8 February 2012 – A new United Nations-backed survey has found that most workers in Afghanistan’s brick kilns are bonded child labourers, and calls for a strategy that will both provide relief to bonded families and help them escape the cycles of debt, dependence and poverty.
Last week, ProPublica and NPR raised questions about a risky investment strategy at Freddie Mac that would pay off if homeowners stayed trapped in expensive mortgages. It's just the latest example of how government-owned Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae have frustrated many by not putting homeowners first.
The current cold spell that has paralyzed much of Europe and reportedly killed almost 300 people over the past week should start to ease slowly from next week, a senior official at the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said today.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 7, 2012 – U.S. and Japanese representatives met at the State Department yesterday to discuss changes under consideration to agreements on realignment of U.S. forces in the Pacific.