WEST AFRICA: From Desertification, to Migration, to Conflict

It has been three years since Brahima Ouédraogo, a small-scale farmer from Burkina Faso, arrived in a little village in the Tabou region of south-western Côte d'Ivoire with his family, in search of arable land.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Island Populations Thinning Out From Migration

''Hi all; just to let you know that I will be leaving end of this week and migrating to Australia in early February. This is just a small farewell note to you all.''

CHILE: Pension Reform – Just a Face-Lift, or the Real Thing?

Chile's social security system, one of the jewels in the crown of the dictatorship of the late General Augusto Pinochet, will be fiercely debated in Congress in 2007. But the reform initiative with which President Michelle Bachelet wants to "make history" has already come under fire.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTH AFRICA: Unlocking the Mysteries of Social Mobility

From sprawling shack settlements to the presence of destitute people begging for small change at traffic lights, there is ample evidence that poverty is a pervasive and destructive force in South African life. Less clear is why some manage to beat the odds to escape poverty, and others not.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: US – Last Stop for Bhutanese Refugees?

Washington's offer to resettle most of the 106,000 Bhutanese refugees who have stagnated in camps in Nepal for 16 years has provoked a whirlwind of reaction that could finally sweep away official inertia toward their plight.

DEVELOPMENT-INDIA: Housing the Poor Where They Squat

For 35 years Rama Krishna Puram, an old south Delhi neighbourhood, has been Sheela's home. She works in the nearby government offices on yearly contracts - cleaning and fetching for officials.

CHALLENGES 2006-2007: Darfur in Crisis, Still

Almost four years after conflict broke out in Darfur, calls are being made for greater efforts to resolve the predicament in this western region of Sudan.

IRAQ: Refugees Run From Violence to Deprivation

Khanzad, 26, originally Kurdish, returned to Arbil with her family in mid-2004 after 16 years of living in Baghdad. Like many coming from the violence-stricken city, she has a harrowing story to tell.

VENEZUELA: Poverty Stats Also Politicised

The debate on poverty statistics in Venezuela has not escaped the political polarisation that continues to reign in this country. While supporters of President Hugo Chávez say the figures on education, health and poverty clearly show that progress has been made in recent years, the opposition argues that the government's statistics are not reliable.

PHILIPPINES: Typhoon Survivors Face Bleak Christmas

"Coconut farmers look up at their remaining trees and wonder when their next harvest will be," says Fernando Gonzales, governor of eastern Albay province, devastated by Typhoon Durian. "Despite all the relief goods coming and rehabilitation plans on the way, people here are still unable to imagine how the future can get brighter."

ECUADOR-COLOMBIA: Crisis Over Coca Spraying Escalates

Relations between Ecuador and Colombia are becoming more and more tense, with no solution in sight to a crisis triggered by the resumption of aerial fumigation of coca crops along the border between the two countries.

ARGENTINA: Residents Rebel Against Apartment Towers

Upset by the multiplication of apartment towers in neighbourhoods of mostly single-family dwellings, residents in Buenos Aires are calling for a halt to a wave of construction that threatens to push water and sanitation services to the brink of collapse and leave the city without green spaces.

JAPAN: Women Make a Mark in Niche Businesses

Rie Nakamura, a tall, slim woman in her forties, started her company - a highly sophisticated portal sourcing and delivering packaged food from 6,500 companies - in 2002 and now reports annual sales that touch more than six million US dollars.

PERU: Company Offers Bandaid Solutions to a Polluted Town

In this mining town in Peru's Andean highlands, there is a shelter, but not for the victims of a war. The only bombardment escaped by the young children taken there every day comes from toxic emissions that have already done plenty of damage.

FIJI: Repeated Coups Threaten Plural Social Fabric

With tensions rising in Fiji, amid reports of a death threat against the head of the military regime and efforts by the deposed government to set up a parallel administration in the west of the country, civil society groups are concerned about the increasing potential for violence and have called for calm.

AFRICA: A Continent of Orphans

War, AIDS, malaria, cholera and famine have gradually turned Africa into a continent full of orphaned children and teenagers.

COLOMBIA: Speaking Out Against Paramilitaries – Before Fleeing Again

Even his elderly aunt Jacinta, who raised him, is urging him to leave town. This will be the second time Santander Blanco has had to flee for his life. The first time he was forced to leave after refusing to vote for the candidates to the Colombian legislature imposed by the ultra-rightwing paramilitary militias.

HEALTH-NEPAL: Mobile Camps Treat Uterine Prolapse

While women in the capital Kathmandu fight for representation on the political bodies designing the 'new Nepal', in the remote western region Bhakti Oli has just claimed her right to health care after more than 35 years.

RIGHTS-FIJI: Coup May Hasten Exodus of Ethnic Indians

While last week's army takeover in Fiji was carried out in the name of improving racial relations in this multi-ethnic country, it may end up exacerbating the mass emigration of ethnic Indians - a direct result of repeated coups and political instability.

HEALTH-CUBA: Conquering Vaccines – and Their Markets

Deliberately putting human health before economic considerations, according to local experts, Cuba has launched full-tilt into the vaccine industry to compete on the international market with its products, some of which are unique.

ELECTIONS-VENEZUELA: Christmas Shopping Comes First

The people on the streets in the run-up to Venezuela's Dec. 3 presidential elections are on a massive end-of-year shopping spree rather than keeping a solemn vigil to consider the political choices before them.