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Monday, March 22, 2010 15:44 GMT

Latest News

POLITICS-THAILAND: Bangkok Protesters Tap Rural Protest Strategy

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
THUNG PHRA, Thailand, Mar 22 (IPS) - Once a stronghold of Thailand’s banned communist party, this north-east rural outpost has been drawing a different kind of people railing against the political order set in the capital Bangkok.
MORE >>

Q&A: "Military Commissions Are a Second-Class Justice System"
By William Fisher interviews Guantanamo defence counsel DAVID FRAKT
NEW YORK, Mar 22 (IPS) - David Frakt is a professor at the Western State University College of Law and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve JAG Corps.
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POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Scepticism Greets Human Rights Plan
By Feizal Samath
COLOMBO, MAR 22 (IPS) - Pressured by the west and international groups over its human right record, the Sri Lankan government is close to finalising a roadmap on safeguarding civil and political liberties.
MORE >>

CHINA: State Media Pushing for a Global Voice
By Mitch Moxley
BEIJING, Mar 22 (IPS) - Expanded overseas bureaus, more Chinese and foreign-language editorial products reaching global audiences and now, a reformatting of the country’s most widely read English-language newspaper. These are signs of the expansion of China’s state media, one that President Hu Jintao has described as an "increasingly fierce struggle in the domain of news and opinion".
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EAST AFRICA: Impatient EU Pushes for Progress on EPA Trade Deal
By Adam Robert Green
BRUSSELS, Mar 22 (IPS) - The European Commission (EC) is increasing the pressure on the East African Community (EAC) to sign the free trade deal known as an economic partnership agreement with the EU.
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RIGHTS: JSOC Interests Snag Plan to Free Afghan Detainees
By Gareth Porter*
WASHINGTON, Mar 21 (IPS) - An initiative to revise the procedures for reviewing the cases of detainees in order to free marginal insurgents and innocent Afghans has run afoul of the interests of officers of the powerful Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in defending their role in earlier detention decisions.
MORE >>

POLITICS-NEPAL: Statesman’s Death Leaves Worries About Peace Process
By Bhuwan Sharma
KATHMANDU, Mar 21 (IPS) - The death of Girija Prasad Koirala, who played a role in some of the biggest political changes in Nepal in recent decades, has many wondering about what will happen to the fragile peace process that he is widely credited for having made possible.
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POLITICS-SUDAN: African Leaders Call for Peaceful Elections
By Amelia Lawrence
NAIROBI, Mar 20 (IPS) - With less than a month to the historic multi-party poll in Africa’s largest country, Sudan, eminent African leaders are calling for a peaceful and calm election process.
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ECONOMY: Greek Crisis Impacts the Balkans
By Apostolis Fotiadis
ATHENS, Mar 20 (IPS) - Serious concerns are being raised about the impact of the ongoing recession in Greece on the political and economic situation in the neighbouring Balkans.
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U.S.: Families Sue Over Guantanamo Deaths
By William Fisher
NEW YORK, Mar 19 (IPS) - The families of two prisoners who died at the U.S. Navy Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, are asking a federal court to reconsider its ruling dismissing their lawsuit, which seeks to hold federal officials and the U.S. government accountable for their sons' torture, arbitrary detention, and ultimate deaths.
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Global Affairs

By Mar 22
State Media Pushing for a Global Voice - Expanded overseas bureaus, more Chinese and foreign-language editorial products reaching global audiences and now, a reformatting of the country’s most widely read English-language newspaper. These are signs of the expansion of China’s state media, one that President Hu Jintao has described as an "increasingly fierce struggle in the domain of news and opinion".
MORE >>

By Mar 19
A Year On, Little Change in Political Climate - This time last year, United States federal legislation on climate change was starting to take shape, seemingly more pressing matters were taking up the bulk of U.S. policymakers' time, and a major climate conference was looming at the end of the year.
MORE >>

By Mar 19
Sri Lanka Remains Defiant of U.N. Chief - The Sri Lankan government continues to challenge U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's right to appoint a panel of experts to advise him on the human rights situation - euphemistically called "accountability issues" – following the end of a protracted conflict against a secessionist group widely considered a terrorist organisation.
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By Mar 19
Political Will the Missing Link for MDGs - Despite numerous factors that threaten the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 - a global financial crisis, a food crisis, climate change, natural disasters – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week that his main concern is "political will".
MORE >>

By Mar 19
A Poll, Yes, But Not Political Change - In teashops and markets, the national election due this year in Burma is the talk of the town, so much so that Thuzar, who did not take part in the 1990 poll, is quite eager to cast her vote this time.
MORE >>

MDGs

By Mar 19
Political Will the Missing Link for MDGs - Despite numerous factors that threaten the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 - a global financial crisis, a food crisis, climate change, natural disasters – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said this week that his main concern is "political will".
MORE >>

By Mar 18
Stopping the Polio Virus - The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners hope to eliminate the circulation of the polio virus in West Africa as soon as June by launching the first round of national synchronised immunisation days against the debilitating disease.
MORE >>

By Mar 18
Maternal Deaths on the Rise - Despite the fact that the United States spends more on maternal health than any other country in the world, deaths in childbirth among U.S. women are on the rise and already surpass the morbidity rates in most developed countries.
MORE >>

By Mar 18
Bad Water More Deadly Than War - Bad water kills more people than wars or earthquakes, declares Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
MORE >>

By Mar 18
Tapping Women's Enterprise to Topple Rural Poverty - Employees at the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) may have cause to fear for their jobs after Yukiko Omura was appointed vice president of the United Nations' rural poverty agency in February.
MORE >>

Environment

By Mar 19
A Year On, Little Change in Political Climate - This time last year, United States federal legislation on climate change was starting to take shape, seemingly more pressing matters were taking up the bulk of U.S. policymakers' time, and a major climate conference was looming at the end of the year.
MORE >>

By Mar 19
Trying to Rebuild Communities After Floods - After torrential rains and floods claimed lives in Kenya’s North Rift region, hundreds of displaced people are now in dire need of relief aid.
MORE >>

By Mar 19
Crippling Power Outages Throw Life Out of Gear - When it gets cold during Nepal’s winter nights, Yem Prasad Gurung turns on his heater run by liquefied petroleum gas. When it gets dark, he switches on the lights that rely on a solar inverter – and to make sure he gets water, he turns on a generator-powered water pump.
MORE >>

CLIMATE CHANGE-BRAZIL

By Mar 18
The Threat Posed by Livestock - The livestock industry has less economic clout than the oil industry, but ranchers say it has better arguments to defend itself from accusations regarding its share of responsibility for global warming.
MORE >>

By Mar 18
The U.N.'s Boys' Club - U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's decision to appoint a 19-member, all-male high-level advisory group on Climate Change Financing (CCF) has triggered strong protests from women's groups and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) outraged by the composition of the panel.
MORE >>

Human Rights

POLITICS-THAILAND

By Mar 22
Bangkok Protesters Tap Rural Protest Strategy - Once a stronghold of Thailand’s banned communist party, this north-east rural outpost has been drawing a different kind of people railing against the political order set in the capital Bangkok.
MORE >>

By Mar 22
"Military Commissions Are a Second-Class Justice System" - David Frakt is a professor at the Western State University College of Law and a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve JAG Corps.
MORE >>

POLITICS-SRI LANKA

By MAR 22
Scepticism Greets Human Rights Plan - Pressured by the west and international groups over its human right record, the Sri Lankan government is close to finalising a roadmap on safeguarding civil and political liberties.
MORE >>

By Mar 22
State Media Pushing for a Global Voice - Expanded overseas bureaus, more Chinese and foreign-language editorial products reaching global audiences and now, a reformatting of the country’s most widely read English-language newspaper. These are signs of the expansion of China’s state media, one that President Hu Jintao has described as an "increasingly fierce struggle in the domain of news and opinion".
MORE >>

By Mar 21
JSOC Interests Snag Plan to Free Afghan Detainees - An initiative to revise the procedures for reviewing the cases of detainees in order to free marginal insurgents and innocent Afghans has run afoul of the interests of officers of the powerful Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) in defending their role in earlier detention decisions.
MORE >>

Health

By Mar 19
Trying to Rebuild Communities After Floods - After torrential rains and floods claimed lives in Kenya’s North Rift region, hundreds of displaced people are now in dire need of relief aid.
MORE >>

By Mar 19
State Insists Counterfeit Law’s No Threat to Right to Life - Kenya’s Constitutional Court heard on Mar. 18 from counsel representing the government that the Anti-Counterfeit Act of 2008 does not threaten the importation or manufacturing of cheap generic medicines and therefore does not deny Kenyans their constitutional right to life.
MORE >>

By Mar 18
Stopping the Polio Virus - The World Health Organisation (WHO) and its partners hope to eliminate the circulation of the polio virus in West Africa as soon as June by launching the first round of national synchronised immunisation days against the debilitating disease.
MORE >>

By Mar 18
Maternal Deaths on the Rise - Despite the fact that the United States spends more on maternal health than any other country in the world, deaths in childbirth among U.S. women are on the rise and already surpass the morbidity rates in most developed countries.
MORE >>

By Mar 18
Bad Water More Deadly Than War - Bad water kills more people than wars or earthquakes, declares Anders Berntell, executive director of the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI).
MORE >>

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