RIGHTS-NEPAL: Truth, Reconciliation in Limbo

When Nepal's Supreme Court directed the government in June 2007 to form a commission to investigate cases of forced disappearances, during the 1996-2006 civil war, it extended hope to many survivors. More than a year later the idea of a truth and reconciliation commission (TRC) is still in limbo.

US/PAKISTAN: Raid May Herald More Confrontational Policy

An apparent raid into Pakistani territory by U.S. forces stationed in Afghanistan has prompted angry denunciations from Pakistani officials and renewed questions about the future of the war against the Taliban in the region.

LEBANON: Belligerence on the Rise Again

Except for the Western looking houses along the horizon on the northern side of the blue line that separates Lebanon from Israel, little seems to separate Lebanon from Israel. Away from the picturesque landscape, however, whether in Israel or Dahiyeh - a Beirut suburb and Hezbollah's headquarters - belligerent talk is on the rise.

ARGENTINA: Children of Exile – Strangers Still

While perpetrators of human rights violations during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship have begun to be sent to prison, a new study has shed light on a less conspicuous aspect of the regime's legacy: the problems faced by the children of former exiles who are struggling to integrate into Argentine society.

MEDIA-INDIA: Columnists Support Kashmir's Secession

"Anti-national" is the charge hurled in India at the usual radical suspects who argue for the right to self-determination of the Kashmiri people.

POLITICS-SOMALIA: U.S. Policy Likely to Bring Blowback

U.S. counter-terrorism policies and support for the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Somalia have helped create an increasingly desperate humanitarian and security situation in the East African nation, whose population has become increasingly radicalised and anti-U.S., according to a new report by a major U.S. human rights group.

POLITICS-US: The Return of the Return of History

In the wake of Russia's invasion of Georgia last month, many commentators have been quick to proclaim that the war signals "the return of history". But attentive observers could be forgiven for responding to these pronouncements with a sense of déjà vu.

RIGHTS-TRINIDAD: Ruling Dismays Death Penalty Advocates

A court order lifting the threat of execution hanging over 52 convicted killers in Trinidad and Tobago has put the government under renewed pressure from the opposition, death penalty supporters, the public and lawyers to set out clearly its position on the ultimate sentence.

PAKISTAN: Outlawed Taliban Have Free Run of Media

Taliban factions in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and tribal areas have been outlawed and their accounts frozen by the Pakistan government. But that has not in the least bit altered their presence in the media.

RIGHTS: Treaty Languishes on State Terror

They have vanished, but are not forgotten. Whether they have been killed or are being kept in secret, dark, and unknown prisons, their relatives, family members and human rights activists want to know.

POLITICS-US: Muslim Charities Negotiate a Minefield

As Muslims begin one of their most important holidays - the month of Ramadan - charitable organisations serving the American Muslim community are taking what some observers believe is a desperate last step to keep the U.S. government from shutting them down.

RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Life in Prison for Two Retired Generals

Retired Argentine General Antonio Domingo Bussi was sentenced to life in prison for a crime against humanity committed in 1976. But he won't be going to prison for now.

PERU: Courts Move Closer to Clarifying Accomarca Massacre

"They entered the village and called all the peasants together, tortured them to make them say who were terrorists, and killed them because they didn't talk," testified former soldier José Contreras, one of those involved in the 1985 killing of 69 people in the southern Peruvian village of Accomarca.

RIGHTS: Accused Terrorist Sues Norway

The co-founder of a suspected al-Qaeda linked militant group in Iraq who lived a double life as a refugee in Norway's capital Oslo is suing Norway for violating his rights.

EUROPE: Russia Triggers A New Cold War Threat

A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of a new Cold War in the wake of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signing a decree Tuesday formally recognising the breakaway Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.

PAKISTAN: Border Villages Rise Up Against Taliban

"We are trend-setters. Others are following us," boasts Rauf Khan, mayor of Pakistan’s Buner district, where villagers killed six militants in the Dara Shalbandi area on Aug. 14.

IRAQ: Sectarian Clashes Flare Up Again

A military operation said to target al-Qaeda has ended up targeting Sunni Muslims instead, creating new sectarian tensions.

POLITICS-US: A Really Bad Couple of Weeks for Pax Americana

Whatever hopes the George W. Bush administration may have had for using its post-9/11 "war on terror'' to impose a new Pax Americana on Eurasia, and particularly in the unruly areas between the Caucasus and the Khyber Pass, appear to have gone up in flames - in some cases, literally - over the past two weeks.

US/PAKISTAN: Taliban Tests Fragile Coalition Gov’t

When Pakistani president and former military dictator Gen. Pervez Musharraf stepped down on Monday, it marked the official end of the flawed Pakistan policy of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Fill Power Void in Kabul?

The ambush that killed 10 NATO soldiers outside of Kabul on Tuesday, the worst battlefield loss for western forces since the war began, was the capstone in a week of high-profile insurgent activities in Afghanistan.

US/PAKISTAN: Mystery Behind Aafia Siddiqi’s ‘Arrest’ Deepens

‘’For you it’s just another story. If you want the truth go to Ghazni where you will get more than I can ever tell you about my sister," said a distraught Fouzia Siddiqi, speaking with IPS, in a voice breaking with helpless desperation.