First and foremost, the humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia isn't over simply because it has disappeared from the front pages of the newspapers. The Guardian reports that more than 12 million people need immediate help, while efforts to distribute food are hindered by rebel and Somali government troops (and logistics are also a problem). Please consider donating to a relief organisation, Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF provide the option of donating via text message (at least in Austria).
As the Syrian government continues to assault protesters, international pressure to cease the attacks increases. Turkey, which shares a border of 800 kilometres with Syria and is seeing an increase in refugees, sent its foreign minister to deliver a "grave message" to Syrian leader Assad.
After the last-minute agreement on raising the debt ceiling, Standard & Poor's, one of the three major rating agencies, downgraded the US to AA+, which was promptly followed by a massive slump (a "free fall" of the stock market), also caused by lack of faith in the European Central Bank's ability to support troubled European country (also dubbed "the ever-growing list of doom") and headlines indicating the possibility of "A Second Recession".
On August 4th, police shot Tottenham resident Mark Duggan. Two nights later, following peaceful protests, riots broke out and quickly spread to other London areas, and, as of last night, Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol.
Some attempts to explain the context of the riots
NY Times: Egyptian Bloggers Parse London Riots in Real Time, August 8, 2011
NY Times: Egyptian Bloggers Parse London Riots in Real Time, August 8, 2011
A Hackney resident shouting at looters: "Get real. Do it for a cause. If you're fighting for a cause then fight for a fucking cause."
Diane Abbott, MP from Hackney, on how the protests differ from the ones 26 years ago:
The other thing that may be different is the underlying relationship between the police and the community. My friend David Lammy, who has been the Member of Parliament for Tottenham since 2000, was correct to point out that, while the original Broadwater Farm riots were a straight fight between the police and the youth, the latest disturbances were an attack on Tottenham itself. It was not just cars and buildings that went up in smoke on Saturday night. It was 25 years of investment, of painstaking attempts to transform Tottenham's reputation and (above all) of trying to build better police-community relations.
Independent: Diane Abbott: A tinder box waiting to explode, August 8, 2011
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