MIDEAST: Israel Turns Dubiously to Africa

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has been busy pursuing one aspect of the Obama Administration's agenda - carrying to Africa the U.S. message of accountability. With a rather different agenda, Israel's foreign minister Avigdor Liberman also has Africa in his sights.

MALAWI: High-Risk Sex Among Those Who “Do Not Exist”

A study on men having sex with men (MSM) in Malawi shows that, as elsewhere in the developing world, this vulnerable group is at greater risk of contracting HIV and AIDS than the general population. Moreover, their risk status is exacerbated as governments fail to target them for health services or information to stem HIV transmission.

RIGHTS-UGANDA: Women Score Victory Against Gender-Based Violence

Women are celebrating a hard-won victory for gender rights after intense public protests led to today’s re-arrest of the country’s police boss – a self-confessed wife-killer.

BRAZIL: Italian Immigrants Helped Forge Local Identity in the South

In 1875 a handful of families from the Veneto region of northern Italy, fleeing hardship and hunger, took ship for the Empire of Brazil. Disembarking in Porto Alegre in the southeast, they hacked their way for over 100 kilometres through densely wooded country into the Serra Gaúcha hills, up to 800 metres above sea level.

BOOKS-US: Soldiers Who Just Say No

Six months into Barack Obama's presidency, the U.S. public's display of antiwar sentiment has faded to barely a whisper.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Dredging to Fight Floods

The municipal government of Tegucigalpa last week launched an intense campaign to dredge rivers and ravines and to clean up the city - all to reduce vulnerability to flooding in some 135 neighborhoods considered at risk.

Ecobreves – GLOBAL: Mammals in Danger

Twenty-five percent of the world's mammal species are in danger as a result of agricultural expansion, hunting and the introduction of exotic species, according to a meeting of experts from 50 countries last week in Argentina.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Fruitful Irrigation with Sewer Water

Urban household sewer water, processed to remove solid waste and some of the organic matter, is being used in Brazil as a fertilizer that boost sugarcane yields 50 percent.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: River Deal May Help Dam Debate in Mekong Region

The Mississippi River may be on the other side of the world from the Mekong River, but Vietnamese environmentalists say they hope a new link between the agencies that look after these two river systems can lead to new thinking about ways to manage water resources in the Mekong region.

URUGUAY: Countryside Offers Different Kind of Tourism

Uruguayans and tourists from other countries escape the stress of city life and learn about rural living on once prosperous dairy farms and picturesque small farms near the city of Colonia in western Uruguay, where families have found a new livelihood – and way of life – in "agro-ecotourism".

CARIBBEAN: Britain Suspends Constitution of Turks and Caicos Islands

The British government Friday suspended the constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) in a move that the outgoing head of government Galmo Williams referred to as a "coup" by London.

AFGHANISTAN-US: Govt Withholds Information About Bagram Detainees

The U.S. government continues to withhold even the most basic information about prisoners in the Bagram detention facility in Afghanistan, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), a New York-based legal rights organisation.

AFGHANISTAN: Holbrooke Heralds US Engagement Pre-Election

Facing a worsening security situation in Afghanistan, as well as rapidly approaching elections in that country, the Obama Administration is touting a new, broad approach to winning the fight against insurgent groups in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

POPULATION: UNFPA Partners With Faith-Based Groups

The United Nations has realised that if it wants to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, it will have to partner with like-minded faith-based organisations (FBOs).

EAST TIMOR: Tackling Corruption Head On

After a string of corruption allegations were levelled against Xanana Gusmao’s coalition government, a civil society organization in East Timor Thursday launched an anti-corruption campaign it says will help tackle East Timor's endemic corruption head on.

MIDEAST: Suddenly, It’s Advantage Fatah, and a Solution

Has the just-ended Fatah party convention, concluded in a cavalcade of personnel change, affected the prospects for a two-state solution that might finally resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

ZIMBABWE: No Water, Just a Bill

City council turns off the water. National minister in charge says turn it back on. Domestic and commercial users alike dispute their unpaid bills. The shadow of a cholera epidemic looms over it all. Must be Harare.

HONDURAS-US: Obama Administration Restating Its Position?

A letter sent last week by the U.S. State Department has caused many to question the Obama Administration position on reinstating ousted Honduras President Manuel Zelaya.

ASIA: After Medical Gains in HIV, Time to Tackle Stigma

One can take anti-retroviral therapy to cope with HIV. But how does one remedy the deeply rooted social inequities that marginalises groups like men who have sex with men and drug users, as well as women, putting them out of the reach of efforts to address the pandemic?

RIGHTS-SAUDI ARABIA: Indefinite Detention in the Name of Counterterrorism

Human rights groups have accused Saudi Arabia of unlawfully detaining thousands of people without trial or conviction under its counterterrorism programme since 2003.

IRAN-VENEZUELA: Alliance Problematic for the U.S., But Not Threatening

Some foreign policy experts are saying that the deepening relationship between Iran and Venezuela, while worrisome, is not currently a major threat to U.S. interests.