DEVELOPMENT-AFRICA: "Political Will" Needed To Address Food Crisis

The need to give agriculture top billing on governmental "to do" lists has been highlighted at a telephone briefing to discuss the current food crisis as it affects Africa.

BIODIVERSITY-US: Loggers, Owls Not Out of the Woods Yet

Some wounds heal slowly, and the wounds of the logging community on the U.S. northwest Pacific coast are still smarting nearly 20 years after measures to protect a threatened species devastated their industry.

IRAN: Can P5+1 Offer Break the Nuclear Stalemate?

The P5+1 - the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany - will present Tehran with a secret incentive package in the next few days to convince Iran to suspend its enrichment programme and enter negotiations.

BURMA: UN Aid Arrives, But Many Doors Still Closed

As the first U.N. relief planes landed in Yangon early on Thursday, humanitarian officials complained that the aid flowing into cyclone-devastated Burma (Myanmar) is still encountering bureaucratic obstacles that are threatening the lives of desperate survivors.

TURKEY: Ruling Party Challenges Closure

Facing closure by the Constitutional Court, Turkey's Islamic-rooted governing party has launched its formal defence, claiming that the case against the highly popular party and its leaders has no legal basis, and that it defends secularism despite charges that it plans to turn the country into an Islamic state.

CHINA: Buying Farmland Abroad, Ensuring Food Security

Rattled by rapidly rising global grain prices, China is looking at strategies to ensure long-term food security for its 1.3 billion people such as procuring farmland overseas and opposing the formation of any international grain price- fixing monopolies.

INDIA: Gov&#39t Leaves Farmers to the Mercy of Moneylenders

There is no let up in farmers’ suicides, say activists urging the Indian government to extend its loan waiver offer to more agriculturists in western Maharashtra and central Madhya Pradesh states where the agrarian crisis is most severe.

POLITICS-US: Lawmakers Seek Probe of “Media Generals”

As U.S. television networks continue their silence about their use of retired military officers to "sell" progress in Iraq, members of the U.S. House of Representatives are calling on the Defence Department Inspector General to investigate the Pentagon-sponsored public relations effort.

MIDEAST: Israelis Believe Another War Is Coming

As Israel marks its 60th anniversary, Israelis are deeply pessimistic about the prospects of peace with their neighbours, with an overwhelming majority believing they will be at war again within the next five years.

EUROPE: Still without a ‘Coherent’ Human Rights Policy

More than 50 years after its inception, the European Union continues to lack a "coherent and hard-hitting policy to uphold and promote human rights around the world", a new report by the EU's only directly-elected body has complained.

NEPAL: Poor Planning Behind Rising Food Prices

As the sole breadwinner in a family of five, Maya Tamang watches her food budget carefully. And she can vouch best for the way many items are steadily disappearing from the table as food prices spiral steadily.

INDIA/US: Nuke Deal Set to Time Out

Faced with continuing domestic opposition to the United States-India nuclear cooperation deal, the Indian government has launched 'one last push' to complete negotiations before the window of opportunity slams shut.

POLITICS-US: Not With a Bang, But With a Whimper…

After the final votes were counted in the two largest remaining primaries for the Democratic nomination for the presidency, the long battle may finally be drawing to a close as Sen. Barack Obama has emerged as a clear frontrunner over Sen. Hillary Clinton with only six primaries remaining.

RIGHTS-US: Abuse Claims Mount Against Pentagon, Contractors

As human rights groups demanded the release of a report on a long-running investigation of the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the unlawful interrogations of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantánamo Bay, new torture claims were leveled at two U.S. military contractors by a former Abu Ghraib "ghost" detainee who was wrongly imprisoned and later released without charge.

SCIENCE-US: Evolution Under Siege in Classrooms

Darwinian evolution - the 19th century geologist and naturalist Charles Darwin's acclaimed theory of natural selection of species and the origins of humanity - is apparently still a source of controversy, most recently here in the state of Florida.

JAPAN/CHINA: Tibet Haunts Hu Jintao's 'Historic' Visit

Although the Japanese government is keen not to embarrass Chinese President Hu Jintao, while here on a ‘historic’ five-day state visit, the Tibet question does not seem to go away.

MEXICO: Pemex Oozes Corruption

Funds belonging to the Mexican state oil monopoly, Pemex, have paid in recent years for liposuction treatment for the wife of the company’s chief executive, a presidential candidate’s campaign, contracts with firms facing legal action, and the whims of trade union leaders who are not required to account for their expenses.

CHINA: Talks With Dalai Lama's Envoys Leading Nowhere

With Tibetan unrest smouldering and international pressure building up on Beijing to negotiate with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, Chinese officials have met with his envoys and pledged more talks in the future.

DEATH PENALTY-PAKISTAN: Stonings – Sign of Taliban Resurgence

The Taliban have confirmed that their sympathisers have executed by stoning a runaway couple in this remote tribal region bordering Afghanistan - their first known use here of this long drawn-out death sentence for a so-called "honour crime".

DEATH PENALTY: Another Mexican on His Way to the Scaffold in US

The Mexican government’s aggressive strategy to prevent the execution of Mexican citizens in the United States has so far failed to bear fruit, despite a landmark international court ruling.

POLITICS-US: Is Immigration Off the Table in Election 2008?

These days, while you can still pick up a newspaper or turn on a radio or television gabfest and read, hear and see the issue of immigration batted around, it has become less of a hot-button political issue in the United States.