Food for Thought

Free Flight to Afghanistan

These photos below show U.S troops packed in an aircraft as they wait for their departure to Afghanistan. The  military plane is stationed at the U.S Transit Centre in Manas, near Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishek. The Manas Air base is a significant American installation in the Central Asian country.

It serves as a base for humanitarian assistance, refuelling, airlifting, and is a transit point for 15,000 troops, planes and cargo. 

Judging by the easy disposition of the soldiers, it is difficult to tell dozens of them die each month in Afghanistan.

The Desperate Dreamer

                                           (An excerpt)

 Nkili dozed off and woke up to find a tall, broad shouldered silhouette letting itself into the house. ‘It’s Osita,’ the silhouette reassured her. Osita was the husband she had never met. His family conducted marriage arrangements on his behalf; and now she had joined him in England.

Stories that Seized the Day

(A review of stories that emblazoned headlines last week)

Citizen X

A crazed gunman in France, who claimed to be avenging the deaths of Palestinian children and military operations abroad, went on a killing spree, ending the lives of seven innocent people. He was cornered in his flat by the French police. A 36-hour siege ensued. A bullet through his head sent him over the hedge.

The story got a bit fuzzy at some point. First we were told he had links with Al Qaeda. Then later, he had no links with Al Qaeda. Some commentators on news sites claimed it was convenient propaganda by the French government as Sarkozy seeks re-election. 

Laugh Out Loud!

The Beauty of a Mother

Nkili stumbled out of an incoherent dream and woke up with a start. Blaring horns, booming music and myriads of voices mingled to produce unbearable noise. As the driver pulled toward the community school, she felt her heart tick like a grandfather clock. Home was only minutes away. She was going to see her mother - after ten long years.

Around the World in Five Minutes

Moroccan Women Protest 'embarrassing' law

Moroccan activists have stepped up pressure to scrap laws that allow rapists to marry their victims after a 16-year-old girl killed herself.