DEVELOPMENT:South-east Asian Highway Hits Roadblock in Burma
    on 02/09/2010 15.07.08 GMT
Marwaan Macan-Markar... (continue)

US-MIDEAST:Light At End of Tunnel Elusive Despite Obama's Efforts
   Analysis by Jim Lobe on 02/09/2010 15.01.44 GMT
WASHINGTON, Aug 30 (IPS) - President Barack Obama will try this week to underline his progress in extricating the United States from the morass his predecessor's "global war on terror" in the Greater Middle East.... (continue)

SOUTH AMERICA:Argentine Beef Overtaken by Mercosur Partners
    on 02/09/2010 15.01.08 GMT
Marcela Valente BUENOS AIRES, Aug 30 (IPS) - South America's Mercosur trade bloc is becoming established as the top world producer of beef, with 40 percent of the international market. But while in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay production and exports are growing, Argentina, the home of the legendary "asado" barbecue, is falling behind.... (continue)

RIGHTS-CHINA:Environment Lawsuits Often Become Lonely Fights
    on 02/09/2010 14.55.32 GMT
Michael Standaert XIADIAN, China, Aug 30 (IPS) - Feng Jun's fight against a local government and the steel mills he believes polluted the water that killed his daughter has cost him nearly everything.... (continue)

Kazakhstan Leads Battle to Ban Nuclear Testing
    on 02/09/2010 14.51.20 GMT
Megan Iacobini de Fazio... (continue)

AFRICA:Outrage Over Claim that Anti-GM Campaign "Causes Hunger"
    on 02/09/2010 14.50.38 GMT
Miriam Mannak CAPE TOWN, Aug 27 (IPS) - Civil society organisations have reacted with outrage to claims that the international campaign against genetically modified (GM) crops is partly responsible for food shortages and food insecurity in Africa.... (continue)

SOUTH-EAST ASIA:China Flexes Hydropower Muscle
    on 02/09/2010 12.55.14 GMT
Marwaan Macan-Markar... (continue)

Obama Resists Pressure for Red Line on Iran's Nuclear Capability
    on 02/09/2010 12.52.52 GMT
Gareth Porter* WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (IPS) - President Barack Obama's refusal in a White House briefing earlier this month to announce a "red line" in regard to the Iran nuclear programme represented another in a series of rebuffs of pressure from Defence Secretary Robert Gates for statement that the United States will not accept its existing stocks of low enriched uranium.... (continue)

CULTURE-CHINA:Now Showing û Independent Films
    on 02/09/2010 12.52.36 GMT
Mitch Moxley BEIJING, Aug 27 (IPS) - While Hollywood blockbusters and state-funded historical epics continue to dominate China's box office, a vibrant independent film scene is quietly growing.... (continue)

CHILE:Forestry Industry Sows Poverty, Study Says
    on 02/09/2010 12.47.18 GMT
Daniela Estrada SANTIAGO, Aug 26 (IPS) - The poverty rate in the districts of southern Chile where the logging industry is the main economic activity is nearly twice the national average, a new study shows.... (continue)

ECONOMY:"Sub-Saharan Africa Is Speeding Towards Affluence"
    on 25/08/2010 16.43.46 GMT
Julio Godoy PARIS, Aug 25 (IPS) - Africa is heading towards a bright economic future, according to a new book co-authored by the former director of the French state agency for economic cooperation and released recently in Paris.... (continue)

RIGHTS-CHINA:Doubts Simmer Around New Labour Rules
    on 24/08/2010 12.48.42 GMT
Michael Standaert FOSHAN, China, Aug 24 (IPS) - Faced with strikes in recent months, China's southern Guangdong province is crafting revisions to labour regulations that would allow workers to negotiate pay increases and elect representatives to bargain on their behalf.... (continue)

Q&A:"Democracy Deficit Is the Biggest Obstacle to Development"
    on 23/08/2010 20.53.34 GMT
Beatrice Paez interviews INGRID SRINATH, Secretary-General of CIVICUS... (continue)

Brazil Aims for World's "Most Perfect" Population Census
    on 23/08/2010 16.39.32 GMT
Thalif Deen RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug 23 (IPS) - Come Dec. 31, about 68 countries are expected to complete the arduous task of taking an accurate head count of the number of people living within their geographical borders.... (continue)

BRAZIL:Water Abounds in Amazon, But Sanitation Is Scarce
    on 20/08/2010 01.54.04 GMT
Mario Osava ALTAMIRA, Brazil, Aug 19 (IPS) - It might seem a bit strange to adopt, in the Amazon rainforest, a solution developed for drought-stricken northeastern Brazil. But rainwater collected on rooftops and stored in tanks is helping to improve the health, hygiene and overall living conditions of rural communities in the jungle.... (continue)

DEVELOPMENT-AUSTRALIA:It's Not Just About More, But Better, Aid
    on 19/08/2010 12.22.06 GMT
Neena Bhandari SYDNEY, Aug 19 (IPS) - Australia's foreign aid budget is likely to double by 2015, but civil society groups say this is far from enough if it is to keep to its "fair share" of commitments to poorer countries.... (continue)

Need and Risks Never Higher for Humanitarian Work
    on 18/08/2010 23.46.20 GMT
Megan Iacobini de Fazio... (continue)

BURMA:U.S. Support Boosts Calls for U.N. War Crimes Inquiry
    on 18/08/2010 17.40.04 GMT
Marwaan Macan-Markar... (continue)

BALKANS:Serbia Prepares a New Case Over Kosovo
    on 18/08/2010 11.12.32 GMT
Vesna Peric Zimonjic... (continue)

DEVELOPMENT:China Wants Business with Latin America
    on 18/08/2010 10.54.44 GMT
Mitch Moxley BEIJING, Aug 18 (IPS) - China, now the world's second largest economy with a ferocious appetite for resources, is aggressively strengthening relations with Latin American countries, but this has not been without roadblocks.... (continue)

ENVIRONMENT:Climate Change Debate Rises with Pakistan Floods
    on 16/08/2010 14.24.08 GMT
Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Pakistan, Aug 16 (IPS) - "If this is not God's wrath, what is?" 40-year-old taxi driver Bakht Zada said of the massive floods in Pakistan that have swept away his life earnings.... (continue)

JAPAN:Tapping Into Tokyo's Past Pushes Conservation Efforts
    on 16/08/2010 06.08.56 GMT
Suvendrini Kakuchi... (continue)

BIODIVERSITY:An Ocean of Crustaceans
    on 14/08/2010 21.40.14 GMT
Stephen Leahy* - Tierramérica... (continue)

CLIMATE CHANGE:Cancún Conference Holds Out Little Hope in Face of Extreme Weather
    on 12/08/2010 18.34.54 GMT
Julio Godoy* - Tierramérica... (continue)

SOUTH-EAST ASIA:Jobless Youth Still Waiting for Better Times
    on 12/08/2010 16.51.26 GMT
Marwaan Macan-Markar... (continue)

PAKISTAN:Endangered Snow Leopard Clawing Its Way Back
    on 12/08/2010 10.01.56 GMT
Zofeen Ebrahim KARACHI, Pakistan, Aug 12 (IPS) - For more than 10 years, Shafqat Hussain has been on the trail of the endangered snow leopard. He has heard the beast's growl, and has seen its pugmarks against a snowy track. But his dream, of coming eye-to-eye with the elusive nocturnal feline, remains unfulfilled. "If you've seen the cat, you've seen the Holy Grail," says Hussain.... (continue)

Russia's Agony a "Wake-Up Call" to the World
    on 11/08/2010 15.50.20 GMT
Stephen Leahy VIENNA, Aug 11 (IPS) - A wind turbine on an acre of northern Iowa farmland could generate 300,000 dollars worth of greenhouse-gas-free electricity a year. Instead, the U.S. government pays out billions of dollars to subsidise grain for ethanol fuel that has little if any impact on global warming, according to Lester Brown.... (continue)

BRAZIL:Environmental Impact Studies on Dams Count for Little in Amazon
    on 10/08/2010 15.35.56 GMT
Mario Osava ALTAMIRA, Brazil, Aug 10 (IPS) - "It's a fait accompli," acknowledges André Villas-Boas, head of the independent SocioEnvironmental Institute (ISA), resigned to the fact that the legal actions and protests have failed to block the construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam in Brazil's Amazon jungle region.... (continue)

AUSTRALIA:Compensation Isn't Justice in Aboriginal Death - Critics
    on 10/08/2010 11.56.34 GMT
Stephen de Tarczynski... (continue)

BURMA:Call for War Crimes Inquiry Foils U.N. Envoy's Trip
    on 09/08/2010 11.43.04 GMT
Marwaan Macan-Markar... (continue)

SINGAPORE:Youth Games Expose Olympic-sized Cracks
    on 09/08/2010 11.20.58 GMT
Stanislaus Jude Chan... (continue)

Shark Slaughter Advances Into Red Sea
    on 09/08/2010 09.10.54 GMT
Cam McGrath HURGHADA, Egypt, Aug 9 (IPS) - Six Yemeni fishing boats captured in Egyptian territorial waters in June might have gone unnoticed if not for their unusual cargo -- several kilometers of long lines and over 20 tons of dead sharks.... (continue)

WORLD:Cooking Up a Climate Deal
   Analysis by Laure Pichegru and Terna Gyuse* on 08/08/2010 13.18.00 GMT
JOHANNESBURG, Aug 8 (IPS) - Another round of negotiations towards a global treaty on climate change concluded in Bonn on Aug. 6, with activists calling on parties to rediscover a spirit of compromise and make offers rather than demands.... (continue)

IRAN:Eyes on the Skies Over Bushehr Nuclear Reactor
   Analysis by Marsha B. Cohen on 07/08/2010 00.05.10 GMT
MIAMI, Aug 6 (IPS) - Iran's light water nuclear power plant at Bushehr is preparing to go "live" - again.... (continue)

Chile to Straddle Line Between Rich and Poor Nations
    on 06/08/2010 18.15.36 GMT
Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, Aug 6 (IPS) - The 130 developing countries at the United Nations remain divided over Chile's decision to hold onto its seat in the Group of 77 (G77) - even after it formally joined the exclusive club of rich nations, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).... (continue)

CLIMATE CHANGE:Cancun May Deliver Little
    on 06/08/2010 16.35.44 GMT
Julio Godoy BONN, Aug 6 (IPS) - Little hope has emerged from a meeting here of any binding international regulations to reduce greenhouse gases at the next UN conference on climate change scheduled for November and December in Cancun, Mexico.... (continue)

CHINA:End to Shame Parades of Sex Workers A Step Forward - Activists
    on 06/08/2010 11.19.58 GMT
Kit Gillet BEIJING, Aug 6 (IPS) - Understanding that sex workers have rights too may still be some way off in China, but the government's decision to stop police from parading them in public to humiliate them appears to reflect changing public attitudes toward those in the sex trade.... (continue)

INDIA:Trade Talks with EU Put Drug Manufacturers on Edge
    on 03/08/2010 08.55.12 GMT
Keya Acharya NEW DELHI, Aug 3 (IPS) - Their ongoing negotiations remain shrouded in secrecy, but there are already reports that India and the European Union (EU) will have a free-trade agreement ready by the end of August, and that they will be putting signatures to it before the end of 2010.... (continue)

Despite Iraq Withdrawal, Greater Mideast Not Looking Good
   Analysis by Jim Lobe* on 03/08/2010 08.15.16 GMT
WASHINGTON, Aug 2 (IPS) - While President Barack Obama Monday touted the continuing U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq as a key marker in the success of his regional policies, the latest news from the Greater Middle East, as well as a new public opinion survey, is far less encouraging.... (continue)

TRADE-NAMIBIA:Africa Might Ditch Asian Rice if Prices Increase
    on 03/08/2010 07.54.34 GMT
Miriam Mannak CAPE TOWN, Aug 2 (IPS) - Thailand and other major rice exporting countries are at risk of losing Africa as an important trading partner if they raise their rice prices. Half of the 10 million tons of rice exported by Thailand last year went to Africa. Nigeria, Benin, Cote d'Ivoire and South Africa were among the main buyers of rice in Africa.... (continue)

CHINA:New Technology Deals Blow to Writing Mandarin Characters
    on 02/08/2010 13.29.34 GMT
Mitch Moxley BEIJING, Aug 2 (IPS) - Yu Daihai, a 23-year-old college graduate from Dandong city in northern Liaoning province, uses his computer and mobile phone everyday to communicate with his friends. But technology is having an unwanted side effect: Yu, like a growing number of young Chinese, is starting to forget how to write his native language.... (continue)

JAPAN-SOUTH KOREA:100 Years Later, Mistrust far From Gone
   Analysis by Suvendrini Kakuchi on 30/07/2010 15.42.38 GMT
TOKYO, Jul 30 (IPS) - Economies ties between Japan and South Korea are becoming stronger by the day, and the neighbouring countries have also been collaborating more frequently on the cultural front.... (continue)

GREECE:Society Begins to Crack Under Harsh Measures
    on 30/07/2010 13.34.04 GMT
Apostolis Fotiadis... (continue)

As Sanctions Rise, China Steps Deeper Into Iran
   Analysis by Antoaneta Becker on 30/07/2010 13.33.50 GMT
LONDON, Jul 30 (IPS) - The European Union's new sanctions against Iran appear to open a new space for eager Chinese companies to expand their investments in a country viewed as a rogue player by much of the western world.... (continue)

SOUTH-EAST ASIA:Thailand Faces Flak for Backing Mekong Dams
    on 29/07/2010 12.04.48 GMT
Marwaan Macan-Markar... (continue)

JAPAN:Rising Wages Won't Scare Investors Away from China
    on 29/07/2010 04.33.40 GMT
Suvendrini Kakuchi... (continue)

Ecuador Requires Oil Firms to Renegotiate Contracts
    on 28/07/2010 17.50.12 GMT
Gonzalo Ortiz QUITO, Jul 28 (IPS) - A new law gives private oil companies in Ecuador four to six months to renegotiate new service contracts.... (continue)

MIGRATION-PORTUGAL:On the Football Pitch, Everyone Is Equal
    on 28/07/2010 16.54.08 GMT
Mario de Queiroz LISBON, Jul 28 (IPS) - Football functions on so many levels. It can be big business, moving astronomical quantities of cash, with obscene salaries for owners, coaches and star players. And it can be a widely played sport, found in every park, street or vacant lot. And it can be the common ground for multicultural coexistence.... (continue)

CAMBODIA:Verdict Marks End of Impunity for Khmer Rouge Torturer
   Analysis by Marwaan Macan-Markar on 27/07/2010 17.18.40 GMT
BANGKOK, Jul 27 (IPS) - For a country plagued by a weak judiciary and where government officials have profited from a culture of impunity, Monday's verdict in the first case to try a surviving commandant of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime broke new legal ground in Cambodia.... (continue)