« January 2008 | Main | March 2008 »

A Dark Cloud Lifted

February 28, 2008 4:39 PM

Dana Hughes, part of our recent expansion of reporters stationed around the globe, blogs from Nairobi, Kenya:

Finally. That’s what journalists, politicians, and most importantly Kenyans all said today after former Secretary General Kofi Annan uttered the words we’ve all been longing to hear: “We have a deal.”

And just like that opposition leader Raila Odinga was referring to his friend “President” Mwai Kibaki, President Kibaki was talking about how much he looks forward to working with his friend the Honorable (soon the be Prime Minister) Raila Odinga, and the entire diplomatic community, as well as Kenyan bystanders, broke out into applause. It’s as if someone removed a looming, potentially disastrous storm cloud over the entire nation. I overheard one woman on her cell phone telling someone “we can finally say ‘Happy New Year’ now.”

On Tuesday, the situation looked bleak after Annan announced he was suspending the mediation talks with the parties’ negotiating teams out of frustration. Tired of hardliners on both sides unwilling to compromise on the issue of power-sharing, he declared that from then on he was only going to talk with the two leaders. Everyone, including myself, thought “uh oh. This is not good.”

Continue reading "A Dark Cloud Lifted"

February 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sex, Lies and Regulation?

February 21, 2008 6:27 PM

Legal Correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg blogs:

Let’s leave aside, for a moment, the obvious questions about whether the New York Times committed journalistic malpractice by relying on unnamed sources to imply John McCain was sleeping with a woman 30 years his junior—and then, as a favor to her, tried to twist arms at the Federal Communications Commission on behalf of one of her clients. (At left, Sen. John McCain and wife Cindy today.)

Let’s also leave aside which of McCain’s unnamed “former campaign associates”—people from his 2000 presidential campaign---would be motivated to leak this stuff to the Times a few months ago, when reporters there first started working on the story.

Let’s focus for now on what we know---and whether, based on the facts we know, John McCain did anything inappropriate when he contacted the FCC about a pending licensing application—an application the woman, by the way, was lobbying to get approved.

Continue reading on Jan's Legalities blog.

February 21, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

The Young Faces of AIDS in Africa

February 20, 2008 4:17 PM

White House Producer Jon Garcia blogs:

For all of the billions of dollars the U.S. spends on fighting the spread of HIV & AIDS in Africa, the real impact of the disease doesn’t really hit you until you look directly into the faces of its youngest victims. Correspondent John Hendren and I did that while reporting on what is likely President Bush's last trip to Africa as President. As Bush spent his first day on the continent in Benin answering questions about the violence in Kenya, we spent our day in Tanzania -- at the HIV/AIDS ward at the Ocean Road Cancer Institute in Dar es Salaam.

For most of our visit we were guided around by the director of the institute and head of an NGO who focuses her energies on fighting AIDS. We met and interviewed patients, looked at treatment facilities and saw how the $18 billion the U.S. has spent on AIDS in the last five years is making a difference: more drugs, more treatment, more hope.

But at the very end of the visit, as we were preparing to leave, Hendren found himself surrounded by AIDS' littlest victims. Boys and girls -- no older than six or seven years old -- with gleaming smiles, haunting eyes and playful spirits tugged at him and laughed even as he continued to interview the doctors. One boy reached out and held Hendren's hands. The kids didn’t understand English, but they did understand our smiles. It was clear they don't get to see smiles all that often. The good news is that all these kids are alive. Five years ago, our guides tell us, most HIV/AIDS patients were simply sent home to die. Now, everyone gets treated. See some of the faces we aren't soon to forget attached to this post.

February 20, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Cuban "Exile" Community's de facto Town Hall

February 19, 2008 4:15 PM

Correspondent Jeffrey Kofman blogs from the Versailles Restaurant in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana:

When you cover Cuba and Cuban-affairs from Miami, you get to know the Versailles Restaurant very well. The glorified diner likes to boast that it is “Miami’s Most Popular Cuban Restaurant Since 1971.” It is decorated with chandeliers and mirrors in a kitschy riff on the fabled French palace. But there is nothing French about the Versailles (pronounced “VER-SIGH-YES” in Miami Spanglish.) The restaurant is pure Cuban, from country food (beans and rice), to the Café Con Leche (a sweet milky brew), to the conversation (all Castro all the time.) (At left, customers order breakfast today.)

Because Little Havana (Flickr photos) is little more than a scruffy suburban strip, this unlikely coffee joint has become the de facto town hall. For years the power brokers of the Miami Cuban “Exile” community have gathered here each morning to dissect the latest news from the homeland.

Many of the old guys gathered by the coffee window came to Miami in the early 1960’s for what they thought was a brief interruption. “Next year in Havana” they’d say at the family table each Christmas. But years became decades and two generations of Cuban-Americans have since been born and more than a million Cubans now live in South Florida. (At right, the masts of television live trucks.)

So when news breaks on the Cuba front, this is where the community and the media congregate. Crowding into the parking lot and pointing cameras at the cigars and espresso machines and microphones at the wizened old faces in search of some pearl of wisdom.

And that’s where we were yet again early this morning when the news broke that Fidel is stepping down on his own terms.

It is not the way the old guys around the coffee bar at the Versailles thought this story would end.

February 19, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

First Impression Rwanda: In the Garden of Good and Evil

February 19, 2008 3:51 PM

Dana Hughes, part of our recent expansion of reporters stationed around the globe, blogs from Kigali:

Rwanda is a beautiful country. It’s clean with lush green hills rolling for miles. Just driving down the highway in Kigali you feel as if you are in some type of tourism commercial, any stop light could double as a scenic overlook.

Then you remember that only 14 years ago, this small gorgeous country was home to some of the ugliest acts against mankind we’ve seen this century. A genocide that pitted neighbor against neighbor and wiped out nearly 14 percent of the nation’s population. To put it in perspective -- 14 percent of America’s population is about 40 million people.

I’d read about the genocide, watched Hotel Rwanda, Sometimes in April and other movies and television shows about it, but nothing prepared me for coming face-to-face with thousands of skulls, and a blood-stained alter cloth at a church where 10,000 men, women and children were slaughtered.

At the Nyamata Mission Church, the physical evidence of the horror has been preserved. Bullet and grenade holes remain in the tin ceiling. Bags of bones, many with visible fractures, still haven’t found a place among the well organized thousands of skulls displayed. There are piles of tombs, and a closet filled to the ceiling with the belongings of the families who fled to the church, barricading themselves in, believing that surely a church would be safe and held sacred.

Continue reading "First Impression Rwanda: In the Garden of Good and Evil"

February 19, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

When Pledged Delegates Aren't

February 19, 2008 10:05 AM

Senior Political Correspondent and Political Punch author Jake Tapper blogs:

Our friend Roger Simon has a juicy little column in this morning's Politico where he reports on the Clinton campaign's push not just for superdelegates but regular, pledged delegates.

Whether or not they know it, those delegates purportedly elected to represent the will of the voters of their home states and districts can actually vote any way they want. And according to Simon, "Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination.

“I swear it is not happening now, but as we get closer to the convention, if it is a stalemate, everybody will be going after everybody’s delegates,” a senior Clinton official told Simon yesterday. “All the rules will be going out the window.”

The Obama campaign responded harshly this morning.

Continue reading on Jake's Political Punch blog.

February 19, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

This Week in Tehran

February 18, 2008 7:30 AM

Lara Setrakian, part of our recent expansion of reporters stationed around the globe, blogs from the Iranian capital:

This week in Iran I saw my first bits of the rich and ancient Persian culture. I saw it in a Qajar-inspired painting (at left) and in a poster by the local UN office showing the Millennium Development Goals illustrated by scenes from the epic Shahnameh (at right), the Persian equivalent of the Iliad. I remembered my Persian friends back home in America who are so rightly proud of their cultural heritage. They feel cheated that 4,000 years of Persian history are buried under a public image of terrorism and friction with the West.

Monday was 22 Bahman, an Iranian national holiday marking the 29th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution. I filed a report from the state rally for the World News Webcast. Hundreds of kids at the rally, there on a school field trip, were clamoring to have their picture taken. (At left, below.) I was afraid I'd start a riot with my camera. People here are thirsty to tell their story and to connect with outsiders who haven’t seen normal people and normal daily life in Iran.

This week I also saw how Christians live in Tehran. I was welcomed and invited to eat at the Armenian Club, a restaurant open for foreigners and non-Muslims where women can go without covering their heads with a hejab, which is required everywhere else. The food was delicious. Even in their most honest moments of conversation it seemed that as a religious minority considered “people of the book,” they felt relatively free and happy living within the Christian spaces of Iran. Many have children in the United States and could move abroad if they wanted, but they choose to stay.

On a practical note I have to be very careful about what I spend here. The Iran embargo means there’s no using credit cards, so I only have what cash I carried in. For now it’s dampened my hopes of taking home a Persian carpet. I still, however, bought a number of DVDs from Iran’s robust film industry and picked up clearly bootleg copies of Disney movies like “Tarzan,” and “Brother Bear” (at left), dubbed into Farsi. I suppose one of the few upsides of the embargo is that there seems to be no enforcement over piracy or intellectual property law. Aside from taking note of it as an employee of the Walt Disney Company, I thought it was interesting this generation in Iran and America will grow up with a common point of reference – kids “Finding Nemo” on opposite sides of the diplomatic divide.

This was also the week that Iran postponed talks with the US over Iraq and that announced President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad would go to Baghdad March 2. I haven't done enough reporting yet to understand fully today's Iran-Iraq relations. But there are some things I've noticed. Economic ties seem strong (trade between Iran and Iraq reached $2 billion this year, according to state news agencies). The Iran-Iraq War, which ended in 1988, is still remembered vividly. It was a bitter 8-year conflict that unleashed some of the worst of Saddam Hussein's brutality. Many of the Iranians who died are remembered in posters and fresh paintings (at right) that hang in Tehran. There are more of those paintings than of "death to America" billboards (though there are a solid handful of those). Iran and Iraq have gone from heinous war to close friendship in less than twenty years (Saddam’s ouster certainly helped). More reporting on that shift to follow.

February 18, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

The Role of Race

February 15, 2008 9:35 AM

Polling Director Gary Langer blogs:

Race has been a riveting factor in the Democratic presidential primaries; even beyond sex, age and socioeconomics, it looks to be the single most powerful demographic in vote choices – at least for nonwhites.

Witness New Mexico, which Hillary Clinton last night was announced to have won by a razor-thin 1,709 votes – despite losing white voters there by a 12-point margin. The reason: her 26-point victory among Hispanics.

I wrote last week about white men as a swing group; it proved out in Virginia and Maryland. But differing vote preferences between African-Americans and Hispanics are essential as well, and especially worth evaluating with an eye toward the Texas primary ahead.

There is some tension here. In aggregate exit poll data from the Super Tuesday states, just 3 percent of whites called the race of the candidate “the single most important factor” in their vote; that rose to 12 percent among Hispanics. Voters in both those groups favored Clinton by roughly 3-1 margins, 73-22 percent among whites, 72-27 percent among Hispanics – in both cases, better for Clinton than she did among whites and Hispanics who gave less importance to the candidates’ race.

Continue reading on Gary’s The Numbers blog.

February 15, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Sick in Space

February 13, 2008 4:02 PM

Science Correspondent Ned Potter blogs:

In December 1968, on the first day of the first flight ever by astronauts to orbit the Moon, Apollo 8 commander Frank Borman became unexpectedly nauseated -- and the whole world soon knew about it. Borman felt better the next day, and the flight went on to make history. (At left, German astronaut Hans Schlegel.)

Back then, Borman's motion sickness was a matter of mystery. Previous astronauts had reported nothing -- partly because their ships were too small for them to move around a lot and get queasy, partly because they kept their mouths shut for fear they'd never fly again.

Now, almost 500 men and women have been in space, and it's been well-documented that about half of them suffer from "space adaptation syndrome." NASA plans around it. Space Shuttle crews typically go to bed about five hours after launch; a docking with the Space Station doesn't happen until day three of most flights.

But after years without trouble, something happened on the current flight, STS-122, to interfere with the best-laid plans. My ABC colleagues asked me to help explain why it became a quandary.

Mission manager John Shannon reported there was "a medical issue," requiring that German astronaut Hans Schlegel be replaced on the mission's first spacewalk by crewmate Stanley Love -- but NASA wouldn't say what the illness was, or even whether it was Schlegel who was ill.

Continue reading on Ned’s Science and Society blog.

February 13, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Does Terror Trump Torture?

February 12, 2008 5:43 PM

Legal Correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg blogs:

We all know Justice Antonin Scalia (.PDF) is a big fan of 24's Jack Bauer, the fictional hero of the popular television show who sometimes tortures terrorists to derail their fiendish plots and save lives. Scalia mounted a spirited defense of Bauer during a judicial conference in Ottawa last year when a Canadian judge said, "Thankfully, security agencies in all our countries do not subscribe to the mantra 'What would Jack Bauer do?' " (At left, Scalia in 2006.)

Scalia shot back: "Jack Bauer saved Los Angeles . . . . He saved hundreds of thousands of lives…Are you going to convict Jack Bauer? Say that criminal law is against him? 'You have the right to a jury trial?' Is any jury going to convict Jack Bauer? I don't think so."

Now, Scalia is again weighing in on the issue of torture, telling a BBC reporter that the "ticking time bomb" scenario raised difficult questions that could possibly justify extreme measures. The interview is causing quite a stir, especially among human rights groups, which are taking Scalia to task for refusing to draw a clear line against torture in every case.

Continue reading on Jan’s Legalities blog.

February 12, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

First Impressions: Tehran

February 11, 2008 4:51 PM

Lara Setrakian, part of our recent expansion of reporters stationed around the globe, blogs from the Iranian capital:

"Iran is full of surprises," I often hear from those who know the country well, and my first day here didn't disappoint. People were friendly from the start -- as a gesture of goodwill airport immigration let me go without a "finger map" (taking my prints). Walking through the airport the first place I saw to change US dollars into local currency was Bank Melli, a bank the State Department designated a financial sponsor of terror last November. (At left, Bank Melli.) For what it's worth the bankers were nice enough to help me with my suitcase, overstuffed with Iran-friendly, show-no-skin sweaters I packed for the occasion.

My first full day in the required headscarf wasn't too bothersome. The Tehran I saw in a day didn't have hard and fast standards on how the hejab, as it's called, must be worn. There were girls with colorful scarves half off their heads, layers of styled hair framing their face. We took the "Basij expressway" into town, named for the internal military force with a harsh reputation for cracking down on immoral behavior. They periodically come down on women whose headscarves fall too low, a status known as "bad hejab." Later that day I saw a women's clothing store with little black dresses in the window and a sign warning women with "bad hejab" not to come in. (At right, the warning sign.) I find it interesting that English and Farsi, the language spoken here, have many commonalities -- the word "bad" is the same in both languages so the phrase "bad hejab" is the same in both as well.

Tehran had charming corners -- like the Ghandi District's Shouka cafe, favored by writers and artists. The playwright-owner was a gracious host, even while griping that foreign reporters pump up the false perception that all people living in Iran are terrorists. (At left, the cafe owner.)

Parts of Tehran look rundown, but still the streets are bustling. Inflation is a big problem. My driver, Siamak, offered me a candy bar that he says doubled in price since last month. Groceries and daily goods are getting more expensive, Siamak explained, pushing economic goals like homeownership out of reach for much of the middle class.

I'm surprised by what I see and don't see in Tehran. No portraits of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, unlike other Middle Eastern capitals that are plastered with photos of their heads of state. There are pictures of Supreme Leader Sayyid Ali Khamenei and of Imam Khomeini, father of the Islamic Revolution, looking less angry than in images I'm used to seeing in the West.

I was most surprised to see Coke and Pepsi on offer at my first meal -- a taste of America next to my kubideh kabob. (At right, my first meal.)

February 11, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

Spirits in Dubai

February 07, 2008 8:16 AM

Lara Setrakian, part of our recent expansion of reporters stationed around the globe, blogs from Dubai:

While the US economy seems low consumer spirits in Dubai are sky high. This week's evidence: the Dubai Shopping Festival. DSF, as it's known around here, is a one month holiday to the Gods of retail. Big sales, long lines, and a cosmopolitan showcase of attractions. (At left, dancers at the DSF.)

By the looks of it Dubai and its neighbor Abu Dhabi are in boom times, and the best is yet to come. Consulting firm McKinsey & Company reports that Arab Gulf countries will make a cumulative $6.2 trillion in oil revenues between now and 2020. That's assuming a price of $70 per barrel, and we've already seen prices higher than that (above a record $100 earlier this year). "Decisions by Gulf leaders on how to use this wealth will have global repercussions for decades," McKinsey notes.

Some of that cash is being poured into building islands of eye-popping shape and size known as 'The World.' Nakheel, one of Dubai's powerhouse land developers, built man-made islands in the shape of the global map. They recently announced the completion of the project, followed by news of the follow up: 'The Universe,' islands in the shape of the solar system, just inland from 'The World.'

Big projects take big money. But to get beyond the planning stage they also take a particular kind of system: one willing to push through change and place some high bets. Several times over the past few months I've heard Americans and other expats here notice in amazement how the government system – what I called in my last blog a modernizing meritocratic monarchy – pushes through big change quickly. They note that the Dubai phenomenon, a world-class city built within five years, would not have come about if the very concept had to pass through a Senate, a House, and a potential presidential veto. They're not knocking democracy – just noting that this society has fared reasonably well without it.

This past week the much-loved ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid al Maktoum, announced his son as successor. The young, attractive Crown Prince Hamdan has been groomed for some time, introduced to the world through high-profile appearances, public portraits, and products like the computer mousepad I saw at the mall during the Dubai Shopping Festival. He's known here in Dubai by the nickname "Fazza3," which one friend translated as "amazing." Check out his website and this YouTube video for a look back at the future sovereign. (At left, a billboard featuring Sheikh Hamdan.)

February 7, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

The Challenges Ahead

February 06, 2008 1:57 PM

Polling Director Gary Langer blogs about how Super Tuesday exit polls point to the candidates' future hurdles:

Exit polls identify candidates' weaknesses as well as their strengths. Per the Super Tuesday data, what challenges do the presidential contenders face in the contests ahead? A summary for each candidate follows.

McCAIN
John McCain's chief challenge remains expanding his support to the conservative core of the GOP, particularly "very" conservative voters. Can and will the party be energized behind its nominee if he's inadequate or barely adequate to the base?

As we've noted, in all primaries yesterday, conservatives 63 percent of all voters went 39-32-23 percent, Romney-McCain-Huckabee. McCain actually won "somewhat" conservative voters by 7 points, but he lost "very" conservatives by a wide margin, 45 percent for Mitt Romney, 30 percent for Mike Huckabee, just 19 percent for McCain.

Looking at mainstream Republicans versus independents also illustrates the problem. McCain won independents by 14 points, 41-27 over Romney, with 16 percent for Huckabee. McCain won Republicans but just by 5 points, 40-35 percent, with 20 percent for Huckabee. If Huckabee hadn't been there to peel away some of those conservatives and Republicans, Romney could've had a much better night.

Appeal to the middle puts McCain in a good position for a general election but he still will need the party base to energize behind him, to avoid getting swamped by turnout.

Looking at some of this in McCain's home state illustrates Arizona conservatives went 43-40 percent, Romney-McCain close, but this is the home state. And "very conservatives" went 53-22 percent for Romney. This also played out on the issue of immigration, which ranked as high as the economy in Arizona; immigration voters went to Romney.

Another issue for McCain, albeit not in the exit poll, is his age. As we covered last night, it's the biggest net negative we've measured for any candidate. One point from the exit poll, under 30s split three ways in GOP primaries yesterday McCain's weakest age group. 

Continue reading "The Challenges Ahead"

February 6, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Robo Cops

February 04, 2008 11:38 AM

Science correspondent Ned Potter blogs about big brother taking pictures of you:

On West End Avenue in New York there's an automated camera on a post in a sturdy metal housing, meant to catch drivers if they jump the light a hundred feet away. At times, when I've been in a bad mood, I've fantasized about covering the lens in the middle of the night with spray paint.

Understand that this camera has never nailed me.  By sheer luck, I've never had a traffic ticket at all (though I presume that by posting this, I'll end my streak).   I just resent that all-seeing camera, catching people without their even knowing it.  No traffic cop needed. The system just mails the ticket to the guilty driver in the picture.

In Knoxville, a man named Clifford Clark appears to have acted on my fantasy in a more emphatic way than I might have.  He was arrested for firing three shots at a camera on Broadway St.

Patrick Bedard, in his Car and Driver column, uses Mr. Clark's story to launch a screed against the tyranny of, as he puts it, being "governed by robots."  (The article is not yet online.)

"This is not about running red lights," Bedard writes.  "Camera enforcement is a revenuing scheme that depends on an end run around the fundamental American principle of innocent until proven guilty."

My ABC friend Lisa Stark reports on a study by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (click HERE and see p. 4), showing that speeders actually slow down because of traffic cameras.  But that doesn't go to the moral question that gets Bedard so mad.

Continue reading on Ned's Science and Society blog.

February 4, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Microsoft Corp. will bid $44.6 billion for Yahoo Inc.

February 01, 2008 5:21 PM

By: Bianna Golodryga

This would be the biggest tech deals for Microsoft as well as their biggest acquisition ever. Bill Gates is going out with a bang as he's officially retiring as Microsoft chairman this year.

Interestingly enough, gates repeatedly alluded to step up competition against rival Google while in davos last week. Saying "there's a lot in their pipeline upcoming."

Even more interesting, hostile take-over bid comes the day after Google shows first sign of weakness in a long long time following a slower than expected quarter. Microsoft smelled blood and came in for the kill.

This potential deal combines two small players to form a larger one that is still no real short term rival to Google--the 800 pound gorilla in the search and online space.

Mind you that online advertising is forecast to still grow 80 billion dollars in the next 3 years. It's a 40 billion dollar market today and most of Microsoft's business revenue still comes from it's operating system and office products. Their MSN search business has been much of a dud as of now so this is the right move for Microsoft.

On it's conference call this morning, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said that this move is a "the next major milestone for the company." Meaning that this isn't just about Microsoft taking out Yahoo but a real shift in where Microsoft plans to take business going forward.

As for Yahoo, they really don't have much wiggle room. The company has been in a rut for a while--former CEO Terry Semel stepped down. Yahoo founder Jerry Yang came in to try to take company back onto the right course. He hasn't been that successful. This needs Yahoo board approval, but for a company valued at 25 billion to be approached with a 44 billion dollar offer- or a 62% premium, this really is a no brainier.

This deal was made to take on giant Google -- the deal if completed will take between 1-2 years to fully integrate. Meantime, Google will continue to go forward..the company has not been shy about making it clear they want to move way beyond just search and they are doing so as we speak.

So while this is the right move for Microsoft, it still puts the company behind Google and constantly having to react to Google- not vice versa. Google is still in command, but maybe by a smaller margin. Microsoft is still acting in a defensive mode--not proactive. Until that reversed, Google will still be on top.

February 1, 2008 in Business | Permalink | User Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)