Interpress Service articles from June 2009

Interpress Service archives from June 2009

US-MIDEAST: HAMAS LEADER TO OBAMA: DEEDS, NOT WORDS.
June 5, 2009... By Helena Cobban* DAMASCUS, Jun. 5, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The head of Hamas's political bureau, Khaled Meshaal, gave a qualified welcome here Thursday to the major foreign policy speech that Pres. Barack Obama addressed to the Muslim world in...

RELIGION: ONE LAW FOR SUNNI WOMEN, ANOTHER FOR SHIITES.
June 5, 2009... By Suad Hamada MANAMA, Jun. 5, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - A new family law for Sunnis, which protects the rights of women in Shariah (Islamic) law courts, was approved by Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, on May 27. The law-making lower...

EUROPE: LOTTERY TIME FOR DEVELOPMENT POLICY.
June 5, 2009... By Cillian Donnelly BRUSSELS, Jun. 5, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Upcoming elections for seats in the European Parliament may have serious implications for the future direction of the European Union. Following a Parliamentary election, there is a...

MIDEAST: BOTH SIDES CALLED TO END VIOLENCE.
June 5, 2009... Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler JERUSALEM, Jun. 5, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - U.S. President Barack Obama drew widespread praise from around the region as he labelled the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, Israelis and the...

U.S.: OBAMA APPEALS TO MUSLIM WORLD FOR "NEW BEGINNING".
June 5, 2009... By Ali Gharib and Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - In what was perhaps the most widely anticipated speech delivered by a U.S. president abroad in recent memory, Barack Obama Thursday extended a hand to the world's 1.4 billion...

LATIN AMERICA: CUBA PLEASED BY OAS VOTE TO ADMIT.
June 5, 2009... By Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - For decades, Fidel Castro has been the most vociferous opponent of an eventual return by Cuba to the Organisation of American States (OAS), which he has referred to as a "colonial...

US-MIDEAST: CAIRO SPEECH WIDELY HAILED AT HOME.
June 5, 2009... By Ali Gharib and Jared Levy WASHINGTON, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - U.S. President Barack Obama's historic speech in Cairo Thursday elicited broad approval from around the U.S., with the notable exception of the neoconservative right. ...

Q&A: NOTES FROM IRAN'S UNDERGROUND MUSIC SCENE.
June 5, 2009... Omid Memarian interviews ARASH SOBHANI, lead singer of Kiosk BERKELEY, California, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - As Iran's conservative president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad fights for his political future against two reformist challengers in the June...

FILM-RWANDA: GENOCIDAIRES FACE OFF WITH THEIR VICTIMS.
June 5, 2009... By Matthew Berger NEW YORK, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - In 1994, hundreds of thousands of Tutsi were brutally murdered by their Hutu neighbours, friends, and family members across Rwanda. Nine years later the killers came home from prison to...

RIGHTS-CUBA: VICTIMS OF DOMESTIC ABUSE RARELY CALL FOR HELP.
June 5, 2009... By Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Mercedes Toyo has started to smile again after many years of tears and physical abuse. But the emotional scars refuse to go away. "Now I'm being courted by a 50-year-old man who tells me...

Q&A: RACE IS MAJOR BARRIER FOR INDIGENOUS WOMEN.
June 5, 2009... Shari Nijman interviews CHRISTA WILLIAMS, of First Nations. UNITED NATIONS, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The Canadian province of British Columbia is home to more than 200 native communities, or First Nations, ranging from about 20 people to...

INDIA-AUSTRALIA: 'CURRY BASHING' IN OZ SOURS BILATERAL TIES.
June 5, 2009... By Ranjit Devraj NEW DELHI, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - A series of bloody attacks on Indian students in Australia, that many are convinced have racial undertones, threatens to undermine efforts to build relations between the two Asia Pacific...

PERU: FUJIMORI'S DAUGHTER DENIES PUBLIC FUNDS PAID HER TUITION.
June 5, 2009... By Angel P ez LIMA, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Keiko Sof a Fujimori, who is planning to run for president of Peru in 2011, is having difficulty proving that her father, who governed this country from 1990 to 2000, did not make illicit use of...

COLOMBIA: THE FARMERS WHO ABANDONED COCA FOR COCOA.
June 5, 2009... By Constanza Vieira/ IFEJ * FLORENCIA, Colombia, Jun. 4, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Chocagu n Amazcentsnico, a small peasant-run alternative crop company that emerged in the midst of Colombia's cocaine boom and civil war, will celebrate its 15th...

LABOR-US: UNIONS EMBRACE STREET CORNER SOLIDARITY.
June 8, 2009... By Peter Costantini SEATTLE, Washington, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - For Pablo Alvarado, a Los Angeles janitor strike in 1999 marked a genesis. When cleaning companies came to the street corners and centers where day workers had gathered,...

PAKISTAN: SWAT REFUGEES FIND NO WELCOME IN KARACHI.
June 8, 2009... By Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Sindhi nationalists in Karachi, the capital of Sindh and Pakistan's biggest city, are pulling back the welcome mat and demanding that civilians uprooted by the military operation in...

EUROPE: BIG PLANS, BUT LITTLE MONEY TO GO NUCLEAR.
June 8, 2009... By Zolt n Dujisin BUDAPEST, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Eastern Europe is promoting nuclear energy as the only way to tackle climate change and reduce dependence on Russian gas, despite the fact that the costs of going nuclear cannot be met....

MIDEAST: 'RACIST AND FASCIST' BILLS KNOCKED DOWN IN ISRAEL.
June 8, 2009... Analysis by Mel Frykberg RAMALLAH, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Three bills recently making the rounds in the Israeli parliament have caused outrage amongst Israel's Arab minority. One bill sought to prohibit marking the day Israel...

ENERGY: NEW MOVES TO BRING MORE LIGHT TO AFRICA.
June 8, 2009... By Alecia D. McKenzie PARIS, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - In looking at night-time satellite pictures of Africa, most of the continent seems to be suffering a giant power cut, especially when compared to brightly lit Europe or the United...

SRI LANKA: GOV'T OPENS FLOOR TO TAMILS ON REBUILDING.
June 8, 2009... By Feizal Samath COLOMBO, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - For many years, life in Sri Lanka's war-torn North meant moving from place to place to escape the rigors of war and bloody combat. When government troops were battling Tamil separatist...

BURMA: JURISTS WANT SECURITY COUNCIL TO OPEN WAR CRIMES PROBE.
June 8, 2009... Analysis by Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - With support from China and Russia, Burma's military regime has escaped harsh criticism at the United Nations Security Council. But this diplomatic deal could come under...

Q&A: U.N. PREDICTS 300 MILLION OVER-60S IN CHINA BY 2050.
June 8, 2009... by N. Janardhan DOHA, Jun. 7, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Showcasing their potential for future development, many developing countries in Asia and Latin America highlight their burgeoning youth population. But populations of over-60s could also...

POVERTY-ANGOLA: NGOS SKEPTICAL OF GOVT'S DEVELOPMENT PLANS.
June 8, 2009... By Louise Redvers LUANDA, Jun. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - In an attempt to reduce rural poverty, Angola's government plans to diversify its oil-focused economy by restoring the country's once-booming agricultural sector. After three decades...

RIGHTS: REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH BECOMES AN EMPOWERMENT ISSUE.
June 8, 2009... Analysis by Rosemary Okello BRUSSELS, Jun. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - In 1994, a groundbreaking shift in the approach to reproductive health was proposed: women's reproductive capacity was to be transformed from an issue of population control to...

LEBANON: ALL EYES ON HEZBOLLAH ALLIED WITH CHRISTIAN GROUP.
June 8, 2009... Analysis by Matthew Cassel BEIRUT, Jun. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - With only an expected 11 seats it could get out of 128, why is the world focusing on Hezbollah in the run-up to the elections in Lebanon? Dr. Omar Nashabe, editor at Lebanon's...

CHILE: GENDER WAGE GAP CLOSURE PUT TO PEN, NOT YET TO PRACTICE.
June 8, 2009... By Daniela Estrada SANTIAGO, Jun. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - While women are pleased with Chile's new law establishing equal wages for men and women doing the same work, the discrimination they've experienced in the workplace make them wary of...

LEBANON: WOMEN BATTLE FOR CITIZENSHIP RIGHTS.
June 8, 2009... By Matthew Cassel and Moeali Nayel BEIRUT, Jun. 6, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - One can be born in Lebanon and live here all his life, and still not be a Lebanese citizen. Lebanon is one of few remaining countries in the Middle East where a mother is...

CLIMATE CHANGE: BOLSTER NATURAL CARBON ABSORPTION, SAYS U.N.
June 8, 2009... By Diego Cevallos MEXICO CITY, Jun. 5, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Expanding the capacity of natural areas for capturing and storing carbon is one of the keys to curbing climate change - and would be a relatively low-cost solution that would also...

TRADE: BILATERAL TRADE DEALS THREATEN TARIFF NIGHTMARE.
June 9, 2009... By Servaas van den Bosch WINDHOEK, Jun. 9, 2009 (IPS) - Trade deals known as EPAs may derail the very process of regional integration which the European Union has purportedly wanted to promote with those very agreements, analysts say. ...

HAITI: RECRUITING FAR AND WIDE FOR BRIGHT YOUNG MINDS.
June 9, 2009... By Amy Bracken LAZILE, Jun. 9, 2009 (IPS) - When Garry Delice arrives at St. Joseph, a public high school in rural Haiti, something's amiss. The cinderblock building is full of students, but no teacher can be found. Young men and women are...

ENVIRONMENT-EUROPE: LIGHTS COULD GO GREEN BY 2050.
June 9, 2009... By Julio Godoy BERLIN, Jun. 9, 2009 (IPS) - The EU could meet all its electricity demands from renewable energy sources such as wind and the sun by 2050 if governments make the right decisions now, leading environment and energy experts...

EUROPE: EAST EUROPE SHIFTS TO RIGHT IN EU ELECTIONS.
June 9, 2009... Analysis by Pavol Stracansky BRATISLAVA, Jun. 9, 2009 (IPS) - The effects of the economic crisis coupled with a lack of information on the workings of the European Parliament led many voters to stay away or give their votes to fringe and...

PERU: COVERUP OF KILLING OF INDIGENOUS PROTESTORS CHARGED.
June 9, 2009... By Milagros Salazar LIMA, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - There are conflicting reports on a violent incident in Peru's Amazon jungle region which left both police officers and indigenous protesters dead. The authorities, who describe last...

POLITICS: IRANIANS KEEN ON IMPROVED TIES WITH U.S.
June 9, 2009... By Katie Mattern and Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - More than three out of every four Iranian citizens favor improved relations with the United States, according to a major survey conducted less than one month before this...

CHILE: APEX COURT FINDS PRISONS 'INHUMAN, DEGRADING AND CRUEL'.
June 9, 2009... By Daniela Estrada SANTIAGO, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - The Chilean prison system is once again in crisis, the Supreme Court declared in a report, citing overcrowding, rehabilitation, food distribution, hours spent in lockdown, punishment...

DISARMAMENT: MAJOR MILITARY SPENDERS HOLD TOP U.N. SEATS.
June 9, 2009... By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - The world's biggest military spenders last year were countries which were either permanent members of the United Nations Security Council or aspiring to hold that privileged rank,...

SOUTH AFRICA: MENTAL ILLNESS IN HIV POPULATION LARGELY IGNORED.
June 9, 2009... By Kristin Palitza CAPE TOWN, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - Although mental disorders, such as depression and dementia, are commonly associated with HIV, they remain largely undiagnosed in South Africa. The lack of human and financial resources for...

SOUTH AFRICA: WASTEWATER IS A RESOURCE.
June 9, 2009... By Miriam Mannak CAPE TOWN, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - South Africa faces chronic water shortages, yet billions of liters are flushed away every year. As 98 percent of the country's water resources are already fully utilized, the conservation of...

ENVIRONMENT: OCEANS FAST BECOMING A GARBAGE DUMP.
June 9, 2009... By Marina Litvinsky WASHINGTON, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - The growing problem of marine litter is harming oceans and beaches worldwide, and authorities must act now to reverse and prevent further environmental degradation, a report said Monday....

DEVELOPMENT: THOUSANDS MARCH AS FOOD CRISIS DEEPENS.
June 9, 2009... By Shari Nijman NEW YORK, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - An estimated 300,000 people across the globe hit the streets Sunday to support the World Food Program (WFP) and its mission to feed hungry schoolchildren and battle malnutrition worldwide. ...

EUROPE: NATIONALIST AND CENTER RIGHT PARTIES GAINING VOTES.
June 9, 2009... Analysis by Cillian Donnelly BRUSSELS, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - The political center-right has vowed it will be "business as usual" following this weekend's elections to the European Parliament in which it retained majority, despite...

LEBANON: TABLES TURN ON MARCH 14'S ELECTION VICTORY.
June 9, 2009... Analysis by Mona Alami BEIRUT, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - The June 7 election in Lebanon has provided another dramatic turn of events in the country's tumultuous political arena. While early opinion polls had pointed to a landslide sweep for the...

URUGUAY: FOR DOMESTIC WORKERS, RIGHTS ARE HARD TO EXERCISE.
June 9, 2009... By Silvana Silveira MONTEVIDEO, Jun. 8, 2009 (IPS) - At her present employers' home, Nilda Cejas, a live-in domestic worker, stays in a "very nice" room in the back of the house, complete with her own bathroom. But her employers do not...

SOUTH KOREA: SCHOOLGIRLS AT FOREFRONT OF PRO-DEMOCRACY PROTESTS.
June 11, 2009... By Jiyoung Leean SEOUL, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Hundreds of teenagers, many of them female, were out on the streets Wednesday demanding a public apology from the Lee Myung-bak government for the tragic death of former president Moo-hyun...

RIGHTS-US: REMEDIES NEARLY EXHAUSTED IN DEATH ROW CASE.
June 11, 2009... By Henry Parr NEW YORK, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Since his conviction on Aug. 21, 1991, Troy Davis has been engaged in an exhaustive legal battle for his exoneration and release from death row. His efforts have garnered international...

LEBANON-POLITICS: HEZBOLLAH STILL A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH.
June 11, 2009... By Khody Akhavi WASHINGTON, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - It was touted as an historic election, a vote to determine the future direction of Lebanon. But even with the winners declared, analysts say the June 7 ballot was far from decisive, and...

BALKANS: GRIEVANCES TOSSED ASIDE FOR FORMER AGGRESSORS.
June 11, 2009... By Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Two decades back many people in what was once Yugoslavia were fighting Serbs. Today some are fighting to invite them over. Former Yugoslav republics Croatia and Slovenia have...

ENVIRONMENT: THE GREENING OF THE FRENCH, FINALLY.
June 11, 2009... By Alecia D. McKenzie PARIS, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Compost boxes on the balcony of small apartments. Queues at market stalls selling organic produce. Massive audiences for a film about the state of the earth. Unprecedented votes for...

DEVELOPMENT: HOPES DIM FOR AN ARAB UNESCO DIRECTOR.
June 11, 2009... By Alecia D. McKenzie PARIS, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The contest for a new UNESCO director-general is now wide open with the addition of last-minute nominees for the post. The addition of new names heads off a potential stalemate over...

REPORT: GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS COULD UNDO AFRICA'S PROGRESS.
June 11, 2009... By Miriam Mannak CAPE TOWN, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan believes that Africa has not been affected as ''profoundly'' by the global economic crisis compared to other regions in the world -...

LABOR: COLOMBIA STILL LEADS IN TRADE UNIONIST MURDERS.
June 11, 2009... By Gustavo Capdevila GENEVA, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Colombia has long been the world leader in murders of trade unionists - a dubious distinction that it seems in no danger of losing, according to a new report by the International Trade...

POLITICS: SYRIAN FOREIGN MINISTER EAGER TO WORK WITH OBAMA.
June 11, 2009... By Helena Cobban* WASHINGTON, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Former U.S. senator George Mitchell is due to arrive in Syria's capital, Damascus, Friday on his first visit there since being named Pres. Barack Obama's special envoy for...

LATIN AMERICA: "SEXUALITY IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF HUMANITY".
June 11, 2009... By Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - In an effort to promote the free enjoyment of human sexuality, separate from reproduction, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) launched the world's first...

POLITICS: IRANIAN ELECTIONS COULD SHAPE U.S. ENGAGEMENT.
June 11, 2009... By Daniel Luban and Ali Gharib WASHINGTON, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Washington is waiting anxiously on the outcome of Friday's Iranian presidential elections, as incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attempts to fend off challenger Mir...

RIGHTS-UGANDA: WOMEN PUNISHED TWICE BY WAR TURMOIL.
June 11, 2009... By Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi KAMPALA, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Mary Atimango left the war-ravaged Gulu district to live in Kampala during the peak of the northern Ugandan conflict over fifteen years ago. The 59-year-old now lives in the...

AFRICA: COUNTRIES MUST DIVERSIFY, FOCUS LESS ON MINING.
June 11, 2009... By Kristin Palitza CAPE TOWN, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The global financial crisis has taught African governments a lesson. More than ever, they recognise the need to diversify their countries' mining operations as a key defence against...

LESOTHO-WATER: VILLAGERS REJECT GOVT OFFER OF PENNIES FOR LAND.
June 11, 2009... By Thabo Mohale MASERU, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The construction of a two billion dollar dam in Metolong, some 35 kilometres outside of Lesotho's capital Maseru, is being welcomed by people in and around the city who will gain access to...

SWAZILAND: DONOR SUPPORT FOR HEALTH SECTOR DRYING UP.
June 11, 2009... By Mantoe Phakathi MBABANE, Jun 9 (IPS/GIN) - As the global economic downturn begins to take its toll on developing countries, Swaziland's health system - already strained by the burden of HIV/AIDS - has come under severe threat. The third...

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: ENDLESS PAIN AWAITS VICTIMS OF SEX TRADE.
June 11, 2009... By Helda Mart nez BOGOTA, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - A mixture of rage, impotence and terror is evident behind the sadness in the eyes of a young girl who, five months ago, escaped from her captors in the United States, where she was taken...

POLITICS: WILL LIBYAN LEADER MAKE HIS FIRST U.N. APPEARANCE?
June 11, 2009... By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Every September, most of the world's political leaders make their annual pilgrimage to New York to address the General Assembly sessions of the United Nations. The 192-member...

RIGHTS-US: PALAU AGREES TO TAKE GUANTANAMO UIGHURS.
June 11, 2009... By Marina Litvinsky WASHINGTON, Jun. 10, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The announcement Wednesday that Palau will accommodate Chinese Muslims from Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba leaves many unanswered questions, among them whether the U.S. will...

US-PAKISTAN: CIA SECRECY ON DRONE ATTACKS DATA HIDES ABUSES.
June 12, 2009... By Gareth Porter* WASHINGTON, Jun. 12, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency's refusal to share with other agencies even the most basic data on the bombing attacks by remote-controlled unmanned predator drones in Pakistan's...

MIDEAST: PALESTINIANS BEGIN TO SEE REAL HOPE.
June 12, 2009... By Mel Frykberg RAMALLAH, Jun. 12, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Chief Palestinian Authority negotiator Saeb Erekat believes Palestinians are politically in their strongest position ever in their decades-long conflict with the Israelis. There also...

ENVIRONMENT-ZIMBABWE: FARMERS AT WAR WITH LANTANA CAMARA.
June 12, 2009... By Phyllis Kachere HARARE, Jun. 12, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - With arms full of picks, axes and hoes, a group of villagers sing as they walk: "Randana kamara wakaipa, Randana kamara wakashata.Watora ufuro hwezvipfuyo, wauraya mombe." ("Lantana...

SOUTHERN AFRICA: MUCH NEEDED GROUNDWATER IS UNDERUTILIZED.
June 12, 2009... By Miriam Mannak JOHANNESBURG, Jun. 12, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Despite the significant role groundwater could play in alleviating poverty, improving food security and contributing to overall development in Southern Africa, a lack of skills,...

HEALTH: FLU PANDEMIC DECLARED; POOR COUNTRIES AT HIGHEST RISK.
June 12, 2009... By Gustavo Capdevila GENEVA, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - World Health Organisation Director General Margaret Chan today raised the alert on 'swine flu' - scientifically known as H1N1 influenza - to its highest level and warned of the...

U.S.: MUSEUM ATTACK SEEN AS HOME-GROWN TERRORISM.
June 12, 2009... Analysis by Daniel Luban and Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Wednesday's killing of a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum by an elderly white supremacist is the latest incident in what many see as a potential new...

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: FOCUS ON HOUSING THE URBAN POOR.
June 12, 2009... By Joyce Mulama NAIROBI, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Millions of people move to Africa's cities every year, swelling the numbers of urban poor. "We cannot chase people away from slums," says Kelvin Mmangisa, chief executive of the Lilongwe...

ECONOMY-AFRICA: SOUTH AFRICA GOES IT ALONE ON TRADE.
June 12, 2009... By Kristin Palitza CAPE TOWN, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - African economic experts at the World Economic Forum on Africa have called for a regional approach to the global financial crisis, but South Africa - the continent's strongest economy...

PERU: NATIVE PROTESTERS SEARCH FOR THEIR DEAD.
June 12, 2009... By Milagros Salazar BAGUA, Peru, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Indigenous people taking part in protests near this town in the northern Peruvian province of Amazonas that ended in a bloody clash with the police last week are now focusing on...

U.S.-IRAQ: MASSIVE FRAUD, WASTE LINKED TO MILITARY CONTRACTOR.
June 12, 2009... By Pratap Chatterjee WASHINGTON, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Allegations of waste, fraud and abuse by a U.S. military contractor were extensively detailed by newly created investigative bodies charged with oversight of federal government...

NIGERIA: RIGHTS GROUP SAYS YAR'DUA FAILS TO STEM CORRUPTION.
June 12, 2009... By Danielle Kurtzleben WASHINGTON, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Government corruption has long been a fact of life in Nigeria - elections are often fraught with fraud, intimidation, and violence; oil companies have been known to pay the...

POLITICS: A CARIBBEAN UNION, EUROPEAN-STYLE.
June 12, 2009... By Peter Richards PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - If Trinidad and Tobago and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) are to embark on their long touted economic and political union by 2013, it would involve...

DEVELOPMENT: CAMBODIA TO EDUCATE YOUTH ABOUT PAINFUL PAST.
June 12, 2009... By Robert Carmichael /Newsmekong * PHNOM PENH, Jun. 12, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Walking through the former S21 security prison here, one cannot help but be struck by the hundreds of black-and-white photographs of former prisoners who were brought...

CLIMATE CHANGE: U.S. REMAINS OPPOSED TO EMISSIONS CUT.
June 12, 2009... By Julio Godoy ROME, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Environmental legislators from the 13 countries with the largest greenhouse gases emissions are meeting in Rome this Friday and Saturday to discuss steps towards the UN climate change...

CLIMATE CHANGE: AGREEMENT PROSPECTS SLIPPING AWAY.
June 12, 2009... By Ramesh Jaura BONN, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - As the electronic clock at the preparatory talks here in the former West German capital counted up to the crucial UN climate change conference Dec. 7-18 in Copenhagen, the possibility of a...

ARGENTINA: AFROCULTURAL MOVEMENT DEMANDS RECOGNITION.
June 12, 2009... By Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Argentina's small black community, ignored by historical narratives that focused on the influence of European immigration, is now fighting for recognition of its contribution to...

Q&A: WHY SANITATION IS THE FORGOTTEN SISTER.
June 12, 2009... Busani Bafana interviews NOMA NESENI, WSSCC water, sanitation and health coordinator BULAWAYO, Jun. 11, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - As part of the International Year of Sanitation in 2008, Zimbabwe developed a national strategy for sanitation,...

CLIMATE CHANGE: CHINA SEEKS TO CUT EMISSIONS, BUT WITHOUT CAP.
June 15, 2009... By Stephen Leahy NY-LESUND, Svalbard, Norway, Jun. 15, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - While agreeing in principal that climate change is a serious threat, political and business leaders at a symposium here are showing little consensus and a...

MIDEAST: ISRAEL'S PRIME MINISTER OFFERS A 'BIG ZERO'.
June 15, 2009... By Mel Frykberg RAMALLAH, Jun. 15, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Yasser Abed Rabbo, secretary of the Palestine Liberation Organization's executive committee and a close confidant of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, has dismissed Israeli...

MIDEAST: ISRAEL'S PEACE TALK LACKS PEACE VISION.
June 15, 2009... Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler TEL AVIV, Jun. 15, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's much anticipated policy speech was suffused with peace rhetoric, but short on a peace vision. The Sunday...

CLIMATE CHANGE: RESEARCHERS UNDERESTIMATED CONSEQUENCES.
June 15, 2009... By Julio Godoy ROME, Jun. 14, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - New scientific research suggests that climate change is taking place faster than foreseen in previous studies, according to environmental experts at the Global Legislators Organization for a...

Q&A: "HELPING THE MOST VULNERABLE BENEFITS ALL WORKERS".
June 15, 2009... Peter Costantini interviews ANA AVENDA[yen]O, director of the Immigrant Worker Program, AFL-CIO SEATTLE, Washington, Jun. 13, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - After decades of few achievements and many losses, organized labor has begun to rack up some...

U.S.: CRISIS MUST RESHAPE ECONOMISTS' THINKING, KRUGMAN.
June 15, 2009... By Matthew Berger LONDON, Jun. 13, 2009 (IPS/GIN) - It is too optimistic to say the United States is headed for a Japan-style recession, according to Nobel laureate Paul Krugman. Delivering a series of lectures at the London School of...