International

Peace proponent Cindy Sheehan calls all peace leaders to come sail with her aboard ‘SS Camp Casey’ anchored in Martha’s Vineyard for a shipboard peace summit from August 27 to 29. Cindy, who is sometimes referred to by the media as “the peace mom” lost her son Casey in the Iraq War when he was killed in action on April 4, 2004.

Honduran civil society organizations have called for a World day of protest on 28 August against the coup d’ètat and the complicity of US intelligence corps with the de facto regime. “We exhort all people committed to democracy and solidarity to join the protest against the dictatorship set up by the Honduran oligarchy”, the organizing body said.

The Scottish government has again defended its decision to release the man convicted of the Lockerbie bombing, Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi who is suffering from terminal prostate cancer. In the US, the decision has been criticized. Scotland’s spokesperson said that: **”Compassionate release is not part of the US justice system but it is part of Scotland’s.”**

Throngs of South Koreans bid farewell to former President Kim Dae-jung. The former president, who died last Tuesday, was 85 years of age. He was interred today, Sunday. Some 24,000 people were present at his burial. The North Korean delegation that attended his funeral visited South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, delivering a message from the President of North Korea.

Children as young as 13 have been recruited, and boys as well as girls are at risk in the department of Vaupés, home to 27 different groups of indigenous people. Forced recruitment affects indigenous groups at risk of extinction. One of the most urgent cases is that of the Pizamira, whose members do not exceed 50 people.

The popular Chilean actor Benjamín Vicuña, one of the Latin American Ambassadors of UNICEF, will create a documentary about Haiti and, before it comes out, he said he looks “to achieve a more solidarious America.” The actor has been invited by the UN with the proposal of filming a documentary that will be exhibited throughout Latin America in September.

Scotland’s Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill released the Lockerbie bomber, Abdel Basset al-Megrahi on compassionate grounds. Al-Megrahi is the only man convicted of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. MacAskill made a non reciprocal decision: compassion and mercy for Al-Megrahi although he did not show them to his victims.

A North Korean diplomatic delegation has told New Mexico’s state governor Bill Richardson that Pyongyang wants bilateral talks with the United States about its nuclear programme. Pyongyang seems to have adopted a more moderate course recently: Two US journalists were released and North Korea is sending a delegation to the funeral of former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung.

For the past eight years, a teacher native to Kenya has been dedicated to recuperating computers and other electronic items discarded for trash. After repairing them with a team of computer experts, he sends them to students in Kenya who have no access to these technologies. Jude Ndambuki developed a new bartering system: “if you plant 100 trees I will give you a computer.”

Lack of consensus between the participating countries on procedures related to the working agenda of the UNO Conference on Disarmament continues. The calendar to start the negotiations to prohibit the production of materials essential for the production of nuclear weapons is one of the questions that have led to this impasse.