Students Stuck With Shoddy Textbooks in Afghanistan
New textbooks, printed as part of an ambitious multi-million dollar exercise to reform the curriculum in Afghan public schools, have been found to contain glaring mistakes, adding yet another burden on...
View ArticleCrisis Hits Spain’s Roma Hard
Daniel introduces himself as a “gypsy and guitarist,” Francisco José wants to become a doctor, Yomara timidly says she likes to cook, and María has no idea what she wants to study. The 12 to...
View ArticleTunisia Gears Up to Host World Social Forum
Following in the wake of the wave of revolutions dubbed the ‘Arab Spring’, which originated here nearly two years ago, North Africa is gearing up to host the World Social Forum (WSF) for the first...
View ArticleWhite House Defends Low-Key Stance on Rwanda, Congo
President Barack Obama’s top diplomat on African affairs on Tuesday defended the U.S. administration’s response to the continued crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the face of stepped...
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Q&A: The Challenges of Women’s Empowerment and Equality
Today, approximately 125 countries have laws that penalise domestic violence – a great advance from a decade ago. Yet 603 million women around the world still live in countries where domestic violence...
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No Basic Services for Oil Country
South Sudan may have received slightly more than 10 billion dollars in oil revenue from 2005 to January 2012, when oil production shut down, according to both government officials and the World Bank....
View ArticleNative Communities in Peru Take Charge of Environmental Monitoring
At the end of every month, with the skill of an environmental engineer, Wilson Sandi prepares a work plan that will be used by Achuar indigenous people, like him, to document the scars left by 40 years...
View ArticleDreams of a ‘Green Utopia’ Wither in the Maghreb
When the Desertec Industrial Initiative (DII), an alliance of 21 major European corporations, first unveiled plans to install a network of solar thermal, photovoltaic, and wind plants across the North...
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Outrage Over Acquittal in Argentine Sex Trafficking Case
The courtroom broke out in angry shouts and cries when judges in Argentina unexpectedly acquitted 13 defendants accused of kidnapping a young woman and forcing her into prostitution in 2002. The...
View ArticleSyria Opposition Wins International Backing
More than 100 countries have recognised a new Syrian opposition coalition, opening the way for greater assistance to the forces fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad, including possibly military...
View ArticleFavelas – the Football in the Run-Up to Brazil’s World Cup
Opinions are divided in Morro da Providência, Brazil’s oldest favela, over construction works for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympics. While some residents are optimistic about the...
View ArticleMajor Study Suggests Crimes Against Humanity in Sudan
Reporting on the results of a two-year investigation, on Wednesday the U.S.-based Human Rights Watch presented findings that suggest that the Sudanese government’s aerial bombardment of civilians in...
View ArticleBolivia’s Tapiete People – a Culture in the Hands of 38 Families
Three and a half hours away from the nearest town along a dirt road, 38 families are struggling to preserve their land, customs and language in Bolivia’s Gran Chaco region. They are the Tapiete...
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Argentina Making Strides in Protection of Ocean Areas
Argentina is creating protected marine areas at a rate of knots. In the last 10 years, the preservation of saltwater areas has expanded, and for the first time an Atlantic ocean zone is being added to...
View ArticleSaving Tanzania’s Poorest Children
Half asleep, Anuary lies exhausted on his bed in Amana Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital. His mother, Mariam Saidi, sits on the edge of his mattress, staring blankly out of the window....
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War Widows Struggle in a ‘Man’s World’
Sita Tamang’s husband went missing sometime in 2004, two years before Nepal’s civil war came to an end. A native of Dharan, a town about 600 kilometres southeast of Kathmandu, Tamang waited seven years...
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Iranian Bomb Graph Appears Adapted from One on Internet
The suspect graph of a nuclear explosion reportedly provided to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as evidence of Iranian computer modeling of nuclear weapons yields appears to have been...
View ArticleFirst Strike in Quarter Century Exposes Treatment of Migrant Labour in Singapore
The first workers strike in 26 years in this affluent Southeast Asian city-state has triggered some soul-searching about the treatment of migrant labour and the low wages they are paid. There are some...
View ArticleGirls Fight to Stay in School
Balancing her school bag on one shoulder and holding her three-year-old son by the hand, Farida Haque (19) ignores her in-laws’ complaints and her husband’s frown as she heads each morning for the tiny...
View ArticleQ&A: Mutant Fruit Trees to Grow in Saline Soils in Cuba
During some parts of the year, a layer of salt can be seen on the ground in eastern Cuba, which makes it difficult, and sometimes impossible, to farm. Since agronomist Orlando Coto saw this with his...
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