Dec. 22, 2007

African leaders displayed an exceptional degree of unity at the European-African summit held in Lisbon, Portugal, on Dec. 8-9. The trade issues, which prompted the first meeting of its kind in seven years, were overshadowed by European attempts to prevent the participation of Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe.

Greece: Massive strike for pensions
Cuba: Legal protection, support for gays
Bahrain: Iran figures into Iraq solutions
Nepal: On track toward a constituent assembly

A review of the recent past and a peek into the nearby future of the labor movement reveals a level of activity reminiscent of the militancy that built industrial unions more than half a century ago.

As 2007 neared an end, northern California unions representing thousands of workers, including some that had conducted long, drawn-out negotiations, announced the successful completion of new contracts.

Two important breakthroughs in stem cell biology were reported recently. First, some background. There are two kinds of stem cells (SC): adult (somatic) and embryonic. Adult SC come from adult tissue. Embryonic SC are obtained from the inner cells of a blastocyst, a ball of cells formed 5 to 7 days after fertilization of an egg.

During the next two weeks, from Dec. 14, 2007, until Jan. 5, 2008, the Audubon Society will conduct the 108th annual Christmas Bird Count across the nation. Last year, nearly 70 million birds were counted by 58,000 volunteers, a record level of participation.

Holiday wishes
New Jersey’s important step
Torture in Chicago
New Orleans housing fight
Serious error

It seems to be a whole new race for both Republican and Democratic presidential candidates in Iowa. This is particularly true for the Republican candidates, who were in a lackluster campaign until Romney, the leader of the pack, saw Huckabee closing in on him from near the back of the pack, and actually nosing ahead by a couple of points. Romney had to do something to stop this momentum.