EGYPT-U.S.: Washington Voices Impatience with Regime

Amid the continuing stand-off between protestors and the Egyptian government, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama appeared Wednesday to be losing patience with both President Hosni Mubarak and his new vice president, Gen. Omar Suleiman.

Q&A: Another World Is Possible – It’s Called Ecosocialism

As the powerful collective energy continues to surge through Dakar, veterans of the World Social Forum (WSF) are taking a moment to examine the history, trajectory and future of the alternative global movement.

Nepal, Qatar Vie for U.N. Presidency

When the 192-member General Assembly, the highest policy- making body at the United Nations, meets to formally induct its president, the choice is usually a foregone conclusion because the decision is made far in advance of the annual opening session in September.

VENEZUELA: Biopiracy Leaves Native Groups Out in the Cold

Millions of cancer patients around the world benefit from a medication called Paclitaxel (Taxol), which may begin to be produced from a new source: fungi found at the summit of Venezuela's flat-topped mountains. But the indigenous communities who have lived in that area since time immemorial will receive no benefits, and were not even consulted on the matter.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: “We Don’t Want Everybody to Think the Same”

It is only the second time that the World Social Forum (WSF) takes place in Africa, the first one having been held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 2007. Since the start of the WSF in Porto Alegre, Brazil, 10 years ago, the organisers have been building African participation.

Environmental and Demographic Forces Threaten State Failure

Uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, and across the Middle East at the start of 2011 have reminded the world just how politically fragile some countries are. But the focus of international politics has been shifting for some time now.

RIGHTS-PERU: At Last, Reparations for Civil War Victims

Peru will begin to pay individual monetary reparations to victims and survivors of the 1980-2000 counterinsurgency war, with top priority put on elderly people in remote villages in the country's impoverished highlands, where most of the human rights violations took place.

EGYPT: Muslims and Christians Protest as One

Over recent years, Egypt has witnessed mounting tension between its Muslim majority and its sizeable Coptic Christian minority. But in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the site of ongoing mass protests against the ruling regime, members of both faiths chant in unison: "Muslim, Christian, doesn't matter; We're all in this boat together!"

Behind the Spin, Egypt Gives Tehran Political Heartburn

Judging from official propaganda in both Iran and much of the Arab world, the uprisings that toppled Tunisia's dictatorship and threaten Egypt's authoritarian regime are the direct descendent of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Q&A: Alternatives Needed to Western-led Peacebuilding

"Security Sector Reforms" (SSRs) have become the latest catch phrase in donor discussions on post-conflict peacebuilding around the world.

PAKISTAN: Divided Between the Mullah and the Model

A spat between a Pakistani actress and an Islamic leader has emerged as a vivid revelation of a deep split across the nation between different sets of values.

Hungry Gazans Feed Egyptian Troops

Mustapha Suleiman, 27, from J Block east of the Rafah crossing with Egypt, crosses through gaps in the iron fence on the border carrying bread, water, meat cans and a handful of vegetables for Egyptian soldiers stationed on the other side.

Brutal Crackdown in Belarus

Repressions in Europe’s last dictatorship show no signs of abating despite EU sanctions and international condemnation. International rights watchdogs warn that human rights abuses in Belarus have reached a "new low", and activists say that no one appears safe from Alexander Lukashenka’s brutal crackdowns in the wake of his controversial re-election as president.

Q&A: Revolutions Are Not Widgets

Behind the headlines of mass social forums and violent protests, fighting oppression and changing the world requires sustained grassroots action, according to Kenyan social justice activist Onyango Oloo.

EGYPT: Mubarak’s Fate in Military Hands

Make no mistake about it - Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak will stay in power only as long as his army generals deem it to be in their best interest.

SUDAN: Rights Groups Fear Quid Pro Quo for Peaceful Transition

Amid renewed pockets of unrest throughout Sudan and continuing violence in Darfur, government officials in Khartoum announced Monday that a whopping 98.83 percent of southern voters – numbering more than 3.8 million in a country of over 42.3 million – cast their ballots in favour of secession during last month's highly anticipated referendum.

No More Immunity for George W. Bush – Abroad, at Least

Former U.S. President George W. Bush may have mostly vanished from the headlines since January 2009, but the alleged crimes committed by his administration are not forgotten.

EGYPT-U.S.: Washington Fumbles Messaging

Only four days ago, the administration of President Barack Obama appeared to be siding with the hundreds of thousands of Egyptian demonstrators calling for a quick end to Hosni Mubarak's 30-year reign, even if it didn't call explicitly for the Egyptian president to resign.

COLOMBIA: Increasingly Broad Social Movements Fight Mining

Social mobilisation against gold-mining is growing in Colombia, which is now one of the world's biggest per capita polluters of mercury, used in artisanal mining, according to the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

MEXICO: “They Don’t Want Their Town to Vanish” – Underwater

The people of three towns that would be flooded by the El Zapotillo dam to be built in the western Mexican state of Jalisco have refused to be relocated and are fighting to save their homes.

Palestinian Streets Quiet as PA Suppresses Protests

The Palestinian Authority (PA) is using brute force and intimidation tactics - similar to those deployed in Cairo - to suppress pro-Egyptian and Tunisian protests in the West Bank.