Europe

The abrahamic Occident expanded three times: islam 622-1492 from Iberia to the Philippines; christianity from 1492 on all five continents; and judaism from 1948 in the Middle East. They left and leave behind enormous clashes of civilizations in their wake, many extinguished. South America is building on an incredible rich history and wisdom like Bolivia’s Morales is now doing.

Christine Blower, the General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers (NUT), Europe’s largest teachers’ union representing approximately 300,000 teachers in the United Kingdom, has endorsed the World March for Peace and Non-violence and expressed her wish for the National Union of Teachers to contribute to the objectives of the March.

The Prefecture of the Pontifical Household confirmed that the Pope will receive members of the Peace March in a general audience on the coming 11th of November. The members of the base team who start in New Zealand on the 2nd of October will have travelled through Oceania, Asia and Europe before presenting their proposals for nuclear disarmament and nonviolence before the Vatican.

The United States, Italy, Germany, Brazil, Austria and Belgium head the list of the world’s leading exporters of these types of weapons.

At the G8 meeting in Italy, world leaders pledged $12 billion for a “food security initiative” for the world’s poorest countries. The total committed falls three billion dollars short of the $15 billion promised by President Obama.

A group of youth from various countries around the world met up recently in the Italian capital to participate in the Junior 8 Summit, a week-long conference for young people to exchange ideas and opinions on ways to improve global conditions for young people. Today they will present their recommendations to the G-8 leaders.

US President, Barack Obama and Russian president, Dmitri Medvedev, yesterday signed terms of an agreement to reduce strategic nuclear weapons by a third, despite differences over US plans to install an anti-missile shield in Europe. The Russian president proposed the creation of an anti-missile shield capable of protecting all countries worldwide.

Barack Obama is getting ready for his first trip to Moscow that will last from Monday 6th of July to Wednesday 9th. This is a re-start of a new area in the relations between Russia and the USA. Depending on those meetings is the future of the bilateral nuclear programme of disarmament and the anti missile shield affair (NMD) that the USA plans to build in Central Europe.

In this Summit a new treaty will be prepared in order to reduce the nuclear strategic arsenal of both countries, to replace the START-1 treaty that will expire on December 5th 2009.

Whether in the Korean peninsula, in unstable Pakistan, or in the volatile Middle East, the risk of military or terrorist nuclear attacks is escalating daily. Yet one of the most real chances to rid the world of nuclear weapons is happening and will be won or lost far from the headlines.

Next week in Moscow, Presidents Medvedev and Obama could make history by agreeing to reduce their nuclear arsenals and set the world´s course towards a nuclear-free world. A group of highly influential figures called Global Zero has presented a four-step plan to achieve that goal and, though it seems incredible, they are successfully persuading the nuclear powers that the world is more secure without nukes.

Charity premiere of award-winning film in London will raise funds for FilmAid’s programme.“Skin” won the Pan African Festival in Los Angeles and the Time for Peace First Film Award.