January 07, 2009 BBC World

Ironic, considering that Israel's restrictions on food and supplies were a major factor in why Hamas was shooting in the first place:

GAZA — Under international pressure to ease its 12-day bombardment of the Gaza Strip, Israel agreed on Wednesday to suspend the fighting for three hours a day and permit humanitarian relief goods to reach the beleaguered population. It was not immediately clear whether the militant Hamas movement, which governs Gaza, had also agreed to the plan.

The announcement by officials in Jerusalem came a day after Israeli mortar shells killed as many as 40 Palestinians, among them women and children, outside a United Nations school in Gaza.

Mark Regev, the spokesman for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, said the idea behind relief corridors was to permit a flow of food and other aid to a population said by United Nations officials to be facing a humanitarian crisis. A statement late Tuesday from Mr. Olmert’s office said the pause — expected to begin Wednesday — would “entail opening geographic areas for certain periods of time during which the population would be able to equip itself and receive the assistance.”

The Associated Press quoted the Israeli B’Tselem human rights group as saying the military had informed it of a planned lull in the afternoon between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time, and some reports said the cease-fire had taken effect. Military officials said the Israeli measures would allow Gaza residents to leave their homes to seek medical help and buy food.

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American speed skater Joey Cheek has done a great deal to bring global attention to the immense suffering of the people of Darfur, forming Team Darfur and even going so far as donating his $40k Olympic bonus to the cause in 2006. Unfortunately, the gold and silver medalist was punished for his activism by the Chinese government -- who has contributed to the genocide in Darfur by fueling and supporting Sudan's murderous military government -- when they revoked his visa this week, preventing him from attending this year's Olympics in Beijing.

During the opening ceremony NBC's Bob Costas discussed the controversy surrounding Cheek and the Chinese government, noting that he made it clear he would not protest the Chinese government during the Olympics:

Costas: "Joey Cheek had planned to invoke the Olympic truce, the time-honored concept of an Olympic truce, to call attention to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan. He did not intend to directly protest the Chinese government. The fact that they pulled his visa is so contrary to the Olympic ideal it is simply outrageous."

I wondered if NBC was going to cave on this or take a stand and defend Cheek against the reprehensible actions of the Chinese government. I applaud Costas for choosing the latter.

AttyTood:

OK, you can't say that CNN and its diplomatic reporter, Richard Ross, don't care about the humanitarian crisis in Darfur. In fact, just seconds ago "Your Trusted Name in News" just aired one of the few full-length reports I've seen on the situation in Darfur, or more accurately the situation on 42nd Street in Manhattan, since the story was merely an interview with a cab driver who happens to have immigrated from Darfur.

Apparently Tom Friedman, the Pulitizer Prize winner of global cabbie journalism, is advising CNN now.

I kept waiting for the twist in the story, but there was no twist. That was the entire story. CNN found a guy from Darfur who now drives a cab in New York. (Although, as I learned from the story, there are apparently 100 others like him.)

And yet, they could afford a helicopter to give us door-to-door coverage of Paris Hilton's return to LA County Jail.  I bet Ross put in a whole ten minutes trying to find a cabbie from Darfur...that's called being committed to true journalism. (/snark)

I just received an urgent call to get this message out from the Cindy Sheehan camp. Anyone in distance of the Houston Astrodome get over there and adopt a family if you can. It's a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions. They need your help. The call is out. Let's do something to help these families.

Swearing Steaming Screaming: White House as Hot House; New WashPost Book

Matt's headline apears to be different than the actual book review...

...Instead, he views Clinton as an insecure, needy man whose frequent shifts in direction and self-destructive behavior reflected not cunning but utter lack of self-control. He also sees Clinton as growing in strength, self-confidence and wisdom over his eight years in office, and praises his courage in responding to the humanitarian crisis in Kosovo. On terrorism, Harris offers a mixed verdict, crediting Clinton with recognizing the growing threat posed by al-Qaeda and expanding U.S. efforts against it while acknowledging the inadequacy of those efforts...

I guess you can excerpt a few pages of any book and write what he did. I haven't seen much on it yet, but of course Drudge needs to attack the Clinton's to do his thing.