LEBANON: Cluster Bombs Could Kill for Years

Even in the summer heat, the hills of South Lebanon are an impressive sight - a patchwork of green, brown and red fields interrupted only by sleepy villages, rock formations and dirt tracks.

Iran Prepares for Parliamentary Elections amid Uncertainty

Uncertainty and confusion, particularly among the highly factionalised conservatives that have dominated Iranian politics since 2005, appear to be the order of the day some seven months before next March's parliamentary elections.

Citizen Actions Turn Up the Heat for a Warming Planet

Civil society leaders meeting here for the 2011 CIVICUS World Assembly are looking ahead toward next year's Rio+20 summit – a milestone anniversary of the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, and a crucial meeting of U.N. member states and non-governmental organisations to work towards a greener future.

PAKISTAN: 9/11 Legacy – An AK-47 in Every Home

The United States-led war-on terror, unleashed on Afghanistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, has utterly destabilised the neighbouring Pashtun-dominated tribal areas of Pakistan and reduced them to a state of utter lawlessness.

PAKISTAN: Dodging Drones and Bullets to Beat HIV

Having to contend with U.S. army drones and the crossfire between the Taliban and the Pakistani army, the residents of Pakistan’s tribal areas find access to treatment for HIV/AIDS harder than in most other parts of the world.

COTE D’IVOIRE: Toxic Waste Victims Wait Years for Compensation

Thousands of victims affected by toxic waste dumping in 2006 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire's commercial capital, still have not received the economic compensation they were promised.

CANADA: Native Lands Ruling Opens Up New Questions

As Canada's aboriginal community celebrates last month's milestone legal ruling regarding clear-cutting in Ontario and the forestry sector mulls its future strategy, discussions are taking place about how to carry out an impact assessment evaluating damage incurred by decades of industry encroachment on traditional lands and forests.

MEDIA-PAKISTAN: Caught Between the Army and the Taliban

Journalists covering the United States-led ‘war-on-terror’ in Pakistan’s turbulent northwest are not sure who wants them out of the way more – the Taliban or the Pakistan army.

TRINIDAD: State of Emergency in More Ways Than One

Ancel Roget believes he knows why the Trinidad and Tobago government imposed a State of Emergency (SOE) on Aug. 21 and used its majority in the Parliament to extend it for another three months.

INDIA: Campuses Lead Gay Rights Struggle

It was with some trepidation that Nivvedan, a student at the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) - Bombay, helped launch ‘Saathi’ (Companion), catering to the needs of people with different sexual orientations on campus.

ISRAEL: Netanyahu Besieged, From Within and Without

More and more Israelis seem to realise that the only policy that causes bad luck is bad policy. In a fortnight, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu found himself politically besieged from within and from without.

Ecobreves – MEXICO: The Search for Biofuel Sources

Mexico’s National Institute for Forestry, Agricultural and Livestock Research (INIFAP) is studying different plant species for potential biofuel production.

Ecobreves – ARGENTINA: Activists Challenge Land Management Plan

Environmental organizations in Argentina are demanding that the land management plan adopted by the northeastern province of Corrientes be declared unconstitutional, because it threatens native forests.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: NGO to Protect Endangered Hummingbird

The non-governmental Association for Research for Environmental and Socioeconomic Development has been tasked by the Honduran government with ensuring the protection of the Honduran Emerald (Amazilia luciae), a species of hummingbird unique to northern Honduras.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Assessing the Impacts of Global Warming on Marine Life

The Brazilian non-governmental organization Proyecto Coral Vivo (Live Coral Project) is carrying out a research program called Marine Mesocosms to study the impacts of global warming on sea life.

Highway Through Rainforest Will Have Both Environmental and Cultural Impacts

The pristine rainforests of the Isiboro Sécure Indigenous Territory and National Park are threatened with destruction by a planned new highway.

Orasecom study forms a base for river monitoring

Research done across southern African countries is expected to help scientists keep their finger on the pulse of the Orange-Senqu river system. Zuki Zimela reports from Johannesburg.

MALAWI: Government Becomes a One-Man Show

For the last two weeks, Malawi’s president has been running the country’s 22 ministries on his own after firing his entire cabinet. But political and economic analysts say that his delay in appointing a new cabinet is detrimental to the country’s development. Some analysts say government has come to a standstill because of this, while others say the situation shows that the president has lost control.

MEDIA-IRAQ: ‘Protection’ Law Offers Little Safety

When Ali Sumerian, an editor for Al-Sabah newspaper, and three local media colleagues sat down for a restaurant meal after reporting on a demonstration in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square on Feb. 25 this year, security forces detained them. "We were accused of encouraging an anti-political process," says Sumerian. It was only after their arrest triggered a media outcry, he says, were they released 12 hours later. The four were just some of the journalists attacked and arrested that day.

MIDEAST: Israelis Stage an Investigation Act

Israeli soldiers and security forces have conducted a string of arrests and violent raids over recent weeks, at Jenin’s renowned Freedom Theatre, in their investigation into the murder of actor Juliano Mer-Khamis, the theatre’s former director and co-founder, earlier this year.

More Aids education is needed for young women

Throughout eastern and southern Africa, girls and women between the ages of 15 and 24 carry more than double the risk of getting HIV than men of the same age. Zuki Zimela reports on the sister-to-sister programme.