MEXICO: Rural Poverty Has a Woman's Face

Some transformations occur so imperceptibly that people only become aware of them when the new reality has set in. That’s exactly what happened in Mexico’s countryside, where economic and social conditions have combined to put rural production largely in the hands of women.

DEVELOPMENT: Migrants Give More than They Take, Says U.N.

Often vilified and mistreated, migrant workers benefit both the countries they move to and the ones they leave behind, says the latest Human Development Report released Monday.

HONDURAS: Anti-Coup Resistance Movement "Firmly United"

The National Resistance Front Against the Coup d'Etat (FRN) in Honduras is carrying out a nationwide consultation among its members to establish its position with respect to the expected talks between ousted President Manuel Zelaya and the de facto government, the movement's leaders said.

PERU: Guinea Pigs Spell Independence for Women

In a rural village in the Peruvian Andes, very near yet so far from the popular tourist destination of Cuzco, the guinea pig, a rodent native to the region, has become "woman’s best friend" – an important means for women to earn money to support their families, as well as to learn how to defend their rights.

VIETNAM: Ethnic Minorities More Gender Divided

A drunk man slaps his wife, she hits the ground and the audience of mainly women laughs. At a question and answer session that follows in Tay, one of the many ethnic minority languages, women stand up to talk at length about why husbands shouldn't hit their wives and why, as women, they deserve equal respect.

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: No More Blackouts In This Village

Travel through any Dominican town and you are likely to hear someone yell out, "llegó la luz" - the lights are back on! The country is notorious for its faulty and expensive electric service, which is more often dead than live.

LATIN AMERICA: Strides and Setbacks for Domestic and Rural Workers

In the last few years, several Latin American countries have attempted to improve labour conditions for rural workers and domestics, whose labour rights have long been ignored. But the new laws, even those with limited scope, are not always enforced.

ZIMBABWE: Board Gives School System Failing Marks

Primary and secondary school education in Zimbabwe has "fallen woefully behind" other southern African countries due to shortages of textbooks and other materials as well as deteriorating working conditions and resultant low morale for teachers.

GREECE: New Leaders May Not Bring New Answers

The call for snap elections on Oct 2, about two years earlier than the end of the government's mandate surprised no one in Greece. They were in fact overdue given the political bankruptcy of the government of the right-wing party New Democracy (ND).

PAKISTAN: ‘Empty Stomachs’ Could Spark More Riots, Experts Warn

For a bag of flour, they risked life and limb.

MADAGASCAR: Poverty Forces 2 Million Children into Hard Labour

Poverty has increased dramatically in Madagascar since January, when a national protest movement to end the regime of former president Marc Ravalomanana plunged the country into a socio-economic crisis. Since then, the number of child labourers has risen by a whopping 25 percent.

ENVIRONMENT: Electric Fence as Lifesaver for Endangered Elephants

Dennawa is a typical rural Sri Lankan agriculture village, located deep in the dry zone. Behind the houses made of dry brick stretch the fields where villagers tend vegetables and fruit plantations.

ZIMBABWE: Football Fails to Feed Families

Football was never a ticket to fabulous wealth in Zimbabwe, at least not for players who stayed in the country. But the economic situation has made it ever harder to play simply for the pride and pleasure of pulling on local team colours.

PARAGUAY: Health Insurance for All (Registered) Domestics

It took 42 years for social security health care coverage for domestics to extend beyond the limits of the Paraguayan capital.

SRI LANKA: Tea Workers’ Demand for Higher Wages Hits a Snag

Tea lovers around the globe may soon have to pay more for every cup of their favorite beverage. That is, assuming tea plantation workers in one of the world’s major tea-producing countries get their demand for a significant increase in their daily wages.

CHINA: Communist Resort Makeover Mirrors State’s Populist Shift?

The summer capital of China's political intrigue is taking a break from the years of intense infighting and maneuvering that Chinese communist leaders used to engage in while hidden in their secluded villas.

CENTRAL AMERICA: Crisis Chews Women Up, Spits Them Out

Vanessa Madrigal was working as a secretary for a private clinic in the Costa Rican capital, but only a month after returning from maternity leave she was fired, struck by one of the waves of layoffs that have swept across Central America in the wake of the global financial tsunami.

SRI LANKA: Women Want Better Pay, Out of Free Trade Zones

The room is dingy and cramped. The walls are unplastered and its rough cement edges can scrape the skin easily. Furniture is strewn all over the place, plastic chairs stacked one on top of the other, boxes on top of them, handbags hanging from the wall and clothes on a rack. A small kerosene cooker is kept on the side of the room while a bicycle is parked next to the only bed in the 10-by-10-feet room.

CHINA: Dual Pipelines in Burma to Push Ahead Amid Criticism

Despite fresh international criticism of Beijing’s backing for an unpopular regime as the Burmese junta, China sees its alliance with the country’s military as a matter of simple economic expediency and is determined to forge ahead with controversial joint dual oil and gas pipelines that will ensure greater energy security for its robust economy.

INDIA: HIV-Positive Women Get User Rights to Till Land

Till four months back, 33-year-old Mugil hardly ventured out of her parent’s home, preferring to stay indoors and tend to the household chores.

ECONOMY-US: Activists Demand Real Change as Foreclosures Mount

Hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. continue to lose their homes each month in an ongoing crisis that is wreaking chaos on communities, advocates say.