News headlines in March 2011, page 31

Forces loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi have launched new air raids on the oil city of Ras Lanuf and are closing in on the western town of Az Zawiyah.

Bruno Gonçalves wears many hats: he is municipal mediator in this city in central Portugal, a leader of the NGO SOS-Racismo, author of a book on integration in schools, and a human rights activist -- but, he stresses, 'I never stop being a gypsy.'

Not so long ago, my colleague Nasrin Sotoudeh was the lawyer that so many of us human rights defenders in Iran called when our own government harassed us or put one of us, or a family member, in jail. Sadly, it is now Nasrin who is in jail, one of many in Iran targeted -and punished- for speaking up for the rights of others, writes Shirin Ebadi, 2003 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and co-founder of the Nobel Women's Initiative.

Eco-farming could double food production in entire regions within 10 years while mitigating climate change, according to a new U.N. report released Tuesday in Geneva.

The UK government will virtually double its core funding for UNICEF, after a recent aid review found the agency highly effective in delivering results to keep children healthy and ensure access to quality education.

Fears are growing that in the coming months Greece will face increasing difficulty in responding to its debt obligations, despite the ambitious structural adjustment package that was introduced last year.

Women from grassroots organisations all across the globe arrived in New York this week for a five-day summit dedicated to bolstering female and community- based representation at the all levels of political decision making.

When Muammar el-Gaddafi went on an arms-buying spree in the 1970s and 80s - stockpiling a staggering array of sophisticated weapons systems both from the East and West - the United States warned that Libya was in danger of becoming one of the world's most 'overarmed' countries.

Marwa Sharaf el-Din, an Egyptian law PhD candidate at Oxford University, spent part of International Women's Day in Tahrir Square this afternoon to perform Zajal, a popular traditional form of Arabic poetry.

At its best it is waterless, odorless, eminently affordable and has a rich fertiliser as byproduct, yet for residents of Malawi's informal settlements, dry sanitation retains a whiff of the unwanted.