Critics fear the new south-east Asian declaration of human rights sanctions the Cambodian government's maltreatment of dissenters and undermines international standards

Human rights groups in Cambodia fear a new south-east Asian declaration of human rights could conversely offer the government in Phnom Penh a figleaf to clamp down on dissent. Cambodia signed the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) human rights declaration on Sunday, two days before the arrival of the US president, Barack Obama, on his tour of the region.

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The Guardian International Development Achievement Award is given to an individual judged to have made a major contribution to the lives of some of the world's poorest people. Sue George profiles this year's winner

Many people wonder if they are making the most of their lives, if there is a true vocation they should be seeking. Dr Kshama Metre found hers in 1985 when she went to work in a mother and child health programme in the Himalayas. That was the beginning of Chinmaya Organisation for Rural Development (Cord), an organisation that has transformed the lives of many thousands of poor people across rural India.

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Politicians are inured to media demands for instant reactions. How nice to find one taking his time. James Alexander has been pondering Michael Heseltine's report on growth for almost a month and discussing it with others. Now he's written to Tarzan with his views. Here they are

As Leader of City of York council, I wanted to write to you about your very thoughtful contribution to the UK growth debate. I have reflected upon the recommendations made in your report and have discussed them with public sector and business leaders in York. I'd like to offer my reaction to your report if I may. I am particularly pleased to write to you as your 1990 leadership bid was one of the reasons why I became interested in politics at such an early age. I admire your work around regeneration and your ...

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Goma has fallen to rebels. Who are they, and what does it mean for peace prospects in the Democratic Republic of the Congo?

What is the state of the fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo?

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As the Yorkshire Post building closes down, could a new local TV landmark be ready to rise up in Leeds? Mark O'Brien is part of the Made in Leeds TV group which hopes so

An iconic fixture of the Leeds cityscape closed its doors last week. Journalists at the Yorkshire Post and Yorkshire Evening Post finally left the windowless, elephantine concrete block that has housed the newspapers and their staff on Wellington Street for over 40 years. 

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The influential Nobel laureate's work is consistently informed by the notion of development as individual freedom

In the 1990s, a set of ideas arrived that might best be called human development. This is a tradition of thought that is unashamed to call itself universalist when it comes to the basics - that we all need to live a "good life". And it is unwilling to give up on the belief that we are all equally entitled to enjoy such things. Accordingly, this point of view takes human flourishing, and not its absence, as its entry point to the problem of poverty and global inequality.

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To ensure food security, we will need biotechnology. But will the spread of GM benefit hungry consumers, or global agribusiness?

On the sidelines of the US presidential election, battle lines were drawn on a Californian ballot that has potential implications for broader debates about the challenges of global food security. Proposition 37, which was narrowly defeated (52.8% of voters opposed the measure), would have required mandatory labelling for all genetically engineered food sold to consumers in California.

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Has microfinance genuinely benefited the world's poor, or are the motives for loans and credit altogether more sinister?

Held up for decades as something of a "miracle cure" for global poverty, microfinance became one of the world's most high-profile and generously funded development interventions. Everyone, it seemed, was talking about how small loans could unlock endless opportunities for the world's poor people.

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UN and western governments signed up to false accord, leaving the people of DRC at the mercy of their tormentors

When the provincial capital of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo fell to rebel forces yesterday, the rapidity of the rebel advance was shocking, but the fait accompli failure of both Congo's armed forces and the country's United Nations mission was not.

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What will farms look like in 20 years? Do small-scale farmers hold the key to global food security? Is there a role for GM crops to play?

High food prices, concerns about climate change, and competition over increasingly scarce resources have pushed food production up the international agenda. What we eat and how our food is grown are increasingly political questions.

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