by Alicia Sorroza, Real Instituto Elcano, Spain - The economic and financial crisis affecting Europe seems to be changing the map of the interests involved in the EU-China relationship.

by Silvia Viñas, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, USA - Despite dire statistics on Chile’s inequality, the country’s prosperity cannot be denied and its steady economic growth is looked upon with admiration during the current financial crisis. Nevertheless, unless it effectively targets high rates of inequality, the majority of Chileans will not take notice when the country reaches a “developed country’s” GDP.

by Sarah Browning, Foreign Policy in Focus, USA - Poets gathered in Fez, Morocco, and Jalalabad, Afghanistan and Sharjah, United Arab Emirates. All this – and more – made up 100 Thousand Poets for Change on Saturday, September 24, 2011. Poets gathered in over 550 cities in 95 countries to speak out for peace and sustainability.

by Namrata Hasija, Institute of Peace & Conflict Studies, India - With the de-collectivization of land a surplus of labour was generated in the rural areas which led to a large scale migration to urban areas in search of jobs, in turn leading to the feminization of agriculture. Adding to this, their already heavy domestic burden and the usually hostile environment of the groom’s family, which traditionally sees the wife as a “purchased commodity”, has led to an acute male-female imbalance.

by Amanda Knarr, COHA, USA - As globalization has carried with it a greater degree of potential for economic integration among different nations, the tiny English-speaking Caribbean states are fighting for their place in an ever-shrinking world.

by Tarisai Nyamweda, Gender Links, South Africa - From skin lighteners and vagina tightening creams to hip, bum and breast enhancement pills, the list has become endless for the ordinary woman on the street.

by Amali Wedagedara, IDSA, India - Since 1971, Sri Lanka has been in a constant state of emergency with the exception of brief intervals. The state has demonstrated a penchant for emergency laws in responding to various kinds of crises such as communal riots, youth riots, even natural disasters and labour strikes.

by Rukhshona Nazhmidinova, European Journalism Observatory, Switzerland - The attacks in Oslo last month once again brought up the issue of framing in the media. As it turns out, not only do media outlets set the agenda for discussion in society, they also dictate how people should feel about the subjects in question.

by Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Hudson Institute, USA - Immigration reform, however divisive, is crucial to economic growth. Making it easier to get lawful entry helps the economy. Today, entering the country legally, whether as a tourist, student, entrepreneur, or worker is a lengthy, bureaucratic, and often expensive process.

by Chloe Gleitz, Consultancy Africa Intelligence, South Africa - The short-term tactics of drone strikes are likely to work against U.S. counter-insurgency efforts, by undermining the Transitional Federal Government's already feeble authority and legitimacy, creating a surge in Anti-American sentiment, and strengthening the power of extremists.

by Carol Ciriaco, COHA, USA - In an era characterized by corruption and a deadly ongoing war against drugs—one that has progressively hindered the ability of the federal government to ensure its national security—a truly representative government free of corruption is more necessary than ever before.

by Katie Soltis, COHA, USA - The standard ammunition of many semiautomatic rifles can even pierce through the armor worn by police officers. As drug trafficking organizations have acquired these more dangerous and expensive weapons, it has become even harder for the Mexican authorities and police to counter drug-related violence.

by Sarah M. Brooks, Consultancy Africa Intelligence, South Africa - The small-scale Chinese entrepreneurs who have followed - and occasionally preceded - the SOEs have also been criticised for their increasing presence in all corners of the continent. Instead of being antagonists, can they also be sources of productive cultural exchange, or potential drivers of local economic growth?

by Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies, USA - In the midst of the Arab Spring, which directly rejects al-Qaeda-style small-group violence in favor of mass-based, society-wide mobilization and non-violent protest to challenge dictatorship and corruption, does the killing of Osama bin Laden represent ultimate justice, or even an end to the "unfinished business" of 9/11?

by Katherine Austin-Evelyn, Consultancy Africa Intelligence, South Africa - International development experts have been criticising the dangers of ‘shopping well to save the world’ and ‘investing in a girl to eradicate global poverty.’

by Sue Sturgis, Facing South, USA - The current regulatory system relies on the polluters to turn themselves in and accurately report what they've spilled -- even though they're subject to fines based on the amount released.

by Dr. Leila Farsakh, Institute for Palestine Studies, Lebanon - Implications of the protest movements in the Arab world on Palestinian politics and the Arab-Israeli conflict.

by Sabrina Peric, Foreign Policy in Focus, USA - The number of officially unemployed in Croatia is 334,000, which translates into a nearly 20 percent unemployment rate. But this figure masks the tens of thousands who are employed but have not received a salary in six months, the tens of thousands who are paid in a combination of cash and store credits that they have to spend at particular grocery stores by a certain date, and the many families with only one or no income.

by Sarah Anderson, Institute for Policy Studies, USA - There are still places in the world where folks from across the political spectrum can have a rational discussion about fair taxation.

by Claudia Costa, European Journalism Centre, Netherlands - Within one day of the opening of the swine flu National Health Service (NHS) website, it registered 2,600 hits per second and an average of 9.3 million hits per hour.

by Mallary Jean Tenore, Poynter, USA - It’s only been about the past quarter of a second, historically speaking, that women have been encouraged to take part in the public debate. Now they’re completely engaged, and I know that’s going to be reflected in opinion pages and opinion sites.

by Ellen Brown, Global Research, Canada - Underlying the sudden, volatile uprising in Egypt and Tunisia is a growing global crisis sparked by soaring food prices and unemployment.

by Fiona Dwinger, Consultancy Africa Intelligence,South Africa- The Grameen Bank has risen to become the institutional star praised by proponents of microfinance, today providing services to around 6 million borrowers in Bangladesh alone. The question is whether the same financial instruments can be applied to Africa’s poor with similar poverty alleviating and developmental effects.

by Aziza Ahmed, Sexuality Policy Watch, Brazil - The International AIDS Conference in 2010 held one of the first plenary sessions dedicated to abortion and HIV. The plenary focused on the needs of HIV positive women to obtain a full range of reproductive health services, including abortion, as central to a human rights based response to the HIV epidemic There are particular reasons to pay more attention to abortion in the context of HIV.

By Rebecca Buckwalter-Poza, Asian Human Rights Commission, China - Last week, the government of Pakistan announced it would push the National Assembly to pass the long-awaited Acid Control and Burn Crime Prevention Bill this month. The bill, first introduced in January 2010, emerged from collaboration among the Acid Survivors Foundation (ASF), National Commission on Status of Women, United Nations Development Fund for Women, and the Pakistan Ministry of Women Development.

by Ana Cristina Alve and Elizabeth Sidiropoulos, South African Institute for International Affairs, South Africa - China is both an important partner at a political and economic level for SA, but equally one which has elicited criticism from some quarters, especially in the trade union movement where it has been accused of being responsible for the loss of jobs in certain manufacturing sectors.

by Katie Zaunbrecher, COHA, USA - Crime and violence long have been prevalent throughout Guatemala, but in the fourteen years since the end of the country’s bloody internal conflict, violence against women and girls has escalated markedly. Like in many countries where rates of violence against women are particularly shocking, Guatemala is a country on the brink of lawlessness.

by Nidžara Ahmetašević, Balkan Investigative Reporting Network, Bosnia-Herzegovina - The reluctance of women survivors from the town to talk about their own sufferings – and the stigma that still surrounds rape – has allowed a grave crime to go unpunished.

by Gitanjali Bakshi, Middle East Political and Economic Institute, Romania - Concerns about water -- a less celebrated resource in the Middle East have always been latent, lying beneath the surface and quietly shaping geo-political events in the region. In the future, Blue Gold will become so increasingly precious that, much like the black gold of today, water will no longer play a latent role, but will instead be an integral part of the region’s political agenda.