SOUTH AFRICA: Female Entrepreneurs Forge Their Own Path

At dawn, Fatima Jardine-Millard straps a massive, German-engineered tank to her back and a tray of pastries to her waist, and prepares to cater to groggy motorists immobilised at a traffic light in Johannesburg's chaotic daily commute.

PHILIPPINES: Call Centre Boom Breeds New Culture – and Risky Behaviour

Anthony, a 22-year-old call centre agent, goes to work at 6 p.m. and finishes at around 2 a.m. But instead of going home, he heads to a bar to meet another male agent over beer, and if the late night looks promising, they spend more time together until daytime.

ECONOMY: Growing Obesity in Africa Bad for Worker Productivity

Obesity is no longer a problem confined to wealthy nations. In their developing counterparts in Africa, an increasing number of people can be categorised as obese. According to researchers this trend could be detrimental to countries’ already fragile economies.

INDIA: Poor Women Stitch Together New Futures

She is now part of a group of artisan entrepreneurs, deals with people confidently, and earns enough for herself and her three children. But 20 years ago, Amir Unisha Begum was an unschooled, shy homemaker who rarely ventured out of her Indian slum neighbourhood.

U.S.: Sikhs Need Not Apply

A North Carolina man is joining a growing group of Sikhs who are looking to U.S. courts to remedy the "ignorance and intolerance" faced by practitioners of the religion, especially since the attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, which they say "unleashed a torrent of discrimination".

KENYA: Agricultural Budget Out of Reach of Small-Scale Farmers

Although the majority of Kenyans are agricultural producers, only 3.6 percent of the country’s national budget goes towards the sector. This falls severely short of government’s promise to spend at least ten percent on agriculture.

AFRICA: Women Traders Confronting Sexual Harassment at Borders

Harassment and sexual exploitation by border officials seeking bribes constitute the biggest obstacles for female informal cross-border traders in Africa, according to a United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) research study.

PAKISTAN: When the Doors Are Open, But Women Choose to Stay Away

For five years, Sana Yasir toiled through medical school and then was awarded at the end with a diploma and a bright future. After completing the required year-long clinical practice, however, Yasir got married and quit the workplace.

TRADE: South Africa Flexing its Muscles With Poor Neighbours

The beleaguered Southern African Customs Union (SACU) has to face up to serious challenges at its upcoming heads of state meeting in October, including the divergent interests of its member states and the lack of coordinated industrial policies in the union.

No Glass Ceiling in Dreams of Women Workers

"There are no ceilings in our dreams; we want to transform young women, tell them there is a way for them to be happy," says Elza Santiago, a resident of a "favela" or shantytown in Brazil who defines her mission as "mixing feminism with work."

Haitian Women Struggle to Keep Hope Alive

"I'm going to do everything possible to raise my daughter. My daughter is my future. And I can see my future in her," says Mirlene Saint Juste, a rice merchant in the Opoto market of Gonaives in northern Haiti.

AFRICA: Liberalised Services Still Require Proper Regulations

With African countries' trade remaining inordinately dependent on natural resources exports, their economies could benefit from liberalisation of trade in services but only as long as proper domestic regulatory frameworks are put in place, some trade experts argue.

Inequality, Chile’s Bicentennial Challenge

Chile is celebrating 200 years of independence as one of the Latin American countries with the lowest proportion of poor people, but also one of the most unequal.

ARGENTINA: "A Casino Is Not Progress"

A small fishing community in the northern Argentine province of Chaco is pressing for a sustainable development programme to preserve their simple way of life and the natural habitat, and fighting a mega-investment project that would draw upscale tourism instead of the people who now come to seek peace and quiet on the weekends.

HAITI: Hurricanes and the River Flowing

In the evening the lowering clouds burst. Through the night they loosed their torrents on the southeastern coast of Haiti.

Hershey Chocolate Linked to Child Labour

Hershey, one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the U.S., is lagging behind other companies in taking steps to ensure decent working conditions in its supply chain, charges a new report.

BRAZIL: Small-scale Palm Oil Production Is Women’s Work Too

"This isn't women's work," they told her. But Benedita Nascimento is now one of the most outstanding success stories of a family farming programme involving palm oil production in Brazil's eastern Amazon jungle.

SINGAPORE: Films Show Other Side Of Migrant Workers

Migrant workers may be what one filmmaker calls a "socio- political hot potato" in Singapore, but that is precisely why a film festival opted to showcase the plight of workers who often remain faceless although they are vital to the city- state’s everyday life and economy.

US: Global Horizons Indicted for Human Trafficking

Mordechai Orian, president of Global Horizons, a Los Angeles- based labour recruiter, has been indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice for "engaging in a conspiracy to commit forced labour and document servitude" of approximately 400 Thai citizens who were brought to work on farms in the U.S. between May 2004 and September 2005.

TRADE: It’s the End of the Export-Led Growth Model, Says UNCTAD

While the recovery from the financial and economic meltdown remains fragile in especially the developed world, the outlook for Africa inspires optimism, according to UNCTAD. The agency also believes the crisis might be the death- knell for the export-led economic growth model -- especially African countries should leave it behind.

LABOUR: Newly Emboldened Burmese Workers Press for Change

When nearly 1,000 Burmese migrant workers launched a strike at a fishnet factory in north-east Thailand a week ago, activists expected it to be a short burst of anger. After all, this frequently abused labour force was often gripped with fear during brief work stoppages in the past elsewhere in this South-east Asian kingdom.