| The sound of the desert blues
During the night we speed past dimly lit roadside villages, occasionally stopping for treacly tea or a chat with the internal border police. We arrive in the wee hours at Gao, a parched mud-brick city some 300 kilometres north-east of Mopti. The hotels are closed, so we kip the night in sleeping bags inside a mud hut on the property of our guide's distant relatives. Four hours later, breakfast is instant coffee, bread and cream cheese followed by four rounds of tea. We thank our hosts, stock up on supplies of rice and petrol, and weave our way through the town's rues - past the Orange mobile phone signs, past the street beer vendors, past the World Massage bar, past the kids playing in mounds of rubbish, and head north to the Sahara desert through plains of grass and umbrella trees.
Six powers propose new sanctions on Iran
The six global powers offered Iran a package of economic incentives and political rewards in June 2006 if it agreed to freeze uranium enrichment before talks on its nuclear program. But Iran has refused despite two previous sets of U.N. sanctions. The new proposal would freeze the assets of additional individuals and entities involved in Irans nuclear activities that were not identified. It calls on all countries to exercise vigilance in entering into new financial commitments with Iraq, including the granting of export credits, guarantees or insurance. It also calls for vigilance over financial dealings with Iranian-based banks, in particular with Bank Melli and Bank Saderat, and their branches and subsidiaries abroad. Iran insists its enrichment activities are intended only to produce fuel for nuclear reactors, but the U.S., the European Union and others suspect its real aim is to produce atomic bombs.
Metrorail extension to Dulles in doubt
Airports authority representatives moved into two floors of a Tysons Corner office building in 2007, working on final designs and prepping for construction in the spring of 2008, all in anticipation of receiving the federal aid. At a business forum last fall, Virginia transportation secretary Pierce Homer was asked by someone in attendance if the state "had a plan B" if the FTA didn't come up with the $900 million. Homer laughed and simply replied, "No." Business leaders in Northern Virginia have called the Metrorail project a crucial piece of the region's future economic success. Some expressed frustration with Simpson's letter. "It is extremely disappointing that, while acknowledging the critical need for mass transit in this corridor, the federal commitment falls so far short," said Bill Lecos, president and CEO of the Fairfax County Chamber of Commerce.
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