Forum Topic

News Budget for Feb 19, 2007

1. India-Pakistan train explosion - MoJo fotos available? is there an Indian equivalent to Flickr? CL

2. Mt. Hood climbers waiting rescue - check Mountain Rescue listservs CL

3. JetBlue facing more angry passengers - check for fotos - VR (Done)

4. Daytona 500 fotos - must be millions out there. CL

5. Avalanche dangers in W. US and Canada - fotos? CJ stories? KF

6. Benefits for Gay couples today in NJ . Real Stories? search GBLT sites. KF

7. 'Bullet magnet' Prince Harry prepares for Iraq: where are our
royalwatchers? VR

8. Brit aid worker arrested in Angola: there may be an opportunity to get a personal story submitted by the NGO, Global Witness: Global Witness +44 (0)20 7272 6731; US office T +1 202 721 5670; mail@globalwitness.org. MS

9. Coordinated attacks kill 8 in Thailand - MS: do we have a Thailand correspondent? I think so...

10. Virtual treatment for returning US soldiers BBC has been following the use of VR for training of soldiers; now turns to treatment for PTSD...don't know if this is actually a story for us but it is interesting.

11. Some 2,000 indigenous people's leaders across the Americas have registered for
the third Continental Summit for Indigenous People slated for March 26-30 in
Guatemala's Tecpan - this should be datebooked, will give us time to look for citizen correspondents.

12. Odd: Mummified body found in front of TV. MS

*Kaitlin's Stories in Progress*

13. Computer games burn calories
14. University bird flu study has students wearing masks
15. Avalanche dangers
16. New seven wonders story- NowPublic version

AlertNet Sweep

*Victoria's stories in Progress*

jetblue (done)

tom brady's ex is preggers (done)

nba all star game-shooting at MGM

dolphin habitat killing dolphins (done)

diesel launches cimate change clothes (done)

new hooters energy drink

chinese new year update las vegas (done) international (done)

anna nicole and Bahamian official

treehugger- green enterprises

baby pigs

britney update

CL in progress:

Mt. Hood

California Bike Tour- Prologue: Done

India/Pakistan

The AlertNet Line-up:

Top humanitarian stories we're looking at today include:

ZIMBABWE CRISIS: Zimbabwean riot police are patrolling a
restive Harare township to stop possible unrest, a day after crushing an opposition rally amid
government fears of a new street campaign against President Robert Mugabe. It's
Mugabe's birthday this week and protestors are hoping to disrupt state
celebrations.

GUINEA UNREST: Guinea's curfew has been relaxed as protests
subside. It's still forbidden to go outside between 6 at night and 6 in the
morning, and opposition leaders and rights groups say hundreds of people have been detained during the state of
emergency.

ISRAELI-PALESINIAN CONFLICT: Israeli-Palestinian talks hosted
by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice end with a vague promise to meet
again and little sign of progress on reviving long-stalled peace moves.

DARFUR CRISIS: A conference aimed at trying to unite the
divided rebels of Sudan's western Darfur region has been postponed. A rebel
commander tells Reuters that a faction has broken away from the National Redemption Front rebel
group and asked to attend the talks, prompting a delay to await their arrival.

CHAD TROUBLES: Dozens of villages in eastern Chad have been
attacked in a wave of inter-ethnic violence pitting Arabs and black Africans
that has displaced 120,000 civilians.

INDONESIA LANDSLIDE: Landslides triggered by torrential rain hit two places on
Indonesia's main Java island over the weekend, leaving eight people dead and six
missing, government officials say. Rescuers are still looking for buried
residents in a hillside village near the Central Java town of Magelang.

SRI LANKA AID: Britain has asked the Sri Lankan government
for assurances that it is fulfilling human rights and defence spending
conditions to ensure the flow of millions of pounds in aid.

AIDS IN ASIA: Indonesia faces a growing AIDS problem -
particularly among drug users and prostitutes - while a recent survey shows 2
percent of the Papua population infected with HIV, the U.N. World Health
Organisation says.

ASTEROID THREAT: A group of astronauts, engineers and
scientists say the United Nations should assume responsibility for a space
mission to deflect an asteroid that may come uncomfortably close to Earth in 2036.
Astronomers say Apophis has a 1 in 45,000 chance of striking Earth on April 13,
2036.

New blogs and features include:

Stray bullets - and targeted ones - in Guinea: Staying inside
won't keep you safe from gunfire.
War is over...or is it?: The number of full-scale wars is
actually in dramatic decline.
Looking on the bright side of Africa: An African activists slams
Western media and aid agencies for focusing on Africa's problems and never
portraying strength or unity.
Malian movie puts World Bank, IMF on trial: Read a review of
Bamako and an interview with its makers.

Quote of the day:
"Every day, more and more people in eastern Chad
are suffering the consequences of violent conflict, and the situation is spiralling out of control."
Roland Van
Hauwermeiren, head of Oxfam in Chad

Calendar dates:

Feb. 19

"Moving forward on Media Freedom", Commonwealth Broadcasting conference, Kenya (to Feb. 21)
Trial of Ethiopia opposition leaders and journalists accused of treason and
inciting violence following a turbulent election in 2005 to resume
U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination opens session to
examine records of 13 countries including Israel, India and Canada, New York (to
March 9)

Feb. 20