SUDAN: Nobel Laureates Demand Women Be Part of Peace Talks

The international community must act immediately to resolve the political and humanitarian crises facing Sudan, said a panel of leading Sudan experts at a briefing here Tuesday, and ensure that any peace process formally include women’s input.

POLITICS-US: Help Wanted, Some Travel to Guantanamo…

U.S. President Barack Obama has ordered the Navy’s prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by next January, suspended military commission trials, and assigned Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct case-by-case reviews of the 241 prisoners still detained there to determine which ones should be prosecuted, released or sent to other countries.

CHINA: Macau Moves One Step Closer to Beijing

China’s entrepreneurial south has always been Chinese leaders’ favourite spot for conducting experiments. Ever since markets advocate Deng Xiaoping launched experimental economic zones in the country’s south in 1992, paving the way for China’s emergence as an export powerhouse, the industrious Pearl River Delta has established itself as the epitome of daring in this nominally communist country.

MIDEAST: Israel Faces Up to Old Iran and New U.S.

Israel does not object to talks between the West and Iran if the intent is to stop Iran's nuclear programme and as long as Iran does not take advantage of these talks, top level Israeli government sources tell IPS. But the sources go on to reiterate that Israel still expects the international community to act firmly to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

FIJI: ‘Returning’ Military Leader Gags Media

Fiji is maintaining an uneasy calm days after its president abrogated the constitution, promulgated emergency regulations, and reinstated the 2006 coup leader, Commodore Frank Bainimarama, as interim prime minister.

RIGHTS-US: Local Police Increasingly Target Migrant Communities

Alleged abuses of a little-known section of U.S. immigration law have triggered charges of racial and ethnic profiling and diverting local law enforcement from their crime-fighting mission.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Lawsuits Against Obligatory School Busing

Parents of schoolchildren in the Mexican capital are using legal action to fight obligatory school busing, ordered by the city government as a means to clear up traffic and scheduled to begin in September.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Phone-In Complaints about River Polluters

The environmental group Greenpeace of Argentina set up a phone number for anonymous denunciations of illegal runoff into the basin of the Riachuelo, Argentina's most polluted river, which runs through the south of the city of Buenos Aires.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Mapping Vulnerable Zones

The Honduran government presented the first risk and vulnerability map of the country, distributed to local and environmental authorities. The map will serve in making decisions about measures for preventing damage during the rainy season, which begins in May.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Fire for Cooking Also Generates Electricity

A Brazilian company is selling an efficient wood-burning stove that, in addition to cooking, generates electricity, which could be a boon to Brazilian families living in isolated areas, especially in the Amazon.

Ecobreves – CLIMATE CHANGE: Cold Debate in Bonn

The first of the five special meeting this year towards achieving a new climate change agreement failed to advance in terms of commitments for reducing emissions that cause global warming.

EAST TIMOR: Indonesian Artist Adopts Local Talents

Yahiya Lambert won’t leave East Timor until he’s set up the country’s first art academy. He’s been here for 28 years, so a few more won’t be a problem for the 37-year-old Indonesian, a native of the Maluku Islands.

POLITICS: U.S. Navy Snookered in Pirate Hostage Drama

In what has become a commonplace occurrence, a small boat pulled alongside a container ship and a band of men from the smaller vessel boarded the larger one. It was just another day off the Somali coast - the latest in a series of more frequent and bolder acts of piracy.

ECONOMY-VIETNAM: Global Crisis Hits Craft Villages

The hero of one of Vietnam’s most famous fairytales, Thanh Giong, chased invaders from the nation using a bamboo staff and brought peace and prosperity to the nation.

Remembering the 2008 xenophobic attacks

Human migration is a matter of global concern. Flows of migrants and refugees influence and change the social, economic and political dynamics of their destinations -- and the places they have left behind.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: A Msg of Hope to Farmers

Mobile phones are being used to diagnose and treat crop diseases that cause massive losses to farmers, presenting an opportunity to increase yields as location-specific information about disease threats is made available.

RIGHTS-UGANDA: Officials Complicit In Kololo Torture

A branch of the Ugandan government that handles its anti-terrorism work is responsible for extended illegal detentions, torture, and other maltreatment at a facility based in a wealthy suburb of the country’s capitol, according to a lengthy report issued by Human Rights Watch (HRW) Wednesday in Kampala.

NEPAL: Displaced Choose Urban Homelessness Over Rural Insecurity

Bishnu Maya Dahal, 51, dreams of going back to her village in eastern Nepal.

GENDER-ZIMBABWE: Religion and Poverty Force Girls into Early Marriages

While her peers get ready to go to school each morning, 14-year-old Matipedza (not her real name) of Marange district in Manicaland has to stay behind to prepare breakfast for her 67-year-old husband.

RIGHTS: Roma Are Scapegoats During Downturn

On International Roma Day, Wednesday, human rights groups voiced their concern for the discrimination and violence against Roma in European countries.

LIBERIA: Wild West – the Sinoe Rubber Plantation

"We organised security throughout the camp. If there was noise in the plantation we would call the person and carry out an investigation," the man known as ‘White Flower’ tells IPS. "Then the superintendent said they should arrest me and my crew."