NewsTrust - All Rated Stories

Higher Education Hits a New Low

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Zofeen Ebrahim - Apr. 16 (News) - University students and teachers have taken to the streets in a bid to prevent provincial governments from taking over the reins of higher education in Pakistan.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

New Yorkers Rage Against the Cuts

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Kanya D'Almeida - Mar. 25 (News Report) - In the shadow of towering colonial-style office buildings of the world's most powerful financial district, a crowd over 5,000-strong amassed outside Manhattan's City Hall Thursday, chanting "The people united will never be defeated!" As the contagious effects of democratic uprisings radiate from North Africa to North America, New York City's exploited workers and students are not about to let the opportunity for mass struggle pass them by.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 9 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Cattle, the Ignored Predator

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Mario Osava - Dec. 12 (Special Report) - Because of its effect on the environment, cattle must be given the same priority in global agendas as nuclear weapons, wars and, in particular, climate change, says Brazilian activist João Meirelles Filho, author of two books on Amazon deforestation.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.7 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Advocates Fight Mountaintop Removal

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 00:00:00 -0700

TruthOut - By Matthew Cardinale - Oct. 02 (News) - Environmental groups across the southeast United States, from Georgia to the Appalachia region, are stepping up their opposition to a controversial but widespread practice by coal companies of removing the tops of mountains with explosives.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

IAEA Conceals Evidence Iran Documents Were Forged

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Gareth Porter - Sep. 16 (Investigative Report) - the IAEA has refused to acknowledge publicly significant evidence brought to its attention by Iran that the documents were fabricated, and has made little, if any, effort to test the authenticity of the intelligence documents or to question officials of the governments holding them, IPS has learned.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

DEVELOPMENT: Soaring Population May Swamp Anti-Poverty Goals

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Thalif Deen - Aug. 17 (Special Report) - The goal of halving the number of people living in extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 could be jeopardised by soaring population growth, mostly in the developing world. World population is expected to reach seven billion by 2011, a year earlier than expected, according to the latest figures released by the Population Research Bureau last week.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Pakistan: Ruined Farmers Say Children Won't Go to School

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Ashfaq Yusufzai - Aug. 06 (Special Report) - PESHAWAR, Aug 6 (IPS) - Fertile Swat's famous orchards of peach, plum and apple were just starting to ripen when the Pakistan military launched an air and land attack on Taliban fighters in end-April, uprooting tens of thousands of civilians.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obama Sets New Course at the U.N.

Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Haider Rizvi - Mar. 12 (News Report) - During the administration of George W. Bush, the UNFPA lost its U.S. funding on charges that it was trying to promote abortion, an allegation that Obaid and other officials strongly denied. In a recent statement, Obama said the resumption of U.S. funding would help not only to reduce poverty, but also improve the health of women and children and prevent HIV/AIDS. UNFPA says due to the U.S. restrictions on funding its programmes, millions of women in poor countries were unable to access health care during pregnancy and that many of them died as a result.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Health - a Victim of Climate Change

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Diego Cevallos - Dec. 04 (Special Report) - More malaria, diarrhea, and asthma: these diseases are on the rise around the world because of environmental destruction and kill some three million children under five and two million adults a year.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.3 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Climate Change: Oceans Passing Critical CO2 Threshold

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Stephen Leahy - Nov. 25 (News Report) - An apparent rapid upswing in ocean acidity in recent years is wiping out coastal species like mussels, a new study has found.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.3 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

U.S. Task Force Found Few Iranian Arms in Iraq

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Gareth Porter* - Nov. 18 (Special Report) - The data collected by the task force in the previous six weeks showed that relatively few of the weapons found in Shi'a militia caches were manufactured in Iran.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.4 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Top Ex-Diplomats Slam 'Militarisation' of Foreign Policy

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

ipsnorthamerica.net - By Jim Lobe - Oct. 17 (News Report) - While the Pentagon's budget has risen to heights not seen since World War II, U.S. diplomatic and foreign aid assets have largely atrophied and must be quickly rebuilt by any new administration that takes office in January, according to a new report released here this week by former senior foreign service officers. The report by the American Academy of Diplomacy (AAD) and the Henry L. Stimson Centre is calling for a nearly 50 percent increase in the number of diplomats and aid and development specialists recruited into the foreign service over the next five years

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 5 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Obama Advisor Stresses Carrots Over Sticks

Mon, 22 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Bankole Thompson - Sep. 22 (News Report) - Dr. Susan Rice, senior foreign policy advisor to Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, says the U.S. would make every effort to avoid resorting to a military attack on Iran under an Obama administration.

NewsTrust Rating: 2.9 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Global Hot Spots of Hunger Set to Explode

Tue, 15 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Thalif Deen - Apr. 15 (News Report) - The steep rise in basic foodstuffs has already sparked demonstrations and/or riots in Egypt, Cameroon, Haiti and Burkina Faso, while an increase in both fuel and food prices has triggered unrest in Indonesia, Ivory Coast, Mauritania, Mozambique and Senegal.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

A Winding Journey From Seed to Plate

Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Matt Homer - Mar. 28 (Special Report) - Today, however, little U.S. food aid is given directly to foreign governments. Instead the U.S. purchases food from large domestic agricultural businesses at rates above the market price and then donates them free of charge to various NGOs. These organisations then sell the food, often at rates below the market price, in recipient countries in a process called monetisation. The money NGOs accumulate from this process is then used to finance the organisation's activities.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

IRAQ: Fever Named After Blackwater

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Inter Press Service - By Ali al-Fadhily, Dahr Jamail* - Mar. 26 (News Report) - Iraqi doctors in al-Anbar province warn of a new disease they call "Blackwater" that threatens the lives of thousands. The disease is named after Blackwater Worldwide, the U.S. mercenary company operating in Iraq.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.0 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

IRAQ: Where Happiness Has Gone

Sat, 08 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Ahmed Ali, Dahr Jamail - Mar. 08 (Special Report) - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees announced in January that Iraqi refuges in Syria are "suffering from extreme levels of trauma." Its study, based on interviews with 754 refugees, and analysed by the U.S. Centre for Disease Control using the Hopkins Symptom Checklist (HSC) and the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ), reveals that 89.5 percent refugees are suffering from depression, 81.6 percent from anxiety and 67.6 percent from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). "We are shocked by the statistics but not surprised because every hour of the day there is somebody who reports torture, there is someone who reports the devastating effects of the violence," said Sybella Wilkes, spokesperson for the UNHCR in Syria. It is assumed that such statistics apply also to Iraqis who remain in the country.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

No Day Is a Woman's Day in Gaza

Fri, 07 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Mohammed Omer - Mar. 07 (Special Report) - Mahasen Darduna suffers in ways the world recognises; her suffering comes at the hands of the Israelis. But there are many Palestinian women whose suffering the world does not see, because their hell is inflicted on them by Palestinians.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.6 average - 6 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

US-IRAQ: Surge Exposing Political Tensions

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Ali Gharib - Feb. 18 (News Report) - With the five-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion looming, two Washington think-tanks released reports today on the subject of increasing multi-lateral sectarian tensions in Iraq. "The conventional wisdom among most conservatives and Washington policy elites is that the surge has 'worked'," starts the Centre for American Progress report, titled 'Awakening to the New Danger in Iraq'. "This conventional wisdom ignores the fact that the fundamental objectives of the surge -- to create a more sustainable security framework for Iraq and advance Iraq's political transition -- have not been met," according to the report.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.0 average - 8 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

IRAQ: The Lights Have Gone Out, Who Cares

Sun, 17 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Ahmed Ali, Dahr Jamail - Feb. 17 (News Report) - "I felt happy when the U.S. invaded Iraq because I thought the electricity problem will be solved, and we would have it all the time like other countries," Abdul-Kareem Hasan, a trader in Baquba told IPS. But promises of reconstruction by western contractors proved empty, and there is now less electricity than during the sanctions. In some cities, homes get electricity just an hour or two a day. Sometimes, there is no electricity for a week. People struggle to get alternative source of electricity.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 7 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

'Operation Condor' Was No Mystery to Washington

Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Ángel Páez - Jan. 13 (Special Report) - LIMA, Jan 12 (IPS) - The intelligence services of Peru and Argentina kept Washington informed in real time about a 1980 joint clandestine operation in which four alleged members of Argentina's Montoneros guerrilla movement were "disappeared," according to documents declassified in the United States.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.3 average - 7 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Official Version of Naval Incident Starts to Unravel

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Gareth Porter - Jan. 10 (News Report) - Despite the official and media portrayal of the incident in the Strait of Hormuz early Monday morning as a serious threat to U.S. ships from Iranian speedboats that nearly resulted in a "battle at sea", new information over the past three days suggests that the incident did not involve such a threat and that no U.S. commander was on the verge of firing at the Iranian boats.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.5 average - 10 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Pakistanis See U.S. as Greatest Threat

Mon, 07 Jan 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Jim Lobe - Jan. 07 (Poll) - Only five percent of respondents said the Pakistani government should permit U.S. or other foreign troops to enter Pakistan to pursue or capture al Qaeda fighters, compared to a whopping 80 percent who said such actions should not be permitted, according to the poll, which was based on in-depth interviews of more than 900 Pakistanis in 19 cities in mid-September. ... A whopping 84 percent said the U.S. military presence in the region was either a "critical" (72 percent) or an "important" (12 percent) threat to Pakistan's "vital interests". By comparison, 53 percent of respondents said they believed tensions with India -- with which Pakistan has fought several wars -- constituted a "critical threat"; 41 percent named al Qaeda as a "critical threat"; 34 percent put "activities of Islamist militants and local Taliban" in the same category.

NewsTrust Rating: 4.2 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Prime Destination for Unethical Clinical Trials

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Keya Acharya - Dec. 14 (Special Report) - Lack of regulation, accountability, low costs of operation and wide availability of target participants are reasons why multinational drug companies, researchers and institutions are increasingly basing their clinical trials in India. An estimated 40 percent of all clinical trials now take place in Asia, Eastern Europe, central and south America. "There is no compulsory registration system for clinical trials in these countries and many do not follow European directives in their operations", says Dr. Jacob Sijtsma of the Netherlands-based WEMOS, an advocacy health organisation tracking clinical trials in developing countries.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.9 average - 3 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer

Hunger Stalks World's Wealthiest Country

Fri, 16 Nov 2007 12:14:42 -0800

Inter Press Service - By Abid Aslam - Nov. 16 (News Report) - More than 35 million people in a country of some 294 million went hungry last year, 390,000 more than in 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's latest Household Food Security report. Of the total, 12.63 million were children. Put another way, nearly one in five U.S. children either went without enough food during the course of the year or had food but could never take future meals for granted.

NewsTrust Rating: 3.7 average - 4 Reviews » - Review It Visit NewsTrust | About | Sign Up | Disclaimer