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Showing posts from December 9, 2009

Al Jazeera English - Americas - Ousted president 'to exit' Honduras

Al Jazeera English - Americas - Ousted president 'to exit' Honduras : "The ousted Honduran president, Manuel Zelaya, is to leave the country for exile to Mexico, sources have said. Zelaya, who was forced to leave the country by the Honduran military in a June coup, has been holed up in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital, since he slipped back into the country in September. But a politician close to Zelaya told Reuters on Wednesday: 'He is going to leave the country today. He is leaving of his own will'."

Sa'ada siege 'continues unabated' despite intl calls

Sa'ada siege 'continues unabated' despite intl calls : "The Shia Houthi fighters maintain the siege imposed by Sana'a government on the rugged northern Sa'ada province continues unabated, leaving the residents of the war-torn province bordering Saudi Arabia utterly devastated. Houthi fighters say the government has imposed a siege on the northern city of Sa'ada, preventing people from leaving the city for the past three months. They went on to add that the true extent of the calamity in both Sa'ada City and its governorate is a gross underestimation, due to logistical constraints placed on relief agencies by the fighting. This has accordingly left thousands of civilians on the brink of death due to acute malnutrition, disease, and impoverishment. The development comes as Sana'a has refused to heed UN concerns over the humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged region. Joe Stork, Deputy Director of Human Rights Watch's Middle East and North Africa

Erdogan resists US calls for Iran sanctions, urges diplomacy after meeting with Obama -- latimes.com

Erdogan resists US calls for Iran sanctions, urges diplomacy after meeting with Obama -- latimes.com : "WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama failed to win immediate new pledges of support from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday for U.S. goals toward Iran and Afghanistan. At a news conference after his White House meeting, Erdogan stressed the role of diplomacy in persuading Iran to give up any nuclear ambitions it might have and made clear that Turkey does not see the need yet for new sanctions. Obama has signaled that he may soon seek new sanctions from the United Nations against Iran for its defiance against revealing the extent of its nuclear program. Turkey, is important for U.S. goals as an influential neighbor of Iran and a current nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council. 'I indicated to the prime minister how important it is to resolve the issue of Iran's nuclear capacity in a way that allows Iran to pursue peaceful nuclear energy but

    Iraqi cab driver was source for Iraq WMD claim, British MP says              : Information Clearing House -  ICH

Iraqi cab driver was source for Iraq WMD claim, British MP says : Information Clearing House - ICH : "December 08, 2009 'Raw Story' -- A British parliamentarian claimed in an report published Tuesday that an Iraqi cab driver was the source of an infamous claim made by Prime Minister Tony Blair that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The member of Parliament, a member of the conservative British Tory Party, claims that he was told by a British intelligence official that the claim actually came from an Iraqi taxi driver, and that it was considered highly unreliable but was tacitly backed by Blair's government in public statements anyway. According to the report, the taxi driver worked near Iraq's border with Jordan. The cab driver is said to have made the comments while transporting two British intelligence officers. 'Under pressure from Downing Street to find anything to back up the WMD case, [British intelligence services] were sq