foreign policy myth

Posted by Shemuses from Globe and Mail

As Canada turns 141 years old tomorrow, few beliefs and values are held more strongly in common by Canadians than their thoughts of their country on the international stage. They have been seduced by mythology. The reality of Canada's foreign policy - the country's official face to the world - for the most part is starkly different from the altruistic image of Canada with which its citizens are in love.

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Heroism of Conflict Survivors Inspires New Program in Central Africa

Posted by ap101 from

Ricky Richard was fourteen when he was abducted from his home in Uganda and drafted into the Lord's Resistance Army, a violent rebel militia that has forced almost two million Ugandans from their homes.

1 votes | Post comment »

Afghan civilian deaths up 60 per cent

Posted by Jeff from Globe and Mail

The number of civilians killed in fighting between insurgents and security forces in Afghanistan has soared by two-thirds in the first half of this year, to almost 700 people, a senior UN official said Sunday. The figures are a grim reminder of how the nearly seven-year war has failed to stabilize the country and suggest that ordinary civilians are bearing a heavy toll, particularly from stepped-up militant attacks.

40 votes | Post comment »

Preparing the Battlefield

Posted by Jon from New Yorker

Late last year, Congress agreed to a request from President Bush to fund a major escalation of covert operations against Iran, according to current and former military, intelligence, and congressional sources. These operations, for which the President sought up to four hundred million dollars, were described in a Presidential Finding signed by Bush, and are designed to destabilize the country's religious leadership.

40 votes | Post comment »