Unrest Videos

Building fences for military defence and migration control Can you imagine a country going to the trouble to build a wall like the Ming Great Wall of China, covering over 8,000 kilometres over mountainous terrain? Well, they may not be as impressive or stand the testament of time as the Great Wall, but there are a number of walls or fences standing tall today and more being constructed, from Botswana to India, to the U.S. to Thailand. What are the purposes of these barriers and are they effective? Art in North Korea Art offers an alternative insight into a culture, and for a country like North Korea it´s a valuable window into life in one of the last remaining closed Communist countries. Shanghai-based Englishman, Nick Bonner, has put together one of most significant personal collections of North Korean art outside of North Korea. He's been in and out of the country for years, collecting art, working on documentaries, and even helping promote the North Korean soccer team - and he's brought a range of North Korean art to Brisbane for the 6th Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art at the Gallery of Modern Art.

United States president Barack Obama announced yesterday that America plans for a thirty-thousand strong troop surge for Afghanistan. He says his strategy, announced after months of deliberation, would break the momentum of the Islamist insurgency and increase America's ability to train the Afghan army to take over the fight. Journalist Farhad Peikar has been following the reaction in Afghanistan.

US secretary of defence Robert Gates has been forced to defend Barack Obama's troop surge and exit strategy in Afghanistan, following a backlash in Washington. It's not the extra 30,000 US troops under scrutiny, but the proposed withdrawal of US troops from July 2011. Republican Senator and former US presidential candidate John McCain led the charge by claiming that the Taliban would simply go to ground and wait for the US troops to leave before reasserting themselves.

After three months of extensive deliberations, the US president will formalise his decision to send around 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan during a prime time TV address in a few hours from now. He is also expected to outline an exist strategy for the increasingly, unpopular war. The troop surge will be welcomed news for General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of US forces in Afghanistan, although it falls short of the 40,000 troops he'd asked for.

Bruce Shapiro This week Bruce talks about President Barack Obama's West Point speech in which he announced a 30,000 strong troop surge for Afghanistan. At the same time Obama announced that the U.S. would begin to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in July 2011. Northern Ireland's scarred children A discussion with the authors of a new report into the way children from the old frontlines of the sectarian conflict have been left to fend for themselves in the transition to a post-conflict society. They say that the progress towards peace at a political level has not been matched by progress within and between communities. John Joseph Cahill John Joseph Cahill was Premier of New South Wales from 1952 until he died in office in October 1959. As his funeral cortege travelled the seventeen kilometres from St Mary's Cathedral to Rookwood Cemetery more than 300,000 people lined the streets to pay their respects. Biographer, Peter Golding, talks about Joe Cahill's life and his most significant political achievements.

Over the past decade Maoist insurgents have engaged in a guerrilla war against the Indian government. And their growing success has prompted the Indian prime minister, Manmohan Singh, to describe them as the greatest threat to India´s security.

Today is Victory in Europe day, marking the surrender of Nazi Germany to the allied forces in 1945. But for East Europeans there is growing debate about how WW2 should be remembered. For many in the East it marks the start of their country's occupation, and four decades of communist dictatorship. This year, a resolution was passed in the European parliament equating the crimes of communism with those of fascism. It also called for a new anniversary date to mark a 'Europe-Wide Day of Remembrance', aimed at remembering the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes.

Today marks one year since the Mumbai terrorist attacks. They devastated India's financial capital, killing 166 people and leaving widespread damage. It also left the Jewish centre, Nariman House, in ruins. Six people were killed there, including Rabbi Holtz-Berg and his pregnant wife Rivka. The centre had offered guests a Jewish experience in a foreign land, with a synagogue and kosher food. But when two gunmen burst in, they turned the centre into a battleground. Since the attacks, the Jewish centre has operated secretly from another location, with Nariman House remaining vacant. Today, it will be re-opened to the public in honour of those who lost their lives.

A major inquiry into Britain's involvement in the Iraq war has got underway in London, with former prime minister Tony Blair to be called in as a witness sometime next year. But there are many critics of the inquiry, particularly the families of the 179 British soldiers killed in Iraq, and many former servicemen and women.

A survey of ordinary Afghans conducted by British charity Oxfam has found that millions of Afghans are considering leaving the country to flee poverty and unemployment. The survey also found that the vast majority blame their miserable plight on corruption and government incompetence rather than on the Taliban and the coalition-led war.

The twentieth anniversary of the breaching of the Berlin Wall was a stark reminder that walls don't last forever, but that hasn't stopped their continued construction, either as strategic defences or as deterrent to a perceived threat. History's preeminent example of a defensive strategic system is of course the Ming Great Wall of China. For recent examples we only have to look to Israel and the building of the wall around the West Bank, or to the proposed wall to divide the United States and Mexico. But do they actually work? And are there hidden costs to the builders?

Brazil is positioning itself to become the world's new Middle East peace broker.

The Fort Hood shooting SUMMARY: Major Nidal Malik Hassan has been charged with 13 murders at the Fort Hood army base. There are obvious casualties, the dead and wounded plus their families---and maybe also a less obvious casualty, pluralism in the US Armed Forces. Kevin Sheedy: Western Sydney, here I come... SUMMARY: We meet a sporting man (think Aussie Rules) who -- at the tender age of 61 -- continues to push hard his professional boundaries. The announcement this week that Kevin Sheedy, the former star Richmond player and legendary Essendon coach, was drafting himself right into the heart of Rugby League territory, Sydney´s western suburbs, surprised many. On the other hand, the move is true to 'Sheedy' form: gutsy and flamboyant. Kevin Sheedy has, to say the least, a challenging three years ahead of him. His job? Coaching a second Sydney AFL team all the way into its first season in 2012. Video: The Future of Coal SUMMARY: A special Saturday Extra forum on the future for Australian coal. Coal is a crucial fuel and it´s growing in importance even though it is one of the key emitters of greenhouse gases. So how do we simultaneously invest in a safe climate, keep the lights burning here and elsewhere, keep Australians working, and ensure we don´t send the problem to others to fix up? It´s what they call a `wicked´ problem, whenever you come up with a solution, it seems to present other problems.

America's ambassador in Kabul, Karl Eikenberry, has argued against sending more US troops to Afghanistan until the government of President Harmid Karzai tackles corruption and mismanagement within his administration.

Expect turmoils and civil unrest in the US in the coming few years

Britain's secret intelligence service, MI6, has both changed history and been changed by it. Unprecedented access was gained by the BBC World Service to people who ran it, worked for it, and worked against it. Reporter David Whitty. For copyright reasons there will be no podcast or transcript of this program.

http://www.instablogs.com/ Eid-ul-Zuha to highlight message of peace I think that the clerics decision has come at the right time. I take this opportunity to voice the feelings and emotions of my brother Muslims and I whole heartedly appreciate the clerics' decision to denounce terrorism. It becomes all the more important in the wake of recent terror attacks on Mumbai because as a Muslim myself I will always appreciate any effort that highlights and strengthens the fine lines that separate me from the perpetrators of evil. I think Muslims all over the world should come forward at this crucial time and consolidate this decision to denounce terrorism at all levels. Although this does not stress in any way that we are trying to come in the mainstream. I never considered myself away from the mainstream. I am a global citizen and I am a Muslim. Drug addiction in Pakistan There is hardy any place in the city where drugs are not available to the general public including the educational institutions where young people come to study ant at the hostels where they live. The poor drug addicts mostly live in the open and along the roadsides or sleep inside enclosures along the roads sand streets. There are few rehabilitation centers that may admit these drug addicts and so these people keep suffering on account of poverty, addiction and disease. Sometimes the government orders the police to remove them from roadsides and public places but that just removes the problem to other places. For poor drug addicts in Pakistan life is just another name o f darkness and suffering. Drop in Mexican emigration A Mexican government survey shows a sharp drop in emigration. The National Statistics and Geography Institute says about eight of every 1,000 Mexicans left to live abroad between February and May of this year. That's a 42 percent drop from the same period in 2006. Mexican and U.S. officials cite America's economic downturn and tighter border security. The vast majority of Mexican migrants go to the United States. The U.S. Border Patrol also has reported a drop in the capture illegal immigrants along the border. The question in the minds of Mexicans remains: Will the decrease in opportunities in the United States force the Mexican government to provide for their own? http://www.instablogs.com/