U.S.: Growing Public Acceptance of Dwindling Global Role

Battered by two lengthy wars and a two-year-old economic crisis, the U.S. public appears increasingly reconciled to Washington's playing a declining global role in the coming years, according to the latest in a biennial series of major surveys released here Thursday by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA).

MIGRATION-MEXICO: Crisis Sparked by Massacre Spurs Demands for In-depth Changes

Organisations working for the rights of undocumented immigrants are using the crisis triggered by the massacre of 72 migrants a few weeks ago near the U.S. border to press for in-depth changes in Mexico.

U.S.: Forget ‘Ground Zero Mosque’, It’s the Great Sharia Conspiracy

A new report denouncing the threat to the U.S. from sharia, or Islamic law, marks the latest development in a summer filled with intensifying attacks on Islam in the United States.

U.S.: Rights Groups Leery of Surge in Wartime Contractors

Three years after security guards from Blackwater, a private security contractor working for the U.S. Department of State, killed 17 unarmed civilians in Baghdad, a leading human rights advocacy group is charging that not nearly enough has been done to improve oversight and accountability of private contractors abroad.

Women Make Their Mark on South American Politics

If Brazilian voters elect a woman president next month, what might have appeared to be isolated developments in Chile and Argentina would start to look more like a trend in the southern countries of South America.

SINGAPORE: Films Show Other Side Of Migrant Workers

Migrant workers may be what one filmmaker calls a "socio- political hot potato" in Singapore, but that is precisely why a film festival opted to showcase the plight of workers who often remain faceless although they are vital to the city- state’s everyday life and economy.

MIDEAST: Dreaming of Fish, and Flowers

As the many colours of the fish and flowers slowly disappear from the Gaza landscape, the already grim prospects of the besieged residents begins to look even bleaker.

U.S. Steps Up Mediation Efforts as Referendum Nears

Less than four months before a scheduled referendum on independence for southern Sudan, the administration of President Barack Obama is intensifying pressure on both Khartoum and the south's leadership to establish the necessary pre-conditions for the vote and any transition that follows it.

Doubling of SOF Night Raids Backfired in Kandahar

During a round of media interviews last month, Gen. David Petraeus released totals for the alleged results of nearly 3,000 "night raids" by Special Operations Forces (SOF) units over the 90 days from May through July: 365 "insurgent leaders" killed or captured, 1,355 Taliban "rank and file" fighters captured, and 1,031 killed.

SRI LANKA: Constitutional Change Undermines Political Checks

If Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa appears unassailable after the September ratification of a constitutional amendment lifting a limit on presidential terms, blame the main opposition party.

Michelle Bachelet’s Appointment to Head UN Women Widely Applauded

A level of enthusiasm seldom expressed at United Nations appointments welcomed the naming of former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet as the first head of UN Women, the new agency created to raise the profile of gender and women's issues.

IRAN: Ahmadinejad Aims to Provoke Constitutional Overhaul

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's confrontational approach towards the Iranian parliament could turn into a wider systemic crisis and is provoking appeals for a much more resolute intervention by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Detainees in Iraq Go from Frying Pan to Fire

The U.S. transfer of Iraqi detainees to national authorities with a long record of human rights abuses could prove illegal under international law, Amnesty International cautioned in a new report Tuesday.

OPEC – Fifty Years Regulating Oil Market Roller Coaster

Half a century after OPEC came into being, the world is very different, thanks partly to the actions of this organisation, the first to be formed in the developing South specifically to protect an export product.

Q&A: “U.S. Out of Step with the World on Death Penalty”

Across the globe and against the tide, the United States is one among a dwindling count of industrialised democracies that continue to practice capital punishment.

MIDEAST: Divided We Educate

A thin Palestinian boy, no older than ten, darts between the piles of garbage and the congested lines of traffic which converge at the Qalandia checkpoint between Ramallah and Jerusalem.

LABOUR: Newly Emboldened Burmese Workers Press for Change

When nearly 1,000 Burmese migrant workers launched a strike at a fishnet factory in north-east Thailand a week ago, activists expected it to be a short burst of anger. After all, this frequently abused labour force was often gripped with fear during brief work stoppages in the past elsewhere in this South-east Asian kingdom.

MIDEAST: A Circle Not Easily Squared

Security first or borders first: security says Israel, borders retort the Palestinians. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are finally again getting under way. Israel though remains adamant that the only chance the talks have to make headway is for its security concerns to be satisfactorily addressed.

LEBANON: Twin Visions, Twin Enemies Tearing the Country Apart

Last month's bloody gun battle in the streets of a heavily populated Beirut neighbourhood may have been triggered by an individual incident; its sectarian dimension, however, has once again highlighted the underlying battle of two currents – two visions of Lebanon that have been tearing the country apart for the last four years.

BIODIVERSITY: Japan Cooks Up New Ideas as Fish Consumption Depletes Stocks

A processed fish cake, made of a mixture of deep sea fish species pounded into paste and sold either deep fried or frozen, is the brain child of Takuhira Kaneko, head of Act for Company, which trades in fish and located in western Fukuoka city in Japan.

Cuban Union Calls for ‘Unity’ in Face of Job Reduction

The elimination of half a million public sector jobs, starting immediately and lasting through the first quarter of 2011, is one of the most complex and sensitive aspects of the reforms announced by Cuban President Raúl Castro.