Aljazeera.net back issues from August 2008:
Failed talks: Assessing the fallout.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 11:13:36 PM Analysts and Al Jazeera correspondents from across Latin America examine the impact of the collapse of WTO talks on the region. Franc Contreras, Al Jazeera, Mexico City, Mexico People here in the Mexican capital were not even aware ...
Mali and warring Tuareg agree deal.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/21/2008 6:41:28 PM The Malian government has made a ceasefire pact in the fractious northern Mali with Tuareg rebels. The deal was made on Monday after four days of talks in Algiers, the Algerian capital, to end nearly a year of clashes in the large northern ...
Somali opposition leaders part ways.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/23/2008 4:10:52 AM Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, a prominent Somali Islamist figure, has claimed the leadership of an opposition alliance, underscoring an ongoing power struggle."We have elected Aweys as the head of the Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS)," an ...
South Africans strike over prices.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/23/2008 9:57:38 PM Thousands of South Africans have staged protests against the rising costs of electricity, food and fuel.Strikes brought work and mines and other businesses to a halt on Wednesday, while in Johannesburg a mass rally paralysed the city centre. ...
Sudan threat to expel UN troops.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/25/2008 5:31:55 PM Sudan is threatening to expel peacekeepers stationed in the Darfur region if Omar al-Bashir, the president, is indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court (ICC).Last week, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the chief ICC prosecutor, asked judges to issue an ...
UN prepares for Darfur vote.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/31/2008 5:15:54 PM The United Nations Security Council is expected to renew a mandate for peacekeepers in Sudan's troubled Darfur region for another year. The 15 council members are to vote on a revised proposed resolution drafted by Britain. The draft ...
Sudan 'rebels' get death sentence.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/31/2008 5:22:23 PM Two Sudanese courts have sentenced 22 suspected Darfur fighters to death by hanging for their alleged involvement in a raid near Khartoum, the capital, in May.The sentences from two special courts, set up to try those arrested in a crackdown after the May10 ...
Ecuador tells US to leave base.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 4:01:21 PM Ecuador has said US troops must leave their only South American military base used for anti-drug flights after the 10-year lease expires in 2009, the foreign ministry has said. About 300 US soldiers are stationed at the Pacific base and flights ...
Q andA: Oil prices and the economy.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/9/2008 6:55:45 PM With oil prices having more than doubled over the last 12 months, various reasons are being cited for the price increases. Adhip Chaudhuri, a visiting professor of economics at Georgetown University's campus in Doha, Qatar, explains the cause and ...
Total freezes Iran investments.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/10/2008 6:58:43 AM French energy giant Total has said it will not make further investments in Iran because the political risk is too high, Christophe de Margerie, the company's chief executive, has told the Financial Times. "Today, we would be taking too much ...
Analysis: Blame the dollar.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 6/23/2008 7:39:11 AM The US economic power horse is running out of ideas and cash as it jostles with a massive national debt, housing and financial crises, rising inflation, and a depreciating currency. This has all contributed to a growing tendency to live off credit ...
Oil prices jump to another new high.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/11/2008 9:30:30 PM Oil prices have briefly spiked to a new record level of more than $147 a barrel.August delivery for light and sweet crude oil hit the high of $147.27 in New York on Friday before settling at $145.08, up $3.43 a barrel, at the end of trading.In London, crude ...
Mixed response to US mortgage plan.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/14/2008 7:32:25 PM Volatility has ruled shares in US mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as investors reacted to a lifeline by the US treasury and the Federal Reserve to shore up the two companies. Shares in the companies, which together have provided ...
Anger as Pakistan stocks plummet.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/17/2008 3:54:54 PM There have been violent protests at the stock exchange in Karachi after shares on the Pakistani stock market plummeted again.The exchange's benchmark 100-share index was down 4.2 per cent at 10,056 points on Thursday afternoon amid growing economic and ...
Qantas cuts jobs as oil price bites.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/18/2008 3:19:38 AM Australian airline Qantas has said it will cut 1,500 jobs, or about 4 per cent of its workforce, and scrap its growth plan for the coming year as a result of soaring fuel prices. The announcement is the company's fifth belt-tightening measure in ...
Housing crisis batters US economy.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/22/2008 4:32:42 PM The US treasury secretary has said that the US economy faces further uncertainty unless its housing crisis eases. Henry Paulson warned on Tuesday that consumers could expect "continued stresses" in the financial markets until the housing market ...
Libya halts Swiss oil shipments.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/24/2008 1:37:25 PM Libya is stopping oil shipments to Switzerland in protest over the arrest of the son of Muammar Gaddafi, the country's leader, according to a state-owned shipping company.The Maritime Transport National Corporation also said in a statement on Thursday that ...
Somali leader pledges aid security.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/24/2008 3:39:37 PM Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, the leader of Somalia's Islamist opposition, has called for a halt to the killing and kidnapping of aid workers stationed in the war-torn country.A total of 19 aid workers have been killed in Somalia this year, while 13 others have ...
Rival Zimbabwe parties begin talks.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/24/2008 7:07:02 PM Zimbabwe's rival political parties have begun talks in an effort to resolve the political crisis created when Robert Mugabe declared victory following a presidential run-off on June 27.Senior members of Mugabe's Zanu-PF party and the opposition Movement for ...
US markets drop after triple blow.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/25/2008 12:03:51 AM US markets have dropped by more than two per cent after yet another fall in US home sales, a rise in jobless claims and record losses posted by the second-biggest car maker in the country. The Dow Jones industrial average closed 2.4 per cent ...
Scores drown in DR Congo river.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/25/2008 11:05:19 AM More than 45 passengers have drowned after a boat struck a rock and sank in the Ubangi river in the Democratic Republic of Congo, government officials say.Rescue workers saved at least 22 passengers, but 115 more were reported to still be missing, officials ...
US prepare masks for Beijing.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/25/2008 11:37:40 AM The U.S. Olympic Committee have revived their designs for a protective masks to help athletes cope with the elements in Beijing. Four years ago in Athens, the stakes were much higher: The American federation bought masks to shield its athletes ...
China names monster squad.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/25/2008 1:39:06 PM China unveiled its largest team of 639 athletes for the Beijing Olympics, a squad many expect will dislodge the United States from the top of the medal table. China is likely to field the biggest team when the games open in two weeks. ...
Series of blasts hit Bangalore.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/25/2008 1:41:31 PM At least seven explosions in the Indian city of Bangalore have killed two people and wounded up to a dozen others, according to police.The blasts, some of which were believed to have been caused by gelatin stick bombs, all went off within 45 minutes of each ...
Karzai 'protecting drug lords'.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/25/2008 3:34:27 PM A former senior US anti-drug official has accused Afghanistan's president of playing the US "like a fiddle" and protecting drug lords in his country for political reasons. Thomas Schweich, who until June served as US state department co-ordinator ...
Chad rebels 'release' US missionary.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/25/2008 10:29:52 PM A US missionary has been set free by rebels in Chad after being held hostage by them for more than nine months, his organisation has said. Steven Godbold, who was captured in October while helping a local organisation transport equipment to ...
India hunts bombing suspects.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/27/2008 9:42:41 AM The authorities in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad have arrested 30 people as they search for those responsible for a series of bomb explosions that killed at least 45 people. A little-known group calling itself the Indian Mujahidin has ...
Battle kills 'dozens' of Taliban.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/27/2008 1:53:48 PM Up to 70 Taliban fighters were killed in fierce fighting supported by air raids by helicopter gunships in southeastern Afghanistan.The battle in Khost province began when more than 100 Taliban fighters launched an attack in Spera district on Sunday, said ...
Spain's Sastre wins Tour de France.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/27/2008 9:38:19 PM Spain's Carlos Sastre, won the Tour de France, after completing the final processional stage into Paris without mishap, while the race was plagued by its fourth doping case. Sastre safely held onto his narrow lead over Cadel Evans of Australia, ...
Hull book their Wembley date.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/28/2008 12:06:08 AM Hull took a huge step towards resurrecting a disappointing season with a 32-24 victory over Wakefield in a pulsating Challenge Cup final at Keepmoat Stadium in Doncaster, England. Once the dust settled on a match which seemed to have no end of ...
Saints march into final.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/27/2008 11:50:02 PM It was a day more suited to sun bathing rather than scrums but in the end the weather may have symbolised a red hot St Helens as they booked a place in their third consecutive Challenge Cup final with a 26-16 victory over Leeds to stamp their current ...
Hun Sen claims Cambodia vote win.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/28/2008 2:52:49 AM Cambodia's ruling party has claimed a landslide victory in parliamentary elections held at the weekend. Hours after polling stations closed on Sunday, the Cambodian People's Party (CPP), led by the prime minister, Hun Sen, appeared to be "leading ...
Smog lingers as Beijing games near.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/28/2008 4:55:47 AM Less than two weeks before the opening of the Olympic games, Beijing continued to be shrouded in smog on Monday as officials considered further emergency restrictions to try to clear the air. Humid weather conditions and low winds have meant ...
Report: Afghan attacks 'escalating'.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/28/2008 4:06:19 PM Aid efforts in Afghanistan appear to be under increased threat with attacks in the country up by 50 per cent in the first half of 2008, a report says.Afghanistan's NGO Safety Office (ANSO), a Kabul-based group, warned in Sunday's report that Taliban fighters ...
Athletes wary of pollution risk.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/28/2008 4:27:36 PM Athletes competing at the Beijing Olympics will face bigger mental issues than physical problems coping with China's pollution, Netherlands football coachFoppe De Haan has said. De Haan said his players had undergone a rigorous training programme ...
High fuel costs hit Ryanair profits.(Financial report)
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/28/2008 2:53:58 PM Ryanair, the Irish low-cost airline, has announced that net profit dived 85 per cent during its first quarter compared with the previous year as the cost of fuel rocketed. The group's chief executive said the outlook for the rest of 2008 was ...
Olympics 'worsening China rights'.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 4:32:31 AM Human rights group Amnesty International has accused China of breaking a pledge to improve its rights record when it was picked to host the Olympic games. The group said the government's rights record had in fact worsened, using the games as a ...
Troops to pull back in temple row.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 6:58:06 AM Cambodia and Thailand have agreed to pull back hundreds of troops from disputed land near an ancient temple but are still far from resolving the issue of boundaries that could end the two-week standoff. The agreement follows some 12 hours of talks ...
Russia in historic Lake Baikal dive.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 8:41:29 AM A Russian expedition has reached the bottom of Lake Baikal, the world's deepest and largest reserve of freshwater. Six expedition members made the trip on Tuesday, in two mini-submarines that had been used to plant a Russian flag beneath the ice ...
Australia drops harsh asylum policy.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 7:13:20 AM The Australian government has abandoned the country's controversial policy of jailing all asylum seekers. Mandatory detention will now only apply to those who pose a risk to society or who breach their visa conditions. Children and ...
Turkish jets 'destroy PKK base'.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 2:55:10 PM Turkish fighter jets have bombed a Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) base in northern Iraq, destroying it and killing an unspecified number of fighters, the Turkish military said.The air raid was the first targeting Kurdish separatist fighters since a deadly ...
India and Pakistan clash in Kashmir.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 12:41:51 PM India and Pakistan have blamed each other for a ceasefire violation along the so-called Line of Control in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.The Indian army said on Tuesday that its forces had traded fire with Pakistani troops for about 12 hours ...
Amnesty blast China's rights record.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 2:17:17 PM Human rights watchdog Amnesty International has argued in its latest report that China has failed to improve its human rights record in the run-up to next month's Olympics, with the government intensifying its crackdown on activists in recent years. ...
Fifa suspend Ethiopia.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 2:56:46 PM The Ethiopian Football Federation has been suspended by Fifa because it failed to comply with agreed steps to normalise the situation of the federation, which had become chaotic after it dismissed its president in January. Football's world ...
Shell reduces production in Nigeria.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 3:26:51 PM Royal Dutch Shell has said it will suspend some crude oil deliveries after fighters sabotaged one of its pipelines in the Nembe Creek Trunk, sending oil prices rising above $126 a barrel. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) ...
Bosnia jails Serbs over Srebrenica.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 2:56:43 PM Bosnia's war crimes court has sentenced seven Serbs to jail terms after finding them guilty of genocide during the Srebrenica massacre in July 1995. The men were convicted of direct participation in the murder of more than 1,000 Muslims in a ...
Fatah commander hurt in Lebanon.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 5:17:13 PM A commander from the Fatah movement of Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, in a refugee camp in south Lebanon has been seriously injured in a roadside bomb, a Palestinian official said. Officials said Talal al-Asmar, the Fatah commander, was ...
Bali bombers object to firing squad.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 6:40:23 PM Lawyers for three men convicted of the Bali bombings in 2002 are seeking a judicial review of the death-by-firing-squad method of execution used by Indonesia.The attorney-general said last week that Amrozi, his brother Mukhlas, also known as Ali Ghufron, and ...
Kadima sets Olmert deadline.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 8:08:11 PM Israel's ruling Kadima party is to hold a leadership election on September 17, which could replace Ehud Olmert, the country's prime minister. The vote to choose a party leader has been prompted by a police investigation that could force Olmert ...
Iraq Olympics ban lifted.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 9:19:08 PM The ban on Iraqi athletes competing at the Beijing Olympic games has been lifted. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) rescinded its suspension on Tuesday. Officials said they were lifting the ban because the Iraqi government had ...
Global trade talks collapse.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 9:20:28 PM High level talks to rescue a global trade pact have collapsed after the US, China and India failed to compromise on farm import rules, trade officials say. Pascal Lamy, head of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said the talks in Geneva, ...
Blast at Hamas Gaza training camp.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/29/2008 10:01:05 PM At least four people have been injured in an explosion at a Hamas training camp in the southern Gaza Strip, according to Palestinian health officials and witnesses.The blast near the town of Khan Yunis late on Tuesday reportedly destroyed the base and it ...
UN says fewer people dying of Aids.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 5:40:17 AM A United Nations report has found that fewer people are dying of Aids and the global epidemic has stabilised. The UN agency in charge of combating the disease warned, however, that governments must continue allocating millions of dollars to ...
US extends Myanmar sanctions.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 4:58:44 AM The US president has extended a ban on the importation of precious gems from Myanmar. Signing new sanctions legislation into effect on Tuesday, George Bush renewed a ban on imports from the military-ruled country and signed a new law aimed at ...
Deputy PM quits Thai coalition.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 8:33:32 AM Thailand's deputy Prime Minister has pulled his party out of the country's ruling coalition. Suwit Khunkitti said his Puea Pandin Party was protesting against the misguided policies of the government, including the handling of an ongoing border ...
Lebanon army checkpoint attacked.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 9:02:18 AM Unknown attackers have killed at least one Lebanese soldier and wounded another at a checkpoint in the east of the country, the army said.The soldiers came under fire from a machine-gun on a hilltop near the army post in a village in Hermel province on ...
Zimbabwe devalues currency.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 11:18:58 AM Zimbabwe, grappling with a record 2.2m per cent inflation, will issue new bank notes that will revalue a $10bn note to one dollar. "With effect from 1 August, we are removing 10 zeros. Ten billion dollars today, will be revalued to one ...
British court overturns BAE ruling.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 10:30:09 AM Britain's highest court has ruled that the country's financial regulator acted lawfully when it halted a corruption inquiry into a multi-billion dollar contract between BAE Systems PLC and Saudi Arabia.The decision overturned an earlier finding by the High ...
Clashes at funeral of West Bank boy.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 12:59:05 PM Clashes between Palestinians and Israeli soldiers have broken out at the funeral of a 10-year-old Palestinian boy shot dead by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank.Thousands of people in the West Bank gathered on Wednesday for the funeral of Ahmed Mussa ...
Bush signs housing bill into law.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 3:07:12 PM George Bush, the US president, has signed into law a housing bill aimed at providing mortgage relief for more than 400,000 US homeowners facing foreclosure. The law will provide $300bn in federal guarantees to help refinance problem mortgages and ...
Syrian dissidents on trial.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/30/2008 6:57:16 PM Twelve Syrian dissidents have gone on trial for signing a declaration calling for democracy in Syria in what a local human rights group said was the biggest such case in seven years. The National Organisation for Human Rights in Syria (NOHRS) said ...
Pakistan rejects links to Taliban.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/31/2008 2:36:57 AM Pakistan's military has rejected as "malicious" a report that the CIA confronted Islamabad over allegations the country's intelligence service was aiding al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters. The New York Times had reported that Stephen Kappes, the ...
Ice breaks off Canada Arctic shelf.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/31/2008 12:58:13 AM Two huge pieces of ice measuring almost 20 square kilometres have broken off a Canadian Arctic ice shelf, the biggest break-up of ice in the Arctic for three years, officials said. The chunks broke off from the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf on the coast of ...
Fears of failure over Mid East deal.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/31/2008 1:49:35 AM Ahmed Qureia, the chief Palestinian negotiator to the three-way talks with Israel and the US, has told Al Jazeera that agreement must be reached on all issues under negotiation "or there will be no agreement". "We will not accept that any issue ...
Ex-Haitian soldiers end stand-off.
Aug 01, 2008 ... 7/31/2008 4:55:56 AM Former Haitian soldiers who had seized a building in northern Haiti have changed out of their uniforms and peacefully filed out, ending a standoff of nearly 24 hours after negotiations with government officials.The protesters were seeking back wages and the ...