Last year, Sri Lanka topped world tables for the numberof-political-murders per head of population. The Sarvodaya movement - active in a fifth of Sri Lanka's villages - is answering the roots of violence as well as poverty. Jehan Perera explains.

Rilhena lies in the foothills of the mountains, amidst the tea plantations which took away the ancestral village lands. About 100 families live there, cultivating rice.

Joan Holland looks at the issues raised by the 150th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi. Signed by New Zealand's Maori and whites in 1840, the treaty has never been fully honoured.

On these pages Mike Bucki from Atlanta, Georgia, looks at a small but encouraging drop in this ocean of misery – an international charity which is working with the poor to outlaw unacceptable housing and homelessness. In so doing, Habitat for Humanity is tapping into a gathering trend in development thinking that the most efficient way to answer housing problems is to empower people to build houses for themselves.

In one week, 20 houses had been built for low income families who could never have dreamed of owning a house were it not for Habitat.

A string of scandals have gained international limelight, backed up by strong sub-plots of take-over crookery and insider-dealing.

Despite Hong Kong's remarkable achievements in other fields, no administration had succeeded in efforts to deal with the corruption that thrived in its crowded streets and harbours. Anti-corruption drives were launched in 1897, 1948 and 1959. Yet by 1970, 70 per cent of news stories about Hong Kong in the British press concerned corrupt practices.

Behind every great man there is a public servant. Allan Griffith advised six Australian Prime Ministers on foreign policy. Annabel Miller and John Williams find out what makes a mandarin tick.

I refused to consider divorce - partly due to my pride, but largely due to my faith. I suspected that God saw things differently from me, that it was worth hanging in. It was.

As we've worked through many experiences, I've jotted down for myself some rules of thumb.