HEALTH-INDONESIA: Mothers Join Bird Flu Awareness Campaign

Not content with the government’s public awareness campaign against bird flu, a group of parents in Bekasi regency has taken the initiative in educating the poor and the marginalised about the deadly disease.

CULTURE-ARGENTINA: Recuperating Indigenous Languages

With the aim of strengthening linguistic diversity in Argentina, the University of Buenos Aires language school has launched a successful programme providing instruction in the country’s most widely-spoken indigenous languages.

CUBA: Snail’s-Pace Internet Is Washington’s Fault

Authorities in Cuba blame the U.S. embargo for the high local cost of Internet connections, and for the serious problems in web services in this socialist Caribbean island nation.

TECHNOLOGY-AFRICA: A Rural-Urban Digital Divide Challenges Women

Janet Malika owes her success to the little gadget that is her cell phone. Formerly a struggling food hawker in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, she has become a cafeteria owner since acquiring the device about five years ago, and using it to conduct business.

DEVELOPMENT-TANZANIA: High Growth Still to Benefit the Poor

Just more than a year after Jakaya Kikwete was elected president of Tanzania his name was mentioned in the halls at the Africa Union (AU) summit in January in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as the possible new chairperson of the AU.

POLITICS-US: Bush Library to Boost a Sagging Legacy

In the midst of the United States Senate debate over whether to allow a non-binding resolution opposing President George W. Bush's 21,000-plus troop surge in Iraq, and the United Nations climate change panel's report attributing global warming to human activity, it seems a little strange perhaps that a debate over a proposed presidential library would stir so many passions.

EDUCATION-MOZAMBIQUE: Orphans’ Choice: School or Survival?

The school year kicks off in Mozambique with more children enrolling for primary school than ever in the past. But educational prospects remain bleak for orphans like Regina Massango.

DEVELOPMENT-SUDAN: Oil Boom Causing Land Prices to Skyrocket

Sudan's oil reserves paired with a dearth of water make it a nation of fierce battles for land - most notably in Darfur and southern Sudan where, for centuries, squabbles over rich terrain have ignited into brutal conflicts.

HUMAN RIGHTS-MALAWI: Violence Threatens Women’s Meagre Gains

Chanju Mwale is a true role model. Not only does the 28-year-old possess good academic credentials as a lawyer, landing her the job of the Malawi Defence Force’s legal officer, but she is also the only female officer in the force who holds the rank of captain.

SOUTH AFRICA: Fallen Anti-Apartheid Icon Leaves Behind Inequality

Leading anti-apartheid campaigner Adelaide Tambo's struggle for equality in South Africa has paid off in areas of political participation, but the economy still remains in the hands of the country's white minority, say researchers and campaigners.

SWAZILAND: Keep School Doors Open to AIDS Orphans, Vulnerable Kids

AIDS orphans aren't the only children suffering in Swaziland. Those who have lost one or both parents to the epidemic have it rough, but so do tens of thousands of other Swazi children vulnerable to food shortages, scant medical care, and unsettled home life.

IRAQ: Students, Professors Flee to the Kurdish North

Academic life in Iraq's volatile southern and central regions has become increasingly paralysed, with hundreds of students and professors targeted and many more abandoning their educational institutions in search of a refuge.

DEVELOPMENT: Morocco on a Slow March to Literacy

Morocco's "march towards light" as its literacy programme is called is brightening up as official figures go, but with far too many shady areas still.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: The Struggle Continues for Mozambican Women

The contradictions in Maria’s life are typical of many women in Mozambique.

ENVIRONMENT-CHILE: UV Radiation, the Dark Side of the Sun

The hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, where the ozone thins out every southern hemisphere springtime, is recovering for the time being, but all regions in Chile will receive extremely high levels of ultraviolet radiation this month.

COLOMBIA: Open Your Books, Please, Bogota

For the first time, a Latin American city has been named World Book Capital. Bogotá will have this honour in 2007 by courtesy of UNESCO, with the main aim of promoting a dying habit: reading.

CHINA: Reading the Lessons of History – Selectively

Poised to become the world's next superpower, China has begun examining the rise and fall of other great nations in the hope of drawing lessons from their histories. There is one chapter that is being skipped though-China's own.

IRAQ: It’s Either Occupation or Education

Two in three children in Iraq have simply stopped going to school, according to a government report.

MIDEAST: To Map a Green Line or Not

A directive by Israel's education minister that all maps in new editions of school textbooks must include the 1967 line that separates Israel from the West Bank has sparked a political firestorm, with right-wing politicians and religious leaders threatening to boycott the books if they are issued.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Lesotho Edging Towards Education MDG

Lineo* lost her father when she was about to start school and just after her unemployed mother had become blind. When friends of the 15-year-old went to their first classes in 1999, she had to cope with grief at the death of her father while also having to take care of her blind mother.

DEVELOPMENT: A Vicious Circle of Sexism and Deprivation

Millions of children across the world will continue to suffer from lack of food, healthcare and education as long as their mothers are forced to live with abusive conditions at home and discrimination in the workplace, according to a major new study released here Monday.