Solar Energy News  
MILPLEX
US, European banks invest billions in cluster bombs: NGOs

by Staff Writers
Brussels (AFP) May 25, 2011
US and European financial firms are still investing billions of dollars in cluster bomb producers despite a global ban on a weapon that maims and kills civilians, NGOs said Wednesday.

The US financial titans JP Morgan Chase and Goldman Sachs are joined by Royal Bank of Scotland, Germany's Deutsche Bank and China's Changjiang Securities in a "hall of shame" of investors in cluster munitions.

They are among 166 private and public financial institutions from 15 countries that have invested a total of $39 billion in eight cluster munition producers since May 2008, according to a report by two Dutch non-governmental organisations that are members of the Cluster Munition Coalition.

While most investors are from countries that have yet to sign up to the international convention that bans cluster munitions, including the United States, 38 firms are from nine states that joined the accord.

The nine countries -- Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and the Netherlands -- have not passed legislation that bans investment in cluster bomb producers.

Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg and New Zealand are the only countries worldwide that have passed legislation prohibiting such investments, according to the report drafted by Netwerk Vlaanderen, which promotes responsible investment, and the peace group IKV Pax Christi.

A total of 26 financial institutions from EU states are still investing more than $3.0 billion in cluster munition producers.

"We are calling on EU member states and countries around the world to legislate against these explosive investments," said Roos Boer, the report's author.

The report said Moamer Kadhafi's troops in Libya used cluster munitions made by Spanish firm Instalaza to attack the rebel-held city of Misrata in mid-April.

When the munitions were produced and sold to Libya in 2007 -- before Spain banned cluster bombs -- Deutsche Bank, Britain's Barclay's and eight Spanish banks had outstanding loans to Instalaza, the report said.

So far 108 states have joined the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which came into force in August 2010 and bans all use, stockpiling, production and transfer of bombs that spray deadly bomblets indiscriminantly over a large area.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
The Military Industrial Complex at SpaceWar.com
Learn about the Superpowers of the 21st Century at SpaceWar.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


MILPLEX
Unasur aims to acquire teeth on arms cuts
Georgetown, Guyana (UPI) May 24, 2011
Plans for the Union of South American Nations becoming more like its EU model advanced this week with talks on the pact's structure and strategies for monitoring budgets including defense spending by member countries. Unasur defense ministers met in Lima, Peru, last week and issued a declaration calling for the region to be designated as a "peace zone" and agreed to continue pursuing a ... read more







MILPLEX
Study details path to sustainable aviation biofuels industry in Northwest

Aviation biofuels for Australia?

New sustainable bio-derived jet fuel industry is achievable

Teaching algae to make fuel

MILPLEX
Controlling robotic arms is child's play

Researchers demonstrate autonomous robots able to explore and map buildings

Tiny robots map buildings -- without help

Robot Based on Carnegie Mellon Research Engages Novice Computer Scientists

MILPLEX
Windpower 2011 highlights industry trends and job creation

Google backs wind energy in California desert

Evolutionary lessons for wind farm efficiency

Global warming won't harm wind energy production, climate models predict

MILPLEX
New fuel efficiency labels for cars coming

When fueling up means plugging in

Obama orders US agencies to buy green vehicles

Battery Team Working to Drive Electric Vehicles from Niche to Mass Market

MILPLEX
Shell says 27,580 barrels of oil spills in Nigeria in 2010

Using the energy in oil shale without releasing carbon dioxide in a greenhouse world

Aggressive Efficiency and Electrification Needed to Cut California Emissions

GCC expansion aims for 'club of kings'

MILPLEX
New form of girl's best friend is lighter than ever

2 graphene layers may be better than 1

Diamonds shine in quantum networks

Climate Change From Black Carbon Depends On Altitude

MILPLEX
New Jersey ditches carbon cap and trade

Report: California can reach emission goal

Micronesia takes on Czech power plant over emissions

Iraq to fuel generators to head off power protests

MILPLEX
Destruction of Brazil's Atlantic Forest falls 55%: study

Global Warming May Affect the Capacity of Trees to Store Carbon

Brazil farm interests score one against forest protection

Environmentalist husband, wife shot dead in Brazil


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement