RIGHTS: For Tens of Thousands, A Short and Brutal Life

"Child soldiers are ideal because they don't complain, they don't expect to be paid, and if you tell them to kill, they kill," a senior official in the National Army of Chad reportedly told a Human Rights Watch researcher.

DEATH PENALTY-ZAMBIA: Inmates Plead for Deliverance

The common prayer of those on Zambia’s jam-packed death row is for divine intervention to end their hell on earth and let the waiting hangman carry out his job speedily, according to a recently released inmate.

Q&A: The Public Image of Chile’s Post-Pinochet Military

"Chilean society does not want to forgive and forget; it wants justice" in human rights abuse cases, says historian and political scientist Claudio Fuentes, one of the authors of a new study that takes a look at how Chilean perceptions of the armed forces changed from 1991 to 2007.

RIGHTS-US: Guantanamo Trials Hit Setbacks

Key elements of the George W. Bush administration's anti-terrorist detention policies appear to be unraveling, according to human rights and legal advocates.

Q&A: "People Are Pedaling Faster to Stay in the Same Place"

In early May, Statistics Canada, the government's official number crunchers, released what was billed as a landmark report titled "Income Inequality and Redistribution in Canada: 1976 to 2004". The report was based on census data from the 1980s to 2005 and it analysed take-home pay and standards of living for families and individuals.

CHINA: Bowing in Grief, to Public Demand

The national mourning observed this week for victims of the Sichuan earthquake is the first public remembrance in modern China’s history ordered to commemorate ordinary people rather than political leaders.

DEVELOPMENT: Food Crisis Rippling Out Like a “Tsunami”

"A rolling tsunami of social unrest is underway as we speak - hungry people are desperate people capable of taking desperate actions. This tsunami is rapidly enveloping the global South, and it won't take much longer before it knocks at the door of the global North," warned Vicente Garcia-Delgado, the U.N. representative for CIVICUS, the world alliance for citizen participation.

POLITICS-US: The War on (Euphemism)

From the people who brought you the "war on terror" and the "axis of evil" comes a new verbal tonic for combating that amorphous emotion.

US/LATAM: Critics Fear Anti-Drug Aid Will Fuel Impunity

Funding for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan may be temporarily stalled in the U.S. Congress, but last week lawmakers here did approve 400 million dollars in spending for another controversial war, this one aimed primarily at cutting off the transport of illicit drugs from Latin America into the United States.

SPORTS-GERMANY: Women Take the Football Field

"Football is not a sport for women," Peco Bauwens, then president of the German Football Association, said in 1955, adding "we will never take this issue seriously."

TRADE: COMESA Summit in Balance Because of Zimbabwe Chaos

Zimbabwe, which is in a political and financial tailspin, has missed out on an opportunity to save some of its tattered international reputation. The Common Market for East and Southern Africa’s (COMESA) 13th summit would have taken place in the country’s north-eastern resort town of Victoria Falls but has been postponed indefinitely.

JAPAN/CHINA: Warming Ties

When China accepted Japan’s offer of expert teams to help with emergency relief, following last week’s devastating earthquake, it may have had more to do with improving ties between the Asian neighbours than with Japan’s expertise in handling such disasters.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Discovery to Remove DDT from Soil

Placing trays of carbon on soil contaminated with DDT eliminates up to 60 percent of this insecticide, a persistent organic pollutant, according to a study at the Autonomous University of Mexico.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Genetic Resources Debate Extended

Brazil's Environment Ministry decided for a second time to extend the period for public consultation on a bill about access to genetic resources, traditional knowledge and the distribution of related benefits.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Protest Against Biofuels

Tens of thousands of Argentines have called upon President Cristina Fernández to defend sustainability among the criteria for the production of biofuels.

Ecobreves – LATIN AMERICA: Rice Revolution Calls for Improved Varieties

The use of improved rice varieties and better cultivation practices will be at the core of a technological revolution proposed by rice growers in Latin America.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Hot Weather Feeds Fires

Honduras is facing an intense heat wave that is causing an average of six forest fires per day and a dense layer of smoke that has meant the temporary closing of the main airport terminals and rescheduling of flights.

CAMBODIA: Seeing Opportunity in Rising Food Prices

Cambodian government sees opportunity for this impoverished country in the global rise in food prices that could help turn the fortunes for its agrarian economy.

MIDEAST: Amid Rocket Attacks, Israel Ponders Peace

A rocket attack on the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon this week has again ignited calls in Israel for an invasion of Gaza, but Prime Minister Ehud Olmert still seems more inclined towards an Egyptian-mediated ceasefire proposal with Hamas in the coastal strip.

CLIMATE CHANGE-EUROPE: There's Money in Emissions

'Cap and trade' has become one of the stock phrases that one is almost guaranteed to hear at any European conference on climate change these days.

US/IRAQ: Soldier Refuses Tour, Citing “Stomach-Churning Horrors”

A U.S. Army soldier who served as a military journalist in Afghanistan, Japan, Europe and the Philippines announced Thursday his intent to refuse orders to deploy to Iraq.