Eco-Friendly Agriculture Puts Down Roots in Spain

José María Gómez squats and pulls up a bunch of carrots from the soil as well as a few leeks. This farmer from southern Spain believes organic farming is more than just not using pesticides and other chemicals – it’s a way of life, he says, which requires creativity and respect for nature.

Putting the Littlest Disaster Victims on the Caribbean’s Climate Agenda

Children are often the forgotten ones when policy-makers map out strategies to deal with climate change, even as they are least capable of fending for themselves in times of trouble.

OPINION: Islamic State in Iraq: Confronting the Threat

The Islamic State’s territorial expansion and barbaric executions in Iraq and Syria are a gathering threat and must be confronted. American air bombardment, however, is the wrong course of action, and will not necessarily weaken ISIS or DA’ISH, as it’s known in Arabic.

Youth Suicides Sound Alarm Across the Pacific

Suicide rates in the Pacific Islands are some of the highest in the world and have reached up to 30 per 100,000 in countries such as Samoa, Guam and Micronesia, double the global average, with youth rates even higher.

What Do the World Bank and IMF Have to Do With the Ukraine Conflict?

Mostly unreported as the Ukraine conflict captures headlines, international financing has played a significant role in the current conflict in Ukraine.

How Mozambique Is Coping With AIDS

Mozambique struggles to contain the HIV epidemic with one in ten among its 24 million people infected. Helping them is not easy when only 60 percent of people have access to health services.

Zimbabwe’s ‘Casualisation of Labour’ Leads to a New Form of Exploitation

Ethel Maziriri, 27, holds an Honours Degree in Social Work from the University of Zimbabwe, but instead of working in her chosen profession, she works as a cashier in one of the country’s leading clothing retail company. And it’s not by choice.

International Youth Day Focuses on Mental Health

They survived mental illnesses and escaped suicides. They found new reasons to live, new hope and they grew stronger.

Chile’s Patagonia Seeks Small-Scale Energy Autonomy

The southern region of Aysén in Chile’s Patagonian wilderness has the highest energy costs in the entire country. And the regional capital, Coyhaique, is the most polluted city in the nation, even though it has huge potential for hydroelectricity and wind power.

U.S. Avoided Threat to Act on Israel’s Civilian Targeting

United Nations officials and human rights organisations have characterised Israeli attacks on civilian targets during the IDF war on Gaza as violations of the laws of war.

Swamped by Rising Seas, Small Islands Seek a Lifeline

The world's 52 small island developing states (SIDS), some in danger of being wiped off the face of the earth because of sea-level rise triggered by climate change, will be the focus of an international conference in the South Pacific island nation of Samoa next month.

Gabriel García Márquez – the Last Visit

I had been told he was in Havana but that, because he was sick, he didn’t want to see anyone. I knew where he usually stayed: in a magnificent country house far from the city centre. I called on the phone and Mercedes, his wife, eased my doubts. She said, warmly: “Not at all, that’s to keep the pests away. Come over, ‘Gabo’ will be happy to see you.”

Kenya’s Own ‘Erin Brokovich’ Changes Lives of Girl Survivors of Sexual Abuse

Surrounded by endless rows of green tea plants, Mary carefully picked a leaf and placed it into a basket next to her. It seemed like an ordinary day at work for the 13-year-old girl from Meru, in central Kenya. After work she escaped to the adjacent farm for privacy, but was instead attacked and raped by a middle aged man. 

Political Tensions Threaten Iraq’s Already Dwindling Security

Threatened with slaughter if they descend what is now known as the “Mountain of Death” and at risk of dying of dehydration if they stay, tens of thousands of Yezidis have been driven to peril by the Islamic State (also known as ISIL).

African Writers Rip U.S. Summit

Charles Onyango-Obbo of The East African, a Kenyan daily, joined a growing number of writers and scholars questioning the aims of the US-Africa Summit. Where, he asked, were the wives?

Aleppo Struggles to Provide for Basic Needs as Regime Closes In

The single, heavily damaged supply road remaining into the rebel-held, eastern area of the city is acutely exposed to enemy fire.

Nepal’s Poor Live in the Shadow of Natural Disasters

Barely 100 km north of Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, the settlement of Jure, which forms part of the village of Mankha, has become a tragic example of how the country’s poorest rural communities are the first and worst victims of natural disasters.

Minimum Wage, Minimum Cost

In 1958, when New York State was considering raising its minimum wage, merchants complained that their profit margins were so small that they would have to cut their work forces or go out of business.  In 2014 in Seattle at hearings on a proposed minimum wage increase, some businesses voiced the same fears.

Azerbaijan: Human Rights Plummet to New Low

Azerbaijan in recent months has launched a clear assault against various civil society activists and non-governmental organisations. While rough treatment of critics is nothing new in this energy-rich South-Caucasus country, one question remains unanswered: Why pick up the pace now?

Egypt’s Poor Easy Victims of Quack Medicine

Magda Ibrahim first learnt that she had endometrial cancer when she went to a clinic to diagnose recurring bladder pain and an abnormal menstrual discharge. Unable to afford the recommended hospital treatment, the uninsured 53-year-old widow turned to what she hoped would be a quicker and cheaper therapy.

Qualified Backing for Obama’s Iraq Intervention

U.S. President Barack Obama’s authorisation of limited military action in northern Iraq, announced in a national television address late Thursday night, has so far received support – albeit highly qualified in some cases -- from across the mainstream political spectrum.