newsdesk.org: World Archives

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

The poorest nation in the Middle East is also proving to be one of the most potentially volatile. Yemen --...

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...

The Biodiesel Road Proves Bumpy in Southeast Asia

It's heralded as the clean-burning alternative to petroleum, but biodiesel's baggage has made a smooth roll-out seem unlikely. The challenges...

Malaysia Ban on "Muslim" Words Sparks Furor

Long simmering religious tensions are heating up as Malaysia prepares for national elections. In recent weeks, the Muslim-led government of...

The Dutch Ponder a Free-Speech Powder Keg

Geert Wilders, one the Netherland's most notorious right-wing politicians, seeks to make headlines around the world with the debut of...

Genetically Engineered Trees Cut Down

An electric fence wasn't up to the task of protecting a field of genetically engineered trees in New Zealand. Twenty...

Indigenous Rights Wend a Legal Labyrinth

Armed with a U.N. declaration on indigenous rights, an activist coalition is working to stake out new legal protections for...

Smells Like Team Spirit

In what may be a first for political branding, a Spanish political party has begun marketing its own perfume. The...

Iran Grapples with Discrimination, Division

Despite an ongoing crackdown on dissent, women's rights and ethnic separatism remain a thorn in the side of Iran's fundamentalist...

Transplant Shortage Hits Minorities

Doctors all over the world are having difficulty finding matching donors for bone marrow transplants - a lifesaving operation for...

Nigeria's Smoke Out

Claims that international tobacco companies are targeting young people in Nigeria have spurred a $43 billion government lawsuit against Phillip...

Japan's Health Care Crisis

It is a leader of the industrialized world, a scientific and technological powerhouse with a robust economy, a vigorous democracy...

Are Boycotts Cutting into Myanmar's Gem Trade?

[Updated Jan. 17, 2008] The Myanmar junta's repression of democracy protests last summer have calmed the streets, but its harsh...

Free After 20 Years on Death Row

A Scottish man who spent 20 years on Ohio's death row has been freed following a new plea. Kenny Richey...

Thailand's New Democracy as Fractious as the Old

Thailand returned to democracy last month, with its first national elections after 15 months of military rule. But the transition...

Muslim Extremists Target Historic Buddha Statue

A huge, centuries-old Buddhist statue in northern Pakistan has been badly damaged after it was attacked by Muslim militants, Asia...

Trouble at the Roof of the World

Water rights and free speech are the latest sparks that have inflamed protests in Tibet against the Chinese government. Hundreds...

Fur Flies in Tiger Photo Fight

When Chinese officials declared this fall that a rare South China tiger had been photographed in the wild, it appeared...

Muslim Teen's Slaying Sparks Canada Debate

The slaying of a 16-year-old Muslim girl, allegedly by her father, has sparked a furor in the Canadian press and...

Afghan Reconstruction Faces U.S. Budget Cuts

An innovative reconstruction program in Afghanistan has been praised for giving decision-making power to small villages and communities, but may...

Protestors say Israel will Exclude Ethiopian Jews

Hundreds of Ethiopian Jews demonstrated in Jerusalem on Monday, alleging that as many as 8,500 of their family and community...

The Stirrings of Islamo-Liberalism

Plenty of media attention has been given to fundamentalist Islam and Taliban-style "Islamo-fascism." But three recent articles bring to light...

Things Looking Up for the Poor Down Under

When Australia's conservative government was voted out of office last month, much of the world's media emphasized the possible ramifications...

Oil Industry's Amazon Frontier

Economic development and ecological conservation are once again at odds in the Amazon, where a remote region thick with rare...

Here Comes the Flood

Heavy weather the world over is raising concerns about the potential of a flood-prone future, and what that means for...

Data Snooping and its Discontents

The limits of data privacy are being tested in Western democracies, as governments and corporations push for greater access with...

The Plagues of Uganda

Concurrent outbreaks of several diseases in Uganda have health officials there on the defensive, reports The Monitor in Kampala. Even...

Dollar's Drop a Drag for Americans Abroad

The good fortune of the Euro -- not to mention the Czech Crown -- makes for dismal tidings for American...

Whither Cuba's Green Thumb?

Floods, storms, drought and heat, plus an array of economic concerns, are taking their toll on Cuban agriculture. Inter Press...

Sex on the Beach and Birds in Hand? Kenya's Tourist Trap

Miles of shoreline, coastal forests, mountains, plains and the continent-spanning Great Rift Valley all make Kenya a world-class tourist destination....

Cracks at the Seams? China Bolsters Three Gorges

Everything about the Three Gorges Dam seems larger than life. It was built at a cost of $15.6 billion, caused...

Tear Gas for Ethnic Protest in Malaysia

Riot police greeted thousands of minority protesters in Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur, turning back their calls for increased social...

Kosovo Threatens Unilateral Independence

Ethnic Albanian negotiators rejected a proposal for increased autonomy for their home province of Kosovo, and threatened a unilateral declaration...

Japan to Expand Atomic Bomb Victim Definition

More than 50 years after the nuclear destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, a string of court losses has forced Japan's...

Hizb-ut-Tahrir: Winning Hearts and Minds

The Islamic group Hizb-ut-Tahrir is gaining a foothold across Central Asia and is making its presence felt in Britain and...

Outsourcing Motherhood

Scores of impoverished Indian women are selling their services as childbearers to foreign couples who either cannot, or don't want...

Canadian Officials Knew of Afghan Torture, Records Show

Secret documents obtained by court order show Canadian ministers were well aware of torture, rape and other abuse occurring at...

Rendition Inquiry Looks to Ukraine

An Italian European Union minister wants human rights officials to investigate "strong and specific" evidence that the Ukrainian government was...

$40 Million Stolen from Nigerian Aid Plan, Ex-Official Probed

British and Nigerian officials are investigating possibly illict payments from Shell and Chevron into the bank account of former Nigerian...

Families Asunder over International Adoption Woes

Several countries are tightening their adoption laws to avoid kidnapping scandals, such as the recent confrontation in Chad over a...

Land Struggles Sour India Economic Zones

Controversy follows the violent deaths of 21 protesters who opposed the creation of a "special economic zone" in India's West...

Tribal Loyalty May Bridge Iraq's Sectarian Divide

Iraqi tribal chiefs from the Sunni-dominated Anbar province held talks last week with counterparts in Shia-dominated Qadissiya Province. Their goal...

Thailand's Muslim Conflict

Violent conflicts between Thai armed forces and a rebel separatist group in the three Muslim-dominated southern provinces of Thailand flared...

Israeli Arabs say Home is not so Sweet

Even as Israel prepares for peace talks with Palestinians in Maryland next year, its relations with native Israeli-Arab citizens have...

The Twin Horns of a Co-Epidemic: AIDS and TB

Tuberculosis rates in South Africa's Western Cape villages are among the highest in the world, due to a burgeoning co-epidemic...

The Taliban's Volatile Mix ... of Foreign Fighters

Foreign jihadists from Pakistan and Iran are infiltrating the ranks of the ruling Afghanis Taliban in Helmand Province, according to...

Old Wounds Deepen for Government Critics

A snapshot of anti-government and protest movements in Bolivia and the Philippines reveals little progress towards healing old wounds --...

Uranium Wealth Ignites Niger Strife

Africa's struggle with mineral wealth and regional poverty has a new poster child, as Tuareg nomads in Niger take up...

Blood Diamonds Sullied, But Still Glitter

Delegates from 70 countries and international groups will meet in Brussels next week to discuss progress in stamping out trade...

New Hope and Hurdles for Uganda Peace

Overshadowed by the Darfur conflict, one of Africa's most bloody and intractable rebellions inches closer to resolution. Reconciliation is on...

A Taste of Old Russia

European authorities are decrying a move by Russia to cut the number of international observers at its upcoming December 2...

Resistance Deepens to Afghan Poppy Spraying

A secretive test-spraying of "harmless plastic granules" over Afghan poppy crops has revealed deepening opposition to drug- eradication efforts backed...

Iran's Other Little Problem -- Inflation

Nary a word about Iranian President Ahmadinejad's nuclear ambitions or headline-grabbing trip to the United States appeared in a recent...

Offshoring Meets "Onshoring" in the Quest for Cheap Labor

Some major American companies like Northrop Grumman and IBM are finding they can save money by keeping their IT and...

Fakin' It: Officials Forge a Future in Iraq

More than 900 officials in the Iraqi government, including parliamentarians, are obtaining forged degrees to continue to serve in the...

Cancer is the Latest Chechen Scourge

Chechnya is experiencing a "cancer epidemic" never before seen in its history, according to the Institute for War & Peace...