CHINA: Nobel Upsets Chinese Diplomacy

Europe delivered a lesson in universal values to outraged Beijing on Friday, awarding the world's most prestigious peace prize to a jailed Chinese dissident, who had boldly called for political reforms in the communist country.

MIDEAST: Documentary Probes Death of a Peace Activist

The 2003 death of young peace activist Rachel Corrie, crushed by an Israeli military bulldozer, inspired worldwide press coverage, demonstrations and debates – and eventually at least two plays and a number of songs.

Canada Sees Climate Change “Prosperity” Instead of Calamity

The first comprehensive look at the expected impacts of climate change on Canada offers an embarrassing and misleading "don't worry, be happy" vision, citing more golf days and better access to northern deposits of oil and gas courtesy of global warming, critics say.

CHINA: Resentment Rises With Widening Wealth Gaps

In the rich depository of Chinese expressions dealing with the issue of unrest, none is more sensitive than the word ‘qiyi’ or rebellion. After all, Chinese imperial dynasties have lost mandates because of peasant rebellions and the mere mention of the word in China brings associations with calamitous change.

MIDEAST: Arabic Comes to Jewish Schools

"As a democracy Israel aspires to complete equality of all its citizens," said Dr. Shlomo Alon, head of the education ministry's Arabic and Islam education division as he launched a programme at the beginning of the new school year to make classes in Arabic compulsory in all Jewish public schools. But just a month later, the commitment to "complete equality" looks like it's taking a back seat.

Scrambling for a Solution on IMF Governance Reform

Among the topics expected to be discussed at the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) that started this week and will continue through the weekend is the reform of the IMF’s governance.

AFGHANISTAN: Nine Years in, Afghans Don’t Trust U.S.

On the ninth anniversary of the U.S. military intervention in their country, a new report released here Thursday finds that Afghans remain deeply distrustful and resentful of the impact and intent of foreign forces there.

Abolition of the Death Penalty – New ‘De Facto’ Millennium Goal

Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero announced Thursday the creation of an International Commission Against the Death Penalty, whose immediate goal is a global moratorium by 2015, to put an end to what he described as the "horror" of capital punishment.

ECUADOR: Social Movements to Go Ahead with Int’l Meetings Despite Crisis

"What lies ahead in Colombia is an increase in the number of refugees and displaced persons, while in Guatemala and Mexico people are going to continue leaving their countries in difficult conditions in which they face dangers to their lives," said Nelsy Lizarazu, one of the spokespersons for the Fourth World Social Forum on Migration.

Water, Sanitation Gain Traction as Basic Human Rights

When the 47-member Human Rights Council (HRC) affirmed last week that the right to water and sanitation was a basic human right, the consensus resolution was described as a "historic first" for the U.N.’s premier human rights body based in Geneva.

LABOUR-CUBA: Torn Between Hope and Anxiety

The radical restructuring of employment launched by President Raúl Castro has Cubans, on the one hand, feeling anxious about possibly losing their jobs and, on the other, looking forward to testing the real scope of opportunities in the private sector, where an estimated 250,000 additional people may soon be working for themselves.

SOUTHERN AFRICA: Ignoring Patriarchy, Female Politicians Rise

In Malawi, if both a girl and boy are born into a poor family, it will naturally be the boy in whom all the financial resources are invested.

EUROPE: Yugoslavia Back on Track

For a while it looked like the start of a ride in a time machine. Serbian engineers, their caps bearing the emblems of the defunct Yugoslav Railways, cheered on the first train of the new Slovenian-Croatian-Serbian railway.

LEBANON: Tourism Planted at a Barbed Border

The contours of a modern medieval castle stretch along the Wazzani River delineating Lebanon's border with Israel. A few metres away from the United Nations-mandated Blue Line, on Lebanon's first line of fire with Israel, a tourism project at an estimated cost of 20 million dollars is slowly taking shape.

DEATH PENALTY: Abolition Needed, Not Moratorium

While almost all former Soviet states have rid their legal systems of the death penalty, a handful keep moratoriums in place. And although any stop to the death penalty is welcomed by campaigners against capital punishment, they say that in an often politically troubled region which has already seen calls for a reinstatement of the death penalty, complete abolition is needed to ensure authoritarian and populist leaders cannot reinstate it.

CENTRAL ASIA: Remittances on the Rise

Financial remittances to the Central Asian Republics by millions of both undocumented and legal migrants working in Russia have increased substantially, labour experts say.

ECUADOR: Air Force and Navy Reluctantly Backed President

Besides the hundreds of police who were rioting, Ecuador's air force and navy were the biggest headaches for the government of Rafael Correa in the 11 hours that the president was held captive on Thursday, Sept. 30, IPS was told by civilian and military sources close to the action.

U.N. Admits Congo Crisis Beyond Its Limited Capacity

Amid accusations that most U.N. peacekeepers turned a blind eye to the recent "mass rape" of more than 300 civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon admitted that the mounting problems in the sprawling, crisis-stricken country are virtually beyond the capacity of the world body.

Funding Falls Short for Global Fight Against AIDS

The 11.7 billion dollars pledged Tuesday to replenish the Global Fund to Fight HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria for the coming three years falls significantly short of the 20 billion dollars hoped for, threatening to undo the progress made in the fight against these diseases - the three largest infectious killers in the world.

MALAYSIA: Clampdown On Political Satirists No Laughing Matter

As Malaysia gears up for what is expected to be a crucial general election in 2011, the government is tightening up against widely popular political cartoons and blogs that the ruling party fears will translate into voters’ support for the opposition.

MIDEAST: Israeli Police Given Protection for Killing

A peaceful morning is interrupted by the sounds of an Israeli helicopter circling overhead -- often a sign of trouble on the ground. Later Sunday the news broke -- a Palestinian man was shot dead in the village of Issawiya by Israeli paramilitary border police as he tried to enter Israel in search of work.