Region

The often violent response to the Occupy Wall Street campaign that is growing in the United States and elsewhere is affecting the freedom to inform. Reporters Without Borders condemns the arrests of reporters in recent weeks, especially in New York where the police assume the right to decide who are journalists.

Thousands of Palestinians hit the streets of Gaza and West Bank 11 October to celebrate the prisoner swap deal between Israel and Hamas. This will exchange 1,027 Palestinians for the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit. Hamas leader in Damascus Khaled Messhal, in a congratulatory speech, considered the swap deal as a proud national achievement for all Palestinians.

The House of Lords appeared to create some hope that the Bill aimed at dropping the British National Health Service on the laps of private providers so that they can make profits with the health of the population could be defeated. But the vote was lost and the Bill continues its process towards final approval and implementation.

The broadcasts of TV and radio stations owned by Norte Visión Satelital, a media company based in the northern city of Salta, have been seriously disrupted by the deliberate destruction of an antenna by persons unknown on 3 October. Other regional broadcast media have been affected by this act of sabotage, the fourth against the company since the start of the year.

‘In too many societies girls still face the double discrimination of being young and being female. They are pulled out of school, married early, and are more likely to be subject to violence.’

Currently, about one in seven (15%) of the world’s people live in Africa. By 2050, it will be closer to 1 in 4 (24%). Most of this growth will occur in sub-Saharan Africa, due to a current annual increase in population of 2.6%. Population growth is high because the average woman in sub-Saharan Africa has more than five children.

Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, Mr Gyan Chandra Acharya, has told fellow members that Nepal consistently advocates for general and complete disarmament of all weapons of mass destruction, including biological, chemical, nuclear, radiological weapons in a statement to the United Nations.

Occupy Wall Street, now in its fourth week in Liberty Plaza is
inspiring others across the U.S.A. and the world. As of this writing,
there are occupations in more than 1550 cities worldwide, with
more than one hundred in the U.S. alone, despite the fact that
the movement is much more recent in the U.S. than in Europe.

Beirut, 6 Oct., 2011 – Six months into pro-democracy protests in Syria, allegations of human rights abuses perpetrated by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime proliferate.The latest UN figures talk about 2.900 deaths.

Since 2007, life conditions of the Gazans are turning from bad to worse as a result of the Israeli-enforced blockade. The blockade’s bad consequences have negatively affected all the sectors of the Palestinian society in Gaza Strip especially fishing sector which threaten to hurt thirty-thousand people who are dependent on this industry as their main source of income.