News headlines in July 2010, page 4

Northern Thai villagers living on Mekong River’s banks are poised to join a growing tide of opposition against a planned cascade of 11 dams to be built on the mainstream of South-east Asia’s largest body of water.

European Union (EU) Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht has appeased leading European nongovernmental organisations on the negotiations for a Southern African economic partnership agreement (EPA), promising 'not to put undue pressure' on countries.

During the three-day summit of African Union heads of state, roughly 37,000 children and 2,000 women died across Africa, mostly from preventable causes, says a civil society coalition for child and maternal health. The coalition welcomed African leaders' pledge to make more resources available.

Common business wisdom would have it that rising wages are bad news for foreign investors, but analysts here say that workers’ clamour for higher pay in Japanese factories in China will not send them packing from that country anytime soon.

Peruvian President Alan García confirmed Wednesday that the permit of the U.S. mining and metallurgical company Doe Run to operate a major smelter complex was being cancelled because the firm missed the deadline for proving that it had the necessary financing to restart operations and complete an environmental cleanup.

In a legal victory for the administration of President Barack Obama, a federal court Wednesday temporarily blocked the implementation of key provisions of a controversial Arizona immigration law that was to take effect Thursday.

'Three-quarters of the fields are still under water. Maize, plantains, okra and pasture are all lost,' José Asencio told IPS at the village of Santa Ana Mixtán in southern Guatemala, the area worst affected by tropical storm Agatha.

When the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) back in December 1948, 58 member states voted for a historic document covering political, economic, social and cultural rights.

A recent poll conducted by a credible Iranian university centre concerning the post-election events of 2009 has found that 56 percent of participants believe President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's popularity has declined over the past year, while just 22 percent believe it has increased.

The Malawian government has again stood firm in the face of calls by the European Union (EU) to sign an economic partnership agreement (EPA) -- even after top-level EU officials visited the southern Africa to convince it to put pen to paper.