POLITICS-THAILAND: Red-shirt Protest Leaders Up for Trial

A landmark political trial begins on Monday when leaders of an anti-government protest movement, known as the ‘red shirts’, will be hauled before the criminal court to face alleged terrorism charges.

U.S.: Sikhs Need Not Apply

A North Carolina man is joining a growing group of Sikhs who are looking to U.S. courts to remedy the "ignorance and intolerance" faced by practitioners of the religion, especially since the attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, which they say "unleashed a torrent of discrimination".

U.S.: Librarians Lead Fight Against Banned Books

Penguins are indisputably cute. And a children's book about such inoffensive animals could hardly be expected to trigger a nationwide controversy. But then came "And Tango Makes Three" and a heated debate was fired up.

Greek Society Falling, Falling…

People walking casually past a sleeping or unconscious person has become a recurrent scene in downtown Athens these days. At Omonia square in the heart of the Greek capital one sees signs of social degeneration and segregation that were unknown only a decade ago.

BALKANS: Kosovo Talks Bring Hope

Serbia has lost all its military and legal battles over Kosovo, but there is hope that the internationally sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina in October may bring some normalisation in relations between Serbia and its breakaway province.

PHILIPPINES: A Year On, Typhoon Ketsana’s Lessons Far from Forgotten

Filipinos are used to having their country soaked by rain six months of the year, but these days worry is on many faces whenever raindrops start falling.

CAMBODIA: Gov’t Critic’s Conviction Casts Shadow Over Room For Dissent

Questions hover over the future of Cambodia’s political opposition, as well as room for dissent, in the wake of the conviction and sentencing of the exiled leader of the country’s largest opposition party to 10 years in prison.

COLOMBIA: Devastating Blow for FARC Rebels

The death of guerrilla commander Luis Suárez, aka Jorge Briceño or "Mono Jojoy", is a "devastating blow" for Colombia's FARC insurgents, military affairs analyst Ariel Ávila told IPS.

Mexican Activist Wins Prestigious RFK Prize

An anthropologist and human rights defender who has worked for years with the indigenous people in one of Mexico's poorest and most marginalised regions has been awarded one of the world's most important human rights prizes.

U.N. Faces Threat of Irrelevancy Amid Big Power Politics

The 192-member General Assembly began its 65th session under a perceived new threat: that the United Nations is being overshadowed by a more powerful body, the G20.

Rights Activist Challenges Jamaica’s Status Quo

For the last 50 years, Jamaica's modern history has been shaped by two powerful parties - the Jamaica Labour Party and the People's National Party. Although dozens of others have periodically emerged, the political graveyard has inevitably been their final resting place.

DEVELOPMENT: Obama Lays Out Vision, Details Still Blurry

Following U.S. President Barack Obama's introduction of his long-awaited Global Development Policy at the United Nations on Wednesday, exactly one year after he told member states that he would return with a plan to make the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) a reality, questions remain over how it will be executed.

EAST TIMOR: For Fragile States, MDG Summit Outcome Off-target

Calls by fragile states for greater focus on addressing conflict and fragility have been largely ignored in the outcome document of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit in New York, but critical donors are at least listening to the growing rumble of voices from developing nations.

THAILAND: Insurgency Turns Malay-Muslim Women into Leaders

When her husband was arrested for links to an insurgency raging in this southern region, Pattama Heemmima joined the ranks of Malay-Muslim women forced into the unfamiliar routine of visiting police stations, military camps and courts to secure the freedom of their imprisoned kin.

CHINA: Great Green Wall Rises, But Questions Remain

Dubbed "The Great Green Wall," a human-made ecological barrier designed to stop rapidly encroaching deserts and combat climate change is coming up across China. By 2050, the artificial forest is to stretch 400 million hectares – covering more than 42 percent of China’s landmass.

$40 Billion for Women and Children, Millions of Lives at Stake

As a three-day anti-poverty talkfest drew to a close Wednesday, the United Nations shifted its focus from the poor and the hungry to two of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged groups in society: women and children.

U.S. Defence Spending Set for Downward Course

Although U.S. military spending will reach an all-time high next year, the Pentagon budget almost certainly faces steady cuts over the medium to long term, mainly as a result of increasing pressure to reduce the ballooning national debt, according to a growing consensus among defence experts.

CLIMATE CHANGE: Averting the Grimmest Scenarios

The catastrophic floods in Pakistan have added urgency to a high-level United Nations summit this week, with delegates from mostly South Asian nations convening Tuesday to call for increased technology transfer from richer countries and to compare strategies to avert the worst effects of climate change.

DEATH PENALTY: Arab States Pushed Towards Abolition

Rights activists met in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria this week to discuss and adopt effective strategies to persuade Arab regimes to abolish the death penalty.

ARGENTINA: Pioneer in Mainstreaming Gender Perspective in Justice System

Judges and other judicial officers in Argentina have begun to receive training on gender equality and women's rights, as part of a broad programme that could serve as a model for similar initiatives in the rest of Latin America.

EUROPE: Undocumented Pakistanis Face Expulsion

Less than two months after Pakistan was devastated by one of the worst disasters in recent history, the European Union's lawmakers have decided that Pakistanis living in the 27-country bloc without permission should be returned home.