FrEe LaTeSt UpDaTe

Lebanon extremist leader captured in Syria

An Arab-language Syrian newspaper reported the capture of the leader of Fatah al Islam, an al-Qaeda linked insurgent organization operating out of Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. Accused of plotting an assassination in Jordan and arrested in 2002 in Syria, Shaker Abbsi was apparently jailed two months ago in Damascus. Los Angeles Times (free registration) (10/6)

• Force alone won't win in Afghanistan, UN envoy says 
• Gloom pervasive as South Africa struggles 
• Survey of most endangered animals 
• In one Afghan province, women make gains 
• Mogadishu empties as war grinds on in Somalia 
• Career Center 
• Ted Turner unveils global sustainable tourism criteria 

• Force alone won't win in Afghanistan, UN envoy says
  Political progress is necessary to win a peace in Afghanistan and military methods alone are simply not a recipe for success, the United Nations Special Envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide said Monday, echoing sentiments expressed by British commanders over the weekend. "What we need most of all is a political surge, more political energy," Eide said. AlertNet.org/Reuters (10/6)

• Gloom pervasive as South Africa struggles
  South Africans are expressing feelings of gloom as political infighting, xenophobic riots, sluggish economic growth, rising crime and increasing food shortages batter their hopes for prosperity, but many see ample possibilities for the African powerhouse to succeed. The New York Times (10/6)

• North Korea food situation grim, government not helping
  While North Korea's nuclear program and the health of its leaders have garnered much attention on the international stage, domestically the country's top issue is increasing food shortages and widespread hunger. The situation has not yet reached the levels of North Korea's 1990s famine, but it is deepening, and Pyongyang's political alienation of potential donors is likely to make it harder to cope. TIME (10/6)

• Other News

• China talks tough on dairy sector, vows changes
  Reuters (10/6)

• Europe's viral researchers share Nobel medicine prize
  TIME/The Associated Press (10/6)

Top five news stories selected by UN Wire readers in the past week.

• Iran offers to suspend enrichment in exchange for outside nuclear fuel (The Guardian (London))

• Ban maintains low-profile diplomatic style (The Washington Post)

• Behind the scenes at the General Assembly (Los Angeles Times)

• Radical cleric issues fatwa in wake of Palin "hug" threat (The Christian Science Monitor)

• Ban warns attacks against UN rising worldwide (The Washington Times)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

• Survey of most endangered animals
  The Guardian surveys some of the animals listed on the annual world's most endangered species list, including the Iberian lynx, Père David's deer and the elephant shrew. The Guardian (London) (10/6)

• Chinese warn of divisions in global warming battle plan
  China fears contentious negotiations on an international global warming pact to follow the Kyoto Treaty when it expires in 2012 are hobbled by rich countries' failure to live up to promises and could end in failure. AlertNet.org/Reuters (10/6)

• In one Afghan province, women make gains
  The relative peace in Bamian province, combined with a worsening economic situation in Afghanistan, has opened opportunities for women there to work, drive cars and engage in activities still unthinkable in other parts of the country. Women in Bamian hope the successes will serve as an example to other parts of the country. The New York Times (10/6)

• Political unrest silent in Myanmar as conditions worsen
  About half of the 2,100 dissidents languishing in Myanmar's prisons were jailed over the last year, the result of a violent suppression of a series of explosive protests. Dissatisfaction is not as visible as disillusionment across Myanmar. Despite some public signs of consumer consumption, much of the nation lives in dire poverty, and political protest is now nearly silent. The New York Times (free registration) (10/4)

• Kurdistan press feels pressure for taking on corruption
  Journalists in Kurdistan report increasing pressure to bury stories about official corruption in the northern Iraq province. Newspapers have tried to push the ruling parties toward transparency and reform; their reporters and editors have been threatened or murdered for their work. Financial Times (10/3)

• Mogadishu empties as war grinds on in Somalia
  Half of the population of Mogadishu -- some 500,000 people -- has fled the Somalian city in the past 18 months to escape continuing war. In the current conflict, armed insurgents, Islamists, and nationalists are taking on the Ethiopia-backed central Somalia government. BBC (10/6)

• As security disintegrates, Mexicans queue up for bulletproof clothing
  As Mexico's security forces struggle to cope with the country's intensifying turf war between drug cartels and with other violent crime, more and more Mexicans are looking for alternative additional security measures like the bulletproof clothing available at a boutique in Mexico City. The New York Times (10/6)

• Afghan, Taliban leaders meet to end conflict
  Taliban and Afghan government representatives have met at Saudi-brokered talks in the hopes of bringing some stability to Afghanistan as the first step in what is expected to be a long process of reconciliation. CNN (10/6)

• European leaders meet to bend Eurozone financial rules
  To address Europe's rapidly degrading financial sector, leaders from Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany met to discuss revisions to the Eurozone rules that would allow for increased temporary flexibility. Public spending limits and state subsidy prohibitions will be ignored for the time being, emphasizing individual member nations' approach to the financial crisis rather than a catch-all solution for Europe. The Independent (London) (10/6)

• Israel PM asks Moscow not to sell arms to Tehran
  Ehud Olmert, still serving as Israel's prime minister until a new government is formed to replace him next month, will meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to ask that Russia not sell arms to Iran. Financial Times/Reuters (10/6)

• Russian troops exit Georgia
  Los Angeles Times (free registration) (10/6)

• Worries grow over Karzai family link to narcotics trade
  The New York Times (10/5)

• Dozens of bodies in Tijuana may signal violent fall of Felix cartel
  Los Angeles Times (10/6)

• Indian ethnic clashes intensify, more than two dozen dead
  The Globe and Mail (Toronto)/The Associated Press (10/5)

Chief of Party, Iraq Community Action Program III International Relief and Development (IRD) Iraq Finance and Accounting Officer (Reforming Family Law Program) - Kuwait Freedom House Kuwait Program Officer (Reforming Family Law Program) -- Kuwait Freedom House Kuwait Project Director (Reforming Family Law Program) -- Kuwait Freedom House Kuwait General Manager CHF International Afghanistan Administrative Assistant Center on Global Counterterrorism Cooperation Washington, DC IDIQ Program Manager, USA International Relief and Development (IRD) Arlington, VA IDIQ Program Manager International Relief and Development (IRD) Iraq Project Director, Cultural Heritage Project International Relief and Development (IRD) Arlington, VA Project Coordinator, Cultural Heritage Project International Relief and Development (IRD) Erbil, Iraq Senior Program Officer, Infrastructure International Relief and Development (IRD) Arlington, VA Technical/Proposal Writer, Democracy &Governance International Relief and Development (IRD) Arlington, VA Director of Development Freedom House Washington, DC Finance Associate Friends of the World Food Program Washington DC Assistant Country Director CARE USA Kabul, Afghanistan

• Ted Turner unveils global sustainable tourism criteria
  United Nations Foundation Founder and Chairman Ted Turner joined the Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) today to announce the first-ever globally relevant sustainable tourism criteria at the IUCN World Conservation Congress. The new criteria -- based on thousands of best practices culled from the existing standards currently in use around the world -- were developed to offer a common framework to guide the emerging practice of sustainable tourism and to help businesses, consumers, governments, non-governmental organizations and education institutions to ensure that tourism helps, rather than harms, local communities and the environment. Click here for more from the United Nations Foundation.

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Assembly President calls for a power shift at the UN UN Radio News Service