Overseas news archive

18.04.2006 The Liberian Government will launch a National Girls’ Education Policy today.

17.04.2006 The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has said that it will not be able to attend the peace talks in Geneva until the Sri Lankan government clears the hurdles blocking the way and creates a more conducive atmosphere for talks.

17.04.2006 Through a lengthy covert operation, Japan is poised to seize control of whale hunting - and that spells disaster for the endangered mammal, reports a British national newspaper.

17.04.2006 Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno has promised that 200,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur region will not be forcibly returned, the head of the UN refugee agency said after a telephone conversation on Sunday.

17.04.2006 World Trade Organisation members are urged to press China to end excessive media controls, on the grounds that newly-adopted regulations in Beijing curbing the liberalisation of the news media are contrary to the principles of the organisation.

17.04.2006 As an MP warns that the White working class are losing faith in Labour, and that the far right British National Party is within a 5 per cent swing of winning 70 council seats, a OneWorld UK report from almost exactly a year ago gives a reminder that the party's rise is not simply an anti-immigrant vote.

17.04.2006 Nepal's King Gyanendra held talks with diplomats from India and the US, as pro-democracy demonstrators called for full-blown civil disobedience, including non-payment of taxes and electricity and water bills.
* Civilians concerned over deteriorating situation

15.04.2006 Nepali activists have organised a blood donation programme to help "hundreds" of people injured in pro-democracy protests.

15.04.2006 US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld could be criminally liable for the torture of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay in late 2002 and early 2003, a rights group claimed on the basis of a leaked report by the Army Inspector General.

14.04.2006 As Japan’s whaling fleet returned home from its Antarctic hunt with the largest catch in over 20 years, an environmental action group called on seafood giant Maruha to use its influence to help stop the killing of the world’s whales.

14.04.2006 The United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative Regional Network for West & Central Africa was launched in Dakar yesterday by a partnership of UN agencies, national and local governments and NGOs.

14.04.2006 The Lebanese government is being urged to drop a defamation charge against lawyer Dr Muhamad Mugraby for remarks made to a European Parliament delegation almost three years ago.

14.04.2006 As fighting erupted in N’djamena, the United Nations began evacuating all non-essential staff as well as NGO personnel.
* Annan, Security Council condemn Chad attacks, call for negotiation

14.04.2006 Nepal's political parties should take part in a general election, King Gyanendra said in a bid to end the country's political turmoil, in a message marking New Year’s Day 2063 on Friday.
* ActionAid staff arrested in Nepal

14.04.2006 Three award-winning widows of murdered human rights defenders - Angkhana Neelaphaijit, Suciwati Munir and Padma Perera - have been nominated for two more prestigious international human rights awards.

14.04.2006 The Bangladesh government has been urged to set up an independent investigation into the killings of farmers protesting against electricity shortages in the northern town of Kansat.

13.04.2006 Use of torture and other abuses in Sri Lanka make its candidature for membership of the UN Human Rights Council a mockery and would scupper the new body's aspirations, a leading Asian rights group said today.

13.04.2006 Yahoo! executives are today scheduled to meet an international media watchdog which wants the company to stop cooperating with the Chinese authorities in arrests of activists and journalists.

13.04.2006 The international community’s financial boycott of the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority will likely lead to a major humanitarian crisis, warns Dr. Tawfiq Nasser, CEO of Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem.
* Palestinian Territories: MSF refuses to be a 'social palliative' of EU & US policies
* Deterioration in humanitarian and security environment

13.04.2006 With rebels moving towards N’Djamena, and fears of an impending coup intensifying in Chad, the country's refugee population is increasingly vulnerable and at risk of displacement.