May 2012
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9,000 displaced in Somalia violence →
At least 9,200 people have been displaced in a fierce battle raging between the coalition forces and the insurgents near the Somali capital, the UN refugee agency said here Saturday.
The fighting erupted in Afgooye, a stronghold of the Al-Shabaab insurgent group, some 30 km from Mogadishu. People have fled to Mogadishu, Lower Shabelle and Lower Juba regions to avoid the fighting, the UNHCR...
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“This appalling and brutal crime, involving indiscriminate and disproportionate...”
– UN leader Ban Ki-moon and UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan have condemned a massacre of more than 90 civilians in Syria as an “appalling and brutal” breach of international law.
Ban and Annan “condemn in the strongest possible terms the killing, confirmed by United Nations...
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“This is a sad day”
– Dr Jim Swire, father of Lockerbie victim who believes Megrahi was innocent.
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Israel warned of volatile situation as Palestinian... →
Tony Blair urges action and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas fears potential ‘disaster that no one could control’
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Egypt's first presidential election TV debate –... →
Egypt hopes to break new ground in Arab election coverage with its first-ever presidential television debate airing tonight.
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April 2012
24 posts
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“I don’t believe in a leadership that makes decisions based on messianic...”
– Israel ex-security chief Yuval Diskin, says leadership ‘misleading public’ on Iran. The comment follows remarks by other leading figures contradicting the prime minister and defence chief’s views on the subject.
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Francois Hollande wins round one in French poll →
Socialist challenger Francois Hollande has won the first round of the French presidential vote, setting himself up for a May 6 runoff with right-wing incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy.
Estimates of the result broadcast on Sunday as polls closed gave Hollande 28.4 per cent, Sarkozy 25.5 per cent and the far-right’s Marine Le Pen 20 per cent.
Le Pen’s surprisingly strong show could throw...
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“There is no chance of any survivors. It will be only a miracle. The plane is...”
– A Pakistani airliner with 127 people on board crashed in bad weather as it came in to land in Islamabad, scattering wreckage and leaving no sign of survivors. The Boeing 737 of Bhoja Air was on its way from Karachi to Islamabad when it came down near a village outside Islamabad’s international...
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“I was nearly shot in the back as I was walking down the street, not by a...”
– In a brazen demonstration of its ability to hit some of the best defended targets in Kabul, the Taliban mounted its largest ever co-ordinated attack in 11 years of resistance to Afghanistan’s post-2001 rulers. Wazhma Frogh, a high profile Afghan MP, who was caught up in the attacks near the...
Egypt bars key candidates from elections →
Election panel excludes 10 presidential hopefuls, including Muslim Brotherhood candidate and ex-spy chief Omar Suleiman.
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LIVE VIDEO: Charges announced in Trayvon Martin... →
breakingnews:
Florida state attorney is expected to announce charges against George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin shooting death case at 6 p.m. EDT. Watch live on breakingnews.com. An official tells AP Zimmerman will be charged with second-degree murder.
Zimmerman has turned himself in and is in police custody, CNN reports.
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“After our armed forces completed successful operations in combating the criminal...”
– Syria will end military operations on Thursday, state TV has said, the day a ceasefire brokered by the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria is scheduled to come into effect.
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ShortFormBlog: Death toll in Syria soars prior to... →
shortformblog:
100+ Syrians killed today, in advance of ceasefire source
» The reports are unverified, to be clear. Which means we suppose the number could be a bit higher, or a bit lower. That can feel like a coldly academic way to examine this, we admit, considering how many people have already…
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Why don't black Americans swim? →
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“Iran has the scientific and technological capability to produce [a] nuclear...”
– The statement by Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam is the first time an Iranian politician has publicly stated that the country has the knowledge and skills to produce a nuclear weapon. via Guardian
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“Despite the Syrian government’s acceptance of the joint special...”
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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday that violence against civilians had not stopped and the year-long conflict was getting worse. Fierce clashes have been reported between Syrian government forces and opposition fighters in Douma, near the capital Damascus, and in other parts of the...
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“Senegal’s only resource is the sea. One in five people work in the...”
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The west African coast has some of the world’s most abundant fishing grounds, but they are barely monitored or policed, and wide open to legal and illegal plunder. According to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, all west African fishing grounds are fully or over-exploited to...
March 2012
43 posts
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