For almost two decades, Athanayakemudiyanselage Punchibanda lived without hope of ever returning here to his native village.

The autonomous indigenous Triqui community of San Juan Copala, in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, is maintaining a cautious attitude towards the state government to take power after winning Sunday's elections.

Non-governmental organisations from across the Americas are demanding that the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank institute policies that favour sustainable energy and help mitigate climate change.

Egypt's recently concluded Shura Council elections were accompanied by widespread reports of serious electoral breaches by the ruling party. According to analysts and opposition figures, such voting 'irregularities' bode poorly for upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.

Frequent clashes and continuing tension in disputed East Jerusalem could portend a major outbreak of civil unrest, residents fear.

Amidst criticism and applause from environmentalists and experts, a programme is emerging in Germany to expand the total area covered by forests -- to as much as five percent of national territory. The debate centres on just how much human intervention there should be.

The new international cocoa agreement will provide a positive shake-up in the international cocoa market and ensure better prices for stakeholders, including small farmers.

Besieged by bankers opposed to regulation of their sector, members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have taken an unusual step. A cross-party alliance has called for an international campaigning organisation to concentrate on remedying the flaws of the financial services industry with the same tenacity that Amnesty International focuses on victims of torture and Greenpeace on toxic chemicals and whales.

When a distraught landlord wielding a kitchen cleaver stormed into a kindergarten classroom in south-east China’s Fujian province in May and killed several people, including children, it was the bloodiest of five recent attacks at schools across the country.

The number of Afghan refugees in Pakistan who will return to their homeland this year is expected to be double the 2009 figure, but it’s not only a longing for their native soil that is fuelling the Afghans’ departure.