President Obama has named former presidents Bill Clinton and GW Bush to lead the Haiti relief efforts.

While Clinton and GW's father, H.W. Bush, did an admirable job during the 2004 Tsunami, one has to question the selection of GW Bush, given his dismal performance during Katrina, and his administration's unfair, punitive policies on Haitian immigrants, which included keeping them locked up in detention facilities even after immigration judges ordered them released pending hearings. [More...]

Haiti's prime minister says more than 100,000 likely died in the earthquake. The U.S. says there are no tallies yet and thinks that number is high.

Twitter has live first hand reports here.

The main prison in Haiti has collapsed. I hope the prisoners got out or are getting help.

Doctors Without borders says ALL hospitals in Haiti's Port au Prince area have either collapsed or been abandoned.

More pictures here.

The Red Cross has now committed $1 mllion. Here are President Obama's remarks today.

Update: Live updates from ReliefWeb.

The situation in Haiti is a mess. More here.

The U.S. is sending disaster teams.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Americas. Unicef is asking for donations. So is the Red Cross. Here is the link to their disaster newsroom. If you can't access their website, follow along on their twitter feed. Via the State Department:

To help, text "HAITI" to "90999" and a donation of $10 will be given automatically to the Red Cross to help with relief efforts, charged to your cell phone bill. Or visit Red Cross and Mercy Corps to contribute. Also call 1-888-407-4747

Despite pleas and protests, Akmal Shaikh, a 53 year old Briton with bi-polar disease, was executed by a firing squad in China a few hours ago.

Shaikh was only told of his execution yesterday. He is the first European national to be executed in China in 50 years.

His offense involved 4 kilograms of heroin. China allows the death penalty for quantities in excess of 50 grams (less than two ounces.)

His cousins were with him when he was told of his execution and said he was "very upset."

The anti-death-penalty organisation Reprieve said it had medical evidence that Shaikh believed he was going to China in 2007 to record a hit single that would usher in world peace. It said he was duped into carrying a suitcase packed with heroin on a flight from Tajikistan to Urumqi.

As Manuel Zelaya and his supporters, both in Honduras and elsewhere, bitterly learned, the American retreat from engagement in Latin America is not all it was cracked up to be for the Chavistas and their supporters. Jorge Castaneda, the longtime professor of Latin American affairs and one time Mexican foreign minister, calls for the Yanquis to come back:

For the first time in centuries, the United States doesn’t seem to care much what happens in Latin America. [. . .] While the region has reason to cheer this turn in U.S. policy, it simply can’t afford for the United States to disappear. On matters such as immigration, free trade, and the battle against corruption, almost nothing can be done without U.S. cooperation or leadership. [. . .] Economic development in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central America is hardly conceivable, let alone possible, without a significant U.S. contribution, both monetary and conceptual. Building up infrastructure, stabilizing currencies, and establishing effective and transparent antitrust institutions are tasks that countries cannot carry out alone, given their integration with the U.S. economy.

More . . .

Ignoring pleas of human rights activists, the U.N., and others, Thailand has begun the mass deportation of 4,000 ethnic Hmong back to communist Laos where they are likely to face persecution due their assistance to the U.S. during the CIA's war in Laos and the Vietnam war.

[T]he soldiers are unarmed although equipped with shields and batons. Col Thana said the Hmong were being taken to a nearby staging area where they would be put on buses which would take them to the Thai border town of Nong Khai and then across to Laos.

It is expected the Hmong will resist and violence will break out. The State Department has tried to intervene, to no avail. It sent "a senior official" to Bangkok last week, and 9 Senators wrote a letter.

Wrote a letter? That's it? The U.S., through the CIA, recruited and used the Hmong for more than a decade during their secret war in Laos and the Vietnam War. Some stats [More...]:

The U.N. says drugs are fueling terrorism in Africa. Maybe we'll send troops there too? But wait, it's not just Africa:

For his part, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said drug trafficking was also affecting peacekeeping efforts in Afghanistan, Haiti, Guinea-Bissau and elsewhere.

Maybe we'll send troops everywhere. Or, maybe we could give legalization another look.

The crash of the Russian train yesterday going from Moscow to St. Petersburg, killing at least 25 and injuring 100, was the result of a bomb.

The key suspects for investigators would be "either militants from Russia's North Caucasus region or nationalist extremists, pro-Nazi groups".

Some really vivid pictures are here. The train carried 650 people, many businesspeople, which has many speculating it was targeted for that reason, as a kind of class warfare.

"Whoever is responsible, this attack clearly seems aimed not so much at the public, but directly at the ruling class."

[More...]

Pakistan has indicted seven members of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) for the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

The seven, all in custody, are: Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi, the “mastermind” of the attacks; Abdul Wajid alias Zarar Shah, also of the LeT and described as a “facilitator and expert of computer networks;” Hamad Amin Sadiq, who is charged with “facilitating funds and hideouts” for the Mumbai attackers; Mazhar Iqbal alias Abu al Qama, described as a “handler;” Shahid Jamil Riaz, who is described both as a facilitator for funds, as well as a crew member of a boat used by the attackers; Jamil Ahmed, described as “facilitator;” and, Younus, also a “facilitator.”

All have pleaded not guilty. The seven include the two alleged masterminds of the attacks, Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarrar Shah. The Court refused to indict LeT leader Hafiz Saeed. [More...]

Update: Here's Obama's video address on the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appeared for the U.S. at today's celebration in Germany of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Bon Jovi performed his new song, We Weren't Born to Follow." (Official song video here, and yes, he's more than just a pretty face.)

Thousands cheered as 1,000 colorfully decorated dominoes along a mile-long route were toppled to symbolize both the moment the wall came crashing down and the resulting fall of communist governments in Eastern Europe. It was the finale to a day of memorial services, speeches and events that attracted leaders from around the world, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev.

More news of the speeches and celebration.

In Southern Somalia, Abas Hussein Abdirahman, 33, was stoned to death for adultery as a crowd of 300 watched. He had confessed to an Islamist court. His pregnant girlfriend will meet the same fate, death by stoning, after she gives birth.

"He was screaming and blood was pouring from his head during the stoning. After seven minutes he stopped moving," an eyewitness told the BBC.

The BBC's Mohammed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu says that if the woman is also killed, her baby would be given to relatives to look after.

Somalia has not had a "functioning government" in 18 years. Last year, a 13 year old girl was stoned to death for adultery -- she had been raped.

Good news:

The government of Roberto Micheletti, which had refused to let Mr. Zelaya return, signed an agreement with Mr. Zelaya’s negotiators late Thursday that would pave the way for the Honduran Congress to restore the ousted president and allow him to serve out the remaining three months of his term. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton confirmed on Friday that Mr. Zelaya and Mr. Micheletti had approved what she called “an historic agreement.”

Good. The principle is important and must be upheld. Practically speaking, Zelaya was, in essence, stopped in his campaign to overturn the Honduran Constitution's prohibition on reelection of Presidents. He gets to serve his last 2 months in office. A new President is elected on November 29. And this is all over in January 2010. In a way, this is a perfect ending to this story.

Speaking for me only