EU watchdog opens probe in role of bloc’s border agency in Mediterranean shipwreck tragedy
BRUSSELS—The European Union’s official watchdog said July 26 it has opened a probe in the role of the bloc’s Frontex border agency in the shipwreck off Greece in June that is feared to have killed hundreds of people in the Mediterranean Sea. Migrant crossings in unseaworthy boats organized by human traffickers from Northern Africa have spiked this year, with massive...
Libyan Red Crescent: Flooding death toll tops 11,000, another 10,000 missing
The death toll from devastating floods in eastern Libya has reached 11,000, the Libyan Red Crescent says, with thousands reportedly still missing, as search and rescue teams continue. According to the center, at least 11,300 people have lost their lives and another 10,100 are missing, after Mediterranean Storm Daniel hit the North African country earlier in September. The northeastern city of Derna is the worst...
Lula vetoes Brazil’s controversial bill to limit Indigenous land claims
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vetoed key parts of a bill which would have dramatically limited the ability of the country’s Indigenous people to gain formal recognition of their ancestral territories. Lula’s Institutional Relations Minister Alexandre Padilha announced that the president vetoed everything that was “unconstitutional and not consistent” with their Indigenous peoples policy. Padilha said the government was...
Chaos at a government jobs fair in economically troubled Zimbabwe underscores desperation for work
HARARE, Zimbabwe—A stampede at a government-organized job fair involving hundreds of young people in Zimbabwe desperate for work left some limping and others screaming in pain after being stomped on or beaten by security guards on Dec. 6. The chaos came as job seekers rushed to register for potential vacancies, but no serious injuries were reported. The crush of people illustrated the growing...
Myanmar demands greater focus urges UN rights chief, three years after coup
Three years after the military deposed the elected government in Myanmar, the ever-deteriorating human rights crisis in the country is now in freefall, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on January 30, appealing for greater attention from the international community. “Amid all of the crises around the world, it is important no one is forgotten. The people of Myanmar...
Wealth of the top one percent in U.S. hits all-time high of $45 trillion
Data released by the Federal Reserve on March 28 shows the top one percent of Americans are the richest they’ve ever been. The new data reveals that at the end of the fourth quarter last year they had a record $44.6 trillion in wealth. That’s up from $30 trillion in 2020. The main driver of wealth gains last year was from the stock...
The myth of Western economic development
Brazilian economist Celso Furtado’s classic 1974 book, “The Myth of Economic Development,” he argues the very idea of Latin America and Africa someday enjoying a similar livelihood as Western Europe and North America is “unrealizable in practice.” He writes that any attempt to generalize, or use as a model, the lifestyles of the world’s well-to-do would lead to a collapse...
Mugabe urges stronger African unity
HARARE, Zimbabwe (PANA) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe recently urged closer ties among African countries to counter-balance growing military unilateralism by Western powers. Opening a new Parliamentary session, the Zimbabwean leader accused big Western powers of preying on divided weaker nations in the Third World, citing the Iraq war as an example. Pres. Mugabe said the conflict in the Persian...
Nigeria moves to tackle food crisis
Could the global food crisis impact America? (FCN, 04-30-2008) ABUJA, Nigeria (PANA) - Nigeria has announced plans to import 500,000 metric tons of rice and release an additional 11,000 metric tons of grains from its strategic reserve to cushion the effect of the global food crisis. Already, the government has allocated about $678 billion for the massive rice importation. The decisions...
World’s food supply in jeopardy
(FinalCall.com) - The diversity of the world's food supply is being jeopardized by genetically engineered crops, according to some advocates and experts. The consequences of GE crops is that they eliminate diversity, say critics. “Once the product interacts with the environment and crossbreeds with similar or related species, all acquire the introduced dominant traits and the wide varieties previously...