Baghdad on Tuesday 2 November went through its worst day of attacks in months, with suicide bombers striking several areas at the same time, killing scores of people (unconfirmed numbers vary from 20 to 80) and injuring many more (unconfirmed numbers vary from 150-300) several news agencies are reporting. There is confusion over the number of blasts, but fear of a revived insurgency appears to be growing among officials and media closely following Iraq since the US pulled out earlier in 2010. The east side of the city was under curfew as night fell, Iraqi government authorities say.
Updates from Guardian, AP/Washington Post, Reuters
Swiss top 16 countries for honesty, Nation Brands Index places country at 8
Zurich, Switzerland 2010: a nice place to live, says Mercer
Update 16: 30 [Video] Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Zurich and Geneva once again come in second and third in the Mercer city quality of living rankings, following Vienna, Austria and just ahead of Vancouver, Canada. Mercer notes that these are not quality of life but quality of living rankings based on measurable criteria.
Calgary, Canada was named the best eco-city and Baghdad was at the bottom of the heap as the worst city for quality of living.
Mercer, which advises companies and staff on international workplace issues, has one of the most respected city rankings of the many produced. They rate 320 cities once a year using 10 categories and 32 criteria.
Switzerland also comes out top in a survey on honesty recently run by Reader’s Digest, where 1,000 Swiss were questioned as part of a survey of 16 countries.
Overall, 91 percent of Swiss questioned would return a wallet they found, while worldwide the figure was 63 percent. Russians came out worst in the survey, but in general the stronger the economy and the less poverty, the more honest people are, according to the survey’s results.
And the Nations Brand Index, which is used by Presence Swiss to measure outside perceptions of the country, rated Switzerland a strong number 8 for 2009.
Links to other sites: 20 Minutes (Fre), Readers Digest Switzerland
How are cities ranked by Mercer?
Update 05:05 More than 150 people are dead and 520 wounded as a result of two suicide bombs that went off in the Green Zone, also known as the International Zone, in the centre of Baghdad, Iran, Sunday 25 October mid-morning. The bombers drove trucks into an area where security has been eased in recent weeks, then parked them shortly before detonating the bombs. US President Barack Obama expressed outrage at the simple hatefulness behind the work, while Iraq authorities have blamed neighbouring countries, reports Reuters: “a reference to Iraqi complaints that Syria provides a safe haven for former Baathists while citizens of other Sunni Muslim states help fund the insurgency in Iraq. Iran, meanwhile, has been accused of funding and arming Shi’ite militia.”
Links to other sites: Al Jazeera, BBC, Bloomberg, CNN, Reuters
CNN video
Two massive bombs went off in the central part of Baghdad, killing more than 75 people and leaving more than 300 wounded. A truck with a bomb hidden in it went off outside of the Iraqi foreign ministry, just outside of the protected Green Zone. It left a crater 3 metres deep and 10 metres wide. Another bomb went off near the finance ministry. Several smaller explosions, believed to be mortars, were also reported. It was the deadliest day since the US military forces handed back security to the Iraqi forces. Bomb attacks are still common in Baghdad but have tended to target poor Shia neighbourhoods. BBC, CNN
© 2009 OCHA
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Geneva observes the first world humanitarian day today 19 August to coincide with the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the UN’s top official in Iraq who died in 2003 along with 21 others in a bomb explosion at UN headquarters in Baghdad. As headquarters of the UN in Europe, Geneva is holding an event in the Parc des Bastions this afternoon at 17:00 which includes officials from the UN and the city and canton of Geneva. Many organizations involved in humanitarian work have set up stands to demonstrate their work, and there will be concerts of classical and jazz music.
Car and truck bombs going off in several parts of Iraq since Friday have killed at least 75 people and injured scores more, as the country struggles to maintain security in the wake of US troops leaving urban areas to local police and Awakening Councils. Reports are still unclear about the magnitude of the lastest attacks, two car bombs in Baghdad and two truck bombs near Mosul Monday morning. Al Jazeera, BBC,
Goodwill ambassador Jolie with a resident of Chikook, Baghdad © UNHCR
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – UNHCR’s goodwill ambassador, Angelina Jolie, paid a visit to some of the estimated 1.6 million internally displaced people (IDPs) in Iraq Thursday 23 July, her third to the country.
Jolie spoke to some families in the Chikook camp northwest of Bagdhad which houses 20,000 people, mostly women and children, displaced by sectarian violence that wracked the country beginning in 2006.
A bomb explosion in Mredi market, a popular market for birds in Sadr City, a poor Shia district in eastern Baghdad, Iraq killed over 70 people and wounded more than 150 early evening 24 June, just days before US military forces are to withdraw from city centres around Iraq. It was the worst such bombing to date in 2009. The bomb was hidden under vegetables on a motorcycle-driven cart, witnesses said. The US signed an agreement with the Iraqi government last year under which all US offensive forces are to withdraw from cities and towns by 30 June, leaving internal security to Iraqi forces. The Pentagon said yesterday it expected more violence in the run-up to its withdrawal but that it would not alter its plans. BBC, CNN, Reuters
A series of bomb attacks have killed at least 29 people in several towns and cities in Iraq Monday. Coming so soon after a weekend suicide truck explosion in Kirkuk that killed 70 people, and days before US troops are to move out of towns to mililtary bases, 30 June, there is concern that “insurgents are determined to make things look as unstable as possible as the pull-out deadline approaches,” according to a BBC reporter in Baghdad. The US has 133,000 troops in Iraq, scheduled to leave the country by September 2011. Xinhua
