Israeli Push for Sanctions Losing Legitimacy

Israel has given guarded approval to the new round of sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council in the international community's bid to haul back Iran's nuclear programme.

EU: ‘Aid Must Also Aid the Giver’

Aid to poor countries should be tailored more towards benefiting European firms, a top-level Brussels official has recommended.

Concerns Grow over Bagram’s Prison within a Prison

The administration of President Barack Obama is considering using Afghanistan's U.S.-run Bagram Air Base prison to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects captured far from a battlefield and who have not been charged with a crime - without any judicial oversight.

Health Agency Urged to Probe CIA Torture Claims

Human rights groups are turning to an obscure government agency to investigate allegations that medical professionals on the payroll of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) helped the agency to perform experiments on detainees in U.S. custody following the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, in an effort to make "enhanced interrogation techniques" more efficient and provide them with legal cover.

Keeping the Pressure on to Invest in Women’s Health

Men, women, NGOs, governments, the Gates Foundation. Everyone agrees – women are awesome. More importantly, protecting the health of the people that make up more than half of the human population and do far more than half of the work to sustain it should be everyone's priority.

Kenyan Women Look to the Hague for Justice

Hanging from a rafter in Jane Wanjiku’s home is a calendar bearing the image of the International Criminal Court's chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo. It's an illustration of how the ICC has seized the imagination of ill-treated people around the world.

FRANCE: Migrants’ Remittances Are a Cash Cow

Immigrants in France send some eight billion euro (9.6 billion US dollars) a year back to their countries of origin, often paying exorbitant fees - though the French government has announced moves to lower tariffs.

TRADE: “Cotton Dossier” Will Make or Break WTO’s Doha Round

The "cotton dossier" has become a litmus test for the "development dimension" of the languishing Doha Round trade negotiations, World Trade Organisation (WTO) director general Pascal Lamy admitted.

SUDAN: Oil Consortium Behind War Crimes – Aid Agencies

The entry of a Swedish-led oil consortium into southern Sudan in 1997 triggered civil war and crimes against humanity, claims a European coalition of aid agencies.

NEPAL: Under-Five Deaths Show Robust Decline But Hurdles Remain

With still five years left before the expiry of the Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) 2015 deadline to reduce under-five mortality rate by two-thirds from the 1990 level, a mid-term survey of Nepal Family Health Program (NFHP) II shows the country has already achieved the target.

Oil Spill Comes at Worst Time for Endangered Bluefin Tuna

With their population at less than 20 percent of what it was four decades ago, bluefin tuna in the western Atlantic need a lot of things to go just right if they are going to survive as a population. Now, just as they are returning to the Gulf of Mexico to spawn, they are likely to find one of their key breeding grounds slicked-over with oil.

Performance Series Tackles U.S. Accountability Deficit

The Culture Project, a New York City political performance group, staged the latest installment in its "Blueprint for Accountability" series - launched earlier this year to mark the anniversary of President Barack Obama's lapsed deadline to close the Guantánamo Bay detention camp – to a sold-out audience Monday.

Apartheid-Era Docs Shed Light on Israel’s Worst-Kept Secret

A U.S. author is standing by claims that Israel offered to sell nuclear warheads to South Africa during the apartheid regime, despite denials by Israel's then-defence minister, now-president Shimon Peres, that the accusation has "no basis in reality".

MALAYSIA: Planned Subsidy Cut Draws Fire, Seen to Hurt the Poor

The government’s proposal to remove and rationalise subsidies on essential goods and services continues to provoke a storm of criticism from ordinary Malaysians.

Female Migrants Charge Sexual Abuse in Detention

In the wake of allegations that a male guard at a central Texas detention facility sexually assaulted female detainees on their way to being deported, immigrant advocacy groups say stronger oversight and accountability is urgently needed to prevent further abuse of female detainees.

CIA Medics Honed Torture Techniques on Detainees, Group Charges

A major human rights organisation claims it has uncovered evidence indicating that the administration of former U.S. President George W. Bush conducted "illegal and unethical human experimentation" and research on detainees in CIA custody.

Int’l Trial on Dictatorship’s Atrocities Taints Brazil’s Image

A case against Brazil in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for violations of human rights committed by the 1964-1985 military dictatorship, and the country's failure to bring those responsible to trial at home, are a smear on the image of an emerging power that has taken on an increasingly prominent role on the international stage.

Door to Political Office Opens for Senegalese Women

A law on gender parity in electoral lists, approved by a large majority in Senegal's National Assembly, has been welcomed by women from diverse walks of life.

Now Israel Is Under Siege

The elemental reason for the outbreak of the seminal June 1967 Arab-Israel war was Israel's self-inflicted doom prophecy that "the Arabs just want to throw us in the sea".

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Forest Inventory Advances

The inventory of the forests that cover approximately 40 percent of Venezuela's 916,500 square kilometers should be ready by 2012, project director Leonardo Lugo of the Environment Ministry told Tierramérica.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Ecologically Produced Natural Rubber

It is finally possible in Brazil to produce high-quality natural rubber on a large scale and still save water and energy, thanks to technology developed by the University of Brasilia.