Prospect of Obama election buoys U.S. image
JIM.LOBE Historic Obama win ushers in hope for change (FCN, 06-13-2008) WASHINGTON (IPS/GIN) - After a virtually relentless fall during the administration of President George W. Bush, Washington’s image abroad rebounded modestly in 2007, according to the latest edition of the annual Pew Global Attitudes Project. “For the first time we have some encouraging signs for the image of the United...
Zimbabwe opposition expels MP over policy differences
HARARE, Zimbabwe (PANA)–Zimbabwe’s main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party Nov. 23 expelled a rebel MP, accusing him of deviating from the party’s principles. Party spokesman Paul Nyathi said Munyaradzi Gwisai, MDC legislator for Highfield constituency in Harare, had been expelled with immediate effect. The move follows a series of incidents in which Mr. Gwisai, who is...
South Sudan plagued by corruption and economic crises
-Contributing Writer- (FinalCall.com) - “An estimated $4 billion are unaccounted for or, simply put, stolen by former and current (government) officials, as well as corrupt individuals with close ties to government officials,” wrote Southern Sudan President Silva Kiir in a letter to 75 current and former government officials. The May 3rd dated letter offered amnesty for officials and individuals...
Thousands take to Colombia’s streets to protest 50 percent increase in gasoline prices
BOGOTA, Colombia—Thousands of protesters on cars and motorbikes took to the streets of Colombia’s main cities on August 28 to reject recent hikes in gasoline prices that have drastically increased the price of fuel in the South American country. Protesters say that the monthly price hikes set by Colombia’s first leftist government are making it harder for small businesses to...
Progress of West African nations must be forged through cooperative economics
Last month Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, in Abuja, called on member states of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) to remove what he described as “outdated physical and psychological boundaries and other colonially-inspired differences” for the region to progress economically. Buhari, who because of the two-term limit cannot run again for a third-term in the upcoming February...
U.S. casualties mount in Bush’s war without end
ATLANTA (FinalCall.com)–Officially, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq are over. But the U.S. death toll continues to rise as soldiers come under fire in both hot spots. At Final Call press time, more than 45 U.S. soldiers had lost their lives in Iraq since the May 1 announcement by President George Bush that the combat phase in the war against...
Libya peace talks were doomed from beginning
(FinalCall.com) - The recent African Union peace negotiations in Libya were doomed from the beginning. The Transitional National Council's (TNC), a Western powers creation, unwillingness to respect the African Union as a legitimate peace broker tells it all. A few short months ago the world community questioned the legitimacy of the Libyan rebels fighting against Col. Gadhafi and his...
U.S.-backed armed forces sinking into sectarian chaos
JIM.LOBE Iraq Under Occupation (Al Jazeera) WASHINGTON (IPS/GIN) - While the Bush administration tries to persuade the public that an accelerated buildup of Iraqi security forces will permit substantial numbers of U.S. troops to begin returning home next year, recent reports from Iraq suggest that the security forces and their sectarian make-up are themselves contributing to the country's destabilization. A spate...
Migrant workers face dire conditions at South Korean farms
POCHEON, South Korea—“It’s a world of lawlessness,” Rev. Kim Dal-sung muttered over the phone as he drove his tiny KIA over narrow dirt paths zigzagging through greenhouses made of plastic sheets and tubes. In the bleak landscape of dull blue and gray in Pocheon, a town near South Korea’s ultra-modern capital, hundreds of migrant workers from across Asia toil in...
Wreckage of slave ship that held captured Mayans discovered near Mexico
MEXICO CITY—Archaeologists in Mexico said Sept. 15 they have identified a ship that carried Mayan people into virtual slavery in the 1850s, the first time such a ship has been found. The wreck of the Cuban-based paddle-wheel steamboat was found in 2017 but wasn’t identified until researchers from the National Institute of Anthropology and History checked contemporary documents and found...