News stories by Aprille Muscara, page 3

As food prices rose for the seventh month in a row in January, contributing to recent popular unrest in the Middle East and a spike in commodities purchases by developing countries last week, some analysts are quick to make comparisons to the dry years of 2007-2008.

On the eve of massive planned protests dubbed 'Day of Departure' in Egypt, continuing attacks by pro-government conspirators on anti-government protestors and roundups of human rights activists and foreign journalists are contributing to pressures on the administration of President Barack Obama to take a tougher line, including withholding military aid, toward the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

As the world watched nine days of largely peaceful demonstrations in Egypt degenerate into bedlam fueled by confrontational pro-government hoodlums wielding Molotov cocktails Wednesday, observers are tracking the regional contagion of popular, reform-driven uprisings and wondering whether they are enough to usher in real change.

In Egypt, where protestors continued to demonstrate Tuesday for the eighth day in a row, the use of torture by law enforcement officials over the past two decades has contributed to the growing unrest, rights groups say.

Despite the Hosni Mubarak regime's attempts at muzzling communication and dissent, and the reportedly government- sanctioned shutdown of Egypt's last standing Internet service provider to individual users Monday, Egyptians are still managing to get their voices heard and mobilise - both through advanced technical workarounds and older, traditional technologies.

On the heels of U.S. President Barack Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday in which he focused squarely on resuscitating the economy, pressure is mounting in the nation's capital to move forward with free trade agreements (FTAs) whose passage would promote exports and create jobs.

With the U.S. national debt standing at 14 trillion dollars, the Barack Obama administration pledging to tackle the monstrous deficit and a Republican-led House of Representatives pushing for a 'Cut-and-Grow' Congress, budget hawks are zeroing in on international affairs spending - from diplomacy to development.

The international community - from Western authorities to Southern powers - lacks courage and hides behind 'soft diplomacy' in confronting human rights abusers, a leading rights group accuses in a 649-page world report released Monday.

On the tail end of Chinese leader Hu Jintao's three-day visit to the U.S. capital, observers are cautiously pleased with what they see as a constructive summit between the two nation's leaders, but eager to see whether this week's promises will translate into tangible results.

Ten days before the two-month deadline for a negotiated solution to Cote d'Ivoire's presidential deadlock comes due, pressure is mounting to end the stalemate in Abidjan, as observers pin the outcome of the power struggle on the future of the region as a whole.