All Global Issues
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Global doors slam shut on immigrants
While Arizona's anti-immigrant law gets all the attention, countries around the world are pursuing tough immigration polices on a scale rarely seen in history.
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Hungary toxic sludge reaches Danube River: Top 10 environmental disasters worldwide
The toxic sludge now covering 15 square miles of Hungary and seeping into the Danube River is a serious environmental disaster whose severity and long-term consequences are still unclear. Will the release of the 35 million cubic feet of alumina refining waste become one of the Top 10 manmade environmental disasters of the past century?
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Mario Vargas Llosa wins 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature. Who else won in the past decade?
Mario Vargas Llosa has won the 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature. The Peruvian author and former presidential candidate received the prestigious Cervantes Prize in 1995 and is the first South American author to win the Nobel since Gabriel García Márquez won the award in 1982. Here are the past decade's winners.
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Faisal Shahzad, French terror arrests, and drone strikes: evidence of a working strategy?
Faisal Shahzad, the would-be Times Square bomber, was sentenced today as French police arrested alleged militants. Policing and intelligence-sharing has improved dramatically since 9/11.
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Blockbuster fizzles in US, but renters overseas haven't switched to Netflix – yet
Blockbuster's bankruptcy is not expected to affect its international operations in more than 21 countries, according to the company.
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7 most controversial UN speeches, from Ahmadinejad to Khrushchev
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, slated to speak to the UN General Assembly today, is not the only world leader to have delivered infamous remarks.
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Top 5 Millennium Development Goal success stories
Ten years ago, at the crack of a new millennium, the United Nations gave the world's poorest countries 15 years to halve their poverty rates, reverse the spread of AIDS, enroll 100 percent of their children in elementary schools, and give 100 percent of their pregnant women access to medical care. Since then, these Millennium Development Goals have been the benchmarks for aid agencies, and the yardstick against which democracies and autocrats alike can measure their progress. A decade into the program, analysts concede that many of these ambitious goals won't be reached. But which ones might? Who's winning the race to 2015?
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To meet UN Millennium Development Goals, fight energy poverty, report says
The chief economist for the International Energy Agency says the international community must mobilize to target the 1.4 billion people worldwide without electricity, and to meet the UN Millennium Development Goals.
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How 5 countries celebrate Eid al-Fitr and the end of Ramadan
Eid al-Fitr began at sunset Thursday, when the crescent of a new moon first showed over the Middle East. Eid is an Arabic word meaning "festivity," while Fitr means "break fasting." The three-day feast celebrates the end of the a month-long period of Ramadan's fasting and prayer. While traditions don't vary much between Sunnis and Shiites, customs vary greatly from country to country. Here is how five countries ring in Eid al-Fitr.
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11 countries speaking out against Koran burning in Florida
More than 10 countries have now condemned a Florida pastor's plan to burn the Koran in commemoration of the 9/11 terrorist attacks of nine years ago. As noted in the Monitor article Why the planned Koran burning causes outrage and alarm, "Muslims see it as the uninterrupted, unchangeable, and eternal word of God. Burning the Koran is akin to directly burning the word of God." Here is what leaders are saying worldwide.
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3 rescues Chile miners could take hope from
With 33 Chilean miners trapped nearly a half-mile underground since Aug. 5, the country might take hope from past successful rescue missions. Here are three examples from China, America, and the Philippines.
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Five countries challenging Google
Online privacy has become a key civil liberty battleground. Companies such as Facebook and Google are amassing data about users' choices and activities, which businesses – and governments – would like access to. Across Europe, a backlash against the storage of online users data is growing. In Germany almost 35,000 people, including Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, sued their own government over the issue. Here are five countries where Google faces privacy, censorship, or other fights.
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Colombia offers clues for solution to Mexico drug war
The Mexico drug war is pushing officials to take heed of Colombia, which made progress with social welfare programs and acknowledgment that force alone doesn't work.
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As cluster bomb ban takes effect, the view from Laos
The cluster bomb ban – officially known as the Convention on Cluster Munitions – comes into force today. Countries that have ratified the treaty must stop making cluster munitions, dispose of stockpiles, and clear contaminated areas.
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Locked out: The 12 million people without a country, and the need to become a citizen
The victims of shifting borders, politics, or the happenstance of birthplace, the world's 12 million stateless people and their need to become citizens are rising on the international human rights agenda.
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The genealogy of a stateless family – and the need to become a citizen
Andre Jean explains the plight of those who need to become a citizen – a need that 12 million stateless people have around the globe.
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Japan beat Denmark, but why didn't Asians cheer for the Asian team?
Japan beat Denmark today, though it was unlikely that many Asians rooted for the Asian team in the match. Regional loyalties in Asia are threadbare, say academics, which means there is little 'Asian identity.'
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G-20 summit: financial reform is needed. But how fast?
As G-20 summit to focus on a split over approach: Will reining in spending cut debt, or stall jobs and growth?
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Will US revoke the right of American citizenship to foreigners born here?
A bill in the House of Representatives would change the 14th amendment to the US Constitution that grants anyone who is born on US soil the right of American citizenship. Efforts to revoke birthright citizenship could make it the new flashpoint in the debate over immigration.
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Pope Benedict blames 'sin inside the church' for Vatican woes
Pope Benedict XVI made his most direct comments to date about the sexual abuse scandals that have hit the Catholic church in Europe. He said the Vatican's problems were 'born from sin inside the church' and called for 'justice.'
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