U.S. labor leaders to Bush: No trade deal with murderers
Top labor leaders ended a trip to Colombia Feb. 13 by telling that country’s president, Alvaro Uribe, American unions will not support the U.S.–Colombia Free Trade Agreement until the killing of union members by right-wing death squads there is put to a stop.
Fear of the German left affects defense policy
US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, at the annual International Security Conference in Munich stepped up pressure on Germany to send more troops to Afghanistan and commit them to active fighting not only in the currently more peaceful north but in the battle-ridden south as well. US troops are in short supply
In sanctuary, Mexican mother fights for dignity
CHICAGO — Josué, 14, Juan, 11 and Paloma, 9, live with their grandmother in a small rural town in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. They have not seen their mother, Flor Crisostomo, 28, since she crossed the Arizona desert in June 2000, to find work in the U.S. so she could support them.
Belligerents and terrorists are different
A 60-year sentence handed down Jan. 28 to Ricardo Palmera, a leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), by a U.S. judge demonstrates abuse of the terrorist designation.
New hope blooms for Colombia prisoner exchange
The gratitude two liberated Colombian hostages displayed as they set foot on Venezuelan soil raised hopes that the long sought-goal of humanitarian prisoner exchange in Colombia might gain new life.
Cleveland workers protest toxic imports
CLEVELAND - Forty protesters, some wearing “Hazmat” suits, picketed the federal building here Jan. 16 in support of legislation to protect consumers from toxic imports.
Brazil celebrates The Year of Oscar Niemeyer
Oscar Niemeyer, one of the world's greatest architects, celebrated his 100 birthday on Dec. 14, 2007. Best known for the pioneering, breathtaking buildings he designed for Brazil's capital, he has inspired generations of architects with his embrace of curves, creative use of concrete, and reliance on local materials and techniques
Fear of Cuba
During the Vietnam War era, President Richard Nixon worried about his country becoming a “pitiful, helpless giant.” Now, with the world’s only superpower over-reacting to fears, that possibility seems to have resurfaced. Two recent U.S. measures relating to Cuba hint at weak knees.
Wheres the humanity in immigration enforcement?
When human beings are called “illegal” and “alien” by elected officials and law enforcement agencies and in the media, what kind of message are we spreading?
Just the tip of the iceberg
With the just completed Bali conference, the presentation of the Nobel Peace Prize to Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, special reports in many newspapers and magazines, demonstrations in 50 countries on global warming, the new Australian government signing on to the Kyoto Accord, and many other events, the focus of the world’s attention is shifting to the need to decrease carbon dioxide emissions.
