News headlines in December 2011, page 3
Argentina Investigates Human Rights Crimes of Spain's Franco Era
- Inter Press Service
A judge in Argentina has begun to investigate human rights crimes committed during Spain's civil war and the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco (1936-1975).
Arab Monitors in Syria Flashpoint Towns
- Inter Press Service
Arab League observers are to visit three key protest hubs in Syria as world powers have urged Damascus to give full access to monitor if the country is implementing a plan to end a crackdown on protests.
Q&A: War Crimes Court Should Strengthen Victims' Participation
- Inter Press Service
Most of the cases brought before the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) include gender-based crimes, but advocates say the court is still falling short in ensuring that women play an active role in decision-making and outreach at the highest levels.
BOOKS: U.S., Iran Both Squandered Opportunities for Détente
- Inter Press Service
Veteran observers of U.S.-Iran relations know better than to be optimistic about the chances for reconciliation between the two countries. It has long been the pattern - indeed the curse - that when one side was ready to engage, the other was not.
U.N. Chief Will Pick New Team to Usher in Second Five-Year Term
- Inter Press Service
When U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon took office in January 2007, one of his first announcements was to call for the resignation of all senior high-ranking officials so that he could pick his own team of players.
MEXICO: Youth on the Front Lines of Protest Movement
- Inter Press Service
'We need to be the ones to provide the answers to the questions of our times, because we are the main victims of the voracious policies of capitalism,' says Alexis Jiménez, a 23-year-old ethnologist who has spent the last two months camping out in front of the Mexico City Stock Exchange.
KENYA: Medical Waste Poses Serious Threat to Scavengers
- Inter Press Service
For Collins Otieno, the onset of a new day ushers in mixed fortunes that can either earn him some money or expose him to infection, as he struggles to make ends meet by scavenging for waste.
ARGENTINA: Local Biogas Initiatives Open Virtuous Circle
- Inter Press Service
A growing number of municipalities in Argentina are joining a movement aimed at tackling the problem of waste disposal while producing clean, inexpensive energy.
DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Tribal People on the Warpath
- Inter Press Service
This small town, barely 150 km away from the bustling eastern metropolis of Kolkata, hit news headlines in December 2008 when adivasis (indigenous people) led by Maoist rebels briefly captured it.
The Unsustainable Political Deficiencies of Environmentalism
- Inter Press Service
The environmental movement won the ideological battle with the growth of awareness on climate change. Environmentalists are no longer seen as 'loonies' or granola-eating hippies: the people seen as on the fringe' now are the climate sceptics who deny that global warming is caused by human activity.