Stakes over Iran Talks on the Rise

As Secretary of State John Kerry and foreign ministers of at least four other major powers prepared to join talks with Iran in Geneva Saturday, the stakes over the eventual success or failure of the negotiations seem very much on the rise here.

OP-ED: Iranian-U.S. Rapprochement: What’s in It for Israel and Saudi Arabia?

Israel, Saudi Arabia, and some of the other ArabGulf states are deeply sceptical of the Barack Obama administration’s efforts to reach a deal with Iran limiting its nuclear programme and to improve U.S.-Iranian relations generally.

Local Action Against Climate Change a Beacon of Hope

In Maputo, a port city on the Indian Ocean in Mozambique, 44 percent of the 1.2 million inhabitants live in poverty, making them even more vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise, floods and cyclones. But despite their severe poverty, their day-to-day experience gives them practical knowledge on how to deal with climate change effects.

Blocking NATO to Stop Drones

Upping the ante against U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan, celebrated cricketer-turned-political leader Imran Khan has threatened to block NATO supplies to Afghanistan through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where his party leads a coalition government.

Murders, ‘Protection Payments’ Mark Elections in Honduras

The capital of Honduras, one of the world’s most violent countries, has turned into a huge cage, where people lock themselves into their homes behind barred windows and iron doors along the steep winding, narrow streets of the city.

Blocking NATO to Stop Drones

Upping the ante against U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan, celebrated cricketer-turned-political leader Imran Khan has threatened to block NATO supplies to Afghanistan through Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where his party leads a coalition government.

Big Coal Angles For a Slice of Climate Finance Pie

Power generation is a major contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Choosing the right options for less-polluting energy sources in the future is a vital question – in which energy-starved Africa has a keen interest. In one camp, highly polluting industries are appealing for support under any new climate finance mechanisms established under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change process.

Flying Above the Impoverished in the Name of Mao

In Nepal, where a quarter of the population is steeped in poverty, a man who once led a 10-year Maoist insurgency before joining the political mainstream has been splurging on helicopters for his election campaign.

Big Coal Angles For a Slice of Climate Finance Pie

Power generation is a major contributor to the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. Choosing the right options for less-polluting energy sources in the future is a vital question – in which energy-starved Africa has a keen interest.

Mideast Airline Deal May Overshadow Military Sales

The multi-billion-dollar Middle East arms market - bolstered by hefty purchases by oil-blessed Arab nations such as Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait and Qatar - has always been one of the biggest bonanzas to the U.S. defence industry.

Multinationals’ Interest Grows in Sustainable Bioplastics

Eight major multinational consumer products companies have come together to investigate whether it is possible to produce a sustainable form of “bioplastic”, made from plants rather than petroleum products.

Storm Brews at U.N. Climate Talks

Hundreds of representatives from various NGOs walked out of the negotiating rooms at the United Nations climate talks in Poland on Thursday in protest against the reluctance by developed nations to commit towards achieving a global climate treaty.

Legal Battles Against Opening Up Mexico’s Oil Industry

As Mexico moves towards a controversial reform that would be the largest opening of the oil industry to foreign investors in decades, local communities and non-governmental organisations are fighting in court against earlier contracts with foreign companies, which have been possible since 2008.

Trinidadian Fishers Choose Jail over “Seismic Bombing”

The demonstration took place on land and sea simultaneously. In the end, police had arrested three people, including Gary Aboud, president of the Trinidadian NGO Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS), but protesters were undaunted. They would be back.

Cleopatra Drives in Haiyan’s Climate Change Message

Cleopatra is the name chosen for the younger sister of Haiyan, the cyclone that wreaked havoc in the Philippines last week. This latest storm caused massive floods and left 16 dead and hundreds displaced in Sardinia, Italy.

Media Workers ‘Targeted’ in Syria’s North

Syrian government troops are targeting media centres and news providers, Reporters Without Borders has warned after the killing of a citizen journalist and the destruction of premises belonging to two media centres within a week.

Media Workers ‘Targeted’ in Syria’s North

(Al Jazeera) - Syrian government troops are targeting media centres and news providers, Reporters Without Borders has warned after the killing of a citizen journalist and the destruction of premises belonging to two media centres within a week.

Keeping the Philippines from Becoming Another Haiti

Nearly two weeks after Typhoon Haiyan devastated parts of the central Philippines, experts and activists here are warning that post-disaster reconstruction needs to be more transparent than past such efforts, while also focusing on a long-term assistance strategy that goes beyond immediate emergency relief.

Guarded Tone in Geneva as Negotiators Seek Iran Accord

Amidst rising expectations of a breakthrough, Iran and six world powers Wednesday resumed their quest for a deal on Iran’s controversial nuclear programme that seemed just within reach earlier this month.

Fears Rise of ‘Taliban-Style’ Justice in Syria

Concerns are rising that courts run by Islamic clerics in many of Syria’s rebel-held areas may serve as a prelude to Taliban-style justice in what was long a violently repressive but secular state.

Fear of HIV Testing Among Zimbabwe’s Teens

Seventeen-year-old Natalie Mlambo* has two good reasons to get tested for HIV. She has two boyfriends and has unprotected sex with them. One is a high school classmate. The other is older, works in a bank, and can afford to give Mlambo small gifts and some money.