MEXICO: Four-Day March against Violence Calls for Social Pact

"I want to request the resignation of the Secretary (Minister) of Public Security. We want a message today from the president, showing that he did hear us," said poet Javier Sicilia before a crowded square overflowing with demonstrators who participated in a four-day-long March for Peace with Justice and Dignity in Mexico.

Calls Mount to Push U.S. Troop Presence in Iraq Past 2011

Amid high-level U.S. congressional delegations to evaluate developments in Iraq, a growing number of voices here, from both the Barack Obama administration and members of Congress, are concerned about a complete withdrawal of U.S. forces from the country by December 2011 – a deadline set forth in the supposedly inviolable Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the U.S. and Iraqi governments back in 2008.

ECONOMY: Looking for Development Leverage

Given a few incentives, private companies can be attracted to invest in poor countries that before were not on their radar. Donor countries are betting on this new avenue of public-private-partnerships (PPPs) to channel funds, technology and business knowledge to the 48 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) - the impact can be huge, but many challenges remain.

Pakistan PM Ducks the Osama Question

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani defended Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) amid scathing criticism from the world community that the spy agency had aided and abetted Osama bin Laden, who was hunted down and killed by U.S. forces in Pakistan May 1.

U.N. Experts Push for Details on Bin Laden Operation

Was last week's killing of an unarmed Osama bin Laden in his hideout in Pakistan legitimate self-defence, justified homicide or extra-judicial execution?

Fatah and Hamas’ Honeymoon Could Face Problems

Despite the euphoria surrounding the recent signing in Cairo of the groundbreaking unity accord between Palestinian rivals Fatah and Hamas, ending their four-year feud, numerous obstacles remain which could impinge on the implementation of a unity government.

PHILIPPINES: Women Clamour for Contraceptives

In a small women's clinic in the congested community of San Andres Bukid in the Philippine capital, a mother of 11 is availing herself of family planning services for the first time in her life.

Indigenous Craftswomen Take on Mexican Fashion World

Reina Pérez, an Otomi indigenous craftswoman in the central Mexican state of Querétaro, skilfully embroiders "grecas" or traditional design motifs in threads of many colours, on fabrics that will be used to make dresses, skirts and blouses.

OP-ED: Private Beliefs, Public Change

When the suicide bomb exploded as worshippers left New Year's mass at a Coptic church in Alexandria, 21 people died and 79 were wounded. It's hard to imagine a more grim, ghastly, or tragic way to ring in a new decade.

MIDEAST: The Indigenous Become Squatters

As plans to demolish a Palestinian Bedouin village to make way for a new, Jewish-only town move forward in Israel’s Negev desert, the Bedouin residents have submitted a motion for the right to appeal to the Israeli Supreme Court.

Iran’s Two Executives Play a Lose-Lose Game

The very public disagreement between Iran's Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over the sacking of the intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, is turning out to be a losing game for both sides.

Pakistan in Deep Turmoil

Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani faces the nation Monday, amid opposition demands for the resignation of the country’s top political and military leaders in the wake of the secret U.S. operation that killed Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden on Pakistani soil.

INDIA: Smuggling Everything From Cough Syrup to Sex

Sakina Bibi is a sex worker in the red light area of Kalabagan in Murshidabad, a border district in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal where everything from cattle to electronic goods, from rice and sugar to cough syrup, and women, are being smuggled.

CHINA: Click Your Kidney Away

In China, where a growing demand for organ transplants coupled with a dramatic shortage of donors has fuelled a rampant black market trade, selling your organs for cash is a mouse click away.

Bin Laden Coup Could Mark New Beginning for Obama

Five days after U.S. Navy Seals shot and killed Osama bin Laden at his secret compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, U.S. President Barack Obama is enjoying a significant boost in public approval, as well as a transformation in his public image.

Can Microcredit Reclaim Its Visionary Mission?

As controversy mounts over the efficacy of microfinance as a global poverty-alleviation effort, the 15th Global Microcredit Summit, scheduled to kick off on Nov. 14 in Valladolid, Spain, will be forced to answer critical questions about poverty, resources and tactics.

OP-ED: Gunfight at Abbottabad: Dismantling the Myth of an American Hero

In Hollywood Westerns, the sheriff engages in a shootout with bad guys and wins. Such was the story of Wyatt Earp, who killed rustlers in the "Gunfight at OK Corral". Then there is the American cowboy, represented by John Wayne - tall, handsome, Anglo-Saxon – who rides into town whistling before he dispatches the "bad guys" sometimes represented by "Indians" like Geronimo, the Apache, who supposedly terrorised innocent settlers.

After Osama, China Fears the Next Target

The United States' most vilified terrorist foe has been dead only a week but China is already haunted by the phantom of the next big U.S. enemy. Almost simultaneously with the spread of the news of Osama Bin Laden's death in a covert U.S. operation in Pakistan, Chinese analysts had begun the guessing game of where Washington will focus its attention next.

Former Minister Warns of Tunisia Coup Risk

Tunisia's former interior minister has warned that lingering members of the country's former political elite may carry out a coup d'etat if Islamists win a majority in the upcoming election.

North and South Korea Far Apart

Young North Koreans who have defected to the South are determined to see their dream - a unified Korea - become reality, even if their counterparts in the South don't quite agree.

PAKISTAN: Tourists Flee Osama Shadow

This is the time of year when picturesque Chitral Valley in the northwestern corner of Pakistan sees a huge influx of tourists. But local residents fear a backlash from the events in Abbottabad, some 300 miles southeast, as authorities put up an extraordinary security cordon throughout this tourist haven.