IPS Inter Press Service

IPS, civil society's leading news agency, is an independent voice from the South and for development, delving into globalisation for the stories underneath. http://www.ipsnews.net IPS Inter Press Service Copyright © 2009 IPS-Inter Press Service. All rights reserved. Mon, 30 Jul 2009 18:52 GMT mgutierrez@ips.org (Miren Gutierrez) newsletters@ipsnews.net (Walter Garcia) en-US IPS Inter Press Service http://www.ipsnews.net/logo_ips.gif http://www.ipsnews.net 100 42 LATIN AMERICA: Don't Miss the Train to Beijing, Delhi, Moscow http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47886 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47886 Humberto Márquez <editors@ipsnews.net> CARACAS, Jul 30 (IPS) - Latin America and the Caribbean should turn their gaze towards the economies of China, India and Russia to diversify exports and strengthen efforts to bring down unemployment and poverty, according to the Latin American Economic System (SELA), based in the Venezuelan capital. URUGUAY: Schoolgirls Access Computers but Can’t Shake Gender Stereotypes http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47885 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47885 Cristina Canoura <editors@ipsnews.net> MONTEVIDEO, Jul 30 (IPS) - The girls who attend the school of Villa García, a township on the outskirts of the Uruguayan capital, are still playing dolls and dress up - only now they do it on their laptop computers. RIGHTS-PARAGUAY: First Remains of Victims of Dictatorship Exhumed http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47884 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47884 Natalia Ruiz Díaz <editors@ipsnews.net> ASUNCIÓN, Jul 30 (IPS) - The discovery of the remains of two victims of the 1954-1989 dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner in Paraguay has opened a new chapter in the investigation of human rights crimes committed by the regime. POLITICS: U.N. Calls for "Green Zone" in Strife-Torn Somalia http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47883 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47883 Thalif Deen <editors@ipsnews.net> UNITED NATIONS, Jul 30 (IPS) - Somalia, a perpetually violence-prone country described as one of the world's failed states, may go the way of Iraq. POLITICS: US-China Confab Short on Concrete Commitments http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47880 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47880 Eli Clifton <editors@ipsnews.net> WASHINGTON, Jul 30 (IPS) - China and the United States concluded two days of talks Tuesday with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that the Obama administration is touting as evidence of both countries' commitment to battling climate change and proof of a strengthening bilateral relationship. ZIMBABWE: Neglect Sanitation at Your Peril http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47879 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47879 Ignatius Banda <editors@ipsnews.net> BULAWAYO, Jul 30 (IPS) - A functioning public toilet has become a rare sight in Bulawayo. Across this southern Zimbabwean city of about two million residents, public toilets have all but stopped functioning, the buildings now more useful as platforms for graffiti and campaign posters than as public conveniences where people answer the call of nature. Q&A: "Every Work Form You Fill Asks Your Marital Status" http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47877 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47877 Ann Ninan interviews LESLEY ESTEVES, a queer activist <editors@ipsnews.net> NEW DELHI, Jul 29 (IPS) - When a high court amended Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code, a colonial-era law which was used to criminalise consensual homosexual relationships, on Jul. 2, it was a "life-changing moment for me," says Lesley Esteves, a journalist and queer activist. ENVIRONMENT: Monsanto, Dow Stacking the Deck, Critics Say http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47874 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47874 Stephen Leahy <editors@ipsnews.net> BERLIN, Jul 29 (IPS) - The most complex genetically engineered corn (maize) yet has been approved for use next year in Canada and the United States without its potential health and environmental risks being investigated, anti-biotech activists charged Wednesday. Q&A: Brazil’s Lesson to the World: Invest in Family Farming http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47873 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47873 Mario Osava interviews KANAYO F. NWANZE, president of IFAD <editors@ipsnews.net> NOVA RUSSAS, Brazil, Jul 29 (IPS) - Kanayo F. Nwanze chose Brazil for his first official visit as the recently elected president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and was pleased to personally attest to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s commitment to family farming. CHINA: Xinjiang Crisis Creates Ripples Overseas http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47872 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47872 Antoaneta Bezlova <editors@ipsnews.net> BEIJING, Jul 29 (IPS) - In recent days, China’s mainland intellectuals have publicly displayed a wave of patriotic support for the Xinjiang cause. They have expressed anger against "hostile foreign forces", whom they blame for inciting the recent violence in the ethnic Muslim area. AFGHANISTAN: Child Rapist Police Return Behind U.S., UK Troops http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47871 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47871 Gareth Porter* <editors@ipsnews.net> WASHINGTON, Jul 29 (IPS) - The strategy of the major U.S. and British military offensive in Afghanistan's Helmand province aimed at wresting it from the Taliban is based on bringing back Afghan army and police to maintain permanent control of the population, so the foreign forces can move on to another insurgent stronghold. MEDIA: Mr. Al-Jazeera Goes to Washington http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47870 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47870 Jared Levy <editors@ipsnews.net> WASHINGTON, Jul 29 (IPS) - The director of the Arab satellite television network al-Jazeera, Wadah Khanfar, is in Washington this week for the first time, part of a brief tour of the U.S. that will also take him to New York. COLOMBIA: Killings of Indians Continued During UN Rapporteur's Visit http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47869 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47869 Constanza Vieira <editors@ipsnews.net> BOGOTÁ, Jul 29 (IPS) - "Colombia’s indigenous people find themselves in a serious, critical and profoundly worrying human rights situation," says the preliminary report by United Nations special rapporteur James Anaya, who just completed a visit to this country. DEVELOPMENT-CUBA: Water Scarce at the 'Singing Frog' http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47867 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47867 Dalia Acosta <editors@ipsnews.net> BÁGUANOS, Cuba, Jul 29 (IPS) - Canta Rana, which somewhat ironically translates as "Singing Frog", is more than just a neighbourhood in this town in the drought-stricken eastern Cuban province of Holguín. Here, at the highest point in the area, which provides a view of the entire town and the sugar mill tower, there is a huge tank marked by rust, the passage of time and the scarcity of water. MIDEAST: The Old Bibi Is Back http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47866 http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47866 Analysis by Jerrold Kessel and Pierre Klochendler <editors@ipsnews.net> JERUSALEM, Jul 29 (IPS) - "Reckless", "cavalier", "unscrupulous", "petty politician, not statesman"…these and such epithets applied to Benjamin Netanyahu by friends and foes alike - not that he ended up with many friends - when he was first Israel's Prime Minister back in the late 1990s.