Overseas news archive

31.03.2006 An anti-torture group is pressing for disciplinary action to be taken against US military doctors who have breached medical ethics by force-feeding hunger-striking detainees at Guantánamo Bay.

31.03.2006 After a senior UN human rights official criticised Cambodia's one-man rule - which he said was stunting democracy and human rights - Prime Minister Hun Sen retaliated by saying he was no longer welcome in the country.
* OneWorld UK Cambodia Guide

31.03.2006 Three widows of murdered human rights defenders have been nominated by a leading Asian rights group for this year's Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.

31.03.2006 Patient care in Iraq has been the main casualty of an exodus of experienced doctors caused by rising levels of crime and violence.

31.03.2006 An export tax proposal to be introduced by the European Union has been condemned as "divisive", "a politically motivated action designed to please the Brussels business lobby" and "one more nail in the coffin of the Doha Development Agenda".

31.03.2006 Universal HIV testing in developing countries with high levels of infection could prove valuable in tackling the spread of the pandemic, former US president Bill Clinton said this week.

31.03.2006 The Botswana government has admitted that evicted Bushmen are drinking themselves to death in relocation camps: there were no known deaths from alcohol consumption when the Bushmen were living on their ancestral land and drinking was rare.

31.03.2006 Allowing almost 500,000 people living illegally in the UK to stay and pay taxes would allow the Treasury to abolish the starting rate of stamp duty or increase the Child Tax Credit by £150, according to new research from the Institute for Public Policy Research.

31.03.2006 The cost of cleaning up Britain's nuclear sites could have soared to £70 billion, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority has revealed, and virtually all will have to be paid by the taxpayer.

30.03.2006 HIV and AIDS groups today opposed an Indian patent application by Glaxo on the grounds that it would set a precedent that would hamper access to affordable AIDS medicines worldwide.

30.03.2006 The current rate of death from the war in northern Uganda is three times higher than in Iraq, finds a report released today as a senior UN official holds meetings in Kampala to address the 20-year conflict.

30.03.2006 Sustained pressure from campaigners has helped win $37 billion of cancellation of poor countries' debts to the World Bank and prevent unacceptable delays in delivering the cancellation, a debt campaign group said yesterday.

30.03.2006 A one-third decline in HIV prevalence in the worst-affected region of India is probably the result of increased condom use by men visiting sex workers, the medical magazine The Lancet reports today.

30.03.2006 A terrorist attack on a train carrying waste nuclear materials across Britain could spread lethal radioactivity across an area of 100 sq kilometres, and result in the deaths of up to 8,000 people, according to a new report.

30.03.2006 The British public drink over three million cups of Fairtrade hot beverages and eat nearly 500,000 Fairtrade bananas every day, Fairtrade Foundation chief Harriet Lamb said yesterday as she was honoured at Buckingham Palace.

30.03.2006 Over 20,000 people from all over the world have joined the international campaign to ensure that the case against former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori - currently detained in Chile - is resolved promptly, it was announced at a public meeting today.

30.03.2006 Local populations must be allowed to spearhead the post-earthquake reconstruction effort in Pakistan, says the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

30.03.2006 UN peacekeepers delivered handcuffed former Liberian president Charles Taylor into the custody of a UN-backed Special Court in Sierra Leone on Wednesday where he will be the first former African head of state to face prosecution for war crimes before an international tribunal.

30.03.2006 More incidents of mass public fur burning have been reported in far eastern Tibet, in the wake of the Dalai Lama's appeal for an end to the use of wildlife skins as clothing or for decoration during festivals.

29.03.2006 East Asia's economies now surpass Europe as the region most open for trade in the world, according to the World Bank's latest East Asia Update