Category: News Desk

Oil Spill in Niger Delta: 50 YEARS of Agony


The Niger Delta, where the wealth underground is out of all proportion with the poverty on the surface,

has endured the equivalent of the Exxon Valdez spill every year for 50 years by some estimates.

The oil pours out nearly every week, and some swamps are long since lifeless.

Perhaps no place on earth has been as battered by oil, experts say, leaving residents here astonished at the nonstop attention paid to the gusher half a world away in the Gulf of Mexico.

Interview: Doing Business in China


While this interview does not take account of the massive explosion of labor militancy in China that has occurred during the past few weeks,

it does nevertheless provide some significant insights for any entrepreneurs who ARE interested in the in-many-ways-irresistible Chinese market.

The Chinese market is as vast as it is complex, warns James McGregor of APCO Worldwide,

in this International Herald Tribune interview that appeared in the New York Times.

Dirt Poor Rwanda Has Universal Health Coverage, But Not US …


MAYANGE, Rwanda — The maternity ward in the Mayange district health center is nothing fancy.

It has no running water, and the delivery room is little more than a pair of padded benches with stirrups.

But the blue paint on the walls is fairly fresh, and the labor room beds have mosquito nets.

Inside, three generations of the Yankulije family are relaxing on one bed: Rachel, 53, her daughter Chantal Mujawimana, 22, and Chantal’s baby boy, too recently arrived in this world to have a name yet.

EU / India “Free Trade Deal” Finally Getting Close


With global trade negotiations stalled, India and the European Union are pressing to complete a bilateral free-trade agreement in the autumn

that is intended to triple their 53 billion euro ($66 billion) trade flow within five years.

After nine rounds of negotiations, India and Europe are closing in on such a free-trade agreement, Anand Sharma, the Indian minister of commerce and industry, said in an interview.

Toyota Shuts China Plant Struck By Workers


Toyota Motor halted production at a car factory in China on Tuesday for the second time this month after workers at a supplier staged a walkout.

It was the latest in a string of strikes that has hit Japanese carmakers just as they look to increase production in China, the world’s biggest auto market.

The supplier, an auto parts manufacturer in southern China that makes sensors and electronic control parts, has stopped shipping parts to Toyota

Reliance Broadcast Network and CBS Plan To Launch Indian TV Channels


Reliance Broadcast Network, a subsidiary of India’s powerful Reliance-ADA Group, and a unit of CBS Corp. plan to launch television channels in India together, Reliance has announced.

The joint venture is a first for both CBS Studios International and Reliance Broadcast Network, known until last week as Reliance Media World, as they try to tap India’s fast-growing TV market.

New Turkish Prominence Undercuts Iranian Power, Prestige


Since Israel’s deadly raid on the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara last month, it’s been assumed that Iran would be the major beneficiary of the wave of global anti-Israeli sentiment.

But things seem to be playing out much differently:

In fact, as Turkey assumes a surprising new role as the modern, democratic and internationally respected nation willing to take on Israel and oppose America,

this development paradoxically creates unexpected problems for the mullahs’ Tehran regime.

Ex-US Sports Stars Propose “Proven” Solution to Gulf Oil Spill


Several readers have asked why we haven’t done more with the Gulf oil spill, and our answer has been “because every aspect – including the multi-faceted economic ones –

are already being done to death by every other media outlet, and we don’t have anything particularly new to add.”

Until now.

When we saw that two former National Football League – ie, the NON-World Cup “football” –

Belgian Election Will Worsen Euro-Debt Crisis


In a development that will make solving the Euro-debt crisis even harder as Belgium assumes the EU Presidency at the end of June,

a Flemish separatist last week won an emphatic election victory in Flanders, the more prosperous Dutch-speaking region of the divided nation.

Belgium is due to assume the rotating presidency of the European Union in less than two weeks.

US Escapes WTO-Okayed Retaliation by Brazil for Illegal Cotton Subsidies – EN ESPANOL !!!


Well, it seems our piece on Brazil’s growing trade power – and its willingness to suspend WTO-approved sanctions against the US for illegal subsidies to cotton growers –