News for 1/20 to 1/26

• Iraq: Former Iraqi Official Hanged after Halabja Ruling/3 Suicide Bomb Attacks in Baghdad
• Known as “Chemical Ali,” was sentenced to death for genocide and crimes against humanity
• Calls for his sentencing resulted from numerous different occasions, such as the military campaign against ethnic Kurds in 1988, crushing the Shia revolt in 1991, and the killing of Shia Muslims in Sadr City in 1999
• Shortly before the announcement of his hanging, 3 suicide bombers struck central Baghdad (a connection between the two has not yet been established)
• Northern Ireland: Brown and Cowen Meet for Emergency Justice Talks
• There is currently a growing fear of a collapse in the political institutions at Stormont
• NI’s two biggest political parties, the DUP and Sinn Fein have been arguing over the transfer of policing and justice powers from Westminster to Stormont
• In general, the government in this area is extremely fragile at this time
• Somalia: EU Agrees to Train Somali Troops
• Eu will send a team to help train 2,000 Somali troops who are battling Islamist militants
• EU wants to contribute to the training of Somali security forces in order to enhance stability and hopefully put an end to the offshore piracy
• Thus far, the fighting in Somalia has claimed nearly 20,000 lives
• Sri Lanka: Country Prepares to Choose its Next President
• Election is the first since the Tamil Tigers were defeated (after 25 years of war)
• President Mahinda Rajapaksa faces tough reelection against his former army chief, Gen. sarath Fonseka
• Afghanistan: NATO forces to launch Helman Operation
• Goal is to assert the control of the Afghan government in parts of Helmand under the Taliban
• Helmand is a significantly populous region, with about 250,000 people
• Haiti: Devastated Country to ask for $3 Billion at Donors Conference
• The international conference meeting on Monday will be held in Montreal
• Haiti’s tourism minister estimates that they would use $2 billion to build housing for the 200,000 left homeless, and the rest would be used to rebuilt government ministries and national infrastructure

Google and China

Google and China

Article Excerpt from BBC News:

China has denied any state involvement in alleged cyber attacks on Google and accused the US of double standards.

A Chinese industry ministry spokesman told the state-run Xinhua news agency that claims that Beijing was behind recent cyber attacks were "groundless".

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this week asked China to investigate claims by Google that it had been targeted by China-based hackers.

The US search giant has threatened to withdraw from China.

"The accusation that the Chinese government participated in [any] cyber attack, either in an explicit or inexplicit way, is groundless. We [are] firmly opposed to that," the unnamed spokesman of China's ministry of industry and information technology told Xinhua.

1/14/2010-1/19/2010

• Haiti: Avalanche of international aid flowing into Haiti
• Still no final death count
• Bill Clinton flew in on 1/18/10
• Getting it to those who need it to most is challenging
• Still a lot of violence, but also a lot of patience
• More than 2,000 U.S. marines set to arrive
• Afghanistan: Taliban attack in heart of Kabul
• Two men detonated suicide bombs while other militants “fought to the death”  right near heart of Afghan government
• Attack demonstrates the Taliban’s new trend of bringing the fight to cities, rather  than to rural areas
• FIRST time they’ve mounted an attack of this nature so successfully
• Iraq: seeks U.S. Blackwater lawsuit signatures
• Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki says they want compensation for a number of cases, including the 2007 killing of 17 Iraqis in Baghdad’s Nisoor Square
• Lawyers of the accused say they were acting in self-defense
• Ukraine: Orange leader Viktor Yushchenko eliminated from the country’s presidential election
• International monitors say the election has, thus far, been clean
• Canada: Toronto truck bomb plotter imprisoned
• Zakaria Amara, 24, co-led the Islamist militant group dubbed the Toronto 18
• Plan was to set off three truck bombs in eastern Canada
• France: Warning against Internet Explorer
• Certa, a government agency that oversees cyber threats, released the warning on ALL versions
• Calls for web users to find an alternative for security reasons
• These calls have been echoed by Germany
• Counterargument (primarily from Microsoft) maintains that other browsers probably have equal risks

January 13th News Update

Vanderbilt Model UN Weekly Briefing

For 1/5/2010-1/13/2010

Written at on 1/13/2010 at 11:00am

• Haiti: Thousands are feared dead in a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck off the coast of Haiti, reported as the worst quake in two centuries.
• Haiti’s envoy to the U.S. talked of a “catastrophe of major proportions.”
• The Red Cross says up to 3 million people have been affected.
• The U.S., France, China, United Kingdom, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic have sent search and rescue teams to find any survivors in the rubble as well as aid.
• Over 100 United Nations workers are reported as missing, including the head of the U.N. Mission in Haiti, Hedi Annabi.
• China: Google may end operations in China after hackers in the nation have targeted the e-mail accounts of Chinese human rights activists
• Yemen: The attack on a US jetliner on Christmas Day by a Nigerian man is the first attack in North America by Al-Qaeda originating from the Arab nation.
• The attack signifies the new structure of Al-Qaeda and its ability to plan and carry out attacks despite American operations to dismantle the terror organization.
• Afghanistan: A United Nations report by the U.N. Mission in Afghanistan reported today that the number of Afghan civilians killed in violence in 2009 was higher than in any year since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
• 1/3 of the deaths were the result of suicide attacks, according to the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies.
• American and NATO combat deaths jumped from 295 last year to 520 in 2009.
• Guinea: Guinea's junta leader, Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, who was wounded by an aide last month, was moved to Burkina Faso to recover after surgery in Morocco for a bullet wound.
• A leaked U.N. report states that the leader should be tried with crimes against humanity for killing opposition protesters and mass rape and sexual abuse by the militia government.
• Camara has been in charge of the military government since President Lansana Conte died in December 2008.
• Iran: The government is continuing its effort to discredit opposition.
• Opposition leader Grand Ayatollah Hoseyn Ali Montazeri died 19 December.
• At least 8 were confirmed dead following anti-government protests in Tehran, 300 reported arrested.
• Tens of thousands of Iranians have protested in favor of their government in the past weeks, in response to the opposition demonstrations.
• The rallies were reportedly organized by the government, according to BBC News.
• Somalia: The Piracy Reporting Center of the International Maritime Bureau reported Somali pirates carried out a record number of attacks and hijackings in 2009.
• These record numbers occurred despite the deployment of international warships and a U.N. Security Council resolution.

Week of November 24th News

Vanderbilt Model UN Weekly Briefing

For 11/24/09-12/1/09

Written at on 11/30/09 at 1:53pm

• HIV/AIDS: The WHO and UNAids reports that the HIV death toll has been cut over 10% in the last five years due to greater access to anti-retroviral drugs
• Iran: The government is expanding its effort to discredit opposition.
• The government has put 6,000 Basij militia in elementary schools across Iran to promote the ideals of the Islamic Revolution.
• Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameni, has been using the phrase “soft war,” the idea that Western cultural subversion is the reason for domestic ills and must be combated with a vigorous response.
• Iran: Five British citizens have been detained by the Iranian navy while sailing a yacht from Bahrain to Dubai.
• Somalia: Pirates off the coast of Somalia captured a large tanker carrying oil from Saudi Arabia to the U.S. on Sunday, November 29^th.
• There are 28 crew members on board.
• Pirates are currently holding 11 vessels and 264 crew members in Somalia.
• United Arab Emirates: One of Dubai’s largest investment companies, Dubai World, has asked for a six-month delay on repaying its debts.
• This has raised fears among investors about the financial well-being of Dubai ventures.
• European and Middle Eastern shares have been hit.
• Philippines: The government has declared a state of emergency in two southern provinces after the death toll doubled on Tuesday after election violence intensified.
• Group of 50 lawyers, journalists, and relatives of local politicians who were abducted after Monday elections.
• Violence blamed on clan warfare with political motivations ahead of the 2010 provincial and national elections.
• Key suspect Andal Ampatuan Jnr, has surrendered to the authorities and President Gloria Arroyo has vowed to bring the killers to justice.
• Switzerland: The Swiss have approved by referendum a measure to ban the building of minarets within the country with 58% in support and 22 of 26 cantons.
• Seen as a reaction to perceived poor assimilation of the Swiss Muslim community or fears of possible poor assimilation.
• The government urged its citizens to vote against the ban, but now is put in the awkward position of explaining the vote to the Muslim world.
• There is fear that trade and banking relationships could be adversely affected.