IDEALS

JERUSALEM, (Sep. 16, 2009) IPS/GIN – The Goldstone Commission has
delivered an unremittingly scathing report on Israel’s 22-day war
against Hamas in Gaza last December and January.

But the outstanding question is what kind of action the report -
legal and political – will yield. Will it, in fact, result in any
action at all? Read the rest of this entry →

RAMALLAH, (Sep. 16, 2009) IPS/GIN – The International Committee of
the Red Cross has warned that Gaza’s access to safe supply of
drinking water could cease at any time. The World Health
Organisation (WHO) says outbreaks of disease could be triggered as
a consequence.

The warnings follow a United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
report Monday that “Gaza’s underground water system is in danger
of collapse after recent conflict compounded by years of overuse
and contamination.” Read the rest of this entry →

WASHINGTON, (Sep. 16, 2009) IPS/GIN – The World Bank and major
non-governmental organisations are calling on leaders who will
gather for next week’s Group of 20 (G20) Summit in Pittsburgh not
to forget the needs of the world’s poorest countries, which have
been severely affected by the last year’s financial crisis.

In a report released here Wednesday, the Bank said the global
recession, whose repercussions are still being felt around the
world, will have resulted in an additional 89 million people living
in absolute poverty, or on less than 1.25 dollars a day, by the end
of next year. Read the rest of this entry →

UNITED NATIONS, (Sep. 16, 2009) IPS/GIN – The negative fallout from
climate change, including drought, floods, melting glaciers, mass
migration, and sea level rise, is being increasingly viewed as a
potential security threat to nation states worldwide.

In a statement on Darfur, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon
referred to climate change as one of the main causes of the
violence taking place in the Sudanese province threatened by
drought and desertification. Read the rest of this entry →

HARARE, (Sep. 24, 2009) IPS/GIN – Primary and secondary school
education in Zimbabwe has “fallen woefully behind” other southern
African countries due to shortages of textbooks and other materials
as well as deteriorating working conditions and resultant low
morale for teachers.

Most affected are girls, who form the majority of children at
primary and secondary schools. Read the rest of this entry →

WASHINGTON, (Sep. 19, 2009) IPS/GIN – A new survey of Iranian
public opinion released here Saturday suggests majority domestic
support for both him and the country’s basic governing
institutions.

The survery was received skeptically by some Iran specialists who
suggested that the surprising results could be explained by fear
of retaliation, particularly in light of the regime’s harsh
crackdown against the opposition throughout the summer. Read the rest of this entry →

ST GEORGE’S, (Sep. 16, 2009) IPS/GIN – For nearly three decades,
Grenadians have wondered what happened to the body of their first
left-wing prime minister, Maurice Bishop.

Now, two weeks after being given an early release from prison,
Bishop’s former deputy Bernard Coard has left no doubt that the
United States is well aware of the location of the charismatic
leader, whose short-lived People’s Revolutionary Government (PRG)
came to a bloody end in a palace coup engineered by Coard himself
in October 1983. Read the rest of this entry →

BUENOS AIRES, (Sep. 16, 2009) IPS/GIN – While the popularity of
the Argentine government of President Cristina Fern¿¿ndez is waning,
allegations of corruption against public officials have mushroomed.

A public opinion poll conducted this month by the private
consultancy firm Management & Fit found that 71.4 percent of
respondents were “dissatisfied with the performance” of the
Fern¿¿ndez administration, which is nearing the end of its second
year. And according to a survey by Poliarqu¿1¿a Consultores, 53
percent of respondents view Fern¿¿ndez in a negative light, 12
points up from February, while only 23 percent hold a positive
image of the president. Read the rest of this entry →

WASHINGTON, (Sep. 16, 2009) IPS/GIN – The number of political
prisoners held by the ruling military junta in Burma has reached
2,200, according to a report released here by Human Rights Watch
Wednesday.

It calls attention to the dramatically increasing number of
political prisoners in the South East Asian country – the number
has doubled in two years – who are held for participating in
peaceful demonstrations in 2007 and for providing aid to civilians
in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in 2008. Read the rest of this entry →

JOHANNESBURG, (Sep. 19, 2009) IPS/GIN – Developing countries are
preparing to stand together on critical issues at the G20 heads of
government meeting in Pittsburgh Sep 24-25.

But Southern solidarity may need to move beyond the strategic
common front presented at such summits to include a strengthening
of continuing ties. Read the rest of this entry →