By Douglas Main, OurAmazingPlanet. Some much-needed good news for sharks came from Venezuela this week: the South American country announced it is banning shark finning in its waters and has established a new shark sanctuary.
Continue reading →By Georgi Gotev, EurActiv. A European Parliament Committee rejected the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) on June 21st despite pro-business lobbying by Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who insisted that Parliament should not decide before the European Court of Justice gives its opinion. A final vote in the full Parliament is expected on July 4th.
Continue reading →Press Release, La Quadrature du Net. The “International Trade” (INTA) committee of the EU Parliament will adopt its draft report on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), on Thursday June 21. Under pressure from the EU Commission and industry lobbyists, members of the committee could decide, potentially in a secret vote, to call for the adoption of ACTA or postponement of the final vote for years. Citizens participation is crucial to ensure the Parliament follows the general interest and votes a clear rejection of ACTA.
Continue reading →By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery | David Gardner, Mail Online. The worldwide decline in honeybee populations and so-called colony-collapse disorder (CCD) is alternately blamed on the unpredictability of flowering by many plants due to climate change, the ravages of new pesticides, parasitic mites and, more recently, the viruses harbored by these mites. Were it not for some spectacular traffic accidents in recent years, we would not know about the lucrative business, since the 1990’s, of trucking bees by the tens of millions for agribusiness.
Continue reading →By Bruce Bower, Science News | Commentary by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Thirty thousand years ago, when humans had just arrived to Europe from Africa and probably numbered only a few hundreds, they used cartoon-like techniques to create the illusion of wild beasts charging across cave walls.
Continue reading →By Steve Rintoul, CSIRO | Staff, SPX via Terra Daily. Australian and US scientists have found a 60% reduction in the amount of Antarctic Bottom Water off the coast of Antarctica since 1970. This is worrying because the sinking of dense water around Antarctica is part of a global pattern of ocean currents that strongly influences climate.
Continue reading →By Roberson Alphonse, Le Nouvelliste | Commentary and translation by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. According to Dieuseul Anglade, director of Haiti’s Office of Mines and Energy in Haiti, during the negotiations for mineral exploitation, the Haitian State will keep a close watch to ensure that Haitian citizens benefit from the country’s wealth. Meanwhile, the mayors have been dismissed, and land prices have skyrocketed. (English | French)
Continue reading →By Staff, with reporting by Milagros Salazar (Lima), Emilio Godoy (Mexico City) and Alice Marcondes (São Paulo), Tierramerica. Environmental innovation projects to obtain clean gold, fuel, and water demonstrate the capacity of Latin American researchers to develop virtuous circles.
Continue reading →By Mario Osava, IPS. Unrest was predicted to break out at Jirau because of worker solidarity, the low wages and an employer, the foreign utility GDF Suez, that provides terrible working conditions and little personal time. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Fabíola Ortiz, IPS. Brazilian mining giant Vale was named the Worst Company in the World by the Public Eye Awards in January 2012. A multinational report accuses the company of 15 worker deaths between 2010 and 2012, and massive emissions of greenhouse gases and particulate matter into the atmosphere. (English | Spanish)
Continue reading →By Staff, Protestbarrick. As the opening date approaches for the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo mine, controversy around this mega-mine has continued to grow. According to the president of Maimón’s municipal committee, the funds Barrick has transferred to the municipality are less than the costs of the damage it has caused. Community members complain that the workers in the mine are overwhelmingly foreigners. Recently Barrick was accused of blocking the performance of the protest song “De Pascua Lama” (video included) at a Dominican Festival.
Continue reading →By Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Plans are under way for Canadian and US corporations to mine Haiti’s northeast area near Caracol, which has been discovered to contain a wealth of silver and gold, in addition to copper. As in the Dominican Republic’s Pueblo Viejo project, construction of the mines will involve dynamiting of mountains, and the ore will be extracted by an opencast (or open-pit) mining process that contaminates large volumes of water with cyanide. UPDATES: Attempts to issue mining permits to the US’ VCS Mining LLC and Canada’s SOMINE SA, without any environmental impact assessment (EIA) were thwarted by Haiti’s Senate in January 2013. Plans to dredge a deep-sea port in the pristine Bay of Fort Liberte were scrapped in April 2014.
Continue reading →By Emmanuel Bruno Marino, AlterPresse | All-India Drug Action Network | Translations by Dady Chery, Haiti Chery. Within two months of the start of a campaign of vaccination with pentavalent vaccine in India by the World Health Organization (WHO), four healthy inoculated children died. Nevertheless, on April 16, 2012 Haiti announced that it would introduce the pentavalent vaccine Quinvaxem into its national immunization program at a cost $11 million. (English | French)
Continue reading →All-India Drug Action Network open letter | Ranjit Devraj, IPS | Haiti Chery. Despite widespread concern over their safety, efficacy and cost, India’s central health ministry approved the inclusion of pentavalent vaccines in its universal immunization program for seven provinces. Dr. Jacob Puliyel likened the deaths in vaccinated children to the penicillin sensitivity reaction and said it borders on criminality to administer pentavalents to children without first testing them for hypersensitivity.
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