Trade : DG denies any responsibility for system crisis at WTO (PRIV)
(D. Ravi Kanth, Geneva)
The World Trade Organization director-general Roberto Azevedo denied on Monday (27 November) that because of his close proximity and continued genuflection to the diktats from the United States, he is responsible for the "systemic" crises affecting the trade body on several fronts.

Latin America : Women activists are targets of gender violence (PRIV)
(IPS, Montevideo)
Veiled and direct threats, defamation, criminalisation of activism, attacks on their private lives, destruction of property and assets needed to support their families, and even murder are some forms of gender violence that extend throughout Latin America against women defenders of rights.

Latin America : Coal pollution continues to spread (PRIV)
(IPS, Bonn)
Despite growing global pressure to reduce the use of coal to generate electricity, several countries in Latin America and the Caribbean still have projects underway for expanding this polluting energy source.

Cuba : Foreign investment expands ... despite everything (PRIV)
(IPS, Havana)
"Maybe many of us thought that this project was a dream six years ago, but not anymore. The geography has completely changed, because of everything that has been built and the investments that have been approved," said Nathaly Suarez, director of Construction Management at the Mariel Special Development Zone (ZEDM).

Ethiopia : Ethnic violence amid shadowy politics (PRIV)
(IPS, Addis Ababa)
Ethnic animosity unleashed in Ethiopia has displaced hundreds of thousands as well as rendering all manner of usually sacrosanct loyalties obsolete.