GRENADA: Coup Leader Calls on U.S. to “Come Clean” on Bishop

For nearly three decades, Grenadians have wondered what happened to the body of their first left-wing prime minister, Maurice Bishop.

MIDEAST: Israel Struggles to Wriggle Out of the Dock

The Goldstone Commission has delivered an unremittingly scathing report on Israel's 22-day war against Hamas in Gaza last December and January.

MALAWI: Questions Over Water Stats

A set of new research data contests the Malawian government's claims that nearly all of the country’s urban citizens have access to clean water and sanitation.

JAPAN: New Ruling Party Poised to Lift Foreign Press Restrictions

The newly elected Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) plans to open government organisations to the foreign press, party member Kuniko Tanioka revealed in an interview with IPS.

DEVELOPMENT: NGOs Question World Bank’s Clean Energy Roadmap

The World Bank's 2010 World Development Report (WDR), released Tuesday, calls on the developed world to lead global efforts to cut carbon emissions, but some civil society groups remain highly sceptical of the bank's role in brokering climate finance.

US-AFGHANISTAN: “New” Bagram Rules More of the Same?

Human rights activists and legal experts reacted swiftly Monday to disclosures that the U.S. government is planning to introduce new measures it claims would give inmates at Afghanistan's notorious Bagram prison more opportunities to challenge their detention.

AFRICA: "Why Surrender Market to Subsidised European Goods?"

"Why should we surrender ourselves to the invasion of highly subsidised European goods? What will be the impact of capital outflows because of strategic services such as telecommunication, port, energy and water services being liberalised and privatised in the interest of European companies?"

RIGHTS-AFRICA: The Fight Against Rape a Brutal Wait

From Monrovia’s highest hill, the long sliver of Atlantic Ocean shoreline at the mouth of the Mesurado River, with its aqua blue waves, golden sand and wooden fishing boats, looks like paradise. But this is West Point; one of Monrovia’s most impoverished and polluted slums, and it is not paradise.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: New Weather Station

A new weather station, which will allow scientists to track the effects of climate change in one of the main productive valleys of Honduras, was inaugurated last week by local officials, aid representatives and academics.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Time to Update Water Infrastructure

Floods in the north and northeast of Mexico City require new methods for rapid removal of rainwater to prevent overflow of canals during times of heavy rains, says Agustín Breña, an expert in water engineering at the Autonomous Metropolitan University.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: First in Collecting Agro-Toxin Containers

Brazilian farmers collected 24,400 used containers of agrochemicals in 2008, or 94 percent of the total sold in the country, which is the best rate achieved in the world, reported the National Institute of Container Processing.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Filming Banned in Protected Area

Residents of the Argentine town of Sierra de la Ventana, in the southwest of Buenos Aires province, were able to stop a movie company from filming in an environmentally protected zone.

VIETNAM: Doubts about Small Dams Give Gov’t Headaches

With a generating capacity of only 190 megawatts, the Dak Mi 4 hydropower project being constructed in the central Vietnamese province of Quang Nam is small by international standards.

NIGERIA: Investment in Primary Education Must Include Teachers

Nigeria has over the past 10 years recorded high enrolment and completion rates in primary school education.

MOZAMBIQUE: Local Leadership On Environmental Sustainability

Tucked away in the remote northwest corner of Mozambique is some of the most rugged and least developed terrain in the country. It was in this area that some of the most intense fighting took place during the civil war, which ended in 1992.

MIDEAST: Israel Taking Sharp Measures Over Iran

Questions about Iran's nuclear thrust are tumbling out, echoing around the world in several directions.

RIGHTS-US: Some Guantanamo Prisoners Fight Release

As 13 prisoners held at the U.S. naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba appeared set to finally win their freedom, others are asking their release to be deferred.

IRAN: Govt Ups Ante Against Reformists Probing Abuses

The stepped-up crackdown against reformist leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, notably the arrest of key aides, signals that the crisis faced by the Islamic regime in Iran has reached new heights.

HONDURAS: Vote to Go Ahead Despite Int’l Refusal to Recognise

Although the international community has warned that it will not recognise the results of the November elections in Honduras, the de facto government in power since the Jun. 28 coup d'etat says the vote is going ahead.

CHINA: Dual Pipelines in Burma to Push Ahead Amid Criticism

Despite fresh international criticism of Beijing’s backing for an unpopular regime as the Burmese junta, China sees its alliance with the country’s military as a matter of simple economic expediency and is determined to forge ahead with controversial joint dual oil and gas pipelines that will ensure greater energy security for its robust economy.

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Muslim Community Leaders Join AIDS Fight

Muslim religious leaders may seem too conservative to promote the message of safe sex to combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic. But that image seems to be changing. Thanks to community-based organisations and young social entrepreneurs working quietly in villages.