October 31, 2005
New Delhi Terrorism
:A coordinated succession of powerful blasts ripped through two New Delhi markets killed at least 55 people. Another 155 people are reported injured. The blasts occur the weekend before Diwali, the biggest Hindu festival in north India, and befor Id al-Fitr, the festival that closes the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
(Filed under: Asia, India, Global Issues, Terrorism)
October 24, 2005
Earthquake Aftermath
:Over two weeks after the earthquake, the horrors remain. After the disaster, where over 53,000 people are dead and another 75,000 injured, a second wave of death is beginning. Much of this can be attributed to a lack of water and other supplies for the victims. The UN is working on a ‘Berlin Airlift’ plan to bring the needed supplies to the region but aftershocks in the region and a lack of suitable infrastructure are compounding the logistical nightmare.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Asia, India, Kashmir, UN, Earthquake, Pakistan)
Afghanistan
:A public relations disaster for the United States is coming from the first front on the war on terror. It was announced Wednesday that the Army is investigating criminal behavior amid allegations that American soldiers had burned the bodies of two dead Taliban fighters and used the smoking corpses to frighten the insurgents. Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the burnings and said that he was taken aback by the pictures he witnessed. The Muslim faith prhibits cremation and holds respect for human remains. Meanwhile, provisional results have been released a month after elections were held for Afghanistan’s Parliament and it appears that Islamic conservatives won large portions of the vote.
(Filed under: Asia, Afghanistan, America)
October 17, 2005
Earthquake Aftermath
:In Pakistan the death toll has risen to over 38,000 and in India it is over 1,350. Most of the deaths are centered in the Kashmir region, which has been a violently disputed territory controlled in part by both Pakistan and India. Both nations are rushing aid to the region with the support of the international community. The aid was delayed in part this week due to storms that turned the roads to mud.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Asia, India, Kashmir, Earthquake, Pakistan)
Afghanistan
:Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited the nation to praise the nation’s “march towards democracy” amid increased violence. Sixty militants attacked a policy convoy killing twenty-one people. The attack highlighted the struggle ongoing in the first American war post-September 11st where insurgents continue to fight a prolonged conflict. Fourteen hundred died in the last year due to ongoing violence.
(Filed under: Bush Administration, Asia, Afghanistan, America)
October 10, 2005
Earthquake
:A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake near the Pakistan-India border Saturday reduced the disputed Kashmir and surrounding areas to rubble. Pakistan officially puts the number dead in Pakistan to 19,369 with over 40,000 injured (but it could soar well above 30,000). India has at least another 600 dead. The United Nations said that two and a half million people are homeless due to the disaster. The epicenter of the earthquake was centered in a remote part of the Hindu Kush mountains of Pakistan in the North-West Frontier Province, where at least 1,600 people perished. Within twenty-four hours of the earthquake, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf made an urgent plea for help for the nation. India has responded to that call and has offered to send aid despite the two nation’s hostility and distrust over issues surrounding the possession of the Kashmir region.
(Filed under: Natural Disasters, Asia, India, Kashmir, Earthquake, Pakistan)
Indonesia Bombing Investigation
:Investigators in Bali believe that the bombings are not linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network and instead are the work of a small group like the one that perpetrated the July London subway bombings. Investigators are searching for two men that appear to have helped the suicide bombers.
(Filed under: Asia, Indonesia, Global Issues, Terrorism)
North Korea
:President Bush’s envoy to North Korea plans to begin push the Pyongyang government to begin disclosing the extent and locations of its secret nuclear program immediately. This comes on the heels of last week’s fragile framework of a nuclear agreement, that both sides immediately began disputing the meaning of. Some administration critics fear that pushing too much will endanger the framework reached last week.
(Filed under: Bush Administration, Asia, North Korea, America, Global Issues, Nuclear Proliferation)
October 3, 2005
Afghanistan
:After a series off good news for rebuilding the nation, including a seemingly successful election, violence broke out this week with the first major bombing in Kabul in months. Eight members of the military and a civilian bus driver were killed. Meanwhile, with 80% of the vote counted from elections two weeks ago, widespread fraud is feared. Approximately 4% of ballot boxes across the nation are under investigation for potential fraud, which the European Union, who is observing the election, said “we are taking irregularities very seriously.”
(Filed under: Asia, Europe, Afghanistan)
Terrorism in Bali
:Three terrorist suicide-bombers killed themselves and nineteen others (14 Indonesians and five foreigners) in Bali, Indonesia. The attack took place in a tourist hot spot in the middle of shops and restaurants. Indonesia is the largest Muslim nation in the world and has been the scene of a number of terrorist attacks from fundamentalist organizations such as al Qaeda.
(Filed under: Asia, Indonesia, Global Issues, Terrorism)
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