Politicians and the military in Peru are verbally attacking the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in order to 'debase the concept' of fundamental human rights and implicate the Court in an 'alleged defence of terrorism', its president, Judge Diego García-Sayán, told IPS.

A sharp-witted newspaper columnist once remarked that in Washington DC, the ship of state always leaks at the top.

James Banda, 27, is an unemployed youth although he occasionally is hired to act as a bus conductor at Lusaka’s Kulima Tower Bus Station. He may not have a permanent job, but it is easy to find him. Anyone looking for him just has to go to the bus station and ask. Everyone knows who he is. Banda, or ‘ba-Jay’ as people call him, is a young man who commands a lot of respect from his friends — he is a thug for hire.

Half a year ago, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) from around the globe flocked to Haiti to help pick up the pieces after a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shattered the fragile Caribbean nation. Many have since left, but hundreds remain, as does the logistical challenge of their coordination.

The Japanese government may have revised the country’s laws in response to complaints that its system of hiring foreign trainees at lower wages is exploitative, but calls remain for the latter to be scrapped altogether.

Kiren Kaur, 37, has come to terms with HIV she contracted from her husband in 1997. The HIV positive status, per se, is not difficult to deal with. But dealing with the stigma that comes with it is an excruciating experience.

The break in diplomatic relations between neighbours Colombia and Venezuela, ordered Thursday by the latter's President Hugo Chávez, bodes an escalation of tensions -- the outcome of which largely will be decided by Colombia's president-elect Juan Manuel Santos.

The new U.S. plan to maintain and improve its nuclear weapons complex is likely to hinder international efforts to halt the spread of weapons of mass destruction, say independent analysts who have watched a series of U.N.-led talks on nuclear proliferation and disarmament for years.

Beyond the pernicious well-documented aspects of the Israeli Occupation, all sorts of niggling fragments of Israeli control over Palestinian life, and individual petty cases of nastiness leave new Israeli talk of 'gestures' towards peace hollow.

A protest to close down Busmantsi, a detention centre for undocumented migrants in Sofia, highlighted the obstacles faced by refugees and asylum- seekers in Bulgaria.