HUMAN RIGHTS: No Multi-Ethnic Balance in Sri Lanka, Says Expert

Sri Lankan human rights lawyer Nimalka Fernando says "the world is steeped in racism and religious intolerance," which threaten the very existence of minority communities in countries like her own.

RIGHTS: Migrant Minors Twice Vulnerable

Hundreds of minor migrants reach the Italian coast every year, often to face more difficult conditions after they 'disembark' than those they fled.

AFGHANISTAN: Refugees Nudged Back From Iran, Pakistan

For nearly three decades, Afghans poured into neighbouring Pakistan and Iran, fleeing the unending war in their country. Now, Pakistani officials and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Iran are encouraging them to go home.

WATER: Local Customs the Way of the Future – or a Thing of the Past?

For generations, African farmers have relied on local knowledge to manage and conserve water.

LABOUR-LATIN AMERICA: Social Security Is for the Few

The free-market economic reforms implemented in Latin America in the 1990s and the increase in public spending seen in the past five years have failed to improve social security in the region, where 60 percent of the population still lacks coverage, noted the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).

WATER: Women Have a Crucial Role to Play

Millions of women and girls in poor countries walk an average of six kilometres a day to carry 20 litres of water on average to their homes. Millions of others drop out of school because of the lack of private and separate sanitation facilities.

AFRICA: Casamance, Bloody Legacy of the Colonial Division of the Continent

The fighting that has been going on for four days between army troops in Guinea-Bissau and Senegalese separatists from the Movement of the Democratic Forces of Casamance (MFDC) reopened an almost century-old wound.

POLITICS-US: Battle Royal Brews Over Immigration Reform

So passionate are the views of legislators and advocacy groups representing all points on the political spectrum that Congress-watchers are expressing serious doubts that this year will see any meaningful progress toward comprehensive immigration reform in the United States.

RIGHTS: India Off Paedophile Destinations, Warns Judge

''Let paedophiles around the world know that India should not be their destination in future,'' said Mumbai judge P.S. Paranjape, as he sent two Britons off to jail, on the weekend, for sexually abusing street children under the guise of providing them shelter.

KENYA: Buildings, Buildings Everywhere – And Not a Drop to Drink

Reports about the housing situation in Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, often focus on the lack of proper places to stay – particularly in the massive slum of Kibera, where tens of thousands live in appalling conditions.

ENVIRONMENT: Taking Aim at MDG Targets

Halving the number of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation, improving the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers...The targets for the seventh United Nations Millennium Development Goal (MDG) sound impressive.

JAPAN: No Home Away From Home for Refugees

Despite spending more than half his life in Japan, Min Maung Nyo, a Burmese national who first arrived in 1989 to study agriculture and never went back after the military junta took over, says he longs to return some day.

RIGHTS: Dying for Firewood

Just collecting the cooking fuel essential for survival, millions of refugee and so-called internally displaced women are daily forced to put their lives at risk, says a new report by the New York-based Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.

ARGENTINA: Doctors Investigate Environmental Risks to Child Health

How strong of a role do family habits play in the recurrence of bouts of asthma or diarrhea in children? Are repeated accidents in a school related to flawed building design? Are there links between learning disabilities and pollution?

DEVELOPMENT: Shorter Lives Trouble Poorest Countries

At a time when people in the developed world are enjoying longer lives, citizens of the world's poorest countries (LDCs) are still expecting to live comparatively short lives.

ARGENTINA: From High Unemployment to Shortage of Skilled Labour

After 37 months of sustained economic growth, Argentina's unemployment rate has plummeted from 23 to 10 percent. But any further reduction will be difficult to achieve, because of a lack of skilled workers to meet growing demand.

MEDIA-MEXICO: A Larger Piece of the Pie, for the Few

Seven out of 10 Mexican television viewers watch channels belonging to the Televisa consortium, while two out of 10 watch TV Azteca channels. Radio broadcasting stations are concentrated in the hands of 13 business groups.

AGRICULTURE-BRAZIL: Rural Women Protest Against Pulpwood Plantations

International Women's Day began early for the activists of Vía Campesina, a global movement of peasants and small farmers, in Brazil.

BOLIVIA: Government Takes Up Challenge of Land Reform

The Bolivian government of Evo Morales plans to strengthen and speed up agrarian reform, to reduce the heavy concentration of land ownership, and to combat speculation and illegal sales of land along the border to foreign nationals.

DEVELOPMENT: Agrarian Reform Takes a Low Profile

The second International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) does not intend to approve a final declaration, only draft documents that will provide a foundation for a new meeting in three or four years, according to activists.

ARGENTINA: Buenos Aires Mayor Ousted over Tragic Blaze

Buenos Aires lawmakers voted to remove Mayor Aníbal Ibarra from office Tuesday in connection with a tragic nightclub fire in which 194 young music fans were killed on Dec. 30, 2004.