The new U.S. administration’s first appearance on the WTO scene demonstrated 'a willingness to engage in dialogue, and greater openness,' but in substance 'it did not show major differences with the past,' said one negotiator, commenting on U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk’s visit to this Swiss city.

The U.S. administration has pledged to increase aid and reconstruction as a central part of President Barack Obama’s new strategy. But critics charge that the new policy contains very little specifics on how to bring development and jobs to the country.

Life in the quaint, muddied town of Maydan Shahr appears to be going on as it has for years. Wrinkled, wizened men manage under-stocked shops in the sleepy central bazaar, while jobless youths idle nearby.

Will the election of the United States to the 47-member Geneva-based Human Rights Council (HRC) make a significant difference to the cause of human rights worldwide, or will Washington be thwarted by the Council's politically-repressive countries accused of being serial abusers?

While the international theme for World Press Freedom Day was 'Fostering Dialogue, Mutual Understanding and Reconciliation', the Botswana government and the media seemed to take the opposite route - taking turns to snub each other’s calls for dialogue.

Eighteen army deminers are hard at work in the minefields of Wami Taksar in central Nepal. The deminers start out early in the morning, before the sun is too hot. They move meticulously from one mine to another, carefully excavating each one, and they take breaks to stay alert.

'An ethical train wreck' was the phrase used by one witness to describe the legal reasoning behind the Justice Department’s recently released memos justifying the use of waterboarding and other forms of 'enhanced interrogation techniques'.

Premier Galmo Williams came to the United Nations Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism conference here with a simple message: Britain must withdraw its threat to suspend the constitution of the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI), or better still, allow his people to determine their future in a referendum.

'It’s an all out war now,' said 45-year old Zubair Khan. He was talking to IPS over phone from Swat Valley, in the North West Frontier Province on 6 May the day after the Pakistan military began its operation to weed out militants.

Human rights advocates and legal scholars fear that the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama may resurrect the military commissions designed by his predecessor to try Guantanamo detainees after Obama’s 120-day moratorium on proceedings expires on May 20.