| Burundi: Peace Process Hampered By Political Crises - UN Report
Ban also voices concern over the worsening overall security situation and ongoing human rights violations. Welcoming the appointment of an inclusive Government earlier this month, he commended President Pierre Nkurunziza "for the leadership and the flexibility in ending the political crisis that had heightened tensions and delayed the implementation of key peace consolidation tasks." To meet high expectations - both national and international - the new Government must endeavour to address the challenges Burundi faces in its reconstruction efforts, the report notes. In July, the Palipehutu-FNL, the last major rebel hold-out group, withdrew from the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism set up to monitor a ceasefire it signed with the Government last year. "There is an urgent need for the resumption and early implementation of the comprehensive ceasefire agreement within an overall political framework that addresses the concerns of the Government and FNL," Mr.
Snow Day in the Sands of Baghdad
An Iraqi who works for The Associated Press said he woke his wife and children shortly after 7 a.m. to "have a look at this strange thing." He then called his brother and sister and found them awake, also watching the "cotton-like snow drops covering the trees." For a couple of hours anyway, a city where mortar shells routinely zoom across the Tigris River to the Green Zone became united as one big White Zone. There were no reports of bloodshed during the snowstorm. The snow showed no favoritism as it dusted neighborhoods Shiite and Sunni alike, faintly falling (with apologies to James Joyce) upon all the living and the dead. .
Feed the Minds asks Christians to support female literacy for Lent
Christian international development charity Feed the Minds (FTM) is appealing to the Christian community to lend its support to female literacy for its 2008 Lent Appeal. The charity currently supports literacy projects within 20 countries across the Globe, designed to help women gain basic literacy skills that will benefit the individuals, their families and wider community. One such project is based in Afghanistan, where under the Taliban regime there was no female education, girl's schools were burned down and women were forbidden to work. Today, women's literacy in the country stands at only 12.5 per cent. Feed the Minds has developed literacy programmes centred on health and hygiene, with the most vulnerable in society, such as orphans or widows, selected to participate.
Houston Chronicle
Fighting delinquency is now a national priority and a duty," Calderon said. Bloodshed continuesHe has made the crackdown on Mexico's drug gangs a cornerstone of his 13-month-old administration. But while the campaign has scored some notable successes � including the seizure of more than 40 tons of U.S.-bound cocaine and other narcotics � it so far has failed to stanch the bloodshed. Two federal police officers were killed Tuesday night in an ambush by suspected drug traffickers in Reynosa, on the Rio Grande near McAllen. On Monday, soldiers and police killed three suspected narco-gunmen in Rio Bravo, a small city 12 miles down river from Reynosa. Despite the dispatch of thousands of police and soldiers to several violence-plagued areas last year, underworld rivalries killed more than 2,500 people across Mexico, about the same as in prior years.
Lost scholarships upset governor
College students who fail to maintain a "B" average shouldn't necessarily lose their lottery scholarships, Gov. Phil Bredesen said. How to spend lottery profits is expected to be one of the top issues in the General Assembly this year. Democrats favor giving students a break on grades needed to retain their HOPE lottery scholarships, and Republicans want to keep the current academic standards. .
Catharsis, Schmatharsis!
Faster Party-Switching? Maybe the polls showing an unprecedently rapid Dem gain in party I.D. are wrong, as Michael Barone suggests. Or maybe party I.D. is just one more thing that's moving faster these days. 12:09 A.M. Hot New House Polls: A new wave of 41 Majority Watch robo-polls** shows Dems leading outside the margin of error in 222 seats, leading by less in 18 more--for a likely Democratic gain of 19-39 seats. ... P.S.: See also Mystery Pollster's seemingly scientific "mashup" of the two most recent Majority Watch polls, revealing a continued, if small, Democratic gain for the month of October. ... P.P.S.: How does MP's calculation, which adds up voters in 30 contested House districts, differ from that Greenberg/Roper/NPR poll kf sniped at a couple of weeks ago? That's easy.
Nihangs display martial valour
Jasvir Singh, a Sikh student who was expelled from a public school in France for wearing turban, his mother Surjit Kaur and his brother Karamvir Singh have come to Punjab to seek help of Sikh politicians and religious leaders. They met Sikh high priests yesterday at Anandpur Sahib. They also sought help of people of Punjab in this connection by joining a brief protest held by Nihangs and other Sikhs to seek the quashing of ban on wearing turban in French public schools. Mr Karamvir Singh, elder brother of Jasvir Singh, talking to The Tribune on phone from Jalandhar, said today that the turban issue had not been resolved yet. Sikh students wearing turbans were not allowed admission to public schools where education is provided free of cost. Ms Surjit Kaur said Jasvir Singh, who was rusticated from the school along with Vikramjit Singh, Ranjit Singh, Gurjot Singh and Gurmolak Singh in France for wearing turbans in the school, was now studying through correspondence.
The enigma of Day-Lewis
It has already won him critics' awards, a nomination for a Golden Globe and talk of a second Oscar to go with the one for My Left Foot. All three New York Times movie critics chose him last week as their top candidate to win best actor this year. People do cling to the 'mad bastard' stereotype of him, Day-Lewis acknowledges, as we settle in front of the fire. He laughs, a self-deprecating, chuckle at the irony of it all. 'How can you be a recluse,' he asks, 'in a house full of children, even if you had the inclination to be, which I don't? ' Before we go any further I should declare an interest. I've been in this house before, when researching a biography of Day-Lewis's father, the Anglo-Irish poet laureate Cecil Day-Lewis. We talked at length about the family history as Daniel went about his domestic routine, even offering at one stage to take me for a spin on one of his beloved motor bikes.
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