HANOI, 24 April 2009 (IRIN) – When it comes to reducing poverty and eradicating hunger, few other countries have made the kind of dramatic gains that Vietnam has.

During his campaign and now in his first 100 days as president, Barack Obama has claimed a close affinity with the iconography and idealism of President John F. Kennedy and his family.

US Marine Cpl. Rick Reyes, a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan, testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Reyes was powerful and truthful as he expressed serious discontent with the current mission in Afghanistan, telling Congress, "Sending more troops will not make the US safer, it will only build more opposition against us."

ATLANTA - A coalition of labor and progressive activists protested at the Wachovia bank in Midtown Atlanta, at the corner of 10th and Peachtree, from 10am to 1130am, on Tuesday, April 21, 2009.

As steam from President Obama's economic stimulus plan builds in the states and localities and new investments in infrastructure and job-saving programs start to flow, do the latest data from the Department of Labor suggest that the dismal unemployment situation may be turning a corner?

WASHINGTON, April 22 (Xinhua) -- The International Monetary Fund on Wednesday warned that the global economy was in "a severe recession" and the world output is projected to decline 1.3 percent this year, the deepest global recession since the Great Depression in 1930s.

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Kasai Akira said that the international community should join forces to persuade North Korea to give up its nuclear program.

GAZA CITY, 21 April 2009 (IRIN) - Rising poverty, unemployment and food insecurity in Gaza, compounded by the recent 23-day Israeli offensive, have increased the threat of child malnutrition, say UN agencies, health ministry officials and healthcare NGOs in Gaza.

Merida, April 23rd 2009 (Venezuelanlaysis.com) - Since the Law on the Right of Women to a Life Free of Violence was passed in 2007, the number of denunciations of violence against women has tripled in Venezuela, as women become more aware of their rights and have more access to the courts.

Some of the things [Nicaraguan President] Daniel [Ortega] told me would be difficult to believe if they weren’t being told by him and if they weren’t happening at a Summit of the Americas.

Qantas announced last week that it is axing another 1,750 jobs from its workforce. Workers are being urged to take unpaid leave, annual leave and to consider job sharing.

Not too many economists make much clarity these days, and the general run of the mill economists that populate the majority of political and business positions seem to be mired in their own illusions and myths about what the economy actually is.

Japan's Prime Minister Taro Aso sent an offering yesterday to the notorious Yasukuni Shrine, which is seen by China and other neighboring countries as a symbol of the country's past militarism.

President Obama, today, April 21st, signed the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act into law. This landmark national service law will expand federal funding to the Corporation for National Community Service (CNCS), a federal agency that oversees such community service programs as AmeriCorps, Senior Corps and Learn and Serve America.

A major United Nations anti-racism conference opened Monday in Geneva despite a boycott from the United States and several western countries owing to concern over a possible criticism on Israel.

Ha Noi — Viet Nam faces great challenges in achieving universal health insurance by 2014, said health minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu.

RIO DE JANEIRO, 20 April 2009 (PlusNews) - Men don't cry. Men take risks. Men don't ask for help. Men are strong. Men have many sexual partners. These stereotypes of masculinity are contributing to the spread of HIV throughout the world, experts warned at a recent symposium on men and boys.

A few years ago I was giving a lecture before a group of students about US Presidents and wars of aggression. After I had dealt with James K. Polk and the US-Mexican War, a student asked me if I would give up the conquests of the war, the contemporary US Southwest.

People keep telling me not to expect President Obama to make it to tommorow's Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Related Intolerance (WCAR). I'd like to believe otherwise but I know better.

Biden was quite out front about it. On the same day the newspapers were trumpeting the news that President Obama had felt a "glimmer of hope" in the economic situation, the Vice-President was telling CNN that we can expect unemployment to increase each month for the rest of the year.