AFRICA: “Help Small Fishers to Fish Less, Earn More”

Sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures are a headache for African fish exporters but aid for trade may help small-scale fisherpersons to meet these standards.

‘Nuclear-Free Middle East Not Easy’

A meeting called for 2012 on a Middle East free of nuclear weapons is likely to run into difficulties, says Daisaku Ikeda, president of the Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International (SGI).

EU: To Kill, But Not Pollute

European Union subsidies earmarked for reducing air travel's contribution to climate change may help develop deadlier warplanes than those already found in the world's arsenals, Brussels officials have admitted.

Swiss Plan to Gag Refugees

Only two years after its last revision, the Swiss Asylum Act is about to be 'reformed' again. The changes include a gag order on political activism for asylum-seekers and a modification of the concept of a refugee.

EU Considering Aid to Israeli Military

A leading Israeli supplier of warplanes used to kill and maim civilians in Gaza is in the running for two new scientific research grants from the European Union.

EAST EUROPE: Healthcare Ails as Doctors, Nurses Emigrate

Senior medical figures in Eastern Europe have issued stark warnings that the region's healthcare sector is both unstable and unsustainable as health workers continue to leave in droves for jobs abroad.

EU: With Refuge Like This…

Habtom, a 30-year-old Eritrean, has all the grim qualifications needed to be a refugee. He was arrested for protesting a dictatorship, tortured in custody, and fears his life would be at risk if he returned home. Another part of his story is also typical: he suffered lengthy detention in a European Union nominally committed to the universal defence of human rights.

SOMALIA: Questions Abound about EU’s “Combating” of Piracy

Modern German justice had never handled a case of piracy until Jun 11, when 10 Somali seafarers, including children, were presented at a tribunal in the city port of Hamburg, some 300 km west from Berlin, on charges of robbing cargo in the Indian Ocean.

China-EU Rivalry in Africa Sharpens

If China needed another prompt that the European powers have finally woken up to the fact they were losing the competition for the Africa pie, it came with France’s bid to recapture lost ground this month.

Q&A: Laying to Rest the Ghosts of the Past – With Truth

This year marks 15 years since the bloody war in Bosnia - Herzegovina (BH) ended. Apart from the 44-month siege of the capital of Sarajevo by Bosnian Serb forces there was the massacre of some 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys after the United Nations-protected enclave of Srebrenica fell into their hands.

EU: ‘Aid Must Also Aid the Giver’

Aid to poor countries should be tailored more towards benefiting European firms, a top-level Brussels official has recommended.

NATO ‘Singing Israeli Tunes’

Strategists with NATO are eager to maintain the strong bonds they have developed with Israel in recent times, even though its forces last week attacked a ship flagged in Turkey, a steadfast member of the alliance.

FRANCE: Migrants’ Remittances Are a Cash Cow

Immigrants in France send some eight billion euro (9.6 billion US dollars) a year back to their countries of origin, often paying exorbitant fees - though the French government has announced moves to lower tariffs.

SUDAN: Oil Consortium Behind War Crimes – Aid Agencies

The entry of a Swedish-led oil consortium into southern Sudan in 1997 triggered civil war and crimes against humanity, claims a European coalition of aid agencies.

Europe’s Green Energy Portfolio Up in Smoke?

Europe seems hell-bent on burning the world's forests for bioenergy, even as it offers billions of euros to save them, critics say.

KYRGYZSTAN: External Threats Vie With Internal Ones

As Kyrgyzstan's interim leaders struggle to cope with ethnic flare-ups within its borders they must also keep an eye out for trouble from a tough Central Asian neighbourhood and from big powers interested in the country's strategic location.

EUROPE: Flotilla Raid Fires Up Israel Lobby

Within three days of Israel's attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla Monday, the pro-Israel lobby in Brussels was already seeking to deflect attention from the killing of nine peace activists in international waters.

Q&A: China Pays a Price for the ‘Lost’ Girls

In a country like China, that regularly exorcises the ghosts of the past, few understand the importance of oral history better than Chinese writer Xinran.

Corporate Greenwash at EU Environment Meet?

Coca-Cola, recently indicted for causing serious damage to water and soil in India, might seem like an odd champion of environmental protection.

Teenage Pregnancies Soar as Church Looks the Other Way

Pressure from the Catholic Church to effectively stop sex education in schools is threatening the health of tens of thousands of teenagers who fall pregnant every year because they have little or no knowledge of safe sex, education groups in Poland have warned.

ITALY: Building a Sustainable Future With Straw and Wood

Pescomaggiore village, destroyed by the earthquake that hit the mountain region of L'Aquila in central Italy on Apr. 6, 2009, is now being rebuilt by its 40-odd inhabitants with straw and wood.