Spain Hit by Epidemic of Despair

Rising rates of depression and suicide are among the most obvious signs of the increase in mental illness resulting from the economic crisis in Spain.

Irregular Migrants Face the Boot in Greece

A crackdown on irregular migration has entered its fourth week in Greece. The government is shutting the Greek-Turkish northeastern border across river Evros, and removing massive numbers of undocumented migrants from big urban centres into makeshift detention camps.

Millions of Jobless Desperate in Spain

The sun is shining in Spain as it does every summer. But millions of people in this crisis-stricken country are living in the shadow cast by Europe’s highest unemployment rate.

Food Activists See Portents of New and Deeper Hunger Crisis

Food rights activists from around the world will descend on the coastal U.S. state of Florida next week to protest homelessness and hunger facing millions of people in the United States and across the globe.

Eastern Caribbean Seeks Economic Unity

The nine-member Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is pushing harder for regional integration with the launch of a new parliamentary forum that it says will play a major role in its efforts to establish an economic union.

Is the Staggering Rise of the South Sustainable?

Growth in developing economies (DEs) has accelerated significantly in the new millennium.

Corporate Lobbyists Threaten Democracy

Over a month has passed since the United Nations summit on sustainable development concluded in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, but the world still appears to be unaware of one of the most important statements made during the conference that drew some 50,000 delegates from all over the world.

Empty Condos Hold Opportunity in U.S. Housing Crunch

Even as thousands of families in the United States remain homeless due to a lack of affordable housing, millions of units are sitting empty across the country, including foreclosed single-family homes, foreclosed or vacant condominium units or entire condo buildings, and vacant high-priced apartments.

How a Gay Rights Maverick Helped Topple Iceland’s Govt

By the time the political climate in Iceland was ripe for the Cutlery Revolution, Hörður Torfason was already well practiced at stirring things up.

Malawi Checks China’s African Advance

The move in Malawi to close down Chinese businesses outside of the four major cities has been condemned as xenophobic by rights organisations. A new law enforced Jul. 31 barred foreigners from carrying out trade in Malawi’s outlying and rural areas.

Teachers’ Strike Does Not Mean Political Liberation for Swaziland

Swazis should not see the ongoing nationwide one-month teachers’ strike as a movement capable of overthrowing the political regime here, despite the fact that civil servants and nurses have joined the action, according to political analyst Dr. Sikelela Dlamini.

Caribbean Sees Progress on HIV/AIDS, Fears Funding Cuts

Ian McKnight, executive director of the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities Coalition (CVCC), used one word - “tokenistic” - to sum up his perspective on the 19th International AIDS Conference that ended here over the weekend.

Private Sector Debt Gnawing at Developing Countries

Twelve years after a global campaign successfully advocated the cancellation of some of the world’s poorest countries’ public debt, developing economies are again facing unsustainable debt burdens. Only this time, it is the private sector’s debt in developing economies that is inflating dangerously.

Govts Boost Nukes While Cutting Aid, Social Services

As U.N.-led talks on disarmament resume in Geneva Monday, calls are growing for nuclear-armed nations to cut spending on their stockpiles and instead divert resources to development.

Record Aid Shortfall Abandons Millions to Their Fate

Global funding for humanitarian aid interventions saw the biggest shortfalls in 10 years in 2011, according to a new report, raising questions about the international community’s ability to meet a 20-percent greater need for 2012 driven by drought and conflict.

Bankers or ‘Banksters’?

European media, political leaders, and the citizenry are bashing bankers again, overtly calling them at best accomplices of numerous illegal activities, at worst downright criminals.

U.S. Aims for AIDS-Free Generation Amid Funding Cuts

As more than 20,000 health workers, scholars and activists from around the world gather here this week for a major biannual AIDS conference, observers are warning that U.S. government proposals to cut HIV/AIDS-related funding could undermine the significant potential to deal a decisive blow to the disease in the near future.

Austerity Package Sparks Protests in Spain

"This is war. Parliament has got to go! They're trying to make civil servants take the blame for a situation that was caused by the banking sector and which the government has allowed to happen."

U.S.: Right-Wing Hawks, Arms Industry Rally Against Pentagon Cuts

While Iran, Russia, and China are all pretty scary, the ominous word "sequestration" is what is keeping right-wing hawks and their friends in the defence industry up at night.

Look to Developing World for Solutions, Says New World Bank Chief

Speaking on Wednesday at his first major public address, new World Bank President Jim Yong Kim said the institution needs to be more flexible and responsive, as well as more open to innovations coming from the developing world.

Will Austerity Prompt Nuclear Disarmament?

The changing international political order and a dramatic budgetary situation at home are forcing France to consider giving up the extremely expensive nuclear arsenal the country has maintained since the late 1950s.