Q&A: 'All Political Violence Is Not Terrorism'

Gustavo Gorriti, author of The Shining Path, which examines both the insurrection and the government's response in the internal war in Peru, has just reprinted his book. And that has raised some questions about terrorism today.

POLITICS-US: Faith in a Time of War

From Republican contender John McCain's Jul. 25 meeting with the Dalai Lama in Aspen, Colorado to Democratic candidate Barack Obama's visit to Jerusalem's Western Wall the same day, the intersection of religion, politics and the "war on terror" has been a recurrent theme in the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

POLITICS-BANGLADESH: Truth Commission Flawed Say Critics

As President Iajuddin Ahmed’s newly formed Truth and Accountability Commission became functional this week, it ran into criticism from experts as conceptually flawed.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Recycled Plastic for Solar Water Heaters

An apparatus made from discarded plastic containers provides hot water, making use of the abundant solar energy of the southern Brazilian state of Paraná.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Date Set for Withdrawal of Canadian Mine

The Honduran mining development agency announced the withdrawal, in one year, of the Entremares mining company, a subsidiary of Canada’s Glamis Gold, which launched operations in this country in 2000.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Illegal Logging in Native Forest Under Investigation

The investigative police in Chile are looking into a report of illegal logging in a native forest for the construction of a road to a dam on the Cuervo River, a project of the Energía Austral company.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Caribbean Brings Garbage to Shores of Tortuga Island

The sea is the vehicle for pollution of the islands of the southern Caribbean, even the nearly uninhabited ones like La Tortuga, located 150 kilometers northeast of the Venezuelan capital.

ENVIRONMENT-THAILAND: River Diversion Plans For Whose Benefit?

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej’s plans to divert water from rivers in neighbouring Laos to help feed agricultural production faces stiff opposition from activists, who argue the ambitious projects could threaten the environment and local people’s lives.

TRADE-INDIA: Mixed Feelings Over WTO Failure in Geneva

The collapse of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations at Geneva has left Indian analysts with mixed feelings. One view is that no deal is better than a bad one. The other is that because the alternative for developing countries is far worse, India should have been more flexible.

CHINA: Hu Plea Not to Politicise Beijing Olympics

A gathering storm of international criticism over China’s security crackdown and limits on free speech while hosting the Olympic games this month has prompted Chinese president and communist party chief Hu Jintao to step in with a plea not to politicise the sporting event.

Q&A: “The Momentum of AIDS Prevention Is Waning”

Mexican virologist Dr. Luis Soto Ramírez, co-chair of the 17th International AIDS Conference, which opens Sunday in the Mexican capital, says that ramping up prevention efforts is the most urgent step to be taken in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Q&A: "Longing for the Past Yet Belonging to the Present"

Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, thousands of intellectuals, activists and poets have left Iran, many fleeing to Europe and the United States. A new book brings together the work of 18 Iranian poets from this diaspora to share their experiences with a wider audience.

AGRICULTURE: The Climate Costs of a Glass of Milk

A simple glass of milk on the breakfast table can carry high environmental costs. Because of this, some farmers and scientists are looking for ways to reduce the impacts of agriculture and livestock, which are responsible for 12 to 14 percent of global emissions of greenhouse gases.

PHILIPPINES: ‘Church Ban on Contraceptives Adding to Poverty’

A growing and heated debate in this predominantly Catholic country revolves around the church’s uncompromising stance against the use of contraceptive devices that is said to be contributing to poverty and affecting the quality of life for many Filipinos.

POPULATION-KENYA: Women's Choices Change Cities

This year the world reaches an invisible but momentous milestone: for the first time in history, more than half its population will be living in urban areas. In Kenya, rapid urbanisation is creating deepening poverty among urban residents.

Q&A: 'Israel In a Weak Parallel with Apartheid'

In Israel's control of Palestinian movement, Dennis Davis sees a "stark" parallel with the old, apartheid South Africa of which he was an outspoken critic. But Davis, a Justice of the High Court in Cape Town and a prominent member of the South African Jewish community, strongly rejects those who "run from that into an immediate conclusion" that Israel is an apartheid state.

THEATRE-US: Native Son Rising

Edwina, played by de'Adre Aziza, an attractive young lady in the church choir, has her eye on "the Youth" (Daniel Breaker). She informs him, "And after we marry and you've got a job in the corporate sector, you'll buy me a sprawling two-storey house fulla African sculptures from tribes we know nothing about, kente cloth couch covers, and Malcolm X commemorative plates lining the walls of our airy, peach-coloured breakfast nook?"

BOOKS-US: A Path Out of the Wilderness

Helena Cobban's new book, "Re-Engage! America and the World After Bush", is not aimed at a target audience of officials, policy wonks and Washington elite think-tank types. So much is clear from a tagline running across the bottom of the cover: "An informed citizen's guide."

ISRAEL: Exit Olmert, At Last

The announcement Wednesday evening by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that he will resign as soon as his ruling Kadima party has chosen a new leader in mid-September did not shock Israel's political establishment, but it did crystallise the political timetable: Israel will either have a new prime minister by early November or Israelis will be back at the polls for a general election in the first few months of next year.

Q&A: "Cancun’s White Sands Wouldn’t Exist Without Coral"

"There would be no white sands on the beaches of Cancún without the Mesoamerican reef," Professor Roberto Iglesias-Prieto, a marine ecophysiologist working at the Institute of Marine Sciences and Limnology of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, told Tierramérica.

CHINA/SUDAN: Move to Get Al-Bashir Off Genocide Charges

China has indicated keenness to have the case for indictment of Sudanese president Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir on charges of genocide suspended, saying the allegations are complicating peace negotiations in the war-torn Darfur region.