Q&A: “Donor Base for UN Women Continues to Widen”

The donor base for UN Women has expanded to 95 countries since the new United Nations entity was launched at the start of this year, according to Lakshmi Puri, the assistant secretary-general and deputy executive director of UN Women.

SOMALIA: Massive School Dropouts As Famine Continues

Jamaal Abdi, an eight-year-old boy at the Badbaado camp on the outskirts of Mogadishu, would like to have an education. He has his own dreams for the future.

ASIA: Mekong Dolphins Close to Extinction

The World Wildlife Federation (WWF) has called for urgent action to prevent the extinction of freshwater dolphins in the Mekong River, including the creation of special conservation zones.

Q&A: Native Peruvians ‘More Marginalised Despite Growth’

For the first time, a representative of the indigenous communities in Peru's Amazonas region is sitting in Congress: Eduardo Nayap, an Awajún leader who played a central role in the lengthy protests against laws that opened up native territories in the rainforest to oil, mining and logging companies.

MALAWI: Giving Up on Tobacco

Malawi is reducing the production of tobacco following huge losses by smallholder tobacco farmers and commercial estates trading the crop on the country’s only official tobacco markets, the auction floors.

GHANA: Guidelines for Unregulated Microfinance Sector

When Andrew Poku's mother passed away he needed help to pay for her funeral. So the 35-year-old teacher from Accra turned to one of the country's several loan companies for a 670-dollar loan.

LEBANON: Women Prisoners Play the Liberation Role

To a soundtrack of almost constant pounding of fists against iron doors, drama therapist Zeina Daccache is trying to capture the attention of a group of women prisoners. Many of the 45 women are suffering from drug withdrawal and alternately appear agitated, upset, energised and detached. Others chat loudly, take long puffs off cigarettes, or pace the room.

Rallies Grow Across India for Jailed Activist

Huge protests have taken place across India in support of a jailed anti-corruption campaigner who has been demanding a tough anti-graft law.

U.S.: National Outcry Builds Against Deportations

When 20-year-old Isaura Garcia called the 911 emergency hotline while being physically abused by her partner, she never imagined that her plea to U.S. legal authorities would lead to imprisonment and possible deportation.

CUBA: Dreams and Progress in a Rural Community

The day that electricity arrived in the Cuban village of Jova, there were shouts, laughter and tears of joy, even among the most incredulous, who had doubted it was possible. "I didn’t know what to do; it actually made me nervous," Carmen Carvallosa confessed.

U.S. Nuclear Arsenal Holds Fast to Status Quo

The United States is likely to maintain and sustain its huge arsenal of nuclear weapons for many years to come, even though President Barack Obama has repeatedly stressed that he stands for nuclear disarmament and global peace, non-proliferation experts believe.

MALAWI: Hospitals Struggle Amid Water Shortage

Two battered plastic chairs bar entry to the toilets at the Bangwe Township Clinic in Blantyre. The toilets are not working because there is no running water – yet again. And if patients want to use the facilities they will have to run to the next- door primary school, which has pit latrines.

AFRICA: Emerging Trend Towards Establishing Offshore Tax Havens

As several African governments examine the possibility of setting up their own "offshore" financial centres, the trade name for tax havens, campaigners are calling for transparency and fair tax regimes.

Q&A: Water Will Be Lifeblood of Smart Urban Expansion

The world's water map is being significantly redrawn due primarily to the mass migration of people into urban centres, threatening one of life's vital resources.

New Scientific Network on Climate Change Adaptation

In Central America the temperature is rising and forests are taking longer to grow, while farther south, the Amazon rainforests have yet to feel the effects of global warming. This is just one example of how climate change is manifested differently in different parts of the region.

ECUADOR: 40 Percent of Children Suffer Chronic Zinc Deficiency

The diets of people in Ecuador and other countries in South America's Andean region suffer from chronic deficiency of zinc, a mineral essential to childhood nutrition, as demonstrated by studies led by paediatrician Dr. Fernando Sempértegui.

Int’l Pressure Mounts as Syrian Crackdown Grows More Violent

Though many expected the Muslim holy month of Ramadan to bring a significant boost to the beleaguered Syrian opposition movement, the past two weeks have instead brought the bloodiest government offensives to date.

MOZAMBIQUE: Climate Change Threatens Smallholder Farmers

Long after the wintry sun set over her patch of crops outside the Mozambican capital Angelina Jossefa keeps pulling out weeds. Much of her lettuce, carrots and beetroot died during a cruel winter, which means she has to work harder to feed her three children.

MIDEAST: To Save From the Sea, and the Siege

It's a sunny Gaza morning and although a work day, the beach along Sheik Rajleen has enough people on it to keep Gaza's small number of lifeguards busy and alert. From a simple, raised wooden hut, a team of three monitor the sea, periodically calling out to swimmers below to move to calmer waters.

NEPAL: Adapting to Climate Change Can be Simple

Saraswoti Bhetwal’s terraced fields stand out in the sub-Himalayan Lamdihi village as a mosaic of shapes and colours formed by beans, bitter gourd, chilly, tomato, lady’s fingers and other crops.

EGYPT: Sinai Simmers in Security Vacuum

Even before the recent revolution, Egypt's strategic Sinai Peninsula - inhabited mostly by restive Bedouin tribesmen - had a reputation for lawlessness. But in the months since the popular uprising that led to Mubarak's February ouster, the situation in Sinai appears more precarious than ever.