30 August 2012

Stories from 30 August 2012

Colombia: Miners Flee from Killings and Attacks

  30 August 2012

In his blog “El que piensa gana”, [es] Juan Jose Hoyos talks about the precautions that miners, union leaders and others who oppose illegal mining or mining by multinational companies (like Gran Colombia Gold) are taking after murders and attacks against fellow miners in Antioquia. He adds that union leaders from...

Combatting Cocaine Production in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru

  30 August 2012

Drug production and trafficking is a major issue in Latin America that governments are constantly trying to deal with. However, as the continent leaders gathered last April in Colombia for the Summit of the Americas fully agreed, the so far US-led war on drugs has failed in the Region. Peru, Colombia and Bolivia are the three largest illegal cocaine producing countries in the world. What are these Andean Countries doing to combat illegal drugs?

Controversial Tibet Theme Park Project Launched

  30 August 2012

Tibetan dissidents have described the USD 4.7 billion Chinese project as the “Disneyfication of Tibet.“ The park will first be used to shoot 'Princess Wencheng', a film about the niece of a Tang-dynasty emperor who married a Tibetan king.

Zambian National Football Team Coach Granted Permanent Residence

  30 August 2012

Zambia has had many expatriate national football team coaches, but Frenchman Herve Renard, who led the team in scooping the Africa Cup of Nations in 2012, enjoys special affection. In recognition of his success, the government has accorded him permanent residence but the decision has assumed political overtones.

Brazil: 13 Year-Old Exposes School Problems on Facebook

  30 August 2012

Diário de Classe [pt], a Facebook page created by Isadora Faber, a 13 year-old from Santa Catarina, Brazil, has already gathered more than 176,000 “likes”. Aiming to “show the truth about public schools”, Isadora shares photos that show the repairs needed in her own school and reports on other general problems.

Russia: “The Sissy Conspiracy”

RuNet Echo  30 August 2012

On his Tumblr blog, Michael Idov, editor-in-chief of GQ Russia, writes that “pop conspirology, a favorite Russian pastime, is a projection of discomfort with slackened gender roles.” He explains: “It’s not just about the ‘Jews’ or the ‘world government’ any more. It’s about weird semiotic clusters organized around degrees of...

Tracking Counterfeit Medicines in the Developing World

  30 August 2012

Some 700,000 people die annually from fake malaria and tuberculosis drugs alone. The WHO reports that the annual earnings from substandard or counterfeit drugs stand at about USD 200 billion. More important than its economic impact, counterfeit medicines pose a significant global public health problem.

Chinese Weapons Flooding Africa

  30 August 2012

Deborah Brautigam from China in Africa provided more background information about the importation of Chinese Weapons in African countries and explained the incentive of arms sale is from private sector: As we saw in the notorious Libya case, it appears that Chinese companies with their own balance sheets are “going...