ECONOMY-MEXICO: Crisis Drives Up Poverty Rate

Between 1994 and 1996, the poverty rate in Mexico climbed from 52 to 69 percent due to a deep but short-lived global economic recession that broke out in this country. Now this country is experiencing another depression, which originated in its northern neighbour, and that will last at least until 2010.

RIGHTS: More Calls to Ban Zimbabwe’s Blood Diamonds

Amid allegations of human rights abuses and government corruption, international calls are growing to ban or restrict the trade in diamonds from politically unstable Zimbabwe.

POLITICS-DRC: Debate Over Truth Commission

The search continues for the best way to expose the truth surrounding crimes committed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), not least in Ituri, in the north-east of the country, a region which where years of atrocities and massive human rights violations have gone unpunished.

RIGHTS-BURKINA FASO: Five Million To Get Precious Documents

Nearly 5.5 million people - mostly women and children - are to receive birth certificates in a country-wide exercise over the next 12 months. According to Burkina Faso's latest census, conducted in 2006, the rate of non-registration is particularly high amongst women and children, of whom three million (60 percent being girls) are not on the public registry.

SRI LANKA: U.N. Probes Civilian Deaths as Guns Fall Silent

The Sri Lankan government, which has claimed military victory against a 26-year-old brutal insurgency in the country's northern and eastern provinces, will be battling charges of violating humanitarian law at a special session of the U.N. Human Rights Council (HRC) in Geneva next week.

MEXICO: Avalanche of Anti-Abortion Laws

In the last 13 months, 12 of Mexico's 32 states have approved amendments to their state constitutions defining a fertilised human egg as a person with a right to legal protection, and seven other state parliaments are taking steps in the same direction.

KUWAIT: ‘Gender-Bender’ Election Raises Optimism

Despite the reappointment of the Kuwaiti ruler’s nephew as premier, the results of last week’s elections - the historic victories of women candidates, and the decline of Islamist representation in parliament - are being perceived as a vote for change in the Gulf state.

CHINA-EU: Summit Redefines Diplomatic Boundaries

The global economic crisis has helped China and the European Union mend their recent rift over Tibet and human rights, but the two sides remain distrustful of each other’s intentions. Beijing complains that the EU’s crowded agenda makes it lose sight of the bigger picture in dealing with China. Brussels for its part, believes China is exploiting the EU’s divisions and treating the 27-state bloc with ‘diplomatic contempt’ on a range of issues from trade to the Dalai Lama.

MIDEAST: Israel Slow to Recognise New U.S. Face

A ballistic missile, an anti-missile defence system and the transfer of nuclear technology - three inter-related issues addressed on the same day this week highlight the radical re-adjustment in U.S. priorities as the Obama Administration demarcates a fresh strategic outlook for the Middle East.

POLITICS-US: Obama Defends Guantanamo Closure

President Barack Obama cautiously minced his way Thursday through a political minefield filled with imminent explosions from human rights advocates, national security hawks, and a Congress terrified by the potential political backlash of any move to bring Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the U.S. for trial or detention.

LESOTHO: Cultural Beliefs Threaten Prevention of Mother-Child HIV Transmission

A health centre in one of Lesotho’s poorest districts has scored significant success in implementing a prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT) programme, but health experts warn that a number of factors, including cultural beliefs and stigma, threaten to derail it.

SRI LANKA: What’s Next For the Tamil Community?

Nearly three decades of war ended in Sri Lanka last week and a victorious President Mahinda Rajapaksa has extended a fresh hand of friendship to the minority Tamils, but most members of this community feel it will take a long time for the wounds to heal after years of mistrust and alienation.

POLITICS-US: UAE Torture Tape Complicates Nuclear Deal

A U.S. agreement to exchange nuclear information and materials with an Arab country in the Persian Gulf is facing opposition because of a video of torture conducted by a member of a ruling family from one of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Escaping the poverty trap

POLITICS-US: Lobbyist Ranks Swell with Advent of Climate Bill

Nearly 140 new businesses and interest groups have joined in the intense lobbying in Washington on climate change, according to the Centre for Public Integrity (CPI).

RIGHTS-US: Special ‘Terror’ Courts Worry Legal Experts

The administration of President Barack Obama is considering the creation of a national security court to try cases in which there is enough reliable intelligence to hold a foreign terrorism suspect in preventive detention, but not enough to bring a case in federal court or even through military commissions.

POLITICS-US: Iran’s Regional Dominance Overstated, Report Says

The threat posed by Iran is little understood in U.S. circles, says a new report from a U.S. research institution which asserts that the expansionist rhetoric of the Islamic Republic is little more than that: rhetoric.

MIDEAST: Netanyahu Up Against a New U.S.

June 5 is a date that resonates powerfully in the troubled modern history of the Middle East. On that fateful day, 42 years ago, the seminal 1967 Arab-Israel war erupted. Six days later, Israel was in control of Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, Syria's Golan Heights and all of the Palestinian territories.

PAKISTAN: U.S. to Aid Civilians Fleeing Embattled Swat Valley

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the provision Tuesday of 110 million dollars in humanitarian aid to assist the mounting number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Pakistan.

U.S.: Green Groups Hail Plan to Slash Transport Emissions

Environmental groups are applauding President Barack Obama’s new nationwide rules for car emissions and mileage standards, announced Tuesday.

POLITICS-AFRICA: When Will the Pan-African Parliament Come of Age?

It will remain difficult for Africa to address the effects of the global financial crisis or tackle other problems the continent faces as long as African countries try to go it alone.