United Nations : Zeid not seeking second term as rights chief (PRIV)
(Kanaga Raja, Geneva)
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, whose first four-year term of office expires September next year, has reportedly decided not to seek a second term.

Development : To be a Latin American migrant in Madrid (PRIV)
(IPS, Madrid)
If you are in Madrid and have some spare time, just go to an area which residents consider a "high class" neighbourhood situated in a district bordering Barrio de Salamanca, one of the richest areas in the Spanish capital.

Environment : Global initiative to relieve pressure on mountains (PRIV)
(IPS, Rome)
International Mountain Day and Mountain Partnership's 15th anniversary coincided on December 11, kicking off a three-day Mountain Partnership Global Meeting at the headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Rome.

Bangladesh : Rohingya refugees - the woes of women - part one (PRIV)
(IPS, Cox's Bazar)
Afia* lines up her bucket every morning in the refugee camp for water delivery from humanitarian relief workers. On one particularly sweltering day, she kept four water pitchers in a row with gaps between them, hoping to insert another empty container in the space when the water arrived.

Africa : Ethiopia's new addiction - and what it says about media freedom (PRIV)
(IPS, Addis Ababa)
On a Saturday afternoon in one of Addis Ababa's khat houses, a group of men and women chew the mildly narcotic plant while gazing mesmerized toward a television featuring a South Korean soldier stripped to his waist and holding a young lady's hand while proclaiming his undying love - somewhat incongruously - in Amharic.

Venezuela : Oil industry is falling apart (PRIV)
(IPS, Caracas)
Corruption in the Venezuelan state oil industry, denounced by the government itself, and with former ministers and senior managers behind bars, is the latest evidence that, in the country with the largest oil reserves on the planet, the industry on which the economy depends is falling apart.