BURMA: Earthquake Lets China Off the Hook

The outpouring of global sympathy in the aftermath of the deadly Sichuan earthquake has shifted the focus away from China’s role and influence in cyclone-stricken Burma, quieting critics.

TRADE-INDIA: 'WTO Market Access Proposal Unacceptable'

India has raised strong objections to the draft negotiating document on non-agricultural market access (NAMA) on trade in industrial products, released Monday by the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

VIETNAM: Infant Abandonment Worse Than Adoption Fraud?

While Vietnam has stopped its adoption agreement with the United States in reaction to an embassy report alleging corruption, baby selling and forced relinquishment by birth mothers, the question of abandoned children remains unaddressed.

POLITICS-US: Senate Passes No-Strings War Funding Bill

While the future commander of U.S. military operations throughout South Asia and the Middle East assured lawmakers Thursday that the situation in Iraq is continuing to improve, the U.S. Senate approved an additional 165 billion dollars today to fund wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan at least through next winter.

SOUTH AMERICA: Brazil Tries to Regain Initiative, at Summit

The formal creation of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) in the Brazilian capital Friday, where 12 heads of state and government will sign a treaty, highlights the differences between Brazil and Venezuela on the future of regional integration, say analysts.

MEDIA: Tierramerica Awarded Zayed Prize for the Environment

The specialised weekly news service on the environment and development, Tierramérica, was awarded the Zayed International Prize in the category of Environmental Action Leading to Positive Change in Society, which is granted by the United Arab Emirates.

Q&A: "The Poor Have Turned on the Poor"

Upwards of 40 people are said to have been killed and some 15,000 displaced in South Africa during more than a week of violence directed mainly against foreigners.

RIGHTS-ZIMBABWE: Ruling Party Terrorises Voters

"It’s a very traumatized community. Their crime on the 29th March election, at that polling station called Chaona, there were about 80 votes for the MDC and 15 votes for ZANU-PF. So that is the offence they committed. This is the price they are paying. And that is what Retired Major Mhandu was saying. ‘You will have to learn’. Not only were the victims killed, their parents were also beaten, their wives were also beaten, their children were also beaten, so it was a very frightening operation. The community is still traumatized. It’s very sad."

EUROPE: Most Countries Fail to Increase Aid

Over half of the European Union's 27 governments failed to increase the amount of aid they gave to poor countries between 2006 and last year, according to a new report.

MEXICO: Disappeared Oil Workers – Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Five workers and three pensioners from the Mexican state oil company PEMEX disappeared one year ago. A lawmaker suspects that they were detained by the army, but there are also signs that point to drug traffickers or the company’s own union.

POLITICS: Report Challenges Orthodoxy on Global Terror

A comprehensive new study from the Canadian research team that produced the Human Security Report in 2005 challenges the expert consensus that global terrorism is increasing.

MIDEAST: Can't Play, It Might Rain Rockets

Ruti Edri refers wryly to the upstairs floor of her home as 'The Museum'. It is an undisturbed and uninhabited space, seemingly frozen in time: the rooms are empty, the beds have no linen, the bathroom is unused, and there are no clothes in the cupboards. "We live downstairs," she says. "My children aren't prepared to come up here. They're too scared."

MEDIA-BANGLADESH: Making Waves Over Community Radio

For 15 years the Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication (BNNRC) campaigned for the introduction of community radio in the country, only to be turned down by successive, democratically-elected governments.

EL SALVADOR: Poor Eating Less While Food Prices Soar

Eating less is the only option left to the poorest of the poor in El Salvador, in the face of the steady rise in global food prices, which has had an impact on the domestic cost of staples like rice, beans, tortillas, milk, eggs and bread.

MEXICO-US: The Perverse Patent of the Yellow Bean

Patenting an invention in the United States and benefiting from the patent rights is, in theory, an incentive for innovation and scientific discovery. But in practice it can spur theft, as occurred with a variety of Mexican bean.

PARAGUAY: Women’s Cooperative Buys in Bulk to Beat Food Inflation

Making the old saying "cheaper by the dozen" their motto, a group of women in a poor neighbourhood of Asunción created a cooperative to buy food in bulk, in order to combat the rise in food prices.

Q&A: South Africa To Reconsider Its Trade Agreement With EU?

As a result of the free trade agreements with the European Union, called economic partnership agreements, regional integration in Southern Africa is in tatters (see accompanying article - link below). The question arises: what kind of integration would engender broad-based development?

CULTURE-US: Muslim Youth Try Humour to Rout Stereotypes

"There are almost 1.2 billion Muslim people in the world. And at least 15 of us are not terrorists. It could even be more than that. Maybe even a lot more," quipped Obaida Abdul-rahim, 28, owner of the Muslim t-shirt business Phatwa Factory.

EUROPE: In a Civil War over Subsidies

Few things cause tempers to flare up among governments on both sides of the English Channel more than the future of the European Union's massively expensive farm subsidies regime.

POLITICS-BANGLADESH: With More Leaders Arrested Democracy Retreats

As the military-backed interim government continues to arrest leaders of mainstream political parties on charges of corruption, hopes for early restoration of democracy in Bangladesh are receding.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: No Reconciliation Without Truth

Five years ago Ruku Acharya’s family was woken up in the middle of the night by Nepal army soldiers. They wrapped her husband Ram Prasad Acharya in a blanket and dragged him out of the house in Naubise, some 40 km from Kathmandu. He has not been seen since.