North America

In Washington state, a Quaker pacifist has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the US government of discrimination for not recognizing his status as a conscientious objector on military draft forms. Conscientious objectors refuse to participate in wars because they are propped up by racism and dehumanization and set the stage for never-ending wars and occupation.

No child should be afraid to attend school because of the threat of sexual abuse, corporal punishment, or bullying. But every year 350 million children face violence in schools worldwide – and with devastating effects.

Children who face school violence often experience ongoing psychological trauma and are less likely to continue their education.

During the 91st anniversary of the former South African president activists around the world pledge 67 minutes of community service and non-discrimination events. The Nelson Mandela Foundation and the 46664 campaign will promote tomorrow, on July 18th, the Mandela Day Celebration in New York. One of the objectives is to institute an official worldwide activist day.

According to the UN World Food Programme the economic crisis is adding four million hungry people per week.

Although Obama and Medvedev pledged to work for a nuclear weapons free world this spring, they failed to take meaningful steps at their July summit to put the world on the proper path to nuclear abolition.

With President Barack Obama and other world leaders now talking about building a nuclear-free world, it is time to consider whether that would be a good idea. Six reasons for supporting nuclear abolition are particularly cogent.

Ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is in Washington today for meetings with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. It’s Zelaya’s highest-level meeting with a U.S. official since his overthrow last month.

President Obama: “President Zelaya was democratically elected. He had not yet completed his term. We believe that the coup was not legal and that President Zelaya remains the president of Honduras, the democratically elected president there. In that, we have joined all the countries in the region, including Colombia and the Organization of American States. I think it would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition, rather than democratic elections.”

The US and Venezuela have announced plans to restore their expelled ambassadors after a nine-month rift. Both countries withdrew their ambassadors in a dispute over the Bush administration’s destabilization efforts in Bolivia.

For its 30th edition, the Montreal International Jazz Festival of Canada offers a program with great musicians, artists and singers, with dedication to the utmost quality in diversified music. The plethora of concerts captures the mood, from jazz fusion to American rock, with trips through free jazz, ’80s gypsy music, pop music, the legendary R&B, Afro-Cuban, Afrobeat and visits from the music of Mexico and Eastern Europe. American music legend Stevie Wonder will perform at the Festival’s opening, as an outdoor free event on June 30th.