Guantánamo Bay, Cuba
Youngest detainee pleads: Omar Khadr, a Canadian citizen arrested in Afghanistan at age 15, pleaded guilty this week to terrorism-related charges. Khadr admitted planting bombs and throwing a grenade that killed a U.S. soldier in Afghanistan in 2002. Rather than stand trial—his would have been the first before a military commission under the Obama administration—Khadr struck a deal to serve an additional eight years in prison, seven of them in Canada. Now 24, Khadr has been incarcerated at Guantánamo for eight years.
Artibonite, Haiti
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Cholera epidemic: A cholera outbreak in central Haiti has killed more than 250 people and could spread to the densely populated capital, health officials said this week. More than 3,300 people have been sickened with the disease, which spreads through contaminated water, causing acute diarrhea that can kill within hours. If the outbreak spreads to Port-au-Prince, where more than 1.3 million displaced earthquake survivors are housed in crowded tent cities, it could be devastating. “This is clearly a result of the international failure to achieve even the most basic reconstruction,” said Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. Many international aid commitments to Haiti have yet to be honored. The U.S. has delivered about $1 billion in aid; $1 billion more has been held up in the Senate.
Manaus, Brazil
Drought follows flood: Brazil has declared a state of emergency in the Amazon region, where a severe drought has left river levels at record lows. Thousands of boats are stranded in dry riverbeds, and dozens of villages are cut off from river thoroughfares. The Amazon climate has been seesawing for a decade; a severe drought was followed by unprecedented flooding with record-high rivers, which was followed by an even worse drought. Local scientists blame global warming. “It’s reason for some pretty deep concern over the Amazon ecosystem,” said Daniel Nepstad of the Amazon Environmental Research Institute. “We’re seeing the reliability of the seasons in the Amazon break down.”
