Is the emerging global coalition with or against eradicating poverty? Mark Curtis, Christian Aid's Head of Policy, fears that in the aftermath of September 11, the 'with or against' edict may result in policies that further harm poor people.

Global warming is spilling over – seas over defences, rivers over banks, one wave of issues on top of another. The always-contentious balance of power between rich and poor countries is about to flip. A paradigm shift is emerging not from politics or ideology, but from a deep fissure opening up between two great continental plates – on one hand, the way the world does business, on the other, the limited tolerance of the earth’s environment that business depends on.

After over two weeks of Anglo-American bombardment of Afghanistan, once one gets beyond the sound and fury of American bombs and the smokescreen of CNN propaganda, it appears that in the war between the United States and Osama bin Laden, the latter is coming out ahead.

A statement issued at the end of a Commonwealth mission to probe what steps have been taken to end violence on Zimbabwe's farms in exchange for help with land reforms showed there is little hope for an early end to the crisis.

The Commonwealth was accused of giving President Robert Mugabe an easy ride yesterday as it wrapped up its mission to Zimbabwe by avoiding censuring his government for failing to uphold the rule of law and order.

In a letter sent to the President of Gambia, Amnesty
International is calling on him to immediately and unconditionally release Mohamed Lamin Sillah, Secretary General
of Amnesty International's Gambian section, who was arrested on 22 October 2001.

Human Rights Watch today condemned the massacre of more than 100 civilians by Nigerian soldiers in several villages in Benue State, apparently carried out as revenge for the killing of 19 soldiers earlier this month.

The United States is not doing enough to implement the human rights criteria of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Human Rights Watch said today.

Talent Consortium now has VHS cassette copies available of 'Born Free and Equal?', a video produced for broadcast during the World Conference against Racism. Born free and equal? is a 30-minute documentary which explores some of the issues of race and gender in southern Africa that keep people from enjoying their rights to the full, and that contribute to continued poverty and discrimination.

With the United Nations' embargo on Liberian diamonds impinging on revenues, the country's ruling elite has turned to Liberia's maritime registry to fund the war in neighbouring Sierra Leone.

The Press Union of Liberia (PUL) is becoming increasingly concerned about the apparent unending paralysis of the judicial system as a result of the standoff between the House of Representatives and the Liberia National Bar Association.

America needs a new agenda for combating terrorism--one that secures against terrorist attacks and that integrates the use of force within an international legal and policy framework. This agenda must bring international terrorists to justice, debilitate their capacity to wage terrorism, and undermine the political credibility of terrorist networks by addressing related political grievances and injustices.

The European Union will give Zimbabwe a final warning next week that it will impose sanctions if President Robert Mugabe refuses to accept European observers at the leadership elections next year.

Britain and the Commonwealth of its former colonies are making little progress in efforts to force Zimbabwe to stop the violent invasions of white-owned farms, Britain's top aid official said on Wednesday.

Feeding programmes to assist the poor should begin soon to prevent starvation, and possible death, by the end of the year, World Vision relief manager for Malawi, Elton Ntwana, warned on Wednesday.

71 political activists have been arbitrarily arrested and held in detention in Kenya. According to the information received, 71 members of the Release Political Prisoners (RPP) pressure group and their friends – comprising 66 men and 5 women - have been arrested as they were celebrating the so-called Mau Mau Day on October 20th 2001, being held to honour freedom fighters.

As the United States continues its aerial assault on military targets in Afghanistan, a second front is quickly emerging in the war against terrorism--the fight for the hearts and minds of Muslims around the world.

The Dutch government's 'Voice of Hope' radio station, broadcasting into Sudan and aimed at a southern Sudanese audience...has been a disappointment and embarrassment to the Dutch government, according to critics.

Who deserves western aid - Pakistan, producer of the Ghauri-II nuclear capable missile, left, or East African agricultural workers, right?

The human rights group, Amnesty International, has warned that state-sponsored killings in Zimbabwe are on the rise.