World News – General – VENEZUELA: El Ni o Dries Up Water, Power, Food Supply
VENEZUELA: El Ni o Dries Up Water, Power, Food Supply
CARACAS, Oct 23 (IPS) – The guan bana (soursop) trees in Victoria Mart nez’s small orchard have yielded none of their delicious fruit this year, which she blames on the scarcity of water, a problem as annoying as the power blackouts at her house close to Tocuyito, a sun-baked town 120 kilometres southwest of the Venezuelan capital.
ECONOMY-SOUTH AMERICA: Chinese Competition Undermines Integration
RIO DE JANEIRO, Oct 23 (IPS) – Brazil’s products are losing ground in the rest of South America, mainly because of the flood of low-cost Chinese goods a trend that is also exacerbating the region’s dependence on commodity exports.
Q&A: “Women Will Benefit From Secularism”
CAIRO, Oct 23 (IPS) – Controversy stalks dissident writer Nawal El-Saadawi, whose views on women and religion have put her at odds with Egyptian conservatives.
Pakistani Taliban target nuclear air base in wave of bombings
The Pakistani Taliban targeted an air base believed to be one of the country’s secret nuclear weapons facilities on Friday among a wave of suicide bombings that killed at least 25 people across the country.
DEVELOPMENT: For-Profit Seeds Hurting Farmers, Biodiversity
UNITED NATIONS, Oct 23 (IPS) – Large biotechnology firms are not only depriving poor farmers of inputs essential for their livelihoods, but are also pushing up food prices, according to a new U.N. report.
SPAIN: A Princely Prize for Creators of Email, Cell-Phones
OVIEDO, Spain, Oct 23 (IPS) – U.S. engineers Martin Cooper and Raymond Tomlinson, considered the fathers of the mobile phone and email, respectively, received Spain’s prestigious Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research from Crown Prince Felipe on Friday.
Murders in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, at all-time high
A violent and ongoing battle between two powerful drug cartels has pushed this northern border city’s murder rate – already one of the highest in the world – to new records in 2009, the Mexican Justice Department reported Wednesday.
UGANDA: Rebuilding Home and Hearth
PALEMY, Uganda, Oct 23 (IPS) – Dusk gathers in the thickets of Palemy village, in the Gulu district of northern Uganda. Men, women, and children follow foot paths through the dark to the residence of Mzee Otto Yuvani.
POLITICS: NIE Reveals Qom Facility Followed 2007 Bush Threats
WASHINGTON, Oct 23 (IPS) – The Barack Obama administration claims that construction of a second Iranian uranium enrichment facility at Qom began before Tehran’s decision to withdraw from a previous agreement to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in advance of such construction. But the November 2007 U.S. intelligence estimate on Iran’s nuclear programme tells a different story.
AFRICA: Could Regulation Ease Fears Over Land Grabs?
STOCKHOLM, Oct 23 (IPS) – The 'land rush' across Africa by international investors should be regulated to protect smallholder farmers from deals that could leave them landless and hungry.
MOZAMBIQUE: Watching the Water Flow Away
MAPUTO, Oct 23 (IPS) – Less than 100 kilometres from the second-largest dam in Africa, women walk with their babies strapped on their back, water pails balanced on their heads.
Woman gives birth midair on AirAsia wins free flights for life
A Malaysian woman who gave birth to a boy on board an aeroplane minutes before it landed has been promised free flights for life as has her child an airline official said on Friday.
SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Civil Society Refuses to Cave in at ASEAN Summit
CHA-AM, Thailand, Oct 23 (IPS) – Civil society representatives from South-east Asia s developing democracies delivered an unequivocal message to the region s leaders at a summit held here they will not succumb to the whims of governments that suppress political and civil liberties at home.
Popularity: 1% [?]
