'04 News

12/31/2004 At the annual growth rate of 1.2 percent, world population increased by 76 million people in 2004. Women in developing countries--where access to education and family planning services is limited--added 73 million people, compared to only three million in industrial countries. The U.S. is the only developed country with high birth rate, it accounted for four percent of this year’s global population growth.

12/31/2004 "Aceh really is ground zero... there are miles and miles and miles of nothing," said John Budd, Unicef’s communication director in Indonesia. Amidst near total collapse of medical infrastructure and the health system, relief workers fear that untreated injuries and outbreaks of other diseases could cause a second wave of mass deaths in this region where 79, 940 lives have already been lost to the deadly tsunamis.

12/30/2004

Pondicherry fishing village after the tsunami © M S Swaminathan Research Foundation

Latest report from the World Health Organization (WHO) puts the number of people displaced by last weekend’s the tidal waves at five million. Eleven countries across six time zones were affected, including Seychelles, Kenya and Tanzania. More than 80,000 people are confirmed dead, with more than 32,000 occurring in the Indonesian regions of Aceh and north Sumatra. Nearly 30 international organizations are already providing relief services in different communities. The UN launched an initial appeal for $130 million ahead of a much vaster appeal scheduled for January 6.

12/30/2004 Following their first ever “face-to-face” meeting earlier this week, representatives of the Ugandan government and the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army are due to sign a ceasefire accord Friday. The accord is expected to be a forerunner to formal negotiations to end the 18-year conflict that has displaced more than 1.6 million people.

12/29/2004 The Iraqi interim government is planning major economic changes, including passing a new law that will grant full access for U.S. companies to the country’s oil reserves. Adil Abdel Mahdi, Iraqi finance minister said during a visit to the U.S. last week that cuts to social subsidies and reconsideration of oil deals that Saddam Hussein sign with France and Russia are part of the planned changes.

12/29/2004 Banda Aceh, the closest region to the epicenter of Sunday’s devastating earthquake is off limits to foreign-based journalists and aid workers--unless they secure special permit from the Indonesian government. Applications for the permits take two weeks to process. International organizations have been shut out of Aceh since May 2003 when the government started a military campaign against the Free Aceh separatist rebels.

12/28/2004 A court in the Iranian city of Arak has sentenced a 19-year old who has the mental age of eight to death on charges of “acts contrary to chastity.” Her sentence has been passed to the Supreme Court for confirmation.

12/27/2004 Tidal waves provoked by the earthquake near the Indonesian island of Sumatra Sunday affected coastal communities from south east Asia to Somalia in the Horn of Africa. Sri Lanka suffered the highest toll with about 13,000 deaths confirmed so far.

12/27/2004 Amnesty International fears that the recent execution of four Pakistanis, three Iraqis and one Saudi Arabian by the Saudi government despite appeals for clemency will lead to even more executions. Many detainees are at risk of imminent execution, including three women.

12/27/2004 More than 17,000 people are feared dead as tsunami--tidal waves--provoked by the strongest earthquake in 40 years battered a huge swathe of South Asia Sunday. The International Federation of the Red Cross is seeking support for “one of the largest operations” ever to aid an estimated 500,000 victims in multiple countries, including the Indian Ocean republic of Maldives where at least one of its nearly 2,000 islands is completely under water.

12/27/2004 With global mean surface temperature expected to reach 0.44 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 annual average of 14 degrees, the World Meteorological Organization has determined that 2004 is the fourth warmest year since accurate records commenced in 1861.

12/23/2004 "We are convinced that the presence of U.S. troops is a destabilizing force in the region and contributes to the increasing loss of life," a prominent faith-based humanitarian group said Wednesday. Noting that a solid majority in the U.S. now believe the war was a mistake, the group called for the U.S. to give way so the UN and other agencies, working with the Iraqi interim government, can bring peace and stability.

12/23/2004 One of Sudan's two deadly conflicts may be close to ending this week as officials said they expect to finalize a comprehensive peace agreement within a few days. The deal would cover national power-sharing arrangements and administration of territories while imposing a permanent ceasefire after 21 years of fighting.

12/23/2004 Some parts of the West Bank survive on only one-third of the daily amount of water recommended by the World Health Organization, and where water is available, its quality is alarmingly poor, a new study released by the aid group CARE revealed Wednesday.

12/22/2004 After a week of fighting that displaced tens of thousands and may or may not have involved Rwandan troops,Congolese dissident leaders agreed to a ceasefire Tuesday. The UN mission to the country immediately announced that peacekeepers and humanitarian aid would be sent to the region.

12/22/2004 Just weeks after the country's Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended the complete abolition of the death penalty and days after neighboring Senegal did away with the practice, Sierra Leone's High Court sentenced ten to death for treason Monday.

12/22/2004 An author who brought international attention to genocide, the lead plaintiff in the Wal-Mart sex discrimination suit, and the "Jersey Girls"--four widows of the world trade center tragedy who made the 9/11 commission happen--were among those chosen by Ms. Magazine as 2004's Women of the Year.

12/21/2004 A major annual conference ended Saturday with some progress made to help countries prepare for climate change; some further discussions and aid to small island developing states were blocked by U.S. and Saudi representatives.

12/21/2004 U.S. courts are stripping undocumented workers of their rights, charges a coalition of over 20 labor, civil rights, and immigrants' rights organizations who have requested a hearing on the issue before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

12/21/2004 The World Bank should play a more central role of leadership in promoting universal access to reproductive health as a necessary, efficient and just means of achieving all the Millennium Development Goals, according to a new report from the Global Health Council.