INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Liberation Touches a Syrian Village

In her shirt and blue jeans, Firial Ibrahim is an unusual sight in the little village of Sheen. That she runs a successful business is even more unusual.
     Newspapers have never reached this village of a few hundred about 160 km north of Damascus. It only recently acquired one computer. Not the place where you could except to find a village woman in jeans.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY-MIDEAST: Violence Takes a Heavy Toll

Menbere Kifle had planned to return to her two teen-age children in Ethiopia. She had worked as an illegal labourer in Israel for ten years, she had saved some money, and acquired a new passport.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Liberation Touches a Syrian Village

In her shirt and blue jeans, Firial Ibrahim is an unusual sight in this little village. That she runs a successful business is even more unusual.

AGRICULTURE: Will Global Rules for GMOs Be Too Late?

As activists celebrated the emergence of a strong Biosafety Protocol to control genetically-engineered organisms (GEO) last month, U.S. scientists reported that contamination of GEOs is spreading and might be impossible to stop.

U.S.-IRAN: Ad Hoc Detente to Continue Despite Conservative Sweep

Despite the sweeping victory of staunchly anti-U.S. conservatives in Iran's elections last month, analysts here believe the tentative detente between the two countries that began late last year will continue at least through the November U.S. elections.

LATIN AMERICA: Prognosis Gloomy for Already Ailing Environment

If Latin America and the Caribbean continue on the path to market liberalisation without changes in values or structural transformations, by 2032 the environment will be in deep crisis, warns a broad investigation sponsored by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: Sexual Violence on the Rise in Kenya

Rights groups this week unveiled a plan to reduce sexual violence in Kenya within two years. More than 90 percent of all violence in Kenya is committed against women, says 'Medico-Legal Network on Gender-Based Violence in Kenya', which comprises 16 bodies, most of them women.

IRAQ: Delay in Signing of Constitution, Violence Make a Bad Week

It has not been a good week for Iraq.

BURMA: Divisions within Military May Delay Dialogue Process

Amid signs that significant change in Burma may emerge in the next few weeks, divisions within the military leadership over the dialogue process could delay any efforts to move the country toward democracy.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Proposal for Mining to Pay for Forests

The executive director of the Chilean Forestry Research Institute, Roberto Ipinza, proposed that a portion of the income tax revenues from mining operations should be earmarked for forest development.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Canada Gives a Hand to Caracas Sanitation

Canada will contribute a half-million dollars to build wastewater systems in poor districts of the Venezuelan capital, says the Canadian ambassador Allan Culham.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: People's Trial on Transgenics

An International People's Tribunal on Transgenics held sessions in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre on Mar. 11, finding genetically modified soy "guilty".

Ecobreves – COSTA RICA: Mangroves on the Verge

Costa Rican scientists and environmentalists say the country's mangroves, on the Pacific and Caribbean coasts, are on the verge of collapse despite the numerous regulations in place to protect them.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Binational Project to Protect Birds

U.S. and Honduran scientists will work together over the next three years to study and protect migratory birds, including the tiny golden-cheeked warbler (Dendroica chrysoparia), whose habitat is 1,800 meters above sea level in encino pine trees.

Ecobreves – GUATEMALA: Agrarian Debate Begins

The Guatemalan government and leaders of the peasant group Plataforma Agraria (PA) will take part in dialogue to seek solutions to rural land conflicts and discuss policies for developing the countryside.

Barcelona Forum 2004

More than five million people are expected to take part in the Barcelona Forum 2004 beginning May 9, a global encounter for debate on three major issues of the 21st century: cultural diversity, sustainable development and peace.

Environmental Law Old After a Decade

Leaders of environmental NGOs in Chile are calling for reform of the environmental law enacted in March 1994. They are demanding the creation of a truly "green" environment ministry.

Costa Rica Exports Its Model for Green Tourism Certification

Several Latin American countries will emulate the Costa Rican "green seal" for the tourism industry. Although the major hotel chains have shown little interest so far, Costa Rica has certified 50 businesses in the tourism industry.

Experts Back Pentagon Warning on Climate

Abrupt climate change, which could trigger catastrophes such as a decline of temperatures in Europe to Siberian levels, is indeed possible, scientists told Tierramérica.

U.S.-MEXICO: Migration Accord Remains a Remote Possibility

Presidents George W. Bush of the United States and Vicente Fox of Mexico are meeting Friday and Saturday to discuss for the umpteenth time an agreement on migration issues that they promised back in 2001, but which will still has a tense, rocky road ahead, say analysts.

INT’L WOMEN’S DAY: U.N. Wants More Women Peace Builders

As the world prepares to mark International Women's Day, the United Nations is warning that women continue to play little or no role in post-conflict peace building - be that in Afghanistan, Iraq, Northern Ireland, Liberia or Sierra Leone.