International

Voluntary moratoriums on nuclear weapon tests are not enough. Member states that have not yet ratified the United Nations-backed Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) should therefore urgently do so.

Far from being keen on the obituary sections covering most of the communicative space in the media sphere, I think it is essential to throw light on the root causes from which most criminal activities come from today. This is precisely what the following note, published here in full, is dealing with.

Somalia is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, the UN alerted over a year and a half ago. Now the UN calls on the world to save some 390,000 starving children in famine-ravaged regions. However, those who could really help—the rich, industrialised and oil exporting countries, apparently are now too busy with the ‘promising’ Libyan business.

From the blog “Fuera de Lugar” (Out of Place) of publico.es:
Interview with Ali Abu Awwad, by Amador Fernández-Savater and Juan Gutiérrez. Made in the framework of the meetings “Positive peace: a possible challenge” (8th June 2010, Bilbao).

Reporters Without Borders firmly condemns the murder of Humberto Millán Salazar, a journalist based in Culiacán, in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, who edited the online newspaper A-Discussion (http://www.a-discusion.com) and presented a programme on Radio Formula. His body was found yesterday, a day after his abduction in Culiacán. He had been shot in the head.

Shahzad Chaudhry – “In India, we have a 74-year-old, feeble man, à la Gandhian mould, leading a popular anti-corruption movement against a corrupt political and business culture and within that challenging an unyielding political system. While in Pakistan, we only cry out the advent of a transformational moment but remain mired in introspective idealism.”

Propelled by oil, ‘reconstruction’ and weapons private corporations, while besieged by a deep financial crisis, European and U.S. governments have already launched a frantic race to take over Libya even before the definite fall of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

UK commuters face an 8 to13% increase in rail fares, well above the rate of inflation, whilst Stagecoach, one of the private rail companies, announces a return of £340m in profits to shareholders – including an £88m payment to two chief executives. Meanwhile the inevitable austerity driven “double dip recession” looms across major economies but the banks refuse to lend.

The recent British film In Our Name is a returning-soldier drama featuring a married woman, Suzy, who leaves her husband and little girl to fight in Iraq. Because she’s involved in the killing of a little girl during her tour—this part is based on a true story, but it happened to a man—she returns home only to steadily fall apart under the stress of soul-destroying anxieties.

Hong Kong residents originally from the Indian sub-continent gathered on Sunday past to support Anna Hazare and the actions surrounding the Jan Lokpal Bill, for the fourth week in a row. The event took place at the India Club, Jordan, Hong Kong. The initiators were the volunteer international wing of India Against Corruption (IAC).