About Hillary Clinton's latest statement and have spent the better part of two days talking about it, here's what is going on in the world around you.
The death toll in China from the earthquake has reached over 62,000 people. Does that number shock you? Are you saying, that's last week's story? Has it already left your consciousness?
In Burma, that country is finally allowing workers from all countries to help with the survivors of the cyclone there. 78,000 people have died there and 58,000 people are missing.
The powerful aftershock in China killed one person and injured 260. It measured 5.8 on the Richter scale. Chinese Aftershock
In Burma yesterday, after weeks of refusing international aid, Burma agreed to get help from the international community. So far only 23% of the 2 million Burmese hardest hit by the cyclone have been reached. Here's a Time magazine article about the Burma situation.
Burma Cyclone
The international aid conference for Burma begins today with 50 countries attending. Burmese Aid Conference
The U.S. has already given 20.5 million in aid but U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Scot Marciel, has told Burma that it must provide unfettered access to all devastated areas before more aid can be provided.
US conditions for Burma Aid
I know there is a lot of excitement about the daily horse race of the Democratic party, I know the American attention span is notoriously short, especially for international news, I'm guilty of that too. But I saw these numbers of dead, and I had to write something. Take a little time, read this diary, if you feel like donating, here's a list of places for the Burmese cyclone donations.
Burma Donations
Here's a list for Chinese earthquake donations.
Chinese Earthquake Donations
I'm not asking you to give donations, just providing links if you want to. Just a friendly reminder to look at the big picture. And if you've donated already, you're already looking at the big picture. Congratulations!
Thanks for your time.
Update:
Maybe Burma is not allowing foriegn aid after all: A French ship turned around and delivered it's aid to Thailand for distribution, because the government of Burma would not let the ship into their country. It's very sad. Dictators don't have to listen to the will of the people.
Here's the link to the story: Aid Effort Stalls