newsdesk.org: World Archives

Dark Side of the Green Revolution

It was the chemically supplemented Green Revolution of the 1960s that helped India end its cycles of famine. Yet a...

Will Mobile Phones Vault the Digital Divide?

Inexpensive mobile technology is opening doors in the developing world for communities that have previously been shut out of the...

Hindu and Muslim Conflicts Rock Kashmir

In the biggest demonstration in almost twenty years, tens of thousands of Muslims gathered in Indian Kashmir's main city in...

World's Youngest Republic Swears in Maoist Prime Minister

Following years of turbulence and the end of its traditional monarchy, the newly minted Republic of Nepal swore its first...

Australia Breaks Ground on Gay Retirement Home

Australia is breaking new ground with plans to build its first retirement village for gays in Ballan, Victoria. The Moorabool...

Myanmar Junta's 'Odd' Rules Sap Cyclone Aid: Reports

The military junta that rules Burma has changed its currency conversion rules, resulting in the loss of millions of dollars...

Save the (Native) Humans

Last Saturday marked the U.N. International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples -- and international media took little notice. Yet...

World Forests Face Multiple Threats

It's hardly news that forests the world over are in danger from logging, human encroachment and other threats, but news...

Olympic Terror Fears Spur West China Crackdown

China's western Xinjiang province is still simmering with violence and repression, as the government cracks down on Uighur rebels seeking...

Immigrants Seek Assimilation under the Surgeon's Knife

Plastic surgery that alters ethnic features to align with Western beauty conventions is on the rise, according to new reports....

Ain't no Other Fish in the Sea?

Tuna may be the signature fish of Japan, the world's foremost consumer of fish, but last week Japan's largest organization...

Dreaming of a Zero-Carbon Economy

Several nations around the world have launched national programs to increase energy efficiency, cut carbon emissions and build environmentally friendly...

Chile: Dammed if They Do

Critics of a hydroelectric dam just approved in Chile say building it in a national park is illegal and paves...

Did U.S. Taxpayers pay for Burma Junta's Satellite?

A U.S. government-backed satellite company tested its products in Burma, despite longstanding U.S. sanctions against doing business with that nation's...

China sets up protests during Olympics

In a bid to placate rights activists, China will set aside three protest zones in Beijing during the Olympics in...

Low-caste Indian woman rising up through politics

Kumari Mayawati, a low-caste Indian woman and chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, led an electoral charge in late July to...

Racial Profiling in the Great White North?

Racial minorities in Canada are more likely to have a police record than their white counterparts even if they don't...

Court Dates and Coup Attempts for Turkey Secularists

Political unrest and terrorism is causing problems for Turkey's ruling party, which has staved off coup attempts as well as...

Pinochet's Ghost Still Haunts Chile

General Augusto Pinochet is dead, but Chile continues to wrestle with the legacy of his 17 years of brutal military...

A Toilet for Thai Transsexuals

A secondary school in northeast Thailand recently built a toilet solely for its transsexual student population. According to the Telegraph,...

Argentina: Saving the Family Farm

A coalition of farm worker organizations, small farmers and native communities has rallied together in Argentina to focus attention on...

It Takes a Tree to Save a Village

A plan to replenish the forests of the West African nation of Burkina Faso is at odds with the development...

On the Run: Accused Balkan War Criminals Remain at Large

A former Serbian leader accused of the massacre of thousands of Muslims in the mid-1990s has been apprehended, but several...

Europe: Birthrate Down, Maternity Wards Packed

While much has been made in recent years over declining birthrates in Europe and other parts of the industrialized world,...

Memories of Old Japan Stir Island Dispute

A new school curriculum in Japan is opening old wounds for its neighbors. South Korea has recalled its ambassador to...

U.S. Fourth Fleet Returns, Heads South

Some Latin American nations are wondering if the return of the U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet to their coastlines signals the...

Zimbabwe Troubles May Bust Borders

Zimbabwe's controversial re-election of President Robert Mugabe is bringing new pressure on South Africa to resolve the conflict, and raising...

Immigration: Filipinos in EU Spotlight

A new European Union mandate to expel illegal Filipino immigrants does not mean a crackdown is imminent, an EU delegate...

Colombia's Disappeared Return to View

Thousands of Colombians who have "disappeared" over the decades were commemorated in prose and pictures at a June conference in...

Canada In Heated Debate over Global Warming Tax

Environmentalists have long proposed taxing carbon emissions as a way of combating global warming -- but if a new Canadian...

China: A Million Mutinies Now

After years of brutally suppressing dissent, China has in recent months faced violent public unrest in a number of different...

For Forests Under Fire, a Slight Return

Forests are disappearing from the Amazon to Afghanistan, but the rate has slowed, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports. A new...

Pumped up for Public Water

The tide may be turning for water privatization. Water supplies have already fallen out of private hands in developing nations...

Medical Bills Spur India Suicide Plan

A woman stricken with kidney disease and her husband have petitioned a municipal official in Kolkart, India, to allow them...

Australia's Billion-Dollar Land Grab

Never mind the aboriginal land battles that followed the colonial era -- turf wars in today's Australia are for billionaires....

U.K. Journalist Gets Some Source Protection

A freelance journalist in Manchester, England, may reveal some, but not necessarily all, of his source material on a book...

Africa's Double Dip of Global Warming

Africa is already the continent hardest hit by the worldwide food crisis, but according to a new report it's also...

Doctors Resign as Life-Support Lawsuit Drags On

A Canadian hospital is facing a shortage of doctors, who are resigning rather than continue to care for an elderly...

Philippines: Activist Deaths Persist

A human rights activist warned that the extrajudicial killing and disappearance of activists in the Philippines could spike again in...

German Zeppelins Target London, San Francisco

More than 70 years after the fiery crash of the Hindenburg, that once-mighty invention -- the airship -- has been...

U.K. Faces Diabetes "Explosion"

A new report predicts a 46 percent increase in diabetes in the United Kingdom by 2025, driven primarily by eating...

A Russian Bear is Bullish for Big Oil

Climbing energy prices are a natural reaction to limited oil supplies, and are in fact necessary to "choke off demand,"...

Food Crisis Renews Biotech Farming Debate

As global food prices climb, the debate over genetically modified agriculture is once again heating up. The Christian Science Monitor...

Will Pond Scum Save the Planet?

With corn-based fuels being blamed for the global food crisis, biofuel supporters are looking for non-food crops to be the...

Less than Virginal, a French-Muslim Marriage Goes Awry

France has been rocked in the past week by news that a court allowed a Muslim groom to annul his...

Earthquake Parents Protest China Schools Collapse

About 100 parents of children killed in schools by China's recent earthquake have been turned back from a protest at...

A Merrie Olde Credit Crisis

Aftershocks from the mortgage and credit crises are rattling nerves around the world -- particularly in England's banking and lending...

Olympic Stadium Mobile Home

The Olympic Torch makes a world tour, why not an Olympic stadium? The Guardian is reporting that organizers of the...

Muslims Down Under: Bias, Sketch Comedy

A fight over a proposed Islamic school in a small Australian town has turned nasty, with locals accusing Muslims of...

A Gathering Around Cluster Bombs

Activists and diplomats from around the world are in Dublin, Ireland, this week to try to establish a treaty banning...

Australian Press Points to Children of Burmese Junta

Since Cyclone Nargis ravaged Burma earlier this month, the military junta that rules the nation has been roundly condemned for...

New Execution Inquiries

The United States resumed executions last week after a brief moratorium, but several other nations that still carry out the...

Japan's Military Dilemma

Japanese activists turned out in the thousands last week to oppose changes to the nation's pacifist constitution. At issue is...

For Cold War Brits, the Day After was a Tea-Time Nightmare

A wry old anti-nuclear slogan used to say "One nuclear bomb can ruin your whole day." If you're British, and...

New Wind-Power Projects Becalmed

With oil prices setting new highs nearly every day, wind power is getting another look. But, like most weather reports,...

Drought Persists Down Under

Australians had high hopes for the Pacific weather pattern known as La Nina. That periodic cooling of the eastern Pacific...

Africa Reels from Illegal Fishing

Billions of dollars have been lost worldwide, and entire ecosystems are at risk from the effects of illegal fishing. Africa,...

More Deaths Alleged at Myanmar Pipeline

Alleged human rights abuses by soldiers guarding a Burmese pipeline have revived old questions about pipeline co-owner Chevron's relationship with...

Where Have all the Songbirds Gone?

Songbirds fly thousands of miles to return to the northern hemisphere every spring, just as regularly as the sun comes...

Look, up in the Sky! Urban Farming Puts Down Roots

UPDATE: According to the Las Vegas Sun, the NextEnergryNews story about a proposed agricultural skyscraper in Las Vegas is not...

Virtual water and real thirst

The recent hike in the price of food worldwide is usually blamed on the price of oil or the conversion...

Yemen Steps, Uneasy, From Past to Future

Yemen -- the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, bordered by Saudi Arabia and the Red Sea -- is opening...

Broadband: BBC calls for Market 'Intervention'

Citing inclusion and civic participation as trumping private profit, the British Broadcasting Corporation is making a case for government "intervention"...

Ghana's Oil -- Blessing or Curse?

With the discovery that Ghana is sitting atop an estimated three billion barrels of oil, the impoverished West African nation...

A Political Resurrection in Malaysia

Almost 10 years after he was driven out of office by a bizarre series of corruption and sodomy charges, Malaysia’s...

Israel: Homelessness Spikes for Girls

The percentage of homeless teenage girls in Israel jumped from 15 to 25 percent last year, driven by the social...

Cultivating Change in Lebanon

Caught between warring militias and Israeli reprisal, Lebanon's farmers have a hardscrabble life that is only exacerbated by the threat...

King Tobacco, Balkan Crime Lord

Cigarette counterfeiting and smuggling in the Balkans is one of the primary drivers of crime and corruption in the region,...

Global Warming: Something to Sneeze at

As if deadlier storms, new diseases, compromised agriculture, rising sea levels and endangered polar bears weren't enough to worry about,...

Uneasy France Steps up NATO Role

Playing for a larger role in NATO, French President Nicolas Sarkozy has said his country will send 700 or more...

The Ends of the Internet?

How shall the Internet come to an end? Let us count the ways. GigaOm.com, an online media service focusing on...

'The Great Firewall' Lets Down its Guard

While China, confronted with violence in Tibet, was shutting down some parts of the Internet, it opened access to one...

Rwandan President Disputes Spanish Indictments

A Spanish judge has issued indictments against 40 Rwandan Army officers -- and the nation's president, Paul Kagame -- over...

"Avoidable" Gaza Deaths Follow Medical Travel Bans

The World Health Organization said preventable deaths almost doubled in the Gaza Strip between 2006 and 2007, following the Hamas...

Australian Labor's Nuclear Powers

Firmly established in power, Australia's Labor Party has opted to reinvigorate a plan from the previous government to expand uranium...

U.S. Guest Workers Kept Like "Pigs in a Cage"

Almost 100 Indian guest workers at a Mississippi shipyard stormed off from their jobs one day earlier this month, claiming...

Debt Waived for India Farmers

Small and marginal farmers in India will get almost $15 billion in debt relief, thanks to legislation orchestrated by the...

Gay Muslims Seek Political Asylum in Britain

The United Kingdom has been gripped in recent weeks by the stories of two gay teenagers who say they face...

Communist Chic in the Former Eastern Bloc

There's nothing unusual about people returning to the fashions, products and social spots of their youth, but when that youth...

South Africans March as Crime Wave Peaks

A planned march against crime in South Africa is highlighting how racial and economic relations have changed in the nation...

New Reparations Call for Philippine "Comfort Women"

The Philippine legislature is considering a new resolution to ask for apologies from Japan, as well as financial reparations, for...

From Bike Lanes to "Wildlife Highways"

The town of Cambourne in the United Kingdom is notable not just for its abundance of bike lanes and pedestrians,...

From Sweatshops to Cotton Fields: Child Labor Goes Rural

Far from the urban industrial sweatshops, child labor remains widespread in rural parts of the developing world. In the Philippines,...

Koran in Hand, She Wins Over Mullahs

Fiery and not yet out of her 20s, Wazhma Frogh has been making waves in Afghanistan by using the Koran...

Infants and International Incidents

With regulations tightening in China, Western couples are increasingly looking to Vietnam for overseas adoptions. But the trend is creating...

Beijing Olympics: It's the Water

A senior Chinese official has sharply criticized a multi- billion-dollar government plan to divert water from the Hubei and Shaanxi...

London Shifts Gears to Favor Bicycles

Armed with a proposal to develop 12 major "superhighways" for bicyclists throughout the city, along with a daily "congestion charge"...

Friend of Hostages, or Friend of Hostage-Takers?

Venezuela's firebrand President Hugo Chavez has been deeply involved in recent months in trying to resolve the long-running standoff over...

Much Puffery About Air-Powered Car

An automobile that runs on compressed air got a boost this week with an investment from India's Tata Motors. MDI...

Shoemakers Walking Away from South China

More than 1,000 shoe factories in southern China have closed in the past year -- half of them just in...

Black and White and Read All Over ... in Asia, Anyway

Newspapers in the United States may be shrinking, losing circulation and laying off employees at an alarming rate, but times...

Russia Sends Opposition To Psych Wards

A Russian opposition activist was forced into a mental hospital in one of many signs of the Russian government's crackdown...

The Melting Mountains

The Arctic ice caps and Antarctic glaciers are well-known barometers of global warming, but melting masses of ice in the...

Specter of Fraud Haunts Pakistan Election

The majority of Pakistan's voters expect the upcoming February 18 election to be rigged, reports McClatchy Newspapers. Doubts are widespread,...

Sea Cow Stymies Navy's Okinawa Plan

The endangered dugong, a type of "sea cow" similar to Florida's manatee, threatens to put the brakes on a huge...

Death After Pepper Spray Raises Questions

A mentally ill man died not long after being pepper sprayed, the New Zealand Herald reported, prompting criticism of a...

Uzbek Strongman Has Powerful Friends Again

Western nations are once again making diplomatic overtures to Uzbekistan, despite the former Soviet republic's dismal human rights record. Admiral...

Canada Acknowledges Afghan Torture

Canada's defense minister acknowledged that the military knew prisoners they transferred to Afghan jails were being tortured. Although the military...

War Crimes Trial Spurs Threat Claim

A witness in the war crimes trial of Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, said a group of men...