Bangladesh Fights Off HIV

Shohagi, 19, walks down a corridor to an audience of about a dozen commercial sex workers. In a loud and confident voice, the fellow sex worker shares her knowledge on the use of the condom.

Egyptian Quacks Mutilate Millions

Saber Abd El-Mawgoud began his career castrating sheep and goats before moving on to humans. His first human experiment was a young boy he attempted to circumcise back in 1999 at the insistence of the boy’s father.

Caribbean Fears Loss of “Keystone Species” to Climate Change

A marine biologist has cautioned that the mass deaths of starfish along the United States west coast in recent months could also occur in the Caribbean region because of climate change, threatening the vital fishing sector.

Russia ‘Liquidating’ Civil Society

NGOs working in Russia are facing more repression in the form of even tighter legislation on foreign funding as part of what some rights activists say is a concerted campaign to “liquidate” civil society in the country.

Going Beyond the Arms Trade Treaty to Secure Peace in Africa

Even as countries around the world have started to sign on to and ratify a landmark international treaty that would for the first time regulate the international trade in conventional weapons, experts here are warning that the treaty in itself will not be able to maintain peace and security in Africa.

U.S.-Dependent Pacific Island Defies Nuke Powers

The tiny Pacific nation state of Marshall Islands - which depends heavily on the United States for its economic survival, uses the U.S. dollar as its currency and predictably votes with Washington on all controversial political issues at the United Nations - is challenging the world's nuclear powers before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

Interfaith Leaders Jointly Call to Abolish Nuclear Arms

On the eve of next week’s meeting at the U.N. headquarters in New York on the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), more than 100 representatives of 11 faith groups from around the world have pledged to step up their efforts to seek the global abolition of nuclear weapons.

Brazil Assumes Leadership in Future of Internet Governance

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff signed into law an Internet bill of rights just before her opening speech at an international conference on Internet reform in the southern city of São Paulo Wednesday.

Q&A: Investment and Research Key to Resilient African Agriculture

There is urgent need to increase the proportion of climate finance for adaptation in Africa by increasing public sector budgets for agriculture and exploring partnerships with the private sector.

Reproductive Rights Have a Rocky Ride

For policy makers and activists working for sexual and reproductive health and rights, it’s been a long road since the landmark International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in Cairo in 1994.

OP-ED: As EU Reconsiders Russian LNG, Qatar Waits in Wings

Throughout the Ukraine crisis, European Union (EU) leaders have become more vocal about their interest in reducing Europe’s consumption of Russian natural gas. As a result, Qatar — the world’s number-one provider of liquefied natural gas (LNG) — is well positioned to play a more influential role in Europe’s energy landscape.

U.N. Focuses on Underwater Cultural Heritage of Small Islands

Large amounts of underwater shipwrecks are bringing new opportunities to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) through scientific cooperation and tourism, according to the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

One More Pill to Take: Pregnancy, Malaria and HIV

Zambian Martha Nalishupe is torn between taking one more pill with her daily regimen of antiretrovirals, or run the risk of a miscarriage.

India Finds Fishy Ways to Fight Malaria

Thirteen-year-old Sampreeth Monteiro’s neighbours are suddenly taking his advice seriously. “Buy a Guppy fish, it will eat all the mosquito eggs in your house. You will not get malaria again.”

U.S. Public Feeling More Multilateral Than Isolationist

Amidst a roiling and mostly partisan debate over Washington’s global role, a survey released here Thursday suggests that President Barack Obama’s preference for relative restraint and multilateral - over unilateral - action very much reflects the mood of the voting public.

Post-Rana Plaza, Global Investors Pushing for Systemic Change

A coalition of 134 institutional investors are calling for global corporations to institute new transparency policies throughout their supply chains and to step up assistance to survivors and families still suffering a year after a major fire led to the collapse of a garments factory in Bangladesh, despite repeated warnings from workers.

Chilean Tax Reform Shifts Toward Income Redistribution

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet’s proposed tax reform is seen as the cornerstone of her ambitious social programme and a sign of a new shift in fiscal policy towards redistribution of income.

Violence in South Sudan at a Savage Turning Point

After a week that saw a massacre inside a U.N. base and wide-scale ethnic-based slaughter in an oil-producing region, the international community is grappling with what, if any, options remain to save lives in South Sudan.

OP-ED: Russia’s Changing Islamic Insurgency

With the Kremlin’s attention fixated on Ukraine, the Caucasus Emirate, a terrorist group fighting to establish an independent Islamic state in the North Caucasus, threatens to undermine Russian domestic security in new ways.

Zimbabwe’s Struggle to Formalise the Informal

Zimbabwe’s extensive informal sector could help boost government revenue if regularised, but this won’t happen unless the government creates incentives for the informal sector to register, economists say.

Migrants Traverse a Deadly Trail

Security enhancements on the U.S.-Mexico border reroute migrants into more perilous and dry areas, causing between 150 and 250 migrants to die in the desert every year.