Overseas news archive

27.06.2006 As Tony Blair and Gordon Brown announced the formation of a panel to review G8 commitments on poverty, a leading development charity said that world leaders needed to act now to honour the pledges made at the G8 summit at Gleneagles last July.
+ G8 failing tomake poverty history

26.06.2006 The Kalashnikov assault rifle will remain the most widely-used weapon in conflict zones for at least the next 20 years because it is so poorly regulated, according to a new report released at the start of the UN world conference on small arms and light weapons in New York today.

26.06.2006 The pharmaceutical industry provides next to no information to consumers about the US$60 billion it spends annually on marketing, contradicting many drug companies' claims of social responsibility, a new report finds.

26.06.2006 The appointment of Doka Umarov as the new Chechen rebel leader may strengthen the nationalist faction of the separatist movement, which in recent years has been dominated by radical Islamists, analysts suggest.

26.06.2006 A new handbook encouraging the investigation and documentation of state-sanctioned torture in the hope of preventing further abuse is to be distributed by British diplomats to health professionals around the world.

26.06.2006

23.06.2006 Four young Burmese pro-democracy activists have been given prison terms of between seven and 19 years for publishing poetry.

23.06.2006 The last group of Bushmen holding out inside Botswana's Central Kalahari Game Reserve have smuggled out an appeal for help, claiming continual harassment and threats by wildlife officials and scouts to "pressure us to leave our homes".

23.06.2006 Majorities in Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, and Jordan say that they do not believe Arabs carried out the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks, according to a new international survey, which shows that Chinese are almost alone in seeing little cause for concern over Islamic extremism.

23.06.2006 The World Trade Organisation’s new proposal to forge an agreement on the Doha round is miles away from delivering a true development deal, says a leading international agency.
+ WTO stalemate threatens development disaster

23.06.2006 Eleven designated "hot spots" have been removed from the list of the Baltic Sea's worst sources of pollution following a review of clean-up efforts.

23.06.2006 An estimated 20,000 Rwandans have fled to northern Burundi in the past six months, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres.

23.06.2006 Torture, or the possibility of being tortured, is a part of life today in most Asian countries and has become a global trend in the wake of September 11 and the declaration of the “war on terror”, a group of Asian NGOs warns in a statement ahead of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

22.06.2006 The first session of the newly established Human Rights Council is underway in Geneva: read CRIN's coverage.

22.06.2006 Roger Waters, founding member of rock group Pink Floyd, visited the East Jerusalem village of Abu Dis - and sprayed graffitti on the Israeli wall - ahead of his performance in the Arab/Israeli Peace Village today.

22.06.2006 As African heads of state prepare to visit Gambia for the African Union Summit, a group of African organisations warns that the state of free expression and press freedom is deteriorating rapidly across the continent.
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22.06.2006 Today marks the entry into force of the Optional Protocol to the UN Convention against Torture that aims to prevent torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by establishing an innovative system of regular visits to all places of detention.

22.06.2006 The existence of between 500,000 and two million mines is hampering the return of millions of displaced southern Sudanese.
+ UN refugee agency short of funds to help Liberians home

22.06.2006 A Pentagon document has surfaced that classifies homosexuality as a mental disorder, grouping it with retardation and personality disorder.

22.06.2006 Numbers of elephants and other large mammals have increased in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Virunga national park in the last three years - thanks largely to park guards paid $1 a month.