South Yemenis in favor of secession from the North protested around the world this week on the anniversary of an uprising against former colonial power Britain.  In New York, a few hundred vocal Americans of South Yemeni descent demonstrated outside the United Nations building.

South Yemen was an independent nation after the British left in 1967. North and South Yemen unified in 1990 and a new country- the new Republic of Yemen  - was born with Ali Abdullah Saleh as its leader and San’a as its capital.  But the union has been uneasy and southerners have complained of being marginalized.

“We are a nation living under occupation,” said Hamza Saleh Meqbel, Vice President of TAJ (Southern Democratic Assembly), a South Yemeni political organization based in the United States.
Mr. Meqbel says the central government in the capital Sanaa has reneged on all commitments it promised and signed with the south upon unification.

“The unification treaty is invalid because the regime in Sanaa has lost its credibility. It was supposed to be a partnership, but the north has turned to occupiers and we no longer want a part of this unity.”

Ahmad al Muthana, the President of TAJ, claims that his group represents the majority of people in the south. “We are constantly in communication with our brothers in the south, we fully support them in their struggle,” he says.

So far the separatist South Yemenis have resorted to peaceful means in their quest for independence, including marches and protests. But al Muthana says, “if the regime keeps oppressing and killing our people, we will turn to arms.  We have no choice.”
That sentiment was echoed by many of the protesters. On Friday, Yemen’s interior ministry banned demonstrations in the south.

The problem in the south is not the only challenge for the Yemeni government.  Its forces have also been engaged in a military confrontation with Shiite rebels in the north.  The Yemeni government accuses the rebels of being loyal to Iran.

An unstable Yemen may spell disaster for the rest of the world.

Al Qaeda has claimed responsibility on several attacks in Yemen against tourists and U.S. interests, most notoriously the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 in the Red Sea port of Aden.

Yemen’s intelligence and military apparatus are busy with rebels in the north, as well as the separatists in the South, which makes it easier for Al Qaeda members to operate inside the country.

- Mohammad al-Kassim

Worldfocus producer Mohammad Al-Kassim blogs about Friday’s revelations on Iran.

The news that Iran was building a “semi-industrial enrichment fuel facility” dominated the international headlines today. Here is how the news was covered in some Middle Eastern media outlets.

Iran’s Press TV, a government-funded news channel, broke into its regularly scheduled programming to feature the press conference held by U.S. President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The 24-hour channel, which is based in Tehran and broadcasts in English, targets viewers outside Iran.

As she was talking to a correspondent in Vienna, Press TV anchor Nargess Moballeghi noted British PM Gordon Brown’s comment that “the most urgent challenge in the world we face today is Iran.” Ms. Moballeghi told her colleague that this statement was completely opposite a statement made by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon who said that it was “climate change.”

On Alalam Web site, a government-funded 24-hour news channel airing in Arabic from Tehran, the top story was same as its sister channel, Press TV. The news article on Alalam was short, quoting Iran’s top nuclear program official who said there is nothing secret about Iran’s nuclear site and that the IAEA is aware of its existence, adding that Iran has the right to have a peaceful nuclear program.

On Al Arabiya, the all-news channel based in Dubai, the news of Iran’s secret nuclear sites overshadowed the rest of the day’s news. Al Arabiya has been very critical in its coverage of Iran’s presidential election.

In general, the channel — which is funded by Saudi money — is critical of Iran’s influence in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia feels that Iran is treading on its territory as the natural leader in the Muslim world.

Al Jazeera Arabic also joined in the coverage of the breaking news with the press conference from Pittsburg, PA. The headline of the story on its Web site read, “World powers pressure Iran,” and the story reported the views of both sides, adding the position of Russia and China. The news article also quoted the Iranian student’s news agency for Iran’s official statement.

Al Jazeera is funded by the government of Qatar and is generally viewed by the Iranian government as relatively biased against Iran.

People in the West assume that because Iran is a Muslim country, it must be friends with many counties in the region. On the contrary, Iran’s neighbors are equally opposed to it obtaining a nuclear program and weapons as the West is. The so-called moderate Arab states –Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan — are quietly calling to disarm Iran nuclear program. Watching these media outlets, one cannot help but notice that the coverage is a reflection of this position.

- Mohammad Al-Kassim

The British National Health System is the world’s largest publicly-funded health care system. And while it’s free, it’s still controversial.

Marvin Weinbaum, a scholar at the Middle East Institute and former U.S. State Department analyst on Afghanistan, discusses the potential exit strategy of U.S. allies and waning support for the fight in Afghanistan among Americans.

Geoff Porter, the head of Middle Eastern and African affairs for the Eurasia Group, examines the extent to which the business relationship between the U.K. and Libya influenced the decision to release the Lockerbie bomber. Porter lists other factors that brought about the release, how the prosecution potentially mishandled the evidence and the damaged image of the U.K. and Libya.

Comments about Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) — some calling the system “evil” or “Orwellian” –  have drawn the attention of many U.K. residents, including Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who this week joined a Twitter campaign to defend health care in his country.

Andrew Clark, the New York correspondent for The Guardian, joins Martin Savidge to discuss how Britons view the U.S. health care debate.

Below, read comments from British bloggers who defend their health care system.

For more on alternative health care systems around the world, see the Worldfocus signature series “Health of Nations.”

British Twitter users have launched a campaign to defend the NHS, using the hashtag #welovethenhs.

Gordon Brown was among the many who participated in the campaign, tweeting:

PM:NHS often makes the difference between pain and comfort, despair and hope, life and death. Thanks for always being there

Another Twitter user, Andrew Learmouth in Aberdeen, writes:

I’d be dead, my mum’d be dead and my dad wouldn’t be getting a new knee if it wasn’t for the NHS. Worth every penny

Geraldine in the U.K. chimes in:

went private when I was rich, used NHS when I’ve been poor. No diff in level of care whatever. Happy to pay taxes for it.

Steve Ince in East Yorkshire adds:

Many of my family would have no quality of life without the wonderful work of the NHS and the hardworking staff. Thanks!!!

Bloggers, too, shared their experiences with Britain’s health care. Gareth Wyn in Stockwell, London, explains his own reasons for supporting the NHS:

The American Right seem to be getting their knickers in a twist, all over the fact that the Obama Administration wants to provide them with a basic level of health care and that the NHS is so bad that people are being left to die in hospitals. [...]

I suspect that no one would claim that the NHS is perfect but it saved my life and that of my mother when I was born, it was fabulous when my grandparent were alive and even when they were near death. My mother, father, uncles have all had fabulous treatment for cancer related illness, I’ve had wisdom teeth extracted, a number of surgical procedures, all for free. I am able to call the doctor at 8.30 to make an appointment, and will have seen him and be in work by 10.30. Cost nothing except my tax payments. In fact I would be happy to pay a bit more tax if it meant an even better service.

Blogger Sarah in Cambridge shares her own experience:

Word of this is getting around - apparently in order to discredit the, as I understand it, somewhat limited reforms that President Obama is proposing for the US’s very expensive, and not all that effective health care system, right wing pundits in the US have been using the NHS as a scare story about all the bad things that can happen under “socialised medicine”.

I want to make a personal point. When I was eight years old I was walking home from school one day. An illegally parked truck was blocking my view along the road. I edged out to look round, and at that moment I’m told someone stepped out from one of the garden gates on the opposite side. A car which was travelling along the road swerved to avoid them, and narrowly missed the truck I was peering out from round.

I experienced this as a screeching of brakes, at which point I guess I must have had a ton of adrenaline dumped into my system. I came to rest on my back [...] I felt a pain more intense than anything I’ve ever experienced in my stomach - far more pain than an eight year old should have to deal with. I looked up to see a circle of faces looking down at me.

In due course an ambulance arrived. It took my to the Chesterfield Royal Hospital where I spent a week on the Nightingale Children’s ward in a lot of pain, being fed through an IV line in my arm, feeling deeply sorry for myself.

Through all of this there were no insurance companies involved, nobody ever asked how the x-rays, the doctors, the medicine, the bed, etc. were to be paid for, no questions were ever asked about whether we had “coverage”, they just sent an ambulance, took me into hospital, looked after me for a week, and got me back in a fit state to be sent home. When I was eight years old the system the US right wing wants to portray as some kind of socialist dystopian disaster simply did its job and saved my life.

So yeah, thanks for that NHS, and don’t believe everything you see on the television, especially if there are political lobbyists involved.

An American blogger living in London compares the U.S. and U.K. health care systems:

I figured I could add some of my own experience with NHS since I moved to London.  Like most Americans exposed to anti-socialist rants on the poor quality of socialized healthcare, I was a bit wary and skeptical.   Would I be waiting in line for hours?  Could I trust the quality of care? Would the system be unnavigable and complicated?  Fortunately, my experience was quite the contrary.

I felt it was important to share this after reading and watching some of the anti-healthcare reform initiatives spreading back home.  The system is efficient, provides satisfactory care and it’s FREE.  Totaling up everything I’ve had done since my arrival here, I probably would have had to pay around $2,000 back home

Girls celebrate Independence Day in Pakistan.

On Friday, Pakistanis celebrated the country’s 62nd anniversary of independence from British rule, waving flags and singing songs. Security was on high alert in the conflict-torn nation.

Also on Friday, President Asif Zardari announced reforms that will allow political activities in Pakistan’s tribal areas, hoping to draw the lawless region closer to mainstream politics.

Worldfocus contributing blogger Bilal Qureshi describes the changes Pakistan has gone through since gaining independence in 1947.

People in Pakistan are celebrating Independence Day on 14 August. Pakistani flags are flying all over the country, national anthem is playing in every car, every shop, and on every television channel. The overall atmosphere in Pakistan is very patriotic and celebratory.

Good, this is what independence should be all about!

But, there is one question worth asking and exploring at this moment in Pakistan’s history. Why are Pakistanis celebrating this day with so much enthusiasm?

Anyone familiar with Pakistan’s history will definitely agree with me when I suggest that 47’s Pakistan was much better then 2009’s Pakistan. Back in 47, despite awful circumstances, people believed in the country, people believed that the worst was over and now the new country will be a land of opportunities, justice, peace and progress, not only for Muslims, but for everyone living within the boundaries of this brand new country, Pakistan. However, events proved to be totally different and we now know that hoping for the best doesn’t necessarily mean anything, unless people responsible for steering the nation towards stability are serious and honest and Pakistan is a textbook case of classical leadership failure. In fact, not only Pakistan’s leaders failed the country, but the masses too failed to understand what was going in Pakistan. So, what we have today is a country that is on the verge of economic, social and political collapse because of our collective negligence.

Today, when people in Pakistan celebrate Independence, they don’t really understand that the country was supposed to build on what the Brits left behind. Listening to a journalist who has covered Afghanistan for years, I was amazed by his observation and it is worth repeating here. The journalist said (and I am paraphrasing) that industrial revolution (modernity in other words) completely bypassed Afghanistan because Afghanistan was never occupied by the British, and Afghanistan is stuck in 18^th century. There is no reliable road network, there is no railway system, and there is nothing modern in Afghanistan even though the Western countries have been pumping billions of dollars in aid since 9/11. One reason for this backwardness is that the country never really progressed with the world when the world was changing in the last two centuries. Obviously, I am not suggesting that occupation by a colonial power is the only way to become modern, of course not. However, I am suggesting that if anyone looks at Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, and other countries that went through the experience of British presence, and compare their infrastructure to Afghanistan, one cannot escape the inevitable conclusion that Afghanistan really was at least two centuries behind when it is compared to rest of the world. So, going back to what I stated earlier, Pakistanis had everything when the British left — a superior and comprehensive road and railway network, an effective administrative set up to govern, a unique and modern postal service that helped people communicate with other and many other services that are still in use today. So, the country had almost everything that was required to start fresh and it was up to the subsequent leaders of the country to make Pakistan a country of hope and opportunities. Regretfully, Pakistan’s journey from 1947 to 2009 is a journey betrayal, failure, denial, greed and division. In all honesty, there is hardly anything in Pakistan that can be a source of pride for any serious Pakistani.

Yes, despite all the bad things that have happened, people of Pakistan deserve to celebrate independence, sure. However, it is also equally important to be realistic and we must look at Pakistan’s balance sheet for the last 6 decades. More importantly, the country should ask: what have we gained after independence? Are we really free? Are we really independent from foreign influence? Are we really self sufficient in any area? Do we have control over our destiny? Do we make our own decisions? Are all Pakistanis equal or is there a different standard for Muslim Pakistanis and another standard for non-Muslim Pakistanis?  (By the way, the recent violence against non-Muslims in Gojara, Punjab is hardly a sign of peace or progress in Pakistan. )

Despite terrible odds, the optimist in me believes that the country still has a chance to come out of this mess, if only the people in the country get united, demand equality, justice and honesty from their leaders, stop pointing fingers towards other countries for our own failure, stop looking for a ‘invisible foreign hand’ behind every failure, and realistically look for solutions to Pakistan’s problems. There is always a way out when it comes to problems and challenges. There is always an answer for every question. All we need is a sincere effort! And I believe that Pakistanis are, at the very least, fully capable of making a sincere effort!

To read more, see the original post.

The views expressed by contributing bloggers do not reflect the views of Worldfocus or its partners.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user kash_if under a Creative Commons license.

Gibraltar was ceded to Britain in 1713.

“Spain’s foreign minister,” we are told, “met [in Gibraltar] Tuesday with his British counterpart and with the head of Gibraltar’s local administration in the first visit by a Spanish Cabinet official to the British colony.”

Hardly the top of the news, you say — but it reminds me of how crisis points in the world wax and wane in importance. Gibraltar was a strategic fortress for Britain and the Allies during World War II — and Britain vowed to hold onto it forever, or at least, according to legend, as long as the Barbary apes remain on station.

Gibraltar is an outcropping of rock, a British territory roughly 1,093 miles south of London, overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and attached to Spain by a neck of land. It was ceded to Britain in 1713. Spain wants it back, but don’t hold your breath.

News Item 2: “The Rock of Gibraltar is echoing to gunfire for the first time since the Spanish attacked Britain’s Mediterranean toehold nearly 300 years ago.”

British soldiers are training in Gibraltar’s maze of underground caves to seek and destroy al-Qaeda strongholds in Afghanistan and Pakistan, previously believed to be impervious.

Sky News quoted Captain Charles Bonfante, of the British Army’s Royal Gibraltar Regiment, on the subject. “As a training area, this is unique…I did a tour in Afghanistan, around Musa Qala. One of our battles was fought in underground tunnels, just like this.”

Interesting, and Sky News doesn’t have it quite right. Gibraltar has heard gunfire in modern times. It had complex, secret gun emplacements during World War II, ready to fight off any invasion by Hilter, if he decided to speed to the Mediterranean coast. Several years ago, I interviewed Jean-Francois Nothomb, a prominent underground leader who snuck in and out of Gibraltar during World War II. Nothomb was a protagonist in my book, Freedom Line, which detailed the rescue of Allied pilots from Nazi territory.

He recalled going for a stroll one day in Gibraltar on a promontory overlooking the harbor. “What appeared to be a stony mound suddenly gave way to a sliding pedestal and he could hear the sound of gears and motors. Suddenly a two-man gun emplacement rose out of the earth, with two helmeted British gunners at the controls. This was no ordinary field. What had appeared to be a natural landscape was actually a stage set for antiaircraft guns.”

Hilter was diverted from his designs on Gibraltar by his overriding passion to focus on an invasion of Russia to the north instead. German presence in Gibraltar would have created a dominant position at the entrance to the Mediterranean. British and American analysts at the time went as far as to say that Hitler could have won the war if he took Gibraltar.

Fascinating to me that 70 years after playing a strategic role in World War II, Gibraltar is now a training site for soldiers seeking a latter-day enemy, Osama bin Laden.

I wouldn’t argue for or against the notion that this is the time for Britain to give up this last relic of the empire. But it sure has a colorful history. I’ll take the democratic line: Here’s a vote for self-determination of the 30,000 people of Gibraltar.

- Peter Eisner

Photo courtesy of Flickr user cwgoodroe under a Creative Commons license.

In Britain, the number of cases is now doubling every week, and a fierce debate has erupted about how to contain the disease. In the past, flu viruses have needed more than six months to spread as widely as H1N1 has spread in less than six weeks.

Andrew Pekosz, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins University, joins Martin Savidge to discuss the rapid spread of H1N1 and efforts to develop a vaccine.

British and Canadian soldiers meet with their Afghan counterparts.

The marine brushing his teeth at the basin next to me was carrying his M-16 cross chest on his back. The gun stared right at my limbs. I rinsed my face and as I looked up, another soldier appeared to my right. He raised his arm to brush his teeth and his revolver peeked out of the case under his arm. I thought to myself, Where else in the world could I be rinsing my face in the presence of two no-bulls**t guys armed with weapons, and still be able to get out alive?

Call me stupid, but I might very well be on the safest place on earth right now.

At the base, it’s easy to witness a life far from the war. Sure, there are faces overrun by emotions — some who’ve lost their friends, some who’d just landed in a bizarre desert so far from home and some who’d seen it all and were ready to face it all. But these same fingers that are ready to pull the trigger are also seen scrolling their iPods, playing fussball, holding a non-alcoholic Beck’s or even swinging away their guitars.

Like any other profession, the soldiers here make it clear that to produce results, you have to stay sane. If anything is different, it’s how they choose to absorb that sanity.

My personal favorites are the bathroom doors. It almost seems like the first person updates their Facebook status and a serpent of comments follow it. The one that immediately comes to mind is from this morning. Someone started, “Chuck Norris is a coward.” Here is what followed:

[...]When Chuck does a push up, he doesn’t push himself up, he pushes the world down.

When the soldiers are not chatting about Chuck Norris in the “ablution room,” they go to one of the refreshment houses — and most member countries have one of these club-like lounges for their troops, where you can get everything from a haircut to a non-alcoholic beer to a ping pong table. The other lively place is known as the “Board Walk,” a mini version of a stadium, built with wooden planks. Inside, local Afghanis set up shops to sell paintings, arts and crafts.

But the best entertainment for some of these soldiers is us, the journalists. I could hardly claim a good sense of humor, but some of the Canadian journalists down here are hilarious. Immediately after finishing a briefing today, where we were told that the Afghan National Army and the Security Forces had a successful operation in Salavat, a fellow journalist offered a tactic to lure the Taliban next time around.

“Call the pizza place and tell them to deliver it to the Talibans,” he said. “We could call them Pie-EDs.”

- Anup Kaphle

Photo courtesy of Flickr user lafrancevi under a Creative Commons license.

Tony Blair in 2008.

It’s two years since Tony Blair left 10 Downing Street for good, but he hasn’t been able to win the praise and credit he yearns for after a decade of accomplishments as the Labor Party’s longest-serving prime minister, from British economic growth to peace in Northern Ireland. 

Blair and his friends have been arguing that the former prime minister should be better treated. One thing gets in the way: His friendship with George W. Bush and his decision to join the United States in the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The latest: The London Telegraph reports that Blair’s decision-making in office — including the decision to invade Iraq — was based on his religious beliefs. It’s reminiscent of Bush’s description of the war on terrorism as a “crusade.”

The Telegraph quotes a book, “We Don’t Do God,” by John Burton, Blair’s political associate and sometimes mentor. The book says Blair played down his religious fervor while in office, but it was always at the forefront:

Tony’s Christian faith is part of him, down to his cotton socks. He believed strongly at the time, that intervention in Kosovo, Sierra Leone — Iraq too — was all part of the Christian battle; good should triumph over evil, making lives better.

He applied that same principle in everything he did — from establishing the Social Exclusion Unit to ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, and ridding Iraq of the evils of Saddam Hussein’s rule.

Bush’s religion-dominated worldview has also been in the news recently. GQ reported this month that former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld mixed memos to Bush on Iraq with quotations from the Scriptures.

This week, Clive Hamilton, a visiting professor at Yale University, reports on a new book about former French President Jacques Chirac, written by journalist Jean Claude Maurice. The book says Bush spoke of Satan and the need to cleanse the world to prepare for Armageddon.

Chirac is said to have been stupefied and disturbed by Bush’s invocation of Biblical prophesy to justify the war in Iraq and “wondered how someone could be so superficial and fanatical in their beliefs.”

Prediction, not prophesy — Blair and Bush will long be the focus of armchair psychoanalysis: Bush for why he did what he did, Blair for why he didn’t know better.

- Peter Eisner

Photo courtesy of Flickr user World Economic Forum under a Creative Commons license.

The speaker of the House of Commons has resigned. Photo: Parliament

Trouble is brewing for British politicians after The Daily Telegraph reported that several members of parliament had abused their expenses system, spending thousands of pounds of public money on questionable claims — including $3,000 to clear a moat surrounding an estate and money for diapers, comics and hair dye. 

House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin resigned over the row – the first speaker forced out since 1695 — and several other lawmakers and advisors have stepped down or been suspended. 

Conservative opposition leader David Cameron has called on Prime Minister Gordon Brown to order an emergency general election to restore the parliament’s authority. 

Blogger Alan Hart writes that the implications of the scandal go far beyond individual resignations:

If the scandal submerging the British parliament at Westminster was only about the abuse of expenses by MPs of all parties, the crisis would be manageable by punishment of the offenders and new rules; but the sickness at the heart of what passes for democracy in once but no longer Great Britain needs a much more profound cure.

The problem in Britain, as in America, is that we have the framework for democracy but not the substance. The difference between today and all our yesterdays is that the citizens, the voters, are increasingly aware of this fact.

Blogger Nick Anstead writes that the scandal will lead to reform, exploring flaws in the system: 

One of the likely consequences of the whole MPs expenses scandal is that parliament will change – we don’t quite know how yet, but certainly some (of the admittedly more optimistic) commentators are starting to cast this as a great opportunity for reform. Whether panic leads to good changes is a pretty debatable matter. 

[...]Part of the problem here, I would argue, are the constitutional arrangements we have in this country. The public don’t trust parliament to police itself or the political classes, because they are all assumed to be in bed with each other. Because authority (and thus patronage) is so centralized in Britain, the success of an individual political career is largely reliant on the leadership of a party, so there is (rightly or wrongly) an assumption that no one has any interest in rocking the boat.

Keith Hill, a member of parliament with the left-wing Labour party, writes of his dismay: 

Like the public in general I have been horrified at the evidence of abuse of the parliamentary allowances system. As an MP representing an inner London seat, with my home in Streatham, I knew nothing of the scope for manipulation of the second home arrangement and was amazed to learn of the £400 monthly food allowance. I eat all my meals in the week at the House of Commons and it had never occurred to me that an MP would not pay out of his or her own pocket for them.

I wanted to be an MP because I believed it to be a noble and decent activity and I have always tried to do the right thing. Now, alas, we are all contaminated and I shall retire next year from a tainted institution.

A conservative blogger at “ToryDiary” writes a prescription for the Tory party’s leader, arguing that five steps are necessary for the party to remain strong: 

Here are five things that David Cameron should do next:

1. Unethical MPs including Andrew MacKay and Julie Kirbride must cease to be Tory MPs.

2. Introduce a power of recall for MPs between elections.

3. The leadership must stop hiding behind Commons convention and support calls for the Speaker to go.

4. Put together a plan that will substantially reduce the cost of politics.

5. Put forward a bold plan to renew Britain. 

Blogger Iain Dale compares the expenses system in Britain to those in other countries, writing that Britain might actually not be so bad off in comparison: 

Every now and then, I appear on a BBC World Service programme called WORLD HAVE YOUR SAY. It’s an hour long phone in, with people calling in from all around the world. It has a massive audience. Today they were discussing whether, considering the expenses scandal, Britain is still seen as a beacon of parliamentary democracy. I was on with a Nigerian journalist and a senator from the same country. 

I quizzed her about what she, as a Nigerian politician, could claim for. Rent, she said. So far so good. Then she said: “A security guard and a chef.” I felt like saying: “Your name isn’t Barbara Follett by any chance, is it?”

Caller after caller reckoned our expenses scandal is a storm in a teacup and that no one would blink an eye in Trinidad, Malaysia or Nigeria. This really made me think. Perhaps the fact that we get exorcised about this demonstrates that our democracy is actually in very rude health. If we just accepted it as a fact of life, what would that say?

One of the big problems faced by the United States and other countries is just how to get rid of their so-called toxic assets. Germany faces a similar problem, and has considering an idea that would put all the troubled loans into a “bad bank.”

Peter Coy, the economics editor for BusinessWeek magazine, joins Martin Savidge to discuss plans in Britain and the U.S. to help troubled homeowners reduce their monthly payments, Germany’s approach to getting rid of toxic assets and China’s relative optimism about the future.

They discuss the continuing threat of piracy from Somalia’s failed state, the terror threat in Britain and Europe and the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea.

Flickr user mallix constructs a Twitter class portrait. Photo under a Creative Commons license.

A draft curriculum review of the British education system calls for primary school pupils to learn how to use Twitter, Wikipedia, blogging and podcasts as part of their school studies.

The proposals also suggest that history topics such as the Victorian era and World War II be given less time in the curriculum. The final version of the review is due out next month.

“The Cowfield” blog rejects the curriculum shake-ups, arguing that technology is over-emphasized:

As a history scholar, I firmly believe more should be done to encourage people to question their pasts, and to connect the present with what has gone on before. The suggestions [in the proposals] indicate that this is no longer a concern for governmental officials. Instead, it seems, we should be encouraging the ‘life skills’ of how to use Twitter, or how to blog.

[...]I really do not think that further use of Twitter, Wikipedia et al should be encouraged. Many people are already moaning that there is too much exposure to the internet and computers, so surely encouraging further exposure should be frowned upon? At a period where we are frequently told of the growing obesity problem, surely placing kids in front of another screen cannot help? I’m still not sure what was wrong with classrooms and books personally.

Several commenters weighed in on the story in response to an article at the “TechCrunch” blog, both in support of and against the proposals:

Wendy wrote: We’re in a post PC era, my four year old uses youtube on my iphone, my 18mth old daughter plays with the bubblewrap app. To them it’s just part of life and nothing special. I’m all in favour of an overhaul to schools curriculum with regards to tech and media however I’m a little skeptical that putting Twitter on the agenda is just the government jumping on a fad. More optimistically they’re just mentioning this to get picked up on the news and there is a more considered well researched programme of change behind this?

Bas wrote: I think children should get lessons in thinking and in information retrieval. Yes, they should still be taught about history, etc. Yes, it’s important they learn stuff that they could need ‘on the spot’ - like calculating skills. However, we can go a little bit easier on drilling the information in - by the time they’re 25, augmented reality will be a fact and not even a luxury. We’ll be able to retrieve information at any time, any place, about almost anything, without even moving our hands to grab our handhelds.

Another British blogger at “Zeitgeist” says it’s “more dumbing down,” blasting the government:

I think the those people in authority are the ones who need educating. Children already know far more about the web than most adults! What is going on? Why does the government continuously insist on getting it wrong? Because getting it right would cost a lot more money, and it would probably take a lot longer than 4 years, and as most people realise the government only see[s] up to 4 years in to the future, they never think long-term.

At the “Twitterati” blog, Josh Crowse comments that the introduction of social media tools into curriculum may have a reverse effect:

Translation: in 10 years, students will have grown to hate twitter and wikipedia, after having to use them as part of daily homework.

Some American schools ban Twitter, including that of Minnesota teacher “Knaus,” who writes in support of the site as a learning tool:

I love Twitter. I use it three ways. I have a Twitter for my classroom that is private, a Twitter for my family that is connected to Facebook, and a school tech Twitter for my teaching and learning in and through technology. Having different Twitters lets me keep my information specific to each topic and I can’t “over Tweet.” I really wish it was unblocked at my school. I think it would be great for my students to use.

The attack threatened the province’s fragile coalition government of Protestants and Catholics.The killings have caused so much concern that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown paid a visit to the base today.

Niall O’Dowd, the founder of IrishCentral.com and the Irish America magazine, was active in the 1990s working out a ceasefire with the IRA and joins Martin Savidge to discuss the Real IRA’s background and their impact on the peace agreement.

Also, China’s premier laid out a blueprint for the country in a two-hour speech. Though China’s economy is feeling the pain of the economic slowdown, the goal is still 8 percent growth this year.

Ian Bremmer, president of the Eurasia Group and author of “The Fat Tail: The Power of Political Knowledge for Strategic Investing,” joins Martin Savidge to discuss how rising social unrest will impact China’s pursuance of free market policies, how politics drive financial markets and if there is a political solution to the financial crisis.

Up to 27,000 Woolworths employees could soon lose their jobs.

Even as the number of jobless people in the United Kingdom grew to over 1 million, retail sales in the country unexpectedly rose for the first time in three months. 

The retail bump, a monthly sales increase of 0.3 percent, has been attributed to higher demand at food and discount stores. 

Stores like Woolworths have begun offering substantial discounts. Woolworths —  an English chain that has operated since 1909 — plans to close its doors by Jan. 5 if a buyer is not found, leaving 27,000 people out of work. 

In November, unemployment (now at 6 percent) rose at the fastest rate in 17 years.

Blogger “Huw” in Lancashire says her local Woolworths looks miserable, calling it “sickening” and worrying for the future of the commercial sector. 

The “Suz Blog” writes about going to a closing sale at a “Woolies” in London, describing the store as half empty.

The “Life on My Planet” blog writes that high street stores will become ghosts. 

Blogger “Debbie” in Yorkshire writes about losing her job. 

The “British Politics” blog paints a dim picture of the British economy’s future. 

World Bank President Robert Zoellick stated Thursday that worldwide unemployment will likely rise and economies likely worsen for at least the first half of 2009.

Photo courtesy of Flickr user suburbanslice  under a Creative Commons license.

Officials suggested that British troops are performing poorly, and some Americans allege that the troops lack proper equipment, frequently require rescuing by U.S. counterparts and have acted “snide.”

Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed concern about operations in the British-controlled Helmand Province. The U.K. recently deployed 300 additional troops to the Helmand Province, though Prime Minister Gordon Brown is still considering whether or not to comply with likely requests for thousands more.

A total of 133 British soldiers have died in Afghanistan, and casualties have recently climbed. Since November, 12 British soldiers have died in the war — compared to three American soldiers. Two-thirds of people in Britain want troops to withdraw from Afghanistan.

Tom Baldwin, the Washington bureau chief of The Times of London, speaks with Martin Savidge about the role of the British in Afghanistan.

Below, bloggers discuss the accusations and the future of British involvement in Afghanistan.

The “Kotare” blog writes that Americans criticizing the British troops lack tact or forbearance.

“The Bewilderness” blog blames Gordon Brown and the Labour party for “unimpressive” British performance in Afghanistan.

British blogger “Gordon” of “Harry’s Place” argues that the fight in Afghanistan isn’t working, blaming the corruption of the Afghan government and insufficient funding.

Matthew Hickley blogs at “Afghan Diaries” for the Mail Online (U.K.), describing daily life on the ground in the Helmand Province.