Last summer, a tight consensus formed in Washington around Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Salam Fayyad’s plans to build up state-like institutions in the West Bank and revive the territory’s sagging economy from the lingering effects of the Second Intifada.

The 'Maryam', an all-female Lebanese aid ship, currently docked in the northern Lebanese port of Tripoli, is getting ready to set sail for Gaza in the next few days. The ship, which aims to break Israel's siege on the Palestinian territory, will carry about 50 aid workers, including some U.S. nuns keen to deliver aid to the long-suffering women and children of Gaza.

Kenya’s Constitutional Court is due to set a date on Jul 22 for a hearing on the application against the Anti-Counterfeit Act of 2008, of which clauses pertaining to medicines have been suspended pending the court’s decision on whether the law violates the right to health and life.

China is stepping up its 10-year-long effort to develop its vast western regions, home to energy and mineral resources crucial to its future growth. So far, the campaign’s results have been mixed.

In her 30s, Muza has been married for years but has managed to remain financially independent. In fact, she was even able to help build the home she has with her husband, using the money she earned as a teacher.

Clay or earthen bricks could help to alleviate the housing shortage in Brazil because of the lower cost of brick buildings, while an innovative process for producing what are known as 'ecological bricks' can avoid the environmental harm arising from more usual building materials.

When the Security Council condemned the killings by Israeli military forces of nine Turkish civilians on a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Gaza last May, it also released a presidential statement 'taking note' of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s proposal for an international investigation of the incident.

When women from the predominantly rural Vulindela district in KwaZulu-Natal first began participating in an HIV-prevention trail many were unable to negotiate the use of condoms or even discuss safe sex with their partners.

'There are hardly any tourists now, and nearly all the hotels are empty,' says Rosa Rosales, who works at the Hotel Pa Muelle, on the shores of Guatemala's Lake Atitlán, a natural treasure that has been overcome by pollution.

Over the past six months, the levels of food insecurity and malnutrition in the Sahel belt of West Africa have increased at alarming rates, putting over 10 million people at risk across the region - particularly in Niger and Chad.