Afghans Rejoice Over Osama Death

The assassination of Al-Qaeda founder and chief Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces has gladdened Afghans, who see him as the person who consigned millions of them to hell.

Arab Spring Comes in Western Arms

Global spending on arms in 2010 were an estimated 1.6 trillion dollars, with governments in the Middle East dishing out more than 111 billion for weapons - raising questions as to whether Western arms suppliers circumvented international treaties by exporting to repressive regimes.

SYRIA: Obama Pressed to Take Stronger Action Against Assad

Amid a continuing crackdown against opposition forces, U.S. President Barack Obama is coming under growing pressure to impose tougher sanctions against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

North Korea Hungry for Aid

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) lived through a famine that killed, at conservative estimates, nearly a million people in the 1990s, and is now nearing the brink of a second food disaster, according to an extensive study conducted this year by the United Nations World Food Program (WFP).

Nuclear Threat Draws WHO and Civil Society Closer

The global health agency and a network of non-governmental organisations opposed to nuclear proliferation have resumed their dialogue, prompted by concern over the effects of the nuclear catastrophe at Fukushima in Japan and the enduring consequences of the explosion at Chernobyl, in Ukraine.

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: Fishing Villages Turn to Int’l Justice in Fight Against Waste Duct

Fisherfolk and indigenous people in southern Chile have petitioned the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in their 15-year conflict with Celulosa Arauco y Constitución (CELCO), a paper pulp company which plans to dump toxic waste in the ocean, and with the Chilean state for alleged human rights violations.

OP-ED-HAITI: Just When You Think It Can’t Get Any Worse

We may soon look back on this period in Haiti with greater appreciation.

CANADA: An Electorate Divided

It was a highly disciplined campaign focused on the core base of Canadians, especially in greater Toronto, where a large number of citizens of recent immigrant origins helped to boost the Conservatives Monday to a comfortable parliamentary majority status of 167 seats out of a total 308.

ECUADOR: Correa Set for Victory in Referendum

Pollsters predict that a majority of voters in Ecuador will approve a package of reforms backed by leftwing President Rafael Correa, in a May 7 referendum that has further polarised the population.

PAKISTAN: Watching Where the Drones Now Go

"They should wrap up and leave!" says cricketer turned politician Imran Khan, who has been waging a campaign to put an end to the U.S. and NATO presence in the region.

EGYPT: After Mubarak, the Military Fist

Thousands of Egyptian civilians, including protesters who helped topple the authoritarian regime of president Hosni Mubarak, have been tried in military courts without due process. "The use of military trials on this scale is without precedent," says Adel Ramadan, a rights lawyer at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).

Egypt’s Moves Raising Anxiety in Washington

With U.S. lawmakers threatening this week to cut aid to Pakistan over its alleged harbouring of the late Osama bin Laden, concern is growing steadily here over the future of ties with another key predominantly Muslim ally heavily dependent on U.S. aid: Egypt.

ICC Poised to Issue Warrants on Libya

The International Criminal Court (ICC) appears poised to issue arrest warrants for three yet unnamed high-level members of the Libyan government for committing alleged crimes against humanity during the past two months of political turmoil that has taken thousands of lives.

Q&A: Translating Southern Successes Into LDC Solutions

"In South-South cooperation we are all partners," Josephine Ojiambo, ambassador of Kenya to the U.N. and president of the U.N. General Assembly High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation, told IPS. "SSC specifically shies away from the donor-client relationship."

Libyan Rebels Feel the Heat of NATO’s Swan Song

A week after U.N. Security Council Resolution 1973 sanctioned air strikes against the regime of Colonel Muammar el-Gaddafi in Libya, U.S. President Barack Obama made clear that it would not be U.S. planes maintaining the No-Fly Zone (NFZ). Rather, the effort to safeguard Libyan civilians would be led primarily by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

CIA Feared Pakistan Would Alert Bin Laden

U.S. officials were concerned that Pakistan could jeopardise the Osama bin Laden operation and "might alert the targets", if Islamabad took part in the mission, Leon Panetta, the CIA director, has said.

BALKANS: Justice For All?

Serbia has been reforming and transforming its justice system to more closely emulate international and European models, but the concept of plea-bargaining for more lenient sentences has led to unprecedented protest in the country.

BRAZIL: Handing in Guns Stashed at Home

An estimated 16 million firearms are in circulation in Brazil, 80 percent of them in civilian hands. Most of the guns are unregistered and illegally owned, and the government and civil society are planning a fresh campaign to reduce the number of guns and curb the thousands of shooting deaths in the country.

MIDEAST: Egypt Plays Best Man at Hamas-Fatah Union

Rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo on Wednesday, paving the way for the formation of a Palestinian national unity government. The move, say local analysts, reflects the changing political equation in the Middle East amid the ongoing wave of Arab popular uprisings.

PAKISTAN: Osama Killing Largely Unmourned

Three days since the death of Al-Qaeda chief and U.S. public enemy No. 1 Osama bin Laden, there are no public demonstrations to protest his killing, nor are there any other displays of anger or grief in this country of 170 million where he once enjoyed tremendous support.

Pakistan Responds With Disbelief

The once elusive Osama bin Laden may be dead, but the way he was killed, the secrecy surrounding the covert mission, and the haste with which the body was buried at sea have provided grist for the rumour mill.