ARGENTINA: Digital Revolution Hits Secondary Schools

Every student and teacher has a laptop with Internet connection in half of the public secondary schools in Argentina, even in remote rural villages or on islands.

CANADA: Harper Government Guts Environment Programmes

Canada's Stephen Harper government is spending more than 60 billion dollars on new military jets and warships while slashing more than 200 million dollars in funding for research and monitoring of the environment.

OP-ED: Rwandan Refugees Fear Cessation Clause

They should be wary of each other. The historical conflict between their ethnicities has resulted in Africa’s largest genocide.

MIDEAST: Festive Season Highlights Deprivation

Crowds of women waving coupons worth two kilograms of beef line the stairwell to Secours Islamique France’s Gaza City office several hours before the aid agency begins its meat distribution for Eid. Aid workers struggle to climb the stairs, hauling large bags of fresh meat to assist impoverished families in Gaza this holiday season.

IRAN: Nuclear Watchdog Details Pre-2003 Weapons Research

A new report on Iran's nuclear programme provides substantial evidence that Iran carried out extensive research into how to make a nuclear weapon prior to 2003 but is shaky about how much work has continued.

Brazil Takes the Fight Against Hunger Abroad

The Brazilian government is extending its fight against hunger to the world stage, by inaugurating a Centre of Excellence Against Hunger to transmit its positive experiences to other developing countries with the help of United Nations agencies.

THE ENVIRONMENT: RIO+20 MUST SPARK REAL ACTION

The objective of the Rio+20 Conference (4-6 June 2012) is to secure renewed political commitment for sustainable development, assess the progress made to date and the gaps in the implementation of the outcomes of the major summits, and address new and emerging challenges.

LIBERIA: Runoff Goes Ahead Despite Boycott and Killings

Liberians headed to the polls in what appeared to be modest numbers Tuesday morning for a presidential runoff that has been marred by an opposition boycott and the deaths of at least two demonstrators at an opposition rally.

MEXICO: DNA Databank to Identify Missing Migrants

DNA analysis, ethical tribunals and diplomatic pressure are the new instruments that migrants' organisations are wielding to combat the abuses suffered by undocumented migrants in Mexico and the United States.

China Looks at Life After Euro

If Chinese detractors of liberal democracy and unbridled market development ever needed more fodder for their attacks on the West, then last week's Greek farce provided plenty. But behind the headlines announcing "the collapse of Europe" there is little sense of ideological triumph. Instead Beijing is busy drawing up contingency pans for the break up of the eurozone and absorbing the lessons of welfare state excesses.

“Who Lost Iraq” Debate Fails to Get Traction

Two weeks after President Barack Obama announced the withdrawal of all remaining U.S. troops from Iraq by the end of next month, a familiar clutch of neo-conservative hawks and prominent Republicans are blaming the president for "losing" the Middle Eastern country to its neighbour and long-time Washington nemesis, Iran.

U.S.: Occupy Activists, Union Leaders Find Common Cause

When Mary Clinton, 25, joined other activists to help organise the Occupy Wall Street movement on Sep. 17, she never imagined the gamble would turn into a "populist left movement of the 21st century".

ISRAEL: To Strike Iran or Not, With the US or Not

Preceding the UN atomic watchdog's report on Iran's nuclear quest, a flurry of reports about Israel increasingly tilting towards preventive military action against Iran highlights U.S. military support of Israel, but tests its influence over its ally.

LIBYA: Poland Steps Into Arab Spring

As the first foreign official to visit Libya after the liberation announcement made by National Transitional Council, Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski tried to kill two birds with one stone.

Ecobreves – CUBA: Japanese Funding for Waste Collection

The collection and treatment of household waste in the Cuban capital will be stepped up through a cooperation project funded by the Japanese government.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Cleaner Production Policy Proposed

The Ministry of Environment of Honduras will present a draft public policy later this year aimed at cleaner production through the combined efforts of the state and private sectors in the development of measures to conserve energy, water and raw materials.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Agriculture That Protects the Environment

A project based on planting trees in combination with crops is aimed at reducing water consumption and agrochemical use in agriculture in two rural areas of the southern Brazilian state of São Paulo.

JAPAN: Women Fight to Save Fukushima’s Children

Hundreds of Japanese women have been converging on the Japanese capital demanding better relief for some 30,000 children exposed to nuclear radiation by the Fukushima meltdown.

Q&A: “Reducing Inequality Should Be a Political Priority”

According to the Human Development Report 2011 released by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) this week, Latin America remains the region with the highest income inequality, even as the situation has improved in countries like Argentina, Brazil, Honduras, Mexico and Peru.

Cornered in Free Libya

"We’ve walked all the way here to tell everybody that we are being treated like dogs," said 23-year old Hamuda Bubakar, among a couple of hundred black refugees protesting at Martyrs Square in Tripoli. "I’d rather be killed here. I wouldn’t be the first, or the last."

GUATEMALA: “We Want Girls to Be Visible”

"I learned to not be afraid, and to love myself. Before, I never wanted to talk to people because I felt like they looked down on me and that I was no good," says 12-year-old Hilda Tura, one of the participants in a programme fostering leadership among indigenous girls in Guatemala.