News headlines
Brazil Launches Campaign to Decriminalise Drug Use
- Inter Press Service
RIO DE JANEIRO, Jul 12 (IPS) - A host of academic, legal, health, political and social figures are joining together to back a campaign to decriminalise drug use in Brazil, as tens of thousands of consumers uninvolved in the drug trade are currently jailed.
Colombia Tightening Laws Against Acid Attacks
- Inter Press Service
BOGOTÁ, Jul 11 (IPS) - Nobody will ever know if Jhon Jairo Echenique decided to take his own life out of remorse, fear or mental illness. But the suicide followed his arrest for the stabbing and burning with acid of his 19-year-old former girlfriend Angélica Gutiérrez.
Report Details Steady Erosion of Iranian Justice System
- Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jul 11 (IPS) - While Iran’s human rights record has “never been satisfactory”, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution the situation has deteriorated daily, according to Iranian Nobel Peace Laureate Shirin Ebadi.
IOC in Talks with Saudi Arabia over Male-Only Team
- Inter Press Service
DOHA, Qatar, Jul 11 (IPS) - The International Olympic Committee has said it is in talks with Saudi Arabia, after Human Rights Watch called for Riyadh to be barred from participating in the London Olympic Games.
Mozambique’s “People from Germany” Wait Decades for Salaries
- Inter Press Service
MAPUTO, Jul 11 (IPS) - Every Wednesday at 11.00am José Alfredo Cossa unfurls his East German flag and leads a march of around 150 men and women down the main streets of Maputo, Mozambique’s capital. In a struggle for justice that has been going on for more than 20 years this group, known as the “Magermans”, represent the 16,000 to 20,000 Mozambicans who were sent to the former East Germany in the early 1980s to work and serve their country.
Birth Control - Roping in Pakistan's Men
- Inter Press Service
KARACHI, Pakistan, Jul 11 (IPS) - “No scalpel, no stitch and no rest needed,” guarantees Dr. Ghulam Shabbir Sudhayao, referring to the surgical procedure called vasectomy - the least popular method of birth control around the world, including Pakistan.
Asian Mussel Invasion Largely Ignored by Southern Cone Governments
- Inter Press Service
BUENOS AIRES, Jul 11 (IPS) - The governments of most of the countries that share the Río de la Plata basin are doing little or nothing to halt the golden mussel invasion, despite the serious damages and losses it is causing.Limnoperna fortunei, an inedible freshwater bivalve mollusk, is native to the rivers and streams of China and Southeast Asia. From Asia, it travels around the world as a “hitchhiker” or “stowaway” on ocean-going cargo vessels. It first appeared in South America in 1991.
Iowa Firm Accused of Displacing Tanzanians for Profit
- Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON, Jul 11 (IPS) - A major U.S. energy company, AgriSol Energy, is accused of engaging in land grabs in Tanzania that would displace more than 160,000 Burundian refugees who have lived there for decades, according to a report by the Oakland Institute, an organisation focused on environmental issues.
Mozambique’s So-Called 'People from Germany' Wait Decades for Salaries
- Inter Press Service
Every Wednesday at 11.00am José Alfredo Cossa unfurls his East German flag and leads a march of around 150 men and women down the main streets of Maputo, Mozambique’s capital. In a struggle for justice that has been going on for more than 20 years this group, known as the 'Magermans', represent the 16,000 to 20,000 Mozambicans who were sent to the former East Germany in the early 1980s to work and serve their country.
Protests Rising Within China
- Inter Press Service
BEIJING, Jul 11 (IPS) - Tens of thousands of residents in a Chinese city took to the streets last week to protest, forcing the government to scrap plans to build a copper plant. The incident is the latest in a rising number of localised protests as expression of public anger aimed at over-ambitious or corrupt officials in China over-boils.
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