(September 7, 2005) Dozens of Chinese environmental groups and close to 100 concerned experts have joined forces to publish a dramatic open letter urging the government to release documents related to secretive plans to dam the Nu River in southwest China.
Controversial Laotian Dam Gets Underway
(September 7, 2005) World Bank-led hydro venture gets Canada’s backing, fails to meet US standards.
Call for public disclosure of Nujiang hydropower development’s EIA report in accordance with the law
(September 6, 2005) The text of the open letter endorsed by a coalition of Chinese environmental groups and experts calling for disclosure of the environmental impact assessment for proposed dams on the Nu River.
Malabar Cancer Centre: Government ready for talks
(September 6, 2005) The Electricity Minister says the state government is ready to talk to Canada about a promised grant for the Malabar Cancer Centre, part of the controversial SNC-Lavalin deal.
Heavy water release from Vietnam’s Yali Falls dam floods communities in northeastern Cambodia
(September 1, 2005) A water release from the 720-MW Yali Falls dam has caused one death, three injuries and inundated rice fields.
Lifting the Lid on Foreign Investment Contracts
(September 1, 2005) Deals between foreign investors and governments have major implications for whether investment projects bring real benefits for the people and environments of the countries where they take place, or whether instead they undermine sustainable development.
Bank Heist
(September 1, 2005) Corrupt businesses, politicians, and cronies are stealing hundreds of billions of dollars from the globe’ s poorest people but the World Bank and other MDBs routinely ignore this corruption and capital flight, despite numerous reform efforts.
Minister flays Canadian firm
(September 1, 2005) Aryadan Mohammed, the electricity minister for the small southwest Indian state of Kerala, claims Canada-based engineering and construction firm, SNC-Lavalin, has cheated the people of Kerala of Rs98m, which it had offered for setting up a cancer center in Malabar as part of a Rs3.47bn power contract approved by Kerala’s previous government.
Debt relief as tragedy
(August 29, 2005) “What is beguiling about the debt forgiveness binge is that in order to have it, Nigeria’s debt managers had to unnecessarily put the noose of IMF conditionalities as holy writs and albatrosses around their own necks.”
Government paying P931 million a day in interest ‚Villar
(August 29, 2005) Filipino Senate chairman continues to urge government to exhaust all possible means to drastically reduce the country’s massive debts.
Paying debt ‘honorable thing’ to do
(August 26, 2005) Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago said the Philippine government should try to avoid the terms imposed by the International Monetary Fund and deal directly with its creditors.
Debt, power and Imee Marcos
(August 26, 2005)The Philippines is still paying the costs of Marcos the Elder’s kleptocracy, whether in the form of higher power costs because of an unused power plant or unending debt payments incurred by a thieving regime.
Aiding or abetting? Internal resettlement and international aid agencies in the Lao PDR
(August 25, 2005) Over the last decade, tens of thousands of ethnic minority people in eastern Asia’s Lao PDR (Lao People’s Democratic Republic) have been resettled from remote highland areas to the country’s lowlands and near major roads. International aid agencies have supported this internal resettlement in the name of poverty alleviation, rural development, and environmental protection. But the outcome for indigenous communities has been devastating and long-term impacts on their livelihoods, food security, and environment have been negative.
Tax charges dog Pinochet
(August 25, 2005) Money, not human rights, may prove to be ex-dictator’s Achilles heel, analyst says.
Still on debt relief, Sanusi & Co.
(August 21, 2005) Contrary to speculations in Nigeria that debts cannot be written off, they actually can be.
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