BIODIVERSITY: Imagine a World Without Bluefin Tuna

The bluefin tuna, an "apex predator" fish of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea, is condemned to extinction within two years by the inaction of the industrialised North and international regulatory bodies, predict marine biologists and environmentalists.

ITALY: Daring to Put Mafia Assets to Social Utility

In the small town of Corleone in central Sicily, 13 people, five of whom suffer from psychiatric distress, run a farm on lands confiscated from the Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian mafia.

JAMAICA: Communities Pay High Price for Soaring Crime Rates

This week's ongoing standoff in Jamaica, in which 73 people have been killed as police search for a wanted gang leader in the Tivoli Gardens neighbourhood of Kingston, is focusing renewed international attention on the island's seemingly intractable violent crime rate.

EUROPE: Cutting Emissions, and Costs

Deeper cuts to the European Union's greenhouse gas emissions than those approved by its governments would be less expensive than previously thought, according to a new analysis.

RIGHTS: ‘G20 Must Lead on Justice’

Amnesty International is calling on the G20 to lead the world out of a crisis in justice, after the band of major industrialised and emerging nations has led a fair bit of the world out of economic recession, to some extent.

BALKANS: Serb Mercenaries See Prospects in Latin America

For most Serbs, Latin America is a distant continent held in regard by the older generation as a part of the non-aligned movement.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Latin America, EU Set Sights on Cancun Summit

Governments from the European Union and from Latin America and the Caribbean are confident that at year's end the international climate conference will produce a concrete legal mandate to truly protect the environment.

ISRAEL: Settlement Policy Wrong – European Jews

Prominent Jewish intellectuals living in Europe have begun denouncing the Israeli policy of allowing settlements to come up on Palestinian territories as "morally and politically wrong.’’

Namibia Stands Up to EU ‘Bullying’

Tensions between the European Union and Africa have once again erupted, with Namibia accusing the Brussels elite of resorting to bullying tactics in trade negotiations.

Portugal Looks to Former Colonies for Lifeline in Crisis

First Angola, and now Brazil, Portugal's two largest former colonial possessions, are extending a helping hand to the battered Portuguese economy.

AFRICA: “EU Subsidises Companies Guilty of Illegal Fishing”

The European Union has for years been paying subsidies to the tune of one billion euro annually to industrial fishing companies based in its member states, including companies that have been caught fishing illegally in African waters.

BIODIVERSITY: Watching Over the Future

Her husband died last year, but "he will be forever a guardian of biodiversity."

FRANCE: Burqa Ban May Prove Counter-Productive

France is likely to have a law banning the burqa by autumn of this year, but human rights groups say that such legislation would be discriminatory, counter-productive and also difficult to enforce.

BIODIVERSITY: Saving the Planet Can Be Fun

Saving the planet from environmental catastrophe is undoubtedly very important, but one of the reasons many people are not doing their bit could be that being green does not seem much fun.

ROMANIA: Trade Unions Warn Against Unjustified Pay Cuts

Romania’s trade unions have warned that a series of protests against drastic cuts in pensions and salaries would turn into full-fledged general strikes by month-end unless the government heeded to the needs of ordinary people.

BIODIVERSITY: Not Just About Tigers and Pandas

When people talk about biodiversity loss, discussion often centres on the tragedy of animals like the tiger and the panda being in danger of extinction.

BIODIVERSITY: ‘Culture Integral to Agriculture’

Biodiversity in agriculture is about culture. Traditional knowledge and culture are as important as research and investment, say farmers, researchers and academics gathered in Rome for the International Day for Biodiversity on Saturday.

Eastern Europe Resists Disarmament

Despite the U.S. and Russia signing what was widely hailed as a landmark deal on nuclear arms reduction in Eastern Europe last month, the region remains hesitant to back full disarmament.

DEATH PENALTY: World Moving Towards Abolition

Anti-death penalty activists meeting in the Austrian capital to discuss the eighth quinquennial report of the United Nations Secretary-General have hailed a worldwide trend towards total and universal abolition of capital punishment.

South America on Guard Against Europe’s Economic Woes

Although the European Union's financial bailout of Greece to avoid contagion of the crisis to other eurozone countries has had positive effects, South America is not ruling out collateral damage, especially from austerity measures demanded from Spain and Portugal and being considered for other EU countries.

Conflict Stirs Over Hungarians

Calls have been made for Slovakia and Hungary to start "open and sincere" dialogue amid fears that Slovakia's ethnic Hungarian minority will "suffer" following the election of a new government in Hungary and as Slovakia's nationalist coalition government looks for re-election.