POLITICS-CUBA: Reforms Up Against the Clock

President Raul Castro, who turned 80 Friday, is facing the challenge of making the Cuban economy more efficient without abandoning socialism – a course that involves overcoming conservative resistance to change and new forms of working and even thinking.

HONDURAS: Human Rights Concerns Dog Return to OAS

Honduras was allowed back into the OAS even though it never tried those responsible for the June 2009 coup that ousted then president Manuel Zelaya. But the international criticism and pressure for justice and action on human rights has not let up.

ENVIRONMENT: Business Lobby Resists Ban on ‘Perverse’ Emissions – Part 2

For years, European governments and corporations have made use of a loophole in the Kyoto protocol on climate change to make exorbitant profits. According to some sources, this lucrative scheme has caused more pollution than ever before while lobbyists in Brussels have methodically undermined the European Commission's decision to put a stop to it.

PERU: Voters to Choose Economic Model, Not Just President

After the most polarised election race in decades, Peruvians will go to the polls Sunday to choose not only a new president but also to decide whether to stick with the current neoliberal economic policies or to opt for reforms to reduce inequality and marginalisation.

OP-ED: Cutting the Fog: Multiculturalism, Religion and the Common Good

The death of "multiculturalism" has been proclaimed repeatedly recently, the idea pronounced with a big "M" as if we were talking of something tangible around which there is consensus.

Germany to Boost Renewables

The decision by the German government of Chancellor Angela Merkel to phase out nuclear power by 2022 will increase efficiency in the use of energy, boost investment and accelerate technical progress in renewable energy sources, and promote international energy cooperation, according to numerous experts.

UKRAINE: Trade Going West

In spite of the nominally pro-Russian government in Ukraine, the country will most likely sign a free trade agreement with the EU by the end of the year, in what will be a blow to Russia’s interests.

SRI LANKA: Plan to Host 2018 Commonwealth Games Opposed

Sri Lanka plans to host the Commonwealth Games seven years from now and spend two billion dollars, in what politicians and economists slam as another extravagant adventure aimed at boosting President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

DEATH PENALTY-INDIA: Clemency Denial Opens Can of Worms

In a country where capital punishment is rare, human rights activists are surprised by a sudden move to hang a Sikh separatist militant convicted for bombing attacks on a senior police officer and a Congress party politician in the early 1990s.

ENVIRONMENT DAY: Heavy Rains Expose Venezuela’s Improvidence

Unseasonable rains falling for months and months in much of Venezuela have taken lives, destroyed homes, damaged crops and affected huge numbers of people. Experts blame the high level of damages on the improvised actions of citizens and the state.

ENVIRONMENT: Business Lobby Resists Ban on ‘Perverse’ Emissions – Part 1

For years, European governments and corporations have made use of a loophole in the Kyoto protocol on climate change to make exorbitant profits. According to some sources, this lucrative scheme has caused more pollution than ever before.

Decriminalising Drugs Moves into the Mainstream

Several years ago, anyone calling for an end to Washington's "war on drugs" would be considered a heretic. Today, high- level politicians and business people, backed by thousands of regular citizens, are doing just that.

China, Flexibility Seen As Key to Curbing Iran’s Nuclear Project

Securing greater cooperation from China and taking a more flexible stance on Iran's uranium enrichment programme should be the focus of U.S. and allied efforts to curb Tehran's nuclear ambitions, according to a new report released here Thursday by a prominent think tank.

Reports of Abuses Stain New Ivorian President’s Record

Forces loyal to Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara have carried out indiscriminate torture, rape, extrajudicial killings, and other acts of violence and abuse, according to an investigation by Human Rights Watch.

MIDEAST: Worse by the Day in Jerusalem

As thousands of right-wing Israeli settlers descended on Jerusalem to celebrate the so-called unification of the city this week, Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem were confronted by extreme provocations and the stark reality that their city remains very much divided.

BRAZIL: From War on Drugs to Community Policing in Rio

Four decades after Washington declared its "war on drugs" and began to spread the doctrine south of the U.S. border, the government of the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro decided to shift away from that approach towards a strategy focused on community policing.

ELECTIONS-PERU: Partisan Media Distort Information

Attacks, fear and disinformation are widespread in news coverage of Peru's election campaign, with the leading media outlets taking the side of rightwing Keiko Fujimori in her contest against Ollanta Humala for the presidency.

Asia Fires Warning Shots Over IMF Chief

Even if French Finance Minister Christine Lagarde secures the top post at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the rumblings across Asia convey the message that the international lender's clubby custom of picking a European national to be its managing director smacks of discrimination.

Lend Your Car, Save, and Save the World

The world's more than 850 million cars and small trucks are parked 20 to 22 hours a day. Why not use these vehicles more efficiently by letting other people drive them when the owners aren't, asks Robin Chase, CEO of Buzzcar, a car- sharing network to be launched shortly in France.

MIDEAST: Time Running Out for Two-State Solution

Time is of the essence if the implementation of a two-state solution to end the protracted Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to succeed. Changing demographics both within Israeli and Palestinian society could render this impossible, with a one-state solution the only feasible outcome.

Sexuality No More Comic in Japan

As of July, Japanese minors will no longer be able to buy comic books featuring children portrayed as violent or as sexual objects, under an ordinance enacted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government last December.