SA needs to do more to protect mothers

The number of women who are dying while giving birth is on the increase in South Africa. HIV and negligence in the healthcare system are being blamed. Zukiswa Zimela reports from Johannesburg.

Obama Challenged to Stand Up to Big Oil Lobby

The United States' biggest environmental groups put aside their differences last week to make an urgent intervention on the country's addiction to oil. The first step on the long road to recovery, they say, is to stop the proposed construction of the Keystone XL pipeline that will "mainline" the world's dirtiest oil from northern Canada into the U.S. heartland.

Executed for Being Gay

Five nations still outlaw homosexuality and carry out executions of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, according to a recent report by the U.S. group Human Rights First.

Afghan Security Faces Long-Term Challenges

U.S.-led efforts to build Afghan security forces capable of preventing Taliban resurgence face a series of challenges, from the reluctance of southern Pashtuns to serve in a national army, to maintaining the billions of dollars in infrastructure and equipment provided by the U.S. and other foreign countries over the past decade.

Tribunal Concealed Evidence Al-Qaeda Cell Killed Hariri

In focusing entirely on the alleged links between four Hezbollah activists and the 2005 bombing that killed Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the indictment issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon earlier this month has continued the practice of the U.N investigation before it of refusing to acknowledge the much stronger evidence that an Al-Qaeda cell was responsible for the assassination.

MEXICO: Women Inmates Share Prison Conditions with Their Children

María S. lays her infant son down on one of the cold concrete slabs of her cell in the central penitentiary of Santa María Ixcotel, in the metropolitan area of this city in southwestern Mexico.

CUBA: Swim at Your Own Risk

They get ready for the jump, a spectacular airborne pirouette follows and then a stream of saltwater spray rounds off the plunge. Dozens of youngsters, mainly boys, cool off from the summer heat with daring dives from the sea wall lining the Malecón, the Cuban capital's famous seaside avenue.

TRADE-NAMIBIA: No Progress on Access to European Markets

Weariness surrounds the negotiations on an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) regulating trade access between Southern Africa and the European Union (EU).

EUROPE: Some Rich Want to Get a Little Less Rich

In the face of the severe sovereign debt crisis in most industrialised countries, some extremely rich people are urging governments to increase taxes on wealth.

ISRAEL: Children Facing Deportation Find Friends

After Israel’s Interior Ministry attempted to deport the first migrant workers’ child educated in the Israeli school system, human rights groups are calling on the Israeli government to develop a clear immigration policy and an official protocol that will minimise the psychological impact of detaining and deporting young children.

Watchdogs Blast Ethnic Cleansing in South Kordofan

On Jun. 19, Angelo al-Sir, a subsistence farmer from a small village east of Kadugli, capital of the oil-rich South Kordofan state in Northern Sudan, saw his pregnant wife, two of his 10 children, his nephew and another relative killed in an airstrike in broad daylight.

ARGENTINA: Child Allowance Restores Families’ Ties with Schools

Conditional cash transfers to poor families with children in Argentina "have had a very positive impact," says an enthusiastic Graciela Dulcich, the principal of a primary school in a poor neighbourhood on the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

U.S. Muslims Upbeat Despite Scrutiny Since 9/11

Despite increased public scrutiny since the 9/11 terrorist attacks and well-funded campaigns promoting Islamophobia, U.S. Muslims express a significantly higher level of satisfaction with their lives, their local communities, and the country's general direction than does the public at large, according to a major new survey released here Tuesday by the Pew Research Center.

MAURITANIA: Fresh Attempt at Irrigated Agriculture

In a bid to reduce food insecurity, the Mauritanian government is turning to several new approaches to agriculture, including expanded irrigation schemes, popularising new crops and harnessing the energy of recent graduates.

BRAZIL: Rainforest Defenders Marked for Death

Raimundo Francisco Belmiro dos Santos, a defender of the Amazon jungle, has requested urgent protection from the authorities in Brazil after reporting that a number of hired gunmen are looking for him, because landowners in the northern state of Pará have offered a 50,000 dollar contract for his death.

HAITI: Patchy Healthcare Adds to Miseries of Women and Girls

"I just gave birth on the ground...I had no drugs for pain during delivery," one Haitian mother tells Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a report released Tuesday that says a year and a half after the country's devastating earthquake, women and girls are still facing gaps in access to available healthcare services necessary to stop preventable maternal and infant deaths.

Q&A: “When People Are Mad, They Start to React” to Corruption

The fight against corruption has taken centre stage in the government of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, and has led to the resignation or dismissal of several ministers over just a few months.

INDIA: Grave Issues Trouble Kashmiris

Rights activists say that thousands of unmarked graves newly uncovered along the Line of Control (LoC) in Indian Kashmir may hold the bodies of ‘disappeared’ people rather than those of militants killed while trying to cross the fortified de facto border between India and Pakistan.

EGYPT: Military Trials on the Rise After Mubarak

Amr El-Beheiry’s trial in a military court lasted just five minutes. The 33-year- old Egyptian was arrested on Feb. 26 and sentenced without a lawyer present to five years in prison for breaking curfew and assaulting a public official during a demonstration in Cairo.

Aiming a Kick at Homelessness

Loud bursts of cheering startled the throngs of tourists posing for pictures in front of the Eiffel Tower here last weekend.