Full Coverage: Geopolitics

28.12.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 28 (OneWorld) - In 1994, the United States was the first nation to call for the elimination of landmines that killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of innocent people around the world.

24.12.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 23 (OneWorld) - Twenty-six years ago, the United Nations adopted a treaty that is often described by human rights experts as the international "Bill of Rights" for women.

23.12.2005 SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 23 (OneWorld) - Newly elected Bolivian President Evo Morales plans to decriminalize coca production, nationalize energy production, and challenge long-standing neo-liberal economic policies--and there may be little Washington can do about it.

22.12.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 22 (OneWorld) - While senior United Nations officials and diplomats from other countries would like to see the International Criminal Court (ICC) playing an important role in the world community's efforts to deter attacks against innocent civilians during armed conflicts, the United States says no way.

22.12.2005 The support by the citizens of EU member-states for Macedonian membership in the European Union, which was never actually to big, follows a slow downward trend, claims Eurobarometer, EC’s public opinion research agency.

22.12.2005 Two French-Canadian climbers carried tarpaulin sheets and blankets to remote villages in Pakistan previously shut off from aid. They, and twelve other experienced climbers, have now been assigned with finding unreached villages, assessing the villagers' needs, and locating possible helicopter landing sites--hopefully all before winter descends in full force.

21.12.2005 The Leaders of the European Union agreed to grant Macedonia with the status of candidate for EU membership, at the meeting of the European Council that ended late on Friday night in Brussels. Macedonia did not, however, receive a date for the start of negotiations.

20.12.2005 SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 20 (OneWorld) - While trade justice advocates are declaring that the world's poorer countries were "betrayed" at pivotal trade talks that concluded in Hong Kong Sunday, negotiators managed to resist pressure from the European Union and others to open their public services--including water--to competition from private companies.

20.12.2005 Venezuela, Bolivia, Haiti, Iraq....Despite some of the Bush administration's best efforts--and big payouts--previously marginalized classes seem to be discovering their democratic clout, says the international human rights group MADRE.

19.12.2005 Talks in Hong Kong ended disappointingly Sunday on several levels for developing countries. In one major setback, a deal to end agricultural subsidies is being called "largely symbolic" as it does not include the vast majority of these payments, which keep prices down and hurt poor farmers' earning potential. Oxfam called the final agreement a "betrayal."

16.12.2005 Bolivians will elect a president Sunday in what a former president has called "the most important election of our lives," but the Bush administration is up in arms over the likely ascendance of Evo Morales, an indigenous politician and leader of the country's coca leaf producers.

15.12.2005 Led by India and Brazil, developing countries are forming large blocs to lobby on key issues with a newfound confidence, which could result in a more pro-development outcome of this week's WTO session, reports Emad Mekay.

15.12.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 14 (OneWorld) - The United States and France are pushing the United Nations Security Council to harden its stance on Syria as an independent probe points to further leads on the possible involvement of Syrian officials in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.

14.12.2005 Goran Svilanovic, the Chair of the First Table of the Stability Pact for SEE, said that the so-called “Schengen Wall” is the biggest barrier in Europe since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

14.12.2005 Details have emerged about new packages of trade and aid programs being offered to less developed countries, but civil society groups are worried the packages will be used to gain concessions and divert attention from more central issues.

12.12.2005 While some players with weak hands bluff, other players underestimate the strength of their hands. The rules of the game shift according to the interests of the major players, but are growing alliances among poor countries eroding the traditional power structures?

12.12.2005 In view of the coming confirmation of the Macedonian status as candidate for EU Membership, read the Analytical Report on the Opinion of the EC on the Application from the Republic of Macedonia for EU Membership.

11.12.2005 Finding itself not only isolated from most of the rest of the world but also at odds with the public and industry opinion at home, the U.S. bureaucratic delegation to climate change talks in Montreal agreed at the eleventh hour to participate in future negotiations.

09.12.2005 "End Torture Now!" It's the theme of this year's Human Rights Day, celebrated Saturday on the anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 1948 and has become the standard for promoting and protecting human rights around the world.

07.12.2005 UNITED NATIONS, Dec 7 (OneWorld) - The United States and the United Nations are locked in a fight over the question of how the world body should be running its budgetary affairs.