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POLITICS: Cluster Bomb Ban to Become Law – Without U.S.
By Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON - Just over a year after it was opened for signature, an international treaty banning cluster bombs received the final two ratifications it needed to become international law Tuesday.
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MIDEAST: Gazans Brace for Cold, Bleak and Miserable Winter
By Mel Frykberg
EZBT ABBED RABBO - Tens of thousands of Gazans living in tents and damaged homes face a wet, cold and miserable winter as Israel’s blockade of the coastal territory continues to prevent the importation of building and reconstruction material.
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US-CUBA: NGOs Hail Congressional Moves to Ease Embargo
By Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - Leading advocates for lifting the nearly 50-year-old U.S. trade embargo against Cuba are hailing Congress's approval Tuesday of a general appropriations bill that eases - albeit in a mostly symbolic way - several restrictions on travel and sales to the Caribbean nation.
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DISARMAMENT: New Treaty Bans Weapons Victimising Civilians
By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS - When the United Nations talks of "Israeli-occupied territories", the conventional definition is that these disputed lands include the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights - all of them annexed after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
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POLITICS: Russia-Georgia Conflict Left Legacy of Displaced
By Nastassja Hoffet
UNITED NATIONS - As the European Union launches a probe into the conflict between Georgian and Russian troops in the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia last August - with much of the blame now being cast on Georgia for firing the first shots - thousands of civilians remain displaced and homeless at the start of winter.
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POLITICS: Japan Supports Ban on Cluster Bombs

By Catherine Makino
TOKYO - A dramatic decision to join a ban on most types of inhumane weapons was announced by Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda at an international conference attended by 110 nations in Dublin at the end of May. On the last day of the conference, the Japanese government, which had wavered, said it would support the ban.
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IRELAND: Less Bombs Here, More There
By David Cronin
DUBLIN - Irish diplomats won plenty of kudos from governments across the world over the past week for brokering a ban on cluster bombs during an international conference in Dublin. It may seem ironic, then, that despite having a decades-old tradition of military neutrality, Ireland has deepened its involvement in the arms trade in recent years.
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RIGHTS: Cluster Bombs May Drop Out of Sight At Last
By David Cronin
DUBLIN - Cluster bombs should be outlawed in most of the world thanks to an agreement formally endorsed by over 100 governments in Dublin May 30.
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POLITICS: Cluster Bomb Ban Passed Over U.S. Objections
By Katie Vandever
UNITED NATIONS - After more than a year of contentious negotiations, diplomats from 109 countries meeting in Dublin agreed Wednesday on a treaty that would outlaw the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions, which have killed and injured thousands of civilians over the last four decades.
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THEATRE-US: The Year the War Came Home

By Lucy Komisar*
NEW YORK - On this 40th anniversary of 1968, the year that for the United States was the apogee of opposition to the war in Vietnam, two new Off Broadway plays explore divergent ways that U.S. citizens protested - and ponder the best way to contest a senseless war.
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LEBANON: Peace Brings No Joy to Children
By Mona Alami*
BEIRUT - Over the years, Lebanese children have faced war and bombings enough to make violence a staple in their lives. With the situation becoming increasingly volatile as Lebanese factions are gripped by a lasting and deadly discord, this vulnerable population is left at greater risk.
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RIGHTS: Grudging Support For New Cluster Munitions Treaty
By Neena Bhandari
SYDNEY - Six-year-old Umarvek Pulodov was playing in the dining room of his home in Shul village, Tajikistan, when a cluster bomb pierced through the roof, instantly killing his brother, cousin and another relative and severely injuring him, his sister and two younger brothers.
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RIGHTS-US: Congress Takes Action on Cluster Bombs, Child Soldiers
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - Human-rights and humanitarian groups are hailing provisions of a major appropriations bill approved by Congress this week that bans the export of most U.S.-made cluster bombs and U.S. military aid for foreign governments that use child soldiers.
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"I lost my right eye and the bomblet tore a huge chunk of flesh from my hand and back. I can still recall that fateful day of Feb. 23, 1992, when in a fraction of a second our entire lives were changed forever... I want governments to stop using, producing or stockpiling cluster bombs, which have been killing and maiming tens of thousands of civilians and harming children like me."

Umarvek Pulodov was six years old when a cluster bomb pierced the roof of his house in a Tajikistan village. The bomb killed his brother and several relatives in addition to severely injuring him and three other siblings.