RIGHTS-US: NGO “Blacklist” Unfair and Arbitrary, Groups Say

In the name of "global war on terror", the U.S. government is waging war on non-governmental organisations by applying "shortsighted, undemocratic policies" that are "constraining the critical activities of the charitable and philanthropic sectors, stifling free speech, and ultimately impeding the fight against terrorism."

ENERGY: Solar Thermal Power Coming to a Boil

After emerging in 2006 from 15 years of hibernation, the solar thermal power industry experienced a surge in 2007, with 100 megawatts of new capacity coming online worldwide.

MEXICO: Prostitution Rings Flourish at all Levels

"Diamond VIP" class prostitutes, who are mainly from Eastern Europe, Argentina, Brazil or Cuba, can charge as much as 2,000 dollars in Mexico, while sex workers from southern Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador or Honduras earn a mere 15 dollars. The price indicates which mafia is handling the women.

POPULATION-PHILIPPINES: Catholic Church Damns The Pill

As World Population Day was being marked on Jul. 11, Tess and Andy were attending a family planning seminar as a requirement for their forthcoming wedding. It turned out to be window into one of the major problems besetting the Philippine population programme.

Q&A: 'Guam Matters, Not Guamanian Rights'

In this second of a two-part interview, IPS spoke with Julian Aguon - whose homeland of Guam is soon to receive thousands more U.S. troops - regarding the island’s economic problems, why Guam matters to Washington and the value of solidarity links between activists who are divided by oceans, yet united in a cause.

Q&A: How Not to Resettle IDPs

Operation Rudi Nyumbani (Return Home, in Kiswahili), designed to help about 350,000 IDPs living in camps across the country go back to their homes and farms has achieved its primary objective, at least according to the Kenyan government. Officials claim that most of the camps are closed and only 30,000 are living in the few that remain, but these numbers are disputed by independent analysts.

ENVIRONMENT-EUROPE: No Consensus on Saving the Soil

Soil is one of the few major areas of environmental policy to remain largely outside the purview of European Union law. Humanity's survival might hinge on whether crops can continue to be grown in soil, yet just nine of the EU's 27 countries have deemed soil protection a pressing enough issue to have introduced legislation on the subject at national level.

Q&A: "Humans Are Now the Primary Drivers of Our Climate"

Humanity faces enormous challenges at the start of the 21st century, says Sir David King, Britain's former chief scientific advisor and now director of the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University in England.

MAURITIUS: Workers Urged to Work Nightshift in ‘24-Seven Economy’

In this era of technological progress people should be working less, not more, says Ashok Subron.

POLITICS-US: New Spying Law Quickly Challenged

Civil liberties advocates have lost no time in asking a federal court to stop the government from conducting surveillance under the new wiretapping law passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush last week.

TRINIDAD: Constitutional Reform or Diversionary Tactic?

Prime Minister Patrick Manning expected the flack.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Opposition Leader Unfazed by New Sodomy Charges

Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's de facto opposition leader, is locked in a political battle of wills with ruling coalition leaders and determined to wrest federal control despite fresh charges of sodomy brought up against him.

CAMBODIA: Scribe's Murder, Temple Dispute Muddy Polls

Cambodia has entered the final week of its national election campaign shocked by the murder of a well-known journalist and facing an increasingly tense standoff with Thailand over a disputed 11th century Hindu temple.

CANADA: Gov’t Slow to Defend Guantanamo’s “Child Soldier”

He remains the youngest prisoner still languishing in the U.S.-run detention centre at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. While Australia and Britain have fought to have al Qaeda-linked detainees who were respective citizens of their countries returned home to face domestic legal processes, the Canadian government has not done the same for its own citizen, Omar Khadr.

RIGHTS-US: Hamdan Case to Test Military Tribunals

As the long-awaited trial of Guantanamo detainee Salim Ahmed Hamdan opened this week at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, human rights groups filed suit demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) produce documents related to the U.S. government's ghost detention, torture, and extraordinary rendition programme.

PAKISTAN: Taliban Move In On Peshawar?

Hundreds of families have left posh Hayatabad Township amid escalating fear that this Pakistani border city is set to fall into the hands of the Taliban.

NORWAY: Make Africa’s Tragedies Comic

How do you wake up comfortable Norwegians to the distressing realities of child deaths and maternal health in developing countries? Through the comic books they so love.

TRADE: Realpolitik Takes Over

When a new round of world trade talks was launched in Doha almost seven years ago, there was no shortage of rhetoric about the need for global cooperation to bring tangible benefits for the poor and the vulnerable. "International trade can play a major role in the promotion of economic development and the alleviation of poverty," noted the official declaration issued by the World Trade Organisation as its conference in the Qatari capital concluded.

Q&A: ''Guam Remains Functionally a US Colony''

The tiny island of Guam - officially an unincorporated territory of the United States - is soon to be inundated with thousands more U.S. military personnel as the world’s superpower realigns its forces. In this first of a two-part interview, indigenous Guamanian activist Julian Aguon spoke with IPS on issues surrounding the build-up.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Amazon Biodiesel for Electricity

Thousands of communities throughout the Brazilian Amazon will have access to electricity as the result of biodiesel made from the oil of the tucumán, a native palm tree.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Capital Is Home to 320 Bird Species

The metropolitan area of Caracas, with 1.5 million vehicles and four million people who generate five million kilograms of waste per day, continues to serve as habitat for 320 species of birds, a quarter of the national total.