DAR ES SALAAM, Dec 19 2012 (IPS) – From January 2013, Tanzania will start restricting the size of land that single large-scale foreign and local investors can “lease” for agricultural use. The decision follows both local and international criticism that major investors are grabbing large chunks of land here, often displacing small-scale farmers and local communities.
Author: WHES
After recession, more young adults are living on the street
SEATTLE — Duane Taylor was studying the humanities in community college and living in his own place when he lost his job in a round of layoffs. Then he found, and lost, a second job. And a third.
Five reasons malnutrition still kills in Nepal
Levels of wasting – acute malnutrition, or low weight-to-height ratio – hardly changed from 2006 to 2011, according to the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2011 (DHS).
Opposition to labor camps widens in China
BEIJING — It is hard to say exactly which “subversive” sentiments drew the police to Ren Jianyu, who posted them on his microblog last year, although “down with dictatorship” and “long live democracy” stand out.
Cameroon: Campaigners oppose industrial palm oil plantations
Campaigners opposed to a large palm oil plantation in a rainforest covering part of the Korup National Park in southwestern Cameroon say up to 45,000 people risk losing their livelihoods if the project proceeds.
HSBC—Too big to indict? A dark day for the rule of law (editorial)
It is a dark day for the rule of law. Federal and state authorities have chosen not to indict HSBC, the London-based bank, on charges of vast and prolonged money laundering, for fear that criminal prosecution would topple the bank and, in the process, endanger the financial system. They also have not charged any top HSBC banker in the case, though it boggles the mind that a bank could launder money as HSBC did without anyone in a position of authority making culpable decisions.
HSBC bank to pay US government a $1.3 billion fine for vast drug and other money-laundering “lapses”
WASHINGTON—HSBC Holdings PLC on Tuesday acknowledged that for years it ignored possible money laundering as part of a record $1.9 billion settlement with U.S. authorities that caps the bank’s disastrous foray into the U.S. market
Homeless rates in US held steady during recession, study says, but big gains are elusive
WASHINGTON — The federal government has made big strides in reducing the ranks of the chronically homeless and of veterans who are homeless, but it probably will not reach its goal of ending homelessness among those two populations by 2015, according to a government report to be released on Monday.
In Rust Belt, a teenager’s climb from poverty
The college catalogues barely fit in the mailbox. They stuck out like gift-wrapped presents against white aluminum siding gone dingy from decades of wear. On the porch were three new Linen Breeze decorative candles — a nice try, thought the actual Tabitha Rouzz
Jobless rate edges down to its lowest level in 4 years
Despite fears of a slowdown caused by gridlock in Washington, the economic recovery moved forward at a steady pace in November, pushing unemployment to its lowest level in four years.
