Full Coverage: Governance

31.10.2007 Spain's new electronic ID cards will reach 30 million citizens soon. The Interior Ministry has already distributed 1.2 million chip-based cards and expects to issue at least 800,000 more by the end of the year.

31.10.2007 BangaloreIT.in 2007 - billed as Asia’s biggest ICT event - got on to a slow start on October 30, with few IT enthusiasts participating on the first day.

31.10.2007 The Stand Up, Speak Out campaign by the Millennium Campaign and the Global Call to Action against Poverty, along with its partners have led to an incredible number of 43.7 million people – both physically and intentionally – standing up against poverty and in support of the Millennium Development Goals. The campaign’s success reveals a growing movement of people who want more urgent political responses to the growing crisis of global poverty.

30.10.2007 Environmental activist Sunita Narain says India has to wean itself away from the polluters’ club in the larger interests of mitigating climate change effects. By asserting our right to development, we are forgetting the need to press for mandatory emission targets on developed nations.

29.10.2007 NEW YORK, Oct 29 (OneWorld) - Donald Rumsfeld, the former U.S. secretary of defense, is facing criminal charges in France for ordering the torture of prisoners in Iraq and at the military prison at Guantanamo Bay.

29.10.2007 The Chinese government will work with ICT companies on a proposal encouraging the development of Wi-Fi applications. The government will continue to leverage Web 2.0 technologies to engage with the public and improve public service delivery in specific areas.

26.10.2007 Nearly 80 percent of Bangladesh's people live in rural areas, with more than half comprising its poor. The latest World Bank Development Report says the country needs to increase its productivity in staple foods while also improve its rural services through better physical and social infrastructure.

26.10.2007 WASHINGTON, Oct 25 (OneWorld) - Hip-Hop is not dead, at least not in Africa. That was the consensus after a recent screening here of the forthcoming documentary, "African Underground: Democracy in Dakar."

25.10.2007 The second Internet Governance Forum to be held at Rio, Brazil from 12-15 November will discuss related issues and make relevant recommendations to the international community.

25.10.2007 When Home Ministers of SAARC countries meet today in New Delhi, they will try to build consensus upon reaching an agreement on cooperation in tackling crimes. At a time when terrorists seem to be better coordinated in carrying out cross-border crimes, the importance of such a convention assumes greater significance.

24.10.2007 NEW YORK, Oct 24 (OneWorld) - Some of the nation's leading performing artists are calling for the U.S. Congress to roll back the Bush administration's policy on global HIV/AIDS funds requiring abstinence from sex until marriage.

23.10.2007 A power conservation drive has made villages in the northern Indian state of Haryana switch over to Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL). Binola in Gurgaon was the first village to be lit up by CFL this year, followed by Sirsa, India’s first and only 100% CFL-electrified district.

22.10.2007 WASHINGTON, Oct 22 (OneWorld) - A Colombian senator pushing for justice and peace has been honored in the United States for his human rights activism, accepting a prestigious award alongside co-honorees from the United States challenging the war in Iraq and Washington, DC's "taxation without representation."

22.10.2007 Dr Pam Rajput, eminent women rights activist and organizer cum jurist of the recent Women’s Tribunal on Poverty has hopes that the issue of Indian women’s engagement with poverty will not end with the tribunal. OneWorld South Asia met her prior to the event to discuss the role of women in ending poverty. Dr Rajput is also Director of the Centre for Women's Studies and Development (CWSD) at Punjab University.

20.10.2007 38.8 million people worldwide broke last year's numbers to make a new world record for the Stand Up, Speak Out campaign on October 17, the International Day for Eradication of Poverty. By standing up, these people are calling upon Governments to match their actions by displaying the political will to end poverty, said Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General.

19.10.2007 As the Indian state of Orissa reels under poverty and chronic hunger, five billion Indian rupees from the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme have been siphoned off by corrupt state officials. Parshuram Rai, Director, Centre for Environment and Food Security, exposes the rot in the state bureaucracy.

18.10.2007 P.V. Rajagopal of the Ekta Parishad talks while he walks, in a freewheeling interview with OneWorld South Asia, along with 25,000 people towards the Indian capital to demand pro-poor land reforms policy. Industrialisation alone cannot solve the problem of poverty and unemployment, he says. The march aptly named Janadesh meaning People's Verdict, is expected to reach Delhi on October 28.

18.10.2007 In India, hundreds of women came together to raise their voices against poverty at the Women’s Tribunal on Poverty on October 17. The event, held at New Delhi, was marked by the release of a women’s charter on poverty and a visit to the President, reinforcing their rights to be heard.

17.10.2007 NEW YORK, Oct 17 (OneWorld) - Independent economists and environmentalists are warning of dire consequences for the U.S. economy if policy makers fail to take urgent action on climate change.

16.10.2007 Irfan Mufti from Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) feels society has to be organised and mobilized to influence policy. The change may not be immediate, but political influence is bound to grow in future.