Weightlifters help warm US-Cuba relations
CHICAGO – In another sign that relations are changing between the United States and Cuba, 10 Cuban weightlifters participated in the Pan American and Ibero-American Weightlifting championships here June 4-7. The team consisted of 8 men, 2 women and a coach.
U.S. money tied to support for Colombia paramilitaries, criminals, Nation reports
Two Colombian generals, both of whom received training at the U.S. Army's 'School of The Americas' (SOA) at Ft. Benning, Ga., have been accused by Colombian authorities of crimes involving narcotics and collaborating with criminal paramilitary groups, according to a report in the June 15 issue of The Nation magazine.
OAS responds to change, would bring back Cuba
Host Manuel Zelaya, President of Honduras, greeted foreign ministers attending the 39th General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS): “[W]e should not leave this assembly without abolishing the decree of that eighth meeting which sanctioned an entire people for having proclaimed its socialist ideas and principles.”
Bird flu virus can survive two years in landfill
Carcasses of birds infected with the bird flu virus continue to be infectious for up to two years, a new study has found. The bird flu virus can survive in landfill leachate -- liquid that drains from a landfill -- for at least 30 days and up to two years, according to the study that appears in the June issue of the journal Environmental Science & Technology.
Chile: Goodbye to the gender wage gap?
Gabriela, 32, is delighted with Chile’s new law establishing equal wages for men and women doing the same work. But the discrimination she has experienced in the workplace makes her wary of premature optimism.
Lebanon: Elections entrench sectarian divisions, analysts say
BEIRUT, 7 June 2009 (IRIN) - Sectarianism is playing a more central role in Lebanon’s highly contested parliamentary elections on 7 June, which analysts say could see the country facing increased political instability. The vote pits the Western-backed ruling coalition, predominantly made up of Sunni Muslim, Christian and Druze parties, against the Hezbollah-led opposition, mostly composed of Shia Muslims and Christians.
JCP calls on officials to testity on secret US/Japan nuclear deal
Japan's local newspapers on June 1 ran on their front pages a Kyodo News report that four former Japanese vice foreign ministers testified that they had had access to a 'secret accord between Japan and the United States regarding the handling of nuclear weapons,' an accord stipulating that entries into Japanese ports of U.S. warships carrying nuclear weapons or landings at Japanese airports of U.S. aircraft carrying such weapons do not need prior consultations under an annex of the 1960 Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, which requires such consultation for an 'introduction of nuclear weapons'.
Obama calls on world to back two-state plan
US President Barack Obama has called for 'redoubled efforts' towards a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine in Dresden. On a visit to the eastern German city, Mr Obama called on all nations 'to redouble our efforts' towards separate Israeli and Palestinian states.
Activists seek inquiry into Guantanamo Bay death
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) called on Wednesday for a full and transparent investigation into the recent death of a Yemeni national held at the US prison camp on Guantanamo Bay.
Obama offers real hope, Netanyahu's 'government of yesterday' offers nothing
As an Israeli patriot I must say, without the shadow of a doubt, that at this moment the president of the United States understands the interests of Israel much better than Israel's own prime minister and his ministers.
