DEVELOPMENT: Arab Women Face Double Portion of Suffering – UNDP

Women in the Arab world are not realising their full potential and are still denied equality of opportunities, says the UNDP's Arab Human Development Report, pointing to obstacles ranging from certain cultural aspects to armed conflict and terrorism.

ENVIRONMENT-MEXICO: No Funds for Dying River Basin

The Lerma River, Mexico's longest river and a source of drinking water for the capital, is dying. Fatally infected by a number of sources of pollution, hundreds of millions of dollars have been poured into efforts to revive it, to no avail.

DEVELOPMENT: Trade Agreements, Darfur in the Spotlight at ACP Gathering

The fifth summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States is taking place under the theme 'United for Peace, Solidarity and Sustainability'; however, negotiations at the meeting may have a somewhat less harmonious tone.

HEALTH: U.S. Gag Rule Killing Women, Experts Say

While world attention has focused on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, public health experts say that U.S. political interference and declining financial support for family planning, abortion and prevention of other sexually transmitted infections has contributed to shockingly high death and disability rates in developing countries.

DEVELOPMENT: Bank Focus on Growth Often Leaves Poor Behind

The World Bank's own auditing arm has confirmed what many anti-poverty campaigners have long been saying: the Bank's projects did not adequately reduce poverty levels in borrowing nations over the past five years.

RIGHTS-KENYA: “He Dismissed Me to Return Home and Satisfy My Husband”

"I ran to the police station on two occasions after my husband had come home late at night...and started hitting me, chasing me around the house holding a knife. This happened many times, until one day he cut my palm and cheek," recounts Linda*.

MIGRATION-PORTUGAL: Starting a New Life With Microcredit

Starting one's own business on borrowed money is no easy task in Portugal for an unemployed or retired person, or one lacking advanced professional qualifications, even if the loan is small and payable in instalments.

CORRUPTION: Bribery Brings High Costs in Africa and Latin America

The police can be your friend, but the friendship often has to be paid for: more than half of Africans and one in three Latin Americans who have had contact with police officers in the past 12 months have paid a bribe at least once, says a Transparency International survey.

DEVELOPMENT: ACP States Feeling the Pinch of 2007 Trade Deadline

The fifth summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group of States will kick off on Thursday in the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, amidst fierce speculation over the fate of trade agreements between the European Union (EU) and ACP nations.

HEALTH: Malaria Vaccine Within Sight – Experts

Hopes that the world will finally be able to immunise people against malaria received a shot in the arm, this week, as leading health experts unveiled the blueprint for a preventive vaccine in the Thai capital.

LATIN AMERICA: Indigenous People Gaining Ground (On Paper)

For the first time ever, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has devoted a chapter to indigenous peoples in its annual Social Panorama report on the region.

POLITICS: Old Trade Beefs to Resurface at ACP Meet

Not many Caribbean leaders are expected to attend the two-day summit of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group starting in Sudan Thursday, but the region will follow its agenda quite keenly, including a proposed Economic Partnership Agreement with the European Union and a new threat to its ailing banana industry.

RIGHTS-SOUTH AFRICA: Marital Bliss Amidst Anti-Gay Prejudice

Bongani*, resplendent in a tailored suit in brilliant white, alighted from a white Mercedes Benz adorned with golden ribbons. By his side appeared Sipho* in a black suit and elegant yellow silk necktie. It was their wedding day.

DEVELOPMENT-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Zambezi Plan’s Problems Not Unique

While the recent stakeholders' conference on the Zambezi River Basin saw many good intentions expressed, it also served as a reminder of the persistent challenge posed by weak co-operation between Southern African states.

DEVELOPMENT-CAMEROON: NGOs to the Defence of Local Farmers

Cameroonian civil society groups are expressing concern at the effects of trade liberalisation on the Central African country's food security.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Challenging the “Luxury” of Abstinence

While there is no indication that the George W. Bush administration is willing to roll back its current restrictions on funding for HIV/AIDS, it may find it difficult to maintain the status quo when Democrats take charge of the U.S. Congress in January.

WORLD AIDS DAY-KENYA: “Children Have Received a Raw Deal”

Which citizens is a government most accountable to? Those who voted it into power? Or is it more the people who're too young to cast ballots - too short, even, to reach the table in a voting booth: the children?

WORLD AIDS DAY-BURKINA FASO: The High Cost of Not Having Free ARVs

"I think free treatment for all (HIV) infected people is indispensable, just as safeguarding the jobs of those with HIV is a must," says Issa Kindo, a public health physician in Ouagadougou, capital of Burkina Faso.

WORLD AIDS DAY: Mozambican Children Carrying the Burden of HIV and Stigma

Dressed in jeans and a sweater, Julia* watches cautiously as her mother talks on her behalf. But as the interview proceeds, she gains confidence and begins to speak for herself.

WORLD AIDS DAY: The Virus Hunters

Smallpox, polio and a host of other contagious, often fatal diseases have been stopped in their tracks by simple vaccines. More than two decades into the quest to untangle the secrets of the notoriously changeable HIV virus, is there still reason for hope?

MEXICO: Will Calderon Take On the Vested Interests?

In Mexico no single party has a monopoly on political power anymore. But the private and public corporatist structures remain in place, as reflected by the privileges and dominant positions still enjoyed by a small group of companies and trade unions.