News headlines in April 2011, page 35

Last year, tens of thousands of tonnes of tools, seeds and plant cuttings were distributed to almost 400,000 Haitian farming families, perhaps one-third to one-half of the country's farming population.

French economist Esther Duflo thinks poverty can be alleviated or even eradicated with the right policies. All it takes is for politicians to 'translate research into action,' implementing programmes that have been shown to work.

Zimbabwe's veteran women politicians fear there are no younger women coming up through the ranks to replace them. Measures to improve women's representation have achieved little and young women are absent from the traditional entry points into politics.

Syrian opposition movements are readying for a day of rallies, dubbed 'Friday of Martyrs', across the country even as authorities announced a raft of measures aimed at meeting some of the protesters' demands.