Mexicans Migrate – Body and Soul

Sergio Guerrero immigrated to the United States without documents in 2006 and returned to Mexico in 2010, converted to another religious faith. “I was Catholic, and there I met a lot of evangelicals, so I was reborn in Christ,” the 31-year-old father of three told IPS.

Native Peoples Take on Threadbare Stereotypes

With the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples coming up on Thursday, native communities are increasingly using media to challenge a legacy of stereotypes.

High-Level Defections, Escalating Violence Mark New Phase of Syrian Uprising

As government security forces continue a week-long siege of Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city, high-ranking Syrian officials have begun to defect from the regime in record numbers.

DRC Farmers Reap Benefits of Soil Fertility

Just two years ago, rice farmers on the Ruzizi plain in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo were content to harvest 2.5 tonnes of rice per hectare. The adoption of new techniques has seen their output rise to between six and eight tonnes, with smallholder farmers also increasing their local market share.

Ahmadis Lose Hope This Ramadan

As millions around the world enter the third week of the Ramadan fast, the fraternity that typically unites Muslims during the holy month does not extend to Pakistan’s Ahmadi community, which is facing worse persecution than ever before.

OP-ED: Weapons into Ploughshares, and Crises into Opportunity

The crisis that started a few years ago with the collapse of major financial institutions in the United States is now centred in Europe and threatens other parts of the world. Many emerging countries in Asia and Latin America that had thus far avoided contamination because of their sound economic and fiscal policies and their timely adoption of domestic consumption stimulus packages are now beginning to experience secondary effects.

Droughts Bring Climate Change Home to Nepali Farmers

Farmers in this fertile central district of south Nepal are convinced that an intense drought between May and early July that destroyed their maize crops is the result of climate change. 

Weapons into Ploughshares, and Crises into Opportunity

The crisis that started a few years ago with the collapse of major financial institutions in the United States is now centred in Europe and threatens other parts of the world. Many emerging countries in Asia and Latin America that had thus far avoided contamination because of their sound economic and fiscal policies and their timely adoption of domestic consumption stimulus packages are now beginning to experience secondary effects.

DRC Farmers Reap Benefits of Soil Fertility

Just two years ago, rice farmers on the Ruzizi plain in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo were content to harvest 2.5 tonnes of rice per hectare. The adoption of new techniques has seen their output rise to between six and eight tonnes, with smallholder farmers also increasing their local market share.

OPED: Mayor a Demonized Hate Figure of British Conservative Press

The London Borough of Tower Hamlets, the “East End,” is the historic core of England, the home of the Tower of London,  and now it is a Gateway borough to the Olympics. It is also the site of St Mary Le Bow church - real Cockneys should be born within the sound of its bells-  but nowadays, there are probably more mosques than churches, which helps explain why Lutfur Rahman, the first directly Mayor of the borough, is also the country’s first, and so far only, Muslim to hold the office.

Holy Sites Hold Fast to Status Quo

“With our spirit, with our blood, we’ll redeem you, O Noble Sanctuary!” the veiled teenagers fervently sing in unison in honour of the Muslim Holy month of Ramadan. Israeli police officers in uniform and full battle gear sit unimpressed under pine trees; others patrol the compound.

Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: Used Notebooks Recycled

The government of the northern Venezuelan state of Miranda has launched campaign through which schoolchildren are encouraged to donate their used notebooks in order for them to be recycled.

Ecobreves – BRAZIL: Joint Assessment of Amazon Hydropower Dams Demanded

There is an urgent need for an in-depth analysis of the impacts of the construction of 30 hydroelectric dams in the Amazon region given the scale of public and private investment involved, maintains the Amazon Investment Observatory of Brazil.

Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Approval of Mining Operations to be Decided Through Plebiscites

The use of plebiscites has been included in the bill for a new mining law that is expected to be passed by the end of the year in Honduras.

Ecobreves – CHILE: FAO Promotes Bioenergy

The Latin America regional office of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has recommended that Chile incorporate bioenergy into its energy mix.

Brazilian Fisherfolk Fight for Survival

Fisherfolk cannot be forced into becoming fish farmers, maintains the leader of a campaign to establish protected areas for artisanal fishing in Brazil. “I am a fisherwoman, I don’t know how to do anything else and I don’t want to,” she declared.

Palestinian Bubble Set to Burst

“It will collapse, and the collapse will be harder when it happens later,” says Tareq Sadeq, Palestinian economist and professor at Birzeit University, about the financial bubble building up in the Palestinian Authority government.

TURKEY: Caught Between Syria’s Kurds and a Hard Spot

In a display of muscle-flexing, Turkish tanks this week carried out military exercises on the Syrian border, just a few kilometres away from towns that Syrian Kurds had seized from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

From the Ashes of Tragedy, Lessons for Disaster Management

At 4:30 a.m. on the morning of Jul. 30, sleeping passengers in carriage S 11 on the Chennai-bound Tamilnadu Express were awoken by a blazing fire, as the train approached the east coast town of Nellore, just two and a half hours shy of its final destination.

Malawi Checks China’s African Advance

The move in Malawi to close down Chinese businesses outside of the four major cities has been condemned as xenophobic by rights organisations. A new law enforced Jul. 31 barred foreigners from carrying out trade in Malawi’s outlying and rural areas.

Awareness of Climate Change Risks Low in Dominican Republic

One of the major difficulties to overcome in climate change adaptation policies in the Dominican Republic is society’s low awareness of the risks, even though this Caribbean island nation is seriously exposed to the impacts of the phenomenon.