Prominent academics and activists say one of the main pending challenges in Honduras is a resumption of the demilitarisation of the country and the strengthening of civilian control over defence policy that was brought to an abrupt halt by the June 2009 coup d'etat.

A plan to boost agribusiness, but based mainly on family farming and cooperatives, in Argentina is geared to producing and exporting more food — in a more sustainable manner.

This November, when the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum holds its annual rotating summit in Honolulu, it will attract more than the attention of the world's media.

Women's rights in Afghanistan are once again under threat after 10 years of progress, two leading British aid agencies have said.

So far in Brazil, the 'curse of oil' is only apparent in the political sphere, where Congress is divided about how to distribute the country's increasingly large oil earnings. But in the meantime the recent discoveries of offshore reserves in the Atlantic ocean are breathing new life into the shipbuilding industry.

As a follow-up to a General Assembly resolution adopted recently. the United Nations last week announced an international competition for the creation of a Permanent Memorial to honour victims of Slavery and Transatlantic Slave Trade.

The communities living on the South Sudan-Sudan border may face genocide if the conflict between the two countries disputing control of oil reserves is not resolved.

China, a major player in the oil industries of South Sudan and Sudan, could use its influence to stop the escalating violence between the two countries that has seen the displacement of thousands of people and a reduction in oil production, a United States State Department official says.

Days after his half-hearted conciliatory U.N. appearance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had already approved the construction of 1,100 flats in occupied East Jerusalem. Yet on Sunday, he threw his support behind the new Mideast Quartet's peace plan with the Palestinians.

Thailand is preparing to stir the pot in the international rice market with its fragrant jasmine rice nurtured by a new policy. But while the new policy pays farmers a great deal more, there are fears that the high prices could make Thai rice uncompetitive.