A loan deal between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and flood-stricken Pakistan announced Thursday has drawn the ire of several NGOs that claim the deal represents an "inadequate" and "cynical" response to the disaster that is estimated to have affected the lives of millions.

Tamaulipas state has become the black hole of organised crime in Mexico. But there are few accounts of the rapid social breakdown that the northeastern border state has experienced since the start of the year, because the local press is silenced.

The huge gap between the poorest and richest neighbourhoods of Brazil's most famous city shrank between 1996 and 2008. But the news is not as good as it sounds, because the decline in inequality was due to lower incomes in the richer zones, rather than to an increase in wealth in the "favelas" or shantytowns.

A national pact to focus on the rights of children was proposed by United Nations representative in Bolivia Yoriko Yasukawa on the 20th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Although not a celebration in the traditional sense, Ramadan in Lebanon is a time of joy for many, during which families reconnect and share their wealth with the poor. But in this country of extremes, not everyone has the luxury of celebrating the holy month.

As President Obama on Wednesday initiates the ninth U.S. attempt in the last 30 years to bring about a final Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement, expectations are low and pessimism is high.

The United Nations stands accused of marginalising water and sanitation in its much-touted Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at improving the lives of billions of people in the developing world.

"I felt scared. When I looked around, all the mothers had finished giving birth, while I was still there. The blood that flowed from me had already dried and caked onto my body," Lisa, a 19-year-old married mother of three, says, recounting her experience in post-abortion care at a public hospital here in the Philippine capital.

The ordeal of a Sri Lankan domestic worker whose Saudi Arabian employer allegedly drove nails and metal wires into her body has sent alarm bells ringing among government officials and activists, but how such abuses can be stopped remain far from clear.

As President Obama on Wednesday initiates the ninth U.S. attempt in the last 30 years to bring about a final Palestinian-Israeli peace agreement, expectations are low and pessimism is high.

Phyllis Bennis: The President has adopted the Bush Iraq narrative

Bien qu'il y ait une énorme différence dans les montants, il y a une première similitude au niveau de l'évolution dans le temps. La dette publique des PED et la dette publique au Nord ont explosé toutes deux au cours des années 1970. Au Nord, la récession généralisée des années 1973-1975 a obligé les pouvoirs publics à s'endetter pour relancer l'activité économique : création d'emplois publics, projets portés par l'État (par exemple, TGV, Ariane ou Airbus en France), politique de grands travaux industriels ou (...) - Articles de l'extérieur / Dette

"... It speaks to the very heart of the dilemma amongst us utopians? how do you move a pile of excrement without getting any on you? At the very least, you are bound to smell of it..." Greetings Dear Reader, I recently read a piece by an ex-Alternatives member that was posted on the little-beaver-that-could that is the admirably plucky rabble.ca website. Entitled ?The term ?NGO' is a misnomer?, the article explores the clout of government in the non-governmental world. And while those (...) - September 2010

Legendary lefty Cy Gonick speaks to ecosocialism founder Joel Kovel about creating global resistance movements; ecosocialist activism that moves beyond pressing for direct caps on polluters; and his take on the Dark Mountain Project, the UN biodiversity report and the implications of Deepwater Horizon. Cy Gonick: There are lots of serious struggles around the world against instances of environmental destruction, privatization of water and other resources, etc. Yet these efforts are almost (...) - September 2010

Franz Fanon only got to see the first fires that were the false dawn of African independence. Sickness took him before the hope forged through liberation struggles dissolved into the neocolonial night, itself only marginally less intolerable than the darkness of imperial domination. Would he have been surprised at the state of Africa? We can be so bold as to say no! In fact, nothing of this story of fraud and betrayal would have surprised he that understood and explained the ravages of (...) - September 2010

From the ramparts of the Red Fort, celebrating the 64th anniversary of India's Independence, Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, offered to hold dialogue with the agitating youth of Kashmir if they ?abjured violence?. Since June 11, the youth of Kashmir have been agitating for Azaadi (freedom, self-determination). All over Kashmir, people defying curfew orders are holding rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins, mass meetings and hartals (general strikes). They are willing to hold a dialogue, however (...) - September 2010

?The election looms in the coming days; it is an amazing scene of lies and manipulations. If Ortega wins there may be a civil war here. It is quite tense,? my father warned me before my last visit to Nicaragua in 2006. Nicaraguans struggle to make ends meet in the wake of political upheaval and natural disaster in what remains second only to Haiti among the poorest countries in the western hemisphere. After my father picked me up at the airport we drove to his home in Masatepe, a small town (...) - September 2010

At its core, the controversy surrounding the proposed Islamic community center in downtown Manhattan is not about religion. It's about war. For some years now the fear factor that followed the attacks of September 11, 2001 and fueled public support for the ?global war on terror? (or the onomatopoetic ?GWOT?) has been diminishing. Along with the long and intense work of the antiwar movement and the rising levels of casualties, fear reduction has played a key role in building opposition to the (...) - September 2010

Sitting on one of the packed yellow school buses on the way to the Journées Des Alternatives, my expectations were dim. After all, I was spending my first weekend in Canada at a no-frills summer camp? with strangers. However the experience proved to be not only fun, but also a great introduction to Canada. I was surprised by the diversity of the participants and panels. On the bus I sat next to a man from Cameroon who shared his experiences as an African in Canada. Around the bonfire that (...) - September 2010

A Conversation with Return to El Salvador director Jamie Moffett; Video installation infiltrates 6000 NYC taxis; Artist Profile: Nicholas Hlobo A Conversation with Return to El Salvador director Jamie Moffett by EZRA WINTON Return to El Salvador is an intimate documentary that tells?mainly through candid interview?the story of the individuals and communities effected by El Salvador's brutal civil war that ended nearly two decades ago. While a little heavy-handed on narration (which isn't to (...) - September 2010

Islam, like other religions, is a religion that began as a message to ensure better material and spiritual conditions for human beings. Movements of political Islam however, refer to the interpretation of Islam by a particular group of Muslims. The same applies to the political Christian and Jewish movements in the world. There has always been religion based on its original revelation-related sources, just as there has always been a subsequent political interpretation. The latter has (...) - September 2010

Join us at the historic Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) Conference in Montreal this October! From 22 to 24 October 2010, Montreal-based Palestine-solidarity organizations will host an historic 3-day conference which aims to move forward the campaign for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israeli apartheid. In July 2005, over 170 Palestinian civil society organizations, from unions to women's groups, from refugee organisations to cultural groups, came together to (...) - September 2010

The number of women raped by rebel groups during last month's raid of more than a dozen villages centred around Walikale, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), has risen to over 240, U.N. officials told reporters here today.

As a new administration takes over in Bogotá, some groups are hoping for change in the human rights record of Colombia - and that the U.S. will use its clout in the country to ensure that change occurs.

"Xenophobia is part of life. We do not live easy here. We only survive," says Somali shopkeeper, Abdinasir Shaikh Aden, looking tense.

Activists in Latin America have been galvanised by atrocities like the recent massacre of 72 migrants near the U.S. border to step up their efforts on behalf of migrant rights.

Aid groups and U.N. agencies are raising the alarm over the vulnerability of pregnant women and babies in flood ravaged Pakistan.

Bruce Livesey: While free trade wiped out Mexico's traditional agriculture, the drug cartels moved in

Should people boycott Israel? Pt.3 Omar Barghouti

Spectacle de solidarité pour le Forum mondial sur l'éducation Spectacle de solidarité pour le Forum mondial sur l'éducation qui se tiendra en Palestine occupée en octobre 2010 Vendredi 24 septembre 2010 à 20h30 Prix d'entrée suggéré 10$-20$ Cabaret Mile-End 5240 avenue du Parc (près de Fairmount) Montréal, Québec Artistes au programme : ? Kalmunity Jazz Project. Ce groupe est la section jazz du réseau des artistes urbains Kalmunity, avec leurs nombreux instruments à vent, percussions, batterie, voix, (...) - Agenda / Boycott