Armed Conflicts

Netanyahu – Unlike Olmert – Refuses Explicit Iran Attack Threat

By Gareth Porter
The perception that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is threatening to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities unless sanctions and diplomacy succeed in shutting them down has been the driving force in the Iran crisis.

Syria Blast Strikes at Heart of Assad’s Rule

By AJ Correspondents
Syria's defence minister and interior minister are among those who were killed after a suicide bomber struck the National Security building in Damascus during a meeting of cabinet ministers and senior security officials, state media reported.

Negotiators Lack Focus at Arms Treaty Talks, Observers Warn

By Carey L. Biron
More than halfway through four-week negotiations for a binding treaty to regulate the global weapons trade, observers are warning that the talks are a week behind schedule.

Report Claims No Pakistani Civilian Deaths from Drones in 2012

By Zoha Arshad
Civilian deaths due to drone strikes in Pakistan are falling rapidly, and the death rate is now close to zero - or so asserts a New America Foundation (NAF) report.

Death Stalks Pregnant Women in East Myanmar

By Marwaan Macan-Markar
From a wooden, weather-beaten building on the edge of this border town, Mahn Mahn charts dangerous missions deep Myanmar (also Burma) for the 2,000-odd health workers under his wing.

A Grim Search for the Missing

By Amantha Perera
A bloody civil war was reaching its climax but this Tamil family, who had already experienced the conflict intimately, had one last decision to make that would prove to be the hardest one of all.

Sudan, South Sudan Resume Talks Amid Doubts for Long-term Success

By Carey L. Biron
Ahead of an Aug. 2 deadline, the leaders of Sudan and South Sudan over the weekend engaged in their first direct talks since hostilities spiked in late April.
Special Envoy for Syria Kofi Annan holds a press conference on Jul. 11. Credit: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

Russia Says West Using “Blackmail” over Syria

By AJ Correspondents
Russia has said it would block moves at the U.N. Security Council to extend a U.N. monitoring mission in Syria if Western powers did not stop resorting to "blackmail" by threatening sanctions against Damascus.

Human Rights Worse After Gaddafi

By Mel Frykberg
“The human rights situation in Libya now is far worse than under the late dictator Muammar Gaddafi,” Nasser al-Hawary, researcher with the Libyan Observatory for Human Rights tells IPS.

DRC Warlord Sentence a Joke, Say NGOs

By Emmanuel Chaco
Non-governmental organisations in the Democratic Republic of Congo province where Thomas Lubanga Dyilo used children as fighters in his militia in 2002 to 2003 have slammed his 14-year sentence as inadequate – and potentially dangerous.

Voting for Peace in the Distant Desert

By Rebecca Murray
On election day long lines of people from Sabha’s impoverished community of Tayuri waited to vote under the harsh Saharan sun. Four hundred miles from the Mediterranean coast, Sabha is tucked into the volatile southwest bordering Algeria, Niger and Chad.

Obama Piles New Sanctions Against Iran

By Jim Lobe
In the latest ratcheting up of pressure on Iran, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday imposed new financial sanctions against Iranian and other companies whose operations allegedly support the country's nuclear and ballistic-missile programmes.

U.N. Increasingly Reliant on Private Security Contractors

By Kim-Jenna Jurriaans
The United Nations is increasingly hiring Private Military and Security Companies (PMSCs) for its missions across the world, raising concerns over the use of firms known for participation in human rights abuses, as well as an overall lack of accountability structures governing these contractors within the U.N. system.

U.S. Commits 10 Million for Mali Refugees as Intervention Talk Builds

By Carey L. Biron
President Barack Obama on Thursday authorised the release of 10 million dollars in emergency funding to help with the refugee crisis stemming from continued violence in northern Mali, in response to warnings that international aid efforts were in danger of drying up in coming months.

Libya May Steer Clear of the Islamist Way

By Mel Frykberg
Libyans appear to be putting their hopes in Mahmoud Jibril’s liberal National Forces Alliance (NFA) to cement a coalition and build bridges between Libya’s fractious militias. Many believe the party can also unite other ideologically opposed political parties, and both opponents and supporters of former dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

U.S. Urged to Increase Bomb-Clearing Aid for Laos

By Jim Lobe
Disarmament activists and former U.S. ambassadors are urging Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to increase U.S. aid to Laos to clear millions of tonnes of unexploded ordinance (UXO) left by U.S. bombers on its territory during the Indochina War during her brief visit to the country Wednesday.

New Afghanistan Aid Policy Turns Away from U.S. Model

By Carey L. Biron
For the first time, international donors gathered in Tokyo over the weekend explicitly tied ongoing financial aid for Afghanistan to progress made in the country’s economy and governance.

Taliban Thwarts Global Polio Eradication

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
By ordering a ban on polio immunisation, in its strongholds along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the Taliban is holding up an ambitious global programme to rid the world of  the crippling childhood disease, say World Health Organisation (WHO) doctors.

South Sudan Celebrates a Troubled First Birthday

By Jared Ferrie
The streets have been swept clean and lined with flags to mark the first anniversary of South Sudan’s independence. But cosmetic changes in the capital, Juba, mask deep concerns about the future of the world’s newest nation.

South Sudan’s Women Await Independence From Poverty

By Charlton Doki
One year after the formation of South Sudan, the country’s women say that independence has not resulted in the positive political, economic and social changes that they had hoped for.

Truckers Celebrate NATO Resumption

By Zofeen Ebrahim
“I’m happy that I will be resuming work soon,” says Zarbistan Khan, who owns and drives a tanker that takes oil from the southern port city Karachi to Afghanistan. But the joy comes under the shadow of a Taliban threat to attack supply convoys.
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