July 2009 - Posts
It's only 60 miles from some West Bank villages to the sea, yet many Palestinian children have never seen the ocean. However, Israel is begining to allow more freedom of movement for Palestinians - removing some roadblocks and loosening restrictions. And Israeli peace activists helped arrange for some Palestinian children to finally enjoy a day at the beach in peace. NBC News Martin Fletcher reports.
By Charlene Gubash, NBC News Producer
CAIRO – While General Motors sales struggle in the United States, the American automaker can’t keep up with demand for its Chevrolet Lanos here in Egypt. The car's popularity has skyrocketed due to a new
government-sponsored incentive to encourage Cairo’s taxi drivers to trade in their decades-old beaters for brand new models.
Although prospective buyers can select from five models – ranging from the modest Russian Lada at $6,607 to the pricey French Peugeot – the vast majority opt for a Chevy at $9,549.
"There is a high demand for Chevrolet. It is a durable car and people love it, but the choice is left to the driver and supplier," said Mohamed Shawky, the supervisor of the program.
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| Mohamed Muslemany |
| One of the typical old black-and-white taxis that used to rule Cairo’s streets. |
But many of Cairo’s cabbies have made their choice clear.
"Chevrolet is the most popular car because it is strong, and has spare parts readily available on the local market. Installments are cheap at only 800 Egyptian pounds a month ($143) for a five-year period," explained Magdy Mansour, the happy new owner of a 1-month-old Chevrolet. The only drawback: "It takes a lot of gas."
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By NBC News' Ed Flanagan
BEIJING – As Americans struggle to dig themselves out of debt and soldier on through recession, one U.S- based organization is asking them to loan their spare dollars not to the needy at home, but to those residing in the United States’ largest foreign creditor: China.
Wokai ("I Start" in Chinese), is a small Oakland, Calif.- based microfinance organization that is working to provide micro loans to an estimated 200 million Chinese who live on less than $1 a day.
Founded two years ago by 25-year-olds, Casey Wilson and Courtney McColgan, Wokai is the convergence of the pair’s shared interest in economic development and China. The pair, who met in a Chinese language program at Beijing’s Tsinghua University in 2006, created a microfinance program to help provide assistance to some of China’s estimated 228 million people who have no access to basic financial services.
Wilson and McColgan created a Web site that they’ve coined "Facebook for Farmers" – it features many of the core characteristics of Web 2.0: social networking, blogging and interactive media.
Functioning similarly to the one of the more established microfinance sites, Kiva.org, Wokai’s online system of peer-to-peer loans allows potential lenders to scan the profiles of pre-screened rural Chinese borrowers and decide for themselves who they want to loan money to.
The loans are small – the average loans is around $300 – and are mostly used by farmers to invest in simple business improvements such as adding additional livestock or buying new products for dry goods stores.
To attract loans and help develop the organization, Wokai has enlisted an army of young volunteers both in the United States and China. They have assisted in everything from website development to working directly with field partners in China to screen potential borrowers. Meanwhile, member chapters in San Francisco, Seattle and New York help drive awareness and donations through localized fund raising events.
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By Kerry Sanders, NBC News Correspondent
JACALEAPA, Honduras – Exiled Honduran President Manuel Zelaya has been hanging out in Ocotal, a Nicaraguan mountain town near the Honduras border, for the last four days as he tries to launch his return to power after a coup last month.
It's been a little bit like the childhood song and dance, "The Hokey Pokey." On Friday, Zelaya took a few steps into the no-man’s-land between the countries. When he arrived at a sign that said "Welcome to Honduras," Zelaya claimed he was home. But he didn’t stay long, returning quickly to the Nicaraguan side of the border.
As the song says, "You put your right foot in, you put our right foot out, and shake it all about."
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| Mayerling Garcia / AFP - Getty Images |
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Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya (in white hat) greets supporters at an improvised camp site in Ocotal, Nicaragua on Monday. |
It's unclear, though, what Zelaya thinks his border dance will achieve.
I asked him if his camping stunt was costing him in the court of world opinion. He said it was "a just action" and that the world should not support "a tyrant." He was referring to de facto President Roberto Micheletti.
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By Yonatan Pomrenze, NBC News Producer
MOSCOW – Like on any other Thursday, I was looking forward to my weekly Texas Hold ‘Em poker game. A laid-back, low-stakes game with some friends in the back room of a Moscow restaurant is always a nice way to unwind towards the end of the work week.
But this week, our game was cancelled due to new Russian legislation which removed poker’s classification as a sport, effectively banning any poker playing for money.
"We are trying to get some clarification from the police as to how they see friendly games," said the restaurant manager who allows us to play in his restaurant for nothing more than the price of the drinks and food. He explained the reason for canceling this week’s game: "We wanted to clear it first, and we also wanted to stay out of trouble for a while." Fearing authorities, he prefers to remain anonymous.
The Russian government shut down casinos in most of country earlier this month, exiling them to four gaming zones that don’t yet have the infrastructure to support casinos. At first, it looked like poker would survive the shutdown due to its designation as a sport (and not a game of chance). Now, players are wondering how far-reaching the new decree will push authorities to crack down on various kinds of poker games.
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By Paul Goldman, NBC News Producer
JERUSALEM – Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks concerning Israel's right to build anywhere it wanted in Jerusalem earlier this week have threatened to further complicate Israel’s relations with its strongest ally over the contentious issue of settlement construction.
Netanyahu told his Cabinet on Sunday that there would be no limits on Jewish construction anywhere in "unified Jerusalem."
"We cannot accept the idea that Jews wouldn’t be entitled to live and buy anywhere in Jerusalem," said Netanyahu. "I can only imagine what would happen if someone were to suggest that Jews cannot live in certain neighborhoods in New York, London, Paris or Rome."
The battle over Jerusalem is part of the "give and take" policy that Israel is negotiating with the U.S. President Barack Obama is calling for a full stop to all settlement activity, while Netanyahu is adamant that Israel has the right to build to accommodate natural growth in existing settlements and that Jerusalem is not included in any settlement freeze.
Furthermore, the international community considers the Jewish neighborhoods in east Jerusalem to be settlements and sees them as a major obstacle to Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking because they complicate the possibility of dividing the city in the future.
Israel’s hard line stance has left many Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem in despair. As we visited the area on Wednesday, we met Rima Issa, from the Coalition for Jerusalem. She was in a tent in the neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah speaking to tourists. Issa said she was trying to "educate" the tourists and show them the other side of the settlement story.
"I think we’re facing a heavy attack, from settlers and from Israel. They are taking more homes, taking more lands," said Issa. "It's heavily unbelievable way of ethnic cleansing Palestinians from this land."
Asked how she feels about this, she said, "I'm like Don Quixote, fighting the wind but we will never give up. As an individual I will never give up."
Click on the video above to see more of our interview with Rima Issa about how the settlement issue is affecting residents of East Jerusalem.
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With a GDP growth rate of 7.1 percent, China’s economy is still growing despite the global recession. Chinese economist Shen Minghao discusses how the economy continues to move forward.
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
FENGXIAN, China – I had to suppress a smile.
A physician from Vancouver, Duncan Etches, was carrying a book entitled "Mathematical Astronomy Morsels" and was in the process of recounting his decision to join a UCLA Extension/Far Horizons tour to see the total solar eclipse in China.
"We were going to join a tour off the Ryuku Islands in Japan," he said. "But they had some bird-watching sites as part of it. And we thought, two weeks with bird watchers? They’re kind of fanatic."
Etches was so determined to catch this once-in-a-lifetime sighting that he had traveled all the way from Canada to Fengxian, a beach resort on the outskirts of downtown Shanghai to experience it.
But while Etches might be a total solar eclipse virgin, some of his fellow travelers were not.
"I went to see my first total solar eclipse in 1977," said Dr. E.C. Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. He was leading the tour that included Etches and roughly a dozen other people.
"This eclipse is the longest period of totality for a total solar eclipse in this century," enthused Krupp. "So if you want to see all the phenomena occur during the totality, the longer the totality, the better, and… I’m not going to live to see an eclipse longer than six minutes."
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July 20: Landmines and other hidden explosives are the haunting remnants of Iraq’s many wars. They have taken a horrific toll, countless children have been killed or maimed herding animals or just playing. NBC's Steve Wende reports on the efforts to eradicate the lingering dangers.
By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA, Cuba – Dancers from London’s Royal Ballet were not the only stars who made history this summer when they became the first international company to perform in Cuba in more than 30 years.
So did their distinguished orchestra conductor Martin Yates, described by critics as one of Britain’s "most exciting and versatile" conductors.
Yates led Cuba’s National Symphony for two nights in Havana’s Karl Marx Theater for the company’s production of the three-act ballet "Manon."
The excitement began when he managed to pry open the theater’s orchestra pit, which had been sealed 15 years ago when Cuba’s strapped economy forced everyone in the arts to downsize. The use of the pit was such a novelty that during intermission members of the audience crowded the front of the auditorium just for a look.
The space was far from ideal and took some creative maneuvering to accommodate over 70 musicians in the old-fashioned pit.
"The string players couldn’t even extend their bows because somebody was sitting right next to them but they would not quit," said Yates. "That extraordinary sort of fortitude was extremely uplifting."
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The West Bank city, once known as a hotbed of terrorism, is undergoing a radical change, thanks in part to a U.S. effort to train and support Palestinian police. NBC News' Martin Fletcher reports.
By Mary Murray, NBC News Havana Bureau Chief
HAVANA – From the moment London’s Royal Ballet came to town, observers dubbed it a "diplomatic dance" and predicted the tour would generate the same ground-breaking excitement as the grand old cultural exchanges during the Cold War. This would be, after all, the first visit by an international dance company to the communist island in over 30 years.
Maybe true, but ballet lovers here see no political subtext to the tour except the experience of some exceptional summer entertainment at prices everyone can afford.
At less than a dollar for admission, box offices ran out of tickets in lightning speed.
Crowds packed Havana’s faded, but still majestic, Gran Teatro to watch the company’s both classical and avant-garde productions, some of which the likes have never been seen on a Cuban stage.
And on Friday, the 5,000-seat Karl Marx Theater will be filled for the week’s final performance: Kenneth Macmillan’s dramatic rendition of "Manon." London is well-known for its passionate and daring interpretation of that part full-length ballet.
And those disappointed Cuban fans who weren't fast enough to score tickets?
Thousands spent their evenings watching the performances projected live on gigantic TV screens from the steps of Havana’s "El Capitolio," a domed building that served as the seat of the legislature in Cuba’s pre-Revolution days.
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By Eric Baculinao, NBC News Beijing Bureau Chief
BEIJING –Months of speculation that America might snub China over a global showcase event came to an end Friday with the formal groundbreaking ceremony for the U.S.A. Pavilion at the Shanghai World Expo site.
Dubbed the Olympics of global business and technology, the World Expo is set to open in Shanghai in May 2010, offering another platform to show off China’s global expansion.
But as the U.S. missed one building deadline after another due to financial difficulties, fears were growing that the most important guest would be a no-show – which would have dealt a serious blow to Chinese pride and prestige.
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| AFP - Getty Images |
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U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, center, with other officials during the ground-breaking ceremony for the USA Pavilion at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo site in Shanghai on Friday. |
Enticing America
The Shanghai Expo – which reportedly has a budget bigger than the Beijing Olympic Games –will attract some 70 million visitors over a six-month period. It will feature the economic, technological and cultural achievements of over 200 countries and international organizations, with China, and the city of Shanghai, on center stage.
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By Paul Goldman, NBC News Producer
TEL AVIV – The arrest of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish woman accused of starving her 3-year-old son has sparked three days of violent clashes in Jerusalem between religious and secular Jews.
Authorities allege that the mentally ill woman has been starving her son for several years.
On Thursday, a photo on the front page of Yediot Ahronot, a popular daily, showed a horrific photo of the emaciated boy sitting on a hospital bed clearly suffering from malnutrition. Authorities said they have video showing the mother repeatedly disconnecting her son from a feeding tube in the hospital.
But her arrest has outraged members of the ultra-Orthodox community who resent outside interference in their affairs. For the last three days protesters have clashed with police, throwing rocks at them and burning trash cans. At least 28 demonstrators have been arrested.
The incident has laid bare the very delicate relationship between the insular ultra-Orthodox community and the city’s more secular population.
The ultra-Orthodox community views the Israeli authorities with a great deal of mistrust; they think they use brutal tactics (police used water cannons on rioters on Thursday), are uncompromising and oppose any perceived interference from them in their religious life.
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A devastating drought has left Iraq bone dry. Swaths of farm land have turned to baked dirt, drinking water supplies are threatened and to add to the misery, a massive dust storm has blanketed the country. All the dry land has opened up a treasure trove for archeologists, but they fear looters. NBC News' Steve Wende reports from Baghdad.
By NBC News' Warangkana Chomchuen
BANGKOK, Thailand – Like many students at the Setsatian School for the Deaf, 18-year-old Supawan Klaiyana has been hearing impaired from birth and cannot listen to music.
She enjoys watching pop singers dancing on TV and thought that was the maximum extent of music she could experience. But that changed completely last week when she and 40 other deaf students attended a concert targeted to suit their special needs.
"I’m so excited," Klaiyana signed, as her hands fluttered over her chest, before the concert. She was sitting in a quiet yet animated classroom, as her classmates were busy signing with each other. Some giggled when she was being interviewed on camera. "I want to dance. I want to have fun. I’m so ready to dance at the concert!"
The "Love is Hear" concert was held at a downtown Bangkok theater last Thursday and was the first concert ever organized in Thailand for "the deaf and the rest."
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By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
URUMQI, China – Riot-torn Urumqi is hosting a beauty contest. The streets are still swamped by riot police, the city tense and littered with the debris of the worst unrest in decades, but the contestants for the 35th Miss International Beauty Pageant have come to town.
I bumped into them at dinner on Friday. In all honesty, you couldn't miss them, since very few other people were staying at my hotel, which is a few minutes away from where nearly 200 people died just a week ago.
They paraded along the buffet line as if already on the catwalk. I picked my way along with contestants from Turkmenistan and Vietnam dressed in their finest and minimalist evening wear.
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| Ian Williams / NBC News |
| The remains a Han Chinese car dealership after ethnic riots in Urumqi, China. |
The "Stans" – the former Soviet Republics – were well represented, and there were women also representing Siberia and numerous Chinese cities and regions. Prominent among the latter was a Miss Xinjiang China. One of the tallest in the contest, she wore the shortest skirt, and looked nothing like the embattled and angry Uighur woman who'd been confronting the riot police.
I asked contestants from France and Germany what it was like to be in a beauty contest in a riot-torn city.
They didn't appear to know Urumqi is a riot-torn city.
The finals are later this month, and I guess they are not likely to be quizzed too deeply on local affairs. In the meantime, according to a poster in the lobby, they will be highlighting the "beauty of Xinjiang."
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By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
ULAN BATOR, Mongolia – As events unfold in Xinjiang Province, we have seen a resurgence of ethnic Chinese nationalist sentiment mixed with fear and mistrust of not just the Uighur people but also the outside world.
China’s central and local governments were quick to accuse the U.S.-based World Uighur Congress of fomenting racial tension in Xinjiang and alluded to "outside" terrorist and separatist organizations working together to split up the country.
Meanwhile, China’s blogosphere has been rife with Han Chinese outrage at the foreign media coverage of the violence, calling it prejudiced and erroneous. And on the streets of Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang, Western reporters have faced angry mobs of Han Chinese accusing them of a long-standing bias against China.
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| Adrienne Mong / NBC News |
| Mongolians today prefer looking west, not to Russia or to China. |
But looking at the unrest in Xinjiang from a neighboring country like Mongolia offers an interesting perspective on China’s regional reputation. Whether the Chinese would acknowledge it or not, unfortunately the long reach of history often influences modern attitudes much more than any current day media reports.
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By Albert Oetgen, Managing editor, NBC News Washington
L'AQUILA, ITALY – You first see this city from up high as you wind around a mountain highway and this is what you think: It's a city in a bowl.
It's name means "The Eagle," and there is plenty of room for eagles to soar here. L'Aquila is encircled by enormous ridges that are part of the Appenines, that "spine" of mountains that grade-schoolers learn runs down the middle of the boot of Italy.
It's a lovely place, this bowl, set in a fertile valley and protected by those mountains – a safe and secure place that played a strategically important role in the medieval struggle for control of central Italy.
L'Aquila is not big and famous like Milan, or Venice, or Florence. It is not even a small but famous place like Assisi. But it is Italy. The real Italy. There is a university here, not a world-famous one, but one where Italian families confidently send their children for a good education. There is a ski resort in the distance, one frequented not by deep-pocketed Americans or Europeans, but by ordinary Italians who live within an hour or two.
We are here because of an earthquake, and we are here because of Italian politics. But we are really here because of history.
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By Anthony Galloway, NBC Nightly News Producer
ACCRA, Ghana – The last stop on President Barack Obama’s week-long trip may prove to be his most historic and newsworthy. Just one day before Obama arrives in Ghana, the significance of his trip is the topic of conversation among most Ghanaians.
In this country, even though Obama’s father hailed from Kenya, the president is considered “from the soil,” a man with an African bloodline, who is now returning home as leader of the free world.
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| Luc Gnago / Reuters |
| A street vendor sells American and Ghanaian flags along a street in Accra on Wednesday. |
But even as Ghana waits expectantly, many here are wondering why Obama chose this country for his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa
“Part of the reason is because Ghana has now undergone a couple of successful elections in which power was transferred peacefully, even a very close election,” Obama said in an interview last week with reporters for the news website allAfrica.com.
“Countries that are governed well, that are stable, where the leadership recognizes that they are accountable to the people and that institutions are stronger than any one person have a track record of producing results for the people. And we want to highlight that," said Obama.
Asked if he would like to see a lot more countries like Ghana in Africa, the president replied, “Absolutely.”
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While residents in Accra, Ghana finalize their preparations for President Barack Obama's historic visit, NBC News' Mara Schiavocampo takes in some of the lively local culture in the West African city.
Its common for local women to carry things on their head in the market place in Accra. While they make it look easy, watch as Mara learns the tricks of the trade.
Mara and producer Anthony Galloway also learn how one handles a lunchtime feeding of crocodiles.
By NBC News' Bo Gu
URUMQI, Xinjiang – As we drove through the empty streets of Urumqi, I was immediately reminded of the unrest in the Tibetan capital Lhasa last year – but with one key difference.
Here, in the remote capital of China’s northwestern Xinjiang province, there were few pedestrians, truckloads of armed police, smashed windows, and lots of scared people – just like in Lhasa in March 2008 when 22 people were killed, according to official numbers.
In Urumqi, officials have said that 156 people were killed and more than 1,100 injured as a result of the violent ethnic riots between the Uighurs and Han Chinese on Sunday.
But what separates Urumqi from Lhasa is the deep sense of hate between this region’s two majority ethnic groups: the Turkic-speaking Muslim Uighurs and the Han Chinese, the dominant ethnic group in China as a whole.
"I’d like to kill some Uighurs too! They’ve killed so many innocent Hans!" said one Han passerby when were filming in a downtown street.
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By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
URUMQI, China – Thousands of riot police have descended upon the Western city of Urumqi as Chinese authorities try to control the ethnic tensions that sparked riots on Sunday and left at least 156 dead. Fears of further violent clashes between the local Uighur population and Han Chinese in the oil-rich Xinjiang province forced Chinese President Hu Jintao to cut short his visit to the Group of Eight summit so he could address the situation.
NBC News’ Ian Williams arrived in the city on Wednesday and reports on the mood in the city and government efforts to control the local Uighur population, as well as the media.
What’s the mood like in Urumqi, the capital of Xinjiang province?
Well the city is very, very tense. There aren’t many people on the streets, there is very little traffic.
The city has been flooded with riot police and members of the security forces. They have blocked most of the junctions downtown. There are police and security forces everywhere. They have really locked the place down.
All the shops are closed. One or two are open, but most of the shops are shuttered. There are people just lingering on the corners, watching the riot police. But it does seem that the authorities have the center of town under control at the moment.
It’s very, very tense and you can feel it. There is a sense that without the massive police presence, violence could flare up again at any time.
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By Jim Maceda, NBC News Correspondent
MOSCOW – So who is really in charge in Russia? Prime Minister Vladimir Putin or his boss on paper, President Dmitri Medvedev?
A foreign Russia-watcher offered the best answer I've heard.
"When we negotiate with Russia we deal with a leadership," said E. Wayne Merry, a former U.S. State and Defense Department official and a senior associate at the American Foreign Policy Council. ''The senior person in that leadership is Putin. The second person in that leadership is Medvedev.''
There you have it. Or do you?
‘Much more complicated’
If Medvedev is the official leader while Putin acts as paramount leader, that would explain why, after summiting with Medvedev for hours on an array of important initiatives, President Barack Obama still felt the need to get Putin's blessing over a power breakfast Tuesday morning. Otherwise, Obama risked finding out that the United States had made commitments to a front man, not the main man.
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Riots and street battles killed at least 156 people in China's western Xinjiang province and injured 828 others on Monday in the most violent ethnic unrest in the region in decades.
NBC News' Adrienne Mong explains the roots of the discord between ethnic Muslim Uighurs who live in restive province and China's Han majority.
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By Mara Schiavocampo, NBC News Digital Correspondent
ACCRA, Ghana - I just landed in Ghana's capital city, Accra. On Friday, President Barack Obama will also touch down here, for his first presidential visit to sub-Saharan Africa (he was in Egypt last month). If history is any guide, he will be greeted like a rock star, times ten. When Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush visited this country (in 1998 and 2008, respectively), thousands swarmed the streets to welcome them.
Because Obama is the son of a Kenyan, many Africans consider him a native son, and they can't wait to give him a hero's welcome when he arrives as the first African-American U.S. President. Just the announcement of his upcoming visit was front page news.
This trip is not only significant for Africans, but for African-Americans as well. While in Ghana, Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama (and maybe their girls, Sasha and Malia) will be stopping at a former slave castle along the coast.
The dungeons are where Africans were brought and kept - sometimes for months at a time - before making the horrifying trans-Altantic voyage to the Americas. Africa's West Coast is lined with the remnants of this tragic past.
They all have a so-called "door of no return," the doorway through which Africans passed before being loaded onto ships. An estimated 12-25 million people passed through those doors. Not one of them ever saw their home or their families again. Not one.
Imagine then, the symbolic significance of the descendant of one of those slaves, returning as the American first lady. What a powerful moment it will be.
NBC News Producer Anthony Galloway and I will be covering this historic trip as many different ways as possible. Of course there will be tons of video which we'll be filing for Nightly News and the Nightly News website.
We'll be blogging regularly right here and posting original text pieces at www.TheGrio.com. And what would any multi-media reporting trip be without the media's new best friend, Twitter? You can follow our tweets here or directly at Twitter: @NightlyNews.
By Adrienne Mong, NBC News Producer
BEIJING – By all rights, Beijing should be suffering the post-Olympic hangover anticipated by skeptics and cynics.
China’s exports-driven economy has taken a big hit from the global recession. Millions of college graduates are still unemployed. Newly built shiny commercial buildings stand unoccupied. And in recent weeks the Chinese government has stepped up its ongoing efforts to control the flow of information on the Internet.
If anything, however, the Chinese capital is enjoying a renaissance in the arts and culture – normally what would be the first casualty in a climate of recession and censorship. And it’s attracting a growing number of people from around the world who want to be part of the scene.
"Beijing has that combination of optimism, possibility, opportunity, as well as being an interesting city in its own right," said Aric Chen, a freelance writer, curator and design consultant who recently moved here from New York City.
The 34-year-old is juggling several international projects – a book on Brazil, an exhibition in Israel, and a biennale in South Korea – any of which could be launched from another base.
But in Beijing, he found that "there is still a hunger and openness for new things, so there’s room for people like me." Within China, he helps to oversee projects like the "100% Design Shanghai," a major industry fair that he hopes will help to elevate the discourse on design in the country and nurture homegrown designers and artists.
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