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- ICC turns to Security Council over Sudan warrants
Sudan's refusal to accept arrest warrants for two citizens wanted on charges of organizing attacks on civilians has resulted in the International Criminal Court reporting the country to the United Nations Security Council. Government official Ahmed Haroun and militia leader Ali Muhammad Al Abd-Al-Rahman face 51 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. ICC prosecutors will appear before the Council on June 11 to present their case and request action. BBC (5/26)        | - Morning-after pill finds a market in India
Indian women have enthusiastically embraced the "morning after" pill as the preferred method of contraception, raising fears within the medical community over side effects associated with frequent use and women's continued vulnerability to sexually transmitted diseases. Advertising, word-of-mouth and cost have helped drive emergency-contraception use, but many Indian women, the medical community fears, have little practical knowledge about the limitations or risks. TIME (5/26) - Aid workers bring relief, specter of inflation to Haiti
Though a large number of aid workers has arrived in Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital destroyed by January's massive earthquake, reconstruction has hardly begun -- largely owing to the lack of shelter and transportation. Relief workers often cannot take roads to cafeterias or restaurants, leading entrepreneurs to bring food to them -- a boon to Haiti's ravaged economy. Observers fear that the aid workers and their effect on the economy will drive up inflation, if the critical textile and tourism industries are not reinvigorated. The Economist (5/20)  | - "Top kill" effort may have plugged Gulf oil spill
U.S. Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen says that BP's "top kill" operations -- an effort to stop the massive oil spill deep in the Gulf of Mexico by plugging it with mud -- appeared to be having an effect. Allen said that industry and government engineers effectively reduced the well pressure to a point that enabled them to cover it with cement and pump debris into the blowout preventer. Allen contradicted reports that BP, and not U.S. government and Gulf Coast officials, is directing the cleanup effort and other operations in the Gulf. National Public Radio/The Two-Way blog (5/27) , Los Angeles Times (5/27) - Indonesia, Norway launch conservation project
Indonesia will not award new concessions for development in its forest and peat lands for two years in exchange for $1 billion in investment from Norway for conservation projects, Indonesian authorities announced today. Norway's investments will be used to help create monitoring systems for greenhouse-gas emissions and to develop projects that will reimburse Indonesia over the longer term for conservation efforts. AlertNet.org/Reuters (5/27)  | - African fans are expected to dial up the World Cup
The UN released a report last year indicating that mobile subscriptions in Africa exploded from 2003 to 2008, rising from 54 million to nearly 350 million -- a boom that FIFA hopes to exploit with its broadcast coverage plan for this summer's World Cup. South African Tourism Minister Martinus van Schalkwyk said that just 11,300 visitors from across Africa are expected for the World Cup compared with 230,000 tourists from abroad. FIFA aims to reach an enthusiastic African audience by enabling mobile-phone broadcasts of the games. CNN (5/24) - Global Internet access is booming, but developing countries lag behind
The International Telecommunication Union published a report that found that Internet usage worldwide doubled between 2003 and 2009, with some 26% of the planet's population able to access the Internet by the end of 2009. Mobile technology accounts for an even greater degree of Internet access, with mobile subscribers likely to reach 5 billion by the end of 2010. The access divide between developed and developing nations remains stark, however, with 80% of people in developing countries still without any access to the Internet whatsoever -- let alone through high-speed broadband service. Bloomberg Businessweek/IDG News Service (5/27)  | - Amnesty cites torture in 111 countries
 Individual governments are using their diplomatic power to cripple international justice efforts and helping to drive human-rights abuses around the world, Amnesty International charges its annual report released today. The group found torture used routinely in 111 countries and called on major powers such as the U.S., China and Russia to sign on to the International Criminal Court. The New York Times (free registration) (5/27) , BBC (5/27) - Zimbabwe introduces independent media licenses
Zimbabwe's government has introduced new licenses for operating independent media, granting four licenses for private daily newspapers -- including one license to a newspaper critical of President Robert Mugabe that closed in 2003. BBC (5/27) - North Korea hangs up on hot line to South
A hot line designed to defuse testy naval confrontations between North Korea and South Korea is being cut off by the North in the wake of the furor that has erupted over the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel Cheonan. While the factories in the North Korean city of Kaesong are still operating -- owned by companies in the South; staffed by workers from the North -- few official ties remain between the two rival countries. The New York Times (free registration) (5/27) - Jamaican PM is under siege over street violence
Opposition leaders in Jamaica are calling for the ouster of Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding after four days of bloodshed that failed to produce fugitive drug kingpin Christopher Coke, who is wanted on an extradition order. Though government security forces have largely quelled the violence that has swept Kingston and other areas -- killing at least 48 people, most of them civilians -- the government cannot confirm that Coke is still inside Jamaica. The opposition party will call for a censure of Golding, who protected Coke for a year before bowing to pressure from the U.S. to extradite him, and may find enough support for a vote of no confidence. The Miami Herald (free registration) (5/26) , CTV.ca (Canada) (5/27) - Sudan's Bashir faces difficult path after civil war
President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir of Sudan appears to be the strongest political figure Sudan has at the moment, but whether he is prepared to handle contact with the South is in uncertain. "The question is, what is the alternative?" said Hassan Maki of Khartoum's African International University. "The opposition is made up of old people approaching the graveyard." Los Angeles Times (5/27) - Al-Qaida turns to the Web for fundraising, recruitment
Al-Qaida leadership may be able to successfully translate local use of technology to recruit followers, communicate and raise funds into a centralized fundraising effort within a couple years, the United Nations says. Technology is already helping al-Qaida maintain its network, even as international counterterrorism efforts have isolated the group's operational bases. Bloomberg Businessweek (5/27) - What is the primary benefit of UN peacekeeping operations?
 | Cost-effective solutions for preventing conflict and keeping peace | | Promotion of democratic governance by supporting free and fair elections | | Maintaining stability abroad through conflict prevention and peacemaking | | Sharing the burden of promoting international security with other countries in the world |
 | - Wirth lauds African leaders for Global Fund commitment
UN Foundation President Timothy E. Wirth commended African leaders for their renewed commitment to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Wirth said, "This year's Africa Day Commemoration in Washington, D.C., featured a proclamation worthy of world attention. African leaders resident in the U.S. Capitol re-committed to mobilize all of their human, material and financial resources to achieve the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to replenish The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. I applaud this important commitment as proof that our friends in Africa are making precious resources available to protect the health and future of the continent. As we move into a pivotal period to replenish The Global Fund, such strong leadership and dedicated resources from African nations are more important than ever." UN Foundation (5/27) |
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