Rape and killing of Dalit woman shocks India, draws outrage
NEW DELHI—The gang rape and death of a woman from the lowest rung of India’s caste system sparked outrage across the country in late September, with several politicians and activists demanding justice and protesters rallying in the streets. The attack of the 19-yearold is the latest gruesome case of sexual violence against women to rile India, where reports of rape...
Western powers shun follow-up racism meeting
GENEVA (IPS)–The United Nations Working Group on People of African Descent began late November sessions without the participation of the big powers, which oppose the panel tasked to study racial discrimination. The Western Europe bloc, which under the UN human rights framework encompasses all industrialized countries, has so far failed to designate an expert to represent it in...
Israel major benefactor of Iraq war
DUBAI (IPS)–The biggest beneficiary of the second Gulf War–without firing a bullet–will be Israel, say two Middle East experts. Umaimmah al-Jalahmmah, professor of Islamic studies at King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia, says, "The Jews were the driving force behind the war, with powerful pro-Israel lobbies in Washington seeking the destruction of one of the main threats to...
UN: Africa is ground zero of global AIDS crisis
HIV/AIDS continues to challenge Black America (FCN 12/4/2003) UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - The HIV/AIDS pandemic took the highest number of lives and produced the highest number of new infections since the surveillance of the disease started, according to a new report from the Joint United Nations Program on AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO). According to the report, in...
Bolton’s nomination could signal return of ‘unipolarism’
JIM.LOBE John R. Bolton Profile (International Relations Center)Guidance to America and the World in a Time of Trouble (Min. Louis Farrakhan, 05-03-2004) WASHINGTON (IPS/GIN) - Many observers, both here and in European capitals, expected that President George Bush's second term would see a modest turn toward multilateralism and a new readiness to compromise on key issues with traditional U.S. allies. Today,...
U.S. opposes Iran oil pipeline as dollar fluctuates
UNITED NATIONS (Finalcall.com) - Phyllis Bennis, senior fellow, Middle East/UN Affairs expert for the Washington-based Institute of Policy Studies, told the Inter Press service back in December that “2006 would be the crucial year” in determining whether the United Nations could “reclaim its role as an independent actor on the world scene, or whether the virulent United States choice...
Nation of Islam in Paris, France
From Paris with Love:A one on one with Thierry Muhammad Paris, France (FinalCall.com) - It's the city where Black notables such as abolitionist Frederick Douglass, scholar and activist W.E.B. DuBois; painter Henry O. Tanner; America's first Black novelist William Wells Brown; singer and dancer Josephine Baker; photojournalist Gordon Parks; writers Richard Wright and James Baldwin, found a warm refuge...
Bush administration employs Reagan-era approach
JIM.LOBE Analysis: Bush administration brings Reagan-era ‘strategic consensus’ approach to Arab countries Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Foreign Policy (Ecclectica) WASHINGTON (IPS/GIN) - Secretary-of-State Condoleezza Rice denounced the United States’ past support for authoritarian governments in Arab countries two years ago. Nevertheless, she and Pentagon chief Robert Gates are, in an uncannily familiar move, now offering arms to...
Min. Farrakhan delivers message in Virgin Islands
Minister Farrakhan delivers African Liberation Day message in Virgin Islands Farrakhan urges islanders to 'unite and pull together' (Virgin Islands Daily News, 05-23-2008) ST. THOMAS, V.I. (FinalCall.com) - St. Thomas celebrated African Liberation Day with a special visit by the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan May 21 to the Senate legislature in their chambers where the Minister spoke before a...
U.S. threatens to deport thousands of Haitians
UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - An independent human rights expert, the special envoy of the UN secretary-general to Haiti, the NAACP, and a plethora of activists say this is not a good time for the Department of Homeland Security to move on a plan to deport approximately 30,000 Haitians living in the United States. UN envoy Hedi Annabi noted four back-to-back...