U.S.: Occupy Affiliate Aims at Abolishing Consumer Debt

Strike Debt, an affiliate of the Occupy movement, has devised a legal and what some consider ingenious way to abolish millions of dollars in consumer debt.

High Stakes for Engaging Morsi’s Egypt

Women and minorities should be a top priority in U.S. policy toward Egypt and its Muslim Brotherhood government leaders, experts here said on Friday, despite increasingly unfavourable public views towards Egypt.

Agriculture Still the Cinderella of Colombia

Wearing a dusty hat and a smile that lights up his face, the septuagenarian José Alicapa does not shrink from the overwhelming bustle of the Colombian capital, which he reached after a 13-hour bus drive from the western province in Caldas.

Obama Requests Modest Bump in Foreign Aid

U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday asked Congress to approve some 52 billion dollars in foreign aid and international spending in 2014, slightly higher than the current year’s budget which was cut due to the partisan impasse over how to reduce the yawning federal deficit.

U.S. Global Health Cuts Threaten Gains on Lethal Diseases

A U.S.-based civil society coalition is calling on Congress and President Barack Obama’s administration to keep spending on global health aid at current levels, warning that recent budget cuts risk a dangerous backslide in health and development gains achieved over the past three decades.

The Other Side of the Coin in Spain

Wholemeal rye bread, lettuce and chard are some of the products on offer from the El Caminito urban vegetable garden at the small organic produce market in this southern Spanish city, with prices set in "comunes", one of more than 30 social currencies circulating in the country.

U.S. Banks Too Big to Fail, or Just Too Big?

Following last week’s approval of U.S. Senate bills that critics say would weaken a major financial reform law known as Dodd-Frank, watchdog groups here are cautioning that banks deemed “too big to fail” still pose a risk to U.S. and international economic security.

Lebanon in a ‘Civil War’ Over Wages

The surprise resignation of Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nijab Mikati eclipsed his last major manoeuvre, which was to refer to parliament a highly contentious wage scale hike for the public sector. Teachers and staff across the public sector started an open strike on Feb. 20 when then prime minister Nijab Mikati failed to send the wage scale policy - which had previously been agreed upon by the cabinet - to the parliament for vote.

Zimbabwe Struggling to Pay Laid-Off Workers

As former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe employees went to the Labour Court in Harare this week hoping for a ruling in favour of the finalisation of their retrenchment packages, the country’s public and private sectors continue to lay off workers without paying the promised compensation.

Change in Cuba Comes in Stops and Starts

The reform process launched in Cuba by the government of President Raúl Castro has made several changes to the country’s rigid social and economic structure, with the ultimate aim of bringing this island nation out of its economic lethargy and making production, which is sinking under the weight of restrictions, controls and contradictions, more efficient.

Argentina vs Holdouts Could Set Precedent for Future Debt Crises

The fate of countries with major debt problems is at stake in federal courts in New York, which are to decide in April whether or not they accept Argentina’s proposal to the bondholders who rejected two restructurings of sovereign debt.

Cyprus Readies for Reopening of Banks

Cyprus is finalising capital control measures to prevent a run on the banks by depositors anxious about their savings after the country agreed a painful rescue package with international lenders.

Zimbabwe’s Railroads Riding to Extinction

Zimbabwe’s rail transport system may be nearing extinction if the government does not take drastic action to solve the series of operational challenges that have made commuter and goods train services rare here.

Portuguese Women Stand Up for the Family in Times of Crisis

The huge impact of the economic crisis on male employment in Portugal has led to a sharp increase in the proportion of women who have become the main breadwinners in their families. But that has not translated into progress towards equality.

Cyprus Government Holds Bailout Crisis Talks

Political leaders in Cyprus are working on an alternative proposal to stave off bankruptcy after parliament overwhelmingly rejected an international bailout plan.

Ten Years After Iraq War, Neo-Cons Struggle to Hold Republicans

Ten years after reaching the height of their influence with the invasion of Iraq, the neo-conservatives and other right-wing hawks are fighting hard to retain their control of the Republican Party.

Obama Proposes Major New Renewables Research

President Barack Obama on Friday unveiled a broad new proposal to step up U.S. research into renewable energy technologies, particularly in transportation, which is responsible for around 70 percent of the United States’ oil use.

Young Spaniards Exiled by Unemployment

“They wanted to hire me, and that was something that hadn’t ever happened to me before,” says Marta Seror, a 25-year-old college graduate from Spain who is now working in an outsourcing company in Poland.

U.S. Intelligence Sees Cyber Threats Eclipsing Terrorism

Cyber threats appear to have largely replaced terrorism as posing the greatest risks to U.S. national security, which also confronts major longer-term challenges from the effects of natural resource shortages and climate change, according to the latest in a series of annual threat assessments by the U.S. intelligence community.

Switzerland Sets Example for Income Equality

For those who think that Occupy Wall Street, the Indignados in Spain, the World Social Forum and the numerous manifestations of protest worldwide are expressions without concrete outcomes, the result of the Swiss referendum on Mar. 3 on capping the salaries and bonuses of banks executives should make them think twice.

Honesty to Contest Pakistan Elections

A new politics of honesty – and of campaigning for honesty – is surfacing in Pakistan. Its two prominent fronts are both Pakistanis who carry also a strong foreign stamp. What many within the country find more encouraging is the strong support people are giving them.