NEW YORK, Sep 06 (IPS) - Startling new evidence of the torture, unlawful rendition, and other abuse of Libyan anti-Gaddafi rebels in U.S. detention facilities during the George W. Bush administration was revealed Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).

KARACHI, Pakistan, Sep 06 (IPS) - It will be no less than a miracle if Nadir Ali makes it to Australia, where he planned to seek asylum. But with each passing day, since his boat went missing over two months ago, hopes are dimming.

JERUSALEM, Sep 06 (IPS) - After filing the first-ever class-action lawsuit on the issue of gender segregation in Israel, a local religious women’s rights group says it hopes to protect the rights of women in the public sphere of Israeli society.

KARACHI, Sep 06 (IPS) - Climate proofing this bustling port city is a daunting task for planners who must consider factors ranging from proneness to flooding and administrative malaise to the fact that 60 percent of its 18 million people live in slums.

DHARAMSALA, India, Sep 06 (IPS) - Two Tibetan teenagers set themselves on fire and took to the streets of Aba in southwestern China last week, managing to walk only a short distance before collapsing. They both died the following day.

WASHINGTON, Sep 06 (IPS) - Human rights activists are calling on the administration of President Barack Obama to radically revise its policy toward Bahrain in light of the decision by an appeals court in the kingdom this week to confirm harsh prison sentences against 13 opposition activists.

WASHINGTON, Sep 06 (IPS) - Environment groups are accusing a New York-based agricultural company, Herakles Farms, of going forward with plans for a 73,000-hectare palm-oil plantation and refinery in southwest Cameroon despite a lack of government authorisation, two court injunctions, and in the face of significant community opposition.

RAROTONGA, Cook Islands, Sep 06 (IPS) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was greeted as celebrity-royalty by Cook Islanders during an unprecedented visit at the end of last week to attend a regional meeting of Pacific island nations here.

HAVANA/BOGOTA, Sep 05 (IPS) - The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are taking a pragmatic, reformist stance in the new attempt to negotiate a peace agreement with the Colombian government, to put an end to nearly half a century of civil war.

DOHA, Qatar, Sep 05 (IPS) - The U.S. justice department is blaming BP PLC for the massive 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, describing in new court papers examples of what it calls "gross negligence and willful misconduct".