SOUTH AFRICA: Teachers’ Voices Heard in Public Sector Strike

South African teachers - along with other public service employees - have embarked on an indefinite strike over wages. The unions are demanding an 8.6 percent wage increase. Government says it cannot afford to offer 1.3 million striking public servants any more than seven percent.

INDIA: Four Years On, Debate Rages On Forest Rights Law

It was supposed to help right old wrongs as well as protect India’s forests, but four years after it took effect, a landmark law recognising the forest rights of scheduled tribes remains the subject of acrimonious debates among the country’s government officials, environmentalists, and rights advocates.

Thai Buddhists on a Long March to Muslim South

Wearing a floppy cotton cap for shade, an exhausted Sarawut Kunrapang enters the compound of a mosque in the blistering afternoon sunshine. It is the latest stop for this 27-year-old Thai Buddhist in his walk for peace since mid-July from Bangkok.

MIDEAST: ‘McCarthyism’ Rises in Israel

Rightwing Israeli groups financially supported by Jewish and fundamentalist Christian groups from abroad are on a campaign to undermine free thought in Israeli universities. Collaterally, a move is under way by right-wing parties in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to limit the freedom of action of civil and human rights-minded NGOs.

RIGHTS-BAHRAIN: Law on Young Offenders Needs Fixing – Critics

It was his second time to be caught stealing a car, so Turki was meted a jail term of five years. But the young repeat offender was only 17 years old at the time of his arrest, and therefore was still considered a minor under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Trying Pirates Often as Tricky as Catching Them

U.N. member states and regional organisations debated the question of how Somali pirates should be prosecuted in a Security Council meeting Wednesday, following a report submitted last month by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon outlining seven possible legal options.

Women Pulling Out of the Technological Gap

When she gets up in the morning, Ghadeer Malek, a young Palestinian feminist activist, checks her Facebook page to keep up on new developments and messages linked to her work.

ECONOMY: “Sub-Saharan Africa Is Speeding Towards Affluence”

Africa is heading towards a bright economic future, according to a new book co-authored by the former director of the French state agency for economic cooperation and released recently in Paris.

Hope Persists for Jailed Health Workers in Philippines

A mother accused of backing insurgents in the Philippines and her newborn son are awaiting their release from prison, in a case that has gained international attention.

MALAWI: Campaign Against Female Vice President a Campaign Against Equality

The future of women’s political representation in Malawi has come into question as the ruling Democratic People’s Party (DPP) launched a smear campaign against its own member, the country’s female Vice President Joyce Banda. Many had hoped Banda would become the country’s first female president in 2014.

THAILAND: Sweeping Support Sought for Domestic Workers’ Rights

"My male employer was a womaniser and he liked to touch me and told me not to tell his wife. I felt so uncomfortable," says Chompoo, who was just 15 years old when she served – and suffered abuse – as a domestic worker here in the Thai capital.

SRI LANKA: Former Battle Zone In Search of A Business Boom

It is an odd location to open a new restaurant, right in front of a row of buildings whose roofs have been blown off by artillery fire and whose walls are pockmarked by gunfire.

AFGHANISTAN: Ouster of Contractors Throws U.S. Strategy in Doubt

Charging that U.S. private security contractors are "mafia- like groups" being financed by U.S. taxpayers to carry out "terrorist activities" with the support of the U.S. government, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has ordered a four- month phaseout of all private security companies in his embattled country.

Q&A: Mousavi’s Revelations Would Destroy the Govt’s Legitimacy

Responding to pro-government critics, Iran's defiant opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi has said several times in recent months that he would reveal "untold secrets" from his tenure.

Gender Equality Goals Miss the Mark, Women’s Groups Say

A month ahead of the 2010 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) review summit at the United Nations, some women's groups are voicing concern that member states' commitment to women's issues is insufficient and slowing progress towards gender parity worldwide.

Pakistani Officials Seek Funds, Debt Relief in Washington

Pakistani officials continued their quest for help in light of the floods that have affected 20 million people in their country by meeting with officials at the International Monetary Fund here Monday.

RIGHTS-CHINA: Doubts Simmer Around New Labour Rules

Faced with strikes in recent months, China’s southern Guangdong province is crafting revisions to labour regulations that would allow workers to negotiate pay increases and elect representatives to bargain on their behalf.

MIDEAST: This Math Class May Figure Out Israel

In a bright and spacious classroom, with plants overflowing in the courtyard outside, six students lean forward at their desks looking at the 10-digit addition they are asked to make. One student stands before the numbers on the chalkboard and a red and yellow-beaded abacus. But her attention is on the abacus she visualises in her mind.

MIDEAST: Palestinian Patients Suffer From Political Rivalry

Cancer patient Ahmed Abu Fuad needs chemotherapy to survive. Muhammad Subeh needs an eye-transplant while paramedic Alaa Sarhan desperately needs surgery to remove shrapnel from his body. But these Gazans are unable to leave the area to seek the required medical treatment elsewhere, and it is not because of the Israeli siege.

Civil Society Watchdogs Crucial in New Global Order

Six hundred delegates from more than 80 countries flocked to Montreal Aug. 20-23 for the CIVICUS World Assembly in search of innovative ways to approach global challenges like poverty and climate change.

Q&A: “Democracy Deficit Is the Biggest Obstacle to Development”

Three scenarios were laid before the delegates here attending the CIVICUS World Assembly, a venue that attracts civil society, donors, government and business leaders from every region of the world.