Tag: Docudharma Times

The National And International

Nightmare Ends Today

Hamas joins fragile Israeli ceasefire

• Mubarak calls summit to secure end of fighting

• Death toll tops 1,300 as UN humanitarian team goes in

Ian Black, Middle East editor, Nick Watt in Sharm el-Sheikh

The Guardian, Monday 19 January 2009

Hamas followed Israel into agreeing a fragile ceasefire yesterday, ending three weeks of heavy fighting in the Gaza Strip, as Arab and European leaders scrambled to agree lasting arrangements to prevent a new outbreak of hostilities.

The Palestinian Islamist movement said it would give Israel a week to withdraw its troops and tanks from the territory, but Israel retorted that it would decide when to leave. “The operation is not over,” said a military spokeswoman. “This is only a holding of fire.”

Seventeen rockets were fired into Israel, three of them after the Hamas statement. But Israeli army officials confirmed last night that some ground forces had started to pull out, while the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, said: “We are interested in quitting the Gaza Strip at the greatest possible speed.”

U.S. economy may sputter for years

Unemployment could be worse than now by the time President-elect Barack Obama’s first term ends.

By Peter G. Gosselin

January 19, 2009

Reporting from Washington — Transfixed by the daily spectacle of dismal economic news and wild Wall Street swings, few Americans have looked up to see what a wide array of economists say lies beyond the immediate crisis.

And with good reason: The picture isn’t pretty.

The sleek racing machine that was the U.S. economy is unlikely to return any time soon despite the huge repair efforts now underway. Instead, it probably will continue to sputter and threaten to stall for years to come.

The prospects are so gloomy, according to a recent study, that unemployment may be slightly higher by the time President-elect Barack Obama’s first term ends.

USA

More Joining American Military as Jobs Dwindle



By LIZETTE ALVAREZ

Published: January 18, 2009

As the number of jobs across the nation dwindles, more Americans are joining the military, lured by a steady paycheck, benefits and training.The last fiscal year was a banner one for the military, with all active-duty and reserve forces meeting or exceeding their recruitment goals for the first time since 2004, the year that violence in Iraq intensified drastically, Pentagon officials said.

And the trend seems to be accelerating. The Army exceeded its targets each month for October, November and December – the first quarter of the new fiscal year – bringing in 21,443 new soldiers on active duty and in the reserves. December figures were released last week.

Just Two More Days

And Bush Is Gone

Israel calls a halt to its assault on Gaza

• Hamas ‘to fight on’ after ceasefire

• Olmert says war aims ‘fully attained’

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem

The Observer, Sunday 18 January 2009

Israel called a halt to its bombardment of Gaza last night after winning American and European pledges of support to shut down the Hamas weapons supply pipeline.

The Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, in effect declared Hamas was broken, saying that its power is diminishing. “The conditions have been created that our aims, as declared, were attained fully, and beyond,” he said in a televised address. “The campaign has proven Israel’s power and strengthened its deterrence.”

But Hamas said it would keep fighting for as long as Israeli troops remained in Gaza. “A unilateral ceasefire does not mean ending the aggression and ending the siege,” a spokesman said. “These constitute acts of war, so this will not mean an end to resistance.”

Rupert Cornwell: Obama: In the footsteps of Abraham Lincoln

Out of America: Barack Obama prepares to swear on Tuesday to ‘preserve, protect and defend’ the constitution of the US, but so much more rests on his shoulders. Can he fulfil the huge expectations?

Sunday, 18 January 2009

America is living a strange and magical moment. In a fickle universe, US presidential inaugurations are a quadrennial rock of predictability, like leap years and the football World Cup. But never has there been one quite like the inauguration this week of Barack Obama.

The event is always a republican version of a coronation, quasi-ecclesiastical even as it flaunts its populist trappings. But when Obama takes the oath of office at noon on Tuesday from John Roberts, the Chief Justice, the occasion will be far more, a beacon of hope in a tempest of fear. The closest in modern times was in 1961, when John F Kennedy brought hope and renewal. But back then the country was not terrified, merely jaded, in an era when the fundamentals of American civilisation seemed immutable.

USA

Poll Finds Faith in Obama, Mixed With Patience



By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MARJORIE CONNELLY

Published: January 17, 2009

President-elect Barack Obama is riding a powerful wave of optimism into the White House, with Americans confident he can turn the economy around but prepared to give him years to deal with the crush of problems he faces starting Tuesday, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News Poll.

While hopes for the new president are extraordinarily high, the poll found, expectations for what Mr. Obama will actually be able to accomplish appear to have been tempered by the scale of the nation’s problems at home and abroad.

Chesley B. Sullenberger

You Are The Man

All 155 Escape Jet’s Plunge Into Hudson



By ROBERT D. McFADDEN

Published: January 15, 2009

A US Airways jetliner with 155 people aboard lost power in both engines, possibly from striking birds, after taking off from La Guardia Airport on Thursday afternoon. The pilot ditched in the icy Hudson River and all on board were rescued by a flotilla of converging ferries and emergency boats, the authorities said.

What might have been a catastrophe in New York – one that evoked the feel if not the scale of the Sept. 11 attack – was averted by a pilot’s quick thinking and deft maneuvers, and by the nearness of rescue boats, a combination that witnesses and officials called miraculous.

Japan’s Outcasts Still Wait for Society’s Embrace



By NORIMITSU ONISHI

Published: January 15, 2009

KYOTO, Japan – For Japan, the crowning of Hiromu Nonaka as its top leader would have been as significant as America’s election of its first black president.

Despite being the descendant of a feudal class of outcasts, who are known as buraku and still face social discrimination, Mr. Nonaka had dexterously occupied top posts in Japan’s governing party and served as the government’s No. 2 official. The next logical step, by 2001, was to become prime minister. Allies urged him on.

But not everyone inside the party was ready for a leader of buraku origin. At least one, Taro Aso, Japan’s current prime minister, made his views clear to his closest associates in a closed-door meeting in 2001.

“Are we really going to let those people take over the leadership of Japan?” Mr. Aso said, according to Hisaoki Kamei, a politician who attended the meeting.

USA

Bank of America gets $20 billion more from U.S.

The federal government also agrees to share losses on $118 billion of the company’s assets.



Reporting from Washington and New York — Months after the worst of the financial crisis seemed to have passed, fears of debilitating losses for the nation’s banks returned to the forefront Thursday on Wall Street and in Washington.

The federal government said late Thursday night that it had agreed to invest an additional $20 billion in Bank of America Corp. and to share losses on $118 billion of the company’s assets.

The announcement came after a Senate vote gave President-elect Barack Obama access to the second half of the government’s $700-billion financial rescue fund.

Earlier in the day, traders pounded financial stocks on growing worries about the sector and on market rumors that Citigroup Inc. or Bank of America — or both — could even be nationalized.

Bush/Cheney Legacy Tour

Lie Lie Lie

Israel continues offensive in Gaza while truce talks provide optimism

Air and ground assault encircles Gaza City as negotiations in Egypt moot ceasefire proposal

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 15 January 2009 07.55 GMT

Israel kept up its intense air and ground operations in Gaza today, even as the first signs of progress towards a ceasefire emerged from Egyptian-led negotiations.

Israeli forces were reported to be closing in on the outskirts of Gaza City, forcing thousands more Palestinians to flee their homes. Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks fired shells at least three high-rise buildings in downtown Gaza City.

It is not clear whether this morning’s offensive marks another major escalation in the conflict or a brief foray – so far Israel has avoided sending grounds troops into the heart of Gaza City.

One in five Guantanamo Bay detainees is on hunger strike

From The Times

January 15, 2009

Tim Reid in Guantanamo Bay

Nearly a fifth of the detainees held at Guantánamo Bay have gone on hunger strike with the aim of attracting the attention of Barack Obama, military officials have told The Times. Most of them are being force-fed.

Of the 248 inmates inside the detention facility, 44 are refusing food – but 33 of those are receiving nutrition with tubes that are forced up their noses and into their stomachs.

On election night, according to one official, news of Mr Obama’s win spread across the prison facility even though no inmates had access to television that evening, and chants of “Obama! Obama! Obama!” erupted throughout the complex.

USA

Bank Losses Complicate U.S. Rescue

Pressure Grows on Obama to Allocate More Money for Distressed Financial Firms

By David Cho, Binyamin Appelbaum and Lori Montgomery

Washington Post Staff Writers

Thursday, January 15, 2009; Page A01

A new wave of bank losses is overwhelming the federal government’s emergency response, as financial firms struggle with the souring U.S. economy, the rapid deterioration of global markets and the unexpectedly high costs of shotgun mergers arranged by federal officials last year.

The problems are intensifying the pressure on the incoming Obama administration to allocate more of the $700 billion rescue program to financial firms even as Democratic leaders have urged more help for distressed homeowners, small businesses and municipalities. Senior Federal Reserve officials said this week that the bulk of the money should go to banks.

Bush Holds His

Final Press Conference And

Lies Out His…… He Also Acts Like A Spoiled Child

Israeli forces step up offensive as UN chief tours



By Nidal al-Mughrabi, Reuters

Tuesday, 13 January 2009

Israeli forces tightened their hold on the outskirts of the city of Gaza today as United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon pressed for a ceasefire in the fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants.

In clashes on the edges of the city, Israeli forces killed 12 gunmen, some of them Hamas members, medical workers said.

“We are tightening the encirclement of the city,” Brigadier General Eyal Eisenberg told reporters touring Israeli positions.

UN Secretary-General Ban was heading to the region for a week of talks with leaders in Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Syria aimed at ending the bloodshed.

“My message is simple, direct, and to the point: the fighting must stop. To both sides, I say: Just stop now,” Ban told reporters before his departure.

As more Chinese lose jobs, protests grow bolder

Economic woes shining a light on social issues

By Ariana Eunjung Cha

BEIJING – For months, the Communist Party had been able to deflect anger about factory closings toward the companies themselves. The party managed to come off as the benevolent savior by handing out cash to make up for unpaid salaries. The strategy stopped working at the Jianrong Suitcase Factory in late December.

When offered 60 percent of their wages to disband their protest and go home, the workers pushed back at riot police sent to keep them locked in their factory compound in the southern Chinese city of Dongguan. According to several witnesses, more than 100 irate workers broke through the cordon, some shouting, “There are no human rights here!”

USA

Obama’s Plan to Close Prison at Guantánamo May Take Year



By WILLIAM GLABERSON and HELENE COOPER

Published: January 12, 2009

President-elect Barack Obama plans to issue an executive order on his first full day in office directing the closing of the Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba, people briefed by Obama transition officials said Monday.

But experts say it is likely to take many months, perhaps as long as a year, to empty the prison that has drawn international criticism since it received its first prisoners seven years ago this week. One transition official said the new administration expected that it would take several months to transfer some of the remaining 248 prisoners to other countries, decide how to try suspects and deal with the many other legal challenges posed by closing the camp

Joe the Plumber  I don’t think journalists should be anywhere allowed war.

Joe the Plumber Should Be Nowhere Near Journalism

‘Soon we’ll have nowhere left to run. Nowhere in Gaza is safe’

Our correspondent and pregnant wife forced to flee Israeli onslaught

By Fares Akram in Gaza city

Monday, 12 January 2009

We’ve left our home. Like 60,000 other Gazans, we’ve taken our belongings and fled. Once again, we’ve become displaced people. Soon, there will be nowhere to run to, since nowhere in Gaza is safe. In the early hours of Saturday, the bombing got louder and closer to our home, and the rattle of machine-gun fire became more intense. The tanks were not far off.

As I lay in the dark, I heard the sound of small-arms fire and voices in the street outside. Since the Israeli offensive began, our city streets have been deserted during the hours of darkness; even the dogs that usually annoy us with their all-night barking have vanished.

Crisis in Gaza Imperils 2-State Plan

NEWS ANALYSIS

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN

Published: January 11, 2009

CAIRO – With every image of the dead in Gaza inflaming people across the Arab world, Egyptian and Jordanian officials are worried that they see a fundamental tenet of the Middle East peace process slipping away: the so-called two-state solution, an independent Palestinian state coexisting with Israel.

Egypt and Jordan fear that they will be pressed to absorb the Palestinian populations now living beyond their borders. If Israel does not assume responsibility for humanitarian aid in Gaza, for example, pressure could compel Egypt to fill the vacuum; Jordan, in turn, worries that Israel will try to push Palestinians from the West Bank into its territory.

USA

In His Emphasis on Economy, Obama Is Looking to History

POLITICAL MEMO

By ADAM NAGOURNEY and JIM RUTENBERG

Published: January 11, 2009

WASHINGTON – It is still a week before he takes office, yet President-elect Barack Obama is everywhere: on the Sunday talk shows, on radio and YouTube, on Capitol Hill, drawing on the techniques he employed during the campaign and lessons from predecessors as he seeks to shape public attitudes about the economic downturn.

His aides said Mr. Obama had studied the way Franklin D. Roosevelt approached the first 100 days of his presidency, and in particular had seized on the notion of Roosevelt having a “conversation with the American public” to try to prepare it for a difficult time. He has, aides said, even looked at the words Roosevelt used and the tone he struck.

Commission To Investigate Torture?

Which Means That The Investigation Will Go No Where  

U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site



By DAVID E. SANGER

Published: January 10, 2009

WASHINGTON – President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials.White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to goad the White House into more decisive action before Mr. Bush left office. But the Bush administration was particularly alarmed by an Israeli request to fly over Iraq to reach Iran’s major nuclear complex at Natanz, where the country’s only known uranium enrichment plant is located.

Behind the lines with the Taliban

A Times writer joins Taliban fighters in an especially dangerous part of Afghanistan. The men appear to have no fear of troops, and prove to be gracious hosts.

By Paul Watson

January 11, 2009

Reporting from Ghazni, Afghanistan — The main highway is “enemy territory” for the Taliban, a busy two-lane road where U.S. troops race down the middle, trying to steer clear of suicide bombers. The guerrillas drive it like they own it.

Grinning with contempt at a convoy of Polish troops trying to plow its way through traffic the other day, three Taliban fighters with guns and long knives concealed under their heavy woolen cloaks calmly eased into the other lane and beat the jam.

USA

Obama Stresses Plan’s Job Potential

Advisers See Nearly 4 Million Positions Saved or Created

By Perry Bacon Jr.

Washington Post Staff Writer

Sunday, January 11, 2009; Page A01

Facing increased skepticism from both parties about the details of his economic stimulus proposal, President-elect Barack Obama and his team yesterday laid out new claims regarding the $775 billion package, saying that 90 percent of the jobs produced would be in the private sector, including hundreds of thousands in construction and manufacturing.Obama used his weekly radio address to continue his pre-inaugural campaign to build momentum for passage of the stimulus package, saying: “The jobs we create will be in businesses large and small across a wide range of industries.

Bush The Liberator

The Liberator Who Liberated Nothing  

Oil giant comes in from the cold

Exxon funded global warming denial for years. Yesterday, in an astonishing U-turn, it called for the imposition of green taxes.

By Stephen Foley in New York

Saturday, 10 January 2009

The boss of ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, has called for a carbon tax to tackle global warming, marking a volte-face by the firm once described by Greenpeace as Climate Criminal No 1. Assailed from all sides by scientists and a new cadre of US politicians, led by the President-elect, Barack Obama, the landmark concession by Rex Tillerson represents a nod to realpolitik after years when the company denied the existence of man-made global warming.

Exxon had already dropped its funding of lobby groups which deny the science of climate change and begun to take a softer public line, but even Mr Tillerson admitted that propounding a carbon tax had stuck in the craw until recently. However, with European-style “cap and trade” rules governing carbon emissions moving up the agenda in the US, a carbon tax may be the least worst option, he said. Environmental groups gave a sceptical response to Exxon’s U-turn, calling it a deliberate attempt to torpedo the movement for outright carbon caps and any early switch to alternative energy.

Plan to Jump-Start Economy With No Manual



By EDMUND L. ANDREWS and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Published: January 9, 2009

WASHINGTON – The fresh evidence on Friday of the economy’s downward spiral focused even more attention on two questions: Is the stimulus package being pushed by President-elect Barack Obama big enough? And will the component parts being assembled by Congress provide the most bang for the buck?

With the Federal Reserve having just about reached the limit of how much it can help the economy with cuts in the interest rate, Washington’s ability to end or at least limit the recession depends in large part on the effectiveness of the big package of additional spending and tax cuts that Mr. Obama has made the centerpiece of his agenda

USA

Obama Under Pressure On Interrogation Policy

Some See Harsh Methods as Essential

By Michael Abramowitz, Joby Warrick and Walter Pincus

Washington Post Staff Writers

Saturday, January 10, 2009; Page A01

President-elect Barack Obama introduced his nominees to head his national security team on Friday. But now Obama begins a perilous balancing act to fulfill his pledge to make a clean break with the detention and interrogation policies of the Bush administration while still effectively ensuring the nation’s security.

Obama named retired Navy Adm. Dennis C. Blair director of national intelligence and former congressman and White House chief of staff Leon E. Panetta as his CIA director.

Mitch McConnell Thinks The

Stimulus  Package Should Be Targeted Towards

The Rich And Corporations As Usual  

Obama camp ‘prepared to talk to Hamas’

Incoming administration will abandon Bush’s isolation of Islamist group to initiate low-level diplomacy, say transition sources

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington

guardian.co.uk, Friday 9 January 2009 03.18 GMT

The incoming Obama administration is prepared to abandon George Bush’s doctrine of isolating Hamas by establishing a channel to the Islamist organisation, sources close to the transition team say.

The move to open contacts with Hamas, which could be initiated through the US intelligence services, would represent a definitive break with the Bush presidency’s ostracising of the group. The state department has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation, and in 2006 Congress passed a law banning US financial aid to the group.

The Guardian has spoken to three people with knowledge of the discussions in the Obama camp. There is no talk of Obama approving direct diplomatic negotiations with Hamas early on, but he is being urged by advisers to initiate low-level or clandestine approaches, and there is growing recognition in Washington that the policy of ostracising Hamas is counter-productive.

War in Gaza: Israel accused of shelling house full of children

From Times Online

January 9, 2009

Times Online

The United Nations has cited witnesses accusing Israeli troops of evacuating scores of Palestinians – including children – into a house in Gaza on Sunday and then shelling the property 24 hours later, killing approximately 30 people.

Just hours after calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the UN cited witnesses of the alleged attack in the house in Zeitun, an eastern Gaza city neighbourhood.

The UN said that “according to several testimonies, on January 4, Israeli foot soldiers evacuated approximately 110 Palestinians into a single-residence house in Zeitun (half of whom were children) warning them to stay indoors. 24 hours later, Israeli forces shelled the home repeatedly, killing approximately 30”.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) described it as “one of the gravest incidents since the beginning of operations” by Israeli forces in Gaza on December 27.

USA

Senate Allies Fault Obama on Stimulus



By PETER BAKER and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

Published: January 8, 2009

WASHINGTON – President-elect Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan ran into crossfire from his own party in Congress on Thursday, suggesting that quick passage of spending programs and tax cuts could require more time and negotiation than Democrats once hoped.

Senate Democrats complained that major components of his plan were not bold enough and urged more focus on creating jobs and rebuilding the nation’s energy infrastructure rather than cutting taxes.

Just hours earlier, Mr. Obama called for speedy passage of the stimulus measure, warning that the recession “could linger for years” if Congress did not pass his plan within weeks.

Will Peace Ever Come To

Gaza?

No One Seems In A Hurry To Provide Such An Outcome  

Rockets fired from Lebanon hit northern Israel

Israeli forces return fire after four rockets land near Nahariya, raising fears Gaza conflict could spread

Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem

guardian.co.uk, Thursday 8 January 2009 07.54 GMT

At least four rockets were fired from Lebanon into northern Israel today, leading the Israeli army to return fire and raising fears that the conflict in Gaza could spread.

The exchanges came as Israeli air strikes destroyed several houses in the town of Rafah, on Gaza’s southern border, today after what Palestinians said was one of the heaviest nights of bombing since the conflict began 13 days ago.

Intense artillery strikes and waves of aerial bombardment, were reported across the Gaza Strip.

China’s dairy industry took deadly shortcuts to growth

Milk was an unpopular product only a generation ago, and then business executives and the government pushed its consumption. Some couldn’t compete and cheated.

By Barbara Demick

January 8, 2009

Reporting from Xingtang, China — Like many Chinese peasants of his generation, 53-year-old Wang Zhengnian had never seen a cow until he reached adulthood. He certainly never drank a glass of milk.

The fact that Wang now spends his days tending 400 cows on a farm near Beijing says a lot about the way China created a dairy industry out of thin air. But in their haste, the Chinese made mistakes that left six babies dead and hundreds of thousands ill from tainted milk.

Milk is not part of the traditional Chinese diet. Most Chinese adults are lactose-intolerant and many are repelled by the smell of dairy products.

But in the 1990s, economic planners decided that dairy cows were a quick way to improve rural incomes, particularly in northern provinces such as Hebei, Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang with cool climate, flat terrain and lack of other economic prospects. To encourage consumption, the propaganda machine spread the word that children needed to drink milk to grow as strong and tall as Westerners.

USA

Lawmakers and Financial Experts Question Obama’s Tax Cuts



By Shailagh Murray

Washington Post Staff Writer

Thursday, January 8, 2009; Page A02

At least two tax cuts that are part of Barack Obama’s stimulus package have been criticized by lawmakers, tax experts and economists for being potentially too expensive and ineffective, signaling that they are likely to face resistance on Capitol Hill as congressional leaders begin direct negotiations with the president-elect’s team.

Both Democrats and Republicans have questioned a provision that would provide a $3,000 tax credit to companies for every job created and, possibly, for every job spared. They contend that the idea would be ripe for abuse and difficult to administer.

Important News From The AP:

The Color Of Sasha Obama’s Backpack. Now Back To Our Regularly

Scheduled Programing  

Gaza now in ‘full-blown’ humanitarian crisis

Red Cross warns 500,000 civilians in danger; Israel rejects calls for truce

Associated Press

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip – Gaza is now in a “full-blown” humanitarian crisis, a senior international Red Cross official said Tuesday as Israeli ground forces edged closer to major population centers.

International Committee of the Red Cross head of operations Pierre Kraehenbuehl said the situation for Palestinian civilians is “extreme and traumatic as a result of 10 days of uninterrupted fighting.”

He said ICRC staff in Gaza told the neutral body Tuesday that the previous night was “the most frightening of all to date” on account of the ground offensive Israel has launched in the Palestinian territory.

Israel looks to drive out Hamas

• Officials push for regime change

• Islamist party ‘fatally damaged’

• Both sides reject calls for ceasefire

Chris McGreal in Jerusalem

The Guardian, Tuesday 6 January 2009

Israeli intelligence and military officials are increasingly pushing for the assault on Gaza to continue until it assures the eventual downfall of Hamas amid assertions that the 10 days of military bombardment have crippled the Islamist party’s ability to govern.

As the onslaught progresses, officials are more confident of “changing the equation” in Gaza and are predicting the collapse of the Hamas administration.

Last night, Israeli forces bombed the centre of Gaza, and there were reports of intense clashes with Hamas fighters on the edge of the city. But the fighting and the occupation of parts of the north and centre of the Gaza Strip did not stop Hamas from firing more than 40 rockets into Israel.

Ex-Detainee of U.S. Describes a 6-Year Ordeal



By JANE PERLEZ, RAYMOND BONNER and SALMAN MASOOD

Published: January 5, 2009

LAHORE, Pakistan – When Muhammad Saad Iqbal arrived home here in August after more than six years in American custody, including five at the military prison at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, he had difficulty walking, his left ear was severely infected, and he was dependent on a cocktail of antibiotics and antidepressants.

In November, a Pakistani surgeon operated on his ear, physical therapists were working on lower back problems and a psychiatrist was trying to wean him off the drugs he carried around in a white, plastic shopping bag.

The maladies, said Mr. Iqbal, 31, a professional reader of the Koran, are the result of a gantlet of torture, imprisonment and interrogation for which his Washington lawyer plans to sue the United States government.

USA

Panetta Chosen as C.I.A. Chief in Surprise Step



By MARK MAZZETTI and CARL HULSE

Published: January 5, 2009

WASHINGTON – Leon E. Panetta, a former congressman and White House chief of staff, has been selected by President-elect Barack Obama to head the Central Intelligence Agency. The choice, disclosed Monday by Democratic officials, immediately revealed divisions in the party as two senior lawmakers questioned why Mr. Obama would nominate a candidate with limited experience in intelligence matters.

The job was the last unfilled major post for Mr. Obama, who has criticized the agency for using interrogation methods he characterized as torture. Democratic officials said Mr. Obama had selected Mr. Panetta for his managerial skills, his bipartisan standing, and the foreign policy and budget experience he gained under President Bill Clinton.

So, George H. W. thinks Jeb Should Be President.

Enough I Say.

One Is All The World Can Take.  

Israeli troops and Hamas fighters clash in Gaza City



Rory McCarthy in Jerusalem

guardian.co.uk, Monday 5 January 2009 07.20 GMT

Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants fought gun battles in the streets of Gaza City for the first time this morning,with Israeli troops going house to house searching for Hamas fighters.

The fighting came as Israeli tanks and troops seized control of large parts of the Gaza Strip, dividing the territory and forcing tens of thousands of people to flee their homes as the death toll mounted under relentless artillery and gunfire.

Some of the heaviest fighting was reported to be east of Gaza City, in the Zeitoun district, where three Palestinian children were killed by an Israeli tank shell. Several others were wounded, according to Palestinian medical officials.

In Eastern Europe, Lives Languish in Mental Facilities

MEMO FROM PRAVDA

By MATTHEW BRUNWASSER

Published: January 4, 2009

PRAVDA, Bulgaria – The name of this isolated spot in the lush Danube plains means justice or, in Russian, truth.

But little of either seems to have penetrated the home for men with mental disabilities and illnesses here, a bleak establishment reached most easily by a bone-jarring, six-hour ride from Sofia, the capital.

In the Communist era, this is where authorities hid the mentally ill from public view. Today, the Pravda Social Care Home for Men with Mental Disorders, a small complex of scrappy, two-story buildings, is still a favored destination for city folk to send away relatives with a mental illness or disability – and not worry about hearing from them again, employees and residents here say.

USA

Senate Appointee in Illinois Vows to Fight On



By KAREN ANN CULLOTTA and MONICA DAVEY

Published: January 4, 2009

CHICAGO – In a raucous sendoff at a church on this city’s South Side, Roland W. Burris, the contested appointee for the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, vowing on Sunday night to cordially but aggressively fight efforts to block him from joining the chamber when he arrives in Washington this week.

Senate leaders have said they intend to prevent the seating of Mr. Burris, given his appointment last week by this state’s embattled governor, Rod R. Blagojevich. Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said on Sunday that the Senate had the legal right to bar Mr. Burris from the new session, which begins Tuesday.

As Senate leaders continued to weigh their options over what they say is an appointment tainted by Mr. Blagojevich, a two-term Democrat who was charged last month in part with trying to sell the Senate seat, Mr. Burris’s allies here stood firmly behind him.