Environment

Mexico City's Water Woes

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Drought and leaky pipes are causing unusual water shortages in Mexico City, reports the Latin American Herald Tribune. A lack of planning, and poorly maintained pipelines that lose as much as 40 percent of the water they transport, have exacerbated unprecedented lows in the city’s reservoir system, causing millions of people to lose some or all of their water supplies over Easter weekend. Experts say that if droughts persist as expected, and despite planned repairs on pipelines, water shortages will only increase. –Brittany Owens/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“Depleted Reservoirs Threaten Mexico City’s Water Supply”
Latin American Herald Tribune, April 10, 2009

World

Tech-Savvy Targets for British Army Ads

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A new British Army ad campaign seeks to recruit tech savvy youth, reports The Independent. The Internet-based ads create an interactive environment in which participants can test their mettle in simulated online missions. Their hope is to reel in teenage boys who have grown up playing video games, and have valuable high-tech skills. The British Army is already stretched thin, and needs 16,000 new recruits per year. Yet their target audience is a hard sell.

Economy

Bartering Begets Business in Difficult Times

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From Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo to Chicago and Seattle, bartering and swap meets are back in style, as businesses and individuals look for new ways to get what they want in a cash-strapped world. In Argentina, bartering is a 14-year-old custom, an outgrowth of another time when the peso went bust, according to a report in Inter Press Service. Argentines have formed 500 barter clubs, where people go to exchange everything from home-cooked meals and home repairs to a medical or dental exam. Corporate giant Bayer AG is taking a different approach in neighboring Brazil, where it is accepting coffee, corn, cotton and soy from farmers in lieu of cash as payment for agrochemicals. A company spokesman told Reuters that Bayer considers bartering “a good way” of doing business in uncertain economic times.

Democracy & Civics

Lawsuit Launches Same-Sex Dating Web Site

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The online dating service eHarmony has launched a separate site for gays and lesbians as part of a settlement in a New Jersey civil rights case filed against it. The Press of Atlantic City reports that eHarmony’s Compatible Partners site went live in April for those seeking same-sex relationships. The launch is part of a settlement of a 2005 New Jersey discrimination complaint filed against eHarmony for catering solely to people looking for partners of the opposite sex. A similar complaint was filed against the company in California in 2007. –Ronnie Lovler/Newsdesk.org
Source:
“N.J. man’s efforts push eHarmony to launch gay site”
The Press of Atlantic City, April 3, 2009

Economy

Climate Change's First Toll: Women

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Officials say women in developing countries are taking the brunt of the hardships created by climate change. Speaking at the Aspen Environment Forum in Colorado, government officials from Africa, the Middle East and South America described a variety of problems, reports the Aspen Daily News. In Nicaragua, droughts have forced women, who traditionally gather water and firewood accompanied by their daughters, to travel farther from home, keeping young women from school. Mozambique’s coastline is eroding and turning to desert, sending women farther to find fresh water, sometimes in competition with wild animals such as elephants. Advocates hope renewable energy projects and education will both help improve conditions, the newspaper reports.

Economy

Rocky Road for Andean Free Trade Pact

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Peru, Colombia and Ecuador are holding a second round of free-trade talks with the European Union, after but without the support of neighboring Bolivia. Latin American Press, a nonprofit outlet with a focus on human rights, reports that Bolivia left the talks in November, along with Ecuador, which rejoined negotiations in January. Critics said that E.U. wants patent and intellectual property rules that would favor European pharmaceutical companies, raising prices for drugs and increasing the wait for generic drugs to hit the market. –Julia Hengst/Newsdesk.org
“Trade pact threatens integration”
Latin American Press, April 1, 2009

World

An MTV for Muslims Shuns the Dancers, Not the Controversy

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A new music video television channel in Egypt aims to strengthen Islamic values and culture among Arab youth, reports the Christian Science Monitor. 4Shbab TV calls itself “Islam’s own MTV,” and avoids the racy dancing of mainstream music videos in favor of religious and family-friendly themes. The station has been criticized for its lack of women in general, both in music videos or on game shows like “Who wants to be an Islamic pop star?” 4Shbab founder Ahmed Abu Haiba told the Monitor that women would be allowed on the network only gradually, due to their “bad reputation” as provocative dancers. Despite this, Abu Haiba said the station has been threatened by Islamists who think the whole idea is sinful and forbidden.

Environment

Global warming melts national borders

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Parts of the Swiss Alps may soon go Italian, as global warming melts the glaciers that originally defined that international border, reports New Scientist magazine. Although an Italian legislator has already proposed redrawing the dividing line, and both countries will amicably share the Matterhorn (as is currently the case), experts fear trouble may occur in other regions. Melting borders may be a flashpoint for conflict in the Himalaya Mountains, where a glacial meltdown in Kashmir could heighten tensions between India and Pakistan. In the Arctic, where the melt is opening up oil drilling and shipping possibilities, the United States, Canada and Russia are all claiming territorial rights. At the other end of the globe, Chile and Argentina may renew their battle over the Patagonia ice fields bordering both nations.

Environment

Can Superfund Weather Climate Change?

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Global warming coupled with funding shortages are hurting efforts to clean up the most dangerous waste sites in the United States, activists say. A study by the nonprofit Center for Health, Environment and Justice found that extreme weather conditions like hurricanes and tornadoes, which may be related to climate change, are causing more damage at toxic waste sites. Advocates say that if Congress does not renew “polluter pay” fees, which ended in 1995, Superfund will remain short on cash, and the problem will only get worse. In Colorado, The Monte Vista Journal reports that the Summitville Superfund site is underfunded, and that polluted water leaking from a mining facility there affects a river used for agriculture, livestock and recreation. –Ronnie Lovler/Newsdesk.org
Sources:
“Global Warming hits SLV”
The Monte Vista Journal, March 26, 2009
“Superfund Report”
The Center for Health, Environment and Justice, March 19, 2009

Economy

Wal-Mart Likes the Latin Flavor

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Wal-Mart plans to open new stores in nine Central and South American countries this year, reports the Latin Business Chronicle. Experts say the global recession is helping Wal-Mart make new inroads because its low prices are attractive to consumers when budgets are tight. While other companies are reporting low growth or no growth, Wal-Mart’s earnings topped $13 billion in 2008 — up 5. 2 percent over the previous year, with “strong performance” in Brazil and Mexico. This is prompting Wal-Mart to invest more of its dollars south of the border — with additional stores in Argentina, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chile and Puerto Rico.