All Blog Posts from World Watch

On Monday, Damascus-based Hamas poured cold water on any imminent deal for the release of an Israeli soldier captured more than three years ago, saying it was still premature to trumpet a happy ending.

Talk of a possible deal has moved to center stage with Israeli media saying that a Hamas delegation was heading to Cairo to discuss the latest list of prisoners Israel is prepared to release in a swap for Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit. Israeli President Shimon Peres heightened speculation after his talks with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Sunday, when he spoke of "real progress" in the negotiations.

"The brouhaha in the media talking about being close to reach an agreement on prisoner exchange deal is purely Israeli leaks designed to influence the feelings of our children, prisoners and their families and to try to pressure and influence on the process of indirect negotiations carried out through the German intermediary," a Hamas statement said. "Hamas will continue its efforts through the competent authority to overcome the obstacles set by the Israeli enemy in the way of completion of exchange … Although we hope to reach an honorable deal for our people as soon as possible, would like to emphasize that it is premature to talk about specific results … or close a deal."

Israeli newspapers said Hamas representatives had already crossed into Egypt from Gaza to meet the German mediator to debate a possible deal for the release of Shalit, captured by Hamas in a 2006 raid near the Israel-Gaza border. The militants tunneled into Israel and attacked an Israeli army outpost, killing two other soldiers.

Read full post…

Eight years after a U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan, the country ranks as the worst place to be born, according to a United Nations report.

The United Nation's Children's Fund, better known as UNICEF, says Afghanistan has the highest infant mortality rate in the world with 257 deaths per 1,000 live births, and 70 percent of Afghans have access to clean water.

Read full post…

Ever since Raul Castro became Cuba’s President in February 2008, people—at home and abroad—have been waiting for changes that would improve living conditions on the island. But the changes have been slow coming and there are indications that when they do take place they might not be the ones hoped for.

For three days this week, the official Communist Party daily, Granma, has front-paged statements made in the 1970s and 80s by former President Fidel Castro. They are all variations on the same theme: too many people being employed to do too little, and low productivity as the bane of the economy. He also warned that at some point there would be more university graduates than openings in their fields and that students should view their degrees as an honor but not necessarily as a ticket to a professional career.

Castro’s statement printed last Tuesday focused on “inflated” payrolls. Inside the same newspaper was an article announcing that the Ministry of Agriculture would be cutting thousands of bureaucratic jobs. Twenty-six percent of their employees - 89,000 people - it said, were office workers resulting in an “excess of unproductive personnel.”

Cubans fear that similar layoffs will come in many other sectors of the economy and that Granma’s publication of Fidel Castro’s views—if dated—on the issue are rather like trying to put the “Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval” on what are bound to be unpopular if necessary measures taken by his younger brother Raul.

Read full post…

Turkey's president has sought to allay Western fears that his country — NATO's only majority-Muslim member — is shifting its affinity from Washington and Europe toward Iran.

Increasing closeness between Turkish leaders and Iran, and Turkey's quest for better ties in the broader Muslim world, have fueled concerns in the West that this key U.S. ally is moving gradually to the East.

But Turkey's president used a speech Monday at the opening of an Islamic nations' summit in Istanbul to try and ease worried Western minds.

President Abdullah Gul told the Organization for the Islamic Conference's Committee for Economic and Commercial Cooperation (COMCEC) that Turkey's foreign policy maneuvers in the West and in the East are "complementary to each other, not contradictory."

Read full post…

Leaders from 48 Islamic states met Monday in Turkey to begin an economic summit which may see its stated purpose overshadowed by some controversial guests, and the decades-old quest for peace in the Middle East.

The one-day gathering drew Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is engaged in a standoff with the West over Tehran's nuclear program, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, on his first trip abroad since being controversially re-elected, and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.

Gul told attendees that the Arab-Israeli conflict is the basis of all conflicts in the Middle East, stressing the need to find a final solution to this issue and end the Israeli occupation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.

Read full post…

The fourth typhoon to lash the Philippines in a month brought pounding rain and winds to the eastern coast early Saturday as it barreled toward Manila along the same path as an earlier storm that has left the capital still partially submerged.

Thousands were evacuated from their homes in the eastern province of Quezon, where Typhoon Mirinae made landfall after midnight, as rains threatened to unleash mudslides.

Reporting from Manila, CBS News' Barnaby Lo says the Philippine government isn't taking chances this time.

Read full post…

Pakistani officials reacted angrily Thursday night to U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s remarks earlier in the day in which she said, she found it "hard to believe" that no one in Pakistan’s government, including the country’s "military security establishment," knew where al Qaeda leaders were hiding.

Left: Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is escorted by Pakistani Rangers at the Iqbal Memorial in Lahore, Pakistan, Oct. 29, 2009. Clinton is on a three-day state visit to Pakistan.

The controversy could overshadow Clinton’s first visit to the country as Secretary of State, especially as her remarks will be seen questioning the sincerity of the influential military, Pakistani officials said.

Read full post…

One hundred years ago Sir Ernest Shackleton attempted to reach the South Pole. He and his companions came within 114 miles of the pole, and he was knighted for his extraordinary achievement. A key element in exploring such a frigid climate at that time was a good supply of whisky. According to a GlobalPost story, a few years ago two cases of Charles Mackinlay & Co. whisky were found stashed under floorboards in a hut at Cape Royds on the Antarctic coast where Shackleton staying in 1909. Next year, conservationists expect to retrieve the cases from their icy tomb.

Read the full story at GlobalPost

Islamic militant movement Hamas, and seven other Damascus-based Palestinian factions, slammed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' decree on Saturday for holding Presidential elections next January as "illegal," accusing the United States of being behind the call which would deepen internal rift.

"The decision of holding elections is neither legal nor legislative and consolidates inter division … it is retraction of the deal reached in previous dialogues", a joint statement by the factions read.

"The U.S. and regional parties are behind this decision that serves neither people's interest nor national unity. Adopting individual decisions comes within the US-Zionist vision that aims to liquidate our people's rights," the statement, obtained by our office in Damascus, said.

Abbas, whose term expired earlier this year, has announced that presidential and parliamentary elections will be held on 24 January across the Palestinian territories, including the rival Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Read full post…

The Alliance of Youth Movements , a non-profit that focuses on effecting nonviolent change through 21st century tools, is holding its second annual Summit in Mexico City this week. The Summit will explore how technology, and the emergence of social networks, can help end violence in Latin America and other regions.

Read full post…