The U.S. State Department should not certify Mexico's compliance with the Merida Initiative's human rights requirements so long as the Mexican army continues to commit human rights abuses without proper investigation and punishment, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, released Monday.

In what many Congress-watchers see as Washington's version of Kabuki Theater, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee Monday began its hearings on the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Latina associate justice of the Supreme Court and only the third woman ever to be nominated to the nation's highest court.

The G8's failure to make meaningful commitments on climate last week pushes the world ever closer to global climate catastrophe, experts warn. Without commitments to take action, there is little comfort in G8 countries' agreement to keep overall global warming below 2.0 degrees Celsius.

After a 26-day search, Parvin Fahimi finally discovered that her son Sohrab Arabi, 19, had been gunned down during the peaceful protest march from Tehran's Enghelab (Revolution) Square to Azadi (Freedom) Square on Jun. 15.

'La Familia. Historia privada de los Pinochet' (The Family: Private History of the Pinochets), a book that delves into the personal life of the late Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and his immediate family, has had a mixed reception in this country and in Ecuador, where a man claiming to be his illegitimate son may soon identify himself.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry's concern over an 'unusually harsh statement' by the European Commission over Israel's settlement policy indicates a growing unease between Israel and the EU.

The Zimbabwean government’s international investment conference at the end of last week did little to assuage fears that the country remains far away from re-establishing the rule of law and stopping land invasions.

In a protected area of the Cordillera Central, Colombia's central mountain range, gold mining plans are clashing with the desire of farmers, activists and environmental officials to preserve forests and water resources.

Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso called for sudden elections next month after his party suffered a major defeat in Sunday's Tokyo metropolitan election. Aso will dissolve the parliament on July 21, paving the way for the national election.

Ambiguity - is it the watchword for all involved in the issue over whether Iran goes nuclear, especially in light of the ongoing political uncertainties that engulf the Islamic Republic?