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Thursday, June 18, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
MIDEAST: U.S. Scrambles to Save Peace Talks
With a key Arab League meeting delayed until Friday, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is scrambling to keep one-month-old direct Israeli- Palestinian peace talks alive.US-PAKISTAN: Rise in Cross-Border Attacks Spurs Backlash
The steady increase in U.S. cross-border attacks from Afghanistan into the frontier areas of Pakistan – whether by drone missiles or attack helicopters – is causing a serious backlash from both the region's residents and Islamabad's government and military leadership.Obama Imposes New Iran Sanctions as War Chorus Rises
Amid new calls for Washington to attack Iran's nuclear facilities if its diplomatic efforts at curbing Tehran's uranium-enrichment programme fail, the United States Wednesday imposed unilateral sanctions against eight senior Iranian officials whom it accused of committing "sustained and severe violations of human rights".Economists, Activists Call for Major IMF Overhaul
Thirteen leading international economists and development specialists called here Tuesday for a major reform of the governing body of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the way it does business.Mexican Activist Wins Prestigious RFK Prize
An anthropologist and human rights defender who has worked for years with the indigenous people in one of Mexico's poorest and most marginalised regions has been awarded one of the world's most important human rights prizes.U.S. Defence Spending Set for Downward Course
Although U.S. military spending will reach an all-time high next year, the Pentagon budget almost certainly faces steady cuts over the medium to long term, mainly as a result of increasing pressure to reduce the ballooning national debt, according to a growing consensus among defence experts.U.S. Boosts Aid Amid Doubts About Pakistan’s Recovery
The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama has announced it will provide an additional 75 million dollars in food aid to help Pakistan cope with floods that have affected about one-fifth of the country - including some 20 million people - since they began in July.U.S.: Growing Public Acceptance of Dwindling Global Role
Battered by two lengthy wars and a two-year-old economic crisis, the U.S. public appears increasingly reconciled to Washington's playing a declining global role in the coming years, according to the latest in a biennial series of major surveys released here Thursday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA).U.S. Steps Up Mediation Efforts as Referendum Nears
Less than four months before a scheduled referendum on independence for southern Sudan, the administration of President Barack Obama is intensifying pressure on both Khartoum and the south's leadership to establish the necessary pre-conditions for the vote and any transition that follows it.U.S. Still Top Arms Supplier to South as Record Sale to Saudis Pends
Despite an unusual dip in global weapons sales in 2009, the United States retained its spot as the world's top arms supplier of developing countries, according to an authoritative new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS).US-AFGHANISTAN: Calls for Change of Strategy Grow Louder
Amid continued high levels of violence and a steady stream of reports of high-level government corruption in Kabul, a growing number of foreign policy specialists are urging President Barack Obama to reconsider his counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy in Afghanistan.US: Religious Leaders Condemn Growing Islamophobia
Leaders of some three dozen mainstream U.S. religious denominations Tuesday condemned what many commentators have called a rising tide of Islamophobia touched off by the recent controversy over the construction of a Muslim community centre in Lower Manhattan, two blocks from the site of the twin World Trade Centre towers destroyed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.MIDEAST: Scepticism Marks Peace Talks Launch
While all parties maintained a spirit of cordiality and mutual understanding, no new promises emerged from this week’s talks between the leaders of Israel and the Palestine Authority (PA) that offered tangible hope for a major breakthrough in resolving the more than 60-year-old conflict.US-MIDEAST: Light At End of Tunnel Elusive, Despite Obama’s Efforts
President Barack Obama will try this week to underline his progress in extricating the United States from the morass his predecessor's "global war on terror" in the Greater Middle East.US: Immigration System a Broken Behemoth, Groups Say
One year after the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama announced that it intended to overhaul the country's heavily criticised immigration detention practices and create a "truly civil detention system", a new academic paper bolsters claims by human rights groups that real reform is still a long way off.Iran Benefits from Arab Disillusion with Obama
U.S. President Barack Obama has suffered a sharp drop in popularity in the Arab world over the past year, and Iran may be reaping the benefits, according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries released here Thursday.Despite Iraq Withdrawal, Greater Mideast Not Looking Good
While President Barack Obama Monday touted the continuing U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq as a key marker in the success of his regional policies, the latest news from the Greater Middle East, as well as a new public opinion survey, is far less encouraging.HONDURAS: Rights Situation Deteriorates
Six months after the inauguration of President Porfirio Lobo, the human rights situation in Honduras continues to deteriorate, according to two major New York-based groups.US: Court Blocks Arizona’s Anti-Immigrant Law
In a legal victory for the administration of President Barack Obama, a federal court Wednesday temporarily blocked the implementation of key provisions of a controversial Arizona immigration law that was to take effect Thursday.Obama’s Afghanistan Strategy Increasingly Under Siege
Monday's release by WikiLeaks of tens of thousands of classified documents detailing the travails of the U.S. military in Afghanistan and Pakistan's secret support for the Taliban from 2004 through 2009 comes amid a growing crisis of confidence here in the nearly nine-year-old war.US/INDONESIA: Resumption of Special Forces Training Denounced
Thursday’s announcement in Jakarta that Washington will resume training for the Indonesian military’s controversial Special Forces unit (Kopassus) has been denounced by human rights groups and two key lawmakers here.« Previous Page — Next Page »
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