Sanjay Suri

LONDON, Jan 30 2006 (IPS) – Proposals being considered for the widespread destruction of opium plantations could end up destroying the lives of millions of farmers in Afghanistan, an independent report warned Monday.
Proposals being considered for the widespread destruction of opium plantations could end up destroying the lives of millions of farmers in Afghanistan, an independent report warned Monday.

The report was released a day ahead of a summit on the development of Afghanistan called by the British government.

The report by The Senlis Council, a drug policy advisory forum, says that in the face of mounting violence and instability in Afghanistan, the focus should be on the real stakeholders in Afghanistan s future. The Afghan farming communit…

Anna Sussman

NEW YORK, Mar 6 2006 (IPS) – Shopping at the Whole Foods supermarket chain in the United States has been called, among other things, inspirational.
Aisle upon aisle of high-end condiments and piles of picture-perfect produce inspire questions such as, What crackers would go best with this aged Gouda? and perhaps more often, Why is this artichoke so expensive?

For Samuel Fromartz, a longtime business reporter with The New York Times, Business Week and Fortune, a larger question loomed. Having noticed how brisk business was, he decided to purchase Whole Foods stock. And then, as he watched it soar, he wondered, Who would have thought that a natural food supermarket could have offered a financial refuge from the dot-com bust?

The answer to this que…

Moyiga Nduru

JOHANNESBURG, Apr 7 2006 (IPS) – The figures tell it all. In South Africa, 37 percent of the country s doctors and seven percent of its nurses have migrated to Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, Britain and the United States.
The figures tell it all. In South Africa, 37 percent of the country s doctors and seven percent of its nurses have migrated to Australia, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Portugal, Britain and the United States.

In Zimbabwe, 11 percent of doctors and 34 percent of nurses have left in search of greener pastures.

These statistics, compiled by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), reflect the magnitude of the health worker brain drain in So…

Brian Conley and Isam Rashid

BAGHDAD, Jun 7 2006 (IPS) – Baghdad s central morgue received more than a thousand bodies each month this year, a doctor has revealed. The body count here gives a more accurate picture of the story in Baghdad than any official statistics.
Baghdad s central morgue received more than a thousand bodies each month this year, a doctor has revealed. The body count here gives a more accurate picture of the story in Baghdad than any official statistics.

Before the war this morgue located at Bab al-Mu atham near the city centre received only about 200 to 300 bodies a month, Dr Kais Hassan who has worked at the morgue said.

There are only three storage rooms, and two doctors at the centre. Today the morgue is overflowing. On some days more t…

Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING, Jul 19 2006 (IPS) – Responding to criticism that it cruelly and arbitrarily executes a large number of its citizens each year, Chinese officials now are gradually moving toward what they say is a more discreet way of killing its prisoners: Mobile vans..
Human rights critics say they may look more like officially sanctioned roaming death squads, which simply allow China to execute its prisoners more quickly, easily and out of the public eye. Chinese legal officials counter that its fleet of mobile execution vehicles are a more humane form of carrying out death sentences.

Both sides agree they are a departure from publicly held execution rallies organised in the past.

I think it is definitely a progress for China and it shows more con…

Juan Michel – Special to IPS*

TORONTO, Aug 25 2006 (IPS) – When it comes to responding to HIV and AIDS, Muslims are neither better nor worse than anyone else, but in its progressive form, Islam is certainly better prepared to respond than the Vatican, says Farid Esack.
In the following interview, this South African Muslim professor and as he defines himself anti-AIDS militant, talks about mutual stereotypes, why religions fear sex, and the sacred nature of entering into the life of an HIV-positive person.

AIDS is not just simply a disease, but a fundamental problem of injustice, says Esack, interviewed during a break at the hectic International AIDS Conference 2006 held in Toronto Aug. 13-18. If that were not so, why is it that those affected are mostly Africans, bla…