ICELAND: Don’t Trust Those Fishy Certificates

New eco-labels on Icelandic seafood are misleading and unregulated, concealing practices that damage the environment, critics say.

EU Plans to get Smart With Energy

The electricity grid in Europe is in desperate need of an IQ boost.

Obama Pushes START Treaty to Top of Legislative Agenda

With time running out before he faces a much more hostile and Republican Congress, President Barack Obama appears to have made Senate ratification of the pending New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia his top legislative priority.

SPAIN: Wikileaks Revelations Put Pressure on Justice Officials

The highest authorities of Spain's judicial system will have to explain to the Congress of Deputies their repeated refusals to bring U.S. soldiers to trial for the 2003 killing of journalist José Couso in Baghdad. The recent diplomatic cables made public by the whistleblower organisation Wikileaks reveal contacts with U.S. authorities aimed at preventing a trial.

German Govt ‘Crying Wolf’ on Terrorist Attacks

Government officials in Germany are being accused of manipulating threats of terrorism to induce public hysteria, even while warning against such reactions. The self-contradictory approach has prompted German citizens to call the terror warnings "farcical" and "negligent."

ENVIRONMENT: Icelandic Fishing Quotas Turn a Blind Eye to Industry Practices

In Iceland, strict quotas on the fishing industry result in unnecessary waste and distort data, say critics of the system.

To Execute or Not, an Unfair Question

New polls in the Czech Republic showing high and growing support for the death penalty have sparked debate on the continuing use of surveys to back the retention of capital punishment.

Britain Bans Exports of Execution Drug Sought by U.S.

After first resisting the efforts of human rights and legal advocates, the British government has now backed down and placed an immediate ban on the export of lethal injection drugs to be used in U.S. executions.

Russians Refuted U.S. Claim of Iranian Missile Threat to Europe

A diplomatic cable from last February released by Wikileaks provides a detailed account of how Russian specialists on the Iranian ballistic missile programme refuted the U.S. suggestion that Iran has missiles that could target European capitals or intends to develop such a capability.

Leaked Cables Cast Light on Bungled CIA Kidnapping

Wikileaks' spectacular paper dump of U.S. diplomatic cables may not yet have produced any blockbusters, but many of the restricted or secret documents released to the world on Sunday have served to peel back the scabs of serious injuries inflicted by the administration of George W. Bush.

MIGRATION: Swiss Vote In an ‘Illegal Law’

Just a year after banning the construction of minarets, Swiss voters have approved a right-wing initiative demanding the automatic expulsion of criminal foreigners. The initiative violates international law.

Sharks Make It Through the Net, Bluefin Tuna Don’t

Governments have moved to ban the commercial fishing of at least two species of endangered sharks, but the Atlantic bluefin tuna received little protection at the end of a ten-day intergovernmental meeting here.

Migrant Population on Track to Hit 400 Million

The population of migrants worldwide could rise above 400 million by 2050 if present rates of growth continue, says a report by the International Organisation for Migration released Monday.

CAMBODIA: EU Trade Access Goes A Long Way

When the European Union slapped crippling anti-dumping duties on Vietnamese bicycle exports in 2006, one factory’s Taiwan- based owner decided enough was enough.

DEVELOPMENT: Africa’s Time Has Come

There is the image of Africa, worse than Africa is, and then there is Africa, so much of it better than its image. It's the continent whose time has come, African civil society leaders emphasised at a meeting in Madrid Thursday.

Strong as China, Fragile as Porcelain

In times of inflationary pressures the price of patriotism too goes up. The news that an 18th century Chinese porcelain vase sold for a record-breaking 68 million dollars at a London auction to a mainland China buyer this month did not go down well either with Chinese government regulators fretting about asset bubbles or with a Chinese public angry about income inequality.

EU: Extraditions Process Abuses Suspects

Robert Hörchner can only sleep for two hours at night before the sweating starts. His wife Annelies wakes up frequently, too; each time she hears a noise outside she opens the curtains, expecting to see police at the front door. The couple are traumatised because Robert spent ten months locked up in a filthy Polish cell. He has been accused of holding the lease to a property where cannabis was grown but insists that he is innocent.

RIGHTS: Getting Harassment on the Map

Less common but perhaps more useful than the tourist map is the 'harassment map' that many Cairo women are beginning to refer to.

Caribbean Gets Wired with Help from EU, World Bank

When Caribbean leaders gather for their annual summit in July 2011, they expect to finally have a draft information and communication technology (ICT) for development strategy that technocrats have been putting together over the past three years.

Lisbon Armed to the Teeth for NATO Summit

Helicopter gunships patrolling the skies, missile launcher ships in the Tagus estuary, police with heavy machineguns and armoured cars deployed on the main streets of the Portuguese capital have created a warlike ambience in the city hosting the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Summit.

Tough Action Urged to Protect Bluefin Tuna

With the Atlantic bluefin tuna being fished to extinction, environment groups have increased their pressure on governments to take action to protect the species.