Interpress Service articles from November 2006

Interpress Service archives from November 2006

POLITICS-U.S.: HILLARY URGES TALKS WITH SYRIA, IRAN, NORTH KOREA.
November 1, 2006... by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- In a major policy address, Sen. Hillary Clinton on Tuesday called for a "sea change" in U.S. foreign policy that would include direct talks with Syria, Iran and North Korea and greater U.S....

AFGHANISTAN: PARLIAMENT PROBING CIVILIAN DEATHS IN NATO STRIKES.
November 1, 2006... by Javid Hamin, Makia Monir and Farid Tanha - Pajhwok Afghan News* KABUL, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- As concern mounts about increasing civilian casualties in bloody battles between coalition troops and Taliban fighters in southern...

ZIMBABWE: VIOLENCE BY GOVERNMENT INCREASED IN 2000 - REPORT.
November 1, 2006... by Moyiga Nduru JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Rights abuses in Zimbabwe have escalated since 2000, when the ruling Zimbabwe African National Union-Patriotic Front (ZANU-PF) faced its first real challenge at the polls, according...

POLITICS-U.S.: JEWS GIVE BUSH, REPUBLICANS FAILING GRADES.
November 1, 2006... by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Despite Republican efforts, led by President Bush, to align the party squarely behind the policies of successive right-wing governments in Israel, U.S. Jews are expected to vote...

CHINA/AFRICA: THIS IS BUSINESS, NOT NEO-COLONIALISM, BEIJING SAYS.
November 1, 2006... by Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Accused of supporting corrupt African regimes to facilitate its imports of oil and raw materials from the resource-rich continent, China is staging a grand diplomatic forum to defend...

AFRICA: MOZAMBIQUE TAKES OVER MAJOR DAM BUILT BY PORTUGAL.
November 1, 2006... by Mario de Queiroz LISBON, Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- With the handover of control of the Cahora Bassa dam from Portugal to Mozambique, the two governments brought more than 30 years of negotiations to a close and guaranteed the energy...

COLOMBIA: ONE EMBATTLED MUNICIPALITY TO BECOME MINE-FREE.
November 1, 2006... by Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Colombia's insurgent National Liberation Army (ELN) agreed Sunday to remove anti-personnel mines buried in roads leading to 14 communities in the municipality of Samaniego. The ELN...

LATIN AMERICA: MIGRANTS PAY PRICE FOR U.S. DRUG POLICIES - EXPERT.
November 1, 2006... by Diana Cariboni MONTEVIDEO, Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- In countries like Mexico and Colombia, the power of the drug cartels has paralyzed the state's capacity to combat other transnational crimes like human trafficking, said an expert...

TRINIDAD: PM WELCOMES SMELTERS WITH OPEN ARMS, CLOSED EARS.
November 1, 2006... by Peter Richards PORT OF SPAIN, Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The latest sign that the Patrick Manning administration is not about to back down on its plans to allow construction of smelter plants in Trinidad and Tobago came during the...

POLITICS-U.S.: BELAFONTE ON THINKING OUTSIDE THE BALLOT BOX.
November 1, 2006... by Aaron Glantz OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Legendary musician and social justice activist Harry Belafonte says that while he hopes Democrats make political gains in the Nov. 7 election, he's not sure they have plans on how...

U.S./IRAQ: IT'S 'BACK TO POINT ZERO' IN THE SUNNI TRIANGLE.
November 1, 2006... by Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily FALLUJAH, Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- U.S.-led military forces are harshly countering increased violence across the Sunni-dominated al-Anabar province west of Baghdad, residents say. "Thousands have...

NORTH KOREA: WHILE KIM CHASES BOMBS, HIS PEOPLE FLEE FOR FOOD.
November 1, 2006... by Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The recent arrest of 91 North Korean defectors in Thailand's northernmost province of Chiang Rai has brought attention to the growing food shortages driving such flight, according...

BRAZIL: WATER SUPPLIES SULLIED FOR 30 MILLION URBAN DWELLERS.
November 1, 2006... by Mario Osava* RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/IFEJ) - Water supplies in Brazil's two biggest metropolitan areas are contaminated, putting 30 million people at risk. In Sao Paulo, the contamination translates into water shortages....

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: BELGIUM INCREASES AID TO RWANDA.
November 1, 2006... by Bart Vanacker and Cecile Walschaerts BRUSSELS, Oct. 31, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Rwanda will receive about $168 million in development aid from Belgium during the next four years, with priority given to agriculture and health. About $74.4...

POLITICS: NORTH KOREA'S RETURN TO TALKS DISCONCERTS ALLIES.
November 2, 2006... Analysis by Praful Bidwai NEW DELHI, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- By announcing that it would return to the negotiation table and address the major powers' concerns about its nuclear program, North Korea may have scored an impressive...

POLITICS-ASIA: CHARTER FOR ASEAN BLOC IGNORES PUBLIC OPINION.
November 2, 2006... by Anil Netto PENANG, Malaysia, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- It could be the most significant development for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) since it was established in 1967. Yet few among the regional bloc's 550 million...

RIGHTS-IRAN: FREED RIGHTS ACTIVIST VOWS TO CONTINUE FIGHT.
November 2, 2006... by Kimia Sanati TEHRAN, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The release of Ali Akbar Mousavi Khoini, one of Iran's more famous prisoners of conscience in recent years, has strengthened his ardor for battle. But then Khoini, a former reformist...

BOTSWANA: UNEMPLOYMENT SURGES AS REGIME'S REFORMS FALTER.
November 2, 2006... by Bester Gabotlale GABORONE, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Botswana is still widely cited as Africa's economic success story, but fears are emerging of a reversal because of soaring unemployment and the sluggish implementation of government...

ENERGY-BOLIVIA: MORALES FORCES BIG OIL COMPANIES TO YIELD.
November 2, 2006... Analysis by Franz Ch vez LA PAZ, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A new contract for increased sales of natural gas to Argentina and the threat of military force to expropriate the assets of firms that refused to renegotiate their contracts gave...

POLITICS-US: BELEAGUERED NEO-CONS PRESS BUSH TO NUKE TEHRAN.
November 2, 2006... Analysis by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Less than a week from mid-term elections that are expected to bring at least one house of Congress under Democratic control, neo-conservatives, whose foreign policy ideas dominated...

DEVELOPMENT: ANNAN SAYS WORLD'S YOUTH IS KEY TO POVERTY FIGHT.
November 2, 2006... by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- With less than two months before he steps down as secretary-general after a 10-year tenure, Kofi Annan is disappointed that the international community is lagging behind in its...

CENTRAL AMERICA: TOUGH POLICE ACTION FAILS TO CUT YOUTH CRIME.
November 2, 2006... by Ra[pounds sterling]l Gutirrez SAN SALVADOR, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Tough policies against youth gangs in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras have only contributed to increasing crime, and an integrated approach that tackles the causes...

RIGHTS-COTE D'IVOIRE: DISABLED WOMEN DEMAND SEXUAL RIGHTS.
November 2, 2006... by Fulgence Zambl ABIDJAN, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Marginalised by society because they have few legal or institutional forms of protection, disabled women in Cote d'Ivoire are now coming out of the shadows and demanding their rights --...

POLITICS-US: WORRIED REPUBLICANS TRY THE 'PATRIOTIC' PLOY.
November 2, 2006... Analysis by Bill Berkowitz* OAKLAND, California, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- In the final days before the November elections, Bush administration backers have taken to challenging the patriotism of critics of the war in Iraq. "Do you...

ECUADOR: ELECTION CAMPAIGN ROILED BY QUARREL WITH COLOMBIA.
November 2, 2006... by Kintto Lucas QUITO, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's claim that Ra[pounds sterling]l Reyes, a spokesman for Colombia's FARC guerrillas, is living in hiding in Ecuador has heated up the campaign for the second...

ENVIRONMENT: U.N. NEW STUDY SAYS GAS EMISSIONS ARE GROWING.
November 2, 2006... by Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Alarmed by the results of a new study, United Nations experts on climate change are urging the world's industrialised nations to introduce further cuts in greenhouse gas emissions....

IBERO-AMERICA: URUGUAY IS BECOMING A HUB OF ACTIVISM.
November 2, 2006... by Ra[pounds sterling]l Pierri MONTEVIDEO, Nov. 1, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Indigenous and black activists, municipal authorities opposed to racism, Ibero-American heads of state and government, children for peace, members of the international...

DEVELOPMENT: IRELAND TO INCREASE ITS AID TO MALAWI.
November 3, 2006... by Frank Phiri BLANTYRE, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Ireland will soon increase aid to the poverty-stricken southern African country of Malawi. Over the next six years, Dublin will allocate a yet-to-be agreed amount of money to Malawi...

ASIA: WORKERS' REMITTANCES EYED AS CASH FOR DEVELOPMENT.
November 3, 2006... by Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Migrant rights activists are going to use a regional conference starting here Monday to seek more protection for the frequently victimised overseas labor force. The meeting comes...

DEVELOPMENT-LESOTHO: PENSION PLAN WORKS, DESPITE IMF DOUBTS.
November 3, 2006... by Ernest Chiombe MASERU, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Twenty dollars seems a meagre amount, but it has brought an end to backbreaking toil and food insecurity for many of Lesotho's elderly. Two years ago the government of the small...

CAMBODIA: VISIT ANGKOR WAT AND HELP EDUCATE A CHILD.
November 3, 2006... by Kalinga Seneviratne SIEM REAP, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- For thousands of daily visitors to the sprawling 12th century Buddhist monument of Angkor Wat, it is a hassle avoiding touts attempting to selling souvenirs and postcards. But...

DEVELOPMENT: MICROCREDIT SUMMIT AIMS TO HELP RURAL POOR.
November 3, 2006... by Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Hundreds of financial experts and activists are due to gather in the Canadian city of Halifax this weekend to explore new ways of helping the world's rural poor with small business...

MEXICO: POLICE TIGHTEN GRIP ON OAXACA, BUT TENSION PERSISTS.
November 3, 2006... by Diego Cevallos MEXICO CITY, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The governor of the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca is clinging to his post despite a months-long conflict in which 15 people have died. Some 5,000 federal police are gaining in...

DRC: NEW VIOLENCE FEARED AFTER POLL RESULTS ARE KNOWN.
November 3, 2006... by Eva Weymuller KINSHASA, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- As ballots are counted from Sunday's historic vote in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), rhetoric from candidates and false poll results circulating via e-mail have prompted...

ARGENTINA: INDIGENOUS CHILDREN DYING ALONG WITH THEIR FORESTS.
November 3, 2006... by Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Mbya Guaran children living in the subtropical rainforests of Argentina's northeastern province of Misiones are dying from preventable illnesses, and extra provision by the...

ENVIRONMENT: OVER-FISHING IS KILLING WORLD'S SEAS, STUDY FINDS.
November 3, 2006... by Stephen Leahy BROOKLIN, Canada, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Every single commercial fishery in the world will be wiped out before 2050 and the oceans may never recover if over-fishing continues at its current rate, a four-year scientific...

INDIA: DRUG PATENT CASE COULD BE A MATTER OF LIFE AND DEATH.
November 3, 2006... by Ann De Ron BRUSSELS, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Mdecins Sans Frontires and other groups campaigning for access to affordable medicines in developing countries are closely following a case filed by the Swiss pharmaceuticals giant Novartis...

RIGHTS: MOST OF THE 100,000 CLUSTER BOMB VICTIMS ARE CIVILIANS.
November 3, 2006... by Ann De Ron BRUSSELS, Nov. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Ninety-eight percent of registered victims of cluster bombs are civilians, Handicap International, a UK-based NGO said in a report published Thursday. The report Fatal Footprint was...

TRADE: BILLION-DOLLAR DEALS SIGNED AT CHINA-AFRICA SUMMIT.
November 6, 2006... by Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A flurry of trade deals worth two billion US dollars were signed here during an unprecedented China-Africa summit aimed at forging closer links with the resource-rich continent. But...

TRANSPARENCY: CORRUPTION TRAPS MILLION IN POVERTY.
November 6, 2006... by Clive Freeman BERLIN, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Transparency International has pointed to a strong correlation between corruption and poverty in a report released Monday. A cluster of poorer states sits at the bottom of its 2006...

NEPAL: UNIONS OPPOSE NEW BILL ON INFORMAL WORKERS' RIGHTS.
November 6, 2006... by Marty Logan KATHMANDU, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Nepal's government says it is poised to give some protection to the majority of its workers who labour in the informal sector but a bill now circulating in government would remove some...

KAZAKHSTAN: CHINA'S DRAINING OF KAZAKH LAKE IMPERILS REGION.
November 6, 2006... by Marina Kozlova - Asia Water Wire* BALKHASH, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Lake Balkhash, one of the largest inland bodies of water on Earth, is in danger of turning into an environmental death zone whose impact would be felt throughout...

IRAQ: EXECUTION OF SADDAM COULD WIDEN RIFTS IN A DIVIDED LAND.
November 6, 2006... by Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily BAGHDAD, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The death sentence for former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein could tear Iraqis even further apart. The signs on the street are dangerous already. Several reports have...

EAST AFRICA: SOME RWANDANS DUBIOUS ABOUT JOINING TRADE BLOC.
November 6, 2006... by Aimable Twahirwa KIGALI, Nov. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Rwanda and Burundi may be sworn in as new members of the East African Economic Community (EAC) when the grouping holds its next summit, Nov. 30, in the Tanzanian financial centre of...

TAJIKISTAN: NOT MANY IN DOUBT ON ELECTION RESULTS.
November 6, 2006... Roxana Saberi DUSHANBE, Nov. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Many Tajiks say they already know who will win their country's presidential elections on Monday -- whether or not they turn out at the polls. "I don't plan to vote because I already...

IBERO-AMERICA: SUMMIT LEADERS SAY LEAVE REMITTANCES ALONE.
November 6, 2006... by Dar o Montero MONTEVIDEO, Nov. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Immigrants have a right to send remittances to their families in their countries of origin, and this fast-growing flow of funds must not be seen as a replacement for foreign...

ENVIRONMENT: KAZAKHS WORRIED ABOUT PROPOSED NUKE PLANT.
November 6, 2006... by Marina Kozlova - Asia Water Wire* BALKASH, Nov. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Residents taking a stroll along this town's sandy beach, strewn with broken bottles and discarded tyres, often talk nervously about the prospect of a nuclear power...

DEVELOPMENT: INDIAN SLUM CLEANUP THREATENS MILLIONS OF JOBS.
November 6, 2006... by Bharat Dogra NEW DELHI, Nov. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The livelihoods of at least two million workers have been affected by a crackdown on unauthorised commercial properties in the Indian capital that was violently opposed this past week by...

IBERO-AMERICA: SUMMIT IS NONCOMMITTAL ON MIGRANT RIGHTS.
November 6, 2006... by Diana Cariboni * MONTEVIDEO, Nov. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The final statement signed by the leaders meeting this weekend in the 16th Ibero-American summit, the "Montevideo Commitment", includes no commitment to regularising the status of...

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: DYING BLACK-NECKED SWANS MAY GET A BREAK.
November 6, 2006... by Daniela Estrada/ Tierramrica* SANTIAGO, Nov. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The highest global authority on wetlands will visit Chile in November to evaluate the problems afflicting the southern nature sanctuary Carlos Anwandter, where the water...

POLITICS: U.N. MAPS SHARP RISE IN PEACEKEEPING FORCE.
November 6, 2006... by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The United Nations is planning a dramatic rise in the size of its peacekeeping force worldwide, from the current 93,000 troops to an unprecedented 140,000 next year. "When I...

RIGHTS-BRITAIN: MUSLIM WOMEN UNVEIL THEIR TRUE FEELINGS.
November 6, 2006... by Sanjay Suri LONDON, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- When British leader of the House of Commons Jack Straw remarked that he often asked Muslim women to remove their veils when they came to see him on constituency matters, he sparked off a...

URUGUAY: IMMIGRANTS RESTRICTED DURING IBERO-AMERICAN SUMMIT.
November 6, 2006... by Lourdes N[pounds sterling][currency]ez MONTEVIDEO, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The 16th Ibero-American Summit of heads of state and government beginning this Friday in the Old City (historic centre) of Montevideo is affecting the normal...

ELECTIONS-NICARAGUA: ECHOES OF THE COLD WAR AS ORTEGA LEADS.
November 6, 2006... by Jos Ad n Silva MANAGUA, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Nicaraguans cast their votes on Sunday under the scrutiny of a multitude of observers, and amid intense interest in the elections that has extended far beyond the country's borders to...

MEDIA: HONORING THE BEST WHO COVER THE WORST.
November 6, 2006... by Stephen Leahy TORONTO, Canada, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- "I am not afraid of being killed," says Egyptian journalist Abeer Al-Askary, who has been repeatedly threatened and beaten by Egyptian government security forces. "The...

POLITICS-U.S.: NEW DOCUMENTARY RIPS IRAQ WAR PROFITEERS.
November 6, 2006... by Mark Weisenmiller TAMPA, Florida, Nov. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- With just four days to go before the U.S. mid-term congressional elections, the director of a scathing new documentary about the outsourcing of personnel and supplies for the...

POLITICS: NEPALIS AWAIT PACT BETWEEN MAOISTS AND REGIME.
November 7, 2006... by Marty Logan KATHMANDU, Nov. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Since Monday, small groups of journalists and onlookers have stood for hours on the road outside the Nepali prime minister's house waiting for word of a deal between the government and...

FILM: VENEZUELA OFFERS AN ALTERNATIVE TO HOLLYWOOD FARE.
November 7, 2006... by Humberto M rquez CARACAS, Nov. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Neighbourhood cinemas have been closed down by the dozen and moviegoers in the Venezuelan capital have little choice but to take in the Hollywood blockbusters offered by the multiplex...

RIGHTS: FINNISH ARTISTS HONOR SLAIN RUSSIAN JOURNALIST.
November 7, 2006... by Linus Atarah HELSINKI, Nov. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Several Finnish artists and journalists have come together to produce a song to honor the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. About 1,000 copies of the single released...

IRAQ: SHADOWY 'PROTECTION FORCE' LINKED TO DEATH SQUADS.
November 7, 2006... by Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily BAGHDAD, Nov. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The Facilities Protection Service (FPS) created after the invasion of Iraq in 2003 has become the principal source of death squads in Iraq, senior government leaders say....

POLITICS: INDIA'S MUSLIMS FACE 'SYSTEMATIC' BIAS, PANEL FINDS.
November 7, 2006... by Praful Bidwai NEW DELHI, Nov. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- India's long-cherished portrait of itself as a model of democracy and religious-cultural pluralism has been cast into doubt by a new government study. The media has begun running...

THAILAND: THAKSIN LINK SUSPECTED IN LAWYER'S DISAPPEARANCE.
November 7, 2006... by Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Nov. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Desperately seeking justice, Angkana Neelaphaijit is fighting to learn the truth about the disappearance -- and possible murder -- of her husband, Somchai, a prominent human rights...

ENVIRONMENT: GLOBAL FOREST GROUP VOWS 'PRO-PEOPLE' POLICIES.
November 7, 2006... by Marty Logan KATHMANDU, Nov. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The Global Alliance of Community Forestry (GACF) was born at a meeting that ended in Nepal's capital Sunday with the goal of promoting pro-people forest policies that will ensure the...

ELECTIONS-NICARAGUA: SANDINISTAS ARE VOTED BACK INTO POWER.
November 7, 2006... by Jos Ad n Silva MANAGUA, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- They swore they would return. And today, 16 years after losing power in national elections held during a bloody war, Nicaragua's leftist Sandinistas appear to have made it back to power,...

CUBA: SMALL BUT WORRYING INCREASE IN ALCOHOLISM AMONG WOMEN.
November 7, 2006... by Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Each story is more heart-rending than the last, and they all have a common theme: alcohol destroyed these women's lives, sometimes with the help of other drugs, and now they are trying to...

ENVIRONMENT: CLIMATE CHANGE WILL HURT AFRICA MOST.
November 7, 2006... by Stephen Leahy BROOKLIN, Canada, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Climate change will devastate Africa unless the continent gets substantial help from the world community, according to a new report released at the opening of a major U.N....

RIGHTS: LATIN WOMEN PUSH FOR GREATER ROLE IN OAS.
November 7, 2006... by Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Women's groups in Latin America have launched a campaign to press the Organisation of American States (OAS), which has never had a female secretary general, to live up to the...

COTE D'IVOIRE: ANOTHER U.N. RESOLUTION, ANOTHER DILEMMA.
November 7, 2006... by Fulgence Zambl ABIDJAN, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- For Simon Konan of the non-governmental organisation Initiative for Peace (Initiative pour la paix), based in C"te d'Ivoire's financial centre of Abidjan, efforts to bring peace to the...

IRAQ: SADDAM VERDICT TIMED FOR U.S. VOTE? MANY THINK SO.
November 7, 2006... by Emad Mekay* CAIRO, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Saddam Hussein doesn't have many friends here, but the death sentence handed down Sunday against the former Iraqi president has invited accusations that the announcement was timed to...

HAITI: 5 TOP GOPers ACCUSED OF BRIBERY QUIT TELECOM BOARD.
November 7, 2006... by Lucy Komisar* NEW YORK, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Five nationally prominent U.S. Republicans, independent board members of a corporation that has been charged with paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes to get a sweetheart...

PRISONS: TEXAS JAIL SUICIDE SPOTLIGHTS DEATH ROW STRESS.
November 7, 2006... by Mark Weisenmiller TAMPA, Florida, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- When Texas death row inmate Michael Dewayne Johnson slit his throat with a homemade razor blade in the early morning hours of Oct. 19, he took a life that the state wanted to...

U.S.: PREACHER FOE OF GAY MARRIAGE HAD A BIG LIE TO HIDE.
November 7, 2006... by Bill Berkowitz* OAKLAND, California, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Last week, Pastor Ted Haggard, a leading opponent of same-sex marriage, got a November surprise. Only a few days before voters in Colorado and seven other states were...

CUBA: HEMINGWAY'S FAMED FISHING BOAT IS GETTING A FACELIFT.
November 7, 2006... by Orlando Matos HAVANA, Nov. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Cultural authorities in Cuba are undertaking what Washington has not done: they are restoring the fishing boat that inspired one of the most famous novels of U.S. writer Ernest Hemingway...

INDUSTRY: MAURITIUS TRIES TO SWEETEN ITS SOUR SUGAR INDUSTRY.
November 9, 2006... by Nasseem Ackbarally PORT LOUIS, Nov. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The Mauritian government has embarked on a campaign to transform its sugar industry as international sugar prices plunge, leading to a loss in the country's foreign exchange...

ENVIRONMENT: COLOMBIA'S 'LORD OF THE RAINS' HONORED BY UN.
November 9, 2006... by Yadira Ferrer /Tierramrica * BOGOTA, Nov. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Colombian lawyer and activist Rodrigo Vivas won the 2006 Sasakawa Prize, awarded annually by the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) and The Nippon Foundation, for...

DEVELOPMENT: A BILLION PEOPLE LACK CLEAN WATER, UN SAYS.
November 9, 2006... by Moyiga Nduru JOHANNESBURG, Nov. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The 2006 Human Development Report, 'Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis', focuses on the ongoing problems that surround provision of potable water and...

EDUCATION: JAPAN'S NEW LEADER SEES PATRIOTISM AS A CURE-ALL.
November 9, 2006... by Suvendrini Kakuchi TOKYO, Nov. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A spate of new cases of student bullying and other school scandals have boosted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plans to revise Japan's controversial Fundamental Education Reform Bill,...

BALKANS: POST-WAR SERBIA SEEING AN UPTICK IN TOURISM.
November 9, 2006... by Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Nov. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Billboards that say 'Welcome to Serbia' are back now after a 15-year absence due to wars and isolation. And there will be more after some surprise announcements. "In the...

IRAQ: BECHTEL LEAVING WITH MANY PROFITABLE JOBS UNFINISHED.
November 9, 2006... by Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily BAGHDAD, Nov. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The decision of the giant engineering company Bechtel to withdraw from Iraq has left many Iraqis feeling betrayed after the many U.S. promises to rebuild their country....

FOREIGN POLICY: WITH RUMSFELD GONE, A CHANCE FOR BIG CHANGES.
November 9, 2006... Analysis by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Nov. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The abrupt replacement of Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld by former Central Intelligence Agency director Robert Gates, combined with the Democratic sweep in Tuesday's mid-term...

CRIME: WISCONSIN VOTERS BACK DEATH PENALTY IN REFERENDUM.
November 9, 2006... by Haider Rizvi* NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A majority of voters across the Midwestern state of Wisconsin approved a referendum asking lawmakers to reinstate the death penalty after a 153-year hiatus. After counting some 85...

BOLIVIA: AFTER COCHABAMBA'S 'WATER WAR', PROBLEMS REMAIN.
November 9, 2006... by Franz Ch vez LA PAZ, Nov. 8, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Six years after violent protests by the people of Cochabamba reversed the privatisation of the city water company, access to water has improved and rates have been raised only slightly....

POLITICS: DEMOCRATS DRUB REPUBLICANS, BUT FACE TOUGH TESTS.
November 9, 2006... Analysis by Abid Aslam WASHINGTON, Nov. 8, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Come January, Democrats will control one and possibly both houses of the U.S. Congress for the first time in more than a decade after voters snubbed President George W. Bush's...

SEX TRADE: ARGENTINA CRACKING DOWN ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING.
November 9, 2006... by Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Nov. 8, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- After two years of reports of isolated incidents, and a sustained effort by civil society to make human trafficking a visible phenomenon, the Argentine government has announced a...