Articles by IPS
We found 513 results.
Africa: More Dangerous to Be a Woman than a Soldier
Saaleha Bamjee – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2011
African women who bear the brunt of the continent’s conflicts now demand to play a defining role in peacekeeping.
→ read full articleHomegrown GM Bean Won’t Fight Hunger, Critics Say
Fabiana Frayssinet – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2011
Critics complain that a genetically modified bean developed in Brazil, resistant to one of the country’s most damaging agricultural pests, was approved without enough debate or guarantees that the crop will not affect human health or the environment.
→ read full articleU.S.: “Leaderless” Protest Movement Continues to Snowball
Kanya D'Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
10 Oct 2011
“First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you – then you win,” a middle-aged man yells into the microphone from a makeshift stage erected at the far end of Freedom Plaza in Washington, DC. Eighty years later, the words of the great Indian freedom fighter Mohandas K. Gandhi have found their way to the U.S. and still resonate as strongly as they did during India’s struggle for independence from British colonial rule.
→ read full article“Drug Addicts Are Sick, Not Criminals”
Fabíola Ortiz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
3 Oct 2011
“The Police Pacification Units-UPPs are not going to fix all of Brazil’s, or Rio de Janeiro’s, problems, but the areas that have been ‘pacified’ today have already seen a decline in the various indicators of crime,” said police Major Eliécer de Oliveira, coordinator of UPP training and teaching in the military police.
→ read full articleU.S.: Battle Escalates Against Genetically Modified Crops
Kanya D'Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
3 Oct 2011
Home to a fast-growing network of farmers’ markets, cooperatives and organic farms, but also the breeding ground for mammoth for-profit corporations that now hold patents to over 50 percent of the world’s seeds, the United States is weathering a battle between Big Agro and a ripening movement for food justice and security.
→ read full articleBrazil-Africa: Teaching Diplomacy
Fabíola Ortiz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
26 Sep 2011
African countries are increasingly taking up Brazil’s offer of training in the art of diplomacy, seeing it as a partner that could help them set up or improve their own foreign service institutes.
→ read full articleConcrete Impact of Palestine’s U.N. Bid Still Uncertain
Elizabeth Whitman – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Sep 2011
Despite the frenzy of media attention bestowed upon Palestine’s expected bid for statehood at the United Nations later this month, some doubt the impact it would have on the political complexities of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict or the humanitarian issues and human rights abuses that many Palestinians face regularly.
→ read full articleBrazil: African Refugees in the Amazon
Fabíola Ortiz – Inter Press Service-IPS,
19 Sep 2011
Wilson Nicolas, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), was the first African refugee to find his way to Brazil’s Amazon jungle region, and seems to have started a trend.
→ read full articleDevelopment: ‘Boomerang Aid Enriches Donors’
Daan Bauwens – Inter Press Servivce-IPS,
12 Sep 2011
Development aid is ineffective mostly because it is tied to contracts worth billions of dollars awarded to firms in developed countries in a phenomenon called boomerang aid, a new study says.
→ read full articleSouth-South Cooperation Revs Up
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
29 Aug 2011
Brazil has been using its growing strength to forge ties with other countries in the global south. The Brazilian Cooperation Agency is currently participating in scores of economic projects, mostly in the agricultural sector, in more than 80 developing countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. The projects range across industries from livestock and fisheries to horticulture and food production.
→ read full articleIsrael: Rights Recede Under Opium of Occupation
Pierre Klochendler – Inter Press Service-IPS,
22 Aug 2011
The nationwide movement for social justice that sent tens of thousands of Israelis to the streets on the weekend was seemingly oblivious to the fact that, concurrently, the Palestinians were officially announcing their bid for U.N.- endorsed recognition of statehood.
→ read full articleClimate Change: Welcome to Bizarro World
Stephen Leahy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
15 Aug 2011
Canada and the United States are now the centre of Bizarro World. This is where leaders promise to reduce carbon emissions but ensure a new, supersized oil pipeline called Keystone XL is built, guaranteeing further expansion of the Alberta tar sands that produce the world’s most carbon-laden oil.
→ read full articleBolivia: New Food Policy to Boost Small-Scale Farms
Franz Chávez – Inter-Press Service IPS,
25 Jul 2011
In the midst of heated debate with agribusiness, the Bolivian government has launched an agricultural production model aimed at boosting food sovereignty by supporting small farmers, in order to generate surpluses to cushion the swings in international food prices.
→ read full articleThe Full Impact of WikiLeaks Will Be Felt a Few Years Down the Road
Clarinha Glock interviewing WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Jul 2011
Even before he was hired as spokesman for the WikiLeaks whistleblower web site in July 2010, 49-year-old investigative journalist Kristinn Hrafnsson realised that the new initiative would have the power to bring about transformations simply by informing society, starting in his own country, Iceland.
→ read full articleFrench Ship Carries Freedom Flotilla’s “Dignity” to Gaza
Begoña Astigarraga – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Jul 2011
The French vessel Dignité-Al Karama is the only boat from the Freedom Flotilla II actually sailing for Gaza in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade imposed in 2006. At the same time, six Spanish members of the humanitarian aid mission went on hunger strike in the Greek capital.
→ read full articleWorld Population to Hit Seven Billion by October
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Jul 2011
The United Nations commemorates World Population Day on July 11 against the backdrop of an upcoming landmark event: global population hitting the seven billion mark by late October this year.
→ read full articleSouth Africa: Scientists Find Green Method to Purify Toxic Water
Kristin Palitza – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Jul 2011
South African scientists have developed an environmentally friendly method to clean highly toxic water and convert it into drinkable water. Once available commercially, the method could drastically reduce the negative impact industry has on water pollution worldwide.
→ read full article90 Percent of Petraeus’s Captured ‘Taliban’ Were Civilians
Gareth Porter - Inter Press Service-IPS,
20 Jun 2011
In August 2010 Gen. David Petraeus released figures to the news media that claimed spectacular success. A total of 4,100 Taliban rank and file had been captured and 2,000 had been killed. Those figures were critical to creating a new media narrative hailing the success of SOF. But it turns out that more than 80 percent of those called captured Taliban fighters were released within days of having been picked up, because they were found to have been innocent civilians, according to official U.S. military data.
→ read full articleSlain Writer’s Book Says US-NATO War Served Al-Qaeda Strategy
Gareth Porter – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Jun 2011
Al-Qaeda strategists have been assisting the Taliban fight against U.S.-NATO forces in Afghanistan because they believe that foreign occupation has been the biggest factor in generating Muslim support for uprisings against their governments, according to the just-published book by Syed Saleem Shahzad, the Pakistani journalist whose body was found in a canal outside Islamabad last week with evidence of having been tortured.
→ read full articleGovernments and Powers-That-Be Fear the Internet
Gustavo Capdevila – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Jun 2011
The global reach of the internet, and its ability to transmit information in real time and mobilise populations, creates fear among governments and the powerful, says Frank La Rue, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
→ read full article“The U.N. Overlooks Native Rights in Developed Countries”
Crystal Lee interviewing Verena Schaelter – Inter Press Service-IPS,
13 Jun 2011
The United Nations has largely overlooked the plight of indigenous peoples in developed countries, says Crystal Lee of the U.N. Indigenous Youth Caucus, a Native American activist from the Navajo tribe.
→ read full articleUndefeated, Freedom Flotillas Expand
Eva Bartlett – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Flanked by flags of various nations whose citizens have sailed to the Gaza Strip to highlight the all-out siege on Gaza, the memorial’s inscription bears the names of the Turkish solidarity activists who died one year ago by Israeli commandoes firing onto the Freedom Flotilla, killing nine, injuring over 50, and abducting over 600 civilians in international waters, Gaza’s harbour bustles with people and energy. Undaunted by last year’s massacre, international activists have organised the Freedom Flotilla 2, due to sail in one month’s time with at least 10 boats and over 1,000 activists. Canadian and U.S. boats will join those of Europe, Turkey, and other nations.
→ read full articleTropical Forest Summit Opens
Arsène Séverin – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Heads of state from the Amazon, Congo and Borneo-Mekong basins are meeting in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville: leaders hope to reach an accord on sound management of valuable rainforest ecoystems, but civil society actors believe the problems faced by local populations may be ignored.
→ read full articleBrazil: Activists Call for Stronger Action against Violence in Amazon
Fabiana Frayssinet – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Organisations of small farmers and human rights groups are disappointed with the measures announced by the Brazilian government to address the problem of violence in the Amazon jungle region, after four environmental activists were murdered in less than a week.
→ read full articleBrazil: From War on Drugs to Community Policing in Rio
Fabiana Frayssinet – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Four decades after Washington declared its “war on drugs” and began to spread the doctrine south of the U.S. border, the government of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro decided to shift away from that approach towards a strategy focused on community policing. The new focus has already produced results in some of the city’s favelas or shanty towns, which were long off-limits to outsiders, including police.
→ read full articleTime Running Out for Two-State Solution
Mel Frykberg – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
Time is of the essence if the implementation of a two-state solution to end the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to succeed. Changing demographics both within Israeli and Palestinian society could render this impossible, with a one-state solution the only feasible outcome. An eventual one-state solution, however, would lead to two possible scenarios. Either Israel would extend the franchise to all Palestinians in the occupied territories, which would lead to the end of Israel’s Jewish character, or Palestinians would be denied the vote and Israel would be officially pronounced an apartheid state.
→ read full articleFears of Depleted Uranium Use in Libya
Peter Custers – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Jun 2011
The pattern of deception to gain legitimacy for war in the eyes of the public by now is familiar. In the middle of March, Western powers led by the U.S., Britain and France initiated actions of war against Muammar Gaddafi’s government of Libya. The start of war was preceded by a publicity offensive in which the Libyan leader was depicted as a madman.
→ read full articleHomophobia in the Caribbean Varies Widely
Dalia Acosta – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 May 2011
While homosexuality is punishable by law in nine Caribbean island nations, gay activism is increasingly taking root in countries like Cuba.
→ read full articleU.N. to Launch International Year of Cooperatives
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
23 May 2011
When the United Nations commemorates the International Year of Cooperatives (IYC) in 2012, the world body will recognise the contributions made by cooperatives to socioeconomic development, including poverty reduction, employment generation and social integration. Currently, an estimated 800 million cooperative members are involved in diverse sectors throughout the world economy. And these enterprises sustain around 100 million jobs worldwide.
→ read full articleSunni Monarchies Close Ranks
Barbara Slavin – Inter Press Service-IPS,
16 May 2011
Reports that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is considering some form of membership for two non-Gulf states – Jordan and Morocco – confirm that the conservative Sunni monarchies of the Middle East are closing ranks against Iran, Shiite-led Iraq and the democratic wave sweeping the region.
→ read full articleTranslating Southern Successes into LDC Solutions
Rousbeh Legatis interviewing Josephine Ojiambo, Ambassador of Kenya – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
“In South-South cooperation we are all partners,” Josephine Ojiambo, ambassador of Kenya to the U.N. and president of the U.N. General Assembly High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation, said. “SSC specifically shies away from the donor-client relationship.”
→ read full articleEgypt’s Moves Raising Anxiety in Washington
Jim Lobe – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
With U.S. lawmakers threatening this week to cut aid to Pakistan over its alleged harbouring of the late Osama bin Laden, concern is growing steadily here over the future of ties with another key predominantly Muslim ally heavily dependent on U.S. aid: Egypt. The most recent action was Egypt’s mediation of the reconciliation agreement signed Wednesday [4 May 2011] in Cairo by the leaders of Hamas and Fatah, an agreement that has been strongly denounced by leading lawmakers, as well as by the administration of President Barack Obama itself.
→ read full articleCuba: Month-Long Offensive against Homophobia
Dalia Acosta – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
LGBT social networks and experts with Cuba’s National Sex Education Centre (CENESEX) announced Tuesday [3 May 2011] that events surrounding the Day Against Homophobia will last a month this year in this Caribbean island nation.
→ read full articleChild Victims Have ‘Leading Role’ in Creating a Nonviolent Society
Marcela Valente – Inter Press Service-IPS,
9 May 2011
Interview with a U.N. Expert on Violence against Children. Appointed to the gigantic task of building international understanding of violence against children and adolescents, 58-year-old Portuguese lawyer Marta Santos Pais is based in New York and works with a small staff of only seven people.
→ read full articleFukushima, Chernobyl Raise Questions about WHO’s Role
Gustavo Capdevila – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 May 2011
The nuclear disaster in Fukushima, Japan, and the 25th anniversary of the catastrophe in the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine have thrown into relief contradictions in the role played by the World Health Organisation, which civil society organisations have spent years pointing out.
→ read full articleIsrael Awaits Palestinian ‘Tsunami’
Pierre Klochendler – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 May 2011
The “tsunami” will occur at the annual U.N. General Assembly meeting in September 2011. Then, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas will seek endorsement of statehood. Over 110 nations have already recognised Palestine. At least 30 more are expected to back the initiative. U.N. membership requires a Security Council recommendation plus a General Assembly approval by two-thirds, or 128 countries. With recognition of statehood, occupation – not of “disputed” territories”, but of a “U.N. member-state” – will thus be denounced in an unprecedentedly consensual manner.
→ read full articleIndia: Fukushima Won’t Stop World’s Largest Nuclear Facility
Ranjit Devraj – Inter Press Service-IPS,
2 May 2011
While the Fukushima tragedy has not deterred India from going ahead with building the world’s largest nuclear power facility at Jaitapur on the western coast, the government has announced a tighter safety regime for its ambitious nuclear power programme.
→ read full articleVoyager, the Love Story
Dr. Tony Phillips, Science NASA – TRANSCEND Media Service,
2 May 2011
April 28, 2011: NASA’s Voyager probes are at the edge of the solar system carrying a message to possible extraterrestrial civilizations. Highlights include greetings from humans and whales, some of Earth’s greatest music, and the brainwaves of a young woman in love. Rewind to 1977.
→ read full articleA Fair Wind for Clean Energy in Central America
Danilo Valladares – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2011
Soaring international prices for oil and gas are driving the expansion of renewable energies in Central America, a region that has plenty of untapped potential for producing hydroelectricity, wind power and geothermal energy.
→ read full articleBRICS to Show Its Weight at WTO
Marwaan Macan-Markar – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2011
The World Trade Organisation (WTO) has, not surprisingly, been singled out as a venue to demonstrate the collective strength of the informal coalition of major emerging economies across three continents – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the BRICS nations. All member countries but Russia are members of the Geneva-based WTO.
→ read full articleMartelly-Clinton Seal Deal for Next Wave of Disaster Capitalism in Haiti
Kanya D’Almeida – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2011
Miles from his island nation’s earthquake-ravaged capital city Port-au-Prince, Haitian president elect Michel Martelly exchanged warm handshakes and heartfelt promises with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington Wednesday, just prior to the formal announcement of the pop star’s victory in the highly-contested Mar. 20 election.
→ read full articleCuba: The “Other” Revolutions
Dalia Acosta – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Apr 2011
YES to sexual diversity! NO to transgenics! LONG LIVE @! In stark contrast to the political apathy of many of their contemporaries, some sectors of Cuban youth are radically re-writing the standard slogans, opting for active participation and fomenting “new revolutions within the Revolution.”
→ read full articlePhilippines: Pulling Children Out of the Tunnel of Hard Labour
Kara Santos – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Apr 2011
At the tender age of 10, Rodel Morozco was working in a goldmine and crawling inside tunnels, until one day he fell 200 feet underground because his father had blasted the tunnel with dynamite.
→ read full articleThe Most Dangerous Thing You’ll Do All Day
Bill Phillips and the Editors of Men's Health – TRANSCEND Media Service,
18 Apr 2011
Scientists at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana analyzed the lifestyles of more than 17,000 men and women over about 13 years, and found that people who sit for most of the day are 54 percent more likely to die of heart attacks. That’s right—I said 54 percent!
→ read full articleBahrain: U.S. Keeps Quiet over Repression
Jim Lobe – Inter Press Service-IPS,
18 Apr 2011
If President Barack Obama wanted to place Washington “on the right side of history” during the ongoing “Arab Spring”, his reaction to recent events in Bahrain will likely make that far more difficult, according to a growing number of analysts and commentators here.
→ read full articleClimate Change: Developing Countries Step In Where Richer Nations Fear to Tread
Marwaan Macan-Markar – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Apr 2011
Led by countries like Indonesia, 48 developing nations are rolling out a range of pledges to voluntarily cut their respective emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by 2020, the year climate scientists say the earth’s rising temperature should peak by if an environmental catastrophe is to be avoided.
→ read full articleColombia: Court Documents Reveal Chiquita Paid for Security
Jim Lobe and Aprille Muscara – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Apr 2011
Contrary to claims by Chiquita Brands International that its payments to Colombian paramilitary and guerrilla groups over more than a decade were extorted, internal company documents released here Thursday [7 Apr 2011] strongly suggest that the transactions provided specific benefits to the banana giant.
→ read full articleBRICS to Promote More Inclusive Global Partnership
Gordon Ross – Inter Press Service-IPS,
11 Apr 2011
At the upcoming Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit, to be held on the tropical Chinese island of Hainan Apr. 14, discussion will focus not only on deepening economic ties among members, but will also likely touch on global political events, including the crisis in the Middle East and North Africa. But China insists the club has no political agenda.
→ read full articleWho Controls the Nuclear Control Agencies?
Stephen Leahy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Mar 2011
As Japan struggles to confront a nuclear disaster that could be the worst in history, it seems clear that any discussion about the safety of nuclear energy should address the independence of regulatory agencies.
→ read full articleAfrican Union at a Loss over Libya
Thandi Winston – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Mar 2011
Before the Mar. 17 resolution establishing a no-fly zone over Libya was passed, the African Union was conspicuous by its silence on the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi which began a month ago… But in a statement released Mar. 20, the day after international military action began, the ad-hoc High Level AU Panel on Libya said it opposed any foreign military intervention in Libya.
→ read full articleAfrican NGOs Oppose Human Rights Clause in EPAs
Isolda Agazzi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Mar 2011
Part of the delay in the finalisation of the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) is due to the so-called non-execution clause that gives the EU the power to take steps against its African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) trading partners if they violate human rights, democracy and good governance principles.
→ read full articleAristide to End Exile and Return to Haiti before Vote, Lawyer Says
Rich Phillips - CNN,
14 Mar 2011
Former Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will end his exile and return to Haiti within the next week or so, ahead of the country’s elections, his lawyer told CNN Saturday [12 Mar 2011]. “He is headed back to Haiti,” said Ira Kurzban, Aristide’s longtime attorney. “We don’t know when yet, but it will be before the elections.” A presidential runoff is scheduled for March 20.
→ read full article‘Women Are Shackled During Childbirth’
Mehru Jaffer – Inter Press Service-IPS,
14 Mar 2011
Interview with Fabrizia Falcione, UN Women – Female Palestinian prisoners detained in Israel are often denied legal representation and medical care while being housed in squalid conditions that can include sharing cells with rodents.
→ read full articleJapan: Whaling Policy in Choppy Waters
Suvendrini Kakuchi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Mar 2011
After years of stiff resistance, the Japanese government has announced a temporary halt to its controversial research whaling programme in the Antarctic Ocean, a decision that will finally stir the debate to promote sustainable fishing, say conservationists here.
→ read full articlePatriarchy and Fundamentalism Two Sides of the Same Coin
Cléo Fatoorehchi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
28 Feb 2011
While “fundamentalism” has become something of a buzzword in the past few years, particularly in the West in connection with Islam, it in fact exists in every region and religion, and has a set of common characteristics, say activists who have studied the question for years.
→ read full articleUN Falling Apart Under ‘Ban Ki-Who’
Ida Karlsson – IPS News,
7 Feb 2011
United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon is under fire again. Inga-Britt Ahlenius – until recently one of the highest-ranking officials at the U.N. – explains to IPS her blistering attacks on Ban’s leadership.
→ read full articleDoes it Matter if the Torturer Is Right-Handed or Left-Handed?
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
7 Feb 2011
Jeanne Kirkpatrick, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, once made the highly-debatable distinction between “friendly” right-wing “authoritarian” regimes (which were mostly U.S. and Western allies) and “unfriendly” left-wing “totalitarian” dictatorships (which the U.S. abhorred). Kirkpatrick’s distinction between user-friendly right-wing regimes and unfriendly left-wing dictators prompted a response from her ideological foe at that time, former Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who shot back: “It seems to me that if you’re on the rack (and being tortured), it doesn’t make any difference if your torturer is right handed or left-handed.”
→ read full articleFarewell to Greece
Barnaby Phillips – Al Jazeera,
6 Dec 2010
The IMF and European Central Bank were giving their verdict on the Greek economy, and the press conference was packed. A colleague from the local media put up her hand, and started to ask her question, in Greek. The IMF official looked at her blankly; “please, speak in English,” he interrupted. My colleague replied, in Greek: “We are in Greece, so I will speak Greek”. “I’m sorry, we can’t understand you,” said the IMF official, and asked for another question. It was a telling moment. Yes, it was insensitive of the IMF and the ECB not to have provided any translation for an important press conference, largely attended by Greek journalists. But there’s also a subtext. By taking the IMF and European money, Greece has lost part of its sovereignty. Unwittingly, the officials at the press conference had reinforced that point. It was as if they had said “you messed up your economy, and now you need our money, so we make the rules, and we don’t need to speak your language”.
→ read full articleAfrica: Food Versus Biofuels Debate Continues
Mantoe Phakathi – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Dec 2010
“We’re going to Cancún no better off than we were in Copenhagen,” said Thuli Makama, the director of Friends of the Earth Swaziland, as she prepared to leave for the climate negotiations in Mexico. She feels industrialised countries are promoting the production and use of biofuels to fulfill their energy needs, but this will leave more people in the developing world without food. “We face the danger of growing food for the machines instead of our stomachs,” Makama told IPS. Swaziland faces serious shortages of food, with 170,000 of its million-strong population in need of food aid this year.
→ read full articleThe Roof Is Now the Field
Eva Bartlett – Inter Press Service-IPS,
6 Dec 2010
“We grow on our roof because we are farmers but have no land now,” says Moatassan Hamad, 21, from Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza Strip.
→ read full articleUN: Defining Terrorism
Thalif Deen – Inter Press Service-IPS,
29 Nov 2010
The UN remains unable to draw a distinction between “freedom fighters” and “state sponsored terrorism”…. terrorism has become a political epithet designed to place enemies beyond the pale as opposed to a technical term the purpose of which is to define certain criminal acts that violate the laws of war and for which the perpetrators can be held accountable. “Thus, in the Middle East, it has reached the point where Palestinian or Arab armed activities that target Israeli military personnel are characterised as terrorist acts, while Israeli armed activities that deliberately target civilians are characterised as legitimate acts of self- defence,” he said.
→ read full articleLaos: For Cluster Bomb Survivors, War Far From Over
Irwin Loy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
15 Nov 2010
Eighteen-year-old Phongsavath Manithong rubbed his eyes with the back of his arms as he described how his life changed forever. He was not even born yet when U.S. military pilots dropped millions of tiny explosives onto Laos. But almost four decades after war ended for this South-east Asian nation, it is people like him who still suffer.
→ read full articleSri Lanka: Widows Struggle to Put Life Back Together Again
Adithya Alles – IPS-Inter Press Service,
1 Nov 2010
Having to take care of eight teenage children is not an easy task for 70-year-old Yamunadevi (not her real name). But these youngsters are her grandchildren, orphaned by Sri Lanka’s civil war of more than two decades. “I have no option. I have to take care of them, otherwise they don’t have anyone else,” said Yamunadevi, who hails from Alampiddi, Mullaithivu district in the north.
→ read full articleThis Peaceful Position Takes Courage
Mel Frykberg – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Oct 2010
A former captain in the Israeli Air Force, previously an ardent Zionist who lost many members of his family in the Holocaust, has been labelled a psychopath and denounced by many Israelis for the moral stand he has taken against the Israeli occupation.
→ read full articleBiodiversity at the Cliff’s Edge
Stephen Leahy – Inter Press Service-IPS,
25 Oct 2010
What nature gives us is often taken for granted, but if its basic elements disappear, human life on Earth would not be possible. The mission of the biodiversity summit under way in Nagoya is to reverse the headlong rush towards the precipice
→ read full articleHaiti: Finding Butterflies among the Rubble
Judith Scherr – IPS News,
11 Oct 2010
Michele Garlin had massive headaches after Haiti’s 7.0 earthquake killed some 230,000 people and left 1.3 million others, like herself, homeless. “I also had insomnia and, even if there was no aftershock, I thought my bed was shaking all the time,” Garlin said, speaking in the shade of an open-air community tent, in the Bon Repos camp for displaced people she now calls home. Along with some 2,000 others in four different camps, Garlin has found relief in a mental health programme called Soulaje Lespri Moun or Relief for the Spirit.
→ read full articleLessons from Honduras
Marcela Valente – IPS News,
11 Oct 2010
With the 2009 coup d’etat in Honduras still a fresh memory, the presidents of the Unasur bloc gathered as quickly as they could to vigorously condemn Thursday’s [30 Sep 2010] attempted coup in Ecuador and warn that they would not tolerate any such assault on democracy in the region.
→ read full articleHaiti: Empty Promises, Empty Votes
Judith Scherr – InterPress Service-IPS,
4 Oct 2010
“We are not going to the election in tents. We want housing before elections.” These words were chanted in Creole and held high on placards during a recent demonstration at Haiti’s crumpled National Palace, where protesters decried “inhumane” conditions in the camps for displaced people and condemned the government and NGOs which they said have abandoned them. More than one million people displaced by the Jan. 12 earthquake still live in these camps.
→ read full articleCuba: Men’s Group Champions “Diverse Masculinities”
Dalia Acosta – InterPress Service-IPS,
27 Sep 2010
Men representing an array of sexual identifications have organised in Cuba to defend sexual rights and promote respect for “other masculinities,” with the belief that greater visibility is needed to achieve true social change and acceptance.
→ read full articleIs Mozambique an African Success Story?
Barnaby Phillips in Africa – Al Jazeera,
20 Sep 2010
Just how much of an African success story is Mozambique?
→ read full articleUS Still Top Arms Supplier to South as Record Sale to Saudis Pends
Jim Lobe - InterPress Service-IPS,
20 Sep 2010
Despite an unusual dip in global weapons sales in 2009, the United States retained its spot as the world’s top arms supplier of developing countries, according to an authoritative new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
→ read full articleWomen Make Their Mark on South American Politics
Marcela Valente – IPS-InterPress Service,
20 Sep 2010
If Brazilian voters elect a woman president next month, what might have appeared to be isolated developments in Chile and Argentina would start to look more like a trend in the southern countries of South America.
→ read full articleIndia: Buoyed by Growing Market, More Farmers Go Organic
Manipadma Jena – InterPress Service-IPS,
13 Sep 2010
“Certainly easier to pop open a can of chemical pesticide, mix water in proportion, spray, and be done,” admits Narayana. But since the 42-year-old farmer went organic, he has cheerfully gotten rid of shortcuts like using store-bought pesticides and now spends hours mixing anti-pest brews with ingredients that can be found at home or even in the fields. That means Narayana’s land and produce will no longer have the kind of toxins they were subjected to when he was still using chemicals to grow crops. Narayana himself will also escape being exposed to toxins that are commonly found in manufactured pesticides.
→ read full articleSouth Still Battling to Stop North’s Biopiracy
Hilaire Avril – InterPress Service-IPS,
13 Sep 2010
Researchers and activists have coined the term biopiracy, “the theft of genetic resources”, to describe corporations’ practice of securing “profitable private monopolies by staking out patent claims on Africa’s genes, plants, and related traditional knowledge”, according to the African Centre for Biosafety (ACB), based in South Africa. In biopiracy cases remedies, long-identified and developed by traditional healers, are appropriated by North-based corporations that claim exclusive rights to their use through copyrighting ingredients or processes.
→ read full articleEurope: Citizen Rights Don’t Apply to Roma
Claudia Ciobanu – Inter Press Service-IPS,
16 Aug 2010
All major European countries plan mass expulsions of Roma or demolitions of Roma settlements. Rights groups warn that these measures entail the criminalisation of an entire ethnic group, and break EU law.
→ read full articleU.N. Declares Water and Sanitation a Basic Human Right
Thalif Deen – IPS,
2 Aug 2010
When the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) back in December 1948, 58 member states voted for a historic document covering political, economic, social and cultural rights. On Wednesday [28 Jul 2010], nearly 62 years later, a widely-expanded 192- member General Assembly adopted another memorable resolution: this time recognising water and sanitation as a basic human right.
→ read full articleIsrael Gets Brutal With Media
Mel Frykberg – IPS,
26 Jul 2010
Palestinian activists are being jailed, Israeli activists are under surveillance, and the Israeli military is increasingly targeting journalists who cover West Bank protests.
→ read full articleWater as Human Right Threatens to Split World Body
Thalif Deen – IPS,
19 Jul 2010
A long outstanding proposal to recognise the right to water as a basic universal human right is threatening to split the world’s rich and poor nations.
→ read full articleManaged News: Inside the US/NATO Military Industrial Media Empire
Prof. Peter Phillips and Prof. Mickey Huff – Global Research,
19 Jul 2010
We face what appears to be a military industrial media empire so powerful and complex that truth is mostly absent or reported in disconnected segments with little historical context. A case in point: The London Times reported on June 5, 2010, that American troops are now operating in 75 countries. Has President Obama secretly sanctioned a huge increase in the number of US Special Forces carrying out search-and-destroy missions against al-Qaeda around the world? If so, this increase is far in excess of special-forces operations under the Bush administration and reflects how aggressively Obama is pursuing al-Qaeda behind his public rhetoric of global engagement and diplomacy. Somehow this information didn’t make it into the US media. The US, in cooperation with NATO, is building global occupation forces for the control of international resources in support of Trilaterialist—US, Europe, Japan— corporate profits. A New York Times report on the availability of a trillion dollars in mineral wealth in Afghanistan, on top of the need for an oil/gas pipeline from the Caspian Sea, suggests other reasons for U.S objectives in the region.
→ read full articlePeru: ‘Don’t Minimize’ Impacts of Amazon Oil Spill
Milagros Salazar – IPS,
5 Jul 2010
Pluspetrol’s Jun. 19 petroleum spill has left the Marañón River, in the Peruvian Amazon, with oil and grease levels thousands of times greater than the maximum allowed for human consumption, affecting more than 4,000 local residents.
→ read full articleEurope-Latin America: Close in Trade, Worlds Apart in News Coverage
Mario Lubetkin - IPS,
5 Jul 2010
While a considerable portion of economic and trade data shows that relations between Europe and Latin America are positive, reinforcing their historic cultural closeness, for some time now news about Latin America has been a low priority for the European media, which is effecting the thinking of the leaders and citizens of the old continent and pushing Latin America in a direction that runs contratry to European interests, writes Mario Lubetkin, director-general of the Inter Press Service news agency.
→ read full articleHaitian Farmers Leery of Monsanto’s Largesse
Peter Costantini – IPS,
28 Jun 2010
Haitian farmers are worried that giant transnational corporations like Monsanto are attempting to gain a larger foothold in the local economy under the guise of earthquake relief and rebuilding.
→ read full articleMedia-Israel: Beatings, Abuse, Doctored Evidence Emerge
Mel Frykberg – IPS,
14 Jun 2010
Although Israel successfully controlled news of its deadly commando raid on the Free Gaza (FG) flotilla during the first crucial 48 hours of media coverage, emerging evidence from witnesses and survivors is challenging the Israeli government’s version of events.
→ read full articleIsrael Averts International Probe on Gaza Atrocities
Thalif Deen - IPS,
7 Jun 2010
Less than 48 hours after the Israeli attack on a flotilla of six ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza, the most powerful political body at the United Nations acted most ineffectively: it opted for a shaky “presidential statement” instead of a demanding resolution.
→ read full articleU.S. Defence Spending Far Outpaces Rest of the World
Amanda Bransford - IPS,
7 Jun 2010
The United States continues to lead the world in defence spending, according to a new report released Thursday [27 May 2010] by the Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, a U.S.-based non-partisan research organisation. In fact, the U.S outspends Russia, the next highest spender, by more than 800 percent.
→ read full articleCorporate Greenwash at EU Environment Meet?
David Cronin - IPS,
7 Jun 2010
Coca-Cola, recently indicted for causing serious damage to water and soil in India, might seem like an odd champion of environmental protection.
→ read full articleU.N. Nuke Meet Ends with Good Intentions and Empty Promises
Thalif Deen - IPS,
31 May 2010
The road to a nuclear weapons-free world is apparently paved with good intentions – but littered with plenty of platitudes and empty promises. A month-long nuclear non-proliferation review conference concluded late Friday “with more of a whimper than a bang”, said John Burroughs, executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee on Nuclear Policy.
→ read full articleBiodiversity: We Can Live Without Oil, but not Without Flora and Fauna
Stephen Leahy – IPS,
17 May 2010
The policies and deals that contributed to the massive oil spill under way in the Gulf of Mexico are also jeopardising the Earth’s vital biological infrastructure, according to the Global Biodiversity Outlook 3, published Monday [10 May 2010].
→ read full articleReconciliation Lessons from Africa
Barnaby Phillips – Al Jazeera,
3 May 2010
Africa does many things badly, but one thing especially well. It has perhaps unparalleled ability to reconcile and overcome painful divisions in the aftermath of conflict.
→ read full articleDeveloping Nations Gain Clout at World Bank – Depending on Your Math
Matthew Berger - IPS,
3 May 2010
Developing countries will have a slightly larger say at the World Bank under an agreement reached at the institution’s spring meetings this weekend. But some groups are challenging whether the shift in voting shares is as large as it should be – or as large as the bank says it is.
→ read full articleLatin America Feels the “Garzón Effect”
Daniela Estrada – IPS,
26 Apr 2010
Latin America owes Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón, who is facing prosecution in his country for trying to investigate Franco-era abuses, for the groundbreaking invocation of legal principles that have led to trials for crimes against humanity in Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay, human rights lawyers say.
→ read full article“Living Well” in Harmony with the Environment
Franz Chávez - IPS,
26 Apr 2010
The philosophy of “Living Well” enshrined in Bolivia’s new constitution is being put forward by the government as the basis for a global movement against consumerism, depredation of natural resources for profit, and current models of development.
→ read full articleIs the U.S. Going Soft on Israeli, Indian & Pakistani Nukes?
Thalif Deen – IPS, Worldpress,
19 Apr 2010
When a much-ballyhooed two-day nuclear security summit ended in Washington early this week, there were several lingering questions that remained unanswered – even by the host of the high-powered 47-nation gathering, U.S President Barack Obama.
→ read full articleSPAIN’S MOST FAMOUS JUDGE MAY BE SUSPENDED
Tito Drago – Inter Press Service-IPS,
5 Apr 2010
MADRID, Apr 2, 2010 (IPS) – Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón, who became world-famous when he issued the warrant that resulted in former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet’s arrest in London in 1998, is now facing legal charges himself, which could cost him his job. Garzón, who sits on the Audiencia Nacional, Spain’s highest criminal court, is […]
→ read full articleCLUSTER BOMB BAN TO BECOME LAW – WITHOUT U.S.
Matthew Berger - IPS,
20 Feb 2010
Just over a year after it was opened for signature, an international treaty banning cluster bombs received the final two ratifications it needed to become international law Tuesday [Feb 16, 2010].Burkina Faso and Moldova ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions to much praise from human rights and victim advocacy groups. The treaty will become international […]
→ read full articleTALIBAN REGIME PRESSED BIN LADEN ON ANTI-U.S. TERROR
Gareth Porter - IPS,
13 Feb 2010
Evidence now available from various sources, including recently declassified U.S. State Department documents, shows that the Taliban regime led by Mullah Mohammad Omar imposed strict isolation on Osama bin Laden after 1998 to prevent him from carrying out any plots against the United States.The evidence contradicts the claims by top officials of the Barack Obama […]
→ read full articleDEVELOPMENT: SOUTH-SOUTH COOPERATION KEY TO MDGS
IPS Correspondents,
9 Feb 2010
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) – Member states meeting here Thursday called for the immediate implementation of development commitments made during the Nairobi high-level U.N. conference on cooperation between developing countries. UNDP Administrator Helen Clark highlighted the importance of the Nairobi meeting on South-South cooperation in sharing information, technologies, and experiences across the South. The Nairobi outcome […]
→ read full articleWORLD SOCIAL FORUM: RECONCILING SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL NEEDS
Mario Osava - IPS/TerraViva,
1 Feb 2010
One of the greatest challenges facing the world today is to attend to the urgent social needs of the planet’s population, and particularly the one billion people living "on the brink of survival", while dealing with the equally urgent demands of the environment. This warning came from Brazilian Social Development Minister Patrus Ananias at the […]
→ read full articleNO RELIEF FOR THE PALESTINIANS WHILE ISRAEL ENJOYS IMPUNITY
Andrew Phillips – The Independent,
1 Feb 2010
The West should now look to the imposition of escalating cultural and economic sanctions on Israel.To visit Gaza for a third time in five years still induces a gut reaction of pity, depression and anger – pity at the hopeless, helpless plight of the Palestinians; depression about their future and, ironically, that of Israel too; […]
→ read full articleWORLD SOCIAL FORUM: GLOBAL SOUTH’S GROWING ROLE IN POST-CRISIS WORLD
Denise Ribeiro - IPS,
31 Jan 2010
SALVADOR DA BAHIA, Brazil, Jan 30, 2010 (IPS/TerraViva) – "Society and Governments: debates and alternatives for a post-crisis world" is the name of a Thematic World Social Forum meeting held in the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia.Economists, sociologists, trade unionists, communicators, environmentalists and representatives of civil society organisations and universities from many […]
→ read full article