In The News

Death Sentence for Medics in Libyan HIV Case

Simon Jeffery May 6, 2004
Five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were sentenced to death after being found guilty of intentionally infecting 400 Libyan children while working in a hospital in the late 1990s. The scandalous accusation that aid workers would purposefully harm those they are supposed to help has shocked the world. Libyans originally accused the medics of running experiments on children to...

HIV Case Airs Secrets of Porn Industry

Alan Clendenning April 29, 2004
Boasting uninhibited women, lush tropical backdrops, and cheap production costs, Brazil has become a prime destination for adult film outsourcing. But Brazil also has the second highest incidence of HIV and AIDS in the western hemisphere. Last month, the porn industry's increasingly global risks surfaced when an American porn actor contracted HIV after shooting unprotected sex scenes with...

SARS Threatens Reappearance in China

Helen Pearson April 23, 2004
The World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that a nurse in Beijing has tested positive for the SARS coronavirus in initial tests. Five of the 171 people with whom she had contact prior to showing symptoms have developed fevers, a strong indicator of SARS infection. In order to prevent another international epidemic, researchers must now examine the present strains to determine its mode of...

World Set Back 10 Years by Bush's New World Order, Says Blair Aide

Paul Brown April 14, 2004
In a recent statement, the British prime minister's senior advisor Jonathan Porritt says US President George W. Bush has had a "devastating impact" on the world's work on sustainable development. Porrit accused the Bush administration's bad policies in a wide range of issues related to sustainable development, including climate change, international aid, family planning,...

Kenya: Globalizing with Flowers

Jean-Pierre Lehmann April 9, 2004
Although Kenya has attracted some foreign dollars through tourism and export-based flower and tea industries, a majority of Kenyans remain mired in poverty. Jean-Pierre Lehmann, founding director of the Evian group, argues here that although its future could be bright, Kenya has not yet exploited its substantial political and economic assets in a way that will allow it to fully tap into...

Arab World Risks Missing its Development Goals

Majdoline Hatoum April 2, 2004
Illiteracy, gender inequality, and unemployment plague Arab countries, despite the region's concentration of oil wealth. Arab leaders addressed these issues at a recent development conference. They proposed various plans and strategies to help Arab countries meet the Millennium Development Goal, which was signed by 189 countries in 2000 as part of the UN's Millennium Declaration. The...

A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All

February 24, 2004
A new report issued by the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization acknowledges that globalization's "potential for good is immense," but points to record unemployment levels as a sign that globalization has not met the majority of men and women's "simple and legitimate aspirations for decent jobs and a better future for their children." The...