 People in southern Somalia are starting to die from thirst in the worst drought in over 40 years in some parts of the country, says aid agency Oxfam. Oxfam says assessment teams found seven people who died of dehydration, and that tens of thousands are now at risk. People are surviving on the equivalent of three glasses of water a day, in temperatures of over 40C (100F). Oxfam reports an almost unprecedented situation, where people beg for water along the sides of the road. All surface water has gone, boreholes are running dry, and people are walking up to 70km (45 miles) in search of water. The 830 ml available per person per day has to be used for drinking, cooking and washing. "The situation is as bad as I can remember. Some people are dying and children are drinking their own urine because there is simply no water available for them to drink," Somali village elder Abdullahi Maalim Hussein told Oxfam. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 09:43:00 02-16-06
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 Israel considers new clampdown on Palestinians |
Israel's Defense Ministry recommended on Thursday barring all Palestinians from working in Israel and from traveling between Gaza and the West Bank once a Hamas-led parliament is sworn in, government officials said. The ministry also recommended that Israel squeeze the Palestinian Authority financially by immediately stopping all tax revenue transfers and by exerting pressure on international donors to freeze all but humanitarian assistance. The proposed crackdown, which acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was expected to consider on Friday, would take effect next week after Hamas becomes the majority party in the Palestinian parliament. Israel's goal would be to undermine Hamas, winner of the January 25 Palestinian election, and increase pressure on the Islamic militant group to renounce violence and recognize the Jewish state....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1627155
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Editor - 09:35:00 02-16-06
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| Iraq calls on US to hand over Iraqi detainees |
Iraq's human rights minister called on U.S.-led forces on Thursday to hand over all Iraqi inmates at U.S.-run prisons to the Iraqi government, a day after more damaging images of prisoner abuse emerged. "We are very worried about the Iraqi detainees in Abu Ghraib," Zuhair al-Chalabi told Reuters. "The multinational forces and the British forces should hand them over to the (Iraqi) government." "This is a very dangerous issue that the Iraqi government should review," said Chalabi, who was nominated as minister last year but whose appointment has not been ratified as the parliament elected in December has not yet convened. "The Iraqi government should move immediately to have the prisons and the prisoners delivered to the ministry of justice." ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1627156
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Editor - 09:32:00 02-16-06
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| Thai PM escapes business inquiry |
A Thai court has refused to open an inquiry into claims Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra broke conflict of interest rules. A group of 28 senators had alleged Mr Thaksin kept control of his family's telecoms giant, Shin Corp, after he sold his shares to his family in 2001. The court ruled eight to six against an inquiry, citing inadequate evidence. Mr Thaksin has faced calls to resign since his family sold its stake in the company last month. The sale, which netted the family members and others $1.9bn, has angered many urban Thais, who complained the family avoided paying tax and passed control of an important national asset to Singaporean investors. One of the judges, Jumpol na Songkhla, told Reuters news agency that the allegations - that Mr Thaksin influenced government policy to help the company he built - were not detailed enough. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4718700.stm
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Editor - 09:29:00 02-16-06
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| UN report sparks row over demand to close Guantanamo |
A group of top UN human rights experts today urged the United States to shut down its Guantanamo Bay detention centre "without further delay" because it violates key fundaments of international law including the prohibition on torture. The call came in a report by five independent experts who act as monitors for the UN Human Rights Commission. The report disputes the US definition of some 500 detainees at the naval base on Cuba as "enemy combatants" and argues that that President Bush's War on Terror has no basis in international law."The United States Government should close the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities without further delay," the experts say in their recommendations. "Until the closure, and possible transfer of detainees to pre-trial detention facilities on United States terroritory, the Government should refrain from any practice amounting to torture or cruel, inhuman or ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2043364,00.html
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Editor - 09:24:00 02-16-06
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| Death toll up to 19 in Iraqi attacks |
Iraq's Interior Ministry has launched an investigation into claims that a police death squad has been operating in the country, a top official said Thursday. Attacks around the country killed at least 19 people, including six Iraqis in a car bombing and three sheiks in a drive-by shooting. Iraq Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari also condemned the latest images of detainees abused in the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison in 2003, but noted that those responsible had already been punished.The investigation into the death squads was announced as police found the bodies of 12 more men who had been shot execution-style and dumped in three different areas of Baghdad's predominantly Shiite suburb of Shula.Maj. Gen. Hussein Kamal, Iraq's deputy interior minister in charge of domestic intelligence, said the investigation followed U.S. military claims that soldiers had detained 22 Iraqi men wearing police uniforms who were about to kill a Sunni Arab man last month....
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2006-02-16-iraq_x.htm?csp=34
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Editor - 09:08:00 02-16-06
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