POLITICS-BURMA: Voters Under Pressure Ahead of Referendum

With days to go before Burma votes on its new constitution, the military government’s message to the voters is getting blunt - openly calling for a ‘yes’ vote to confirm the charter in Saturday's referendum.

RIGHTS-SRI LANKA: &#39My Daughter, the Terrorist&#39

In Sri Lanka's brutal civil war some rebel women end their lives as suicide bombers that have killed hundreds over the years. A Norwegian documentary film that follows two 24-year-olds training to do just this has enraged the Sri Lankan government, but raises important questions about the conduct of war and its consequences.

EUROPE: Warnings Against Biofuels Get Louder

European efforts to promote biofuels should be rethought because of the contribution they have made to rising food prices, according to Jeffrey Sachs, a top economic advisor to the United Nations.

MALAYSIA: Food Futures Behind Rising Prices

With stock markets and the property sector in the United States weakening, speculative investors are turning to fuels and the food sector as a "safe haven", driving up prices in the process, say some food security activists.

ENERGY: World Bank, IFC Seek Investors in Off-Grid Africa

An international campaign to bring modern lighting to one-fourth of Africa's people enters a new phase this week with talks to draw investors to markets beyond the reach of the continent's outdated power grid.

POLITICS: Washington Cool on New Israel-Syria Talks

Amid regional fears of a summer war between Israel and Syria, the two countries may in fact be inching closer to a deal. Not even President George W. Bush's recent disclosures to Congress, intended to prove Syrian-North Korean nuclear cooperation, appear able to dent the resolve for peace, or at the very least, a reduction in tensions.

DEVELOPMENT-ZAMBIA: Counting the Cost of Recent Floods

Samson Mwenda, a farmer from Namwala in Zambia’s Southern Province, recalls with bitterness the massive floods of the 2007/2008 rainy season and the harsh consequences they had for his life.

ECUADOR: New Constitution Addresses Demand for ‘Plurinational’ State

Ecuador’s new constitution, which a constituent assembly expects to finish drafting by mid-June, establishes a united "plurinational" state, recognising equality along with ethnic diversity, as agreed between the government and indigenous organisations.

UZBEKISTAN: New Independence Demand Raised

A new demand has been made for the independence of Karakalpakstan, an autonomous region in the north-west of Uzbekistan.

GERMANY: Churches Going on Sale

What do you do with churches that have long since lost their congregations? In Germany, some are put up for sale, and get converted into luxury apartments, offices, theatres, bistros and restaurants.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: March for the Forest – Again!

The third "March for Life", organized by the environmental movement led by Catholic priest Andrés Tamayo, is part of an effort to bring attention to environmental degradation in Honduras.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: Environmentalists Repudiate Electricity Project

Mexico's Federal Electricity Commission, CFE, has divided a fishing community with promises and food in the Cuyutlán lagoon, in the western state of Colima, to calm criticisms of a planned electricity plant, charge ecologists.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Recycled Plastic for Food Containers

Argentina's National Industrial Technology Institute (INTI) has approved a technique for manufacturing food containers from recycled plastic bottles.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New Malaria Medication

Brazil has a new, more efficient medication against malaria, ASMQ, which will be available at cost (2.5 dollars per dose) for Latin American and Asian countries.

FIJI: Aussie Journo Expelled on Press Freedom Day Eve

Fiji’s interim government has come under withering criticism both nationally and internationally for the deportation on Friday of the Australian publisher of the leading ‘Fiji Times’ daily, Evan Hannah.

EAST TIMOR: No Solution In Sight For Army Deserters

While Gastao Salsinha - leader of the group of renegades accused of attempting to assassinate President Jose Ramos-Horta on Feb. 11 - has surrendered, there is little sign of amicable rehabilitation for some 600 army deserters.

RIGHTS: In South Africa, Zimbabwean Refugees Find Sanctuary and Contempt

As the autumn sun sets over South Africa's most populous city, the halls of downtown Johannesburg's Central Methodist Mission fill with weary figures, many far from home, seeking solace within its walls.

Q&A: "We Mustn&#39t Think as South Africans That We Have Won the Day"

Bishop Paul Verryn, who directs the Central Methodist Mission in Johannesburg, South Africa, has long been on the frontlines of the country's political struggles.

US/IRAQ: “Divide and Rule” Strategy Called Shortsighted

Five years since U.S. president George W. Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech, critics say the administration has yet to show a credible way to actually "accomplish" the mission that could see a peaceful Iraq and a return home of U.S. troops.

RIGHTS: Renditions Ruin the EU Case

Collusion between European Union governments and a secret U.S. torture and kidnapping programme has damaged the EU's efforts to promote human rights throughout the world, an internal paper drawn up by Brussels officials has admitted.

MEDIA-ASIA: More Than Just Freedom

More than gaining the freedom to report on society’s problems Asian media must gauge it’s real contribution to the public‘s needs, especially at a time of increasing commercialisation.