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JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) - South African President Thabo Mbeki called on the richest nations Sunday to end a system of "global apartheid" that entrenches poverty and inequality for a majority of the world's people. Mbeki welcomed thousands of Earth Summit delegates and urged them to reflect on the dismal state of the world at a colorful ceremony to informally open the summit, which officially kicks off Monday. "This is a world in which a rich minority enjoys unprecedented levels of consumption, comfort and prosperity. While a poor majority enjoys daily hardship, suffering and de-humanization," Mbeki said.

Stop the Presses! Earth Summit News Flash! The Independent (SA) reports, First summit delegate mugged:Four days before the start of the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, a Romanian became the first delegate to be mugged. The man said he was attacked in Eloff Street and robbed of his watch and $70 (about R750). He had not laid a charge because he believed the muggers were the very people who needed to be helped by the summit, he said. (emphasis added)This guy has got a great future as a liberal poster boy! And I like the way he is...

We all share the same earth and the same environment. We believe that everyone's voice should be heard in debating the policies and making the decisions that affect us all. The earth belongs to all of us. This first in the world, Online Global Poll is being conducted in conjunction with the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development being held in Johannesburg South Africa from August 25 to September 4, 2002. Your participation in this global poll adds voice to the many thousands worldwide expressing how they feel about the environment, and what they feel their leaders should do...

On the eve of the biggest enviro-mania fest in a decade comes the signal to brace ourselves. We're in for a slew of depressing "news" about our planet. Actor Leonardo DiCaprio launched the PR campaign for the upcoming Earth Summit by essentially equating our home turf with the Titanic. The neophyte activist called the U.S. "the world's biggest polluter." Ostensibly, he was trying to convince President Bush to join international counterparts – Tony Blair, Vicente Fox and Jacques Chirac – and attend the U.N. Summit in South Africa later this month. So far Bush hasn't committed, and he'd be wise...

<p>President Bush announced yesterday that he would not attend the U.N. Earth summit in Johannesburg later this month and would send Secretary of State Colin L. Powell instead.</p> <p>"Poverty remains a huge and urgent global problem that demands action by the entire world community. We will stand together in Johannesburg to bring our full support to this important battle," Mr. Bush said in a statement.</p>

Another Cheesy United Nations Ripoff It's those wacky United Nations wingnuts again, who are bringing us the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, Aug. 26 - Sept. 4. Apparently it occurred to some genius among them that bringing 65,000 delegates to South Africa for the clambake might cause a bit of environmental damage, and not just to the local prostitutes. But not to worry, according to a UN press release; UNDP, GEF and World Bank Agree to Offset Environmental Impact On Johannesburg During Summit:New York, 16 August - In an effort to make the World Summit on Sustainable...

Extreme Weather Boosts Calls for Action on Climate Tue Aug 13,10:48 AM ET By Emma Thomasson BERLIN (Reuters) - The storm clouds massed over Europe that are causing some of the worst floods for decades may have a silver lining for the continent's environmentalists as the battle lines are drawn for the Johannesburg Earth Summit. While floods threatened historic buildings and crops across Europe and hundreds drowned after torrential rain in Nepal, Iran and the Philippines this week, drought has shriveled harvests in southern Africa, Vietnam, Australia and the United States. Ahead of the summit on the environment and development...

PARIS (Reuters) - A new U.S. cash handout to a global ecology fund and signs that rich nations will take a bigger role in cleaning up the planet could yet save this month's "Earth Summit" from failure, a top U.N. official said on Thursday. U.N. Environment Program chief Klaus Toepfer said he had seen progress in tackling some of the issues that scuppered a preparatory meeting in June for the Johannesburg summit aimed at alleviating world poverty and protecting the environment. "I believe there is a lot of activity going on to come to this Plan of Implementation and to...

The Earth Summit, the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, faces a high risk of failure, according to a leading British environmental thinker. He is Sir Crispin Tickell, former UK ambassador to the United Nations. Sir Crispin says it is "hard to be optimistic" about what will happen in Johannesburg. Little, he says, will change "unless and until we think differently". Sir Crispin is now director of the Green College Centre for Environmental Policy and Understanding at the University of Oxford. Speaking to the Society for Conservation Biology, he said the summit's agenda, sustainable development, meant "treating the...