In The News

Tim Reid February 10, 2009
In his first week in office, US President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the US military prison at Guantánamo Bay. But other countries are not stepping forward to accept the prisoners, as reports emerge about former Guantánamo inmates charged with plotting new crimes. The US has ordered an evaluation of the inmates and continues to urge allies to accept some prisoners. Even US...
Peter O'Neil January 26, 2009
Angry street protests in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Iceland and other nations, combined with economic recession, have unnerved European leaders, who met to talk about how to handle civil unrest. An abrupt drop in living standards, high unemployment rates, loss of homes, vanishing savings could spur protests far more disruptive than those that shut down capitals in 1968. “A more apt comparison for...
Eric Reeves January 14, 2009
The seventh year of cruelties are underway in Darfur, the most protested and well documented case of genocide in history, reports author Eric Reeves for Dissent. The International Criminal Court filed formal charges of genocide in July 2008, yet Western countries hesitate to take action, and China, Russia and other nations continue to provide military equipment and economic investment that aids...
Brian Wilson January 13, 2009
The lawlessness arising from the poor desert nation of Somalia (estimated per capita GDP is $600) has forced the world to sit up and take note. With its coastal waters depleted by over-fishing, some Somalis have taken up piracy as a lucrative profession, using small boats and arms to hijack the rich cargo passing by through the Gulf of Aden, the avenue for most maritime traffic between East and...
Manfred Ertel December 18, 2008
Greek youth have rioted for days in 20 cities and town, distraught about the police shooting of a 15-year-old boy and a society that offers limited opportunities for youth. The shooting unleashed anger about an inept, corrupt political system and spread quickly, explain Manfred Ertel and Daniel Steinvorth in Spiegel Online: “Sympathizers occupied the Greek consulates in Berlin and London,...
November 20, 2008
Piracy represents a major source of income for the desert nation of Somalia, fragmented politically and lacking any central authority since the early 1990s. The nation on Africa’s eastern coast is desperately poor, with a per-capita GDP of $600. Poaching of fish stocks has stripped coastal waters, and years of conflict have left plenty of weapons in Somali hands. So some Somalis, armed with...
The Associated Press October 31, 2008
The state media in China admits that melamine, which mimics protein in tests, was packaged as “protein powder and commonly added to animal feed, reports the Associated Press in an article for the International Herald Tribune. “Four brands of Chinese eggs have been found tainted with melamine in a week, and agriculture officials speculated the source was adulterated feed given to hens,” reports...