Current International News
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Hindu extremists have attacked a Christian orphanage in India
The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has added his voice to calls for an immediate end to the violence being waged against Christians in India’s Orissa state.
“I hope that Christians and people of faith around the world will make known their horror at this violence, their support for the rebuilding of lives and the churches, orphanages and schools destroyed, and for work towards future reconciliation,” Williams said in a letter sent to the Most Rev. Joel Dal, moderator of North India.
Hindu extremists, some wielding machetes, have been on the rampage in the north-eastern state since the murder of Hindu leader Swami Lakshmananda Saraswati and four of his associates last month. Christian homes, orphanages and churches have been burned down, while 16 people have been killed. In one of the worst incidents, a young woman was burned alive when she tried to protect children from an attack on their Christian orphanage.
By Jenna Lyle
Christian Post Correspondent The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, has added his voice to calls for an immediate end to the violence being waged agains... more -
Sunniest place on Earth could bring power to poor in West Africa
NASA scientists have identified a site in the Sahara desert in northern Niger as the sunniest piece of land in the world.
"We have the natural resource -- enough sunshine that can supply our total power requirements," Kwame Ampofo, an energy expert and a member of Ghana's parliament, told Reuters late on Tuesday after legislators from the region discussed the project.
The meeting, held in electricity-hungry Ghana beside one of the biggest hydropower lakes in the world, urged regional leaders to form a West African Renewable Energy Community to promote sustainable power projects.
West Africa's richest country, Nigeria, is the continent's top oil producer but many of its people lack reliable power. Sub-Saharan Africans have the lowest average power consumption in the world, and just one in four have access to electricity.
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SUN IN THE SAHARA
One of the main projects proposed at the Ghana meeting would use mirrors to concentrate sunlight and boil water to drive electrogenic turbines.
The U.S. space agency NASA says the sunniest spot on land is in northern Niger -- the sunniest part of the planet being in the Pacific Ocean, less practical for solar projects.
"This form of power generation could serve the populous coastal regions well, if connected to the northern parts of West Africa, where there are desert areas with good solar radiation for much of the year," Gerhard Knies, a German physicist who presented the project to the Ghana meeting, said in a statement.
"This technology has been shown to work and is in operation in Spain and the United States. Above all, it does not pollute, is inexhaustible and will not be subject to rising fuel costs," said Knies, whose country is planning solar projects in Algeria.
A closing declaration from the meeting at the Akosombo Dam on the 250-mile (400 km) long Lake Volta called for a feasibility study to address technical, economic, financial and political aspects of the clean energy project.
Legislators also agreed to push countries across the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to pass a special funding tariff law to ensure investors in renewable energy projects could recoup the high investment costs -- a major obstacle to clean energy projects. NASA scientists have identified a site in the Sahara desert in northern Niger as the sunniest piece of land in the world. ... more -
Italy bans pesticides linked to bee devastation
The Italian government banned the use of several neonicotinoid pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The Ministero del Lavoro della Salute e delle Politiche Sociali issued an immediate suspension of the seed treatment products clothianidin, imidacloprid, fipronil and thiamethoxam used in rapeseed oil, sunflowers and sweetcorn. The Italian government will start a monitoring program to further investigate the reasons of recent bee deaths.
Italy followed Germany and Slovenia which banned sales of clothianidin and imidacloprid in May. In France imidacloprid has been banned on sunflowers already since 1999. In 2003 the substance was also banned as a sweetcorn treatment. Bayer´s application for clothianidin was rejected by French authorities.
The two substances are produced by the German company Bayer CropScience and generated *800 million in 2007. Imidacloprid is Bayer´s best-selling pesticide.
In August the German Coalition against Bayer Dangers brought a charge against Werner Wenning, chairman of the Bayer Board of Management, for marketing dangerous pesticides and thereby accepting the mass death of bees all over the world. The charge was introduced in cooperation with German beekeepers who lost thousands of hives after poisoning by the pesticide clothianidin in May this year.
Neonicotinoid pesticides are systemic chemicals that work their way through the plant and attack the nervous system of any insect it comes into contact with. The substances also get into the pollen and the nectar and can damage beneficial insects such as bees. The Italian government banned the use of several neonicotinoid pesticides that are blamed for the deaths of millions of honeybees. The... more -
Sold To the Highest Bidder!
The truth it is in your Face - What are you going to do with it?
To know the truth it is only part of the Story. Your lack of action is the other one.
Sold To the Highest Bidder!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmhL8bjL9vc
Passivity kills! The truth it is in your Face - What are you going to do with it? ... more -
Reality in your Face - What are you going to Do?
To know the truth it is only part of the Story. Your lack of action is the other one. Passivity kills!
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And you thought US media was corrupt... Check out Canada.
Granted in the States you have the left and right, and both have extremes. In Canada, our media just blocks out those they don't like.
Just a note the Bloc Québécois does NOT run for seats outside of the province of Quebec, yet they are included in NATIONAL debates. The Green Party runs candidates in EVERY riding (district) yet they will not be included.
Let the word be known Canadian media is AT LEAST as corrupt as the US media and so much more... FOX and MSNBC my spin the news to make it suit their agenda, in Canada we go a step further and censor the political party totally.
Pathetic... Granted in the States you have the left and right, and both have extremes. In Canada, our media just blocks out those they don't... more -
Ecuador voters to decide if nature has inalienable rights
This month, Ecuador will hold the world's first constitutional referendum in which voters will decide, among many other reforms, whether to endow nature with certain unalienable rights. Not only would the new constitution give nature the right to "exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles, structure, functions and its processes in evolution," but if it is approved, communities, elected officials and even individuals would have legal standing to defend the rights of nature.
It sounds like a stunt by the San Francisco City Council. But Ecuador is engaged in nothing less than an effort to redefine the relationship between human beings and the natural world. And as crazy as it may seem, the movement to give nature legal rights didn't start in Ecuador's Amazon forest or its Galapagos Islands -- it started years ago in the United States, in cities and towns seeking to fight off coal mines, incinerators and factory farms. Aided by the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund in Pennsylvania, about a dozen municipalities have abandoned the old-fashioned way of halting development -- through the appeals process -- and are placing outright bans on environmentally disruptive activities.
For example, in Pennsylvania, Southampton prohibits corporate ownership of farms, and Wayne passed an ordinance that gives the town the power to keep out corporations with criminal histories. The Defense Fund gets much of the credit (or the blame) for these decidedly anti-business, grass-roots efforts. It even offers ready-made ordinances to protect ecosystems. Ecuadorean officials called the group when they were crafting the new constitution, and now it's fielding calls from Australia, Italy, South Africa and Nepal, which is writing its first constitution.
No other country has gone as far as Ecuador in proposing to give trees their day in court, but it certainly is not alone in its recalibration of natural rights. Religious leaders, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop of Constantinople, have declared that caring for the environment is a spiritual duty. And earlier this year, the Catholic Church updated its list of deadly sins to include polluting the environment.
Ecuador is codifying this shift in sensibility. In some ways, this makes sense for a country whose cultural identity is almost indistinguishable from its regional geography -- the Galapagos, the Amazon, the Sierra. How this new area of constitutional law will work, however, is another question. We aren't ready to endorse such a step at home, or even abroad. But it's intriguing. We'll be watching Ecuador's example.
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I would vote yes. This month, Ecuador will hold the world's first constitutional referendum in which voters will decide, among many other reforms, ... more -
Don't pick a fight you can't finish, Mr Miliband
When he visits Kiev, the Foreign Secretary should remember the threats posed by Nato's drive eastwards.
by Anatol Lieven
Before making his speech on policy towards Russia in Kiev, Ukraine, later this week David Miliband would do well to ponder some wise advice from a great predecessor. Lord Salisbury, Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister in the days of the British Empire, dispensed immense global power; but that did not mean that he liked playing about with that power.
Faced with proposals for British policy that he understood to be deeply damaging to the interests of other great powers, Salisbury would look his colleagues in the eye and ask simply: “Are you really prepared to fight? If not, do not embark on this policy.”
If the events of the past fortnight in Georgia have demonstrated one thing clearly, it is that Russia will fight if it feels its vital interests under attack in the former Soviet Union - and that the West will not, and indeed cannot, given its conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Other Western threats are equally empty. Russia itself pulled out of co-operation with Nato. If a real threat is made of expulsion from the G8, Russia will leave that organisation too - especially since a club that does not include China and India is increasingly meaningless anyway. The threat of being barred from joining the World Trade Organisation is a bit stronger - but Russia has done so well economically without membership that this goal too has lost much of its allure.
Moscow has reminded Nato of the importance of Russian goodwill to secure the supply lines of the US-Nato operation in Afghanistan through Central Asia. Alternatively, Nato can become wholly dependent on routes through Pakistan. From where I am sitting, that does not look like a very good move - and where I am sitting at this moment is a hotel room in Peshawar, Pakistan.
By siding fully with Iran, Russia has the capability to wreck any possibility of compromise between Tehran and the West, and to push the US towards an attack that would be disastrous for Western interests - and enormously helpful to Russia's.
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More at link. When he visits Kiev, the Foreign Secretary should remember the threats posed by Nato's drive eastwards. by Anatol Lieven ... more -
The Chinese Communist Party
Minqi Li : It's not about ideology, it's about the material interests of the elite. Part 4
With dramatic changes taking place in China since the mid eighties, Chinese political economist Minqi Li states that "after Deng Xiaoping, there has been a consensus among China's ruling elites, among the party leadership, that China should move ahead in terms of capitalist development, move ahead in terms of neoliberal globalization, as well as not to challenge American hegemony. He goes on to state that within the Chinese Communist Party, "it's no longer just about ideology; it's also about real material interests. I'm talking about the real material interests for the ruling elites themselves."
See part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89203017_winners_and_losers_in...
See part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89204859_china_s_top_1_control...
See part 3 at: http://current.com/items/89208535_protest_movement_grow... Minqi Li : It's not about ideology, it's about the material interests of the elite. Part 4 ... more -
Discover Dijon: The Mustard and the City
A fun, short documentary of Dijon, France. This piece shows travelers a way to "get to know france" personally, and avoiding the crowds of fellow tourists one might encounter in Paris, France. A fun, short documentary of Dijon, France. This piece shows travelers a way to "get to know france" personally, and avoidin... more
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Africa: link between crop failure and climate change often missed
Climate change has a profound effect on food security in Africa, as increasing temperatures and shifting rain patterns reduce access to food across the continent.
This transpired at a conference on global warming and climate change that started in Cape Town, South Africa, on July 21 and ends today.
The discussion was organised by South Africa’s Fynbos Foundation, which aims to realise investment in the media, publishing, arts and culture sectors, and the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University in the United States.
The relationship between climate change and food security is complex. Many factors influence food security, which means that often ‘‘the link is not even made between failed crops and changing weather patterns,’’ Dr Gina Ziervogel, senior researcher at the Climate Systems Analysis Group at the University of Cape Town, told the conference.
Over the past decade Ziervogel has conducted extensive research on people and the environment in southern Africa.
Climate change affects African food systems in the broadest sense of the word: ‘‘It affects the availability of, access to and utilisation of food,’’ she explained.
‘‘Changing weather patterns or extreme weather events, such as floods or droughts, can have negative consequences for agricultural production. As a result people have less access to food, which forces them to buy food products. This affects their financial situation.
‘‘It also influences their health as people often buy cheaper food which is frequently less nutritious. Especially for those who need a nutritious diet -- the chronically ill, for instance -- this poses a problem,’’ Ziervogel indicated.
Increasing temperatures and the change in precipitation and frequency of extreme weather spells also threaten African food systems, Ziervogel continued.
Changes in precipitation ‘‘are not merely about increasing or decreasing rainfall. Rainy seasons that begin later or earlier than normal or sudden rain spells hitting a region when it is supposed to be dry, have a greater impact on crops failing than a wetter rainy season that starts on time’’.
Another scenario where the effects of climate change on the vulnerability of food systems become visible is where arable land is lost. This happens as a result of declining ground water levels and rising sea levels. It can lead to aridity of the soil or increasing levels of saline.
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So instead of governments dealing with climate change, they would rather give multi nationals free reign over the food supplies of their country to peddle GM foods as if that is the answer. GM foods is then not the answer to the food crisis in Africa. Dealing with and adapting to climate change is. Conservation of water is. More efficient agricultural methods is. Dealing with lack of access to food by dealing with corrupt governments is. Educating and empowering people is. Climate change has a profound effect on food security in Africa, as increasing temperatures and shifting rain patterns reduce access t... more -
Music row ended in violence
Manchester Evening News
A MAN could have died when a row over loud music exploded into violence.
Michael Smith, 44, was rushed to hospital with a fractured skull and severe brain damage after he was punched, kicked and stamped on.
He was in intensive care for 12 days and doctors believed that even if he survived the attack he would be left with significant mental problems.
But, miraculously, Mr Smith, has made good progress but still suffers from memory loss and needs ongoing psychotherapy. Manchester Evening News A MAN could have died when a row over loud music exploded into violence. ... more -
Incidente nucleare in Francia, acque contaminate
A conferma che il nucleare non è pericoloso ecco cosa è successo in Francia.
Trenta metri cubi di acque usate contenenti 12 grammi di uranio per litro si sono riversate per cause accidentali in due fiumi — La Gaffière e L'Auzon — nel sud della Francia.
Le acque provenivano dal sito nucleare di Tricastin a Bollène, nel distretto di Vaucluse, a circa 40 chilometri da Avignone.
L'allarme è rientrato quasi subito e l'agenzia per la sicurezza nucleare francese (Asn) ha parlato di "rischio debole per la popolazione".
Intanto però le autorità locali hanno comunque preso misure di precauzione. Nei comuni di Bollèn e, Lapalud e Lamotte- du-Rhône sono stati vietati la presa d'acqua dai pozzi e l'impiego dell'acqua dei fiumi per irrigare i campi.
Vietati anche la pesca, il consumo di pesce e i bagni nelle acque inquinate. L'incidente è avvenuto durante un'operazione di pulizia di una cisterna nello stabilimento Socatri, azienda del gruppo Areva, in attività dal 1975.
Sono nate ovviamente delle polemiche tra l'Asn e l'associazione "Sortir du Nucleaire" (uscire dal nucleare), infatti gli ambientalisti sostengono che sia impossibile che una diffusione di uranio di tale entità non abbia conseguenze importanti sull'ambiente e forse anche sulla salute della popolazione. Come dargli torto?
Fonte www.fascioemartello.it A conferma che il nucleare non è pericoloso ecco cosa è successo in Francia. ... more -
Twitter saga ends in jailed translator going free
A one-word blog post from a cell phone helped to free an American student from an Egyptian jail, but it took the signatures and support of thousands of activists to get his translator out.
When detained in April, graduate student James Karl Buck turned to his cell phone and typed the message, "Arrested," alerting all his friends on the microblog service Twitter site.
Upon his release shortly afterward, the first thing Buck did was send another message, "Free."
On Tuesday, nearly three months after the American and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested, Buck turned to Twitter again -- this time to tell everyone that Maree was safe at home.
The post: "Mohammed is free, Mohammed is free!"
Twitter, a social-networking blog site, allows users to send status updates, or "tweets," from cell phones, instant messaging services and Facebook in 140 characters or less.
Buck spent much of the time after his release working to free his friend. But it was not until shortly after Maree's release that Buck and his translator were finally able to speak -- through instant messenger.
"He was totally in good spirits; he joked with me," Buck said. "I told him he was a hero, and that because of his case and what he suffered, he's brought a lot of attention to the government's behavior in Egypt."
Immediately, Buck said he apologized to the translator because he felt guilty about his detention.
Buck, 29, a graduate student from the University of California, Berkeley, working on a photography project for his master's thesis, met Maree, a 23-year-old Egyptian veterinary student, in Mahalla. Maree offered to help Buck as he photographed anti-government protests over low wages and rising food prices in April. See Buck describe what he saw and captured on film during the protests »
During one of the demonstrations, Buck and Maree were detained. En route to the police station, Buck sent a message via Twitter, and his school hired an attorney and was able to get him released within a day. But Maree remained in jail for nearly three months.
After his release, Buck returned home and used his Twitter network, now more than 570 followers strong, to help free his translator and friend.
Fueled by the gnawing guilt of leaving Maree behind, Buck set out to enlist all the help he could in hopes of sparking a movement for the translator's release.
He began setting up a virtual online command post to demand Maree's release. He contacted U.S. and Egyptian authorities and human rights groups and used everything from Twitter updates, blog posts on his Web site to an electronic petition signed by more than 900 people.
Maree's brother, Ahmed, said it was an unbelievable feeling to have Mohammed home.
"It's like someone was dead and [brought] back to life," he said.
Maree's family was worried about when, if ever, he would be freed. After reports of alleged torture in prison, relatives feared for his life.
Rumors began swirling a week ago that there had been a development in Maree's case, but details were scarce, so Buck said he tried not to get too excited.
"Any change in the case could have been equally bad news or good news," Buck said. "And so far it had all been bad news."
Buck said he cringed each time he checked his e-mail lately about what was happening. Then he got an e-mail from Maree saying he had been released.
There was little information surrounding Maree's detention. Speculation about Maree's whereabouts was fueled by confusion about what initially happened to the translator. Government officials in Egypt said they could neither confirm nor deny Maree's detention during the past three months as well as his recent release despite repeated requests for comment. A one-word blog post from a cell phone helped to free an American student from an Egyptian jail, but it took the signatures and suppor... more -
The Ten Most Underreported Crises/Doctors Without Borders
These are the crises that go unreported by the MSM. The crises that show war, death, famine, and the daily struggle for survival that Doctors Without Borders does all in its power to combat with our help. I think these photos should be viewed as a reminder of the world we live in... a world that should be what we make it. And that should begin with basic human kindness, compassion, and responsibility not only to our planet but to each other. These are the crises that go unreported by the MSM. The crises that show war, death, famine, and the daily struggle for survival that ... more
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Chinese ship carries arms cargo to Mugabe regime
A Chinese ship with a vast cargo of small arms has docked in Durban, South Africa for transportation to Robert Mugabes regime. The South African government has claimed it is powerless to intervene as long as the ships papers are in order, pointing out that there is no UN trade embargo against Zimbabwe.
The 77 tones of small arms including some 3m rounds seems to have been ordered by the ministry of defense in Harare from Beijing three days after the Zimbabwe election. Just enough time to realise the election had been lost and come up with what looks like a bloody back-up plan to hold onto power?
Thankfully the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union have decided to act and refused to unload the ship or move the cargo by road. Lets hope they are successful in stopping this consignment reaching its destination. A Chinese ship with a vast cargo of small arms has docked in Durban, South Africa for transportation to Robert Mugabes regime. The Sou... more -
Pollution to Protest
Chinas rapid economic growth has stunned the world, making it a global power in a short span of years. It has also produced a staggering amount of environmental damage, which the world is also beginning to note. But it has also done something elsespurred ordinary Chinese citizens to start organizing, sometimes in defiance of the government. In the process, theyve created the beginnings of a civil society that could bring greater freedom overall inside the worlds largest dictatorship. Chinas rapid economic growth has stunned the world, making it a global power in a short span of years. It has also produced a stagge... more
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Germany and France ban pesticides linked to bee deaths; geneticist urges U.S. ban
In light of recent European bans of a pesticide linked to Bee Colony
Collapse Disorder (CCD), at least one key bee expert is calling for a ban of the same pesticide in the United States. "In the United States, drastic action is needed," says Canadian geneticist Joe Cummins, explaining that U.S. farmers and beekeepers shouldn't have to wait for more evidence or for an air-tight explanation for the complex syndrome, which threatens one in every third bite of food in the United States. Now most apiarists and scientists realize that pesticides are a factor in CCD, he says.
Cummins' remarks, in an interview with GreenRightNow, come less than a month after Germany's ban of clothianidin, a pesticide commonly used to keep insects off of corn crops. Germany banned the pesticide after heaps of dead bees were found near fields of corn coated in the pesticide, and in response to scientists who report that the insecticide severely impairs, and often kills, the honeybees that corn and other crops depend on for pollination.
The German government took the extraordinary action to protect bees and other essential pollinators, stating that there is now enough compelling evidence connecting the chemical to Bee Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) in that country.
The ban also will likely fuel the European debate over genetically modified food, which involves treating crop seeds to resist harm from pesticide treatments. Critics of such modified foods say they are harming the environment, and have unknown human consequences, for little or no crop gain. Some scientists in Europe have called for their ban. In light of recent European bans of a pesticide linked to Bee Colony ... more -
Water flowing back into public hands
The announcement by the Paris municipality that water services will return to public hands by 2010 is in line with a global trend of ending privatisation of such services.
Mayor Bertrand Delanoë announced Jun. 2 that the municipal administration would regain control of all water services for the city, ending a private monopoly that has lasted more than 100 years.
The contracts with the world’s two biggest water service companies, Suez and Veolia, will not be extended after Dec. 31, 2009.
“We want to offer a better service, at a better price,” Delanoë said. “We also promise that prices would be stable.”
Delanoë said his administration will encourage other municipalities in the Ile de France region around Paris to end privatisation of water services.
“That France, once known as the heartland of water privatisation, is embracing a return to public management of water services, is a strong signal in this new pattern,” Olivier Hoedeman of the Water Remunicipalisation Tracker told IPS. The group, a sub-division of the Amsterdam-based Corporate Europe Observatory (CEO) and the Transnational Institute, documents the decline of water privatisation.
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This is good news and a good trend we need to see across the globe. Water is a public trust. Hopefully, the information put out about the effects of water privitization has helped this along.
Read my entries here as well:
http://water-is-life.blogspot.com/ The announcement by the Paris municipality that water services will return to public hands by 2010 is in line with a global trend of e... more -
Solar power takes off in Kenya
The expense and unreliability of electricity supply is fuelling East African interest in solar energy.
In rural Kenya, where there is no electricity, solar systems have proven popular with small-scale businesses and farms, where it is used to power water pumps and lighting.
Solar energy is cheap compared to electricity because, once the necessary equipment has been installed, there is no additional monthly charge.
Additionally solar systems require little maintenance, owing to the lack of moving parts, and solar energy offers "a stable grid quality output without power fluctuations".
Private company Solar World East Africa is set to launch "solar kits" that provide enough power for lighting, charging a mobile phone and operating an FM radio. These packs will cost 3,000 Kenyan shillings each (around US$47).
Another company, Jua Moto Systems, is planning to introduce solar-powered cookers and water heating systems.
But despite this growing interest, "solar power has not been as thoroughly explored as hydroelectric and geothermal power in Kenya … the use of wind and solar energy has remained low, just like in the rest of Africa".
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Solar power is peace.
Solar power is hope.
Solar power is self sufficiency. The expense and unreliability of electricity supply is fuelling East African interest in solar energy. ... more
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