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President Bill Clinton, now the UN Special Envoy to Haiti, publicly apologized last month for forcing Haiti to drop tariffs on imported, subsidized US rice during his time in office. The policy wiped out Haitian rice farming and seriously damaged Haiti’s ability to be self-sufficient. Journalist Kim Ives of Haiti Liberté questioned Clinton about his change of heart.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he planned to visit Iran next month in order to prevent a “mistake” like the one that led to the invasion of Iraq. “I am going there because I do not want the mistake that was made in Iraq to be repeated in Iran,” he said, in comments that the state news agency ABR reproduced.

China has come under fire for its use of the death penalty – and for failing to publish official figures on capital punishment. Amnesty International has produced an annual report criticizing Beijing, and urging the government to be more transparent. Fewer people were executed in 2009 than in previous years, according to the document.

The United States President Barack Obama and the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev have sealed an agreement on a landmark nuclear arms reduction treaty. Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev plan to officially sign the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty on April 8 in Prague, Europe, cutting by about a third, the nuclear weapons that the United States and Russia will deploy.

This weekend, while US Congress voted to pass a historic health care bill, more than 100,000 activists gathered in Washington, D.C. to mark the dawn of a new civil rights movement. These activists included students, parents and children. They are young and old, Asian, African-American, Latino and Caucasian, and they are demanding immigration reform and economic justice now.

In a major victory for President Obama and congressional Democrats, the House has approved a landmark measure that would expand healthcare to over 30 million uninsured Americans while forcing millions to purchase health insurance. The 219-to-212 vote late Sunday night came nearly three months after the Senate’s approval of the bill on Christmas Eve.

Antiwar and peace activists held a protest to mark the seven-year anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq.
Organizers say around ten thousand people took part, making it the largest antiwar protest since President Obama’s decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan last year.
At least eight people were arrested after laying coffins at a White House fence.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has renewed calls for an end to the blockade of the Gaza Strip and all settlement building on the West Bank. Speaking in Ramallah on last Saturday, Ban Ki – moon said every Israeli settlement is illegal.
The next day, Ban visited the Gaza Strip, where he said the US-backed Israeli blockade has caused “unacceptable suffering.”

**Support for nuclear disarmament has spread to the heart of the Atlantic alliance and beyond.**

Obama’s call for a nuclear-weapons-free world in Prague unleashed a great outpouring of support from international allies and grassroots activists demanding a process to actually eliminate nuclear weapons. One recent and unexpected initiative has come from America’s NATO allies.

Global warming, global economic crisis, US-Japan alliance, nuclear proliferation, poverty – the 21st century world is now facing multiple crises requiring global solutions. With the election of a new government and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, Japan now has the opportunity to become a world leader in dealing with the challenges of a changing world.