Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki
Has A
Sock-Puppet
CENTCOM
Who Knew!
Iran given two-week deadline to end the nuclear impasse
Julian Borger in Geneva
The Observer,
Sunday July 20, 2008
Iran was given a fortnight to agree to freeze its uranium enrichment programme yesterday or face further international isolation.
After a day of inconclusive talks in Geneva, a six-nation negotiating team warned the Iranian delegation that it had run out of patience and demanded a ‘yes or no’ answer to a proposal it put forward five weeks ago.
Under that offer, sponsored jointly by the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China, Iran would not expand its uranium enrichment programme, while the international community refrained from imposing further sanctions. This phase would last six weeks, possibly paving the way for suspension of enrichment and more comprehensive talks.
Somali Killings of Aid Workers Imperil Relief
By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN
Published: July 20, 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya – At a time of drought, skyrocketing food prices, crippling inflation and intensifying street fighting, many of the aid workers whom millions of Somalis depend on for survival are fleeing their posts – or in some cases the country.
They are being driven out by what appears to be an organized terror campaign. Ominous leaflets recently surfaced on the bullet-pocked streets of Mogadishu, Somalia’s ruin of a capital, calling aid workers “infidels” and warning them that they will be methodically hunted down. Since January, at least 20 aid workers have been killed, more than in any year in recent memory. Still others have been abducted.
USA
Obama Gets Look At Afghan War Zone
Iraqi Leader Backs 16-Month Pullout Plan, Magazine Reports
By Candace Rondeaux and Dan Balz
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, July 20, 2008; Page A01
KABUL, July 19 — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama got his first look at deteriorating conditions in war-torn Afghanistan on Saturday, meeting with U.S. military commanders and local officials and touring part of the country by helicopter on the first day of a highly anticipated visit abroad that drew a fresh rebuke from Republican rival John McCain.
Obama, traveling as part of an official congressional delegation, landed in the Afghan capital on Saturday morning under tight security amid a surge of Taliban activity in recent weeks.
