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Iraqi children wait for their turn in line during an aid drop to the people of the industrial zone in Adhamiyah, as Multi-National Division-Baghdad Soldiers provide security Aug. 25, 2008. Photo by Sgt. Philip Klein. BAGHDAD — Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, provided food packs, soccer balls, backpacks and pencil sets for residents of an Iraqi apartment complex Aug. 25.The aid drop was spearheaded by the Iraqi Army Civil Affairs Team, the 404th Civil Affairs Battalion and Soldiers from Multi-National Division-Baghdad to provide relief to a working class neighborhood around the Adhamiyah industrial zone.The aid...

"The European Union is now helping pay the salaries and pensions of Palestinian Authority workers. On August 20, officials in Brussels announced that the EU will be providing the PA with an extra €40 million ($58.8 million) in financial aid. This money comes on top of the €440 million ($650 million) in aid the EU pledged to the PA at a donors’ conference in Paris last December." "In addition to covering some of the Palestinian Authority’s salary and pension costs, a part of this European cash has been earmarked for the construction of a new Palestinian security force headquarters in...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2008 – The Coast Guard Cutter Dallas has finished off-loading humanitarian relief supplies in the Georgian city of Batumi and has left port, a Defense Department official said here today. Since Russia invaded Georgia on Aug. 9, all of the U.S. aid that has gone to the nation has been humanitarian relief, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. Defense officials said that Russia still has troops in Georgia and is not living up to the terms of a cease-fire agreement. The Dallas unloaded 34 short tons of aid at the port, raising the U.S. total to 947...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 28, 2008 – The Defense Department and U.S. European Command stand ready to assist as required to save lives and alleviate human suffering during the humanitarian crisis in the former Soviet republic of Georgia, a senior EuCom official said yesterday. “Working side by side with the republic of Georgia and international organizations, U.S. European Command is providing immediate life-saving support and restoring essential life-support systems as part of a coordinated interagency effort,” Michael Ritchie, EuCom’s director of interagency engagement, said in a teleconference with bloggers and online journalists to discuss the relief effort dubbed Operation Assured Delivery. Operation...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 24, 2008 – The U.S. military has delivered more than 1 million pounds of humanitarian relief supplies to Georgia. Georgian soldiers, working with U.S. soldiers, assist in delivery of humanitarian assistance supplies to the people of Georgia Aug. 21, 2008. Defense Dept. photo by Marine Maj. Rob James  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. As of Aug.22, 36 missions had been flown by Air Force C-17 Globemaster III and C-130 Hercules transport aircraft as well as Navy C-9 Skytrain, C-130 Hercules and C-40 Clipper aircraft, U.S. European Command officials said. Two U.S. ships are on the way,...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2008 – Although some movement of Russian troops in Georgia has occurred, it’s difficult to determine whether it’s an indication of withdrawal or just a repositioning of forces, a Defense Department official said today. “There have been some movements around [the town of] Gory, but it’s unclear whether that is the beginning of a significant withdrawal,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. “The only movements we’ve seen are relatively minor.” The Defense Department remains steadfast in its support to Georgia as officials work to determine whether Russia is commencing with the drawdown terms it agreed to or is...

NAPLES, Italy, Aug. 21, 2008 – Two Navy ships and a Coast Guard cutter are transporting humanitarian relief supplies to Georgia. Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jeff Weaver and Petty Officer 2nd Class Gary Smith prepare humanitarian aid supplies for loading aboard USS McFaul at Souda Bay, Crete, Aug. 20, 2008. Nearly 55 tons of supplies were loaded as part of the humanitarian assistance for the Georgia following the conflict between Russian and Georgian forces in the former Soviet republic. U.S. Navy Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Eddie Harrison   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. These deployments...

STUTTGART, Germany, Aug. 19, 2008 – U.S. European Command is coordinating sustained airlift support as the United States continues to send humanitarian supplies and medical supplies to the former Soviet republic of Georgia. So far, the U.S. military has delivered more than 270,000 pounds of aid on 12 missions to the Georgian capital of Tbilisi, with more relief on the way in the coming days, officials said. Flying out of Ramstein Air Base, Germany, the missions are delivering bandages, surgical supplies and medicine, as well as emergency shelters and bedding. The joint effort, with the Army, Navy, Air Force and...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 18, 2008 – The U.S. military has delivered $2 million worth of humanitarian aid to Georgia in an ongoing effort to relieve the war-torn former Soviet republic that came under Russian attack 10 days ago. In addition to 130 tons of airlifted cargo, U.S. European Command has granted the Georgian government in Tblisi access to a $1.2 million stockpile of disaster relief and medical supplies stored in Georgia. “We are going to continue to flow in assistance,” Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said today. “We have been over the weekend, and we will continue this week.” More than...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 16, 2008 – The U.S. military flights that have delivered humanitarian assistance to Georgia this week will continue in the days ahead, President Bush said today. American C-17 aircraft began delivering aid to Georgia Aug. 14 in the wake of attacks by Russian forces in two breakaway Georgian regions and other parts of the former Soviet republic. “In recent days, U.S. cargo planes carrying humanitarian supplies have arrived in Georgia. In the days ahead, we will continue using U.S. aircraft and other assets as needed to deliver more humanitarian and medical supplies,” Bush said today in his...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 14, 2008 – The humanitarian mission under way in Georgia is intended to alleviate suffering for now and will move into longer-range help in the future, officials said at a Pentagon news conference today. The Air Force has sent two supply-filled C-17 Globemaster III transports into Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi. More flights will follow, officials said, but none are scheduled just yet. Russian troops who invaded Georgia last week are beginning to pull back, Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said today. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates also spoke at...

TBILISI, Georgia, Aug. 14, 2008 – A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport jet departed Ramstein Air Base, Germany, and landed at Tbilisi International Airport here yesterday, delivering $1 million in humanitarian aid to reduce the suffering of the people of the former Soviet republic of Georgia. Air Force Staff Sgt. Chris Broegemueller, assigned to the 86th Airlift Wing's Contingency Response Group at Sembach Air Base, Germany, helps to push out the first of 16 pallets aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III in Tbilisi, Georgia, Aug. 13, 2008. The humanitarian assistance delivery consisted of $1 million...

North Korea is refusing to proceed further with its nuclear disarmament unless other countries at arms talks guarantee promised energy aid, a South Korean official said Thursday. Seeking to break the latest stalemate at the nuclear negotiations, the five other countries in the arms talks - the U.S., China, Japan, Russia and South Korea - met with the North on Wednesday in the truce village of Panmunjom in the middle of the Demilitarized Zone dividing the Koreas. "The North has taken the position that if that (energy aid) is not fully guaranteed, it cannot cooperate in making further steps" at...

MONTERREY, Mexico - U.S. lawmakers will review the language of a US$1.4 billion anti-drug plan that Mexican officials contend infringes on their nation's sovereignty, a senior U.S. senator said Sunday.

Myanmar cyclone: Burma's junta turns away US aid ships By Thomas Bell, South East Asia Correspondent Last Updated: 1:46PM BST 04/06/2008 Four American navy ships, laden with relief supplies, are steaming away from the Burmese coast because the military junta will not allow them to help starving cyclone victims. On board the boats were 22 urgently needed heavy-lift helicopters, amphibious vehicles and water purification equipment. The Burmese regime claimed that, far from wanting to help the 2.5 million survivors of last month’s cyclone, the US was in fact intent on stealing the country’s oil resources. "I am both saddened and...

U.S. Navy ships positioned off the coast of Myanmar will soon leave the area after the country's junta refused to give them permission to deliver aid to cyclone victims, a top U.S. commander said Wednesday. Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, said the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Essex and other ships will resume their previous operations Thursday.

Mr Bush wrote that the July 7-9 summit of the Group of Eight major industrial powers, to be held in Japan, needed to take concrete action to tackle AIDS and other scourges afflicting Africa. "My message to my fellow leaders will be that our past promises are just empty words unless we provide meaningful follow-through," Mr Bush wrote. "And if we do, we can continue to help save lives and spread hope across the continent of Africa." Mr Bush said the US was doubling aid to Africa by 2010 and highlighted a $US15 billion ($A15.7 billion) AIDS relief fund launched...

BAGHDAD — Leaders and Soldiers from the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade, 6th Iraqi Army Division distributed humanitarian aid to residents in Shula, a neighborhood in northwest Baghdad, May 26. Soldiers travelled door-to-door handing out staples such as rice, lentils and tomato paste to 100 residents. At the end, nearly 300 residents throughout Shula received aid during a three-day period beginning, May 24. Shula resident’s movement to and from markets had been hampered by criminal activity in the area, making Soldiers clad in desert uniforms bearing boxes filled with food a welcome sight. Capt. Joseph Sincere, a fire support officer with...

The United States has reached a deal with North Korea to provide 500,000 tons of food aid over the coming year to the isolated communist nation. The U.S. administration says the aid has little to do with its nuclear disarmament deal with Pyongyang, although both have involved an unusual intensity of U.S. diplomacy with North Korea, a nation President George W. Bush once included as part of a rhetorical ``axis of evil.'' ``We don't see any connection,'' State Department spokesman Sean McCormack was quoted as saying. ``We're doing this because America is a compassionate nation and the United States and...

Myanmar's junta kept a French navy ship laden with aid waiting outside its maritime border on Saturday, and showed off neatly laid out state relief camps to diplomats. The stage-managed tour appeared aimed at countering global criticism of the junta's failure to provide for survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which left at least 134,000 people dead or missing. The junta flew 60 diplomats and U.N. officials in helicopters to three places in the Irrawaddy delta where camps, aid and survivors were put on display. The diplomats were not swayed.