3rd undersea internet cable cut in recent days; US economy loses 17,000 jobs, signaling slowdown; eye-tracking tech moves into video-gaming...

1 February :: After two undersea internet cables were cut by unknown means in recent days, in the Mediterranean, a third has been cut in the Persian Gulf, off the emirate of Dubai; two of the cables belong to FLAG Telecom, and the cuts interrupted phone and web traffic from Europe to India... Bloomberg reporting "The U.S. unexpectedly lost jobs for the first time in more than four years, increasing the odds the economy will fall into a recession and making it likely the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates another half point next month [...] Payrolls fell by 17,000 in January after an 82,000 gain in December that was larger than initially reported, the Labor Department said today in Washington. None of the 80 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News predicted a decline"... Advances in eye-tracking and "attention awareness" software-driven mechanisms heighten challenge of video game, or performance of pilots, depending on application; researchers say eye-tracking technology could be an important way to improve the effectiveness of certain tools or services... Violent "mob" of estimated 3,000 in Kenya's Rift Valley reportedly killed a policeman with machetes; gov't security forces have vowed a severe crackdown, to try to end spreading violence; opposition movement says security forces have used brutal tactics against protesters demonstrating against Pres. Mwai Kibaki's gov't o alleging electoral fraud in December vote... Microsoft has offered $44.6 billion in effort to take over internet search giant Yahoo!, whose stocks have struggled as it gives ground to Google in market dominance...

Ethnic violence spreads in Kenya, US envoy says "ethnic cleansing"; Australia to apologize to Aboriginal minority for past abuses...

30 January :: US envoy to Kenya, visiting to evaluate tribal violence spreading across east African nation, says "clear ethnic cleansing" taking place in efforts to purge certain areas of Kikuyu tribe members, loyal to fellow Kikuyu, Pres. Mwai Kibaki, accused by opposition of rigging December elections... CSM reports on observers' feeling that violence in Kenya can be stemmed, peace restored, before ethnic clashes become full-scale war, in some areas where Kikuyu, Kamba are majority of population, violence has yet to spread, but fears of spreading clashes have ignited tensions, could send entire country into "spiral of violence", driven by ethnic hatred, from which it would be difficult to emerge into peace in coming weeks, months... NY Times reports "The new Australian government of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will apologize for past mistreatment of the country’s Aboriginal minority when Parliament convenes next month, addressing an issue that has blighted race relations in Australia for years"... Sen. McCain wins Florida, Romney 2nd, McCain leading among senior citizens, Hispanics and moderates, as well as those who put economy first among concerns, while finishing close to Romney with self-professed conservative Republicans; Sen. Clinton finished ahead of Sen. Obama in the Democratic primary, as record 1.7 million voted, but because Florida's Democratic party violated DNC rules by moving its primary to January, it will send no delegates to the nominating convention... FT reports "The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday slashed its forecast for US growth and warned that no country would be immune from what it termed a 'global slowdown'", warning that US growth would slow to 0.8% in 2008, sharply down from previous projections...

Kennedy to endorse Obama in wake of SC win; IMF warns fiscal crisis could spread, worsen; Kisumu, Kenya, ablaze amid riots...

28 January :: Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA) to announce support for candidacy of Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL); sources tell press Sen. Kennedy will make announcement alongside niece, Caroline Kennedy, youngest daughter of assassinated pres. John F. Kennedy, who wrote in Sunday NY TImes that Obama has the capacity to inspire people the way her father did 5 decades ago... Dominique Strauss-Kahn, managing director of the IMF, has warned that the current global fiscal crisis could deepen if more governments to not act to revamp their overall fiscal policy, infuse markets with capital and promote stimulus packages that could bring about fiscal deficits but would loosen the spending potential of consumers and investors; the move is being called an "about-face" for a director and an institution which have promoted fiscal rigor and budget cutting as ways to ensure economic agility; observers now say subprime mortgage crisis could spread to credit cards and other banking services, further tightening available capital, slowing markets across borders, industries... City of Kisumu, Kenya, burns as rioters take to streets in protest against mounting ethnically-driven killings in the region; Kenya has descended into an increasingly indiscernible pattern of tribal and political violence, since the disputed December elections in which opposition leaders allege the sitting government rigged the vote, used violence to suppress opposition, stay in power...

Kenyan violence takes 50 lives since Thursday, Annan meets leaders; Obama wins SC 55% to Clinton's 27%...

27 January :: Tribal violence, spurred by Kenya's disputed election, continues to spread, with 50 dead in recent clashes; VoA reports "Local media report that people have been hacked with machetes, shot with bows and arrows and burned to death in their homes. Shooting in Naivasha continued late Sunday despite the arrival of soldiers and more police", and fmr UN Sec. Gen. Kofi Annan is in Kenya to try to help find a road to peace... Sen. Barack Obama wins Democrats' SC primary, with 55% of the vote, Sen. Clinton finishing 2nd with 27%, and fmr. Sen. John Edwards in 3rd with 18%, as unprecedented numbers of voters turned out to participate... Israeli PM Olmert, Palestinian Pres. Abbas meet to discuss resuming path to peace, reducing Gaza tensions; Olmert promised Abbas Israel would continue to ensure that humanitarian aid and vital supplies reached the isolated territory, to avert a humanitarian crisis...

Odinga refuses Kibaki offer for power-sharing to end violence; Obama, McCain top opinion polls in NH...

6 January :: Kenyan opposition leader Raila Odinga rejects Pres. Kibaki's offer for a power-sharing gov't, saying Kibaki's authority is nullified by alleged efforts to rig the December vote... Latest polling shows Obama, McCain pulling ahead of rivals in New Hampshire, apparently bolstered by weekend debates; Clinton, Romney campaigns struggling to keep positive outlook on their chances in media coverage... 1/4 of Argentina's population now lives below the poverty line, as wealth gap widens, economic hardship seems to set down roots in wake of the 2001 monetary and economic crisis; CSM reports "The gap between rich and poor has slowly expanded over the decades in a society that has always thought of itself as Latin America's model for egalitarianism [...] But the financial crisis that exploded in 2001 —plunging 50 percent of the population into poverty and leading to a spike in crime that pushed city dwellers into gated communities— has caused many to face Argentina's new reality: The family you are born into will largely determine where you end up in life"...

Kibaki offers opposition potential power-sharing role in gov't to ease tensions; Scotland Yard team arrives in Pakistan...

5 January :: WSJ reporting "After a week of political stalemate and bloodshed, Kenyan president Mwai Kibaki said Saturday that he was prepared to form a government of national unity with the opposition, easing tensions between the two side and potentially setting the stage for negotiations to end violence that has so far killed at least 300 people and displaced as many as 250,000"... A team of investigators from Britain's Scotland Yard police headquarters arrived yesterday in Pakistan to assist in the probe into the assassination of fmr PM Benazir Bhutto; Pakistan's pres. Pervez Musharraf said the team would assist in forensics but warned against "a wild goose chase" and said their role would not be permitted to interfere with Pakistan's internal politics... According to BBC report, China will see migration of 320 million people —more than the entire current population of the US— from rural areas to its urban centers in coming decades; the mass migration is said to be having environmental impact on "every atom in the Chinese soil", the general diet, the food supply, and potentially agricultural and commodities markets across the world... Le Monde reports indications gathering that US headed for recession in 2008, citing Pres. Bush's caution, pledges to work with Democrats in Congress to shore up economic weak spots, also noting that while only 18,000 jobs were created across the nation in December, unemployment is up to its highest in at least 2 years... French philosopher, writer and feminist Simone de Beauvoir was born 100 years ago, spurring a new round of publications and re-editions of her work, to celebrate her achievement and the significance of her ideas in 20th century society and culture...

Obama leads Dems in Iowa, Huckabee takes GOP prize; Iran supreme leader foresees restoring ties with US; Odinga rejects independent recount of vote...

3 January :: Obama leads Dems in Iowa caucuses 38% to 30%, 29% for Edwards, Clinton respectively; Huckabee overtakes Romney 34% to 25%, with McCain, Thompson around 13% each; long-time frontrunners have been overtaken by candidates with fresh pitch, passionate "ground" organizations... Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamanei has said he would favor reestablishing ties with the US in the future, when it is in Iran's interests to do so, but said he believes the moment is not right and it would hurt Iran to do so at this time; he also reiterated Tehran's policy of refusing to cease uranium enrichment, which the Bush administration has said is a precondition for relaxing hostilities between the two states... After estimated 300 violent deaths since election, Kenyan pres. Mwai Kibaki has said he would be open to talks with opposition leaders, but placed conditions on those talks; Raila Odinga has refused an offer by Kibaki's attorney general to have an independent arbiter oversee a recount of the disputed vote, demanding Kibaki resign and calling alleged police killing of civilians "genocide"...

Kenyan report shows mysterious 1.3 million vote swing in count; Pakistan officials accused of threatening doctors to stop Bhutto autopsy...

1 January 2008 :: Le Monde has acquired a document that outlines irregularities recorded by observers of the Kenyan presidential poll, appearing to demonstrate fraud amounting to the altering of millions of votes: according to Le Monde, the report shows that opposition leader Raila Odinga led by as much as one million votes, a lead which disappeared in mysterious circumstances in late counting; the document was reportedly presented to the government in advance of the announcement that incumbent president Mwai Kibaki was the official winner... Fighting across the country is reported to be intensifying, with nearly 300 people killed in clashes with police; in one western city, where Odinga's support is particularly strong, reports suggest police fired "indiscriminately" into crowds of civilian demonstrators, killing 40, including women and children; fighting has revealed ethnic rifts in Kenyan society and Maina Kiai, chairman of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights has lamented “We are going back to the days of dictatorship”... Reports from Pakistan show gov't has reversed its position on cause of Bhutto death, now offering reward for two suspects seen in video of shooting; CNN is also reporting that a lawyer for Rawalpindi General Hospital, where Bhutto was treated, says gov't officials threatened doctors who intended to perform an autopsy of Bhutto's body to determine cause of death; in his open letter, he wrote "There is a state within the state, and that state within the state does not want itself to be held accountable", an apparent reference to an alleged cadre of corrupt security officials accused of not wanting a return to democratic rule... An American diplomat was shot and killed in the center of Khartoum, Sudan; US officials are not speaking about the details of the killing, saying the shooting is still under investigation; IHT reports "On Monday, President George W. Bush, who has called the conflict in Darfur a genocide, signed a bill that makes it easier for mutual funds and other investment managers to sell stakes in companies that do business in Sudan"...

Opposition to Musharraf swells in wake of Bhutto killing; Kenya vote spurs violence in opposition to alleged vote-rigging...

31 December :: Reports suggest Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party now seeks to mount firm opposition to Musharraf rule, creating concerns of unrest, political instability as troubled nation seeks return to democratic government; WSJ reports new PPP co-chair Asif Ali Zardari "yesterday repeatedly referred to the Pakistan Muslim League (Q), a party affiliated with Mr. Musharraf that controlled the outgoing government, as the "murderers' league." He also demanded a United Nations commission of inquiry into his wife's death"... Wash. Post reports "The death toll from violent protests rose dramatically Monday in this East African country as police clamped down on ethnically charged riots fueled by allegations of vote-rigging in the presidential election"; leading up to the vote, the incumbent pres. Mwai Kibaki had been heavily criticized for directing an unfair election process, and the results have been in dispute since the votes were cast... GOP worries Dems' voters have more energy for primaries, general election, express concern about ability to organize, raise money effectively throughout 2008...