News headlines
Drug War Threatens Democracy, Mexican Peace Caravan Warns in US
- Inter Press Service

LOS ANGELES, California, Aug 14 (IPS) - "The war on drugs is endangering the best thing that the United States has given the world: democracy,” Javier Sicilia, the Mexican poet who heads the movement of victims of the violence unleashed by the war on drugs in his country, said upon reaching the United States this week.
Gaddafi Loyalists Up In Arms
- Inter Press Service

TRIPOLI, Aug 14 (IPS) - The security situation in Libya remains tense as violence by way of car bombings, political assassinations of high-ranking government and military officials, attacks on foreign diplomatic staff and NGOs, and young men sorting out minor disputes with AK-47s continues unabated.
Lean Times Get Leaner in Northern Cote d’Ivoire
- Inter Press Service

KORHOGO, Cote d’Ivoire, Aug 14 (IPS) - Salimata Coulibaly, director of a medical centre in the town of Korhogo in the northern Cote d’Ivoire region of Savanes, stood before a chart displaying before-and-after photos of local children – one taken when each child arrived at the centre, and one after he or she responded to treatment for malnutrition.
Drug War Threatens Democracy, Mexican Peace Caravan Warns in US
- Inter Press Service

LOS ANGELES, California, Aug 14 (IPS) - “The war on drugs is endangering the best thing that the United States has given the world: democracy,” Javier Sicilia, the Mexican poet who heads the movement of victims of the violence unleashed by the war on drugs in his country, said upon reaching the United States this week.
Biopolymers and the Dream of a Green Petrochemical Industry
- Inter Press Service

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 14 (IPS) - Brazil leads global production of biopolymers, an industry that generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuel-based plastic manufacture. But “green plastics” made from sugarcane have a sour aftertaste.
Reining in Private Security Faces Regulatory Thicket
- Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 14 (IPS) - Alleged human rights violations and other challenges involving the use of Private Military Security Contractors (PMSCs) have sparked a series of international efforts to create systems of accountability for an increasingly complex transnational industry.
U.S.: Republican Ticket Shrugs Off Foreign Policy Experience
- Inter Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug 14 (IPS) - With less than three months to go before the U.S. presidential election, over the weekend Barack Obama’s Republican challenger for the presidency, Mitt Romney, finally announced his vice-presidential running mate, a young member of Congress named Paul Ryan.
Plant Diseases Threaten Food Security in Kivu, DR Congo
- Inter Press Service

BUKAVU, DR Congo, Aug 14 (IPS) - Plant diseases affecting bananas and cassava are gaining ground in two provinces in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to South Kivu's provincial minister for agriculture, Gisèle Batembo.
Biopolymers and the Dream of a Green Petrochemical Industry
- Inter Press Service

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 14 (IPS) - Brazil leads global production of biopolymers, an industry that generates fewer greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuel-based plastic manufacture. But "green plastics" made from sugarcane have a sour aftertaste.
Q&A: Military Action in Mali Would Be a ‘Huge Risk’
- Inter Press Service

DAKAR, Aug 14 (IPS) - Military action by West African states against the insurrection in northern Mali would be extremely risky without diplomatic support from neighbouring Algeria and Mauritania, according to International Crisis Group researcher Gilles Yabi.
Global Issues