In their darkest hours and through losses too grievous to fathom, the world has repeatedly abandoned the people of Darfur. Over more than seven years, two American presidents have used the word "genocide" to describe what has unfolded there, but they have done little to end it.

What is most revealing about the financial meltdown and economic crisis, however, is that it illustrates that corporations — if left to their own worst instincts — will destroy themselves and the system that nurtures them. It is rare that this lesson is so graphically illustrated. It is one the world must quickly learn, if we are to avoid the most serious existential threat we have yet faced: climate change.

A warmer planet could find itself more often at war. The Earth’s fast-changing climate has a range of serious thinkers — from military brass to geographers to diplomats — predicting a spate of armed conflicts driven by the weather.

To Olympic athletes contemplating wearing messages of support for Tibet, Darfur or even the notion of a better world, the International Olympic Committee is saying, "Don't."

Forget the javelin, marathon and table tennis. For many protesters of the Beijing Olympics, the events are already under way -- ranging from pamphleteering and banner-hanging to rush-hour freeway blocking.

As Darfur smolders in the aftermath of a new government offensive, a long-sought peacekeeping force, expected to be the world’s largest, is in danger of failing even as it begins its mission because of bureaucratic delays, stonewalling by Sudan’s government and reluctance from troop-contributing countries to send peacekeeping forces into an active conflict.

The FBI has opened a preliminary investigation of a report that China-based hackers have penetrated the e-mail accounts of leaders and members of the Save Darfur Coalition, a national advocacy group pushing to end the six-year-old conflict in Sudan.

The conflict in Darfur has entered a violent and deadly new phase. Another "scorched earth" policy is being unleashed, reminiscent of the worst waves of government-backed violence that brought the Sudanese region to world attention five years ago and led the US to declare that what was happening there constituted genocide.

US filmmaker Steven Spielberg abandoned his role in the Beijing Olympics and a host of prominent figures accused China of not doing enough to press its ally Sudan to end devastating violence in Darfur.

The United Nations top peacekeeping official told the Security Council on Wednesday that obstructionism by the Sudanese government, the failure of other countries to supply needed transportation equipment, and continued violence threatened to doom the mission of the freshly deployed peacekeeping force in Darfur.

Child malnutrition rates have increased sharply in Darfur, even though it is home to the world’s largest aid operation, according to a new United Nations report.

Sudan's government has imposed limits for a Darfur peacekeeping force that would make it "impossible to operate," calling its deployment into question, the U.N.'s peacekeeping chief said Tuesday.