US-AFGHANISTAN: Group Seeks Probe of Mass Graves

A prominent human rights group is calling on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate why the administration of former President George W. Bush blocked three different probes into war crimes in Afghanistan where as many as 2,000 surrendered Taliban fighters were reportedly suffocated in container trucks and then buried in a mass grave by Afghan forces operating jointly with U.S. forces.

MIDEAST: Soldiers’ Voices Rise Again

Israel continues to brush off allegations of human rights violations during its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza launched at the end of December. A series of reports on such violations through the 22-day campaign come soon after completion of fieldwork by the UN human rights four-person fact-finding team headed by South African jurist Richard Goldstone.

SRI LANKA: Island Faces Key Test in Upcoming Elections

Elections in early August for local administrative bodies in Jaffna and Vavuniya, two Tamil-dominated northern towns, would be the first litmus test for the Sri Lankan government to restore normalcy in a region devastated by nearly three decades of war.

POLITICS: U.S.-Based Leading Rights Group Denies Improprieties

After its May trip to Saudi Arabia recently garnered attention, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has come under a hailstorm of criticism by defenders of Israeli policy who claim that the trip raises ethical questions about HRW's work in the Middle East.

DR-CONGO: Rape by Regular Army a Growing Problem, HRW Says

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), tens of thousands of women and girls have suffered horrific acts of sexual violence at the hands of the government army, the Forces Armées de la République Démocratique du Congo (FARDC), said Human Rights Watch in a report released Thursday.

PAKISTAN: Scared, But Terrible Camp Life Forces IDPs Home

Civilians who fled the Malakand region in northwest Pakistan after the army launched operations against the Taliban, are starting to trickle home. On Wednesday, the government said 2,885 families have returned to Swat and Buner.

RIGHTS: Poll Finds Regional Support for Bashir ICC Indictment

A new survey released on Thursday shows that the publics in four majority Muslim and African nations, contrary to the positions of their governments, largely approve of the indictment by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

MIGRATION: U.S. to Admit Palestinian Refugees from Iraq

Approximately 1,350 Palestinian refugees from Iraq are being considered for resettlement in the U.S. after being referred to the U.S. Refugee Admissions Programme by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

FILM: Graphically Condemning a “Barbaric and Horrific Punishment”

Director Cyrus Nowrasteh's latest feature film "The Stoning of Soraya M." begins with a car radio blaring the successes of Iran's 1979 Revolution.

NEPAL: Crime Grows Amid Political Instability

Khyati Shrestha, a 17-year-old high school student in Kathmandu, was abducted and brutally murdered last month. 17 days later, her body parts were found in the outskirts of the valley. The accused, Biren Pradhan, later chillingly revealed that she was killed within 24 hours of kidnapping.

ECONOMY: Accountability To Women Could Upset Business-As-Usual

A public presentation of the "Progress of the World's Women" report by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) in Pretoria, South Africa this week suggests that one of the most powerful constraints on realising women's rights and achieving the Millennium Development Goals is a lack of accountability to women's needs.

POLITICS-US: Sotomayor Poised Amid Senatorial Jousting

On Tuesday, the first full day of questions from members of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee considering the confirmation of Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, was remarkable mainly for the softball questions asked by her Democratic supporters and the snarky, "gotcha" questions posed by her Republican opponents.

MIDEAST: What Do You Call It

What's a name, what's in a road name? History, ideology, nationalism.

US-MEXICO: Rights Group Urges Review of Aid in Light of Abuses

The U.S. State Department should not certify Mexico's compliance with the Merida Initiative's human rights requirements so long as the Mexican army continues to commit human rights abuses without proper investigation and punishment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, released Monday.

POLITICS-US: Smooth Sailing for High Court Nominee

In what many Congress-watchers see as Washington's version of Kabuki Theater, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Monday began its hearings on the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Latina associate justice of the Supreme Court and only the third woman ever to be nominated to the nation's highest court.

IRAN: Tale of Sohrab Arabi Raises Fears About the Missing

After a 26-day search, Parvin Fahimi finally discovered that her son Sohrab Arabi, 19, had been gunned down during the peaceful protest march from Tehran's Enghelab (Revolution) Square to Azadi (Freedom) Square on Jun. 15.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Japan’s Taro Aso Declares Polls in August

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso called for sudden elections next month after his party suffered a major defeat in Sunday's Tokyo metropolitan election. Aso will dissolve the parliament on July 21, paving the way for the national election.

EAST AFRICA: Raising the Bar for Gender Equality

Mention of the East African Community (EAC) usually elicits thoughts about regional trade, but a campaign is under way to use the regional body to promote gender equality.

MIDEAST: Fine-Tuning the Cold War

Ambiguity - is it the watchword for all involved in the issue over whether Iran goes nuclear, especially in light of the ongoing political uncertainties that engulf the Islamic Republic?

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: A Boost to Food Security

The Special Program for Food Security (PESA for its Spanish name) in two years has improved the living conditions of more than 14,000 families in rural Honduras, an official source reported to Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Creating a Market for Industrial Waste

Brazil's National Waste Exchange will help set up trade in industrial waste among companies through an Internet site.