PAKISTAN: Police Pay Heavy Toll in Fight Against Terrorism

As the frontline province in Pakistan’s war against terrorism, the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) has been bearing the brunt of the soaring militancy in the country through massive loss of life and property.

MIDEAST: Pro-Israel Lobbies Work on Europe

Defenders of Israel’s aggressive stance have for many years been recognised as a powerful force shaping United States foreign policy. A less well-known fact is that the pro-Israel lobby has been making a concerted effort to strengthen its presence in Europe.

POLITICS: As a Tragic Chapter Ends, Bangladesh Begins Another

Bangladesh has vowed to bring to justice the fugitive killers of the country’s founder president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, now that five of his assassins have been executed 35 years since his murder.

JORDAN: Palestinians Unfairly Stripped of Citizenship – Report

The Jordanian government should halt the arbitrary revocation of nationality from its citizens of Palestinian origin, according to a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report released Monday.

POLITICS-SUDAN: Security Essential to Ensure Peaceful Elections

Peace in Sudan remains an uncertainty ahead of the country’s first general elections in 24 years, according to the African Union Commission chief.

MIDEAST: Helpless in Gaza

Scores of Palestinian women and their children carefully sift through the desert sands. They are looking for hard nuggets.

HAITI: Time to Build a Just Society, Rights Groups Urge

In the wake of last month's catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, prominent advocacy groups are calling on the U.S. and the international community to reverse decades of racial and political discrimination and build relief and reconstruction efforts on human rights principles, transparency, and respect for the dignity of all Haitians.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New Photovoltaic Technology

Researchers at the Pontificate Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul have developed a technique - which until now Brazil had to import - for transforming solar energy into electricity.

Ecobreves – CUBA: More Trees in Havana

The Cuban capital benefited in 2009 from the planting of more than 33,000 trees. But government officials and ecologists point to the low survival rate of the new trees.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Protests Against Landfill

Mayor Rosiris Orozco and residents of La Concepción, a municipality near Maracaibo, 500 km west of Caracas, have asked Venezuela's Environment Ministry to shut down La Ciénaga sanitary landfill, which receives 100 trucks filled with garbage each day.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Solar Field in the Desert

More than 130,000 solar panels will make up the first photovoltaic plant in the middle of Chile's Atacama Desert. Construction is to begin in the coming months.

US-PAKISTAN: FATA Aid Programme Largely a Flop, Audit Says

A 45-million-dollar programme funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) that has been in place for nearly two years in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) has failed to develop local government agencies to ensure delivery of basic services, according to an audit by USAID's inspector general.

AFGHANISTAN: US Night Raids and Secret Prisons Anger Civilians

An investigative report published on TomDispatch.com about U.S. forces' operations in Afghanistan paints a gruesome picture of surprise night raids, indiscriminate killing and random detention of civilians during those raids, as well as what appears to be widespread use of torture of Afghan detainees.

INDIA: Mobilised by Old Clothes, Poor Folk Stand Up, Take Action

Salidhana village, a mere blip on the vast and arid landscape of India’s central state of Madhya Pradesh, was devoid of life’s most basic necessity – water. Until last year, there was no well in this hamlet of about a hundred families. Women would trudge hours daily to fetch water from distant areas, often losing their balance on the hilly village’s treacherous slopes.

SRI LANKA: Historic Election Results Dash Minority’s Hopes

Now that the electorate has given its verdict, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s victory in the just concluded presidential polls sends an ominous signal to the minority people of the island state.

FRANCE: Burqa Ban Keeps Immigration Issue Alive

With the French regional elections coming up in March and a debate on national identity raging, the burqa polemic is keeping the immigration and "values" issue alive here.

VIETNAM: Pro-Democracy Activists’ Trial Sparks Flurry of Blogs

This month’s trial of four pro-democracy activists in this major Vietnamese city has generated a flurry of online posts from concerned citizens seeking to express their sentiments against the country’s communist regime though knowing full well the risks involved.

HEALTH: Rotavirus Vaccine Making Headway in Africa

New vaccination programmes against rotavirus are starting to have a positive impact, and could eventually prevent hundreds of thousands of child deaths a year, according to a new report.

IRAQ: Kurdish Leader Voices Indirect Support for Mutlak

The president of Iraq's Kurdistan region, Massoud Barzani, has expressed indirect support for the removal of Salih al-Mutlak and possibly other Sunni Arab politicians from a list of candidates banned from running in the March parliamentary elections.

EL SALVADOR: Activists Link Mining Co. to Murders

Environmental activists in El Salvador allege that managers of a gold mine owned by a Canadian corporation are implicated in the murders of three anti-mining activists.

MIGRATION: Haitians in U.S. See Chance for Better Life

More than a decade ago, Marie Elisemonde left Haiti, fleeing threats of rape and murder by thugs, or zengledo in Creole, who could only be appeased with money. She paid 700 dollars for her seat on a boat to the United States, without any guarantees of a safe arrival or entry.