ECONOMY-US: Activists Target Corporate Chiefs' Tax Subsidies

U.S. taxpayers shell out 20 billion dollars a year to pad business chiefs' earnings and to prop up the world's most lopsided corporate pay scales, say activists seeking to highlight inequality in this election year.

Q&A: A Holiday in Iran

When Michelle May, an avid traveler, returned to New York's John F. Kennedy airport after a seven-week trip to Iran this summer, she says she was closely questioned and her luggage searched after officials read on her customs card that she had been to the Islamic Republic.

PAKISTAN: Border Villages Rise Up Against Taliban

"We are trend-setters. Others are following us," boasts Rauf Khan, mayor of Pakistan’s Buner district, where villagers killed six militants in the Dara Shalbandi area on Aug. 14.

TRADE-KENYA: British Imports Losing Their Appeal

When Kenya purchased Toyota vehicles for its military forces, instead of the all-pervasive Land Rover, it signalled a seismic change - in effect ending the most favoured status enjoyed by imports sourced from its erstwhile colonial master the United Kingdom.

MALAYSIA: Anwar Needs Huge Win in Crucial By-Election

All eyes in Malaysia and beyond are trained on this constituency of 58,000 voters in mainland Penang, the scene of a pivotal by-election on Tuesday that could determine if an opposition alliance can press ahead with its plan to take over the federal government in the coming weeks.

ECUADOR: President “Stabbed In the Back” by Church Over Constitution

The campaign for the Sept. 28 referendum on Ecuador’s newly rewritten constitution has got under way, with fierce arguments between the document's supporters and opponents.

TRADE-CARIBBEAN: EU Pact Hit by Last-Minute Revolt

Eight months after congratulating themselves for having become the first region within the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) grouping to conclude negotiations with the European Union on a new trade and economic pact, Caribbean leaders are getting cold feet as the time draws near to affix their signatures to the document.

ETHIOPIA: Choosing Among One's Own Amid Food Crisis

The global food crisis has forced families to make grievous choices. When Mulu Baboche travelled from the Ethiopian capital to visit her home town in the drought-stricken southern countryside, she found her brother weakened, his animals emaciated and his nine children wilting from hunger.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Hard Times Continue As Talks Drag On

There was jubilation at Gokwe Centre in Zimbabwe's Midlands province when the Herald newspaper published a story headlined "Deal Sealed" on August 13 - a clear indication of the hopes Zimbabweans have pinned on the deadlocked talks over power-sharing between ZANU-PF and the two MDC formations.

CHINA: The Air Hasn’t Quite Cleared

While China's dramatic last-minute measures to cut pollution during the Beijing Olympics grabbed headlines, a little publicised Norwegian project in Guizhou province shows just how difficult it will be to make lasting changes.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: More Traffic Restrictions, Better Air Quality

The inclusion of Saturdays in the Mexican capital's program for limiting the circulation of certain cars to certain days has made a notable improvement in air quality.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Justice Orders Demolition of Embankment in Wetland Preserve

The Forestal Andina company received an order from the justice department of the northern Argentine province of Corrientes to demolish immediately the 27-kilometer embankment it built in the Esteros del Iberá ecological preserve.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Universities Commit to the Environment

The 20 universities in Honduras signed an environmental pledge on Aug. 18 that includes reforms in their programs and greater participation in managing threatening situations, research and policies.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: São Paulo Sets Climate Change Goals

The city government of São Paulo, Brazil's most populous city, has set a goal to reduce municipal emissions of greenhouse gases by 30 percent, with a deadline of 2012 -- ahead of the federal government's target date.

CHINA: Millennium Olympics?

As the curtain falls on the Beijing Olympics, the race is on to define the legacy of one of the most controversial games in history. For the host country, these are the "millennium games", which herald the dawn of the ‘Asian century’ where China reigns supreme.

CZECH REPUBLIC: Georgia Sets Off an Old Debate

The coinciding of military confrontation between Russia and Georgia and the 40th anniversary of the brutal crushing of the 'Prague Spring' in 1968 in what was Czechoslovakia has triggered a debate on whether a comparison between the two events is justified.

Q&A: “Amazonas State Is in the Environmental Vanguard”

The Brazilian state of Amazonas is "a quarry of ideas and creativity" and is in the vanguard for having preserved 98 percent of its native forests, paying for environmental services, and enacting the pioneering Climate Change Act, says Nadia D'Ávila Ferreira, the state's secretary for the environment and sustainable development.

INDIA/US: Suppliers' Group Stalls Nuclear Deal

Dashing hopes that the United States-India nuclear cooperation deal would sail through the Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG), a two-day meeting in Vienna of the 45-nation association has failed to produce a consensus on a U.S. drafted text.

Q&A: Finding New Ways To Reach Farmers

When beekeepers in central and eastern Uganda got vouchers to go online at internet cafés, their most popular query was how to treat bee stings. A local agricultural information provider replied in Baganda, the local language.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Towards Parity For Women In Politics

In a highly contested election marred by violence and held under very difficult economic conditions, Zimbabwean women politicians defied the odds to participate as candidates in the March 29th elections.

MEXICO: Anti-Crime Pledges – This Time with Teeth?

In response to the growing public outcry over Mexico’s soaring crime rates, the president, state governors, lawmakers and judges agreed to a broad new anti-crime plan, characterised by a number of old promises, but also by one novel aspect: precise timeframes, targets and follow-up mechanisms.