A group of Palestinian Jerusalemites steps down from a crowded bus to let two Israeli soldiers climb aboard to check identity cards, below the aluminum roof of this newly operational checkpoint terminal.

Given the wide range of its supporters — everyone from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces to Greenpeace — one would think that Senate ratification of the 1982 Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) would be a slam dunk.

France and Germany were prepared in spring 2005 to negotiate on an Iranian proposal to convert all of its enriched uranium to fuel rods, making it impossible to use it for nuclear weapons, but Britain vetoed the deal at the insistence of the United States, according to a new account by a former top Iranian nuclear negotiator.

The Southern African Development Community's protocol on shared watercourses is recognised as one of the world's best. But sound agreements on the sustainable and equitable management of joint water resources require effective means to implement them.

Four years after three middle-aged men were murdered in cold blood in central Kashmir, their case lies forgotten, collecting dust in the court’s record room, while culprits roam free. Meanwhile, a young woman named Afroza lost a two-year battle to get her rapist punished, when her neighbour gave false evidence in court, thus facilitating the acquittal of the accused.

When the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD) takes place in Brazil next week, it will be closely shadowed by another event thousands of kilometres away in the South Korean coastal town of Yeosu: Expo 2012.

The identification of the remains of victims of forced disappearance of Argentina’s 1976-1983 military dictatorship — whose bodies were buried in secret graves or thrown into the sea - is moving forward, with periodic findings that have a strong impact on the families and on society as a whole.

With only few days to go before the start of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, there are disturbing signs that developed countries are attempting to backtrack from the commitments they made at the original Earth Summit of 1992 to assist the developing countries move towards the path of sustainable development, writes Martin Khor, executive director of the South Centre, an inter-governmental organisation of developing countries based in Geneva.

When you board Mozambique’s national carrier, Linhas Aéreas de Moçambique, you will most likely be given small orange packets of peanuts to munch as the jet whisks you from the country’s capital, Maputo, to as far afield as Europe. Sugar, salt or chilli flavour. Take your pick.

The theme of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) is 'The Future We Want', but there is no official role for youth nor a spokesperson for future generations who will inherit that future.