Mois : septembre 2014

Moves to contain water fears

Published on Al-Ahram weekly online, by Doaa El-Bey, Sept 11, 2014:

Confidence-building measures are key to resolving the dispute between Egypt and Ethiopia over the Renaissance Dam. Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hossam Moghazi has been invited by Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to visit Addis Ababa and the Renaissance Dam construction site this month.

The fourth tripartite meeting, held in Khartoum last month, Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri’s visit to Addis Ababa last week and Moghazi’s trip are part of ongoing confidence-building measures between Addis Ababa and Cairo … // Continuer la lecture de « Moves to contain water fears »

Film: Song From the Forest

reviewed at Intl. Documentary Festival Amsterdam – running time 96 min – Published on Variety, by Peter Debruge, Chief International Film Critic, Nov. 29, 2013 … American ethnomusicologist Louis Sarno’s journey into the Congo (and back) is the subject of this mesmerizing documentary.

Having left his native New Jersey long behind, Louis Sarno has dedicated the better part of his life to documenting one of the rarest and most remote musical traditions on earth — that of the Central African Republic’s Bayaka pygmies. In “Song From the Forest,” German director Michael Obert displays only passing interest in this music, offering instead a mesmerizing glimpse into Sarno’s search for a sub-Saharan Walden and the implications of that choice. Best suited to NPR-listening, New Yorker-skimming culture-philes, this loosely structured but intricately sound-designed docu serves as a fest-friendly follow-up to both Sarno’s little-read autobiography and “Oka!,” the even-less-seen fish-out-of-water dramedy inspired by his story … // Continuer la lecture de « Film: Song From the Forest »

6 Innovative Ways We're Reinventing Birth Control

Published on Mashable, by Matt Petronzio, Sept 11, 2014.

Birth control pills and traditional latex condoms have been among the most popular and effective methods of contraception for decades. But innovators think it’s time for an upgrade — not only to increase protection, but also to establish safe sex as a basic human right.

Health organizations and forward-thinking companies are making breakthroughs in the field of contraception, working to develop new products such as hormone-releasing microchips, radically redesigned condoms and even low-cost male birth control injections that could last up to 15 years.   Continuer la lecture de « 6 Innovative Ways We're Reinventing Birth Control »

Asylum, Migration and Integration: African passage to Europe, two brothers, two paths, two struggles

Published on YahooNews, by Zach Campbell, Sara Miller Llana, Sept 7, 2014 – (Recommended: 10 Immigration myths debunked, on Christian Science Monitor, by Amy Taxin, July 12, 2014).

Two brothers from Senegal sought a better life in Europe. Only one of them made it. But their experiences highlight the pressure on European governments to fairly tackle illegal immigration … //

… Today, Yalou is part of Spain’s undocumented migrant class, working as a street seller in Bilbao. Ndiaye also works as a street seller, but in a market on the outskirts of Tangier, Morocco. They haven’t seen each other in years.   Continuer la lecture de « Asylum, Migration and Integration: African passage to Europe, two brothers, two paths, two struggles »

Kashmir’s epic floods link India and Pakistan in disaster

Published on The Washington Post, by Ishaan Tharoor, Sept 9, 2014 (beginning with 37 photos).

… In Indian-administered Kashmir, heavy monsoon rains led to surging floodwaters and the deaths of at least 175 people. Across the disputed border in Pakistani-administered Kashmir, the floods have claimed more than 60 lives, in addition to 131 in Punjab province. It is the mountainous region’s worst flooding in six decades, submerging hundreds of villages and prompting a crisis that has led to a brief thaw in ties between two bickering foes. // Continuer la lecture de « Kashmir’s epic floods link India and Pakistan in disaster »

Finance and Social Justice

.Published on naked capitalism, by Yves Smith, Sept 9, 2014.

… To put it in crude terms, we see a split between readers who are primarily interested in social justice issues, and ones that are more interested in the more technical aspects of finance and economics. For instance, we’ve had members of Occupy Wall Street complain to us about the amount of non-finance discussion in comments, that from their perspective, it made the comments section (which we’ve regarded as one of the strong features of the site) unusable for hard core finance types … // Continuer la lecture de « Finance and Social Justice »

Global War

Continuer la lecture de « Global War »

Islamic rights

Published on Al-Ahrm weekly online, by Reem Leila, Sept 4, 2014.

A recent court ruling by the Administrative Court refutes the European Court of Human Rights’ take on the niqab. On 1 July, the Kafr Al-Sheikh Administrative Court (AC), headed by Counselor Mohamed Abdel-Wahab Khafagi, issued a ruling that allows working women who wear the niqab (the face veil prescribed by Wahhabi and Salafi strands of Islam) the right to wear it in public and at their place of work. The ruling cancels an earlier decision by former minister of health Maha Al-Rabbat, who had banned the plaintiff, a nurse named Amal Mohamed Ibrahim, from wearing the niqab during work hours. According to the court ruling, the face veil is a matter of personal freedom provided that the employee otherwise abides by the work uniform.   Continuer la lecture de « Islamic rights »

Real Democracy and the Capture of Institutions

… The Dynamic Reorganization of the Spanish Left – Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s e-bulletin no 1031, by Mario Candeias, Sept 3, 2014.

It is no longer enough to win over civil society, occupy public spaces, take to the streets, carry out symbolic actions, prevent evictions, or to win plebiscites. In Spain movements for ‘real democracy’ are setting a course to capture institutions – albeit with the aim to recreate these institutions in a constitutive process in the interests of ‘real democracy’ … //

… Splintering or a Convergence of the Left? 2014: Continuer la lecture de « Real Democracy and the Capture of Institutions »

France and Friends: Merkel Increasingly Isolated on Austerity

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Nikolaus Blome, Ralf Neukirch, Christian Reiermann, Mathieu von Rohr and Christoph Schult, Sept 3, 2014 (Photo Gallery).

The debate over Germany’s insistence on euro-zone austerity has flared anew as an ailing France continues to demand economic stimulus. The European Central Bank may now be siding with Paris, leaving Merkel looking increasingly alone … // Continuer la lecture de « France and Friends: Merkel Increasingly Isolated on Austerity »

Interview with Rosneft President Igor Sechin: Russia Didn't Initiate the Ukraine Crisis, part 1

Published on Spiegel Online International, by Gerald Traufetter and Matthias Schepp, Sept 2, 2014.

Igor Sechin, head of the oil giant Rosneft, is considered by many to be the second most powerful man in Russia. In an interview, he speaks with SPIEGEL about natural gas deliveries to Europe, the Ukraine crisis and the damage caused by economic sanctions … // Continuer la lecture de « Interview with Rosneft President Igor Sechin: Russia Didn't Initiate the Ukraine Crisis, part 1 »

Female fighters of the PKK may be the Islamic State's worst nightmare

Published on Stars and Stripes, Aug 30, 2014.

MAKHMUR, Iraq — It’s an Islamic State fighter’s worst fear: to be killed by a woman. In northern Iraq, where Kurdish forces are rapidly regaining territory held by the Islamic State, that’s becoming real risk for the extremists … // Continuer la lecture de « Female fighters of the PKK may be the Islamic State's worst nightmare »

Organized Labor in America Today

Published on SteveLendmanBlog, by Stephen Lendman, Sept 01, 2014.

Labor Day once had meaning. Workers had reason to celebrate hard won rights. No longer. More on this below. The day is commemorated on the first Monday of September. It’s been so since 1882. In June 1894, it became a federal holiday. It was when workers had few rights. Management controlled things. Labor was systematically exploited. Continuer la lecture de « Organized Labor in America Today »

The U.S. Still Decides the Future of Capitalism, Not the G20, and Not the BRICS Nations

Published on The Bullet, Socialist Project’s e-bulletin no. 1029, by Leo Panitch, Aug 31, 2014.

International attention has been diverted away from this year’s G20 meetings in Australia by the declaration from the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, at their meeting in Fortaleza Brazil this July, that they would launch a new “BRICS bank.”

Created by the U.S. Treasury in the wake of the Asian financial crisis at the end of the 1990s, the G20 was designed to get the major “emerging market” states to take responsibility alongside the G7 for the “new international financial architecture.” This was seen as providing legitimacy for the continuing central role of the U.S. in superintending a greatly expanded but increasingly volatile global capitalism … // Continuer la lecture de « The U.S. Still Decides the Future of Capitalism, Not the G20, and Not the BRICS Nations »