Calif. wildfires force residents to evacuate
State of emergency declared for Santa Cruz County
Associated Press
DAVENPORT, Calif. – Fire crews fanned out Friday across a parched California where wind-whipped wildfires have forced hundreds of people to flee their homes and led to an emergency declaration in Santa Cruz County.In the Santa Cruz Mountains, the Lockheed Fire has blackened 6.5 square miles of remote wilderness and prompted mandatory evacuations of the mountain communities of Swanton and Bonny Doon, which have about 2,400 residents and several wineries.
Inside the Taliban: ‘The more troops they send, the more targets we have’
In the first of a series of exclusive reports in the run-up to next week’s Afghan elections, award-winning correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad meets a group of Taliban in their mountain stronghold
In the first of a series of exclusive reports in the run-up to next week’s Afghan elections, award-winning correspondent Ghaith Abdul-Ahad meets a group of Taliban in their mountain stronghold
The Guardian, Saturday 15 August 2009
The provinces of Khost, Paktia and Paktika in south-eastern Afghanistan are dominated by one name: Jalaluddin Haqqani. A famous commander, tribal chief and cleric, Haqqani came to prominence during the war against the Soviets. In more than 20 years of fighting, he built an extensive network of influence that covered eastern Afghanistan and the tribal area of Waziristan in Pakistan, and reached as far abroad as the Gulf states, which he visited often.Once a minister in the Taliban government, he is now aligned with their leader, Mullah Omar, but has retained independence and control over his men. His operations have struck deep into the territory controlled by Hamid Karzai’s government, reaching targets in Kabul. The movement’s signature attack is well co-ordinated and includes several suicide bombers, who storm into buildings before detonating their bombs.
USA
Retailers See Slowing Sales in Back-to-School Season
By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM
Published: August 14, 2009
Halfway through the back-to-school shopping season, retail professionals are predicting the worst performance for stores in more than a decade, yet another sign that consumers are clinging to every dollar.
Fears about the job market have resulted in sluggish customer traffic over the last few weeks, spurring the gloomy sales projections. Parents who do shop are aggressively trading down, informing status-conscious teenagers that notebooks from the dollar store or shirts from Costco will have to do this year.
Obama Pushes Insurance Reforms
As He Hits the Road, President Finds Few Openings to Confront Critics of Plan
By Michael D. Shear
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 15, 2009
BELGRADE, Mont., Aug. 14 — President Obama on Friday promised a new era of protections against insurance companies that drop customers when medical crises hit and said people who already have coverage would be among the biggest beneficiaries of his plans to revamp the health-care system.
Eager to address criticism of Democratic plans for health-care reform, Obama traveled here and spoke at a campaign-style town hall meeting, the kind of forum where his allies in Congress have faced boos and jeers from skeptical constituents in recent days.
Middle East
Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour
Saeed Kamali Dehghan on love and the censor
Saeed Kamali Dehghan Saturday 15 August 2009
When a story comes to an Iranian writer’s mind, he or she is doomed to think of two different versions: the story as it is, and a bowdlerised version that might avoid the scissors of official censorship. The latter is the one that will be submitted to the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance, which vets all books before publication; but this is just the begiIn his first novel to be translated into English, Shahriar Mandanipour, who moved to the US in 2006 but had previously published dozens of stories in Iran, puts both versions in one book. nning of the odyssey for the poor writer.
In his first novel to be translated into English, Shahriar Mandanipour, who moved to the US in 2006 but had previously published dozens of stories in Iran, puts both versions in one book.
Sixteen dead as Hamas and radical Islamists clash in Gaza
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
Saturday, 15 August 2009
Islamist radicals from a pan-Arab group defied the Hamas rulers of Gaza yesterday by declaring an “Islamic emirate”, prompting clashes that killed 16 gunmen.Although Jund Ansar Allah (“Warriors of God”) rallied only a few hundred men for an event at a Gaza mosque, it marked a clear challenge to Hamas’s nationalist brand of Palestinian Islam by groups espousing a pan-Arab militancy aligned with al-Qa’ida.
It was followed by clashes between Hamas policemen and supporters of the leader of the movement in the southern town of Rafah, near the Egyptian border.
Medical workers said 16 gunmen, including at least three Hamas policemen, were killed and about 85 people injured.
Hamas said its gunmen stormed the movement’s stronghold, including the mosque where Abdel-Latif Moussa – known to followers by the al Qaeda-style nom de guerre Abu al-Nour al-Maqdessi – had announced before weekly prayers the start of theocratic rule in the Gaza Strip, starting at Rafah.
Asia
Karzai’s secret U-turn on Afghan rape law
President sneaks through legislation without approval of parliamentBy Jerome Starkey in Kabul
Saturday, 15 August 2009
A law that lets Afghan husbands starve their wives if they refuse to obey their sexual demands has been quietly slipped into effect, despite promises from Afghanistan’s President, Hamid Karzai, that it would be reviewed and rigorously debated in the country’s parliament.Women’s activists have accused the President of abandoning human rights in a bid to appease hardline clerics who support the law, in exchange for votes in the presidential elections next week.
Mr Karzai ordered a wide-ranging review of the legislation after The Independent revealed that it negated the need for consent within marriage, effectively condoning rape.
British POWs snubbed as Japan apologises to US veterans
British prisoners of war condemned the Japanese government after it offered US veterans a full apology and invited them to visit the country while ignoring the plight of those from the UK.
By Julian Ryall in Tokyo
Published: 9:26PM BST 14 Aug 2009
Ichiro Fujisaki, Japan’s ambassador to Washington, apologised for the “tragic experiences” of the American survivors of the Bataan Death March, in which 20,000 US servicemen died after Imperial forces overran their defensive positions in the Philippines in April 1942.Speaking at a gathering of survivors in Texas, he invited them to attend memorial events and stay in the homes of Japanese people during an official visit next year. “We extend a heartfelt apology for our country having caused tremendous damage and suffering to many people, including prisoners of war, those who have undergone tragic experiences in the Bataan Peninsula, in Corregidor Island in the Philippines and other places,” he said.
Africa
Al-Megrahi’s release ‘would free BP’ to join the rush for Libya’s oil
From The Times
August 15, 2009
Robin Pagnamenta, Energy Editor
The release of the Lockerbie bomber from prison would liberate Britain’s largest industrial company from a string of problems hampering its $900 million (£546 million) Libyan gas projects, industry sources claimed last night.BP, the oil giant, signed a deal with Libya in 2007 to explore for gas in the west of the country and offshore. But since then it has faced a string of bureaucratic obstacles, including delays securing official permits and approvals to import equipment through Libyan customs, the sources said.
They added that BP’s work programme, conducting geological studies on the Sitre basin, an offshore block the size of Belgium, had been hit by delays securing official paperwork for the next scheduled phase of work.
Court gives bail to Congo’s Bemba
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has ordered the conditional release of Congolese ex-Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba ahead of his war crimes trial.
The BBC
However, the court said he would not be freed until it was decided which country would host him.Mr Bemba, who led a rebel group during the Democratic Republic of Congo’s civil war, was arrested in Belgium last year and extradited to The Hague.
The charges relate to unrest in the Central African Republic.
Mr Bemba says his troops were not under his command once they crossed the border into CAR to help then-President Ange-Felix Patasse put down a coup attempt in 2002.
After a peace deal in DR Congo in 2003, Mr Bemba laid down his arms and joined an interim government as vice-president.
Europe
War baby Daniel Rouxel’s struggle for recognition of his French-German origins
From The Times
August 15, 2009
Adam Sage in Le Mans
Daniel Rouxel’s childhood was marked by his grandmother, who beat him and shut him in the hen coop; by his priest, who refused him Communion; and by the scorn and insults of his teacher.A little blond boy, he was a pariah in the small French village where he grew up, and it was through the playground taunts of his classmates that he discovered why. “Fils de Boche!” they shouted, which translates loosely as “Son of Jerry!”
In occupied France during the Second World War, Mr Rouxel was the fruit of a love affair between a young Breton woman and the handsome German officer who stopped to help her to put her bicycle chain back on.
Medvedev Decries Chechen Killings
Capturing Those Behind Deaths in Region Is ‘Paramount,’ President Says
By Philip P. Pan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, August 15, 2009
MOSCOW, Aug. 14 — Russian President Dmitry Medvedev declared Friday that the capture of those responsible for the recent killings of three Chechen human rights workers should be the “paramount task” of the nation’s security services.Medvedev also appeared to signal dissatisfaction with Chechnya’s Kremlin-appointed strongman, Ramzan Kadyrov, a former rebel warlord who has been accused of terrorizing the population.
“I think this is a challenge for the Chechen leadership,” Medvedev said at a news conference in the Black Sea resort of Sochi after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.