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WASHINGTON: Protestors demonstrating against misuse of American tax-payer dollars briefly disrupted a Senate hearing on US aid to Pakistan on Thursday, but US lawmakers by and large fell in line with the Obama administration's proposal to not legislate exacting conditions on the multi-billion dollar assistance but hold Islamabad to account through executive oversight. Shouting "Say no to a war economy," and "No more blood money," some half-dozen placard-waving demonstrators interrupted a testimony by top ranking US general Mike Mullen. They were evicted quickly even as law-makers agonized about throwing US tax-payer dollars at Pakistan without sufficient benchmarks and accountability. India...

An Iraqi woman receives a bag of food during a joint U.S./Iraqi humanitarian food drop in Firra Shia village, May 17. Photo by Jon Soles, Multi-National Division - Baghdad. BAGHDAD — Iraqi Army (IA) and U.S. Soldiers did their part to help some citizens here during a humanitarian food drop in Firra Shia village, May 17. The joint mission highlighted the use of both American and Iraqi military assets to meet the needs of the community where the Soldiers live and work.First Lt. Michael Neel, 8th Cavalry Regiment, said humanitarian missions show the many facets of the American and Iraqi...

CHAKLALA, Pakistan, May 20, 2009 – The kind of fast-action, humanitarian outreach used this week to help more than a million Pakistanis displaced by war is exactly the type of mission the Air Force’s 3rd Airlift Squadron was glad to take on, airmen in the unit said. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Matt Pease loads a pallet containing humanitarian relief supplies destined for Pakistan into the cargo bay of a C-17 Globemaster III, May 20, 2009, in Southwest Asia. Pease is deployed from the 437th Security Forces Squadron, Charleston Air Force Base, S.C. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt....

WASHINGTON, May 20, 2009 – Two Air Force C-17 airlifters have begun delivering humanitarian aid to internally displaced people in Pakistan’s northwestern provinces, the chief U.S. defense representative said today. U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W. Patterson hands over one of the 120,000 meals destined for displaced people in Pakistan to Lt. Gen. Nadeem Ahmed, coordinator of Pakistan's relief effort, Chaklala Air Base, Pakistan, May 20, 2009. U.S. State Department photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. For Navy Rear Adm. Michael A. Lefevre, who works out of the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, the humanitarian effort to help the...

Unification ministry closes N. Korea aid unit, bolsters intelligence By Kim Hyun SEOUL, May 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification ministry on Tuesday closed its bureau on humanitarian aid to North Korea and created a new one to better analyze Pyongyang's internal politics as part of government restructuring. The Cabinet approved the ministry's proposal to shut down its Humanitarian Cooperation Bureau and set up the tentatively-named Political Analysis Bureau, Kim Jung-tae, assistant minister for planning and coordination, said in a press briefing. "The restructuring aims to strengthen the ministry's long-term unification policy and intelligence analysis and merge overlapped low-level units,"...

Unification Ministry to close humanitarian aid unit on North Korea SEOUL, May 4 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Unification Ministry is set to close its bureau on humanitarian aid to North Korea as part of its restructuring, officials said Monday, a move that mirrors frozen political relations. The restructuring plan, when approved by a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday, will shut down the Humanitarian Cooperation Bureau established in late 1996, ministry officials said.

Wading into the politically charged immigration debate, a group of colleges and universities is urging Congress to give illegal immigrants tuition aid and a path to citizenship in light of efforts in several states to block them. The College Board, made up of 5,000 schools and best known for its SAT college admission tests, released a report Tuesday that cites a need for federal legislation that would open up in-state college tuition, financial aid and legal status to many illegal immigrants in the U.S. Speaking publicly on the issue for the first time, the board is making its push after...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, April 14 (UPI) -- The $7.5 billion in aid proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama should be free of conditions, Pakistani officials told visiting Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, met with Pakistani leaders Monday in Islamabad to discuss Pakistan's efforts to combat terrorism, The Hill reported Tuesday. In return for the multiyear aid, Pakistan is being asked to close terrorist camps in tribal regions along its border with Afghanistan and help thwart cross-border attacks by insurgents. "The U.S. should not attach conditionalities to the assistance package being presented to the U.S....

TOKYO: Pakistan's foreign minister said on Wednesday his country can be a role model for the Muslim world, speaking ahead of a donors' meeting in Japan where Islamabad hopes to secure huge aid contributions. "Pakistan has transferred towards democracy," foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said. "And today I represent a democratically elected government of Pakistan." "Pakistan can be a role model of the Muslim world," he told reporters ahead of the meeting that aims to raise four to six billion dollars for the poverty-stricken country. Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari arrived in Tokyo Wednesday evening to attend the conference, which...

JACKSON, Miss. — Thanh Nguyen will soon give up the cramped travel trailer that's been her home for more than four years, pack her belongings into an old Toyota Corolla and rely on the kindness of others for a place to live. She has no choice: The government is taking back the trailer. "I'm going to pack everything I have in a car and go to my friends' houses and move on and on until I find something I can afford," the Vietnamese immigrant said through a translator. "It's for however long they allow me to stay." Nguyen is one...

WASHINGTON: The Obama administration plans to propose roughly $2.8 billion in aid for the Pakistani military as a US senate panel holds a full committee hearing on a bill which seeks to triple US economic assistance to Pakistan. The military aid would be in addition to a $7.5 billion aid package which will be reintroduced in the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on Wednesday. A defense official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told FOX News the military aid will be dedicated exclusively to 'equipping, training, and building infrastructure directly related to counterinsurgency operations.' Gen. David Petraeus, who is...

NEWSMAKER INTERVIEW: Jerusalem's mayor is asking Americans to invest in upgrading his city - one of the poorest in Israel - in a plan he says also will benefit the capital's 270,000 Palestinian Arabs. "I'd like to see the world join forces to save the city of Jerusalem," Nir Barkat told editors and reporters of The Washington Times on Friday. "I told some members of the U.S. administration, 'I think the world just raised $5 billion for Gaza. So you only invest after a war. ... I will prepare the plans anyway because I believe we should invest in Arabs...

BAGHDAD, March 26, 2009 – Iraq soldiers of the 11th Iraqi Army Division and members of the 11th U.S. Military Transition Team delivered much-needed medical supplies to the residents of northeastern Baghdad’s al-Shaab community March 19. This joint humanitarian-aid mission was the first glimpse of government assistance for some residents of this poverty-stricken neighborhood in the Adhamiyah district.  Students at the New Iraq School smile at the sight of Iraqi and coalition forces who were bringing medical supplies to al-Shaab community in northeastern Baghdad, March 19, 2009. U.S. Army photo by Spc. Phillip Adam Turner  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution...

A shipment of U.S. military aid has arrived in Lebanon. Part of a $400 million package deal. Even while Hizbullah continues to have "veto power" over major political decisions in the Lebanese government. New elections are scheduled for Lebanon in June. Iran is pouring in $ millions to aid the political campaigns of Hizbullah. Now what happens to that U.S. military aid, should Hizbullah win? Come June, Hizbullah may be the Lebanese government.

The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) on Monday received a shipment of American military vehicles as part of an aid package agreed upon between the two countries following a 10-day visit to Washington last month by Lebanese Army Commander Jean Kahwaji, The Daily Star Lebanon reported. World The paper reported LAF would also receive the small, unmanned Raven aircraft system to help the army boost border control and fight terrorism. The Raven carries a color electro-optical camera and an infrared camera for night operations but cannot carry weaponry as more advanced unarmed aircrafts do.

A month ago I visited Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. This suburb of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, is home to more than one million people, who eke out a living in an area of about one square mile -- roughly 75% the size of New York's Central Park. It is a sea of aluminum and cardboard shacks that forgotten families call home. The idea of a slum conjures up an image of children playing amidst piles of garbage, with no running water and the rank, rife stench of sewage. Kibera does not disappoint. What is incredibly disappointing is...

Iraqi Police unload sleeping mats during a recent humanitarian assistance mission in the Babil province. Photo by 1st Lt. Matthew Pierce, 4th Infantry Division Public Affairs. CSC SCANIA — The residents of a small village in rural Jawadia of the Babil province received an unexpected surprise recently. In the early morning hours under a hazy, sand-induced overcast sky, local villagers awoke to find Iraqi Police (IP) of the Furat Police Station and Soldiers from the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, pulling into their village with a railcar shipping container in tow.When the smiling IP officers cracked open the...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE HUNTER — Iraqi and U.S. Soldiers conducted a joint humanitarian mission to provide medical attention and essential supplies to the citizens of Musharah near Forward Operating Base Hunter on March 8. The 1st and 3rd battalions, of the 41st Iraqi Army Brigade, led the effort with assistance from Soldiers of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division. Approximately 210 Iraqi children from the Musharah community in Iraq’s Maysan province benefited from the mission. During the visit, American medics examined the children for everything from routine stuffy noses to a number of complex health problems, which were...

WASHINGTON, March 12, 2009 – Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq is assuming more of a support and advisory role as Iraq moves toward self-sufficiency, a U.S. military official in Iraq said yesterday. “The mission of the Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq is to help the Iraqi government … take vital steps toward ensuring self-sufficiency during the critical transition from coalition- to Iraqi-led operations in support of the [U.S.-Iraq] security agreement,” Navy Capt. William Couch, senior advisor for the Joint Headquarters Advisory Team, told bloggers and online journalists March 10 during a “DoD Live” bloggers roundtable. As the Iraqi government assumes...

Reporting from Sharm El Sheik, Egypt -- The Obama administration intends to spend most of a $900-million Palestinian aid package on support for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, rather than in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip communities that were badly damaged in the recent weeks-long Israeli offensive, a State Department official said Sunday. Robert A. Wood, the department's chief spokesman, said that about $300 million of the money will be spent on humanitarian relief for Gaza, and the remainder will help offset the Palestinian Authority's budget shortfall and fund its economic development, security and other projects in the West...