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New Libya Off to a Shaky Start

IPS Human Rights - Wed, 02/08/2012 - 21:15
It's been almost a year since Benghazi launched its uprising against former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi and three months since he was killed, but there is a growing sense of frustration in eastern Libya with the National Transitional Council. Two weeks ago, a group of protesters attacked the Council's Benghazi headquarters as chairman Mustafa Abdeljalil was inside, forcing him to flee through the back door.

U.S. Leak on Israeli Attack Weakened a Warning to Netanyahu

IPS Israel - Palestine - Wed, 02/08/2012 - 07:58
When Defence Secretary Leon Panetta told Washington Post columnist David Ignatius this week that he believes Israel was likely to attack Iran between April and June, it was ostensibly yet another expression of alarm at the Israeli government's threats of military action.

DEVELOPMENT-NIGER: Three Million Children Threatened by Hunger

IPS Human Rights - Tue, 02/07/2012 - 20:50
Women have been left in charge of many of the households in the village of Zamkoye-Koïra, in western Niger, as food shortages have driven male family members to leave in search of work elsewhere. A national survey of vulnerable households shows that 5.4 million people face food insecurity across Niger.

UNICEF Funding Falls Short Leaving Millions of Children at Risk

IPS Human Rights - Tue, 02/07/2012 - 11:04
If the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) had 1.28 billion dollars it could help 97 million people around the world.

Photos of Armed Children Ignite Scandal in Venezuela

IPS Human Rights - Tue, 02/07/2012 - 07:37
A radical political group based in a working class neighbourhood of the Venezuelan capital has sparked a furore by publishing photographs of children from the community, with their faces partially hidden, brandishing AR-15 assault rifles.

Social Media Saved Africa's Oldest Community Station

IPS Human Rights - Tue, 02/07/2012 - 01:37
When a financial crisis threatened the existence of Africa's oldest community station, Bush Radio, an outpouring of sympathy and appeals went viral on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. In the end, it was this outspoken support that showed finanical backers that the station was worth saving.

Malawi's Consumers Have a Right to Fuel and Forex Black Market

IPS Trade and Poverty - Mon, 02/06/2012 - 19:36
The black market for foreign exchange and fuel is booming in the midst of an acute scarcity in Malawi. The shortage is so severe that even the Consumer Association of Malawi, an influential consumer rights body, has come out in support of the black market.

Political and Economic Turmoil Threaten Women's Progress

IPS Human Rights - Mon, 02/06/2012 - 14:46
As UN Women celebrated its first birthday, its executive director Michelle Bachelet stressed that political upheveal and shrinking budgets are no excuse to push back the hard-won gains made by the women's movement globally.

Early End to U.S. Combat Role in Afghanistan Draws Cheers, Jeers, Confusion

IPS Neo-Cons - Mon, 02/06/2012 - 14:02
U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's surprise announcement Wednesday that U.S. troops will phase out their combat role in Afghanistan by mid-2013 is drawing mixed reactions, as well as a fair bit of confusion, from both critics and supporters of the 11-year-old war here.

Russia Sticks to Its Guns Against Heavy Hitters Backing Syria

IPS Human Rights - Mon, 02/06/2012 - 11:36
The political heavy hitters were all there at a key Security Council meeting early this week to decide on the future of beleaguered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

LAOS-CULTURE: ASEAN Attempts to Build on a Shared Language: Music

IPS Arts and Entertainment - Mon, 02/06/2012 - 05:00
A landmark concert featuring artistes from eight of the ten South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) took place here on Jan. 21, in an effort to build a regional community through the common language of music.

"Occupy" is the Watchword at Thematic Social Forum

IPS Indigenous People - Mon, 02/06/2012 - 03:04
Traditional social movements of homeless and landless people have for years been organising occupations as a pressure tactic. Now "occupying" is a key element for fighting the capitalist system in its hour of crisis, and also in the realm of virtual reality.

BANGLADESH: Coup Bid Reveals Extremism Within the Army

IPS Human Rights - 0 sec ago
Bangladesh's army has won paludits as leading United Nations peacekeepers, but the January coup attempt against Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government has exposed lurking religious extremism within its ranks.

India Weighs Social Media Curbs

After India's agriculture minister Sharad Pawar was slapped by a young Sikh man at a function in New Delhi, to record his protest against corruption in high places, social media sites went viral with musical spoofs and caricatured images of the incident.

Kenyan Chief Tweets His Way to Reducing Crime

Using 140 characters or less, Chief Francis Kariuki in Kenya, has tweeted his way to reducing crime in his and surrounding villages.

Dempsey Told Israelis U.S. Won't Join Their War on Iran

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey told Israeli leaders Jan. 20 that the United States would not participate in a war against Iran begun by Israel without prior agreement from Washington, according to accounts from well-placed senior military officers.

U.S. Group Urges "More Credible" Military Threat Against Iran

IPS Israel - Palestine - 40 min 49 sec ago
The administration of President Barack Obama should take steps to make threats of a possible U.S. or Israeli attack against Iran more credible, according to the fourth in a series of studies released here Wednesday by a 13-man "bipartisan" task force dominated by Iran hawks.

POLITICS-SENEGAL: Violence After Validation of Wade Candidacy

IPS Human Rights - 5 hours 37 min ago
It was stones against tear gas in the Senegalese capital this morning as students protested the killing of one of their own on Tuesday evening. At least four people have died since Jan. 27, in wider demonstrations against the controversial validation of President Abdoulaye Wade's candidacy for re-election for a third term.

2011 - A Year of Weather Extremes, with More to Come

IPS The Creeping Desert - 8 hours 19 min ago
The global average temperature in 2011 was 14.52 degrees Celsius (58.14 degrees Fahrenheit). According to NASA scientists, this was the ninth warmest year in 132 years of recordkeeping, despite the cooling influence of the La Niña atmospheric and oceanic circulation pattern and relatively low solar irradiance.

CUBA: Party Aims for Efficient, Inclusive Socialism

IPS Human Rights - 11 hours 9 min ago
Cuba's communist leaders have mapped out a strategy to modernise their country's one-party socialist model and make it more efficient, which implies making it more inclusive and representative of a society that is increasingly diverse.

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