TerraViva Europe

Critics Warn Pacific Pact Could Jack Up Drug Costs

By Jared Metzker
As a new round of talks behind a major proposed free trade area, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), get underway this week, the United States is pushing several developing countries to accept provisions that critics say would make it more difficult for their citizens to access medicine.

Zimmerman Verdict Sparks Outrage at U.S. “Vigilante Culture”

By Cydney Hargis
Nationwide protests, marches and petitions have erupted in the days following the acquittal of George Zimmerman, the focus of a widely watched murder trial over possible racial profiling, late on Saturday evening.

Russia Contests U.S. Proposal for Major Antarctic Conservation Zone

By Carey L. Biron
International negotiations between more than two-dozen countries to set up conservation areas in the Antarctic seas were thrown into confusion Monday when the Russian and Ukrainian delegations questioned the body’s legal standing to make such designations, despite previous precedent.

Monitoring of GM Maize Falls Short in Mexico, Activists Say

By Emilio Godoy
Mexico lacks an effective system for monitoring genetically modified organisms, even though they have been regulated by law since the middle of last decade, experts say. In the case of maize, this situation has stood in the way of obtaining data that could help block commercial production, they say.

EU Bank ‘Funding Polluters’

By Ida Karlsson
The European Investment Bank, the largest institutional bank in the world, is facing criticism for its funding of fossil fuel projects and for weaker standards for lending to coal plants than currently proposed in both the U.S. and Canada.

New Labour Norms Could Hurt Bangladesh

By Ravi Kanth Devarakonda
The decisions of the United States and the European Union to demand implementation of controversial labour standards in Bangladesh following the Sawa industrial tragedy pose a serious threat to the rule-based global trading system, says Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi, Secretary-General for United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.

Turkish Women Push Back Against Patriarchy

By Ariam Frezghi
Among the many issues bringing protestors together at Gezi Park, the now-iconic site of struggle in Istanbul’s Taksim Square, is the demand for women’s liberation.

Biofuels Get a Dubious Boost

By Daan Bauwens
In an unexpected move, European parliamentarians have approved a new biofuel regulation that will take emissions from indirect land use change into account. The new text allows the biofuel sector to expand, sending a clear signal to world food markets and jeopardising food security for the world's poorest.

Saudi Women’s Rights Activists to File Prison Appeal Friday

By Lucy Westcott
Two Saudi Arabian women's rights activists are filing an appeal on Friday after being sentenced to 10 months in prison for helping a woman who had allegedly been abused by her husband.

Taliban Ban Has Crippling Effects on Children

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Four-year-old Muhammad Jihad is handicapped, and his parents know who to blame: the Taliban.

U.S. Retailers Unveil Contentious Bangladesh Safety Agreement

By Carey L. Biron
An alliance of 17 major U.S. brands and retailers, including Walmart and the Gap, has unveiled a five-year agreement aimed at strengthening conditions and worker rights at garment factories in Bangladesh.

Turkey Goes From Project to Project, Protest to Protest

By Justin Vela
Even as Istanbul residents celebrated the reopening of Gezi Park, the small green space in the centre of this city that sparked anti-government protests throughout Turkey last month, another demolition and another demonstration were busy getting underway.

Brazilian Political Reform Falls Into Own Party Trap

By Fabiana Frayssinet
In response to the mass street protests in Brazil, President Dilma Rousseff proposed a raft of reforms of the political system which appear to be bogged down by red tape and interminable party negotiations - precisely the kind of thing the demonstrators are complaining about.

Pray Again to St. Precarious

By Silvia Giannelli
It didn’t take the financial crisis for hundreds of thousands of workers across Europe to protest the new plague of the labour market – precarity. But the financial crisis has only made it worse.

Political Parties Seen as Most Corrupt Institutions Globally

By Jim Lobe
Political parties are seen by the publics in most countries as the most corrupt institutions in their societies, according to the latest survey by the anti-corruption watchdog, Transparency International (TI) released Tuesday.

Brazilian Athletes Left “Homeless” by Olympic City

By Fabíola Ortiz
With three years to go to the 2016 Olympic Games, hundreds of athletes in the Brazilian city that will host the games were evicted from the only public track field, and have had nowhere to train for the past six months.

Judge Urges Obama to Halt “Degrading” Guantanamo Force-Feeding

By Carey L. Biron
A federal judge here has taken the unusual step of formally calling on President Barack Obama to halt the forcible feeding of dozens of hunger-striking detainees at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba, warning that the practice appears to contravene international law.

Shining Light on the Uzbek Government’s Dark Side

By Marina Kozlova
Uzbek leader Islam Karimov has taken cosmetic steps lately, such as voicing support for probing journalism, to try to put a more human face on his regime. But the true nature of the Uzbek government can be discerned in a treason case against a former military intelligence official.

Georgia’s New Government Struggling to Keep Police Reform Pledge

By Molly Corso
Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili rose to power in 2012 on a pledge to depoliticise the powerful police force created by President Mikheil Saakashvili following the 2003 Rose Revolution.

U.S. Has “Largely Failed” to Protect Marine Species

By Carey L. Biron
Environmentalists on Monday filed a petition with the U.S. government requesting regulatory safeguards for 81 particularly vulnerable marine wildlife species, from corals to sharks.

Europe’s Youth Count Ten Times Less than Its Banks

By Roberto Savio
At the last summit of European heads of state held in Brussels at the end of June, the main theme was youth unemployment, which has now reached 23 percent of European youth (although it stands at 41 percent in Spain).
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