By Stephen Leahy
DURBAN, South Africa, Dec 11, 2011 (IPS) – The world is increasingly committed to dangerous levels of global warming with yet another failure by nations of the world to agree to needed reductions in carbon emissions here in Durban. However, as the 17th Conference of Parties ended early Sunday morning, members did agree to talk about a new global treaty to reduce emissions.
After two weeks and an additional 29 hours of intense and even bitter negotiations, the 193 nations participating in the United Nations climate talks agreed to a complex and technical set of documents called the Kyoto Protocol, a formal structure for a Green Climate Fund, new market mechanisms, and more. Continue reading Agreement for New Global Treaty To Reduce Emissions →
CAFOD
By: Jo Siedlecka
Climate negotiators agreed a pact yesterday that would for the first time force all the biggest polluters to take action on greenhouse gas emissions. But critics said the action plan was not aggressive enough to slow the pace of global warming.
The package of accords extended the Kyoto Protocol, the only global pact that enforces carbon cuts. Continue reading Durban climate deal leaves poorest countries still in danger →
By Ángel Páez
LIMA, Dec 14, 2011 (IPS) – Peruvian President Ollanta Humala is taking an increasingly hard-line stance against protests, and is losing important allies less than five months into his term.
The centrist party led by former president Alejandro Toledo, as well as left-wing leaders, pulled out of the government after retired army officer Oscar Valdés was promoted from interior minister to prime minister. Continue reading Humala Surrounds Himself with Uniforms →
Japan Times
High exposure to radiation possible before officials acted
FUKUSHIMA — Some residents near the Fukushima No. 1 plant might have been exposed to up to 19 millisieverts of radiation during the first four months of the nuclear crisis, the Fukushima Prefectural Government said Tuesday.
This indicates residents subject to the greatest exposure may have been outside the immediate evacuation area, in locations where radioactive hot spots were later revealed and prompted belated evacuation advisories long after the crisis started March 11. Continue reading Fukushima Evacuations Too Late Outside No-Go Zone →
By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The letter arrived after business hours at the end of the workweek the last Friday of September in an email message to the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services.
“Thank you for submitting an application for the National Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Program …,” began the correspondence from George H. Sheldon, acting assistant secretary in the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services. “I regret to inform you that your organization’s application was not approved for funding.” Continue reading USCCB seeks answers to why plan to help trafficking victims was denied →
Peace, Justice, Integrity of Creation
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