POPULATION-US: More People Call the Streets Home

At last November's Republican presidential debate in St. Petersburg, Florida, activists trying to draw attention to the city's homeless problem were discreetly corralled away from the candidates by a perimetre fence.

MIGRATION-US: Asylum Cases Hinge More on Luck Than Law

In January 2006, on the heels of reports of widespread incompetence, injustice, and political cronyism among the judges who decide the fate of thousands of immigrants seeking asylum in the United States, then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales announced a sweeping review of the entire asylum process.

AFGHANISTAN: Unable To Cope With Returning Refugees

The rate of return of refugees to Afghanistan from neighbouring countries is causing tremendous stress to the Afghan government and society, government officials here say.

IRAQ: ‘Not Our Country To Return To’

More Iraqis continue to flee their country than the numbers returning, despite official claims to the contrary.

DEVELOPMENT: A Humanitarian Disaster Unfolds in Eastern DRC

In a mist-shrouded valley between the Mount Nyiragongo volcano and a pair of its dormant cousins looming in Rwanda to the east, nearly 3,000 souls wait in limbo, having fled a conflict that has succeeded in making this lush corner in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) nothing less than hell on earth for its people.

DEVELOPMENT-ZIMBABWE: Full Dams Do Not Translate Into Water Supplies

Heavy rains in Zimbabwe and in the catchment areas of its major rivers in December and January have filled most of the country’s dams to capacity. Yet, many urban households do not have water.

RIGHTS-BELGIUM: Bon Voyage, Past That Barbed Wire

Barbed wire is not something most people notice when they take a plane from Brussels International Airport. Yet ominous coils of it surround one cluster of buildings within this vast complex. It is here in Centre 127 that asylum-seekers are welcomed to Belgium with a lock and a key.

AFGHANISTAN: Ousted By Iran, Afghan Refugees Languish At Home

Thousands of Afghan refugees, forcibly repatriated by Iran, have been living in makeshift camps across Afghanistan.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Apology To Stolen Generations – A Good Start

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s recent apology to indigenous Australians, for the wrongs and injustices inflicted upon them by the policies of past governments, was momentous. But other indigenous issues are yet to be resolved.

RIGHTS: Gender Equality Gets a Drop of the Funding Bucket

The United Nations has never run out of statistics to reinforce its arguments against one of the most troubling issues the world over: gender discrimination.

IRAQ: In Tatters Beneath a Surge of Claims

What the U.S. has been calling the success of a "surge", many Iraqis see as evidence of catastrophe. Where U.S. forces point to peace and calm, local Iraqis find an eerie silence.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Demand For Women Legislators High

Women’s rights advocates in the Solomon Islands are urging their government to act on the findings of a recent survey which show that 89 percent of respondents want more women in Parliament.

HEALTH: Most Malnourished Children Aided Too Late

Prevention may be the best medicine of all when it comes to tackling childhood malnutrition, according to a study published this week in the leading medical journal The Lancet.

HEALTH-ARGENTINA: Juicy Hamburgers Threaten Young Kidneys

Famed as one of the world’s leading beef producers, Argentina holds the unfortunate record for the highest incidence of Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (HUS), an infectious disease caused by bacteria present in incompletely cooked foods, such as hamburgers.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Gangs Flourish as &#39Zero Tolerance&#39 Measures Fail

Around 40 percent of the members of youth gangs in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras are women, according to a new study that says governments have failed in their struggle against these groups that are employed as "labour power" by drug traffickers and organised crime.

CUBA: Socialism Through the Prism of the Generation Gap

A large majority of Cubans have never lived under any system but the government of Fidel Castro, but one-quarter of the population grew up over the last two decades of economic crisis, a period in which enthusiasm for the achievements of the revolution has been dampened by concerns over day-to-day problems, like difficulties in access to basic products.

LABOUR: ‘Migrants More Likely To Be Overqualified’

Rich countries must do more to integrate migrants into their societies and labour markets if they want to reap the economic benefits of skilled migration, says an OECD report released in Paris Wednesday.

EGYPT: Border Breach Raises Fundamental Questions

Authorities sealed the border with the Gaza Strip earlier this month after more than a half million Palestinians flooded into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula in late January. But while most have since returned home, the episode served to highlight Egypt's tenuous control over its border with the troubled territory next door.

LATIN AMERICA: Gender Stereotypes Still Firmly Entrenched, Despite Progress

Constructing gender equality in Latin American societies remains an apparently arduous task. The issue is still confined to the ivory towers of academia, far away from the media, and is seldom included in the debates that really capture people’s attention.

PERU: Poverty Provides Growing Number of ‘Drug Mules’

Anti-drug police at Peru’s "Jorge Chávez" international airport in Lima have had their hands full over the last year, arresting nearly two "mules" a day, each carrying an average of five kg of pure cocaine.

CAMEROON: Shelter, Medical Attention for Chadian Refugees

The situation of thousands of Chadian refugees who have fled to the north Cameroonian town of Kousseri continues to be a source of concern to aid workers, although the picture is not uniformly dismal.