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Wednesday, February 10, 2010 01:39 GMT

Latest News

PERU: CIA, Military Trade Blame Over Missionary Plane Shootdown
By Ángel Páez
LIMA, Feb 9 (IPS) - Nine years after the 2001 shootdown of a small airplane carrying U.S. missionaries over the Peruvian jungle, the CIA and the armed forces of this South American country are pointing fingers at each other over who was responsible for the fatal mistake, which cost the lives of two people.
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ZIMBABWE: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Arrears?
By Zenzele Ndebele
BULAWAYO, Feb 9 (IPS) - Faced with nearly six billion dollars of external debt, Zimbabwe's national unity government is considering applying for Highly Indebted Poor Country status.
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Q&A: Creating Momentum for Women's Participation
By Paula Fray interviews ANNE-MARIE GOETZ, UNIFEM chief advisor for Governance, Peace and Security
NEW DELHI, Feb 9 (IPS) - Women's movements have played a critical role in creating political space for female participation in politics around the world. In fact, there are more women in government today than ever before.
MORE >>

ENERGY-MEXICO: Big and Small Firms Harness Sun's Rays
By Emilio Godoy
CHAPANTONGO, Mexico, Feb 9 (IPS) - It was Isabel Cortés, the family matriarch, who started the project. In 1990, she started looking for a way to market xoconostle, the sour variety of the nopal cactus fruit that is abundant in this arid part of central Mexico, in the Mezquital valley.
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FINANCE: Fighting Off Looters in the Ruins
Analysis by Peter Costantini
SEATTLE, Feb 9 (IPS) - Reckless greed on Wall Street is a dog-bites-man story. Still, the renewed feeding frenzy of the alpha dogs of finance in the embers of the bonfire of their own vanities has inspired amazement and disgust across the political spectrum.
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BIODIVERSITY: India Bans Farming of GM Aubergine
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI, Feb 9 (IPS) - After India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced Tuesday a ban on the cultivation of Bt brinjal, the country’s first genetically modified (GM) food crop, food security experts and activists said this major farming country has been saved from a biodiversity disaster.
MORE >>

CANADA: Khadr Case Raises Broad Questions on Child Combatants
By Paul Weinberg
TORONTO, Feb 9 (IPS) - Ottawa's refusal to repatriate a former child soldier, 23-year-old Omar Khadr, back to Canada to face justice in the country of his birth opens to the door to a trial before a controversial U.S. military commission process that has been challenged for its use of evidence gleaned from interrogation after torture.
MORE >>

CHILE: Stop Treating Community Broadcasters as Criminals, Say Activists
By Pamela Sepúlveda
SANTIAGO, Feb 9 (IPS) - Criminal law should not be used against freedom of expression, nor to silence community radio stations in Chile, say activists and journalists in response to closures of community radio outlets in this South American country.
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CANADA: Foundation for "Political Warfare" Takes Cue from U.S. Strategy
By Anthony Fenton
VANCOUVER, Feb 9 (IPS) - Indicating further integration with its closest neighbour and ally's foreign policy priorities, the Canadian government is in the advanced stages of establishing a foundation to promote liberal democracy, akin to the controversial U.S. National Endowment for Democracy.
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POLITICS: Malaysia Faces Severe Test as Anwar Stands Trial
Analysis by Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 9 (IPS) - Malaysia’s reputation as a progressive, tolerant and moderate Muslim state is now at stake as the country’s best known democratic leader Anwar Ibrahim stands trial for alleged sodomy and risks being jailed for many years if declared guilty.
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Global Affairs

POLITICS: Malaysia Faces Severe Test as Anwar Stands Trial
Analysis by Baradan Kuppusamy
KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia’s reputation as a progressive, tolerant and moderate Muslim state is now at stake as the country’s best known democratic leader Anwar Ibrahim stands trial for alleged sodomy and risks being jailed for many years if declared guilty.
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DEVELOPMENT: Crisis Could Open Doors for Change, Says UNCTAD
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - As the financial crisis continued to threaten world economies last year, the White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel famously declared: "You never want a serious crisis to go to waste."
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BIODIVERSITY: Companies Push Hard to Halt Tuna Collapse
By Stephen Leahy*
VICTORIA, Seychelles - In the Seychelles' only cannery, the din of thousands of empty tuna cans rattling on narrow metal troughs is incredible as they bustle along, soon to be filled with Skipjack tuna that only days ago were swimming freely in the inky blue Indian Ocean.
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ROMANIA: Starting Early on Human Rights With School Textbook
By Claudia Ciobanu
BUCHAREST - A textbook on human rights activism, being introduced in Romanian schools this year, steers away from preaching and uses interviews with global and local rights activists to suggest how young people may get involved.
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DEVELOPMENT: South-South Cooperation Key to MDGs
By IPS Correspondents
UNITED NATIONS - 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.
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MDGs

ZIMBABWE: How Do You Solve a Problem Like Arrears?
By Zenzele Ndebele
BULAWAYO - Faced with nearly six billion dollars of external debt, Zimbabwe's national unity government is considering applying for Highly Indebted Poor Country status.
MORE >>

Q&A: Creating Momentum for Women's Participation
By Paula Fray interviews ANNE-MARIE GOETZ, UNIFEM chief advisor for Governance, Peace and Security
NEW DELHI - Women's movements have played a critical role in creating political space for female participation in politics around the world. In fact, there are more women in government today than ever before.
MORE >>

ENERGY-MEXICO: Big and Small Firms Harness Sun's Rays
By Emilio Godoy
CHAPANTONGO, Mexico - It was Isabel Cortés, the family matriarch, who started the project. In 1990, she started looking for a way to market xoconostle, the sour variety of the nopal cactus fruit that is abundant in this arid part of central Mexico, in the Mezquital valley.
MORE >>

PAKISTAN: Community Midwives Gain Recognition But Concerns Remain
By Zofeen Ebrahim
KARACHI - As Kanwal Gul, 25, lay on the delivery table a year ago, preparing to give birth to her first child, she made sure the traditional birth attendant (TBA) assisting her knew exactly what to do. Put on the gloves, she instructed her.
MORE >>

Environment

BIODIVERSITY: India Bans Farming of GM Aubergine
By Ranjit Devraj
NEW DELHI - After India’s Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced Tuesday a ban on the cultivation of Bt brinjal, the country’s first genetically modified (GM) food crop, food security experts and activists said this major farming country has been saved from a biodiversity disaster.
MORE >>

Q&A: ''There's a Limit to Fish Harvesting''
By David Cronin interviews ISABELLA LÖVIN, Swedish fisheries policy activist
BRUSSELS - The perilous state of the world’s fish stocks has received less media attention than the more visible, palpable environmental problems like air pollution. Isabella Lövin is seeking to redress that balance. Her 2007 book ‘Tyst hav’ (Silent Seas) hit the best-seller list in her native Sweden, garnering her three awards, including the title of 'Journalist of the Year'.
MORE >>

Human Rights

PERU: CIA, Military Trade Blame Over Missionary Plane Shootdown
By Ángel Páez
LIMA - Nine years after the 2001 shootdown of a small airplane carrying U.S. missionaries over the Peruvian jungle, the CIA and the armed forces of this South American country are pointing fingers at each other over who was responsible for the fatal mistake, which cost the lives of two people.
MORE >>

CANADA: Khadr Case Raises Broad Questions on Child Combatants
By Paul Weinberg
TORONTO - Ottawa's refusal to repatriate a former child soldier, 23-year-old Omar Khadr, back to Canada to face justice in the country of his birth opens to the door to a trial before a controversial U.S. military commission process that has been challenged for its use of evidence gleaned from interrogation after torture.
MORE >>

CHILE: Stop Treating Community Broadcasters as Criminals, Say Activists
By Pamela Sepúlveda
SANTIAGO - Criminal law should not be used against freedom of expression, nor to silence community radio stations in Chile, say activists and journalists in response to closures of community radio outlets in this South American country.
MORE >>

Health

UGANDA: Early Diagnosis of HIV Still Elusive
By Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi
KAMPALA - HIV-positive Justine Kirumira* is a mother torn between doing what is right for her daughters and her own fear of HIV/AIDS. She suspects that her eight and 12-year-old daughters may also have the virus. But she may never know the truth of their status because she refuses have them tested.
MORE >>

HAITI: Displaced Women Face Double Jeopardy
By Marguerite A. Suozzi
UNITED NATIONS - Women's rights and development activists working in Haiti say that greater attention must be paid to the immediate needs of women and girls, as well as their role in the long-term reconstruction of the devastated country.
MORE >>

KENYA: Victory for Anti-Abortion Lobby
By Susan Anyangu-Amu
NAIROBI - The threat by influential Christian leaders to mobilise a vote against Kenya's draft constitution if it does not explicitly prevent any expansion of abortion rights appears to have succeeded.
MORE >>