AUSTRALIA: Gov’t Consistent in Opposing Indigenous Rights

Australia’s opposition to the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples, passed in September, is in step with the government’s approach to domestic policies under Prime Minister John Howard.

LABOUR: WTO Dusts Off Hidden Collection of Workers’ Art

Works of art with a powerful social message, donated by trade unions in the first half of the 20th century, will again be displayed at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) headquarters after being deliberately hidden for the past 30 years.

CUBA: Remembering Baldrich Through His Lens

One of Ángel González Baldrich’s lifelong friends and colleagues at the Cuban newspaper Juventud Rebelde once wrote that by a conservative estimate, the photojournalist took more than 70,000 photos and had around 10,000 published in different papers and magazines in Cuba.

Q&A: "My Work Reflects These Dark Times We Live In"

Stan Douglas is an internationally renowned photographer, filmmaker and multimedia installation artist who has been called "one of the most accomplished Canadian artists of the younger generation".

Q&A: &#39In My Mind, I Haven&#39t Reached My Vision&#39

New York's Carnegie Hall was akin to a pilgrimage site in September when Sonny Rollins marked the 50th anniversary of his debut at the revered venue. Jazz musicians and aficionados who have drawn inspiration from the self-named Saxophone Colossus turned out in droves: Lee Konitz, John Zorn, Pat Metheny and Joe Lovano were all spotted, as were the rock star Lou Reed and his wife Laurie Anderson.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: Civil War Brutality Hits New Lows

While Sri Lanka’s minister for human rights Mahinda Samarasinghe has denied allegations by a top United Nations official that torture is ‘routine’ in the country, there is little doubt that the renewed civil war has resulted in brutality hitting new lows.

AFGHANISTAN: Training Cops Not To Be Robbers

In a mud-walled village on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Qalat, police checkpoint commander Abdul Rasool complains he is tired of his country's six-year war and longs for peace.

CUBA: A Church Embraces Those Who Have Lost Their Way

In the heart of Balcón Arimao, a poor barrio on the fringes of the Cuban capital, a small evangelical church combines spirituality and community work, combating alcoholism, prostitution, crime and family breakdown.

COLOMBIA: A Painful Pilgrimage

"Father Antún! Father Antún is back!" were the happy, surprised shouts heard by the IPS news team accompanying Catholic priest Antún Ramos as he returned to his former parish in the village of Bellavista in northwestern Colombia.

RIGHTS-ASIA: &#39Fundamentalism Plays Out on Women&#39s Bodies&#39

They twisted it, turned it and tore it apart, but the term ‘religious fundamentalism’ defied definition. But they were certain that it worked against women’s rights.

DEATH PENALTY-MALAYSIA: Sane Voices Amidst Hysteria

In a small dingy community meeting room in Taman Kosas, a depressed working class suburb north of the city of factory workers and petty traders, Rohana Bakar, a 36-year-old mother of two girls, is trying hard to keep her ground.

POLITICS: Desmond Tutu Likens Israeli Actions to Apartheid

South African Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu compared conditions in Palestine to those of South Africa under apartheid, and called on Israelis to try and change them, while speaking in Boston Saturday at historic Old South Church.

CHILE: Breath of Fresh Air for Community Radio Stations?

After a seven year wait, community radio stations in Chile are celebrating a draft law that would regulate and promote their activities, which the government of President Michelle Bachelet has sent to Congress. But they remain aware of the hurdles that still lie ahead.

POLITICS-US: Welcome to "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week"

Right-wing pundit David Horowitz was in rare form during a tightly controlled "public speech" at the George Washington University on Thursday night, decrying the U.S. academic Left as a hateful "lynch mob" who act as apologists for the impending threat of the "Islamo- fascist" jihad.

GUATEMALA: Mayan Manuscript Returned (In Replica)

A Mayan manuscript known as the Dresden Codex was acquired by the Royal Library of the court of Saxony in 1739. As of this week, an exact replica of the precious manuscript is on display in Guatemala, donated by the Saxon State Library in Dresden, Germany, which holds the original.

CUBA: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff – Studying the Soviet Legacy

Although Cuba survived the demise of its communist allies in the early 1990s, the legacy of its close relationship with the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe may still have a bearing on the future of socialism on this Caribbean island nation.

PAKISTAN/AFGHANISTAN: Civilians Flee Air Strikes on Militant Targets

Civilians are fleeing Pakistan’s lawless border areas abutting Afghanistan following heavy artillery fire and air strikes by the military against militant targets.

POLITICS-US: Will Catholics Lean Right or Left in 08?

Over the past two decades, Catholic voters in the United States - once consistent supporters of the Democratic Party - have been heavily courted by the Republicans.

BRAZIL: Stiff Sentence for Killer of US-Born Nun Upheld

The 27-year sentence handed down to the hired killer who murdered U.S.-born nun and activist Dorothy Stang in 2005 was upheld by a court in Brazil.

POLITICS-US: From Prodigal Child to Wayward Waif

The nation's most powerful Religious Right organisations gathered last weekend in Washington to find a presidential candidate who shared their values. And every single Republican hopeful made the pilgrimage to state his case.

RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Tortured Labour, Stolen Newborns

"Torture with the electric prod when she was close to term induced accelerated labour," says the report "Maternidades Clandestinas" (Motherhood in Clandestine Prisons), which tells the stories of dozens of women illegally imprisoned during Argentina’s 1976-1983 dictatorship.