Overseas news archive

31.08.2006 Extreme weather has always been a problem for people in Latin America and the Caribbean, but climate change is set to turn an already rough ride into an impossible one, says a new report from unique coalition of development and environment groups.

31.08.2006 One the UN Day of the Disappeared Wednesday, Amnesty releasing findings documenting rising enforced disappearances in Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka in the context of the "war on terror."

31.08.2006 Some 32 countries have donated over $3 billion over four years for environmental programs in developing countries, rekindling hopes that the global environment may be getting support it has often lacked in the past.

31.08.2006 UN officials, scientific experts, and Mediterranean environment ministers have agreed on an international action plan to clean up last month's oil spill that has become Lebanon's worst-ever environmental disaster.

31.08.2006 In a preliminary ruling Monday, Mexico's electoral court rejected Andrés López Obrador's claims that presidential elections were marred by widespread fraud. The ruling left little doubt that Felipe Calderón would be confirmed as the winner on the court's September 6th deadline.

31.08.2006 From caste discrimination to forced disappearances and torture, participants at a conference on human rights in Asia detail the abuses faced in 12 Asian nations.

29.08.2006 A new treaty unveiled Friday will require countries to protect the rights of disabled people, directly affecting fully 10 percent of the world's population.

29.08.2006 Paramilitaries and police in Oaxaca have begun a violent campaign to shut down all media operations that are in opposition to governor Ulises Ruiz Ortiz. The closures are a move to silence the people's movement that has taken over the state, observers say.

29.08.2006 Oxfam America called on Mississippi state officials Monday to immediately change course and work with community leaders to develop a comprehensive housing recovery plan by the end of September that meets the needs of the region's poorest residents.

28.08.2006 The signing Saturday of an agreement to cease hostilities--and new commitments from both warring parties--provided hope that a lasting peace could finally take hold in one of the world's worst humanitarian disaster zones.

28.08.2006 In the first ever global exam judging the environmental friendliness of electronic companies' products, Nokia and Dell "scraped a barely respectable score," while Apple, Motorola, and Lenovo finished at the bottom of the class.

28.08.2006 A new study has shown that the 50,000 children working as domestic helpers in other people's homes in Calcutta are routinely subjected to many different forms of abuse, from unsafe working conditions and lack of food to being beaten, deliberately burnt, or sexually abused.

28.08.2006 Two new studies recommend solutions to the world's water problems, which affect one third of the human population and are now impacting rich countries as well as poorer ones.

28.08.2006 "We want to be the voices of all children in all districts of Tehran. We want to let all people and officials know about their happiness and success as well as their sadness and problems," say the 14 young journalists who produced Iran's first newspaper by kids for kids.

25.08.2006 SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 25 (OneWorld) - A chief prosecutor of Nazi war crimes at Nuremberg has said George W. Bush should be tried for war crimes along with Saddam Hussein. Benjamin Ferenccz, who secured convictions for 22 Nazi officers for their work in orchestrating the death squads that killed more than 1 million people, told OneWorld both Bush and Saddam should be tried for starting "aggressive" wars--Saddam for his 1990 attack on Kuwait and Bush for his 2003 invasion of Iraq.

25.08.2006 A new report by Amnesty International claims that Israel's destruction of Lebanese civilian infrastructure was an integral part of its military strategy--not "collateral damage." They are calling for an urgent inquiry into the violations.

25.08.2006 Concern is being raised in Iraq after nearly 180 professors have been killed and 3,250 have fled to neighboring countries. The news comes after reports of Iraqi lawyers also being targeted for violence.

24.08.2006 "I have never seen destruction like this," said UNICEF water and sanitation specialist Branislav Jekic. "Wherever we go, we ask people what they need most and the answer is always the same: water."

24.08.2006 While the mainstream media may have moved on to Lebanon, Palestine's bloggers keep bringing their people's news to the outside world: Israeli water cannons on peaceful demonstrators, a nurse watches a friend's son die, Hollywood celebs weigh in and get schooled...

24.08.2006 Jewish activists opposing Israeli military aggression in Lebanon and Palestine staged "die-in" protests at New York's Penn Station as well as in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and San Francisco Tuesday morning.