EUROPE: What Trade Can Have To Do With Trade Unions

The European Union has decided to push ahead with plans to secure a free trade agreement with Colombia despite the widespread abuse of labour rights in that country.

RIGHTS-MEXICO: Children Paid to Strip at Rural Fair

Four indigenous boys took their clothes off for money in front of a large crowd at a rodeo, who laughed and made fun of their genitals. The mayor of the farming town in the Mexican state of Puebla where the incident occurred was in the audience.

Q&A: "I Don’t Believe a 12-Year-Old Was Born to Kill"

A group of around 20 people settle into their seats in a small conference room in a hotel in the Salvadoran capital. They are here to watch "La Vida Loca", a 90-minute documentary about the Pandilla 18 youth gang, directed and co-produced by French-Spanish filmmaker Christian Poveda.

US-IRAQ: Immunity Recedes for Private Contractors

The virtually total impunity from prosecution accorded to private contractors in Iraq may be coming to an end.

ECUADOR: Correa Comes in for Criticism from the Left

Criticism of the government of President Rafael Correa, who has been accused of combining left-wing rhetoric and right-wing policies, has grown sharper in the past few months.

THEATRE-US: Undead GIs Pay a Visit to Bush

It might seem odd at first to compare them, but "Beast", a brutal, surreal black comedy about the Iraq war, has something in common with "The Files", a stunning, sardonic docudrama about the repression of cultural freedom by the Polish communist secret police.

ZAMBIA: Violence Against Women on the Rise

"There will be no peace, security and sustainable economic development in Zambia as long as women’s rights continue to be treated as a secondary issue," said Non-Governmental Organisation Coordination Committee (NGOCC) chairperson Marian Munyinda.

SRI LANKA: No Calm After the Storm

The only good thing about tropical storm ‘Nisha’, that lashed northern Sri Lanka in the last week of November, was that it brought a lull to the fierce fighting between Tamil separatist rebels and the Sri Lankan army.

DEVELOPMENT: Richest Countries Also the Stingiest

As the biggest economy in the world, the United States is hardly living up to its potential to promote global prosperity and boost development in poor countries, according to the 2008 Commitment to Development Index (CDI) released Thursday.

HEALTH-LATIN AMERICA: Women Crusaders Against Epidemics

With cutting-edge science, social organisation and a strategy that puts an emphasis on prevention and environmental controls, Cristina Díaz and her team checked the spread of dengue in Cuba, while María Monroy did the same with Chagas’ disease in Guatemala.

POLITICS-US: “No Surrender” for Hardline Abortion Foes

While the "March for Life - held annually on Jan. 22, memorialising the United States Supreme Court's 1973 Roe v. Wade decision - has always been one of the high points of the year for anti-abortion organisations and activists, next month's 36th annual gathering may be a much more somber affair.

Q&A: ‘We Have to Develop Our Modern Sharia’

A unique human rights project has been recently set up to empower more than 300 million people in the Arab world to campaign for their individual human rights, according to Mostafa Hannaoui.

US-MIDEAST: Regional Players Key to Salvaging Peace Process

One of the biggest foreign policy challenges facing the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama will be reinvigorating what looks like a completely stalled Palestinian-Israeli peace process.

EAST AFRICA: Plan to Integrate Bourses Despite Hesitant Tanzania

Despite Tanzania’s resistance to cross-border investment, a position that contradicts the East African Community Customs Management Act, plans are going ahead to integrate the three major bourses within the region, namely the Dar es Salaam stock exchange, the Nairobi stock exchange and the Uganda securities exchange, plus the stock exchange in Burundi.

TANZANIA: Poverty Reduction Slow Despite Economic Growth

Tanzania is lagging behind on key development goals for safe water, income and health, even though the east African nation has benefited from a growing economy over the last few years, according a newly released household budget survey.

ENVIRONMENT: Modified Habitats Pose Threat of Zoonotic Diseases

A breakout of yellow fever among monkeys caught authorities in Argentina and Brazil, and the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO), off-guard in October.

ECONOMY: Companies Warned to Go Green or Go Under

If companies in the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector do not implement sustainable environmental strategies, their earnings could be cut in half by 2018, according to a future scenario analysis by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and global consulting firm A.T. Kearney released on Tuesday.

RIGHTS: Ret. Officers Urge Obama to Expunge “Stain of Torture”

As a group of retired military leaders prepared to urge U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to quickly put an end to the harsh interrogation practices inflicted on security prisoners, a new United Nations report charged that Iraqi authorities were committing "grave human rights violations" in their treatment of thousands of detainees.

MIGRATION: Caribbean Politics Grapples With Dual Citizenship

When Jamaica's chief justice disqualified Daryl Vaz from sitting in Parliament last April, it brought into focus the complications surrounding dual citizenship, not only here but throughout the entire English-speaking Caribbean.

RIGHTS-MAURITANIA: ‘Chains Are Jewellery For Men’

Mauritania's security forces are again accused of routine and systematic torture of political opponents and Islamists accused of links with international terrorist groups. A report released by Amnesty International today details cruel violations of human rights, poor prison conditions and a judicial system that offers little protection.

ENVIRONMENT: EU Bank ‘Financing Destruction’ in Africa

The European Union is financing ecologically and socially destructive projects in Africa, a Brussels conference has been told.