The Dittmar Deliverer

The United States and Mexico are working on plans that may send as many as 300 U.S. police officials to Mexico to train Mexican police investigators during their current war on drug use, according to a report in USA Today.
The Mexican government would select as many as 9000 officials to be trained for the violence and corruption that takes place within the country that is suspected to be from warring drug organizations.
Officials say that other training essential to battling cartels and criminal groups is education on narcotics, weapons trafficking, money laundering, and fingerprint examination.
Police officials in the south western states believe that the Mexico drug problem is also fueling drug and violence issues in states sharing the boarder.
Costs of training between the U.S. and Mexico and when the training will commence is still undetermined.
In a report on Reuter news website officials said that the U.S. has already given $1.4 billion in anti-drug aid to give Mexico equipment such as helicopters, as well as funds to clean up corrupt police forces and courts.

Posted by dittm027 at 4:05 AM | Permalink

The U.N. will be meeting for the first time in eight years on Monday to address global racism, without U.S. ahttp://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2009-04-19-un-racism_N.htmttendance as while as at least 5 other countries that are boycotting the meeting, according to a report in USA Today.
USA Today reports that the conference is "already experiencing much of the bickering and political infighting" that occurred in 2001 at the last conference in Durban, South Africa that attempted to address similar issues.
Barack Obama announced Saturday that he would boycott the ceremony "with regret" because draft declaration was objectionable that may cause a repeat of Durban - "a session through which folks expressed antagonism toward Israel in ways that were often times completely hypocritical and counterproductive."
Britain will be present though is hesitant to send representatives because of the Holocaust denial or anti-Semitic attacks that occurred in 2001.
According the the New York Times, Australia, Canada, Israel and Italy already have said they would not attend while the Netherlands declared its boycott on Sunday.

Posted by dittm027 at 3:49 AM | Permalink

The American captain being held hostage by Somali pirates was recaptured Friday after an attempt to escape to freedom, according to a report in USA Today.
Officials say that Capt. Richard Phillips jumped into the Indian Ocean from the lifeboat in which he was held, but returned after there were shots fired.
It is unknown if the shots were directed at Phillips, but after his recapture officials say he is unharmed as they saw him walking around the boat and talking with the pirates.
An unamed Somali, said the pirates are asking for a ransom for Phillips and are prepared to kill him if they are attacked.
The pirates plan to meet their colleagues who have captured other war ships and are holding Russian, German, Filipino hostages as well.
The U.S. is raising its efforts by sending other warships to the Horn of Africa, where Phillips is being held.
According to the New York Times, American embassy officials in Nairobi are encouraging clan members in discuss the captian's release, Somali officials said.

Posted by dittm027 at 9:51 PM | Permalink

President Barack Obama called for the U.N to take disciplinary action against North Korea's test rocket launch in a speech in Prague on Sunday, according to the New York Times
“This provocation underscores the need for action—not just this afternoon at the U.N. Security Council, but in our determination to prevent the spread of these weapons,” Mr. Obama said.
Over 20,000 people were present to hear Obama's plans of stopping a breakout of nuclear war.
Obama also plans to continue his missile defense system in Europe but ties any need for defense with suspicions of Iran using nuclear weapons.
Obama wrote to the Russian president, Dmitri Medevev, if he can help the U.S. to prevent Iran from obtaining such weaponry, "there will be no need for a missile defense shield in place in Eastern Europe."
According to USA Today, Obama also said the the U.S. has a "moral obligation" to lead plans of preventing nuclear warfare.
Though with the U.S. juggle of different issues such as a war in Afghanistan and the economic crises he also acknowledged that his goal of "a world without nuclear weapons" won't be reached soon, "perhaps not in my lifetime."

Posted by dittm027 at 8:11 PM | Permalink

President Obama announced a new proposal on Friday to send 4000 more troops and civilian workers to Afghanistan and give additional aid to Pakistan, according to a report in USA Today.
Obama calls for an increase in soldiers to decrease the time that U.S. troops spend overseas.
He said that these troops will help reinstate local governments and win over the Afghan civilians by providing aid to the Afghanistan army.
These troops would also train the local police and military that will allow U.S. soldiers to return home.
"That is how we will prepare Afghans to take responsibility for their security, and how we will ultimately be able to bring our troops home," Obama said.
The New York Times said that a recent bloody bombing near the Khyber Pass has added the need for "urgency" in Obama's Middle East plan.
"The situation is increasingly perilous," Obama said. "It has been more than seven years since the Taliban was removed from power, yet war rages on, and insurgents control parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan."
Obama also noted that aiding Pakistan may disrupt terrorist attack plans from Al Queda on Pakistan ground.

Posted by dittm027 at 1:30 AM | Permalink

President Philipe Calderon said Thursday he would win Mexico's war against drugs by the year 2012 and end United States accusations that the country is out of his control, according to a USA Today.
Calderon said that the number of deaths from violence last year, approximatly 6,290, are from the turf wars and are related to pressures from the military and police.
Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said the number of deaths that have doubled in 2008 is a result of increasing control.
"It is reflecting how they are melting down," Mora said.
The first day Calderon stepped into office he sent military and police into the streets to gain control over Mexico's drug industry that annually makes $10 billion. Assassinations, beheading, and attempts to control national governments were all used in trying to manage the industry.
According to a report by The New York Times, interventions in cities and states that were once controlled by drug traffickers are now the responsibility of military officials.
Increasing security efforts also lead to increasing funds.
Mexico is has spent $6.5 billion more on top of its security budget to asses drug problems.

Posted by dittm027 at 6:48 PM | Permalink

China has changed its climate on Tuesday by chemically producing snow in order to help with drought conditions, according to a report in The Independent on Friday.
The process is called cloud-seeding and was completed by Chinese government officials to end China's three month drought, which has been the most extreme in the last fifty years.
Officials are hoping the snow will bring moisture into the soil to end the drought.
"More than 500 cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide were seeded into clouds from 28 weather rocket-launch bases in the city," said Zhang Qiang, from the Beijing Weather Modification Command Center.
Though this is not the first time cloud seeding has been completed. In the 2008 Summer olympics, Chinese officials blasted chemicals into the air to prevent rain from falling during opening ceremonies.
According to the Times Online China fired 313 more sticks of silver iodide last night to make the snow heavier and thicker.

Posted by dittm027 at 5:35 PM | Permalink

The NY Times has announced Sunday the Iraqi journalist that threw a shoe at former President George W. Bush will go to trial Feb. 19 on the charge of assaulting a foreign leader.
Though Muntadhar al-Zeidi, 30, was originally going to face the court in December, a defense team attempted to change charges of from assault to insult, pushing back the trial date.
He has been held in custody since the news conference on Dec. 14, in which Bush and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki addressed a crowd of media officials. According to the New York Times Bush dodged the shoe throw from al-Zeidi who was immediately placed under arrest.
The Times said that since al-Zeidi's act of protest Iraqis and Muslims against the U.S. invasion of the Middle East have considered him a hero and have been demonstrating for his release.
An earlier report from USA Today, said there was a sculpture of a shoe constructed in Saddam Hussein's hometown to honor the journalist.
However, the trial date is set and judicial officials have said "it's up to the court," to determine al-Zeidis consequences if convicted.
Though family members have expressed concerns of his treatment and that he may face the death penalty.
'This court works according to orders from the Cabinet,'' the brother of al-Zeidi. ''He has been deprived of his simplest rights.''

Posted by dittm027 at 2:06 PM | Permalink

U.S. Army Gerneral John Craddock says that President Obamas order of closing down Guantanamo Prison within a year will be difficult in a report by USA Today.
The prison currently holds 245 prisoners and officials are unsure where detainees will be transferred and how some will be prosecuted. Of these inmates the U.S. military has said there are at least 60 that cannot be returned to their countries without facing possible torture and death penalties.
Officials reluctance to release prisoners grew after a newly freed detainee was seen in an al-Qaeda militant video last week.
"I'm always concerned when bad people are released and show up again trying to kill either American or international forces," says U.S. Gen. John Craddock
Guantanamo Bay was originally created in 2002 by the Bush Administration to place prisoners of war that were suspected of terrorist activity says a report in the NY Times
Now seven years later on January 22, President Obama has signed official orders to close the prison under its questionable interrogation tactics.
“I believe strongly that torture is not moral, legal or effective,�? he told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Posted by dittm027 at 2:47 PM | Permalink