The Week with IPS
Here are some of the most-read stories of the past week — and stories you shouldn’t go without reading:
BURMA
Whiteshirts – Junta’s Storm Troopers
Marwaan Macan-Markar
BANGKOK – In much the same way that Italy’s Benito Mussolini and Germany’s Adolf Hitler unleashed their respective ‘blackshirts’ and ‘brownshirts’ to terrorise dissenters, Burma’s military regime has deployed its ‘whiteshirts’ against protesting Buddhist monks and civilians.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39466
EU Urged to Awake from Passivity
David Cronin
BRUSSELS – With images of monks converging courageously on Rangoon broadcast around the world, the European Union threatened that it would respond to any use of violence against peaceful protesters by strengthening the sanctions it had previously imposed on Burma’s military junta.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39443
Burma Marches On – More IPS Special Coverage
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/burma/index.asp
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Iranian President in Nuclear Theatrics
Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS – When Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad completed his three-day political theatrics in New York, drawing large crowds and angry demonstrators, he left the United Nations with a defiant warning: Iran will not be cowed by any new sanctions either by the United States or the European Union.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39421
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COLOMBIA: Bush, Rebel Chief Have Key Role to Play in Hostage Swap
Humberto Márquez*
CARACAS – U.S. President George W. Bush and the leader of Colombia?s FARC guerrillas, “Manuel Marulanda”, both have a key role to play in the search for a humanitarian hostage-for-prisoner swap in Colombia, according to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, who is attempting to broker an agreement for an exchange.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39420
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Q&A: “Just Keeping the Achievements of Democracy Means a Daily Struggle”
Interview with Gustavo Gorriti, President of Instituto Prensa y Sociedad
ROME – With former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori and his intelligence chief Vladimiro Montesinos in jail, Peru faces a new era. How did it come to happen, and what is in store?
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39398
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SOUTH AFRICA: High Stakes Battle Between Mining and Environment
Steven Lang
JOHANNESBURG – Environmentalists and tour operators appear to be losing the battle against mining companies in Mpumalanga, a province in the east of South Africa. This confrontation — which also pits two ministries against each other — will determine the future of hundreds of lakes and rivers, and has implications for the economic sustainability of the province.
www.ipsnews.net/africa/nota.asp?idnews=39470
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PAKISTAN: Shia-Sunni Tensions Surface on Campus
Aoun Abbas Sahi
LAHORE – Prayer time at Pakistan’s hallowed University of the Punjab (PU), normally a solemn averment of the brotherhood of the faithful, is nowadays marked by the deep Shia-Sunni schism that has riven the Muslim world.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39432
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Climate of Change Confronts Wall Street
Stephen Leahy
TORONTO – Stockholders, investors and financial analysts are now demanding to know how climate change will affect companies’ bottom line, and a new report reveals large corporations’ risks and opportunities.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39381
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EAST AFRICA: Why Women Remain Trapped in Informal Trade
Pilirani Semu-Banda
LILONGWE – In Malawi up to a quarter of all households are headed by women. Agriculture is the mainstay of the economy and some 80 percent of Malawians directly depend on this sector. With an average of six children per household, most women embark on small business ventures to supplement their income from agricultural activities.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39448
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DEATH PENALTY-LATIN AMERICA: Broad Support for UN Moratorium
Fabiana Frayssinet*
RIO DE JANEIRO – Many Latin American governments have not yet adopted a position, or have not communicated one, but the majority trend in the region appears to be to support the resolution for a moratorium on the death penalty proposed by a number of countries to the United Nations General Assembly.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39412
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AFGHANISTAN: Goodbye Stinky, Dry Latrines
Aparna Srivastava Reddy
KABUL – The pervasive smell of human ordure is warning enough that this is a city that badly needs a sanitation system.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=39442
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