Children exposed to World Trade Center dust are at much higher risk for respiratory problems, according to a New York City Health Department survey. The survey of the 3,100 children who are enrolled in the city's World Trade Center Health Registry found that being caught in the dust cloud in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 was the single biggest risk factor in developing respiratory problems. Half of all children enrolled in the registry developed a new or worsening breathing problem. But those who were caught in the massive dust plume were diagnosed with asthma at double the rate of those who were not. (Newsday, Nov. 29)

From the International Federation of Journalists, Nov. 23, via AllAfrica:

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) today urged President Mamadou Tandja of Niger to take strong action for the release of two journalists accused of criminal offences following their coverage of the Tuareg rebellion in Niger.

The entire population of northern Niger's remote desert town of Iferouane has fled, a local official told BBC last week. Deputy mayor Mohammed Oumma said 5,000 residents were displaced following army reprisals in operations against Tuareg guerillas. The government in Niamey denies that Iferouane, home to several uranium mines, has become a ghost town. (BBC, Nov. 19) President Mamadou Tandja Nov. 23 prolonged an emergency zone in Niger's desert north region of Agadez, extending for a further three months the "state of alert" declared in August. (Reuters, Nov. 23)

Australia's Labor Party prime minister-elect Kevin Rudd said Nov. 30 he will pull the country's 550 combat troops out of Iraq by the middle of 2008. Rudd was elected in a landslide Nov. 24, ousting veteran conservative prime minister John Howard, a supporter of the US-led war in Iraq. (AFP, Nov. 30) In the latest in the growing string of US atrocities in Iraq, soldiers opened fire on a car that tried to run a road block during a supposed operation against al-Qaeda in Baiji, 140 miles north of Baghdad, Nov. 27. A wounded child was found inside the vehicle, and was transferred to a military medical facility where he died. "We regret that civilians are hurt or killed while coalition forces work diligently to rid this country of the terrorist networks that threaten the security of Iraq and our forces," said US military spokesman Commander Ed Buclatin. (AFP, Nov. 27)

A nuclear war between Israel and Iran would be mutually devastating, but Israel might survive as a state, according to a new study by Anthony Cordesman of the DC-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. According to "Iran, Israel and Nuclear War," the superiority of Israel's presumed nuclear arsenal would offset the disadvantages of the country's tiny territory. Iran's nuclear strikes would likely target the Tel Aviv area and Haifa, killing 200,000 to 800,000 outright—but recovery would be "theoretically possible in population and economic terms." By contrast, Israeli nuclear attacks on Iran would kill between 16 million and 28 million, making recovery "not possible in the normal sense of the term." (Washington Jewish Week, Nov. 29)

Six days before President Nicolas Sarkozy is to visit Algiers, the Algerian veterans' minister Mohamed Cherif Abbas was quoted in the daily Al-Khabar Nov. 26 attributing Sarkozy's rise to a "Jewish lobby" that holds sway over French politics, and implying the president—whose maternal grandfather was Jewish—exploited family connections. (AFP, Nov. 28) The comments came as the new violence in Paris' suburbs reached a height—and spread to Toulouse, where a library was set on fire and a dozen cars were torched. The riots, sparked by the deaths of two teenagers in a police car collision with a motorbike Nov. 25, this time saw North African youth firing on police with shotguns. "This is a real guerrilla war," senior police union official Patrice Ribeiro told RTL radio. (AFP, NYT, Nov. 28)

Japan's House of Councillors passed a bill Nov. 28 to end the nation's air force mission in Iraq. Japan withdrew its ground troops from Iraq in July 2006, but a Japanese unit stationed in Kuwait still provides air support for the Multi-National Force-Iraq. The bill, which passed 133-103, is supported primarily by the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)—and is not expected to pass the more powerful House of Representatives, dominated by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). (Jurist, Nov. 28)

A suicide car bomber Nov. 27 detonated his payload near two armored vehicles used by US-led coalition troops in Kabul, killing at least two civilians and destroying the wall of a nearby house. The Hezb-i-Islami claimed responsibility for the attack. (AP, Nov. 27) (Hezb-i-Islami is led by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, one of the primary beneficiaries of US aid in the 1980s.) That same day, US air-strikes killed 12 civilian road workers, the governor of Nuristan province charged. "So far we know that 12 people have been killed by US bombardment," Gov. Tameem Nuristani told Reuters. "They were only poor and innocent road construction workers." The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed there had been fighting in the area, but said no air-strikes had been launched. BBC reported the workers were building a road for the US military under a local contractor. (Reuters, BBC World Service, Nov. 28)