Across U.S., Health Concerns Vie with Fracking Profits

Peter “Pete” Seeger is a 93-year old U.S. folk legend who resides near Wappingers Falls in southern New York. He can be spotted occasionally on the traffic-heavy Route 9, flanked by world peace signs and armed with a banjo.

Sierra Leone Shedding ‘War-Torn’ Image to Attract Tourists

On the fourth floor of a new office block in western Freetown, Cecil Williams sits beneath posters of idyllic tropical landscapes as he discusses the many natural attractions that once brought tourists flocking to the small West African nation of Sierra Leone.

U.S. Abstains on Controversial World Bank Mongolia Mine Project

The United States has refused to vote for involvement by the World Bank Group in a massive but controversial mining project in Mongolia.

Cuba Loses an Essential Friend

Hugo Chávez of Venezuela was the president who made the most visits to Cuba, where flags are flying at half-mast in official mourning for his death Tuesday Mar. 5, and where his friend and political mentor, Fidel Castro, survives him.

U.S. Hopes for Some Rapprochement After Chávez

While the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama says it would like to improve relations with Venezuela in the aftermath of the death Tuesday of President Hugo Chávez, officials and independent analysts here believe any rapprochement will take time and faces political obstacles both here and in Caracas.

Wheels of Industry Slowing in Brazil

Industry is the ailing sector of the Brazilian economy, with production falling 2.7 percent in 2012 in spite of government incentives, and in contrast with the strong expansion of retail trade and the lowest unemployment rate in history.

U.S. “Stalling” Could Force Acceptance of Onerous TPP

Civil society opposition here has strengthened against a U.S.-proposed free trade zone that would include some dozen countries around the Pacific Rim.

Draft Assessment of Tar Sands Pipeline “Devastatingly Cynical”

The U.S. State Department late Friday released a draft environmental impact assessment of a contentious pipeline project that simultaneously acknowledged the dangers posed by climate change while also noting the project would “not likely result in significant adverse environmental effects”.

China Maps Out Venezuela’s Valuable Mining Resources

An agreement signed by the government of Venezuela and the Chinese state-owned company Citic Group for prospecting and mapping the country's mining reserves is being challenged by both the opposition and experts who argue that it will leave valuable natural resources dangerously exposed.

New Development Bank to be Key BRICS Building Block

Emerging market leaders want their Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa club to be taken seriously, and next month they are expected to make a decisive move towards setting up a development bank to give it real substance and credibility.

Lake Malawi Dispute Instils Fear in Fisherfolk

Since he was nine years old, Martin Mhango from Karonga village in northern Malawi has known no other livelihood than fishing. And for the last 33 years he has been fishing freely on Lake Malawi – that is, until last October when he was detained and beaten by Tanzanian security forces.



Cuba, an Island of Questions

The Cuban National Assembly, the parliament, has just passed a historic milestone: the visible turning point when one momentous and complex phase in the life of the country begins to come to a close, and a door opens on a future that, however hard to predict, will in many ways be different.

Q&A: South Korean Brands Invade Global Markets

When U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a former foreign minister of South Korea, met with Psy last October, he jokingly told the wildly popular rapper that he was "a bit jealous" of him.

Profits Before Safety in Pakistan’s Factories

Twenty-seven-year-old Muhammad Arif works at a steel re-rolling mill in Lahore, capital of Pakistan’s northeastern Punjab province, producing steel ingots from scrap.

Tourism Lies at the Heart of the BRICS

As tourism between the emerging nations of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa starts to increase, South Africa is determined to weld the iron while it is hot.

Europeans Urge U.S. Action on Financial Transaction Tax

Two European policymakers on Monday called on their U.S. counterparts to rethink opposition to proposals for a small tax on stock purchases and other financial transactions, which proponents say could raise hundreds of billions of dollars for poverty alleviation, action on climate change and financing international development.

Haitian Senate Calls for Halt to Mining Activities

Outraged that they have not been consulted, this week Haitian senators called for a moratorium on all activities connected with recently granted gold and copper mining permits.

Winter of Discontent Progresses to Bulgaria

Bulgarian prime minister Boiko Borisov of the ruling centre-right Citizens for the European Development of Bulgaria (GERB), announced his resignation Wednesday, following two weeks of sustained protests across the country which were sparked by rising electricity and heating costs.

Israeli Licence to Cheney-Linked Energy Firm on Golan Heights Raises Eyebrows

In a potential new source of contention between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel has reportedly granted a U.S. energy firm with heavyweight political connections to explore for oil and gas in the occupied Golan Heights.

Biofuels Converting U.S. Prairielands at Dust Bowl Rates

The rush for biofuels in the United States has seen farmers converting the United States' prairie lands to farms at rates comparable with deforestation levels in Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia – rates not seen here since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

India Undercuts Tribal Rights

Over a decade ago, the Dongria Kondh tribe – tucked away in the Niyamgiri hills, a mountain range in the eastern Indian state of Orissa – found itself under attack.