Capitalism harms planet - Morales
by Laura Trevelyan
BBC UN correspondent, in New York

Bolivian President Evo Morales has told a UN forum that capitalism should be scrapped if the planet is to be saved from the effects of climate change.

"If we want to save our planet earth, we have a duty to put an end to the capitalist system," he said.

Opening an UN meeting in New York on the rights of indigenous people, he also said the development of biofuels harmed the world's poorest people.

The forum's theme is the global impact of climate change on native people.

Mr Morales gave the keynote address at the opening of the seventh session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

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Gus: what a brave man... 

Poor could gain as commodities soar
By Jorn Madslien
Business reporter, BBC News

Though painful for consumers, soaring oil prices - along with increasing grain and metal prices - are not universally bad news.

Oil platform off Angola
Wealth is transferred to oil and gas rich countries

"There are winners and there are losers," observes Bradley George, head of global commodities and resources at Investec Asset Management.

From a global perspective, countries that import a lot of energy, food and metals - notably the US and most countries in the European Union - are losing out.

Commodity-rich nations - such as Nigeria, Oman and Kazakhstan, to name but a few - are the winners.

"This is the biggest transfer of wealth that has happened in years," explains Mr George.

From West to East

At the macroeconomic level, rich nations are getting poorer relative to formerly poor nations that are now getting richer - an almost accidental implementation of at least some of the targets that anti-poverty campaigners have been calling for years.
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Gus see toon at top. But I have the feeling that the rich nations will find a way to turn the system back in their own favour...  The way the food shortage has been orchestrated is not good indication of winners. Me-think that some people in the rich countries will get poorer as the country gives the impression of going "poor" while some rich people there will make outrageous money on all sides, anyway.

Mexican Data Say Migration to U.S. Has Plummeted

By JULIA PRESTON

MEXICALI, Mexico — Census data from the Mexican government indicate an extraordinary decline in the number of Mexican immigrants going to the United States.

The recently released data show that about 226,000 fewer people emigrated from Mexico to other countries during the year that ended in August 2008 than during the previous year, a decline of 25 percent. All but a very small fraction of emigration, both legal and illegal, from Mexico is to the United States.

Because of surging immigration, the Mexican-born population in the United States has grown steeply year after year since the early 1990s, dipping briefly only after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, census data in both countries show.

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see toon at top and read more at the NYT...

Mexican telecom giant Carlos Slim has topped Forbes magazine's billionaire's list - the first time since 1994 that an American has not led the rankings.

Mr Slim's fortune rose by $18.5bn (£12.4bn) last year to $53.5bn.

That beat Microsoft founder Bill Gates ($53bn) into second place, with US investor Warren Buffett ($43bn) third.

In 2009 332 names left the list after a tough year, but the total number of billionaires on this year's list rose from 793 to 1,011, Forbes said.

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Yep, a tough year for the rich guys... see toon at top..

Although almost all illegal aliens in Arizona are Latino, Mr Kavanagh's supporters were quick to dispute allegations of playing the race card yesterday, saying the new law is designed to deter all illegal aliens, regardless of their skin colour. "You can call me a racist all day. It's not a racist issue, it's a legal issue," said Republican state senator Ron Gould. "I don't care whether they are from Scotland and they are here illegally or whether they are from Mexico and are here illegally. If they are illegal, they don't deserve to be here."

Experts nonetheless believe Mr Kavanagh's bill will fall foul of a court challenge. It appears to violate the 14th amendment of the US Constitution, which ensures that freed slaves were not exiled and guarantees citizenship to "all persons born or naturalised in the United States".

The irony of a right-wing Republican endorsed by the "Tea Party" movement – which is supposed to hold the Constitution as sacrosanct – writing a law which violates one of that Constitution's key principles has not been lost on Mr Kavanagh's critics. "They are going to end up in court and drive up litigation costs and give us more of a bad reputation as kind of a crazy state," Democrat Daniel Patterson of Tucson said.

The move nonetheless comes at a time when birthright citizenship is becoming a hot topic across the nation, where an estimated 11 million people are currently living illegally. A similar bill to Mr Kavanagh's was recently introduced by Republicans in Indiana. Other ones are being prepared by the party's representatives in Pennsylvania and roughly a dozen other states.

In Arizona it plays into a particularly heated debate. Although the number of illegal immigrants in the state has declined during the recession, to about 600,000, voters have recently elected a string of right-wing representatives accused of using the issue as a political football.

The most prominent is police officer Joe Arpaio, who styles himself as "America's toughest Sheriff" and presides over an area that includes Phoenix. This week he launched one of his periodic "sweeps" of the city, in which officers scoured the Hispanic community for illegal immigrants. Twenty-two were arrested in the first 24 hours.

In a surreal twist, Mr Arpaio's officers were assisted by a newly formed "Illegal Immigration Enforcement Posse" made up of civilians who volunteer their free time to the cause of harassing immigrants. Among their number was Steven Seagal, the film star, whose wife, Erdenetuya, is from Mongolia.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/arizona-birthright-bill-may-violate-constitution-2197792.html

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see toon at top...