Green Party of Tennessee

Vice Pres. Biden traveled to the Middle East this week to meet with leaders from Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He gave a broad speech to students and guests at Tel Aviv Univ. about the United States' interests in the region, encouraging the two sides to return to peace negotiations. He affirmed the United States' commitment to Israeli security, but condemned the decision this week to begin new settlements in the West Bank.
Length: 58 min.

Published: Today at 9am (ET)

by Eric LichtblauWASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders on Wednesday banned budget earmarks to private industry, ending a practice that has steered billions of dollars in no-bid contracts to companies and set off corruption scandals.

The ban is the most forceful step yet in a three-year effort in Congress to curb abuses in the use of earmarks, which allow individual lawmakers to award financing for pet projects to groups and businesses, many of them campaign donors.

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by Andrew McLemore

A federal judge retained her position that it is unconstitutional for Congress to prevent funding for the activist group ACORN after a government request that she reconsider.

U.S. District Judge Nina Gershon cemented her earlier decision in December and made the injunction against government intervention permanent, asking all federal agencies to spread the word that money to ACORN be allowed without delay.

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JAKARTA, Mar 11 (IPS) - Battling the pain from a boil on his left thigh, 45-year-old Inggit Tukino pulled his two-wheeled cart through the overcrowded alleys of a slum in Rawabebek, Penjaringan hamlet in here North Jakarta.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam, Mar 11 (IPS) - Vietnamese parents think of day care centres and kindergartens as safe, happy places to leave their children in, given the pressures of work and harder times. But they are no longer so sure now, after a series of incidents about mistreatment of young children that has shocked the public.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 10 (IPS/TerraViva) - Whenever gender empowerment is a vibrant topic of discussion internationally, some of the countries in Europe, Asia and Latin America are invariably singled out for their success stories in politics, education, health care or civil liberties even as Africa is mostly left out of political reckoning - and wrongly so.

NAIROBI, Mar 10 (IPS) - Kenyans affected by the violence that erupted after the country’s disputed presidential elections in 2007 may soon be able to speak out without fear. A new bill will offer better protection to state witnesses.

DAR-ES-SALAAM, Mar 10 (IPS) - Pregnancy is the leading cause of dropouts for school girls in Tanzania. And a national law forbidding young mothers to return to school after giving birth did not make it any easier for them to continue their education.

MONTEVIDEO, Mar 10 (IPS) - "Nature is wise, and if we take the time to observe it, we can learn so much" is the underlying philosophy of a number of innovative programmes being carried out in Uruguayan schools that are using gardens as a teaching resource, explained Edith Moraes, director of the national Primary Education Board.

CARACAS, Mar 10 (IPS) - Although most of the governments in Latin America today are described as progressive, abortion is only legal in one country, while in five countries it is banned under all circumstances, even when the mother's life is at risk.

BANGKOK, Mar 10 (IPS) - Not even religious advocates and leaders and can say no to the power of online media, whose call they are heeding in order to spread various messages of spirituality.

COLOMBO, Mar 10 (IPS) - The war of words between the Sri Lankan government and the United Nations has begun all over again, this time over the creation of an experts’ panel on the island’s human rights record.

DAR-ES-SALAAM, Mar 10 (IPS) - Changes in weather patterns have turned agriculture into a gamble with nature for Tanzanian farmers. Prolonged droughts and floods have made the lives of small-scale farmers, who don’t have access to irrigation, extremely difficult.

RAMALLAH, Mar 10 (IPS) - Iran and Israel appear to be spoiling for a fight, going by recent belligerent statements emanating from several regional capitals.

SINGAPORE, Mar 10 (IPS) - An unfamiliar sight in Singapore – that of vehicles with foreign licence plates filling the car park – meets visitors at the basement of the city-state’s first casino, which opened nearly a month ago.

WASHINGTON, Mar 9 (IPS) - After U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's January address on the role of internet freedom in U.S. foreign policy, the Barack Obama administration appears to be taking the first steps to introduce specific legislation and policies to exploit the role of the internet in opening up those countries ruled by oppressive or authoritarian governments.

WASHINGTON, Mar 9 (IPS) - An international initiative that seeks to reform how governments profit from their natural resources should not reduce its existing standards of membership solely because candidate countries have been reluctant or incapable of meeting them, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on Tuesday.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 9 (IPS/TerraViva) - The negative fallout from climate change is having a devastatingly lopsided impact on women compared to men, from higher death rates during natural disasters to heavier household and care burdens.

by Jim Abrams

WASHINGTON - The House on Wednesday soundly rejected an effort by anti-war lawmakers to force a withdrawal of all U.S. troops from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

The outcome of the vote, 356-65 against the resolution, was never in doubt. (click here for the roll call) But the 3 1/2 hours of debate did give those who oppose President Barack Obama's war policies a platform to vent their frustrations.

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FreshFoodForAll: Spring is almost here and I must say, I am delighted! Plant well Eat well