Experts worry that African governments are failing to take the threat of HIV seriously enough by not dedicating enough of their resources to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) efforts.

It's a mixture of volunteer work and tourism. The visitor pays to spend a few weeks in contact with nature and carry out the chores of an organic farm. The idea behind it all is to cultivate environmental awareness.

Cambodian authorities must take sweeping measures to boost the number of women who sit in parliament if the country is to meet a key part of its global commitment to gender equality, advocates say.

A big question marks looms over the future of many Nepali children in various child homes in the country in the wake of the suspension by 11 countries of their child adoption programmes for this Himalayan nation.

Headmaster Njabulo Mpofu has weathered long dry spells before, but the water troubles affecting his school in the arid Midlands region of Zimbabwe are severe.

In the shadowy global network of arms traffickers, Victor Bout enjoyed a special place, according to Western intelligence sources. He was the poster boy, the kingpin, the lord of this deadly illegal trade.

In a much-anticipated vote Thursday, the U.N. General Assembly unanimously passed a compromise draft resolution aimed at reopening talks, facilitated by the European Union, between Belgrade and Pristina.

U.N Secretary General Ban Ki-moon returned Thursday from what has been described as a damage control trip to Rwanda, in an attempt to reassure President Paul Kagame that his concerns over the recently leaked Mapping Exercise report are being heard.

Civil society organisations welcomed the announcement of an additional 1.27 billion dollars in development aid funding by European Commission president José Manuel Durâo Barroso, but said it was insufficient to reduce extreme poverty by 2015, as stipulated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Gen. David Petraeus claimed limited success this week in the war within a war over the Taliban's planting of roadside bombs, but official Pentagon data shows the Taliban clearly winning that war by planting more bombs and killing many more U.S. and NATO troops since the troop surge began in early 2010.