News headlines in August 2011, page 31

When the original owners of a 3.5 hectare piece of land put it up for sale because it was too waterlogged to farm on, Diana Sitima and her husband, Wilson, jumped to buy it.

Tuberculosis remains a leading cause of death in Mali despite the availability of free treatment. The resurgence of the illness, linked to poverty and HIV infection, could be reduced by changing behaviour, doctors say.

Jean Ronel Noël, a young Haitian engineer, stood in a centuries-old fort on a small island just off Dakar and looked out at the Atlantic through a portal that once led enslaved Africans to the ships of the Middle Passage.

'The crisis is only for some of us' has become a commonly heard phrase in Portugal, following the drastic fiscal adjustment policies imposed in May by the European Union and the International Monetary Fund as the condition for a 112 billion dollar financial bailout.

As in previous episodes, a key factor in the current boom in capital flows to developing and emerging economies (DEEs) is a sharp cut in interest rates and a rapid expansion of liquidity in the major advanced economies (AEs), notably the US, writes Ylmaz Akyuz, chief economist of the South Centre.

Despite increased spending on sanitation works, the water quality in rivers near large urban centers in Brazil ranges from poor to very poor. Some say the reason is the development model chosen by the South American nation.

While an estimated 12.4 million people linger on the brink of starvation in the Great Horn of Africa, U.S. officials and world relief agencies said Monday that even in a 'best case scenario' the crisis will worsen as the areas in most desperate need remain cut off from access to relief.

After journeying 1,500 km from Honduras, 56-year-old Maura Sánchez reached the central Zócalo square in the Mexican capital Monday along with hundreds of other demonstrators, to demand respect and justice for undocumented migrants in this country.

More than 1.4 billion dollars are still needed to battle the drought that has hit the Horn of Africa, and in particular Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, UN Under-Secretary- General for Humanitarian Affairs, Valerie Amos, told reporters Monday

Having weathered the maelstrom that engulfed the Middle East earlier this year, Jordan's government has faced simmering unrest as protesters continue to press for political and economic reforms.