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Six thousand journalists are in Johannesburg to cover the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The BBC team alone is rumored to number at least 100. Never have so many traveled so far to report so little: The meeting will likely produce nothing except the same tiresome effusion of anti-Western rhetoric we heard from last year's "World Conference Against Racism" in Durban. Already, both South African President Thabo Mbeki and the summit's secretary-general have accused Western leaders of presiding over a system of "global apartheid." Not to be outdone, Friends of the Earth International declared Canada, the United States and Australia...

GOTTA SEE THIS - War for Enduring Freedom 8/29/02 Op.Mountain Sweep, Narizah, Operation Detachmental A-Team, 82nd Airborne, Bravo Company 7th Bat., 101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Airborne Div, Baghdad, Iraq , Fallouja-3, Justice in Jerusalem, Magistrates Court, Temple wall collapsing, Kfar Darom, Nablus, Gaza, Johannesburg, China, Crawford TX, Oceanside, CA, Camp Pendleton === Afghanistan ===== Operation Mountain Sweep, Narizah ===== In Narizah, 86 miles east of Kabul, the US Army ODA, Operation Detachmental A-Team, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces contfronts Al Qaeda supporters as he demands their weapons. More here from yesterday: In Narizah, the 82nd Airborne Division secures the area....

Wednesday, 28 August, 2002, 11:36 GMT 12:36 UK Stars steer clear of summit International stars of film and music have failed to put in expected appearances at the beginning of the World Development Summit in Johannesburg. Leonardo DiCaprio cancelled an appearance despite recently calling on President Bush to travel to the summit. He was due to support a project to save great apes, but has pulled out because of "contractual obligations" in the United States. Thelma and Louise star Susan Sarandon and Star Trek actor Patrick Stewart were among the other celebrities to call upon President Bush to make the...

Interminable squabbles between big business and environmentalists and divisions between the haves and have-nots have so far dominated the UN Earth Summit which has eight days left to formulate a panacea to reduce global poverty and protect the environment.Green groups claimed a minor victory yesterday with the return of text in the summit's draft action plan calling for businesses to account for damage they cause to the environment.The wording on corporate accountability had been dropped from the draft of the summit's Plan of Implementation. The proposed text backed a "global reporting initiative," a scheme already floated by the UN Environment...

By the lights of a globe-trotting do-goodnik, South Africa is an ideal place for a conference: As an African country, the choice of locale bespeaks solidarity with the world's poorest continent -- yet its major cities are full of the plush hotels and decent restaurants NGO types secretly cherish. Unfortunately, there's something about the country that invites snafus. We do not predict a happy ending for this week's World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. Things started going downhill two years ago at the 13th World AIDS Conference. Invoking his privilege as national host, South African President Thabo Mbeki told...

World Leaders Urged To Lift Billions Out Of Poverty And Save The Planet by Richard Ingham Johannesburg (AFP) Aug 27, 2002 A vast forum on the future of the planet has got underway here amid calls for decisive action to haul billions of people out of poverty and save the planet's fast-dwindling resources from further plundering. In an opening speech to the Earth Summit on Monday, South African President Thabo Mbeki described the Earth as a village divided by a river into districts of want and wealth, while its environment steadily sickened. "Poverty, underdevelopment, inequality within and among countries,...

South African officials have expressed regret after a Swiss delegate to the UN summit was assaulted in her hotel room and another was robbed while she slept. Intelligence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu called the incidents "regretful". No arrests have been made, but an investigation is underway. According to authorities, the robber apparently entered one sleeping delegate's room at a guest house and stole a purse, cash and a mobile phone. He then entered another room and turned on a light, waking the occupant up. The robber fired one shot before fleeing, but the woman, identified as Rosmarie Bar, was not injured....

JOHANNESBURG: As Johannesburg readies itself for the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the slow trickle of visitors has created doubts over the outcome of the conference even before it has started. Coming ten years after the Rio Summit — whose action plan is yet to be implemented by a majority of the countries — most are not too optimistic. Many new factors find place in the agenda. In Rio, global warming hogged the limelight. This time, water is expected to figure prominently. But with only two days to go before the show begins, newspapers declare that the arrivals are not...

Where conferences on "sustainable development" are concerned, Schumacher's precept, "small is beautiful," has been long abandoned. Tomorrow 65,000 delegates will descend on Johannesburg for "Earth Summit 2002" -- the World Summit on Environment and Development. These will include 106 government heads, 10,000 officials from 174 countries, and 6,000 journalists. The BBC team alone could top 100. Twenty UN bodies will be represented. A second parallel conference, comprising a kaleidoscope of lobbyists from ornithologists to oil magnates, has already received 15,000 registrations. Sustaining the whole caboodle will be 27,000 police, who may well be relieved that George W. Bush will not...

U. S. Department of Energy promotes "sustainable development" in accordance with United Nations' scheme By Sue Forde, Citizen Review OnlinePublished 08. 18. 02 at 20:26 Sierra Time The U. S. Department of Energy has joined in promoting the concept of "sustainable development", as revealed by their website.  One of the "solutions" offered is "relocation" of property owners.  This is something we are seeing on a local level here in Clallam County, Washington.[1]“Sustainable Development” was first introduced by Maurice Strong, socialist, senior adviser to the Commission on Global Governance and driving force behind the concept of “sustainability”. When introducing the...

The United Nations will throw its biggest environmental party in 10 years later this month in Johannesburg. In preparation, the UN has rushed to publication a preliminary report about a new environmental pestilence, the so-called Asian Brown Cloud (ABC). The UN says the Brown Cloud will kill millions and wreck the Asian monsoon, which is responsible for feeding about 2 billion people in one way or another. But, like many UN environmental reports, this one fails to mention some crucial points. Nightmarish reports like the one about the ABC have a way of appearing right before big UN environmental conferences...

Johannesburg Summit Petition Put People's Freedom First! We the undersigned call on world leaders and others gathered at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August 2002, to recognise that true sustainable development can only occur when people are free, both economically and politically. For this to occur, the following fundamental human rights must be respected in all nations: o The right to own and exchange property without bureaucratic intervention o The right to associate and to contract freely with others o The right to freedom of speech o The right to legal remedies when harm...

World Summit Atmosphere Thaws at Friends Meeting NEW YORK, New York, July 18, 2002 (ENS) - Countries edged closer toward agreement on the toughest issues blocking consensus on the outcome of next month's World Summit on Sustainable Development. The talks concluded late last night with indications that convergence is near on many of the most contentious issues - trade and finance, and the setting of new targets and timetables for progress in poverty alleviation and environmental protection. United Nations officials said a new feeling of agreement was reached at a special "Friends of the Chair" meeting convened at UN...

SA: Jimmy Carter in hot water over AIDS stance South Africa#146;s ruling African National Congress is accusing former US President Jimmy Carter of wanting to use South Africans as quot;guinea pigsquot; in the fight against AIDS. JOHANNESBURG: Carter, who visited South Africa on Friday, urged the government there to do more to fight AIDS and widen access to treatment. In a statement, the African National Congress said Carter is willing to treat South Africans as guinea pigs in the interest of pharmaceutical companies. The former US president could not immediately be reached for comment. South African President Thabo Mbeki has...