Australia’s Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is exuding confidence on the international stage. He has recently made a series of statements on a range of foreign policy initiatives, suggesting much promise. His report card is, however, a mixed one.

Somalia has been torn apart by civil war for nearly two decades. Several attempts have been made at finding a peaceful resolution to the conflict, but so far all of them have left the country without a functioning central administration. But now a new initiative with an innovative approach to peace-building is taking roots.

The world's leading mobile telephone producer Nokia admitted that "the union leaders" at Nokia's plant in Reynosa in Mexico are appointed by the company itself. Thus the principle of free organising of labour, approved by Nokia in its code of conduct, does not materialise in practise at its very own plant.

The position of women in Finland is not as good as elsewhere it has been claimed. This is according to Eija Ailasmaa, who has just been chosen as this year's most influential female business leader in Finland.

There are growing concerns among the Sami people in Finland that their traditional way of life as an indigenous people is under threat.

Demands for humanitarian assistance will grow significantly, and the biggest cause is likely to be climate change rather than wars and internal conflicts. The poor may need insurance to deal with humanitarian needs arising from climate change, experts say.

Botnia's new timber supply network means more or less permanent employment for many Uruguayans. At the mill itself there are only about 300 jobs, but over ten times more people work in the timber supply network. The majority are employed by some 160 subcontractors.

The new Finnish Immigration Service has taken the reign from the Directorate of Immigration. The aim is to improve customer services, and one way of doing this will be the upcoming web-based feedback channels. That will not, however, automatically improve the attitudes in the customer service, something that has also triggered complaints.

Johanna Suurpää recently became Finland’s new Ombudsman for Minorities. The Ombudsman for Minorities is an independent authority established for the advancement of the status and legal protection of ethnic minorities and foreigners as well as to promote equality and good ethnic relations.

Trade unions, representing Stora Enso's employees, plan to increase pressure to save almost one thousand jobs at the company's Kemijärvi and Summa mills in Northern and South-Eastern Finland.