SRI LANKA: Help For Embattled Civilians Missing

An estimated 230,000 people are in dire need of assistance in the northern areas of Sri Lanka that remain under the control of Tamil separatist rebels, according to international humanitarian agencies.

PAKISTAN: ‘Militants Are Not Taliban, We Are’

The world knows the Taliban as armed fighters who have unleashed a wave of violence in Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan including devastating suicide bomb attacks, the most recent on the luxurious Marriot Hotel in high-security Islamabad last week.

POLITICS: Mideast Peace-Making Quartet Gets Flunking Grade

A new report from several international aid organisations blasts the Quartet, an international group assembled to facilitate the Middle East peace process, for failing to meet their goals in advancing a lasting peace between Israel and Palestinians.

RIGHTS: Oil Companies’ “Self-Policing” a Dismal Failure

The intersection of human rights, the environment and corporate responsibility was highlighted today at a Capitol Hill hearing featuring activists from Burma and Nigeria who underlined the failure to date of "voluntary" controls over major oil companies operating in their countries.

ENVIRONMENT: No Hope for MDGs Without Climate Plan

With 2.6 billion of the world's poor affected daily by climate change, the linkages between environment, health and poverty cannot be questioned any longer, U.N. experts say.

ARGENTINA: Imprisoned Paraguayan Activists on Hunger Strike

Six rural activists from Paraguay who are in prison in Argentina have been on a hunger strike since Aug. 15 to protest what they claim is their "unjust detention" carried out with the "complicity" of the Argentine government.

RIGHTS-US: Court Holds Back Davis's Executioners

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a temporary stay of execution for Georgia death row inmate Troy Anthony Davis, less than two hours before he was scheduled to die by lethal injection Tuesday night.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Aso Has Dragons to Slay Before Calling Polls

Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso has little more than personal charisma to carry out his main task of leading the venerable Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) into an election that will sorely test the conservative party's 50-year grip on power.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: ‘Inter-Country Child Adoption Policy Weak’

When reports in the Nepali and international media exposed a market in orphans, and the taking away from this country of children without the consent of biological parents, the government responded with a ban on inter-country adoptions.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: Blazing a Trail For Women Politicians

You could spot her easily in the evening newscasts: the only woman among the grey-suited men daily accosted by reporters as they emerged, tense and tight-lipped, from the closed-door meetings.

SOUTH AFRICA: Nurse Shortage Cripples Health System

In the impoverished informal settlement of Du Noon, 20 kilometres north of Cape Town, sick residents rely on a single clinic staffed by six nurses to meet their health needs.

POLITICS-US: No Bailout for Ailing Peace Corps

As the U.S. government continues its planning for a 700-billion-dollar bailout of the financial sector, the Peace Corps - one of the United States' most successful foreign policy programmes - is being cut back due to a budget shortfall of 18 million dollars.

Q&A: 'Corruption Nourishes Poverty'

A new report by Transparency International (TI) lashes out at some of the world's poorest countries for an "ongoing humanitarian disaster", and deplores the wealthiest for not doing enough to stem graft.

SOUTH AFRICA: High Noon as Mbeki, 11 Cabinet Members Resign

South Africa has been in the grip of political drama for the past two years, with high-profile power mongering culminating this week in the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki on the instruction of the ruling party, the African National Congress (ANC), with a significant number of his cabinet following suit.

Q&A: "Haiti Is Going From Catastrophe to Catastrophe"

Peasant leader Chavannes Jean-Baptiste has been at the forefront of the struggles of Haiti's peasants for over 35 years. Born in the village of Papay in Haiti's Plateau Central, Jean-Baptiste helped found the Mouvman Peyizan Papay (MPP) peasant union as well as the Mouvman Peyizan Nasyonal Kongre Papay (MPNKP), the latter a 200,000-member national congress of peasant farmers and activists.

KENYA: Tea Market Tumultuous as Trading Partners Change

Tea used to be Kenya’s major cash crop earner but ever since the world’s largest consumer of tea, Pakistan, entered into a free trade agreement with seven of its Asian neighbours, the local tea industry has been haemorrhaging.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: No Military Solutions to Suicide Bombings

Political analysts have long been warning the United States and Pakistan governments that there are no easy military solutions in prosecuting the global ‘war on terror’ which may now have become inextricable from ‘home-grown’ militancy.

LATIN AMERICA: Native Groups Express Solidarity with Bolivian Leader

Indigenous organisations from several countries in Latin America declared their solidarity with Bolivian President Evo Morales with respect to the crisis in his country, and are preparing a major gathering in La Paz, Bolivia within the next few weeks.

MEDIA: Lula a "Tireless Advocate" for the Poor and Landless

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who rose from a poor childhood to lead a growing economic powerhouse that has placed the ideal of inclusive prosperity at the centre of its development policies, received the Inter Press Service (IPS) International Achievement Award 2008 Monday.

RIGHTS-SENEGAL: Street Children at Risk of Exploitation

The Senegalese capital, Dakar, is filled with street children from villages in Guinea Bissau. These boys from Senegal's southern neighbour - aged anywhere between four and twelve - have been sent by their families to study the Koran, but many are getting very little education.

ENVIRONMENT: Push for Biofuels Losing Energy

The European Union's only directly elected body has urged that a contentious target for using agricultural crops to meet one-tenth of the bloc's transport demands should be reduced.