News stories by Elizabeth Whitman

AMMAN, Apr 10 (IPS) - The concrete skeleton of a twin 13-storey complex towers over surrounding buildings on one of Amman's busiest streets. The ongoing expansion of the King Hussein Cancer Centre symbolises progress as much as it portends a crisis.

AMMAN, Dic 12 (IPS) - Flowers burst out of old tires and rows of pepper plants fill recycled plastic tubs as herbs pop out of old pipes. As utilitarian as it is cheery, this rooftop array is one of several urban agriculture projects that are significantly improving livelihoods for the urban poor in this sprawling city.

AMMAN, Jordan, Nov 05 (IPS) - Abu Waleed isn't quite sure where to begin his litany of grievances. Bugs that chomp their way through the mint he grows, or the dry well that forces him to pump water from a half kilometre away? Or perhaps the 160 dinars he spent on spinach seeds only to see scant growth after planting.

AMMAN, Aug 08 (IPS) - Journalists and media activists have begun to confront the Jordanian government over its moves to block local news websites. Two months now after the blockage, many of these sites are struggling.

, Oct 12 (IPS) - The Korean Women's Peasant Association won the 2012 Food Sovereignty Prize for its efforts on behalf of the survival of small-scale and ecologically sustainable farming in South Korea.

UNITED NATIONS, Sep 21 (IPS) - In 1996, Maria Mamerita Mestanza Chavez, a 33-year-old Peruvian mother of seven, was threatened with imprisonment if she did not comply with the government policy of undergoing sterilisation. After suffering post-operative complications for which she was refused treatment, Chavez died nine days later.

When the fast food chain McDonald's decided to add oatmeal to its menu in January 2011, it literally sugar-coated the offering as a 'portable, affordable and balanced breakfast solution... to help make it easier and more inviting for our guests to eat more whole grains and fruits'.

These days in Syria, 'people dare not step a foot outside their homes because they're being shot at. And so they pass food from home to home by ropes through windows,' Navi Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told reporters Friday.

'The prospect of arriving home... being arrested at the airport - that's kind of scary,' said Osazeme O., a dual citizen of Nigeria and the UK, in a wry understatement.