PERU: Quechua Congresswoman Fights Discrimination in Education

Hilaria Supa has broken down many barriers in her life. Now she has overcome another one, in an unprecedented achievement: this Quechua indigenous woman who never went to school is today chair of the congressional education committee in Peru.

Mexico Massacre Galvanises Migrant Rights Activists

Activists in Latin America have been galvanised by atrocities like the recent massacre of 72 migrants near the U.S. border to step up their efforts on behalf of migrant rights.

SRI LANKA: War-weary Civilians Dream of New Homes

Ramaih Sathdiyapillai has had enough of life on the run. A native of Kilinochchi district – which was until not too long ago the stronghold of the separatist Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka's north – she bore the brunt of the war along with tens of thousands of others.

AFGHANISTAN: Not Much Good News for the Media

Good news has become harder to come by these days in Afghanistan, especially as the war-ravaged country gears up for the parliamentary election scheduled on Sep. 18.

VENEZUELA: Hunger Striker Dies in Land Dispute

Franklin Brito, who held several long hunger strikes since 2004 to defend ownership of his farm, became the first Venezuelan to fast to the death.

RWANDA: Genocide Ideology and Sectarianism Laws Silencing Critics?

Among its unstable and conflict-ridden neighbours, Rwanda stands out. It has been pegged as a model of development and one of Africa’s success stories: Since the 1990’s, when a civil war ravaged the country, average incomes have doubled, its people have become healthier and less hungry and it has the highest proportion of women parliamentarians worldwide. Yet, maintaining this stability is a government accused of muzzling its opponents and committing human rights abuses.

Geothermal: Getting Energy from the Earth

The heat in the upper six miles of the earth's crust contains 50,000 times as much energy as found in all the world's oil and gas reserves combined. Despite this abundance, only 10,700 megawatts of geothermal electricity generating capacity have been harnessed worldwide.

Secret ‘Kill Lists’ Fly in the Face of US and Int’l Law

Two of the nation’s most influential human rights organisations have filed a lawsuit challenging the government’s authority to carry out "targeted killings" of U.S. citizens located far from any armed conflict zone.

Billion Dollar Audit Missed by Pentagon Watchdog

Military auditors failed to complete an audit of the business systems of an Ohio- based company - Mission Essential Personnel - even though it had billed for one billion dollars worth of work largely in Afghanistan over the last four years.

DEVELOPMENT: South-east Asian Highway Hits Roadblock in Burma

With its thick forest cover and abundant wildlife, the Dawna mountain range in south-eastern Burma is coming in the way of a flagship highway project being pushed by one of Asia’s premier financiers of roads.

MIDEAST: Netanyahu Ignores President, and Wife

Thousands of Israelis have protested in a central park here demanding that their government revoke its decision to deport 400 children of migrant workers.

EGYPT: Military Court Sentences Civilian Workers

An Egyptian military court handed down sentences Monday in the trial of eight civilian factory workers who led a protest against deteriorating safety conditions in an army-owned factory. Rights groups say the trial should never have taken place.

INDIA: Kashmiri Youngsters Wage Online Struggle

Rasik Rasheed’s (not his real name) hefty Internet bills hardly bother his family. Cooped up at home due to curfews and strikes here for nearly three months now, youngsters like him have been busy not just with their studies but with waging what they call the Kashmir struggle on the Internet.

US-MIDEAST: Light At End of Tunnel Elusive, Despite Obama’s Efforts

President Barack Obama will try this week to underline his progress in extricating the United States from the morass his predecessor's "global war on terror" in the Greater Middle East.

MINING-CHILE: Make Good on Concern for Worker Safety, Say Unions

While efforts get underway to try to rescue the 33 miners who are trapped 700 metres underground in a mine in northern Chile, trade unions are calling on the country's political leaders to tackle the underlying problems of worker safety.

SOUTH AMERICA: Argentine Beef Overtaken by Mercosur Partners

South America's Mercosur trade bloc is becoming established as the top world producer of beef, with 40 percent of the international market. But while in Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay production and exports are growing, Argentina, the home of the legendary "asado" barbecue, is falling behind.

EAST AFRICA: Protecting Lake Victoria’s Top Predator

Coordinated conservation measures to arrest the steep decline of stocks of Nile perch in Lake Victoria are showing encouraging results - for fish, if not for fishing communities around the lake.

US: New Banking Overhaul More Like An Under-Haul

On July 21, 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama signed into law the most sweeping financial industry regulatory reform since the Great Depression of the 1930s. But, experts point out that the bill does not address some of the real problems behind the structural instabilities of the U.S. economic system.

Embattled U.N. Chief on Charm Offensive, Says Press Corps

When an Asian ambassador hosted a sumptuous lunch for more than a dozen U.N. correspondents in his swanky New York apartment many moons ago, he confessed he had a hidden agenda.

Media Didn’t Buy Petraeus Command’s Story of Low Taliban Morale

In an effort to introduce a story of "progress" into media coverage, Gen. David Petraeus’s command claimed last week that the Taliban is suffering from reduced morale in Marjah and elsewhere, despite evidence that the population of Marjah still believes the Taliban controls that district.

RIGHTS-CHINA: Environment Lawsuits Often Become Lonely Fights

Feng Jun's fight against a local government and the steel mills he believes polluted the water that killed his daughter has cost him nearly everything.