Tag Archives: Latin America

New Humanitarian Aid for Libya / Food Costs Soar Globally / A Monumental Work by an Indian Artist

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President Obama announces more humanitarian aid for Libya. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton unveils a new initiative on women’s leadership. Global food prices have reached record highs. Learn about the legacy of the Alliance for Progress, launched by President Kennedy in 1961. And an Indian artist offers up a monumental work.

Aid for Libya Refugees
More Humanitarian Aid for Libya
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President Obama says the United States and other countries will stand with the people of Libya and announces additional U.S. humanitarian assistance to support international aid organizations in Libya. Both the United States and Australia support democracy and human rights around the world and will stand with the Libyan people, says Obama in remarks with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Women’s Leadership Initiative
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Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton launches a new initiative aimed at using international exchanges to nurture women in leadership positions around the world. “Women’s Leadership: The Next Hundred Years” is sponsored by the U.S. Department of State and is bringing 100 women leaders from 92 countries to the United States this year to explore women’s political, economic and civic leadership.

Food Prices Reach Record High
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Global food prices reached a record-high level in February, driven mainly by higher prices for cereals, meat and dairy products. The increases have raised concerns that millions more people could be pushed further into poverty and civil unrest could result, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

The Alliance for Progress
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In 1961, President John F. Kennedy launched the Alliance for Progress, an ambitious foreign-aid program for Latin America which called for broad social and economic reforms. Although the Alliance is perhaps largely forgotten now, it marked a fresh approach to U.S.-Latin American relations, says Arturo Valenzuela, assistant secretary of state for Western Hemisphere affairs.

Maximum India’s Falling Fables 
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Indian artist Reena Saini Kallat’s monumental installation, Falling Fables, celebrates and mourns the passing of time and disappearance of architecture. On display at “maximum INDIA,” a 20-day festival of dance, theater, music, art and crafts at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, the work is a massive fallen pillar covered with more than 30,000 hand-crafted rubber stamps, Kallat’s signature motif.

The NATO and U.S.-E.U. Summits / Fighting Cholera in Haiti / Persian Poetry in New York

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President Obama heads to the NATO and U.S.-E.U. Summits in Lisbon, Portugal. Learn what the United States is doing to help Haiti battle a cholera outbreak. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton releases a study on religious freedom and discusses the importance of protecting Americans traveling overseas. According to a new report, Asian water supplies are at risk. A top U.S. terrorism official says cooperation among nations has been successful in fighting terrorism. A group of African journalists discuss professional issues. And, in New York City, a museum displays linkages between New York and the Spanish world, while a bar showcases Persian poetry.

Upcoming NATO and EU Summits
President Obama, right, will be attending the 2010 NATO and U.S.-European Union Summits in Lisbon on November 19th and 20th. The meetings are intended to demonstrate the central role of the United States’ relationship with Europe and the U.S.-European capability to meet global challenges.



An “Aggressive Campaign” Against Cholera
U.S. officials promise an “aggressive campaign” to help Haitian authorities fight the spread of cholera in their country through prevention techniques such as providing clean, chlorinated drinking water, oral rehydration therapy, education and additional funding to expand cholera treatment centers.

Religious Freedom and U.S. Foreign Policy
Promoting religious freedom is a core element of U.S. diplomacy, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says in releasing the 2010 Annual Report to Congress on International Religious Freedom.

Protecting Americans Overseas
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says it is important for the State Department and the American private sector to cooperate on protecting Americans who travel overseas.

Asian Water Supplies at Risk
A new report from the U.S. Agency for International Development outlines steps that can help mitigate the impacts of climate-change-induced glacier melt in the greater Himalayas area.

Nations Team Up Against Terror
Cooperation among nations fighting the global war on terror has been remarkable in the nine years since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, says Ambassador Daniel Benjamin, the State Department’s top counterterrorism official.

African Journalists in the U.S.
African journalists visiting the United States as part of the fifth Edward R. Murrow Program for Journalists have a lot to say about professional standards and freedom of the press as they finished their three-week stay in the United States.

Spanish Connections in NY
This fall, the exhibit “Nueva York (1613-1945),” a collaboration of El Museo Del Barrio and the New-York Historical Society, will document four centuries of cross-cultural influence and cooperation between Latin America and Spain and New York.

In NY, New Persian Poetry
Since beginning five years ago, the Persian Arts Festival in New York has grown to offer music, films and other visual arts as well as literary events. Its audience is “very diverse,” says founder Mona Kayhan, including many people with no personal connection to Iran or Persian culture. At right, Sholeh Wolpé reads aloud from her work at the festival. 

U.S. Pakistan Talks / A Cholera Outbreak in Haiti / The U.S. Vote

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The United States and Pakistan continue strategic talks. Health officials fear an outbreak of Cholera in Haiti could spread, read what the United States is doing to help. The rule of law in Latin America is on the agenda at a conference in California. The U.S. government is turning to American farms for fuel. Somalia needs more international help. And, we’ve got a pair of reports about the coming elections in the United States.

U.S.-Pakistan Dialogue
The latest round of the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue demonstrates a commitment to strengthening the relationship between the two countries based on values, mutual respect, trust and interests, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says. “We came together in this Strategic Dialogue to discuss how to help the Pakistani people in the areas that Pakistani people themselves had identified as their more important concerns,” Clinton and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said. Aat right, Clinton and Qureshi at an earlier meeting.

Fighting Cholera in Haiti
The U.S. government is working rapidly to respond to a cholera outbreak in northwestern Haiti that officials fear could lead to a country-wide epidemic.

Democracy in Latin America
In California, at a conference of Latin American leaders, the focus was not on past triumphs, but on the issues and challenges that many countries face today in strengthening democracy and the rule of law.

U.S. Calls for More Somalia Aid
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson says more countries need to contribute troops and assets to the African Union Mission in Somalia. He says allowing Somalis to simply fight amongst themselves “is in no one’s interest.”

From Fields to Fuel Tanks
The U.S. government plans to ramp up production and consumption of biofuels to help lessen the country’s dependence on foreign oil, and to create new jobs and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

U.S. Prepping for Midterms
On November 2, Americans will cast their ballots in midterm elections that will determine who will represent them in the 112th Congress, scheduled to convene in January 2011. In electing a new Congress every two years, American voters decide who will speak for them in crafting legislation, determining government spending and overseeing the activities of the executive branch.

U.S. Voters as Decision Makers
When Americans vote in the midterm elections, they will select their future leaders and decide a wide range of ballot issues, including how their taxes are spent or what rights their state constitutions guarantee.