Mexican President Felipe Calderon has a high approval rating in his country, but his party isn’t expected to do well in this weekend’s midterm elections. The World’s Lorne Matalon reports.
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Today on The World: Iranian authorities stand tough, and pledge to teach opposition protesters a lesson; We’ll have the latest from Tehran; Human rights abuses and civilian deaths on the rise in Mexico’s drug war; And a government bailout is considered by Russia – for makers of wooden ‘nesting dolls.’ Listen
The World’s Lorne Matalon reports from Mexico on rising complaints about human rights abuses by the military. Civilians are getting caught in the crossfire as the Mexican army battles drug lords. Listen
The oil company Royal Dutch Shell has agreed to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of human rights abuses in Nigeria. Shell is paying out 15.5 million dollars to relatives of the Nigerian writer and activist Ken Saro-Wiwa and others executed in 1995. The lawsuit claimed Shell was complicit in their deaths, though Shell did [...]
Ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests, one former student leader recounts a particular moment of the violence. Listen
South Africa’s next president will also need to deal with troublesome neighbor Zimbabwe. South Africa has some diplomatic pull there. We speak with Harrison Nkomo, a Zimbabwean human rights lawyer.
The scope of tragedy in eastern Congo defies comprehension. A war in the African country killed four-million people between 1998 and 2003. And fighting has continued — among government forces, insurgents, militias, and Rwandan Hutu rebels. One of the most gruesome features of the conflicts is the widespread use of rape as a weapon. Armed groups use it to terrorize communities and control territories. Tens of thousands of women and girls have been attacked. In part I, The World’s Jeb Sharp reports from Bukavu in Congo’s South Kivu Province. In part II, Jeb reports on how aid groups and grassroots activists are responding to the crisis. – click on the links below to listen, read transcripts and view pictures.
Caution: the stories contain some disturbing descriptions of rapes.
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