- Ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova was awarded the Sakharov prize for freedom of thought by the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, last December. Rugova has advocated a nonviolent struggle for Kosovo independence.
- The Pentagon announced that it would move 380 members of the Special Operations Command South to Puerto Rico in June, according to the Fellowship of Reconciliation. The troops train Latin American militaries, including many Colombian soldiers. "SOC South is a kind of off-shore School of the Americas," said FOR executive director John Dear, SJ.
- More evidence that the poor are growing poorer, despite the booming economy: Bread for the World's 1999 report, "The Changing Politics of Hunger," states that one in eight families in the United States remain on the edge of hunger, and nearly 25 percent of children under 6 live in families with incomes below the poverty line.
- More than 600,000 U.S. teens planned to go without food for 30 hours in February as part of the annual World Vision 30-Hour Famine. The Christian relief and development agency hoped to raise more than $8 million as youth learned about hunger and famine issues. Last year, more than 500,000 teens raised $6.5 million.
Read the Full Article
Already a subscriber? Login