The Read International For 8/16/10: Karzai Is Calling For The End Of Contractors In Afghanistan

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Fat chance that this will happen in such a short time, but it sure is worth a major headline and attention.

It may even lead to US media giving it some.....hahaha, oh who am I kidding:

Afghanistan's president is setting a four-month deadline for private security companies to cease operations in the country, a spokesman said Monday.

A presidential decree expected to be issued later Monday will detail the process through which the companies should cease operations, spokesman Waheed Omar told reporters in Kabul.

President Hamid Karzai has said repeatedly in recent months that these companies undermine government security forces, creating a parallel security structure. Contractors perform duties ranging from guarding supply convoys to personal security details for diplomats and businessmen.

With at least 26,000 contractors over there, and how beholden to their reckless behavior in the past and present that the Obama Administration is, I really see this decree from an already tainted government as nothing more than just words that need serious evidence to happen.

And right now, I am definitely not so sure about that, especially with things getting worse over there. What a way to celebrate a country's 81st birthday coming this Thursday.

The utter disaster that is the flooding of Pakistan continues. And while the US media clearly has missed the boat as they always do, Al Jazeera has been all over this massive story indeed:


The major international economic news is of course China officially passing Japan as the world's second biggest economy behind the US.

Miserable times in the nation of Niger, as the contined lack of sustenance there has grown to even more dire circumstances:

Niger is now facing the worst hunger crisis in its history, the UN's World Food Programme has said, with almost half the population - or 7.3 million people - in desperate need of food.

A WFP spokesman said villagers in Niger described the situation as worse than 2005, when thousands died of hunger.

After a prolonged drought, heavy rains have now hit parts of the country, killing at least six people.

The climate change denial artists have more egg on their face, as this year is slated to being the hottest since records were recorded .

And one of many events representing that warming is the continued fires in Russia. But Firefighters are pushing back , which is very encouraging.


Certified, one of the worst people on the planet:

A German singer has admitted that she failed to tell a number of sexual partners that she had HIV, the virus that leads to Aids, during a trial on Monday.

Nadja Benaissa, a member of the girl-band No Angels, is alleged to have infected a man with the virus in 2004.

"I am so sorry," the 28-year-old told a court in Darmstadt near Frankfurt, where she is on trial accused of causing bodily harm by having unprotected sex despite knowing she carried HIV.

And India celebrated it's 63rd birthday yesterday, with Prime Minister Singh calling for peace in Kashmir.