by Intissar Kherigi, The Guardian, UK - Belgium's attempted veil ban is another case of politicians' failure to talk directly to Muslim women.

by Elyssa Pachico, Colombia Reports, Colombia - Polls come and go, and personally, I’m more interested in another number that so far has received depressingly little attention during Colombia’s presidential race: 22,700.Said amount is inexorably linked to another key figure that deserves some discussion – 68,025, the number of hectares of coca reportedly cultivated in Colombia last year. And another: 714, the number of drug cartel members apprehended since January, according to Colombian police.

by Martine van Bijlert, Afghanistan Analysts Network, Germany - The conversations in Kandahar about what is going on and where things are heading are so different from the discussions among internationals that it is hard to believe they are talking about the same area.

by Claudia Rowe, Equal Voice, USA - In America, where we celebrate success above all, the worst thing a person can be is poor.

by Siobhán Dowling, Spiegel, Germany - Far from living in closed-off communities, Muslims in Berlin's Kreuzberg district live in a culturally diverse area. However, a new report finds that they still suffer from high levels of discrimination, particularly within the city's school system.

by Khadija Sharife, Pambazuka, Kenya - There’s a difference between carbon emissions in developed and developing countries – that of ‘extravagant’ carbon versus ‘survival carbon’, for the provision of basic services such as electricity. But it is a distinction that market-based responses like carbon trading, driven more by financial interests than a desire for sustainable development, fail to consider.

by Frances Robles, Miami Herald, USA - Critics are beginning to question how the American Red Cross is spending the $430 million raised by donors. The group, in turn, says that it's shifting to a long-term recovery plan after an initial flurry of spending.

by Juliette Jowit, Guardian, UK - World Bank and OECD say water is a finite resource that must be valued at a higher price in order to repair old supply systems and build new ones.

by Haseenah Koyakutty, Asia Times, Hong Kong - On a day when elevated train services in the national capital were disrupted by anti-government protesters, spreading fear of anarchy and an all-out civil war, the Bangkok governor, Sukhumbhand Paribatra, could have been forgiven for an interview no-show.

by Wafa Amr, Middle East Online, UK - UNHCR sees deepening needs among Iraqi refugees even as world interest wanes.

by Rafia Zakaria, Dawn, Pakistan - Since the emergence of Osama bin Laden as the terrorist leader-in-chief of the 9/11 attacks, a significant chunk of the US military effort in the subsequent war on terror has been devoted to his capture. But what would his capture really mean?

by Laura Schweiger, Deutsche Welle, Germany - Buildings in the German city of Dusseldorf prove the sky is the limit when it comes to enriching the urban environment. Trading tiles for vegetation, green roofs promise both environmental and economic benefits.

by Angela Stoutenburgh, Socialist Worker, USA - This legalized bigotry is prompting a groundswell of protests across the state and the country in defense of immigrant rights.

by Sharon Ekambaram and Bridget Steffen, Mail & Guardian, South Africa - Refugee camps, once the visible manifestation of the desperate needs displaced people face, are nowadays increasingly vanishing from view. This is not because the reasons that force people to flee their home countries have ceased.

by Helen Epstein, The New York Review of Books, USA - This East African nation, famous for its ancient rock-hewn churches, Solomonic emperors, and seemingly intractable poverty, has a long history of famine. Meles’s Ethiopia is now the subject of an informal experiment to see whether “the big push” approach to African development will work.Unfortunately, this aid is also subsidizing a regime that is rapidly becoming one of the most repressive and dictatorial on the continent.

by Evita Mouawad, Daily Star, Lebanon - In December, a landmark for migrant workers’ rights in Lebanon was achieved when Filipino worker Jonalin Malibago won her case against her employer, who physically abused her for years, and who was later sentenced to two weeks of prison.

by Didem Akyel, World Politics Review, USA - At first glance, it is difficult to put a positive spin on hardliner Dervis Eroglu's victory in Turkish Cyprus' presidential elections on April 18. The result certainly challenges the future of negotiations to reunify the 1.1 million inhabitants of the Mediterranean island, 80 percent of whom are Greek Cypriots and 20 percent Turkish Cypriots.

by Amira Howeidy, Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt - The controversial "steel wall" Egypt is building along its border with Gaza was brought to public attention this week after almost disappearing from the news. In a courtroom packed with media representatives and political activists from various backgrounds, the State Council on Tuesday resumed hearings on a case filed by Ibrahim Youssri, a former ambassador and lawyer, to stop the wall's construction.

by Stacy Mitchell, Yes!, USA - Our investments tend to fund consolidation and speculation. But new models are emerging that allow us to finance the economy we really want.

by Michaela Stanková, Slovak Spectator, Slovakia - Only 3 percent of Roma students graduate from a secondary school and Roma students account for 60 percent of those attending special schools for mentally-disabled children.

by Yoani Sánchez, Generación Y, Cuba - What a long road it was that led me from little Pioneer guarding the ballot boxes, to the adult with several years of abstentions on her record.