While world leaders banter about International Monetary Fund and World Bank business in Istanbul, NGOs critical of the way the Bretton Woods institutions operate are not letting up pressure.

There was an audible gasp when Kirsten McIntyre told the audience that e-waste is the third fastest growing waste stream in the world, with between 40 and 50 million tons of computers, TVs and washing machines being 'thrown away' each year.

More than a year after the signing of an agreement to bring democracy to Zimbabwe, the United States continues to maintain sanctions against the southern African nation.

'The entire social fabric of an area is compromised when soils are depleted,' says Italian expert Massimo Candelori, whose fight against desertification is increasingly linked to global efforts to combat climate change.

It is a never-ending saga.

Excerpts of the internal draft report by the staff of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) published online last week show that the report's claims about Iranian work on a nuclear weapon is based almost entirely on intelligence documents which have provoked a serious conflict within the agency.

When Kusum Lata, 40, decided to run for election in her village, she felt frightened. 'I was extremely nervous as everything was new to me,' says the mother of four. But the support of her family and friends inspired her.

While the foreign policy debate here has focused primarily on Afghanistan and Iran over the past two weeks, official Washington has been moving to tighten ties with a key neighbour of both countries, Pakistan.

The growth of agribusiness in Brazil, with its vast monocultures of soybean or sugarcane, is responsible for the expansion of large estates belonging to fewer and fewer landowners, according to small farmers' organisations and agricultural experts.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il's decision to personally greet Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao at the Pyongyang airport Sunday is being taken as a positive sign that North Korea may be willing to restart talks on nuclear disarmament.