IPS Video / IPS Inter Press Service

ALBANIA BECKONS

Following up on the IPS case study of Albania as a nation looking for development through tourism, while also respecting ecological needs, Ilva Tare takes a look at moves to change the image of Albania. The first of a two-part video report on Albania.

Case Study: Albania - Cultural and Environmental Tourism

Kamalesh Sharma took over as new Secretary-General of the Commonwealth on April 1, 2008. But as the last Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kampala showed, deep fault lines run through the organisation, going right down to fundamental questions about its very existence. Sanjay Suri presents a video analysis.

COMMONWEALTH-PAKISTAN: Suspended, But Not Banished

COMMONWEALTH: Waiting on Pakistan, Acting on Climate Change

COMMONWEALTH: Poverty and Climate Change in the Spotlight

POLITICS: Zimbabwe Holds Its Breath Over Election Results
By Ephraim Nsingo
HARARE - With more than a day having passed since polling stations for Zimbabwe's general elections closed their doors, complete official results for the ballot have yet to be released.

Q&A: "No Problems in Voting, So Why Should There Be Problems in Counting?"
Interview with Noel Kututwa

Q&A: "We Have Managed to Make the Female Agenda a Current Affairs Issue"
Interview with Luta Shaba

Another World Is Possible: World Social Forum 2008

The IPS TerraViva team of journalists from around the world covered the WSF Global Day of Action, January 26. A virtual edition of the newspaper with global background articles, exclusive interviews and opinion columns written by renowned international figures is available at: http://ipsterraviva.net/TV/wsf2008/.

TerraViva is an independent publication of IPS. This edition is produced in cooperation with the World Social Forum International Council, the support of Oxfam-Novib and with the invaluable assistance of Amarc (International Association of Community Radios) and Pulsar News Agency.

The Taliban could be changing, Azita Rafht, member of parliament for Badghes Province in Northern Afghanistan, says in an IPS interview.

AFGHANISTAN: Militancy Spreads to Northern Provinces

Afghan Divide - IPS Special Coverage

Between Civilisations -- A Dialogue. IPS puts a set of five questions to Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini, Vice-President of the Comunita Religiosa Islamica, and to Shlomo Ben-Ami, Vice-President of the Toledo International Centre for Peace.

Q&A: 'People Who Work Every Day For Harmony Do Not Make Headlines'
Interview with Yahya Sergio Yahe Pallavicini

Q&A: "Religion Is The Private Sphere, Not The Public"
Interview with Shlomo Ben-Ami, former Israeli Foreign Minister

Q&A: "It Can Be Hard to Deal with Subtle Xenophobia"
Interview with Peter Schatzer, International Organisation for Migration

VENICE - With waves of opposition to tides of immigrants in Europe, Peter Schatzer has his job cut out. And seeing that the Mediterranean is the favoured route for migration into Europe, whether documented or not, he is at the forefront of presenting the human face of migration before political opposition to it.

Schatzer, director of the regional office for the Mediterranean and chief of mission in Italy and Malta of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), talked to Sanjay Suri from IPS at a meeting on the role of communication in the alliance among civilisations organised in Venice by IPS together with the IOM and the Province of Venice.

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Q&A: "In Most Conflicts We Know What Needs to Be Done"
Interview with Martti Ahtisaari, Chairman of the Crisis Management Initiative

VENICE - There is hardly a trouble-shooter in the world today more trusted than Martti Ahtisaari, Chairman of the Crisis Management Initiative. Kosovo, the disputed southern province of Serbia, is the latest challenge he has taken on.

He has done this as head of the Crisis Management Initiative (CMI), an independent, non-profit organisation that works for "sustainable security" and "combines analysis, action and advocacy." The Helsinki-based organisation was founded in 2000.

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Q&A: "Where Is the Democracy in International Relations?"
Interview with Abdelwahab Derbal, head of mission of the Arab League in Brussels

VENICE - It's about the oldest dispute around, which is good enough reason to hear more on it from those who can influence a possible resolution. So when Abdelwahab Derbal, head of the mission in Brussels of the League of Arab States speaks of his anger over the Palestine issue, these may be words to listen to, whichever side of the divide (if any) you are on.

Derbal speaks to Sanjay Suri from IPS of his anger over the U.S. position in the Middle East, and of the need for dialogue – that shows some understanding of civilisation and culture issues. He himself was participating in an inter-civilisation dialogue organised in Venice last week by IPS together with the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) and Venice province.

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Q&A: "If It Is Globalisation, It Must Be Everybody's"
Interview with Amartya Sen, Nobel economist

LONDON - The "war on terror" is not everybody's language, nor for that matter is "globalisation", says Nobel Prize laureate Amartya Sen. Nor is anyone right to think that religious radicalism is really an Islamic problem, he says.

Such views made Sen, an Indian, a natural choice to lead the Commonwealth Commission on Respect and Understanding in its search for civil paths to peace. The group's report titled "Civil Paths to Peace" was launched in London last week.

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