Democracy & Civics

Argentina: New Law Targets Violence Against Women

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A new law in Argentina broadens the definition of violence against women to include acts of aggression that go beyond the scope of the family setting. The legislation looks outside of the home by targeting sexual, psychological and even workplace degradation, reports Inter Press Service. Now, any act directed against a woman that causes “a loss of self-esteem” or tries to control a woman’s actions by “threats, harassment, bullying, manipulation, isolation” and more is illegal. Although the legislation looks good on the books, experts fear implementing it could be tough. Women’s advocates say the political will to overcome “machista” traditions, as well as adequate budgets for the institutions charged with enforcing the law, may be lacking.

Featured

Easy Doesn't

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For years, New Orleans has been sitting on nearly $34 million in federal housing aid. Yet officials in the Big Easy have yet to actually spend any, even in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The funding will have to be returned unless it gets used. Photo: Lower Ninth Ward/Mike Sax

Featured

Bamboo Bikes for the People

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Elite bicycle designer Craig Calfee has developed a fully functional two-wheeler made from bamboo. Now, his Bamboosero Bikes aim bring the eco-friendly rides, made by villagers using local bamboo, to rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Photo: Idiolector

Democracy & Civics

New Orleans May Lose Federal Housing Aid

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New Orleans has been sitting on nearly $34 million in federal housing aid it received since 1993, and needs to spend money soon if it wants to keep it The Times-Picayune reports. New Orleans officials have been directing the money to programs such as affordable housing, but have yet to actually spend any. A May 31 deadline has been set up for the city to spend $10 million in federal Housing and Urban Development money that has been unused for the past five years. Anthony Faciane, from the New Orleans Office of Recovery, said that he is confident that the deadline will be met, and implied that slow recovery from Hurricane Katrina was the problem. City council member Cynthia Willard-Lewis told the newspaper: “I agree it was a problem for six months to a year, but now we’re into four years since the storm.”

Featured

Facebook Politics Go Global

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President Obama’s use of social media to get out the vote was a sign of things to come. Chilean presidential candidate Sebastian Pinera and El Salvador’s Mauricio Funes are tapping into Flickr, Twitter, YouTube — and, yep, both have Facebook profiles (right). Photo montage by Jennifer Pickens

Featured

Acid Reign

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Cimate scientists say carbon dioxide pollution is creating acidic oceans at a rapid pace, thinning the carapaces of some shellfish, and potentially reprising underwater mass extinctions last seen 65 million years ago. Photo: Vanessa Pike-Russell

Environment

Acid Oceans Threaten Shellfish and Much More

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Months ahead of official United Nations climate talks, scientists are meeting in Copenhagen to discuss concerns that global climate change could be worse than 2007 predictions — and could occur sooner. Among the topics at hand is new Australian research that shows carbon dioxide pollution is creating acidic oceans at a rapid pace, potentially leading to the mass extinction of deep-water species, reports Agence France-Presse. Researchers say this last occurred about 65 million years ago, when a giant release of carbon dioxide produced mass oceanic extinctions. Current evidence shows that acidity is destroying the shells of tiny organisms that help absorb enormous amounts of carbon pollution from the atmosphere. The Guardian reports that growing acidity is already placing pressure on shellfish and other marine life in the Arctic and Antarctic.

Democracy & Civics

Facebook Politics go Global

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U.S. President Barack Obama’s electoral success using social networking and the Internet is being mirrored in other parts of the world by candidates and nonpartisan democracy advocates. Mauricio Funes, front runner in El Salvador’s March 15 presidential elections, has a Facebook page where his friends can keep tabs on his campaign doings and post messages of support — and where Funes himself is said to write on his followers’ walls, urging them to “vote for change.” [Editor’s note: The Washington Post is reporting that Funes has won the Salvadoran election.]
In Chile, political candidates have sometimes had a hard time connecting with their supporters, in part because the country’s vast territory make on-the-ground campaigning difficult.
Now, The Santiago Times reports that the two major candidates for president in Chile both have Facebook pages, it is the center-right candidate, Sebastian Pinera, who is more effectively tapping into Facebook, Flickr, Fotolog, Twitter and YouTube. Meanwhile, his center-left opponent, former President Eduardo Frei, is stepping up his digital pace with a political Facebook page that features YouTube videos of his everyday activities. In India, however, it’s not the candidates but nonpartisan interest groups who are leading the technological charge to advance the democratic process.

Democracy & Civics

Afghan Women in Parliament, Yet Stifled

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A new political party for women’s rights will be on the ballot in Afghanistan in the next elections. Yet the party, National Need, faces an uphill battle in a male-dominated society where religious fundamentalists and former warlords hold the power in Parliament, and snub their female peers, reports Inter Press Service. In fact, a Human Rights Watch study that found three out of five members of the Afghan Parliament have a connection to warlords or war crimes. Party leader Fatima Nazari, currently a member of Parliament, told IPS that the warlords-turned-legislators stifle female parliamentarians by ignoring them or not giving them a chance to speak. However, the Afghan constitution mandates that women hold 25 percent of the Parliamentary seats — a measure that so far has not guaranteed that women’s voices are heard.

Public Health

Scots to Scotch (Cheap) Whiskey?

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In a move to curb alcohol consumption and reduce public health problems, the Scottish government plans to ban lower-priced liquor in supermarkets — but not before critics have their say. With the eighth-highest rate of alcohol consumption worldwide, and more than 42,000 alcohol-related hospital admissions per year, Scotland hopes to ban lower pricing deals on alcohol, reports the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. If the ban goes through Scotland will be the first country in the world with a minimum price on alcohol. Yet one industry representative said that the plan is unworkable, claiming that although the expense of alcohol will not deter an addict, higher prices will punish lower-income communities. Whiskey distillers say the ban may violate international trade laws, while health advocates note that deaths from alcohol abuse have doubled in the last 15 years, the Financial Times reports.