by Celia W. Dugger, International Herald Tribune, France - More than eight million people have registered to vote in Angola, a country with as much oil and diamonds as it has poverty, which was to hold its first elections in 16 years Friday.

by Loune Viaud and Monika Kalra Varma, Jordan Times, Jordan - In 2001, US officials threatened to use their influence to stop previously approved IDB funding unless Haiti’s majority political party submitted to political demands to accept a particular apportionment of seats in a Haitian electoral oversight body. Soon after, at the behest of the US, instead of disbursing the loans as planned, the IDB and its members took the unprecedented step of implicitly adding conditions to require political action by Haiti before the funds would be released.

by Bonnie Docherty, Jurist, USA - "Russia has not only caused civilian casualties with its use of cluster munitions in Georgia, but it has also blatantly disregarded the international decision to ban the weapons. In the process, Russia has demonstrated that states around the world cannot become complacent about the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which 107 of them adopted in May. They must sign and ratify the treaty as soon as possible so that its obligations enter into force and its stigmatization power grows.

by Tahmima Anam, Guardian, UK - Climate change means that millions of people now face the risk of catastrophic flooding, but few more so than the char-dwellers of Bangladesh, clinging to tiny impermanent islands of sand in the Jamuna river.

by Rachel Ament, Jerusalem Post, Israel - In the 1970s, the kibbutz movement began to suffer in Israel as young people moved to the big cities. In an effort to save the lifestyle from dying out completely, the Zionist youth movement Hano'ar Ha'oved Vehalomed repackaged the model to fit the modern world.

by Dawn Paley, Upside Down World, Canada - During the first two weeks of August, more than two dozen youth were assassinated by suspected paramilitary groups in the streets of Santander de Quilichao, and an extensive death threat was directed to Indigenous groups in the area.

by Kate Sheppard, Grist, USA - John McCain's surprise pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate has a lot of environmentalists in the state worried about the influence she might have on the presidential candidate's environmental policy.

by Beena Sarwar, Chowk, Pakistan - Time to stop hiding behind custom, tradition or religion. Given the multiple issues facing Pakistanis, the last thing we surely need is for a legislator to defend a heinous crime in the name of tradition or custom. We don’t need the heinous crime either, in this case the murder of women who were apparently defying their families by trying to marry of their own choice.

by Sheila Jarvis, The Zimbabwean, Zimbabwe - The will of the people as expressed in free and fair elections is accepted in local and international law as the only legitimate basis for government. SADC and the international community agreed the June 27 'election' was neither free nor fair. Thus it can give no legitimacy for Mugabe to govern in future under international or local rules.

by Linda Burnham, Black Agenda Report, USA - The Obama candidacy has provoked a torrent of observations and speculations about race in America - some grounded in reality, some approaching the realm of sheer fantasy. In the latter category are the commentaries heralding the advent of a "post-racial America" and "the end of Black politics."

by Dola Mitra, Outlook India, India - It all began with a murder. On August 23, a group of 30-odd masked gunmen forced themselves into the Jaleshpata Kanyashram, a Hindu ashram and residential school for tribal girls in Kandhamal. Their target: the ashram's 84-year-old head, Swami Lakshmanananda Saraswati. Using automatic weapons, they pumped bullets into his body and, before disappearing into the darkness, gunned down four others. Three of them belonged to the ashram.

by Nadine Marroushi, Daily Star, Lebanon - Ras Beirut remains the socially most-diverse, arguably the most-urban, part of the Lebanese capital. Though it isn't immune to sectarian tension, it is still hoped in certain circles that Ras Beirut - where intellectual discussion and social activism are its daily bread - will provide a prototype for a post-sectarian Lebanon.

by Melissa McEwan, Guardian, UK - Using a parent's politics against a child, or a child's against a parent, has always struck me as unfair and obnoxious – and, in this case, the suggestion that Bristol Palin's decisions should be used against her mother not only ignores that we don't know the circumstances of the conception but also robs Bristol of her agency and independence, rendering this political gamesmanship both anti-choice and anti-feminist.

by Siobhán Dowling, Der Spiegel, Germany - Two young women who lost their jobs because of their association with Germany's far-right scene have formed a group to help other 'persecuted' women. It is part of a growing trend of women becoming more prominent on the extreme-right scene.

by Marjorie Cohn, Media with Conscience, USA - In the months leading up to the Republican National Convention, the FBI-led Minneapolis Joint Terrorist Task Force actively recruited people to infiltrate vegan groups and other leftist organizations and report back about their activities. On May 21, the Minneapolis City Pages ran a recruiting story called "Moles Wanted." Law enforcement sought to preempt lawful protest against the policies of the Bush administration during the convention.

by Laura S. Washington, In These Times, USA - In August 1968, the most wrongheaded war in American history was being executed badly and brutally in distant Southeast Asia.

by Jill Clare Mowbray, Médecins Sans Frontières, France - Families have very little food. Mothers will walk 2-3 hours with their children and stay at the OTP, waiting all day sometimes in the hope of receiving help from us. It is very difficult to triage and spot the very sick, in a sea of faces, holding their arms out to you in desperation, tugging at your clothing as you try and pass amongst them, searching.

by Deanna Armbruster, Christian Science Monitor, USA - In Israel, there is a village where Arabs and Jews live as neighbors. Both groups endeavor to create a just society that can be a model for peace in the region.

by Beena Sarwar, Inter Press Service, Italy - As Pakistan appears to lurch from one political crisis to another, there may be a silver lining in the army continuing to keep its distance from politics and the political leadership affirming the democratic process, despite the setbacks.

by Bronwen Maddox, Times Online, UK - The US has lost many of its natural supporters and allies in recent years. Here are six changes that would help.

by Ina Merdjanova, Transitions Online, Czech Republic - Women can, and should, play a bigger role in the Bulgarian Orthodox Church. If only we could discuss it.

by Ananya Jahanara Kabir, The Hindu, India - The unrest in the Valley reflects the Kashmiri desire to define its collective identity on its own terms.

by Stephanie Hanson, Council on Foreign Relations, USA - Nearly half of Ghana's educated citizens live abroad, while one in three skilled Angolans resides outside that country. "Brain drain"—the exodus of skilled workers from their home countries—is nothing new. India, China, Ireland, and Russia, too, complain about it.

by Somini Sengupta, International Herald Tribune, France - When Chandra Bhan Prasad visits his ancestral village in these feudal badlands of northern India, he dispenses the following advice to his fellow untouchables: Get rid of your cattle, because the care of animals demands children's labor. Invest in your children's education instead of in jewelry or land. Cities are good for Dalit outcastes like us, and so is India's new capitalism.