May 9, 2010
AFGHANISTAN
Sixty-six people have died and hundreds of houses and livestock destroyed by torrential rains and flash floods hitting northern and western Afghanistan. These casualties are added more than 200 lives lost earlier this year in heavy avalanches.
AF/PAK
May 9, 2010
PAKISTAN
Ten people (est.) have died in a “suspected U.S. drone attack” in northwest Pakistan. …“The U.S. stepped up drone attacks on suspected Pakistan Taliban sites after a Jordanian suicide bomber last December killed seven CIA employees at a U.S. base across the border in the eastern Afghan province of Khost.” When speaking publicly, Pakistani officials reject the CIA’s drone attacks maintaining that these attacks violate Pakistan’s sovereignty, fuel anti-U.S. feelings and complicate its efforts against Taliban fighters.
May 8, 2010
AFGHANISTAN
As the United States pours thousands more troops into Afghanistan leading into its surge in the southern province of Kandahar and Afghan president Hamid Karzai prepares his visit to the United States, the Taliban late last week announced its imminent cross-country launch of a new offensive, “‘operation Al Fatah (the Arabic word for victory).’” Since their administration was “overthrown” by a 2001 U.S.-led invasion, the Taliban has waged a nine-year war against the Afghan president’s “Western-backed government.”
GULF IN THE AMERICAS - oil
May 9, 2010
GULF OF MEXICO
Energy Company BP using a 100-ton steel-and-concrete box attempting to contain the oil spill from a broken well deep in the Gulf of Mexico has failed. “Ice-like crystals encrusted the walls of the box on Saturday forcing crews to repeal their attempts to stop the leak.”
Since the oilrig Deepwater Horizon exploded on April 20, blowing open the well and triggering a major environmental crisis and killing eleven workers, an estimated 800,000 liters (211, 338 gallons) of oil have been spewing into the Gulf daily. This disaster has been documented as the biggest oil spill in the United States since the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska.
Height of stupidity
People from around the world ─ including French, English, Spaniards, Brazilians, Australians, Canadians and U.S. Americans ─ are reported giving their hair, their pets’ fur, and their tights “to make booms and mats to mop up the oily mess spewing out of the sunken BP-leased Deepwater Horizon oil platform which is lying on the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico.” There is of course a non-profit “charity” leading this public display of ridiculousness.
May 8, 2010
Dry JORDAN
A sewage treatment plant scheduled for completion in 2011 will use water previously flowing into the Jordan River and cause the river to dry up. In earlier times, 1.3 billion metric cubes (roughly 264 billion gallons) flowed annually through the Jordan River. Filled with edible fish, the Jordan was 25 meters (82 feet) wide and edged with willow trees and poplars.
Middle East WALLS
May 7, 2010
IRAQ
The Iraqi defense ministry plans to build a ‘security fence’ made of concrete, topped by security cameras and other monitoring devices around Baghdad to prevent anti-government fighters from entering the Iraqi capital. This wall said to be “necessitated by demographic rather than security concerns …would prevent Sunni Arabs from entering Baghdad. … Construction is expected to conclude in mid-2011. … American forces in 2008 built a massive concrete wall to seal off Sadr City, the largely Shia neighborhood in Baghdad dominated by Muqtada al-Sadr.”
May 9, 2010
PALESTINE: GAZA
An international aid convoy bound for the Gaza Strip is carrying tons of relief material. Six hundred activists are accompanying the convoy ‘Freedom Flotilla,’ the biggest internationally coordinated effort to challenge directly Israel’s blockade of Gaza. Israel reportedly has threatened to attack the convoy.
Casualty sites reporting
May 9, 2010 (accurate totals unknown, usual reporting not updated)
• Anti-war dot com casualties in Iraq starting March 19, 2003: Since January 20, 2009 inauguration: 169 dead; 31,790-100,000 wounded; 320,000 U.S. veterans with brain injuries; 18 suicides a day [May 8 update], http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/
• Iraq Body Count: documented civilian deaths from violence 96,098 – 104,826, http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
• ICasualties IRAQ: 4,397 U.S, 4,715 Coalition; AFGHANISTAN: 1,061 U.S., 1,752 Coalition http://icasualties.org/oif/
Sources
“Flash floods killed 66 I Afghanistan,” May 9, 2010, http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100508/twl-afghanistan-floods-575b600.html
“Deaths in Pakistan ‘missile attack,’” May 9, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/05/20105951012381927.html
“Taliban threatens Afghan offensive.” May 8, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/05/201058134216275432.html
“BP attempt to stem oil spill frails,” May 9, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/05/20105933123168789.html
“Hair, fur, nylons join fight to hold back U.S. oil spill,” May 10, 2010, http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20100509/tts-us-blast-oil-energy-pollution-animal-972e412.html
“Jordan River ‘to run dry next year,’” May 9, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/focus/2010/05/20105510484475825.html
“Iraq mulls Baghdad ‘security fence,’” May 7, 2010, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/05/20105713839458573.html
“Israel threatens Gaza-bound aid convoy,” May 9, 20109, http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=125926§ionid=351020202
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