A French aid worker was killed in Afghanistan on Sunday while she was in the province city of Ghazni, heading to Kandahar.
A survey of 10 aid groups estimates:

….that security concerns have resulted in the cancellation or delay of aid projects that are supposed to benefit more than 600,000 Afghans. It also found that more and more Afghan communities are afraid to accept help, and some are even returning reconstruction assistance for fear that any relationship to the government or aid agencies might result in reprisals against them by the Taliban, warlords or drug traffickers, who have become increasingly powerful due to the record opium crops harvested over the past year.

When the Security Council delegation visited Kabul 10 days ago, a group of 28 international aid agencies, including ActionAid, Oxfam, Save the Children and CARE, handed it a letter calling on the international community to “redouble” its efforts to extend security around the country. In need of particular protection, it said, are those sectors most vulnerable to abuse - women, children, returning refugees and displaced people.

Since March more than two dozen aid workers have been killed. A bomb outside Save the Children headquarters in Kabul 10 days ago has prompted aid agencies to lobby for security in key areas.

The Security Council recently approved a new resolution authorizing deployment of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) beyond Kabul, to which it had been confined since just after the Taliban’s ouster by US-backed forces two years ago, but the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which is leading ISAF, has failed to persuade member countries to add to the 5,500-strong force.

Norway and Germany have volunteered to begin sending troops to specific trouble spots outside of Kabul, but the Karzai government will continue to rely mainly on the 11,000 US-led combat troops currently deployed in Afghanistan as the main offensive force against Taliban concentrations.

35 US servicemen have been killed since August.

West Bank
The Red Cross has ended 2 emergency aid programs to Palestinians after 18 months saying the assistance is appropriate to an emergency situation, but this is now a prolonged economic crisis. Other food programs will continue.

More than 50,000 Palestinians from Gaza and 100,000 from the West Bank worked in Israel before the current intifada, or uprising, began in September 2000.

Canada
Paul Martin will be sworn in as Prime Minister December 12th.

Conrad Black
The 59 year old former Canadian who has been discovered with his hand in the cookie jar is now a ‘non-executive’ chairman of his media empire.
He could face charges and lose his peerage, which he gave up his Canadian citizenship for. (albeit Crossharbour is not much more than a train station).
Black and his three cronies have said they will pay back Hollinger Inc. some of the 19 million pounds they took.
The company owns 129 newspapers estimated to be worth 190 million pounds.

Italy
The country paused today and buried it’s 19 dead soldiers killed in Iraq last week. The state ceremony was attended by 25 wounded survivors. This is the worst Italian military loss since World War II and hundreds of thousands of citizens lined the streets of the procession today. Cardinal Camillo Ruini officiated.

“We shall face them with all the courage, the energy and the determination we can muster. But we shall not hate them. On the contrary, we shall not tire to try and make them understand that Italy’s entire commitment, including its military involvement, is oriented to safeguarding…space and dignity for all peoples, cultures and religions.”

9 civilians were also killed, mostly Iraqi citizens. Like most victims in conflict they don’t get a state funeral. This has been a hard blow to Italy, and as one mourner said,

“The war was a far away thing before. Now it has come to Italy.”

The government is deporting a Senegalise cleric, Abdel Qadir Fadlallah Mamour, who warned there would be attacks on Italian soldiers in Iraq and of “terrorist” attacks in Italy itself, calling him a danger to national security.

Turkey
Two more victims of the Saturday synagogue bombing were buried today in Instanbul, Turkey, including a 8 year old girl. 19 Muslims were also killed.
While burials were being held Turkish police stormed a courthouse and freed hostages of Kurdish demonstrators. The leader of the PPK was arrested in Africa in 1999 and brought back to face treason charges. 30 thousand people died in the fighting in southern Turkey which began in 1984. If Turkey wishes to join the European Union one of the requirements will be an independent state for 12 million Kurds living in the south-east.

While I was browsing some news sites, one of the major headlines in the US is a sheriff’s raid at Micheal Jackson’s ranch. Some reports say a search warrent was executed after a 12 year old boy raised allegations of sexual assault.

Culture
T.S. Elliot described culture this way:

“The reader must remind himself as the author has constantly to do, of how much is here embraced by the term culture. It includes all the characteristic activities and interests of a people: Derby Day, Henley Regatta, Cowes, the twelfth of August [the start of the grouse shooting season], a cup final, the dog races, the pin table, the dart board, Wensleydale cheese, boiled cabbage cut into sections, beetroot in vinegar, 19th century Gothic churches and the music of Elgar.”

Jordon Cooper posts about the importance of third spaces. Third whaaaa?
It’s really interesting, go look. Do you have a third space?
connexions and PM Pilgrim look at the sexualization of faith (I think westerners are using sexual issues to mask power issues) All the discussions I see on homosexuality in comments on god-blogs are by guys. Sometimes 100% of the comments are left by men. Why is that?