Wednesday-Night

On the eve of the opening of the Beijing Olympics, we have some very special guests, along with the much-anticipated return of Cleo Paskal from her wanderings (who else do we know who covers the UK, Athens, Faroe Islands and India in what seems like a minute?). Cleo […]

August 5 - 6, 2008
Génocide au Rwanda : Kigali menace de poursuivre des “responsables” français
Le long rapport présenté mardi, qui accuse de nouveau Paris d’avoir activement “participé” au génocide de 1994, est “une bonne base pour d’éventuelles procédures légales”, selon le ministre de la justice rwandais.
Paris était “au courant des préparatifs” du génocide de […]

Feeding the future (IPS news round-up)
The World Bank Group’s New Deal on Global Food Policy

Food security measures should target Africa’s poor, IMF says
African governments looking to mitigate the effects of rising food prices on their populations should look to targeted measures specifically geared towards aiding poor families and avoiding unnecessary […]

Zimbabwe Must Fight for Itself

David Jones,

Citizen Special

It is time to tell some truth — cruel truth. Words, even the most hectoring or denunciatory, are not going to lever President Robert Mugabe out of power in Zimbabwe. Nor are condemnations from the United Nations or elsewhere or sanctions of one ilk or […]

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Starting this Wednesday Night on a different note (!), our very special diva, Susanna Eyton-Jones, and Shem Guibbory will give a brief performance as a warm-up to their in-studio recording the following week. They will present a 13-minute chamber piece for violin and soprano entitled ‘Iglesia Abandonado’, by […]

Two and a Half Cheers for the Mediterranean Union
by Chris Patten
(Project Syndicate) Maybe it is time to be a bit more generous to French President Nicolas Sarkozy and look at the outcome of what he does rather than the way that he does it.
The original launch of the Mediterranean Union almost […]

More on Water and on Wednesday-Night.com
Water: A finite resource (with pictures and graphs)
Although water covers 75 percent of the world’s surface, 97.5 percent of the earth’s water is salt water; of the remaining 2.5 percent, most is locked away as groundwater or in glaciers.

Whenever the topic of water comes up, we are reminded of […]

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We have the great joy of the presence of our son Marc and his brilliant wife Jean from Singapore. Sadly, this is the last week of their summer holiday in Québec. We hope that you will be with us to enjoy their company and observations - no doubt […]

See also China, Beijing Olympics and Olympic Protest Primer
22 June
Get On the Bus
Geoffrey York, Globe & Mail
The official press tour is one of the rituals of Communist China, as time-honored as the ceremony to raise the Chinese flag at Tiananmen Square every morning. It’s far from the ideal way to gather news.
But with Tibet still […]

June 18
South Africa’s Mbeki meets with Mugabe, Tsvangirai : South African President Thabo Mbeki, who has been designated to mediate Zimbabwe’s political crisis, on Wednesday met separately with President Robert Mugabe and his political opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai. USA TODAY/Associated Press
More political opponents killed in Zimbabwe
Four political opponents of Robert […]