ECUADOR: Commission Declares Part of Debt “Illegitimate”

The final report of a presidential commission set up in Ecuador to audit the country’s public debt recommended that the government suspend interest payments on "certain portions" of the country’s foreign debt.

AFRICA: Keen on Democracy, Despite Mixed Results

Over the last twenty years, the ballot box has replaced military coups as a means of political change across Africa, says Professor Emmanuel Gyimah-Boadi, a political scientist from the University of Ghana. However the results of democratic practices are a mixed bag of sand and sim-sim.

POLITICS-ETHIOPIA: Disappointed But Not Defeated

She fought alongside men in the Ethiopian liberation struggle. She fought for a free and fair society. But today, Yewubmar Asfaw feels that Ethiopia's revolution has failed to deliver a fair share of political power to women.

RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: Khmer Rouge Through Blinkered Eyes

When Gunnar Bergstrom stepped off the plane into the sweltering heat of the Cambodian capital in August 1978, he did not even begin to suspect the fate that had befallen the country whose struggle he had supported from afar.

MEDIA-SRI LANKA: Under Fire Journos Learn Survival Skills

For journalists on the job in Sri Lanka - considered by international media rights bodies to be the third most dangerous place to work in, after Iraq and Somalia - staying safe is a prime concern.

LATIN AMERICA: IPS and UNDP Launch Second Journalism Prize on MDGs

Next year will be a tough time for the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, which means it will be more than ever necessary to avoid backsliding in the efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and journalists have an important role to play in that task, UNDP regional director Rebeca Grynspan said Wednesday.

CLIMATE CHANGE: World Willing to Pay More for Green Energy

A new poll by WorldPublicOpinion.org, a global network of research centres, finds that a majority of people in 21 nations support greater use of alternative energies like wind and solar and modifications to make buildings more energy efficient, even if costs more in the short term.

ECUADOR-COLOMBIA: No Thaw in Sight

The cancellation of a meeting between delegates of Ecuador and Colombia aimed at restoring diplomatic ties, which were broken off in March, shows that it will be an uphill battle - especially with the latest round of mutual recriminations this month.

POLITICS-DR CONGO: What Future For MONUC?

Olusegun Obasanjo, former president of Nigeria and newly-appointed U.N. envoy in the Great Lakes Region, has visited both Congolese president Joseph Kabila and CNDP rebel leader General Laurent Nkunda, attempting to chisel the outlines of a new peace in the region.

POLITICS-CHINA: Tibetan Movement May Dump ‘Middle Way’

Eight months after Tibet’s capital of Lhasa was rocked by violent anti-Chinese protests positions have hardened, casting gloom on prospects for progress on the Tibetan stalemate.

SRI LANKA: Gov't Celebrates Battle Gains in Tamil Areas

Sri Lankan national flags hoisted at important locations and posters depicting army offensives against the Tamil rebels are part of week-long celebrations ordered by the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse to mark its latest battlefield victories in the north of the island.

POLITICS-BANGLADESH: Uncertainty Grips Scheduled Elections

Parliamentary elections in Bangladesh, scheduled for Dec.18, are now slipping into uncertainty with former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia demanding that a state of emergency imposed by the military-backed, interim government be completely lifted first.

DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: Governance Still Failing

How can governance be improved to give development a chance in Africa? Political theorist Patrick Chabal believes a role has to be found for traditional methods of accountability to be used alongside formal systems recognised in the West.

POLITICS-EAST AFRICA: Love Thy Neighbour

Khartoum has long maintained a studious silence over its suspicions that the Kenyan government was assisting the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which governs the semi-autonomous south of Sudan to replenish its armament.

ECONOMY: Don’t Bank On Them

Public confidence in Belgian banks has eroded considerably over the past few months. A series of multi-billion euro rescue plans, reports of lavish executive bonuses and investigations into whether shareholders were misled about solvency levels have fuelled fears that the savings of the hard-pressed ordinary citizen are anything but safe.

GERMANY: Recreating the Experience of the Uprooted

The lighting is dim. The murmur of water can be heard, the ship’s horn blows and the gangway unfolds. The long journey of the German emigrant is about to begin.

MIDEAST: On Top of Humanitarian Disaster, A News Blackout

Israel has imposed a virtual news blackout on the Gaza Strip. For the last ten days no foreign journalists have been able to enter the besieged territory to report on the escalating humanitarian crisis caused by Israel's complete closure of Gaza's borders for the last two weeks.

EDUCATION-NEPAL: Increasing Budget Not Enough to Meet Goals

While the new Maoist government has dramatically increased the outlay for education in the annual budget to meet the goal of Education for All (EFA) by 2015, a visit to remote, mountainous Limi village in mid-western Nepal shows that the goal will be hard to reach.

CULTURE: Int'l Performing Arts Fest Spotlights Liberal Pakistan

Some 370 foreign actors, musicians, dancers and puppeteers have defied the warnings of their friends, families and governments to participate in an international performing arts festival in Lahore, cultural capital of the world’s ‘most dangerous country’.

EL SALVADOR: FMLN Starts Out Ahead

As the campaign gets underway, the left-wing Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) is the favourite in the polls for El Salvador’s March 2009 presidential elections.

ECONOMY: Scepticism Greets G20 Attempt to Make History

Leaders of the world's 20 biggest economies emerged from weekend crisis talks with an apparent sense of historical accomplishment but key audiences seemed sceptical.