Why Pakistani Military Demands a Veto on Drone Strikes

Pakistani civilian and military leaders are insisting on an effective veto over which targets U.S. drone strikes hit, according to well-informed Pakistani military sources here.

COLOMBIA: Grassroots Rural Movement Unites Behind Call for Peace Talks

"Dialogue is the Path" is the slogan that drew 25,000 people to this northern Colombian oil port city on the Magdalena river that has a history of social struggle. Most of the participants came from remote corners of the country where the brutality of war is experienced in daily life in ways unimagined by city dwellers.

SOMALIA: City in Need of More Aid

The shelling and gunshots, once a common sound in Mogadishu, no longer ring out in the city's streets. The surprise withdrawal on Aug. 6 of the Islamist extremist group Al Shabaab from their stronghold in Mogadishu has meant that people now move about the city, for the first time in two years, without fear of constant attack.

Q&A: Climate-Driven Migrants Raise Thorny Legal Issues

As the effects of accelerating climate change ripple outward, pushing millions from their land and homes, experts warn that international human rights and refugee law needs to catch up to the reality on the ground if migrants are to be given adequate protection and support.

SWAZILAND: Disagreement on How South African Loan Should be Spent

Despite the 2.4 billion emalangeni (342 million dollar) loan from the South African government to its cash-strapped neighbour, Swaziland is sinking deeper into debt.

CUBA: Wedding Follows, Four Years After Sex Change Surgery

Nearly four years after realising her dream of changing her body into a woman's to match her transgender identity, Wendy Iriepa rode through the Cuban capital in a vintage convertible, wearing a stunning full-length white bridal gown and unfurling a rainbow flag, the symbol of the sexual diversity movement, for all to see.

Q&A: “Climate Change Is Affecting Traditional Knowledge”

The traditional knowledge of nature developed since ancestral times by Colombia’s indigenous peoples is increasingly challenged by the unnatural effects of climate change, a phenomenon that is deeply troubling to the keepers of this knowledge, says biologist Brigitte Baptiste.

A PLAN OF ACTION FOR EUROPEAN POLITICS

Before anything else what we need today is a paradigm to diagnose and address the many grave global problems that face us all but are experienced differently in the various regions of the world. Because in Europe the crisis is more evident and is causing the suffering of tens of millions of people, the young especially, we must take it as reality.

MIDEAST: Divided We Execute

The execution of a Palestinian father and son by Hamas security forces in Gaza throws up a sharp difference over the death penalty between Gaza and the West Bank. In the West Bank a temporary moratorium is in place.

PAKISTAN: Violence Killing the Poor

Taj Bibi’s eyes well up as she recalls the day her ten-year-old son was shot dead, a victim of the violence sweeping through the port city of Karachi since early July. "My three sons, the 12-year-old twins and Adnan, 10, went out to play cricket in the street after lunch. Around 4 pm, the twins came running to tell me that Adnan had been shot. By the time I got there he’d breathed his last," said Bibi, a Pashtun.

EGYPT: Labour Unions Shake Off Old Masters

The trade union federation that ex-dictator Hosni Mubarak used to repress labour movements and mobilise regime support for sham elections during his 30-year rule has been disbanded, striking a powerful blow to the old order.

Third SADC gender barometer shows progress

Gender Links are taking their findings on the SADC gender protocol to the SADC meeting in Luanda, Angola. Click here to listen to an IPS interview with Colleen Lowe Morna.

Malawians worry about lack of local elections

NGOs worry that Malawi's failure to have local government elections in April 2011 could see fewer women stand in future elections. IPS interviews Emma Kaliya of the Gender Coordinating Network.

NAMIBIA: No Option but to Adapt to a Changing Climate

Extreme weather conditions predicted because of climate change in Namibia are likely to have a tremendous effect on the 70 percent of the country’s people who live in rural areas and depend heavily on agriculture.

VENEZUELA: Caribbean Town Declares Plastic Bags Non Grata

A Venezuelan municipality where the main industry is oil refining, and that has an import-export "free zone", is set to become a plastic bag-free area.

Eurozone Crisis Could Spill Over into Developing World

When the global economy was hit by a severe recession in 2008- 2009, the negative fallout impacted heavily on the world's developing nations, hindering the U.N.'s key development goals, including plans for the elimination of extreme poverty and hunger worldwide by 2015.

Serving the Homeless, One Falafel Sandwich at a Time

You may walk past a 'Pret A Manger' shop every day on your way to work. You might include Pret A Manger's fresh sandwiches, wraps and salads in your regular rotation of lunch options. And you still might be wondering what the name of the shop actually means.

OP-ED: Save Egypt’s Judiciary, Save Its Revolution

The appearance of Hosni Mubarak in the opening of his trial reassured millions of Egyptians that their revolutionary struggle was not in vain. But, as Egypt and the world watch the resumption of proceedings today, the truth about Mubarak's ability to participate in his trial is still unclear.

CANADA: Hawkish Foreign Policy at Odds with Popular Priorities

Canada has flexed its military muscles, first in Afghanistan for nine years alongside NATO forces, and now in Libya in its supply of ships and combat planes for the rebel forces, but little debate has happened on the ground among Canadians themselves on this direction.

Q and A: “Donor Base for UN Women Continues to Widen”

The donor base for UN Women has continued to widen since the new UN entity was established last year, according to Lakshmi Puri, Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of UN Women.

EUROPE: ‘Rethink Rhetoric Against Islam’

Conservative governments and centre-right parties in Europe were attacking multiculturalism and denigrating Muslim immigrants long before Norwegian right-wing extremist Anders Behring Breivik used similar arguments to justify mass killings in Oslo and Utoya Island.