Overseas news archive

29.04.2006 Unless rebel attacks against UN and other relief operations in part of Sudan's Darfur region stop immediately, the world body will suspend all assistance to 450,000 vulnerable people in the area, a top UN official said.
The statement came on top of an already volatile mix of developments, with the World Food Programme slashing relief supplies to displaced people because it has run out of money, reports of a rise in government attacks and a warning that the deadline for a peace deal is unlikely to be met.
* SAVE DARFUR: Rally to Stop Genocide

28.04.2006 Even as a spate of attacks in South Darfur state "seems to constitute a new military offensive by the Sudanese government", the UN World Food Programme said today that it is making drastic cuts in food rations because of shortage of funds.

28.04.2006 Mebegokre Kayapó Indians have vowed to oppose the building of five dams along the Xingu River in Amazonia, which they fear will have a devastating impact on the environment and flood large parts of their land.

28.04.2006 Animal diseases will pose a growing threat in Africa unless the continent's health and veterinary services are significantly improved, according to a UK government programme.

28.04.2006 Sweden is to push for European Union support for a UN moratorium on high seas bottom trawling, Environment Minister Lena Sommestad announced.

28.04.2006 The Congo’s first free elections in 40 years should be a major step toward ending the country’s long conflict, but if not carried out properly could trigger further unrest, the International Crisis Group warns.

28.04.2006 This weekend six million people in urgent need of essential Aids drugs face betrayal by world leaders because The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria is not getting the heavyweight political support it needs, claims an international development group.

28.04.2006 The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development should demand effective environmental protection measures for oil spills from Shell or decline funding for its Sakhalin project in Russia's Far East, says a leading environmental group.

28.04.2006 A recent spate of attacks in South Darfur state seems to constitute a new military offensive by the Sudanese government and puts the lives of tens of thousands of people at risk, regional analysts have warned.
* Adding insult to injury? Sharp ration cuts leave Darfur on a diet

28.04.2006 In a blow for freedom of information, the Commerce Committee of the US House of Representatives voted down an amendment that would have protected "net neutrality", meaning that Internet service providers would have to provide their customers equal access to all websites.

27.04.2006 The UK parliament’s International Development Committee has blamed the EU and Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson for the current crisis at the World Trade Organisation, in a new report published today.

27.04.2006 Sub-Saharan Africa's last absolute monarch, King Mswati of Swaziland, said his country is not ready for political parties and criticised foreign governments for meddling in its internal affairs.

27.04.2006 A leading UK development group today welcomed MPs' criticism of Britain's presidency of the EU on trade issues and called for the collapse of talks at the World Trade Organisation.
* British MPs accuse Mandelson of causing WTO crisis
* Oxfam report warns poor countries against agreeing bad trade deal

27.04.2006 A new study has raised hopes of developing a vaccine against river blindness (onchocerciasis) — a major disease in west and central Africa as well as parts of Latin America.

27.04.2006 Two years after the Abu Ghraib scandal, new research shows that abuse of detainees in US custody in Iraq, Afghanistan, and at Guantánamo Bay has been widespread, and that the US has taken only limited steps to investigate and punish implicated personnel.

27.04.2006 An escalation in violence between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels is placing people in danger and threatening tsunami reconstruction and long-term development work.

27.04.2006 Chinese blogger Hao Wu is the victim of state abduction as more than two months have gone by since his arrest without his family getting any news about him, said an international media watchdog.

27.04.2006 Plants in Borneo that could help treat or cure diseases such as cancer, AIDS and malaria are threatened by deforestation, a new report warns.

27.04.2006 Children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo continue to endure some of the most inhumane treatment found anywhere in the world, despite outward signs of progress, according to a new report.
* The War the World Forgot

27.04.2006 The chances of a trade deal being done this year that helps reduce poverty are looking increasingly slim, according to a new report released today by an international development agency.