Overseas news archive

30.06.2006 In a historic vote that brought a standing ovation, the UN's Human Rights Council in Geneva approved the text of a declaration on indigenous peoples' rights that was first discussed over 20 years ago.

30.06.2006 The US is maneuvering at world trade talks in Geneva this week to insert a special clause in trade negotiations that would make its illegal use of farm subsidies immune from prosecution, an international agency said today.

30.06.2006 Progress on fulfilling last year's G8 pledges on aid, debt and HIV/AIDS is "painfully slow" and leaders have fallen backwards on trade, says the lobby group set up to monitor the Summit's pledges.

28.06.2006 Peace agreements, post-conflict reconstruction, and governance do better when women are involved, according to research in Sudan, Congo and Uganda by the International Crisis Group.

28.06.2006 Despite better harvests across southern Africa, more than three million people will remain short of food because of chronic vulnerability caused by grinding poverty and the world’s highest rates of HIV/AIDS, the World Food Programme has warned.

28.06.2006 Global sales of Fairtrade certified products rose 37 per cent to €1.1 billion last year, figures released today show. Sales in UK topped $195 million.

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28.06.2006 Activists have criticised the Nepali government and army for continuing to billet soldiers and security force personnel in school premises around the country, despite the current ceasefire.
+ Maoist leaders meet Indian Ambassador

28.06.2006 Save the Children has raised concern about the increase in the re-recruitment of children into armed groups in Democratic Republic of Congo following the abduction of six children by "heavily armed and aggressive" soldiers.

28.06.2006 A 12-point programme for ending the US-initiated system of "renditions" and secret detentions in Europe has been drawn up by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, the International Commission of Jurists and the Association for the Prevention of Torture.

28.06.2006 African Union leaders meeting in Banjul must press their G8 counterparts to keep last year's promises on Africa, four leading African and international NGOs said yesterday.
+ 'Bird flu' pandemic could follow AIDS, G8 warned

28.06.2006 The same social and economic conditions that underpin the AIDS pandemic in Africa threaten to spread "bird flu", a leading African lobby group warns G8 leaders ahead of their Summit in Moscow.

27.06.2006 The Sudanese government has lifted the restrictions it imposed on Monday on UN relief operations across the western region of Darfur.

27.06.2006 A leading medical journal says the Botswana government's eviction of Bushmen from the Central Kalahari Game Reserve has led to a dramatic deterioration in their health.

27.06.2006 The British government's emphasis on full employment threatens to strip neighbourhoods of the people who make the difference between success and failure of public services - such as volunteers, care workers and 'co-producers', says a study published today.

27.06.2006 Brussels should become the hub for a new €5 billion fund to address the Millennium Development Goals, according to Simon Maxwell, director of the Overseas Development Institute.

27.06.2006 As East Timor's Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri resigns, Britain is urged to address past atrocities to East Timorese people under Indonesian rule that are hampering the country's democracy.

27.06.2006 A new snake with the ability to spontaneously change colour has been discovered in the forests of the Heart of Borneo, one of the most biologically diverse regions on Earth.

27.06.2006 An advertising campaign to raise awareness of obstetric fistula - a devastating injury that leaves women with agonising pain, chronic incontinence and, often, a stillborn baby - was launched in London today by singer/actress Natalie Imbruglia, Baroness Amos and public health experts.

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27.06.2006 Cocaine consumption in western Europe is reaching alarming levels while opium production in Afghanistan could rise again this year despite a decline in 2005, according to the 2006 World Drug Report.

27.06.2006 The mining sector in Tanzania has once again come under intense scrutiny with signs that government officials are beginning to yield to public pressure for a fresh look at mining contracts.