Libya Blames NATO for Raid on Food Warehouse

Libyan officials have accused NATO of killing at least eight people in an air raid on a food warehouse and medical clinic in Zlitan, east of Tripoli.

India and Pakistan Prepare for Peace Talks

Senior Indian and Pakistani officials have held discussions in New Delhi, the Indian capital, that will lay the groundwork for formal peace talks set for Wednesday.

MEXICO: Women Journalists Face Double Threats

The murder of journalist Yolanda Ordaz, whose body was found Tuesday in the eastern Mexican city of Veracruz, once again threw into relief the dangers that reporters face in this country, which in the case of women are compounded by discriminatory and sexist treatment.

U.S. Islamophobes Distance Themselves from Norway Killings

As Norway mourns the loss of at least 76 of its citizens in Friday's bombing of government buildings in Oslo and mass shootings at a Labour Party youth camp, attention here has focused on the U.S. bloggers and groups whose Islamophobic message appears to have fuelled the alleged perpetrator's murderous rage.

Germany Arms Saudis Against Iran

Germany’s delivery of armoured tanks to Saudi Arabia is not aimed at repressing local or regional popular uprisings, but to improve Saudi military capabilities in a likely war against Iran, diplomatic and military experts say.

Egypt’s Military Vows to Abide by New Constitution

Egypt's transitional military rulers reiterated Monday their pledge to hand over power to a civilian elected government and denied they are seeking to carve out a patriarchal role in the country's future political life.

NICARAGUA: Court Downgrades Rape to “Fit of Passion”

The rape of a young woman that has become a symbolic case in Nicaragua was ruled a "crime of passion" by the Supreme Court in a verdict that is suspected to have political overtones.

KENYA: Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting at Work

For the first time ever, the Kenyan finance minister has allocated almost four million dollars, about 3.6 percent of the primary education budget, to provide free sanitary pads to schoolgirls.

Q&A: Budget Woes Could Hamper ICC Investigations

The work of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the world's first and only permanent court that pursues war criminals, is likely to be hampered by a shortage of funds next year.

BRAZIL: Lax Limits on Agrotoxics in Drinking Water

Brazil sets acceptable drinking water limits for 22 different types of pesticides and fertilisers, 13 heavy metals, 13 solvents and six disinfectants. However, these are sometimes exceeded for economic reasons or due to inadequate monitoring.

Worrying Dysfunction in DR Congo Airports

Major operational shortcomings are behind the recent spate of crashes at airports around the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising questions about safety for aircraft and passengers in the central African country.

SWAZILAND: Economic Crisis Means Short Supply of ARVs

Swaziland’s economic crisis has affected its ability to provide healthcare as the country’s buffer stock of antiretrovirals (ARVs) has fallen below the prescribed three-month supply.

MIDEAST: Families Cry Out for Palestinian Prisoners

"We could enter the Guinness book of records for the longest running weekly sit- ins in the world," Nasser Farrah, from the Palestinian Prisoners' Association, jokes dryly. Since 1995, Palestinian women from Beit Hanoun to Rafah have met every Monday outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in Gaza City, holding photos and posters of their imprisoned loved ones, calling on the ICRC to ensure the human rights of Palestinians imprisoned in Israel's 24 prisons and detention centres.

PAKISTAN: Taliban Backs Off From Attacking Civilians

A series of Taliban attacks selectively targeting Pakistani security forces is being seen as an attempt to shore up the flagging popularity of the fundamentalist Islamic scholars.

BELARUS: Clap Again This Wednesday

For the past nine weeks, Belarusians have been getting out in the hundreds into the main squares of big and small cities across the country on Wednesdays at seven in the evening. They clap, or let their mobiles ring all at once. The ‘Revolution through Social Networks- movement’ started by five students, and growing on the Russian equivalent of Facebook, Vkontakte, is posing a new threat to the Lukashenko regime.

COLOMBIA: Native Groups Mobilise Against Escalation of War

The powerful Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC), in southwest Colombia, has called a "minga" or protest march to "curb the militarisation driven by the army and the FARC," the main guerrilla group, which set off a car bomb on a busy market day in a Nasa Indian town on Jul. 9.

PAKISTAN: Study Rebuts U.S. Claims of “No Civilian Deaths”

As the Pakistani public grows increasingly outraged at the United States' drone attacks in the northwest region of the country, a recent study by the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism is contradicting U.S. officials' insistence that "not a single civilian life" has been claimed in the covert war.

Colombia’s History of Violence, Reflected in One Woman’s Life

There are lives that closely mirror the history of their countries, like that of Beatriz Echeverry, whose life has been shaped by some of the main human-caused and natural tragedies in Colombia over the last 60 years: forced displacement, a volcano-triggered mudslide that killed thousands, and kidnappings by the leftwing guerrillas.

‘Participatory Map Vital for Indonesia’s Environment Plans’

Indonesia's ambitious forest conservation and emission reduction plans depend crucially on how soon it can develop a 'participatory map' in which all stakeholders figure.

Q&A: Challenge Men To Share Political and Economic Power

Bineta Diop, director of the non-governmental organisation Femmes Africa Solidarité, is at the forefront of the fight for better protection of women in conflict zones and their integration in peace processes.

U.S.: Republican Lawmakers Tell the World Where to Go

On Wednesday, they voted to cut all U.S. contributions to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS), a symbol of U.S. hemispheric dominance for more than 60 years.