Beware the plague of the jellyfish, but flock to the Indian train system. It sounds safer than Amtrak ... in one way at least.

>>Kenya - Rival leaders in Kenya signed a powersharing agreement yesterday, a day after it looked like talks had fallen apart. The agreement, mediated by Kofi Annan, stipulates the creation of a powerful Prime Minister position, which will be filled by opposition leader Odinga, and the splitting of cabinet posts between the government and opposition. When news of the agreement was broadcast, crowds filled the streets of Nairobi to celebrate.

>>Cuba - Cuba signed two UN human rights agreements, both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, yesterday, a step that Fidel Castro had been unwilling to take. Both went into force in 1976. Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque also announced that Cuba would open its doors to UN Human Rights Council scrutiny in 2009.

>>Afghanistan - Prince Harry, third in line to the throne of England, has been serving on the front lines in Afghanistan for the last 10 weeks (timeline) as part of a deal to keep him from leaving the Army after he was denied deployment in Iraq. The news was kept safe through a remarkable media blackout deal between the UK military and news outlets, which was broken by a "world exclusive" on the Drudge Report, prompting rebukes from, among others, News of the World Executive Editor Neil Wallis and the head of the British Army. Prince Harry, known by call sign "Widow Six Seven," worked as a forward air controller at forward operating base Delhi near the border with Pakistan (excellent color here). He is now slated to be withdrawn, amid concerns for his safety and that of his fellow soldiers.

"It's bizarre. I'm out here now, haven't really had a shower for four days, haven't washed my clothes for a week and everything seems completely normal ... I think this is about as normal as I'm ever going to get."
- Prince Harry

"I am very disappointed that foreign websites have decided to run this story without consulting us. This is in stark contrast to the highly responsible attitude that the whole of the UK print and broadcast media, along with a small number overseas, who have entered into an understanding with us over the coverage of Prince Harry on operations."
- Sir Richard Dannatt, head of the British Army

• Tension Between Peace and Justice - by John Boonstra
• Disturbing News - by Mark Leon Goldberg
• UN agencies rally to end to female genital mutilation within a generation - by Mark Leon Goldberg

Africa ...	Deadly violence rages in Cameroon Sarkozy seeks new Africa defence ties Chad prolongs state of emergency for 15 days Logging in Congo River Basin Imperils Sea Turtles Very Far Downstream Burkina Faso: Protests Spread to Capital France 'to change African links'
Americas ...	Landslide hits Ecuador pipeline Chavez seeks international mediation for Colombia
Asia ...	Nepalese ethnic group ends strike Rare cashmere goats starve after heavy snow Litvinenko friend seeks U.S. data on polonium Beijing opens new $3.6 bln air terminal South Korea President Lee finally gets PM approved Britain tells China don't fear action on problem states Russian "Bear" bombers fly over the Atlantic Thousands gather in Manila for anti-Arroyo protest China's Offer To Resume Rights Talks Is Discounted King must pay his electricity bill Russia Is Luring Back N.H.L. Stars Bangladesh death toll rises to 39
Europe ...	Eurozone growth outlook darkens Adopt defence system or face disaster, warns US official Germany: Gallery Shut After Muslim Threats
Middle East ...	US warship sails towards Lebanon Hezbollah says US ship is threat Turkey withdraws troops from Iraq Chemical Ali to be executed within 30 days Israeli minister warns of Palestinian 'holocaust' Iran U.N. sanctions vote seen likely Saturday Strikes in Gaza Kill 18 Palestinians; Hamas Rocket Barrage Injures 2 Israelis
Elsewhere ...	Near Arctic, Seed Vault Is a Fort Knox of Food

We've known for a long time how bad the situation in the Central African Republic is for women and girls there. The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, which has an open investigation into crimes committed during CAR's 2002-2003 civil war, has even said that the number of suspected rapes far exceeds the number of extra-judicial killings during that war. Still, it is a shock to the conscience to see a statistic like this:

Over 15 per cent of women and girls in the violence-ridden north of the Central African Republic (CAR) are victims of rape and other forms of sexual violence, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.

Reports coming in on a weekly basis describe such incidents as two 12-year-old girls being raped while searching for firewood in the bush and a 13-year-old girl assaulted on her way to sell palm oil at a market.

"Sexual violence is a disturbingly common feature of the insecurity in the north of the Central African Republic," said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator John Holmes. "We must ensure that those responsible are brought to justice."

Read more. And visit Amnesty International to learn more about war against women in the C.A.R.

A new development threatens to derail the recent ceasefire between LRA rebels and the Ugandan government. The snag? Indicted war criminal Joseph Kony and two other LRA leaders -- perpetrators of gross human rights abuses, including mutilation, sexual abuse, and recruitment of child soldiers -- have refused to accept the deal unless ICC arrest warrants are dropped.

This dynamic brings into focus the extremely frustrating tension between securing peace and holding perpetrators of mass violence accountable for their crimes. To draw combatants to the negotiating table, mediators cannot exactly trumpet plans to arrest their leaders. However, whitewashing war crimes out of the urgency to enact a peace accord -- particularly one with groups that have a less-than-stellar history of abiding by ceasefires -- would severely undermine the legitimacy of the peace process, damage the entire notion of accountability, and jeopardize the prospects for post-conflict reconciliation.

In Uganda, the ICC is clearly justified in -- and should be commended for -- issuing indictments to the ringleaders of one of the world's most vicious -- and ideologically incoherent (Kony's only stated goal is the implementation of rule of law based on the Ten Commandments) -- rebel groups. Similarly, in Darfur -- where the ICC is operating for the first time without the consent of the host country -- the ICC's indictments of two senior government officials, Ahmad Haroun and Ali Kushayb, represents a key step in both establishing the staying power of the young international court and achieving a just peace in Sudan.

At the same time, however, the need for peace is paramount. A sustainable end to the long-running conflict in northern Uganda would be a welcome breath of fresh air to a region mired in turmoil. The roadblocks to peace in Darfur are even more substantial than those in Uganda, but there too, Sudanese officials' fear of being brought to The Hague is the primary impetus behind its rejection of the ICC and its stubborn reluctance to allow non-African peacekeepers on its soil.

In both Uganda and Darfur, justice should not be sacrificed for peace; the one simply cannot operate without the other. The ICC cannot be seen as capitulating to war criminals. That said, it would be tragic, for both the court and the people of northern Uganda, if this latest ceasefire were to unravel before it even had a chance to survive.

From the Associated Press:

The United Nations health agency said Wednesday that it was monitoring vaccine supplies for yellow fever as it confirmed the first cases of the disease in a Latin American urban area in six decades. The World Health Organization said that there had been nine confirmed cases in the suburbs of Paraguay's capital, Asuncion, and that three people had died.

Dr. William Perea, the W.H.O.'s yellow fever chief, said the disease, carried by mosquitoes, could spread quickly in built-up areas with poor sanitation.

To the extent that a disease can be completely eradicated from the globe, I was under the impression that yellow fever was basically gone. In fact, according to the World Health Organization not only is it still around, but yellow fever's mosquito carrier is "once again infesting regions from which it was previously eradicated," particularly in South America and the Caribbean. Scary.

From the UN News Center

Ten United Nations agencies have banded together to help eliminate the harmful practice of female genital mutilation within a generation, stressing the need for strong leadership and greater resources to protect the health and lives of millions of women and girls.

An estimated 3 million girls are at risk of undergoing the procedure -- which involves the partial or total removal of external female genital organs -- that some 140 million women, mostly in Asia, the Middle East and in Africa, have already endured.

Read more. Plus, see the full inter-agency statement (pdf) on eliminating female genital mutilation.

Conservative lion and founder of the National Review, William F. Buckley, Jr., died yesterday at age 82. If you want to avoid mispronouncing a leader's name on national TV, you might want to watch this a few times.

>>Northern Iraq - A day after stating there would be no timetables for their withdrawal from northern Iraq, a senior Turkish official said today that Turkey would withdrawl within "three or four days," just hours after U.S. Secretary of Defense Gates reiterated his desire that Turkey keep it short in a meeting with Turkish Minister of Defense Vecdi Gonul in Ankara.

>>Uganda - The government's rejection of a key rebel demand, that it work to get ICC war crimes charges against three Lord's Resistance Army leaders dropped, is threatening once promising peace negotiations. Government officials suggest it is premature to work toward that end until the LRA had demobilised.

>>Thailand - Deposed PM, and owner of the Manchester City Premier League Club, Thaksin Shinawatra returned to Thailand today and immediately surrendered to immigration police to face corruption charges. Thaksin ally, Samak Sundarevej, is the current Prime Minister.

• UN Works in Chad - by Mark Leon Goldberg
• Quick Plugs: Kosovo Blogging - by Mark Leon Goldberg

Africa ...	Africa's lesbians demand change Sudan rally at Prophet cartoons Somali human traders face death Crisis summit to save Kenya talks France to change African defence Economic and Political Anger Sets Off Rioting in Cameroon Chad: Leader Accepts International Inquiry Push for Darfur war crime arrests Languishing at the Bottom of Yemen's Ladder
Americas ...	Sicily Mafia 'restoring US links'  Colombia: Rebels Free 4 Politicians
Asia ...	Up to 70% of US aid to Pakistan 'misspent' Dissident's letter calls on west to hold Beijing to its Olympic promises US troops on Okinawa have been put under curfew after a series of scandals China considers ending one-child policy Indian cities ranked last for air quality Russia may back Iran sanctions Ex- B'desh PM faces new charges Singapore hunts escaped suspect Bangladesh river ferry capsizes U.S. and India to Strengthen Security Ties Dmitri Medvedev, in His Own Words Putin's Heir Shows Hints of Less Icy Style
Europe ...	Serbia Withdrew Police, Intelligence Chief Says All the jam's a stage for Romanian traffic police EU may act on US-Czech deal Bush and Czech Leader Close to Deal on Radar
Middle East ...	Israel Kills Six Palestinian Militants Kidnapped journalist 'in good health' Iran 'targeting' women activists Gates Urges Limits on Turkish Raids Heralded New Law Is Vetoed by Iraq's Presidency Council Major powers look at new ways to get Iran to talks Turkey says no timetable for Iraq pullout
Elsewhere ...	Scientists advance 'drought crop' U.N. Eyes Yellow Fever U.S. House Votes to Raise Global Aids Spending

Next time a detractor calls the UN slow and ineffective, he or she should take a good look at how various UN agencies have sprang to action in Chad. From the UN News Center.

More than 5,500 Chadians who fled fighting in their capital, N'Djamena, earlier this month and have been living in temporary sites in north-eastern Cameroon have now been relocated to a newly equipped camp in the village of Maltam, according to United Nations humanitarian officials.

Another 10,000 refugees are expected to be transferred to the camp from the town of Kousseri, which at one point was hosting some 30,000 Chadians -- who left their homeland due to fighting between Government forces and armed opposition groups -- in two temporary sites, as well as in local schools, churches and private homes.

Read the entire article. It is a remarkable display of how a bureaucracy can be marshaled to deliver critical services to a vulnerable population in one of the most remote regions on earth. Not only has UNHCR taken on the burden of relocating many thousands of distressed Chadians, but the World Food program is airlifting food so noone suffers malnutrition and and UNICEF is vaccinating the newly displaced with measles and polio vaccinations. This, I would say, is a good example of UN efficacy.

Biodun Iginla at Fire Dog Lake offers a very reader friendly time-line of the historical events leading up to last week's torching of the US embassy in Belgrade. He also lists the countries that have not, so far, recognized Kosovo's independence (and finds a pattern).

It's great to see such an informed and detailed post about a the historical foundations of a leading foreign policy dilemma find itself on a popular mainstream blog like Fire Dog Lake. Meanwhile, for more frequent updates I recommend readers check out Laura Rozen, who cut her teeth as a reporter in the Balkans in the 1990s and covers the issue extensively on her blog, War and Piece.

Obama (who received Dodd's endorsement yesterday) and Clinton had a contentious debate last night in Ohio, sparring mainly on healthcare and trade. There is no longer any debate, however, about the source of "Parmesan."

>Tuberculosis - The World Health Organization reports that five percent of all TB cases (nearly 20 percent in some areas of the former Soviet Union and 22 percent in Baku) are resistant to two or more drugs (MDR-TB). Moreover, Tuberculosis that is resistant to nearly all the most-effective drugs (XDR-TB) is now present in 45 countries. MDR-TB is exponentially more expensive to treat than regular TB, as is XDR-TB than MDR-TB. TB is the world's most lethal infectious disease after AIDS, killing 1.6 million people a year.

>>Kenya - Kofi Annan suspended negotiations in Kenya on Tuesday. Annan did so to "speed up the action," as he will now bring proposals straight to President Kibaki and opposition leader Odinga instead of their representatives in negotiations. Odinga has called off nationwide opposition protests planned for Thursday.

>>Northern Iraq - Turkey has said that it will provide no timetable for withdrawing its troops from northern Iraq, despite demands from Iraq that it withdraw and from U.S. Secretary of Defense Gates that they keep it short. According to Turkey, 77 militants were killed overnight (bringing the total to 230), as were 24 Turkish soldiers.

>>Cambodia - Kaing Geuk "Duch" Eav, the Khmer Rouge's former chief interregator who is being charged for crimes against humanity, was taken to a mass grave at Choeung Ek (the "killing fields") and the infamous S-21 prison this week as part of an effort to gather evidence for a UN-backed war crimes trial in Cambodia that is trying four other senior Khmer Rouge officials. Duch reportedly wept at both locations.

• UN's Commission on the Status of Women kicks off - by Jessica Valenti
• Increase Aid to Africa - by John Boonstra
• El Baradei faces Another Tired Charge of Anti-Americanism. Enough Already. - by Mark Leon Goldberg
• LRA No More? Ceasefire in Northern Uganda - by Mark Leon Goldberg

Africa ...	Cholera crisis on Somali border Zimbabwe police licensed to shoot Campaign demands Darfur arrests Yemen's Marginalized Class South Africa: Power Crisis Puts Jobs at Risk Election Challenge Rejected in Nigeria
Americas ...	Argentina: 'Dirty War' Suspect Found Dead
Asia ...	Nepal ethnic group talks collapse Olympics water diversion threatens millions Sumatran deforestation driving climate change and species extinction, report warns No opposition or debate in Russia election: Amnesty Philippine church gives Arroyo breathing space In blow to Lee, South Korea cabinet nominees quit For the Press, a Monitored Tour China Says It Will Resume Human Rights Talks With U.S. Market Place: Russia Quietly Starts to Shift Its Oil Trade Into Rubles Khmer Rouge torture chief weeps at "Killing Fields" Free speech 'shrinking' in Russia
Europe ...	Bosnian police in protest clash Kosovo warns Serbia as riots continue Czech PM: Prague doesn't want return to Russian sway Belarus lets jailed activist attend wife's funeral
Middle East ...	US to seek end to Turkey assault Sharon's son sent to Israeli jail Water fears lead Saudis to end grain output Major powers look at new ways to get Iran to talks Turk envoy tells Iraq no timetable for troop pullout U.N. Envoy Critical of Gaza Living Conditions, Threats to Annapolis Initiative
Elsewhere ...	Agencies target female mutilation Dollar falls to record euro low

The United Nations' Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) kicked off its 52nd session yesterday; this year's theme is financing for gender equality and the empowerment of women and the emerging issue is gender perspectives on climate change.

In the session's opening address, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke out against violence against women, noting that "at least one out of every three women is likely to be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime." Ban also announced the launch of a new campaign to battle global violence against women, which will run until 2015.

I've been lucky enough to go to past CSWs when I was working in the international women's rights arena, but (sadly) I won't be there this year. What's great, however, is that you can follow along on the CSW website and see what's happening - whether it be panels, statements or NGO events.

Another great place to find out info on CSW and its happenings is the Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO) (my old stomping ground), who are heavily involved in the process and give great updates.

Too often, American feminists forget about the all-important work being done on the international level by groups like WEDO and others. So please, check out all of the info on CSW and get involved!

If you want to know more about CSW and its history, click here.

Conventional wisdom -- here, and elsewhere -- has been that, while President Bush has fallen woefully short in supporting UN peacekeeping in Africa, he has at least done a fairly good job providing humanitarian aid to the continent, particularly in combating HIV/AIDS and malaria. Not so fast, argues Brookings Institution Senior Fellow Homi Kharas; the raw numbers of the Bush administration's aid to Africa look impressive, but a closer look reveals that even these sums pale, in proportional terms, to the amount given by European countries. Moreover, even the aid provided by the U.S. is often subject to bureaucratic delays and does not necessarily go into the areas identified by Africans as the most important.

Kharas urges that the U.S. enact an explicit policy to increase the amount of aid it provides for Africa:

The United States can do much more to increase the level and effectiveness of its aid to Africa. It can allocate a greater share of aid to Africa which is the poorest continent and which faces the greatest development challenges. A target of at least 40% - about what the Europeans give - would be reasonable. It can shift resources from food-aid, which has above-market pricing and caters as much to domestic farm interests as to development, towards priority funding for infrastructure, agriculture and economic improvements. In programs like the Millennium Challenge compacts, which do respect local priorities, it should focus heavily on implementation and develop more realistic timeframes so that countries can actually use the promised money. That would be a legacy of assistance that the whole world would welcome.

As I've argued here previously, increasing humanitarian and development aid to Africa is helpful in more than just a feel-good way; by improving the U.S.'s image in the world, it can also actually contribute to a stronger national security policy. An even higher priority, though, is to make sure that the aid being sent is effective; this means, for example, relenting on abstinence-only programs and increasing contributions to concrete development programs -- not to mention anteing up the money for the peacekeepers crucial to the safety of millions of Africans.

Hugh Hewitt flags the latest hit job on IAEA Chief Mohammed el Baradei from AEI's Michael Rubin and Danielle Pletka, who have had elBaradei in their cross hairs ever since the Iraq war. (You see, while the hawkish duo was drumming up support for a U.S. non-proliferation strategy predicated on invading and occupying Iraq, elBaradei warned anyone who would listen that his agency has no evidence of nuclear weapons in Iraq.) Now, for having the audacity to once again to render a judgment on the state of Iran's nuclear weapons program based on evidence available to him (incidentally, a judgment backed up by the American intelligence community) elBaradei gets subjected to fusillades like this:

Mr. ElBaradei's report [on Iran] culminates a career of freelancing and fecklessness which has crippled the reputation of the organization he directs. He has used his Nobel Prize to cultivate an image of a technocratic lawyer interested in peace and justice and above politics. In reality, is a deeply political figure, animated by antipathy for the West and for Israel on what has increasingly become a single-minded crusade to rescue favored regimes from charges of proliferation.

Glen Greenwald has done a masterful job documenting how time and time and time and time and time and time again, Elbaradei has been vindicated against charges that he is some sort of stooge to rogue proliferators. Meanwhile, it is hard to see how Elbaradei can be accused of anti-Americanism when all along his agency has been supplying to the United States correct information about the nuclear weapons programs of America's potential rivals. It seems to me that this is exactly the sort of thing that the United States would want from the world's nuclear watchdog.

Via Hilzoy comes this great bit of news

"With whoops and backslaps, Uganda's government and Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) rebels signed a ceasefire on Saturday, a big step towards a final peace settlement to one of Africa's longest-running wars.

"It is the laying down of arms. It is the end of the war," U.N. envoy Joaquim Chissano said after the parties signed the "permanent ceasefire" agreement during their fast-progressing talks in southern Sudan's capital Juba.

With only a demobilization deal left to be agreed on, negotiators and mediators like Chissano are predicting a final accord will be reached next week to end one of the world's most macabre and least-understood conflicts.

Fortunately, on UN Plaza last week, I enlisted the help of the Enough Campaign's Julia Spiegel to help me, and viewers, understand the conflict. As she points out, it is actually not that complicated: an outlaw group that receives support from abroad terrorizes the population of northern Uganda. Government forces, in trying to suppress rebellion, commit atrocities of their own. The people of Northern Uganda lose. Until now, that is.

First the New York Philharmonic, now Eric Clapton has been invited to play Pyongyang.

>>Kenya - Kofi Annan has expressed frustration that parties in Kenya have been unable to reach a final deal, despite weeks of talks. The sticking point seems to be the amount of power that the agreed-on new post of Prime Minister would hold. The opposition Orange Democratic Movement has filed the necessary papers for what it says will be a massive protest on Thursday. Estimates suggest that 1,500 people have died in violence over the past two months.

>>Belgium - The political stalemate that has kept Belgium from forming a government for nearly nine months appears to be almost over. A compromise between the Flemish and Francophone political parties was reached on Monday to devolve powers over industrial policy, housing, and agriculture to the regions. The new government will be led by Yves Leterme, a Flemish Christian Democrat.

>>World Food Programme - Director of the World Food Program (and former US Undersecretary of State) Josette Sheeran has said that, due to the sharp increase in global commodity prices (food increased 40 percent last year), it would need more support from donor countries to ensure it can continue to provide even the current level of food aid. Through voluntary contributions by Member States to a budget of roughly $2.8 billion, the WFP feeds 73 million people in 78 countries. Meanwhile, wheat prices jumped 25 percent in one day to a record high, as major exporter Kazakhstan announced it would impose export tariffs.

>>Thailand - Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister of Thailand who was ousted in a military coup, will return on Thursday to fight corruption allegations. Thaksin ally Samak Sundaravej recently took office as the new Prime Minister.

>>Nigeria - The 2007 election results that put President Umaru Yar'Adua in office have been validated by a five-judge tribunal, created after his rivals asserted that the election was rigged. Observers worried that the nation, a major oil exporter, could have been destabilized had the decision gone the other way.

"This is the new face of hunger. There is food on shelves but people are priced out of the market. There is vulnerability in urban areas we have not seen before. There are food riots in countries where we have not seen them before."
- Josette Sheeran, director of the World Food Program

• UN Plaza: Peacekeeper Edition - by Mark Leon Goldberg

Africa ...	S Africa to allow elephant cull
Americas ...	Guantanamo guards suffer psychological trauma US to set 'binding' climate goals Guatemala 'to open war archives' Troops sent to stem Amazon loss Free Eye Care From Chavez, All the Better to See Him Mexicans Barely Increased Remittances in '07
Asia ...	Massive Mandalay market fire destroys 1,500 shops China, Pakistan and Vietnam on bird flu alert Iconic Philippine leader calls on Arroyo to quit Khmer Rouge torture chief weeps at "Killing Fields" Thousands homeless as severe flood hits Kazakhstan Afghan reporter shocked by trial Free speech 'shrinking' in Russia Police Said to Have Assaulted Rights Lawyer in China Russian Candidate Denounces Kosovo In Visit, Cellist's Quest for Lost Chord to His Youth The Philippines: Protesters Demand Arroyo's Ouster Russia pledges support to Serbia Pakistan army's top medic killed
Europe ...	Serbia and Russia reject Albanian rule in Kosovo Merkel gives nod to Green partnership Globalisation 'a blessing' for west Europe Hungary backs Russian pipeline Spanish leaders in heated debate
Middle East ...	Lebanon delays presidential vote after talks fail British Museum and army team up in move to rescue Iraq's heritage Turkey hits rebels in new attacks Turkey academics defy scarf law Khamenei hails Iran 'nuclear win' Israeli PM calls for new sanctions against Iran Unrest Spreads in Armenia, and Some Are Arrested Rising Inflation Creates Unease in Middle East
Elsewhere ...	U.N. campaign takes on violence against women

In the latest UN Plaza installment, I interview Nick Birnback from the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations. We discuss the recent surge of current operations and why Americans should care about peacekeeping.

Joel and Ethan Coen, as well as Daniel Day Lewis and Javier Bardem, took home some well-deserved hardware at the Oscars last night. The NY Philharmonic meanwhile plays Pyongyang.

>Cuba - Raul Castro became the new president of Cuba on Sunday, promising immediately to consult his brother on every major decision. The National Assembly stuck to the old guard when filling other major responsibilities as well, selecting 76-year-old Jose Ramon Machado Ventura, "a Communist hard-liner fiercely loyal to Castros," to be the First Vice President and 70-year-old Ricardo Alacron to be the Assembly President. Some in Cuba had hoped that the mantle of leadership would pass to a younger generation.

>>Cyprus - Demetris Christofias, leader of the Communist Party, was elected president of Cyprus on Sunday, bolstering hopes that reunification of the island might be a possibility. He agreed to meet with his Turkish Cypriot counterpart, Mehmet Ali Talat, "at the earliest possible date."

>>Turkey - Several hundred Turkish troops and dozens of tanks entered Northern Iraq at the end of last week, following hours of shelling and bombing by the Turkish military. Reports of casualties vary, but Turkey admits to the loss of one of its helicopters, which the PKK claims to have shot down. The incursion sparked intense criticism from the Iraqi government, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates has urged Turkey to keep it short.

• Bergmann on Funding UN Peacekeeping - by Mark Leon Goldberg
• Stiffing the Blue Helmets - by Mark Leon Goldberg
• Secretary-General Introduces his Adviser on the "Responsibility to Protect" - by John Boonstra

Africa ...	China presses Sudan over Darfur peacekeepers Japan in talks for peace mission to Sudan Sudan 'renews Darfur air strikes' Madagascar cyclone toll doubled Islamists overrun Somali town SA power cuts threaten gold jobs Thousands of Darfuris 'desperate'
Americas ...	In Argentina, No Assistance From Region on Gas Needs
Asia ...	Manila security forces support Arroyo amid rallies Afghan drugs agency hit by staffing crisis Pakistan 'sparks YouTube outage' Russia pledges support to Serbia Pakistan army's top medic killed Chinese Submarine Fleet Is Growing, Analysts Say South Korea's New President Takes Office
Europe ...	State vote seen boosting tensions in Merkel govt
Middle East ...	Israeli PM calls for new sanctions against Iran Turkey admits loss of helicopter Iran Stepping Up Its Uranium Work Unrest Spreads in Armenia, and Some Are Arrested Suicide Bomber Kills 40 at Iraq Highway Rest Stop Rising Inflation Creates Unease in Middle East Israel Adds Border Forces Ahead of Protest in Gaza
Oceania ...	Australia ends "Pacific Solution" for refugees

The World Food Program says that rising costs of food aid and transportation are forcing it to contemplate rationing strategies. From the Financial Times:

The UN's agency responsible for relieving hunger is drawing up plans to ration food aid in response to the spiralling cost of agricultural commodities.The World Food Programme is holding crisis talks to decide what aid to halt if new donations do not arrive in the short term. Josette Sheeran, WFP executive director, told the Financial Times that the agency would look at "cutting the food rations or even the number or people reached" if donors did not provide more money. "Our ability to reach people is going down just as the needs go up," she said.

Read more.

Over on Democracy Arsenal, Max Bergmann takes on a subject near and dear to our hearts. He hits all the highlights: Justin Rood's excellent piece on how the president's n