Wind-up Teeth Add Some Bite To Corruption Conference:
Global Witness has handed out sets of wind-up teeth at the signing of the UN Convention Against Corruption, in an effort to promote the conventions necessity. The UNCAC included a package of measures to tackle corrupt practices, including bribery, embezzlement and money laundering. Numerous NGOs believe the UNCAC’s powers were weakened by changes enforced by China, Egypt and Russia. George Boden of Global Witness said, “A huge opportunity to turn rhetoric into action has been lost due to the irresponsible behaviour of the unlikely collation of blocking countries.”

Blackwater Bribed Iraqi Officials:
The New York Times has reported that Blackwater Worldwide, the infamous mercenary company operating in Iraq, approved secret payments of $1million to buy the silence of Iraqi officials. Gary Jackson, then Blackwater president, is said to have approved the bribes, which were transferred shortly after Blackwater guards killed 17 civilians in Baghdad in 2007. A Blackwater representative called the allegations “baseless.”

‘Arrogant’ Indian Minister Denies Climate Change ’Doomsday’:
Jairam Ramesh, India’s environment minister, has been accused of arrogance by the chairman of the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri. Ramesh has released a controversial report on climate changes effects on Himalayan glaciers, saying he was prepared to take on “the doomsday scenarios of Al Gore and the IPCC... there is no conclusive scientific evidence to link global warming with what is happening.” Pachauri dismissed the report and said, “I don’t know why the minister is supporting this unsubstantiated research. It is an extremely arrogant statement.”

BP Being Sued By Colombian Farmers:
Oil company BP is being sued by 95 Colombian farmers, who are seeking compensation for damages caused to their land. In 1995, BP joined a consortium of other oil companies to build a 450 mile pipeline through Colombian farmland. Farmers are claiming the pipeline has caused landslides, contamination of soil and groundwater, crops to fail, livestock to perish, and made fish ponds unsustainable. The legal firm representing the farmers state, “BP, part of one of the largest oil companies in the world with world class expertise, should have known the possible effects (of the pipeline).” Pedro Florez, one of the farmers suing BP, said, “Now that my land has been destroyed I realise that the money I was paid for the pipeline to be built across my farm was a mere pittance and that BP took advantage of my inability to read and write, and my lack of understanding of technical language. It is now very hard to survive on the income that the farm produces.”

Conscientious Objector Jailed:
Lance Corporal Joe Glenton has been arrested for desertion and denouncing the war in Afghanistan. After going AWOL from Afghanistan in 2007, and returning from overseas earlier that year, Glenton wrote to Gordon Brown saying, “The war in Afghanistan is not reducing the terrorist risk, far from improving Afghan lives it is bringing death and devastation to their country.” Over a 100 people have formed a flash mob outside the Ministry of Defence building at The White Hall to protest Glenton’s arrest. Afghan MP Malalai Joya wrote to Glenton, saying, “The majority of the Afghan people are with you and we respect and admire the stand you have taken. When there is no justice, it is better to go to jail than to go to war.”

Words: Richard Lemmer. News editor, Ctrl.Alt.Shift.

Photo: Flickr user UNCAC Coalition, of civil society representatives from Bangladesh, Cambodia, Philippines, US, Nigeria, US and Canada holding the Coalition's banners in English and Arabic, while winding up the plastic teeth -creating a distinctive noise in the lobby of the UNCAC Plenary room.