World

Journalist Slaying Stirs up Trouble in Russian Hinterland

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Hundreds of protestors packed the streets of a Russian city on Monday after a critic of the Kremlin was arrested and killed by police. Magomed Yevloyev, the owner of a Web site in the rebellious Ingushetia region, was arrested on Sunday at an airport after getting off the same flight as the Moscow-supported leader of the region, according to the BBC. Soon afterwards, he was shot in the head and dumped near a hospital, where he later died from his injuries, the BBC reported. According to the London Telegraph, Ingushetia has been the scene of a number of deadly attacks in recent months, as a low-level Islamist insurgency has targeted local officials. The region has a stormy history with the nearby South Ossetia region, where Russia has supported a breakaway region against the Georgian government, and, the Telegraph reports, Russia’s recent war with Georgia has further destabilized the situation.

Democracy & Civics

In South America, Land Rights go Native

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[UPDATE: A December 15, 2008, court ruling found in favor of the indigenous plaintiffs.]
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. Inter Press Service, a left-leaning advocacy news outlet, reports that the 11-member court has asked for more time to investigate whether a 1.7-million hectare reserve allotted to natives in the Amazon region was taken illegally by wealthy rice farmers. Already one judge voted in favor of the natives, describing the farmers’ residency as “an unlawful possession.” The remaining judges will decide by the end of the year, but conflict over land ownership is ongoing and in some cases has turned violent.

World

Dark Side of the Green Revolution

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It was the chemically supplemented Green Revolution of the 1960s that helped India end its cycles of famine. Yet a series of new reports reveal a dark side to dependence of pesticides, fertilizers and irrigation, including disease, environmental decline and social decay, the latter often driven by bad government planning. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that health problems previously unheard of are proliferating in the northwestern Punjab state — ground zero for the Green Revolution in India, and known as the nation’s breadbasket. Local medical clinics and health officials speak of a surge in cancer, muscular disorders in teens, early menstruation in young girls, lower sperm counts and more frequent stillbirths. According to the BBC, new questions have also emerged about the Green Revolution’s long-term ability to support ever-growing human populations.

Economy

Will Mobile Phones Vault the Digital Divide?

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Inexpensive mobile technology is opening doors in the developing world for communities that have previously been shut out of the information revolution due to the high cost of desktop computers. Mobile devices are increasingly used to provide financial information and business services to low-income communities, as well as to report human rights abuses or drive political campaigns in emerging democracies. Writing for India’s Business Standard, Guruduth Banavar said cell phone use in India has exploded past 200 million subscribers, with 7.5 million new users added monthly, while cell phone users in Africa are expected to number 600 million by 2011. The numbers have already surpassed traditional land-line telephones, Banavar said, and sales of mobile phones in India have rocketed past personal computer sales. Mohammad Yunus, a Nobel laureate for his work developing microlending programs for the developing world, is developing a new program in India to offer mobile payment and banking services via cell phone.

World

Hindu and Muslim Conflicts Rock Kashmir

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In the biggest demonstration in almost twenty years, tens of thousands of Muslims gathered in Indian Kashmir’s main city in mid-August following the fatal shooting of 22 protesters by Indian police. According to Agence France-Presse, one of the dead was a senior Kashmiri separatist, Sheikh Abdul Aziz, whom one demonstrator was quick to lionize. “He is our hero — he has laid a fresh foundation for our freedom struggle with his martyrdom,” demonstrator Ayub Laway said. The unrest began in June when a piece of land was given to a Hindu trust. When Muslims — the majority population in the Kashmir valley — protested, the government rescinded the land offer.

Democracy & Civics

World's Youngest Republic Swears in Maoist Prime Minister

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Following years of turbulence and the end of its traditional monarchy, the newly minted Republic of Nepal swore its first prime minister into office on August 18 in Kathmandu. The Times of India reports that former Maoist rebel Pushpa Kamal Dahal, known popularly as Prachanda, took his oath of office “in the name of the people” rather than “in the name of God” — a break from tradition that acknowledges his communist leanings. In his mid-fifties, Prachanda was once a guerilla fighter that led the Maoists’ decade-long insurgency to abolish the monarchy. His Communist Party of Nepal won a majority in the nation’s Constituent Assembly in April, and his swearing-in ceremony brought dignitaries from the United Kingdom and the United States. Both countries formerly supported Nepal’s monarchy in the fight against Prachanda’s Maoists.

Democracy & Civics

Australia Breaks Ground on Gay Retirement Home

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Australia is breaking new ground with plans to build its first retirement village for gays in Ballan, Victoria. The Moorabool Leader, a newspaper in nearby Melbourne, says the multimillion-dollar facility will feature 120 units, with construction beginning spring 2009. The village, Linton Estate, is the first of its kind in Australia. Developer Peter Dickson said Linton will be marketed “to the gay community but it will be a facility that is tolerant of all people, if they are tolerant of others.” It will feature typical retirement home facilities, including a pool, tennis courts, open-air theater, and spa.

World

Myanmar Junta's 'Odd' Rules Sap Cyclone Aid: Reports

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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. Between May and July, the junta sharply devalued the foreign exchange credits, or FECs, used by international agencies working in the country. As a result of the devaluation, financial aid from the United Nations and other organizations loses roughly 20 percent of its value before finally being delivered to the Burmese street, a situation that one U.N. official described as “odd.” FECs were established under decades-old regulations intended to keep overseas currency out of the black market, and are the only acceptable currency for local purchases by international organizations, reports the Bangkok Post. Speaking anonymously to Mizzima, a source in the “military establishment” said that the while the one U.S. dollar trades for 1180 Myanmar kyat on the street, the junta has valued FECs at just 880 kyat, bringing in a profit of 200 to 300 kyat for every dollar traded.

Democracy & Civics

Save the (Native) Humans

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Last Saturday marked the U.N. International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples — and international media took little notice. Yet a few stories emerged from advocacy sources that tell of threatened natives cultures around the globe. The Pan American Health Organization, in a statement on its Web site, chided mass media for its extensive coverage of endangered animals such as the polar bear, while continuing to neglect the stories of indigenous people, such as the Zapara of Ecuador and Peru. That said, the World Wildlife Fund, better known for working to help endangered animals, put out a call last week for “Saving Sumatra’s Endangered Peoples.” On the WWF’s Web site, the organization called attention to the plight of the Orang Rimba people, a nomadic culture that has lived for centuries in the Indonesian island’s forests.

Environment

World Forests Face Multiple Threats

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It’s hardly news that forests the world over are in danger from logging, human encroachment and other threats, but news stories in recent weeks have pointed to new developments — and partial solutions to the problem. The forests of England are facing their worst crisis since the last Ice Age, according to the London Telegraph, with native species threatened by invaders, development and climate change. Dr. Keith Kirby, a woodland scientist with the group Natural England, told the newspaper: “Climate change will have a (big) impact over the next five decades. Our woods will change. Many species will cope with some warming but there is uncertainty about what happens with extreme events such as droughts and storms, which we expect to become more frequent.”