Mauritania Abolishes Slavery

Mauritania, a country in North West Africa, officially abolished slavery today in its parliament. The country has a dubious record of being one of the leaders in the world for slave trade. With this passage of this bill offenders will be given a sentence of 5-10 years in jail. In the World there are estimated to be any where from 12 million to 200 million slaves in the world.The U.N. defines a slave as anyone whose movement or decision making abilities are curtailed such that they do not have the right to choose employers. This definition would cover bonded labour to child labour. Debt bondage is one of the most common forms of slavery. This is where labour is exchanged for debt owing.However the worker may be underage,conditions of work may be unsafe and under paid in relations to normal wages. These debts are usually inflated or illegal( ie a parent may give her chid to work thinking that this will reduce her debt). Then these people are held against their will or to the extreme sold. Women in Eastern Europe are being sold for sexual slaves as I write this. Women and children are the most vulnerable to debt bondage.
Modern-day slaves can be found laboring as servants or concubines in Sudan, as child "carpet slaves" in India, or as cane-cutters in Haiti and southern Pakistan, to name but a few instances.

Aids in Arifca

Aids is running rampant in Sub Sahran Arifca. By the year 2010,there will be more than25,000,000 people infected with the aids virus. It continues to spread more in Central and Eastern Arifca.Women have the highest incidence of infection and bear the most burden. They have to look after the sick and dying.More than 2,000,000 children have died from Aids.Grandparents are also under pressure as mothers die they are forced to look after the children. For an excellant article on Aids see: Aids in Africa

China Retreats from Deserts

China is proceeding with its plan to relocate Chinese farmers who live on the edge of deserts.This loss of land will be amplified as Global warming proceeds. For China, the melting of Tibet's glaciers well effect their water supply and put a further restraint on China's agricultural land. Water is needed for the production of rice. Rice is the main crop of southeast Asia and constitutes the main diet of this area. Rice is presently a relatively cheap commodity,allowing it to be affordable to the areas poor. The Chinese farmers who are being relocated have farmed the land for generations and do not want to leave. The areas are being planted with wild grass and trees(over a billion trees have been planted so far). The price of rice has been rising as of late and this puts further strains on the backs of the poor. Some predict that as the price of rice rises the area of southeast Asia will become more politically unstable. For a in depth look at China's efforts to stave off the deserts and its effect on people see:
China sounds retreat against encroaching deserts.

China in Africa

China is actively exploring for minerals and oil in remote areas of Chad,Angola,Nigeria( already an oil exporter) Congo( where recent skirmishes between the Congo and Uganda have occured over oil rights on their borders) and Guinea. They are re- building and establishing new infra- structure,like roads ,railroads,and airports and spending money on health care and education. China has come to these countries with plenty of money from their trade surplus to the rest of the western world. China is also willing to accept any form of governing body in the countries, a far cry from the Soviet approach of the early sixties and seventies. China is a new Communist State out for profit at any cost. Nations in Africa from the west coast to the east coast are eager for the Chinese investment. China has set up a novel way for the countries to repay for the improvents by assigning the debt payment through the mineral and oil rights and revenue. The west has been left behind in this new search for oil and the African countries have also left the west behind, prefering to deal with a partner that turns the other cheek.

Mortgage loan companies have put the average working class citizen into a cycle of debt. They have made billions of dollars by preying on people who would have been unable to be on the housing market. They exploited the American dream of owning one's own home. Recently the Federal Reserve has pumped money into the system to shore up the major lending institutions on the Dow Jones. This is nothing short of a blatent disregard for the American population and is an example of how far our free enterprise system can takes us. For an indepth article from a left of central pespective see Predatory Lending: Cheating Workers Out of House and Home

Darfur: A Reflection of our World

Today the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights, released an alarming report about the abuses that the woman of Darfur have been subject to. This is rape. Members of the Sudanese army and the Armed Militia routinely rape women at gun point; as they gather food for their animals and firewood, saying that they must cooperate or die.
The UN has promised to have a contigent of 24,000 troops in place to moniter the situation. These troops will come from various countries. Hilary Clinton,when asked if she would send troops to th Sudan,said she would sent support in the form of aid if she was President. I have not heard any response from President Bush.
It is estimated that more than 200,000 have been killed and 2.5 million displaced.The situation in Darfur is a sad testimony to the state of the world where humans have no respect for other human beings. To rape and kill attentionly,relfects on all of us,and how man has truly not progressed much from ancient times.

News Paper Articles on Hurricane Dean

Hurricane Dean Pummels Jamacia

Cayman Islands Brace for Hurricane Dean

Hurricane Dean"Extremely Dangerous",Heads Towards Yucatan

Texas prepares for Hurricane Dean

Texas battens down hatches as Hurricane Dean moves

Endeavour is to return early due to hurricane

Well I think I am slowly getting the hang of this, will write some tomorrow.

Happy Birthday India

India marked its 6oth birthday on August 15th. Now the world's largest Democracy is ready to take its place as an economic giant in the 21st century. It has a growing middle class,due in part to its prosperity in the telecommication industry.However as recent flooding has shown,the majority of India's population lives in poverty. Only when this class of people can move toward more economic stability,will India have achieved its goals.
For more on India's birthday go to http://www.nysun.com/article/60552

The Canadian Green Party has put out a FAQ about a new future North American Union(SPP treaty). This will affectly create one country with shared currency,military,and the sharing of resources. Canada and Mexico have the most to lose while the USA will gain from this Union. It is no surprise that the Bush administration has been actively pursuing this deal.

To view the web page go to http://www.greenparty.ca/en/policy/documents/deeper_look_spp?origin=redirect

After puchasing the pretigous Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones,Murdoch( a billionaire who has made his money off of comunication enterprises) has decided to go after the New York Times. Slowly the American free press is being gobbled up into the hands of a few people. The consequences of this action will be felt in the future, as the news and its content should be as neutral as possible, allowing the people to decide the events on their own. Murdoch also owns My Space on the internet. The full article as well as Murdoch opinion on the New York Times can be found athttp://www.freepress.net/news/25387