Region

Joined by actor Martin Sheen, people from across the Americas call for an end to US military training school.

Music fills the air and the atmosphere crackles with excitement as people from around the U.S. and across the Americas pour onto Fort Benning Road, the main entrance to the military base and the home of the US Army School of the Americas.

“Another Iraq is Possible with Peace and Human Rights,”
agree 250 representatives of civil society organizations who met October 8-9 in Erbil, Iraq.

A final declaration from their work together has been just released in Arabic, French, Italian,
and English and lays out a vision for social activists working to promote national sovereignty
of Iraqi people.

Bali – UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon challenged the Asia and Pacific region “to assume global leadership on issues of international concern, including climate change, sustainable development, access to food and energy, human rights and the empowerment of women.”

Paris – The UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) will temporarily halt some activities owing to the $65 million budget shortfall resulting from the U.S. decision to withhold its dues.

Brasilia- Brazil and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) have launched a new initiative to help developing countries run their own national school meal programmes to advance the nutrition and education of children.

Geneva – Over 12,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Yemen by boat in October, the highest monthly total since the United Nations refugee agency began tracking the flow of between the Horn of Africa and Yemen nearly six years ago. Many of them are victims of abductions, extortions, kidnappings and sexual assaults.

Geneva – While the Syrian regime “brutal crackdown” on pro-democracy protesters continues unabated, with the death toll surpassing 3,500, the UN has now voiced concern over “shortages of food, water, electricity and medical services in Syria.”

Cairo – The four-decade-long bid to liberate the Middle East from all weapons of mass destruction (WMD) starting with nukes, will move next year to Helsinki as Finland surprisingly decided to host an international conference on the establishment of a Middle East nuclear-free zone.

Impassioned critic of neo-imperialism, military occupations, and violent models of economic ‘development’, Arundhati Roy speaks at the People’s University in Washington Square, New York during the Student Week of Action in support of #Occupy. As this young movement continues to inspire the inspiring more voices converge from all corners of the world demanding change

The World Bank has launched a new partnership with global corporations including Nestlé, Coca-Cola and Veolia. Housed at the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC), the new venture aspires to “transform the water sector” by inserting the corporate sector into what has historically been a public service.