G8 blind to Africa's true needs, farmer says
Zambian farmer Joyce Mwanje landed in Japan after a long journey across half the globe, leaving her husband and seven children to tend to the fields where they till the land with hand hoes to grow maize, soybeans, vegetables and other crops. But Mwanje is ...
NGOs worried Africa will get short shrift
When the fourth Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama drew to a close May 30, Sayaka Funada-Classen, leader of a Tokyo-based nongovernmental organization, felt the years of engagement with the government had partly paid off. That was because Japan promised a significant increase ...
Japan scrambling for any summit progress
With only a few days to go until the Group of Eight summit gets under way in Hokkaido, Japanese diplomats were still struggling to find ways to achieve progress — no matter how small — over last year's G8 gathering. The central issue this time ...
Talks may heat up and go nowhere but global warming isn't waiting
Eleven of the 12 years between 1995 and 2006 ranked among the 12 warmest years since 1850, and since 1993 the global sea level has risen by an annual rate of 3.1 mm. The average temperature in the Northern Hemisphere in the second half of ...
The Group of Eight leaders will agree at their summit next week on a new initiative to expand civilian use of atomic power to curb global warming with the principles of ensuring nonproliferation, safety and nuclear security, according to a draft of a postsummit ...
The G8 University Summit began Monday discussing ways universities can help achieve eco-friendly and sustainable global development. The two-day gathering at a Sapporo hotel, drawing officials of 34 universities from 14 countries, including the Group of Eight major powers plus Tokyo-based United Nations University, marks ...
Foreign reporters covering G8 face harassment: media group
When Chu Hoi Dick arrived at Narita International Airport last Thursday to cover events related to next week's Group of Eight summit in Toyako, Hokkaido, he never imagined it would take nearly 20 hours to clear Immigration and set foot on Japanese soil. "We were ...
¥60 billion G8 budget draws flak
Japan plans to spend more than ¥60 billion in taxpayer money to host next week's Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido and related events, prompting some to question if that sum could better be used to alleviate the national health-care and social welfare crises. The ...
U.N. chief calls for leadership on setting midterm emissions cuts
KYOTO — U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said Sunday that while long-term goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are important, it is more critical that a post-Kyoto Protocol treaty with midterm targets be concluded in Copenhagen by next year. But he warned there appears ...
G8 security steps hit as dangerous precedent
KYOTO — Their region having played host to three Group of Eight ministerial conferences over the past month, many in Kansai are breathing a sigh of relief and hoping the security measures that residents, and even summit participants, found excessive are now in the ...
Blair shifts focus on climate to Copenhagen conference
The Group of Eight leaders gathering next month in Hokkaido should not attempt to resolve all climate issues up to 2050 or even 2020, but instead focus on setting a clear course for an agreement at next year's U.N. conference in Copenhagen, former British ...
Land woes taking a back seat to CO2
While climate change has finally won the attention of world leaders, the United Nations is concerned about a lack of action on another major — and yet interlinked — global challenge: land degradation and desertification. A deteriorated atmosphere destroys land potential through drought, flooding and ...
