POLITICS: Cluster Bomb Ban Passed Over U.S. Objections

After more than a year of contentious negotiations, diplomats from 109 countries meeting in Dublin agreed Wednesday on a treaty that would outlaw the use, production, transfer, and stockpiling of cluster munitions, which have killed and injured thousands of civilians over the last four decades.

Q&A: "Climate Change Is Like Tossing a Pebble in a Calm Pond"

In his new book "The Great Warming, Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilisations", author and archaeologist Dr. Brian Fagan peers into the past to offer a prologue to the growing climate crisis.

DEVELOPMENT: Japan's More Is Not Enough

Japan is receiving kudos for what UN Deputy Secretary General Asha-Rose Migiro has called the country's "strong commitment to Africa's development."

LATIN AMERICA: The Legacy of May ’68

Nearly 190 years after the storming of the Bastille, Zhou En-lai, premier of China from 1949 to his death in 1976, said it was "too soon to tell," when asked about the significance of the French Revolution. Perhaps the same can be said of May 1968.

DEVELOPMENT: Japan Makes a New Push Towards Africa

African leaders are seeking an increase in official development assistance (ODA) and a boost to trade and investment.

RIGHTS-JAMAICA: Bad Place to Be Gay Just Got Worse

Jamaican Prime Minister Bruce Golding has never been shy about his position on homosexuality.

CULTURE-PAKISTAN: Afghan Refugee Poets Behind Pashto Revival

Afghanistan’s tumultuous history of the last three decades is behind the incredible popularity of poetry in Pashto, the language of the majority Pakhtoons in Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province (NWFP).

ECONOMY-CAMBODIA: Resource Curse or Blessing?

Cambodia is facing a natural resource boom, prompting donors and non-government organisations (NGOs) to warn that without measures to improve financial transparency, promote better governance and curb corruption, the potential windfall could be squandered.

POLITICS-US: McCain’s “Agents of Inconvenience”

As John McCain launched his presidential bid in 2007, he faced a considerable challenge to mobilise support among social conservatives within the Republican Party.

TANZANIA: Running Water Remains a Pipe Dream for Many

Juma Membe is a doorstep salesman with a commodity no one in his poor Dar es Salaam neighbourhood can refuse. Every inch of space in his handcart is occupied with canary yellow jerry cans of safe drinking water ready for home delivery.

Q&A: "We Are Certainly Making Progress, But It's Slow"

When it comes to getting water supplies in Dar es Salaam, it's too expensive to be poor.

CORRECTED REPEAT*/POLITICS: US-Iraq Deals Overshadowed by Rising Concerns

Iraqi parliamentarians are increasingly concerned that they are being left out of talks between Iraqi and U.S. officials over a strategic deal to determine the future relationship between the two countries, at a time when the U.S. Congress failed to include a provision in a bill to fund the Iraq and Afghan wars last week to restrict President George W. Bush's authority to sign such deals.

EL SALVADOR: Violence Imposes Huge Economic Burden

Medical care for victims, protection of property and restoring material damages caused by the high level of crime in El Salvador take up a large proportion of state resources, while the authorities are failing to come up with a solution for the rising tide of violence.

POLITICS-PAKISTAN: Violence Clouds Peace Prospects

Within a day of a controversial peace deal signed between the provincial government in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Islamic fighters in Swat, a journalist was shot dead in neighbouring Bajaur Agency ruled directly by the Pakistan government last week.

LABOUR: Atlantic Alliance Seeks Equal Footing with Global Firms

New moves to form the first transatlantic union could supersede the conventional view that while business is global, labour remains mired in local preoccupations.

LATIN AMERICA: Governing Leftist Parties Discuss ‘Change of Era’

Supporting leftwing parties in government, strengthening democracy, redirecting the state towards its role in redistributing resources and promoting Latin American integration were major points of agreement at the 14th Sao Paulo Forum, which took place in the Uruguayan capital.

MIDEAST: A Quick Guide to Some Stumbling Blocks

Israel and Syria recently announced the renewal of talks, with the aim of reaching a comprehensive peace agreement. For now, the talks, which are being mediated by Turkey, are indirect and are aimed at preparing the groundwork for full and direct negotiations. For a peace treaty to be reached, the sides will have to successfully negotiate a series of issues.

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Suffer the Little Children

Located high in the Drakensburg Mountains of the Eastern Cape Province in South Africa, Sterkspruit is a picturesque rural area that includes several tribal villages. In the midst of this natural beauty, however, a tragedy has been unfolding over recent months.

GUYANA: Officials Implicated in Death Squad Scandal

Neither party has ever sought to hide their highly interlinked relationship, based to a large extent on symbiosis and mutual convenience.

RIGHTS-JAPAN: Calls for Peace Echo at Children's Forum

In a fittingly solemn gesture of peace and renewal, children and adults belonging to different faiths offered flowers and prayers, Monday, for the thousands of people who became the first ever victims of a nuclear bombing in this city 63 years ago.

DEATH PENALTY-US: Charges of Racism Offer New Evidence

Race played a "real" role in deciding who was sentenced to death in hundreds of capital trials over a seven-year period in one Texas county, according to new academic research to be published shortly.