The Whole Delivery

As of this edition of the Atlas, news is breaking of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa getting hit by tear gas by police after protests have arisen over benefits being cut for the army and police in the nation thanks to Congress. It's being reported by "La Patilla" that Correa was not hurt but became intoxicated by the gas as the photo above indicates. Angry soldiers have taken over the capital Quito's airpot as of this time. Update: Reports are not indicating that some sources, including Hugo Chavez , are saying that a coup maybe taking place. And Correa has indicated that this small fraction of protestors are trying to cause it . In the ever growing mess that is AfPak, Pakistan has decided to block off a key NATO non-military supply route. This decision was prompted by the Pakistani government after NATO forces fired on targets in Pakistan after they crossed to border from Afghanistan . Kamal Hyder, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Islamabad, said on Thu...

Photo from EPA Another day, another insane drone strike in Pakistan by the US : Three strikes by US drones have killed at least 28 people in the tribal region in South Waziristan. Reporting for Al Jazeera from Islamabad, Kamal Hyder said that the first attack took place near Angor Adda along the Pakistan Afghan border. "We have reports that at least seven people, who were killed in that strike, were moved to another location in the Azam Warsak region, where a funeral was arranged and that funeral also came under attack," said Hyder. It's UN "Peace Day" apparently. But this Peace Day won't make Israel sign onto the Non-Proliferation Treaty that Arab states want them to do at the International Atomic Energy Agency Annual Agency Conference in Vienna. Not thinking about peace however are extremist groups, who have seen their website traffic receive a sharp growth . Over the last two years, Cuba has been trying to grow its own food after rallying ...

Photo from AFP 4 million people will need food assistance in the next 3 months. 4 million : The United Nations has launched an appeal for $459m to help the victims of devastating floods that have affected more than 14 million people across Pakistan. The call from the UN's humanitarian agency on Wednesday came as food prices skyrocketed after huge areas of crops were destroyed by the waters. "We have a huge task in front of us to deliver all that is required as soon as possible," John Holmes, the UN humanitarian chief, said at a meeting at UN headquarters. Speaking of ridiculously under reported major events in America, the violent landslide in Gansu province in China has produced a death troll of over 1,000 . But unlike in Pakistan, the government has responded very quickly in the Far East : China's government appears to have responded quickly after landslides and flooding devastated the isolated county of Zhouqu. Rescuers were immediately despatched to th...

Image from BBC.com Pakistan isn't the only nation enduring a natural disaster of violent flooding. China has been ravaged in its northwest region by a tidal wave of flooding, leading to the perishing of thousands : More than 700 people are now known to have died in a massive landslide in north-west China - making it one of the deadliest incidents so far in the country's worst flooding in a decade. A frantic search is continuing for the more than 1,000 people still missing. Buildings were hit by a wall of mud so mighty that buildings seven storeys high crumpled like paper, says the BBC's Chris Hogg, in Gansu province. China has had shaky infrastructure with its buildings, and this is yet another painful reminder of how that drastically needs to change: The landslides came as China was struggling with its worst flooding in a decade, with more than 2,100 people reported dead or missing and millions more displaced nationwide. President Hu Jintao led a meeting of senior...

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 ...

Photo from AFP The underreported tension between the United States and Pakistan was helped today by this helping giving of aid : The US government has announced a major new aid package for Pakistan, with hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent on projects in Pakistan's energy and water sectors. Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, announced the $500m package at the start of a day-long "strategic dialogue" in Islamabad between American and Pakistani officials. The money - part of a five-year, $7.5bn aid package approved by the US congress last year - will support a total of 26 projects. Though the electricity money is certainly welcome for the electrical need Pakistan wants at any time, there is a still a major problem between the US and their tenuous allies. And that is in regards to the Haqquani, who many consider the main threat to the US and NATO in, guess where..........Afghanistan! Pakistan still has close ties with them, so despite the aid we gi...

Photo from Getty Images Why are we there again if this turns out to be true : A report by a leading British institution claims that Pakistan's intelligence service has a direct link with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Published on Sunday by the London School of Economics, the report said that Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) has an "official policy" of support for the Taliban. It claims the ISI provides funding and training for the Taliban, and that the agency has representatives on the so-called Quetta Shura, the Taliban's leadership council, which is believed to meet in Pakistan. The report is based on interviews with Taliban commanders in Afghanistan, and was written by Matt Waldman, a fellow at Harvard University. US officials have long suspected a link between the ISI and the Taliban, but those suspicions are rarely confirmed. "Pakistan appears to be playing a double-game of astonishing magnitude," the report said. A Pak...

Well, two terrorists events are front and center at the moment. First, the Pakistan Taliban are taking responsibility for last night's failed car bomb attack here in New York City last night. Meanwhile, the Associated Press has reported than the Pittsburgh Marathon going on today had to be detoured thanks in part to an explosive device found hear the end of the course. More on these developments later in this thread ladies and gentlemen. Updated : Comissioner Kelly here in New York has said that there are no Taliban links towards the car bomb plot. It's never surprising for terrorists groups toclaim that they were the ones responsible for plots when they know they had nothing to do with it. Nevertheless, the search for the ones behind the attempt to cause harm here in NYC yesterday still is yet to be determined.

It seems another suicide bomb has occurred in Pakistan (Photo from EPA) The big news today comes out of Pakistan , with government officials blaming the Taliban: A series of attacks in Pakistan's second city, Lahore, has killed dozens of people and wounded more than 100 others, police say. At least 45 people, including 10 soldiers, were killed in Friday's first attack - a double bombing aimed at military vehicles, police said. A second attack later in the day near a police station is reported to have claimed another four lives. The double bombing occurred in RA Bazaar, a residential and commercial neighbourhood where several security agencies have facilities. "Two suicide bombers attacked within the span of 15 to 20 seconds and they were on foot," Tariq Saleem Dogar, the chief of Punjab police, said. A day after wild protests hit the nation's streets, feelings have calmed at little over in Greece over the austerity plans. Photo from AP Photo's Petr...

Photo from the AFP The arrest of Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar 10 days which broke last night thanks to the New York Times has strengthened the already strong handling of terrorism under the Obama Administration, to the dismay of ridiculous partisan critics. But the outstanding national security journalist that is Spencer Ackerman focuses on a crucial point that can't be hammered home enough. And it, for my mind, is more pertinent than even this arrest . 5. Will the Obama administration allow Baradar to be tortured? As I wrote on my personal blog, it’s crucial that the U.S. and the Pakistanis show that a high-level Taliban commander be treated respectfully if it hopes to induce more surrenders and impact the Taliban’s calculus on continuing to fight. Interrogations of Baradar are, reportedly, a joint Pakistani and U.S. venture . But the Pakistanis torture. Will the Obama administration, in its first big overseas capture, successfully convince the Pakistanis to treat Baradar hum...

What a mess : If you read the article, there is more disturbing suspicion about this verdict. The main accusation on Siddiqui is that she fired bullets form the gun that did not injured the targets she is alleged of shooting at. However During the trial, Linda Moreno, Siddiqui's defence lawyer, argued that there was no evidence the rifle Siddiqui was accused of taking had ever been fired, since no bullets, shell casings or bullet debris were recovered and no bullet holes detected. Moreno also said the testimony of the government's six eyewitnesses contradicted one another. Not only that, but Siddiqui was said to be a possible terrorist, but sadl enough, she was not accused of being one in the charges. And rights groups aren't happy with this decision: Cageprisoners, a UK-based rights group, rejected the verdict, citing the fact that evidence about Siddiqui's whereabouts prior to her arrest had been disallowed from the trial. "The case of Aafia Siddiqui c...

Another deadly bomb in Iraq today. More Middle East negative news, as Pakistan forces fighting with the Taliban (remember them) leads to 44 people dying. Bill Maher gets hard at the corporate characteristics damaging the Democratic Party to the point that, "They are the new Republican." It's Saturday.........here is Obama's weekly address. And Luda! Saturday (Oooh! Ooooh!) - Ludacris

Photo from Al Jazeera Because of South Korea joining the United States in anti-proliferation tactics, North Korea has pulled an even more controversial move than their missile testing on Monday: They claim that they are not apart of the 1953 armistice they struck with their Southern counterparts. This story has of course exploded throughout the net, and will continue to explode as the morning becomes whole on the television news networks. North Korea has threaten military action to sum it up. Though they have been known for talking the talk but coming nowhere near walking the walk, this is still very serious news that can't be dismissed. And now, the news is breaking that a deadly blast has gone down in Pakistan , killing 30 so far. The details, are of course, brutal to bare: Al Jazeera's Imran Khan, reporting from Islamabad, said the blast took place on Mall road, a busy commercial district in the centre of Lahore. "We are hearing up to 40 cars have been destroyed in ...