WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (IPS) - On Tuesday, the largest deregulation in the history of U.S. arms exports took place as part of the Barack Obama administration's export reform initiative.

WASHINGTON, Oct 17 (IPS) - U.S policymakers indulge in a variety of child's play called collapsism. They close their eyes when they want a particularly despised adversary to go away. And poof! Kim Jong Eun's North Korea eventually disappears. Raul Castro's Cuba eventually vanishes.

ROME, Oct 17 (IPS) - If all food loss and waste around the world could be recovered, half the world's population, or 3.5 billion people, could be fed. Yet people throw away a third of food produced globally, an issue that inspired the theme of these year's World Food Day, sustainable food systems for food security and nutrition.

SEATTLE, Washington, U.S., Oct 17 (IPS) - The northwestern state of Washington could become the first in the U.S. to require labeling of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on foods and food packages, after a similar measure in California failed last year.

SARACHA, Afghanistan, Oct 17 (IPS) - The dusty cemetery in Saracha village hosts three new graves: small hills of soil shielding the bodies of Sahebullah, Wasihullah and Amanullah, three of the five boys and young men killed by an ISAF-NATO airstrike on late Friday, Oct. 4.

COLOMBO/KATHMANDU, Oct 17 (IPS) - Some call it ‘frozen loss,' a point in time that families and relatives find almost impossible to extricate themselves out of, even years after their loved ones have disappeared.

GENEVA, Oct 17 (IPS) - Talks between Iran and world powers known as the P5+1 over Iran's nuclear programme wrapped up here Wednesday with expressions of encouragement and hope by all parties, a commitment to reconvene in just three weeks, and several welcome "firsts".

SAN SALVADOR, Oct 16 (IPS) - Some 50,000 files on crimes against humanity are languishing in an undisclosed location in El Salvador, prey to damp and the ravages of time, while activists and lawyers frantically try to regain control over them.