WASHINGTON, Mar 21 (IPS) - Patients, doctors and international aid groups are calling on donors and governments to support measures that would make treatment of drug-resistant tuberculosis more effective and accessible.

WASHINGTON, Mar 21 (IPS) - Rights groups and government officials here have been testifying in a string of hearings, before both bodies of the U.S. Congress, on how to overhaul the United States' huge immigration detention system, the scope of which has expanded massively in recent years in ways that some suggest impinge on civil and human rights.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Mar 20 (IPS) - Providing school meals for 45 million children is a remarkable achievement for Brazil. But the programme faces specific difficulties, as well as the generic problems plaguing any national plan in this vast country of more than 192 million people.

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 (IPS) - A potential ad from the United Nations to be placed in a weekly London newsmagazine could possibly read: Vacancy for ex-head of government or ex-head of state; lucrative globe-trotting political assignments in Asia, Africa or Latin America; attractive per diem; first or business class travel; five star hotels; and guaranteed diplomatic immunity (including from the International Criminal Court).

UNITED NATIONS, Mar 20 (IPS) - Amidst ongoing violence between the Syrian regime and opposition forces, and serious international discourse on arming the opposition, some Syrian civil society leaders are insisting upon a non-violent approach toward conflict resolution.

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Mar 20 (IPS) - Droughts and floods, devastating hurricanes and soil erosion with a drastic impact on food security make Haiti extremely vulnerable to climate change and in need of enormous adaptation efforts.

CIENFUEGOS, Cuba, Mar 20 (IPS) - Goat farming is becoming popular among farmers given land to use as part of the economic reforms implemented in Cuba since 2008. The increase in goat rearing, in provinces like Cienfuegos on the southern coast, could help expand the limited range of basic food products available to Cubans.

WASHINGTON, Mar 20 (IPS) - As countries in the Middle East and North Africa adjust to profound political changes and economic difficulties, development experts on the region have increasingly turned their attention to the social and economic potential of incorporating more female workers into the labour market.

DHAKA, Mar 20 (IPS) - When nine-month-old Borsha was admitted to the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh last January, she was on the verge of death.