International

Not a Client to Bring Home to Mom

Eritrea "signed Alexander Strategy Group, a firm with strong Republican ties, to a contract worth more than $300K a year to improve its ties with the United States." According to Amnesty International, "torture, arbitrary detention, 'disappearances' and ill-treatment of political prisoners" are common in the Horn of Africa

No

Angry Arabs

Two new opinion polls show that Arab anger at the United States has deepened - "to such an extent that in Egypt - an important ally in the region - nearly 100 percent of the population now holds an unfavorable opinion of the country," reports the Washington Post's Dafna Linzer. The polls were conducted by Zogby International, which did similar polling two years ago.

No

Trading Places

"Two senior United States trade negotiators who sealed the trade deal with Australia have accepted plum jobs representing U.S. medical and drug companies," reports the Sydney Morning Herald. Ralph Ives, the current U.S. trade representative for pharmaceutical policy, will become the industry group AdvaMed's vice-president for global strategy. Claude Burcky, head U.S.

No

Dumping the Dump

After years of trying to build an unpopular nuclear waste dump in South Australia, Prime Minister John Howard has reversed himself and abandoned the project, fearing a voter backlash. "As he pressed the flesh in four key marginal seats, Mr. Howard became acutely aware of the resentment in the community over a nuclear dump being forced on the state and the potential electoral fallout," report Paul Starick and Leanne Craig. "Having declared repeatedly that his government is only eight seats from oblivion, Mr. Howard needed to shake off the dump as an electoral liability. ...

No

Bush Administration Pressures EU On Chemical Rules

It used to be that the U.S. chemical industry lobbied lawmakers in Washington. Now the White House is aggressively lobbying on the industry's behalf in Brussels, opposing new European Union regulations on chemicals. The EU's proposed Registration, Evaluation, and Authorization of Chemicals or REACH would require chemical makers to publicly report the potential harmfulness of their products - both for new chemicals being introduced and those already available.

No

Bushwhacked

In Botswana, "hundreds of Bushmen evicted from their Kalahari homelands have suffered what some would see as the final indignity: being paraded before British [Parliamentarians] as part of a lavish public relations campaign." The indigenous rights group Survival International reported, "the visit was organised by the huge PR company, Hill & Knowlton, which has been contracted by the Botswana government and [di

No

Pages

Subscribe to International