Full coverage: Politics

14.12.2005 A top oil official in the Republic of Congo has been secretly selling hundreds of millions of dollars in cut-price oil to private companies he himself owns, reports a investigative campaign group.

14.12.2005 The government is missing an opportunity to prevent hundreds of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions from new housing, an environmental charity warned.

13.12.2005 La Conferenza Interministeriale di Hong Kong si è aperta oggi senza grosse speranze, lo hanno detto prima dell’apertura il Commissario Europeo Mandelson e il Direttore Generale dell’OMC Pascal Lamy. Volontari nel modo – FOCSIV mantiene la speranza che un colpo di reni finale possa invertire queste previsioni. In ballo c’è ben più di un negoziato sulle regole commerciali. In ballo c’è la possibilità di dimostrare alla Comunità internazionale che le organizzazioni sovranazionali sono in grado di governare la globalizzazione in ambito multilaterale. Un terzo fallimento – dopo Seattle nel ’99 e Cacun nel 2003 – e dunque il non raggiungimento di un’intesa, porterebbe ad una “legge della giungla” secondo la quale i più forti prevalgono sui più deboli.

13.12.2005 L’esito del negoziato di Hong Kong dimostrerà per l’ennesima volta il fallimento del modello: «libero commercio = giustizia economica e fine della povertà». Questa è l'opinione dell'europarlamentare Vittorio Agnoletto nel giorno di apertura dei lavori della sesta Conferenza ministeriale dell'Organizzazione Mondiale del Commercio. Dopo i fallimenti di Seattle nel 1999 e Cancun nel 2003, la riunione di Hong Kong si apre con l’ennesimo rapporto delle Nazioni Unite che sancisce la sconfitta delle politiche liberiste nella lotta alle sperequazioni economiche e sociali mondiali. Secondo l’OIL, l’agenzia ONU per il lavoro, negli ultimi dieci anni la globalizzazione ha comportato unicamente un arricchimento per le imprese transnazionali, senza alcuna ricaduta sull’occupazione e i redditi dei lavoratori del Nord come del Sud del pianeta.

13.12.2005 Michelle Bachelet, who has vowed to appoint women to half the seats in her cabinet, failed to get the requisite 50% of votes to avoid a run-off in Sunday's presidential elections. The third-place candidate, who was eliminated, has thrown his support behind Bachelet's male opponent, tightening the race before January's final round of voting.

12.12.2005 The Oasis Forum organised People's rally held recently in Lusaka declared to teach President Levy Mwanawasa a lesson in the Tripartite 2006 elections.

09.12.2005 Michelle Bachelet, a medical doctor and divorced mother who was imprisioned and tortured after the 1973 Pinochet military coup, is leading the polls ahead of Sunday's presidental election. She--and other Latin American female politicans--are challenging male-dominance in the political arena, explains openDemocracy.

08.12.2005 In no uncertain terms, former president Jimmy Carter catalogs the current failings of U.S. leaders, lamenting human rights abuses, nuclear proliferation, lax environmental protection, and imperialist foreign policy. Carter calls for the U.S. to model ethical behavior--peace, rights, and prosperity for all--in an example to the world.

08.12.2005 Brazil's economy is stagnant and corruption scandals have rocked Lula's Workers' Party, but the president has followed through on his promise to focus on social development. Effective policies have cut extreme poverty by half since 1990, making Brazil one of the few countries to have already achieved Millennium Development Goal #1.

08.12.2005 The Iraqi government denies allegations that it is stepping up military operations so as to keep Sunni voters away from the polls.

07.12.2005 En medio de un ambiente cargado, alimentado por la explosión de un oleoducto, guerra de rumores, campaña mediática e intimidaciones (estructuralmente generado por los medios de comunicación privados), el pueblo de la República Bolivariana de Venezuela salió este domingo 4 de diciembre a expresar su opinión en las elecciones parlamentarias.

07.12.2005 El Tratado de Libre Comercio (TLC) entre los países de Centroamérica y Estados Unidos no podrá entrar a regir el 1 de enero del 2006, como estaba previsto, porque las naciones del istmo no han cumplido con ciertos requisitos que el país del norte les exige.

07.12.2005 With this book of magnificent reach and moral vision-spanning history, cultural studies and political economy, Amartya Sen has illumined a vision of India that echoes the ideas of Ashoka, Akbar and, most emphatically, Nehru.

07.12.2005 Venezuela's Hugo Chavez is claiming Sunday's elections, where pro-government parties won every seat in the country's national assembly, proves his people's confidence in his rule. But opposition parties say the low turnout caused by their boycott de-legitimizes his rule and, perhaps most importantly, his foreign detractors will likely say the same.

07.12.2005 Far from showing global leadership, mixed messages from the UK Government have led to confusion, the International Institute for Environment and Development has warned as politicians gather in Montreal for the second week of the UN Climate Change Conference.

06.12.2005 Representantes de agrupaciones de mujeres de diversos departamentos del país exigieron al Presidente de la República, Óscar Berger, sancionar la Ley de Planificación Familiar, durante el “I Encuentro de Mujeres Rurales, Indígenas y Campesinas de Guatemala”, se conoció aquí.

02.12.2005 President Bush launched an unprecedented campaign to bolster confidence in his Iraq strategy this week, in a move that many strategists believe is necessary if he is to regain his domestice political potency, reports Jim Lobe.

02.12.2005 The United States must stand--without exception--for the principle of human decency and against the use of torture, says Amnesty International. With two key bills under consideration right now, they're asking citizens to call their congresspeople and remind them of that.

01.12.2005 Las iniciativas de libre comercio de Estados Unidos continúan dividiendo a países, bloques y regiones: A menor escala basta con ver las protestas anti-TLC que colman las calles de varios países de América Latina, a mayor escala la reciente fractura de la región que corrió por cuenta del Area de Libre Comercio de las Américas (ALCA).

01.12.2005 EU policies toward migration are key to tackling the problem of abuse that includes extended detention in appalling conditions, violence, extortion, robbery and forced returns to face torture or persecution, a leading human rights groups said, prior to the EU-Ukraine summit.