Syndicate
|
Stay up to date with the Cosmic Fantasia RSS feed
|
|
Beware when the great God lets loose a thinker on this planet - Ralph Waldo Emerson
Bookmarks Directory
Latest News & Views
|
Written by David Cronin
|
|
The often cosy relationship between corporate lobbyists and the Brussels bureaucracy was illustrated in the past few weeks as several members of the European Parliament (MEPs) prepared to visit Peru.
Vidal Quadras Roca, the assembly's vice-president, contacted a fellow MEP organising the trip to inform him that participants could see first-hand projects in Lima run by British Petroleum, the French private water firm Suez, and the Spanish telecommunications giant Telefónica. All these companies, it transpired, are represented by the International Association of Business and Parliament, a shadowy body which has an office within the Parliament's own building and can avail of facilities financed by the European taxpayer. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Arlene Chang
|
|
As the first U.N. relief planes landed in Yangon early on Thursday, humanitarian officials complained that the aid flowing into cyclone-devastated Burma (Myanmar) is still encountering bureaucratic obstacles that are threatening the lives of desperate survivors.
The official government death toll from the cyclone is 22,997, but Western diplomats in the country and others have given far higher estimates, perhaps exceeding 100,000. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Mario de Queiroz
|
|
Irish rocker and activist Bob Geldof's statement that Angola is a country ”run by criminals” unleashed a political storm that could have an impact on Portugal's large investment interests in the largest of its former African colonies.
At a seminar on sustainable development held Tuesday in the Portuguese capital by the Banco Espirito Santo (BES), a Lisbon-based bank, and the weekly publication Expresso, Geldof lashed out at Angola's leaders, who he said live in luxury houses in Luanda that are more expensive than the homes in the exclusive London neighbourhoods of Chelsea and Park Lane. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Stephanie Nieuwoudt
|
|
Is small the new big when it comes to agriculture in Southern Africa? As rising food prices place this sector firmly in the spotlight, there are compelling examples at hand to make the case for greater investment in small-scale farming.
Pedro Sanchez -- director of tropical agriculture at the Earth Institute of the University of Columbia, in the United States -- said that in Southern Africa it was possible to turn an economy around and improve food security by investing in small-scale farmers. The threat of severe food shortages in Malawi four years ago was averted when the United Nations, at the request of government, helped these farmers to obtain fertilizer, seeds and other farming necessities. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Larry Jagan
|
|
Cyclone Nargis -- Burma's worst natural disaster in living memory -- has reinforced the image of the military in that country as a force interested solely in perpetuating its grip on power, regardless of costs to the people it claims to protect.
Official reports say upwards of 30,000 people have died in the May 2 cyclone, 40,000 have gone missing and a million more rendered homeless. But more than providing relief the military government seems concerned with carrying through a referendum that will enhance its hold over the country. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Catherine Makino
|
|
Although the Japanese government is keen not to embarrass Chinese President Hu Jintao, while here on a ‘historic' five-day state visit, the Tibet question does not seem to go away.
Tibet figured high at a press conference -- that followed a summit meeting Wednesday -- where Hu expressed hope that recently initiated talks between Chinese officials and the representatives of the exiled Tibetan leader, the Dalai Lama, may prove fruitful. ‘'We hope the contacts will achieve positive results.'' |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Claudia Ciobanu
|
|
Romania has still not convincingly answered repeated calls from the European Commission and others to clarify allegations that it hosted CIA detention centres and that rendition flights passed through its territory.
Authoritative investigations conducted by the Council of Europe, the European Parliament (EP), Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as numerous journalistic reports, claim that Romanian air space was transited by flights used for extraordinary rendition by the CIA (the Central Intelligence Agency of the U.S.). |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Lynette Lee Corporal
|
|
More than gaining the freedom to report on society's problems Asian media must gauge it's real contribution to the public‘s needs, especially at a time of increasing commercialisation.
This was the common theme running through an interactive dialogue here on Friday -- ahead of World Press Freedom Day on May 3 -- organised by the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) around the theme of freedom of expression, access and empowerment. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Written by Diego Cevallos*
|
|
A Mexican coffee grower receives about three dollars per kilogram of unprocessed coffee beans, and the consumer here pays 11 dollars. That price difference, in large part, is the result of the growing power of a handful of supermarkets.
The ”autoservicio” (self-service) stores, as supermarkets are known in Mexico, are responsible for sales of 52 percent of food and perishable items in the country. In Mexico City the proportion rises to 70 percent. |
|
Read more...
|
|
|
Featured RSS News Feeds
|
Featured Screensaver Our Leonardo da Vinci screensaver celebrates the genius of the man and displays 54 of his greatest artworks (some with different versions), drawing scientific studies and drawings. Download Screensaver
More Screensavers
|