Obama Scrambles to Save Arms, Foreign Policy Agenda

Two weeks after U.S. voters gave Republicans control of the House of Representatives and a sharply reduced the Democratic majority in the Senate, President Barack Obama is scrambling to save his foreign policy agenda.

Former Chadian Dictator May Finally Face Trial

International donors meeting in Dakar next week are expected to finance the prosecution of former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré nearly two decades after his removal from power, according to a coalition of rights organisations.

HUMAN RIGHTS: Amnesty Law Still Blocking Justice in Uruguay

"It is essential for the amnesty law to be repealed" in Uruguay, Argentine poet Juan Gelman told IPS after hearings at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights ended in Quito, in the cases of the murder of his daughter-in-law and the kidnapping of his granddaughter.

U.S.: Health and Privacy Concerns Dog Airport Body Scanners

Privacy advocates called on the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Tuesday to end its controversial new initiative of whole-body scans and enhanced pat-downs of airline passengers, calling the programme "dangerous to health, ineffective and unconstitutional".

INDIA: Now the ‘Mother of All Scams’

As India is rocked by a series of billion-dollar scams, the question on everybody's mind is whether the perpetrators will go scot-free in what has been described as a low-risk, high-gain activity in this country.

Malawi’s Women Pushing for a Place at the Table

No sooner had Mariness Luhanga announced her intention to contest local elections in Mzimba district in northern Malawi, than she was summoned to appear before a village court on allegations of insulting men.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Territorial Rows Undercutting Pacifist Stance

Thorny territorial disputes with neighbours China and Russia appear to nudging Japan’s pacifist public toward accepting what has so far been an unpalatable prospect: a more assertive and militarily strong country.

CHINA: For Now, Old Beijing Community Gets a Reprieve

On a chilly but bright fall day near the Drum and Bell Towers, one of the Chinese capital’s top tourist draws, business is brisk for Boss Liu. Drivers working for Liu’s rickshaw business ferry dozens of foreign and domestic tourists through the historic alleyways of a treasured neighbourhood that, as recently as October, was slated for demolition.

ECONOMY: East Timor Extends a Hand to Troubled Portugal

With the announcement that his country is ready to buy Portuguese debt, the president of East Timor, José Ramos-Horta, set a precedent in international economic relations that was universally praised in political and financial circles in this southern European country.

US-IRAN: Study Group Urges “Strategic Engagement”

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama should pursue a policy of "strategic engagement" with Iran that would offer Tehran more attractive incentives to curb its nuclear programme, according to a study group convened by two centrist Washington think tanks.

Britain to Settle Rendition, Torture Case for Millions

The British government will reportedly pay millions in compensation to seven British nationals who were unlawfully "rendered" to U.S.-run prisons and tortured with the cooperation of British intelligence.

Internet At Home – A Distant Dream in Cuba

A submarine fibre optic cable which is expected to greatly increase internet connection speed in Cuba will soon be operational, and is creating moderate expectations among civil society on the island, where private access to the net is not a government priority.

U.S.: Poll Finds Growing Aversion to Death Penalty

A clear majority of U.S. voters - 61 percent - would choose a punishment other than death for murder if given a choice, the Death Penalty Information Centre said Tuesday as it released the results of "one of the most comprehensive studies ever conducted" of U.S. citizens' views on capital punishment.

POLITICS: Cambodia, Vietnam Differ from Laos in Cluster Bombs Ban

On a windy morning in southern Laos in November, a team of deminers built a makeshift bunker out of sandbags and piled the barrier around a tiny explosive.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Indonesia’s Forests Loom As Green Gold

All eyes are on Indonesia and its forest policy as climate- change negotiations continue in the upcoming global talks in Mexico, against the prospect of billions of dollars flowing from the planet’s major polluters to the developing world to slow global warming.

HAITI: Anger Erupts at U.N. as Cholera Toll Nears 1,000

"People are going to take the body to MINUSTAH to show them what they did," Jean-Luc Surfin told IPS by phone as riots erupted against Haiti's U.N. peacekeeping force on Monday in the northern city of Cap-Haitien.

Latin America at Forefront of War on Tobacco

Latin America and the Caribbean are taking firm steps against the use of tobacco with the adoption of no smoking laws, bans on advertising, and graphic pictorial warnings on cigarette packets.

GUATEMALA: Controversial Early Start to Election Campaign

Guatemala's election campaign got off to a controversial and premature start, with an evangelical pastor, a military officer, a former president, the president's wife and the daughter of a general who led a coup emerging as presidential hopefuls, although three of them face legal barriers to their candidacy, according to experts.

EGYPT: Mubarak’s Critics See Hypocrisy in U.S. Support

The Egyptian government's crackdown on political opponents continues unabated in advance of parliamentary elections Nov. 28, even as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week hailed the "partnership" between the two countries as "a cornerstone of stability and security in the Middle East and beyond".

SRI LANKA: Death Sentence Highlights Risks for Migrant Workers

When a relative approached Mohamed Nafeek in 2005 to explore the possibility of sending his eldest daughter, Rizana, to the Middle East as a domestic worker, the family thought its luck had finally turned for the better.

BURMA: After Suu Kyi’s Release, Dangerous Time Sets In

A dilapidated colonial villa on the banks of the Inya Lake in Rangoon, Burma’s largest city, has regained its identity as a home – instead of a prison – following the Saturday release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the icon of the military-ruled country’s democracy movement.