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Category: World Touch
World Touch

Justice is Key to Development

Long-term development in East Timor – which celebrated the tenth anniversary of its vote for independence on August 29 – will be “seriously hindered” if justice for past crimes remains undelivered, the international development agency Progressio has warned. Despite a decade of self-rule, East Timor is still the poorest country in the region and one of the least developed nations in the world. An estimated 40% of the East Timorese people live on less than a dollar a day.

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World Touch

New Vision is Urgently Needed

Massive subsidies and quotas for biofuels are wreaking social and environmental havoc and in many cases actually exacerbating climate change, says a new Christian Aid report. Titled “Growing Pains,” the study demands a radical overhaul of governments’ multi-billion dollar support for biofuels, so that only crops which offer genuine greenhouse gas savings and wider social benefits are encouraged.

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World Touch

50 Cigarettes a Day for 5-Year-Olds

Child laborers working in Malawi’s tobacco plantations are being exposed to dangerous levels of nicotine, tobacco dust, abuse and exploitation, says a new study by Plan, a UK-based international children’s charity, titled “Hard work, little pay and long hours.” According to the report, child pickers are subjected to high levels of nicotine poisoning – the equivalent of 50 cigarettes per day. “You reach a point where you cannot breathe because of the pain in your chest; then blood comes when you vomit,” one child told researchers.

Irin News
World Touch

Rich Countries Have a Huge “Ecological Debt”

Industrialized nations owe the poorer countries a US $2.3 trillion “ecological debt,” said a University of California study, and it should be assessed and penalized by an international court, an ecumenical gathering heard. “Ecological debt keeps growing,” Joan Martinez Alier, a university professor in Barcelona, told the World Council of Churches hearing in Geneva, held during a meeting of the WCC’s main governing body, Ecumenical News International reported. “The demand for economic growth means more use of energy and resources, which produces more waste.”

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World Touch

Meditation and Prayer Boost Brain Power

Intense meditation alters our grey matter, strengthening regions that focus the mind and foster compassion while calming those linked to fear and anger, according to a new book, “How God Changes Your Brain.” Whether the meditator believes in the supernatural or is an atheist repeating a mantra, says neuroscience author Andrew Newberg, the outcome can be the same, a growth in the compassion that virtually every religion teaches and a decline in negative feelings and emotions, Reuters reports.

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World Touch

Another Stab at the “Resource Curse”

In Africa, billions of dollars from oil, gas and mining revenues go missing, leaving populations dependent on international assistance, according to a new report on natural resource use in the continent. The report, which details resource management in seven West African countries, was released in July at the launching of the West Africa Resource Watch (WARW) Institute in the Senegalese capital Dakar. Established by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA), WARW is set up to provide information, training and policy advice – for policymakers and citizens alike – to foster sound and equitable use of natural resource revenues.

Irin News
World

Land Grab is Accelerating at an Alarming Rate

According to The Guardian, the acquisition of farmland from the world’s poor by rich countries and international corporations is accelerating at an alarming rate, with an area half the size of Europe’s farmland targeted in just six months. New reports from the UN and analysts in India, Washington and London estimate that at least 30m hectares are being acquired to grow food for countries such as China and the Gulf states which cannot produce enough for their populations. The land grab trend is accelerating and could severely impair the ability of poor countries to feed themselves.

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World Touch

Barn Owls to the Rescue

A burgeoning rodent population is damaging crops and worsening the food security situation for thousands of families across northern Laos, but experts believe the introduction of barn owls could ease the problem. A study by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) proposes introducing barn owls (Tyto alba) to control the rodents. Native to Laos, the owl is a natural predator of rats which make up 99% of its diet.

Irin News
World Touch

Indian Appointed New Archbishop of Bulawayo

Pope Benedict XVI has appointed Fr. Alex Thomas Kaliyanil SVD, the Mission Superior of Zimbabwe, as the new Archbishop of Bulawayo. Fr. Kaliyanil was born on May 27, 1960 in Vallamchira parish in the Archdiocese of Changanacherry, Kerala, and is the youngest of five siblings.

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World Touch

Helping Small Farmers Feed a Continent

As an African Union Summit on Agricultural Investments opened in Libya, donors and non-profit groups called the participants’ attention to the role smallholder farmers – mostly women – can have in feeding their communities.

Irin News
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