http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/ http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/video/media/net-neutral-act.html S.215, the Internet Freedom Preservation Act, sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) and Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-ME) seeks to ensure the openness of the internet is protected... 3 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/video/econ/defense-spending.html A survey of US defense spending, includes Congressional hearings, statistics, analysis and graphic illustration of military might. Report is sponsored by Business Leaders for Responsible Priorities... 3 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/video/history/china-bbc-4jun.html BBC reporting from 4 June 1989, day of the massacre at Tiananman Square. Report includes: "the air was filled with shouts of 'fascists! stop killing!'" / "the young man in front of me fell dead; I fell over him"... 3 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/science/health/2007/07-0802-mex-hiv.htm A new study has shown that the most serious risk rural Mexican women face of contracting HIV is by sexual intercourse with their own husbands, in cases where the husband is a migrant worker traveling to and from the US. The result of the irregular migration policy regarding the US-Mexico border is that men who migrate without papers to work in factories or on farms often spend large amounts of time alone, with no contact with their wives or families. 2 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/law/2007/07-0802-mueller-testimony.htm FBI director Robert Mueller, the top law-enforcement agent within the Justice Department, testified before that House Judiciary Committee that there was in fact a heated confrontation between senior Justice Department officials and White House aides in 2004, regarding President Bush's warrantless NSA wiretapping program. Two days earlier, AG Gonzales had told the Senate there had never been any disagreements within the administration regarding the legality of the program. Mueller testified that the crisis was so severe, he had to intervene to prevent a wave of resignations at Justice. 2 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/media/07-0802-murdoch-wsj.html Controversial media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, through his company Newscorp, has reportedly persuaded the Bancroft family, which holds a controlling interest in the financial company Dow Jones, to sell the firm for $5.6 billion, giving him control of the Wall Street Journal newspaper. Until now, there had been opposition from within the Bancroft family, based on concerns Murdoch would distort the editorial culture and diminish the Journal's reputation for journalistic independence. 2 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/video/media/net-neutrality.html Lays out the rudimentary principles of NET NEUTRALITY, the concept which has governed the open, global internet until now, wherein no network managers can control what content you are able to view over the internet; that standard is now threatened by major phone and cable providers (ISPs) and by legislation passed by the US House of Representatives in 2006. 2 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/video/history/china-tiananman.html Historic video footage showing images from throughout the bloodiest day of the 1989 standoff between pro-democracy demonstrators and the Chinese military at Tiananman Square, where hundreds were massacred, and the famed "tank man" showed the courage of moral indignation... 2 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2007/07-0801-darfur-peacekeepers.html Darfur, beset by years of bloody internecine violence, with the Khartoum-backed janjaweed militia killing civilians in numbers the US government has officially declared to be genocide. For years, human rights groups have pleaded with the international community to intervene, with or without the support of the Khartoum government. Now, the UN Security Council has ordered the world's largest peacekeeping mission to secure Darfur. 1 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/video/environment/warming-noreturn.html Video produced by Jill Westerholm on the climate crisis. Westerholm notes that James Lovelock, who developed the Gaia theory of an ecologically integrated planet earth, thirty years ago, now believes the negatives effects of human-induced global warming are irreversible, but that other scientists say if major actions are taken within 10 years' time, there is hope for preventing some of the worst effects of severe long-term global climate change. 1 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/law/2007/07-0801-ethics-vote.htm The conference committee negotiating differences between House and Senate versions of ethics reform legislation have reached agreement, and the unified bill will be presented to both houses for a final vote, before being sent to the president for signature and passage into law. Negotiators reportedly worked late into the night of 27 July in order to resolve disagreement over language limiting contributions from lobbyists. 1 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/democracy/2007/07-0801-beijing-video.htm A system of security cameras set up throughout the Chinese capital is overseen by computers that cannot distinguish between affectionate embraces and muggings. The government is seeking to ensure that violence is not a problem in the intensely crowded city, in order to step up commerce, tourism and public image, ahead of the 2008 Olympic Games, to be hosted there. 1 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/video/environment/earthwatch.html This video acts as publicity for a dedicated environmental NGO, working around the world to implement ecologically sound practices and to assist in the conservation of wildlife and fragile ecosystems. Specifically, Earthwatch aims to bring science into the process of ensuring that solutions to environmental problems have their basis in studied, well-thought fact and experience. 1 August 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/law/2007/07-0731-russia-expels-4.html Russia has announced it is expelling 4 UK diplomats, in response to a move by the UK government to expel 4 Russian diplomats over the Kremlin's unwillingness to extradite Alexandr Lugovoi, tycoon and Putin supporter, for alleged involvement in the murder of Alexandr Litvinenko. 31 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/environment/2007/07-0731-monsoons.htm Bangladesh is one of the world's most low-lying countries, with nearly half its area below sea level. At the end of the Himalayan watershed, it is prone to floods of sometimes incomprehensible proportions. This year's monsoons have taken at least 75 lives in one week, with 29 killed across eastern India and Bangladesh on Monday alone. 31 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/esp/lit/jr/mochilas-khaki.htm El motivo es ya conocido, repetido en muchas peliculas y en muchas novelas de estirpe romantico o aventurero: el 'everyman' que es a su vez estudioso, o auto-didacta, que porta pantalones khaki, camisa blanca, a veces algun tipo de panuelo en la cabeza, y una mochila de lienzo y cuero. Es el que busca, que quiere descubrir, que apunta en un cuaderno escondido en el enigma de esa mochila las pistas que encuentra que le van llevando al momento en que lo desconocido o irreconocido viene a ser la verdad comprobada, si no simplemente un mundo mas amplio de experiencia, dentro del cual sabra manejarse. 30 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/politics/2007/07-0730-real-id.htm The Democratic leadership in the Senate has garnered support to refuse funding for promoting a Republican-backed scheme whereby all US citizens would be forced to carry "national ID cards" by 2013. The vote cut a funding amendment to the Homeland Security appropriations bill; an amendment added by staunch opponent Max Baucus (D-MT) bars states from using any funding from the Homeland Security bill to enact the national ID card plan. 30 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/politics/2007/07-0730-musharraf-bhutto.html Serious trouble started for Pakistan's president General Pervez Musharraf when a band of radical students, who seek to institute an Islamist state in place of Pakistan's strained democratic system, took over the Red Mosque in central Islamabad. Musharraf took power in a bloodless military coup in 1999, and has yet to restore the nation's democratic process. Musharraf has now met with Benazir Bhutto, exiled head of the main opposition party, in an effort to strengthen his government through a power-sharing deal with the nation's second largest political bloc. 30 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/media/loop/ty/07-0729-financial-notes.htm It was amazing to see an article entitled "Strong U.S. economy helps slow drop in world markets" in a major international newspaper, knowing that the dollar is falling, people are struggling to make ends meet, we're constantly hearing about bankruptcies on the rise, and the housing market is, well, contributing to a potential global credit crisis, with major mortgage lenders under investigation for lending-to-loot. The story was based on figures reported by the US Commerce Department, which had just reported (Friday) that the "US economy" (ostensibly, GDP) had grown by 3.4 % in the 2nd quarter of 2007. 29 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/environment/07-0729-energy-policy.htm The US Congress is still working on producing legislation that would bring together federal law and executive regulatory policy in one comprehensive national energy strategy. The special consulting group organized in 2001 by the vice president wanted nuclear plants and "clean coal", but both carry huge costs for preventing or reversing contamination, and neither is broadly considered the "future" by scientific consensus. 29 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/video/index.html Sentido video is going "live" with regularly updated video news feeds from Reuters. The player is available on the front page of Sentido's video section, and allows users to browse a number of headlines, selecting video clips as they become available, or to view the entire series of the moment as one continuous stream. 28 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/video/index.html Sentido video is going "live" with regularly updated video news feeds from Reuters. The player is available on the front page of Sentido's video section, and allows users to browse a number of headlines, selecting video clips as they become available, or to view the entire series of the moment as one continuous stream. 28 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/think/index.html Through the 'Think' project, Casavaria [Sentido's publisher] aims to develop major new technologies to help bring the costly aspects of everyday post-industrial life in line with what the planet, and civilization itself, can sustain. The project seeks to reduce instability in technology for communication and to develop an entirely new sort of renewable "fuel" source. 27 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/politics/2007/07-0710-uk-arms.html The British Treasury department has announced plans to close the government's controversial office for arms sales, amid allegations of corruption in dealings with foreign governments and fears of proliferation. According to the Guardian, "The 450-strong defence export services organisation (Deso), based near Oxford Street in London, has long been the target of anti-corruption campaigners and opponents of the arms trade." 10 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/politics/2007/07-0709-korean-peace.html Reuters and the Wall Street Journal are reporting that US negotiations to achieve the de-nuclearization of North Korea may also lead to talks to officially end the 1950-1953 Korean war, which has been officially in a state of truce (at times fragile) since 1953. State Dept. negotiator Christopher Hill has said the 6-party regional talks could become comprehensive peace talks, with the aim of declaring an official end to the war by year's end. 9 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/politics/2007/07-0708-red-mosque.html The standoff at the Red Mosque in the center of Islamabad, Pakistan, is nearing a potentially bloody crescendo. Pakistan's security forces have demolished nearly all the outer walls of the complex, and sporadic small-arms fire continues. At least 24 people have been killed since the hostage-taking and siege began 5 days ago. 8 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/environment/07-0707-wetlands-rules.htm In June 2006, the Supreme Court issued a ruling requiring that previously unprotected small or unmapped streams and waterways be brought under the 1972 Federal Clean Water Act. Isolated wetlands were to fall under this ruling, and the US government drafted a policy proposal that would regulate the development or filling of such wetlands. Now, new language added to the rules, seem to leave isolated wetlands without federal oversight. 7 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/media/07-0707-google-health.html Google has launched a new special advisory group for health issues. The aim is to improve its overall search technology so that the end-user's experience is not a confusion of mis-matched or possibly dangerous flawed information regarding health issues. The hope is that Google's ability to provide relevent content will be honed and new search refining techniques will be discovered through the effort to ensure that health-related information is more relevant, more reliable, and more easily accessible. 7 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/politics/2007/07-0706-lebanon-demo.html The New York based group Human Rights Watch has called on the Lebanese government to launch an independent inquiry into the violence that killed 2 and injured 28 Palestinian demonstrators in late June. Those killed are reported to have been civilians who were marching, unarmed, in a demonstration aimed at raising awareness of their situation and forcing a solution that might allow them to return to their homes in the Baddawi refugee camp. 6 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/politics/2007/07-0705-johnston-free.html Alan Johnston's ordeal became a global concern, when the BBC and his family organized a campaign to urge his immediate release. The release is a propaganda coup for the Hamas leadership, which after ousting Fatah from Gaza, has been stripped of its role in the Palestinian government. Former PM Ismail Haniyeh appeared with Johnston in a press conference at Haniyeh's Gaza residence and sought to project a new image of Hamas as keeper of law and order and responsible political leadership. 5 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/opinion/esp/07-0704-independencia.html Es el 4 de julio y en mi pais, todo el mundo esta de fiesta. Hay personas que no pueden dejar de trabajar, enfermeras, policias, pero la celebracion inunda el paisaje social. Se celebra: la independencia colonial, la teoria de la democracia, en momentos sinceros tambien la realidad de la democracia, lo que se quiere vivir, lo que se deberia... 4 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/politics/2007/07-0703-indigenous-rights.htm The United States Social Forum (USSF) has taken up the issue of indigenous rights, as part of an evaluation of how civil society treats marginalized groups or deals with hardships they experience as a result of prevailing socio-economic conditions. The forum connects the issue of indigenous rights with the interests of other marginal groups struggling to resolve chronic social disadvantages, such as immigrants, homosexuals and political dissidents. 3 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/law/2007/07-0703-libby-free.htm Pressured for months to pardon Libby by hard-line voices in the conservative establishment, Pres. Bush opted to commute the 30-month prison sentence, leaving the former vice-presidential aide with a $250,000 fine. Libby was convicted of lying to federal prosecutors and obstruction of justice for his actions during the investigation of the leak of former CIA agent Valerie Plame's identity. 3 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2007/07-0701-united-africa.html Libyan president Muammar Qadhafi is not the first to propose uniting the continent under a single government, but his proposal is bold from any perspective. At the African Union summit in Accra, the capital of Ghana, Qadhafi has proposed that African heads of state should begin the process of integrating the diverse governments and systems under one central, democratic government. 1 July 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/econ/07-0630-developmentalism.htm Ideologically-driven revolutions have sought to implant Utopian movements where authoritarian regimes once stood, but all too often, they have brought about new authoritarian regimes, which view dissenters as immoral or unthinking pawns of the old regime, and therefore, a universal threat. Now, Foreign Policy magazine has asked the question of whether "development", as an international policy agenda, is becoming the new universalizing ideology, with all the relevant risks. 30 June 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/democracy/2007/07-0627-ciadocs.htm The CIA has released has released hundreds of pages of classified top-secret documents, related to criminal activities contemplated or carried out decades ago. The files are a partial release of an archive compiled at the time of the Watergate hearings, in an effort to gather and control documents related to activities that could break out into scandal if publicly disclosed. 27 June 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/econ/sust/07-0606-ug99.html A new strain of wheat-eating stem rust has emerged as a threat to the global food supply. Ug99, named for the place and date of its discovery, Uganda, 1999, takes advantage of weaknesses in wheat varieties which were specifically developed to be resistant to stem rust, and which have been so for nearly 4 decades. 6 June 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/iraq/2007/07-0529-us-iran.htm Diplomats from the US and Iran have met in direct talks for the first time in more than a quarter century. There was little anticipated to be gained from the meeting, except perhaps a premise for future security negotiations and a possible increase in mutual confidence in the goal of securing Iraq. The meeting was described by participants as "businesslike", Iran proposed a three-way forum to negotiate security solutions. 29 May 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/politics/2007/07-0529-train.htm In what are often desperate attempts to reach the northern Mexico border, where they can cross into the US and escape endemic poverty, thousands of central American workers risk life and limb to reach better life. Lack of adequate policy for arranging, organizing transport for guest workers leaves disturbing tragedy in place of road to prosperity. 29 May 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/politics/2007/07-0518-immigration-deal.htm After more than a year of intense debate and heated opposition, a bipartisan group of senators have reportedly reached an agreement with the White House on language that would allow passage and signing for sweeping immigration reform legislation. The bill would give legal status to an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants, and would create a new merit-based system for approving visa applications. 18 May 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/law/2007/07-0517-bush-nsa.htm Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee, James Comey, former deputy attorney general, who acted as AG during Ashcroft illness in early 2004, said Pres. Bush intervened to halt a raft of resignations in protest over the policy clash. Comey reportedly had to rush to AG Ashcroft's hospital bedside to prevent White House officials from gaining authorization, despite official opposition from Justice Dept. lawyers and then acting AG Comey. 17 May 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/environment/07-0515-bush-regulates.htm In response to a Supreme Court ruling 6 weeks ago that found carbon dioxide to be a pollutant eligible for regulation, Pres. Bush has announced he will order the EPA to regulated gasoline consumption for vehicles by the end of 2008. Bush said in the White House rose garden that the American people "expect action" on greenhouse gas emissions. Critics say the long delay in enacting the new regulations is designed to forestall the implementation of new standards in some states. 15 May 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/politics/2007/07-0407-sarkozy.html When the French socialist party put forward Segolène Royal as the candidate to be the nation's first woman president, there was a general consensus that the conservative party, for all its luminaries, would not have a figure palatable enough to replace Chirac and defeat Royal. Now, Nicolas Sarkozy, an inflammatory and charismatic figure, has won the presidency with a hard-line platform that takes on some of the nation's most prized political idiosyncracies. 7 May 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/environment/2007/07-0430-reversible.htm Two major reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change earlier this year made front-page headlines across the world, warning of dire consequences of global climate change. Now, the new report, due to be released this week, plots a course to combat and reverse the climate phenomenon. 30 April 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/environment/07-0402-epa-co2.htm In a lawsuit brought by 12 states, several cities and a dozen pro-environment organizations against the federal government, the US Supreme Court has handed down a narrow 5 to 4 ruling reversing Bush administration policy that avoids regulating carbon dioxide emissions. The Court says the Clean Air Act specifically authorizes the EPA to enforce such regulation in order to protect the public and effect clean air standards. 2 April 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2007/07-0324-maputo.html A series of blasts in the center of Maputo, capital of Mozambique, left the population shaken. The explosions occurred in a massive military arms depot located near residential areas, in the Malhazine neighborhood. The government was immediately confronted with serious security concerns, but assured the public the explosions were the result of an accidental fire. 24 March 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/environment/2007/07-0321-danube.htm How can a major river disappear? It is all too easy to thing this will never happen, that nature is in balance and will always find a way. But the reality is that nature replaced no-longer viable realities with others that can stand up to circumstance, and circumstance is stressing some major rivers beyond their capacity. The Danube is the latest to be added to a list of endangered rivers. 21 March 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/environment/2007/07-0320-bushlula.htm The war in Iraq is not winning US President George Bush any popularity points internationally these days, but a focus on the war against poverty and environmentally progressive energy production certainly might; or that is the bet the Bush administration is wagering as the president visits South America this week to discuss biofuel. 20 March 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/law/2007/07-0320-no-usatt-app.htm As calls increase in president's party, and in Congress, for the attorney general to resign, the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to strip the government of a special power to name federal proseucutors without an approval process. The investigations into whether political motivations were at play in the firing of 8 US attorneys last year let the Senate to vote 94 to 2 to oppose the special post-9/11 power. 20 March 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/environment/epi/eng/2007/07-0319-grain-prices.htm Investment in fuel ethanol distilleries has soared since the late-2005 oil price hikes, but data collection in this fast-changing sector has fallen behind. Because of inadequate data collection on the number of new plants under construction, the quantity of grain that will be needed for fuel ethanol distilleries has been vastly understated. Farmers, feeders, food processors, ethanol investors, and grain-importing countries are basing decisions on incomplete data. 19 March 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/law/2007/07-0317-ag-firings.htm Investigations by the judiciary committees in both the House and the Senate are probing the suspicious nature of the untimely dismissal of at least 8 US attorneys, for what appear to be political reasons. The White House had claimed there was not strategy to fire en masse, until it was revealed that there was in fact consultation on firing all US attorneys and replacing them with political loyalists. 17 March 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/law/2007/07-0315-us-attorneys.htm The Justice Department's new performance rating system has come under fire, after the firing of 8 US attorneys was called into question. The cases were not clearly cases of underperformance, but seemed to indicate there had been political motivations for the dismissals. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has now admitted that the program was not applied properly in some of those cases and promises to improve the evaluations policy. 15 March 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2007/07-0314-tsvangirai.html This week, Zimbabwe's supreme court ordered the government to provide the detained opposition leader with legal counsel, access to family and aid groups, and immediate medical treatment. His wife described his condition as being unable to walk or see. The government denied him treatment for several days, and he is now in hospital with a cracked skull. 14 March 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/politics/2007/07-0307-pp-freed-295.html Spain's ruling socialist party (PSOE) has published information showing that the conservative Partido Popular (PP), currently in the opposition, freed 295 ETA convicts before their sentences were completed, during 8 years in power. The move comes as Popular leaders, attacking the PSOE government on a daily basis, has planned a massive demonstration for Saturday to accuse the government of caving to terrorism for freeing De Juana Chaos to avoid his hunger strike ending in death. 7 March 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/environment/2007/07-0117-arctic-ice.htm Less than 500 miles from Canada’s north pole, ice shelves continue to show increasing signs of distress.  A 41 square mile ice shelf, the largest to fracture in almost 30 years, broke free without notice last summer from the coast of Ellesmere Island. 17 January 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/culture/travel/fil.html A low mumbling of congestion, cars, buses, bikes and jeepneys harmonize with pedestrians in urban chorus. Negotiating its way through a mixture of cooking smoke and tropical urban air, the salt of the seas soak clothes and voices alike. Sounds hover through the air under a pungent midday sun that shines over this country of more than 7,000 islands. Tempering brisk spirits and making strangers into instant friends, a humid atmosphere makes for willing faces, as a signature of Manila, the Philippines' capital city. 17 January 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/iraq/2007/07-0111-new-troops.htm After much speculation and many leaks, US pres. George W. Bush has announced he will send more than 20,000 additional soldiers into Iraq warzone, will require Iraqi government to take action against sectarian movements fomenting violence across Iraq. Bush also said that "Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me". 11 January 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2007/07-0109-somalia-airstrikes.html Even as Somalia is struggling to withstand a resurgence in the violence that has beset the country for over 15 years, as the transitional government attempts to establish itself in the war-torn capital, Mogadishu, after a ground invasion by neighboring Ethiopia, the United States has launched at least two airstrikes against positions in the area of Ras Kamboni, Badmadow Island, in the south of the country. 9 January 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2007/07-0105-darfur.html The peace agreement signed between the main rebel faction in Darfur and the Khartoum government last May was tenuous at best from the outset, and seems in serious jeopardy of failing. The desperate situation in Darfur is now deteriorating, as violence against civilians not only continues but appears to be escalating, and foreign forces remain ineffectual. 5 January 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/politics/2007/07-0104-dems-rising.htm The Democratic party will take control of both houses of the US Congress today, as the president's party struggles to adjust to the idea of losing control of the legislative process. The November elections gave the Democrats a majority in both the House and the Senate, and they are already planning aggressive moves on key legislation for the first few days. 4 January 2007 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2006/06-1230-ethiopia-aid.html After Ethiopia admitted to placing at least four thousand ground troops into Somalia, to aid the powerless 'transitional government' based in Baidoa, it became apparent that full-blown war had broken out between Somalia's neighbor and the militia of the Union of Islamic Courts, governing most of the country since early June. Now, aid groups say the fighting will disrupt efforts to get food and other aid to the millions of poor Somalis in need in the anarchic political and economic situation. 30 December 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2006/06-1228-ethiopia-invades.html The Horn of Africa appears headed for open war, as Ethiopia has admitted, after a week of combat, that its forces are operating inside Somalia, in an effort to aid the powerless Baidoa government. Ethiopia has sided with the weak transitional government, itself exiled from the capital, while its neighbor Eritrea has provided assistance to the sectarian militia that has spent much of the year trying to pacify the country. 28 December 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/americas/2006/06-1211-pinochet-dies.html General Augusto Pinochet, head of the Chilean armed forces, leader of the coup of 11 September 1973, that toppled the government and ended the life of socialist president Salvador Allende, has died. For 17 years, he ruled Chile with an iron fist, nationalized key industries and directed a campaign of kidnap, torture and murder against thousands of dissidents. 11 December 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/politics/2006/06-1209-lebanon.html Demonstrations in Beirut are threatening to topple the moderate government of PM Fouad Siniora. The militant group, Hezbollah, comprised of political, religious and militia factions, has called for the replacement of the sitting government and brought as many as 1 million supporters into the streets of downtown Beirut to show the strength of its political coalition. 9 December 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/media/06-1209-litvinenko-smear.html After Russia launched an official criminal investigation into the radiation poisoning of ex-spy Alexandr Litvinenko, it also announced it would no longer be permitting foreign agents to interview suspects on Russian soil, and there would be no extradition to Britain for Russian suspects. Now, state-run media are reportedly feeding stories into the international media to make accusations against Litvinenko and against the credibility of those who would support him. 9 December 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/media/06-1204-litvinenko-allegations.html In the wake of the poisoning of former KGB spy Alexandr Litvinenko, by exposure to intensely radioactive polonium-210, allegations have turned from state terrorism to corrupt oligarchs, to questions of a blackmailing scheme. What now looks to be a major issue is whether there is an effort to discern the credibility of hearsay allegations being spread by powerful figures involved in the case. 4 December 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/democracy/2006/06-1202-radiation-uk.htm Investigators in the UK have said they found a "significant quantity" of Polonium-210, the intensely radioactive isotope that killed former Russian spy Alexandr Litvinenko, in the body of a close associate of the victim. The discovery raises fears about wider contamination and the possibility that others may have been targetted. 2 December 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/democracy/2006/06-1128-polonium.htm When former Soviet spy, Alexandr Litvinenko accused the Russian state, under Vladimir Putin, of organizing his murder, the diplomatic community was faced with a possibly explosive situation. Now scientists in the United Kingdom are saying the polonium-210 isotope found in Litvinenko's system suggests a level of sophistication that would require not only state sponsorship, but likely military cooperation. 28 November 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/democracy/2006/06-1124-litvinenko.htm Alexandr Litvinenko, a former Russian spy, who defected after working witht the Soviet KGB, and who appears to have been poisoned, died yesterday in a London hospital. Litvinenko was reportedly investigating the contract killing of investigative journalist and fellow Kremlin critic, Anna Politkovskaya. 24 November 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2006/06-1115-congo-tension.html Reports suggest there is a new risk of civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after the opposition party leader announced he rejects the election results that returned the presidency to Joseph Kabila. The Roman Catholic archibishop of Kinshasa, Cardinal Frederic Etsou, also denounced the election result as a rigged vote designed to deliver Congo's mineral wealth to western powers, telling Radio France International "results that are coming out are not the results that are being published". 15 November 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/elections/2006/06-1111-senate-majority-dems.html The concession of Sen. George Allen (R-VA) to challenger Jim Webb gives the Democrats 51 seats in the Senate chamber, guaranteeing an outright majority, and control of both houses of Congress. The concession appears to seal the results of the midterm elections as a rejection of the methods and ideas of the party that has held power throughout the Bush presidency, and could significantly weaken his position as top executive. 11 November 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/elections/2006/06-1108-dems-win-house.html Among the early news emerging from the 2006 midterm elections: Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy win by wide margins; embattled Republican senator Rick Santorum is ousted by Bob Casey, Jr., by margin of nearly 59% to 41%; Rep. Weldon loses seat in PA, largely due to corruption scandal; Democrats take control of House of Representatives. 8 November 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/elections/2006/06-1104-md-block-votes.html The Republican Party of Maryland has distributed an instruction booklet for party volunteers it plans to station at polling places which instructs them in how to prevent voters casting ballots. The document outlines the need to ensure that the law is followed and that no voter is denied their legal right to cast a vote, but includes language urging volunteers to tell judges they may face jail time if they do not do as asked by the Republican party voter challengers. 4 November 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/africa/2006/06-1101-congo-vote.html The Democratic Republic of Congo voted Sunday in its first free and decisive presidential elections in four decades. It is hoped that a peaceful transition with a recognized, elected government, will bring peace to the war-ravaged country. More than four million people have been killed in civil war, just since 1998, and decades of instability and violent conflict have taken many more lives. 1 November 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/culture/2006/06-1101-rizal-anthology.htm Jose Rizal was the father of the Philippine cause for independence from Spain. His poetic works show a marked interest for the improvement of the human condition and serious politicla meditations. While confined to Fort Santiago, in Manila, he penned at the end of his life his last work in verse, "My Last Farewell", which is prized for its coherent and intimate look at the human condition. Now, a new anthology, created in collaboration between New Jersey-based publisher Casavaria and Barcelona-based publisher Linkgua, a new anthology contains both of Rizal's dramatic works and a selection of his most prized poetry. 1 November 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/americas/2006/06-1030-oaxaca.html In hopes of bringing peace and normalcy to strike-ridden Oaxaca, outgoing pres. Vicente Fox ordered 4,600 Federal Preventive Police, airlifted in from the capital, to occupy the city's central square, or Zocalo. The move came after 5 months of smothering general strikes, with a broad coalition of demonstrators demanding the resignation of regional governor Ulises Ruiz and establishing barricades. 30 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/law/2006/06-1027-torture-comment.htm US vice president Dick Cheney has publicly announced his support for an explicitly banned method of torture. In a radio interview with Scott Hennen of Fargo, North Dakota, the vice president said that mock drowning is "a no brainer", claiming the procedure has been a "very important tool", despite its being specifically illegal under American law, both written and in judicial precedent, and formally banned by the Pentagon. 27 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/science/tech/06-1026-biometrics.htm In the wake of major terrorist attacks against densely populated civilian centers in several countries across Europe, Asia and America, governments and private industry are looking at ways of using biometric scanning technology to determine who should or should not have access to certain locations and services. The technology is complicated and highly advanced, but unproven, and potentially highly flawed. 26 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/culture/cafe/2007-01-cuba.html Planned to open February 2007, in Barcelona, Spain, the first of the Cafe Sentido exhibits, La isla flotante will examine the dynamism and diversity of the Cuban culture, through literature, artwork, debates, music, and the diaspora. 25 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/law/2006/06-1016-ney.htm On 13 October, Rep. Bob Ney, a Republican from Ohio, admitted he gave political favors in exchange for bribes, pleading guilty on several counts. He will now face sentencing and is expected to resign his seat in Congress, though he has not given a date. Ney is the latest political casualty of a massive corruption investigation involving convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, anti-tax hawk Grover Norquist, disgraced Texan congressman Tom DeLay, and dozens of other influential Washington figures. 16 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/econ/fair/06-1013-yunus-nobel.html Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi economist and entrepreneur who founded the Grameen Bank to give micro-credit loans to poor small-business owners, has won the Nobel Peace Prize. Yunus shares the prize with the bank he founded, the award given for the bank's efforts to help eradicate endemic poverty among large populations through individual financing. 13 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/science/health/2006/06-1013-polio-india.htm In late September, India announced it was planning an aggressive campaign to halt the spread of polio, a paralyzing disease nearly eradicated worldwide a decade ago. The plans came after official reports showed 5 times as many new cases in the first 9 months of 2006 as in all of 2005, with about 90% of the 297 new cases concentrated in Uttar Pradesh state alone. 13 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/media/loop/ty/06-1009-truth-suspect.htm The foundation of a free society is a press with the freedom to criticize instruments of power and influence and to reveal wrongdoing as it actually takes place. War is not a sufficient reason to institute a system of broad censorship criteria or to rein in the news media, as if they posed a direct threat to the wellbeing of the nation. But increasingly, it appears that American news media are intolerant of facts as such, waiting for members of the government themselves to come forward with complaints. 9 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/culture/2006/06-1006-lang-disappearing.html The world's three most widely-spoken languages, English, Spanish and Mandarin, each enjoy more than 450 million speakers worldwide. These languages are increasingly useful for international business and for diplomacy in an interconnected global society. But languages with fewer than 10 million speakers are now considered "minor" and many long-standing cultures are in danger of disappearing, as only a handful of people remain who can speak them. 6 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/politics/2006/06-1004-foley.htm Shortly after it was revealed Rep. Mark Foley, a Florida Republican, had sent inappropriate and highly sexual e-mails to underage boys that had worked as interns on Capitol Hill, he was forced to resign. Now, Republican leaders in the House are facing accusations they took the issue as a political one and not a matter involving the well-being of children. Two criminal probes have been launched, which are expected to include a look at cover-up allegations. His lawyer says he is a homosexual man who was molested by a clergyman as a teen. 4 October 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/opinion/06-0928-mccain.html It was quite rightly John McCain's fight to demand that the US government never, under any circumstances, sanction or engage in torture. That doesn't mean he is ethically free to compromise on how much abuse is tolerable or whether due process can be pushed aside in favor of extreme interrogations and rigged prosecutions. Allowing any information obtained via banned abusive techniques to be presented as evidence, or sanctioning past cases of torture, erodes US constitutional principles and violates a basic moral obligation each human individual has to all others. 28 September 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/science/tech/06-0927-relativity-engine.htm A new breakthrough in propulsion technology may enable a fuel-free engine with no moving parts to use microwaves to push satellites through space and automobiles on earth. The science is complicated and controversial, but appears to be sound and takes advantage of Einstein's landmark theory of relativity to turn contained microwaves into a propulsion system, in the form of a non-mechanical engine. 27 September 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/americas/2006/06-0927-bolivia-navy.html After the 1879 War of the Pacific, Chile retained control of coastal territory that had previously been party of Bolivia, leaving the Andean nation landlocked. The nation famous as a symbol of Spanish imperial wealth, for the Potosi silver mines, the richest ever uncovered, would be geographically isolated and would become the poorest nation in South America. 27 September 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/politics/2006/06-0302-72b4vote.htm ARCHIVE FEATURE: In an effort to prevent earmarking, which adds language to a bill with the specific purpose of directing specific funds to a given project or district, Readthebill.org is calling for the US House to pass a resolution that would require that all legislation be available in full online, in its final form, for at least 72 hours before Congress votes on its passage. 26 September 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/usnews/elections/2006/06-0625-electsecure.html ARCHIVE FEATURE: The 2000 election process revealed that the established system for running elections and counting votes in the United States is not cohesive, not fool-proof and not secure against potential malicious tampering. Congress passed the Help America Vote Act to reform voting standards nationwide. But that legislation suffered one fatal flaw: while promoting the shift to touchscreen ballots, it did not require that electronic balloting machines produce a paper record that could be hand-checked. 26 September 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/democracy/2006/06-0919-thailand-tanks.htm Tanks are reported as "heading for central Bangkok", reports confirmed by journalists on the ground, as of 11:41am EDT. There is suspicion the military action is an attempted coup, either to restore democracy after elections earlier this year were annulled, or to overthrow the existing government, in an effort to establish a system the nature of which is not yet known. 19 September 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/environment/epi/eng/2006/06-0919-katrina.htm Those of us who track the effects of global warming had assumed that the first large flow of climate refugees would likely be in the South Pacific with the abandonment of Tuvalu or other low-lying islands. We were wrong. The first massive movement of climate refugees has been that of people away from the Gulf Coast of the United States. 19 September 2006 http://www.casavaria.com/sentido/global/americas/2006/06-0918-havana-summit.html More than 50 heads of state have gathered in Havana, Cuba, for a summit meeting to organize a geopolitical policy that would resist unipolar US control of economic and strategic affairs. The summit is a prelude to the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly in New York, this week. The summit placed strengthening of diplomatic institutions and promotion of economic development in poor regions as priorities. 18 September 2006