newsletter@ipsnews.net

Here are some of IPS’s most-read stories of the past week — and stories you
shouldn’t go without reading:

RIGHTS: New Charges Added to Blackwater Lawsuit
By William Fisher
NEW YORK, Jul 7 (IPS) – New charges filed against private security contractor Blackwater accuse the company of murder, destruction of audio and videotaped evidence, distribution of controlled substances, tax evasion, child prostitution, and weapons smuggling.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47567

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SPAIN-EQUATORIAL GUINEA: More Trade, Little Pressure
By Tito Drago
MADRID, Jul 9 (IPS) – Trade between Spain and Equatorial Guinea is flourishing, amidst calls by activists for the government of Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero to push for democracy in this tiny country on the Atlantic coast of Africa, still under the yoke of dictatorship.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47597

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G8: ‘Just Invest in Women’
By Sabina Zaccaro
ROME, Jul 8 (IPS) – Investment in the health and the rights of girls and women can help economic recovery, civil society groups are telling G8 leaders.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47580

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HEALTH: Private Sector Boosts Public Toilets in Poorer Nations
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 8 (IPS) – The United Nations is disappointed that most governments in the developing world have made relatively little progress in providing basic sanitation facilities to nearly 2.5 billion people who still have no access to toilets.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47569

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HEALTH-ARGENTINA: H1N1 Flu Puts Cheek Kiss Greeting on Hold
By Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, Jul 8 (IPS) – These days, people in the Argentine capital are largely avoiding the traditional greeting: a peck on the cheek. Doctor’s orders, amidst the fast spread of the H1N1 influenza virus, otherwise known as swine flu.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47584

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FILM: Shattering the Myth of “Agrarian America”
By Sherazad Hamit
NEW YORK, Jul 8 (IPS) – “How is it that you can buy a 99-cent cheeseburger but not even a head of broccoli?” wonders Michael Pollan, author and co-narrator of the new documentary “Food, Inc.”.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47581

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LAOS: The New Silk Road
By Melody Kemp
VIENTIANE, Jul 9 (IPS) – At the age of 13, Kommaly Chantavong, now 64, walked over 600 kms to Vientiane from her home in Lao?s northern province of Huaphan. She walked through the buzzing war with the French in bare feet. All she took were heirloom pieces of woven silk, legacies from her grandmothers.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47594

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G8: The Five Throw a Challenge
By Sanjay Suri
L’AQUILA, Italy, Jul 8 (IPS) – “The world needs a new global governance,” the G5 declared Wednesday, “the construction of which must be based on inclusive multilateralism.” As rhetoric goes, this might sound like more of the same. But the time and place of that declaration gave the words a new significance.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47592

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POPULATION: Poorest Countries to Bear Brunt of Growth
By Ben Case
UNITED NATIONS, Jul 8 (IPS) – The world’s population – already at least 6.7 billion people – will double in the next 40 years if current growth rates are left unchecked, warns the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47587

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IRAN: Censors Fail to Silence Cyber-Activists
By Sara Farhang
TEHRAN, Jul 7 (IPS) – To mark the tenth anniversary of Iran’s student uprising in 1999 amid the continued rejection by many voters of the results of the disputed Jun. 12 election, student activists issued a national call to protest last week.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=47570

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