Mandela lives!

Bush comments during a press conference last week are once again receiving worldwide attention, Reuters Africa reports.

Explaining his Iraq policy he said: “Where’s Mandela? Well, Mandela is dead. Because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas.”

But do not despair, Reuters reports that Mandela is indeed still alive.

del.icio.us digg it technorati

Life of a Miner

Here are two interesting videos that take a look at miners’ lives in US and Mexico.

The first story centers around American bootleg (independent) miners and their struggle to protect their livelihood and way of life. In the second clip, laid-off miners in Mexico’s Real del Monte talk about the history of mining in their town and the hardship of living on their $7 to $27 per month retirement fund ($1 =11.14 Mexican pesos).

WoodShop Films: Hard Coal: Last of the Bootleg Miners

 

Alive in Mexico: The Struggles of Mexico’s Real del Monte Miners

(Thanks to SplashCast for the links to these websites)

Update
Here are some links to photo essays about Ohio coal miners, and gold and diamond mining in the Congo, Angola and Sierra Leone:

Coal Mines by James Nachtwey

Rape of a Nation by Marcus Bleasdale

A Trail of Diamonds by Kadir van Lohuizen

del.icio.us digg it technorati

Darfur: The First Climatic Change War

On the latest BBC One Planet episode, Richard Hollingham describes the Darfur crisis as the first climatic change war and looks at Morocco, Bangladesh and East Africa, regions where resources are already strained, for clues into this new phenomenon.

News Update:
The Sudanese government and U.N. officials announced today plans for new peace talks to be held next month in Lybia. However, the BBC reports that the leader of the largest rebel group will not attend the meeting while the fighting continues.

The UN estimates the conflict, which began over four years ago, has claimed the lives of over 200,000 and displaced more than 2.5 million people.

(Background information on Darfur conflict)

del.icio.us digg it technorati