AFRICA: "Have Your Own Policies, as Long as They’re Like Ours"

The controversial conditionalities attached to World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans over the past 20 years may, from the World Bank’s point of view, no longer be necessary as African countries are of their own accord imposing similar policy restrictions on themselves.

Q&A: 'Princess Corps' Cracks the Glass Ceiling

Kuniko Tanioka is the woman to watch in Japanese politics.

RIGHTS-US: Rendition Victim Still Seeking Justice

Thwarted by U.S. courts, a German citizen who claims he was "rendered" by the U.S. and secretly detained and tortured for four months is taking his case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

ST VINCENT: Proposed Constitution Facilitates Death Penalty

For human rights groups like Amnesty International and the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Human Rights Association (SVGHRA), Nov. 25 will be more than just another day in the Caribbean.

RIGHTS-US: Ashcroft Liable for Wrongful Detention

In what is being hailed as an unprecedented ruling, a federal appeals court has concluded that the George W. Bush administration's first attorney general, John Ashcroft, can be held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of an innocent U.S. citizen.

INDIA: HIV-Positive Women Get User Rights to Till Land

Till four months back, 33-year-old Mugil hardly ventured out of her parent’s home, preferring to stay indoors and tend to the household chores.

RIGHTS-US: Cleared for Release, But…

Since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last year that inmates at Guantanamo Bay have a right to go to federal court to challenge their detention, detainees have filed more than 150 such lawsuits.

MIDEAST: Stolen Room Offers a Split View

In the early morning sunlight, the smoky window of the plush new apartment reflects back a golden tinge from the Dome of the Rock that stands at the heart of Islam's third holiest shrine.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Adopt a Tree

The Botanical Garden of Venezuela's Central University, a 70-hectare green oasis in the middle of Caracas, this month launched a membership program with the slogan "Adopt a Tree," for an annual payment of 180 dollars and the donor's name on a plaque at the foot of the tree.

Ecobreves – CHILE: Guide Published on Indigenous Peoples

The World Wildlife Fund presented in Chile the document "WWF Principles on Indigenous Peoples and Conservation in Project and Program Management," translated to Spanish and with case studies from Chile and the rest of Latin America.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Study Calls for More Biomass and Wind Energy

Energy from biomass and from wind, still underutilized, should be a priority to complement Brazil's hydroelectric base, according to a study by the Federal University of Brazil.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Cell Therapy for Periodontal Problems

Cuba has begun T-cell therapy to treat periodontal diseases that involve bone loss, and has seen positive results, Amparo Pérez, head of a research team in Havana, told Tierramérica.

CHINA: Han Chinese Blame Regional Chief for Xinjiang Unrest

Chinese communist party’s monopoly on power in the restive western region of Xinjiang is now contested not just by the disgruntled Turkic-speaking Uyghur ethnic group but also by the Han Chinese, who up till now had shown support of Beijing’s policies and rallied to defend its interests.

POLITICS-US: Gates Sells Afghan Strategy Amid Growing Unease

U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates and Adm. Michael Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) remained tight-lipped about the contents of a confidential report on the future of U.S. involvement in Afghanistan in a wide-ranging Pentagon briefing on Thursday.

URUGUAY: A Chance to Leave Poverty Behind

Nilda Barboza gets up at 3:00 AM every day to make it on time to her new job in an upscale neighbourhood in the Uruguayan capital from her home in an outlying area. But she does so with a sense of pride, for being one of tens of thousands of people who is no longer among the ranks of the poor, thanks to a government anti-poverty programme.

ISRAEL: Madonna Applauded for her Silence

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Kim Jong-il, Hitler, the Holocaust, ecological disasters, poverty in Africa, wars around the world, Obama and Martin Luther King: the appropriate images were all there, an overwhelming backdrop on the huge stage for the Queen of Pop's rendition of her song, 'Get Stupid' in Tel Aviv's Yarkon Park.

WATER-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Research Not Trickling Down To Farmers

Farmers could be losing tonnes of crops every harvest just because no one has bothered to tell them that scientists have found more effective methods of using water to farm.

MIGRATION-ITALY: A Helping Hand in a Hostile Land

Italy is in many ways a country of contradictions, known for its beautiful beaches and vulnerable coasts, its staunch Catholicism and growing intolerance towards immigrants.

HEALTH-NIGERIA: Maternal Mortality, a Rural Community’s Example

Women, their children strapped to their backs, defy the mid-morning sun and converge on the Primary Healthcare Centre, located on the outskirts of Farasinme village, the Badagry West Council Development Area of Lagos State.

US-HONDURAS: Zelaya Urges Tougher Stance Toward Coupmakers

Speaking at the Elliot School of International Affairs, the ousted president of Honduras, Manuel Zelaya, encouraged the Barack Obama administration to take a harder line against the de facto government that was set up after the military forced him from the country in June.

ECONOMY-US: Still as Good as Ever to Be the Boss

Only 12 months after the meltdown of the U.S. financial system and the ensuing taxpayer-sponsored government bailout, the pay of the nation's top Wall Street chief executive officers (CEOs) is beginning to bounce back to pre-crisis levels, according to a new study on executive compensation released Wednesday.