World Issue

Sweden takes EU helm and vows action on climate change

2009-07-01T21:23:00.000-07:00

Sweden takes EU helm and vows action on climate change

July 01, 2009

Article from: Agence France-Presse

SWEDEN has taken over the six-month rotating presidency of the European Union, vowing to tackle climate change and combat soaring unemployment in Europe following the global economic crisis.

“The financial crisis and climate change, with the preparation of the Copenhagen conference, will be our main priorities,” Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt told reporters on the eve of the Swedish presidency.

Stockholm wants to get the EU to sign up to a new UN global warming treaty to be negotiated in Copenhagen in December and which would replace the Kyoto Protocol on cutting carbon emissions that expires in 2012.

“We need a global answer to this global problem,” Reinfeldt said.

But Reinfeldt and his centre-right government, which took over the reins on Wednesday after a turbulent Czech presidency, have their work cut out for them for the next six months as the 27-member bloc finds itself in a period of limbo.

A new European parliament has just been elected and is in the process of settling in, a new Commission will be installed - and it is not yet certain who the next president will be - and the bloc's institutional framework may be altered depending on the outcome of a referendum in Ireland on the Lisbon Treaty in October.

The Scandinavian country, which like the Czech Republic is not a member of the eurozone, nonetheless aims to restore confidence in the financial markets by establishing “a European body to supervise stability”.

“We need to work in a more coordinated and cross-border way for supervision,” Reinfeldt said.

Sweden also plans to “lay the foundations for a new growth and employment strategy” to help the millions of unemployed Europeans, according to its work program.

Other priorities include EU enlargement, of which Sweden is a fierce advocate, improving European judicial co-operation, and developing a strategy to improve the Baltic Sea's marine environment and the region's growth potential.

Reinfeldt's government will host the European Commission for a meeting in Stockholm on Wednesday that will formally open the Swedish presidency.

That will be followed by festivities at Stockholm's Skansen open air museum attended by the Swedish government, the Commission and Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia and the public.

Wallabies on opium making crop circles

2009-06-25T15:13:00.002-07:00

Wallabies on opium making crop circles

Thursday, 25 June 2009

ENLARGE

Wallabies snacking in opium poppy fields are getting "high as a kite" and hopping around creating crop circles.

Tasmania is the world's largest producer of legally-grown opium for the pharmaceutical market.

Tasmania attorney-general Lara Giddings told a budget hearing yesterday that she recently read about the wallabies in a brief on the state's large poppy industry.

She said: "We have a problem with wallabies entering poppy fields, getting as high as a kite and going around in circles.

"Then they crash. We see crop circles in the poppy industry from wallabies that are high."

A manager for one of two Tasmanian companies licensed to take medicinal products from poppy straw said wildlife and livestock - including deer and sheep - that eat the poppies are known to "act weird".

Tasmanian Alkaloids field operations manager Rick Rockliff said: "There have been many stories about sheep that have eaten some of the poppies after harvesting and they all walk around in circles."

Tasmania supplies about 50% of the world's raw material for morphine and related opiates. About 500 farmers grow the crop on 49,420 acres of land.

Baghdad market blast kills scores

2009-06-25T15:13:00.001-07:00

NEWS MIDDLE EAST

Baghdad market blast kills scores

At least 61 people have been killed by a bomb in Baghdad's predominantly Shia neighbourhood of Sadr City, an interior ministry official has said.

Police said 116 people were also wounded in the blast that took place at the popular market on Wednesday.

The explosion, caused by a motorcycle rickshaw loaded with explosives and covered with fruit and vegetables, happened in the north Baghdad district at around 7.30pm (1630GMT), according to one official.

Women and children were among the casualties and dozens of market kiosks were damaged, the official said.

Attacker flees

The attacker got off the motorcycle rickshaw in the middle of Mraidi market and managed to escape before the bomb was set off, he said.

The attack comes a few days after US combat troops handed over the neighbourhood to Iraqi forces.

US troops plan to pull out of Iraqi cities, towns and villages by June 30.

Violence has dropped markedly in Iraq in recent months, with May seeing the lowest Iraqi death toll since the 2003 invasion.

But attacks remain common, particularly in Baghdad and the main northern city of Mosul.

Nuri al-Maliki, the prime minister, warned earlier this month that attacks were likely to increase in the coming weeks in a bid to undermine confidence in the Iraqi security forces.

Sri Lankan reporter 'kidnapped'

2009-06-25T15:12:00.000-07:00

Sri Lankan reporter 'kidnapped'

By Charles Haviland
BBC News, Colombo

A Sri Lankan journalist says she was kidnapped from outside her home in the capital Colombo and held for a day by people claiming to be the police.

Krishni Ifam, a Tamil reporter who works for media development NGO Internews, said the men had warned her to give up journalism altogether.

She said she was then released in the central city of Kandy late on Wednesday with a tiny amount of cash.

Police in Sri Lanka could not be reached for comment.

Unmarked vans

Ms Ifam has been speaking about her ordeal on a private television station and, separately, to the BBC.

She said men who said they were policemen forced her to get into their vehicle outside her Colombo home early on Wednesday and drove for several hours while keeping her blindfolded.

She said they had taken her belongings, asked if she was writing articles for foreign media outlets and warned her to give up journalism altogether before releasing her.

Ms Ifam used to write for a prominent Tamil-language newspaper.

Separately, a columnist who usually covers astrology was picked up late on Wednesday by men with identity cards from the Criminal Investigation Department. His wife said he was still being held 24 hours later.

In both these cases the vehicles used were said to be unmarked white vans, which have become notorious in Sri Lanka as a means of abduction and sometimes disappearance.

The Sri Lankan government insists that the media here are free.

But many journalists say they do not feel free to write or broadcast what they want - many have been physically attacked and others have fled into exile.

US and Canadian swine flu deaths revised upwards

2009-06-20T21:12:00.002-07:00

US and Canadian swine flu deaths revised upwards

From correspondents in Washington | June 20, 2009

Article from: Agence France-Presse

THE swine flu pandemic has killed 100 people in Canada and the US, figures released by US and Canadian health authorities show.

Eighty-seven people died from the disease in the US, the Centres for Disease Control reported, adding that there were 21,449 confirmed cases.

The figures are a jump from the previous report on June 12, when 44 people were reported dead and 17,855 cases were confirmed.

In Canada, the world's third most affected country, health authorities reported a 13th death and 5710 confirmed cases of A(H1N1) flu.

In Mexico, where the flu strain was first spotted, authorities reported 113 killed by the disease and the number of confirmed infections at more than 7000.

The most recent World Health Organisation data, released on Thursday, showed that swine flu has infected nearly 40,000 people around the world in 89 countries and territories, causing 167 deaths since late March.

Some affected countries no longer keep track of all cases according to the UN health agency, while others do not report for each of the thrice-weekly bulletins

Ethiopia rejects Somali request

2009-06-20T21:12:00.001-07:00

Ethiopia rejects Somali request

Militants have been battling pro-government forces for three years

Ethiopia has refused a request by Somalia for military support to fight insurgents, saying such an intervention would need an international mandate.

The Somali authorities have been battling Islamist insurgents who control much of the country.

The speaker of Somalia's parliament had earlier urged neighbouring countries to send troops within 24 hours.

Ethiopian troops helped topple an Islamist movement in Somalia in 2006, but were withdrawn earlier this year.

On Saturday Somali parliamentary Speaker Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur urged neighbouring Somalia, Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Yemen to intervene as fierce fighting continued for a second day in the capital Mogadishu.

But Ethiopian government spokesman Bereket Simon said that an international mandate was needed for such an intervention.

He added that the international community, not just Somalia's neighbours, should assist its transitional government.

Assassinations

Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991. Its UN-backed transitional government controls only parts of Mogadishu, but little of the rest of the country.

There are some 4,300 African Union troops deployed in Mogadishu, but they lack any mandate to pursue the insurgents.

Pro-government forces have been fighting radical Islamist guerrillas in the capital since 7 May.

On Friday, gunmen killed Mohamed Hussein Addow, an MP who represented the Karan district where fighting has been particularly intense in recent days.

It was the third killing of a high-profile public figure in as many days.

Somalia's security minister - an outspoken critic of the militant Islamist group al-Shabab - was killed in a suicide attack in the northern town of Beledweyne, and Mogadishu's police commander was also killed this week.

Militant groups including al-Shabab, which is accused of links to al-Qaeda, have been trying to topple Somalia's government for three years.

Some four million people in Somalia - or about one-third of the population - need food aid, according to aid agencies.

Troops Kill 50 Militants in Pakistan Fighting

2009-06-20T20:59:00.000-07:00

Troops Kill 50 Militants in Pakistan Fighting

Saturday, June 20, 2009

CHUPRIAL, Pakistan — Pakistani troops backed by jet fighters and artillery have killed about 50 militants in a volatile northwestern tribal region near Afghanistan where the country's top Taliban leader is believed to be entrenched with thousands of his fighters, officials said Saturday.

They were the first known militant casualties in South Waziristan — where Pakistan Taliban head Baitullah Mehsud and Al Qaeda figures are believed to be hiding — since the military started pounding the area with artillery about a week ago. Mehsud is blamed for a series of suicide attacks that have killed more than 100 people since late May.

Although the army has not announced a formal start of full-scale operations in South Waziristan — an offensive that Washington has been pressing Pakistan to undertake — officials said troops are already occupying strategic positions in the region.

The operation, seen as a test of nuclear-armed Pakistan's resolve against an insurgency that has expanded in the past two years, could be a turning point in its sometimes halfhearted fight against militancy. It also could help the war effort in Afghanistan, because the tribal belt has long harbored militants who launch cross-border attacks.

Jet fighters flattened two abandoned militant-linked seminaries and a training facility Friday in a clear sign that the operation was ramping up.

Two intelligence and army officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media, said heavy fighting was under way in the villages of Barwand and Madijan, with about 50 militants killed.

There was no immediate comment from the military, and the reports could not be independently confirmed due to restrictions on media access to the region.

Meanwhile, artillery fire was pounding militant positions in the Biha valley, in the upper Swat Valley, as an intense operation there started Friday night against remnants of Taliban fighting forces and continued into the day.

"This area is the center of gravity for the terrorists," said Maj. Gen. Sajjad Ghani, who is in control of efforts to clear a 3,860-square-mile area of Taliban. "As of now, there are only pockets of resistance left. The terrorists are on the run. Command and control is disarray. They are unable to organize an integrated response."

During a military-sponsored trip for journalists to the town of Chuprial, Ghani said 95 percent of Swat has been cleared and that most of the resistance the military is facing is in Biha, a short valley that backs into snow-covered mountains that are limiting the Taliban's efforts to flee.

He said about 400 militants have been killed in the area over the past six weeks but conceded that many top commanders have managed to escape, some possibly headed to havens in Afghanistan or the Waziristan tribal areas. He did not specify how many militants are believed to be holding out, and his statements could not be independently confirmed.

Overall, the army says it has killed nearly 1,500 militants since April in Swat.

Ghani said a high-intensity operation will continue for about a week or so, then another few weeks will be needed to go after stragglers.

Reporters were taken to an abandoned militant training camp where Ghani said about 50 militants were killed, including Arabs, Afghans and Uzbeks. The complex included tunnels and an ammunition dump. Troops showed off seized weapons, including improvised bombs, heavy machine guns and ammunition boxes for rocket-propelled grenades.

Helicopters, including Cobra gunships, flew overhead, and there was no sign of civilians in the scenic area of steep mountainsides and terraced fields, dotted with small villages of single-story concrete houses. The army clearly has the high ground in most places, dug in with heavy machine guns in sandbagged bunkers.

Officials are planning to let some of the 2 million people displaced by fighting in Swat to start returning home further south Thursday.

They are being sent first to Mingora, Swat's main city. Electricity and civic facilities must be restored before they are allowed to go home in "phases," said Fazal Karim Khattak, a senior government official.

Refugees were happy to hear they will soon go home but worry about what they will find.

"Of course I am happy, but I don't know whether our home is safe or it has been destroyed," said Khadija Bibi, 45, a mother of four who left her home in the Kanjua near Mingora in May.

Khaisata Khan, 32, who owned a shop in the heart of the city of Swat, said he didn't know what had happened to his shop as the military had targeted Taliban in the area where it was located.

"If peace returns to Swat, I will forget the damage to my property and the pain we have to face in the camps," he said as he sat in a camp on the outskirts of the main northwestern city of Peshawar.

The Swat offensive has been generally welcomed in Pakistan, but public opinion could quickly turn if the government fails to effectively help the refugees or civilian casualties mount. The government has said the army will need to stay in Swat for a year to ensure security.

UN: World hunger reaches 1 billion mark

2009-06-20T20:58:00.000-07:00

UN: World hunger reaches 1 billion mark

BY ALESSANDRA RIZZO - ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Published: Fri, Jun. 19, 2009 08:13AM

Modified Fri, Jun. 19, 2009 02:59PM

ROME -- The global financial meltdown has pushed the ranks of the world's hungry to a record 1 billion, a grim milestone that poses a threat to peace and security, U.N. food officials said Friday.

Because of war, drought, political instability, high food prices and poverty, hunger now affects one in six people, by the United Nations' estimate.

The financial meltdown has compounded the crisis in what the head of the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization called a "devastating combination for the world's most vulnerable."

Compared with last year, there are 100 million more people who are hungry, meaning they consume fewer than 1,800 calories a day, the agency said.

"No part of the world is immune," FAO's Director-General Jacques Diouf said. "All world regions have been affected by the rise of food insecurity."

The crisis is a humanitarian one, but also a political issue.

Officials presenting the new estimates in Rome sought to stress the link between hunger and instability, noting that soaring prices for staples, such as rice, triggered riots in the developing world last year.

Josette Sheeran of the World Food Program, another U.N. food agency based in Rome, said hungry people rioted in at least 30 countries last year. Most notably, soaring food prices led to deadly riots in Haiti and the overthrow of the prime minister.

"A hungry world is a dangerous world," Sheeran said. "Without food, people have only three options: They riot, they emigrate or they die. None of these are acceptable options."

Even though prices have retreated from their mid-2008 highs, they are still "stubbornly high" in some domestic markets, according to FAO. On average, food prices were 24 percent higher in real terms at the end of 2008 compared to 2006, it said.

"Malnutrition kills through the fact that it weakens the immune system of a child," said Andrei Engstrand-Neacsu, a Nairobi, Kenya-based spokesman for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in East Africa. Some 22 million of the 1 billion hungry people counted by the United Nations are in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa, he said.

Engstrand-Neacsu said he had just returned from a corner of southern Ethiopia on the Kenyan border where the food situation is dire, and had been speaking to a family who lost a child to malaria in February. The parents said they were told he couldn't be saved because he was malnourished.

Engstrand-Neacsu called on donors to act before "skeletal African children are shown on the television screen at dinnertime" in the West.

The number of hungry people is estimated to have reached 1.02 billion - up 11 percent from last year's 915 million, FAO said. The agency said it based its estimate on analysis by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

FAO said that the hunger rate is rising, too - that is, the number of hungry people is growing more quickly than the world population. Officials did not provide a rate but said the trend began two years ago.

Almost all the world's undernourished live in developing countries. But all regions of the world have registered two-digit increases in hunger from last year.

The world's most populous region, Asia and the Pacific, has the largest number of hungry people - 642 million, up 10.5 percent from last year. Sub-Saharan Africa registers 265 million undernourished, an 11.8 percent increase. Even in the developed world, undernourishment is a growing concern, with 15 million in all and a 15.4 percent increase, the sharpest rise around the world, FAO said.

The dire figures make it highly unlikely that a goal set by the wealthiest nations to cut hunger in the world in half by 2015 will be met, though officials vow to press world leaders at the Group of Eight summit gathering in Italy next month.

FAO said the calorie-limit it employs to declare a person hungry is on average 1,800, though it changes slightly from country to country.

Alice Lichtenstein, a professor of nutrition science and policy at Tufts University, said FAO's hunger definition was reasonable, if a little conservative. She said the 1,800-calorie threshold represented the number of calories most adults need to maintain their body weight, but that the figure would vary depending on a person's size and level of physical activity.

The number of calories for children varies even more. They need fewer calories because they are smaller, but also need increasing amounts as they get older to ensure they are growing.

World cereal production in 2009 was strong, but the global economic downturn resulted in lower incomes and higher unemployment rates - and therefore reduced access to food.

The crisis also affects the quality of nutrition, as families tend to buy cheaper, calorie-rich but nutrient-poor foods such as grains, at the expense of meat, dairy products and other expensive and high-protein foods.

Associated Press Writers Andrea Dessi in Rome, Donna Bryson in Johannesburg, South Africa, Medical Writer Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.

Swine flu wedding: Couple wear matching surgical masks

2009-06-20T10:43:00.000-07:00

Swine flu wedding: Couple wear matching surgical masks on their big day... 48 hours after they were diagnosed

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 2:06 PM on 20th June 2009

A couple diagnosed with swine flu 48 hours before their wedding ceremony were determined not to let it ruin their big day - so they wore matching surgical masks and latex gloves.

Jeremy Fierstien and Ilana Jackson, both 26, decided to proceed with the ceremony after doctors assured them guests would not be put at serious risk.

To be sure, they also stayed 10ft away from friends and family at all times, even walking around the gathering instead of down the aisle at a synagogue in Highland Park, a wealthy American town on the north shore of Chicago.

'Swine flu, I do': Ilana Jackson, left, and Jeremy Fierstien wear surgical masks, and remain 10ft away from guests during their wedding in Chicago

Ms Jackson said they joked about having swine flu, also known as H1N1, after they both experienced vomiting, achy limbs, and fever.

But they never thought they really had it.

Mr Fierstien said they were in for a shock after visiting the doctor's surgery.

'The doctor said: "It's not going to be the wedding you wanted. You tested positive for swine flu. Give me a call if you have any questions",' he said, suspecting he contracted the flu while traveling to Chicago from Boston, where he has been studying to become a rabbi.

'We were determined to make the most of a bad situation.'

Even when the bride's hairstylist and make-up artist refused to touch her, Ms Jackson was upbeat.

The circumstances were unfortunate, but we had a good attitude about it, she said.

Obama refuses Kashmir mediation, favours Indo-Pak dialogu

2009-06-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Obama refuses Kashmir mediation, favours Indo-Pak dialogue

20 Jun 2009, 1030 hrs IST, PTI

WASHINGTON: Ruling out any American mediation on Kashmir issue, US President Barack Obama has said dialogue is the best way to reduce tension

"I believe that there are opportunities, maybe not starting with Kashmir but starting with other issues, that Pakistan and India can be in a dialogue together and over time to try to reduce tensions and find areas of common interest," Obama told Pakistan's Dawn TV in an interview.

The answer from Obama came in response to a question as why his Administration has been silent on Kashmir, after he initially mentioned it.

"Well, I don't think that we have been silent on the fact that India is a great friend of the United States and Pakistan is a great friend of the United States, and it always grieves us to see friends fighting. And we can't dictate to Pakistan or India how they should resolve their differences, but we know that both countries would prosper if those differences are resolved," Obama said.

Categorically ruling out any mediation between India and Pakistan, Obama said: "We want to be helpful in that process, but I don't think it's appropriate for us to be the mediators in that process. I think that this is something that the Pakistanis and Indians can take leadership on."

When asked, if has asked India to resume dialogue with Pakistan, Obama said: "Well, what we have said is that we think that all of South Asia would benefit by reduced tensions between India and Pakistan."

Obama had recently sent a letter to the Prime Minister, which was delivered by the Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, William Burns.

"I think that dialogue is the best way to reduce tensions. And so, you know, we're hopeful that Prime Minister Singh and President Zardari -- they recently had an opportunity to meet briefly. It wasn't an extensive conversation but it was the start of what may end up being more productive conversations in the future," Obama underlined.

U.N. to investigate Bhutto's assassination

2009-06-20T10:37:00.001-07:00

(CNN) -- An independent commission will start investigating the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in July, the United Nations has announced.

Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in December 2007 at a campaign rally.

Bhutto, 54, was heading the opposition to then-President Pervez Musharraf when she was killed at a December campaign rally in Rawalpindi ahead of parliamentary elections.

"The duty of determining criminal responsibility of the perpetrators of the assassination remains with the Pakistani authorities," according to a U.N. news release.

The commission will have six months to fact-find and report to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who announced the commission in February, the release said. Moon is expected to share the findings with the U.N. Security Council and the Pakistani government, which requested the commission.

Ambassador Heraldo Munoz of Chile will lead the three-person effort, which is to include Marzuki Darusman, a former attorney general for Indonesia, and Peter Fitzgerald, a veteran of the Irish National Police.

This week, a close aide to Pakistan's Taliban chief, Baitullah Mehsud, confirmed reports that Mehsud was behind Bhutto's assassination, Pakistan's Express TV reported. The Pakistani government and CIA officials have said in the past that Mehsud was responsible for Bhutto's death.

Don't Miss

Her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, is now president of Pakistan. His government has struggled to control terrorism and is waging a military offensive against the Taliban in the country's North West Frontier Province.

Bhutto -- the first female prime minister of any Muslim nation -- led Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 1996.

She spent eight years in self-imposed exile in Great Britain and Dubai after President Farooq Leghari dismissed her second administration amid accusations of corruption, intimidation of the judiciary, a breakdown of law and order, and undermining of the justice system.

She was found guilty of corruption and sentenced to five years in prison. The conviction was later overturned, but she remained in exile until 2007. She returned to Pakistan that October after Musharraf signed an amnesty lifting corruption charges.

Bhutto was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, former president and prime minister of Pakistan, who was hanged in 1979 for the murder of a political opponent two years after he was ousted as prime minister in a military coup.

Analysis: Obama offers split verdict on economy

2009-06-20T10:28:00.000-07:00

Analysis: Obama offers split verdict on economy

20 Jun 2009, 2003 hrs IST, AGENCIES

WASHINGTON: It's a difficult balancing act for President Barack Obama and his economic policymakers.
Where some economists see "green shoots" of a recovery others see only yellow weeds of continuing recession. It's hard to know for sure whether things are getting better or worse with the US economy.

President Harry S Truman whimsically asked for a "one-handed economist." He complained that "all my economists say, `on the one hand ... on the other hand."'

That's pretty much the dilemma that Obama and his policymakers now face.

With consumer spending accounting for more than two-thirds of the US economy, Obama is mindful that reviving it depends a lot on restoring confidence. So he's been trying to put the most positive spin on any signs of improvement, as have leaders in other recession-wracked countries.

"It's safe to say we have stepped back from the brink, that there is some calm that didn't exist before," Obama said recently about what already is the longest recession since World War II.

On the other hand, there's a clear danger. Sound too cheery and people lose confidence in your judgment, especially if their own eyes see a bleaker picture.

Ease up on government stimulus spending too soon and the recovery could be snuffed out. Talk by some Group of Eight finance ministers about stimulus exit strategies briefly spooked international stock markets. But keep stimulus spending going too long and you end up with huge deficits and soaring inflation.

Polls show people in the United States increasingly are concerned about the government's record levels of debt, a sour legacy for future generations.

So Obama has talked up and talked down the economy. At the same time.

"Even as we've made progress, we know that the road to prosperity remains long and it remains difficult," he told a Chicago audience this past week as he promoted his health care overhaul. It's an effort that Obama says will help the economy in the long run, but one that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says could top $1 trillion over 10 years.

The daily numbers don't help much. On the one hand, some statistics suggest the recession's fury is easing. Not only are fewer jobs being lost, but there are signs that stability is returning to housing and manufacturing. Even with recent declines, stocksare up about 30 per cent from their March lows.

On the other hand, the economy is continuing to shed tens of thousands of jobs a month and the unemployment rate may soon exceed 10 per cent. Housing values still are falling. Consumers keep spending cautiously. Even though 10 top banks won Treasury Department approval to repay $68 billion of bailout money, hundreds of billions of dollars in bad debt clogs the balance sheets of many banks. Gasoline prices are rising again.

Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 6 million jobs.

"We are still in a recession. The risks are still to the downside. The coast isn't clear," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Economy.com.

While Zandi thinks the recession probably will end this year, he sees an extended period of slow growth and continued high unemployment, as do many economists.

Sometimes the numbers give rise to competing interpretations. For instance, the benchmark 10-year Treasury bond has inched up and now yields 3.8 inched up and now yields 3.8

months ago. Optimists see that as an early sign of an economic rebound. Pessimists say it is a harbinger of higher mortgagerates that could throttle a housing recovery.

The Federal Reserve is buying long-term Treasuries to try to put downward pressure on rates. But some economists see this as backfiring, troubling investors, aggravating inflation worries and contributing to even higher rates.

Economists and politicians keep searching for those "green shoots," signs of an economic revival. After all, if green shoots are sprouting, can blue skies be far behind?

"Green shoots" is the colorful phrase that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke used in mid-March to describe those bits of evidence that the economy was showing tentative signs of recovery.

Since Bernanke's comments, the term has sprouted like, well, weeds. A Britain's magazine even created a "Green Shoot" index to track the number of times the phrase appeared in the news media.

Bernanke spotted those green shoots way back in March. With the official start of summer upon us, it's hard to see that any of those shoots have grown into saplings.

"We need significant more improvement to suggest that the economy is really turning the corner," said Alan Gayle, senior investment strategist at RidgeWorth Investments.

White House economic advisers estimated in January that if Congress passed the president's economic stimulus bill, unemployment probably would rise no higher than 8 per cent this year. Congress did and unemployment now stands at 9.4 per cent.

The recession "won't be over until actually we have the unemployment rate down to a more normal level, like 5 per cent," Christina Romer, chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said recently. "We're a long way from it being over."

In a "one hand ... other hand" economy, it isn't over until it's over.

Somali appeal for foreign troops

2009-06-20T10:26:00.000-07:00

Somali appeal for foreign troops

Militants have been battling pro-government forces for three years

The speaker of Somalia's parliament has called for neighbouring states to send troops to the country within 24 hours.

Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur made the appeal as fierce fighting that has spread to the north of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, continued for a second day.

Islamist forces battling the country's transitional government briefly took over a police station and other key buildings in Karan district.

Thousands are fleeing the area, previously a refuge for the displaced.

"The government is weakened by the rebel forces," AFP news agency quoted Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur as saying.

"We ask neighbouring countries - including Kenya, Djibouti, Ethiopia and Yemen - to send troops to Somalia within 24 hours."

Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991. Its UN-backed, transitional government controls only parts of Mogadishu, and little of the rest of the country.

High-profile killings

Several thousand Ethiopian troops left Somalia in January after a two-year intervention in support of the transitional government.

There are some 4,300 African Union troops deployed in Mogadishu, but they lack any mandate to pursue the insurgents.

Reuters news agency quoted a spokesman for militant Islamist group al-Shabab as warning Kenya not to intervene.

"If it tries to, we will attack Kenya and destroy the tall buildings of Nairobi," Sheik Hasan Yacqub told reporters in southern Somalia.

Kenya had said it would not stand by and let the situation in Somalia deteriorate further because it would destabilise the region, Reuters reported.

Pro-government forces have been fighting radical Islamist guerrillas in the capital since 7 May.

On Friday, gunmen killed Mohamed Hussein Addow, a politician who represented Karan.

It was the third killing of a high-profile public figure in as many days.

Militant groups including al-Shabab, which is accused of links to al-Qaeda, have been trying to topple Somalia's government for three years.

A moderate Islamist president took office in Somalia in January but even his introduction of Sharia law to the strongly Muslim country has not appeased the guerrillas.

Some four million people in Somalia - or about one-third of the population - need food aid, according to aid agencies.