Common Dreams
Niger Hit by 'Double Disaster' of Drought, Floods
LONDON – Aid agency Oxfam warned Tuesday of a "double disaster" for millions of people in Niger where heavy rains and flooding are compounding food shortages caused by a prolonged drought.
The United Nations says more than seven million people are facing starvation in Niger -- more than half the population -- following the drought, and Oxfam says the few crops that survived are now being destroyed by floods.
Egg Recall Drives Worried Customers to Farmers Markets
Jackie Dearing of Bloomington, Ill., sold all of her 50 dozen eggs at the local farmers market on Saturday, including carton after carton to new customers worried about a large and growing salmonella scare linked to millions of grocery store eggs.
"Almost everybody who came to our booth mentioned it," said Dearing, whose family runs Dearing Country Farms, a small-scale meat and poultry business. "Anytime something like this happens, people think a lot more about where their food comes from."
Danish Warship Blocks Greenpeace Arctic Oil Protest
A Greenpeace ship protesting against deep sea drilling by a British oil firm in the Arctic has been confronted by a Danish warship, and its captain threatened with arrest.
The Danish navy has warned Greenpeace that the Esperanza will be boarded by armed personnel if it breaches a 500-metre exclusion zone around two wells drilled off Greenland by the Edinburgh-based oil firm Cairn Energy.
Israel's Choice is Settlements or Peace, say Palestinians
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories - Israel must chose between "settlements or peace," Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said on Monday ahead of the September 2 restart of negotiations in Washington.
"The choice of the Israeli government is settlement or peace, they cannot have both," he said at a news conference in Ramallah, the political capital of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
But he also said he believed agreement could be reached within one year.
"We think it is doable."
GOP: Staunch Defenders of Constitution... When It Suits Them
WASHINGTON - Republican Rep. Paul Broun of Georgia won his seat in Congress campaigning as a strict defender of the Constitution. He carries a copy in his pocket and is particularly fond of invoking the Second Amendment right to bear arms.
But it turns out there are parts of the document he doesn't care for - lots of them. He wants to get rid of the language about birthright citizenship, federal income taxes and direct election of senators, among others. He would add plenty of stuff, including explicitly authorizing castration as punishment for child rapists.
Pro-Environment Groups Outmatched, Outspent in Battle Over Climate Change Legislation
It was supposed to be their time.
With significant majorities in Congress, a president promising action and favorable public opinion all on their side, many environmentalists believed their political stars had properly -- and finally -- aligned.
Sensing the unique opportunity to address global warming on a national scale, environmental interest groups poured considerable capital into federal lobbying expenditures in an effort to topple their significantly more wealthy foes in the energy industry whose political standing appeared uncharacteristically wobbly.
As Floodwaters Recede, Anger Grows in Northwest Pakistan
CHARSADDA, Pakistan - In the village of Drab Korona in northwest Pakistan, Sirajuddin returned to where his house had stood to salvage what he could. What he found was just a shallow muddy pool.
"This was our house," the 30-year-old Sirajuddin, who goes by only one name as is common in the region, said as he pointed to the puddle.
In northwest Pakistan, some villagers are returning home after the massive flooding only to find destruction and an absence of government help.
Obama Plays Down Plan for Post-2011 Iraq Troop Presence
WASHINGTON - When the Barack Obama administration unveiled its plan last week for an improvised State Department-controlled army of contractors to replace all U.S. combat troops in Iraq by the end of 2011, critics associated with the U.S. command attacked the transition plan, insisting that the United States must continue to assume that U.S. combat forces should and can remain in Iraq indefinitely.
But the differences between the administration and its critics over the issue of a long-term U.S. presence may be more apparent than real.
US Military 'Overwhelmed' by Mental Health Problems of Soldiers
FORT HOOD, Texas - Nine months after an Army psychiatrist was charged with fatally shooting 13 soldiers and wounding 30, the nation's largest Army post can measure the toll of war in the more than 10,000 mental health evaluations, referrals or therapy sessions held every month.
Nowhere Near Ground Zero, But No More Welcome
MURFREESBORO, TENN. -- For more than 30 years, the Muslim community in this Nashville suburb has worshipped quietly in a variety of makeshift spaces -- a one-bedroom apartment, an office behind a Lube Express -- attracting little notice even after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Dems Urge Obama to Take a Stand
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs's recent complaint about the ingratitude of the "professional left" is a small symptom of a larger problem for President Barack Obama: He has left wide swaths of the Democratic Party uncertain of his core beliefs.
Outrage at UN Decision to Exonerate Shell for Oil Pollution in Niger Delta
A three-year investigation by the United Nations will almost entirely exonerate Royal Dutch Shell for 40 years of oil pollution in the Niger delta, causing outrage among communities who have long campaigned to force the multinational to clean up its spills and pay compensation.
Combat Brigades in Iraq Under Different Name
As the final convoy of the Army's 4th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, based at Fort Lewis, Wash., entered Kuwait early Thursday, a different Stryker brigade remained in Iraq.
Soldiers from the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division are deployed in Iraq as members of an Advise and Assist Brigade, the Army's designation for brigades selected to conduct security force assistance.
WikiLeaks' Assange Hits Out at 'Rape Smears'
Julian Assange, the secretive founder of WikiLeaks, the website behind the biggest leak of US military documents in history, was the subject of conspiracy theories last night after prosecutors withdrew a warrant for his arrest in connection with rape and molestation allegations.
On Friday a spokeswoman for the Swedish prosecutors' office in Stockholm confirmed an arrest warrant for Assange had been issued in absentia and urged him to "contact police so that he can be confronted with the suspicions".
Hamid Karzai: U.S. Taxpayer-Funded Private Contractors Engaging In Terrorist, Mafia-Like Activity
Afghanistan's embattled president Hamid Karzai said on Sunday that U.S. taxpayers were indirectly funding "mafia-like groups" and terrorist activities with the American government's support of private contractors inside his country.
Colombia: The Violent "Agrarian Counter-Reform" Conspiracy
BOGOTA, Colombia - An unknown number of agribusiness owners and public employees at all levels, as well as far-right paramilitaries, have a common link with rural people who have been forced off their farms or killed in Colombia: the land stolen from the latter group in the armed conflict.
Support Builds for Boycotts Against Israel, Activists Say
WASHINGTON - In May, rock legend Elvis Costello canceled his gig in Israel. Then, in June, a group of unionized dock workers in San Francisco refused to unload an Israeli ship. In August, a food co-op in Washington state removed Israeli products from its shelves.
Dejected Palestinians See No Hope in Peace Talks
RAMALLAH, West Bank - A resumption of Middle East peace talks inspires little hope among Palestinians who say the prospect of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel seems no more than a dream.
"There has been a lot of talk of peace, but we have seen no results. We no longer have hope," said 30-year old Luay Kabbah, who was still at school when Palestinian and Israeli leaders first began talking peace nearly two decades ago.
Michael Moore Praises Bradley Manning, Suspected WikiLeaks Source
HAGERSTOWN, Md. -- Michael Moore, the Oscar-winning filmmaker, will contribute $5,000 to help defend the Army private suspected of leaking classified documents to an Internet whistle-blower from serving time in prison.
A champion of liberal and left-wing causes, Moore told The Associated Press in a telephone interview he also hopes to make the public understand that Pfc. Bradley Manning exposed what Moore called "war crimes."
"He did a courageous thing and he did a patriotic thing," Moore said.
Iran Begins Loading Fuel at its Bushehr Nuclear Reactor
The operation to load fuel into Iran's first nuclear power station has begun amid nationwide celebration.
Russian engineers will operate the Bushehr plant in southern Iran, supplying its nuclear fuel and taking away the nuclear waste.
At the inauguration of the plant today, the head of the Iran's atomic energy organisation, Ali Akbar Salehi, said it demonstrated that the country's nuclear aims were entirely peaceful - an assertion that the US questions.