Press conference at the last G8
Summit. (Photo:L. Blevennec/
Presidency of France)

Source: The New Indian Express

While the G20, that includes the rich countries and the emerging ones, is getting more and more relevance, the Arab unrest and the developments in Libya and Syria have given a new meaning and purpose to the Group of Eight (G8) most powerful nations, according to Himanshu Jha, National Coordinator of Social Watch India. In a column published by The New Indian Express newspaper, Jha said that the G20 seems to have "turned into a hotbed of global decision-making" in charge of "the traditional economic agenda". 

Alejandro Aguirre (Congcoop)

Source
Diario de Centroamérica 

The Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare of Guatemala is undergoing a crisis and needs additional funds to fulfil its caregiving functions, warned Alejandro Aguirre, coordinator of the Citizen Participation programme of the NGOs and Cooperatives Coordination (Congcoop, national focal point of Social Watch).

According to a study carried out by Congcoop, hospitals had a 1.6 billion quetzal budget (approximately 200 million dollars) last year, amount that was reduced this year to 1.5 billion quetzal (some 188 million dollars). About 300 million additional quetzal (37 million dollars) would be needed to prevent a public health system crisis.  

Climate talks in Bonn.
(Photo: Jon Golinski/UNFCCC)

Sources
Climate connections
South Centre

Experts and activists warned this week in Bonn, where another UN conference on climate change took place, that the talks are following dangerous paths. Developing countries are working harder than the rich nations to reduce their carbon emissions, said senior scientist Sivan Kartha, while 125 organizations from all continents urged the governments to renew their commitment to the current international moratorium on geoengineering.

Minister for Finance Uhuru Kenyatta.

Sources
Sodnet: http://bit.ly/iQaDPT and http://bit.ly/kUE248

Kenyan citizens will have time until the end of this month to participate in the public discussion of the budget statement delivered to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Finance. The Constitution orders the parliamentary budget committee to process the representations of the people and to take into account their recommendations. The Social Development Network (SODNET, national focal point of Social Watch) has committed itself to play an important role delivering information to the public about the budget in an open fashion.

Leonor Magtolis Briones

Source
Business Mirror

“On June 12, 1898, we declared ourselves independent from the crushing heel of Spanish colonialism” but “became a colony of the United States after a bloody war that killed thousands of Filipinos,” wrote Leonor Magtolis Briones, lead convenor of Social Watch Philippines, in this column for Bussiness Mirror, a major paper in her country.


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