RIGHTS-US: Critics See Vendetta in Al-Arian’s Legal Limbo

Palestinian activist and former university professor Sami Al-Arian was arraigned Monday in U.S. federal court on two counts of criminal contempt for his refusal to testify in a grand jury investigation of a Northern Virginia Muslim think-tank.

ISRAEL: Silicon Wadi Shows the Way

Alex Argov is now onto his fifth high-tech company. A serial entrepreneur, Argov's latest product is an Internet-based telephone that scrambles messages, making it almost impossible to eavesdrop on a conversation.

NORWAY: Farmed Salmon In Hot Water

Environmental damage, diseases or workers rights abuses are common at fish farms in Chile and Canada operated by the world's largest salmon company, according to activists.

ECONOMY: Little Comfort in U.S. Manufacturing Spurt

An unexpected spurt in manufacturing activity is doing little to dispel the gloom that envelopes the U.S. economy midway through the year.

POLITICS: Poll Backs Greater U.N. Role in Mideast Peace

A majority of global publics say their governments should "not take either side" in the Israeli- Palestinian conflict, instead supporting a call for the United Nations to play a greater role in regional peace, according to a new international poll of 18 countries released here Tuesday.

ENERGY: IEA Sees Oil Demand Moderating, Defends Speculators

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has cut its five-year forecast for global oil demand, saying high prices are forcing consumers to leave gas-guzzling vehicles in the garage.

INDIA/US: Singh Pushes For Nuclear Deal

India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has plunged his Congress party and the country’s ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government into a grave crisis by staking his personal reputation on pushing through a U.S.-India civilian nuclear cooperation deal.

ZIMBABWE: Dim Outlook for Power-Sharing Deal

Ramped up pressure from the West, especially the U.S. and Britain, is having a perverse effect on African leaders gathered in Egypt. The harder the West leans, the more they circle the wagons around Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe.

CHINA: ‘Within a Generation Beijing Will Cease to Exist’

Few in the Chinese capital are aware of the price their city would pay for staging the world’s first ‘green Olympics’ in August. The fabulous capital of Chinese emperors and the epitome of modern China’s ambitions is being driven to extinction by its chronic lack of water. And the Olympic games are expediting the city’s slow demise, according to experts.

SOMALIA: Fighting for an Education

"I like to study, even though there is fighting everywhere in Mogadishu," says Bashir Gedi, a 15-year-old student in the Somalian capital. "Education is more important for me because if I can get an education, then I can help rebuild my country."

PARAGUAY: Fourteen Years in the Wilderness

Indigenous Enxet people are still waiting for the restitution of their ancestral lands, nearly three years after the Paraguayan state was convicted by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of usurping territory and violating basic rights. Meanwhile, they endure overwhelming poverty.

MIDEAST: Israel Ponders the Price of Prisoners

An impending prisoner swap between Israel and Hezbollah has ignited a debate over the price Israel should be prepared to pay to get back soldiers who have fallen into captivity, and what this says about the country's moral fibre.

ZIMBABWE: Tobacco Sector Up in Smoke as State Violence Escalates

The perennial political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe has wreaked havoc with the country’s once thriving tobacco industry.

CARIBBEAN: Regional Unity Losing Steam, Critics Say

Caribbean Community (Caricom) leaders are gearing up for their annual summit in Antigua early next month amid worrying signs that after 35 years, the regional integration movement has not progressed beyond a "community of sovereign states".

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Bleak Future For the Country's Water

Earlier this month, a private pilot reported to a Johannesburg radio station that while flying over the Kruger National Park, in the far eastern reaches of the country, he had spotted the carcasses of several large crocodiles floating in the Olifants River. This was unusual because the crocodiles within the country's largest game reserve are protected from hunting.

VIETNAM: Mekong Delta Farmers on Bird Flu Alert

The bustling city of Can Tho is the capital of southern Vietnam’s fertile Mekong Delta and one of the country’s two main rice baskets. Good food in abundance makes it an ideal place to raise ducks and chickens, but this also means it is also one of the most high-risk areas in the country for bird flu.

MIGRATION-GERMANY: Some Uneasy Over New Citizenship Test

What are the colours of the German flag and how are they displayed? Who composed the Ninth Symphony and the "Ode to Joy"? What is the population of this country?

AFRICA: Artists Reflect on World Through Toys With A Difference

It’s not child’s play to showcase ‘‘toys’’ made by artists reflecting on a changing world in African countries. Miniature construction vehicles from Malawi, next to a diminutive Nelson Mandela presiding over South Africa’s first democratic parliament, jostle for space with the Belgian comic hero Tintin on safari in the Congo – all captured in carefully crafted wood.

Ecobreves – MERCOSUR: How to Adapt to Climate Change

The vulnerabilities of the Southern Cone Common Market (Mercosur) to climate change were the subject of debate by meteorologists and environmentalists gathered in the Argentine capital.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Government Sets Sights on Wind Energy

The Honduran government plans to sign a contract at year end with a U.S. company to generate the first 100 megawatts of wind energy in this Central American country, in the southern region of Cerro de Hula.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: A Promise Not to Buy Amazon Soybeans

Supermarket chains and the vegetable oil industry in Brazil have promised for another year not to purchase soybeans grown in recently deforested areas of the Amazon.