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"The problem in defense is how far you can go without destroying from within what you are trying to defend from without."

-- Dwight D. Eisenhower

News and Opinion

The Syrian Regime Is Close to a Victory That Could Turn the War

With a healthy assist from the Russian air force, the Syrian military and its allies cut a key rebel supply line to Turkey on Wednesday, dealing a serious blow to the rebels in the country's north and getting closer to creating a chokehold that could turn the course of the war.

Regime forces and militias in two Shi'ite towns seized the midpoint of a strip of rebel territory running north of Aleppo, Syria's largest city and economic hub, to the Turkish border. Regime forces had launched a new offensive north of the city on Monday, according to pro-government and opposition sources. By Wednesday, they had come within a few kilometers of the two partially besieged towns of Nubl and al-Zahraa and their forces were able to converge on the rebels in the middle. ...

Rebels north of Aleppo had already been stretched thin, attempting to balance fronts against the regime, the Islamic State, and the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) and their allies. The latest push by the regime of Bashar al-Assad – and, in particular, relentless Russian bombing from the air – proved too much to handle. ...

More than one rebel interviewee also expressed fears that the regime would push further west to take the Bab al-Hawa border crossing in neighboring Idlib province, the rebels' other major outlet to Turkey. By cutting off the northern Aleppo countryside, the regime has already blocked northwest Syria's supplies of fuel, which had been shipped by truck from Islamic State territory.

The rebel media official described the regime's strategy as "grab the crossings and choke out the revolution," and feared this might be the beginning of the end.

Islamic State losing recruits to casualties and desertions, says Washington

Islamic State’s contingent of fighters in Syria and Iraq has fallen from about 31,000 to 25,000 according to a US intelligence report revealed by the White House.

Officials in Washington cited battlefield casualties and desertions to explain the roughly 20% decrease and said the report showed a US-led campaign against Isis was making progress.

US-backed security forces in Iraq, and tribal militias and moderate opposition groups in Syria, contributed, said White House spokesman Josh Earnest, alongside a US-led air campaign that has launched more than 10,000 strikes against the Islamist extremists.

The announcement came as Saudi Arabia offered to send group troops into Syria as part of “any ground operations that the coalition [against Isis] may agree to carry out”.

Russia accuses Turkey of preparing to invade Syria

Russia on Thursday accused Turkey of actively preparing to invade Syria, saying it had spotted troops and military equipment on the border with the war-torn country.

"We have serious grounds to suspect Turkey is in intensive preparations for an armed invasion of the territory of a sovereign state -- the Syrian Arab Republic," the defence ministry said in a statement. ...

Ankara said earlier Thursday that it had refused to allow a Russian reconnaissance plane to overfly its territory near Syria because of a disagreement over the flight plan.

Russia said Turkey had not given Moscow any clear explanation for the decision.

"We consider these Turkish actions to be a dangerous precedent and an attempt to conceal illegal military activities at the Syrian border," the defence ministry said.

Oh my, looky here, our great ally, "the only democracy in the Middle East" wants to censor bloggers and Facebook users:

Israeli Military Censor Seeks to Expand Control to ‘Prominent’ Facebook Users

The Israeli military censor usually tries to stay out of the headlines. It’s not always easy, as several times high-profile Israel-related stories have broken in the US media first, and aren’t “allowed” in Israeli papers for days after.

Those incidents are a constant reminder that in Israel, nothing even vaguely national security-related gets published in an Israeli paper without the military censor’s say-so. Today, the military censor is trying to extend that control even further, presenting “orders” to high-profile bloggers and Facebook users, demanding they be placed under the same control. ...

The military censor insists that any webpage that presents itself as “news” counts as media and is therefore liable to submit to censorship.

US Doubles Estimates of ISIS Fighters in Libya As Officials Talk Up Intervention

When the US made the decision to launch a war against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, they dramatically underestimated the size of the ISIS forces there, aiming to downplay the effort for the sake of selling the war as smaller than it really would be. In Libya, they seem to be going the other way.

Pentagon estimates for Libya have around 3,000 ISIS fighters there, but as officials agitate for an expansion of the war into Libya, US officials are now revising the ISIS presence upward, saying that they now has as many as 6,000 fighters there. ...

It must be asked [...] if the sudden upward revision, which is coming at the exact time the administration is trying to sell the expansion of the war into Libya, is meant to make the ISIS force there look a lot more imposing than it really is.

Blame Canada? US Senate committee ponders if northern border is a threat

Existential threats to the US homeland have come in many forms – some real, some imagined. There was immigration from Asia – referred to in the xenophobic phrase “yellow peril” – fascism in Europe, communism in the Soviet Union and radical Islam in the Middle East.

And now there is Justin Trudeau in Canada.

The new Canadian prime minister’s plan to fast-track his country’s intake of Syrian refugees was scrutinised on Wednesday by the US Senate homeland security committee, amid fears that it will enable terrorists to cross the border and reach US soil. Trudeau will make a state visit to Washington next month.

Venezuela president vows to resist ouster

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro vowed Thursday the opposition's attempts to drive him from power would not prosper "by fair means or foul" in a political crisis gripping the oil-rich nation. ...

Despite having lost control of the National Assembly legislature Maduro dug in his heels as he rallied supporters near the Miraflores presidential palace.

The rally commemorated a failed 1992 coup attempt by his predecessor Hugo Chavez, whom he hails as founder of the government's socialist "revolution."

"The people must not allow the oligarchy to cut short this beautiful revolution," he told the crowd of thousands. ...

On Tuesday a small group of lawmakers presented a proposed constitutional amendment to cut Maduro's mandate short by two years and call a general election by the end of this year.

Freeing Julian Assange: the Final Chapter

One of the epic miscarriages of justice of our time is unravelling. The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention — — the international tribunal that adjudicates and decides whether governments comply with their human rights obligations — has ruled that Julian Assange has been detained unlawfully by Britain and Sweden. ...

The UN Working Group bases its judgements on the European Convention on Human Rights and three other treaties that are binding on all its signatories. Both Britain and Sweden participated in the 16-month long UN investigation and submitted evidence and defended their position before the tribunal. It would fly contemptuously in the face of international law if they did not comply with the judgment and allow Assange to leave the refuge granted him by the Ecuadorean government in its London embassy.

In previous, celebrated cases ruled upon by the Working Group — Aung Sang Suu Kyi in Burma, imprisoned opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in Malaysia, detained Washington Post journalist Jason Rezaian in Iran, both Britain and Sweden have given support to the tribunal. The difference now is that Assange’s persecution and confinement endures in the heart of London. ...

The Assange case is rooted across the Atlantic in Pentagon-dominated Washington, obsessed with pursuing and prosecuting whistleblowers, especially Assange for having exposed, in WikiLeaks, US capital crimes in Afghanistan and Iraq: the wholesale killing of civilians and a contempt for sovereignty and international law. ...

What is certain is that the decent world owes much to Julian Assange. He told us how indecent power behaves in secret, how it lies and manipulates and engages in great acts of violence, sustaining wars that kill and maim and turn millions into the refugees now in the news. Telling us this truth alone earns Assange his freedom, whereas justice is his right.

"A Significant Victory": Julian Assange Hails U.N. Panel Calling for His Freedom

'Victory and Vindication': Julian Assange Slams UK Response to UN Ruling

Julian Assange has insisted the UK and Sweden must respect the United Nations ruling that he has been unlawfully detained, formally announced on Friday.

"We have now a victory, and decided law on this case," he said via video link at a press conference following the publication of the ruling by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. The outcome of the ruling was a "vindication" that had brought a smile to his face, he said.

UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond had earlier described the ruling as "ridiculous," which Assange called "insulting." The ruling was legally binding, he said: "The time for appeal is over." ...

The UN Panel on Arbitrary Detention formally ruled on Friday that "the various forms of deprivation of liberty" Assange had experienced — an initial period of remand at London's Wandsworth Prison in 2010, followed by house arrest and his time at the embassy — mounted to arbitrary detention, a decision taken after more than a year considering a complaint that the computer hacker filed to the working group in September 2014.

It also found a "lack of diligence" by the Swedish authorities in how it had dealt with Assange's case and said he should be granted compensation.

Three of the panel's five members ruled in Assange's favor, one dissented and one did not take part, in a decision that is not legally binding on the UK and Swedish governments but that does place pressure on them.

Thousands Rally for Chicago Teachers as Banks vs. Schools Battle Rages

Thousands gathered in Chicago on Thursday to support the city's teachers union and rally against the massive budget cuts proposed earlier this week by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS).

Protesters marched through the Loop in downtown Chicago and staged a sit-in at the Bank of America local headquarters, where 16 were arrested. A day before the protests, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) pulled $726,000 from its account there, transferring it to Amalgamated Bank, in response to CPS making a $725 million tax-exempt bond sale with BOA to keep the district afloat through the fiscal year.

"I think we have to really put our priorities in perspective," CTU president Karen Lewis told reporters outside the bank. "So the people that gain the most out of our system being in financial chaos are right behind us, so that's why we're down here. Because we have to make a choice in this city: banks or schools?"

The protests come just a few days after CTU, which has been without a contract since last July, rejected an offer from the Board of Education for a four-year contract on the grounds that it would have hiked taxes and slashed $100 million from pensions and classroom funds, without addressing the "long-term fiscal crisis that threatens to gut public education in the city."

Did Financial Giant Goldman Sachs Just Admit the System is Rigged?

An Idiot’s Guide to Prosecuting Corporate Fraud

A new group called Bank Whistleblowers United have just pushed out a comprehensive plan they think would put the executive branch back in the business of enthusiastically identifying, indicting, and convicting financial fraudsters — restoring accountability while protecting the public.

The cumulative credibility of the group’s four founders is extremely strong. Richard Bowen is the Citigroup whistleblower who unsuccessfully warned top management about the rotten condition of loans inside mortgage-backed securities. Michael Winston spoke out about similarly corrupt practices at non-bank mortgage originator Countrywide. Gary Aguirre, a Securities and Exchange Commission attorney, was fired for refusing to let a Wall Street banker out of an insider trading investigation.

And their ringleader is William Black, an outspoken fraud-fighter and longtime white-collar criminologist who was a two-fisted bank regulator during the savings and loan crisis and now teaches at the University of Missouri–Kansas City (UMKC).

“The common theme,” Black said with characteristic bluntness, “is the unbelievably pathetic job of the Department of Justice and the FBI.”

One of the first steps the group proposes – echoing the recommendations Senator Elizabeth Warren made last week – involves appointing aggressive leadership at federal agencies with no conflicts of interest with the entities they regulate, and hiring enough staff trained in criminology and financial fraud to attack the problem.

“You don’t have to reinvent the wheel,” said Black. “The Justice Department forgot there was a wheel.”

Eric Holder Makes Ads for Hillary Clinton While Making Deals for Corporate Clients

Former Obama administration attorney general Eric Holder is prominently featured in a Hillary Clinton campaign ad running in South Carolina. “If you want to make sure Republicans don’t take us backward, help Hillary move us forward,” Holder says.

Meanwhile, in his post-public service life as a partner with white-collar defense firm Covington & Burling, Holder is upholding his Justice Department’s tradition of negotiating lower fines for corporate offenses, albeit from the other side of the negotiating table. ...

During his Justice Department leadership, Holder specialized in negotiating settlements with corporations. The Justice Department issued a record number of deferred prosecution and non-prosecution agreements, allowing corporations charged with misconduct to buy their way out of trouble without jail time or clawed-back bonuses. ...

Holder defended corporations at Covington & Burling before becoming attorney general, and immediately returned there at the end of his tenure, calling it “home for me.” ...

But Holder bristles at the suggestion that there might be a connection between his current employer and his conduct at Justice.

Sanders & Clinton Spar on 2002 Iraq Vote; Clinton Praises Henry Kissinger

War Is an Afterthought in the Democratic Primary

Last week, after reading Kevin Drum’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton at Mother Jones, I wondered why a progressive would assign so little import to her hawkish foreign policy instincts––and why her rival, Senator Bernie Sanders, gets so little credit for his prescient opposition to the Iraq War, his aversion to interventionism, and the longer odds against him starting a ruinous war of choice.

Many Hillary Clinton endorsers should grapple with the same question. ...

Going forward, Hillary Clinton wants the United States to pursue regime change in another Middle Eastern country. Bernie Sanders does not. Both their records and their plans for the future are hugely different.

Yet Clinton endorsers treat these differences as if they are unimportant. ...

Joan Walsh’s endorsement of Hillary Clinton, for The Nation, spends more time analyzing an arguably condescending question the candidate got at a townhall meeting than her interventionist impulses. The lengthy piece’s entire discussion of foreign policy: “I’m supporting Clinton, joyfully and without apologies. That’s not the same as without reservations; I continue to wonder whether she’ll be more hawkish on foreign policy than is advised in these dangerous times. ...

How can an endorser wonder whether the candidate they’re supporting will initiate another dumb war, note that reservation, but say no more on the subject? Being unadvisedly hawkish in a dangerous geopolitical time doesn’t sound like a minor flaw!

Clinton Accuses Sanders of "Artful Smear" for Questioning Why Wall Street Gives Her Millions

Underdog Clinton Goes After Sanders in New Hampshire Debate

Hillary Clinton's rising frustrations at Bernie Sanders's surging campaign burst onto the debate stage last night in New Hampshire, as she accused her Democratic nomination rival of inciting a "smear campaign" again her, despite his insistence he would wage a clean, fair fight and not go negative.

Following Clinton's razor-thin finish over Sanders in Iowa, the former secretary of state now finds herself five days out from the nation's first primary contest, in which she is the clear underdog. Clinton is currently running behind Sanders in New Hampshire by double-digits and went on the offensive Thursday night in their first head-to-head debate of the election since Martin O'Malley dropped out of the race on the night of the Iowa caucuses.

The candidates sparred over campaign finance, universal health care, and foreign policy and Clinton challenged Sanders on the authenticity of his campaign and on-stage assertions that he respects the former secretary of state "very much." ...

While Clinton maintains a slim nationwide advantage, and narrowly took the Iowa caucuses, Sanders's strong lead in New Hampshire and massive fundraising efforts have put her campaign in a precarious position.

"We're in a tough fight to win this nomination — we're facing an uphill battle in New Hampshire, and Senator Sanders is outraising and outspending us," Clinton's campaign wrote in an email to supporters shortly before the debate.

Did Hillary Lie About Her Iraq War Vote?

DESVARIEUX: So Stephen, you just heard the clip we played from last night. CNN even fact checked what Secretary Clinton had to say, and said what she said was false. Can you just break down for us, why is what she just said a false statement?

ZUNES: Well, first of all, Hans Blix, who was the head of the United Nations Special Commission on Iraq, on [inaud.], did not endorse that resolution. He did say that the United Nations, in passing new resolutions on the inspection regime, should back up that with the threat of force. Indeed, UN Security Council Resolution 1441 did use very strong language that implied that they would consider, the United Nations Security Council would consider the use of military force if Iraq did not comply. But that was the UN. This was not, he was not asking the United States to threaten that unilaterally.

Furthermore, there were a number of resolutions authorizing force before the, the U.S. Senate. One was the Levin Amendment, sponsored by Senator Carl Levin in Michigan, which would have authorized force, but only if Saddam Hussein refused to cooperate with the inspectors and the United Nations found him, therefore, in material breach and authorized force. Hillary Clinton voted against that resolution. Instead, she voted for a Republican-sponsored measure which essentially gave President Bush the unprecedented authority to launch a war against Iraq at the time and circumstances of his own choosing.

And when he did launch that war, in March five months later, UN inspectors had been in the country for months, and had unfettered access. The Iraqi regime was cooperating completely. And Bush invaded anyway. And Hillary Clinton didn't mention a single word in opposition. She didn't say, oh wait, this is just to give the inspectors, you know, give you leverage to get the inspectors back in. since they're back in you shouldn't be doing this. no. she supported the decision to invade 100%, even after the, long after the inspectors had returned and were engaged in unfettered inspections, and weren't finding anything.

Hillary Clinton Won’t Say If She’ll Release Transcripts of Goldman Sachs Speeches

During the Democratic presidential debate Thursday evening, MSNBC moderator Chuck Todd picked a question offered by a viewer and pointedly asked Hillary Clinton if she would release the transcripts of her paid speeches to giant investment bank Goldman Sachs. Todd then broadened the question, asking: “Are you willing to release the transcripts of all your paid speeches?” ...

Clinton made $675,000 for three paid speeches to Goldman Sachs, a bank that is notorious for hiring former lawmakers and using its influence in government to win access to policymakers. In total, Clinton and her husband have made over $125 million on the paid speaking circuit since 2001.

Hillary Clinton’s real Wall Street problem: She could seriously use the money

She’s not in the bankers’ back pockets. No, siree. Hillary Clinton may have received millions of dollars from Wall Street—in both personal income and campaign contributions—but she can ditch those well-heeled friends at a moment’s notice.

To prove it, she has postponed (but not canceled) two fundraisers with Big Finance, one with the huge investing firm BlackRock and the other with an affiliate of Bain Capital, Mitt Romney’s old outfit. This comes amid Clinton’s unconvincing answers when pressed on her apparent coziness with banks and financial firms. When CNN anchor Anderson Cooper asked Clinton recently why she accepted $675,000 from Goldman Sachs for giving a grand total of three speeches, she stammered and finally said, “That’s what they offered,” as if she would have taken 25 bucks and a free sandwich, if that’s all Goldman were able to afford. ...

The dilemma for Clinton is that she actually needs more help from the Wall Street donors she’s now keeping her distance from. That’s because Sanders is raking in cash. He outraised Clinton in January, with $20 million in donations to her $15 million. That is astounding, given the vast reach of a Clinton machine that has been decades in the making. The Clinton campaign even highlighted the funding shortfall in a pitch to supporters: A mass email with the subject line “we fell short by $5 million” warned that, “For the first time this campaign, we're being outraised by our opponent.” ...

Clinton will supposedly hold those Wall Street fundraisers she postponed after the New Hampshire primary, as if putting them off by a couple weeks will deflect Sanders’s criticism. Unlikely. He has found a winning line of attack and seems certain to keep it up.

Progressives to Clinton: Pledge to Never Cut Social Security—Now

Hillary Clinton is under pressure from progressives to pledge never to cut Social Security—and to do it before the New Hampshire primary on February 9.

The Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) launched a new national push this week demanding the former secretary of state confirm her allegiance to the program that provides benefits to roughly 60 million Americans, which she has yet to do. The campaign includes a petition calling on Clinton to make the promise, and will introduce new tactics in the coming days.

"We challenge Hillary Clinton to promise before the New Hampshire Primary that she will never cut Social Security," PCCC co-founder Adam Green said on Tuesday—just a day after the Iowa caucuses unexpectedly ended in a "virtual tie" between Clinton and her chief rival Bernie Sanders.

Clinton has said she would "fight efforts" to weaken or privatize Social Security. However, as the 2016 presidential election approaches, her ties to Wall Street are still a major concern for many voters, particularly as Sanders gains on her national lead without the help of big-money donors. The senator from Vermont on Wednesday said cuts to Social Security would "of course" not be considered under his administration.

Poll Shows Clinton, Sanders in Virtual Tie as 'Dems Nationwide Feel the Bern'

A poll released Friday shows Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in a virtual tie nationwide in the Democratic race, representing a major slide down in support for the former secretary of state from a poll less than seven weeks ago.

The new Quinnipiac University National poll (pdf) shows Clinton at 44 percent while Sanders is at 42 percent. The survey of over 480 Democrats has a margin of error of +/- 4.5 percentage points, making it a neck-and-neck race.

"Democrats nationwide are feeling the Bern as Sen. Bernie Sanders closes a 31-point gap to tie Secretary Hillary Clinton," said Tim Malloy, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Poll, referring to the lead the former secretary of state held in the university's December 22 poll ... .

The results come hours after a one-on-one debate in New Hampshire between the two Democratic candidates in which they discussed issues including the definition of a progressive, Clinton's ties to Wall Street, and the campaign finance system.

Oh looky, Hillary Clinton thinks that because her behavior meets the low standards set by Rethuglican administrations it is a vindication.

Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice used private accounts for classified emails

Hillary Clinton’s campaign claimed vindication in the long-running emails saga on Thursday when it emerged that two Republican secretaries of state had also received information later deemed classified on personal accounts.

The state department watchdog found that both Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, America’s top diplomats under president George W Bush, were sent sensitive national security information to nongovernment email addresses.

A spokesman for Clinton was quick to seize on the findings, arguing that they demonstrate “just how routine it is for government bureaucrats to go overboard” in keeping information secret from the public. Senior Democrat Harry Reid called it “a watershed moment”.

“Millennials Rising” Super PAC Is 95% Funded by Old Men

According to recent FEC filings, 95 percent of the donations to the Super PAC “Millennials Rising” — originally called “Millennials for Jeb” — comes from men 60 years and older.

Of the $54,960 total raised by the Super PAC, $50,000, or 91 percent, comes from the snowy-haired 72-year-old billionaire Robert A. Day. ... Four other non-millennials have donated to Millennials Rising, three of whom are listed in FEC filings as “retired.”

Governor urged to quit after release of emails on Flint legionnaires' outbreak

Rick Snyder said he learned of the surge in the disease days before disclosing it last month. In fact, high Michigan officials had known about it since March

High-ranking officials in Governor Rick Snyder’s administration were aware of a surge in legionnaires’ disease potentially linked to Flint’s water long before the Michigan governor reported the increase to the public last month, internal emails show.

After the release of the emails, the Michigan Democratic party called for Snyder to step down on Thursday.

When Snyder disclosed the spike in legionnaires’ cases on 13 January, he said he had learned about it just a couple of days earlier. But emails obtained by the liberal group Progress Michigan through public-records requests show Snyder’s own office was aware of the outbreak since last March. At the time, others in the administration were scrambling to respond to suggestions that bacteria in the city’s new water source, the Flint river, could be the culprit.

The outbreak was also well known within state agencies, according to emails obtained separately by the AP and other news organizations. Together, the emails offer more evidence that some state officials were dismissive of county health authorities who raised concerns about the safety of the community’s drinking water.

“The increase of the illnesses closely corresponds with the timeframe of the switch to the Flint River water. The majority of the cases reside or have an association with the city,” Jim Henry, Genesee County’s environmental health supervisor, wrote on 10 March to Flint leaders, the city’s state-appointed emergency financial manager and the state department of environmental quality, known as the DEQ.

Obama Wants a $10-Per-Barrel Tax on Oil

The oil industry is reeling, and President Barack Obama wants to give it another swift kick in the barrels.

The White House proposed a $32 billion plan to boost cleaner transportation Thursday, paid for with a $10-a-barrel tax on crude. The plan is to fund low-carbon transportation projects like mass transit and electric vehicles, in order to shrink the American carbon footprint.

With gas prices running less than $2 a gallon across most of the United States, and crude at around $31 a barrel, the White House is betting that the time is right to put an additional price on fossil fuels.

"The president's plan would increase American investments in clean transportation infrastructure by roughly 50 percent while reforming the investments we already make to help reduce carbon pollution, cut oil consumption, and create new jobs," the White House said in announcing the proposal. "The new fee on oil will also encourage American innovation and leadership in clean technologies to help reshape our transportation landscape for the decades ahead."

California natural gas leak could be capped next week, official says

A California official outlined a plan on Thursday to cap the massive Los Angeles-area gas leak by the end of next week.

Wade Crowfoot, an adviser to Governor Jerry Brown, told residents of Porter Ranch that the final phase to intercept the ruptured well should start on Monday. It is then expected to take another five days to permanently seal the Southern California Gas Co well that began leaking in October.

The announcement at a public meeting is ahead of the company’s worst-case prediction that it would be plugged by the end of the month. The well has been leaking for 15 weeks.

The blowout at the largest natural gas-storage facility in the west has uprooted thousands of residents and spewed more than 2m tons of climate-changing methane.

Zimbabwe declares 'state of disaster' due to drought

More than quarter of population face food shortages as country hit by severe drought, with cattle dying and crops destroyed

Zimbabwe’s president, Robert Mugabe, has declared a state of disaster in rural areas hit by a severe drought, as more than a quarter of the population face food shortages.

A regional drought worsened by the El Niño weather phenomenon has affected South Africa, Malawi and Zambia as well as Zimbabwe, leaving tens of thousands of cattle dead, reservoirs depleted and crops destroyed.

Formerly known as the breadbasket of Africa, Zimbabwe has suffered perennial shortages in recent years and has relied on importing grain from neighbouring countries to meet its needs.

“Initial indications were that 1.5 million people were food-insecure with all the 60 rural districts being affected,” the public works minister, Saviour Kasukuwere, said in a statement.

“Overall, the food insecure population has since risen to 2.44 million – 26% of the population.

“[With] the continued threat of the El Niňo-induced drought, his excellency the president has declared a state of disaster in regard to severely affected areas.”

Also of Interest

Here are some articles of interest, some which defied fair-use abstraction.

Check it out:

The Clinton Scandal That Still Matters Is Not the One You Think

Hillary Clinton Turns Stand-Up Comic: "I’m a Progressive Who Gets Things Done"

Jimmy Carter Built Houses for the Poor as Ex-President; Bill and Hillary Got Rich

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders Brawl Over His “Insinuation” That She’s Corrupt

The Guantánamo in New York You’re Not Allowed to Know About

The psychedelic world of Sudan's Sufis – in pictures

A Little Night Music

Luther Allison - Soul Fixin' Man

Luther Allison - Living in the house of the blues

Luther Allison Band - She Was Born That Way

Luther Allison - Serious

Luther Allison - Its too late

Luther Allison - Give Me Back My Wig

Luther Allison - Live in East-Berlin 1987