Daily Archives: September 27, 2008

Nigeria

Nigeria: Ogoni Land after Shell

International Crisis Group
Dakar/Abuja/Brussels, 18 September 2008: The peace process in Ogoni land – a major test for efforts to bring stability to the oil-rich Niger Delta – is likely to fail if the Nigerian government refuses to consult local communities about new oil operations.

Nigeria: Ogoni Land after Shell,* the latest policy briefing from the International Crisis Group, examines the political and economic implications of the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) departure from Ogoni land and gives recommendations on resuming peaceful oil operations in the economically strategic and politically volatile region. Continue reading Nigeria: Ogoni Land after Shell →

Britain, human rights, Women and Children

Sex with trafficked women to be criminalised

The Independent
By Ben Russell

Jacqui Smith makes her address at the Labour Party Conference
Jacqui Smith makes her address at the Labour Party Conference

A clampdown on kerbcrawlers and men who pay for sex with trafficked women has been launched by Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary.

She won a standing ovation at the Labour Party conference after announcing that ministers may create a new offence against people who pay prostitutes who have been forced into the sex trade. Continue reading Sex with trafficked women to be criminalised →

Economic Justice, USA

Sacred Economics — Is it Silly? Hard-headed Economics — Is it Breaking our Heads?

Shalom Center
Rabbi Arthur Wascow
If you listen to the hard-headed people who presumably keep us prosperous, Biblical and Quranic economics are, of course, quaint and unrealistic. They’re based on romantic ideas about benefiting the poor, the landless, the outcast. Good for motivating open-hearted charity; bad for making hard-headed decisions necessary to run a successful economy. Continue reading Sacred Economics — Is it Silly? Hard-headed Economics — Is it Breaking our Heads? →

Environment, Food Security, Kenya

Organic Farm Blossoms in Kenya’s Largest Slum

Guardian
by Xan Rice in Nairobi

No Photos Allowed
No Photos Allowed

Victor Matioli’s organic pumpkins are plump, his coriander aromatic and his spinach “very soft, sweet, and tasty”. His half-acre farm is a former rubbish dump in the heart of east Africa’s biggest slum.

So arresting is the sight of tall sunflowers growing amid the rust-coloured shacks and dirt paths of Kibera that Matioli and his fellow growers have had to put up a “No photographing” sign to allow them to work in peace. Their reputations – the farmers are all reformed criminals – mean the warning is seldom ignored. Continue reading Organic Farm Blossoms in Kenya’s Largest Slum →

Nigeria

NIGERIA: Bloody week in the Niger Delta

Rebel faction standing guard in Okoronta village in the Niger Delta, July 2004
Rebel faction standing guard in Okoronta village in the Niger Delta, July 2004

PORT HARCOURT, 19 September 2008 (IRIN) – Even by the usual violent standards of Nigeria’s conflict-ridden, oil-rich southern Niger Delta region, it has been a bloody seven days, with dozens of civilian casualties and many more wounded or displaced, according to local observers, in clashes in Rivers state between the military and rebel fighters. Continue reading NIGERIA: Bloody week in the Niger Delta →

Environment

EPA Faulted for Failing to Control E-Waste Exports

Obsolete CRT monitors awaiting export from the United States. (Photo credit unknown)
WASHINGTON, DC, September 18, 2008 (ENS) – U.S. hazardous waste regulations have not stopped exports of toxic used electronics to developing countries, partly because they are not being enforced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, finds a new report issued Wednesday by the investigative branch of Congress. Continue reading EPA Faulted for Failing to Control E-Waste Exports →