Farhan Haq

U.S.-POLITCS: African Americans Seek World Focus on Human Rights

The United Nations should take up a decades-old call to focus on the human rights of African and Latino Americans, argue a group of black leaders who are planning a demonstration here this week.

BURMA: Sanctions Movement Takes Aim at Mickey Mouse

By Farhan Haq

The company that brought the world Mickey Mouse is in hot water with both labour groups and pro-democracy activists over its connections with a garment assembly plant in Burma.

UNITED STATES: Is the Confederacy Making a Comeback?

By Farhan Haq

The Confederate States of America (CSA) is making a comeback in the southern United States -- 131 years after it was defeated by the Union forces in a bloody, five-year civil war.

ANGOLA: U.N. Officials Worry as UNITA Edges Away from Peace

By Farhan Haq

Angola has not known peace since 1960, and is creeping back to a tense, warlike state following new moves by the rebel UNITA front, U.N. diplomats warn.

BURMA: Students Begin Three Days of Fasts for Burma

By Farhan Haq

Students across the United States stepped up pressure against Burma's military leaders by kicking off a three-day fast in support of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

UNITED STATES: Academics, Unions Proclaim New Alliance

By Farhan Haq

The ivory towers of academe and the shop floors of organised labour are drawing closer this year, as both professors and union leaders pledge support for a common front against economic inequalities.

SOUTH ASIA: Bhutto Offers India Talks on Ending Arms Race

By Farhan Haq

The United Nations should endorse multi-party talks to resolve the outstanding military and political disputes between India.and Pakistan, Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has proposed.

UNITED STATES: Groups Say Bill Will Harm Asylum Seekers, Mexicans

By Farhan Haq

The White House and Congress alike are happy with a new bill that intends to crack down on illegal immigration, but immigrants' rights advocates say legal immigrants, asylum seekers, and Mexicans will suffer.

HAITI: New Threat of Violence Hovers over Government

By Farhan Haq

Reports of a foiled plot by opponents of Haiti's government to create disorder in the country has drawn fresh attention to the country's fragile security situation.

HAITI: Government in Bind over Wages

By Farhan Haq

U.S. labour groups are pressing for higher wages for Haitian workers, but Haiti's government officials say such demands may adversely affect their bid to attract foreign investment.

PALESTINE: Israel Takes Heat at U.N. Security Council

By Farhan Haq

Foreign ministers and diplomats at the United Nations Friday sharply criticised Israel for its failure to push the three-year peace process with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

UNITED STATES: Leaders Use Visit to Grumble about White House

By Farhan Haq

If there were a prize for hosting the largest collection of world leaders upset about U.S. foreign policy, the United Nations headquarters in New York would win it this week.

DISARMAMENT: Clinton Leads CTBT Signing but Experts Doubt Results

By Farhan Haq

Sixty-five nations, including the world's five declared nuclear powers, signed a treaty Tuesday pledging an end to nuclear tests, yet the fate of the treaty itself remains uncertain.

MUSIC-U.S.: Rappers Question Genre’s Bleak State

By Farhan Haq

The death of a prominent star, attacks from politicians, declining sales and critical dismay: Rap music has had to face just about every indicator of decline this summer.

U.N.-COLOMBIA: Defensive Samper Calls for War against Drug Trade

By Farhan Haq

The embattled president of Colombia, Ernesto Samper Pizano, took the offensive at the United Nations Monday by proposing a major global initiative to combat drug trafficking.

/IPS ENVIRONMENT BULLETIN/ UNITED STATES: Experts Debate Dangers of Depleted Uranium

By Farhan Haq

How deadly is depleted uranium (DU)?

BULGARIA: Government and U.N. Envoy Go to War

By Farhan Haq

A growing war of words between Bulgaria's U.N. ambassador and its Socialist government has left the nation's U.N. mission the latest casualty of tensions lingering from the Cold War era.

AFRICA-DEVELOPMENT: U.N. Initiatives Get Mixed Reviews

By Farhan Haq

African experts are judging the United Nations harshly for its efforts to support development in Africa, after the results thus far of three major U.N. initiatives over the past decade.

U.S.-HAITI: Groups Target Disney’s Link to Haitian Firms

By Farhan Haq

The same company that brought the world Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck also shares responsibility for dirt- poor wages and working conditions among Haitian garment workers, labour activists in New York argue.