Putting Uganda’s Working Kids Back in School

Children around the world may complain about attending school and doing their homework, but not 14-year-old Raya*. For two years she was forced by her illiterate parents to spend every day, rain or shine, selling sugar cane from the family garden to customers on the streets of Entebbe, about 35 km outside the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Economic Issues Murky As Iranians Go to Polls

Talking to ordinary people in Neishabour and Tehran about Iran's Jun. 14 presidential election, economic issues seem foremost on their minds. But whom they will vote for is based more on vague promises to pull the economy out of its deep crisis than on well-defined economic programs.

“Carbon Farming” Makes Waves at Stalled Bonn Talks

U.N. climate talks have largely stalled with the suspension of one of three negotiating tracks at a key mid-year session in Bonn, Germany.

Zanzibar’s Encroaching Ocean Means Less Water

Khadija Komboani’s nearest well is filled with salt water thanks to the rising sea around Tanzania’s Indian Ocean island of Zanzibar.

Cairo’s Poor Convert Kitchen Waste Into Fuel Savings

The bio-gas digester on the roof of Hussein Farag's apartment in one of Cairo's poorest districts provides a daily supply of cooking gas produced from the kitchen waste his family would otherwise discard in plastic bags or empty into the clogged sewer below his building.

When the Train Passes, But Never Arrives

José "Goyo" Hernández has never been given a mask to keep him from breathing in the coal dust blowing off the 13 trains that pass daily through this village in the municipality of Zona Bananera in the northern Colombian department of Magdalena, during his 12-hour shift at the railway crossing.

Carbon Dioxide Emissions Hit Record High in 2012

Greenhouse gas emissions worldwide rose by 1.4 percent last year, setting a new record, according to data released Monday.

The Girl Who Couldn’t Herd Goats Now Saves Lives

When she was nine years old, Jane Meriwas, a Samburu from the Kipsing Plains in Kenya’s Rift Valley region, was considered of no use by her father. After all, nine of his goats had been eaten by hyenas under her watch.

Senegal’s ‘Religious Schools’ Places of Exploitation

In Dakar, urban commuters are familiar with kids as young as five years old begging on street corners at all hours of the day or the night, with torn, dirty clothes, collecting donations in an empty tin can.

Behind the Climate Finance Headlines

Developed countries report that they delivered more than 33 billion dollars in Fast Start Finance (known as FSF), beyond the pledges they made at COP 15 in Copenhagen in 2009. Recent analysis suggests that the funding delivered may have exceeded 38 billion dollars.  But that is not the whole story.

Kenya’s Flower Farms No Bed of Roses

Catherine Mumbi knows the difficulties of working in Kenya’s flower sector. She was fired as a casual worker at a flower farm after taking time off to recover from complications of the liver. But that was just the start of her problems.

Egypt’s Presidency, Judiciary Brace for Showdown Over Draft Law

The post-revolution struggle between Egypt's judiciary and President Mohammed Morsi, the country's first Islamist head of state, finally seems to be coming to a head over controversial draft legislation regulating judicial authority.

Making a Business Out of Water Rationing

For 61-year-old Sarah Chikwanha from water-starved Chitungwiza, a town about 25 kilometres outside Harare, Zimbabwe, there is no choice. She must buy her water from illegal water traders, whose businesses have sprung up across the country.

As Erdogan Remains Firm, No End in Sight for Turkey’s Protests

Now approaching its third week, the "Occupy Taksim" movement, a peaceful sit-in to save Istanbul's Gezi Park from redevelopment, has taken on a festival-like atmosphere, with protesters organising to stand guard around the clock, provide uninterrupted food and water supplies, and carry out a self-initiated cleaning of the grounds.

Q&A: Turkish Opposition Leader Expects Unrest to Continue

As protests in Turkey stretch into their second week, the precise terms and conditions that could bring the social unrest to an end are unclear, though many speculate about what would end the deadlock between the government and protesters.