Archives
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
May 2010
April 2010
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010

December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009

December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008

December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
February 2007
January 2007

December 2006
November 2006
October 2006
September 2006
August 2006
July 2006
June 2006
May 2006
April 2006
March 2006
February 2006
January 2006

December 2005
November 2005
October 2005
September 2005
August 2005
July 2005
June 2005
May 2005
April 2005
March 2005
February 2005
January 2005

December 2004
November 2004
October 2004
September 2004
August 2004
July 2004
June 2004
May 2004
April 2004
March 2004
February 2004
January 2004

December 2003
November 2003
October 2003
September 2003
August 2003
July 2003
June 2003
May 2003
April 2003
March 2003
February 2003
January 2003

December 2002
November 2002
October 2002
September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
February 2002
January 2002

December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001
May 2001
April 2001
March 2001
February 2001
January 2001

December 2000
November 2000
October 2000
September 2000
August 2000
July 2000
June 2000
May 2000
April 2000
March 2000
February 2000
January 2000

December 1999
November 1999
October 1999
September 1999
August 1999
June 1999
May 1999
April 1999

April 1998

News archives

Thursday, March 29, 2007

713 Labor, Farm, Environmental, Other Groups Tell Democratic Leadership: More Fast Track for Pres. Bush is Absolutely Unacceptable
WASHINGTON – Regardless of how the Bush administration responds to a recent Democratic Ways and Means Committee proposal, labor, environmental, farm and other organizations announced today that they will vigorously oppose any new grant of Fast Track trade authority to President Bush, said the Citize... Continued...

Tuesday, March 27, 2007

US Town official against privatized water plan: Clifton Park Republican says County's proposal is preferable
BALLSTON SPA -- Anita Daly, one of Clifton Park's two representatives on the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors, told reporters Monday that she was against her town's efforts to purchase water from Veolia Water North America. Daly, a Republican, held a news conference at the Board of Supervisor... Continued...

More money in selling water: says Malaysian Water and Communications Minister
SHAH ALAM: States with rivers can earn more royalty from selling water than logging and should protect their water catchments areas from deforestation. Energy, Water and Communications Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said state governments must change their ways, adding there would be less l... Continued...

USA: Tainted mineral water recalled
LOS ANGELES, March 25 (UPI) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration reissued a warning this weekend about a brand of Armenian mineral water believed to be laced with arsenic. The water, distributed by companies in Los Angeles County, was shown to have arsenic levels of up to 67 times the federal... Continued...

Monday, March 26, 2007

Schwarzenegger promotes dams as way to boost water reserves in California
Calif. (AP) -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday promoted a $6 billion plan for increased water storage and protecting fresh water supplies, calling for two new dams and better management of the delta. "Our state's population is increasing rapidly. We also have earthquakes and major storms tha... Continued...

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Improve agriculture, conserve water: FAO
ROME -- As the number-one user of water worldwide, the agriculture sector must be in the lead in addressing the rising global demand for water and its potential drain on the earth's natural resources, FAO said on the occasion of World Water Day last Thursday. Agriculture accounts for about 70 pe... Continued...

Saturday, March 24, 2007

Experts to survey Mumbai city’s water supply system and to suggest remedies to tackle leakages: Rs 253 crore marked for clearing 33,000 hutmens along water mains
‘Experts to survey water supply system’ Rs 253 crore marked for clearing 33,000 hutmens along water mains, replacing old pipelines Express News Service Mumbai, March 24: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) would appoint consultants to conduct a survey of the city’s water supply system ... Continued...

Friday, March 23, 2007

Future development and poverty reduction tied to gains in renewable energy
GUATEMALA- The countries of Latin America must increase their development of renewable energy sources and improve energy efficiency to ensure future development and the ability to meet the demands of the low-income majority, said IDB President Luis Alberto Moreno today. In contrast to the discus... Continued...

Poll Finds Most Believe Trade Hurts Family Finances
The majority of people asked in a poll conducted last December by the Pew Research Center believed that trade agreements such as NAFTA and the WTO have hurt the financial situation of their family. This followed a general trend of anxiety about economics issues that was revealed in a separate poll d... Continued...

Two-thirds of world population could face water shortage by 2025: FAO
The head of the United Nation's Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) says two-thirds of the world's population could be threatened by water shortages by 2025. Jacques Diouf, director-general of the FAO, said in a speech in Rome on World Water Day that 1.2 billion people currently live in area... Continued...

Thursday, March 22, 2007

U.N. says lack of safe water in Iraq is major killer of children
AMMAN, Jordan - A shortage of safe drinking water in Iraq is threatening to increase diarrhea, a leading killer of children in the country, the United Nations said Thursday. Violence makes it difficult to protect Iraqi water officials and repair pipes damaged by sabotage. But U.N. officials par... Continued...

Hungry for water
How much water does it take to produce a cup of tea? More than you might think - about 35 litres (8 gallons). That's because you need buckets of the stuff to grow the tea leaves in the first place. By the same logic, it takes about 1,450 litres to produce a kilogram of wheat. And a kilo of beef requ... Continued...

Pathbreaking Methods for Improving Water Quality Give American Professor the 2007 Stockholm Water Prize
Stockholm, March 22, 2007 – Professor Perry L. McCarty from Stanford University, California, a pioneer in the development of the understanding of biological and chemical processes for the safe supply and treatment of water, was today named the 2007 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate. Professor McCar... Continued...

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Zimbabwe Says Drought Will Worsen Food Shortages
HARARE - Zimbabwe's food crisis will worsen this year because of a drought that has decimated maize and other key crops, a government minister said on Tuesday amid rising tension in the economically-depressed African country. Zimbabwe is struggling with an economic crisis marked by chronic shorta... Continued...

Indonesia plays down chance of Doha G-33 breakthrough
Jakarta - Indonesia does not expect a breakthrough on global free trade talks at a meeting of G33 countries on Wednesday, but developing nations aimed to "really push" to make progress, the country's trade minister said. Indonesia chairs the G33 group of developing countries and is hosting a mee... Continued...

ECUADOR: Pressure to Make Water a Public Good
QUITO, Mar 21 (IPS) - World Water Day will be marked Thursday in Ecuador by protests against the privatisation of water, the construction of dams, and the mining industry, and by demands for the new constitution to recognise access to water as a basic human right. Activists see the cancellation o... Continued...

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Many Major Rivers in Danger of Drying Out - WWF
GENEVA - Many major rivers in the world are at risk of drying out because of climate change and dam construction, which could affect fresh water supplies and marine life, the global nature protection body WWF said on Tuesday. In a report ahead of the March 22 'World Water Day', the Swiss-based gr... Continued...

Natural Disasters Will Increase - UN Meteorologists
MADRID - Global warming is likely to bring more tidal waves, floods and hurricanes, leading meteorologists said on Monday. "What we know is that global warming is very likely to lead in the future to more frequent tidal waves," the secretary general of the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) ... Continued...

Monday, March 19, 2007

Management is a Canadian Success Story
This week, as chicken farmers from across Ontario gather for their annual general meeting, a key issue on everyone's mind is the Doha Round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations on agriculture, and the impact it may have on consumers and the businesses and livelihoods of Ontario's 1,100 chi... Continued...

IN PURSUIT OF PROSPERITY: "Agenda for Canada's Prosperity"
David Jones has seen the future of his business. In fact, he's having it installed right now. It doesn't involve plastics, flying cars, underwater hotels, or wiki-anything. The future looks a lot like half a city bus with a computer screen hanging off the back. Jones is co-owner of J. Gerth Custo... Continued...

For Trade Talks, Time Is Very Short
Love it or hate it, globalization has made the world more prosperous. But free-trade advocates could face a setback later this year, because the 150 countries that make up the World Trade Organization (WTO) can't agree on how to take things to the next level. Since 2001, the WTO has been holding com... Continued...

WWF Says Pollution, Dams Threaten Rivers
GENEVA Mar 19, 2007 (AP)— The Yangtze River gets more than half of China's industrial waste and sewage. Europe's Danube has lost most of its surrounding wetlands. And the Rio Grande has become so shallow that salt water is seeping in, bringing ocean fish that threaten freshwater species. Pollutio... Continued...

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Report on China's 2006 economic, social development plan
Beijing, March 18 (Xinhua) - The following is the full text of the Report on the Implementation of the 2006 Plan for National Economic and Social Development and on the 2007 Draft Plan for National Economic and Social Development, which was submitted on March 5 for review by the Fifth Session of the... Continued...

Great lakes water levels expected to drop
MILWAUKEE, March 18 (UPI) -- U.S. experts warn that Lake Michigan's water levels will drop further this year. The lake is reportedly an inch lower than it was at this time last year, and 17 inches below its long-term average, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported. Lake Superior and Lake Huro... Continued...

Mexico, U.S. in Middle of Water Dispute: Canal lining would deprive Mexicali farmers of groundwater
Mexico and the United States are in the middle of an international dispute over the 82-mile (132 kilometer) All-American Canal as a group of citizens in Mexicali, Mexico, is fighting to stop a 23-mile (37 kilometer) stretch of it from being lined with concrete. The Imperial Irrigation District (I... Continued...

Saturday, March 17, 2007

4 sugar-producing nations to split quota
GEORGETOWN, Guyana (AP) - Four Caribbean nations will divide a sugar trade quota surrendered by St. Kitts when it shuttered its operations following deep subsidy cuts by the European Union, the industry's regional spokesman said Saturday. St. Kitts' production quota of 14,145 metric tons (15,590 ... Continued...

Friday, March 16, 2007

Thirstier World Likely to See More Violence
BROOKLIN, Canada, - A strong link between droughts and violent civil conflicts in the developing world bodes ill for an increasingly thirsty world, say scientists, who warn that drought-related conflicts are expected to multiply with advancing climate change. "Severe, prolonged droughts are the ... Continued...

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Bush to Press Free Trade in a Place Where Young Children Still Cut the Cane
CHIMALTENANGO, Guatemala, March 11 — Work starts early for the people of the Guatemalan countryside, sometimes as early as 5 or 6. Not the time, the age. Guatemalan children shine shoes and make bricks. They cut cane and mop floors. At some factories exporting to the United States, they sew and s... Continued...

Monday, March 12, 2007

NAFTA-WTO Trade Model Slammed Minnesota’s Working Families
· 20,310 Minnesotans are certified as losing their jobs to trade during NAFTA and WTO by the federal Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. These losses erased 1990s manufacturing jobs gains. Nearly 1.7 million U.S. workers are TAA trade casualties, yet TAA doesn’t even include many trad... Continued...

Bush to Press Free Trade in a Place Where Young Children Still Cut the Cane
CHIMALTENANGO, Guatemala, March 11 — Work starts early for the people of the Guatemalan countryside, sometimes as early as 5 or 6. Not the time, the age. Guatemalan children shine shoes and make bricks. They cut cane and mop floors. At some factories exporting to the United States, they sew and ... Continued...

New re-alignment of Third World forces on the anvil
NEW DELHI, MAR 11: Developments in the previous week clearly point out that the stalled WTO talks can be revived if some major sacrifices are made by the developing countries. Market access is now the focal point of discussion. Both US and EU want developing countries to open their markets for agri... Continued...

Friday, March 9, 2007

Trade Unions Unite Against Rising Unemployment: WTO Talks Could Worsen Job Climate
Geneva, Switzerland, 9 March 2007 (ITUC OnLine) – Trade union leaders from Brazil, India, South Africa, and other developing countries, traveled this week to a Global Unions meeting in Geneva to deliver a message to WTO members rising unemployment if their countries accept demands by developed count... Continued...

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

Ag officials sign deal for ‘soft landing’
Top agriculture and economy officials called for U.S. help to achieve a "soft landing" next year when tariffs on corn and beans are phased out, leaving Mexican farmers in head-to-head competition with highly efficient U.S. producers Top agriculture and economy officials called for U.S. help ... Continued...

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

‘Fast Track’ Opponents Speak Out Against Renewing Trade Authority
Opponents of renewal of the president’s “trade promotion authority” — both within and outside of Congress — are unleashing opening attacks this week. A bicameral, bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by Sens. Byron L. Dorgan of North Dakota and Sherrod Brown of Ohio, will announce its push for a “n... Continued...

U.S., Mexico Reestablish Consultative Committee
A Memorandum of Understanding to re-establish the U.S.-Mexico Consultative Committee on Agriculture (CCA) was signed today by USDA Secretary Mike Johanns and Mexico's Agriculture Secretary Alberto Cardenas and Economy Secretary Eduardo Sojo. "The United States and Mexico have a longstanding, exce... Continued...

Mexico backs Canada in WTO corn complaint
MEXICO CITY - Mexico said on Tuesday it would likely join Canada in a complaint to the World Trade Organization about U.S. corn subsidies. More than half a dozen countries have come out to back Canada, which is expected to launch a formal WTO challenge to U.S. corn subsidies on the grounds they v... Continued...

Monday, March 5, 2007

Global Tax Initiatives: The Movement for the Currency Transaction Tax
The currency transaction tax (CTT), first proposed in 1972, is a simple idea: a tax levied on every currency exchange, set at a level low enough not to hinder transactions needed to finance trade in goods and services, or long-term investments. The establishment of the CTT, or a new organization to ... Continued...

WTO talks: US doesn’t want to play its cards now
NEW DELHI: Several activities had taken place in and outside Geneva to revive the stalled WTO negotiations in the last two weeks. The European Union and the US have not yet expressed their commitment for a significant reduction in their support to agriculture, which would allure other parties to go... Continued...

Brewing Conflict: Ethiopia Battles Starbucks
FERO, Ethiopia -- Starbucks Corp.'s top coffee buyer journeyed to this hilltop village a year ago to thank farmers for creating what he calls the world's best coffee. Delighted growers wearing ceremonial animal skins lined up to greet him, and then danced and performed an elaborate coffee-pouring ri... Continued...

Saturday, March 3, 2007

Brazilian Ethanol Deal Faces Gantlet of Critics
When President Bush in January set a national goal of reducing gasoline use by one-fifth in the coming decade, he was actually proposing to duplicate, in a limited sense, what has happened in one of the biggest economies in the developing world: Brazil has reduced its consumption so much that ethano... Continued...

U.S. aid sanctions turn taps off critical Palestinian water, wastewater projects
YATA, West Bank: One slip, and Issa Abu Shakr's 5-year-old nephew plunged into the fetid stream of sewage that flows outside the family's West Bank home. The contact with the filthy water required multiple blood transfusions and a 10-day hospital stay, Abu Shakr says. A few miles (several kilo... Continued...

Friday, March 2, 2007

U.S. and Brazil Seek to Promote Ethanol in West
WASHINGTON, March 2 — President Bush, hoping to reduce demand for oil in the Western Hemisphere, is preparing to finish an agreement with Brazil next week to promote the production and use of ethanol throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, according to administration officials. The agreement ... Continued...

Thursday, March 1, 2007

Bush and Democrats Talk Trade
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration and congressional Democrats are attempting to negotiate a grand compromise on trade that would allow several deals to move forward by elevating the importance of labor rights in those agreements. STEPPINGSTONE • The News: The White House and congressio... Continued...

WTO's Lamy Is Optimistic
BRUSSELS -- World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy is hopeful the U.S. and Europe are ready to make enough concessions on cutting farm aid to reopen the stalled Doha round of global trade talks soon, but a final deal still would face major hurdles. Recent meetings in London between the U.S... Continued...

Trade negotiators to discuss WTO matters
GENEVA (AP) - Top trade negotiators from the United States, the European Union, Brazil and India will meet in London and Geneva this weekend to discuss long-struggling World Trade Organization efforts to liberalize global commerce, officials said Thursday. 'It will be just bilaterals,' said Clodo... Continued...

Venezuelan leader says "mafia" rules USA, doubts Bush trip will succeed
Radio Nacional de Venezuela [RNV] in Spanish begins to air "Hello, President" No 270 in its new daily format live from the Press Room of Miraflores Palace at 2200 gmt on 28 February. The following government officials are in attendance: Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro; Rodolfo Sanz, deputy foreign m... Continued...

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Six million Chinese face water shortages
BEIJING, Feb 28 (Reuters) - A severe drought in southwestern China is threatening the water supplies of six million people in the crowded metropolis of Chongqing, Xinhua news agency said on Wednesday. The city faces an acute water shortage in early March due to a continuing drought along the Yang... Continued...

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Women’s Declaration on Food Sovereignty
We, women from more than 40 countries, from different indigenous peoples of Africa, the Americas, Europe, Asia and Oceania and from different sectors and social movements, have gathered together in Sélingué (Mali) at Nyéléni 2007 to participate in the creation of a new right: the right to food sover... Continued...

Wednesday, June 14, 2006

Bush Administration Quietly Plans NAFTA Super Highway
Quietly but systematically, the Bush Administration is advancing the plan to build a huge NAFTA Super Highway, four football-fields-wide, through the heart of the U.S. along Interstate 35, from the Mexican border at Laredo, Tex., to the Canadian border north of Duluth, Minn. Once co... Continued...