DEVELOPMENT: Tourism's New Wave Enrique Gili SAN DIEGO, California, 8 Jul (IPS) - David Aabo is en route from Peru to New York City after having spent much of the last few years in the South American country investigating opportunities for development that might help local entrepreneurs build a sustainable regional economy. more...   ECONOMY: Little to Cheer on U.S. Independence Day Abid Aslam WASHINGTON, 4 Jul (IPS) - The world's biggest economy marked Independence Day Friday with little cause for economic cheer. Job losses are the worst in nearly six years and a de facto recession appears to have gripped all sectors. more...   ENERGY: U.S. Sees World Use Soaring Despite Rising Costs Abid Aslam WASHINGTON, 25 Jun (IPS) - World energy demand and carbon dioxide emissions will grow by about 50 percent over the next two decades despite soaring oil prices as developing countries outpace rich ones in consumption, the U.S. government predicts. more...   POLITICS-AFRICA: U.S., China Should Coordinate Policies Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, 30 May (IPS) - Amid growing concerns over big-power competition for access to Africa's immense energy and mineral resources, the U.S. and Chinese governments are being urged to better coordinate their policies toward the continent. more...   POLITICS-US: New Approach Awaited on Latin America, Cuba Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, 14 May (IPS) - More than 150 years after the United States promulgated the Monroe Doctrine, Washington should recognise that its dominance over the Americas has ended and that it must 'engage Latin America on its own terms', according to a new report released here Wednesday by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), one of the nation's most influential think tanks. more...   US/IRAQ: Pressure to Cut Costs, Troops Strains 'Surge' Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, 7 May (IPS) - Growing impatience in Congress over the enormous costs being racked up by the Iraq war, as well as the Pentagon's belief that it needs more troops in Afghanistan to fight insurgents there, is putting the vaunted success of the George W. Bush administration's 'surge' strategy to the test. more...   US/PAKISTAN: New Gov't Needs Aid, Leeway to Address Terror Front Jim Lobe WASHINGTON, 24 Apr (IPS) - With the intelligence community and Congressional investigators warning that the greatest threat to the United States is developing in the tribal areas along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, appeals for the George W. Bush administration to reassess its 'global war on terror' and Pakistan's place in it are growing. more...   IRAQ: Chaos Hardening Sectarian Fiefdoms Ali Gharib WASHINGTON, 17 Apr (IPS) - There are an estimated 2.7 million Iraqis who have been displaced within their own country. No house; no food; no security. Who do they turn to for help? The international community's humanitarian organisations? The occupying United States government? The central Iraqi government based in Baghdad? more...   Q&A: 'We Wanted to Know How a Corn Cob Gets into a Pepsi' Interview with Curtis Ellis, documentary filmmaker SAN DIEGO, California, 9 Apr (IPS) - Browsing through the aisles of the local supermarket, few consumers fully grasp the role corn plays their daily lives. more...   ENVIRONMENT: Emissions Solutions Start at Home Stephen Leahy BROOKLIN, Canada, 13 Mar (IPS) - Making buildings more environmentally friendly is the easiest and most effective way to cut climate-changing carbon emissions, often slashing energy costs by up to 70 percent. So why isn't there a massive effort to 'green up' existing buildings and set green standards for all new construction? more...