by Antonia Juhasz, San Francisco Bay View, USA - The number of Americans who believe that the war in Iraq was a mistake has surpassed the number who felt the same way about Vietnam during that war.

by Shan Juan, China Daily, China - Last year, more than 20 workers at a factory in Wuxi, Jiangsu province that produces nickel-cadmium batteries for electronic products giant Panasonic were found to be suffering from high levels of cadmium, a toxic and cancer-causing chemical.

by Elisabetta Povoledo, International Herald Tribune, France - The Italian government's plans to fingerprint Gypsies living in camps, including children, drew fresh criticism Thursday when a Catholic human rights organization warned that identifying people according to ethnicity would set a dangerous precedent.

by Frida Ghitis, World Politics Review, USA - In a land that never lacks for intense emotions, a moment will come in just a few days when the two extremes of joy and sadness will overflow at precisely the same time.

by Tanya Lokshina, openDemocracy, UK - The border of Chechnya and Ingushetia used to mark the line between war and peace. Now the shootings, torture and disappearances have begun.

by Nisha Susan, Tehelka, India - There is probably no phrase more contentious than ‘the best interest of the child.’ The latest to come to terms with this reality is the National Commission for the Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

by Sudha Ramachandran, Asia Times, Hong Kong - India's frontier with China is bristling with tension. Barely two weeks after the two countries reaffirmed commitment to existing mechanisms for dispute settlement, and agreed to maintain peace and tranquility along their border, a major Chinese incursion has taken place into India's Sikkim state.

by Anna Husarska, Daily Star, Lebanon - As if the armed conflict between Afghan government forces supported by the American-led coalition and the Taliban were not enough, Afghanistan is faced with a crisis that it wishes it could call a success: the Big Return.

by MADRE, USA - The root cause of the food crisis is not scarcity, but the failed economic policies long championed by the G8, namely, trade liberalization and industrial agriculture.

by Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop, Newsweek, USA - In Vietnam, performance art is gaining favor as a way to push boundaries while evading censorship.

by Dina Ezzat, Al-Ahram, Egypt - With the newborn Hamas-Israel truce looking fragile, officials scramble to make progress on phase two issues.

by Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post, USA - The harsh grip of famine threatens millions in Ethiopia and Somalia.

by Amanda Akçakoca, Today's Zaman, Turkey - Yesterday Turkey's Constitutional Court heard the evidence of Chief Prosecutor Abdurrahman Yalçınkaya, who has accused the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) of undermining Turkey's secular tradition and attempting to impose Shariah law.

by Sharon Weinberger, Foreign Policy, USA - Why the Department of Defense needs a lesson in risk management.

by Kristin Palitza, Inter Press Service, Italy - Migrants are at elevated risk for HIV/AIDS and other diseases, yet routinely denied treatment.

by Cam Linh, Thanh Nien, Vietnam - Children of poor families in a makeshift trash-picking community are born with names, but without legal recognition of their existence.

by Ingrid Melander, Reuters, USA - Africa will press former colonial power France for less paternalism from Europe and more flexibility on migration and trade during the French European Union presidency starting on Tuesday.

by Sarah Touahri, Magharebia, Morocco - The creation of an Arab coalition of municipalities against racism has paved the way for the launch of a global structure promoting tolerance at this week's Third World Forum on Human Rights.

by Kitty Holland, Irish Times, Ireland - A “significant increase” in the number of women trafficked into Ireland for sexual exploitation has been recorded by an organisation that offers support to women working in the sex industry.

by Heidi Holland, BBC News, UK - South African writer Heidi Holland is one of the last non-Zimbabwean journalists to have interviewed Robert Mugabe. She spent two hours with him last December after pursuing the Zimbabwean president for months. This is her description of that encounter.

by Sonia Jabbar, Hindustan Times, India - Until two weeks ago, the annual Amarnath pilgrimage bore testimony to the symbiotic relationship between Kashmiri Muslims and Hindus of the plains.

by Anna Smolchenko, The Moscow Times, Russia - Russia and the European Union on Friday kicked off long-delayed talks on a new partnership pact after the EU appeared to concede to a key demand by President Dmitry Medvedev.

by Lyndsey Layton, Washington Post, USA - The Defense Department, the nation's biggest polluter, is resisting orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up Fort Meade and two other military bases where the EPA says dumped chemicals pose "imminent and substantial" dangers to public health and the environment.

by Hlengiwe Ndlovu, The Swazi Observer, Swaziland - The 'vote for a woman' campaign has kick-started with verve, whilst raising fierce debate in certain quarters of society about the appointment of women into vital decision making positions in the country.

by Constanza Vieira, Inter Press Service, Colombia - "When they bring in (heads that still have) eyes, we close them, because it’s sad to see that look of terror, as if the killers were reflected in their glassy eyes. Those armed men stuck in the depth of the eyes of the dead scare us; they look like they want to kill us too.