It has been a year since the legendary financial giant Lehman Brothers collapsed on September 15, 2008. This global giant had weathered the railroad bankruptcies that rocked the USA in the 19th century and also the Great Depression of the 1930s. On this occasion, it became the first victim as well as the trigger that shot down financial markets globally, causing probably the worst recession in capitalism's history.

Leaders of 20 developed and developing countries, the G20 countries, will meet on September 24-25 in Pittsburgh to continue dialogue on the global economic crisis and financial regulation. One way to think about the G20 is to see it as an emergency response to an emergency situation, not necessarily a byproduct of the long and contradictory development of the global political economy.

Non-governmental organizations called on Governments and international organizations to obtain the necessary signatures and ratifications to bring the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT) into force without further delay or conditions.

Throughout history, sexual violence has often occurred in places wracked by armed conflict. But over the past decade, reporting from several countries has confirmed that rape is becoming increasingly frequent and brutal—and, in some places, a systematic weapon of war.

On the real economy itself, the most optimistic position is that we may be nearing the bottom of the crisis, that things are unlikely to get worse, which is very different of course from saying that things are back to “normal.”

Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) stressed the significance of achieving universal adherence to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). NAM held its 15th Summit from 11 to 16 July 2009 in Sharm El Sheik, Egypt. Roughly half of the organization’s 118 Member States were represented by their respective Heads of State or Government.

This August, when hundreds of Hiroshima Day vigils and related antinuclear activities occur around the United States, many Americans will wonder at their relevance. After all, the nuclear danger that characterized the Cold War is now far behind us, isn't it?

This essay is going to assess colonialism and the class structure inherited as a main determinant of current development in Latin American countries. First of all, we must highlight statistics published by the World Bank: 1.4 billion people in developing countries are living under the extreme poverty.

A recent poll showed just about half of Americans think capitalism is better than socialism. With the collapse of the financial system and the economy, the ideology of the free market has fewer and fewer adherents.

Alcohol and drug addiction are major drivers of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in many parts of the world, but for political and ideological reasons, scientists and clinicians have tended to shy away from this area of HIV research, while governments and donors have been reluctant to fund programs targeting addicts.

The beginning of the week was the fortieth anniversary of the successful outcome of the Apollo project to put a man on the Moon. (And doesn’t it make those of us who watched it live on TV feel old?)

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit wrapped up yesterday (July 16) in the Egyptian town of Sharm El Sheikh, where a final document was released affirming the need to heighten the role and the activity of the movement in contributing to world peace and security.

If the global economy were to rebound in 2010, sub-Saharan Africa would still be one of the world's poorest and most vulnerable regions, and have more than half its food insecure people, says an examination of the impact of the economic slowdown on food security. 


After a half decade of books on the "American empire" and many more on the politics, military, religion, and economics that are pieces of the whole, a new trend is now appearing on the book market.

The Non-Aligned Movement has overcome the difficult moments of the last decade of the twentieth century when, after the end of the so-called Cold War, the relevance of this organization was put to the question.

A dramatic plunge in international donor funding for family planning is threatening to undermine other humanitarian goals such as fighting poverty and hunger, as well as efforts to counter global warming.

Stronger China-US cooperation on clean energy will be the goal of two US officials who will be visiting China this week. US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and Energy Secretary Steven Chu will be in China from Tuesday to Friday.

No doubt human population growth is a major contributor to global warming, given that humans use fossil fuels to power their increasingly mechanized lifestyles. More people means more demand for oil, gas, coal and other fuels mined or drilled from below the Earth’s surface.

After reaching out to the Islamic world in speeches in Turkey and Egypt, President Barack Obama sought once more to speak directly to the hearts and minds of another audience that has been hostile to the United States: the Russian public.

Though large majorities globally expressed confidence that President Obama "will do the right thing in foreign affairs," most people around the world continue to view US foreign policy negatively, according to a recent survey of people in 19 nations by WorldPublicOpinion.org.