UNITED NATIONS, Mar 18 (IPS) - After ranking ahead of Japan as the world's second largest economy, China has reached another milestone: displacing the UK as the world's fifth largest arms supplier.

WASHINGTON, Mar 18 (IPS) - Ten years after reaching the height of their influence with the invasion of Iraq, the neo-conservatives other right-wing hawks are fighting hard to retain their control of the Republican Party.

SYDNEY, Mar 18 (IPS) - Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard's comments about foreigners taking Australian jobs in a speech made last week in Rooty Hill, the working-class heartland of Sydney's western suburbs, has brought issues of immigration, asylum and race back into election campaigning.

PESHAWAR, Mar 18 (IPS) - People disabled through bomb and suicide attacks by the Taliban in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas and the nearby Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province are seeking support for themselves, and demanding strict action against the Taliban.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 18 (IPS) - In her opening speech for the world's largest conference on ending violence against women and girls, Michelle Bachelet summoned the spirit of 15-year old Malala Yousafzai, who's skull was shattered on Oct. 9, 2012 by a Taliban bullet.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 17 (IPS) - In an effort to promote gender equality in workplaces and communities, business leaders, politicians and supporters came together during last week's fifth annual Women's Empowerment Principles Event to explore ways to ensure women are supported in their careers and life choices.

ATHENS, Mar 17 (IPS) - As fighting rages on throughout Syria, civilian families desperate to escape are fleeing west to Greece.

KARACHI, Mar 16 (IPS) - Mohammad Ali's routine has not changed in over three decades. A small dairy farmer in the village of Aliabad, in the Narowal district of Pakistan's eastern Punjab province, he wakes at sunrise and walks to the barn to milk his three cows manually, stopping only for a breakfast of unleavened bread and tea heavily laced with milk before getting back to work.

ATHENS, Mar 16 (IPS) - Faraj Alhamauun, a Syrian national now residing in Istanbul, was detained while crossing Greece, in the hopes of heading north, last September.

WASHINGTON, Mar 16 (IPS) - The world's food security remains "vulnerable", new data suggests, with some 870 million people experiencing sustained hunger and two billion suffering from micronutrient deficiencies.