Last week there was some hope that Russia might be coming on board with the need to do something about the steadily increasing bloodshed in Syria.
Politics / The World / The Rest
War takes their homes, the cold takes the lives
Twenty-two children living in Kabul’s refugee camps froze to death in the last month. How is it that after billions of international aid dollars, Afghanis are dying from the cold? Rod Nordland investigates.
Castro, in dark trackies, launches memoir
Fidel Castro, 85, made a rare public appearance on the weekend, presenting a new two-volume memoir titled ‘Guerilla of Time’, reports Annie-Marie Garcia.
Meet Haiti’s 1%
Haiti is known as a country wrecked with poverty and struggling to survive after the disasterous earthquake of 2010. But there’s a lot of rich people — mainly families who migrated from Europe a centruy earlier — calling the island home.
Moscow protests: authorities’ gloves may come off
The protests are small enough, isolated enough, and moderate enough in their aims to fizzle out of their own accord, writes Matthew Clayfield, a freelance correspondent in Vladivostok.
Letter from...: Agbogloshie, West Africa’s biggest e-waste dump
The dumping and burning of e-waste in Agbogloshie has attracted significant attention from environmental groups, researchers and journalists, writes Clair MacDougall, a journalist in Monrovia, Liberia.
Inside the casas of Mexico’s drug lords
Bullet riddled walls, flak jackets and opulent domed palaces with disco balls — the homes of Mexico’s drug cartels are an interesting mix of business and pleasure, writes Damien Cave.
Challenge for Africa’s first female president a virtue of liberty
Liberia’s recent elections had all of the elements of a good African news story, writes Clair MacDougall, a freelance journalist in Monrovia in Liberia.
How to stop Australia ‘stealing’ South African doctors
In South Africa there is a chronic shortage of doctors, especially in the public sector, and yet Australia and other rich and healthier countries continue to ‘steal’ South African doctors and nurses, writes Gavin Mooney.
Crooks, thieves, ex-finance minister and a blogger in Russia
Headed by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, United Russia has come to be known throughout the country as the party of crooks and thieves, writes freelance foreign correspondent Matthew Clayfield.
In Africa, do they know it’s Christmas time at all?
As Christmas rolls around once more, the BandAid hit Do They Know It’s Christmas? has been playing on Rafiq Copeland’s mind in Kenya. In good and bad ways.
Kim Jong-il and Vaclav Havel: a study in contrasts
They died within hours of each other, but North Korean dictator Kim Jong-il and Czech playwright Vaclav Havel were opposites. The key difference: “Kim stood for power without principle; Havel for principle over power,” writes Joe Schlesinger.
Chávez to Obama: ‘you are a clown’
Hugo Chávez has launched a stinging attack on Barack Obama in the wake of critical comments written by the US President about Venezuela’s links with Iran and Cuba, labelling him ‘irresponsible’ and ‘a clown’, reports Tom Phillips.
PHOTO GALLERY Faces of post-war Iraq
Citizens of Iraq have had good reason to flee their homes in recent years, but many chose to stay and build their lives there despite war and decaying infrastructure. Andrea Bruce offers a beautiful gallery of Iraqi pride.
Western journalists missing the real Russian roulette
Moscow-based Western correspondents spent the better part of this year holding out hope that Dmitri Medvedev might remain in the Kremlin for a second term and continue pushing his pseudo-liberal platform.
In Russia, a bumper season for authoritarian self-sabotage
Russian nationalists have been in the news as of late. And there’s the perfect demonstration of the bifurcation of Russian nationalism into its two distinct halves.
In Russia, laughter, even in a paddy wagon, is the best medicine
Putin’s dismantling of Russian democracy was so brazen, and his apparatchiks’ justifications for it so transparently disingenuous, that it was hard not to laugh in disbelief.
Climategate II: 5000+ new emails released sparking climate conspiracy despite evidence
Reminiscent of the ridiculous “Climategate” scandal, over 5000 hacked emails from climate scientists have been leaked just weeks before the crucial UN climate negotiations in Durban, writes Amber Jamieson.
Mexico’s leftist party rests hopes on veteran radical
Andrés Manuel López Obrador, aka AMLO, narrowly lost the 2006 presidential election in Mexico and has been re-selected as the leader of the Party of the Democratic Revolution. It’s a high stakes gamble, according to The Economist.
The child labour unions of Latin America
It’s the world’s most vulnerable workforce, but many of Latin America’s fourteen million child workers are joining unions and fighting for better working conditions. Bolivia’s Union of Child and Adolescent Workers represents 15,000 workers aged 8-18.
Fewer Mexicans attempt the dangerous US border cross
Republican presidential nominees discussed an electric fence being built on the Mexican border. But unemployment, border security and drug cartels along the border have seen a huge drop in numbers of locals leaving Mexico.
Brazil’s biggest slum no longer under drug cartel control
It took 3000 members of Brazil’s security forces to take control back of the Rocinha slum in Rio de Janiero from drug cartels. The favela “pacification” is part of preparations for the 2014 World Cup.
Remember, Tehran’s nuclear ambiguity was learnt from Israel
Iran is under a greater level of scrutiny for ten years of nuclear weapons development than Israel has been for possessing them for over 40 years, argues NAJ Taylor.
Former guerilla leader Ortega back for a third win
Incumbent President — and former guerilla leader during the Sandinista revolution — Daniel Ortega, of Nicaragua, powered to a third term in government, writes Leo Codutti, a freelance correspondent in South America.
