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Wednesday, May 14, 2008 23:03 GMT

Latest News

POLITICS-US: New Approach Awaited on Latin America, Cuba
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON, May 14 (IPS) - More than 150 years after the United States promulgated the Monroe Doctrine, Washington should recognise that its dominance over the Americas has ended and that it must "engage Latin America on its own terms", according to a new report released here Wednesday by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), one of the nation's most influential think tanks.
MORE >>

RIGHTS: Women's Groups Push for Gender-Sensitive Budgets
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, May 14 (IPS) - As women's groups and political activists intensify their global campaign for gender empowerment, there is a growing trend towards "gender budgeting" both among developed and developing nations.
MORE >>

POLITICS: Bogus Claim, al-Maliki Stall U.S. Plan on Iran Arms
Analysis by Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON, May 14 (IPS) - Early this month, the George W. Bush administration's plan to create a new crescendo of accusations against Iran for allegedly smuggling arms to Shiite militias in Iraq encountered not just one but two setbacks.
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LATIN AMERICA: European Corporations on Trial
By Milagros Salazar
LIMA, May 14 (IPS) - Twenty European corporations are being tried for human rights violations before an ethical tribunal at the Peoples’ Summit, organised for the third time by the Bi-Regional Network "Enlazando Alternativas" (Linking Alternatives) in Lima. The organisers announced that they hope to take some of these cases to ordinary courts of justice in Peru.
MORE >>

NICARAGUA: Asylum for Survivors of Attack on FARC Camp
By José Adán Silva
MANAGUA, May 14 (IPS) - The Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega granted asylum to two young Colombian women who survived a Mar. 1 bombing raid by the armed forces of their country on a FARC guerrilla camp in Ecuador.
MORE >>

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Water "Undervalued and Not Treated With Respect"
By Lawrence Keketso
MASERU, May 14 (IPS) - A two-day conference on water issues in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which opened Wednesday in Maseru, Lesotho, has seen representatives of government, civil society, the private sector, donors and other groups discuss the likely effects of climate change on development in the region.
MORE >>

THEATRE-US: The Year the War Came Home

By Lucy Komisar*
NEW YORK, May 14 (IPS) - On this 40th anniversary of 1968, the year that for the United States was the apogee of opposition to the war in Vietnam, two new Off Broadway plays explore divergent ways that U.S. citizens protested -- and ponder the best way to contest a senseless war.
MORE >>

LATIN AMERICA: Food Price Inflation Threatens Children
By Daniela Estrada*
SANTIAGO, May 14 (Tierramérica) - Child malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean will be aggravated by global food shortages, even though the region produces much more food than it consumes, say experts and officials.
MORE >>

MIDEAST: Siege Hits Palestinians Before They Are Born
By Mohammed Omer
GAZA CITY, May 14 (IPS) - The Israeli siege of Gaza that has restricted access to food, water and medicine is now beginning to hit unborn children and newborn babies.
MORE >>

Q&A: Can Save the MDGs Yet
Interview with Glenys Kinnock, Member of the European Parliament
BRUSSELS, May 14 (IPS) - White banners were draped across public buildings in much of Europe during 2005 as an unlikely coalition of celebrities, church groups and trade unionists took part in the Make Poverty History campaign. The Group of Eight (G8) top industrialised countries and the European Union responded by promising to double their aid to Africa by 2010 at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.
MORE >>

Global Affairs

RIGHTS: Women's Groups Push for Gender-Sensitive Budgets
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - As women's groups and political activists intensify their global campaign for gender empowerment, there is a growing trend towards "gender budgeting" both among developed and developing nations.
MORE >>

Q&A: Can Save the MDGs Yet
Interview with Glenys Kinnock, Member of the European Parliament
BRUSSELS - White banners were draped across public buildings in much of Europe during 2005 as an unlikely coalition of celebrities, church groups and trade unionists took part in the Make Poverty History campaign. The Group of Eight (G8) top industrialised countries and the European Union responded by promising to double their aid to Africa by 2010 at a summit in Gleneagles, Scotland.
MORE >>

TRANSPORT: Major Hurdle for IBSA Initiative
By Paranjoy Guha Thakurta
NEW DELHI - As the foreign ministers of India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) met in Cape Town on Monday, to take forward a unique initiative in South-South economic cooperation, a gathering of hard-nosed corporate captains from the three countries discussed the absence of adequate transportation facilities among the ‘IBSA’ members.
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ENVIRONMENT: Only the Cover Is Green
By Julio Godoy
BONN - Notice how green the public relations campaigns of multinational corporations have become.
MORE >>

AUSTRALIA: Diffident on UN Grant of Larger Continental Shelf
By Stephen de Tarczynski
MELBOURNE - While last month’s landmark ruling by a United Nations body granting Australia jurisdiction over an additional 2.5 million square kilometres of seabed has been hailed as a "potential bonanza", a leading expert on international law expects the government to proceed with caution.
MORE >>

MDGs

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Water "Undervalued and Not Treated With Respect"
By Lawrence Keketso
MASERU - A two-day conference on water issues in the Southern African Development Community (SADC), which opened Wednesday in Maseru, Lesotho, has seen representatives of government, civil society, the private sector, donors and other groups discuss the likely effects of climate change on development in the region.
MORE >>

LATIN AMERICA: Food Price Inflation Threatens Children
By Daniela Estrada*
SANTIAGO - Child malnutrition in Latin America and the Caribbean will be aggravated by global food shortages, even though the region produces much more food than it consumes, say experts and officials.
MORE >>

DEVELOPMENT: Sweden, Ireland, Britain Lead in Aiding Africa
By Emad Mekay
WASHINGTON - Sweden, Ireland and Britain top an index of 21 rich countries that ranks their commitment to help develop African nations. The United States, the world's largest economy, was a distant thirteenth, while Japan remains the least committed to the continent among rich nations.
MORE >>

Environment

LATIN AMERICA: European Corporations on Trial
By Milagros Salazar
LIMA - Twenty European corporations are being tried for human rights violations before an ethical tribunal at the Peoples’ Summit, organised for the third time by the Bi-Regional Network "Enlazando Alternativas" (Linking Alternatives) in Lima. The organisers announced that they hope to take some of these cases to ordinary courts of justice in Peru.
MORE >>

ENVIRONMENT: Only the Cover Is Green
By Julio Godoy
BONN - Notice how green the public relations campaigns of multinational corporations have become.
MORE >>

Q&A: Portugal’s ‘Mayor of the Future’ in Green Energy
Interview with Mayor José Maria Prazeres Pós-de-Mina
MOURA, Portugal - He is mayor of one of Portugal’s smallest and poorest municipalities. But his perseverance in using solar energy to drive development in his region has brought José Maria Prazeres Pós-de-Mina attention from the rest of the country and from other members of the European Union (EU).
MORE >>

Human Rights

POLITICS-US: New Approach Awaited on Latin America, Cuba
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - More than 150 years after the United States promulgated the Monroe Doctrine, Washington should recognise that its dominance over the Americas has ended and that it must "engage Latin America on its own terms", according to a new report released here Wednesday by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), one of the nation's most influential think tanks.
MORE >>

NICARAGUA: Asylum for Survivors of Attack on FARC Camp
By José Adán Silva
MANAGUA - The Nicaraguan government of Daniel Ortega granted asylum to two young Colombian women who survived a Mar. 1 bombing raid by the armed forces of their country on a FARC guerrilla camp in Ecuador.
MORE >>

THEATRE-US: The Year the War Came Home

By Lucy Komisar*
NEW YORK - On this 40th anniversary of 1968, the year that for the United States was the apogee of opposition to the war in Vietnam, two new Off Broadway plays explore divergent ways that U.S. citizens protested -- and ponder the best way to contest a senseless war.
MORE >>

Health

MIDEAST: Siege Hits Palestinians Before They Are Born
By Mohammed Omer
GAZA CITY - The Israeli siege of Gaza that has restricted access to food, water and medicine is now beginning to hit unborn children and newborn babies.
MORE >>

ENVIRONMENT: Only the Cover Is Green
By Julio Godoy
BONN - Notice how green the public relations campaigns of multinational corporations have become.
MORE >>

HEALTH-KENYA: Months After Dump Scare, Problems Persist
By Kwamboka Oyaro
NAIROBI - Every day, the Dandora dumpsite in the eastern part of Nairobi receives 2,000 tonnes of rubbish -- about half of the waste generated daily by the capital's 4.5 million people. The 12-hectare site is a low mountain of smouldering trash. Vultures and marabou storks circle overhead in anticipation of a meal.
MORE >>

BURMA: Junta Does U-Turn on Relief Aid
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - The military government of Burma (Myanmar), in a dramatic turnaround, has offered to cooperate with the United Nations in its massive relief efforts in the cyclone-devastated country where the death toll could exceed 100,000.
MORE >>