Interpress Service articles from March 2003

Interpress Service archives from March 2003

CUBA: SECOND JOB A MUST IN TOUGH TIMES.
March 3, 2003... By Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- The high cost of living is one of the biggest worries of families in Cuba, where salaries fall increasingly short of covering minimum dietary and clothing needs. "Everything is so expensive,...

POLITICS-IRAQ: THE ARAB LEAGUE GETS TOGETHER TO MAKE SPEECHES.
March 3, 2003... By Cam McGrath and George Baghdadi CAIRO, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- Now in its 58th year, the Arab League has come to be seen in the Arab world more for what it cannot do rather than what it can. Despite limited successes, its inability to be a...

POLITICS: AFRICAN EDITORS VENT THEIR ANGER OVER BUSH AND IRAQ.
March 3, 2003... By James Hall GRAHAMSTOWN, South Africa, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- African newspaper editors and correspondents have been exchanging heated views on a possible war on Iraq in a lively debate on the Internet. Members of the African Economic...

IRAQ: MEXICO IN TIGHT SPOT ON SECURITY COUNCIL.
March 3, 2003... By Diego Cevallos MEXICO CITY, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- Mexico is using diplomatic channels and heartfelt speeches at the UN Security Council to achieve a consensus on Iraq. But President Vicente Fox clearly knows that any stance Mexico takes...

ECUADOR: ARMY KEEPING ITS DISTANCE FROM COLOMBIAN CONFLICT.
March 3, 2003... By Kintto Lucas QUITO, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- The Ecuadorian government will not declare the leftist and right-wing armed groups active in neighboring Colombia "terrorist organizations" in order to avoid being drawn into that country's civil...

ENVIRONMENT: ANIMALS ADAPTING TO CLIMATE CHANGES.
March 3, 2003... By Stephen Leahy BROOKLIN, Canada, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- While politicians and researchers debate the realities of climate change, plants and animals worldwide are already adapting to it. Red squirrels in Canada's North now give birth weeks...

POLITICS: U.S. URGED TO END 'NEGLECT' OF LATIN AMERICA.
March 3, 2003... By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- Increasing disillusionment in Latin America with democracy, market-centered economies and ties to the United States should prompt Washington to pay closer attention to the continent, says a new...

OIL-LATIN AMERICA: WAR IN IRAQ COULD SHAKE SOUTHERN OIL TRADE.
March 3, 2003... By Humberto Marquez CARACAS, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- The petroleum-producing countries of Latin America are not in a position to cash in on rising oil prices resulting from any war the United States may wage against Iraq. And the countries...

COLOMBIA: NEWSMEN RAP ANTI-TERROR BILL.
March 3, 2003... By Yadira Ferrer BOGOTA, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- The Colombian government is trying to put the final touches to a controversial anti-terrorism bill after violent attacks this month blamed on the main insurgent group, the Revolutionary Armed...

ECONOMY: LATIN AND CARIBBEAN WORKERS SENDING MORE MONEY HOME.
March 3, 2003... By Emad Mekay WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- Remittances by Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) expatriates in rich nations rose by more than 17 percent last year, making the region the world's leading destination for workers' transfers, but...

COMMUNICATIONS: CIVIL SOCIETY WINS A PLACE AT INFORMATION SUMMIT.
March 3, 2003... By Gustavo Capdevila GENEVA, Feb. 28 (IPS) -- The World Summit on the Information Society this year will be the first multilateral meeting in which non-governmental organizations will participate with governments and business. The...

CAMBODIA: WAR CRIMES TRIALS TO PUT FOCUS ON JUSTICE - AND HISTORY.
March 3, 2003... By Marwaan Macan-Markar PHNOM PENH, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- Both at work and at home, Pen Samitthy faces an uncomfortable truth: Cambodia, is losing interest in the acts of genocide committed by the Khmer Rouge during its four-year rule in the...

POLITICS-INDIA: PRO-HINDU PARTY DEFEATED IN STATE POLL.
March 3, 2003... By Ranjit Devraj NEW DELHI, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- The pro-Hindu juggernaut unleashed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in India's Gujarat state in December has run out of steam in northern Himachal Pradesh...

EUROPE: BRITAIN TOPS IN PRISON POPULATION.
March 3, 2003... By Stefania Bianchi LONDON, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- Britain is the prison capital of Western Europe, and has even surpassed Libya and Malaysia in the jail ratings, according to latest figures. 139 out of every 100,000 people are in jail in...

PHILIPPINES: RICE LOSING ITS MYTHIC QUALITY IN A FAST-FOOD SOCIETY.
March 3, 2003... By Marites Sison MANILA, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- Rice is food and drink and medicine. Rice is ritual and remembrance. Rice is ornamental. Rice is history. It is the lifeblood of the Philippines, but it is being devalued in today's fast-paced,...

INDONESIA: FIVE MONTHS AFTER BOMBING, BALI IS QUIET, TOO QUIET.
March 3, 2003... By Johanna Son BALI, Indonesia, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- Nearly five months after the Bali bombing, the site of the blasts is curiously clean, an area of emptiness in stark contrast to the maze of stores, cafes and hotels that have long marked...

JAPAN: FEAR OF NORTH KOREA MAY HARDEN TOKYO STANCE ON IRAQ.
March 3, 2003... By Suvendrini Kakuchi TOKYO, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- Kanae Moriyama, 51, does not the support U.S. plans for a war against Iraq, but is all for U.S. military involvement in case North Korea attacks Japan. "Japan is heavily reliant on U.S....

PAKISTAN: REGIME SQUIRMS AS RELIGIOUS PARTIES PROTEST WAR ON IRAQ.
March 3, 2003... By Muddassir Rizvi ISLAMABAD, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- The weekend show of strength by religious parties in the southern port city of Karachi is making Pakistan's government extremely uncomfortable, coming at a time when it is trying to keep a low...

POLITICS-IRAQ: TURKISH VOTE MAY CHANGE WAR PLANS.
March 4, 2003... By Hilmi Toros ISTANBUL, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- The reported two-pronged U.S. military strategy to attack Iraq may have to be re-drawn after the surprise defeat in Parliament of a move to permit U.S. troops to use Turkish soil. A defiant...

POLITICS-SOUTH ASIA: INDIA GLOATS OVER BASHING PAKISTAN IN CRICKET.
March 4, 2003... By Ranjit Devraj NEW DELHI, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- No sporting event can better prove the Orwellian paraphrase of Clausewitz -- that games between national teams are a "continuation of war by other means" -- than a clash on the cricket pitch...

RIGHTS-IRAQ: NEW DRIVE TO PUNISH WAR CRIMINALS.
March 4, 2003... By Cam McGrath SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- A demand by human rights campaigners to arrest Iraqi delegates at the Arab League summit over the weekend was rejected, but it has focused attention on alleged violations by Iraqi...

ENERGY-GABON: ABUNDANT, BUT UNDERDEVELOPED, NATURAL RESOURCES.
March 4, 2003... By Antoine Lawson LIBREVILLE, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- Gabon has embarked on a program to build up its energy sector, which has remained largely untapped due to the country's undeveloped infrastructure. The sector represents only around one...

POLITICS-CZECH REPUBLIC: 'EUROSKEPTIC' KLAUS SUCCEEDS HAVEL.
March 4, 2003... By Analysis by Brian Kenety PRAGUE, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- On its third attempt and by the narrowest of margins, the Czech parliament last week elected Vaclav Klaus, a so-called 'Eurosceptic,' to succeed writer and rights activist Vaclav Havel as...

BRAZIL: SCHOOL ON WEEKENDS FOUND TO BE AN ANTIDOTE TO VIOLENCE.
March 4, 2003... By Mario Osava RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- Keeping schools open over the weekends to provide cultural and sports activities has significantly reduced violence and vandalism by students in two Brazilian states. That is the...

NIGERIA: ELECTRICITY RETURNS TO VILLAGES AFTER 20 DARK YEARS.
March 4, 2003... By Toye Olori EPEDO, Edo State, Nigeria, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- This small community of about 5,000 inhabitants was among the first villages to benefit from Nigeria's first rural electrification program in 1970, but darkness returned to the...

POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: SEVENTEEN FACING TREASON CHARGES IN 'PLOT'.
March 4, 2003... By Lansana Fofana FREETOWN, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- Seventeen people appeared in a Freetown Magistrate Court this week on charges of treason, following a month-long investigation into an alleged plot to topple the government of Sierra Leone. ...

POLITICS-ISRAEL: NEW SETTLEMENTS TURNING PEACE INTO A MIRAGE.
March 4, 2003... Analysis by Ferry Biedermann JERUSALEM, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- It's clear that the new government will pursue a relentlessly right-wing agenda with peace far down on the list. Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz announced on a visit to the...

ANGOLA: THOUSANDS RETURN FROM PORTUGAL TO A HOMELAND AT PEACE.
March 4, 2003... By Mario de Queiroz LISBON, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- Thousands of Angolans, Portuguese, and Portuguese-Angolans are returning from Portugal to Angola, a country in southwest Africa that 2 million people fled during four decades of armed conflict...

POLITICS: 'DIRTY TRICKS' AT UN? U.S. ACCUSED OF SPYING ON ENVOYS.
March 4, 2003... By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- The United States came under fire Monday over news reports that key U.N. diplomats in the Security Council were under high-intensity surveillance by U.S. intelligence agencies. According...

POLITICS-U.S.: WILL DEMOCRACY BURST THE IMPERIAL BALLOON?
March 4, 2003... Analysis - By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Mar. 3 (IPS) -- "Turkish support is assured", declared deputy Pentagon chief Paul Wolfowitz triumphantly after a meeting with top military and government officials in Ankara in early December. He was...

ECONOMY: WAR THREAT FUELS GLOBAL ECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY.
March 4, 2003... By Gustavo Capdevila GENEVA, Mar. 4 (IPS) -- The short-term outlook for global economic growth is uncertain and depends on whether or not a war against Iraq is launched, according to the annual report of the United Nations Economic...

MIDEAST: U.S. AND IRAQI OPPOSITION DIFFER ON POST-SADDAM REGIME.
March 4, 2003... By N Janardhan DUBAI, Mar. 4 (IPS) -- At a time when the United States is finding it hard to assemble a 'coalition of the willing' to launch a war against Iraq, Washington has complicated matters by locking horns with the Iraqi opposition...

CHINA: NEW LEADERS REVIVE A COMMUNIST ICON.
March 4, 2003... By Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING, Mar. 4 (IPS) -- China's new rulers have rescued from oblivion a 1960s propaganda icon, whose alleged self-sacrifice, spirit and compassion for the needy will, they hope, counter modernized China's capitalist...

RIGHTS-ALGERIA: CHEERY RECEPTION FOR CHIRAC HIDES GRAVE ABUSES.
March 4, 2003... By Julio Godoy PARIS, Mar. 4 (IPS) -- The Algerian government set up a cheerful reception for visiting French President Jacques Chirac, but the official welcome could not cloak the misery from continuing human rights violations. ...

HEALTH-SERBIA & MONTENEGRO: NO HEART FOR ORGAN DONATIONS.
March 4, 2003... By Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Mar. 4 (IPS) -- Serbia has introduced organ donor cards, but few are lining up yet. "It's an absolute necessity for this country to introduce organ donations," says Dr. Zoran Kovacevic from the...

POLITICS: SLOWLY, AFRICANS MOBILIZE AGAINST AN IRAQ WAR.
March 7, 2003... By Chris Simpson DAKAR, Senegal, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- There has been little mobilization of African opinion against the war in Iraq, but that is slowly changing, says a Senegalese opposition leader. Djibo Ka, leader of the opposition...

POLITICS-KENYA: MUSLIMS SAYS FBI TARGETS THEM.
March 7, 2003... By Katy Salmon NAIROBI, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- As the prospect of a U.S.-led attack on Iraq grows, anxiety is increasing among Kenyan Muslims who claim they are already feeling the heat of anti-Islamic sentiments. Last Wednesday, a...

LABOUR-ZAMBIA: NATIONWIDE STRIKE LOOMING OVER PUBLIC WORKERS' PAY.
March 7, 2003... By Zarina Geloo LUSAKA, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- A nationwide strike was threatened this week by Zambia's largest labor movement, which issued an ultimatum to the government to improve public service wages and conditions of service by the end of...

VENEZUELA: TIRED OF EATING CATS, PRISONERS STAGE HUNGER STRIKE.
March 7, 2003... By Humberto Marquez CARACAS, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- Hundreds of prisoners on hunger strikes in jails across Venezuela have put the dire conditions in the penitentiary system back in the spotlight in a country that has paid scant attention to...

POLITICS-IRAQ: TRIBES MAY HOLD THE KEY TO THE NATION'S FUTURE.
March 7, 2003... By Ferry Biedermann BAGHDAD, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- Ahmed, a mild-mannered office worker in his 60s, had no hesitation in taking up the rifle when the chief called his tribesmen to arms last year. "To refuse would have been unthinkable," he...

IRAQ: NOBEL LAUREATE SARAMAGO SAYS WAR WOULD BE A TRAGEDY.
March 7, 2003... By Carla Maldonado - Tierramerica* MILAN, Italy, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- Portuguese writer Jose Saramago, winner of the 1998 Nobel Prize for Literature, spoke with Tierramerica about the humanitarian and environmental dangers of a war in Iraq,...

CUBA: ANTI-DRUG CRACKDOWN UNCOVERS OFFICIAL CORRUPTION.
March 7, 2003... By Dalia Acosta HAVANA, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- An offensive launched by the Cuban government against drug trafficking and other criminal activities has begun to shed light on what are still isolated cases of corruption among public officials...

COLOMBIA-BRAZIL: LULA AND URIBE MEET TO AIR DIFFERENCES.
March 7, 2003... By Yadira Ferrer BOGOTA, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- Right-wing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is to meet with his leftist Brazilian counterpart, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Friday in Brasilia, an encounter between two pragmatic leaders who...

RIGHTS-CARIBBEAN: NEW FATAL SHOOTING SPOTLIGHTS POLICE VIOLENCE.
March 7, 2003... By Bert Wilkinson GEORGETOWN, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- It is about 9:20 a.m. Saturday. Five heavily armed plainclothes policemen in a sports utility vehicle with dark tinted windows pull up alongside a Toyota sedan in suburban Georgetown and open...

POLITICS: ANNAN REFUSES TO PREDICT OUTCOME OF IRAQ VOTE.
March 7, 2003... By Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan refused Thursday to predict the outcome of an upcoming vote on a U.S.-U.K.-sponsored Security Council resolution that could legitimize a U.S. military...

AGRICULTURE-CUBA: ORGANIC FARMING REAPS PROFITS.
March 7, 2003... By Patricia Grogg - Tierramerica* HAVANA, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- Organic tomatoes, ginger, broccoli, oregano and other produce and spices are readily available today in Cuba's free farmers' markets, thanks to the country's urban gardening...

IRAQ: CHILE SAYS U.S. SPYING WON'T AFFECT ITS UN VOTE ON IRAQ.
March 7, 2003... By Gustavo Gonzalez SANTIAGO, Mar. 6 (IPS) -- The Chilean government will proceed with caution on the matter of reported U.S. spying at the United Nations, attempting to separate that charge from its actions on the Iraq crisis as a...

CHINA: MIGRANT WORKERS GET NEW LEADER'S ATTENTION.
March 7, 2003... By Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- Left behind in China's scramble for wealth and ostracized during 20 years of uneven economic growth, millions of migrant workers are now all of a sudden the focus of attention of the...

POLITICS: SOUTH AFRICAN GANGS TARGETING SWAZI MOTORISTS.
March 7, 2003... By James Hall MBABANE, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- Police have issued a traveler's advisory for Swazi motorists using South African roads to Johannesburg and Durban following a month of murders and shootings by gangs. "It is beginning to look...

POLITICS-LIBERIA: TENSION RISES ALONG SIERRA LEONE BORDER.
March 7, 2003... By Lansana Fofana MANO RIVER BRIDGE, Liberia, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- Tension is mounting on the Sierra Leone/Liberia border as Liberian government forces engage rebels of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Development (LURD) who are...

POLITICS: IRAQ CRISIS HELPS MAHATHIR STAND TALL AMONG MUSLIMS.
March 7, 2003... Analysis - By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- Thanks to Washington's threatened attack on Iraq, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has been gifted with a political platform to prove that he is a Muslim leader with...

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: NEW BUDGET SKIMPS ON PUBLIC HEALTH.
March 7, 2003... By Ranjit Devraj NEW DELHI, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- India's continued lack of commitment toward public health is reflected in the government's latest budget, which public health experts and funders say is pushing it deeper into the privatization...

DANCE-ARGENTINA: BUENOS AIRES TANGOS ITS TROUBLES AWAY.
March 7, 2003... By Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- The Argentine capital is shimmering this month as it hosts the Fifth Buenos Aires Tango Festival and the first Tango Dance World Championship, a competition that has drawn 260 couples from...

FILM-THAILAND: TRANSVESTITE BOXER GETS A MOVIE LIMELIGHT.
March 7, 2003... By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- Mention the name 'Nong Toom' here and most Thais seem to know who she is, this strikingly beautiful woman with a curvaceous body and graceful gestures to match. This popularity stems...

THEATRE-KENYA: A CHILEAN'S PLAY RESONATES IN AFRICA.
March 7, 2003... By Katy Salmon NAIROBI, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- "How can those who tortured and those who were tortured coexist in the same land?" Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman asked when writing 'Death and the Maiden' in 1991. It is a question many...

RIGHTS-UGANDA: UNENDING TALES OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.
March 10, 2003... by Evelyn Kiapi Matsamura KAMPALA, Mar. 10 (IPS) -- Madina Nakamya died after her husband poured acid on her because she refused to sleep with him without a condom. Both were HIV positive. In the southern city of Mbarara, Alien Mutari...

CHINA: FEARS OF U.S. UNILATERALISM FUEL OBJECTIONS TO IRAQ WAR.
March 10, 2003... by Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING, Mar. 10 (IPS) -- Deep anxiety over U.S. hegemony and its impact on international relations in the future has led China to assume a more vocal stance against the idea of U.S.-led military action in Iraq in...

ECONOMY: TOURISM FLYING INTO WAR CLOUDS.
March 10, 2003... by Clive Freeman BERLIN, Mar. 10 (IPS) -- The Gulf states around Iraq are promoting themselves as tourism destinations at an international fair in Berlin. But the specter of war is never far away. The United Arab Emirates (UAE),...

PHILIPPINES: FEARS RISE OF INTENSIFIED CONFLICT IN THE SOUTH.
March 10, 2003... by IPS Correspondents MANILA, Mar. 10 (IPS) -- Insecurity and fears of renewed and intensified conflict in the Philippines' restive south are rising, a week after the Mar. 4 bombing outside an international airport there. Many remain...

AUSTRALIA: BOOK RENEWS DEBATE ON ATTEMPTS TO STOP REFUGEE BOATS.
March 10, 2003... by Bob Burton CANBERRA, Mar. 10 (IPS) -- A newly-released book that says Australian Immigration Minister Phillip Ruddock asked in 2001 about stopping and sabotaging boats carrying asylum seekers to the country has rekindled a controversy...

POLITICS: ON EVE OF VOTE, PAKISTAN FACES TOUGH CHOICE ON IRAQ.
March 10, 2003... Commentary - By Mushahid Hussain ISLAMABAD, Mar. 10 (IPS) -- This week, Pakistan faces the difficult choice of taking a position on an issue that has divided the U.N. Security Council and driven the United States close to a conflict on...

POLITICS: SCIENTISTS CITE SECRET STUDY TO OPPOSE BUSH NUKE PLANS.
March 10, 2003... by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Mar. 9 (IPS) -- Authors of a secret 1966 Pentagon study on the use of tactical nuclear weapons (TNWs) in Vietnam say their conclusions that TNWs could be "catastrophic" to U.S. global interests are at least as...

AGRICULTURE: HYBRIDS COULD BE ANSWER TO BANANA CRISIS.
March 10, 2003... by Thelma Mejia - Tierramerica* TEGUCIGALPA, Mar. 9 (IPS) -- Banana varieties obtained by Honduran scientists could be the answer to the biological threat looming over this fruit's Cavendish family, the most exported banana worldwide. ...

POLITICS-IRAN: POLL SHOWS ROUGH ROAD AHEAD FOR REFORMISTS.
March 10, 2003... by N. Janardhan DUBAI, Mar. 9 (IPS) -- The defeat of the reformist camp in Iran's recent local elections is bound to intensify its struggle with the conservatives, but it also shows rising impatience for a faster, deeper pace of changes in...

THAILAND-CAMBODIA: MENDING FENCES AFTER THE RIOTS FAR FROM EASY.
March 10, 2003... by Chayanit Poonyarat BANGKOK, Mar. 9 (IPS) -- More than a month after the anti-Thai riots in Cambodia, the two neighboring countries are finding their attempts at fence-mending an uphill battle, made even more difficult by the...

WOMEN'S DAY/RIGHTS: WOMEN IN THE CROSSHAIRS OF WAR.
March 10, 2003... by Gustavo Capdevila GENEVA, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- Far from the stereotype of women as passive and vulnerable, they are "incredibly courageous and resilient" and find ways to cope with the daily realities of war, says the International Committee...

POLITICS-U.S.: FAMILY TIES MARK BUSH'S INNER CIRCLE.
March 10, 2003... Analysis - By Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- When Vice President Dick Cheney's national security adviser and fellow hawk Eric Edelman was promoted to become the new U.S. ambassador to Turkey last month, it was hardly a surprise when...

INT'L WOMEN'S DAY/CUBA: RISE IN FEMALE-HEADED HOUSEHOLDS.
March 10, 2003... by Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- The Catholic Church is concerned about the growing number of female-headed households in Cuba, although others see the phenomenon as just one aspect of a trend towards more flexible models of the...

INT'L WOMEN'S DAY/EUROPE: MORE THAN A MILLION LABOR IN SEX TRADE.
March 10, 2003... by Alicia Fraerman MADRID, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- The prosperity and social modernization of the European Union has given women access to opportunities they were previously denied, but it's not an open door to all. Many of the women excluded are...

INT'L WOMEN'S DAY/ECUADOR: INDIAN WOMEN - STILL A LONG WAY TO GO.
March 10, 2003... by Kintto Lucas QUITO, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- The growing number of indigenous women mayors, legislators and even government ministers in Ecuador show the strides made towards attaining political and social leadership roles, but the majority of...

WOMEN'S DAY/HEALTH-ZIMBABWE: GRANDMOTHERS CARE FOR AIDS ORPHANS.
March 10, 2003... by Hilary K. Siyachitema HARARE, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- Agnes Thom Mavhuto, 68, wonders why women should celebrate International Women's Day every year. "Sometimes, I wonder if some of these days are worth celebrating because of the struggles...

POLITICS-IRAQ: A NEW NATO APPROACHES THE FRONTLINE.
March 10, 2003... by Marian Chiriac BUCHAREST, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- U.S. troops and equipment are pouring east into Bulgaria and Romania from their bases in Germany in preparation for war on Iraq. Scores of U.S. aircraft have landed at an air base near...

WOMEN'S DAY/HEALTH-ARGENTINA: LEAP IN UNSAFE ABORTIONS.
March 10, 2003... by Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- Hospital admissions arising from unsafe abortions in Argentina rose 50 percent in five years, and multiplied by a factor of 2.5 in some provinces -- a lethal consequence of the economic...

POLITICS-IRAQ: TURKISH MILITARY OPENS DOORS TO U.S.
March 10, 2003... by Nadire Mater ISTANBUL, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- Turkey's chief of military staff Gen Hilmi Ozkok has spoken of the "inevitability" of Turkish military involvement in a war on Iraq, despite the parliament vote against giving U.S. forces a...

AUSTRALIA: CANBERRA GIVES ONE, TAKES SIX IN TIMOR GAS DEAL.
March 10, 2003... by Kalinga Seneviratne SYDNEY, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- The Australian government is denying claims that it bullied the world's newest and one of poorest countries -- East Timor -- in order to take a large slice of a $48 billion gas and oil deal...

INT'L WOMEN'S DAY/RIGHTS-FRANCE: A WOMEN'S STRUGGLE JUST BEGINNING.
March 10, 2003... by Julio Godoy PARIS, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- "We're neither whores nor slaves", goes the slogan of a group of French women of North African origin just concluding a national tour. The women, coming to the end of a tour of 23 cities Saturday...

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC HEALTH STILL WEAK.
March 10, 2003... by Ranjit Devraj NEW DELHI, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- India's continued lack of commitment toward public health is reflected in the government's latest budget, which public health experts and funders say is pushing it deeper into the privatization...

POLITICS-NEPAL: DISAGREEMENTS PUTTING PEACE PROCESS AT RISK.
March 10, 2003... by Suman Pradhan KATHMANDU, Mar. 7 (IPS) -- The viability of the month-long peace process in Nepal is increasingly coming under doubt, as serious rifts between the two warring sides emerge over key political and security issues. The...

POLITICS: AFRICANS UNMOVED BY FRENCH PRESSURE ON IRAQ.
March 11, 2003... by Chris Simpson DAKAR, Mar. 11 (IPS) -- French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin's lightning visits to Angola, Cameroon and Guinea -- all current members of the UN Security Council -- appear unlikely to have pushed any of the three...

POLITICS-SIERRA LEONE: A TOP OFFICIAL INDICTED FOR WAR CRIMES.
March 11, 2003... by Lansana Fofana FREETOWN, Mar. 11 (IPS) -- Seven prominent persons, including the country's Minister of Internal Affairs, Sam Hinga Norman, were this week indicted and detained ahead of an appearance before a UN-backed Special Court for...

JAPAN: A CRACKDOWN ON INTERNET UNDERAGE SEX.
March 11, 2003... by Suvendrini Kakuchi TOKYO, Mar. 11 (IPS) -- At first glance, it looks like an innocent posting on the Internet about a teen crush, with red hearts framing the letters. But the message makes clear what is being offered: "Anyone who...

UAE: REGIME STRESSING JOBS FOR LOCALS, NOT FOREIGNERS.
March 11, 2003... by Meena S Janardhan DUBAI, Mar. 11 (IPS) -- It is amnesty season in the United Arab Emirates, and thousands of undocumented foreign workers are queuing up to get passage back home. But soon, amnesty or no amnesty, many more may have...

POLITICS: IRAQ CRISIS COULD DETERMINE FUTURE OF THE U.N.
March 11, 2003... by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Mar. 10 (IPS) -- At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, a Peruvian diplomat characterized the United Nations as a politically wobbly institution that survives only at the will - and pleasure - of the...

POLITICS: IRAQ DECISION WILL ECHO THROUGH REGION, ANNAN SAYS.
March 11, 2003... by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Mar. 10 (IPS) -- How the U.N. Security Council deals with the Iraq crisis will signal whether it can successfully treat the most profound problem in the Middle East region - Palestinian-Israeli relations -...