The Commonwealth and Development

The leaders of the Commonwealth nations gathered in Kampala, Uganda over the last few days, tackling issues of great importance to the developing countries in the 53-member group.

Poverty and Climate Change in the Spotlight
Joyce Mulama
KAMPALA – “The present partial transformation of the Commonwealth is not good enough for the individual countries, nor is it good for the Commonwealth in general or the wider world,” says President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40197

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PAKISTAN: Suspended, But Not Banished
Analysis by Sanjay Suri
KAMPALA – The headlines over suspension of Pakistan from the Commonwealth conceal some of the nuances of this action. The nuances were born of considerable differences that surfaced within the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group that finally took the decision.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40195

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Q&A: “A Threat to One Is a Threat to All”
Interview with Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem
KAMPALA – The past year has marked the half-way point for realisation of the MDGs. The Millennium Campaign’s deputy director for Africa, Tajudeen Abdul-Raheem, says there has been some progress, especially on education, child mortality and also HIV/AIDS. But “one of the biggest scandals” in the implementation are the MDGs in relation to women, he says.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40207

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“Get Rid of Your Agricultural Subsidies” – McKinnon
Joyce Mulama
KAMPALA – “If you are really worried about poverty in Africa, get rid of your agricultural subsidies. If Africa could produce agricultural goods and send them to Europe free of barriers, it would fight poverty,” said Outgoing Commonwealth Secretary-General Don McKinnon .
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40189

The Week with IPS

Here are some of the most-read stories of the past week — and stories you shouldn’t go without reading:

Fear of China Makes Japan Snub the Dalai Lama
Catherine Makino
TOKYO – Ignoring the fact that Japan is an Asian country with a sizeable Buddhist population, the government of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda cold-shouldered the Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, during a 10-day visit.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40209

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IRAQ: Executions Not Leading to Reconciliation
Ali al-Fadhily*
BAGHDAD – The executions of former regime officials are creating greater division, rather than reconciliation, among Iraqis.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40177

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MALAWI: Coffee Industry Gets Brewing Again
Pilirani Semu-Banda
LILONGWE – Malawi’s coffee producers have come up with innovative plans to kick start the country’s sluggish coffee industry, including the marketing of specialty blends which are uniquely Malawian.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40149

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IRAN: Attack on Sufis Reveals Intolerance of Muslim Sects
Kimia Sanati
TEHRAN – The destruction of a monastery belonging to the Gonabadi Sufi order in Boroujerd town of Luristan province, this month, has once again highlighted the hostile environment in which Iran?s many religious minorities and non-conformist sects exist.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40187

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BRAZIL: Pray, Cheer, and Do the Rain Dance to Stave Off Crisis
Fabiana Frayssinet
RIO DE JANEIRO – An energy crisis will hit Brazil in 2009 or 2010, and not even the discovery of vast undersea oil and gas reserves with “enormous potential yields,” as announced by the government, can stave it off, warn experts.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40178

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The Nuclear Cowboys
Analysis by Khody Akhavi
WASHINGTON – What do the current Pakistani political crisis, Israel’s September air strike against Syria, and Iran’s continued pursuit of nuclear enrichment all have in common? All three events reflect the aggressive policies adopted by the George W. Bush administration to deal with the growing threat of nuclear proliferation.
ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40157

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VENEZUELA: Wretchedly Poor on the Banks of Lake Maracaibo
Humberto Márquez
CONGO MIRADOR – “My father was a fisherman, and so was my grandfather. I fished for as long as I could. We live here because it is very beautiful, but we suffer great hardship,” said 72-year-old Antonio Navarro, sitting in his six-by-eight-metre house on stilts in the village of Congo Mirador.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40181

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HAITI-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: One Market, Two Separate Worlds
Elizabeth Eames Roebling
ANSE A PITRES, Haiti – At 11 a.m., five hours after the start of the market day on the southern border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the driver of the bright red Haitian truck named “God of Justice” swung down the back gate and started unloading the full load of 60-kg burlap bags of coffee.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40138

International Year of Sanitation

‘Flush Out the Toilet From the Water-Cycle’
Zofeen Ebrahim
SEOUL – The one message that came across at the just concluded general assembly of the World Toilet Association (WTA) was that conventional flush toilets are not only environment unfriendly but are also a serious public health hazard.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40205

Q&A: “Out-of-the-Box Solutions Needed for World’s Sanitation Problems”
Interview with Sim Jae-Duck, World Toilet Association
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=40171

The Neglected Development Goal: A Toilet Revolution
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/toilet/index.asp

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