Interpress Service articles from October 2006

Interpress Service archives from October 2006

IRAN: AHMADINEJAD FAILS TO ADDRESS CORRUPTION, NEW POLLS SAY.
October 2, 2006... by Kimia Sanati TEHRAN, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- While President Mahmud Ahmadinejad is busy running a high-voltage campaign against the United States and its policies, citizens back home are wondering if he will ever make good on an...

BOSNIA: ETHNIC UNITY UNLIKELY BASED ON EARLY ELECTION RESULTS.
October 2, 2006... by Vesna Peric Zimonjic BELGRADE, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The results of Sunday's crucial general elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina Sunday confirm the deep ethnic divisions between its Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. Outspoken candidates...

POLITICS: INDO-U.S. NUCLEAR DEAL STALLS AS CONGRESS RECESSES.
October 2, 2006... by Praful Bidwai NEW DELHI, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The controversial United States-India "civilian nuclear cooperation" agreement hit a major setback over the weekend when the U.S. Senate formally recessed without voting on a bill which...

U.S.-MEXICO: CONGRESS FENCES OFF HOPE FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM.
October 2, 2006... by Diego Cevallos MEXICO CITY, Sep. 30, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Despite the storm of diplomatic protests from abroad and historic social mobilizations in the United States, the U.S. Congress decided to build a 1,226-kilometer fence along its...

SOUTH AFRICA: LAND REFORM PROMISES BLACKS A FARM OF THEIR OWN.
October 2, 2006... by Moyiga Nduru NELSPRUIT, Sep. 30, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- South Africa is trying to avoid undermining the economy as it addresses the wrongs of apartheid by continuing to gradually redistribute some farmland now owned by whites to blacks. ...

PANAMA: CANAL EXPANSION WOULD BENEFIT BUSINESS, NOT THE POOR.
October 2, 2006... by Mar a Mercedes de la Guardia PANAMA CITY, Sep. 30, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- On Oct. 22, Panamanians will head to the polls to decide the future and possible expansion of the Panama Canal, the main economic driver of this country of 3 million...

IRAQ: KIRKUK'S ARABS, TURKOMENS FEAR THEY'RE BEING PUSHED OUT.
October 2, 2006... Analysis by Mohammed A. Salih ARBIL, Sep. 30, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The security situation in the northern oil-rich city of Kirkuk has deteriorated further since the Iraqi government a committee assigned to "normalize the situation" a few...

RIGHTS-NEPAL: NATIONAL RIGHTS COMMISSION IN 'DEEP COMA'.
October 2, 2006... by Marty Logan KATHMANDU, Sep. 30, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- When government and Maoist leaders sit across from one another a week from now, they will discuss at least two proposals giving the local United Nations human rights office (OHCHR) a...

PAKISTAN: RESURGENT TALIBAN BACK IN BUSINESS IN BORDER AREAS.
October 2, 2006... by Ashfaq Yusufzai PESHAWAR, Sep. 30 (IPS/GIN) -- President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's controversial peace deal with Pakistan-based Taliban has already resulted in a new assertiveness by the "Islamic Scholars" in the Waziristan agency, which...

LATIN AMERICA: CHILE, COSTA RICA, URUGUAY LEAD IN DEMOCRACY.
October 2, 2006... by Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A private research study released in the Argentine capital on Friday reports that Latin American governments are resorting ever more frequently to a new form of populism that it...

RIGHTS: N. AMERICAN TRIBAL LEADERS ENERGIZED BY MORALES MEET.
October 2, 2006... by Haider Rizvi UNITED NATIONS, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Recent contacts between Bolivian President Evo Morales and leaders of North American native groups have raised new hopes for the indigenous people of North and South America, whose...

CUBA-RUSSIA: TRADE, BUSINESS REUNITE OLD COLD WAR ALLIES.
October 2, 2006... by Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Several agreements designed to bolster bilateral trade have breathed new life into relations between Cuba and Russia, in which the pragmatism of business has replaced the ideological...

RIGHTS-U.S.: CONGRESS CHOSE NOT TO RIGHT WRONGS ON DETENTION.
October 2, 2006... by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- By enacting new legislation this week governing the treatment and trial of suspects in Washington's "global war on terror," Congress has turned its back on both international law and the...

CANADA: CUT EMISSIONS OR WATCH ICE CAPS MELT, OTTAWA WARNED.
October 2, 2006... by Stephen Leahy BROOKLIN, Canada, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Canada should move quickly to cut greenhouse gas emissions, the country's environmental auditor warned Thursday. Earlier this week, leading U.S. scientists said that the...

FINANCE: MEGA PIPELINE PROJECTS PUMP PROBLEMS INTO COMMUNITIES.
October 2, 2006... by Emad Mekay WASHINGTON, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Predominantly foreign male workers who relocated to build massive oil and gas projects, combined with feeble gender policies, have brought prostitution, human trafficking, poverty,...

CHILE: ENVIRONMENT SUFFERS IN PUSH TO PROMOTE ECONOMY - REPORT.
October 2, 2006... by Daniela Estrada SANTIAGO, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Chile is still losing its wealth of natural resources despite major efforts by the public and private sectors, according to experts commissioned by the government. Environmental...

IRAN: AMNESTY TRIES TO STOP 7 WOMEN FROM BEING STONED TO DEATH.
October 2, 2006... by Alison Langley* BERLIN, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Amnesty International has issued an urgent appeal calling on its members to write letters to the Republic of Iran asking them not to stone seven women. Nearly all of the women have...

CANADA: MINING RIGHTS TRAMPLING HUMAN RIGHTS, ACTIVISTS CHARGE.
October 2, 2006... by Stephen Leahy/ Tierramrica* TORONTO, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Activists want the Canadian government to impose mandatory human rights and environmental standards on Canadian mining and oil companies operating in Latin America and...

ENVIRONMENT: AQUIFERS DRAINED TO WATER WORLD'S GRAIN FIELDS.
October 2, 2006... Analysis by Lester R. Brown* WASHINGTON, Sep. 29, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Historically, water scarcity was a local issue. It was up to national governments to balance water supply and demand. Now the international grain trade is changing that....

IRAQ: WE NEED MORE ENGINEERS, GENERAL SAYS, NOT MORE MILITIAS.
October 3, 2006... by Ali Al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail RAMADI, Oct. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- News that the U.S. is backing new Sunni militias in the troubled al-Anbar province west of Baghdad has been strongly condemned, including by other Sunni tribal chiefs, amid...

MEXICO: FOX WON'T CHARGE CONSPIRATORS IN PRI'S 'DIRTY WAR'.
October 3, 2006... by Diego Cevallos MEXICO CITY, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Activists are disappointed that President Vicente Fox is leaving office without delivering on a campaign promise to bring to justice those responsible for the massacre of hundreds of...

CANADA: PARASITE FROM FARMED SALMON KILLING OFF WILD COUSINS.
October 3, 2006... by Stephen Leahy BROOKLIN, Canada, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Canada's open-ocean salmon farms are killing enormous numbers of wild salmon, threatening the species, a new study shows. Research published Monday found that sea lice -- a...

POLITICS: SOUTH KOREAN FOREIGN MINISTER LIKELY NEXT U.N. CHIEF.
October 3, 2006... by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, who consistently led a field of seven candidates, is most likely to be the new secretary-general of the United Nations in January. At...

MOROCCO: EXPATS MAY BE SIDELINED IN 2007 LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS.
October 3, 2006... by Nouri Zyad CASABLANCA, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- In a move some analysts say suggests the government fears a clean election sweep for Islamic fundamentalists, Moroccan expatriates may be excluded from legislative elections in 2007. ...

COLOMBIA: INTERNATIONAL MISSION ECHOES INDIGENOUS CRY FOR HELP.
October 3, 2006... by Helda Mart nez BOGOTA, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- An international peace mission called on the Colombian government to adopt sweeping protections for the nation's 750,000 indigenous people, including protecting them from the long-running...

POLITICS: ACTIVISTS WANT ARMS TREATY TO STEM $1.1 TRILLION TRADE.
October 3, 2006... by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A coalition of human rights organizations and anti-war activists has renewed its campaign for a new international treaty to regulate the world's fast-growing $1.1 trillion global...

ELECTIONS-BRAZIL: LULA, ALCKMIN TO MEET IN OCTOBER RUNOFF.
October 3, 2006... by Mario Osava RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Geraldo Alckmin will face off in a runoff election Oct. 29 after Lula took only 49 percent of the vote in Sunday's elections. ...

THAILAND: MILITARY WITHDRAWS TROOPS, BUT MAINTAINS IRON GRIP.
October 3, 2006... by Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- If democracies can be built with military precision, then Thailand's coup leaders are making the right moves. On Monday afternoon, well before their own two-week-deadline, they...

NICARAGUA: IT'S ALWAYS GREENER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BORDER.
October 3, 2006... by Jos Ad n Silva MANAGUA, Oct. 2, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Some 20 percent of the Nicaraguan population has left the country over the last 16 years, most of them young people in search of work and better pay to help out their families. "I...

AFGHANISTAN: TALIBAN SHIFTS GEARS WITH SUICIDE BOMBERS.
October 4, 2006... by Ricardo Grassi KABUL, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A spate of deadly suicide bombings after relative calm just a month ago has unnerved the residents of this city, toughened by a quarter century of constant warfare. "You know, every...

PAKISTAN: TORTURE, DISAPPEARANCES MUST END, RIGHTS GROUPS SAY.
October 4, 2006... by Sanjay Suri LONDON, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf's visits to the United States and Britain have drawn new focus to human rights abuses in his country. Human Rights Watch reported widespread...

MOROCCO: BILL TO ABOLISH DEATH PENALTY HEADED FOR PARLIAMENT.
October 4, 2006... by Abderrahim El Ouali CASABLANCA, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A bill that would abolish capital punishment in Morocco will be introduced in parliament within the next few months, a member of a leading Moroccan political party said. ...

POLITICS-NEPAL: RULING PARTIES CAN'T AGREE ON FATE OF MONARCHY.
October 4, 2006... by Suman Pradhan KATHMANDU, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- As Nepal emerges from a week-long annual Dasain celebration, the most important religious and cultural festival of the majority Hindus, talks between the coalition government and armed...

POLITICS-U.S.: WAR ON TERROR RETURNING TO ITS CRADLE.
October 4, 2006... Analysis by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Five years after the CIA was putting the final touches on a brilliant campaign plan to oust the Taliban and its al Qaeda allies from power, Afghanistan is back in the headlines...

FINANCE: NORWAY CANCELS 'ILLEGITIMATE DEBT' FOR FIVE COUNTRIES.
October 4, 2006... by Emad Mekay WASHINGTON, Oct. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Anti-debt campaigners are hailing as groundbreaking Monday's decision by Norway to cancel $80 million in debt owed by five poor nations after it determined that the loans were not granted...

COLOMBIA: TEAMING UP AGAINST SOCCER HOOLIGANS.
October 4, 2006... by Helda Mart nez BOGOTA, Oct. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Father Alirio Lcentspez, standing in the middle of the stadium dressed in a jersey with the logos of the two Colombian soccer teams that are playing each other that day, urges fans to...

ICELAND: PROTESTORS RALLY AGAINST HUGE HYDROPOWER DAM.
October 4, 2006... by Lowana Veal REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Oct. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A novel solution has been proposed to stop construction of a controversial hydroelectric dam that sits over a fissure and that environmentalists say will harm plant and animal...

CUBA-U.S.: EMBARGO HURTS AMERICANS, TOO, HAVANA SAYS.
October 4, 2006... by Patricia Grogg HAVANA, Oct. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Washington's embargo against Cuba also hurts the United States economy and prevents millions of U.S. citizens from benefiting from Cuban medical progress, according to a report released...

LATIN AMERICA: NUCLEAR POWER STILL NOWHERE NEAR SAFE - CRITICS.
October 4, 2006... by Diego Cevallos* MEXICO CITY, Oct. 3, 2006 (IPS/IFEJ) -- Just 3.1 percent of Latin America's electricity comes from nuclear sources, but that proportion could more than double in a decade if expansion plans in Argentina, Brazil and...

THAILAND: FAXED RESIGNATION MAKES THAKSIN'S FALL OFFICIAL.
October 4, 2006... Analysis by Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Oct. 3, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra resigned Tuesday as leader of his party following the mass exodus of high-ranking parliamentarians from his Thai Rak Thai (Thais...

ENVIRONMENT-CHINA: AFFLICTED BY AUTOMOBILE ADDICTION.
October 4, 2006... by Antoaneta Bezlova* BEIJING, Oct. 3, 2006 (IPS/IFEJ) -- On a recent "Car Free Day" in Beijing, the capital was clogged with vehicles and the sky was a drab shade of gray. The sheer number of cars on the roads had made a mockery of the...

COLOMBIA: LAW SLAMMED AS BETTER FOR BUSINESS THAN FOR FOREST.
October 5, 2006... by Sonia Parra* BOGOTA, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/IFEJ) -- Critics of Colombia's General Forestry Law, enacted in April, are charging it will allow unsustainable logging, including in indigenous and Afro-Colombian lands. The controversy now is...

CHINA: ADVOCACY GROUPS GROWING, BUT DON'T TACKLE GOVERNMENT.
October 5, 2006... by Sanjay Suri LONDON, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Civil society is growing rapidly in China -- where the government will let it, according to a new report by the group Civicus. The civil society index (CSI) project in China was...

PAKISTAN: GANG-RAPE VICTIM MAI TELLS HER TALE IN DOCUMENTARY.
October 5, 2006... by Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Mukhtaran Mai is in the news again, this time appearing in a documentary film "Shame" that tells her tale of being ordered gang-raped by a village council to punish her brother. Far...

U.S./MIDEAST-ANALYSIS: IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE REAGAN.
October 5, 2006... Analysis by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- President Bush and his peripatetic secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, may believe that they have broken with 60 years of U.S. policy in order to "transform" the Middle East, but...

MEXICO: TROOPS MASS FOR POSSIBLE ASSAULT ON OAXACA PROTESTERS.
October 5, 2006... by Diego Cevallos OAXACA, Mexico, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The federal government appears to be readying to use force to break up a months-long protest in the heart of this southern Mexican city. Protestors from more than 350 social...

CORRUPTION-KENYA: IS AMNESTY WORTH ITS WEIGHT IN GOLD?
October 5, 2006... by Joyce Mulama NAIROBI, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A recent proposal by Kenya's government to grant amnesty to corrupt officials who return stolen funds has raised concerns that the initiative may encourage more graft -- and ultimately a...

LATIN AMERICA: ECONOMY TAKES A BITE OUT OF FAMILY FARM INCOME.
October 5, 2006... by Daniela Estrada SANTIAGO, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Family farms in Latin America are becoming more vulnerable and require government intervention to stay viable, experts and farmers said at a seminar organized by the United Nations...

ARGENTINA: HUMAN RIGHTS TRIALS TRIGGER WAVE OF THREATS.
October 5, 2006... Analysis by Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The reopening of human rights cases in Argentina has triggered an unexpected wave of bomb and death threats aimed at intimidating witnesses, judges, lawyers and...

DEVELOPMENT: EXPORTS A WAY OUT OF POVERTY?
October 5, 2006... by Ramesh Jaura BERLIN, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Imagine the world's poorest trading their way out of poverty. A grand vision indeed, but how to turn it into reality? "Don't' give them fish to eat, teach them fishing," says Patricia...

EUROPE: WITH DOHA ROUND DEAD, EU WANTS ITS OWN TRADE DEALS.
October 5, 2006... Analysis by Sanjay Suri LONDON, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The European Union's decision to pursue bilateral trade deals in the absence of a comprehensive world trade agreement can mean disaster for poor countries. "Europe's policy...

RUSSIA: POOR COUNTRIES SNAP UP RUSSIAN WEAPONRY.
October 5, 2006... by Kester Kenn Klomegah MOSCOW, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Russia is increasingly supplying military arms and weaponry to developing countries in what defense analysts describe as the largest export deals in the post-Soviet era. By...

POLITICS-U.S.: ARMY IMPRISONS SOLDIER REFUSING DUTY IN IRAQ.
October 5, 2006... by Aaron Glantz SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A U.S. soldier who went AWOL -- absent without leave -- over his opposition to the war in Iraq was incarcerated Tuesday at the U.S. military's Mannheim prison in Germany...

PAKISTAN: MUSHARRAF'S MEMOIR SETS CATS AMONG PIGEONS.
October 5, 2006... Analysis by Praful Bidwai NEW DELHI, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- By launching his memoir during a two-week, high-powered publicity blitz across three continents, Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has set a cat, or rather several cats,...

EL SALVADOR: MAKING MONEY BY SELLING KYOTO CARBON CREDITS.
October 5, 2006... by Alberto Mendoza SAN SALVADOR, Oct. 4, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- El Salvador is studying the Kyoto Protocol carefully, not because it has to cut its emissions of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, but because this international...

KENYA: VICTIMS STILL FEEL PAIN OF DECADES-OLD COLONIAL ABUSES.
October 6, 2006... by Joyce Mulama NAIROBI, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- For Jane Muthoni Mara, the memories of being tortured during British rule in Kenya are still horribly vivid -- even though they took place more than half a century ago. She remembers...

SRI LANKA: FIGHTING DEEPENS HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN JAFFNA.
October 6, 2006... by Amantha Perera COLOMBO, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- As the Sri Lankan government and Tamil rebels quibble over where and when to hold peace talks, aid officials say a massive humanitarian crisis is building in the Jaffna peninsula, where...

ITALY: HIJACKING ESCALATES RIGHT WING'S XENOPHOBIA OVER ISLAM.
October 6, 2006... Analysis by Federico Bordonaro ROME, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The political and cultural debate on Islam is heating up in Italy after a Turkish airliner flying from Tirana to Istanbul was hijacked by a Turkish citizen and taken to...

JAMAICA: POLITICIANS SAY DEATH PENALTY CAN STEM RISING VIOLENCE.
October 6, 2006... by Michael Deibert KINGSTON, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Carl McHargh was cleared of murder charges and freed from death row in the Spanish Town District Prison in June, but not before being stabbed 23 times in a prison fight. McHargh...

TURKEY: SECULAR MILITARY LEADERS CLASH WITH PRIME MINISTER.
October 6, 2006... Analysis by Jacques N. Couvas* ANKARA, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A growing conflict between the prime minister and Turkey's armed forces has its roots in the election of the Justice and Development (AKP) party in 2003. The National...

TURKEY: CONFLICT BREWS BETWEEN SECULARISTS AND ISLAMISTS.
October 6, 2006... Analysis by Jacques N. Couvas* ANKARA, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The month of October has begun with a headache that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan could definitely have done without. Just before his departure Oct. 2 for...

LABOR-NEPAL: POLITICAL UNCERTAINTY UNRAVELS GARMENT INDUSTRY.
October 6, 2006... by Marty Logan KATHMANDU, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Business and labor are fighting to gain the upper hand during Nepal's political transition, a process that has sidelined the unemployed workers and anxious factory owners of the troubled...

MIDEAST: LEADERS SAY ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN TALKS CAN'T WAIT ON U.S.
October 6, 2006... by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Amid signs that the U.S. remains unwilling to take stronger steps to get Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track, a growing number of prominent figures are calling for a new...

MEXICO: ACTIVISTS USE SEIZED RADIO STATION TO SPREAD THE WORD.
October 6, 2006... by Diego Cevallos OAXACA, Mexico, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- "Compa[currency]eros, the enemy is the state," boomed the Thursday morning wake-up broadcast from La Ley, a private radio station taken over by activists in the southern Mexican...

RIGHTS-URUGUAY: UNCOVERING THE TRUTH, THREE DECADES LATER.
October 6, 2006... Analysis by Diana Cariboni MONTEVIDEO, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Juan Mar a Bordaberry attained a certain notoriety outside of Uruguay's borders when he transformed himself from democratically elected president to dictator in June 1973....

ENVIRONMENT: HUMAN WASTE CREATES MASSIVE OCEAN DEAD ZONES.
October 6, 2006... by Stephen Leahy BROOKLIN, Canada, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Rising tides of untreated sewage and plastic debris are seriously threatening marine life and habitat around the globe, the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) warned in a...

POLITICS-IRAN: HARD-LINERS TRY TO STEER CRUCIAL LOCAL ELECTIONS.
October 6, 2006... Analysis by Omid Memarian* BERKELEY, Calif., Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Iran's government is attempting to suppress its critics and consolidate its power before two key elections on Dec. 15 -- for the Tehran city council and the national...

THAILAND: U.S. SUSPENDS MILLIONS IN MILITARY AID AFTER COUP.
October 6, 2006... by Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The bloodless coup against a democratically elected government in Thailand last month has forced the United States to review its military relations and suspend aid to one of...

POLITICS-U.S.: CHURCH CRITICIZES DEATH PENALTY IN COED'S MURDER.
October 6, 2006... by Haider Rizvi NEW YORK, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A high-profile murder case in North Dakota has drawn new battle lines between those who support and those who oppose the death penalty in a state which has not executed anyone in a...

THAILAND: MUSEUM SHOWCASING COUNTERFEIT GOODS IS FOR REAL.
October 6, 2006... by Gerald Goh BANGKOK, Oct. 5, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Museums showcasing the weird and the wacky abound on this planet, but how about a museum of phony wares? Welcome to the Tilleke and Gibbins Museum of Counterfeit Goods, situated,...

COMMENTARY: U.S., ASIAN ALLIES BLAMED FOR N. KOREA NUCLEAR TEST.
October 9, 2006... Commentary by Praful Bidwai* NEW DELHI, Oct. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- North Korea's nuclear test Sunday is one more blow to the existing global non-proliferation order and will trigger greater instability in the Asian continent and world as a...

VENEZUELA: CHINA UPSET BY PLANS TO STOP MAKING COAL SUBSTITUTE.
October 9, 2006... by Humberto M rquez CARACAS, Oct. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The joint venture between Venezuela and China to produce orimulsion, a substitute for coal as a fuel for power plants, will switch to producing other hydrocarbons beginning next year....

TIBET: NUN KILLED AS CHINESE BORDER GUARDS FIRE ON REFUGEES.
October 9, 2006... by Marty Logan KATHMANDU, Oct. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- A group of 43 Tibetans fired on by a Chinese border patrol while trying to cross into Nepal was to arrive in the capital late Monday, according to the United Nations. At least one...

HUNGARY: SOCIALIST GOVERNMENT SURVIVES POLITICAL TURMOIL.
October 9, 2006... Analysis by Zolt n Dujisin BUDAPEST, Oct. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Hungary's Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcs ny has refused to resign despite the leaking of a tape with governmental admissions of deceit, three days of anti-government rioting, and...

IRAQ: 'I DON'T KNOW WHO IS IN CONTROL OF MY CITY' - BAQUBA SHEIKH.
October 9, 2006... by Ali Al-Fadhily and Dahr Jamail BAQUBA, Oct. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The little known city of Baquba is emerging as one of the hotbeds of resistance in Iraq, with clashes breaking out every day. "Each day I wake up I don't know who is...

EAST ASIA: CHINA UNLIKELY TO SUPPORT SANCTIONS AGAINST N. KOREA.
October 9, 2006... by Antoaneta Bezlova BEIJING, Oct. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The emergence of North Korea as a nuclear power -- the only other in East Asia apart from China itself -- is perceived here as an evil that can be contained and even rendered useful...

INDONESIA: GOV'T DAWDLES ON MURDER OF LEADING RIGHTS ACTIVIST.
October 9, 2006... by Fabio Scarpello JAKARTA, Oct. 9, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Human rights activists are accusing the government of lacking the political will to nail the murderers of one Indonesia's leading anti-corruption activists -- poisoned on board a Garuda...

IVORY COAST: 7 IN 10 WOMEN SEXUALLY ABUSED, RESEARCHER SAYS.
October 9, 2006... by Fulgence Zambl ABIDJAN, Oct. 8, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Increasing sexual violence in Ivory Coast (C"te d'Ivoire) has prompted rights organizations to call for an end to a culture of impunity that leaves abusers unpunished, particularly...

MEXICO: OAXACA CHILDREN IN PROTEST CAMPS, NOT CLASSROOMS.
October 9, 2006... by Diego Cevallos OAXACA, Mexico, Oct. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Because of the unrest in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, public offices in the state capital have virtually turned into ghost buildings, with no local public institution...

PAKISTAN: TWO CITIES' QUAKE VICTIMS TOLD TO MOVE TO NEW TOWN.
October 9, 2006... by Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Oct. 7, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Of those who survived last year's catastrophic earthquake, it is the people of Balakot district in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) that are least prepared to face another...

POLITICS-U.S.: WHEN IS A TERRORIST 'MASTERMIND' NOT A TERRORIST?
October 9, 2006... by Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- On the 30th anniversary of the first midair bombing of a civilian airliner in the Americas, the plot's suspected mastermind is hoping that a federal judge will soon release him from a Texas...

LATIN AMERICA: CHILDREN PAY THE PRICE WHEN MOM, DAD EMIGRATE.
October 9, 2006... by Ra[pounds sterling]l Pierri MONTEVIDEO, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean should provide special protection for children made more vulnerable by emigration, UNICEF warned this week in the...

BOLIVIA: DEATH TOLL CLIMBS AS STATE, INDEPENDENT MINERS CLASH.
October 9, 2006... by Franz Ch vez LA PAZ, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Two fatal shootings Friday brought to 13 the number of victims in a clash between state-employed miners and members of independent mining cooperatives at Bolivia's biggest tin mine, located...

AFRICA: CHINA, INDIA COME CALLING FOR CONTINENT'S RICHES.
October 9, 2006... by Moyiga Nduru JOHANNESBURG, Oct. 6, 2006 (IPS/GIN) -- Emerging global powers China and India, thirsty for new markets and energy, are competing for both in Africa. "Competition has been tense between China and India in the past...