LATIN AMERICA: Quality of Life at School Boosts Learning

The school environment is the factor that makes the greatest difference in student learning in Latin America and the Caribbean, according to UNESCO’s Second Regional Comparative and Explanatory Study (SERCE). Equality in the education system, however, is still a distant goal.

TRADE: U.S. Farm Subsidies May Survive WTO Doha Round

Delegates at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) disagree with WTO Director General Pascal Lamy’s view that the negotiations on trade in agricultural products are ‘‘nearly there’’.

NEPAL: A Small Victory for Nepali Women

Representatives from the Madhesis, Janajatis, Dalits and other indigenous groups were present when Nepal’s newly elected constituent assembly sat for its very first meeting late last month, and 191 of the 601-member assembly were women.

RIGHTS: Mistreatment of Widows a Poorly Kept Secret

Millions of women in many parts of the world are facing discrimination and abuse simply because they happen to be either widows or divorced, according to a new report released by a U.S.-based independent research organisation.

TRADE: WTO Delegates Following Talks Through News Media

As closed-door meetings proceed between selected countries, other member states of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) have resorted to following media reports in an attempt to stay abreast with the current Doha Round of negotiations on agriculture and industrial goods.

TRADE: China and India Should Join Effort to Stop Illegal Logging

‘‘Greed should not lead us to destroy our forests,’’ according to Abraham Ansah, an executive member of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) the Bunso Conservationists.

DEVELOPMENT: Water Flowing Back Into Public Hands

The announcement by the Paris municipality that water services will return to public hands by 2010 is in line with a global trend of ending privatisation of such services.

PHILIPPINES: Jatropha Key to Self Sufficiency?

The jatropha plant may be the key to addressing the problems of energy and food self-sufficiency in the Mekong region. Cultivating this hardy plant will not only provide biofuel but will also ensure that agricultural lands devoted to food production will not be diverted to fuel crops.

Q&A: Tough Talk On Reaching Goals

The director of the Millennium Campaign, Salil Shetty, is an angry man. Last year he was confronted with the climate change issue and now it is the global food crisis.

DEVELOPMENT: Women Leaders Ask Where Is Our Money

Even though seven out of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) impact on women, both donors and governments receiving aid overlook the need to make resources available for gender empowerment.

DEVELOPMENT: EU Renews Its Intentions

European Union governments have resolved to ensure that international objectives on reducing extreme poverty are realised, but have backed away from devising concrete plans for increasing the amount of aid that they give to poor countries.

POLITICS-CUBA: Past, Present and Future Changes

Cuba is paradoxically the same, yet not the same, under President Raúl Castro, who said he would change "everything that should be changed" to perfect the socialist path taken by the revolution nearly half a century ago.

Q&A: Ethiopia's Urban Poor Cannot Afford To Eat

Ethiopia, a nation of 80 million people, has been the site of famine and drought throughout its tumultuous history. Arising from a myriad of causes and often shepherded along by political instability, the country's 1984-85 famine, for example, left over a million dead and served as the impetus for the fund-raising concerts of Live Aid in the United States and the United Kingdom.

RIGHTS: Security Council Revisits Rape as Tool of War

Eight years after the U.N. Security Council passed a landmark resolution dealing with gender, peace and security, women and girls are still routinely victimised in conflict zones around the world, often in the most brutal and horrific ways.

DEVELOPMENT: Civil Society Warns Food Crisis Can Eat Into MDG Gains

Progress that has already been achieved towards Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) may be reversed due to the current global food crisis, it is emerging at the eighth CIVICUS World Assembly.

MEXICO: Latest Measures Against Food Crisis Called Ineffective

Observers in Mexico say the price freezes announced by the government for more than 150 food products are deceptive and could even foment unhealthy eating habits.

DEVELOPMENT: Food Crisis Mortgages Children's Future

The devastating impact of rising food prices is expected to hit most of the world's 2.2 billion children the hardest - particularly in developing nations.

POLITICS-ZIMBABWE: "Getting People Participating Is a Process, Not an Event"

Amidst the turmoil surrounding the Jun. 27 presidential run-off in Zimbabwe, it is doubtless something of a challenge to muster enthusiasm for plans relating to the country's next general elections. Gender activists intent on having more women voted into office in 2013 are undaunted, however.

LABOUR-BOLIVIA: Infusing Business with Youth, Innovation

Cotillones El Sol organises parties in Tarija, in southern Bolivia. Nancy Martínez, the 23-year-old manager and owner of the six-month-old company, already employs several other young women.

TRADE-GHANA: Non-Traditional Exports Are Booming

Impressive growth in exports from Ghana to the rest of the world has been witnessed over the past few years as more and more Ghanaians explore production in non-traditional sectors.

HEALTH: AIDS Activists Urge Major Funding Push for G8

AIDS and global health activists are calling on the U.S. Senate leadership to urgently approve a record five-year, 50-billion-dollar bill to fight AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis primarily in Africa so that President George W. Bush can take it with him when he meets with other western leaders at next month's Group of Eight (G8) summit in Japan.