HONDURAS: People Flood Stores during Break in Curfew

Thousands of Hondurans flocked to businesses in the capital Wednesday to stock up on food and gas after the de facto government temporarily lifted the curfew in place since ousted President Manuel Zelaya surreptitiously returned to the country on Monday.

POLITICS-ITALY: From Democracy to Videocracy

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, one of the world's most powerful media moguls, is being increasingly accused of using his six news organisations and television channels to manipulate the country's political life and public opinion.

CAMBODIA: Khmer Rouge Tribunal Ends Testimony at First Int’l Trial

After 72 days of hearings, the first international trial of a Khmer Rouge regime member has wrapped up its often horrific testimony in the Cambodian capital.

HONDURAS: Zelaya Hemmed In by Troops around Brazilian Embassy

Ousted Honduran President Manuel Zelaya said Tuesday that he returned to his country to engage in dialogue to resolve the political crisis triggered by the Jun. 28 coup d'etat, but that the de facto government responded with tear gas and rubber bullets against his supporters.

MADAGASCAR: Poverty Forces 2 Million Children into Hard Labour

Poverty has increased dramatically in Madagascar since January, when a national protest movement to end the regime of former president Marc Ravalomanana plunged the country into a socio-economic crisis. Since then, the number of child labourers has risen by a whopping 25 percent.

UN Climate Change Summit

 

MIDEAST: U.S. Pushing Beyond Settlement Freeze

"Nobody can usurp the right to determine the fate of the nation on their own - not the Palestine Liberation Organisation, nor anyone else. It is the will of the Palestinian people that must determine our future," declares Hamas political leader in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh.

RIGHTS-IRAN: Groups Call for Special U.N. Probe

Just ahead of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech to world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly, two human rights organisations asked the international media to seize what they termed a crucial opportunity to hold him accountable for post-election violence in Iran.

POLITICS-BURMA: Two Years After, Monks Remain Closely Watched

"I'm being watched all the time. I am considered an organiser. Between noon and 2 p.m., I am allowed to go out of the monastery. But then I'm followed," Buddhist monk U Manita said. "I'm prepared to march again when the opportunity arises. We don't want this junta. And that's what everyone at my monastery thinks as well."

TRINIDAD: Radical Muslim Leader Sparks Corruption Probe

Ever since he literally blazed into the lives of Trinidadians when he led more than 100 armed followers in a failed attempt to remove the A.N.R. Robinson government in 1990, radical Muslim leader Yasin Abu Bakr has been able to taunt the country with impunity.

RIGHTS-PHILIPPINES: ‘Desaparecidos’ — A Family’s Search Continues

In September 2007 the United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearance sent a letter to the Philippine government urging it to investigate the case of Jonas Burgos, a 37-year-old agriculturist who was abducted five months earlier in a crowded mall in Quezon City, one of the major cities comprising the metropolitan area in the national capital region.

HONDURAS: Zelaya Returns, Calls for Dialogue

Ousted President Manuel Zelaya snuck back into Honduras and took refuge Monday in the Brazilian embassy in the capital with the aim of returning to power by means of mass demonstrations and a general strike led by the National Resistance Front Against the Coup d'Etat.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Progress on Volcano Monitoring

Chile's National Volcanic Monitoring Network is setting its sights on establishing four observatories by 2013.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Endangered Species in Cloud Forest

Experts from the non-governmental Zamorano Biodiversity Center of Honduras have called on officials and community groups to preserve the cloud forest of the northern Yoro Mountain National Park.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Promoting Tourism in the Zapata Marsh

Cuba has decided to boost the tourism profile of the Zapata Marsh, the Caribbean's largest wetland, but is implementing a strategy to ensure the preservation of this rich ecosystem, located 156 kilometers southeast of Havana.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: CFCs on the Decline

Since 2004, Venezuela has reduced consumption of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by 90 percent, reports Osmer Castillo, president of the Industrial Reconversion Fund. These compounds, used in refrigeration, deplete the planet's ozone layer.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Sewage Water Contaminates Crops

Sewage water can be used to boost agricultural yields, as Tierramérica has reported, but can also contaminate crops and soil with polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

POLITICS-US: Activists, Big Business Converge on G20 Meet

As media and government delegates prepare for the G20 Summit to be held Sep. 24-25 in Pittsburgh, local business and activist groups are promoting clashing visions of days to come.

AFGHANISTAN: Media Outrage Over Coalition Killing of Reporter

For many Afghans, slain Afghan journalist Sultan Munadi has become a symbol for all that is wrong with the United States-led war in Afghanistan.

POLITICS: Post-Conflict Security in Need of Women

Women need to get involved more actively and more equally in the reform of the security sector in post-conflict states, says Ecoma Alaga, a Gender and Security Sector Reform (SSR) expert of the Women Peace and Security Network Africa.

MOZAMBIQUE: Building Awareness to Reduce Maternal Mortality

In the Niassa province of northwest Mozambique, one doctor has been working with local communities to overcome the delays responsible for three-quarters of maternal deaths each year.