POLITICS-US: Overcoming Toxic Legacy of Bush-Style Democracy

A massive overhaul of U.S. development assistance is needed, says a new report from an influential Washington think tank.

MIDEAST: Hard Choices Coming up Fast

The parties to the Middle East conflict are coming to understand the U.S. President means business - that, unlike his predecessor in the White House, Barack Obama means to tackle the world's most intractable problem head on. And, soon.

DISARMAMENT: New Promise of a Nuclear-Free World

Leading supporters of disarmament see new hope arising from the announcement by the U.S. and Russian presidents that they are willing to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with a new one.

MALAYSIA: Burmese Refugees “Treated Like a Commodity”

The mistreatment of Burmese migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in Malaysia is the focus of a report released Thursday by the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

RIGHTS-MEXICO: Major Blow to Child Porn Ring

Seven Mexicans who allegedly created and ran a child porn ring that sent on-line images to Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Colombia, Chile, Spain, the United States and Venezuela were arrested in Mexico.

ECONOMY: Caribbean Bleeding Jobs, With No End in Sight

Earlier this month, the Chinese bauxite mining and processing company Bosai Minerals announced plans to lay off about 20 percent of its nearly 600-member workforce from its mines in southeastern Guyana.

RIGHTS-US: Senate Report Casts Grim Light on Bush Era

Pentagon interrogators continuously ramped up their abusive techniques against prisoners at Guantanamo Bay and in Iraq and Afghanistan in a vain attempt to establish a link between the former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and the al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. on Sep. 11, 2001.

RIGHTS-US: Border Policies Need Overhaul, Group Says

Getting into the United States – even for citizens, let alone immigrants and other visitors – is a notoriously difficult process. But a new report says that the questioning, detention, and oft-extended searches are going too far, especially when they are trampling on the basic rights of citizens returning home.

MIDEAST: Iran Hands Israel a Gift

Just when it seemed that the international community was gearing itself up to put pressure on the new Israel government to engage the Arab world and the Palestinian Authority seriously on peace, Iran's president hijacked the moment. But, in again lashing out against Israel, he handed the Israeli prime minister a whip of his own with which to question the merit of dialogue with Iran which the Obama Administration has been promoting.

DEVELOPMENT: World Bank Steps Up Funding for “Safety Nets”

The World Bank plans to triple its lending for social safety nets in poor countries to 12 billion dollars over the next two years in order to better protect the most vulnerable people from the worst effects of the global economic crisis, the bank announced Tuesday.

WATER-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Strengthening River Basin Management

Many of the adverse effects of floods which swamped northwest Botswana in early March could have been avoided if the Okavango River Basin Commission (OKACOM) had an early warning system in place.

RIGHTS-US: No Warm Welcome for Muslim American Travelers

A Muslim legal advocacy group Tuesday charged that federal agents routinely target Muslim American travelers - or simply those perceived to be Muslim - for "deeply intrusive, personal questions and searches about their politics, faith, finances, charitable giving and associations with lawful organisations, all without any evidence or even suspicion of wrongdoing."

CHINA: Book Release Stirs Resentment

At first it was nothing out of the ordinary. A book intriguingly titled ‘China Is Not Happy’ was expected to generate a buzz because it claimed to detail the world’s most populous nation and aspiring superpower’s resentment of foreign abuses.

RIGHTS-US: Lawyers’ Group Targets Torture Memo Author

Lawyers who reject President Barack Obama’s decision not to seek prosecution of officials who may have participated in the torture of terror-suspect prisoners are seeking justice through another avenue: Sanctions against government lawyers who created the "enhanced interrogation" policies of former President George W. Bush.

RIGHTS: Proponents of Torture May Yet Face Universal Justice

Human rights advocates who were critical of President Barack Obama’s decision not to prosecute Central Intelligence Agency operatives who tortured war-on-terror prisoners are hailing a Spanish judge’s order to pursue a criminal investigation into the actions of six Bush administration lawyers for providing legal cover for torture - despite a recommendation from his prosecutors that the case not go forward.

EUROPE: Corporate Giant Casts a Shadow

Peter Sutherland, chairman of British Petroleum, never realised his goal of becoming president of the European Commission. Back in 1994, Britain recommended him for that post – at a time he was director-general of the World Trade Organisation - yet he failed to secure the crucial backing of the government in his native Ireland.

POLITICS: Summit of Americas Ends with a Whimper

There is only one signature on the Declaration of Port of Spain, out of 34 slots.

CIVIL SOCIETY: New Feminist Network for 'Glocal' Activism

Feminist activists have adopted ‘glocal’, a relatively new geolexical construct, to bridge activism from across Asia, Latin America and Africa.

HAITI: Hunger Still Severe on Food Riots Anniversary

A year after riots over soaring food prices in Haiti made headlines around the world, conditions for many in this impoverished country have only worsened.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Renewable Energy Classes

The Honduran government has organized training sessions about the production and use of renewable energy, ahead of implementing a series of energy projects in the country's interior over the next six

Ecobreves – CHILE: Delay in Carrying Out Environmental Ruling

Nearly three years after Chile's Supreme Court ordered a business owner in the central region of Valparaíso to restore a native forest that had been replaced by a vineyard, the government's forest agency, CONAF, is conducting an appraisal of the site.