Africa rebukes Bush on African Command
(FinalCall.com) - President George W. Bush announced in February his plans to establish an African Command, and according to The Guardian, the plan has “hit a wall of hostility from governments” in Africa. “We’ve got a big image problem down there,” The Guardian quoted a U.S. State Department official as saying. “Public opinion is really against getting into bed with...
Somalian prime minister visits UN asking for help
McKinney: The West fuels the conflicts in Africa (06-09-2007)US-UN Backed Invasion of Somalia-An International Crime (American Chronicle, 02-09-2007)Bush bombs Africa, no outcry! (FCN, 02-05-2007)Somalia: a clear case of ‘blood oil’ in Africa (FCN, 02-05-2007)Annan: U.S. wrong to support warlords in Somalia (FCN, 06-29-2006)The Oil Factor In Somalia (LA Times, 01-18-1993) UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - Somalian Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi, representing...
Arbiter of investment disputes favors global north
/GIN WASHINGTON (IPS/GIN) - A little-known entity that mediates disputes between sovereign nations and foreign investors appears to favor corporations in northern countries, according to an IPS review of pending cases. Other independent analyses have detected a similar bias in the entity, which is closely affiliated with the World Bank. The administrative council of the Washington-based International Center for Settlement...
Black women define a shared agenda
/GIN MEXICO CITY, Mexico (IPS/GIN) - Fewer than 50 Black women hold high-level political or administrative posts in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region that is home to at least 75 million Black women. Activists met to discuss this state of affairs recently in Panama, at an Intergenerational Conference of Afro-descendant Women of Latin America, sponsored by the...
Estranged Aborigines say aid won’t reverse damage
MELBOURNE, Australia (IPS) - Aboriginal communities in Australia are still mourning family ties destroyed by the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families–a tragedy for which the country’s prime minister has refused to apologize. One decade ago, a landmark report called “Bringing Them Home” described the plight of the many children who were forcibly removed. These days,...
NGOs sue U.S. gov’t for disappeared detainees
JIM.LOBE WASHINGTON (IPS/GIN) - Three human rights groups sued the U.S. government June 7 to force it to disclose information about detainees allegedly held in secret prisons by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). More than three dozen detainees, who remain unaccounted for, are believed to have been locked up due to the “global war on terror” at some point during...
Sudan and America’s racist foreign policy
ASKIAMSenior Correspondent Bush imposes pre-emptive sanctions on the Sudan WASHINGTON (FinalCall.com) - Hostility toward the government of the Sudan by the U.S. and other Western nations only serves to extend the armed conflict and prolong the humanitarian suffering in Darfur, Sudan’s Foreign Minister told reporters at the National Press Club here, in a satellite video conference from Khartoum June 6. “The biggest...
Nigeria sues U.S. drug company Pfizer for $7 Billion
GINNEWS Anger at deadly Nigerian drug trials (BBC, 06-20-2007)Pharmaceutical trials in developing countries criticized (FCN, 06-11-2007)Nigeria: Drug Test - FG Sues Pfizer for $7 Billion (Daily Trust, 06-05-2007)Profit still trumps public health for ‘Big Pharma’ firms (FCN, 12/08/2006)Pharmaceutical cartel: How does it work? (FCN, 02/04/2004)Activists charge pharmaceutical cartel with being a tool for genocide (BBC, 01-20-2004) (GIN) - The pharmaceutical company...
Pharmaceutical trials in developing countries criticized
Profit still trumps public health for ‘Big Pharma’ firms (FCN, 12/08/2006)Pharmaceutical cartel: How does it work? (FCN, 02/04/2004)Activists charge pharmaceutical cartel with being a tool for genocide (FCN, 01/20/2004) NAIROBI, Kenya (PANA) - A senior UNESCO official has criticized multi-national pharmaceutical firms which conduct clinical trials in developing countries without adequately informing their volunteers of the possible risks involved...
Zimbabwe elected to chair UN commission, despite Western and European protests
Britain continues to pressure UN to censure Zimbabwe (FCN, 04-13-2007) UNITED NATIONS (FinalCall.com) - Zimbabwe was elected to chair the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), the panel that deals with development and the environment, on May 11. The chair traditionally rotates among regions of the world. Under UN protocol, this was Africa’s turn in the one-year seat, and the...