Interpress Service articles from June 2003

Interpress Service archives from June 2003

POLITICS: RUSSIA AND THE U.S. AT ODDS OVER IRAN.
June 2, 2003... by Sergei Blagov MOSCOW, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- A suspected weapons of mass destruction program in Iran is creating a new obstacle to improved relations between the U.S. and Russia. While President George W. Bush and Russian President...

POLITICS-MIDEAST: UPHILL BATTLE FOR BUSH ON ROADMAP INITIATIVE.
June 2, 2003... by Cam McGrath CAIRO, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- As President George W. Bush launches his peace initiative in the Middle East, many Arabs are asking whether he really is up for the task. "Bush faces an unprecedented level of anti-Americanism...

POLITICS: THE CALL OF THE LOTTERY BINDS THE DIVIDED KOREAS.
June 2, 2003... by Ahn Mi-Young SEOUL, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- North and South Korea are divided by a heavily armed border, different political ideologies and an economic gulf, but they share a hot, new trend: Both have been bitten by the lottery bug. On...

SOUTH AFRICA: POVERTY AND AIDS KEEP MANY CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL.
June 2, 2003... by Farah Khan JOHANNESBURG, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- "My father died a long time ago," says an 11-year old girl from South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province. "My mother died last year. That will always stay in me because the life I am living is...

POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: THAW IN INDIA-PAKISTAN TIES NEEDS NEW PUSH.
June 2, 2003... Commentary - By Praful Bidwai NEW DELHI, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- More than six weeks after Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee held out the "hand of friendship" to Pakistan from the Kashmir Valley, the process of rapprochement between...

POLITICS-NEPAL: PEACE TALKS HAVE TO WAIT OUT GOV'T FORMATION.
June 2, 2003... by Damakant Jayshi KATHMANDU, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- The Nepali government's talks with the Maoist rebels hang in the balance after the Friday resignation of Prime Minister Lokendra Bahadur Chand, ostensibly to cultivate a more stable...

DEVELOPMENT: GROWING DOUBTS ABOUT VALUE OF G8 SUMMITS FOR AFRICA.
June 2, 2003... by Nilla Ahmed EVIAN, France, Jun. 1 (IPS/GIN) -- Civil society organizations are becoming increasingly skeptical about the value of the G8 summits to Africa. More energy has gone into non-African issues such as the aftermath of the...

DEVELOPMENT: COUNTER-SUMMIT ISSUES URGENT CALL FOR DEBT RELIEF.
June 2, 2003... by Gustavo Capdevila ANNEMASSE, France, May 31 (IPS/GIN) -- Civil society organizations issued another call to the Group of Eight (G8) most powerful countries to cancel the foreign debt owed by the world's 52 poorest nations -- although...

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: BRIBERY SCANDAL EXPOSES DEPTHS OF CORRUPTION.
June 2, 2003... by Ranjit Devraj NEW DELHI, May 31 (IPS/GIN) - Bribing the taxman is not unknown in India, but the arrest of a senior income tax official this month on charges that he had bribed a federal minister, to secure a plum posting, showed the...

AFRICA: G8 LEADERS CHALLENGED TO FULFIL COMMITMENTS.
June 2, 2003... by Nilla Ahmed ANNEMASSE, France, May 31 (IPS/GIN) -- African leaders have joined non governmental organizations in calling on the Group of Eight countries to deliver on previous commitments, in particular on the Africa Plan of Action that...

ENVIRONMENT-LATIN AMERICA: A DANGEROUS SPLASH IN THE SEA.
June 2, 2003... by Gustavo Gonz?lez SANTIAGO, May 31 (IPS/GIN) -- From Acapulco to Vi[currency]a del Mar, the most beautiful beaches of Latin America are turning into dangerous places for bathers, the result of increasing contamination from various...

RIGHTS-U.S.: RIGHTS SUITS LOOM OVER 'ABUSES' IN POST-9/11 ROUNDUPS.
June 3, 2003... by Jim Lobe and Kathrin Dauenhauer WASHINGTON, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- A human rights group says it is considering legal action on behalf of immigrants rounded up following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks after a Justice Department report...

ECONOMY-ZAMBIA: WESTERN DONORS HOLD UP AID IN PRIVATIZATION RIFT.
June 3, 2003... by Allan Peters LUSAKA, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- In a show of arm-twisting, Western donors are withholding financial support to Zambia over its reluctance to privatize the remaining three state-owned firms considered strategic to the southern...

IMMIGRATION-RIGHTS: TIBETANS LOSE NEPAL AS SAFE HAVEN.
June 3, 2003... by Damakant Jayshi KATHMANDU, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- Kelsang, 22, says he left his monastery in Tibet after Chinese officials "asked us to denounce the revered Dalai Lama and introduced practices in our religion that were not acceptable to...

SOUTH ASIA: WORKING WOMEN GET POOR HEALTH SERVICES.
June 3, 2003... by Qurratul Ain Tahmina DHAKA, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- Miru, her husband, three children and mother all live in a windowless tiny hole in a congested, stuffy slum in the western periphery of Bangladesh's capital, one that is accessible through...

MALAYSIA: WITH 4 DETAINEES' FREE, SECURITY LAW BECOMES NEW TARGET.
June 3, 2003... by Baradan Kuppusamy KUALA LUMPUR, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- When some 200 activists outside Malaysia's Kamunting jail on Sunday demanded the release of six opposition leaders, they had no inkling they were about to score a major victory against...

EDUCATION-MOROCCO: FIGHTING TERRORISM WITH LITERACY.
June 3, 2003... by Nizar Al-Aly RABAT, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- "The extremists have been taking advantage of my brother's ignorance," says Karim Benkhayi, a 22-year-old student. "Had he gone to school, he would not have been so vulnerable to the religious...

JAPAN: WIDESPREAD PERSONAL DEBT FORCES GOVERNMENT ACTION.
June 3, 2003... by Suvendrini Kakuchi TOKYO, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- Maeda tumbled into a debt morass with alarming swiftness. The 54-year-old, who asked that his full name not be revealed, worked for an apparel maker in Japan until he was laid off three...

DEVELOPMENT: LULA AND VAJPAYEE MAKE THEIR MARK AT EVIAN.
June 3, 2003... by Gustavo Capdevila GENEVA, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- One should never squander an opportunity, especially when one can make the truth be heard, said Brazil's President Luiz In?cio Lula da Silva, defending his participation and that of other...

COLOMBIA: CITIZEN GROUPS URGE A NEGOTIATED SOLUTION TO THE WAR.
June 3, 2003... by Yadira Ferrer BOGOTA, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- More than 100 non-governmental organizations and activists in Colombia have signed a document calling for a negotiated solution to the civil war and rejecting what they called the right-wing...

IRAQ-U.S.: THOSE MISSING WMD? QUICK, LOOK IN THE GULF OF TONKIN.
June 3, 2003... Analysis - By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- When all three major U.S. newsweeklies -- 'Time', 'Newsweek' and 'U.S. News & World Report' -- run major features on the same day on possible government lying, you can bet you have the...

POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: IS IT REALLY THE HATED WARLORD'S BODY?
June 3, 2003... by Lansana Fofana FREETOWN, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- Crowds have been pouring in at the Choitrams Hospital in the west of the Sierra Leonean capital Freetown to have a glimpse of a body believed to be that of rebel commander Sam Bockarie,...

POLITICS: NO THAW IN THE CHILL BETWEEN BUSH AND CHRETIEN.
June 3, 2003... Analysis - By Mark Bourrie OTTAWA, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- Prime Minister Jean Chretien and President George W Bush met for the first time last weekend since Canada opted out of the U.S.-led war against Iraq, and engaged in what the prime...

DEVELOPMENT-CUBA: EU AID CUT-OFF WOULD HURT PEOPLE, U.N. AIDE SAYS.
June 3, 2003... by Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- If foreign aid for economic and social development programmes in Cuba is reduced in reprisal for the socialist regime's recent crackdown on dissidents, it would hurt the people rather than the...

POLITICS-YEMEN: UNREST GROWS OVER MUSLIMS HELD IN GERMANY.
June 3, 2003... by Nabil Sultan SANA'A, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- Public unrest is rising over the detention of two Yemenis in Germany following claims by the U.S. that they are members of Al-Qaeda. Thousands of men and women took to the streets last...

POLITICS-NIGERIA: WOMEN 'NOT HAPPY' WITH RESULTS OF ELECTIONS.
June 3, 2003... by Toye Olori LAGOS, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- Women, who make up almost half Nigeria's population, gained little in the April polls, despite vigorous mobilization by civil groups, according to women's organizations. Only three women made...

ARTS-U.S.: OLYMPIC CHAMPION GIVES AFRICAN-AMERICAN FENCERS AN EDGE.
June 3, 2003... by Gabriel Packard NEW YORK, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) - Inner-city African-Americans are making their mark in another white-only sport -- fencing. The man who helped make it happen is New Jersey native Peter Westbrook. Olympic medallist...

ARTS-VENEZUELA: BOOK FAIR RETURNS AMIDST UNCERTAINTIES.
June 3, 2003... by Humberto M?rquez CARACAS, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- Writers, booksellers and publishers from Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Spain and the host country Venezuela are celebrating the return of the International Book Fair here, after three...

AFRICA: CARTOONISTS POKE FUN AT CORRUPTION.
June 3, 2003... by Heikki Jokinen DAR ES SALAAM, Jun. 2 (IPS/GIN) -- Finnish cartoonist Leif Packalen is using humor to fight corruption in Africa. He leads a small voluntary organization, World Comics, which has organised workshops for artists in...

DEVELOPMENT-G8: AFRICAN LEADERS GET PROMISES BUT LITTLE MORE.
June 4, 2003... by Julio Godoy PARIS, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Leaders from Africa who came as special guests to the G8 summit in Evian returned home empty-handed despite new promises of support. The summit over the weekend brought the heads of government...

BURMA: MILITARY HARDLINERS ARREST SUU KYI IN NEW CRACKDOWN.
June 4, 2003... Analysis - By Larry Jagan BANGKOK, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Burma's military rulers have gone on the offensive again. They have virtually declared war on the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party. In effect, they have turned back...

POPULATION-ANGOLA: 20,000 REFUGEES RETURNING HOME AFTER LONG EXILE.
June 4, 2003... by Rosemary Nalisa WINDHOEK, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- More than 20,000 Angolan refugees will start returning home this month after 28 years of wartime exile in Namibia, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. A team comprising...

JAPAN-SOUTH KOREA: TALKS WILL FOCUS ON SPLIT OVER NORTH KOREA.
June 4, 2003... by Suvendrini Kakuchi TOKYO, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Japan and South Korea are worried about the crisis over North Korea's nuclear programme, but the gap in their approaches to Pyongyang is unlikely to be bridged in this week's visit to Tokyo...

DEVELOPMENT: ETHIOPIA NEEDS MORE THAN FOOD, U.N. AIDE SAYS.
June 4, 2003... by Ricardo Grassi ROME, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Some 12.5 million Ethiopians face starvation unless the international community provides assistance soon, Georgia Shaver, the United Nations WFP (World Food Programme) Director for Ethiopia, told...

SRI LANKA: ACTIVISTS FEAR BIG DONORS WILL IGNORE REAL NEEDS.
June 4, 2003... by Feizal Samath COLOMBO, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Ask farmer Saranaris from Sri Lanka's north-west whether the future lies in economic growth and private-sector-led development and he says, "I want to continue growing rice, but the big donors...

COMMUNICATIONS: SPREAD OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY CALLED VITAL.
June 4, 2003... by Ra[pounds sterling]l Pierri MONTEVIDEO, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- Governments, civil society and the private sector must work together to widen use of the latest information technologies because they are vital for the development of all...

DEVELOPMENT: 'ASSISTANCE YES, CHARITY NO,' SAY EUROPE FOUNDATIONS.
June 4, 2003... by Mario de Queiroz LISBON, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- Sustainable development and solidarity, rather than charity, are the watchwords of the European foundations that met Sunday through Tuesday in the Portuguese capital. "Assistance yes,...

ENVIRONMENT: MCDONALD'S JOINS 'GREEN' GROUP AND AN ACTIVIST QUITS.
June 4, 2003... by Emad Mekay WASHINGTON, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- The recent appointment of fast food giant McDonald's to the advisory board of an environmental group has drawn accusations of "greenwashing" from environmentalists and led one board member to...

DEVELOPMENT: EU BOWS TO WORLD PRESSURE TO INCREASE AFRICA AID.
June 4, 2003... by Stefania Bianchi BRUSSELS, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- The European Union has responded to calls from the U.S. and civil society to step up its humanitarian aid to Africa by pledging more than 2 million euros (about $2 million) in financial...

DEVELOPMENT: AFRICAN NGOS CALL EVIAN 'A STUNNING FAILURE'.
June 4, 2003... by Nilla Ahmed EVIAN, France, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- Six African organizations, representing women, labour, researchers and development activists have described the G8 summit a "stunning failure". As the world's seven major industrial...

ENVIRONMENT-LATAM: NO FOREST FOR THE TREES.
June 4, 2003... by Gustavo Gonz?lez* SANTIAGO, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- A tree plantation is not a forest, says forestry engineer Rodrigo Herrera, of Greenpeace-Chile, one of many environmentalists in Latin America fighting to preserve native forests as...

RIGHTS: GIVING CONDOMS TO STUDENTS CAUSES UPROAR IN TRINIDAD.
June 4, 2003... by Peter Richards PORT OF SPAIN, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- On two occasions last month, Svenn Miki Grant, the community outreach coordinator of the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), stood outside a secondary school and the main library...

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: MUGABE CRACKS DOWN ON PROTESTS.
June 4, 2003... by Eunice Mafundikwa HARARE, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- Possibilities of finding a solution to the Zimbabwe crisis through dialogue appeared remote this week as the opposition's nationwide protest to force President Robert Mugabe out of office...

ECUADOR: LOGGERS ACCUSED OF STOKING DEADLY INDIAN DISPUTE.
June 4, 2003... by Kintto Lucas PUYO, Ecuador, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- A deadly battle between indigenous groups in which some 30 Tagaeri Indians were killed by a small band of Huaorani Indians in the remote eastern jungle province of Pastaza, has been linked...

POLITICS: POLL FIND VIEWS OF U.S. PLUMMET IN EUROPE, MUSLIM WORLD.
June 4, 2003... by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Jun. 3 (IPS/GIN) -- The image of the United States is far more negative in Europe and the Muslim world than a year ago, according to a poll of 20 countries released here Tuesday. The survey, the latest in a...

POLITICS-SERBIA: JOB-HUNTING DOCTORS LATEST VICTIMS IN JOB SCAM.
June 4, 2003... by Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Jun 3 (IPS/GIN) -- A group of 22 well established doctors applied for jobs last month at a hospital in Northern Cyprus. They paid $400 each, almost a month's wages, to apply for jobs that promised $2,000 a...

ECONOMY-ZIMBABWE: WORKERS FEELING HARDSHIP AS STRIKE NEARS END.
June 5, 2003... by Eunice Mafundikwa HARARE, Jun. 5 (IPS/GIN) -- "We want change, but our dilemma as workers is that we have bills to pay. We have to survive," says Brian Mafudza, as he started counting his losses on Thursday, day four of the week-long...

POLITICS-NEPAL: NEW GOVERNMENT DOES LITTLE TO EASE UNREST.
June 5, 2003... by Suman Pradhan KATHMANDU, Jun. 5 (IPS/GIN) -- This week's appointment of a new government by Nepal's King Gyanendra was meant to quell political unrest and put the peace talks with Maoist rebels back on track, but it has achieved little...

AUSTRALIA: TRAVEL FIRMS RETHINKING TOURS AFTER BURMA CRACKDOWN.
June 5, 2003... by Bob Burton CANBERRA, Jun. 5 (IPS/GIN) -- In the wake of Burma's crackdown on pro-democracy groups, Australian travel companies are reviewing whether to suspend tours they arrange to that country. Tour firms that previously dismissed...

VIETNAM: HANOI TRYING TO SNUFF OUT TEEN SMOKING.
June 5, 2003... by Tran Dinh Thanh Lam HO CHI MINH CITY, Jun. 5 (IPS/GIN) -- "Pop singers, artists, parents and teachers always have a cigarette on their lips -- we're not that different, " says Minh Hue, 17, while sipping fruit juice at 'Windows', a caf...

POLITICS: BIG NATIONS LAG ON AFRICA PEACEKEEPING, CRITICS SAY.
June 5, 2003... by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- The United Nations is trying to prevent a major humanitarian disaster in Central and West Africa by dispatching a small army of diplomats and peacekeepers to the politically troubled...

DEVELOPMENT: BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA VOW TO WORK TOGETHER.
June 5, 2003... by Gustavo Capdevila GENEVA, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Brazilian President Luiz In?cio Lula da Silva stressed the common economic and political goals of his country and Argentina this week before the Group of Eight (G8) summit in Evian, France....

DEFENCE: NATO CHIEF SAYS ALLIANCE WILL GO 'WHERE THE THREATS ARE'.
June 5, 2003... by Alicia Fraerman MADRID, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said Wednesday that the alliance had to be ready "to go where the threats are." His remarks at the close of a two-day meeting of the alliance's...

POLITICS: LONG-STANDING U.S. BACKERS URGE MUGABE TO HOLD TALKS.
June 5, 2003... by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Nine leading progressive African-American figures and groups that have long defended Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe have urged him to cease his crackdown on the opposition and enter into...

MEXICO: INDIANS CAUGHT UP IN PERILOUS DRUG TRAFFICKING WEB.
June 5, 2003... by Diego Cevallos MEXICO CITY, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Drug traffickers, illegal logging operations and police corruption have proved to be a lethal mix in Mexico, leading to the murders of indigenous people and destruction of their land and...

ENVIRONMENT: PARAGUAY'S FORESTS VANISHING AS AGRICULTURE SPREADS.
June 5, 2003... by Alejandro Sciscioli ASUNCION, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Native forests have virtually disappeared in eastern Paraguay due to the advance of the agricultural frontier and indiscriminate logging by large landowners and landless peasants. ...

CANADA: SEAS DRAINED OF FISH BY NORTH'S SUBSIDIES, EXPERTS SAY.
June 5, 2003... by Stephen Leahy BROOKLIN, Canada, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Fishing subsidies in the world's rich countries and development that pushes poor farmers off their land are two reasons why the world's oceans have been over-harvested, leading to a...

ECONOMY-MALAWI: PROTESTERS BLOCK SALE OF STATE-OWNED TEXTILE FIRM.
June 5, 2003... by Frank Phiri BLANTYRE, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- The sale of a giant state-owned textile firm has run into problem following protests from workers and civil society groups. The protests followed last week's sale of the company, David...

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: SAVE THE VULTURES!
June 5, 2003... by Rahul Bedi PINJORE, India, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- At Asia's first Vulture Care Center in this northern Indian city, scientists are battling to save the scavenging bird, which faces extinction due to a mysterious viral infection that is a...

FINANCE: HUNGARY'S NEIGHBORS RESIST AGGRESSIVE ACQUISITIONS.
June 5, 2003... by Bla Lad?nyi BUDAPEST, Jun. 4 (IPS/GIN) -- Hungarian companies eager to acquire businesses in southeast Europe and the Balkans face strong political opposition in some of their target markets. Some of these companies have made swift...

ARTS-PAKISTAN: AN ABANDONED STATUE OF VICTORIA AWAITS A NEW LIFE.
June 5, 2003... by Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Pakistan, Jun 4 (IPS/GIN) -- She looks on with lifeless eyes, widow's veil poised on her graceful head. There is no sign of the orb or the scepter, or the right arm or the left hand. The nose is brutally...

CUBA: BEACH RECOVERY TO BENEFIT TOURISM, ENVIRONMENT.
June 6, 2003... by Dalia Acosta HAVANA, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- The restoration plan for Cuba's tourism hot spot, Varadero beach, has proved resoundingly successful, achieving the retention of its famed fine white sands, expansion of beach width and...

OIL: AS PRICES EDGE HIGHER, OPEC PARTNERS CONSIDER PRODUCTION CUT.
June 6, 2003... by Humberto M?rquez CARACAS, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) - Three major oil producers -- Mexico, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela -- managed to buoy up international crude prices Friday, while OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) apparently...

ARGENTINA: HOPES RISE FOR NEW REVIEW OF JEWISH CENTER BOMBING.
June 6, 2003... by Viviana Alonso BUENOS AIRES, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- The investigation of the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community centre in Argentina that left 85 dead could be jumpstarted by the new government's order for classified intelligence documents...

EUROPE: NEW ANTI-POVERTY AID FOR LATIN AMERICA/CARIBBEAN REVIEWED.
June 6, 2003... by Stefania Bianchi BRUSSELS, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- Chris Patten, EU Commissioner for External Relations has reaffirmed the European Union's support in tackling social problems in Latin America and the Caribbean by announcing that it will...

POLITICS-AFGHANISTAN: KARZAI BLAMES PAKISTAN FOR EXTREMISM.
June 6, 2003... by Sanjay Suri OXFORD, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- Terrorism took roots in Afghanistan as a result of Western and Pakistani policies to back religious extremism as a counter to Soviet occupation, President Hamad Karzai said at a lecture at Oxford...

POLITICS-U.S.: WHY DO MORE OF THEM HATE US MORE?
June 6, 2003... Analysis - By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- After the Sept. 11, 2001 al-Qaeda attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the big question here was, "Why Do They Hate Us?" Still, the attacks unleashed a wave of solidarity with the...

DEVELOPMENT: MULTINATIONALS WALK OUT ON CONTROVERSIAL UGANDAN DAM.
June 6, 2003... by Emad Mekay WASHINGTON, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- Two European firms building the controversial Bujagali hydro-electric power plant in Uganda have stopped work on the project amid talk of financial difficulties for the main contractor, U.S....

POLITICS-IRAQ: BLAIR CORNERED BUT CONFIDENT.
June 6, 2003... Analysis by Sanjay Suri LONDON, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- For a leader who has so recently been proved wrong by intelligence reports he made confident assertions about, British Prime Minister Tony Blair is once again confident that weapons of...

DEVELOPMENT: PEOPLE ARE NOT POOR BY CHOICE, SAYS ILO.
June 6, 2003... by Gustavo Capdevila GENEVA, Jun 6 (IPS/GIN) -- The International Labour Organization (ILO) is striking out at stereotyped notions about the origins of poverty, stressing that the poor are not to blame for this phenomenon that affects...

POLITICS-CANADA: MUSLIMS FIGHT SECRET "TERRORIST" TRIALS.
June 6, 2003... by Mark Bourrie OTTAWA, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- Muslim groups in Canada are planning a class-action suit against Ottawa to try to gain the release of a Moroccan immigrant held without charges for alleged terrorist links. Adil Charkaoui is...

PERU: TOLEDO GOVERNMENT AT A CROSSROADS.
June 6, 2003... by Laura Puertas LIMA, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo is facing a serious political dilemma after a failed attempt to use force to quell a wave of protests and social unrest. It is the most profound crisis he has...

CANADA: GREENPEACE, FARMERS SHUT DOWN GE WHEAT RESEARCH CENTRE.
June 6, 2003... by Stephen Leahy BROOKLIN, Canada, Jun. 6 (IPS/GIN) -- Greenpeace activists joined with farmers to shut down a Canadian government research centre in the province of Manitoba on Thursday to protest open-air trials of genetically engineered...

ECONOMY: NIGERIA TIGHTENS THE NOOSE ON SCAMMERS.
June 6, 2003... by Toye Olori LAGOS, Jun 6 (IPS/GIN) -- Nuhu Ribadu is a tough police officer with a mission. Last week his squad arrested 15 men in connection with notorious cases of fraud that have given Africa's most populous nation a bad name over the...

POLITICS-MIDEAST: ROAD MAP RAISES TOUGH QUESTIONS FOR PALESTINIANS.
June 9, 2003... Analysis By N Janardhan DUBAI, Jun. 9 (IPS) -- These are tough days for Palestinians and their supporters in the Middle East who must decide whether or not to end the 'intifadah' or armed uprising given the current negotiations with...

RIGHTS: A NEW SPIRIT OF RECONCILIATION SWEEPING ACROSS KENYA.
June 9, 2003... by Joyce Mulama NAIROBI, Jun. 9 (IPS) -- When Wanjiku Kamendere achieved her freedom last week, she looked startled to be leaving prison, which had been her home for 21 years. Kamendere had been accused of murder two decades ago. But a...

TRADE-FRANCE: TRIAL OF OIL EXEC KNOWN AS 'MONSIEUR AFRICA' OPENS.
June 9, 2003... by Julio Godoy PARIS, Jun. 9 (IPS/GIN) -- Heavy jail sentences are being sought for former bosses of the state-run oil giant Elf Aquitaine over their dealings in Africa. Prosecutor Catherine Pignon asked a Paris court to sentence Andr...

POLITICS-ISRAEL: CHAMBERS OF DEATH BRING A RAY OF HOPE.
June 9, 2003... by Igal Avidan AUSCHWITZ, Poland, Jun. 9 (IPS/GIN) -- It took perhaps the largest death camp Europe has ever known to bring this group of Jews and Arabs together. Under the birch trees by those gas chambers in Auschwitz-Birkenau where...

PAKISTAN: ACTIVISTS SAY 'VIRTUE POLICE' WILL RESEMBLE TALIBAN.
June 9, 2003... by Christopher Nadeem PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jun. 9 (IPS/GIN) -- The passage by Pakistan's North West Frontier Province of a bill on Islamic law or 'shariah' made international headlines, but many here say it will not affect life as much as...

HEALTH-CHINA: SARS BECOMING A PART OF LIFE.
June 9, 2003... by Ma Guihua BEIJING, Jun. 9 (IPS/GIN) -- For Chinese journalist Bai Weitao, the last few months have been nothing less than a nightmare that changed the life he knew, and made him value all the little things he took for granted. For...

POLITICS-LIBERIA: PANIC, AS REBELS ADVANCE NEAR THE CAPITAL.
June 9, 2003... by Ken Kou MONROVIA, Jun. 7 (IPS/GIN) -- Rebels have entered the western suburbs of the capital Monrovia, as President Charles Taylor, who has been indicted by a U.N.-backed Special Court for war crimes, struggles to hold on to power. ...

VIETNAM: CRACKDOWN ON CORRUPTION MUST GO FURTHER, CITIZENS SAY.
June 9, 2003... by Tran Dinh Thanh Lam HO CHI MINH CITY, Jun. 7 (IPS/GIN) -- Officials call this week's sentencing to death of a Vietnamese mafia boss a tough warning to all other corrupt people and officials, but many say they will believe this only when...

SRI LANKA: PLEDGES OF $4.5 BILLION AID LINKED TO PEACE TALKS.
June 10, 2003... by Suvendrini Kakuchi TOKYO, Jun. 10 (IPS/GIN) -- Foreign donors on Tuesday pledged $4.5 billion for rebuilding efforts in Sri Lanka but tied the release of the funds to the resumption of peace talks. The conditions placed on the aid...

HEALTH-PAKISTAN: THE FIGHT TO CUT SOARING TB RATE FACES OBSTACLES.
June 10, 2003... by Muddassir Rizvi ISLAMABAD, Jun. 10 (IPS/GIN) -- It was a month ago that Sufaid Gul was diagnosed with tuberculosis, but only after he began to spit blood. For almost 16 months, doctors kept on changing medication for what they had...