Free Republic

A group of self-proclaimed peace activists bringing dual-purpose materials to Gaza have refused to deliver the goods – preferring that they remain at sea rather than be transported through Israel. The activists are aboard a ship carrying 4.6 miles of sewage pipes. Materials such as pipes have been allowed into Gaza only under international supervision in recent years, as Hamas and other terrorist groups often use the pipes in manufacturing short-range rockets to fire on Israeli civilians (pictured right). However, under an agreement reached with the help of the Egyptian and Malaysian governments, the goods could be delivered to Gaza...

Lavish aid to Africa is turning the continent into a ‘spoilt child’, according to the head of a charity backed by Nelson Mandela. Mike Kendrick, founder of the respected Mineseeker Foundation, warned that aid often increased the hardship faced by the world’s poorest people. In a devastating verdict, he told the Daily Mail last night: ‘I sometimes use the analogy of a spoilt child. We have all seen rich parents give their child everything they need, without earning it.

President Barack Obama will unveil an economic aid program for Egypt and Tunisia on Thursday as part of a broad effort to support democratic reform in the Middle East and North Africa, U.S. officials said. Senior advisers to Obama, previewing parts of his speech, said Wednesday the United States would offer debt relief totaling roughly $1 billion "over a few years" to Egypt through a debt swap mechanism that would invest the money to boost youth employment and support entrepreneurs. Washington would also loan or guarantee loans up to a total of $1 billion through the Overseas Private Investment Corp...

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama will announce this week a new aid plan for the Middle East and North Africa that U.S. officials say will be far bolder than previous American economic assistance to the region. Mr. Obama will outline the plan, which could include debt cancellation and a reprogramming of financial aid the U.S. already provides to countries like Egypt, in a speech he is scheduled to deliver Thursday at the State Department.

Cutting poverty by 50% in Uganda is one of the chief goals of the Obama Administration's 2011-2015 strategy for that African nation, which will receive $3.5 billion under the ambitious plan. Among other stated ambitions is a reduction in cattle-raiding and counter-cattle-raiding in one particularly conflict-prone region of the country. The U.S. Agency for International Development today made available the foll0wing policy documents governing the program: Description: The Country Development Cooperation Strategy 2011-2015 (CDCS) is USAID/Uganda’s approved country strategy and will guide USAID programming over the strategy period. The CDCS demonstrates how a number of important USAID policy initiatives will...

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, is part of the growing fray over U.S. aid to Pakistan, and has introduced a bill that would halt the flow of that money. The raid that resulted in Osama bin Laden‘s killing in Pakistan “made it clear that Pakistan’s leadership concealed, protected and enabled the al Qaeda leader for many years,” according to a statement from Rohrabacher’s office. “We can no longer afford this foolishness,” Rohrabacher said.

Impassioned debate about whether the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a true U.S. ally or is complicit in hiding the now-deceased terrorist Osama bin Laden continues on Capitol Hill — and, according to a review of contracting records, the delivery of military and other aid to that nation continues relatively unimpeded in the meantime. The types of aid flowing to Pakistan range from airport equipment in support of U.S.-provided F-16 fighter bombers to the funding of research into the causes of stuttering among the Pakistani people.

The federal government is stepping up efforts to relieve overcrowding in public schools, and it is merging those efforts with a concomitant infusion of educational technology and equipment—on behalf of the Ministry of Education (MOE), that is, in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

A trio of additional healthcare projects of the Obama Administration are slated to be administered by a handful of private-sector vendors at a cost of nearly $1 billion—initiatives that contractors will carry out in Africa, Asia/Middle East and the Latin America/Caribbean regions.

Africa receives about $11 billion a year in foreign aid from America, and an equal amount in loans from the World Bank. In spite of this largesse, or perhaps because of it, Africa remains the world's least developed region. In this time of fiscal crisis in the United States, as evidenced by Standard and Poor's downgrade on Monday of Washington's credit-worthiness, it is imperative that Congress reduce spending and borrowing. Aid to Africa is one place to start. George Ayittey, a Ghanian economist and a professor of economics at American University, offers persuasive reasons in a paper he gave earlier...

WASHINGTON — Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who was relieved of command in Afghanistan after a magazine profile quoted his subordinates as disparaging senior civilian leaders, has been invited back to public service by the Obama administration to help oversee a high-profile initiative in support of military families, White House officials said Sunday.

Pakistan: 92 per cent of USAID projects go to US NGOs By Umar Cheema (The NEWS) ISLAMABAD: Over 92 percent of the US aid money granted in previous years is being spent through the American NGOs resulting in the return of a fair portion of the financial assistance back to the donor country. The News investigation found that of the projects run through $1.05 billion assistance, the government agencies were granted an amount of $29.68 million (2.78% of the total amount), UN bodies received $50.80 million (4.8%) and US NGOs bagged projects of $960 million (92.30%). This coincides with Ambassador...

Post news of Recovery and Relief in Japan....and ways to help.....HERE Here is previous thread.... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2691038/posts?page=20#20

In order to keep people appraised of the RELIEF and RECOVERY efforts going on in Japan, and also to focus on the NEEDS they have, this thread is posted.

I think it would be good to separate the Nuclear Reactor news from the RESCUE operation in Japan....that's the purpose of this thread. Please add links you find.

Sacramento, California - The Assembly Higher Education Committee approved two bills on Tuesday allowing college students who are in the state illegally to receive financial aid. Dubbed the California Dream Act, AB130 allows illegal immigrants to receive privately funded college scholarships, and AB131 allows them to receive taxpayer-funded financial aid such as Cal Grants. Currently, illegal students who spend at least three years in California high schools pay only the in-state tuition rate — a significant cost savings over legal citizens from other states who are attending California colleges. That benefit was provided by AB540, which passed in 2001.

To Japanese and Japan-based Freepers: What's the best, quickest way of getting aid to people on the ground directly -- via local groups, religious instutitons, etc. I'd rather not give it to an international bureaucracy like the Red Cross (Japanese website was confusing), other NGO's or government. This is being posted Front/Breaking because I imagine a lot of other Freepers want this info and, let's face it, it's an emergency over there and these people need quick, effective help as soon as they can get it. I've seen too many stories of waste, corruption and abuse (Haiti, Katrina, etc.) and...

Recently Texas Republican Congressman Ted Poe reintroduced an idea whose time might have finally come. He addressed Congress asking that we review the Foreign Aid we are sending to countries around the world with the purpose of cutting most of it. Referring to the many countries with their hands out looking for Foreign Aid, Poe asked a very direct question, “Why do we need to pay them to hate us?” Poe’s fact filled, but brief, speech contained some compelling points. We are giving Foreign Aid money, our tax money, to 150 of the 192 countries of the world. Some of...

 That's us dishing-out an allowance to  over 78% of the nations in existence... Thanks US taxpayers- but most of them still hate you anyway. And if you feel like a chump- you should: we'll be paying for this dubious investement (+interest) ad infinitum: America doesn't have any money to be giving-away in the first place, all discretionary federal spending is in-effect borrowed these days... [video of Rep Ted Poe (R-Tx)  on foreign aid and where it goes -here-] Maybe for a start we could cut-off, say, Moscow or Beijing... or so you'd think! The interactive foreign aid map linked below tells all......

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama has proposed to Congress a $3.1 billion in financial assistance to Pakistan for the year 2012. This is part of the administration's ongoing effort towards its continued funding for operations and assistance in key regions of the world -- Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of this as many as $1.9 billion in assistance has been proposed to promote a secure, stable, democratic and prosperous Pakistan with a focus on energy, economic growth, agriculture, the delivery of health and education services, and strengthening the Government of Pakistan's capacity to govern effectively and accountably. $1.5 billion of this...