Wednesday, December 31, 2008 07:24 GMT News Wire for dvanhorn News wire of David Van Horn. Sources include: BBC News | Middle East | World Edition, CIR: All New Content, Chemical Weapons Convention Archive, CounterSpin, Democracy Now!, Democracy Now! Blog, Electronic Intifada, Hearsay Culture, Left Out -- Reality-Based Radio, ProPublica: Articles and Investigations, ReliefWeb - OCHA Situation Reports, and Weekly Radio Spin. http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/dvanhorn/rss/ Israelis ponder ceasefire calls A concerted diplomatic drive is under way to try to end Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip and Hamas rocket attacks. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7805558.stm Iraq signs foreign troops deals Iraq signs deals with the UK and Australia for their troops to stay after a UN mandate expires on 1 January, Baghdad says. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7805529.stm Group storms UK embassy in Iran Demonstrators storm the compound of the British Embassy in Iran, the Foreign Office confirms. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7805455.stm Zimbabwe: Donor Funding of Cholera Emergency - 30 Dec 2008 Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EDIS-7MTTSH?OpenDocument&RSS20=22-P Hold on Iraqi suspects' handover The European Court of Human Rights halts a decision to allow two Iraqis accused of murdering British soldiers to be tried in Iraq. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/7805425.stm Wednesday, December 31, 2008 07:24 GMT / Created by RSS2PDF.com Page 1 of 76 Gaza aid boat 'rammed by Israel' A boat taking medical supplies to Gaza has been rammed by the Israeli navy in international waters, activists say. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7805075.stm Next in Iraq A year of change ends, but what about the future? http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7795222.stm Iraq shoe thrower trial postponed The trial of the Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at US President Bush is postponed pending an appeal against the charges. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7804856.stm Iraqi-Canadian 'spied for Saddam' An Iraqi-born Canadian citizen is charged in the US of conspiring to spy from 2000 for the former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/americas/7804558.stm Colombia: Infogramas situaci?n humanitaria Antioqu?a 2004 - Primer semestre 2008 Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/ASAZ-7MTFD7?OpenDocument&RSS20=22-P Harold Pinter (1930-2008) on "Art, Truth and Politics" Harold Pinter, the Nobel Prize-winning British playwright, screenwriter, poet, actor and political activist died last week at the age of seventy-eight after a prolonged battle with cancer. In his 2005 Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Pinter excoriated US foreign policy. "The invasion of Iraq was a bandit act, an act of blatant state terrorism, demonstrating absolute contempt for the concept of international law," Pinter said. We play an excerpt from his speech. [includes rush transcript] http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/30/harold_pinter_1930_2008_on_art Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon Remembers Musical Icon Odetta (1930-2008) Wednesday, December 31, 2008 07:24 GMT / Created by RSS2PDF.com Page 2 of 76 Considered the ?Queen of American Folk Music,? Odetta introduced audiences worldwide to American roots music and especially African American folk, blues and gospel. She died earlier this month. When Rosa Parks was asked which songs meant the most to her, she replied, ?All of the songs Odetta sings.? We hear Odetta in her own words and speak to Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, original member of the SNCC Freedom Singers and founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock. [includes rush transcript] http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/30/dr_bernice_johnson_reagon_remembers_musical Headlines for December 30, 2008 Gaza Death Toll Tops 375Israel Vows to Wage ?War to the Bitter End?UN: 64 Palestinian Civilians Killed Four Israelis Killed in Palestinian Rocket AttacksBan Ki-Moon Accuses Israel of Using Excessive ForceIsrael Rams Activist Boat Carrying Aid to GazaKucinich Calls on UN to Investigate Israeli AttackMolotov Cocktail Thrown at Synagogue in ChicagoBangladesh Holds First Election in Seven YearsUgandan Rebels Accused of Massacring 189 in CongoIranian Officials Raid Home of Shirin EbadiRare Suicide Bombing in Iran Kills FourTreasury Bails Out GMACGov't Pushes Oil Drilling Off California CoastJudge Rejects Class Action Suit from Katrina SurvivorsWashington Prison Doctor Quits Over Death PenaltyJazz Trumpeter Freddie Hubbard, 70, Dies http://www.democracynow.org/2008/12/30/headlines DR Congo: Dungu, Orientale Province Situation Report No. 4, 29 Dec 2008 Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/TUJA-7MT3GP?OpenDocument&RSS20=22-P Meet the Lebanese Press: Gazing towards Gaza Like much of the world press, Israel's war on Gaza dominates the headlines in Lebanon. Massive protests in Beirut, particularly at the Egyptian embassy, took place. In an address to the tens of thousands of demonstrators, Hizballah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah called, among other things, for ordinary Egyptians to open up the crossing at the Egypt-Gaza border by force and in defiance of government security forces. Nasrallah's explicit condemnation of the Egyptian regime and the stern response by Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit reflects the long-term impact of the Gaza war on the dynamics of regional alliances playing out in Lebanon. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/electronicIntifada/~3/498316664/article10071.shtml Only mild Security Council criticism for Israeli attacks UNITED NATIONS (IPS) - After an emergency closed-door session Sunday night, the 15-member Security Council issued a politically bland statement expressing "serious concern" over the devastating Israeli air strikes on Gaza and calling for an "immediate halt to all violence." The statement was predictable because the United States, a traditionally loyal Israeli ally, would never agree to anything smacking of a "censure" or "condemnation" of Israel -- even as the death toll rose to more than 300 Palestinians, mostly civilians. Wednesday, December 31, 2008 07:24 GMT / Created by RSS2PDF.com Page 3 of 76 http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/electronicIntifada/~3/498245827/article10070.shtml Weekly Situation Report on Cholera in Zimbabwe No. 08, 29 Dec 2008 Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/YSAR-7MSRVZ?OpenDocument&RSS20=22-P Oil rises on Middle East tensions Crude oil prices rise on concerns Israel's attacks on Hamas could threaten supplies from the Middle East. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/business/7803595.stm Colombia: OCHA Informe de situaci?n humanitaria No 38 - 39, 22 Nov - 05 Dic 2008 Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/STRI-7MSQWS?OpenDocument&RSS20=22-P Renewed protests at Israeli raids Thousands in the Arab world rally against Israeli air raids in Gaza, while Hezbollah puts its fighters in southern Lebanon on alert. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7803569.stm Why would Israel bomb a university? Last night, during the second night of Israel's unprecedented attack on Gaza, I was awakened by the deafening sound of intensive bombardment on the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG). Of course Israeli politicians and generals would claim that IUG is a Hamas stronghold and that it preaches terrorism. As an independent professor, not affiliated with any political party, I can say that IUG is an academic institution which embraces a wide spectrum of political affinities. Dr. Akram Habeeb writes from the besieged Gaza Strip. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/electronicIntifada/~3/498074460/article10069.shtml Mideast papers on Gaza Commentators in the Palestinian press are united in dismay at the Israeli operation in Gaza. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/middle_east/7803050.stm Wednesday, December 31, 2008 07:24 GMT / Created by RSS2PDF.com Page 4 of 76 Gaza without electricity, water GAZA CITY, occupied Gaza Strip (IRIN) - As a result of a major Israeli offensive on 27 December against the Gaza Strip a dire humanitarian situation looms, according to aid officials. Gaza had been teetering on the edge of such a crisis even before the Israeli offensive: humanitarian access to Gaza has been severely restricted by Israel since early November. Now infrastructure in several areas has been destroyed, leaving residents without electricity and water. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/electronicIntifada/~3/498053457/article10068.shtml Ethiopia: Humanitarian Bulletin - 29 Dec 2008 Source: UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MCOT-7MSHUF?OpenDocument&RSS20=22-P Dubai sex man faces massive bill A British man convicted of having sex on a Dubai beach has been left with a legal bill of tens of thousands of pounds. http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/2/hi/uk_news/7803047.stm "They are wrong to think we are the terrorists" Saturday was supposed to be a normal day -- at least as close to normal as we are allowed to enjoy in Gaza. Where else but in Gaza are students killed in air strikes on their classrooms? From my desk in my university classroom we could see the smoke from Israel's bombing and hear the most terrifying sound of non-stop explosions. Eman Mohammed writes