International efforts to protect the rights of the world's aboriginal communities seem to be gaining strength despite opposition from certain powers that continue to abuse native lands and resources in the name of development.

Poor access to telephone networks and lack of roads in some areas of South Sudan is delaying the submission of voting results to the election commission.

Latin America owes Spanish Judge Baltasar Garzón, who is facing prosecution in his country for trying to investigate Franco-era abuses, for the groundbreaking invocation of legal principles that have led to trials for crimes against humanity in Argentina, Chile, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay, human rights lawyers say.

Global perceptions of the U.S. have improved over the past year but ratings of many other countries, including Britain, Japan, Canada and the European Union, have declined over the same period, according to a poll released Sunday.

The World People's Conference on Climate Change and the Rights of Mother Earth, which opened Monday in Bolivia, will reflect vigorous resistance to financial compensation for forest conservation in return for permits to emit greenhouse gases, activists told IPS.

A new information portal launched Monday has been described as the world's first internet clearing house aimed at tracking unethical air cargo carriers transporting humanitarian aid and relief supplies to war zones while simultaneously smuggling arms and narcotics - at times, to the same conflict areas.

With the resignation of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens, U.S. President Barack Obama faces an opportunity that may become a migraine - or vice versa.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up to investigate the June 2009 coup that ousted Honduran president Manuel Zelaya will begin its work in May under the sceptical watch of a wide range of observers, from human rights organisations to right-wing political sectors.

A young Palestinian man died in Israeli custody as hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets of villages and towns across the West Bank and Gaza to commemorate Palestinian Prisoners Day on Friday, Apr. 16.

The success of the climate change conference taking place in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba will depend on how unified civil society ultimately is in its efforts to influence the United Nations climate summit, in Mexico, say Latin American activists.