If the life sentences for former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and one of his key allies were meant to placate Egyptians, they have had the opposite effect.

The Arab Spring brought a host of new actors to the political stage. In Jordan, it pushed the Salafists to the fore, where some of the group’s more radical elements are now calling for holy war in neighbouring Syria.

Thousands of civilians reaching Peshawar following military action in Khyber Agency say the Taliban have been preventing refugees from leaving. The refugees say local residents are being used as human shields.

Lawsuits from major tobacco corporations challenging anti-tobacco policies all over the world underscore the ever greater need for a global crackdown on tobacco use, for the sake of both public health and global development goals.

'It was so frustrating but so exciting at the same time,' recalls 15-year-old Mariam Assam, a year-10 student in Cairo. Assam was recalling the days she tried to join protestors during the Egyptian revolution in January 2011 but was intially prevented by her parents who said street protests were no place for a girl to be.

Colbún, the electricity generating company that co-owns HidroAysén and its multi-dam project in southern Chile, has recommended suspending the environmental impact assessment for power transmission lines that would connect the hydropower complex to the country's central grid, until the right conditions are in place.

A new approach to mental health care is slowly making headway in Argentina, against heavy resistance. Based on short-term hospitalisation, fewer psychiatric hospitals, and more services to strengthen the social integration of patients, it is aimed at eradicating inhumane treatment of the mentally ill.

As the international community readies for a global mega- conference on sustainable development in Brazil mid-June, the United Nations is determined to practice what it preaches to the outside world: improve resource efficiency and drastically reduce its own greenhouse gas emissions.

The planet's climate recently reached a new milestone of 400 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide in the Arctic.

Another month of plying his ‘becak’ (trishaw) in the capital city and Sarjo will be coming back to this West Java district to harvest the rice ripening on his 1,400 sq m paddy.