United Nations : US comes under fire over housing rights (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing has expressed deep concern over the millions of people in the United States who are facing serious challenges in accessing affordable and adequate housing, caused amongst others by the recent sub-prime mortgage crisis, cuts in federal funding for low-income housing and soaring housing prices in several cities during the period of the real estate boom.

Health : Potato drags GM food into Europe (PRIV)
(IPS, Brussels)
Genetically modified (GM) foods appear to be back on the European Union's political menu - thanks to a potato.

Mexico : Scientists re-invent the corn tortilla (PRIV)
(IPS, Mexico City)
The process of making corn tortillas - the filling, age-old traditional food throughout much of Mexico and Central America - pollutes huge volumes of water and consumes a great deal of energy.

Environment : Arctic Shelf leaking potent greenhouse gas (PRIV)
(IPS, Uxbridge)
The frozen cap trapping billions of tonnes of methane under the cold waters of the Arctic Ocean is leaking and venting the powerful greenhouse gas into the atmosphere, new research shows.

United States : Senate debates indefinite detentions (PRIV)
(IPS, New York)
Civil liberties advocates and US constitutional law scholars lost no time in condemning proposed legislation introduced in the Senate on 4 March that would hand the government the power to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects without charge and to conduct trials through military commissions only.