Q&A: "Karzai Assigned a Rabbit to Take Care of the Carrot"
By Chris Arsenault interviews MALALAI JOYA, author and Afghan parliamentarian
VANCOUVER, Canada - In the aftermath of national elections widely condemned as fraudulent, the United States and its allies are wondering what to do about Afghanistan.
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U.S.: Obama Returns to Greater Middle East Mess
Analysis by Jim Lobe*
WASHINGTON - As Barack Obama arrives home from his weeklong tour of East Asia, he confronts a growing list of ever more urgent problems in the Greater Middle East that he inherited from George W. Bush's "global war on terror".
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ENVIRONMENT: Wildfires Spreading as Temperatures Rise
Analysis by Janet Larsen*
WASHINGTON - Future firefighters have their work cut out for them. Perhaps nowhere does this hit home harder than in Australia, where in early 2009 a persistent drought, high winds, and record high temperatures set the stage for the worst wildfire in the country's history.
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ENERGY: Clean, Green Goo to Power Engines
By Enrique Gili*
SAN DIEGO, California - Stephen Mayfield, the recently appointed director of the University of California at San Diego's Algae Biotechnology lab, is taking on a Texas-sized challenge - giving birth to a nascent alternative energy industry.
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AFGHANISTAN: Black & Veatch's White Elephant in Kabul
By Pratap Chatterjee*
KABUL - In a secluded valley a few miles from Kabul's international airport, Caterpillar turbines custom-built in Germany and giant transformers flown in from Mexico hum away at a brand-new power plant.
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CORRUPTION: Paying Off Afghanistan's Warlords
By Pratap Chatterjee*
KABUL - Every morning, dozens of trucks laden with diesel from Turkmenistan lumber out of the northern Afghan border town of Hairaton on a two-day trek across the Hindu Kush down to Afghanistan's capital, Kabul.
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HEALTH: Strategy to Cut Vaccine Price Paying Off
By Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON - The price of a major combination vaccine called the 'pentavalent' has fallen considerably over the past year, bringing the cost per dose below three dollars - a decrease of almost 50 cents, according to data released Wednesday by an alliance of public and private partners who have worked to bring down vaccine prices in the developing world.
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CUBA: Dissidents' Plight Unchanged Under Raul, Charges HRW
By Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON - While Cuban President Raul Castro has implemented some economic and administrative reforms, his three-year-old government has continued to isolate and persecute political dissidents, according to a major new report released here Wednesday by Human Rights Watch (HRW).
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MIDEAST: U.S. Credibility as Peace Broker Eroding by the Day
By Ellen Massey
WASHINGTON - In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, movement in the standoff between the two sides can be as often backward as it is forward. The past couple of weeks have seen moves from both sides that have garnered the attention of the world, but forward progress remains elusive.
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RIGHTS-US: "New" Military Courts Still Lack Basic Safeguards
By William Fisher
NEW YORK - While conservatives complain about Khalid Sheik Mohammed and four other terror suspects from Guantanamo coming to New York for trial, many legal experts and human rights groups are being equally outspoken in their criticism of the "new and improved" military commissions designated to try five other detainees.
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