Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 38

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“The carbon numbers just don’t add up and we need to be looking at other options.” — Brian Launder, an engineer in the U.K., says large-scale geo-engineering can help fight climate change (see below). *THIS WEEK*
– Women on top in Rwandan Parliament
– Can ‘geo-engineering’ save the Earth? – Veteran PTSD on the rise as new therapies emerge
– Heavy spin cycle on Iran reporting

THIS WEEK ON NEWSDESK.org
* Women on Top in Rwandan Parliament
Women will form the majority in Rwanda’s national parliament, making it the first country in the world to have more female legislators than men.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 37

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. *This Week*
– “Transition towns” tackle climate change
– U.K. takes cue from U.S. sex offender law
– Slight freedoms for Suu Kyi
– ‘Fair trade’ cola gains ground in Europe
– Zimbabwe comments deepen on Newsdesk.org

THIS WEEK ON NEWSDESK.org
* “Transition Towns” Tackle Climate Change
Transition towns — part of a grassroots movement to help communities adopt carbon-neutral lifestyles — are slowly spreading from England, where they number in the scores, to America, New Zealand and elsewhere. The Christian Science Monitor reports that the “transition movement” helps equip communities with tools for living in a world of climate change and declining oil reserves. The concept was born three years ago when permaculture professor Rob Hopkins and his students came up with a plan for community-wide sustainable living in his hometown of Totnes, United Kingdom. Since then more than 100 communities worldwide have joined in, three of which are in the United States: Boulder, Co., and Sandpoint and Ketchum, Idaho.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 36

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“So they’ll have the same amount of plastic to recycle.” — Elizabeth Griswold of the Canadian Bottled Water Association says Toronto’s ban on plastic water bottles wouldn’t stem the tide of plastic soft-drink containers (see “Water,” below). CONTENTS:
*The SF Truthiness Report*
Invasion of the policy pushers
*Top Stories*
The perils of pyrethins, and other pesticide problems
The British Army’s PTSD troubles
Forests saved by pollution problem? *Water*
Bottled water may be tapped out of Toronto
The state wants your raindrops
*World*
India: Farms or factories?

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 35

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“They’re afraid that what they call ‘foreign interests’ will use the Indians to then exploit the Amazon.” — Activist Tim Cahill on the politics behind Brazil’s battle over indigenous land rights (see “Top Stories,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
In South America, land rights go native
Journalist’s slaying stirs up trouble in Russia’s hinterland

TOP STORIES
* In South America, Land Rights go Native
A group of new reports finds that land-rights battles in South America may be tipping in favor of indigenous peoples. In Brazil, the Supreme Court is deciding on the right of Amazon natives to live in their ancestral homelands.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 34

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“In the old days we practiced subsistence agriculture and we felt a sense of control. Now everything is more complicated and lots of people are desperately in debt.” — A community activist in India’s Punjab state, on the dark side of the Green Revolution (see “Top Stories,” below). CONTENTS:

*Top Stories*
India’s recipe for school success?

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 33

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“There are insufficient safeguards on the agency’s use of national security letters and other intrusive surveillance tools.” — ACLU spokesman Jameel Jaffer on an FBI apology for monitoring journalists’ phone records (see “Top Stories,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Myanmar Junta’s ‘Odd’ Rules Sap Cyclone Aid: Reports
FBI apology spurs further questions
Australia breaks ground on gay retirement home

*The Roof of the World*
World’s youngest republic swears in Maoist Prime Minister
Hindu and Muslim conflict rocks Kashmir

*Economy & Labor*
Will mobile phones vault the digital divide? Businesses decry paid sick leave push in California, Ohio

TOP STORIES
* Myanmar Junta’s ‘Odd’ Rules Sap Cyclone Aid: Reports
The military junta that rules Burma has changed its currency conversion rules, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid intended for victims of Cyclone Nargis, according to reports.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 32

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“We don’t want to sew, we don’t want to knit, we don’t want to cook.” — Argentine sex worker Elena Reynaga says HIV programs shouldn’t preach morality, but simply educate (see “Top Stories,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Women claim space at AIDS conference
How green is my Wal-Mart? Salmon lose at California logging board
*World*
Immigrants seek assimilation under the surgeon’s knife
Olympic terror fears spur west China crackdown
*Endangered*
World forests face multiple threats
Save the (native) humans

TOP STORIES
* Women Claim Space at AIDS Conference
Circumcision, female condoms and sex work grabbed attention at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City last week.

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 31

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“Nestle will face swift legal challenge if it does not fully evaluate the environmental impact of diverting millions of gallons of spring water from the McCloud River into billions of plastic water bottles.” — California Attorney General Jerry Brown wants to shake up the bottled-water industry (see “Top Stories,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Did U.S. taxpayers pay for Burma junta’s satellite? California may sue Nestle over water plan
Chile: Dammed if they do
*Environment*
Climate change, as the crow flies
Dreaming of a zero-carbon economy
Ain’t no other fish in the sea?

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 30

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“What power did any of these men have at the time of the coup in 1973? None!” — Retired Chilean Army General Guillermo Garin on the arrest in May of 98 formerly low-ranking soldiers suspected of abuses under the Pinochet regime (see “Chile,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
It takes a tree to save a village
Argentina: Saving the family farm
A toilet for Thai transexuals
*World*
Pinochet’s ghost still haunts Chile
Court dates and coup attempts for Turkey secularists
Racial profiling in the Great White North?

Featured

News You Might Have Missed * Vol. 7, No. 29

By |

Important but overlooked news from around the world. QUOTED:
“I don’t ever again want to be reading another report into high death rates at a maternity unit.” — Sir Ian Kennedy of Britain’s Healthcare Commission, on declining maternity-ward services (see “Public Health,” below). CONTENTS:
*Top Stories*
Car crash data must go public, court rules
Newspaper guild alleges retaliatory layoffs
*War Crimes*
On the run: Accused Balkan war criminals remain at large
*Public Health*
Europe: Birth rate down, maternity wards packed
*Water*
A grassroots water grab in California

TOP STORIES
* Car Crash Data Must go Public, Court Rules
The public will have access to previously secret government data about serious car accidents, a court ruled this week. The decision, by the federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., found that the National Highway Safety Administration may not withhold so-called Early Warning data about serious accidents collected from manufacturers of automobiles, tires, child car seats and other related industries.