by Adele Waugaman
It is important to remember that the Russian incursion into Georgia on August 8 has created not only a complex political situation but a humanitarian emergency that requires immediate attention. Aerial bombings and street fighting injured many and displaced waves of up to 100,000 civilians, according to estimates by the UN refugee agency. And, as we attempt to put the pieces back together, both the political negotiations and the humanitarian efforts will need world attention and support.
In recent days, both the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the non-profit group Télécoms Sans Frontiéres (TSF) have mobilized their emergency telecommunications services in support of the humanitarian relief efforts underway.
As Mark and I are on vacation this week, posting will be lite and there will be no Morning Coffee. We will return, with a vengeance, next week.
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>>China - Speaking in Thailand yesterday, President Bush denounced China's treatment of political dissidents and limitations put on the press and religion hours ahead of his arrival in Beijing. President Bush is in the middle of a seven-day trip to Asia, which also included a stop in South Korea and will culminate with his attendance at the opening ceremonies of the Olympic Games in China on Friday.>>Pakistan - Pakistan's ruling coalition today agreed to initiated impeachment proceedings against President Musharraf, expected to begin next week in the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly. It is expected that Musharraf will be asked to call a vote of confidence, and, if he refuses, the impeachment will begin. In order to be impeached two-thirds of both the upper and lower houses would need to approve; Musharraf would be the first. It was also announced today that Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani will attend the opening ceremonies of the Olympics Games, not Musharraf as previously planned.>>Mauritania - A bloodless coup d'etat was executed in Mauritania on Wednesday by a group of senior military officers who arrested the president and the prime minister, the first democratically elected government in two decades. The coup directly followed the president's firing of the officers, some of whom were instrumental in the 2005 coup that led to President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi's election and were his supporters. The officers have committed to holding elections soon. The UN, U.S., EU, and AU all condemned the coup.Yesterday in UN Dispatch
The NY Times has published a cool graphic displaying the history of the Olympic torch. What struck me immediately is the clear delineation between the torches made after 1990 and those made before. Have we just gotten more design conscious, or are the photos of the new torches just better?
Check out this description:
Montreal - Summer 1976: The torch designers began to consider the torch as part of the television coverage of the Games: The top of the torch is black to make the flame more visible in photographs and the logo is prominent on the handle.
The logo is prominent on the handle!
In comparison, according to the accompanying audio, narrated by reporter Phil Patton, the Beijing torch is "a long, red thin item that resembles a rolled scroll and is decorated by swirling graphics, known as 'happy clouds,' said to reflect 'vivid distance' -- a very good description of how China is presenting itself to the world with this Olympics." was is designed by Lenovo.
The design process for the Vancouver torch has already begun. It's to be the "cleanest and greenest torch ever."
Steve Clemons tries to cut through the smog surrounding the domestic debate on oil prices:
This debate over oil and energy policy disgusts me because both Obama and McCain are trying to force short term, knee jerk responses to a major policy challenge for the nation.
[snip]
To get the price of oil down, candidates should work harder at thinking through what the characteristics of a new equilibrium in the Middle East and globally might look like. What kind of deal can be done with Iran that preserves Israeli security, Iran's domestic energy interests, and does not leave Iran with a domestic capacity to covertly manufacture nuclear weapons? There's much that can be done.
by Katherine Miller, executive director of communications, UN Foundation
After four long days in Bellagio, a couple of things are clear. Conferences are conferences -- meaning that even the world's nicest conference facility is still, well, a facility. But there is a certain magic about Bellagio and that was clear by the end of the conference. So while I'm glad to be home, it is also because I'm excited about being back and work and trying to make the ideas that came out the mHealth session something real and help deliver better health care to the developing world.
Work that is even more exciting because the group of people who attended the conference -- including representatives from Noikia, Vodafone Group, Gates Foundation, QualComm, Microsoft, and many other companies and NGOs -- all made real, measurable commitments to helping promote the issues related to mHealth both back within their own organizations and with the general public.
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>>Iraq - On the third day of negotiations, political leaders in Iraq may have come to an agreement allowing provincial elections to proceed this year. The solution was put forth by a representative from the UN, who suggested that the law should contain an article calling for a solution to the controversial Kirkuk issue before the end of October, essentially decoupling the issue from the legislation. If a deal is worked out today, the elections can be held this year.>>Iraqi Refugees - Through a resettlement program announced today by the UNHCR, some of Iraq's most vulnerable refugees will be moved to Iceland and Sweden. The refugees affected by this effort are Palestinian, persecuted in Iraq after the fall of Saddam Hussein primarily because of his support before being deposed.>>Russia - After several days of fighting in South Ossetia, Russia stated today it will not stay on the sidelines if conditions worsen. South Ossetian separatists have claimed that Georgian troops are targeting civilians as they shell Tskhinvali.Yesterday in UN Dispatch
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>>China - In what the state news agency has called a "terrorist attack," 16 policemen in Xinjiang were killed and 16 were injured when a truck rammed a group of police jogging and then attacked with explosives and knives. Xinjiang is home to a Muslim Uighur population that feels oppressed by Chinese rule.>>Bangladesh - Bangladeshis voted in the first stage of local elections today, the first poll held since the military took power through an interim government in 2007. All candidates were "independents" as political parties have been banned. A series of local elections will be held, concluding in October. No voting irregularities have yet been reported.>>AIDS - The Global Aids Conference opened in Mexico today, 25 years after the disease first became prevalent. Ahead of the meeting, new figures show that the number of affected people worldwide has decreased, although some nations are still seeing an increase in infections and many cannot get access to the correct treatment. Over 20,000 officials, scientists, and others, including President Clinton and Mark Goldberg, will be in Mexico for the meeting.Yesterday in UN Dispatch
By Katherine Miller, Executive Director of Communications, UN Foundation
So we've been trapped at the Rockefeller Center at Bellagio for three days now talking about mHealth. While it may seem like an easy job -- who doesn't want to spend a week in Italy, after all -- it isn't. Some of the most experienced global health professionals are here and everyone is trying to figure out what their role, their project, their initiative is.
But after nearly a full day of brainstorming, something very exciting happened: our groups came up with five unique yet complimentary projects to help improve health care in the developing world. While its too early to talk specifics, these projects include using hand-mobile devices to deliver health care in rural areas; control and ultimately prevent disease outbreaks; improve the quality of life for patients with chronic diseases; and could lead to greater collaboration among some of the world's biggest and best technology companies.
At least I hope so. The best part of the day was listening to the groups run through their nascent business plans and take questions from their colleagues. Not an easy thing to do but they all did it and tomorrow, on Day 4, we're going to try and figure out how to make these projects real.
The other thing happening here is a true recognition that partnerships and working together will actually help us to move mHealth into the developing world more quickly. In the beginning, the developers sat with the developers and the corporates with corporates but by day three each of the groups had representatives from each sector and they we're all excited to share expertise, advice and ideas.
A really interesting partnership that I have learned about here is the Millennium Villages Project. This project, which is active in more than 20 villages is looking at how to provide education, health care and other services from the ground up. Included in the project are Gates, Ericsson (which is providing the hardware for the villages) and numerous other groups. While still in the early stages, Earth Institute (Jefrey Sach's group) is leading it and it shows great promise as a way to make a big difference in people's lives.