January 2009 - Posts
By NBC News’ Moufaq Khatib
AMMAN – As the Obama administration’s Middle East envoy George Mitchell prepares to meet with Jordan’s leader, King Abdullah II, he can expect to hear some strong words about the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
That’s because Jordan, a small country that borders Israel and the West Bank, is directly affected by the state of relations between Israel and the Palestinians. Roughly 60 percent of the Jordanian population is Palestinian, with half of them living in the country’s refugee camps.
"There is a saying here: When the Palestinians sneeze under the Israeli occupation, then Jordanians come down with the flu," said Hisham Awad, a Palestinian refugee living in Jordan.
CONTINUED >>
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
MUMBAI, India – Dr. Harish Ahire led us through a maze of crowded, narrow alleyways, navigating around excited groups of barefoot children and women washing pots in buckets of precious water, just inches away from open sewers.
"When it rains, the sewage runs into their homes," he told me.
A woman rose from her washing, gesturing with broad sweeps of her arm from the sewer to the door of her tiny room, home to eight members of her family, who were huddled around a small television watching a soap opera.
"The big problem is contagious diseases – from the water. There is no clean water, no proper sanitation, no ventilation," Ahire said. Almost on cue, a large bedraggled rat strolled nonchalantly across the alley. A woman took a half-hearted swing at it with a stick, more through wary familiarity than any sense of shock.
We continued to the edge of the slum, where piles of rubbish tumbled down the banks of a stagnant river, into which most of the slum’s waste eventually found its way.
CONTINUED >>
By Charlene Gubash, NBC News Producer
CAIRO – President Barack Obama's first week in office has been filled with words and deeds calculated to restore America’s image in the Arab and Muslim world, gestures that some of this region’s leading media figures believe are already changing the way people think about the United States.
"You can't believe the change," said Gamal Abdel Gawad, a senior political analyst in Cairo. "People are beginning to entertain the idea of the U.S. as a force of good, not evil."
But other Arab and Muslim reporters and editors gathered in Cairo to hear from President Obama’s Mideast envoy remain skeptical.
"Where is the policy? Is it just words?" asked Kareem Fathi, a correspondent for Kuwait TV.
 |
| Amr Nabil / AP |
| Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, right, meets with U.S. Middle East envoy George Mitchell in Cairo on Wednesday. |
Beginning with his inauguration promise to seek "a new way forward" with the Muslim world based on "mutual respect," Obama has made headlines across the region by announcing the closure of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, making his first official telephone call as president to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, sending his Middle East envoy George Mitchell to the region (whose Irish-Lebanese parentage has been duly noted by many), and granting his first television interview to the Arab satellite network al-Arabiya.
"[Obama's] approach was extraordinary because of his choice," said Randa Abul Azam, Al- Arabiya’s Cairo Bureau Chief. "He corrected eight years of Bush during which Arabs and Muslims felt portrayed as terrorists. He is trying to mend that mistake. The distinction has been made and is felt and appreciated."
CONTINUED >>
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
"There is a serious tendency toward capitalism among the well-to-do peasants."
- Mao Zedong, The Socialist Upsurge in China's Countryside, Volume 1 (1955)
YUEQI, Chongqing – Driving around the farming villages surrounding Chongqing municipality during
China’s Lunar New Year holiday this weekend, we noticed plenty of evidence to support Mao's thesis.
The most popular was the abundance of Guangdong license plates. Guangdong province, a few hundred miles southeast of Chongqing, is considered ground zero for China's economic reform experiment, the heartland of the nation's export manufacturing economy.
"These cars all belong to people who went south and made it big," explained Li Youfu, the village elder of Yueqi. In this rural hamlet of 5,000 people, half are migrant workers, and their remittances make-up about 80 percent of the town’s income. "They became little bosses down there and bought cars to bring back here."
 |
| Adrienne Mong/NBC News |
| Hopes for a better life run high for China's new generation of so-called peasantry. |
Outside Li's home, where he also runs a small corner shop, young men pulled up on shiny motorcycles to play mah jong for money on a nifty automated table that shuffled their tiles for them.
"[The table] cost only 2,000 renminbi ($290)," said Li Jingshan, the village elder's 22-year-old son. That's more than what used to be his monthly salary. The younger Li came back home early in December for the holiday – a little earlier than usual – after the Guangdong food product factory that employed him suspended its operations temporarily because of the slowdown. He's worked in the south for four years, where he earned 1,800 renminbi a month ($264), plus free meals and housing.
But the global economic crisis has reverberated around China's once-thriving coastal areas in the south and east. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security said up to 10 million out of an estimated 150 million migrants lost their jobs last year due to the crisis. Since business has slowed at Li's factory, it's unclear whether he will have a job to go back to once the weeks-long New Year holiday comes to an end.
"We were finishing work at two, three o'clock in the afternoon," said Li when I asked him whether there had been enough orders at the factory to keep him fully employed. Then he grinned. "More time to play!"
CONTINUED >>
Iraq is holding provincial elections on Saturday. The elections are expected to set the political landscape for the next several years and its expected to include the election of more women.
Learn more about Iraq's upcoming elections from NBC's Richard Engel:
Q &A on Iraqi provincial elections
CONTINUED >>
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
YUBAI QU, Chongqing Municipality – It was a Chinese stand-off.
Wang Chen, our 30-something driver from Chongqing, was looking at me anxiously.
I was grappling with not just anxiety (his) but also a mixture of guilt and resentment (mine).
The problem came up when Wang teased us with the prospect of interviewing migrant workers from his wife’s ancestral village about 40 miles outside of the center of Chongqing.
 |
| Adrienne Mong/NBC News |
| Paying respects during the Lunar New Year. |
We were working on a story about how the global economic meltdown is affecting Chinese migrant workers and their hopes for the New Year. For the past couple of days, we had been driving around one small town several hours’ drive away, talking to workers who had returned from the economically blighted coastal areas for the weeks-long Lunar New Year holiday.
But a group of local officials turned up, and in spite of their friendly demeanor, their presence intimidated the villagers. Where earlier the workers had spoken frankly about the difficulties of trying to make ends meet in an economic downturn, they suddenly were limiting their comments to praise for the government. Needless to say, we weren’t entirely satisfied with the quality of the interviews.
CONTINUED >>
By NBC News’ Carol Grisanti and Mushtaq Yusufzai
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – The message from Washington to Pakistan was clear: there is no change in U.S. policy when it comes to going after al-Qaida and Taliban targets in Pakistan’s lawless border areas. After all, Barack Obama warned during his presidential campaign that America must go after terrorist targets if Pakistan did not act first.
It should not have been a surprise, then, to Pakistanis when on Friday night, five missiles from remotely piloted Predator drones struck targets in the lawless tribal areas of North and South Waziristan – but it was.
The twin attacks killed 22 people, including some foreign militants, but also many civilians.
 |
| Athar Hussain / Reuters |
| Supporters of the Pakistani Islamist party Jamat-e-Islami protest U.S. drone attacks in Karachi on Sunday. |
Who’s in charge?The Pakistan government quickly voiced its outrage. "These attacks can affect Pakistan’s cooperation in the war on terror," Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari told U.S. Ambassador Anne Patterson the following day.
The foreign ministry followed up with a terse statement expressing "the sincere hope that the United States will review its policy." And Pakistan’s Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani – already on record promising the country there would be no more drone attacks once Obama became president – was embarrassed
Adding to the government’s problems, many Pakistanis no longer believe their government is being honest when protesting the attacks.
CONTINUED >>
By Martin Fletcher, NBC News Correspondent
"TEL AVIV, Israel – Danny Mahlouf, a 70-year-old Israeli plasterer from Ashkelon, has a message for Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, and it’s personal. "Tell Ismail Haniyeh to lose the beard, and stop making trouble!"
They go way back. In the late ‘80s, Haniyeh worked for five years as a plasterer in Ashkelon and Mahlouf was his boss. "We were close friends but we lost contact," Mahlouf said. "Then one day my son was watching TV and suddenly he shouted, Dad, come quickly, Ismail’s on TV. He’s prime minister!"
 |
| Hatem Moussa / AP file |
| Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh waves to supporters in Gaza City, Dec. 8. |
Their story tells much about the ties between Jews and Arabs that have been lost in the violence. The relationships between Israelis and Palestinians weren’t always full of the tension and hatred that often characterize them today, and that raises the possibility that one day, somehow, it could go back to the more peaceful days.
CONTINUED >>
There was a special reason to celebrate in India on Thursday with 10 Oscar nominations for movie "Slumdog Millionaire" announced. But while there’s local pride, there are also some criticism about the film’s stark depiction of poverty in Mumbai. NBC’s Ian Williams reports from Mumbai.
A new museum is being built in Baghdad, which will feature torture devices and 26 million documents related to Saddam Hussein's regime's crimes. NBC's Steve Wende reports from Baghdad.
CONTINUED >>
By Arata Yamamoto, NBC News Producer
TOKYO – "We got up at 4:30 to see this and it was really worth it," said Tim Roberston, after visiting Tokyo’s famous Tsukiji Fish Market with two friends from Melbourne. "It was probably the best sushi I've ever had."
Sections of the Tsukiji Fish Market in central Tokyo reopened to tourists this week, lifting a month-long ban which according to market officials was put in place due to the busy year-end New Year's trade.
 |
| Katsumi Kasahara / AP |
| Visitors watch frozen tunas on the floor during a morning auction at Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo on Jan. 19. |
But the local Japanese media all characterized the shutout as the result of increasingly disruptive behavior, or as they call it "bad manners," mainly by foreign tourists.
CONTINUED >>
By NBC News’ Karim Hilmi
BAGHDAD – Inspirational words like "change" and "hope," in President Barack Obama's inaugural speech found a receptive audience in Iraq. Many hope that he will be faithful to his promises and that he will be able to fix the problems created by his predecessor, George W. Bush.
"I think Obama is going to be a better president than Bush. His foreign policy will depend on using dialogue and diplomacy to solve the world's major and sensitive issues,'' said Daood Hashim, a journalism professor in his mid-50s. "Obama said many times during his presidential campaign and inauguration speech that he is going to find a solution to the Iranian nuclear activities thru dialogue – and that is the ideal way to solve problems."
 |
| Ahmad Al-rubaye / AFP - Getty Images |
| An Iraqi boy follows the Arabic tradition of giving sweets on a happy occasion as others watch the U.S. inauguration ceremony on live TV at a cafe in Baghdad's Sadr City on Jan. 20. |
Likewise, S'adee Yassen said he appreciates Obama's ideas, as opposed to what he saw as Bush’s bellicose way of dealing with things. "In my opinion, Obama is going to be a peacemaker, whereas Bush was like a Roman warrior occupied all the time with attacking and invading other nations," he said.
CONTINUED >>
By Yonatan Pomrenze, NBC News Producer
MOSCOW – At Papa’s Place Bar & Restaurant in Moscow, inauguration night was in full swing. Red, white and blue balloons hung from the ceiling, while a steady supply of hamburgers and pizza gave the mixed crowd of Russians and expatriates a little taste of America as they gathered to watch Barack Obama’s historic inauguration.
"We decided we had to do something for our American friends…and for us Russians….It’s not just great for America, it’s great for the whole world," said Ekaterina Yezdina, director of the Executive Language Center, who hosted the event.
 |
| Max Avdeev / AFP - Getty Images |
| Russians and American expatriates watch the inauguration of U.S. President Barack Obama on big screens at an American-style diner in Moscow on Jan. 20. |
Other partygoers agreed. "By looking at this now, I have…a feeling of hope that something might actually change. For the better," said Igor Budantsov, 33, a lawyer sporting an American flag in his lapel.
But for Moscow, this gathering was the exception rather than the rule. Unlike elsewhere in the world, there was no sense of urgency here to watch the inauguration or groups of people gathering to watch in homes and bars.
"I don’t plan on watching it," said Alexander Moroz, an 18-year-old student, while on a cigarette break outside of the European Shopping Mall in central Moscow hours before the inauguration.
It shouldn’t come as any surprise. The political instability during the 1990s here, followed by the stable but de facto one-party rule of the Putin era, has left many in Russia disillusioned and apathetic about politics, whether domestic or international. Pre-election polls showed that while Obama consistently topped McCain, both candidates were easily beat out by those saying they simply had no preference.
CONTINUED >>
By NBC News' Fakhar Rehman and Carol Grisanti in Islamabad and Mushtaq Yusufzai in Peshawar
There were no street parties, no fireworks nor obvious celebrations on the streets of Pakistan to herald in Barak Obama as the new American president – but on every TV news channel, all night long, Barack Obama was the news.
The entire country tuned in to the events happening more than 7,000 miles away on the other side of the globe and watched as Obama called for "the re-making of America." Well into the wee hours of the night, TV pundits and anchors analyzed and debated every word of the new president’s speech and the future of U.S.-Pakistani relations.
Faeza Tariq, an Islamabad housewife and mother of two, said she and her entire family stayed awake to watch the inauguration. "The best thing for all of us is that Bush is gone and a new humble man has replaced him. This is going to be a new beginning and I hope an end to the drone attacks on us."
 |
| Emlio Morenatti / AP |
| A Pakistani vendor waits for customers for his newspapers with front page pictures of President Barack Obama in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, on Jan. 21. |
On Wednesday morning, Pakistanis on the streets and in the markets of Islamabad, the capital, were weighing the pros and cons of regime change in America.
"Since Obama’s message to America is all about change, well, then we should expect change too," said Mohammed Sarwar, a pharmacist in Islamabad. Sarwar was already debating an Obama presidency with two of his customers when we arrived.
"I like Obama," he added. "That’s why I stayed up all night to watch his ceremony. I feel he will be good for Pakistan."
CONTINUED >>
By Jason Cumming, msnbc.com reporter
LONDON – The morning after Barack Obama's election triumph, the front-page headline in Britain's Metro newspaper read: "The Day America Became a Little Bit Cool Again."
As Obama was sworn-in as president 3,600 miles away today, there were few signs of such widespread ardor waning in London.
Morning newspapers vied for the best coverage of an event that hadn’t even occurred yet with The Independent devoting no fewer than 23 pages to the looming inauguration. Tuesday’s Guardian came complete with a section featuring Obama’s "finest" speeches.
 |
| Jason Cumming/ msnbc.com |
| Emma Betsy, 21, left, and Whitney Calvert, 24, right, celebrating Obama’s inauguration at a London pub. |
How Obama could – or couldn’t – change the world was practically the only topic being discussed on Britain’s talk-radio stations, while the BBC devoted much of the day to events in D.C.
Packed pubs
But in a society where many people don't need an excuse to enjoy a pint, the sheer number of pubs showcasing a uniquely American piece of political theater was perhaps the best illustration of how Obama has captured the imagination of many Britons.
CONTINUED >>
From Kenya to Kosovo, cheers for a new U.S. president. Click the slideshow link below.
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
In America, expectations may be high that, once President-elect Barack Obama is inaugurated, change will come. But in China hopes are for the status quo.
This month, China has been celebrating 30 years of restored diplomatic relations with the United States. Amidst a series of high-profile events featuring visiting American political luminaries such as Jimmy Carter, Henry Kissinger, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, the Chinese media have waxed rhapsodic about bilateral ties.
And the trot down memory lane has taken an extra tinge of nostalgia as the Chinese government watches Obama take over the American presidency.
 |
| Adrienne Mong/NBC News |
| Chinese are more focused on shopping for the upcoming Lunar New Year than on Obama's inauguration. |
Longing for the status quo
"Good private relations between the two top leaders have endlessly injected a vigor into bilateral ties," said the China Daily, a state-run newspaper, which noted that during his two terms President George W. Bush met Chinese President Hu Jintao 19 times. "The establishment of these viable communication mechanisms during Bush's tenure has helped reduce differences and enhance mutual trust between the two countries and push forward a healthy relationship."
CONTINUED >>
With Israel and Egypt closely monitoring Gaza’s borders, the conflict has been nearly impossible to cover from the inside. This week, after swearing, in writing, that he and his crew didn’t hold Egypt personally responsible for their safety, NBC’s Richard Engel was allowed to enter Gaza. As he describes it, "It felt like a cage had been opened."
Click below to see a poignant look at life in Gaza. Engel spends time in local hospitals, on rooftops and in safe houses talking to those bearing the brunt of the conflict.
CONTINUED >>
Reporter's Notebook
By Lawahez Jabari, NBC News Producer
JERUSALEM – For 17 days I have been covering the Gaza conflict, working in several Israeli towns and cities – Sderot, Ashkelon, Beersheba – and also along the Israel-Gaza border.
For the first time I witnessed the effect that the al Qassam rockets fired from Gaza have on daily life in southern Israel. People would be on their way to work or school when all of a sudden, their morning would be interrupted by the wailing sirens warning everyone to rush to the shelter.
They displayed emotions ranging from annoyance to fright, but mostly life went on. Shops stayed open, people continued their errands in the street. Part of this is that, unfortunately, they have become accustomed to the barrages, but I thought how nerve-wracking it must be to wait for sirens, knowing that something like a missile could rain from the sky without warning.
Later, we went to the border, where sometimes we were joined by families, young and old, who came to see their army, the Israeli Defense Forces, at work.
As horrific as the Hamas rockets had been, the violence here was much worse. The F-16s, Apache helicopters and tanks were moving into Gaza – firing into the northernmost Gaza towns of Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun, and the refugee town of Jebalya. The explosions were terrifying and I’ll never forget the "jellyfish" – those missiles which would explode in mid-air, dropping more of their kind over the area.
I was working with Tom Aspell, as his producer, and every day we would do our live TV reports on how the operation in Gaza was going. The Israelis strictly restricted journalists’ access into the area, but every day I called people inside Gaza and spoke with local journalists there who would tell me how difficult it was to cover the story.
A different perspective
After 17 days of round-the-clock live-reports, I decided to take a day off and went home to Jerusalem.
For the first time I turned on an Arab channel, al-Jazeera, to get an update on what was going on. And then I knew it was impossible to give any equivalency between the situation in the Israeli towns in the south with the tragedy that was unfolding in Gaza.
CONTINUED >>
Reporter's Notebook
By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – It took us an hour to get past the heavily-armed guards and bomb-sniffing dogs and through the gate of the U.S. Embassy. A few days earlier, a suicide bomber had blown up himself and his car, killing at least two civilians, only 50 yards from the building.
But now we were inside the embassy and interviewing Loren Stoddard, a top official at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). It was a surreal time and place to be talking about pomegranates.
"You see this?" asked the sharp, jovial Stoddard, reaching for a ruby red fruit the size of a grapefruit. "You know the one main thing that's been lacking in Afghanistan is hope. Hope in a successful, productive, prosperous future. Well, this pomegranate represents hope to all Afghan farmers."
Stoddard explained how this traditional Afghan fruit – so popular these days in the U.S. and Europe for its elixir-like effects – was skyrocketing in price and capable of even replacing opium poppy as Afghanistan's chief cash crop.
Then he held up an even bigger, and ruddier, fruit. "And this is the ‘Kandahari’ from Kandahar, one of the best pomegranates in the world. At least in this part of the world, it's its own brand name.''
A light went off in my mind: A brand name? Just what Afghanistan needs.
CONTINUED >>
With one of the fiercest day of fighting in Gaza on Thursday, a small group of foreign reporters were allowed to join an official military embed with the Israeli Defense Forces to get a first-hand look at the fighting. NBC News' Martin Fletcher was part of the group and reports from the scene.
The New York Times' Ethan Bronner was also part of the
IDF's military embed in Gaza Thursday and discusses the 'limited glimpse' of Gaza the reporters were afforded with NBC's Martin Fletcher.
CONTINUED >>
By Petra Cahill, World Blog editor
Earlier I spoke with Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent. He was in a car traveling through the desert trying to overcome the closure of Gaza to foreign reporters. I asked him about the experience...
"This is my fourth day crisscrossing deserts in my attempt to get into Gaza. I haven’t gotten in, yet, but not from lack of effort.
I left on Sunday from the Israeli side of the Gaza border. The Israelis weren’t allowing journalists in, but there were rumors going around that we could get in through Egypt.
So I jumped in a car in Sderot and drove through southern Israel, through the Negev Desert, crossed into Egypt, crossed the Sinai Desert, and arrived in Rafah, which is right at the Gaza border. It was about a 12-hour drive.
More paperwork, please
Since then, we stayed near the Rafah border for the last three days – reporting and trying to get into Gaza. Each day we spent about eight hours at the border crossing, arguing with Egyptian officials.
At one stage it got into a bit of a shouting match, as I was saying that we should be allowed in and the Egyptian intelligence officials thought I was being rude. Eventually we had to make up. We drank lots of tea.
CONTINUED >>
By Ali Arouzi, NBC News Producer
TEHRAN, Iran – During the past 30 years, the United States has pondered regime change, military action, and containment as policies toward Iran. None have proved effective.
Now President-elect Barack Obama is expected to try what he calls a "new approach" towards Iran – engagement.
Don’t expect Obama to sip tea with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader who has the final say on all political and state matters, and come away with pledges from Tehran to stop aiding terrorists, abandon its nuclear weapons program or recognize Israel anytime soon.
But what we might see – if the political stars align – is the beginning of considerably lower-level diplomatic engagement, perhaps the establishment of a U.S. diplomatic post in Tehran and some people-to-people, cultural, and sporting exchanges.
"Now that Bush has gone, this is a great chance for us to make friends with America," said Maryam, a Tehran University student. "I think this is the first real chance in 30 years for the two sides to put aside their differences. It’s in everyone’s best interests."
But Farshad, a civil engineer, disagreed. "You know the Americans do not want peace with us. All this talk from Obama about engagement with Iran is an excuse. He wants to look like he has tried to make a deal with us, but really his end goal is to attack us."
If those two comments offer any indication, dealing with Iran is going to be very tricky.
CONTINUED >>
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
HARBIN, Heilongjiang Province, China – The first thing most passengers do in China when they get off a plane is head for the bathroom or light up a cigarette.
In Harbin, they make for a row of booths labeled "Clothes Changing" and throw on long underwear.
Seven layers later, I was still shivering.
 |
| Adrienne Mong/NBC News |
| A cathedral reproduced entirely in ice. |
"It says here that Harbin is below freezing more than six months of the year," said David Lom, our cameraman, as he scrolled through his Blackberry. "That's ridiculous."
David has made it his life’s ambition to work only in warm climates.
I was beginning to think that wasn't such a bad goal.
We came to Harbin to film the annual Snow and Ice Festival. And I was looking forward to spending an extra day afterwards to explore this city of three million and its other major sights: the Siberian Tiger Reserve (home to the extremely rare Manchurian tiger); the Germ Warfare Base (where the Japanese conducted controversial experiments on war prisoners from 1939-45); and St. Sophia Cathedral, one of the few Eastern Orthodox churches in East Asia.
But as soon as we set foot outdoors, I was having second thoughts. The taxi driver told us it was 18 below Celsius, which sounded and felt much colder than its Fahrenheit equivalent: -4F.
CONTINUED >>
By Alphonso Van Marsh for NBC News
SALAH EL DIN, Egypt – Beneath Egypt’s border with Gaza lay dozens of tunnels Israel says are used to smuggle weapons and ammunition to Hamas militants. In recent days, Israeli fighter jets and unmanned drone planes have bombed the southern Gaza border city Rafah in an effort to stop Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.
But for residents living along the Egyptian side of the Gaza-Egypt border, there is growing fear and anger over Israeli military operations that injured four Egyptians over the weekend, according to news reports.
"My grandchildren wake up in the middle of the night, crying as the bombs go off, shaking the very foundation of our house. They haven’t really slept for five days," said Om Fayez, the short, feisty matriarch of a five-story family home in Salah el Din, a few hundred feet from the border. "Our windows have been shattered [by the bombings]. We are scared we’ll be hurt."
 |
| NBC News |
| Rhasmeya el Nahal shows NBC News' Alphonso Van Marsh her families’ orange groves leading to Egypt’s border and the high-rise buildings of Gaza. |
Fayez has reason to fear. Shrapnel hit and injured two Egyptian children and two Egyptian police officers on Sunday, according to a Reuters report, when an Israeli Air Force bomb exploded in Gaza. The injured were on the Egyptian side of the border at the time and were taken to a local hospital. The gravity of their injuries is unknown. Egyptian police sources told Reuters an Israeli bomb landed on Egyptian soil on Monday – but failed to explode.
"[Israel] says it is going after the tunnels," said Fayez’s daughter Rhasmeya el Nahal, pointing toward an Israeli drone circling over Gaza. "But what about [those people] who have nothing to do with them?"
CONTINUED >>
By Alphonso Van Marsh for NBC News
AL ARISH, Egypt – The tension in Al Arish’s main square was palpable. Dozens of baton-wielding Egyptian security forces lined the streets, as Muslim worshipers listened to Friday prayers in the surrounding, overcrowded mosques.
One cleric said in his sermon that Islam would survive Israel’s ground and air attacks on Gaza. He likened the world’s Muslim population to a human body and said that Palestinian suffering in Gaza was like a limb undergoing trauma and injury.
"Just because one body part is in pain, does not mean that the human body will die," the cleric said.
 |
| Alphonso Van Marsh/ NBC News |
| Demonstrators take to the streets of Al Arish’s main square, in protest of Israel’s attacks on Hamas targets in neighboring Gaza. |
After the sermon, hundreds of men and boys streamed into the square, chanting what could only be politely described as anti-Jewish slogans. Predictably, banners in support of Gazans were unfurled and the loud street protests began.
One of Egypt’s most powerful clerics had called for pro-Palestinian demonstrations across Egypt. Some of the rawest emotions were on display here in Al Arish, a coastal community just an hour’s drive from Egypt’s border with Gaza. Many of this town’s residents know or are related to Palestinians living in Gaza and the area’s businesses are suffering due to the virtual closure of Egypt’s border with Gaza.
CONTINUED >>
By Geoff Tofield, NBC News’ Deputy Director of International News
TEL AVIV, Israel – I woke up one morning this week to what sounded like a small and low-flying plane nearby. Having spent time on alert in this conflicted region before, I took a quick look out of my window and immediately spotted the culprit.
Small and low-flying: yes. Cause for alarm: not so much.
It was a powered parachute out for a gentle morning flight over the beautiful beachfront next to the Tel Aviv Marina.
 |
| Geoff Tofield / NBC News |
| Snapshot taken from Geoff Tofield's cell phone as a glider went by his window overlooking the Tel Aviv Marina. |
A couple of joggers and an elderly couple at an exercise station on the beach watched him for a few seconds and returned to their routines.
Driving through the city later I noted the fine weather and another view of the Mediterranean. "That’s what’s so nice about Tel Aviv," said a local Israeli along for the ride. "The war is," he said as he waved vaguely off to the distance, "… out there."
CONTINUED >>
Many medical workers eager to help Gazans injured by the Israeli offensive are being thwarted by Egyptian authorities at the Rafah border crossing.
Gaza's few hospitals have been overwhelmed by the flood of at least 3,000 wounded since the Israeli assault began on Dec. 27. But Egyptian authorities are preventing many doctors from entering Gaza, citing security concerns.
"Its frustrating," said Dr. Tarek Osman, an Egyptian urologist stuck at the border with an exasperated sigh.
NBC News' Alphonson Van Marsh reports on the issue from the Rafah border.
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
BANGKOK, Thailand – The initial investigation into the pub inferno that killed 64 New Year’s revelers here makes for depressing reading: Not only did Bangkok's Santika Club have no operating license or insurance, there were no heat or smoke detectors, no fire alarm, no emergency lights, no fire escape sign and no sprinklers. It was packed with highly flammable material, electrical wires were dangerously exposed, windows were blocked and the main entrance was just over six feet wide, according to experts quoted in the local media.
It was, in other words, a death trap.
 |
| PAIROJ/AFP/Getty Images file |
| Thai policemen and rescuers stand by the bodies of victims of a fire that ripped through a nightclub in Bangkok early on January 1, 2009. |
Yet this was not some seedy, underground establishment, hidden from view. It was a large flashy building on a busy upscale Bangkok road, with the capacity for several hundred, frequented by well-heeled Thais and foreigners.
How on earth were they allowed to get away with not adhering to any safety codes?
CONTINUED >>
By Martin Fletcher, NBC News Correspondent
TEL AVIV – Once upon a time in Gaza. And not so long ago. There were no border controls between Gaza and Israel.
Israelis happily went shopping in the Gaza market and ate cheap meals at fish restaurants on the Gaza beach, while Gazans drove to Tel Aviv to work and to play. Fear was rare then and friendships were common.
Customs were different, of course. In 1983, my NBC friend and colleague, Jim Maceda, sold his blue Peugeot 504 station wagon to a Gazan merchant. Jim and his friend, Amikam, drove to the man's apartment on the ground floor of a building. The Gazan opened the wide doors, cleared the living room. They drove the car inside, parked it by the TV, and the doors were closed again. Then they sat looking at the car, and drank tea to celebrate.
But as an Arab friend told me today, "Those were the good old days before the peace process."
CONTINUED >>
China this month is celebrating the 30th anniversary of diplomatic ties with the U.S. Relations were established after the legendary "ping pong" diplomacy that began in 1971, when the U.S. national table tennis team was invited to play in China. A year later, China’s national team traveled to the U.S., and the rest is history.
At 15-years-old, Judy Bochenski Hoarfrost was the youngest member of the American team back in 1971. She and Zhang Xielin, the coach of China’s national table tennis team who visited the US in 1972, share some fleeting memories with NBC News.
CONTINUED >>
As Israel's Gaza offensive continues, two reports from NBC News' reporters in the field.
NBC's Richard Engel reports on the international calls for a ceasefire as the casualties mount.
And Martin Fletcher reports on how doctors at Shifa, Gaza's under-equipped main hospital, are straining to keep up with the onslaught of mostly civilian victims.
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
SHIJIAZHUANG, Hebei Province, China – At first we thought we had hit the jackpot.
It was a brisk winter morning when my colleague, Gu Bo, and I arrived at the Shijiazhuang Intermediate People’s Court in Hebei’s capital last week. Inside, the former head of Sanlu Group, a leading Chinese dairy company, was standing trial for her role in the melamine-tainted milk scandal that has sickened hundreds of thousands of infants and caused the deaths of a handful of others. Outside, we hoped, would be families of victims.
As we stepped out of the car with a small camera, groups of Chinese approached us, waving sheaves of documents. Excellent, I thought, parents who are willing to talk to the press and they have medical records of their sick children.
But it turned out I was wrong
 |
| Adrienne Mong/NBC News |
| Petitioners like these people approached the NBC News team outside a courthouse in Hebei's capital. |
Tu Min, a 50-something-year-old woman carrying a tote bag brimming with papers, was one of the first to park herself in front of us as we fiddled with our camera. She pressed several papers into Bo’s hands. "You are media. You can help me, please," she said.
Bo looked through the documents and realized that the woman was not the parent or even grandparent of a child sick from drinking powdered milk containing melamine. Tu was just a petitioner.
And so were the others who trailed us around the edge of the courthouse, eager to enlist the help of journalists to publicize their grievances.
CONTINUED >>
By Martin Fletcher, NBC News Correspondent
TEL AVIV – Have you noticed that in the TV coverage of the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas, all we’ve seen are missiles, explosions and their sad aftermath?
We haven’t seen one image of an Israeli firing a gun. Same thing goes for Hamas.
Although Hamas fighters are hunkered down in homes, mosques, schools and even in hospitals, according to Palestinians who can see them, we haven’t seen one picture of a Hamas fighter with a gun in a military situation, let alone firing it.
It’s an extreme case of "Control the Message."
Both sides are doing it. Israel has closed the border area to any journalists (or civilians it feels don’t have any business there). And Israeli citizens, whose sons and daughters are fighting the war – and who know the government’s policy on images from war zones – are understandably reluctant to release cell-phone video of the scenes.
Hamas achieves the same result in a different way: they simply threaten to kill anybody who films them. That’s a persuasive argument, especially as most, if not all, of the reporters in Gaza at the moment are local Palestinians, who have nowhere to escape to.
CONTINUED >>
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News producer
2008 was not a good year for parents in China.
And 2009 might not be much of an improvement.
Last May’s earthquake in Sichuan saw the collapse of some 7,000 classrooms, killing thousands of students.
Four months later, news surfaced that a major brand of infant formula contained melamine, an industrial chemical that was added to help artificially boost the protein levels in watered-down milk. At least six babies have died and more than a quarter million more have fallen ill from drinking the tainted formula.
Compensation will be available to families of victims in both instances. The government has offered $8,823 for each killed child to the quake parents. The China Dairy Association this week confirmed a compensation plan was in the works for the milk parents. Some reports have said families could receive up to $29,000 if their children died, but the details are still unclear.
But parents in both cases are outraged.
CONTINUED >>
