ECONOMY-NAMIBIA: Plans Afoot as Diamonds Dwindle after 100 years

Namibia’s once rich diamond deposits are dwindling after a century of exploitation, forcing miners to look for the hard stones offshore while the country’s fledgling cutting and polishing sector could shrink as fewer and smaller stones are found.

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: Ground Realities Stall Basket Fund Take Off

In 2006, there was shared concern among donors and women’s organisations over the fragmented approaches to gender and women’s empowerment programmes in Zimbabwe.

POLITICS-US: The Reinterpretation of Dreams

In 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington and gave a speech that went down as one of the greatest in U.S. history.

POLITICS-US: Muslim Charities Negotiate a Minefield

As Muslims begin one of their most important holidays - the month of Ramadan - charitable organisations serving the American Muslim community are taking what some observers believe is a desperate last step to keep the U.S. government from shutting them down.

MEXICO: Native Women Mobilise for Their Rights

If the Mexican government has not addressed the demands of indigenous women in the southern state of Oaxaca by the end of the first week of September, 10,000 native women will travel to the capital to directly pressure President Felipe Calderón. "We are fed up," said one of the leading activists.

ISRAEL: Olmert Has a Last Go at a Legacy

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert may have announced that he will resign as soon as his ruling Kadima party has chosen a new leader next month, but that doesn't mean the prime minister has given up hope of reaching an agreement with the Palestinians or the Syrians.

NEPAL: Dependence on Rice Adds to Food Crisis

Every year, around June, people living in the impoverished western half of this mountainous country suffer from food scarcity. This year was no different, except that the problem got aggravated by increasing dependence on rice flown in rather than locally grown food grains.

RIGHTS-CAMBODIA: Mass Evictions May Follow Lake Grab

A plan to redevelop Phnom Penh’s largest remaining natural lake into a residential and shopping precinct has ignited a storm of protests and claims that it could result in the largest eviction in Cambodia’s post-war history.

RIGHTS-PARAGUAY: President Apologises to Victims of Dictatorship

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo apologised Thursday in the name of the state to the victims of human rights violations committed by the 1954-1989 dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner.

EDUCATION-MEXICO: Teachers and Students Failing Exams

Assessments of student performance at primary and secondary schools in Mexico have produced dismal results, as have evaluations of new teachers, who have to pass exams before being appointed to a teaching post.

POLITICS-US: Election Stirs Hopes and Fears Among Iraqis in U.S.

As the November election nears, Iraqis in the United States appear divided over their preferences for the next U.S. president, according to a series of interviews carried out by IPS.

POLITICS-ANGOLA: Some Parties More Equal Than Others

It seems like a playground game. Every day, Angola’s main opposition party sends teams out across Luanda to hang flags, posters and pictures of their leader Isaías Samakuva.

INDIA/US: Nuclear Deal Headed for Fiasco

As the tortuous negotiations for the United States-India nuclear deal enters its final stage, it becomes clear that India seriously underestimated the discomfort and opposition the agreement would arouse in many countries because of the special privileges granted to India, largely on New Delhi's terms.

MEXICO: Conservatives Lose Key Battle Against Abortion

The Mexican government, Catholic Church and conservative groups lost a crucial battle Wednesday in their fight against abortion, which was legalised in the capital in April 2007.

POLITICS-US: Women Take the Platform at Dem Convention

From the party platform ratified by delegates between speeches Monday, to primetime, headlining speeches by two heavy hitters in the election - Sen. Hillary Clinton and first-lady hopeful Michelle Obama - the initial two days of the Democratic National Convention were dominated by women.

Q&A: "They Mobilised Violence For Their Own Reasons"

The text of the Kenyan National Dialogue and Reconciliation Accord, brokered by former UN chief Kofi Annan in March this year and released to the press in full last Sunday, identifies land as one of the central issues creating "economic, social, political and environmental problems" in the country.

DEVELOPMENT: Nepal Scrutinises Spending to Cap Gender Gaps

The period between 2002 and 2007, was marked with various political and economic changes in Nepal. As the government and the Maoist rebels fought a bloody war in the hinterlands, exports plummeted due to internal and international factors, investments by government and private sectors dropped due to instability caused by the war and agriculture stagnated. During this period Nepal’s average growth dropped from 5 to 2.9 percent.

RIGHTS: Accused Terrorist Sues Norway

The co-founder of a suspected al-Qaeda linked militant group in Iraq who lived a double life as a refugee in Norway's capital Oslo is suing Norway for violating his rights.

PHILIPPINES: Gov’t Urged to Resume Talks With Muslim Rebels

About 100 people have been killed or injured and more than 130,000 others displaced since hostilities resumed this month between government troops and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels, said to be "frustrated" by a new hitch in a peace agreement

SINGAPORE: Population Decline – Enter the Matchmaker

After failing to induce young people to marry early and raise families with tax breaks and ‘baby bonus’ schemes, the government appears ready to fall back on the matchmaker to give the stork a chance.

EUROPE: Russia Triggers A New Cold War Threat

A spectre is haunting Europe, the spectre of a new Cold War in the wake of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signing a decree Tuesday formally recognising the breakaway Georgian provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states.