PAKISTAN: At the Butt of a Joke

The Butts of Punjab have become the butt of jokes after Pakistan’s telecom authorities moved to ban "obscene" content on short messaging service (SMS) texts over mobile phones.

EGYPT: It’s January Again in Tahrir Square

Days of clashes between protesters and security forces culminated on Tuesday evening in what was estimated to be a million-man rally in Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand an end to military rule. The new political crisis has prompted fears that Egypt's first post-Mubarak parliamentary polls, slated to begin only five days from now, could be called off.

EU: Conditions Faced by Roma People – from Bad to Worse

Roma leaders are alarmed at the growing discrimination faced by their people in Europe, especially because of the anti-gypsy stance taken by many political parties, which blame the ethnic minority group for a wide range of social ills.

Q&A: Busan Beckons With New Promise

For a start, stop calling it "aid", Brian Atwood, chair of the Development Assistance Committee at the OECD, tells IPS.

OP-ED: The Future of Carbon Markets: Taking Politics Seriously

Carbon markets are under attack on all sides, despite ongoing faith in their ability to deliver meaningful reductions in greenhouse gases (GHGs).

MOROCCO: Believe or Leave

When he decided to publicly express his views about Islam, Kacem El Ghazzali had no idea that he was going to be beaten up and his life threatened. In spite of this, he continues his fight from his country of asylum for the freedom of faith in the Islamic kingdom of Morocco.

Bangladesh Demands Climate Justice

Mosammet Monwara walks more than three km every alternate day to fetch water for her family of five in a heavy earthen pitcher.

PAKISTAN: Persecution of Ahmadis Spreads

"Hatred against us has now spread to small towns and villages," Saleemuddin, spokesperson of the persecuted Ahmadiya community in Pakistan, told IPS.

CAMBODIA: Delayed Justice Begins Unconvincingly

Kim Vuthy has walked inside this courtroom on the outskirts of Phnom Penh three times. But it never gets any easier looking at the men she holds responsible for the deaths in her family.

MIDEAST: Erdogan Most Popular Leader By Far Among Arabs

Despite repeated expressions of support by President Barack Obama for democratic change during the "Arab Spring", the United States remains widely distrusted in the region, according to a major new survey of public opinion in five Arab countries released here Monday.

U.S. Ratchets Up Economic Pressure on Iran

Under intense pressure from the U.S. Congress and U.S. presidential election politics, the Barack Obama administration Monday declared the Islamic Republic of Iran a "primary money laundering concern" - a designation that stops short of blacklisting Iran's Central Bank but is intended to persuade more foreign governments, banks and companies to curtail business with Iranian financial entities.

CARRIBEAN: Fresh Challenges Accompany Progress in AIDS Fight

Cracey Fernandes, the president of the Guyana Sex Work Coalition, does not hide the fact that he is homosexual.

SPAIN: Socialist Defeat Could Give Rise to a New Left

The crushing defeat suffered by Spain's governing socialist party may pave the way for the emergence of a new alterative left capable of standing up to the centre-right People's Party (PP), which won a landslide victory in Sunday's elections.

Activists Tie Occupy Movement to Global Gender Rights

On the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on Nov. 25, a group of feminist organisations will unite to launch a campaign calling for an end of the "immoral and unethical economy of Wall Street" against women and people of colour.

Occupy Oakland Rallies Amid Anger over Pepper-Spraying of Students

Twice evicted from its encampment just outside city hall, Occupy Oakland sprung back to life Saturday, erecting a new three-dozen-tent camp and defying multiple city warnings that lodging in public spaces would not be tolerated.

Cairo Clashes Cast Doubts over Egypt Vote

Protesters calling for Egypt's military to hand over power have beaten back a new raid by security forces to evict them from Cairo's Tahrir Square after more than 48 hours of violence in the heart of the Egyptian capital.

SOUTH AMERICA: Coming Together to Preserve the La Plata Basin

Five South American countries have launched a joint sustainable management programme for the Río de la Plata basin, to preserve one of the largest fresh water reserves in the world.

NEPAL: Community Forestry Unfazed by Political Turmoil

Nepal’s joint forest management system has taken such deep roots that the country’s prolonged political instability has had little effect on it.

Egyptians Launch New Battle for Minimum Wage

Mohamed El-Abyad's employer has agreed to increase his salary by 20 percent, but the factory worker still cannot afford to send his children to school. After paying his apartment rent and utilities, El-Abyad will have the equivalent of 20 dollars left over each month to put food on his family's table. And while education is mandatory, he pulled both his sons out of school to help cover the shortfall.

Corporal Punishment Leaves Too Many Scars

Thousands of people are being left physically and psychologically scarred as countries around the world continue to breach international law in handing out brutal but "ineffective" corporal punishment for drug offences, it has been claimed.

ISRAEL: Women Push Back Into Public Space

They're looking at you "uncensored". Posters of women by women have recently multiplied on the holy city walls. "Women on billboards are back in Jerusalem," they proclaim defiantly.