OneWorld.net (U.S.)

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 16 (New America Media) - President Barack Obama has begun his one week, four-country visit to Asia. The fact that about half of that time will be spent in China is a measure of the importance of the U.S.-China relationship.

JOHANNESBURG, Nov 12 (IRIN) - Did you know that agriculture contributed 42 percent of Nigeria's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008, more than double the 20 percent of revenue that oil brought into the national coffers?

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 6 (New America Media) - Perhaps the most depressing aspect of Thursday's shoot-out at Fort Hood is that none of the 12 people who died in the melee will be counted as casualties of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 2 (New America Media) - My nine years in the military, including four years as a cadet at West Point and almost two years deployed to Iraq where I was awarded the Bronze star, came to an abrupt end when the Army discharged me under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 28 (New America Media) - What do the health care proposals being discussed in Congress have in store for legal immigrants?

LONDON, Oct 19 (OneClimate.net) - Over 50 demonstrators were arrested in the English county of Nottinghamshire over the weekend as they attempted to shut down the Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power plant. OneClimate.net's Adam Groves says the protest, which was the latest in a growing civil disobedience campaign demanding faster and stronger measures to combat climate change, is both justified and noble.

WASHINGTON, Oct 19 (OneWorld.net) - The mood on the streets has hardened against Guinea's military junta since the masscare of pro-democracy demonstrators last month, and more trouble is likely unless domestic and international pressure is applied to force the soldiers from power, warns the International Crisis Group.

WASHINGTON, Oct 15 (OneWorld.net) - As the much-anticipated Copenhagen summit draws near, a surprisingly broad array of groups and individuals have become climate activists, says blogger Richard Graves, noting that climate change is now being understood as a wide-ranging threat to humanity -- not just "coral reefs and rainforests."

ENTEBBE, Oct 12 (IPS) - A trident of gender legislation will be debated in Uganda's parliament in November: the Marriage and Divorce Bill, the Domestic Violence Bill and the Female Genital Mutilation Bill.

DAKAR, Oct 2 (IRIN) - Guineans strain to find the words to describe the violence they saw on Sep 28 when soldiers opened fire on demonstrators, stabbing people with bayonets and gang-raping women and girls.

NAIROBI/KAMPALA, Oct 2 (IRIN) - Criminal charges and the closure of several radio stations over alleged incitement to violence in Kampala have sparked a debate about the limits of free speech in Uganda.

WASHINGTON, Sep 25 (New America Media) - Minorities are taking the hardest hit of the economic downturn.

MEXICO CITY, Sep 22 (New America Media) - On the eighth anniversary of the United States declaring a global "war on terror" this September, America's continental neighbors – Mexico and Canada – have had enough.

WASHINGTON, Sep 18 (OneWorld.net) - Well, for many the action has already started. But a powerful new movie and a one-day UN summit next week promise to launch a frenzy of activity leading up to December's much anticipated global conference on climate change.

SAN FRANCISCO, Sep 10 (New America Media) - As President Barack Obama addressed the nation on health care, the California Nurses Association revealed that health insurers have rejected about one-fifth of all medical claims in the state over the past seven years.

SAN JOSE, Sep 9 (New America Media) - When Pres. Barack Obama addressed the nation's school children yesterday on the importance of education, students at several San Jose public schools were listening. At Andrew Hill High School and Fischer Middle School in San Jose, California, many students were skeptical of Obama's message.

Special Report
WASHINGTON, Sep 8 (OneWorld.net) - Only the U.S. government has the leverage to force a return to democracy in Honduras, says regional analyst Laura Carlsen, urging the Obama administration to impose real financial consequences on the military-backed leaders who seized power in late June.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 31 (New America Media) - While California's standardized testing indicates there has been some improvement in student achievement this year, it still hasn't closed the performance gap between low-income students and their more economically advantaged counterparts.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 18 (New America Media) - Bollywood's biggest star was detained for over an hour, maybe two, over the weekend at Newark International Airport. He says it's because his name is Khan. The officials say it's because his baggage didn't arrive.

Special Report
WASHINGTON, Aug 12 (OneWorld.net) - On the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, humanitarian advocates are concerned about war's growing toll on civilians worldwide and calling for new mechanisms to ensure governments and armed groups conform to internationally agreed standards of human rights -- even in war.

WASHINGTON, Aug 11 (OneWorld.net) - Marking the 64th anniversary of the U.S. nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki that killed over 100,000 civilians, a disarmament group celebrated a day of peace last week. The annual Sadako Peace Day ceremony was inspired by a young girl who died from leukemia as a result of the atomic bomb that hit Hiroshima in 1945.

WASHINGTON, Aug 10 (OneWorld.net) - During last week's Pacific Islands Forum in Australia, activists blocked a coal export terminal to protest the expansion of the port, which would double the nation's coal exports and fuel the effects of climate change that already threaten coastal countries as sea levels rise. But their concerns seem to have fallen on deaf ears.

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 6 (New America Media) - Three Americans, Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Josh Fattal, have been missing since Jul. 31 after hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan and are reportedly being held by Iranian authorities. Bauer is a correspondent for New America Media. A fourth member of their party, Shon Meckfessel, did not join them that day and has now offered his statement on events.

WASHINGTON, Aug 7 (OneWorld.net) - Some 1.2 billion people now have limited access to water, and this number is expected to rise as water becomes more scarce due to the effects of pollution, urbanization, and climate change, say researchers.

WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (OneWorld.net) - When past civilizations realized their adverse effect on the environment, they adapted or perished. Eco-environmental guru Lester Brown examines some of those experiences to help us better confront today's challenges.

Special Report
WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (OneWorld.net) - An investment of more resources would empower the international peacekeeping force in Darfur to fully protect and aid war-weary civilians, said 22 humanitarian and human rights organizations last week, noting that the peace mission has already shown its potential at a few key moments this year.

WASHINGTON, Aug 4 (OneWorld.net) - Over the past month, violence has risen in Nigeria and Afghanistan, ethnic tension stoked riots in China, and human rights violations increased in Chechnya, said a global conflict report released Saturday. On the flip side, Guinea-Bissau took an important step toward stability in July.

WASHINGTON, Aug 3 (OneWorld.net) - While U.S. news channels focused on the costs of responding to climate change and cast doubt upon its causes this week, reports from European, Asian, and Middle Eastern news services highlighted the death and destruction already occurring in developing countries.

WASHINGTON, Jul 31 (OneWorld.net) - The Chinese media was silent for three days about a fatal riot in a steel factory last friday, despite a government media directive earlier the same day to "tell the truth and tell it fast." Instead, Chinese bloggers picked up the story, notes Chinese writer Xujun Eberlein.

WASHINGTON, Jul 30 (OneWorld.net) - Despite last week's "overdue" raise in the U.S. minimum wage, $7.25 an hour is still a "poverty wage" and, when adjusted for inflation, is less than the minimum wage of over 50 years ago, says a social justice organization.

NEW YORK, Jul 29 (New America Media) - Concerns raised by Bertha Oliva, co-founder and head of Honduras' leading human rights group, about the Obama administration's policy towards the Honduran coup reflects what many fear is a growing distance between the White House and democracy movements.

WASHINGTON, Jul 28 (OneWorld.net) - The U.S. government should stop using military commissions to prosecute suspected terrorists -- a practice at odds with the Constitution and international law -- and rely instead on federal courts, says a recent report from a human rights advocate.

WASHINGTON, Jul 24 (OneWorld.net) - India is taking significant steps to fight climate change by switching to renewable energy sources, helping communities deal with the effects of warming temperatures, and more, said experts at a OneWorld-hosted meeting in the country's capital.

WASHINGTON, Jul 23 (OneWorld.net) - On July 19, 1979, the Sandinista revolution removed what many considered to be one of Latin America's most brutal dictatorships. Thirty years later, and with the Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega once again in power, Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman visited Nicaragua and found that many of the revolution's promises have remained unfulfilled.

CHICAGO, Jul 22 (The Media Consortium) - As food prices continue to rise worldwide and the global economy struggles to recover, urban agriculture plots are sprouting up across the United States.

WASHINGTON, Jul 20 (OneWorld.net) - A new U.S. ground offensive in Afghanistan marks a break from past policies that have incurred heavy civilian casualties. The strategy, however, will not be effective against terrorist groups and is dangerous for troops, writes a humanitarian expert on the country.

Special Report
WASHINGTON, Jul 17 (OneWorld.net) - In this interview, Kim Young Seong, a North Korean defector, discusses his time doing forced labor in a mine, the 1990s famine, the military's ubiquitous presence, and people's growing desire for change.

Special Report
WASHINGTON, Jul 16 (OneWorld.net) - International leaders at the G8 summit in Italy pledged last week to keep global temperature increases below 2 degrees -- the limit set by scientists before irreversible damage is done -- but failed to outline actions to achieve this goal, warns an environmental protection group.

WASHINGTON, Jul 14 (New America Media) - When Congress begins debating immigration reform -- likely to happen later this year -- it should look into who today's immigrants are and how they adapt to American culture and see their future in their adopted land, writes Angela Kelley, vice president of Immigration Policy and Advocacy at a Washington-based think tank.

WASHINGTON, Jul 13 (OneWorld.net) – U.S. President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitri Medvedev made commendable progress toward a world free of nuclear weapons at last week's Moscow summit, but much more needs to be done, say arms control groups, one of which has launched a new campaign to ramp up pressure on the U.S. leader.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jul 13 (OneWorld.net) - A mashup of media coverage shows the different angles international news rooms have taken on the violent ethnic tensions in China's Xinjiang province.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jul 10 (OneWorld.net) - The Chinese government can begin to ease tensions in the autonomous region of Xinjiang -- where over 150 people were reportedly killed during protests last week -- by acknowledging for the first time abuses against the minority group, urges a human rights watchdog.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jul 8 (OneWorld.net) - Iranian Azerbaijanis and other minorities feel they have been persecuted by the Iranian authorities but also ignored by the pro-democracy movement following the recent elections, reports Farzin, a peace advocate working with an Iranian Azerbaijani rights group.

WASHINGTON, Jul 1 (OneWorld.net) - As the Iranian people continue to call for justice and transparency, democracy researcher Nicholas Benequista points out that public outrage over a case of electoral fraud in Nigeria may spark critical reforms in that notoriously corrupt nation.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jul 1 (OneWorld.net) - Iraq is "devastated" and its people are angry, explains a peace activist detailing a visit to Baghdad after six years of U.S. occupation. The United States "has not taken responsibility to restore the country it destroyed," she writes. 

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jun 30 (OneWorld.net) - Passage of the U.S. climate bill through the lower house of Congress bodes well for local communities and stalled international climate negotiations, says an environmental protection organization.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jun 29 (OneWorld.net) - As he meets today with President Uribe, who is currently embroiled in a number of human rights, corruption, and abuse of power scandals, President Obama must stress that Colombia's rights record matters significantly to the country's partnership with the United States, urges a group of human rights and Latin America experts.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jun 29 (OneWorld.net) - "The U.S. food economy uses as much energy as the entire economy of the United Kingdom," writes environmental expert Lester Brown in an analysis of the oil intensity of today's food system.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jun 25 (OneWorld.net) - Banks have received 10 times more money in bailouts in the past year than poor countries have received in aid in the past 49 years, says an analysis released ahead of this weekend's UN summit on the economic crisis.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jun 25 (OneWorld.net) - Access to water must be established as a basic human right to overcome a growing water crisis in Latin America, said a policy research group, advocating community-based education and government regulation for water services in lieu of corporate control.

WASHINGTON, Jun 23 (OneWorld.net) - The long-term detention of suspected terrorists at prisons like Guantanamo Bay is counterproductive to preventing terrorist attacks, testified the head of a human rights monitor, urging the United States to instead adhere to existing criminal laws and international standards.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jun 22 (OneWorld.net) - Experts weighing in on the results of Iran's election largely agree on the "implausibility" of its outcome.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jun 18 (OneWorld.net) - Due to outdated policies and a severe lack of funding, the United States is resettling Iraqi refugees into poverty and vulnerability, says an international refugee agency in a new report, calling for an overhaul of the system.

WASHINGTON, Jun 17 (OneWorld.net) - "In recent days censorship in [Iran] has drastically surpassed already militant controls Iranians have become accustomed to and the media is in crisis," writes Iranian journalist Saeed Kamali Dehghan.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jun 16 (New America Media) - A 25-year-old cyber activist in San Francisco is helping to provide Internet connections for the opposition in Iran.

In Brief
WASHINGTON, Jun 11 (OneWorld.net) - Government employees and campaign leaders in Iran have expressed fears that organized fraud will decide Friday's presidential election -- allegations of extra ballots and secret meetings are causing President Ahmadinejad's reformist challengers to question the upcoming vote.

[OneWorld.net - In Brief] As the Obama administration gears up to discuss immigration reform next week with lawmakers, migration expert Michael Clemens argues that new policies could have the power to transform the lives of people around the world.

[OneWorld.net - In Brief] The Sri Lankan government has launched a massive reconstruction effort within weeks of defeating the Tamil Tiger rebels after two decades of civil war, but, asks journalist Feizal Samath, will the ethnic Tamil minority have a say in this process?

[OneWorld.net - In Brief] The number of refugees and asylum seekers from Uzbekistan has shot up over the last three years due to increasing state repression of activists, journalists, dissidents, and their relatives, says Nadezhda Atayeva, whose organization assists refugees from Central Asia.

[OneWorld.net - In Brief] Accused of human rights abuses, politically motivated arrests, and killings, the Iraq Special Operations Forces (ISOF) -- the largest deadly, covert, elite brigade trained by the U.S. military -- is operating throughout the country, free from government control, and without any accountability for abuses perpetrated against civilians, reports Middle East correspondent Shane Bauer of New America Media.

[OneWorld.net - In Brief] To counter private and state control over media since the dictatorship, citizen groups in Argentina have been creating alternative television, radio, and video networks and are now fighting to reform media laws. Argentina-based journalist Marie Trigona takes an in-depth look at media access in the South American nation.

OneWorld.net, Jun 4 (In Brief) - Scientists say the Earth's two major ice sheets are melting at a significantly faster pace than previously thought, threatening a rise in global sea levels that could leave millions of people -- from China to Bangladesh to the United States -- homeless, writes environmental expert Lester Brown.

WASHINGTON, Jun 2 (OneWorld.net) - A long-standing member of an Afghan women's association fighting for justice and rights calls for U.S. troops to withdraw, saying they are occupying her country under the misused slogans of liberation and democracy.

OneWorld.net, Jun 1 (In Brief) - David Krieger, president of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, breaks down the motives behind North Korea's nuclear weapons test, saying the country is modeling its behavior on the previous actions of other nuclear weapons states.

OneWorld.net, Jun 1 (In Brief) - Solar power technology -- reliable, affordable, and green -- has advanced by great lengths in the past years and could now be the key to reducing fossil fuel consumption and slowing climate change, says an environmental advocacy group.

WASHINGTON, May 29 (OneWorld.net) - Climate change is currently the biggest global health threat, a leading medical journal has said, noting that water scarcity, shifting food resources, and extreme weather will drastically affect the world's poor unless development efforts are stepped up.

COPENHAGEN, May 27 (OneClimate.net) - Global business leaders issued a call for a new, worldwide climate agreement earlier this week at the close of the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Copenhagen, and OneWorld's founder Peter Armstrong was there to cover it.

OneWorld.net, May 28 (In Brief) - Reactions to U.S. President Barack Obama's nomination Tuesday of Judge Sonia Sotomayor -- who, if confirmed, will be the third woman and first ever Hispanic Supreme Court Justice -- ranged from "undisguised glee" to condemnation, notes journalist Jim Lobe.

OneWorld.net, May 27 (In Brief) - Civilian lives, humanitarian aid, civil liberties, and Afghan community support of anti-Taliban efforts will all be casualties of the U.S. military surge in Afghanistan and continued incursions into Pakistan, says a human rights advocacy group.

SEOUL, May 24 (New America Media) - A line of mourners wound its way Sunday from Cheongye Stream in central Seoul to the entrance of Deoksu Palace and an altar commemorating former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, whose suicide a day earlier has stunned the nation.

WASHINGTON, May 21 (OneWorld.net) - A drastically weakened U.S. climate bill released Monday favors polluting industries over truly sustainable clean energy solutions, argues Daphne Wysham, director of a sustainable energy and economy think tank.

WASHINGTON, May 20 (OneWorld.net) - As policy makers at the "top" of the economy and workers at the "bottom" all struggle to find a path out of today's global recession, there is an opportunity to emerge into a society that emphasizes fair trade, corporate responsibiliy and other tenets of equality, say the organizers of a global conference on economics taking place in Italy at the end of the month.

WASHINGTON, May 19 (OneWorld.net) - Sudanese rebel leader Bahar Idriss Abu Garda's voluntary appearance before the International Criminal Court Monday to face charges of war crimes perpetrated in Darfur may contribute to justice in the war-torn region, say international human rights advocates.

WASHINGTON, May 14 (New America Media) - The story of migration is increasingly becoming a woman's tale, according to a new poll by New America Media (NAM). Immigrant women are taking charge in keeping their families together, writes NAM Executive Director Sandy Close.

WASHINGTON, May 14 (OneWorld.net) - A U.S. democracy advocacy group is applauding the United States' election to the UN Human Rights Council, saying the nation is "reclaiming its role as a global champion of human rights."

SAN FRANCISCO, May 13 (OneWorld.net) - The U.S. military said yesterday that it's charged an American Army sergeant on his third tour in Iraq with murder in connection with Monday's shooting spree that left five fellow soldiers dead in a mental health clinic at Camp Liberty in Baghdad.

WASHINGTON, May 13 (OneWorld.net) - European free trade policies will continue to drive up job losses in the European Union and worldwide, said a British social justice group following an European Union summit to address the economic crisis' impact on employment.

WASHINGTON, May 8 (OneWorld.net) - U.S. President Barack Obama's failure to lift a federal funding ban on syringe exchange -- a policy that allows intravenous drug users to swap used needles for clean ones -- is a blow to AIDS-prevention efforts, says a global health group.

WASHINGTON, May 7 (OneWorld.net) - First-hand accounts from Sri Lankans that fled the government-declared "no-fire zone" reflect the immense suffering of civilians trapped by fighting between state and rebel forces, says an international human rights watchdog.

WASHINGTON, May 6 (OneWorld.net) - UN representatives are warning that a political row in South Asia's newest democracy threatens to destroy the achievements made since Nepal's 2006 peace agreements.

WASHINGTON, May 5 (OneWorld.net) - Positive initiatives to slow global population growth -- such as empowering women and girls -- can play a significant role in addressing rising pollution levels worldwide, says population and climate change expert Kathleen Mogelgaard.

WASHINGTON, Apr 29 (OneWorld.net) - Women and girls in developing countries bear significant economic, physical, and health burdens to provide water for their families on a daily basis -- "this is the forgotten glass ceiling," write sustainable water experts John Sauer and Andra Tamburro.

WASHINGTON, Apr 27 (OneWorld.net) - An element of the proposed U.S. climate change bill to reduce carbon emissions and invest in clean energy could actually spur a rise in U.S. greenhouse gas emissions until 2026, says a coalition of environmental organizations.

WASHINGTON, Apr 24 (OneWorld.net) - U.S. President Barack Obama has "acted quickly and boldly on a nuclear disarmament agenda" during his first three months in office, says the president of a nuclear non-proliferation advocacygroup.

WASHINGTON, Apr 20 (OneWorld.net) - Chinese activist Wang Dan reflects on China's pro-democracy movement, discussing his experience during the massive protests in Tiananmen Square, Beijing that ended in massacre twenty years ago.

WASHINGTON, Apr 18 (OneWorld.net) - Zambian economist Dambisa Moyo and journalist Lynn Sherr debate the impact of foreign assistance in Africa, challenging the existing model and calling for innovative change.

WASHINGTON, Apr 15 (OneWorld.net) - As political divisions once again erupt into widescale and violent protests in Thailand, journalist Andrew Lam explores the possibility of civil war in the once peaceful tourist haven of Southeast Asia.

WASHINGTON, Apr 14 (OneWorld.net) - The United States stands to profit economically from investing in immigrants, who help states thrive by paying taxes, exercising their buying power, and filling key posts in important industries, writes Pramila Jayapal, head of a Seattle-based democracy and justice group.

WASHINGTON, Apr 13 (OneWorld.net) - Despite the recent formation of a new government, Somalia "remains the site of the world's worst humanitarian crisis," writes a refugee advocacy group.

WASHINGTON, Apr 9 (OneWorld.net) - A proposed U.S. climate change bill sets ambitious targets on long-term emissions reductions, renewable energy, and energy efficiency, but there's still a long way to go, says an environmental activist group.

WASHINGTON, Apr 9 (OneWorld.net) - "If fundamental climate change mitigation and adaptation goals are to be met, international climate negotiations must include agriculture," appeals an international food policy think tank.

WASHINGTON, Apr 8 (OneWorld.net) - U.S. participation in the upcoming world conference on racism, xenophobia, and intolerance is important to racial reconciliation in the United States and around the world, urges an African-American human rights and social justice advocacy group.

OneWorld's editors in the United States look at the major issues facing communities around the globe this month.

WASHINGTON, Apr 2 (OneWorld.net) - In the last two years, the United States has cancelled or postponed the construction of nearly 100 proposed coal-fired power plants, signaling the end of an era, says environmental expert Jonathan G. Dorn.

WASHINGTON, Apr 1 (OneWorld.net) - Local groups and community leaders are asserting that a new water-distribution system introduced in Cape Town, South Africa is nothing but a repackaged version of the notorious pre-paid water system, which critics say restricts poor peoples' access to water.

WASHINGTON, Mar 31 (OneWorld.net) - Former UN chief Kofi Annan is calling for vast reform of the world's political structures, saying a more multilateral system is necessary if vulnerable African nations are to protect their citizens in the wake of the global economic crisis.

WASHINGTON, Mar 26 (OneWorld.net) - Though immigration reform has taken a back seat to the economic crisis, Latin American media outlets in the United States and abroad continue to stress the importance of reshaping U.S. policies while highlighting the impact of these on regular people.

WASHINGTON, Mar 25 (OneWorld.net) - Despite promises to the contrary, a monumental new wind-power project in Oaxaca, Mexico is encroaching on the lands and livelihoods of local farmers and indigenous people, writes Latin America expert Zach Dyer.

WASHINGTON, Mar 24 (OneWorld.net) - "This week I give you a peek into how my aid team was recently forced to re-evaluate our entire approach after crossing paths with foreign terrorists in Afghanistan," writes Joe Tsali in a new blog bringing you the latest from the front lines of the war in Afghanistan.

WASHINGTON, Mar 20 (OneWorld.net) - Pakistani chief justice Iftikhar Chaudhry's reinstatement this week demonstrates "the iron will of the people of Pakistan to return to the rule of law and reassert the independence of the judiciary," writes an Asian human rights group.