Archive | July, 2007

Sold as a slave to an affluent California family of 7, a servitude contract of ten years, was the fate of a 9 year old girl in Ciro, Egypt. Sold by her parents, who received a measly sum for the price of their daughter, Shyima soon found herself no …

Shyima, a 9-year-old Egyptian girl, was sold into slavery and shipped from Cairo to work in California. (Photo courtesy of ABC News and Immigration & Customs Enforcement)
Free the Slaves' President, Kevin Bales, will be featured on ABC's Primetime news magazine show tonight. The …

Tuesday Update – Here's what "Congressional Quarterly" is reporting as of midafternoon today:  Deal Clears Way For Friday House Vote on Energy Package.  For one thing, the tax package that the Senate rejected is back.  I lamented its exclusion in June in my post,

Suffice it to say that one should not turn to ESPN for rugby coverage. Nonetheless this preview should at least give Americans some sense of the favorites heading into this year's World Cup in France. The headline, “All Blacks, Les Bleus and Wallabies are the favorites” is …

Kyrgyzstan has recently reported that nine out of the eleven cases of HIV in the Osh district are children who contracted the virus during regular medical treatment.  Yesterday, President Bakiev ordered an investigation of this horrifying situation.
The pain of this to individuals and their families is enormous and so unnecessary.  The …

The first suspect appeared before the U.N. backed Cambodian genocide tribunal to investigate former members of the Khmer Rouge. Kaing Khek lev, better known as Duch, was questioned for his role as the former prison warden in the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh. …

We are poised for a big and hopefully exciting week on energy in the House.  At “CNNMoney.com” there’s a good comprehensive read, Energy debate moves to House, on what to look for this week.  As I’ve pointed out, there are a lot of good things that are …

Oxfam has joined the chorus of international relief agencies calling for immediate action against the looming humanitarian crisis in Iraq. According to its latest findings, every third Iraqi is in need of some kind of aid, be it because of food scarcity, insufficient water supplies or proper …

A June 26, 2007  video from Jason Motlagh for World Politics Review shows the difficulties for Afghanistan's domestic security forces.  It's about 4 minutes long.
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The training program takes three years, and has been seriously underfunded.  Police work, as one of the interviewees on this video …

U.S. Secretary of State, Dr. Condoleeza Rice, made pleas for Serbian cooperation as Kosovo continues its campaign towards independence. Serbian officials were in Washington, where Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic met with Rice to discuss “outstanding obligations regarding war crimes indictees.” There are several war crimes suspects still …

This week's collection of articles features the apparent failure of an international meeting to address the refugee crisis in Iraq and surrounding countries, and new measures by the Australian federal and state governments to facilitate employment for migrant workers. The positive impact that citizenship can have on integration rounds out …

Are Corporations Sabotaging Child Health to Increase Profit? Misleading advertisements and an onslaught of promotional materials for infant formulas seem to plague the Philippines. Breastfeeding by Filipino mothers seems to be an outdated practice, almost extinct, and who's to blame?
It is scientifically proven, and agreed upon by all …

The Economist recently profiled Elba Esther Gordillo (“'the teacher’ holds back the pupils“), the head of Mexico's National Educational Workers’ Union, Latin America's largest union with a membership of 1.4 million teachers across the country.  Ms. Gordillo's political power, due in large part to the size …

In this week's New York Times Book Review, John Donnelly, who covers global health and the environment for The Boston Globe, has written a favorable review of Helen Epstein's The Invisible Cure: Africa, the West, and the Fight Against AIDS. An important book on a vital topic, The Invisible …

In an novel experiment, BBC reporter Jose Baig and his Spanish-speaking camera man are heading off on a tour of the Southern US States to see how far they will get speaking espaÑol. With their little test they hope to offer a living picture of how immigration …