Interpress Service articles from July 2009

Interpress Service archives from July 2009

PARAGUAY: SMALL FARMERS FIGHT BILL RELAXING PESTICIDE RULES.
July 1, 2009... By Natalia Ruiz D az ASUNCION, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - "Silvino was riding his bike on a dirt road near our home when he was poisoned by toxic agrochemicals, sprayed on a nearby field of soybeans. He died soon afterwards. He was 11," said...

HEALTH-LAOS: UNSANITARY TOILETS COSTING LAOS MILLIONS.
July 1, 2009... By Nergui Manalsuren UNITED NATIONS, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Poor sanitation and hygiene costs the Lao People's Democratic Republic 193 million dollars per year, an estimated 5.6 percent of gross domestic product, according to figures...

US-HONDURAS: DICTATORSHIPS AND DOUBLE STANDARDS REVISITED.
July 1, 2009... Analysis by Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - When the Honduran military deposed President Manuel Zelaya on Sunday in an incident that stirred memories of military coups in Latin America, it also caused some...

AUSTRIA: RACISM ON A SHARP RISE.
July 1, 2009... By Pavol Stracansky VIENNA, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Mainstream political parties in Austria must do more to halt a sharply increasing number of crimes against immigrants, stoked by far-right politicians, racism watchdogs and political...

MIDEAST: PALESTINIAN FISHERS BESET BY ISRAELI GUNBOATS.
July 1, 2009... By Eva Bartlett GAZA CITY, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - "They told us 'go west or we will shoot you'," says Ashraf Sadallah. "Initially, we refused, so they began shooting very close all around our boat." At 6am on Jun. 16, Sadallah and...

BURMA: U.N. CHIEF COMES CALLING WITH POLITICS ON HIS MIND.
July 1, 2009... By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The return this week of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to military-ruled Burma gives the mission an air of a high-stakes gamble. On the line is the world body's credibility to...

HONDURAS: COUP LEADERS FACES INTERNATIONAL ISOLATION.
July 1, 2009... By Thelma Mej a* TEGUCIGALPA, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - In the midst of the international isolation faced by the new government named by the Honduran Congress to replace President Manuel Zelaya who was ousted Sunday, the courts issued an...

IRAN: ANGER AND DESPAIR LINGER AFTER GOVT CONFIRMS POLL.
July 1, 2009... By Sara Farhang TEHRAN, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - On Monday, after a televised counting of the 10 percent of the ballot boxes, the body that oversees Iranian elections upheld the results of the disputed presidential elections. The...

ARGENTINA: GEARING UP FOR A LIVELY PRESIDENTIAL RACE.
July 1, 2009... By Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The government's poor showing in Argentina's mid-term congressional elections Sunday has cleared the way for would-be successors to President Cristina Fern ndez in the 2011...

POLITICS: U.N. DECRIES AID SHORTFALL IN AFGHANISTAN.
July 1, 2009... By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The United Nations, which has expressed disappointment over the slow disbursement of development aid to crisis-stricken Afghanistan, has hurled one of its biggest political insults...

POLITICS: DEPOSED HONDURAN PRESIDENT SPEAKS AT U.N.
July 1, 2009... By Henry Parr UNITED NATIONS, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Just a few days after being expelled from Honduras, the country he was democratically elected to lead, Jose Manuel Zelaya Rosales addressed the U.N. General Assembly Tuesday,...

AFRICA: MATERNAL MORTALITY, A HUMAN RIGHTS CATASTROPHE.
July 1, 2009... Analysis by Rosemary Okello and Terna Gyuse BRUSSELS and CAPE TOWN, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The right to the highest attainable standard of health: not the most fashionable of human rights, but the limits on people's enjoyment of their...

HEALTH-SENEGAL: FISTULA SUFFERERS LEFT TO THEIR FATE.
July 1, 2009... By Koffigan E. Adigbli DAKAR, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - In Senegal's southern region, 58 percent of deliveries take place at home without any medical assistance, according to state reproductive health officials in Kolda, a town 425 km from...

INDIA: REVERSE MIGRATION CASTS PALL OVER KERALA ECONOMY.
July 1, 2009... By K.S. Harikrishnan THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Recession in petroleum-rich Middle Eastern countries is causing thousands of workers to return to their homes in southern Kerala triggering fears of a negative impact on...

LABOR-US: SENATE DIVIDED OVER BILL TO BOOST UNIONS.
July 1, 2009... By Henry Parr NEW YORK, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Since its initial proposal in 2007, the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) has been a divisive bill, passing in the House but not in the Senate. Now, the bill's original author, Senator Tom...

US-COLOMBIA: URIBE PRESSES FTA IN FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH OBAMA.
July 1, 2009... By Danielle Kurtzleben and Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Long-stalled efforts to consummate a free trade agreement (FTA) between the United States and Colombia may be gaining some momentum, despite persistent questions...

MIDEAST: WHEN DRONES BECOME INDISCRIMINATE.
July 1, 2009... By Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler JERUSALEM, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Efforts of international human rights groups to rein in violations of laws of war was given a major impetus when Human Rights Watch researchers presented a report...

CARIBBEAN: DEPORTATION ROW TAKES CENTRE-STAGE AT CARICOM.
July 1, 2009... By Bert Wilkinson GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Caribbean leaders are due to meet for a full working week starting Thursday to discuss issues ranging from climate change to the global economic crisis. But two issues -...

US-IRAQ: IRAQI FORCES TAKE OVER FOR DEPARTING U.S TROOPS.
July 1, 2009... By Jared Levy WASHINGTON, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - U.S. combat troops pulled out of most Iraqi cities Monday, a day before the Jun. 30 deadline for their withdrawal in accordance with the Status of Force Agreement (SOFA) ratified by the...

COLOMBIA: JAIME GARZON'S MURDER; NO DIGGING ALLOWED - PART 2.
July 1, 2009... By Constanza Vieira* BOGOTA, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - It's always the same: the TV audience is grief-stricken and indignant that he is no longer with us, but they continue to laugh along with him. Beloved Colombian comic Jaime Garzcentsn...

PERU: MINISTER TRIED TO PROMOTE POLICE LINKED TO MASSACRE.
July 1, 2009... By Angel P ez LIMA, Jun. 30, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Peru's Interior Minister Mercedes Cabanillas attempted to promote 11 police officials for their performance in the brutal Jun. 5 crackdown on native protests against government decrees that...

RUSSIA: CHECHEN CIVILIANS FACE COLLECTIVE PUNISHMENT.
July 2, 2009... By Marina Litvinsky WASHINGTON, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Russian federal and Chechen authorities should immediately put a stop to home burnings and other collective punishment practices against families of alleged insurgents in Chechnya,...

TRADE: SUBSIDIES DEPLETING FISH STOCK AND HURTING SMALL FISHERS.
July 2, 2009... By Isolda Agazzi GENEVA, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Some 80 percent of the world's fish stocks have been fished to their limits. Red tunas, sharks, rays and cod are some of the species that may soon disappear from our tables. ...

MIDEAST: FUTURE OF FATAH IN DOUBT.
July 2, 2009... Analysis by Mel Frykberg RAMALLAH, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The future of Palestinian unity talks is far more complex than the bitter rivalry and bloodshed separating Palestine's two main political factions, Hamas and Fatah. Serious...

MEDIA-CHINA: BID TO BLOCK "HARMFUL CONTENT" THWARTED.
July 2, 2009... By Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Beijing's last minute climb-down on its latest Internet-censorship effort this week highlights the possibility that Chinese communist mandarins' main challenge in the future lies not...

EAST TIMOR: CRITICS ACCUSE PRIME MINISTER OF NEPOTISM.
July 2, 2009... By Matt Crook DILI, EAST TIMOR, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Pressure to resign is mounting on East Timor's Prime Minster, Xanana Gusamo, amid claims that he misused authority when he signed-off on a multi-million dollar government contract...

IRAN: RIGHTS GROUP SEEKS RELEASE OF DISABLED DISSIDENT.
July 2, 2009... By Katie Mattern WASHINGTON, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Iranian authorities should transfer a prominent reformist detained during the recent post-election disturbances to a medical facility because he has suffered harsh interrogations and...

LIBERIA: LADY MAYOR HEADS TASK FORCE EVICTING CITY SQUATTERS.
July 2, 2009... By Rebecca Murray MONROVIA, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Myaha Johnson sits with her family beneath a flimsy shelter of black plastic, looking with despair at the charred remains of what used to be their home. Mary Broh, Monrovia's...

PAKISTAN: PUBLIC BACKS ARMY'S PUSH AGAINST TALIBAN, POLL FINDS.
July 2, 2009... By Jared Levy WASHINGTON, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Pakistani public opinion remains supportive of the military's fight against the Pakistani Taliban, said a new poll released Wednesday. However, Pakistanis roundly reject the U.S. military...

RIGHTS: U.N. REVISITS U.S. POLICIES ON RACIAL PROFILING.
July 2, 2009... By Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Millions of U.S. citizens continue to face discrimination at the hands of police and other law enforcement agencies just because they are not white, although the country's new leader...

ECONOMY: MIGRANT MISERIES WILL TRICKLE DOWN WORLDWIDE, U.N. WARNS.
July 2, 2009... By Charlotte Lalanne UNITED NATIONS, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Of an estimated total of 200 million migrant workers worldwide, 150 million are particularly vulnerable in this current global financial crisis, according to the U.N. These...

RIGHTS-MALAYSIA: ABUSED DOMESTICS FACE LONG WAIT FOR JUSTICE.
July 2, 2009... By Baradan Kuppusamy KUALA LUMPUR, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Domestic helper Siti Hajar, 33, from Garut district, Indonesia is a picture of calm as she leans against the wall at a shelter for abused maids and dreams of returning to her...

ENVIRONMENT-URUGUAY: INVASION OF THE SAND DUNES.
July 2, 2009... By Ins Acosta CIUDAD DE LA COSTA, Uruguay, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - "A road used to run through here, the sidewalk was over there, and this was the neighbour's yard. That was an esplanade where people parked their cars, and that area over...

ECONOMY-UGANDA: INFLATION WOES CUTTING INTO TAXES AND SALES.
July 2, 2009... By Wambi Michael KAMPALA, Jul. 1, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - With the world economy in the grip of a credit crunch, traders and consumers in Uganda are struggling with price inflation and the depreciation of the country's currency, the Ugandan...

RIGHTS-INDIA: INDIA'S GAYS APPLAUD LANDMARK RULING.
July 3, 2009... By Ranjita Biswas KOLKATA, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - A day after the Delhi High Court's landmark judgment to overturn a colonial law that criminalised homosexuality, Indians expressed mixed reactions to the verdict. After almost 150...

Q&A: "THE ELITES ARE LIKE A HUGE ELEPHANT SITTING ON HAITI".
July 3, 2009... By Michael Deibert PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Since her installation as Prime Minister, Michle Pierre-Louis has presided over a stabilising of the security situation in this often politically unstable country, weathered the...

AFRICA: CIVIL SOCIETY NOT INVITED TO ATTEND AFRICAN UNION MEET.
July 3, 2009... By Diletta Varlese, Terna Gyuse and Joyce Mulama Sirte, LIBYA, CAPE TOWN and NAIROBI, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - No gathering hosted by Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is ever dull, and the Thirteenth Ordinary Session of the African Union here,...

HEALTH: SRI LANKA IN AN UNRELENTING BATTLE WITH DENGUE.
July 3, 2009... By Amantha Perera COLOMBO, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Sri Lankan health authorities have had to combat an upsurge in cases of the lethal Dengue flu in the island nation this year. They have used mass man-power, public awareness campaigns and...

KENYA: MEN ARE NEEDED IN FIGHT FOR GENDER EQUITY.
July 3, 2009... By Joyce Mulama NAIROBI, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The recent Gender Festival in Kenya has underlined the important role that male activism can play in achieving gender equality and women's empowerment. "Men have a role to play when it...

IRAN: FAMILIES OF DETAINED CAMPING OUT AT EVIN PRISON.
July 3, 2009... By Sara Farhang TEHRAN, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Outside the gates of Tehran's notorious Evin prison, hundreds wait impatiently - some with blankets spread out in the parking lot on the street below, making time for dinner. The...

HEALTH: 'GLOBAL RESPONSE NEEDED FOR GLOBAL (FLU) CHALLENGE'.
July 3, 2009... By Emilio Godoy MEXICO CITY, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Health ministers and representatives of 43 countries and the World Health Organisation (WHO) began to meet Thursday in the Mexican resort city of Cancun to discuss a common strategy to...

US-ECUADOR: CHEVRON FAILS IN EFFORT TO LIFT TRADE BENEFITS.
July 3, 2009... By Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - In the latest in a string of setbacks that could cost the U.S. oil giant Chevron billions of dollars in damages, President Barack Obama decided this week to extend trade preferences for...

US-AFGHANISTAN: FOUR THOUSAND MARINES TO "DRINK LOTS OF TEA".
July 3, 2009... By Ali Gharib WASHINGTON, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - After months of planning, aspects of the new U.S. strategy in Afghanistan are beginning to be implemented - including a surge of troops and attempts to curtail the poppy trade that...

HONDURAS: RIGHTS GROUPS, LEGISLATORS DECRY NEW CURFEWS.
July 3, 2009... By Thelma Mej a TEGUCIGALPA, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Local and international human rights organisations and left-wing legislators condemned the suspension of constitutional rights in Honduras during the night-time curfew, which tightened...

DR-CONGO: U.N.-BACKED TROOPS ABUSING CIVILIANS, HRW SAYS.
July 3, 2009... By Marina Litvinsky WASHINGTON, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - United Nations-backed Congolese armed forces conducting intensified military operations in eastern and northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) have failed to protect civilians...

CLIMATE CHANGE: A 'NO PATENTS' MOVEMENT ATTACKS 'BIOPIRACY'.
July 3, 2009... By Ranjit Devraj NEW DELHI, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - A powerful citizens lobby is building up against the patenting of technologies involved in bioengineering, especially when they are derivatives of traditional farmers' innovations. ...

POLITICS: U.S. REVIVES BUSH-ERA CHARGE OF IRANIAN-TALIBAN TIES.
July 3, 2009... By Gareth Porter* WASHINGTON, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The Barack Obama administration has given new prominence to a Bush administration charge that Iran is providing military training and assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, for...

COLOMBIA: "WE WILL NEVER RECOVER OUR STANDARD OF LIVING".
July 3, 2009... By Humberto M rquez CARACAS, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Most of the 200,000 Colombians who over the past decade have fled the civil war in their country and taken refuge in Venezuela are people of more humble origins, small farmers fleeing...

ENVIRONMENT: SCIENTISTS STUDY THE RICHES OF THE MEXICAN PACIFIC.
July 3, 2009... By Emilio Godoy/ Tierramrica * MEXICO CITY, Jul. 2, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Mexico's Pacific coast, one of the world's richest seaboards in terms of biodiversity, has been the focus of very few scientific studies. A new observatory aims to fill...

G8: OVER-EXPLOITED SOUTH SARDINIA A TEST CASE FOR G8 MEETING.
July 6, 2009... By Sabina Zaccaro ROME, Jul. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Although the G8 leaders summit has been moved to the quake-hit city of L'Aquila, more than a dozen civil society organizations are staying on in Sardinia in support of a region hit by...

CARIBBEAN: CARICOM FAMILY WOOED BY SOUTH AMERICAN COUSINS.
July 6, 2009... By Bert Wilkinson GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Jul. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Venezuela's growing political and economic clout is taking a toll on efforts to strengthen the Caribbean's trade bloc, as island nations increasingly look towards the dynamic...

EAST TIMOR: DISABLED ATHLETES AIM FOR SPOT AT BIG GAMES.
July 6, 2009... By Matt Crook DILI, Jul. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Jose Noronha gets around Dili, East Timor, on a red wheelchair-bicycle hybrid that can be pedaled with his hands. The disabled athlete, with minimal use of his legs, is making maximum use of his...

ENVIRONMENT-LAOS: RUBBER PLANTATIONS SPAWN SOCIAL STRIFE.
July 6, 2009... By E-Souk/Newsmekong * ATTAPEU, Laos, Jul. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - For decades, rubber plantations in the country's Mekong region reaped huge profits for local businessmen. But this industry, long regarded a blessing, is now increasingly a...

CHINA: OPPOSITION GROWS TO GOVERNMENT'S ONE-CHILD POLICY.
July 6, 2009... By Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING, Jul. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - When China's population control was imposed in 1980, it was meant to be a temporary measure which the government promised to phase out in three decades. It was intended to halt the...

HUNGARY: POLITICS EDGES FURTHER TO THE RIGHT.
July 6, 2009... By Zolt n Dujisin BUDAPEST, Jul. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The rise of the anti-gypsy Hungarian far right has revealed deep failures in the country's political system and its civil society. Hungary is still recovering from the shock of...

FRANCE: 'WHERE IS THE BURQA SARKOZY WANTS TO BAN?'.
July 6, 2009... By Alecia D. McKenzie PARIS, Jul. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - On the bustling streets around Boulevard de Belleville, in one of the most diverse neighborhoods here, fashionable French women could be seen in light summer dresses, jeans, chadors,...

LABOR-URUGUAY: STITCHING A FUTURE TOGETHER.
July 6, 2009... By Luis Alberto Carro ROSARIO, Uruguay, Jul. 5, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - A group of women cross this Uruguayan town every morning, some on bike and some on foot. Once employed at a high-end textile plant, they now work for a women's cooperative,...

SWAZILAND: NEW TAPS BRING VILLAGE DRINKING WATER, GARDENS.
July 6, 2009... By Phathizwe-Chief Zulu MAPLOTINI, Swaziland, Jul. 5, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - What is the first step towards transforming life in a hardscrabble rural community? Address issues of water. The Swaziland Water and Agricultural Development...

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: SONG AND DANCE EMPOWERS WOMEN FARMERS.
July 6, 2009... By Sholain Govender-Bateman PRETORIA, Jul. 5, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Community theatre will be the main thrust of an innovative pilot project that aims to give women farmers stronger influence in agricultural policy-making in Southern Africa....

BRAZIL: WOMEN 'PEACE WORKERS' IN THE FAVELAS.
July 6, 2009... By Fabiana Frayssinet RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - It's another day marked by gunfire in the Morro da Providencia "favela", one of the most dangerous slums in this Brazilian city, and the only area where people can move around...

AGRICULTURE-AFRICA: CALLS FOR ORGANIC GREEN REVOLUTION.
July 6, 2009... By Wambi Michael KAMPALA, Jul. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Africa needs a Green Revolution, but one that will increase agricultural productivity by using practices that build soil fertility while minimising harm to the environment. Organic...

RELIGION-BRAZIL: ANTI-AFRO SECTARIANISM DENOUNCED AT UN.
July 6, 2009... By Fabiana Frayssinet RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - "Ialorix " Gilda died of a massive heart attack in 1999 after members of a pentecostal church swarmed into her temple and hit her over the head with a Bible. Her death drew...

DEVELOPMENT-KENYA: NEW LAND GIVE-AWAY TO QATARI INVESTORS.
July 6, 2009... By Joyce Mulama NAIROBI, Jul. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Concern is mounting in Kenya over reports that the government has leased a big slice of agricultural land to Qatari foreign investors to produce food for export. Land rights activists...

PERU: PETROLEUM SULLIES THE AMAZON.
July 6, 2009... By Milagros Salazar/IFEJ * BAGUA, Peru, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - "Now the fish are going to disappear," said Luis Umpunchi, an Awaj[pounds sterling]n Indian, one of about 20 people gathered around a broken oil pipeline in the Jayais...

AGRICULTURE: LOBBYING IS FIERCE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY IN AFRICA.(Conference notes)
July 6, 2009... By Wambi Michael KAMPALA, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Africa must embrace agricultural biotechnology or risk being excluded from a major technological revolution that has had increased food production in the Europe, North America and Asia....

EUROPE: CROATIA ON UNCERTAIN COURSE FOR EU MEMBERSHIP.
July 6, 2009... By Cillian Donnelly BRUSSELS, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The Swedish government, which now holds the rotating presidency of the European Union for the second half of this year, says plans to bring Croatia into the EU have not been derailed...

RIGHTS-AFRICA: AU HEEDS PERPETRATORS NOT VICTIMS.
July 6, 2009... By Diletta Varlese SIRTE, Libya, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The final day of the African Union summit has been dedicated to the issue of the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir,...

RUSSIA: HOPING FOR MUCH, EXPECTING LITTLE.
July 6, 2009... By Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Russia next week is expected to bring significant but limited improvement in troubled relations between the two giants. Obama has spoken of...

POLITICS-BOTSWANA: PROMISES FOR GENDER EQUALITY FALL FLAT.
July 6, 2009... By Ephraim Nsingo GABORONE, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - As Botswana prepares for general elections in October, gender activists are protesting against the lack of female parliamentary candidates. The ruling Botswana Democratic Party (BDP)...

CUBA-US: FROSTY RELATIONS NO BAR TO COMMUNICATION.
July 6, 2009... By Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Jul. 3, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Cuba and the United States are poised to resume talks on migration issues any time now, although the five Cuban agents imprisoned in the U.S. remain "a formidable obstacle" to normalising...