(January 5, 2004) What to do about Iraq’s massive debt is expected to be a top discussion topic next month when top finance officials of the world’s seven richest industrial countries meet in Boca Raton, Fla.
Expert who refused to sign off on Three Gorges
(January 9, 2004) Journalist Dai Qing interviews Guo Laixi, an eminent geographer who took part in the Chinese feasibility study for the Three Gorges dam but became so alarmed about the project’s potential impacts that he refused to sign the study team’s final report.
Impoverished Haiti pins hopes for future on a very old debt
(January 2, 2004) The initial agreement between France and the young republic called on Haiti to pay the whole 150 million francs in five annual payments of 30 million gold francs. That proved impossible for Haiti.
Odious debt, odious future
(January 1, 2004) With such monumental repercussions we cannot turn a blind eye to Iraq’s (and other nations’) odious debt. The fallout from such self-centered actions could lead to an odious future far bleaker than last month’s overdue credit card bill.
US Probe Releases Kaijuka Case Files
(December 30, 2003) The US Justice Department has released files of the Bujagali bribery investigation.
China mulls cutting, writing off Iraq’s debts
(December 29, 2003) China will consider cutting Iraq’s debts or writing them off out of humanitarian concern, state radio quoted Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao as saying on Monday.
Japan to write off majority of Iraq debt
(December 29, 2003) Japan would be prepared to eliminate the vast majority of its Iraqi debt if other Paris Club creditors are prepared to do so in the context of a Paris Club agreement," said a statement by Japan’s Foreign Ministry.
The burden of odious debt
(December 27, 2003) Economists caution that a lot depends on how an "odious debt" is defined.
Iraqis want fair trial for Saddam by Iraqis, poll shows
(December 25, 2003) Most Iraqis consider former president Saddam Hussein a criminal for gassing his own people and attacking neighboring countries, yet they still believe he deserves a fair trial before Iraqi judges, according to poll results released Thursday in Baghdad. More than half the respondents said Saddam’s execution was the preferred outcome of any court proceeding.
Behind the ASEAN Power Grid
(December 19, 2003) Analysis of the Asian Development Bank’s Master Plan for Regional Power Interconnections and Power Trade in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
Why did the West lend so much to Iraq?
(December 19, 2003) Iraq is swamped by more than $120 billion in debt that clouds its economic future. Where did it come from? Why did so many Western democracies, including the United States, lend so much money to President Saddam Hussein.
Bujagali: NGO queries honesty of Canadian firm
(December 18, 2003) Acres International’s still confidential report to the World Bank, Economic Review of the Bujagali hydropower project, priced Karuma at $585 million – $200 million above costs projected by Norpak, a coalition of Norwegian firms, pushing for Karuma.
Factbox: Iraq’s foreign debt
(December 18, 2003) British Prime Minister Tony Blair joined the U.S., France, Germany and Italy on Thursday in calling for a "substantial reduction" of Iraqi debt using the framework of the Paris Club during the course of 2004.
Europe, the U.S. and Iraq
(December 18, 2003) The exact percentage of debt reduction that would constitute ‘substantial’ debt reduction is subject to future agreement between the parties.
Paris Club boss states prerequisites on Iraq debt
(December 18, 2003) Paris Club President Jean-Pierre Jouyet dismissed demands by non-governmental groups that Iraq’s debt be classified as "odious" debt contracted by an illegitimate leadership, a concept implying the debts would not even be considered as debts.
Patricia Adams
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Probe International
Lisa Peryman
Probe Media
Other News Sources
Probe International 