Book Plots J Street’s Coordinates on Map of U.S.-Israel Politics

The "pro-Israel, pro-peace" lobby group J Street has drawn a lot of attention in its short lifetime. Despite decidedly moderate politics, its leader, Jeremy Ben-Ami, has repeatedly been the centre of controversy, and the group's very existence has stirred debate in the U.S. Jewish community about the boundaries of acceptable discourse on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

EL SALVADOR: New Child Protection Law Starved of Resources

Lack of budget resources and political will, according to activists, is preventing fulfilment of the provisions of El Salvador's long-awaited new law for the comprehensive protection of children and adolescents.

CHINA: Microbloggers Launch Long March to Freedom

China’s rapidly growing legion of microbloggers is proving a worthy foe against ongoing government efforts to monitor, influence and censor information on the country’s vast Internet. Government efforts have failed to curb an outpouring of anger and grief in the wake of the recent Wenzhou train disaster.

Statistics show that more than fifty thousand Zambians die of malaria every year.

Statistics show that more than fifty thousand Zambians die of malaria every year. The National Malaria Control Centre says the disease accounts for more than a third of hospitalisations and outpatient visits in the southern African country.

ZIMBABWE: Women Seeking Justice Face Archaic Rules and Discrimination

The four armed robbers who gang raped her may be serving time for their crimes, but six years later justice has turned out to be a myth for Mildred Mapingure.

U.S.: Assault on Reproductive Health Services Shifts to States

With Republican-led efforts to divert funding from the reproductive health provider Planned Parenthood stumbling in Washington, the battle has moved to the states, with mixed results.

SOMALIA: U.S. Greenlights Aid to Shabaab-Controlled Areas

The Barack Obama administration promised Tuesday that the U.S. would not prosecute relief agencies for delivering aid to parts of Somalia controlled by the Islamist insurgent group al- Shabaab, despite concerns that unrestricted aid in the failed state would be diverted to the wrong hands.

HEALTH-MALI: Community Also Has a Role in Preventing TB

Tuberculosis remains a leading cause of death in Mali despite the availability of free treatment. The resurgence of the illness, linked to poverty and HIV infection, could be reduced by changing behaviour, doctors say.

Haitians Go to Africa, Bringing Solar Energy

Jean Ronel Noël, a young Haitian engineer, stood in a centuries-old fort on a small island just off Dakar and looked out at the Atlantic through a portal that once led enslaved Africans to the ships of the Middle Passage.

PORTUGAL: Food Aid for “New Poor”, Extra Wealth for Nouveau Riche

"The crisis is only for some of us" has become a commonly heard phrase in Portugal, following the drastic fiscal adjustment policies imposed in May by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund as the condition for a 112 billion dollar financial bailout.

Famine Relief in Somalia Stymied by Access

While an estimated 12.4 million people linger on the brink of starvation in the Great Horn of Africa, U.S. officials and world relief agencies said Monday that even in a "best case scenario" the crisis will worsen as the areas in most desperate need remain cut off from access to relief.

Cancer has been viewed as a disease of the west, but it is knocking on the door of developing nations with fury.

Cancer has been viewed as a disease of the west, but it is knocking on the door of developing nations with fury. A lack of infrastructure and treatment options is proving to be a major challenge for many African nations.

COTE D’IVOIRE: Help For Small Businesses Key to Relaunching Economy

The Ivorian government has begun compensating small and medium-sized businesses for damages suffered during the post-election crisis, in order to relaunch the economy.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Timber Industry Calls for Government Transparency

The Timber Association of Honduras has demanded more transparency from the government in its measures to protect the forests and the activities and expenditures carried out by the Armed Forces through the so-called green battalions.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Organic Produce Consumption on the Rise

The consumption of organic produce is growing by between 20 and 30 percent a year in Brazil, according to the Ministry of Agrarian Development (MDA).

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Trade Unionists Denounce Smelter Pollution

Workers at the state-owned Venalum aluminum smelter in the northeastern Venezuelan city of Guayana report that because of a lack of repairs to the plant’s treatment facilities, toxic gases like toluene and benzene are being directly released into the atmosphere.

Film Revisits Abuses by U.N. Peacekeepers in Bosnia

"The Whistle Blower", a feature film inspired by actual events that occurred in 1999, follows the story of Kathy Bolkovac (Academy Award-winner Rachel Weisz), a U.S. police officer who takes a job working as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia.

Fish Swim in Israel’s Desert

"It wasn't easy to convince people that growing fish in the desert makes sense," reminisces marine biologist Samuel Appelbaum, peering through the opaque water where thousands of barramundi are being harvested.

MALAWI: Concerns of Protesters Need to be Taken Seriously

Unless Malawi’s government does something to find solutions to its economic and governance problems, the country will see more nationwide protests like the ones last week where 18 people were killed and 275 arrested, analysts say.

An estimated 11 million people in the Horn of Africa are affected by the region’s worst drought in 60 years.

An estimated 11 million people in the Horn of Africa are affected by the region’s worst drought in 60 years.

Bangladesh: Erosion, Climate Change Create Refugees

Thirty-year-old Halima Begum sometimes sits on the banks of the river Jamuna in Vatpeyari village in this district, located some 157 miles from the Bangladesh capita of Dhaka, and ponders about the home she lost to river erosion.