In parts of North Africa, fresh water is a scarce commodity. Although the region's main pipeline – the mighty Nile River – is perhaps most often associated with Egypt, it actually runs through a host of countries further upstream. In order to map out use rights in an equitable fashion, the...
The hydro-politics of the Nile have long dogged countries of the region. As reflected in commentaries in the media of Nile Basin states, disputes over water utilisation are becoming more problematic. Until recently,...
Capitalism is not the only '-ism' flourishing in China today. Since the early 1990s, the country's battles against dust storms, deforestation, watershed pollution, and other problems have attracted the attention of both domestic groups and foreign environmental organizations. The...
As a factory on the banks of the Yangtze River spews pollution, the need for civil society intervention is rising. (Photo: Nayan Chanda)
WASHINGTON: If one of these days you find yourself in a fast food...
As Turkey edges closer to integration into the European Union, long-standing problems on its opposite frontier are holding the country back. In addition to Turkey's troubled history of violence against its Kurdish minority, Turkish relations with neighboring Armenia have been strained for...
Improving Russian-Turkish ties could benefit Armenia, as many experts and officials believe Moscow will place additional pressure on Ankara to lift a trade embargo and normalize relations with Yerevan. The Russian-Turkish rapprochement comes amid...
Implementation of the WTO’s trade liberalization rules marginalizes and hurts developing countries, says this opinion article in The Hindu, one of India’s largest newspapers. Trade liberalization is designed to eliminate tariffs and other barriers to trade, but developing countries cannot compete...
AGRICULTURE, THE foundation of food and national security, was redefined as an issue of trade and commerce alone during the Uruguay Round of GATT with agribusiness MNCs as the determining force in the shift. The WTO...
Labor migration is a sensitive political issue in many nations. In Germany, businesses facing immediate labor shortages and an aging workforce have lobbied the government to open immigration to non-European Union talent. But now a law liberalizing immigration, put in place by Chancellor Gerhard...
Gerhard Schröder, Germany's embattled chancellor, on Wednesday suffered a new blow as the country's highest court struck down his landmark immigration law after procedural objections by the opposition.
The...
Investigations and arrests of terrorist suspects throughout Europe reveal evidence of possible terrorist action against European cities should war with Iraq break out. Those arrested, mostly immigrants from Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, were recruited, trained, and supplied by radical groups in...
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In an apparent last-minute save, Germany's transportation minister persuaded his Italian counterpart to join Berlin in blocking other EU countries from granting more authority to Brussels over transportation rules. The German government fears that if the EU Commission acquires more authority...
Germany appears to have stopped - for now - a proposed European Union directive that could have paved the way for the EU Commission to eventually undermine bans on heavy trucks operating on Sundays in...