Full Coverage: United States

30.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 30 (OneWorld) - U.S.-funded abstinence-only programs put millions of young Ugandans at risk of AIDS by denying them information about proven methods to protect themselves, instead offering them unproven advice to abstain from sex until they are married, a leading rights watchdog said Wednesday.

30.03.2005 Would U.S. troop withdrawl mean chaos or civil war for Iraq? Will the rest of the world mistrust the United States if it leaves Iraq? The Washington D.C.-based Council for a Livable World is answering questions they commonly receive on U.S. policy towards Iraq. Readers are encouraged to send in additional questions that they may have as well.

30.03.2005 Activists accuse Coca-Cola of creating severe water shortages in India, polluting the soil and groundwater, and selling drinks containing dangerously high levels of pesticides, among other crimes. In Colombia, the company is charged with complicity in the murder, torture and intimidation of labor union organizers at its bottling plants. A speaking tour to hold Coca-Cola accountable will take place throughout the month of April in the U.S.

30.03.2005 All the congregants of Colombian Pastor Adelina Zuñíga's church are displaced victims of war. Driven from their homes, they set up a new church on a garbage dump, cleaned up dirty areas of the city to establish community gardens, and are now helping other victims of war. They brought their stories to the living rooms and the halls of Congress of the United States recently.

29.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 29 (OneWorld) - The State Department has hailed U.S. efforts to promote human rights and democracy overseas amid criticism of the Bush administration's track record and claims that U.S. involvement in rights violations in key countries has been deeper than previously thought.

29.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 28 (OneWorld) - The Bush administration and opponents of its plans to overhaul Social Security are intensifying efforts to drum up public and legislative support for their positions following the latest annual financial checkups of the pension system and Medicare, the healthcare program for the elderly and disabled.

29.03.2005

© Amit Srivastava / India Resource Center

From April 4-19, a Speaking Tour to Hold Coca-Cola Accountable will hold public events on the East Coast, including New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts and Philadelphia, to demand justice for communities in Colombia and India that are being adversely impacted by Coca-Cola's practices. The tour will also stop at Coca-Cola's shareholder meeting in Wilmington on April 19. In India, Coca-Cola is guilty of creating severe water shortages, polluting the soil and groundwater, distributing toxic waste as fertilizer to farmers, and selling sub-standard drinks in the Indian market which contain high levels of pesticides, sometimes higher than 30 times those allowed by European Union standards. In Colombia, Coca-Cola is charged with complicity in the murder, torture and intimidation of labor union organizers at Coca-Cola bottling plants.

28.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 28 (OneWorld) - The Bush administration and opponents of its plans to overhaul Social Security are intensifying efforts to drum up public and legislative support for their positions following the latest annual financial checkups of the pension system and Medicare, the healthcare program for the elderly and disabled.

28.03.2005 An enthusiastic crowd cheered on Democratic senators earlier this month vowing to fight a Senate plan called the "nuclear option." A core of Republicans would do away with the age-old practice of ensuring a 60-vote "supermajority" is needed to approve key legislative proposals--like lifetime judicial nominations.

28.03.2005 During his recent trip to Latin America, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld expressed grave concerns over Venezuela's plan to purchase 100,000 AK-47s, especially considering the country's porous border with Colombia, which has been engaged in a brutal guerilla war for 40 years. Some think Rumsfeld's comments are just sour grapes, as the rifles are being bought from Russia instead of the U.S.

28.03.2005 The Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, California raised over $5,000 to fight world hunger by holding a "Fast for Awareness." Find out how your school can get involved.

28.03.2005 Hormones in milk, food poisoning, mad cow disease, antibiotic resistant bacteria in meat – what’s happened to our food? "Sustainable Table" will help you understand the issues, offer suggestions on what you can do, direct you to more in-depth information, and introduce you to the exciting and hugely popular sustainable food movement exploding around the world.

25.03.2005 University officials have agreed to almost all of the demands by 22 Georgetown students staging a hunger strike since early last week calling for "living wages" for those who work at the university. The strikers have gained the support of major labor and religious organizations during the course of their campaign.

25.03.2005 Hundreds of tons of genetically engineered corn untested for environmental or food safety was inadvertently sold by U.S.-based Syngenta over the past four years, the company admitted Thursday in the journal Nature, despite discovering the mistake several months ago. This "demonstrates once again that GE crops can't be controlled, even by the companies that develop them," said one anti-GE campaigner.

24.03.2005 WASHINGTON, D.C., Mar 24 (OneWorld) - A novel coalition of conservatives and liberals normally at each other's throats over the nature of government and free speech have made common cause to oppose key parts of the USA Patriot Act anti-terrorism law.

24.03.2005 A report from a pair of environmental groups launched at an international conference in Lagos Monday warns that allowing genetically modified (GM) agricultural products to be grown in Africa would put the health, environment and livelihoods of African people at risk. The report also presents new evidence that the multinational corporation Monsanto plans to irreversibly contaminate the world food supply with GM crops.

24.03.2005 In picking scientist and long-time Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) employee Steve Johnson to lead the EPA, analysts hoped President Bush was signaling that the government agency would consider science above politics in environmental decisions. Clean Air Watch president Frank O'Donnell writes, however, that the White House continues to place industry interests first.

23.03.2005 Activists concerned about America's oil addicition have declared April 1 a national day of intervention to help Ford--called the worst gas-guzzler in the auto industry--to break its addition. "Interventions" will take place at Ford dealerships all over the country. You can join in or organize your own.

23.03.2005 The World Bank should publish the minutes of the upcoming board discussion and vote on the U.S. nomination of Paul Wolfowitz as World Bank president, said Nancy Birdsall, president of the Center for Global Development. More transparency is needed at the world body, writes Birdsall, especially as resentment among developing countries about the U.S. lock on the selection process increases.

23.03.2005 This summary of the Africa Commission's recommendations for the role of the IMF and World Bank presents a very different vision for governance than that implied by the Bush "nomination" of Paul Wolfowitz as president of the Bank.