ABU DHABI, Jan 16 (IPS) - The volatile politics of the Middle East have long been dominated by the fluctuating fortunes of a single commodity: oil.

WASHINGTON, Jan 16 (IPS) - Four U.S. non-proliferation specialists are urging the Obama administration to impose tougher economic sanctions against Iran and issue more explicit threats to destroy its nuclear programme by military means.

UXBRIDGE, Canada, Jan 16 (IPS) - A majority of major economies have made significant progress in addressing climate change, with countries like South Korea and China taking aggressive action so they can benefit from energy- and resource-efficient economies, a new report released Monday found.

ABU DHABI, Jan 15 (IPS) - When Jordan's Queen Rania Al Abdullah took the podium to address world political and business leaders at a back-to-back energy and water summit here, she said she was representing a country that relies on imports for over 90 percent of its energy needs.

ISTANBUL, Jan 15 (IPS) - After over a year without accountability for a Turkish aerial bombing that killed 34 Kurdish men and boys, Turkey has come under heavy criticism for what many say is a widespread culture of impunity, especially when it comes to the treatment of its Kurdish citizens.

TRIPOLI, Lebanon, Jan 15 (IPS) - Zuhur al-Khalaf is eight months pregnant and lives in a one-room shack in northern Lebanon with her husband and five children. The cloth walls and cardboard roof have become sodden and musty after heavy storms this past week, and two of the children are suffering from fevers and chest infections.

WASHINGTON, Jan 15 (IPS) - U.S. Secretary of Defence Leon Panetta has applauded France's surprise airstrikes on Islamist rebels in northern Mali that began late last week and continued over the weekend.

HAVANA, Jan 14 (IPS) - Maria Lourdes, a Cuban, has two passports, one from the island and another from Spain, but until now traveling was only a dream.

MEXICO CITY, Jan 14 (IPS) - The Coatzacoalcos river basin in southern Mexico is so polluted that you can sense the mercury in the air, feel it and breathe it, and the population living in the area is only too aware of its undesirable neighbours: refineries and petrochemical complexes that emit this toxic element into the air and water.

BOGOTA, Jan 14 (IPS) - Colombia has suffered an internal armed conflict for so many decades that it almost amounts to a "forgotten crisis" for external donors. But the president of neighbouring Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, is well aware of the conflict, and understands that it destabilises Latin America, where centre-left governments proliferate.