"Almost two decades after the breakup of the Soviet Union, the countries of Central Asia are regaining their footing in science. But progress has been slow, and the prospects for science throughout the region remain at risk."

After two decades of war, international sanctions and dictatorship, Iraq is starting to rebuild its once formidable science base. TWAS Fellowship recipient Fouad Majeed tells what it is like to return home after spending nearly four years in Italy and Brazil.

Developing countries face a two-fold energy challenge in the 21st century: meeting the needs of billions of people who lack access to energy services, while participating in a global transition to clean energy to ensure a better future for all.

"Scientific cooperation can make a unique contribution to the cause of regional stabilization" in Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries, says Franco Frattini, the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs.

"TWAS and the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues (IAP), in collaboration with presidents of science academies in countries neighbouring Afghanistan, should lead a mission to develop a broad plan of action to promote education and research capacity for science-based development in Afghanistan."

Rangin Dadfar Spanta, Afghanistan's Minister of Foreign Affairs, expressed a strong a desire for his nation's scientific community to strengthen its ties with TWAS, the academy of sciences for the developing world, as part of a larger to reinvigorate Afghanistan's beleaguered scientific community.

A conference focusing on enhancing cultural and scientific cooperation in Afghanistan and its neighbouring countries will be held in Trieste, Italy, on 26 June, within the context of the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting.

TWAS and and the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) have recently entered into an agreement to provide a number of postdoctoral research fellowships tenable in top class biotechnology laboratories in Thailand.

Twenty-four high school teachers meet for a workshop on how to develop lessons and modules that introduce multicultural principles into the students' regular classwork.

TWAS Fellow (2005) Monty P. Jones gives his viewpoint on the ongoing changes occurring in the international agricultural research system of the CGIAR and why he feels they are necessary.