JAPAN-US: Peace Activists Warn of Ongoing Nuclear Threat

Sixty-two years ago Monday, the U.S. bomber "Enola Gay" descended from the skies above the Japanese city of Hiroshima to drop an atomic bomb, ironically nicknamed "Little Boy", to devastating effect.

POLITICS-US: Polls Find Broad Support for Greater Altruism

The U.S. public rejects the idea that the United States should revert to a more isolationist foreign policy, but expresses dissatisfaction with the current role of the U.S. in the world and the destabilising effect it is having, concludes a compilation of recent public opinion polls.

SWEDEN: Refugees Test Progressive Claims

Rejected Afghan and Iraqi asylum-seekers have launched nationwide protest against a stricter migration policy.

BOLIVIA: Work Comes First for Women

The role of self-sacrificing wife and mother who stays at home is no longer the main goal of many Bolivian women.

IRAQ: Greece ‘Failing Refugees’

Sixteen Greek NGOs have launched a campaign against redirecting Iraqi refuges to Turkey.

Q&A: EU Promoting Democratic Globalisation

The European Union (EU) is a world power, the largest import market, and the biggest donor of development aid, which puts it in a position to promote democratic globalisation characterised by peace and social justice, according to Enrique Barón Crespo, a member of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee.

RIGHTS-MEXICO: Victims Abound, But Few Perpetrators Found

"They tortured me, took away my shoes, and beat me brutally, with a lot of hatred and fury," said Pedro Alvarado, a human rights activist arrested by Mexican police.

BRAZIL: ‘I’m the Only Gang Member Alive and Free’

Most of them were 15 or 16 years old when they created the gang "Falta de Deus" (Lack of God), a name chosen because "we were all against Christ." Of the 25 members, 10 are dead and 14 are in jail. "I'm the only one still alive and free," says 22-year-old Elias da Silva.

BURMA: For Pro-Junta Militia, Migrant Workers Are Useful Cash Cows

On a recent morning, two trucks packed with about 120 Burmese drove up to a pier on the Thai side of the Moe River, which separates north-western Thailand from Burma. One, with a black exterior and with grills on the side, is often used to transport prisoners. The other, a Toyota truck, had sturdy bars and looked like a cage on wheels.

ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: So Far from God, So Close to…Venice?

Mexico City, one of the most populous cities in the world, could become the Venice of Latin America, although without the "gondolieri" to serenade tourists as they row them along.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: ASEAN Assumes Migrant Rights Duties

Rights of migrant workers have been strengthened with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) foreign ministers approving two documents at a recent meeting of the regional grouping in the Philippines capital.

ENVIRONMENT-CUBA: Reforestation Renews a Barrio

Every morning Mario Véliz makes his way through the streets of Pogolotti, a low-income neighbourhood in the Cuban capital, to the milk shop. Those who only know him because he works there are unaware that this thin, wiry man with a face seamed with age is the life and soul of local reforestation.

PARAGUAY: Justice for Supermarket Fire Victims – An Impossible Goal?

Three years after the deadly fire at the Ycuá Bolaños supermarket, the worst civil disaster in the history of Paraguay, relatives of the 364 people killed and more than 500 injured in the blaze say they feel that convictions of those responsible are further away than ever.

PERU: Concerted Fight Against Decrees that Clamp Down on Protests

Regional governors, legislators, trade unions and civil society groups in Peru are demanding the repeal of decree-laws issued by President Alan García that provide a legal framework for harsh repression of the social protests that have been raging around the country.

IRAQ: Religious Minorities Hit From All Sides

In the months leading up to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in March 2003, scholars from around the world urged the war planners in Washington to take steps to protect Iraq's priceless archaeological heritage.

MIGRATION: Caribbean Swamped With U.S. Deportees

In 1999, a Jamaican convict was deported to Guyana from the U.S. State of Texas after assuming the identity of a Guyanese mechanic who had lost his residency card on the streets far away in New York months earlier.

ELECTIONS-LATAM: Brains Behind Dirty Campaigns Go Global

Consulting firms notorious for orchestrating aggressive attacks on opponents in electoral campaigns, especially in Mexico and the United States, have been much in demand in Latin America in recent years.

PAKISTAN: Uncontrolled Population Blamed for Climate Change

When it comes to climate change population matters, particularly for countries in South Asia, Africa and some Arab countries, says Prof. Khalid Rashid. A mathematician and physicist in Pakistan, he has long been studying the phenomenon of global warming and views the uncontrolled population explosion with much trepidation.

EGYPT: Desert Reclamation the Country’s Best Hope – Or a Mirage?

"You can grow anything here," says 76-year-old Mohamed Ahmed, spreading his arms wide to point to the cascading bougainvilleas and an orchard of mango trees drooping with fruit. But, "When I first came here, there was nothing here but sand and more sand."

RIGHTS-MOZAMBIQUE: Law to Stop Human Trafficking

Over 1,000 Mozambicans, including children, are trafficked to South Africa every year where they are forced into prostitution or to provide free or cheap labour. In response, Mozambique’s government last week approved a new law which will make human trafficking a crime punishable with long prison sentences.

AUSTRALIA: Suspect Cleared But Bomb Plot Scars Indians, Muslims

Australia had to drop charges against Dr Mohammed Haneef, the Indian doctor who was arrested in connection with the failed London and Glasgow bombings, but leaders of the Muslim and Indian communities have appealed to the federal government to help counter the fears and stereotyping of their people.