(SomaliNet) U.S. Ambassador James McGee said almost 300 people have died of cholera in Zimbabwe as shortages of food and clean drinking water worsen and the country's health system collapses.
A report today showed 294 confirmed deaths from the disease, McGee told reporters in Washington via videolink from the Zimbabwean capital, Harare. An additional 1,200 cases of cholera have been confirmed and 2,500 are unconfirmed, he said. "The health system here has totally collapsed," McGee said. "The three major hospitals here in Harare have closed."
McGee said the U.S. may impose additional sanctions to compel President Robert Mugabe to implement a power-sharing agreement reached in September with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. "The political situation has created a concurrent situation on the food and health side of the house that is, frankly, intolerable," McGee said. "I don't see anything that's going to alleviate these problems until the government of Robert Mugabe starts to act in good faith."
State media previously reported that cholera had killed about 127 people in Zimbabwe since the outbreak began last month.
Patients Turned Away .
McGee said doctors and nurses aren't being paid and some clinics in the countryside are turning away patients, McGee said. He traveled through the countryside recently and saw children with the distended bellies suggesting malnutrition. The U.S. is trying to increase food assistance and help provide clean drinking water.
"Cholera is something that is fairly easily treated; you need salt, you need sugar, you need clean water," McGee said. "Unfortunately those are three things that the average Zimbabwean does not have."
Even as inflation in Zimbabwe reached 210 million percent, Mugabe has managed to strengthen his hold on power through political patronage and because military commanders fear potential prosecution should power shift to the opposition, McGee said. "We have additional sanctions that we are prepared to roll out if this political impasse continues," McGee said.
Sanctions so far have had an impact, he said. Political leaders have been forced to withdraw their children from schools in the U.S. or Australia because of sanctions, he said. "I meet with some regularity with one of the top leaders here in Zimbabwe, and he has about $7 million of his funding that's been frozen because of U.S. sanctions against Zimbabwe," McGee said. "He starts out each and every meeting with the same thing -- where is my money? It hurts them."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2008 00:00 ||
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(SomaliNet) The European Parliament on Thursday asked the UN Security Council to take urgent action to address the deteriorating situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
In a resolution, the European Parliament, asked for measures toprevent any further attacks on the civilian population of the eastern provinces of the DRC and expressed extreme concern at the increase in clashes in North Kivu and the consequences for the population in the region.
The Parliament expressed deep outrage at the massacres,crimes against humanity and acts of sexual violence against women and girls in the eastern provinces of the DRC and called on all relevant national and international authorities systematically to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The parliament reaffirmed its support for the UN mission in the DRC (MONUC) and called for every effort to be made to allow it to carry out its mandate in full and use the force of arms to protect those under threat.
The parliament called on Belgium, Britain, France and Italy -- EU member states currently on the UN Security Council -- to play a leading role in ensuring that the Security Council supports MONUC by strengthening its operational capacities in terms of appropriate equipment and manpower, and especially by contributing European special forces.
The European Parliament called on the African Union, the UN Security Council and key international players, including the EU, United States and China, to increase pressure on all parties to push forward with the peace process.
The European Parliament called on the European Commission and the EU member states to ensure that EU companies do not trade in, handle or import products derived from minerals that have been sourced in a manner that benefits armed groups in the DRC, and hold accountable any that persist in such practices.
The European Parliament called for zero tolerance of the sexual violence against girls and women which is used as a weapon of war and for severe criminal penalties to be imposed on the perpetrators of these crimes.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Zimbabwe has refused to let Kofi Annan, Jimmy Carter and a South African human rights advocate visit the impoverished country for a humanitarian mission, the three said Saturday.
The former U.N. secretary general, the ex-U.S. president and rights advocate Graca Machel had planned to assess the southern African country's needs. They are members of The Elders, a group formed by former South African President Nelson Mandela to foster peace and tackle world conflicts.
Annan said no official reason had been given for the refusal, but Zimbabwe's state-run Herald newspaper reported that the group had been asked to "come at a later date" to accommodate the crop-planting season. It quoted an unnamed source as saying they were seen as antagonistic toward Zimbabwe's government.
Zimbabweans are suffering from disease and hunger while political crisis over a power-sharing government occupies its politicians. A current cholera outbreak has killed nearly 300 people in Zimbabwe, the United Nations said.
But the three were told Friday night by former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who is mediating the political crisis, that efforts to secure travel visas for the a two-day trip had failed.
"We are very disappointed that the government of Zimbabwe would not permit us to come in, would not cooperate," former U.S. President Carter said at a news conference in Johannesburg.
It was the first time the 2002 Nobel Peace laureate has been denied permission to carry out a mission in any country, he said.
Machel, a rights advocate for women and children who is married to Mandela, said she was denied a visa to visit Zimbabwe in July when she had planned to lead a women's delegation.
Government officials in Harare could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Personally I wish the US could deny entry to Jimmy Carter.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/23/2008 0:54 Comments ||
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#5
Zim hasn't made very many good calls lately, but they did on this one. They don't need to massuage the egos of two old men with faded revealence. Their attempts to shed their fading dictator with a massive ego problem is going badly enough as it is.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
11/23/2008 8:56 Comments ||
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#6
The Elders Failures
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2008 10:33 Comments ||
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#7
How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have an ungrateful socialist thug.
Is Britain simply a bigger version of Iceland? Certainly the City of London is starting to look a bit too much like Reykjavik, but with taller buildings and fewer cod. It is an exaggeration, but not that much of an exaggeration, to liken the UK to the broken, bankrupt North Atlantic island. In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die.
Six people are dead after gunmen burst into a Tijuana bar popular with university students and opened fire. The local Public Safety Department says witnesses reported that three people dressed in black rushed into Bar Utopia and started shooting without saying a word.
The state Attorney General's office says two men and a woman died instantly in Friday night's attack. The three others died in hospitals Saturday.
The bar is located in a neighborhood with three university campuses and is popular with students. Most of the victims were under 30 years old.
Police named no suspects or motive. Drug turf battles have fueled a wave of violence that has swept through Tijuana and other cities across Mexico.
But no motive for the shootings ...
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Nation building opportunities closer to home, George?
#3
and someone else got the "second effort" award:
TIJUANA Gunmen shot and killed a patient receiving treatment at a private hospital early yesterday, the Baja California Attorney General's Office reported, just hours after a nightclub attack left five dead.
The hospital incident took place about 12:30 a.m. inside the intensive care unit of Hospital del Prado, a small but highly regarded facility a few miles from downtown.
Some Tijuana news organizations reported the patient was being treated for a gunshot wound. The Attorney General's Office said the patient was a man, 20 to 25 years old. Administrators declined to comment.
"Please don't kill us!"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/23/2008 13:30 Comments ||
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#4
Actually, 3 died at the scene and two died in hospital. AP put out the bad scoop. The rumor here is that this had something to do with the owners of the bar, either drug related or extortion.
Nicaragua's opposition is pressing on with a bid to cancel disputed elections despite a presidential decree declaring that effort unconstitutional.
An alliance of opposition parties says President Daniel Ortega abused his power with a decree nullifying a legislative proposal to cancel the results of the Nov. 9 municipal elections. Saturday's statement accused Ortega of "once again violating the constitution."
Liberal Constitutional Party spokesman Leonel Teller says the alliance will introduce the bill next week despite the decree.
The leftist Sandinistas won 105 of 146 races in the elections. The opposition claims widespread fraud and wants a revision of the results in the presence of international observers.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Just hours before a scheduled meeting here with Russia's leader, President Bush issued a provocative statement hailing the fifth anniversary of the so-called "Rose Revolution" in the former Russian province of Georgia.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2008 00:00 ||
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I'm sure Russians will be really upset, and change all their plans.
#3
Ol' George W may not have the speechifying gene ala Churchill, but the boy does speak his mind. More than once, he has confounded his enemies by telling them exactly what he was going to do. (He can't possibly mean that!). I think I'm gonna miss him.
Germany declined to comment on on Saturday on reports that three Germans arrested on suspicion of throwing explosives at an EU office in Kosovo were intelligence officers.
The explosive charge was thrown on Nov. 14 at the International Civilian Office (ICO), the office of EU Special Representative Pieter Feith, who oversees Kosovo's governance, but caused only minor damage. The men were detained on Thursday.
A spokesman for the German foreign ministry in Berlin confirmed that three Germans had been arrested, but declined to make any further comment as an investigation was under way. A police source in Kosovo told Reuters: "They are members of the BND", but gave no further details.
The German weekly Der Spiegel also said the men worked for the German intelligence agency BND, and that they had told investigators they had been examining the scene of the explosion, but had not been involved in it.
Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in February after nine years under U.N. stewardship and is recognised by more than 50 countries, including Germany.
Four days before the bomb attack, its leaders rejected a plan by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's for the deployment of an EU police and justice mission, EULEX.
Der Spiegel said the BND agents had not been officially registered with Kosovo authorities, which would have secured them diplomatic immunity. A judge in Pristina was due to decide on Saturday whether to extend the men's detention or release them on bail.
A significant and growing percentage of the worlds 1.4 billion Muslims are striving for lifestyles that are both religious and modern, representing a largely untapped market, a new study of Islamic consumers says.
This profile particularly describes consumers in the UAE, where 45 per cent of the national population the highest percentage of all the countries studied fit this category of the so-called New Age Muslim, according to the study by the advertising agency JWT and the market research firm AMRB.
We often try to describe an lslamic or a Muslim consumer as westernised or not westernised, which is totally stupid, said Roy Haddad, the chairman of JWT MENA. No Arab, or no Muslim that I know, wants to be more westernised. Yes, we want to be modern. But we are not western.
There's no effective difference between 'modern' and 'western'. India understands that. Japan understands that. Singapore understands that.
Effectively, there is no contradiction between modernity and Islam, and that is what people dont understand a lot. Dubai is the best example of that.
Because they're becoming the most western ...
The research consisted of interviews, focus groups and surveys conducted with nearly 8,000 people in 10 predominantly Muslim countries: Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Jordan and Turkey.
While the study did find that there are certain traits such as identification with religion over nation and strong emphasis on family that unite all Muslim consumers, it also broke each countrys population into social and cultural groups that could help marketers target them better. These included religious conservatives, societal conformists, pragmatic strivers, liberals and New Age Muslims.
One of the most surprising findings, according to the researchers, was where actual religious conservatives lived. This group was defined as extremely religious individuals who do not approve of gender interaction, expect others to follow religious practices and override their personal choices for religious beliefs. They were also described as anti-media and information averse.
The study found that Saudi Arabia, the country traditionally thought of as being among the most religiously conservative in the world, actually had less than 20 per cent of its population fall into this category. In contrast, Jordan, often thought of as a relatively liberal country, had nearly half its population fall into the religious conservative category. This is the discovery that astonished us, Mr Haddad said. Egypt and Jordan are the two highest proportions of religious conservatives. It is not where we thought we would find them, in Pakistan or in Saudi.
I must say I'm rather surprised as well.
Saudi instead had a large proportion of its population fall into the New Age Muslim category. These were defined as religious individuals who do not expect others to follow religious practices, believe in societal progression and support female empowerment and gender equality. They were described as pro-media and aware of the potential advantages of the internet.
Because this category tended to be both affluent and receptive to media, it represented a huge potential market for brands, Mr Haddad said. People are really underestimating how important this sector is and how fast its growing.
As an example, he pointed to the halal food market, a US$580 billion (Dh2.13 trillion) sector, according to a 2007 Forbes report, but which is not served by a single global halal food brand. As a result, Muslims in the US spend $16bn a year on kosher food, which is also halal more than the countrys Jewish population. There are opportunities here that no one is tackling, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/23/2008 01:04 ||
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#1
Rantburg Halal Foods.
We can fund this here website with our enemies monies.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/23/2008 2:19 Comments ||
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Ironically, Saudi Arabia would make complete sense using common "western" labels. More than anything else, they could be called truly "conservative", that is, averse to disruptive change; and also "classical liberal", in gradually wanting more equal rights and fairness.
A superb example of this was their attitude towards democratic elections. In a move they thought was very daring, they decided to hold a single, very limited election for a dull local government office, basically a planning and zoning board.
Security was intense, with both the police and army on stand by, in case there were riots or a revolution offered to topple the government. But, not surprisingly, the election was dull, dull, dull. Turnout was less than expected, the vote wasn't even close. Greeted with yawns all around.
And the public voted just a tad more conservative than what the government had appointed before.
The leaders were thrilled! This democracy stuff isn't so bad after all. We should very carefully try some more of it sometime.
This is the Saudi attitude through and through, except for the minority of wild haired fanatics.
#4
I suspect the Religious Police are the world's best recruits for religious tolerance. Everywhere the Virtue and Vice police are used, everybody can't wait to be left alone.
One of my strongest memories was when Kabul was liberated, and all the men lined up at the barber shops to get their beards shaved. They were all giddy with joy.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/23/2008 13:41 Comments ||
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President-elect Barack Obama yesterday outlined his plan to create 2.5 million jobs in coming years to rebuild roads and bridges and modernise schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars.
Using which auto companies?
2.5 million jobs would be less than a 2% gain in employment today, given that we have about 145.5 million people employed in the previous quarter. We create more jobs than what he's proposing in a good year without any government intervention.
He'll take credit for the ones that would have happened anyway. This guy has 'public image over substance' down to an art.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2008 00:00 ||
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We create more jobs than what he's proposing in a good year without any government intervention.
But, those are real jobs, not phony-baloney gummint make work jobs...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/23/2008 1:02 Comments ||
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#2
Yes. Another New Deal on the way. 'Creating' jobs by taking the peoples money on giving it to someone else.
He's not planning this because he thinks its good for the economy.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
11/23/2008 1:03 Comments ||
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#6
I got taught that FDRs government largesse fixed the depression rather than the truth that FDR made the 1930s recession into a depression.
Posted by Bright Pebbles
Not so at our house. As a kid I was certain my father had some type of mental condition regarding FDR. His dislike for the man was, well lets just say vehement, like none other. Author Amity Shlaes' new book The Forgotten Man pretty much vindicates my father's view on FDR. History has been re-written on a few other as well.
#7
Easy - more bureaucracy. Paper pushers who occupy a desk and do not create wealth but consume it, let alone make endless regulations out of fantasy that inhibit wealth creation.
#13
And if it happens, the media will laud him and his policies for it, much unlike they ever did for the millions of jobs created during the Bush administration.
#14
My dad, a union member who actually LIVED THROUGH the Depression, also hated FDR. He told me that Roosevelt's policies made things worse, not better, when I was 12 years old - 1958. Dad had to support a family of 10 during the Depression, because my grandfather had a log wagon roll over him and left him bed-ridden for two years. He hated FDR and the Roosevelt Democrats. I don't know how he voted, but I'm sure there were times when he didn't vote for the Democratic office seaker.
Roosevelt forcefully unionized all the railroads in 1943, "because of the war". They're still unionized today, and the "war"s been over for 60+ years. Roosevelt the Socialist. I do expect OBambi to follow in his footsteps, just not last anywhere near as long.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/23/2008 14:23 Comments ||
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President-elect Barack Obama yesterday outlined his plan to create 2.5 million jobs in coming years to rebuild roads and bridges and modernise schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars.
I haven't been able to find any details, or even an outline, of a plan. Does anybody know where this plan has been posted?
Posted by: ed ||
11/23/2008 15:30 Comments ||
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#17
Plan???? Plan????? We don't need no stinkin' plan. We have hope, and change, and love, and all kinds of float-in-the-air of goodness adjectives. Man, this political nitrous oxide is going to produce one hell of a hangover when the tank runs out of gas......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2008 15:34 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
(SomaliNet) U.S. Ambassador James McGee said almost 300 people have died of cholera in Zimbabwe as shortages of food and clean drinking water worsen and the country's health system collapses. 
(SomaliNet) The European Parliament on Thursday asked the UN Security Council to take urgent action to address the deteriorating situation in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). 
Six people are dead after gunmen burst into a Tijuana bar popular with university students and opened fire. The local Public Safety Department says witnesses reported that three people dressed in black rushed into Bar Utopia and started shooting without saying a word.
Nicaragua's opposition is pressing on with a bid to cancel disputed elections despite a presidential decree declaring that effort unconstitutional.
President-elect Barack Obama yesterday outlined his plan to create 2.5 million jobs in coming years to rebuild roads and bridges and modernise schools while developing alternative energy sources and more efficient cars.
