Saturday, January 05, 2008
Stories of sheer terror
We were anxious to get out of Nairobi and see what was going in the western part of the country, towards the Rift Valley. We drove about 240km northwest of the capital, to a rural hub called Molo, and there it all unfolded.
Thousands of people squatting on the grass without food, shelter or medicine. They had escaped with their lives and stories of sheer terror. Tribal clashes had led to machete murders, burning, raping and looting. As if these stories weren't enough, when the survivors did reach safety, there was very little of anything they needed. On the day we arrived, there was no food distribution and some of the victims of machete attacks had been in their blood-stained clothes for three days. Worse yet, we saw very little evidence that mass quantities of organized aid were on their way to Molo. What is so frustrating as a journalist is the cruel paradox of modern life. The whole time I was in Molo I had full BlackBerry service. I was e-mailing photos from the aid camp to CNN Center in Atlanta in seconds, and yet the people I was interviewing had to accept that the "modern world" could not feed them. Watch my report on Kenya's refugee crisis -- From CNN Correspondent Paula Newton in Kenya 26 Comments
 Add a commentFriday, January 04, 2008
Forget analysts: What do the stars say?
I thought we could all use a bit of "cosmic" relief at the end of a tiring week, so here goes:
Baghdad producer Mohammed Al-Tawfeeq just sent me these pictures of Ali Al-Bakri, one of Iraq's most popular astrologers.  41-year old Al-Bakri has been an astrologer for 10 years.  On the set of Your Fortune (all photos Mohammed Tawfeeq) Ali Al-Bakri is the host of a call-in show on state-run Iraqiya Television called Your Fortune. In a country traumatised by decades of dictatorship and war, a surprising number of viewers ask only about their love lives. "Does she love me?"; "Will he marry me?" Ah, good old human nature. Al-Bakri says viewers also ask about their health or if it is safe for them to travel on a specific date. Let's hope he gets those predictions right. But, Al-Bakri doesn't just make love life prophesies, he also looks into the stars to predict the future for all of humanity. He told CNN's Mohammed Tawfeeq that Hillary Clinton will be the next U.S. president and that her time in office will be made very difficult by sky-rocketing oil prices. Also, Al-Bakri whispers that several Iraqi politicians use his services as well. They don't call into the live show: The politicians, he says, call his private cellphone. -- Posted by CNN Anchor Hala Gorani |
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