Archives

31.05.2007 The Live Earth concerts in July organised by former United States Vice President Al Gore are drumming-up dissent says James Panton, who argues that though cool mega music events might seem to produce cool politics, they are far less effective at connecting politicians with their voters and creating a sound debate on the issues.

31.05.2007 Despite pledging new money to fight AIDS worldwide, U.S. President George W. Bush continues to insist on funding programs discredited by the Institute of Medicine, the Government Accountability Office, and numerous independent research studies, global health advocates said Wednesday.

31.05.2007 Two years after Taco Bell agreed to raise the price it pays for tomatoes picked by some of the poorest paid workers in the United States, its parent company has reached a similar agreement, bringing several other fast food chains along with it.

31.05.2007 The Indian Government's plans to prohibit women under 30 from migrating to work as domestics in an effort to tackle trafficking for sexual exploitation hits women rather than traffickers, warns an anti-slavery organisation.

31.05.2007 Eight of Europe's largest and most influential seafood companies, including McDonald's and Bird's Eye, are demanding better controls on pirate fishing in the Barents sea.

31.05.2007 None of the 48 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries linked through an aid agreement to the European Union have selected HIV as a key area in their funding priorities, an analysis shows.

31.05.2007 As outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair makes a farewell five-day tour of Africa ahead of the G8 summit, a report shows that Africa is still waiting for billions of dollars of aid promised at the Gleneagles summit in 2005.

31.05.2007 The European Union tops the list of major importers of many wild animal and plant products, including tropical timber, caviar, reptile skins and live reptiles, according to a new report by a wildlife trade monitoring network.

31.05.2007 "I fear that commitments to vast reductions in emissions decades hence are no more real than commitments to end aggressions or war," writes Lawrence Summers. So what are the solutions?
From: FT

30.05.2007 An Internet censorship proposal, meant to “protect kids from the dangers of pornography, violence, and gambling sites,” has many Israelis worried about the possibility of government dictating what can and can’t be viewed online.

30.05.2007 In what a leading rights group[ has called "a politically motivated decision," the Venezuela government has decided not to renew a license for the only commercial television station in the country that has remained strongly critical of the government.
From: Human Rights Watch

30.05.2007 With the deployment of UN peacekeeping troops held up, U.S. President George W. Bush’s beefed-up sanctions are not enough to protect the citizens of Darfur, said African Action Tuesday.

30.05.2007 G8 countries must act to keep global warming below 2° Celsius and pledge their share of $50bn to help poorest cope with impact, insists Oxfam.

29.05.2007 The group of richest industrialised countries are defrauding the public and failing Africa, a spokesman for ActionAid said today, a week before the annual G8 summit.

29.05.2007 Hundreds of thousands of slum-dwellers could paralyse air and rail links to one of Asia's most populous cities - Mumbai, India - unless they are involved in plans for their resettlement.

29.05.2007 UN peacekeeping is a cost effective investment in global stability, says Refugees International, urging the United States to mark today's UN Peacekeepers Day by paying its current arrears, which may soon reach $1 billion.

29.05.2007 The International Day of United Nations Peacekeepers falls awkwardly this year, following the eruption of controversy over allegations against Pakistani peacekeepers in Congo. But Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has pushed that aside to hail the deployment of more than 100,000 peacekeepers from 115 countries - two records, he said, which “speak of unprecedented confidence in... United Nations peacekeeping.”

29.05.2007 A round-up of the 26 most common climate myths and misconceptions.
From: New Scientist

29.05.2007 Humanitarian organisations, NGOs and the UN continue to fall short on accountability to disaster survivors, says a damning new report by Human Accountability Partnership.

29.05.2007 Slavery isn’t dead, says Robtel Neajai Pailey: its modern-day variant is just found on a different kind of plantation.
From Red Pepper