BRUSSELS, 3 September 2009 The President of the African Development Bank Group Donald Kaberuka said that the international response to the global crisis and the reform of the global financial aid architecture has failed to take into consideration the issues facing least developed countries. “People here call it a financial crisis but in Africa it […]
It was certainly a dramatic and convincing victory, but how much will it really change Japan? In the recent election, the opposition Democratic Party of Japan routed the Liberal Democratic Party, who had been in practically uninterrupted control for the past half century. The landslide triumph is a historic break from the past, but is […]
As I try to wrap things up before departing on my holiday weekend I wanted to note one of the more interesting things that caught my eye in a week dominated by news of California wildfires and celebrity burials. As the U.S. military continues a top-level assessment of the war in Afghanistan the public debate […]
While I am not a specialist in green technology, I could not help but be depressed by an article in the New York Times Tuesday about China’s rare earth minerals and metals. The Times and many other papers announced Tuesday that China which “currently accounts for 93 percent of production of so-called rare earth elements” […]
It took director Tom Peosay 10 years to make this documentary. The film covers Tibet’s history and focuses mostly on its occupation by China in the last 50 years. It is clear from the beginning that the makers of this movie side with those calling for a free Tibet. Chinese officials who are interviewed about […]
Barry Commoner wrote The Politics of Energy in 1979. In it, he called for a transition to renewables – with natural gas as the bridge to the future. 30 years later this still sounds pretty good. One difference, of course, is that we’re so much farther along on renewables than perhaps even Dr. Commoner could’ve dreamed. A […]
A court in Kazakhstan sentenced a prominent human rights activist to four years imprisonment for manslaughter yesterday in a case that many observers believe was politically motivated. The charges against Yevgeny Zhovtis stem from a car accident in July where Zhovtis hit and killed a man while driving his car. However the initial forensic exam […]
It is no secret that Mexico lags well behind European, North American and other Latin American countries in regards to women’s participation in government. Though Mexican women have been legally entitled to vote and stand for election since 1953, there is still a wide gap in terms of their equal representation in the three branches […]
September is Washington D.C.’s Human Trafficking Awareness Month, the event which was established thanks to the efforts of the DC Task Force on Human Trafficking. The Task Force was established in 2004 with the DC police department and the DC US Attorney’s office, membership is now open to open to any D.C. metropolitan area law […]
Christian Poveda, a Franco-Spanish documentary filmmaker, was shot and killed yesterday morning on the road near his home in Rosario, El Salvador. Poveda was a veteran journalist with experience reporting in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, El Salvador, and Nicaragua. His documentary about El Salvador’s two most notorious gangs, “La Vida Loca” is set to premiere on […]
Size. Strength. Potential. Neighbors. The world’s two fastest rising powers – China and India – are often considered strategic rivals, not close friends. Sure, Beijing and Delhi often sing the same tune in international powwows, but their differences are real and could become more pronounced. Beijing and Delhi largely agree on climate change, trade and […]
Twelve Awa Indians were massacred in rural southwest Colombia last week. Seven children were among the dead including one infant. They were apparently shot by masked men wearing camoflauge. One suspect is in custody. He is alleged to have extorted the victims. However independent news organizations report that the government played a role in the […]
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