ECUADOR: Oil Giant Is Gone, Legal and Environmental Mess Remains

The story began almost 40 years ago, but when filmmaker Joe Berlinger "saw villagers eating canned tuna fish because the fish in their rivers were too contaminated to eat, [he] knew [he] had to do something".

AFGHANISTAN: Poll Finds Optimism, Amid Political Disenchantment

As debate continues in Washington over what its next steps should be in Afghanistan and as the total of NATO-led coalition deaths in the country approaches 70 for the fourth straight month, a new survey says Afghans are slightly more optimistic about the future of their country than in years past.

US-HONDURAS: Republicans Take Up Banner of De Facto Govt

While negotiations stall between the ousted and de facto governments of Honduras on the issue of whether former president Manuel Zelaya will be reinstated prior to the country's elections next month, an increasingly relevant question is whether the international community would be willing to recognise the results of elections that occur under the unelected, interim government's watch.

COLOMBIA: U.S. Aid Must Leverage Reforms, Rights Groups Urge

Defending human rights in Colombia – never an especially safe endeavour – has become even more dangerous lately, several NGO leaders and Colombian human rights defenders testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday.

ENVIRONMENT: Pipeline Renews Debate on Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons

On Sep. 24, a beachgoer near Swansea, Wales reported a piece of military equipment washed up on the shore. Three days later, the two members of the team that had showed up to dispose of the shell developed symptoms compatible with mustard gas – a chemical warfare agent used in the two world wars and other conflicts.

AFRICA: Deal with Guinea Raises Questions About Chinese Role

Reports of a large infrastructure and minerals agreement between Guinea and Chinese investors this week have turned a harsh spotlight on the human rights and geopolitical stakes of the scramble for Africa's natural wealth.

DR-CONGO: Rights Groups Urge U.N. to Rein in Army

U.N.-supported military operations in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo have had an "unacceptable" cost for the civilian population, said a coalition of rights groups Tuesday.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Europe Feels the U.S. Sneeze

Governments and interest groups around the world followed the U.S. House of Representatives' vote Friday on the first U.S. policy to limit the country's greenhouse gas emissions. They were especially interested in Europe, where a system similar to the bill's cap-and-trade scheme already exists and where EU countries agreed last December to tough emissions targets.

U.S.: Crisis Must Reshape Economists’ Thinking, Krugman Says

It is too optimistic to say the United States is headed for a Japan-style recession, according to Nobel laureate Paul Krugman.

FILM-RWANDA: Genocidaires Face Off With Their Victims

In 1994, hundreds of thousands of Tutsi were slaughtered by their Hutu neighbours, friends, and family members across Rwanda. Nine years later the killers came home from prison to live side by side again with their victims.

CLIMATE CHANGE: U.S., China Seek Common Ground

As the slew of U.S. officials visiting Beijing continued with Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s visit this past weekend, it is clear the Barack Obama administration is taking a much more active approach to relations with China than in years past. This shift is probably most clear, and most crucial, in the field of climate change.

BOOKS: Canada’s Agent Orange Victims Still Seeking Justice

Bruce Brown died of cancer at age 18. Some of Marilyn Kissinger’s other friends lived into their early and late twenties, dying in the late 1960s. Most had died by the late 1980s.

POLITICS-US: Same-Sex Marriage May Return to the Ballot Box

In the wake of the California Supreme Court’s decision Tuesday to uphold Proposition 8, which eliminated the right of same-sex couples to marry, a surprising scapegoat and potential savior for opponents of the proposition has emerged in the California ballot initiative process.

ENVIRONMENT-US: Free-Flowing Rivers Back in Vogue

It may come as no surprise that a dam impeding the flow of a major river would negatively impact fish populations, but it is only recently that benefits of free-flowing rivers in the U.S. Pacific Northwest are beginning to be valued more than those of dams.

CLIMATE CHANGE: 200 Days to Copenhagen

With exactly 200 days to go before December’s crucial climate talks in Copenhagen, progress is steadily, though slowly, being made. Some issues, however - namely financing and the relative roles of industrial and developing countries - are likely to remain on the table until the end of the year.

FINANCE: ExxonMobil Faces Growing Dissent in the Ranks

After years of boycotts and protests, the pressure on the world’s largest oil company to change its practices might soon be coming from the mutual funds that invest in it, some shareholders hope.

RIGHTS: Few Govts Serious About Human Trafficking, U.N. Finds

The U.N. General Assembly discussed ways of taking stronger collective action to end human trafficking on Wednesday, with delegates debating the need for and form of a "global plan of action" to end this form of modern slavery.

RIGHTS: Iran Releases Journalist in Politicised Case

The release Monday of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi from Tehran’s Evin Prison has been greeted with relief and concern by international human rights and press freedom groups.

HEALTH: WHO Shifts Away from DDT for Malaria Control

While much of the public health community’s attention is consumed by the H1N1 human swine flu outbreak, efforts are quietly being made to plug away at the continued threat of malaria.

DISARMAMENT: Mayors Gather at U.N. to Lobby Against Nukes

The issue of nuclear disarmament being discussed with new vigour in the halls of the U.N. as the third and final preparatory committee leading up to the 2010 review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) meets over the next two weeks.