by Christine Stansell, Dissent, "Nothing, I remember nothing, “I was sick during the genocide.” She was standing before a man accused of multiple murders, an audience of her neighbors, and a row of judges at a session of gacaca, one of nine thousand local sessions set up by the Rwandan government in 2001 to try tens of thousands charged with participating in the 1994 genocide.
by Sheryl Gay Stolberg, International Herald Tribune, France - President George W. Bush enters the final 18 months of his presidency in danger of losing control over a party that once marched in lockstep with him.
by Florence Ushe, IWPR, Harare - International aid agencies in Zimbabwe are predicting that the country’s economy will implode within the next six months, potentially leading to major social unrest.
by Adrienne Davich, Transitions Online, Czech Republic - An American who grew up listening to stories about the Serbian province of Kosovo struggles with her discoveries.
by Anna Smolchenko, The Moscow Times, Russia - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez kicked off a three-day visit Thursday with praise for President Vladimir Putin's criticism of Washington and a pledge to help save the world from "U.S. hegemony."
Today's Zaman, Turkey - The Turkish public dislikes the United States more than any other nation in the world, while leading global actors such as the European Union, Russia, Iran, China and Israel are also falling from favor with a majority of Turks, according to a global survey released on Wednesday.
by Linda Greenhouse, Spiegel International, Germany - Voting 5 to 4, the Supreme Court declared that public school systems cannot seek integration through measures that take explicit account of a student's race.
by Jill Carroll, CS Monitor, Algeria - The US military and President Bush is studying the Algerian war for independence.
by Amy Kazmin, FT.com, Bangkok - In a rare departure, the Red Cross publicly slammed Burma’s military junta for human rights abuses that it said had caused “immense suffering” to civilians and prisoners.
by Patricia Grogg, IPS News, Cuba -While there appears to be progress in ongoing talks here towards a ceasefire between the Colombian government and the insurgent National Liberation Army (ELN), it was confirmed Thursday that 11 lawmakers taken hostage in 2002 by Colombia's largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), had recently been killed.
by Celia W. Dugger, The New York Times, USA - By next year, more than half the world’s population, 3.3 billion people, will for the first time live in towns and cities, and the number is expected to swell to almost five billion by 2030, according to a United Nations Population Fund report released yesterday.
by Carlotta Gall, International Herald Tribune - Speculation has been rife in political circles for three months that Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, may not survive his wrangle with the chief justice and hold on to power. But a great silence emanates from the one place that may count the most: the barracks and the mess halls of the armed forces, the other great part of Pakistan's ruling equation.
by Beverly Darling, WorldNews.com, I am referring to the U.S. Naval Base (GITMO) that for over one hundred years has served as a armed outpost in the Caribbean.
by Susan Anyangu, The Standard, Kenya - An abortion mock tribunal turned chaotic when pro-life activists stormed the venue demanding representation for the unborn children.
by Aïna, YouTube/WPR Blog - Zakia Zaki, founder of Afghanistan's Radio "Voice of Peace," was murdered in Afghanistan June 5. The video is produced by Aïna, an NGO dedicating to promoting "independent media development and cultural expression as a foundation of democracy."
by Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, Senegal - The purpose of the trip, she says, is to "let the American people know about what they're doing, through their taxpayers' money, to try to make a big difference in Africa, both in eradicating malaria, trying to reach and treat as many people as possible and avert as much infection as possible with HIV/AIDS."
by Rebecca MacKinnon, RConversation, Hong Kong - International companies in China find it hard to behave ethically and survive. News Corp with its recent MySpace launch in China doesn't seem particularly interested in ethical behavior, but then we would expect nothing less from the company that brought us Fox News.
by Ayaan Hirsi Ali, International Herald Tribune, France - Imagine if a crowd of Englishmen marched in London carrying effigies of Muhammad, peace be upon him, stacks of the Koran, miniatures of the Kaaba in Mecca and Saudi flags. Imagine if they then built a bonfire and hurled the items one at a time into that fire screaming "Long Live the Queen!" each time the flames shot up.
by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, allAfrica.com - Ms. Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia, hopes that the US will use Africom to raise standards for engagement and help change "the way of doing business" in Africa. Africom is undeniably about the projection of American interests—but this does not mean that it is to the exclusion of African ones.
by Suzan Fraser, Turkish Daily News, Turkey - PM Erdoğan's rivals accuse him of failing to press the USA and Iraq to crack down on Iraq-based PKK and of not authorizing a military cross-border operation.
by Emily Parker, OpinionJournal, USA - The famous novelist on politics, and how writing can change the course of history.
by Audrey Roberts, Afghan Women’s Network - Representatives from NATO and Afghan women representatives address the lack of a women dimension in NATO’s strategies and operations.
by Anne Broache, Inside World News Blog, Estonia - When Estonian President Toomas Ilves dropped by the Oval Office for a visit with the president on Monday, a recent wave of cyberattacks with suspected Russian origins was high on the European leader's mind.
by Lisa Clifford, IWPR, The Netherlands - Former African leader continues to insist that he’s been denied the means to mount an effective defence.
by Carol Sarler, The Observer, UK - It's an easy target, but it's time to stop mocking the States. They could sure teach the Brits a thing or two.
by Theresa Bradley, Bloomberg - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his nation's military is an inherently political institution that must promote socialism and his ``Bolivarian'' revolution.
by Laura Baines, France 24, France - Rice: Sudan must stop trying to limit Darfur force.
by Galina Stolyarova, St Petersburg Times, Russia - One of Russia’s leading experts on racial issues and hate crimes was violently attacked in what human rights advocates see as an attempt to force the expert to change her testimony in a high-profile legal case.
by Brenda Gazzar, WeNews, Israel - Some women's activists in the Gaza Strip are nervously reopening centers for women and girls following civil war clashes. Others have stayed off the streets fearing a crackdown against them and their work by militant Hamas forces now in control.
by Ann Hornaday, The Washington Post, USA - "A Mighty Heart" is an epic romance, at once doomed and full of hope, about two people in love with the world, even when it didn't love them back.
by Marcela Valente, IPS News, Argentina - Cracking down on sweatshops. A public institute in Argentina is offering "certificates of quality" to firms that do not use slave labour in the textile industry, where 80 percent of workers operate in the informal sector of the economy.
by Dina Ezzat, Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt - Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit is expected to arrive in Washington on 9 July for a two-day visit to review the profile of bilateral relations.
by Isabel Parenthoen, Mail&Guardian, South Africa - Across Luanda, people are left destitute overnight, their homes demolished to make way for upmarket housing. Angola capital's population has exploded in the five years since the end of the country's long-running civil war.
by Jenny McCartney, The Sunday Telegraph, UK - The west in general has developed a mass taste for mawkish sentimentality. The Islamic world has acquired a penchant for self-righteous fury. Both, in their differing ways, are indulged in partly because the participants find them so enjoyable.
