Israel Shields Public from Risks of War with Iran
The government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been telling Israelis that Israel can attack Iran with minimal civilian Israeli casualties as a result of retaliation, and that reassuring...
View ArticleA Little Power to Some Palestinian People, For Now
A handful of makeshift homes built from small boulders and plastic tarps and secured with thick ropes sit in the isolated community of She'b El- Buttum in the South Hebron Hills. A few metres away,...
View ArticleHindu Girls Targeted in Coerced Conversions
Bharti, a 15-year-old Hindu girl living in the Lyari area in Karachi, left home for her sewing class last December, never to return. Three days later, her father Narain Das was told she had converted...
View ArticleChina Puts Middle East Differences on Ice
In a first in years, snow blessed the Holy City last month. For a moment, hail metamorphosed into a paltry three-millimetre layer of white, liquid, light. Children and parents and snowmen relished the...
View ArticleBrazil and South Africa Hit Hard by Exchange Rate Complications
Brazil and South Africa have experienced a widespread contraction of their manufacturing industries, with the latter suffering massive unemployment as well, thanks to the rampant volatility and...
View ArticleCould Mining Threaten Mongolia's Tourism Potential?
Twenty years ago, when a Dutch cyclist named Rik Idema first passed through Mongolia on a round-the-world biking trip, the country struck him as the most pristine place he'd ever seen.
View ArticleMemories of Osh Violence Continue to Haunt Kyrgyz Children
The physical damage done to Osh, the city in southern Kyrgyzstan that was engulfed in interethnic violence almost two years ago, is steadily being repaired. The psychological scars, on the other hand,...
View ArticleSuu Kyi as Lawmaker
Following her historic victory in Sunday's by-elections Aung San Suu Kyi takes on a new role as opposition lawmaker, after a 22-year existence as Myanmar's most famous political prisoner.
View ArticleJamaica to Galvanise Public on Climate Adaptation
A public awareness project that aims to foster wider understanding among locals about the linkages between the global climate and their social and economic wellbeing is Jamaica's newest adaptation...
View ArticleThe Downside of China's Lifeline to Brazil
Over the last decade, China has become Brazil's main trading partner and source of foreign investment. But this apparent lifeline at a time of global crisis could actually aggravate longstanding...
View ArticleAmid Global Uncertainties, Barbados Plots a Greener Future
When it comes to developing a "green economy", Barbados is leading its English-speaking Caribbean neighbours.
View ArticleIsraeli Experts Mum on Iran Attack to Support Bibi's Bluff
A striking feature of the Israeli political landscape in recent months has been the absence of a serious debate on the issue of the threat of war with Iran led by national security figures.
View ArticleOP-ED: Hope for Iran's Youth
The vast majority of political power in Iran today lies in the hands of old bearded men in robes and turbans, plus the minor exception of a short cartoonish-looking man with a penchant for provocation...
View ArticlePayments for Environmental Services Skip Rural Women in Mexico
Despite the key role they play in caring for natural resources in the face of climate change, rural women in Mexico do not benefit from payments for environmental services, say activists and experts.
View ArticleRegional Leaders Give Mali Junta Three Days to Step Down
West African heads of state meeting in Côte d'Ivoire have given Mali's military junta three days to restore constitutional order and step down – or face a range of diplomatic and economic sanctions.
View ArticleWind Turbines Bring Relief and Resentment to Pakistan
"I still cannot fathom how electricity can be produced by the wind," said a nonplused Mohammad Ahmed, a 55-year-old local baker, as he gazed up at a row of giant wind turbines.
View ArticleLiberia's Government Finding a Way to End FGM
"There were three people. One person was holding me down; one person was holding my hand; and the other person was doing the job. They lay me down, and…" Fatu said of the female genital mutilation she...
View ArticleCould Coffee Eliminate Borders?
A diverse blend of coffee is going to pervade the city of Milan in 2015. World producers will come together to show, exchange and market their coffee in a global alliance without geographical-based...
View ArticleDisplaced Guatemalan Peasants Demand Answers
"We want land where we can live and grow food to feed ourselves," said Pedro Ichich, one of several thousand indigenous farmers who marched to the Guatemalan capital to demand solutions to the ageold...
View ArticleBRICS Ministers Say New Trade Narrative Sinks Development
Trade ministers of the BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, China, India and South Africa – say that at the G20 trade ministerial summit later this month in Mexico they will try to ensure that attempts...
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