BALI, Aug 08 (IPS) - Aleta Baun, an Indonesian environmental activist known in her community as Mama Aleta, has a penchant for wearing a colourful scarf on her head, but not for cosmetic reasons.

CARACAS, Aug 07 (IPS) - Latin America is the region whose governments have taken the firmest stance in support of Gaza in face of the battering from Israel, withdrawing a number of ambassadors from Tel Aviv and issuing harsh statements from several presidents against the attacks on the Palestinian people.

HAVANA, Aug 07 (IPS) - Scattered houses amidst small fields of vegetables and other crops line the road to the La China farm on the outskirts of the Cuban capital. This is where Hortensia Martínez works – a mechanical engineer who has been called crazy by many for deciding to become a small farmer.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 07 (IPS) - There is an age-old axiom in politics, says a cynical Asian diplomat, that you don't bite the hand that feeds you.

WASHINGTON, Aug 07 (IPS) - As the three-day U.S- Africa Leaders Summit here drew to a close Wednesday, experts across the private, public and non-profit sectors continued to debate the opportunities and obstacles posed by the U.S' expanding business partnership with Africa.

JERUSALEM, Aug 07 (IPS) - "Strong together, we love Israel and trust the army" – while a tentative truce takes root, banners adorned with the national colours still dominate cities and highways across the country.

KIGALI, Aug 07 (IPS) - Akaliza Keza Gara is only 27, but she's achieved much for women in Rwanda's technology sector in just a short space of time.

TOKYO, Aug 07 (IPS) - It has been 69 years, but the memory is fresh in the minds of 190,000 survivors and their descendants. It has been 69 years but a formal apology has yet to be issued. It has been 69 years – and the likelihood of it happening all over again is still a frightening reality.

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 06 (IPS) - I grew up in Nigeria, in a culture where bearing a son validates a woman and her family, and a male innately holds the superior position in society over a female. At 11 years of age, I escorted my mother to deliver her fifth baby girl, my youngest sister, and watched our mom die in the hands of an unfit doctor.

MALAGA, Spain, Aug 06 (IPS) - It's two in the afternoon, and María stirs tomato sauce into a huge pot of pasta. School is out for the summer in Spain, but the lunchroom in this public school in the southern city of Málaga is still open, serving meals to more than 100 children from poor families.