The Real International For 8/5/10 (1st Edition): Pakistan's Katrina

Photo from Al Jazeera

The situation in Pakistan after the tragic floods has the eerily feeling of being their Katrina, where awful aid efforts lead by an out of the country President exacerbate an already dire predicament .

But fears are growing of a food crisis as crops and farmland are washed away by the floodwaters, which have already claimed at least 1,500 lives and affected some three million others.

The Pakistani government has been criticised for its response to the flooding.

"The government is not able to move itself to a position where it can help people," Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder said, reporting from Muzaffargarh in southern Punjab.

From the Nation in Africa

Switching to good news, a massive bill in Kenya, reshaping their Consitution, has passed with an overwhelming majority vote. It is indeed not only a historic for the country, but also the continent, and here's why:

However, the document was loaded with too many attractive clauses to lose. Its bill of rights is easily the most ambitious in Africa. It dramatically reduces the power of the president, expands parliamentary oversight over the executive, and provides for dual citizenship.

For a country where almost every middle class family has at least one child living or working abroad, mostly in the west, this clause was a difficult one to defeat.

It's a boon for President Kibaki, redemption for the utter ugliness surrounding his re-election three years ago, leading to the worst violence in Kenya since the year it declared its independence in 1964.

A UN Official said its impossible to build Gaza quickly.

These people are just sick in the head.

JTA reports that a member of congressional delegation in Israel has now threatened to cut off aid to Lebanon. Ron Klein represents Boca Raton and Palm Beach:

Since Lebanon apparently attacked Israeli soldiers first, Klein said the Congress may be hesitant to continue to provide aid to the country.

If it turns out that the Lebanese government authorized the attack, “a lot of members [of Congress] will be very concerned about offering continued support for Lebanon,” he said.

(More to come in this International thread).