Docudharma Times Friday August 8

Let The Smog Alert

Olympics Begin

Don’t Forget Those

Masks

On the brink of historic change, but will China see the light?

James Lawton on a momentous day for Beijing – and the world

Friday, 8 August 2008

China, the nation that invented fireworks, will today write in the smoggy sky above this ancient city an extraordinary statement of belief in its future – and its defiance of an ever-increasing tide of international criticism.

There will never have been such a show – or such dramatic symbolism – when the 29th summer Olympics opens in the futuristic “Bird’s Nest” stadium. With another batch of protesters cleared away from Tiananmen Square, and the United States President and arch critic, George Bush, one of 80 watching heads of state, the button will be pressed on the ultimate pyrotechnic spectacular.

Gates Pushing Plan to Double Afghan Army



By THOM SHANKER

Published: August 7, 2008

WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates will endorse a $20 billion plan to substantially increase the size of Afghanistan’s army and will also restructure the military command of American and NATO forces in response to the growing Taliban threat, senior Pentagon and military officials said Thursday.

Taken together, the two decisions are an acknowledgment of shortcomings that continue to hinder NATO- and American-led operations in Afghanistan. With the war in Iraq still an obstacle to any immediate American troop increase in Afghanistan, the plan was described by officials as an attempt to increase allied and Afghan capabilities in advance of deploying the additional American brigades that Mr. Gates and his commanders agree are necessary.

The additional American troops are unlikely to be available until next year.

USA

The New York bodega fights for its life

Julio Pimentel is trying not to let his neighborhood shop become one of the many that have been forced to close — victims of high prices, both for rent and the food they sell.

By Erika Hayasaki, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer

August 8, 2008  

NEW YORK — The 7 a.m. sun gleams off the windows of this East Harlem bodega, as its owner, Julio Pimentel, unlocks the door and steps behind the counter that separates him from customers. He switches on a fan and tunes the radio to a Spanish station, and merengue awakens the humid morning.

It is Friday, Aug. 1. Rent is due, and Pimentel does not know if he can pay.

He spends $3,300 a month to lease the bodega. When he took over the small grocery eight years ago, monthly rent cost $1,500.

Pimentel surveys the shelves. He’s running low on popular items: grape-flavored Kool-Aid mix, Goya honey, Starbursts, Cheez Doodles, applesauce, sunflower seeds.

Hillary Clinton’s slur unearthed to hurt Obama

· Footage of dig at ex-rival used in advert for McCain

· Bitter primary fight comes back to haunt Democrats

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

The Guardian,

Friday August 8 2008

The Democrats’ acrimonious primary battle came back to haunt Hillary Clinton yesterday, a day before she sets off on her first solo campaign swing for Barack Obama, with John McCain using footage of her attacking the Democratic candidate in a new campaign ad.

The ad, which was released on the internet, features a number of Democratic leaders – including Obama – offering praise for McCain. But only Clinton, who is the closing speaker, goes so far as to take a jab at Obama, in footage culled from one of her primary rallies.

Asia

By the look of things, Beijing is losing its battle against smog



By Tim Johnson and Jack Chang | McClatchy Newspapers

BEIJING – In the era of China’s great dynasties, it was believed that emperors could command the heavens at will. They could summon rain when it was needed or clear the skies. China’s ruling Communist Party would love to have similar powers. Clearly, it doesn’t.

A defiant gray pall hung over Beijing on Thursday, one day ahead of the official start of the Summer Olympic Games, and the city’s air-pollution index continued to inch up, as it has all week, despite a series of dramatic measures intended to cut contamination.

Dissident invites Olympic chief to visit jail



 By Clifford Coonan in Beijing

Friday, 8 August 2008  

As Tibet protests rippled around the globe yesterday, one of China’s most prominent dissidents delivered a powerful rebuke to the head of the International Olympic Committee, Jacques Rogge, from his jail cell in Beijing No. 2 prison.

“I have a question for Mr Rogge,” wrote He Depu. “Each time you come to Beijing and see the joyous spectacles here, do you know that just 10 or so kilometres away, Beijing’s political prisoners are suffering immensely for the progress of society and the elevation of human civilisation? Tens of thousands of prisoners in Beijing, each holding a bowl half-full of boiled vegetables, are training their eyes upon you. How does this make you feel?”

Middle East

Israeli officer to stay in army despite shooting

· Soldier charged with unworthy conduct

· Blindfolded Palestinian hit with rubber bullet

Toni O’Loughlin in Jerusalem

The Guardian,

Friday August 8 2008

An Israeli officer involved in the close-range shooting of a blindfolded and cuffed Palestinian man has escaped criminal charges and will remain in the army.

Battalion commander Omri Borberg, who was accused by the army of “severe moral failure”, will be reassigned to another post and will face the relatively minor charge of “unworthy conduct”.

Last month Borberg was recorded on video as he held a Palestinian protester, Ashraf Abu-Rahma, by the arm while another soldier fired a rubber bullet into the captured man’s foot. The shot bruised his toe.

Abu-Rahma had been protesting against Israel’s construction of its barrier on Palestinian land in the West Bank village of Ni’ilin, where the confrontations between Israel’s military and demonstrators have increasingly become violent.

Iraqis: Deal close on plan for US troops to leave  



By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and ANNE GEARAN, Associated Press Writer  

BAGHDAD – Iraq and the U.S. are near an agreement on all American combat troops leaving Iraq by October 2010, with the last soldiers out three years after that, two Iraqi officials told The Associated Press on Thursday. U.S. officials, however, insisted no dates had been agreed.The proposed agreement calls for Americans to hand over parts of Baghdad’s Green Zone – where the U.S. Embassy is located – to the Iraqis by the end of 2008. It would also remove U.S. forces from Iraqi cities by June 30, 2009, according to the two senior officials, both close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and familiar with the negotiations.

Africa

After two months of discord, finally a handshake

In January, one of Africa’s most stable democracies was violently ripping itself apart. How was it saved? In Part 4 of a four-part special report, the key players tell what happened.

By Scott Baldauf  | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the August 8, 2008 edition

Nairobi, Kenya – On Tuesday, Feb. 12, chief mediator Kofi Annan leaves the hotel to address a special session of Kenya’s Parliament, where more than 200 newly elected parliamentarians have gathered for the purpose of getting an update on the peace talks.

The two mediation teams are there, too. Both Mr. Annan and Graça Machel, South Africa’s former first lady, brief the assembly.

“Africa cares. Kenya’s pain is Africa’s pain,” Mrs. Machel tells them. This is a political crisis. It can only be addressed through a political solution.”

We must help gorilla species survive >



By BONNIE ERBE

SYNDICATED COLUMNIS

We’re so used to bad news on the environment that it’s surprising – even thrilling – when good news surfaces. Good environmental news emanated like crazy from the Republic of the Congo this week when scientists released a survey showing there are more – tens of thousands more – endangered western lowland gorillas in that country and in existence than previously thought.

The count was conducted by the Bronx Zoo-based Wildlife Conservation Society and the government of the Republic of the Congo (also called Congo-Brazzaville, to distinguish the country from its larger neighbor, the Democratic Republic of Congo). It showed that the forests and swamps in the country’s north have been hiding more than 125,000 of mankind’s closest primate relatives. This count doubles in number the estimated worldwide population of the species.

Europe

Georgia surrounds rebel capital

Georgian troops are nearing the capital of the separatist region of South Ossetia after a night of heavy shelling and air strikes on rebel positions.

The BBC

Fighting around Tskhinvali resumed just hours after both sides agreed to a ceasefire and Russian-mediated talks.

Georgia says its aim is to finish “a criminal regime” and restore order.

An emergency meeting of the UN Security Council failed to agree on a Russian statement calling on both sides to renounce the use of force.

At least 15 people are reported to have been killed and three Russian peacekeepers are among the wounded. Both sides blame each other for breaking the ceasefire.

Head of Pininfarina is killed



 By Colleen Barry in Milan

Friday, 8 August 2008

Andrea Pininfarina, the chief executive of the Italian car design firm founded by his grandfather, which counts Ferraris and Alfa Romeos among its creations, died yesterday in a road accident near the northern Italian city of Turin.

Pininfarina was driving a scooter along a provincial highway when he struck a car whose driver failed to stop at an intersection, said Luigi Semenzato, the police chief in the town of Trofarello south of Turin. The driver “didn’t see the Vespa coming,” Mr Semenzato told Sky Tg24 television news.

Pininfarina, 51, was the third generation to run Pininfarina SpA, founded in 1930 by his grandfather Battista “Pinin” Farina – who ran together his nickname and last name to create the company’s name and a new surname.

Latin America

Besieged Morales pins hopes on popular vote



 By Rupert Cornwell

Friday, 8 August 2008

Bolivia’s president, Evo Morales, is urging his deeply divided country to come together, two days before a potentially explosive national referendum on whether he and eight powerful regional governors should stay in office.

Sunday’s recall referendum is the latest stage of a struggle pitting Mr Morales, a leftist and the first indigenous leader of a country that is more than 60 per cent American Indian, against the governors and old political establishment, over his attempts to reform the constitution.

The struggle has turned increasingly violent: two people were killed in demonstrations this week and several more injured.